something very very important. >> no matter how the bill changes at the edges, it is fundamentally flawed at the center. several days before the exposure of john podesta's e-mail -- >> it's extremely important. >> they need to cooperate in the investigation of russian interference. the one person who seems to deny this intervention seems to be the president of the united states. good morning. welcome to your "new day". wednesday, june 28th. claressa is here today. >> how did i get so lucky. >> no. republicans are divided over the healthcare bill forcing senate majority leader mcconnell to postpone the vote insisting it is not dead, changes will be

made, the president now going to get involved in the process as well. can he pull out a deal. >> president trump lashing out at reports he was side lined during healthcare negotiations as his administration ramps up their war on the news media. we have it all covered as always. let's start out with cnn's suzanne malveaux live on capitol hill. what's the latest? >> reporter: good morning. the future of the senate healthcare bill is uncertain at this time. estimate leader mcmcconnell dramatically lowering his expectations saying he would have a vote by the weekend and now saying he wants 50 people more comfortable and i talked to a senator against the bill highly skeptical anything will get accomplished this week. the house were able to resurrect their own bill back in the spring and the question is whether or not the senate canada the same. >> -- senate can do the same.

>> if we don't get it done it will be something we don't like. >> another stinging setback to the gop's seven year effort to replace and repeal obamacare. >> we will not be on the bill this week but we're still working toward getting at least 50 people in a comfortable place. >> reporter: senate majority leader mitch mcconnell working to win over the nine republican senators opposed to the bill after being forced to scrap a bill this week. >> either republicans will agree and change the status quo or the markets wilton collapse and we'll have to sit down with senator schumer. >> president trump convening senators at the white house to discuss the path forward flanked by two key skeptics of the bill. >> we're getting very close. >> reporter: the president largely remained on the side

lines optimistic despite fundamental divisions in the party between them. >> the current draft doesn't do enough to fix the premiums problem. i have so many fundamental problems with the bill it's difficult for me to see how any tinkering is going to satisfy my fundamental and deep concerns. >> reporter: multiple senators voicing concern over this attack ad commissioned by a pro trump super pac against vulnerable republican senator dean heller because he's against the senate bill. >> if you're opposed to this bill we are opposed to you. >> reporter: sources tell cnn heller raised the issue with the president himself after mcconnell reached out to the white house chief of staff, reince priebus calling the ad a stupid move that set the cause back significantly. >> i was amazed and appalled to learn that any republican group would be running negative ads

against dean. >> we know the fight is not over. that is for sure. >> reporter: senators expected to take heat from their constituents when they head back home for the july 4th recess. >> i am angry and -- >> sit on down! you're done. >> get ready. there will be a lot of prominent medical association as well as advocacy groups that will also be lobbying members of congress over the break here. it is not clear whether they will garner more support for the bill or whether or not there will be any significant changes to the legislation. >> you have offsetting that the tremendous political pressure of that promise, we will repeal and replace. thank you very much. the trump white house is escalating something but not the debate on healthcare, a war against the media, you had

deputy white house secretary sara huckabee sanders blasting coverage of the russia investigation, sparring with reporters at yesterday's press briefing, one of the exchanges was something you need to hear. here it is. >> i hope that outlets that have continued to use either unnamed sources, sometimes stories with no sources at all, we've been going on this russia-trump hoax for the better part of a year now with no evidence of anything. things like the success at the v.a. barely get covered. they may get covered for an hour at a time but this story gets covered day in day out. i think america is frankly looking for something better. >> come on, you're impugning everybody right here right now with those words. this administration has done that as well. why in the name of heavens any one of us replaceable, if we

don't get it right the audience has the opportunity to turn the channel or not read us. if you had been elected to serve for four years, there's no options other than that. we're here to provide you questions and you're here to provide answers. what you just did is inflammatory for people to say, the president is right and everybody out here is fake media. everybody in this room is only trying to do their job. >> i disagree completely. i think if anything has been inflamed, it's the dishonesty that often takes place by the news media. >> joining us is the reporter you just heard, brian karen for central news media. and cnn politics editor at large, chris. let's start with you, mr. karen. what motivated the exchange? >> i don't like bullies. i'm tired of being bullied and blamed. i've been called an enemy of the

people, told we're all fake media. i respect what the white house does. it's not wrong for the spokesman for the white house and the president to come out and put their spin on things. as larry speaks once said don't tell us how to stage the news and we won't tell you how to report it. at the end of the day i've been browbeaten for six months and told i'm the enemy. it's not accurate and driving a wedge between us and the public. i think it's undermining the fourth. i think it's detrimental to the foundation and republic, those people in that room are merely trying, as i said to sarah, trying to do their job. to be browbeaten everyday and bullied isn't right and it's got to stop. >> david, what is the strategy here for the trump administration? why are they doing this? >> i have to assume it's because

nothing much else is going right in their administration. they're floundering on healthcare, had trouble getting out from under this russia investigation. when you can't bang on the law bang on the table is what they say and they're trying to distract the issue. >> look. fair ren hold is a good example. he and his team just won a pulitzer prize for their reporting. that's a pretty high bar. trump doesn't like the reporting fairenholt did. correct me if this isn't how you experienced it, you are a phony, politically motivated, you guys are bad guys what you are trying to do in the newspaper because you were doing these stories in the first place. that's the reality. they never told you where you were wrong, anything you reported about as charitable

giving or otherwise. how constant were the attacks from the white house and surrogates and reporters about you even thinking about doing this kind of reporting? >> we did hear that a lot. we heard it from mike pence, vice-presidential nominee saying this is fake and phony, all wrong. nobody said that was wrong. the way you combat that, be as transparent as you can how you know what you know as i did to the public. this is what i know and what i asked the trump administration. here's my side of the story, tell me where i'm wrong. we have to show people more transparently how we're doing what we're doing and how we got to this information we have now. >> transparency is important to stand up for the process. the process what we do outside of that room as reporters. i have 30 people that work for

me, i don't care what you think, tell me what you know and vet the information. that process is something everyone goes through. if it's not respect, it doesn't matter how transparent you are, at the end of the day there has to be respecter for process. if they're not going to respect the process they need to be called on that. it is something we're trained to do and reporters do, many of us wring our brow other to make sure we're doing it correctly. we don't always get it right, we do get it wrong and when we get it wrong we correct it. there are prices to pay for being inaccurate. yesterday was an attempt to go after cnn in particular i believe and the press in general. the fact is we're not fake media. we're here to do the job. respect the job and we respect yours. if you're not going to respect us we need to speak up. >> chris, at what point does

this become dangerous -- >> we're past that. >> -- as in the social fabric, dangerous that a journalist gets hurt. i can tell you working overseas in war zones, people are emboldened by the actions of this administration and all out declaration by the media, if i'm getting it in the neck, i can only imagine what a person like you is dealing with. at what point does this become irresponsible, chris? >> i don't want to say we're past that point. >> we are past that point. >> i think it is already dangerous what the trump administration is doing, which is defiance points, they are trying to taken an honest mistake or not even a mistake, and turn it into the norm as opposed -- the rule opposed to the exception, which is a very dangerous thing because that's

wilfully misleading. the idea that dave farenthold, my colleague a long time and doesn't toot his horn enough, the idea he was attacked for doing what he did, had nothing to do with the quality of the journalism he was doing. it was 100% about it was a bad story for donald trump. in donald trump's world the media is judged by you are good if you write things that are good for donald trump. you are objectively bad if you criticize donald trump. it is not our job to be liked by donald trump. it is not our job to report the news. as sean spicer said and sarah said it yesterday, you guys ignore the news that's important. you know, i do think the russian hacking of an election is important news. >> right. >> we can debate collusion.

they're right, there's no evidence of that. this is about the broader part. about a charitable organization that didn't give to charity for the man who was running to be the president of the united states. it doesn't have to do with the fact donald trump is a republican. i guarantee you, because i know dave personally, if it was a hillary clinton doing this he would have done the same thing. that's what's maddening. >> to your point earlier you were asking about safety, think about that, how many reporters have died for the cause, i've been jailed, 12 of us have gone to jail to protect the first amendment. people beaten, our newspapers after donald trump's election, we've gotten threats from the far left and far right. they are emboldened, it is dangerous and it is insulting to the memory of the people who have given their lives for the cause of providing information to the public to then be told

you are fake media, dyou do not matter and everything you're doing is false. every one of us should stand up against that. it is undermining the first amendment, making it dangerous for reporters. you're absolutely right, there will come a time, it won't be too far off i surmise we will see a reporter faze physical harm because of this. >> it wouldn't make the situation better. i'm in no rush to change positions with claressa ward, because i will take on the president of the united states versus being in a war zone. you did something that was brave but provocative. what was the range of responses you got for going at huckabee sanders. >> the provocative part i understand. i think they were very

provocative. they took their first on camera press briefs in more than a week and used it to browbeat the press. >> that's because that's what she was told to do in all likelihood. >> what i did was in reaction to what she did. most has been pretty good. i had people that called me pretty bad names. i have a thick hide and been called worse by people that love me. not anything to worry about that there. most has been favorable. the point is that's not why it was done. the issue is important not the person that brought it up. >> understandable. >> the issue is about the free speech issue, not about me or you, about that issue. >> the baseline criticism something you were referring to earlier, a saying in politics, you want to criticize what we do, easy, prove it's wrong.

that's all you have to do. what has been happening in my experience is the white house doesn't like it. they don't like what you say, which is bad for them. >> which is different than being unfair. >> exactly right. >> good story for you, batted story for you -- bad story for you is not directly correlated to fair practices of journalism versus wrong practices of journalism. >> we know why. every time the president hears the words russian interference, he hears bad for trump and why he denied it so long in the face of such obvious facts and doesn't take it on in the way some in his own administration would like him to do. we get it. brian, i want to hear this fundamental opposition, just because they don't like it doesn't mean it's untrue.

that has become the standard what's untrue is only what people want to believe. >> there are people assigned to their philosophical cull decontact and will believe what they want to believe. in all fairness to the white house, sean spicer and his staff have done things to make that white house a little more transparent. they have brought in cabinet members and do do briefings and brought in outside people. all of that is supportive of the first amendment. i feel there is a great incongruity between what the press staff would like to do and what the president would like to do. i could be wrong because i don't know. the fact of the matter is there is a constant reinforcement from the administration what they believe versus what facts show. you're absolutely right. a huge concern. >> any concern on your part they

will pull your credentials? >> i've been asked that. i don't know. i guess if they do i will be here or somewhere. >> you have a home here. we always have a home for people to speak truth to power. >> farenholdt, let me ask you this, in one of the clubhouses of trump golf clubs they have "time" covers on the wall that is not a real "time" cover. the magazine finds this out, says, take it down, you report on it. what is the reality of the situation? how is it being treated at the white house? all their friends on social media are attacking this as fake. what could be fake about this other than the cover itself? >> there's nothing fake about it. we've gone a lot of lengths to document how many clubhouses this was in. i found it in five so far.

it's an a "time" magazine cover from march 2009, all about donald trump and hung it up in all these places. it's faked, not based on anything in reality. we asked where did this come from? who made it? did president trump know it was fake? no answer and sarah huckabee said we won't comment on the decor of the clubs. >> when ever it's something they don't want to talk about, i can't tell you the number of times i've been told we can't talk about that, defer it to that. discuss the -- they're very quick not to comment on minimize it if it's detrimental to the trump organization. like i said earlier, that's typical of most folks when you try to put the best face forward.

but they should at least address the issue. when they accuse us of fake media, you put up a fake media cover the hypocrisy of that alone will make it a stand-up part of every comedian and nightclub but you should address that. >> obviously. it's similarly obvious why they don't. if i don't acknowledge it, it doesn't exist. that is a significant trump move we've seen him do to great effect in new york for a very long time. let's be honest, it's working for him at this level as well. at the end of the day, we've been here before my brothers. it is not new for the white house to be enimical to the media. this is a de facto declaration of making the media an enemy of the state. that is what this effort winds

up amounting to, not just cuomo or one story, all of them all the time, they're all fake, don't trust them, only trust us. that is saying this unique and beautiful dynamic we have in this country, this messy thing called democracy needs to change and in favor of this white house and it's almost desire for absolute power when it comes to reckoning the truth. that is new. >> so, yes. two things, you look at sarah huckabee sanders press conference, this was a purposeful ratcheting up on a very aggressive war on the media. no other way to see it. she wound up talking about 17 minutes, half of that was involved in the back and forth with the indictment of the media. this is not new for donald

trump. he is not terribly consistent on policy, has not been as a politician in his campaign. the through line, if you are looking for something that the logical -- what makes him go from june 16th, 2015 to what is it june 28th, i lose track, 2017, is a hate, dislike, dismissiveness, attempt to disqualify the media. it was there at the beginning. it's there now. i always remind people, don't look at what the white house or sarah huckabee sanders or sean spicer says, look at what donald trump does every morning and particularly this morning it's about the media, the fake news media. that's what he cares about and animates him, the fundamental core why he ran for president

and why he is president and he will continue to execute against that. we should not be surprised. i think we may need to change the way in which we approach this. >> no. you have to confront it. you have a reporter in the white house, jim acosta tried to make his voice heard. they haven't called on him in several weeks, that's part of the problem. the white house correspondents association, the president refusing to attend that. i wrote a column about that for playbook you have to confront this issue and recognize the fact he is at war with the media. once we accept that and then move forward and make head way. the simple fact of the matter is if you pretend this is business as usual in the white house and anywhere else, this trickles down to statehouses and city government, they sea to the guy at the top can get away with it,

there will be more oh pasty and less transparency and harder to do our job than it is now. >> and one thing that shows the clear intention from the white house. watch what happens when somebody says something that the white house likes. watch how quickly the president's attitude will change towards that outlet. that tells you what this is about. not about the truth, about what they like. thank you for the bravery. if you end up having more time on your hands, thank you, always a pleasure. >> now to our top story. we're not just here to complain about our relationship with the white house and media. that matters to you and you need to know what's going on in your society and you can't always trust power to tell the truth. president trump is trying to get the senate republicans to pass a

healthcare bill. is he being effective? we don't know. senator mcconnell had to delay the vote because there were nine senators opposing the plan. this was supposed to be the easy route. they needed 50. >> the oca needed 60. 1 of this 9 is republican shellymore from west virginia. she was at the meeting yesterday and since announced she cannot support the current senate bill. thank you for being on "new day." you have a very vulnerable population in your state, medicaid dependent. you do not accept the notion taking money out of that system can protect those people. is that your assessment? >> that is our assessment. we have a large medicaid dependent population and large

opioid issue and very important to me they get this right. >> they say, other brothers and sisters within your party, the open yoi opioid people will be fine. you'll be okay. don't worry about it. >> wrong. if they don't have a problem now they will have it. our states, west virginia, ohio, new hampshire, kentucky, we have very difficult problems. what happened with the medicaid expansion population they had access to drug abuse and opioid addiction treatment. 50% of the dollars spent in that population are going towards that treatment. it's absolutely critical to this horrifying problem we have in our state and around the nation. >> second maybe only to new hampshire, right? we're doing a documentary on this crisis, deserves this

attention, new hampshire uniquely hit and new jersey uniquely hit. if they came to you and said we will give you a voucher, you will be fine, do your concerns about the bill end? >> no, they don't. what happens if you just flood the money into treatment centers. we welcome that, we're asking for $45 billion for more opioid treatment. you have to have the coverage with it. you won't access the treatment without the coverage whether exchanges or medicaid, you have to be able to have that coverage so you can access the treatment the extra dollars provide. to me, it goes hand-in-hand. >> i hear you. let's discuss why it goes hand-in-hand because you have many people in your party saying it doesn't. we will give less increases in

medicaid but will provide an off-ramp because a lot of people shouldn't be on medicaid and help them get care in the private market and do so through tax across to use going forward. what do you think of that analysis? do you think that is good as you would see now? >> it would be states like mine who have the expansion and other non-expansion states where we're at logger heads here. i can see in my medicaid expansion population the availability of treatment and how well it's working and how they're accessing preventative care and their primary care doctors. i want to preserve that. i think medicaid does preserve that. i'm not in opposition to making sure that those folks, if they move from medicaid expansion into the market, that they have

extremely good coverage for medicaid at a very good price. that's the crux, if there is a transition it has to be seamless. the 184,000 west virginians i said repeatedly, i won't drop you off a cliff. in my view the senate bill was too much of a cliff and i'm working hard with my colleagues and rob portman with it to make sure we have that assurance that very vulnerable population has access to affordable care. >> what did you get from the president that he understands these granular issues and economic dynamics and he can help control the healthcare process. >> i was at the meeting yesterday. i thought the president was very good. he listened to everybody in our disparate views. we have been to meeting after meeting and heard each other

many times when the light comes on. he said make it effective to the lower income and what really works. that jives with what i believe is one way to make this bill much more effective and much deeper for those most vulnerable who need that safety net. the president was right there with i think my line of thinking and open to suggest shuns and pushing it as a policy and politically as well. >> you have just as much political opposition on the other side in your party that they want to take as much money out of it as possible, this was a pledge tantamount to deficit reduction move here by pulling money out of the system and help to motivate tax policy. not only do you have equal resistance at thor end of the spectrum but they marry out.

how do you do that on the other end of then system that want even more out. >> we're all strong-willed people. at the end of the day i have to go back to my state as they go back to theirs to defend my policies and decisions. i think we all know it's an art of compromise in the senate. at this point, we haven't reached that critical point of compromise. we will keep working at it. i think we realize how important it is to fix this system broken for many people. our premiums in west virginia went up 169%, working people who can no longer afford their insurance. we have to make sure we fix obamacare broken and that is the rallying unifying cry and we're edging towards a compromise but i don't think we're there yet. >> any chance -- and please consider this show and ongoing opportunity for you. we know this matters and lack of

debate about the issue, you're always welcome to come on and speak to what matters to your constituents. >> do you think there's any chance there will be a change of approach after this break especially after you go home and hear how the men and women and families feel about it. maybe you come back and say we know there are problems on the sides and let's fix it step-by-step like we saw in immigration and doing it piece-by-piece. any chance or too much pressure to do repeal and replace? >> i think we're dedicated to fix and we have to see where -- if we can reach a compromise on friday but i think it doesn't close the door in the end. if for some reason it fails the floodgates would probably open to reach a bipartisan

compromise. really, friday will be the most interesting day to see. i thought yesterday or today would be. friday will be the most interesting day to see if we can reach that compromise and working hard at it to make sure it works for a lot of people and not just certain segments. >> senator, we named this show "new day" for a reason. you're always welcome to talk about what matters. be well. the white house doubling down with a stern warning for syria's regime? will congress authorize use of force? next.

the headline is the senate majority leader delayed the vote. they don't have enough. remember, they're just going for 50, not 60. what happens now? what changes can be made and what's enough. let's bring in senator angus kelly from maine. we just heard about a senator who has people ravaged by opioid and said we're so committed to fixing it is not out of the world of consideration to work with the democrats and do this on a smaller scale step-by-step

even. do you believe there is a legitimate chance of that? >> i think there is a legitimate chance of that if the bill fails. if it passes it will go to house members last night and they'll pass it without looking at it, it will go to the white house and be signed. if that happens it's all over and all over for a lot of people. if it doesn't happen there's no choice but to start talking and what we should have done in the first place. i suggested last night a radical idea, refer this to hearings and have input and debate and discussion on a bipartisan basis and maybe come up with practical solutions. >> there's a new wrinkle in what they might do. i had senator ron johnson saying the cbo got it wrong the wrong baseline and if you use the right baseline, it turns out it's flat, nobody gets thrown off the medicaid rules.

do you believe that? >> no. you can argue about the projections and baseline. this bill takes over 1$1.1 trillion out of the healthcare system the next 10 years, 4 or $500 million in maine. you can't take that kind of money out of the system and say nobody is going to be hurt. that doesn't pass the straight face test. that's the simplest way to look at it, minus 1.1 trillion dollars of support going into people's premium supports under the aca or medicaid. why are the hospitals all against it? why are the medical associations against it? why is the aarp against it? not because of the scores, because it will be devastating. >> i wanted to get your opinion on one of the other big news stories today the white house saying to the assad regime there

will be very serious consequences if there is another chemical attack and nikki haley saying it won't just be the as sad regime, it's their backers and russia and iran. what's your response to this and do you think congress needs to be involved before we can talk about show of force against the assad regime? >> let me say the chemical weapons use is unacceptable and should be responded to. president obama should have responded to it in 2013, '14, some kind of response to a chemical weapon use is appropriate and warning is appropriate to prevent chemical weapon use. here's what's worrying me, we're starting to see we will respond in different ways and maybe talk about people working with assad and all of a sudden, you're talking about a much larger

commitment of military force in syria. the answer to your last question is, yes, congress should be involved. that's our responsibility and constitutional responsibility. there's no authorizing i believe gives any weight to troupes or syrias or invocation of force in syria. yes, congress should be involved. what worries me is an escalation, based on the pretext of the chemical weapons that ends up with us engaged in one of the most complicated and difficult messy confrontations on earth. >> you wouldn't anticipate broad support at least for the types of strikes we saw after the last chemical attack? -- you would anticipate- >> i think so. they've been banned since world war i. this is an international expectation and moral norm.

there has to be some response to that. again, if you start to move into, well, we will talk about who's behind this, everybody knows who we're talking about. russia and iran. again, it's an escalation. you look at history, it always starts with some small incident and by the time you are in a major confrontation people say, how did this happen. the other piece j republicans, democrats, me up here, we want to see a strategy from thismini interventions, what's the strategy in syria, what are we committed to? what is our goal and end game and exits strategy. so far we haven't seen that. doing war on an ad hoc basis is very dangerous and i don't think the american people are prepared to support a major u.s.

intervention in syria. >> you raise a lot of important questions, senator, thank you for joining us. coming up, a new jersey mom who put a human face on the healthcare fight by tweeting her young son 's a stronnomical bill, what she wants the gop to know coming up. ♪ minutes old. ♪ a baby's skin is never more delicate. ♪ what do hospitals use to wash and protect it? ♪ johnson's® the number 1 choices in hospitals.

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senate majority leader mitch mcconnell delaying a vote on the healthcare bill until after the july 4th recess. why? at least nine republicans oppose that bill. president trump's long time confident, roger stone, set to testify before the house panel about russian hacks. the same that questioned about hillary clinton's. a ransom ware incidence raising concerns many businesses still have not secured their networks from aggressive hackers. >> three chicago officers charged with trying to cover up the 2014 shooting of laquan mcdonald. the officers are accused of lying to prevent the officer who shot and killed mcdonald from being investigating. a helicopter attack against the country's supreme court

calling it an act of heroism. the pilot stole the chopper declaring his opposition to the venezuelan government. >> for more on five things to know, go to cnn.com/newday for the latest. coming up, humanizing healthcare, not about numbers, people. a young mom posting the massive hospital bill for her young son. what should it mean to you? and i became diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma ...that diagnosis was tough. i had to put my trust in somebody. when i first met steve, we recommended chemotherapy, and then we did high dose therapy and then autologous stem cell transplant. unfortunately, he went on to have progressive disease i thought that he would be a good candidate for immune therapy. it's an intravenous medicine that is going

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while lawmakers on capitol hill battle over healthcare, our next guest is putting a human face on this debate. her son has a rare genetic disorder, already had several open heart surgeries. alison tweeted the astronomical hospital bill for her son's most recent surgery and it went viral. it was covered under her husband's healthcare plan. if they didn't have insurance, that bill would have surpassed

$230,000. alison joins me now. we should note you were never on obamacare, is that right? >> obamacare isn't one insurance plan. >> right. >> obamacare is a set of regulations that govern insurance plan, so we are protected by obamacare. >> right. >> if that makes sense. we were on medicaid. >> you were on medicaid. >> yep. >> you would potentially fall victim, if the bill passed as it, what would that mean for you? >> this bill -- the reason i wanted to share our story was to bring a part of the conversation maybe people aren't talking about as much, this affects not just people who get their healthcare insurance through the healthcare exchanges that everyone refers to as obamacare but those covered under employer plans because the aca is a set of protections and regulation, it says any insurance plan has

to cover certain things and can't stop paying out benefits when they decided my kid is too expensive. >> i want to go through this medical bill with you. it is just staggering. $40,000 cat scan. $47,000 for coronary care. another $40,000 for or services. what made you decide to tweet this bill? >> it's so funny because as you're reading that, you're reading lines on a bill and i'm having memories with specific things that happened with my child. the cat scan was an emergency because we thought he had a massive stroke. he was non-responsive and needed his breathing tube put back in. we literally ran through the halls of the hospital to the ct machine. it's a line on a bill to you but one of the most terrifying moments of my life to me. the price doesn't matter because

this is my son's life we're talking about. >> is that what's missing in this whole debate, lack of understanding, we talk about $22 million this and we don't realize we're talking about people, americans, a beautiful 3-year-old boy here. >> almost 3. >> almost 3. >> saturday. happy birthday. >> does that frustrate you. do you feel that humanity is lacking in the political debate? >> i'm not naive. i understand there has to be talk of money, of the budgets. i get that. that can't be the only discussion. when you talk numbers you have to realize every single statistic is a human life. does that make sense? >> it makes perfect sense. i hope everybody is listening to that message. i think it sometimes gets lost. based on your experience, i'm

sure you talked to other parents as well who have been through similar. are they saying or feeling the same thing as you are, the same frustration? >> this was interesting. when i first tweeted this i basically thought i was screaming to an empty room. i thought maybe my 87-year-old granny and maybe a hundreds other people hear it. it turned out it wasn't just granny listening, the entire country. my messages have been flooded with other stories of other parents. i started out just telling our story and really only wanting to tell our story. now i feel i have been given a chance to be a voice to speak out for people that haven't heard. every family that messages me tells me the same thing. you're fighting for my kid, too, that's all i know how to do.

>> you have this voice. what would be your message if president trump was watching? what would be your message, your take away? >> i would want to ask him to look my kid in the eyes, realize when he puts pen to paper to sign a law, that he is signing something that's going to have a real effect on real people on real families all across the country. if he wants to be a president for our people in this country, he needs to start listening to our voices. >> powerful words, alison, thank you for joining us, we're beaching ethan a very happy birthday for saturday. chris. >> such an important conversation, thank you, mom, for bringing the beautiful picture of your beautiful boy. cnn newsroom picks up right

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crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. everyone. >> i'm john berman. >> and i'm poppy harlow. >> one republican senator who supports the senate healthcare bill quote left the meeting at the white house with a sense the president did not have a grasp of some basic elements of the senate plan. >> the white house has a complete grasp of the fact there will be no healthcare bill this week and majority leader mitch mcconnell not happy about that. >> either republicans will agree and change the