Transcripts For CNNW Inside Politics 20190222

Africanamerican women at a big conference in new orleans. And if youre castro, you work iowa and build support one group at a time. I just want to tell people i read your book. It is wonderful. Please go to a library, go to costco. Buy the book, whatever. We begin the hour with a big legal deadline today and an intriguing question it presents. How much is Robert Mueller ready to tell us . A midnight filing deadline for russias special counsel in what could be muellers last public act before he delivers his report to the justice department. Todays sentencing for manafort gives prosecutors a big opportunity. That opportunity is to put meat on the bones buried between other Court Filings and the chance to answer the biggest question. Was there collusion and did it reach into the heart of the Trump Campaign . The president with a morning twitter reminder, quote, no collusion, and the president says, the witch hunt must end. The collusion question, of course, central to muellers big investigation, and his prosecutors have hinted manafort is central to their theory. They say manafort complicated his predicament by lying after finally agreeing to cooperate. They say those lies include cooperating with the Trump White House and lying about the meeting about trump tower moscow. Why he lied and what we can learn. Julia pace from the associated press, paul holson from the New York Times and Shimon Prokupecz in buzzfeed. The judge can obviously read whats hidden behind the redactions, but what will we learn . I think well see why prosecutors think Paul Manafort should get the sentence theyre asking for. Will it go further than the other documents . Its going to be hard to say right now because i still think were guided by the same principles that they cant reveal information that is still under investigation. But i think theyre going to probably go deeper than theyve gone in any other filings trying to link Paul Manafort to what was really going on here. I think youre right, their theory has been that Paul Manafort is the central figure in this entire investigation, certainly on the collusion end whether or not he was somehow getting help from the russians for the campaign, so thats going to probably be laid out a little bit more. But look, the judge already knows a lot here. Weve got through so many different hearings, the breach of the cooperation agreement. But what is significant in all this, john, is this could be the last significant filing from the mueller team, because we do expect him to wrap up, if not today, any day next week. Thats where the intrigue kicks in, in the sense that if youre Robert Mueller, you know all the public scrutiny on this investigation, you know what the president has said about you and will continue to say about you. And you know the american public, whether theyre partisans and have already picked sides, or if they just want to know, two years, answer the questions. You dont know how much the report will be made public by the justice department. That could be a fight down the road. Whether its the manafort indictment, any indictment, all these filings weve learned crumbs, weve learned little pieces. But all the redactions keep us from learning how it all fits together. Will mueller feel the pressure of, all right, this might be the last public thing i file . Air it out. We dont know, but certainly we know a lot. Its not as though were going to get a report from mueller via the ag because mueller has been complete in a lot of these filings. But there is a string and we dont know how they all fit together at this point. One thing shimon said, and i think its important, when they talk about Paul Manafort they say, look, everything Paul Manafort is getting in trouble for, this is all before he became campaign manager. This has nothing to do with his role as campaign manager. What were actually seeing, and we may see more clearly with this filing, is that actually is not the case. He is central to this question of whether the Trump Campaign colluded with russia to influence the election, and that goes completely against everything weve heard from the Trump Administration. That is essential. Donald trump gets nominated and a couple weeks later the guy who is his Campaign Chairman and the most important guy at the convention in terms of the operations is meeting with the russia operatives. Why . They said this in a Court Transcript right out of the hearing. We may actually see him say this in writing out of this filing we get today. This goes to the larger view of what we think is going on and what goes to the motive here. This goes, i think, very much to the heart of what the special counsels office is investigating. Hes still with the campaign at that point. Hes kind of busy. Hes trying to win a president ial election. Why is he having this meeting . The Unanswered Questions were looking for that the prosecutors say he lied about after agreeing to cooperate. Why did he make a 120,000 to a pro trump pac . Why did he try to minimize kilim nirks ks role in alleged witness tampering . What is the other doj investigation man a mort aldly lied about . Which Trump Administration official did manafort contact after his indictment . Part of Paul Manaforts trial became so focused on ostrich skin jackets, things like that, that thats what the president chose to focus on and it helped distance himself from Paul Manafort. We saw those things come up in filings but it didnt quite play out in public as some of the other stuff for Paul Manafort in his campaign. It is muellers question to answer in some form, was manafort, and roger stone, for that matter, were they just swamp creatures trying to make money, peddle influence, hoping trump was going to lose . Or was there a coordinated effort in the campaign to share information and get help from the russians . Those two things dont have to be in conflict. They could have been doing both of those things. I think the trump tweet this morning is indicative. We dont know whats going to happen, but i think people around the city feel this is coming to a climax. This is sort of the first part of it and where is it going to go from here . I do hope they actually start to say some things today, because whats gone on so far as given the president and his team a chance to say, hey, this really wasnt about us, this is about something else. But this could be about them. One way or the other in the sense that if mueller has spent all this time in what he finds is a bunch of stupid meetings and a greedy trump organization, but if there is no knowledge of it, he should say so. If they can prove knowledge between officials and the candidate himself, they should say that, too. Apparently the manhattan d. A. Is also waiting on this, and the idea that there are some who think the president could still examinercise his right to pardo Paul Manafort. The New York Times reporting this hour, the Manhattan District Attorneys Office is creating charges against the Trump Campaign chairman in an effort to ensure that he will still face prison time even if the president pardons him for his federal crimes, according to several people with knowledge of the matter. Why was manafort lying . Did he have some secret deal, maybe . We dont know that, but this could be a backup plan. It is a backup plan, and the d. A. s office has been at this for well over two years, since manafort got involved. But they didnt want to conflict with what Robert Mueller is doing, and now that thats coming to an end, they may see opportunity here. Theyve been ready to file charges, theyve been ready to have the grand jury file charges, essentially, and move on with that case. It is a backup plan. There is always concern that the president would pardon manafort but he cant pardon him in this case. Its all a backup plan. Also a reminder, just the fact this is now focusing on sdny, while the Mueller Investigation may be reaching a conclusion and well learn what he came up with, there are a whole other set of investigations that actually get, from what we know publicly, closer to the president , his business, other people around him. I need to interrupt the conversation for breaking news and shocking charges this hour out of palm beach county, florida. Jupiter police say robert craft, hes the owner of the new England Patriots, paid a prostitute for sex. Yes, sir, he is one of the individuals. Can you tell us who he is . That is mr. Robert kraft . Robert kraft, the owner of the patriots . Yes. What is he being charged with . Hes being charged with the same thing as the others, and that is soliciting prostitution. Jason, what more can you tell us . Reporter really, this is an embarrassing moment for robert kraft, a 77yearold billionaire, owner of the new England Patriots. Just to recap here, Jupiter Police announced that he is charged with two counts of soliciting and another to commit prostitution. This is stemming from an eightmonth investigation, eightmonthlong investigation. This stemmed from florida, also to china and to new york, and apparently what investigators are saying is he visited this day spa on not one, but allegedly two occasions, and according to what investigators are now telling us, he is among some 25 men who were arrested, again, for soliciting a prostitute. Again, this is the owner of the new England Patriots, a friend of the president. Again, much of the details of this coming forward to us now as his press conference now just wrapping up. Youre getting the headline there that robert kraft, owner of the new England Patriots, arrested at a day spa in jupiter, florida. As soon as we get more information, well pass it along. Our legal analyst paul callen, joins us on the phone. Give us this case and the high profile of the new England Patriots owner being arrested in this case. Its shocking, but on the other hand, john, its not called the worlds oldest profession for nothing. Solicitation under florida law is punishable by up to about a year in jail. You can get a year in probation or a thousand dollars in criminal fines. They also have an interesting provision in florida law that you have to complete a hundred hours of Community Service and attend a prostitution and Human Trafficking awareness course. So hes in for an embarrassing time. Its unusual that the john, which is what he is in this case gets arrested. Usually the person running the brothel gets arrested, so this is an unusual approach to round up the johns. You see it happening periodically in jurisdictions where there is a major prostitution problem, and he just got caught in the net. Its a really damaging thing to his reputation, obviously. To that point, you heard the Law Enforcement briefing where they said mr. Kraft was one of 25 men as part of this. So clearly the police seem to think they had a major problem on their hands. Im not trying to put context into this, im not sure how i would put context into this, but an organization, a business, being used for a major operation that they thought they needed to make a statement here, right . Absolutely, and send a message out to the community that theyre not going to tolerate the operation of these spas that periodically become popular in urban communities around the country. So this is not unusual. It does happen all over the country but its kind of a send the message arrest. Paul, stay with us. Christine brennan, our contributor, also sports columnist for usa today joins us. Robert kraft full disdisclos, i saw robert kraft. We had a brief conversation, mr. Kraft and my children, at an elevator in a hotel. When you heard the news, robert kraft arrested alleged to have solicited prostitutes . John, robert kraft is arguably the best known owner in sports. There are a few others out there, too, but hes certainly in the top five, maybe the top three in all u. S. Sports. So he has farther to fall than almost anyone. As you well know, he is one of the faces of the new England Patriots. They played in ten super bowls, they have won a record six championships under robert kraft. He is so recognizable, he is so well known, and he really represents his franchise the way most owners dont in the sense that hes out front, very visible, and deflategate, very visible in that controversy several years ago. So the potential down side of Something Like this for robert kraft, john, is even worse than it would be for most people because so many people know exactly who he is. To your point, hes an icon in new england for turning what was a losing franchise around, but nationally known, a, because of the patriots success, b, because of his friendship with the president of the United States. The president of the United States has nothing to do with this, but the fact the politics of this have come into play, that magnifies it. Thats your point, right . Absolutely. Youre right, he has been a very vocal support of the president. Robert kraft, john, and you know as well by being someone who follows lots of sports and has watched sports for years, he is a very visible person. He doesnt shy away from taking stand out there. Some owners want to be out front, others want to be behind the scenes. And robert kraft, a 77yearold who has always been out front and has always enjoyed the limelight and the spotlight and sparring with journalists and just being a guy who loves to represent his team. And this, of course, is the exact opposite kind of publicity that he would want, but because he is so well known, now the scrutiny is there in a way that it wouldnt be for so many other people. Well keep an eye on it as the investigation plays out. Christine brennan, thank you. The next move trying to block the president s Emergency Declaration and his border wall. G look better on an iphone . Both. 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Hampton by hilton. House democrats forging ahead today on a resolution to block Trumps National Emergency Declaration. He see him filing his resolution this morning to repeal the declaration and fight what congress calls, quote, the fake trump emergency. He has 226 cosponsors on his bill already, including one republican. The white house today trying to limit support for this resolution in the republican pear. What is the momentum on doing this and whats the latest count . Keep public affections down. This isnt a matter of will it pass the house . Yes, 226 is more than 218. Democrats have a majority, and it most certainly will pass the house next week on a vote. It should, as im being told right now, pass the senate as well. It will only take a simple majority for the senate to pass something to terminate the National Emergency resolution. This is where the support has shifted towards. Keep the number below a veto majority. In the house, between 221 and 290. From talking to House Republican aides at this point in time, they believe they can keep it down with help from the senate. Expectation right now is maybe they lose five, maybe six republicans. That will also fall below a vetoproof majority. That means despite the opposition, and we heard bipartisan opposition, the president s national Emergency Declaration will obviously stand. Obviously this doesnt factor in the lawsuits that are coming, some of which have already been filed and will be filed in the future, but from a legislative perspective, their main mission right now is to keep the numbers down. Will it be a rebuke for the president if the republicans join nancy pelosi in the house, if republicans join democrats in the senate to try and block this . Yes, it most certainly will. But will it stop it . On its face, as long as it stays under the top two thresholds of a veto majority, it wont, and thats pretty much all the white house cares for, john. Phil mattingly, appreciate it. Jeff zeleny joins our conversation in the studio. Democrats obviously understand that math, too, but they think its important to do. The Mueller Report could interrupt everything, but if not, change the debate in washington to something they may not win in the end in terms of the resolution, but they think theyre on high ground with the american people. I think they do, but the president probably wont pay much attention. Hell be in vietnam with his summit with kim jongun. This is just one example, we see them every day of every week, about what it means to be a democrat in control of the house. But at the end of the day, i would be very surprised if there were a lot of republican defections on this. There is certainly no reason for them to do that. The House Freedom caucus, all those people, tend to go along with it. Susan collins in the senate has been very outspoken. A lot of other appropriaters, roy blunt is one. The senator who chairs the Committee Said he would not vote to reverse this. But this is bad for the congress, and this puts the republicans in a bad place. So theyre going to side with trump over their own institution. Appropriations power is really the heart of congress power. You start giving that away, you really dont have much left. I think its going to be a tough vote for some of these republicans. Theyre going to have to go with the president , and they know that they are giving up their own authority. And the speaker seems to get it, Speaker Pelosi writing a letter last night sending it out to all colleagues in the house, trying to get at that point, simply saying, republicans, i thought you were constitutional conservatives. If youre constitutional conservatives, you have to vote with us on this one. She said, i write to all members of congress to co pif sponsor congressman Joaquin Castros privileged resolution. The house will move swiftly to pass this bill. The president s decision to go outside the bounds of law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the constitution and must be terminated. I think he is looking to see who dares to cross him on this priority for his administration, so i think the reaction of the republicans names that we see come out could be interesting. We might see some tweets from the president attacking, potentially, some of his critics. Certainly politics are at play here. Jeff is right, in some ways this will be a bit of a show vote because they probably wont be able to get enough to clear the vetoproof majority. But there are republicans who will be on the ballot in 2020 in some tough states, and some of what pelosi and the Democratic Leaders in the house over the next year or two will be putting those guys in really tough spots, to choose between voting against the president , taking a stand and appealing to the moderates in the state. This is one of those examples. Its a great reminder that anything that happens in washington right now, yes, it might be a policy challenge, and a legitimate one today, but most of the calculations will have 2020 implications. You look at the cover of the new yorker essentially saying he wants to finish the wall. And if youre a democrat running for president , especially if youre a socialist trying to make an early mark in the campaign, impressive fundraising so far, Bernie Sanders says, no, mr. President , dont make this about me, its about you. Do you support that resolution . Of course, i do. What the president is doing is unconstitutional, its illegal, and it is part of his Movement Toward an authoritarian society. This guy clearly is not familiar with the constitution, clearly not familiar with the separation of powers. He thinks hes got it all. Hes the only one running the sgovt that h government and that has got to stop. Well have that fight over the constitutional question that falls short of the votes. Well leave that up to the courts. It will be fought out in the courts. Republicans are going to be up. This is a tough vote for cory gardner in colorado. He has to appease the right but has to win the general. I think the other reason that looks bad for the republican and i think well see a lot of old quotes come back to haunt him, about president obamas use of executive authority. The House Republicans sued president obama over spending money that they didnt authorize on health care. And, you know, the pen and phone comment that the president made back then, you know, this was an outrage. Its hypocrisy in washington. The other person who was outraged about that was donald trump. There is some understanding when republicans are outraged but dont vote in that way, so well see how many republicans join in this vote. Breaking news this hour, patriots owner robert kraft busted on solicitation of prosecution. He was at a day spa when these alleged crimes took place. A statement came out, we categorically deny that mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity. Because it is a judicial matter, we will not be commenting any further. That from the new England Patriots about their owner, robert kraft. Well be right back. Were working together to do just that. Bringing you more great tasting beverages with less sugar or no sugar at all. Smaller portion sizes, clear calorie labels and reminders to think balance. Because we know mom wants whats best. More beverage choices, smaller portions, less sugar. Balanceus. Org tmobile will do the math for you. Right now, when you join tmobile, you get two lines of unlimited with two of the latest phones included for just one hundred bucks a month. 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His team is working to sow divisions among rivals and looking for opportunities to cause chaos from the left and right in the words of one adviser. The president wants to get into the game, said a Top Republican who talks to trump frequently. People may knock him in terms of running the government but he gets the campaign and cant wait to get started. What he calls strategy, its an interesting reporting, some of it is just fun. Forgive me, i like politics. Lets get to the democrats. We can see some of them. We can read about crazy bernie, howard schultz, even who we thought would come out of wall street. He likes to meddle. Hes watching the town halls and the News Coverage but he also wants to play in the primary. Which is not entirely unusual. In the Obama Campaign they were running some Television Ads about mitt romney, trying to defile him. A, it shows the president loves the campaign, wants to get back in there, and i would assume its a nice distraction from Everything Else going on, with the Mueller Report and other things. But he wants to play a role in this, and hes advised his advisers from the rnc and other groups that he wants division and chaos. Those on the left will be engineered by republicans. Youll see attacks on the red also by republicans. Hes asking questions about Amy Klobuchar. Hes struck by the fact that she won 47 counties in the state of minnesota that he won as well two years earlier. Hes paying a lot of attention to this. When you ask a lot of people, who do you want to run against, he goes back and forth. Elizabeth warren comes up again and again. Of course, hes been calling her pocahontas for a long time. He does spend a lot of time with elizabeth warren. He gave Kamala Harris a lot of credit for her rollout. A lot of governments think Amy Klobuchar may give an appeal to the president. So far i love the competition, i love what i see. I dont want to pick anyone out. A lot of people say biden is doing okay, but he was always a 1 guy. He ran two or three times, he never got above 1 . Then obama came by and took him off the trash heap. Hes weak. But i think hes leading right now, from what i understand. Ill be watching, and whoever it is, i think well do just fine. You add in your reporting, that is extraordinary. Of course you want to know what the competition is. But to be out there doing all that, thats a little much. Hes acting like a commentator a lot of times on this whole race. On the biden point, look, there are people around trump who get the seriousness of the political position that he is in. He is not in a particularly strong position, and in the states that he really stunned the Clinton Campaign by winning, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, that is where a joe biden could pick up some ground. Its where an Amy Klobuchar could pick up some ground. Around trump there is a reality that there are tenets who can really block his path. But there are real candidates who can do that. He may take some jabs but that comes from knowing that the Vice President would be in such a position. This came up during the 2016 campaign after corwin lewandowski was fired. He was fired and people said, stay away from him. Trump called him all the time. Because of that, this jumps out to me to watch in the days and weeks ahead for potential fireworks. A power storm between Trumps Campaign and those who watch has already emerged. Corey lewandowski and david bossie were not invited in the meeting. Lewandowski and bossie have the president s ear. They do not have a seat at the table. When he wants to invite people to the table and talk to them, he uses this. The trump and lewandowski team is a mainstay well see over and over again, but to point of the president wanting to meddle in democratic primaries, i did some reporting recently where i found out the president s main superpac, america first, actually invested significant resources into two of the republicans opposition groups america rising, and asked them to write books on all the democratic candidates, joe biden being one of them, so theyre well prepared going into the primary and can use this Opposition Research to sort of meddle and potentially pick the winner they want to run against by weakening some of the other ones. To that point, rahm emanuel, he did this when he was head of the Congressional Campaign committee, and one of rahms slowigans is, pick your opponen. Its a great story there. I think something to watch is they might help elizabeth warren, right, because they want to hurt the other people, or whoever they decide. To me that will be interesting. Who will they be working to get out there. Bernie sanders, you might think, oh, he would be easy to run against, but the president might not be sure of that, and also joe biden, because of pennsylvania. The headquarters will be in roz ly roslyn, washington, three miles from the white house. Its a fun marker. Write it down, circle the names, highlight it. Lets circle back and see how it goes. Up next, what voters have to say about the president s national Emergency Declaration. With vine ripened tomatoes, signature cheddar, simmered to perfection. With big flavors, not artificial ones. Enjoy 100 clean soup today. Panera. Food as it should be. New made for all lip color from maybelline new york. Enjoy 100 clean soup today. Tested on 50 skin tones. Sensational on all. New made for all. Only from maybelline new york. The iphone xr is a marvel in technology. Yeah. This edge to edge screen is unbelievable. Am i nuts or does everything look better on an iphone . Both. 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Democrats confident the republicans are on their side to turn over the president s decree. But the president has a small slice of the electorate, and with that he sees a fight worth fighting. The question, do you support the president s National Emergency . No. 60 disapprove. These arent the big numbers the president looks at. This is what he cares about most. 85 of republicans support the president , so he thinks hes on safe policy on political ground. He also hopes this number convinces members of congress nto stay with him. So how does he see the big picture as he gears up for 2020 . His overall Approval Rating, remember, we had the shutdown. People thought he would tank over that. No. Yes, 52 disapprove, but 46 approve in the fox news poll. Not a tank but more than people thought it would be. In 2010, this is where he was when he began. This is all fox news polling. His disapproval up from 48 to 52. His Approval Rating was 48 when he started, 68 now. Down a little tiny bit but essentially within the margin. So looking ahead to the reelection, he says hell be just fine. Nobody has done the job that weve ever done. I mean, nobody has done the job weve done on the border. And in a way, what i did by creating such a great economy, and if the opposing party got in, this economy would be down the tubes. I hear a lot of people say, oh, well, maybe the previous administrati administration. Let me tell you, the Previous Administration was heading south and it was going fast. We would have been down the tubes. He likes that phrase. Lets bring in the host of the podcast democrat. Thats the stunning part to me when you look at this. Weve gone through two years of constant chaos, turmoil, controversy, a booming economy, the cloud of investigation. The president essentially today is more or less within the margins of where he was when he started. A stable number. Just because americans are locked in, were in a polarized world, and nobody who doesnt like him will give him credit, nobody who likes him will move away no matter what he does . He does have a honeymoon with democratic independents. He hasnt tried to reach out to independents and democrats. He continues to reach out to his base, so these numbers dont move that much. He has a narrow band, and even though the numbers are a little bit better than they were perhaps a month ago, theyre still within that range, and hes really being graded on a curve in that he still h has majority negative ratings and hes had that since day one. The national Emergency Declaration, the democrats want to overturn it. We know most members of congress think this is wrong on principle. Thats our job. We appropriate the money, the executive branch shouldnt do that. That 85 , will it cause a lot of republicans to bite their pride, so to speak . Republicans were less favorable. Republican voters were less favorable. There were majorities still upward past 67 , but not the percent you see now that the president has made this decision. It was easier to tell republican senators the opposition to executive overreach, the sort of things they said when president obama was in office. But now that trump has taken this concrete action, Republican Voters tend to follow the president. They like him, they trust him, and they think when he takes an action, its positive. This has really put a lot of republican policymakers in a much more difficult position. I want to show you the map of approval by state. We vote for the president by state. The president flipped michigan, flipped wisconsin, flipped pennsylvania, traditional blue states. If you look at the darker states, the darker the state, the higher the president s Approval Rating. The lighter the state, the less of an Approval Rating. Thats not a great place to be heading into your reelection. What does that tell you about the different map the president will face this time . In those states, right, there are states where they had a lot of democratic gains in 2018 in some of those states, showing the same enthusiasm were ciega cross t seeing across the country. On top of that you have polls over 50 across the country. You see other polls that show almost 60 say they would vote for anybody else, somebody else and not vote for him. The numbers are weak in potential expansion states, changing the map or expanding the map a little beyond those three states. I think it shows him in trouble. It shows him in trouble, but i remember 2016. There werent many poll showings on trump winning, either, and he did. Right, and we dont elect the president nationally. The polls tended to show Hillary Clinton up by two or three points nationwide and thats what happened in the popular vote, but thats not how we elect president s. Those blue wall numbers you just saw do signal some serious weakness. The question is, who will democrats nominate and will they be able to successfully appeal to those voters who are disenfranchised, disillusioned, rather, with the president s job. In gallup polling, you have 69 of americans who suspected next year theyll be better off than they were this year. So you can look at it half glass empty, but if you look at the economy that are still low in those states, it definitely indicates a weakness heading into the campaign. I just want to show a tweet from kristin anderson. Today is my last day in the 1834 crosstab. Happy birthday. Thank you. Come in, the water is fine. As we go to break, a little taste of the 2020 trail. This is Amy Klobuchar still talking about her Campaign Rally in a snowstorm. One of the republican senators who will go unnamed came up to me and said, really, after your announcement did you really raise a Million Dollars in small donations . I said, yes, i did, but half of them came from snow globe manufacturers. And he said, really . Im like, you are such a republican the only one to combine a safe sleep aid, plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. I couldnt catch my breath. It was the last song of the night. It felt like my heart was skipping beats. They said i had afib. Whats afib . I knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. I needed answers. My doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke. Oncedaily xarelto®, a latestgeneration blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. Warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your bodys natural bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. For afib patients well managed 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 your risk of stroke. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. Learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Important news about the political chaos in the commonwealth of virginia. Virginia House Republicans announcing today they will hold public hearings into allegations of the democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax. Two women have accused fairfax of sexual assault. He denies the allegations. Jessica dean joins us with more details. Jessica, how is this going to play out . Reporter what were hearing is the house and Justice Committee will be the ones holding these meetings, and in these meetings, both the accusers will have a chance to testify and to talk and tell their side of the story. Theyve both been very public saying they want that opportunity to do so. Were also told that Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax will have an opportunity to tell his side of the story in these meetings. All of this coming after House Democrats rejected a plan to build a panel, to get together a framework to do this in a bipartisan way. Were learning its simply the House Republicans that will be taking this on. We have no date as to when this will happen. The General Assembly is wrapping up on saturday. As someone who has been covering this for weeks now and all eyes were kind of on the General Assembly as the body that could move Something Like this forward, the question was would they do so, and john, now we have our answer from House Republicans. Well watch this play out. Jessica kedean, i appreciate th live reporting. Good for them. Democrats might complain, wait a minute, why not a bipartisan process . They tried for weeks to negotiate one. Meredith watson in a postop ed, Jessica Tyson through her attorney, they both said we would like a public hearing, we demand a public hearing. And they do. Because they have a problem with the governor who admitted to a racist attack, and the attorney general who has admitted to a racist attack, the Lieutenant Governor in the middle with what is a criminal offense, what happens now . I think what it doesnt do is go away. I think there was some hope among virginia democrats that the tension would die down a little bit and they could survive this, that northam sort of making a tour of the state. This is going to be a big thing for months to come in virginia, and i think they still need to figure some kind of way to correct this whole situation. For the state democratic party, this doesnt look too good here. It will revive questions about what they do with those who have called for democrats to resign and pull themselves out, but there may be a problem now with fairfax. But northam, if he gets his way, it seems he wants to sit and serve out the rest of his term. Fairfax doesnt think this should be done in legislative hearings, he said it should go to Law Enforcement. I dont know what the right word is for that. Hes a former prosecutor, but youre telling these women youre trying to tell them, this is your option. Go to the police and file a complaint as opposed to, get a hearing in a format that you are comfortable with. This should be their choirce, nt his choice, is the point im trying to make. And its open to republicans, and the president is saying the wider politics of this is maybe good for republicans since virginia has been trending blue. This is a serious matter, but democrats have been hypocritical at best on this in virginia. The fact this isnt going away just brings up this Massive National discussion how these issues should be handled when Politicians Face accusations. We obviously had this discussion with kavanaugh and how this plays out in virginia and the different accusations of hypocrisy going on, maybe this should lead to a path forward of how it goes on in the future. A republicanled committee in the Virginia House of delegates saying it will hold hearings. Gives both women a chance to testify, gives the governor a chance to testify. Well stay on top of that story as well. Thanks for joining us on inside politi politics. Have a great weekend. Well be live from iowa on sunday with senator Kamala Harris. Hope to see you then. Brianna keilar starts right now. Have a great day. Im Brianna Keilar live from cnns Washington Headquarters underway right now. Another day, another stunning charge. Patriots owner robert kraft accused of soliciting sex in a prosecution sting. Plus a capitol on edge, a president under siege and a week thats shaping up to be the most consequential for the trump presidency. Any moment Robert Mueller may drop the secrets hes been holding. Paul manafort filing may tell all. Whats next for Jussie Smollett . Despite the charges against him,