NEW YORK – A combative President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday "there is blame on both sides" for the deadly violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, appearing to once again equate the actions of white supremacist groups and those protesting them. The president's comments effectively wiped away the more conventional statement he delivered at the White House one day earlier when he branded members of the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who take part in violence as "criminals and thugs." Trump's advisers had hoped those remarks might quell a crush of criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. The president's retorts Tuesday suggested he had been a reluctant participant in that cleanup effort.