Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20170630 : vimarsana.com

President trump spoke in the rose garden just a little while ago. President trump saying the art ra of strategic patient with north korea has failed and is now over. Were working closely with south korea and japan as well as partners around the world on a range of differentmatic security and economic measures to protect our allies and our own citizens from this menace known as north korea. The United States calls on other regional powers and all responsible nations to join us in implementing sanctions and demanding that the north korean regime choose a better path and do it quickly. Go to our senior White House Reporter jim acosta. Jim, sounds like the president wants new sanctions, tougher action against north korea right now . Reporter sure sounds like it, wolf. You heard there in the rose garden with the south korean president moon that President Trump is, yes, calling for a tougher stance against north korea, but at this point, the white house, the president , theyre just not outlining exactly what thats going to be. You did hear the president say in the rose garden that the errera of strategic is over and famed. In reference to what he feels was failed Obama Administration policy, essentially what he was saying. Tough frock this president and no specifics in terms what the president would do. We should point out yesterday at the white house, treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin announced new sanctions aimed at a chinese bank driven to put pressure on north korea. They are starting to make moves on that front. You also heard the president say candidly he had a frank discussion with the south korean president about the trade imbalance between the u. S. And south korea, which doubled in the last five years, since the u. S. And south korea embarked on that trade deal. They had a conversation about that as well. Wolf, you know, hanging over everything in the rose garden was obviously the controversy over the president s tweet. He did not take questions. This was not a press conference. Whether or not he would apologize to msnbc tv shoeft mika brzezinsm host Mika Brzezinski. He did not answer. Other questions shouted on this front. Specifically one question about whether or not the white house was in some fashion trying to blackmail or threaten Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough over you know, over their coverage of the president. And so that question was not answered as well. Well have a briefing coming up, and offcamera briefs, at the white house within the next hour or so and i suspect that question will be asked again. Wolf that is off camera. When we get those answers later this afternoon, audio only, woman. And a lot more on this latest development and this whole rift between the president and news media including the anchors over at msnbc. Stand by, jim acourt ta reporting frreport i acosta reporting. Meantime, the north Korean Nuclear threat. Joining us, retired rear admiral john kirby, diplomatic analyst and also a state Department Spokesman and Pentagon Press secretary. Also joininging us, cnn Global Affairs analyst kimberly dozier, Senior National security correspondent for the daily beast. It looks like there could be a different, a significant difference between president moon of south korea and President Trump of the United States over establishing a dialogue with kim jonguns regime . What they have an opportunity to do is set the pattern for a way forward with north korea. Possibly with moon being the good cop, reaching out to north korea, something hes signaled his own people he wants to do. Something he campaigned on, and then you have trump saying, we have military options. But there are no good military options. So i think thats why youre seeing trump finally step up some of the economic measures to lever china into putting more pressure on north korea. I mean, china does 90 or north Christine Romans does 90 of its trade with china. Trump gave them some room to run for a few months and obviously doesnt see behind closed doors or in terms of trade them cutting off the people who are perhaps behind the north korean weapons campaign. This is a very important relationship, the United States and south korea, john, but it was a little awkward today. We heard from the president and from the commerce secretary in an open session. Cameras were there. Some what you could call veil trade threats to south korea from the United States. It was. I thought it was almost an attempt to humiliate the president of south korea. One of our closest partners right there inside the room. Barely starting out on the trade imbalance and tosses to his commerce secretary who tosses it to his chief economic adviser. I thought unnecessarily tough in that setting. How will that play in south korea . I dont think very well. Nobody wants to be humiliated or embarrassed, certainly. You definitely dont want to be humiliated and embarrassed by the president of the United States in the white house and in south korea in particular, very, very jealously guard the closes in of our alines. It wont bide well. And you want these two men, President Trump and president moon to see eyetoeye and have delicate conversations trying to get pyongyang to denuclearize. South korea could be facing a major conflagration from the north if the u. S. Tries to take, decides it needs to take military action. They need to have a strong relationship and i think thats threatened by how it started today. What do you think these latest sanctions against the chinese bank that does business with north korea. That sends one message to china. Also a billion dollarplus arms deal between the United States and taiwan thats deeply irritating the chinese right now as well. Good moves, and the, on north korea, the National Security staff should get credit for the thoughtful approach taken to this problem. It wasnt accidental of the timing of the announcement. Good and sent a strong message to beijing and a strong message hopefully to the republican of korea taking this seriously. The only way talkless work is in the north is proving willing to have them. So far, i dont think you see any indication pyongyang is ready to sit down at any table. They are racing towards longterm Ballistic Nuclear capabilities and not willing to talk about that. And bring in republican congressman will hurd of texas, a member of the House Intelligence Committee and as wells Homeland Security committees a former undercover cia officer. Congressman, thanks for joining us. Wolf, always a pleasure to be on. In join remarks with the south korean president , President Trump said u. S. Patience with the north korean regime is over. He used that word over. What do you think he means why in . More sanctions . Possible military actions . What options does the United States really have . Well i think the president was trying to say all options are on the table. And that were living in a, in a new world, and i think thats the correct move. I think the treasury sanctions against the chirnese banese ban yesterday is also the right move. As the Previous Panel was talking, with 90 of the north korean economy dependent upon china, the fact their Nuclear Weapons program is using loopholes in the tax code and being able to put that continued pressure on china is important and the chinese need to realize that the Strategic Interests of the u. S. And china is actually aligned when it comes to north korea, and i think also the north koreans need to realize that maybe their only way out of this is to engage with the south koreans. We know the south korean president is willing to have talks with north korea. I think this may be an opportunity for the north koreans to realize that they can potentially save face this way, but i think the president has made it very clear that all options are on the table. We see the response in syria after the chemical weapons attack saying if you did this again in syria, we will respond. I think the president and his team has proven theyre willing to act. We heard the phrase burden sharing from President Trump in his remarks with the visiting south korean president today. It seems like a bit of a jab at a key u. S. Ally. What do you think south korea should be doing to halt a threat from north korea . Well, i havent seen just seen a readout of those remarks, and i wouldnt say that burden sharing is a jab at anyone. I think this is a shared problem. North korea is a shared problem between us, south korea and also japan. Our treaties outline this. Earlier in the year, general mattis and secretary tillerson had been out to the region to reaffirm our commitment to those two allies and the burden of deal weigh potentially Nuclear Armed north korea is a burden shared by all of us, and i would include china in all that and china needs to recognize that a Nuclear North Korea is in nobodys interests and having been out to the peninsula recently, and realizing that the north koreans with with normal artillery could kill hundreds of thousands of people in seoul, they could likely already hit our allies like japan or even possibly get to guam and we know kim jongun in north korea will ston p at nothg to keep a hold on that regime and one is getting Nuclear Weapons. So this is a difficult problem but i think the United States, we need to stand tall when it comes to this threat, because if kim jongun gets an icb, willing to put a Nuclear Weapon on top of that, we got to be prepared for his use. Quickly on the notion whats going on in syria. Clearly, u. S. Military action is escalating, designed at least in part to deal with the regime of Bashar Al Assad. Do you believe the president needs congressional authorization, military authorization, for the use of military force right now before the u. S. Escalates its military involvement not only in syria also iraq, afghanistan, given the nature of this war the u. S. Is fighting . I think having those conversations here in congress are definitely important. When you look at the current aumf operating on since 9 11, it deals with terrorism and Bashar Al Assad i think is terrorizing his own people using chemical weapons, but i think its something we need to be clear. B. Willing to use chemical weapons on his own people for dozens of occasions. I think hes a barbarian and has to go. And i think that would require congress playing a role. Very quickly, before i let you go, totally different subject. Im anxious to get your reaction to the president s latest tweets going after the msnbc anchor Mika Brzezinski. When you saw that tweet yesterday, you see the uproar that developed over the past 24 hours. Your reaction . Well, its beneath the stature of the president and its a distraction. We should be talking about our strategy on dealing with north korea. We should be talking about our strat yi on how, what happens, you know, when postisis losing mosul. How do we prevent isis from metastasizing to Northern Africa . We should be talking about what is our counter covert strategy to deal with the russians meddling in our elections and likely attempts in 2018. I think it takes away from that when we have this kind of conversation, the president is clearly not stopping tweeting on that subject. More tweets, a lot more coming up. Congressman will hurd, thank you for joining us. Have a good fourth. You too. Up next two tv hosts claiming threats of a tabloid hit story. Why they say it can be traced back to directly to white house officials. Plus, why the House Intelligence Committee says he my be forced to subpoena evidence from President Trump. Well be right back. Theres nothing more than my vacation. Me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. Booking. Com gets it. And with their price match, i know im getting the best price every time. Now i can start relaxing even before the vacation begins. Your Summer Vacation is very important. Thats why booking. Com has great offers up to 40 off now through july 4th. Find great deals now at booking. Com. Booking. 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Two cable morning hosts targeted by President Trump in an youft ragoutrageous twitter ned, formally hitting back today not only accusing the president of lying and making another stunning allegation that the white house threatened to go after them in a tabloid publication. Listen to this we got a call that, hey, the National Inquirer is going to run a neg tav story againative u guys and it was, donald is friends, President Trump is friends with the owner of the National Enquirer. If you call and apologize to the president , he will call and basically spike this story. I will just say three people at the very top of the administration calling me, and the response was, like are you kidding me . Shortly after that aired, President Trump responded, tweeting this watched lowrated morning joe for the first time in a long time. Fake news. Fake news all in caps. He calm immediate to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no. Bad show. Bring in Brian Stelter and the host of cnns reliable sources. Brian, help us understand exactly what these network hosts are alleging and others involved are now saying. This immediately raises questions about abuse of power, wolf. Suggesting the white house weaponized the national enkwaiorenkwai enquirer. Lately its turned more political and protrump specifically. Because the publisher has been friends with trump for a long time. Theres logic here to what scarborough and brzezinski allege, although no concrete proof. Ive asked scarborough for some of the text messaging he says exists, saying he has proof. So far i havent heard back. One interesting new detail tumming . Nk nbc news, apparently scarborough told as they were hatching. Some ofscarboroughs colleagues knew about it for some months. Thee feel tru they feel trump was trying to punish them and get hem to be nicer to him. What the national enkwquireren says about all this. If it happened he doesnt know it. We have no knowledge of any discussions between the white house and joe and mika about our story and absolutely no involvement in those discussions. Also, we didnt threaten joe or mika, were not involved in this kind of alleged behavior. This is not the first time suggestions that the white house is working behind the xeern he neuter or silence voices on tv but a shocking example today. Just to be precise, brian, the allegation is that white house officials were making this threat to these two anchors. Not the president himself. They didnt speak about this directly with the president . Partly thats whats curious. Scarborough saying white house aides calling, get on the phone with trump, get him on the phone, apologize and that wail hell kill the story. Trump says the opposite in the tweet. Yes, scarborp pscarbipartisan scarborough did call me but i wouldnt do it. Either way, its whether the president tried to weaponize this super market tabloid. Good report. Talk about the serious allegation with our panel. Joining us, cnn political director David Chalian and senior washington correspondent brianna keilar, cnn politics reportser and editor at large with the point on cnn. Com, Chris Cillizza and legal analyst former federal prosecutor laura coates. Laura, serious question. Could this be from a legal perspective an abuse of president ial power . Not as told yet. Not quite there. The reason its so important, brians right. We havent right got to the allegation of actual blackmail. You have a discrepancy whether or not the president himself was involved in some way in knowing about an article in advance and having a hand in either trying to silence it or did he have a hand in actually crafting it with the idea of weaponizing it again to the media . It wouldnt be the first time the president obviously tried to attack the media but would be an odd step giving his track record he essentially tried to punish the media not creating stories in the press but rather trying to suppress them. Inconsistency overall, but right now you have the accusation, what you need legally to push it over that hurdle is you had that intent to actually do that and what was his specific involvement in the crafting of it as a way to wield it against to silence and suppress free speech. David chalian, it takes this whole story that developed yesterday morning to a new level. Certainly does that. Right now were in asaid he said scenario. Joe scarboroughs version of events and the president had a different version of events. That will play out and perhaps well learn more of what the truth is there. What is so, i think, believable is that just from what we know about how President Trump operates, he becomes obsessed with these kinds of things. So you can imagine multiple conversations from three senior white house aides to scarborough saying, if you never mind forget the threat part for a moment. Saying, you know, if you get on the phone and apologize to him it may about good thing. You could easily imagine donald trump saying to his aides, by the way, is scarborough going to apologize or not . You can see why his senior aides would want that to happen to move on to other things. This has happened time and again. I think it does give us a little more insight how donald trump becomes so obsessed and completely focused on things that have absolutely nothing to do with his job. And the tweet from Joe Scarborough, put it up on the screen now. After the story. Hes the one who raised the issue of the National Enquirer on his show. President responded. Then scarborough tweeted, yet another lie. I have xhave texts from your tos and phone records. Those records show i havent spoken with you in many months. And i and that may very well be true. I think its easy to believe that President Trump wanted an apology. Certainly we know he could have sway with the National Enquirer according to another outlet. Not cnn. Jared kushner was one of the one whose relayed something to joe. We know Jared Kushner is owner of the or and i dont think is that out of line with the culture weve seen as some of the president s top aides. My bigger concern, though, is the targeting of the media in, in sort of a larger way. I mean i dont mean to diminish this at all, because i think it must be incredibly frustrating to joe and mika, but it is a bit of an opinion show. And i think sometimes i just the thing that bothers me more is when the president takes aim at what are very clear fakes and calls them fake news and really undercuts the believability of the media when its a very clear fact. Not just a he said he said thing. I think, first of all, i agree with brbryane breanna. He benefits if i laid out the plot line of the last 48 hours, you would be like, i might watch that soap opera. You know . Thats what it feels like. For a person not in washington, they see that and they think, thats exactly what trump was there to clean up. Right . So the details get lost, though they shouldnt. Because the tweets about Mika Brzezinski are deeply inappropriate. Deeply beneath the office of the president and set a terrible example for sort of what we want in our political dialogue. The more this becomes a, well, mika said this, and joe responded this then trump said thisyoure waiting for, i wonder how fridays episode will end . I think it gets us further afield from what was the root of this, which are tweets about a womans appearance. A cyberbullying by the president of the United States. And for the average person i think they just throw their hands up and say, all of these people are the worst. It wouldnt be i agree with you. One of the disturbing things and odd in this case, normally accusing donald trump of attacking the press, and he alone and his perhaps minions if you call them are attacking the press. This would be example, if true, using the press as a con duit another press organization in some way and weaponize within. Make no mistake, im not convinced of a legal issue but its an attack on the first mmdment. Using the concept of free speech suppress people having an opinion. Its very important that the distinctions are made clear from legal abuses to the actual court of Public Opinion sphere and were not there yet. Sorry, david. Go ahead. To your point, benefits him. You mean in his echo chamber . Yes, absolutely. What is clear, theres almost nothing that President Trump has done. Nothing he could do. Over the course of his presidency that benefited him getting big legislative achievements. The guy is between 35 and 40 approval rating. The way hes conducting himself is not benefiting him in terms of his presidency and agenda. Health care bill even more unpopular than they is. I get it benefits him inside with supporters, binary, those people in washington and on tv versus the president , may help in that battle but hes Still Believes independents in the way he had last november and nothing to tredirect them. Every republican comes on this show and other shows are asked about it. You can see how uncomfortable they are. They want to be focused on moving their agenda forward. And they have a side show going on. Like chris explained. And i think there is something to explore when it comes to the Trump Administrations relationship with the media. I think its sort of a bigger conversation than talking just about this drama, and republicans dont want to talk about that. It gets in the way of exactly what they want to do, and they also are in a position of having to sort of tacitly say its okay. Just to kind of go along with it. You hear criticism, but i think actual areally in private you would hear a lot more criticism from them. Theyre in a terrible situation having to put up with stuff they think is ridiculous. And remember, wolf, i mean, this is not a oneoff. Right . He did this not this exact thing as related to Mika Brzezinski. He has said inappropriate things about women, about carly fiorina. Megyn kelly. Blood coming out of her eyes. You know . We didnt think that donald trump was something other than what he is now acting like as president , and thats to yawn bree jaya bree theym as far as their party and cant say in good conscious, we didnt know he would be like this. Paul ryan basically said im not going to work to elect him during the election. People like Barbara Comstock in northern virginia, he should drop out of the race due to the access hollywood you knew what you were getting. This shouldnt be a surprise and a huge problem for republicans to explain. A lot more on this throughout the day. Guise, thanks very much. Brianna keilar, Chris Cillizza, laura coates and David Chalian. After the break, President Trump changing his message in regards to obamacare. What hes now telling republican senators. Thats coming up next. When heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. Finding the best hotel price is now a safe bet. Because tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites so you save up to 30 on the hotel you want. Lock it in. Tripadvisor. Be the you who doesnt cover your moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Be the you who shows up in that dress. Who hugs a friend. Who is done with treatments that dont give you clearer skin. Be the you who controls your psoriasis with stelara® just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. Stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. 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Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids. And these guys. Him. Ah. Oh hello that lady. These houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh. Sure. Still yes you can get it too. Welcome to the party. Introducing gigspeed internet from xfinity. Finally, gig for your neighborhood too. President trump is telling republicans its okay to ditch their plan to replace obamacare. Instead simply worry about a repeal at least for now. The president tweeting this, if republican senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately repeal and then replace at a later date. Cnns ryan nobles joining us from capitol hill. Ryan what are you hearing from republican lawmakers . Do they think this latest move by the president really is a feasible option . Reporter not really, wolf. Especially keep in mind something that was on the table for republicans after taking office in january. They thoroughly debated the idea whether or not to do a separate repeal bill and work on some sort of replacement and outright rejeshgted it. Listen to what one gop aide told our Phil Mattingly saying we did this dance six months ago. We litigated, repealed, delay, replace, thoroughlies president spoke against it. This all might be more helpful if we werent in the late stages of the negotiation. Thats an important point, wolf. This is something the president himself has been opposed to. Listen to what he told 60 minutes back in november. Were going to do it simultaneously. It will be just fine. Not a twoday period or twoyear period where theres nothing. It will be repealed and replaced. Reporter and the president reiterated this point in an interview in the New York Times in january. He consistently has been in the camp of those who believe that repeal and replacement need to happen simultaneously, and now at this late stage, wolf, where Republican Senators May be having difficulty but feel theyre making progress on a bill where they can achieve it, this could make the process even more difficult. Certainly would. Ryan nobles on the hill. Thanks very much. Up next, a star witness is on tap in the russia investigation. Ill speak with congressman eric swalwell, a key member of the Intelligence Committee. Standing there live. What they are heard from the white house and demands of the comey tapes, if there are comey tapes. Stay with us. The sunll come out for people with Heart Failure, tomorrow is not a given. But entresto is a medicine that helps make more tomorrows possible. Tomorrow, tomorrow. I love ya, tomorrow in the largest Heart Failure study ever, entresto helped more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading Heart Failure medicine. 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With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Former obama National Security adviser susan rice agreed testify next month as part of the House Intelligence Committees russia investigation. The Trump Administration claims rice mishandled intelligence tied to possible Trump Campaign ties to russia and denied she didnt anything wrong. Joining us, democrat congressman swalwell. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me back, woman. What do you want to hear from susan rice . Wolf, frankly its not re stroenlt our russia investigation. No evidence she did anything wrong. The white house has the power of declassification if there was something she did wrong, they could show that. They have not. I think its a distraction and we want to make sure we can make sure this doesnt happen again and i dont see how shes relevant to that but its a joint investigation. Kpr compromises need to be made and well get on with it. That she somehow allowed names of u. S. Citizens to be disclosed having conversations with russian officials, and that would be inappropriate. Theres no evidence she did anything inappropriate. It was her role to review intelligence reports and if she needed more information because a u. S. Name was blacked out, then she could request it, if it was for the duties she was performing. If she did that, so that she could better protect the National Security of our country then i think thats just fine. Again, wolf, the white house could have declassified this months ago. They have not. So i think this is just, their efforts to distract from the real situation here, which is a foreign adversary attacked us and the American People want to go to the polls next election and make sure it doesnt happen again. Near the end of july youll hear testimony from roger stone, part of Donald Trumps circle, if you will. Hes been accused of being involved somehow with hacked emails of the Clinton Campaign chair john podesta. Stone denied this saying he wants to testify in open session, but the testimony as you know will be closed. Why is that . You know, wolf, id like to have as many witnesses as possible testify in open session. Whether they do or do not is an agreement between the chairman and the ranking member, but sometimes classified information is conveyed to individuals which means we have to be in a closed session, but i do know that this report as to what he says and what we believe his role was will be public. That is very important. Your Intelligence Committee is also demanding that tapes if they exist, of President Trump, his conversations with the fired fbi director james comey, they want those tapes. As you know, the president tweeted more than 40 days after he originally spoke of some tapes that there are he doesnt know of any tapes, doesnt have any tapes. He didnt tape anybody. Where does that stand right now for the committee . Do you guys still believe there are tapes . The only reason that we are asking for tapes is because he hinted that they made exist. So we sent a letter to him asking for the tapes. He sent us back his tweet. We dont think that is very responsible or professional, frankly, for sump a serious investigation, and i wish we could just take the word of the president , but because of his record, and obstruction in this investigation from the claims about president obama and wiretapping to other claims about james comey, i think we need to corroborate whether or not there were recordings in the white house. Yeah. The white house in their letter responding to your request, just basically sent over what the president had earlier tweeted. Let me ask you about this copy and paste. In the wall street journal. Claims a former republican operative peter smith was trying to find emails that may have been stolen from Hillary Clintons server software. Suggesting it was connected somehow to the fired National Security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn hasnt responded to the wmp wall street journal story. Smith has passed away since that interview with the wall street journal. Is this something your committee is looking into now . It certainly must be a part of our investigation, wolf, for a couple of reasons. One, everyone remembers President Trump as a candidate inviting russia to sbhook hilla clintons emails and we all know now that Michael Flynn did have a relationship with the russians traveling there, paid by r. T. , connected to their Intelligence Services and then served and played a role in the campaign. So what mr. Smith alleged does not its not something that seems unbelievable. Its snag shouomething that sho probed further and i hope gets foug folded into what were doing. Congressman, thanks for joining us. My pleasure. Up next, take you to ta key iraqi city. The city of mosul. Used to be the second largest city in iraq, near a victory over isis fighters left so many parts of that city demolished. Well go there when we come back. Is not always easy. Its a longdistance run. And you have the determination to keep going. 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Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue, or throat, dizziness, or confusion. Ask your Health Care Provider if youre tresiba® ready. Covered by most insurance and medicare plans. Tresiba® ready the road to victory has been long but the road to recovery will be longer. Iraqi forces are close to recapturing the rest of the key city of mosul but isis is not giving up without a final bloody fight. Our Senior International correspondent and his crew traveled with the iraqi army as they battled block by block to eliminate isis and to liberate civilians. Reporter winning here comes only with dust and ruin. This was a day Iraqi Special forces were meant to take back the symbolic mosque of mosuls old city. But it ended up the day their leaders declared victory while they were still bitterly fighting. Just literally to the side of the mosque is where isis have been. The aim was to encircle the sacred minaret isis themselves destroyed. [ gunshots ] yet, theyve lost so many to isis, they move carefully against an enemy even with hightech help. They rarely see it. When an isis fighter is spotted, the artillery rains down. Throughout the day. Political impatience for this fight to be over in the afternoon. News reports cited iraqi officials elsewhere as saying the mosque had been retaken. A bizarre scene, given how lethally, painstakingly, they were advancing. Huge political stakes here for iraq, yet this fight is spear headed by a few dozen men, two bulldozers. They borrow a drone. Theirs have been shot down. Isis have been relatively quiet during the day, but it seems a drone put up in the sky to work out more about their defensive position sent some incoming rounds towards us here. More gunfire exchanges. And as they grind slowly towards the edge of the mosque, more iraqi officials are announce they have retaken it. But thats just politics, and here is the ghastly reality. Civilians, held as human shields by isis, risking death to flee from its certainty. Theyre held back, feared as possible suicide bombers. But the agony becomes too much. There is nothing really to say when hell is behind you and just dust before you. Weve been shelled in the rubble, he says. The injured piggy backed out. Fear so strong, it led this woman to walk out with pins in her leg to get her family out. A mortar landed on their home. Its the only word little tuca can say. Theres been no liquids for days. My little ones were dying of hunger. We didnt see anybody, no isis, only the military. This day, perhaps prematurely, iraq declared isis vanquished, yet their three years have likely consumed all of hers and the ruins from which she fled and in which isis lie will take more than declarations of victory to rebuild. And nick is joining us now live from nearby. Amazing report. Thanks so much for doing it. So, what is the wait a moment line, based on your eyewitness account . Has mosul finally fallen . Reporter no, not all of mosul. They are still clearing the remaining hundred or so meters between the isisheld territory and the river that marks the end of, really, what they control in the cities of iraq and since we filed that report, reality has caught up with the political statements we were hearing and they have taken the mosque entirely, but we are into some bloody final days here. You saw civilians escaping from the rubble. We were near. Well, theres still yet more and the isis fighters there die hard. Weve heard of suicide bombers being involved with attacking the troops there. This could be a bloody final close, but politically, the message has been given out by iraq that the job is basically done in mosul, and ostensibly across the country. I want you to listen to what the Vice President of iraq had to say about the u. S. And Global Leadership in all of this. Listen to this. Let me tell you why i think there is a vacuum in the overall leadership in the world. And the american the americans need to speed up their to get back to their role as an international power, Important International power. All right, whats your reaction to that . Youre there, youre on the ground. Reporter well, in terms of what were seeing in mosul is really the Obama Administrations plan being followed through, so credit to the Trump White House for not disturbing that and perhaps possibly allowing it to move swiftly forward. Its worked here, really, but its not going to deal with the aftermath and i think what were hearing may be an appeal for the subsequent political reality in iraq to be addressed by the Trump White House. Remember, isis came from the fact that iraq is a pretty society between the ethnicities of sunni and shia. The sunni used to be in control. They ended up some extremists getting closer toward isis. That rift isnt going to get fixed and the kurds in the north also want a say in the future so iraq will still have a lot of mess in its future and also iran will have come into play too. Perhaps theyre looking at the Trump White House to shore up one side control across the border in syria, too, the fight continues but more broadly in the middle east, people are asking what does donald trump want and he perhaps doesnt know at this point. Nick, thanks so much. Be careful over there. Thats it for me. Thanks very much for watching. Ill be back 5 00 p. M. Eastern in the situation room. For our viewers here in north korea north america, newsroom with Brooke Baldwin starts right after this quick break. Rfolk and i just wanted to say, geico is proud to have served the military for over 75 years roger that. Captains waiting to give you a tour of the wisconsin now. Couldve parked a little bit closer. Its gonna be dark by the time i get there. Geico®. Proudly serving the military for over 75 years. Hi there, thanks for being with me. Im Brooke Baldwin. It is a busy friday afternoon here as we begin with another allegation of abuse of power from the top office in the land, the white house, and this time, it has absolutely zero to do with russia. In moments, the White House Press briefing is about to begin, and once again, the administration is denying you the chance to see and hear it live. That is happening on a day when the president of the United States is accused of threatening two news anchors with a tabloid