ykeep you sidelined.ng that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. hello, everyone, i'm jacob soboroff in los angeles. we begin with breaking news out of charlottesville, virginia, where governor terry m mcauliff has declared a state of emergency in response to violence that erupted. hours ago, we saw counter-protesters and members of the alt-right group throwing water bottles, trash bins, all while carrying guns and baseball bats. this scene follows last night's protests with hundreds marching

at the university of virginia, waving tiki torches. all of this, an attempt to protest the city's decision to remove a statue of confederate general robert e. lee from emancipation park. we are going to go now to kelly o'donnell, who is following the situation with the president of the united states. she is near the president's bedminster golf resort. kelly, last we heard from you, we did not know whether the president talked to virginia governor terry mcauliffe as normally happens in a situation like this. we expect to see the president at 3:00 p.m. what do we know right now? >> reporter: at this point, i can tell you from speaking with white house advisers that the white house has contacted the virginia governor and contacted him through his chief of staff. the department of homeland security and the president's own homeland security adviser have been in touch with the local authorities there. that would be part of their role to try to offer support and to try to coordinate and we've heard from the president, via twitter. his first tweet on this is, we

all must be united and condemn all that hate stands for. there is no place for this kind of violence in america. let's come together as one. and just 40 seconds ago, the president tweeted a second, updating us on his day, am in bedminster for meetings and press conference on the va and all that we have done and are doing to make it better, but charlottesville, sad! so the president is referring there to an event that was previously scheduled, coming up this afternoon, where he is going to be signing a bill related to a veterans affairs matter, and we expect, because the president will be on camera, there will be an opportunity for that small group that we rotate of members of the white house press corps who have already left our location here, which is where we are headquartered and white house staff is head quartered to travel to the president's bedminster home and be available there should he wish to address this, should he wish to speak on the news of this day related to charlottesville. we have seen the president over

the last couple of days answer reporters' questions from this small group of rotating journalists four times, most of that has been dominated by north korea, but this is the kind of situation for a president, jacob, where outside events, events that are not under their direct control, can dramatically shape what they are doing. and so the president, who is here now a week at bedminster and will be another week before he full-time returns to the white house, he will be going to the white house on monday for some meetings and then to new york. the first time he will return to his new york city home since he became president and then back here at bedminster for the remainder of the week. in a situation like this, typically, "the situation room" at the white house, which remains operational as construction and renovation goes on, the senior administration officials who have been here day after day with the president, they are getting information, and then now, we know that they're coordinating with the virginia governor, who has

already declared a state of emergency. and as the violence here escalates, as concerns about injuries and all that has unfolded here, they will be getting reports. one thing that is notable in the president's tweet is he does not make any reference to racism, and of course, sort of potent within what is playing out there today are clashes that are driven along lines of race. the president does not address that directly. earlier, the first lady had also put out a tweet on her twitter feed that talked about the fact that we need to come together. in addition, the house speaker, paul ryan, talked about the views that were driving this violence do not represent america and should serve as a point to unite the country against these sorts of ills. so, we're watching for updates from the president. he is monitoring this situation at the white house -- >> we've got some live pictures coming in that we want to go to. kelly o'donnell is with the president in new jersey. we are looking at live pictures

right now where apparently some type of vehicle has gone into an area here in charlottesville, virginia, where we know that protesters are. we're still trying to get more information, exactly, about what's happening on the ground. and we do not know if this is an intentional act or not, but of course, just to reset, we know that white nationalists have been out there in charlottesville, virginia, protesting and clashing with counter-protesters throughout the day. we have seen bottles thrown. we've seen a -- certainly a war of words, but indeed, much more than that. it has been violent between these two sides, and the protests over this statue of confederate general robert e. lee, which is slated to be removed. again, the latest live pictures from charlottesville, virginia, here. it's just after 2:00 on the east coast. it is some type of vehicle. we see first responders there on the ground, and of course, a large group of people around this vehicle. we're going to keep an eye on the situation and bring you more as this develops from here.

and of course, in new jersey, with kelly o'donnell, who is with the president. right now, i want to bring in brian levin, director for the study of hate and extremism. brian, incidents like this, what we have been watching unfold throughout the day here in virginia are ones that you follow very closely. you've been tracking extremism since 1986. usually you don't see more than a handful of people at alt-right rallies like this, but over the course of the presidential campaign, with donald trump speaking out, we'll all remember william johnson, the white nationalist that was briefly seated as a delegate at the republican national convention. that has started to change. when you look at this today, is this one of the larger rallies of its kind now, and why? >> if the numbers are correct, it is the largest rally of its kind that we have seen in decades, and interestingly enough, most of these rallies have a handful, maybe 20 people. most recently, we've seen a few

that have had a few hundred or more, and when you have multiple groups coming together, what i think we're seeing now is not just merely a rag tag assortment of a klan group here or identity europa. what we're seeing is the coalescing of a socio-political movement and this has to be responded to. looking at their symbology, this is something that all americans have to definitively stand up against. this is now a coalesced socio-political movement which is much bigger than the coalescing of the hard left which has been emergent in response. >> stand by. i'm going to bring in jim now. law enforcement matters of all types, jim, i want to talk to the pictures that we are looking at right now, the associated press reports that a vehicle has plowed into a group of

counter-protesters here in charlottesville, virginia, where we have been monitoring, of course, the ongoing situation all day long. talk to me about what we're seeing right now, jim, and the response from law enforcement. it looks like we see some uniformed law enforcement standing around and protesters, of course, locking hands around this vehicle. >> right, jacob, hello to you and hello to brian as well. when the police dispersed the crowds earlier from the violence that occurred when the two groups clashed, it doesn't relieve the danger in charlottesville, and so, you know, if this is someone who drove into a crowd of count counter-protesters, it may be one of these neo-nazi alt-right guys who couldn't take the rhetoric anymore. that's what we see happen. it is all such a potent symbolism to them and to their beliefs. i mentioned earlier, with alex, that, you know, the greensboro

massacre in '79 and i was an agent in tennessee then, and the communist workers party had staged a death to the klan rally. it was very similar to this, two opposing groups, violent, wanted to hurt each other, hated each other, and it resulted in a shootout that left 5 dead and 11 wounded. these rallies, the thing we saw last night, the symbolism of nuremberg and nazi rallies in the '30s, even though these guys are a couple hundred and some cheesy tiki lights. what we've seen in the past decades is klan rallies in the field, hidden out in a farm field, maybe the claklansman ow the farm and they would burn a tall cross and get their membership in at various levels of members burn the cross and march in a circle with no one to see them. you know, preach their hate.

and we infiltrated a lot of those groups. we made a lot of arrests on the klan and neo-nazis on plots to bomb synagogues, felons with guns, and that's been the history of law enforcement, you know, trying to stop these hate groups over the last 40 years. but right now, in the last couple of years, they are in a position they have never been. they have power bases in politics. they have sympathetic media outlets. they have levers to reach out where they think they can make contacts. they probably think they're more powerful than they are, but they're more powerful than they've been in a long, long time, and of course the anti-fascists on the other side become extremely violent. we've seen them too at the world rallies like against the global banks and especially on the west coast. so, two -- violence has not ended in charlottesville. if somebody drove into the crowd, then we have to be on our game, paying attention here. >> we're going to continue to

monitor the situation, jim, on the ground. it does, indeed, seem like we are looking at pictures from another erah. the idea that in charlottesville, virginia, where during the civil war, according to t"the new york times," half f the residents of that city were enslaved, is now being marched upon by ku klux klan members and various white nationalists and other alt-right groups is just shocking to see. i want to go to maya rodriguez who i believe is at the scene where this crowd has plowed into a crowd in virginia. >> reporter: we have actually seen many ambulances, at least half a dozen of them, loading people on stretchers into those ambulances. we saw paramedics working on at least one person here on the sidewalks who appear to be badly injured, to be honest with you. they were in a neck brace, they did not seem to be conscious. there's a huge crowd out here. witnesses tell me that a car plowed into counter-protesters

here on fourth street just about two blocks off market street where the original rally had been taking place. there is a massive police presence out here along with many, many counter-protesters, i would say at least several hundred are out here in this intersection. we've seen people crying. we've seen people hugging each other, very upset at this very violent turn of events. it's been a violent day all day here in charlottesville. this is just the latest situation to come out of this unite the right rally, those flashes that happened earlier today between the counter-protesters and the white nationalists were protesting. not clear at all at this point who might have been behind the wheel of this vehicle. was this intentional. was this an accident? that is simply not clear at this point. those are questions that we're looking to get answers to. >> and maya, of course, looking at cars plowing into crowds of people brings to mind some of the attacks that we have seen over the course of this last year.

this is not confirmed to be an attack. this is not confirmed to be intentional. let's talk more about what we are seeing, what we can see live here on msnbc. we see two vehicles. we see basically a maroon -- what looks like minivan. behind it is a silver some type of sedan. are there people that you can see, maya, that have been struck by these vehicles? >> reporter: actually, the ambulances were here. there were six of them on this street, and right now, looks like they've all managed to get out, in spite of all the people being in the street here, they managed to get out and transport these people. there's still a massive presence or first responders, the charlottesville fire department, all blocking part of the street further down from me and there are helicopters overhead right now monitoring the situation from above. but right now, i do not see any of the injured folks that i saw when i first came upon the scene here. again, they were all being treated by paramedics. >> and what we're looking at,

again, is state police officers standing in front of this what looks like an automobile accident but we know that these cars have plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters at this rally, which again, to reset, was unite the right, a gathering of groups from around the country, whose members have said they are being persecuted for being white and what white history in america -- how white history in america is being erased. jim cavanaugh, i believe, is standing by. jim, i want to just quickly ask you to look at pictures like this, of cars plowing into people, what we have seen over the course of the past year, attacks of this nature, what does this bring to mind for you? >> right. it's possible, we don't know for sure because we don't know the motive or whether it's an accident or if it was a criminal act that brings to mind, you know, the attacks by jihadist terrorists in europe. we saw nice, france, and across europe, the trucks and plowing into crowds, just the other day, into some soldiers in france.

so, terrorist attacks can be learned behavior as well. so, if it turns out to be an assault, you know, that can be learned behavior through the vicarious experience of others. in other words, members of one group here learn from what they see and they decide upon themselves to assault somebody. we don't know if that's the case, but that one vehicle is damaged on the right rear passenger side pretty heavy, so another vehicle clipped that and then, you know, careen into some pedestrians. we don't quite know. it could still be an accident. we don't really know. people are on the streets. drivers may not be paying attention. it's just hard to tell right now, jacob, and you're right to point out, it may not be an assault at all. it could just be a traffic accident from somebody reading their phone. charlottesville pd will have to let the public know what exactly that is. but the state troopers have it in hand there. they look like they're in force. people look calm. the streets seem to be thinning out. so -- but the danger in

charlottesville is not going to subside, and it's not going to subside into the evening, because we have all the same people at the rally, still there. still in the city. not necessarily at the park. and they haven't changed their views, and they haven't changed their beliefs, and they haven't changed their desires, and they haven't changed their hatred, so they're still there and that's the problem for law enforcement. >> jim, let me go back to maya who's on the ground and may be with some of those very people right now. maya, you were there earlier today as these protesters and counter-protesters clashed, again, over this statue of the confederate general, robert e. lee. what are you seeing right now? it seems as though the crowd has dispersed. is law enforcement telling you anything about what transpired before you arrived on the scene? >> reporter: we have not heard from law enforcement yet about what happened here with this car plowing into the crowd. i can tell you that what we do

see are counter-protesters who do, frankly, appear to be in shock at this turn of events. something that was completely unexpected. in a way, the simpleishkirmishee saw earlier today, that was something law enforcement had planned for. but i'm starting to move further into the crowd. if you might lose me in a second here. but they had plans for what we saw earlier today. and now, to have a situation like this, people are in shock. >> maya, it's shocking for us to look at and i'm sure to the viewers at home across the country. is there any sort of response by people on the street there to this accident? are people talking about loved ones, friends, other protesters that they know who may have been injured in this incident? and where are they planning to go from here? >> reporter: i mean, that's a good question. you know, people here right now are just sort of milling around. i did speak to one counterprotester who said, you

know, it was a friend of his, came upon the scene. he appeared to have a broken leg. he was completely shocked at what happened. he had just arrived at the scene shortly after the car had actually plowed into this crowd, and he could not believe it. he was actually crying as he spoke to me because he was so surprised that things had escalated to this level here in charlottesville. >> the charlottesville police department has issued a local state of emergency. we know the governor of virginia, terry mcauliffe has declared a state of emergency. this was all based on the protests and counterprotests that were going on earlier today. we actually saw live on the air with joy reid this morning on "am joy" an interview that was in progress, actually have to be shut down because of what was a violent skirmish going on behind our live location there. maya, how far is this incident from what played out this morning? you know, it sounds like, unfortunately, we've lost maya

rodriguez on the scene. i want to reset for everybody what you're looking at is pictures out of charlottesville, virginia, where all day, protests have been playing out between white nationalists, members of the alt-right, and counterprotesters over the removal of a statue of confederate general robert e. lee. the group that organized this protest initially was unite the right. jason kessler was the organizer of the rally, filed a successful lawsuit against the city in seeing that his first amendment rights would be violated in moving this rally. devolved into violence today. i would like to bring back the director of the center for hate and extremism at california state university. brian, you have been watching and listening to maya's report from the scene here. if you could put this into broader perspective, the idea that this incident is playing out, that the president of the united states is tweeting this afternoon from his so-called working vacation that we must all be united and condemn all that hate stands for, and this is playing out in august of

2017. what's going through your mind right now? >> what's going through my mind is that we are at an inflection point and what i'm saying is i've tracked these kind of groups for some time. what we're seeing today are at least two dozen individuals and groups that i personally track in my research coming together as part of a coalesced socio-political movement and what i think they've obtained is some entree into the political mainstream. they lacked a charismatic leader. i'm not saying that president trump is a nazi or anything like that, but he has retransmitted these messages with regard to emigran immigrants and muslims and limited immigration with regard to english speakers and cutting it in half. these are celebrated on these far-right extremist websites, and they believe that they have gotten entree into mainstream politics. indeed, when the alt-right started, they said they had two goals. basically, to stand up for

whites, but also to dismantle the traditional republican party, which left them out. and now we're seeing people like bannon in the white house as well as mr. gorka and simon who are parroting and retransmitting these messages of euro-nationalism, which are taking place not only here in the united states but in europe as well. indeed, a greek racist entity endorsed this meeting today. so, what i'm saying is this is one of those rallies or conferences that is not only big because of its size or big big because of the diversity of the notorious luminaries that are there, but because these folks are now coalesced into a socio-political movement which stands on its own, and it requires those of us in the mainstream to say, no. >> for those of us that followed the 2016 presidential campaign very closely, and i would

imagine that many of the folks that are watching right now are in that category, you may recall that president trump denounced the alt-right in an interview with the "new york times" in november of 2016, after the election, but that was very late, too little, too late for so many. you know, you recall that donald trump, as we look at pictures, obviously, of tactical officers in riot gear in charlottesville, virginia, the president wouldn't denounce the former grand wizard of the kkk, david duke, during the course of the presidential campaign. the president's campaign briefly seated a white nationalist by the name of william johnson as a delegate at the republican national convention. i sat down with him here in los angeles, and he told me that white nationalists felt emboldened by the words of then-candidate trump. hillary clinton got up in reno, nevada, and gave a speech denouncing the president's campaign and its connections to the alt-right because of senior strategist steve bannon who is, today, in the white house. today, trump policy, whether it's voting rights or immigration or on policing have

been seen by many on the left as outreach to groups like this if not explicitly. the president certainly didn't ask anybody to go out there and do these protests today, but brian, is the president responsible in some way, explicitly or implicitly, for what we're seeing play out here today? >> i think certainly at least implicitly, and perhaps indirectly. the bottom line is, you know, conservatism has always had their policies. the problem is that now, we're seeing this led with negative stereotypes, which suggest that undocumented people are running rampant criminally, which they're not. or that we have some big problem with regard to immigrants and terrorism. what we have going on here is stereotyping moving policy, rather than actual facts moving policy, and what that has done has emboldened these folks. the person that you spoke, who was a delegate briefly, he

wanted to introduce an amendment banning non-white immigration into the united states. so, instead, what we get is a policy that cuts immigration in half and seems to lead against those that don't speak english, for instance, or come -- or who are refugees. so, what i'm saying is, it's one thing to be conservative. i've been asked to testify before congress by both sides of the fence, but what we have here is a charismatic leader who is retransmitted stereotypes into the mainstream and a little base has now coalesced. and this is a terrible thing for america. it's not mainstream conservatism. but it's something that is now gone from splintered, individual entities like klan groups or individual ramshackle skin heads into a more pseudo-intellectualized, philosophic base that is trying to take over the right wing of the republican party and to some

extent has received of entree. >> and it may be pseudo-intellectualized but today it's playing out very violently on the streets of charlottesville. grateful to be joined on the phone right by mark newton, the assistant editor with the "daily progress." we've seen the protests and count counterprotests. what can you tell us about what we're seeing on the ground right now, the picture of the car crashed into a crowd there in charlottesville. >> yes. so, about -- i've seen the numbers. about nine people have been hit by this car. i've been told by one of our photographers on the scene that the photos that he's taken are too -- might be too graphic in terms of what the actual violence is. i've heard from our reporters, witnesses saying that they saw bodies flying, that when one of

his friends got hit, it was the worst sound he had ever heard. and people are just getting taken care of now, and that's being investigated right now. what it seems to be is people driving out and trying to leave, but i don't think that the rally -- the unite the right rally has ultimately been dismissed. the ultimate direction is still kind of unclear right now. >> my understanding is that the charlottesville city and virginia state police have declared an unlawful assembly of that gathering, but obviously, just from the looks of it, there are still people on the street. what you are saying, mark, is really hard to hear, the fact that the pictures that your local photographer, your colleague have taken may be too graphic to actually put online or for us to show here live on msnbc. we're also joined on the phone by jim cavanaugh, law enforcement expert, former atf.

jim, just listening to what mark is saying, what strikes you? jim cavanaugh, are you there? >> i'm here. i'm here. >> go ahead, jim. sorry. >> yeah, jacob. i'll tell you, it sounds like a description more like a deliberate act, pedestrians flying in the air, the car plowing into them, nine people, you know, it just sounds that way. we don't have that absolute yet. we don't know for sure. because we don't have the motive of the driver. but the photographer seems to tell us through the reporting that it looked like it was, you know, right into the crowd. >> jim, stand by for one second. we've got maya rodriguez back on the scene now there at that intersection. maya rodriguez of nbc news is back with us. m maya, i don't know if you heard what mark newton said from charlottesville and about the idea that his photographer may not even be able to show the pictures because of the

gruesomeness of the nature of them. have you heard anything to that effect since we last spoke? >> reporter: okay. hey, jacob, we're being moved back from the scene where this happened. we're at 4th and waters streets here in charlottesville. this is where all of this happened. just a short time ago, there were at least a half dozen ambulances lined up here, picking people up, they were on the ground. some of them had to be loaded on to stretchers and into the ambulances. i did hear from one witness who said, listen, i saw my friend. he had a broken leg. i saw someone else who i was somewhat familiar with who -- okay, we're being moved again by police. they're trying to, it looks like, they're attempting to clear waters street right here. we're going to be careful in heading back this way. but what he said was he saw his friend with a broken leg, he looked over and saw somebody who was in much, much worse shape than his friend. did not appear to be conscious. he was very, very upset. he was crying when we came upon the scene.

we saw people who were hugging, in tears, just trying to comprehend exactly what happened here. >> maya, why are those tactical officers move you from the position that you were in there? is there something going on that they're trying to clear out? are they looking to move protesters, counterprotesters out of that area still? >> reporter: it does appear that they are trying to clear this particular street, waters street. i don't know if you can see behind me, there appear to be two vehicles. one appears to have rammed the other. it is an active scene at this point. whether this was intentional or not, we simply do not know. we just know that there was an accident that somehow three vehicles were involved, a car managed to plow into a group of counterprotesters who were here, and to be fair, this whole area was crowded with people, obviously, because we're just a couple of blocks from where the rally had taken place over on market street, so a lot of people were out here.

there's lots of restaurants and cafes and whatnot. there's a pedestrian mall just to my right over here. when all this happened about an hour ago. >> we're watching also we see you pictures of tactical officers with helmet that say vsp, which i believe is virginia state police, moving people out of a different area, which i believe is close to where you are. over your left shoulder, we see people touching each other. one woman, i believe, has her hand on someone else's shoulder. who are those people? >> they are medics, they're marked at medics. in fact, we had somebody earlier here calling for a medic over here. it wasn't clear exactly what had happened. it's very, very hot out here. it's possible there was some form of heat exhaustion. it wasn't serious enough that ambulances were called, but again, medics were being summoned just a short time ago and these appear to be volunteer medics who were aligned with the counterprotesters. >> pastor tracy blackman, who

was actually forced off the air earlier today on "am joy" had made a point earlier in the day that there wasn't the type of heavy law enforcement presence, a militarized police presence, you could say, when these protests had first started to unfold. today, obviously, those police in that type of tactical outfitting are there. do you have any indication as to why they're showing up in force now and were not there earlier today? i think we might -- maya, i don't know if you can hear me, but i was asking you about the tactical police. looks likewise they're o looks like they're out there in force now but they were not out there earlier today. do you know why? >> reporter: we did see them out there. they were across the street from the park itself, from emancipation park. there was a parking lot there. there was virginia state police in there.

however, when those skirmishes happened, when the clashes between both sides started unfolding, they really made no move at that point to kind of go in and separate them out. they were sort of relying on both sides to kind of keep about a 20 to 30-feet distance away from each other. they didn't actively engage. at some point, the area that we were in was deemed unsafe. we were being hit by smoke bombs, tear gas. we had to pull back from that area. when we returned about 20 minutes later, the police had taken control of the park, had cleared out all of the protesters, the counterprotesters, everybody had been gone, and they were restricting access to the park. again, because they had basically broken up the rally before its official scheduled start, which was supposed to be at noon today. >> jim cavanaugh, if you could speak to what she is saying, that police basically pushed people out of that central area where the protests took place earlier today. now they've been dispersed throughout this central area in charlottesville. what are the challenges, both for law enforcement and for the

safety of those protesters and counterprotesters that will be encountered as we move into the afternoon, late afternoon, and evening hours in virginia on the east coast. >> that's a good question, jacob, but you're exactly right. it flows more into the intelligence gathering for the state police and charlottesville pd and all the gathered law enforcement. they've got to be picking up talk on the street and through their own surveillance. their plain clothes officers, observing where these folks are. they know where the protesters from each side are. they know where they're staying, hotels, homes. they have an idea where the leaders are. they probably have some communication with the leaders. they're going to reach out to the leaders on both sides and speak with them and try to discourage any more of this activity, but they've got to be monitoring all these activities through their intelligence so they can move their forces to stop any violence. but they're scattered, and that is a challenge. and then if this vehicle accident or assault turns out to be an assault, if this hitting

the pedestrians turns out to be an assault, that ramps up the level of danger for everybody. >> this is, again, the second time -- go ahead, jim. >> after dark, you know, guns can come out. i mean, you've got dedicated sides here that are full of hate and want and thrive on violence. so, you know, citizens need to listen to the law enforcement leaders. you know, you don't need to be on the street. you don't need to be on the street when this is happening. you need to go home, be safe, watch it on the news because this stuff can get real hot real fast. i mean, the officers, they've got to be there, the thin blue line, they'll be out there, but pedestrians, citizens, good-hearted people just need to let the police have the street and let them take care of it because bullets can fly, cars can run over people. it can be a dangerous situation. >> when we are talking about a protest that strikes at the heart of the ignoble history of what took place throughout the south in charlottesville, virginia, in the united states of america, when it comes to

race in this country, seeing the ku klux klan, various white nationalists and alt-right groups on the street, you know that tensions are going to be very high. again, we are monitoring the second time in six weeks charlottesville, virginia, has spaced a protest from white supremacist groups over the removal of the statue of the confederate then robert e. lee. we have been monitoring a second incident where a car plowed into a group of counterprotesters. we do not know if this was intentional or not. we're going to continue to monitor this. the president of the united states, donald trump, is set to speak at the top of the next hour. we'll be watching that closely in bedminster, new jersey, where our very own kelly o'donnell is. stay with us at msnbc. we'll be right back. i see you've planted an uncertainty tree. chop that thing down. the clarity you seek... lies within the creditwise app from capital one. creditwise helps you protect your credit. and it's completely free for everyone.

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course, where we expect him to address the media at 3:00 p.m. at a planned event. but of course, today the nation's attention has shifted to the reports of very violent protests and counterprotests out of charlottesville, virginia. over the removal of a statue of the confederate general robert e. lee. white sprupremacists, white nationalists, members of the alt-right were out last night with torches in hand. in addition, members of the ku klux klan were there and today, counterprotesters from all walks of life, from clergy to black lives matter activists, princeton professor cornell west and anti-fascist activists have been on the streets. what has happened since those protests this morning is a very gruesome incident. a car had plowed into a group of counterprotesters there in charlottesville just moments ago. we're going to roll a video in just a second, but i want to warn everyone, this video is

graphic. this is the aftermath of that accident. let's take a look. >> medic! bleep [ bleep ] [ bleep ] >> we saw there, of course, what appeared to be blood on the hood

of that silver sedan, a very violent, very violent scene there in charlottesville as that silver sedan plowed into the crowd of counterprotesters. i want to bring in our nbc news producer who is on the ground and actually witnessed, i understand, this incident take place. mariana, what can you tell us? >> reporter: hey, jacob, i did not see this car plow into the people. however, i did see, once it plowed into the people and then reversed, it went down the street that i was on. and it was smoking and billowing. and it looked like it had hit something. ended up being that it did hit a couple of cars, which you may be able to see now. they've bhlocked us far enough way now because police consider this an active crime scene, but this car went down, according to witnesses, there was a number of counterprotesters, you know, this morning, obviously, there was a little clash, but since then, they've been kind of walking around the town, chanting a little bit, nothing we haven't seen in d.c. and other protests around the

country. but as that was happening, some witnesses say they turned around, saw this car coming, yelled, car, car, some were able to jump out of the way. others, unfortunately, were not, and once it hit a another car in front of it, it backed up and sped off. police cars were able to follow it but this -- whoever did this did leave at least, we've spotted six people being taken away by paramedics. all look to be conscious but given the scene and how many people were actually there, we cannot confirm exactly how many were taken away and exactly what kind of injuries did take place here. >> and so marina, there is some confusion as to whether the cars we are looking at are the cars that actually plowed into these protesters or they are innocent bystanders' cars and another vehicle left the scene. your audio cut out just a little bit when you were describing that. if you could say one more time what you witnessed there on the scene. i think that would help clarify things a lot.

>> reporter: sure. so, the cars that you should be seeing now, it looks like, to be a van and a convertible behind it. those are bystander cars and those people are also, we saw, at least in that convertible, the driver was injured. but was very much conscious. what looks like this silver charger ran, obviously, ran over a group of people who were still in this alleyway, hit these cars, and then reversed back to hit anyone else who was still in the alleyway and still in the way. so, that was -- we did not see that. we saw the car speed away on another street. and it was followed by police, and obviously, witnesses actually, frantic, frantic witnesses that were coming up to some of these state troopers that are on, basically, every block saying, listen, you have to go after this guy. he just plowed through a crowd of people. and that was the moment where we went down this alleyway and now as you see, we've been pushed back because it is now an active crime scene. >> so, again, according to marina, nbc producer on the scene, the car that actually

plowed into these counterprotesters is neither of the cars that we're looking at right now. those are the vehicles of innocent bistaystanders. a silver dodge charger, is that right, marina. >> reporter: correct. and the front of it was completely torn off and smoke was billowing out of it. we don't know where it is now. what i witnessed along with my video crew here is that the car sped off and right after it, there was police officers in their own police cars that started chasing after it. but we have no update as to whether this person was, in the end, caught by police. >> all right. mariana, stand by. watching at home, stand by with us as well. the president of the united states is going to speak at 3:00 p.m. we will closely monitor whether or not he addresses this situation. of course, in charlottesville, virginia, an ongoing, unfolding situation. stay with us right here at msnbc.

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you're watching msnbc and we are following breaking news. after a protest between white nationalists and the -- members of the alt-right in charlottesville, virginia, this morning and counterprotesters, a car has crashed into a crowd of those counterprotesters in the aftermath of this protest, which was dispersed after the assembly was deemed unlawful by local police and state police there. the governor of virginia has declared a state of emergency in his state. you can see, moments ago, first responders and ambulance triaging victims there on the scene. we have been watching video that has come to us through social media of this incident taking place and according to nbc news producer mariana sotomayor, it was a silver dodge charger that

plowed into innocent bystanders and vehicles there were there. we can take a look at some of that right now and i want to go back to mariana mariaon the sce charlottesville. this is the aftermath. what you're looking at right here. mariana, if you are still with us, tell us what has unfolded since we last spoke and what the scene is on the ground there right now. >> reporter: so, it's definitely a lot quieter. it's definitely a lot quieter from what you're seeing on tv. most everyone who was on that street, including media, has been pushed back a little bit now that it is an active crime scene. you can still hear the helicopters right above, but ambulances have since pulled out and are headed with, i've counted, at least six people who were injured on their way to local hospitals. as of right now, it's like, you know, you're just passing by. you see obviously all these cars that are still here, but it is much quieter. it's not as busy as it was earlier. >> the eyes of the nation are obviously watching what's unfolding here, including the

president of the united states, who earlier today tweeted about the initial protests and counterprotests, which, again, was over the removal of a statue of the confederate general robert e. lee in a city that had over 50% of its residents as slaves during the civil war. the president said we must all be unite and had condemn all that hate stands for. there is no place for this kind of violence in america. let's come together as one. you can see in the bottom right of your screen, we're expecting the president to speak at 3:00 p.m. at his golf resort in new jersey. jim cavanaugh, law enforcement expert, former atf, you're watching this unfold with us. as these pictures come in, is it any clearer to you what may have unfolded here. >> it sure looks like from the witness descriptions that you've had from the producer and the people on the ground there, that it was an intentional act, that this charger, this silver charger drove into the crowd, hit those other two vehicles,

caused injuries, and, you know, rapidly backed out, squealing and smoking tires, tried to evade the scene. so this could be a homicide case. it could definitely -- an assault case. it's definitely a hit and run case and charlottesville pd was on their heels, so we'll have to find out if that driver and the occupants in that dodge charger were apprehended. looks like counterprotesters were assaulted. >> the counterprotesters, that's right, jim. mariana, at the time that this incident took place, what was the level of police presence on the scene? what we see right now, in video both live and from moments ago, is a heavy police presence, tactical officers from the virginia state police in what looks like riot gear. were any of those members of law enforcement there at the time of this incident? >> reporter: yes. they were there. they were around, basically, every block. you could see them kind of at the corner, some of them, you could see them filing down some very narrow streets, kind of trying to preempt any other

possible gathering, because given social media, they were able to track and see, all right, it seems like they're moving to this park or maybe a little bit this way. so there was definitely communication going on between state police and local police as well. so as i mentioned, when this car just completely charged, at least in front of us, on one of the streets, there were a number of bystanders who came up to the state troopers who were right by us and just started yelling, listen, follow that guy, and go down this street. multiple people are hurt. so, this is, you know, it's a very charming town. i've never been to charlottesville before, but it is a downtown filled with little boutiques and coffee shops and this is definitely shaken, i imagine, residents here, because it's a totally different scene from what i imagine to be a typical saturday here. >> mariana, tell us more about what's going on out there on the street right now. are the vehicles still in place? as a matter of fact, mariana, stand by.

we're just getting new video in right now. the it is graphic video. this is the video -- so, we have been looking at video of the aftermath of this incident when a vehicle plowed into counterprotesters. here's the video of the vehicle actually hitting. it's obviously very graphic. we're watching the vehicle back up there as mariana described. >> oh my god! people are badly hurt. oh my god, badly hurt. we need paramedics right now. >> and that is the extent of the video that we have. we're looking at it right now. it's very, very graphic to watch. it looks like you see a bystander on top of the hood of that silver visible. you hear someone in the aftermath say, we have people very badly injured. mariana, we're getting a look at this for the first time. what was it like to witness the aftermath of this in realtime?

>> reporter: i mean, everyone was off of the main road, and this is a very narrow street. so, everyone's basically up against the wall. you saw people crying. you saw people just completely frantic, and panicking, just having no idea what they just witnessed. trying to put it all together. and it was very difficult to navigate through this crowd. there was a lot of confusion, and you saw people -- some people running and crying and it was really us just trying to catch a couple of people who had witnessed what had happened and ask them, what did you see? what exactly was going on? but that was kind of the climate for a couple of minutes afterwards as well. and then the ambulances arrived. obviously, police, one by one, kind of sort of pushing people further away from that intersection that you saw where the van and that convertible are now. >> in the aftermath of this violent incident, a car plowing into a group of counterprotesters who were on the streets of charlottesville, virginia, to stand up to members

of the alt-right, white nationalists, who were protesting the removal of the statue of a confederate general. the president of the united states will be speaking at 3:00 eastern. he was scheduled to speak on the veterans affairs choice and quality employment act of 2017, but of course, we will be watching very closely to see if he addresses this beyond the tweet the president sent out in the last hour. stay with us at msnbc. we'll be right back. you always pay your insurance on time. tap one little bumper and up go your rates. what good is having insurance

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i'm jacob soboroff. we're following breaking news here on msnbc. you're looking live at pictures from bedminster, new jersey, where the president of united states was expected at 3:00 p.m. eastern to sign a bill called the veterans affairs choice and quality employment act of 2017, but things are far different than we expected the president today. we are watching the unfolding situation in charlottesville, virginia, where protests and

counterprotests over the removal of a statue of confederate general robert e. lee have turned very violent and indeed, over the course of the last several hours, a second incident has developed with a car plowing into a group of counterprotesters. we have video, graphic video, of that moment actually happening this afternoon. we're going to show it to you right how. aga again, a warning, it is very graphic. take a look. this is, again, on the streets there of charlottesville, virginia. after the dispersal of this rally, this protest and counterprotest was declared an unlawful assembly by the virginia state police. the governor of virginia has declared a statewide emergency in virginia and law enforcement is responding as such. we're going to continue to monitor new jersey to see when the president comes out and whether or not he addresses what is going on here. in the meantime, we're joined by jasmine turner from our richmond, affiliate, who is on

the ground there in charlottesville and i understand you have been talking to witnesses of this just horrible car incident plowing into innocent bystanders. >> reporter: yes, i actually spoke to a man who watched the entire thing happen. this was a three-car accident and he watched as at least five, maybe six people, he tells me, were hit by a car. it seems that people who were in the streets, in the area at the time, were rushing to be by those people's sides before they were able to get some medical attention. right now, virginia state police is saying through social media that there were multiple injuries, but he said that he watched as the car plowed into the people and then actually pulled away. right now, where i am standing, there are police barricades, a very active scene. you can actually hear the state police chopper overhead from where i am, but right now, just witnesses on the street, they're trying to clear as many people out of