News, analysis and interviews with politicians and observers. Several other top campaign officials, and with russians who had ties to the kremlin. On sunday, this tweet describing in the clearest terms yet what this meeting was about. This was a meeting, the president tweeted, to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics and it went nowhere. Adding lastly, i did not know about it. Now remember, when the New York Times was first breaking news of this meeting, the president Helped Don Junior Draft a statement that claimed it was about adoption policy. After that was proven to be a lie, the president s story began evolving, to use a polite term. This is a year ago in paris. I think from a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting. Its called Opposition Research or Even Research into your opponent. Ive had many people ive only been in politics for two years, but ive had many people call up, we have information on this factor or this person or, people involved in the case, how he communicates to Jeff Sessions over at the attorney general, and so i dont think we can look at these tweets and sort of write them off or shrug off that, oh, this is just the president tapping it out on his phone. Its going to be important as this case progresses. A critical piece of it is that mueller has all the documentation too. We presume he has texts, emails, meeting schedules, correspondence back and forth, which is important because the key players involved keep changing their stories publicly. If you go back and look at this, july 8th, the trump junior statement. The meeting was primarily about adoption. We now know the president was involved in that, even though they denied it at the time. Then the New York Times writes, no, it was about Opposition Research on clinton. Trump junior releases emails that says clinton dirt was d discussed. Sarah sanders evolves that, says the president weighed in on the statement. Then in september, Trump Junior Sa says he doesnt recall white house involvement in the statement. The New York Times personal lawyer tells mueller trump dictated the statement. So it evolves and changes. If youre bob mueller, you know a hell of a lot more than we do about this. You have all the documentation and the like. Again, beating a broken record, but the president keeps making the case that he should sit down with mueller. The Big Legal Question here is not collusion. Thats not really in statute here unless youre talking about antitrust law. Its conspiracy to commit a crime. The crime is obtaining help from a foreign power, which could be construed as an inkind campaign contribution. This is fascinating because of the prospect a subpoena could come in. Yesterday, jay sekulow mentioned if a subpoena comes in, theyre going to file a motion to quash. Thats going to go up almost certainly to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is 44 in terms of appointees from either party. The potentially decisive vote could be brett kavanaugh, the nominee. He could have a pivotal say in the president s legal fate. Hes expressed expansive views of president ial power. Tonc to your point about jay sekulow, he had to clean up his own past statements. Hes the one who went on television saying its ridiculous, the president had nothing to do with it. Now he says, oh, well. I had Bad Information at that point. I made a mistake in my statement. I talked about that before. That happens when you have cases like this. I think its very important to point out that in a situation like this, you have, over time, facts develop. Thats what investigations do. I agreed to go on your network and others days within being retained on this and had a lot of information to process. I got that one wrong. Facts develop in a lot of things over time, but facts about something thats already happened and who knew what when or who was in the room, those dont change, they dont develop. The president either did or did not help draft a statement. There were plenty of people who could have given a jay sekulow that information. He either went on to be a political lawyer and didnt do any homework before he lied on television or said something that turned out to be not true, or again, hes just like them and every time you get caught, youre going to change your story. I think this is less a reflection of this case and more a reflection of the clients that they have here. Trump is known in a political setting, in a Business Setting for sort of changing what he says depending on who hes talking to. Hes done it for years. So the fact that shehes doing now in some ways isnt a surprise, but the stakes are so much higher, and hes putting people, his own attorneys and advisers, in terrible positions to go out and defend things that he himself later comes out and admits are different. Its also absolutely emblematic of the lack of discipline in the president s team. Its shifted, different people have been in and out of that team, but theyve all been characterized by a lack of any discipline you normally see, especially lawyers who are normally very careful. Its not the facts that are changing. Its the clients story that seems to be changing. The president does have this Tenden Tendency to try to get ahead of it. Tweeted publicly, it seems less nefarious. Of course, tweets are public statements that can be used in court. To that point, thats why im so curious about the president over this weekend, a, after seeing hope hicks and b, knowing more than any of us at the table know. Thats why you get curious, what does the president know . What is he worried about when he does this . Meanwhile, separate but related, the Paul Manafort trial resumes next hour. This is a huge week for prosecutors. Expected on the stand soon, manaforts longtime righthand man rick gates. Gates handled all of manaforts daytoday business then joined the Trump Campaign in a top position. His testimony is a key test for prosecutors and the credibility of their big cooperating witnesses. Shimon prokupecz is following this trial and joins us now live here in washington. Is today the day, shimon . Do we get rick gates . When he takes the stand, what are we looking for . Reporter quite honestly, we dont know. We know the witness who was testifying on friday, the accountant, one of the accountants, shes going to continue testifying this afternoon when manaforts lawyers are going to get to question her. That is the big question now, when does rick gates take the stand . Some of what were going to see and learn for the first time, perhaps, is just the extent of his cooperation. Jurors will likely get that. There will be documents submitted into evidence. Well get to learn how much hes been cooperating. We may not learn the full extent in terms of where it goes out into the campaign or perhaps the collusion investigation, but certainly parts of his cooperation are going to become known at this trial. Itll no doubt be challenged by the defense. His credibility is a key issue, john, for them. Theyre arguing he was sort of the mastermind behind this entire thing, blaming him for a lot of manaforts behavior. So its going to be interesting. What will be most fascinating, to see what his life has been like these last few months as hes been cooperating. It is fascinating. Big test for rick gates, whether he stands up to the crossexamination and the Special Counsel. Shimon, appreciate that. Keep in touch as we learn more this afternoon. Up next, just hours to go, the Trump Administration reimposing sanctions on iran. The white house says iran has no one to blame but itself. Liberty mutual saved us almost 800 if these packs have the same number of bladder leak pads, i bet you think bigger is better. Actually, its bulkier. Always discreet quickly turns liquid to gel, for drier protection thats a lot less bulky. Always discreet. The nations largest seniorliving referral service. For the past five years, ive spoken with hundreds of families and visited seniorcare communities around the country. And ive got to tell you, todays seniorliving communities are better than ever. These days, there are amazing amenities, like movie theaters, Exercise Rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars, and bistros, even petcare services. And nobody understands your options like the advisers at a Place For Mom. 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An incomplete dose could increase infection risk. Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, Kidney Injuries and Capillary Leak Syndrome have occurred. Report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. In patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. The most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. Ask your doctor about Neulasta Onpro. Pay no more than 5 per dose with copay card. Welcome back. President trump today following through on one of the many controversial threats and promises hes made when it comes to foreign policy. Starting tomorrow, midnight tonight, his administration will reimpose sanctions on iran. The first phase excludes oil but targets coal, steel, aluminum, and precious metal. The sanctions also go after irans Automobile Sector and aim to cut off the countrys access to the u. S. Dollar. National security adviser john bolton says getting tough with tehran is the only thing that will change its behavior. It is certainly 180degree reversal from the failed obama administration. Our policy is not regime change, but we want to put unprecedented pressure on the government of iran to change its behavior. So far, theyve shown no indication theyre prepared to do that. Cnns Kaitlan Collins joins us live to take us inside this decision by the white house. How did all of this unfold today . We see the ambassador out talking about it, but what about the president . Oh, a Little Communications issue there with kaitlan. Reporter this is standard operating procedure. The white house would allow a small group of reporters to come in, watch the president sign Something Like this, but today that did not happen. Instead, this was not on the president s schedule, this signing of this Executive Order, reimposing these sanction. Though, we did know the sanctions were coming since the president withdrew from the iran deal back in may. Instead, the white house had already established a photo lid, which essentially means were not expecting to see the president any longer today by the time they sent out and alerted the press that the president signed this Executive Order today. Typically, the reporters would come in, there would be camera coverage, and an opportunity for reporters to ask questions. Now, today those questions likely would have been about the president s tweet over the weekend saying that that meeting very clearly and explicitly between his son and russian officials last summer was not about russian adoptions but instead about obtaining dirt on Hillary Clinton. Of course, those questions werent asked today because there was no coverage of this event, which weve asked the white house why there wasnt any coverage of it. They havent gotten back to us yet. Kaitlan collins, appreciate that. Shes traveling with the president up in new jersey. It is unusual, especially because this has been a Signature Issue for the president. You heard john bolton, ambassador bolton, say this is an issue where a lot of the world thinks theyre wrong, but they think theyre right. They view the obama deal was weak, not tough enough on iran. You would think normally, would you not, that the president and this is an issue where the Republican Base doesnt like his trade policy, but the republican establishment is with him on this. You would think this would be the Perfect Moment for more of a big event, right . You would. In the past, the president actually has been pretty forward leaning and public in his statements on iran. Hes had events at the white house. Kaitlan is probably right that hes probably trying to avoid some of the questions not related to iran. As a policy matter, it is quite significant. It is a promise fulfilled for the president. He has promised he was going to be taking a tougher line, putting sanctions back in place. It will be interesting to watch the reaction from the europeans. Theyre not only unhappy with the president in terms of his policy on iran but also on trade right now. Hes putting a lot of American Allies in a really difficult position. You saw some statements this morning already condemning this action, but for the president , he looks at republicans and he looks at his base, which fully support what hes doing as it relates to tehran. To that point, lets put them up here, courtesy of reuters. The German Foreign minister and the spokeswoman for the chancellor making clear that they dont view this as the right way to go about this. They also think the president is now trying to punish essentially german company, french companies, other European Companies doing business with iran. Again, this is one on which the president has been fairly consistent, even though theres a lot of blow back. Yeah, this is where i think john bolton using the word unprecedented pressure on iran is interesting. On one hand, they can hurt the iranian currency. They already already Companies Fleeing iran because were sort of the big player, especially in the banking system. So, you know, i think that will be one of the tests. What is the Trump Administration trying to achieve . The imposition of sanctions is usually a means to an end. In the obama administration, it was a means to get them to the table so you could negotiate the deal. Theres little indication that the Trump Administration has sort of indicated what they think their realistic end goal is. Maximum pressure with a big Question Mark for now at least. Up next, tomorrows big test in ohio and the president s late effort to help in a contest that should be, emphasis on should be, a republican slam dunk. Its time we rebuild our own country now, okay. [ cheers and applause ] and Troy Balderson is going to help me do that. Right, troy . Troy . Yes, okay. He said yes. If he said no, im out of here, okay. Farmer. My life is here. [telephone ring] ahoyhoy. Alexander graham bell here. No, no, my number is one, you must want two two, i say like my father before. [telephone ring] like my father before. Ahoyhoy as long as people talk too loudly on the phone, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Dream more, dream faster, and above all. Now, ill dream gig. Now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. Welcome back. Ohio, and specifically the columbus suburbs, the big test tomorrow of the midterm mood. A house Special Election, as you can see, the republican who holds this seat now got 66 of the vote when he won reelection in 2016. This is a big republican district, but theres a Special Election for the district tomorrow and republicans are nervous. If theyre nervous, that tells you in tnot only about this dist but the midterm mood. Lets take a closer look. The last democrat to win this district was in 1980. That tells you everything you need to know. This is a solid republican district in a conservative suburb of cluolumbus. It should be held by republicans. The president carried it by 11. 5. Mitt romney won it by 10. 5. Even at the president ial level, solid republican territory. But the republicans are pouring money in here. The last republican congressman carried it by all of that, why are the democrats competitive . Listen to ohios governor john kasich. Hes more of a moderate. T. The chaos that seems to surround donald trump has unnerved a lot of people. So suburban women in particular here are the ones that are really turned off. You add to that the millennials, you have it very close. I asked them the other day, why are you bringing trump in . He said, i dont have anything to do with it. I think hes trying to thread this needle. If republicans lose a district that is considered by most analysts plus seven, plus eight for republicans, the last republican won it by 30plus points, if its even close, what does that tell us about the mood from now through november and the likelihood of a democratic takeover of the house . Its just another data point potentially in the democratic enthusiasm that has shown up in numerous other Special Elections. From what we can see in fundraising from democratic candidates, theres real enthusiasm out there. Its been consistent. It seems like even if you just look at the efarly voting in ths particular district, there is some evidence that democrats are casting votes early in ways they hadnt previously. So i think its going to be a really Interesting Data point in sort of the overall Special Election and trending towards november as well. And so the president goes out in the final days, and he makes the case he doesnt acknowledge that some people dont like him, but he does make the case that never mind me, if you elect this democrat, the democrats might take the house back, then you get nancy ploe Circumstances Th pelosi, then you get higher taxes. Nancy pelosi controls danny oconnor, whoever the hell that is. Danny oconnor. Thats a beauty. Hes another beauty. This is what were fighting. They will take away your taxes. They will destroy so many things that weve given. Danny oconnor would be the democratic candidate against Troy Balderson. Probably did some good for his Name Recognition there. Yeah, its decent for democrats if they come closer, but its a fivealarm fire for republicans if they lose this district. The republican incumbent here has won this district by an average of 35 points. It was redrawn after 2010. The bigger implications are whats fascinating. This is a very College Educated district, one of the most in ohio, i think the most in ohio. If republicans cannot hold on to this, what does it mean for someone else in these upper income, suburban educated districts where a lot of people are turned off by trump. This tells you all you need to know. You could say, gee, these are just being good, loyal republicans, or you could say, wait a minute, why do you have to send the president , the Vice President , the house speaker, the president s son . Why do you need to send all this and more . Why do you have to send the Fire Department into a district that should be a cake walk . Every time we have these Special Elections, we always caution its true. You dont want to read too much into it. Weve now had enough of these Special Elections and primaries you start to see a trend. Republicans are worried. They know that trump has 80 , lets say, Approval Rating among gop voters, but there is this soft 20 . They tend to be College Educated younger voters. If that 20 starts to fall apart, its a really difficult midterm landscape for the gop. Special if all the democrats are coming out of the woodwork. If democrats come out and republicans maybe arent voting. Look at the money, look at the resources. This tells you all you need to know. This is a safe republican district. Look at all the money republican parties and groups are pouring into this district. You just look at that and say, they know they got a problem. In addition to Everything Else folks have said here, i think theres implications for trumps mood. You know, when he loses these if he loses, right, if they lose here, despite him going in there i was with him for the 78 minutes or whatever he spoke in ohio on saturday night, you know, it has the potential to just really make him angry. His anger tends to build. Then you sort of he gets less disciplined, and you can imagine the kinds of things he tweets and the things he says and statements and the like. Sort of in addition to the politics on the ground, kind of getting into his head, its not going to be a good place. Maybe hell rethink the strategy theyve been talking about of getting him out there so much during midterms as we get closer and closer to the election. They were talking about plans to have him traveling All Over The Place and talking all the time. This would be a place youd want to put him. If that doesnt work its a bifurcated strategy. On one hand, they are trying to appeal to the trump voter. Theyre trying to supercharge that vote. But also appeal to what they call the kasich republican, the moderate republican. He talked about that in the clip you played. My question is, can you bifurcate that . Can you bring trump in . Can you bring pence in . While also not turning off those exact voters that youre also trying to appeal to. The soft 20. But also then energizing democrats. Trump comes in and you can energize democrats as well who say, like, hey, this is our chance to stop him. Look not just what it would do for the agenda, but impeachment is on the lips and minds of a lot of democrats. I think a lot of House Republican incumbents are going to say, go play in the senate races, if this one goes down. Up next, new, this just in, Rudy Giuliani just gave cnn an update on when President Trumps legal team will get back to robert mueller. Have we heard this story before . U to get your windshield fixed. Teacher lets turn in your science papers. Tech vo this teacher always puts her students first. Student i did mine on volcanoes. Teacher you did . oh, i cant wait to read it. Tech vo so when she had auto glass damage. She chose safelite. With safelite, she could see exactly when wed be there. Teacher you must be pascal. 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Still, its significant, especially if you go back to where we began the hour. If we watch the president the last 7200 hours or so, hes always attacking bob mueller. Now saying, yep, the Trump Tower Meeting was about dirt on Hillary Clinton from russians. Then theres the question about the air force one call. We know mueller wants to talk about obstruction, impeding the investigation. I guess i have to add the caveat before i yield the floor that giuliani has said before were close to a decision, and then weeks later were still close to a decision. Part of the reason we see the Timeline Shifting is because you do have this device between the president and his attorneys. The president is very sensitive to any perception that hes trying to avoid answering questions about all the myriad of things that mueller is looking at. His attorneys would like him to avoid some of these questions, in part because of the changing statements. Youve had this back and forth not just between mueller and the white house but between trump and his legal team. And mueller has said, no, i need to interview the president. Giulianis response is you can talk about the campaign but nothing else. Hes the president of the United States, i get it. The mueller team has tried to present itself as reasonable, but we have to do some stuff. At what point do they just have to make a decision . Or do they have to make a decision . It does feel like were close to that point in time. Its hard to read the tea leaves on these things, but if you look at the tweets, it seems in some ways like the president is setting the stage for not cooperating with the probe at this point. All the talk of the 17 angry democra Democra Democrats and building up the language with the probe, well see what happens. And to the president s state of mind, i think its fascinating the White House Press secretary has said the president believes manafort was treated unfairly. The president has conveyed that himself. Two other people the president thought were treated unfairly, joe arpaio. It raises the question, at least in my mind, does manafort think his end game is ultimately clemency. And the president s team has also upped its attacks on the credibility of the mueller probe. You can do that on television or in a court of law. Every time its been done in a court of law, mueller has won. When we come back, another tweet from the president endorsing another republican candidate. This one shares his views that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 president ial election. Liberty mutual saved us 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. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. Sleonly remfresh usesep one in threeionpowered melatonin to deliver up to 7 hours of sleep support. Number one sleep doctor recommended remfresh your nightly sleep companion. Welcome back. Topping our political radar today, senator rand paul in moscow, apparently doing some diplomacy of his own as a followup to the recent trump putin summit. The republican meeting with russian lawmakers asked if Election Meddling came up, he deflected, said dialogue is the key to relations between the two countries. Senator paul also says hes invited some of those russian lawmakers to visit washington for more discussions. President trump weighing in on the kansas governors race a day before the republican primary there. He tweeted his support today for the kansas secretary of state. Hes a fantastic guy, the president said, who loves his state and our country. The New York Times reporting, though, that Republican Leadership was hoping the president would stay out of this race, saying he could actually increase the democrats odds of taking the governors mansion. A new Government Watchdog reports the Trump Administration haste with the border wall could waste millions in taxpayer dollars. The gao spells out its concerns in a new report just obtained by cnn. Alex, whats it say . John, we should also note the Government Accountability office is a nonpartisan watchdog that reports to congress. In this report that came out just around an hour ago, they say that the department of homeland security, which has been tasked with building this wall and specifically its subsidiary, the customs and border protection, is proceeding without Key Information on cost. As a result, they risk wasting some of the billions of dollars that have been allocated for this project. They say that cbp is looking at different infrastructure, looking at different locations without taking into consideration the cost. Theyre also ignoring some of the previous assets that are there, parts of the fence along that border that are already there, specifically in the rio grand grandevalley. As a result, some of those billions of dollars risk being wasted. John, i want to read part of the conclusion in this 50page report put out by the gao today. It reads, dhs faces an increased risk that the Border Wall System Program will cost more than projected, take longer than planned, or not fully perform as expected. Without assessing costs when prioritizing locations for future barriers, cbp does not have complete information to determine whether it is using its limited resources in the most Cost Effective manner and does not have important Cost Information that would help it develop future budget requests. So john, essentially the gao is saying that if youre going to spend this money, spend it correctly and spend it wisely. John . Think it through first maybe. Alex, great reporting. Appreciate that. Well see if this report comes up when the president and congress have to debate a new spending plan. Up next, the president says he deserves some Bragging Rights if you look at his record compared to President Obamas at this point. Well show you the fact check, number by number. Stay with us. Ooh, heaven is a place on earth Bragging Rights for his record, especially if you compare it to his predecessor, sharing this one tweet that looks at him and President Obama. Heres the tweet. President ial approval numbers, very good, strong economy, military and just about Everything Else, better numbers than obama at this point by far. Were winning on just about every front, and for that reason, there will not be a blue wave, but there might be a red wave. Thats what the president says on twitter. Heres a sidebyside comparison of some of the numbers at the same point in their presidency. Guess what . President trump is right, especially on the economics. Remember the times. President Trump Took Office at a time the economy was booming. President Obama Took Office in a recession, after a financial crisis when the economy was tanking. Job approval, if you look at the margin of error, President Obama was a little above, but theyre roughly the same. The unemployment rate, President Trump does deserve Bragging Rights. Again, consider the times though. Jobs added versus jobs lost, we were still deep in the recession when President Obama took over. A lot of republicans dont like the deficits under President Trump, but higher under obama at this point. Economic growth, certainly, just trying to crawl out of the recession there. President trump has ever right to be happy about 4. 1 gdp in the last quarter. That is why when the president is on the campaign trail, he says look at the numbers. Why Arent We Doing Better . I purposely didnt mention the kind of numbers were achieving because i didnt want to be accused of exaggeration. If i would have said 4. 1 gdp, they would have it would have been major headlines. By the way, its going a lot higher. You can mark my words. You know, if i get the Trade Deficits down, they never tell you this, if i get the Trade Deficits down bring them down. If i bring the Trade Deficits down, we could pick up three and four points in gdp. Nobody says that. Nobody says that. Now, again, the direct comparison to the obama numbers is unfair in some ways, just because of the times. President Obama Took Office when the country was in a ditch. President Trump Took Office, republicans can take credit for their tax cuts and deregulation, but the economy was already doing that when he took office. He does have a point in the sense that why is the political outlook for republicans so bleak when you do have 4 growth last quarter . You do have a strong economy. You do have, you know, record low unemployment. Why so bleak . I think one of the reasons is that trump has been unable to keep the focus on the economy. If he were able to just stay singularly focused on the economy, which is quite strong at this point, i think you might see republicans in a different position. Instead, its trump himself that keeps muddying the waters there. The second piece of it for republicans looking out, even past the midterms, is the worry about the impact of the tariffs, of the trade policies, that it will take an economy that should have the party in a pretty strong position and send it in the opposite direction. Theres really nobody else to blame in that situation but trump himself. To the extent that President Trump has high approval among some groups of people, its because he scores really well on the economy. President obama did not have that luxury. President obama around this point in his presidency was in his mid40s in approval. President trump right now is in his low 40s. Not a big difference. The one area where President Trump clearly exceeds barack obama at this point was an intraparty approval. Obama had sunk to about 75 on average at this point in his presidency. President trump is about mid80s right now. One recent poll showed him at 88 , which is the highest of any president on an intraparty level since the 50s with the one exception of bush post9 11. It is pretty remarkable. But what you get and what republicans would tell you is they try to sell the economy. In suburban areas especially, like the district up tomorrow, the president is personally toxic and they cant breakthrough. They cant get through the personal drag of the president of the United States. Lets listen to him a little more. This is saturday in ohio. He says theres not going to be a blue wave, trust me. Of course, most republicans dont. Theyre talking about this blue wave. I dont think so. I dont think so. If the democrats get in, theyre going to raise your taxes. Youre going to have crime All Over The Place. Youre going to have people pouring across the border. So why would that be a blue wave . I think it would be a red wave. Ill tell you what, really, i think it should be a red wave. Is there anybody, anybody you talk to smart about politics that tells you theres going to be a red wave . You know, the president s always in the run up to an election, even when they instinctively know theyre going to lose that election or are likely to, they never give in. Obama didnt give in either in the run up to the 2010 midterms when in his words afterwords they got shellacked. This president in particular has really, i think, a way of living inside his own bubble, inside the Fox News Bubble that, you know, he and his supporters live in. So you get the sense that he just doesnt quite understand the level of kind of the