i think there's blame on both sides and i have no doubt about it and you don't have any doubt about it either. i have condemned neo-nazis. i have condemned many different groups. but not all of those people were neo-nazis. believe me. >> this is so bad that i think john kelly chief of staff will have more than one call trying to talk staffers or administration official from resigning. >> presidential backlash. controversy dogs trump today after an extraordinary set of remarks that had him spreading the blame for the violence that hit charlottesville. our so-called president's strong words from lebron james as politicians and celebrities alike chime in.

plus, daniel craig gives 007 fans something to cheer about. and the faithful flock to graceland to celebrate the life of the king. "early today" starts right now. good morning, everyone, i'm phillip mena and i'm frances rivera. the president of the united states reigniting a fire storm, unnerving many across the country as you see in national headlines here. fake president reads the "chicago sun-times". mr. trump painted white nationalists and alt-right members as victims as what he described club-wielding members. one dead and 19 others were injured in charlottesville. this morning the chicago sun-times the editorial board is referring to the president as the bigot in chief.

the new york times claimed that trump himself took the talking points of the white nationali nationalists. >> here's the president claiming that the white national protesters were the real victims. >> what about the alt-left that came charging as you said to the alt-right. do they have any semblance of guilt? let me ask you this. what about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hands swinging clubs? do they have any problem? i think they do. i watched it very closely and you have -- you had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent and nobody wants to say that. but i'll say it right now. you had a group -- you had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit and they were very, very violent. >> the president then defended the actions of those white

nationalists and talked about the removal of con fed rate monuments as a state reason for the demonstration that quickly became very violent. >> is it george washington next week and thomas jefferson the week after? you really do have to ask yourself where does it stop? you're changing history. you had many people in that group other than neo-nazis and white nationalists, okay, and the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. >> but all of that became before mr. trump angrily and defended himself to the initial response. here he was pleading ignorance. >> why did you wait so -- long -- >> i didn't wait long. i wanted to make sure unlike

most politicians that what i said was correct. not make a quick statement. the statement i made on saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement. but you don't make statements that direct unless you know the facts. it takes a little while to get the facts. you still don't know the facts and it's a very, very important process to me. everybody said his statement was beautiful. if he would have made it sooner that would have been good. i couldn't have made it sooner because i didn't know all of the facts. >> this morning, we're learning the president was not supposed to take questions from reporters, he was merely meant to make a statement on an infrastructure executive order. according to a senior white house official the president went rogue stunning his own staff. well, that was evidenced by his chief of staff john kelly, standing there, arms crossed with his head sunken as the president spoke.

nbc's kacie hunt has more on the fallout facing the president this morning. >> reporter: even before his stunning press conference ended the fiery reaction beginning. swift condemnation from so many corners of american life including members of the president's own party. republicans upset he doubled down blaming both sides again for the violence. republican congressman ileana ros-lehtinen tweeting, blaming both sides for charlottesville? no. senator marco rubio who lost the republican nomination again tweeting, the president should call the events in charlottesville, quote, a terror attack by white supremacists. democratic senator mark warner tweeting, no words. and beyond the beltway, celebrities and sport stars weighing in. lebron james writing on twitter, hate always existed in america.

donald trump just made it fashionable again. the president earned praise from one corner white supremacists. who took it as a sign of acceptance. david duke, the former kkk grand wizard, writing, thank you president trump for your courage to tell the truth about charlottesville. and richard spencer said the president's remarks were fair and down to earth. but more sharp criticism from afl-cio ceo saying he'll resign from president's manufacturing council. >> and in an emotional speech, lebron james slammed trump while calling for unity and introspection in light of charlottesville. >> it's not about the guy that's the so-called "president of the united states" or whatever case. it's not about a teacher that you don't feel like cares about what's going on with you every day. it's not about people that don't want to give the best energy to you. it's about us. it's about us looking in the mirror. >> a number of claims the

president uttered during his explosive remarks blaming both sides for the violence that erupted in charlottesville, just how truthful are those claims. gabe gutierrez looks into that. >> yjews will not replace us. >> they were there to protest -- excuse me, the night before, they were there to protest the taking down of the statute of robert e. lee. >> you will not replace us. >> reporter: this was that night. >> you had people -- and i'm not talking about the white nationalists and the neo-nazis because they should be condemned but you had other people in that group okay. >> reporter: many who such as a white nationalists interviewed by vice, advocating violence. >> i'm trying to make myself more capable of violence. i'm here to spread my ideas in

the hopes of someone more capable will do that. donald trump who does not give his daughter to a jew. >> donald trump -- >> a lot more racist than donald trump. >> reporter: the president denounce violence but spread the blame to include counterprotester. >> reporter: i watched those closely more than you. and you had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. >> reporter: the charlottesville police chief when asked when one side was more responsible than the other, said it was an alt-rally. >> we had mutually combative individual in the crowd. >> reporter: the chief said the white nationalists didn't follow on the agreed-upon plan. the organization's head.

>> we're not violent. we did not initiate violence. >> i only tell you this, there are two sides to a story. i thought what took place was a horrible moment for our country. a horrible moment. but there are two sides. >> our thanks to gabe gutierrez for that moment. want to turn now to the torrential downpours in tokyo. water pours out of manholes. back here in the u.s., storms in louisiana produced this waterspout in lake pontchartrain and up in charlotte, north carolina, a 20-foot wide sinkhole swallowed part of a roadway after a storm rolled through there. and red flags were spotted along myrtle beach thanks to dangerous riptides caused by hurricane gert churning out in the atlantic. >> let's bring in meteorologist

bill karins for the forecast. >> last night, more flash flooding. this is the story of the day what will happen in the middle of the country. overnight, these storms have woken up a lot of people with the lightning and thunder in the areas of nebraska and kansas. 4.6 million in the path of storms today. st. louis at 88 degrees. west coast, some of theest weathe br coastal areas will burn those clouds this morning. of course, we're all wondering about monday and the eclipse forecast. we'll have that coming up. >> thank you, bill. all right, dogs, they're truly man's best friend, right,

we want you to meet slayer and pocho, they're being called heroes this morning because they saved two kids from a poisonous snake. unfortunately the dogs were biten and required life-saving treatment. >> pit bulls get bad wraps a lot of the time. i know lots of hugs for those two to get home. late-night hosts give their take on the latest donald trump remarks and the nfl star left speechless by an auction segment on espn. we'll take you to graceland 40 years after the death of elvis presley. that's coming up on "early today." your privacy makes you my number 1 place to go number 2. i love you, but sometimes you stink.

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you have to ask yourself, where does it stop. >> where does it stop? buddy, we've been asking ourselves that question since january. >> remember, when mike tyson beat evander hollhollyfield's e off. this was the presidential equivalent of that. >> in his press conference president trump referred to the neo-nazis as history buffs. yeah, he referred to serial killers as population control experts. >> i think we may in the golden age of late-night television. leading the news this morning, espn issish shug an apology following a fantasy football auction that some found racially offensively. es espn2 had the auction of selling

black players to a mostly white crowd. players across the league reacted as well. new orleans defensive end cameron jordon tweeted, bad taste, in whatever context intended. new york giants odell beckham jr., one of those auctioned during the segment, said, speechless. espn said -- up next, a big day ahead, including the chance to become wealthier beyond your dreams. >> i'm in. take a guess at how many americans are planning to watch the solar eclipse. are you one of them?

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turns out, it's californians it's me and it's you. don't stop now, it's easy to add to the routine. join energy upgrade california and do your thing. fast forwarding into wednesday. memorial service will be held in charlottesville, virginia, for 32-year-old heather heyer. heyer's family has asked attendees to wear her favorite color, purple, in her memory. on a much lighter note, powerball's jackpot has rolled to $430348. and today is national roller coaster day. labor day travel on the

rise. a different kind of box office battle and something new for all of you twi-hard. >> that's right the friendly skies will be very crowded over the labor day weekend. and airline industry group is projecting 16 million people will fly on u.s. airlines between august 30th and september 5th. that's up 5% from last year and that's due to affordable ticket prices and higher household income. most travel will be in the u.s., as people vacation closer to home during the shorter labor day weekend. meanwhile, movie pass wants to be the netflix of movie theaters. see one movie per day for a monthly fee when you use that app. it's now $9.95. not everyone is happy, though, amc, the largest u.s. theater chain put out a press release saying, quote, not welcome here. amc say it will try to block

users from using the movie pass. a theme park is opening up in south korea in 2019 to give fans a new way to engage with the films. it will have seven different zones, dedicated to a different movies and live performances. theme parks are a logical way for theme parks to keep making money on movies. disney world opened a section dedicated to avatar this summer. >> a welcome distraction there in south korea, too. just ahead -- famed astorphysicist tells us about the solar eclipse and 007 news.

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>> we'll see if he's forgiven in form of the box office. all this week we're counting down the event of the summer, the first coast to coast total eclipse in 99 years. it's happening on monday and here's neil de grasse tyson about -- talking about the staggering number of people may be watching. >> it's possible that 200 million people will see this eclipse. is it possible that this eclipse will be the most watched ever in the history of civilization because this is america and everybody has a car and if you don't drive you have a plane or whatever. and we all will just gather in this path of totality. this narrow path across the country. >> really cool. even if we're not near the path, around here, we need to find a spot. >> we'll find it. i'm so excited for monday. this is "early today." shawn evans: it's 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day

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all right, let's get into that forecast for our solar eclipse on monday. places to watch we pinpointed a couple spots that look good as of now. areas from oregon right through idaho are looking very nice. sun valley, a big party. across the country, things get a little bit more dicey and iffy. through areas of wyoming and nebraska. for our friends down there through missouri, especially south carolina, hasn't looked good. they need some improvement in the forecast. >> what a bummer that would be. >> it would be. all right, bill, thank you, iran is threatening to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal if the u.s. continues to impose sanctions on the country.

irani president rouhani said, the new sanctio sanctionanction. he said the u.s. is no longer a reliable partner and ready to abandon the deal at a moment's notice. nikki haley said the new sanctions are unrelated to the nuclear deal adding, iran cannot be allowed to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage. it must not become too big to fail. she is scheduled to review iran's compliance next week. today marks the 40th anniversary of the death of elvis presley. many fans visiting graceland aren't happy about the $29 fee they had to pay for the first time to get into the grounds. last night, thousands gathered at the site to pay tribute to the king of roll and roll. the company that operates graceland said the fee provides access to a new $45 million entertainment complex on the's estate. the lincoln memorial was vandalized according to the national park service.

it was defaced with graffiti. somebody wrote an expletive followed by law. the paint can be removed. the carving is permanent. a contaminated an they used 10,000 eggs for this. that pan is 13 feet big. many eggs have been pulled from store shelves because of an insectici insecticide. >> no salt or pepper. everybody's really happy. thank you for being with us this morning. i'm frances rivera.

>> and i'm phillip mena. good wednesday morning to you.

live look outside at downtown san francisco. a very good wednesday morning to you. taking a live look outside downtown san francisco. you can make out the transamerica pyramid there, even the light on the top bringing you a little brightness this morning. thank you for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm march cus washington hern this hump day of. >> a brand-new member of our "today in the bay" team. >> great to be here. >> nice to have you. >> one thing that's great here is the weather. i love it. >> i'll try because we are going to have another beautiful day. we've really enjoyed nice, cooler temperature,