Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin 20180305

The points well negotiate would be tariffs on steel for canada and for mexico. Thank you. I dont think well have a trade war. No trade war . I dont think so. Those comments came during the meeting with israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is facing his own corruption investigation back at home. But it was the tariffs that dominated the questions today from reporters as the president now dangles this idea that his plan to impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum may actually have wiggle room at least for you just heard him mexico and canada. Quote, tariffs on steel and aluminum will only come off if new and fair nafta agreement is signed. The president tweeted, punctuating his tweet a few minutes later with this. To protect our country, we must protect american steel, america first. This is a case that pits the president of the United States against his own staff, against his own political party, global economists and key foreign allies. But whatever global turmoil this might actually cause, it is matched by the apparent turmoil within his own administration. A new report indicating that the state department has some 120 million on hand to fight russian meddling. Guess how much they have spent of the 120 million. Zero. Despite this, the president is now launching an attack on president obama for, quote, doing nothing about russia meddling. Once again, targeting everyone but the kremlin. Lets start with our cnn correspondent jeff zelany. Last week the president said the trade wars were a good thing. We are suddenly hearing a different message today. Thats right, brooke. Thats leading some to believe here in washington wondering if the president fully understands what his protectionist message he, of course, campaigned on so much, what it means in real terms. I cant recall something as controversial inside the president s own party that this president has supported. It certainly has been a long time since hes been at odds with Speaker Paul Ryan and Business Leaders as well. Speaker ryans office sent out something this morning that caught my attention. It was talking about how the stock market fell last week specifically because the president s own words on this. Mmhmm. This is having a Ripple Effect on the price of aluminum, the price of beer cans and other things. If this continues it certainly will be felt. The president and some advisors feel hes protecting the american worker. Others believe hes trying to i live in the past by promising steel jobs and other things but simply have moved on. There is no sign the president is Going Forward this week to do what he talked about last week. They are working on it. It raises the question, why is this being discussed publically . Was that the president s intent to have a trial balloon or was he trying to change the subject from the staff shakeups in announcing this . It seems to be that. There will be questions at the briefing in the next hour. Well take it next hour, jeff. Teeing me up for the big discussion. Chris cillizza, rachel bade, political analyst from politico and rick newman, columnist for yahoo finance. Rachel, let me dig in on jeffs point on what we heard in the report sent out from the Speakers Office today. You have paul ryan, Republican Leadership essentially saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, mr. President , this is a terrible idea. What are you hearing from capitol hill and what recourse might congress have to stop him . Basically they are making a hail mary, a last ditch attempt to try to walk the president back from the brink on tariffs. As you know, tariffs in general go against the fundamental principles that the Republican Party has long held dear free economies, free enterprise, free trade. There is a worry that this is going to hike prices on voters and hurt them in the midterm elections. Paul ryan tried to make the case to him this weekend. We are hearing the Top Republican who leads a panel that basically has trade jurisdiction is gathering republican signatures, asking the president to take a step back, take a breath, and relook at this and how it could affect the economy. We are also hearing that if this sort of persuasion campaign they are starting now doesnt go through, they could try to take action congressionally to try to stop him. However, it sounds like that will be an uphill battle. Many support this and they need twothirds of both houses to override it. Chris cillizza, you had the president saying trade wars for good for the economy. Now hes saying dont worry, huh . Yeah. Well, hes a daytoday president. What he said last week doesnt apply to this week. He meant both and they would appear contradictory. I think in the appearance with Benjamin Netanyahu he did reiterate we are Going Forward with the tariffs. One thing we know donald trump doesnt like is people telling him he cant do something. Rachel is right. Clearly a lot of dissension in congress, both as soon as he did it on the republicans and now. I just dont know if thats the best strategy to stop him from doing something. We see time and time again what do you expect him to say . Mr. President , thats an awesome idea . Like reverse psychology . That seems crazy, but everything we know is i mean, there are countless examples small and large, big issues and small issues where the affirmative action reporting is many people the after action reporting is many people told him not to. Im not saying to say thats a great idea. But the more you stop the you cannot do this president the more likely he is to do it. I dug into the numbers to understand the potential worst Case Scenario is retaliation globally. Nearly 17 of steel imported into the u. S. Comes from canada. But the u. S. Makes up half of canadas imported steel. Whats to stop trudeau from saying, all right, want to tax me . Ill tax you right back. Nothing to stop him and he would probably do that. There are politicians in other countries that have to answer to their electorates. They have to act tough the same way trump feels he has to act tough. Thats the danger here. If we were to have one set of tariffs and thats it, nobody did anything after the steel and aluminum tariffs the u. S. Puts on it would be no big deal. Thats not likely to happen. We have already heard threats of tariffs on u. S. Products, blue jeans, harleydavidson, bourbon from kentucky and so forth. What happens after that . Does trump say, how dare you . I will punish you for the tariffs and thats the escalating cycle of retaliation. Not to mention thats the big picture potential trickle down. The u. S. Is the worlds top steel importer. The value of steel shipped into the u. S. Was just over 29 billion in 2017. So therefore that could start i mean, you point out everything from blue jeans to bourbon. This could affect lots of folks around the world, not just including our friends. Right. What happens to an ordinary person is that the price you start adding costs in the middle of the process. So costs are creeping up everywhere. A tariff is just a fee that goes to a government. Its a tax basically. Hang on a second. You can understand it first from the perspective of an american worker. This is great for me. It will improve jobs and everything for me in the u. S. If my own steel and aluminum are used within the u. S. Because if we were penalizing other countries. Depends which worker you are talking about. An auto worker, now awesoutomak are paying more so their prices are going up. Maybe the prices arent going up. What studies found, there havent been a lot of cases where it happened but you might gain jobs in the protected industry. You tend to lose jobs in the downstream industries. Costs go up. Those companies adjust. Okay. Let me turn the page away from trade. Rachel, back to you on russian meddling. John brennans reaction to trump and his attack on obama. Here is the tweet from john brennan. This tweet is a great example of your paranoia your being the president increased anxiety and panic about the mueller investigation. When will those in congress and the 30 of americans who support you realize you are a charlatan . Its like, again, its obamas fault, this persons fault, that persons fault. Its never russias, for example . Hes trying to change the subject. We have known this for a long time. This is one of the top most sensitive issues for him. He feels the russia investigation undercuts his victory. Its his achilles heel. Hes on offense to point the finger and change the subject. From a congressional standpoint a lot of people on the hill, both democrats and republicans are wondering how they are going to stop this in the midterm elections. The fbi now has come out, the d. O. J. Said the russians will continue to try to do this in the midterms to swing votes, change votes and increase the turmoil here. The reality is theres been so much partisan bickering on the hill that we dont know how theyll stop this in the midterms yet. Its a serious problem. Chris cillizza, you had dennis macdonagh on meet the press over the weekend. The president asked the four leaders in a bipartisan meeting in the oval office to join him in asking the states to work with us on this question. It took over three weeks to get the statement worked out. It was dramatically watered down. You can ask harry reid and nancy pelosi. It was watered down on the insistence of Mitch Mcconnell . Yes. And nobody else . Yes. Yes, he says. Thats news. Remember, this would fundamentally undermine a lot of what donald trump said, certainly as it relates to elections and Russian Election meddling. Hes continued to say and he said it this morning in the tweet the reason obama didnt take it seriously is he wanted hillary to win. The logic doesnt follow. Hes also wrongly accused the president of the United States of wiretapping trump tower during the campaign. Ordering wiring to help her campaign and hurt his. Every time we talk about this, i return to bob mueller in the russia investigation. At the end of the day these tweets and President Trumps attempts to throw stuff as chum in the water, theyll work with people. But bob mueller now has three people cooperating him who are former trump officials. Hes charged Paul Manafort with crimes, 13 russian officials with a widescale attempt to influence the election on behalf of trump and to hurt hillary clinton. Its hard to argue. If mike flynn or George Papadopoulous did that why would they . These are facts we have to remind people. This is not he said, she said. These are facts versus tweets. Chris cillizza, thank you. Rachel, thank you. Just in at cnn, a new report sheds light on the payment the president s personal lawyer made to a porn star mere days before the president ial election. News on that. Stand by. Also ahead, breaking news. Two leaders, both under intense scrutiny meeting at the white house. President trump hosting israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Well show you what happened. And Public Schools remain closed today for an eighth day in West Virginia. Some 20,000 teachers striking because they want a raise. They are striking over pay and health care costs. Well talk to one of the teachers directly affected coming up. This is cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Bucks. Be 50 you said 30 dollars. It was 30 before the pizzaordering fee and the dogsitting fee. Are those my heels . With tmobile taxes and fees are already included, so you get four unlimited lines for just 35 bucks each. Dearyou made moonshine inher, a backwoods still. Smuggled booze and dodged the law. 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Lets talk to Cnn National Security analyst gail limon, author of ashleys war and from the Senior Council on foreign relations. Welcome back. Thank you. It is interesting that you have the two leaders under scrutiny in their own countries sitting together. What do you make of this . Is this Benjamin Netanyahu looking for trump cover . Its fascinating. Even if Benjamin Netanyahu has heavy political windstorms at home he faced sunny skies in washington. That was pretty expected. The question is what comes out of the meeting. The photo op while headlines at home say he faces domestic trouble, but a warm reception in washington isnt lost on anyone let alone Benjamin Netanyahu. I want to ask about syria. We got news from our chief white house correspondent. The Administration Official telling jim acosta that the u. S. Is considering all action including military over syrias continued use of chemical weapons. Whats your read on that . Yeah. This is really an overnight crisis thats been months in the making. Syria is the crisis in which adjectives lost the power to describe the hell on the ground. What you see now is, you know, moms and dads facing chemical attacks, barrel bombs, hospitals. An aide convoy that went in was stripped of medical supplies and food. The administration is watching these pictures and trying to figure out what it can do. It is fascinating. We have talked about the last administration also analyzing the horrors coming out of syria. What to do. And what it could actually do, right. The questions are what options are left and how willing is the administration to use them . The quote from the senior Administration Officially, its fair to say we are considering a number of options including military. Thank you. Just in a new report sheds light on the payment the president s personal lawyer made to a porn star days before the election. We have the details coming up next. Also ahead, nearly 280,000 West Virginia kids are out of class for the eighth straight day as teachers return to the picket lines demanding higher wages and better benefits. Well talk to one of the teachers next. Small business, internet providers promise you a lot. Lets see who delivers more. Comcast business offers fast gigspeeds across our network. At t doesnt. We offer more complete reliability with up to 8 hours of 4g Wireless Network backup. At t, no way. We offer 35 voice features and solutions that grow with your business. At t, not so much. Get internet on our gigspeed network and add voice and tv for 34. 90 more per month. Call 18005016000. All right. Heres the breaking news involving porn star Stormy Daniels who was reportedly paid 130,000 by President Trumps personal lawyer to keep quiet about the alleged affair just before the 2016 president ial election. The wall street journal are the ones who broke it in the first place. They are reporting today that the bank used by trump lawyer Michael Cohen actually flagged that wire payment as suspicious and went on to report it to the treasury department. City National Bank launched an inquiry about the transaction a year after Stormy Danielss attorney received the funds possibly because the bank received new information. The wall street journal reports that after trumps victory Michael Cohen complained to friends that he had not been paid or reimbursed for the payment to Stormy Daniels when asked to comment on the story cohen called it fake news. He said he used his own money for the payment and the Trump Administration organization was completely unaware of the transaction. Cnn has also reached out to cohen for a response. So mark gerigos is back with me on all things Stormy Daniels. Mark, you can understand how people are a little bit suspicious over the story starting with if everything is above board, why not go to your own bank . Well, first of all, i would like to not reher to h refer o her as a porn star but an adult actress. Forgive me. Yes. Second, if First Republic is where he banks then if they are filing a suspicious activity report that tells you something. If it isnt his bank that tells you a lot more. I think thats significant. The one thing also that when you combine that with they have suspicious activity reports, is also the fact that hes complaining to people in real time, i havent gotten reimbursed yet, would seem to be a problem for him. What does it tell you . Based on the declaration he filed with the federal election commission. There he led them to believe he was not expecting to be reimbursed and he hadnt said anything. Do you think, just based upon all of this and we reported that the Stormy Daniels people believed the nda was broken so she can talk. Do you think the adult actress will step up to the mic and talk . I do. I have thought from day one of the story i didnt understand why it was somebody had not come out and said they would indemnify her to the extent she gets into litigation. Obviously this is a story that would garner a lot of attention. Theres got to be somebody who wants to click on eyeballs and would tell her, ill indemnify you. If im going to make a prediction, shes going to tell her story. It will be a lot more involved than the 2011 in touch interview. Mmhmm. Thank you so much, mark. Good to see you. Thank you, brooke. West virginia, this is a key story. You have teacher who is are still walking the picket lines as the strike closes all Public Schools in the state for the eighth day. These Teachers Want a pay raise. They are demanding a 5 pay raise, nothing less. Lawmakers are scrambling to see if there is enough money to fulfill the wish in the state budget. West virginias teachers are all off the job and parents are looking for places to put their kids. A lot of striking teachers are bringing their own children out to protest with them at the State Capitol in charleston. Lets go to polo sandoval. Hes been covering the teacher strike in West Virginia. Is there any sign of agreement . Will they get the 5 raise . The short answer, brooke, is no. Heres what it boils down to. These are the nuts and bolts of the legislative battle. You have the house here saying there is no room in the budget. They cannot do better than a 4 raise. Opposite that argument you have the teachers and the backing of the house and governor jim justice who want 5 . At this point there has not been any sort of compromise so there is a Compromise Committee formed by both chambers that now have representatives talking about this, trying to determine which way to proceed. Will it be 5 , 4 . The teachers continue to get bigger and bigger, by the way, brooke. They insist they will not go home unless they get the 5 . It is more about the raise. They consider this a sign of goodwill, good faith that the legislators will try to get to the real issue which is the insurance problem. For now, all of the students across the state, if they are not home they are in Community Centers. If they are not in Community Centers they are here with their parents. Polo, thank you. I want to bring in Michelle Titus glover. She teaches in West Virginia. Thank you for what you do for young people in this country. My mom was a teacher. Day eight. What if you dont get what you want . Its not so much about the raise at this point. Its not about a a 2 raise has been passed. Its not 2 or 4 . It is about the fact that the senators are showing great disrespect for teachers. Now its more about us standing up for whats right. Let me back up. I understand you have been teaching for 14 years and i guess my question is why now . What lit the fire to finally say, enough is enough . Im going to fight. The p. Oechlt ublic insuranc teacher, all state employees was going to be changed from 80 20 to 60 40. So with the small raise they were going to give us, some teachers were going to lose up to 7,000 a year. So thats why now. Understand. I know for a lot of people watching, michelle, its like, why not pay teachers more . But the piece of the other side of the story and this is how i understand it. It is the state senate who is really holding up this 5 raise request. It is my understanding theyll give you four. They say the 1 difference is 13 million which they say is too big a burden on the state of West Virginia. What do you say to them . Its not too much of a burden. I think at this point senator ferns has said we will not give them what they want. At this point they are just digging their heels in. The governor created a bill that said 5 raise and he also told us that he would make a committee to show goodwill, that he would find ways to fix p. E. I. A. They have frozen it now which gives us another 16 months or so until they are going to raise it again. When they raise it then the people will lose 7,000 or 8,000 off of their pay in essence. Michelle, well stay in touch with you. Well follow this as this whole fight continues. Thank you so much, and good luck. Thank you. Next, are we heading for a global trade war . Former treasury secretary larry somers joins me live. His reaction to President Trump s ter error threat next. More breaking news. President trump saying he doesnt think there will be a trade war as he threatens tariffs on steel and aluminum sparking fears of a global standoff. He started out tossing nafta in the mix as a bargaining tool. The tariff threat going against the counsel of his advisors, sending jitters through stock markets and republican die hard. With me now, larry somers of the Economic Council under president obama and former treasury secretary under president clinton. A pleasure to have you. Welcome, sir. Good to be with you, brooke. Trade wars. You know, last week the president said they were a good thing. Hes now saying dont worry about it. With your years of experience, i want you to finish my sentence. Trade wars are trade wars are terrible. What president s have said before is that nuclear wars can never be won and must never be fought. Thats the right strategy for trade wars. To try to initiate a trade war is crazy economic policy. To protect the u. S. Industry like steel while sacrificing industries where a hundred times as many people work excuse me. I got that wrong. 50 times as many people work in Steel Using Industries makes no sense from the point of view of our national economics. To impose a National Security policy thats fervently opposed by the secretary of defense is unprecedented. To suggest that on National Security grounds we need to hurt canadas production of steel, i dont get it. This is inexplicable to me. Do you think its possible . This is a man who again, art of the deal here that the trade war threats are some kind of ploy, plot to force canada or mexico to give in on nafta . Well, germany is not in nafta and it is subject to this. Brazils not in nafta. It is subject to this. If there were any reports that there was a rational strategy process that came to this conclusion, one would at least want to consider the possibility you suggest. But for what must be one of the first times in the history of modern presidency, this was a policy that was announced before any documents and the white house had been prepared for the president s signature. The vast majority of his economic advisers and those with Global Experience opposed this policy. To my knowledge all his Foreign Policy advisers opposed it as well. So i think it is a stretch to suppose that there is some rational bargaining theory explanation. Its further evidence that the president s initial comments were that trade wars were good and easy to win. Right. That certainly was smoot hawley last time we did this that many economic historians believe made the depression great. I thought it exacerbated the depression. Thats what i mean. Made it from a small depression to the great depression. Right. I cant understand why with an economy coming into groove, an economy showing signs of strength you would want to throw everything up in the air with a set of policies like this. Markets didnt understand either. There was 400 billion of losses in the hour after the tariffs were imposed against somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 of that was a gain for the Steel Companies that benefitted. So when you play with fire its not a certainty that youll get burned. It may be that some settlements or something is worked out. When you play with fire, you are taking a big chance. When you play with fire, people are nervous about you in the future because people who play with fire once may well do it again. You mentioned smoot hawley and i think of president obama and the tariffs on the chinese tires. He pitched this as a notion to create jobs or save jobs but in the end i was looking at the numbers. It cost u. S. Jobs and raised tire prices for americans. All the advisers who oppose the plan. Let me say republicans, the speaker of the house opposed this plan. Does congress have the power to stop this . I suspect if this is sufficiently unified view in congress and congress can move legislation that they could find a way to stop this. Whether they will actually do that, i think, is very much in doubt. Brooke, let me correct one impression you might have left with some viewers. President obama did do a tariff on tires. Frankly i was in the administration at the time. I opposed that step. It was tiny compared to what was involved here. I dont know whether it was 1 or 5 . If you looked at the volume of products that were affected. And there was a legitimate argument, not one that i found persuasive that the tires had been inappropriately subsidized. This is just a political move playing to his base that, to my knowledge, not justified by Economy Economic theory. Mmhmm. Larry somers, a pleasure, sir. Come back any time. Good to be with you. Thank you. Still ahead, President Trump praises the leader of china for consolidating power saying, quote, maybe well give that a shot some day. Well discuss that. Also, protests erupting in washington as President Trumps deadline arrives on the fate of dreamers. The white house briefing, moments away as well. Almost 800 when we switched our auto and home insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey oh, thats my robe. Is it . When you switch to liberty mutual, you could save 782 on auto and home insurance. And still get great coverage for you and your family. Call for a free quote today. You could save 782 when liberty stands with you. Liberty mutual insurance. The white house is on the defense again. This time after President Trump praised chinese dictator xi jinping for seizing power effectively extending how long he can stay in office. Forever. Listen to what President Trump told republican donors behind closed doors over the weekend. Xi is a great jachlt hes now president for life. President for life. No, hes great. Look, he was able to do that. I think its great. Maybe well have to give that a shot some day. Hes the most powerful president in 100 years person, in the 100 years in china. Rick wilson, a republican strategist and former strategist for Rudy Giulianis senate campaign, welcome back. Also with us cnn political commentator, ben ferguson, host of the ben ferguson show. Rick wilson, to you, maybe well have to give that a shot some day. Your Immediate Reaction when you heard the president s comments . Well, look, i would have probably have given the president a little bit of a pass on this if i hadnt repeatedly in the course of his campaign and the first year of his presidency heard him praising dictators, praising overseas strong men, praising people like duterte and acting an envious way towards a lot of folks who are not exactly role models of western liberal democracy. So in this case its trump being trump or its trump being funny. Youve got to look at in the context of the broader statements and broader inclinations hes expressed over and over again. He certainly is more of a fan of authoritarians, including his best buddy Vladimir Putin, than he is to a lot of the allies we have around the world who are in countries of representative democracies. Ben . I mean rick is right. The president is not shy showing his admiration for these guys. Look, even the Washington Post ran a headline that said in a jokey speech, they even understood it was a joke. I talked to someone that was in the room. They said it was clearly trump being funny and being trump and joking around with a friendly audience. This wasnt a serious comment. Ben, ben the fact that were sitting here having this conversation makes me laugh because it was obviously a joke. Ben, rick has the point its this theme, right . It would be a joke if it was just taken as this one single time he said it, but the joequo, hes mentioned Vladimir Putin for his very strong control over his country, duterte, credited him for his unbelievable job on the drug problem. This is a man who kills suspected drug dealers. Hes talked about erdogan, turkey, the great friendship. Saddam hussein even as a candidate praised him for killing terrorists without due process. How are his comments a joke . Again, ill go back to other president s. Weve always had president s that have had awkward relationships with leaders around the world, whether it was reagan, whether it was bill clinton, whether it was george bush 41 during the gulf war. Weve always had relationships with different leaders who are not perfect and they didnt instigate fighting words with them either. We have allies who are not the best allies in the world because sometimes you need access to protect american interests including on issues of National Security. Let me finish this one point. Hold on one second, rick. Youre always mystified when i bring up the history of the past, but you can admit that republicans and democrats have had to have awkward relationships with very strong leaders around the world that we dont always agree with what they do in their own countries. Rick, you go ahead. You jump in. Lets be clear about one thing. If your knowledge of history extends to anything more than the most incredibly superficial level, which i doubt in this case, you could go back and look at the president s you cited. Obama, reagan, clinton, the bushes. None of them went out and said, wow, its awesome that authoritarian regimes in places like china and russia, the way they treat people. They didnt go out and praise the hideous behaviors that exist in authoritarian states. They werent out there saying, wow, its great how much control putin has. Its great that duterte kills people without due process. So your reading of history would be enriched by going back and studying the fact that donald trump has a pattern of over time of praising authoritarians and so the ha ha joke level thing does not get i heard it the first time, rick. Does not get to the level where you can defending it easily and then you can then smear president s of both parties. I didnt smear any other president s. Wow, i just think the soviets are living a great life. He never said, wow, the chinese are living a wonderful life. Okay, rick, if you want to talk about history, do you not remember iran contra and some of the awkward moments around reagan then and the people around him then . Do you remember any of that . Youre the guy thats quoting history here. Was that a good example of when the president was perfect or the people around him were perfect and the relationship that we were having and the deals we were making with the colombians and others and the drug cartel and Members Around the world . The bottom line is, youre smart enough. Let me finish. There are certain relationships. The president of the United States of america have with countries around the world that are not always with great individuals or great men. You should admit that. Lets go back to the core point here. This was clearly the president in a private room joking about something that even the Washington Post said was a joke. The Washington Post even said it was a joke. Why cant you take the same joke . All right, rick, you turn. If you go back and look at history, which ive forgotten more about than you ever know. Congratulations for saying youre smarter than anyone else. By you by a long stretch, pal. Again these american president s recognized that our countrys goals and principles involved standing up for the values of individual liberty and the values of civil rights and human rights and these are people that even in the course of diplomacy, if we had to make accommodations with things, the president s werent out joking about it, saying, wow, i wish i could be like china. For a smart guy youd think youd come up with a new talking point, rick. This is ridiculous, ben. Let me jump in. One minute left. Ben, why do you think the president , you had the mueller indictments, what the intelligence chiefs have said on the meddling or cyber war. I mean why has he still not stuck his neck out, he being the president , and criticized putin . Why do you think . Look, i dont i think bottom line is this president wants to make sure that he has decent relationships with individuals, wanted to have a reset and theres and for all the people criticized donald trump again, all the democrats have been coming out there saying that this president has, quote, become unhinged on x, y and z and yet he consistently shows restraint when hes dealing with World Leaders. Hes also very tough on trade today then which people then criticized him for. So how is it that one moment we can say the president is being crazy or unhinged on an issue on trade when hes saying im not going to screw around with these countries and the next moment he seems to be a little bit timid and cautious with how he goes out there and is bombastic with real World Leaders that have real militaries . I think the president did a pretty decent job. All right, im out of time. Ben ferguson, rick wilson, welcome back from vacation for me. Im back with the two of you guys. Thank you so much. Bandaid ripped. Appreciate it. Just in here, we do have some breaking news involving one of the president s former Campaign Aides who is now refusing to appear before a grand jury. Thats coming up. Gr another dead end. Sarge, i just got a tip thatll crack this case wide open turns out the prints at the crime scene awwwww. Did Mcgruffy Wuffy get a tippy wippy . Im serious we gotta move fast before whos a good boy . Is him a good boy . Erg. Im just gonna go. 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Ask your doctor about victoza®. Welcome back. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. We have some breaking news here in this whole russia investigation. We are waiting for that White House Press briefing to begin any minute now, by the way, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for that. But this is coming out of the Washington Post, josh dawsey has the scoop. Former trump aide, sam nunberg has been subpoenaed by a federal