Trump defends initial remarks on Charlottesville, again blames 'both sides'

Speaking at Trump Tower in Manhattan, the president called the events of Saturday at the "Unite the Right" rally a "horrible thing to watch," but he emphasized that both sides acted irresponsibly. "I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it," Trump said. "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 added. "No one wants to say that, but I'll say it right now: You had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit and they were very, very violent."

Trump's remarks came a day after he belatedly condemned the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other hate groups that organized and participated in the rally. But on Tuesday, Trump defended his handling of the Charlottesville situation, stating he did not want to jump to conclusions in his initial remarks. "There was no way of making a correct statement that early," he said in an impromptu news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower, after an announcement about infrastructure. "I had to see the facts, unlike a lot of reporters."

Meanwhile, Theresa May has refused to directly criticise Donald Trump after he partly blamed anti-fascist protesters for violent clashes at a white supremacist march - despite three senior Tories speaking out.