Even by the Police Officers who protected them. By contrast, crowds of counterprotesters showed up to make sure the hate groups did not march without answer. Their voices and signs promoting peace, diversity, tolerance, and support for the people of charlottesville. Cnns brian todd and sara sidner are both on the ground in washington. Brian, are the people you were following feeling victorious, given the white supremacist rally ended early, it was poorly attended . Reporter well, they really kind of are, ana. The passion and the energy was really on this side of this whole dynamic today. Were standing in a place where just not long ago there were thousands of antifascist, antiracist protesters here in northwest washington. Theyve been asked by the police to clear the street and get back on the sidewalk over here. So some of them are just kind of walking away from this. The fact that its driving rainstorm and has been for about an hour and a half now is also kind of serving to disperse some of the protesters. One of the big stories is, as you mentioned, the numbers were really on the side of the people on this side of the protest, the antiracist protesters numbered several thousand, the white supremacist protesters were maybe numbering around 20. Thats just an uneven count there. But they were really just not much in attendance in this equation today. They were kept over here just behind me, about 200 yards. And these antiracist protesters that were here were not allowed to get beyond this barrier. That was the big story of today, the distance they kept, the two sides, from each other. They were not about to let these two sides get into a confrontation like they did in charlottesville last year. They kept them several hundred yards away from each other at a given moment and nothing flared up as a result of that. The d. C. Police taking every precaution here. Until just a few minutes ago, she had two huge dump trucks and snowplows blocking this street. This is pennsylvania avenue. Again, trying to avoid any repeat of the vehicular incident, that horrible, horrible moment in charlottesville last year. Thats illustrative of what police were doing here, keeping vehicular traffic away, and keeping protesters away from each other. Thats the big story today. Of course along with the fact that the message of the White Supremacists got completely groundout by the antiracist protesters here, ana. Lets check in with sara sidner, you stayed by the White Supremacists. How did things go down where you are . Reporter cnn. Com got it right, White Supremacists were outnumbered on their own rally. Maybe two dozen came. Some of them said were not White Supremacists, were not white nationalists, were here because our civil rights are being articulated. They had a heart time articulating what their motives were. Jason kessler, the organizations leader, you are seeing some of the counterprotesters here but the rain is having an effect on that and having an effect on the unite the right marchers who came, they actually left. They did their rally very early and they left very early. They were taken out in advance. They came by foot but taken out in vans. Police doing share job, keeping these two groups apart. There was a Huge Police Presence here. And they will be criticized, some people saying why were so many police here. They were here because of what happened in charlottesville. They wanted to make absolutely sure that did not happen again, the violence that unfolded there and the killing of heather heyer. Sara sidner, brian todd, both from washington, thank you. You may be feeling relief at home, but the reality is we have a long way to go. The number of hate groups in the u. S. Is still on the rise according to the southern poverty law center. Neonazi groups have seen the largest increase, up 22 since Trump Took Office in 2017. Joining us now, political commentator mark lamont hill. Also with us, jonathan greenblatt, director and ceo of the antidefamation league, and a filmmaker and cnn. Com contributor. I want to read you a statement about todays events from the virginia governor. He writes, those torches in charlottesville a year ago shown a light on an ugly truth but they also reawakened our commitment to fight back against the ugliness of racism and bigotry. Mark, this ugliness he speaks of being so out in the open in the u. S. , its not hiding at all. Does that make it easier to fight or push back on this type of racism and bigotry . What it does is it dislodges us from this position of fantasy. Many people in 2008, when barack obama was elected, said we were in a post racial moment, that america has turned a corner. While certainly america turned some sort of a corner to put a black man into the office, what weve seen in the era of trump and even in the era of obama when the rise of hate groups was also witnessed, is that we havent fully turned the corner, that there is still antisemitism, still antiblack racism, still homophobia. When we see this out in the open, we have to say, we have to do something about it. For a long time people pretended it didnt exist and people who were trying to raise this as an issue were told they were living in the past. Half of americans six years ago were satisfied with race relations, in 2012, compare to 2018, 29 are satisfied with race relations, 64 not satisfied. Dean, how do you interpret that . I think these have changing and people are aware of it, theyre woke, they know whats going on. Ill just share personally, i used to tell people personally, i would write articles about being muslim and pushing back against bigotry, i would get angry hate mail. I never got death threats. Now in the time of trump, that changing. I wrote an article before charlottesville about terrorism, i said, donald trump, you use the term radical islamic terrorism, using the term white supremacist terrorism. The surprise on the daily stormer, one of the biggest nazi websites, was to fabricate tweets saying i was involved in the manchester tweets and telling people to come after me. I got inundated with death threats. This is the country we live in today. Sadly, we have a person in the white house who said there are fine people on both sides, and retweeted White Supremacists during the campaign, using terms like chain migration, which ive written about for cnn in the past, comes from white supremacist literature. Their idea of chain migration, that its inherently bad. I wrote about low iq, that term comes right from the 1990s through today, through race science of White Supremacists with the idea that theyre inherently smarter than black r to the point that david duke has said youre a traitor to your race if you dont support him. You put a lot of the responsibility right now, and blame, it sounds like, on the president of the united states. But is that going to wake people up if they are on his side . Im not sure how you wake them up. Polls show that americans right now, about 50 say donald trump is racist. A little below that say hes not. When you break it down by race, its close to 80 of africanamericans say donald trump is racist, 60 of hispanic americans. When you get to white americans, a majority say hes not. Those are his base. I have people call my sirius xm show, conservatives say, donald trump isnt a racist. I go through the litany of things. Theyll go through a million mental machinations, theyll say thats not not racist. We dont even agree on a definition of racism for bigotry. I dont know how you reach people if they dont agree on whats racist, thats part of the problem. Jonathan, you guys, the antidefamation league, put out an extremist tracker. And were showing it right now. As we take a look at this, what do you think this reveals . Sure. So the heat map that we just published this week tracks hate, extremism, antisemitism, and terror. What it shows us is that it is not a new phenomenon. Over the last two decades weve seen thousands and thousands of acts of harassment, vandalism and violence against people based on their race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation. It is really a problem. What dean is pointing out, that is a real issue, is the rise of extremist rhetoric and the rise of real world actions over the last two years. So you do feel like there is a heightened level of all of this. What do you attribute it to . There are different phenomena driving the rise of white supremacy. The divisive state of our National Rhetoric is helping to drive this kind of extremism. And you see it wherever, from the mainstreaming of the kind of terms that dean just pointed out, to the fact that this year alone, in this election cycle, we have nine White Supremacists running for political office. I mean, thats really unprecedented. We have seen a social media crackdown, though, making it more difficult for hate groups to organize, to recruit, to spread their hateful messages. Weve also seen some Companies Like paypal shutdown some of these white supremacist groups, making it difficult for them to fund raise. Does that make a difference . It does. The weaponization of social media has been one of their tactics because they cant typically get on channels like this or Networks Like this. So theyve used facebook, twitter, and reddit and 4chan to organize and effect harassment and violence against people. Indeed those companies have a responsibility. Were glad, at adl, theyre starting to take action. Laura ingrahams comments this week on fox, lets listen. In some parts of the country it does seem like the america we know and love doesnt exist anymore. Massive demographics changes have foisted upon the American People, changes that most of us didnt vote for and most of us dont like. Much of this is related to illegal and in some cases Legal Immigration that of course progressives love. She obviously felt those comments would be wellreceived by her viewers, mark, what does that tell you . It tells you who her viewers are. It also is the idea that there is a sense of america, a slice of American Life that harkens back or desire for a moment when whiteness was the order of the day. Im speaking from a demographic perspective. The idea that the america we knew and loved is directly tied to the number of white people who are here and that the american we know and love is somehow being chipped away at every time a mexican comes across the border, every time someone comes from south asia or the middle east, suggests their vision of america is one that is only compatible with whiteness. The fact that theres a chunk of people who feel like to make America Great again we have to kick out the mexicans, not allow people from the middle east or africa, that speaks to a clear conception of white supremacy. That kind of understanding of how america should work is directly tied to Donald Trumps campaign and definitely tied to his administration. Thats why we keep bringing donald trump back into this, not because he calls all of it, but because his world view resonates with theirs and it only stokes the fire. Dean, quickly, because i want to get to a happier note to end up this segment, when it comes to making progress and trying to break through with people who would agree with what we just heard Laura Ingraham say, what can be done . Because some of these people have a genuine fear of other. They do. Thats the hardest thing. Its palpable, thats real. They say muslims are going to bring shariah law, which is not true, its a phantom menace. You appeal to their empathy. I think the real thing to focus on is building alliances of other communities that stand together. The jewish community, the adl. The muslim community, the africanamerican community, christian groups, standing together united, saying were against bigotry, were against hate, and maybe then we can reach out and reach them. Mark is right, what laura said plays well. Tucker carlson said something worse than that. Last week they were saying, we dont want somebodys uncle from zimbabwe in this country. Fox news is providing a home for these people. Donald trump is normalizing and mainstreaming White Nationalism in this country. Gentlemen, thank you all for the conversation, great to have you with us. Were following a major reversal from the president s legal team. Today the president s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, claiming the president never asked former fbi director james comey to drop an investigation into Michael Flynn. Here is guiliani. The president says he never told comey that he should go easy on flynn. Comey saiys the president did. He put it in his memo. If he testifies to that under oath, instead of this just being a dispute, they can say its perjury if they elect to believe comey instead of trump. This isnt what guiliani said just last month. How is he a good witness for the president if hes saying that the president was asking him, directing him in his words to let the Michael Flynn investigation go . He didnt direct him to do that. What he said to him was, can you give him a break. Comey says he took it as direction. By that time he had been fired, he said a lot of other things, some of which have turned out to be untrue. The reality is, as a prosecutor, i was told that many times, can you give the man a break, either by his lawyers, his relatives, by friends. You take that into consideration. That doesnt determine not Going Forward with it. To be clear, last month guiliani said the president asked comey to give flynn a break. Today guiliani claims trump and comey never even talked about flynn, a significant reversal. Cnn white correspondent Boris Sanchez is in new jersey where the president is spending the weekend. Boris, this request could be a crucial part of muellers investigation into obstruction. How is the white house explaining this reversal . Reporter hey there, ana. Rudy giuliani essentially made the case that it was just a misunderstanding, that he was using a device in legal argue umentation and that led to confusion. He said he was arguing in the alternative, although during that abc interview from july, he doesnt make that clear. He simply states that what the president asked of james comey was to give Michael Flynn a break. He then goes on to argue that as a prosecutor he heard that many times from people and that he took it into consideration when making decisions. He suggests that james comey should not have taken it as a directive, essentially making the case that the president did not obstruct justice. Again, he did not make that clear when jake tapper on state of the union this morning replayed that sound for Rudy Giuliani, he said this. Listen. You didnt direct him, you said he said give him a break. I know its complicated. My goodness, weve been over it long enough. Why would i Say Something that isnt true . The president didnt say to him, go easy on flynn or anything about flynn. Hes saying that. I am talking about their alternative. Im saying the conversation never took place. But if it did take place, and heres the conversation thats alleged, it is not illegal to have said that. Reporter now, ana, to be clear, its not the first time that weve seen the president or his attorneys try to clarify and reclarify certain aspects of the russia investigation or hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and other women. Weve seen this happen before. This is part of the reason that jay sekulow and Rudy Giuliani have suggested the president should not testify before robert mueller. They believe the special counsel is setting a perjury trap. And the reason not to testify, as jay sekulow put it, is because were watching the facts develop, ana. The facts develop. I thought facts were facts were facts. Boris sanchez in new jersey, thank you. Stunning claims from former white house aide Omarosa Manigault newman. Well play what she says is a secret recording of the moment she was fired by white house chief of staff john kelly. Plus a republican congressman from new york ends his Reelection Campaign after being indicted for alleged insider trading. So is this seat once considered safe for the gop now up for grabs . Well discuss. The fact is, there are over ninetysix hundred roads named park in the u. S. Its americas most popular street name. But allstate agents know thats where the similarity stops. If youre on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the Washoe Zephyr could damage your siding. And thats very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. But no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local allstate agents knows yours. Now that you know the truth, are you in good hands . Sharper vision, without limits. Days that go from sun up to sun down. A whole world in all its beauty. Three Innovative Technologies for our ultimate in vision, clarity, and protection. Together in a single lens. Essilor ultimate lens package. Purchase the essilor ultimate lens package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. Essilor. Better sight. Better life. Omarosa, the former reality star turned top white aide, is now turning on her former boss. Not only has she written a tellall book about her time in the white house, but she is sharing secret recordings she made while there, including one of a conversation she says she had with chief of staff john kelly inside the situation room. This is the moment omarosa was fired. Can i ask you a couple of questions . Is the president aware of lets not go down the road. This is a nonnegotiable discussion. I dont want to negotiate. I never had a chance to talk to you, general kelly. If this is my departure, i would at least like to have an opportunity to understand. We can talk another time. This has to do with some pretty serious integrity violations. So ill let it go at that. The staff and everyone on the staff works for me, not the president. Again, that tape, taken without kellys knowledge in what should be the most secure room in the whit