Citizenship to the undocumented. Im going to tell you right now, go on record right now, this is the only thing that donald trump can do to possibly derail himself. I think we can call this the lowest day in the trump presidency. Thats no art of the deal. Thats complete surrender. As a just noted the president meeting with his cabinet this hour. Infrastructure is the official topic. As team trump tries to get an early start on its Election Year agenda. We should get some access momentarily when the report hers go in and come out, well bring you the tape. The white house lashing out today at a new court ruling that says the administration cant go through with its plan to end obama era protections for the dreamers protecting them from deportation. As the Administration Calls account ruling outrageous, congressional people say it adds to their determination to find a compromise to the daca issue. There is a bipartisan desire to find a solution as we saw an yesterday at the white house. Yet, the details, exchanges between the president and lawmakers in both parties made clear there are still clear big bipartisan disagreements whether immigration issues must also be addressed as part of any deal. The president giving mixed signals about his bottom line in the meeting yesterday but since made clear he wants some border wall funding in any deal. Conservatives want be other changes, too. While no one doubts the desire to protect dreamers, theres every reason to believe getting a deal on paper and to the president remains a giant challenge. With us to share their insights today, abu phillip and phil mattingly, Michael Warren of the weekly standard. Lets start there, phil and karen especially from your perspective on the hill, they want to get it done. But as we saw in this exchange yesterday, this played out, the president wants to get it done. Republicans and democrats want to get it done but the democrat want, lets do daca, the dreamers and talk about Everything Else later. The president says no lets do daca and my border wall. Other republicans say no, lets do chain migration or the lottery program, some other tough immigration proposals. You need to split it up into buckets. There is a senate negotiation on, the negotiation that Mitch Mcconnell and Chuck Schumer blessed. That is moving in a good direction. You talk to anybody involved with it, theres not a ton of leaks how thats going. Thats a good indicator things are progressing in a decent manner. They feel like at some point they might be able to put something out. Issue is, thats not necessarily going to do the trick. Thats not going to assuage democratic concerns about the Border Security aspect of the bill or the family migration, chain migration as the president refers to it. Much, much more importantly, theres a republican conference to consider here. A republican conference in the senate. Paul ryans Management Issues in the house how to do this. An ideal bill as its been explained to me by the people involved in the senate negotiation is a bill that maybe gets 26, 27 republicans in the senate, less than half the republican conference in the house. How do you get Republican Leaders to put Something Like that on the floor when theyre the ones in control of congress. Thats something Everybody Knows they need to do something. That dynamic and whether theyre willing to take the step is an open question. To that point, you could see the republican getting nervous yesterday. Lets play it if we have it. Dianne feinstein up for reelection next year could face a primary challenge she smartly said she wanted to ask the president a question. Lets just do daca, mr. President. Lets just do that and then well come back later to all the stuff that is more controversial. Lets listen to the exchange and the House Majority leader Kevin Mccarthy saying whoa, whoa, whoa. Id like to ask the question. What about a clean daca bill now . And with a commitment that we go into a comprehensive Immigration Reform procedure . I think thats basically what dick is saying. Well come out with daca. Were going to do daca and can start immediately on phase two which would be comprehensive. Mr. President. I would like to do that. Mr. President , you need to be clear though. I think what senator feinstein is asking here, when we talk about just daka, we dont want to be back here two years later. You have to have security as the secretary would tell you. I think thats what shes saying. Shes saying something different. Whatever you think of the president , the president was trying to make everybody happy yesterday. He said some mixed signals himself. Kevin got a little nervous there when he thought Dianne Feinstein was about to bait the president. What the president says has weight. This is the question about immigration. When theres something moving you want to attach Everything Else you want on that general subject to it. Otherwise you wont get a chance thats going to work. This is why its been a decade at this point since they first started trying to do this. Were talking about the same basic elements even though the specs have changed because you cant hit the sweet spot of the balance which frankly keeps changing as we move through time. That is a very, very difficult balance to strike. So as worried as democrats are if they let things move ahead only pairing daca with Border Security, congress will never address issues with having pathways to citizenship and more immigrant friendly proposals. Republicans are worried if they let the train leave the station, had he wont get the Border Security whether its a wall or not. So striking that balance is paramount for both sides. You can see exactly how nervous both sides are. Kevin mccarthy knows comprehensive Immigration Reform as a step two or any step in the future is hard for republicans to do. And that the idea that you can push off into the future either some of this lee immigration changes that they want and the Border Security is really not possible. And the president keeps talking about comprehensive Immigration Reform which really was like gob smack to a lot of the people yesterday because its so politically toxic for republicans. Its partly because, i dont think he fully grasps how difficult that issue has been and how toxic to the base it is. He got a glimpse of it from some of the folks in the talk radio world who were like this is nowhere near the direction we need to be going. Well talk more about that. The president should remember the campaign. He used the issue quite effectively against the gang of eight, against jeb bush, the president talking about an act of love when he used those words in a different context. I want to get to the bigger drama in a minute. To the idea this has been quick sand in american politics for the republican party, particularly for speakers of the house to try to bring immigration issues to the floor. Can do they trust the president . He it was so clear yesterday, everybody kept saying, mr. President , what do you want . The most important words from the president at that meeting were i will sign whatever you bring to me giving license i think to the negotiators in the house and senate on both sides of the aisle to figure this out. And in a weird way, trump more than any other president is sort of only nixon go to china moment. Only he can giapproval. This new bill that came out from bob goodlatte, i would not be surprised if the white house didnt endorse that as a slightly different version from what the senate has proposed. Senate republicans. So thats the most important thing is that trump wants to get something done. And it would be better for the effort if the president could sort of put his finger on the scale and help figure out some of these difficult issues. Hes not going to be doing that, and so now its up to congress. There was a bit of a Conspiracy Theory yesterday or today. If you heard the exchanging with senator feinstein, she asked the president how about a clean daca bill . And the president said i would like that. But that was curiously missing from the white house transcript of the event. The president saying i would like that. The White House Press office is saying theres professional sten oggraphers that do this. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Is that a mistake or did they no, we dont want that. Giving them the benefit of the doubt might be where we need to go. It is a lot of career people literally stenographers listening to an audio recording of it. It was chaotic. That moment was chaotic. The meeting it actually happening with reporters in the room and theres a lot of back and forth and the president bir jecting repeatedly to say oh, that sounds like a good idea. And republicans saying mr. President , actually, no. So there was a lot going on in that meeting. It was hard for people to follow. Looking at it. Pay our respects to stenographer who had no idea that was going to be a 55minute meeting. If youny the press was surprised think about where the stenographers were when that starred. Well talk about the big, if you followed the president during the campaign to hear his tone on comprehensive Immigration Reform, ill sign it and take the heat, very different. The specifics of this meeting, why did the press last night have to tweet out as i made very clear today, our country needs the security of the wall on the southern border which must it be part of any daca approval sometimes when the president says Border Security he means wall. When he says security, people dont process it that way. Again, the fear from republicans was that the president s not giving them very clear markers on what he wants and what he doesnt want on an issue that has been so troublesome for them in the past. The nuance is important. What people latched on to yesterday as Sayre Sanders was asked repeatedly does this include a wall and she kind of wandered around it a little bit. The president wants a wall. What that is different than the campaign. He has started to acknowledge that it doesnt have to be a 2,000 mile wall. Its not going to go from one border to the other border all the way through. Its going to have places where its effective and places where its not. Thats important because the deal here when it comes to a wall is basically you agree to appropriate money. The democrats can say this is going to fences and some other type of security mechanism. The president says this is going to my wall. You have a fight about the semantics and everybodys happy and tell their bases everything is okay. A wall is something the president needs. What that is a little bit maybe smallner definition than what we saw in the campaign. The coverage coming out of that meeting was confusing which is why it took so long for him to respond to it. He saw the Media Coverage as being ruch backing off the wall. And that for his base is top of iraq. He needed to correct the record on social media to the extent he could. These conversations taking place in the context just nine days away from a potential Government Shutdown if congress doesnt reach a deal on funding. Do it as part of a spending bill that most people have the need to vote for. Were still waiting to hear the president in the room with his cabinet. Who knows what theyll talk about. Did President Trump sell out candidate trump on immigration . Some conservatives say yes. Heartburn. 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Call geico and see how affordable Homeowners Insurance can be. Call geico but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. I neverunderwear thats this, but actually pretty. Leak always discreet boutique. Hidden inside is a super absorbent core that quickly turns liquid to gel. So i feel protected. And pretty. New always discreet boutique. It werent for me, you wouldnt even be talking about illegal immigration. Politicians ten years ago, 15 years ago, they all wanted a wall. But it never went. It never happened. Because somebody didnt want it. Probably a lobbyist. You have this clown marco rubio. And you remember the gang of eight. It was terrible. Im on the reagan side of this. Jeb said they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems that we have in so many instances, we have wonderful people coming in but with all the problems, this is not an act of love. Hes weak on immigration. A reminder there if you needed one of the hard line stance we saw from candidate trump on the subject of illegal immigration. His crowds loved his promise of a border wall and they loved his scornful criticism of his primary rivals as weak and amnesty. Yesterday, the conversation at the white house expanded from protecting the socalled dreamers to three words that strike fear into conservative hard liners. Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Right wing radio and tv talk show hosts will beat the crap out of us because its going to be and necessity all over again. Have you created an opportunity here, mr. President , and you need to close the deal. If we do this properly, daca, youre not so far away from comprehensive Immigration Reform. And if you want to take it that further step, ill take the heat. I dont care. I dont care. Ill take all the heat you want to give me and take the heat off the democrats and the republicans. Well, the heat came quickly and it came just from where senator graham predicted. Im going to tell you right now, go on record right now, this is the only thing that donald trump can do to possibly derail himself. I think we can call this the lowest day in the trump presidency. Thats no art of the deal. Thats complete surrender. What was the point of running for president . Amnesty for Daca Recipients is the only leverage the white house has. Once the president agrees to let them jump to the head of the line, the head of millions of other people hoping to come here legally, the negotiation is over. At that point, why would democrats agree to anything . And you see it there, tucker at the end, ann coulter, mark lavin, Rush Limbaugh saying whoa, wait a minute. You were our guy on this. You were the build the wall antiand necessity little marco, jeff is soft. What happened yesterday . Was that as they fear, proof that the president has decided in year two hes going to be the manhattan republican who is with george w. Bush, comprehensive immigration refor, maybe even citizenship or was that a oneday episode of the Reality Tv Show that sometimes is the Trump White House where i need democrats right now so im going to pretend to be nicer and softer . Which was it . I think it was one day of the episode of the trump reality show. Frankly, what happens behind the scenes will be different from what we saw in the room. Theres another element of in that i think is constantly being revised and debated inside the white house which is at what point does trump start dealing with his problem with independents. At what point does he acknowledge his base and try to keep them as happy as he can, but also start dealing with the middle. And daca is viewed as part of that. There are a lot of people who argue to the white house that if trumps able to get a deal on daca, hes going to be able to say a, hes a dealmaker and not heartless. B, hes done something that democrats promised hispanic americans they would do for a long time and they were never able to get it done. Its not clear to me whether that argument has yet won over with the president. I think hes still listening to people you just played and it worries him that he might lose his base because of that. If youre a republican from the business community, a republican from a state with a latino population, with a farming industry or a state where you want to do comprehensive Immigration Reform whether you think its right to do from a humanity perspective, didnt the president invite yesterday the reignition of an issue that has proven to be quick sand for this modern Day Republican Party . I dont know puppy think its a lot of words. I dont even know if the president quite understood what he was saying he was saying comprehensive Immigration Reform. I want to stop you there for a second. Were about a year from the inauguration. When anybody says the president didnt understand what he means by comprehensive Immigration Reform . He didnt understand what a clean daca fix is. I would say this, you could see this from this meeting yesterday which is that the president seemed to want to agree at least when the cameras were there to just about anything that was presented to him. Lindsey graham comprehensive Immigration Reform is a goal graham has had for ten years. He wants something done. It probably means something differently to him than the people sitting around the table. I would caution that thinking that the president is sort of turning into a country club or a chamber of commerce republican overnight because he agreed with something that he somebody presented to him in a feel good he repeatedly used the words comprehensive immigration. It is dangerousing to pour cement around anything this president says. I get you completely. He said it repeatedly in this meeting. Well hear from the president more in about a minute and see if the issue comes up. The conservative media are not the only people unleashed after yesterdays meeting. Yes, you also have members of the chamber of commerce or certain says the that have a higher immigrant population that will say wait a second, we want this, too. Theres an opening for people to make more noise than perhaps they felt they had. In an Election Year, republicans are worried about the base turning out. You now want to light this match and have this conversation . Now its an open debate within the party and more time for it, too. You have the court order staying basically the full implementation of the daca order. Youve got a bigger mess than you had 24 hours ago. Thanks to everything the president agreed to yesterday. The president meeting with the cabinet. Lets lis. And welcome back to the studio. Nice to have you. Want to close the door when theyre finished please . Good morning and welcome to our first Cabinet Meeting of the new year. 2017 was a year of tremendous achievement. Monumental achievement actually. I dont think any administration has ever done, has done what weve done and what weve accomplished in its first year. Which isnt quite finished yet. You never know whats going to happen over the next few days. And the achievements for our country, our people and for our standing in the world have been very monumental. We confirmed an incredible new Supreme Court justice and more Circuit Court judges in our first year than any administration in the history of our country. And we have many more coming. Weve set a new record on reducing regulation and all forms of stopping growth and stopping jobs that were crippling americas economy. Again, the records that we set 221, nobodys ever come close. And the amount of regulations that weve cut is a record also in our countrys history. As reported by many newspapers, in particular, the wall street journal did a big story on it. Before christmas, we passed the largest tax cut and reform in American History. Including and war awar and that individual mandate was terminated which is a tremendously important thing and a very popular thing, i must tell you. People are supposed to pay for the privilege of not having health care. That was not good. Unfortunately, the courts didnt cut it but we cut it. So in addition to the largest tax cut and reform in history, we have one of the great oil sites thats now been approved. Theyve been trying to approve anwar for over 40 years. Ronald reagan tried to get it approved for exploration and for drilling. And for 40 years, theyve been trying 0 to get it approved. That was in the bill. And individual mandate in the bill. Since that tax cut was enacted more than 1 million workers have already received a tax cut bonus. Something that frankly, nobody even thought about. We didnt think about it, nobody thought about it. We just knew a lot of goodnings were going to happen. And i must say at t was at the first one and they did it 1,000 per employee. They have hundreds of thousands of employees and Many Companies followed immediately thereafter. And now theyre following i guess the employees are saying what about us. And millions of employees in this country are getting thousand dollars and more in some cases. Tach bonuses because of the tax cuts. Hard working American Families will receive tremendous tax relief. We lowered our tax rates nearly double the standard deduction and doubled the Child Tax Credit which ivanka trump was pushing very, very hard, i will tell you that. And so was marco rubio. And i will tell you that the republican senate, we had no democrat support, zero. They didnt want tax cuts. They want tax increases. They want to raise your taxes. They dont want to cut your taxes. But the Child Tax Credit has become very important to the American Family and theyre very happy about it. Our historic reductions to the business tax will raise annual Household Income by an average of 4,000. Thats a tremendous number. The amount of money thats going to be brought in we think its going to be close to 4 trillion because of our tax reform will be a number that this country has never seen pour into our country. Thats going to create more jobs and more investment. The stock market is shattering one record after another. Unemployment is at a 17year low. And im very proud of this. Africanamerican unemployment reached its lowest level in history. Think of that. And on the campaign trail, remember i said, and would constantly say, what do you have to lose . Meaning what do you have to lose if you vote for trump. And now, it was just reported africanamerican unemployment is at its lowest level in history. Im very proud of that. We are also making america safe again. Yesterday, we had a bipartisan meeting with house members and senators on Immigration Reform. Something theyve been talking about for many, many years but we brought them together in this room. And it was a tremendous meeting. Actually, it was reported as incredibly good and my performance, some of them called it a performance. I consider it work. But got great reviews by everybody other than two networks who were phenomenal for about two hours. Then after that, they were called by their bosses and say, oh, wait a minute. And unfortunately, a lot of those anchors sent us letters saying that was one of the greatest meetings theyve ever witnessed. And they were great for about two hours. They were phenomenal. And then they went a little bit south on us but not that bad. It was fun. They probably wish they didnt send us those letter of congratulations but it was good. Im sure their ratings were fantastic. They always are. Which is why i think the media will ultimately support trump in the end because theyre going to say if trump doesnt win in three years, theyre all out of business. You guys will be out of business but the boom holders are still going to be there. So thats good. Those are the people i like. We agreed to pursue four major areas yesterday of reform. Securing our border including, of course, the wall which has always been included, never changed, ending chain migration, canceling visa lottery and addressing the status of the daca population. We want to see something happen with daca. Its been spoken of for years. And children are now adults in many cases. The numbers are very different, very varying. A lot of people say 800,000, some people said yesterday first time i heard 650. I also heard 3 such a mess, nobody knows what the numbers are. But well know what the numbers are. Bob all else, any bill we passed must improve jobs, wages and security for american citizens. The people who elected us all of us, the people that elected us, we have to take care of them. G military. We cant play games with our military. Whether were democrat or whether were republican, we have to have a strong thats not a point of negotiation. We cant say oh, were going to give you pone for your military but you have to give us money for something that frankly, is much less important than security. And we have to keep our country strong and our military was badly depleted over the last long period of time beyond president obama. I will say, beyond president obama. Our military was very, very badly depleted. I just spoke to president moon. Hes very thankful for what weve done. Theyre having talks with north korea. Well see how that happens. He fet that the original that the initial talk was extremely good, had rex was on the phone. And nikkis been totally briefed. But we had a very, very good conversation. Well see where goes. Hes very thankful for what weve done. It was so reported today that we were the ones without our attitude, that would have never happened. Who knows where it leads. Hopefully to success for the world. Not just for our country but for the world. And well be seeing over the next number of weeks and months what happens. On a separate front, we are going to take a strong look at our countrys libel laws so that when somebody says something that is false and defamtory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts. And if somebody says something thats totally false and knowingly false, that the person that has been abused, defamed, libeled, will have meaningful recourse. Our current libel laws are a sham. And a disgrace and do not represent American Values or american fairness. So were going to take a strong look at that. We want fairness. You cant say things that are false, knowingly false and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. Were going to take a very, very strong look at that. And i think what the American People want to see is fairness. Finally as we begin the new year, i want to thank my cabinet for working tirelessly on behalf of our country. Every single day every hour im on phone with almost all of them all the time. And we have a lot of exciting things to go. Im just looking at alex. Wat a job youve done with our health care. Hes secretary of labor. But hes very much involved in health care, and i think those rules and regulations will be out around february 1st, alex, as i understand it. And this is health care through association and associations. And i think that millions and millions and millions of people will be signing up. It will be highly competitive. He has been able to totally get rid of state lines so there be tremendous competition. And that will be a phase of health care that people dont talk about, but i think ultimately, youll have more people than you actually had even in obamacare and its just a segment of what were doing. I just want to tell you, i read a lot of those papers last night. It is really great work, brilliant work. I think it is something that people dont talk about, but its something thats going to be very exciting and very great. It will be great health karat a very competitive price. There will be tremendous competition and it cost the United Statesen absolutely zero. So were very proud of that. Thank you, alex. And with that, i just well start our Cabinet Meeting. We appreciate your being here. And youve gotten very familiar with this room. I appreciate your nice comments yesterday. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Mr. President thank you. President of the United States arms folded there. The beginning of a Cabinet Meeting and the end of the media portion of the meeting. The president deciding not to take questions today. You heard him if you were with us. The president giving a lengthy recitation of what he views as big accomplishments in his first year in office whether it be a new Supreme Court justice, tax reform, repealing the individual mandate in obamacare saying president moon of south korea told him if not for the tough posture against north korea, they would not have agreed to come back to the table. Yesterday there was a conversation, whatever you think of the president , yesterday he was engaging, funny, in command of that conversation at the white house. I would call this please help me. A little bit more scatter shot, the president reading from notes. Number one, why is the president of the United States taking a minute or two there to talk about how in 2018, he wants part of the National Agenda to be strengthening our libel laws . So that you can sue people for what he says is defamation and slappeder. Is that the Michael Wolff book, is that his personal Attorney Says he wants to sue buzzfeed for publishing part of the dossier and then well get to it in a minute, the president giving himself rave reviews for yesterday. What was that . Lets look whats out there. This morning he sent out s. Tweets about the dossier for a number of reasons. One because Dianne Feinstein released the transcript of that, the testimony of this big executive of the company that helped fund the dossier. And also because last night, his personal attorney who was a friend of his who he talks to sued said he was suing or filed suit against buzzfeed and against fusion gps over the dossier. So clearly, this is something hes thinking about, that he is still very upset about and i had i you saw it a little bit in his demeanor today arms folded. A little bit more terse than he was yesterday when he seemed to be kind of reaching out on the table a little bit more relaxed. Clearly, hes irritated about the dossier being back on the agenda and back on television. One of the things the white house pushed back forcefully recent reporting including in the Michael Wolff book how much time the president spends, axios had a thing of executive time put into his schedule, how much sometime he spends in the residence and the dining room off oval office watching cable television. The president talking about his performance yesterday. And saying he got great reviews but yesterday, we had a bipartisan meeting with house members and senators on Immigration Reform. Something theyve been talking about for many, many years. But we brought them together in this room. And it was a tremendous meeting. Actually, it was reported as incredibly good and my performance, you know, some of them called it a performance. I consider it work. But got great reviews by everybody other than two networks who were phenomenal for about two hours. He went on to say. How does he know . Thats a great point. How does he know. Number one, he didnt specify who hes talking about. Then he said he got letters from anchors telling him how great he was. Help me. I dont know which and chores hes talking about. I dont know if you sent him anything in particular. Something he loves to tell the group. He opened up this whole part of the Cabinet Meeting by saying welcome to the studio. He is both putting on a show and then the audience for the show in many ways, as well when he goes off into his executive time and watches cable news shows. I have to idea who sent him a letter. It was sort of a wasted opportunity for the president. This is supposedly a Cabinet Meeting to talk about the 2018 agenda. Supposedly an issue is infrastructure. This is something the white house has said is going to be something that many members of the cabinet are going to be have influence and input on. It was a moment of to sort of redirect the conversation toward at the kind of legislation that democrats could get on board with. And he didnt do it, talking about libel laws. There are going to be no significant changes tos the libel laws in this congress. I think it was a perfect example of what the president s focused on which is how people perceived him, not looking period to the 2018 agenda. His grievances, his performance, his reviews as opposed to you make an excellent point for those of you watching, maybe youre thinking why are you talking about this and making fun of this. This is january 2018. The president has a 37 approval rating. Republicans are at risk of losing house and senate majorities. Yes, talk about tax reform, talk about judges and the conservative base about your accomplishments. Smart. And then turn. Now were going to do this and this and infrastructure. Yet, he talks about my performance, welcome to my studio. And my grievances including libel laws. Yeah. Its not much of a surprise. I think weve all gotten used to this. But mike makes a great point. Theyre coming out of a camp david meeting and have a tough 2018. Republicans on capitol hill i talk to every day want is the president hammering home what hes done and what their jend will be. Ive spoken to everybody who attended the camp david summit and i can confirm libel laws were not part of the agenda and didnt come up. At the end he starts talking about the health plans theyre trying to do. Thats an interesting aspect. He is grossly inflating the scope and scale of what the Labor Department can do. Thats interesting. Thats something that rand paul and republicans have been talking about. To make that at the tail end as opposed to four or five minutes what happened yesterday and his performance and the tv ratings, i will say if he was happy with the reviews, we i think i can speak for everybody would like him to do that every day. Its a fascinating hour. Every lawmaker at the meeting was mind blown by the entire thing. Their willingness to do that, everybody benefits. A mmen to that. Republicans and democrats and taking Big Questions about the issues of the day. Do it on everything. Quick break. Next though, as abby noted, russia is back in the news. What does the president mean when he says republicans should finally take control of the investigations they already control . I accept i dont conquer the mountain like i used to. I even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. But whatever trail i take, i go for my best. So if theres Something Better than warfarin, ill go for that too. Eliquis. Eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis had both. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. 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What is the big take away from the now public congressional testimony of the man whose firm paid the former british spy who compiled the now infamous dossier raising questions about alleged trump dealings with russia and two, what did the president mean when he sent this morning tweet the sing theatest witch hunt in American History continues. There was no collusion. Yet on and on it goes. Russia and the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control. Republicans should finally take control jumps out from that. Republicans, mr. President , control congress. And all of the committees investigating Russian Election pleding. The president s own Justice Department run by republicans appointed the special counsel robert mueller, former fbi director who happens to have a republican political pedigree. What hes complaining Dianne Feinstein a democrat released this transcript. He noted earlier. One of the things apparently the president seems more cranky today than yesterday. Hes mad about that. Is that it . He thinks even though the republicans are in charge of everything, the democrats are running the show or is it russia is back in the news and that makes him mad . I think the president wants this investigation to go away that it isnt going to. Its not gone. Therefore until it goes away, hes going to keep asking for it to go away. It doesnt matter what the process is, is doesnt matter republicans are kind of actually in a lot of ways doing what they can to minimize the scope and the impact of the investigation. Trump is going to keep talking about it day in and day out. Why you already saw republicans on the hill being like, mr. President , do not call me about this because it is not something they want to have to deal with more stories about the ways in which trump is picking up the phone and trying to bend peoples arms on this issue. He doesnt get that the way that it works and he wont and hes going to keep asking for it to go away till its gone. I think the feinstein decision to release this sort of shows a breakdown in what was happening particularly in the Senate Investigation which was sort of a bipartisan agreement, better for getting the truth and probably better for the country bipartisan agreement to pursue this in a reasonable moderated way. That seems to be breaking down, and that would be a cause for concern for the president because if the democrats are going to go their own way on this, who knows what else could come out. The problem that the president mentioned, this is going on and on and the democrats know theres no collusion, the truth of the matter is we just dont know enough. We dont know the enough about what in this dossier was a part of what sparked the fbi investigation. We dont know how much of it is true or not. Again, over and over again, we dont know enough and the investigators know more than we do. Im inclined to try to figure out what they know. On the issue of the fos day, Dianne Feinstein released the testimony yesterday. The man to gave the testimony wanted it public. Republicans were saying no and had a criminal referral saying theres some shenanigans here. Her point was youre treating this man unfairly. Everybody can read the good and bad and ugly in there. Part of it is that glenn simp n simpson, the gms founder brought this british spy. Then they hired him to continue work and one of the big conversations how did this end up being democratic opposition research. He says Christopher Steel thought we were obligated to tell someone in government meaning the fbi in our government about this information. He thought from his perspective there was a security issue about whether a president ial candidate was being blackmailed. That is now public. This testimony that the reason this got to the fbi and how big was it in their investigation, thats a great question. There are other issues, as well. Now the republicans are mad that Dianne Feinstein did this on her own. Why does it matter . First of all, if democrats are going to be going rogue to an extent and making their own decisions, if he can release things, they can control the narrative. That could affect how other witnesses talk to committees and skew the Public Opinion before the reports come out. For the senate judiciary, it matters because the dossier was such a Central Point of the complaint republicans have had both on the judiciary and house intelligence, which have been partisan split for a while now. For grassley he looks at fusion gps and says you were working with the russian lawyer who was in the trump tower meeting staples you were working with steele. Maybe theres a conspiracy to make trump look bad. Theyve been talking about this issue quite a bit. By releasing this out there, she released a lot of air from the tires. This is taking a fairly central bit about what the republicans argument of painting what was going on here and compromising. Its not completely resolved by releasing this transcript but it definitely complicates the line of argument the republicans are making. And makes them have to kind of recalibrate a little bit at a point at which they were trying to spin things away from the president and back towards a real scrutiny of how Law Enforcement officials, the fbi specifically, was doing its job. And the president tweeting this morning he caused her sneaky Dianne Feinstein. A polite exchange with her on immigration. Now he calls her sneaky. He gave the senator sneaky Dianne Feinstein. Nancy pelosi tweeted congratulations to californias own senator feinstein on officially earning her ownnickname. Clear by doing something right. Thats how they view progress. For his daughter. Ng get in, fred even if it means being the back half of a unicorn. Fear not fred, the front half washed his shirt with gain flings and that smell puts the giddy in giddy up. Thats because one gain flings pac has more freshness than a whole bottle of the other guy. Gain. Seriously good scent. Welcome back. A federal court in North Carolina may have increased the odds of democrats taking back the house in the 2018 midterms. Three judges ruled the states Republican Legislature illegally drew a map that overly benefits republican candidates. Heres the map. Ten republicans and three democrats. If you remember, North Carolinas pretty much split down the middle in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 president ial elections. The ruling is a big deal. The first time a court rejected a congressional map as unconstitutional because its too partisan. The state has been told it has three weeks to draw a new happen to be used this year. That means North Carolina members of Congress Might not know who the voters will be till they sort this out. This is a big deal. You need 24 seats to pick up the house if the democrats gift a mu map that gives them one or two, three or four. Thats progress. I have long argued the way house districts are drawn is the biggest cancer in american politics. They do it so partisan republicans dont have to talk to democrats. Where is this going. The latter point is the one im most interested in, as well. The idea that its almost like were starting to hit a ripening stage where these types of cases not just go through lower courts but end up at the Supreme Court, as well where youre finally having a reckoning for this isnt just a republican thing. Democrats would probably try to do the same thing. To your point, if you talk to members of congress, they recognize that this isnt a good system. This isnt necessarily how things should be treat. How maps should be drawn. They recognize they benefit from it. The fact that you can have courts ruling in this way that perhaps maybe this isnt the best way to be doing things, thats a positive thing. Its worth noting when president obama left office, one of the things he said he would deal with was this issue. He identified gerri commandering, drawing of congressional districts as the single most important thing for democrats to get better hold of the congressional map in outyears. Its clearly for democrats a big priority in addition to the impact on 2018. I dont think theres a straightforward answer here. Panel of experts . How do you take the partisanship out of it . Its one thats been a problem for the country since the beginning. This is something the courts will be going into to making decision about whether it was too partisan. Its a great point. Interesting how the Supreme Court rules. To the victor should go some spoils. If you win, you should get something for winning. Do you go over the line . The conversation to continue. Thanks for joining us. Wolf blitzer will be in the chair after a quick, quick break. See you back here this time tomorrow. The great emperor penguin migration. Trekking a hundred miles inland to their breeding grounds. Except for these two fellows. This time next year, were gonna be sitting on an egg. I think were getting close make a uturn. Uturn . Recalculating. Man, we are never gonna breed. Just give it a second. You will arrive in 92 days. Nah, nuhuh. Nope, nope, nope. You know who im gonna follow . My instincts. As long as gps can still get you lost, you can count on geico saving folks money. Im breeding, man. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Todays Senior Living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. And theres never been an easier way to get great advice. A place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. A place for mom. You know your family we know Senior Living. Together well make the right choice. Hello, im wolf blitzer. Its 1 00 p. M. Here in washington. 9 00 p. M. In moscow. 3 00 a. M. Thursday in seoul, south korea. Wherever youre watching from around the world, thanks for joining us their fates hang in the balance. For dreamers a confusing message from President Trump. Politics at play . The Trump Administration only letting red state florida off the hook over plans to expand offshore drilling. Now, other states are crying foul. And south korea, throwing credit to President Trump for its talks with north korea and now the president making an important promise involving possible military action. All that coming up