hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's one p.m. here in washington. 6:00 p.m. in lond, 8:00 p.m. in mosul, iraq. wherever you're watching from around the world thanks very much for joining us. up first, trying to bput th breaks on north korea. the south korean leader and

president trump spoke in the rose garden just a little while ago. president trump saying the art ra of strategic patient with north korea has failed and is now over. >> we're working closely with south korea and japan as well as partners around the world on a range of differentmatic security and economic measures to protect our allies and our own citizens from this menace known as north korea. the united states calls on other regional powers and all responsible nations to join us in implementing sanctions and demanding that the north korean regime choose a better path and do it quickly. go to our senior white house reporter jim acosta. jim, sounds like the president wants new sanctions, tougher action against north korea right now? >> reporter: sure sounds like

it, wolf. you heard there in the rose garden with the south korean president moon that president trump is, yes, calling for a tougher stance against north korea, but at this point, the white house, the president, they're just not outlining exactly what that's going to be. you did hear the president say in the rose garden that the errera of strategic is over and famed. in reference to what he feels was failed obama administration policy, essentially what he was saying. tough frock this president and no specifics in terms what the president would do. we should point out yesterday at the white house, treasury secretary steve mnuchin announced new sanctions aimed at a chinese bank driven to put pressure on north korea. they are starting to make moves on that front. you also heard the president say candidly he had a frank discussion with the south korean president about the trade imbalance between the u.s. and south korea, which doubled in the last five years, since the

u.s. and south korea embarked on that trade deal. they had a conversation about that as well. wolf, you know, hanging over everything in the rose garden was obviously the controversy over the president's tweet. he did not take questions. this was not a press conference. whether or not he would apologize to msnbc tv shoeft mika brzezinsm host mika brzezinski. he did not answer. other questions shouted on this front. specifically one question about whether or not the white house was in some fashion trying to blackmail or threaten mika brzezinski and joe scarborough over -- you know, over their coverage of the president. and so that question was not answered as well. we'll have a briefing coming up, and off-camera briefs, at the white house within the next hour or so and i suspect that question will be asked again. wolf that is off camera. when we get those answers later this afternoon, audio only, woman. >> and a lot more on this latest

development and this whole rift between the president and news media including the anchors over at msnbc. stand by, jim acourt ta reporting frreport i acosta reporting. meantime, the north korean nuclear threat. joining us, retired rear admiral john kirby, diplomatic analyst and also a state department spokesman and pentagon press secretary. also joininging us, cnn global affairs analyst kimberly dozier, senior national security correspondent for "the daily beast." it looks like there could be a different, a significant difference between president moon of south korea and president trump of the united states over establishing a dialogue with kim jong-un's regime? >> what they have an opportunity to do is set the pattern for a way forward with north korea. possibly with moon being the good cop, reaching out to north

korea, something he's signaled his own people he wants to do. something he campaigned on, and then you have trump saying, we have military options. but there are no good military options. so i think that's why you're seeing trump finally step up some of the economic measures to lever china into putting more pressure on north korea. i mean, china does 90 -- or north christine romans does 90% of its trade with china. trump gave them some room to run for a few months and obviously doesn't see behind closed doors or in terms of trade them cutting off the people who are perhaps behind the north korean weapons campaign. >> this is a very important relationship, the united states and south korea, john, but it was a little awkward today. we heard from the president and from the commerce secretary in an open session. cameras were there. some what you could call veil trade threats to south korea from the united states. >> it was.

i thought it was almost an attempt to humiliate the president of south korea. one of our closest partners right there inside the room. barely starting out on the trade imbalance and tosses to his commerce secretary who tosses it to his chief economic adviser. i thought unnecessarily tough in that setting. >> how will that play in south korea? >> i don't think very well. nobody wants to be humiliated or embarrassed, certainly. you definitely don't want to be humiliated and embarrassed by the president of the united states in the white house and in south korea in particular, very, very jealously guard the closes in of our alines. it won't bide well. >> and you want these two men, president trump and president moon to see eye-to-eye and have delicate conversations trying to get pyongyang to denuclearize. south korea could be facing a major conflagration from the north if the u.s. tries to take, decides it needs to take

military action. they need to have a strong relationship and i think that's threatened by how it started today. >> what do you think these latest sanctions against the chinese bank that does business with north korea. that sends one message to china. also a billion dollar-plus arms deal between the united states and taiwan that's deeply irritating the chinese right now as well. >> good moves, and the, on north korea, the national security staff should get credit for the thoughtful approach taken to this problem. it wasn't accidental of the timing of the announcement. good and sent a strong message to beijing and a strong message hopefully to the republican of korea taking this seriously. the only way talkless work is in the north is proving willing to have them. so far, i don't think you see any indication pyongyang is ready to sit down at any table. they are racing towards

long-term ballistic nuclear capabilities and not willing to talk about that. >> and bring in republican congressman will hurd of texas, a member of the house intelligence committee and as wells homeland security committee's a former undercover cia officer. congressman, thanks for joining us. >> wolf, always a pleasure to be on. >> in join remarks with the south korean president, president trump said u.s. patience with the north korean regime is over. he used that word "over." what do you think he means why in? more sanctions? possible military actions? what options does the united states really have? >> well i think the president was trying to say all options are on the table. and that we're living in a, in a new world, and i think that's the correct move. i think the treasury sanctions against the chirnese banese ban yesterday is also the right move. as the previous panel was talking, with 90% of the north

korean economy dependent upon china, the fact their nuclear weapons program is using loopholes in the tax code and being able to put that continued pressure on china is important and the chinese need to realize that the strategic interests of the u.s. and china is actually aligned when it comes to north korea, and i think also the north koreans need to realize that maybe their only way out of this is to engage with the south koreans. we know the south korean president is willing to have talks with north korea. i think this may be an opportunity for the north koreans to realize that they can potentially save face this way, but i think the president has made it very clear that all options are on the table. we see the response in syria after the chemical weapons attack saying if you did this again in syria, we will respond. i think the president and his team has proven they're willing

to act. >> we heard the phrase burden sharing from president trump in his remarks with the visiting south korean president today. it seems like a bit of a jab at a key u.s. ally. what do you think south korea should be doing to halt a threat from north korea? >> well, i haven't seen -- just seen a readout of those remarks, and i wouldn't say that burden sharing is a jab at anyone. i think this is a shared problem. north korea is a shared problem between us, south korea and also japan. our treaties outline this. earlier in the year, general mattis and secretary tillerson had been out to the region to reaffirm our commitment to those two allies and the burden of deal weigh potentially nuclear armed north korea is a burden shared by all of us, and i would include china in all that and china needs to recognize that a nuclear north korea is in

nobody's interests and having been out to the peninsula recently, and realizing that the north koreans with -- with normal artillery could kill hundreds of thousands of people in seoul, they could likely already hit our allies like japan or even possibly get to guam and we know kim jong-un in north korea will ston p at nothg to keep a hold on that regime and one is getting nuclear weapons. so this is a difficult problem but i think the united states, we need to stand tall when it comes to this threat, because if kim jong-un gets an icb, willing to put a nuclear weapon on top of that, we got to be prepared for his use. >> quickly on the notion what's going on in syria. clearly, u.s. military action is escalating, designed at least in part to deal with the regime of bashar al assad. do you believe the president

needs congressional authorization, military authorization, for the use of military force right now before the u.s. escalates its military involvement not only in syria also iraq, afghanistan, given the nature of this war the u.s. is fighting? >> i think having those conversations here in congress are definitely important. when you look at the current aumf operating on since 9/11, it deals with terrorism and bashar al assad i think is terrorizing his own people using chemical weapons, but i think it's something we need to be clear.b. willing to use chemical weapons on his own people for dozens of occasions. i think he's a barbarian and has to go. and i think that would require congress playing a role. >> very quickly, before i let you go, totally different subject. i'm anxious to get your reaction

to the president's latest tweets going after the msnbc anchor mika brzezinski. when you saw that tweet yesterday, you see the uproar that developed over the past 24 hours. your reaction? >> well, it's beneath the stature of the president and it's a distraction. we should be talking about our strategy on dealing with north korea. we should be talking about our strat yi on how, what happens, you know, when -- post-isis losing mosul. how do we prevent isis from metastasizing to northern africa? we should be talking about what is our counter covert strategy to deal with the russians meddling in our elections and likely attempts in 2018. i think it takes away from that when we have this kind of conversation, the president is clearly not stopping tweeting on that subject. more tweets, a lot more coming up. congressman will hurd, thank you for joining us. >> have a good fourth.

>> you too. up next two tv hosts claiming threats of a tabloid hit story. why they say it can be traced back to directly to white house officials. plus, why the house intelligence committee says he my be forced to subpoena evidence from president trump. we'll be right back.

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two cable morning hosts targeted by president trump in an youft ragoutrageous twitter ned, formally hitting back today not only accusing the president of lying and making another stunning allegation that the white house threatened to go after them in a tabloid publication. listen to this -- >> we got a call that, hey, the "national inquirer" is going to run a neg tav story againative u guys and it was, donald is friends, president trump is friends with the owner of the "national enquirer." if you call and apologize to the

president, he will call and basically spike this story. i will just say three people at the very top of the administration calling me, and the response was, like -- are you kidding me? >> shortly after that aired, president trump responded, tweeting this -- "watched low-rated "morning joe" for the first time in a long time. fake news. fake news all in caps. he calm immediate to stop a "national enquirer" article. i said no. bad show. bring in brian stelter and the host of cnn's "reliable sources." brian, help us understand exactly what these network hosts are alleging and others involved are now saying. >> this immediately raises questions about abuse of power, wolf. suggesting the white house weaponized "the national enkwaiorenkwai enquirer." lately its turned more political

and pro-trump specifically. because the publisher has been friends with trump for a long time. there's logic here to what scarborough and brzezinski allege, although no concrete proof. i've asked scarborough for some of the text messaging he says exists, saying he has proof. so far i haven't heard back. one interesting new detail tumming? nk nbc news, apparently scarborough told as they were hatching. some ofscarborough's colleagues knew about it for some months. thee feel tru they feel trump was trying to punish them and get hem to be nicer to him. what the "national enkwquireren says about all this. if it happened he doesn't know

it. "we have no knowledge of any discussions between the white house and joe and mika about our story and absolutely no involvement in those discussions." also, "we didn't threaten joe or mika, were not involved in this kind of alleged behavior ". this is not the first time suggestions that the white house is working behind the xeern he neuter or silence voices on tv but a shocking example today. >> just to be precise, brian, the allegation is that white house officials were making this threat to these two anchors. not the president himself. they didn't speak about this directly with the president? >> partly that's what's curious. scarborough saying white house aides calling, get on the phone with trump, get him on the phone, apologize and that wail he'll kill the story. trump says the opposite in the tweet. yes, scarborp pscarbipartisan

scarborough did call me but i wouldn't do it. either way, it's whether the president tried to weaponize this super market tabloid. >> good report. talk about the serious allegation with our panel. joining us, cnn political director david chalian and senior washington correspondent brianna keilar, cnn politics reportser and editor at large with "the point" on cnn.com, chris cillizza and legal analyst former federal prosecutor laura coates. laura, serious question. could this be from a legal perspective an abuse of presidential power? >> not as told yet. not quite there. the reason it's so important, brian's right. we haven't right got to the allegation of actual blackmail. you have a discrepancy whether or not the president himself was involved in some way in knowing about an article in advance and having a hand in either trying to silence it or did he have a hand in actually crafting it

with the idea of weaponizing it again to the media? it wouldn't be the first time the president obviously tried to attack the media but would be an odd step giving his track record he essentially tried to punish the media not creating stories in the press but rather trying to suppress them. inconsistency overall, but right now you have the accusation, what you need legally to push it over that hurdle is you had that intent to actually do that and what was his specific involvement in the crafting of it as a way to wield it against to silence and suppress free speech. >> david chalian, it takes this whole story that developed yesterday morning to a new level. >> certainly does that. right now we're in asaid/he said scenario. joe scarborough's version of events and the president had a different version of events. that will play out and perhaps we'll learn more of what the truth is there. what is so, i think, believable

is that just from what we know about how president trump operates, he becomes obsessed with these kinds of things. so you can imagine multiple conversations from three senior white house aides to scarborough saying, if you -- never mind -- forget the threat part for a moment. saying, you know, if you get on the phone and apologize to him it may about good thing. you could easily imagine donald trump saying to his aides, by the way, is scarborough going to apologize or not? you can see why his senior aides would want that to happen to move on to other things. this has happened time and again. i think it does give us a little more insight how donald trump becomes so obsessed and completely focused on things that have absolutely nothing to do with his job. >> and the tweet from joe scarborough, put it up on the screen now. after the story. he's the one who raised the issue of "the national enquirer" on his show. president responded.

then scarborough tweeted, yet another lie. i have xhave texts from your tos and phone records. those records show i haven't spoken with you in many months. >> and i -- and that may very well be true. i think it's easy to believe that president trump wanted an apology. certainly we know he could have sway with the national enquirer according to another outlet. not cnn. jared kushner was one of the one whose relayed something to joe. we know jared kushner is owner of the or-- and i don't think is that out of line with the culture we've seen as some of the president's top aides. my bigger concern, though, is the targeting of the media in, in sort of a larger way. i mean -- i don't mean to diminish this at all, because i think it must be incredibly

frustrating to joe and mika, but it is a bit of an opinion show. and i think sometimes -- i just -- the thing that bothers me more is when the president takes aim at what are very clear fakes and calls them fake news and really undercuts the believability of the media when it's a very clear fact. not just a he said/he said thing. >> i think, first of all, i agree with brbryane breanna. he benefits if i laid out the plot line of the last 48 hours, you would be like, i might watch that soap opera. you know? that's what it feels like. for a person not in washington, they see that and they think, that's exactly what trump was there to clean up. right? so the details get lost, though they shouldn't. because the tweets about mika

brzezinski are deeply inappropriate. deeply beneath the office of the president and set a terrible example for sort of what we want in our political dialogue. the more this becomes a, well, mika said this, and joe responded this then trump said this-you're waiting for, i wonder how friday's episode will end? i think it gets us further afield from what was the root of this, which are tweets about a woman's appearance. a cyberbullying by the president of the united states. and for the average person i think they just throw their hands up and say, all of these people are the worst. >> it wouldn't be -- i agree with you. one of the disturbing things and odd in this case, normally accusing donald trump of attacking the press, and he alone and his perhaps minions if you call them are attacking the press. this would be example, if true, using the press as a con duit another press organization in some way and weaponize within. make no mistake, i'm not

convinced of a legal issue but it's an attack on the first mmdment. using the concept of free speech suppress people having an opinion. it's very important that the distinctions are made clear from legal abuses to the actual court of public opinion sphere and we're not there yet. >> sorry, david. go ahead. >> to your point, benefits him. you mean in his echo chamber? >> yes, absolutely. >> what is clear, there's almost nothing that president trump has done. >> nothing he could do. >> over the course of his presidency that benefited him getting big legislative achievements. the guy is between 35% and 40% approval rating. the way he's conducting himself is not benefiting him in terms of his presidency and agenda. health care bill even more unpopular than they is. i get it benefits him inside with supporters, binary, those people in washington and on tv versus the president, may help

in that battle but he's still believes independents in the way he had last november and nothing to tredirect them. >> every republican comes on this show and other shows are asked about it. you can see how uncomfortable they are. >> they want to be focused on moving their agenda forward. and they have a side show going on. like chris explained. and i think there is something to explore when it comes to the trump administration's relationship with the media. i think it's sort of a bigger conversation than talking just about this drama, and republicans don't want to talk about that. it gets in the way of exactly what they want to do, and they also are in a position of having to sort of tacitly say it's okay. just to kind of go along with it. you hear criticism, but i think actual areally in private you would hear a lot more criticism

from them. they're in a terrible situation having to put up with stuff they think is ridiculous. >> and remember, wolf, i mean, this is not a one-off. right? he did this -- not this exact thing as related to mika brzezinski. he has said inappropriate things about women, about carly fiorina. >> megyn kelly. blood coming out of her eyes. you know? >> we didn't think that donald trump was something other than what he is now acting like as president, and that's to yawn -- bree jaya bree -- they'm as far as their party and can't say in good conscious, we didn't know he would be like this. paul ryan basically said i'm not going to work to elect him during the election. people like barbara comstock in northern virginia, he should drop out of the race due to the

"access hollywood" -- you knew what you were getting. this shouldn't be a surprise and a huge problem for republicans to explain. >> a lot more on this throughout the day. guise, thanks very much. brianna keilar, chris cillizza, laura coates and david chalian. after the break, president trump changing his message in regards to obamacare. what he's now telling republican senators. that's coming up next. ♪ when heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites.

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the president tweeting this, "if republican senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately repeal and then replace at a later date." cnn's ryan nobles joining us from capitol hill. ryan what are you hearing from republican lawmakers? do they think this latest move by the president really is a feasible option? >> reporter: not really, wolf. especially keep in mind something that was on the table for republicans after taking office in january. they thoroughly debated the idea whether or not to do a separate repeal bill and work on some sort of replacement and outright rejeshgted it. listen to what one gop aide told our phil mattingly saying "we did this dance six months ago. we litigated, repealed, delay, replace, thoroughlies president spoke against it. this all might be more helpful if we weren't in the late stages of the negotiation." that's an important point, wolf. this is something the president himself has been opposed to. listen to what he told "60

minutes" back in november. >> we're going to do it simultaneously. it will be just fine. not a two-day period or two-year period where there's nothing. it will be repealed and replaced. >> reporter: and the president reiterated this point in an interview in the "new york times" in january. he consistently has been in the camp of those who believe that repeal and replacement need to happen simultaneously, and now at this late stage, wolf, where republican senators may be having difficulty but feel they're making progress on a bill where they can achieve it, this could make the process even more difficult. >> certainly would. ryan nobles on the hill. thanks very much. up next, a star witness is on tap in the russia investigation. i'll speak with congressman eric swalwell, a key member of the intelligence committee. standing there live. what they are heard from the white house and demands of the comey tapes, if there are comey

tapes. stay with us.

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former obama national security adviser susan rice agreed testify next month as part of the house intelligence committee's russia investigation. the trump administration claims rice mishandled intelligence tied to possible trump campaign ties to russia and denied she didn't anything wrong. joining us, democrat congressman swalwell. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me back, woman. >> what do you want to hear from susan rice? >> wolf, frankly it's not re stroenlt our russia investigation. no evidence she did anything wrong. the white house has the power of

declassification if there was something she did wrong, they could show that. they have not. i think it's a distraction and we want to make sure we can make sure this doesn't happen again and i don't see how she's relevant to that but it's a joint investigation. kpr compromises need to be made and we'll get on with it. >> that she somehow allowed names of u.s. citizens to be disclosed having conversations with russian officials, and that would be inappropriate. >> there's no evidence she did anything inappropriate. it was her role to review intelligence reports and if she needed more information because a u.s. name was blacked out, then she could request it, if it was for the duties she was performing. if she did that, so that she could better protect the national security of our country then i think that's just fine. again, wolf, the white house could have declassified this months ago. they have not. so i think this is just, their efforts to distract from the

real situation here, which is a foreign adversary attacked us and the american people want to go to the polls next election and make sure it doesn't happen again. >> near the end of july you'll hear testimony from roger stone, part of donald trump's circle, if you will. he's been accused of being involved somehow with hacked e-mails of the clinton campaign chair john podesta. stone denied this saying he wants to testify in open session, but the testimony as you know will be closed. why is that? >> you know, wolf, i'd like to have as many witnesses as possible testify in open session. whether they do or do not is an agreement between the chairman and the ranking member, but sometimes classified information is conveyed to individuals which means we have to be in a closed session, but i do know that this report as to what he says and what we believe his role was will be public. that is very important. >> your intelligence committee is also demanding that tapes if

they exist, of president trump, his conversations with the fired fbi director james comey, they want those tapes. as you know, the president tweeted more than 40 days after he originally spoke of some tapes that there are -- he doesn't know of any tapes, doesn't have any tapes. he didn't tape anybody. where does that stand right now for the committee? do you guys still believe there are tapes? >> the only reason that we are asking for tapes is because he hinted that they made exist. so we sent a letter to him asking for the tapes. he sent us back his tweet. we don't think that is very responsible or professional, frankly, for sump a serious investigation, and i wish we could just take the word of the president, but because of his record, and obstruction in this investigation from the claims about president obama and wiretapping to other claims about james comey, i think we need to corroborate whether or not there were recordings in the white house. >> yeah. the white house in their letter responding to your request, just basically sent over what the

president had earlier tweeted. let me ask you about this -- >> copy and paste. >> in the "wall street journal." claims a former republican operative peter smith was trying to find e-mails that may have been stolen from hillary clinton's server software. suggesting it was connected somehow to the fired national security adviser michael flynn. flynn hasn't responded to the wmp "wall street journal" story. smith has passed away since that interview with the "wall street journal." is this something your committee is looking into now? >> it certainly must be a part of our investigation, wolf, for a couple of reasons. one, everyone remembers president trump as a candidate inviting russia to sbhook hilla clinton's e-mails and we all know now that michael flynn did have a relationship with the russians traveling there, paid by r.t., connected to their intelligence services and then served and played a role in the campaign.

so what mr. smith alleged does not -- it's not something that seems unbelievable. it's snag shouomething that sho probed further and i hope gets foug folded into what we're doing. >> congressman, thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. up next, take you to ta key iraqi city. the city of mosul. used to be the second largest city in iraq, near a victory over isis fighters left so many parts of that city demolished. we'll go there when we come back. is not always easy. it's a long-distance run. and you have the determination to keep going. humira has a proven track record of being prescribed for nearly 10 years. humira works inside the body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to symptoms. in clinical trials, most adults taking humira were clear or almost clear and many saw 75% and even 90% clearance in just four months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal, infections and cancers,

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the road to victory has been long but the road to recovery will be longer. iraqi forces are close to recapturing the rest of the key city of mosul but isis is not giving up without a final bloody fight. our senior international correspondent and his crew traveled with the iraqi army as they battled block by block to eliminate isis and to liberate civilians. >> reporter: winning here comes only with dust and ruin. this was a day iraqi special forces were meant to take back the symbolic mosque of mosul's

old city. but it ended up the day their leaders declared victory while they were still bitterly fighting. just literally to the side of the mosque is where isis have been. the aim was to encircle the sacred minaret isis themselves destroyed. [ gunshots ] yet, they've lost so many to isis, they move carefully against an enemy even with high-tech help. they rarely see it. when an isis fighter is spotted, the artillery rains down. throughout the day. political impatience for this fight to be over in the afternoon. news reports cited iraqi officials elsewhere as saying

the mosque had been retaken. a bizarre scene, given how lethally, painstakingly, they were advancing. huge political stakes here for iraq, yet this fight is spear headed by a few dozen men, two bulldozers. they borrow a drone. theirs have been shot down. isis have been relatively quiet during the day, but it seems a drone put up in the sky to work out more about their defensive position sent some incoming rounds towards us here. more gunfire exchanges. and as they grind slowly towards the edge of the mosque, more iraqi officials are announce they have retaken it. but that's just politics, and here is the ghastly reality. civilians, held as human shields by isis, risking death to flee from its certainty. they're held back, feared as

possible suicide bombers. but the agony becomes too much. there is nothing really to say when hell is behind you and just dust before you. we've been shelled in the rubble, he says. the injured piggy backed out. fear so strong, it led this woman to walk out with pins in her leg to get her family out. a mortar landed on their home. it's the only word little tuca can say. there's been no liquids for days. my little ones were dying of hunger. we didn't see anybody, no isis, only the military. this day, perhaps prematurely, iraq declared isis vanquished, yet their three years have likely consumed all of hers and the ruins from which she fled and in which isis lie will take more than declarations of victory to rebuild. >> and nick is joining us now

live from nearby. amazing report. thanks so much for doing it. so, what is the wait a moment line, based on your eye-witness account? has mosul finally fallen? >> reporter: no, not all of mosul. they are still clearing the remaining hundred or so meters between the isis-held territory and the river that marks the end of, really, what they control in the cities of iraq and since we filed that report, reality has caught up with the political statements we were hearing and they have taken the mosque entirely, but we are into some bloody final days here. you saw civilians escaping from the rubble. we were near. well, there's still yet more and the isis fighters there die hard. we've heard of suicide bombers being involved with attacking the troops there. this could be a bloody final close, but politically, the message has been given out by iraq that the job is basically done in mosul, and ostensibly across the country. >> i want you to listen to what the vice president of iraq had to say about the u.s. and global leadership in all of this. listen to this.

>> let me tell you why i think there is a vacuum in the overall leadership in the world. and the american -- the americans need to speed up their -- to get back to their role as an international power, important international power. >> all right, what's your reaction to that? you're there, you're on the ground. >> reporter: well, in terms of -- what we're seeing in mosul is really the obama administration's plan being followed through, so credit to the trump white house for not disturbing that and perhaps possibly allowing it to move swiftly forward. it's worked here, really, but it's not going to deal with the aftermath and i think what we're hearing may be an appeal for the subsequent political reality in iraq to be addressed by the trump white house. remember, isis came from the fact that iraq is a pretty society between the ethnicities of sunni and shia. the sunni used to be in control. they ended up some extremists

getting closer toward isis. that rift isn't going to get fixed and the kurds in the north also want a say in the future so iraq will still have a lot of mess in its future and also iran will have come into play too. perhaps they're looking at the trump white house to shore up one side control across the border in syria, too, the fight continues but more broadly in the middle east, people are asking what does donald trump want and he perhaps doesn't know at this point. >> nick, thanks so much. be careful over there. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in the situation room. for our viewers here in north korea -- north america, "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right after this quick break. rfolk! and i just wanted to say, geico is proud to have served the military for over 75 years!

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hi there, thanks for being with me. i'm brooke baldwin. it is a busy friday afternoon here as we begin with another allegation of abuse of power from the top office in the land, the white house, and this time, it has absolutely zero to do with russia. in moments, the white house press briefing is about to begin, and once again, the administration is denying you the chance to see and hear it live. that is happening on a day when the president of the united states is accused of threatening two news anchors with a tabloid