Goodbye tell prompter trump. The president off course playing directly to his base. The president defending his shafr charlottesville response but apparently forgot what angered critics in the first place. It was Campaign Donald trump. Welcome to early start. Im dave brigs. And im christine romans. First, a night after preaching to the nation about healing, President Trump does a 180 with a Campaign Style speech at a rally in phoenix. The president again defending his response to the violence in charlottesville. He spent nearly 15 minutes recounting his words, but with an omission. Mr. Trump neglected to mention he initially blamed the clashes on many sides and there was no mention of the very fine people who marched with torches on that friday in charlottesville. Heres what the president said last night and what he said ten days earlier. Heres what i said on saturday. Were closely following the terrible events unfolding in charlottesville, virginia. This is me speaking. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred bigotry and violence. Thats me on saturday. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides. Its been going on for a long time in our country. That was just one moment. The speech that has some including the former director of National IntelligenceJames Clapper, a career military man questioning his fitness to hold the office. More on that just ahead. The protests turned ugly outside the Convention Center after President Trumps speech. Three people were arrested. Police using tear gas and pepper spray to try to break up the protesters in triple digit heat. People threw rocks and bottles at officers. Phoenix police were on high alert as they kept Trump Supporters and protesters behind barricades and on separate sides of the street. Your takeaway from that, zach, a Campaign Style speech . I mean, the president seems to be so energized by these types of events. It couldnt be a more different tone than the night before when he announced more troops to afghanistan. Thats right. Not just a Campaign Style speech, a campaign speech. It was for his Reelection Campaign which most president s havent, you know, officially kicked that off yet but trump is literally campaigning for reelection, but so much different than his speech the night before when he seemed to be trying to heal wounds. Here he was picking at scabs. He was lashing out at members of his own party, at senators who he needs to get just about anything done on capitol hill and really kind of thumbing at this backlash against him, not only from the media but also from republicans about his his response to the Charlottesville Violence a week ago. And causing new violence, i think you could arguably say in phoenix last night. Why though . Why return to the charlottesville response . Its clearly an applause line but is it an effective strategy or need we not consider strategy . I dont im not going to be the one who says this is a this is a strategy at all. Im not sure what it is. It certainly stokes the base, but from a longer point of view, i i dont know that we can ascribe, you know, some sort of applauding thoughtfulness, some sort of three dimensional stress. Its argued he takes it one day at a time. He wakes up and decides what hes going to do and if thats the case thats what we saw last night. Some of the news, not surprising an attack on the media. Half of the entire speech. He talked about kim jongun. About nafta and how he thinks it should be killed. That should be a negotiating ploy, but he also talked about shutting down the government. He said he was ready to shut down the government. Listen to this. . The obstructionist democrats would like us not to do it but we have to close down our government. Were building that wall. Let me be very clear to democrats in congress who oppose a border wall and stand in the way of border security. You are putting all of americas safety at risk. Youre doing that. Youre doing that. What did you make, zach, of that threat . Well, you know, hes made a lot of threats about a lot of things. This is one he can actually carry through on. He has the ability to veto any spending bill, he could shut down the government if he wants to. Mitch mcconnell who hes not speaking to by the way according to our reporting would tell him that republicans have tried that before. It didnt work very well for them. It caused a huge backlash, but i think if we saw anything last night hes not really afraid of backlashes at the moment. Maybe somewhat he was afraid of backlash, he didnt invite joe arpaio to the speech and pardon him but he hinted that is coming maybe in the days ahead and he didnt mention by name the two Republican Arizona senators john mccain or jeff lake but he went after them nonetheless. We were just one vote away from victory after seven years of everybody proclaiming repeal and replace. One vote away. But you know, they all said, mr. President , your speech was so good last night, please please, mr. President , dont mention any names. So i wont. I wont. No, i wont vote one vote away, i will not mention any names. Very president ial, isnt it . And nobody wants me to talk about your other senator whos weak on borders, weak on crime. So i wont talk about him. Presumably hes talking about his own chief of staff john kelly, a former four star marine general who didnt want him to do the very things he just did, but zach, there are ten Democratic Senators up for reelection in States Donald trump won. Hes name checking republicans consistently with no mention of the democrats that presumably he hopes to defeat. Steve bannons gone from the administration, but is he still part of the conversation . Is he driving it . I dont know that we can ascribe what trump does to steve bannon to the extent that we initially could i dont think we can do that anymore. Trump has taken, you know, Steve Bannons id and it is trump now. He has embraced those positions, untethered from steve bannon for a couple of days. Trump those are his views now. Itis not a steve bannon thing. Its a trump thing. Donald trump just a few hours ago before he went to bed after that speech was tweeting make America Great again and some of the things you would expect. Drain the swamp. What happens next . Isnt this this is even a theme week. I cant remember what the theme is here, but what do you see as the next thing for President Trump here when he comes home . Well, i mean, he totally reopened the whole charlottesville controversy yesterday. Is this something thats going to pass him by at some point . Is it going to fester even more . Im not sure about that. He well have to find a way to work with congress. Theres a lot of stuff coming up not the least of which is the debt ceiling. Hes going to have to work with these people to actually do things to help the country, to make sure that its solvent, that bills can be paid. Things like that. He has to work with these people so thats going to be number one. He needs to take Mitch Mcconnell out to lunch and make nice. Another speech today i think in reno, nevada, so will he return to the teleprompter . Time will tell. See you in a bit. The president is not optimistic about renegotiating nafta between canada and mexico. Because we have been so badly taken advantage of, they have made such great deals, both of the countries, but in particular mexico, that i dont think we can make a deal. So i think well end up probably terminating nafta at some point. Probably terminating nafta. The first round of nafta talks just wrapped up. Negotiations got off to a tense start. The u. S. Blasted nafta as a job killing factory closing deal. This administration taking a tough stance on many complex issues. The white house wants to require a substantial portion of auto parts be made in the u. S. Millions of jobs, thousands of companies rely on nafta. Renegotiating it was a Core Campaign promise for this president. He blames it for the loss of u. S. Manufacturing jobs. So as talks resume next week, negotiators expect a great deal of effort will be required, their words, especially since they aim to rewrite nafta by the end of this year. That is a blinding pace for trade negotiations. This original deal took years to complete. I mean, it started in the bush administration, the First Bush Administration signed under bill clinton and its been the law for a generation. Interesting applause line last night. The former director of National Intelligence says hes concerned about the president having access to the nuclear codes. I really question his ability to his fitness to be in this office. More of what James Clapper, a career military man told cnn last night. Next on early start. Whats going on here . Um. Im babysitting. Thatll be 50 bucks. You said 30 dollars. Yeah, well it was 30 before my fees, like the dogsitting fee. And the rummage through your closet fee. Who is she, verizon . Are those my heels . Yeah yeah, were the same size. In shoes. With tmobile taxes and fees are already included, so you get four lines of unlimited for just 40 bucks each. And now get zero down on the hottest smart phone brands like samsung galaxy. More reasons why tmobile is americas best unlimited network. Looking for clear answers for your Retirement Plan . Start here. Or here. Even here. And definitely here. 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A blunt sobering assessment of the president from the National Intelligence, James Clapper calling the president s speech in phoenix downright scary and disturbing openly questioning whether donald trump is fit to remain in office. Heres what clapper told cnn overnight. What did you think of tonights performance by President Trump . Well, don, its hard to know where to start. Its just so objectionable on so many levels. You know, i toiled in one capacity or another for every president since john m. Kennedy through president obama and i dont know when ive listened and watched Something Like this from a president that i found more disturbing. Having some understanding of the levers of power that are available to a president , if he chooses to exercise them, i found this downright scary and disturbing. I think its right on the money though that this is not a surprise, its interesting to contrast last nights teleprompter trump performance versus tonight, which is of course the real trump just as it was in the unglued impromptu press conference at trump tower so i just find this extremely disturbing. Are you questioning his fitness . Yes, i do. I i really question his ability to his fitness to be in this office, and i also am beginning to wonder about his motivation for it. Maybe he is looking for a way out. I do wonder as well about the people that attracted to this rally as others. You know, what are they thinking or why am i so far out off base because i dont understand the addlation and of course thats why i think he gravitated to having this rally as ill timed as it is. He should have quit while he was ahead after last night, but again, i think the real trump came through and again, shouldnt be a big surprise to anyone. What should we do . What should washington do at this point . You said youre questioning his fitness. There are many people saying it. They wont say it publicly, they dont have the courage that you do. Maybe after this speech they will now. It will become painfully obvious as it is to most americans. What shall we do . Well, i think, you know, the key thing here is where is he with republicans . And i was quite struck by senator corkers remarks. Very thoughtful and very, very measured. And ive i know senator corker, ive dealt with him and he is a very thoughtful senator and he wouldnt say that lightly, and without forethought. And im hopeful that other similarly thoughtful republicans will reach the point where enough is enough. Enough is enough. And what do you what do you mean be plain for us. Well, that this behavior and this divisiveness and the complete intellectual, moral and ethical void that the president of the United States exhibits. And how much longer does the country have to to borrow a phrase, endure this nightmare. The New York Times is reporting tonight about the falling out between the president and Mitch Mcconnell over the investigations of russias interference in the 2016 election. There you see the headline up on the screen. The president was furious that mcconnell failed to protect him. You call the accusations of collusions between the u. S. And russia worse than water gate. What do you think is going on with the president . Why is this such a hot button for this . Well, first, to be clear, when i left, certainly on the 20 20th of january i had not seen any evidence of direct collusion between the trump campaign, the trump camp and the russians. There may have been collusion, but i didnt have any evidence of it. So i dont understand frankly the president s fascination and solicitation of solicitousness of russia and putin particularly unless he feels hes a kindred soul, perhaps. So it is it is very strange to me. And i i dont have an explanation for it. I dont know if its collusion or something else. You have you said you question his fitness. Is he a threat to national security, the president . Well, he certainly could be. Again, having some understanding of of the levers that a president can exercise, i worry about frankly, you know, the access to the nuclear codes, he decides to do something about kim jongun, theres actually very little to to stop him. The whole system is built to ensure a Rapid Response if if necessary, so there are very little in the way of controls over, you know, exercising a Nuclear Option which is pretty damn scary. Do you see this as a crisis, mr. Clapper . Well, i im not sure what the definition of a crisis is. If it is, weve been in it for quite a while. Certainly since the election. I had to say, don, i was i couldnt help but think in the course of the the charlottesville, his statements about charlottesville when he was so quick to characterize the Intelligence Community as nazis, liken us to nazis on the 10th of january yet seemed reluctant to call out the want to be nazis in this case and maybe thats im being defensive about the Intelligence Community but thats one thought i had. So i think if if it is a crisis, weve been in it for quite a while. What do you think other intelligence officials now and people who have some sway in washington, what are the conversations theyre having tonight and what will they be having tomorrow, you think after the speech . I think many people in the Intelligence Community certainly in rank and file are worried, are concerned about this. They they in their and its tradition in the Intelligence Community to carry on with a mission and provide the intelligence that our Decision Makers so desperately need and theyll continue to do that. But i think in moments of personal reflection, i suspect they are greatly concerned about the divisiveness that is taking hold of this country. Stark words there from James Clapper. Trump supporters say well, James Clapper lied to congress and theyre talking about nsa surveillance for his part in that he said i made a small mistake, i did not lie,