hello i'm wolf blitzer it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 8:00 p.m. in jerusalem, 1:30 a.m. wednesday in pong yong yang north korea. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining put take a look at these live pictures coming in from the white house briefing room. later this hour the press secretary sean spicer scheduled to give his first on camera briefing in eight days. we'll have live coverage of that coming up. audio and vee available. we're also following these developing stories. voting is under way in georgia's sixth congressional district and what could be the most important

special election here in the united states in a long time. it's already the most expensive in american hissly it, more than $50 million has been spent between the two candidates already. the democrats are hoping to make this a bell weather vote for next year's midterm elections. we're going to break that down in just a few moments. we're also learning new information about the russia investigation right now the fbi special counsel robert mueller is now set to meet with key senate judiciary senate leaders tomorrow on capitol hill. and president trump facing crucial foreign policy tests in places like north korea just a short time ago. the president called the death of otto warmbier the university of virginia student and i'm quoting the president now, a disgrace. we'll have more on that reaction coming pup the first, the white house press secretary sean spicer expected to face some tough and serious questions later this hour about the russia investigation, rising tensions in syria, and with russia and

the special election today in georgia. let's go to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. tooez he's joining us from inside the briefing room. you cover these briefings whenever they take place, unfortunately not all that often at least in recent weeks. what do you make of this being the press secretary's first on camera briefing in over a week? >> reporter: well, wolf, i think it's a welcome development, you know, last night when the white house issued its guidance to the press in terms of what the schedule as going to be today, it didn't list a briefing on the schedule. often times it will list a briefing, but it will say, you know, it's going to be off camera or on camera or whatever. last night we didn't get any kind of guidance as to whether we would have a briefing today and then later this morning the white house did say, yes, there will be an on camera briefing today and with the white house secretary shooun sean spicer. you menged a lot of the stories that will be talked about in this briefing room. 23 we all get a chance to ask those questions, one obviously that is going to come up is the future of the white house press

secretary himself. we were hearing late yesterday of moving sean spicer into a different role at the white house, perhaps overseeing the press shop and communications officials who work here at the white house. that, of course, is not something that's fully baked. it hasn't been announced at this point. perhaps it's something we'll hear about during this briefing this afternoon. but beyond that, beyond the palace century at the white house, there's some big stories to talk about. the president met with the ukrainian president just a short while ago and was asked about, as you said, the death of otto warmbier. the president calling it a disgrace and suggested, i think, in miz his comments that perhaps more could have been done during the obama administration and, in fact, former national security official with the obama administration issued a statement saying that they're tireless efforts resulted in the free -- the freedom of several americans who were held in captivity during the obama administration in north korea. and to there might somebody back and forth on that as well. and of course there are just the unanswered questions that we've

been tracking for several weeks now, president raised the specter that he might have audio recordings of his conversations here at the white house, the question as we've been asking time and again where are the tapes. we don't have an answer to that yet. and whether the president believes can he fire the special prosecutor bob muler that seems to get asked at almost every briefing. and, wolf, i think it's very possible that this briefing could be dominated by discussion of healthcare. you've seen what's been happening up on capitol hill over the last 12 to 24 hours, democrats taking issue with the fact that this healthcare process over in the senate has been conducted largely in secret and you even have the minority leader chuck schumer drawing parallels with something the president was quoted as saying behind closed doors last week this that this healthcare bill coming out of the house is, quote, mean. and i think one of the questions to sean spicer during this briefing will be did the president say that and does he think that this healthcare bill that came out of house that he celebrated back in the rose garden a few weeks ago is, in

fact, quote, mean. and think those are just some of the questions. we'll see if we get to all of those -- i may have ticked off more of the questions than we'll be allowed to ask but we'll see. >> we'll see how long that briefing actually goes on. do we know if there's going to be a guest star that shows up first to speak about technology issues, that's technology week this week, or other related issues before sean spicer actually does his daily or what used to be a daily press briefing? >> reporter: well, that has been one of the features that we've seen during these briefings where various cabinet official will come in and talk to reporters. that has the obvious effect of reducing the amount of time that we have to ask about pressing news items. if, in fact, we're listening to one cabinet secretary talk about a particular subject on that day. >> i did ask a white house official within the last hour whether we should expect a surprise geftd. >> i was told not at this point. so that does not exactly close the door on that possibility and so it is possible, yes, that

we'll see sean spicer come out here without that -- with that special guest with him, but we just don't know at this point, wolf. last week we had the labor secretary alexander acosta, and so we'll see. perhaps it being technology week we might have the president's son-in-law jared kushner come out and answer some questions. but so far during the course of this administration jared kushner has not subjected himself to to any questions from the public from the news media about what he's doing here at the white house. he's made some comments here and there sporadically but so far nothing to us. but so in fact he's coming out hire today, it is technology week, that's part of his portfolio here at the white house, that certainly would be a welcome development, wolf. >> it certainly would be. less see if ha happens. >> i know he's getting ready. i don't know when he leaves for jerusalem and her prala he's going to try to jump start the peace process if he can. he's got a lot on his plate right nought. jim acosta we'll stand by and get back to you. thanks very much we'll have live coverage of the press

secretary's briefing once it begins tlart hour. in the meantime the president is keeping a close eye on the high stakes special election going on right now in georgia's congressional sixth district. take a look at life pictures coming in from the polls outside atlanta where voters are choosing between republican karen handel and new kirm jon osoff. and both candidates are taking jabs at one another as they fight to the finish for this very important house seat. >> the contrast in this district is between a career politician, my opponent karen handel who's notorious for kurting off funding for life-saving breast screenings at planned parenthood pore a fresh voice who wants to work across the aisle. >> but he still doesn't live in the district so that matters to the people here. they want someone they know, someone who has a track record. >> president trump tweeted support this morning for karen handel but will it help? according to a cbs poll, trump's approval rating among republicans has dropped 11

points since the 100-day mark. let's talk ball of this with our cnn poll politics writer and david chal yen if the david, why is this race today so important potentially? >> will think it's important because of the terrain that it's being fought on. had is the kind of district that if democrats are going to have a shot at winning back the house of representatives next year, this is the kind of district they need to win, not just the 23 districts where hillary clinton won where republicans were a member, but they've got to dig into republican held districts but have this kind of makeup. more college-educated voters than is the national average, suburban area, that's very important if you want to win back the house of representatives for the democrats, and where donald trump underperformed mitt romney, which is the case here in this district as well. >> hillary clinton lost the district by a little bit more than one percentage point. is this race seen as a referendum on trump's presidency? >> i think is absolutely is and

i think no matter who wins tonight that we will see both parties probably make quite a big deal out of this. if you're an incumbent or somebody thinking about jumping in one these congressional races that are going to be critical to watch in 2018 were you're going to be looking to read the tea leaves here and see what your chances are given as david noted the electoral history. this not been considered a swing district but the numbers were so close in the election. >> let me put those up and david will discuss in the 2016 election donald trump got 48.3%, hillary clinton got 46.8%. four years earlier, that's 48, 47 you can see he barely squeaked out his win in that district. and 2012 mitt romney, the republican nominee got 60.8%, president obama's 37.5%. . >> so 23-point swin a lot bicker than a one-point win. >> it is. >> and therefore it's the kind of voters that have proven had the the kind of republican voters that have proven elusive for donald trump.

we should also note, wolf, tom priets, the health and human services secretary and that's why we're having this special election because donald trump put him in his cabinet, he represented this district. he never won the district with less than 60% of the vote. >> i mean, this is not just a battleground district, this is a republican district. it's been republican since newt gingrich won it in the carter years. >> it was his district before and he won and won and won had that district. what are you going to be looking for? >> the biggest thing i'm looking at here is the demographics of this district. it's a high will he educated suburban atlanta district but it's a rapidly diversifying district if the 13% of the voters ever african americans and as we've seen in other places, african americans have soured a little bit on the national democrat party. >> i think jon osoff will have to win over african americans. we didn't see that level of support in the primary so i'll be curious to see what he can do among this group. there's been a lot of money coming into this race particularly targeting african

americans in radio stations as well as get out the vote efforts. >> we'll be watch pgt you guys are going to be working late into the night. we're probably not going to know for a while, right? >> that's right. >> we'll have ex-fencesive live coverage on cnn. meanwhile the probe into russia's influence on the 2016 presidential election here in the united states is gaining new momentum up on clail capitol hill. the special counsel robert mueller plans to meet with the leaders of the senate judiciary committee tomorrow. this as the committee looks into circumstances surrounding the firing of the fbi director james comey and potentially the question of whether or not president trump obstructed justice. meanwhile, a pair of top house democrats, they are digging into yet a set of meetings that the fired national security adviser michael flynn leld in the middle east. one reportedly involving $100 billion nuclear deal with saudi arabia and russia. our justice reporter is joining us now. so what's the new information you're learning? >> yeah, so wolf that's right they are digging in.

the leaders on the hill who are looking at flynn and are looking into his meetings and his history have now asked information for meetings he may have had in 2015 in saudi arabia and parts of the middle east. some of this information came out, you know, in reports, other information they learned on their own, including from a defense department investigation that basically talked about flynn's meetings in saudi arabia in october of 2015 where he gave some of vague answers for why he was there, you know, list a hotel that the congressional leaders don't believe is exist. he didn't really explain who he was there with, why twlaez, who paid for the trip. and these are the questions that they now want answer dollars. the june had ofrs the summer of 2015, you know, some two years ago, flynn had talked publicly recently as last year about

going to saudi arabia, having these meetings, but interestingly enough, and probably what's really important here, is that he never listed any of these meetings on his security clearance forms. now there are a lot of questions as to why that is. >> those are legitimate questions. last night -- in the situation room i interviewed democrat senator sheldon whitehouse of rbi, he's a key member of the democratic committee he told me from everything ease seen it appears to him that michael flynn is cooperating with the fbi and may have been actually for some time. listen to this. >> first of all, they had him dead to rights on a felony false statement for the statement that they took from him in the white house about his kislyak conversations. second, comey reported that one of the things that the fbi does with cooperators is to get them to go back and clean up areas of noncompliance. and flynn, who will never be hired by a foreign government again went back and cleaned up

his foreign agent regulation act filings. third, all of the reporting object eastern district of virginia subpoenas is one hop away from flynn. he's like the hole in a donut of subpoenas. and finally, one of the more talkative people in trumpland has gone absolutely dead silent and that's what prosecutors strongly encourage cooperating witnesses to do. >> some other democratic senators are now saying what senator white house is suggesting flynn may be cooperating. what are you hearing on this. >> reporter: yeah, so our team here obviously that's been working on this russia investigation none of us have heard that he's cooperating. in fact, i think we have heard the opposite in that, you know, he has a lawyer and they're working through his attorney through this investigation. we have no indication that the fbi is talking to him. that he's cooperating. i think if he was cooperating, it would be so secretive to the highest levels of the fbi and really even in congress i'm not

even sure the fbi would tell folks on the hill that he is cooperating. you can imagine flynn cooperating in this investigation and it kind of getting out into the public or folks on the hill knowing about it and possibly talking about it. we certainly don't see that. we have no indication that that has happened. you know, he has handed over documents to the congress about his business dealings so there is some level of cooperation. but in terms of him physically sitting before fbi acts and kind of doing what they call queen of the day, queen for the day where you come in and when you cooperate you sort of give up everything you know and then the fbi sort of works with the department of justice to form a cooperation agreement where they can then use him to testify against anyone, we have no indication that any of that has occurred here. >> yeah. to be precise, senator white house when i pressed him he didn't say that someone had told him that flynn is cooperating, that was his surmise. that was his assessment based on

what he has seen publicly at least. all right. we're going to watch this very important part of the story. coming up, a russian fighter jet comes within only a few feet of a u.s. aircraft as tensions clearly rising between the two countries over action in syria. we have details plus syria likely just one of the major questions that will be discussed in today's white house press briefing. we're told it's now only moments away. we'll have live coverage on that. stay with us. force it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced. our senses awake. our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say...if you love something set it free. see you around, giulia

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. live pictures coming in from the white house briefing room where the press secretaries sean spicer will be holding his first oncamera briefing for the reportners about eight days. we're going to have live coverage of that as soon as it begins. meanwhile, tensions between russia and the united states clearly escalating. an armed russian fighter jet coming within only what -- five feet of a u.s. air force reconnaissance plane flying over the baltic sea marking at least the ninth time russian jets have come close to u.s. military assets this year alone. meanwhile, in syria a usf

fighter 15 jet shot down an armed prosyrian ya regime drone than was in firing range of u.s. troops newer southern syria. this just a day after the u.s. shot down a syrian regime war plane drawing condemnation from russia. barbara starr is following all of us for us over at the pentagon. how are these tensions between the u.s. and russia hindering u.s. troops, coalition partners here and elsewhere in syria? >> reporter: the pentagon has been closed mouthed about this for some obvious reasons. they're trying to work it out with the russians and they don't want to reveal whether they are even able to work it out with the russians. none of this is very clear at the moment. what we know is on a working level russian military u.s. military, certainly privately still talking to each other. the chairman of the joint chiefs has actually indicated that. but whether this official channel of communication is open and whether it would even still work given everything that's going on right now remains an open question.

24 hours ago the russian ministry of defense said it would consider a shoot down of any aircraft flying in the areas of western syria that it feels it dominates. that puts u.s. aircraft, u.s. troops at risk. and how does the u.s. react to all of this? well, what they're telling us is they repositioning aircraft, they are determined to keep all u.s. pilots, all u.s. aircraft safe. but look, wolf, this is raising tensions, there's no question about it. and it's raising a very key question, account russians even control the syrians and the iraniac-backed forces there because now we have seen, in fact, the third shootdown in just a few days and it's possibly an indication the russians don't each control the forces that they think they may be able to control. wolf. >> that drone that was shot down, an a roonian made drone in the hands of the syrian regime's

military. thank you very much for that report. meanwhile, lawmakers and the trump administration are lashing out at north korea after the death of the american college student otto warmbier. he died yesterday, less than a week after returning to the united states with severe brain damage. president trump condemned north korea's, quote, brutal regime today and said warmbier's death should have never happened. >> it's a total disgreat grace what happened to otto. that should never, ever be allowed to happen and frankly if he were brought home sooner are, i think the result would have been a lot different. he should have been brought home that same day. >> let's bring in our cnn global correspondent elise laugh vit and military and plat analyst john kirby former spokesman for the pentagon and state department. i'm going to read a statement because his parents were clearly critical of the obama administration's handling of this president suggesting he

should have been brought home much sooner. a statement from -- a statement from a spokesman for former president obama, ned price said this. during the course of the obama administration, we had no higher priority than securing the release of americans detained overseas. these tireless efforts resulted in the release of at least ten americans from north korean custody during the course of the obama administration. it's painful that mr. warmbier was not among them but our efforts on his behalf never ceased even in the waning days of the administration. our thoughts and prayers are with mr. warmbier's family and all who had the blessing of knowing him had the, you where he action. >> i agree with ned and while agree with the president that it should never have happened, otto should never have been detained and certainly what happened to him eventually through health should never have happened, i take great issue with the implication i think in the president's comments. >> president trump's comments. >> president trump's comments that enough wasn't done or wasn't -- enough of an effort

wasn't made to get minimum home. and that's just not true. and ned's exactly right. secretary kerry i know for a fact worked this personally and very hard from the moment we knew otto was detained, he never let go of that. there wasn't a conversation that he with his chinese counterparts in particular where he didn't raise aught otoes case as well as the case of other americans and try to get them released. obviously we didn't do that and we all regret that. but to imply that an effort wasn't made is just not right. >> in this young university of virginia student he was in china and he saw an advertisement for a tour, go visit north korea with a bunch of other young college students including americans and called his parents and said. >> that's right. >> go ahead, assuming everything would be -- would be fine. but now these tour companies are saying what -- no more americans? >> no more americans in north korea ninkt they're going to look at going into north korea and its erne tighter. these so-called adventure

tourist trips to theses so called rogue regimes are very risky especially for americans. and that's wlie there's this dig discussion in the congress and also in the administration about what to do to prevent these americans from going there. because there's really nothing the u.s. does not have any relations with north korea, and we see how unpredict ail and how they take americans really for nothing, you know, there's nothing really they can do once an american is arrested. now, look, otto warmbier, you know, went there allegedly tried to pull off a banner, a propaganda banner from a hotel room. the north koreans considered that a high crime. there's nothing obviously he shouldn't have been arrested for that, put in jail for that and certainly the horrific situation that he found himself in shouldn't have happened. but what the u.s. is saying is there's really not a lot the u.s. can do once you're arrested. and that's why there's a serious effort now, serious consideration to prevent americans from traveling to

north korea at all, wolf. >> there's a lot that china could do, ands president trump has made a strong point for a long time, you know what? he's going to work with the chinese and let the chinese squeeze the north koreans. there's a meeting coming up later this week here in washington, u.s. and chinese officials, the chinese could clearly be doing a lot more. >> they absolutely can be doing a lot more and the president's not wrong about that. for one, they can fully implement and put in place the sanctions that the international community has already agreed opinion atnd they don't do that. they descend e tend to not implement them fully and completely or transparently. so that's a problem. they also have clout platticly in pyongyang probably not as much as we would like them to have that they could use. but at least until this point there wasn't i don't know how many times from the state department podium where i talked about warning americans not to go there. there's no ban, but common sense ought to tell you there is not a place to go. >> there could be a ban, they could make til legal for americans to visit north korea.

>> they could. >> that has not been done. >> congress has to impose a ban. there could be an executive order and secretary tillerson has said that the u.s. is considering that. >> they are loaning at that. >> once you go there, there's very little you can do and the question now is what could the u.s. do in retaliation? i think the u.s. feels, u.s. officials feel the cost is too high with military weapons that they could point at the south korea or japan and actually, wolf, they're also waiting to see, look, he was released after direct talks, could this present an opening for dialogue. that's ha they're really looking for right now. and they also have three other americans in custody. >> right. we've got leave it on that note but we're going to stay ton top of this story. we'll see what the press secretary says at the briefing, elise, john, thank you very much. we're only moments away from the start of the white house press briefing. you're looking live pictures coming in. this is the first on-camera briefing for the white house, what eight days will be discussed, what questions will be asked, plus sean spicer's

days at the white house press secretary numbered? we'll have that and more when we come back.

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you can actually remember, instantly. add that premium channel, and watch the show everyone's talking about, tonight. and the bill you need to pay? do it in seconds. because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. go to xfinity.com/myaccount all right. once again some live pictures coming in from the white house. any moment we're told the press secretary sean spicer will start taking questions from the news media. briefing comes amid reports har spicer himself may soon transition to a more behind the scenes role within the white house. that's one of many questions that almost certainly will come up. we're going to bring you live coverage of that as soon as the briefing begins. also right now republican senators and the vice president mike pence they are meeting behind closed doors up on

capitol hill likely working on the details of the senate's version of the healthcare bill and preparing for a possible vote next week. this as democrats blast the senate majority leader mitch mcconknoll for not allowing any kind of negotiations to take place and crafting the plan behind closed doors. senator john mccain just spoke to us and he echoes that frustration. >> reporter: are you satisfied with the process that they're taking right now? >> no, of course not. >> reporter: why not? >> for the obvious reason, no one has been sharing it. we use to complain when the democrats ran the affordable care act now they're doing the same thing. >> let's go to phil mattingly joining us live from capitol hill. phil, when will we actually see the details of this senate bill and what are the big issues that apparently are still being discussed? >> reporter: according to

republican senators who i just spoke to as they were walk moog that lunch meeting with the vice president were they expect details by the end of this week. senator bob corker saying he expects bill text kind of flushed out proposal by thursday. but i think it's important to note as this is all being lined up right now an ideal scenario they finish up a bill by the end of this week, they get a week to digest it, they get a week to swore it and then by next thursday they would have a vote. but before the lubbch meeting there was also a senate republican working group meeting a smaller group of senators trying to hash out details of what this bill would entail. that's the most important element of all of this, they haven't fin nishtd bill yet. when you talk about the outstanding issues, they aren't small. they aren't the types of issues you hammer out over a couple of hours. these are where there are extreme divides within the republican committees. what to peg the growth rate of the medicaid program in general, how the funding is given to the states. that's up in the air. a lot of conservatives very concerned that the senate bill as it kurntdly stands or as its currently being drafted doesn't cut back on obamacare

regulations enough. the structure of the tax credit, where they end up on abortion. all of these are issues that they need to finalize within the next fourtd 8 hours. that's the goal, that's where they're head that's why the lunch right now with the vice president is so poirn. the health and human services secretary tom price giving a presentation at this lunch i'm told. basically the end game now is mitch mcconnell the senate majority leader informing his members you've had plenty of space to talk behind the scenes. you've had a lot of time to talk this how the now you have to come to an agreement. one thing is certain they want to vote next week likely on thursday but they have to get a bill first. >> they're going to be getting out ever town during the july 4th recess, that's high they want a vote next week. thank you very much. phil mattingly up on capitol hill. for more now on the healthcare bill and other questions the press secretary shawn speightser will likely face in the course of this upcoming briefing let's bring in mark preston he's cnn's senior political analyst. david chal yen once again joining us and cnn politics

reporter tall cope. and you think there's going to be a vote before the july 4th recess? >> like so many things in washington these days, i'll believe it when i see it. aspirational is certainly the adjective that's used to describe this process right now. and fim was describe, there's so many issues at this point that they're still working out. and certainly when congress wants to, it can move quickly and mitch mcconnell knows how to operate the gears of washington. but stloz many variables at this point and they still need a cbo score after railing on democrats we need to see a cbo score before we vote. legislature -- legislatures are saying they won't time with this bill. the calendar is not their friend at this point. >> the congressional office report assessment, nal sifs how much it's going to cost, how many people might lose healthcare coverage, stuff like that. is it a done deal that they would only have a vote if they're guaranteed that they would get 50 votes because the sies president as president of the senate could break a tie, or

wore mitch mcconnell allow a vote to come you and they might lose? >> i don't think there will abe vote next thursday unless they have the votes. >> i don't think that will be sort of the first go at it for mitch mcconnell and he's unlikely to bring bill that would fail had the miz his goal is to pass something the you can tell he and john mccain have different jobs had the john mccain's job is to not to get 51 votes. mitch mcconnell slg to take all that heat right now because he thinks that's the best way can he get to 51 votes. >> because he's got to worry about there's only 52/48 majority mark that the republicans have and you go too far and undermining the conservatives, you might lose, let's say, a rand paul or a ted truz cruz or someone, someone like to. on the other hand, if you go too far in supporting the conservatives you could lose moderates like susan collins or lisa ber cos sky. >> no question and it's become a very complicated mess right now

for mitch mcconnell, one that i think he wants ton get it over with. he doesn't want to see his members go home in august and face the wrath of these could be very explosive angry town halls. the idea is to try to get this vote done before august, hopefully by mo later than mid-july because that way we'd have a blilt of a cooling off period before you head into august. so win or lose, i think mitch mcconnell is willing to put it for a vote at some point to try to protect his members as we head into august. >> let's not forget that whatever emerges, let's say a bill does pass in the snats, it then has to be reconciled with what earlier narrowly passed the house of representatives and then it has to be voted on once again once there's a conference committee they come up with joint legislation, joint language. >> which is why, wolf, that i'm skeptical that macconnell would take the vote if it's going down which means he still holds the hot potato. if he can get something pass and say, okay are you figure this out between the house and senate we'll try to hammer something, at least his members can go hole

and say we've acted on this, followally foltd through on our promise to repeal and replace obamacare, it city may not be a popular bill and they'll have to face those questions. but if it goes down in the senate, then he still has that hot potato. he's still the one and all those members have to deal with the heat that they're not delivering on the promise. >> it goes to show you where the divide is between david and i how little that is on what we think might happen, show you where they are with the republicans right now. quite frank lit lack of leadership from the white house to strie to get this done, especially when president trump said it was going to be his issue and he was going to work with them to try to get them done and he's put them in a very, very tight corner. >> gloets around we're waiting for sean spicer he's going to be doing this first on-camera briefing in eight days, i want each uh to give me a question if you were sitting there and he called on you, what question would you ask. >> i think some of the issue of what we've been seeing in syria has been so undercovered. my questions are who do we have

for force, are we tow a line been war, are we risk a conflict with not only syria but russia, and is the president being involved in these decisions. >> your question. my question is back on the healthcare issue which is and sean spicer was asked this yesterday at the off-camera briefing and -- about the president's words behind closed doors to republican senators where he reportedly called the house bill mean. and sean spicer said i'm not answering questions about quote unquote rumors. it's not a rumor it's a report an it's based on sourcing from people inside that room. sean spicer may not woont to be answer that but i think the question for the press secretary is when will the president explain his own words that he said behind closed doors to those republican senators calling the house bill mean? when will we hear from the president explain what he meant by that. >> that's a big, big issue and it undermines so many republicans in the house of representatives, moderate republicans who went out on a line and voted for the house version of the health and then to hear the president describe it as mean in a closed-door

meeting with the republican senators, that pulled the rug out from some of them. go ahead. >> no doubt. and just following what david says about explaining his own words, why did he think it's appropriate for him to go out and threaten to release audiotapes he supposely had with a conversation of the fbi director and never provide proof of it, failing do so. best case scenario it's childish. worst case scenario it's reckless and worst case scenario it's both and all molled together antd fear that could be the latter. >> if i were sitting there i'd say what's so complicated there either are recordings or there aren't rordings, high country tell us if there are recordings because it really should not be all that -- if there are recordings, he could say there are recordings but they're sensitive, we're not going to release them. >> if you're a republican, how embarrassing is it if somebody comes up to you and says you're a republican, you support the president, how come he can't tell you there are recordings in the white house. >> he's the one who raise today that early may tweet. go ahead. >> keep in mind the white house press shop as much as they get a

lot of incoming these days there air lot of southbound professionals in there including sean spicer and they know exactly what it means had they refuse to answer a question. and the continued intentional punting of any sort of clear cut answer on these questions, they know it fuels the fire, they know it keeps the questions coming and they continue do it anyway. >> but they also know that only one person can actually answer that question. and it's the president of the united states. they are southbound professionals, which is why they don't want to go out on a limb and answer i question that they don't necessarily know the answer to. it was the president's tweet that put that word tapes in quotes out there and so, yes, i agree they are southbound professionals, which i is why i think they're trying to make sure that the boss owns this from beginning to end. >> and they don't want to be undermined in the end of it. >> exactly. >> and we saw it with his private attorney, you know, over the last couple days where he went out to try to explain something, try toy kplien away a treat tweet from president trump from president trump and failed in doing so. they're all professionals,

trying to do their best, but the bottom line, the buck stops with the president. >> everybody stand by, once again we're standing by to hear from the press secretary sean spicer. we'll walk out we're told fairly soon. we'll have live coverage. dynamic performance, so you can own the road. track-tuned handling, so you can conquer corners. aggressive-styling, so you can break away from everyone else. experience the exhilaration of the bold lexus is. experience amazing.

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the candy cane forest. call geico and see how easy it is to switch and save on homeowners insurance. live pictures coming in from the white house briefing room. we're told the press secretary sean spicer will walk in any moment. we'll see if he's bringing a cabinet secretary or someone else to start off the q&a. this briefing, by the way, comes amid reports that spicer may transition to a behind the scenes role in the white house. it's one of the questions that will likely come up during this briefing. we'll have live coverage as soon

as spicer and company walk into that briefing room. in the meantime, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner is heading to jerusalem to talk peace with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and the palestinian president. this on the eve of that visit, israel broke ground on the first west bank settlement in some 20 years. orin leeberman is joining us live. i may have to interrupt you in sean spicer shows up, but set the scene for these talks that kushner is about to have. >> reporter: well, kushner may be looking for concrete steps here. tfs difficult to know. he hasn't played that open of a role in the peace process just yet but what it certainly signals, kushner's visit, that is, is that these are serious and it raises the stakes for israelis and palestinians. it will less than a one-day visit, but the u.s. embassy described this visit as meetings

he'll have with the israeli and palestinian leaders as both, quote, long and intense. the groundwork has been laid. it was one of trump's other advisers who's been here all week who has made three or four other visits and has repeatedly met with israeli and palestinian leaders to set this up. he's gotten the questions done but now it seems -- >> hold on, orin. sean spicer, as we said, is showing up. i want to go listen in. >> good afternoon. before i get into what the president's going continue to do to advance the tech week that we started, i wanted to shine a spotlight on two of the president's biggest legislative priorities right now, tax reform and repeal and replace of obamacare. by the end of the day, both the vice president of the speaker of the house will have both delivered remarks at the national association of manufacturers about why it's so critical that we come together and quickly deliver significant tax reform to the american people. simplifying and updating our overly complicated tax system is one of the most impactful ways that we can create jobs and strengthen our economy.

and i think that's something that everyone in this town can probably agree upon. there's also major agreement between the trump administration and republicans in congress on what any -- on what any significant tax reform package must include. and frankly, i saw some of the democrats earlier today, and i think there are some that share those general philosophies as well. we want to make it easier for companies to sell american goods abroad and turn that success into jobs here at home. i think we all recognize that what i think every american also agrees with, which is that we need to simplify our tax code. depending on the estimates you look at, taxpayers and businesses spend anywhere between $6 billion to almost 9 billion hours complying with the irs's requirements. those are frankly billions of hours that they're not building things, growing businesses, buying goods and services from other american businesses, spending time with their families, pursuing a personal hobby, and we must reduce that unnecessary burden in terms of both the burden and the time. perhaps most importantly, we also agree that we need to get

this done sooner rather than later. that's why working hand in hand with house and senate leadership and hosting regular wlnlistenin sessions with outside stakeholders, with trade associations from the tech industry to iron out details and get their input on that wha needs to happen. we're also committed to seeing the repeal and the prere place of obamacare through congress. obviously the senate is where the action is right now. this week is the deadline for insurers to commit to selling plans on the obamacare exchange. during the upcoming enrollment period and unfortunately we're continuing to see signs of its complete failure as data for more and more states comes in. last friday, the new mexico health connections, one of only five remaining of the 23 co-ops nationwide that was created by obamacare proposed hiking its rates by nearly 80%. and just today in iowa, where the president will be traveling tomorrow, the only insurer left in the obamacare exchange proposed a 43% rate hike for

next year. with almost every day that passes, another insurer either leaves the market or raises its rates by double digits. the american people can't afford to front the bill for this failed law any single day longer. it's time to repeal and replace obamacare as republicans have promised for a while. looking ahead in this week, tech week as i mentioned at the front continues following on a very productive set of meetings and working groups with some of the country's biggest ceos yesterday. the president will visit cedar rapids, iowa, tomorrow where he'll see firsthand the transformative power of technological innovations in agriculture. kirkland's agricultural science program is a national leader and widely recognized as a center for navigation in the ag sector. and on thursday, we're bringing two emerging technologies to the white house that have the potential to revolutionize our economy, drones and universal broadband. the president will see demonstrations of how these technologies will contribute to the 21st century economy and how

the government can ensure that their safe adoption leads to the best possible outcomes for the american worker and american businesses. with that, let's have some questions. katie. >> thanks, sean. my first question is, does the administration have anything to say to china about the death of otto warmbier? >> well, i think the president has spoken very clearly about how he, the first lady, and our country feels about the loss of this american. and obviously, when you look at how he was handled, it's something that we will continue to apply economic and political pressure and try to continue to work with our allies. we've had, i think, positive movement on china over the past five months of this administration. and we'll continue to work with them and others to put the appropriate pressure on north korea to change this behavior and this regime.

steve. >> sean, just following up on the president's meeting with ukrainian president. would the president like to see russia get out of eastern ukraine and does he see moscow as the aggressor in these conflicts? >> i think we've been clear that, yeah, i mean, obviously, that's part of the reason that there are sanctions is because until they are out of eastern ukraine, we're going to continue to have sanctions on russia and we believe that that is ukraine's -- part of ukraine and so therefore, until those sanctions will remain. it was something that obviously came up to discussion with the president today. we'll continue to advocate for that. >> and does the president support the senate sanctions that they're now going to move to the house. >> i think we're going to wait and see what happens in the house before we weigh in on that package. it's not just the package. i think there's some other areas of that package that we need to work with the house and the senate on if it comes back, depending on how it's handled in the house, that we have to address. but as is usually the case, we

won't have a statement of administrative policy until it advances through the house. jessica. >> you talked about what the u.s. is willing to do in retaliation for otto warmbier's death. secondly, with the u.s./china security and defense dialogues beginning tomorrow and it's already been stated that the issues will be at the top of the agenda. do you anticipate walking away from tomorrow's dialogue with any kind of tangible results on north korea? >> we have been very forceful in our political and economic pressure that has been applied in north korea. i think we will continue to apply that, and as i mentioned earlier, obviously china can play -- has played and can continue to play a greater role in helping to resolve this situation, and we will continue to hopefully build on the relationship and the dialogue that we've had with china. i think there have been some positive steps that they've taken, both at the u.n. and economically to help strengthen the case against north korea. but i'm not going to get ahead

of where we may or may not go, and obviously, we hope that those discussions with china are productive and continue to move us forward. >> there were some reports out that president trump told members of that tech meeting yesterday that the senate health care bill needed to have more heart. can you shed some light on what it is he's not pleased with in the legislation that's being drafted, and can you also tell us why he would feel that way after holding a press conference in the rose garden supporting the house's version of the health care bill. >> i mean, the president clearly wants a bill that has heart in it. he believes that health care is something that is near and dear to so many families and individuals. he made it clear from the beginning that those -- that was one of his priorities and as the senate works its way through this bill as the house did, any ideas are welcome to strengthen it, to make it more affordable, more accessible and deliver the care that it needs. but this is an area that the president believes passionately about. he cares -- he understands the

role that health care plays in so many people's lives and their family's, and he wants to make sure that we do everything that we can to provide the best option for them as obamacare continues to fail. >> is there a specific part of this bill, though, that leads him to believe that the senate is doing something -- >> i'm not -- again, this is an ongoing discussion with senate leaders and individual senators that he's had. you know that we've brought a lot of those individuals to the white house and there's been staff level meetings as well, secretary price and others. so i'm not going to get into the private discussions that have occurred. but i will just say that the more that we can do to produce a bill as it works its way through the process, that achieves the president's goals, i think that's something that we can all agree on. john. >> thanks, sean. two. there's a special election occurring today in georgia. is this election, from the white house's point of view, a referendum on the president in any way? >> look, i've said before, i'm not going to comment on the political nature of an ongoing race. that being said, i think if you

look historically, special elections generally don't foretell the outcome of, you know, races multiple years down the road. this is a race that the president -- or a district that the president won by one point. it's obviously going to be competitive. but we'll have to see tonight. obviously that's up to the people of georgia's sixth district to decide. >> and then on north korea, i think the president once said that he'd be open to meeting with kim jong un. given what has happened with otto warmbier over the course of the past 24 hours, is he still open to that? >> well, i believe that the context in which he said that was if the conditions -- if the right conditions presented themselves. clearly, we're moving further away, not closer to those conditions being intact. so i would not suggest that we're moving any closer and obviously, this is an issue that the president commented earlier at the beginning of the meeting with president preshenko that

troubles him deeply. we were pleased to get otto back to the united states to be with his family, but if we had been i believe to secure that earlier, potentially there could have been, you know, medical help that could have been rendered earlier. obviously we don't know the answer to that but i think the president worked really hard to do what he could to secure the release of them. it's a shame what happened and i think he was very clear about that when he spoke to members of the media earlier today. >> two questions. also on otto, the president today said that he thinks it's terrible what happened to otto. do you have any more details on specifically what he endured there? >> i do not and we would not share them at this point. i think there's --. >> second question. there are reports that your role is changing here at the white house. i wanted to know if you can address those reports. are they true or not and if so, can you tell us what's in store. >> right here. you can keep taking your selfies and -- so,