we condemn them in the strongest possible terms. >> vice president mike pence firmly denouncing white supremacist groups following violent weekend rallies in virginia. lawmakers asking why won't the president do the same. plus, the 20-year-old suspect in court today, accused of ramming his car into anti-nazi protesters in charlottesville, killing one person. new details on the federal investigation into that crash. good morning and welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs, back from a

little break. monday, august 14th. 4:00 a.m. in the east. we begin with president trump's deafening silence, if you will. the fallout from his failure to clearly and explicitly denounce the white nationalyists, neo-nazis behind the weekend rally in charlottesville. the violence left three people dead. vice president mike pence traveling in latin america sunday, speaking out, saying what the president did not. >> we have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists, neo-nazis or the kkk. these dangerous fringe groups have no place in american public life and in the american debate, and we condemn them from the strongest possible terms. the president's call for unity yesterday, though, was from the heart. it was a sin serial call in

these too divided times in our country. >> president trump hit with strong bipartisan criticism for his initial response to the deadly race-fueled clashes in charlottesville when he said this -- >> we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bill trgotry many sides. on many sides. >> on many sides this. could forever be known as the "on many sides" speech. he ignored reporters asking if he condemned white nationalists groups or considered the death of a woman in charlottes villain act of terrorism. the vice president also addressing that, slamming the media. >> i take issue with the fact that many in the national media spend more time criticizing the president's words than they did criticizing those who perpetrated the violence to begin with.

we should be putting the attention where it belongs. that is on these streamist groups that needs -- extremist groups that need to be pushed out of the public debate entirely. >> more now on white house reaction from adhethena jones i bridgewater, yuj. >> reporter: good morning. a white house official who asked not previously named put out a statement that did go for than what we heard from the president in his brief remarks to the press about this on saturday. this is what that official statement said. it said, "the president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry, and hatred. and of course that includes white supremacists, kkk, neo-nazi, and all extremist groups. he called for national unity and bringing all americans together." that, of course, a statement we got on sunday from a white house official. but again, a lot of folks, not just democrats but also republicans, and a growing list

of republicans, want to see the president himself explicitly denounce these white nationalist groups. one reason is that president trump and candidate trump before that has never been shy about repeatedly criticizing a long list of people. whether it's democrats like hillary clinton and barack obama or fellow republicans like mitch mcconnell, john mccain, arnold schwarzenegger arnold schwarzenegger, and the list goes on and on. he also has, of course, called the media the enemy of the people. but not on that list of organizations and list of individuals he's criticized are neo-nazis or kkk or white nationalists. to be fair, in an interview with "the new york times" he said he didn't want to energize the alt-right movement, another word for the white nationalist movement. a lot of folks want to see him repeat that statement and go further, they want to see him use the moral authority of the

pulpit and presidency to use the name and he hasn't done that. >> thank you. members of the president's party are pleading with him, pleading with him to speak out forcefully and directly against white nationalist groups, calling the killing in charlottesville more than just murder. senator susan collins of maine tweeting, "the violence in charlottesville is domestic terrorism. hatred, racism, and bigotry have no place in our country." from orrin hatch in utah, "we should call evil by its name. my brother didn't give his life fighting hitler for nazi ideas to go unchallenged at home." gop leaders not only calling on the president to condemn white supremacy groups by name, they're pressing him to do it now so groups don't become emboldened. >> i would urge the president to dissuade them of the fact that he's sympathetic to their cause because their cause is hate. they are un-american. they are domestic terrorists.

we need more from our president on this issue. >> this president needs to do exactly that today. call this white supremicism evil. >> the department of justice and fbi launching a civil rights investigation into the deadly events at the white nationalist rally in charlottesville. james alex field accused of driving his car into a crowd of counterprotesters killing one person. he faces multiple charges including second-degree murder and is expected to make his first court appearance today. cnn's brian todd with more on the suspect and the investigation. >> reporter: we've got some important new information about the suspect accused in the car strike which killed that young woman on saturday here in charlottesville. according to our justice producer, mary kay maloney, she got this information from a justice department official familiar with the investigation. federal investigators have

enough evidence to be suspicious that the suspect, james fields jr., intended to send a message not just harm the immediate victims. and they're looking into that. they are also looking into whether he had any accomplices, anybody who might have helped him in the attack. some other information that we're getting about this suspect, according to a teacher who taught him history in the last two years of high school. the teacher is derek weimer who taught him at a high school in northern kentucky. he said that this suspect, james fields, had disturbing views about nazis, he had an inf infatuation with nazis. the white supremacist organizer, jason kessler, showed up sunday intending to hold a news conference. he spoke for several minutes but didn't get a word in edgewise because a crowd of counterprotesters were shotting him down, making noise -- shouting him down, making noise.

at some point, he was fell or pushed to the ground. police swooped in, got him out, got him around the side of the building and into the charlottesville police department building where they held him for his own safety. then they whisked him away. a lot of the protesters angry that the white supremacists have hung around. at least one of the leaders, jason kessler, hung around to try to espouse his message. he later tweeted that his free speech was being tamped again. none of that suppressing the anger and frustration in charlottesville. christine and dave? >> anger, frustration, very ugly weekend, no question. we are learning more about the three people who died in the charlottesville violence. heather heyer was killed when the car ran into the crowd. he helped clients with bankruptcy. her mother said she had passionate beliefs and was a champion for others. >> it was important for her to

speak up for people she felt were not being heard. to speak up when injustices were happening. she saw in the lives of her many african-american friends particularly and gay rights that equal rights were not being given. >> two virginia state troopers are also being remembered. police say lieutenant h.j. cullen and pilot burke m.m. bates were killed when their helicopter crashed while helping with the situation in charlottesville. to the other dark cloud hanging over to the trump administration -- the russia investigation. special counsel robert mueller reaching out to the white house to secure interviews with current and former officials including ex-chief of staff reince priebus according to "the new york times" which says mueller has asked for details about "specific meetings." mueller also said to be looking into president trump's decision to fire former fbi director james comey. the white house says it's fully

cooperating with the special prosecutor. monday morning, nine minutes past the hour. time for an early start on your money. president trump plans to get tougher on trade with china. today, the president is expected to direct the u.s. trade representative to look into alleged chinese violations of trade with the u.s. including things like patent thefts, enforced -- and forced intellectual property transfers. it could lay the groundwork for a federal investigation. if wrongdoing is find, president trump could impose tariffs against chinese imports. some saying it will poison the overall u.s./china relationship. although trade tensions between washington and beijing are ramping up, corporate markey is happy with china. u.s. companies have reported strong second quarter earnings and revenue from chinese operations in recent weeks. 82% of u.s. companies in china expect revenue to increase this year, up from 76% a year ago, according to the american chamber of commerce in shanghai. they're benefitting from a chinese economy growing at almost 7%. a chinese housing boom and a

slide in the u.s. dollar which makes american exports more competitive. also aimed at china, some words in the "wall street journal" this morning from rex tillerson and james mattis regarding the situation in north korea. that could be interesting when they read that today. speaking of america's highest ranking military officer, the chairman of the joint chiefs, meeting with south korea's president as north korea threatens to target u.s. territory. we're live in seoul ahead. your big idea... will people know it means they'll get the lowest price guaranteed on our rooms by booking direct on choicehotels.com? hey! badda book. badda boom! mr. badda book. badda boom! book now at choicehotels.com

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america's top general, joint chiefs joe dunford in seoul for talks with president moon jae-in. we expect to hear from him in the next hour. he says he's committed to making sure president trump has a viable military option to combat the nuclear crisis in north korea but wants to make sure diplomacy gets a chance. cnn has learned american diplomats have been in touch

with their counterparts since at least february led by special representative for north korea policy. let's go live to seoul and bring in cnn's paula hancocks. good morning, what's the latest? >> reporter: hello, dave. at this point we understand that general dunford is meeting the south korean president, moon jae-in, discussing how they can counter the north korean threat looming over them at this point. we know that general dunford met with the defense minister and his korean joint chiefs counterpart earlier in the day, and the korean joint chiefs chief said that he was talking about the diplomatic and economic countermeasures to put pressure on north korea, focusing on whether or not sanctions could work, how do they make sanctions work. this is interesting because obviously they will be talking about the military option. that always has to be considered. but it does seem more of a pullback in line with what we've seen from this op-ed in the "wall street journal" this morning also here saying that

general mattis, defense secretary, and tillerson, the u.s. secretary of state, are focusing on the diplomatic and economic issues, saying they want a peaceful solution to this issue. now, this does feel certainly here in korea like a pullback from this -- the very fiery rhetoric we heard from the u.s. president trump last week talking about the military options being locked and loaded. certainly there seems to be some sense of relief in korea at least that there now is more of a focus on the diplomacy. we know that that diplomacy has been going since februay on an official level between the u.s. and north korea when it comes to, for example, trying to talk about americans detained in north korea and also at an unofficial level. dave? >> yeah. you mentioned the op-ed in "wall street journal." tillerson taking aim at china saying the region need and expect china to do more. paula hancocks live in seoul. thanks. an investigation underway in texas after 17 undocumented

immigrants were found locked inside a tractor-trailer. authorities were tipped off from someone in mexico who reported a relative trapped with other immigrants inside a hot trailer. officers found 14 men and three women when they arrived at this truck stop in edinburgh, texas. the victims are from a range of countries including mexico, guatemala, honduras, and romania. two people in the trailer have been detained. u.s. customs and border protection is investigating. ahead, while the u.s.-led coalition takes on the capital of isis, syria's army is picking up their fight against the terror group. we're live near the front lines next.

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isis on its heels in syria as they battle the terrorist group in the self-declared capital of raqqah. syrian forces engaged in heavy fighting to the east. cnn was given access to syria's front line near the site of a recent isis massacre. fred pleitgen live from the area where the assad regime and russia hold control. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: one of the criticisms that has been levied at russia is they're said to be fighting rebel groups and not isis. new the syrian government tells us they're doing that, shifting focus and taking on isis. one of the reasons they're doing that, christine, is because they say as the us and its partners are closing in on isis and in raqqah, many of the isis fighters are escaping and attacking their positions further to the south. as you mentioned, we were on the

front line there. and in the time that we were there, it was about 30 minutes, we saw about a dozen air strikes hitting a lot of villages that were isis controlled. the fighters were saying what isis is trying to do is more hit-and-run tactics. they went into a village in the area we were in and conducted a massacre, killing more than 50 civilians. the syrian military had nog and get them -- had to go in and get them out. the syrian government confirms they have a big offensive. they're trying to win down key towns in the area. they say now fighting isis has become their main priority. christine? >> fred pleitgen for us in syria. thank you very much. it's an annual showcase of russia's military might. this year, their international war games involving china -- they're international war games involving china, iran, and other countries, taking on added significance with north korean tensions running high and u.s./russia relations at the lowest point since the cold war. let's bring in cnn's oren liebermann live in moscow with more.

good morning. how significant is this particular show of strength? >> reporter: from one perspective, this is a war games, a spectator sport. many families view it like that. they come out to cheer their country. of course on the home turf here, in most cases that's russia. from a different perspective, war games seem to be send a clear mayor-eleessage that russ its own allies. largely from the competitive list, mostly non-nato countries. russia showing off that it has its own countries, allies, and militaries that can work with. what's worth pointing out is that among the competitors is a who's who was countries president trump has threatened in recent weeks and months, including china, iran, and venezuela. one of the other messages russia's sending is that russia's army is ready to face whatever threat is out there. there are 28 competitions. the highlight is effectively to tank biathlon, the biggest crowds. russia won that, as well as 18 or 19 of the other 28 different

competition its. russia's sending a clear message that it has its own allies, and its army and military is ready. it was interesting to watch. >> yeah. >> reporter: from that perspective, a spectator sport. also a clear message here, dave. >> a very unique spectator sport, indeed. oren liebermann live in moscow. thanks. 26 minutes past the hour. the white house defending president trump, facing accusations he did not denounce white supremacy specifically in the wakes of violent rallies in virginia. were his words enough?

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we condemn them in the strongest possible terms. >> vice president mike pence, administration officials, and lawmakers all denouncing white supremecist groups after weekend rallies in virginia turned violent. critics in both parties asking what y won't the president do -- asking why won't the president

do the same. a 20-year-old accused of slamming his car on purpose into a crowd. new details on the federal investigation into the crash that killed a woman protesting white supremacy. welcome back to "early start," i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. 31 minutes past the hour. welcome to the embargo this busy monday morning -- to the program this busy monday morning. president trump under fire for something he didn't say -- his fail uure to clearly explicitly denounce the white nazis in charlottesville, virginia, that left three people dead. vice president mike pence in latin america spoke out saying what the president failed to. >> we have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremecists, neo-nazis, or the kkk. these dangerous fringe groups have no place in american pub

life and in the american debate, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms. the president's call for unity yesterday, though, was from the heart. it was a sincere call in these too divided times in our country. >> president trump facing strong bipartisan criticism for his initial response to the deadly race-fueled clashes in charlottesville when he said this -- >> we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and volence on many sides -- on many sides. >> trump ignored reporters asking if he condemned white nationalist groups or considered the death of a woman this charlottes villain act of terrorism. the vice president also addressing that while slamming the media. >> i take issue with the fact

that many in the national media spend more time criticizing the president's words than they did criticizing those who perpetrated the violence to begin with. we should be putting the attention where it belongs, and that is on these extremist groups that need to be pushed out of the public debate entirely. >> perhaps the president should be focused on those white extremist groups. now more from the white house reaction and athena jones in bridgewater, new jersey. >> reporter: good morning. a white house official who asked not to be named put out a statement that did go further than what we heard from the president in his brief remarks to the press about this on saturday. this is what that official statement said. it said, "the president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry, and hatred, and of course that includes white supremecists, kkk, neo-nazi, and all extremist

groups. he called for national unity and bringing all americans together." that, of course, a statement we got on sunday from a white house official. but again, a lot of folks, not just democrats but also republicans, and a growing list of republicans, want to see the president himself explicitly denounce these white nationalist groups. and one reason is that president trump and candidate trump before that has never been shy about repeatedly criticizing a long list of people, whether it's democrats like hillary clinton and barack obama or fellow republicans like mitch mcconnell, john mccain, arnold schwarzenegger arnold schwarzenegger, and the list goes on and on. he also has, of course, called the media the enemy of the people, but not on that list of organizations and individuals the president has criticize read neo-nazis fleas s or the kkk o supremacists or white nationalists. to be fair, in an interview with

"the new york times" after the election, he said he didn't want to energize the alt-right movement. but folks want to see him repeat the statement and go further, be more explicit. they want to see him use the moral authority and the bully pulpit of the presidenty to denounce these hate -- presidency to denounce these hate groups by name. so far we haven't seen him do that. >> athena jones, thanks. members of the president's own party are pleading with him to speak out forcefully and directly against white nationalist groups, calling the killing in charlottesville more than just murder. senator marco rubio of florida tweeting, "very important for the nation to hear the president describe events in charlottesville for what they are -- a terror attack by white supremecists." and this from senior republican senator orrin hatch of utah, "we should call evil by its name. my brother didn't give his life fighting hitler for nazi ideas to go unchallenged at home." >> gop leaders are not only

calling the president to condemn white supremecist groups by name, they're pressing him to do it now so the groups do not become emboldened. >> i would urge the president to dissuade them of the fact that he's sympathetic to their cause because their cause is hate. it is un-american. they are a domestic terrorist. we need more from our president on this issue. >> this president needs to do exactly that today. call this white supremecism this white nationalism evil and let the country and world hear it. it's something that needs to come from the oval office. this white house needs to do it today. >> meantime, ivanka trump tweeting a more pointed statement than her father. she said, "there should be no place in the world for racism, white supremacy, and neo-nazis. we must come together as americans and be one country united." >> the department of justice and fbi launching a civil rights investigation into the deadly events at a white nationalist

rally in charlottesville, virginia. james alex fields accused of driving his car into counterprotesters, killing one person. he faces charges including second-degree murder and is expected to make his first court appearance today. brian todd has more on the suspect and the investigation. >> reporter: we've got important new information about the suspect accused in the car strike which killed that young woman on saturday here in charlottesville. according to our justice producer, mary kay maloney, she got this information from a justice department official familiar with the investigation. federal investigators have enough evidence to be suspicious that the suspect, james fields jr., intended to send a message, not just harm the immediate victims. they're looking into that. they're also looking into whether he had accomplices, anybody who might have helped in the attack. some other information that we're getting about the suspect according to a teacher who taught him history in the last two years of high school. the teacher's name is derek

weimer who taught him at a high school in northern kentucky. he said the suspect, james fields, had some very disturbing views about nazis, that he had an january f-- an infatuation with nazis. the organizer, white supremecist organister -- organizer, james kessler, showed up and spoke for several minutes but didn't get a word in edgewise because a crowd of counterprotesters were shouting him down, making noise. people converged on him slowly. at some point he fell or was pushed to the ground. police swooped in, got him out, got him around the side of the building and into this building behind me, the charlottesville police department, where they held him for his own safety. and then they whisked him away. a lot of protesters angry that the white supremecists have hung around, at least one of these leaders, jason kessler, hung around to, again, try to espouse his message.

he later tweeted that his free speech was being tamped down. again, none of that suppressing the anger and frustration in charlottesville. >> brian todd, thank you for that. we're learning more about the three people who died in the violence in charlottesville. heather heyer was killed when the car plowed into the group of people. they were protesting the white nationalist rally saturday. she was a paralegal who assisted clients through bankruptcy. she was with another group of para paralegals. her mother said she had passionate beliefs and was a champion to others. >> it was important to her to speak up for people she felt were not being heard, to speak up when injustices were happening. and she saw in the lives of many of her african-american friends particularly and her gay friends that equal rights were not being given. >> two virginia state troopers are also being remembered this morning. police say lieutenant h.j.

cullen and trooper pilot burke m.m. bates were killed when their helicopter crashed while assisting public safety resources with the situation in charlottesville. now to the other dark cloud hanging over the trump administration, the russia investigation. special counsel robert mueller reaching out to the white house to secure interviews with current and former officials including ex-chief of staff reince priebus. that's according to "the new york times" which says mueller has asked for details about specific meetings. mueller also said to be looking into president trump's decision to fire former fbi director james comey. the white house says it is "fully cooperating" with the special counsel. time for an early start on your money. president trump's team begins nafta talks on wednesday. trump calls nafta the worst trade agreement in american history. he wants to fulfill one of his core campaign promises to make a better deal, he says, for american workers. about 14 million american jobs depend on trade with canada and mexico.

roughly 800,000 jobs were lost to mexico between 1997 and 2013. it's not clear exactly how trump plans to get that better deal. one of his biggest challenges, how he gets companies to make more things in the u.s. without having americans pay more for the products. and time is short. mexican officials say they want a deal done by the end of the year. nafta took years and multiple presidencies to negotiate. general joseph dunford, the military's highest military officer in south korea right now, facing north korea's threat to fire missiles at u.s. territory. we're live from seoul, south korea, next. sometimes you just know when you've hit a home run. that's how i feel about blue-emu pain relief spray. odorless and fast-acting, it soothes all my muscle aches and pains. and its convenient for those hard to reach places. and if you're like me, you'll love blue-emu super strength cream. it's made with real emu oil, its non-greasy, it's a deep penetrating formula that works itself down into your joints.

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allergytry new xyzal®.ou have symptoms like these for relief is as effective at hour 24 as hour one. so be wise all take new xyzal®. america's top general, joint chiefs chairman joseph dunford, is in seoul for talks with south

korean president moon jae-in. he says he is committed to making sure president trump has a viable military option to combat the nuclear crisis in north korea but wants to make sure diplomacy gets a chance. cnn has learned that diplomats have been in touch with their counterparts in pyongyang since at least february led by the u.s. special representative for north korea policy joseph yun. paula hancocks is here, brings us up to speed. >> reporter: well, general dunford, as you say, is expected to speak shortly, hoping within the next 20 minutes or so we'll get a readout of what he said to south korean president moon jae-in. he met with his korean counterparts later in the day. the joint chiefs saying he was focusing on the political, diplomatic, economic policies that could put pressure on north korea, saying he wanted to see

how they could fully implement sanctions against north korea. presumably they would have talked about the military option, as well. that hasn't been said publicly. it does appear to be a pullback to show that the diplomatic issue is the one they're focusing on at this point after you have strong remarks on the u.s. president, donald trump, last week of military options being locked and loaded. similar to what we saw in the "wall street journal" from the defense secretary and the secretary of state saying they're not looking for regime change in north korea. they're not looking for an accelerated reunification of the korean peninsula. let me read you a little bit of what they said. the trump administration with the support of the international community is applying diplomatic and economic pressure on north korea to achieve the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the korean peninsula and the dismantling of the regime's ballistic missile programs. we're replacing the failed policy of strategic patience with a new policy of strategic accountability. so we really are hearing a more

measured response from the trump administration at this point and the joint chiefs, of course, being here, as well, joining with that and playing into that focus on the diplomacy. christine? >> all right. paula hancocks, keep us up to date. when you hear from general dunford and get a readout of what he said to the south korean president, come back and tell us, thank you. an investigation underway in texas after 17 undocumented immigrants were found locked inside a tractor-trailer. authorities were tipped off from someone in mexico who reported a relative trapped with other immigrants inside a hot trailer. officers found 14 men and three women when they arrived at a truck stop in edinburgh, texas. the victims are from a range of countries including mexico, guatemala, honduras, and romania. two people in charge have been detained. u.s. customs and border protection is investigating. that, of course, on the heels of that awful san antonio story

late last month. >> absolutely. something that people bring up when they talk about the border wall to keep immigrants out. there's -- i think 60% of illegal immigration and drug -- actually the drug trade in the united states goes through legal commercial traffic -- >> no impact on that. >> legal commercial traffic. do you plan on watching the solar eclipse next week? make sure your glasses aren't fake. >> yes. >> we'll check -- >> i've been told all about this. >> fake glasses. >> a big deal. at blue apron, we're building a better food system.

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as the u.s.-led coalition battles the terror group in its self-declared capital of raqqah. syrian forces are engaged in heavy fighting to the east. cnn was given access to the syrian army's front line near the site of a recent isis massacre. fred pleitgen live where the assad regime and russia hold control. good morning. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: you're absolutely right. one of the key front lines, one of the newer front lines in the fight against isis. in the past, the u.s. has been accusing russia and the syrian government of fighting moderate rebel groups but not really fighting against isis. now the syrian military tells us they are doing exactly that. and as you mentioned, they gave us access to one of the front lines where there is some very, very heavy, active fighting going on. when we were out on the front line, we witnessed about a dozen air strikes on isis positions in villages that were around us.

you mentioned there was the massacre a couple of months ago. that happened when local isis fighters invaded a local village and killed more than 50 civilians. the pro-government groups were angry. on the ground, many fought in the battle. they say they've started a major offensive to try to route isis from any strongholds that it still has in the eastern syrian desert. we are seeing them certainly pick up the pace of those operations against isis as, of course, the u.s. and its allies is squeezing isis out of raqqah, as you mentioned, dave. >> an extraordinary look. thank you. an annual showways of russia's military might -- showcase of russia's military might this year russia's international military war games involving china, iran, and other countries taking onned a ened -g on added significance since u.s./russia's worst relations since the cold war. oren liebermann with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning.

from one perspective, the international army games which have been held the last few years are simply a spectator sport as different militaries compete in different events. and there are stands, and there are thousands who come out to see these and cheer on the army that's are competing here. the crowd obviously leaning heavily toward the home team, the russian team. but this also seems a way for somewhat and the kremlin to send a couple of different messages here. first, that russia has its own strategic allies. and that's timely especially now as the u.s. gets ready to conduct its own military exercises with south korea which start in about a week. this is russia saying, look, here are our allies. most of these countries are non-nato countries. that, of course, is also significant. but this is a competition in 28 events. the highlight is called the tank biathlon. and that is where russia shines. and in talking to the people, you get a sense of that. the crowd is happy to see russia on top. and russia winning most of these events. they want 19 out -- they won 19 out of 28 events. one more interesting point is that the competitors list, 28

different countries, includes a who's who was countries that president donald trump has threatened recently including iran, china, and venezuela. russia very much working with those in these army games. >> all right. war games as a spectator sport. thanks. oren liebermann in moscow. let's check cnn "money stream." after months of stocks coasting to records, investors are showing signs of caution. the dow and s&p 500 suffered their worst week since march as tensions with north korea spooked the market last week. u.s. stock futures are higher right now. retail earnings could shape trading it. walmart, target, and home depot among big stores reporting quarterly profits. this is not exactly what rank-and-file employees want to hear -- are you going to pay more for health benefits next year. the total costs for employer health care benefits will rise to 5% next year to more than $14,000 per employee. companies will pick up most of

the tab, but employees still pay 30% of health care costs to keep budgets under control. nearly 40% of companies will only offer high-deductible plans next year, meaning you will have to pay more. employer benefits are more generous than coverage purchased on the individual market. many insurers are asking for double-digit premium hikes on their obamacare policies for 2018. health care costs -- your out-of-pocket will rise. amazon issuing refunds for potentially phony solar eclipse glasses. to safely view the eclipse you need ultra-dark eyeglasses to prevent permanent eye damage that the ray cause. the high demand has led to fake ones being sold on line. amazon contacted and issued refunds to customer who's bought glasses on the site that were not safe enough. to help tamp down on fraud, there is a list of safe glasses on the site of the american astronomical society. >> a big deal.

people are making a mad rush on glasses -- >> people planning vacations around it. people planning to travel where they can see it best. schools apparently -- >> schools in colorado getting out early to see that. >> cool. >> we're looking forward to it. "early start" continues now with the latest from the charlottesville. we condemn them in the strongest possible terms. >> vice president mike pence firmly denouncing white supremecist groups following violent weekend rallies in virginia. lawmakers asking why won't the president do the same. plus, the 20-year-old suspect in court today, accused of ramming his car into ant anti-nazi protesters in charlottesville killing one person. new details on the federal investigation into this crash. good morning, everyone, and welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> nice to have you back. >> good to be back, my friend. >> i'm christine romans. monday, august 14th. it is 5:00 a.m. exactly in the

east. we'll be live from south korea and syria later in the hour. first, president trump under fire for failing to explicitly denounce the role of white nationalist and neo-nazis in clashes with counterprotesters that turned deadly in charlottesville, virginia. it was left to vice president mike pence, traveling in latin america, to say what the president did not. >> we have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremecists, neo-nazis, or the kkk. these dangerous fringe groups have no place in american public life and in the american debate. and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms. the president's call for unity yesterday was from the heart. it was a sincere call