TRUMP DIGS IN: GOP senator, media 'totally misrepresent' what I said after Charlottesville

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Donald Trump

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 in New York.

President Donald Trump is digging in on widely disparaged remarks he's made in the wake of the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend.

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"Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists and people like Ms. Heyer," Trump tweeted Thursday morning, referencing Heather Heyer, who died in Charlottesville on Saturday, and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

"Such a disgusting lie. He just can't forget his election trouncing. The people of South Carolina will remember!" Trump tweeted, referring to Graham.

Graham, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and has been critical of Trump, said in a statement Wednesday that Trump "took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and KKK members who attended the Charlottesville rally and people like Ms. Heyer. I, along with many others, do not endorse this moral equivalency."

Graham was responding to Trump's statements on Tuesday, where the president stated there was "blame on both sides" for the violence in Charlottesville.

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"You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent," Trump said. "Nobody wants to say that, but I'll say it."

The president also took a shot at the media in his tweets Thursday morning.

"The public is learning (even more so) how dishonest the Fake News is. They totally misrepresent what I say about hate, bigotry etc. Shame!" Trump tweeted.