Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20170622 : vimarsana.com

House has been moving more toward, taking cameras outside of the Briefing Room, something thats traditionally been done on camera. And no longer having to answer questions to the American Public. Really gives these Administration Officials an opportunity not to have to have their faces on camera while theyre questioned about things like why the president would float the notion of tapes that dont exist in the first place, or really any questions about russia which weve seen this administration dodge over and over again. Of course, it is a blow to transparency. Its a blow to those viewers out there who fund this white house, who fund these peoples salaries with their own taxpayer dollars for these folks not even to answer questions on camera. Especially on an important day like today. The president s announcement now on twitter that there are no tapes or recordings of any of his conversations with the fired fbi director, james comey. Also the senate the Senate Republican leadership has finally released their version of health care reform, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care act, obamacare. You would think that an important day like this they would want live coverage of what the white house reaction to all of these developments is. But theyve decided, what, only after the briefing will we be able to play the audio only but no video. Is that what im hearing . Reporter thats right. Its essentially embargoed audio until after the briefing concludes. You will not be able to listen live. And one of the things thats worth pointing out is obviously people who are watching this at home, people whether they vote for President Trump or not, may not agree with every question we ask in a briefing. Some may or may not be relevant to them. This is the point at which the administration has to answer not just to people who voted for donald trump but people who did not. As you mention, its a critical day. Not just in terms of the russia investigation, in terms of what is going on with these tapes, but in terms of a huge health care initiative. This is what President Trump and other republicans ran on, repealing and replacing obamacar obamacare. You would expect the white house to put someone in front of a camera to answer questions about whether the president is happy about this bill. Whether he agrees that this is not a mean bill as he described the houston . Whether he believes that this is legislation that has more heart. That appears it is not something were willing to do today, wolf. All right, i know that theyre going to force our cameras to go down and show the floor, if you will. Were not going to be able to show live pictures of this briefing when Sara Huckabee sanders walks out. Well touch base. Were anxious to get more details on the president s tweet that he posted. No recordings or tapes of his conversations with comey. Well also get more reaction from the white house on the Republican Health care bill thats been released. I want to bring in our chief analyst gloria borger, chief correspondent dana bash, and cnn politics reporter eugene scott. Let me read, gloria, the tweet, first of all. Once again, to our viewers. President saying, no tapes, no recordings of his conversations with comey. Even though hes the one in early may in a separate tweet who raised the possibility of records recordings or tweets. Whooe heres what he posted with all of the electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking, and illegal leaking of information, i have no idea whether there are tapes or recordings of my conversations with james comey, but i did not make and do not have any such recordings. As i say, he said the other day were going to be disappointed, the news media, when he tells us if there are recordings because we would have liked to have had those recordings, presumably. This is the president who raised this possibility, and it was seen initially as a threat to comey, you better shut up because there could be recordings. Maybe thats what it was. I mean, you have to ask the question, why did the president tweet this in the first place . Was it as a threat to comey, or maybe theres another possibility. Does he believe hes actually being secretly recorded in his own white house . Recorded by Law Enforcement . We dont know the answers to those questions. The third thing to think about here is as were looking at this empty podium is the president once again believes hes his own best spokesman. He didnt have his press people release this. He released this. The timing, of course, coincides with a briefing that we will not be able to see on camera because he once again wants to be his own spokesman here. And heres the tweet let me put it up again, in early may that the president initially posted. This is the tweet. Lets get it up on the screen now. There you see. It james comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press hes the one who raised this first, and its now taken well over a month to get a final answer from the president. In his new tweet, i did not make and do not have any such recordings. Look, he was incredibly frustrated. We know that he doesnt maybe always use the take a deep breath and count to ten rule before he uses social media. He at the time, the context is he had seen probably a story out there not long before he sent that tweet that, you know, talked about a private conversation that he had with james comey. Sarahs right. And we were talking about this. That because he didnt kind of withhold his own emotions and anger and frustration, okay, people get frustrated, its understandable, but he didnt stop doing it on twitter. You have comey testifying publicly that the reason he got his memos out there was a direct reaction to that tweet. He said, oh, theres the president , you know, basically threat earning me. I better threatening me. I better get my side out first. Then the domino effect has just continued over and over and over again. Called selfsabotage. Exactly. He could have clarified this a long time ago, right after that initial tweet of his and said, you know what, there are flow recordings. Its taken all this time. Why do you think its taken so long for the president of the United States to say no tapes . I feel like he thinks this is in the best interests of people to keep them waiting and keep them intrigued. Its almost a concept he perhaps picked up from being a in reality television. Suggests to some that he doesnt grasp the seriousness of what this concern was. I think he could have made it clear as quickly as possible when he mutt it out that when he put it out that that perhaps was not the best thing to do. Thats not something he has a track record of doing. It will be interesting to see what changes come from here, from his Communications Department after he see thats this perhaps was not received he sees that this perhaps was not received as well as it could have been. Hes never going to see that. Donald trump doesnt admit that it was a mistake. As dana and sarah pointed out, this original tweet led to a whole chain of events that have not, one would argue, worked in the president s favor because of the appointment of a special counsel. I dont think donald trump will ever say, oh, i made a mistake. In fact, i think hes revel iin in this, to a certain degree raising the prospect that perhaps he is being taped in the Oval Office Given the number of intercepts that had been publicly repealed. I think the no idea part of the tweet is worth paying attention to. I think he made it clear, he said, i didnt record it, and i dont have any tapes, but i have no idea if tapes exist which implies that perhaps someone else could have them. We dont know now. Can i say given the number of Unanswered Questions we have from this white house, of this white house about all things that and other issues that the president has thrown out there and not followed up on, i have to admit i was kind of expecting the week to end without the answer on whether or not he did the tapes. He actually did decide to tweet it. And so, you know, we can cross this off the long list of Unanswered Questions that we have. His lawyer, a private lawyer, said over the weekend there would be an announcement on the tapes by the end of the week. And sean spicer said something similar. I want to bring in evan perez, justice correspondent. What are they saying there about the original trump tweet which was seen at least by some as a veiled, maybe not so thinly veiled threat to comey to shut up . Well, you know, wolf, part of the issue here is that if there were the president raised the possibility that there were these tapes, it created a legal issue for him. He has to he would have to turn that over obviously to any investigation that is ongoing. Certainly the members of congress had already written letters to the white house asking for those tapes to be turned over if they existed or anything that memorialized the conversations. Certainly robert mueller, special counsel, would want to have access to those. Those are government records. Theyre supposed to be preserved, and they need to be turned over because there is an ongoing investigation. So i think the reason why you heard jay sekulow bring this up and sort of address this in past few days is simply because they were under some kind of legal pressure there that they had been created, frankly, by the president s own tweet. And really the other important part of what has happened now is that with the president s clarification today, is that essentially this means that its his word versus the word of james comey, right . Were not going to have some kind of neutral party here which is in a recording that really could that really put to the final end here what happened in those conversations. Thats an important thing because it makes it so much harder for investigators. Both in Robert Muellers special counsels office, and also in the senate and the house which are also doing their own investigations for us to get to know what exactly happened in those interactions. We have done, evan, several of freedom of information requests to various Government Agencies including the secret service asking if there are tapes, and tell our viewers, i think all came back in recent days and said they have no no recording devices there. They have no recording devices. Thats what they came back. It wasnt a surprise, per se, because everybody seemed to be completely flummoxed when the president raised this issue in the first place with his tweets. It wasnt a shocker that they tweeted, the secret service had no record of it, none of the other agencies could say they had anything like this. If there was some kind of recording, it would have personally perhaps been made by the president using his phone or perhaps some kind of tape device which we know hes used in the past. During his private sector days. So thats the way it stood. And it was a matter of time for him to have to either put up or shut up about the recordings because it was a big, big part of this investigation now if there were if there were recordings of them. When you say put up or shut up, tomorrow is the deadline. The House Intelligence Committee had asked for any recordings if there are recordings by tomorrow, right . Right. There were deadlines put forward by these committees. Again, these are committees that are chaired by republicans. Its not like just democrats are hunting and asking for things. The president created this uncertainty, and so the committees which are chaired by republicans wanted access to that information. I want to go sara murray at the white house. Youre in the Briefing Room. Theyre going to be forcing our cameras soon to stop live coverage of the Upcoming Press briefing thats about to begin. The Deputy Press Secretary about to brief reporters on this and the Health Care Bill that the republicans introduced in the senate. But youre getting more reaction to the final word from the president. Ill put it up again, his tweet he just posted. Let me read it for viewers who may be tuning in. With all of the recently reported Electronics Surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, i have no idea whether there are tapes or recordings of my conversations with james comey, but i did not make and do not have any such recordings. What additional reaction are you getting . I think one of the things were hearing, one of the things my colleague, jeff zeleny, is hearing is this was a misstep by President Trump to suggest that these tapes existed and to sort of leave that notion hanging out there for so long. This is also what weve been hearing from others close to the president who have suspected for weeks that these tapes dont exist. That the president essentially put this out there, friends of his believe, to try to intimidate james comey. To try to get him to tell the truth, in the president s view. And james comey eventually went and testified under oath about his conversations with the president. He provided a number of details from the memos he kept. And he said all of this was a result of the president s tweets, a result of that notion that there may be tapes of their conversations. There are many people close to the president who feel like this was not a great move on his part. They feel like it was a mistake. They feel like in many ways he misjudged the environment he was in. He was acting like a businessman approaching a lawsuit where he was now the president of the United States dealing with an investigation that was being overseen by the fbi as well as a number of committees in congress. I think there is a bit of dissatisfaction from some of trumps allies. Im willing to bet that we will not see the president out there saying that this was a misstep or saying this was a mistake. He does not tend to do that. Obviously well see what Sara Huckabee sanders says, but that will not be a reaction were expecting to get on camera today. Heres what intrees me. I intrigues me. I want to get your reaction. If you read the tweet he says, i have no idea pregnanter th whether there are tapes or recordings of my tapes with james comey, but i did not make such recordings, he has had weeks to look at this. Hes the commander in chief and president of the United States. And he action angeknowledges no no idea if there are recordings or tapes . That sounds strange to me. Reporter it is a bit strange. Luckily for the president , a number of News Organization vs. Done some of the legwork on his behalf and gone to a number of Government Agencies and said, hey, do you know of any recording systems in the white house . Any new recording systems installed . Are you aware of any . One of the requests went to the secret service. They responded by saying, no, weve not aware of any new taping systems. I think maybe the president leaves the door open to the fact that i guess comey could have been recording his side of the conversation. Obviously in some ways he did. He reported them in memos. But there dont seem to be tapes of the interactions. I think there is another instance of the white house essentially not getting to the bottom of something they dont want to talk about anymore. Weve seen it over and over in these briefings, them punting questions they dont want to answer. Stand by. The Deputy White House press secretary is about to begin unfortunately, theyre not going to allow any of the Cable News Networks to broadcast it live. We would, of course, taken that live. They will later allow us to air some of the audio of this briefing, but no video. For some reason they decided the American Public should not be able to get reaction to this tweet from the president about no tapes or reaction to the Senate Republican Health Care Bill which has just been released. Well get back to you shortly. I want to bring in laura coates, our cnn legal analyst. It all started early may with that original tweet when the president said, you know, comey better hope there are no tapes before he leaks information to the press. We do know that. We know that set the ball in motion at that point for james comey to in the middle of the night begin to remember that he had memos of his own that could verify his recollection of what he talked to the president of the United States about which then set in motion the appointment of a special counsel. And so when the president made the statements, i know the assumption is that social media is not somehow a president ial statement, perhaps shouldnt be taken that way. In fact, it was the most president ial and led to a turn of events that has placed the magnifying glass of the russian collusion investigation squarely on top of the president. And his statements about there not being tapes, i dont think its a big surprise to many that there may not have been tapes. Hes been hedging for a long time. But the shock of it is the lack of foresight and wherewithal to understand what the role of that statement may have been in the overall investigation that was already ongoing in terms of the russian counter espionage attacks. Going to be a lot more on this story developing. Certainly more reaction coming in throughout the day. The president tweeting, i did not make, do not have any such recordings of his conversations with the fired fbi director, james comey. Were going to get back to all of you. I want to turn to the other big story were following right now health care. The republican bill is now officially out. Republican leadership in the senate. They have finally revealed their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act. The plan has been shrouded in secrecy and drafted behind closed doors. Now its out in the open. So let the debate begin. When legislation does come to the floor, it will present the Senate Democrats with another opportunity to do whats right for the American People. They can choose to keep standing by as the failing law collapses and hurts more americans, but i hope they will join us instead to bring relief to families who struggled under obamacare for far too long. Either way, either way its time to act. Simply put, this bill will result in higher costs, less case, and millions of americans will lose their health insurance. Particularly through medicaid. Its every bit as bad as the house bill. In some ways, its even worse. The president said the senate bill needed heart. The way this bill cuts health care is heartless. Were going to get reaction to the Republican Health care bill in a moment. First, lets take a closer look at whats in the socalled discussion draft released by Senate Republicans. Joining us from new york are cnn money Senior Writer tammy lubee. What are the highlights . Whats in and out of this bill . The bill largely mirrors whats in the house bill. It eliminates the individual mandate. It suspends funding for planned parenthood for a year. That was all in the house bill, as well. But there are some significant changes. It maintains the cutting the deep cutting. Medicaid. However, it would extend medicaid funding for the expansion population for one year, and then it would phase down the funding more slowly over sleethree years instead of steep cliff. Thats going to be a plus for some moderates. Whats really also going to hurt a lot of krvconservatives, they going to be unhappy, because it keeps the obamacare subsidies largely in place. The house wanted to convert it to agebased subsidies. The Senate Continues to make it a more income based and geographicbased subsidy. The conservatives are not going to be happy about that. Some of the moderates will be happy about that. On preexisting conditions, it maintains some more of the obamacare protections for preexisting conditions. Those who have the conditions will not have to pay more for their health insurance. However, they may find that they cant get comprehensive policies because the plan would allow states to waive out of whats called the essential Health Benefits which requires insurers to cover ten essential Health Benefits such as medications and hospitalizations and other things that are important to people who need medical care. All right. Theres a lot we need to unpack from all of this. Were going to be doing that here not only this hour but throughout the day and evening, the days and weeks to come, as well. Tami, thank you very much for that reporting. Lets get reaction now from capitol hill to all of the late breaking developments. Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal of connecticut is joining us now. He serves on the Senate Judiciary committee. Senator, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. Good to be with you. So lets get to the one breaking news development. Minutes ago we did hear from the president in this tweet that as far as he knows there are no recordings, no tapes of his conversations with the fired fbi director, james comey, there you see it right there with all of the recentlyrected electronic recently released Electronics Surveillance saying, i have no idea whether there are tapes or recordings of my conversations with james comey, but i did not make and do not have any such recordings. Whats your reaction . As well thethere are v been have been a lot of surreal and strange comments from donald trump since he became president , but he seems to outdo himself. This certainly is at the top of the list. The recent certainly is that he is the commander in chief, as you observed earlier in this show. He has access to all of the most sophisticated Electronics Surveillance and monitoring equipment in the world. The Intelligence Community can certainly tell him whether there have been any kind of electronic surveillance of him since hes been in the white house and perhaps before. So to say he has no idea is absolutely preposterous and really an insult to the intelligence of the American People. I called for a subpoena of these tapes by the Intelligence Committee some time ago. Unfortunately it wasnt done. The special prosecutor may issue subpoenas simply to verify whether or not there are any tapes because the president saying he has no idea simply is not enough. Some have suggested that that original tweet the president posted in early may in effect warning comey dont leak information because you better hope there are no tapes, theyve suggested that could have been witness intimidation on the part of the president. Do you believe that . It certainly smacks of intimidation and threats. When it was issued at the time, in the context, involves potential intimidation and is part of a larger unfolding obstruction of justice case that no doubt the special prosecutor is investigating actively. Hell have to consider that tweet as so many other tweets will be relevant, too. You said on cnn last night, senator, that you think there may have been others at the white house involved in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. I want you to elaborate. What did you mean by that . There are a variety of staff at top levels but also at lower levels in the white house, who may have been involved in conversations with each other or with the president about the conversation with comey to let flynn go, or the conversation with comey, as well, asking for a pledge of loyalty. These kind of conversations need not involve knowledge about the whole scope of the potential conspiracy but simply a part of it. The law of conspiracy is very broad. A coconspirator need not know the full scope of the conspiracy or all of the action thats are taken. Actions that are taken. Or with donald trump or members of his staff. So the law of conspiracy and the fact that the special prosecutors investigating is very important. Senator, i want you to stand by for a moment of weve got sara murray, our White House Correspondent in the White House Briefing room right now. I just want you to explain why unfortunately were not going to be able to show the White House Briefing live to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Reporter we are now about two minutes away from the White House Briefing. We just got the announcement over the loud system. Again, this is an offcamera briefing, something that the Trump Administration is doing with frequency in a way that we did not see in previous administrations. Normally someone would stand at the podium to my left. They would brief the American Public. It would be on camera. It would be on the record, and wed be able to bring it to you live. Thats not the case under this administration. We are expecting Sara Huckabee sanders to come out. We are expecting to get audio from the briefing. Its going to be embargoed until after its over. That means there will be no live coverage for us to bring you. Again, this isnt there is breaking tradition. Its something new. Huckabee is coming out now. Unfortunately, you saw Sara Huckabee sanders walk up to the lectern at the podium. The white house rules are that none of the cable nor broadcast networks are allowed to carry this briefing even though its a briefing thats very, very important on a day where theres a new Republican Health care bill that affects tens of millions of americans out there. Onesixth of the economy. A day when the president tells the world that as far as he knows there are no tapes or recordings of his conversations with james comey. Unfortunately, the white house wont allow us to bring that briefing to our viewers here in the United States and around the world live. Well get audio of it later. Well get a report of the briefing but cant show it live. Its strange to me, especially as a former White House Correspondent, why an important day like this they dont want the American Public to see this live. Those are the white house rules that cnn, fox news, msnbc, cspan, all of the broadcast networks, abc, nbc, cbs, we all have to live with those white house rules. Lets hope they change the rules. Let me get a Quick Reaction from senator blumenthal. Whats your reaction to this decision by the white house that we cant show the American Public this briefing live . I never thought, wolf, in america that i would see broadcast news excluded from a White House Briefing. Im in total disbelief and shock, not just as a public official but as a citizen. Frankly, theres a pattern of secrecy and concealment here in this white house, secret conversatio conversations, conversations with diplomats and bankers. Frankly, the Health Care Plan which was shrouded in secrecy. We now know why they were probably ashamed and embarrassed about it. With this pattern is so but this pattern of secrecy is so antithetical to american values. I want to say that as a citizen and as a public official, that when the history of this area is written, the free press and independent judiciary will go down as our heroes because theyve tried to the secret dealings with the russians and the emoluments and payments going to governments. We know so much simply because the free press, including cnn, has been so dogged and determined to get the truth to the American People. Senator, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. Let me bring back our panel, globia borger, our chief political analyst, with us. Our chief political correspondent, dana bash, cnn politics reporter, eugene scott. Also join us, justice correspondent evan perez. I want to quickly get your reaction, all of us are journalists. Weve worked covering the white house over the years. Its pretty surprising. There are gag else that they do at the white house that are off camera, usually in the press secretarys office where they want to review certain issues. When the press secretary goes into the Briefing Room where there are a lot of cameras, usually almost always they allow us to take that live if we want to. You know, the press secretary and the staff of the white house work for the American Public. The job of the press secretary is to tell the American Public what the president is thinking. And what the white house is thinking. Today, as you point out, is a heavy news day. I would say that just minutes before this briefing was originally scheduled to begin, the president tweeted about the tapes. And i think that that leads us to believe that the only person who can speak on camera perhaps for this white house is now donald trump himself. And perhaps thats the way he wants it. There are important stories here. The tape story is an important story since the president over a month ago said pra month ago th perhaps there were tapes. Now weve learned there werent. Theres a new Conspiracy Theory started by the president regarding the tapes because he implied unless theres another taping system that i dont know about. And we have a Health Care Bill that is important to millions, as you point out, that has been produced by the senate. I think the American People deserve to see what the white house is saying about it from that podium. They certainly do. And you know, im wondering were being watched not only in the United States but around the world, what viewers in europe or asia or africa or south america are saying who have always looked up to the United States as a home of the free press. Theyre wondering what is going on. Or countries where you have leaders that are rightly berated by our state department and former president s for backsliding on a free press, who are looking at what we showed there which was pretty remarkable. If we can kind of think about the imagery that we showed on cnn. Sarair isara murray doing a liv. The press secretary walk information to talk to the podium, in which we usually stop to listen, and were cut off. Weve covered the white house. There have been many, many times where there have been offcamera briefings. Thats okay. But not at the expense of and in lieu pretty much across the board of oncamera briefings. Its not about whining, its been television production. It is about transparency, end of story. Your reaction, eugene . Yeah. My first thought is that many of the questions that journalists ask the Trump Administration in these brief regulars questions that the American People asking them. Theyve contacted us directly via social media. We get questions all the time in our tweets, ask this, ask that. We have an administration led by a man who said he enjoys social media because it allows him to get directly to the voters. This press briefing is another opportunity to get directly to the voters. Him not allowing us to show people who are watching, hoping to hear from his administration what he has to say about all of these issues we were hear about today harms him more than it helps him. It does come on the day when the republicans have finally released their Health Care Bill. I want to get to that in a moment. Let me let me evan perez, justice correspondent, weigh in. It was the president in theficial tweet back in may, what, six weeks or so ago, where he raised the possibility of tapes. In this tweet as weve been pointing out, hes saying, i have no idea whether there are tapes or recordings of my conversations with james comey, but i did not make or do not have any such recordings. As glorias saying, is he raising the possibility of another conspiracy out there against him . I think hes trying to have fun with us, wamolf. He knows that this is the kind of thing that will keep us coming back. This is like a Reality Tv Show and so the president wants us to keep coming back i guess for the next episode. Thats whats happening. I dont think theres another recording system. Certainly james comey, the fbi director, indicated that heeft the interactions and immediately tried to memorialize them in these memos that hes since shared. Thats the only way we know what might have happened is from those conversations and if the president ever gives under oath a response to that and is ever questioned by the committees on the hill or by the fbi and robert mueller, the special counsel. Those are thats how well get to the bottom of what exactly happened, whether or not the firing of james comey thats really the big question here. Thats what the tweet was about. Whether or not the firing of james comey was an attempt to interfere with an ongoing fbi investigation, thats something that is still very much ripe in the air for us to answer. The president basically today is telling us that its going to be his word versus the whether or not theres any other proof that the fbi is able to cobble together. I think theres also a question now that the president says there are no tapes that he knows of, was that tweet an effort to intimidate comey . It had the absolutely opposite effect effect, one would argue, because it led to the chain of events to the special counsel, but it the tweet an intimidation of the former fiber director . We have former fbi director . We have breaking news. A senate gop source says at least three republican senators are expected to publicly oppose the Senates Health care proposal later today. As you know, there are 52 republicans, 48 democrats. 46 democrats, two independents, who side with the democrats. If they lose three, the republicans, no democrats are going from to vote for this Republican Health care bill. Its over at least for now. Its over. Thats right. Ive been looking at my phone, forgive me, trying to report on this. Phil mattingly got this reporting. We might hear from these three even potentially in a group very, very soon. Like the next half hour or so to know whats going on. Well know more about how to interpret the opposition then. But assuming it is conservatives which we beliet is conservatives, the question is going to be whether they are not gettable or whether they are this is a smart tactic. Its not just the bill take it or leave it. There are going to be amendments during the debate process next week, and the question is whether or not the people who are opposed, never mind the people on the fence, the people saying, huhuh, can be brought to yes with any kind of changes that will not end up losing the moderates on the other side of the republican spectrum. Its interesting because by our reporting, we have about 12 republican senators who its unclear where eventually they stand. There you see them up there, some moderate republicans, some conservative republicans. For different reasons, theyre on the fence. A Senate Republican source telling us at least three republican senators are expected to publicly oppose the Senates Health care proposal later today. As dana says, it could be very, very soon. If they stick to that, at least for now, its over even though the house passed a Health Care Bill. If the senate doesnt do the same, it dies at least for the time being. Absolutely. Frankly, its not that suppliesing considering whats come surprising considering whats come out of the bill. There are things that conservative lawmakers wanted that the bill doesnt meet. And weve heard complaints say that its too close to obamacare for those who want to see a complete repeal of obamacare. I think whats also interesting is this isnt a new argument. This is what people have been saying in the more conservative components of the Republican Party for months since weve been talking about this. Can i say for people maybe watching, looking at the screen, trying to figure out what at least three republican senators means. The math is that the republicans can only lose two and still get the bill passed if they lose two, it would be 50 50. The Vice President mike pence, he would break the tie, and it would pass. If they lose three, its over. Exactly. You know, you have the conservatives saying, wait a minute, this is too much like obamacare. We dont want anything that resembles obamacare. Then the moderates are worried about medicaid for their constituents who use this Medicaid Expansion in their states, who say we need it. Its difficult to figure out how you get around that, at least how you get around that in four or five days, and this is all before, of course, we get the cost estimates on what this bill is going to cost and how many people would be left uninsured. And remember, just tactically, politically, philosophically, if you have these conservatives who we believe are likely to come out, the rand paul, mike lee, ted cruzes of the world, we dont know what theyre going to say, but assuming it is on the conservative side of the Republican Party, they dont feel like they have anything to lose. Sure. They have enough of a reservoir with conservatives as people who have fought the fight to repeal obamacare, and if they go to constituents and say i didnt do this because it didnt do what we promised it would do, its hard to imagine them not feeling the heat from people in their states. Unlike moderates they may feel vulnerable. The moderates do feel vulnerable. They do having to lose like dean heller of nevada, for example. Theyre going to oppose it for different reasons. Theyre going to be out on the line. And their constituents are saying we need this, we need this medicaid money. One factor that is involved in all of this, ive been told by rare yours republicans, they various republicans, they were caught by surprise when the president the other day, e jeug, said that the bill that passed the house and was championed in the rose garden at the white house by the president , president later told Senate Republicans that was a mean bill. He used the word mean, and said publicly last night, earlier he said privately, the senates got to spend some more money. They have to have heart in their legislation, in their bill. And that was not very satisfactory to a bunch of republicans wondering well, where exactly does the president stand, can they rely on him. Not thea all. This press conference would have been a perfect opportunity for the white house to explain what the president meant exactly, what he would have wanted to see in this bill to make it less mean. We know that chuck shurms thinks what is represent Chuck Schumer thinks what is represent sudden meaner than what the president saw. What the republicans are doing to make changes is not yet clear. But its very clear, i think, that it wont happen by july 4th. Can i just Say Something this white house has essentially ced ceded everything to congress. When you look at what happened on the Health Care Bill in the house written by paul ryan, et cetera, the president got involved in the late stages of i it. You look at this bill, white house staffers only went to the hill to be briefed on it last night. This president has ceded an awful lot of authority to the leaders of congress on the major substantive issues that he ran on, and we dont know if hell be that way on immigration, for example. But as it pertains to health care reform, this is a huge matter, and it has been written behind closed doors in the senate, not by the white house, not with input from the white house so far. Well see what happens after. My understanding is that that is very much by design, that mitch mcconnell, the republican majority leader said, mr. President , white house, weve got this one. Let us take care of this one. Its the house got mucked up. Thats right. Its interesting to me that ran as a strong leader, strong executive, has essentially said to the congress, you do this. You do this. I dont want to get involved until i absolutely have to. Go ahead. I think whats odd is that people in trumps base, they look at the leaders in the Republican Party and say those are our people, those arent the people that are going to put forth the agenda that you campaigned on that we voted for. Theyre looking at this guy who they thought would take over the white house and advocate for them, and hes passing the ball to people who make them go hes not one of us. Ryans not one of us. Mitch mcconnell is not one of us. Trump, what are you doing to us . The people who put you there . The when the president says he wants this Health Care Bill to have more heart, spend some more money, dont worry about it, it reminded me during the campaign, you remember this, he often would say, im not going to cut Social Security. Im not going to cut medicare, and im not going to cut medicaid. This bill, the republican bill in the house, republican bill in the senate, does cut medicaid. I think we have a clip from the campaign. Let me play that clip. As i recall, the president often said, i know this will irritate, this will irritate some of my base, this will irritate some conservatives, but the president said this is what i believe, that medicare, medicaid, Social Security, should not be touched. Well get that clip. You remember that . I absolutely remember that. I remember doing an interview with donald trump almost two years ago, that was a big part of his discussion. Him saying that, he used to say, im not going to throw people on the streets. People were probably some of the people in the Republican Base arent going to like that. And then he built on that notion throughout the campaign saying im not going to cut entitlements. Tweeted, saying im the only one on the stage the day after a debate promising not to cut entitlements. Whether he knew it in his gut or had the sense or somebody explained the demographics, it turned out that a lot of the people who rely on those kind of government benefits come from trump country. Yeah. Right. I have the clip. Let me play the clip now. Then well continue this. Watch. Save medicare, medicaid, and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it. [ applause ] get rid of the fraud. Get rid of the waste and abuse. But save it. People have been paying in for years, and now many of these candidates want to cut it. Im not going to cut Social Security like every other republican. And im not going to cut medicare or medicaid. Every other republican is going to cut. Even if they wouldnt, they dont know what to do because they dont know where the money is. I do. You weheard him. He said it he has a haerkear and hes not going to throw people on the street. You see whats happening with the Health Care Bills which have, you know, states could have opted in or out of medicaid subsidies. And now this Senate Version that gets phased out by the year 2021, that is what is giving some moderates real heartburn here. They know how much their constituents depend on medicaid. So i think if you look at it as a president ial promise, youd have to say, well, broken. What we dont know because were not watching this presser is whether the president believes the senate bill does have enough heart for him. Maybe the white house doesnt know the answer now because they just saw this version last night. Were not knowing the answers to these questions. Hopefully well get them later. We are being told that later one of the senators who will come out and oppose the current republican draft that was released today in the senate is senator rand paul of kentucky. Ly doesnt like it. Yeah. That is not a surprise. He has said he you cant get him to yes on this. No matter what they brought out of that room, given the fact that he had a pretty good idea of what the broad parameters are. Rand paul was already going to be a no. I dont know that hes ever going to be gettable. Presumably if hes joining up with people, hes not joining up with people in the left of his party. Hes joining up with people who are more of his sort of philosophical comrades in arms, which are republicans excuse me, which are the true conservatives. The ones who think its too much like obamacare. Right. Everybody, stand by. Theres more breaking news coming into cnn. Weve got to take a quick break. Well resume all of our special coverage right after this. Im ryan and i quit smoking with chantix. I tried to quit cold turkey. I tried to quit with the patch; that didnt work. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. For me, chantix worked. It reduced my urge to smoke. 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The White House Press briefing has just wrapped up. The reason we werent able to watch it live here on cnn or on any of the other Cable News Networks or broadcasts is because the white house decided to bar the news media from airing the briefings live for the American Public for people who may be watching around the world as well. The white house has, however, now given us permission to air audio, audieno only, from the briefing now that its over. Heres the white house Deputy Press Secretary. This morning, the Senate Released a discussion draft of its healthcare bill. The president looks forward to seeing a finalized bill on his desk so that we can finally repeal and replace obamacare before it completely collapses. Just yesterday, at insurer announced that its pulling out of obamacare. Anthem is leaving the exchanges in indiana, the state in which the company was actually born, and is currently head quartered. And also in wisconsin. Finally, i want to welcome Alex Pfeiffer to his first White House Briefing. Alex is young, so he may need some help from a few of his colleagues to help him with this process. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, ill take your questions. Im just curious about the president s revelations by way of twitter that he has no knowledge of any tapes, doesnt have any tapes, doesnt have possession of any tapes. What can you tell the American People about why he decided to sort of make the inference, at least, at some point, that maybe there would be tapes . Look, i think the president s statement via twitter today is extremely clear. I dont have anything to add beyond the statement. Can i follow up really quickly on the wall. I was at the rally last night, the president seemed to get great reaction to the idea that the wall was moving forward, and he mentioned the possibility of solar as a means to not only pay for the wall itself but also to enhance the wall. Can you sort of help me unpack that idea. Is this something that hes been kicking around for quite some time . He said it was the first time hed made it publicly known. I think its something hes considering, certainly nothing final, but just an idea that he is considering and reviewing. Nothing more than that at this point. I have a Health Care Question but i just want to follow up on kevins questions on the tapes situation. I get that the tweet is speaking for itself but im curious why it took so long, 41 days, for this to be laid to rest. The president is recording any oval office conversations. You guys asked for an answer. He gave you one. He said he would have have it to you by the end of this week, which he did and beyond timing of that, i cant speak anything further. And on the Oval Office Recordings. I think his statement is pretty clear. Im asking more generally. Not aware. No Oval Office Recordings that youre aware of. Not that im aware of. Is the president confident that he will have something to sign in the next few weeks . I dont think were as focused on the time line as we are on the final product. Were looking for the best bill possible, and were going to continue being part of Technical Assistance and providing that with both house and Senate Members as we work to get the best bill we can. And on that final product, the Senate Bill Analysis so far cuts medicaid, it doesnt look like it will cut deductibles for folks. Does that have enough heart . Does the president think that is a bill that is not mean . I havent had that conversation but i know he made a statement earlier that said this is a negotiation so hes going to continue that process with both house and Senate Members and his administration until we get the best bill that we can. So sarah, what was the president doing with this . He let it go on for 41 days as hallie referred to. That tweet 41 days ago seemed to be, you know, very kind of ominous message to comey, he better hope there are no tapes. And then he was asked repeatedly during the intervening weeks whether or not the tapes existed. You were asked many times. Sean was asked. Why why the game . What was he what was he doing . I dont know that it was a game. Again, hes answered the question. He gave a time line and the frame that which he would and he did that. He said by the end of this week and hes done that. But do you have a sense for what was behind the original suggestion from him 41 days ago that there may be tapes . Look, i think it was pretty clear in that original statement that he hoped for his sake and that was, i think, the very intention, and hes laid out his position on whether or not he personally was involved in that in his tweet today. Thank you, sarah. Back to the original tweet. Did the president intend to threaten james comey with that tweet . Not that im aware of. I dont think so. And so why, again, why was deadline to be this week to clear it up . I mean, that was has been laid out, i believe, also by congress. They wanted an answer by the end of this week. Peter. Sarah, if i can, the tweet ultimately, according to james comey, led him to share the memos publicly, which led to the hiring of the special counsel, robert mueller, which ultimately led to the reports the president himself is being investigated for possible obstruction of justice. Does the president regret the tweet . I dont think so. Broadly, he said you cant say whether theres any Oval Office Recordings but he did say that i did not make and do not have any such recordings. Did he ever have recordings of conversations with james comey . Again, not that im aware of. On health care, the president said when he first became a candidate, he tweeted the republicans who want to cut Social Security and medicaid are wrong. A robust economy will make America Great again. So if cutting medicaid was wrong when he was a candidate, why is it right in the new Republican Senate bill . I dont believe that the president has specifically weighed in that its right to cut medicaid. I know one of the big parts of discussion is giving states flexibility, and again, the president hasnt weighed in specifically on any specific measure in this bill. And as he said earlier today, this is a negotiation between the house and the senate and were going to play a part in that. To be clear, the president stimbelieves im sorry, guys. One at a time. Does the president still believe as he did as a candidate that there should be no cuts to medicaid . I havent had a specific conversation to see if theres an update to that but i do know that he wants to protect that as much as possible. David. What will the white house be doing with the senate as this Health Care Bill moves forward. You mentioned technical shings. What does that entail. I know members of omb, treasury, and certainly members of the hhs and senior staff have been involved in the process. Theyre going to continue to do that. This has been one of those things where, from the very beginning, weve wanted all the stakeholders involved and were going to continue to do that until we get the best piece of legislation. Will the president be involved or is he going to wait for the conference committee. I know hes been involved by having members of his administration. I think it would be hard to deny the fact that theyre an extension of the administration when you have cabinet secretaries and staffers that are in meetings and conversations regarding the legislation. Sarah, 12 days ago the president announced the press conference in two weeks on these antiisis can we expect a press conference in the coming days. I wanted to ask about some of the reaction from the left that weve seen this week. Im sure its friendly. Well, our microphones caught a woman who was dragged off from mcconnells office this morning. She was screaming, my child is going to die, and my family is going to die. And they dont give a damn about it. Senator chris murphy said the democrats are going to lie down on the train tracks to stop this bill. What do you make of all that . Whats your reaction to it . I certainly think that not just republicans but i think any american would certainly not support something that allows a child to die and the goal is, again, to look for the best health care possible that actually provides care, not just gives insurance, but actually provides care. Thats been a goal from the Administration Front end and were looking for ways to do that. Right now, we know obamacare is not sustainable. It is literally collapsing under itself. Providers are pulling out every single day, out of states. We are down to multiple counties that dont have providers, and we are working day in, day out to make sure we have the best piece of legislation possible. If democrats really cared, they would try to be in on the process. They said from day one that they didnt want to be in the conversation if it had anything to do with repealing or replacing obamacare. I think that its sad that theyve chosen to play partisan politics instead of trying to have a seat at the table. The Intelligence Community has concluded that the dnc hack was part of a russian plot to disrupt and influence the 2016 election. Im wondering after the president s tweet this morning, why does he continue to dispute that finding and call the hack a hoax . And then a followup to that. I believe that the president said even back in january and ill read the statement from then, that he thinks its a disgrace, thinks its an absolute disgrace. As far as hacking from russia but i think we also get hacked by other countries and other people. I think hes made it clear and been consistent that while everyone agrees the result of the election wasnt influenced, he thinks that it probably was russia and i think that regardless, President Trump has made it clear that we have to protect the integrity of the electoral system. Thats one of the reasons hes a vo strong advocate for voter i. D. Laws and why hes also put in place a Voter Integrity Commission chard by the Vice President which i think shows the level of importance hes placed on that to make sure that the integrity of all of our elections, particularly moving forward, are as sound and correct as possible. So then, thank you, just a broader followup on that. So, like i said, this morning, he called the hack a hoax. He hasnt accepted the popular vote tallies and touting job numbers that he used to call fake. He wont tell us where he stands on Climate Science so im wondering why does the president choose to accept certain facts but dispute and reject others. Im not aware that he accepts certain facts. I think we accept all the facts. Popular vote totals, Climate Science, you still havent told us where he stands. The president won the election. I dont know why we have to continue debating this. The democrats lost because they didnt have a message. They had a poor candidate. We had a message and the president won. Im not really sure what fact were dispute hearing. Theres only one wi