Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20190910

Informants so close to enemmys such as, say, Vladimir Putin. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. And we start in the politics lead. The president firing his National Security adviser john bolton. The two have a long, welldocumented history of disagreeing on matters up to today when the two had different takes on how bolton ended up on the wrong side of the white house fence. The president tweeting in part, quote, i informed john bolton last night that his sfrss are no longer needed at the white house. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions. According to john boltons tweet which came 12 minutes later, quote, i offered to resign last night and President Trump said lets talk about it tomorrow. The news came just before a White House Briefing that boltan was scheduled to attend. Secretary of state mike pompeo and Steve Mnuchin who both reportedly clashed with bolton behind the scenes were notably all smiles at this briefing. A source close to the administration tells me that boltons exit is the result of, quote, an administration with dysfunctional processes and bureaucracy that attracts people width to make the big compromise to work for trump so they are cutthroat. It is a real snake pit and it is run by, quote, an erratic president who is hard to manage and brings out the worst sensibilities in people and add it up and john bolton standing for prince principle such as inviting the taliban to camp. But he didnt have a chance. Kaitlan collins starts off from the white house. Reporter for john bolton, the firing came via twitter as President Trump announced today he informed his National Security adviser his services are no longer needed at the white house but in a surreal moment 12 minutes later, bolton denied he was fired. Tweeting, i offered to resign last night and President Trump said lets talk tomorrow. Bolton was seen by cnn cameras outside of the west wing this morning. After a source said he got into a bitter disagreement with trump the night before. The alternative was the white house and you wouldnt have been happy with that either. Reporter they argued over the president s decision to host taliban leaders at camp david, a meeting trump later canceled. John boltons policies dont line up with the president s. Reporter boltons pushback to inviting the taliban on u. S. Soil and telling reporters about his feelings after may have been the last straw. With one source telling cnn the leaking is what got him. But in recent weeks bolton found himself isolated from the president , iced out by the chief of staff and barely speaking to the secretary of state. There were many times ambassador bolton and i disagreed. Reporter bolton was expected to be alongside mike pompeo and Steve Mnuchin. Their view was different. Reporter but after the president s tweet, a white house official said bolton is no longer in the building. I like conflict. I like having two people with different points of view. Reporter trump once claimed he likes the chaos of a west wing with multiple opinions. But he grew irritated by boltons hardline positions in recent weeks. I actually temper john which is pretty amazing. Reporter now, jake, the president said he will announce his fourth National Security adviser next week. Until then boltons Deputy Charlie cupperman will take over. But i do want to flag other reporting that we got that may have shown bolton was on the way out. Apparently when they were at the g7 s summit in france he was scheduled to be on the sunday shows defending the administrations policies but sources tell cnn that bolton was uncomfortable and didnt want to go on to defend some of the president s policies including on russia which had become a big topic of the summit. There were people close to bolton who said he thought people like Steve Mnuchin or larry kudlow were better suited on defending the president s policies on tariffs but the requirement of working in the white house is you have to be able to defend the president on television. Even the president s push to have russia back in the g7. Kaitlan collins, thank you. Joining me now is senator bob menendez, the ranking democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Thank you for joining us. Your reaction to john bolton being fired . Look, the unceremonious way he was fired adds to the dysfunctionality, the whiplash that goes on in terms of National Security and Foreign Policy. Look at the record. This is going to be the upcoming fourth National Security adviser, the third secretary of defense, the second secretary of state, the second director of national intelligence, and the list goes on. And so the situation room shouldnt be the place in which the president plays his Reality Tv Show of the apprentice so it is hard for our National Security both with allies and sending messages to our adversaries about the dysfunctionality in the white house. Im no fan of john bolton. Hes bellicose in some views but you need a National Security adviser who is willing to give you alternative views an other realities and not just yesmen in a critical position. I want to ask you about bolton specifically because a republican senator who declined to be named told cnn that republican senators clung to people like bolton on capitol hill, relying on him to know what is really going on at white house. Seeing him i suppose as a nonsicko fant, a grownup or a guardrail. What do you think . Clearly, although i dont agree with many of the ambassador boltons views and he has a bellicose way about him in terms of Foreign Policy and National Security. But he was a voice that would give alternative realities or real real ilts raeltities realities for the president for consideration. And the move in syria which would have left those who fought alongside with us in the lurch. That voices like hit were also surrounded by members of the senate who felt that this was a disaster in the making. So i think there are those particularly on the republican side who felt that he was some sort of stability in terms of Foreign Policy. There are many on my side of the aisle who think that actually he was a bit of a war monger. But what this says more, it is less about bolton and more about the president. The president has no stability in terms of National Security and Foreign Policy. He just cut his legs from his afghan envoy and his middle east envoy just left and he has no one to deal with kim jongun so it is a disaster when we have one of the most challenging foreign policies in the world that ive seen in more than 30 years. I know you disagree but there are areas where you have some agreement with bolton. He was skeptical of the president meeting with kim jongun. Skeptical of the offer to have a no Strings Attached meeting with iranian president rouhani. He was against the taliban invited to camp david. I wonder what this might mean for the administration Going Forward when it comes to policy and when it comes to people in the president s inner circle willing to say, you know what, mr. President , that is a bad idea. I think those people are few and far between if there are any left in this administration. The only way you survive in this administration is by saying yes, mr. President. Even if you believe it is a horrible idea, including for the National Security and interest of the United States and its people. And so that is one of the challenges of this administration. The reality is that this is why i believe that congress under its article one role is more important than ever before, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and house Foreign Relations committee and the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services committee need to have a robust dig lent role to try to pursue a Foreign Policy that the administration ultimately will limit the risk that they pose in terms of u. S. Foreign policy and National Security Oil Prices Fell almost immediately after trump tweeted about bolton. Why do you think that is . What is the ramifications of this . I think those who believe that ambassador bolton was an advocate of, for example, the potential of an attack on iran because of the Nuclear Program, and the instability that would create in the region, maybe there are views that now there is less of a bellicose view as it relates to iran and the region. I would assume that is speculation on their part and that is why some of the prices fell. Democratic senator bob menendez of the garden state new jersey. Thank you. Should republican lawmakers be concerned about boltons departure . The former chair of the house Intelligence Committee will join me next. And brandnew cnn polls about President Trump and how the American People view him. The polls may show hes losing his proverbial trump card for 2020. Stay with us. Service, every time. Our 18 year old was in an accident. Usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. All i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. If i met another veteran, and they were with another Insurance Company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. Were the gomez family. Were the rivera family. Were the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. Get your Auto Insurance quote today. Be right back. With moderate to severe Crohns Disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. Is she alright . 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You might might recall report twog year reporting two years ago when retired vice admiral john howard told a friend he didnt want the job because the Trump White House seemed too chaotic. He called the offer a poop sandwich but he didnt say poop. I want to bring in house intelligence chairman mike rogers with jen psaki who was the Communications Director for the Obama White House and a spokeswoman. President trump said he fired bolton and bolton is saying he offered his resignation before a white house brief tlag could have made the announcement more formal and then we could have done the briefing and the announcement. It is very chaotic. No doubt. Which is a reflection of the National Security team. I think trump has fired most of the senior officials via twitter. So that is kind of his approach of choice. But this really does tell you something about the president but something about the team. I was reading a story this morning as i was thinking about this about from a couple of weeks ago that was about how he had been cut out of the discussions and the negotiations for months about afghanistan and a variety of issues. So he hasnt been a functioning National Security adviser for sometime but without a National Security adviser you dont have a team or meeting or coordination. It is reflecting kind of the chaos that weve seen from this white house. And the president obviously not taking boltons advice on a lot of matters. One of the most important perhaps the peace negotiations in afghanistan, a source close to the administration telling me bolton just doesnt understand why the white house would want to hand over afghanistan to people who stone little girls and wanted to deny them an education. I think this is bigger than that. And i think, yes, that is where he was on that particular im not sure bolton had that opinion on afghanistan. But this was speed dating gone wrong. He came in quick. There was not a great relationship as far as a fit between boltons style and the president s style. And it was it just deteriorated quickly. And as a matter of fact, there were outside National Security meetings outside of the white house with other officials, not including the National Security adviser and it happened frequently. The president became more and more irritated with bolton and all of this was you could kind of watch this happen. And what that tells you to me and im concerned is that there is no process. If there is a big event today, what there is normally a process established that you go through the National Security council and have principal deputies to collect the information and get the choices to the president for a quick decision. That process, if it is there, there is a lot of senior officials there who dont understand what that would look like. Im told the process is dysfunctional to the point of being nonexistent in a lot of cases as you know. Right. Jen, a source close to cnn said boltons exit was largely because of a leak about President Trumps plan to host the taliban leaders at camp david, a source telling cnn there is a lot of trump could take and leaking is not one. Do you think it is the leak . Do you think it is just the fact that almost every Single Person in the world thought that inviting taliban to camp david was a bad idea . Well from several months ago john bolton had been cut out of afghan negotiations and discussions. Mike referenced sort of this outside meeting that he wasnt a part of it. He asked to see a draft of the deal. They wouldnt show it to him. And it is always been blamed on him leaking. So trump has never shown himself to be somebody who cared about what other people thought, including within his own administration but doesnt like when people criticize him. So if he thinks that john bolton is somebody who will criticize his actions or tactics, i think it is much more likely that they may be leaning on this weekend and the poor decision to try to bring the taliban to camp david but agree with mike i think it is much larger than that. It is unraveling for quite sometime and it is a convenience blame. And bolton is known for being more hawkish and President Trump came to office, whether or not hes covered like this is another matter, but came to office promising an end to americas forever wars and rand paul of kentucky, a long time critic of bolton told cnn, the chances of war worldwide go greatly down because bolton is gone. He has a naive view that believes we should recreate the world in our own image by overthrow and somehow democracy will reveil. I think that is a bunch of nonsense. I do think that boltons style you could be disagreeable or disagree without being disagreeable and i think that got lost in this translation there. And big personalities came in and decided that they were going to try to push the National Security policy in a certain direction. It wasnt a collaborate process. That is where things that tension started to happen. There is stories about bolton being thrown out of meetings because he was so angry at his position on certain National Security issues and that is what started this degre this deterioration and i think bolton had some input by saying this is a bad idea. It is not just bringing the taliban to camp david which is an awful idea but the things they gave up to do that in the way they gave away leverage to get to the peace process, i have to tell you, is really bad policy and the policy and you saw the differences starting to brew amongst the National Security people who are left at the white house saying, hey, this is really bad. This was that spark that said im going to tweet and tell you dont come into the office. Mr. Chairman, jen psaki, thank you very much. Breaking news. New cnn polls just out this hour about President Trump that his Reelection Campaign may not want to hear. That is next. Cdc guidance recommends topical pain relievers first. Like salonpas patch large. Its powerful, fdaapproved to relieve moderate pain for up to 12 hours, yet nonaddictive and gentle on the body. Salonpas. Its good medicine. Hisamitsu. Hi. Maria ramirez mom maria Maria Ramirez. Mcdonalds is committing 150 Million Dollars in tuition assistance, education, and career advising programs. Prof Maria Ramirez mom and dad Maria Ramirez to help more employees achieve their dreams. Youwhen you barely the clip a passing car. Mom and dad Maria Ramirez minor accident no big deal, right . Wrong. Your Insurance Company is gonna raise your rate after the other car got a scratch so small you coulda fixed it with a pen. Maybe you should take that pen and use it to sign up with a different Insurance Company. 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And 55 of those polled saying they disapprove. That Approval Rating for President Trump is the lowest since january when washington, d. C. Was in the midst of a fight over the government shutdown. David chalian joins me now. Where is the president s support of 39 coming from. This wont surprise you, but republicans are overwhelmingly driving his support. Look at that 88 number approval among republicans. Where he is struggling with independents critical to his reelection and 34 and only 7 of democrats approve of his job. But take a look at how we break this down by race and gender. Approval among white men, 54 , it is the only category where he is majority approval. White women, 42 approval. It goes down from there. Hispanics, men 37 . Hispanic women, 23 approval. And among africanamericans he is in the cellar. Black men, 15 approval. Black women, 3 approval, jake. And take a look at where President Trump lines up historically. Hes at the bottom of the pack. Only jimmy carter was in worse shape at this point in his presidency. Now some comfort perhaps for donald trump there is that you see barack obama and bill clinton are down there also and they went on to win reelection of course, jake. How does President Trump fair when it comes to questions about his reelection. This may send a chill down the spine of those at Trump Campaign headquarters, 60 say that donald trump does not deserve reelection and only 36 said that he does. And if you look at the issue set, the economy is always a strong suit and it still is. Hes at 48 . But he is below 50 even on the economy and Everything Else hes down in the 30s. And obama was not high. He was at 43 approval as opposed to trumps 39 approval. But what overall might this say about the status of the Trump Presidency given were a year away from reelection. Hes hurting with independents. That is a critical challenge and number one item on the todo list for him. And i would note he does have time and money, two precious resources ong on his hands. More than a year away from the election and while the democrats are fighting among themselves hes raising tons of money and has the time to make his case to the American People. David chalian thank you for the breaking news, the poll. Lets chew on this with our experts. Jackie, let me start with you. Your take on this . What do you think. I think david mentioned this but i think the economic numbers are interesting. The Foreign Trade numbers are interesting. 39 . These are issues the president has staked his reputation on. And hes really pushed to the limit when it comes to some of the biggest supporters, farmers for example in iowa and wisconsin and the places where he needed to win are hurting because of his trade policy so thats an interesting number. And also the white women. Trump won white women in 2016 and now hes under water with them. And finally the immigration number is interesting. 37 . The president doubled down on immigration during the 2018 campaign and it didnt work out well for him. Now hes on the ticket, the fact he does push this issue and pushing money toward the wall, i wonder how that is going to work out for him as we get closer to election day. Because hes so unpopular. How do you see the poll fitting into the strategy of the Trump Reelection Campaign which seems to double down on the base and drive out turnout even higher in the counties where he won or where a republican might win 5545 but he won 6040 or 7030. So far the Trump Administration wants to stick with what its done in the past. What it did in 2018, what it did in 2016 which is very much focus on immigration, focus on the wall, despite the fact that he hasnt been able to build the wall or get mexico to pay for it. And very much focus on racial identity and politics. Theyre testing that message right now today in a special election in North Carolina. And theyre going to see whether or not it works there. So it is something that theyre sticking with. A number that stuck out to me was the fact that 71 of those polled dont believe the things that are coming out of the white house. So that matches with what weve heard this week, the contradictions around bolton, as simple as that. That voters dont seem to trust what they hear from the white house. David, youre a 2020 adviser. 60 of those polled say that President Trump does not deserve reelection. What is your response and how do you turn that around in. So im not super concerned because i dont put a great deal of credibility of polls and a snapshot in time and during the last election when the president ran, he was at 39 in pennsylvania when he got elected and this is a snapshot in time and polls arent dont predict how things will go. I like the numbers david points out there at the end. Statistical dead heat with obama and clinton. There is a 3 margin of error to 39 and 42 and 43 in the same group. I would be interested in the numbers of macomb, michigan and those places will swing the election and tell the tale. This campaign will lose terribly in california, new york. That is no surprise. How do we do it in the bubble places that will predict the election is what i would like to see. What won the election well he lost the election but what got him installed in the white house he won the electoral vote. He lost the popular vote. Almost 3 million that is not how we do it in this country. I understand. It is also we dont have the fbi intervening in this country and they did. Not that im bitter. Moving forward. The issues on which he retreats to get that base are immigration and trade. And hes desperately under water on both. It is really interesting. Hes at only 37 of americans who believe or approve of what hes doing on immigration and that is what he talked about last night in North Carolina as you point out. That is what he closed the 18 midterms with. It is not working. Trade the same way. A lot of democrats voted for trump because they wanted a hawkish position on trade an it is not working now. All of these numbers are terrible for trump but the most important number is good for him and that is 420. That is how many daves until donald trump faces the elector at. That is a lifetime. 42 scaramuccis. And 1 billion to spend on election. And when it comes to President Trumps campaign promises, 43 say they think hes doing a good job keeping them. That is down from 50 in april of this year. And that is down from 52 in october of last year. Even in polls where people didnt approve of President Trump people were giving him credit for keeping his promises but now it is down to 43 . That is why you see him trying to get out of foreign wars, why hes pushing all of this money and draining military projects to build the wall. The promises made, promises kept is a great slogan but as an incumbent president you do sort of have to have receipts. And as you note, 71 of the individuals in this poll say they dont trust what they hear from the white house. And thats understandable given the fact that the president says a lot of things that are not true but it is a shocking number so some of the people who think hes doing a good job and people who want him reelected dont trust what they hear out of the white house. Right. And so what that tells me is they might not trust what he said out of the white house but as you mentioned, his base is with him. Which is a number that this poll shows, 88 of republicans support him. If he plays to that base and is able to drive up turnout, it is a game of margins and in states like nevada and states like wisconsin and whether or not democrats can boost black voter turnout which went down in states like that last election cycle. And how big of a problem is that if at all do you think the 71 who dont believe what is coming out of the white house. Look, generally polls will tell you time and time again, people dont trust politicians in general. So i dont read too much into that. I would like to see the sampling. Not to be too geeky but the cross tabs where the people were sampled and what the sample size was, how Many Democrats or republicans and where it is taken from. You want to be believed or likeable. Everybody that is what you want your candidate to be. Position them as credible and likeable, right. So to the extent polls say this is not the case, that is a problem. Paul, what would you tell the president if he hired you and you all of a sudden became a republican overnight. Would you tell him talk more about the economy or tell the truth more. Hold on, that sounds like me. These are things that david said. I would talk more about the economy and i would not scapegoat the fed. I would focus on china. They are an external threat. If you want dont demagogue mexico or the french. Focus on china. You could rally people. But hes hemorrhaging with independents. Hes right where he needs to be with his party as laura points out. But he beat Hillary Clinton among independents last time. Hes down. One out of four independents quit on him. He has to get them. The way to do that is to go back to the position on gun control, minimum wage and infrastructure and there are democratic ideas that he claims to have supported last time around. And the numbers all change when there is somebody across the aisle. An actual rival. The numbers will change dramatically. So wait for that. Intelligence from a man close to Vladimir Putin and up next reporting on why President Trump was skeptical about all of it. Stay with us. Im joan lunden. When my mother began forgetting things, we didnt know where to turn for more information. Thats why i recommend a free Service Called a place for mom. We have local Senior Living advisors who can answer your questions about dementia or memory care and, if necessary, help you find the right place for your mom or dad. We all want whats best for our parents, so call today. To maximize freshness. Hey. Which is great,. Cool. Unless you dont live within 5 minutes of a jimmy johns. Thats why jimmy johns is buying someone a house, a really real house in a jimmy johns delivery zone. For real. Tell us why it should be you at jimmyjohns. Com. Because sandwich. Teltheyre americasd be bpursuing lifechanging cures. In a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs. Like a way to fight cancer by arming a patients own tcells. Because its not just about the next breakthrough. Its all the ones after that. [horn honks] man this is what i feel like when i wear regular shoes, cramped and uncomfortable. We can arrange a little upgrade. Which is why i wear skechers. Wide fit shoes. They have extra room throughout. 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Multiple senior officials who served under the president told me President Trump has expressed opposition to the use of foreign intelligence from covert sources including overseas spies who provide the u. S. Government with crucial information about countries hostile to the u. S. In private the president said foreign spies could damage relations with their host countries and undermine his own personal relationships with their leaders. The sources said, the president , quote, believes we shouldnt be doing that to each other. One former Trump Administration official told cnn. Now in addition to the fear that such foreign intelligence sources will damage his own relationship with foreign leaders, trump has expressed doubts about the credibility of the information they provide. Another official told cnn that trump, quote, believes people are selling out their country. Now, remember, even in public trump has looked down on these crucial foreign assets as they are known in the intelligence community. You may remember responding to reports that the cia recruited kim jonguns brother as an informant. This is what the president said at the time. I saw the information about the cia with respect to his brother or half brother and i would tell him that would not happen under my auspices, that is for sure. Remarkable for a u. S. President to say the u. S. Will not spy on adversaries. His skeptical view on informants undermines one of the most essential ways that u. S. Intelligence agencies gather information about u. S. Adversaries including analysis of their capabilities and their intentions. Intelligence assessment of National Security threats all depend on a combination of both human intelligence as the sources are called but also signals intelligence, that is intercepted communications, et cetera. Just imagine all of the threats that depend on that kind of information. North korean missiles and Nuclear Program and al qaeda and isis threats and the russian interference in the u. S. Election. Jim sciutto, thank you. Joining me now is fbi analyst phil mudd. The president said that these foreign assets as intelligence agencies call them could jeopardize his relationships with world leaders. What do you make of that . Let me get this vat. The first thing you learn when you go to the fbi, this city, washington, is swimming with chinese and russian agents spying on us every day. The president deals all of the time with president xi of chinese and a great bromance with the russian leadership. If that is the issue, people spying on an adversary is an issue in the personal relationship, why does everybody spy on us and the president could go to moscow and talk to the russians and say the relationship is perfectly okay. One quick final comment. If your president Vladimir Putin and the president of the United States said we wont spy on you, is that a sign of strength from the americans or weakness . Remember, putin is a kgb guy. I think hes looking at this and laughing. Let me ask you, practically speaking, how important are these sources of human intelligence or as opposed to singles intelligence which is phone calls that are overheard or emails intercepted. It is really hard, let me make this basic, to figure out what somebody thinks. If i want to know what you think about cnn, i intercept your Financial Transactions and email and your texts. I still may not get information that says this is what jake thinks, i need somebody next to you who can get into conversations that you might have with that person you would never put in a financial transaction or emo and getting to what somebody thinks you need humans for that. I want to go back to jim sciutto to talk about that russian spy that was extracted in 2017. Jim, you have new information . That is right. Just about how high level this spy was. It was someone who had been providing information to the u. S. For more than a decade. Imagine that. And who had reached the highest levels of russias own National Security infrastructure which mirrors in some respects the National Security council and this person had access to the russian president himself including, jake, note this, the remarkable ability im told to take photographs of president ial documents. That information crucial to the intel communication assessment on the 2016 election and the finding it was Vladimir Putin who directed that interference and did so to help trump beat Hillary Clinton. Jim sciutto, tarng thank you. Jim, how would the cia cultivate a spy with such close access to putin . I dont think you would cultivate someone with that access, you have to grow them. Get someone at a junior level and you need aspects or motivation or somebody who wants to give up their country. This person is considered to be a traitor. You need access to the individual. Do do they travel overseas and trying to meet clandestine in moscow is hard to do if they are not traveling overseas and the patience over years to watch somebody grow even if they are not in significant positions before, so that they are at the place now where you could get access to putin, that is incredible in the intel world. Phil mudd, tank you so much. President trump about to face a big test and a traditionally red state. What it could mean for his chances in 2020. Stay with us. You should be mad they gave this guy a promotion. You should be mad at forced camaraderie. And you should be mad at tech that makes things worse. But youre not mad, because you have e trade, whos tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. 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Voting is already underway in a race testing his strength. President trump made a massive push in the republican stronghold of North Carolinas ninth congressional district. That seat has been held by republicans since 1963. Trump won the district by 12 points in 2016. Ryan nobles is in charlotte, North Carolina. And polls show the race is remarkably close . Reporter that is right, jake. We dont have a ton of public polling available on this race, but both democrat and republican operatives concede that it is within the margin of error. And depending on the results tonight, this race, which is already made history, could make even more. It is the last race of the 2018 election. But it could also be the beginning of a story of the 2020 campaign. To stop the far left, you must vote in tomorrows special election. Reporter the North Carolina board of elections forced a doover in the states ninth congressional direct because of a Fraud Investigation into an absentee ballot operation run by a gop operative. That operative is now facing criminal charges. The candidate he was working for, mark harris, chose not to run again. In his place republicans pick dan bishop. A conservative state senator best known for the lead role in passing the so calls bathroom bill that prevend prevented transgender people of using the bathroom of their choice. Held by republicans since the 60s and won by President Trump in 2016 and trump is all in this time around. You have a democrat named dan mccready and and he wants open boards and sanctuary cities. Reporter republicans deploying the president s eldest son and Vice President pence to drum up the vote. But democrats see an opportunity. Dan mccready has been running nonstop for the seat for two years. The easy thing to do when we saw that would have been to throw in the towel. I chose to fight. Reporter hes a Marine Corp Veteran promising a moderate agenda and keeping National Democrats at a arms length. Democrats arent supposed to be competitive in this district. Reporter but that is not stopping the campaign and outside groups which have poured 6 million into the race for painting mccready as a liberal. Dan mccready is an ultra liberal. Reporter but he Financial Support too. His campaign is raised nearly 5 million this year. In an attempt to turn the seat blue. And here in North Carolina the polling locations have not necessarily been that busy but that might not mean that Voter Participation is low. That is because North Carolina has early voting and many voters here take full advantage of that opportunity. The polls close here tonight at 7 30 and it could be a nailbiter. Might be a while before we foe the results. Ryan ive seen both republicans and democrats lowering the expect ac the skpegtsations game and why would republicans down play the race and potential implications. Reporter there is so much more to lose here. This is a race theyre supposed to win and a district donald trump won by 12 points but the dynamics so different, the back drop of this historic Fraud Investigation and they dont want us to draw conclusions of what this means for 2020 especially if they are on the losing end. Thank you. Apple cooking up a new iphone with new features that selfie takers will love. That is next. At fidelity, we believe your money should always be working harder. Thats why, your cash automatically goes into a Money Market Fund when you open a new account. And fidelitys rate is higher than etrades, td ameritrades, even 10 times more than schwabs. Plus only fidelity has zero account fees and zero minimums for retail brokerage and retirement accounts. 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President trump said he fired the National Security adviser john bolton leaving a critical post in limbo amid heightened global tension. Will bolt while bolton claims he resigned were learning new details of what may have been the final straw for the president. Falling approval. A new cnn poll has been released and shows the president s Approval Rating is down. But another number should be of even greater concern for the white house, how Many Americans now say the president should not get a second term. Bell weather race. All political eyes are on North Carolina special election tonight