Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20171017

Is the president spoiling for a fight . And freed from isis. After months of brutal fighting, the terrorist selfproclaimed capital in syria is liberated by coalitionbacked forces. And in the ultimate affront to isis, a female commander waves a flag to mark the victory. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Were following breaking news. A deal on a shortterm fix restoring critical obamacare subsidies that help millions of lowincome americans get health insurance. President trump appears to be backing a bipartisan tentative agreement, even though he was the one who canceled the payments just a few days ago. And only this morning, he called obamacare virtually dead. The president is also sending a warning to senator john mccain who gave a speech sharply repudiating mr. Trump and what senator mccain called halfbaked spurious nationalism. The president said, at some point, he would fight back and added, quote, it wont be pretty. And the president is dragging his chief of staff into his latest slap of president obama, who mr. Trump claimed didnt call the families of fallen u. S. Troops. In a radio interview, mr. Trump said reporters should ask general john kelly whether president obama called him when kellys son was killed in action back in 2010. Were also following a Major Development in the war against isis. The selfproclaimed terrorist capital of raqqah in syria has fallen to u. S. Backed forces, after months of fighting that reduced the city to rubble. Officials say Major Military operations have ended, although there are still pockets of resistance. And theres more breaking news. Cnn is learning exclusive new information about a russian troll farm, that used social media to interfere in the u. S. President ial election by spreading fake news on social media. Sources tell cnn it was financed by a company run by a russian oligarch, whos a kremlin insider and very close to president Vladimir Putin. Were covering all of that, much more this hour with our guests, including senator angus king of the intelligence and Armed Services committees. And our correspondents and specialists are also standing by. But lets get straight to the breaking news. Our senior white house correspondent, jeff zeleny is joining us with the very latest. Jeff, the president is onboard, apparently, with this shortterm health care fix. Even though he says obamacare is virtually dead. Wolf, good evening. The president call this a good shortterm solution when he was talking to reporters earlier today in the rose garden. We do know that he has urged behind the scenes republican senator Lamar Alexander to work with democratic senator patty murray on some type of shortterm fix on this. There is still, though, so many questions from conservatives about this, wolf. Meaning this is far from a done deal on capitol hill. President trump embracing a bipartisan deal today, to restore obamacare subsidies. Only days after he made the decision to cut off those payments. Theyre fairly close to a shortterm solution. The solution will be for about a year or two years. And it will get us over this intermediate hump. Reporter yet only moments earlier, he argued the subsidies, which actually helped lowerincome americans buy insurance, were simply a boon for Insurance Companies. Theyve made a fortune, the Insurance Companies. So when i knocked out the hundreds of millions of dollars a month being paid back to the Insurance Companies by politicians, i must tell you, that wanted me to continue to pay this, i said, im not going to do it. Reporter the president insisted he was still intent on fully repealing obamacare, an effort that has repeatedly failed in congress, despite full republican control. A new cnn poll today shows the president s Approval Rating is at 37 , with 57 of americans disapproving. Amid a deepening divide among the white house and capitol hill, the poll shows far more republicans side with the president. 63 say they trust mr. Trump more to handle major issues, while 29 say they trust congressional republicans. That didnt stop senator john mccain from delivering a strong rebuke of the president and his americafirst world view, while accepting a Liberty Medal last night in philadelphia. To refuse the obligations of International Leadership and our duty to remain the last, best hope of earth, for the sake of some halfbaked, spurious nationalism, cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. Reporter in a series of interviews on conservative talk radio programs today, the president held his tongue, but warned that he would fire back at mccain, who has become one of his biggest republican critics. People have to be careful, because at some point, i fight back, you know . Reporter all of this as the president returned to remarks he made monday in the rose garden about how president obama and other president s treated the families of fallen american soldiers. If you look at president obama and other president s, most of them didnt make calls. A lot of them didnt make calls. Reporter that comment wasnt true. The president dialed it back, slightly, in another radio interview. Before taking the unusual step of raising the death of white house chief of staff john kellys son, a marine who was killed in action in 2010 in afghanistan. I mean, you could ask general kelly. Did he get a call from obama . You could ask other people. I dont know what obamas policy was. Reporter for his part, general john kelly did not respond to questions about this at all today, wolf. He has been very reluctant to speak about his son, robert, who, of course, was killed some seven years ago in duty. Now, we do know, just a short time ago, were learning from White House Press secretary, sarah sanders, that President Trump has, in fact, called all four members of the family, of the american soldiers who were killed in niger. She said that he offered the respects and grief from a grateful nation here. So the president has reached out to all four families here, wolf. Thats what started all of this latest controversy about what president s do and dont do in these horrible times of service deaths. Yeah, very horrible. All right, youre also getting some breaking news, jeff, in Robert Mueller, the special coup counsels, russia investigation. What can you tell us . Reporter we are just learning this. Our Gloria Borger reporting that former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has been interviewed by special prosecutor bob mueller. He is the third white house official in the past several yeex who has been interviewed, as part of this ongoing probe into russian meddling, in the 2016 election here. We are just getting this coming in, but interestingly, of course, sean spicer, the White House Press secretary, were involved in many of those meetings as they were crafting the responses to this investigation. So certainly sean spicer has, you know, an inside window into what was going on inside some aspects of those meetings in the west wing. And wolf, we also know that he was a very diligent note taker. He was known from his time here in the white house and before that, in fact, of taking a lot of notes, detailed notes from this meeting here. So we do know that bob mueller has now interviewed sean spicer and this is, of course, is one more sign this investigation is just continuing. Yeah, hes interviewed Reince Priebus, the former white house chief of staff. The interest is that mueller is interested in possible obstruction of justice involving james comey . Reporter this is what it all hinges around. It was those months and months ago when the president made the decision to fire the fbi director. Of course, there were multiple versions to why he was being fired, so sean spicer, of course, would have been privy to those meetings at the time. But this is one of the areas of inquiry that we believe that bob mueller and his team of lawyers are looking at, potential obstruction of justice here. So this is one more sign, despite the president , you know, repeatedly calling this a hoax and saying the American Public is done with this investigation, bob mueller is not done. Hes still interviewing people. And people, in fact, who worked inside this white house, wolf. He certainly is. Thanks very much, jeff zeleny at the white house. Lets get some more on the breaking news, the bipartisan deal, by two u. S. Senatos to restore critical obamacare subsidies. Lets bring in our congressional correspondent, phil mattingly. Hes up on capitol hill. Phil, does this deal have a serious chance of passing not only the senate, but the house, then being signed into law by the president . Reporter wolf, theres optimism, theres even bipartisan support. But its worth noting if this deal is but one piece of a puzzle that is, a, very complicated, ab, may never be completed at all. Let me explain why. The idea of what both sides would get, both sides like. Getting a little bit north of 100 million in obamacare outreach funding for people who are trying to enroll in the exchanges. For republicans, its all about regulations. We heard this repeatedly during the replace process. And what senator Lamar Alexander has negotiated is significant state flexibility to kind of change the obamacare regulations to make them more palatable for what the state wants to actually do. Thats something that has been considered onerous by a lot of republican governors, especially its something republicans have really seized upon bund t, but the scenes, theres been extreme pushback from conservatives, conservative outside groups, also conservative lawmakers, most notably, wolf, in the house. Thats the key. When you talk to senator Lamar Alexander, i spoke to him about an hour ago, and he said the key to this deal and the key to making everything happen was his private skfrconversations and t Public Comments of President Trump. Saying he was supportive of this deal. He was supportive of any effort to reach a bipartisan deal. But those same conservatives are now reaching out to the white house saying they are not okay with this deal. They would rather the president not get behind this deal. And were also hearing from individuals that the white house is not as supportive of this deal as the president has made it out to seem in his Public Comments over the course of the last couple of days, and even, frankly, the last couple of hours. So what does that mean Going Forward . Look, leadership has made very clear that they dont yet guarantee a pathway to the floor. In fact, just listen to what senator mitch mcconnell, the majority leader, had to say right after this deal was announced. Well, as you know, senator alexander and senator murray Just Announced they had an agreement. And we havent had a chance to think about the way forward yet. And youll have to address your questions to them. Its a hot news item, Just Announced today, and i would recommend you talk to both of them. Reporter not committing one way or the other. Again, the deal had just been reached. But it kind of underscores a key point, wolf. Leadership right now is waiting for signs from the white house, but also trying to get a sense of where their members are. If the conservative pushback continues as it currently stands, that could mean problems for the bill not just in the senate, but almost certainly in the house. A chamber, i would note, wolf, when these negotiations were ongoing, House Republicans made clear, this wasnt something they were willing to put on the house floor. It doesnt at least sound at this point like its changed. The big question now, is where does the president come down, wolf. He just tweeted this, phil. Let me put it up on the screen. Any increase in obamacare premiums is the fault of the democrats for giving us a product in quotes that never had a chance of working. People are going to be studying that tweet, wondering what his message is. Is he suggesting he will go along with this bipartisan compromise or might back away from it . Look, i think the big question is, if you listen to the president throughout the course of this day, he was asked specifically about this deal. And said, to paraphrase here, that it was a good deal, it was a shortterm deal. It was kind of serving as a bridge, as republicans try to take another shot at repeal and replace Going Forward. Whats going on behind the scenes, as far as what im told, i know dana bash has been reporting similar things. That the pushback thats really starting to resonate in the white house is this isnt a deal that should be considered acceptable to a republican white house. Well see who wins the day. Clearly the president in private, phone calls to senator Lamar Alexander and in public statements has been urging this process along. The question becomes, does he change his tune anytime soon . And if he does, does that sink this altogether . Again, a lot of optimism behind this today, wolf. And a lot of republicans and democrats who believe that when it comes to these subsidy payments, something needs to be done to bridge things over the course of the next couple of years. The real question is, is this deal the answer . Well see what happens in the next few days. Phil mattingly up on capitol hill. Thanks very much. Lets get some more on all of this. The independent senator, angus king of maine is joining us. Hes a key member of both the intelligence and Armed Services committee. And senator, i want to get to health care in a moment. But you heard the breaking news that the special counsel, Robert Mueller spent much of the day, yesterday, interviewing the former White House Press secretary, sean spicer. Earlier, they interviewed the former white house chief of staff, Reince Priebus. What does this tell you where this investigation into possible obstruction of justice, possible collusion with the russians sta stands . Well, wii cant comment on wt theyre doing in their investigation, but i think what it tells us is this is a yeasers investigation thats leaving no stone unturned. And thats why mr. Mueller is doing it quietly, methodically, talking to everyone involved, and the fact that hes talking to people at the white house obviously indicates that hes interested in what were the exchanges during the time of director comeys firing. So i dont know the motivation. I dont know what they were talking about, but i think the Important Message here is, hes taking this seriously and theyre working it through. Does your Committee Want to talk to sean spicer or Reince Priebus for that matter . We that the question of obstruction of justice is really not our lane. The Intelligence Committee . Correct. The Intelligence Committee is looking at what did the russians do, how do we know what they did . And how do we prevent it next time . Also, were looking at the question of, what were the russians doing in the state election system, which is really important. And finally, the question of, was there a relationship between the Trump Campaign and the russians. Thats unresolved at this point, but were continuing to talk to people, our staff has interviewed over 100 witnesses at this point. Weve been through thousands of pages of documents. Were still at it. But the real difference is that muellers investigation is about were crimes committed or laws broken . Our investigation is, what are the facts and how do so correct me if im wrong. Your assumption is like my assumption that sean spicer and Reince Priebus were called before special counsel Robert Mueller to talk about possible obstruction of Justice Charges in the firing of james comey, the fbi director, as opposed to russian potential collusion with the Trump Campaign . I would say, clearly, its not involved with potential collusion, because to my knowledge, sean spicer wasnt involved in the Trump Campaign. So it may be, im not going to speculate on why they were talking to him. I just know that he was still working for the Republican National committee. And he had close relations with the campaign, especially after the convention. Well, they may have been pursuing that aspect or they may have been pursuing what he knows about meetings that took place in the white house. Thats not what were looking at. So youre looking at the collusion part of all of this . Right. All right, lets get to the other breaking news. The president , his decision, apparently, apparently, could change, to support this bipartisan compromise. Keeping obamacare, the Affordable Care act, in tact, at least for the next two years. I assume you support this compromise . I do, but i wouldnt state it as keep obamacare in tact. Because there are some significant concessions to the republican critics of the bill but the subsidies to help lowincome americans, that stays in tact, even though the president threw them out only last friday. Thats right. And if theyre not there, insurance rates are going to go up 15 to 20 . I mean, thats just the reality and the whole individual market, not just people under the aca, but the entire individual market could collapse. And this includes a lot of other people. And i think thats what everyones concerned about. Lamar alexander and patty murray had four public hearings on this subject. They heard from governors, insurance commissioners, the opinion was unanimous, do this to stabilize the market, hold insurance premiums down, and then lets talk about other fixes to the Affordable Care act, to maintain the protections that allow millions of americans to for the first time get health care. If it comes up for a vote in the senate, youre with them . Yes, sir. Stand by. 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The liberation represents a devastating loss for isis, and a key victory for the coalition. Small pockets of resistance remain. Isis is losing its grip. After more than four months of operations, raqqah is more than 90 cleared. We are aware of the reports that isis has been defeated in raqqah. However, Clearance Operations continue and we expect our Syrian Democratic force partners to hit pockets of resistance as the final parts of the city is cleared. Reporter just three years ago, isis rolled down the streets of raqqah bringing terror. Todays celebrations on those very same streets represent a stark contrast. A female commander of the Syrian Democratic forces waving a flag to mark the victory over the terror group that has committed countless atrocities against women. In the past few days, some 350 isis fighters have surrendered, leaving behind an estimated 100 militants in a desolate city now reduced to rubble. U. S. Backed Syrian Democratic forces have helped approximately 3,000 civilians to flee to safety. Their Dangerous Mission now, clearing raqqah of improvised explosive devices left behind. We must clear the remnants of all of the explosives that have been left in raqqah throughout this battle. Reporter u. S. Officials believe that senior isis leaders, including Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi fled raqqah months ago for the Euphrates River valley. Today, President Trump took full credit for isis defeat in a radio interview with wmals chris plan, though the coalitions fight and war plan were launched under president obama. I totally changed rules of engagement, i totally changed our military, i totally changed the attitudes of the military, and they have done a fantastic job. Isis is now giving up. Theyre giving up. Theyre raising their hands. Theyre walking off. Nobodys ever seen that before. Why didnt that happen before . Because you didnt have trump as your president. I mean, it was it was a big difference. I mean, theres a big, big difference, if you look at the military now. Reporter while it has lost most of its territory, isis retains enormous capability to launch and inspire terror attacks around the world. Today, the head of britains domestic spy agency surrounded the alarm on the terror threat, following multiple attacks claimed by isis in the uk, just this year. Weve seen a dramatic upshift in threat this year. Its at the highest tempo ive seen in my 34year career. Today, there is more terrorist activity, its coming at us more quickly. And it can be harder to detect. Reporter it has the often been Kurdish Forces bearing the heaviest burden on the ground in the fight against isis. And unfortunately, now, it is Kurdish Forces that are locked in a dangerous battle with iraqi forces on the iraqi side of the border. A real dangerous division there, developing within the coalition against isis. Wolf . Yeah, we dont often hear from the head of mi5 along those lines. Jim, you also have some exclusive new reporting on a different story. The russian troll farms that interfered in the u. S. President ial election. Who was behind them . Reporter cnn has learned that the president of a russian oligarch, dubbed sometimes chef to president Vladimir Putin by the russian press, that he financed a troll factory that used social media to spread fake news during the 2016 u. S. President ial campaign. This according to multiple officials briefed on the investigation. Hes one of the kremlins inner circle. Putin even had him cater birthday parties. His company is believed to be the main backer of the st. Petersburgbased Internet Research agency, known as the ira, a secret Technology Firm that created and distributed fake news. He was sanctioned by the u. S. Treasury department in december of 2016 for providing Financial Support to russias military occupation of ukraine. And one of his companies, including his catering business, also sanctioned by the u. S. Treasury this year. How did you establish this connection, jim . Reporter my colleague, tim lister, we examined scores of documents leaked from inside pergoshens company. One contract provided ira with ways to monitor social media and a system of automized search engines. Other documents show that the Monthly Budget for ira was 1 million in 2013. That was 1 million a month, and that was split between departments that included russian language operations, and the use of social media in english. One part of the factory had a particularly intriguing name. It was called the department of provocations, dedicated to sewing fake news and social divisions inside the west. This according to show internal Company Documents obtained by cnn. And its mission, as stated in those documents, was, quote, how do we create news items to achieve our goals . I should mention that several emails and calls from cnn to concord consulting, that is pergoshens company, they went unanswered and the ira itself no longer exists since the u. S. Election. A declassified assessment by the u. S. Intelligence Community Published in january of this year concluded, and im quoting, the likely financier of the Internet Research agency of professional trolls located in st. Petersburg is a close putin ally with ties to russian intelligence. Until now, no one named that person and weve now shown the evidence here that it was, in fact, wolf, pergoshen. Very, very important information. Thanks very much, jim sciutto reporting for us. Lets get back to angus king, a member of the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services committee. What was the russian intent . Was it largely toll get involved in the election, or to sew discontent, to aggravate social problems, here in the United States, to weaken the United States . Both of those in the reverse order. It appears that their original intention was to sew discord. To not to take differences black lives matter, for example. It turns out they created fake black lives matter twitter accounts, facebook pages, and those kinds of things, in order to irritate people, to aggravate people, to split people, to divide people. To weaken the United States. To weaken the United States and the west. This is a pattern that theyre using around the world. What appears, wolf, is that some time in the spring late spring, summer of 2016. They shifted from that sole purpose to the purpose of helping donald trump win the presidency. Was it to help donald trump win the presidency or to undermine and hurt hillary clinton, as much as possible, because they assumed she probably would be elected, but they wanted her to be badly damaged and weakened . Very good point. And its hard to iyou know, were they hurting hillary or helping donald trump . Either way, the result was the same. And its clear that president putin didnt like hillary clinton. And felt she was responsible for some of the color revolutions back earlier in the teens and that was part of their intention. But whatever it was, it was a very serious attack, very sophisticated, and the problem, wolf, is, its going to happen again. And thats what worries me. How do you prevent . You hear jim sciutto, your teams exclusive reporting. How do you prevent this from happening in 2018, 2020 . Because the russians are not going to stop. Thats right. Theyre not going to stop. And i think thats a really important point. We can do things like sancti sanctioning them when we figure out who was behind it. Which oligarch, which agency. We can do those kinds of things. But you know what, i believe the strongest defense is for us to understand what theyre doing, and so when it happens, we can say, oh, thats just the russians again. Ive been to eastern europe, talked to people there in ukraine, poland, and they say that the best defense is when the public is a better consumer of information and doesnt take everything at face value that we see on the internet. On a totally, totally different issue, a political issue, the Democratic National committee, theyre having their meetings right now. Theres a resolution that theyre going to be voting on, later this week, that regards the two independent senators in the u. S. Senate, u. S. Bernie sanders, be it resolve that the dnc recognizes the important contributions of the independent senators from maine and vermont. Thats the good part. To causes at the heart of the democratic partys mission, and to urge them to run as democrats. Are you ready to declare your caucus with the democrats. Are you ready to declare that youre a democrat and accept this resolution that is coming up for a vote at the dnc . No, ive been an independent since the early 90s. I was a governor as an independent. Thats who i am. I caucus with the democrats. You have to choose one caucus or the other. Its worked out. I more often vote with the democrats, but not always. I like to call em as i see em. And thats where im going to stay. Well see if bernie sanders, whos also an independent, decides to accept this resolution from the dnc. Senator, thanks very much for coming in. Angus king of maine, the independent senator from maine. Just ahead, more on the hours breaking news. A source says members of the special counsel, Robert Muellers team, have interviewed the former White House Press secretary, sean spicer. Stand by. And well also have the latest reaction to some senators tentative deal, republicans and democrats, on a shortterm fix to obamacare. Will conservatives talk President Trump out of going along . He seemed to be okay with it just a little while ago. Theyre fairly close to a shortterm solution. The solution will be for about a year or two years. 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A source familiar with the matter tells cnn that the special counsel, Robert Muellers investigators, have now interviewed the former White House Press secretary, sean spicer, as part of the russia investigation. Lets dig deeper with our reporters and specialists. And mark preston, this is potentially significant, priere priebus the other day, now sean spicer. Looks like hes trying to build a case potentially for obstruction of justice. And we really shouldnt be surprised that Reince Priebus and sean spicer have now met and spoke with Robert Mueller, or at least his team. The fact is, they were the core of Donald Trumps inner sanctum when it comes to the west wing. The question is, is how much involved was spicer or priebus in some of the questions that mueller might have. And ostensibly, he probably would have received that information from these interviews. We shouldnt be surprised, but he could get some information that would help build the case, if there is a case. Im interested in what you think, phil mudd. Youre not only working at the cia, but you worked at the fbi, as well. What do you think mueller is up to by calling in these now former white house officials. Well, first, i dont think hes building a case. And if you walk into this investigation, you want to ask fact questions. Give me a timeline of what happened. Give me your understanding of everything from what the president did, with the former fbi director to whether you ever heard any gossip about engagement among officials, with russians. The most fascinating piece of this to me, wolf, is the fact that the interviews are taking place now. That gives us an indicator that the special counsel is making progress in the investigation toward an end line. The reason is simple. You do not walk into one of these conversations with the central player like priebus or like sean spicer, without knowing some of the answers already. For the simple reason, im not guesting these guys are lying. Im saying, any subject you want to talk to, you want to check the validity of what they say. So you collect a ton of information beforehand. Financial, email, phone. You interview secondary witnesses. And then later in the investigation, when you have all of that data, then you say, i know enough so that when i talk to sean spicer, if he starts sort of shading the truth, i think ill be able to check it out. This tells us that theyve gathered a lot of information and that we think its time to start interviewing the core players. They have a worldclass team of prosecutors and lawyers and investigators, fbi agents working on this. Lets turn to the other breaking news, david swerdlick. The health care deal, tentative deal worked out between a republican chairman of the Senate Health committee, Lamar Alexander, patty murray, the ranking democrat. Has this gone anywhere . Well, for starters, wolf, its strange that last week, the president would sign an executive order, getting rid of certain obamacare funding, and this week, to halfheartedly endorse this idea of a bipartisan compromise. I dont think its going anywhere, pause you still have the same fundamental problem among republicans in the house and the senate. Conservatives want more of a repeal of obamacare. Moderates dont exactly know what they want. Democrats dont have a lot of motivation to do anything, except sit back and see what happens. How do you see it, you know, kaitlan . Youre there and covering the white house on a daily basis . Were already seeing the white house walk back what the president said today when he said, its a good, shortterm solution. Theyre already saying they applaud the bipartisan. Thats what they told dana bash, my colleague, but theyre not sure about this bill. But the president doesnt even seem sure about what he wants. Not sure about any bill. He was asked that very simple question today, during that press conference, with the greek Prime Minister in the rose garden. And he went kind of on was asked, what is your Health Care Plan. Very simply, what is your Health Care Plan, mr. President. And he went on this kind of rambling answer, where he attacked these Insurance Companies, repeated that he thinks that obamacare is a disaster, went after democrats, saying that theyre obstructionists, blocking his nominees, even touted his tax plan. And the only thing he mentioned about his idea for a Health Care Plan was these block grants. So at the end, the reporter kind of interjected and said, okay, so the Graham Cassidy bill, which famously was not supported by multiple republicans, and the president said, yes. So its not even clear that the white house knows what they want in a health care bill. He wants these block grants to go to the states. Go ahead, marc. The bipartisan progress that weve seen over the last 24 to 48 hours, i think conservatives are very concerned about that, because lets assume that this was agreed to and there was a twoyear extension. Thats going tyake a little bit of dpas out of the tank right now to go for an absolute repeal and replace and i think thats why we need to push back in part from the likes of the republican study group, the hardscore conservatives in the house. Just a few minutes ago, the president tweeted this, david. Any increase in obamacare premiums is the fault of the democrats for giving us a product that never had a chance of working. What do you make of that . Its sort of a prebuttal to anything that happens. The president doesnt wants to take responsibility for wherever the chips fall. President trumps natural, sort of stance is to actually be in favor of more care. He wants to be seen as benevolent. He wrote in his book in the year 2000 that he was a conservative on most issues, but a liberal on this issue. He wants to give more to the people, he calls the forgotten people. The problem is, its not his partys position. And thats where the fundamental and even if it passes the senate, kaitlan, theres no guarantee it will even come up for a vote in the house unless a majority of the Republican Caucus supports it. Thats exactly right. And we have not heard an overwhelming amount of support so far for this. So its not likely that anythings going to happen. Well likely see it continue to be pushed down the road. Stand by, everyone, stand by. Theres a lot more unfolding right now. Well take a quick break. Well be right back. Tech dont wait for a chip like this to crack your whole windshield. With safelites exclusive resin, you get a strong repair that you can trust. Plus, with most insurance a safelite repair is no cost to you. 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Ready for a new chapter . Talk to your rheumatologist about humira. This is humira at work. Your kids go to college and you start trading. Yeah, 5 years already. 5 years, hmm. You ever call your broker for help . Once, when volatility spiked. And . By the time they got me an answer, it was too late. Td ameritrades elite service team can handle your toughest questions right away with volatility, its all about your risk distribution. Good to know. Thanks, mike. We got your back kate. Does he do that all the time . Oh yeah, sometimes he pops out of the couch. Help from real traders. Only with td ameritrade. President trump is reacting to a sharp rebuke from senator john mccain, with mr. Trump warning that at some point, hell fight back, and quote, it wont be pretty. Phil mudd, in his speech last night, senator mccain criticized what he called, and im quoting him now, halfbaked, spurious nationalism. Today he warned of the nationalism of the 1930s, making a comeback. It seemed to be directed at President Trump and some of his supporters, like steve bannon. What was your reaction . I was looking at this, i had the same reaction you did, wolf, but i added a couple of elements. Looking senator mccain is a military veteran. Looking at the president s comments over the past couple of days about how he reacted to the return of the remains of american soldiers to the United States and making this a political issue, trying to compare himself favorably with former. And the president was trag to compare himself favorably with what happened with president bush and katrina. And i think a man with the respect and experience of senator mccain, who clearly has a disease thats potentially deadly is trying to set a tone for america that says, this is a serious time. I think the risk here is the president tangling with someone whos an American Hero and someone whos going through a difficult stage of life. I know the president doesnt have much empathy, but i would be careful with battling with a lot of people are surprised that the president is threatening senator mccain, if you keep this up, its going to get worse for you. Im going to tell you, im not surprised. I was there in iowa when he made those illfated comments when he said that if you are a prisoner of war, youre not a hero. And he specifically was speaking of senator john mccain. He was out there for a campaign event. Just what phil said, even going further. It actually scares me that theres potentially we wont have the voice of john mccain, you know, a year or two years or three years from now, assuming that the sickness is actually more advanced than we think. He really has been a great moderating factor here in the senate. Something we havent had, something who can cross party lines. You have to look to the likes of angus king who you just had a short time ago as somebody who can perhaps try to step in. He will never fill john mccains shoes but likes of angus king are going to be needed if john mccain, we no longer have his health. Given his health, aria surprised the president is speaking as he is, warning if you keep it up, get ready because im going to act back. Im not surprised if mccain is cowed by him. Senator mccain, whatever else you think about him, survived prison camp in the vietnam war. The idea he would now buckle under the tweet of President Trump is preposterous. On another issue, caitlin, you cover the white house. Another federal judge has ruled against the third version of the president s travel ban, saying that the ban plainly discriminates based on nationality. How is the white house reacting . Theyre pushing back. They the judge said this order had the same problems that its predecessors had, that its discriminatory, and the white house pushed back saying the ruling is dangerously flawed and the press secretary, sarah sanders, said in a statement that ruling undercuts the president s attempts to keep the country safe. They said they want to restrict the travel because of National Security and terrorism issues and they have faith that a higher court will reverse this decision, but we have seen this be a problem for this Administration Since almost its first days in office. And though they have tried to finesse this order time and time again, they have not had to, and theyre going to be embroiled in this legal battle for a little longer. Phil, how do you see this whole travel ban issue . Boy, this is the swamp fights back, wolf. If you look at the agenda of the president who says himself he sort of is not responsible for his agenda, just this week hes saying you cant blame me for this stuff. You look at major pieces, at Immigration Reform where the judiciary is saying no. You look at Health Care Reform where the congress has said you cant get what you want. You look at overturning the russia investigation, where his own department of justice and fbi are saying were going to continue with the investigation. The president can deny that hes responsible for his own agenda, but if you look at the key pieces, and now were getting into nine, ten months in, you have to look at this and say this is not going well. The things that you were elected to enact, people around the government and the swamp you wanted to drain are saying try to drain us, but were going to win. Everybody stand by. Were going to have much more on the breaking news after a quick break. On. Grandma grandpa thanks mom. Here we are. Look, right up to here. Principal. We can help you plan for that. Duncan just protected his family with a 500,000 Life Insurance policy. 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Our justice correspondent Jessica Schneider is working the story for us. Jessica, this is the third version of the president s travel ban thats now in trouble. Thats right. Every time the white house has issued one of those travel bans, its been blocked by a federal judge. Hawaii federal court judge has ruled against it again. He did the same thing for the second version. The judge calling this third executive order detrimental and discriminatory. Judge watson wrote this in the ruling, saying eo3 suffers from precisely the same malied as its predecessor, it lacks sufficient findings that the entry of more than 150 million nationals from six specified countries would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. Of course, the white house viewing this quite differently, releasing this statement, pushing back. Saying todays dangerously flawed District Court order undercuts the president s efforts to keep the American People safe and enforce minimum Security Standards for entry into the United States. And the administration also stresses it did an extensive review to come up with this latest list of eight countries, but this all looks headed to the Supreme Court since the last travel ban is largely moot and the Justice Department has promised, wolf, a very quick appeal of this latest Hawaii Federal Court decision. You say its headed towards the Supreme Court, fast tracked heading towards the Supreme Court . When are we going to expect a decision . A fast track is possible. It could be an emergency motion that the court could rule on procedural issues, but the Supreme Court has signaled they want these lower courts to rule first so its likely that this will go through that very arduous and long appeals process, maybe at the ninth circuit first and then eventually make its way to the Supreme Court, but it could be long road ahead. In the meantime, no travel ban. No travel ban at this point. Parts of the old travel ban are actually still in effect up until the end of october. But this latest one, it will not take effect bought of this ruling. Jessica, thank you very much. Thats it for me. Thanks very much for watching. Erin Burnett Outfront starts right now. Outfront next, President Trump playing politics with Fallen Soldiers while playing fast and loose with the facts. Plus, the president takes credit for taking down the capital of isis, a major victory. Does he deserve it . Now putins chef is at the center of the russia investigation. Lets go outfront. Good evening. Im erin burnett. Outfront tonight, the breaking news. President trump today talking to the families of the four american soldiers killed in niger. Four brave soldiers ambushed by what are thought to be is isislinked extremists. The deadliest combat loss since President Trump took office. Staff sergeant