the president, that he was going to say to president trump what do you want do. we don't have the votes. how do you want to handle this. meaning do you want to take this to the floor, roll the dice, hope that at the end of the day the votes somehow magically appear because of the fact that the ultimatum came from the white house last night, you got to pass this, you have to vote for this or it will be on you if obamacare remains the law of the land, or whether you want to take a breath are and figure out if there is another strategy here. we don't know what the answer will be to that question. but everybody is on pins and needles waiting for the speaker to get back to figure out what exactly they will do. do they go forward door they pull this bill. >> what are you hearing from lawmakers up on capitol hill? >> reporter: well, the obvious is that nobody will say that the votes are there or even close to being there. i spoke to one member of the now

famous house freedom caucus, a conservative trent franks of arizona, about where he is. he told me that he is undeclared, meaning he's close to deciding, he pretty much knows inside where he's going to go, but he hadnsn't said public. here's how he described the atmosphere. you and your fellow freedom caucus members you think have made this bill better for conservatives. but enough do you think that you and your fellow freedom caucus members will be able to vote yes? >> see, that's the big question. i'm convinced we've made it better. we want to make it even better. and it will just depend on whether or not those of us in our own hearts and conscious, where that line will be. and i don't know. >> reporter: so wolf, that is the conservative side of the republican equation. the bigger problem at this hour seems to be the moderate side. you have some pretty important moderates suddenly saying, you

know what, i can't support this because of the changes you just heard trent franks describe, the conservatives got from the white house and from the republican leadership. one key example, one huge red flag and again my colleague phil mattingly was reporting this earlier today, congressman fral fraleyhow zen, not a household name, one of the more moderate republican, chairman of the house appropriations committee, one of the most powerful members of the house republican conference, gets a job like that because he's close to the leadership. he is breaking with the leadership, breaking with the president, saying he's going to vote no. that is not a good sign. and kind of gives you a sense of why from the left of the caucus to the right of the caucus, they are still having big problems and the votes simply are not there. and we're waiting to see what that means for whether or not this bill even gets a vote. >> we're also waiting for the start of the white house press briefing. you can see live pictures coming in. we'll hear from sean spicer, get the white house reaction to these very dramatic

developments. dana, stand by. we'll get back to you. the significance of what is happening up on capitol hill cannot be overstated. let's get some analysis starting with gloria borger. if in fact the speaker is now telling the president the votes are not there, what do you want to do, there are few options, continue with the vote, try to see if you can eek something through, or cancel it, postpone it once again and not be humiliated if it goes down to defeat? >> and the president may have a different view from paul ryan. i mean paul ryan may believe that if it's down a handful of are votes and they can possibly get it, they should go for it. and the president and his advisers who delivered the ultimatum and said we're having this vote tomorrow no matter what may feel differently. may feel, you know what, these guys don't want to do this, fine. they weren't in love with this bill in the first place. they know it's a huge loss. the president last mused about whether this was the right order do things. the knives are already out on

both 150sides. and they may decide let's just roll the dice. politically obviously this would be a huge loss for him. either way though if he lost on the floor or if he pulls the bill, i mean none of these are good choices for the white house. none of them. >> and i think the president also thinks that the loss is delayed for him more so than for republicans on the hill. i mean, they're facing many of them re-election in two years. and virtually in a year they have to start facing constituents. the president is looking at his own re-election, he's thinking four years out and maybe if i can give my constituents something and tax reform is a little bit closer to a give me than health care, than he's better off. so it's hard. i think paul ryan definitely has to take seriously the possibility that trump as he's said many times over the last two weeks did not want to do this first. he wanted to start with

something that he felt was more central to his mission of getting jobs out there for his constituents like tax reform, like infrastructure. and so there is a serious consideration that the president does not want to really deal with this especially given how hard it's been. >> and it's a tough decision they will have to make in the next hour or two to go ahead and let the vote take place, the roll call vote, 435 member, house of representatives, or into you just say you know what, we'll postpone it one more time, give it some more time to see if they can make some changes to guarantee success. >> yeah, i'm not sure how that will guarantee success. what i think is particularly troubling for the proponents of the bill is this reporting coming out of in meeting that paul ryan was going to deliver bad news, that the votes aren't there. because what happens now, you can start to see now after that report was out there, we learned barbara comstock from a very competitive congressional district in virginia, her

spokesman declaring she's a no vote. we didn't know that before. what happens is that members are going to start feeling if indeed they see these reports in these hours that this is blowing up, then it may not just be a handful of votes that they need to plug the dam, but all of a sudden a lot more votes start appearing in the no column and then it's a bigger problem. >> and the fact that barbara comstock from northern virginia has now apparently a no, congressman free link housen as we heard from dana, that is a big deal. >> and so this must be a revelation in some ways to president trump that rodney free link housen who i put he pick out of a lineup could have such a con consequential voice. everybody has a voice.

and would be problem that i think president obama will face is a loss here will affect his ability to get the tax bill he want. a loss here will affect his approval rating. everything is of a piece when you're president. and things are not compartmentalized in the way that they might be say in the business world. >> and we're waiting for sean spicer to brief reporters #. i assume he himself is getting briefed right now. but how does he deal with a sensitive issue like this? how does he walk that delicate line? >> well, he told us repeatedly there is no plan b. remember that. so if that is true, what do they do? he said we're going to win, there is no plan b. and maybe he was right. maybe they take to a vote and there is no plan b. and i think that -- >> we got a clue as to what the plan b was from last night which is to move on. >> right, to move on. >> and the president delivered that message when they delivered

the ultimatum that we want this vote today and this of course was their gambit, but they basically said and if not, if you vote this down, we're going to move on and you have to live with the fact that you voted to keep obamacare. >> and we're going to take some names. donald trump has a long memory and he will start taking some names of these members perhaps the freedom caucus, programs it's the moderates with whom one might think he might be aligned. he's not ideological. i mean this is the thing that donald trump is up against right now. he's up against people with really sort of rigid sets of beliefs that they ran on. donald trump is a businessman who wants to make deals. and in making deals, you make sx compromises. and when you talk to the freedom caucus, what he's learning is that they're ideologues. they believe in things for many years and that this is their moment to prove that actually they do have a set of beliefs

and he's not used to it in business negotiations, it's about money. it's about cutting a deal so everyone can be happy and make a profit. this is not what this is about. and i think it might be sort of eye-opening for him to understand that he cannot control this to a certain degree. he excerpts a exerts a lot of influence, but people are about their own survival. >> and it's also personal.a exe influence, but people are about their own survival. >> and it's also personal. health care is both an ideological hill to die on for some folks but it's also people who don't want go home and look their constituents in the eye and say hey, that maternity coverage is no longer in your plan because of something i did. and so trump talks about the give and take on this health care bill as being all about politics. and it is not because it's also about people. and that's one of the reasons it's one of the hardest things

that anybody much any party has to do. >> everybody stand by because the vote on the health care bill isn't the only drama playing out on capitol hill right now. there is an internal battle, a significant battle, in the house intelligence committee over the investigation into russian meddling in the presidential election here in the united states. it began today with a statement from president trump's former campaign chairman paul manafort saying this, this is a statement from are his attorney. mr. manafort instructed his representatives to reach out to committee staff and offer to provide information voluntarily regarding recent allegations about russian interference in the election. mr. manafort has always maintained he looks forward to meeting with those conducting serious investigations of these issues to discuss the facts spoon after that, the house intelligence committee chairman and panel's top democrat appeared before the cameras

separately. listen. they totally disagreed on the -- not necessarily the manafort decision to come before the panel, they totally disagreed on the whole issue of having an open hearing on monday before former intelligence leaders during the obama administration who had been scheduled to testify, the chairman devin nunes announcing that that committee hearing on monday has been canceled. and just a little while ago, another development former virz to the candidate donald trump roger stone says he will voluntarily talk to the house committee himself preferably in public. our senior congressional correspondent manu raju is following all these development. one more former adviser says he will volunteer to speak publicly, answer questions before the committee. these are all dramatic developments. we'll get to that in a moment.

but this feud has really escalated today between the chairman and the ranking democrat on the chairman's decision to cancel the hearing on monday. >> reporter: yeah, that is right. the question is how did this committee move forward begin that it seems to have broken down in partisan rancor. but piece of news just now, i've obtained a letter here from car tore page, a foreign policy adviser in the early parts of the trump campaign who says that he, too, is willing to come forward and testify to the house intelligence committee. now, he wants to, quote, set the record straight in a very strongly worded letter to devin nunes and adam schiff, top two members on the house intelligence committee. he says the attacks are fueled by lies, he did not try to coordinate with the russians and says, quote, i would eagerly welcome the chance to speak with the committee to help finally set the record straight following the false evidence,

illegal activities as well as the other lies distributed by certain politically motivated suspects in coordination with the obama administration which defamed me and other americans. now, the question is will he be testify publicly or will paul manafort testify publicly and will rogers stone testify publicly. but we dough knee o know one pu hearing that was supposed to take place on tuesday with three former top level intelligence and national security officials was abruptly canceled by the chairman of the committee devin nunes earlier today who did not believe that this should go forward. instead he wanted to have a private classified briefing with james comey and mike ronlgi isrd of the national security agency. this did not go over well with democrats who believe mr. nunes was trying to squelch the efforts of the public to learn about what has happen the between russia and trump campaign. and i asked mr. schiff what do

you think about the decision and can he continue to serve on the committee. >> to take evidence that may or may not be related to the investigation to the white house was wholly inappropriate. and of course cast grave doubts into the ability to run a credible investigation and the integrity of that investigation. >> do you believe that he can still run this committee or should he step aside? >> ultimately that is a decision that the speaker needs to make. and i think the speaker has to decide just as well as their own chairm chairman whether they want an investigation that the public can have confidence in. >> now of course this comes after that decision by mr. nunes to breeief the president on information mr. nunes received from a source showing that some communications may have been picked up -- sounds like sean spicer is at the podium. >> yeah, we'll get back to you. >> -- presidential permit for

the keystone xl pipeline. last administration spent eight years delaying this enormous investment in american energy independence. and president trump is moving this project forward in just eight week. and as he promised, items 's a better deal for the american people. this project will generate an estimated 16,100 jobs according to the state department. all without spending a dime of taxpayer money. in many ways, this project represented everything that was wrong with the infrastructure permitting of the united states. transcanada spent an incredible amount of resources attempting to comply with regulations only to be denied and delayed for political reasons. but the days of pointless government bureaucracy, holding up progressing and production have ended by simply getting excessive due application came difference regulation out of wait. we can make infrastructure projects more at track if i hav difference regulation out of wait. we can make infrastructure projects more at track if i have

attractive process spekt. immediately following the announcement by transcanada, the president announced that charter communications has committed to investing $25 billion here in the united states and hiring an additional 20,000 american workers over the next four years. charter communications is truly an example of how american leadership can turn a downward into an amazing success. five years ago car cher xhcher communications was a struggling company that slowly emerged from bankruptcy. today thanks to the great leadership of tom rutledge, it is the fastest growing television, internet and voice company in the nation. and as xhcharter grew, american jobs grew. today charter is also committed to completely ending its offshore call centers faci plac 100% in the united states.

the president calls the american model. by slashing job killing regulations and reducing government burdens and lowering taxes, we'll make it easier for all business gross right here at home generating jobs and boosting our economy by getting government out of the way. following these big announcements, the president had lunch with secretary of the treasury steve mnuchin. he was joined by speaker paul ryan. i'll update you in a second on that. later in the afternoon, the president will host a greek independent day celebrationing and as i mentioned yesterday, at 4:00, he will meet with about two dozen medal of honor recipients to honor medal of honor day which is technically tomorrow. he's honored to be hosting these great men and women of our armed services, greatest force for peace about and justice the world has ever known. and obviously later today the house will be voting on the american health care act. current vote is scheduled for 3:30. the president has been working the phones and having in-person meeting since the act was

introduced. he's left everything on the field when it comes to this bill. the president congressional republicans promised the american people that they would repeal and replace this broken system. obamacare is washington driven one size fits all plan had seven years to prove its case and look what it's left us with. skyrocketing premiums, on average premiums for benchmark plans increased 25% in 2017. unaffordable deductibles, two most popular obamacare health plans have average equivalent to 10% and 6% of the median american household income. with these high deductibles, many people have technically insurance but nothing that they can afford to use. fewer choices, one in five americans have only one insurer offering obamacare through xhaks. and of course higher taxes. key conservative groups like the tea party express and american conservative movement have added thoems a long list of organizations xresing their for the american health care act because they know items our

chance after the american people have spent years suffering to finally repeal and replace obamacare. the president looks forward to seeing the house republicans join with these voices and vote in favor of the act. the president had speaker ryan come up here and visit with him to update him on the bill. they are continuing to discuss the way forward on this. the speaker is updating him on these efforts. as i mentioned, the president has been work throughout the week on this starting early in the morning and working until late at night on calling and visiting with members. over 120 members have personally had a visit, call or meeting here at the white house in the past few days which is an extraordinary feat. the president and his team have committed everything they can to making this thing happen. and the speaker will continue to update him on the way forward. finally a few administrative

notes. yesterday united states and israeli delegations concluded four days of talks with focus on measures to improve the overall climate in order to advance the prospects of a genuine and lasting peace between israel and palestine. jason greenblatt led the united states and it includes department of state. this principle focus of the discussion was specific measures that could have a meaningful impact on the economic environment in the west bank and gaza allowing the palestinian to more fully realize their economic potential. two delegations also discussed israeli settlement construction. the fact that both governments dedicated such senior delegations for so many days reflects the close cooperation between these countries and the importance both assign to this entitle ta vital task. last night president announced several people to the administration through cluding

deputy of the small business administration, william francis haggerty, a ambassador to japan, also member of the national transportation safety board. and also this morning of note the united states district court for the eastern district of virginia upheld the president's revised executive order protecting the nation from foreign people who seek to do us harm into the jund. we're pleased with this rule which go found that the plaintiffs had no likelihood of success on the merits of their claims. as the court correctly noted in its opinion, the president's order false well within his legal authority to protect nation's security. we're confident that the president's fully lawful and necessary action will ultimately be allowed to move forward through the rest of the court systems. in terms of the schedule for this weekend, the president will spend a workweek end here in washington and we'll update you with further details regarding his schedule. with that, i'll get to your questions. steve. >> is it your understanding that you don't have the votes to pass

the health care legislation? is that the message the speaker delivered today and if so, what lessons do you draw off of this process? >> i think the speaker is currently having a conversation with him to talk about where that vote stands. he's working with the members. the president had the tuesday group heerre, 17 were here, 16 walked out with a yes. we've had a group that we continue to have a conversation with and try to make frankly at this point it's not a question of negotiating anymore. it's understanding the greater good that is at hand. the president understands this is it. we have this opportunity to change the trajectory of health care, to help improve -- put a health care system in place. and the nightmare thatpaigned o called obamacare. i noted yesterday was the seventh year anniversary of bon obamacare. so do members realize this opportunity. there is no question in my mind

at least that the president and the team here have left everything on the field. we have called every member that had a question or concern, tried to do the extent possible take in if to considerations, ideas that would strengthen the bill. and it will now be up to the members of the house to decide whether or not they want to follow through on the promise of that. but we'll continue to work with the speaker and the leadership there to see where the votes are. we're getting closer and closer. but you need to get to 216 and, you know, they have started four hours of debate. i suspect a vote somewhere around the 3:30, 4:00 hour. let's see where we go. hunter. >> thank you, sean. we're hearing that paul ryan and mitch mcconnell wanted to do a clean repeal and then replace offic over time. would that have been a better approach and in general do you think paul ryan has handled this well? >> i don't know that that is entirely the case. i know that this was a joint effort, this is something that

the house determined in terms of the three prong approach that we had. so i don't know that i necessarily agree with the assessment of how that happened. >> in why not is the white house happen with -- >> i think the speaker has done everything he can. he's worked really closely with the president. i said this yesterday. you can't force people to vote. but i think we've given them every single reason to fulfill ever pled every pledge that they made and i think this is the right thing to do. maggie. i don't want you to live tweet this. >> if they don't have the votes, what does is it mean going forward with tax reform? about. >> i've said it before, i don't think that you tie any of these together. that is just not -- i think there is a huge appetite for tax reform. and i'm not trying to juxtapose

anything to do with today's vote or not. i think it would be great to see it put forward. the president has put a lot of time and effort into this and i think he's made a strong case as to why this has to happen. we've worked with the house. if we don't get-of will regardless of what happens today and i still feel optimistic that the speaker and the president and the vice president, they have a team that has enabout a up on the hill most of today, they will continue to try to get every vote they can. but that doesn't mean whether it's immigration or tax reform, there is still a huge appetite out there. >> if this fails today, is the president done with -- >> so negative. >> that's what we're hearing. >> that's what you're hearing? i haven't heard that yet. so why don't we continue with a very positive optimistic friday. the sun is coming out. i feel really good, you know.

so we're going to continue to work as late as we can to get the votes. and as i said, the up side is that you know, we continue to pick up votes. people continue to say that they want to be with us. the question is can we get to 216. but make no mistake about it, the president made it clear last night, this is it. you have an opportunity to do what you've told the american people, the commitment that we as a party have made. but this is your chance do what we've done. we've listened, we've incorporated, we've updated in every way possible. i don't think when you look at legislative efforts, i think the president has given it his all and i think it shocked a lot of people frankly how very, very detail oriented, how personal it was for him, calling members as early as 6:00 in the morning and until 11:00 at night the last several nights. sitting down meeting after meeting with them, coming back and revising it, having his team back and forth. everything is out there. and i think each of these members needs to make that

decision whether or not they believe that they-of will at some point you can docan do so . and everything that we can possibly do to listen to members, to get their concerns, in this piece of legislation to make it as strong as possible for the american people has been done. >> is the president comfortable with obamacare continue something about. >> no, of course he's not. >> he promised that he would repeal this. >> i'm not even sure where to start with that. no, he's not which can is why he's literally put as much effort as he has into repealing this. and but he's made it clear that this is our moment. this is our opportunity to do it. but it is now up to members to make that decision whether or not they want to be bart of this effort to repeal obamacare. and if they don't, and i think for a lot of -- you saw the president's tweet this morning. for a lot of these members who life is an important issue, this is your opportunity. but it's ultimately them that have to go down to the floor and

cast that vote. and i think that we've been able to cast a bunch of votes over the past couple years when you knew a president wouldn't sign it. you now have a president that will sign the bill if you pass it. and now is that time. zeke. [ inaudible ] >>is his message was knows how to break the gridlock in washington, he is the closer. s to break the gridlock in washington, he is the closer. ho break the gridlock in washington, he is the closer.hi break the gridlock in washington, he is the closer. ifs voig if the vote goi goes down, is h humbled by the process? >> i'm still optimistic. we're continuing to work hard. but at the end the day, you can't force somebody do something. there is nobody that objectively can look at this effort and say the president didn't do every single thing he possibly could

with his team to get every vote possible. and i think that is why, you know, i still feel good about this, but you know, we are where we are and members have to make that decision for themselves. this is the final hour to make that decision. blake. >> is it under any consideration to pull the bill at all between now and then? about. >> you guys are so negative. >> there are reports out there -- >> i understand. the speaker and president are talking now. leader and the whip are doing their vote counts, the debate is ongoing. we're proceeding with a 3:30 vote as scheduled. >> thinking yesterday when the bill was pulled and then the president had made the decision or his team went to the hill saying there will be a vote today, at what point did he make that calculation, why did he make that calculation? >> a couple things. one i think we wanted to be as open as possible with the vote. having it on the current trajectory last night, it was going into the wee hours. morning and i don't think that

that for all that we've talked about, that wasn't the appropriate way to vote. i think we decided to work with the house and ask that they postpone and make sure that it was done in the light of day. but i think that he's had enough discussions. and it's not about improving the bill anymore. i think he has taken into consideration every member's thoughts and concerns and relayed those to the house. and i think to the extent that this balance of trying to get to 216 in this case is such that there are some people that come in with ideas and say if you do that to get your vote, i'm going to give up 20 or 12. and i think we've struck into the right balance right now and incorporated and it is the strongs possible bill. but he's going to continue to work until the very end. charlie. >> how important is a live vote to the president trump watching to see who is on his side and who is not? >> we've seen the whip counts.

mr. scalise has done a phenomenal job with liedereade m mccarthy. we know where the vote count stands. we don't need a live vote. people have been pretty straightforward with where they are. >> and the president and speaker are meeting right now. do you know -- you can tell us anything about the character of that meeting or what exactly they're looking at going forward? >> well, they're discussing. they're not looking. they're sitting down and talking about where it stands, some of the outstanding shus, and where they're onesies or twosies, what are the concerns and outstanding issues of some of the blocs and some of the individuals and having a discussion on that. anita. if somebody will ask when it passes, then -- >> do you want to have a briefing right after the vote?

>> no. score one for you. >> if the bill doesn't pass, does the president still have confidence in -- >> i already answered that question. >> do you think that he should step down if it didn't -- >> he answered that question earlier. so asked and answered. >> after the vote whatever happens, how will we get a response from you all? >> electronically or verbally, but one of the two. peter. >> this is the president's first foray into the legislative sausage making process. has he fleereflected at all, ho it differ from negotiating a business deal? is it more complicated? >> i think we'll have plenty of time to reflect on it after we do this. so i know that -- i'll leave it at that for now. >> without pre-judging the outcome of will of will.

>> -- >> does the president in any way regret pursuing health care first? >> no. if you think about it, in order to maximize -- and i know this is -- for most people it doesn't make a ton of sense, but the savings that you achieve through the first reckon on still yaonc health care allows us to utilize the savings in that process to maximize additional tax reform measures that will start in the 2018 fy 2018 recking conciliation process. so would while that sounds like a ton of inside baseball, the reality is in order to maximize tax reform both on the corporate side to make our businesses more competitive and to give with individuals especially middle class americans more tax relief, doing this in that way maximizes the amount of savings that you can use for the second reconciliation package which would be tax reform.

doing it the first way, you can do, but you won't chaech the fu achieve the full potential. but that being said, it's not a question of -- he with all knew how big this was. it's one fifth of the economy and what it took. the issue is that i think the disparate interests that are there and some of the process explaining if you will. the way that this is happening, and i think length late difference lly it's complicated. folks say why conditions you ann one fell swoop, why do it in three phases. for a lot of people, that is complicated to understand and it's not just a question of understanding. i think one of the other things that the president and the team have found is that there is a lot of issues where people are wondering if i vote for this, how can i guarantee that i get something in phase two which is the administrative pieces that

sect price wou secretary price would institute. and then the legislative things that will take 60 votes to complete the overall package, how do i have-of will and so there is -- and so the comprehensive nature of this makes it complicated. and normally you have one bill that sails through and it deals with all of these things. if someone has an amendment, you add it in. in this process we're having one off discussions about will the senate accept this if you put it in, and not only will they accept it, about the byrd rule kick in. that complicates it. >> and was it his initial ask do health care first or did house speaker paul ryan say -- >> i think this was something that during the transition we gamed out in coordination with the house in terms of what should go first and why. but again, it's not a question of what should go first, it's a question of if you don't do it first, do you lose some of the potential in savings that you would achieve through the second

reconciliation. >> would it have been wise to try to work on freedom caucus foek for example with infrastructure to build up -- >> we've talked about this thing since 2010. every republican with the exception of probably a handful has campaigned that he would do everything they could to repeal and replace obamacare. so to say that you should there dufrn ev have done something else wouldn't be fair to the american people who said i'll vote for you, but i want you to fulfill this pledge. >> and the buck stops with who on this? >> like i said, you can't force someone to vote a certain way. i think in the sense that has he done every single thing, has he pulled out every stop, has he called every member, has he tweaked every tweak, has he done everything he can possibly and used every minute of every day that is possible to get this thing through, the answer is yes. has the team put everything out there? have we left everything on the field?

absolutely. at the end of the day, this isn't a dick datatorship and wee to expect members to vote however they will. but i think as the president made clear, they're the ones that have to answer to their constituents why they didn't fulfill a pledge that they made. >> nonhealth care question for you. regarding these documents that devin nunes says show incidental intelligence of identifying information about people associated with the trump campaign, can you categorically rule out that chairman nunes received or was alerted to these documents from someone at the white house? >> i'm not aware of where he got the documents from. i don't know. i don't know where he got them from. he didn't state it, so i don't have anything for you on that. so i cannot say anything more than i don't know. cecilia. >> so if the president has done everything he can possibly do

and speaker, the team has put everything on the table, who is to blame for this? >> again let's wait and see -- i'm not assigning blame. >> but you wanted a vote even last night or this morning. so there is a stall. so -- >> no, no, we did want a vote last knight a last knight and the idea wasn't to bury this at 12:00 or 1:00 in the more than.knight and the id to bury this at 12:00 or 1:00 in the more than. morning. we wanted a vote yesterday, but as we got the process went on, we realized that that vote would occur -- probably actually into today in terms of like calendar wise. and that doing it at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning was not something that would be in keeping with what we had promised. >> so who is to blame for the stall? >> it's not a blame. right now it's a question of getting all the members together and dealing with -- you've seen the activity. you've seen the members go back and forth. right now we're still in that

active discussion phase with trying to figure out who we can get on board and whether or not we can move forward. but this is -- we're not there yet. >> you put the ultimatum out there. is the president still confident that he can see this bill through? >> the president is confident that we have done every single thing possible, made the case, updated it, added and done everything to listen to the concerns and do everything that fulfills the promises that we and members have made with the american people. john. >> thank you, sean. without pre-judging the outcome of the vote today, but focusing on your comments and the president trump's saying this would be a vote against life are about fepeople voted against it several republican members said they did not want the vote on planned parenthood in this particular bill. congressman john fasso of new york was particularly outspoken. did anything come up in the

negotiation or from the white house saying they guarantee a separate vote on planned parenthood and leave it out of the bill? >> i'm not aware of that, john. i'm not aware that that happened. >> the white house from your tone and the president's, the whus want white house wanted the plarn vote planned parenthood vote in? >> there were a lot of discussions. i honestly can't remember how or when that came up. >> and the last two members that announced that they were no rk, republicans from new jersey both cited the number of medicaid recipients in their district as their premiere reason. in three counties, 30% of constituents were on head kad a medicaid and he wanted no damage. was medicaid on the table in the negotiations? >> well, i know that there was a discussion about the expansion of medicaid. and some of the work

requirements with respect to able bodied americans who are receiving that. but you know, i would say this. one of the things that not member specific to either of the members from new jersey is that members have to understand that the current system is unsustainable. so if you vote no today, what is your alternative. and what do you want -- because right now, there is a lot of folks that have said they will vote no. which is their prerogative. but at the end of the day, the current obamacare system will collapse on its own. so the question that they have to ask themselves or that they will be asked by their constituents is then what is your alternative because right now this is the choice that will save the system. the other choice is do nothing and that is going collapse the system. >> the stock market has been largely looking at this as a proxy for how you will do on your tax cut proposal. you can say what the lessons

learned here are about how this was handled that you might apply to the tax reform? >> i won't start gettinging a lessons learned while we're in the middle of debate of a current bill. we'll have applicant of time if you wouldn't stop by over the weekend, we can talk about -- glad to sit down with you on that. but again right now we're focused to get willing the votes. the house has a vote scheduled. that is what our focus is, not to figure out -- we'll have plenty of time for that. >> president going to simply wash his hands of this today? >> the president will wash his hands several times, but i don't know -- >> central campaign promise of the president of the united states. >> i understand that. so again slow down, turn on c-span and all watch this together and then we can discuss what happened. jen. >> treasury secretary mufrp wnu was fwauk tax reform by the august recess. do you think that is a reasonable time line is and why the rush? are there any lessons learned

from this health care debate? again, i think tax reform is something that we've talked about. there is plenty ever tiof time. it's a goal that i think we'll try to is itt iti itic stick to let's get by today. tax reform is something that the president is vecommitted to. you've seen him very publicly talk about how excited he is to move on once this is done to tax reform because he understands both sides of this, that the which business piece of this, we are so uncompetitive when it comes in terms of our tax rate. and when we have these discussions about keeping companies from either shipping jobs overseas or growing bringing back jobs to america, the two things that come up over and over again are tax rate and our regulatory system. and i think he understands that on the tax front, we can be a

lot more competitive with the rest of the world in growing american jobs here at home and frankly expanding manufacturing if we lower that. but also that the american middle class desperately needs and wants a tax break. and the more that we can do that, this is something that i think we'll be continuing to work on and we'll have more on that later. >> how much credit will the president take for the outcome of this health care bill? >> i'll refer to you like the last eight people. let's see where we go from here. >> and is the white house still as confident as they were earlier in the week and is the president as confident as he was earlier in the week that the health care bill will pass? >> i would suggest my answer that i said to kristin is that we are confident that we have done everything. and it is now up to voters. the reason the president called for a vote and respectfully obviously it's not up to us, but

the reason that he asked speaker ryan and leader mccarthy to call for a vote is we've done everything. we've done everything single thing, every meeting, every call, every discussion, every idea has been out there adjudicated, listened to. and i think that now is the time for the vote. and so we're a couple hours away. and let's see where we go. >> does the level of confidence remain? >> in the sense of what we did, yes. peter. >> so the president can order every surveillance transcript that mentions himself or his associates in regards to russia for the investigation to be brought to his desk at any time. has he done that? about. >> no. >> he saids concern should be less about the process and more about the substance. and that would be one way to get to the substance. devin nunes said initially that he, quote, there was evidence that quote clearly showed that the president-elect and his team were at least monitored. and then today he said asked if

trump or his associates were monitored he said we don't know, we won't know until we actually receive all the documentation. the president trump said he's somewhat vindicated. so given the fact that devin nunes doesn't actually know if the president was monitored or whether mentioned, what is he vindicated by? >> there has been an acknowledgement 245 there are documents out there showing that people were surveilled or monitored to some degree. >> they were can clexclusively . >> and dech nunes said that the would be a hearing so let's wait and -- >> what is the president vindicated by? >> he said somewhat vindicated because there is an acknowledgement that as we proceed down this discussion, it continues to show that there was something there. and that despite the constant discussion about the process --

>> he said -- >> hold on. pet peter, i understand that. and he said that he will have a hearing and he's waiting for the documents. so let's wait and let that process evolve. >> a couple questions, first about keystone. what changed? it seemed like it took forever in covering the obama sfrooikts this thing to finally get over the finish line fp never did and relatively quickly less than 65 days in, it's finally made its way over the finish line. what changed especially with respect to the state department's view of the keystone xl pipeline and is it your opinion that it would be good to hear from the president win lose or draw after what we learn today vis-a-vis health care reform? >> simply put on keystone, it was a priority. the president came in, he signed an executive order on it. he had talked about it during the campaign. and he made it a priority. he made it a priority for his team here at the white house to get it done. not only the jobs, but in-koornin

cooperating u.s. steel and a lot of things. but i don't think it's any simpler than he made it a priority for him, his team, his administration, department of state and others. he recognizes the importance of that to both energy and to jobs and our economy. and simply got it done. and i'll leave it up to the president once we go forward to see how -- >> margaret. >> as deal maker, why does the president field that this take it or leave it approach is the right one on health care? >> because i think he has done -- at some point you've listened to everybody, you've gotten all other ideas. you've gone back and forth. you've incorporated them, you've assuaged them in some way shape or form. you've updated the bill. and a lot of times it's the same people coming back over and over again and you go okay, i've listened to you, i've taken your ideas. at some point we either have a deal or we don't. and i think that's where the president finally drew the line and said we've been having this discussion, we've had the meetings.

and we've done everything possible to address the concerns and ideas and opinions that people have brought up. and i don't think you can say it any simpler. he's done everything possible and you end up at some point finding yourself going around and around and saying let's just call the vote. >> isn't there a political cost to a collapse potentially? >> i think at some point there is a political cost to dragging this out as well. and saying let's just keep letting it go. and i think that is where we came to a decision that it had gotten as far as it can go. >> if there is a collapse though, isn't there a cost that the president will at some point have to pay for if it's either -- >> in terms of what? >> the collapse that you have been -- >> no, i think -- look, this is -- >> besides the upcoming election in 2018. i'm talking about economic impact, all the impact on the -- >> i get it. and i think that we'll have to look at the landscape and at

some point -- i think right now democrats made a decision during thisobamacare. i think at some point the president has talked about this that this is going to collapse. and let's see for a solution that will address all of the concerns that frankly were initially brought up as far as what the affordable care act was supposed to do. caitlyn. >> so if you know what the vote counts are right now and there's no discussion of pulling the health care bill and gets closer to 3:30 and you still don't have the vote, why vote? >> i'm not going to discuss our strategy. >> if you know what the votes are and know you don't have the votes to pass, why vote? >> i understand your question. i'm just not going to comment on the strategy. i think the president and the

speaker are going to have a discussion about what the needs are and will take it from there. athena. >> you talked about the work and the president with the early morning calls, late calls. the other day one of the members of congressman mchenry said they were calling him to the closer, you embraced that from the podium, do you still feel comfortable calling the president the closer? >> i have said it to kristen and others there's no one on capitol hill or observer that doesn't recognize the extraordinary feats, but at some point as i mentioned this isn't a one-on-one negotiation. this is you know, you have to get to 216. and i think part of this question is to go to some of those nos and ask what is the reason and what would you do? i mentioned before where's the

balancing act, the two members you're giving up 214, but we are doing everything possible to get to that 216, and i think when you actually objectively look at the effort under taken there's no question that every single thing that's been done has been done to maximize the vote count on this. >> to be very, very clear this has been addressed a few times but want to get it answered but you talk about this is the opportunity for republicans to make good on campaign promises. i asked the president a couple of days what happens when you keep pushing if this fails today and he said we'll have to wait and see what happens. are you saying right now there will be no future attempts to comply with that campaign promise if this fails. >> i'm not going to be fatalistic, i know that the president has made it clear, this is the effort, this is the train that's leaving the administration and he expects

everyone -- this is our opportunity and has a lot left ton agenda he wants to get done whether it's immigration, taxes, the border wall, there's so many other things that he wants to get done that we're not going sit around and figure out -- this is the opportunity, this is the time, this is the opportunity for every member who has said they want to repeal and replace obamacare and put their yes in the column. >> you talked about this being done in three phrases, phase two and three, this is not information that's in scorable forms the steps that secretary price might take. >> i don't know yet at some point maybe it can be -- >> can you put the administrative -- that's the kind of -- >> right now we have to focus on the vote but i think we'll have cbo take a look at not just the other elements but can you look

at it in its totality. i don't think that's the question that i can have the omb address with the cbo folks. that's it, thanks guys have a good night. >> i'm anderson cooper, cnn's essential coverage for a effort to repeal and replace obamacare. >> and i'm wolf blitzer the vote is now scheduled to 3:30-4:00 p.m. eastern, the president says make no mistake, this is our opportunity to do it. let's go to dana bash up on capitol hill, it looks like it could be rather tight. >> reporter: that's an understatement, although the press secretary said time and time again during the briefing

that it's time to take the vote, and that the president they believe has done as much as he could to get this bill passed he declined over and over again to say they think they have the votes, so bottom line is as of right now i don't know an hour and a half before they're scheduled to go in and start to take the vote, it's not there. it's not there. they do not have enough republicans on board to pass this repeal and replace bill for obamacare and you heard the argument that the white house spokesman made, which is what we are hearing going on behind closed doors all around the capitol hill from leaders of the membership the president making phone calls on down either no or leaning no, take away the specifics the substance is very important here but just on the

pure raw politics of it, this was a campaign promise to repeal obamacare, this is what's on the table and as one member of the leadership whip team call to go try to get the votes, saying if not this what? and if not now when? you heard this spokesman say, sean spicer say, the white house wants to take this vote and that's another headline we reported before this briefing, wolf, that the house speaker went to the white house to show the president that the votes, it's not clear that the votes are there right now, what does the president want to do both from the podium sean spicer and an official i was communicating with, the answer is the president wants to take the vote, roll the dice, see how it goes. >> so the prospects, dana, just postponing the votes, canceling

the vote, what are you hearing up there? >> reporter: based on what we heard from the white house, based on what i am hearing from my sources at the white house as well it doesn't sound like -- no, it is not what the president wants the republican leadership here in the house to do. he wants the vote to go on. now, the president doesn't control the floor schedule, the president doesn't control the votes. it is the republican leadership here in the legislative branch that does that. so it is going to be ultimately up to the house speaker, house majority leader kevin mccarthy and others to make the final decision about rolling the dice but the fact that the speaker went to the white house, talked to the president and tried to get his buy-in because they know full well win, lose or draw, it is going to be not just the speaker who is going to get the blame or the credit, it is also very much going to be the president. they all ran on this very intensity, this meaning the notion of repealing obamacare.

>> and i want to play for our viewers, some of what sean spicer about what the president is thinking. >> there's no question in my mind at least that the president and the team here have left everything on the field. we have called every member that had a question or concern tried to the extent possible take into consideration ideas that would strengthen the bill, and now up to the members of the house to decide whether or not they want to follow through on the promise of that, but we're going to continue to work with the speaker and the leadership there to see where the votes are. we're getting closer and closer. >> dana, if this vote doesn't take place or does not pass, what is the next step? that's not something that sean spicer wanted to focus on, but he said this is plan a yesterday, there is no plan b. >> reporter: because it is absolutely true, that's not a spin coming from the white house

press secretary, there is no plan b, this is it. this is their move and it does come with a lot of frustration from many conservatives who we have talked to that they feel that the house speaker started to craft this bill in a way that is already too moderate for conservatives because it is the beginning of the process, they were hoping to pass it in the house and then the senate made more moderate because of the nature of the republican senators there where they come from and the input that they have, so look, there's already been a lot of second guessing, monday morning quarterbacking, that started last night. even before that. a lot of whispers and finger pointing about who is to blame if this goes down, but bottom line as i said a member of the leadership whip team in this hallway not long ago said to me if we don't do this we don't

have anything else to go to. we have to at least try to see where this goes and the feeling is among some member tos of the leadership similar to what we are hearing from the white house, is two potentially bad scenarios, pulling the bill or having it fail. they believe pulling the bill is worse. at least if they have it fail they showed they tried. people are on record and then the political chips will fall where they may. >> wolf, it's extraordinary given that pretty much every republican member on that house ran on repeal and replacing obamacare. >> it's fascinating some of the conservatives may get in line and more secenterists are leavi, not only from the freedom caucus.