respond until those spots are fired. >> thanks very much. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >> breaking news. the president won't say whether he'll fire his attorney general. his only answer, time will tell. what game is president trump playing? and jared kushner on capitol hill behind closed doors for three hours. plus, a senators blunt comments caught on tape, pajamas, a playboy bunny, all on a hot mike. >> the breaking news, time will tell. president trump playing coy when it comes to the fate of his attorney general jeff sessions. trump's fur error building as the russia investigation gains steam. the president blames sessions

who recused himself. now the president is ramping up the attacks tweeting sessions has taken a quote weak position on hillary clinton and then when asked twice about sessions, trump slammed his attorney again ral, but refused to discuss ill his immediate future. >> whether you want him to resign on his own, whether you're repaired to fire him. >> i'm disappointed in the attorney general. he should not have recused himself almost immediately after he took office. i told you before i'm very disappointed with the attorney general, but we will see what happens. time will tell. time will tell. >> these words are stunning and unprecedented. it's clear. trump is den grading sessions. it is clear he wants him gone. but he is playing a game.

the president of the united states won't say whether he'll fire the nation's top law enforcement official. trump upping the ante, telling the wall street journal that sessions only endorsed him because of trump's crowds. in the interview "the wall street journal," the president said when they say he enforced me. i had 40,000 people. he was the senate from alabama. he looks at 40,000 people and says, what do i have to lose, and he enforced me. it is not a great loyal thing about the endorsement. >> let's be clear about one thing it was. jeff sessions took great political risk when he endorsed trump. he was ridiculed by many for doing so. remember then? that's when so many, even within the heart of the gop thought trump was a joke. they weren't taking him seriously. sessions did. and he has a lot of defenders against the president's attack.

republicans choosing sessions, not trump. >> i think the attorney general is doing a fine job, and i think he made the right decision to recuse himself from the russia matter. >> he made the right desession to recuse himself. >> if there is any person on capitol hill that has been loyal to the president of the united states, it's jeff sessions. >> sara murray is out front tonight. he and melania trump will be appearing at one of the rallies he loves to do. sara, what is the thinking right now inside the white house on what trump is doing by den grading his attorney general to publically and mercilessly? >> reporter: well, there are many in the white house watching

donald trump leaving jeff sessions in the wind and they are trying convince trump to keep him on, saying look, this is someone executing your agenda. >> sara, thank you very much. obviously, you could hear that. very hard to hear. so much with the background noise right there. testi welcome. we appreciate you being with us, michael. i want to start with you because you spoke with the president today. you interviewed him, talked about the attorney general and i read part of the quote there a moment ago. he told you, senator sessions support was about crowd size, not loyalty. does he really believe this? >> i think so. what does he really believe? i'm not sure.

i know it was stunning to sit this across from him at the desk in the oval office this morning and hear that come out of his mouth. we had tried a few times to talk to him about sessions. obviously he's been going after sessions really tormenting him for the last couple of weeks and trying to push him to say why won't you just fire him? at what point is enough enough here? and time and again he wouldn't piet on that, just kept repeating that he was disappointed. and then offered up how his endorsement wasn't a show of loyalty. he couched that before he started talking about sessions nonloyal, disloyal endorsement. he spoke -- he praised anthony, his new communications director, which everyone remembers endorsed scott walker first and

then -- and jed bush second and then went to trump after he was pretty much out of options. trump shrugged that off this morning saying that he came to him earlier. he wanted to endorse me, but i wasn't readily to run and immediately contrasted that with sessions who you ran all the tape on sessions and all these republicans supporting him. sessions was the only republican senator to endorse trump during the primary. >> as i said, rids kuled by many. let's just be honest here. i mean, you know, there was another quote in michael's interview with the president. michael, as you had indicated, you were pushing him, why don't you just fire him? and he said i'm just looking at it. i'll just see. it is a very important thing. and then let me play again a brief clip of what he said when he was asked at the press conference today about whether he'll fire jeff sessions. >> i'm very disappointed with

the attorney general, but we will see what happens. time will tell. time will tell. >> i mean, this is the usual, right? this is the tease before the commercial break. somehow he thinks this is funny. but this is the top law enforcement official in this country. this is serious. why is he doing it? >> because this is the way donald trump operated for decades. when you talk to people who have worked for donald trump 10, 20, 30 years ago, what they will tell you is that when he didn't like somebody, he would just make their lives a misery and keep, you know, keep just, you know, throwing things in their way, insulting them, making life miserable for them until they up and quit. and that may be what he's trying to do with jeff sessions. the question you have to ask is why doesn't jeff sessions just

quit? and i think that, you know, there is a sense that he carries the president's agenda, unlike a lot of people in the administration. he was loyal, as you were pointing out, and he agrees with him and is pushing his most important issues, not the least of which is immigration. >> it is pretty stunning here. and one would this in another format abuse of people. >> yes. but there is also a larger issue here about the american legal system, which is conflicts of interest are something that are real and the system is designed to try to address those. and one way -- the united states department of justice, the attorney general is a cabinet member, but he is also the chief law enforcement officer who cannot investigate a campaign in which he was a principal participant. so it's quite obvious that sessions was right to recuse himself. he had to recuse himself.

that's what all the senators, democrats and republicans are saying. and what the president is saying is that even in law enforcement, where you are supposed to have a measure of objectivity, i expect loyalty rather than impar shty. >> does it matter politically how this ends? right? as in quitting versus being fired in terms of the stalbilit of things. >> i think it does matter in a lot of ways. let me just say if jeff sessions is gone, then the dominos can start to fall and maybe it matters because the president can still continue to blame jeff sessions rather than himself for any of this. >> you mean this issue or others quitting? >> what i mean is if jeff sessions is gone, there is a question of who becomes the next attorney general, and that would

be very difficult. this is all about firing the special counsel. so the president would presumably want rod rosenstein to take action. if he doesn't, he'll quit or he'll be fired. then you go down to the number three. what happened there? what happens in congress? you know, then everything else comes to a halt because the president can't get his mind around the fact that somebody who works for him might actually be independent. i mean, that's a very difficult circle for donald trump to square there. >> and, jeff, what is the significance, though, if this is the road we end up going down? who does the attorney general work for? does he work for the president or does he work for us, the people? >> this is the thing about the attorney general, is that he is different from the secretary of commerce. he's different from the secretary of state. those people are responsible

solely for executing the policy of the president of the united states. but the president of justice is different. it is expected to, from administration to administration, have a certain degree of independence and objectivity when it comes to investigating its own, and donald trump has utterly no understanding of that. no appreciation for this tradition in the department and the question is -- the question here has always been, when will any republicans call him on it? and the answer is probably not soon and maybe not ever. >> i mean, here's the thing, michael. you do have -- in terms of defending sessions you heard a few right there. two huge trump supporters also saying he did the right thing. rudy giuliani standing by jeff sessions saying that he is in sessions' corner. how bad is it for the president now that you have republicans saying that.

you have people like rudy giuliani and newt gingrich, they're all saying it. does it matter to him at all? >> i don't know. we're going to see. this is a big one here for the president. we have been wondering about when the dam is going to break for a year and a half. he won the primary. he tore through all these other republican candidates without any help from senate republicans other than jeff sessions, of course. so, you know, i don't think their criticism of him is going to mean a whole lot. but there are -- but sessions represents something different here, right? sessions is the core of the trump base. i will say, you know, he went after steve bannon about a month ago, couple of months ago. bannon didn't quit and survived that and we're sort of in a similar situation.

if that was true for bannon, it's certainly true for sessions and it will be interesting in the next few hours year, next 12 to 24 hours to see if any of these crucial voices in the arch conservative media in trump world start pushing back on this. >> thank you all. next, you're the president, start acting like it. those words from a top senator to trump about his obsession with hillary clinton. >> all audiences right now subject to trump's political mud slinging. and senator john mccain making a dramatic and emotional return to capitol hill. sanjay gupta is out front. >> brought to you by advil, fast, powerful and proven relief. advil makes pain a distant memory. advil pm combines the number one pain reliever with the number one sleep aid. gentle, non-habit forming advil pm.

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maintenance records and performance data suggest replacing capacitor c4. not bad. what's with the coffee maker? sorry. we are not on speaking terms. president trump unclear on attorney general jeff sessions fate. fear going on capitol hill as a growing number of republicans are worried about trump's attack on sessions. one of his earliest and most loyal supports. trump says we will see what happens. time will tell when it comes to the fate of sessions. dana, why are republicans so concerned about this? it actually seems like it is not necessarily about sessions anymore. it is getting personal. >> it is. first and foremost, jeff sessions was one of their own. he was a senator until seven

months ago, six months ago, and he was in their caucus. so there is that. i will say that, you know, he certainly wasn't, you know, part of the establishment. he was somebody who kind of chafed against some of the things that republican leaders did and he was, you know, certainly part of the conservative wing, which is why it was such a big deal for him to endorse donald trump back in the campaign and why that endorsement and bringing along the base that went with the jeff sessions, you know, approval was important to donald trump. but where we are right now has been fascinating just to watch it unfold today, erin, because despite the fact that he wasn't always sort of, you know, buddy buddy with the whole crowd, the republican senators one by one came out starting with lindsey graham in the morning to say, you know what, this is wrong. he was right to recuse himself and, you know, basically cut it out. now, not every senator as we've

seen statements come out throughout the day has been very focussed on the recusal. it is more like some of them have said like tom cotton for example put out a statement saying he's going the right thing at the justice department. he's fighting crime, dealing with the immigration. he should stay there. but the notion, erin, that these senators are being asked and i asked two senators say this to me in the hallways, are being asked to walk the plank and do what the president wants them to do on health care and at the same time they're seeing the president go after in a really unprecedented way his own attorney general, their former colleague after they believe he was unbelievable loyal to donald trump, they're saying, wait a second, how do i know he's going to have my back. there is a very real dynamic connecting the health care and the legislative priorities of

the president and what they're saying he's doing to their former colleague. >> thank you very much, dana bash. if that pans out, obviously that's the price the president cannot afford to pay, whether it's health care or his budget reform, the wall. outfront now, ed marquee. i appreciate your time tonight. it is the sixth day in the row the president bullied his attorney general. twice today in the rose garden obviously. and the president says we'll see what happens. time will tell, right? not going to say whether he's going to keep him or not. what is your reaction, senator? >> you don't have to be dick tracy to figure out what's going on. first donald trump fires jim comey. now he is asking jeff sessions essentially to resign and with kind of a threat that if you don't, you'll be fired and it is all heading towards robert mueller and his investigation.

that's what this is all about. that's what it's always been about. it is about the russian investigation and these footsteps that keep getting closer to the oval office. what the president is doing is basically setting the stage for a constitutional crisis. he's setting the stage for this entire city and country to head into a political twilight zone, where he is repeating the history of richard nixon and unfortunately we know how that ended. and, so, this is playing out not exactly but very closely down the line with the nixon years and it is really going to be an issue that brings democrats and republicans together. >> okay. so i understand that you and donald trump have very different reasons for thinking what may be the same thick. but i must ask you this.

you have been so critical of attorney general sessions. you called on him to resign when he admitted he failed to disclose those meetings, you demand he be investigated over the firing of jim comey. this is a guy it would seem you would be happy to see go. >> listen, i make no bones about it. i voted against jeff sessions as the attorney general of the united states. but this is not about that. this is about rule of law, not the rule of trump. if he decides that he's unhappy with jeff sessions because the investigation of his campaigns connection to russia is getting too close and he's unhappy that jeff sessions obeyed the rule of law and recused himself, that creates a real problem because ultimately we have to be able to say to the american people that the attorney general, the

justice department is not cowled by a president when an investigation is getting too close to him. >> so you said getting too close to him and that echoed what you said a moment ago, the footsteps are getting closer to the oval office. the president's son-in-law right there, he met with the house intelligence committee today and insists then, as he insisted in his statement here that he did not collude with russia. >> let me be very clear. i did not collude are russia, nor do i know of anyone else in the campaign who did so. >> do you believe him, or do you think he went, stood outside the white house and lied? >> i think that we don't know the truth yet. jared kushner basically has revealed four times when he met with russian officials that had not been previously disclosed.

jared kushner, donald trump jr., each and every one of these individuals who are in his family or in his campaign who knew what was going on with the russians trying to insinuate themselves into the presidential campaign should testify in public under oath before the united states congress and the american public so that we can know everything that happened and then we could begin to piece it altogether and understand what exactly happened to our presidential election. >> before we go, of course, the emotional moment of the day. the powerful moment was your colleague senator john mccain returning to the senate 11 days after having a tumor removed, being diagnosed with brain cancer. he made a passionate plea to both parties. here he is. >> too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle.

that's an approach that's been employed by both sides. i don't think any of us feels very proud of our incapacity. >> it was an emotional moment. it was a you powerful statement he made. but when he says i don't think any of us feels proud of our incapacity. senator, do you share that feeling, do you feel shame at what congress does not do for the american people? >> john mccain is a friend of hin, an american hero. i went over to give him a hug on the senate floor. but the reality is that the process that mitch mcconnell is using right now, that speaker ryan is using completely eliminates any democratic participation. no hearings, no witnesses, no bipartisan ship whatsoever. that's what john mccain was railing about, and it is shameful. i agree with him. it is shameful that we do not have a process in public where

the american people can see what's going to happen to our health care system that is going to affect them and one-sixth of the american economy. it is all being done in secret. i agree with john mccain. there is something fundamentally wrong with a political system that cannot have this debate in public. >> all right. senator, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. >> outfront next, why president trump just can't quit hillary clinton. and senator susan collins caught on a hot mike. >> that's huge. and he -- i don't mean to be unkind, but he's so unattractive it's unbelievable. >> who is she talking about, and why? but they're different. it's nice to remove artificial ingredients. kind never had to. we choose real ingredients like almonds, peanuts and a drizzle of dark chocolate. give kind a try. ♪ shawn evans: it's 6 am.

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new tonight, president trump told to cut it out after repeatedly attacking hillary clinton, includesinnincluding t today. sgli'm appalled you keep going after hillary. you're the president. start acting like it. since trump was elected, the president has repeatedly attacked clinton, including at yesterday's speech to the boy scouts. >> you know, my opponent didn't work hard there because she was told she was going to win michigan. >> hillary clinton got the questions to the debate and didn't report it? that's a horrible thing. >> people are trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the democrats had under hillary clinton. >> outfront now, former

counselor to president clinton and jason miller, communications advisor to the trump campaign. jason, why can't he let it go? it would be one thing to slam barack obama. but hillary clinton lost. she's gone. why the obsession? >> well, erin, i'll agree with you that the president probably talks about secretary clinton a little too much. but i'll tell you where it does make sense, the fact that there is a large group of partisan opponents who i would put them in the category where i call them the election deniers. they're looking for any possible way to tear down this president ever since last november. but i think there is another point that the president has been coming back to the last couple of days where i do think he's spot on, and that's the double standard, the way he's been treated in this administration and the way secretary clinton was treated. we're talking about the secret

server. we're talking about the hammer and broke the blackberrys and acid washed all the e-mails. >> those things, though, may have cost her the election. he is now a sitting president, right? i mean, it would seem fair they're focussing on a sitting president versus someone who lost? >> the point being that folks can't let this entire russia cloud go. let's take jared kushner and the democrats on the other side of the aisle. he comes up and answers the questions and he did a very good job in answering folks questions and that turned out to be the single biggest waste of time since michael fephelps versus t shark. >> paul? >> i think somebody needs a hug. and i don't mean it's jason. i think it is our president.

he has this bizarre fixation on winning generally and hillary clinton in particular. every president attacks their predecessor because, oh, i inherited such a mess. except for george washington, they all do that. but this is weird. and it's kind of a banana republican thing. that's really sick. and what it is, we know what's going on here. three million more americans voted for hillary, okay? the president was able to sneak through customs via the electoral college. >> let's get jason in this. it was fair and square. we run by the electoral college, right? >> yes, we do. >> the word sneak doesn't really -- >> we don't run by vladimir putin's rules. and the russian government attacked america. >> you mean the constitution. >> senator mccain called it an act of war and it was. mr. trump is trying to block an

investigation of that act of war, which taints his election. if i were a trump supporter, i would want to get the facts out. somehow mr. trump is trying to distract from that, perhaps because he has guilty knowledge, maybe because he needs a hug and hates women and hates hillary clinton. the guy has issues. >> jason, here's the thing when you hear about the hillary clinton comments. he made one last night. he has -- he's facing some criticism because he spoke to the boy scouts yesterday and there was obviously politics in that. but, look, he's done this before. he's gone to a place that people don't feel should be political, whether it is the cia or the military or the boy scouts and he has made it political. here he is at the coast guard at the cia and with the boy scouts. >> you can't let the critics and the nay sayers get in the way of

your dreams. i guess that's why we one. >> honestly, it went all the way back to the washington monument. >> we ought to change it from the word swamp to cesspool or perhaps to the word sewer. >> but the point is, do you think that it is appropriate that he talks like this to these audiences? >> look, president trump is going to communicate the way he's going to communicate. i any that's part of his appeal, the fact he doesn't have these canned sound bites and he's not going to sound like a typical politician. president trump did have some very strong messages about faith and resilience. yes, did president trump make the speech fun? did he not sound like a typical politician? did he work in a little bit of jabbing the previous administration? absolutely. at least president trump went

and spoke to the boy scouts. it had been since 2005 since a sitting president had gone and spoke to him. good for him for doing that. as they showed the visuals of all these kids, these kids were excited, pumping their fists. i think he was making fun and i think the people who were there watching had fun as well. >> as of course we should all hope any child should be. they should be proud of their president. >> i think the headline is 70-year-old adolescent boy speaks to 14-year-old adolescent boys. it's shameful that he was so political. but there is nothing, there is nothing, nothing that donald trump won't drag down and besmer ch. the commissioning of the gerald ford, which he had nothing to do with, he made that political. everything he does, he brings down. and he communicates the way he

does. but as you know, when you worked for him, you got him 46% of the vote. he's now down to 39%. he's losing altitude with this unpresidential behavior. it is not helping him at all. i'm glad you are with cnn and not with the trump white house. >> he did get 306 electorals. >> and fewer votes than hillary clinton. the will of the people is that hillary clinton be their president. >> thank you both. and outfront next, senator collins on a hot mic. >> who was she talking about? and dr. sanjay gupta on senator john mccain's dramatic return this afternoon to washington. >> i have every intention of returning here and giving many of you pause to regret all the nice things you said about me. [ dog whimpers ] man: let's go! man #2: we're not coming out! man #1: [ sighs ] flo: [ amplified ] i got this. guys, i know being a first-time homeowner is scary, but you don't have to do this. man #2: what if a tree falls on our garage?

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jared kushner back on the hill for a second day. the president's senior advisor went before lawmakers. three hours of answering questions about his meetings with russians during the presidential campaign before the house intelligence committee. outfront now a republican who was there. congress than chris stewart of utah. look, you had time to ask questions today leading into this of course you said it was troubling that donald trump jr. along with paul manafort met

with that russian lawyer who said she had dirt on hillary clinton from high levels of russian government. after hearing from kushner in that room for three hours, what do you say? does the meeting still worry you? >> you know, i think he was actually a great witness. he came across as very honest, very sincere. and i just have to say this. i know that some people will go tonight dreaming of donald trump being impeached but jared kushner is not the vehicle to get them there. he had great explanations for these things that were concerning to some of us. i think thought it was actually a very good interview. >> now, that's important to hear. of course i want to get your take on the bottom line here, though. we do know kushner admitted this particular meeting, right, through three revisions of his security clearance form. the meeting came into his inbox with the subject line russia-clinton, private and confidential. yesterday he said the e-mail was

on top of a long back and forth that i didn't read at the time as i did with most e-mails. i quickly reviewed them. i found the relevant message the meeting would occur at 4:00 p.m. at his office. are you comfortable now? you buy his excuses and his reasons at this time? >> yeah, yeah. they really are reasonable explanations. i think you brought up two reasons. this very long form that anyone who gets a security clearance is required to fill out. as a former air force pilot, i had to do that. you go back ten years, sometimes longer. some of these are hundreds of pages for people. it is not unusual at all for someone to fill out the fs-86 and to do revisions. i think that's what happened to him. that's not unusual. in fact, that's more common than uncommon. in regards to the meeting and some of the subject lines, look, he's already said and i already said to you, it was dumb to take this meeting. it was dumb to take it under the kind of the guise it was

presented. but i actually don't think that jared knew what the meeting was about. it was down in the chain. i think the subject line he saw was meeting with his brother-in-law. once you dive down and really ask questions about this -- >> so he says he saw a different subject line? >> he did. he only stayed for a few minutes. he realized there wasn't anything of real interest and he called one of his assistants and said call me so i could leave graciously. that's all he had to say about that meeting. >> i understand that you feel confidence there. i do want to play something for you moments ago that the president is speaking at a rally in ohio. i want to play something for you that he just said. here he is. >> i can be more presidential than any president that's ever held this office. that i can tell you. it's really easy. >> now, congressman, i want to make sure i give the full context. the beginning was i said with the exception of the late great

lynn son, i could be more presidential than any president who has ever held this office. >> yeah. i don't know what you want me to say about that. that's one of the things about this president. he's unpredictable and says things we don't hear in political dialogue a lot. frankly it was hard of the reason he won. are there some of us who wish that he would in some ways, you know, maybe tone the tweets, for example, or maybe temper some of his comments? absolutely. here we are, we're talking about this rather than talking about the important sanctions bill we passed today against iran and north korea and russia. that just makes it harder for those of us trying to do the work for the american people. on the other hand, you've got to admit the president says what's on his mind and the american people, whether they agree or disagree, they do know what he's thinking. >> so he's thinking he's presidential. i want to ask you some comments made by some of your colleagues.

i want to start with your colleague yesterday who was attacking some republicans for this situation here with budget health care. here he is. >> some of the people that are opposed to this, there are female senators from the northeast. if it was a guy from south te s texas, i might have ask him to step outside and settle this aaron burr-style. >> here she is caught. we're going to have subtitles. >> trust me. did you see the one that challenged me to a dual. >> trust me. do you know why he challenged you to a dual? because you could beat the -- out of him. >> well, he's huge. and he -- i don't mean to be unkind. but he's so unattractive it's

unbelievable. >> now, congressman, she said he's a fat guy. he's huge. he's so unattractive. collins and him now apologized to each other. how do you see it? >> well, look, i'm not here to justify or to try to explain what some of my colleagues say, and frankly you can play republicans, democrats, some of the people we interact with at town halls and others and the reality is that stuff isn't helpful and doesn't reflect the best will of the american people. they expect us to ask with a little more dignity and decorum than that. but i'm not perfect. and i can't explain and i'm not here to answer to other people and the comments they make. i think it is better for all of us if we try to treat each other with more respect than maybe some of those did.

>> i appreciate your time. good to have you back. >> thank you. >> next, the top republican senator casts a deciding vote on health care. do comments like this sway dean heller? >> and sanjay gupta on january mccain's return to the senate floor days after major surgery on a brain tumor. totally immersed weekenders. whatever kind of weekender you are, there's a hilton for you. o mccain's return to the senate floor days after major surgery on a brain tumor. and join the summer weekenders. it's ok that everybody ignoit's fine.n i drive. because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months i'm accident free. because i don't use my cellphone when i'm driving. even though my family does, and leaves me all alone. here's something else... i don't share it with mom. i don't. right, mom? i have a brand new putter you don't even know about!

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victory was senator dean heller. kyung lah is out front. >> we're broadcasting live. >> reporter: want to understand what kind of pressure nevada senator dean helder is under? just turn on talkradio. >> let's talk about the consequences that senator dean heller is facing. >> he's going to get blown out of office. >> republican turncoat. and dean should have an "rt" next to his name. >> reporter: a seething base that heard the threatening from president trump loud and clear. >> we as a party must fulfill that solemn prom toys the voters of this country to repeal and replace, what they've been saying for the last seven years. >> reporter: the president made that threat before, delivering it personally and publicly to senator heller. >> look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn't he? and i think the people of your state, which i know very well. i think they're going to appreciate what you hopefully

will do. >> reporter: red meat to nevada's republican base, because of repeated promises heller made. candidate heller in 2012. >> we also have to repeal this new health care bill, obamacare, 21 new cases. >> reporter: senator heller, 2017. >> i'm telling you right now, i cannot support a piece of legislation that takes insurance away from tens of millions of americans and hundreds of thousands of people in nevada. >> the entire republican party promised to repeal and replace obamacare, and they got elected based on that promise. now they're all liars. and they've either got to do their job, of we have to primary every one of them and knock them out. one and done dean heller and everyone. >> reporter: we heard the same call for republican voters looking ahead to next year's nevada republican primary. >> i hope he has a strong contender within the republican party. >> reporter: today if you had to vote for him? >> i would probably reluctantly vote for him just for lack of

better options. but then again, it depends on who is running against him. >> reporter: this is cannibalism. they're eating their own. >> reporter: he says heller needs nevada's republican conservative base to survive the primary. >> i want to compliment senator heller. >> reporter: but he also needs moderates. a difficult dance that ralston says has tripped up healller? >> one says doesn't trust him, the other side is mad at him. that's tough to thread that needle. >> reporter: today, heller went with the gop base. he decided not to cross trump. but in a statement he did leave a window open. he said that he will not vote for a repeal or a new plan where people in his state, the state of nevada who rely on medicaid, are left out in the cold. >> kyung lah, thank you very

much. the president certainly getting what he wants. and next, senator john mccain, back in business on the senate floor today. should he have been there less than two weeks after brain surgery? ♪ anyone who calls it a hobby doesn't understand. we know that a person's passion is what drives them. [ clapping ] and that's why every memorial we create is a true reflection of the individual. only a dignity memorial professional can celebrate a life like no other. find out how at sanfranciscodignity.com. yeah, and i can watch thee bgame with directv now.?

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this body and for the other 99 privileged souls who have been elected to this senate. >> outfront now with dr. sanjay gupta. sanjay, thank you. i know you've spoken to john mccain's doctors with the permission of the senator. how do you think he looked and sounded today? >> i think he looked really good. we saw him walking, getting off the plane, and speaking. you know, he was -- his speech was fluent. he's got no evidence of weakness. his energy was good. he obvious you can obviously see the scar over the eyebrow. he has a black eye, which is common after surgery like this. but he looked good, erin. he had a quick recovery from the start, but 11 days out he looked really good. >> it's incredible. i know he went straight to the senate floor from the airport. he voted. he spoke for about 15 minutes. that's exhausting, right, for

anyone? but after that, i know he did cancel a press conference he was planning on doing. what do you make of that? >> well, i think that we clearly have -- we see how he's doing on the floor of the senate, able to speak fluently and have that energy. sometimes people do get very tired when they've had an operation like this. their window of time when you have good energy can be diminished. so you have times when you get very tired or i just don't know that i can read anything into it more from a medical standpoint. but what we saw there was this particular part of the brain where this tumor was affected, there's certain things i would look for. i would like to see if he has weakness on the right side of his body. i would like to see if his expression of his speech was affected. i would like to see if his judgment seemed off. those are the areas -- that's the area of the brain that controls those things, and he just looked really solid there, erin. >> so sanjay, i know he said he was going to back to work for a

few days and return home for a while. what is next for him medically, given the operation he just went through, and given, of course, the prognosis of the tumor that he has? >> with this particular type of tumor, known as glioblastoma, which comes from the brain, the surgeons who i talked to said they believe they were able to remove everything they saw, but you always have to expect there are some microscopic cells left behind. so usually after someone has fully recovered from surgery around their incisions are well healed, they can start additional therapy, usually in the form of chemothey are chemo radiation therapy. those are the types of treatments associated with this -- the treatment of this cancer. >> thank you very much, sanjay.

and thanks to all of you for joining us. you can watch "outfront" any time, anywhere. "ac 360" starts right now. good evening. thanks for joining us. the senate votes to proceed on debating a health care bill still mired in history. jared kushner behind closed doors in the russian investigation. we begin with the president's continued i tack attacks on je sessions, his attorney general, and his own fbi director. today, the white house, the president was asked if he was going to fire the attorney general or if he was trying to make him resign. >> why are you letting him twist in the wind rather than making the call for him? >> i don't think i am doing that. but i am disappointed in the attorney general. he should not have recused