we were not made great as a country by indulging our worst impulses and calling fake things true and true things fake. >> the president now has three people who have broken with him. he can't lose more than two on any big vote. >> i think the basement of our nation will be what he'll be remembered most for. >> they were not likely to be re-elected. that shows that the support is more behind this president than it is those two individuals. >> both of these really started with personal jabs from the president to these members. >> it's a tough situation for the republican party. we are seeing buyers remorse play out publicly. >> we're going to concentrate on what our agenda is and not any of these other distractions you all may be interested in. >> history will look back and say why didn't we stand up? i hope more of us do. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota.

we begin with something that was certainly unusual. the impact we'll have to see, but this republican rebuke against a sitting president we haven't seen anything like it at least in a very long time. two retiring gop senators calling out president trump, a member of their own party, remember, as dangerous and utterly untruthful. senator jeff flake says he will, quot or silent issuing a call to arms to fellow republicans. senator bob corker says the trump presidency will be remembered for, quote, debasing the nation. >> so could these defections and attention inside the gop threaten the president's agenda? the white house spokesperson defending mr. trump's clashes with both men is saying it's best they both leave. senator jeff flake will join us live. let's begin with joe johns live for us at the white house. another intense day, joe. >> reporter: that's for sure, alisyn. and, look, here at the white

house they are saying it's all good, even with freewheeling criticism of the president by two prominent republican senators. they're free to speak their minds because they're not running for re-election. that free will could affect the senate arithmetic and the president's agenda. >> it is time for our complicity and our accommodation of the unacceptable to end. >> reporter: outgoing senator jeff flake fiercely denouncing president trump's policies and behavior as dangerous to democracy and calling on his fellow republicans to do the same. >> when the next generation asks us why didn't you do something, why didn't you speak up, what are we going to say? >> flake railing against the politics of the era of trump, the undermining of democratic ideals, the personal insults, and what he called the flagrant disregard for truth and decency. >> reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior has become

excused as telling it like it is when it is actually just reckless, outrageous and undignified. we were not made great by indulging in or even exalting our worst impulses turning against ourselves, glorifying in the things that divide us and calling fake things true and true things fake. >> reporter: senate majority leader mitch mcconnell praising flake but punting when asked by reporters how the party would respond. >> at what point do you have an obligation as a leader of this party to weigh in on these very serious criticisms of the president? >> what i have an obligation to do is to try to achieve the greatest cohesion i can among 52 republicans to try to achieve for the american people the endthat we set out to achieve. >> reporter: flake's sweeping indictment after bob corker also blasted mr. trump. >> the president has great difficulty with the truth.

i don't know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard and debases the country but he does. >> reporter: the retiring chairman expressing concern that the united states' position in the world is suffering under president trump. >> world leaders are very aware that much of what he says is untrue. he purposely is breaking down relationships we have around the world that have been useful to our nation. >> reporter: their feud reaching a boiling point with the president responding to corker's attacks in a series of tweets again calling him little. the white house brushing off the criticism as petty while welcoming the decision of the senators to retire. >> i think that they were not likely to be re-elected, and i think that shows the support is more behind this president than it is those two individuals. >> reporter: a source says he is in high spirits after the announcement, an ally also

celebrating saying steve bannon added another scout as another establishment domino falls. senators flake and corker won't be going anywhere anytime soon. we'll be in the united states senate until january of 2019. the president, for his part today, headed to dallas for a fund-raiser. chris and alisyn? >> joe, thank you very much. roe for cnn politics, chris cizilla. let's play more of this sound so we can do a good discussion on full complement of things that were said. we have flake and corker. >> do you think that president trump is setting a bad example for the nation's children? >> yes. some of the statements that are made about people and seeming to ascribe the worst motives to people as well is something we tell our kids not to do. >> do you think he's a role

model to children in the united states? >> no. >> you don't? >> absolutely not. we have young people who for the first time are watching a president stating, you know, absolute nontruths, nonstop. personalizing things in the way that he does and it's very sad for our nation. >> all right. so there they are. david gregory, it's interesting. a little bit of this is a matter of perception. are they defecting? i would say, no, they're doing the opposite. they're redoubling their commitment to what they say their party is about and stepping away from the president on that basis, not a defection at all. how do you see it? >> but they're going to be gone. they're doing the thing that i think resistors of the president want them to do which is stand up and say, this is not right. this is not right for america. this is not how a president ought to behave. and this is not right for the republican party. so they will get kudos for that. the other side is those voices,

brave voices, you know, jeff flake is someone, whether you're a republican or a democrat, you can say this is a guy who should be senator. he's very smart. he's very dedicated. he's a terrific public servant. he's now going to go. he probably wouldn't have won anyway. he recognized he was going to be primaried many months ago and things accelerated to the point he isn't able to win. the immediate impact is to say, well, if you're a republican president, you have these defections, you can blame him as being part of the establishment that needs to be drained but you're losing votes for your priorities. in this case tax reform. that has obvious pain to the president here and now. and maybe history will judge us in a moment of unraveling for the trump presidency. but the immediate effect is for trump and his allies to stand up and say, yeah, these guys are part of the problem. it's amazing to hear the white house spokesperson call these things that they're saying, corker and flake, petty.

this from a president who often doesn't tell the truth, who personally insults people and is certainly a bad influence on america's children. but that's the state of affairs in the trump presidency. people know it. voters know it. it's the reality we're living through. >> so, chris, they're retiring but not for 14 months. >> right. >> so why now? why did they feel they needed to make these statements now? >> i think when you think about your next election particularly given the cost of these elections you have to sort of make these decisions about now. you simply can't wait and wait and wait. it makes it difficult to win. some of it they're having these heart to hearts with themselves at a time when you have to make a go or no go decision. i do think david's point is important as it relates to jeff flake. this is in some ways he will be touted as a truth teller to the

trump presidency by those who oppose trump. it will be seen in many ways within the republican party, particularly the trump base of the republican party as two things -- a victory for the steve bannon/donald trump wing of the republican party and also a cautionary tale for sort of the governing wing of the republican party. remember, the reason jeff flake's poll numbers are where they are, and that's not in a good place, is not because he's too moderate. the senate. it's because he wrote a book that was deeply critical of donald trump and was unafraid to go out and talk about it. >> wait a second. so his poll numbers plummeted after that. he was going to win re-election, you're saying, until the book? no, i want to ask what chris says about that. >> i think he had some issues before anyway. this exacerbated those issues tenfold. if he had said nothing about donald trump other than, you

know, he does his things and i do mine, he would have had a decent to better than decent chance of winning a primary. >> any poll you look at says you have at least -- chris andy talking about this yesterday -- at least two out of three people who identify as republican are for trump. so you go out, you're technically going out on a limb. >> of course. i know he went out on a limb with the book i didn't know his political standing. >> alisyn, i would say he had -- this was not a lock before he wrote about donald trump, but he was in a much better place within the republican party than he was afterward. after that book came out, and david made this point, it was going to be a very uphill climb to win the nomination. >> it also depends on what happens next. that's the big factor. i was watching "the walking dead" last night with my son. these two guys, i've had enough, and they run out -- nobody follows them. >> and you saw it as a metaphor. >> jeff flake gives a speech and

you hear -- because they are countenancing what the president says and does. he came out about bob corker, and the definition of a lie if you want to use it, you know it's wrong and you say it anyway with an intention to deceive. them saying, david gregory, that corker is why we have the iran deal is not just demonstrably false, it's a lie. and these guys hear them say it, hear it repeated, and do nothing. mcconnell says i'm here to enforce an agenda. the senator says it's your job to call lies. come on. but, again, why are they doing it? two out of three republicans like trump. all weighed in with all the stuff that goes along with it so what happens next here? you can argue nothing. >> well, again, what are your priorities? mitch mcconnell is gritting his teeth through the trump years saying i have to work with this guy because i want to keep

control as a republican and we have an opportunity despite how erratic he is to actually get tax reform done. now we'll see what happens. the reality, too, is this is basically the never trump movement of the campaign happening while he's governing. trump surmounted that obstacle during the campaign. the never trumpers didn't succeed. so now even as he's governing he's facing some of that. if the republicans lose the senate and the house, then we have a new reality because then you start asking questions about whether trump in re-election can actually keep the party together. right now there's enough republican leaders who say, yeah, we can and these others are going to be marginalized. >> david gregory, chris cillizza, thank you for the analysis. how does senator jeff flake feel this morning? he joins us live here on "new day" in just minutes. we're following breaking news. senators reversing another obama-era policy late last night. the senate is making it easier

for banks to avoid any type of litigation. right now you have consumer protections that allow for arbitration clauses to be upset and that you can sue. no more. cnn chief business correspondent christine romans joins us now with more. i thought we were supposed to be about the little guy in this administration. how do you reconcile that with this? >> it's a really good question because the president wants to loosen wall street regulations, chris, and this is his biggest win yet and it's a blow to the consumer protection bureau. gone now is a cfpb forced arbitration clauses. that's in the fine print of contracts for banks, credit cards and other financial companies. they force customers to resolve any disputes outside a courtroom, blocking them from banding together in class-action lawsuits. the republicans call the rule an overstep by the cfpb head who was, by the way, appointed by president obama. they claim the class action suits benefit trial lawyers. they don't help consumer. advocates fiercely disagree.

arbitration favors companies. all the leverage is with the financial company. wells fargo, victims have had trouble suing because of arbitration clauses this new rule was only issued in july. the cfpb, the government watchdog here, found that customers struggled to open arbitration cases against their banks. the power is with the big financial firms not with the little guy. alisyn? >> so interesting, christine. thank you very much for all of that. so a past president and three republican senators publicly denouncing president trump in just the last week. so what does the future look like for this divided party? we debate next. marie callender's turkey pot pie staa rich, flavorful gravy.in and a crust made from scratch. because she knows that when it's cold outside, it's good food and good company that keep you warm inside. marie callender's.

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degraded by casual cruelty. at times it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. >> to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership, and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth for the sake of some half-baked spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. >> i think the debasing of our nation, the constant nontruth telling, just the name calling, the things -- i think the basement of our nation will be what he's most remembered for. >> i have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so, mr. president, i will not be complicit or silent. >> there's no question this is unusual. the question is does it have any impact? who wins? what will happen with republican party? let's discuss. we have cnn's political

commentators, strategist anna navarro and adviser for the trump campaign jason miller. anna, these senators, president bush, what do you think it means for your party? >> look, i think we're in a difficult moment. i think we're in an existential moment where there's a lot of republicans who don't agree. a lot of times it's donald trump's tone more than policy. jeff flake is one of the most conservative members of the senate. he has been so his entire career, but he just cannot stomach the idea of remaining silent while watching donald trump not condemn white supremacists, attack a gold-star mother, attack john mccain. he just can't stomach the silence and the complicity. and so i think there's a lot of republicans right now who are looking around and saying if this republican party is going to be defined by the steve bannons and the donald trumps, then we don't belong here. and then there's the john mccain

types who, you know, i identify with, who are going to fight till their dying breath, who are going to stay there and they're going to carry the flag until the very last day. part of me wants to understand the jeff flakes and wants to applaud them for standing true to principle and doing what they feel is right and what their heart is telling them to do. but on the other hand my question to him is, jeff, if you quit, if corker quits, if all of you all quit, if the sane republicans of the republicans who carry a compromising tone, a civic tone, all leave the building, who the republican v and american values? who is left to defend the things that so many of us stand for? so on the one hand i applaud jeff flake. on the other, i'm frustrated that people like him and bob corker are quitting the ghost. >> but, jason, the president,

some of his allies, see it as a win. they say don't let the door hit you on your way out. you're the problem. you're the establishment. you're why people put us here. they don't care what you find to be acceptable because they don't find you acceptable. how big is this for the president? >> well, i think this is getting construed a little bit incorrectly here, chris. really what this is about is the fact senator flake was out of step with the republican base. he supports allowing people to come to the u.s. and not honor our immigration policies. he even said in his remarks yesterday that he's out of step or has different views on trade policies. and there's no internal dilemma with the republican party. the republican party has already decided they support the president's america first agenda and, heck, it's not even just republican primary voters. take a look at wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania -- traditionally blue states where president trump went in and won on these broader policies.

these washington politicians have much different views on these issues and so, look, for senator flake, the thing he didn't say yesterday was the fact he is down by more than 20 points in a republican primary. and so he picked a fight and wanted to throw these insults at the president. what he didn't say he was a dead man walking electorally. >> so, ana, the argument is, look, you can go with the numbers, jason, you and i, and you can show that corker, flake, even collins and murkowski vote with the trump agenda at least 80% of the time. but your point is taken. his point is this battle has already been decided and you lost. this is the new party. they don't like you people and your false moral superiority. we want to get it done and that's what trump's about. if you don't like how he does it, too bad. >> i would say to them careful what you wish for because you just may get it. you see, i don't know how you win elections by making a party

smaller not bigger. i don't know how you win the popular vote ever. i don't know how you continue the majority in the house and the senate if this becomes an ever smaller party, a more exclusive party not more inclusive party. and so if they lose that faction of the republican party that is represented by the john mccains and the george w. bushes and the corkers and jeff flakes of this world, you have a smaller party. maybe more ideologically pure and more to the likeness of a donald trump or a steve bannon but a smaller party nonetheless making it that much more difficult to win elections and making it that much more difficult to pass legislation. >> more difficult to win elections, president trump just won. >> right. >> there's an important point. >> but, jason, there's a lot of states that he won by 10,000 votes or less. >> hold on, ana. the president did better than mitt romney did with african-american voters, better with hispanic voters.

he won traditionally blue democratic states. he only lost union voting households 51% to 42%, one of the closest margins. the republican party is changing. it's bringing in new people. it's a rejection of these washington elites and the washington politicians, people who have given us $20 trillion in debt and a whole bunch of terrible policies. this is a new party. and so you're kind of making my point for me when you're talking about the washington politicians frustrated with the president is because they're out of step with what president trump is trying to do to move our country forward. >> hold on, ana. answer the other part of the allegation. you're arguing the nature of the new party. fine, point taken. what about the numbers, the job for the president was always to grow. he cannot get above 40%. do youl allow him to take on somebody within his own party in a primary and to win in a general? >> i mean, chris, i would point you back to the numbers. president trump more than 90% of

the republican vote this past year. he received a standing ovation from republican senators yesterday. heck, even mississippi senator roger wicker was saying that senator corker's comments were very unhelpful. i mean, folks realize president trump is very popular within the republican party. i just completely disagree with the whole premise of the question. >> you can disagree all you want. i'm saying the polls never put him above 40% even within his own party and numbers are at best the average and usually below that in terms of acceptance within the party. you know the same numbers i do. >> right, exact same polls that all said president trump -- >> you know that's a specious argument. who was going to win the electoral college all the polls got wrong, true. you have to look at those popular vote numbers as well. he lost the popular vote. his mandate was to grow his base. do you see him growing that base? >> he is. >> we don't see it in the numbers? >> he is growing his base. that's what he talked about in

growing the republican base, we talked about doing better with hispanics, african-americans, democrats and union voting households. to think that the polling community that was so wrong across the board this past fall has now magically got ten right and we should believe everything now -- >> it's apples and bananas, my friend. on the popular vote, he lost. and that's what the poll predicted on which states in the electoral college they got it wrong. jason, you know all this. i get that you're making a point to an audience that may not understand the numbers you do but you know this was very tight. clinton didn't get her base out the way she was supposed to and he won in key states they didn't put resources and you were smart enough to do it. good for you. >> he won because of this message that these washington politicians did not like. >> and that's the test that will be tested now because now we'll see now that he has a record that has to go with his message, we'll see how he does. he has a lot of time. >> once we get tax cuts done, i believe we're going to, he'll be

even stronger. >> big if. that will be the test, you're right, jason. i'm sure ana would agree with that. if he gets stuff done for the people who voted for him. >> it's going to be increasingly hard for him to get anything done when you have got a two-vote majority in the senate -- >> and you keep bashing your base. >> you have at least six republican senators who can't stand the guy. >> all right. >> we do need republicans who ran as conservatives and got elected as conservatives to actually act as conservatives. we need them to get onboard with the tax cuts. you can have susan collins and other folks who i wouldn't put in the conservative category. >> well, she would argue with that. look, the truth is they're going to have to be conservative, but you have to figure out what conservative means. we have to go. we have to go. we have senator jeff flake coming. i can't use time that we want to use with him. thank you very much for laying this out. i appreciate it. we'll see what happens with taxes. alisyn? speaking of jeff flake, he, of course, gave that passionate speech yesterday calling on republicans to speak out against president trump's behavior.

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the notion one should stay silent as norms and values that keep america strong are undermined and as the alliances and agreements ensure the stability of the entire world are routinely threatened by the level of thought that goes into 140 characters. a notion we should say or do nothing in the face of such mercurial behavior is ahistoric and i believe profoundly misguided. that's republican senator announcing his retirement in a passionate speech from the senate floor. president trump just responded. moments ago he tweeted the reason flake and corker dropped out of the senate race is very simple. they had zero chance of being elected. now act so hurt and wounded. the meeting outside of flake and corker was a lovefest with standing ovations and great ideas for usa.

joining sus jeff flake of arizona. >> thanks for having me on. >> i'd like to you respond to that tweet from the president. is the only reason you dropped out of the race because you had zero chance of being elected? >> it's very difficult to be re-elected in the republican party right now. and arizona in particular. it doesn't matter so much the policies that you adopt or your votes. it's if you're with the president. i can't be with the president at all times. i'm sorry. i think when the president is wrong, you ought to call him out. that's what i tried to point out in the speech yesterday. >> are you an outlier, senator, in the republican party? what about the second half of what the president tweeted, the meeting with republican leaders was a lovefest with standing ovations and great ideas for the usa. is that how you see it? >> well, i'm not here to describe a private meeting.

lot of my colleagues share the concerns i raised on the floor yesterday and i believe more of them will speak out in the future. i hope we've reached a tipping point of some type where we don't continue to normalize by being silent the kind of behavior we've seen. that's why i felt it was important to give the speech and i hope we move in a different direction. >> what makes you think your colleagues will speak out in the future? >> i think it's a cumulative effect. we're nine months into the administration, those who are hoping to see a pivot, i think, have realized that's not going to come. and this has the potential to do real damage particularly on the foreign stage with regard to the agreements we have, trade arrangements that will affect our economy and geo politics as well. these things have lasting meaning. that's why bob corker has been so concerned and i share those concerns.

>> those colleagues you've had those conversations with behind-the-scenes, what are they waiting for? >> i think they will. i think we've hit the tipping point. there is just the weight of it causes people to change and to say i can't take this anymore. i hope we've reached that point. we had several speeches last week. my colleague john mccain spoke eloquently about the concerns he has about our foreign policy. i think you'll see more that have in the future. >> the reason that i press you on this is because john mccain, as we know sadly is battling brain cancer. we also heard george w. bush, a former president, speaking out about the tone he thinks that the whole country has taken under this leadership. let's face it. you are retiring. bob corker is getting out of the

senate. everyone we're talking about is, you know, not one of the republicans who sadly in the case of john mccain is planning a long-term necessarily career. so what is it going to take for the people who want to stay in the senate to speak out? >> people out there are obviously frustrated at the ability of the congress and the administration to work together on things like health care reform. i can tell you if we don't get some type of tax reform, not just tax cuts but tax reform, there's going to be great disappointment and people will say you no longer can just blame the congress. i do think we're entering a time now we've been in the administration long enough, there's always been a honeymoon period an administration enjoys and people give a little slack. we're coming to a point now we have to get some big things done.e have to

face and unless the president is able to work with congress on these things then people aren't going to stand and say, you know, we're going to give you more time. at some point there's a tipping point we have to move on. >> when did you decide you were going to make that speech yesterday? >> the speech itself just a couple days before. we hadn't decided as a family we were going to do this until the final decision just a few days before. >> you still have 14 months left. what's that going to be like to work in the senate for the next 14 months? what are you going -- are you going to be with the president or not? are you going to vote your conscience? what does that look like? >> there are some things i hope to be with the president on. he's expressed a desire to fix the situation for the daca kids. i hope we can do that together. we're going to need to do an authorization for use of military force. we haven't done one for 16 years. tim kaine and i have a bipartisan bill we'll be holding a hearing on next week.

things are moving ahead. we have a lot of challenges ahead. i work well with my colleagues and look forward to doing so for the next 14 months. >> you don't feel like persona non grata? >> no. i've worked with republican presidents and democratic presidents on policy issues. that's the way it used to be. that's the way it needs to be in the future instead of this personalized tweeting against members you don't like or gold star families you want to have an argument with. that's not normal behavior. that is ahistoric. we have to recognize that and stand up before that behavior becomes normalized. >> do you support the president's tax plan as it is? >> there's a framework we got from the white house which looks pretty good.

we won't know until it's drafted in legislation. >> even if it adds to the deficit? we'll see, there are supply side economics says certain tax cuts will yield increased economic activity and more tax revenue. we'll have to see what's in the package. >> i want to talk to you about the reaction to what you said yesterday and to your retirement announcement. the headline says he has planned another scalp, one of his editors has tweeted bannon's reaction to flake retirement announcement, quote, our movement will defeat you in primaries or force to you retire. the days of establishment republicans who oppose the people's america first agenda are numbered. are you letting steve bannon win?

>> i'll let him describe his victories or defeats. that's up to him. i'm more worried about my work in the senate. >> do you feel that by retiring you're surrendering somehow? >> you know, it's tough. i'm competitive. i like to fight these battles. i also knew i couldn't run the kind of race i would be proud of. the politics in that way have changed. you can be conservative on policy and it doesn't matter as much as being with the president or not criticizing him even if you think he's wrong. we haven't entered politics like that before. this is something new. i didn't feel i could move ahead and run a campaign i could be proud of, and so that's why i'm retiring. >> we just had ana navarro on, i'm sure you know her, she's a republican. she says her

you're retiring because she thinks then who stands up for the republican values she thinks are necessary in congress and so many other republicans, if you want to call them establishment or just solid conservative values, however would you describe them. that if you leave, who holds that ground? >> i'm not leaving immediately. i will serve out my term which is another 14 months as will people like bob corker. this will be pivotal, the next 14 months. i plan to speak out. >> did you and bob corker coordinate your statements yesterday? >> no. i sit with bob on the foreign relations committee. i've been aware of his concerns about our foreign policy and i share those concerns. we've had those discussions but he had no idea i was going to do what i did yesterday. >> what's the response been after your speech yesterday? >> obviously privately a number

of my colleagues have expressed concern about the direction of our politics and the behavior of the president. i think in the coming months you'll have more people stand up. the cumulative weight of all of this, there comes a tipping point we realize we can't continue to normalize this kind of behavior. i do think we'll have more people stand up in coming months. >> are you considering running for president in the future? >> that is not on my radar screen. that's a long way off. >> 2020 is not that long off. has it crossed your mind? >> i'm focused on my work in the senate. i have another good 14 months. >> it hasn't crossed your mind? >> i haven't entertained that thought for very long, no. >> senator jeff flake, thank you. we appreciate you coming on and sharing with us your thoughts behind everything you did and moving forward.

chris? >> such a funny question. are you thinking about running for president? no. end of discussion. but you rarely hear that from people who are actually thinking about it. it's good to hear the senator in his own words. cnn has learned president trump has asked alaska senators in march if they thought president obama's order to rename the nation's tallest mountain from mt. mckinley to mt. denali should be reversed. it's something candidate trump promised to do. cnn's tom foreman has more on this curious subject. >> reporter: towering more than 20,000 feet over the alaskan wilderness this is the tallest mountain in north america and it also appears to be a big chip on the president's shoulder. so much so that he took it up at the state's two republican senators, lisa murkowski and dan sullivan. the issue, in 2015 president obama changed the mountain's name from mt. mckinley to denali. >> flying in on monday i had the

view of something extraordinary from air force one. the great one, denali -- [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: the move came amid much praise in the far north. >> alaskans have fought for this to happen for years noting it was a gold prospector who named the mountain after president fo this state. >> reporter: but in ohio, the home state of the assassinated 25th president, outrage. then speaker of the u.s. house, ohioan john boehner said he was deeply disappointed. governor john kasich said potus once again oversteps his bounds. and candidate donald trump -- >> oh! >> reporter: with the state's primary still ahead, he tweeted, president obama wants to change the name of mcmckinley to denali. great insult to ohio. i will change back. but it's not clear if that will actually happen now. the anchorage dispatch news

which initially reported on the president raising the matter with the senators says it happened back in march. both told him, no, no, and, by the way, this was murkowski back when mckinley was dropped by obama. >> i'd like to thank the president for working with us to achieve this significant change to show honor, respect, and gratitude to the athabascan people of alaska. >> reporter: her colleague, senator sullivan, put it this way. those native inhabitants of alaska named the mountain denali 10,000 years ago. and that name should remain. tom foreman, cnn, washington. meanwhile, a stunning statement from senator bob corker about president trump. >> i think world leaders are very aware that much of what he says is untrue. >> how will this impact president trump when he takes the world stage in asia in just days. we discuss that next. i don't want to sound paranoid, but d'ya think

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so the president has this huge trip to asia. he's going to a lot of places and entering a lot of situations and there's a lot of chance for upside and down side. what does all this politics at home within his own party mean to this trip? let's talk with our national security correspondent. what's the answer? >> the president will have a big challenge. it's a long trip, and he tends to lag some after long travel. you have a lot of leaders who are wondering who to actually listen to and believe, whether or not it's the tweets that are to be believed, or when he comes out and undercuts the secretary of state, and he said don't waste your time with all the diplomacy with north korea.

it's going to be different reactions and different places. the trip to japan will go well, and he has a good relationship with prime minister abe, and it will be different with moon. the trickiest one will be china, and just emerging as the strongest chinese leader, and he will feel like he's in the seat and the united states is on its heels. >> do you think the chinese use the political dynamic in the u.s. on this trip? >> they already are, chris. he talked about trade in china, and he has not talked about that

because he needs them in north korea. they realize that they can promise to do some crackdowns, and they have done some on the north but not enough to make the regime collapse. the central problem the president will face on this trip is that his own cia publicly said no amount of isolation and sanctions going to get the north to give up the nuclear weapons program. that means he's either committing himself to a set of military actions or destabilization actions or ultimate acquiescence. >> what do you know about who is prepares the president for this trip? that's the huge part of this, briefing, from protocol to policy. he doesn't have a lot of the positions filled in the asian bureaus. who is getting him ready? >> the one person getting him

ready is mcmaster. i thought it was an interesting sign that henry kissinger walked into the oval office a week and a half ago and sat down with the president, and that's the one american, the only american that has known every chinese leader. >> a good sign. what are the potential good things and bad things that can happen? >> the good thing is that each of these leaders fills like they are more in sync with the president. all of them that he is seeing in the northeast asia part, they have all met him. but the depth of the relationship is not great, except for prime minister abe. the bigger question is they are

reading the same things and hearing the same things we are all discussing here. they are seeing, you know, alisyn's interview with senator flake. they are hearing bob corker say this man could lead us to world war iii. they are nervous about it and wondering whether or not he's got the base in congress still. >> is there a criteria for this trip, one thing he needs to say he did? >> he needs to walk out of this thing saying everybody is unified on a strategy on north korea. and he needs to be able to go and prove that, and that strategy may not be one of maximal pressure of the kind he's putting out in statements about what the north koreans can't do. the north koreans always respond to those the same way. the thing to watch for is whether the north koreans try to do a test of some kind during the course of his trip, and it would be an insult to him and the chinese.

>> so your source is broad and deep. where is your lunch money on what happens with the secretary of state after this trip? >> this is more guesswork than any sources. i think the secretary of state stays on probably into next year. the project that has got him most engaged in a reorganization of the state department, a controversial one. i think once that is in place and he announced how he's going to do this, and he will be freer to say my work is done. with that said, he seems to be getting interested in the diplomacy. >> that assumes he would be driving the bus in terms of whether he stays or goes. the speculation is nobody insults this man, president trump, and survives around him. >> the president doesn't want to see the headlines to come out and getting rid of the secretary of state after the upheaval you

have seen in this white house. the cia director has a good relationship with the president, and some people talk about nikki haley, and i am a little more skeptical about that, and he has to make the argument it was not a failed experiment with tillerson. >> thank you very much for helping us. >> good to be here. there's a lot of news on this wednesday morning. what do you say let's get after it. we must stop pretending the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal. >> when you know it's a lie, shouldn't you speak up? >> that's your job. >> this is a fight for the heart and soul of the republican party? >> i don't know why he lowers himself and debases our country. >> his coalition to get things passed san diego -- passed is

now in some jeopardy. >> there's no shame in the fact that the campaign sponsored this. >> why did they spend a year peddling it up? >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> it's wednesday, october 25th, 8:00 in the east. we begin with an extraordinary day of republican rebuke against a sitting president, and two senators calling president trump untruthful and dangerous, and trump tweeted a few minutes ago saying they dropped out of the race because they had zero chance. >> why is the president and his supporters, why are they celebrating? does this help or hurt the white house defending the clashes with

both men, house republicans are trying to turn your attention to new investigations of obama and clinton. yes, it's true. let's begin with joe johns live at the white house. joe. >> good morning, chris. the white house has been stressing that in their view what has been happening on capitol hill is all good, and the president's tweets sort of keep going with that. the president indicating in his view that this is all about mid-term politics, and that senators jeff flake and corker were not going to be re-elected next year. here's the tweet. the reason flake and corker dropped out of the senate race is simple, they had zero chance of being re-elected and now act so hurt and wounded. the president also characterizing his important meeting on capitol hill yesterday with senate republican -- i will just read that one to you as well. he indicates the outside of flake and corker, it was a

lovefest withstanding ovations and great ideas for the usa, and it was largely positive, and there was a standing ovation and the senators shied away from conflict. and two senators very outspoken, and harsh and personal criticism to the president. >> there's time for our accommodation of the unacceptable to end. >> outgoing senator jeff flake denouncing president trump's policies and behavior as dangerous to democracy, and calling on his fellow republicans to do the same. >> when our next generation asks us, why didn't you speak up, what are we going to say? >> the undermining of democratic