Car attack:

Judge denies bail for man charged with ramming his car into a crowd of demonstrators protesting at white nationalist rally.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Monday that the “evil attack” in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend meets the legal definition of an act of domestic terrorism, an early declaration in an investigation after a car plowed into a crowd of protesters.

“It does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute,” Sessions said on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” referring to a fatal attack on Saturday when a vehicle drove into a crowd protesting white nationalists, killing one woman and injuring others. A 20-year-old man has been arrested and charged by Virginia authorities with seconddegree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and failing to stop at the scene of a crash that resulted in a death.

“You can be sure we will charge and advance the investigation toward the most serious charges that can be brought because this is unequivocally an unacceptable evil attack,” Sessions said, adding that terrorism and civil rights investigators were working on the case.

Sessions appeared on several morning news shows on Monday, condemning the violent demonstrations over the removal of a Confederate monument and defending President Trump’s initial response.

Trump was widely criticized for not specifically condemning white racists for the violence in Charlottesville. On Monday, however, the president said “racism is evil” and singled out the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists as “criminals and thugs.”

Sessions, who is coming off weeks of pointed criticism from Trump over his performance as attorney general, was pressed to explain why the president had not forcefully condemned white nationalism.

As U.S. attorney in Alabama, Sessions was accused decades ago of making racist comments, something he has denied.

Eileen Sullivan is a New York Times writer.