But that battle armada as the president put it was not racing toward north korea when the president said it was last week. Officials blame miscommunication but Vice President pence on a tour of the region tells cnn the point is, were ready. North korea ranks high on the president s to do list along with tax reform, Obamacare Repeals, infrastructure, border wall. Moments ago, he signed an extension of a program allowing veterans to get medical care outside the overburdened va. Joining me to talk about all this, David Drucker of the washington com, ml leak, and plaguie haberman also with the new york times. Its like election morning. There was an election overnight. The biggest since the one last november, no doubt. And jon ossoff almost pulled off a stunner. He almost won this congressional seat in the republican hands since 1979. Almost is still just almost. Nai naire President Trump thanked himself for what he called a big win. He said glad to be of help. One republican senator a southerner says essentially we need to be careful. The south is changing. Atlanta is changing. And i like our chances in a runoff but we need to wake up as a party. There are districts like this all over the country that are getting more moderate. This should be a wakeup call for the Republican Party in the south. Weve all been following this race. Alex burns, just little picture why the couldnt jon ossoff get to 50 . What kept him at 48. 1 . Look, i mean its not the big, big picture but the mediumsized picture is that this is one of these congressional districts the democrats would very much like to compete in in 2018 but historically it has been very, very republican. Last fall, you had donald trump win the seat, a very, very anywhere rowley lead as a president but tom price the incumbent congressman won it by a huge marge. There is a heavy lift for the party ahead as they try to take more affluent mitt romney type drag them to the center or perhaps meet them closer to the center. Jon ossoff didnt quite get there the last night. I do think to grahams point, there are a lot of republicans in washington if ossoff had won would have been hearing that race as the blaring air raid siren who still think its sort of a red blinking warning light, right . Theres not total panic today but there are a lot of folks in the party privately saying this is a signal that folks cant take anything for granted in the current environment. Of course, maggie, there are people who say this is a referendum on President Trump. 90 days into office, this is the first chance the voters had a chance to vote on his administration. Karen handel who is the republican who will be running for the seat was asked this morning if she wants the president to come visit. Listen. Do you think that President Trump will come to georgia and campaign with you . I, i would hope so. I mean look, we all republicans its all hands on deck for us. We know whats at stake here. I dont think that this is about any one person. It is all republicans, all hands on deck. So we are going to be united. What message do you think the white house is getting here . Is it glad i helped which is what the president said or is it that youve got a real problem in that this republican district you know might be heading blue . I think im not clear what the white house is taking from it and what the president is taking from it. What i am clear on from what karen is saying this is still a republican leaning district. This is not a runoff situation or this is a runoff situation as opposed to an 18person field. It is much better for her to do this as strict republican versus strict democrat you are seeing signs in various districts and states across the country of republicans starting to creep away a bit from President Trump on specific things. So i think you might see her take discrete steps away from him. It will be interesting to see how she calibrates on issues like repealing the Affordable Care act and core issues where the republicans have been struggling. I do think there were a lot of warning signs from last nights vote. This was not a district trump performed particularly well in. I dont think you can take it strictly as an antitrump issue. More broadly, there is frustration among voters that republicans have a governing majority. They hold both houses of congress gres and they are still stymied. Its very harded to continue to blame democrats when you hold a majority in congress and youre not passing a repeal. That type of thing will be an issue Going Forward. Let the record show you said the republicans are starting to creep away from the president. If you mean joni ernst saying the president has a lot of flaws again, though, we have to look at this on a different scale. We saw republicans creeping away from then candidate trump throughout 2016 and still embracing him as it went on. So i think youre going to see as i used the word discreate, heres this is issue on which frankly probably its not polling very well. Im going to say this is not great where he is. But generally speaking we support our president. We were talking about this earlier. There are people who thought the president s tweeting getting involved in this race repeatedly might have energized the democrats and Democratic Energy is a big part of the story. Look, make no mistake. The reason more than 8 million flooded into this district for an unknown 30yearold with no track record is because democrats and progressives were jonesing to find a way to send a message of opposition to President Trump. This was a good race for democrats to test where they are with educated suburban rites the kind of voters they have to win over next year if theyre going to make a dent in the republican majority. But this is all about Democratic Energy and democratic opposition to trump that is really off charts. What they can take away from this is that they were able to make some inroads and there is evidence that if they fight hard enough and if they recruit the right kind of candidate they might be able to do some damage. On the other hand, it still shows you that if republicans can come together in a lot of these districts and overcome the challenges from the president and in fact the challenges that they have because they cant get enough done yet to maggies point, then the republicans will still be in good shape and democrats wont have as much to show for all this as they would hope. Mj, youve been covering town meetings. You get a sense of the Democratic Energy bubbling up. There are probably are some pretty Democratic People coming to the meetings. Do you get the sense democrats have figured out a way it larness this energy just yet in the jon ossoff harnessed some but not 50 . Theres no other Single Person who has done more to energize the Democratic Base than President Trump. Last week i was in denver covering Mike Hoffmans town hall. There were a lot of people as in other town halls who claim they were participating in a town hall for the very first time and making banners and posters for the first time. What i found so striking about this town hall was that the topics that these questioners and participants thought were overwhelmingly about health care. Most people refer to there House RepublicanHealth Care Bill as trumpcare, no the ryan care even though this bill basically originated from house speak ter paul ryan. And a fascinating moment took place at the very end of this town hall when mike hoffman was asked a question about sean spicers hitler comment. We saw him being in that room, you could tell from the crowd reacting to the congressman starting to explain spicers comments. It was only when the crowd started to sort of verbally signal to the congressman that that was not okay that they would not you know accept an explanation from the congressman on the hitler comment that he finally came out and blurted out, he needs to go. The idea that were in a moment of the hitler comment is something were saying in national politics. We all know what it means. Well be talking about the north korea comment with the carl vinson comment coming up in a little bit. I want to hear one last time from jon ossoff who be running in the runoff in two months. Listen to how he sees the race right now in georgia. We will be ready to fight on and win. June if it is necessary. And there is no amount of dark money super pac negative advertising that can overcome real Grassroots Energy like this. So bring it on. So he says bring it on. And republicans are going to bring it on. They spent some money already. It is going to flood into that district, alex. Do you have a sense that jon ossoff, 30 years old, never run for office before, can take it . Look, i think in some ways its counterintuitive somebody who is basically a blank slate would the become the locus of all this political attention. The fact that hes a blank slate is part of why hes been such a tough candidate for republicans to attack so far. He has no track record in government. He doesnt particularly have a track record in the private sector the way somebody who is 55 and a filmmaker might. He has no home in the district. No home in the district which cuts both ways. But you know, he is sort of this projection screen for National Liberal activists and strategists. They can make him whatever they want him to be. Now republicans will make him exactly what they want to be. It will be fascinating see how hot this campaign gets over the next two months. There is political breaking news from a fairly wellknown member of congress. Jason chaffetz from utah Just Announced minutes ago he will not run for reelection. Is he going to stand down from national politics. We got a statement from him. Put it up on the screen right now. He says after more than 1500 nights away from my home, it is time. I may run again for Public Office but not in 2018. For those who it would speculate otherwise it, i have no ulterior motives. Im healthy. That said, i made a personal decision to return to the private sector. Maggie . Expressing confidence that you would do so well if only you entered the fight is something weve heard from a lot of people who ultimately decided not to run. I think hes in a unique position of having been the person who was so gung ho on the clinton investigations on benghazi on the clinton foundation. He has shown not the same deal as it treats President Trump and business conflicts and interest and so forth in his oversight role. I think he was facing becoming a bellwether of his own if he ran again in 2018 in what is already likely to be a pretty difficult midterm climate for republicans. Even in utah . I dont think that utahs Third District was going to be a problem for jason chaffetz. I dont discount theres more to the story than look i want to go make some money and spend time with my family notwithstanding all the time he spent away from his family while in congress. I spoke to republican insiders in utah before the show and they tell me that chaffetz has always been interested in running for governor and eyeing the 2020 governors race there. Somebody we might look to run for there seat is Evan Mcmullin who in that president ial race dollars very well in utah county, a part of utahs Third District. So people talk about evan at times running for senate or this or that. But he sort of developed a base of support in this district and so if he runs, he could be a formidable candidate. That will be fascinating to see. Maybe more than hrk, he has staked his whole career as being the antidonald trump. Except remember Evan Mcmullin is something of a being a potential spoiler. And number two, im not saying i think chaffetz would not win. If somebody has future political ambitions that you could get pretty dinged up in that race even if you win and it could be hindering you Going Forward. Stand by. Were waiting on the White House Briefing due to begin any minute. Well take a quick break. Well be right back back with more discussion and sean spicer next. All right. Sean spicer the White House Briefing begins. Lets watch. To set up for this afternoons major event. Im excited to announce that next monday on april 24th at 10 00 a. M. Eastern time, the president will speak Via Video Conference with the commander of the International Space station peg a whitson and her fellow astronaut jack fisher. In 2008, dr. Whitson became the first woman to command the International Space station. And on monday, she will break the record for the most time spent in space of any american astronaut. The president joined by his daughter ivanka and nasa astronaut kate ruben will congratulate dr. Whitson on this incredible accomplishment and discuss the importance of encouraging women to pursue careers in stem fields, science, technology, engineering and math. As youre all aware in addition to sign sag the nasa transition authorization act, the president recently signed the inspire women act which insures that nasa continues recruiting women for important s. T. E. M. Related jobs in aerospace, an effort particularly important to this president. Were working closely with nasa and the department of education to make this conversation available to be classrooms throughout the country. The department of education will also be providing tools for teachers to build lessons around. This conversation between the president and these two outstanding american who are orbiting 220 miles above their heads. The call will air live on nasa tv and stream on nasas website and facebook page. And while were on the topic of upcoming events, id like to note the president will welcome palestinian president abbas for a visit to washington on may 3rd. They will use the visit to reaffirm the commitment of both the United States and palestinian leadership to pursuing and ultimately concluding a conflictending settlement between the palestinians and israel. Well have further guidance on that visit as we get closer to the date. In terms of additional announcements, the president will be giving the commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy in new london, connecticut may 17th. As we grow closer to the date, we will continue to provide updates. To Current Events this morning the president signed an important piece of legislation for our nations veterans. The Veterans Choice Program extension and improvement act eliminates the original Sunset Program which gives veteran who are unable to schedule an appointment at a va facility in a timely or convenient manner the ability to receive care from an eligible nonv. A. Health care provider. Using funds that have already been appropriated for this program, this gives our nations heroes the peace of mind they deserve while this administration, would with congress to indicate comprehensive reform and modernization at the va. The Vice President is continuing on his International Tour today. On tuesday, he spoke to 2500 servicemen and women on the deck of the u. S. S. Ronald reagan in jan thanking them for their service and discussing the president s plan to rebuild our military. He then met with and delivered remarks to Japanese Business leaders and stopped by a youth baseball clinic before leaving japan. He is scheduled to land in jakarta, indonesia right about now. Well have further updates on his travels the rest of the week. This week is also National Park week and secretary of the interior ryan zinkee is currently in california meeting with rangers at five National Parks. On monday and tuesday, he was at Channel IslandsNational Park where he led a class of junior park rangers and today hell visit Golden Gate National recreation area. Since being sworn in march 1, secretary zinke has met with rangers at nine National Parks and ten when he visits shenandoah outside charlottesville, virginia next week. Every american has had the opportunity to participate in the celebration of our nations parks. Theyre free of charge this saturday and sunday. Anyone interested in finding a local park or information can go to nps. Gov. Finally i know moments ago, the president announced that he will be holding a press conference next thursday to discuss the progress being made on behalf of our nations veterans. Well have further updates on the guidance for next week. With that, be glad to take a few of your questions. John. A couple of topics. Georgias sixth congressional district. The fact yawn ossoff pulled in five or six points more than most republicans thought he would have. Lindsey graham saying this is a wakeup call to the Republican Party theres a lot of moderates beginning to emerge in the south to a greater degree that the Republican Party needs to Pay Attention to. I dont imagine that the outcome of the runoff is in that much question but does senator graham have something there that the R