He criticized “alt-left” groups that he claimed were “very, very violent” when they sought to confront the white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups that had gathered in Charlottesville. 
 
 
 
 “Many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee,” Mr. Trump said. “So this week, it is Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?” 
 
 It was a remarkable rejection of the criticism he confronted after waiting two days before naming the right-wing groups in the bloodshed that ended with the death of a young woman after a car crashed into a crowd of protesters. 
 
 Mr. Trump accused people he called the alt-left of “swinging clubs” as they “came charging at, as you say, at the alt-right.” He said some of the right-wing members of the crowd in the Virginia park were “bad.” But he added that the other side came “charging in without a permit and they were very, very violent.” 
 
 Aides had urged him for days to take the high ground, persuading him on Monday to read a brief statement condemning the neo-Nazi groups from the Diplomatic Room in the White House. But over the past day, back in his private New York residence for the first time since becoming president, Mr. Trump was alone, without his wife and young son, and consuming hours of television, with many on cable news telling him he had not done enough. ||||| Donald Trump gave what was unquestionably the most depraved, unhinged, and abysmal press conference of his presidency on Tuesday afternoon. 
 
 Trump was supposed to be talking about infrastructure, but he was immediately peppered with questions about his attempt to write off this weekend’s white power riot and domestic terrorist attack in Charlottesville, VA, as a case of violence between “many sides.” 
 
 Things got bad immediately. And then they got much, much worse. 
 
 First, Trump insisted his decision to wait 48 hours to condemn neo-Nazis came out of an abundance of caution, because he likes to make statements that are correct. 
 
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 “I had to see the facts, unlike a lot of reporters,” Trump insisted, despite that rarely having prevented him from tweeting out his initial, vile thoughts in other instances of suspected terrorism. 
 
 Then he refused to personally deem the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer at the alleged hands of white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. an act of terror, insisting that while “you” can call it terrorism, or murder, but he’d rather call it “the fastest one to come up with a good verdict,” whatever that means. 
 
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 He also blamed the “alt-left,” a wholly imaginary group created as a sort of moral-equivalent boogeyman by both white nationalists and some liberals to create a sense of parity between a racist movement and efforts by normal non-racists to shut them down. 
 
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 “What about the fact that they came charging – they came charging with clubs in their hands swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do.” Trump said. 
 
 The president also insisted that, nestled within the crowd of neo-Nazis and white supremacists were some pretty nice folks, who were merely protesting in defense of a Confederate statue, which he painted as a perfectly decent thing to do, rather than an explicit defense of slavery and white supremacy. 
 
 “You had some very bad people in that group,” Trump said, “but you also had people that were very fine people — on both sides.” 
 
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 Also, Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson? Just as bad as the Confederate generals. 
 
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 “What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him?” Trump rhetorically asked the press pool. “Are we gonna take down the statue—’cause he was a major slave owner. Now are we gonna take down his statue?” (Leave it to Trump to stumble into a woke take.) 
 
 Finally, as a friendly reminder to a nation reeling from the 1-2 punch of a domestic terrorist attack allegedly perpetrated by a neo-Nazi sympathizer, and a president who seems constitutionally incapable of voluntarily condemning racist violence, Trump ended his conference by reminding people that, yes, he owns some property. 
 
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 Because if there’s one thing the public needs to know, it’s that the president’s house in Charlottesville “is the winery.” 
 
 One huge fan? David Duke, of course. 
 
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 You can watch the entire, monstrous thing below: 
 
 We are so, so, desperately screwed. 
 
 What was the part of Trump’s press conference that made you feel the biggest combination of insanity and despair? Let us know in the comments. 
 
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 This is a developing story and will be updated. ||||| President Donald Trump lashed out today over criticism of his initial statement about the Charlottesville, Virginia, violence over the weekend in a confrontational press conference at Trump Tower in New York. 
 
 Interested in Donald Trump? Add Donald Trump as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Donald Trump news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest 
 
 Asked about his immediate response Saturday, Trump quickly blamed both sides for the conflict, adding that there were "very fine people" among both the protesters — which included white supremacists and white nationalists — and the counterprotesters. 
 
 "I think there is blame on both sides. You look at both sides. I think there is blame on both sides," Trump said today. 
 
 "You had some very bad people in that group. You also had some very fine people on both sides," he added. 
 
 Trump defended his initial remarks about the violence, saying that it "was a fine statement" and that he wanted to make sure that he had enough facts before speaking again on the issue. Trump made a second statement on Monday from the White House, in which he condemned hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis. 
 
 "Before I make a statement, I need the facts, so I don't want to rush into a statement. So making the statement when I made it was excellent," he said today. 
 
 Trump took issue with a reporter's characterization of some protesters as being part of the so-called alt-right — short for the "alternative right," which encompasses many far-right ideologies with racist, white nationalist and populist elements. 
 
 "When you say the alt-right, you define it. Go ahead. Define it for me," he said. 
 
 "What about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, at the alt-right? Do they have any assemblage of guilt? What about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do," he said. It's unclear what he meant by the "alt-left." 
 
 Trump said that he looked at images of protests held "the night before" the violence Saturday. Photos and videos of a demonstration on Friday, Aug. 11, showed people carrying lit tiki torches on a march through the University of Virginia campus. 
 
 He went on to question why the statue of Civil War Gen. Robert E. Lee was being removed, which prompted the protest. 
 
 "You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name," he said. 
 
 "George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? So will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down — excuse me," Trump said, cutting off a reporter who tried to interject. "Are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him. Good. Are we going to take down his statue? He was a major slave owner." 
 
 Asked whether he thinks the Lee statue should remain in the park, he said he thinks it's a local issue. 
 
 Trump was also asked about his view of the driver of a car that plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring 19 others. 
 
 "I think the driver of the car is a disgrace to himself, his family and this country. You can call it terrorism. You can call it murder. You can call it whatever you want. I would just call it as the fastest one to come up with a good verdict. There is a question. Is it murder? Is it terrorism? Then you get into legal semantics," Trump said. 
 
 At one point during the press conference, he said that he "didn't know David Duke was there [at the protest]." Trump's remarks appeared to please Duke, a former Louisiana lawmaker who was once an imperial wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. 
 
 Shortly after the press conference, Duke tweeted, "Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa," he wrote, apparently referring to the Black Lives Matter and the anti-fascist movements. ||||| CLOSE From Trump Tower in New York City, President Trump told reporters that he believed both protesters and counter protesters were to blame for the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. USA TODAY 
 
 President Trump in Trump Tower. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP) 
 
 Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of the story included a tweet from a parody account claiming to Jill Biden. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY – President Trump's argument Tuesday that left wing groups were just as violent as the white supremacists who staged a demonstration in Charlottesville set off a firestorm of criticism from members of his own party – and raised questions about his personal views of racial tensions in the country. 
 
 Just one day after Trump sought to tamp down on controversy by condemning white supremacists for their role in racially motivated clashes in the Virginia city, the president appeared to return to his highly criticized initial response that many sides were to blame for the weekend violence. 
 
 "What about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, alt-right?" Trump told reporters in a chaotic impromptu press conference at Trump Tower. "Do they have any semblance of guilt? What about the fact they came charging with clubs in their hands?" 
 
 Trump said he couldn't make a condemnation of hate groups earlier because he didn't "know all the facts" about an alleged white nationalist who crashed a car into a crowd of protesters, killing one person and wounded 19 others. 
 
 CLOSE From Trump Tower in New York City, President Trump told reporters that both sides were to blame for the violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia. USA TODAY 
 
 "I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct," Trump said from Trump Tower in New York, after an event that was intended to be devoted to a new infrastructure executive order. 
 
 Trump has been especially quick to denounce previous terrorist attacks, including those taking place overseas. Yet he was notably reticent to pinpoint the blame for one on Saturday that involved white supremacists – a point his critics on both sides of the aisle continued to hammer. 
 
 "We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. 
 
 House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. added: "There is only one side to be on when a white supremacist mob brutalizes and murders in America.” 
 
 Several lawmakers were dismayed the president appeared to equate white supremacists with their opponents. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., tweeted: "Blaming 'both sides' for #Charlottesville?! No. Back to relativism when dealing with KKK, Nazi sympathizers, white supremacists? Just no." 
 
 Another Republican, Rep. Charlie Dent from Pennsylvania, said Trump "must stop the moral equivalency! AGAIN." 
 
 Over the weekend, Trump faced heavy criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for chiding "many sides" for their role in the violence in Charlottesville on Saturday, a statement many regarded as tepid toward racists. 
 
 A full two days later, on Monday, Trump at the White House directly condemned the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists and announced the Justice Department would open up a civil rights investigation into the driver of the car that killed Charlottesville resident Heather Heyer. 
 
 Yet on Tuesday, amid questions about whether Trump meant the words behind his most recent scripted statement, the president called his initial response "fine" and blamed the press for being dishonest in its coverage. 
 
 "There was no way of making a correct statement that early," he said at one point. "I had to see the facts. Unlike a lot of reporters – I didn't know (prominent white supremacist) David Duke was there. I wanted to see the facts." 
 
 For his part, former KKK leader Duke tweeted a thank you to the president after his statement Tuesday – for condemning "the leftist terrorists" in Black Lives Matter and Antifa. 
 
 CLOSE From Trump Tower in New York City, President Trump defends his decision to delay responding to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. USA TODAY 
 
 Trump also said "not all of those people" who attended the demonstration were not racist or neo-Nazi, but only wanted to protest the city's plans to remove the Robert E. Lee statue. 
 
 That statement also drew catcalls from Republicans. "If you're showing up to a Klan rally, you're probably a racist or a bigot," said Rep. Will Hurd, R-Tex., said on CNN. 
 
 And Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted that "the organizers of events" that led to the Charlottesville terror attack "are 100% to blame." 
 
 The white supremacists, Rubio tweeted, are "adherents of an evil ideology which argues certain people are inferior because of race, ethnicity or nation of origin.... When (there's an) entire movement built on anger and hatred towards people different than you, it justifies and ultimately leads to violence against them." 
 
 Rubio offered a direct message to Trump: "Mr. President, you can't allow #WhiteSupremacists to share only part of blame... (they) will see being assigned only 50% of blame as a win. We can not allow this old evil to be resurrected." 
 
 More: Trump distances himself from strategist Steve Bannon in wake of Charlottesville violence 
 
 The president was slated to only discuss infrastructure during his appearances, but took questions from reporters for more than 15 minutes, most of them about Charlottesville. Some aides looked dismayed as he answered more questions. 
 
 During a rollicking, impromptu news conference in which Trump and reporters frequently argued and interrupted each other, the president also: 
 
 Questioned moves by local government to remove Confederate statues and monuments from public places 
 
 Trump openly wondered whether tributes to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are at risk because they were slave owners. "You really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?" Trump said. On the other hand, Trump said local governments are free to make their own decisions on these issues. 
 
 CLOSE At Trump Tower in New York City, President Trump explains to the media that he thinks removing statues like the one of Gen. Robert E. Lee rewrites history. He also says there were many types of 'bad people' to blame for the violence in Virginia. USA TODAY 
 
 Refused to say whether he thought the "alt-left" were as bad as the white supremacists who organized a demonstration in defense of the Robert E. Lee statue 
 
 "You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent," Trump said. While Trump said he condemned neo-Nazis, he said "not all of those people" at the rally were neo-Nazis or white supremacists "by any stretch." 
 
 The Anti-Defamation League disputed Trump's comments, tweeting that "comparisons between white supremacists & counter protesters are beyond the pale." 
 
 Distanced himself from chief strategist Steve Bannon, whose role has been in the spotlight after the Charlottesville violence 
 
 Trump cast the former chief executive of his 2016 campaign as a late-comer to his cadre of advisers and expressed uncertainty about his fate at the White House. “Mr. Bannon came on very late," Trump told reporters. "I like him, he’s a good man, he is not a racist, I can tell you that. But we’ll see what happens with Mr. Bannon." 
 
 Refused to answer a question on why self-proclaimed Nazis say they support him 
 
 "They don't," Trump responded. 
 
 Said he had a plan to the nation's racial divide 
 
 That plan involves creating more – and better – jobs. 
 
 More: Charlottesville aftermath: Protests flare up again across U.S. 
 
 Trump order seeks to speed up infrastructure projects, but advocates say it will waste tax dollars 
 
 Trump says CEOs leaving manufacturing council 'not taking their jobs seriously' 
 
 Trump's remarks left many on Twitter expressing concerns he is too soft on racists and bigots. 
 
 The news conference capped a day in which Trump returned to his residence in the gold-leaf comfort of Trump Tower for the first time since he took office in January – but it hasn't been a particularly joyful homecoming. 
 
 Amid rush hour, after the rain, protestors returned to Fifth Avenue with bullhorns and placards in hand to protest Trump's views of race, immigration, and other issues. "New York hates you," read one sign. Police placed a protest area about a block-and-a-half from Trump Tower. 
 
 Trump huddled with staff and signed an executive order on infrastructure Tuesday – at a podium affixed with the presidential seal in front of the elevator bank – that did little to change the conversation. 
 
 The infrastructure announcement – intended to streamline the permitting process for infrastructure projects – is part of Trump's ongoing effort to try and toll back federal regulations that he says undermine economic development. Many of the targeted regulations involve environmental restrictions. 
 
 Yet even as Trump heralded the order as a way to promote jobs, business leaders within his circle appeared to be more focused on the president's response to Charlottesville. 
 
 So far, five senior leaders from president's business council have stepped down amid criticism that Trump was too slow to directly condemn violence involving white supremacists. 
 
 After his press conference, another member of his council – Richard Trumka, president of the The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations – announced he would step down. "I cannot sit on a council for a President that tolerates bigotry and domestic terrorism; I resign, effective immediately," tweeted Trumka. 
 
 Activists are continuing to pressure remaining members to follow suit. 
 
 "No adviser committed to the bipartisan American traditions of government can possibly believe he or she is being effective at this point," tweeted Lawrence Summers, a former high-level economic adviser to Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. 
 
 Yet Trump has done little to stem the controversy. Hours after making a formal statement Monday denouncing those who perpetuate racially-motivated attacks, Trump returned Monday night to a usual line of criticism: the press. "Made additional remarks on Charlottesville and realize once again that the #Fake News Media will never be satisfied...truly bad people!" 
 
 Trump stirred up more Twitter trouble after that. In the leadup to his press conference Tuesday, he retweeted a prominent figure from the alt-right who pushed the "Pizzagate" and Seth Rich conspiracy theories, who questioned why there was no similar outrage over violence in Chicago. 
 
 He tweeted then retweeted and deleted a post that included the cartoon of a train – the "Trump train" running over a CNN reporter, an image that drew criticism in the wake of the deadly car ramming incident in Virginia. 
 
 Steady rain in midtown Manhattan kept away many protesters Tuesday – as did a heavy security perimeter that included a line of white sanitation trucks parked along Fifth Avenue, flanking the entrance to Trump Tower. 
 
 Trump is expected to return to his 17-day working vacation at his golf club in Beminster, N.J., on Wednesday. 
 
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– President Trump doubled down on Saturday's widely criticized "many sides" statement during a press conference Tuesday at Trump Tower, claiming "there is blame on both sides" in regards to the fatal white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, the New York Times reports. Trump had tried to walk back his original statement on Monday, but on Tuesday he called it "excellent" and a "fine statement," according to USA Today. He said he didn't condemn white supremacists on Saturday "because I didn't know all the facts." "I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct," the president said. On Tuesday, Trump went ever further in his "many sides" argument, condemning the "alt-left" groups that were "very, very violent." He went on to say both sides—including the side that counts neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the KKK as members—contain some "very fine people," ABC News reports. "Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me," Trump said. "Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch." He said many of the people in Charlottesville just didn't want to see a statue get torn down, pointing out that both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. "This week, it is Robert E. Lee and this week, Stonewall Jackson," Trump said. "Is it George Washington next?" Splinter notes the press conference was originally supposed to be about infrastructure.