Transcripts For CNNW New Day 20170717

Mcconnells expertise in getting the votes. This is new day with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. We want to welcome our viewers. It is monday july 17, chris is off, john berman joining us. Happy monday. Here is our on starting line. New poll shows the president s Approval Rating hitting a record low. The abc News Washington post poll finds just 36 approve of the president s job performance. That is the lowest six month Approval Rating of any president in seven decades. President trump remains defiant in the face of the latest russia revelations s unleashing tweets defending his son and attacking the media. And now the secret service is refuting one of the claims made by the trump team. And the white house trying to get everyones attention back to the president s agenda. They are announcing new theme weeks beginning this week with made in america week. That is what they are calling it. Will any of this change the political situation for them however. One of the president s key promises to repeal and replace obamacare facing a new set back. The senate has delayed a vote on the latest Health Care Plan as senator john mccain recovers from unexpected surgery. It is a huge week ahead. We have it all covered for you. Lets begin with joe johns live at the white house. Hey, joe. Good mornin akhmetshin. Reporter good morning, john. The president is bash in washington, d. C. After days of revelations regarding donald trump jr. s meeting with the russian lawyer. Now it seems the russia investigation combined with the difficulty of getting the president s agenda through on capitol hill is continuing to take its toll on the president s approval numbers. Congratulations, mr. President. Reporter after nearly six months in office, President Donald Trump facing the lowest Approval Rating in recent history, just 36 approve of the president S Performance in a new abc News Washington post pole. The president attempting to spin these results, claiming almost 40 is not bad and asserting that the poll was inaccurate during the election. The poll also showing that 63 of americans think the meeting between trump junior, Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner and a russian lawyer to get dirt on Hillary Clinton was inappropriate. Most people would have taken that meeting. Its called Opposition Research. Reporter the president once again focusing on his former rival in a sunday morning tweet while defending his son, amid the latest revelations that at least eight people attended the meeting including a russian american lobbyist. I dont think theres anything else. We scoured it thoroughly. He first said the meeting never happened, then said it was about adoptions, then admitted the meeting was about getting information on Hillary Clinton. We cant accept anything don junior says. One of the president s personal lawyers also coming to trump juniors defense during a pr blitz on the sunday shows. Donald trump jr. Himself said things should have been done differently. Having said that, none of that is violation of the law. Thats more process. Reporter while raising a possible defense of the meeting. If this was nefarious, why did the secret service allow these people in. Reporter the secret service pushing back that donald trump jr. Was not a protectee of the usss in june 2016, thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at the time. The senate possibly delaying a vote on obamacare because a key senator has a health issue of his own, senator john mccain recovering from surgery. The cbo score or the governmentestimated price tag on the bill has also been delayed. Back to you. Those are important developments, thank you very much joe. Lets bring in abby fill whip, White House Reporter for the Washington Post, david drucker, senior Congressional Correspondent for the Washington Examiner and john avlon from the daily beast. John, 36 of americans only approve of the way President Trump is handling his job, the lowest in recent memory. Your thoughts . Not just recent memory, but many recorded history its just 70 years. They didnt have polling before that. Thats kind of a prod. No one tested james buchanan, luckily. In fairness, he would have done worse than this or deserved to do worse than this. These are bad numbers no matter any way you spin it. Whats particularly stunning isnt just that hes at a historic low. Its just that the trump swing counties hes at 50 as well. The voters that made a critical difference winning the election, hes barely keeping his nose above water. On the russia issue in particular in the meeting that was taken by donald trump jr. , 63 say that that meeting was inappropriate right there. You can see perhaps thats driving some of the numbers here. A number that john avlon was talking about there, it has to do with counties that flipped, counties that flipped from president obama in 2012 to now President Trump in 2016. In those counties, donald trump is now under water, 44 approve, 51 disapprove. David drucker, thats what people have been saying all along. Trump voters are sticking with the president. Maybe not all of them, maybe not the ones who gave hem the election. We have the trump base that we dont think is movable ever. Then we have the broader Republican Base which has been sticking by him through all of this which is very much opposed to any idea of speaker nancy pelosi, looks at their choices and they say, sure, and ive talked to voters like this, sure, you know what, i dont like his tweeting or behavior, but i like his agenda and what are my choices . You look at this poll which shows in one way how the polls can be unevenly distributed. His National Numbers were horrible, in these counties that fuel his election, its not great, but its also not horrible. That can tell you why republican members of congress arent flipping on him yet because their voters arent either. However, take a look at the Des Moines Register poll, this is a state that trump, after the caucuses against Hillary Clinton, it was never in doubt for him. It was a great state for him. His numbers there among independents from february to now have gone from 50 disapproval to 59 disapproval. 43 approval overall and they think the country is on the wrong track, like 60 to 30 . That to me was the most interesting poll i saw over the weekend because of here was an area that even though iowa is a swing state which maybe it could be again, which is why republicans should be worried, it wasnt a swing state in this particular campaign. You want to comment on that before we get to abby . Iowa is an important bellwether, up by 11 points, key to his original victory. Abby, i must say its a perfect day for what i hope people will stick around for at 7 30, my latest Trump Voter Panel because Something Interesting is happening. We talked to six people from across the country. Three of them consider themselves diehard trump supporters, three of them now consider themselves on the fence. They voted for President Trump but theyre now on the fence and will explain how they feel that way. However, all of them talked about this next poll number, that 52 of americans say democrats at this point only stand for being anti trump. By the way, that makes even people on the fence dig in to supporting mr. Trump because they dont want to be told how bad he is and how wrong they were for their vote. Your thoughts . Elections are about choices. This is really the crux of the matter. When faced with a choice between trump and nothing, you might find a lot of people who are on the fence, maybe not thrilled with everything hes done choose trum over an alternative that is uncertain or unsatisfied factory. I think thats the real kind of longterm issue that needs to be resolved before we can really evaluate where trump stands. People have to vote either for or against him, for or against his opponent. Right now theres no one really standing in that place. I think for trum more broadly theres a risk that some of these people who voted for him looking to do specific things are going to run out of patience. Were six months in. He hasnt really accomplished many of the things he said he would do, especially legislatively, and also hasnt demonstrated the ability to actually manage washington. I think a lot of people think, hey, this is a business guy and want to change things up and make it work better. What we havent seen is things working better. Theres a huge gap here between the promises and what has been delivered up until this point. Thats going to contribute to the sagging of his poll numbers especially in the middle. One group over the weekend that seemed to run out of patients with the president and his team. That was the secret service. This is really remarkable, the president s private attorney, one went out on the sunday shows and made a specious argument about the meeting that donald trump jr. Took with the russian lawyer. Listen to what jay sekulow said over the weekend. I wonder why, if this was self far yous, why did the secret service let these people in. Guess what . The secret service has an explanation for this. They say donald trump jr. Was not a protectee of the u. S. Secret service in june 2016, thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at this time. Thats essentially secret service calling bs on an argument from the president s personal law. Jay sekulow has been tied in knots in these sunday show interviews. Somebody has to take this job. He should probably get combat pay. By the way, his explanation about trying to nail james comey for not honoring attorneyclient privilege a and somebody says he wasnt acting as the president s attorney. Im talking about executive privilege, you know what i mean. Theyve got a lot of issues with this meeting with apparently 55 russians instead of three russians that theyve got to deal with. They dont have a good story or good reason to explain this. Its interesting because for a lot of the talks of collusion or potential collusion or did you understand that they were meddling, whether you agreed with it or not, there were always arguments they could make that, look, its not like this happened or that happened. This is the first time weve seen evidence of something real, a meeting with actual people that is problematic and they still all theyve been able to say is, its Opposition Research, everybody does it which, of course, everybody doesnt do it. Thats usually not how it works in terms of working with a Foreign Government, friendly or not. And, and i think to davids point, it does feel as though each day a new person pops up in the meeting that we didnt know previously was in the meeting. This was a bigger meeting than we thought last week. The reason it keeps changing is because they cant keep their story straight because its not based on reality. The facts keep changing and keep being revealed as not telling the truth and thats going to make the position untenable. This transcends i think simple scandal. This is starting to be the overall question thats being investigated, something a little a lot deeper than a scandal. Its at the heart of the context of the president right now. Stick around. We have a lot more to discuss. Senator john mccain with a health scare, stalling republican efforts to repeal obamacare. Well discuss next. Whoooo. Finding the best hotel price is now a safe bet. Because tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites so you save up to 30 on the hotel you want. Lock it in. Tripadvisor. We send our kids out into the world, full of hope. And we dont want Something Like meningitis b getting in their way. Meningococcal group b disease, or meningitis b, is real. Bexsero is a vaccine to help prevent meningitis b in 10 to 25 year olds. Even if meningitis b is uncommon, thats not a chance were willing to take. Meningitis b is different from the meningitis most teens were probably vaccinated against when younger. Were getting the word out against meningitis b. Our teens are getting bexsero. Bexsero should not be given if you had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose. Most common side effects are pain, redness or hardness at the injection site; muscle pain; fatigue; headache; nausea; and joint pain. Bexsero may not protect all individuals. Tell your healthcare professional if youre pregnant or if you have received any other meningitis b vaccines. Ask your healthcare professional about the risks and benefits of bexsero and if vaccination with bexsero is right for your teen. Moms, we cant wait. I. Prilosec otc 7 years ago,my doctor recommended. 5 years ago, last week. Just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn. Its been the number 1 doctor recommended brand for 10. Straight years, and its still recommended today. Use as directed. At the lexus golden opportunity sales event before it ends. Choose from the is turbo, es 350 or nx turbo for 299 a month for 36 months if you lease now. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. When you switch to progressive. As easy as saving 600 winds stirring. Too treacherous for a selfie. [ camera shutter clicks ] sure, ive taken discounts to new heights with safe driver and paperless billing. But the prize at the top is worth every last breath. Here we go. [ grunts ] got em. Ahh. Wait a minute. Whole wheat waffles . [ crying ] why theto me than my vacation. Tant so when i need to book a hotel, i want someone who 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. Cmon, gary 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 i think the longer the bill is out there, the more conservative republicans will discover its not repeal and the more everybody is going to discover it keeps the fundamental flaw of obamacare. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell has delayed the vote on the latest health bill to make time for john mccain to recover from unexpected surgery. The bill needs support of 50 of the 52 republicans to advance. So far two republicans have already said they are against it. They wont even vote yes on a motion to proceed to the floor. Back with us, john avlon, abby phillip, david drucker. Abby, first of all, were all hopeful that john mccain will recover quickly. I think every republican and democrat on capitol hill feels the same way. It is the remarkable that the absence of just one senator means this thing would have no hope of advancing any further. It shows the predicament that Mitch Mcconnell is in. Yeah. They have absolutely no room for error here and working with people who are just kind of watching the way the wind is blowing here on this bill. I actually think rand paul is not quite identifying the problem here. I think Everybody Knows this bill is not full repeal. I think conservatives are fully aware of that. The question is how bad is it and how much are they willing to tolerate. I dont think anybody is under the delusions that this is going to be exactly what they promised, but they dont want to sign on to something thats going to rhee ate a lot of unintended consequences, higher premiums and prices next year. I get the sense when i talk to people that they feel like the talks are moving in the right direction, but that more time is needed to massage some of these senators to create in some ways carveouts in the bill to satisfy specific concerns in states where some of the changes especially to medicaid are going to be the most severe. But they can only survive with two losses here. I think they just have to hold on to just one more person and make sure everybody is in line, and thats going to take a little bit of time, but its not because people are going to suddenly wake up one morning and decide, oh, were repealing obamacare. I think everybody is aware thats not happening. Theres more than just two. Theres two people that are vocally against it. Is it your impression there are more than two people on the fence . Yeah. Think nobody wants to be the third senate store that kills it. Youre the one that did it and you have to look at a republican primary. Its always darkest before it kbo goes completely black. What republicans are trying to do is make sure they dont get to that point. A lot of people dont appreciate about the bind republicans are in is when i talk to republican strategists and say what worries you about the midterm elections. They dont say trump, dont say russia, at least not yet. What they tell us is if we dont pass health care, our voters will not show up. We are going to be so ridiculous and thats what people are going to think of us. People will think its not worth their time and effort. Politically theres a lot of pressure to pass it, as bad as people have received the bill and in part because there is a policy problem. There is a problem with health care, whoever is at fault, and it needs fixing. If they dont pass this, what is it that theyre going to do. Thats why, if you want to watch whats going on with this, look west. Or if youre in the west, look east and check out nevada, watch governor Brian Sandoval and senator dean heller because they could be the linchpin in this whole thing. Right now in the Washington Post poll, 50 of people say they approve currently the current law, obamacare. Just 24 say they prefer the current republican proposal. Two to one favor obamacare. That shows you the uphill battle. That having an effect on this other number. Just 33 say the president is making significant progress on his goals. 38 say hes doing what he said he was going to do. 55 say no, john avlon, which is one reason why the white house might be shifting to these theme weeks. They tried infrastructure week. That didnt work out well. This is made in america week, which is a noble goal, but its not just about made in america. No. The theme weeks this goes back to mike deeber with ronald rag gar, not terribly successful. Every time this administration rolls out a theme week, they fail to support it with a consistent message and the president ends up stepping all over the message by tweeting. They can keep trying to convince us we should be talking about made in america. Id love to see it be infrastructure week every week but they dont seem to be making progress on the bill. Its more bunting to distract us from the fact that something is burning. When youre trying to pass something this big and you have to have a theme week thats not about this, that tells you something. Abby phillip, theres the problem that there are things made by the Trump Organization that arent made in america. A lot of the products donald trump has made over the years have been made in asia. Ivanka trump the Washington Post has an unbelievable investigative story about where all those things are made. The white house did answer questions about Trump Organization products. This is actually kind of baffling to me because i dont really understand how this trump family, this Trump White House can really madeke a made in america argument due to the long history of making virtually all their products overseas. It kind of boggles the mind here. I think to johns point, if you and if you are going into a health care fight and you have to have a made in america week in order to distract people from other scandals, that is not a good sign. What congress wants, what republicans on the hill want is a health care week. They want the president and the white house to actually be invested in thinking about how to sell this bill to their own supporters, to that 36 of americans who wont budge in terms of their support of the president , and theyre not doing that. Theyre talking about other things, and made in america is just not something that this white house has much in terms of legs to stand on here. Okay. Panel, thank you very much. Great to talk to all of you. We have to get to this story. A family weekend turning tragic in arizona. Nearly a dozen family members swept away when flash floods hit a Swimming Hole. We have the latest on the rescue efforts next. Whoooo. Going somewhere . Heres some advice. Tripadvisor now searches more than 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30 . Trust this birds words. Tripadvisor. [man lets go ] man 2 were not coming out man 1 [ sighs ] flo [ amplified ] i got this. Guys, i know being a firsttime homeowner is scary, but you dont have to do this. Man 2 what if a tree falls on our garage . Woman what if a tornado rips off our roof . Flo youre covered. And youve bundled your home and auto insurance, so youre saving a ton. Come on. You dont want to start your new life in a dirty old truck. Man 3 hey. Man 1 whoa, whoa. Flo sorry. Woman oh. Flo youre safe. Youre safe now. Woman i think im gonna pass out. Can you stop using the bullhorn . Flo i dont make the rules. Dad flash drives . Yup. Thats dad taking care of business. Laptop setup . Yup. But who takes care of dad . Office depot, office max. This week, all hp ink, buy one get one 30 off. Taking care of business pain can really pain is sometimes in my hands, right before a performance especially. Only aleve has the strength to stop minor arthritis pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. This is my pain. But i am stronger. Aleve. All day strong. The future isnt silver suits anits right now. S, think about it. We can push buttons and make cars appear out of thin air. Find love anywhere. Hes cute. And buy things from, well, everywhere. How . Because our phones have evolved. So isnt it time our networks did too . Introducing americas largest, most reliable 4g lte combined with the most wifi hotspots. Its a new kind of network. Xfinity mobile. South korea making a rare push for military talks with north korea. This comes after weeks of heightened tensions following pyongyangs recent week of missile tests including a successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. The north has yet to respond. Wonder what the white house will think about that. Search operations resume in arizona for a missing 27yearold man swept away in flash floods. At least nine People Killed including six children. Its believed they were all taking part in a family outing in a Swimming Hole when heavy rain triggered a mudslide. Four family members were rescued. Legendary actor march tan l landau died after a brief stay at a los angeles hospital. He was a threetime Academy Award nominee, won an oscar as bella la goes si but best known for mission impossible. I remember him best from woody allens film crimes and misdemeanors which stuck with me for a long time. Got away with murder. He was a wonderful, wonderful actor and a tremendous loss. He taught a lot of people acting over on the west coast. A big loss. He was great. Roger federer cements his place cemented his place as the greatest tennis player of all time. He did that a long time ago. This time he shattered every imaginable expectation for what a human being should be able to do. Coy wire has the latest. Its the age at which Roger Federer is still winning, 36 in a couple weeks. Thats no Spring Chicken in athletes years. He beat marin cilic of croatia to captured his record eighth wimbledon title. We learned the greatest mens tennis player of all time is, in fact, human. He has doubts and insecurities like all of us. He wasnt sure hed ever win at wimbledon again. He told cnns robby ub ba why that place is so special to him. This club means so much to me. Thats probably why i started to play the game because of my heroes, ed berg, becker and sampras all playing here. I didnt think it was possible. Its good to chase your dream sometimes. Federer says he would give up chasing his dreams, hed retire if his family couldnt join him on tour. His wife and two sets of twins stole the show at the final, waving at the cameras, making faces. His fiveyear drought likely worth the wait. His kids old enough that they eat probably witness him winning wimbledon. Did you say two . Two, 7yearold girls and 3yearold boys. John and i both have twins. Thats why we didnt have anymore kids. You stop after you have twins. He should know that. 17 grand slams. Coy wire, thanks so much. Thank you, coy. All right. The white house trying to deflect attention away from don juniors russia meeting by taking aim at a dnc contractors meetings with ukraine. Im sure youve heard them do this on our air. Up next, we will sift the fact from the fiction with the reporter who broke the story and the Clinton Campaign. What do they say about this next . When heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. Theres nothing more important so when i need to book a hotel, i want someone who makes it easy. Booking. Com gets it. And with their price match, i know im getting the best price every time. Visit booking. Com. Booking. Yeah on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. Your Insurance Company raises your rates. Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Finding the best hotel price is now a safe bet. Because tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites so you save up to 30 on the hotel you want. Lock it in. Tripadvisor. Searching for answers may feel overwhelming. So start your search with our teams of specialists at Cancer Treatment centers of america. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com experts the cloud of russia continues to dog the Trump White House. Advisers for President Trump continue to point to the dnc and to the Ukrainian Government when asked about don juniors meeting with a russian lawyer. Why do they do that . Well, back in january a politico report stated that ukrainian officials worked with the democratic contractor to gather harmful Opposition Research on donald trump and his aides. This is a story that got little attention until now. Listen to this. If theres a meeting that was wholly appropriate but which led to nothing, lets compare that to the dnc sending its people to the Ukrainian Embassy to coordinate oppo attacks against our candidate. If you want to seclusion, its in the dnc. I think if theres been any evidence of collusion in 2016 thats come out at all or been discussed that actually happened, it would be between the dnc and the Ukrainian Government. I go back to the ukrainian example. I know you dont want to discuss it because you say its not being valte investigated, but raises the question. Nobody from the Ukrainian Government met with the Clinton Campaign. Thats not true. There were representatives at the Ukrainian Embassy. The politico report was there. The democratic consultant, ukrainian american activist Alexander Chalupa did gather information on Paul Manafort who did resign from the trump campaign. She denies that dnc officials asked her to collect information from the Ukrainian Embassy itself. Lets discuss. We have david stern, he cowrote the initial politico article on which all of this is based and cnn politicss dan merica. Lets start at the beginning. David do you think that the trump team is trying to conflate these two things, that whatever meeting don junior had with this russian attorney is eclipsed, they say, by whatever this dnc consultant did with ukraine. What is your take on this . Well, first of all, i want to say im not here to say whether there was collusion or not collusion. Thats not my place to say that. I would say that in Broad Strokes what we have here is a similar situation, as weve had previously. Its not unknown. Weve had these discussions many times before about Foreign Governments taking an interest in the American Elections. We are the most powerful country in the world and obviously people do try to influence it in their own way. So in a broad way, yes. These are similar situations. But when you dig down into the details theyre very, very different. Its important to note the difference. We said in our article this was back in january, already there were obviously accusations being voiced about the about russian voft and what we said in the article is we dont have, as far as we can see, the type of topdown and why broad attack on the American Election that was being alleged. Meaning it wasnt top down in the ukraine. It was this woman, alexandra chal lupe pa who was freelancing, taking it upon herself to check in with the Ukrainian Embassy and see if they had any Oppo Research . How did those instructions come down . You have two things. Youve got the Ukrainian Government which is a huge thing when he say officials, were talking about people who are just deputies in the parliament and not necessarily connected with the president. Then you have Alexandra Hall lupe pa who is a consultant for the dnc and left in june. Theres questions about where exactly the work between the two or where they connected. She herself said she did talk to the embassy at least when she spoke to us. Now, she also said there were no papers exchanged. Its not uncommon, as we put in our report for outside intermediaries to coordinate work. These are questions actually which its not for me to report whether to decide whether this was stepped over the line or not. What we were interested in saying actually was, here you have another country that is also with an interest in the American Elections. And it became sort of a proxy battle between ukraine and russia, a battle which is happening in ukraine itself. Dan merica, youve been getting statements from her now over what she thinks of the situation. She somewhat backed away from what she told politico back in january. She says at the time she actually posted on facebook, she disagreed with the article, disagreed with the frame. She told cnn and told me a couple days ago she completely denies working at all with the Ukrainian Government on any Opposition Research as the statement that alisyn read clearly states. Its important to note the dnc is on the record denied any collusion. The Clinton Campaign, multiple officials have denied any collusion. But she does there are sources that have told us that there was some crossover between her work at the dnc which was basically working as an ethnic coordinator with ukrainian americans at the dnc and her interest, her activist in that area. At one point she did go to the embassy, sources tell us. She did go to the embassy and was asked by somewhat at the dnc if the president of ukraine would be willing to take a question at a press conference about Paul Manafort, the trump campaign, he was hired basically to do delegates and moved and morphed into the head of the campaign. He had a long track record of work in ukraine that raised a lot of suspicions with ukrainian americans, including mrs. That lupe pa, including would the president of ukraine be comfortable taking a question at a press conference. She went to the embassy and actually asked officials there and she was told no and reported that back to the dnc. Thats the extent weve been told that her activist has crossed over in terms of her work with the dnc. Let me read this statement from her again. During the 2016 u. S. Election was a parttime consultant for the dnc running an ethnic engagement program. I was not an Opposition Researcher for the dnc. The dnc never asked me to go to the Ukrainian Embassy to collect information. Does that square with your reporting and what she told you in january . To be honest, ken vogel who cowrote the piece. He was the one that spoke to alexandra. I wasnt there for the entire conversation. But it was on the record. Its easy to find out exactly what she said. Thats possible. I guess you could say, from what i understand what we reported and what shes saying, that the dnc did not ask her to go to the embassy. She had these relations with the embassy. She was possibly you could say freelancing when she spoke to them. There was obviously cooperation or there seemed to be some work which she admitted to when she spoke to us. But the question here i guess is whether or not the dnc was asking her to do this. Remember, i said she was a consultant until june of 2016. So its entirely possible that this was of her own that she did this on her own. All right, guys. Thanks so much. We want to get a take from the Clinton Campaign, a former member of that team. Joining us now is karen finney, former Senior Adviser and spokesperson for Hillary Clintons campaign. Karen, its clear what this isnt, right . We know the ukrainian effort was not directed by the president of ukraine, whereas on the russian side Vladimir Putins Intelligence Services say Vladimir Putin was in charge of that. We know on the ukrainian side, it wasnt the campaign chairman, son of the candidate at the meeting. Alexandra chalupa is someone who did work with the democrats over a period of time, wasnt she . Its my understanding at the time, i know this from therepor consultant. I never met with her. I dont think anybody who was actually part of our Research Team met with her. I can tell you our director, the person who was directing our Trump Research never met with her. Here is something thats more important that i think is getting lost in this. My understanding from the politico reporting that the information or conversation was about Paul Manaforts ties and the work that he had been doing which, by the way, was not a secret. It was very open and it is a very open fact that Paul Manafort for years worked for worked against the pro western government in the ukraine and was actually supporting the sort of putin puppet in the ukraine. So the questions, as i understand it, were about was there information anti his work and those relationships. Lets remember, he actually had to quit the campaign after the convention in 2016 because its now under fbi investigation, and that is yet another investigation that the trump world doesnt want to talk about. Its another investigation that is expanding. Clearly there was there there. Hold on a second. This is publicly available information. Are you saying if theres there there, does that justify getting Oppo Research from a foreign country . I think what were saying is theres no evidence that thats what happened. Even david just now from politico was suggesting he couldnt say that thats what happened. In your introduction you didnt say thats what happened here. She may have been freelancing and trying to see what kind of information she could get. That is not the same. She most certainly did not sit down with Chelsea Clinton and john podesta and robby mook and say here is what i got. Here is the other thing thats so important, lets not take the bait. What is important here, we are talking about what we now know was the intrusion of a Foreign Government into our election. We know that in 39 states they tried to interact with our voter data. The state of illinois says there were efforts to actually try to delete and change voter data. That is very serious. We are talking about a hostile Foreign Government trying to impact the outcome of this election. They were very clear with don junior about what their goals were, and he decided that that meeting was okay. This is total false equivalency here. As ive been saying, this is not apples to apples. It just didnt. These are two very Different Things that happened here. Weve outlined what the differences are. We are trying to figure out the best we can the fact versus the spin here. One of the things that david stern said, at a very high level, what it does seem you might have is another government, in this case the Ukrainian Government, that did have an interest in the outcome in the u. S. Election, maybe providing documents when someone was asking for it. Do you deny that . I dont know. I was not part of any conversation like that, nor was anyone at the dnc theyve said there was no collusion with the ukrainians. I can tell you on the part of the campaign there was no such thing that happened. Again, i think its important to remember that a lot of the information that it seems like just from what ive read in reports that were talking about, its Public Information that Paul Manafort was doing this work in the ukraine. So i think, again, in his ties to the russians, that was an issue from the time he was part of the campaign. There were a lot of reporters working on that story as well. I think in the politico reporting they mentioned a lot of reporters in touch with the Ukrainian Embassy to try to get information. Thats not the same thing adds actually making it clear that you have a strategy that goes all the way to the top, like Vladimir Putin, who is former kgb who made it clear he wanted donald trump president and he did not want Hillary Clinton to be president. Karen finney, great to have you with us for perspective from the Clinton Campaign itself. Appreciate it. Whats the bottom line here when it comes to the Democratic National committee. Cnn political reporter David Chalian gives us his view next. The opioid my doctor prescribed for my chronic back pain backed me up big time. Before movantik, i tried to treat it myself. No go. But i didnt back down. I talked to my doctor. She said one, movantik was specifically designed for opioidinduced constipation oic. Number two . With my savings card, i can get movantik for about the same price as the other things i tried. Dont take movantik if you have or had a bowel blockage. Serious side effects include opioid withdrawal, severe stomach pain, severe diarrhea, and stomach or intestinal tears. Tell your doctor about side effects and medicines you take. Movantik may interact with them causing side effects. Dont back down from oic. Talk to your doctor about movantik. Remember movantik. Nits softer than ever. New charmin ultra soft is softer than ever so its harder to resist. Okay, this is getting a little weird enjoy the go with charmin when asked about trump ties to russia, Trump Officials continue to say what about hillary and ukraine. Is there something to that . Lets get the bottom line with cnn political director David Chalian. We just had the reporter for the politico article which was the genesis for this entire conversation about what this dnc consultant did with ukraine in terms of Opposition Research. You heard karen finney from the campaign say, basically nothing to see here. This is nothing like what were talking about with trump and russia. Whats your take on all this . We should stipulate that if, indeed, ukraine was trying to meddle in the u. S. Election and if, indeed, democrats were somehow helping that happen, that would be a terrible thing, and we should be doing just like weve been saying about the russia scenario, everything in our power as a country to prevent foreign meddling in our elections going forward. What is in that sense, its a similar situation, of looking at a foreign country trying to have influence in our election perhaps. As you noted, it doesnt seem to be in the reporting from politico or since, a topdown effort of Ukrainian Government actually seeking that the way the u. S. Intelligence agencies believe Vladimir Putin is. Thats first of all. But second of all, here is where the comparisons just start breaking down. This is, first of all, not a foreign adversary, so theres a difference between ukraine and russia, though no difference between Foreign Countries wanting to meddle in our election perhaps, but theres a difference between playing ball with an adversary of the United States and not i think that is one difference. More importantly, you are talking about the upper echelons of the trump campaign. Nobody closer to donald trump than Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner and donald trump jr. After months of saying that there were no contacts, learning in black and white in donald trump jr. s email that there was contact in a meeting there. Perhaps this would be a more comparable situation, guys, if in two months we find a john podesta or robby mook email that they sat down with the Ukrainian Government trying to inject into the campaign. The other thing thats gone on is donald trump jr. At a inmany mum now has misled for more than a year in a broad sense in that they didnt disclose this meeting and in a very narrow sense, over the last month these stories about this specific meeting have changed very consistently. That is something that is very unique to this situation with the meeting with the russians. No doubt about it. To your point, john, we still dont have the full accounting now of what fully took place in that meeting, who attended that meeting. We are still awaiting more details. The last version of events from donald trump jr. Are now far behind where the reporting and the facts are of those meeting. I will also make one last point here, listening to this whole conversation and the reporting. I was thinking there seems to be some logical dissonance happening here because if the trump line about the meeting with don junior is anybody would have taken that meeting and thats how Opposition Research is done, then i dont think they should have any problem with what theyre alleging on the dnc side. Theres more dissonance, which is look how bad what Hillary Clinton did with the ukraine. You want to investigate something, look at collusion. In other words, there are parallels, so how can they then say but what don junior did was nothing. Both those comparisons dont work cognitively. I dont see how you can hold both of these things to be true. Theyre both contradictory. You cant say we didnt do it, but they did it stoo. Or you cant say what they did was horrible and we did it, too. David, the evidence does show this woman, Alexandra Chalupa did meet with ukrainian officials and was directed by then the head of the Communications Department for the dnc, he did want her to approach the president of ukraine to ask if he would be willing to take a question about Paul Manafort, in other words, get it out there in the ether, the paul man ford ties. So there is some collusion. The dnc was working with her, they wanted to carry a message or get a request to the Ukrainian Embassy, so there is a direct link. There is no doubt, you are right. If we are to believe chalupa at her word, and this was indicated in dan mericas reporting, that the dnc was interested in finding a question to get asked, but i dont know that is entirely comparable to the information coming in to trump tower to help Donald Trumps campaign, but you are right, there is a connection between this womans work at the dnc and her connections at the Ukrainian Embassy. What is unclear is whether or not that really had any election impact whatsoever. We dont know that, quite frankly, on the russian side as well. Thanks so much for sifting through it all with us and for the reporting on this. Obviously well continue to follow all of these threads. David chalian, thank you. The white house is trying to turn the tide this week as President Trumps Approval Rating reaches a historic low. Well tell you about the strategy the white house is hoping will change all that. [ intense music playing ] its here, but its going by fast. The opportunity of the year is back the mercedesbenz summer event. Get to your dealer today for incredible onceaseason offers, and start firing up those grilles. Lease the e300 for 569 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Even if youre trying your best. Be a daily struggle, along with diet and exercise, oncedaily toujeo® may help you control your blood sugar. Get into a daily groove. Lets groove tonight. Share the spice of life. Baby, slice it right. From the makers of lantus®, were gonna groove tonight. Toujeo® provides blood sugarlowering activity for 24 hours and beyond, proven blood sugar control all day and all night, and significant a1c reduction. Toujeo® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. It contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. Dont use toujeo® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar or if youre allergic to insulin. Get medical help right away if you have a serious allergic reaction such as body rash or trouble breathing. Dont reuse needles or share insulin pens. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which can be life threatening. It may cause shaking, sweating, fast heartbeat, and blurred vision. Check your blood sugar levels daily. Injection site reactions may occur. Dont change your dose of insulin without talking to your doctor. Tell your doctor about all your medicines and medical conditions. Check insulin label each time you inject. Taking tzds with insulins, like toujeo®, may cause Heart Failure that can lead to death. Find your rhythm and keep on grooving. Lets groove tonight. Ask your doctor about toujeo®. Share the spice of life. Approaching six months in office, the president has the worst job Approval Rating since modern polling began. The president wasnt aware of the meeting and did not attend. Im not sure why we take anybody at the senior level of the Trump Administration at their word. They can call it a fishing expedition, a witch hunt. Nonetheless, real evidence is coming forward that cant be ignored. We will see the beginning of the end of the nightmare of obamacare. Republican Health Care Bill in the senate is a piece of junk. This is a system that is crying out for reform and revision, and thats what were trying to do. The longer is bill is out there, the more conservative republicans are going to discover that its not repeal. This is new day with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. Good morning, welcome to your