About an hour from now. And theres been no let up in the president s tirade against Jeff Sessions, he tweeted again just before sessions arrived at the white house. The president also tweeting he will reinstate a ban on transgender individuals serving in the United States military, and he cited medical costs and did ruppation. The natt meanwhile has delayed the next vote on a plan to repeal obamacare, scheduled for about 2 1 2 hours or so from now, well update the Health Care Debate here in the United States in a live report, thats coming up this hour as well. But lets start with the u. S. Attorney general Jeff Sessions who was there at the white house when the president launched his latest attack against him. And ill quote, why didnt a. G. Sessions replace acting fbi director Andrew Mccabe, a comey friend who was in charge of the clinton investigation, but got big dollars, 700,000 for his wifes run against Hillary Clinton and the represents drain the swamp. She got 700,000 from the democratic governor, terry mcauliffe, who is a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton. Lets go to our reporter over at the Justice Department. Jeff zellen is over at the white house. Laura, the attorney general is actually repaired to announce something the president has been demanding, first of all, tell us what that is and why now. Reporter ironically enough, wolf, we have been told that the Justice Department is actually expected to make an announcement, the attorney general will on stepping up its efforts against leaks and leak investigations. Of course this is something that the president said, he called on his attorney general yesterday in the rose garden to crack down on leaks coming from the Intelligence Community and he plans to do just that. Now of course a source cautions that this plan was in the works prior to the president s comments yesterday. It had been planned for quite some time and we expect to see it rolled out in the coming days and of course its an open question on whether this question on senator Jeff Sessions behalf will be enough to stop the twitter tirades against his attorney general. Do we know if attorney general Jeff Sessions actually met with the president while he was at the white house today . Reporter we are told that senator sessions did not meet with the president. He was having a principals meeting with other members of the president s cabinet. Its pretty routine for members of the cabinet to be here in the west wing and he did not apparently meet with the president during this time, what is unusual, of course, is this ongoing feud between the white house and the Justice Department, so unusual, but we are told the attorney general did not meet with the president. But, wolf, some of the attorney generals, or former republican senators on capitol hill have his back on this, in an extraordinary way, some of the Senior Republicans speaking to our mani raju earlier today. I dont fully understand why the president has, you know, said what he said. But i think jeff deserves you know better treatment. Reporter he may fire the attorney general and theres talk that he could reinstall him during the break in august . I dont think so. Reporter why is that . I think that senator sessions is doing well and that would make it harder for the president to accomplish his agenda. Reporter the number two republican senator saying he says ez a recess appointment. That the president making an appointment that effectively happens without confirmation hearings while the senate is on recess, and that would where disruptive and again that republicans would not be in support of that. And thats what hangs over all of this. If the attorney general were to resign or if the president were to fire him, the climate here in washington would be exthe rec d extraordinarily difficult. Thats why some are trying to get trump to tone down his rhetoric. When is the last time that the attorney general and the president actually sat down and had a facetoface meeting and discussed what clearly is irritating the president about the attorney general . We dont know the exact date on that, but its not been in the last week, and thats when this feud has been boiling over in the public eye, exactly a week since the president went to the New York Times last wednesday and fired this extraordinarily public critique of him. And the officials i have talked to said they dont know when they met before that. But it had been quite some time because this feud had been essentially percolating since march when the attorney general first recused himself, its only gotten worse of course because the Russian Investigation has deepened. And shows no signs of letting up either. Thanks to both of you, well get much more on this story coming up. But theres another story were following right now, very Important Development in washington, theres been a lot of criticism leveled today after President Trump announced plans to reinstate a ban on transgender people serving in the u. S. Military in any capacity. He said after consultation with my generals and military experts, we will not allow transgenders to serve in the military. Lets go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr, our cnn diplomatic analyst, and retired admiral john kirby is with us as well. Barbara, what are you hearing at the pentagon . Was this their recommendation, the top military brass to the president to go ahead and issue this ban . Reporter prior to the president s very sudden tweet this morning, non it wasnt. What was in the works that defense secretary james mattis announced last month that there would be a six month pause in this. The joint chiefs had some concerns about how it would all work and mattis said lets take a deep breath, look at this for the next six months, about the issues of recruiting, about whether having transgender members of the military and about medical costs. Nobody should assume what the outcome of the pentagon sixmonth review would be. There were no preconceived notions going in. The chiefs wanted more time. And mattis said lets take more time to look at the whole thing. We now have the president s very sudden tweet this morning that appears to reinstate the ban. The big question now, wolf, is youre not going to recruit more people into the military who are transgender persons. What happens to those already in the military . Because they have been told its fine, they are perhaps open, perhaps, with their friends and colleagues about all of this. There are military commanders. Will they now be forced out of the u. S. Military . That is a really big question and there is no answer to it because by all accounts, while the president informed jim mattis of what he was going to do, theres no policy, theres no implementation right now, this is really a bolt from the white house, and now everybody has to figure out what happens next. You know, john kirby, the defense secretary, general mattis, hes a retired general, he said give me six months to come up with a strategy, this is only a month into that, why do you think the president all of a sudden decided to do this . I think this came as a surprise to everybody at the pentagon. I dont think anybody really understands whats behind this. And the extra review, the extra time that secretary mattis wanted was more time to think about recruiting transgenders. So give me more time to figure out how we better recruit them, theyre not just stopping recruitment, but a ban on all transgender people. You served in the military for how long . 30 years. Will this be disruptive . It will result in enormous military costs . I think its abominable. I fully supported president obamas move to lift the ban. I think anyone whos qualified and meets the requirements, sexual genders should not figure into that. Rand did a study, the estimated medical costs, they estimated between 2 million to 8 mi 2 m n million, that most people would not avail themselves of that. There are upwards of 6,000 members who are transgender, thats a lot of talent and skill that you would be denying yourself. Is that a similar reaction that youre hearing at the pentagon . The u. S. Military is a reflection of american society, it is full of people who come from all walks of life across this country, so certainly there are people who would be opposed to it. But on a policy level, which is what the joint chiefs deal with as secretary of defense, and the commander in chief. To make such military policy so instantaneously without the commanders really knowing, even today, ouhours later, what the president s intent, how he will implement all of this, what they are supposed to do about it. That right now is perhaps the disruptive part, to make military policy via twitter is something that can leave the door open to an awful lot of misinterpretation across military units. So that might be the real thing that people are looking at right now, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but their own personal opinion. But when you were in the u. S. Military, the u. S. Military functioned by policy, rules and regulations. And right now, there is none. There is total confusion, about what is supposed to be happening, wolf. Barbara starr at the pentagon. John kirby thanks to you as well. Republican senator john mccain, a military veteran, a war hero. He said we should all be guided by the principle that any american who wants to serve our country and is able to mete the standards should have the opportunity to do so and should be treated as the patriots they are. Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us. You bet, glad to be here. So you tweeted today. Let me read your tweet, quote, pleased to hear that donald trump shares my readiness and cost concerns and will be changing this costly and damaging policy, readiness. Why do you disagree with the chairman of the Senate Armed ServicesCommittee John mccain . I have looked at this issue very, very closely and this policy is going to cost 1. 35 billion over the next ten years alone just for the sex reassignment surgeries for the members of our service. That equals 13 f18 aircraft. I am very dissatisfied with the defense cuts that we have had over the last three years and we need every dollar to build up the military. Where did you get those numbers . Thats how many transgender that the navy says are currently serving and then the transgender advocacy groups who said that 33 of transgender individuals go through the surgery. And thats where we get those dollars. But it could be as high as 3. 7 billion. Theres a rand study that is the very opposite, it would just be a few Million Dollars a year to allow transgendered people to serve in the military. So im asking you specifically where is that study. We have real concerns with the rand study, its very flawed. Congresswoman, with all due respect, the name of the study youre referring to. Our own office did that analysis and we feel very confident in it theres one thats done by the family recourse committee. The question is should we be spending any tax dollars to do gender reassignment surgery when we dont have weapons or bullets. The Washington Post just posted an article noting that another study which says, and ill put it up on the screen that 18 countries allow transgender personnel to serve openly in the military including australia, britain, sweden and canada. None of those countries, the Washington Post reports, are experiencing ill effects for opening up their Armed Services to the transgender individuals. Australia and the uk doesnt have a problem, why should we have a problem . We need to spend every defense dollar where we need to. And this has been a real concern, not only for morale and for retention and for a lot of different areas. I applaud the president for making these very decisive, bold steps and saying were going to pri prior prioritize our spending. You have members of your family in the military service . My dad served and im very proud of him as well as all those in my district that i represent. Which have spoken to active military, military personnel, they heard the same arguments about allowing gay individuals to serve openly in the military, as you know, that is now allowed and there are very few problems at all. What do you say to that . Its a very different policy change here, these are individuals that have medical diagnosis of gender transfera. I had a friend that was denied serving in the military because she had a bunion on her foot and the reason giving was that she might have to have surgery. So we dont allow individuals with asthma or flat feet. Although theyre very patriotic and they have a desire to serve, they have medical problems that could be very costly. The secretary of defense, general mattis, retired general mattis, he said he wanted six months to study it and its only been one month. All of a sudden, the president issues this new announcement this morning, dont you think the president should have at least given the defense department, the secretary of defense general mattis an opportunity to complete his study before the president acted . No, because right now is when individuals serving in the military from last years policy are starting to go through the hormone treatment process and the surgeries and theyre going to be very, very costly. Now were doing our defense spending and we have to make that decision now. Congresswoman, those Service Members who are transgender Service Members serving actively in the u. S. Military right now, should they be kicked out . I think the details will need to be worked out but we need to where certainly focused our military on those who are able to fight tonight. When you have this surgery you cant be deployed for almost 300 days and somebody else has to go in your place. So there are a lot of valid reasons to keep the policies from the past, to make sure every soldier is deployable and to make sure that every dollar goes to meet the threat. There are a lot of transgenders who have desk jobs and they do a good job there as well . Absolutely, but this is the right policy and i applaud the president for being as decidive as commander and chief. Up next, were going to get a very different perspective from a democratic congressman whos already moved to block the president s transgender bran. Well have details of that. Take a look at this, we have some live pictures coming in from the White House Briefing room. The White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders, shell be defending presumably the president s decision on this and other actions including his latest tweets criticizing the attorney general of the United States. Well have live coverage of that. Also lots of news coming up. 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Dont start humira if you have an infection. Talk to your doctor and visit humira. Com this is humira at work. Welcome back, President Trump announced today hes restoring the ban on transgender individuals serves in the United States military. Lets get a different perspective from congressman scott peters who serves on the its expensive, it would be disruptive, the president is absolutely right in reinstating this ban, your reaction . I cant think of anything more backward than telling Young American men and women who want to serve in our allvoluntary army that they cant help defend our country because of their gender identity. I just think its wrong. I think this week in particular we need to be focused on building a Defense Budget that protects our men and women serving us abroad. Do you have a good decision of what this decision by the president announced today on twitter means for maybe the 6,000 or 7,000, or 8,000 milita military members who are transgender right now . The 5,000 or 6,000 people serving in the military today will get to continue to serve. And the tweet, you know, by its nature, 140 characters is fairly ambiguous on that, i think we want to clear that up. But we also want to let the department of defense finish its own study of what would happen to allow now enlistees to come in who are transgender. I think were going to find the same thing that the Department Found in a study in 2016, that found theres no impact on morale or cohesion or costs. The president actually used three tweets to announce this change in policy, 9 04 a. M. , 9 08 a. M. So announced it in three tweets so he had more than 133 characters available for this announce. Is there anything you or other members of congress can dot be it this . I filed an amendment that the rules committee will consider at 3 00 to prevent this kind of action, we actually had an amendment on the floor when we approved the ndaa, the Defense Budget authorization, we are going to defeat that with b bipa