Airline employee has been identified as Richard Russell. I dont know how he achieved the experience. Its going to disappoint them to hear i did this. I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. I was just shocked to see someone so nice, so helpful, and caring. Announcer this is new day weekend with Victor Blackwell and christi paul. Good sunday morning. How and why did he do it . Cnn speaks exclusively a former coworker. A man crashed an empty passenger plane. White supremacists in charlottesville and counterprotesters heading to the capital. The president faces accusations of hypocrisy after his wifes parents use a visa that he has opposed. We speak with the sheriff of the compound in new mexico where people were living in squalor conditions there and a remains of a small child. Nasa will travel closer to the sun closer than any spacecraft before it. Your new day start right now. So glad to have you with us. 7 02. It was hard to listen to the man who was flying that stolen passenger plane near seattle yesterday as he was talking to the tower and apologizing to the people who loved him. Yes, that was Richard Russell. Now those who loved him say that they are shocked after russell was identified as the Airline Employee who took off from the seattle airport in that empty plane and then crashed it an hour later. This is a complete shock to us. We are devastated by these events and jesus is truly the only one holding this family together right now. As the voice recordings show, his attempt was not to harm anyone. He was right in saying that there are so many people who have loved him. We are learning more about his training on the ground as well. Officials say he was authorized to tow planes to their gates but they do not believe he had a pilots license. It is still early in the criminal investigation. Officials are working to recover the planes data recordings and russells remains. Airport Security Experts are pointing out there have been several flaws identified in the system by this incident. Cnn correspondent dan simon is live with an exclusive interview with one of russells former coworkers. Dan, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, victor and christi. We are beginning to get a clearer picture of what Richard Russell was like as a friend, as a coworker, as an employee. I spoke to Jeremy Kaelin who worked closely alongside russell for eight solid months. They worked the p. M. Shift together. He says this is somebody who had a lot of integrity, somebody who worked really hard, and somebody who also had a great sense of humor. He is also not surprised that russell was able to learn some basic aspects of aviation, given certain aspects of his job. Take a look. When you learned it was your friend and corporaler coworker, what did you think . He was super funny and always go out and help others to his flights that he wasnt assigned to help out with and when he was working with you on your flight, he will world as hard as he could. You saw the home video of him doing those maneuvers. Yes. Reporter he seemed like, to a certain degree, he knew what he was doing as a pilot or behind the controls. Yeah. Well, you can learn how to fly with flight simulators if you buy them. You can literally run them on your pc, mac, whatever. Also part of his description on tow team was to operate some of the systems he was trained to do by horizon air which is part of the tow team. So, essentially, he took that knowledge and built off of it. Reporter kaelin who is studying to be a pilot says there is so much information out there, including youtube videos, that might teach you how to start an airplane and to do basic maneuvers so he is not surprised somebody who had access to airplanes like russell was able to do what he did. I can tell you this is all being investigated by the fbi. They will be talking to friends and family and maybe to coworkers like kaelin himself. Part of this investigation is also centered about ten minutes away from here by ferry where dozens of investigators have been sifting through the degree field. Back to you. Dan simon, so many questions still. Thanks so much. Cnn aviation analyst feed gould is wi peter gould is with us. When we talk about Richard Russell, i want to ask you about mary schiavo said last hour. Something stood out to her in specific in all of this. When Richard Russell was talking to the tower, he asked if they could help him with the pressurization of the plane because he was feeling lightheaded. She said what stood out he was only at about 14,000 feet. Because of that, that is too low in elevation that you would normally become lightheaded and she suspects that perhaps there might be something physical going on with him. Does that stand out to you as well . Well, i heard that comment. You start to feel the effects of hypoxia above 10,000, 12,000 feet. I wasnt clear when that comment was made. If he had just completed a barrel roll or his flip, those two, you know, maneuvers that he had completed, that also could have contributed to his lightheadedness. You know, these are very sophisticated and stressful maneuvers and its very common for inexperienced pilots, and experienced pilots, to feel the effects of them. So im not quite sure. Okay. I wanted to ask you as well about, you know, the tower and what was happening in those moments, because we have learned that they knew that this was an unauthorized departure, there were no routine procedures, the ramp, the ground, the takeoff clearance, none of that had been given. So when youve got a guy in a plane sitting there saying i, m going, what other choice does the talkower have . The tower will review their procedures, as well as the ground operations, to see whether there was something more that could be done and im sure they are going to find something. But if somebody is in a plane and the tower picks up that they are moving for a takeoff, you know, you only have a very few number of seconds to try to prevent it, and there are not any reasonable steps you can take, other than trying to immediately clear the runway or clear the taxiway where the individual is going to protect other people. Its a very vexing situation. Peter goelz, thank you for your thoughts on this today. We appreciate you. Thank you. A state of emergency in charlottesville, virginia, exactly one year after the deadly and violent protests hit that small town. Yesterday, hundreds of demonstrators marched through the streets of that city. Police came prepared to the worst about you protests were mostly peaceful. There will be same show of force today. White supremacist holding a unite the rally in charlottesville but a second rally planned at Lafayette Square near the white house in pennsylvan pennsylvania and sara sidner is there. Reporter the conversations revolve around race and the racial divide here in this country. We have talked to many different people, including a member of the ku klux klan. He was in charlottesville saying that he was representing a militia at the time. Hes a man that shot a gun towards a black protester and he has pled no contest in that case. But something remarkable happened between him and a black r b musician who is standing up for him trying to change hearts and minds. I shot a gun reporter Richard Preston admitting what he did during the deadly White Nationalist unite the rally last year in charlottesville, virginia. That is preston yelling the n word, aiming and firing in the direction of a black counterprotester wielding a blow torch. Preston spoke to cnn for the First Time Since he pleaded no contest in the case against him. Are you sorry for shooting a gun . No. I protected people on the steps is all im doing. Reporter you did say the n word before you fired that gun. Why . If youre standing in a group of a thousand black folks. Reporter there wasnt a thousand black folks around you okay. I cant tell you how much. A large group of black people. How do you get one mans attention in a crowd full of black people . Reporter you say, you with the torch he didnt care reporter he said he went to protect a statue as a member of the militia but he also wears another hat, that of an imperial wizard of a ku klux klan chapter and for years he is trying to brand the kkk as peaceful do gooders. Reporter do you hate black people . No. I have friends who are black. Reporter you are imperial wizard of a kkk group. Some klans did but not all klans did. I have never terrorized a black person in my life. Reporter why not call it Something Different . Why the ku klux klan . I want to see the klan be what it once was. Reporter the second rising of the klan when thousands marched through washington in 1925. At that time that march was about the fact our country was allowing immigrants to come here, change their names with no documentation, and if your name was schwartzkoffer you come here and call yourself schwartz and nobody cares he says his klan is different. Not about what color you are. Its about a red, white and blue. Reporter preston is still awaiting sentencing in charlottesville. While he waits, something remarkable has happened because of this man. R b musician daryl davis has spent decades engaging with klan members and challenging their beliefs and he and preston have talked for years by phone and suddenly davis was standing up for preston in judge. What did you say to the judge . I testified on his part and paid part of his bail money. Reporter you paid part of his bail money . I did. Reporter is he taking for you a fool using you . No, not at all. Not at all. Reporter how do you know . Because he and i were already friends. I said, i am willing to take mr. Preston and he has agreed to good down do this museum with me and take a tour of it and learn something. Reporter he is referring to the National Museum of africanamerican history. Seeing what is he going seeing there is going to plant a seed. The seed may not blossom the next day but the truth will come out. The truth can never be squashed. Reporter the two man bonding over history and returning to davis home to find another shared passion. Reporter his track record speaks volumes. Davis says 200 of the klansmen has he befriended over the years have left the group. More than 40 of them with a simple gesture, relinquishing their klan robes to him. Do you think you will give your robe up . No. Ill be buried in it. Reporter but then this happened. Richard preston, who had never been married, had daryl davis at his klan wedding. As you stand in the presence of god. Reporter this time, it was davis giving something away. The bride. Me and his friendship is something special. She wanted me to be a part of this wedding. Thats beautiful. Thats a seed planted. Reporter as you might imagine, this store has evoked anger and hope. Some people very upset with daryl davis feeling like he is sympathizing with this man who clearly holds racist ideals but daryl says, look, he has a proven track record. He has done this so many times and he has made a difference. He asks other who criticize him, what have you done . As far as what is going to happen here in d. C. , here in lafayette park, we are expecting both sides that they will not come together if police have anything to do with it, they are keeping them separated. One side, of course, unite the white rally and nationalist groups coming out which includes david duke as one of the organizer answer mr. Jacob kessler and expect another side to show up in much larger numbers and those who oppose this. We are expecting up to a thousand people what the permit said who are protesting against them and all of this is happening right outside the white house. Sara, thank you. President trumps response in the wake of last years violent protesters and ahead of this years planned rallies have been controversial, lets say that. Joining me is cnn contributor and the Washington Post reporter wesley lowery. We call the president s tweets but these are official statements from the president of the United States. The only one thus far on charlottesville and here is what he said yesterday. There is the entirety of what we are hearing from the president with regard to charlottesville. How did you receive that . Its worth giving the president at least the credit of saying this is the most fullthroat condemnation of the white supremacist violation in charlottesville last year and this was his statement in the moments and days after Heather Heyer was murdered amidst that vils maybe the response from him would have been different. We heard from how the president responded to this incident. The attempting to blame the antiracist protesters and demonstrators on equal footing as the kkk and nazi members are gathered in charlottesville. Beyond that, some of the criticisms we have seen of the president amount to a question of, well, you cant, in a tweet, condemn all types of racism, then pursue policies that many people think are racially divisive. What we know about this president since he was even a president was that he took advantage of the racial divisions in our politics, that he stoked a white fear and a white grievance among his base, took advantage of dog whistle rhetoric. So, again, it is important for the president of the United States to issue statements like this. I do believe that. That said, this particular president , its hard to believe those words are particularly genuine when, like i said, there is a very good faith argument that many of his policies and actions fly in the face of those words. Lets talk about the message that came out just a few minutes after that that the president followed up by saying im proud to have fought to and secured the lowest africanamerican and hispanics unemployment rates in history and now pushing for Prison Reform for people who paid their debt to society a secretary chaned a Second Chance and i will never stop fighting for all americans. Where else in the administration does this commitment come to fruition . Do we see it in the department of education, in housing and urban development . Is there any evidence that this extends beyond the president s discussion of unemployment numbers and Prison Reform . No, not particularly. In fact, what we have seen across most federal agencies is a massive walkback in terms of both the investigation and prosecution of civil rights cases, whether that be the department of labor or the department of education, much less, the department of justice. We have seen aggressive steps as it relates to things like voting rights, administration that has taken the steps that can to potentially make things more difficult for black and brown voters to have their voices heard. We have seen other things that are maybe not so explicitly in racialized and civil rights terms but things that lead an average viewer or reader to believe that this president perhaps doesnt care. We have seen tens of hundreds of thousands of people in puerto rico received what most people agree was a pretty inadequate response to a terrible, you know, act of god that left their homes decimated and their lives at risk. So what we see is time and time again, policies and behaviors and postures from this presidency and from this white house that most people of color believe have been negligent, if not aggressively discriminatory towards them. The president does very often like to cite unemployment numbers with africanamericans. And it is true that the president is currently overseeing an economy much better than it has been but what we know is the economy works in cycles. So i think when the president says these things, it provides an out for members of his base, folks who want to say, hey, look. He cant be a racist because black unemployment is doing well. They say he cant be a racist because he is friends with o omarosa. What people know or judge a public figure is not about these types of, you know, token arguments but, rather, its about how do you though slyour action how you care with black and brown record and i think this president has a track record that speaks for himself. He has several more hours as the rallies start to see if there is another statement and several more years to see if there is some legislative things. Wesley lowrie, thank you. Thank you. OhPresident Trump has said my times he wants to end what he calls chain migration. He says too many people are coming here and then bringing family members to join them. What about members of his family . The sheriff who handled the case of a missing boy at a horrific compound answers to critics who say he should have done something sooner. Our new, hot, fresh breakfast will get you the readiest. buzzer sound holiday inn express. Be the readiest. This morning, President Trump is in bedminister. Is not at the white house. If he was in washington he would see a gathering of White Supremacists outside on the white house lawn. The same unite the right group that marched in charlottesville last year. Cnn White House ReporterSarah Westwood is live for us. Has the president said anything about what is expected to happen today . Reporter so far we havent heard so much from the president on this topic beyond a tweet he put out yesterday condemning raci racism. The president is here in new jersey to wrap up the full day of his working vacation as the White Nationalists gather outside of the white house in washington. He has no Public Events on his schedule today so we may not hear anything from him other than what he puts on his twitter feed. Even though President Trump tweeted yesterday marking the oneyear anniversary of charlottesville, so far he hasnt said anything about the events set to take place today. One thing he has spoken about is attorney general jeff sessions. Sessions refusal to investigate the origins of the russia investigation. Trump accused sessions of being a missing in action when it comes to an investigation of how the obama doj opened the russia probe even though sessions has recused himself from anything related to russia. Now as he has been here in new jersey, trump a has tweete 14 times about the russia investigation so clearly its something on his mind. He has escalated hi