Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20171127

Ago, they call her pocahontas, but you know what . I like you because you are special. Pocahontas is a slur that the president has long used to refer to democratic senator Elizabeth Warren. Who has controversially claimed native american ancestry. Here is how senator warren responded to that remark just seconds after. It is deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring those heros without having to throw out a racial slur. Look, donald trump does this over and over, thinking somehow hes going to shut me up with it. It hadnt worked in the past. It is not going to work in the future. So all of that while at the same time a power strugglie erupted of who runs a government agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. We expect to hear from both democrats and republicans in this grim, dysfunctional shutdown. Not to mention, of course, President Trump continuing to step up his attacks on the free press and journalists all over the world as the probe into his Campaign Team by fbi and special Counsel Robert Mueller gets closer and closer. Were going to start with cnns Boris Sanchez. Hes at the white house. Senator warren has claimed native american ancestry and many native american groups have taken issue with that, but the same native americans find this slur calling her pocahontas offensive. How is the white house defending this . Reporter Sarah Sanders said from the podium calling Elizabeth Warren is not a racial slur. As you mentioned, its a nickname the president has used often when describing the senator from massachusetts dating back to june of last year when Elizabeth Warren was on the campaign trail with hillary clinton. Warren claimed native American Heritage during her own campaign for senate back in 2012 and she was attacked by republicans for allegedly making up her heritage for political gain. Today, Sarah Sanders reiterated that allegation, saying that Elizabeth Warren lying about her ancestry is offensive, not the president calling someone pocahontas in front of these native american war heros. I should also mention in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson who made persecution of native americans american policy back in the 1800s. Here is a bit more of what Sarah Sanders said today. So this is a racial slur, so why is it appropriate for him to use that . Well, like i said, i dont think that it is and i dont think that was certainly not the president s intend. Sarah, does he seek i think the most offensive thing im sorry . Does he see political value in calling people out racially . Why use that term . Look, i think that senator warren was very offensive when she lied about something specifically to advance her career. I dont understand why no ones asking about that question and why that isnt constantly covered. Reporter its not really a mystery why Elizabeth Warren is top of mind right now, jake. She was one of the architects of the cfpb, and this weekend argued that the president was overstepping his bounds by intervening and naming Mick Mulvaney the director of that consumer watchdog agency. She argued over the weekend on twitter that this should be brought up in court, and now Leandra English, the woman that was named to be the Deputy Director and the de facto director once the original director stepped down on friday is actually Going Forward with that, jake. All right, Boris Sanchez at the white house, thank you so much. My panels with me. Kevin, let me start with you. Should republicans call the president out when he says when he calls Elizabeth Warren pocahontas . Or is the explanation that he is trying to call attention to the controversy about warrens heritage, is that enough of an explanation . No, think they should call him out. I think it creates a huge distraction for these members so i think members of congress. And i think they quickly want to move on to something more substantive. Think one of the big problems here is that the president thinks in a way of a stream of consciousness or just his inner monologue. 99 of americans would never Say Something like that, and he actually blurts it out at an event like this. It causes a huge distraction. So i think members should call it out when they have the opportunity, but they are just sick and tired of having to deal with these types of distractions. What do you think, jen . Obviously there is this controversy about senator warren and her heritage. And it came up during her senate race. She was still victorious. But this is a slur. I mean, native americans i know consider this a slur. Thats right. And thats the most important audience to determine whether its a slur or not, is the audience its about, and i dont think President Trump or his spokesperson saying its not a racial slur makes it not a racial slur, to state the complete obvious. In this case, look, should senator warren have known more about her heritage and shared Accurate Information . Of course. But that is a debate from years ago and now were talking about bringing up a slur that offends an entire population of the public. One other thing, and i dont know if this was in veep or house of cards, but there was a scene mocking an insensitive president. I think it was house of cards, in which he invited a bunch of native americans into a room and a portrait of Andrew Jackson who is reviled by native americans for the horrible things he perpetrated on their people. This today took we have to break away right now. Mick mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is speaking. Lets take that live. Rumors im going to set the place on fire or blow it up or lock the doors are completely false. Im a member of the executive branch of government. We tend to execute the laws of the United States, including the provisions of dodd frank that govern the cfpb. That being said, the way we go about it, the way we interpret it, the way we enforce it will be dramatically different under the Current Administration than it was under the last. Anyone who thinks that a Trump Administration of cfpb would be the same as a Obama Administration cfpb is simply being naive. Elections have consequences at every agency, and that includes the cfpb. I dont have specifics yet on how thats going to translate into action in terms of the new attitude were taking here at cfpb in light of the fact that the trump is now in charge. Ill tell you the same thing i told these folks today whats happening immediately. Effective today, we put something similar in place here to what we did across the entire executive branch at the outset of administration. We did a 90day hiring freeze. We put a 30day hiring freeze here at cfpb. Probably more importantly, we put a 30day immediate freeze on any new rules, regulation and guidance. Anything that is in the pipeline stops for at least 30 days while i get a chance to see exactly whats going on and kick the tires here at the bureau. Additionally, there will be no payments out of the Civil Penalties fund for at least 30 days while i get a chance to see whats happening with that. I think there is in excess of 50 million in that fund and i want to get a handle on what that fund is all about before we start making any distributions. There are going to be obvious important exceptions to this. I had a chance to talk with legal some today and enforcement today and things that are going on in existing lawsuits. Ill be briefed tomorrow on roughly 100 or so lawsuits that the agency, that the bureau is involved with. I get briefed on that tomorrow. Clearly, if there are statutory deadlines, those will continue to be met. If there are legal deadlines as part of litigation, those will be met, but in terms of international that is discretionary, were putting a 30day hold on it here. Other than that, its too early to say how things will be different. Ill be briefed tomorrow on the lawsuits, the investigations, the rule making. Things that are in the pipeline. Ill have more idea tomorrow what some of the next steps may be. Lastly, and then ill take some questions, folks have asked me if im going to be here. Some folks in the press have asked that, some folks here at the agency i keep saying agency, i apologize, the bureau have asked. Yeah, president has made it very clear he wants me here. Honestly, since my name is on the door now, i want to be here. I dont want anything coming out of here that i dont know about because it will inevitability be linked to me anyway so i want good quality work that this administration can be proud of. Im going to be here roughly three days a week and across the street at omb more than three days a week. Ive slept at the office and worked 16hour days and seven days a week. Its not something new. If youve started your own business, ive done it more than once, you know that working a little extra isnt that big a deal in the final scheme of things. With that, ill take some questions for a couple of minutes if thats all right. Director mulvaney, you had the opportunity to meet with the president earlier today, what did he tell you about what he wants from this bureau . He wants me to fix it. He want mess to get it back to the point where it can protect people without tramping on capitalism. Without choking off the access to Financial Services that are so critical to so many folks. And so many folks actually in the lower and the middle classes. Folks who are trying to start their own businesses. People are trying to break out. People trying to get credit for the very first time. We need to figure out a way to both follow the law and protect citizens, as set forth in the act, but do so in such a fashion that doesnt choke off the access to capital. What does that mean . The access to money that is important for so many people to succeed in their Small Business and their private lives and so forth. So thats the charge hes given me. We both share the belief that this administration this particular bureau under the Previous Administration had gone too far over towards strangling access to capital. And as a result we want to try to help folks that were hurt and try to fix that. Did he give you a sense of how long he expects you to be in this temporary position . I think thats going to be up to the senate more than anybody else. I know the president is interested in naming a permanent replacement as quickly as possible and as quickly as the quality of the candidates allows. My guess is youll see and if the movement on that. That being said, Swift Movement on the president s part has rarely translated to Swift Movement on the senates part. Yes, sir . Well go across the room. Yes, sir . First, are you concerned that the District Court could introduce some kind of injunction . Not concerned. The court is going to do whatever the court is going to do. Thats fine. I read the legal opinion not only of the department of justice, but more interestingly not more interestingly, as interestingly, the legal opinion of the general counsel here that says the president is right. My guess is the court will hear the same arguments from capable folks. If the Court Decides to issue a temporary restraining order, ortd order me not to come in the building, i will absolutely follow the law. That what we do here in the executive branch. Im not concerned about it. Im Going Forward tonight and tomorrow assuming that im here and ill be here until the court or the president tells me otherwise. To what extent are your criticisms of the bureau reflective of your ideological commitment to small government . I dont know how to answer that question. Ill talk about my previous statements about the bureau, how about that . Yeah, my opinion of the structure of the cfpb has not changed. I still think its an awful example of a bureaucracy that has gone wrong when it is almost entirely unaccountable to the people that are supposed to oversee it or supposed to pay for it. I still have the same fundamental principled misgivings about the way this bureau is structured. I think it is wrong to have a completely unaccountable federal bureaucracy. I thanksgiving its complete i think its completely wrong, im learning about the powers i have as acting director. They would frighten most of you and worry you to think about how little oversight congress has over me now that im the director. How little oversight the committees have over how cfpb functions. If you i think if you really studied the constitution and the nature of our government, and the nature of the way the bureaucracy is supposed to work, it would both frighten and disturb you that this agency is as independent as it is. It doesnt surprise me, by the way, to the extent were having a succession challenge, as lodged by ms. English, it doesnt surprise me that that grows out of an agency that thinks its not accountable to anybody in the first place. No, none of that has changed. That being said, i cant change a lot of it because its statutory. Its up to congress to fix it. Im running the agency as the law sets forth. Im sorry, yes, maam . I have a followup to that question and a different question. You have called the agency in the past a sick joke. So how can you assure the American People you are the right person to lead this agency . If you go back to the line, it was a joke in a sick, sad kind of way. Which is slightly different. But, again, the sentiment is the same. The reasons that i said that, the reason that i still believe that this agency is flawed are things that i think people back home would agree with. Look at it this way, this is how i explain it here today. When i was in congress, if you if the cfpb did something to you back home that you did not like, okay, there was literally nowhere for you to turn for redress. You could not call your senator. You could not call the congressman. In fact, or the house of representatives, you couldnt even call the president. The only reason the president could fire the director was because of cause. It is a completely Unaccountable Agency and i think thats wrong. I think citizens should always have some ability to hold the bureaucracy accountable and they cant here. Thats why i think we need structural and legislative change to the way this place is being run. That being said, thats outside of the bounds for the director to fix. Yes, maam . Do you find this power struggle between yourself and Leandra English to be often i know you said it went smoothly, but do you find this power struggle, this battle i think its more awkward for the people who work here and know her. I dont know her. I havent met her. I read a couple of headlines folks showed up today claiming to be director. I can assure you one person showed up claiming to be director, she wasnt here. I think its more and more uncomfortable for the folks who know her and work here all right. That is Mick Mulvaney, who is the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. We should put a asterisk next to that because there is some legal dispute whether or not hes the acting director. I want to bring in cnns laura jarrett. Youve been following the shutdown at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Tell us more about how we get to this period where Mick Mulvaney is basically in a standoff with this woman claim she is the active director. Thats right, jake. The next step is federal court. This rare standoff escalated today as the white house budget director Mick Mulvaney and the Deputy Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau both showed up to work this morning, each claiming to be the interim head of the agency in dueling emails to their staff. Now the white house and mulvaney point to legal opinions from the bureaus top lawyer and the Justice Department supporting mulvaney as the head, and the press secretary Sarah Sanders said mulvaney has taken charge today with the full cooperation of the staff at the agency. But that has not stopped lan yeah english. To declare her the writeful acting director. Despite who is legally entitled to run this agency, there is also a battle of who can do it better. Democrats worried mulvaney could dismantle protections and the white house claims they could run this agency more efficiently. All right. So let me bring in laura coats now. So Leandra English, who is the director of the bureau resigned on friday but before he did that, he appointed his chief of staff the acting Deputy Director. Then he stepped down and she became the acting director. And the agency is set up to be kind of like Mick Mulvaneys not far off in how he describes, its supposed to be not accountable to no one but basically not accountable to congress. Right. But the president has a legal argument on his side about vacancies. So where do you see this shaking out . Who is going to end up being the acting director do you think . In about 30 minutes youre going to know. There is a hearing right now before the District Court. Two competing stances. On the one hand youve got the dodd frank act that created the cfpb and says, look, if there is a vacancy, meaning if there is an unavailable or hes absent in some way the director of the cfpb, then the Deputy Director shall take over and hold the reign reins. Thats the word shall. Its important because that means its supposed to happen. You also have the federal vaccinecies act that says, well, if the president has his drugts he can decide who is is going to fill any vacancy. The boolt attle is whether a red director resolves an absence or availability. This is semantics people. Then the dodd frank act says, look, we have Deputy Director waiting to be there and shes supposed to be there. If the court says, actually, the vacancy act was supposed to be intended to override that dodd frank cfpb stipulation then trump is actually accurate. The one hand is that trump is right because the court may say, well, look, we want the vacancy act to run the day. They may say that Leandra English is right because weve got this very clear stipulation in the law that says you get to hold the reins or down the road and say were going to hold the status quo. As of friday, the Deputy Director who was supposed to be there was Leandra English. For right now until weve heard all arguments, Leandra English, you will be the person. So, kevin, first of all, i want you to respond to that and listen to retired congressman barny frank. Obviously one of the authors of dodd frank that helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He said the law was written so Leandra English would be in charge. Take a listen. Nothing could be more contradictory to donald trump being the friend of the little guy than trying to undermine the most Effective Agency for the consumer in the financial area weve ever had. Well, i think there is also a lot of statutory language. There is legislative history and case law precedence that also do point to the fact that the president does ultimately have the authority through the vacancy act that hes actually cited in appointing mulvaney. I think one of the things i would add to what laura said is that i think as part of this legal process, theyre probably also going to explore the constitutionality of the structure. You saw that director mulvaney actually talked about that, which is that he believes the structure hes currently operating under is unconstitutional. And i think we have seen the federal District Court actually start to explore some of those questions. It will be interesting whether or not to see they explore it as part of this legal fight. To be very clear, the president absolutely will be able to appoint and the senate will confirm ultimately who will run the cfpb. The question in the court who is gets to run it until the Senate Confirms that particular person . What theyre fighting over is who gets to run it right now and whether the president is entitled to name that person or whether the Deputy Director should be there. Were going to take a quick. A ton to talk about, including President Trumps claims that the infamous access Hollywood Tape where he brags about grabbing people, he says its not authentic. All of this while hes retweeting a website that peddles in conspiracy theories. Stick around. Hey, man. Oh nice man cave nacho . [ train whistle blows ] what . stop it mmhmm. Weve been saving a lot of money ever since we switched to progressive. This bar is legit. And now we get an even bigger discount from bundling home and auto. I can get used to this. It might take a minute. Swing and a miss slam dunk touchdown together sports touchdown i mwell, what are youe to take care odoing tomorrow 10am . Staff meeting. Noon . Eating. 3 45 . Uh, compliance training. 6 30 . Sams baseball practice. 8 30 . Tai chi. Yeah, so sounds relaxing. 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In clinical studies, the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Just managing your symptoms . Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. Were back with the politics lead and the president s growing reality gap. Tweeting this morning, quote, we should have a contest as to which of the Networks Plus cnn and not including fox is the most dishonest, corrupt and or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite president , me. They are all bad. Winner to receive the fake news trophy. Dismissive is the latest attack on the prepress by the president of the United States since well, saturday, when he wrote this. Quote, fox news is much more important in the United States than cnn, but outside of the u. S. , Cnn International is still a major source of fake news. And that represent our nation to the world very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them. Unquote. And that is false. The amazing journalists at Cnn International bring the truth to the world. Theyre carrying out important, rare and often dangerous work. They have been for decades. If you need a reminder, mr. President. Here is Cnn Senior International correspondent ben wedeman under fire in libya in 2011, the First Western journalist inside of libya after the upheaval started. Here is Cnn International correspondent arwa damon. She and her photojournalist last year were trapped in isisheld mosul, under siege for 278 hours after their vehicle took a direct hit. What are we doing . I dont know. Honestly, i dont know. And in some cases Cnn International correspondents such as ivan watson have even intervened when necessary. Here is ivan hoisting trapped yazidiies out of the hands of isis and to safety. With the Iraqi Air Force and the kurdish persoshmerga. Too many to name are carrying out important work in dangerous parts across the world to bring truth to the world. We should note that the president s attack on Cnn International came the exact same day that Vladimir Putin signed into law amendments that will allow foreign Media Outlets in russia such as Cnn International to be listed by the russian government as foreign agents. Thats according to staterun sputnik news. Russian official said this is a retaliatory response to the request that russianoffender rt register its american arm as a foreign agent. I asked white house officials today if there was any relationship between putin taking a step that could penalize Cnn International and President Trump attacking Cnn International on the same day. The white house officials did not respond. But it wasnt just complaints from the president , we should point out over the holiday week the president did say he was grateful for one outlets coverage. No, not fox news. A fringe website that compiles what they say are the president s accomplishments. Quote, wow, even i didnt realize we did so much. Wish the fake news would report. Thank you. That website megapill. Com is riddled with antisemitism, sharing Las Vegas Massacre conspiracy, claiming there is a, quote, massive effort to go on to suppress conversation, promoting a vile conspiracy involving democrats and pedophilia rings, posting a socalled flowchart of the swamp. Detailing how certain blood line families have dominated Global Financial institutions. Rogue elements of the israeli secret service. You get the point. Thats the website the president seemingly supports. There may, however, be more here than one mans insatiable coverage for glowing coverage. This seems at least in part to undermine accountability for him and his administration. But attacking the press is not going to stop us from reporting that which he does not like to have covered, such as the president s Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort as well as another Campaign Official rick gates having been indicted or the plea agreement of another Campaign Official george papadopoulos. Hes been cooperating with the special counsel probe. The Washington Post reports today that the democrats on the House Oversight Committee Say that the president s former National Security adviser, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, may have violated the law by not disclosing in his january 2016 security clearance renewal application a trip he took to the middle east in 2015 on behalf of a Company Seeking to build more than two dozen Nuclear Plants in the middle east. Wait for it, in partnership with russian interests. Now flynn eventually did disclose the trip in august 2017. If youre keeping track, thats just a few months ago. An attorney for flynns company told the committee he will not provide more information about the trip unless subpoenaed. The republican chairman of the House Oversight committee opted to not do so. He referred the matter to special counsel mueller instead. Writing, quote, much of what is sought by my democratic colleagues if properly investigated and charged and proven beyond a reasonable doubt would carry legal penalties. Ended communications with attorneys for President Trump. Thats a signal that perhaps flynn is cooperating with the mueller probe. Now, that im i am sharing these facts with you, facts the president does not care for might explain why he seeks to discredit cnn and all media organizations who report on him without fear or favor, the Washington Post, the new york times. The president does not care for us reporting these facts and seems that he does not want you to believe these facts. The president said he wanted to give an award based on which network is the most, quote, dishonest, corrupt or distorted, but his problems with journalism seem to be rooted in the exact opposite. He hates that which is honest and ethical and precise. Ask yourself, why might that be . Were going to take a quick break. Next, senator al franken speaking to reporters, saying hes let a lot of people down but hes not going to step down at Sexual Harassment claims rock capitol hill. Stay with us. You might take something for your heart. Or joints. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. hard exhalation honey . Can we do this tomorrow . grunts of effort can we do this tomorrow . If you have Heart Failure symptoms, your risk of hospitalization could increase, making tomorrow uncertain. 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The president met with gop members of the Senate Finance committee today at the white house with Vice President pence as a tiebreaker, the senate will indiana only 50 republicans to make this bill a reality. They may be down one, senator ron johnson of wisconsin said hes a no and the least six other senators wont commit. Cnns Sunlen Serfaty is up on capitol hill for us. The Congressional Budget Office issued a report recently suggesting americans who make less than 75,000 a year will be worse off under this tax bill over the next few years. Has that had an impact on any of these wavering republicans . Reporter not entirely, jake. Democrats, of course, speaking up about that cbo report and some of the skeptical republicans that have not signed on this bill yet. This is such a crucial week. You have the white house and republicans really scrambling to find the votes they need to score their first legislative win under trumps presidency but the votes are not there yet. President trump and Senate Republicans pushing towards a pivotal vote on their tax bill this week. Were going to get this done soon, get it to the president s desk and the president is eagerly looking forward to signing it. Reporter huddling today at the white house as new problems over the bill are emerging. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is out with a new analysis, predicting the bill would increase the deficit by 1. 4 trillion over ten years. And removing obamacares individual mandate now included in the bill would decrease the number of People Without Health Insurance by 4 million in 2019 and 13 million over the next decade. Republican leaders dismissing the report. I dont think theyre right. Reporter as democrats are pouncing, seizing on the cbos prediction that the tax plan would give more cuts and benefits to americans earning more than 100,000 a year than was originally thought. The tax breaks for the wealthiest people are permanent. Thats just unfair and thats why half the American People are skeptical about this trump tax plan. Reporter but its not just democrats, many rank and mile republicans remain skeptical, too. A whole handful of republican senators are still undecided with concerns from everything over the fast paced legislative process to repealing the individual mandate and the potential effect on the debt and deficit. I want to make sure that we have a builtin process to be able to if the numbers dont come in correctly, to make sure that we do actually provide a way to guard us against debt and deficit. Thats currently not in there. Reporter Republican Leaders are now looking at specific changes they want make to woo individual senators. Scrambling behind the scenes to shore up the votes they need, painting it as do or die. Failure is not an option when it comes to the Republican Party and cutting taxes. To every republican senator, the fate of the party is in our hands as well as that of the economy. Reporter one headache alleviated today, senator rand paul announcing he will support the bill. Saying, the bill is not perfect but ive fought for and received major changes for the better and i plan to vote for this bill as it stnds right now. With the fate of the tax bill very much still up in the air up here, lawmakers are also facing increased pressure from a very long and lengthy todo list about other actions and items they have to complete by the end of the year. Not least of which, jake, includes passing a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. Sunlen serfaty on capitol hill for us. Thanks so much. Joining me now, oregon senator ron wyden. Thanks so much for being here. Take a listen to President Trump today selling the bill. Its going to mostly benefit people looking for jobs. More than anything else. Because were giving great incentives. And were going to bringing back into this country probably an excess of 4 trillion, 4 trillion. Thats outside of the country that is right now because of our tax laws cant come back in. We will be bringing back i think the number will be substantially higher, but at least 4 trillion, which will immediately be put to work. Whats your response . My response, first of all, been is the Treasury Department promised months ago a report on what this would this bill would mean. Were talking about 10 trillion worth of changes. Were talking about the biggest tax bill in 31 years. They havent delivered the report. Its another broken promise, jake, and ive written the only two bipartisan federal income tax reform bills. That would give us real certainty and predictability. Thats what democrats would like. One of the parts of the bill the democrats most object to is the unpopular removal is the removal of the unpopular individual mandate for health insurance, requiring americans to get health insurance, fining them if they dont get it. What do you say to the argument that if americans dont want to buy insurance, they shouldnt have to buy it . Jake, what is clear is that this is designed to collapse the Affordable Care act. For example, that coverage requirement is directly linked to people for fairness with preexisting conditions. So this is just not another garden variety attack on the Affordable Care act. This is fullscale repeal. I just met with a group of youngsters who depend on medicaid. They call themselves the little lobbyists. Its what keeps them in the community. They told me if this repeal goes through, then you have medicaid collapse, the Affordable Care act collapses, those kids cant stay in their home. It looks like that republicans might have the votes to pass this, at least ive seen no evidence that they dont as of now. I cant help but notice there has not been the same grassroots effort lobbying against the bill that we saw for instance during the summer with the effort to repeal the Affordable Care act, obamacare. Have democrats dropped the ball on rallying grassroots opponents of this bill . Not at all. Obviously there is a lot going on in the world. What we saw in the Health Care Debate is we mobilized at the key time. You just need a couple of votes. I think that health care now that americans see this would in effect repeal the Affordable Care act, were going to get more interest. The American People understand that this is a dramatic set of economic changes. Its tilted in favor of the Multi National corporations and to some extent its just a con job. Its a con job on the middle class, its a con job on young people, its a con job on seniors because medicare would take a hit. What we want is a bipartisan bill. Ive written two of them. Democrats are going to making it clear in the next two days thats our preference. We think its doable and the route we ought to take. I have to ask you about your fellow democratic senator al franken. He had a press conference talking about how he needs to do better but hes not stepping down. What do you make of the argument by some liberal columnists that by not zmandidemanding that fra and congressman john conyers who has been accused by at least two staffers of Sexual Harassment, but not demanding they step down, democrats are ceding any high ground on this Sexual Harassment issue . Well, with respect to senator franken, these are obviously serious allegations. Hes called for an ethics inquiry. I think thats appropriate and i want to see the results. But you dont think he needs to step down . As of now i think its appropriate that there be an ethics inquiry. Hes made it clear again today that he is, to quote him, ashamed. Its appropriate to have the ethics inquiry. And thats how i think he ought to go forward. All right. Senator ron wyden, Ranking Member on the Senate Finance committee. Thank you so much. Be sure to tune in tomorrow night for a special cnn debate on the current state of the tax bill. The vote is just days away. Im going to moderate with dana bash as ted cruz and tim scott face off against independent senator Bernie Sanders and democratic senator maria cantwell. It all starts at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on cnn tomorrow night. Dont miss it. I want to bring in right now National Politics reporter mj lee who joins me from capitol hill. Shes been following the al franken story. You just heard me talk to senator wyden about mr. Senator franken. He said hes not going anywhere. Mj, can he hang on . Have any democrats at all considered calling for him to resign . Reporter well, at this point in time, jake, its clear he has no plans to resign. He obviously confronted National Media reporters today and made a brief statement and took some questions. What he said, again, is that he is sorry for these stories that have come to light. He is ashamed and embarrassed. And he said that he knows there are no magic words that he can say to regain the trust of the people that he has disappointed and that he is committed to moving forward. A part of that is actually returning to work in the senate. Now, he did take a handful of questions, as uh mentioned, and the question that i asked senator franken is why he has been unable to answer the question of whether there will be more women coming out with these kinds of allegations. Take a listen to what he said in response to that question. If you had said you know, ask me two weeks ago would any woman come forward with an allegation like this, i would have said no. And so i cannot speculate. So has been a shock and its been extremely humbling. I am embarrassed. I feel ashamed. What im going to do is im im going to start my job. Im going to go back to work. Im going to work as hard as i can for the people of minnesota. And im going to start that right now. Thank you all. Senator, are you reporter now, interesting answer there from the senator. Basically saying that he is shocked that these allegations even came out in the first place. And as you know, jake, he has said previously that he intends to fully cooperate with the Senate Ethics investigation. And today he said that he is open to making the findings of that investigation public. This, of course, comes amid a growing conversation about the lack of transparency on how capitol hill handles these kinds of Sexual Harassment allegations. Jake . All right. Mj lee live on capitol hill for us. Thank you so much. My panel is back with me. And there was an issue on sunday on meet the press, the democratic lowered of the house nancy pelosi was asked about congressman john conyers. Hes been in congress for Something Like 600 years and he has settled at least two hes been accused by at least two former staffers of Sexual Harassment. He paid a settlement out of taxpayer funds in one of them. And nancy pelosi was asked about it. She called him an icon and said he she was sure he would do the right thing. A few minutes later, he stepped down from being the ranking democrat on the judiciary committee, but hes still in congress. Are democrats botching an opportunity here to have the high ground . Yes. You know, her answer yesterday, and ill say this, it was deeply disappointing, largely because i see her as somebody who is an under appreciated lowered in washington who has done a lot to help progressive causes. But she is one of the highest ranking women in this country. And i understand personal loyalties, but, look, if the media can put aside personal eliminates and hollywood can put aside personal loyalties when it comes to these accusations then absolutely members of congress who the American People elect should be able to do that and then some. What democrats and republicans are doing right now is lowering the standard and Holding Members of congress to a lower standard than any other industry is being held. Thats incredibly disappointing, and, frankly, im surprised there hasnt been more of an outcroix from the public about it. Im trying to led one right now. Jen raises an interesting point because, look, it wasnt easy for hbo, showtime, nbc to get rid of Mark Halperin and to get rid of charlie rose. It certainly wasnt owes for fox to get rid of their ceo roger ailes and their star anchor bill oreilly. These are people in a lot of cases brought them millions of dollars. Also there were people who liked them on the staff. Thats whats difficult about it. Why so difficult for people lets go with the john conyers situation because there have been two women who have accused him of Sexual Harassment and one was paid a settlement from taxpayer funds. Why so difficult for one of the trailblazing leaders of women in this country, nancy pelosi, to say he should step down . Its so hard for a politician to condemn or apologize without a caveat. Thats because theyre so conditioned in many respects to have these sort of caveats and safeguards to both hold the moral ground and never even state the common sense reason. And i think here what you had is nancy pelosi had a missed opportunity to do the right thing, which is to say, look, in this area, we dont have the moral ground unless we reject hypocrisy. If were going to condemn the acts of people on the other side of the aisle because its very disturbing to society, disturbing to all of our moral conscience, then we also have to have our Compass Point due north. Thats the frustration americans have with politics. I think it played out on sunday. Perhaps the most horrific example of this is going on in alabama right now because that involves allegedly minors, roy moore, the Senate Candidate down there. The white house today arguing explaining that president obama President Trump, rather, is not has no plans to go down to alabama to campaign for roy moore, that special election in a few weeks. But President Trump taking to twitter, badmouktithing the democrat. Attacking the democrat. Its very clear they want roy moore to win. Its one of the worst displays of political tribalism. As laura pointed out, defending Member Office their own party because they happen to wear the same jersey. I do think ultimately were all going to be humbled by the voters and the voters have a funny way of sendsing those types of messages. Ordinarily in alabama this would be a 20point route by a republican in a runoff like this. Were seeing a very close race because there are some republicans who are not willing to just play that partisan tribalism. That they are not willing to register their vote for somebody they believe doesnt hasnt earned the respect of the office. So ideally this will be part of a process. These things are never an event. People just dont change immediately. Ultimately i think this is a larger part of the process that the party is going to have to go through in asking themselves these questions about who can finally once again seize the high ground and restore some trust with american voters. Senator lindsey graham, republican of south carolina, was on state of the Union Yesterday and told my colleague dana bash that it might actually be tougher for republicans if roy moore wins. Take a listen. The moral of the story is dont nominate somebody like roy moore who could actually lose the seat that any other republican could win. What i would tell President Trump, if you think winning with roy moore is going to be easy for the Republican Party, youre m m mistaken. Yjen, i think thats true. If roy moore wins, if i had to put money on it, i would put money on it. If roy moore wins in alabama, thats going to be very uncomfortable for republicans for a long time. For at least six years. Thats right. If he loses, he loses a seat. Still going to be very difficult for democrats to win back the senate. It doesnt make it that easy of a path in 2018. Makes it a little more possible, but if he wins then theyre stuck with him and that becomes part of the republican brand. It business part of something thagt members as kevin made the note earlier have to defend or talk about or speak to. There will be an entire ethics investigation so it drags it out for months and months. Thats a gift, unfortunately, to the democrats. Fortunately, i guess, but under unfortunate circumstances. After Anthony Weiners first scandal, first of ive lost track of what number hes up to now, five or six. But after his first one, nancy pelosi basically fired him. I mean, she didnt really have the power to, but it was made very clear you need to resign from congress. Nobody here is going to stick with you. One of the reasons, i have to believe, is she didnt want that distraction, she didnt want democrats tarred with Anthony Weiner for the midterm elections and beyond. Now youve got this cloud of suspicion hanging over members of Congress Largely because, one, the momentum of this me too movement that is actually happening. It didnt begin two weeks at the me too movement. You have Jackie Speier and Barbara Comstock saying people on both sides of the aisle had this problem on capitol hill. We havent heard confirmation that either al franken or john conyers was one of those particular individuals. Youve got this cloud of suspicion that is hanging. You also have the roy moore issue and also have President Trumps issues because hes been accused of a lot of vile conduct as well. So if you are to acknowledge that one should go without hesitation and yet you dont for the same people in your party, your hypocrisy is too much. All right. Thanks one and all for being here. A royal engagement. Prince harry opens up about what he believes his mother Princess Diana would say about his fiance, american actress Meghan Markle. Thats next. Stay with us. I have been diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. When i met my team at ctca, they put together a comprehensive plan, that gave me an opportunity to accomplish my goals, and my dreams. Learn more at cancercenter. Com mopping robotthe from irobot. Its Precision Jet spray and vibrating cleaning head loosen and scrub stains. All while navigating kitchens, bathrooms and those hard to reach places. You and braava jet from irobot. Better together. And were back with the pop cult our lead. And despite the American Revolution and that war of 1812, many here in the u. S. Perhaps inexplicably are still captivated by the latest royal news. This time its an engagement for an american. Prince harry and Meghan Markle say the prince propose a few weeks ago at their cottage during a lowco night in and the wedding will tay place in spring 2018. Spoke about Princess Diana in their first interview. Tell us about that. Reporter it was interesting because any woman coming into the royal family inevitability raising memories of Princess Diana, its just how things work, particularly when you talk about prince harry who shares so many of her characteristics. And he brought her up today through the Engagement Ring, announcing he designed the Engagement Ring and included two stones from Princess Dianas collection. Heres what he had to say a bit later on. What do you think your mother would have thought or or said about meghan. They would be thick as thieves. She would be over the moon, jumping up and down excited, but probably be best friends with meghan. It is days like today when i really miss having her around and miss being able to share the happy news, but, you know, with the ring and with Everything Else that is going on. Shes with us. Im sure shes with us jumping up and down somewhere else. Reporter so the main stone in the middle of the ring, jake, was from africa. The couple have been there a lot. To they talked about how their relationship come together. Meghan markle a huge amount of pressure today. Performed remarkably well. Clearly a chemistry between them. It went down pretty well today. Theyre an adorable couple, no doubt. How are the royals and royal watchers reacting to the engagement . Shes an american, which might be a strike against her, and also shes an actress. Reporter well, i have to say, it hasnt struck against her at all from the queen down. There has been nothing but utter delight in terms of the statements coming out. Shes talked about that as well. I think the idea that he is mixed race, shes american, shes a divorcee actually makes the royal family relevant to today. Theyre desperate to stay relevant. It plays into the narrative that theyve been working towards. So over time, things are modernizing here. Very, very slowly, indeed. Shes certainly playing a part in that. All right. Some rare good news on the lead today. Max foster in the uk for us, thank you so much. Be sure to follow me on facebook or twitter jaketapper. Turning you over to wolf blitzer in the situation room. In the situation room. Thanks for watching. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com happening now, breaking news. Betraying his base . President trump takes to twitter to push his tax bill, which the conversational Budget Office now says would hurt the people he campaigned to help. Is the president betraying his base and is in the bill in jeopardy tonight with two gop senators saying no . Dueling directors. A federal judge is hearing arguments about who is in charge to run the Government Office designed to protect peoples pocketbooks. Closing in on flynn . President trumps former National Security adviser and Close Campaign adviser Michael Flynn may be cooperating right now with