welcome to "inside politics." >> i'm john king. thanks for sharing your day with us. irma's death toll is rising. millions of homes and businesses still without power. the keys are devastated. as residents complain help it hard to come by, the fema director says they have only themselves to blame. >> citizens are frustrated about not being able to get the support they need right now, that's exactly why we asked them to leave. >> the house speaker says he's confident president trump stands with conservatives as washington turns its focus to tax reform. but some republicans are worried the president is suddenly so eager to deal and dine with democrats. >> the president came out immediately and says listen, this is not a tax cut for the rich. i'm not going to get a tax cut nor any of the wealthy super 1 percenters will get any tax

cuts. >> and remember the outrage at how the president hammed the violent neo-nazi marches in charlottesville? at the white house right now, the african-american republican senator who said this. >> as we look to the future, it's going to be very difficult for this president to lead if in fact that moral authority remains compromised. what the president should do before he says something is to sit down and become better acquainted, have a personal connection to the painful history of racism and bigotry of this country. >> more proof this hour president trump going all in to test the possibilities of a new work with democrats approach. and the timing, well, it's delicious. just this morning, the republican house leadership said it is working with the republican white house on a framework for major tax cuts and reforms. all is fine in the gop family. the house speaker says. >> reporter: do you trust in this president is going to push for conservative tax reform?

>> yes, i am. >> we know many rank and file republicans are on edge and feel burned by a deal the president cut last week with top democrats. now jeff zeleny joins us there's a deal making dinner reunion of sorts tonight, one that might make republicans more wary. >> a bit more wary. we're detecting a pattern over here at the white house. there are more democrats coming in the gates of the white house here in the last week or so than i can recall during the first eight months of this administration. and the latest invitation certainly is raising some eyebrows. the senate democratic leader chuck schumer, the house democratic leader nancy pelosi coming over to the white house at the president's invitation this evening for another dinner here. they are scheduled to talk about dreamers. dhaka legislation that the president hopes congress can act on. that is a new piece of the dynamic here in this long running immigration debate in this capital. the player is trying to get some

type of bipartisan consensus. tax reform is the item of the day here in washington. i think we're appropriate to be a bit skeptical of any type of bipartisan tax reform. the reality is, the sides are too far apart here. they each have their own interests here. this is more than a oneoff as we talked about last week, the president working with democrats on that deal. he wants to, i am told by top advisers, actually to get something done in this town. it's important to point out and remember, john, as you know well, donald trump is a new republican. in fact, he was a democrat and independent much longer here so we are in a new chapter of at least discussion here with both sides. something we've not seen in washington for a while. we'll see if anything comes of these dinners. there's a meeting this afternoon with moderate house democrats, as well. john, that dinner tonight certainly interesting. i can tell you republicans perhaps mitch mcconnell will also be watching because he, of course, was not invited. john? >> you can bet he'll be

watching. jeff zeleny, thanks. as i said a delicious day. with us to share insights julie herschfield davis, phil mattingly, bloomberg and elian na johnson of politico. is it just noise or should republicans be nervous their republican president maybe with the obamacare experience in the background saying that didn't work. i'm going to try this. >> i think jeff's right the notion they're going to all team up together and do a big deal on tax reform seems remote right now. it is interesting that trump is really going at this sort of threat to sort of cut republicans out of the process. and work with democrats instead because the dynamic they're facing on the hill with tax reform and so many other things is they want to try to do a republican deal that is all white house driven and driven by the republican leadership. if this he can't get to 51 or 52 votes, they have to do something else. part of the play is they want republicans to feel more pressure to get together as a

coalition because they know if that doesn't happen, the president is all too willing to deal with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. >> in talking to republicans this morning, they don't know. i think that's the concern right now. what happened last week on the debt ceiling deal on the spending deal was jaw dropping to all of them. you've heard a lot more of this over the last 48, 72 hours treasury secretary used to be a democrat. that was stuff that's always been an apparent but nobody's brought up before. you're starting to here more murmur mur about that. the threat's always been there. the speaker used it in health care. mcconnell used it, as well. if you don't work with trump now, he's going to go to democrats. is he actually going to go to democrats. republicans control the paper. that's what the senator john cornyn, the seconds ranking republican said. they made clear they're doing this through a simple majority process. this will be a conservative tax plan. there's not a lot of room to bridge the gap with democrats.

there is some hesitation or at least a pause, we don't know what this guy's going to do in the weeks ahead. >> and to the broader point, this is the president's about at the eighth-month mark. the big question in washington, who he is? who he is philosophically? a lot of people in the country are probably great. the president's talking to everybody. he's talking to democrats. that's great. here in washington when you're about to start tax reform with the lessons of not being able to do obamacare in the rearview mirrorer, if you're a republican and he's getting cozy with schumer and pelosi, you're getting nervous, right? >> as far as back as august, the white house was making it clear to capitol hill they wanted democrats to be part of tax reform. mark short, is the white liaison was meeting with democrats in the house on tax reform. president made clear in particular on tax reform, he wants democrats to be part of this. the thing that the president's deal with chuck schumer i think may, the risk it carried was he

underminesed his negotiating position with republicans because they six simply don't know what to expect from him. if he wants to pass a tax bill, he's going to have to have republicans. he may not need democrats. but he undermined their trust in him in going into the negotiations. they're not sure what to expect from their own president at this point. >> just the personalities, like the imagery of last week with the president and schumer seen in this photograph with chuck schumer sharing a laugh inside the oval office. you see the imagery about nancy pelosi telling the president to tweet some words that would be comforting to dreamers and that tweet went out right away. if you're a republican, you're wondering does the president like hanging out with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer more than he does paul ryan and mitch mcconnell who did not look to be in a good mood at all last week at all. that's the question who is he. >> you should be secretary of state. not look to be in a good mood at all. diplomatic. the president did it sitting in

the oval office and surprised them. they thought this deal was done to go their way. then the president with schumer and nancy pelosi pulled the rug out from under the republican leadership. the people in president trump's orbit, now that bannon is gone, the chief of staff reince priebus is gone, you look at the pictures here. some even trump allies they call them globalists, democrats, they call it the manhattan republican party. you have only steven miller, the former jeff sessions aide still in the white house. most of those, the president's son-in-law, his daughter, they're either moderate republicans or democrats if you look at their history. conservatives say wait a minute. now they say this. listen to mark short. this is mark short at a reporters breakfast talking about daca, the dreamers. one thought was the president would give protection to the dreamers, the president would be breaking a promise that the president would sign that piece of legislation saying they can stay in exchange for big border wall money. that would be a tradeoff he was

willing to make. mark short telling reporters the president doesn't link those two. >> whether or not that is part of a daca equation or other legislative vehicle, i don't want us to bind ourselves into a construct that makes reaching a conclusion on daca impossible. >> what does the trump base say if the president -- i think the base gives the president a lot of latitude. if he says i've thought about these dreamers, their parents it, their aunts and uncles carried them across the border. we're going to be compassionate and let them stay. for changing my mind, i got all this money for the border wall. he could sell that to the trump base out there. but what does the trump base say if they see him dining with chuck schumer and nancy at the pel and cutting a deal for what they call amnesty to the dreamers in the middle of what should be a republican debate about tax reformle? >> i don't think the trump base is going anywhere. trump won with more than the trump base.

i don't think it should come as any surprise to rank and file republicans or people who voted for the president because he would put conservatives on the supreme court he's not on their team. it has to be a year, year and a half ago he said this is not the conservative party, it's the republican party. it's nothing more than a vessel for ideology. this president's ideology to the extent he has one has nothing to do with the sort of ideology that animates republican leaders on capitol hill. his deal with democrats was nothing more than an exclamation point on something he's made very, very clear for the past two years in his campaign and since he's been elected and so i don't think this daca deal should come as a surprise to anybody paying close attention to this president for the past couple years. >> i think that's one of the bigger worries for republican leaders in congress. they know his base may not be going anywhere. they may tolerate where he goes for a daca legalization bill even if it's not paired with

tougher enforcement and border wall money. they may well punish republicans if they're not able to deliver some of the promises they made. we've seen repeal and replace is all but dead. if they can't deliver tax cuts and a lot of republican leaders want a very deep tax cut. not what joe manchin was talking about in terms of no relative tax cut for any wealthy people or any businesses that are making huge profits right now but an actual tax cut to promote growth in the economy. that's what they've been pressing for for a long time. if that gets abandoned they know their voters will punish them. >> you could look at this eight months in and blame all republican government. they promised to repeal and replace and get going on tax reform. they still have a couple months left in the year. we'll see what happens. there are some who look at this record so far or lack of a record so far and they don't play any blame on the trump white house. listen to sean hannity, he says the blame lands with mitch mcconnell.

>> mcconnell is not leading. he's not getting the job done. senator, if you don't want to roll up your sleeves if you don't want to get to work on passing is the agenda you promised, the president promised, then maybe it's time to call it a career. get out of the way. >> mish mcconnecconnell is not anywhere. how does that factor in when the republicans are trying to get a significant achievement. tax cuts should be their wheel house. they couldn't repeal and replace obamacare. i don't think anybody at the table think that's going to happen this year or next year. maybe some fixes. when you have all this discord within the party who's to blame, the finger pointing each way, does it hurt or is it just noise? >> we talked about health care. when you want to pass historic monumental legislation of say overalling one-sixth of the economy on health care, you need a unified approach inside the party, you need the

commentators, the white house, the house, the senate, all of the outside groups laser focused on that. that's the thinging we haven't seen. that's where this becomes problematic. when the commentators start attacking leaders that gives fuel for maybe some of the caucuses that may reside in the house or outside groups to join them and start firing, as well. as long as they have reason or backing to stay out of a tax deal or say we're not going to agree because our folks are saying this is a bad idea that, helps sink everything. it doesn't mean everything is going to fail, tax reform is going to be extraordinarily hard if you have everybody on board, period. issue is if you're going to move forward on major items having everybody shooting at one another isn't going to help your case. it's what we've seen for eight months. >> traditionally, we have seen the president lead that unified approach. this is a new president new to politics. he's not seeing himself as a

republican leader. he sees himself as a trump party. and he's not waiting for the rest of the republicans to show him where to go. >> who knew it's complicated. up next, we get back to the devastation, the scope of the devastation from hurricane irma becoming more and more clear. more stories of hope as well as heart break at a florida nursing home. mail and packages.out and it's also a story about people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you

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welcome back. we're getting a much better idea how much work has to be done to recover from hurricane irma. at least 55 people killed by the storm. about 4.4 million homes and businesses still haven't regained power across the southeast. most in florida. it could be late september before the lights are back on in some places. you see there, governor rick scott needed a boat to tour much of the damage in northern florida today. president trump and the first lady will visit florida tomorrow. moody's analytics estimates the total cost of irma could be more than $80 billion, most of that

damage to real estate. there's billions of dollars in losses to cars and infrastructure. irma severed communications in entire neighborhoods like cudjoe key in the florida keys. fema says virtually every house in the keys was was impacted in some ways. a lot of people barely have walls let alone clean power or water. many frustrated they're having to wait for help from the government. the fema administrator brock long couldn't help but express his exasperation at that frustration. >> citizens are frustrated about not being able to get the support they need right now, that's exactly why we asked them to leave. and i think that you know, we were trying to set that expectation up but we're doing everything we can working very closely with xwempb scott to try to get there and alleviate the situation. >> you always see heroes in disasters. there's one right there. people don't wait for help to arrive. that is sister ann-margret captured on video wielding a

chain saw to clear debris. she tells us she was just doing what she tells her students to do. >> the road was blocked. we couldn't get through. i saw someone spin in the mud and almost go into a wall going off the road. so there was a need. i had the means. i wanted to help out. at the school, acc, our archbishop shop we had the chain saws sitting in the closet and they needed to be used. so we teach our students do what you can to help. and so this was an opportunity where i could do something to help. and thanks be to god, i was able to do it. >> amen. something to smile out there. sadly on the east coast, an investigation under way into the deaths of six people at a nursing home facility in hollywood, florida. miguel mark kes joins us live from hollywood. what's the latest? >> reporter: real concerns, john, about the most vulnerable in these situations. the facility here behind me, the rehabilitation center at

hollywood hills in the larkin community hospital same company runs both centers. they lost power it seems overnight around 4:00 a.m. police started getting calls that there was people in distress this these buildings. right across the street about 50 yards across the way there is the hospital. memorial hospital which has no relationship with these centers but it is right across the street. when emergency crews arrived they found three people were deceased. it was very hot in there. and three people died later on. they've moved now 115 total out of the facility. they've sealed off the facility. there's a criminal investigation going on. we expect a press briefing very shortly to update us on what they are finding. but it does raise concerns and in these situations when the power goes out, you know, people complain about air conditioning or things gone bad. those are inconveniences when the power goes out and it's for prolonged periods of time, the most vulnerable one little thing pushes them over the edge, and it can be deadly.

an employee told us that they lost power on sunday night. the company larkin says they lost power during irma. that same employee said they had hired or rented generators to augment the generator they already had. it's not clear if the generators failed and cut off the air conditioning or all the electricity in the building still. the company only saying they suffered a prolonged power failure due to hurricane irma. the huge question out there is how is it they could have that sort of power failure and that sort of issue and not simply call the hospital across the way and get help. john? >> a lot of questions. tragic news. miguel marquez, thanks very much. before it hit florida, hurricane irma ripped through the caribbean, decimated barbuda and turned its eye elsewhere including the u.s. virgin islands. thousands desperate for food and water most without phone service and electricity. one resident says it's like the

end of the world there right now. cnn's cyril vanier. what are you seeing and what is the most urgent need? >> reporter: that's a question most people want you to ask because people here in st. martin want that message to get out. they are not getting the supplies that they need. the food and the water that they need. people are getting -- they're eating and drinking on a day by day basis. it's not happening as far as i can make out not happening thanks to the authorities on the ground. people are still eating the food they stocked up on before the hurricanes. that's a week ago. some of them are telling me the supplies are running very, very low now and they're rationing it. as for the water, it's a daily struggle to find water. thankfully, there's a lot of solidarity, a lot of help. neighbors help each other.

>> i think we lost our communication with cyril. we'll try to re-establish that. as you can see from the pictures some from st. thomas, some from the caribbean islands the hardest hit by hurricane irma. we'll take a quick break. there's a new turf war between the senate investigators and the special counsel robert mueller. exclusive cnn reporting just ahead. when you've been making delicious natural cheese for over 100 years like kraft has, you learn a lot about what people want. honey, do we have like a super creamy cheese with taco spice already in it? oh, thanks. bon appe-cheese! okay...

allergytry new xyzal®.ou have symptoms like these for relief is as effective at hour 24 as hour one. so be wise all take new xyzal®. this new into cnn. the justice department versus senate investigate persons sources telling is cnn the department of justice preventing the senate judiciary committee from interviewing two top fbi officials about the firing of the former fbi director comey. man knew, why? sounds like the doj playing hard ball. what's the reason? >> reporter: they're point together special counsel's

investigation which raises a lot of very significant and interesting questions because the senate judiciary committee said they just want to interview these twos senior officials, cart gotta and james rabiki who could have firsthand knowledge of the circumstances around james comey's firing. but the justice department says that this issue is being looked at by the or suggesting that this issue is being looked at by the special council's office in a letter they sent to the senate judiciary committee, they're saying very clearly that there's actually an ongoing investigation and they don't want to interfere in any way by giving out confidential or sensitive information. the two leaders of that committee chuck grassley and dianne feinstein said we don't want to talk about what's happening in the investigation. we want to know exactly why james comey was fired and what they know about the firing. so far, i'm told by a smokesman for chuck grassley there has been no cooperation from the justice department and when i asked the justice department

about this issue they said ask the special counsel because it's their decision. the special counsel declined to comment. this raises the question about whether or not the special counsel is in fact, investigating the circumstances around the firing possible questions of obstruction of justice which a lot of people have raised given the fact that comey was fired while he was investigating the issue of russia collusion. and any attempts to try to interfere with that investigation. and right now, we'll see how the judiciary committee responds, whether or not they issue subpoenas and whether or not they give the special counsel access to a private transcript of their own interview with donald trump jr. and some of the special counsel's office may want the senate judiciary committee telling me this is something the full senate would have to approve before giving that interview transcript, a sign of all the turf wars happening here as a number of investigations move forward, john. >> manu raju, thanks for that breaking news. some of this tension between the special counsel and congress was

perhaps inevitable. especially when you get to crunch time. in their investigations from the hill, the special counsel investigation, what does it tell us that the special counsel says no, you're not getting this inside account interest these twos top agents seemingly because it's too sensitive or too important to my investigation. i don't want you going there. >> i think first of all it, tells us what i think a lot of us assumed from the beginning when mueller was named and we saw the scope of his mandate not only to look into the issue of russia and the circumstance of anything related to that which, of course includes the firing of comey and whether there was an obstruction of justice situation there. when he was named, a lot of members of congress said privately and publicly they were worried about the investigations colorado lied and they could find themselves at cross purposes in undercutting each other without intending to. it shows us mueller is being aggressive here. this is an issue he's honed in

on in the investigation that he feels is important enough he doesn't want a committee a lot of whose proceedings will end up being public sort of interfering on the side here. >> congress leaks? >> i would never say that. but the fact is, i mean, and a lot of their testimony is in public. there is the question of whether donald trump jr. will testify in a public forum which the mueller investigators would like because they want to hear what he has to say. for now all there is is the transcript of the closed proceedings. this points to the probably a lot more similar struggles going forward. obviously, mueller honed in on the comey firing as a key piece of the puzzle here. >> of i heard the word deaconfliction outside of a combat zone about 3,000 times when all these investigations launched. we're going to make sure we don't run into one another. it seemed like there were open lines of communication between the special counsel and the committees. this would make clear there is not an open line of communication between the

special counsel and at least one committee on capitol hill. that's interesting where the investigation might be going but also interesting about the relationships going forward. these investigations some are considered more serious than others. there's concern about the politics in them and maybe this is a reflection of that. i don't want you to tell people that people leak on the hill. that's our secret. put that into motion. i think the danger here is we try and read tea leaves on the investigations by what does or doesn't happen from entities that don't comment. i think there's a lot of danger in that. it's very clear when congressional committees with respected members of the u.s. senate aren't getting what they want and what they say they need, that means something. >> there's no question. we should be careful. we don't know the conclusions and have no idea what the conclusion is here. we should be fair to the president as we go through this. this is clear this development. "the wall street journal" reporting that the president's own lawyers met with the special counsel's team to convince them there's nomo obstruction case. you don't have ha meeting you beless you know the special

counsel is asking for documents, looking to interview people. we're told the special counsel is looking to interview a number of people in the president's inner circle. i get why bob mueller would say i'm at a sensitive point in my investigation and i'm not going to give you any witnesses that could mess with what i'm doing. >> the idea that capitol hill wants to interview these folks is a sign of lack of credibility from the trump administration who at the beginning of this process said jim comey was fired because of the way he handled the hillary clinton investigation. they said that the meeting at trump tower with the russian lawyer was for childhood adoptions. the credibility of the trump administration has been expired and now everyone wants to talk to various witnesses other people who find out what the real truth is. that's a sign of the idea that president trump and his white house have lost credibility over this investigation. >> we'll see as tensions between the ranking democrat dianne feinstein and chuck grassley whether donald trump jr. will be called back for a public

hearing. one might add to that question there. when we come back, bernie sanders wants single payer health care. he has a lot more friends today than he did a few years ago. is that good news for the democrats or trouble? elieve in 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. won't replace the full value of your totaled new car.

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you don't let anything lkeep you sidelined. come on! that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals... for the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. ensure, always be you. welcome back. bernie sanders is pushing again today for universal health care. it's a big deal that he has a lot of new friends. medicare is a sanders passion dating back years when he introduced legislation four

years ago, did he so alone. today he has at least 159 democratic cosponsors. if you read those names it, includes many democratic lawmakers thinking about running for president. elizabeth warren, cory booker, two of them. is sanders helping lead the democrats to a victorious future or is this a past bath to the past when voters viewed the party as too liberal to trust in red states and politics? that concern is one reason nancy pelosi says democrats should not make the single payer approach a central theme in next year's elections. >> the comfort level with a broader base of the american people is not there yet. doesn't mean it couldn't be. states are a good place to start. but i'm not here today to write the democratic platform for four years, 3 1/2 years from now. >> she is careful. that was a couple months ago. she holds that position today even though people talked to her privately she thinks it might be the better approach. but as a party leader, she can't

get control of the house back and can't be the speaker and get the gavel back unless they win republican congressional seats in red states. there's no question the democratic party is moving left. but is this the right prescription, single payer health care? >> you're looking at people with very different views on what happens next. right? you roll through the potential 2020 people looking at a potential primary. or progress gives. >> most of them think they have to sign on to this because the primary is about the left or progressives say we think we can win this fight on the merits. and you have nancy pelosi who needs to flip 24 seat who's says look, i want to be speaker again. chuck schumer done this had question, as well. they're looking at the potential for majorities not the potential of a democratic primary in 2020. the most interesting element by far is that either side you talk to either polls love it. republicans in nrsc, everybody

hammering this today, throwing out ads wanting to tie everybody to this issue that democrats on the left and the far left are thrilled to have out there. we're all in ingredient. everybody is very excited today for single payer. both republicans and democrats. not single payer. we were talking about this before. the details here matter an enormous amount. there's the top line medicare for all, single payer, government run health care if you're a republican. how you pay for it, what does it cover long-term? those are crucial. >> i just want to put up polling numbers. if you look at these numbers, the debate the american people, ask them should the government be more involved in your health care? if you look at the numbers from 2000 to 2017, you get essentially pretty static lines there. might be having a problem with the graphic machine. that's pretty static. if you go back and look at 2000 and 2017, support for having the government, more government responsibility and coverage it's a vague question, no the a specific question how much you

would pay, but that hasn't moved at all despite all the campaigns about obamacare, despite busy now doing this. perhaps this is a debate the country should have to let the american people settle this. >> i think that there's so much focus on the intra-republican party disputes. fact is that the democrats are as divides as the republican party. i think this is reflective of the larger battle within the democratic primary showcased between hillary clinton and bernie sanders that she laments in her new book. i do think that people talked a lot how hillary clinton was the head of the democratic party and bernie sanders was the beating heart. this debate where you see the future of the party, people like cory booker and kirsten gil la brand signing on to universal health care type bill really does reflect this is where the party is going. i do think there are going to be vicious fights about this.

it's about more than midterm election calculations. it is about what what is the democratic party going to represent in the same way the fights about donald trump are about who is going to control the republican party and what does the party stand for. >> was donald trump a one-shot wonder or are both parties changing? on solid ground both parties changing. if you look at democrats, republicans and independents on this question, again, republicans support for single payer up a tiny bit. democratic support for independence is moving up. the interesting question is independents. again, if you say your taxes will go up, if you say the government will be making decisions what you can and can't get in your health care, the numbers may move. it appears that democrats have an opening with independents. the question is, can they will actually make the case, can they seal the case. >> that's exactly the question they're going to have to answer when this plan comes out when they have more details. the idea you're just going to provide coverage for everyone and no one's going to have to

pay more more it is fantasy land. might see the numbers shift. what you're hearing from bernie sanders is the american people are ready for universal coverage. he says that we're wealthiest country on earth and shouldn't have people going bankrupt because they don't have health care. he thinks that's worth it and once the details come out, the american people will rally around it. >> who emerges if most of the party goes this way, who e"american morning"s in 2020 as the bill clinton of 1992 who said the party was too liberal, too anti-business, it's kind of the same debate that could happen again. we'll see if somebody steps up. we need to add a note of sadness from capitol hill. pete doe menchy passed away from complications after surgery. he was 85. his hometown paper the albuquerque journal called the six-term republican senator a "bipartisan power broker a species in short supply in

today's washington," as news of his passing spread this morning, remember brans poured in, that was a common retain. he was willing to work with whomever he had to. he was quite good at it. i'm not a republican senator, he said in a 1996 interview. it is not a republican role. the facts are when i got elected i got elected by a lot of democrats. his family says he died surrounded by his loved ones. i covered him quite a bit in his days here in washington. always a gentleman, respected the town and the process. pete domenici dead at 85. ignores me when i drive. we'll be right back. because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months i'm accident free. and i don't share it with mom! right, mom?! righhht. safe driving bonus checks. only from allstate. switching to allstate is worth it.

welcome back. after just a day on shelf is, hillary clinton's book on the 2016 election is topping best seller lists both online and in stores. here's a few lines from a

classic "new york times" review. what happened" is a postmortem in which clinton is coroner and corps. it is a score settling jubilee. there's a rant against james comey, bernie sanders, the media, vladimir putin and james comey. clinton says she takes responsibility for her loss to donald trump but that's not stopping her from sharing some of the blame. here's what she told nbc today. >> and if we put all those factors you laid out in a pie chart, what's the biggest chunk? what's the biggest cause of your loss? what part is comey, what part is russia, what part is you? >> i think the determining factor was the intervention by comey october 28th. >> that would be james b. comey. it is interesting to watch. we make light of this and make some fun of this. but had it is interesting to see and she has no plans of going away. and some democrats don't like that. she did as we were discussing, she did win the popular vote and

was the democratic nominee, the secretary of state, first lady. there is nobody in the democratic party with the exception of barack obama who has a resume like that, her husband bill clinton. as she does this, is this helpful, is it hurtful to the democrats? is it neither? >> there are two things i'm struck by. the first is that donald trump has taken a lot of flack for constantly getting up in public and talking about the electoral vote count and the fact he won and how incredible it was. clinton does the same sort of thing where she continues to belabor the results of the election and the fact she lost. there is sort of a national phenomenon about how incredible this election was and neither one of our into nominees can stop talking about it. it really was an incredible event and both of our nominees i think reflect that. and the other thing is that you know, i think there's an unwillingness on her part to realize that her constant public presence may not be beneficial

to the democratic party. it's something that george w. bush seemed to realize when he left the public stage in 2008. he wasn't super sore at not being include the in the republican convention that year. he did disappear from public life. it's harder for hillary clinton given that she wasn't president. but she doesn't seem to want to accept that most democrats feel that way. >> but the other thing is, and we've heard democrats say privately and otherwise that you know they wish that we could get past this and it's not so great to have her out in public talking about all of this and writing about all of this. it is striking the degree to which this book is about her personally and not as much about the democratic party. there's a real debate going on which we were just talking about on health care and so many other issues where the democratic party goes from here. this is not that conversation. this is a conversation that relitigates what was a very extraordinary election that talks a lot about russia and jim comey andmy sojny and other

factors that may have played a part in her loss but doesn't talk about how it could be that the entire democratic party establishment and much of the rest of the political establishment had this election so wrong. in addition to not being that self-critical, it's not really an exploration of what some of the core issues are that the democratic party that is to grapple with going forward. that's part of the reason we see resistance frns democrats to the degree there is any. for them, this is about the future and how do we not be in this position again in four years. >> she's out there promoting the book which is her right. she has something in common with donald trump. she may not like it to be put this way. he talks about the fake news and mainstream media being against him. listen to hillary clinton say that the media fell flat on its face in 2016. >> i don't think the press did their job in this election with very few exceptions. >> is it that people are really not interested or is it it's just not as, you know, enticing

to the press because the other guy's running a reality tv show which is like hard to turn away from, and whatever he says we think is kind of goofy but hey, it's good tv. i think i can do it. you know what? she's going to win anyway. let's cover the other guy because he's a lot more fun. >> i think there's some truth to some of that especially early on in the trump fon nphenomenon bu other guy won by saying i'm going to renegotiate trade deals and get you your jobs. but he flip big blue states to red states by having a what voters found to be a more compelling economic message, i don't think that's our fault. >> it's easy to blame the media. we're an easy punching bag. if you remember, at some point in her campaign, she didn't hold a press conference for like 200-days. and not going to michigan, not spending enough time in pennsylvania, those are part of the reason that she did not win. it wasn't necessarily because

the media coverage was tough. it was tough. there were some scandals surrounding her over the e-mails and everything else. president trump then candidate trump did get a lot of coverage, got a lot of -- because he was a phenomenon. he was gathering thousands of people at his rallies. he was pulling people who were not normal every four-year voter nooses the process. that was a phenomenon and the media covered. let's interesting hillary clinton is upset at the media because if you hear republicans they'll say the media was in the average for democrats. we get punched from every side. >> but we could take solace in the fact she's more upset at james b comey. a reminder for viewers, hillary clinton is out there active giving interviews. tonight she sits down with cnn's anderson cooper. p.m. eastern right here on cnn. thanks for joining us on "inside politics." >> wolf blitzer up after a quick break. have a great day. by frequent,ontrolled unpredictable abdominal pain or discomfort

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hello. i'm wolf blitzer. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining pass. breaking news we're following, a tragic discovery. at least six people have died. dozens more evacuated. after irma knocks out power at a nursing home in florida. brand-new details just coming in. stand by. returning to ruin. families seeing what's left of their homes across the florida keys. as the situation gets more dire without power and water our crews are live in the keys. >>