To hire President Trumps lawyer Michael Cohen as a political consultant. What other corporate payments reveal about the pay to play culture. And missle protection. Has the president gets ready for talks with kim jongun, cnn gets access to americas first line of defense. Well take you inside of the underground command center where the u. S. Military keeps watch for incoming missiles. Im wolf blitzer and youre in the situation room. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Breaking news, the Trump White House is now fumbling with new controversies. It is refusing to apologize for an aides crude comment about senator john mccain dyeing as chief of staff john kelly grappling with his latest antiimmigrant comments and tries to take back his remark that President Trump is embarrassed by the russia probe. Ill speak with congressman John Garamendi and our specialists are standing by with full coverage. First to our White House Correspondent jeff zeleny. A new round of controversy for the Trump White House. Reporter indeed, the comments from john kelly certainly drew attention today when he said in a rare interview with npr, the president was embarrassed by the russia investigation. He said it is something that is always on the topic of conversation when World Leaders come to the white house. So i caught up with john kelly in t the rose garden and asked him about that. He said, no, i didnt mean embarrassed, i meant distracted. President trump is either embarrassed or distracted by the russia investigation hanging over the white house. Tonight that is the sentiment from john kelly, going where few aides to the president have gone before. Saying the president is embarrassed by special counsel Robert Muellers probe. There may not be a cloud but certainly the president is somewhat embarrassed frankly when World Leaders come in, the first couple of minutes of every conversation might resolve around that kind of thing. Kelly backtracked hours after the interview and telling cnn in the white house rose garden he meant to say the investigation into russia collusion in the 2016 campaign was a distraction for the president. Not an embarrassment. Well, yeah, it is untrue. It its a witch hunt and distracted him. Not too much but it is unfair. And an unseemingly feud with john mccain escalated a day after a white house aide spoke behind closed doors about john mccain as he battles brain cancer saying hes dying any way. Mr. President , does the white house owe senator john mccain a apology. Reporter Sarah Sanders said the aide kelly sadler still works for the administration or did say more or why an apology wasnt warranted. If you wont comment on the specific comment, what does the white house believe about senator mccain and is there a tone set from the top here where it is allowed for an aide to say hes dying any way. Certainly there is not a a tone set here. We have a a respect for all americans, and that is what we try to put forward in everything we do both in word and in action. Why not just apologize to senator mccain again im not going to get no a back and forth because people want to create issues of leaked staff meeting. Reporter the senators daughter Meghan Mccain sounded stunned the staffer is still on the job. I dont understand what kind of environment youre working in when that is acceptable and come to work the next day and have a job. And that is all i have to say. Reporter the Arizona Republican senator and decorated war hero is among the president s biggest critics. This controversy story when he opposed the nomination of gina haspel to lead the cia because of her history of interrogation tactics he believes are torture. His daughter addressed sadler directly. Kelly, here is a little news flash. Were all dying. Im dying, youre dying, were all dying. And i want to say that, since my dad has been diagnosed in the past it is almost a year july 19th, i really feel like i understand the meaning of life and it is not how you die, it is how you live. Reporter cindy mccain had to to say, i remind you my husband has a family. Seven children and five grandchildren as it raises eyebrows. As john kelly once over saw threats on the border as the head of command. The vast majority of people that move into the United States they are not bad people. They are not criminals or ms13 but also not people that would easily assimilate into the United States. They are overwhelmingly rural people reporter it came as the president s frustration with immigration boiled over this week. Blasting Homeland SecurityKirstjen Nielsen for not acting swiftly enough and the exchange behind closed doors, she thre threatened to resign and she denied it and it is the latest example of another tumultuous week in the trump cabinet. And epa administrator scott pruitt under fire and multiple investigations for excessive Government Spending and more. In the roosevelt room with pruitt sitting nearby, the president was asked this. Do you feel confidence in administrator pruitt, mr. President . Yes, i do. Thank you. Reporter so the president expressing confidence in his epa administrator who was sitting just a couple of feet away when they were meeting with auto ceos here at the white house to talk about fuel Energy Standards but white house officials are waiting for the outcome of 12 or so separate investigations about scott pruitt. His spending, his ethics other habits at the epa. So it is unclear whether he will stay in the position. And this is as we are ending another week on who the next v. A. Secretary will be and that position was opened since the last one was fired. Wolf. Jeff zeleny. Conservative critics of the special counsel russia investigation may have found a new avenue of attack. Lets go to our correspondent manu raju up on capitol hill. Manu, more pressure tonight on Robert Mueller investigation from some key house republicans. Reporter conservatives in the house have been targeting the special counsel investigation for weeks finding new areas to try to get information and undercut some Senior Justice Department officials who were overseeing the probe and get more information about exactly what Robert Mueller is doing. Now im told in a closed door meeting last month, mark meadows, the head of the conservative House Freedom caucus, with jim jordan demanded to see a document from august that was drafted by Rod Rosenstein given to bob mueller detailing exactly what bob mueller could investigate. Now that documents had been redacted and turned over in Court Filings but the congressmen wanted to see the unredacted version. Rosenstein said no. They looked into other areas to get more information. The new effort to try to get the Government Accountability office which is the investigative arm of congress to look to look into the scope of the Mueller Probe and how much money is being spent as part of the investigation. Mark meadows said today on cspan that in fact he was going to request a gao investigation to look into the Mueller Investigation. There will be a request for us to audit the Financial Resources of this investigation. It used to be part of statute. It certainly is within the parameters since it is an appropriated funds from congress that we will be sending a request to the gao, the general Accountability Office to actually look at an audit and make sure those funds are put forth properly and so that letter will be going out next week reporter now, wolf, this as the House Intelligence Committee devin nunes has been going after the russia investigation and questions that he has about why the russia investigation began in the first place. He had a private briefing yesterday at the Justice Department with congressman trey gowdy to learn about information they were seeking about someone describes as an intelligence source providing information over the Mueller Probe. They got private briefing and they say at the moment that was a productive meeting but they want to have further discussions going forward. It is coming as democrats are concerned it is part of an effort to undercut the probe and give the president ammunition to fire Rod Rosenstein or Jeff Sessions. And the senate Intelligence Committee is still investigating possible connections between trump and russian meddling, tell us the latest you are learning. Reporter that is right. Sam nunberg, a former trump adviser has been asked to come to the senate Intelligence Committee and provide document this is month about communications that he had with roger stone, that longtime trump friend. This comes as the committee itself has just interviewed Michael Caputo, another roger stone friend, a sign that stone himself is still an important part of the investigation but potentially the Mueller Probe as well, wolf. Manu, thank you very much. Manu raju up on capitol hill. Joining us now, john gar a menda garamendi. Congressman, you just heard the report and congressman meadows saying the audit is basic over sight and well within his jurisdiction. How do you see it . Well, that is probably true. But what is the purpose of it . We know that every six months the special counsel is required to produce an entire display of all of his expenses and entire accounting of his expenses. Did he that and the next one is due in about 30 days. That will be available to certainly the committees in congress, both senate and house. If they want an audit beyond that, fine. But why is he asking . Mark meadows who i consider a friend is really i think out of line here. He is trying to shut down this investigation and hes using any method possible to do that. And that is a disservice to this nation because we really need to knowwe need to know what russia did so that we can prevent it from ever happening again. Do you believe the president s allies up on capitol hill, were talking about the republicans would use that kind of Sensitive Information that they want to obtain in order to coordinate with the white house . Absolutely. There is no doubt. It has already been done. Nunes did this more than a year ago. He took information that he thought was useful to the white house, ran over to the white house and gave it to the white house, and low and behold, later found out the information came from the white house to begin with. And an effort by the white house to distort and or derail the investigation. This was a year ago and more. But what i find interesting is that while the House Committee is doing best to stop the investigation and the senate is doing the best to find out what happened so our nation could be protected. It is a learn the lessons of what happened and make sure it doesnt happen again. Exactly. Lets turn to another important issue, Sarah Sanders refusing to comment on a cruel and crude joke that white house aide kelly sadler allegedly made by senator john mccain. Sadler said Sarah Sanders said she didnt want to talk about internal Staff Meetings and wouldnt say if sadler, the aide, should issue an apology. What do you make of that silence from the white house . Youre surprised . This is a white house whose boss, the president , started his campaign by bullying peel, by demeaning people and calling people names and using the crudest of language and it has gone on since the very first day of his campaign. Right on through his entire presidency. He spends his time calling out people, demeaning them, using bad using language to somehow harm their reputation, and youre surprised that somebody on the staff is doing the same and not willing to fess up and even issue an apology. Dont be surprised, wolf. This is Standard Operating Procedure from this president , right on down the line. So he a she did call john mccains daughter and issue an apology, but do you believe she should lose her job . I think there is a need for discipline from the president right on down the line within this entire white house. When the chief of staff issues and im sure youll go there next, when he goes out and says that immigrants cant assimilate, is he talking about his own grandparents . Who came from ireland and probably had no education and did assimilate and their son or grandson became a fourstar general. He had a he ought to come out and visit my district or visit the real america and get out of the bubble of the white house and see what is really happening out here. The way immigrants legal and illegal are assimilating into this economy and driving this economy. Come to california which is now the fifth biggest economy in the world, and see what the immigrants are doing. Legal and illegal. They are moving the economy of california. They are moving our society and they are participating and assimilating and they are a large part of the energy that we have, at least in the state of california. You did say ill quote it but he said to npr, john kelly said these undocumented immigrants, quote, are not people that would easily assimilate into the United States into our modern society. He said most of them dont have much of an education. Cant speak english but you make a fair point. I think most of our ancestors who came to this country couldnt speak english and didnt have much of an education either. I assume that is in your case and my case and most americans cases and that is why hes getting a lot of heat for those words. Absolutely. Do you want to make a final point on that. He deserves it. He deserves to be called out. He deserved to be called out because it is the most unamerican thing you can possibly imagine. From the second top official within the white house. It is disgusting that he would consider americans that consider these people that way. Theyre finding their way. They are building part of our economy. You take those people out of the economy throughout this nation and you will not have chicken on your plate. Because they are the folks working day in and day out in the poultry industry and the agriculture industry and the shops across america. They are cleaning our hotels, they are essential and we need a comprehensive Immigration Reform so they could become legitimate and legal in our country so our country could put away this terrible problem of the immigration and stop this out and out what amounts to in my mind racism. There is nothing nothing bad about people who have a socalled rural background. We need those people as well. Well see if he elaborates in the hours and days ahead on that. Congressman you should thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. More breaking news. The chief of staff john kelly trying to retract his remark that President Trump is embarrassed by the russia probe. But is it any better to say that the president is distracted by the russia probe. And cnn gets rare access to americas first line of defense. Well visit the underground command center where the u. S. Military is on round the clock watch for incoming missiles. She believes in research. 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Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. Over at the white house, the press secretary Sarah Sanders refusing to acknowledge or disown socalled joke by a trump aide who reportedly said senator john mccains opinion doesnt matter because hes dying. Lets bring in our political and legal experts, and gloria borger, what do you make of the socalled joke. First of all, it wasnt a joke and it wasnt funny. And secondly, it would have been very simple for Sarah Sanders to get up there and say, we regret it and it is unacceptable, shes called the family, shes called Meghan Mccain and apologized and now lets move on. The only assumption i have to make here, wolf, is that Sarah Sand