Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom Live 20181117

The cnn newsroom starts right now. 4 00 a. M. On the u. S. East coast. The finger pointing to the Saudi Crown Prince for ordering the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, that is the word from the cia according to sources. It is based in evidence analyzed by the cia, evidence including a phone call where the princes brother urged khashoggi to go to the konsz lconsulate in istanbu. But he denies making that call. The saudi government says it has shifted its story, you have seen it shift a bit, since khashoggi disappeared, but it has remained firm that the crown prince was not involved. Lets go liv live to ben weedsd following the story. Weve heard a flat denial and even a dare to make that are information public. Reporter yeah, what weve heard is a spokeswoman for the Saudi Embassy in washington, d. C. Saying they have heard a lot of versions of events, but they have yet to see the actual evidence with which these claims are based upon. Which is just another denial from the saudis of what is a steady stream of damning revelations about the second of october murder of Jamal Khashoggi. What were seeing of course is this report from the cia or claims by sources at the cia that saudi ambassador to the United States had a phone conversation with Jamal Khashoggi in which he told him that in order to obtain the papers that would allow him to remarry, he should go to momentum and assured him that he would be safe in doing so. Now according to this report in the Washington Post, he made this phone call at the direction of his brother crown prince know hachl mknow knmohammad bin salman. Certainly this is the latest indication that indeed the crown prince was aware of this operation despite the fact that the saudi attorney general is saying that this was a rogue operation that went disastrously wrong. Is there any indication that any of this new information somehow puts the crown brinss role in jeopardy . Reporter certainly tarnishes his reputation that has really been under a magnifying glass since the beginning of the saga around the death of Jamal Khashoggi. But according to the New York Times and the Washington Post and cnns own reporting, u. S. Officials believe that he will remain in power. But it certainly creates a pariah status for the young crown prince who has pain the effective leader of saudi arabia now for several years given that his father king salman is in very poor health and it is believed that he is suffering from dementia. So certainly we know that President Trump wants him to remain in power given that he sees him as a key player for instance in the struggle against iran. Jared kushner the soninlaw of President Trump is also very close with mohammad bin salman. And of course we have heard word from the white house that sometime early next year the u. S. Plans on putting out its socalled deal of the century to resolve the arab israeli conflict. And that saudi arabia is supposed to in theory play a central role in that. All of that is now up in the air and in doubt given the belief clearly from the cia that mohammad bin salman was the man who ultimately ordered of jamal. A lot of the evidence seems to be contrary to the evolving story that weve heard from saudi arabia. Ben wedeman, thank you for the reporting. Well keep in touch with you. Lets talk more about this now with Global Affairs analyst aaron david miller, he is a distinguished scholar. Good to have you with us. This assessment from the cia points the finger directly at the Saudi Crown Prince. How significant an impact will this have . I think that it will bring the administration to a proverbial moment of truth. For the last 40 plus days since khashoggi entered the saudi koch consulate in istanbul, the administration has been trying to figure out a way how to navigate through this, maintain a relationship that they believe is very critical to its oil policy, its arms sales policies, on one hand, and how to avoid having to take dramatic and punitive action against saudi arabia on the other if it were proven that in fact mohammad bin salman aka mbs ordered or had direct foreknowledge of this pragt operation. The Administration Im sure was aware of most of this. It has now become public, which means that it will be an issue for congress, the media and the International Community as well. So i think that the administration is reaching a point where it will have to decide how to act. It has already sanctioned 17 individuals, but clearly that didnt pass the Washington Post test in congress and frankly u. S. saudi relationship is out of control and administration will have to reset it. Before this, turkey had been putting a great deal of pressure given that it holds the cards to this investigation. How does that scare with tquare u. S. President trying to find a way to remove gulen in order to possibly ease pressure on saudi arabia . If that report is true, and nbc had reported it out, it may have been a suggestion, i doubt frankly, it is one of the dumbest ideas ive ever heard. I work for half a dozen secretaries of state and came up with a number of hair brained schemes, but nothing in an effort to placate erdogan, placate one authoritarian to get another authoritarian off the hook. I mean, it is a fundamental undermining in both American Values and interests and i doubt frankly if the administration would even consider seriously acting on turning gulen over to the turks in order to persuade erdogan who is in a bitter rivalry with saudi arabia for a number of reasons. An context is very important here. Does the president take the cia assessment seriously given that he has discounted his own intelligence agencies many times in the past . Does that give him some political room here to get out of this . Yeah, i think youve identified a critical issue. Is the idea going to take issue with cia and the rest of the Intelligence Community and try to figure out a way to discount this report or downgrade it or trivialize it and somehow bet bin salman off the hook. That is the pattern over the last 18 months. Attack the intelligence reports and analysis that didnt square with his view of the world or what his sensibilities and predilections were. I think that it will be extremely difficult given the horrific nature of this crime, given the fact that the saudis have been lying on this from the very beginning, the most recent saudi report went back to the notion that the killing of Jamal Khashoggi was accidental, it was supposed to be a rendition back to saudi arabia and the dismemberment of his body was something that was done on the spot without authority from riyadh. I think the world knows it, i think Congress Knows it. The real question is whether the administration is prepared to act. Aaron david miller, thank you for your time. George, thank you. Now to the fives burning in the state of california. Three hours from now, the u. S. President leaves the white house to head out west to meet with survivors of the worst wildfires in that States History and the death toll there continues to rise. Eight more bodies have been discovered in Northern California. That means that 74 people have now died in these fires. And the list of the missing, it continu continues to grow. More than 1,000 names are listed. Nick watt has the latest. I am loyal to paradise. It is like a tether. My heart is tethered to that town. I value that town and the people and everybody i knew there, everybody i helped there. They just meant so much to me. I blossomed when i moved to paradise. Reporter right now central and Northern California has the worst air quality in the world. Smoke lingering in a 250 50 mile radius, today schools as far away as San Francisco still closed due to that danger, classes canceled on College Campuses in sacramento and berkeley. Firefighters have battled 500 blazes in the state in just the past 30 days alone. Californias governor says this is the new abnormal. Going forward we are going to have to take a lot of steps that arent so easy. Were to ha going to have to manage our forests better, build our cities more smartly, well have to build shelters so people can escape when the terrible fires get out of hand and, yes, well have to deal with climate change. Reporter meanwhile 145 advanta evacuees are suffering from neurovirus. Health officials are working to create separate shelters for the sick. Butte county with 10 of its homes now turned to ash, facing crisis. So we have a town of approximately 14,000 houses and associated commercial activity that has literally been burned off the man. Reporter exactly what sparked these fires is still under investigation. Up in the north of california, people are pointing the feinger at the local Utility Company claiming that faulty equipment started the blaze. Here in the south, authorities have said that the smaller hill fire was caused by human activity, unclear if that was accidental or arson. Nick watt, cnn, west lake village, california. And again firefighters are making some progress with regards to containment, but smoke is now the issue and so dangerous when it comes to breathing that smoke. Derri derek van dam is here to us about it. At one point friday morning they had the three most pluts pd cities in the entire world over beijing, delhi, mumbai. Look at this map. You have seen the fire burn, but look how the smoke emanates over the western u. S. It is all about the wind directions in the upper levels and of course the cloud cover is obviously smog and smoke, such a toxic mixture of particles and drop lets released from the wildfire itself. And it has put a thick haze over the San Francisco bay region. Look at the man behind me, this is the air quality index values. And just a snapshot of what it is like, the quality of the air that you and i breathe. If you are located on the west coast, you know that it has been chokingly difficult to breathe the air lately because of the fires burning out of control. It has been more hazardous, the least air quality, than northeast china, a hot spot for smog. I know this is a very busy map, but the bottom line is we actually had worse air quality index in Northern California than northeast china on friday morning. Why does it matter to you and me . Because the particulate from the wildfire smoke is so small, it can penetrate deep within our lungs and elderly to Young Children or people with asthma, obviously they have a hard time breathing. And we have an air quality alert being a quos tacross the entire valley. The woolsey fire is expected to be distinguishextinguisheded byt the Silver Lining is that there is rain in the forecast continuing into early next week. Look at the precipitation move in, we have a dry spot for the first half of the week, but after thanksgiving, we should get snow in the mountains and rain in the valleys ending effectively our fire season in called cal. They will take the rain. Thank you. Still ahead here, chief White House Correspondent returns to the white house for thousand. Well look at the lawsuit that do keep one of our koernltds t correspondents out of the house. What is at stake a, well tell you about it. And plus britains embattled Prime Minister determined to get her brexit plan through even as her own political future hangs in the balance. Live around the world and in the u. S. , youre watching newsroom. I tell everyonif you want to get ancestrydna tethe most details about your family history. My pie chart showed that im from all over europe, but then it got super specific. I learned my people came from a small region in poland, and even a little bit of the history about why they might have migrated during that time. Those migration patterns are more than just lines on a map, theyre really your familys story. This holiday, give the gift thats connected millions to a deeper family story. Order your kit at ancestry. Com another antiwrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. With the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. Neutrogena®. President trump says he has answered written questions from Robert Mueller about possibly collusion with russia. The answers have not been returned back to mueller. The president pretty up with his legal team at least three days this week, but he says that he answered the questions himself. I write the answers. My lawyers dont write answers. I write answers. I was asked a series of questions. Ive answered them very easily. Very easily. Im sure they are tricked up because they like to catch people, gee, you know, was the weather sunny or rainy. He said it may have been a good day about th day. It was raining, so therefore he perjured himself. You always have to be careful when you answer questions when people probably have bad intentions. There should have never been any Mueller Investigation because there was no collusion, there never has been. You would have known about it a long time ago if there was. They should have never had it. They wasted millions and millions of dollars. There should have never been a socalled investigation. And another story around this white house, around my colleague jim acosta. He is now back in the white house, the press room, thanks to judges ruling. The Trump Administration had revoked the press pass after a Heated Exchange with President Trump. Brian stelter reports that the decision is only round one. This has been a day unlike any with jim acosta being granted his press pass back after a nine day battle between cnn and the white house. Of course all of this started at that post midterms press conference when acosta and President Trump had a combative exchange. A few hours later, acosta found out the secret service was taking away his press pass. We dont know exactly who made that call. Perhaps it was President Trump. But this was fought over in court this week with cnn filing a federal lawsuit alleging first and fifth amendment violations. Today in court judge kelly granted cnns request for a temporary retraining ordstraini which forced the white house to return the press pass. Kelly said he was granting it based on the fifth amendment violations. Basically that acostas Due Process Rights were violated you because he wasnt given any notice. The judge did not rule on the freedoms of the press. That might come later during further litigation. But now the ball is kind of back in the white houses court. It is unclear if the administration will continue the legal battle or if it is more quietly settle out of court. I spoke with a cnn lawyer who says that cnn would be happy to resolve this in a peaceful way and not have to return to court for the remaining weeks and months that this case would go on, but that cnn will continue its litigation if the white house puts up a fight or tries to take away acostas press pass again. As for the administration, President Trump says that they will come up with new rules and regulations to govern the behavior of White House Correspondents. He says he doesnt want anybody to behave badly during news conferences. If so, he might just walk out. But the realty is that the president enjoys the whixh exch with reporters. So interesting to see if they come up with new regulations to govern the behavior. And of course if they seem radical, cnn will end up right back in court. But for now acosta is back at work endingi a strange period that in a lot of people in newsrooms concerned. But the good news is that across todays pre acostas press pa is back. And lets talk about it more with a professor of government at the university of essex in england live via skype. Thanks for your time. Lets start by talking about jim acosta now back in the white house, but now there is a new promise of new rules to govern how reporters engage with officials when asking the questions. Does the white house have the discretion to arbitrarily to gfrn the press and if deemed unfair, can the press challenge those rules. That is a really good question. But this is one of the critical components of any democracy is that there is free press. And that means that they dont have obstacles standing in their way and rules that dictate how they are supposed to behave, that they should be free to be able to ask questions, ask followup questions. I mean that is what they were attacking jim acosta on that he was being too aggressive. But this is what journalists are supposed to do, to keep the executive branch in check. And so for a functioning democracy, you have to be able to have complete press freedom. This is something that dictatorships do. Often they put journalists in prison so it is a little bit harsher, but they also employ these type of tactics ever creating little rules around what they can say and do. The president has described it as no big deal, that he is fine with what happened. But he did have into say about how he would react after these new rules are established. Lets listen to it and well talk about it in a moment. Nobody believes in the First Amendment more than i do. And if i think somebody is acting out of sorts, i will leave, ill say thank you very much everybody, appreciate you coming and ill leave. And those reporters will not be too friendly to whoever it is that is acting up. So with regards to the First Amendment, the president says he supports the First Amendment but the First Amendment doesnt say anything about officials determining whether they feel good or bad about a reporters behavior. But what do you make of the president s plan just to walk away if he doesnt feel good about the question being asked of him . Well, donald trump has very mixed feelings about the press. They love it when people say wonderful things about him, but he doesnt like it when somebody criticizes him. I think that is what he misunderstood. At times that you will have to answer que difficudifficult que questions that you may not want to answer. And this is something that all the president s in the past have done and they havent just ran out of the room sort of pouting that they didnt get questions that they liked. It is really unpresident ial for him to say hes going to walk out of the room if he gets a question he doesnt want to answer. Interesting to see. Thank you again for your time. Well stay in touch with you. Britain has a new brexit secretary. Still ahead, the Prime Minister of that nation acts quickly to shore up support for her unpopular deal on brexit with the eu. Plus this i dont think there is anything that we have established at this point that will fundamentally deter them from continuing this kind of operation. Russian propaganda experts, they are still spreading lies on u. S. Social media and getting rid of them is proving to be a real challenge. Stay with us. [ neighing ] [ neighing ] [ sigh ] its bring your own phone, not pony. So i couldve taken the bus . Yeah. Bring your phone. Switch your carrier. Save hundreds a year with xfinity mobile. Call, click or visit a store today. Welcome back. Youre watching cnn newsroom live from atlanta. Im George Howell with the headlines were following. This hour, the cia has concluded that the Saudi Crown Prince ordered the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. A u. S. Official says that is partly based on the phone call that the princes brother made to khashoggi to urge him to go to istanbul. He denies making that wudi emba cias claims are false. And officials have found the bodies of eight more victims in the california wildfires. Now the number is 74. And that could again rise as more than 1,000 names are still on the list of the missing. The u. S. President says he ha has answered quiwritten questio from rchl de from Robert Mueller. The answers have not yet been submitted. Mr. Trump insists he answered the questions, not his attorneys. The u. S. Search team has found a missing submarine from arregentina a year and a day afr it disappeared. At that time their military said that there was an explosion on board and none of the 44 crew could have survived. Following events in the United Kingdom and theresa may wasting no time rebuilding her fractured cabinet following a disastrous rollout of brexit, the plan for brexit. The terms of the agreement cost her two cabinet secretaries and five other officials. It was an embarrassing setback, but miss may is not backing down. She is determined to get the deal through a skeptical parliament. Here is nic robertson. Reporter after such a terrible day for theresa may on thursday, friday was about regaining the initiative, regaining the momentum. She began early in the day on a british radio chat show answering questions from voters, some very tough questions. But what she did is what she did yesterday on thursday, which is repeat the message that the best deal on what she is he the british people asked for. Were not going to be locked in forever to something that we dont want. What were doing is negotiating a deal that means that we can take back control of our borders, Free Movement will end once and for all that we take back control of our money, we wont be sending vast sums of money to the eu every year, we take back control of our laws, we come out of some of the things that people have been really concerned about for years, common fisheries policy, out of the single market. I think that is what people voted for and that is what im delivering. Reporter and another key part of getting that brexit deal back on track, getting it in front of european leaders just about ten days away from now, was replacing some of the cabinet resignations that she had over the past 48 hours. They was able to replace perhaps the most important post of all relative to brexit, that of the secretary of state for overseeing brexit, a relative unknown politician, a leaver, someone who has supported her position on brexit so far. So from her perspective, this is somebody who doesnt appear likely to challenge her, somebody who we understand is mostly going to be sort of organizational level at the uk and rather than actually in brussels doing any of the negotiation. This of course fits theresa mays sort of track record up to now. That is the way that she has dealt with it so far. But another piece of making sure that she has momentum is hearing from some of the cabinet ministers people thought might resign, key among them, michael gove from the environment ministry. Do you have confidence in the Prime Minister . I absolutely do. Ive had a very good morning with midol league my collea making sure that we have the right policies. And im looking forward to working with all my colleagues in parliament in order to make sure that we get the best future for britain. Reporter so with that support, from having those key cabinet positions refilled, momentum is on her side. What could knock her off track . Well, this much talked about vote of no confidence. And so far that has failed to materialize. Nic robertson, cnn, london. And now lets talk about this with docminic thomas from paris. Lets talk about the possibility of that vote of no confidence. How concerning should that be for theresa may . It has been a concern for her ever really since shes been in office. It seems every few weeks there is discussion of this. In order to trigger a vote of no confidence, they have to get 15 of their conservative mps to sign on to this, which is the magic number of 48. And they seem to be gathering momentum for that few days ago, but it seems to be slowing down again. I think they are confronted with the situation that if they actually were to remove theresa may and force a leadership challenge, the interesting question would therefore be who would come along, who would be able to unite this party, and do they really deep down want to be shepherding the brexit through when the deal seems to be struggling, when there seems to be such lack of support for any kind of parliamentary vote on this question. So it would leave even more uncertainty. Despite the resignations, we are seeing the Prime Minister continue to gain support for this brexit plan that is described as resoundingly up p unpopular. Do you see her gaining any traction in her efforts . Well, she is trying to proceed are mote thi promote this plan, she argues that this is the best deal that they will end up with. And the European Union seems to be rather unyielding, arguing that this is the deal that they can best strike. And other leaders are speaking out about the transition to this deal because they did wao want make sure that the uk does not end up with some kind of deal that would be unfair to other eu members. So the interesting coach. He development here is that she is arguing that she is now going to be essentially the chief negotiator. And all along really shes been doing this just a few weeks ago she talked about the fact that the deal was almost 95 concluded. And then announced earlier this week that they have struck this wonderful deal with the European Union that then ended up with not only people resigning from the cabinet, but most interestingly enough, the brexit sect. And y secretary. And you would have thought that that would be the person with whom she would have had the greatest understanding. So there is some concern that yet again she keeps coming up with new plans and new solutions for which there does not seem to be support within her party, let alone across the political spectrum should she ever get any kind of hope of getting this deal through parliament. Dominic, important to point out this deal is the deal, the eu not going back to renegotiate anything more. This is it. And britain must now choose its path with this deal. Talk to us also about the appointment of steven barclay, a localist. What does this tell you . There are so many people that have resigned from this government over the past year. And it is becoming increasingly difficult it find qualified people that can fill this post. This is somebody that does not have much experience, that has some limited work with her in government. She has also brought amber rudd, the controversial home secretary, back into the fold who is a supporter of hers. Although a remain supporter. And there seems to be some indication here that she is trying to get people around her that can help her potentially shepherd this deal through the house of the parliament. But the fact remain that the labour party would rather have a general election. The brexiteers see in this deal so many of the things that they claim can that they wanted out of the brexit deal are not there. There is no ultimate long term resolution on the irish border problem. And the question of the lingering belonging and alignment and obligations to the European Union and then potentially Northern Ireland remaining in the single market, all of these questions have been along the way and there seem to be no solutions to them. And it is very hard to see how theresa may will manage to get this field to go anywhere as we move along. The only thing really i suppose in her favor is that the march deadline is fast approaching and that this deal may for some people be a better deal than simply walking away from the European Union with what would be ultimately a hard brexit. The deal is the deal. So again, the uk must now make its decision on whether to go with it or not. Dominic, thank you again for your time. Major roadways across fwrbe frana across france could shut down over protesters that are demanding president demanding macron do something to make gasoline cheaper. Well continue to follow that story of course for you. Votes are still being counted more than a week after the u. S. Midterm elections. We take a look at the congressional races that are still unsettled. Plus the socalled russian trolls are back, though they really never went away. How were they involved in the u. S. Midterm elections . We take a look. Another antiwrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. With the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. Neutrogena®. More than a week after the u. S. Midterm elections, six house seats and one senate seat have yet to be officially decided. Tom foreman takes a look at the still undecided races. Reporter all this time after the Midterm Election there are still six house districts where it is not quite settled yet as to what might happen. Some are in southern california, areas that actually were strong for reagan republicans a long time ago but where the democrats seem to be looking pretty strong right now, those races hopefully will be settled in fairly short order. But this is one of the more notable ones up in utah. Look at this, love was behind for a pretty good time here behind mcadams, but as the counting went on, the gap got tighter and tight er and now sh is just ahead by 419 votes. If that holds, it will be interesting because not only is it one of the few republican possible seats still, but President Trump in the initial reaction to the early voting dissed her. He said you didnt embrace me, that is why you lost. And now she may win. So of the last two seats out there that look like they could possibly go republican at this point, if things go the way they are right now, of the last two, one will be somebody that donald trump has already sort of shown the door. And yet who may be around with no real reason now to be loyal to him. Tom foreman, thank you. U. S. Tech companies and Government Agencies are trying to keep russian connected accounts from spreading lies and propaganda on social media. Still just before this months Midterm Elections, thousands of americans were following pages that may have been from russian propaganda farms. Fred pleitgen looks at how those factories keep trolling along. Reporter the russian troll factory once known as the Research Agency is still up and running now operating as new legal entities according to a u. S. Criminal complaint. Cnn has obtained video of the flashy Business Center where several firms are now apparently working. And the project is putting down more cash to harm america. Company financial records in the u. S. Criminal complaint reviewed by cnn show huge budget increases since 2013, especially in 2018. Around 650 million rubles, almost 10 million in this year alone, but not all of it goes to operations targeting the u. S. It is essential to look at these efforts as consistent and persistent as opposed to they rally around a specific geopolitical event or an election. The way that they actually gain influence is by talking to these specific populations over a period of time. Reporter a former employee when were not naming out of safety concerns tells cnn that operatives constantly create new Online Identities using special tools along with Virtual Private Networks and varying Cloud Services to mask their origin. I dont think that there is anything that we have established that will fundamentally deder thter them continuing because frankly its been pretty successful. Reporter according to the criminal complaint, it is a sprawling Business Empire controlled by this name, nicknamed putins chef because of his close ties to Vladimir Putin and because of his restaurant empire. Putin has denied the two men are close. Translator i know him, but he is not among my friends. This is misrepresenting the facts. He is a businessman. He has restaurants and some other businesses. But he is not a state official. We have nothing to do with him. Reporter but he clearly has major dealings with the russian state. A firm linked to him runs a mercenary company active in syria that even attacked u. S. Backed forces there. Cnn also spotted a man who appears to be him in this video from russian state tv, a meeting between russian officials and sudans president , wanted by the International Criminal court for human rights abuses. His firm tried to push back on the special counsel indictment arguing like President Trump that the Mueller Investigation is a witch hunt. So hurs on thursday, a federal judge refused to dismiss the indictment charging the company with a role in the russian efforts to interfere not 16 u. S. President ial election. And cybersecurity experts say that the efforts are expanding in the u. S. And elsewhere. Their message unapologetic. Like this recent online meme planted by the group which reads, remember, 90 of online trolls are paid professionals. Fred pleitgen, cnn, moscow. At this hour, a resupply mission is in orbit speeding toward the International Space station. Take a look. Launch has been initiated and we have liftoff. We have engines at full power and nominal altitude. And that happened at the top of this hour, it launched into a blaze of light from eastern virginia, it is carrying spacecraft capped with 7400 pounds of supplies and experiments. It will reach the space station in two days. Still to come here, president ial portraits. Donald trump has been the subject of many creative images, but which renderings are his favorites . A survey coming up. My name is jeff sheldon, and im the founder of ugmonk. Before shipstation it was crazy. Its great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize ive got a hundred orders i have to ship out. Shipstation streamlined that wh the order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everythings pretty much done. Its so much easier so now, were ready, bring on t. Shipstation. The number one ch of online sellers. Go to shipstation. Com tv and get two months free. Welcome back. Im George Howell. Images of donald trump can be found just about anywhere in the world including in creative oil painting. But one of the president ial portraits that exists of him, which one does he like the bes . Jeanne moos canvases to check out his favorites. Reporter portrait of the president as he likes to see himself, these are a few of President Trumps favorite paintings. He is a challenge to paint. Reporter but not for michael israel, he specializes in speed painting. God bless the usa reporter he can knock out an upside down donald trump in about seven minutes. It was one of his paintings at a Charity Auction that trump bought with a 20,000 check from his own charitable foundation. Took money from other people and bought a 6foot portrait of donald. Who does that . Reporter a guy who beat hillary making his portraits president ial. This one hangs in the u. S. Ambassadors residence in switzerland. The artist often shows up on fox news with his patriotic paintings. The cliches are what work. That is why they are cliches. Are. Reporter but if President Trump likes it, you can bet his detractors will mock it. Critics suggested portraits like these replace the one at the ambassadors residence. At the other end of the artistic spectrum, this crossing the swamp. President Trump Replaces George Washington crossing the delaware. Today trump endeavors to cross the swamp of washington, d. C. As he carries the light of truth, hope and prosperity. Reporter some of the passengers like nikki haley and Jeff Sessions have jumped ship or been pushed. A critic added a roll of paper towels. And then there is the Republican Club hanging in the white house during a 60 minutes segment, all the republican president s looking so if its. Some have compared this to dogs playing poker, but artist andy thomas says President Trump called to say how much he liked it. I always try to make the president s look as nice as i can. Reporter no matter how nice, the opposition still tears him to shreds. Jeanne moos, cnn, new york. Thank you for being with us for this hour of ccnn newsroo. Im gourn im George Howell in atlanta. Lets do it again, another hour of news after the break. It was here. I couldnt catch my breath. It was the last song of the night. It felt like my heart was skipping beats. They said i had afib. Whats afib . I knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. I needed answers. My doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke. Oncedaily xarelto®, a latestgeneration blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. Warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your bodys natural bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. For afib patients well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. Learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. So, lets talk about Conference Calls. Theres always a certain amount of fumbling. A lot of times it doesnt work. We have problems. Comcast business goes beyond fast. By letting you make and receive calls from any device using your business line. And Conference Calls you can join without any dialins or pins. phone there are currently 3 members in this conference. I like that. I like that too. I would use that in a heartbeat. Get started with innovative Voice Solutions for a low price when you get fast, reliable internet. Comcast business. Beyond fast. But the Saudi Crown Prince ordered the the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Plus this. My 3yearold son keeps asking why cant we just go home . And i dont know what to tell him. The stories were hear rg devastating. This in the aftermath of californias largest wild fire. Many of those stories coming from the people working to help the victims. Also ahead this hour the u. S. President says hes personally written answers to the Robert Mueller Interview Questions and