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President Trump calls Ohio man accused in Charlottesville attack 'a murderer'

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CINCINNATI -- President Donald Trump called the man accused of driving a car into a crowd of people protesting a a white supremacist rally a "murderer" during a news conference in New York Tuesday.

James Fields Jr., 20, who grew up in Florence, Kentucky and now lives in Ohio, has been charged in the Charlottesville, Virginia attack that killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injured more than 20 others.

"I think the driver of the car is a disgrace to himself, his family and this country," Trump said. "You can call it terrorism, you can call it murder, you can call it whatever you want."

Fields is being held without bail on charges of second-degree murder, malicious wounding and failure to stop in an accident that resulted in death.

"The driver of the car is a murderer and what he did is a horrible, horrible, inexcusable thing," Trump said.

A photo from before the car attack appears to show Fields with a white supremacist organization at the rally.

Records show that Fields was previously accused of beating his mother and threatening her with a knife.

A former teacher at Cooper High School, where Fields graduated in 2015, said Fields was "infatuated" with Nazis and Adolf Hitler. A former classmate of Fields also said "he would proclaim himself to be a Nazi. ... it was not a secret."