campaigned for years on repeal and replace, can they go back to voters in 2018 or 2020 with a plan that hasn't done either, which has still kept obamacare in place and to your point, tries to make it better and more efficient? >> anderson, i can't speak for anybody else. i can only tell you how i approach a process. if i said something and this is what my conditions were six or seven years ago, the facts have changed. the dynamics have changed. i said this, if you can't change your mind, you can't change anything. maybe repealing seven years ago is what they believed and wanted to do. now that they see an intricate in every framework of our economy and how we're delivering health care, and you have every group that's going to be harmed, from aarp to every hospital group, american medical society, everybody, don't you think maybe you better relock at the facts and say listen, things have changed. >> senator, thank you for your time. we are at the top of another

busy hour. the president launched about a half dozen headlines concerning the russian investigation and had some tough words for james comey. he also threw the sitting attorney general, his attorney general of the united states under the proverbial bus. we'll have all of that shortly. but first, sad news that senator john mccain has brain cancer. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta reports. explain what you've learned. >> just over the last couple of hours, i've had a chance to hear what transpired over the last several days. we heard that senator mccain went in the hospital on friday, had surgery, but are getting the details of what happened. take a listen. senator john mccain is recovering well after an operation last friday to remove a malignant brain tumor. with his permission, i spoke to two of his doctors about the

details of his care. mccain had come in for a scheduled an you will physical friday morning with no complaints except intermittent double vision and fatigue, which he attributed to an intention travel schedule over the last several months. his doctors ordered a cat scan. upon review, doctors called mccain, who left the hospital, and asked him to immediately return for an mri. the scans revealed a five centimeter blood clot above his left eye. the decision was made to perform an urgent operation. by 3:00 p.m., he was undergoing surgery to remove a tumor. doctors bore a two centimeter hole to remove the clot and the tumor. a pathology report revealed a primary brain tumor. it's the most aggressive type of brain cancer, the same type that

bo biden and ted kennedy had. with treatment, the median survival is 14 months but can be five years or longer. this is not senator mccain's first health scare. in 2000, he was diagnosed with melanoma. >> i'm having a lot of exposure to the sun when i was very young and having fair skin. >> reporter: doctors removed a dime-sized melanoma from his left temple. when he was campaigning for president in 2008, i had a chance to review all of his medical records. details of his health since then have remained private, until just now. his doctors at the mayo clinic said it was mccain's gut instinct knowing that something just wasn't right. >> so just in terms of next steps for the senator and his family, what are they? >> well, they're just hearing this news now, anderson. it's tough news, so they're

processing but determining the type of treatment we'll likely get next, which is typically a combination of chemotherapy and radiation. that type of treatment typically can't stop until his wounds have healed from this operation in three or four weeks. so he may be able to travel a little back and forth, but with this diagnosis, all attention is going to be on his treatment upcoming. >> sanjay, thank you very much for that. obviously our thoughts and prayers are with the senator and his family and just getting to know him over the last several years. there's nobody tougher than he is. so we wish him the best in this fight. president obama has just tweeted, john mccain is an american hero, one of the bravest fighters i've ever known. kansas herb docancer doesn't kn ups against.

the president weighs in about attorney general sessions. >> sessions gets the job. right after he gets the job, he recuses himself. s is was th >> was that a mistake? >> he never should have recused himself. if he was going to do it, he should have told me before he took the job. >> he gave you no warning? >> zero. so jeff sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself. i then have -- which frankly i think is very unfair to the president. how do you take a job and recuse yourself? if he would have recused himself before the job, i would have said thanks, jeff, but i'm not going to take you. it's extremely unfair, and that's a mild word to the president. so he recuses himself.

i then end up with a second man, who is a deputy. >> that's a portion of the "times" interview. i spoke to maggie haberman about what the president told her about james comey. >> he was very clear that he believes that mueller has a number of conflicts of interest, one of which trump aides talked about for quite some time, which was that they say bob mueller interviewed for interim fbi director the say before he was appointed special counsel. they consider that to be a mitigating factor, to put it mildly. the president refused to say, despite us asking him repeatedly what he would consider a violation of his charge on the part of upon mubob mueller, he he believes mueller's charge was focused on russia and he's not -- >> the allegation against comey, this goes back to the meeting when u.s. intelligence officials at the time briefed then

president-elect trump in trump tower, and as comey testified, comey pulled him aside after the meeting and told him about the existence of this dossier or a two-page summary of this dossier. the president is now saying he believes comey did that to get leverage over him to keep his job? >> essentially that comey wanted to keep his job and that was the point in showing it to him. again, the president feels sort of vindicated, as you have seen him say publicly, that comey had to acknowledge under oath that he had told the president three times that he was not under investigation. he said he would not say that publicly because it might change. the president doesn't accept that as an answer. >> we'll have more from the interview shortly. let's get some quick impressions from my panel. matt, you think jeff sessions should step down just out of dignity? >> i think so.

this is not the first time that this has happened. remember, there were leaks that donald trump was undermining his attorney general the media reported. 10 some of those people think those stories aren't real -- >> there were people saying that's fake news, he has total confidence in jeff sessions. >> and just a side note, since we're talking media, it's interesting that he gives this exclusive once again to the failing "new york times." but no, i think that jeff sessions, who was a really big endorsement for donald trump. by all rights, he should have been a ted cruz guy. when he supported donald trump, that really helped donald trump i think win the nomination. and he did the right thing when he recused himself. and now he's being undermined by his boss. i think most people would quit their job if their boss did this. >> kirsten? >> i think the dignity ship has

sailed. i really do. most people -- you have a lot of people who are there trying to make peace with a lot of erratic behavior. i'm not sure why this would be the thing that would send jeff sessions over the edge when there's so many things that are problematic. >> the news today is health care, right? the president's major push has been to repeal and replace obamacare. it is dead or dying. you would think if he sat down with the -- by the way, maggie is now the president's psychologist. she should be paid on the health care plan, not by "the new york times" and cnn. >> i'm not sure the health care plan is going to cover it. >> no real news about health care. no real news about taxes and other trump priority, no news about immigration, no news about the budget, no news about trade. everything about -- >> my initial question was going to be to jeff, and my question

was going to be, why on god's green earth did the president give this interview of today of all days when the focus is supposed to be on health care and this is also buy america week. >> brace yourself, anderson, i agree with you. >> wow! >> look, the story, as i was hearing it throughout the day, was this lunch with senators and this conversation. and that was a plus. and this just -- jeff sessions aside, it's just another story that should have been a story for another day. that said, he is who he is. and this is part of his -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> the popeye defense. i am what i am. >> i'm a blunt spoken new yorker. >> it's not just being blunt. it's about thinking that anyone in your orbit, anyone who works

for you is -- should be loyal to you, not to the job, not to the constitution, but to you. jeff sessions recused himself, not because -- what the president left out in what he was saying is that he recused himself because he answered a question from al franken in a senate committee hearing where he basically said a falsehood about his own contacts with russia, which implicated him in the investigation, which meant he had to recuse himself. >> it's surprising that the president has the need to have this kind of interview to vent to maggie and others from "the times." >> here's the problem, if jeff sessions resigns. then you get into a new nominee for attorney general. there would be one heck of a battle, no matter who it is. >> i don't think he's going to resign. he should resign.

part of it is we need somebody to send a message to trump that there will be consequences. i think so far people are appeasing him and enables him. >> and i'll defend him to this extent. i do think this is a battle between an outsider and city full of insiders in both parties. and he's never going to become an insider like that in that fashion. so he's going to do things in his fashion, and we're going to be -- we've had conversations like this for the last two years. we're going to have another 3 1/2, 7 1/2 years of him. >> but he says he wants to move on from russia. he doesn't want us talking about russia, then he rolls out all this information in this interview that he didn't have to offer. >> on the one hand he seems again to kirsten's point, clearly russia is in his --

maggie said he came off as very ameable and in a good place. >> and there's something we know about trump and his personality, is that he believes his own rationalizations. he's convinced himself that all these people are his enemies and they have partisan motivations or personal motor valgsivations that's why he's saying these things. he is very happy with the argument he made to himself that he hasn't done anything wrong. therefore, he feels that must be convincing. >> he told the times he is not under investigation. >> as far as anyone can tell, it's not true. he is under investigation. >> that's not what comey said. >> investigation for what? >> obstruction of justice. >> we don't know that. >> i'm sorry you find that

amusing. [ overlapping speakers ] >> also "the washington post" and "the new york times" have reported he is under investigation. why wouldn't he be under investigation? he fired the person who was investigating him. >> he has a legitimate grievance with mueller. mueller is hiring the whole campaign donors, et cetera. >> that's just not true. hiring people, yes, who are very prominent attorneys -- >> some of whom -- >> the majority of the ones did give money to hillary clinton. >> did he hire people that gave to donald trump? >> i think one of them had given money to the rnc. >> let's just say -- it's not just with him in the whole conservative word out there, there's a lot of people that think this is the insider liberal establishment on mueller's staff out to get him. >> he's happy but also vengeful and bitter, this is actually the

way he operates. if you look at the lunch today, he was doing a schtick and being funny as he was simultaneously intimidating various senators. >> the senator sitting next to him. >> sending veiled threats cloaked under the guise of being a joke. so i think that's always there. so it's hard to tell. >> "the art of the deal." >> he's such an interesting person. to my eyes. he's like the biggest liar that ever drew breath. and yet, there's an essential honestly about him. he's obsessed with russia. and that comes through in every sentence in this interview, even though his talking point is oh, the russia investigation is a nothing burger. it is one of those 72 ounce steaks you get on i-40 in amaril amarillo. if you can eat the whole thing in one setting, you get it free,

mr. president. >> he can't control it, that's why he's obsessed with it. he believes he should be able to control everything, so the fact is, you can talk about he's off message, he's stepping on his political message. this isn't a communications problem for donald trump. this is an actual investigation. >> we have to take a quick break and continue this conversation. the president has just put out a statement on john mccain. "senator john mccain has always been a fighter. melania and i send our thoughts and prayers to john mccain, cindy and their entire family." we'll have more on that interview the president just gave and republican efforts to hammer out a deal among themselves for repealing and replacing obamacare. hi. i'm the one clocking in... when you're clocking out.

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>> >> it would be hard to think of a night with more stories breaking at the same hours, continuing with the president's "new york times" interview. here's more of my conversation with maggie haberman earlier. i understand that the newly reported second meeting with putin also came up. he says it only lasted 15 minutes, is that right? >> i would have to check our transcript for what he said. >> i just read it. he said about 15 minutes. it's been reported by other

people who were there that it was about an hour. >> yeah. i mean, look, he wassed a ma ea with that time frame. he was clearly not defining it in his mind as an actual meeting. he told a very long and elaborate story about sitting next to prime minister abe's wife of japan. she didn't speak english, she got up and they started talking. he said the topic of russian adoption came up when he was talking to putin as this newer me meeting. the topic of russian adoptions was the -- supposedly the subject or a part of the subject of this meeting that the president's son, don jr., had with the russian lawyer on june 9, 2016, the one billed as ostensibly about dirt on hillary clinton. so it was surprising that came up.

the russian adoption issue also relates to sanctions. >> do you know -- he said it came up. it sounds like he didn't mention it, it sounds like putin mentioned it. if putin mentioned it, they're not talking about adoption, they're talking about sanctions. >> i don't want to get ahead of what the president said. >> how did his demeanor seem? >> incredibly up beat. when i contrast him when i saw him last week, for whatever reason, he seems to be in a pretty good place. >> back now with the panel. jeff, coming from the president in answer to a questionn about the mueller investigation crossing a red line getting into finances, can the mueller investigation go wherever it goes?

>> he can. it is true that mueller can investigate anything that he feels is within his jurisdiction. and it is also true that donald trump can order his justice department to fire director mueller. and i don't think it is at all out of the question that mueller will get fired at some point. >> you think the president might do that? >> absolutely. we all said he'll never fire jim comey. but he believes that this is an unfair investigation. he believes that the -- that anyone who works in the justice department works for him, not for any ideal of justice or the constitution. and i don't think it's at all out of the question that he's going to direct rob rose rosens to fire mueller at some point in the future, if some red line, which is his definition of a red line, gets crossed. >> jeff, is it appropriate for the president to be talking about robert mueller in this way with an active investigation?

again, he's unlike other presidents, but in the past, i seem to recall anybody saying there's an ongoing investigation, i'm not going to comment on that. >> he's not other presidents. i just think, you know, there are gasps all over washington, i'm sure. about this, and saying exactly that, that it's inappropriate, et cetera. to be candid, i don't think he cares. i think if he feels the need to make them, he'll make them. >> can i point out, again, he is probably the world's worst poker player. "don't investigate my finances." he's the first guy that didn't release his tax returns. maybe there's something in the finances. if you had a target of an

investigation saying don't look there, what would you do? >> look there. >> the problem is, the criticism of special prosecutors is their mandate is to do this and it broadens. we got from a real estate investigation of the clintons to monica. how did that happen? >> there was a lot of criticism of -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> i do think it's different. >> i sat in the west wing where he used to denounce ken starr -- >> history proved me right. >> the difference is bill clinton, under the law, did not have the chance to fire ken starr. the independent counsel law,

which no longer exists, took that opportunity away from bill clinton. donald trump, director mueller is not an independent counsel. he is a special counsel, answerable to the jtustice department, answerable to president trump. >> it's interesting to hear the president say that meeting only lasted 15 minutes when sources there say it was almost an hour. and the fact that even if it was just 15 minutes, they -- and saying that oh, the president saying the words of what's interesting -- he said it was interesting that the subject of adoptions came up, because that's what donald trump, jr. was talking about. >> it's not clear if he still doesn't understand that, or if he is suggesting they were talking about the little babies. >> or trying to link that to what don, junior was talking

about, as well. >> he's different, he does everything different is wearing very thin. there has to be some point where you would recognize you can't just do anything he wants. is there anything that he can do that you wouldn't respond and say he's just different and he just does it, even if it's completely inappropriate? even him accusing comey of trying to blackmail him with this dossier, where does he get that? that's something he seems to have made up. the only thing i can take from it is that's what donald trump would have done, maybe. so he's projecting and thinking if i had this information and didn't want to get fire, this is what i would do. >> this is the issue that the white house or all the spokes people that sean spicer, kellyanne conway went after cnn for reporting about for breaking the story that he was -- that the president-elect was briefed on the dossier and briefed by comey after that meeting. the white house went after cnn

saying this is just fake news. heads are going to roll when you get this wrong. >> yeah. do you think maybe that's inappropriate to -- does he have any evidence whatsoever that this is what james comey was doing? >> i don't know. >> it's a major accusation. >> i don't know. but i do think, listening to you and my friend paul here, that you guys, meeting in the clinton administration, set the precedent for presidential allies, if not the president himself, to go out there and attack special counsel and whomever and fight back. i think that lesson has been ingested by not only the trump white house but people in talkradio land, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. >> was bill clinton going after ken starr publicly? >> he did on the night he gave his grand jury testimony. not often, actually. i did, every day. and i don't regret it at all. but if you think that which worked on ken starr, who was in his first prosecution.

he should have never been given the job. he never prosecuted a traffic case. he was put in there by some very politicized judges. there was a prosecutor named robert fisk. he was fired and starr was put in there. >> this is '90s memory lane. can we talk about o.j.? no, i'm kidding. >> i believe that's tomorrow. we have a busy day tomorrow. more on russia. also, details on that late-night meeting on capitol hill. that's ahead. hey, i've got the trend analysis. hey. hi. hi. you guys going to the company picnic this weekend? picnics are delightful. oh, wish we could. but we're stuck here catching up on claims. but we just compared historical claims to coverages. but we have those new audits. my natural language api can help us score those by noon.

great. see you guys there. we would not miss it. watson, you gotta learn how to take a hint. i love to learn.

tthat's why at comcast,t to be connected 24/7. watson, you gotta learn ♪ music plays throughout) we're always working to make our services more reliable. with technology that can update itself. and advanced fiber network infrastructure. new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. more now on the russia probe. the president's son, son-in-law and former campaign chairman are scheduled to testify next week. and the white house reacted to the second putin meeting by saying nothing to see here. let's check in with cnn's jeff zeleny who is on the north lawn. what more do we know about these

hearings next week? >> reporter: we know the senate judiciary committee would like to speak to paul manafort and the president's older son. they have a hearing scheduled next wednesday. they have not accepted the invitation just yet. lawyers are reviewing the invitation, but that would be extraordinary. it's the first time someone from the president's inner circle would be called to testify. and jared kushner kushner, who is also in on that meeting, he is scheduled and has agreed to appear before the senate intelligence committee on monday. that is going to be in a private session. the other two are scheduled in a public session. but again, they have not accepted that invitation. and they aren't employees of the government, so it's up to them. of course, they could be subpoenaed. >> in terms of the second newly

disclosed meeting with president trump and vladamir putin, the president told "the new york times" it only lasted about 15 minutes, they exchanged pleasantries and he said the issue of adoption came up. how did the white house characterize the meeting today? because others said the meeting was almost an hour. >> reporter: there's a discrepancy how long the meeting lasted. an official last night said it lasted nearly an hour. the president telling the "new york times" it was about 15 minutes. i think that the credibility here, though, is a bit up in the air. the white house did not disclose this meeting at all until 11 days after the fact, after it had already leaked out. throughout the day, anderson, the white house was trying to say this was a normal meeting, a normal course of business dinner with world leaders, they just happened to speak. but the reality is other world leaders were sort of standing by

and watching this extraordinary meeting apparently as it was happening here. and this came the same day they had already talked for 2 hours and 15 minutes but clearly had more to talk about. >> jeff, thank you very much. kirsten, again, it gets to the whole thing of if there's nothing to hide, why are you hiding it? >> i think that it's -- is it normal? his relationship with putin is a little unusual, i think, we could say, right? his sort of seeming fascination with putin. putin is an adversary. but should presidents talk to adversaries? absolutely. but what you're saying is right. we should have some idea of what was discussed, usually it would be typical that you would give a readout, at least to the foreign policy reporters that cover the president so there would be some sort of accountability of what happened this that meeting. so people aren't saying you should never talk to putin. >> the phrase the national security folks use is asurpa.

for political reasons, maybe you don't want to say you scheduled a meeting with the french president. that does happen all the time. but it's a bad thing to exclude any other american. you have your shurpa there for a reason so that someone else from the american government knows what happened and has your back and can execute on whatever it is that you have discussed. that's what is mind boggling. not just that he kept it secret. what's apalling is no one else from the government was there. he has the entire national security intelligence and defense apparatus behind him, and every american wants him to succeed. you can't without those people behind you. >> the testimony for donald trump, jr., manafort and kushner, that's all under oath. so all the things that donald trump, jr. has not answered to because sean hannity didn't ask,

you know, that he can be asked and he has to answer. >> not theoretically. the happiest person in washington to hear this news is robert mueller. because here you have people who are at least subjects of your investigation testifying under oath where -- and they have not demanded immunity. they have not gotten immunity. so if they make any false statements. you don't have to worry about all the arguments, is that a crime, is that a crime? if they make false statements, that's perjury. >> how tough are these things for somebody who has never done them before? >> the good news for donald trump, jr., is the senators who ask questions are usually incredibly inkoch temperatucompg questions. joe biden was given 30 minutes

to ask questions and he talked for 24 minutes for a supreme court nomination. so they better tell the truth, because mueller is going to be listening carefully. >> if anybody is expecting fireworks next week, probably anti-climatic. the game is it's a long game, as we found out, not to go back to ken starr, but they could say something that sounds perfectly reasonable during this testimony that later on turns out to have been a lie. and then they're in hot water. >> if you are the lawyer for say paul manafort, jeff, do you let him testify under oath with risk of perjury if you haven't kept your deal with mueller? >> i'm very surprised that manafort would be testifying, because he doesn't have a political imperative to testify. obviously, donald trump, jr., jared kushner doesn't want to

take the fifth. that would be politically incendiary. paul manafort is not a public official. >> and he believes he didn't do anything. >> that may be, and i suspect it is true. but a lawyer's job is to say you're under investigation, don't answer questions. but manafort apparently -- >> everyone stay put. several gop are in meetings. the latest in a moment. the average family's hectic home: its witnessed 2 diy duos, 31 crashes, 4 food fights, and the flood of '09. it's your paradise perfected with behr premium plus paint. the best you can buy starting under $25. only at the home depot. (hard exhalation) honey? can we do this tomorrow? (grunts of effort) can we do this tomorrow? if you have heart failure symptoms, your risk of hospitalization could increase, making tomorrow uncertain. but entresto is a medicine that was proven,

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republican senators are working late on capitol hill, trying to come up with the next plan health care. this comes as the cbo says that 32 million fewer people would become insured by 2026. phil mattingly joins us now. so what's going on at this meeting tonight, what do we know about it? >> reporter: an interesting element, anderson, is most senators found out about senator mccain's diagnosis in this meeting. lindsey graham came in and told more than a dozen senators. senator langford led the group in a prayer and one senator said when it came to health care, this made things more difficult. this is a counting issue, this is a votes issue and this is problematic. the big issue now is that the policy differences are very real. the point of this meeting, still

going on, was to try and iron some of those out, trying to see if there was some path forward in the wake of that white house meeting. we know where the conservative senators are and regulations. the question is, is there some new juice to try and get something done? there's new talks about more money being sent over to medicaid expansion states, and perhaps change this through certain amendments related to regulations. as one aide told me before the meeting, be skeptical, the dynamics have been the same, they are unchanged and there are very real differences and large gaps that need to be filled to get something done in order to bring replace, which had been discarded 48 hours ago, back on to the table. >> so they are back to repeal and replace, because they've been all over the map on this just in the last couple of days. >> reporter: to a degree. it's certainly an option. it was going to be repeal only, which is what cbo scored.

but they recognize that there's no path forward even on the procedural vote to take up the bill if there's no replace option. several senators made clear that they simply won't move forward on this if there's not a replace option there. so that is absolutely what they had been working on tonight. the interesting element of this, staff had one point been kicked out. it almost became a senator and administration official meeting only. again, as i said, the votes at this point still aren't there. the path forward still not there. trying to figure out right now if one exists, if it ever would, anderson. >> phil, thank you very much. back now with the panel. i remember during the rnc -- during the convention, i think it was then that candidate trump at that point said i alone can fix it. i can't remember if he was talking about health care or

just in general, but they've come a long way from i alone can fix it to they better do something. >> you mentioned sean hannity earlier. today he spent a considerable amount of time on his radio show looping these four senators who had said in 2015 that they wanted repeal and replace and replaying their statements, then giving out there phone numbers and said call them. the depth of outrage i think among the conservative base is pretty big. they're really upset. >> upset at republican senators. >> not at the president, right. which should send alarm bells here. if your own side is willing to say why did we elect you if this is the biggest thing -- in one case, somebody said this is the biggest gop promise since abolition and they're backing away from it. what incentive is there for

republicans to vote for them. >> thomas jefferson said of savory, it's like having a wolf by the ears, you can't let go and you can't hold on. this is a quagmire. you can't give it up. paul ryan came out after the house vote and said well, obamacare is the law of the land. we're going to move on. that didn't last. they cannot give it up or abandon it. i just wonder when do they move on? will they ever do tax reform or infrastructure? >> they'll go there, but this is the president. one of his personal qualities is when people tell him know, he finds 17 other ways to make it a yes. >> they're going to be held accountable by voters. they can't just let it go. >> the president ran on this. >> this was never his top priority. [ overlapping speakers ] this was never donald trump's brand. it was build the wall.

>> do we have a montage? >> he doesn't believe this is his baby. >> it's not. >> he was the one talking about it's going to be so easy. it's going to be repeal, replace, instantaneous. >> he was one of the big things he was talking about. it was a huge talking point for -- >> it was a means to an end. >> when he consolidated the conservative base and got republicans behind him. >> but he was never -- it was never his decision or important to him. >> he said it over and over again. >> here's what you're saying. he's having it both ways. on the one hand, he's demanding loyalty from these senators to do this for him or his base will turn on him. on the other hand, he's saying if it doesn't happen, i don't own it. [ overlapping speakers ] >> let's just cue the montage.

>> repeal it and replace it. repeal and replace. repeal and replace. obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. repeal it, replace it, get something great! we're going to repeal and replace the horror that's known as obamacare. it is a horror. i will repeal and replace obamacare, which is a catastrophe. >> he said a lot of things he didn't really mean. >> what he promised is impossible and voters should have known it. the 63 million people who voted for him believed a lie on health care. >> the other republicans on the stage said that. >> they could do it. >> he promised it will cost less and have better health care. it will cover everybody and i won't cut medicare or medicaid.

>> somebody like ted cruz, who has a lot of credibility on this, working his chops off behind the scene to get this. he's for the most lost his friend mike lee on this. he's working hard to bring him back. so there are a lot of people behind the scenes working to make this happen. >> we have to take a break. i want to get everybody's take on the president's claim that democrats have to help on health care. we'll be right back.

te test. back now talking about health care. the republicans are blaming democrating for the failure to get anything done. >> the way i look at it, we have no democrat help. they're obstructionists. that's all they're good at is obstruction. they have no ideas. >> democrats disagree. bring in the panel for their take. jeff, should the democrats be helping to dismantle obamacare? is that what democrats were elected to do? >> i think if the president has a situation on his hands where basically they stop all engines and let the thing crash, they're going to be begging to help fix it. after all, if i may say this, this is their mess. obamacare is what's at stake here and the premiums are going

through the roof, et cetera. >> so the president here allows, you know, if he doesn't get anything passed and just allows everything to fail, you think the message is going to be the democrats are the ones going to get the blame? >> i got in trouble the last time i said this. i'll call it the gandi strategy. >> he was all about denying health care. >> he was all about pushing it to crisis, to get independence. that's the strategy here is to push to crisis. >> and if i may press the point, it was active persistence. the president is undermining obamacare. president trump is. he is pulling back advertising to try to get young people in. he's threatening to stop these csr payments to insurance companies, although i just heard word that the white house approved the next cost sharing reduction payment which is a good thing for those of us who

support obamacare. i will point out it didn't make the news it's luke yesterday. that's like two treasons and an extortion ago. democratic senator from new hampshire introduced the legislation. it's a small bill but it would fix one of the big problems which is these cost sharing reductions. insurance companies that are losing their shirts on a few particular patients. she has legislation that would fix. that it's an easy fix. the republicans in the senate wouldn't even let her bring it up. that's the thing that should be bipartisan. there's several things you get. you can get 50 votes out of 100 more easily than get 50 votes out of 52. >> one of the things with the coming crisis and the money that needs to be pushed into obamacare to keep it alive, the debt limit is going to have to be raised soon and it is going to be a certainty that they're going to knee some democratic votes to raise the debt limit. i think it's entirely possible the democrats are going to say we are only going to fund, keep the government open, if you, mr.

president and the republican party, agree to fund obamacare. so i think that, and they're going to have some leverage there. >> shut down threat. >> yeah. >> default threat and a shut down. >> sounds very cruz like to me. >> right. when he says he's going to let if fail, i think people -- i think what he's meaning to say is i'm going to sit back and nothing's going to happen. he's going to make it fail. that's the difference. the republicans actually have been invested in making sure that obamacare fails, whether it's not extending medicaid or offering the funding that obamacare actually needs to function. so -- but this is really, i mean, kind of immoral. these are people's lives that we're talking about. >> president trump is gandi, like a weaving wheel. >> one of this is for young

principles to sign up for health care. thery there's a small penalty if you don't. they've endorsed to stop endorsing that -- i know young invincible people. what they don't realize is one day they'll be old. the founding fathers -- you love history. the first militia act of 1790 mandated the purchase of a m musket and balls by every male in america. totally constitutional. even justice roberts says that. >> i think he was wrong on that. >> i think he was wrong. >> i think it's unconstitutional. >> the cbo, back in 2010, i believe, said that by 2017 there would be $23 million enrolled in obamacare and i think the actual answer is nine. so their accuracy in these matters is -- >> i just can't believe that president trump would go, like, this is the kind of thing you threaten to do in private, but

there is now this amazing sound bite of him saying i hope it fails. and so, like, if something bad happens, when something bad happens, and people are really hurting, you've got this tv commercial already produced of the president saying we're going to let it fail. >> i want to thank everybody. we'll be right back for more news ahead. it's a good thing we brought the tablets huh?

yeah, and i can watch the game with directv now. oh, sorry, most broadcast and sports channels aren't included. and you can only stream on two devices at once. this is fun, we're having fun. yeah, we are. no, you're not jimmy. don't let directv now limit your entertainment. xfinity gives you more to stream to more screens.

gandhi gand . we are out of time. thanks for watching. i'll hand things over to don lemon. have a great night. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. breaking news tonight on two huge stories. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. president trump on fire about the russia investigation unloads on his own attorney general, the fbi director he fired, and the special counsel investigating it all. i want you to listen to what he tell it is "the new york times" about jeff sessions. >> sessions should have never recused himself and if he would -- if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and i would have picked somebody else. >> he gave you no heads up at all? >> zero. so jeff sessions takes the job, gets into the job,