The president , your confidence in me has blessed me personally. Adding the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizeable toll. Pruitt had been under a cloud of scandals for months, constantly facing questions about his security detail, pricey first class travel and cozy relationships with lobbyists. Pruitt was back in the headlines just this week. A cnn report revealing he and his aides kept secret calendars to hide contentious meetings. An aide testifying before the House Oversight committee that pruitt asked her to find his wife a job with a salary of over 200,000 at the republican governors association. And cnn reporting that he directly asked trump this spring to fire attorney general Jeff Sessions and let him lead the department of justice instead. Before that, stories about his housing situation in washington, his wifes desire for a chickfila franchise, and even a search for a used Trump Hotel Mattress stunned white house aides. Despite the bad optics, trump never wavered. Im not happy about certain things, but hes done a fantastic job running the epa, which is very overriding. But i am not happy about it. Reporter on wednesday, pruitt appeared to be in Good Standing with the president , smiling and shaking hands at the white houses fourth of july picnic. Administrator scott pruitt reporter but in this administration, 24 hours can mean the difference between a job and a farewell. So, kaitlan, the president spoke about pruitt tonight. What did he say . Reporter he made quite clear that scott pruitt was not fired from his position as the head of the epa, but he had resigned to the president , which the president said on twitter, he announced his resignation, but he made clear that it wasnt any kind of a forced resignation. He called him a great guy, said he did a terrific job, outstanding at the epa, making quite clear that he had no problem with the ethics scandals which had mounted in recent days, dozens of scandals, but it was simply because scott pruitt himself wanted to step down after being in the headlines once again this week. In addition to praising scott pruitt, the president also weighed in tonight in montana on Elizabeth Warren who he often refers to as pocahontas. As he did, he took a shot for the first time, as best we can tell, at the me too movement. Listen to this. Pocahontas, they always me to apologize for saying it. Lets say im debating pocahontas, right . I promise you ill do this. I will take up know those little kits they sell on television for 2 . Learn your heritage. We will take that little kit and say, but we have to do it gently because were in the me too generation, so we have to be very gentle. And we will very gently take that kit, and we will slowly toss it, hoping it doesnt hit her and injure her arm. For context, this comes the same day that bill shine started overseeing Communications Inside the white house. Shine left fox news after being criticized for turning a blind eye to Sexual Harassment claims at the network during his tenure there. And senator warren has just weighed in, tweeting, hey, donald trump, while you obsess over my genes, your administration is conducting dna tests on little kids because you ripped them from their mamas and you are too incompetent to reunite them in time to meet a court order. Maybe you should focus on fixing the lives youre destroying. Shes referring to the kids taken from their parents at the mexican border. There is new reporting on that, and its pretty shocking. First though, scott pruitt, senator warren, me too, and the president. Joining us, norm eisen, republican strategist, rick wilson, author of everything trump touches dies, and trump supporter steve cortes, who is here with us and very healthy as far as we can tell, and i think he has touched the president in some way literally and figurati figuratively. Rick, youre a republican strategist. You help run campaigns. You know how women are energized in this election season. A joke about the me too movement. How will that play this Election Year . Look, republican women have been fleeing donald trump, particularly collegeeducated republican women, suburban women, because he is a guy who has spent a long time playing the role of this playboy figure and, you know, basically making a public spectacle of himself, having relationships with porn stars and adult film stars and, you know, dryhumping beauty pageant contestants. This is a guy who is not somebody you would want to leave your daughter alone with. So a lot of women are hearing this, and now theyre hearing him joke about it. Hes not a guy you know, president grab him by tthem by know what is a guy who doesnt have al lot of latitude to make jokes like that. A Record Number of women are running. A Record Number of turned out in the various races, and so this is donald trump playing with fire as he usually does. And i think its a risk that, you know, obviously hes going to take because hes not, you know, terribly cognizant of the fact that he is a National Laughingstock when it comes to be the first predator in chief. Kaitlan, i have not heard the president make any jokes about the me too movement yet. At least i dont think i have. You cover him day in and day out. Is this a first . Is this the type of thing you think that white house insiders would like to see him do more of, or is there concern tonight . Reporter so, john, this is definitely the first time weve heard the president talk about this publicly like this. But we know that back behind the scenes as all of this was unfolding, the me too movement, when it really started to get a lot of momentum, the president would talk about it and say he thought it was unfair at times that peoples lives could be destroyed by allegations. Youll recall he said a lot about that former staff secretary who worked here, rob porter, who was accused of Domestic Abuse of two of his exwives. The president has long said and doubted a lot of the accusers of me too. That doesnt come as a surprise because this is a president accused of Sexual Assault himself, something he has publicly denied. Certainly that gives you the context. Hes said it privately, but not publicly. This is the fuirst time were hearing. It does come on a day that bill shine, that former copresident of fox news, has started at the white house. Today was the first time we saw him on camera in his official capacity as the new deputy chief of staff who is in charge of communications. He is someone who is one of roger ailes top aides at fox news. He stepped down from fox news last year because he was accused not of Sexual Harassment as roger ailes was, but accused of covering up for roger ailes. Now, he has denied any wrongdoing, but he was named in several lawsuits from people who said he helped cover up some of the things that roger ailes did when he was at fox news. So keep this in mind. Bill shine was on air force one with the president as was donald trump jr. , the president s son, also on the way to montana tonight. Now, i had tweeted earlier remarking that bill shine was acting in his official capacity here at the white house. We saw him getting into the motorcade with the president as they were ready to depart earlier. And donald trump jr. Made a remark about my tweet, saying, get ready, that the media and the liberal side are going to start taking shots at bill shine. You could only assume that is part of that conversation that led to the president saying that tonight. Interesting. Steve cortes, trump supporter, do you think that mentioning me too like this is a smart strategy . I dont. Im not sure why he did. I love him castigating Elizabeth Warren and her ridiculous claims to be an American Indian because its absurd, and she should take a dna test. And the fact that she engages in what aboutism, right, rather than his challenge, she immediately Start Talking about the border. Id also like to say, by the way, bill shine, who has been a couple times in this segment disparaged is a friend of mine, is an american patriot. Hes an incredible master of media and messaging. Im incredibly glad hes in the white house. He was never accused of any wrongdoing, of any Sexual Harassment himself. The fact that he was named in lawsuits by the way, some of those lawsuits named every person of any importance at fox news. The fact that he was named in lawsuits, i think is hardly a conviction of him or his character. And hes going to, i think, lead to a far better messaging white house from here forward. Well, look, kaitlan didnt run down bill shine at all. She merely noted that he was on the plane, and it is a statement of fact that he has been named in lawsuits. It is a statement of fact he was very much a big part of fox news when a lot of those things were going on, and people have lost their jobs and theres been mountains and mountains written about that. Be that as it may, ambassador eisen, to you here. Look, were talking about the midterm elections. Weve seen the energy among women heading into the midterm elections. Do you think that that will carry the democrats, or are they going to need more than that . Well, theres no question, john, that the power of women candidates, women winning these primaries, women turning out and voting, has been a part of the mix. Its not by itself enough. An equal part of the story, as rick noted, is the flight of collegeeducated women from donald trump. But, john, i think the revulsion of people across the American Public for comments like the president made tonight are also going to play a role. What does me too what does Sexual Harassment have to do with throwing a dna kit across the stage . Nothing. Clearly the president was envisioning in that same twisted mind that gave us the access Hollywood Tape something entirely different and disgusting. Thats a repellent. People of no gender like that. Even my friend steve thinks he made a mistake, and he did. And, john, ill tell you one other bizarre thing about the president s speech tonight. Every word out of his mouth hit on one of his vulnerabilities because he also talked about dna as senator warren pointed out. Dna has to be used because of this administrations unconstitutional and botched separation of parents from children to reunite them. He talked about a Million Dollar gift to charity. Hes been sued by the new york a. G. For fraudulent charitable activity thats going to trial before the election. So i heard it as more of a confession than a campaign speech. Rick wilson, i want to ask you quickly about scott pruitt, who will soon be no longer with this administration. I was speaking to maggie haberman. She said kaitlans reporting that pruitt was pushing the president to fire Jeff Sessions and replace him with scott pruitt alongside with drew griffins reporting about changing some calendars, that that was the straw, that this new reporting this week was enough to get the president and the people closest to him just tired of dealing with scott pruitt. Well, i think kaitlans reporting on that was very incisive, and probably had an impact on this question. I do think also that scott pruitt was sort of the clown prince of corruption in this administration. This was a guy who he acted like he was in some thirdworld kleptocracy and was trying to, you know, cash out as he possibly could the entire time. But he finally crossed the president s, you know, unspeakable line where it caused him more hassles than it was worth. And i find that, look, the defenses of scott pruitt in this town, in d. C. , that lasted for months and months and months, oh, hes doing all these great things, you know, those things all those people that were making those defenses had a chance over and over again to take a step away from trump and didnt. So the fact that theyre all sort of standing there with egg on their face tonight is hilarious to me. And i do think that, you know, this idea that when youre in this much ethical trouble, you try to double down and say, oh, make me the attorney general, the chief Law Enforcement officer of the united states, its ludicrous. It was an absurdity, and pruitt, you know, reaped the whirlwind from it. Steve cortes, just to be clear, you think it was time for scott pruitt to go here . Youre not really crying any tears over this . Oh, gosh, quite the opposite. No, im very happy. I said so yesterday on cnn, and ive advised the president both publicly and privately that i thought scott pruitt was becoming an unnecessary distraction. Heres the shame of it from my perspective. I thought he did a great job at epa. He did a wonderful job of deconstructing the administrative state, the weapon that the epa had become against american business, particularly american small business. He did a great job there but somehow he was so ethically challenged that he couldnt get over himself. Frankly when we run against the swamp as we did in 2016, we have to be cleaner than clean, and he wasnt because of that, he needs to go. He did important work, but its good that hes gone. Thanks for sticking around, kaitlan, thank you very much for your reporting. Perspective next from david axelrod, and ahead, the kids taken at the border. The man in charge of reuniting them with their families is asked how much progress he has made, and the answer he gives is stunning. And later the president s narrowing down his Supreme Court picks. Well talk about the likely candidates. Salads should look like this. Crisp leaves of lettuce. Freshly made dressing. Clean food that looks this good. Delivered to your desk. Now delivering to home or office. Panera. Food as it should be. My dai need my blood sugar ito stay in control. En. Panera. So i asked about tresiba®. Tresiba® ready tresiba® is a oncedaily, longacting insulin that lasts even longer than 24 hours. I need to shave my a1c. Tresiba® ready tresiba® works like my bodys insulin. Releases slow and steady. Providing powerful a1c reduction. My week . Hectic. My weekends . My time. Tresiba® ready i can take tresiba® any time of day. So if i sleep in, and delay my dose, i take it as soon as i can, as long as theres at least eight hours between doses. renee once in use, it lasts eight weeks with or without refrigeration, twice as long as the lantus® pen. announcer tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. Dont use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Dont share needles or insulin pens. Dont reuse needles. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. Check your blood sugar. Low blood sugar can be serious and may be lifethreatening. Injection site reactions may occur. Tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. Taking tzds with insulins, like tresiba®, may cause serious side effects like heart failure. Your insulin dose shouldnt be changed without asking your prescriber. Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue or throat, dizziness, or confusion. Ask your Health Care Provider if youre tresiba® ready. Covered by most insurance and medicare plans. Tresiba® ready ordinary stains say they 2 can do the job, s. But behr premium stain can weather any weather. Behr premium semitransparent stain and sealer, overall 1 rated, weathers it all. Find our most advanced formula exclusively at the home depot. With tripadvisor, finding your Perfect Hotel at the lowest price. Is as easy as dates, deals, done simply enter your destination and dates. And see all the hotels for your stay tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites. To show you the lowest prices. So you can get the best deal on the right hotel for you. Dates, deals, done tripadvisor. Visit tripadvisor. Com so scott fruit pruitt it ou epa. Nor is this the first departing to bring back memories of one of Trumps Campaign promises. Were going to make America Great again. Were going to use our best people. Im going to get the best people. Were going to deliver. Were going to get the best people in the world. We dont want people that are b level, c level, d level. Were going to use our smartest and our best. Were not using political hacks anymore. Its a sophisticated chess match, but i have the best people lined up. You need people that are truly, truly capable. We have to get the best people. Joining us now, one of our own best people, former obama senior adviser, david axelrod, host of the ax files on cnn. David, what does it say about this administration and this president that it took this long, this many scandals, 14 investigations before pruitt resigned . Well, it says that ethics arent a big deal here and that should not be a surprise because everything flows from the top. And when you have a president who has basically given the back of his hand to people who have asked to see his tax returns, when you have his children on the white house staff making 78 million on the side and so on. I mean the message is very clear, which is take what you can get, however you can get it, but dont become a political liability. And what scott pruitt did was he became a political liability because his offenses were so legion and garnering so much coverage that it overshadowed everything else, including the things that hes done. I mean i have deep objections to what hes done at the epa, but a lot of people in the Republican Base do not. They like it. Certainly the donor base in the old energy community, they really like it, in the oil industry and so on, in the coal industry. But, you know, these stories became so, so pronounced and so outrageous that and maybe bordering on things that will lead him into a criminal situation, that they just decided we have to cut the cord here. Given all the things you just said, does it surprise you at all that the president said it was all pruitts choice and that there was no final straw here . It may be one of those times when the president isnt being entirely candid with us about how the process came down. There is no doubt i mean he