[Cabrera:] Iowa Congressman Steve King coming out swinging today at a town hall, addressing head on allegations that he is racist. He slammed a recent "New York Times" article where he was quoted as saying, "White nationalists, white supremacists, Western Civilization, how did that language become so offensive." He was even removed from his committee assignments after that. CNN's Sara Sidner joins us now from outside the town hall venue. Sara, what did Congressman King have to say?
[Sara Sidner, Cnn Correspondent:] When he came on stage after everyone stood and clapped, when he walked in the room, he said that he wanted to address the elephant in the room, so to speak, and that was the article and the accusations that he has been using racist rhetoric. That is not the first time we have heard racist rhetoric from Steve King. He didn't deny he said those words. He denied, said they were taken out of context. I'll let you hear in his own words what he told the crowd here. We're in the northwest corner of the state in a very small town of about 930 people. About 80 people showed up, not everyone was in support of him, but the vast majority of people were. Those who weren't, some of them, Democrats in the room. But this is how he addressed what the article said and what he says he thought of it.
[King:] It is stunning and astonishing to me that four words in a "New York Times" quote can outweigh 20-some years of public service, 20- some years of giving you my word every day. And not one soul has stood up and said that I ever lied to you or misrepresented anything or given it to you in any spin that's anything other than what I believe to be the objective truth. And I even think about Brett Kavanaugh, when he went through that inquisition, he at least had accusers. I don't have accusers. Not one soul that stood up and said Steve King has ever stood up and said Steve King has acted in a racist fashion. Never discriminated against anybody. There's plenty of evidence out there to the contrary.
[Sidner:] But he does actually have accusers. There are some of his constituents, some of them who were inside the town hall area that did believe he was a racist, judging from not just what was in the "New York Times," but some of the other comments he's made along the way. And his retweeting, for example, of white nationalist rhetoric and Neo-Nazi rhetoric in the past. So you certainly did have some folks. Although there were several Democrats, two or three Democrats, that were in the room, they are his constituents, they live in the district, who were concerned he was not going to be able to fully do his job in Congress with what has happened, him being stripped of those congressional committees.
[Cabrera:] So how did he respond when they asked him about that specifically, about him being stripped of the House committee assignments?
[Sidner:] He talked about the fact that he says, look, I'm going to start working with the executive branch. He's going to start working with the president more, trying to get things done alongside the president. He said that this would allow him also to be in Congress for every single congressional vote, that he can speak now for every time that he feels the need to speak on the floor of the Congress. So he said that's how he was going to work around being stripped of those committees. You can hear that he's quite upset about the fact that he is no longer on those committees, if you will, Fred [sic].
[Cabrera:] He's been sidelined. Sara Sidner, thank you. Coming up, the White House tries to distance itself from Roger Stone. The problem is, President Trump and Stone have a history that goes back decades.
[Stone:] I am one of his oldest friends. I am a fervent supporter of the president.