We are equal in the eyes of our creator. We are equal under the law. Todays comments were part of a two day cleanup effort to stem fallout created by Donald Trumps first comments around the same time that news outlets were reporting that violence there had taken a startling turn. The remarks were about to show you make were made that a car had crashed into the counterprotesters and 20 minutes before it was publicly confirmed that haets Heather Heyer had lost her life there. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides. While those many sides remarks spurned a weekend of crushing condemnation and calls for the president to speak out against the racist elements within his own base of support, he didnt clean them up neatly or efficiently. The white house released an anonymous statement to reporters yesterday, the president said very strongly in his statement saturday that he condemns all forms of violence, b
Oh, bank was out for blood. Was he trying to reenact home grown terror in americas history . We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Were following breaking news. President trump saying the words he refused to say for two days. He now specifically condemning racist groups and their role in the attacks in charlottesville, virginia. Mr. Trump sticking to a prepared script declaring that racism is evil and calling out the kkk, neonazis and white supremacist as repugnant. His remarks came at the white house after republicans as well as democrats have been expressing outrage over his initial response to the weekend violence in charlottesville when he suggested that many sides were to blame. Also tonight, the suspect in the deadly cara ta attack is be held without bond charged with Second Degree murder. James alex fields is accused of plowing his car into a crowd of protesters
Charlottesville and the Police Department in charlottesville and the Mayors Office of charlottesville before saturday mornings riot happened that they were not to make arrests without the explicit approval of the mayor, of the city of charlottesville. Were going to ask that question of the police chief. I know that other people will want to ask of the police chief, whether he intends to resign. Thats one of the rumors ive heard of it from reporters that told me that they would ask that question of the police chief. Theyre under a lot of fire for the way they handled this. There is certainly an easy and benign explanation for the way they handled it. Theyre a small police force and a small city. Weve heard from the police chief, for example, in philadelphia, pennsylvania who said the way major cities handle this kind of thing is with a demonstration of overwhelming force and proactive policing. And once people that are demonstrating see that and understand what the outcome will be, they
They havent told us about any potential motive for the alleged attack saturday, havent said if they believe anyone was working with the suspect, james fields, and we have not heard whether mr. Fields has actually cooperated with authorities. We do know from Justice Department sources they believe there may be enough evidence to be suspicious of him possibly wanting to send some kind of broader message rather than just harm the individuals who he allegedly hit saturday. Some details on motive, whether he is cooperating, whether others were working with him may be forthcoming in a few minutes from the chief of police. All right, brian todd in charlottesville. Well come back to you as soon as the press conference begins. We expect that any second. Lets go to cnns sara murray at the white house. Sara, the president today came out earlier and did finally condemn by name White Supremacists, the Klu Klux Klan, nazis. Why not do that on saturday . Why wait until today . Why does the president
Rob the gunmen identified as Nikolaus Cruz, 19yearold wearing a gas mask, armed with an ar 15 semi automatic rifle and smoke grenades. He would end up killing 17 people. Jillian the latest on the investigation is police dig into his chilling social media posts in search of a motive. Fox and friends first continues right now. Rob welcome to fox and friends first. Jillian we are starting on a sad note. More than a dozen people murdered in cold blood at a Florida High School and we are learning more about the gunmens past and possible warning signs. Rob so much to get to. We have a team of reporters on this including one outside the school. To recap some of the information, 17 people killed, a number of people wounded. This is a suburb of the Fort Lauderdale area in Broward County, to the west, a very affluent neighborhood where people come to raise a family, safe neighborhood, you trust your kids come to school and come home safe, Large High School in a big school district, a school that