Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20170801 : vimarsana.com

Cnn. Aport of being of no consequence, the characterizations of misinformed, inaccurate and not pertinent. Wolf that is not a blanket denial that this story is it completely unclear. It is saying the story is inaccurate means parts of it may or may not be true. We have to find out what the white house has to say about all of this at the press briefing coming up in about an hour from now, which is oncamera, by the way. Once again another situation where the white house is having to play damage control over misstatements or statements that did not turn out to be accurate, that theyve issued to us in the past regarding the russia investigation and, of course, nothing could be more critical to this russia investigation than the activities of, of course, the president s eldest son donald trump jr. , who eventually acknowledged, remember, initially that statement said that, well, this meeting was just about russian adoptions. Then donald trump jr. Released four pages of emails. We dont know what other emails might say. The ones released to the public revealed that this russian attorney might have damaging information on Hillary Clinton, that the president , then candidate at the time, donald trump was supported by the russian government. A very critical part of the investigation. I talked to a top congressional source earlier this morning, wolf, who says that if this is true, further implicates the president in all of this, and obviously raises questions that the president himself will have to answer at some point. Hes obviously not eager to talk about these issues but its out there for the president to answer. According to the Washington Post report, the president rejected the strategy of some advisors to be more forthcoming about donald trump jr. s russia meeting at trump tower in june of last year. Is this the kind of situation where his new chief of staff, general kelly, might be able to intervene Going Forward . Reporter well, might be able to intervene Going Forward, wolf, but i dont think general kelly can put the toothpaste back in the tube here. If the president s advisers were involved in the drafting of what was a misleading statement, even if cautioning the president not to put out a misleading statement, and there is some indication of that in that Washington Post story, then obviously the special counsel would want to caulk to those individuals. Obviously congressional investigators would want to talk to those individuals and thats why cnn reported weeks ago when some of this came out that, that statement, the drafting of that statement, that whole controversy, potentially had made things difficult for aides here at the white house potentially opened them up to questions by investigators and all of this and one would have to think, wolf, moving forward, general kelly, because he has been sort of playing things by the book and wanting to bring order and discipline to this white house, i dont think hes going to be the kind of person to stand in the way of that, wolf. Yes. Good point. Jim acosta at the white house for us. Thanks very much. The report that the president actually dictated whats described as a misleading statement about his sons russia meeting creating more headaches for the administration. And could open the president up to more political and maybe even more legal scrutiny. Bring in our panel to discuss that and more. Susan page, Washington Bureau chief for usa today, cnn politics reporter, Chris Cillizza and legal analyst former federal prosecutor laura coates. Laura, what kind of legal jeopardy, if any, would this statement aboard air force one put the president in . We now have revisited obstruction of justice territory. The reason for that, a president of the United States adamant about his noninvolvement in either drafting or being a part of any conversation with anyone involved with russia during the campaign. Mow you have the dragnet honing in on the president , because his involvement is suspicious at best. It looks as if hes saying to himself, well, i need to have a hand in in way to craft this narrative. The question, why he felt the need to do that . And two, when did you know that this meeting with the russian lawyer was more than about the adoption . Did you know it at the time of the campaign . Allude to it on the campaign trail . If so, doesnt that sound like the very thing the criminal probe is about . Involvement of the Trump Campaign with anyone from russia . That olds cliche, chris what did the president know, when did he know it . And what is your reaction when you saw that story in the Washington Post . Wow. That was the first one. Because to lauras point, what is hard to understand if youre the president , youve been told by james comey repeatedly, we now three times, as donald trump said, you were not under investigation when jim comey was head of the fbi in relation to this probe. Why would you suddenly inject yourself into it by getting involved in the dictation of a statement on bast ehalf of your . Your son is not 19 years old. Hes in his 30s, a big boy, running your company, in fact. Thats strange. The other thing thats strange and i note is, that first donald trump jr. Statement was misleading, but not a lie. Nothing in it that is inaccurate. Theres just a lot of things that are very carefully worded to make the best case. They talked primarily about adoptions. It wasnt a Campaign Issue. If donald trump did write that, or dictate that statement, its hard to square that with the, i didnt know anything about any of this stuff, because that statement is a very carefully wrought document, what appears to me upon reading it, a fuller knowledge than whats in the statement. This is the president speaking at a joint News Conference with the french president last month. Listen to this. My son is a great, young man, a fine person, meeting with a lawyer from russia, it lasted for a very short period and nothing came of the meeting. And i think its a meeting that most people in politics probably would have taken. So is this a father simply defending his son . Is it a father who honestly believes his son did nothing wrong . Took a meeting, maybe was going to learn somebodying a Hillary Clinton, dirt, if you will . And since not a Single Person has run a campaign, president s campaign before, saying, yes, this is a meeting i would have taken. First. Thats something to note. The portrayal of this is politics as usual, it has not been shored up by evidence afterwards, and i think we dont know. I think thats why we have an investigation going on. Its possible that this will turn out to be someone who just wasnt aware. Doesnt understand the seriousness of the territory in which hes steps on or may turn out to be something different. Thats why theres a special council and even republicans on the hill are increasingly defensive of the special council, increasingly willing to to say to the president , you cannot impair this investigation at this point. A lot of lawyers now involved representing all the various characters in all of this, but im increasingly focusing in on jared kushner, the soninlaws, attorneys, as you know, jamie garella, former attorney general during the clinton administration, abbey knowles, wellknown in washington. Highly experienced in these kinds of matters. I assume theyre instinct not to put out the statement that the president put out supposedly, if you believe the Washington Post, from aboard air force one, but to you know what . Theyve got all of the information. Jared kushner has informed them, shared the emails. Youve got bad news. You release it. You dont wait for your adversaries to release it . You want to get ahead of the story because you wanted to undermine any allegations intent. The goal of these lawyers at this point. To say, look, we would like to have a compelling manner of the, i didnt understand. Im politically naive. When it comes to a legal prosecution, perhaps, my naive t naivetay is a story i want to get to. Hard to believe these highprofile attorneys in uncharted waters, sticking to the area of naive but changes the dynamic, somebody like President Trump, carefully crafting a narrative. Carefully crafted narratives have lawyers fingertips all over them. I find it very hard to believe on airs one coming back from the g20 summit perhaps didnt have conference with a single attorney who said i wouldnt say that. If youre getting involved in some say say it this way for the love of the law. A number of different areas you have to pursue as, on the defensive as an attorney. As somebody trying to defend against a probe by mueller who has not been very vocal at all about what hes doing, or the parameters of investigation, you are seeing attorneys trying to crack a narrative on the only way they can, wolf. K4 which is saying stick to the story you had no idea was happening. If you knew, the genius on other campaign trail, youre in for it legally. Started tweeting again this morning. Only the Fake News Media and trump enemies want me to stop using social media, 110 Million People only wait for me to get the truth out. Oh, okay. No reporter i feel comfortable saying this no reporter thinks, man, i wish donald trump never used twitter. I mean, its just this is the most false construct humanly possible. Weve said it time and time again. This is a window into how the president thinks and feels at kniss given time. As weve seen in the first sixplus months of his administration its often at odds with what his white house is talking about. No reporter will ever want to give that up. I also think, by the way, for the first few hours of this morning, there was talk of that, that general kelly will reined in Donald Trumps twitter habit. I mean, how many times will we run at that football why lucy pulls it away and we fall on our head . Hes going to keep tweeting. You look forward to the tweets or want him to stop tweeting . I think chris is exactly right. A window intos what hes actually thinking. Something weve never seen with a president before. If they were filtered, they wouldnt say the things theyre saying. Laura made a point for legal reasons youd want to put everything out at once. Not a drip, drip, drip of disclosures. For political reasons, too. Politics 101, got a scandal, find out the facts, put it out there out under your timetable with your spin. Not somebodys elses, and thats not something this white house has done. If donald trump dictated as the Washington Post reports, had to go back two, three times in the next 72 hours, well, i knew it was led to donald trump jr. Releasing emails, the biggest evidence yet of the allegation, at least, that this evidence of collusion needs to be looked into. Remember, they released emails after, what, the netanyahu got ahold of the emails. Yes. And the New York Times was about to release the emails and they released them in advance. Guys thanks, very, very much. Coming up, an exclusive lawsuit claims the white house worked directly with fox news to push a fake story in an attempt to discredit the u. S. Intelligence communitys assessment. Details. Plus, from the lawsuit to donald trump jr. s misleading statement on his meeting with a russian lawyer. The press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders getting ready to answer reporters questions. Lots to discuss in todays White House Briefing, which begins supposedly right at the top of the hour. Live coverage. Using artificial tears often and still have dry eye symptoms . Ready for some relief . Xiidra is the first and only eye drop approved for both the signs and symptoms of dry eye. One drop in each eye, twice a day. Common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. 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Im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. Albreakthrough withyou back. Nondrowsy allegra® for fast 5in1 multisymptom relief. Breakthrough allergies with allegra®. Despite the failed attempt to repeal Obamacare Health care reform may not necessarily be done. President trump taunted congress over its failure, suggesting he would cut off payments for insurers and members of congress and their staffs, if the senate doesnt go back to work on a repeal bill and now there are discussions going on behind the scenes. The house bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus is working on a plan of its own to try to fix some of the problems of obamacare. This is a coalition of some 40 lawmakers, democrats and republicans, who are aiming to stabilize the Affordable Care act markets. A republican congresswoman from arizona is with us. And a democratic congressman from new jersey. Theyre both members of this caucus. Thanks to both of you for joining us, and congresswoman mcsally, whats in the proposals you and your caucus are putting together, different from some of the earlier republican bills . Weve been working on this proposal quietly the last few weeks and laser focuses on where we can agree on stabilizing the individual insurance market. About 7 of americans get insurance, and really what is collapsing across the country. 40 of counties only have one choice. Many counties have no choices. Prices are going up over 100 in places like arizona. We said, look guys. We disagree on other things but can we focus where we can provide stabilization and relief for the individual market . 2017 is coming fast, we have a fourpoint plan. I want to be precise. Yes . Youre triering to fix, repair some of the problems of obamacare but not trying to repeal the whole thing . Is that right . We what were trying to do is stabilize the individual market. Often this gets, people get their shirts and skins on, is this repeal or repair . Loosh look, this is stabilizing the market for families impacted by 2018 coming fast. Good points in there. Its bipartisan. Had some spirited discussions and debates. But it provides relief, stabilizes with a Stability Fund that focuses on the highrisk individuals, with preexisting conditions. Which is in both the house and the senate plan, by the way. It funds the csrs and brings them under kot eer congressiona authority, important to us mandate from 50 employees working 30 hours a way up to 500 working 40 hours a week. This is a real gamechanger for job creation for Small Businesses and one other piece being, given more flexibility to states. Josh can give you more details. Its a really great plan and good news. So you think you could get a whole bunch of democrats onboard . Sounds like it isnt a complete repeal of the Affordable Care act, simply trying to fix some of the Serious Problems of the Affordable Care act, congressman . Exactly right, wolf. Wee were dealing with and 43 members of congress, democrats and republicans. Instead of screaming at each other actually working at a table together. How do we deal with the crisis at hand . People worried if theyll have health care next month. Premiums up 15 to 20 around the country and Kaiser Foundation and others said stabilize costsharing to the states and help deal with people with preexisting conditions and help the states a little bit you can get premiums down 15 to 20 . Dealing with in new jersey and what martha talked about. The big headline, democrats, republicans, trying to find a way forward. We are not going to solve everything. Trying to deal with the problem at hand, exactly what we did. And congresswoman, have you spoken to anyone at the white house about this . We have kept some people in the administration informed we were working on these efforts. Since weve rolled them out yesterday, i have not talked to anybody. Weve been doing a lot of media interviews, josh and i. Again, proclaiming this good news, that democrats and republicans have sat down together. Again, had a rigorous discussion, but have come up with a plan to start solving the problem of this individual market, and providing relief to Small Businesses, and this really is a big story and creates the space for moving forward. Let me ask congressman, have you spoken with Democratic Leaders in the house of representatives, or is nancy pelosi, for example, with you . Well, ill tell you. I spoke to leader pelosi and others who say we need to let 1,000 flowers bloom here, and the big breakthrough, i hear this, senator schumer came out and spoke about this other leaders across the aisle. The big breakthrough, you actually have people willing to Work Together to deal with the immediate crisis. Premiums skyrocketing and people concerned about the future of any kind of health care and we need to fix, my opinion, fix it, not throw things out. Stabilize things and look to tomorrow. The big news and again, martha stressed a lot, now we have a place to start to move forward. Nothings perfect. Right now instead of screaming at each other and wearing respective political shirts trying to build consensus and move forward. Hearing feedback, the Washington Post had a great editorial on this today. Ive heard from people in my state this is exactly what they want. Someone who will actually talk to each other and figure it out. Thats the headline here and i really believe were on to something. Do you think, congresswoman, theres any chance that you and your caucus can go to the white house and meet with the president , and try to talk him into what youre doing . Well, we would love to have that opportunity. Both with the administration and with the senate and the house on both sides of the aisle. This is 43 members coming together, again, we didnt love what the others were asking for on either side but said, all right. If we can get this well tolerate that and we had to get over 75 of our caucus to vote yes and over 50 on each side to make this bold statement yesterday. Weve created the space to solve this problem. Again, 2018 is coming fast. As we work through our sincerely held differences on other issues lets Work Together to stabilize the individual market, help families in the community and provide relief to those Small Businesses. Moving that number up to 500 employees really provides Economic Growth opportunity. So either singles and doubles. Not a home run for everybody but were leer to govern. Quickly, congressman, how many democrats, how many republicans make up your caucus . Problemsochler e problemsolvers caucus of 54 . About split evenly. 23 democrats, 21 republicans. So and ill tell you, i know that tom reed, cochair in the caucus with martha and others have heard from others. Phones are ringing off the hook people that want to jump in from both sides saying how do we be part of this . Martha pointed out so right, its about helping families, children, seniors. They all want center to know that tomorrow when they wake up theyll have coverage. They cant afford to have premiums keep going up. This stabilizes things, brings premiums down. What everybody is looking for on both sides of the aisle. Nothing is perfect, building a consensus is never perfect. You wont get everything you want. Thats the idea. We need to move forward and govern. Heard from so many democrats, especially Democratic Leaders. They really want to fix, improve, repair obamacare as long as republicans dont insist on formal repeal, they want to Work Together. See if you guys can make that happen. Representatives martha mcsally, josh gottheimer, thanks to you both for joining us. Thanks, wolf. Coming up, jawdropping claims that the white house and fox news may have concoctsed a fake conspiracy about a murdered Democratic National Committee Staffer. We have details. Thats coming up. With a 500,000 Life Insurance y policy. How much do you think it cost him . 100 a month . 75 . 50 . Actually, duncan got his 500,000 for under 28 a month. Less than 1 a day his secret . Selectquote. In just minutes a selectquote agent will comparison shop nearly a dozen highly rated Life Insurance companies, and give you a choice of your five best rates. Duncans wife cassie got a 750,000 policy for under 21 per month. Give your family the security it needs, at a price you can afford. Since 1985, selectquote has saved over a million families millions of dollars on Life Insurance. Or a little internet machine . [ phone ringing ] hi mom. It makes you wonder. Shouldnt we get our phones and internet from the same company . Thats why Xfinity Mobile comes with your internet. You get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. [ laughing ] so all you pay for is data. See how much you can save. Choose by the gig or unlimited. Call or go to xfinitymobile. Com introducing Xfinity Mobile. A new kind of network designed to save you money. Fake news and the Trump Administration. The allegation in a new lawsuit against fox news from a private investigator, also a paid contributor fought the network. Alleging that not only was he misquoted in the story about a murdered Democratic National Committee Staffer here in washington, but that before it aired, the report made its way across the desk of president donald trump. Joining us now from new york is our Senior National correspondent Alexander Mark ward. Alex, take us through the accusations and allegations here aimed at the Trump Administration. Reporter right, wolf. Really are explosive allegations that the white house worked hand in hand with fox news to concoct a story really more of a Conspiracy Theory to distract from the allegations that the Trump Administration colluded with russia. Now, at the center of this story is the tragic death of a young man named seth rich. A 27yearold, you mentioned. He was a staffer at the Democratic National committee who was shot and killed last summer. Fox news had reported both online and onairish pushed particularly hard by host sean hannity, that rich had been murdered because he leaked tens of thousands of dnc emails to wikileaks. Now, this lawsuit, which was first reported by npr, was filed by rod wheeler. A former detective, a fox onair contributor alleging that the motivation behind the article was to establish that seth rich provided wikileaks with the dnc emails to shift the blame from russia and help put to bed speculation that President Trump had colluded with russia in an attempt to influence the outcome of the president ial election. Wheeler says he was asked by a prominent republican donor named ed butowski to investigate that murder and quotes attributed to him were completely made up. Wolf . So alex, whats the white house connection to all of this . Reporter a couple things. Whe wheeler says he along with the donor met with former press Secretary Sean Spicer and that spicer, that meeting happened back in may. Spicer asked them to be kept abreast of developments. Then, according to the lawsuit, also a text message from butowkki to wheeler not to add pressure but the president just read the article and wants it out immediately. Its now all up to you but dont feel the pressure earn. Whats the response . What responses have you heard to all of these really major allegations . Reporter well, so far silence from the white house. But butowski set the text message was just a joke meaning to tell wheeler he was doing a great job and that the president would be interested in meeting with him. Fox eventually retracked the article back in may says the piece is still being investig e investigated. The aing cuization that foxnews. Com published the story to help detract from the russia collusion is erroneously. We have no evidence that rod wheeler was misquoted by zimmerman. As for the family of seth rich still in mourning begged fox to stop pushing this record. They tell cnn today, while we cant speak to the evidence that you now have, we are hopeful that this brings an end to what has been the most emotionally difficult time in our lives and an end to the conspiracy theories surrounding our beloved seth. Wolf . Alex, thanks very much for that report. Still ahead, one republican senator has had enough. Hes speaking out against the president right now. Scolding his own party at the same time. A scathing assessment of the gop, right after the break. Done. Rs. Supercool notebooks. Done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, filler paper just one cent with five dollar minimum purchase. Taking care of business. Pcountries thatk mewe traveled,t what is your nationality and i would always answer hispanic. So when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. Im everything. Im from all nations. I would look at forms now and wonder what do i mark . Because im everything. And i marked other. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com. With my moderate to severe crohns disease,. I kept looking for ways to manage my symptoms. I thought i was doing okay. Then it hit me. Managing was all i was doing. 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The gop is getting a blunt message from a fellow republican, senator jeff flake, and outspoken critic of the president and many of his policies. The senator is hitting the airwaves to talk about his brand new book entitled conscious of a conservative rejection of objective politics and return to politics. Just published an excerpt from the book today. Senator flake, im quoting, too often we observe the unfolding drama along with the rest of the country passively all but saying someone should do something without seeming to realize that someone is us and so that unnerving silence in the face of an erratic executive branch is about abdication and those bear particular responsibility. Heres what he had to say this morning. Im concerned the types of policies Going Forward, protectionism, isolationism, are really not conservative values, and im concerned about where the party goes if we embrace those kind of principles. But also being a conservative means something in terms of demeanor, and comportment. Senator flake, by the way, will join jake tapper on the lead at 4 00 p. M. Eastern. For now, lets discuss this with my next two guests. Senior political commentator Rick Santorum from pennsylvania. Former president ial candidate. Also with us, cnn political commentator alice stewart, also a former Communications Director for senator ted cruz. What do you think, senator . Hes really suggesting that your party, the Republican Party, and the president , a republican president , are in denial . Well, i would say he makes two criticisms. Number one, on the style of this president. And the fact that republicans should speak out against that. I think a lot of republicans have spoken out. Certainly i have here at cnn and many others, about the demeanor of this president. The way he conducts himself at times. The use of twitter. Which is fine, but at times, intemperate and i think a lot of Republican Leaders actually chastiseded president for doing that. Could there be more . Probably. I mean, some of these things that the president is doing are rather vexing and should be called out. The other aspect he talks about is policy. Talking about nationalism, economic populism. Well im an economic pop pew lift and i think im conservative and i think weve gone too much to more of a libertarian approach, where just cut taxes, everybody will be fine. I dont adopt that and i dont think thats thats a good battle among conservatives. I think what President Trump has done is given voice to a lot of conservatives like myself and others who feel like, you know, were she to look out for the little guy and that republican policies on the economy cant just be about improving shareholder value and growing the economy but also has to make sure that everybody grows with the economy. So thats a good debate. I think trump has been right on on that, so i dont necessarily see that as a problem. And he does lay out a bunch of proposals in his new book. Talking about senator flake. He says, speak out. This is advice to fellow republicans. Speak out if trump plays to the base, ignore populist protectionist policies on issue as like free trade. Stand up for institutions like the Senate Filibuster requiring 60 votes on various issues. The president has tweeted as recently at yesterday, end that. 51 should be for everything. Well, i think he makes some very good points. Whos he . Senator flake. Yes. With regards to jettying up infighting to sell his book and, yes, there is a conservative and a more moderate wing of the Republican Party and seeing disagreements with regard how to repeal and replace obamacare based on that, but i think he also needs to not just speak about this, but his actions havent really followed up on this. He had the opportunity to speak up on some of the president s nominees, that he disagrees with policies on however approved the confirmation of these nominees. One thing he did say i thought was really important in his oped that he wrote today was in regards to principles. He said when our principles are oh malleable theyre no longer principles. Put this aside and remember why we elected donald trump as president and Work Together for change. One line from the article from the book that jumped out at me. Who could blame the people who felt abandoned and ignored by the major parties for reaching in despair for a candidate who offered over simplified answers to infinitely complex questions and managed to entertain them in the process . Well, i mean, if theres some truth to that i think, yes. Clearly, donald trump was a different kettle of fish and a very frustrated electorate and i think hammered in on that. The job, the job supposed to happen in washington is take these simple platitudes in many respects on health care, for example, alison mentioned, and turn it into actual action. Thats short supply. You can complain that the president is is not leading with details, but i can also complain that the congress hasnt been able to come up with something that fulfills the promise that they made in their election. Quickly. Senator flake, is he an isolated lone type of guy among the republicans in congress . Or do you think there are a lot more like him but not necessarily the inclination or guts to speak out like he is . I think there are a lot of people that share some of his ideas. At the same time we all recognize, were republicans and have to Work Together. Donald trump clearly tapped into an electorate that no one else was able to tap into and realized its about jobs, about creating the economy and National Security and at the end of the day were all on the same team and can sit there and have disagreements, you know, offcamera. At the end of the day we have to Work Together to get the republican policies worked on and passed. Good luck. All right, guys, thanks very, very much. Joining us, as President Trump deals with domestic discontent, hes faced with a frightening Foreign Policy problem. Talking about north korea raising stakes with a Missile Launch and worrisome submarine activity. What is the u. S. Going to do about that . That and more questions Sarah Huckabee sanders may face today at a press briefing supposed to begin right at the top of the hour. Cnn will have live coverage. Ch. But to help others, they first had to protect themselves. I have afib. Even for a nurse, its complicated. And it puts me at higher risk of stroke. 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Military has notices, what theyre calling a highly unusual and unprecedented amount of north Korean Submarine activity. Lets bring in retired rear admiral john kirby, our cnn military and diplomatic analyst and former spokesman for both the pentagon and the state department. Also with us, our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. Barbara, whats the concern first of all over north koreas submarine activity . Reporter well, this is pretty unusual, wolf. They have a limited submarine capability, but in the last several weeks theyve put them out to sea. They stayed a sea a bit longer than the u. S. Has seen them do that in the part and appear to be trying to test on land the ability to launch a missile out of a submarine. What does that give them . Well, at the end of the day, if they can do it and a submarine say out submerged hidden from the u. S. , that would give the north koreans the ability to survive a u. S. First strike against them. That gives them a huge leap forward in their military capabilities. Something the u. S. Does not want to see happen, wolf. Yes. Another problem right there. Add mirror kirby, listen to senator lindsey graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services committee. What he said today about the possibility of a war with north korea. There is a military option to destroy north koreas program and north korea itself. Hes not going to allow President Trump the ability of this madman to have a missile to hit america. It theres going to be a war to stop him it will be over there. If thousands die, theyre going to die over there and not going to die here and hes told me that to my face. Whats your reaction to that . Because if theres military action, north korea has the capability of almost leveling seoul, a city just south of the Demilitarized Zone with, what, 15 Million People . I think the senator is reflecting the extreme sort of worstcase scenario here. Clearly we have a range of military options. Theyre not all about allout war, although the military has to be ready for that. Theres a range of other ones and a couple things to remember about that. One, short of war and used to try to impel different behavior out of the north. Two, really used, where secretary mattis is 100 right, ta support diplomatic but china, if you listen to the administration, theyre not cooperating. No, china can do more. Theres no question about that. But look, the only thing china wants less than a Nuclear Armed north is american troops camped out on the river. A united Korean Peninsula that is friendly to the United States and to the west. And so they have yet to come to believe its in their interest to try to restrain the north in any meaningful way so i think what the administration, which has rightly put a lot of emphasis on china, they need to stop the badgering and the tweeting and the threats and look for ways to try to negotiate with beijing about what making them change their calculus, whats in their best interest here as far as trying to restrain kim jong un. Barbara, what are you hearing over there from military planners at the pentagon . We hear all options are on the table, including the military option. Do they really believe there is a military option to stop north korea from developing these Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles . Reporter theres always a military option. You can always stop another country somehow from taking action. But what is the risk . What is the threat to globe stability . How far would the Trump Administration and the u. S. Military be willing to go . Everything we are hearing is, the pentagon wants diplomacy to work. Defense secretary mattis has been adamant that the war option is absolute catastrophe for the world. So, military commanders, no surprise, they want to see diplomacy work. There is no real realistic military limited strike option, because you can never predict what kim jong un is going to do. And thats the fundamental problem here. You dont want it to get to a military strike option because at the moment, it appears to be nothing or all in. And that is why the pentagon wants to see diplomacy really work here. Lets not forget there are about 30,000 u. S. Military personnel along the Demilitarized Zone and who knows how many other americans are in south korea right now as well. Barbara, john, thanks very much. Take a look at this. Live pictures from the white house. The briefing is set to begin in a few minutes. Live coverage of that coming up. vo unlimited is only as good as the network its on. 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Once again, live pictures coming in from the white house, the press briefing with Sarah Huckabee sanders about to begin. Well have live coverage of that. Stand by. First, though, some breaking news were following. The acting head o. Dea, the Drug Enforcement agency speaking out about comments President Trump made last friday when he addressed an audience full of Police Officers who suggested to them that they not go easy on suspects in custody. Heres part of what the president said. Like when you guys put somebody in the car and youre protecting their head, you know, the way you put your hand over, like dont hit their head and theyve just killed somebody, dont hit their head. I said you can take the hand away, okay . Were now learning that the head of the Drug Enforcement administration sent an email to employees rebuking those comments by the president of the United States. What do with we know about the content of that email . Reporter Chuck Rosenberg, the acting head of the dea sent that email to his agents and employees on saturday, the day after the president made those remarks. Obviously theres been a lot of pushback on those remarks from the president. Ill read a part of what Chuck Rosenberg wrote to his agents and employees. And he said, the president his remarks condoned Police Misconduct regarding the treatment of individuals placed under arrest by Law Enforcement. He goes on to say, hes not looking to advance any political, personal or partisan agenda but he says, i i write because we have an obligation to speak out when something is wrong. Thats what Law Enforcement officers do. Obviously, the reaction to what the president said has been kind of varied. The white house says that the president was simply joking. And i got to tell you, ive talked to Law Enforcement officers in the last few days, and some of them do say that they think the president was simply kidding. Other people, especially in the leadership ranks, take it a lot more seriously, wolf. Given what weve gone through in the last couple of years with Police Misconduct issues, the protests, the black lives matter issues, i think there is a lot of sensitivity, especially among the leaders, that you cant say certain things because it seems to trivialize this issue. There have been a lot of statements coming out after his speech saying, were going to treat everyone, no matter how bad they are, with respect. Thanks very much for that. Thats it for me. Ill be back 5 00 p. M. Eastern in the situation room for our international viewers, amanpour is coming up next. For our viewers in north america, newsroom with brooke america, newsroom with Brooke Baldwin starts right now. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com here we go. Were live. Im Brooke Baldwin. Youre watching cnn. We are moments away from a consequential White House Briefing as the president of the United States faces new questions about what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did. Actions that could open him up to new legal scrutiny in bob muellers special russia investigation. This is all coming from the Washington Post today. They are reporting that President Trump personally dictated his sons misleading statement, the very first one he are released about what happened during this now Infamous Trump tower meeting with a russian lawyer. Don juniors initial statement to the New York Times went like this. We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of russian children that was active and popular with American Families years ago and was since ended by the russian government. But it was not a Campaign Issue at the time and there was no followup. Well, obviously, that was, at best, completely misleading and not truthful. Why . Because don juniors own emails showed that he went to the meeting for information that could damage Hillary Clinton and thus help his fathers campaign, information sold to him as coming from the russian government. Lets begin with one of the reporters who broke this story from the Washington Post today, she is carol lining. Thank you so much for being with me. A lot of takeaways. First, it seems to me, from your piece, that all parties involved in that trump tower meeting were ready to be transparent with the press once the word was starting to leak out that this was about to be made public. Everyone with the exception of the president. Well, what we do know is that everyone involved wanted to be more transparent than they ultimately were, and the president i should say its the president s statement, he directed it, but he put it into his sons