The car then crashed Near Parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife, continued the attack into parliament. Sadly, i can confirm that now four people have died. That includes the Police Officer who was watching parliament and one man we believe to be the attacker, who was shot by a Police Officer. The officers family have been made aware. At least 20 people have been injured. As part of long established and well rehearsed plans, parliament has been locked down. That response included uniformed foreign officers. We now of course have an on going operation on what we currently believe there was only one attacker. Im sure the public will understand that were taking every precaution in locking down and searching the area as thoroughly and exhaustively as possible. And i know that the officials
working within parliament are in the area completely understand the need to do this and i thank them for their patience and their support. This investigation has the full weight and expertise of the command behind it. And if there are people who saw the events unfold today that havent yet spoken to us, i would urge them to get in touch. A crime scene will remain in place in the affected areas in westminster and we will carry out a painstaking investigation to recover all the possible evidence. Looking forward to the rest of the day, including when people are commuting home, and indeed over the days that follow, the people of london will see extra Police Officers armed on our streets. This includes the officers working longer hours and extra shifts along British Transport Police in the city of london. And, of course, as youre aware, we can call on the support of the military should we need to. We are also in the process of
going. The officer that was attacked, was he one of the armed officers that protect parliament . One of the armed officers protecting parliament, yes. So, as you understand the situation, when you have such an offense that takes place on the bridge, the reports will be confused with many different varying accounts. Were still working our way through that. Were satisfied at this stage it looks like there was only one attacker, but we dont want to be overconfident so early on. It is a precautionary basis. Were locking down the area so we can have complete confidence that everyone is safe. Sorry. [ Inaudible Question ] what were saying to the public is, take vigilance. No need to be alarmed. So that should probably during the transition, thats correct. Dana and representative nunes said he had spoken to you and that he was on his way to brief the white house, which is interesting, since they are the subject of the investigation. Yeah, chairman nunes did brief me on this this morning. So i first learned of this a few handful of hours ago. This is because we have an investigation in the Intelligence Committee into these things. So this is one of the things that he uncovered in his investigation and felt it was important to bring it to light since he learned of this recently. Dana all right. So maybe well find out later after he goes to the white house. Lets move on to the big story. Nine weeks into the administration in terms of your speakership and this new term, you are bringing to the floor tomorrow night house bill, the American Healthcare act. Just moments before we came to air the Freedom Caucus through mark meadows, congressman from north carolina, said that the votes arent there. Ont pass. But what say you . Well, i dont think anybody knows the answer to that. There was a claim that theres 24 votes against it. We are getting a lot of Freedom Caucus members to support this bill. We have been adding votes all week. Heres whats going on, dana. We are in the Fourth Quarter of the house passing this bill which is the Fourth Committee. Now that were getting to the Fourth Committee of a four committee process, thats when a lot of negotiations intensify near tend of the process. This is called legislating. So there are people who want to get various provisions in the bill. Whats important for us, we have the Broker Compromises to make sure we draft legislation that can actually pass. One of the rules that we have to watch is the senate rules that prevent a bill from being fi filibustered. We have to be cognizant that we dont add a provision from the bill that jeopardizes it from being voted on it, that would make it easy for chuck shumer to filibuster. Our members are frustrated that we have to play by these senate rules. But if we do pass a bill that
that improve the bill, that make good refinements to the bill to make it better. We want to make sure we keep the consensus so that we can actually pass the bill. When we pass the bill here in the house, it can be brought up for a vote in the senate and not filibustered. So thats the key balance that we have to maintain while we go through this process. Dana you wrote the bill, im assuming there would be no support from the left. They were going to be against it. I dont think people who Created Obamacare will be working with us. Dana did you expect the strong push back from the right . Seems like the seniors groups arent happy, the veteran groups arent happy. Some people say it gives tax cuts to the rich. And that youre basically the reverse robinhood. How do you respond to that . I would say obamacare is a collapsing law. Double digit premiums this year, higher next year. Basically forced insurance monopolies. Five states, one plan left, 1,000 counties one insurer left. Insurers are pulling out. The thing is collapsing. People are trying to compare us with a law thats quickly collapsing. Its a faulty comparison. We said we need to repeal and replace this with patiented centered health care. Let people buy what they want to buy. I know people on the left dont like that but thats what we Campaigned On. Thats what we think will save the American Health care system having a patient centered system with choice and competition and not a government coerced system that literally is giving us Sky Rocketing Premiums. Dana you have always been a Free Market Kind of guy. Can you understand where some of the guys from the Freedom Caucus are coming from . They actually think maybe it would be better not to do anything than to send this one to the senate. My own view is doing nothing means the collapse occurs and good people get hurt. Doing nothing means Sky Rocketing Premiums coming up in 2017 and 2018. Doing nothing means more Insurance Companies pull out and people have nothing. So we just believe we have a moral obligation and duty, now that were the governing party, to step in front of that collapse and replace it with reforms that work. These reforms, whenever tested, have worked. Whats frustrating to all of us, Freedom Caucus members, myself, everybody in between in the house is that we have to deal with these senate rules as they are. And thats frustrating to us. Dont forget, dana, when the senate Rammed Obamacare through, they did it with 60 votes. They didnt have any rules they had to work on. We dont have that ability because theres only 52 republicans. So we have to use the Reconciliation Rule which narrows the solution. Dana more republicans should be elected to the senate. Give us 60 votes and we can write any bill we want. Dana i have a question for you. You and President Trump have seemed to form a relationship that maybe neither of you anticipated. You called him the other day a very good closer. I saw some members who had been on record saying they werent going to support the bill now said okay, theyre going to. Is that because he has put his shoulder behind this and you are in this together through tomorrow night . Hes been bringing members down there in groups turning votes around, talking to members and closing the deal. He brought about ten people down there and turned their votes around. And just basically explained how just valuable and important this is for the country. By the way, its also important so that we can get on to tax reform and get on to economic growth. The president has been a fantastic closer. This is, to me, its encouraging. I have been talking to members of congress who have been here for many years who said this is like the first time i have ever been to the oval office. We have never seen this kind of president ial engagement and involvement with our members before. Its very constructive. Its very refreshing. The president and Vice President are rolling up their sleeves, getting involved. Look, governing is tough. We are going from having been an Opposition Party for the last ten years to having to become a governing party within three, four months. Thats a challenge. Those are the growing pains were going through here. It looks a little messy, but this is the system founders envisioned. I enjoy the fact that were having these conversations. That were talking about not whether were going to fix peoples problems but how. And thats the kind of conversation that we should be having up here. Thats one we are. Dana My Last Question to you, if the markets are concerned that theres maybe an inability to get this one done or theyre worried that tax reform wont get done, you wake up on friday morning regardless of what happened the night before with the vote, what is the next step for the house . What is the next puzzle piece that you try to put together so that you get the agenda accomplished . The reason people link this to tax reform is obamacare, our bill repeals 1 Trillion Dollars in obamacare taxes. That makes tax reform 1 Trillion Dollars easier if you dont repeal and replace obamacare and your tax efforts just became a trillion dollars harder. To give you a sense of how that trapb lates. 1 trillion is ten percentage
point drop in business tax rates. Its pretty significant. So either we do this repeal and replace and make tax reform easier or if we did not do this it would make tax reform about 1 trillion harder. Dana paul ryan, thank you very much. Now back to Shepard Smith with continuing coverage of the london Terror Attack. Thank you. Two different messages coming in on health care from paul ryan and from the white house, the latest uring out of the white house is theyre getting very close to the deal. A senior House Republican aide said theres no plans to pull the bill or delay the planned vote which is scheduled for thursday. In addition, i can tell you the head of the Freedom Caucus, more conservative caucus there, is reporting simultaneously that they dont have the votes, that the bill will die and has asked the leadership to start over with a brand new bill. Now to the breaking developments out of london. We now know four people are dead in a Terror Attack around
westminster. One of the four dead is a Police Officer. Two others are people who were on scene. And the fourth person who has died is now the suspect. The terrorist himself according to authorities, they believe a lone knife wielding man, was given cpr on scene. Here he is on a Stretcher Being taken away to hospital. One he arrived at that hospital, they continued to work on him. Now were told this man has died. Everything is on lockdown in london, central london. Authorities are investigating this as an on going incident. Our Sister Station in london has just spoken to a witness. Lets listen. We heard what we thought were gunshots. Then we just saw the car just went up, plowed into people. There was a man behind the
wheel. On the bridge, those people were just lying down. I would say maybe ten bodies. It all happened so quickly. We came up to the bridge. Within minutes parliamentary proceedings were halted and the chamber locked down. I will suspend the sitting of the house. Please wait here. The Prime Minister was rushed to safety by her protection detail. I have never seen the Prime Minister moved away by the biggest security plain clothed Security Police men i had ever seen. She had police all around her. Took her very very quickly away. And we can see that she was taken to her car. Weapons were produced by the Security Detail and she was very very rapidly moved to safety. Police cleared the entire area around westminster as a fleet of ambulances moved on to the bridge and began treating the victims, mowed down by the car as it sped toward parliament. Many stood no chance of getting out of the way. Those that saw it will never forget it. Paramedics crowded around individual patients along most of the length of the bridge. Specialist Counter TerrorismFirearms Police moved in to secure the area and sweep it for any other potential threats. Even the london eye which overlooks the westminster was temporarily shut down. Those on board having to wait to be given the all clear. Tonight the area is still locked down as terror came back to the streets of london. 20 minutes past 6 p. M. In london. That is the latest from sky
news. At the white house now the discussion of Paul Manafort, former Campaign Manager for donald trump who is now ahead of a multimillion Dollar Contract with those outside our country and sean spicer asked about that by jonathan karl. Lets listen. I dont know what work he did. I know when he was hired, he did his job. Shane . Are you saying it wasnt disappointing to learn i dont know no, no. I dont know because the story that came out this morning said he had this client, paul put out a statement that suggested this is what he did, this is how he handled it. Youve all read it. We have not spent a ton of time going through what he did for that client a decade ago. I had not discussed witness the president. I know hes made it very clear. He hired him to do a job. He did the job well. He got him over the finish line. August 19th he was let go of the campaign for the reasons i had mentioned. Do you think Paul Manafort played any role in the hiring of any people in the federal government after the election. Not to my knowledge at all. John . Thank you, sean. Going back to the American Healthcare act. It was always nervousness that moving too quickly on it would lead some very dangerous points in the details. Several publications, including saras reported today that as a result of a change of a few words, veterans who benefitted from a program called Veterans Affairs had the option of getting tax credits would now get neither under the new legislation. And that 7 million veterans would be cost health care. Is the administration following this and is it urging congress to do anything about it . Most veterans get their
health care kwraoeurt through tri care or medicare if theyre over 65 or a combination there of, correct . Theres two programs. One is the Veterans Affairs program and the other is the option. This is under the current law. To have tax credits. My understanding again from saras publication this morning and several others is that 7 million veterans could possibly lose both. Id have to follow up with you. Im not aware of any modifications to tri care that would have that effect. Kristen . Sean, thanks. Monday the president accused president obama and democrats of rushing through the healthcare law, jamming it through. When, in fact, they debated it for about a year. This Health Care Law was rolled out about 15 days ago. So dont you run the risk of rushing this through, of not giving it enough time for public debate . Republicans talked about
repealing and replacing obama care since 2010. Weve Campaigned On it in every election since. The principles that are in a lot of these have been public for a long time. Hold on. You just rolled out the actual bill. It s gone through three committees two had unanimous republican support. I understand that. Were working through the process. This was something the president Campaigned On, told the American People it would be a top priority. Republicans who ran for the house and senate said it would be a top priority. Something he talked about for seven years. To suggest were rushing anything, i think weve done this very very deliberately and very responsibly to make sure that people can read it. So, again, with all due respect to the folks who tackled this in the past, we actually put the bill online, let everyone in the entire world read it, didnt jam it through, to quote former speaker pelosi, who said if you want to read the bill, wait until we pass it. We let the entire world read it. Watch the process occur. And i think that is a much more open and transparent process. Ask you a question about the Terror Attack. The president s been briefed. He also spoke with Prime Minister teresa may. Can you give us any more information about who may have been behind it and should americans have any concern . I know the British Government is investigating this as an act of terrorism at this moment. So for me to sort of get out and ahead of, i know our Homeland Security team and national Security Team are in contact with them. Secretary tillerson issued statement, as has Homeland Security secretary kelly. So we are continuing to monitor the situation. Were in touch with officials in the British Government. As i mentioned, as i was walking out here, the president was finishing up a call with Prime Minister may. Well try to have an additional readout to the extent that thats possible. But we are going to provide the assistance we can to the british
government to get to the bottom of this. At this time it would be highly responsible for us to say anything about british officials. You mention there is no plan b. Plan a is the only train leaving the station i believe you said. Does that mean if the plan fails, the bill fails, will the president move on to other issues, like trade and Leave Obamacare in place . And if so, how long is he comfortable leaving it in place . Were not gonna leave it in place. Were gonna repeal and replace it tomorrow. Move it through the senate and the president will sign the bill. We continue to see the enthusiasm and momentum coming to our direction. So im not looking as i mentioned, were not looking at plan b. We have plan a. Its going to pass, and then well go from there. You now have the ability to formally announce i do not. Why not . Because thats not how it works. Thats something that we
continue to work with the Chinese Government to coordinate the final dates and times. And then obviously we coordinate the announcement with them as well. Trust me, when were ready, well let you and everyone else know. Are you prepared to talk about the bilateral relationship at that time . My guess is there will be a lot to discuss at that time. Did the president ask the fbi director or nsa or any other agencies to come to the white house and brief him on this new information, or is it just the chair . And if so, why not . Well, jeff, it just happened. Its a silly question to ask me literally as im walking out here when the chairman was Wrapping Up Aen event saying he is announcing he is coming down here. Not like we picked up the phone and called everyone el. The first step is to hear what he has to say and find out who else he briefed. Then well get the steps going forward. Is this the first of several meetings . I dont know. It literally just happened as i
was walking out here. So to suggest other steps have occurred, until that briefing occurs, well see what this leads to. I dont the wall street journal has been very supportive of his candidacy and agenda. Simply raised the question that he is not doing very well, that he could be on the verge of being a fake president. What do you believe the state of his credibility is as we sit here today . I think the president has made several promises to testify American People and hes kept them. We established a five year lobbying ban and foreign ban on lifetime which is all what he said he was going to do. Said he was going to cut regulation. He did that. Said he was going to start to bring back job. He did that. Said he was going to start to pay real attention and respect taxpayer. Hes done that. He backed a plan to repeal and replace obamacare. Hes talked about putting forth a budget that puts defense first. He did that. He took action on dakota and keystone pipeline. He did that. When it comes to the president making promises to the American People and keeping them, hes got a pretty high record of doing it. Can i ask you about conversation that happened about Paul Manafort. When Michael Flynns name came up at the time, not registered as a foreign agent, there was a lot of focus on the vetting process. You said we trust people to fill out the forms they need to be. The president has been committed to making sure we Institute High standards here and were held to that. So given your word is it sufficient to trust the information that the people you hire give you . And can you say with certainty that there Isnt Anybody Else thats working in the interest of another Foreign Government, working for this government right now . Thats a good question, peter. Theres a big difference in working for a campaign or entity where theres no forms to fill out. When you work for the United States government, you fill out a Security Clearance form. You fill out an Employment Form that asks certain questions. Under the penalty of law. Those questions hold on. He still got through, i guess . He filled out the forms. Under the penalty of law. I dont know what was on his forms or what was not on his forms. Remember, what the president let him go for was not being truthful for the Vice President , not necessarily what was on a form. If somebody fills out a form here for a Security Clearance or another Employment Document and lies on that form or misleads, theyre going to face the penalty of law. Thats a big different tprepb than saying when someone was hired on a campaign or another entity that they should disclose everything in their past, who their clients were. But, again, if someone presented a resume and it was faulty, sure, if that was false, as you recall there was another person during the transition who was named to a position that was discussed as not being truthful with some of their works. We let them go. That was people write things. They have jobs. They describe themselves a certain way. Every time that im aware of that weve had an incident where someone has not been forthright and truthful, weve let them go. When you work for the United States government, you fill out Security Clearance forms, Employment Forms under the penalty of law. None of those cases occurred in the past. If you dredge up someones work from a decade ago. Its not that he wasnt truthful. Youre trying to make the accusation that he was dishonest. No, you are. Im not asking about Paul Manafort. What are you asking . Can you say theres nobody working for this white house that is presently working in the interest of a Foreign Government . I can tell you that every form has been filled out. So you trust . Absolutely. People are filling out forms. To sit here and ask me whether i can vouch for whatever it is, a few hundred people, that have filled out everything, that would be ridiculous for me to
stand there and suggest that i possibly could. What i can tell you is under the penalty of law every person thats filled out a form that is being vetted by whatever level of classification they need to get by the appropriate Law Enforcement agencies or hr entities. I cant prevent somebody from fully disclosing everything on their taxes or filling out a form. What i can tell you, if theres an instance brought to our attention where someone misled it, they will be referred to the appropriate Law Enforcement agency or appropriate action will be taken. Very quickly, in regards to devin nunes and the comments where you began by telling us. March 4th the president tweeted how well has president obama gone my phones during the sacred process. This is nixon watergate. Bad or sick guy. Does the president stand by his statement that president obama is a bad or sick guy . I think the president tweets stand for themselves. Hold on. Im going to answer the
question. I know. I think the president s tweets speak for themselves. As for the rest of the tweets, lets see how this process evolve evolves. On the Executive Order on energy independence, thats been delayed for several weeks now. Hold on. Why would it be delayed . Your office said it was going to be released several weeks ago. It wasnt. Then there were reports consequently that it would be released and it hasnt been. With all due respect, i dont believe i ever announced that that was scheduled to come out. Can you tell us when it will be released . No. Also breaking news to london and the british Home Secretary speaking. Lets listen. Amber rudd, member of parliament. This is an on going incident and the government will continue to be updated. The Prime Minister, the governments top priority is the security of its people. And i urge everyone to remain calm, but to be vigilant. And if they see anything they are concerned about, they should report to it the police. We have the best police, the best Security Services in the world, and we must make sure that we let them get on with doing their job. The british people will be united in working together to defeat those who would harm our shared values. Values of democracy, tolerance and the rule of law. Values symbolized by the Houses Of Parliament. Values that will never be destroye destroyed. The Homeland Secretary presumably speaking. Its midnight in pakistan. The latest we have on this,
as we continue to monitor Develop Phpbts both in washington and london. Uk investigators are considering the possibility that the London Attack was inspired by Islamic State propaganda. That is from the european Government Official speaking to the Reuters News Agency just a short time ago. The London Attack, we now know the tube station there, the Subway Station At Parliament has reopened and parliament itself will be back for a regular day of business tomorrow. They have vowed to move on with life as quickly as possible. A witness has spoken to sky news in london. Lets listen in. Saw a trainer a trainer being a shoe. I thought someone must have been hit by a car. I saw a body on the other side of the road. There was another body. Then i looked over the side of the bridge there was another body lying in the water. Any indication as to what had caused those people to be injured . Had you seen a car come through . I didnt see anything at first that i was aware of, just people starting to scream. People pulled off. And then there was a lot of confusion. Police were dealing with the casualties. At that point i just tried to stop people coming onto the bridge. Still a lot of people were coming on. That bridge is still closed down, Westminster Bridge over the river thames. Parlment was stopped for the day. Members of parliament were held in place as were visitors and tourists including a large group, what appeared to be hundreds of school children, which is the normal course of events. Now we know the attacker, who was injured on that bridge, according to authorities, ran this vehicle over a number of people, injuring 20. Eventually getting out of that vehicle, stabbing a Police Officer as the sun in london the attacker was plunging the knife repeatedly into this officer. As that was happening, other officers, these are all armed
officers there, opened fire, shot the suspect. The suspect was down and being treated, was eventually taken to a hospital nearby, and in the hospital that assailant died. The Police Officer who was attacked has also died. And two others who were there on scene have died. So the death toll is the assailant plus three others. Kevin schoefield is on the line. He said he saw the stabbing from the Parliament Press gallery. What did you see . I was working in the Press Gallery this afternoon, as you s see, when we saw the street from Westminster Bridge. We thought there had been a car crash or something. We looked out the window. There were people running, people shouting. Then to my left i saw a man break through, push his way through some Security Gates on the perimeter of the parliamentary estate. He went straight for a Police Officer. Took him down. They both fell to the ground. Then another Police Officer ran towards those two, and then the attacker got up and approached the second Police Officer with his arm outstretched with what looked like a knife in his hand. Then my view was obscured slightly at that point. Then about a second, two seconds later there were several rounds of gun fire which, at that time we didnt know whether that was armed Police Shooting or whether the man had a gun or whether a second attacker. No one knew at that point. Kevin schofield on a harrowing afternoon outside the Houses Of Parliament in great britain. Weve just gotten new video of the scene. This is from the bbc. So were gonna roll it off their website, if you would roll that, please. Coming back here. Shepard thats the latest there from the bbc. We are now told they believe theres one assailant involved in the attack in london. We have a picture up on the wall of the scene there right over the river thames. Authorities are still
investigating. The lockdown continues in that part of london as we approach 20 before 7 00 in the evening. You can see the spot where all of this went down. At the same time all of this is happening in london, were getting new information in the United States about the Healthcare Bill. You may know well come back and talk about the United States now. The Healthcare Bill in washington thank you is in trouble. Paul ryan was just on the air with our own dana perrino saying theyre working very hard to get the votes. They do not have the votes. The head of the house Freedom Caucus, conservative hard liners, if you will, said all along that they dont want costs to go up and that they believe some entitlements need to be removed, are voting not in solidarity, but more than 24 of them are now in opposition to this bill. The president and paul ryan and others are lobbying for more support, but so far they havent gotten it. Again, that vote just 48 hours away. It has been a frantic lobbying effort. Donald trump, leaders in the u. S. House, trying to get this group of hardline conservatives over. Now theres another group, more moderate group, of just a handful who were upset about the changes that were made overnight monday. They made some changes to this bill with the hope that more people and the conservative Freedom Caucus would come on board. Theyve lost some moderates who say not enough people are Getting Health Care under this bill. Youll remember that President Trump, who was in canada, promised everyone would have health care, washington would pay for it. It appears that will not be the case under this bill and its very much in jeopardy at this hour. Well get to washington for more details in just a few minutes. We heard from paul ryan speaking with dana just a short time ago saying theyre working very hard to get the support they need. Thus far that support has not come. Also here in the United States, security has been beefed up in new york city based on the attacks that happened earlier
this afternoon in london. Officially the terror level, threat level, remains the same. The federal government said there are no changes, but i can tell you that in new york city, some measures have been taken. The british consulate, the United Nations mission, the british interest in the United States increased security in new york city. Those high profile sort of british targets as security has been updated. But according to officials at the federal government, if you go around to local land marks where you are and big cities across the country, the Terror Threat level, the police sprepbs level, has not changed largely has not changed today as a result of what happened in london. And it is worth pointing out and considering what we have here. A lone man in one car without a gun just a knife has brought the entirety of london to a standstill at least in central london. Brought the Houses Of Parliament. Just this one man with one
knife. He plowed through people on one of the more popular Tourist Attractions in all of the cities right there along Westminster Bridge. He shut down the london eye, the enormous ferris wheel. The parliament itself had to stop its meetings for the day. They just finished Prime Minister questions. The Prime Minister comes in wednesday morning, answers questions. That had just ended. Prime minister scurried away in a silver jaguar and sent back to 10 downing street, where its our understanding that the british Prime Minister is currently in the middle of a meeting on how to move forward. We have gotten some information which leads us to believe the following. Parlment will be up working as usual for tomorrow, thursday. The london tube is back up and working fully. The areas which are cordoned off and its a smaller area now. But as we look live at 17 minutes before 7 00 p. M. In london, you can see there is a heavy Police Presence and the
Investigation Continues. Authorities working to make sure no one was involved. At this moment, it is the belief of the authorities that no other suspects are out there. They can say that definitively as the Investigation Continues but that is their belief. British People Security is the governments top priority according to the interior minister amber rudd. They call it Home Secretary there. But it is, for all intents and purposes, the interior minister. She said, quote, the governments top priority is the security of its people. The british people will be united and working together to defeat those who would harm our shared values, values of democracy, tolerance and the rule of law. So quite an afternoon in london as theyve been concerned that of this lone wolf sort of Terror Attack. United kingdom investigators now confirm they are looking into the possibility that this attack was inspired by Islamic State propaganda online. There had been calls by the
Islamic State for those who share their interests to go out with knives and attack in their own neighborhoods if it were necessary, but to go on the attack. Im sorry . And now we have this information that, in fact, they are investigating the possibility that the Islamic State extremists were able to sort of inspire this attack today. Beyond that, we really dont have specifics. I can tell you we just got this from the office of the Press Secretary. A readout of the president s call with Prime Minister may of the united kingdom. President donald j. Trump spoke today with the Prime Minister to offer his condolences on the Terror Attack in london and to praise the Effective Response of Security Forces and first responders. President trump pledged full support and cooperation of the United States government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice. John roberts is at the white house where he was for the briefing. John, we heard most of it. Could you give us the highlights . Reporter obviously that little bit at the top, shepard. The Press Secretary said the United States stands to help the u. K. In any way it can in the wake of this attack. Lot of what was talked about today was the Healthcare Bill, which looks like its in dire straits. As many as 25 members of th Freedom Caucus are said to be no votes. There are some other republicans on capitol hill who have suggested that theyre not fully on board with this as well. The Press Secretary saying that theyre starting to chain some minds. They believe a couple members of the Freedom Caucus are turning around. The Press Secretary said, by the way, this is the only opportunity that those members of congress on the republican side who have been promising to repeal and replace obamacare for years will have to vote on a measure to repeal and replace obama care. He said theres no plan b. There is plan a. And this is it. The issue of Paul Manafort came up as well today, shep, because
the Associated Press revealed Paul Manafort had been operating on behalf of a russian who was very close to Vladamir Putin trying to advance, quote, greater interests of russia and putin in terms of Business Dealings with this fellow, and saying that this wasnt something that was known to the president during the Campaign Even though, shep, there was a court case that was filed in the Cayman Islands in which this russian had flynn came up again, talking about what the president knew, when he knew it and whether or not Michael Flynn was known had had contacts with people outside of government here in the United States. Contact with people in Foreign Governments or at least had acted on behalf of foreign individuals. Sean spicer referenced something called a standard form 86 that people have to fill out when getting a Security Clearance. Section 19, i just looked at
that, shep, asks if you had had contact with a foreign national, close or on going can tact within the last seven years. Itself will be interesting to see how Michael Flynn filled that out. In terms of devin nunes, he came out earlier today, just before the briefing, and said that there was incidental collection of intelligence People Associated with the transition during the time between the election and the transition. Of course, the president has talked about this idea that he was wiretapped, shep, now this advances the ball just a little bit. But we did know there was potentially incidental collection of intelligence of people involving the transition going back, again, to Michael Flynn because they had recorded conversations, this is the intelligence community, of phone calls between flynn and the Russian Ambassador to the United States. So we asked sean spicer about that. Lets watch that exchange. Didnt you know flynn was monitored . Right. Again, i guess my point is, john, i dont know. He made a statement to the press. Until we get briefed on this, until the president gets briefed, i dont know what he knows. So to ask until that occurs, and until we have the ability to share some of that in an unclassified nature, i dont want to get ahead of it. I dont know what he knows. Thats why apparently hes coming up to share his findings with the president. At least thats what he said. Again, lets wait and see how the unfolds. Reporter right. So nunes is coming up here. We dont know when, but he is going to brief the president on what he said earlier today. Im sorry, do we have that piece of sound from devin nunes that you want to run . Yes, no . No, we dont. Nunes had been told there was incidental collection of intelligence, members of the transition in between the time of the election and inauguration. Remember, shep, the president said he was wiretapped or maybe it was broader surveillance. We always suspected this idea of incidental collection, because how else would flynns name have come up in relation to the Russian Ambassador to the United States . Shep . Shepard its hard to overstate how much trouble this could cause legislatively for the president if, in fact, this Healthcare Bill does not pass. Its the first major thing, the vote is on thursday. If they dont get this through, is the legislative agenda in jeopardy . Reporter well, this sort of is the first domino that has to drop in terms of the president s agenda. Because of the fact they need to do this through the reconciliation process, and there are certain rules regarding how many pieces of Reconciliation Legislature you can bring up in the senate. Theyve got to get Healthcare Reform done first. The president was out there yesterday talking to the republican conference to say if you want to get tax reform done, youve got to get health care done first. Sean spicer reiterated that today. That the big piece of legislation that everybody wants
to get through on the republican side, because this could be good for them in the 2018 election is tax reform. To do that, youve got to do healthcare first. If you dont, the whole thing could get derailed. Shepard john roberts live from the white house. Thanks. We want to give you new information from the sun owned by a parent company. Disturbing head lines. Blood for blood it reads. Parliament Terror Attack celebrated by isis as a revenge for the air strikes that are under way in mosul. Subheadline sick fanatic took to social media to celebrate the Terror Attack. Ill enlarge this. The sun also has pictures that are not appropriate Afternoon Television in the United States. This is their magazine. This is their website. Soon our battle on your land not started yet but upon you only waiting. And it shows a fake picture of big ben with trouble for it. It has london down at the bottom. Isis supporters online celebrating the London Parliament attack as blood with blood and revenge for the u. K. Strikes in mosul. Whether that is the case or not is another matter. Theyre certainly capitalizing on it today. We have a witness on the line, William James was there, a u. K. Political correspondent for reuters. What did you see . I was in my office here, which looks out over the road that runs through Westminster Bridge which is where this started. We then heard a loud bang, which was followed shortly afterwards by a number of gunshots. We couldnt see exactly from our office what was going on, but i moved to another room where i could see. By the time i got there, there were medics around two bodies on the floor working frantically, performing cpr on both. Shepard we know the attacker did not survive. Do we know if the authorities were able to communicate with him prior to his death . No, we dont know that. In fact, from what i saw, i believe the attacker was carried away in an ambulance. The other person they were working on was a Police Officer who died at the scene. Shepard do you have a sense for where they are in this investigation . It sounds like they believe this is the extent of it, but theyre making sure. Yeah. We had a statement to that effect to say they thought it was one attacker. They believe that attacker died. But we are here. The corridors are locked. We believe they are working to secure the building, getting people together in one place and getting their statements and finding out exactly what happened. Shepard from our view, it appears remarkably calm and organized. Yes. Certainly thats how it feels here. Its a very surreal scene we can see from our window. An area that is usually for taking pictures. With big ben, lot of School Groups walking around. It is completely cordoned off. It is dark here now. There are blue lights flashing. Shepard William James on the line with us. Correspondent from the Reuters News Agency at parliament, still locked down, streets and roads still shut down. We understand the river thames is back open for river traffic, the tube station is back open. Parliament will be back in session tomorrow trying to move on as quickly as possible, as they work to determine who this person was, why this person carried this out. Youll remember that it was, id say shortly after noon i guess, or shortly before noon eastern time, so before 3 30, 4 00 in the united kingdom. They are four hours ahead of eastern time. British summertime has not yet kicked in. This man just came driving across this bridge, the Westminster Bridge over the
river thames, and plowed into a number of people. The latest count we have from authorities is at least 20 people were injured. Some not very bad. A sprained ankle, a broken leg. But some with critical injuries as well. Four people are dead. The assailant, the Police Officer whom he attacked with a knife, according to the sun newspaper, repeatedly plunging the knife into the officers chest. He was shot during that process. Both the officer and gun men the Knife Wielding Man Have died. Two others are dead on scene as well. We cannot confirm yet whether that was being run over by the vehicle as he sped across this bridge or whether they were attacked in some other way. But we know the death toll is now at four. Assailant shot and killed. Footage on social media show people lying injured in the road. Metropolitan police say they are treating this as a terrorist incident. All around this central part of london, buildings are still on
lockdown. I mentioned that the Prime Minister had an Emergency Meeting of the ministers just a short time ago. We havent gotten a readout from that, but we do expect to hear from the Prime Minister sthaoeusometime this evening. In the United States, there are no increased Security Protocol that we know of except around british interests in new york city, where security has been updated at the british consulate and other areas like that. But in most western cities are still at the same State Of Emergency as they had been prior. The attacks on westminster, of course, capturing the news media around the world an even at this hour, its still the top story of the day. While there is enormous domestic news in the United States, with the Healthcare Bill in grave danger of not passing this afternoon, they still plan to bring this bill for a vote on thursday. But if they dont have the votes, one would think that bill could, in fact, be pulled. They just did markups on it. Then monday night came together with a compromise trying to bring more people into the fold. But the Freedom Caucus, more than 24 members of the caucus say they are solidly against it. Republicans can lose but 22 republican votes and still pass the thing. It appears now that with just those members of the Freedom Caucus, they dont have the votes. There are also some more moderate republican who are upset about lack of coverage for some americans. The president promised everyone will have coverage and thats not available under this bill. So more moderates in the republican side are also opposed to it. The latest wor we have is that every Senate Democrat will vote against it. If it doesnt make it out of the house, it will die right there in the house. What happens beyond that . Well, sean spicer said a short time ago from the white house that there is no plan b. There is no backup plan. There is no other scenario. Its fix this bill an move on. Enormous pressure is being
applied in washington as we speak. President lobbying himself as are other members of paul ryans inner circle and others in leadership in the Republican Party pressuring or attempting to pressure these members of the Freedom Caucus to come along with this vote. Its like, what can we do . What can we give you for your district . What do you want . None of that is working this afternoon, at least 24 members of the Freedom Caucus are in lock step against this bill. It appears the Healthcare Bill as has been written thus far is in grave danger of being defeated on thursday. What would happen then . Thats a very good question. Further, there were questions today about Paul Manafort, the former Campaign Manager for Donald Trumps campaign. He left in august, was dismissed from the campaign in august. Now there is a report from the Associated Press today that he received multimillion dollars from someone who works for a russian. We spoke of these as Business People. They are Business People because
putin has made them such. They are friends and associates of his who have largely been able to take over very Large Companies and become billionaires. We know now Paul Manafort for a time worked for one of these russians. He has been dismissed from the campaign. You heard a reporter for nbc news ask sean spicer today, can you say with certainty that no members of the trump team are also working for a foreign entity in any way . Sean spicer said, well, we trust them to fill out the paperwork. We know investigations are under way. Further, devin nunes, chairman of the committee doing the investigation, will be speaking live in just a moment. Nunes, as you heard sean spicer say, was going to the white house to brief the president on a number of matters, not the least of which is that some members of team trump had been caught up in surveillance incidental collection of evidence or conversations while they were investigating another