President Trump spoke Saturday as unrest grew from a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump did not take questions from the media but instead delivered a prepared statement, in which he slammed the "display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides" present in Charlottesville, where white nationalist groups are clashing with anti-racism groups.
"It has been going on for a long time in our country, not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. It has been going on for a long, long time," Trump said in his statement.
Trump did not specifically comment on an incident in Charlottesville where a car slammed into a group of protesters, which resulted in at least 19 injuries and at least one death.
When the speech ended, a reporter could be heard asking the president if he considered that incident to be "terrorism." But Trump walked away without giving an answer.
PHOTOS: Chaos in Charlottesville
During his speech, Trump labeled the unrest in Virginia as "terrible events."
Trump's address was meant to be unrelated to the violence in Virginia and was instead supposed to focus on his signing of the Veteran’s Affairs Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017.
