ices more reliable than ever. like technology that can update itself. an advanced fiber-network infrustructure. new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thanks for sharing your day with us. the two front terror investigation under way in spain. five men in fake suicide belts shot dead in one incident. and urgent hunt for the driver who plowed down dozens in barcelona still under way. plus, a debate over

confederate monuments. the president saying it's foolish to tear them down and bragging democrats will pay a price for erasing history. >> it's not just a question of statues. these have become totems for the alt right, the white supremacists and now we've got it into a new conversation. >> that's stunning fallout from charlottesville, republican lawmakers questions president trump's moral compass and basic grasp of the job. the backlash is growing. now this stinging rebuke from charlottesvil charlottesville's susan bro. she hasn't spoken to the president and now she will not. >> as first i just missed his calls. the call -- the first call looked like actually came during the funeral. i didn't even see that message. there were three more frantic messages from press secretaries throughout the day, and i didn't know why that would have been on

wednesday, and i was home recovering from the exhaustion of the funeral. so i hadn't really watched the news until last night. and -- i'm -- i'm not talking to the president now. i'm sorry. after what he said about my child and it's not that i saw somebody else's tweets about him. i saw an actual clip of him as a press conference equating the protestors like ms. heyer, with the kkk and the white supremacists. >> with us to share reporting and insights, julie pace of the associated press, jonathan martin of the "new york times," harry bacon of 538 and karen demergs of the "washington post." to spain in a moment. the latest on the terrorist investigations one american confirmed to be among the 14 killed. and president trump headed to camp david meeting with his national security team and trying to settle a fierce debate about u.s. troop levels in afghanistan.

first the mounting toll on the president because of his response to charlottesville. >> you can't wash this one away by shaking my hand and saying, i'm sorry. >> is there something, though -- >> i'm not forgiving for that. >> is there something, though, you would want to say to the president? >> think before you speak. >> heather heyer's mother there, emotional comments from her here. just a partial list to help take stock of this week's dramatic fallout. several white house policy councils disbanded so their brand wouldn't be attached to the president's. the american cancer society among them announces they will no longer stage big events at the president's mar-a-lago resort. the 2012 presidential nominee mitt romney said this of the president. what he communicated cause the racists to rejoice. minorities to weep and the vast heart of america to mourn. earlier in the week, presidents

george h. and george h.w. bush, president trump famed this test. american must always reject racism, and also tim scott of south carolina says the president's angry tuesday remarks about charlottesville are indefensible and mr. trump's "moral authority is compromised" and this from senator bob corker of tennessee. the republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. >> the president has not yet -- has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. he also recently have not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation. >> again, that was just a partial list. where are we as we close this

workweek? you have, if you look, from susan bro, heather heyer's mother, a private citizen now dealing with grief after this incident to the republican organizations, to the business groups running from the president. he ends the workweek at the pariah president, does he not? >> he does. increasingly isolated, wirth his own party. the sentiments you heard from senator corker are versions you've heard from republicans for some time. to have a senior republican senator who tried to work with this white house. important to note. no a lindsey graham or jeff flake, open on the president's issues. senator corker was considered for vice president, for secretary of state, tried to work with the white house. for him to be coming out expressing that type of rhetoric publicly, i think, it's a turning point here in terms of the way republicans are thinking about their relationship with the white house going forward. >> i think the same with senator scott. again, senator corker, senator scott, not among those, you're

watching the president landing in hagerstown, maryland. i believe. not among those who rushed to every fire or criticizing, being a part of every story. they're people who don't seek the limelight. senator scott's case, a need to do this from south carolina. and to say the president lost his moral compass, does not have the moral authority to lead the country? much bigger than just, he blew charlottesville. >> i thought this week the people in washington have been criticizing him. we've heard that. new people this way saying an everyday citizen, whose daughter just died saying, i do not want to hear from the president or talk to him. >> i will not talk to him. >> right. >> presidents of every party, usually, moments like this, encouraged to go to the funeral. to speak to the family. the fact you have all of these people who are regular citizens, people who run businesses, on arts councils, people who do not want to be associated with the president or near him is a profound thing that changes the job in some ways.

the president is usually the leader of everyone and he can't lead everyone if people don't want to be in the same room with him. >> i don't want to minimize the news this week which is remarkable given the fact major institutions in american life, you know, whether it's the u.s. senate or whether it's large american corporations basically condemning the sitting president, but to what end? to what end? this has been a two-plus year story, all of us have lived and covered. when he announcinged his candidacy, i recall in the aftermath copies like macy's pulled trumpwear. a corporate backlash for a few days there that was front page news after he talked about mexicans being rapists and guess what, john? he became republican nominee and then president of the united states, after that happened. to what end? what is going to happen? what is the action? that's what i think is the story now. these folks on the hill and congressional republicans, are they now willing to do something beside one-off tweets and

statements and comments, and actually confront him in any real way? >> that is a defining if not the defining question about the political fallout. my question is the sense he was a candidate, not excusing it, the candidate then. he's the president now. a national tragedy. people expected him to be all americans' president. not a republican president. not a trump-base president, bull all of america's president. the fact susan bro won't even take his phone call puts up a road block to one of the ways he could try to put this behind him. whether you agree or disagree with what he said tuesday, that angry press conference in trump tower. could have arranged this weekend, next week, a phone call, white house meeting could, have been a page turner. looks like that option is gone. >> and a measure of the adage of too late. perhaps taken a different stance at the outset even as late as monday it would have been a different story and she would be month willing to pick up that phone and now is not.

the point that it's become so personally an affront, was the president has an a personal affront not just to susan bro but members of congress can go toward answering your question. that trump has shown himself in many comments this week, granted not the main event. the main event was charlottesville. anybody who criticized him in a forum he didn't like he went after directly. after mccain about health care votes. flake directly, graham directly. this gets old at a certain point. we're in to this event having been through the health care debacle. this was a very bad thing to happen in a personal capacity on top of that political policy experience, that if he continues to hammer at people, individually, when they are saying, no. i have the moral high ground on this, pull them down into the mud with these tweets, they're going to stop potentially playing ball with him on other things down the line. >> to that point, rich lowry writing in "the national review" says this.

he is slip sliding towards a crisis of legitimacy. the significant of the discussion of his business councils. it's not unthinkable should this continue a time could come which some republican office holders refuse to visit the white house. that's your question. is this just a, this is how we react a few days and hope it goes away and stop asking? or because this wasn't about politics. this was an american moment, and yes about race. yes, about hate groups. but it's not a washington story. it's an american story. and the president failed the test. does that make it different? >> i think it could. i think it depends upon what more he says here in the days to come. i think if he repeats what he said last week, at the second press conference it will make it very hard for folks on the hill to keep working with him. it he kind of moves on, the press and the country collectively move ahead with whatever the next issue is, terrorism what have you, then i think like everything else in the last two years, just move on.

i think his conduct will drive a lot to that. you said, fail the test. i am staggered the president would not call the mayor of charlottesville, come to the funeral, not have anybody come to the funeral. this is politics 101. this is leadership 101. to not do that, and then to say, well, what he said, those with nazis and klansmen in charlottesville being fine people is extraordinary, and -- it's hard to comprehend. >> why you have these conversations. it is stunning when you talk to leading senators, even some trump cabinet members, people around the town. i've been in this town 30 years, never heard anything like this. doesn't want the job, shouldn't have it. how could he have not sensed stepping up to this moment? where are the people around him to kick him and the make him step up to this moment? the conversations are sterning about this. stunning. the "new yorker" "time." "economist." this is the president of the united states. a kkk as a bullhorn?

kkk hood as a sale? the salutes? this is the national and international conversation about the president of the unite. >> and it's -- it's upsetting. i think that as americans, you don't want to be having this kind of conversation about your president. no matter what party they are from. this isn't a comfortable conversation to have. i think inherently americans want their presidents to succeed, even though politics is so much a part of that debate about the presidency. i think americans generally want to respect and like their president. and they want to look to their president in these moments. i remember covering obama after the horrible shooting in charleston, and talking to a lot of republicans in south carolina and overwhelmingly republicans, the state, and appreciation for what obama did in the aftermath was profound. >> and the republican governor, nikki haley. a governor of everybody, or president of everybody. what does it tell us? he's not the first. this is earlier today. the secretary of state a trump cabinet member, what does it tell us that members of the trump cabinet without asked a

question feel they have to start an event by saying this -- >> we all know hate is not an american value. we do not honor nor do we promote or accept hate speech in any form, and those who embrace it poison our public discourse and they damage the very country that they claim to love. so we condemn racism, bigotry in all its forms. racism is evil, antithetical to america's values. >> what is behind this? that, you know, if you don't -- if you don't like what the president said, let us say it? we need -- i feel i need to say it because i don't want to be tainted with the trump brand? >> that's what it is. a lot of people, ivanka, mike pence, all who won't criticize the president will all, want to go out of their way. we're now at friday. i knew rex tillerson was opposed to racism probably last friday. that he's saying it today shows he wants to have this for himself, have this over.

gary cohen saying he's outraged. what you're hearing. and the idea that tax reform, for example. i assume republicans will vote with trump on issues like that. i do think, hard to look ahead, march 2019, does john cakasich y i need to challenge this man in the primary? chances went up a lot this week i would argue. >> excellent point. >> and as much as i agree everybody is saving their neck in these statements, remarkable moment of, they're not leaving the administration in protest, not leading. part is because, it's -- it takes a lot of guts to lead an administration and probably also seeing kind of in these statements a little bit of a service element. this is not an es position for these people to be in and trying to do a little, bit indifference to the fact the country needs this and the president's not filling that. >> and responding to gary cohen rumors he was going to leave. shows you that some of these

folks -- i think, would argue they have to leave for the stability of the country. >> we'll continue that very conversation when we come back. a quick break. when we come back, the trump exhaustion is across washington and even inside the trump white house. l'oreal's lash paradise. creating a buzz. a soft wavy bristle brush for a feathery-soft lash experience. voluptuous volume. intense length. take your lashes to paradise. new lash paradise mascara. from l'oreal paris. wheyou wantve somto protect it.e, at legalzoom, our network of attorneys can help you every step of the way. with an estate plan including wills or a living trust that grows along with you and your family. legalzoom. legal help is here. how to win at business. step one. point decisively with your glasses. abracadabra! the stage is yours. step two. choose laquinta. where you'll feel like the king of the road. check out our summer rates now at lq.com.

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with t-mobile taxes and fees are already included, so you get four lines of unlimited for just $40 bucks each. and now get zero down on the hottest smart phone brands like samsung galaxy. more reasons why t-mobile is america's best unlimited network. . welcome back. the president's under fire not just from the business community or fellow republicans not just from the mother of the charlottesville victim. his own staff is said to be mad at the president. members of the cabinet upset, left standing there when the president launched into his remarks tuesday at trump tower. his daughter said to be disappointed in the president. his chief of staff described to me full irish after the president's remarks tuesday, but amid all the talk, will some go? the wmp "wall street journal" weighing in urging them to stay. "no illusions about mr. trump's character flaws." they right. write. if they did, they know now.

trying to serve their country. that gts gets harder. every person has to decide how long he or she can serve in good conscious but we hope the best stay as long as they can for the good of the country. a remarkable editorial, a republican-favoring newspaper. issues with the president. especially in recent weeks. but there is a conversation around town. you know, ivanka disappointed. gary goen furious. one of the jewish members, steve mnuchi mnuchin, get out, urged by classmates and around town, a lot of republicans telling friends who work in the white house, get out before you can't shake the stench. those are the conversations going on. and when you talk to some of them, they say, you know, well, i get it, but i have to stay. what's going to happen here? >> the other conversation happening for republicans outside the white house, there's no one on the bench ready to come in nap is driving some of

the discussion inside the white house. this realization. they have tried to get a coms director three times without much luck there. there is not a crop -- >> you're being very find at three. >> there is not a crop of seasoned republicans sitting there saying, i'm ready to step in if these people leave and give it a shot. this is largely the staff he is stuck with or with empty offices if they leave. there is a tension now. these republicans know, if you stay, you cannot make that for good of country argument alone. you are going to be tainted by the things happening in this administration. this is a constant balance. no one i talked to this week is running for the exit. most people seem to be pretty committed to staying for the foreseeable future. >> beginning of the week one of the conversations was steve bannon was on the outs. if you listen to the president this week especially his talk about don't tear down the monuments pop more of that later in the program. listen to the president's response lashing out at the alt left in that tuesday press conference which is what caused

a lot of the trouble. you would have to argue from a communications standpoint, steve bannon is the talk, that continues today, that he is short for his job as chief strategist? real or not? >> i mean, these people are -- work closely, closer to the white house than i am. but funny. clearly that the aura's steve bannon is palpable and everybody trump saying in the last few days and steve bannon talking to the american prospector, confusing and distracted to do economic -- aggressive economic moves with china and other places like that. so trump wouldn't actually endorse -- wouldn't firmly say steve bannon has my full support in that tuesday press conference, leaves the question open, as he's done with many. likes to be the guy in charge making a decision at a moment's notice however he chooses to. >> at that tuesday press conference. the photos. you mentioned gary cohen. the weirdness, he's not leaving. strange. you see right there.

steve mnuchin, gary cohen, inches, a couple feet away from the president, all surprised by this. although the president clearly planned it. had his saturday statement in his pocket. pulled it out. wanted to defend it. these remarks, again, the president says this isn't fair. the criticism he essentially drew a moral equation between the counterdemonstrators there to protest the neo-nazis, white supremacists and kk and those hate groups. you're seen the jewish coalition backlash. i guess my question is, if you're the leader and decide you want to do this, that's the president's right, but why have your team standing there when you do it? >> it was a very striking -- elaine chao in the picture. i'm sure she didn't want to be in that spot. i don't want to fully absolve the staff, may be outraged. same time, cynical view of gary cohen wants to be fed here. saying -- trying to, like, save

the country. i think we talk about general mattis, and there is an impulse there. on the domestic side a lot of senior advisors, if they're dead outrages, donald trump can clearly speak and communicate on his own without asking for advice. i think also in terms of bannon, whether bannon leaves or not, this week showed the sort of lead nationalist voice in the white house is donald trump. >> the president. >> not steve bannon. >> it's the president. what does it say seven months in? reince priebus left. general kelly in. more order, routine, structure in the white house but the president is still the president. colleagues in the "new york times" writing wednesday, mr. trump's venting on tuesday came despite from support from his staff. instead of taking their advice to stop talking about the president, unburned himself with what he vies admiral correctness in favor of take no prisoners. the president is the president. can we just stop any

conversation that whether this person leaves or this person comes? that this is going to change? >> yes, we can stop that conversation. it doesn't make an impact fop your earlier question, why did the president have to have his advisers there? jo even think he thought about it. he was singularly focused in the aftermath of charlottesville and media criticism and republicans criticism. i don't want to psychoanalyze too much but doubt he was concerned about the impact on gary cohen or elaine chao standing up there with him. >> we're laughing, because this is not new and not a surprise, but it's leadership 101. >> yes. >> leadership 101. if you're going to take a risky stance you don't drag people down with you. people who serve you loyally. >> you watch their body language, looked like they did not -- maybe should have been surprised. they mknow who they're working for but all looked surprised. >> a fascinating mix of old-fashioned political ambition and the human ego combined with

some sort of impulses towards serving the country and trying to frankly protect the country at an uncertain time, and it's -- it's both of those things, i think. some folks, there's more of one than the other, but it is a fascinating dynamic, people are appalled that their friends or former colleagues are in this capacity, yet there are others who say, look, i don't like it. i'm glad they're there. >> but that's the stunning part. again, it becomes so common and casual, we tend to gloss over ter. good to have those people around the president, because we can't trust the president. hold that thought. continue the conversation. up next, a shift international, big international news. intense manhunt and growing investigation into those terror attacks in spain. at whole foods market, we believe in food that's naturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. we believe in real food. whole foods market.

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welcome back. a grim statement by the american secretary of state. secretary tillerson confirming one american among the dead after the terrorist attacks in spain. 14 in all killed and police fully involved in an urgent nationwide hunt for the terrorists responsible. new video of a police officer in spain shooting at one of the suspects. playing this video, a few moments and warn you it is frightening and parts quite graphic. a man believed to be wearing a suicide vest, shot at by police. [ gunfire ] >> hey, hey! >> that chaotic scene last night in the seaside city of cambrills, when five attacks you were spotted and shot dead by police. we've not confirmed this man was one of those killed and also officials are not saying yet whetherly in of the suspects killed is the driver of that van that plowed through the crowd

yesterday in dars lona. barcelona. and about an hour north in barcelona. confirmation an american citizen has been killed. put it in context. people from 34 different countries among the dead and wounded in this terror attack, affecting the world community, not just spain. tell us where do police now stand on the search they believe are responsible? >> reporter: well, the key question is the one you just pushed, john. whether the man that plowed the van into that crowd of people in barcelona was indeed one of those alleged terrorists then kilns cambrills. a crucial question. we believed him to be on the run since last night and we heard from the chief of police suggesting we weren't clear actually whether he was still on the run or whether or not indeed he had been involved in

subsequent events in cambrills. one of the big questions that is to e resolved, at the police try to piece together the events, the other piece, john, whether in fact we might not have seen a far worst attack if a giant explosion hadn't taken place on wednesday night in a house outside of barcelona. it is believed, a theory that is doing the rounds that that explosion in that house could be a crucial thing, and that the focus of these investigations, it is possible that that explosion was apparently an accident and could have precipitated then the attacks we then saw here in barcelona and the subsequent events in cambrills. >> and melissa, look behind you there. central part of a driving city, a big tourist attraction. back to relative normal today with the crowds behind you? or people still rather stunned? >> reporter: as ever, in these sorts of tragedies, europe is all to familiar. on one hand a sense of normalcy.

people trying to go about their business wanting to show a determined resilience in the face of these sorts of atrocities and also a genuine sense of shell shock. heard it from the spanish prime minister, expressing himself earlier, interior minister as well and the people coming around. extraordinary scene where people, both of those involved last night and people who weren't at all have come together to try to make sense of precisely what happened here. even as the investigators try to understand the facts, people are trying to come to terms with these extraordinary emotions that have been with them. >> melissa bell in barcelona. on to isa soares. are these incidents linked? where are the police trying to put the pieces together? >> reporter: well, police have spoken to them in the last two hours or so. they are focusing their

investigation, john, on what happened in that house. that could have potentially been the cell for where these attacks could have been created and led, operated from. police focusing on the house, because on wednesday before the horrific attack in las ramblas, in barcelona before what occurred here just several hours afterwards what we know is that there was an explosion in the house, and police said that explosion was an accident, and the fact it was an accident created perhaps stopped the terrorists in their tracks, and in that explosion, which they believe they were prepared butane gas, basically, and explosive, butane explosives, they basically said that one individual died because of the explosion, and one had injuries in the last few minutes we've heard that individual has now been moved to a local police

station and is being detained. so they are focusing their investigation clearly on exactly that location, and who -- who exactly was working and operating from there? they're focusing on that. meantime, john, to give perspective what we saw in barcelona, what we saw here in this beautiful picturesque coast's town, people are pretty much going to the beach. similar to what we saw in barcelona. people trying to get about their daily business despite a sense of shell shock, we saw an -- several hours after that attack in, in las ramblas, coming down this main road here, where you can see that, to the left those yards. coming out high speed through those roads. but police patrol warned another one further down here, there was a suspicious car coming at high speed. as they came down the road they met two police cars who then blocked them right here.

as they blocked them, the car, according to witnesses i've spoken to, tipped to one side and that is when a police shooting ensued. five people were killed. first, four of them killed right here by one person. locals tell me it was a female police officer who shot them. and then one individual holding a knife went walking -- went basically running down that lane avenue. and you played that video. that's when the police said -- [ speaking in foreign language ] get down. get down. he got down once, got up back again and then that is where he was shot and the splatter of blood is still on the floor. but the people here, somewhat in shock, understandably so, but also extremely proud of the heroic acts of the local police, john. >> understandable. and in that heroism, thank you for the description. next, an emotional debate

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be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. this week it's robert e. lee. i noticed stonewall jkz. . you have to ask yourself, where does it stop? >> the president on tuesday. we know the president is paying a jit price for his statements and making the case it is wrong to take town confederate statues and memorials. sad to see the culture of our country being taken down. you can't change history but you can learn from. robert e. lee, stonewall jackson, who's next? washington? jefferson? >> and this is a big national debate. according to the law centers

more than 1,500 symbols. 109 public schools named after confederate schools. ten major military bases. nine state holidays or observances. virginia, one-time capital of the confederacy has the most. we will hear from the charlottesville mayor promising a statement about the future of the robert e. lee statue at the center of what happened. what to make of this debate. it's a conversation that we've seen across the country for some time. whether the confederate flag in south carolina, defined politics a very long tile. took more than a decade to get a resolution and still complaining from time to time. obviously front and center again now in a much more dramatic way because of, a., first what happened in charlottesville and, b., the president's response. where will this go and what is the complication to it? again, the president is on safe

political ground, but can he lead this debate or lead this conversation? >> no. he chose to side in the debate and it's a side that actually has a fair amount of support. chuck schumer yesterday who is not on his first rodeo here politically, saw what the president and steve bannon were doing and put out a statement i thought was brassy. trying to change the subject here. >> put that up. cha chuck schumer said. president trump and steve bannon trying to turn the attention way from tpresident's not full throatedly denouncing -- >> we want to fight this on the train of nazis and klansman. a 99% issue with us. talking about the confederates and history of the country and broader conversation about the imperfect people of the past including jefferson and washington, that's a far trickier place for democrats to be in. of course, where the president and steve bannon, at least as of yesterday, was still working for the president, want to take this conversation.

and it's not nearly as clear-cut and there are folks, some democrats, actually, not comfortable with taking down these statues. it will play out this fall in the governor's race in virginia front and center. the democrat and republican have taken two different stances on the issue, and you pointed out, former confederacy in -- having statues on the courthouse lawn. so wrapped up in the histories of the state. the fact this happened in charlottesville last weekend will put this front and center. >> and a different conversation. have it in different parts of the country. >> absolutely. >> i want to throw out the national numbers. national poll numbers. nbc pbs news hour, npr, excuse me, marist poll asked 62% of americans say the statues should remain. 28% say remove. 11% unsure. that's what makes an interesting conversation. and especially in the southern states. part of the confederacy. ask the average joe about it, not a politician. to them tearing down the statues

say, look up here in the teleprompter. sorry. bannon is going. we're told. maggie haberman of the "new york times" tweet, bannon going. administration officials say it was trump. people posted bannon insists he resign. moving your colleague, one of the best reporters on the beat covering trump. read it again. bannon going, officials say it was trump. people close to bannon in1i69s he resigned. having this conversation about the monuments. talking earlier how it's been a week started with bannon on the outs. bannon seemed to have the president's ear where we're going. what does it mean if steve bannon, chief white house strategist, a couple weeks after reince priebus, without chief of staff, is shown the door? bannon has -- added importance because of his connection to the trump base. >> steve bannon has been the ideological center of this white house for better or worse. one of the few people's in there who has a set of core beliefs that he very rarely strays from. no matter their political popularity. he's then the person when the president has been swayed or

attempted to be swayed by others in the republican party, others in the white house, bannon is always there to remind him. these are the issues he ran on, that your supporters care about. these are the issues you need to corr out as president. him leaving removes that ideological center from the white house, but frankly, bannon has not been a particularly productive player in this administration and there has been a lot of concern from other people while he says he's there for the president's best interests, he says he's there to promote that agenda, he's really there to promote himself. >> interesting though, now, because bannon doesfollows from of the republican base that helped get him elected. he is a free agent. what does he do with that power and a revolt against the trump administration. we've seen, a question of bannon verse h.r. mcmaster. is bannon on the outs? do they care if he pushed out or resigned? >> to that point, breitbart news, he ran, talking about the

speculation, saying essentially the dems inside the white house, meaning label they put on jared kushner and gary cohen, would push him out and it was a "middle finger to trump voter." the president has a personal connection and relationship with his base, but there is no question that bannon was his, if not someone who pushed him to this, his soul mate on the issues of america first. the issues of nationalism. the issues of trade policy. trump is trump. trump has a connection with voters, but if the breitbarts are now in trump's face all the time, what does that do? >> that's the question. does the populist media coverage been harsher on trump? that's important to watch. i do think the jeff sessions departure, more consequential with the base, a bigger figure than somebody who is a staffer at the white house in terms of the connection with trump himself. but what's important is, what the future holds. there are basically two parties here who are not going anywhere in the white house. the trump family, and the vice president of the united states.

right? who is ultimately going to win trump's ear in terms of how he governs and acts as president? is it going to be instinctual even democrats in his family and also, some top advisers, or the more conservative aligned people who are close to mike pence and mike pence himself? >> welcome our international audience joining us. broadcast around the world. breaking news, "new york times" reporting the president told aides steve bannon, chief white house strategist, key figure in the trump general election campaign, bannon going. see the tweet from maggie haberman, "new york times" white house correspondent. administration officials say it was trump. people close to bannon insist he resigned. we'll have a debate apparently about how this happened. that happens often in these cases. let's talk about the significance. start with this. a lot to unwrap beginning with bannon's role what he means as we just discussed. what backlash we might get from the bannon part of the republican party, the conservative trump base, but start with first the president of the united states. what this tells us about him.

his mind-set about where he thinks his white house is, and we do know the new chief of staff john kelly is among those, to jonathan's point earlier, decided he thought bannon for all his saying i'm here for the president was trying to advance an agenda on his own. what does it tell us? >> that is the -- tends to be the tipping point with trump. if he feels someone is there pushing their own agenda, trying to promote themselves over him is where he turns on that and he has increasingly come to believe that about steve bannon. different moments in the young presidency where that's happened. when bannon has been on the magazine cover. participated in a new book focusing on his role. even when "saturday night live" started talking about president bannon, those things, trump internalizes them. a real sense that this -- even though trump won't say it publicly ever, there has been a sense in the west wing, the oval office, not going well and reince is gone.

scaramucci hire so shore lived, bannon out. three com directors, he's searching for the right combination of people in the white house to get this on track, plus be successful. >> and talked about the confederate monuments and so on. the person who said, my website is where the alt right started. the fact that he -- he was in the white house. a big sign to a lot of people about what donald trump would be like. even donald trump in, a nationalist and so on. steve bannon, people viewed in terms of white supremacy and so on. what his actual views are is leaving this particular week is an important story and then suggests whenever donald trump says, he may have conceded to liberals slightly having bannon leave. >> again, this is the president who as a candidate said i hire the best people. i'm a business narn. going to run washington like a business. turned on chief of staff, three communications director, not one single legislative achievement. the only big piece signed the

russia sanctions bill he despises. what does this tell us? i don't say it to be flippant. that's where we are. seven months into this administration. and in the wake of that, absent any great policy successes, we have the week we just lived with the president, i'm sorry, the trump loyalists may dispute that, failing the moral character test what an american president should say after what we saw in charlottesville. what does giving steve bannon the door to do the president now? >> throwing a bone to those in the gop focusing in on bannon even though it's not clear bannon was the man whispers in his ear for this entire charlottesville event. we have to see what the significance of this departure is. not all the national icht i69it of the white house. because one person with influence goes does that mean

all of a sudden they have different policies position and different outlooks on what the base is and so many things. >> this administration is in a rolling crisis essentially. it has been for six months. i had a colleague -- >> a rolling crisis, significantly deeper this week. i would pause. it's not a policy issue or washington issue. efailed an american test, and -- observation. this is basically like year six or seven of the bush administration at the depths of the challenge of, with iraq, postkatrina. the first six months of the administration. by the way, not just a katrina or iraq. it's one thing after another, week after week. all all come back to a simple fact. the president of the united states conducts himself in a way that many americans, including those in her own party, believes it hurts the presidency. >> a trump exhaustion across the town now inside the trump

administration. his own aides, xaufrti iexhaust. straining relationships at home. steve bannon gets the door. reince priebus, gone. chief strategist, gone. fear among the quote/unquote conservatives whether breitbart or more mainstream conservatives, then a white house with general kelly, may bring discipline, not a political figure. then so jared, ivanka, gary cohen, a manhattan centric -- >> democratic leaning -- >> some given money to hillary clinton. many on the record in the past saying we should have comprehensive immigration reform that legalizes, gives citizenship to undocumented. what will the conversation be? >> care deeply how perceived by a society, i should add, too, president trump, even often -- important to add, too. they care about the perception of them when back in new york. that really mattered.

this, julie, you know better than i do, a test of who will be more influential? that crowd, center left, or people around mike pence? >> yes. a great point. >> mark short, white house legislative reaweson, a little bigger in reality and the new chief of staff for pence. pence himself. all traditional conservatives. >> just want to state for the record. cnn confirmed according to two administration officials steve bannon is out as the chief strategist. came to the president during the general election. not a big figure during the primary campaign. a big figure as the president shook up his campaign. came in in the shake jurps. one year ago today, jonathan. reminds me, america first, tough trade, go after china. not an interventionist on military policy. criticizing the president's rhetoric on north korea. not true. we don't have a military strategy. steve bannon out. the trump white house in crisis. the question, where do we go from here? >> jonathan makes a really smart point.

mike pence, vice president of the united states yet on the sidelines for -- >> is he more than that? i talk to people close to the president who have relayed comments made by the president quite scathingly critical of his krpt s vice president. where are my obamacare votes if mike pence is so great, where are my obamacare votes? >> in terms of personnel and some politics, re lations especially. regulations have pence's fingerprints all over them. not high profile but conservative appointees, all conservative. >> no question. reince priebus gone and a lot of the people reince brought in, either leaving or gone. mike pence is the one person, speaker of the house, needed to talk to somebody in the white house, whether please help me or please stop the president, that's who you call. >> the voice of mainstream conservism in the white house now. pretty much the only voice. pence and his people. he has struggled at times in this administration to find his place.

how aggressive on certain issues, when to stay in the background. also lived in this almost alternative reality. this whole week, when all of this happened, the white house has been really at a point of crisis, he was in south america. doing a very normal, almost presidential-like trip. >> and the strategy didn't work. chief of staff and chief strategist left, pushed away. trump is admitting things are not going -- he is not winning. still doing the minimum. >> that is the big question. chaos approach hasn't worked. having reince priebus, the establishment. steve bannon, pitchfork nationalist here. the new york group in, steve bannon used to derisively call jared and ivanka, giovanka. four, five competing factions. what do we get from this? part of that, one of the big fears inside the white house has been, if you let bannon go, do you, quote/unquote, weaponize him? turn into a trump critic?

>> and also pence hasn't delivered a win. his thing is the hill. where is the hill? and less to work with the president because of what we've been going through especially with charlottesville and nobody else in the administration shown themselves capable of managing up now. that's a problem. the president can still call the shots and wants to and will. >> great point. we've gone through these moments geg with priebus, again, scaramucci, the bubble, trump will remain trump no matter who ends up in the west wing with him. >> but who is trump? do we know the answer to that question? who is trump? in the sense steve bannon's influence was supposed to labelinged china, in a manipulator day one. president talked about it day one as if he believed it. hasn't done it. steve bannon, interview told bob cutner i agree. we're at economic war with china. that's not how the president has conducted himself. >> i don't think we know who trump is ideologically but who he is temperamentally. almost as important, when you're president of the united states. >> and slightly -- trump talking the border wall from the beginning. certain ideas like that.

the things he said about the monuments basically his sort of view of the world as kind of attacking some ways a view of the world he's expressed a long time. talked birther inch a long time. we have a sense where trump is. a conservative on a few things nationalist on a few other and ultimately going to be -- >> what we don't have, a sense how he takes what he believes and tries to work it into a governing philosophy and government strategy and success. we haven't seen that from this president. you see the breaking news bottom of the scream. white house strat jit steve bannon out. has been at the president's side. famous for having a list in his ochs of the president's big achievements. to get those things done. the question, everyone can have a quick last word finishing top of the hour. what next? >> tax reform. really. that is where the -- rubber meets the road for republicans. end the year without tax reform done for both the president and republicans on the ballot next year, problematic situation. >> and stabilize his standing in

the next few days and weeks before thinking about tax reform. charlottesville. >> reach out to americans. breaking news, steve bannon, white house chief strategist out. "new york times" saying trumped pushed him out. bannon aides saying he resigned. our coverage continues top of the hour with wolf blitzer. don't go anywhere. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. where you've watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we begin with breaking news right here no washington, d.c. president trump's chief strategist steve bannon is now out. that according to two administration officials. the president and the white house, they were debating how and when to dismiss steve bannon but now we have confirmed. he will no longer be the chief strategist over at the white house. steve bannon, 63 years old, is out. let's