Kelly is not pleased and did not know the trump plan to wade into the culture war. Teams in the nfl responded with a mass protest of the president. Some even refusing to stand while others locked arms in a show of solidarity as you see right here. Some teams didnt even come out on to the field and more protests are expected in just a few hours. Meanwhile, the president is denying his comments had anything to do with race, firing off this Early Morning tweet saying, quote, it is about respect for our country, flag and National Anthem. Nfl must respect this. The white house will likely respond to the controversy when todays press briefing begins and any moment were keeping an eye on that. Now i want to bring in cnn White House Reporter caitlin collins. Caitlin, how is the president s war with the nfl playing out in the white house . We know that there is one person who is not pleased with what has transpired over the weekend and that is someone who is very near and dear to the president , his new chief of staff john kelly. The president actually brought him up on stage just minutes before he made these very controversial remarks about the nfl to praise what a good job that john kelly has done in the white house, but we are told that these remarks about the nfl were not in the president s prepared remarks and he came up with them on the spot when he was there in alabama and that john kelly did not know he was going to make those remarks and then wade into this culture war into the weekend by continuing to tweet about it at least 13 times over the last two days. John kelly was brought into the white house to instill some discipline into this west wing, but were seeing here, one thing, pam, that john kelly cant control about the president and thats remarks he makes at these rallies when he is his most true self and the things he makes on twitter. Hes not the only person who is very frustrated from this. We also heard from lebron james a few minutes ago. Listen to what he had to say about the president. Its the most powerful position in the world and we are at a time when the most powerful position in the world has an opportunity to bring us closer together as a people and inspire the youth and put the youth at ease on saying that it is okay for me to walk the street and not be judged because of the color of my skin or because of my race, and he has no recollection of that. He doesnt even care. Reporter so as you can see, pam, some powerful comments from one of the most famous people in basketball right now and well likely hear from press secretary Sarah Sanders any minute now and shes definitely going to be fielding questions about this. Certainly so, well be keeping an eye on that, and caitlin collins, thank you very much. Meantime, the department of defense is also weighing in today on the firestorm involving President Trump, the nfl and the National Anthem. I want to bring in cnn pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. So what is the pentagon saying about all of this. Pamela, its probably good with recalling, of course, his people know the u. S. Militarys had a long, decadeslong relationship with professional sports in this country, and you know, the president according to how many people view it has put the military, patriotism, the flag, all of these symbols of the socalled culture war, if you will, front and center in this debate. So where does it all go from here. The pentagon asked this morning by reporters, will they be able to continue their relationship especially with the nfl as we saw over the weekend. There were honor guard, color guards, flags, military personnel on the football field. This is something that is part of that relationship of Building Community relations by the u. S. Military. The pentagon, a little bit surprisingly, did come back to us with an answer on this question and i want to read it to everybody and what the pentagon spokesman said and i quote, dod does not require or request that athletes be on the field during the playing of the National Anthem when military members are part of the patriotic opener. What the pentagon is saying this is something they really do not want to get involved in, they provide the color guards and they provide military personnel whether theyre active duty and national guard. They build these relationships in the community because, frankly, a lot of this is a recruiting tool, showing the face of the u. S. Military in towns and cities across the country to football fans who may be parents of young people thinking about joining the military and its a very important relationship to the pentagon. Its gone on for decades and to make this statement that theyre not requiring anybody to do anything is not only just factually accurate and what it really is doing is the pentagon trying to take itself out of this debate where patriotism, the flag and all of the rhetoric about support for the troops whether you stand or not and what it all means, the pentagon doesnt want to be involved in it. Pamela . Releasing that statement, nonetheless, making that clear. Barbara star, thank you very much. From sports locker rooms to the stage of an International Music festival, Football Players and basketball players alike coming together against the president. Take a listen. I cant stand, you know, support something where our leader of this country is just acting like a jerk. We want unity and stand for something. This man is not welcome here. I think it is very unbecoming of the president of the United States to talk like that, to degrade people like that. I have a daughter and shell have to live in this world, you know what im saying and ill do whatever i can do and she can look at her dad. Im pissed off, ill be honest with you, because i supported donald trump and its appalling to me and im sure its appalling to almost any citizen in our country. It should be. I certainly disagree with what he said and you know, thought it was just divisive. For him to try to use this platform to divide us even more is not something i can stand for and its not something i can be quiet about. Im taking a knee for america, but not just one knee. Im taking both knees. I want to go straight to capitol hill where protests are erupting during this hearing over the latest Gop Health Care bill. I want to go to Gloria Borger to get the latest. Gloria . This Health Care Bill is important to every american and its really been a flashpoint, and its going to be voted on this week or it wont be brought to the floor this week and what youre seeing in these demonstrations is people who feel very strongly that any vote for Graham Cassidy is a vote that would hurt them and that would take away their coverage for their preexisting conditions, et cetera, et cetera. Well have a debate tonight on cnn about this between both sides, graham and cassidy on one side and democrats on the other and theyre going to lay out the stakes here and the differences between what the republicans want and what the democrats want but there is nothing that affects voters so personally as it affects health care. It affects every American Family and thats why you are seeing so much passion on so many sides. I want to bring in sunlen serfaty. Set the stage. Many, many protesters, about a couple of hundred have been lined up behind me. Well try to give you a vantage point. Put simply, the scene all of a sudden broke out out of control. There are a few people who were escorted away from police, by police and we are outside the Senate FinanceCommittee Hearing room, the first and only hearing that this grahamcassidy bill will get. Hundreds of protesters waiting to get inside. They said they intended to disrupt those hearings. They are now chanting things like kill the bill, kill trump care. So clearly today really trying to make their voices heard. We will hear from senator lindsay graham, one of the cosponsors of the bill. Again, the first and only formal hearing that this bill will get. Normally bills go for more thorough and more extensive markup process and note today it is the one and only time theyll be able to defend their bill and certainly hear from people about the bill. That is encouraging a lot of these opponents of the bill who are out here today chanting and who is been out here for many, many hour hours and thats encouraged them to speak louder. Many of them wanted this to be a more open and more open process and not have it rushed through by republicans and to be honest, that is one of the criticisms of another republican, senator john mccain who came out on friday of last week. He said that was one of his chief criticisms and still the fact that he believes its been rushed through. Pam . We are just learning that they just declared recess until they can get order amid these protests there on capitol hear during the hearing of the latest gop. I want to bring in malika henderson. What do you think of these pictures. This is something democrats want americans to see. There had been criticism of people on the left saying they were caught flatfooted in responding to what looked like a resurgence among republicans and trying to repeal and replace obamacare, but here you see some of that activity on the hill there, we still dont know whats going to happen on the bill. Weve heard from susan collins. We heard from rand paul who even after this latest iteration of the bill which came out today which will be scored by the cbo later today. He has said its not enough to his liking and hes still a no on this. This will be a key week. Theyve got until september 30th to figure out if theyll be able to corral enough votes. I talked to some people in the wheeling and dealing side of this. They say the goal is to get to 49 and then pressure whoever is still on the side line to see if they can be a deciding vote to put this thing over the top, but listen, getting to 49 is still an uphill climb for this, but well see tonight. Maybe that will make a difference of what we hear from both sides with graham and cassidy and Amy Klobuchar and sanders on the other, but you look at this, this is a passionate issue and i think republicans havent necessarily tapped into how people take this so personally because it is about their health. Their selling of this had to do with block grants and giving power to the governors in talking to people about their healthcare and the health care industry. Ive rarely heard people say i really wish that my governor could handle health care. They usually compare about prices and accessibility in premium increases and so far from what weve seen on this bill there isnt indication that it addresses the real problems that a layoff people have. And were seeing this play out on capitol hill. Protests playing out with the hearing that has put on on recess ask they want to wake, and the latest Gop Health Care bill. I want to bring in Gloria Borger. Its clear, because over the weekend the nfl criticized players for not standing during the National Anthem than he did about this Health Care Bill. What do you think about that . I think a lot of republicans are not happy about that. They also wanted him to talk about tax reform which is coming up and he didnt do utsch in of that and phil, he was full of grievance about steph curry and about the nfl and continued to lash out over the weekend rather than deal with the issues at hand. He criticized john mccain, of course, for his decision to vote no and one thing i would say about this is you cant have it both ways. If people want an open process and they want to have more hearings, i get it, then let the hear pr hearing proceed. I completely we need to go to the white house for the latest briefing with Sarah Sanders. Another busy day here at the white house. On the economic front this week the president will continue his push to secure tax relief for hardworking american families. We are pleased to announce that the president will be traveling to indianapolis, indiana, on wednesday. While there he will deliver remarks on the historic tax cuts and reforms that he has been, woing on with members of congress. During his remarks the president will discuss new details on the framework for these cuts and reforms. These details will include specific proposed rates for individuals, Small Businesses and corporations and he will also discuss the elimination of loopholes that have rigged the current tax code in favor of the wealthy and well connect. As the president has said before we will give our workers the level Playing Field they deserve and they will win because if the fight is fair, no one on earth can beat the american worker. These cuts and reforms will deliver massive job creation and Economic Growth and we are confident that the American People will be very excited about what we are proposing. While working to grow the economy of today the president will sign a memorandum to ensure that American Children are empowered to succeed in the workforce of tomorrow. Technology is plague a growing role in the economy and this means Technical Knowledge and skills are more important than ever, but more than half of our schools do not currently offer courses in Computer Programming and nearly 40 do not offer physics. The memo of the president will sign today will direct betsy devos to address this issue for our students. First it directs the secretary to develop highquality s. T. E. M. Education as one of the department of educations priorities. Second, it directs her to establish a goal of devoting 200 million per year in grant funds toward this priority. Finally, the memo directs secretary devos to explore administrative actions that increase the focus Computer Science and existing k12 and postsecondary programs. This memorandum comes on the heels of the executive order to expand apprenticeships giving more americans the opportunity to earn while they learn and to receive skills training that will put them on the path to fulfilling work. The president believes its our responsibility to give our students especially underrepresented groups, minorities and women and those from Rural Communities every opportunity to succeed. By signing this memoranda he is taking action to ensure they have access to the highquality Stem Education they serve. The timing of this memo which will be so important to americas underserved communities is particularly fitting today. September 25th is the 60th anniversary of the little rock nines first day of class at central high school. A few weeks prior to the first day the governor called in the Arkansas National guard to stand by as segregationists blocked the allwhite school. One of the nine recalled, they moved closer and closer. Somebody started yelling. I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the crowd. Someone who could help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed like a kind face, but when i looked at her again she spat on me. 20 years ago today as a new student at central high myself i watched president bill clinton and my dad Mike Huckabee open the doors for the little rock nine, the same doors that had been closed to them because they were black. The little rock nine, elizabethecford, earnest green, carlotta walls, thelma mothershed, Terence Wallace and the late Jefferson Thomas are american heros who courageously advanced racial equality. As President Trump has said, racism is evil and has no place in our country. Central high is the most racially diverse in arkansas. This is a testimony to how far weve come in the last 60 years. Its not lost on the president or his administration that there is more work to do. We need better schools and we need better jobs to provide a safer, stronger, more prosperous future for every american. President trump is working to make America Great again for all of our citizens and his actions continue to show just how committed he is and with that, ill take your questions. John . Sarah, clearly the president has strong views on whether or not players in professional sports teams should stand for the National Anthem. Given the response to the president has gotten over the last 48 hours even from tom brady of the new England Patriots who believes that what the president said on friday night was very divisive, does the president regret at all describing these players who take a knee for the National Anthem as s. O. B. S when should be fired . This isnt about the president being against anyone and this is about the president and millions of americans being for something, being for honoring our flag and honoring the National Anthem and honoring the men and women who fought to defend it. General martin dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said it best when he said this this morning. Its important to remember that our military is composed entirely of volunteers and it takes a special kind of patriotism for people to volunteer to risk their life for their country. Theirs is not blind patriotism that pretends theres nothing wrong with the country. Every man and woman in uniform knows we still have work to do to achieve the equality, opportunity and justice for all to which we aspire, but every member of the military also knows that what is right about america is worth defending and if its worth defending its worth honoring. He continued, i just hope the athletes who are using the anthem as a protest understand why people like me intend it k