THE mother of a woman who was killed while demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has said she will not speak to President Donald Trump because of comments he made after her daughter's death.
Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, said she initially missed the first few calls to her from the White House.
Speaking on ABC's Good Morning America, she said she will not talk to the president after a news conference in which Mr Trump equated violence by white supremacists at the rally with violence by those protesting against it.
Ms Bro's daughter, 32-year-old Ms Heyer, was killed and 19 others were injured when a driver rammed a car into a crowd of demonstrators last Saturday.
An Ohio man, James Alex Fields Jr, has been arrested and charged with murder and other offences.
Mr Trump drew criticism when he addressed last Saturday's violence in broad strokes, saying he condemned "in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides".
Pressured by advisers, the president had softened his words on the dispute by Monday, but returned to his combative stance a day later - insisting during an unexpected and contentious news conference at Trump Tower that "both sides" were to blame.
Ms Bro said of the president: "You can't wash this one away by shaking my hand and saying: 'I'm sorry'."
She also advised Mr Trump to "think before you speak".
