Donald Trump attacks 'alt-left' saying 'both sides are to blame' for Charlottesville
The President repeatedly said the media present was 'fake' and did not report the whole story
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has attacked who he referred to as the "alt-left" protesters in Charlottesville, claiming that blame should be shared by both sides.
His comments appeared to be a doubling down on his initial statements following the reports of violence in which he did not directly condemn the Klu Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists but said that the blame was on "many sides".
"There are two sides to every story," said Mr Trump during his press conference intended to introduce a new infrastructure programme.
He did read another statement approximately 48 hours after the deaths of Heather Heyer, a counter-protester, and two Virginia State police officers Berke MM Bates and H Jay Cullen in which he specifically said "racism is evil" and condemned those groups.
"You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent," he said as he repeatedly called the gathered press "fake media".
Mr Trump said multiple times that many of the protesters were there to "innocently...legally" oppose the removal of Civil War Confederate General Robert E Lee and that not all of them were neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
He added that the media "would know [that] if you're honest reporters, but you're not".
The "statement I made on Saturday was a fine statement" said Mr Trump.
There were protesters on the "other side that came violently charging" at the protesters wanting to keep the statue in place. "Do they have any semblance of guilt?," Mr Trump asked.
He accused the media of "changing history, changing culture" for treating the people who were not neo-Nazis or white supremacists in the crowd holding the rally to keep the statue up "very badly".
Mr Trump once again denounced those groups but repeated there were "bad people" on both sides of the violence.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments