Event and they were keeping it separate. With some prodding from the press, they decided to allow a few reporters in and one camera. Two hours later, they changed their minds. So theres no press inside this event right now. We have no idea what the president is saying to donors, and we likely wont find out unless one of the donors tells us. How much is the trump Hotel Getting paid to host this . I know you were asking some questions about that. Reporter thats a great question. We have no idea who is paying for this event tonight that the president is attending. We reached out for comment, and our requests have not been answered. So it could be the rnc. It could be the reelection campaign, and it could be that the hotel donated the space. We dont know. Is it normal for a president to hold a fund raiser for rhis reelection five months after taking office . President s obama and bush didnt
unprecedented and remarkable in and of itself. Put it all together and once again donald trump is sort of redefining how to be president. The timing is certainly noteworthy, that it is only he hasnt even hit the sixmonth mark yet and hes doing this. I went back to look at the first fundraiser that george w. Bush did in 2003, 2 1 2 years into his administration. And the first fundraiser that barack obama did in 2011 just to see what they said. Anderson, their quotes were about touting accomplishments that they had done in the first couple of years, starting to set the frame and the narrative for what they were going to campaign on for reelection. When youre not in the jb sob s months, youre far away from how the voters may think about your reelection. We wont know what donald trump says tonight because this is closed to the press, unlike his two predecessors. David, its a fair bet he is
to know the details of this very Important Health care bill and instead hes putting his energy into spending time with people that love him, his donors and spending time doing these ral yis. T rallies. The rallies are also unusual to be doing in his first term. There have been criticisms of past administrations about campaigns never ending. This is taking it to another level. It is, but it shouldnt surprise any of us. He campaigned last year in ways we never seen before and lots of people thought hes breaking every rule we know about president ial politics and it works for him. So it doesnt surprise me to see him breaking these rules. On Inauguration Day is when he filed his Reelection Committee with the s. E. C. Hes been doing online small dollar fundraising, and hes done a bunch of campaign rallies, that his campaign has
which is a fundraiser for his reelection, but if they have to rent out the hall of the president s hotel, the president and his family benefits from that financially. Again, we havent had answers about the economicing of this. Right. Weve gotten Little Details about this. And now well get fewer details. Although presumably theyll have to release how much the Campaign Paid out for this event and they have to make sure they didnt pay too much or too little, because either could get them into trouble, because this is something that the president has a financial interest in. So if they paid too little, it could look like they were getting some sort of contribution. If they paid too much, it could look like they were trying to use money to help enrich a trump property, which enriches the family. Then at a minimum, of course, even if everything is on the up and up, its still inappropriate, because the president is using his role as
president of the United States to gain attention for a property that he enriches himself from. Thanks. We have a lot more to talk about tonight, including the threat that dare not speak its name. What were learning from inside the white house why theres so much resistance to addressing the russian hacking. The reporting on that ahead. And later, what did the president mean when he promised a big surprise on health care and how does it fit a pattern of Promise Making Dating back for years before becoming president . Im ryan and i quit smoking with chantix. Everything i did circled around that cigarette when i started taking the chantix that urge just slowly diminished and it was a great and empowering feeling. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. Chantix reduced my urge to smoke. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. The most common side effect is nausea. I dont even think about cigarettes anymore. Ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. Many insurance plans cover chantix for a low or 0 copay. Because tripadvisor searches over 200 Booking Sites so you save up to 30 on the hotel you want. Lock it in. Tripadvisor. Weve been reporting recently on how little beyond a single Executive Order the Trump Administration has done to address the russian meddling. However, it doesnt mention russia by name and appears to be all the administration has done. This is something top members of the Intelligence Community have warn is a real danger. Theyve said on the record that russia hacking efforts are active and potentially could be far worse in the next election. The Homeland Security secretary warned about calling election
hacking the way of the future. But still, it seems little action from the white house. There seems to be out and out resistance. Tonight, new reporting on why that may be. Specifically who is standing in the way. Sarah murray joins us now. What have you learned from inside the white house . Reporter anderson, speaking to multiple Senior Administration officials, they say theyre struggling to convince President Trump that russia still poses a threat to american elections. One official said theres no evidence to show that trump is engaging on the you are shoe. The president still gets a daily briefing, and that includes updates on russia. Beyond that, an official said theres no paper trail, no schedules, no readouts or briefing documents, nothing to indicate the president is convening meetings on this subject the way he has with other threats, for instance, threats against the u. S. Power grid. Sources tell dana bash and jim sciutto that mike rogers
expressed his from yustration t lawmakers to convince President Trump that Russia Meddled in the election. So top officials have called this a major threat. Why is the president reluctant to address it . Reporter people say that President Trump is having difficulty separating the investigation into Russia Collusion and russia meddling into the election itself. So trump sees everything regarding russia as being organized as a challenge to him. Basically a move to undermine his presidency. Has the white house responded to this at all . Reporter shean spicer insisted that the white house is taking action, just quietly. In a statement to cnn, spicer says the United States continues to combat on a regular basis malicious cyber activity without bragging to the media. Spicer pointed to the fact that
the Trump Administration upheld the Obama Administration sanctions against russia. But sources say the white house is already trying to water down an additional package of sanctions that passed the senate and awaiting action in the house. Sarah murray, thanks. Former Bush State Department official Nicholas Burns accused the president of dereliction of duty to defend the country for his disinterest in russian meddling and criticized the Obama Administration. He joins me now with jim sciutto. Jim, President Obama did sign an order on cyber security. Any evidence that hes focused directly on the threat from russia itself . Reporter no, little evidence that hes focused on the threat. Were hearing that from people inside his own administration. Ive spoken to democrats and republicans on the hill who dont see the level of urgency
either. This is not just looking backwards but looking forward, anderson. Because everybody says, not just russia, but china, iran, north korea, very actively targeting the u. S. Political process, political organizations, et cetera. And there is no reason to believe that russia in particular will not attack again, and the big concern, anderson, is that this time, they will take the alarming step of targeting voter tallies. That didnt happen in 2016, but theres real concern a lot of these probing attacks or laying the ground work for going after voting systems, vote counting potentially in 2018 and 2020. Ambassador burns, in your testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence committee today, you said if the president continues to refuse to act against russian hacking is a dereliction of duty to protect the country. We were the victim of a massive cyber attack by the russian government. All of our Intelligence Services agree. For six months the president has done nothing. He has not initiated an investigation into what happened. Hes not had conversations with his cabinet officials to ask them what they think happened. Hes not been talking to the european governments, also victims, the french, the dutch, the germans of russian cyber attacks. Hes not even in favor of a senate bill that voted to impose harsh sanctions on russia. The administration is trying to dilute that bill. So you literally have no response from the american president on a critical issue of defense of the United States and trying to protect our democratic process. I cant imagine any prior president acting this way. And so we do need to see this situation turned around. Lets hope that this Executive Order is the first step to do that. Jim, today secretary kelly
said hacking is the way of the future. How much can Intelligence Agencies drive u. S. Efforts to combat that if the president Isnt Devoting his time to it . Reporter the Intelligence Agencies, Law Enforcement have been really doing all they can. They did it in private. Theyve been giving these warnings for months, going back to the Obama Administration. And then in public, youve had very public statements, fingering russia for hacking the 2016 campaign. But now public testimony, more details how many states, 21 states that have been targeted. Secretary kelly, this is President Trumps own appointee, sounding the alarm today. So in public and private, they are giving these warnings. This is at its base often very much a partisan issue. But ill tell you, i hear bipartisan level of concern and increasingly a bipartisan frustration with the efforts coming from the white house so far. So ambassador burns, if they had the weight of the white house behind them, how much would that change things for the Intelligence Community in terms of doing something . It would help enormously. You have to raise the defense of this country, and thats complicated. Its our states and local authorities who run the elections, so you have to have that dialogue, a federal, local, state dialogue. Number two, you want to send a stiff message to the Russian Federation that were not going to tolerate this kind of attack on our ore down country. You want to work with the europeans to tighten up what the Nato Alliance can do. You want to find and prosecute hackers. If the russian government is subcontracting this to some of the private Hacking Organizations in that country. Theres so much that has to be done. This should have been the First Executive order signed january 20th. You ought to they ought to
think about forming a 9 11 type commission, because theres nothing more important that the American People have confidence in their votes when they go to the ballot box, either for the midterm elections in 2018 or the next president ial election in 2020. Thanks. Coming up next, the president is promising a big surprise on the obamacare replacement bill. Well look at what it might be, as well as his habit of telling us to stay tuned for something, and then not necessarily delivering. Were keeping them honest, next. Hey, bud. You need some help . No, im good. Come on, moe. I have to go. vo we always trusted our Subaru Impreza would be there for him someday. Ok. Thats it. vo we just didnt think someday would come so fast. See ya later, moe. vo introducing the Subaru Impreza. The longestlasting vehicle in its class. More than a car, its a subaru. Senate obamacare replacement bill. Health care is working along very well. Were going to have a big surprise with a Great Health Care package. What is the big surprise, sir . Its going to be great. The surprise might be the last thing people with health care might want to hear or experience. The president made a point of putting it out there, and a surprise might be coming. Whether thats good or bad remains to be seen. Whats clear is that donald trump enjoys telling us all to stay tuned. Weve heard that phrase a lot. And keeping them honest, weve seen him fail to deliver on schedule or in some cases at all. Heres a small sample. Were going to be announcing something over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal. Were going to do construction very quickly. Weve got the plan largely completed and well be filing over the next two or three weeks, maybe sooner. Were going to have some pleasant surprises on nafta. So shes going to have a little News Conference. Well be having a News Conference in about two weeks to let everybody know how well were doing. People now in hawaii absolutely. And they cannot believe what theyre finding. We never got word on what his investigators found. There was no evidence that those investigators existed or were on the ground. Fast forward to now, what the president is promising, you have to wonder whether the real surprise is there is no surprise, whether anticipation will give away to anticiappointment. Joining us now is jim acosta. This great great surprise, do
we have any idea what we might be referring to . Reporter were going have to find out. If its Something Like those tapes that he talked about having, which did not exist about six weeks ago, we had to wait six weeks to find out the president did not have any recordings. I am told by one republican source that the president is looking at a variety of ways to try to make this work, to get those 50 votes that he needs to get this bill out of the senate. But that same source, anderson, said its suspected this might be another case of empty rhetoric. Keep in mind, this is a health care bill. We had a number of polls come out today, all of them, if you average them together, show that this has about 20 to 25 approval among the American People. Those are legislative dog food numbers. To think that youre going to have 50 republican senators, some of them up for reelection, that will sign on to this, he might be in for a Big Sur Prize of his own, anderson. Should we expect more effort
by the president , more facetoface interaction with the senators, some more working the phones. Weve been told hes been working the phones. Reporter he has been working the phones and will continue to work the phones. The question is whether or not he can make the math work and part of the issue is, anderson, and you know weve been talking about this debate for several days, can he make adjustments to the bill that satisfy moderates when it comes to medicaid funding while at the same time appeasing conservatives who really want to repeal and replace obamacare just begs the question how many times can they rinse and repeat on repeal and replace. Jim acosta, thank you for the update. On that new polling, the most recent is from fox news, showing just 27 support, 18 say they are ensure. Th back now with david chalian. Does anyone know what the president is telegraphing when he promising a big surprise on health care . I cant find anyone that knows. Certainly the white house isnt saying. Nobody on capitol hill seems to know some surprise. Some republicans on the hill were feeling more optimistic today than yesterday. Although theres not much evidence as to why, other than yesterday mcconnell had to reset. So it was a down day for republicans on the hill. But i cant find anyone that knows of a surprise coming. As you pointed out, anderson, donald trump has a history of being add