Well [ bleep ] kill these people if we have to. Mystery solved. A potential breakthrough in the 12year old disappearance of Natalee Holloway. This morning her father speaks out in a live interview. All that and eclipse fever breaking out coast to coast. This may be the biggest weve ever seen. Honoring elvis, 40 years after his death. He broke the mold. He broke the mold. Were live at graceland with Priscilla Presley. And the new necklace that live streams your life. Today, wednesday, august 16th, 2017. Announcer from nbc news, this is today, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on this wednesday morning. We have got an awful lot to get to, so lets start with our top story. President trump at the center of a new firestorm after pivoting back to his original wake on the weekend violence in virginia. The president saying both sides of protesters were to blame and that very fine people took part in the rallies that were organized by White Nationalists. His words sparking immediate outrage. Well have full coverage of the fallout, as we said, well talk about it with republican Governor John Kasich of ohio who ran against donald trump in the republican primaries, but let us begin with nbcs chief White House Correspondent hallie jackson. Reporter this morning, donald trump finds himself in an unpres tented position for an american president. Slammed by fellow republicans as he is praised by White Supremacists. Its more backlash from that extraordinary exchange with reporters here at trump tower. Although, not everybody in the gop is speaking out or calling out President Trump by name, some leaders like mitch mcconnell, still silent so far after the president blamed both sides for saturdays violence. It is a return to his original remarks on charlottesville. And something thats once again has put him at the center of an explosive controversy. This morning, new fallout from inside the president s own party. Blasting what they see, not just as a political failure, but a moral one. After the violence in charlottesville. You had many people in that group other than neonazis and White Nationalists, okay . Reporter the president , combative and defiant. Unleashing and unscripted. I think theres blame on both sides. And i have no doubt about it. And you dont have any doubt about it, either. Reporter john mccain writing, theres no moral equivalency between racists and americans standing up to defy hate and bigotry. The president of the United States should say so. And from marco rubio. The White Supremacy groups being assigned only 50 of a blame as a win. Overnight, protesters, led by michael moore, demonstrated outside trump tower. What about the altleft, that came charging at, as you say, the altright, do they have any semblance of guilt . Reporter police say both protesters and counterprotesters came for a fight in charlottesville with some demonstrators carrying nazi and confederate flags. And chanting racist and antisemitic taunts. You had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. Reporter the president s extraordinary exchange with reporters stunned even his own advisers. One senior white house official telling nbc news, the president went rogue. He was originally set to talk infrastructure then leave his advisers to answer questions. Instead, he did himself, as john kelly, new chief of staff, stood to the side. Appearing to visibly flinch, lowering his head and crossing his arms. You had a group on one side that was bad and a group on the other side that was also very violent. Do you think that what you call the altleft is the same as neonazis . All of those people excuse me, i condemned neonazis. I condemned many different groups, but not all of those people were neonazis. Believe me. Not all of those people were White Supremacists, by any stretch. What nationalists these people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue robert e. Lee. So this week its robert e. Lee. I notice that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder is it George Washington next week and Thomas Jefferson the week after. You really do have to ask yourself where does it stop . Reporter now, the former grand wizard of the kkk is thanking the president for his honesty and courage. Altright leader Richard Spencer tells the atlantic hes proud of President Trump. Just hours later, the head of the marine corps posted a tweet, writing, theres no place for racial hatred or extremism in the marine corps. Our core values of honor, courage and commitment frame the way marines live and act. And now yet another defection from the president S Manufacturing council. The latest, the head of the aflcio, the Largest Group of labor unions in the country. Richard trum trump ka. Saying he refused to accept any tolerance of bigotry and domestic terrorism. The president , who left the lobby after 20 minutes, walking away after that blistering back and forth. When asked if he would visit charlottesville, pausing for a final thought. Does anyone know i own a house in charlottesville . I own one of the largest wineries in the United States thats in charlottesville. Reporter you saw the president s advisers surrounding him there, flanking him at the lechturn but not steve bannon. When asked about his controversial chief strategist, President Trump simply responded we will see what happens. Two sources close to bannon says he seems confident that he will survive this latest round of questions about his political future with the president. Matt, savannah, back to you. Hallie jackson, outside of trump tower just down the road from us here in new york. Hallie, thank you. What are the facts . How does the president s latest take of what happened, square with what took place in charlottesville over the weekend . Nbcs tom costello is there with a fact check and hes also got actual video of the protests. Tom, good morning. Reporter hi, guys. Good morning to you. Since the weekend, witnesses have told us that both sides were antagonizing for a fight. On the one hand, you had members of the kkk, neonazis and White Supremacists who were screaming ideologies responsible for the deaths of millions of people in the past century alone. On the other hand, you had young people, many who were students who were standing up to racism and antisemitism. Friday night in charlottesville. Blood and soil. Blood and soil. Reporter if you look, they were people protesting very quietly. The taking down of the statue of robert e. Lee. Reporter but in fact, fridays march on the university of virginia campus was anything but quiet, as White Nationalists and neonazis carry torches in a scene reminiscent of 1930s germany. Jews will not replace us. Jews will not replace us. Reporter chanting racial and religious hatred. Some even throws the nazi salute. Many locals say it was terrifying. The mayor denouncing the march calling it intimidation and saying it was unsanctioned. The next morning, they gathered again, targeting the robert e. Lee statue, that the city wants to take down. You had very bad people in that group. You also had people who were very fine people, on both sides. Reporter in fact, the event was organized by White Nationalists, many dressed in paramilitary garb, with clubs, nazi flags, shields and semiautomatic weapons. Vice news interviewed one man who said he had no problem being violent. I am trying to make myself more capable of violence. I carry a pistol. I go to the gym all the time. Im here to spread ideas, talk, in the hopes that somebody more capable will come along and do that. Somebody like donald trump who does not give his daughter to a jew. So, donald trump but more racist . A lot more racist than donald trump. Reporter police say the White Nationalists failed to stick to an agreement on where to demonstrate. Soon they were doing battle with counterprotesters. If you do not disperse immediately, you will be arrested. What about the altleft . What about the fact they came charging they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs in their hands . Reporter thats true. In fact. Witnesses tell nbc news, there were people on both sides who seemed ready for a fight. And some counterprotesters were armed with clubs, some with pepper spray. They maced me. Reporter who . I dont know. Communists. Reporter who is to blame for the violence . Charlottesville police chief al thomas. Do you believe that one side was more responsible for instigating the violence than another . This was an altright rally. Reporter and a White Nationalists killed with a car Heather Heyer. The president suggeheyer. The president said both sides said both sides. Mr. Prump trump is mistaken, there are no nice neonazis. I think theyre in favor of bringing our society together. Reporter this morning Virginia GovernorTerry Mcauliffe is out with a statement saying this was not both sides. He says neonazis, clansmen and White Supremacists came heavily armed and spewing hate and one murdered a young woman in the act of terrorism and two of our final Police Officers were killed trying to serve this community. Incident amy the memorial for Heather Heyer is here today in charlottesville. Tom, thank you. Ohio Governor John Kasich has been a vocal critic of President Trump. He ran against him, food to see you. Good morning. Reporter pathetic, isnt it . Just pathetic, listening to this, hearing these marchers. Think if you were an 8, 9 or 10yearold, getting ready to go to school like they are in ohio. You happen to come from a jewish family or you are africanamerican and you hear this kind of hatred. We know about bullying that goes on in the schools and what are we doing to our children . Theyre not condemned, these people who went there to carry out violence and to somehow draw some kind of equivalency to somebody else reduces the ability to totally condemn these hate groups. I know about them savannah and matt. I know about them. Let me tell you something. When you listen to the president speaking yesterday and you we heard his comments, saying blame on both sides and there were some very fine people who took part in that neonazi White Nationalist rally in your heart and in your gut, what did you feel . Its terrible. You know, this is terrible. The president of the United States needs to condemn these kind of hate groups. Think about what you have seen. You know, as one of the reporters said, reminiscent of what we saw in germany in the 1930s. The president has to totally condemn this. And this is not about winning an argument. This is about the fact that now these folks apparently are going to go other places. They think they had some sort of a victory. There is no moral equivalency between the kkk, neonazis and anybody else. Anybody else is not the issue. These folks went there to disrupt. I was unveiling a Holocaust Memorial right here in ohio and we had to put the ceremony inside of a theater because we were worried that people from the neonazi, the kkk, would come and throw concrete at the people who were gathered to honor those people who were slaughtered and not just the people in the jewish communities, but across the board and we had to move it inside the theater because of violence. This is a very serious matter. I kept thinking about our Politics Today and how everyone is so divided. You are wearing a trump teeshirt or you are not. But isnt this on a totally different level . I mean, you are talking about an ideology that people died in this country to fight against, the nazis. And here you see a video of this rally, theyre saying things that the nazis said. Reporter it, look, when you have when there is no human decency, it leads to disorder. Which is what we saw down there and disorder leads to death. And we saw three people died t. Young woman hit by the car and we also saw two state troopers died trying to monitor the crowd. There is no place for politics here. Its being unanimously condemned by people from one end of the spectrum to the other. But theyve condemned before. Lets be honest about it. What should republicans do . What do you do if you work in the Trump White House . What should you do . Well, look, you know, i dont work in the Trump White House. I didnt endorse the man, because i felt that he was a person of division and i have been hoping and i have been restrained in wanting him to be better. See, whats happening, the presidency is being reduced to another ceo job. The presidency is the most important job in the country. And there is a bitterness setting in that may not be able to be removed. Look, i want him to do well. I want donald trump to understand its not about winning an argument. Its about bringing the country together. It is not about having some argument trying to justify these people on the left who went to a sweet town like charlottesville for purposes of bringing violence. He needs to make it clear, i mean, hes got to fix this and republicans have to speak out. Plain and simple. Who cares what party you are in. You say you want him to do well. There are people saying you know what, this is the moment the president has crossed the line. Its not a fine line, its a big, fat definitive line and republicans and democrats, by the way, you are a guy by the end of the campaign, people said incredibly good things about your character and your message and what you stood for, would you be willing to be the guy that goes around to Republican Leaders and says, this is our moment, we will tell this president , we no longer support him, period . Reporter well, matt, hes our president. Okay . Im here this morning speaking out as aggressively as i can. I hope that it will provide some courage to other people and there are great numbers of people now speaking out. He is our president. But i want to say that he needs to correct what he has said. Hes got to understand what the people of this country want and hes got to bring us together. But you are not going to turn your back on the president. You are going to speak clearly, bluntly, say, get your act together. I lost a big Ballot Initiative here in ohio. Something i felt strongly about, about labor unions. I got beaten soundly. You know what i did that night, i said i we heard the people, trump the President Trump needs to listen to the people before he takes this presidency in a place that is not acceptable for our country. Governor john kasich. Governor, thanks for your time this morning, we appreciate it. Thank you, sir. God bless america. Lets bring in chuck todd moderator and meet the press nicole wallace. Chuck, kind of the same question i asked of governor kasich what do republicans do now . Is this a line or yet another thing that people get outraged about and a few days later it goes away irks its onto the next outrage . Look, i think every Republican Office holder had their own line. Yesterday you saw that, i think you cant assume that everybody says enough is enough on the same time table on this. But i have to say in listening to governor kasich here, i dont know that the president can fix this anymore. Monday he had the ability to fix it. He read something from a teleprompter. He undid that ability to fix it. So i think that while i hear what governor kasich i think is trying to say. He doesnt want to go there yet. We know what his line is, hes not there yet. I dont know how the president fixes this, in the ability if are you a republican, you decide. You maid this decision, well, when im with him, ill be with him, when im not, ill call it out. I dont know if thats enough anymore for people. You traveled around over the last six months. You talked to people that supported donald trump during the campaign and support him now as president. Youve we heard their reasons, one of the reasons by the way you told us so many times, they like the fact he speaks his mind. Right. Does this change anything . The people i interviewed were two time obama voters. These are the part of the Trump Coalition that are likely to be the most deeply aumpboffended b the comments yesterday. I think when you paint any group with a monolistic brush, neonazis and White Supremacists are a part of his coalition and he places their political ambitions ahead of the needs and the true economic despair of the rest of his base is what is so galling and so appalling, and so i think chuck is talking about, you dont recover from the leader of the free world standing there like he did yesterday, making them equal, making neonazis, peoples grandparents have died fighting against neonazis. This is not about red lines or rhetoric, this is making fool of the people who work for him. This is about degrading the people standing next to him. This is about demeaning the office of the presidency to a recoverable degree, uncoverable degree. Cluck and nicole, thank you very much, we appreciate it. Hows this for a transition . We need a check of the weather, mr. Roker. All righty. We went a little further than we do this hour. Lets get to other things that need to be talked about. Some of our Severe Weather from the dakotas into parts of kansas, into nebraska. We actually have a