Skip to main content

tv   Wolf  CNN  May 29, 2017 10:00am-11:01am PDT

10:00 am
weekend. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. president trump is back at work at the white house after wrapping up his first international trip over the weekend. the president generated some new controversies with allies in europe and coming home he's having to deal with concerns over his top adviser and son-in-law jared kushner. kushner is under fire for considering setting up a system for back channel communications with russia before president trump took office. the president had one public event on his schedule. he spoke at arlington national
10:01 am
s cemetery and visited section 60, the area where service members who served in iraq and afghanistan are buried. let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. he's over at the white house. jeff, have we heard any response first of all from the president over the concerns involving the kushner controversy? >> wolf, of course in the speech at arlinton national sem terry the president did not mention this. the only comments he has made about his son-in-law and senior adviser were in a brief statement to "the new york times" this morning. he did say that he stands behind his son-in-law, that he is doing a good job and he's a good person. wolf, just the fact that the president issued a statement in support of his son-in-law and senior adviser shows how serious this white house believes this is. how serious internally it is as well. the divisions internally with
10:02 am
jared kushner, steve bannon, reince priebus, those twop thre advisers are now more exposed because of all of this. the fact that the president is saying he has his back is certainly interesting. all of this is hanging over this president as he gets back to washington, back to work. something else hanging over him as well. seeing him out in section 60 there as you showed earlier remiep remier reminds us that he has a decision on afghanistan as well that's weighing on him. he has to make the decision whether to send more troops to afghanistan and now that's one example, wolf, of the fact that the white house is internally in grave situation here because of the russian investigation. all of the other matters from the decision to send more troops to afghanistan, to other things are now competing with that. competing with the president's time for that. creating sort of a sense of unease here. so going forward as this week moves along, the white house is trying to get back on message
10:03 am
here. but before that happens, it could be a staff shakeup. there could be a lot of things. the president, you know, was sort of, you know, refeling in the moments in duties as command in cheer. >> we're all bracing for major decisions by the president this week. jeff, thank you very much. members of the trump administration have come to jared kushner's defense. homeland security secretary john kelly says, and i'm quoting him, i don't see the big deal. the president's national security adviser general h.r. mcmaster says, quote, i would not be concerned about it. but then there's this from republican senator john mccain. >> my view of it is i don't like it. i just don't -- i know that some administration officials are saying well, that's standard procedure. i don't think it's standard procedure prior to the inauguration of a president of the united states by someone who is not in an appointed position.
10:04 am
>> let's bring in our congressional correspondent phil mattingly, cnn political director david, and shannon, white house reporter. david, the impression is the fear is that during the transition you don't want to give a foreign government the notion that there are two administrations. >> right. and we have a lot to learn about this. we don't know -- we know the desire to set up a back channel communication and we know that it wasn't set up. that's sort of what we know. what we don't know is what the content of that communication would have been if it did get set up. if it was just setting it up for the future, maybe not very problematic. but as you're saying, wolf, if indeed it was to set up to start discussing u.s. russia relations and policy, then that does violate the one president at a time. the other factor other than the timing of this being in the transition is of course the request that this back channel communication happened on russian sites. that raises a whole other
10:05 am
question about why were they setting up this in a way they were kconcerned about it being detected from american surveillance. those are the pieces of this, the timing and location that we need more information on to send the severity. >> phil, this is from the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, congressman adam schiff. listen to how he explained his thought. >> i do think there ought to be a review of his security clearance to find out whether he was truthful, whether he was candid. if not, then there's no way he can maintain that kind of a clearance. >> suggesting jared kushner's security clearance be reviewed. what are you hearing? >> i think what you need to know and what is guaranteed fact right now is the intelligence committee both in the senate and house side are now paying very close attention. it's worth thinking back. in march these committees made clear they wanted to speak with jared kushner likely in a closed setting. in march jared kushner and his lawyers made clear he was willing to do that in the wake of these reports over the last couple of days they have
10:06 am
reiterated. he is open to doing that. he feels very confident in his ability to go up and speak to these senators. the question is the security clearance is more of a an executive branch question. when it comes to what the committees are looking at there's no question everything we've seen come out is not only inside their purview but something they plan on talking to jared kushner about whenever the time comes for him to come in for that closed session interview. >> you cover the white house. what are you hearing about kushner's influence with his boss, his father-in-law right now and his influence within the white house in general? >> i think it's both when you say there's a lot we don't know. one thing we do know is you have this cloud of controversy around the peresident's top most trustd adviser. jared kushner is seen as the eyes and ears of the president within the white house. he's seen as an honest broker. as a direct line between foreign governments and people outside of the white house into the oval
10:07 am
office whch office. when he speaks, people feel he speaks for the president. now having a cloud of uncertainty around someone with that much influence could throw president trump off balance and it could throw the white house off balance. i think it's going to be an interesting two weeks to see whether or not that derails any of his momentum and his power and clout within the white ho e house. >> it's interesting, a lot of times when there's a story and the white house think it's wrong, they issue a flat denial. in this case there hasn't been really a flat denial about this effort to create this diplomatic back channel involving the trump transition and the russians. >> no. in fact, on the last night of the trip there was a press conference and we heard that mcmaster and gary cohn didn't want to taush ouch it. there's not been a flat denial. it is kind of astonishing to see the president of the united states give a statement to the new york times to sort of buck up his senior staffer.
10:08 am
it's usually the reverse. ste it's not usually that a president feels the need to speak with a senior staffer/son-in-law in this case to the press. >> they gave that statement only to the "new york times." that's been the official reaction that the president has still great confidence in his senior adviser, his son-in-law jared kushner. lindsey graham, it's interesting, the senator from south carolina, he has his own doubts about the veracity of the entire story saying that, you know what, this could simply -- suggesting this could be the russians sending out some disinformation to confuse everyone. >> he has an interesting perspective. i'm not necessarily targeting or identifying lindsey graham but i think it's worth noting as you listen to people from capitol hill talk about the situation, while we didn't hear a lot from the white house about the jared kushner situation, many calls were placed to senior leaders on capitol hill to make a couple things clear. first and foremost they don't
10:09 am
believe jared kushner did anything wrong. second, he is more than willing to talk to anybody who wants to talk to him about what exactly happened to help clear his name. you might have seen some inkling of that. bob c while they aren't publicly saying much right now, behind the scenes there is an acknowledgement where they know this is very problematic and they want to make sure they have some allies on capitol hill to help as this moves forward. >> it's the calls to mueller's office that i think really are going to be important here too. jared kushner lawyer is still saying he's willing to talk, any inquiry, but i think the real concern inside the house is the mueller investigation as it relates. >> special counsel. all these story bsies about a m shake up, a war room being created. what are you hearing? >> i wouldn't be surprised to see sean spicer take a lower profile, possibly bringing in
10:10 am
somebody to take over some of those duties. i do think there will be some changes but i don't think sean spicer will be fired. i don't read much into outsiders coming into the house. i. >> all right, guys. there's a lot happening right now. this could be a very, very big week. guys, thanks very much. coming up, fresh off the series of meetings with president trump, angela merkel suggests germany can't rely on the u.s. we have details. that's coming up. plus north korea conducts its third missile test in less than three weeks. how the u.s. is reacting and a lot more when we come back. mail and packages. out and it's also a story about people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you essential for him, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options.
10:11 am
like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. needles. fine for some. but for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. an "unjection™". it'that can make a worldces, of difference.
10:12 am
expedia, everything in one place, so you can travel the world better.
10:13 am
10:14 am
lewandowski.co observan . >> translator: the times where we could completely count on others, they're over to a certain extent. i've experienced this in the last few days and that is why i can only say that we europeans must really take our fate into our own hands. >> those strong words from the german leader angela merkel. they're raising serious questions about the u.s. relationship with germany right now. while the chancellor didn't mention president trump by name the statement did follow the nato summits where the president
10:15 am
made some critical remarks about the nato allies including germany. early today merkel spokesman tried to clarify the remarks saying chancellor is deeply committed to the trans atlantic relationship. let's discuss this and more. our senior international correspondent fred pleitgen is joining us from london. john kirby is with us near washington. fred, the chancellor is as you know campaigning for reelection right now. put her comments which were very strong into context for us. >> they certainly are very strong. they also are causing a big stir in germany as well with people openly asking what does that mean for the transatlantic alliance? what does this mean for the u.s. and germany. angela merkel is on the campaign trail. however she's also a very reserved politician. she doesn't make off the cuff remarks. she will have thought very carefully about what she was saying and also the context in which she was saying it in. and it really seems as though
10:16 am
during the past week with president trump's visit there to europe both to brussels and to italy that certain things were said that really alienated the ge germans as far as trade is concerned. especially some of the things that he said about some of the other nato partners which is why the germans then said look, we have to take things into our own hands. i think ma merkel means that in a european context. they're going to forge more ties with european countries and saying they're not sure whether they can rely on the united states at least for the next four years the way they have in the past. >> very interesting. very disturbing i should say as well. germany's top diplomat took his criticism of president trump one step further. what did he say? >> he's the foreign minister of germany. s someone who has been critical of
10:17 am
the u.s. and the trump administration in the past. his comments, i'll read part of this. anyone who sk allwho accelerate climate change and who does not want to political resolve -- the sort cited policy of the american government is against the interests of the european union. those were some very strong words. we also have to point out he's actually in the party running against angela merkel so he's actually in that election campaign as well. one of the things i have to say from covering germany for many, many years is that foreign policy is not something they take lightly. it's not something they would sort of put by the wayside. these remarks are tape verken v very seriously in that country. >> admiral, how significant are these comments? >> is the president's national security adviser before the trip said it was going to be a chance to prove that america first
10:18 am
doesn't mean america alone. maybe in riyadh they did that. brussels he blew that whole argument out of the water and now you have angela merkel saying america first probably means europe alone. this is a big deal. you have in the course of one week, wolf, you've got our closest ally, the uk, refusing to give us intelligence in an ongoing investigation. you have our oldest ally, the president of our oldest ally, france, saying he's not going to be bullied by president trump and now you have arguably our strongest ally in the continent in germany saying the united states can't be relied on anymore. that's a shame because the united states has been underwriting stability in europe since the end of world war ii. their security is tied to ours. this is potentially a big deal. >> if you're putin and the russians looking at some tension within the nato alliance right now, these comments coming back and forth between the president and the chancellor and others in europe, you're saying to yourself that's good news. >> if i'm putin i'm sitting back
10:19 am
gripping like a popossum eatinga sweet potato. you want to see europe divided from the united states. you want to see autocratic rule there because it reinforces what you're trying to get done in europe, particularly ukraine. i'm drawn to what my old boss once said. he said america is not engaged in affairs of the world. we're a great nation because we're engaged in the affairs of the world. >> thanks to you as well. admiral, i want you to stick around. we're going to talk about this memorial day in just a little while. coming up, the pentagon looking to test fire -- to test fire an intercontinental missile intercept or and the new concerns over the north korean threat. we'll have details when we come back.
10:20 am
10:21 am
10:22 am
getting heartburn doesn't mean i means i take rolaids®. rolaids® goes to work instantly neutralizing 44% more acid than tums® for fast, powerful relief of your worst heartburn. i trust my rolaids®. r-o-l-a-i-d-s spells relief. we believe in food that's anaturally beautiful,, fresh and nutritious. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. we believe in real food. whole foods market.
10:23 am
10:24 am
japan's prime minister promises concrete action. his words. concrete action. south korea's defense minister pledging strong punishment after north korea fired its third ballistic missile in as many weeks. japan says the short range missile splashed down inside its exclusive economic zone. let's discuss this and more with elizabeth sherwood randall. she worked during the eight years of the obama administration. also joining us graham allison. he's a professor at harvard. author of a brand new book. there you see the book jacket
10:25 am
there. "de "t "destined for war". liz, how concerned are you? >> we have seen the north yo koreans test five nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. we have to be concerned not about provocation but actually the fact that these tests mean that the north korean leader is improving his capablilities and his intent is to make a missile with a warhead and send it to attack either our partners in the lesion or potentially the home land. very concerning. >> and graham, let me ask you, the president, he tweeted this and i'll put it up on the screen. north korea has shown great disrespect for their neighbor china by shooting off yet another ballistic missile but china is trying hard. you've just written a whole book about the u.s./china relationship. how realistic is it to think china will help contain north korea? >> i think it's the best hope
10:26 am
that he has but not very promising. the mar-a-lago with the summit with xi he basically said everybody else has not been able to solve this problem but you can so you need to solve it, but if you don't i will by attacking north korea. i think this is extremely dangerous now. north korea is on a track to be able just as liz said to send a nuclear weapon against san francisco or los angeles. from his first tweet on the topic when he heard about it, trump said this is not going to happen. absolutely not going to happen. and i think we need to worry about and it's one of the paths that i discuss . if we end up attacking north korea, which if that's the only way to prevent north from getting the ability to attack los angeles or san francisco, i think trump may do, the likelihood is we get a sequence in which north korea attacks seoul.
10:27 am
probably killing a million people. we'd end up attacking north. last time we did that it was called the first korean war. >> it's a dire, dire scenario that you're putting out and hopefully we won't get to that point. for the first time, liz, as you know, the pentagon will try to actually shoot down an intermediate range missile in a test that week. it sort of underscores how worried the u.s. is right now. >> actually this test is going to be the first effort to enter an intercontinental ballistic missile. if they succeed in putting it in range that can reach the united states that we can intercept it. that's an important element of our strategy. we need to make sure we can defend our allies and partners in the region through cooperation as well as be prepared to defend the home land. >> we'll see how successful that test is.
10:28 am
it's supposed so happen this week. >> tomorrow. >> graham, south korea and japan, they're both promising some type of retribution. you just heard the quotes i put out. it are they really serious or is that just tough talk on the part of the south koreans and the japanese? >> i think mainly tough talk. basically they've been hopeless and helpless as north korea has continued marching down this path, so today the u.s. intelligence estimates that north korea could drop to deliver a nuclear weapon against south korea by the current missiles it has. but today they can deliver a nuclear weapon against japan by the missiles that it has. the test that it's conducting are basically improving this capability and as north korea's marched down this path they've failed to find a way to deal with it. i think that's why trump turned to china and said you solve this problem but if you don't we will. i think that's not a bad
10:29 am
direction in which to go. the obama administration tried to do the same thing. the chinese say look, nobody else has been able to solve this problem and we can't get these people to behave either. >> liz, let me turn to this other controversy over the past several days that has erupted involving the president's senior adviser, son-in-law jared kushner, that he and michael flynn in early december during the transition reportedly tried to establish a back channel with the russians using russian embassy communications. it never happened. never got off the ground. but that's the report. what's your reaction when you hear that? you served during the obama transition from the bush presidency to the obama presidency. >> the tradition in transitions is that there is one president at a time. and a transition team is preparing to assume responsibility on january 20th at 12:00 noon. it is either naive or sinister if the reports is accurate that they sought a back channel and
10:30 am
wanted to conduct it through russian communications out of the russian embassy. we will need to learn more about what the intent was of the back channel, but it is not standard operating procedure for a transition team. >> graham, you worked at the defense department for several defense secretaries. what's your reaction? >> well, i think it's very complicated and there's going to be a lot more about this story. first this administration is weird. so you have to start there. but in that context, actually the contact between a member of a new administration and russians is not unprecedented. again, most of the noise that we hear about says oh, unprecedented. actually, december 1st seems to be a faded day. on december 1st, 1960, that is three weeks after john f. kennedy was elected his brother met with the soviet intelligence
10:31 am
officer in washington for conversation and communication about the possibility of a new summit and also to provide a warning against soviet action against berlin. basically kushner ended up meeting the same day. the fact that he did it at the russian embassy which he knew was under surveillance and he's proposing under surveillance to have a line of communication that will not be capable of being intercepted by nsa, that shows he's naive. but the fact that in prior administrations, even before they took office, governments have started versions of communications with other governments, that's actually happened. >> i assume there were some communications during the obama transition, liz, with foreign governments probably the russians themselves. but this notion of communicating through a secret communications device at the russian embassy, that strikes me as something different. but what does it strike you as?
10:32 am
>> it's unusual and it may be as graham noted naive, or it could be something more sinister. that's why the reporting being done is so frimportant. >> if it were only jared kushner, but you had a former director of the intelligence agency, general michael flynn who was involved in those meetings as well, a man with an enormous experience of experience suggests something else. once again congratulations on the new book. thanks so much for joining us, liz. thanks to you as well. coming up, will congressional committees investigating russian meddling now take a closer look at jared kushner and his security clearance? also, congressman ted deutch is standing by. he'll weigh in on all of this when we come back.
10:33 am
♪ ♪ for 10 years my tempur-pedic has adapted to my weight and shape. so i sleep deeply and wake up ready to perform. now through june 11th, save $600 when you buy select tempur-pedic adjustable mattress sets. find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com. with my moderate to severe crohn's disease,... ...i kept looking for ways to manage my symptoms.
10:34 am
i thought i was doing okay... then it hit me... ...managing was all i was doing. when i told my doctor,... ...i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease... ...even after trying other medications. in clinical studies,... the majority of people on humira... saw significant symptom relief... ...and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability... ...to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened;... ...as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where... ...certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb,... ...hepatitis b, are prone to infections,... ...or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. just managing your symptoms? ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. what would help is simply being able to recognize a fair price. that's never really been possible.
10:35 am
but along comes a radically new way to buy a car, called truecar. now it is. truecar has pricing data on every make and model, so all you have to do is search for the car you want, there it is. now you're an expert in less than a minute. this is how car buying was always meant to be. this is truecar. ♪ pcountries thatk mewe traveled,t what is your nationality and i would always answer hispanic. so when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. i'm everything. i'm from all nations. i would look at forms now and wonder what do i mark? because i'm everything. and i marked other. discover the story only your dna can tell. order your kit now at ancestrydna.com.
10:36 am
10:37 am
sherwood sherwo . we are waiting to hear from the special counsel investigating all the russia alleged meddling in the u.s. presidential election robert mueller. he's a former fbi director in the next hour. he's scheduled to make his first public appearance since taking over the russian probe. we'll be monitoring that. meanwhile president trump is back at work at the white house today. facing growing concerns, though, over one of his top advisers, his son-in-law jared kushner and questions about reports kushner considered creating a system for back channel communications with russia before president trump took office. here's the secretary of homeland security john kelly this weekend addressing the controversy. >> i mean, multiple ways to
10:38 am
communicate back and forth is a good thing with any country i think, particularly a country that's like russia. so it doesn't bother me. obviously during the transition period the people in transition, the incoming trump administration is not in a position to do anything to inhibit what the obama administration literally days before they transitioned out. so again, as they begin to build relationships, there's nothing wrong with that. >> bring in congressman ted toi deutch. thank you for joining us. >> great to be with you. >> you just heard john kelly what he had to say. the president also defending kushner. do you accept kelly's reasoning
10:39 am
this is an acceptable way to build this with the russians? >> the questions about the relationship with russia are greater than ever. it's not just a question of building relationships with another country. what's so concerning about this is the revelation that the president -- one of the president's closest advisers, his son-in-law, before the president was even inaugurated wanted to establish communications with russia using russian facilities and this is the country that we know attempted to influence the outcome of the election. so i'm not at all comforted by any of the words that you just played and that we just heard. this is very concerning. and it requires a very thorough investigation. >> does it make any difference to you that kushner was not alone? that michael flynn, the fired national security adviser during the transition, he was there in ma meeting with the russian ambassador kislyak? >> no. that actually makes me ecven moe
10:40 am
concerned. we know that jared kushner is a person of interest. he's been identified as such. we know that jared kushner urged the president to fire director comey. we obviously know of the president's efforts to try to get the investigation of general flynn to stop. so no, that only makes me more concerned. frankly, on this memorial day, especially of all days, it just sends shivers down my spine to think about the president in the oval office bragging about having fired the fbi director. these concerns, the concerns that we had before are profoundly greater now as a result of this revelation. >> i just want to be precise. we don't know he's a so-called person of interest. we do know he's being looked at closely. so far based on everything we'e hearing there's no allegations of any wrongdoing or any criminal intent or anything like that. but there's plenty of suspicion that what he did may have been
10:41 am
politically at least wrong, if not in other ways as well. some of your colleagues think his security clearances should be at least suspended. adam schiff, the ranking member of the intelligence committee has suggested that may be a consideration. do you agree? >> well, i think that certainly they're going to take a look at the details surrounding these allegations and when we know the -- when we know all of the facts we can make that determination. but it's a real concern that someone with the security clearance that he has may have been attempting to create this back channel. again, wolf, it's not some back way of communicating using standard phone lines. it's a back channel of communication using russian facilities. it all just is consistent with what we've seen in recent days and the president's trip to europe and his meetings with the nato leaders. everything we've seen play sbs o
10:42 am
russian aefrefforts to -- we'lle the opportunity to think about security clearances. we need to to be looking at bigger issues about whether or not the united states is still playing the role as leader that it needs to play in europe. >> let me get back to michael flynn. he's a former director of the defense intelligence agency, an enormous amount of experience in the u.s. intelligence community. and if he tells the much less experienced jared kushner in early december let's have this conversation with kislyak and let's workout some way of dealing in a back channel with the russians so that the u.s. intelligence community, the obama administration, which he was presumably concerned about, doesn't know about this, would that be a problem? >> it is if -- there are two issues being raised by this allegation, wolf.
10:43 am
the first is that we only have one president at a time in the united states. and if there was some effort to create a separate policy, then the policy of the obama administration in december when president obama was still in offense, that's a concern. but again, for people who are thinking about this, what really concerns them is not just the notion that there was some effort to try to communicate with the russians. the country that tried to influence the out of come our election. it's the fact that there was an effort to do so using the russians facilities, doing it not just in secret but in secret and with the collaboration of the russians. i think that should be of grave concern to all of us. >> a lot of people are deeply concerned about that. i've got to say that communication channel never did get off the ground, but there's certainly a lot of questions outstanding. congressman, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. good to be with you. >> coming up, the president calls the attack on three men on
10:44 am
a portland commuter train unacceptable and a golf legend arrested, suspected of dui. details when we come back. the things they love to do most on these balloons. travel with my daughter. roller derby. ♪ now give up half of 'em. do i have to? this is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. but, if we start saving even just 1% more of our annual income... we could keep doing all the things we love. prudential. bring your challenges. a trip back to the dthe doctor's office, mean just for a shot. but why go back there, when you can stay home... ...with neulasta onpro? strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. neulasta helps reduce infection risk by boosting your white blood cell count, which strengthens your immune system. in a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1%...
10:45 am
...a 94% decrease. applied the day of chemo, neulasta onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the next day. neulasta is for certain cancer patients receiving strong chemotherapy. do not take neulasta if you're allergic to neulasta or neupogen (filgrastim). ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries, and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. in patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. the most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. so why go back there? if you'd rather be home, ask your doctor about neulasta onpro. beneful grain free is so healthy... oh! farm-raised chicken! that's good chicken. hm!? here come the accents. blueberries and pumpkin. wow. and spinach! that was my favorite bite so far. (avo) new beneful grain free. out with the grain, in with the farm-raised chicken. healthful. flavorful. beneful. and it's also a story mail aabout people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries
10:46 am
to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you
10:47 am
10:48 am
president trump now reacting to a deadly stabbing in portland oregon that claimed two lives. tweeting this morning on his potus act, the violent attacks in portland on friday are unacceptable. the victims were standing up to hate and intolerance. our prayers with with them. the suspect could face federal hate crime charges after killing two men and injuring a third. what are you hearing? >> wolf, we can tell you that stephanie -- destiny is now stepping forward and with a specific message here for these three individuals who have essentially stepped up when he was the subject of a verbal abuse. i want you to hear part of the conversation that she shared with cnn affiliate kptv. the message for these three men that stepped up to help, two of them paying with their lives. >> thank you to the people who put their life on the line for
10:49 am
me because they didn't even know me. and they lost their lives because of me and my friend. and the way we looked. i just want to say thank you to them and their family. and that i appreciate them. because without them we probably would be dead right now. >> among those two strangers has stepped up to help, ricky best who is an army veteran had been employed by the city of portland as a technician there. also killed in this attack is this gentleman that you see on the left there. he is somebody who is remembered by his family as hoping to start a life with wife and children when his wife was cut short. the third individual, michael fletcher, the 21-year-old gentleman who is still in the hospital and is expected to pull through. >> let's hope he does. thank you very much. reporting a very disturbing story.
10:50 am
star golfer tiger woods spent part of his morning in jail in florida. here's the mug shot. woods was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in jupiter, florida, at around 3:00 a.m. eastern time. police aren't releasing any other details about the arrest. tiger woods was released without posting bond around 10:00 a.m. eastern time earlier today. coming up, it's a day of remembrance here in the united states. president trump paid his respects to fallen service members on this memorial day. after the break we're going to talk to two veterans are who honoring close friends and families today.
10:51 am
10:52 am
10:53 am
10:54 am
president trump paying his respect to fallen service members at arlington national cemetery earlier this morning. he laid a wreath at the tomb of
10:55 am
the unknown soldier and in his memorial day address the president thanked the families whose loved ones died as heroes. >> we lost son asks daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers. they each had their own names, their own stories, their own beautiful dreams. but they were all angels b sent to us by god, and they all share one title in common and that is the title of hero. >> two veterans are joining us now. cedrick lateen and military analyst retired admiral john kirby. both are honoring someone very special to them today. john kirby, you lost a very close friend in afghanistan. >> jeremy le parred.
10:56 am
she was on a partnering mission in eastern afghanistan. an argument broke out. and jaimie was killed almost instantly. she was an intelligence officer, one of the finest i have ever known. and literally it sounds like a cliche, but she did light up a room when she walked in. she was that koind of a person. there isn't a day that goes it by theyen don't think about her and miss her. >> everything you have written about her and said about her, a wonderful woman and a great veteran of the military. all of us pay our deepest respects. cedrick, you want to speak about someone who was a very close family member e. >> my father, he was a member of the army for 20 years. he served from 1937 to 1957. retired as a captain. he died thanksgiving day in 2013, but he lived a long life
10:57 am
he was one of those that contributed in the silent way by being an intelligence officer and intelligence nco during world war ii and korea. a lot of the things he did helped pave the way, along with his comrades, for the successful invasion of europe during world war ii and then also the end of the korean conflict. so i just want. ed to salute him this memorial day in the name of all the vel rans that we know and hold dear. >> you went into the military at least in part because you wanted to follow if your dad's footsteps. >> absolutely, i ended up in the intelligence world like he did. straight from the family business ien went into the air force. >> was he upset about that? >> not at all. >> that was not necessarily the family business. >> it was. >> my dad made us join the military. you could choose what service. >> but the pressure was on.
10:58 am
>> i felt a unique pressure to join the navy. >> on this memorial day, people are watching us here in the united states and around the world. what do you want them to think about on this very special day here in the united states. >> i think what people should think about is the sacrifices that all these people made. whether they are members of the heroes that it president trump talked about who gave their lives in battle or simply served and did the noble things that are important from a standpoint of freedom, i think everybody not only in the united states, but also around the world needs to understand that what our military stands for is very unique and the sacrifices that they made are along with the sacrifices of many nations are very unique and special and created a special world. >> what do you hope people are thinking about today? >> i couldn't agree more. the only thing to add is remember the families. for each one of those
10:59 am
headstones, there's a family that's grieve iing and sufferin even today no matter how long ago they lost that loved one. they were son, daughters, brothers, sisters, moms and dads and so there are lots of people today that need to be remembered a as well. >> and arlington national se cemetery there's been these suggestions they are running out of space now. what's the latest? >> as i understand it, it is running out of space. it wasn't envisioned when they developed it as a a cemetery it would survive this long. they do have expansion plans in place to extend it out to at least 2040 is what i heard now. but that was going to require good cooperation with local authorities here in virginia washington, d.c. to make that happen. i understand they are working on that. >> let's not forget there are thousands of u.s. military serving in afghanistan, airk and syria right now. all of them potentially in grave danger. we respect them and wish them only the best. and e we remember all those who
11:00 am
have fallen on this memorial day. thank you for joining us. that's it for me. thanks very much for. watching. in the meantime, the news continues right here on cnn. thank you so much. good to be with you on this monday. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for joining me especially on this e memorial day. the president back from his nine-day trip overseas in time to honor the nation's fallen war heroes. he paid tribute there today at the tomb of the unknown soldier. the solemn moment of silence happening in stark contrast to what's going on inside the white house. the cry ses now extending to the president's son-in-law, one of his top advisers, jared kushner as "the washington post" report