Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20170316

Yesterday. Is the president concerned that comments made by his staff came up in this lawsuit, comments by Stephen Miller saying that the second travel ban would have the same policy outcome as the first viewed by the judge in that case, get at yesterdays concerned is he concerned the mixed messaging coming up from the west wing staff . No, hes not. I think the department of justice will be pursuing avenues that will seek to remedy this. I think when you read through the courts ruling in hawaii in particular, it just doesnt seem to make sense. As i mentioned to gabby, the executive or second executive order was literally tailored so to go back and talk about statements that occurred, you know, in some cases well before, even the first one, seems to not be an accurate reading of the law. But ill let the department of justice, you know, be the ones that argue this and make the appropriate legal argument. Hunter. Olivia, im sorry. Your long list of the reports you mentioned, an accusation perhaps dchq was involved, did the president discuss this with theresa may . Again, that happened i think two days ago. It was something that was reported on air. I think the point is theres been no, no, it has not been raised. But i do think that, again, were not im just all were doing is literally reading off what other stations and people have reported. I think that casts concern to some activities that may have occurred during the 2016 election. Were not casting judgment on that. I think the idea is to say if these organizations, these individuals came to the conclusions, they mer ilt looking into. O olivier. The news reports about the president s meeting with Saudi Defense minister crown prince that says that the defense minister told the president about a plot, a terrorist plot against the United States. Did that happen . Whats the nature of that . How worried should the United States be . Were obviously never going to comment on specific threats to the homeland. Were obviously committed to ensuring the safety of every american. But it should be no secret that we share intelligence amongst a variety of countries. We would never comment on a potential threat or not that existed, but we appreciate several countries that we work with closely to make sure that we do what we can to protect the homeland. One more. Secretary tillerson in asia said that 20 years of diplomatic efforts have failed to get north korea to deenuclear ize. Does the government plan a break from diplomacy or only look at a use of force or other coercive measures . The president never takes anything off the table. Thats something hes been very clear about. With that, blake. Over the course of the campaign, president made a couple different many comments about the budget and the deficit. At one point he said he thought that he could get rid of the National Debt over the course of eight years. At another point he said that he would insist on a balanced budget relatively soon. Now the baseline of the administration is giving us is, well, at least were not adding onto the deficit, which is nearly half a trillion dollars. So, im curious as to how we got from that point to now to where he was talking at one point about eliminating a bunch and now is adding onto it. I think director mulvaney addressed that. Look, a couple things. Number one, the senate dragged its feet on getting director mulvaney confirmed and in office. So, i think we were behind the curve on having a director of omb. We got in here, i think we produced a blueprint that is consistent with the president s principles and priorities. But hes already made it very clear that well have a budget probably sometime in may that will outline the more specifics of the revenue piece, the entitlement piece, and the full details of all this. But thats eliminating a 20 trillion debt and tackling the current deficit is something thats going to take a little bit of time, something the president is committed to reducing. I think we talked very extensively about the president s commitment to protecting taxpayer dollars and using the more efficiently. This budget and a lot of the action the president has took on other projects including the f18, the next generation of air force one shows the president is committed on very, very personal basis to getting involved in programs and policies, to reduce the deficit and respect taxpayer money. This is step one and its a down payment on that goal. As for future steps, there are a lot of cuts in here. No matter which way you splice the numbers, if you want to drop it you have to get to entitle emts. I understand. Is that on the table, essentially yes nor . As director mulvaney put it, he was choesz enfor thchosen fo job because of his respect for fiscal posterity and skills. We have to get it passed today. Let us get down to that and well have more. This budget is a huge down payment on the president s goal of showing his commitment to fiscal responsibility and respecting the taxpayer. Aman. When the president put together his tax return this year, will he release it publicly presumably its not being audited, right . Tomorrow is Saint Patricks day. Thats what im more focused on. Assuming his 2016 returns are not under audit yet. Will he release those . Well cross that bridge when we come to it. The president has been clear about his position on his tax returns and well have to see where it goes from there. The president has been very clear throughout the campaign and consistent that hes under a routine audit. John gizzy. Thank you, sean. Reading the draft of the budget and listening to director mulvaneys comments yesterday and today, would appear that the National Endowment for the arts would be phased out entirely in two years. Can you name any other Government Programs or even cabinet departments such as housing and urban development and education, in which its entire function may be phased out or reduced to another agency and government or even the state . John, who is here from omb, is the appropriate person to ask on that. I know theyve done several briefings on the budget. We could have omb definitely get back to you on this. If you can contact him after this. Caitlyn. Going back to the fact the president used wiretap in quotes and last night he said it was very important that it was in quotes. But out of the four tweets he accuses barack obama of wiretapping him he only used quotes in two of them. Two of them he specifically said he tapped his phones. He didnt use the term wiretapping. Mens ago yminutes ago you said was communications being swept up. Do you feel barack Obama Wiretapped trump tower or broadly surveilled, which is it . He was very clear about this last night. He talked about it yeah, he was. He said he meant it, he put it in quotes. It was very broad. And, so, thats what he meant by the use of the term. So, was it phone tapping . No, it was surveillance. I think we covered this like ten times. There has been no specific answer what it was. I understand that. But thats the point of them looking into this, caitlyn. I think the idea is to look into this, have the house and Senate Intelligence committees look into this and report back. Phoebe. I want to followup on that. If all this comes out and theres no proof that president obama had any role in any wiretapping, there was no wiretapping, will President Trump then offer an apology . I said three times this week and i think the answer is were not going to prejudge where the outcome of this is. I think we have to let the process work its will and when there is a report that comes out conclusive from there, well be able to comment. To jump ahead of this process at this point would be inappropriate. Can i go to brian of salem radio, georgia. Thank you, sean, for taking questions from a talk radio host right here in georgia and not in the d. C. Swamp. First i had two questions. The president s tax returns and classified information, President Trump campaigned on draining the swamp. The American People then want to know why comey has not yet been fired by the Trump Administration. The second question is with regard to there are many conservatives are really concerned that paul ryan, speaker of the house, is leading President Trump down a very long path on health care. How do you react to that . On the first one theres no personnel updates with respect to the with the exception of the ones that i mentioned today. On the second, you know, donald trump is not one to be led down a path by anyone. I think he talked today at the lunch with the speaker ryan hes working hand in glove with the speaker. He talked about it last night. This is a commitment that he has to enacting health care. This is a process that he is committed to, wants to see through because of a goal that he wants to achieve, which is making more Patient Centric Health care system that lowers the costs and increases the options. He does president get led down any paths. He leads very clearly and i think if you listen to speaker ryan today, hes in agreement that theres been a Strong Partnership between the house, the administration, and i think the senate so far to make sure that we get this bill done. And thats what our goal is going to be. And thats, you know so i would argue weve actually done a pretty good job of getting that done. Johnathan. I want to ask about the decision to cut the National Institutes of Health Budget by 9 . It is a very important part of the government funding medical research. Director mulvaney yesterday acknowledged the private sector cant fill that gap. When there are Rare Diseases we need a robust government presence. The government provided medical innovation. How do you square those things when youre cutting nih by 19 . Many conservatives wanted to increase the budget. Director mulvaney, somebody asked him during the q. And a. Period the same question. He suggested it wouldnt my take from listening to him yesterday was it wouldnt be cut. This is an assumption in washington, johnathan, if you get less money its a cut. And i think that the reality is that in a lot of these, theres efficiencies, due pligs at this, ways to spend money better. If youre wasting money, thats not a true dollar spent. When you look at the way director mulvaney and the president approached this budget, it was can we ask can we get more with the same dollar, can we find duplicity, can we find efficiencies, can we combine facilities in some cases at n. I. H. To enhance a better experience, whereby we actually have an outcome thats reduced savings. To assume that because you spend a ton of dollars, youre going to get a better outcome, with all due respect, when you look at the district of columbia, they spend by par more per capita than any other city in the country on education. And i think they have tremendous issues that are constantly being dealt with in their education system. So, to assume that just because you throw money at a problem it somehow magically solves is a very washington way of looking at a budget problem. Thankfully i understand that. Part of the issue is were working as the director outlined a couple weeks ago, during the pass back process to work with them, to talk to each of these algt siz and departments about how to walk through their budget in a way that ensures they can continue to do the Core Functions if they want, while finding ways to reduce waste, get rid of enhanced efficiencies, and get rid of duplicity. That is a very washington way of looking at a problem when you say, lets just look at how much we spend as a measure of how much we care or how much were going to get done. And i think the president has been very clear as to what his priorities on this budget are and the outcomes we expect from every dollar that we spend. So, for being in office for 55 days or 50 some odd days, whatever its been, weve had a unique ability to go forward so far and make a very strong commitment to enhancing our National Security, to protect the country and keep america safe and our citizens safe while at the same time making sure that we dont ask for people to work harder, to spend more send more to washington. That gets ultimately wasted. I just dont see how that is showing respect to the American People or the american taxpayer, especially when so many people are working two, sometimes three jobs, or, you know, or both parents are working just to get by, pay the mortgage, and were saying hey, dont worry, keep sending more money to washington and were not going to take the time. There should be a review of all these agencies. Director mulvaney was pointing out how many unauthorized agencies and departments and programs we have throughout the government. If were going to do that, at some point there should be a debate on whether or not these agencies and programs are achieving their mission. And if they are, then great, fund them. But if theyre not, we shouldnt be asking hard working american taxpayers to send more money to washington to fund things that dont further those goals. Thank you guys very much. I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. Take care. Have a good one. All right. That was sean spicer, the White House Press secretary taking questions. I am jake tapper with the the lead. A rather contentious white house briefing. We witnessed several rather interesting exchanges despite leaders from both the democratic and republican parties, including the House Speaker and the house senate and house and Senate Intelligence Committee Leaders all saying that they have seen zero evidence and have no reason to believe that President Trumps claim that president obama had him wiretapped at trump tower is true. Well, despite that, today the white house stood by the president s claim. Are you saying that the president still stands by his allegation that president obama ordered wiretapping or surveillance of trump tower despite the fact that the Senate Intelligence Committee Says they see no indication that it happened . Does the president still stand by the allegation . He stands by it, but again, youre mischaracterizing what happened today. He wasnt mischaracterizing what happened today. Lets bring from cnns jeff zeleny and manu raju. Its been almost two weeks, gentlemen, since this wild and apparently baseless claim has been made. The white house has gone through several responses. First they were trying to find out just what it was the President Trump had been tweeting about. Then they demanded a congressional investigation to find out what happened. Then they switched to no comment with people including vicepresident pence refusing to say that they agreed that this allegation had happened. Then when it became clear that both the former director of National Intelligence and the current fbi director were saying this did not happen, they started trying to walk it back by claiming that wiretapping was in quotes, and therefore, what President Trump was referring to was any kind of surveillance, and moreover, not only did President Trump not mean, hey, i was wiretapped at trump tower, me personally. It now, of course, the definition had been expanded to include there was surveillance conducted and maybe somebody, somebody talked to had something to do with somebody on the trump campaign. Then last night President Trump told his Favorite Channel fox news that there are going to be some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks. Right. And now we have this, just anger from sean spicer who cannot defend the indefensible so he is trying to change exactly what happened. Jeff . Well, jake, i think when the president said last night something very interesting would be coming out, i do not think what he had in mind was the fact that yet another set of congressional leaders, republican and democrat alike from the Senate Intelligence committee would release that joint statement this afternoon about an hour before the briefing saying that, look, theres no evidence of any of this, that it just simply didnt happen. So, what is happening tonight is this afternoon, rather, the president is increasingly isolated in this belief and we saw sean spicer there in a frenzy going for ten minutes straight reading fringe news accounts trying to answer this question. But as you said, its indefensible here. This has hung over this white house like a storm cloud for the last two weeks or so. Never mind the fact that theyre trying to get health care through. The budget through. Other things. Not exactly sure why sean spicer decided to engage like that. He tried to move on after engaging for so long in that back and forth. The reality is you can engage all day long. The rest of the presidency here, there is no evidence. This is coming from both sides, both parties, both sides of capitol hill. And there simply is not an end to this here. So, jake, again, i think as you pointed out, it was the president who started this two weeks ago on saturday and he called for a congressional investigation the next day. Again, he started this. Im not sure who is going to end it quite frankly. Manu raju, we have now heard from both the democratic and Republican House and Senate Intelligence Committee Leaders and theyre saying there is no evidence that trump tower was wiretapped. There is no evidence that donald trump was wiretapped. Yeah, thats right. And sean spicer mischaracterized what devin nunez, the republican chairman of the house Intelligence Committee, said yesterday at the press conference i was at. He said this specifically. Ill quote devin nunez. He said, i dont believe based on the people they spoke with, he said, i dont believe there was an actual tap at trump tower. Those are devin nunezs exact words. Now, what sean spicer continued to point to at that briefing was the comment that said, nunez said is it fobl Trump Communications could have incidentally been swept up by surveillance . Nunez said possibly, were going to look into it. He didnt say definitively, he didnt go as far as President Trump did in his tweet obama ordered wiretaps of trump tower. Nowhere near that has the house Intelligence Committee has gone, and speaker ryan today when i asked him, do you believe President Trump, when he said that trump tower was wiretapped, he said no. He said that i dont believe any such wiretap exists. And also today, jake, adam schiff, the top democrat on the house Intelligence Committee, told me that he expects james comey to say at a monday public hearing that trump tower was not wiretapped. And schiff himself has had conversations with james comey in a classified setting. Well see if comey actually does that. But it seems as jeff was saying earlier, that the president is isolated in his beliefs here because hes got virtually no support on capitol hill on this statement, jake. Its amazing to watch the white house continue to argue that the earth is flat. Jeff zeleny, manu raju, thank you so much. He was President Trumps National Security advisor until he resigned over his failure to be forthright and honest about his contacts with the russian ambassador. Today new revelations about retired general Michael Flynn, Vladimir Putin and more than 30,000, that story next. Your Insurance Company wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong Insurance Company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. And if you have more than one Liberty Mutual policy, you qualify for a multipolicy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Deartheres no other way to say this. Its over. Ive found a permanent escape from monotony. Together, we are perfectly balanced. Our senses awake. Our hearts racing as one. I know this is sudden, but they say. If you love something set it free. See you around, giulia setting hearts a blaze. Ways. Doing next to nothing for days weekenders. Even when a weekends not enough, theres a hilton for you. Book your break direct with hilton. Com and join the weeklong weekenders. What makesheart healthysalad the becalifornia walnuts. R . The best simple veggie dish ever . Heart healthy california walnuts. The best simple dinner ever . Heart healthy california walnuts. Great tasting, heart healthy california walnuts. So simple. Get the recipes at walnuts. Org. Welcome back. Lets stick with politics. Former President Trump National Advisor Michael Flynn is under fire again for not reporting details of a speaking event in moscow in 2015 at a gala in the russian capital. He rubbed elbows with none other than president Vladimir Putin. This comes after the white house said last week that President Trump had been unaware that flynn lobbied on behalf of the turkish government during the campaign. Cnns chief National Correspondent jim sciutto, anybody who watches knows it is an arm of the russian government and funded by the russian government. Two potential issues here, one is legal, one is military. From the military side, if he took this payment, which we now have records that he did, and did not let the army know, which it has no records of him telling them, that violates military regulations even for a retired officer. But this is more important. If he did not report these payments from russian government on his security clearance form known as the sf86, that breaks the law. That is a violation of the law. I asked a spoerks man today if he did report that on there, he didnt have an answer. Thank you so much for inviting me and having me here. Reporter recently fired National Security advisor general Michael Flynn was paid tens of thousands of dollars by Russian State Television for this speaking engagement in moscow in 2015. Potentially violating the law and u. S. Army regulations. Im going to be really, really provocative here. Reporter the kremlin funded news agency today or rt which hosted the event paid flynn 33,750 for his appearance. This according to documents obtained by the House Oversight committee. In interviews last year, flynn acknowledged accepting payment for the speech, but denied being paid by the russian government. I didnt take any money from russia if thats what youre asking me. Then who paid you . My speakers bureau. Ask them. Reporter documents obtained by the Oversight Committee indicate, however, that the money was coming from r. T. Emailes show an official of r. T. Russia first haggling over flynns fee. Quote, the speaking fee is a bit too high and exceeds our budget at the moment. So, we had to negotiate it with the management. Do you think there is any possibility to reduce the price to 45,000 . And then confirming that r. T. Would provide the funds. Quote, we will be covering the payment of general flynns fee from our london office. The u. S. Intelligence community has long assessed r. T. To be a propaganda tool of the kremlin. Writing in its january report on russian interference of the u. S. Election, that the organization had participated in disinformation campaigns aimed at the u. S. U. S. Intelligence first determined r. T. Was backed by the kremlin in 2012. When flynn was head of the Defense Intelligence agency. Price floyd, spokesman for flynn, told cnn today, quote, general flynn reported the trip to the dia, both before he went to russia and after he returned. We have created some of these problems. Reporter however, flynn was required to do more than simply report the speech. Representative elijah cummings, the ranking democrat on the committee, has asked the white house, fbi and pentagon whether flynn appropriately reported the payments on his security clearance form as required by law. His spokesman declined to comment. Michael flynn. Reporter cummings also accuses flynn of violating military regulations that prohibit retired officers from receiving payments from a foreign government. Flynn would have had to seek approval from the army for such a payment. Something the army tells cnn it has no record of. The House Oversight Committee Found that flynn took two more payments from Russian Companies a little over 11,000 from a russian charter airline, a charter cargo airline, a little over 11,000 from a russian based Cyber Security firm. They are not tied to the russian government, but keep in mind as well this is all happening as russia is in the midst of an influence operation, interfering in the u. S. Political process leading up to the president ial campaign. Beyond the legality and beyond army rules theres questions of just appearance. Absolutely. Jim sciutto, thank you so much. More on the wiretapping claims from the president of the United States and how the white house is defending President Trump. That story next. Ingredients. Remove artificl kind never had to. Weve used real ingredients, whole nuts, and Natural Flavors from the very beginning. Give kind a try. Today, unlimited gets the network it deserves. Verizon. mic thuds uh, sorry. Its unlimited without compromising reliability, on the largest, most advanced 4g lte network in america. thud uh. Sorry, last thing. Its just 45 per line. Forty. Five. cheering and applause and that is all the microphones that i have. vo unlimited on verizon. 4 lines, just 45 per line. Welcome back to the lead. Were sticking with politics. It couldnt be a better time for a little luck of the irish and a pint of begin he is for republicans as they celebrated sablt patricks day on capitol hill a day early. House speaker reince came out and tried to calm nerves. It could leave millions more americans uninsured. The speaker also seemed to pass the buck right to where the buck is of course supposed to stop saying that President Trump is the key to getting this deal done. Cnns sunlen sur fad i is on capitol hill. The speaker not mincing words for the need to President Trump to take some ownership of this. Reporter thats right, jake. It really did seem that speaker ryans one of his goals today was to really portray that he and the president are in sync as they work to move this house bill through the house. He seemed to play up at many points today really what he sees as the president s goal and role in all of this, someone who is deeply intent in trenched in the negotiation calling members himself at one point speaker ryan said the president is the one that is mediating all of this. So, really trying to push that ownership, push that responsibility back on the president as someone who is not only fully embracing the house bill, in his opinion, but someone who is actively lobbying for it. Heres what he said earlier today. This president is getting deeply involved. He is helping bridge gaps in our conference. He is a constructive force to help us get to a resolution so that we get consensus on how to repeal and replace obamacare. Its been very helpful so were working hand in glove listening to the concerns of our members. Reporter and of course that comes at a time where speaker ryan is really feeling the pressure right on his back to get his members in line and hes the one arguing that this is the one shot they have. Jake . All right, sunlen for us on capitol hill, thanks so much. Im joined now by congressman Joseph Kennedy iii, democrat from massachusetts. Congressman, thanks so much for being here. We appreciate it. Thank you. I know you want to talk about health care. Well get this a second. I want to ask you about the white house and their continuing war on the press and attacks on people for asking about what, if true, seems to be a huge story that president obama ordered the wiretapping of President Trump at trump tower, although there is not one intelligence official who says its true. None. Look, this is it should be a very easy question for the white house to answer, right . Its just what did you know, when did you know it, and with all of these issues around russia there is one person that can put all of these concerns to bed tomorrow if he so chooses. Thats the president of the United States. They wont do that. For some odd reason they just wont. Youre talking about him releasing his tax returns . Tax returns i think are part of that, but everything from staff contacts with russia, you just read a big piece on former National Security advisor Michael Flynn. Weve heard over the could course of the last several months drip after drip after drip. All these questions keep coming because the white house refuses to actually engage this problem right up front, say, this is what happened. This is what we know. This is the evidence. And theres no connection here. And until they do, these questions are going to continue to come up. Until the president of the United States stops making baseless, what till now are baseless accusations about his predecessor breaking the law to put in some wiretap that as you say no intelligence official can actually confirm. This could have been ended in one phone call by the Trump Administration to the department of justice, the dni, do you have any evidence. That still hasnt happened yet. He obviously should have, and ive heard republicans say this, he should have if he thought this was true, call the fbi or call the attorney general or call the dni and said is there any truth to this and there wasnt given it he was basing it on a breitbart report. Obviously youre in opposition of President Trump. Anyway, youre a democrat, and but i wonder, do you think, do see evidence that this kind of nonsense that we hear from the white house and then you have a whole bunch of his spokes men having to defend it, do you think it affects his ability to govern . Absolutely. Do you see any evidence that . Absolutely. It affects the credibility that the president of the United States and his administration has not only with congress, but the American People. How can you take the president at his word when you have no idea what he actually means and what his word is . The word of the president of the United States at this moment is not good. You cant count on it. He makes baseless accusations that are very, very serious without any sort of evidence backing it up. Over the course of the campaign he was on every side of every issue and he calls it a negotiation. Fine. But what do you stand for and how do you plan to deliver it . How do you engage people in the legislative process that is by definition going to be about compromise if you dont have any trust or any confidence that where your partner is in this . And i think thats been really hard for Many Democrats and republicans. Youve seen republicans on capitol hill upset about this . I think theres a number of republicans on capitol hill that struggle to understand where the president actually is on any certain issue, on any certain day. Let me ask you about health care because you had a video last week, youre a member of the house energy and commerce committee, there was an all nighter, ended up 4 00 in the morning you had this very passional discussion or monologue rather about the notion of mercy. I guess you were responding to something speaker ryan had said about mercy. And how the United States needs to show mercy to the most afflicted. I hear your passion and people at home can just google Joseph Kennedy iii, mercy, and youll find the video very quickly. But republicans are in the majority of the house. Theyre in the majority of the senate. They control the white house. Obamacare is going to be repealed and it is going to be replaced. Do you feel any obligation as somebody who feels very passionately about this notion of mercy to get in there and roll up your sleeves and make it even better . Jake, absolutely. I look at the 28hour hearing we had last week not as a way to say, absolutely hold on, stop, no way can we find ways to make the Affordable Care act ask work better and strengthen our Health Care System for the country. Absolutely opposite. That whole exercise for me was about pointing out the strengths and challenges that the Affordable Care act has and trying to say to our republican colleagues, lets find a way to actually make this bill stronger because when push comes to shove, this is about the health and health care of our country. And health care look, jake, i think when you boil it all down, its about how we as a society treat people in their time of need. Thats what health care really is. And, so, i hear the stories of my republican colleagues. When i say this bill isnt working for me and my constituents in my district, fine. But they also have to hear that for me and my state and my constituents this bill actually is working and is working quite well. And i can point to lives that have been saved because of the passage of this law. As you sit there somebody on your staffer. Somebody on my staff, yes. Young woman now who was diagnosed with cancer twice, once at 19 and once at 21. And because of the provisions of the Affordable Care act she was able to get care, not have to declare bankruptcy, and she now obviously has a preexisting condition. And will need the benefits of the Affordable Care for the rest of her life. So, the idea that they say this law is a failure, its not working, thats not true. I can point not just to the statistics in my state, 3. 4 unemployment rate, 2. 8 uninsured rate, a vibrant economy, were doing pretty well. I can point to the human toll of this as well. I also hear those stories. So, i say to my colleagues, look, youve got challenges in this. Lets Work Together to make it better. This bill does exactly the opposite. Its not a health care bill. This is a tax cut balanced on the backs of families that are working paycheck to paycheck that are going to need these services. There is nowhere in health care that says the thing we should do is cut 880 billion out of medicaid. There is no one that thinks that is the way to solve or deliver care more effectively and efficiently. Thats what this bill does. And its the idea that this is somehow diagnosing the challenges of the Affordable Care act i think is false and a misreading of what health care is supposed to be about. Congressman jake kennedy iii, thank you. Dont be a stranger. Thank you. The White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer saying the president Still Believes his groundless, unproven whatever you want to call it claim, that president Obama Wiretapped his phones at trump tower. This despite the House Speaker and the Senate Intelligence Committee Leaders and the house Intelligence Committee leaders saying they see no evidence of it at all. Cnns jim accosta is with me now. Jim, the white house said the statements do not shake their confidence in the veracity of the accusation. Spicer went on to quote a whole bunch of news stories and i use the term news loosely. That dont necessarily even corroborate the president s claim. Lets play this exchange between you and sean spicer. You were just quoting sean hannity there, the house and Senate Intelligence committees are i get youre going to the fbi director, youre citing sean hannity no, you also tend to overlook all of the other sources because i know you want to cherry pick it. No, no, but you do. But where was your concern about the New York Times reporter . You didnt seem to have a concern with that. We have done plenty of reporting on all of this. You want to cherry pick one comment, one piece of commentary. The president to the russians, that has all been looked at. How do you know all this . How do you seem to be such an expert in this . Im saying that this has been looked at, sean. How do you know its been looked at . Hold on, hold on. Where is im sorry, im afraid to can you tell me how you know that all of this has, quote, been looked at . Youre asking me whether or not you made a statement, you said, quote, all of this has been looked at. All other outlets so when your outlets say its all been looked at the president and the russians during the 2016 campaign, it sounds like during the context of that investigation there might have been some intercepted communications the house Intelligence Committee chairman did mention that, and we have reported that, others have reported that. On air and various publications. Sean, what you are refusing to answer, the question that you are refusing to answer is whether or not the president still you have a senate and house Intelligence Committee, both leaders from both parties on both of those panels saying that they dont see any evidence of any wiretapping. So how can the president go on and continue to because thats not youre mischaracterizing what chair nunez said. He said, quote, i think its possible he is following up on this. So, to suggest that youre stating unequivocally that you somehow you said if you take right. I think weve already cleared that up and he said exactly that. But the president has said clearly when he referred to wiretapping he was referring to surveillance. It sounds like, sean, you and the president are saying now, we dont mean wiretapping any more because thats not true any more so now were going to say other forms of surveillance. Whats it going to be next sfae jim, i think thats cute but at the end of the day we talked about this three or four days. The president had to quote wiretapping in quotes, he was referring to broad surveillance and now youre basically going back. We talked about this several days ago. The bottom line is that the investigation by the house and the senate has not been provided all of the information. And when it does but where was hold on. I think the president addressed that last night and said there is more to come. These are merely pointing out that i think there is widespread reporting that throughout the 2016 election there was surveillance that was done on ava right of people. That came up there is a investigation going on whether there were contacts between the president s campaign and russians. Of course theyre going to be looking at these various i get it. Somehow you seem to believe that you have all of this information. Youve been read in on all of these things which i find very interesting. I havent been read in by the fbi, but the house Intelligence Committees has been for a guy that has zero intelligence [laughter] give me some credit. Ill give you some. A little intelligence maybe. Clearance. I wasnt done. Clearance. Those two panels maybe both. Come on. Those two panels have spoken with the fbi director and were told there is no evidence of this. I understand. I think this question has been asked and answered, jim. As far as having the president say hes wrong you jump to all these conclusions about what they have and dont have. You seem to know all the answers. But at the end of the day there was clearly a ton of reporting homeland on, jim. Let me answer i think that there has been a vast amount of reporting which i just detailed about activity that was going on in the 2016 election. There is no question that there was surveillance technique used throughout this. I think by a variety of outlets that reported this activity concluded i think when you actually ask those two people whether or not and as chairman nunez said yesterday when you take it tlit rally wiretapping, the president has been clear he didnt mean specifically wiretapping. He had it in quotes. I think to fall back on that is a false is a false premise. Thats not what he said. He was very clear about that when he talked about it yesterday. Where to begin . First of all, President Trump did not only put it in quotes. There were several tweets and some of them said that obama tapped his phones, tapped his wires at trump tower. Right. Second of all, sean seems to be arguing a point that no one disputes. Obviously there was surveillance last year. Cnn has reported it, others have reported, and its possible that some trump advisors, associates were picked up in that surveillance. No one is questioning that. Thats right, jake. You know, i feel like i asked sk that question every day when i walk into the white house. Whats it going to be next . I think sean spicer proved that again today. Basically refusing to answer the question, what is the reaction to the Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman richard burr, republican who was very friendly to this president during the campaign, the ranking democrat mark warner of virginia, both saying that they have not seen any evidence to indicate that there was wiretapping going on at trump tower before or after the election. Jake, you and i both know they have broadened the definition of wiretapping in the days since the president put out that baseless tweet to include all forms of surveillance because the original tweet is a false claim. Its a falsehood. And, so, theyre trying to tap dance around this and tip toe through the tullips. As you know its cold in shall what wash thington this week. People are trying to get an answer to this. It is a sort of stupefying thing, jake, the president will not come out and withdraw this accusation. He made a false acsakes against president obama that he was wiretapped at trump tower. And why were having to pull this out of him like were pulling teeth is john daly beyo we tried once again at the briefing, jake, i can only imagine if you were in the room you would have jumped in as well. It sort of defies credulity what theyre trying to throw at us. They were quoting news articles from the nrkthe New York Times it is a publication we all read and respect. But the president calls it failing. Theyre using failing the New York Times to support claims and sean hannity at fox news. It was depressing to watch. The New York Times never reported what President Trump charged. Right. Again, the New York Times and cnn have reported that there were wiretaps that were surveillance of individuals, and in that, in those surveillance attempts trump advisors were picked up. That is not the same thing as obama ordering a wiretap of donald trump at trump tower. Its incredible that i mean, it just defies any sort of reason or logic. We all know what the president said. They didnt even arrive at this new spin about this until a couple days ago. Thats right. And why the president just doesnt come out and withdraw the accusation is beyond me. But, jake, as you and i both know from covering this campaign and the transition and now this presidency, donald trump just does not admit when hes wrong. He just doesnt do it, and i cant imagine hes going to do it here. But he was clearly wrong to accuse the president , barack obama, of wiretapping him at trump tower. They try to broaden if now to this other excuse. But nobody is buying it up on capitol hill. Nobody is buying it here in the press room. So, who believes it . I guess its just the flendly media that theyre willing to talk to from time to time, jake. Jim accosta at the white house for us, thanks. Support foremeals on wheels is on the chopping block under the president s budget, but wont that hurt some of the very people that President Trump promised that he would never forget on the campaign trail . That story next. And now, i help people find discounts, like paperless, multicar, and safe driver, that help them save on their car insurance. Any questions . Yeah. How do you go to the bathroom . Great. Any insurancerelated questions . Mmhmm. Do you have a girlfriend . Uh, im actually focusing on my career right now, saving people nearly 600 when they switch, so. Wheres your belly button . [ sighs ] ive got to start booking better gigs. Welcome back to the lead. Im jake tapper. Weve gotten our first look at President Trumps proposed federal budget. The white house is calling it a blueprint, a hard power budget focusing on defense, budget director mulvaney earlier today said, quote, the president very clearly wants to send a message to our allies and potential adversaries that this is a strong power administration. The pentagon budget would see a 10 increase with 7 for the department of homeland security. Other agencies, however, are looking at steep cuts. The blueprint would, for example, eliminate from the budget of the department of housing and urban development the Community Development block grant program, cdbg that was started under president ford to try to help struggling communities. Budget director mulvaney said there is no demonstrable evidence that cdbg programs work, that they get results. He was specifically asked about one program that gets a lot of funding from these block grants, perhaps youve heard of it. Its called meals on wheels. It brings meals to elderly americans in need. Cdbgs have been identified as programs i believe since the third actually Second Bush Administration as ones that were not showing any results. We cant do that any more. We cant spend money on programs just because they sound good and great. Meals on wheels sounds great. In his inaugural address President Trump promised the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. One might imagine a low income Senior Citizen in michigan might qualify as a forgotten man or woman. The average income for these particular seniors is roughly 10,000 a year. For 95 of those served by the meals on wheels program, the two meals they get a day are all they eat. President trump visited there yesterday, michigan being one of the big wins that carried the president to the white house. And that is where alison foreman serves as the executive director of the local meals on wheels program. Alison, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much for having me. Its a pleasure to talk about this. I know youve already heard concerns about the budget cuts. Can you tell me about your meals on Wheels Branch and the people you serve . Yeah. So, ypsilanti meals on wheels, we are in michigan, a suburb of detroit and ann arbor, michigan. We are a very low Income Community or Diverse Community and the vast majority of the folks we serve rely on us for the meals and the social contact. Most meals on wheels run very lean so any kind of cut is going to endanger the services that are provided to those folks that are in such big need of those meals. And whoould you tell us wou wit a meal. Michigan has a different for matt. We dont rely on the cdbg funding to come down the pipe to us, but we are concerned about the Older Americans act which details has not been released yet from the president s budget yet for that as well. So, roughly it impacts about 18 of our potential funding. For each program its going to be a little bit different. Youre going to find smaller programs that 18 is going to hit them much more significantly. Four years ago, meals on wheels in ypsilanti was in a much different place. We relied on the federal supported money that we receive from cdbg grants and also from the older american acts funding to cover about 60 of our services. Weve diversified over the last few years and its now about 30 of our funding. But what that means is we would have to sacrifice either providing from two meals a day, going back down to one meal a day, or instituting a wait list again. And thats a hard decision to make. We dont want to put our seniors in that place. Have you heard from any of the people you help as news reports came out about the president s budget . Are they concerned, are they worried . Yes, my clients are really concerned. Ive been hearing it from my staff and volunteers all day today. I have even taken calls today. Most of the clients when were coming and knocking on their door to be that voice for them, they dont get out of their home. Theyre very scared. Theyre telling me, what will i do without you . If i dont have those meals, i would starve. My nutrition isnt good, my diabetes is going to get out of hand or my copd, or whats my mom going to do who has dementia . That meal that comes to her every afternoon reminds her that its time to eat. Those are people that will end up in hospitals, in the e. R. , in Nursing Homes which cost far more than our services. Nick mulvaney, the office of management and budget was asked about both the Community Development Block Program and also about meemz on wheels. He said basically theres no provable results, it has not been proven any of these programs work, that meals on wheels sounds great, but how do we know that any of these programs work. I mean, theres reports out there that do point to it. Stanford has produced reports that have shown that our meal services, by having that social contact, that daily check, were helping these seniors to reduce their fall risk. About 85 of our clients have reported less falls. And to equate that from a health care perspective, that could save the Health Care Industry over 31 billion a year. All right, alison go ahead. Its pretty significant. Additionally, the k069 for our services one year costs less than one day in the hospital. Nutrition is health. The more nutrition you can provide someone, the healthier theyre going to be. Or theyre going to respond better to their treatment. Alison foreman from michigan, where there are a lot of those forgotten men and women President Trump likes to talk about, thanks for your time and what you do. Thats it for the lead. Turning it over to wolf blitzer in the situation room right next door. Thanks for watching. Happening now, breaking news, in the tail spin, the white house lashes out after leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee Say they see no indication of any surveillance at trump tower. Other top lawmakers, democrats and republicans, make similar statements about the president s claim. But the White House Press secretary angrily reads from news stories and refuses to admit the president was wrong. Blocked