Charlottesville (Aug. 2017): Trump says 'blame on both sides' and 'very fine people on both sides' after the Unite the Right rally and the killing of Heather Heyer

Case

After the Aug. 11-12, 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where counterprotester Heather Heyer was killed when a car drove into a crowd, Trump first blamed violence 'on many sides,' then on Aug. 14 condemned the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists, then on Aug. 15 at Trump Tower said there was 'blame on both sides' and 'very fine people on both sides.' Republican leaders including Paul Ryan criticized the remarks and former KKK leader David Duke praised them.

What happened (Aug. 11-15, 2017)
The 'Unite the Right' gathering of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend of Aug. 11-12, 2017 involved Confederate flags, swastikas and chants including 'blood and soil,' and resulted in multiple injuries.
Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when a car was driven into a group of counterprotesters; the suspect, 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr., was charged with second-degree murder.
On Aug. 12 Trump's first statement cited violence 'on many sides,' which drew criticism for not condemning the hate groups; on Aug. 14 he specifically condemned the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists in a prepared statement.
On Aug. 15 at Trump Tower he said there was 'blame on both sides,' said there were 'very fine people on both sides,' and said the counterprotesters were 'very violent.' He also called the white supremacist groups 'bad.'
He asked what the 'alt-left' had done, noted the rally had a permit while the other group did not, and questioned whether statues of slaveholding founders like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson might be next to be removed.
He called the driver a 'murderer' but declined to call the attack domestic terrorism, unlike Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said white supremacy is repulsive and Rep. Steve Stivers said white supremacists and neo-Nazis are evil; Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said blaming 'both sides' was a return to relativism. Former KKK leader David Duke thanked Trump for his 'honesty and courage.'

Perspectives

Critic — Republican and Democratic lawmakers (Paul Ryan, Steve Stivers, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mark Warner)
Critics in both parties said the Aug. 15 remarks equated white supremacists with those who opposed them, reversing the more forceful Aug. 14 statement; Sen. Mark Warner said Trump 'just couldn't move on,' and Duke's praise was cited as evidence of how the remarks were received.

Defender — Donald Trump and his defenders
Defenders point to Trump's Aug. 14 statement specifically condemning the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists and to his Aug. 15 description of those groups as 'bad,' and say his 'very fine people' line was aimed at people protesting the removal of the Lee statue, not the hate groups. Trump said he was not putting anybody on a moral plane and argued the counterprotesters were also violent.

Note
What 'very fine people' referred to is disputed: Trump's critics read it as equating white supremacists with counterprotesters; his defenders note he separately condemned neo-Nazis and the KKK on Aug. 14 and called the groups 'bad' on Aug. 15.

Sources
[1] NPR via WFAE — Trump blames 'both sides' for Charlottesville (https://www.wfae.org/politics/2017-08-15/trump-blames-both-sides-for-charlottesville) · 2017-08-15
[2] Roll Call — Far-right protesters in Virginia included 'very fine' people, Trump says (https://rollcall.com/2017/08/15/far-right-protesters-in-virginia-included-very-fine-people-trump-says/) · 2017-08-15

Connections

Same context — Jan. 6, 2021 and Trump's rhetoric: the impeachment, the committee, the court rulings, the pardons, and later incidents at his events (2021-2026)
Both concern Trump's rhetoric around far-right groups and political violence.

Same actor — Trump's documented degrading and dehumanizing statements about people (hub)
Trump's 2017 remarks after Charlottesville, alongside his other documented statements about groups of people.