Story just ahead but first to the stunning public showdown between the nfl and President Trump. At this hour the president is not backing down from his controversial calls for the nfl to punish and even fire players who exercise their First Amendment right to kneel during the National Anthem as a show of protest of social injustice. We have great people representing our country, especially our soldiers, our First Responders and they should be treated with respect and when you get on your knee and you dont respect the American Flag or the anthem, thats not being treated with respect. Ive never said anything about race. This has nothing to do with race or anything else. This has to do with respect for our country and respect for our flag. Mean while, the nfl is making its position on the matter clear, not only does the league call the president s comments divisive but its standing in solidarity against them. At every single kickoff today in more than a dozen cities, these were the scenes
And in nashville at the titans seahawks game, both teams stayed in their locker rooms while the anthem played on the field. The anthem singer at this game also took a knee. North of nashville in chicago, the steelers stayed in their locker room stayed in the locker room. Only one player stood alone on the edge of the field with his hand over his heart. Moments ago, President Trump told reporters he watched some of those protests and be it seems as though perhaps he doesnt view the show of solidarity as an attack against his remarks. Listen. There was great solidarity. I watched a little bit. I was not watching the games today, believe me, im doing other things, but i watched a little bit and i will say that there was tremendous solidarity for our flag and for our country. If youre asking how we got here to the nfl publicly protesting the president and the president s publicly demanding that nfl players be fired, well, it all started on friday when President Trump went on a tear during
Preside president , the American People will hear my story very soon, and they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not. All of this is hours now after former fbi Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe was fire and the president s attorney calling for an end to the russian investigation. According to sources, mccabe, the former deputy of the fbi was accused of misleading internal investigators about his role in directing other fbi officials to speak to the wall street journal about his involvement in a public corruption investigation into the clinton foundation. Cnn has now learned that mccabe has memos, documenting his conversations with the president. Sound familiar . All right. Joining me right now is cnn justice correspondent laura jarrett, and White House Correspondent boris sanchez. And boris, you first, tell us more about the response from the president , and his attorney also weigh iing in all of it. Yeah, fred. The president taking to twitter again and pushing this idea
Kavanaugh will transpire. Other witnesses include trauma experts, and they also want the person who witnessed blasey fords polygraph to testify. The attorney determines how many witnesses to call, in what order to call them and who will question them. These are nonnegotiable. The Committee Standing firm there but seeming to leave a little wiggle room that maybe perhaps there could be other witnesses called. But for now we know that Christine Blasey ford and Brett Kavanaugh are the only two at this point. So blasey fords attorneys earlier today, they issued a statement about the hearing in general and bracey fords agreement to testify. They said this. They said, despite actual threats to her safety and her life, dr. Ford believes it is important for senators to hear directly from her about the Sexual Assault committed against her. So blasey ford will testify, but her attorneys have raised numerous concerns here. They say the committee is refusing to subpoena mark judge to testify. Of co
Her lawyers. Christine blasey ford has agreed that on thursday shell walk into the Senate Judiciary committee and tell her version of what happened back in 1982. She said kavanaugh, who was then 17, pinned her against the wall, groped her through her clothes before she got away. Brett kavanaugh will be there to answer those charges. Boris sanchez is outside trump tower in new york. Jessica, ill start with you. We know the time and place of this hearing, but beyond that, there is still plenty that needs to be worked out. Reporter plenty that fords attorneys are pushing for but the committee are not budging on. They really want witnesses here. Right now the committee is only scheduled to hear from blasey ford and kavanaugh. Fords attorneys wanted other witnesses to testify, supposedly other people who were at this party. Chuck grassley and Lindsey Graham have been saying the committee has been talking behind the scenes and they talked to all four people who were at the party, and theyre