Transcripts For CNNW Inside Politics 20170724

President s mindset. With us to share reporting and insights, laura meckler, wall street journal, Michael Bender of the wall street journal and cnns m. J. Lee. To capitol hill in a moment and todays important questioning of president ial soninlaw Jared Kushner. Also keep our eyes out for that Public Statement were told hell make after finishes his interview with the Senate Intelligence committee. First, though, the president s own attack of his attorney general and what this tells us. In an angry tweet the president asks Congress Special counsel and of course our beleaguered attorney general arent investigating Hillary Clinton. Imagine if your boss publicly called you beleaguered and hardly the first public review. Remember . The president twice in an interview with the New York Times last week said sessions had been unfair to the president , and the president said he never would have appointed sessions attorney general if he knew he would go on to recuse himself from decisions related to the russia election meddling investigation. Cnn sara murray is live at the white house. The president is no doubt trying to send a message to the attorney general. Just what is it . Reporter a great question, john. Certainly hard to believe the white houses line last week, the president still has confidence in his attorney general. So far he stopped short of flat out calling on sessions to tender his resignation. He was asked about this. The president , earlier today, in a photo op with interns. He had classic trump facial expressions in response. Take a look. I guess we dont have that video for you, but the president did not respond to a question about whether he wants Jeff Sessions to resign. He did offer a pretty significant eye roll, though, before moving on. I think obviously the thing to remember, the relationship between Jeff Sessions and the president deteriorated significantly. Sessions was one of President Trumps closest allies one of the first senators to endorse him, but ever since he recused himself the president puts the blame on the fact there is a special counsel investigation squarely on the shoulders of Jeff Sessions. Now, is it possible trump is looking at other people to fill the spot . Absolutely. We do know his advisors both inside and outside the white house have explained to the president , look, you could talk to rudy giuliani. Talk to chris christie. Talk to other people who were loyal to you and by your side during the campaign. Theres a chance theyll face the same pressure recusing yourself and youll be in the same boat. Interesting to see how sessions responds to this and if he feels like he can stay in this job with the president just publicly jabbing at him day after day in media interviews and on twitter. Remarkable. Sara murray live at the white house. And Jared Kushner is up on capitol hill this hour answering questions from the Senate Intelligence committee. Staff members, thats hours, this questions hours after the president s soninlaw and Senior Adviser released a lengthy statement defending interactions with russians during the campaign and president ial transition. Kushner disclosed all russia contacts explains them all as innocent and said i did not collude nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded with any foreign government. Cnn manu raju on capitol hill. We are told we can expect a Public Statement from Jared Kushner when done with this session . Reporter yes, thats right. In fact, hes expected to leave his meeting momentarily, what were waiting for him here standing in a, a crowded room of reporters. Hell walk down this hallway. There are microphones set up here in case he wants to make a Public Statement. We are not expecting him to do that here but we do expect him to Say Something publicly at the white house. Now, this comes, john, as kushner and his team are really going on a Public Relations offensive, if you will. We issued an 11page statement to the Committee Earlier today. Telling contacts he with Sergey Kislyak during the campaign season, a brief interaction at the mayflower hotel, talked about meeting with the Russian Ambassador during the transition time, including with the former National Security adviser michael flynn, which they discussed having discussed having a line of communication discussing issues of importance in people in moscow. The one meeting that has gotten a lot of attention over the last several days that trump tower meeting with donald trump jr. In which Jared Kushner also attended. Now, in his statement, john, he does discuss this meeting and says there was really nothing to it. He really didnt know anything about this meeting with russians who offered dirt to donald trump jr. And said he got an email he didnt really read. This is a part of what he said. When at this meeting, which he arrived at late, was looking for a polite way to leave and get back to my work. Said i actually emailed an assistant from the meeting after id been there ten minutes or so and wrote, please call me on my cell. He needed an excuse to get out of the meeting. I have not met the attorney before the meeting or spoken with her since and thought nothing more of this short meeting until it came to my attention recently. John, vo, this tame to peoples attention recently, forced to amend his security clearance form because he did not include this meeting initially, when submitting his form, security clearance application. So so clearly this is one issue, john, in which investigators are going to ask questions behind closed doors. Tomorrow theyll be going before the House Intelligence Committee and just speaking to a couple members of the committee including joe manchin, West Virginia democrat, they want to question him as well. The senators want a chance to question him as well. The question whether or not Jared Kushner agrees for any public hearing or any meeting with senators after meeting here with staff on capitol hill. John . Raju manu, keep us posted. Somebody stretching there. Wait in the hall as long time. Got to stand up and stretch. Apologies for the yoga demonstration. Keep us posted when mr. Kushner leaves the room. And donald trump jr. And Paul Manafort also face congressional questions this week and the president seems more than a little annoyed. One tweet last night said russians are laughing and the phony russian witchhunt continues. Then this from the president. Very sad that republicans even some that carried over the line on my back do very little to protect their president. Start the conversation there. That came in a series of tweets most about health care. Easy to read that tweet and say the president s talking about republicans not passing health care and easy to read the tweet especially the par about people i carried over the line as a shot at richard burr, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Won reelection because of the trump surge in the iend there. Maybe an explanation at some point. Come to the bigger picture. The president s mad at the congressional investigation, lashing out at his attorney general again. I believe we can show you. Tried to get this to you during the sara murray report. With interns at the white house. Asked about the attorney general. Look at this. In a vacuum thats a funny picture. The president is known for his facial expressions. Known for his sense of humor actually as well, but has now for the third or fourth time in a week, publicly undermined the chief Law Enforcement officer of the United States, and as hes done so with the context of i appointed this person and he did not protect me from investigation. These square a note for the constitution. Swear an oath to protect the constitution not the president. To be fair to senator sessions, weve seen people survive this. I think an apt parallel is steve bannon. Steve bannon came under a lot of fair a month ago. The president repeatedly criticized him calling him a guy who worked for me. His chief strategist. Now going after his attorney general. We asked the white house about the comments a couple weeks ago related to sessions and he insisted he has full confidence. I think sometimes the president has trouble acting on his acting on his impulses here. If he wants to get rid of sessions, all he has to do is say it. It took him a while to get rid of flynn. We saw he didnt go after bannon. I think bannon and sessions both represent, you know, one of the few ties to the conservative base in this white house. But you know, the bigger question here is, this president demands loyalty from his staff, from his top cabinet and refuses to show that loyalty to any of them. So its not a surprise here when you get leaks and when he gets backfighting inside his white house. I want to agree 1,000 . The president is a roller coaster. Throw you under the bus and two weeks later, youre with him at the top of the peak. The attorney general of the United States is a little different. Saw the tweet. Called his attorney general beligered. Asked openly why werent you interviewing Hillary Clinton . Listen to this from last week putting this in high gear. Zero. So Jeff Sessions takes the job. Gets in to the job. Recuses himself. I then have which which, frankly, i think is very unfair to the president. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself . If he would have recused himself before the job, i would have said, thanks, jeff, but i cant you know, im not going to take you. Its extremely unfair and thats a mild word, to the president. And today he calls him beleaguered. Again, if you listen to when the president fired james comey he told us nbc news he did it because of the russia investigation. Saying here, if he knew Jeff Sessions was not going to be there making Big Decisions about the russia investigation he wouldnt have given him the job. That tells you a lot about this president s mindset. And every bit of washington involved, this russia investigation he is seeking to diminish, reject say inappropriately disloyal. Whether thats Jeff Sessions, whether thats people on the hill who are continuing to investigate it. Whether its the Intelligence Community itself who have a consensus view that russia intervened in the election to try to help elect him, he rejects that, too. Sort of, its all around him, and he seems to think and maybe this comes from a, in business you really are the top person and can call the shots and people sort of go along, as long as you have that job, but its different. Youre different, certainly when president , there are independent powers centers within government that act independently and have loyalty to things other than the president himself. And i dont think he i honestly dont think he understands that. Striking, listening to that New York Times interview is how personally President Trump takes this move from Jeff Sessions. Never mind that there are obviously rules and reasons why sessions felt like he had to recuse himself, because of a conflict of interests. President trump sees that and remembers it clearly and has, you know has been holding on to sort of this grudge almost that sessions decided to recuse himself. He doesnt view it as a decision necessary. He views it as something of sort of a let down that someone that should have been loyal to him was clearly loyal to him during the campaign decided to make this decision and a way he conducts himself when he interacts with folks on capitol hill as well. The health care debate, what he sees, dean heller on the fence, turns to him, look, you want to stay in the senate . You can tell that personally affects him and personally offensive. Is it just that . Is it just this personal sense of pride, personal sense of slight for people who arent loyal to him, despite you make an excellent point, he shows no loyalty back. Does not bite his tongue when disappointed in people. He lashes out at them. Or to the bigger issue, again, look what happened to comey. You hear what the president is talking about his attorney general. Put this in context, not trump in large but trump in this investigation. Why does he need people to protect him if hes done nothing wrong, which he said from the beginning . And i see the way, the New York Times interview and brought up again today. Maybe an argument for Jeff Sessions to catch the hint, goes ahead and resigns. I can think of an a. G. Loyal to me in the way i want. Thats the sort of broader can he do that . Assume for the moment, assume the president has done nothing wrong. Lets assume the president has done nothing wrong. Wouldnt he make his political mess, political ditch, a whole lot deeper firing the attorney general or forced him out . Jeff sessions suddenly says i cant do this . And james comey. Exactly the same dynamic with comey. He made his case, made things so much worse. The firing of comey led to the appointment of the special prosecutor. So if he was thinking that way, i think pe would have seen different actions along the way. I dont think he understands that, really, or appreciates that at least. And this all happens in the context of Nuclear Communications director, and sean spicer resigns. The question is, is that the end or more coming at the white house . I dont know what to make of this, but Corey Lewendowski speaks to the president from time to time on television today and this look, Reince Priebus works directly for the president of the United States and is the president s prerogative to determine how long Reince Priebus works for and i think what the president said clearly is that he wants to make sure that the leaks that are taking place in his white house are eradicated and if the president doesnt see the success that he wants then he will continue to make changes. They complain, senior white house officials all the time that we, in the media, are manufacturing this sense of crisis and chaos in the white house. The president himself calls his attorney general beleaguered after giving an interview twice he says hes being unfair to me. Former Campaign Manager we know continues to speak to the president of the United States goes on television and clearly we know hes no friend of Reince Priebus, stirs up the idea, maybe the chief of staff is in trouble, too. Fin find me a management that says this is the way to do it . The first comments, i report to the president. Nerd, not the chief of staff. The chief of staff disempowered in every way possible continually. We never Reince Priebus, neither fish nor foul. Not a trump loyalist, doesnt have a base of support among Trump Supporters but also isnt, like, really a guy who knows how to govern either. We both call him an insider. Not government experience. Political experience. Not government experience. Not like he knows how to run the white house in a special way. I think that that kind of leaves him bottom line, true or false, this persons in trouble, that persons in trouble, it hurts the president. It hurts the president to have this discussion going on. The discussion is stoked not by us but by people who say theyre loyal to the president. Theyre 4uhurting the president quick break. Jared kushner finishing his questioning. Afterwards he will make a rare Public Statement. Thats rare. We also never hear from. And moving on to the Obamacare Repeal on the senate floor. They just wont tell us what thats going to look like. Thats cool. Feeling good in slim fit . Thats cool. Looking fabulous in my little black dress . Thats cool. Getting the body you want without surgery, needles, or downtime . Thats coolsculpting. Coolsculpting is the only fdacleared noninvasive treatment that targets and freezes away stubborn fat cells. Visit coolsculpting. 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Plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. Join the millions who have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. And provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. With all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. Call now to request your free decision guide. Remind you of live pictures one of capitol hill one just outside the west wing at the white house. Awaiting Jared Kushner, the president s soninlaw and Senior Adviser meeting with members of the Senate Intelligence committee been there more than two hours answering questions about the russia investigation of meddling. Were told he will make a rare statement. At the white house. Well watch him exit capitol hill and bring that to you live when it happens. Thats one of the big stories here in washington. Also tonight the Senate Republican leadership meets to plod its way forward on health care. A vote on obamacare this week on the senate floor. Exactly where the debate starts and whether he has the votes necessary to start it is an open question. Live on capitol hill is phil mattingly. Forgive me. Skeptical. Will this really be the week the Senate Debates . Reporter yes maybe. At least thats the goal of senator leadership pt key point, beauty of senate procedures. You have to vote to even start the debate. Thats what theyre planning to have this week as soon as tomorrow. Leadership aides saying the tentative goal right now and reality is they need 50 votes to be able to move forward on that. The reality also is they dont have 50 votes at least as of this morning to move forward on that procedural vote. As long as they dont have the votes they cant move on to the actual debate on the bill. Look, john, you know this process and this place quite well. What theyre doing behind the scenes now is really kind of twisting arms pushing members saying you will be able to offer whatever amendment you want. Make the bill look how you want it to make. We just need to start debate on this process. Allow us to start debate. The incentive for leadership is, if you start debate on this bill and they would be starting debate on the House Health Care bill and amending it as such as they feel necessary, if you start debate, the ability to have this bill fail, the pressure that could come upon republican members to vote no at the end of this lengthy amendment process would be a lot. They want to start the process, because they know once this process kicks into gear, it becomes exponentially more difficult to vote no in the end. Again, the question now is, can they start the process at all . The big issue theyre having now a lot of senators are saying, we dont want to go into this blind. We want to know end of the day what that substitute amendment, using senate language, we all agree upon is going to be. Whats our end game here . Do we have everything in place . As we all know quite well, that replace amendment, how theyll move that forward, currently no deal there. No kind of negotiation that has reached a compromise agreement where they would be on that. So long as they are short of that, the reality remains they likely will be short to proceed on the vote. One quick note john thats important. If this goes down tomorrow on the procedural vote the idea theyre going to throw up their hands move on to tax reform and call it a day, dont bet on that. A lot of feeling behind the scenes now, starting to move closer and if this fails tomorrow, that might add incentive with pressure from the base to keep going. This health care thing isnt dying anytime soon, john. Phil mattingly on capitol hill tracking that. There you see the president s soninlaw Jared Kushner, the tall gentleman in the middle there, walking out of the Staff Committee room. On capitol hill. Hes being interviewed by the staff of the Senate Intelligence committee. Again, about russia election meddling. Released an 11page statement this morning saying he had several contacts with russians during the campaign and during the president s transition but were all about policy issues. Nothing nefarious took place. Were told we will get a rare Public Statement from Jared Kushner. Listen as he walks past publicly, sir . Reporters trying to shout questions at him there, and also as, always, somebody up there saying will you sign my russian flag . That happens in a democracy. Protestorsened what i like to call stunt dummies in washington as well as reporters trying to ask questions. You see, mr. Kushner not entertaining questions there leaving the Senate Office building. Were told he plan as Public Statement. We expect that to happen when he makes it back to the white house. Well of course bring it to you live. Dramatic day. The committee gathering information requesting documents for months. The Senate Intelligence committee, one of the investigative committees on capitol hill, House Intelligence Committee, hearing from Jared Kushner again tomorrow. This represents a new chapter in the sense some of the bigger witnesses now going before these committees on capitol hill. Mr. Kushner is leaving the building now. Well let him get to the white house and we expect to hear from him and bring you that conversation. If we see mr. Kushner again, please, tell me. Well track that. Lets come back to the Important Health care konkconversation. Thinking about changing your job, worried about health care, looking to washington for answers. Six months of wait, wait, wait. Were not sure. Wait. The question, will they get to it this week . Talk about it in politics all the time. Phil mattingly laying it out among senators. Get to 50 votes to start the debate to reach a compromise . An american watching at home no matter where you live in the country, if you have any Health Care Issue in your family, again, showing you live pictures of Jared Kushner. Forgive me for going back and forth between health care and this. Leaving the senate building, hopping in his car. Applied effort. We knew not an answer to that question as Jared Kushner gets in the car. Short drive back to the white house. See what happens once he gets there. Can they do this . One of e weres the president s role. Congressional leaders often say he undermined them by tweeting certain things at certain times or saying this is open to negotiation when theyre trying to close the deal and get to a final vote. The president of the United States will, 3 00 this afternoon, before going to West Virginia, republican senator Shelley Moore capito is one of the issues. A no vote right now. Will the president today move this forward . With either what he says at the white house or perhaps even more importantly, thats in washington. Get going, we need to do this. Weve promised this. Or what we havent seen. What a lot of republicans say, why havent we seen more of this, mr. President . Get out on the ground where it really matters and try to change a vote . The indication from the white house, he plans to appear this afternoon with what they like to call obamacare victims. Hes going to explicitly ask the senate to move forward on a motion to proceed. Ask them then to repeal and replace it and tell them, with certain becoming a mantra in this white house, inaction is not an option. That starts to look more like a typical president , a typical administration trying to move forward an agenda that would be on point to what republican senators, senator leadership wants to do. It may be a little bit, agents t a little too late at this point and tonight in front of a crowd kind of, who knows what would happen, happens there . The who knows is the interesting part. Because if the president does what he just said, applauded by Republican Leaders on capitol hill. The president of the United States using the bully pulpit, platform of the white house to say we have an obligation. We startinged this. Get to the finish line. And last week, im not going to own it. If this collapses infuriated. Mixed signals from the president. Sometimes say they dont want it, back and forth like a yoyo but they need it. They do, but they also need some sort of substantive plan to agree to, to bring together moderate democrats excuse me republicans and very conservative republicans a large ideological span within the republican caucus. I think that the and i think a lot of senators probably are not real confident about whether trump is going to have their back at the end of the day, given what weve seen so far. Praised the house bill and then called it cruel later on. You know, i think theyre going to have to feel comfortable voting for the bill on its mirror its that they feel they can defend their vote and not depend on bPresident Trump to back them up or save them if it turns out on popular, which we know is unpopular. Remarkable to see a vote taking place tomorrow, a procedural vote, but a lot of Senate Republicans feel they dont eban know what the end goal would be here. Right . If the goal is do a repeal and replace bill, or repealonly, mcconnells latest comment. He said he wanted repeal om and then he wanted repeal and replace. Its not as though Senate Republicans need the pressure now. They already feel the pressure, understand the gravity of potentially reneging on a promise making seven years. Now its a matter of whether mcconnell can get the votes at least bring this up for a vote so that he feels like, look, he can say to the public, we had a vote and tried to get this done and really couldnt. A messy process. To your point, very complicated issue both politics and policy produced a greater defined among republicaning trying to close. See if this is the week they get there. A quick break. Remember, Jared Kushner on his way to the white house, expecting a rare Public Statement from the president s soninlaw about what he told the congress and questions about russias meddling during the campaign and also up next the president S Communications chief has a source who says it isnt clear russia meddled in the election. That source flies around on air force one. This is crabfest at red lobster. And right now, were serving up more delicious crab than ever. Classic favorites like crab lovers dream. 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Remind you, standing by. Just outside the west wing at the white house. You see the marine at the door. Podium set up for Jared Kushner the president s soninlaw on his way back to the white house from capitol hill, just given question and answer session with the Senate Intelligence agency staff. Well keep our eye on there and we continue here. Forget the Intelligence Community or the center voice by every leading member of congress. The new White House Communications chief Anthony Scaramucci disclosed yesterday to cnns jake tapper he has a secret source. All of the hacks and other election meddling, the source says, too amateur to have been orchestrated by the kremlin. Somebody said to me yesterday, i wont tell you who, that if the russians actually hacked this situation and spilled out those, those emails, you would have never seen it. You would have never had any evidence of them. Meaning super confidence in their deception skills in hacking. Wow. Oh. Never mind. How about it was the president , jake . I talked to the president. He called me from air force one and basically said to me, hey, you know, this is maybe they did its maybe they didnt do it. Today is mr. Scaramuccis first full day. Maybe we can help. These guys run the big u. S. Intelligence agencies and the first two handpicked political appointees are the president of the United States, donald john trump. I am confident the russians meddled in this election as is the entire Intelligence Community. There is no doubt at all and i stand behind the intelligence. The Intelligence Community assessment that we produced in january. What . I think anthony i mean, just, why . Look, i understand. He has an audience of one easy specially in the early days. Rime going to be contrarian say maybe hell use the platform, early appearances to impress the president. Im out there fighting for you, go into the oval office and say, dial back. Do this differently. Hold out hope and see that that happens. However, why . Why enable the president s refusal to say, russia did it, period . When, again you know, mike pompeo is a trump guy. Can coats is a trump guy. The admiral wore the uniform for decades. Theyre saying theres no if here . Named to the job presumably because he was willing to go out and say things like that. I dont know its all that puzzling. He was chosen by the president , not the chief of staff, to say this sort of thing, and definitely confident in his own abilities. Give him time, john, to see if that plays out and can affect this white house. The fact is hes a brand new to government, coming in from business, and hes going to have the same problems that kushner and that donald trump has seen as well here. Hes made his mark. Made his sort of first mandate here to get rid of the leakers. You saw on the jake tapper show. Blurted out what he and the president talked about on air force one. To say nothing of what we saw all day long on sunday of the mixed messages coming from his shop, including him. He was asked about the russia sanctions bill. The president wasnt ready to sign it. Almost the same time Sarah Huckabee saying the white house favors it and several examples throughout the day, and get to the program, chaos on capitol hill. Took time away from us. Thats important. There whether you could say, Anthony Scaramucci not fully up to speed, wasnt sure, would have to talk to the president. Said the president will sign a very important bill. May have no choice in the sense Congress Passing a sanctions bill this week looks like with overwhelming majorities in the house and senate. The president could have picked this fight. Appears, see if the story changes. Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggesting he will sign it. On the issue of leaks the president complained repeatedly about leaks and a lot of times team trump suggested they come from holdovers or from people in the socalled deep state. People out in the agencies. A lot of leaks come from people who work for the president. Anthony scaramucci seems to understand that. Listen to this about day one on the job today. Have a meeting with the Communications Staff and say, hey, i dont like these leaks. Were going to stop the leaks. If we dont stop the leaks im going to stop you. Its that simple. What happens to leakers on your watch . Theyre got to get fired. Were as strong as our week weakest leak. If you want to keep leaking, get together make a decision as a team youre going to stop leakings youre going to keep leaking, im going to fire everybody. Very buynary. Binary. Six weeks into the administration. Yes, done things at executive power. No Obamacare Repeal and replace. Tax reform is nowhere. Sitting at the starting line at least. And still have an administration appearing to figure out itself. Curious to know whether Anthony Scaramucci spoke with the president off the record or on background, because he certainly gave away his source. Look you know, he spent the weekend walking back some of this earlier criticism of the president. From during the campaign. And he did that because he clearly is now working for the president but i think hes about to find out that that awkwa awkwardness is nothing compared to how impossible this job is to be a spokesperson for the president. The president is constantly off message. Constantly veering from one thing to another and sometimes even erratic going back and forth in what he wants, what hes expressings what he has faced this weekend and tried to explain his earlier criticism of the president is not going to be anything. I think the Jeff Sessions thing was a perfect example that the president said today the attorney general is beleaguered. Remember, a couple days ago, Sarah Huckabee sanders went out and told the press, look, the president clearly has confidence in the a. G. These two things do not go hand in hand. And not sure if scaramucci was lying or mindless, that we can fire easily, probably a misunderstanding where the leaks are coming from. The leaks are from senior staffers fighting each other over the agenda. Hes not closing that down. The would us is divided internally, part of a bigger problem. One thing President Trump and president obama have in common, not a lot in common. When things werent going well, blaming communications. Thats the problem. Were talking about the leaks. Its the messaging. As opposed to the actual policy itself, or actually in the case of lack of policy. Or the congressional investigation. This is not a Communications Problem primarily. And consistency in the sense that the president candidate trump then President Trump, president elect trump, no contacts. Jared kushner waiting to speak at the podium, yes, had some contacts. Nothing wrong but contacts. And contacts, nothing wrong, put this behind them weeks and months ago, that goes for several other people meeting with russians. Another issue, last out the leakers. Said had a secret source, turned out to be the president. I still dont believe the russians did this. Everybody else who breathes believes the russians did this and last week the president tweeting i have power to pardon. Everyone said what is this rumination . What is he thinking . Terms of the russia meddling invested gatien. Is the president considering pardoning somebody . Heres one of his attorneys on mr. Scaramucci. We have not and continued to not have conversations with the president of the United States regarding pardons. Pardons have not been discussed and pardons are not on the table. Im in the oval office of the president last week, talking about that, he says he brought that up, he said, but he doesnt have to be pardoned. Theres nobody around him that has to be pardoned. Depends on your definitions we. Looked like good for us. Seems to be blurting out everything the president talked about. Learning things we didnt know. White house denied pardons. Anthony, no, no, no. We discussed it. Useful thing to think about. At this point this guys seem to be so eager to brag about contacts with the president , hed weeding out conversations. Troubling. The idea he considered the president , the president told him still, maybe when it comes to the issue of russia meddling. If you work for the president of the United States you want to help tlhim through that. Not enable. Every leading member of congress, people appointed by President Trump, access to the intelligence believe it to be true. The other in this debut performance at the white house last friday asked, does he agree with the president , that the president would have won the popular vote if not for 3 million to 5 million undocumented in this country illegally voting . 3 Million People voted illegally and okay. So so so if the president says it, okay . Let me do more research. My guess is, theres probably a level of truth to that. I mean, if you say 3 million to 5 million and you can find a couple thousands, theres some level of truth to that. Again, why . This is the this is the hes speaking from the white house here. This is the podium. Speaking for the white house, for the president here. And its going to come back here quickly that this is not you know, this sort of the sort of p. R. That anthony is used to and hes going to have to hes responsible for what he says here. And if the issues at the white house, leaking is one of them. Among a bigger one i believe is credibility and anthony, im not sure he did much to sort of solve that this weekend. Give you time to get settled in. First full day at the white house. See if things change Going Forward. A live picture just outside the west wing because Jared Kushner due to make a statement after his return from capitol hill. Key q a with the Senate Intelligence committee about the russia meddling. Bring you that soon as we can. And rolling out a better deal for america from the democrats. Plan for winning back crucial blue collar, woulders who voted for donald trump. Ognized for her compassion and care. He spent decades fighting to give families a second chance. But to help others, they first had to protect themselves. I have afib. Even for a nurse, its complicated. And it puts me at higher risk of stroke. That would be devastating. I had to learn all i could to help protect myself. Once i got the facts, my doctor and i chose xarelto®. Xarelto®. To help keep me protected. Oncedaily xarelto®, a latestgeneration blood thinner. Significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. It has similar effectiveness to warfarin. Xarelto® works differently. Warfarin interferes with at least 6 bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor interacting with less of your bodys natural bloodclotting function. For afib patients wellmanaged on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase risk of stroke. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. If youve had spinal anesthesia, watch for back pain or any nerve or musclerelated signs or symptoms. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures. And before starting xarelto®about any conditions, such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. Its important to learn all you can. To help protect yourself from a stroke. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Theres more to know™. Welcome back. They call it a better deal and hope its a big step towards putting a painful 2016 in the rearview mirror. Raising the minimum wage to 15 an hour. Tax credit for job training lowering cost of prescription drugs and reform of corporate america. And supporting donald trump, Top Democrats acknowledge Hillary Clinton did a lousy job connecting on the economy. When you lose an election, with someone who has, say, 40 popularity, you look in the mirror and say what did we do wrong . The number one thing that we did wrong is, we didnt have we didnt tell people what we stood for. They know were standing up to trump. They like that, but they want to know, what do you stand for . Thats a fair diagnosis, that, you know, in the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton made no doubt, made no secret, she didnt like donald trump. Didnt trust donald trump, didnt think donald trump was qualified to be president but more than fair to say, you know, that the president won pennsylvania, he won wisconsin, he won michigan because of his appeal to voters who had anxiety about globalization and she did thought speak to it in a positive way. You diagnosed the problem. Is there a solution . A temptation for democrats and critics of the donald trump to sit back, lean back with a bucket of popcorn and watch the drama. Watch the controversy that is constantly swirling around the president. But, yeah. This is an indication that democrats, national democrats, are sort of recognizing with some urgency that you cant always have your message be, look at the other guy. Look at the other party flailing. You need a message that is your own. I remember seeing this during the campaign when i was traveling with Hillary Clinton. There were often days and weeks when they were supposed to be sort of a policy theme, a theme to what she was supposed to talk about, but that, often, got overshadowed by the latest sort of trump misspeak or trump drama. I think democrats are trying to make sure they dont repeat that mistake. We should say, though, most of the specific policy ideas are things that actually worked hard on the Hillary Clinton agenda. She is alzheimers to zika. The question, what did she talk about, emphasize what message did she send . I think the question for democrats Going Forward will be, yes, they have a basket of ideas. How are they able to frame a positive agenda or get sucked into responding to trump, because he is the son, un in ou political universe. Democratic ideas. Trudge r trump ran on not necessarily republican ideas. Especially on trade. You got the impression. Trump voters got the impression this guys going to fight for me, remember me. I will be relevant to his presidency. Hillary clinton for all her strengths a more detached person made no connection with people. How do the democrats, you have a republican president , republican congress, both house and senate, 30 republican governors, how . How do you break through and say give us another even if trump, study us. Give us a look . The look for democrats is over thinking this. Schumer is talking about, we didnt say enough about what we believe in. Thats a fair point, but i think the bigger point is, who they had saying it. The wall street journal nbc had a poll out last week that looked at counties trump won. In those counties, Hillary Clintons approval among independents was like 12 or 14 . Abombinal. And asked bernie sanders. His approval in the same counties was 41 , 42 . Which was higher than trumps. And i think the takeaway there is that in these counties, that clinton may have lost the election as much if not more than trump won it. And i would saylet me jump in. A Program Based in washington, we listen to voters. I like to travel. Talking to trump voters. An area trump suffered some, look at the polling, a lot of independents who came to donald trump. Some of them, some of them, having second thoughts. Heres one. I feel like im alice in wonderland, down the rabbit hole. It has been a disaster. Where is him bringing together republicans and democrats, and working his deal with them . Where is it . It aint there. Hes golfing. On the flip side, and the president s standing among independents who voted for him, on the flip side, a lot of trump voters, yeah, say the president might be having problems getting thing done but dont blame him. They blame the atmosphere in washington and particularly the Republican Leadership in congress. Not the president. Listen. Yes. Speak without getting ripped apart. If you just leave him alone, let him do his job. Hes a hell of a businessman. Let him run the business. In fact, vietnam, hes being stopped before, every time he gets to this line hes being stopped. Democrats tried to spit up a rebranding, interesting dynamic, yes, the president s overall poll numbers are lousy but hes helped his base. A credit to the president. True. Of course, base isnt enough to win an election. The question i think, the biggest question for democrats is, the candidates. These ideas are all well and good, but the biggest problem that they need, they need good candidates. The problem arguably in the special elections they lost. The candidates were not that great. Interesting to watch these folks come forward. Sneak in one more quick break. Showing pictures just outside the white house. Awaiting a rare statement from the president s soninlaw Jared Kushner just back from an important question and answer session on capitol hill. Back in just a second. Thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy to get back to doing. What you love. Ensure. Always be you. No, please, please, oh shrieks in terror heavy breathing and snorting no, no. The running of the bulldogs . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money aleia saved by switching to geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Theres nothing more than my vacation. Me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. Booking. Com gets it. And with their price match, i know im getting the best price every time. Now i can start relaxing even before the vacation begins. Your vacation is very important. Thats why booking. Com makes finding the right hotel for the right price easy. Visit booking. Com now to find out why were booking. Yeah cat 2 hey, whats that . cat 1 whoa, gravy cat 2 you mean extra gravy cat 1 what . cat 2 thats new friskies extra gravychunky cat 1 chunky gravy purradise cat 2 purradise . Really . vo feed their fantasy. Friskies. Welcome back. Getting close to the top of the hour. Seeing outside the west wing there awaiting Jared Kushner the president s soninlaw just testified on capitol hill before staffer answering questions, asked buyan cnn on the way out, answered all their questions . Answered as many as they had. It went very well. Awaiting Public Statements by Jared Kushner where cnns sara murray is waiting outside. A big day, Jared Kushner answering these questions and only once before, a tech event, have we even heard Jared Kushner speak. Reporter very rare. They have a mike set up. Podium with the white house emblem set up for Jared Kushner to speak. An opportunity to perhaps given a more detailed readout what he had to say in his meeting with Senate Staffers today. Of course, he released a statement earlier today insi insisting he did not collude and detailing four different meetings with russian officials. Kushner said it went well. It will be fascinating to watch the reaction from senators after he speaks publicly. Certainly senators on capitol hill would like an opportunity to question Jared Kushner in public under oath. So far no indication yet that that is going to happen. Well see if they continue to call for that after he speaks here at the white house. Part of the dynamics in washington. In private session today. Youre right. Back for the House Intelligence Committee tomorrow. Calls for a Public Session as well. A little white house 101. Just outside the west wing. Sara noted, white house emblem on the podium. Marine standing outside tells you the president is in the west wing. We continue to watch for Jared Kushner to come out. Thanks for joining us on inside politics. See you here tomorrow. Wolf blitzer picks up coverage after a quick break. No. With claim rateguard your rates wont go up just because of a claim. I totally couldve no switching to allstate is worth it. Hello. Im wolf blitzer. 1 00 p. M. In washington, 8 00 p. M. In moscow, 9 00 p. M. In kabul. Whereof youre watching from around the world, welcome. Waiting to hear directly from Jared Kushner from the white house. Looking a the microphone there outside the west wing. The president s soninlaw and trusted adviser spent much of the day so far up on capitol hill answering questions from Senate Intelligence committee staffers. At any moment now, were told we expect to hear directly from kushner, making a Public Statement. Well have live coverage of that as soon as