joining me with joy reid, richard lowry, amy walter, and helene cooper, pentagon correspondent for the new york times. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." >> announcer: celebrating its 70th year, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. in the opening months of his presidency, many of us wondered how president trump would respond to the crisis when the nation looks to its president. could he lead? could he inspire? could he heal? he didn't have one test this week, he has had two. we will get to the north korea situation later. yesterday, we received another reminder how volatile extremism can be in america. clashes broke out in charlottesville, virginia, between white nationalist protesting the removal of a robert e. lee statue and counterprotesters. after the governor declared a state of emergency, a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one person and injuring 19 others. the fbi has opened a civil rights investigation into the incident, adding to a tragic day, a chopper carrying two virginia state police officers who were hovering over t

and helene cooper, pentagon correspondent for "the new york times." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, celebrating its 70is is "meet t chuck todd. >>> good sunday morning. in the opening months of his presidency, many of us have wondered how president trump would respond to the type of crisis when the nation looks could he lead? could he inspire? could he heal? he didn't have one test this week. he's had two. we'll get to the north korea situation later. but yesterday we received another reminder of just how volatile race and extremism can be in america today. violent clashes broke out in charlottesville, virginia, between whitenationalists, protesting the removal of a robert e. lee statue, and some counterprotesters. shortly after the virginia governor declared a state of emergency and the clashes broke up, a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters killing one person and injuring 19 others. the fbi has now opened a civil rights investigation into the incident. adding

and helene cooper, correspondent for "the new york times." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history celebrating its 70th year. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. in the opening months of his presidency, many of us have wondered how president trump would respond to the type of crisis when the nation looks to its president. could he lead? could he inspire? could he heal? he didn't have one test this week. he has had two. we'll get to the north korea situation later. but yesterday, we've received another reminder of just how volatile the race and extremism can be in america today. violent clashes broke out in charlottesville, virginia, between white nationalists protesting the removal of a robert e. lee statue and counter protesters. shortly after the virginia governor terry mcauliffe declared a state of emergency and the clashes broke up, a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one person and injuring 19 others. the fbi has now opened a c

helene cooper. amy walter. and joy reid. rich, i'll read right from your publication today. david french wrote this -- if there ever was a time in recent american political history for an american president to make a clear, unequivocal statement against the alt-right it was today. instead we got a vague condemnation of "hate, bigotry and violence on both sides." this is unacceptable. just ask any person president trump considers an enemy. >> people in charlottesville are marching in the president's name. david duke name-checking the president of the united states which you would think would make it all the more important for the president to be specific denouncing these white supremacists. this was a moment obviously where the president could have elevated himself. instead, he came up small. that's one of the reasons you see such a premium on statements from other republicans on moral clarity given the president's ambiguity. >> joy, it was amazing to see that. it was almost as if the republican party was waiting to see what he would do. then it was a rush to say, whoa. he's

cooper university hospital. there is no word on arrests or what prompted this attack. >> well, philadelphia councilwoman helen gym is renewing her calls to remove frank rizzo statue from center city, protesters gathered outside of pain plaza yesterday, calling the former mayor's monument to come down. councilwoman gym and local civil rights group said last night that rizzo statue should be relocated, frank rizzo legacy remains controversial on the topic of race relations in the city. >> rizzohood i was young when he was the police comiobeca the mayor. >> my father was not a racist, matter of fact, the protected blacks, asians, white, every race in the city of philadelphia. >> those who support keeping the statue where it is canceled their planned rally yesterday in exchange for meeting with mayor jim kenney. >> workers trying to help a wayward whale who is back in danger. we'll have an update just ahead. >> also ahead, deadly earthquake strikes italian resort town, efforts to rescue several people including a babe. >> i and this wild fire continues to burn in monday at any a, how many thousands of ache verse been

cooper university hospital after the attack. no word right now on any arrests or what prompted this attack. >> well, philadelphia councilwoman, helen gym, renewing her calls to remove frank rizzo statue from center city. protesters gathered outside of pain plaza yesterday, calling for the former mayor's monument to come down. councilwoman gym, and local civil rights groups, said last night, that rizzo statue should be relocated. frank rizzo's legacy remains a controversial topic, on race relations in the city. >>> rizzo raised hell in our neighborhood. i was young when he was just police commissioner, and he became the mayor. >> my father was not a racist, matter of fact, the he protected blacks, asians, white, every race, in the city of philadelphia. >> now, those who support keeping the statue where it is , canceled their planned rally yesterday, in exchange for meeting with mayor jim kenney. >> it is a busy day for president trump. he heads to uma arizona to push for border wall and rally in phoenixment last night the president addressed the nation it announce new strategy in afghanistan. he said he number of american troops, bu