language that unites them. that kind of leadership would win not just elections but a place of honor in american history. you just saw the cnn special report "why trump won" but would he win today? this is "cnn tonight," i'm don lemon. our brand-new poll has the president's approval rating at its lowest point in cnn polling. lowest point in cnn polling. that's just 200 days into his term. meanwhile, he is holed up at his golf resort in bedminster, new jersey, giving new meaning to bully pulpit as he launches his latest tweet storm. the target, democratic senator richard blumenthal who just happened to be talking about russia's election meddling on "new day" this morning. and minutes later the president,

who says he never watches cnn, by the way, tweeted an attack on the senator as a phony vietnam con artist. senator blumenthal will join me in just a minute. you don't want to miss that. he calls the president a bully. first, let's break down the latest poll on the president's approval just 200 days in. joining me is david chalian and mark preston. and political commentator scott jennings, former special assistant to president george w. bush. good to see all of you gentlemen. david, you've got the goods. i'll start with you. a brand-new cnn polling out tonight. just 38% approve of president trump's handling of the presidency. that's the lowest, as i said, in our polling ever. what do you have? >> it is indeed. that's sort of the big report card number you just mentioned, don. i want to dig in a little bit but it's worth noting that this is not just the lowest in cnn but low historically for a president in the modern era at this point in the presidency. but we wanted to see where was the most passionate response. strongly approve, only 24%, right here.

look at the strongly disapprove, 47%. we look at where the most fervent response is. by a two to one margin, it's with the disapproval. and then we look of course at republicans. because this is the president's own part sarngs don. take a look at this. this is republicans only, how they answered if they strongly approve to have had president over time. in february, 73% of republicans strongly approved of his job performance. in march, 69%. now it's down to 59% of republicans who strongly approve. he is still at 83% approval among all republicans. but this is a chink in his armor. it's the most fervent, passionate support among his fellow republicans is diminishing here. >> scott, what's your reaction to the shrinking support among all of the republicans. there's no other way to spin it. what's going on? >> well, during the campaign, you might remember that he was always around 80% among

republicans and then on election day, he wound up with 90% of the republican vote. ultimately, republicans decided well, it's worth it to go ahead and vote for someone we have questions about because we maybe want to save the supreme court seat. the question now is, why has it regressed? why did it get 90 on election day and now in the low 80s. if i think you look inside the poll, the one issue that is hurting him is clear. it's health care. he's doing pretty well with republicans on almost every issue except for health care and he's down in the 60s on health care. this poll was taken in the wake of the failed repeal and replace obamacare. i think republicans have to go back and get this right. if you don't, i think you'll see base voters very upset with the president and the congress. >> you think that was a breaking point? as we sat here on that night, it was you and margaret hoover. i think margaret said this is where she believed the president's support would start to fracture among those who are most loyal to him. do you believe that's when it happened? >> i think for the overall republican party, failure to keep a core campaign promise that's been made for seven years and the core promise of the

trump campaign is absolutely agitating to base republican voters. and it bears it out in the survey. if you look at him on the economy and on national security, immigration, other issues, he's in the mid-to high 80s on almost all of those issues with the republicans. when you get to health care, he's down in the 60s. this poll was taken just after the vote. so it's clear to me. >> let me ask you this. because -- okay. but he's said that that is a failure of the republicans in congress and in the senate. it's not a failure on his part and i think you may have and other supporters have said, well, the people aren't going to look at president trump as looking on people in the congress as losers in health care. they're going to look at those people who are the people in congresss a losers on health care. that's not what you're saying is happening now. >> no, look. i think the entire republican party loses when the republican party and the people who are in leadership positions of the republican party fail to keep promises. i think this port tends bad things for the mid terms. and if they don't ultimately get it right, it's going to be a broken promise for the trump white house.

that's why i want to continue to see him put pressure on the republicans in congress to eventually find something that lowers premiums and deals with the problems that everyday people are having. look, this was a core promise. failure to keep it means hell to pay from the voters who have voted for this not just once, but repeatedly over seven years. but listen, republicans on the health care bill, all of them had very low support among republicans. i want to bring mark in now. the president has a trust issue. 73% of americans only believe some or nothing at all in terms of official communications coming out of the white house. i mean, that is a credibility problem. >> it is a credibility problem and just continuing what scott was saying, when you dig into the numbers and look at where republicans are on the issue, they are actually split on whether or not they believe what they're hearing out of the white house is true. that is very problematic for republicans at this time. even more problematic, we know elections are won on the edge. they aren't won necessarily with the bases. when you look at independent voters, more than seven of ten

of these voters don't believe what they're hearing out of the white house. don, this is a big issue. and i won't even say it's a big issue heading into the midterm elections because we're not there yet. but it is a big issue when you're trying to get big agenda items through and you're trying to get members of congress to come on your side, and then they see that you have this big issue. they may be less inclined to support you, that being president trump on some of these big issues. >> mark, is it also a warning sign that he needs to -- he keeps going back to the base and to the same people who voted. he wants big crowds and loyal followers. he needs to reach out. otherwise, the numbers will continue to shrink. >> don, you and i have been talking about this for six or seven months. at the time that president trump could have come into office and still can at this time, not all is lost, and could be transformative, he could reach across party lines. >> is he capable of that, though? >> a lot of people didn't think he had the conservative ideology. that was set in bedrock stone. but to your point, we have seen him. all he does is play to his base

and, quite frankly, he talks about it all the time. he loves going out to the big campaigns and that's fine but it's not helping get his agenda through congress. >> it makes him feel better and probably his supporters feel better because they're a little leery that he is not getting much accomplished, especially any big legislative agenda. big legislative agenda is all but nothing. when you only have, mark, a quarter of americans believing most or everything out of the white house, that's a problem. what happens if there's a serious crisis? >> well, i mean, you could argue we're in a serious crisis right now having to deal with north korea at this point. we know that afghanistan continues to be a powder keg as does the middle east at this point. you could say that we're in a crisis right now. the best thing that you can hope for is that the president trump will turn it around a little bit and he'll be able to curb his social media habits and be very careful about the statement she's making and the declarations that he is saying on social media. not only for our folks here at home dealing with domestic

policy issues but dealing with foreign leaders and dealing with our allies and enemies. >> i want to ask you, when you had just that number, david chalian, just believing, you know, what's coming out of the white house, you have it in the wall now, what does that say? mark says you could say we are in a crisis now but it's not like a big terrorist attack or something going on where we're in imminent danger, so to speak. if that does happen, god forbid it does, who is going to believe him? will the white house -- will he have any credibility? >> that's a huge danger. there's no doubt about that. this is a credibility gap. this is donald trump's trust deficit with the american people and to those numbers that mark was mentioning, if you look at it broken up by party, you can see democrats aren't with him at all. independents, as mark was saying, 73% don't trust what they are hearing. the split among republicans, 48% republicans don't believe a little bit or anything at all of what's coming out of the white house.

you raised the point, what if it comes to a moment where they really need to believe their president? it's a valid question. his supporters will say look, he wasn't a trustworthy character when he got elected, and he's there now, so we can continue to govern this way. this is not in a campaign context. this is in a governing context now where presidents rely on that trust with the american people when they have to convey information in a time of crisis. >> this is where the rubber meets the road. come on, scott. when you look at that, you have almost half of all republicans. they don't believe anything coming from the white house. come on. >> it's a serious issue but not just an issue that plagues the white house. i believe in this country right now we're in an epidemic of mistrust of almost every major institution. the gallup organization, in fact -- >> the president keeps undermining major institutions and keeps doing it all the time. that's his fault as well. partially his fault as well. >> if you look at the things that they test, you know, the white house does have more credibility than the congress. some news media questions, they

have more credibility than the news media. about the only thing that scores really well on confidence and institutions is police, small business owners and the military. everything else right now is really low. and i think it is an epidemic of mistrust. i think it is extremely troubling. as you raised, if we do have a national crisis, who do you believe? if you don't believe the government and you don't believe the news media, what information do you believe? and i think it's beyond politics. it's really more cultural and societal, something that we have to tackle as a society right now. who do we trust to get us information and that we can believe in, especially if there was a crisis. it's a real issue for america right now. >> go ahead, david. >> i was going to say, what you were saying earlier about not getting those big legislative items done, one of the things that i noticed in this poll is that the notion of donald trump as a change agent is taking a bit of a hit. can bring about needed change. he's about five points lower, 48% of the population said he could bring about needed change at his 100-day mark.

that's down to 43% of the population now. this is the kind of thing that was supposed to blow things up and get things working. stasis in washington is the way that things were. he now has to be worried that that veneer of being a change agent is wearing off. >> he keeps going back to the wall on that. i'll put this up before i let you go. 45% say that the tweets are effective. 52% say they aren't effective. and 70% of americans believe he is responding too often to what he sees on tv news, an indication that maybe he should be tweeting about something else. thank you, gentlemen. i appreciate it. when we come back, the president attacking a prominent democratic senator calling him a con artist. that senator joins me next. i'm going to ask him why he thinks the president is going after him. i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there."

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twitter to lash out against senator richard blumenthal, tweeting this the afternoon. he said i think senator blumenthal should take a nice long vacation in vietnam where he lied about his service so he can at least say he was there. it's part of a tweet storm that began nine hours earlier after the senator was on cnn's "new day." the president presumably watching tv from his tv, then tweeted this. interesting to watch richard blumenthal of connecticut talking about hoax and russian collusion when he was a phony con artist. never in u.s. history has anyone lied or defrauded voters like senator richard blumenthal. he told stories about his vietnam battles and conquests, how brave he was and it was all a lie. he cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness like a child. now he alleges collusion. senator blumenthal joins me now. senator, i mean, four tweets that are incredibly personal. very strong language. i'm sure you had a reaction to

it. it's awful. >> don, there is an ongoing special counsel investigation underway right now. it is real. it's based on real facts. and that issue ought to be where our attention is. that ought to be our focus, our national security and our rule of law are at risk and that ought to gravely concern us. it's not about me. >> i think people understand what you're saying. i know that you want to take the high road on this. but that is a personal attack on you. and i understand your right. it's a serious investigation. but those words have to hurt when the sitting president of the united states targets you, you have to feel that. >> i'm determined that i won't be distracted by these bullying tweets and, if anything, they redouble my resolve to seek legislation that i've

co-sponsored with five of my colleague, republicans and democrats, to protect the special counsel against exactly this kind of bullying, intimidation and threats. the president is on a collision course with bob mueller, a looming confrontation that could be a constitutional crisis. the effort to avoid it is to protect the independence and integrity of the special counsel. >> why do you think he's bullied other people? some people he holds his powder for, won't do it. you said it's bullying in your terms. why do you think he bullies you so much and why do you consider this bullying? >> i have no idea what is in donald trump's mind, but i know that for myself, it only increases my determination to avoid distraction and to focus on the important issue here, which is to protect that special counsel from these kinds of attacks.

what we've seen is the president saying that financial dealings are out of bounds, drawing red lines about certain issue, saying that the investigation is a witch-hunt and a hoax. and these kinds of tactics require us to take preventative action to stop the ultimate contempt for the rule of law, which would be to fire bob mueller. we need to send a message that a check will exist can. the judiciary will provide. a three-judge panel will be in place to stop firing bob mueller unless good cause is going to be shown under established standards. and the bipartisan coalition we have, two leading republicans, four democrats -- i'm proud to be among them -- we're going to work for this legislation. >> my ultimate question is, do you think the public sees through these attacks because president trump inflated how many people attended his

inauguration. i'm sure you remember that. he lied about phone calls with the boy scouts, the president of mexico. talks about thing being the biggest or the best. he an exaggerator in chief some people call him. so do you think the public sees through these attacks? >> the public knows that this nation faces real problems, an immigration system that is broken and needs to be repaired, made fairer and more humane and more effective. it knows that we need a better health care system that reduces the cost of pharmaceutical drugs and health care generally. it knows that we need a more inclusive economy that gives people a fairer break. and it knows, also, that we need better education and skill training for the jobs of the future, better tax reform and that the special counsel should be permitted to do his work. he's assembling team of experts

battle tested prosecutors. he's convened a grand jury. the investigation is clearly widening in scope and severity. >> well, that's a problem, i think. i think people -- i think the president realizes that it's, as you said, broadening in scope. he wants to limit the power of the special prosecutor and you know deputy attorney general rod rosenstein says special counsel mueller can investigate any evidence of any crime he uncovers. do you think the president is threatened by that? >> again, trying to anticipate or know what's in donald trump's mind is a pretty hazardous occupation but the point is that the grand jury provides a measure of protection and permanence because it is an arm of the court. the president can perhaps try to fire the special prosecutor would be an egregious, extreme step but he can't fire the court or the grand jury and that's why also we need an extra level of protection, which our bill would provide. i'm going to fight for it and

work for it as well as addressing the other problems and issues that our nation very, very urgently needs to address. >> the target of the president's attacks today on twitter, senator richard blumenthal. thank you for your time. always appreciate it. >> thank you, don. and when we come back, dan rather will join me. i'll get his take on the president's falling poll numbers and whether trump's own party is abandoning him after just 200 days. somewhere along the great journey of self-discovery: a breakthrough. ♪ it's in our nature to need each other. ♪

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you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. [ laughing ] so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. call or go to xfinitymobile.com introducing xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. this is our breaking news tonight. a new cnn poll just out tonight showing big trouble for president trump. here to discuss is dan rather, host of "access tv", of axe axis tv. >> good to see you, don. >> 200 days in. let's talk about these polls. our latest poll shows the president's approval rating is the lowest point, 38%. how would you characterize this polling in the first 200 days?

>> we've never had it since we've had polling, there's never been a president this low this early in his presidency. that's number one. number two, what trump has to worry about is the trend line and the trend line is headed downward, not up. now, that isn't to say you can't turn it around. you know how strong people in the end, people vote their pocketbooks. and if the economy continues to be pretty good, donald trump can ride out a lot of things. i'm not sure he can ride out a tough set of indictments or accusations by a special prosecutor. but these polls are real trouble for the trump presidency and it's trouble for the presidency. i think that's what you need to concentrate on. a reminder that governing is basically about honesty and what these polls indicate is overwhelmingly most people, even almost 50% of republicans, do not trust what donald trump says. and, you know, what donald trump -- he had such a great opportunity when he came into the presidency. he told people, you know, i'm going to be such a good

president that you can't even believe it. well, most people don't realize up until now he's been a good president. in fact, the image of him is that he's flaky as well-baked pie crust and he's mean and besides that, he's lazy. that's the perception most people have. until and unless he turns that around, he is going to have a presidency in trouble. >> he talks a good game, but he doesn't follow through. part of that is talking on twitter. if you look at it, most of the people say, i think 45% say tweets are effective. 52% of americans say those tweets are not effective. so with that you have 70% of americans who believe that he responds too much and especially because he responds mostly by twitter to what he sees on television. so they think that he should be tweeting about something else. >> look, by any objective analysis, the tweets have been a

disaster for donald trump. not the fact that he is tweeting. tweets can be pretty effective. >> subject. >> it's the substance about the tweets. that's what's eating him up. again, i want to get back to the overview, don. what to say here is our own national security and the rule of law and the strengths of our institutions. and what these polls are indicating is that people at the very least are concerned about it. and many people are deeply concerned about it. and that includes some of donald trump's base. that down deep they still believe in they think are his policies, but they have deep concern about what he is saying, what he is tweeting, the way he conducts himself. >> whether he's the right person to carry out his own policies, because he doesn't seem to be doing that now. >> exactly. and the atlantic has a very good article which points out that you have right now basically two governments. the public government out of the

white house. >> and the shadow government. >> and the underside of the government in which donald trump has from his standpoint and the standpoint of his followers accomplished some things. he has changed the whole direction of the justice system, rewritten environmental laws, changed the regulations about public lands and so forth. >> let me put it up there and then we can talk about it. 59% of americans say the president's first six months in office have been a failure. and t supreme court was confirmed. he withdrew ufrom the tpc, and the justice department announced that they'll withhold federal grants to sanctuary cities there is a lot of focus on russia too, because the president is focused on russia. but should he get even with all of that, even the russia thing? should he get the credit for all this despite the chaos and despite even his focus on russia? >> well, if credit is the right word. he's moved the u.s. government to a far ideologically far right position.

if the democrats had moved the government as far left as donald trump has moved it to the right, republicans would be almost berserk about it. but if you wanted a sharp ideological shift to the right, in many ways, and you ticked off the reasons there, he's been, quote successful. >> can we talk about mike pence? "the new york times" reporting that mike pence is positioning himself for 2020 just in case, you know, looking at the possibility that the trump presidency doesn't go well. pence is denying it. now, if you're a pence person, if you're someone looking out for mike pence, you wouldn't be doing your job if you weren't doing this. i mean, this is how it works, isn't it? >> exactly. >> but he's got to be careful. >> but here i don't think we necessarily have a disagreement. that vice president pence is entitled to say we take him at his word for a moment. he's saying he's not involved

in any way. but as you point out, people who like pence, they may like trufr as well but say what if this criminal investigation takes a hard turn? it would be foolish of them to be thinking look, we need to have a few things in place for the 2020 presidential election. in that sense, "the times" story was right but that doesn't mean that mike pence is wrong when he says, listen, it's absurd from his standpoint. >> so what i found interesting, because i was on vacation last week and i hadn't had a vacation in years. he won't admit that he's taking a vacation and going away for two weeks but won't say he's on vacation. let's see, 200 days of his presidency, 47 have been spent at a trump golf course. why won't they admit that he's vacationing or even that he golfs? >> well, i have no idea. because the american people as a whole, even many of the people

who don't like trump clearly understand that these, the dog days of summer, the president says look, i'm going to take two weeks off just to relax, nobody would hold that against him. >> remember what he did with the last president? this president take taos many vacation days. this president golf taos much. he has taken more than the president he criticized so much for. >> well, exactly. and this is where he runs into himself so often. because when obama was president, every time he played golf just about, donald trump had something to say, he's not doing his job. how many did you say? 47 out of the first 200? >> 47 out of the first 200. >> and that leads, as i said of being lazy. >> maybe he was upset because president obama wasn't playing at a trump golf course. thank you, dan rather. appreciate it. >> always a pleasure. >> always a pleasure to see you. when we come back, rod rosenstein defending the russia investigation saying robert mueller has a right to investigate any evidence of a crime he uncovers. two men who have been involved in the biggest investigations in modern american history will

join me next. i'll get their expert take on the investigation so far and what the grand jury is doing. what's critical thinking like? a basketball costs $14. what's team spirit worth? (cheers) what's it worth to talk to your mom? what's the value of a walk in the woods? the value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. morgan stanley

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special counsel robert mueller expanding his investigation, look at possible financial crimes and issuinged grand jury subpoenas related to donald trump's infamous meetings with russians. president trump calls it a witch-hunt. his allies call it a fishing expedition. deputy attorney general rodrigo duterte -- rod rosenstein says this. >> the special counsel rules are subject to the department of justice. if he finds evidence of a crime that's within the scope of what director mueller and i have agreed is the scope of this investigation, he can. if it's something outside the scope he needs to come to the acting attorney general, me, to expand the scope of his investigation. >> the question is what is the grand jury doing behind doors. joining me the former special prosecutor and former nixon white house council john dean, the author of "conservatives without conscience." always love having you guys on.

john, i'm going to start with you. the president and his surrogates have been screaming that the mueller probe is a fishing expedition. attorney general rod rosenstein says it is not. that's not what the department does. explain how a grand jury often expands the scope of an investigation, how that works. >> what the deputy attorney general did was give a nice summary of the regulations under which the department operates and one that the special counsel operates and that is their focused investigations and they need a grand jury and the grand jury gives him the ability to reach out and get documents that he might not otherwise be able to get. the fbi agents can't get through just friendly inquiry. when people won't talk to fbi agents, they don't have that option unless they plead the fifth when they come before a grand jury. so it's a good investigative tool for mueller, and that's obviously what he is using it for. if he was fishing, you know, it

just would be so uncharacteristic of both the man and department's procedures. it just doesn't fit at all. >> robert, i'm sure you know who ken starr is. you remember him. >> of course. >> the independent counsel who led the investigation against president bill clinton. i want you to listen to what he said and then we'll discuss. >> i do think that it is certainly a serious matter when a special counsel is accused -- and i was accused of that -- of exceeding his or her authority. that's a serious matter because we do not want investigators and prosecutors out on a fishing expedition. >> it raised a lot of eyebrows because whitewater, it started as an investigation into a land deal and ended up with monica lewinsky and the blue dress and dna and all of that. >> right. >> how did that happen? >> well, it happened because in each instance, theoretically, each one of those individual

matters could have resulted in the appointment of a separate independent counsel. rather than do that, the decision was made in conjunction with ken starr's office and the then attorney general janet reno to seek an expansion of ken starr's jurisdiction in each of those instance, even though the bits and pieces were obviously unrelated to one another. >> does mueller that have much leeway? >> well, he has the authority. look, you to understand there is basic three levels of authority. he has the mandate, which is russia collusion investigation. >> right. >> he has anything that arises directly from that. and finally, in connection with the investigation, he has the authority to prosecute obstruction of justice, false statements and perjury. >> okay. >> now, if it's outside of the direct mandate and something is uncovered during the course of the grand jury's investigation, he has the authority to go back to rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, for expansion of jurisdiction, which is what mr. rosenstein was talking about over the weekend and what

obviously judge starr was talking about as well. >> okay. so then was that a fishing expedition into clinton or no? >> i always smile when people talk about fishing expeditions. investigations, in some sense, are fishing for facts and evidence to determine whether or not a crime has been committed and who may have committed it. >> so this fishing, it sounds good but -- >> it's kind of a misnomer in one since, because a grand jury by nature of its charter is in some sense a fishing expedition. you don't want prosecutors with free license roaming all around in place where is they are not supposed to be. and this is a special counsel which is specially constituted with regard to a singular task which is the russia collusion investigation. to the extent that it strays far from its mandate, it's just wise in the political process to go

back to the attorney general, or in this case the deputy attorney general. >> let me ask you this. you said that anything that directly from that he has the authority for what -- >> obstruction of justice, false statements and perjury. in other words, things that would interfere or impede his investigation, he's entitled to prosecute -- >> false statements, obstruction of justice and perjury. >> i want to keep that note because that's important. john, president clinton was also forced to testify before a grand jury. president nixon testified after after he resigned his office. could president trump be compelled to do that and under what circumstances? >> well, he certainly can if the grand jury wants to call him. first of all, the prosecutor -- >> mueller? >> -- mueller could call him and bring him before the grand jury. one of the grand jurors might want him to come in. so there are many reasons he might and, as you cited, there are two precedents of presidents

coming before grand juries. bill clinton during his presidency and post presidency nixon came in. no one knew it at the time but, and, in fact, it wasn't a full grand jury. rather, they flew a couple of grand jurors out to san clemente and took his deposition with them president and then took it become and read to it the grand jury. so they made a special situation for nixon. >> his advisers and attorneys know this and that's why they're trying to limit the scope of the investigation, correct? >> exactly. you don't want your client in front of the grand jury because they may say something that will get them in trouble. if i've heard one thing from lawyers who depose mr. trump, it is that he is truth challenged in all these situations. so i think they're going to fight mightily to keep him out of the grand jury. >> that's a new one.

i have to make a mental note of that one. truth challenged as well. write that one down. thank you very much, robert, thank you, gentlemen. when we come back, some of the state department top jobs haven't been filled. 200 days. and is that an accident? is the delay intentional and what effect does it have on foreign policy? we'll be right back. i feel it every day. but at night it's the last thing on my mind. for ten years my tempur-pedic has adapted to my weight and shape... relieving pressure points from head to toe. so i sleep deeply, but feel light... and wake up ready to perform. even with the weight of history on my shoulders.

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i want you to pay close attention to this because this shows you exactly what is happening. at 4:15 this afternoon, president trump tweeted, "the fake news media will not talk about a the importance of the united nation's council 15-0 vote in favor of sanctions on north korea. fake news, huh? i want you to take a look at what my cnn colleague jake tapper reported two minutes before that tweet. >> breaking news in our world lead, north korea is vowing revenge against the united states after the u.n. security council, led by u.s. ambassador nikki haley, unanimously adopted the toughest sanctions yet against that country. >> and that's not all. at the same time, president trump was tweeting about the lack of coverage of sanctions on north korea. cnn was reporting on, that's right, u.s. sanctions against north korea.

note the clock on the bottom right. in fact, cnn has been reporting on north korea all weekend, including interviewing ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley on north korea. so here to discuss all of this, this is james fallis, correspondent for "the atlantic." thank you, sir, welcome back to the program. >> thank you, don. >> so with north korea, the threat and the russia investigation, what does it say that president trump is tweeting something that is 100% false about the media rather than focusing on more pressing matters? >> to look on the bright side, maybe it shows that he wasn't watching tv at that moment because i think that the point to bear in mind, even in light of what is probably the greatest diplomatic achievement in this six months of this administration which is a 15-0 vote in the security council, which is a hard thing to do so it's impressive they did that, it is so difficult to make the machinery of international relations run properly and to

deal with all the countries around the world and these complex problems of which north korea is an intense one right now, that it is the fact that the lead other this enterprise can be spending his time on twitter, making complaints is abnormal, as you've heard in other contacts with all the other guests. just one other point i make, the main lesson i took working for a president years ago, i worked for jimmy carter when he was in the white house, and the way this president spends his time again is unusual. >> so in response let's talk about the sanctions. in response to the sanctions, north korea the official news agency says the u.s. will pay the price for its crime thousands of times. given how quickly their missile program is moving forward, should this be on hands on deck at the white house and the state department right now? >> well, certainly there should be a proper line up of people in

the stat department and pentagon and national secure council recognizing this is not a threat for this week or this month but it is a cover story, the worst problem we have in a secure aspect. it didn't feed to be treated as an emergency but it's a serious problem. the argue in our cover story by mark bah den is that there's only bad answers here. the last bad one is for the moment the u.s. seems to have settled on is getting the rest of the world lined up in trying to apply patricia. because every alternative is worse than that. >> he's relying on china to do a lot of work here. he's sweeted, at this point china has done nothing to help. >> the coverage in the chinese press was that president xi of china seemed to have figured out

how to play donald trump of flattering him and being nice. and donald trump would think it'll be like a real state deal, he'd get the chinese to make the north koreans do what the chinese or america wanted. the chinese has only so much influence over north korea and beijing. they have more influence than anybody else but still not as much the rest of the world would like. it's a problem for everyone to think about because it really isn't an offense for everyone to try to get klein and britain aleaned. >> i want to ready something, tillerson has failed to nominate anyone to most of the department's highest ranking jobs leaving critical departments without direction. rather than developing a coherent foreign policy. at this stage, two hundred days

in, do you think this is intentional? >> i don't know whether it's intentional or accidental or collateral damage on how to administration runs. here's the analogy i use to think about the state department, would be if somebody named you the examine captain of a space shuttle. it takes a lot of people to make that work. the mechanics and control and the weather people. so rex tillerson appears to be ignoring all the other people it takes to make the 747 fly. so far it's been smooth weather but sooner or lair there will be something that'll require all hands on deck. >> i don't know if you had a chance to read it but i'm reading it myself, there's a story in the "new york times" there's a draft prepared by agencies and it will say climate change is real, its affecting

american's right now. that has not been the position of this president and administration. some of the scientist who worked on it think the white house may not even release a report. what will happen if they don't release this report? >> i was reading a couple dozens of pages on this before i talked to you, vs. it's a very serious report. i viewed the transcript last week of the president's conversations with the leaders of mexico and australia where organs within the government think the channel of getting information processed is not going to work. that are taking the tame of leaking these things to the news media. there's a potential bad ripple effects of doing this. you can understand what the scientist think if they done get this report out. >> the first law says the temperature between the united states have risen dramatically in the recent decades.

>> indeed, and they say also that a lot of the extreme weather we're having now t hurricanes, cyclones, floods and droughts, a lot of this could be contributed to climate change and they say we're feeling the bad effects now. so again, i think it at the very least deserve scrutiny. i'm glad it's bmwing public. >> jimmy always a pleasure. thank you. when we come back we're on day 200 of the presidency. the poll shows 3.25 of more than don't trust what the white house is saying. how big a problem is that for the president? cliché foil characters scheming against a top insurer for no reason? nah. so, why don't we like flo? she has the name your price tool, and we want it. but why? why don't we actually do any work?

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lon. it's not just the president's rating down to 37%, now he seems to be losing ground with his base. and his quota's profits from the presidency. for the first time in history we have a president with his name on resorts, hotels and business and around the world. and business is very very good at some of those trump properties, but is that because some people are trying to get on the president's good side. plus star quarterback who led his team to the super bowl. is it all because he refuse to stand for national anthem. do sport stars pay price for speaking out about politics and is that really the american way? let's get to our brand new poll with bad news for trump