Nationalists. Were not nonviolent. Mystery solved. A breakthrough in the 12year disappearance of natalee hollow holloway. Her father speaks out. And eclipse fever breaking out coasttocoast. Honoring elvis, 40 years after his death. 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. 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 a lot to get to. 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 said that very fine people took part in the rallies organized by White Nationalists. His words sparking immediate outrage. Well talk about it with john ra kasich of ohio, who ran against donald trump in the primariepri. We begin with hallie jackson. Reporter this morning, donald trump finds himself in an unpractices 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 at trump tower. Not everybody in the gop is 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 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 Supremacists will see 50 of blame a win. Protesters, with michael moore, outside trump tower. What about the altleft, that came after altright, do they have any guilt . Reporter saying that right protesters and left protesters, with some demonstrators carrying nazi and confederate flags. 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 supporte supporters stunned even his advis advisers. One telling nbc news, the president went rogue. He was set to talk infrastructure and leave his advisers to answer questions. Instead, he did himself, as john kelly stood to the side, appearing to visibly flinch, lowering his head and crossing his arm. You had a group on one side that was bad and a group on the other side that was also violent. Reporter is what you call the altleft are neonazis . Ive condemned neonazis. I condemned many different groups. But not all those people were neonazis, believe me. Not all of them were White Supremacists, by any stretch. They were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue, robert e. Lee. This week its robert e. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. Is it George Washington and Thomas Jefferson after . Reporter now, the former grand wizard of the kkk is thanking the president for his honesty and courage. And Richard Spencer tells the atlantic, hes proud of President Trump. The head of the marine corps posted a tweet, writing, theres no place for racial hatred or extremism in the marine corps. Our values of honor, courage and commitment, frame how marines live and act. And another defection from the president S Manufacturing council. The latest, the head of the aflcio, the Largest Group of labor unions in the country. Saying he refused to accept any tolerance of bigotry and domestic terrorism. The president , who left the lobby after 20 minutes, walking away. When asked if he would visit charlottesville, pausing for a hot. I own one of the largest wineries in the United States. Its in charlottesville. Reporter you saw the president s advisers surrounding him there, flanking him at the le lechturn but not steve bannon. Two sources close to bannon, tell nbc news now, he seems confident he will survive this latest round of questions about his future with the president. Matt, savannah, back to you. Hallie jackson, outside of trump tower down the road. What are the facts . How does the president s latest take of what happened, square with what took place in charlottesville over the weekend. Tom costello is there with a factcheck. And he has video of the protests. Tom, good morning. Reporter hi, guys. Good morning. 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 supremacist who were screaming ideologies for deaths of millions of people on the past century alone. On the other hand, you had young people, who were standing up to racism and antisemitism. Friday night in charlottesville. Blood and soil. Blood and soil. If you look, there 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 recommend necessary sent of nazi germany. Chanting racial and religious hatred. Many locals saying it was terrifying. The mayor calling it intimidation. 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, shields and weapons. Vice news interviewed one man who said he had no problem being violent. I am trying to make myself more capable of violence. 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. If you do not disperse immediately, you will be arrested. What about the altleft . What about the fact they came charging with clubs in their hands . Reporter thats true. Witnesses tell nbc news, there were people on both sides who seemed ready for a fight. And some counterprotesters were armed, some with clubs and some with pepper spray. They maced me. Who . I dont know. Communists. Reporter who is to blame for the violence . Charlottesville police chief mike thomas. Do you believe that one side was more responsible for instigating the violence . This was an altright rally. Reporter and a White Nationalists killed with a car Heather Heyer. In charlottesville the president s mistaken. Theres no good nazis. Reporter mr. Trumps comments are not setting well with many. It doesnt bring us together. It emboldens people who are not in favor of bringing our society together. Reporter this morning, virginia governor, Terry Mcauliffe is out with a statement saying this was not both sides. He says neonazis, and White Nationalists were looking for a fight. One murder a young woman in an act of terrorism. And two of our finest Police Officers were killed in an accident trying to serve this community. The memorial for 32yearold Heather Heyer is today in charlottesville. Back to you. Thank you. Ohio Governor John Kasich has been a vocal critic of President Trumps and ran against him for the nomination. Governor kasich, good morning. Pathetic, isnt it . Pathetic listening to this and hearing the marchers. Thinking if youre an 8, 9, or 10yearold, getting ready to go to school like they are in ohio. And you happen to come from a jewish family or youre africanamerican. And you hear this hatred. We know about bullying that goes on in the schools. What are we doing to our children . And to not condemn these people who went there to carry out violence and to somehow draw equivale equivalency to somebody else, reduces the ability to totally condemn these hate groups. I know about them, savannah and matt. I know about them. When you listen let me tell you something yeah. When you listen to the president speaking yesterday. And you 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. 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 the folks apparently are going to go other places. And they think they had a victory. There is no moral equivalency between the kkk, the neonazis and anybody else. Anybody else is not the issue. These folks went there to disrupt. I was unveiling a Holocaust Memorial here in ohio. And we had to put the ceremony inside of a theater because we were worried that people from the neonazis, 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. We had to move it inside a theater because of violence. This is a very serious matter. I keep thinking about our Politics Today and how everyone is so divided. And youre either wearing a trump tshirt and youre not. But isnt this on a totally different level . I mean, youre talking about an ideology that people died in this country to fight against. The nazis. And here, you see video of this rally. Theyre saying things that the nazis said. Look, when you have when theres no human decency, it leads to disorder, which is what we saw down there. And disorder leads to death. And we saw three people die. The young woman hit by the car. And we saw two state troopers died trying to monitor the crowd. Theres no place for politics here. And its being condemned by people from one end of the spectrum to the other. 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 personal of division. I have been hoping and i have been restrained in wanting him to be better. 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. And 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. And 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 hes got to fix this and republicans have to speak out. Plain and simple. Who cares what party youre in . You want him to do well. And theres people saying, this is the moment that the president has crossed a line. And its not a fine line. Its a big, fat, definitive line. And that republicans and democrats by the way, youre a guy that 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 who goes around to Republican Leaders and says, this is our moment. We will tell this president we know lo no longer support him, period . Well, matt, hes our president. Okay . And im here this morning speaking out, as aggressively as i can. I hope that it will provide some courage to other people. And theres 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 youre not going to turn your back on the president. Youre going to speak clearly and bluntly and say get your act together. I lost a big Ballot Initiative here in ohio, something i felt strongly about, about labor unions. And i got beaten soundly. And you know what i did . I said, i heard the people. Im going to listen to the people. 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. Thank you, sir. Lets bring in chuck todd, immediate ra mediator of meet the press and nico nicolle wallace. What do remembpublicans do now . Is this a line or something that people get outraged about, and a few days later, it goes away and on to the next outrage. I think that every Republican Office holder has their own line. He did cross the line for some. Yesterday, you saw that. And i think you cant assume that everybody says enough is enough, on the same timetable 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 yesterday. 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. But i dont know how the president fixes this in an ability, where if youre a republican, you decided you made this decision, well, when im with him, ill be with him. And when im not, ill call him out. I dont know if thats enough anymore for people. Nicolle, you traveled around a lot over the last six months. And you talked to people who supported donald trump during the campaign and support him now as president. You heard their reasons. One of the reasons, by the way, you told us so many time, they like the fact he speaks his mind. Does this change anything . So, the people i interviewed were twotime obama voters. These werent people that chose their president s based on race. These are the part of the Trump Coalition that are likely to be the most deeply offended by the comments y s yesterday. When you pain any group with a man listlitic bunch. Neonazis and White Supremacists are part of his coalition. He places their political ambitions ahead of the needs and the despair of the rest of his base is whats so galling and appalling. I think as chucks talking about, the you dont recover from the leader of the free world, standing there like he did yesterday, and making them equal. Making knee yneonazis peopl grandparents have died against nazis. This is not about red lines or rhetoric. This is about making fools of the people who work for him. This is about degrading the people standing next to him. And this is about demeaning the office of the presidency to a recoverable degree. Unrecoverable degree. Chuck and nicolle, thank you for being with us. We need a check of the weather, from mr. Roker. We went furtherer than we normally do in this half hour. Needed to be said. Lets get to other things that need to be talked about the. Some of our severe weather, from the dakotas to kansas and nebraska. We had a strong risk of storms, stretching from iowa into wichita. Parts of kansas into missouri. The lateday storms will redevelop as the system pushes to the east. We look anywhere, into the Northern Plains and the upper Mississippi River valley. Three to five inches of rain. Somewhere as much as six inches. This system pushes by friday, into the east coast, bringing showers and at petsmart, we love all pets like this little guy, sam. He eats blue wilderness. Its proteinrich, grainfree and made with more meat to satisfy the wolf spirit that lives in every dog. Right now, buy one select blue wilderness bag at petsmart and get 2 free cans or tubs. Because every dog still has a little wolf in them. And now, when you buy any bag of dog or cat food we give a meal to a pet in need. Its that simple. Petsmart for the love of pets. Good morning. Im bill henley. Dense fog this morning slowly easing out of here. It will make way for sunshine and a warm afternoon. Upper 80s in new jersey. 87 for the suburbs and fog will disappear in philadelphia. 88 degrees this afternoon. The fog will be gone later this morning. High of 86 in Lehigh Valley. Looking for relief, you will find temperatures and low 80s at the shore with a high rip current. And thatsts your latest weather. Al, thank you very much. Coming up, the new lead thats emerged in the Natalee Holloway case. Were going the talk about it with her father. And the tourism boom in the path of the Great American eclipse. How cities not used to hosting such crowds are preparing for coming up, tips for your family as the kids head back to school. Hodas