cnn now working to confirm information in the latest breaking news out of charlottesville, virginia, where a car apparently ran into a crowd following violent protests in the streets during a white nationalist demonstration. we are still waiting to get confirmation on exactly what happened there. as we are still waiting the president's remarks at the top of the hour where he is expected to sign a veterans affairs bill and potentially comment on these violent demonstrations in charlottesville, virginia. meantime, we are still looking at the russia probe and an indicator that that investigation is heating up. the "new york times" is reporting that special counsel robert mueller is in talks to interview current and former west wing staffers. among those who may be called,

the president's former chief of staff, the recently ousted reince priebus. let's bring back our panel cnn political analyst tara, julian selter, and cnn senior media correspondent brian stelter. tara, what do you think about the latest development? are some of these staffers likely to cooperate? >> i would say so. they are no longer employed by the president of the united states anymore. and as we know trump values loyalty above all else. but who are they -- they don't have to be loyal to him anymore. and this was always a story in washington about why priebus and spicer who trump openly spoke negatively about how they managed to stay on for so long, and the feeling in washington was they know too much. we're in the middle of an intense probe, a special prosecutor is going into the white house, every single person is a witness essentially. maybe not so much at the lower levels, but eventually they will

years into this now. but now you have two people outside of the white house who are -- their jobs are no longer on the line in terms of what they say. >> and, julian, to you, what kind of effect will these interviews potentially have on the president's agenda and his focus, whether it be with veterans affairs, with tax reform, health care reform, even with north korea? >> extremely disruptive as they've been, frankly, since january. it distracts the president literally away from dealing with those policy issues. it consumes the attention of the media and a lot of washington, so it's hard to focus attention on something like cutting loopholes in the tax code. and finally, it makes members of congress skittish including republicans about what's going to come next, wlast the next shoe that's going to drop and less likely to take a risk to support something the president wants. so this is yet another obstacle and challenge he's going to face when congress returns.

>> and, brian, this investigation appears to be intensifying. you have this news today and just a couple days ago paul manafort's home was raided. what do you think we'll see next? >> there's also been a sense reported by multiple media outlets that, yes, mueller is moving at a very quick pace, being aggressive about this and trying to get to the bottom of the various pieces of the puzzle that he's investigating. remember, mueller can go in a number of different directions including into manafort's finances and things like that. but what makes today's "new york times" report so notable, number one, it's a very significant leak about the investigation, and number two, the indication that mueller wants to speak with reince priebus and also according to the times members of trump's communication team leads me to think that he's looking at incidents like the flight from air force one back from the g20 when the president drafted and apparently finished a statement for his son don jr. about the russian lawyer immediating. we know the president was involved in the misleading

statement and there were questions about who else was involved with the misleading statement. that opened one of many doors for mueller to walk through in this "new york times" report indicates he is indeed walking in that direction. >> meanwhile they're trying to hire communications director. who wants to step into that job right now? >> right. >> a highly coveted position i can imagine. brian, julian, tara, thank you so much for the time. we have to leave it there. >> thank you. >> please stay with us as we wait for president trump to speak at the top of the hour. we will be monitoring to see if he discusses what happened in charlottesville earlier today. stay with cnn. i'm a concrete mason. i own my own company. i had some severe fatigue, some funny rashes. finally, listening to my wife, went to a doctor. and i became diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma ...that diagnosis was tough. i had to put my trust in somebody. when i first met steve, we recommended chemotherapy, and then we did high dose therapy and then autologous stem cell transplant. unfortunately, he went on to have progressive disease i thought that he would be

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we are following breaking news in charlottesville, virginia. we have some very graphic video to show you of that car that we had been talking about that we heard reportedly plowed into protesters. there were some questions about whether or not it was intentional. just to warn you, this is very graphic video. we've removed the audio because it is vulgar. we will play the video for you as soon as as we have it. i believe we have brian stelter with us. brian, you've watched this

video. can you describe what you see in the video for us? >> that's right. this is coming from protesters and from journalists who were following along with the protesters. this happened, i believe, in the 1:00 p.m. hour. and now some of the victims are at local hospitals. what we don't know is how many were injured. we don't know exactly who was driving. but it's clear in the video, boris, this is intentional that this car tried to drive into a group of counterprotesters. now, what that means today, counterprotesters are the people that are protesting the white nationalists who came into charlottesville, today, for their own event. so these are counterprotesters. some of them from the democratic socialists of america group, some of them from other groups trying to protest what they say are the racist and the antisemiites that have come to town to the in charlottesville. they were walking through the downtown mall area. that's what you're seeing on screen here. it's the main pedestrian plaza in charlottesville. mostly free of cars. you can walk around for many

blocks. it's a beautiful part of town. in this downtown mall area is where this counterprotest was taking place. you see hundreds of people that were marching holding up other posters and signs. at that point you see, the couple of cars are in the way. and one car in particular plows by and hits some of the protesters. in this video you'll see several people unfortunately hurled into the air by the force of the crash. >> let's go ahead and play the video now. again, this is a very graphic video. if there are any children in the room, just be aware. >> and, again tharks is video of

a vehicle in charlottesville, virginia, that apparently rammed into a group of protesters. the protesters -- or rather counterprotesters. this video leads to the impression that this was an intentional act. there was some ambiguity before us as to whether or not this was, you know, meant to hurt people. >> yeah, the car goes -- >> it very obviously is, brian. >> you see the car after it plows into that group of protesters and this person holding their phone obviously reacts by moving the phone around. then you see the car back up at a high rate of speed and go in the opposite direction. and you can see some of the damage to the vehicle there in that shot, damage to the front of the vehicle because of the force of the collision. now, you also see some of these folks who are gathered chasing after the vehicle trying to chase after the driver and try to seek license plate information. we don't know yet if the police have been able to find this vehicle or find the driver. but from the videos from folks on the scene this does appear to be an intentional collision, someone trying to reach this

counterprotest that was going on downtown. these people that were trying to speak out against the white nationalists at the unite the right rally. now we know some of the victims have been taken to local hospitals, but we don't yet have a count on the number of people injured. i can tell just from the videos and the oth closer up videos several people injured, some of their bodies flung into the air by the force of the collision. and now we're waiting more information from local authorities. >> the darkness in the heart of that driver is unspeakable. i want to get to kaylee hartung now, she is on the ground there. kaylee, what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, boris, the police are keeping us at a distance from that scene that you can see in the video. but i just spoke to an eyewitness of what transpired after that video ends. after that dodge charger backs up and sped off, he was pursued by police just a couple of blocks. i have not been able to confirm with police yet that he was apprehended, but a witness to what transpired after that collision says that he does believe the driver was

apprehended after police caught him. the car was moving very slowly. although it looks as if he sped off as things began to unfold, a couple of city blocks, the car was not able to keep up at a very high speed, and the driver i'm told by witnesses was then apprehended. police are keeping us at a safe t distance so medical personnel can perform their duties on the victims of this incident. i have another eyewitness telling me they saw cpr being performed on one woman in very critical condition. we are waiting to learn how this will continue to play out. >> kaylee, please stay with us. brian, if you're still there, i'm curious to get your perspective on this. we constantly have these conversations in newsrooms about whether or not atrocities like this one are considered terrorism. what's your take? >> and i've seen some of the counterprotesters, some of the folks who were there on scene already saying this is

terrorism, that's what you should call it. i think before -- let's take a bit, let's find out more here, let's find out more about this driver and all of that. but in terms of the situation on the ground there, i noticed kat katie couric of yahoo saw people being taken away in bad shape. other journalists on the scene saying some of these injuries appeared very significant and you heard kaylee talking about cpr on at least one of the victims. we don't have any idea of the count of the number of casualties, so authorities presumably trying to get that together now. you know, whether you would call this terror or not, someone trying to instill terror or fear, this is clearly deliberate according to the videos that were posted by protesters and by journalists who were there. and this may be unfortunately a further escalation. this is not -- over in charlottesville by any measure. there are protesters and counterprotesters still moving around the city.

and we're about to hear from president trump in the next hour. i think it's significant that the president could have a calming influence if he so chooses on the day there in charlottesville. by the way, these other cars you see, the reason why you see other cars that appear to be hit or affected is because this car came at a high rate of speed into this intersection and pushed these other cars forward. that's what caused perhaps further damage to the vehicles and possibly other injuries as well. it was one car going at a high rate of speed into this group of protesters and then pushing against these other cars. and these people by the hundreds they were there in order to match the white nationalists who have come to charlottesville for this so-called unite the right rally. some members of alt-right groups, some outright racist, anti-semitic individuals coming there with hail hitler signs. and others waving confederate flags. others say they're not white nationalists but there as part of the unite the right protest. because they were in town we've seen hundreds of counterprotesters flocking to

charlottesville, liberal groups, left leaning individuals, folks who want to speak out. some who identify as antifascist. that's the protest that this car drove into last hour, those victims now are at local hospitals. >> yeah, this was said to be the largest hate gathering of its kind in decades in the u.s., according to the southern poverty law center. up to 6,000 people headed to that rally this afternoon. it was supposed to start at about noon near a statue of confederate general robert e. lee. the city recently decided to get rid of that statue. and since then charlottesville has become a hot bed, the epicenter of these white nationalists and white supremacists. brian, obviously with this attack or at least deliberate -- >> it sure looks like a vehicular attack. i think that's right. someone using a car as a weapon, that is something you've covered in other countries.

there have been incidents of radical extremists in britain and other countries using cars as weapons. this appears to be somebody, we don't know what their affiliation was, using their car as a weapon amid a day of chaos in charlottesville. as you said, it's not over yet. these protests continue throughout the afternoon. >> just moments ago the mayor of charlottesville tweeted about the car crash writing, quote, i'm fearless and heartsick by the car crash that has injured so many. please all go home to your families, we can work tomorrow. in all caps, go home, please. kaylee, are you seeing anything new on the ground? are you hearing from officials there? >> reporter: the police on the scene here are very tight lipped about what is transpiring right now. there's a large presence surrounding the downtown mall. their goal at this moment seems to be to keep that scene of the

collision safe and to keep many of the people still wandering around away from a scene that needs medical attention for the victims involved in that collision. a strong presence of the national guard, virginia state and local charlottesville police contend -- continue to stand very vigilant along the downtown mall, but from all i can see from this vantage point it's very quiet. it's been i'd say about 20 minutes since we've seen a skirmish of any sort break out. but the fact that i can say it's been just 20 minutes since we've seen a skirmish break out and i'm standing in the middle of the downtown mall of charlottesville, virginia, that's a tough statement to make. >> let's bring back cedric alexander, the deputy mayor of rochester, new york. somebody with law enforcement background. sir, what do you make of what we just saw? >> well, it clearly from the video, i think we all just

looked at, that this was very deliberate. and you may have some very severe injuries out there. this is really very sad. this is really out of control. and there appears to be spurts of violence that is continuing to take place in that city. i think here again we need to encourage everyone to go home. go home safely so that we can begin as a nation to find ways to resolve much of what has taken place here today. but that crash and a bit of self i think we can all see was very much deliberate and you have a subject that is now somewhere out in the community, which i'm quite sure the local police throughout virginia, and will be throughout this country will be looking for that vehicle here as time go on. >> all right. cedric, brian and kaylee, thank you so much. please stick around as we are

set to hear from the president of the united states during a very, very tense time in charlottesville, virginia. that's just about ten minutes away. stay with us.

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...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino! find a price that fits. tripadvisor. any moment now we are expecting to hear from president trump as he speaks at a bill signing ceremony, a bill benefitting veterans. we're going to be watching to see if he talks about the violence in charlottesville, virginia, whether during that melee in the street or this ugly, ugly incident with a car ramming into a crowd of counterprotesters. the president already did tweet this, quote, am in bedminster for meetings and press conference on veterans affairs and all that we have done and are doing to make it better, but charlottesville, sad.

the first lady also tweeted this. our country encourages freedom of speech, but let's communicate without hate in our hearts. no good comes from violence. cnn white house correspondent athena jones is in bedminster, new jersey, where the president is on a working vacation. and he is set to speak at any moment. athena, what are you hearing about what the president might say? is there any indication that he's aware of this latest development? >> reporter: it's not clear yet, boris, if they've been monitoringlosely what's been on our air within the last few through the crowd, but we do expect the president to address what's going on in charlottesville when he speaks at about 3:00 for this bill signing that was already scheduled. we certainly expect the journalists there covering that event to ask as many questions as they can of the president. as you mentioned, we did see him put out two tweets about what's happening in charlotte, the most recent one saying

charlottesville, sad, exclamation point. we've heard -- we've seen that sentence construction with the president referring to all sorts of other events as sad in the past. certainly there are a lot of folks who want to hear him say more and want him to do more to condemn the white nationalists who organized the demonstration that has resulted in this level of violence. the tweet we saw from him last hour said simply, we all must be united and condemn all that hate stands for. there is no place for this kind of violence in america. let's come together as one. but in neither that tweet nor his subsequent tweet did he mention disavow or condemn explicitly the white nationalist groups who organized this. as you mentioned we also saw a tweet later on, a few minutes after the president's from vice president mike pence saying that he echoes what the president had to say. i should mention too that the white house has told us that the white house has been in touch with the virginia governor's office and his chief of staff. the president's homeland security advisor, tom bossert,

his team has been in touch with local authorities, so they are monitoring these events. but we'll have to wait and see what the president says about what's going on in charlottesville and whether he explicitly condemns the group that organized this march. >> athena, we have to leave it there. thank you so much for that. thank you so much for joining us. i'm boris sanchez in for fredricka whitfield. please stay with us as we wait for the president to speak in just a few moments. you saw the podium there, a country that is eager to hear some comforting words. thanks again for joining us.

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megan's smile is getting a lot because she uses act® mouthwash. act® strengthens enamel, protects teeth from harmful acids, and helps prevent cavities. go beyond brushing with act®. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. top of the hour, you're in the "cnn newsroom." i'm ana cabrera in new york. thanks for being with us. we are following multiple breaking news stories this hour. any moment now we are expecting to hear from the president who announced via twitter that he will be holding a news conference about the violence we've been seeing in virginia.

today, the violence breaking out in the normally quiet town of charlottesville. complete chaos on one side, white nationalists sporting symbols of the racist extreme right. on the other side crowds of people trying to break them up. they fought with fists, with sticks, with bottles, with pepper spray. and even though no shots were fired, a lot of people were openly carrying guns. and then a short time ago a horrifying scene. we warn you this video is very graphic. [ shouting ] >> a car plowing into a crowd of people in charlottesville where police were disbursing the white nationalist protesters and the people fighting them. several people sent flying into the air. we are not yet clear on the number or