Official. And threeway race. The head of tomorrows president ial debate, cnns exclusive new poll shows joe biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders dominating the democratic pack. Well show you who is up and down in the race for the white house. Im wolf blitzer and youre in the situation room. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Were following breaking news. Dramatic action by the Trump Administration in response to a growing number of deaths and illnesses related to ecigarettes. The food and Drug Administration is moving to completely ban flavored ecigarettes which is specially appealed to young people. But as President Trump was making the announcement from the oval office, he veered into sharp criticism of former National Security adviser john bolton who he said, and im quoting the president now, made some very big mistakes. Also breaking, a white house officials confirmed to cnn it was the acting white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney who spoke with commerce secretary wilbur ross about noaas handling of a tweet that contradicted President Trump on Hurricane Dorian. The official said mulvaney urged ross to, quote, fix the problem. Well talk about the breaking news, much more with congress will hurd of the Intelligence Committee and our correspondents and analysts are standing by. But first to jim acosta. The administration is looking at having the flavored ecigarettes completely removed from the market. Reporter that is right, wolf. President talked about that and President Trump is still justifying his decision to fire john bolton. Saying the former National Security adviser made some, quote, big mistakes before he was kicked out of the administration. President trump trashed bolton in front of the cameras saying even kim jongun wanted nothing to do with him. The president made these comments just as he was announcing his administration is considering a sweeping ban on flavored ecigarettes. Vowing to tackle the epidemic of teen vaping, President Trump announced his administration is finalizing a new policy to crack down on flavored ecigarettes. Noting even the first lady is urging federal regulators to take action. We cant allow people to get sick and we cant have our youth be so affected and im hearing it and that is how the first lady got involved. Reporter but the president had one other ban on his mind as in his decision to fire his National Security adviser john bolton. John is known as a tough guy. Hes so tough he got us into iraq. That is tough. Reporter mr. Trump fired off the first rounds of what is shaping up to be a war of words with bolton. And i told him, john, if too many people youre not getting along with people. Im sure hell do whatever he can do to you know, spin it his way. Reporter the president defended his decision to give bolton the boot in part over his handling of north korea. He made some very big mistakes. When he talked about the libyan model for kim jongun. Reporter insisting the now former National Security adviser was wrong to suggest that dictator kim jongun could be handled in the same way as libyan ruler qadhafi who was overthrown after giving up his nuclear ambitions. I dont blame kim for what he said after that. And he wanted nothing to do with john bolton. Reporter but a source close to the white house said bolton was leery about trumps dealing with dictators and what would happen if he sit downs with leaders. Saying john doesnt like the idea of a meeting because it is his view that trump caves. He gives them way too much. This is the most unbelievable experiments ever, north korea. And i also say the same with iran. Iran could get back to business. Reporter the white house is still cleaning up after the president s mistaken claims that Hurricane Dorian posed a threat to alabama. A white house official confirmed acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney spoke with commerce secretary wilbur ross to have his department disavow a tweet from the Birmingham Office of the National Weather service that contradicted the president. Mr. Trump told reporters he didnt instruct mulvaney to do that. I never did that. That is a whole hoax about the fake news media. Reporter the acting head of noaa issued a statement backing away from the National WeatherService Tweet reassured forecasters they are not under attack. No ones job is not under threat. Not mine, not yours. The Weather Service team has my full support and the support of the department. Reporter earlier in the day the president marked the 18th anniversary of the 9 11 attacks and discussed his recent decision to host the taliban at camp david. A summit he scrapped. We had peace talks scheduled a few days ago. I called them off when i learned that they had killed a Great American soldier from puerto rico and 11 other innocent people. They thought they would use this attack to show strength. But actually what they showed is unrelenting weakness. Reporter now while the president is taking action on ecigarettes it is not clear on gun safety laws. The sprez spoke with democratic and republican senators about the potential for new gun control legislation and mr. Trump is not committed to the idea publicly of universal background checks showing polls is supported by all americans. The report pose reporters today there are some things that, quote, will not happen, wolf. Jim acosta at the white house. Up to capitol hill now where democrats are wrapping up the probe of President Trump. But unsure whether to formally call it an impeachment inquiry. Our congressional correspondents are joining us. Sunlen, is there is a lingering divide for democrats over the impeachment and the messaging around it. Reporter and this is a growing problem, a bigger issue by day for House Democrats. Many are not on the same page over the messaging around impeachment. Many concerns coming from many members about those problems. Some are saying, yes this is an impeachment inquiry were in and others are saying, no it is not yet. This is just an investigation. And this comes as tomorrow the House Judiciary Committee is readying to vote on a resolution that would indeed formalize their committee being in an impeachment inquiry but it is notable, wolf, that many Top Democrats up here on capitol hill are trying to shy away from calling it just that. Just check out how Hakeem Jeffries congressman answered this question when i asked him today about the conflicting language over impeachment. Well move on as Judiciary Committee members, myself included, to deal with what is before us as it relates to that resolution tomorrow and then well make some determinations as to characterization. But i dont want to get caught in semantics. Reporter and speaking of the house, nancy pelosi shied away from calling this a formal impeachment inquiry saying they are right now just in an investigation. All of this really underscores the balancing act that house leaders have within their party balancing the competing factions in the democratic party. Wolf, that highlights that division that House Democrats still have over impeachment. Sunlen, the president also said today among other things hes talking with senators from both parties about the issue of gun reform. What do you learn about the talks, the behind the scenes developments . A lot going on behind the scenes but special a lot of uncertainty tonight on capitol hill. On what President Trump actually will do. One senator saying today this is approaching the witching hour, he believes the next 24 to 48 hours theyll hear formally from the white house and from President Trump on what exactly he supports. The president did hop on the phone today with three key senators, a bipartisan group, senators manchin and toomey and chris murphy working on their background check proposal and the senators left that call saying they found it was encouraging but notable that still President Trump did not indicator commit in any way to a proposal. I a big factor here, of course, the only factor now that matters is what President Trump will support. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell uncertainty what he will support and will not bring anything to the floor without the president s backing so uncertainty and limbo as capitol hill braces to hear what if anything the president will support. Sunlen, thank you. Sunlen serfaty on capitol hill. More breaking news. A newly rereleased poll showing joe biden still leading rivals ahead of the next president ial debate. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are there in a close race for second with the rest of the candidates far behind. Lets bring in our political director david chalian. Take us through the headlines of the new cnn poll. That is right, wolf. Joe biden does still maintain this lead. There is no doubt about that. Warren and sanders in this tied battle for second place, look at the overall numbers. Joe biden at 24 . This is democraticleaning independents. Warren at 18 . Sanders at 17 . And then everybody else is in singledigits. 8 for harris and 6 for buttigieg and then you see the round out of the group at 2 . I want to show you what is critical to joe bidens leading status here. The africanamerican vote. Among black democratic voters in this poll, joe biden has a 30point lead over Bernie Sanders. Hes at 42 with this group. That is an enormous lead and it is what is is keeping him up front. The other issue that you and i have talked about a lot is the notion of electability. And we asked democrats which is more important to you, somebody who can defeat donald trump or somebody who shares your positions on the issues . Going away, democrats are looking for a strong chance to beat trump. 55 , a majority of democrats say that throughout the campaign but this is fascinating, among that group, among that 55 , Elizabeth Warren is making some significant strides. Take a look among those democrats who want a trump defeater, if you will, biden had 35 with that group in august. Hes now down nine points to 26 . While warren in august she was among she had 15 support among this group and shes up six points to 21 . We see a little dip twl there for sanders within the margin of area and we know electability means Different Things to different people but we see Elizabeth Warren is starting to make strides on this notion with voters who are looking for somebody who could beat donald trump. Very significant indeed. What is our poll, david, reveal about voter enthusiasm heading into the 2020 election in. I think this is one of the most astounding numbers in the poll. 45 of voters in this poll show us tell us that they are extremely enthusiastic about voting for president. Look at how that compares to the four previous president ial elections at this point in the cycle. It is far and away above what weve seen before and here is what is interesting. Among the 45 of the extremely interested voters they split between the parties. A slight edge for republicans actually. But its almost an even split, 51 of republicans say so and 47 of democrats. It doesnt matter which side of the aisle you are on, wolf. This is a turbo charged electorate. Voters are very, very enthusiastic about voting in this election. Thanks very much for that, david chalian. Well talk about all of the breaking news. All of these late breaking developments. Congressman will hurd of texas, a key member of the house Intelligence Committee, there you see him in statuary hall on capitol hill. Congressman, i need to take a quick break. Well have our conversation right after this. At verizon, were building the most powerful 5g experience for america. Thats why the nfl chose verizon. Because they need the massive capacity of 5g with ultra wideband, so more screaming, streaming, posting fans. Can experience 5g all at once. This is happening in 13 stadiums all across the country. Now if verizon 5g can do this for the nfl. Imagine what it can do for you. Now if verizon 5g can do this for the nfl. The amount of Student Loan Debt i have im embarrassed to even say i felt like i was going to spend my whole adult life paying this off thanks to sofi, i can see the light at the end of the tunnel as of 12pm today, i am debt free not owing anyone anything is the best feeling in the world, i cannot stop smiling about it the ncome on. Y glc. [ cars honking ] its so late. Yay. It fights traffic. No parking. I told you. Oh, a spot hold on. It fights tension. Its that one. I dont know. [ gps ] prepare to turn right. It fights confusion. Did you take my phone . Passenger light on. It even fights. Fighting. Innovation that keeps people together. The 2020 glc. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. On this anniversary of the september 11th terror attacks the president is criticizing john bolton. Republican congressman will hurd of texas is joining us. A key member of the house Intelligence Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Let me get right to your reaction to President Trump actually today siding with kim jongun over his former National Security adviser john bolton. That was in the oval office earlier today. What was your reaction . Well, wolf, i havent seen it. However, ill say this. Ive known john bolton for quite a long time and im pretty sure i think i know him well enough to know hed be outraged that the taliban would have been invited to the camp david three days before 9 11. I think he would also be pretty outraged that we havent responded or shown support to the protests happening in hong kong. Especially after these protesters are are waving the American Flag and singing the starspangled banner. I know john and hes opinionated and not avoid to speak his mind. Was the president right to push him out . Ultimately the president as a a choice to be able to have the folks he wants, especially in the white house. But i dont know if pushing out is the way i would characterize this. My understanding is that ambassador bolton gave his offer of resignation on his own. So that looks like hes walking away and so that is the way things look. The president should have the team that he wants and that is his prerogative. He clearly didnt want bolton. I was surprised he picked bolton to begin with. Given his support for the iraq war and the president saying that was a disaster winding up costing the u. S. Trillion dollars. As you heard a source close to the white house is telling cnn that john bolton was weary of letting the president meet with some of the dictators because he might give away too many concessions. Would you share those concerns . Well, ultimately i think what you want is to have the major principals negotiate the final deal. They should be the ones that sign off and allow the nuance negotiating to happen among other folks. And so i think that would be my guidance. That would be ultimately my advice. And this is understanding the background of the previous negotiations, it is always important in order to make sure you land at a good deal. And i will say this, if your talking, youre not fighting. That is always a good sign. But if you look at the example in negotiating with the taliban, they were still attacking u. S. Troops, still attacking our allies while we were negotiating. You shouldnt that is not a sign of good faith that youre willing to negotiate. Why do you think the president was willing to invite the taliban leadership to camp david for this highprofile meeting on the eve of 9 11 . I cant i cant answer that, wolf. Because im not privy to those decisions that went in. But i also think we owe it to our allies like afghanistan, ill have to be the ones that keep the peace and ultimately be the ones that need to take over the defending borders and we should include our allies in those negotiations and not bring them in at the last minute. Again, i think we reduce our footprint and having them go the goal of reducing our footprint in afghanistan is a worthwhile goal but we have to make sure that we continue to prevent that from being a place where terrorist groups can train and attack the homeland. Were 18 years after the 9 11 attacks on our homeland. If you would have told me on september 12th, 2001 while i was in the cia working to be involved in the supporting invasion of afghanistan, that we would still be in the war 18 years later i would say that is hard to believe but if you told me it is 18 more years before another major attack on our h e homeland and i would have says you are crazy and we havent seen that because of the men and women in our Intelligence Services and Diplomatic Corp and military are still operating as if it is september 12th. So we dont want to see al qaeda come back or see isis or continue to matt aft size and we have to keep the pressure on them. Good point. Congressman will hurd, thank you so much for joining us. Wolf, always a pleasure, my friend. We have a lot to discuss. Our political experts are standing by. Well have that conversation right after this. Whats going on . Its the 3pm slump. Should have h