Confederate statue vandalized with profanity against Trump

A Confederate statue in Charlottesville that became a rallying point for white nationalists has been vandalized with an expletive against President Donald Trump.

graffiti was discovered on the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee early Wednesday. A photo showed a profanity directed at Trump on the statue's base.

A Charlottesville police spokesman said the city's Parks and Recreation department would clean it up.

Hundreds of white nationalists flocked to Charlottesville in August 2017 to protest the city's plan to remove the statue. Hundreds of others showed up to protest the racists and the event descended into violence. One woman was killed and dozens more were injured when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd.

James Alex Fields Jr. was

for the murder of Heather Heyer, malicious wounding charges, and hate crimes.

A lawsuit over the statue-removal plan is ongoing. The judge has

, which makes them protected under current Virginia law.

The same judge has been handling

as well.