Charlottesville Mayor says 'direct line' from Donald Trump's election campaign to deadly neo-Nazi rally

US President should 'look in the mirror' and condemn white supremacists emboldened by his campaign, said Michael Signer

There is a "direct line" between Donald Trump's "gutter" election campaign and the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville that erupted in deadly violence, the city's mayor has suggested.

Michael Signer said the US President "should look in the mirror" and condemn the white supremacist movement, which he warned had been "invited into the daylight" by the Republican's rhetoric.

He spoke out as demonstrations were held across the US on Sunday following the killing of anti-fascist protestor Heather Heyer, 32, in the Virginia city.

She died and 25 people were injured when they were mowed down by a car as they peacefully opposed the neo-Nazi rally on Saturday.

James Alex Fields, the 20-year-old accused of murdering miss Ms Heyer by deliberately ploughing into the crowds, was pictured earlier that day carrying the emblem of a hate group that took part in the Unite the Right rally.

Mr Signer said he did not "want to make this too much about Donald Trump," but urged the President to "say enough is enough".

"We have a lot of grieving and a lot of work to do as a city and as a country, but he should look in the mirror," the mayor told CBS News.

"He made a choice in his presidential campaign and the folks around with him to go right to the gutter, to play on our worst prejudices, and I think you're seeing a direct line from what happened here this weekend to those choices."

He suggested white nationalist groups had been "invited into the daylight" and felt emboldened after being "invited into basically a presidential campaign".

"That has to stop and it can stop now," he added.

In another interview with NBC, the Charlottesville mayor called for Ms Heyer's death to be a "turning point" in the tide of white nationalism.

"People are dying, and I do think that it's now on the President and on all of us to say enough is enough. This movement has run its course," he said.

"The time has come for this to stop. This should be a turning point."

He told CNN that Mr Trump needed to denounce the white supremacist movement as "domestic terrorism".

“This is not hard,” he said. "There's two words that need to be said over and over again, domestic terrorism and white supremacy. That is exactly what we saw on display this weekend. And we just aren't seeing leadership from the White House.”

The White House on Sunday insisted Mr Trump condemned white supremacist groups, after the President was criticised for an earlier statement that failed to directly denounce the actions of neo-Nazis in Charlottesville.

“The President said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred and of course that includes white Supremacists, KKK, neo-nazi and all extremist groups,” a spokesman said. "He called for national unity and bringing all Americans together.”

The statement was not directly attributed to Mr Trump himself, who had previously condemned only "hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides."

The President's comments drew praise from the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, which wrote: "Trump comments were good. He didn't attack us. He just said the nation should come together. Nothing specific against us... No condemnation at all."

The website had been promoting the Charlottesville demonstration as part of its "Summer of Hate".