Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20170718

Tonight President Trump says his new Health Care Strategy is to let obamacare fail, now that his promise to repeal and replace it has been doomed by his own party. In a dramatic chain of events, two Senate Republicans declare their opposition to the gops repeal and replace bill overnight, effectively killing the legislation and apparently blind siding the president. Now the Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell says he wants the senate to vote on a repeal only bill soon, but that back up plan appears to be dead on arrival with three republicans saying theyll vote no. Mr. Trump acknowledges hes very disappointed by all of this, but hes refusing to accept responsibility, blaming democrats, even though republicans control congress. Also breaking, the white house just revealed a second previously undisclosed conversation between mr. Trump and russias president Vladimir Putin at the g20 summit this month. This as were getting new information in the russia investigation. Senator Diane Feinstein now says the special counsel has given the all clear for donald trump, jr. And Paul Manafort to give public testimony about their secret meeting with the russian lawyer. Also tonight, cnn has learned the identity of the eighth person in that meeting last year. He is a close associate of the russian family that initiated the meeting with an offer of kremlin dirt on hillary clinton. Exclusive video obtained by cnn appears to show him in the background next to donald trump in las vegas back in 2013. This hour, ill talk about those stories and more with senator chris coons. Hes a democrat on the judiciary and Foreign Relations committee. Then our correspondents and specialists are also standing by. First, lets go to cnns ryan noble, hes up on capitol hill with more on the gop health bills collapse. Rile an, so, whats the next move on capitol hill . Reporter well, wolf, even though the map is not currently on his side, Senate Majority leader currently has promised that there will be a vote to repeal obamacare. And the first stage of that vote could come as soon as tomorrow. And it will likely fail. Tonight, Senate Republicans have essentially run out of options. I regret that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failures of obamacare will not be successful. That doesnt mean we should give up. Reporter soon after senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell made his pitch to repeal obamacare without a replacement, three senators, Susan Collins of maine, Shelley Moore capital of west virginia, and Lisa Murkowski of alaska said they would not support a vote to bring the new version of the bill to the floor essentially killing the measure. Mcconnell said he will plow ahead with the vote, even if it fails. Pretty clear that there are not 50 republicans at the moment to vote for a replacement for obamacare. Consequently, sometime in the near future well have a vote on repealing obamacare. Reporter wisconsins ron johnson is angry over reports that mcconnell was telling moderate senators not to worry about longterm medicaid cuts. Mcconnell said his remarks were misinterpreted. But when asked if he still has faith in mcconnell as a leader, johnson said, quote, i found those comments very troubling. When a reporter followed up, asking, so, youre not going to say yes to that, he repeated, i was trubloubled with those comments. Despite the crack on mcconnells grip of the caucus, most republicans remain behind him. You still have faith about leader mcconnell . This is not about mitch, its about health care. Reporter the path forward for republicans now is unclear. The problems that existed between the conservative and moderate wings of the party remain. Leaving senators in search of an alternative that doesnt currently exist. Im disappointed. Reporter President Trump refusing to take any responsibility. I can tell you the republicans are not going to own it. Well let obamacare fail, and then the democrats are going to come to us and theyre going to say, how do we fix it. Reporter the Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer slamming trump, urging him to work with democrats. He wants to throw up his hands rather than roll up his sleeves to work with us and solve the problem. He is actively, actively trying to undermine the Health Care System in this country, using millions of americans as political pawns in a cynical game. Reporter and it seems as though there is more time given to these republican senators to think about the idea of a straight repeal. The fewer that appear to be coming out in support of the measure as senator rob portman of ohio to the list of republican prepared to say no to a straight repeal making it less likely that some version of obamacare happens any time soon. Wolf . Ryan, thanks very much. Ryan noeb ryan nobles on capital him. Were joined by white house correspondents sara murray. Sara, the president says hes not going to own this. Reporter thats right, President Trump said he was disappointed by this out come, but essentially said, woops, this isnt on me. This is on the senate. Take a list tone what trump had to say today. Weve had a lot of victories, but we slnt had a victory in health care. Were disappointed. I am very disappointed because, again, even as a civilian, for seven years ive been hearing about health care, and ive been hearing about repeal and replace, and obamacare is a total disaster. Some states had over 200 increase, a 200 increase in their premiums. And their deductibles are through the roof. Its an absolute disaster. And i think youll also agree that ive been saying for a long time, let obamacare fail and everybody is going to have to come together and fix it and come up with a new plan and a plan thats really good for the people, with much lower premiums, much lower costs, and much better protection. Ive been saying that. Mike, i think youll agree for a long time, let obamacare fail. It will be a lot easier. And i think were probably in that position where well just let obamacare fail. Were not going to own it. Im not going to own it. I can tell you the republicans are not going to own it. Well let obamacare fail and then the democrats are going to come to us and theyre going to say how do we fix it and how do we fix it . Or how do we come up with a new planful . Reporter the white house strategy as you see there has been to blame the democrats, but the reality is the president did not do much to sell this bill. He did not use the bully pulpit of the presidency of the white house, and he did relatively little arm twisting behind the scenes. It was members of his own party that could not get on board with that plan. That is why this effort died. Of course some voters elected him to fix obamacare, not to finger point. It will be interesting to see what the next steps are for this white house. Wolf . Surprised he never did an Oval Office Address to the nation on this critically important issue. Sara, thanks very much for that. Lets get some more on all of this. Senator chris coons, democrat on the judiciary Foreign Relations committee is joining us right now. Senator, thanks very much for joining us. Thank you, would have. So, when you hear the president of the United States say, let obamacare fail, he said it a few times today, whats your reaction . Wolf, thats just heartless. Were talking about real people here, literally tens of millions of people. One of the things the Affordable Care act did was provide better Quality Insurance for over 150 million americans who get their insurance through their employer and provide access to health care for the first time for tens of millions of americans in addition. To simply throw his hands up and say, im not responsible, i have nothing to do with this, well simply let the Insurance Markets fail and then begin to work toward some sort of replacement plan thats correct just callous. Heres what else the president said about democrats today. Listen. It would be nice to have democrats support, but really theyre obstructionists. They have no ideas. They have no thought process. All they want to do is obstruct government and obstruct period. And in this case, think of it, so many good things we didnt get one vote, and their plan has failed. And, by the way, obamacare isnt failing, its failed. Its gone. All right. So, he says you and the democrats, youre obstructionists. Well, the bill that they were trying to move forward in the Republican Controlled Senate would have cut more than 700 billion out of medicaid over the next decade. Thats one of the reasons that they werent able to get 50 republican votes to support it. Wolf, ill remind you that for the last seven years, republicans have run on the idea that they would repeal the Affordable Care act and replace it with Something Better as soon as they had the chance. Well what weve seen now is they havent done any of their homework to develop a Better Health care plan for america. I am hopeful that now that this really has failed that republicans and democrats in the senate can Work Together to find ways to begin to deliver on the idea that we can have lower costs, Higher Quality Affordable Health care for all americans. What will it take for that bipartisan cooperation to start . First its going to take republicans saying, okay, were going to follow a regular process. Were going to have hearings in front of the relevant committees. Were going to listen to the people who provide health kara cross the country. Remember, the doctors, the nurses, the senior centers, the nursing homes, all those organizations, and the aarp, were all opposed to the republican bill. They werent part of the process. So, we need to have an open process. And then we need to make a few important fixes, and the Trump Administration needs to stop trying to sabotage the Affordable Care act. Ever since they came in, theyve been throwing a wrench into the Insurance Markets that the Affordable Care act is set up. Lets move on to other areas. The white house now has confirmed there was a second meeting that the president had with Vladimir Putin in hamburg at the g20, a previously undisclosed second conversation they had on july 7. They had a big meeting, twohour 15 minute meeting, bilateral meeting. The couples only dinner event, toward the end the president did speak with putin at the dinner. No staff or cabinet were at the dinner of any of the countries. Did you know about this second conversation that the president had with putin . I just heard about it this morning from a source that suggested not only did he get up and go all the way over the dinner to sit down and talk to putin, but he did so for a very long period of time. Didnt do so with other heads of state, and didnt bring an american translator. He relied on putins translator for the understanding of what the conversation was. A basic failure in terms of National Security protocol so that there was someone who could help him understand from an American Perspective what was being said. Was it sort of social chitchat or was there a substantive conversation based on what you know . How would we know . Thats exactly the point. He was publicly seen by our allies, by critical heads of state with whom we are trying to sustain our alliances, to snub them and take the time to invest a great deal of individual one on one time with Vladimir Putin, relying on his translator. If accurate why would it be different if the official russian government translator or a u. S. Government translator . Well, first just the nuances of the words in translation might be misunderstood. And second, theres only one person who really knows exactly what was said in the course of that conversation now, and its the russian translator. Would the president then go back to his staff and report on this second conversation and there would be some notes based on his recollection . And if they do exist, would they share that with the Foreign Relations committee . He should, and not likely. One of our challenges, as you know, has been very senior members of this administration forgetting to report appropriately or to disclose or to share with leaders either in the executive branch or the legislative branch, meetings that theyve had with senior russians. Thats why mike flynn was fired as National Security advisor. Thats why attorney jeff sessionsuj hasfa had to recuse himself from important matters related to the 2016 election, and in some ways thats why fbi director was fired by the president , this whole pattern of different meetings and events that were not appropriately reported and are now under investigation. Whats your conclusion as far as the president s attitude toward the russians, putin particularly . Well, going back to the campaign, now President Trump as candidate trump had a disturbing practice of praising Vladimir Putin, of embracing him and saying he was a smart man and a great man and a good leader. And den grait grading or marginal idolizing his relationship with our key democratic allies. For example angela merkel, chancellor of germany. So, i see him as being too close, too friendly with Vladimir Putin and its one of the reasons that lots of members of congress have had questions about whether the smoke here, the billowing questions about all these unreported meetings with senior russians is actually concealing some fire. What i dont understand, if there is a second conversation at the end of a couples only dinner at the g20 and he has this conversation with putin, why wouldnt the white house disclose that . Why wouldnt they make that Information Available to the American People . Well, wolf, it could be entirely innocent. It could be the sloppiness of this new administration that doesnt see the significance or relevance of a long direct oneonone conversation between our president and Vladimir Putin. But now more than six months into it, with an active investigation where questions about ties of putin and trump are on the news every single night, its hard to see this as anything other than a significant miss step or an attempt of concealment. Were showing viewers video of that dinner. Melania was seated at the dinner next to putin. I assume they had a pretty good conversation as well. I dont know if she speaks much russian. She is from Eastern Europe originally, maybe she speaks a little bit. But you could see a translator there. I think in between helping with the translation as well. All right. I want you to stand by. There are other new developments, senator coons, that are coming into the situation room. There is much more we need to discuss right after this. Its just a burst pipe, i co laugh it. No. With claim rateguard your rates wont go up just because of a claim. I totally couldve no switching to allstate is worth it. 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Hes a democrat on the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations committee. Senator, i need you to stand by. We have some breaking news on President Trumps contacts with Vladimir Putin. We are also getting new information about the controversial russia meeting over at trump tower in new york last year. I want to go to our justice correspondent Jessica Snyder. Jessica, what are you learning . Well, wolf, the white house has just disclosed today that President Trump actually had a second conversation with russian president Vladimir Putin at the end of the g20 dinner. That was back on july 7th, but the disclosure just coming from the white house today. Now, that meeting came the same day as the twohour face to face between the World Leaders. The white house now not giving many details except to say the talk took place in the main dining room and no staff or cabinet members were present. This revelation coming on the same day we finally know the name of that eighth person in the room at trump tower for that june 2016 meeting. His name is ike and he works for the Russian Oligarch who requested the meeting be arranged. It appears they had interactions with the trump family in the past. Ike appears to be steps away from donald trump in this exclusive video from 2013 taken in las vegas on the eve of the miss usa pageant. He is in a light suit jacket standing behind russian pop star. His attorney now confirms to cnn that he was at trump tower on june 9, 2016, the eighth person inside the meeting with donald trump, jr. , Campaign Chair Paul Manafort and now Senior Advisor and trump soninlaw Jared Kushner. Music publicist Rob Goldstone arranged the meeting at their request and sat in on it. Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya was in on it, a translator, and now its been revealed ike. He is a naturalized american citizen who joined the Real Estate Development business in 2004, but in 2000 he was linked to u. S. Bank accounts that came under congressional investigation in a possible billion dollar Money Laundering scheme tied to russian brokers. At the time he claimed no wrongdoing and was never charged with a crime. He is senior vicepresident at a group according to his linked in page. The company is run by azerbaijan i father of the musician who featured donald trump in a music video. They seem to play a key role in arranging the june 2016 meeting with publicist Rob Goldstone writing in a june 3rd, 2016 email, this is obviously very highlevel and sensitive information, but is part of russia and its Government Support for mr. Trump helped along by ross and emin. His lawyer insists hes never had any engagement with the russian government in any capacity. He attended the meeting under the impression that he would be russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskayas translator because she didnt speak english. She realized she had her own translator. Now special counsel Robert Muellers investigators want to talk to him as part of his own going probe into russian interference with the u. S. Elections. The white house is watching all of this unfold. Staffers there are concerned kushners involvement in the june 2016 meeting may make it difficult for kushner to receive final security clearance. But a source close to kushner says he has now had two interviews with the fbi about his security clearance and his legal team sees no reason it would be denied since he has updated all of his forms to include this june 2016 meeting. Kushner attorney jamie gare lik says he has tried to be fully transparent in the background investigations process. We have heard no expression of concern from the fbi and i think we would know if there were such concerns at this time. Now, the attorney for ike, the eighth man we now know was in the room, tells cnn that he will cooperate with special Counsel Robert Mueller, but has not yet been interviewed. The attorney also represents the father and son and says the mueller investigators have not reached out this them yet. The special Counsel Office has declined to comment on the story. Wolf . Thanks very much, Jessica Snyder reporting. Top Senate Investigators are speaking out about the russia probe. Lets go to Senior Reporter manu raju on capitol hill. What are you hearing . Reporter both democrats and republicans are pushing more to learn more about the meeting that occurred in trump tower with the top democrat in the committee emerging from a closed door meeting that occurred earlier today to say, who else was in the meeting . Wondering if there were more than eight people who were actually meeting with donald trump, jr. Paul manafort and Jared Kushner. Mark warner raised some ear ious concerns about this eighth individual earlier today. Take a listen. Its very disturbing to me that its taken us this long for this kind of information to come out. So, this individual who at least had a colorful past, if not a potentially criminal, it is very strange to me that this meeting that was supposed to be originally was related as three or four people about russian adoptions, i doubt if this individual who had a history of setting up thousands of fake accounts in delaware was really there to talk about russian adoptions. So, what we see here is, again, senior levels of the Trump Administration, and now the trump family, not coming clean with information and this has been a week before we got this information. Now, wolf, earlier in the day i got a chance to catch up with the republican chairman of that committee, richard burr, who made the most explicit comments to date about that trump tower meeting. Previously declining to go into details, but today saying he does want to learn more information about it, even raising the spectre of public testimony of some of the individuals involved in that meeting. Heres how he responded. You also feel like you understand everything about what happened in that trump tower meeting at this point . No, absolutely not. I think that theres a lot to learn from that and weve reached out to the appropriate people and asked them to provide information for us and to testify possibly publicly, but its too early in that to draw any conclusions. But our job is to put the facts on the table and follow wherever it goes. You want don junior public . I think you have to ask don junior to come in. Whether thats public or private or how you proceed, at what pace. Still yet to be determined by information that we learn between now and the time we make that request. Reporter and, wolf, they are not the only committee that is actually moving forward to look into this trump tower meeting. The Senate Judiciary Committee Also wants to talk to both donald trump, jr. And Paul Manafort. Senator Diane Feinstein, the top democrat on that committee, telling me earlier today that they have actually discussed this with bob mueller, the special counsels office, who has essentially given them a green light to seek public testimony for both Paul Manafort and donald trump, jr. When they want to. So, the question will be will those two men agree to come before the committee. And if they dont, will they face subpoenas . Because senator chuck grassley, the republican chairman of the committee, has threatened subpoenas if they do not agree. The third individual bob mueller also cleared, Glenn Simpson who is in charge of that research firm. Bob mueller saying that committee can also look and talk to him in a public session. So, look for all this to take place in a matter of the coming weeks or days. Looks like pretty good cooperation through the special Counsel Robert Mueller and the senate. Thanks very much, manu raju on capitol hill. I want to go back to senator chris coons. What do you make of this eighth person, this mystery person as hes been described, all of a sudden also showing up at that meeting . Well, wolf, its really sfrieking that donald trump, jr. , the president s son, his soninlaw Jared Kushner, and his Campaign Manager Paul Manafort, had what was initially presented as just a brief meeting about russian adoption. And as the days have gone by, we hear about a fourth person, 6th person, seventh person, now eighth person. And it raises questions for me about whether any of the representations that weve gotten publicly about what went on at this meeting, igts its purpose and its out come. Diane feinstein said mueller, the special counsel, has given the all clear for the committee to go ahead and question donald trump, jr. And Paul Manafort, the Campaign Chairman at the time. Do you know when that will take place . Well, the schedule in the senate has been uncertain because of the challenges of the Health Care Vote and its timing. Weve got several weeks ahead that were going to be in session that we dont currently have things scheduled. My hope would be that donald trump, jr. And Paul Manafort will appear in front of the Judiciary Committee in open session soon. It might be this month. It might not be until september. What about Jared Kushner . I think Jared Kushner should testify as well. Fortunately were seeing close cooperation between the intelligence committee, the Judiciary Committee and special counsel mueller. It is important that they not get cross wise and special counsel mueller continue to have the resources and the independence to pursue this investigation wherever it leads. Lets talk quickly about the sanctions bill. It passed the senate, the antirussian sanctions bill. There was an amendment involving additional sanctions against iran. Past the senate first time 982, second time 972, its languishing in the house of representatives now. Why . Its taking much longer than it should. There is a debate about exactly who is holding it up and why. There is some reports there are senior members of the Republican Leadership in the house that are working with the administration to water down one provision, to strengthen the executives ability to wave rush the sanctions. Others say it was a misunderstanding about jurisdiction between the house and senate. Either way the house should take it up promptly and take it to the house for passage. It is possible they will add are you with them on that . I think stronger sanctions against north korea makes sense in the current environment. As long as weve got the floor time for them coming right back to the senate to pass it and the president to sign it, i think thats an acceptable path. But we have to get this done and done soon. Senator coons, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Chris coons of delaware. There is more coming up, the president s role on the collapse of the Republican Health care bill and his refusal to take responsibility for it. And will the president s son actually give public testimony about that trump tower russia meeting now that the special counsel says its okay . Our analysts and specialists are all standing by. Award winning design. Award winning engine. The volvo xc90. The most awarded luxury suv of the century. This july visit your local volvo dealer to receive sommar savings of up to 4,500. Whats going on . 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No, youre not jimmy. Dont let directv now limit your entertainment. Xfinity gives you more to stream to more screens. Breaking news tonight, the senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell says a procedural vote on a straight repeal of obamacare will be held early next week. That comes after the latest attempt by Senate Republicans to repeal and replace it. That attempt collapsed. Now the president is effectively washing his hands of the entire effort. Lets get some more from our experts and our analysts. Gloria borger, i want you to listen to how the president responded today to the senate Gop Health Care bills failure. Let obamacare fail. It will be a lot easier. And i think were probably in that position where well just let obamacare fail. Were not going to own it. Im not going to own it. I can tell you the republicans are not going to own it. Well let obamacare fail and then the democrats are going to come to us and theyre going to say how do we fix it, how do we fix it, or how do we come up with a new plan. How unusual is it to hear that kind of tone from an american president . Look, i think its very unusual. Its a very cynical statement for a president to make. This isnt leadership. This is the president saying, let it fail. You know what happens if it fails . People lose insurance. And thats a problem if youre president of the United States because if your version didnt work, then i would argue its your responsibility to make sure that people are not left uninsured, even if that means working with democrats, which is exactly what Mitch Mcconnell said republicans would have to do if this failed. And, you know, god forbid, democrats and republicans working together, who ever heard of such a thing in what would be so wrong with that . Obviously Chuck Schumer would have to, would have to cooperate here. But for a president and i was thinking about this when i first heard this today, wolf. Its as if he was having a private conversation, and then he said it publicly. Yeah. There is no difference. Or its as if hes not president. Hes talking to someone that is not actually in the role of being responsible for all of the federal programs and who actually ran and was elected on fixing what he believed was wrong with obamacare. Its just a complete denial of responsibility. Bianna, the White House Deputy press secretary, Sara Huckabee sanders said today, she doesnt think the white house has to take any actions for obamacare to collapse. But the latest Congressional Budget Office score says obamacare markets will largely be stable. Will the white house take steps to hurt the functioning of the Affordable Care act when millions of americans right now rely on it . Well, they could stop funding cost sharing subsidies which is something that the president has threatened to do in the past. He said hes inclined to do in the future. The deadline, for instance, for next months cost sharing subsidies payments would be this thursday. So, he could very well do that. Thats about 10 billion that would go into effect for 2018, and it could raise premiums by up to 20 for people around the country who desperately need their health care. Obviously cant afford these costs. But, you know, the irony for a president who called the house bill recently mean, to say publicly that were going to let obamacare fail, thats the ultimate act of meanness. And people will start to see the ramifications of that right away. So, to say its not on me is something that clearly is something that a lot of people dont agree with when it comes to this president and his decisions decisions. It is causing a lot of commotion. I want you to listen to this math. We had 52 people, we had four nos. We might have had another one in there. Essentially the vote would have been pretty close to, if you look at it, 484. Thats a pretty impressive vote by any standard. And yet you have a vote of 48 to 4 or Something Like that and you need more, thats pretty tough. What do you make of that . I mean, look, this president came his previous career was basically as a marketing executive, right . He was a marketer of brands and a spinner of facts. All politicians do that as well. I dont think i ever heard a president try and spin a loss in congress which runs by majority rules as something other than a defeat. Its sort of absurd to talk about 48 votes as you know, close but no cigar, thats not so bad. Also, we dont even know if it was 48. We dont know how many republicans in the end would have voted against this. There were at least four people publicly against the bill. But this is similar to his statement the other day about how 36 Approval Rating, he described it as almost 40 and how that wasnt so bad. I mean, his presidency is cratering and he is struggling to spin bad Approval Rating and a loss of his congressional agenda as something other than failure and, you know, i dont think not a way to be success. He either has to pass legislation, increase his popularity, or not. Along that point, rebecca, his job approval according to the latest Washington Post poll, 36 , is that why he couldnt get those waive erring republicans if his job approval was better he would have had a better chance . Certainly a higher job Approval Rating would have been helpful. The president would have had more leverage over these senators. As it is, those senators actually probably have more leverage over the president because in most states, they are more popular than he is. That is certainly a problem, but i think what republican senators truly confronted in this situation was the stark reality that passing Health Care Legislation was going to be very, very difficult, if not impossible, especially because youre talking about rolling back entitlements, essentially, especially with the medicaid expansion, government subsidies for health care. Once you put these things out there and give people these entitlement programs, it is very difficult for the government to then say, were taking this back and not have that be political suicide. All right. Everybody stay with us. Dont go too far away. There is breaking news ahead. The white house reveals a previously undisclosed conversation between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. Humira has a proven track record of being prescribed for nearly 10 years. Humira works inside the body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to symptoms. 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If youre boyz ii men, you make anything sound good. Its what you do. If you want to save 15 percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. Its what you do. Next next to keep our community safe. Before you do any project big or small, pg e will come out and mark your gas and electric lines so you dont hit them when you dig. Call 811 before you dig, and make sure that you and your neighbors are safe. 811 is available to any business our or homeownerfe. To make sure that you identify where your utilities are if you are gonna do any kind of excavation no matter how small or large before you dig, call 811. Keep yourself safe. Breaking news tonight, the white house has just revealed a second conversation between President Trump and russian president Vladimir Putin at the g20 summit in germany earlier this month. The National Security Council Spokesman said the two leaders spoke without staff at the social dinner following their one on one meeting earlier in the day. Gloria, that one on one meeting earlier in the day lasted, what, more than two hours. This one lasted a long time. We dont know exactly how long it lasted, but why wouldnt the white house disclose this right at the time . I have no idea. Maybe its because the senator chris coons pointed out to you earlier that there was only one translator, and the translator was russian. So, we dont have any record of what was said during this other than what the president told his National Security aides and perhaps they then told others. But we dont, we dont know what was actually said at this session, which is why it was probably not disclosed. And it was done, bianna, in front of all these other World Leaders at the social dinner. You would think the white house would realize, a lot of people know about this and word is going to get out. There were reports that others around them and other World Leaders were just as surprised to see the two men huddled for nearly an hour. This conversation, hour long conversation started coming out yesterday afternoon and now obviously we have confirmation from the white house about it. But once again, wolf, it shows that the president obviously knowing the optics of what this would appear to be and how this would appear, chose to go over and felt comfortable enough to sit with Vladimir Putin for an hour without bringing anybody from his team over. You remember that Oval Office Meeting with the russians as well when secret information and intelligence was revealed. There were at least others in his cabinet who were there in the meeting, general mcmaster who was able to come out and say, there wasnt too much revealed. The source of this intelligence wasnt revealed. Now the only three people that know about what transpired in this conversation are the president of the United States, the president of russia, and the president of russias interpreter. You go back three years ago to this exact meeting where Vladimir Putin, following the invasion of ukraine, annexing crimea, was ostracized. Sat alone in the corner picking at his food. Nobody spoke to him. The australian Prime Minister barely shook his hand and Vladimir Putin left early. Here hes getting validation that hes once again a powerful world leader sitting with the most powerful leader in the world, having a very long, lengthy comfortable, it would appear, conversation. And you know, it makes you wonder, whats the Unfinished Business that the president decided he needed to transact after his initial meeting. We dont know the answer to that. And, in fact, we may never know the exact answer to that because we have no record. We have absolutely no record of what transpired. All the World Leaders at the g20 were at that dinner. Ryan, we were showing video of Melania Trump sitting next to putin at the dinner. The president of the United States and the president of russia with a russia interpreter, no american interpreter. You heard chris coons say that was inappropriate. Very inappropriate and massive failure of President Trumps staff to allow him look, hes already one of the most inexperienced people all president s come to the job with a lack of speernls, but hes more inexperienced with most new president s. To not have staff work that would make sure that they had someone there so that an account of that meeting was the american side had a true account or frankly a translator who might mistranslate something, you would at least want an american translator there so you know youre getting an honest translation of the meeting. Like so many things with this white houses relation with russia, it is puzzling, puzzling they didnt disclose it. They never did a press conference at the end of that trip so we dent get a chance to press them on some of these things. Right. Why is it that every time a Senior Administration official meets with a russian it doesnt get disclosed until it leaks out. And why, rebecca berg, would why do they think they can keep a secret when there are 20 plus leaders there plus spouses. And perhaps it was just an issue of them, the white house, not having an account of what happened. They were going to have to disclose a meeting of which they had no further details. I would be very interested to hear the white house explanation, if we get one, as to why this was not disclosed. But the fact there was this meeting on the sidelines that wasnt dit closed, a second meeting, is very much consistent with what we know about donald trump and his objectives when it comes to putin. He has said he wants to be his friend, have a Warm Cooperative partnersh partnership. I think we should get a readout of this conversation now. How do we even get that . You would have to get it from the president or russia. How do you get a readout. You can go to moscow. You can get a read out of this conversation. Maybe the kremlin is going to have to give us a readout, which as you point out from trump himself. So no white house advisors know what happened in in meeting except from trumps point of view. And to be quite frank, President Trump is not always reliable when he narrates anecdotes and things that have happened to him. To put it gently. He thought it was innocent and wanted to go over and chitchat with Vladimir Putin. Vladimir putin would approach this very differently given his expertise in being a spy. Obviously he would know how to play this president very well. It was interesting just this week there was video released in russia of president putin talking and praising donald trump, President Trump, saying what a great listener he is and how even if he questions or disagrees on certain issues, he follows up with good questions. I mean, he really went into great detail to talk about the man this president is and the man he found him to be that night. Now we know there was an additional hour in that bromance. Everybody standby, we have much more coming into the situation room. Well report right after this. Tech when you schedule with safelite autoglass, you get a text when were on our way. You can see exactly when well arrive. Im micah with safelite. Customer thanks for coming, its right over here. Tech giving you a few more minutes for what matters most. Take care. Kids singing safelite® repair, safelite® replace. To keep our community safe. Before you do any project big or small, pg e will come out and mark your gas and electric lines so you dont hit them when you dig. Call 811 before you dig, and make sure that you and your neighbors are safe. 811 is available to any business our or homeownerfe. To make sure that you identify where your utilities are if you are gonna do any kind of excavation no matter how small or large before you dig, call 811. Keep yourself safe. Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act have replaced with President Trump responding, let obamacare fail. Despite his many previous promises. Youre going to have such Great Health Care at a tiny fraction of the cost, and its going to be so easy. Real change begins with immediately repealing and replacing the disaster known as obamacare. Obamacare is dead. It is going to be repealed. It is going to be replaced. Were not going to have like a twoday period and were not going to have a twoyear period where there is nothing. It will be repealed and replaced. Obamacare repeal and replace. Ive been talking about repealing and replacing obamacare now for almost two years. It is an unbelievably come prpl subject. A lot of people knew it was very, very complicatcomplicated. Six months in office later this week. How does this failure fit in . Well, hes discovered there is no easy button that you can push. And, look, he has done a bunch of things that were easier. Withdrawing from the transpacific partnership, the Supreme Court justice, that wasnt easy, but he got him confirmed and you have the list up there. He left the climate deal. He did reduce some illegal immigration and of course signed some executive orders. But the big stuff, wolf, that he promised, the wall, you know, obamacare, infrastructure, all the rest of that, he has not done because it is not easy. His popularity still remains high with Republican Voters i should point out. 82 with Republican Voters. But independent voters are down to 32 approval. They were at 41 in january. So he has lost a lot of altitude there. The question is how long will his base stick with him, the things he promised and ran on day after day after day do not get done, including tax reform, i forgot to put on that. Thats the point. It doesnt get easier from here on out, sealing the budget, tax reform, those things are coming very fast. Each one is equally as complicated as tax reform. And the common denominator that have not gotten done is those are mostly things that need to go through congress. This isnt only a donald trump problem. This is a Republican Congress problem. And republicans in Congress Need to find a way to get answers. Very quickly, hes got to come up with a new strategy well, unfortunately shes no longer with us. I was going to say that. You were exactly right. The things on the left side of that list we just had up there are executive actions. Hell realizing that the things he can do unilaterally as president he could get accomplished. Anything he Needs Congress for so far hasnt happened. Were going to watch it every step of the way. Guys, thanks. Thats it for me. Thanks very much for watching. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Erin Burnett Outfront starts right now. Outfront next, not coming clean. A senator calling out the trump family for lack of transparency as cnn learns the identity of the eighth person in the room. That persons attorney is outfront. Trump and putin had a second previously undisclosed conversation at the g20. What happened between the two men . And trump vows to let obamacare fail. Is the law here to stay . Lets go outfront. Good evening. Outfront tonight the breaking news the top democrat of the Senate Intelligence family calling out the trump family for