tv New Day CNN August 15, 2017 4:00am-5:00am PDT
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and life's beautiful moments.ns get between you flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. it helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause symptoms. pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. flonase changes everything. . we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, it has no place in america. >> better late than never. i'm glad the president called evil by name. >> it's too little too late. one's initial response is the most important response. >> hours after condemning white supremacists the president retweeting a prominent supporter and conspiracy theorist. >> donald trump has no credibility on this issue. >> there is no place in my party for neo-nazis. >> three ceos say they want out of the president's manufacturing council. >> we're just not seeing that maturity yet from the president who is still in campaign mode.
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>> if you're carrying around a nazi flag you're not in the republican party. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning, alisyn is off, poppy harlow is joining me this week. >> happy to be here. >> president trump raising eyebrows by retreating to the fringe, retweeting a conspiracy theorist who has pedaled baseless stories. the president back in new york, thousands taking to the streets to protest his arrival at trump tower. charlottesville prepares for a memorial for heather heyer, killed for standing up to hate. in just moments we'll speak to the man at the center of this horrifying picture that captures the deadly violence in that town, marcus martin, pushed his fiance, marissa, out of the way as this car rammed into them. he will share his story for the first time right here, his fiance marissa, also a close
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friend of heather heyer will join him. let's begin our coverage with our jeff zeleny live in new york outside of trump tower where the president last night was met by apparently thousands of protesters. >> reporter: good morning, poppy. president trump is waking up here as you said in trump tower for the first time in some seven months. he left his home here two days before inauguration day and has not been back since. this is part of his working vacation, but the controversy from charlottesville and the tweets that he's sending out overnight are new ones for him to deal with. only hours after attempting to quell the outrage over his initial response to the deadly violence in charlottesville, president trump retweeting a prominent supporter and conspiracy theorist. the president's retweet originated from jack posobiec, a social media user the anti-defamation league is a member of the alt light.
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the adl says it objects white supremacist views but embraces misogyny and xenophobia. it highlighted his anti-muslim tweets and harassment of former hillary clinton aide huma abedin. >> president seth rich, can we talk about rhettsive? >> reporter: posobiec pedaled a number of debunked conspiracy theories online including a baseless story the democratic committee was behind the death of former staffer seth rich, and the pizza gate hoax which alleges that top democrats were operating a child sex trafficking ring out of a d.c. pizza shop during last year's campaign. on monday the president caved to pressure condemning white supremacists and other hate groups by name. >> racism is evil. and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the kkk,
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neo-nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as americans. >> reporter: cnn has learned that the president insisted on addressing the economy before making these additional remarks, which came two days after the death of heather heyer in charlottesville. >> mr. president, can you explain why you did not condemn them by name over the weekend? >> they've been condemned. they have condemned. >> reporter: hours later the president took aim at the media for the controversy that has now cost him the support of three ceos on his american manufacturing council. the ceo of intel becoming the third business leader to step down tuesday night saying in part "i resign because i want to make progress while many in washington seem to be more concerned with attacking anyone who disagrees with them." the president's do-over lass does not appear to have been enough for thousands of protesters who lined the streets outside of trump tower, ahead of
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mr. trump's arrival last night. >> no trump, no kk, no fascist usa. no trump, no kkk, no fascist usa. >> reporter: and poppy, police here in new york are bracing for more protesters again today. the president will be here all day long holding an infrastructure meeting. he's surrounded by many of his advisers. one adviser who is not here is white house strategist steve bannon, said to be on thin ice among the president's inner circle, keeping an eye on him to see if he remains. the controversy from charlottesville still lingering over this president. >> jeff zeleny thanks so much. new details coming out about the suspect who allegedly ran his car into the crowd of counter protesters in charlottesville. the 0-year-old ohio man is still behind bars after being denied bond after his court appearance yesterday. kaylee yesterday you told us his
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past what his teachers have been saying about him. what else have you learned about this man? >> reporter: well poppy, as federal and state investigators continue to search for motive in that deadly attack, we're learning more about james alex fields jr.'s violent and troubled past. wlwt obtained police dispatch logs which tell us it appears he was so violent as a teenager against his own mother that she was forced to call 911. police responded nine times to his childhood home from 2010 to 2013, when he would have been a young teenager. twice those calls were made for alleged violent activity against the mother who is disabled, in a wheelchair. now the mother has never discussed her son's political views with him, she says, but as the high school teacher told us, this is a young man who was infatuated with naziism, and who bought into white supremacy as a young teenager. i should mention poppy one of the logs says that in 2011 a
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14-year-old boy was arrested, though his name was redacted from those logs. at 20 years old, fields is charged with the murder of heather heyer and heyer's father has a message for fields. >> i don't hold any ill will toward this young fella that did this. he's stupid, okay? he's only 20 years old. he don't have sense enough to make a lifelong decision about nothing. i forgive him. flat out, just i forgive him. the thing is, he's going to have to live with the consequences and he's going to have to live knowing that he took somebody's life for the rest of his life. that's, i wouldn't wish that on nobody. >> reporter: the local paper tells us there will be a memorial for heather heyer on wednesday at 11:00 a.m. in the paramount theater right in the middle of downtown charlottesville. chris, we have seen an outpouring of emotion in this town in her memory. >> kaylee, thank you very much. it has become a flash point as well as a city and people are going to keep looking to
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charlottesville to see what happens next. and the moment that really captured the country was seen in this one photo. what do we see here? this is the alleged attacker's car, the gray car you see there, the challenger, knocking over all of these different people, most importantly for our purposes, marcus martin. why? well he had just pushed his fiance out of the way putting himself in the path of that vehicle, and he got hit. he broke his leg. his fiance was uninjured. we're joined by marcus martin with once again his fiance marissa blair, who joined us yesterday, a close friend and former co-worker of heather heyer, who lost her life in that same scenario. marissa, mr. martin, thanks so both of you for being with us on this morning. >> thanks for having us. >> marcus, how are you feeling?
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how is your leg? how is your heart? >> heavy. heavy. it's just a lot of pain. it's a lot to cope with. >> it is. we see that you both have the shirts on to support heather this morning. what do you want people to know about why you were there with marissa yesterday, marcus -- not yesterday, over the weekend, why you were there? >> because i wanted to stand up and spread love. i wasn't going to attend the rally, but then i get on facebook, and i see videos of them just beating them with torches, and that's what i stand for, like i stand for my black community. i stand for everything, what's right and by me being able to
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see what was really going on, i couldn't, i couldn't allow myself not to go. >> do you remember being on the street -- >> i couldn't allow myself not to attend. >> do you remember being on the street and the car coming? >> yes, sir. >> how do you remember it? >> yes, sir. the only thing i remember is we was walking up the street and the car was just sitting there, just there, and then out of nowhere i'm looking down at my phone, and then you hear the tires screech and then i look up and bodies are just flying, and i just thought for one split second, i didn't think about myself. i thought about my fiance. i had to protect her. that's what i'm here for, her protecti protection, and i put all on the line for her. >> did you know you were going to get hit when you moved her out of the way?
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>> there was a big chance of me getting hit, but i'd do it all over again just to make sure that everything's okay with her. >> marissa, we talked about this yesterday, and people are so moved by your feelings and what you told us all about your friend heather and what she was about, and about this bond that you have with your fiance, because sometimes in moments that are this ugly and this negative, and this about the worst of human instincts, something like what happened between the two of you reminds everybody that there's an entirely different part of the reality of humanity as well. and i know how much it means to you that marcus put it all on the line like he says, and he really did. i mean, a car coming at you, that's a deadly weapon, and it took your friend's life. it could have taken a lot of lives, and how you guys feeling together since that moment?
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>> i mean, we're just happy to be together. i was telling him last night being at the rally, being at the counter protest, and seeing all the hate that was going on with the protesters, it made me not think that maybe the world isn't such a great place, maybe human beings aren't so great, but ever since the event we've gotten nothing but love and support and kindness from people all over the world, people we don't even know, and it just shows you there is still good in the world, that i'm so lucky to have someone like him to be by my side to protect me, and we grew to love each other more and more each day, but this is unexplainable, how much our bond has grown since then. >> you got an advanced look at for better or worse, and you know where marcus would be, when that moment comes. for a lot of the rest of us we promise it, the husbands of the
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world but we don't know if we'd deliver in that moment and marcus, you did. i appreciate that as somebody who was looking for something to restore a sense of virtue in humidity coming out of something so ugly. thank you for that gift you gave us and we know it caused you a lot of pain with your leg. i want to ask you about some of the ideas coming out of this situation. we just had on two people and there's a debate going on about why the president was so measured in the first instance, and here's what a supporter of his will argue. well, there was ugliness on both sides. you had the white supremacists, and then you had the lefty extremists there as well, and i kept making the point, so you see people like heather heyer as equally responsible as a neo-nazi for what happened down there? what do you make of that idea that people like you and your fiance and heather heyer who are down there to oppose the white
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supremacists were somehow equally in the wrong for being there and for what happened? >> the only individual that's in the wrong of this whole entire situation is the guy that ran the car into a peaceful protest. there was a lot of wrong going on down there, but that protest that i was in, and as my fiance was in, it was peaceful. we wasn't spreading hate. we were spreading love. >> racists go home. >> we don't want you here, that's all we said and i guess that led to the tragic event that occurred. and he took it upon his self to do, to walk out the rally, to get in his car, to find out
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where the good protest was going, and you find us and you run us down. who -- and then i feel multiple times that people saying he's 20 years old, it was an accident. he knew exactly what he was doing. his intentions was clear. he wanted, he wanted pain. he wanted hurt. he wanted blood. that's what he was after. you come down to charlottesville -- yes, everybody that was out there, we were out there at our own risk, at our own risk but we were standing up for things we believed in and we wasn't out there to protest hate. we were standing up for things we believed in. that's all. that's all. >> marissa, yesterday you said to me that you know, listen, the president's got to step up. he's got to call this for what
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it is and do it. he says he did that yesterday. he came out and he said it, and then afterwards he retweeted some thoughts from a known fringe supporter of conspiracy theories, and then today he retweeted an article that says he's thinking of pardoning sheriff joe arpaio, who has become a controversial figure in some circles. does it bother you that, after doing something that was supposed to bring people together, he then retweets a right wing extremist playing to the fringe conspiracies or talks about sheriff joe arpaio? do you see a connection, does that bother you or do you think that's just how it is? >> it does bother me. it makes me question the president's motives. was that apology or was that calling out the white nationalists for what they were? was that real? were you compelled to do that? what took you so long to do it?
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and now he's blaming the media for starting the controversy. it was clear that was an act of terror, hate, done to scare the people of my city, scare the people of the world, and it's like he needed his advisers or he needed someone else to say you need to do this, and i don't think he did it because he wanted to. he did it because he had to, and his tweets and his comments and just everything he's been doing up until this point since this tragedy on saturday, it had to have been genuine. i haven't seen it as genuine. it just seems like something he needs to do as the president and something that he needs to do to make sure that the world just doesn't -- just doesn't go crazy. >> wes bellamy is vice mayor in charlottesville. we had him on the show this morning and he was saying he likes what he sees in terms of how the people are coming together down there, that he believes that there's going to be a reaction to the negativity
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with positivity but kept referring to the president as 45. i asked why are you calling him 45? why aren't you calling him by his name? he said "i don't think he's earned the respect of being called president. he hasn't shown the leadership in this situation, hasn't done what he was supposed to do." marcus, do you agree with that? >> no comment. i feel no comment. i don't want to comment anything about donald trump, because i don't have anything positive to say. >> fair enough. marissa, how about you? >> i'm sorry, what was the question again? >> wes bellamy the vice mayor referring to the president as 45. i asked him why, and he said "i don't think he's earned the respect to be called president." >> right, yes, i don't.
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i personally have never called him 45. i have family members that do. i just call him trump. i don't see him as my president. i hate to say, i'm an american, yes, he's my president but he is not acting like a president. he's not representing the citizens of america like he's a president. he hasn't earned it. he hasn't. he hasn't shown us anything. he said that being a president is harder than he thought it would be. you're protecting the country. you're protecting america. it's families, it's safety. you're supposed to unite us and make us a better country and you haven't done it. you haven't even started. you haven't even began to think about why you even wanted to be president other than a publicity stunt and that's all i can think, but no. 45, i will not condemn anyone from calling him that. president trump will never come out of my mouth, in terms of showing any type of respect to him. >> well, we know the president
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watches the show, it's a powerful message from people who lived through a horrible event. he is the leader of all of us so he'll hear you this morning. marissa, thank you for getting up again and for being with us again and marcus martin, i know you're in pain, and there are injuries inside and out but i thank you not just for what you did for your fiance but what you showed all of us in ermz terms what love can be. and the best for both of you in your lives ahead. >> thank you. >> poppy? >> wishing them all the best. it took two days for the president to finally call out the white supremacists and neo-nazis by name. did his comments quell the outrage? we'll dig into that ahead. flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. it helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause symptoms. pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. flonase changes everything.
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to everything we hold dear as americans. >> a few hours after president trump denounced white supremacist groups by name, the president retweeted a right wing conspiracy theorist who pushed baseless stories about a dnc former staffer's murder and the pizza gate hoax. was the timing a coincidence? let's discuss the impact. david gregory, josh green and cnn contributor wes lowery. great to have you all with us on this important morning. david gregory is this a coincidence or intentional timing by the president and what is its relevance if so? >> well you just see in the president someone who appears to be so reluctant to do the right thing. when it comes to white nationalists, white supremacists who supported him in the course of the campaign and vladimir putin, these are the two people, the two groups that he won't criticize frontally and yet he's so transparent about everyone else.
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he's so clear and unmistakable in his views about everyone else, including the media, and on and on, and yet he coddles these two, and i don't understand it, except the understanding comes from why he throughout the campaign and even now gives space to those people who pedal this hatred and this filth, and he's done that throughout the campaign for fear i suppose of alienating a fringe part of his base. i don't know what's in his heart. i'm not judging what's in the president's heart but you have an opportunity as president to speak out forcefully against it. he hasn't done it. he didn't do it throughout the campaign, and then to equivocate on something like this, again, it defies description or understanding and got him in hot water with even republicans, who said no, you can't do this. these are people who associate themselves with you or with the republican party, we as a party have to stand up and say no thanks we're not interested in
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you. >> jeff green to david's point, he did this during the campaign, during the election, and he won. so perhaps that emboldens him to believe that he can continue to do this as the president of the united states. of course, what he says, what he does is on him, but questions are swirling about what role steve bannon may play in all of this in his position the white house going forward. you wrote the definitive book on steve bannon and donald trump. you said bannon is said to have eagerly encouraged trump to do everything he could to build a political involvement around white identity politics. where do you see bannon in this now? >> i think bannon was probably on the side of trump's advisers saying don't give in to the pressure from the media and from liberals and apologize for this. i think in the event that turned out to be very bad advice, but as you mentioned in the intro, during the campaign trump also came under attack from hillary clinton who gave a speech last august about the dangers and the
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menace of alt right racism and trump's association with it. it was an attempt to pressure trump into either firing bannon or dissociating himself with some of the white nationalists and anti-semites. trump refused, and if you go back and look at the polling about a month later her lead in the polls narrowed. i talked to bannon and he said we polled the race stuff this attack clinton is making doesn't matter so trump of course went ahead and won the election and i think internalized the lesson you don't necessarily have to apoll jiogize for this thing as appalling as it is to a lot of americans. >> we had wes bellamy on this morning, vice mayor of charlottesville and kept referring to the president as 45. i asked him why. of course president trump is the 45th president. he said i'm not calling him president trump. he hasn't earned that respect. how much damage do you think the president did to himself here? >> to be honest? not that much because i think that most people who are calling him 45 a week ago or still calling him 45.
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the reality is you look at the president's poll numbers and it's difficult for them to go much lower. the types of folks who would be offended by this coddling of racist and neonationalies in fact were offended by donald trump's behavior around the central park five, were offended by his comments about mexican-american judge or his sponsorship of birtherism and leading that type of racist movement, and so what's difficult here is the politics of white america, is that when you look at president trump's numbers as it relates to republicans, the republican base, as well as white americans broadly, they are far higher than they are among minority americans and continue to be there even as overall they are low. i think there was a piece in mcclatchy this morning talking about you have all the gop operatives condemning president trump and some gop elected officials. the base does not care. they thought his initial comments were great. they were fine.
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it speaks to while those of us in d.c. who perhaps move it in different political circles, have clarity about why his initial comments were unacceptable and not condemning and playing coy with dangerous racist ideas, the real sit that many americans, many white americans play coy themselves with these ideas, and also kind of coddle whether it be friend and family members who hold these types of views. these weren't anonymous folks on the street of charlottesville. >> who was not calling him 45 in public is the big name ceos who all three, intel, under armour, merck, condemned what the president said and pulled off of one of his panels as a result. guys, this has fallen into late night, which was not laughing about this last night. just listen to jimmy fallon. >> the fact that it took the president two days to come out and clearly denounce racist and white supremacists is shameful,
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and i think he finally spoke out because people everywhere stood up and said something. one brave woman in charlottesville, heather heyer, died standing up for what's right, at the age of 32. i can't look at my beautiful growing, curious daughters and say nothing, when this kind of thing is happening. we all need to stand against what is wrong, acknowledge that racism exists, and stand up for what is right, and civil and kind, and to show the next generation that we haven't forgotten how hard people have fought for human rights. we cannot do this. we can't go backward. >> david, what do you think? is this a moment where things do change or do you agree with wes' argument? >> well, i don't know how much can change. i mean things are changing, and this is a conversation that people are having. i'm not sure the president is equipped or interested in leading it in the way that could be productive.
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it's shocking to me, you think about the fact that president trump has jewish grandchildren that he will not speak out more forcefully and did not against racism and anti-semitism. what does he think would happen to those grandchildren if these anti-semitic nazis and their world view were to prevail in this country, which they will not because we've learned from history and that's why they're on the fringe, but the fact that he gives them space and that they feel they have space in his america is actually disrespectful to the notion of who trump's base is. i don't think they're part of trump's base and he shouldn't want them to be there but the more he coddles them the more they will be. the larger debate the president or someone else who is responsible could have about this debate about our memory of confederate soldiers in the confederacy, which we can get into if we have more time. >> we will get into that, not right now but we will. thank you very much. ahead for us, she's the one who started that go fund me page for
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the charlottesville victim, so what did heather heyer do for this friend that made her want to jump into action? wait until you hear this interview, next. f business, but who takes care of mom? office depot/office max. order online and pickup in store in just one hour. ♪ taking care of business >> announcer: no one loves a road trip like your furry sidekick! so when your "side glass" gets damaged... [dog barks] trust safelite autoglass to fix it fast, and we'll get you back on the road! [dog barks] ♪safelite repair, safelite replace.♪ (boy) and these are the lungs. (class) ewwww! (boy) sorry. (dad) don't worry about it. (mom) honey, honey, honey, honey! (vo) at our house, we need things that are built to last. that's why we got a subaru.
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the entire country continues to mourn the loss of 3-year-old heather heyer, killed by that car as it plowed into the group of counter protesters at the white supremacist rally in charlottesville. heather's mother spoke with anderson cooper. listen to this. >> you took my child from me, and i'm going to be the voice that she can no longer be. and so you gave us a national forum and maybe i should thank you for that, but i can't. i would rather have my child. >> pain of a mother. joining us from charlottesville is a lifelong friend of heather, felicia correa, the one who started that incredible go fund me page for heather's family. thank you so much for being here. you've known her -- >> thank you for having me. >> you've known her since you were 11. you lived on the same street and played together, you went to elementary school together. what do you want everyone to know about heather?
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>> she went actually to elementary school with my brother, so our bus, everybody who is watching this from greene county who knew about bus 6, there were a lot of loud voices and a lot of tension on that bus, and people weren't going to be mean to other people around heather. now she wasn't one to get up and get in a physical altercation, but she never minced words, even as a small child, even who got to, she played with my brother a lot and as far as who was riding the go-kart first or, because there were a lot of boys in our neighborhood, but i mean, it's not fair, that's not fair. >> she always stood up it sounds like from a young, young age for what is right, and you said she died for this country. >> she did.
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it's sad that the world lost a great person in order, i mean the world had to lose a great person in order to start a conversation. the conversation has not been as or the topic has not been so vocal and so loud until now, and it's sad, because you sit in the history class and i help my kids with homework and they learn about the civil rights movement and you see those things and you feel horrible, but you never had, you know, to live through it. so you only know what you see. you only know the pain that you hear people speak about. it's 2017. this should have never happened. >> she helped you personally, felicia, in one of your, if not your deepest time of need in your life, you were struggling with all of these medical bills. it was very, very difficult, and you were in desperate need of help and she came to help you. what did she do?
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>> well, one of my friends who also works at the law firm, you know, told me come by and talk to heather, and we can see what we can do for you, and she told me that heather said she knew me and i was like hmm i don't know. i came in and i was like oh, heather, and you know, just went from there and while we were doing paperwork, the paperwork took longer than it should have because we were chatting and asking how this person was and how that person was and you know, i was actually a closer friend with her brother, because we were closer in age and closer in grades and nick and i stayed in contact with each other after school. >> yes. you know -- >> but it was -- she made sure paperwork got done and she, you know -- >> she helped you. >> -- didn't hesitate to call you know, the payroll department at my job several times to make
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sure that garnishment funds were given back to me in a timely manner so that my kids could eat, pretty much. >> so as someone who has known heather since you were 11 years old, it took the president days and a lot of consternation from both sides to come out and say what needed to be said, and to condemn neo-nazis, the kkk, white supremacists, everything that she was fighting against and gave her life fighting against. we've learned according to the white house he has no plans to visit charlottesville in the wake of this tragedy. what would heather say about all this? >> she would just be purely disgusted. i mean, in the law firm in which she worked at, she tried to help people of all races, and you know, sexual orientation, and it disgusts me that he has no plans on coming here, but he made a
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point to go to lynchburg to, you know, speak. you should be here at least paying a visit to a grieving mother, to a grieving brother, a father. she was somebody's child, and not just her, all the victims were someone's child, and just the simple fact that you have no plans on coming here? you shouldn't be allowed to sit in the white house. >> in a word, leave us with this. how do you want us all to remember heather? >> she,is i just don't what happened to heather and the others to be in vain. it cannot be okay to be a racist behind your own doors, it cannot be okay toment could out right and be a racist in public and i feel that's what the presidency was done.
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it has made it okay to a public bigot. >> thank you for your candor, and thank you for sharing your memories of heather. i wish we all could have met her. she sounds like a remarkable woman. thank you, felicia. >> thank you for having me. >> chris? it is election day in alabama. president trump has thrown his support behind a candidate he wants to replace jeff sessions in the senate. will voters agree? we have a live report from alabama, next. ♪
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alabama voters head to the polls today for a special primary election to fill jeff sessions' senate seat. the republican race is one to watch. the field is crowded and competitive but only one candidate is getting the big endorsement from the president of the united states who even tweeted about him this morning. will that be enough? cnn's victor blackwell has more. ♪ ♪ sweet home alabama >> reporter: "sweet home alabama" the state that handed president donald trump his biggest election night victory in the deep south, 28 points. now the front-runners in the gop primary race for the senate seat once held by attorney general jeff sessions are battling to prove who is the truest trump die-hard. >> the same washington insiders who don't like president trump are trying to stop our campaign. >> i'm working with president trump to drain the swamp. >> i vote with president trump
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95% of the time. >> reporter: mo brooks and appointed placeholder luther strange are all cozying up to the president ahead of the august 15th primary, despite trump's slipping job approval rating nationally. that's because his numbers are much stronger among republicans here. >> in alabama, which is what i most care most about his numbers are closer to 90%. >> reporter: not as strong as alabama's support for sessions. he ran unopposed in 2014 and was reelected with more than 97% of the vote. so when the president described a.g. sessions as week and beleaguered, candidates were forced to balance their support for popular president with voters' dislike of at tacks against alabama's favorite son. do you think the president should continue? should he stop the criticisms publicly? >> that's not for me to say. i'm not going to judge the president's actions. i wouldn't want him judging mine. >> jeff sessions is a personal friend of mine and in this family dispute i'm siding with jeff sessions. >> it's possible for us to
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support both the president and our attorney general. it's a tough environment in washington and i support both of them. >> reporter: after just six months in the senate, strange has endeared a powerful ally, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. mcconnell's super pac is flooding alabama with tv and radio ads attacking moore and brooks. >> ray moore, there's so much more. >> mo brooks refused to endorse donald trump for president. >> reporter: the move to aggressively endorse one republican over others is an effort to manage the party's slim senate majority to pass legislation. these two have vowed to buck mcconnell in the senate. they say he's part of the swamp. >> i believe the people of alabama don't like being told by washington special interest groups who to consider and i believe that's going to backfire against mitch mcconnell's boy. >> i will vote to repeal obamacare, and replace mitch mcconnell.
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>> reporter: president trump also recorded a robo call for senator luther strange, went out across the state overnight. the threshold 50% plus one. if no one reaches that the top two vote getters go on to a runoff in september. the one to watch is judge roy moore. you'll remember that he was removed from the bench twice, first for refusing to remove a monument to the ten commandments. then for ordering the enforcement of an overturned same-sex marriage >> say it's possible and that will move him to the general election in december. >> fascinating piece. thank you very much. ahead for us, fired over a controversial memo. now the google engineer behind speaking out one-on-one. we will have that for you next.
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tornados. >> a lot of same you just said. hail and wind damage i think the major threat today. this weather's brought to you by purina, your pet, our passion. let's get riright to it. it's maybe where your plane will fly over today and the plane may have to fly around some of these very large storms. not out of the question that some of these ranchers and farmers could pick up baseball-sized hail. it's a spring type day. rain in the northeast as well. into d.c. into new york city kind of a wet day. slow day to fly. that is hurricane gert, it will not get to u.s. but will make large waves. >> thank you my friend. the right wing conspiracy theorist retweeted by president
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trump already has big plans for the weekend. he's leading a multi city march to protest the firing of james damore. he argues that there are fewer women in tech jobs partly due to biological causes that he says they're also less assertive and experience higher levels of anxiety. he also slams what he calls google's politically correct mono culture. he defends that memo and talks about life inside google. >> i read that you said you felt misrepresented. how do you feel misrepresent snd. >> a lot of what the media has been saying is i'm anti-diverty and i think women are less capable of being engineers. that's really false. i simply state if we want to fix the gender representation issue we should look at how population differs, and so we can make tech
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actually better. >> why do you believe you were fire? >> i think it was a pr move by google primarily. there was a lot of pressure externally and by some of the very zealous follow ares of this ideology to get me fired. >> certainly seems, the memo said you weren't fired for having different ideology but for some statements on women. >> he can say whatever he wants but that's not the true case. >> computer science, it hasn't always been dominated by men. it wasn't until 1984 that the number of women started falling. how douz that fit into your argument as to why there aren't more women in tech? >> there are several reasons. partly women weren't allowed to work other jobs, so there was less freedom for people, and also, it was simply different kinds of work.
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the it was more like accounting rather than modern-day computer programming and it wasn't as lu lucrative. part of the reason men go into this is because it's high-paying. i know many people at google that weren't necessarily passionate about it but it was what provided for their family. >> you say those jobs are more like accounting. look at grace hopper who pioneered programming. katherine johnson, mary jackson, responsible for john glenn making his trajectory to the moon. those aren't accounting type jobs. >> there were select positions that weren't, and women are definitely capable of being competent programmers. >> do you believe those women were outliers? >> no there are many at google. they aren't any worse than the men at google but i'm saying
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there were many position that is werist willed -- listed as coding. >> do you think there are undercover conservative or alt-right and are afraid to speak up in silicon valley. >> yes, there are many in the closet quite literally. i'm a centrist and i still can't express many of my views. >> some of those reaching out to you or if so i'd be curious to know what are they saying? >> they largely argue with much of what i'm saying and many have either left google because the culture is very alienating towards them or are thinking about it because it's so bad. they don't feel like they can bring their whole severals toing gootoing -- selfing to google. and you have to stay in the closet and mask who you really
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are. >> first of all, hats off to getting him to talk. in response to his claim that google is psychologically unsafe here's whatting goole said. the important part -- it doesn't mean anything goes. damore also told lori he doesn't support the alt-right and is not likely to participate in that protest for this weekend. >> there's a lot of news going on. let's get after it. president trump retweeting hours after condemning hate groups. >> racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the kkk, neo-nazis, white supremacists. >> i think what he said today was exactly right. >> three
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