Donald Trump has insisted there was "blame on both sides" during the Charlottesville clashes that left a 32-year-old woman dead.

In a fiery news conference at Trump Tower in New York, the US President also defended himself against criticism that he was slow to condemn the violence.

He told reporters he had wanted to get all the facts before he made his second, stronger statement, in which he called neo-Nazis and white supremacists "repugnant".

"The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement, but you don't make statements that direct unless you know the facts.

"It takes a little while to get the facts," said Mr Trump.


What happened in Charlottesville?

The President's first statement - which claimed "many sides" were involved and stopped short of specifically condemning the far-right - was widely criticised.

Facing a barrage of questions on Tuesday, a combative Mr Trump again insisted not all the facts were known and that anti right-wing protesters were "also very violent" and "came charging with clubs".

"You had a group on one side that was bad. You had a group on the other side that was also very violent.

"Nobody wants to say that. I'll say it right now," the President said.

Sky's US correspondent Cordelia Lynch said Mr Trump was clearly frustrated as reporters pursued him over the Charlottesville issue.

Lynch said the President "effectively undid part of the statement that he issued yesterday" with his "shooting from the hip" performance.

'Wait a minute. I'm not finished, fake news'

Shortly after Mr Trump's remarks, Speaker of the house Paul Ryan tweeted: "We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity."

Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and 19 were injured when a man allegedly deliberately drove his car at a crowd as protesters faced off in the Virginia city at the weekend.

Mr Trump called the man arrested, James Alex Fields Jr, a "disgrace to himself, his family and this country" - but declined to call the act "terrorism".

Protesters, including from the far-right, had gathered in Charlottesville over the removal of a statue of General Robert E Lee, head of the pro-slavery Confederate army in the Civil War.

Mr Trump seized on the statue debate and challenged reporters to say whether statues of some American presidents should also be pulled down if they had owned slaves.

Image: Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when the car drove into a crowd

Image: James Alex Fields Jr (centre), 20, was arrested

"I wonder if it is George Washington next week and Thomas Jefferson the week after?" he asked.

The fallout from Mr Trump's first statement has seen a number of high-profile business people step down from a government advisory group.

And following his latest news conference AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka became the fifth member of Mr Trump's manufacturing jobs council to quit.

The controversy appears far from dying down, especially with figures such as former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke welcoming the President's latest words.

He tweeted: "Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa."