now i'm mashing these potatoes with my stick of butter... why don't you sit over here. find your awesome with the xfinity stream app. included with xfinity tv. more to stream to every screen. welcome to "inside politics." i'm dana bash. john king is off. how do you move forward on an agenda with frustration and animosity between the president and the republican majority leader? the guy who's supposed to be his partner in the senate spilling into the public? a new cnn poll, releasing right now, showing republicans are turning on their own. plus, the president is

huddling today with national security advisors as kim jong-un puts guam in his sights. time to target, 17 minutes. here to share reporting, carl holtz of the "new york times." daily beast's jackie kucinich. jack mason off reuters and mary katharine ham of the federalist. and marriage of convenience, bound to hit rough patches? that's pretty much what's going on between president trump and senate majority leader mcconnell except now arguing in public with a lot of people watching, causing quite a scene. launching tweets at senator mcconnell blaming him for failing to repeal and replace obamacare and the president has never been shy about blaming congress for his stalled agenda and now we see he's got company. we have new numbers breaking right now from our new cnn poll that shows just how much americans dislike congress. only 20% in our new poll approve

of the job congress is doing. as for the republican leadership, senator mcconnell and house speaker paul ryan, they are almost equally disliked. they get a thumbs up from only 24% of americans. that number is down from 39% in january, when it looked like there was a real chance the republican congress could deliver on that seven-year promise to repeal and replace obamacare. some say president trump is starting a fight with senator mcconnell is not a good idea, but the president clearly disagrees, and this could be why. he knows his approval rating, even when hovering around historic lows, compared with other presidents, is still stronger than his counterparts on capitol hill. again, only 24% of americans approve of the job the republican leadership is doing. 38% approve of how president trump is doing. so he's doing better there. and among republicans, trump gets even stronger reviews. so the republican congress is getting mixed reviews from its own party. republicans are split right down

the middle. 44% say it's been a success so far. 44% view congress right now as a failure. and when it comes to why congress has failed, why no major legislation has made it to president trump's desk, far more republicans blame congress than the president. 32% say disagreement among republicans is the reason why. and only 8% fault a lack of leadership from president trump. and the president's advisors routinely praise his political instincts and trump's tweet this morning is in lock step, maybe, with how his party feels. he said, can you believe that mitch mcconnell, who has screamed repeal and replace for seven years couldn't get it done? must repeal and replace obamacare. now, the genesis of the latest spat between the president and the senate majority leader is this -- >> our new president has not been in this line of work before, and i think had

excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process. and so part of the reason i think people feel like we're underperforming is because too many kind of artificial deadlines, unrelated to the reality of the complexity of legislating -- >> so -- guys, thanks for coming in -- carl holtz, start with you. we spend a lot of time roaming the halls of the capitol. i know you can get inside of mitch mcconnell's head. start there. >> i don't know if i want to do that. >> why not? better than most of us. he was in a comfortable setting there. he was at the rotary club and he just maybe said what he thought and what he was feeling inside of what he says in private, but i've talked to sources who are sort of familiar with him and close to the president who said, maybe he shouldn't have started this.

because he did start it with that comment. >> i think one thing that he was trying to do was to discourage the administration from setting these deadlines. right? because if you say you're going to do something by a certain point and then it doesn't happen, because it never happens by a certain point in congress, then you're going to get beat up. trump wants wins. i think that a couple of things are interesting. one, that he said mcconnell has been screaming. i've never heard mitch mcconnell scream. so that was kind of funny. and trump's base of support never really liked mitch mcconnell anyway. right? they see him as a big part of the problem but have a huge month coming up. and i had a republican today describe this to me, it's like if fdr was undermining ike right before d-day. right? this is the kind of problems it can create. so at the same time, though, one last point about this. the president just endorsed mcconnell's candidate in alabama. luther strange. so on the one hand, he's beating

him up. on the other hand, he's helping him out. i think, you know, mitch mcconnell's probably looking at this, shrugging a bit, but also saying, we have to gpast these spats. >> exactly. talking about spats, jackie, i was told that the two men had an animated conversation by phone yesterday. i was told this morning that the president put in an initial call to mitch mcconnell and when mcconnell called the president back the president took the call and had that animated conversation with him from the golf course. i guess that's a whole new version of teeing off. right? i'll be here all day! >> and doesn't like to confirm these calls. >> there's that. he was already added because of instagram pictures. but, you know, again. intense conversations between a president and a leader, that's like, you know, no big deal. but it's the fact that the president keeps going after the senate majority leader on twitter. last night and this morning. that's where it becomes a

problem, but that's what this president does. the problem is, mitch mcconnell's not really going to be bullied. this is actually cutting off your nose to spite your face because he's going to need mitch mcconnell going forward. be angry about obamacare. you know what? probably has a point. republicans should have had something in place and ready, because they've talked about it. mitch mcconnell, root and branch. heard him say it over and over again in successive elections. that said, on tax reform, on infrastructure, on a whole host of other things, this president identified as his priorities. he's going to need buy-in. we saw it with lisa murkowski, with susan collins. kept going after these senators, it doesn't get him anywhere. adage, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar. it will come back to bite him. >> and asked our colleague manu raju that the conversation that

the president had with lisa murkowski as they were trying to get the votes for health care was so bad that it really helped turn her off. and, in fact, i had a conversation with senator murkowski last week where she kind of alluded to it. take a listen. >> did you feel he was trying to intimidate you? >> i will just say the president and i had a very direct call. >> direct. usually code word for, not a very good one. >> right. so, look. you cover this white house every day. this is not a new phenomenon for this president positive be very direct, if we keep the diplo speak going here. and did so on twitter as well, but are there lessons learned? i mean, maybe i'm answering my own question. the answer is, no. because he's still going after mitch mcconnell. the president doesn't feel like he has anything to lose and our new poll shows that. >> i don't feel he has anything to lose and completely consistent with his style. whether somebody he needs or doesn't need. if he feels like they haven't

produced what he's looking for, or feels like they've offended him in some way or in some general way has not done what he wanted, he's going to go after them and does it on twitter. he does it in speeches. he does it in any sort of platform he has. particularly, in social media. >> carl, you mentioned that there is a special election going on for the senate street to replace jeff sessions in alabama. and there is an -- sort of the republican fight for where they are is playing out, in alabama. you mentioned that the president endorsed the establishment figure, luther strange, earlier this week, and on conservative radio that is not going over very well. listen to what mark levin said the other day. >> the president of the united states did something yesterday which was a stab in the back to every conservative in this country. he can't say he's an outsider when he just undermined every conservative in the state of alabama and every conservative in this country by endorsing the

worst candidate possible, and empowering further mitch mcconnell mk, karl rove and this guy jeff rove. i don't know how we'll get change in this country when mr. change is not mr. change. elections have consequences. i think what he did yesterday was outrageous. absolutely outrageous, and i don't think many of you will forget about it. >> this is the big, the red line. the change line. that's what we see in some of the polling when people lose fate he can be an agent's change he gets in real trouble. he wasn't elected for the other reasons. credibility and other things people gave him a pass on. the timeline suggests the tweeting a response to the grumbling on conservative radio, and there's some, in the past, and with sessions, where he backed off that, because a lot of anger in conservative circles as well. perhaps what's going on. look, with this white house, with trump himself, everything is a fight and every fight is public. i think the idea you're going to get a bunch of stuff done in

congress because you stop having spats is like, that ship sailed. get stuff down while haves spats. that's one thing interesting to me. why does mcconnell, a little bit, poke the bear? >> exactly. >> in a not a big deal kind of way but you know who you're dealing with and that starts this pattern. >> before we go to break, get your take on this -- the president kind of has a point. right? republicans in congress have been promising this for seven years. and this guy, just won the white house. should he not have expected these republicans in congress to be ready to go, to put this repeal and replace bill on the floor and move it through congress in a way that could actually pass among republicans? >> yeah. i think that from what i heard the white house was really seething over this. you know? here's mitch mcconnell. he couldn't deliver this. he's got the majority and where was the plan? you promised you were going to do it. i think it the president is

feeling -- let down by these guys. it's an interesting point, just the whole, i said, you know, people used to go home at recess and talk to their rotary. no one would know what they're saying. right? now every comment is covered, and i don't know that mitch expected it to reverberate so quickly here in washington, but he's, you know, got the president riled up. >> and manu had a point, too. right? president trump as a candidate said that obamacare would be repealed and replaced on day one. senator mcconnell saying they were unrealistic deadlines. that's a product -- >> true. guys, have to go to break. a lot more to discuss. was we do, president trump, 38%. republican's leaders, 21%. tells you a lot. you see it again. up next, the white house says president trump is not backing down from his fire and fury threat and the threats from north korea keep coming. getting more specific. during our made to move 2017 clearance event,

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said the president stands by the threat made earlier in the week vowing to unleash "fire and fury" on north korea if they continued to threaten the united states. this from the white house spokesman just a short while ago. certainly nothing has changed in the president's thinking, and i think he's made very clear where he stands on this front. also today, more republicans are coming out in support of the president's very strong tone towards north korea. florida republican senator marco rubio tweeted, attacks on potus for a statement on north korea nukes are ridiculous. they act as if north korea would act different if he used nicer words. getting into all of this with our global affairs correspondent elise labott. and also will ripley is in beijing. elise, let me start with you.

what do you think of marco rubio's comments? he's not alone. even some who tend to be, frankly, anti-trump on the republican side think that, you know, this is not a bad tactic to take, given the fact of decades of failed diplomacy with north korea? >> that's right, dana. a lot of people are saying that. that perhaps it's time for a tougher line with kim jong-un, son of kind of the rhetoric, match his rhetoric, and you know, before president trump took office there was a lot about a madman theory that nixon employed that perhaps speaking as if he's unpredictable might help. i think not only throughout the state department but the administration is also trying to walk that balance between, trying to walk back very fiery rhetoric by the president but stand by the idea there needs to be a tough message. listen to state department spokesman of the daily briefing. >> -- the united states is on

the same page. whether it's the white house, the state department, the department of defense, we are speaking with one voice. this diplomatic pressure at asean, the meeting of the ten asian nations along with the united states came to a joint agreement and a joint statement and put out a very strong condemnation of north korea. we are all singing from the same hymn book. >> so speaking from the same hymn book, but maybe singing different notes or different tones. you have secretary of state rex tillerson saying, everybody needs to relax. americans can sleep easy at night, but we need to give a tough message. i think defense secretary mattis said he wasn't worried about the rhetoric but there needs to be a very tough message delivered to north korea. certainly he did that with a much more muscular tone. i think the administration all feels there needs to be signals sent to north korea, that don't even think about attacking the u.s., because we can not only defend ourselves but annihilate

you. dana? >> elise labott, thank you so much. i want to go now to will. what's the perspective from asia? you're in beijing, obviously, you're in touch with north korean sources, spent a lot of time there, and just the notion of naming guam and in such a very specific way. even the number of missiles that they will launch. where they will land. what do you make of that? >> exactly, dana. that's never happened before. north korea has threatened guam. they've threatened the mainland of the united states countless times with nuclear annihilation but this statement is different. what i read here is a confidence on the part of the north koreans. either confidence or really blufr i bluffi bluffing. they lay out exactly what missile, a range to strike guam, go 2,100 miles, less than 20 miles from the homeland, 60,000-plus u.s. citizens and thousands more tourists.

andersen air force base. naval base guam. north korea saying they'd fly the missile up over japan, bring it down in a specific flight path, and there are questions about whether north korea has the capability to do this. we saw them launch four missiles simultaneousy earlier this year. three landed very close to japan, but to say, on paper -- again, just a statement right now. they haven't pulled this off yet -- to say on paper they can do this is noteworthy and also just the personal insults against president trump. essentially saying they don't take him seriously. saying he doesn't understand the gravity of the situation on the korean peninsula calling his fire and fury comments a load of nonsense and then there's a quote from the korean people's army general, kim rock wyong who said, about trump, "sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him" saying here at the end they're going to keep closely watching the speech and behavior of the u.s.

essentially threatening to take further action and dial up the rhetoric even further if the white house fires back. i want to show you this dana. it's interesting. a protest, what a protest looks like in north korea. on kim il-sung square, a place i visited many times in the center of the city, i visited many times mobilized tens of thousands to protest the united states. to protest the new round of u.n. sanctions. these are not like protests in america. this is mandatory for people to attend. they leave their workplace. they leave their schools, they go, march, they hold up propaganda signs. this is what life is like in north korea, but they're doing this because they want to send a message of the solidarity of their people. of course in an authoritarian regi regime, political dissent is not tolerated, solidarity, support kim jong-un and his plan for the country or you're not a part of this society. >> all about imagery. the notion that any of those people came because they just really wanted to get out into the streets and say that the --

the united states is bad, you know. nobody really believes that, but will ripley, thank you so much for all of your insights and inspecially context given your experience. somebody else is at the table with context and experience in the region. cnn chief national security corners jim sciutto. elise talked about the madman theory. you know, i think that that's nice, sort of in theory, but this is not theory. this is real life. so what do you make of it? >> listen, you know, looking at rubio's comments initially. it wasn't that the words weren't nice. right? i mean the idea is, what did they mean? first of all, and a point john mccain made, that the president appeared to set something of a red line. right? if north korea makes another threat it will be met with fire and fury, and since president trump's words north korea made a very specific threat. naming the target and the kind of missile and number of missiles et cetera. there's that. the other point is, that, you

know, it's not just how north korea reacts. it's how your allies react. clearly, discomfort in the region, in south korea in japan. based on the public comments of officials. apparently some discomfort from secretary of state rex tillerson because he made a point of saying, despite the rhetoric of the last 24 hours, not specifying just north korean rhetoric, rhetoric from all quarters, americans, you can sleep at night. there was countermessaging to the president despite what was said from the state department podium, if not walk back, reen ter reinterpret the president's comments. >> con detectualize it. in other terms, freesaking out. nuclear weapons are in the line of the weapons north korea already has. playing john bolton, experience in trying to deal diplomatically with allies and north korea when the bush ambassador to the u.n.

what he said about the situation. >> i don't think there are any further diplomatic options in terms of trying to persuade north korea to change its behavior. look, here's the choice that the american people have to make. it's a decision every citizen is going to have to come to. are you willing to risk using military force now, before north korea has a, an extensive capability to hit the united states? or are you prepared to live from now as far as the eye can see with a nuclear capable north korea under a regime like this? that's the choice. >> quite a choice. >> it is a choice. that's the choice that administrations have had to look at for some time. it's certainly advanced recently. why it's become such a big issue for the trump administration, but you had an op-ed by susan rice today, i believe in the "new york times," who was the former national security adviser for president obama and a former

united nations ambassador who said, look, there are lots of ways this can still be handled. bolton, more hawkish and somebody up for a job in the trump administration and so far hasn't gotten one. it's true. he laid out two choices. those are the ones the trump administration like its predecessors have to grapple with. >> and i spoke of the former senior u.s. intelligence official who made this point about the trump approach to north korea. they came in, said status quo is not tolerable. that is a status quo tolerated by republican and democratic administrations going back post-clinton and obama. it didn't mean trump decided to level north korea. messaging to north korea and to china saying you've got to step up. a nuclear capable north korean state with intercontinental ballistic missiles is not something we're going to tolerate as it is. >> you mentioned where the

administration policy is and maybe more importantly where the president's head is. senator lindsey graham, actually speaks to the president fairly regularly on these issues, he was on the "hugh hewitt show" today. listen to what he said about the president's state of mind. >> i think he's made a decision language ago, quite frankly, to try to negotiate the threat with north korea. to try to find a way to negotiations to end the threat to the american homeland. but if negotiations failed, fail, he is willing to abandon strategic patience and use preemptions. i think there minimally. if i fire one shot at north korea they're going to unleash all of their weapons against south: japan and our forces so issue one, you got to be willing to finish the job. >> you know, i think this situation right now is one that people on the hill and both parties have been nervous about.

being international crisis, where they don't have a lot of control or say-so over what the president does. that the president has a lot of leeway here. i think you know, they're laying out the choices pretty starkly. i also think that, you know, those comments alarmed a lot of americans. right? >> yeah. >> i think people are trying to figure out how to tamp that down. tillerson definitely was in that category. people see this, you know, and this is a throwback to the '60s for a lot of americans, or someone like me. catholic school, duck and cover, whatever. and i think that people are really on edge about this, and it's going to be a problem for congress moving forward. >> thank you for joining us, to share your reporting. appreciate it. everybody, stand by. up next, an fbi raid reverberates inside the white house. do all this research on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates. maybe you should've done more research on them.

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now to the fbi soern of a home belonging to former trump campaign chairman paul manafort. the pre-dawn raid last month rattle add few cages sources tell cnn in the president's inner circle. this as cnn's polling shows nearly 60% disapproval of the way the president is handling the russia probe. and amongst mostly whites, non-college educated voters, a big part of the president's base, that disapproval number goes down to 48%. let's discuss, and mary kathryn hamm rejoins our panel. actually, mary katherine, start with you. you know, i mean, how much have we talked about this being, this notion of the russia investigation being a distraction for the white house, but now that you have the -- his chairman, former campaign chairman, i should say, with a raid. which was apparently clearly focused on financial ties.

>> uh-huh. again, a former campaign chairman about whose russia ties sort of shady financial dealings we talked about a lot when hired by the campaign. his original, during the campaign. his original intention or reason for being there. look, this guy was in on the meeting that donald trump jr. had. the one that says, i want to work with you to undermine hillary. the clearest evidence we have that something weird was going on here even if not a big global conspiracy and if you're investigating trump and russia and their involvement, you have to know about the head of the campaign, financial ties to russia. i think that's -- of a piece naturally. >> and i should just say that a spokesman for paul manafort, jason meloni, said the fbi agent executed a search warrant at one of mr. manafort's residences. mr. manafort's continually cooperated and did so on this occasion as well.

richard blumenthal, senator from connecticut, on the judiciary said, apparently there is now no question of clear evidence connecting paul manafort to some criminal wrongdoing. >> the fbi doesn't do this if they think people are being forthcoming. >> right. >> they don't say, okay, we're going to check your house. they actually have to get someone to give them that warrant in order, and saying that they can go into someone's home. it's very high bar. clearly, this shows that this is expanding. and that's why you see it rattling the cages in the white house, because it's not going away. it's not -- it's not getting better. it seems to be getting worse, for trump associates. >> carl, what are you hearing on the hill? i show another part of cnn's polling. should mueller, special counsel, be able to investigate trump's finances? 70% of the public said, yes. the president might call that a red line. lots of red lines but this is the russia red line. try to keep them straight going into his finances, but doesn't

sound like a lot of appetite for defending him on this? >> i think i agree with jackie. search warrants, grand juries, these show that this is a real thing. the white house can say it's a witch-hunt, there's nothing to this, but there's also chrimina investigation matters going on. i think people on the ill understand the financial aspect of this. right? if there's some kind of business dealing with russia that would lead to collusion, they know that it's going to get looked at. they're used to that. you'll hear some of the president's strongest supporters, newt gingrich and others say you can't go there, but on the hill, they're going there a little bit themselves anyway. >> of course. >> and haven't seen the president's books still. haven't seen his tax returns. also, not to be a broken record over here, but that also, so much unknown with that. >> there is. >> that remains from the campaign. and members of congress haven't seen them either. so -- that opens up a lot of questions.

>> i think i'm somebody concerned. look, not accused of the crime, how far can you go into somebody's life in digging up things until you find a crime. but i think financial dealings with russia specifically by people on the campaign are probably within that box and something you need to be looking into. and there has to be a limiting factor after that. this thing seems within the range. >> as we're speaking something interest is going on in new jersey. something always interesting in new jersey. i can say that. what is happening right now a power lunch at the president's new jersey golf resort. vice president pence joining president trump on a working vacation he is having. that lunch is happening this hour. we'll talk about it after the break.

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alive there today. on the president's agenda is a high-level security briefing by his national security team, all coming at a crucial time for the president amid nuclear tensions we've talked about with north korea. let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny at the white house and, jeff, how is the white house responding to the latest north korean threat? >> reporter: good afternoon, dana. so far the president himself and the white house have not responded directly to that very strong words from north korea last evening, when they went directly after the president. the president has been urged by some of his advisers to not respond, to allow this moment to cool, if you will. we do expect to hear from him later today. he is meeting, as you said, with his vice president and later with other national security officials. even though the president and vice president are not here at the white house, dana, i can tell you, the national security counc council, housed on the grounds of the white house complex, are

watching north korea very carefully. all of these potential developments here and so interesting to see what the president is going to say in response to that very personal, those very personal comments last evening that went directly after him. but sarah huckabee sanders said the president's view hasn't changed. he still stands behind that fire and fury response he said a couple days ago. that was impro vivisimprovised. it feels the white house is trying to find a strategy to adopt that and one more thing. the president is getting a security briefing later this afternoon, a normal course of business. this president has not received it every day, didn't believe it was fles to receive every day but they are pointing out, of course, that this working vacation is a working vacation indeed today. emphasis on the "working." that's why the vice president is there in new jersey as well, dana. >> jeff zeleny, thank you so

much for that report. let's start right there on the vice president being there. seems like all of our news is like in dog-ears now because things happen so fast that are all monumental, but just the beginning of this week that the big story line was the vice president in a "new york times" report suggesting that the vice president was preparing his own political future just in case, and the vice president's team pushed back hard saying, no. just working on massaging donors, doing it for the team, but this is the first time that these two men are going to be face-to-face since the president was up in new jersey. and, you know, you both know mike pence pretty well, because he was a house member. given his personality, do you suspect that he's going to, you know, be extra -- >> i think he will be -- >> -- overt in -- >> assuring the president over lunch he would never think about running for president white

president trump was in the white house, and he wants to get that message across. obviously. there was alarm that the president was going to just go after his own vice president. but at the same time, you know, it would have been political malpractice for mike pence not to be getting ready for something in the future. i mean, he's the vice president. he's an important person in the party. he needs to have a political organization. but i guess there's a way you have to do it. not to irritate the president. >> and to know mike pence is to know he's always wanted to run for president. kind of the -- you heard that about mike pence way back when he was a republican conference chair. also in contrast to what the president wasn't doing. mike pence has been on the campaign trail. raising money for republican candidates. you haven't seen the president -- he's been selling what the congress is doing with health care. you haven't seen the president do that in the same with that mike pence has. so -- and he does have an unusual path that you haven't seen other vice president -- so

there was reason, definitely. and nothing in that "new york times" piece that they said was, they could say pinpoint and say that's accurate. >> because it's the trump years, as you were talking, donald trump tweeted again about mitch mcconnell. i want to tell everybody what he just said. mitch, get back to work, and put repeal and replace tax reform and cuts and a great infrastructure bill on my desk for signing. you can do it. maybe saw new poll numbers and thought, okay. i'm on this train and not getting off of it. you know, jeff, as i come to you, i was -- it was suggested to me by an administration source today perhaps a message would at least attempt to be sent to the president to try to tone it down with mitch mcconnell. maybe even the vice president was going to deliver that message. who knows? a message has not been delivered yet. >> how often have those messages been sent? it's just not president trump's style. on mitch mcconnell, north korea

house, he uses twitter and lashes out. oh to be a fly on the wall at this lunch with mike pence. about north korea and also mitch mcconnell. >> the question we've been asking and i guess already getting answers by the minute, and the answer to this is, i'm about to pose is, no, but can john kelly, former homeland security secretary, now his new chief of staff, try to manage this at all? and he's now adorning a magazine cover that the president's loves. "time" magazine. we have it. show it on the screen. there you go. which is not always -- a -- a good sign for the person who is on that magazine kov whcover wh comes to the president. only one room in the administration, face on the cover, that's the president himself.

>> i was going to say, "time," are you trying to mess this up? he can govern a little, but you saw the first whispering of trump getting upset there was talk of that. that's not the path you want to go down. with trump it's difficult not to go down it, which is what pence is doing right now. that rocky marriage is not -- not always going well for them. i think for pence, the paths of ambition and self-preservation align and means having lunch with trump and assuring him this is not what you're doing because the normal orthodox thing to do looks threatening to trump. same with mcconnell. these guys are doing the things that you would do in a normal republican presidency, but dealing with a guy who they can't predict on the other end. >> a quick break and a lot more to talk about up next. including a senate republican making a stunning suggestion about why john mccain voted against repealing obamacare and now walking that controversial

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senator ron johnson says he was just misunderstood. the republican from wisconsin wants you to know at home that he was just being sympathetic when suggesting that john mccain the brain tumor drove him to vote no on the obamacare repeal bill. i remind what you was said in a radio interview tuesday. >> we did get a call and that that repeal is not going to pass the house, the skinny repeal have to go to conference. i'm not speaking for john mccain. you know -- he has a brain tu tumor. some of that might have factored in. i don't know exactly what -- again, i don't want to speak for any senator. i really thought john would vote yes at the conference at 10:30 at night, by about 1:00, 1:30

voted no. i have yet to know what this -- was on his mind. >> well, senator johnson tried to put some distance between himself and that comment you just heard saying yesterday that he wishes he had been more eloquent. on cnn's "new day" this morning. >> i was trying to defend his position and truthfully express my sympathy for his health condition. so, again, i reached out to john. hoping to talk to him today. i just have the greatest respect for john mccain. >> set the moment, when you're working for ron johnson, trying to send messages with your mind. stop. stop talking. stop using words. no more! >> yes. this is bad. tread very, very lightly when somebody obviously has a very serious health condition and in the context of health care. johnson is not known as a mean guy and i'm confident mccain and johnson will work it out between each other. not a great look for him,

though. >> talk about john mccain who did a facebook live chat yesterday and as part of 2, addressed his disease. let's's listen. >> -- this is a very malicious disease. but i've had other -- challenges in my time as well. and i don't mean to be repetitious, but to my democrat friends and some of my republican friends, i'm coming back. >> that's a threat. >> and a promise. >> one thing about senator johnson, he should have stuck to his decision not to speak for other senators. we covered that. john mccain knew exactly what he was doing for hours there. we've all seen him do a seat of the pants thing. this was not anything like this. this was a really thought-out decision. i mean, you know, ted kennedy had the same disease. wasn't able to actually function in the senate as much as mccain. looks like he's trying to do.

i'm sure he will be back. >> carl and the rest of you, i want you to see another television moment ron johnson had this morning on "new day." >> let's get through some of your big points. >> so this is the morning broccoli here? let's start with the basic fact what our health care system is. appreciate the powerpoint. this is fabulous. >> saying that john king may have competition and it is embarrassing to me that your first time out you're way better at using the wall than i am. >> i'm a business guy. >> first of all, powerpoint. okay. the magic wall. you know, i don't know. he's usually in this chair. maybe he should be maybe happy that ron johnson won his re-election to be free from the anchor chair the next six years? >> have a game show. a magic wall op. >> powerpoint. >> and senator johnson shows promise. >> no question. >> for sure. >> as i said, he's a business guy knows powerpoint. as we say in the tv biz, the

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because the time to think about tomorrow is today. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. in washington. 8:00 p.m. in moscow. 3:00 a.m. friday in guam. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. up first, president trump about to huddle with lhis national security team as north korea ups the ante regarding its threat against the united states. outlining details of its plan to strike near the u.s. territory of guam. north korea says it involves a simultaneous firing of four intermediate missiles aimed just off the pacific island and mocking president trump's threat to release a fire and fury. and quoting the north korea's statement now calling it "a load of