Transcripts For CNNW At This Hour With Kate Bolduan 20180510

Administration and the president says it shows the north korean dictator is ready for change. I think he did this because i really think he wants to do something and bring our country into the real world. The president says the release also puts the u. S. On new footing, his words, as he prepares for the summit to address the norths nuclear program. Proudest achievement will be this is a part of it, but will be when we denuclearize that entire peninsula. This is what people have been waiting for a long time. Nobody thought we could be on this track in terms of speed. So im very honored to have helped the three folks. The true honor is going to be if we have a victory in getting rid of Nuclear Weapons. Okay, Kaitlan Collins at white house. Very late night, Early Morning for everyone, now this news coming out about a time and a place for the big meeting. What are you hearing there today . It has been a whirlwind of a 24 hours here at the white house. Along with the release of those americans and now we have an official time and official location for that historic summit between the president and kim jongun. Of course, the president confirming some cnn reporting from yesterday that the meeting will be held in singapore. And the president giving us a date of june 12th, saying that it is going to be this highly anticipated meeting and that he hopes it is a very special moment for world peace. This does come, kate, after the release of those three americans from north korea held, brought back with the secretary of state, mike pompeo yesterday. And though the president said he saw the release of those americans as a gesture of goodwill on behalf of the North Koreans ahead of that meeting, he said it wont change the way he negotiates with the north korean leader. He hopes something good can come of that meeting but did not say for sure that something good would come of that meeting. A lot of hope, a lot of anticipation for this meeting. But, kate, it will be a historic meeting regardless of what happens on june 12th in singapore. It is the first time a sitting american president and the leader of north korea set down face to face. The president said he hopes that meeting can be something that he one day calls his proudest achievement before he gets north korea to give up the Nuclear Weapons. That will be something we wait and see. It will be june 12th and well be in singapore, kate. Kaitlan, thank you so much. Lets discuss this, joining me, kelly maxman who served on the National Security council under president bush and obama and bruce clinger, former cia Deputy Division chief for korea. Thank you for being here. Kelly, singapore, june 12th, location, does it matter . I think singapore is a perfect location. Singapore is a very close and trusted partner of the United States. It is seen as relatively neutral in the region and they have good Security Apparatus there too. I think it is quite a good location and a solid choice. Bruce, what do you think about the timing of these things . You have the americans coming home early this morning. And the announcement then of the time and place. Connected . Well, certainly the release of the americans removes an impediment to what may have otherwise prevented a summit or would have cast a dark cloud. It is another gesture of goodwill by kim jongun. Really another in a rapid fire series of Foreign Policy initiatives. It removes the impediment, sets a good tone. But most important is what is on the agenda during that summit. And, kelly, if you look at the calendar, like four weeks away. What needs to happen between now and then . Well, a lot needs to happen. A lot goes into these president ial level summits. I suspect right now the National Security Council Staff is Holding Meetings with the state department and the Defense Department and the Intelligence Community to develop the negotiating position, to develop the kinds of things were going to try to pursue as well as what were prepared to offer as well to the North Koreans. A lot of behind the scenes work going on now. I suspect there is an intense amount of outreach to our all lies in the region, in particular, japan, which is nervous about the summit and allies, the south koreans. You talked about it being the removal of an impediment to moving forward here. That dramatic return of the three americans early this morning, does their arrival, just their arrival home, do you think it marks a new day for the u. S. Relationship with north korea as the president suggests . We have been down this path before. Of course, were always concerned when any americans are detained in north korea, given the brutal treatment, not only of Otto Warmbier but other americans. But there were, i believe, eight americans released during the obama presidency, two of the three that were released today were rested during President Trumps time in office. So it is usually an action taken by the north korean security services, and then when it sort of percolates up to the leadership, they release the americans when they either see as it is an impediment to improving relations or want to send it as a gesture of diplomatic outreach. Do you wonder why kim jongun released the americans now, not waiting for it to happen as part of a broader deal, as part of their conversation when they sit down in singapore . Well, i suspect kim jongun has proven himself thus far to be very skillful at setting up the diplomacy ahead of the summit. I think this was to offer a gesture of goodwill certainly. I would be careful about reading too much into whether or not it signals husba s his intent to c the table on denuclearization. I would caution, this is raising the expectations ahead of the summit, the president himself is raising expectations on himself via this, but also the withdrawal from the iran nuclear agreement. I actually am really interested in your take on that. What do you think, bruce, from your perspective, how that plays into how pulling out of the iran deal plays into any potential deal or impacts any potential deal with north korea. Where do you land on this . Well, certainly as the u. S. Has said, it is sending a signal were going to not accept an imperfect deal. One could certainly see from a north korean point of view it calls into question u. S. Credibility, if the u. S. Can pull out of one agreement, how can they sign an agreement with the u. S. On a north Korean Nuclear deal. On the other hand, this was not a surprise, i think north korea already factored that risk into its outreach to the u. S. Its agreement for the summit. I dont think it will have that big an impact because north korea was expecting it. But, kelly, do you think at the very least now, maybe thats what youre saying, any nuclear deal with north korea must be measured against the iran deal that the president that the president hates so much . If thats the case, how high of a bar is there now forpersonall president set a high bar for success. People will be looking closely at how he pursues negotiations and lets be honest, north korea has a much tougher nut to crack than iran. They have Nuclear Weapons estimated around 20. So this is a much more difficult case for denuclearization than even iran. I think the president s withdraw from the deal, going out publicly and talking about how it is a lousy deal has raised the bar on himself. Bruce, i want to ask you about the president s words, at the same time that hes with standing with these three americans who are held by north korea, the president also says that kim jongun really was excellent to these three incredible people. Everyone knows this is a regime, known for its brutal rule and to completely disregard human rights. What does it what does it do to hear those words coming from the president when hes standing there with the americans . Right. Just to expand on the point kelly made, i think the president has set a very high bar. It is not any agreement he makes, has to be better than the iran deal, also the eight previous agreements the International Community had with north korea and the ten u. N. Resolutions and verification measures equal to arms control treaties with the soviet union. I think the president on the one hand was, you know, thanking or acknowledging kim jonguns intervention to release the americans, which is quite welcome. On the other hand, i think it reflects the president s superlative way of talking, using a lot of adjectives when describing meetings or world leaders. Raises the stakes when the two leaders sit down face to face with each other. Great to see both of you. Coming up for us, cashing in on the president , cnn has new details on Michael Cohens pitch to sell access to President Trump. One of the very things donald trump said he was running against back in the election. Where is the legal line here . How about the ethical one . There is that. Plus, this, red flag warnings for the blue wave, new polls on the midterm elections show the democrats advantage evaporating. Whats behind the big shift. Your company is constantly evolving. And the decisions you make have far reaching implications. The right relationship with a Corporate Bank who understands your industry and your world can help you make well informed choices and stay ahead of opportunities. Pnc brings you the resources of one of the nations largest banks, and a local approach with a focus on customized insights. So you and your company are ready for today. We danced in a german dance group. I wore lederhosen. Man. When i first got on ancestry i was really surprised that i wasnt finding all of these germans in my tree. I decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. The big surprise was were not german at all. 52 of my dna comes from scotland and ireland. So, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. Ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. Get started for free at ancestry. Com. Im a fighter. Always have been. When i found out i had agerelated macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. My doctor and i came up with a plan. It includes preservision. Only Preservision Areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. Thats why i fight. Because its my vision. Preservision. Try areds 2 multivitamin. And taking cared abof the boys. E zach talk to me. Its for the house. I got a job. Its okay. Dad took care of us. Its hard to get all the daily thats why i love fiber choice. It has the fiber found in many fruits and vegetables, all in a tasty, chewable tablet. Fiber choice. The smart choice. Make America Great again. You saw it on what did Michael Cohen see . Apparently dollar signs. Cnn learned how aggressively President Trumps personal attorney tried to capitalize, promising access to trump businesses far and wide apparently. He scored big consulting deals. What does the white house say about all this now . Havent heard the president express any specific concerns about this. Ill refer you to the president s outside counsel to address the concerns. So there is that. But one seemingly simple question still has no simple answer. Is Michael Cohen still Donald Trumps personal attorney . If not, when did he stop being trumps personal attorney . Last month, the president put it this way. Do you know about the 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels . No. Then why did Michael Cohen make it youll have to ask michael. Michael is my attorney. Youll have to ask michael. A few days later, the fbi raided cohens office, hotel and apartment. The white house was then asked that simple question again. Michael cohen still represent the president . Im not sure. I would refer you to Michael Cohen on that. Then just short of four weeks later, the president adds a new attorney to his team and Rudy Giuliani puts it this way. Is Michael Cohen still the president s attorney . No, of course not. It would be a conflict right now to be the president s attorney. I am, in this respect. But after everything we heard from and seen of Rudy Giuliani over the past couple of weeks, we know one thing. Rudy doesnt always have his facts straight or at least thats what the president says. By the way, cohens linkedin page says he is still trumps attorney. See why were so confused . Joining me, sarah westwood, joining me now from washington. Sarah, what are you learning about how aggressively and what Michael Cohens pitch actually was to these companies . Well, kate, were hearing that Michael Cohen saw an opportunity to profit off his proximity to donald trump shortly after the election and seized it. Sources tell cnn that Michael Cohen pitched himself aggressively as someone who could provide them with an inside track to donald trump as a time when companies were searching for ways to make inroads with the new outsider president. Now, sources also tell us that cohen was far from the only trump associate who did this. There were other former Trump Campaign officials who didnt land top jobs in the white house and went on to profit off their relationships with trump by also doing lobbying work. For a president who promised to drain the swamp and promised to crack down on businesses usual in washington, it could be problematic for him that those closest to him thought they could make money off their relationships with trump. Sarah, thanks so much. Joining me to discuss, former Obama White House ethics czar nora misen and shimon prokupecz. Thank you for being here. I appreciate it. How does all of this, what sarah is laying out, how does this fit into the tangled web that connects the inner circle . The fbi, when comey came out and said the former fbi director, they were investigating at some point they were investigating the campaign. And it seems that certainly Michael Cohens finances have been under scrutiny for some time by the fbi. As it relates to the investigation, everything had to do with the campaigns investigation into the campaign, eventually wound up with Robert Mueller. And it seems thats where all of this started. We know that in one of the financial transactions, Michael Cohen was being paid by a financial company, an Investment Company, with connections, with links to a russian oligarch. Perhaps there was some activity there that caught the eye of fbi investigators and thats how mueller started looking into it to see if there was a connection into russia interference because the oligarch that that Investment Company is connected to has been sanctioned by the u. S. Government for interference. Thats where all of this may have started and then probably grew into other questions about some of his finances and some of his business dealings, because now we know that his connections and his business dealings with at t, Pharmaceutical Company, and another company are all being scrutinized. All of that seems to live with the Southern District of new york. It was yesterday in a court filing that Michael Cohens attorney basically admitted, it seems thats where that is now. But, ambassador, on maybe an overly simple level, but you answer this, people pedal influence all the time in washington. Thats not new. Is there anything wrong from what you can see here with what Michael Cohen was doing . Kate, thanks for having me back. I think there are some warning signs this may have gone beyond the usual forms of influence pedaling which are bad enough. Here you had somebody feet away from the future president of the United States in trump tower during the transition. You have a large payment from an American Company that is linked to a sanctioned russian oligarch. There is an investigation of russias role in the campaign. And then a series of other payments that are coming in, Michael Cohen has not registered as a lobbyist, there is foreign entities involved. He is not registered under the foreign agents registration act. And what was he offering . Access, influence, possibility something more . That could be a very serious legal violation. This has the feeling of something beyond the usual influence peddling. It is already under investigation, only time will tell if laws were broken. I can tell you this, for a candidate who pledged to drain the swamp to have his personal lawyer peddling influence and access, thats terrible hypocrisy. Shimon, let me ask you this, i want to get to the hypocrisy in one second, ambassador, as this information was coming out, especially yesterday, one thing that stuck out to me is at t and novartis say they were connected in november and december of last year. And to me that just lays out how little anybody outside of the special counsel knows about what is going on. In the sense that the public is just learning about this six months later than when special counsel was reaching out to novartis and at t. For information about all of this. Yeah. And it just tells you what maybes covering this story so difficult. So little comes out. Really the only way we know this, think about it, is because of the documents that Michael Avenatti posted. And the the wild way it has all come out. Yeah, look, this investigation, we know, is dealing with finances, with meetings, dealing with various contacts that russians have had. It is clear, we have been reporting this for months this investigation has grown much bigger and farther and wider than it initially started. It started out as an investigation into russian interference. And clearly now we see based on what at t has told us, based on what the Pharmaceutical Company told us, this investigation has grown bigger and into finances. Michael cohen, it is clear that Michael Cohens finances have been scrutinized by the fbi, under investigation by the Southern District of new york now. This investigation, we know so little in the end. Whether when we spend time outside of muellers office here, there are people going in and out of that office, on an daily, hourly basis. We have no idea who they are. People say there is collusion or isnt collusion on the most basic level, there is no way of knowing. Were learning six months later about these meetings with the special counsel is having, who knows the ground they made into the six months since. Thats the one thing that sticks out over and over. Ambassador, you brought up the hypocrisy or in the role of Michael Cohen in all of this and what it could mean for the president. Rudy giuliani spoke to dana bash, he said hes only concerned about this element of it, if somebody says it involves the president. So far no one has said that. Is Rudy Giuliani right to not be concerned in ter concerned in terms of the exposure for the president. Like everything Rudy Giuliani says, it is wrong. As a matter of law. Michael cohen thats a little aggressive. I have never seen a lawyer do as much damage to a client publicly as Rudy Giuliani has done over the past weeks. And this is another place where hes wrong. Michael cohen was in close proximity to the president and those around him for years. He worked on his deals, domestic and international. If there are skeletons in the closet, Michael Cohen has them. Here is the danger. It does seem like there is strong evidence of wrongdoing just to get permission to subpoena a lawyers files. You have to meet very high standards within doj and a judge had to approve it. If cohen flips, if the evidence is strong enough, he needs to do a deal to save himself, who is he going to roll over on . The president of the United States. If cohen knows anything, the president should be feeling great danger. Giuliani is wrong. One more point about shimons good insight. Ive done ive sat across the table from mueller and on the same side of the table in litigation. And hes totally closed mouth. It is the exception to the rule. And, you made a great point, we dont know what evidence may be coming out on obstruction or collusion. So fasten your seat belt, there could be more. Or none of the above. Add it to the unknown of the day or the year or the century. The middle east on the brink. Iran directly attacks targets in israel. Israel answers back. Well take you there live in this crucial moment in the middle east. What if your skin could light up the room . New aveeno® positively radiant sheer daily moisturizer. Lightweight hydration for positively radiant skin that lasts. Aveeno®. Naturally beautiful results® searching for answers may feel overwhelming. So start your search with our teams of specialists at Cancer Treatment centers of america. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com experts parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what . You could apply for a Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan whenever you want. No enrollment window. No waiting to apply. That means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Medicare doesnt cover everything. And like all standardized Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesnt pay. So dont wait. Call now to request your free decision guide. It could help you find the aarp Medicare Supplement plan that works for you. These types of plans have no networks, so you get to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. Rates are competitive, and theyre the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. Remember these plans let you apply all year round. So call today. Because nows the perfect time to learn more. Go long. A place with 24hour fvalet servicee and a boutique salon a place with all day arts and crafts it even has a day spa a place thats so much like home, because well. It is home home instead senior care when you need Personalized Care in the comfort of home. You wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. If youd have told me three years ago. That wed be downloading in seconds, what used to take. Minutes. That guests would compliment our wifi. That we could video conference. And do it like that. snaps if youd have told me that i could afford. A gigspeed. A gigspeed network. Its like 20 times faster than what most people have. Id of said. Id of said youre dreaming. Dreaming definitely dreaming. Then again, dreaming is how i got this far. Now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. The tension escalating right now in the middle east after israel and iran exchanged fire in the most direct confrontation between the countries to date. This all happening just days after President Trump, of course, pulled the United States out of the Iran Nuclear Deal. How does this all fit together . Oren lieberman is in the golan heights. Youve been watching all of this happen overnight. Take us through what happened, what you saw and where things stand right now. This all started shortly after midnight, when israel says Iranian Forces in syria behind me fired off some 20 rockets aimed at Israeli Military positions near where were standing. We were here shortly after that, and saw very much wapart of the israeli response. Artillery fire from israel into syria that echoed across the canyon, the valley here behind me, we saw syrian antiaircraft fire hosing across the sky in a number of different places and what appeared to be rockets fired from there pointing in this direction. That all happening in a few very tense, very volatile hours overnight. Israel says part of their response was striking dozens of iranian targets including intelligence xountcompounds, an command posts throughout southern syria. A very different feel just a few hours later, this morning, this deceptive quiet as the International Community tries to get involved here to make sure this deescalates and does not lead to the war that many here fear. The white house putting out a statement on the israeli side, that is not a surprise. Ill read you part of the statement. It says the United States condemns the iranian regimes provocative rocket attacks from syria against Israeli Citizens and we strongly support israels right to act in selfdefense. We have not heard from the iranians on this one. A number of countries trying to make sure this deescalates and the quiet holds. Critical in this question. Good it see you, thank you so much. Joining me to discuss this and more, Gregory Meeks from new york, he sits on the Foreign Affairs committee. Thank you for coming in. Good to be with you. You heard Oren Lieberman laying it out there, the statement from the White House Press secretary is israel responded to eiran, do you stan with the white house here . I think that clearly, you know, israel is our strongest ally and we want to make sure they have the right to defend themselves. We need to get all the facts. But i also think that what the white house should do because we do need to deescalate what is going on. I have serious concerns about what is taking place, and the other party that is there is russia, along with the iranians, et cetera i would hope what this administration should be doing is also talking to russia to make sure that theyre having it has got to be a scenario that is multiparties. And so i would hope the administration is talking to russia and having russia get involved and making sure that they are talking to the iranians and others that are there to deescalate this scenario. It is a very dangerous scenario that were about to get into. And congressman, some folks are making a connection, do you see any evidence that this attack has anything to did with President Trumps announcing the u. S. Withdrawal from the Iran Nuclear Deal . I cant say that i have seen any evidence yet. But were looking and i think we need to get all of the facts. I think the president s decision to withdraw from the agreement raises serious concerns and potentially can disrupt the middle east even more. And destabilize it even more. It puts our allies, european allies at edge. But as well as the balance between what is taking place between the saudi arabians, it really confuses the whole matter. I think it was very detrimental to overall the climate in the middle east and well see. I want it see what the facts are, though, before i make my final judgment. On another very important Foreign Policy issue, you commended the work in securing the release of the three americans held in north korea. The president and also right after their arrival in the United States, Just Announced the time and place for the meeting with kim jongun, june 12th in singapore. Where is your level of optimism when you see with these two things playing out now, at this very moment of how what will come of that meeting . I dont know what is going to come of that meeting. I think it is a good day. Anytime you have hostages released from who has been held, based upon by a dictator and humanitarian conditions, nonhumanitarian conditions, it is important to have them coming home. And if mr. Pompeo had something to do with that, i think thats a good thing. Im concerned about the president trying to utilize this as a real live tv show and not do the substantive work that is necessary in such a summit. So that is still a wait and see. I hope that hes got diplomats there and mr. Pompeo is really prepared. And theyre going to make sure were talking about the complete disarmament and denuclearization of north korea and that our partners in south korea and in japan are also engaged. With concrete action, like we saw from the president and the administration overnight, does it then force you to have to look past some of the language that he uses often that hes often criticized for including what he said last night, with regard to kim, he says we want to thank kim jongun and in his words he says really excellent to these three incredible people. Do you look past that . I dont know if he was really excellent to those three incredible people. He held them in detention for a long period of time, one over three years, im told he was working hard labor. Others have seen nothing but guards. I think a Fair Assessment is something quite short of excellent to these people. Thats why i have concerns about the direction of what the president is going to continue to move in. Is he, you know, forgetting about the evil that this person has done, and will he take that into consideration as to whether the person had mr. Kim jongun has the credibility and the willingness to allow inspectors to go into north korea to make sure he is denuclearizing. So, you know, those are some hard issues, hard questions that has yet to play out. And we have to see what type of negotiations. I hope it is not just a made for Television Show where he goes and meet and they have an agreement to do something in the future that cannot be verifiable. And the president thus far has had the tendencies of having made for Television Conferences and then nothing happens as a result of them. So there is a lot of hard work that has to take place here. I hope this is not like some of the other press conferences hes held and nothing happens because im looking for a plan from this president , not just the words he speaks because he never seemed to have a plan. Where is the plan to replace jcpoa. Made for tv or not, the words the president uses when he faces kim jongun will matter. You can be sure that kim jongun will take them to heart. Thank you for coming in. I appreciate it. After a combative confirmation hearing for Donald Trumps pick to head the cia, why the question gina haspel hasnt answered is the biggest criticism. Another dilemma. Am i willing to pay the price for loving you . Youll make my morning, but ruin my day. Complicated relationship with milk . Pour on the lactaid. Its delicious 100 real milk, just without that annoying lactose. Mmm, thats good. Lactaid. The real milk that doesnt mess with you. And try calcium enriched lactaid. 100 real milk with 20 more calcium. Still no lactose. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. And my brother ray and i started searching for answers. vo when its time to navigate inhome care, follow that bright star. Because brightstar care earns the same accreditation as the best hospitals. And brightstar care means an rn will customize a plan that evolves with moms changing needs. woman because dad made us promise wed keep mom at home. vo call 8444brightstar for your free home Care Planning guide. I had a very minor fender bender tonight in an unreasonably narrow fast food drive thru lane. But what a powerful life lesson. And dont worry i have everything handled. I already spoke to our allstate agent, and i know that we have accident forgiveness. Which is so smart on your guys part. Like fact that theyll just. Forgive you. Four weeks without the car. Okay, yup. Good night. With accident forgiveness your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Switching to allstate is worth it. The American Hero who suffered at the hands of torture as a prisoner of war for five years now rejecting a president ial nominee because of that very issue. John mccain speaking out against trumps cia nominee gina haspel saying this, her refusal to acknowledge tortures immorality is disqualifying. I believe the senate should exercise its duty of advise and consent and reject this nomination. Haspel oversaw cia where inenhanine enhanced interrogation tactics were used. Are they immoral . That was a key question during the confirmation hearing yesterday. The question, she had a hard time answering. I want to see i want to feel, i want to trust that you have the moral compass that you said you have. Youre giving very legalistic answers to very fundamentally moral questions. Senator, you know, we provided the committee every evaluation since my training report when i first joined in 1985. In all of my assignments i have conducted myself honorably and in accordance with u. S. Law. My parents raised me right. I know the difference between right and wrong. Answer yes or no, do you believe in hindsight that those techniques were immoral . Senator, what i believe sitting here today is that i support the higher moral standard we have decided to hold ourselves to. Please answer the question. Senator, i think ive answered the question. No, youve not. Does that sound like a straight answer to all of you . Clearly not enough for john mccain. At one point, haspel said she didnt want to answer any hypotheticals. This is anything but hypothetical when her boss had this to say about waterboarding in the days after his inauguration. I have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago, with people at the highest level of intelligence and asked them the question. Does it work . Does torture work . And the answer was yes. Absolutely. Not really a hypothetical. Ryan nobles is joining me from capitol hill. What are you hearing at this moment, despite john mccain speaking out, does haspel have the votes . You know, kate, republicans here, especially those republicans and Senate Leadership seem to remain confident that gina haspel will have the votes net to become the next cia director. John cornyn, the second ranking republican in the senate said that he thinks that shell be confirmed by a comfortable margin. But john mccains decision to be public in his opposition is notable, not necessarily because of his vote, no one expected him to be able to come back here and cast a vote, but it was how he was going to impact other senators who admire and respect him. Thats one of the things we have done this morning, went in search of the senators who may break away from the Republican Party and vote against gina haspel. One of those key senators was Lindsey Graham of south carolina. He said this morning hes going to stick by her, hes going to vote in favor of haspel. But another senator jeff flake of arizona also serves and represents arizona with senator mccain, he says hes now taking a second look at her because of what john mccain had to say. And so at this point, republicans remain confident, of course, there may be some democrats that come over and support her as well. The white house also confident that she will become the next cia director. A fascinating moment of inspection and review and debate of American Values and morality against the backdrop of this cia nomination. Truly fascinating. Ryan, thanks so much. Thank you. Coming up, were learning new details about the ambush in niger that killed four u. S. Soldiers. The pentagon is expected to release the final report on the investigation. What we are what we already are learning about the new findings. Be right back. Im a fighter. Always have been. When i found out i had agerelated macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. My doctor and i came up with a plan. It includes preservision. Only Preservision Areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. Thats why i fight. Because its my vision. Preservision. Try areds 2 multivitamin. Anyone can get you ready, Holiday Inn Express gets you the readiest. Because ready gives a pep talk. Showtime but the readiest gives a pep rally. I cleared my inbox Holiday Inn Express, be the readiest. Holiday inn express, get your groove on with one a day 50 . Get ready for the wild life complete multivitamins with key nutrients that address 6 concerns of aging, including heart health, supported by bvitamins. Your one a day is showing. We have one to two fires a day and when you respond together and you put your lives on the line, you do have to surround yourself with experts. And for us the expert in gas and electric is pg e. We run about 2,500 2,800 fire calls a year and on almost every one of those calls pg e is responding to that call as well. And so when we show up to a fire and pg e shows up with us it makes a tremendous team during a moment of crisis. I rely on them, the firefighters in this department rely on them, and so we have to practice safety everyday. Utilizing pg es talent and expertise in that area trains our firefighters on the gas or electric aspect of a fire and when we have an emergency situation we are going to be much more skilled and prepared to mitigate that emergency for all concerned. The things we do every single day that puts ourselves in harms way, and to have a partner that is so skilled at what they do is indispensable, and i couldnt ask for a better partner. Any minute now the pentagon will release its final report on the ambush in niger which killed four u. S. Troops last year. Barbara starr is here. Brash barbara, what can we conclude with this report . Unfortunately, we will not get the report seven months later. That is expected to be declassified. But we will hear their version of what happened and how they think these four troops got killed last october 4th. The report concludes that they were on, at least in the beginning, an unauthorized mission, that they were told to go look for a highvalue isis operative in this corner of niger. They were not equipped to do that mission, and they were switched to another mission to advise forces. Thats what they were supposed to do from the beginning. They get ambushed by isis which has a 31 advantage over them. During the firefight, the u. S. Troops get separated from each other, there is confusion. All of this resulting, obviously, to great tragedy to four American Military families who lose their loved ones in this battle. This quite candidly is not supposed to be what happens. U. S. Troops are sent out heavily trained, heavily armed and very much disciplined to carry out the mission theyre assigned. These Young American forces, we are told, fought valiantly right until the end, but sadly, they were not given everything they needed to be successful. Kate . Still so many questions of how it all went down. Thank you, barbara. Much more to learn here. I really appreciate it. Coming up for us, new polls mean not such great news for democrats going to midterm elections. Whats giving them a boost and what are democrats going to do about it . Whoooo. When it comes to travel, i sweat the details. Late checkout. Downalternative pillows. And of course, price. Tripadvisor helps you book a. Hotel without breaking a sweat. Because we now instantly. Search over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Dont sweat your booking. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. You wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. Does your Business Internet provider promise a lot . Lets see who delivers more. Comcast business gives you gigspeed in more places. The others dont. We offer up to 6 hours of 4g Wireless Network backup. Everyone else, no way. We let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. Them, not so much. We let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. The others . Nope get internet on our gigspeed network and add voice and tv for 34. 90 more per month. Call or go on line today. Red flag warning for the blue wave. A new cnn poll shows the once almost certain takeover predicted by so many for Congressional Democrats come november is now much less certain. Like within the margin of error uncertain. Democrats ahead in a generic ballot by just three points now. Thats down from a 16point lead end of february just in february. So what is really going on right now . Lets discuss with smarter people than me. Cnn political reporter, nia henderson and mark, what do you think were seeing here . Weve seen support for democrats increasing 3 in the last 45 days. That the democrats still have an enthusiastic advantage when it comes to voting by about 10 points over republicans right now, so republicans have a lot more work to do. We should note this is just a snapshot in time. Were a long way away from the election, but kate, theres no question right now republicans are in a better spot now than they were, say, about a month ago. A snapshot in time . I have never heard this before, mark preston nia, do you think its something trump is doing thats shifting this, or is it Something Congress is doing thats shifting views here . When you look at the importance of President Trump on the congressional vote, 37 say its extremely important. Yeah, and hes about 41, 42 if you look at the averages. I think hes good at branding the situation, branding the economy as great, branding the economy as his, something that he used to say the economy is terrible and its all because of him that its good. The job numbers have gotten great, its about 3. 9 . Hes really focusing on his base in very major ways. You think about Foreign Policy, the moves on north korea, the moves in terms of israel and moving the capital to jerusalem. Those are the kinds of things that if youre the base youre rallying behind this president even if youre sort of a diehard republican or trump republican, there is a rally i think well see with republicans certainly as this thing gets closer. Like you said, its a long, long way away. Well have like a billion new cycles between thousand anow an. For now this is good news for republicans. They Pay Attention to these numbers. Even when they say that polls dont matter, its all about the ground game. Mark, here is a number that fascinates me, how the country would be so better off with d and rs in congress. The no difference number, 34 . Whats that mean . Its illustrative how much a anger is directed at congress. Theyre looking at the fact that democrats and republicans cant get along. Let us be very clear right now this election is going to be one where states are endangered in california, a little in new york and a little bit in the west as well. While this National Poll is a bright side in some ways for republicans, really whats going to happen is in some states where republicans will have to run against democrats. The billion news cycles until the elections. Great to see you guys. Thank you so much. And thank you all so much for joining me at this hour. Its been a busy day, as always. Inside politics with john king starts right now. Thank you, kate, and welcome to inside politics. Im john king. Thanks for sharing your day with us. President trump welcomes home three americans and thanks kim jongun for releasing them. Now the hard stuff, hoping this goodwill continues at the big summit next month when north koreas nukes are on the table. Plus, send Michael Cohen money and hell send his insights on his boss, the president. Its swampy for sure. But is it illegal . And the president still hasnt told Robert Mueller whether hell sit down for an interview, but