ounces. we want to wish both of these families all of the very best. very cute babies as well. that's it for me. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. erin burnett outfront starts right now. outfront next, no apology, no regrets. president trump defiant in the face of growing criticism at home and around the world. can the damage be undone? plus a former fbi agent on how the clan and neo-nazis are celebrating words. and the next possible battleground over a statue. let's go outfront. good evening everyone. i'm kate baldwin. president trump defiant and not apologizing in the wake of his extraordinary defense of white

supremacists saying both sides share blame for the deadly violence in charlottesville. tonight the president increasingly isolated. the widespread condemnation growing louder. ceos abandoning the president. two of trump's business advisor counsels are disbanding. world leaders from germany, ireland, the uk, even iran coming out against trump's words. both presidents bush issued a statement calling if r the rejection of bigotry and hatred in all its forms. former cia director writing to our wolf blitzer this, a blisters criticism saying, quote, mr. trump's words are a national disgrace. republican senator lindsey graham, a frequent trump critic saying this, mr. president, i encourage you to bring us together after a nation after this horrific event. your words are dividing

americans, not healing them. but the republicans leaders in congress, speaker ryan, going nowhere near that. senator mitch mcconnell is said to be privately upset at trump but only issued a statement saying this. we can no tolerance for this. there are no good neo-nazis. let's be clear on this. there is nothing heroic about calling neo-nazis in 2017. but ryan tweeting this. white supremacy is repulsive. there can be no moral ambiguity. jeff, you're hearing more about the president's mindset and what the staff is thinking. what are they thinking? >> reporter: the president is defiant. i talked to two people close to the white house who visited trump tower f eer today, and th the word they used, defiant.

and no regret, the president does not regret this. that is not that surprising. president trump regrets little. but i can tell you, kate, this was something that has shaken the staff at the white house, particularly the ceos fleeing the business counsel, the white house being forced today to abandon ship. that was the president's prides and joy. he loves having ceos into the white house. now they do not want to be associated with him. the question going forward is how long will people stay silent? silent from ivanka trump, jared kushner, cgary cone, others central to this and it is becoming more difficult for them to stay silent. going forward, this is also complicating the president's agenda. i talked to someone who is in charge of helping to set that agenda and enact it on capitol hill and he said, yes, this is going to make it much more

difficult. at the end of the day here, yes, this will probably blow over. no, there will not be a lot of mass resignations, at least we don't believe, but it is one more thing that makes it more difficult for the president to get people on board with him. john kelly, i'm told, he urged staff members to keep their heads down, focus on their work. as for his future, i thought one official if they thought john kelly would stick around and they said, god, i hope so. >> blow over for the staff maybe. blow over for the country, we'll see. thanks, jeff. david served as an advisor to four presidents. and perry is a senior political writer for 538. great to have you here. john, the president defiant and, quote, without regret. what does that mean? >> well, it means that he's reverting to type. it is a denial for donald trump, right? whatever criticism comes in, he's going to say they must be

wrong. i must be right. here's the thing. all his key allies and the people he admires most. donald trump admires businessmen. he just got rejected by basically every ceo who agreed to serve as an advisory counsel and he tried to present it as a firing but what it was is you just quit. you can't quit. i'll fire you first. the military leaders are coming out releasing statements condemning hate and racism. not directly criticizing the president but it could not be clearer. and to the larger point, you know, when the president of the united states refuses to call out neo-nazi hate, not only that is a national disgrace, that is an indelible mark on the office as long as he holds it. so they could hope this blows oifr and they will be able to distract, but they're playing in deeper waters they never have done before in history. >> and history is a big part of this. i mean, david, two white house officials don't believe that the president's comments are going

to cause any long-term damage. nothing disqualifying, one of them said. they decided it is all okay. does that make it all okay? >> no. no. who could have imagined we reached the point where the ceos of this country have more of a social conscious than the president of the united states? i think that's unprecedented. i can't remember a moment. they're supposed to be all about capitalism and making money. in this case, you know, one of them today got on the phone and basically reached a consensus that they should disband. i think it was a smart and wise move. and as john said and the president issued a statement saying i disbanded them. it wasn't his idea. he was facing a revolt from people who could have the closest to him. and they, you know, they are ripple effecting this. i don't think he's going to clean this up, but there are ripple effects going to his

legislative agenda, renewing questions about his fitness to serve. a lot of his emotional and mental health we'll hear about more in days ahead. >> vice president mike pence didn't comment on the president's statement that there were good people on both sides. he didn't comment on that today when asked. here is what he did say, though. listen. >> what happened in charlottesville was a tragedy. and the president has been clear on this tragedy, and so have i. i spoke at length about this heart-breaking situation on sunday night in columbia. and i stand with the president. >> should anyone expect anything different from a vice president, perry? >> i don't think in this case you are, and i guess the simple reason is the politics of this are donald trump may have done something a lot of people disagree with. he right now is about an 830%

approval rating among republicans, so i think that is the answer and the explanation fully for why mike pence, mitch mcconnell and paul ryan are not condemning him by name because he's popular in the party right now. and i think that explains why they are behaving the way they are. they are trying to dance this way where they criticize trump's remarks and disavow them, but not criticize trump himself and that's a hard line to draw. >> some aren't drawing a line, john. i mean, you have got some key republicans calling the president out by name. those are not a surprise. those are people who have done that and critics of the president. but republicans have not -- i mean, i think it is important to say things that are not hard to do is denounce racism. >> yeah. or denounce nazis. >> anti-semitism, neo-nazis.

things that seem to be harder to do for republicans is call out the president when he isn't denouncing it really himself. are they afraid of something? >> i think they're trying to walk a line in which there is not a lot of room for subtly, which is your point. look, they're trying to see if they could salvage something resembling a legislative agenda. >> if there's ever been a line, welcome to it. i'm dancing on it right now. >> there is a line and this should be a crisis for the party of lincoln. if they want to hold up that legacy at any point, this is a fundamental contradiction to all those alleged values. at some point you have to say, you know what, we have to call it out because party asks a lot, principal should ask more. >> or am i wrong, david? does it matter if they call the president out by name or not? >> sure it matters. they need to be on record. i think john has a good point again. it has been the party of lincoln, historically. it does not want to become the

party of trump. you know, it has that quality to it. and i think they think it is a real danger for the party. it does seem to be a role that the republican leaders could play, which is quieter but very important. we now know the generals can't control him. he's got four generals around. one of them has his head in his hands. another being chased down and trying to push him out from the alt right and two others trying to clean up what he's been saying around north korea. >> i mean -- >> it is a point of personal privilege here and there. but i think now we know that the generals can't control him. i do think that the republican party ought to seriously consider sending a delegation to see him quietly at night for dinner and say, mr. president,

unless you clean up your act, unless you become more civilized, we are going to separate out from you and go our own way. we're going to take over from here. we can't work with you on this sort of thing. it would make it impossible. we can't do this when the public is so heavy against you. >> was the public ever so at war with the president? >> yes, it happened with nixon. i don't think we're at that point, but i do think he's got to deal with this and his inner demons, whatever they are. >> that's significant coming from david, right? because he obviously served in the nixon white house and recalls that time. what he's calling for is a civil intervention that says, please, can you try to live up to the man te mantle of the office. >> let me ask you this, barry,

where are the two most prominent people of the jewish faith in the president's life? i'm talking about his daughter and his son-in-law, jared kushner. where are they right now, other than obviously they say they're in vermont. >> where are they is they want to make anonymous comments to journalists and they say we don't like it but not do anything in public. throughout the day, we heard gary, ivanka trump, jared, they don't like these remarks. if they want to do something, they can do something. oth . the one thing that's significant, john kasich has been out there at a talking. i do think trump's behavior this weekend increases the chances of a lot of republicans deciding we need someone down the line to run as our candidate in 2020 who we feel comfortable voting for. and i think john kasich is racing himself to be that person.

you can imagine a ben sasse being that person. i do think trump's behavior is moving forward some kind of serious party challenge among republicans who just do not want to vote for him a second time. >> primary challenge for a sitting president. we are a ways away from that. who knows what could happen before then. great to see you guys. my next guest an fbi agent who infiltrated the hate group. do president trump supports agree both sides are to blame for charlottesville. >> and steve bannon says he wants the democrats to be talking about racism every day. 'saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico. goin' up the country. later, gary' i have a motorcycle! wonderful. ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪

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and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach-area pain and swelling. talk to your doctor about managing your symptoms proactively with linzess. sglrchlts new tonight cities across the united states bracing for alt right rallies. these demonstrations come as white supremacists now say they feel embolden by the president's right. a former special agent who went undercover. sorry, who has been covering this issue extensively and mark prest preston. michael, we all have heard and reheard and listened more than once to the president and what he said. but what is the message when you listen to the president's words? what is the message that these white supremacist groups hear? >> this is a community that's used to hearing dog whistles and

subtle messages to suggest that their policy is being implemented by people who are in charge of the government. what's different here is they are getting it directly. >> these are not dog whistles. >> this is loud and clear that i don't think they believe donald trump is a white supremacist and is one of them, but they believe he is helping them implement policies that support their world view, whether anti-immigrant, law enforcement and immigration enforcement policies that target latino communities, the muslim ban, these are things that would support their agenda. what they're hearing is, i am adopting your world view that our white culture that is the under attack and we have to restore that culture. >> from that press conference, i do want to play one moment you said sticks out to you. listen to this. >> what do you think of thomas jefferson? do you like him?

okay, good. are we going to take down the statue? because he was a major slave owner. are we going to take down his statue. it's fine. you are changing history. you are changing culture. >> what is it about that comment that grabs you so much. >> that's western culture, that we don't hate anybody. we just want to defend western culture, but what they mean is western european white culture. so when he uses that phrasing of culture and we want to protect our culture, we're afraid our culture is under threat from whatever force, multiculture and what the nazis would say is jewish or international influences. it is a message to them that, yes, this is about our white people being victims in this case and our right to defend ourselves violently if necessary. >> and this is what's fascinating. you found there is real similarities in a connection here. you spoke recently with a white

nationalist and he talked about culture and changing culture in your conversation. listen to this, folks. >> they will be reduced to minority and once their culture is a sideshow in which they themselves will be considered a despited group who did everything bad that all other groups suffer from. >> so you have experienced what i have experienced or what people of my race experienced. >> i doubt you have much experience. >> you'd be surprised. >> it is not inconceivable there could be a white privilege tax that all white people have to pay 15% more income. >> in this country? come on. >> or in the future. >> is it striking to you that the nature is similar here? >> not at all. we have looked at some of the most extreme hateful groups. and they're saying the president just thanked us. we, quote, loves us and he's

basically given us a thumb's up that he wants the culture the same way we want the culture, which is a segregated culture with whites only, all of the rest of us that have any other kind of culture or any mix of human being they can move out. i have heard from them you should go back to your country. they are referring to africa. not knowing my mother is british, kblond woman. that is not how they see me or anyone else that doesn't look exactly like them. so it is a real message. and the thing that bothers me the most, what we're talking about here is everyone is trying to make this equivalency between, well, the left is crazy and doing all these violent things. yes, the antifascists have been violent, and that should be condemned no matter -- no

difference from someone else being violent. however, when the president sounds like he is supporting this white supremacist attitude or this white supremacist ideology, they're getting that message loud and clear. they're getting it and what they're saying is he wants us to grow and they are recruiting. they are recruiting on college campuses and getting a lot more people to join them. >> let's be honest. there is no moral equivalency between neo-nazis and anyone else. i think that's kind of a basic point. mark, does the president not understand what he's saying or does he understand but just not care? >> you know, kate, i posed this question to a person who worked very closely with donald trump, knows him very well. i said, listen, is he a racist? does he believe in race it ideology or is he so thin skinned that he's incapable of expressing fault or saying sorry. the person paused and then said,

you know what, i really don't know the answer to that. so i don't think necessarily any of us can say we know what the answer is. we can look at his actions. we can condemn them for what they are and they were terrible. but i will say this. you absolutely really understand somebody and you learn a lot about somebody when they are in a situation of crisis. donald trump going down to that lobby of trump tower yesterday, giving that news conference, that was a situation of crisis for him and we saw how he acted. >> so many people, thankfully, don't have experience with these white hate groups. you have. during your time undercover, i wonder what surprised you about these groups and the people that they attract, michael? >> i think what surprised me most was that it wasn't necessarily the skin head with the tattoos and the club who was dangerous, but somebody who wore a suit and went to work in an

office and was college educated and much more capable as a threat than some drunk skin head. so one of the things that i think is interesting about this movement is that they see policies implements that support their world view. and it is so nice to hear the ceos and joint chiefs come out and denounce these remarks and denounce racism. but corporate board rooms are overwhelmingly white, right? the officer core in the u.s. military is overwhelmingly white. we have to make sure that it's not just words that we're actually implementing policies that increase inclusion. >> can i speak on something michael said i thought was really important. instead of hoods and burning crosses, you're seeing khakis and tikki torches. you are seeing a new version of the kkk coming out and looking like they're preppy college

students. that is a huge worry. and those are the people they're trying to recruit on college campuses. they have been putting flyers out and trying to target young people to grow their base because they knew at some point their ideologies were sort of dying out, they weren't accepted by society and fewer and fewer people wanted to act and talk like them. now they're looking for young people to try to build that base. >> talking about that base or the base for the president, mark, yes, this is cynical, no doubt, but what the president really lose support from these groups if that is what he cares about? if he would call them out, who else are they going to support? >> i don't think there is anyone else they could support out there that is running for president. donald trump was very careful in how he chose his words yesterday. we have to be very -- we have to focus in on that. he -- in his mind, he denounced them. but he didn't denounce them. the rest of us heard what he

said and what he said -- >> he said two things, right, mark? he said i denounce these groups but everyone -- >> but he was correct, when he was forced to clarify what he's saying, he said -- of course; i did denounce these things. what they're seeing, though, and what the neo-nazis or the skin heads or kkk is seeing is they're seeing donald trump as somebody who is validating their message right now and to the point that they're not carrying big big torches, that they're recruiting on college campuses, that is what should be concerning to all of us right now. >> great to see you. concerning, absolutely. outfront next, steve bannon on the record about how he thinks the race conversation helps donald trump now and going forward. and 55 republicans to talk about trump's remarks. only one of them said yes, and he has strong words for the president. we'll be right back.

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breaking news. steve bannon speaking out amid outrage over president trump's remarks on charlottesville telling the american prospect

magazine this about democrats. i want them to talk about racism every day. if the left is focussed on race and identity and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the democrats. so what do voters who supported president trump last year think about his remarks? we are outfront. >> every action there is a reaction. >> trump supporter agrees with the president. both sides are to blame for the deadly unrest in charlottesville, virginia. >> there is no clear thing on who was the first provocation. >> his view is not unique in paris, kentucky, 14 miles outside of lexington. >> two wrongs don't make a right. whatever happened to the middle? >> there was fault on both sides, but -- >> but both sides, right. one side he calls the alt left is fighting for equality. the right fighting for white supremacy to take over the

country as a white only america. >> they have a right to protest the white supremacists. whatever they carry, they have a right to protest. >> how can you hold one person responsible for all the fighting? it's what people -- i think it's just what people believe in and that's what they're taught. >> here voters overwhelmingly supported trump in last year's election. they are concerned about racism in this country, but they don't think the president is at fault for any of the divisiveness. >> some of the best friends i've got are black people. >> but you say -- you say some of the people -- closest friends are black people, right? but there are people in virginia marching saying black people can't replace them. >> the ones that can't get their thirst quenches are making other people look bad. kkk is making the white man look

bad. >> this can turn into a war between the blacks and the whites. i thought that. >> as for white supremacy, do you think the president has given them more of a voice? >> i don't think so. i don't think so. i think the president is in a tough position. >> if they put people back to work, that alone will solve a lot of problems. poverty breeds a lot of people. >> he needs to stand up and call these people out by what they are. he needs to say this is not going to be tolerated in the united states. >> is there anything the president could do where you draw the line? >> you know, again, if he would -- if he would come in and say, hey, i'm not letting you protest. you white supremacists, this is not going to happen anymore. or i'm going to not let you

people that are protesting for equality, i'm not letting that happen anymore. what would that do for our rights for the united states in this country. this is a melting pot, the united states of america. we all needs to come together. >> two of the people we talked to are registered democrats. all of them are business owners. he owned his barbershop for more than 60 years. he wears a tie to work every day. these people say they love their country, and that's why they respect the presidency. but seven months into this administration, they say they see some problems, kate, but not enough to sway their support. >> fascinating. thanks so much. outfront with me now former special adviser so president obama van jones and ben ferguson. what do you miake of what you heard right there? >> i think people are struggling to try to make sense of a very confusing situation.

i do agree that people do have the right to protest and they also -- we have the right to try to make judgments and discernments about what kinds of protests actually push us closer towards democracy and towards inclusion and toward the dream of our founders and dr. king and what protests pull us away from that. and i think that obviously nazis, the idea we have to debate whether nazis and white supremacists and clan members are protesting for things that we are in favor of in america is kind of shocking. >> let me ask you about this, also, van, because it is just coming in. this interview that steve bannon gave and the quote is, he says the longer day talk about identity politics, democrats, i got them. i want them to talk about racism every day. if the left is focussed on racism and we go with economic nationalism, we crush the democrats. is he right? >> listen, i think that this is

something that liberals and democrats should take very, very seriously. there is a way that we can sometimes get tricked into drawing our circle too small in terms of constituency and concern. we're only concerned about those groups that have been marginalized because of race, religion or sexuality and we're only concerned about those folks. we're passionately concerned about those folks and the people who are newly marginalized including white male workers. we are setting ourselves up for another -- for round two of what happened in 2016. >> fascinating. ben, also in this interview with steve ban nobannon, he called t right a collection of clowns and dismissed them as irrelevant. >> i think a lot of them are irreleva irrelevant. i think the majority of republicans or conservatives or people that voted for donald

trump do not consider any of these people anywhere close to them and that's one of the reasons why -- >> that coming from him, that's pretty rich. >> well, i don't think it's rich. i think if you look at steve bannon, there is a lot of people that tried to turn him into a white nationalists and they played their hand and people did this during the campaign. people were trying to imply the president was a racist or steve bannon was the core of the white supremacists and they overplayed that. and i think what you heard him say there is what he truly believes. the majority of conservatives think the alt right is a bunch of racist, unbred idiots and they don't look at them as being part of the conservative movement. i'm not surprised steve bannon said it that way. >> are you surprised? >> i just want to say that i don't think that people have overplayed their hand with regard to bannon.

you know, he's been, you know, championing the book, i'm not going to mention the name of this book, but it is a book that is an atrocious racist text denounced by everybody around the world and he quotes from it quite often. so bannon has put himself in a situation where reasonable people can conclude he has way too much sympathy for white nationalism and racism in addition to his economics. we're going to have to start getting nuanced here. there are aspects of the trump program, the economic program when it comes to infrastructure and trying to get americans working again, when it comes to frankly standing up to the elite in washington, d.c. that i think are positive. the problem is it's always marbled with a bunch of toxic crap that people come out and try to defend. i think we're in a situation where the pain of the people in red states and blue states, there is common pain. there is no common purpose yet.

and the president is making us more divided. we should be turning to each other, not on each other. the president is siding with the people trying to divide us. there are responsible conservativing, including on the screen with me tonight who would be great allies in that, but the president has not been an ally yet. >> ben, on the issue of race and racism, it is something that former republican presidents have very successfully tackled head-on. you don't have to look too far back. here's reagan and george bush. >> if i were speaking to them instead of to you, i would say to them, you are the ones who are out of step with our society. you are the ones who willfully violate the meaning of the dream that is america. and this country, because of what it stands for, will not stand for your conduct. >> when someone has so recently endorsed naziism, it is inconceivable that such a person

can legitimately aspire to leadership in a leadership role in a free society. >> you don't hear reagan and bush saying there are two sides of the issue, ben. it is not hard. why is it hard for the president? >> i think one it's because he doesn't understand the politics necessarily of what you have to do as the president. i think he's more of a guy that has the water cooler conversation of, man, did you see that big fight that happened this weekend? got, that got ugly. that's what a lot of americans talked like after they saw it because they watched it on tv and he comes out and he says -- hold on. let me finish my point because it is important. i think what you understand when you're a politician, especially when you are the president, is there are certain things that you have to come out and always get them right. on an issue of racism, that's a perfect example. it is very simple. do you love your kids? you answer quickly yes. do you love your wife?

you answer quickly yes. is racism wrong? yes. kkk wrong? yes. you understand it is very clear in your messaging and it should be a short clear messaging, not a long message. whereas, i think a lot of americans are okay with having a bigger conversation. but they're not okay with seeing a leader that might have that same conversation they're having around the water cooler. i think that's something the president has to get right moving forward. otherwise, these types of issues are going to take away from the other things he wants to accomplish, which is have a great economy, have better infrastructure. no one is paying attention to infrastructure or lower unemployment numbers right now, which are amazing and a lot of americans are back at work right now, which is great for all americans. but on these simple issues, i think somebody has really got to get there and say, mr. president, you have to have a

conversation a leader has, instead of a conversation the average guy might have at work the next morning. >> on these issues, do you hit a woman, no. do you like the kkk, no. that's not just a politician, that's a human that should have the simple answer, i feel like. >> i'm with you there. i'm just saying when he comes out there is a lot of people at work that watch these protests, whether that or the dallas shooting that happened and there are a lot people that sit there and have conversations about it. >> someone died. someone died. this wasn't someone got a fat lip. someone died. >> kate, i'm not disagreeing with your point there. i'm not disagreeing with your point there. i agree with you. but sometimes we try to make things so divisive. there is a reality right now in this country that the extreme left and the extreme right and take this out of someone dying. i'm saying in general all over the country, there are people that want a race war right now, and i think we have to be able to have a conversation about the responsibility of elected

officials and people locally and the police and everything else to make sure we don't play into the hands of the white nationalists or the kkk or the hands into the extreme left that genuinely want a big fight in the streets. they want a war and we have to have a conversation about that. >> if the president going forward gets the answer right, does that bring comfort to you? >> listen, i tried. i think, as much as anybody on the left to try to keep an open mind and open heart and open eyes for any aspects of this presidency that might be remotely praise worthy. it gets harder every day. and sometimes, you know, when you have another hostage video when the people looks like he's been frog marched out there to read something somebody else wrote. i want to hear him be passionate. i mean, he was passionate about the loss of the statue.

he was more passionate than about the loss of a human life. that stuff is awesome. ben is i think making a good effort to try to balance stuff that's really, really stuff to balance here. what i would say this is. you're starting to see now i think a false equivalence being generalized that you have violent people on the left, violent on the right and we kind of have to deal with violence overall. i do think there are some elements on the left that are very troubling and very disturbing. but i do not see the level of organized, you know, terrorism, basically, that i saw in that city. i talked to people on the ground in that city who said that they were literally -- all we saw was the fistfights and the flash points, but you had armed nazis going around intimidating people, threatening people, saying they are going to lynch people for hours and hours and hours. i haven't seen anything like that yet on the left. and i think we have to make sure

to distinguish between a terrorist movement, which i'm seeing now building on the right and some people on the left with whom we have some concerns. we have to be concerned about them, but they are not organizing on the level you're seeing with this dirty right movement. >> it stopped being about statues the moment people started walking around with swawstik a's. one of the members of congress is calling out president trump. he's my guest. and another major city bracing itself tonight for a battle over a confederate monument. are hate groups using that fight as a recruiting tool?

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republican leaders tonight quick to denounce racism. one thing that is not hard to do, criticize neo nazis. what has been harder for many, standing up to president trump on this. one republican who did, who has, congressman paul mitchell of michigan, tweeting this at president trump. you can't be a very fine person and be a white supremacist. congressman mitchell is with me right now. we called 55 republicans to come on tonight and discuss this, and for whatever their reasons, congressman mitchel is the only one who agreed to calm on. congressman, welcome.

that's a lot of phone calls to make to get someone on tv. i appreciate it, sir. >> good to be with you, kate. >> was it difficult for you to send that tweet at the president? >> well, i think the tweet was intended for a broader audience, which is the american people. i don't believe that you can be a fine person and a white supremacist. they're mutually exclusive. in doing that, i wanted to remind the president that we need to be careful how we express things. the kkk, neo nazis, are fundamentally opposed to what our constitution is about, equality of all men. so it's important to call them out. then we can move on, and we need to go forward. >> but going forward -- let's start back there, though. the president said there were many fine people, the president said that. that's what he said, congressman.

>> i think -- i've heard the argument that there were other fine people there that weren't associated with the neo nazis. when you see people with swastikas, you know, yelling nazi slogans, "fine people" get out of dodge, you don't stick around to see what happens. so unfortunately, i don't buy the argument that somehow fine people got caught up in this. i'm not buying it, and we need to call it for what it is. and then move on with policy issues to make a difference. here's the fundamental thing. we've got anarchists, we talk about alt-left and alt-right. we've got anarchisnarchists, wh flavor they are, whatever they're trying to do, and we've allowed that, because we haven't moved this country forward.

>> but to move forward, like you want to do, you have to get past where the president continues to remain. this was the third try of trying to clean it up, and this is what he said on this thursday try. it was not -- it does not seen as you've made clear for you to send this tweet at the president, and more broadly, and more widely. why haven't your leaders, like paul ryan and mitch mcconnell, done the same thing? >> well, i think paul ryan's statement on this issue is pretty clear. and i put the statement out i did because that's the feeling i had at the point i saw the press conference. i waitedtranscripts and thought i needed to make a comment. next is to work on policies. >> but is that leading saying, racism is bad. isn't calling it out for the person who is saying it on that day?

>> with all due respect, the president didn't advocate racism. >> he offered up a moral equivalence between neo nazis and the people that were only there to counter protest neo nazis. >> i think that we made very clear in the house that there are things that we're going move forward on that will make a difference in this country, and we've done a number of them already. i certainly -- i mean, i intend to spend these last few weeks talking about those issues. i felt i had to come out and join you to talk about no, this is wrong. but we have to recognize violence by any group or individuals to put forth their political opinion is destructive in our country and we need to stop. we need to focus on policies. people can disagree without throwing punches, using clubs, and when you get to that, it's destructive. we need to call it for what it is.

i serve in congress with people across the aisle. i don't agree with them. some of them are my good friends. even when we have heated debates, i wouldn't punch them. let's make a difference. >> congressman paul mitchell, may be new to politics, but you're calling it straight. thank you for coming on, sir. >> thank you. have a good day. next, this memorial to confederate soldiers is dividing people. is florida the next flash point for hate groups? ved in the navy. i do outrank my husband, not just being in the military, but at home. she thinks she's the boss. she only had me by one grade. we bought our first home together in 2010. his family had used another insurance product but i was like well i've had usaa for a while, why don't we call and check the rates? it was an instant savings and i should've changed a long time ago. there's no point in looking elsewhere really. we're the tenneys and we're usaa members for life. usaa. get your insurance quote today.

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new tonight, the growing effort to bring down confederate monuments across the country. the latest battle, tampa, florida, where the city is changing course on its decision to remove a statue there. ed lavandera is outfront. >> reporter: outside this old courthouse building in downtown tampa, florida, there's a memorial to the confederate soldiers of hillsboro county. last month, commissioners voted to move it to a local cemetery. but commissioners voted today that $140,000 in private funds must be raised to pay for the move. if that doesn't happen in the next 30 days, the statue stays. lem miller has led the charge to move the monument, and after charlottesville, he worries white nationalists are looking

for next city to target. >> they did not come to have a peaceful moment. they came there to do what they needed to do. i worry that could end up here. >> reporter: tampa is one of many cities grappling with confederate symbols displayed. in louisville, kentucky, the statue of a confederate officer was vandalized. in durham, north carolina, protesters toppled a confederate statue. at least four people were arrested. and in texas, protests around statues and monuments in dallas, as well as. it's estimated there are some 1500 confederate symbols across the country, mostly in the south, including more than 700 statues and monuments like this one. ray is a university of south florida civil war historian. he says hate groups are using the push to take down monument for recruitment.

you think that's what they're doing? >> they live on publicity. we've seen that many times. but what we haven't seen is a group where they felt the president of the united states was at least somewhat behind them. the whole trump revolution, if you can call it that, has really given them new life. >> that's my family there. >> reporter: david mccallister leaves "save southern heritage," trying to keep the monument in place. he blames left wing groups for trying to erase history, but denounces the neo nazi groups. >> they sim ympathize with whatu do. >> no, they don't. they have their own agenda, which is not our agenda. our agenda is cherishing american history. what we're afraid of is the people that are on the extreme left, the antifa, the black lives matter, maoists, that sort of organizations. they're the people that are pulling down monuments.

>> reporter: after the change today here in tampa, kate, only about $12,000 of the $140,000 needed to move the statue has been donated and raised so far. the other thing officials here are keeping close tabs on is whether or not neo nazi groups and white nationalists have become intrigued by the statue. so far no evidence of that. >> ed, great to see you. thanks for joining us. "ac 360" starts now. good evening. tonight we're told that president trump has no regrets. no regrets about what he said yesterday. no regrets about putting neo nazis and members of the kkk on the same memorial meplane as th people that showed up to protest them. no regrets with comparing george washington and robert e. lee. tonight, we're told donald trump has no regrets about saying this. >> not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch.