Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20170301

When he speaks tonight, mr. Trumps words and tone could go a long way toward determining how much of his ambitious agenda gets through congress and how many of his Campaign Promises he can actually keep. Lets check things out with wolf blitzer, whos standing by. Wolf . The president is signaling a dramatic shift on his signature issue of immigration. He personally told me and other news anchors today that he believes the time is right to pass a new comprehensive immigration bill. It could allow millions of undocumented immigrants to stay here in the United States legally. We may hear more details on that in the speech thats coming up. Also the president will renew his call to congress to repeal and replace obamacare, but its not clear if theyll give gop lawmakers the direction they are hoping for as they struggle with details that are complicated. As the president addresses National Security challenges, tonight a senior white house official says mr. Trump now believes that north korea is potentially the greatest threat to the United States. Jake tapper is with us right now. Jake, president was pretty honest saying his messaging so far has not been very good. He gives himself a c. Whats he need to do tonight . Well, i think its fair to say that President Trump is really theres two different sides to him. One is the deal maker, who wants to get things done, and we heard President Trump be that kind of deal maker when he was talking about wanting to have a compromised immigration bill, when he told us earlier. Then there was the president who is king of the republican base, king of the trump voters, and we have seen a lot of that president , as he has begun his term with very, very high Approval Ratings with those Republican Voters and historic lows with democrats and independents. The president has talked about how this will be a speech of unity, and an opportunity perhaps he hopes and his staffer hopes a moment of reset, where he can reach out to critics in congress and throughout the country, as we know he has majority disapproval. Republicans i know in the chamber want leadership when it comes to obamacare, on surrounding and getting behind the bill that the secretary of health and Human Services has been working on with members of congress to push forward as a replacement to obamacare. Democrats are looking for olive branches, outreach to them. Will he offer something along the lines of childcare . Will he offer an infrastructure bill, will he talk about paid family leave . We will see. Huge challenge for the president tonight. Lets go to dana bash inside the capitol for us working her sources. Dana, what are you hearing . Jake was just talking about the democrats. Certainly, they are expecting some outreach to them, but their reaction and the optics for them sitting in the chamber for the first time in eight years, listening to a president who is not of their own party, they are very cognizant of that. In fact, both Democratic Leaders in the house and senate have told their rank and files to be restrained and to be dignified in their responses, and, you know, the goal is to not have an infamous moment like we had several years ago when republican congressman joe wilson said you lie to president obama when he was in the chamber, but, you know, its not just about decorum, its also a way for democrats to try to signal to trump voters that maybe they are not so bad, and heres what the democratic leader said to myself and to a few other journalists who are in her office today that was sort of on this note as she talked about the fact she tells her rank and file to think of donald trump as the boyfriend of a friend who is a jerk. She said its like telling your friend the guy shes dating is a jerk. You cant tell her that, she has to find out for herself. If you tell her up front youll lose a friend and we dont want to lose any friends. Thats the way shes looking at this. One last thing before i toss back to you, anderson, they are going to be showing a symbolic case for women and perhaps the woman who did not become president. I think we have a picture of the House Democratic women, there you see many of them are going to be wearing white. White the color of the suffragette movement. Jim acosta is there, what are you learning, jim . Thats right, anderson. You recall the president s inaugural address he talked about american carnage, phrase he coined during the inaugural speech. Looks like the president is looking for a tone reset tonight. Consider this excerpt that was just released by the white house from the president s speech to a joint session of congress tonight. Well put it up on screen. It says the time for small thinking is over. The time for trivial fights is behind us. We just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our hearts, the bravery to express the hopes that still our souls and the confidence to turn those hopes and dreams to action. From now on america will be empowered by aspirations, not burdened by fears. If that excerpt there carries the night. Now, one of the big problems the president is facing in the months ahead is what to do about obamacare, repealing and replacing obamacare. I am told by a source tonight that the president is expected to throw down to democrats on obamacare. Were told the president will state to democrats obamacare is failing and this is not a program that should be fixed by one party alone. Hell remind democrats they passed obamacare on their own to problematic results. The president will try to frame it as an appeal for bipartisanship. Anderson, that is something we rarely ever hear from donald trump. Anderson . Well see what he says. Jim, thanks very much. Lets check in with our panel. John king, heard a lot of speeches like this. I cant tell you how many nights we have been here. Does it really matter what he says . Yes, absolutely. Hes never done this before, hes never been in government before, never dealt with these challenges before. Lets see the territory first, donald trump is winning so far in the sengs hes dominated not only the political debate around the country, but around the world. Thats a good position to start in, position where hes the center of attention. Now the question is, can he manage that agenda going forward, and part of that is doing something hes never done before, dealing with the outside crowd, the outside game, the people at home, trying to convince them to keep what hes got, bring new people in, and the people in the room, what are the shortterm challenges . He wants a major tax reform bill and make progress on immigration, which includes building a wall, increased enforcement. On those issues he has to be a republican president. Well be hearing talking about reaching out. His main goal is to get his Campaign Agenda passed. His big challenge is keep his republicans so he can pick up the phone and call somebody like a senator santorum and say, i need you on this one. I dont think its as much democrats as you point out as it is his own party. You know, you have hes reaching out to. He needs to reach out to in that room. If donald trump is a populist, hes got trouble with conservatives like Rick Santorum over here because they believe part of the solution they have been seeing for replacing obamacare is starting the new Entitlement Program, which they dont want. Tax credits to people, not based on income, but tax credits to pay for your health care, which they think is an Entitlement Program and they wouldnt be wrong about that, by the way. So hes got a lot of reaching out to do to his republicans, particularly when he spoke about immigration earlier in the day to news anchors and said, wait a minute, youre shaking your head, okay s. Im looking for im looking for a pass on legal status. What about on immigration . Look, the way i look at donald trump is, he speaks to the audience in front of him. At any one time. Everyone says hes great, hes a tv guy. No, hes not. He speaks to the audience in front of him. No, he was speaking to the audience out there. This is here for him and now hes speaking to the audience in front of him, the congress of the United States. Ive been talking about this, i saw this one coming. This is not an ideological guy. This is a man who wants to make a deal, wants to get things done, and hes already tipping his hat, particularly on immigration. I remember republicans saying that during the primary. And youre going to see it tonight. I think youre going to see it tonight. Look, we can make deals, and, you know, im going to open up and try to get some compromises done. Im concerned about that. Im concerned about it with health care. I dont like whats going on in the house right now. Im concerned when he talks about immigration, so, yeah, i think hes got some convincing on both sides. Speaking of the folks in the room, hes making a mistake. The way you speak to folks in the room is speak to the larger audience. The great opportunity of the speeches, great challenge, also a great opportunity. You have 40 Million People watching you, theres no filter, and it is an opportunity to reset. You think filter has been President Trumps issue . Interesting you say that, because when he says the time for small things is over, the time for trivial fights is behind us, he ought to go back and look at his twitter feed where a lot of these trivial fights take place. When he says when he says that he has Communications Problems that he gives himself a c, which i thought was extraordinary for donald trump to give himself a c on anything, the real problem with communications with donald trump is even when hes doing something to serve his message, he diverts it with trivial fights. We have to take a quick break as we stand by for the president s speech, well talk to one of his most vocal critics, bernie sanders, hell be in the audience tonight. Hell join us live after this quick break. Im a concrete mason. I own my own company. I had some severe fatigue, some funny rashes. Finally, listening to my wife, went to a doctor. And i became diagnosed with hodgkins lymphoma. That diagnosis was tough. I had to put my trust in somebody. When i first met steve, we recommended chemotherapy, and then we did high dose therapy and then autologous stem cell transplant. Unfortunately, he went on to have progressive disease i thought that he would be a good candidate for immune therapy. Its an intravenous medicine that is going to make his immune system evade the tumor. With chemotherapy, i felt rough, fatigue, nauseous. And with immune therapy weve had such a positive result. Im back to working hard. Ive honestly never felt this great. I believe the future of immunotherapy at ctca is very bright. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com Appointments Available now. And we are back, counting down to President Trumps first speech to congress. In the audience tonight, bernie sanders, former candidate for the democratic nomination. Dana bash at the capitol. Da dana . I want to start by asking about an excerpt, the white house just released it, the president will say the time for trivial fights is behind us. Whats your reaction . This is a man who has been attacking muslims. Hes been attacking latinos. He has been attacking the media. He has been attacking judges who ruled against him, and now he has concluded that the time for trivial fights is behind him. Well, i hope hes right. We have some enormous problems facing this country. We have a middle class in decline. I hope hell tell us tonight hes not going to give huge tax breaks to billionaires. We have 28 Million People who have no health insurance. I hope he will tell us tonight that hes not going to throw 20 Million People off of health insurance. The other thing that President Trump said today to reporters is that he thinks that the time is right for an immigration bill, a compromise, said he wouldnt go as far as a path to citizenship, but perhaps legal status, so the question for you is, is that something you think you can work with the president on . Well, i have believed forever we need comprehensive immigration reform. I believe we need a path towards citizenship. What i am very nervous about, dana, is this president trying to divide us up by going after undocumented people, by turning one group of americans against another. So comprehensive immigration reform, absolutely, the right thing to do. Even if it doesnt have a path to citizenship . You know, the devil is always going to be in the details and i happen to believe there should be a path towards citizenship. Speaking of working together, the president is also apparently going to talk about reaching across the aisle on a few issues, one of them is infrastructure. You have said, at least right after the election you called the president s proposed plan a scam, but then have since said, well, maybe it is something you can work with him on, so where do you stand on this infrastructure situation . When i you know, if you remember several years ago i introduced legislation calling for a trillion dollar infrastructure plan, which would put about 13 million americans back to work in decent paying jobs. Im glad that mr. Trump has proposed a trillion dollar plan, so the idea of investing heavily in rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our Water Systems is exactly the right thing to do. This is something you can work with him on . Its the right thing to do. The question is, how you pay for it. You dont pay for it, i think trump is talking about, by giving huge tax breaks and tax credits to wall street and billionaires. Thats not the way you pay for it, but i would hope that we can come together to come up with a reasonable funding plan, which rebuilds our crumbling infrastructure and puts a whole lot of people back to work. I also want to ask you about the desecration of jewish cemeteries. In a speech tonight, cnn has learned that President Trump is expected to address recent antisemitic incidents and threats to jewish sites like cemeteries. What do you think he should say . What do you want to hear from him . All you have to say is this is reprehensible behavior, that in america we will not tolerate racism of any kind, we will not tolerate islam phobia, we will not tolerate antisemitism. Remember, before he ran for president , donald trump was the leader of the socalled birther movement, which was a racist effort to undermine legitimacy of our first africanamerican president. I would hope he learns thats not where america wants to go, we will not tolerate antisemitism or islam phobia or racism, sexism, or homophobia. America is beyond that. We dont need a president who tries to bring back those issues. I just want to ask about the moment for you. Your stop went through the president ial campaign, now here you are on the other end as a member of the United States senate preparing to hear President Trump address the United States congress. Whats going through your mind about this moment . Well, whats going through my mind is, i am a United States senator today, and im trying to do the best i can for the people i represent in the state of vermont and working people throughout this country. And whats going through my mind is, i have very serious concerns about the direction of a Trump Administration that wants to throw people off of health insurance, do away with preexisting conditions, ignores climate change. Hasnt said a word about the fact that college is so unaffordable to millions of people. Those are the issues im focused on. Thank you for your time. Back to you. Were learning more about what the president will say and why it may feel different tonight. Stay with us. What powers the digital world. Communication. 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Because safety is never being satisfied. The market. Redict but through good times and bad. At t. Rowe price. Weve helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. Call us or your advisor. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. And welcome back. We are several minutes away from the President Trump addressing the joint session of congress. Bannon waiting for the president outside the president s vehicle at the white house, waiting to make the short drive over to the capitol for tonight. I want to bring back in the panel as we await to see the president leaving. Jeffrey, what are you expecting tonight . Seems like theres a lot of talk about perhaps some sort of a change of tone. We heard, you know, the anchors there today were told about a possible, you know, deal on immigration of some sort. Is that for real . If i can on senator santorums point whos beaming at me, waiting to see if im going to confess to something. Two things about donald trump. He is a deal maker, and hes a salesman, and youre going to see both of those things in play tonight. One of the interesting things, i think, is that he has in common with ronald reagan. Thank you, thank you. Who was a Union President , and as a i knew you werent going to say marine le pen. Who was a Union President , screen actors guild, was a supreme negotiator, so when he would stand up as a new president a few days after his swearing in and give a press conference and talk about the right to lie and things president s of the United States didnt say, there was a gasp in the room. What he was doing in retrospect was opening up his negotiating position, the evil empire came a little later, but all in the same. What i have here from the white house is a list of 25 different accomplishments in several different areas, so hes going to talk about, one, what hes accomplished already, and, two, the bold agenda thing. And then the third thing wait, the white house sent you this Chicken Scratch . Are you kidding . That was from the president. He scanned it over. Right, right. One of the things i think is going to be interesting, the conservatives, i think, will be looking for there will be today i already heard sean hannity play a radio montage on his radio show of the Immediate Response to president obamas first state of the union, which was, in essence, glorifying. You were not on there, you would be pleased to know. So i am sure that tomorrow, if theres a lot of negative take on this, this will be juxtaposed with conservatives saying, you see . This is what David Axelrod brought and this is what jeff lord brought. You have Chicken Scratch, i assume thats not from the white house. Not this time. Look, i think its going to be interesting tonight. You actually have, if he is this great deal maker, seems to me hes just erratic, but if this is what you say, hes got a very interesting audience tonight. He has two divided parties. On the one hand we talk a lot about the conservatives and the populist division of the republican party, hes also got a divided Democratic Party. You have a people who are a part of the resistance who say no, no, and never, never, there were big protests today in front of the white house, and they are going to be looking at those democrats saying, we dont want to see you crack a smile. We dont want to see a giggle. You better not do anything, because we dont want any motion towards trump, and you have others saying, listen, weve got to actually govern here, so he is how he chooses to navigate this is going to be very, very important. At the same time, there is a trust deficit with this president. His speech, look, teleprompter trump is off, wonderful, twitter trump is often terrible. We dont know when the speech is done how long before we hear from twitter trump. Briefly, senator santorums point, it is very confident he is addressing the people in the room and they leave and new people come in the room and theres a different message. As David Axelrod pointed out earlier, his audience is to the folks in america, even though he thinks its reacting to the people in the room and only way to move his agenda is if Congress Moves with him. His favorability, his personal favorability has to go up after this, because if it continues to be 12 points under water, which is what it is now, hes not going to be effective. Were minutes from the main event, Vice President mike pence making his entrance soon, also standing by for the president to leave the white house any moment. A lot more ahead. Stay with us. No matter how the markets change. At t. Rowe price. Our disciplined approach remains. Global markets may be uncertain. But you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. Call us or your advisor. T. Rowe price. 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We know about what hes been doing today, how long hes been working on his speech, who else has been having a hand in it . Well, he has been preparing his speech for some time. Some of it was going on at maralago a couple of weeks ago, so this has been a work in progress. You just saw Steven Miller, the white house policy director here, and he was very instrumental in crafting this speech, as well as steve bannon, the chief strategist who we saw moments ago, also kellyanne conway, Jared Kushner, and ivanka trump. All have had a hand, kienivanka trump and her husband have had a hand in this speech. His wife, first lady, Melania Trump, entering the president ial limousine. Once they are secured in there, the motorcade will start making the short drive to capitol hill. Im sorry, continue, just wanted to jump in. No, thats fine. I think whats interesting about this is you recall before the inaugural speech the white house was going to Great Lengths to say the president really wrote that speech himself. We found out later on that was not the case. Steven miller had a big hand in writing that inaugural address. Whats interesting about tonights address, anderson, given Steven Millers involvement is the surprise weve heard the president is going to signal a willingness to sign on to a compromised immigration bill. Keep in mind Steven Miller worked for former senator jeff sessions, whos now the attorney general. They are two very big critics of illegal immigration, very tough critics of immigration when they were up on capitol hill in the seat they were involved in this speech, i think tells us, anderson, perhaps the president had more of an influence, more of a say, more of a final say of whats going into this speech tonight, given the fact hes going to be throwing out an olive branch to both parties in congress on a very difficult issue of immigration. Im not sure if you can see what our audience is seeing, David Axelrod, looks like President Trump is maybe reading his speech or going over it or is talking to somebody about whats on the paper. I assume thats the speech. Most president s are tinkering. Bill clinton was famous, he was doing full edits on the way to the speech, but, you know, for donald trump, who is more of an improvisational speaker, this is not necessarily the easiest task. The more he familiarizes himself with this copy, the better hes going to do, so probably a good thing from his standpoint hes looking it over. I believe Jared Kushner and ivanka trump were in the vehicle with him. Jeff zeleny is standing by over on capitol hill. Jeff, what are you hearing about what we will hear tonight from sources . Well, anderson, as this motorcade makes its way here to capitol hill, one thing that will be the elephant in the room, if you will, is russia and this investigation that is going on in the intelligence committees, in the senate and in the house, as well. I am told by sources that the president will not directly fight about this, engage about it, but he will say this im told, one small reference to russia in the excerpts. Anderson, he says this, america is willing to find new friends and to forge new partnerships where shared interests align. Find new friends and forge new partnerships. He may talk about existing friends and partnerships, as well. Thats an interesting line there, but anderson, the whole idea of russia certainly will be hanging over his speech tonight, as hes being investigated even as he pushes his proposals. Jeff, were seeing here the Vice President now entering the capitol chamber. Lets go over. We got to go. The Vice President of the United States is also the president of the senate, there you see hes walked in, hes been introduced on the floor of the house of representatives. Theres the speaker of the house, paul ryan, they will be up on that podium right behind the president of the United States. This is a moment, jake, for the Vice President , as well. And Vice President pence has had already, as president of the senate, a historic role, he was called to break the tie, a 50 50 tie for President Trumps education secretary, betsy devos, the first time in American History that a Vice President cast a tie breaking vote to endorse a im sorry, to confirm a cabinet official, so that role as president of the senate has already come in handy for him. There we see other members of the senate and the house of representatives greeting the Vice President. He sat a decade himself, jake, in the house of representatives, so he knows something. He was the leader of the republican leadership, went back to indiana, where ultimately he did run for governor and win, and he potentially would have run for reelection, we dont know, because he was tapped to be the Vice President ial nominee for President Trump. Yeah. They are going to be welcoming others. Hug for the Vice President very good friends. Dont often see a hug from that dais, but thats a legitimate hug. Theyve known each other for a long time. I guess paul ryan has been in the house now for 18 years. I want to quickly go to jim acosta, you have some news on the speaker, what are you learning, jim . Well, im told by sources close to the House Speaker that theyve been coaching him, as well, for tonight. You recall during the Obama Administration House Speaker paul ryan had to show a bit of a poker face as he was sitting behind the president. Im told that aides have been sort of jokingly nudging him to say, you know what, tonight you can go ahead and smile a little bit to show your support for a president who is now from your party. Of course, this may be one of the few moments well see a lot of smiling paul ryan, says hes going to have a lot of trouble herding those republican cats on capitol hill to get behind issues like taxes and obamacare. Good point. Theres a republican leader in the house. That would be the speaker, republican leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell, the president of the senate, is the republican Vice President. There will be a republican president. The democrats, they are clearly in the minority. One of the worst times for the Democratic Party in modern history. Interesting thing about speaker ryan you might remember, there was a lot of tension between him and President Trump during the campaign. Speaker ryan said after it was clear donald trump would be the republican nominee that he didnt endorse him. Took him about a month. Theres senator john mccain and senator lindsey graham, two other republican critics of President Trump. I want to point out that john mccain and lindsey graham, theyll be at the cnn town hall with dana bash tomorrow night. But here are some others, jeff flake of arizona, marco rubio of florida. We see a lot of people hold on one second, i want to go to dana. You have numbers, justices of the Supreme Court, not very far away. Justice breyer, nice to see you. Five members of the Supreme Court are walking by me. In fact, we are told that three are not coming. Three of them are justice alito, justice thomas, and justice ginsburg, none of those three are expected to attend. So we have five who are here because, of course, we dont have the full nine, there is still a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Jake, its interesting, five of the eight Supreme Court justices will be there. Diplomatic core will be there, representatives from the joint chiefs of staff will be there. A lot of democrats, i dont see a lot of democrats boycotting this event tonight, as about 60 of them from the house of representatives did for the inauguration. Thats right. We see right now members of the senate spilling in. This is the House Chamber in which President Trump will address this joint session of congress, and that is where they are all coming into and you see there, Susan Collins of maine, she is something of a maverick by the definition of this senate, in the sense that she voted against betsy devos, we were just talking about the president s pick for education secretary. Theres senator ted cruz, also one of President Trumps nemeses during the campaign, although hes been very positive and agreeable during the actual trump presidency. There we see some democrats, of course, ben parden, al franken, and ron wyden of the Democratic Party of the senate. Were going to see a whole bunch of Democratic House members, women, wearing white tonight. Our viewers are going to see that. See it a little bit already. And its sort of an act of support for womens issues, a lot of the women in the movement in the 1900s wore white and were going to see a lot of Democratic House members wearing white. Act of support, also something of an act of defiance. They are not wearing the pink hats that we saw during the womens rally a few weeks ago, but along those lines. I think its meant to send a message to President Trump. But they dont want to do away with, for example, planned parenthood, funding for planned parenthood, thats an important issue that they are hoping by wearing white they are reflecting that. Thats right. We just saw senator richard burr of north carolina, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee. Hes been facing something of a controversy, having agreed to talk to reporters to push back on a New York Times story about the trump team and the fbi, some people saying it was not appropriate of him to do that. His fellow chairman, his vice chair, senator mark warner, democrat of virginia, saying he had grave concerns about the independence of the investigation, given the fact that senator burr, the chairman of the intelligence committee, did that on behalf of the white house while an investigation is going on. Not just at the fbi, but also by the Senate Intelligence committee. The president of the United States and the first lady, they are driving over from the white house to capitol hill right now. Anderson, they should be arriving momentarily. Yeah, thanks very much. Continuing to follow, about 18 minutes away or so. You know, john, one cant underestimate the power of seeing the president of the United States, any president of the United States, particularly President Trump, in this chamber speaking to both houses. I mean, it is a, obviously, you know, theres a lot of pomp and ceremony to it, but its an important night for those people who dont view donald trump as their president. This is one step, perhaps, toward making people understand. Words matter on a night like this, what the president says tonight will matter inside the room as he tries to negotiate big issues, especially in the weeks and months ahead. Pictures matter, too. This is a picture, David Axelrod at the table, most of the obama years you had a democratic Vice President and president , even when the republicans took the house back, speaker paul ryan, early in the obama years, all democratic picture. Now an all republican picture, all republican washington. Thats an obligation, opportunity, also a burden. Republicans have to deliver, they won the election. If youre someone sitting at home, didnt vote for donald trump, cant believe this, saying never, never, never, this is the president of the United States. Tonight he stands and does a solid job, not a state of the union, but addresses the american people, a chance to lay out his agenda and just, again, show his supporters out there its an amen moment, theres our president standing up there. For those who didnt vote for him, theres a point where hes the president , going to be the president for 203 more weeks at a minimum. Were seeing the president s motorcade, by the way, arriving at capitol hill. Also an important moment for him to see the expanse of government, the cabinet officials there, the Supreme Court, all of the members of government that hes going to have to work with to get his agenda passed. You wonder sort of what that will mean for him. I talked to republicans across the country in terms of what they want to see. They said they want to see a serious president. A lot of times weve seen a president who doesnt take, you know, take to twitter and sometimes in a serious way and they want to see a president who recognizes this is a somber moment, a sobering moment, as well. They also want to see him explain the why of some of his policies. Why does he want to raise the defense spending by 10 . Why does he want to build a wall . He always sort of relies on campaigns. The why and the how, which i think is a lot more difficult. Will it be convincing . To johns point, most president s do get a bounce out of these speeches by having unfiltered dialogue with the american people. It doesnt last forever, but it does give you, if youre looking for a reset, its a great way to do it. Several times in the Obama Presidency it worked for him that way, give a jobs speech to congress in the fall of 2011, it was the beginning of his path back to reelection. So these are important speeches. We had watched donald trump time and time again at big rallies, and he gets his energy from these rallies, and he campaigns so well at these rallies, its what got him elected. And im so curious to see him in this chamber tonight, because many times onehalf of the audience will stand, the other half will sit. Sometimes youll get boos from the audience, and sometimes you wont. And the question is, will he be goaded to a degree to go off the prompter as he did when they tried to keep him on the prompter towards the end of the campaign . Because this is a man who loves the interaction with the audience. And its a different kind of audience tonight. No ad lib. As you know, he calls out people in the audience often, he responds to individuals in the audience. A couple things. First of all, the people who are not in that room who he wont be able to see, you do have some people, they love donald trump, they are giddy about this, but you have a lot of people who are afraid. Theres stuff going on right now when it comes to communities full of immigrants, people are literally afraid to leave their homes. People are afraid to go to school. They need to hear something from this president that is reassuring. You have a whole frankly, in that room youre going to have jose antonio vargas, hes undocumented. Hes going there as a guest of pelosi to sit there and hes being sued by donald trump, countersuit this is the most important speech of this presidency, period, because this is more than the inauguration . This shows im a serious person in the white house, i have serious proposals, i have ideas, heres where i want to take america. He has hes done it in bits and piece, he stepped on his message repeatedly, certainly didnt do that in the inaugural address. Here is where he can prove to the American Public that he can reach out to the other side, he can lead this country, he can bring this country together, and he can do it in a serious fashion. And thats why i said hes going to speak to this audience, because he needs, as you said, he needs to get that kind of rapport going with this audience to the American Public to see. They will respond to him. There will be a ton of people out there Fact Checking every word that he says, and this particular speech, he better not continue this habit of his of exaggeration and lying and being the showman without anything beneath, so he ran on being a jobs president. Is he going to point to that hes either going to do or has done . Is he going to claim credit for gm, ford, chrysler, things that have been in the motion, or is he really going to level with us and tell us what hes going to do . The Washington Post is keeping track of his promises. On october 22nd he wrote a contract with america where he listed 60 things that he would do in the first 100 days. Of those 60 things, 45 havent been touched. Its day 40. What are you going to do to complete the promises that you said you would do . Aside from the 25 things that hes going to lay claim to that they put out tonight, one of the interesting moments i thought the other day, president was entertaining the nations governors for a couple days and culminates in a state dinner. And if you noticed the other night when the president got up to give his traditional toast, when he was done he pointed out into the audience and called out governor mcauliffe of virginia, former dnc chairman, close friend of the clintons, and said ive known terry for years. Hes a terrific guy. Terry, come on up here and give the response. Meaning, hes reaching out to do deals, if you will, with the governor of virginia. Hes looking at these 535 people and seeing 535 sets of deal makers, some of them with more leverage than others and thats what hes going to focus on. But the governor of virginia said, i dont want to give up my medicaid money, and thats what you want to do to me. And if you get rid of it to the states in obamacare, so you can make nice, but to a certain point these are elected officials. All of these people sitting in this audience, and thats the other difference, this crowd. The perception of the public has of who this man is. Youre not going to make a deal in one gesture. Its the perception that this is a man who can work with the other side. I want to hold you to this, though, senator. If, in fact, he gets up there and he does he decides to freelance. Were sitting here in an hour and a half or two hours with a president who has stepped in it. Once again, what will republicans say then . Are they going to continue to excuse everything he does no matter what it is . Well, maybe this is the reason for the 80minute speech were about to hear. Exhausted. Were going to be exhausted. Oh, himy god. Will he have the energy to do it. Theres a price to every president. Reporter there has been an a little bit of debate in the Trump Administration whether the president should continue to use the word radical islamic terrorism. The new National Security adviser, h. R. Mcmaster was urging the president heading into this speech that he should avoid using that frayphrase bec it does alienate muslims around the world. Were told that the president said no, i am going to use that phrase. So we are going to hear that from the president in his speech. But i am told this was not a big clash between the president and his new National Security adviser, it was a discussion. And we might hear a subtle shift in rhetoric is how it was described to me, coming from the president in the coming days. It would have been startling had the president suddenly stopped using that phrase. Because he made such a big deal of it during the campaign, attacking. Thats right. President obama and Hillary Clinton as well. Though clinton had used the phrase. I mean, its, it would be stunning if he actually did a 180 on this. It would be as stunning, a reversal, as perhaps the president s shift on immigration that were going to be hearing tonight in this swroints speejo congress, but i will tell you out on the campaign trail the president said repeatedly that he is going to call the threat as he sees it, and he sees it as radical islamic terrorism. H. R. Mcmaster felt, he learned up close and personal in dealing with the iraqis that that kind of language alienates the people you need to work with to fight this war on terrorism. So it sounds like a discussion thats going to be a work in progress between the new National Security adviser and the president. One thing that occurs to me, while there are many people looking for him to retch out to broaden his circle and so on, theres also a danger for donald trump, because if he goes too far, he deals away the card that his supporters most appreciated, which was that hes outspoken, edgy. He speaks his mind. So i think there is a need for outreach, because hes sitting there, stuck in the low 40s, and he needs to expand his base, but he needs to do it with care. If he makes a compete 180 on stuff, people are going to get whiplash. But he also wanted a businessman who could get things done. Theres a great anticipation within the base that donald trump for all the bombast was a guy who was going to cut deals and make washington work. So thats got to be part of thats what sos so difficul. We have failed sometimes to translate trump. When we talk to voters and he says hes going to build a wall and mexicos going to pay for it, they dont think mexicos going to pay for. Voters learn to translate him. Well see on what happens with policy and when he can do this as he governors. Hes different. He doesnt speak our way, so we need to worry about that, too, on our side. Thats a difficulty he has with this speech, also, because what were talking about is a conventional speech. And donald trump is not noknown for giving conventional speeches, and his supporters dont want him to coudo that. Justices sotomayor, kagan. Its always important that the justices of the Supreme Court attend these joint sessions of congress. Thats right. It was one year ago this month that Justice Scalia passed away. His seat has still not been filled. We should point out that his widow will be sitting in the president s box, Maureen Mccarthy scalia, and of course we are still waiting to see what happens with judge neil gorsuch, who has been nominated by President Trump to fill that seat. The first lady is about to go up to mother seat, members of the family and invited guests will be there. And well see her walk through that door very, very soon. Jake, this is symbolic. The guests that they decided to invite for tonight. Its a tradition that began in 1982 when president reagan brought a hero who jumped into the icy potomac to rescue a woman who had just been in a plane crash. Leonard skutnik was his name. And since then, this tradition of having a skutnik, as theyre called here has been going on for years and years, and now the Opposition Party has their skutniks as well. I know President Trump will have some individuals whose families have been victimized by undocumented immigrants who have committed heinous crimes. In addition, some democrats, their skutniks are individuals, two teenagers, for example, whose mother was deported for the act of faking a Social Security number is now in mexico on her birthday. So people in politics reaching out to individuals who illustrate the policies and positions they hold dear. This had will be the first t that we will see the first lady, the new first lady of the United States, Melania Trump walk in, and we had watch very, very closely to see how she deals with her respective guests, including jessica davis, and susan oliver, widows of those killed in sacramento. Also one whose son jamil junior was killed in 2012 by an undocumented immigrant. So we will see that. Theres the first lady. The first lady of the United States. The second first lady in United States history to have been born in another country. We saw ivanka trump and jared up there as well. Hes in the gallery. Hes with Melania Trump and ivanka. We are expecting them as part of the president and first ladys guests, includes some victims who have been victimized by illegal immigrant killing of Police Officers in california, two widows who were victimized by that atablg, as well as the widow of the late justice antonin scalia. Right now, a pretty raucous reception here in this room on the republican side. But on the democratic side, wolf, not Many Democrats are cheering for Melania Trump, maybe watching politely, but were really seeing it from republicans right now, a sign that the president s speech may be received in a more partisan manner. Theres ivanka trump, Jared Kushner, her husband. Mr. Speaker, the president s cabinet. These are members of the president s cabinet who have already been confirmed by the u. S. Senate. Other members of the prospective cabinet tillerson, mnuchin, elaine chow. Dana bash is up on the hill for us as well, you have more information . Reporter thats right. As the cabinet is walking in, i can report to you that the designated survivor of the cabinet official is known who did not come is david shulkin, the newly confirmed v. A. Secretary, the person the Trump Administration designated to not come tonight, to be outside the capitol in the case of an emergency. That comes to me from a senior official. That is an interesting choice, because he is someone widely respect and liked by democrats and republicans. There we see members of the cabinet, including secretary mattis, the secretary of defense, theres nikki haley, the former governor of south carolina, jake, the u. S. Ambassador to the united nations. We saw ivanka trump sitting with her husband Jared Kushner, kushner who is an adviser sitting with his wife. Some of the other members of the trump family are not here. Don jr. And eric trump who are running the family business, i believe they are in vancouver for a hotel opening. And there we see white house chief of staff, reince priebus. And theres the commerce secretary no, not commerce secretary, who is that . I was writing something down, so i wasnt paying attention to the tv. Our viewers can go to cnn. Com vote, vote, and theyll be able to vote on the president s speech. The speech could go at least an hour, hour and 15 minutes. Weve bee