hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00. here in washington. 6:00 p.m. in london. 8:00 p.m. in moscow. wherever you're watching from around the world thanks very much for joining us. right now, keeping a close eye on the white house. around an hour or so from now the white house press secretary sean spicer scheduled to brief the news media. live and on camera for the first time in a week. expect plenty of health care-related questions that mitch mcconnell wants a vote on the republican senate plan this week, but these four republican senators say they won't even support the bill as-is, if there

is a bill this week. talking about susan commons of maine, dean heller of nevada, ron johnson of wisconsin and senator paul rand of kentucky. right now a policy lunch up on capitol hill. house speaker paul ryan says even with all the uncertainty he's confident the senate bill will be passed. >> i would not bet against mitch mcconnell. he is very, very good at getting things done through the senate even with a razor-thin majority. i have every expectation i don't know the day, but every expect aches the senate will move this bill. i believe they'll get this done and i believe they'll get it done because they said they would get it done. >> all the efforts seriously complicated by the report or the score from the congressional budget office which says the senate bill will lead to 22 million americans no longer having insurance over the next

ten years. our chief political correspondent dana dash, our senior congressional reporter manu raju both up on capitol hill, senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny at the white house. dana, first to you. you have a guest. update us. >> reporter: right, wolf. i do. the vice president of the united states is just down the hall from where i am. he is in that closed-dosh meor meeting, a very, very important meeting which could be determinative whether or not this bill ends up even get ak vote on the senator no -- excuse me a vote to start debate on the senate floor or not. while that is happening i have the vice president's spokesman here we me. thank you so much. now, the vice president has been not only attending a meeting like this but working phones having one-on-one meetings with colleagues. what is his message to members of your party who many of whom are just not onboard yet. >> i think one thing is that republicans want to get to yes. this is something they've talked

about seven years, something the president campaign and and a promise we must deliver on. the fact is, obamacare is failing in front of our, failing, collapsing in front of our eyes. people's premiums are going up and just yesterday the vice president met with about a dozen people who actually said they had an obamacare card in their wallet. premiums cost more than theirs mortgages and many hospitals and doctors wouldn't even take it. it's not necessarily ins insurance at all. we need to find a way to get there with the republicans in the senate just like in the house. it's a legislative process and we'll get there and the president and vice president are busy working to make sure we do. >> reporter: i've talked to several republican senators who told me and i'm shump told the vice president as well, it's too rushed. just got the language, just got the cbo score explaining what this, what the impact is on real people, and on dollars of the federal government, and that they want to wait. lisa murkowski of alaska. ron johnson of wisconsin. people who are very supportive

of repeali ining obamacare, but don't think they're ready for a vote now. is there something to that? >> this is a process that senator mcconnell worked through. obviously he'll call the vote just like the speaker in the house. we'll keep making sure we get there. end of the day, the results matter. not necessarily the process. we want to fulfill the promise republicans are making, that the president has been making we're going to lower premiums and improve access for americans and get it done the right way. as this process moves forward, when the votes are there, the senate will call the vote. >> reporter: how deep into the policy and the problems that some of his fellow republicans have is the vice president getting? how much is he trying to problem-solve on the policy to get those votes where they need to be? >> i think working with senators on both sides, in terms of the caucus and where they are and what their specific issues may be. as a former governor, he knows

this is very much a state issue and how the states are impacted by the health care legislation. so what he's looking to do is make sure we give states flexibility to allow them to tailor the health care needs that meet the needs of their population and so he'll continue working with senators here. he'll talk to governors. he met with some of the governors here recently talking about what can we do to make sure that the individual states have the power to be able to tailor the needs to meet their residents? >> reporter: andlafr lastly, yo were on the campaign trail with the president and lots of republicans, not just 2016 but in years' past promised to repeal obamacare. is that part of his message when talking to colleagues behind closed doors here? is he saying, look, you promised this and we've got to fipger out a way to get to yes? >> you've seen, the vice president said it many times we're in the promisekeeping businessened does take that message to republicans and it's important we fulfill or promises

to the american people, why they set republican leadership in the congress and pret sident trump the white house. you're seeing the legislative process work and how do we get to yes? that's what you'll continue to see from the president and vice president in of the days to come. >> reporter: maybe even minutes. how do you get there and can you glet is probably another question i'll say? i know you can't, but that is the reality going on here. can they even get to the point where they can bring this to the floor, and that's what we're waiting to find out really probably in the next hour, wolf. >> get a lot more information, i'm sure, in the next hour. all right. da dana, thank you so much. manu, you're still up on capitol hill for us as well. why did the majority leader mitch mcconnell think this was the time, right now, so critical to have this final vote on the senate floor by thursday, just before the july 4th recess? >> reporter: the concern among republican leadership is the

longer this bill hangs out there, the harder it will be to pass it as more public opposition grows, as members hear frustration from members, from their own constituents at town hall meetings over the july 4th recess. why there's a major push right now to say this week is the week. that is a message mitch mcconnell is delivering behind closed doors and something other republican leaders are delivering as well. john cornyn, the number two republican, said it would be a mistake to delay this vote beyond this week. here's what he said -- >> you think the vote should be delayed in nay way to get more support for the bill? >> no. i think we should vote this week. we've been debating this issue for seven years, and i think it's time to, for us to vote, and my hope and expectation is that we will pass a bill. >> reporter: how much harder would it be if it hangs out over recess jv recess. >> i think it would be a mistake. >> reporter: there are a number

in the conference not ready to begin even debating this measure and many more have concerns about some of the provisions in there. they want some significant changes. one of the votes who's in question right now is shell y m m.o. rcapito. clear she is serious concerns. >> reserve comment, and see what improvements have been made. i think we'll find out at lunch's. >> reporter: are you concerned -- >> i'm concerned about the direction of the bill. yes. absolutely. >> reporter: clearly, not really wanting to stop and talk and answer questions about this. show, wolf, how difficult of a political position she and other members are, particularly if you look at medicaid funding that could hurt rural voters in her own state. unclear whether or not mitch mcconnell will get hers and several other votes. right now it doesn't look like

they have the votes but still the push is on to have at least that first procedural vote as soon as tomorrow, wolf. >> i thought today? definitely poempt poned it to tomorrow? >> reporter: sounds like it. john cornyn answering questions from reporters earlier said that tomorrow, probably, will be the day. still uncertain during this vig svig very significant time. we'll listen to clues from mitch mcconnell after that lunch if he changes his plain plans after t meeting. >> if they do the vote tomorrow, can they still do the final vote thursday or have to wait until friday? >> reporter: depends. because of the rules they're bringing this under, a specific amount of hours they have to debate this bill. it's not unlimited. they bring it tomorrow, gechlt the 50 votes, get on to the billing a final passage vote by the end of the week. so that's why the first

procedural vote is so significant, because there's a limited time frame to debate it on the floor because of the procedures they're bringing it up under. why that first vote is so significant and uncertain whether they can even get on the bill, wolf. >> that procedural vote needs 50. you get 50, then the vice president, president of the senate, breaks the tie. is that right? >> reporter: exactly right. it would be highly unusual to see that happen. rarely does a vice president come in to break a tie let alone on procedural vote. shows how controversy this is within the republican conference let alone with democrats, not even ready to debate this yet. see if it comes to that. maybe it's time to punt and wait for later? we don't know. >> we'll know a lot more in the next hour or two. stand by. jeff zeleny isality the white house. how many arm-twisting are we seeing from the president and his aides? >> reporter: not as much as you think. the bill is significant. one senator coming to the white

house at least as of this hour for a meeting, and that is rand paul. the republican from kentucky, of course. he either was meeting or is still meeting with the president here in the west wing, and i'm told what the president is trying to do is focus on that first vote. that manu just talked about. the motion to proceed. the senate vote allowing them to debate the actual bill. it's very much an open question if they have support for that. five republican senators came out against it. rime told the president, the white house, the legislative staff here, is reaching out to those conservative senators. urging them to stay onboard with this. reminding then it's a republican priority. a priority this republican party has talked about and worked for, for almost a decade, actually, wolf. and something this president, of course, ran on. i'm told they are not pressing for a hard and fast deadline. while the president has had many conversations with senator mcconnell, obviously, they would

like to see a vote this week but are not urging a hard and fast deadline because they're not simply sure if they can get that actually to happen, but the president's schedule, wolf, is pretty much wide open the rest of the afternoon, for most of the afternoon. that is by design, i am told, to reach out by phone, in-person meeting, whatever, with any republican senator who might need some encouragement, shall we say. and always important to point out in a bill like this there is encouragement, extra project dollars, other things viable here. this is the interesting part of the sausage making of the legislation and the white house is in the middle of it. reince priebus at the senate lunch up on capitol hill as well as the vice president, but the president here is manning phones at the white house. not too, too involved. just fine with mitch mcconnell, because they don't want someone changing the details of this legislation. this is very much up in kwep qun at this hour. >> stand by for that white house briefing coming up, jeff zeleny.

and one republican describes the senate health care bill as hanging by a thread. the senate majority leader mitch mckponl is me mcconnell is meeting right now with senators. others say, not so fast. discuss with our panel. cnn politics reporter and editor at large chris cillizza and political analyst mark preston and president of the committee for responsible federal government. we just learned, chris, that mike lee, the republican senator from utah, now his intention is to vote no on this procedural motion to at least start the debate. that's a significant setback for those who want this legislation passed. >> right. learned the math. four is less than five. >> now there are five and they can only lose two. right? so mitch mcdonald always wconneo thread a fine needle. look back in may, mitch

mcconnell says i don't know if we'll be able to do this. a relative candid assessment. i will say, i thought manu's reporting was really important. mcconnell and cornyn are savvy consumers of the way in which politics works. i'm very skeptical that all of a sudden they go on july 4th recess, return july 8th and susan collins' doubts of maine, doubts about the bill suddenly disappear, or mike lee or rand paul. these things, mark and i covered congress a long time together. usually when it sits out there, it becomes a pinata. what you don't want it sitting out there. seems unlikely to me that views today, that june 27, susan collins with view is radically different than the july 15th or pick a date in the future. i think they're right to try to push. i think it just delays what may

wind up being inevitable. there just isn't a coalition between the senate and conservatives that get to 50. >> 50 is the key vote, mark, as you know. 52 republicans. 48 democrats, and independents that support the democrats, they lose two, they still win. >> right. >> because the vice president who's the president of the senate breaks the tie. they lose three, it's over. >> it's over and there are five now. that's five that have publicly come out and actually said that they don't want to move forward with it, but if you talk to republicans on capitol hill, quite fank rankly talk to democ, talking to republicans, they know the number is much bigger than five. could be up to 10, 12, perhaps 15. the problem with the bill, seven years in the making. this is what they have to offer. quite frankly, it doesn't persuade enough conservatives and enough centrists to come together to agree that this is is a better option than what we currently have right now. i don't think republicans like

obamacare. i think they're unified in opposition to it, but they don't have a replacement for it, wolf. that has been the big problem. >> how do you see it unfolding? >> ait's no surprise it's this complicated. it's as difficult in undertaking as you can find, but i still think the problem is nobody knows what they're trying to solve for. of course it's chaotic out there. is this a bill it is seven years in the making and a major political talking point, but is the purpose of the bill to control health care costs? which needs to happen? to keep coverage or expand coverage? something it hasn't been able to do. is it to provide more flexibility to consumers? or through the states? is it to give a big tax cut it does? across the board different folks are trying to solve for different problems. until you lay out your objective you can't abscess the trassess this big, this is not a political trade-off. the conversation becomes

convoluted, complicated and somewhat disingenuous thinking you can have it all, when you can't. >> by the way, that's so right-on. the seven years was large lly spent saying, obamacare is bad. oh, what's your alternative? we're not in power. don't need an alternative. this is a hung vote because there's no easy solution and the going -- it was always going to about hard vote, if there was a simple elegant solution on health care, for republicans, they would have already done it. >> see what mitch mcconnell, majority leader can do. it's not over yet, these next several hours critical. thanks very much. up next, yet another twist in the russia election meddling investigation. learning fbi agents spent hours questioning this man, carter page, a former adviser out on the campaign trail, for donald trump. but why? plus, sean spicer will hold his first on-camera white house briefing in a week. that's coming up in less than an hour, we're told. we'll have live coverage.

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the russia investigation and fbi questioned carter page extensively. the "washington post" reporting the meetings lasted ten hours during five meetings. page, you may remember, was on

candidate trump's national security advisory team. our just is reporter is joining us now. following this story now, obviously for a long time. what more can you tell us about this late development? >> so, yesterday carter page sent a statement basically confirming that he had met with the fbi. the fbi has been very interested in carter page since his name first surfaced that he may have been advising the trump campaign, and during the course of that, as you know, they took it pretty seriously. they took his involvement in the campaign pretty seriously, because there was concerns that carter page may have been, was being used by the russians. carter page as we have done so much reporting about him, had extensive contact with the russians. spent time in russia. spoke at events in russia, and the folks within the intelligence community became concerned that somehow the russians may have gotten to carter page and were trying to get information from him.

so much so that they went ahead, the fbi, and went to the secret court, and got a warrant, a, basically a fisa warrant. we don't know the extent what they learned during interviews with him but carter page basically denied the dossier. quoted, mentioned in the dossier. he denied involvement in collusion or working with the russians. but the investigation is still ongoing in terms of the fbi and they have not reached any conclusions. the fbi guy wouldn't confirm thinking. there was always a concern about him. some thought he wasn't a very serious person. maybe was just talking, was kind of embellishing his involvement with the campaign. others at the fbi were concerned maybe, in fact, the russians were able to get to him. all of that is still under investigation and the fbi right now is not really saying if

they're near a conclusion. >> thanks very much. reporting for us. republican congressman will herald herd of texas, a former cia operative joins us from capitol hill live. thanks for joining us. >> wolf, always a pleasure to be on. >> let me get quick thoughts on the russia investigation before we move on. as you know, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, devin nunes, says he can retake control of this investigation at any time if he wants to. he said he temporarily stepped aside from the investigation. did not recuse himself. what do you make of that? >> well, he never has used the term recusal, and he said he wanted to focus on this ethics investigation, and not have any of the two things mix, and i think chairman conaway. mike conaway is doing a great, great job of continuing the investigation in a thorough,

bipartisan manner and we need to continue to do that so that the american people trusts what comes out once this is all complete. >> from your perspective, it's best that congressman conaway and the ranking democrat, adam schiff, if they continue to lead the house intelligence committee investigation and let the chairman devin nunes stay aside? is that right? >> well, it's his prerogative and recusal is a very specific legal term. and he hasn't yuused that. nobody on the committee used that, but while he has stepped down from this investigation, i think chairman conaway has been doing a, a very good job of being methodical and continuing this in a, in a bipartisan way. >> let's talk about this announcement, the statement from the white house, about syria. the white house 3u9-oputting ou statement, syria preparing for another chemical attack against

civilians. the trump administration saying they will pay a heavy price if there's another chemical wrepeas attack. what can you tell us about that. >> wolf, the you know, i spent nine and a half years as an undercover officer and learned in my time in the cia, be nice with the nice guy and tough with tough guys. in this case, i think it's the right move. bashar al assad needs to go. he's already proven a willingness to use chemical weapons, multiple times. we just think about the time he did this last when we had the response with the 49 or 59 missiles in syria. he's done this on a couple of occasions and having these red lines are important, but it's important also to follow-through. if there is a threat, you must follow through and in preventing bashar al assad from using chemical weapons again on his citizens on our troops is the right move. >> as you know, iran in reacting

to the white house statement put out its own statement saying, any remarks by the u.s. about syrian chemical weapons attack represents, in the words of iran, a dangerous escalation that will only serve isis. how does that impact what the u.s. might do? a very strong statement against the u.s. wording from iran, and from russia, for that matter as well. both iran and russia support bashar al assad's regime? >> if bashar al assad uses chemical weapons, i should hospitalized t hold the iranians and russians account about for this. the russians and iranians should be asking, why would the syrians use chemical weapons? those are the questions they should be asking whether than second guessing or trying to influence our actions. when it comes to iran, their as big of a problem in the region. they're support to terrorist elements in syria and iraq. so this is them trying to divert

attention away from the right move, and that is being very clear on what our response is going to be. when you're clear on the response, that oftentimes serves as a way to appreciate that behavior from happening. >> you got to vote. i'll let you know. congressman will hurd of texas, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. more on that ominous warning from. white house to syria's bashar al assad over the use of chemical weapons against his own people. our panel weighing in, when we come back. you do all this research

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looking at live pictures from the white house briefing room. sean spicer getting ready for his white house briefing. this one will be on camera. the first time briefing

reporters on-camera in a week. we'll, of course, have live coverage. the energy secretary, rick pe y perry, by the way, will join sean spicer at that briefing and kick it off with some words of his own. all of that coming up on cnn, live coverage. meantime, other important news we're following -- russia and iran, you just heard, are pushing back on a warning from the white house to the seen syrian regime. he'll pay a heavy fries he laun -- heavy price if he launches another chemical attack. >> and it's not just to send assad a message but russia and iran, if this happening again, we are putting you on notice. >> and discuss. diplomatic analyst served as state department and pentagon spokesman. also joining us, our pentagon

reporter and a cnn military analyst, retired u.s. military attache in syria. ryan, at the pentagon first, tell us what prompted this very, very strong warning from the trump administration. >> right, wolf. the military has been seeing preparations at the sharod air base, if you recall, the same base they launched tomahawk mitchell against in retaliation for that chemical weapons strike by the syrian forces. seeing similar occurrences going on now with one pentagon official telling us that that intelligence had become particularly more compelling in the last 24 hours. including seeing some migged fighters brought into a bunker, or shelter area, where chemical weapons are believed to be stored. signs like this, points, suggests that the regime may be preparing nor chemical weapons attack in the near future.

>> you heard nikki haley, u.n. ambassador to the u.n., go a step further not only warning bashar al assad's regime also its backers in iran and russia. that's a significant statement. >> that's right. she said putting them on notice. again, russia actually maintains some personnel at this air base, at sharod air base. wanting to sent a message to assad and key backers iran and russia that chemical use will not be tellerated in this upcoming period. >> interesting, admiral, thelea. put it on the strecreen. this is a statement from the russians. another dangerous u.s. escalation in syria on fake pretext will only serve isis precisely when it's being wiped out by iraqi and syrian people. so the russians are reacting.

the iranians are reacting. sounds like an escalation now? >> you can expect them to react like that. look, both bolstering the assad regime. they're raex should have been expected. certainly got their attention and if this warning has a deterrent and can prevent from from conducting an attack like this it's all for the good. >> the president, bashar al assad, which ugly visited a russian military base in syria today. presumably sending his own message. >> maybe. we don't know if he did this specifically because of the warning out of the white house or whether it was long planned. any chance he can get he has backing and support of the russian military, i think hepem >> and you read the announcement from the white house. you look at nikki haley's

statements, of course they're putting down this marker, and there's presidents. the la -- there's presidents. the last time, it clue american reaction, they do it again, they'll draw american action. following wha ing what the admi, we expect them to make these statement but in private counsel telling the syrians this is not a good idea. ramping up tensions where they don't need to. >> but the syrians, the regime, they saw what president trump was willing to do. why would they even risk another chemical weapons attack right now, knowing that if they were to do that, a lot more tomahawk cruise missiles might be fired in? >> well, actually, the regime has not said they're threatening the use of chemical weapons. we're saying we're seeing indications that that is happening. we're not really sure what's going on. >> if they were to use chemical weapons again, why would they do that, knowing there would be a

severe retaliatory strike from the u.s.? >> it makes absolutely no sense for them to launch a chemical attack. they know what will happen in response. if you look at the military situation on the ground, it's not going to change it. they're winning the fight against isis. they don't need the chemical weapons. if they use it up, it's not changing the military situation. they're ig significant, a terror weapon designed to sddemonstrat he's in charge. militarily, insignificant. >> the point, admiral, if they were to use them not necessarily against isis but against those democrat forces they're calmed resisting the regime, they, too, oppose isis? >> the regime isn't interested in fighting isis, never have been. they are none too happy about the fact syrian democratic forces or moving on raqqa and they want raqqa back. i don't know whether that was

planned here, a chemical attack but clearly kourc lly counterpro the larger effort. rick is right. exactly draw the response they don't want. look, i think they had to move quickly on this statement, because as rick can attest, it doesn't take that long to mount up weaponry or a fighter jet. saw indications that was happening quickly. they moved as fast as they could on this. >> rick francona, a lot of us remember the warning, the red line warning that president obama delivered to the syrian regime back in 2012. listen to what he said then, because it sounds similar to what we're hearing now. >> we have been very clear to the assad regime and also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is, we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons being around our

utilizesed. that would change my calculus, my equation. >> the syrians heard that before. the red line was crossed. and immediately responds. so how effective is the current rhetoric? >> very effective, because on april 6, following an april 4 attack, the united states did respond. we're on record and there's a precedent, if they do this, we will take action, and i think bashar al assad knows that, and figuring that into his calculation. i also think that the russians are probably going to get to him and say bashar, not a good idea. >> i assume you're right. thank you all. up next, we're going to the philippines were isis fighters now are battles to create their own foothold in southeast asia. what could this mean for the region? we'll take a closer look when we come back.

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after years of fighting in the middle east, isis is asserting its presence in southeast asia. the violence may be just the start of a new front for the terror group. our senior international correspondent ivan watson reports on this emerging threat in the philippines. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: this was the scene when isis militants stormed the city of marawi on may 23rd. triggering the longest and deadliest urban battle the philippine military has fought if in decades and marking the appearance of a tenacious enemy

with international ambitions. >> the aim of taking over pert was to have the credentials to announce staesestablishment of formal islamic state in southeast asia. >> reporter: saying isis in the philippines is actually a coalition of local islamist insurgeant groups. >> what's so extraordinary about this coalition is that it bridges ethnic and regional ties in a way that really hasn't happened in the philippines before. >> reporter: these are the top commanders of isis in the philippines. they filmed themselves planning their assault on this area. in this video later capturened and distributed by the philippine military. among the leaders, abdullah and oma, brothers who spent time living in the middle east. omar also taught english and preached sermons at this mosque and islamic school in indonesia. somewhere along the way, he also became a violent extremist. >> stressing the philippines, is

a place to share fighters, skills, share ideas. and they share human -- human resporeses. >> it was very easy for us. >> reporter: this man is a former member of one of the philippines notorious jihadi groups. he said extremists have had decades to develop sophisticated senate smuggling networks. >> they can easily transport arms and money, very easily. >> reporter: in which countries? >> malaysia and philippines. >> reporter: the back door, the i linslands between the philipp and malaysia smuggling navigate using small boats. some of the foreign fighters battling here may have actually island-hopped their way here. recently the philippines, indonesia and malaysia announced plans for joint counterterror

navy patrols and information sharing. the month-long battle, an international wake-up call, to the terror threat growing in southeast asia. ivan watson, cnn, in the philippines. all right. breaking news. significant breaking news. we're now learning that the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has decided to delay the vote on the senate republican health care bill. go to senior congressional correspondent manu raju up on the hill. manu, a major setback for the majority leader and his republican leadership. they really wanted this vote before the july 4th recess? >> reporter: no question about it, wolf. hearing from sources who were in the room, senator majority leader mitch mcconnell telling senators he does not want to have the vote this week because of concerns from his own

republican conference saying he wants this bill to pass and is actually open to changes to the bill, wants to get a new cost estimate for those new changes to the bill and then try to have is a vote sometime later in the month. this, a recognition of the pushback from a number of his member whose did not even want to begin debate on this bill in a real concern that even going forward, with this process, and seeing the bill go down would be really detriment aal for the cae to repeal this bill, something they've promised to do since 2009. and had this closed-door lunch, vice president mike pence inviting senators to a meeting, where they would talk about this issue. no question about it, wolf, republican leadership wanted to get this done before recess, because they were concerned. it is going to get harder and harder as more public opposition presumably would mount, people

concerned about this bill. town hall meetings loud, protests and the like. one reason they're pushing very hard to get this passed this week, but now that it's being delayed, it gives more time for the opposition to mobilize, but the majority leader really had no choice believing that's the only way to get a deal within his own conference, see if he can get the bill out of the senate sometime this month, before it goes back to the house for more negotiations, or even for final passage on a senate bill. a big development here on capitol hill. mitch mcconnell not wanting to move forward with this vote this week because of opposition from republican senators to the bill that he just unveiled, wolf. >> and we're told that the majority leader mitch mcconnell will make a public statement on all this shortly. we'll, of course, have live coverage of that. let me bring in dana bash up on capitol hill as well. dana a major setback at least for the time being. no vote on a procedural vote or a

>> reporter: that's right. look, at the end of the day, and we saw this coming, really, starting yesterday when the cbo numbers came out and said that 22 million americans would lose coverage and had other bits of data in there that made people on the republican side, of course, that's all we're talking about here, the republicans who are maybe the more moderates who are already concerned about that recoil even more. the susan collins of the world, even dean heller of nevada. so at the end of the day, mitch mcconnell had to make a difficult choice. was he going to bring this to the floor of the united states senate, knowing that he didn't even have the votes from his own caucus to begin debate on this bill because those were the numbers that we were counting up. i mean, between and she my colleagues, we talked to four or five republicans who said they wouldn't even vote to start debate. kw again, they could only afford to lose two republicans, so have

that vote and just shrug your shoulders and move on if you're mitch mcconnell or listen to what so many of his rank and file republicans were begging him to do, not just in private but in public, whether it was lisa murkowski on the situation room, i talked to her on your show yesterday, wolf, or ron johnson or so many others saying, hold on, take a deep breath. we need more time. we need more information before we can vote on something that has such a huge effect on so many constituents across the country. so, you know, at the end of the day, the process didn't work out for mitch mcconnell of keeping this behind closed doors, putting it out there partner republicans to see and frankly for republicans to jump on before the proponents of this could even explain the good things that they thought were in it. but this is beyond process.

this is about the substance, and it's still a very open question, wolf, whether or not things will change after recess. i mean, if there is even a way to get to yes for enough of these republicans in order to get the votes. it's an open question. mitch mcconnell didn't think that leaving this out there over the congressional recess would be a good thing, but he didn't have any choice. the votes just weren't there. >> it's interesting, dana. stand by. we're waiting for mitch mcconnell to walk over to that live microphone and make a stapt that major breaking news we're following, no vote in the senate, at least this week, before the july fourth recess on the republican health care repeal and replace legislation. david, our political director, we saw something similar unfold in the house of representatives before final passage in the house. they too didn't have the votes originally. they delayed a vote. then they got their act together, they convinced the moderated, the conservatives,

let's pass this, and they narrowly did. are we seeing something potentially similar in the senate? >> potentially, it's deja vu all over again. i was thinking how this was playing out like the house process in that way, which is specifically paul ryan had to pull that bill, you know, cancel that vote on the floor of the house mostly because he didn't have enough of his own conservatives, the house freedom caucus wasn't on board. they moved the bill further to the right than it was, they got that big contingent of freedom caucus membersov on board. the problem here for mitch mcconnell is he doesn't have as much room to work with as paul ryan did. he can two of his senators go, so here the trick is, okay, if you're going to try and make this a more conservative bill to bring on someone like ted cruz and mike lee and rand paul and get -- well, then, you really have locked in dean heller and sus susan collins as low votes, you

better make sure the rest of those no votes, murkowski, portman, people who are concerned about medicaid and other factors in the bill, you got to make sure they're all locked up. he doesn't have as much wiggle room as paul ryan had. that is the trick for senator mcconnell and i am not sure that more time is necessarily going to be the answer here. >> was there ever -- manu, you're on the hill watching this so closely. was there ever any serious thought on the part of mitch mcconnell to lieu voallow a vot move on to other issues. they had been making that threat. >> reporter: they had been making that threat, wolf, but the real concern would be if they actually were to get on the bill and beginning debate because there would be a number of amendments that would be offered because of the process in which they were bringing this bill up under the budget process. that essentially allows that any member can offer an amendment to get voted on, which is unusual in the senate. typically you need an agreement

just to get a vote on an amendment but because of this process, it allows anybody to offer an amendment to this bill so what does that mean. a number of republican senators would have had to take a lot of very, very tough votes, very politically poisonous votes, things that could hurt them in their own campaigns so there was a lot of skepticism from the senators they talked to that mcconnell would be really willing to go through a entire process knowing that the bill would go down, knowing that members would take tough votes just to see the bill fail at the end of the day, which is one calculation, one reason why -- a big reason why mitch mcconnell decided to pull back. not only would it have probably failed in the procedural vote but it could have failed on the actual substance of the bill if they actually began debate so that just shows how problematic this bill is right now and how many significant changes that mcconnell will have to make over the recess in order to get both the conservatives and his more moderate members and vulnerable members on board no matter the delay, though, does not

necessarily make it easier, wolf, and in some ways, it could make it trickier. >> yeah. i want to go to phil mattingly, over where mitch mcconnell is going to be walking out and making his former statement. phil, we are now told inside behind closed doors he told the republican senators, all of whom were there, at least most of them were there, that there's not going to be a vote before the july fourth recess. what else are you hearing? >> reporter: well, a couple things. first and foremost, the vice president also sitting in the meeting, very heavy white house presence on capitol hill today. made clear there's an invitation for all republican senators to come to the white house at 4:00 p.m. today, so that's going to happen. look, this is a recognition of a couple things. manu did a really good job of laying out why you don't want to start this process if you don't know the end game here. they didn't know the end game. they did not have the votes. they did not have the votes even to start moving forward on the process, let alone get to those very politically dangerous amendments that were certainly going to come up on the democratic side of things but i think the big question for

republican senators is what's going to change. the message we heard repeatedly from leaders over the last couple of days is, look, we know the dynamics, we know where the medicaid expansion senators are, we know where our conservatives are, how do you get them to kind of bridge that gap. how is one more week going to actually change that. we'll have to wait and see but one thing was made clear and i think there has been an open question with some senators, how much does the senate majority leader want this, is he willing to let this die because of the ambitious agenda they have going forward that they want to make sure they get to. this point was reiterated in this meeting behind closed doors that the majority leader wants to get to yes. because of that, they're now going to have an extra week plus to try and figure out how to bridge those very, very real gaps. i think one kind of final key point to make, this is not an interparty split that can be massaged over. these are sharp ideological differences between health care and the government's role in health care. all 52 members with those sharp

disagreements, that's the bridge they need to figure out thousand build over the course of the next week, week and a half. whether they can do that is an open question. this idea that they had a grand plan was blown up yesterday and can they figure out a way to come back from that in the days ahead. the hope is yes, the senate majority leader certainly giving them the space to get to this. >> it's interesting, david, yesterday, the president, president trump, tweeted this almost suspecting maybe they're not going to be able to get the votes in the senate. republican senators are working very hard to get there with no help from the democrats, not easy. perhaps just let obamacare crash and burn. you saw that tweet from yesterday. >> i did but it's not a viable solution, obviously, because the republicans own the health care system now because nathey're in charge of every corner in washington, deposition exhib.c. i do think by mitch mcconnell saying, guys, we're going to hold off, wait until after the

recess, he's already giving a win to some of the senators that expressed reservations, ron johnson and others who said, we can't have a vote this week. we need more time to look at this. they're already getting a victory now and able to go back to swifconstituents and say tha. so this will give mcconnell some breathing room to try piece this breathing room to try piece this together. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> this is an embarrassment by necessity. the idea of going to the floor with a bill that he knew was going to fail after seven years of making this the fundamental core promise of his party to voters, to repeal obamacare, you can't just let it fail, throw your hands up and say, we tried, this is not happening. this has been the organizing

principle of the republican party for the last seven years. the problem is, he's caught between a rock and a hard place. you have the promise and you have an unpopular solution. that is why you see all these senators battling with each other. >> we're going to stay on top of this story. i'll be back, 5:00 p.m. eastern in the situation room. in the meantime, our breaking news coverage continues right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. we begin with two breaking stories. at any moment now, the white house will hold its first press briefing on camera in exactly a week and it's happening as the public and senate leader mitch mcconnell just announced he is delaying the vote on the senate's version of the plan to replace obamacare. i want to get right out to our cnn chief political correspondent, dana bash, and cnn politics reporter m.j., who is on capitol hill. first to you, dana. why the delay? >> reporter: bottom line is he doesn't have the votes. he