Transcripts For CNNW Inside Politics 20170531

Track white house tug of wars against account advice of the president s daughter and soninlaw. With the policy fallout comes a feisty political debate. It means that the leader of the Republican Party is in a different spot than the rest of the world. It would be taken as a statement that the Climate Change is not a problem, not real. That would be bad for the party, bad for the country. With us to share their reporting and their insights cnns nia malik cag henderson, jeff zeleny and margaret tally. Live to the white house and sara murray for more on this long awaited president ial decision. Good morning, john. Yes, we are hearing from sources the president is expected to withdraw from the pairs climate accord. The mechanism how he will do this is still being determined. Of course, plans could change a little bit. The president himself has not announced this decision. He took to twitter earlier today to say he will make his announcement in the next couple of days. Sources are saying this is where the president is headed. This is where his head is at. Thats certainly the impression World Leaders got after meeting with President Trump at the g7 and at nato. This is a very monumental decision. It is moving us in the exact opposite direction the Obama Administration was moving us. And isolates america from much of the world of basically every other country had agreed to this to try to put a global effort forward to curb global warming. A number of countries have said theyre going to stay in it no matter what the United States does. Its interesting to see how leaders are perceiving americas standing in the globe and President Trump as a result of this expected decision coming out of the meeting with President Trump last week, german chancellor Angela Merkel essentially said the u. S. Is abdicating its role as a global leader. Its time for European Countries to step up. There will be big ramifications for this and right here at the white house. Not all President Trumps advisers were on the same page about this decision. Sara murray, thank you. Those pushing the president to withdraw from the climate deal say one benefit will be a cole country jobs boom here at home. Could that happen or is that unrealistic. Alison kosik is here. It is hard to see how coal jobs can come back because the horse has already left the barn. The number of jobs in the coal industry has fallen tremendously. The total number of coal workers has fallen 70 since 1985. Plus, youve got the fact that hundreds of companies everyone from microsoft to apple to starbucks to Big Energy Companies like exxonmobil are supporting staying in this agreement because youve got these especially these Energy Companies focusing on the future. Their focus is whats in the paris ingredient already. And thats natural gas over dirtier coal. Realistically its hard to see how they turn their money and reinvest back into coal. Experts say the natural gas boom is the primary reason youve seen the coal industry in decline. So youve seen Energy Companies have made Big Investments in natural gas because thats the future. So the concern is, with america backing out as it seems, Companies Say the u. S. Also wind up losing its competitive advantage because they cant cash in on the new markets for clean technology. Youve got the flipside to this. The u. S. Chamber of commerce saying if the u. S. Stays in this agreement, it would cost the American Economy 3 trillion and 6. 5 million industrial sector jobs by 2040. The reasoning behind that, they say you take away those emission restraints that are in this paris climate agreement, that could help resurgence in coal. With so much investment already on the future, by these Big Energy Companies and when i say the future i mean natural gas, it is hard to see how that resurgence in coal jobs can happen. John. Alison, well keep an eye on that. Well wait for the final language. Thats an important point as we come into the room that sara murray made. Sources saying the president is going to pull out. This white house if we have learned anything, we know on this one there have been competing factions, thats being kind. Theres a fierce fight within the white house. The final language will matter. But what does it tell us that by all indications the president is going to dramatically retreat if not completely withdraw from a signature Obama Administration achievement . Well, yeah, one thing it tells us is that the president does feel like in its current form, the u. S. Commitment under the paris climate agreements doesnt fit with what he campaigned on and run on early in his presidency and hes looking for a way to dial back the u. S. Commitment. The question theyre still struggling with right now is whether or not they can do that and still stay in the agreement or whether they need to get out entirely. Its a very republican thing to do. If you look at republican president s whos come into office after democratic president s, they have typically made moves like this, rolling back Emissions Regulations which is what bush did, reagan famously ripping off the solar panels carter put on the white house. The difference here is the size of this agreement. This historic ingredient with all of these countries. And that business is on a different page. We heard from the u. S. Chamber of commerce. You had dozens and, hundreds of businesses saying they wanted the u. S. To stay in and even some fossil fuel Companies Saying they wanted the u. S. To stay in because if they stayed in, they may it be able to renegotiate some of the terms of the agreement. At a macro level, this is a repositioning of the United States really in its position around the world. This is more than just rolling back an obama regulation. Yes, you expect this president to do that. He is doing that. This is more than that. This was a landmark agreement reached and the success of this depended on the u. S. s involvement in it, as well and other countries are looking to the u. S. For leadership here, india, china, others. This is a dramatic repositioning of the u. S. In terms of the strength. Its taking people backward. You heard what Lindsey Graham said from sunday. All republicans dont agree with this actually. So this is a very big deal. I would argue one of the biggest things the president has done. The geographical divide sometimes of the politics on whats in the ground. Where does your state get its energy. Lindsey graham is not from a coal state. Theres an argument that older voters are more skeptical about Climate Change and the Republican Party will dig a deeper ditch with millennials if the president goes forward with this. We got so used to the president flipping on Campaign Promises over the last few months or hedging whether its moving the embassy to jerusalem or whether its ripping off nafta that i think this is more of a surprise to some of us because we had gotten used to, well, hell flip to whatever the kind of conventional position is ultimately. And he didnt do that this time pep stuck to his campaign promise. So i cant say that im actually all ta surprised. The incentives for his base are entirely to pull out of the ingredient. Yeah, there are some moderate to liberal folks in this white house who want him to stay in. But i think his near term and longer term political incentives are to pull out of this. You mentioned the embassy. Elise labott is reporting the president is expected to renew the waiver that keeps the embassy in tel aviv. They passed the law saying they should move it to jerusalem but president s before this president routinely sign a waiver because they understand how that would upset the politics in the region. Elise labott saying President Trump about to remove that waiver. Theres a geopolitical element to the Climate Change question which is, even if all the policy inside the administration supports either dramatically dialing back the u. S. Commitment or pulling out entirely, the question is, does that weaken the u. S. Position globally who fills that gap, right . Does this strengthen chinas role . Does it strengthen the eu if what the president wants to do is weaken the eu and this strengthens the eu, where does that fit. In the final kind of like 48 hours or so of the deliberations inside the white house on this, these are going to be its not just the environmental argument thats going to be made. Its the political implications on the world stage. In the National Security argument, as well. Thats also something thats different. You have the military talking about Climate Change as a very significant threat to National Security because Climate Change destabilizing regions and complicating the fight against terror and stabilizing some countries and so thats a new argument, as well. What was founded as a republic, a lot of people think weve gotten away from being a republic, youll see the governor of california saying sorry, mr. President , my state is going aheaded with aggressive positions and republican governors saying. It will set off an interesting debate. Its go back and listen. This was a signature Trump Campaign promise. Were going to cancel the paris climate agreement. And stop unbelievable. And stop all payments of the United States tax dollars to u. N. Global warming programs. At different times, this is Different Things to the president. That is an America First supporting, cash your tax dollars going to the united nations. You know, president obama linking us up on this elitist chardonnay sipping european agreement. It works with the trump base. I dont mock the politics of it were quite strong. At other times the Climate Change he says is a hoax manufactured by the chinese. You mentioned earlier the isolation. Established in 2015, 147 countries have ratified this agreement. The goal to reduce temperatures Climate Change, global warming, reduce carbon emigs and bring temperatures down. Countries have to submit emissions assessments every five years and requires the countries the countries to set up financing. The United States was putting up much more than the others. Heres where if the president withdraws heres where the United States is, in a very lonely club that includes syria, nicaragua, and the United States and i should note anything ra ga says its not a party to the agreement because it doesnt think the agreement is tough enough. Thats striking here. What is going on right now were told inside the west wing is exactly how hes going to withdraw. Is it going to be an immediate withdrawal or something a little bit shorter. The headline without question is thats where his head is and thats where hes leaning. Yesterday in the press briefing, sean spicer was asked if the president believes that human activity is the responsible for Climate Change for warming the climate. He said honestly, i havent asked him. Extraordinary. That is something you dont know where the press stands. Margaret and i were both traveling with the president last week. You saw his top economic adviser say the president is. Evolving. Is evolving and learning on in. He said hes going to listen to what pope francis said. More interestingly is the Decision Making about whos up and whos down in the west wing at this moment is critical to this decision. That same adviser this guy overlooked because of a holiday. He was talking down coal and sort of saying coal is not the future. Thats extraordinary, right . For basically one of the top advisers in this white house to be running down the coal industry like that, given a, the Financial Support and b, the Political Support from the coal industry. This president got. Not to mention the fellow haute actually runs the senate who i think is pretty pro coal himself. Mitch mcconnell from kentucky. Pretty pro coal. More on this as we continue the conversation. Ahead, what this paris decision tells us about who is up and down in the trump inner circle as he prepares to make several other Big Decisions. Next, Congress Kicks its Russian Investigation into high gear and demands records from a whos who have trump loyalists. [hissing] uh i [sound of wrench] [intricate guitar riff] [engine starts] [guitar continues] if you have moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis like me, and youre talking to your rheumatologist about a medication. This is humira. 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Witch hunt is back in the president s twitter feed. It came this morning in a tweet defending carter page, a man the white house for months has insisted the president doesnt know. In siding with page, the president adopted his take that former cia director john blenen and former fbi chief james comey gave false testimony to congress. The president s attack comes as the investigation reaches closer to home. Weve been talking about Jared Kushner now getting attention from investigators and its also clear the congressional committees investigating possible collusion between team trump and the kremlin are shifting to a new phase. More Campaign Advisers have been asked for any records related to russia context. Those asked or subpoenaed for documents include former National Security adviser Michael Flynn, trump confidante and attorney Michael Cohen, michael caputo, Campaign Adviser page is, roger stone and former Campaign Manager Paul Manafort and former Campaign Aide bore shis ep sheen. Flynn says hes prepared to surrender documents covered by a new subpoena. Cohen calls the investigation a joke and refusing to cooperate for now. He does say he would comply if he gets a subpoena. A lot of people watching at home probably dont understand who all the names are. But in terms of Michael Flynn saying i will comply with the second subpoena and Michael Cohen getting first a request and well see where this escalates, someone from the trump org organization, not the Trump White House but part involved in meetings about ukraine peace deal, what does this tell us when you look at the list of names . It tells me the investigations have moved from the background phase into the witness phase. What else. It tells you everyone who is within arms reach of this president and before he became president is likely going to have to turn over information or be hauled up before the house or senate or they can always refuse to. Look, the reality here is now this is steps from the oval office, at least the investigation, the inquiry is. This is something that is going to sort of, you know, drag down this white house or complicate every agenda item Going Forward here. This is something that is consuming the white house. People inside the west wing here working on other things are having a hard time trying to focus and stay concentrated on them because this is consuming everything. Once the house and senate resume next week on these things, it is dragging down everything. Health care not happening. Tax reform not happening. The consequence of this is, the Trump Presidency is running out of time to get a lot of things accomplished in the first year or so. But substantively, its a big problem. People are lawyering up. And you know, even if nothing comes of it, this is you presume innocence. Its consuming the president s thoughts in twitter feed. If you look at his tweets over the last couple of days, a few about tax reform and paris climate deal. Most have been about russia and fake news which he kind of links to the russia story. And it also is clear that this is something they cant control. Like the most he can do so far at least and this is his playbook all the time is go to twitter. At some point, they want to set up this war room. I guess the question is whether or not his team can compartmentalize this and whether he can compartmentalize this and try to get things done that he claims theyre close to do in terms of tax reform and health care into this tells me two other things though. In part because theres been some carryover between the trump Business World and the trump politics world, and throughout the campaign that was true also, some of the people in that list. Putting it mildly. Some of the people on that list stretch back to trumps real estate days. You now have investigators talking to people familiar are trump family real estate business deals as well as the discussions throughout the conversation as well as some of the discussions in the early weeks of the administration. It also goes to the idea on some level when these folks come in to talk to investigators whether theyre federal investigators or whether theyre Congressional Panel investigators, comes the question of did the president know about who they were talking to and why and thats when things get very interesting. Not Just Campaign people. Jared kushner a friend, adviser, knows the business dealings. Michael cohen an as close to trump as you get. This is how you get from a land parcel in western arkansas to paula jones and monica lewinsky. These investigations have a way of moving around and new things surface. Jared kushner is paid by the taxpayers. Hes the president hes soninlaw. The secretary of everything some people say because of his portfolio at the white house. It is a fair question to ask the White House Press secretary paid to speak for the taxpayer, what did the president know if anything about this alleged back channel. Jared kushner met with the russian ambassador, then at the ambassadors recommendation met with a russian banker close to putin who used to be a spy. Was the president aware of those meetings and aware there was some conversation about a back channel . Im not going to get into what the president did or did not discuss. What your question assumes is a lot of facts not substantiated by anything but Anonymous Sources that are so far being leaked out. Does he approve of that action . Youre asking if he approves of an action that is not a confirmed action. That being said, i think secretary kelly and general mcmaster have both discussed in general terms back channels are an appropriate part of diplomacy. So does the white house dispute that that happened . Im not going to get into it. Your question presupposes facts that have not been confirmed. Does he have any obligation to answer . Look, theres an investigation going on. Everybody involved has to be careful. Even if they did absolutely nothing wrong, you need to be careful so the consistency of your statements and we should give them the grace of ha. Youre right. Innocent till proven guilty. However, he is the president s spokesman and, would for the American People. Should he answer the basic question of has the president talked to jared about this. I think he should answer that. Theyre not going to answer it. He didnt deny it. He didnt say that didnt happen. Thats the reason in na 30 seconds why were going to see much less sean spicer on television. Hes not having a televised briefing this afternoon. Frankly, the answers arent good regardless of what you say if youre explaining youre losing. In this context,s not good for the white house. He also seemed to say if it did happen, maybe it would be okay relying on some of the responses from kelly and some of the folks in the section of the white house. It was a nondenial denial and saying if it happened, maybe its okay. Maybe well come to that. Next, a deadly attack in afghanistan just as the president faces a big decision on troop levels and breaking paris climate news and what the president s decision tells us about the current state of play in the white house game of thrones. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy to get back to doing. What you love. Ensure. Always be you. Whats the best way to get v8 or a fancy juice store . S . Ready, go hi, juice universe . One large rutabaga, with eggplant. Done thats not fair. Glad i had a v8. The original way to fuel your day. 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Afghan Officials Say at least 90 people are dead and another 400 wounded after a suicide bomb ripped through central kabul at the height of this mornings rush hour. At least 11 u. S. Citizens among the death toll. All of them u. S. Government personnel. The bomb rocked the diplomatic core that is home to the president ial ballast near the german embassy. Officials say the streets were packed with commuters, School Children and morning shoppers. The pictures are terrible. Afghan troop levels is one of the Big Decisions in President Trumps to do folder. As a candidate he said it was time to end americas longest war. Top officials are recommending more troops. Trump likely to punt whether to move the u. S. Embassy in israel from tel aviv to jerusalem. The president expected to sign a waiver that delays the decision another six months. Todays word is the president plans to withdraw from the paris client accords. Be careful. These things are usually overanalyzed and consistency is not a Trump White House trademark. Here in washington this is the buzz that the paris decision and other events in recent days suggest that the president s America First or more nationalist advisers have the upper hand again over the more establishment voices around the president. In games of throne language this is house bannon versus house manhattan. Chief strategist Steven Bannon and his allies against more moderate new yorkers a group that includes gary cohn and ivanka and son gnaw jared. Are we overrating this . If you look at the president s trip, a Public Lecture for nato, private chastisement and when he got home tweets going after germany on trade issues. Now retreating if not completely withdrawing from the climate accords. That is Steve Bannons folder, not gary cohn and what steve bannon likes tox jaw jevanka. One thing that happened is the from ez was frustrated about the coverage he got about his first 100 days how nobody was getting anything done and everyone agreed. There needs to be discussion about what sort of reset is needed but we have to get through this major foreign trip first. Lets try to focus all our attention on saudi, israel and the pope on these last two the stops with allies and come back and do all the things that need to be done in terms of sort of tweaking communications folks, is is the leadership team. Were starting to see those things. If we see consistency across the board in the next several days of pulling out of this global deal and making this decision on the military, if theres a consistent pattern, maybe we can talk whether or not theres a recalibration toward the nationalist base. I think it is a real effort to try to get the message on track. In terms of ivanka trump, we hear again and again how shes going to be the moderating voice for her father, how shes going to be the bigger voice of reason, if you will, on the moderation side. I think the list of things is growing where she is losing out on if this is really to be believed she is the influence. Im told that Jared Kushner was more lukewarm and trying to figure out all of the sort of both sides of the argument. Now hes sort of distracted with Something Else going on. But we know ivanka was strongly opposed to this. But the president himself. Paris into what about his idea snolg hes said to be indifferent on this. Its not really his issue. Hes relying on advisers. That is what is so striking about this. This is a different kind of president in that respect to sort of not know if human activity leads to Climate Change. Depending on which side you believe, everyone believes one side or the other. No one is indifferent on that. I think i tripped over my tongue. 11 u. S. Citizens among those hurt, not among the confirmed dead in afghanistan. 90 people are dead, 11 u. S. Citizens government personnel among those confirmed hurt. My apologies for that. Tomorrow is june 1st. We havent even talked much about the legislative agenda the president has because he hasnt signed one major bill yet. I guess to your point, john, id be more persuaded hes turning to this nationalist agenda if i saw some sign that they were telling capitol hill hey, guys, move this big infrastructure bill or you know what . Were not going to do a Health Care Bill that yanks Health Care Coverage from some of our voters. There was a debate in the white house and i havent seen this pop up in the schedule yet, getting on the road next week on infrastructure. Well see if that happens. Theyve outsourced his entire agenda to conventional Establishment Republicans on capitol hill who are doing sort of market traditional and conventional policy. Said they werent going to do that after the house bill failed the first time, they said hes going to take more control. Hes not travel this had entire week. Hes in a bunker. That i think is mostly because of the russia investigation and deciding how much of the staff you going to shake up and how many more lawyers youre going to bring in. But if you look back at the campaign, whenever the president felt that he was at a crisis point or a pressure point, he went back to the base, the bread and butter, immigration and trade. More populist and nationalist. It is something to watch. Considering any sort of troop increase in afghanistan, how does that fit into what he campaigned about, how does that ca fit into what his base wants. It does seem to be in keeping with Something Like what john mccain would like and another traditional hawkish wing of the party. Rex tillerson, so would jim mattis. These are his core Foreign Policy advisers many of whom when you throw in greg cohen and Rex Tillerson also want him to evolve on Climate Change. A president has the unique ability to bring people on board if its the decision for afghanistan or Climate Change or other things. We hear shockingly little from this president. You mentioned john mccain. As we watch this debate play out, we cover politics, people around the world are also looking, paris Climate Change, whats he going to do . Afghanistan now his advisers want him to stay in and temporarily increase troop levels. John mccain is in australia. They look at north korea and the china standoff, theyre looking for the north star from the president of the United States. John mccain says dont wait for it. I realize some of President Trumps actions and statements have unsettled americas friends. Theyve unsettled many americans, as well. There is real debate under way now in my country about what kind of role america should play in the world and frankly, i dont know the how this debate will play out. Interesting because john mccain speaks his mind but hes reading from a prepared speech there in talking about i know youre unsettled and dont now how this play out this big debate that is now trumps america. A republican criticizing a republican president on foreign soil. Hes done this before. And i guess the question everybody has, is it just going to be john mccain and Lindsey Graham and sass every once in awhile or will there be other people. Its a question for people running in 2018, how do they kind of navigate the Trump Presidency in arguing what the Trump Presidency means to voters who theyre trying to rally. Part of that depends on how coherent and coordinated the democrats are in in making a counter argument. Sit tight. Next the president is thrilled with his staff. He has a fabulous relationship with germanys chancellor. Just ask sean spicer. We asked a group of young people when they thought they should start saving for retirement. Then we asked some older people when they actually did start saving. This gap between when we should start saving and when we actually do is one of the reasons why too many of us arent prepared for retirement. Just start as early as you can. Its going to pay off in the future. If we all start saving a little more today, well all be better prepared tomorrow. Prudential. Bring your challenges. Istart at the new carfax. Comar. Show me minivans with no reported accidents. Boom. Love it. [struggles] show me the carfax. Start your used car search at the allnew carfax. Com. And its also a story mail aabout people and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you on his big overseas is trip, the president lectured nato allies frustrated other g7 leaders and a big promise from arab and muslim nations. It was one trip early in his first term and it will take months to watch these relationships develop and to watch, for example, if saudi arabia actually keeps its big promise to finally crack down on extremism and terror financing. We wait and watch or we call the sculptor from mt. Rushmore. Weve never seen before at this point in a presidency such sweeping reassurance of american interests in the inauguration of a Foreign Policy strategy designed to bring back the world from growing dangers and perpetual disasters brought on by years of failed leadership. That just one of several doozies as sean spicer returned to the podium and turned the brady Briefing Room into the amphitheater of alternative facts. We know from the president s closest friends very well his friends and adviser, the president has been ranting for weeks about his staff. Nope. I think hes very pleased with the work of his staff. I think he is frustrated like i am and like so many others to see stories come out that are patently false to see narratives that are wrong, to see, quote unquote, fake news. And we know because we have eyes and we have ears that the president s relationship with the german chancellor seniors rocky. Nope. I think the relationship that the president has had with merkel he would describe as fairly unbelievable. They get along very well. He has a lot of respect for her. They continue to grow the bond that they had during their talks in the g7. Im honestly not trying to be a jerk here. But when you have a day like that, what are we to do when there is a crisis in the country and he has to stand there and talk to the American People . I think the credibility is sort of the central thing that is you know, just not there every day. It just is not the, you know, when you dont agree to the basic facts and theres always going to be spin and a point of view, but the credit be the here is just not coming from that podium there. But you know, from their point of view, they think that as sean spicer got very agitated talking about fake news, the thing annoying them is the real investigation. Thats the reality here. And i think to your point the lack of progress on the agenda. John, nobody makes him do that job though. I just beat him up a little bit. Because the taxpayers pay him. I covered the building for almost ten years. Thats supposed to be a space where you can have a back and forth. But he is answering to a boss who wants him to do that. Right. Look, eyes wide open. Everything who, would for donald trump knew what they were getting into going in. No surprise here. If they choose to do it, frankly, thats on them. Ultimately, its the president that causes these upheavals. It was so striking yesterday in the morning where simultaneously they announced theyre dumping their comes director overboard at the same time that trump is going on a terror on twitter you know talking for example, about the germans and the trade issue. You hold those two stories up at the same time. Their comes director being cast aside and trump on twitter really, think its the comes problem . It aint the comes problem. Its the principal. You can hire all the staff in the world as long as the president of the United States is saying these things every day on twitter, thats the issue. It doesnt matter who you hire or what they say. You could almost see in hearing sean spicer talk about the outstanding success of the trip and the historic nature and super frajistic expy al doeshious of the trip, you could almost see trump sitting there writing it with him. He was certainly wanting to stroke Donald Trumps ego. Hes wanted to do that from way back. Think about his first press briefing was all about the crowd size. Thats where he lowered the credibility bar and since then hasnt raised the credibility at all. During the trip itself, one interesting element from those of us who were on air force one or in the Briefing Rooms because we were in the fool a lot was to the extent which you saw rex tiller on, h. R. Mcmaster, gary cohn, very senior officials who have policy portfolios not comes portfolios not just participating in the briefings but running them. Off and on the record sometimes on background with a combination of other top officials. Part of that it seemed to many of us there was a test to find out whether that would drives the coverage in a more positive nature for President Trump if you put policy out who legitimately couldnt answer questions about the domestic politics. Sean spicer trump once or twice we got kind of a stray comment from a shouted question but no briefings. No twitter. So the question was when you see tillerson or cohen out there on the record talking with reporters theyll often answer questions more directly than spicer has the ability or portfolio to do. Sometimes when they do, how they say the president s evolving or we have to get him to listen to the right person. How they speak of the president. Remarkable. If i were the president sometimes i would be like. Like a third grader. They treat him like a puppet. Were going to get him. During her confirmation hearings, nikki haley, she was the one saying she felt like the cabinet could sway donald trump. The war room is absurd. Thats what jonathan was saying earlier. The president if he keeps this is up every morning talking about the fake news, the Russian Investigation, the most savest strategists in the world will not be able to counteract that. Then youll have to do what sean has no choice to do but say the tweet speaks for itself. Again during the previousing yesterday, alternative universe, yes account Republican Health plan passed the house. It is nowhere in the senate. Mish mcconnell has been honest say i dont know how to get to 50 votes. The tax reform plan is in limbo. The president may go out and promote infrastructure but theres to legislation yet. So the republicans have the presidency. The republicans have the senate. The republicans have the house. And if you hear sean spicer, its all the dremocrat democrat some of the obstructist tactics the democrats have deployed, the president wants to see things move through the house and senate especially when youve got a majority of support and people to stop playing games. A majority of support . 8 in a new poll today want 8 of americans want them to pass the House Health Care plan as is. Never mind the democrats. The democrats obviously are opposed to this agenda but theyre on the sidelines. This for right now is an internal republican battle. And the white house is not leading that or corralling them. He could still because he does have popularity among his base. Thats something that could sway them. It hasnt happened. Interesting numbers from a new Monmouth University poll. Does this person help or hurt the president by speaking for the white house . 61 of americans say the president hurts himself when he speaks for the white house. 42 of americans say sean spicer hurts the white house. Trumps going to love that. President spicer. Sean outranks the president , depends how you do the math. The president invents a new word and sends twitter into a tizzy. Getting heartburn doesnt mean i means i take rolaids®. Rolaids® goes to work instantly neutralizing 44 more acid than tums® for fast, powerful relief of your worst heartburn. I trust my rolaids®. Rolaids spells relief. I count on my dell small for tech advice. With one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and i get back to business. Fmy doctor recommended ibgard. Abdominal pain and bloating. Now im in control of my ibs. Nonprescription ibgardcalms the angry gut. Welcome back. Today a new entry into the political lexicon courtesy of the president of the United States. And no, im really not sure how to pronounce it. Here it is in its original usage from a tweet six minutes after midnight. Despite the constant negative press covfefe. The twitter account sent out this image of frustration and genuine sadness. Wakes up, checks twitter, looks up, regrets. There you go. Checking twitter. It goes back to bed. While they mourn the rest of the internet took that tweet and did what the internet does, makes jokes. Jimmy kimmel what makes me saddest is i know ill never write anything funnier than covfefe. This is my theory and we only have theories at this point. The president sent out a tweet later saying figure it all out. This was a press and hit the old but the. And someone said maybe someone sthached the phone from him at that time. We do know sometimes always the ones who sends out his messages. Who knows. He also likes to have the press and others talking about something that has no meaning at all. It takes up the oxygen. Im not saying this was intentional. Covfefe is not a russian word. The Philadelphia Police department had fun with in this morning roads are still slick from last nights rain, please use your wipers and drive with covfefe. The president said he invented the phrase prime the pump. Maybe he did. The president can take credit for. Who knows how to pronounce it. Well see what happens with this one. I bang my head off the wall at some of the words theyve added. Senator al franken if you remember was a comedian before he became a politics was on new day this morning. Alison camarota hit him with it. What is a covfefe . A covfefe is a yiddish term for i got to go to bed now. I think. It sounds like thats totally applause credible. Yeah, he got that from, you know, from jared. I guess. As plausible as any. I mean, you know, a great comic but when real life is sort of in some ways even wilder than comedy and parody, its hard to its hard to. The press was up tweeting at 12 00 in the morning. An enduring image from one of the New York Times columns is him there with his phone and the tv sitting in his bathrobe. Thats the reality of this president. If youre a trump supporter, you dont like this twitter feed. If you have a sense of humor, check it out. It is not kind to the president at all. They make light mostly of his executive actions and the signings and everything. When hes putting the signature on the executive actions. Here was their take on this one. Lets let it play out. I am covfefe. Yes. Are we going to settle on covfefe. Covfefe. I dont know if the southern take on it what it would be. You do wonder 100 years from now when folks look back on this presidency this first year had, what this will be. Im hoping this particular segment. Covfefe. Disappears from the Digital Library perhaps. But our friend jacqui cosin nich, a trap that problems we will talk about literally anything. That changes the subject at least into in this segment will selfdestruct immediately upon completion. Its true. The previous president took great efforts to chooeld the white house and how he lived his personal life with the outside world. One thing trump has done in by passing those filters you see how one man and one phone can still move very directly. In a very serious class about president ial communication at the esteemed universities around the world, there will be one day ca f covfefe day. Wolf blitzer in the chair after a quick break. You do all this research on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. Your Insurance Company raises your rates. Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 509 on auto insurance. 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We now have new details about efforts to get the fired fbi director james comey to testify at a u. S. Senate hearing. The plans to testify were up in the air after it was announced that the investigation into russian meddling was being turned over to special Council Robert mueller. Our washington investigative editor eric lish blah is joining us