this is cnn breaking news. all right. john berman here. you're watching cnn's special live coverage of the violence in virginia. police have now been given the authority to institute a curfew in charlottesville after a day of violent clashes, sparked by white supremacists and neo-nazis, members of the klan marching and then counterprotests against them. there was this fighting you're looking at in the streets right now. and then there was this. a car plowing into a crowd. our streets. our streets.

[ muted ]. >> that nazi just drove into people. oh, my god. oh, my god. oh, my god. people are badly hurt. oh, my god. badly hurt. we need paramedics right now. car just drove into people causing a multichain accident. >> you can hear the terror in their voices. they are badly hurt. oh, my god, people are badly hurt. in fact, one person was killed. a 32-year-old woman mowed down in that accident. 19 others were injured. police say this is the suspected driver. now in custody. 20-year-old james alex fields junior. he is accused of second degree murder and other charges, as well. now, earlier today, the governor of virginia, terry mcauliffe

delivered an emotional rebuke to the white supremacists behind the violence. listen. >> you came here today to hurt people. and you did hurt people. but my message is clear, we are stronger than you. you have made our commonwealth stronger. you will not succeed. there is no place for you here. there is no place for you in america. >> all right. the president made a statement today, as well. he condemned hatred but did not make clear from whom or by whom. he did not say who was to blame. listen. >> we're closely following the terrible events unfolding in charlottesville, virginia. we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious

display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. on many sides. >> hatred and bigotry on many sides, he said, equating the neo-nazis and white supremacists who marched and those who counterprotested. let's go to the streets in charlottesville and get a sense of the scene. it is after 10:00 p.m. there right now. brian todd is there. what's the latest? >> reporter: we can safely say this is a city on edge tonight waiting to see if anything else is going to happen with these white supremacist groups monitoring the local authorities are monitoring whether any members of those groups are still in the area. they're not willing to give us information on that at the moment. they're watching the scene very closely. we're told by local officials between 600 and 700 police officers are deployed on the streets tonight. there could be a is your curfew. the police chief has the authority to institute one. he has not done that as of now. more information about this suspect, he is identified as

james alex fields junior, 20 years old from maumee, ohio, booked in the alba natural county jail, this coming from the superintendent of the charlottesville keep the regional jail. james is 20 years old charged with one count of second degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, one count of failure to stop in an accident that resulted in a death, and john, we can give you some witness accounts because myself and other other cnn teams here have spoken to at least four witnesses who were here and saw this horrific car strike. what the witness accounts have told us, i can ask our photojournalist jeremy to zoom in on the spot where this occurred. the two vehicles he struck are still there. the dark honda van facing us was struck by the car behind it which was struck by the perpetrator's vehicle. we know now that he struck and killed a 32-year-old female pedestrian and injured several

others. but it's the witness accounts that really kind of bring home the horror of that moment. the witnesses tell thaws they saw his car kind of sitting there for a while. then they saw him back up and reposition his vehicle. and then he gunned the vehicle down this street, one witness told me he thought he was going at least 50 miles an hour as he headed toward that crowd just behind me here. john, just horrific accounts of the violence here of what the suspect allegedly did. we also have new information tonight, john, on the two people who died in the helicopter crash. they're identified by the virginia state police as lieutenant h.j. cullen, 48 years old and a pilot burke baits. he was to turn four 1 years old tomorrow, john. these are two state trooper who died in a helicopter crash. they are including those in a total of three people who died in connection with these protests today because they were operating a virginia state helicopter in service of support of the police in this event,

john. >> so three lives lost today. dozens more injured. and again, one man, james alex fields being head right now, accused of second degree murder. we do not note yet if he was connected to any of the various hate groups marching over the past 24 hours brian todd for us on streets which are so far quiet. thank you very much. former president barack obama has put out a statement of sorts. what he did is he wrote these notes on twitter with quotes from nelson mandela. he wrote "no one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. people must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate they can be taught to love for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." president trump spoke of love and condemned hate and violence and bigotry earlier but there were certain things he did not say. here's parts of his remarks right now. >> we condemn in the strongest

possible terms this much egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. on many sides. it's been going on for a long time in our country. not donald trump, not barack obama, it's been going on for a long, long time. >> now, those words many sides sparking some controversy over the last several hours. white house correspondent athena jones is near the president's resort in new jersey tonight. athena, what's the latest from the white house? >> reporter: hi, john. we haven't heard anything new from the president. but you're right. that phrase "many sides" drew a lot of attention and criticism. i asked several white house officials what the president meant in saying that, who was he referring to. and an official told me the president was condemning hatred, bigotry and violence from all sources and all sides. there was violence between pro

efforts and counterprotesters today. now, that last sentence is true. there was a confrontation between the protesters and counterprotesters but i don't think a lot of people that both sides were expressing hatred and bigotry. people have criticized the president's remarks because he is equating those marching in the streets with confederate flags carrying flags with nazi bem blems, some wearing nazi arm bands, some carrying trump campaign signs or signs supporting the president and also the people last night, the group of white nationalists who carried torches to the campus of the university of virginia. he at not point in his remarks specifically spoking about what were the facts on the ground. he didn't talk during his remarks about the fatality that by then had been confirmed, that first fatality, the young woman with run over by the car that plowed through the crowd. he didn't talk about the reason for the conflict on the ground

in virginia. he didn't mention white nationalism. he didn't mention white spreepcy. a lot of people feel the president didn't use the strongest possible terms to condemn what we have been seeing in charlottesville. this is criticism coming from both sides of the aisle. we're also seeing republicans go further than the president, inference, speaker paul ryan ten hours ago posted a tweet saying the views fueling the spectacle in charlottesville are repug that. the. let it only serve to unite americans against this kind of vial by gottory. just two hours ago, the speaker went a bit further saying our hearts are with today's vips. white supremacy is a scourge. this hate and its terrorism must it be confronted and defeated. one more tweet i want to read to you also from a republican, a republican senator cory gardner from colorado. directly talking to the president saying mr. president, we must call evil by its name. these were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism.

so it has not gone unnoticed that the president has not condemned explicitly these white nationalists. i should note this is a president who has not been shy about repeatedly criticizing a long list of people, whether it's republicans or democrats, people like hillary clinton, like barack obama, his fellow republicans like mitch mcconnell, his own attorney general jeff sessions, senator john mccain of arizona. the list goes on. he has called the media the enemy of the people, not on that list is any condemnation of nazis or neo-nazis, white supremacists or white nationalists. i have asked several white house officials where the president stands on white nationalism and whether he has any plans to issue any sort of statement condemning white nationalism. i haven't heard back from them. the president ignored questions about whether he wants support from the white nationalists after that brief press appearance. >> athena jones for us near the president's resort in

bedminster, new jersey. this evening the president did tweet condolences to the family of the young woman who was killed mowed down on the streets there. joining me now to talk about this day is david tuscano, is he represents charlottesville in the virginia house of delegates and the mayor, as well. representative, thank you so much for being with us tonight. our thoughts are with with the people of charlottesville. give me a sense of the evening there now. it is after dark. has calm set in? >> well, it's eerily calm. i was down on the mall a few minutes ago. there's a small candlelight vigil going on at the spot where the young woman was killed by this supremacist, an apparent domestic terrorist incident. and but it's very, very quiet here. i think people are hoping for best that the white supremacists do not appear again and do some

things that would be very destructive in our community. but the police presence is very strong. and i hopefully they will deter them from coming back. >> you mentioned the man who was being held, tangentially. james alexfield, 20 years old from mau mee, ohio, an us qods of seconds degree murder. you called him a white supremacist. which we don't know yet, do we? do we know if he was connected to the marches themselves or any of the groups there? is that something you know as of this evening? >> well, we don't know for sure. my understanding is that folks have looked up his facebook page and looked at things he's been posting. it suggested he is part of this white supremacist group. and you know, at first, people were not sure and i think we always have to reserve judgment but it certainly looks that way. if it is that way, it's clearly an incident of domestic terrorism that has to be called

out in the strongest possible way by everyone, every leader in this country including the president of the united states. >> and what is your take, sir, on the response so far of the president of the united states who did condemn hate, bigotry and violence but he condemned it from what he called many sides, many sides? >> well, you know, it's been very interesting. i've gotten lots calls during the day from pie colleagues in the general assembly in virginia is, both republicans and democrats and i've heard people on various programs really talking about white supremacy and how we cannot let that stand in this great country of ours. but we didn't hear that from the president tonight. and that was kind of a shock because it was an opportunity that he had to speak very clearly to the american public that we don't tolerate this kind of movement in america. and that we have to put that

genie back in the bottle. violence and hate that has pervaded this country for a long time but especially over the last about a year is deeply disturbing and any violence and hate related to white supremacy has to be condemned in the strongest possible way. >> to add on to this, we got a statement a short time ago from senator ted cruz, republican from texas. he said the nazis, the kkk and white supremacists are repulsive and ebola and all of us have a moral obligation to speak out. what may be more interesting is he said he urges the department of justice to immediately investigate and prosecute this grotesque act of domestic terrorism. would you like to see the department of justice step in here? >> well, i think it would be worth looking at carefully because i think that if this gentleman -- gentleman, i shouldn't use that word. this is a white supremacist and he's linked at all to what's

going on today in charldsville, it may be grounds for prosecution. that would implicate the justice department and the president would have to send a very clear message he would like a prosecution if the facts justify it. hopefully we'll look at the fantastics and see if it justifies some kind of other charges that would be federal in nature, not just state charges. >> you know, representative, so many people know chartsville because of the university of virginia. one of the finest institutions of learning in our country with so much history, you served as mayor of that small city. you represented in the virginia house you have delegates. you know, whaerts this day met' for you? >> it's a very disturbing day. a lot of people who watch on television might get the wrong impressing about charlottesville and the people who live here. the people who live here are very clear in their views about support for diversity and

tolerance, nonviolence. there are a number of demonstrations over the last few days, have been very nonviolent in general. prayer services, people giving to the community. this is a very giving community, very tolerant community, a very progressive community. we're going to tell that story to people. we don't want to have folks' impressions of charlottesville be sullied by white nationalists and supremacists coming from outside our region and outside our state to play out their own political agenda ha we don't embrace in any way. >> david toscano, representative of the virginia house of delegates, former mayor. thank you for being with us. we wish you a calm and peaceful night. >> thank you very much. >> we are following the developments in charlottesville, virginia, three people killed including one woman mowed down on the street. we're getting new information about a suspect now being held,

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all right. we're watching charlottesville, virginia, tonight to see if there is a new flare up of the violence there. three people are killed, one 32-year-old woman who was mode down on the streets, violence sparked by white supremacists, neo-nazi who have been marching and rallying in this city for the last 24 hours. two law enforcement officials by the way, killed in a helicopter crash connected with the response to the violence and demonstrations on the street there. so a total of three people dead, more than a dozen injured. you're looking at live pictures of the scene of that incident with the car. again, the driver plowed through the streets. there is one suspect in custody, james alex fields, 22-year-old

frommee, ohio, charged noud with second degree murder. want to talk about the significance of what it means force charlottesville, race relations and the united states of america. i'm joined now by van jones, a former official in the obama administration, paris denard. ken cuccinelli, former tone general of the comomt of virginia, now president of the senate conservatives fund and joshua dubois, former white house religious affairs director for president obama. quite a grouping right now in ken, cuccinelli, i want to start with you for a variety of reasons. you are from virginia, the former attorney general there. you were a big supporter of senator ted cruz during the presidential race. i bring that up because we just got a statement from the senator cruz a short time ago who urges the department of justice to immediately investigate and prosecute this grotesque act of domestic terrorism. do you agree?

with senator cruz? go ahead. >> well, first of all, everyone should know that the police in both charlottesville and albemarle and their prosecutors are exceptionally capable of charging murder crimes themselves. to the extent the attack today with the car in particular turns out to have been premeditated if that is the case, then i think someone who came from ohio to virginia to do that would be appropriate to bring the federal government in, but understand there's going to be no lack of effort and resolve on the part of virginia law enforcement and virginia prosecutors in seeking full punishment, and the list of charges that you read off earlier in the show is only the beginning. i promise you. there will be 10, 20, 30 more charges as this all settles out. the initial charges are really just for holding the guy in the local regional jail there. but he's going to be prosecutes.

i expect he'll be in jail for the rest of his life. >> second degree murder is the most serious of those charges. >> yes, but there's going to be dozens of other felony charges. >> absolutely. i do understand. i'm just getting your opinion. if it is proven that he is connected to one of these hate groups, then do you feel that's some kind of federal domestic terror charge would be merited? >> well, it certainly appears that the reason he did this was because he hated the people in front of him. and from my perspective, if ideas are the reason you're trying to kill people, that's terrorism. now, we do have a state terrorism charge. you may recall the sniper, the beltway sniper was prosecuted in virginia in my home county actually, and got the death penalty. so we've done this before in virginia. it's never pleasant to have to deal with this.

but i'm resisting your question because we're perfectly capable of handling this in virginia. i understand why senator cruz, he's a senator. he wants to bring the federal angle in. and you know, the department of justice and so forth. i hear that from my fellow panelists. there are absolutely laws that make it plausible for the federal government to press charges. my point is, virginia can handle this. >> sure. >> we've done it before and we can do it this time. we'll weather this. >> i understand your point. van jones, to you. the importance of calling this domestic terror if in fact as we said there is proof that the suspect being held is connected to one of these hate groups. >> well, i think it's critical and part of the thing is you now have isis tactics in the streets of america. isis is a group that's been using cars as weapons to run over innocent people overseas. i.c.e. tactics being brought to

the united states but not by muslims. by white supremacists. and the problem that we have now is that you have nazis, marching down the streets in america with torches and when americans go out and say you know what? we don't think that's appropriate. our parents and great grandparents lost their lives to stop the nazis. dr. king lost his life to stop the klan. we don't think it's appropriate, people are now being killed. you have a woman who was killed apparently possibly by a nazi in the united states and yet the president of the united states has not been as forthright in con depping that as he condemns the u.s. news media and politicians that he doesn't like. so i think that tonight is a very important moment. i think people -- it's just now beginning i think to sink in with people that we've gotten to a place where somebody is willing to take a human life too save a statue. a statue of a confederate leader. i don't care how much you like the confederacy, it's not worth

killing a human being over. yet, that's where we are. we need real moral leadership and moral clarity right now and we have not yet gotten that from the white house. >> these developments in charlottesville took place over the voter removal of a statute u of robert several lee which still stands but is scheduled to be taken down at some point. paris denard, to you, again, words that the president of the united states did not use today include domestic terror. he did not call this terrorism. more importantly, he did not call out white supremacists neo-nazis or the ku klux klan for their role in the violence we've seen over the last 24 hours. is that significant? >> well, i don't know. first of all, i want to say my condolences to the people who have been impacted by this. i live in virginia. so this is very terrible and it hits close to home. you can't drive in virginia on the highway without seeing a

massive confederate flag on the highway from someone's personal property. so this is something that we see and face regularly. i will say this about president trump. i read the entire speech that he delivered today. i think that's important for our listeners. our viewers to actually read all of it because we are a sound bite, sound clip society. so we can only play a clip on here. read the whole thing. i think the totality of his remarks were appropriate and measured. i also went back and looked at what president obama did immediately after the charleston incident which was by a white supremacist which was an act of domestic terrorism which we now know. and president obama did not use the term neo-nazi white supremacist. he did not go into the same type of word choice that we are asking now president trump to do. i think what we see now is the presidents have to exercise good judgment and caution in terms of what words that they use when they don't know all the facts.

i am certain that after all the facts come in about this horrific disgusting incident that happened in virginia today, the president will use the appropriate terms to describe exactly what happened just as president obama did and did not do quite frankly immediately after that senseless act. >> may i speak to that. >> josh, go ahead. >> could i speak to that? president obama certainly did not say many sides. and paris and everyone, the president's statement today was an absolute moral disaster. he created a false equivalency with and functionally normalized actual nazis. these were people. >> that's incorrect. >> these are people who are walking around with was tick kaz on their arms who in their ideal world would actually annihilate blacks and jews and he could not finds it within himself to call them out. and the reason is, let's stop playing games here. the reason is because he's been flirting with them and winking and nodding at them for two

years. they are an important part of his coalition. and so he could not bring himself to do that because he needs them right now with his support diminishing. > josh, why didn't president obama do the same thing after charleston? >> was he nodding. >> paris. >> be real. >> one at a time. josh, finish, then paris, then van. >> absolutely. president trump needs these folks as a part of his coalition. and he brought them into the west wing of the white house. sebastian gorka, steven miller. >> that's offensive. you not be on this network and call these people to be nazis. josh, cut that off. >> hang on, hang on. stop, stop, everyone. >> sebastian gorka that steven miller or steve bannon. >> i wish you were just as enraged. >> i wish you would be just as enraged. >> i wish you were just as enraged -- i was with president

obama in charleston. i was standing in front of the coffin of the past for killed there. i saw as tears welled in president obama's eyes. donald trump does not have the that moral fiber in his body to come close to that. >> you do not note president trump and what's in his heart. >> the reason is because he toyed with white supremacy for two years. >> why won't josh answer the question. >> i'll ask any question you want. >> why did president obama refuse to call them white supremacists and neo-nazis right after the speech? >> read his speech in charleston. >> no, no, no not the speech in charleston. >> paris, hang on. josh. >> immediately after. >> josh. >> i will not let people sit here and have a different standard for president trump. >> hang on. this won't work. paris, someone just justified white supremacy. >> be careful when you talk about my integrity. >> i'm talking about the facts,

man. >> read the speech president obama did. read the speech he gave immediately after charleston. >> guys, lets me say a couple things. >> van, go ahead. >> be honest, paris, stop. >> hang on. >> this is what's happening. >> van, go ahead. >> this is where we've come to. we got two of the greatest guys in american politics yelling at each other, you got people watching this who are crying or in hospitals right now and in waiting rooms wondering if their friends are going to make it and we're arguing the way we're arguing. this is the danger where we're going. we're beginning to spiral away from each other. paris makes a fair point. why i had a different reaction, you can tell me, paris, if you think i'm right or wrong. with the situation with obama, he's been so clear in terms of his civil rights position and that shooting when it happened, it wasn't happening in the context of an actual neo-nazi mobilization and a big global attention to a fleeio nazi mobilization.

i think trump for two reasons, he would have been better advised to speak to it directly. there's a little bit of a monkey around his back around this kind of stuff. he has retweeted some folks he shouldn't have. there's a monkey on his back. in the middle a big neo-nazi mobilization. i think it's a different context. the country's in a much worse position now. we need donald trump and we need every leader to speak from their hearts and say listen, people out there are scared, upset but you cannot be outhere flying nazi flags in america and have my support. you cannot be out here driving cars over independent people and have my support. there were some goodnings this his speech that were overlooked but there was a big omission, and i think he hurt a lot of people's feelings with that. we can talk about it as friends. i don't think we have to get as far as down the road as we got a few minutes ago. >> we can be friends but also have to speak truth in love. and the truth in love is that donald trump has played with

these fires for two years. and now he's beginning to get burn. >> ken cuccinelli, go ahead. >> you know, if we want to look ahead, this is a problem that america's had to deal with since our beginning. and we still have to deal with it. the nature of human nature is that it's going to go on forever. we need to be able to figure out how to address the problem. calling steve bannon a white supremacist and steve miller a white supremacist is not a constructive discussion. it's an instant -- it's an instant fire bomb in a discussion. and frankly, look, these folks, they came to charlottesville with their evil agenda and to get attention you. didn't see a lot of women in the pictures of their rally. did you? these are angry young white men. they're really, really angry. you know what else they are?

they're desperate for attention. and they're getting tons of it today. tons of it. we need to be condemning this. and we need to be doing it without elevating them in the media. >> i agree with that. >> let me say three things, ken. i agree with you that you got some desperation here. i think three things. first of all, i do think that personnel is fair to question. i think bannon has said some stuff and been associated with stuff that is very troubling to people. i don't think it's off the table to raise that. second, beyond personnel, there's policy. you do have donald trump saying that they're going to move their attention away from these white nationalist groups from a counter-terrorism point of view to focus more on muslims. that decision now looks very, very bad. and so i think there's a policy problem here when the president is only seeing terrorism from muslims and cannot see terrorism from national white supremacist groups. the third piece is what you're saying, there is something going on in this country where there's

a level of anger and alienation. you see it with some of our young white brothers. this is not the right way. there neese needs to be real leadership. ken, you've shown much better leadership than you're seeing from donald trump. we have to be honest. if we want this president to do a good job, if he can, we've got to tell him when he's doing right and when he's doing wrong. these young men need to hear from the president i've got a better plan for you. anybody's got a better plan for you than nazis. when he doesn't say that, that's bad. >> listen to what the young men are saying about trump's statement. if you look at the daily stormer, i looked at it before we came in, i almost cringed to look. it's terrible. they're pleased with lis statement. look online. i'm mot making this up. i won't repeat it back to anyone. spend time after this segment. they think that he was winking and nodding to them by not condemning them, they thought he was talking about progressives. i'm not making this up.

folks, we know what's going on here. this is not a game. and he is so quick to condemn anyone else, he spent more time talking about rosie o'donnell or mitch mcconnell in the last 24 hours than he spent talking about nazis and white supremacists. >> paris. >> he didn't talk about rosie o'donnell or mitch mcconnell today. >> yesterday he talked about mitch mcconnell. >> paris. >> when i worked for president bush, he talked about the fact he was unable to legislate love and to force people to love your neighbor. one of the things he always said in the face of these instances that happened. president trump said something similar at the end of his remarks today. he's talking about the fact that he just wished above all else we would find a way to love one another. if any person that read that speech when the president clearly denounced hatred, bigotry and violence did a wink, thought that was a wink and nod, they are doing that on purpose to try to convince americans that somehow president trump is

on their side or that he supports them or that republicans or people who support president trump agree with him. at the end of the day, we have to do what senator scott called for us to to do, sit down and listen with people that don't look like us. thing them to the table and come together and not use hateful speech and cast huge clouds of doubt and suspicion on people's character and their morals. let's call out what needs to be called out but let's be honest and be fair. that's all i'm saying. be fair. >> the words many sides when you talked about the bigotry and hatred from many sides today, was that the right word choice today? >> i think if you -- i watched the speech. and president trump oft times goes off script and adds things to his remarks. i believe in watching he was talking about on many sides refer together violence. because there was violence on

many sides, on both sides. i think that that is what he was referring to. now, in behind site, what is it the best thing to say, probably not because it was misconstrued. but you misconstrue that if you want to see that. if you want to hear that. if you watch that speech or read the speech and think the president is a racist or winking and nodding -- that's what you hear. >> paris. >> if you stop and say he was referring to violence on both sides, then you can say that's probably what he was referring to in an off the cuff comment. >> when someone shows you who they are, believe them. what you just said is fascinating because you're right. when he was on script, when he was reading the paper, he was just fine. he was good. i agreed with most of what he said. when he went off script and spoke from the heart, that's where the many sides came in. this was from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. that's when he said the many sides, the false equivalency is

when he went off script. now so i'm not saying that he can't change but maybe you, maybe his evangelical advisers needs to pull him close and say this is a moral problem here. this is a moral disaster for you to have these wink and nod saddling up to white supremacists. this is something that is going to bring us back to a dark and ebola place we are hoping to leave in this country. i'm not saying he can't change. i hope he does. we have to deal with the reality of the situation right now. >> i think it's appropriate for the president tosses remind all citizens just like mrs. trump our first lady put in her tweet, about violence. if you have a disdegree, we are americans. you have a right to free speech. you can assemble you can do whatever. it's not appropriate, it's not right to be violent on either side. dr. king as we otf times quote, dr. king was criticized because he had a peaceful movement and

people often said when he came to the town that he was bringing violence even though he wasn't bringing it. people reacted towards him. dr. king was smart and correct. you cannot have -- you can protest and be against the government and against what's happening but you don't have to resort to violence. >> hold on a second. >> his people resorted to violence. >> we just got new information in. the mother of the suspect, the man hop drove that car and is now accused of second degree murder, for killing a 32-year-old woman, the mother is speaking out. we'll have the details coming up next. the mother is speaking out. we'll have the details coming up next. 32-year-old woman, the mother is speaking out. we'll have the details coming up next. it's mozzarella sticks on top of grilled chicken. it's cajun shrimp on top of steak. it's labor day weekend on top of the fourth of july.

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all right. we have some breaking news we want to report here at cnn. this has to do with the violence we've seen in virginia over the course of the day, three people killed there including one woman mowed down on the streets. there have been three arrests of individuals charged with varying degrees of violent activity. disorderly conduct, misdemeanor assault and battery. one person with a concealed handgun. two arrests are from people not from the virginia. two people out of state, one virginia a resident in addition to the man now being held

charged with second degree murder for mowing down a 32-year-old woman on the streets. that man you see on the screen right there is james alex fields, 22 years old from maumee, ohio which brings us to the second piece of breaking news that we are hearing from the mother of this individual. i believe brian todd is with us now. brian, what does the mother say? >> reporter: right, john. some information here from the mother of james alex fields her name is samantha bloom. she spoke to the toledo blade newspaper. a riveting account of what she said to her son apparently as he was leaving to come to the rally. mr. feeds mother according to the toledo blade expressed disbelief upon learning her son was involved in this incident today. she said -- she told the toledo blade he told her last week that he was going to a "alt-right rally in virginia," but he didn't know what it was about.

her quote to the blade is i try to stay out of his political views. i don't get too involved. then she said ", i told him to be careful. if they're going to rally to make sure he's doing it peacefully she said before according to the newspaper she broke down it theirs. that is samantha bloom, the mother of this chief suspect james alex fieldss. james is 20 years old. he could be 20 or 22 from maumee, ohio. he is charged with one count of second degree murder. three counts of malicious wounding, one count of failure to stop at an accident which resulted in a death. he is from maumee, ohio, and and some of this information coming from martin coomer, the superintendent of the albemarle regional county jail. again, what we can also tell you about some of these arrests tonight, mentioned them a moment ago, john. three people arrested, one of them is 44 years old. he was arrested for carrying a

concealed handgun, two others 21-year-old young men arrest ford misdemeanor assault and batteriry and one arrest ford disorderly conduct. two of those three from out of state. one from chattanooga, tennessee and the other from gainesville, florida. we were told earlier from the governor and the mayor that a lot of the people causing trouble were from out of state. i've covered a lot of these riots and protests in the past. and very often, local officials will accuse people from out of state of coming in and causing the trouble. that seems to be the case here, as well, john. so again, between the witness accounts of what happened behind me here with this car strike and some of the fighting and the protests that you saw earlier today and the new information we're getting, two of the three being charged today being from out of state, you kind of see some of the disturbing nature of what happened today coming together. we've been asking city officials all night, are there any of these white supremists around in

any kind of numbers tonight. they're not telling us whether they think anything else is planned. it is fairly quiet here tonight. just behind me, you see the flashing lights. they have tow trucks gathering the two vehicles struck in this car strike. witnesses saw the perpetrator sitting in his car for a while, had enthey saw him backing up, positioning his car and gunning it right down this street. one witness told me he thought he was going at least 50 miles an hour. he struck the pedestrian. the 32-year-old woman was killed. he struck two vehicles behind these trucks. they seem to be moving those right now. a lot of dramatic new information from here. >> brian todd for us on the streets of charlottesville. one of the headlines we don't want to overlook, quiet as of now tonight on the streets of charlottesville which is a welcome thing to say the least. i want to bring back our panel. ken cuccinelli, i want to go straight to you with this new piece of information, the statement from the mother of the

suspect, james alex fields charged with second degree murder. the mother says he told her last week he was going to an alt-right rally in virginia. that gets to what you were talking about before. if we find out that this young man left ohio to go stir things up in virginia, that's when you get into the realm of maybe a federal crime with the department of justice, ted cruz calling on them to investigate it as a case of domestic toirp, correct? >> yeah, absolutely. because you're crossing state lines and it's for the purpose of break the law. of course, the fact that he was just going to the rally wouldn't quite get you there, but mop has you know, identified that he knew what he was doing, where he was going and so forth. frankly that statement sounded like what a mother would say under these circumstances. so i feel bad for her. but it's hard to feel bad for her son, that's for sure, who caused all this harm to so many people today. if other information comes out

and it could be from e-mails that he communicated with people he might have been meeting in charlottesville and so forth that he was coming with an intention to do harm, then you're going to be in a very legitimate federal realm for a charge. >> you know, paris. >> >> i just think it's important, virginia can handle it and it's certainly true but there's something about the federal government stepping in and saying these kinds of things are not appropriate. we're not going to tolerate it. it's america's government that needs to take a stand when there's a loss of life. i'm for dumb, mean people saying dumb, mean things. if you want to go and do mean things and lethal things, i think america's government needs to take a stand. so no doubt that virginia can't handle it but america should

handle it. >> if i could comment quickly. >> go ahead. >> i understand where you're coming from. but i think the long-term solution is more of a problem of the heart than any particular incident represents. and we've got to do this one community at a time. and that's the only reason that i think for virginia to handle it and face it ourselves, we're perfectly capable. i know you feel the same way. i understand the symbolism that you're talking about. we'll hear from all portions of this country and our government appropriate statements of response as these facts are better understood. just what the mother added right here. it confirms for us at least that this individual who drove this car was coming to join this rally. we know which camp he was in. as those facts unfold, i think

more responses along the lines of what you're describing make more sense. >> getting to what the president did not say before one of the things that president trump has criticized former president obama for not saying is the term radical islamic terror. is it important, paris, if this young man did cross state lines with the intent of going to this rally to cause harm to people, is it important to call it islamic terror? >> this was, in my opinion, an act of domestic terrorism. the facts prove and seem to be supporting the fact that this man is a white supremacist who did these acts out of malice towards others because of their

view that was -- he wanted to act out on this because he is a racist, then it should be called what it is and president trump should call it don't mess particular terrorism. we have to speak the truth of what these things are. what president trump said is correct. this is not a new thing. this has been going on well before president trump and well before president obama and george w. bush. this is an issue that our country has never fully dealt with and i think we have to call it out for what it is. >> there's a new term, which is alt-right, which is something that we haven't heard from the decades and decades. and it's a relatively new term.

he speaks so forcefully about everything else and yet it took until 1:00 p.m. for him to tweet and then we saw the statement that we saw. i'm not waiting for president trump for moral leadership. i think there are moral leaders and more hope in this country. if you look at charlottesville, there's a lot of things that we could look to with hope. there were clergy surrounding the protesters that were there and saying that love has already won. there were folks laying hands and praying on the counterprotesters and lifting them up. and condemning hatred and white supremacy and bigotry. there are good things happening. president trump needs to catch up to the goodness that in this country right now and his statement today did not do that.

read the whole statement. he did that. and for josh to say that, there were many people who wanted president obama -- he worked for president obama, to do more, to show up, go to ferguson, go certain places and do things. >> but nobody questioned his morality. so perhaps the question of morality of president trump i think is disingenuous. >> one at a time. josh, go. >> you have to look at the history and the track record and that's a fair thing to do. >> if i could finish, when you talk about you want to rough up protesters, when you're retweeting white supremacist accounts, look at the history of sebasti sebastian gorka and look at who is in the left wing.

this president and the candidate did these things and now we see folks taking him seriously and picking up torches and marching in charlottesville, virginia. no amount of talking points or anything like that, it's going to pay for that. paris. this is who he is. we can all be something different but we've got to confront who he is. >> what are you saying that he is? >> someone who has courted white nationalists in part. that's not the only part of his coalition but that was a part of his coalition. >> we have to take responsibility for unintended consequences. i think he brings up a lot of good points but i don't think that i'm seeing the people that are defenders of trump taking enough responsibility for the fact that we've never seen a

president with this relationship to these kind of forces. you are correct that we've had -- the klan is probably the oldest terrorist organization in the world and certainly the oldest in the united states. they have been around for a very long time but they have not often felt that they had a friend in the white house and you had reagan where the klan endorsed him, he wanted to separate himself. there is a hesitancy here and i think part of the problem that we have is this president is not hesitant on anything else. he is so aggressive coming after the media and coming after his opponents that are political. he pulls his punches. if you have his ear or anybody has his ear, this is the time. we now have a dead american. we have an american who is dead.

and this is the time to come out full guns. we need a full speech. when barack obama was running for office and there was a challenge that came because of reverend wright, he gave an eloquent speech. donald trump has shown the ability to give important speeches. to actually rise to the occasion. he did not do it today. if we get to the end of this week and we have not heard this president tell this young generation of young, white men, this is not the right way, we have a better way for you, i'm afraid that they are going to get the wrong signal. a lot of these young white guys are getting the wrong signal for the president. >> and van, it's both about the women who died but also about the 6 million jews who died in the holocaust and when i see that swastika on arm bands, that gives me -- it turns my stomach. it's about the millions of african-american who is died in slavery and because of jim crow in virginia and other states

that in graveyards that are around the community of charlottesville and these folks are walking on. it's not just about that one woman. it's about what these people represent. donald trump, i don't know that -- honestly, after having known that he should say something and not saying something immediately and then maybe he walks around to it later in the week, i'm not sure that that is enough. there will be other opportunities. in the meantime, folks who are praying for him need to hold him accountable and say this is wrong and you need to go another way. >> we have heard from many members and from people from all over the political spectrum. ted cruz, who you work very closely with in the campaign and has called for a department of justice investigation. cory gardener has called for the president to speak out. oren hatch, john mccain, i want to read one more. this is from someone assumingly on the other side of the aisle right now from sally yates, the

acting attorney general who was fired by the president for not enacting his travel ban. she wrote, the poison skewed by nazis, white supremacists and the kkk is not who we are as a country. takes less than 140 characters to say it." her point is, it doesn't take much to condemn these groups. and to take that step further and also condemn these hate groups, your reaction, ken? >> certainly the president has the ability to make major impact in 140 characters or less. he's proven that for two years and i expect it and this tragedy that has happened here today, i want to