get tough with those north koreans that night at jfk because they were upset at the condition that warmbier was brought home in. it was just a couple days after that. >> that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. erin burnett out front starts right now. >> up front next breaking news, president trump about to appear life at the white house in moments. this as he tweets he has no tapes of his conversations with james comey. why did it take him 41 days to say that? >> plus, cnn has learned trump suggested two officials say there was no collusion between him and russia. does that rise to the level of obstruction of justice? and senate republicans roll out their health care bill. is it dead on arrival? let's go out front. >> good eve inning. out front tonight breaking news, there are no tapes. the president's big blown as a house investigation forced his

hand. president trump with a major admission, taking to twitter to say he has no tapes of his conversations with fired fbi director james comey. trump tweeting this, quote, with all of the recently reported electronic surveillance intercepts and leaking of information, i have no idea whether there are, quote, tapes or recordings of my conversations with james comey. but i did not make and do not have any such recordings. now today at another audio only press briefing, the deputy press secretary, sarah huckabee sanders was repeatedly pressed at the tapes. at one point she was asked, why did the president play this game for 41 days? >> i don't know that it was a game. again, he's answered the question. he gave a time line in the frame in which he would and he did that. he said by the end of the week and he's done that. >> let's make it clear. that wasn't his time line. that was the deadline given to provide recordings by the house intelligence committee. so he could have dragged this

on. if it wasn't a game, why did it take 41 days to answer a question that he knew the answer to the whole game? certainly feels like a game and a game that actually costs taxpayers money. several government agencies were required to spend time and money trying to track down the truth because at least four agencies told cnn that they had no record of a white house recording system. here is a little of the gamesmanship from the president and his team over those 41 days. >> did president trump record his conversations with former fbi director comey? ? the president has nothing further to add on that. >> you said that you had no idea whether or not there was a taping system in the oval office. could you try to find out? >> sure. i'll try to look under the couches. >> do tapes exist of your conversations with him? >> no. >> well, i'll tell you about that maybe sometime in the future. >> the president made clear he'll have an announcement shortly. >> i think the president is going to address that in the

week ahead. >> and the president has said he will make an announcement on this. >> making a joke of something so serious. one senior administration official sells cnn that trump has actually been amused by all the reporting of the tapes. that official saying the fall out from the tape story led to the appointment of robert mueller. the president is about to make his first public appearance since his tweet about the tapes and that is moments from now as we await the president and some comments we expect him to make live. he finally did come out and he answered the question. but he did it because there was a deadline from the house intelligence committee and raised perhaps more questions. >> hi, erin. that's right. we have more questions. that does not mean we're getting more answers. the deputy press secretary during that off camera briefing repeatedly said things like the president's tweets speaks for itself or the president has been very clear about this or that

when that is not at all the case. listen to some of what she had to say during the briefing. >> i'm curious why it took so long, 41 days, for this to be laid to rest and whether the president is recording any oval office conversations. >> you guys asked for an answer. he gave you one. he said he would have it to you by the end of this week, which he did and beyond timing of that, i can't really speak any further. >> any oval office recording? >> i think his statement here is pretty clear. >> but again it's not clear at all. for one thing in the tweet in which the president is denying that he has any tapes, he seems to suggest that others might, that he might be being surveilled. that's an idea that sanders dismissed. we also still don't know why the president sent this tweet in the first place. many have interpreted it as a threat to comey. was it? was the president trying to ensure that comey would be truthful in talking about their conversations? sanders was asked that question as well and she gave a muddled

nonsensical answer. so we still don't know why this happened in the first place. erin? >> thank you very much. and of course if it did intimidate comey, it didn't change what he said, which he said the president was ordering him a loyalty pledge and directing him to stop the investigation into michael flynn. manu, the president is saying he doesn't have any tapes, but raising the spector of perhaps there being someone else who does and at least one of the key people in charge of this investigation on capitol hill is also raising that question tonight. yeah, that's right. it's adam schiff calling wolf blitzer last hour that he does actually believe that this tweet, as he said, was carefully worded. it appears to be done by lawyers, according to the view of adam schiff and perhaps there are other tapes. as we know the house intelligence committee has set a deadline for tomorrow for any of these recordings to be turned over to the house intelligence committee as well as the memos

that james comey, the former fbi director, apparently wrote about an interaction with president trump wanting that -- setting that deadline for tomorrow for comey to turn those over. no indication that that is going to happen. now it is unclear whether or not there are any recordings. cnn has filed a number of foyer requests with a number of agencies to figure out if there are recordings. so far nothing back yet. but erin, one other piece of news that the house intelligence committee is moving forward next week. they plan to bring forward hillary clinton's former campaign chairman, john poe december ta to interview him. of course his e-mails were hacked into, leaked and became a political problem. they will hear from him in a classified session next week. >> thank you very much. and out front now, a democratic congressman, a member of the house intelligence committee. thanks for being with me. to be clear, the president says he has no tapes in a tweet. the top democrat in your committee says that still

doesn't mean there aren't any tapes. he is holding firm to tomorrow's deadline for a formal response from the white house. do you think that someone on the president's staff or someone in the intelligence community made or has tapes? >> good evening, erin, thank you for having me back. it is our job to find out. i honestly don't know whether there are tapes or not. the president suggested it. we put a deadline out there. and when you read that tweet, it is like reading a text message that someone sent to you but didn't mean to send to you. you know that's not the voice you normally talk to that person in. we've all come to know the president's tweets over the past few years. that doesn't sound like the president. it sounds like a lawyer. so we have a duty to find out if tapes did exist and report back to the american people. >> now, we have said that at least four government agencies, right, have had to come out and do the work to see if there were recording devices or if they had taped. secret service among them. do you think it's possible that

somebody was surveilling the president? i will have to agree with you. the tweet was very clear and lawyered that he himself didn't have anything, right? certainly it raises that question. but do you think it's likely? >> there is no evidence that anyone in the intelligence community is out to get the president or surveilling the president. now, there have been stories that donald trump in the past has recorded conversations before he was president. so, you know, you can't rule that out. but to your point about the cost here, it is not just the cost to the taxpayers, it is the cost of what he has done to washington. we had been brought to a grinding halt, not able to work on the issues that people have sent us here for around jobs, health care and, you know, the dreams they have for their kids education. and that i think is the biggest toll. >> so it's been 41 days, okay? 41 days since the president's initial tweet suggesting, when he put tapes in quotes, right, talking about jim comey. 41 days later, he adds mmits he

doesn't have anything. the white house today, we heard what she said, denying the president was playing a game. what do you think he was doing? >> well, he was -- he either had a taping system and we're going to have to find it or to me it sounds like he was trying to chill or intimidate james comey. and what's remarkable about that is that james comey didn't know either way whether there were tapes and came forward anyway. so if there were tapes and he told a lie to congress, he risked perjury. so i think that goes to show just how believable and how credible james comey's testimony was, which is very damaging for the president. >> i want to play a clip from that because the president's initial tweet about there being tapes was the reason that james comey decided to leak the memos. here's how comey put it in that testimony. >> the president tweeted on friday after i got fired that i better hope there is not tapes. i woke up in the middle of the night on monday night that there might be corroboration for our

conversation. there might be a tape. and my judgment was i needed to get that out. so i asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. i asked him to because i thought that might prompt the appointment of the special counsel. i asked a close friend of mine to do it. >> when the president came out and said that there were tapes and then james comey came out and said his version didn't change it. he said he felt he was directed and ordered by the president to stop the investigation into general michael flynn, did the president succeed in his tweets on casting doubt on james comey? >> there are no good outcomes. either he recorded the fbi director or he was trying to keep the fbi director from coming forward. what i think americans want is for this investigation to move forward in the house, the senate and also with the fbi. but also for the president to stop obstructing and keeping washington from being focussed on every day concerns. and he just continues to do that. by the way, he announced this

today at the same time the senate was releasing their very harmful affordable health care act repeal. >> you mentioned where this investigation is going and i want to ask you something important. cbs is reporting that your committee is investigating whether trump campaign associates obtained information from hacked voter databases. that's obviously very significant thing. is this something that you are, in fact, looking at? >> one of the -- one of the goals of the investigation is to understand the hacking that russia conducted that went into voter information databases. there is no evidence right now that any information that russia viewed or may have obtained was passed along to the trump campaign. >> no evidence at this point you are saying, okay. >> no. but i do believe we have a -- there is a lot of evidence to review. and at this point, you know, we're going to review all the evidence. we want access to everything before we can make a conclusion about it. but right now, if we find that evidence, we should be able to

follow it. but right now drawing in conclusions on that. >> but you are saying the evidence you have doesn't show it, but there is more evidence out there. so you are not ready to conclude that there was no getting nfgts from these databases? >> yeah. let me just be clear, erin. in the public intelligence report, we know that russia went into state voter databases. we want to learn if they obtained anything. and if they did obtain anything, who did they pass it to? so we will follow that wherever it goes, but it is too early to conclude if they obtained any information where they passed it to anyone. >> and before we go, then, if they did pass it to anyone who was related to trump is that collusion? >> well, again, too early to say. i would really rather just have access to all of this information before i draw any conclusions. >> all right. congressman, thank you for coming on. appreciate your time. >> my pleasure. we're standing by for the president of the united states. donald trump about to speak at a white house event. will he talk about the tapes?

you see everyone gathered there. he is going to be speaking in a moment. we will bring this to you live. plus, the senate rolling out its version of the health care bill and already several republicans say they won't vote as of now. by the way, that would mean it is dead on arrival. is it? and bob mueller interviewing two intelligence officials. what they told him about president trump. >> brought to you by cialis. the? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis.

and get medical help right away. you doyou'll see whatet but in you're really made of. after five hours of spinning and one unfortunate ride on the gravitron, your grandkids spot a 6 foot banana that you need to win. in that moment, you'll be happy you partnered with a humana care manager and got your health back on track. because that banana isn't coming home with you until that bell sings. great things are ahead of you when your health is ready for them. at humana, we can help you with a personalized plan for your health for years to come. i feel it every day. but at night, it's the last thing on my mind. for 10 years my tempur-pedic has adapted to my weight and shape, relieving pressure points from head to toe. so i sleep deeply but feel light. and wake up ready to perform. even with the weight of history on my shoulders. find your exclusive retailr at tempur-pedic.com

all right. you see ivanka trump there. this is just outside the white house. live pictures right outside. moments away because trump will be making his first public comments since he admitted of having no tapes of his conversation with jim comey. this is a congressional picnic. the president will be making comments. the vice president will be making comments to congress and their families. we will see. he should be approaching to speak any moment from now and we are going to bring that to you live. the former assistant secretary for the department of homeland security joins me in the meantime along with our senior political analyst mark preston. thanks very much to all of you. as we await the president, comments he may make, see whether he responds to his tweet. mark, there is this crucial

question here, of course, which is the white house says of course this wasn't a game. although, if it wasn't, i mean, give me a break. why did it take so long for us to find out? 41 days that these tapes didn't exist? >> as you said 41 days. potentially unlawful at worst. no matter how you work at it, very reckless. the idea you are going to lead the american people, that you are going to put your own republicans in jeopardy of having to answer questions because you have decided to mislead the american public about whether or not you are taping conversations in the oval office is reckless. >> i mean, juliet, reckless, is that a word you would use? >> yeah. i'm going to just use the l word. he lied. there is no way around it. i went home and my kids asked me, what does the president do? the only answer is he lied. the question now is why. we are focussed on obstruction

of justice now. obstruction of justice is one of them. and a defendant or a witness who tends to lie, tries to harass witnesses is someone who tends to fear justice being served. that is generally why people obstruct justice or they lie or intimidate witnesses. so this seems to me that a person lied because he is fearful of something coming out. we would say this of any defendant or witness who had done this. but because it is the president, it's hard to say that word. but this was just a sort of blatant lie at this stage. >> yeah, it was either a high or it was an adolescent outburst, right? where he thinks he could say things and that -- again, that's like our best case scenario. i think the worst case scenario is more that it was more n nefarious than that. that's basically saying he was

trying to intimidate james comey who was going to be testifying. so that seems to kind of fit into this sort of obstruction, you know, situation where he's trying -- he's putting himself in the middle of this investigation in a way that's highly inappropriate. >> we'll see whether the president is going to respond to this. we await the president. you know, you raise the point here of newt gingrich, saying the president was trying to rattle jim comey. trump claimed he was recording their talks during interviews. but when trump was later deposed in this situation, he allegedly changed his story. he only pretended to have the tapes in order to intimidate. >> my attorney said mr. trump, do you have a taping system? and he said no. and he said, well, then why did you say this to mr. o'brian. he essentially said, i wanted to

intimidate him. >> if this is at least trump was trying to intimidate jim comey, what does that mean for robert mueller and his investigation? >> it backfired because, remember, it was this tweet about the potential for tapes that led jim comey, at least by his testimony to then be worried about trump trying to intimidate witnesses that then led to the appointment of a special prosecutor. even as an intimidation factor, it backfired on trump. mueller is a to fisophisticated prosecutor. they know why witnesses do this. he is the president of the united states. the rest of the world is looking at this and they say that our president either lies and our enemies know that he lies. that weakens our possession when we need our allies to do something and when we need our enemies to believe us.

so this is not just a domestic story. from a national security perspective, it is disconcerting. >> if the special council concludes he did this to intimidate jim comey, what would the implication be? >> i'm not sure because there has been such a wide variety of opinion. i don't know. quite frankly, it all depends who you speak to. what juliet said is extremely important for this reason alone is that our allies are going to have to be on every conversation they have through with the president. also here in the united states, lawmakers on capitol hill, can they trust the president's word. i don't think this is going to hurt him with his supporters because there is so much information right now. this is another thing to heap on top of the pile. for the people he's got to work and have to have his trust,

that's problematic. >> there is a line in president trump's book, good publicity is preferable, but from a bottom line perspective, bad publicity is better than no publicity at all. controversy sells. 41 days of refusing to say something that he knew the very second that he sent out that tweet, which is that he didn't have a tape. does this hurt him at all? i mean, as mark points out, no one i don't think would say that, but does it hurt him? >> yeah. it definitely -- his base seems in for the long haul and there doesn't seem to be anything he could do that would upset him. but i think his credibility gets chipped away when he does things like this. it just does make i think most rational people say, look, this is the president of the united states. you know, what is he doing? if he has tapes, he should just say he has tapes or if he doesn't have tapes, he should say he doesn't have tapes.

he treats it like a reality tv show, right, where he's going to toss something out there, let everybody run after it and he has the slow reveal of when he's going to tell us and he finally comes out and tells us. this is not a game, though. this is the leader of the free world. >> thank you all very much. and as you can see, the marine band, everyone is gathered. just to be clear here, the vice president is anticipated to make comments, as well as the president of the united states. we are going to bring this to you live and the senate health care bill, drawn up behind closed doors. angering some senators on both sides of the aisle. after all of this secrecy and not even getting a cbo score until middle of next week, is there a chance this doesn't pass? and two top intelligence officials ask what did trump suggest? you don't let anything

keep you sidelined. that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you.

i was playing golf a couple days ago... love golf. and my friend mentioned a tip a pro gave her. did it help? it completely ruined my game. that advice was never meant for you. i like you. you want to show me your swing? it's too soon. get advice that's right for you with investment management services. when this bell rings... ...it starts a chain reaction... ...that's heard throughout the connected business world.

at&t network security helps protect business, from the largest financial markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyber-attacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. keeping the world of business connected and protected. that's the power of and.

breaking news. you see the vice president of the united states, along with his wife. he is speaking at the white house congressional picnic. he is introducing the president of the united states, who will

come to that podium momentarily and give some brief remarks. the president, of course, tweeting today that he has no tapes of his conversations with jim comey, a tweet he only put out there because there is a house deadline from the intelligence committee on providing that information. he hasn't commented publically since that tweet on any way, so he may comment on that or health care after he came out and said he supported the senate bill. but as i said, you see the vice president here giving a brief introduction to the president, who will be coming to that podium in just a couple of moments. >> it's always about being able to -- >> brian is with me right now. and as we're getting ready for this, obviously you could talk about the tapes. he also could talk about health care. he came out and said he supports the senate bill that they have put out there. but could you give us the run down here of this bill they produced in secret and they want to get a vote by next week. it hasn't gotten a cbo score yet

and they don't seem to have the votes yet. do they? >> they don't. and they don't have the votes on either side of the political spectrum. they have a problem with some senators who have said the bill in its current form does not meet muster for them. they also have a problem with moderate senators on the other side of the equation. we still haven't heard from lisa of alaska. this is the ongoing problem with health care for republicans satisfying the needs of both conservatives and moderates. they were able to do it in the house. unsure if they will be able to do it here in the senate. >> as ryan was speaking, the president of the united states and his wife melania coming out of the white house, approaching to the podium. and the president will be making some remarks here to congressional members and their families. let's listen in.

>> this is so beautiful. wow. thank you, vice president pence. thank you, karen. you have been such a tremendous help to me, both of you, and we very much appreciate it and melania and myself, we have become great finds and great job. really great job. thank you. this is truly become, as you know, a wonderful tradition. it's the very first congressional picnic that melania and i have the pleasure of hosting, so i hope you enjoy it. i hope you enjoy it. we have gotten to know many of you over the last weeks and months and developed many friendships with politicians. can you believe it? and some really great people, i have to say, mostly. mostly. a couple of bad ones, but that's okay. but we're honored to host you at

the white house and privileged to count you as our very close friends, so many. tonight our thoughts and prayers remain with one friend who is not here, a man that we have all come to know and respect and to love, congressman steve scalise. the out pouring of support for steve and his family has been truly inspiring. we are so touched that joining us here this evening are steve and jennifer children, harrison and madison. beautiful children. in fact, we just gave them a tour of the white house. just gave them a beautiful tour of the white house. they got the a tour. you know, sometimes we give the b, the c, the d and the f tours

just like here it is, let's get out of here. we gave them the a tour. and i want them to know that the whole country is praying for their courageous dad and all of us are praying for them. it's been amazing. the recovery is going now well. for two days they're saying it's really tough. but today i can report things are looking very, very good. so we're very happy about that. [ applause ] >> i also want to give a very special thanks to special agents griener and bailey of the capitol police. lucky they were there. for their life saving actions and all of the members of congress, a lot of brave people in congress who acted in those moments of danger and protected each other. they cared for the wounded. they shielded the vulnerable.

and they really did put their own safety aside. so i want to thank some of those people were really very, very brave. we would have never really found out about them, except we got to see them in action. so now we know for sure. but we want to thank them. that was a great deal of bravery on behalf of everybody. and, you know, agents grinor and bailey came rushing in from the outfield, somebody with a rifle and they had handguns, and that's not a good deal. but one of those bullets struck at the right place and that was really -- that was really incredible or that would have been a far worse morning, believe me. so we want to thank them. america is also filled with pride over the display of character and sportsmanship at the congressional baseball game.

i heard it was very special. i wanted to go there, but our folks from secret service said maybe we better take a pass. i wanted to be there so badly, you have no idea. but i spent a little time at the hospital instead with steve. [ applause ] >> it's our hope that this unity that was displayed that'veni ev can grow and thrive. and i think we'd all be doing a lot better, and i know the country would be doing a lot better. [ applause ] >> the american people have entrusted us with great responsibility, and i know that we will prove worthy of the trust they have placed in each of us. i'm hopeful that the spirit of

cooperation that we've seen in recent days will deepen as we move forward. i really believe it's something that can happen. maybe it's too early. maybe the wounds are too deep in terms of the relationship because it's been bad for a long time, a long time. not just when we got there. i mean, this has gone on for many years. and hopefully those wounds can heal and heal quickly because we owe it to the american people. tonight, let us enjoy the company of friends and the comfort of our loved ones and tomorrow let us continue to do the people's bidding and create the optimistic future our citizens so richly deserve. i want to thank you all for being here tonight. it is a very special evening. beautiful evening. and i just want to say god bless you and god bless america.

thank you very much. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. >> the president there welcoming members of congress and their families to the congressional picnic. there with his wife melania. jason miller joins me now, along with john saki and mark preston. you know, mark, i think important there what he said. he kept it very much focussed on the tragedy that just struck congress on congress trying to work together. did not talk about the tapes or elaborate on that and did not talk about what is in front of everyone on that lawn tonight, which is health care. >> no, he didn't. in many ways he gave a traditional presidential speech. he was, you know, it was very smart of him and kind of him to talk about the bravery of the capitol hill police officers as well as to talk about steve scalise and the others. but he did talk about the need

for bipartisan spirit to come back to washington, d.c. and he's right about that because this is a very, very bitter place. however, he does have his own problems within his party right now. i think that has to be worked out first before they could actually come together as democrats or republicans. >> so on that point, this is a crucial moment, politically with the president when it comes to health care r, right? he talks about bipartisan ship, but he needs his own party in line. he could afford to loose two votes in the senate and still get his vote passed. there are four republican senators saying they oppose this bill. is he going to be able to get them on board and this is a crucial victory. he needs it. >> this is very important. i think that the president is going to get these folks on board to get this legislation across the finish line. and a couple of important things happened today. number one, the president weighed in and said he's fully

on board with this bill. obviously, there will be tinkers around or changes when it comes to the process. but when you listen to the conservative senators who have not yet signed on, they definitely want to get to a question. that came across very strong and very clear. in particular ted cruz went at length to say how he wants to get to a question and he had an innovative solution to bring down the cost of solutions, which is the provider should be able to get in the market with a smaller stripped down plan. this is something that will result in lower premium costs. i think that's a very smart amendment that he has. i think they should get that incorporated into it. and look i think they want to get to a yes here. >> certainly with someone like ted cruz it is hard to disagree with you, jason. but there are some that do not feel that way. i get back to the point where they can afford to hemorrhage two votes. in this case that's all they can

afford to lose. rand paul today said i didn't run on obamacare light, which is by the way what he referred to the house bill as. i didn't run on allowing the death spiral of obamacare to continue. it is hard to believe given the principals that you would ever get him to a yes on this. maybe. >> and the rand paul has been very clear from the beginning this is not something he wants to get to a yes on. but the other problem jason didn't address is if you make changes to address the conservatives and get some of the people on board who came out against the bill today, you are going to anger and upset some of the moderates and many of them have been outspoken about their concerns. right, exactly. planned parenthood. you have portman, you have colli collins. there are a number of members that are in that bucket, who are waiting to watch and see here. but a lot of them have expressed.

many moderate republicans out there have been clear that they also have concerns. so there is not a lot of wiggle room here that trump or the leadership has to work with. >> mark, here's the thing. they're also rushing this in the sense of they did it behind closed doors. they didn't include people. they did it in secrecy, which made a lot of people in their own party angry. now they say we want to put it out there and vote on it next week. is that a smart strategy? >> well, look, what i think republican leaders are trying to do on capitol hill is to try to get this behind them. >> so you're saying they don't care if it passes? >> well, i think they do want it to pass. but i also think there is the reality of what they're up against right now while trying to mullfy all the concerns of conservatives and moderates and taking on an incredible task of taking obamacare as we know it, throwing it out the window and trying to rebuild it.

it has a lot of flaws, we understand that. but the idea that republicans themselves can't come together on this issue is really creating a lot of headaches. not just for president trump but really for the republican leaders. if we go back in time and you look at what happened to democrats when they were trying to do obamacare and you remember what was going on during those town halls where it got loud, republicans don't want to see that this summer. >> jason, do you think that they fundamentally leadership -- of course they want it to pass. it is better for them to pass. but that they don't care because tax reform is what they want? >> no. they definitely want to go and get this passed. you have to look at yesterday's news with blue cross blue shield pulling out of indiana and ohio and wisconsin. as the president says over and over, obamacare is imploding. we have to go and fix it. and i think that's what they're trying to do now. we can't talk about hlt care in a complete vacuum. we're talking about the economy here. once we get rid of these job

killing regulations and restrictions, the things that keep employers from having folks on board more than 32 hours a week or hiring more than 50 employees, we can put that into these tax cuts, cut the corporate tax, cut marginal rates for middle income americans, we could get this economy going and start pushing up on that 3% growth. >> of course someone could say these insurers are now rushing to do this to try to force congress's hands. the former president of the united states, president obama released a statement today about this bill. he said in part simply put if there is a chance you might get sick, get old or start a family, this bill will do you harm. he continues to say any tweaks cannot change the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation. >> mean is a word that donald trump used to describe the bill as it came out of the house. will the former president's words matter?

obviously, you know how democrats are voting on this already. >> right. democrats are aligned in their opposition to this because they don't think that gutting medicaid and making premiums jack up and putting people who rely on coverage for maternity care and for mental health coverage should be gutted around the country. but there are a lot of republicans on the edge on this issue as well. and you have seen them speak out about their concerns about what this would do to their constituents, how it impacts low-income people. jason referenced there being a downward spiral. that is not what any independent analyst has said. there are issues in state marketplaces because there is not enough competition. that should be addressed. but this is a complete bait and switch. you don't gut medicaid and give tax cuts to the rich to address that issue. it is not addressing the core issue and the core problem. >> thank you all very much. i appreciate your time. next, stunning revelations from two of america's top intelligence officials about president trump, russia and

collusion. it is a cnn exclusive. and trump says he doesn't have any tapes. but jenni mose does. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ we all drive, some cats just know how to roll. whattwo servings of veggies? v8 or a powdered drink? ready, go. ahhhhhhhh! shake! shake! shake! shake! shake! done!

you gotta shake it! i shake it! glad i had a v8. the original way to fuel your day. in the mirror everyday. when i look when i look in the mirror everyday. everyday, i think how fortunate i am. i think is today going to be the day, that we find a cure? i think how much i can do to help change people's lives. that helps me to keep going to cure this. my great great grandfather lived to be 118 years old. i've heard many stories from patients and their physicians about what they are going through. i often told people "oh i'm going to easily live to be 100" and, uh, it looks like i might not make it to retirement age. we are continually learning and unraveling what is behind this disease. i may not benefit from those breakthroughs, but i'm sure going to... i'm bringing forward a treatment for alzheimer's disease, yes,

in my lifetime, i will make sure. you can count all the ingredients in real milk on three fingers. and you can count all the ingredients in flavored almond milk on ten fingers and five toes. z282uz zwtz y282uy ywty

new tonight a cnn exclusive. admit president trump suggested they publically say there was no collusion between his campaign and russia. this is according to multiple sources. national intelligence director and admiral mike rogers revealing his details both to the special counsel and to senate investigators. the sources tell us that they describe the president's request, coats advisors did as odd and uncomfortable. and this admission is significant because in public testimony both men dodged the question. >> is there an invocation by the president of the united states of executive privilege? is there or not? >> not that i'm aware of. >> why are you not answering the question? >> i feel it is inappropriate. >> you swore that oath to tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and today you are refusing to do so. what is the legal basis for your refusal to testify to this

committee? >> i'm not sure i have a legal basis, but i am more than willing to sit before this committee during its investigative process in a closed session and answer your question. >> of course in a >> they said the president suggested that there was no collusion. trey gowdy of south carolina who also sits on the house intelligence committee. great to have you with me. i know you met with director coats today. because you said it was important to find out what was said in that conversation with the president, and what he heard, what he interpreted it as, whether it was a suggestion or warning or something else, what the tone was, what the context was. what did you find out? >> what i found out, erin, is that about eight hours ago, adam schiff and i looked dan coats in the eyes and we assured him that there would be no selective leaking of his testimony to us. and i'll p damned if eight hours later there aren't three different leaks with what he

told us. so if anyone is questioning why congressional investigations aren't taken seriously, and are viewed as political exercises, you need to look no further than the fact that we looked one of our intelligence officials in the eyes and promised him there would be no selective leaking. and here i'm being asked about it, not even eight hours later. >> congressman, who leaked it? was it coats? was it schiff? was there anyone else in the room other than the three of you? >> there were eight people in the room. i can tell you who it was not. it was not me. and i do not believe it was adam schiff. he's a former federal prosecutor who knows that leaks undercut the efficacy and integrity of investigations. i can't tell you who it is. but i can tell you this, you're going to have a chilling effect on other witnesses who want to share classified, sensitive information when it makes its way to the headlines before the transcript's even dry. >> so what you're saying is, it wasn't you, you don't believe it

was adam schiff, it was coats or somebody else in the room? >> no, no, no. no. i don't think the man who asked us to promise that we would not leak the information leaked it. there were eight other people in the room. i don't know who it was. i'm not going to speculate. i'm not going to guess. i can tell you who it wasn't. it wasn't me, and i don't think it was representative schiff, because i know him, and because he joined me in making the pledge to a witness that we would not do the very thing that was done. >> so let me ask you on the substance of it. if director coats, director rodgers, say the president suggested that they come out publicly and say there was no collusion. we've obviously heard the former fbi director jims comey say, when he was talking about the general flynn investigation, that he felt that the president's request that he stop that was an order. he took it as such. when you take all of these things together, do you think in any way, congressman, that it

leads to obstruction of justice? >> well, first of all, thank goodness we have a man named bob mueller who will look into that. congress does not investigate crime. we're not equipped to do it. we're not very good at it. i have total confidence in mueller. you gave me two hypotheticals, but they're very different. one hype thet is the president asked two people if there was no evidence of collusion, would you say so publicly. that to me is tantamount to a defendant or a suspect asking the police if at the end of your investigation you find nothing, will you say that? that is very different from what director comey alleged, which is that he felt pressure to stand down. those are two separate fact patterns. i'm sure bob mueller will treat them separately. >> you today questioned jeh johnson, i'm sorry, yesterday, whether there was any evidence or collusion between russia and president trump or his campaign.

let me play the exchange. >> at the time you separated from service in january 2017, had you seen any evidence that donald trump or any member of his campaign colluded, conspired, coordinated with the russians or anyone else to infiltrate or impact our voter infrastructure? >> not beyond what has been out there open source, and not beyond anything that i'm sure this committee has already seen and heard before directly from the intelligence community. >> now, the president of the united states, chairman, took this as an endorsement. he tweeted jeh johnson is the top official to state there is no grand scheme between trump and russia. jeh johnson came back and responded to the president and i wanted to play that for you. >> he spelled my name right.

and i'll -- you know, as we speak, i'm sure there are members of the press comparing the tweet to what i actually said yesterday. my testimony speaks for itself. >> comparing the tweet to what he actually said. what he actually said to you that at the time he separated from service in january 2017, about five months ago, that's what he said. do you take this as what the president did, that this is a complete endorsement of his point of view? >> actually, erin, what i take it as, is that a prosecutor asked an inartful question of jeh johnson. there are really three subparts here. there's donald trump, there is the official campaign, and then there are the folks who may have represented themselves to be part of the campaign. that's usually how i ask the question. and that kind of tri-part level, and the witness will give an answer to those three parts.

it was not intentional. but i asked the question inartfully of jeh johnson. when he answered the way he did, it very easily could have been going to the third part of that tranche, which there has been public reporting on as opposed to the first two. i would say blame me for a bad question, and jeh johnson for a vague answer. >> but the bottom line is, you're not taking a definitive one way or the other, because it was too broad? >> i can't -- we are so early on in the investigatory process. we have interviewed less than a tenth of the witnesses that we're going to want to end up interviewing. i hope nobody was drawing any conclusions from anything. that's what you do at the end of the investigation, not in the front of it. >> chairman dpoudy, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> yes, ma'am. thank you. up-front next, no tapes, no problems, for jeanne moos.

roooooaaar!!! want our whole house to be filled with entertainment. easy boy! but we don't want annual contracts and hardware. you scoundrel!

we just want to stream live tv. and we want it for 10 dollars a month. (batman:raspy) wow. i'd like that in my house. it's a very big house. yeah, mine too. look at us. just two bros with sick houses. high five. directv now. a big streaming deal for $10 a month. it's entertainment your way. jeanne moos with the tale of the tapes. >> reporter: tapes? what tapes? as president trump shrugs this one off, twitter reaction ranged in a laid-back, oh, to, are you kidding? you literally threatened comey with tapes? and now you say you don't have them. the man's mind games are exhausting, tweeted someone else. sorry, mr. comey. >> lordy, i hope there are tapes. >> reporter: the actual trump tapes, according to this tweet,

are duct, scotch and masking, all misspelled. the reporters fired back. trump did what was necessary to make lying jim comey speak the truth. lordy, ho dus just blocked one of the most powerful men in the world. imagine playing poker against trump. actually, he revealed his hand early. >> you're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer. >> reporter: maybe disappointed isn't the right word. >> this is nutty. >> reporter: you've got to keep your eyes on the magician's hands al ought times. i never believe tld were tapes. now trump says there weren't any. i'm not so sure. >> donald trump is a national version of candy crush, wasting our time whether we like it or not. >> reporter: some trump critics said the president admitted the obvious. it's okay, he'll take care of it. referring to special counsel robert mueller, after the president tweeted, i did not make and do not have any such

recordings. one critic used a previous trump tweet to reply, what a load of cafefe. jeanne moos, cnn. you can watch "outfront" anytime. "ac 360" starts now. good evening. thanks for joining us. a number of breaking stories tonight. the health care bill is a secret no more. it could mean drastic changes for millions of people, whether they're on medicaid, buy insurance as well, or get coverage from work. we'll talk to a gop lawmaker supportive of the plan. and democratic presidential candidate senator bernie sanders who is definitely not. he calls this the most harmful legislation he has seen in his lifetime. he joins me later tonight. we'll also look at what the senate plan means for you if you're counting on having coverage and being able to afford it. first the tale of the tapes. 41 days after first hinting he