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tv   At This Hour With Kate Bolduan  CNN  October 16, 2017 8:00am-9:00am PDT

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hello, everyone. right now all eyes are on the white house. president trump gathering his cabinet and facing a sit-down with the republican leader. is mitch mcconnell friend or foe? stand by to find out. before that, the same question could apply to his cabinet. rex tillerson in the cabinet meeting and still dodging the question of whether or not he called the president a moron over the summer. instead, tillerson insist that is they're on the same page when
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it comes to crucial questions like what to do about north korea. >> i think he does want to be clear with kim jong-un and that regime in north korea that he has military preparations ready to go and the military options on the table and we have spent substantial time perfecting those but be clear the president is also made it clear to me he wants it solved dip plo mattically. >> he doesn't think it's a waste of time? >> no, sir. he has made it clear to me to continue the efforts which we are and we'll -- as i told others, those diplomatic efforts continue until the first bomb drops. >> so there's that. now on to awkward meeting number two. the president lunching with senate majority leader mcconnell after months of tension, floundering legislation and at least one obscenity-laced phone call. so, i know the question, of course, top of mind for everyone is, when's on the menu?
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what's for lunch today? let's get started with caitlyn collins at the white house for us. when's at stake here and what's on the agenda today? >> reporter: tax reform is certainly at the top of the list. the president and the senate majority leader had a phone call over the weekend where they talked about tax reform and then having a lunch today at the white house with vice president mike pence here in a matter of hours but all this comes as tensions between the two men have really reached a new high in recent months. the president has publicly attacked mitch mcconnell and blamed him for failing to repeal and replace the affordable care act. they had an angry phone call that was a screaming match recently where they went for a period of time without speaking to each other. the lunch today doesn't mean that they have patched things up and shows how desperate they are for a legislative accomplishment here. they both realize how much they need each other and senator graham might have explained the
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concerns best yesterday when he said that if republicans don't get tax reform passed and don't eventually repeal and replace the obamacare, they're going to lose across the board in 2018 and would essentially be the end of mitch mcconnell as we know it, kate. >> lindsey gram has a very lindsey graham way of putting things in perfective for us. sarah murray has great reporting, as well. growing concern amongst republicans about the future of the house, their control over the house, and also, what that means for the president's future. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. my colleague sarah murray reported there's concern of safrs here inside the white house and republican lawmakers that the president doesn't fully understand just how dire the fights with members of his own party could be for his presidency, they fear it puts the presidency in jeopardy if the republicans lose the house next year and democrats take over because they could start issues subpoenas and potentially
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putting forward some articles of impeachment here and the white house is insistent that the white house understands just how important for republicans to maintain control of the house, not taking this defeatist approach here and that they insist to win and really goes to show, kate, just how dire getting tax reform passed really is for republicans to have something to run on when they return to their bases at home, kate. >> absolutely. kaitlin, kate to see you this hour. joining me to discuss, from american majority, ned ryan is here. commentator and republican strategist kevin madden, as well. commentator and strategist hillary rosen and cnn political director chalen. it seems like tax reform is everything this week. >> it is. i'll tell you who it's not sneaking up on is republicans. republicans are looking down the
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pike here and they are concerned that they are seeing a near death experience down the pike, potentially, if they can't get this done. there is no disconnect. it is entirely connected in many republican's minds to get across the finish line on tax reform in the way they didn't do on obamacare repeal and replace to go to the voters next year saying there's a reason to re-elect that. without that, you see the hand wringing is more intense in republican circles. no slam dunk, kate. tax reform is not as if everybody on the republican side's in 100% agreement of how to go about it. they're in agreement of getting it done but we are going to see, again, an intraparty conversation here an it's starting this week and why it's so important for republicans to pass a budget on the hill this week on the senate side so that they can try to do this with just 50 votes. >> yes. the 50 votes or the 60 votes. which one would you prefer in
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the majority? i guess we can guess what that would be. kevin, an intraparty conversation is starting today between the president and mcconnell. it's continuing i guess we could say today. if you're mitch mcconnell, kevin, wauging into lunch today, are you bringing a shield, a sword or an olive branch? >> i think an olive branch and a plan to pass tax reform and attack the other legislative agenda items that republicans ran on and that's reason why they have the majority. david's right. i think what -- the president and mitch mcconnell have to realize is that they both need each other. they're mutual benefits to the relationship if they work together on their common core of agenda items that really matter to the republican base, really matter to folks that are going to be going to the polls in 2018. so, i think that's one of the things that you remember is that mitch mcconnell wants to project his majority and get bills to the president that the president can sign and claim victory on so
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i think he's going to come together with a plan exactly for that. >> yeah. but that has been elusive to say the least up to this point. coming with a plan and execute that plan. ned, first let's play lindsey graham and how he put it when asked what tax reform means for they will right now. >> if we don't, we're dead. it's a symptom of a greater problem. if we don't cut taxes and repeal and replace obamacare, then we're going to lose across the board in the house in 2018 and all of my colleagues running in 2018 probably will get beat and the end of mitch mcconnell as we know it. it is a symptom of greater problem. repeal and replace obamacare, it doesn't matter what bannon will do because we'll win. >> does tax reform make it all better, ned? >> it makes it a little bet ber. i'll give you that. graham couldn't have said it better than i can. bannon is a creation of the senate's incompetence. they promised health care
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reform, tax reform, they promised infrastructure. if they had been able to accomplish maybe two of those items at this point, i'm pretty sure bannon wouldn't exist. and so i really think that it is option "a," do what you said you were do or option "b" if you don't you'll feel pain. do what you said you were going to do or don't. tax reform is a huge thing. i have been advocating to keep it simple. kiss principle, keep it simple, stupid. work and take a run at health care reform, start thinking about infrastructure. tax reform will go a long ways to forgiving a lot of sins. >> there's nothing simple about what things. one, tax reform, you know, the biggest -- you know, the most comprehensive tax reform in a general. two, congress. getting anything through it. hillary, weigh in on this. >> really quick, before i could -- >> okay. >> the thing that i think mitch mcconnell will have to do to be successful in passing a
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legislative agenda, make a hard decision on the legislative filibuster, a big question moving forward, is he open to doing that? >> i hear that. it is not a 60-vote problem but a 50-vote problem so far. >> true. >> hillary, give me your take? >> feels important to say that actually real people are involved here. that when the trump administration undermines health care, real people get hurt. democrats would like to see taxes cut for the middle class and so you will find democrats who would be willing to vote for a thoughtful bill that doesn't give all of the benefit to the well think. the biggest problem that republicans have is that they're at war with each other and democrats by the way love this. we love it when they're at war with each other. >> of course. >> the problem with health care was, you know, the house passed a bill and then the president said, you know, lauded it one day in the rose garden and then said super mean the next day. we have the administration doing the same thing on tax reform now. you have his lieutenants going out there saying let's repeal
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the state and local tax deduction and donald trump realized over the weekend, that could hurt middle class people. so he announces the opposition to that. this constant back and forth between sort of what the amateur hour at the white house and in the cabinet is doing that undermines republicans on the hill is really the story. i actually don't blame mitch mcconnell. i think they can't do much if they have such loose cannons in the administration. >> well, that leaves me to wonder, when's the president -- who has the president's ear right now most, david? meeting with mitch mcconnell, according to "wall street journal" swapping phone calls with steve bannon encouraging him -- encouraging the moves from the outside. steve bannon calls this a season of war. directly targets mitch mcconnell saying we have taken your oxygen and donors. can the president work with both men here? >> right. i think maybe the president shows up with an oxygen tank
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today. i do think what trump is doing here, kate, playing both the outside and the inside game. right? he is giving his tacet blessing to bannon to get out there and fight the establishment and in the way that donald trump has been a torch bearer for that against the establishment for much of this year. and yet, he is also trying to sit down and play the inside game with mcconnell to actually get a bill to his desk that he can sign and so if you look at all of his tweets this morning, fascinating to look at the tweets. they were all bashing democrats or tauting the economy. that's all they love to hear. there's no distraction about the nfl or about bob corker style intraparty warfare. he was sort of sticking to where the republicans on the hill like him to be. >> one day. >> no, no, no. know. just saying for today as he sits down with mcconnell's cabinet, it's instructive to play both the outside and the inside game. >> it is important to note that
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in 2017, david, and i know you know this, there is no inside and outside game anymore. with social media, with the media, with level of information flow that exists in the world today, everybody knows everything. there are no secrets and the old days you could negotiate in the back room of congress, cut some deals and then go out and jointly sell it. you could campaign differently in your district than you act in washington. there is no inside and outside game anymore and so donald trump will fail at what you rightly say is his attempt at an inside and outside game. >> let's see. are we playing the inside or outside game? that's one thing. all playing the inside or outside game? i'll leave you to discuss that over lunch like mitch mcconnell may discuss with the president. thank you so much. >> thanks, kate. coming up, a major escalation in the battle over the national anthem protests in the nfl. the man that started the movement, colin kaepernick,
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taking action against the whole league. the key word here, collusion. details ahead. plus, a new disaster in puerto rico. residents there now so desperate for drinking water that they're drinking from wells of toxic waste sites. epa is going in. now a call for a federal investigation. we'll take you live to san juan for the reporting. elp get us mo. ...and help you feel more strength and energy in just two weeks! i'll take that. -yeeeeeah! ensure high protein. with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. ensure. always be you. if you have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's, and your symptoms have left you with the same view, it may be time for a different perspective. if other treatments haven't worked well enough, ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works by focusing right in the gi-tract
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call now to learn more. a special cnn report now. people in puerto rico so desperate for water they're drinking it from hazardous waste site. a man saying he is ignoring the warnings to stay away from super fund sites saying if i don't drink water i'm going to die. now, a top democrat on the house homeland security committee is calling on dhs to investigate. cnn's ed lavandera is in san juan with the details. ed, this is very important reporting that you and your team have been doing. what are you learning?
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>> reporter: well, this is an area in a town of dorado west of the capital here in san juan where we're at. it's a relatively small area but it is an area designated as a super fund site. super fund sites are designated by the environmental protection agency and it's basically a list of some of the most contaminated pieces of land in the country. this happens, you know, all over the place. but in this particular case, there are a number of water wells on that land and there had been reports and we have seen it ourselves over the course of the last few weeks that people have been tapping into the water wells desperate for water. several of those residents we have spoken to said they have used it in recent days as a source of drinking water. over the weekend, a team of sh did from the environmental protection agency was out there taking water sal pls. they're in the process of testing the water for industrial toxins believed to be in the ground. the question is whether or not those industrial toxins have seeped into the water supply that's under ground there.
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that testing is being done. it will be back at some point this week. so we'll continue to monitor that. but i had a chance to speak with one of the epa officials that was out there at the site doing that testing and this is what we talked about. how concerned are you about what might happen to them? >> we're concerned because it's not absolutely clean, you know, pure water. there are some contaminants. we are not saying somebody's in immediate danger drinking the water. we are considering it in a long-term risk. >> reporter: so officials here saying that long-term risk, prolonged exposure to drinking the water, would likely cause any kind of serious health affects. obviously, that increases the urgency of getting access to clean water for a lot of these people. the problem has been is that a lot of people didn't know that the area they lived in and where the water wells were located on
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top of the super fund site and many never heard that dmus to begin with. and then couple wit the problem of areas where there is access to water, a nearby well, lines take hours and hours to get through to get access to that water so it's just a difficult situation here as the water supply continues to come back online. >> yeah. all the while they need water every day despite the fact that testing is going on. is in the process of happening. ed, thank you so much. really appreciate it. with me now, democratic congresswoman va les quez of work. >> thank you for having me. >> you heard ed's reporting. you're aware of it beforehand. what have you heard? what have you heard about this water and these super fund sites and what it means for folks there? >> this is one super fund site we are aware but there's 14 super fund sites in puerto rico. so, the extent of the damage,
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this could be another flint where so many children, old people, regular people in puerto rico could get affected. we're talking about contaminants, toxins, material, oil that are in this water. this is not a year ago. it was a super fund site. a year later, you telling me that this water can be used for -- as drinking water? i don't think so. and i'm really very searched. for this to happen in america, it just heart breaking. >> i do want to ask you. you became very emotional this week following the president's -- one of the president's tweets a message to puerto rico and part of the message was that we can't keep fema, military and first responders in puerto rico forever. is what he sent out.
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that upset you. for our viewers, i want to play what you said. you sent a message to the president through one of his cabinet secretaries that same warning, ben carson, when he was in your committee. listen to this. >> we shed blood to defend the freedoms that every american in this country enjoys. so to kick fellow citizens when they are down is shameful! >> why did that message from the president upset you so much? >> it was outrageous. it was an insult. it shows the inability of this president to understand that the solemn duty of a president is to protect the citizens of our country. and that puerto ricans are fellow citizens. they are not colonial servants.
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they need the services to any american citizen whenever there's a natural disaster. >> the next day the president sent out another message with a very different tone saying that the wonderful people of puerto rico with their unmatched spirit know how bad things were before the hurricanes. i will always be with them. does that make it better? >> no. we need actions. as you saw, people in puerto rico are drinking water from a super fund site. what we need is to correct the fact that we were not prepared. the federal government did not have a meaningful advanced response knowing that a category 5 was on its track to hit puerto rico, knowing that the infrastructure of puerto rico before the hurricane was vulnerable. so we needed to be there. the full force of the federal government, to mobilize the federal assets that were needed. >> going forward, the govern nor
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of puerto rico now says he believes that they will have 95% of the power grid back online by december 15th, i believe is what he said. do you believe that? >> i don't know how he came to the conclusion but i pray that we get this 95% back because the economy is -- if we don't have the power grid -- >> do you think it's too ambitious to think it will happen by mid-december. >> without the federal resources, definitely. puerto rico does not have the resources to enable them to put the power grid back on track. >> a lot on the plate of congress right now. sarah murray, a white house correspondent had really important reporting this morning of how republicans are sounding the alarm that if they lose the majority, if democrats win back the majority in the house in '18
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then that that would mean the president would be impeached. would you be for that? >> if we have the evidence that show that there was collusion between the russian and the donald trump campaign, that if there were -- if they committed fraud, if the fbi was lied to, if the evidence is there, we should act on it. >> so, we haven't seen that evidence yet. >> correct. >> right now you are a no and leaving open the possibility? >> well, if the evidence shows that the facts should call for an impeachment, i'll be the first one to support it. >> it seems personal to you, as well, now. this has gone from political to personal for you. do you want to see the president impeached? >> i want the president to do right by the american people. >> does he still have a chance to do that? >> president of the united
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states. apparently he doesn't understand the responsibility of being president of the united states. >> does he have a chance to fix it? you think he's done wrong. do you think he still has a chance to get it, right? >> well, he needs to do it. he needs at least in the case of prr, people are dying. children are dying. so this is the matter of life and death for american citizens. and by just tweeting out and telling the people of puerto rico when you're down that we're going to pull out of puerto rico, the resources that they deserve, it just immorally -- that is not the value that is made this country great. >> congresswoman, thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. coming up for us, all eyes back on the white house today where the president will be soon holding a meeting on camera. he will be holding a meeting with the cabinet and the cameras will see what happens. you never know. it comes amid tension with -- rising tensions with north korea, comes amid new battles of health care and tax reform. we'll bring you that as soon as
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it happens. plus, former 49ers quarterback and player that began the protest movement kaepernick taking action against the league accusing team owners of colluding to keep him out of a job. that's coming up. you wouldn't do only half of your daily routine, so why treat your mouth any differently? complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99.9% of germs. listerine® bring out the bold™ [ that's a good thing, eligible for medicare?
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former nfl quarterback at the center of the national anthem controversy says team owners are working together to punish him for his protests. colin kaepernick now filed a grievance against the league and team owners saying they colluded to keep him out of a job since he took a knee. this of course back in the spotlight after president trump reignited the debate calling players s.o.b.s and saying they should be fired if they kneel in the anthem. joining me now to discuss, dante stallworth, a. scott bolden is here, as well. good to see you. scott, first to you, does colin
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kaepernick have a case? >> he has an arbitration claim and you certainly have a case. the real issue here is whether he can substantiate the claims. witnesses, documents that show conspiracy or collusion between the owners and then even bigger issue is this. under article 62 of the collective bargaining agreement, if he can show that the owners did collude, whether silently or understood or verbally, then this could have negative impact on the whole cba. the cba could be thrown out and why the nfl players soeshlgs while they have not joined the lawsuit they're watching it closely and you ought to watch and see whether other players or the nba players association joins. >> do you see that happening? >> it is not clear. a complaint or grievance is just that. now you have to wait for the nfl's response and that will be key, too. does the nfl fight seeing a
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broader issue in keeping the cba agreement together, or do they try to resolve it? how do you make colin kaepernick whole based on him barred from the nfl if he is able to prove that or share evidence that shows that he's got a significant opportunity to recover here? >> dante, independent of all this, if it can be independent of all this, should kaepernick be playing right now do you think? >> without a doubt. aaron rodgers, the great quarterback from the green bay packers, said it best. he specifically noted earlier this year that colin kaepernick, only reason why he is not on a nfl team today is because of him -- of his peaceful protest and kneeling. and so, you look at the player like aaron rodgers, he obviously knows that colin kaepernick is a very good quarterback, much better than i would say half of the quarterbacks in the nfl right now. and so, the fact that he is not on the field right now is a true testament. i won't say to collusion or
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clear collusion but it is a true testament that his talents alone are not the only reason why he's not on the nfl team currently. >> and, scott, the complaint also points out that the president trump -- calls out president trump in the complaint saying the president points out that the president is being an organizing force in the collusion among team owners and conduct towards mr. kaepernick and other nfl players. what could that mean here? >> that certainly means if the published reports are true that donald trump was calling the nfl owners, the owner of the dallas cowboys and probably others owning the teams and saying it's not about social justice but offending the flag and the soldiers that fought for them. we certainly know that's not true. the protests were about social justice. here's the deal. based on how the grievance is drafted by mr. geragos, a really great lawyer, every nfl owner,
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player, gm or coach who talked about this issue, talked to colin kaepernick and his people, could be subject to the witness stand and they have to be under oath if you will. that's a pretty powerful mechanism and interesting to see whether this is just a big headache for the nfl and they want it to go away or whether we're going to have a long arbitration process document review and documents exchanged. who's on the witness list? because that tells you a lot. potentially if you name donald trump, he potentially could be a witness. we're a long way from that right now but i got to tell you, this is a thunder bolt to this social injustice issue and the nfl is going to want to get away from this because now you have parallel tracks, a legal case and then a political and social case playing out every sunday on the nfl and across the country with sponsors. >> dante, real quick, what are you hearing from players? >> the players, i think the
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players are keeping an eye on everything and they want to know exactly what it is that the nfl is going to talk about in these meetings. the nfl wants or the players, i'm sorry, wants the nfl to help them promote their causes and the things that they care about personally and not just on a level of being able to do it during the offseason but doing it during the season. the nfl has a huge platform, a mega platform that the players want to be able to stand on and promote their causes. >> dante, scott, great to see you both. thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up for us, 18 states taking president trump to court after his controversial decision to defund obamacare subsidies, to cancel the payments to health insurance companies it was supposed to go to helping low income americans afford health insurance. the next major legal drama for the white house, that's next. complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease,
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it was just thursday night when the president announced that he was canceling payments to health insurance companies. these are subsidies that help low income americans afford insurance. a big part of obamacare. by friday, the president had a lawsuit slapped against him on this. now, 18 states and the district of columbia are suing the trump administration for those payments for the president's action. with california leading the charge. joining me now, the state's attorney general. mr. attorney general, thank you for coming in. >> thank you, kate. >> a federal court as you of course well know ruled that the payments were illegal, house republicans brought that lawsuit. they ruled the federal court ruled it was illegal. the president following the court here they say. no matter the harm you see this is causing, where's the standing to fight this?
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>> that's strange because the president has never chosen to follow what a lower court said in the last eight or nine months with a muslim travel ban which was found unconstitutional by the ower courts. we have a case through a lower court. it made a decision, a ruling, that we were appealing and we were on appeal on and so was the administration appealing and so this is not a done deal. plus, we also know that the law requires that these payments, the cost sharing payments, be made so people afford health insurance. not only premature on behalf of the white house but misrepresenting what is occurring. >> that's true. that part written in the law. you were in congress. i actually struggle to call you mr. attorney general. apologies. >> yeah. >> you were there when obamacare was there negotiated and passed. not appropriating the funds, written in the law. >> i believe that the law's pretty clear and we had premium subsidies for people directly so that their premiums every month
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lower so they could afford the insurance and the cost sharing subsidies for deductibles, co-payments worked together, worked tandemly. you can't take one without risking the ability to pay the other. in the law it makes it very clear and why both are required and even though trump says he won't pay for the stuff, we're still going to have to pay because it's in the law. >> i want to play for you what the president had to say after he had made the announcement. here's what he said just on friday. >> if the democrats were smart, what they'd do is come and negotiate something where people could really get the kind of health care they deserve being citizens of our great country. >> so, if this leads to the dismantling of health care system, do democrats have an obligation to come to the table here? >> well, no doubt that what president trump is doing to the affordable care act is leading to the dismantling or as he put
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it, exploding the affordable care act. the difficulty is this, kate. while he is doing that, he's hurting everyone. all those people who got health insurance as a result of the affordable care act lose it. all the people who are taxpayers to help pay for it would pay more. the federal deficit would go up with what president trump is trying to do. >> right. you say there's a lot of harm to the citizens of california and what the president is doing. does that mean democrats just in order to alleviate that harm should come and be at the table with the president as he says to try to negotiate something else? >> i believe democrats said from the very beginning we would be willing to talk about the things to improve the affordable care act, not explode it. the difficulty is everything the president is trying to do explodes the affordable care act and makes it more expensive, loses people's health insurance.
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and at lower expense and what trump is doing and costs the federal taxpayers more money. there's -- everyone loses in the trump proposal of this past friday. i don't understand why anyone would want to do this unless they're ignorant of the way the law works. >> can i turn to politics really quick with you if i could? senator dianne feinstein, long standing senior senator of california, running again for re-election. that was a question she finally announced it to everyone. she is now facing a challenge from the left for her senate seat. do you support dianne feinstein? >> i think you're going to be a lot of support for both senator feinstein and the idea that we want to continue to move the country forward. there is no doubt someone like dianne feinstein has the experience it takes to be a great senator. she's proven it in the past. there are people who are going to go out there and make challenges and i think that's one of the healthy things about our democracy. you see people coming out to put the best foot forward and we'll
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see senator feinstein, could be a state senator goes out there and contests her. i think california's going to wind up with a great senator. >> not picking a side, though, for senator yet? >> well, remember, you just said i was a member of congress up until recently and i have to get re-elected and focus on the race for attorney general right now. >> got it. again, i almost called you congressman again. attorney general, thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> thanks, kate. coming up for us, the army sergeant held captive by the taliban for five years, now pleading guilty to two charges this morning and could face life behind bars. we'll be live from the military hearing in fort bragg. be right back. ...or snack a day with glucerna... ...made with carbsteady... help minimize blood sugar spikes... can really feel it. now with 30% less carbs and sugars. glucerna. the number 1 rated ego power plus blower.
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this just in to cnn. bo bergdahl pleads guilty to sdergz and misbehavior with the enemy. this is a major moment in what has been a long ordeal. bergdahl was released by the taliban in 2014 after being held captive in afghanistan for almost five years after he walked away and left his base in afghanistan in 2009. let's go to martin savitch from fort bragg. what happened this court? >> you know, kate, we know he was likely to enter a plea of guilty, but to hear it coming from his own mouth and to hear him stand up and say without any real reason or justification, he was guilty of desergz and misbehavior before the enemy.
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it sounds random, but it references the fact that as a result of sdergz and walking off post, it triggered a major search and recovery to try to find him. that disrupted the tempo of the war not to mention put many, many soldiers at risk. that is the most serious charge. he could get life. the judge queried him over and over are you aware of what are you admitting to? this was bowe bergdahl confessing as the prosecution had laid out. it was felt that maybe he was doing this because there was a plea agreement. pga, pretrial agreement. then he stunned the court by saying there was no agreement. he was getting no break or consideration for making what was a confession that he deserted his post and put many, many other soldiers in jeopardy as a result of his actions.
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he said at the time he left he was going to report what he thought was a serious flaw in the leadership of his unit and he did not expect and this was considered naive on the part of the prosecution, by walking that post, it would trigger a search or the massive search that it did. he said looking back now, he knows why it was wrong and he is confessing. he seemed like a man throwing himself at the mercy of the court and that may be what he has done. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. right here for a second. it has been 13 days since an isis ambush in niger and 13 days without a public statement or even a tweet about this tragic incident from the commander in chief himself. the pentagon is investigating the attack that killed staff sergeant dustin wright, jeremiah johnson, bryan black and la
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david johnson. barbara, there has been a lot of mystery around this ambush first and foremost and this also comes as the first of these men has been laid to rest over the weekend. >> indeed, kate. let's start with the president with no public statement or tweet that we have seen. we do not know of course if the president has offered private condolences to the four families. we want to make that point. this is a president who often speaks publicly in very glowing terms about the u.s. military and he is choosing no the to speak publicly about this which turned out to be the single deadliest killed in action incident of the trump presidency. as you say, the funerals have begun over the weekend. sergeant wright, one of those killed, he was laid to rest in his hometown and it was very
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public. so many people came out to pay their respects to him. sergeant dustin wright. his family, these people are so dedicated to their service. his family has nearly 200 years of service in the u.s. military and his brother talked about all of that and what it all meant to them. >> you are not lost a single member until dustin. that's 205 years. that's a good run. it's been great to hear and share that history and if once every 205 years this is the price we pay, then that's what it takes. >> sergeant la david johnson, 25 years old, he worked the produce counter at wal-mart before he joined the navy and leaves a widow and two children and she is expecting their third.
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kate? >> thank you very much for bringing their stories and their names. we thank them for their service and sacrifice. barbara, thank you. we will turn back to the white house. all eyes on the white house where the president will soon be holding a cabinet meeting and they are going to welcome cameras in. we will bring you that as soon as it happens. what could possibly come up? you do all this research
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our recent online sales success seems a little... strange?nk na. ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... "people" aren't buying these books online, but "they" are buying them to protect their secrets?!?! hi bill. if that is your real name. it's william actually. hmph! affordable, fast fedex ground. >> welcome to inside politics. i'm john king and thank you for sharing your day with us. president trump and the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell trying to navigate gop civil war and a tricky tax cut. >> we promised to cut taxes and we have yet to do it.


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