Donald Trump has praised his response to the violence that occurred in Charlottesville in Virginia on Saturday as "excellent", dismissing criticism over the time it took him to condemn the white nationalists involved.

The US President was widely criticised for originally saying there was "hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides", in violent clashes in which a 32-year-old woman was killed.

Today he said the groups protesting against white supremacists in Virginia were "also very violent" calling those protesters the "alt-left."

At a press conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, Trump said "before I make a statement I need the facts", adding that the statement he did make on Saturday "was excellent".

"I don't want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement," he said.

He then took out a copy of his original statement, repeating the start but omitting to repeat his "on many sides" line.

"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 added.

He also claimed the mother of Heather Heyer - the woman killed when a car rammed a crowd of anti-fascist protestors - had said the "nicest things" about him on social media.

"I very much appreciated that," he said, adding: "I hear she was a fine, actually an incredible young woman - but her mother on Twitter thanked me for what I said."