Trump criticised after failing to condemn white supremacy groups
US President Donald Trump has come under fire from politicians on both sides of the divide after he failed to explicitly condemn far right groups following a car attack in Virginia on Saturday.
One woman was killed in the attack and dozens more injured as 20-year-old James Fields allegedly rammed into a group of people protesting against a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
Fields has been charged with murder following the attack, while the US Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation.
Speaking after the attack, Trump condemned the 'egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides.'
Democrats and Republicans urged Trump to be more specific about his blame for the violence, after some white supremacists had marched through the streets cheering the President's name.
Republican senator Marco Rubio, who ran against Trump in the party's primaries last year, tweeted: "Very important for the nation to hear @potus describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists."
Very important for the nation to hear @potus describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 12, 2017
Prominent Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren was damning in her criticism of Trump's words.
Warren said: "How can President Trump show whose side he's on? He can start by publicly calling this what it is: white supremacy. We make judgments as human beings and as a country about right and wrong. When there's evil, we all need to say it. Especially our President."
Pressure on the domestic front is the last thing Trump would have welcomed as he attempts to maintain his strong front against North Korea, with global financial markets trembling at the prospect of a Pyongyang strike on the US territory of Guam.