Mike Pence cuts short international trip as Trump flounders amid white nationalist controversy

Mr Pence says he stands with President Trump over his Charlottesville remarks

US Vice President Mike Pence in Santiago, Chile (Esteban Felix/AP)

Vice President Mile Pence is cutting short his trip to Latin America amid the controversy over President Donald Trump's remarks relating to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The White House announced that Mr Pence would be travelling to Camp David with the president on Friday to meet with the White House national security team on South Asia strategy.

Mr Pence had originally been scheduled to return home Friday afternoon. Instead, he'll be leaving late on Thursday.

Mr Pence is still scheduled to travel to Panama, where he will meet with the country's president and tour the newly enlarged Panama canal before returning to Washington.

Mr Pence did not directly answer questions about Mr Trump's comments regarding the Charlottesville protesters, but said he stands with the president.

Mr Pence would not say whether he agrees with Mr Trump that there were “fine people” among the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who took to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend.

Mr Trump has said that “both sides” are to blame for the violence between white supremacists and counter-demonstrators in Charlottesville. One woman died when a car rammed into a crowd of people protesting the white nationalist rally.

In a carefully-worded statement, Mr Pence called what happened in Charlottesville “a tragedy” and said, “the president has been clear on this tragedy and so have I”.

“I spoke at length about this heartbreaking situation on Sunday night in Colombia and I stand with the president and I stand by those words,” he added.

Mr Pence said on Sunday that “these dangerous fringe groups have no place in American public life and in the American debate, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”

He said on Wednesday that even though he is in Chile, “our hearts are in Charlottesville” where a funeral for the young woman killed during the protest was being held. He said he has been praying for her.

“The strength of the United States of America is always strongest as the president has said so eloquently when we are united around our shared values and so it will always be,” Mr Pence said.

The Vice President is on a week-long trip to Latin America to build ties with the region and speak out against the growing crisis in Venezuela.

After meeting with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, he said he will “return from this trip more encouraged than ever that not only will our commerce grow, strengthening jobs and opportunities in America, strengthening prosperity across Latin America”.

He also called on Chile to “break all diplomatic and commercial ties” to North Korea. He said he made the request to Ms Bachelet, and is making the same ask of Peru, Mexico and Brazil.

North Korea has no diplomatic offices or banking institution in Chile, but the two countries do have a trade relationship.

Mr Pence said “we are beginning to see progress” when it comes to North Korea, but says that “much more” must still be done. The Trump administration has been trying to pressure Pyongyang to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programme.

Associated Press