President Trump: Neo-Nazis Bad, But 'What About The Alt-Left?' (Watch)

NEW YORK, NY — President Trump on Tuesday unleashed a tirade against the media and "alt-left" protesters who gathered in Charlottesville over the weekend, throwing the power of his office behind a remarkable defense of those gathered for a white supremacist protest that ended with the death of a woman run over by an alleged Nazi sympathizer.

Within minutes of the president's remarks during a testy and at times surreal news conference, David Duke, a former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, tweeted his thanks to Trump for having the "honesty & courage" to condemn "the leftist terrorists" in Virginia to march against the racist rally.

Trump said large groups of counter-protesters at Saturday's rally in Virginia were “very, very violent” when "they came charging with clubs in their hands" to confront the nationalist and Nazi groups that had gathered to protest the removal of a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee from a park.

Trump, taking questions from reporters following brief remarks on infrastructure, suggested that removing statues of a Confederate statue might be a slippery slope to taking down memorials for slave-holders, such as Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Trump: Both Sides To Blame For Charlottesville

“Many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee,” Trump said of those mingling Saturday among the neo-Nazis and protesters wearing hoods and carrying torches. “This week, it is Robert E. Lee and this week, Stonewall Jackson. Is it George Washington next? You have to ask yourself, where does it stop?”

While Trump repeated his condemnation of white supremacists and Nazis, he expressed sympathy for some. "You're changing history, you're changing culture," he said, and said that many of the people defending the Lee statue have been unfairly maligned. "You had many people in that group other than white supremacists and neo-Nazis."

Trump said there were "some very fine people" on both sides of the protests.

He also accused the media of sloppy and biased reporting on the events.

"I watched this very closely — much more closely than you people watched it," he said, adding that the media did not report on the "left wing" violence.

“You had a group on one side and the other, and they came at each other with clubs, and it was vicious and horrible. It was a horrible thing to watch,” the president said. “There is another side. There was a group on this side, you can call them the left. You have just called them the left, that came violently attacking the other group. You can say what you want. That’s the way it is.”

Asked about Sen. John McCain's criticisms of the alt-right, Trump asked the reporter to define the "alt-right." "What about the alt-left?" he asked. He also slammed McCain for voting against the GOP's health care reform bill.

He wouldn't call the attacker who drove a car into the crowd of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, killing one woman and injuring 19 others a terrorist, though he said, "The driver of the car is a disgrace to himself, this family and this country."

"You can call this terrorism," he went on. "The driver of the car is a murderer."

Reporters pushed the president to say why his initial statement on Saturday didn't condemn white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the KKK — groups when Trump belatedly denounced Monday.

"I like to wait for the facts," he said. “When I make a statement I like to be correct.” However, Trump has previously shown no hesitation to condemn others he thought were wrong. He accused President Obama, for example, of "wire tapping" Trump Tower while providing no evidence and then called for an investigation into the matter.

Recent reports suggest that Trump may be planning on firing top strategist Steve Bannon in the near future. Asked about these reports, he said, "I like Mr. Bannon, he's a friend of mine. "

In an apparent rebuke to those who credit Bannon for Trump's election, the president said, "But he came on very late." He added: "He is not a racist, I can tell you that."

But on an ominous note, Trump continued: "We'll see what happens with Mr. Bannon."

Critics of the president immediately condemned his statements from all corners, offering swift denunciation of his attempt to blame both sides for Charlottesville.

"Great and good American presidents seek to unite not divide," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted. "Donald Trump’s remarks clearly show he is not one of them."

Even some members of Trump's own party were aghast at his remarks. "This was a white nationalist rally," said conservative writer Guy Benson on Fox News in response to the president's statements.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio sent out the following tweets:

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Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images