around to get the rest of the story. comey don't want time alone with the president and that accusation out there flying around about conversations he might or might not have had with russians prior to the election. >> the chairman of the intel committee hasn't said whether the hearing will go forward tomorrow but sessions is expected at the white house later this morning for a cabinet meeting, his first after days of deflection from the white house over a simple question whether the president has confidence in his attorney general. >> laura jar jet in washington thanks so much. president trump unable to be quiet about the russia investigation, tweeting about the prospect of getting impeached, so why is the president doing this? jason carroll is live in washington. i'm not sure we have a definitive answer to that question. >> certainly a number of gop lawmakers want him to stop doing it. looks like it's going to

continue, the he said/he said battle keeps going on. the president offered to of it testified under oath what he said or did not say to comey as he continues to attack the former fbi director in the wake of his testimony last week. president trump on the defensive, retweeting i tv news clip downlplaying the chances o his impeachment. the president suggesting comey acted illegally by leaking his notes about their conversations calling the fbi veteran cowardly. >> no collusion. no obstruction. he's a leaker. >> after comey revealed under oath that he leaked the memos in hopes that it would lead to the appointment of a special prosecutor. >> i needed to get that out into the public square so i asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. >> reporter: comey testifying that the president asked him to

let the investigation into former national security adviser michael flynn go, a charge president trump flatly denies. >> i didn't say that, i will tell you, i didn't say that. >> the the president's son appearing to contradict his father's denial in a new tv interview. >> when he tells you to do something. >> yes. >> guess what? there's no ambiguity in it. there's no, hey, i'm hoping. you and i are friends. hey, i hope this happens but you got to do your job. that's what he told comey. >> when i've been reading the stories about how the president has been contacting jim comey over time, felt a little bit like deja vu. >> reporter: preet bharara alleging he had uncomfortable interactions with the president before he was let go. >> he called me in december, ostensibly to shoot the breeze. it appeared to be was trying to cultivate some kind of relationship. >> reporter: bipartisan lawmakers now calling on the president to turn over tapes if they exist, of his conversations

with comey, almost one month after trump tweeted they may exist. >> i don't understand why the president doesn't shore this matter up once and for all. >> i doubt they are there. >> if there aren't tapes, he should let that be known. no more game playing. >> members of trump's team hinting disclosure could happen soon. >> the president will address the tapes next week. >> you're your own worst enemy, mr. president, knock it off. >> senator lindsey graham saying to stop. >> you may be the first president in history to go down because you can't stop talking about an investigation that if you were just quiet would clear you. >> according to "the washington post," the attorney generals from washington, d.c., and maryland, will file a lawsuit today against president trump

alleging he violated the constitution by allowing his businesses, namely his hotel here in d.c., to accept payments and benefits from foreign governments. the lawsuit alleges trump has broken his promise to separate himself from his business interests. the attorney general has planned to reveal details about that lawsuit at noon. back to you. >> okay, thank you very much. let's bring in our panel, cnn political analysts april ryan and john of aron and cnn political commentator matt lewis. matt as our resident conservative i want to start with you. something has shifted this morning and it seems as though republicans and some conservatives like newt gingrich are now going after not just james comey but robert mueller. at first it was oh, bob mueller is the best person equipped for this job, he has a sterling reputation and now something shifted. here is fwng fwng's tweet this morning. he says "republicans are delusional if they think this special counsel is going to be fair. look who he is hiring," meaning

mueller. "check fec reports, time to rethink." what's going on here, matt? >> look, this is not a mistake. this is a concerted effort, in fact my last column at "the daily beast" was about how they were going after james comey. this is what you do when you don't have the facts. you go after, you try to impeach the other side. you try to discredit them. i think that's continued here and you know, mueller, just like comey, has a sterling reputation. you would assume beyond reproach, but not really. the goal here is to go after the messenger, to discredit them. donald trump didn't invent this, newt gingrich didn't invent this. james carville we saw with the bimbo eruption, saying you drag a $100 bill through a trailer park there's no telling what you'll come up with. this is what you do when you're in trouble, you go after the messenger, you attack the attacker and that's exactly what they're doing.

>> if you want to see another example, over the weekend jay seculo, somebody matt lewis knows very well and he was on the sunday shows and asked directly whether or not the president would consider firing the special counsel, this is what he said. >> will the president promise not to interfere, not attempt at any time to order the deputy attorney general to fire robert mueller? >> the president of the united states it's a unitary executive. he'll seek the advice of his counsel and inside and outside. i'm not speculating what he will or will not do you. i can't imagine that issue will arise but that is an issue the president with his advisers would discuss if there was a basis. >> april ryan, refusing to knock it down, interesting. >> the process has got to play out. this process has been impeeleded before. if mueller is fired, there is a problem, once again it looks like there's tampering or what

have you. the process has to play out and when you talk about mueller, i believe there are certain republicans who are very much in support of this president who is trying to discredit mueller, but there is a republican who went on twitter this weekend, former white house press secretary ari fleischer, who said, and he's basically talking about mueller, mueller is the one that's going to vindicate him. ari fleischer said advice for potus, you have not been vindicated. you won't be unless bob mueller says so. stop talking. you are headed into a giant perjury trap. so mueller has a lot of weight on his shoulders and people are trying to discredit him, people are trying to support him. right now, the process has to play out, and if mueller is moved away from this, it looks very bad for the president. >> it's more than looking bad. let's call it what it would be. it would be a credible claim towards obstruction of justice. if this would be derailed by the administration, that's what at

lies are increasingly saying. assume there are talking points floating around. >> assume there are talking points. >> yes, and you know, let's also call it what it is, which is yet another part of the epidemic of situational ethics we're seeing in washington, and surrounding this administration. i doubt very much that newt gingrich would have questioned the impartiality of ken starr during the clash with that independent counsel being the crucial difference it was an independent counsel and all these republicans who had nothing to say about their parties and former party members all of a sudden have the knives out. they're afraid this may lead to a conclusion inconvenient for partisan purposes. it shows how the situational ethics are rampant in washington and this say dangerous trend we're seeing in real time about a conspiracy in effect against the special counsel. >> matt, where does this leave the trump administration? they don't like what bob mueller is investigating? they don't think there's

anything to see here. president trump has always said that we know that he fired james comey, and while some people talk about obstruction of justice, it's not as though there's something under way in the republican-led congress to make that happen. so now what? >> well, i mean, what they should do is try to compartmentalize this scandal. so there is going to be this process going on with mueller and also senate and the house investigating but they should focus on getting things done -- health care, tax reform. is it still infrastructure week? i feel every year, every week is infrastructure week. >> buzzes by. >> they should foes can on that, but the problem is that you can't compartmentalize and focus on that when the president is tweeting things, is picking fights, and when his surrogates are engaging in attacks against mueller and comey, and so i don't see how they can rescue

their agenda, and also keep this, you know, front and center. >> april ryan, are there tapes of the conversations between donald trump and james comey, and if the answer to that is no, how are we supposed to assess the sort of song and dance carried out by the president and the white house staff, over the last month? >> there's a credibility issue with this president. we don't know what's true and what's not. we do know that there is a history with this president, even for many that's what you have to go on, a history of tapes when he was a businessman, with those he had in his inner circle in trump tower, what have you. we know that that's happened in the past, and the question is, did it happen this time? it remains to be seen, but if he does go under oath he's got to tell the truth and got to produce those tapes. those tapes are damning whether he has them or not, for him to go on twitter and say i hope there are tapes, you know

there's a lot of flurry about taping at this white house, and we have to see what's there, what the there is. >> yep. >> you know, it's just, april, to add to your point, what's so crazy of course is we have a history of taping in the oval office that brought down a presidency, one that donald trump happens to admire with regard to mixon. that fact should be preimminent. the fact the smart money in washington there are not tapes is more troubling to your point. there is an assumption the president is lying. not an assumption he is telling the truth. an assumption he's bluffing or lying. that's troubling in and upon itself. >> words matter in washington. words matter and taping matters. >> words matter in america usually. >> right, and your word and credibility and et cetera, et cetera. so matt, why aren't the people around the president, can they clear this up? are the people in the white house, do they know if there's a listening device in the white house, or are they also afraid that they're being taped when they go into the oval office? >> well, i would assume that a

lot of them don't know and wouldn't know, and they are in a really tough position, but frankly, you know, if you've ever had -- they're trying to manage up, and this is a guy who does not want to be managed. donald trump is not going to humble himself and submit himself to any sort of hierarchy or oversight or accountability, and so the people who work for him don't have really any way to go to him and say, say this, do this. come on, donald. they just don't have the ability, and they can't communicate. it's hard to go out -- i mean, you pity sean spicer, for example, who has to go out there half the time -- i think kellyanne conway doesn't even know a lot of the things people ask her so you take a choice, do i want to be perceived as out of the loop, do i want to be perceived as being a liar? it's not a good look and donald trump puts people in this position. >> i won't rule out the possibility of the white house just enjoys messing with us on

this subject that many of them knew the answer. >> i don't think the white house, it might be the president that enjoys messing with us. >> april, jeff sessions, we don't know whether or not jeff sessions will testify in public tomorrow. the significance of this new moment, maybe you know, 24, 26 hours away on capitol hill. >> what i do know from my republican sources he does not want a spectacle. he wants closed doors, if he talks. and it looks like he will. but he does not want the spectacle, and at issue, you have an attorney general who does not get along with his own president, and he's going to testify, and then the issue of possible collusion -- i mean, the story keeps going, and to find out possibly that he had this third meeting at the mayflower, you know, with the russian ambassador, that's at issue and it's at issue what were these meetings really about. so again, jeff sessions does not want the spectacle of it all,

but he is involved. he's in the midst, and they want to talk to him. >> april, matt, john, thanks so much. puerto rico voted overwhelmingly backing statehood in a nonbinding referendum. turnout sundays a23%. 90% of those 23% want to become a state in the united states of america. puerto rico's governor plans to choose two senators and five representatives to washington to request statehood. president trump signaled he's open to the idea. congress would have the final say. the supreme court will decide if it can take up a key case on partisan gerrymandering last year. federal court ruled aboutis with wistis with's legislative districts were unconstitutionally redrawn in 20 1 to favor republicans. now the justices will affirm or reverse that ruling or order full briefings so it can hear the case in the fall. broadway honoring its best and brightest in the tony awards. bette midler she stole the show, delivered a four-minute

acceptance speech after winning best actress in the musical for the revival of "hoello dolly." as one point she shushed the orchestra trying to cut her off mid speech. >> i just want to say, i just want to say -- shut that crap off. i just want to say -- >> no one raps bette midler. thank yous back stage. she finally dropped the mike announcing bette midler for president, evan hanson snagged six, including best musical and for ben platt, kevin klein and lori metcalf won best actress and actor with "oslo" best new play. >> all of the actors we love. >> going to theater requires having a life so i haven't seen theater in about ten years but i love the fact that it's there. >> i hear evan hansen is great. we'll go to a matinee. president trump slamming james comey after his testimony, so we have trump supporter and

former governor john sununu back by popular demand. also, celebrating champions for swing, cnn anchors talking about causes near and dear to their hearts. alisyn camerota reveals her favorite coming up. burn. "burn." is that what the kids are saying now? i'm so bored, i'm dead. you can always compare rates on progressive.com. oh, that's nice, dear. but could you compare camping trips? because this one would win. all i want to do is enjoy nature and peace and quiet! it's not about winning. it's about helping people find a great rate even if it's not with progressive. -ugh. insurance. -when i said "peace and quiet," did you hear, "talk more and disappoint me"? ♪ do do do do ♪ skiddly do do ♪ camping with the family ♪ [ flame whooshes ]

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attorney general jeff sessions offering to testify before the senate intel committee tomorrow. will that happen in public and what does this mean north

ongoing investigation? joining success former governor of new hampshire john sununu, former chief of staff to president h.j. bush who supported donald trump in the 2016 election. governor, good morning. >> good morning, hope you had a mellow weekend. >> it was very relaxing, and you as well. >> thank you. >> governor, are you comfortable with the investigation in the hand of robert mueller? >> i think robber mueller is not a bad choice. you know, you can always find things that you would criticize one individual or another. if this is leading up to what would i recommend to the president his folks, i think lindsey graham and arye flisher is rigari fleischer is right, le him alone and deal with whatever comes out at the end. >> ari fleischer tweeted out this "advice for potus, you have not been vindicated, you won't

be unless bob mueller says so. stop talking. you're headed into a giant perjury trap." do you agree with that? >> well, i pointed out that i think it's wiser for the president to not have his folks attacking mueller, and i think lindsey graham was right. if you leave it alone the president will be vindicated by mueller. leave him alone. don't put pressure on him to have to justify his existence by stretching things to find something wrong. >> in that case is newt gingrich wrong when he this morning tweeted "republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair. look who he is hiring. check fec reports. time to trethink." >> unfortunately, in the political world, there's no way to undo what has been done, and so i do think newt is wrong if he's suggesting dramatic action right now to remove mueller or to do something else.

>> so when you say it appears to you that the president will be, you know, cleared of this cloud and fully vindicated, how do you make sense of what came out in the james comey testimony the president asked his ag, son-in-law and chief of staff to leave the room so he could say to the head of the fbi, i sure wish that you could back off this investigation of -- >> no he didn't say hope. >> i hope could you back off this investigation of michael flynn? >> no, he didn't say that. he said i hope this flynn thing will go away. let me give you two -- >> what is the difference? >> two points on that. the difference is that you have put a different spin on it. first of all, in asking folks to leave the room. presidents often grant cabinet members and folks who lead major departments the courtesy of having a one on one with the president.

comey's problem is, what he himself described. he didn't have the backbone to take advantage of that one on one to tell the president what he should have told him, that the president should not be leaning in any direction on these issues, and if comey felt uncomfortable, he had an obligation to tell the president in that one on one. >> okay, so -- >> he failed. wait a minute, let me get to the other part of the question and i'll give you a chance in a moment. secondly, comey going into that certainly had to know that the president hoped that the flynn situation would go away, and therefore, why is there any pressure or obstruction if the president merely repeats in an aspirational way what comey already knew going in. this idea that somehow that sentence implies pressure is ridiculous. the only pressure that could have been implied there is because comey didn't have the backbone if he felt there was pressure to tell the president

that that's not right. >> so the way you see it t is incumbent on the fbi director to tell the president of the united states that is out of bounds, you are being inappropriate, not on the president of the united states to stop himself from asking something inappropriate of the fbi director. >> didn't ask. you see, that's the problem. you keep spinning it to an ask, instead of an expression of an aspirational expression. trump's lawyer was absolutely correct. senator risch from idaho was absolutely correct in questioning comey. the point is every time you try to talk about it, you try to make "i hope that this flynn thing will go away" pressure point. it is not a pressure point, but if comey took it as a pressure point, even incorrectly took it as a pressure point, he should have said something in the private conversation that the president had the courtesy to give him. >> here are the exact, here is the exact language.

we can both be clear, this is from the james comey prepared statement, he then said "i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he is a good guy. i hope you can let this go." james comey saw that as a directive. >> and the president saw that as an expression of a hope, and that's the difference here. and that's the problem when people try to overparse a just semantics to reflect their bias, and try and create a case where there isn't one. if that sentence is supposedly all that james comey has to stand on to accuse the president of obstruction, this thing will go away quickly. >> so you're comfortable with the president saying george h.w. bush saying to an fbi director, if you were the chief of staff saying, i sure hope that you can back off an investigation, that's okay, that's within bound to you? >> yes.

no, he didn't say i hope you can let this thing go. >> what is the difference between back off an investigation and let this thing go? >> the difference is that one is implying that when you say investigation that there's going to be a result that's negative. when you say let this thing go, the president is not acknowledging at that point that there's anything negative involved. >> knows there's an investigation. >> let's not spend the whole morning parsing a sentence, alisyn. i told you what i think. you've told me what you think. >> well, actually i've just asked you questions. i'm not sharing what i think. i'm asking you questions. but i am interested in what you think, do you think it's appropriate for a president to demand loyalty from the head of the fbi? >> when presidents interview people for a cabinet position, they always -- one way or the other there's an expression that

the president certainly wants the cabinet official to follow the agenda that the president has in mind. when a president says "i want loyalty" that's what i understand, he wants me to follow a presidential agenda on policy and issues, enforcement of laws and moving things forward. i don't see anything wrong with that sentence. >> governor john sununu always interesting to get your perspective on these things. >> have a good day, alisyn. take care. >> why are president trump's allies going after special counsel bob mueller? you heard john sununu say he thought it was a mistake. what is behind this strategy? we'll get the bottom line next.

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president trump spent the weekend going after james comey credibility. this morning some allies at the white house are going after special counsel bob mueller. newt gingrich just tweeted "republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel will be fair. look who he is firing. check fec reports. time to rethink." why are they doing this? let's get the bottom line with ron brownstein.

we thought there might be something gone, now it's defini definite. >> we are seeing the ultimate expression of the tribal politics in washington as this plays out, the idea of standing for transcendence justice or behavior is being destroyed. bob english said over the weekend the former republican congressman if you put this set of facts on a hillary clinton presidency, she comes in, the fbi director says he's reopening a investigation into the email, she says i hope you can let it go and fires her, there's no question republicans in the house would be looking at the beginning of an impeachment inquiry. instead a circling of the wagons and something i think is going to be in the hands of the voters eventually about whether this is the oversight they want or whether they think this is inappropriate. >> it is inconbelievable, ron, if you play what if hillary did this game to change the names and put hillary clinton into it.

it is an inconceivable scenario, many republicans saying no collusion, nothing to see here. >> nothing to see here. >> what about the argument that bob mueller and james comey are long time associates, have great respect for each other, may be friends. how can bob mueller be impartial is the question? >> look, you get to the point where you ask if anyone can be impartial. no one is free from all associations. bob mueller is a former director of the fbi. i think until the last 48 hours no one had really questioned his fairness, much less his competence to undertake an investigation like this. look, what we are seeing is a locking of arms among republicans in congress, and more broadly in the coalition around the president. as we said earlier, i have not heard any member of congress say they dispute james comey's versions of events, in other

words, that president trump is correct when he says i didn't say any of the things that former fbi director comey allege. they're saying even if he did it's no big deal, it isn't a problem. there are many former prosecutors and legal scholars on the other side of that who argue it provides the basis to begin an investigation into obstruction of justice but this is the argument that republicans are making, and again, i think it is very unlikely that they will move in any way against the president unless a special counsel report utterly forces them to, and we are still a long way from him determining whether there's evidence to justify that. >> i want to put a button on this discussion over robert mueller. someone who has experience with being well not a special counsel but literally independent counsel, kenneth starr, who has been on the morning shows this morning and he was asked specifically about bob mueller's investigation and the attacks against him. listen. >> i just don't think at this stage we're anywhere near a crime. nonetheless we have to

investigate it, that's what bob mueller, who say great man and a terrific lawyer, honest as the day is long, is going to be doing. >> bob mueller, honest as the day is long. ron, we talked that one out. if i can i want to ask you about the president's core support, because that may be part of the bottom line right here. >> yes. >> a lot of what he's saying may be playing to them. lot of the policies may be playing to them. is there any sign that his core supporters might be getting a little bit shaky? >> sure. first of all, yes there is. the president got 46% of the vote. his approval rating is consistently under 40%, particularly declined not only among those college educated white voters who are dubious to begin with but in this q quinnipiac poll 20 points below his vote, but both in the defense of the president on all matters comey and russia in and in the offense moving forward on

the agenda and trying to resuscitate the appeal of the affordable care act almost entirely behind closed doors without hearings, a bill or democratic or public input, all points toward the same conclusion, republicans are banking in 2018 on speaking to their base and turning out their base supporters. seems to acknowledge this will never be a majority support president and it seems a high risk bet on speaking to your 40% with little regard for how your actions affect the other voters and we'll see whether the results in george six, osoff win or republicans that are in places many places where mobilizing republicans are not enough to win and see if they remain on board if the georgia six looks ominous. >> ron, thank you very much for the bottom line. >> thank you. so the lgbt community and allies are marching this weekend across the country demanding

equality under the trump administration, as the nation marks one year since the worst mass shooting in u.s. history. coming up, we remember the 49 lives lost in orlando.

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experience amazing. time now for the five things to know nor your new day. start us off, john. >> attorney general jeff sessions offering to testify before the senate intelligence committee community. lawmakers have not decided if the testimony will be in public. >> well done. the trump white house may face a new legal headache, attorneys general of maryland and d.c. plan to announce a lawsuit against the president, they say he's violating the constitution taking payments from foreign governments. congressman expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor assault accused of body slamming "guardian" reporter ben jacobs. he has since apologized twice. 50 people arrested in russia

and anti-corruption protests in moscow in st. petersburg, a key opposition leader was detained outside of his home. ge's long time ceo and chairman jeff immelt is stepping down. john flannery will take his place as ceo effective august 1st. immelt will remain chairman through his retirement at the end of the year. >> go to newday cnn.com for the latest. thousands hitting the cities and streets across the u.s. to demand equality. los angeles the annual pride parade was renamed the resist march, tens of thousands of people carrying signs reading "love trumps hate." charlotte, north carolina. even though house bill 2 has been repealed more needs to be done for the transgender community. today marks one year since the worst mass shooting in u.s. history, the pulse nightclub massacre. last night, hundreds gathered at

the site of the rampage to remember the 49 people killed. some of their family members going there for the very first time. people in white robes, they were wearing angels wings, and they were covering them as they cried. the city of orlando will honor the 49 young lives as we remember each and every one of them now. ♪ ♪

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this morning cnn kicks off a week-long series called "champions for change" and a dozen cnn and hln anchors including the two of us wanted to share with you stories that are closest to our hearts about the causes that are closest to our hearts. so my choice is a nonprofit called dreamyard that helps students fulfill their dreams. >> a lot of people think that kids in the bronx are dangerous. a lot of us are going to end up in jail, that a lot of us are criminals and that is not at all true. i want to prove to them this they're wrong. >> i grew up in the bronx, i want to go to college so i can truly discover who i am without all the influences and pressure that i have. >> here in the bronx the early 2000s, a lot of the arts funding

was removed from the public education system. >> meaning no music? mo dance, no theater, no photography, no fine arts, no painting, nothing. >> nothing. >> reporter: and the question i've often wondered is what if a child doesn't have a way to discover her passion? what if that hidle talent is never tapped? this is my moldy oldie photo album. my mother was a drama teacher so i was always around school plays. my first role i was a munchkin in "the wizard of oz." i couldn't really act or sing, so i never was the star, but even just being a bird in the background i loved it. it makes me sad to think about what my life would have been like without the school plays because those were the highlights of my school experience. this is dream yard, a nonprofit that brings music, dance,

theater, poetry and fine arts into public schools in the bronx, new york, the poorest congressional district in the country. more than two decades ago two 20-something-year-old guys tim lord and jason dutchon had a dream, believed arts programs could keep kids in school, keep them from dropping out, get better grades and maybe go to college. >> we wrote a play called "dreamyard" a place kids could go to and parents had forgotten how to get there. it was us creating art with young people. what was powerful the way it changed their connections to learning to education. >> i'm a spontaneous photographer. i don't like to stop and have someone say cheese. i like it, i'll take a picture. i love to paint, just because paint is a type of thing sometimes making a mistake ends up being part of what makes the painting beautiful. dab it down a little bit.

>> thanks to dreamyard, sony keith and leighanne torres blossomed as art is but worried what would come next. >> i feel like i've always known that college was my next step. when i started getting accepted into colleges, i couldn't pay for them. there was a lot of money out-of-pocket i couldn't afford and my mom couldn't dream of affording. >>. i relied growing up able to go to a school where there was a lot of arts and theater, and music through a scholarship, and i'm so grateful that i got to have that experience and i always thought even when i was 11, someday if i can i'm going to pay that back. ♪ and i rise up, i rise like the day ♪ >> it's so inspiring going to this dream yard event, because you see all of the kids, they are so talented. they knock your socks off, gives

you goose bumps in the audience. about a year ago my husband said, maybe we should do more than just go to the annual fund-raiser. maybe we could do just a little bit more than that for the kids. my husband and i have chosen to support dream yard by creating a four-year scholarship. we are honored and excited to present the first to charles p. lord, dreamyard scholarships. we'd like to invite up sony keith and leanne torres. >> i've been a part of dreamyard for four years now, i can honestly say that it's changed me. sadly, due to economical restrictions, i found myself unable to cover the gap colleges were asking for, and today, i

can proudly say that in the fall, i will be attending union college, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you for the opportunity. my mother told me that when she was younger, she wasn't allowed to do so many things. she said the reason why she allows me to do dreamyard and do other things is so i can express myself, so i can become the person i want to be. my mom was in her early 20s when she first came to the united states. we made the best out of her sacrifice. we're going to become professionals one day and do great things and i think that's something she'd be proud of. >> so by the way, in this piece, the instrumentals all the

instrumentals you heard was music created by dreamyard students, teenagers frankie perez jr., emmanuel cuevas and iannis and thanks to my producer on this piece, matt rainard. >> people think about the arts, visual and performing arts as extracurriculars. it is sometimes the main avenue toward growth. it's so important. >> totally. they're the first things cut when there's budget cuts and they are the highlights of my school experience. >> i'm going to demand to see tapes of your performances. >> i'm. pi to provide them. cnn and hln anchors will bring you the causes closest to their hearts all week long. go to cnn.com/championsforchange. our next will be by brooke baldwined a3:00 p.m. eastern. more good stuff coming up next.

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when heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. z282uz zwtz y282uy ywty time for the good stuff. one california woman proving age just a number. 94-year-old hariette thompson holds world record for the oldest woman to complete a half

and mull marathon. this two-time cancer survivor has hit the pavement since 1999 to raise money for leukemia patients raising more than $115,000 to date. >> i want to thank everybody who is so generous and gave me money. that's the whole reason i'm running. >> impressive. >> the race goes on. >> my gosh, god bless you. >> nice to see you. >> great to work with you. time for "cnn newsroom" with just poppy harlow. >> stealing my man again, alisyn? okay. >> sorry. >> he better be back here tomorrow morning. have a great day. good morning, everyone. i'm poppy harlow. we have a lot to get to. hope you had a great weekend. at the white house this morning, all the presidents men and women, and just a couple of hours, president trump convenes a meeting of his