analytic, a data firm hired by the trump campaign contacted wikileaks' founder to see if they had e-mails linked to the clinton campaign. and the request was rejected and then sent an e-mail to several people reeling he had e-mailed assange. a source tells cnn that nobody from the trump campaign was copied on the e-mail but the attempt is the closest known link between the trump campaign and wikileaks. you will recall that wikileaks was responsible for releasing hacked e-mails from the dnc the u.s. intelligence has said were stolen by russia and handed over to wikileaks through an intermediate airy. the trump campaign responded to the report stating once

president trump secured the nomination in 2016, one of the most important decisions we made was to partner with the republican national committee on data analytics, and we made the choice to rely on the data of the national committee to help elect president, donald j. trump. >> we see what is happening there. they are saying, if it's us, it's the rnc and look at them as well. so digging up dirt, we all know, that happens. working with somebody who might be working with a hostile foreign agent on some level, very different, legally and ethically. what do we know about how solid their story is? >> what we do know is that in reviewing some of the records, and some of the fec filings, we

found just after trump won the nomination, his campaign started a series of payments to cambridge analytica totaling $5 million. so it was more of a relationship than what was conveyed in that statement, and jared kushner also told "forbes" magazine, that after they won the nomination they kept going simultaneously, and by doing that we could scale to a pretty good operation. >> thank you very much. thank you for sharing all of that new reporting with us. president trump is blasting the democrats after it was revealed the dnc and the clintons helped to fund the dossier against him. he calls it a disgrace. joe johns is live at the white house with more. what you have learned, joe? >> reporter: good morning, alisyn.

the white house dealing with a new piece of the puzzle, and the president choosing to turn it around and focusing on how far the clinton campaign would go to get dirt on him. >> don't forget. hillary clinton denies this, she knew nothing, and all of a sudden we found out -- >> attempting to shift the narrative away from the russia investigation and on to hillary clinton, blasting her campaign's involvement in helping to fund the now famous dossier of allegations about trump and russia. >> well, i think it's very sad what they have done with the fake dossier. it was made up. i understand they paid a tremendous amount of money. >> mr. trump insisting that the dossier is fake, despite the fact that parts of it have been corroborated by the intelligence community. a source familiar with the matter tells cnn that clinton was not personally aware of the dossier until buzzfeed published the document earlier this year,

adding she was disappointed the research was not made public before she lost the election. the dossier was first bank rolled by republican foes during the primaries. >> i wonder who that might be? i think i know. >> the president also weighing in on the investigation launched by house republicans this year into the obama-era sale of uranium to russia while clinton was secretary of state. >> it was done so underhanded, and i think that's watergate modern age. >> russian nuclear officials reportedly send millions in donations to the clinton foundation around the same time as the deal, according to "the hill," and it's a claim that has not been substantiated and clinton called bologna.

and despite public criticism, president trump also insisting the party is united. >> i called it a love fest. standing ovations. there's great unity. >> mr. trump blaming the media for negative impressions people may have of him. >> i think the press makes me more uncivil than i am. i went to an ivy league college. i was a nice student. i did very well. i am a very intelligent person. >> again, defending his phone call with the widow of sergeant la david johnson. >> i was really nice to her. i respect her. i respect her family. i certainly respect la david, who by the way, i called la david right from the beginning,

and they put a chart in front, it says la david johnson. >> the white house did get some good news in the courts this week. a federal judge siding with the administration in a lawsuit filed by 18 states seeking to force the federal government to pay insurance subsidies to insurance companies. back to you. >> joe, appreciate it. joining us is adam schiff of california. congressman, thank you for joining us. >> thanks, chris. >> let's tick through headlines, shall we? this idea that the president's campaign may have been involved with an analytics company that reached out to wikileaks matters to you because? >> it's part of a pattern. we have the president urging the russians to hack hillary clinton's e-mails, and you then have the russians reaching out through intermediateairies, and you have operatives like peter

smith who are in touch with members of the trump campaign like mike flynn, also reaching out to the dark web, and then the leak where the data analytic arm of the trump campaign is reaching out to assange, somebody that our cia director is linked to the russians, and publishing material stolen by the russians, and so yes, it's part of filling out the picture of this relationship between the trump campaign and the russians. >> the president is pushing back and saying if you want to get at money being spent to dig up what is bad, look at hillary clinton.

because she was part of the funding it's proof that the dossier is pwobogus, which make the investigation, bogus. >> cnn, you all reported in january that this dossier hired christopher steele, and it was later taken over by the democratic party. this is not a new revelation, although it's the first revelation of the dnc taking it over -- >> and hillary clinton. >> and here you have one -- you have the other campaign learning about it, and wanting to find out is their opponent in league with the russian government's intervention or election? i would want to know that. i think any opponent would want

to know if their opponet is getting assistance from a hostile power, and that's something you would want to undertake. when the clinton campaign acknowledged or didn't acknowledge its role in funding that, i can't speak to. the key thing for us is how much of this dossier is true? we have been able to corroborate parts of it. interestingly, christopher steele, this former mi-6 officer, may have recognized and known the russians were intervening on behalf of one of the u.s. presidential candidates before our own agency knew. and they were not relying on the dossier to do that. i think this is a bit of an effort to discredit christopher

steel efrpbl steele and the dossier, and they are basically calling this all a hoax. it just doesn't add up to me. >> those are the same words he used but in a different context by the head of your committee, devin nunez. let's play what he has been saying about what he thinks doesn't add up. i will just pause for dramatic effect. he believes there's a lot of bogus nature going on here, and maybe it involves the fbi and using this dossier and unverified information to obtain warrants against american citizens, including now the president of the united states. what do you make of his allegations? >> this is more of carrying the message for the white house, that's the message the white house wants to convey. the bottom line is did the russians intervene in the

election. the answer is yes. did they make outreach to the campaign, and the answer is yes. and did the trump campaign reach out to the russians, and i think that is a yes. was there an agreement to collude? and what matters is what did the russians do? what affect did it have on our election, and the russians continue to intervene in our democracy. >> what do you know about any warrants that might have been obtained on the basis of the unverified information in the dossier? >> i can't speak to what warrants may or may not have been obtained. what i can tell you is that the key thing from an investigative point of view is not who began the dossier or what do we think about christopher steel efrpbe,

rather what are we able to prove on the russian intervention, and we learn more every day in terms of the russians hacking and dumping, and their social media operation and the issue of the connections between the russian government and the trump campaign, and that's really what we need to get to the bottom of. i think, chris, at the end of the day, what this is about is a technique you see often in criminal cases where the facts are really bad for the defendant, and there's an effort to put the government on trial. mr. nunez and the president want to put the government on trial because they don't want to look at the facts implicating the white house -- >> that's troublesome when the man ahead of the investigation is the head of the committee. >> it's problematic, chris. he had committed to stepping aside and recusing himself from the investigation, but has not done that.

so that is a real problem that we have to grapple with every day. >> when do you think we will see what you guys have? >> i can't say. you know, i think the investigations have a natural flow in the sense that in some points they are at a phase where you are learning more and witnesses are telling you more and you are gathering more documents, and we are still in that phase, and we begin to narrow the issues you are looking at and reach a conclusion, and we feel a real sense of urgency about this, and the american people want to know and we want to be able to tell them, but we don't want to prematurely and on a political timetable say we will finish by x date, and i think the white house would love that and they are pressuring us to do that, but we can't give an incomplete report if they are going to have confidence. >> new life has been bumped into

the kwraouranium one story, and committee has oversight into looking into that investigation. what are your questions? >> you know, here's the problem. this looks a lot to me like a investigation like benghazi. clinton is no longer the presidential candidate or secretary of state, and there's more interest in what happened seven years ago with secretary clinton than the russian investigation, and that's by design. i don't think we can do a good investigation if it's begun in bad faith like this one. as we saw in benghazi, when you

lead an investigation with a bipartisan reason, and i am not sure why we are relitigating this all over again. it's much like the situation with benghazi and that is the goal was to prove that hillary clinton intervened to decrease the security in benghazi and we could never prove that because it was not true, and now there's an effort to show this deal -- >> there's no doubt there's political stink all over these investigations, and people are wondering how much clarity will come out of it. we are out of time but i don't care, and i need you to tell me we are looking at the military force. >> i appreciate you looking into this.

we have been introducing amf after amf, and i think it's a real dereliction of our duty, and we didn't pass one in the obama administration, and now we have a commander-in-chief -- >> you also have dead troops because of an advise and assist situation that all of you guys seem to condone in terms of being benign when they are not, and we keep hearing everybody is onboard, like you just stated, so tell me who is not in favor? do it off camera, get it on the phone so we know who to chase down because it's not happening for a reason. >> i will tell you who is not in favor, the speaker of the house is not in favor because he could make the decision tomorrow, we are going to bring the authorization to use force tomorrow to the floor, and it's as simple as that. he has the power to do it. the chairman of the committees have the power to do it.

they are making an effort to point fingers in the opposite directions but at the end of the day the speaker has to take responsibility because the speaker can say next week we are voting on that but he is not bringing it to the floor. >> we'll start there. speaker ryan, you heard what the congressman said, what is your response? >> he can hear you. we are following breaking news right now because cnn learned the democratic senator, cory booker and republican senator, lindsay graham, will take the stand in defense of bob menendez. menendez is facing federal praoe praoe praoeub recharges. former president george h.w. bush is responding to allegations by an actress

accusing him of sexual assault. she describes an incident during a photo op where the president touched her inappropriately from his wheelchair. a second statement, at age 93 president bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five years. his arms fall on the lower waist of people. some have seen it as innocence, and others view it as inappropriate. to anybody he has offended, president bush apologizes most sincerely. this conversation just continues. here's more sexual harassment news. mark halperin is leaving nbc news after cnn uncovered

accusations of sexual harassment by five women. nbc releasing a statement saying we find the stories and allegations very troubling. mark halperin is leaving his role as a contributor until the questions about his past conduct are fully understood. halperin gave an apology, and he says his behavior was inappropriate. this conversation continues. every day there's some sort of revelation and people having to respond to it. >> not all allegations are equal, though. >> true. >> and then warning african-american travelers to exercise caution when flying with american airlines. four examples are black passengers who say they were forced to give up their seats or removed from flights. the ceo of american airlines says he's disappointed about the

naacp warning and reached out to set up a meeting. >> we are learning more about what happened in the hours leading up to the deadly ambush in niger that left four soldiers dead. why did some parts of their mission change? we have a live report for you from niger, next. well watch this. i pop that in there. press brew. that's it. look how much coffee's in here? fresh coffee. so rich. i love it. that's why you should be a keurig man! full-bodied. are you sure you're describing the coffee and not me? do you wear this every day? everyday. i'd never take it off. are you ready to say goodbye to it? go! go! ta da! a terrarium. that's it. we brewed the love, right guys? (all) yes. another day at the office. why do you put up with it? believe it or not you actually like what you do. even love it. and today, you can do things you never could before. you're working in millions of places at once with iot sensors.

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you know win control? be this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy! oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender. (vo) go national. go like a pro. there are new details emerging about the mission in niger that killed four u.s. soldiers and injured others.

the troops were gathering intelligence. we know that. we now know that it was intelligence on a suspected top-level terrorists that had a code name, nailer road. that won't mean anything to any of us. it gives us an understanding why they were there when they were ambushed. the first network on the ground there, very important to have you there, david. what you have learned? >> reporter: chris, yes, what we learned is that the high-level target they were after was not in that specific area at the time, but they were gathering that intelligence. it appears based on our sources that it came from a group linked to isis, a group that broke away from the militant groups in this area, pledging allegiance to isis some years ago, and it really points to the complexity of the conflict going in the

region. where i am standing, a few hours to the border region, anybody you speak to here will say that's an intense area and there have been multiple attacks on nigeren forces in that area, and it leads to the question why was this gauged as a low-threat operation of the green berets and other special forces. and also getting word from the french defense ministry several years ago there was a on the ground assault from militants, and that's not directly linked to the ambush, it shows the situation. >> joining us now, republican congressman adam king lurer.

what are your questions about what went wrong in niger? >> we want to know the details of what happened. i think that's going to be information that comes out. the military is being smart to say let's get all the information before the report comes out. what i think we have to be careful of -- as a military guy, i can say this, too. we like to jump to conclusions. what people need to understand, special forces, specifically green berets, the reason they are so good at what they do and the reason they have so much train something because their job is to go into a place unsupported and to help native troops of that country be a strong partner in terms of fighting al qaeda, or they have done it in south america in terms of fighting drug lords and everything else, and they are specifically used in tough areas

unsupported to do this good work. while we do need answers, that's 100% sure, and we need to quickly understand, though, this is their job, to do very difficult things and it's unfortunate we think about them when something like this happens. >> i want to play for you what president trump said yesterday about this mission and whether or not he authorized it. listen to this. >> it's a dangerous business. i have to say, it's a dangerous business. so -- no, i didn't. not specifically. i have generals that are great generals, and these are great fighters and warriors. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> i gave them authority to do what is right so we win. that's the authority they have. i want to win. >> i am interested on your take, president trump said all along he wants the generals to have more autonomy, and not having to wait for permission for things, but should the commander-in-chief take responsibility for missions like this? >> it's one thing to say the

buck stops here from that perspective, so yes, ultimately every decision really rests with the president. i think the president was technically correct in saying he didn't authorize the mission, not that he was passing blame to other generals, but if a president has to authorize every mission he would never get around to authorizing all the missions that need authorizing. this is a low-grade world war iii, and it's happening everywhere, and that's what happens when you have a group and a cancer like isis or al qaeda. while that's technically correct, frankly and as a military guy, look, when you have decisions closer to the battlefield, so basically the lower they have to crawl up the chain of command, the more effective the decisions are and timely they are.

>> let's move on to a different topic, and that's russia sanctions. as you well know, congress passed legislation about this. the president signed it, somewhat begrudgingly. it was reported. but the deadline for these to go into effect was october 1st, and now it's the 26th. what is the hold up? >> over the last couple of days something i found out was not happening, and this is breaking news to me a little bit, but we are going to do a lot of enquiring into this. i think a lot of folks are. this will get done. i think there should be no doubt when the will of congress, the house and the senate says we must sanction russia for the involvement of attempting to influence our election of us and any western countries, this should get done, and we don't know the details. maybe there's a technical reason, but, look, this will get done, have no doubt. >> is it up to the white house to implement it?

>> yeah. look, when you pass something it may take time for that to happen, and maybe our deadline was too short. i don't know the answers. i will be real clear. this will happen. you cannot violate the will of the house and the senate. >> unity, what do you rate it? >> it's a ten. we are having an open food fight right now and it's embarrassing if you are a republican to watch this stuff happen, but it's not going to change my mission out here, which is to make america stronger domestically, and it's not fun to wake up every morning and see a new spat going on in our party. >> with the food fight, just duck, that's the general advice. >> good one. thank you. >> thank you. take care. it's a ten the way the response to puerto rico is a ten. by the way, that place is still in crisis. we are not going to forget about

it. new information raising questions about how far the clinton and the trump campaigns were willing to go to get dirt on each other, but there are also big differences in what was going on and big differences in the implications. we are going to talk with journalist and author thomas friedman, next. watch me. ♪ i've tried lots of things for my joint pain. now? watch me. ♪ think i'd give up showing these guys how it's done? please. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are changing the way they fight it... they're moving forward with cosentyx®. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. it's proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. don't use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms of an infection.

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there's a new window in politics. guess what? it's ugly. we are learning more about what both campaigns, the clinton campaign and trump campaign were doing to get dirt on the other. and joining us, an author, his "new york times" best-seller "thank you for being late" is available in paperback so you can get it. nobody says it and means it. remind us, quickly, why should i read that book? >> because i think it has a lot to do to explain what is

underlying our politics right now, and that's that we are in the middle of three accelerations of all-time, and the market, mother nature and moore's law. the market is digital globation, and mother nature is climate change, and speed of technological change. what it's doing is changing the educational requirement of everybody, and we could go to a four-year college and then it's over, and that's over, and today you have to be a life-long learner, and you have to go back to school constantly, because the country is built by people who we told them what to do and they did it well, they built our country. doing what you are told now is not enough. i have a quote in the paperback from an educational specialist, never ask your kid today what you want to be when you grow up, because it will be gone later

unless it's a police or fireman. will you be predisposed to being a life-long learner? that's a huge challenge for people, and it's one of the things in society now, so when somebody comes along and says i will stop the wind, you will not have to learn about the life-long learning stuff, i will bring back your coal job, and that's not a surprise to me. >> what are we seeing with corker and flake? you can look at it in the microlevel. what are the fractures in the gop? who are they? how strong is the base? what does that mean? you look at the polls and get your answer, and the reason you are only hearing from people who are leaving is because the president is strong in his party, and if you go against him you may not get re-elected, and this is one active enemy, the president. where are we in terms of who we are and what we value? >> that's a good way to put it.

there are three debates about that. there's a debate, first of all, in the republican party. who is the republican? bannon is trying to redefine the republican party around nationalism and protectionisms, and he's up against mcconnell and ryan who say we are about the pro-business party, and then there's a fight between traditional democrats and traditional republics, we want tax reform and you don't, and so the first one is -- >> we want to score a win, and you juan utwant to make sure it balanced budget. >> what is a republican? the second one is what is a democrat? the third debate, though, chris, which i think is the most important is who are we as a country, and what corker -- what flake, what other republican critics have been about, and also about as many democrats and plain folks are worried about is who are we as a country when we

have a president undermining the two central pillars that define our democracy, truth and trust. we have a president that comes out every day and lies about something and undermines truth. how can we have a democracy when the man in the bully pulpit is lying as he breathes, that's one challenge. how can we have trust, which is a requirement of democracy when we have a president that wants to be president of his base and is basically dividing the country every day? that's the third debate going on. it's disturbing a lot of people like myself and it has people like corker and flake literally leaving the republican party and saying not interested in the first or second debate with bannon or the democrats, and we see a fundamental threat to our system, and that's what george w. bush was saying and mccain was saying in the speeches. >> there's a problem, and it's a

c context will division. trump did not start the fire. the second thing is, they like what he says. who is "they "? i was raised by a man that spoke only to these people, and so i am familiar with this. how it shifted from a democratic tendency to a republican one is a discussion for a different day. the president seized upon something that was real. has he exacerbated it? fair criticism and fair argument. when you have people that represent the problem, represent the thing that is not trusted, when you have the bad guy telling you this guy is criticizing the bad guy, it's not a good thing. you lose the people. that's my concern. who is going to bring us together. people don't trust politicians. that's what is benefiting the president. >> i think there are two

questions here. one is when people say this is what the base wants. here's what worries me. if i know anything about your dad, he had more than a first paragraph. he -- >> he had 100. that's why i never wanted him on television. >> he had a second and third paragraph. what do i mean by that? when i listen to trump on trade or bannon attacking globalist and elitists and pushing all the protectionist policies. what is your alternative economic tax policy that is actually going to deliver for these people you say are hurting in the real world? can you show me an example of a country pursuing it? north korea, is that what we look like? if not north korea, which one? why do i say that? i spent a couple days in london. you go to london today and you see what happens when they say that's what people wanted and they have no second graph. they wanted brexit, and they wanted to disconnect in a

connected world. and boris johnson and all of those people were out there saying our health care system is going to get rich and it's going to be no problem, and we will get everything we want. bor boris johnson had no second paragraph. you go to london today and they are in a mess and have no idea what to do. there was no second paragraph. ask bannon, what is your second paragraph. show me the policy that will deliver the people, and you are telling me they want the red meat from trump. the red meat, sometimes, you have to have the rest of the meal. you throw people red meat and they love it and then what comes next? these people have no second paragraph. we saw that trump said i will give you the greatest health care in the world, and he got in and said to congress, give me a health care bill, he had no idea. >> so far he has a good defense, which is the kitchen is broken. your points are always right on

target. thank you for making us better. >> that's a really good conversation, but i have to interrupt it for sports. the dodgers and astros facing off in one of the most dramatic world series games in recent memory. the epic 11th inning finish to game two next in "bleacher report."

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>> good morning, alison. this "bleacher report" brought to you by the new f-150 ford. the drama from the ninth inning on was just incredible. the astros tying the game in the ninth by a solo home run, and then they took the lead with back-to-back home runs, and then the dodgers weren't done. they tied the game on this single by kike hernandez. and then to the 11th, george springer, the hero for the astros hitting a two-run home run. the astros get the epic win, 7-6 to even the series at a game a piece. the fall classic going to move to houston for game three tomorrow night. first pitch just after 8:00 eastern. chris, the eight home runs in game two, a world series record. also, this is the first time in any post season game ever there was five home runs in extra

innings. it was an incredibly exciting game. >> who wins, handsome? >> i have the astros in six. i am an astros fan, and i think it's our time. >> as biassed as you are good looking. thank you. now to an incredible story of two sisters, both addicted to opioids. one of them eventually got hooked on heroin, which is not unusual. the president is preparing to declare a public health emergency. could a plant help and be a curb to this crisis? next. i want ycome on mom!t easy. go slow. ♪

let's go! ♪ mom! slow down! for the ones who keep pushing. always unstoppable. accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war, and of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations

that report the truth. if that isn't a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president, then what has our government become? i'm tom steyer, and like you, i'm a citizen who knows it's up to us to do something. it's why i'm funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. a republican congress once impeached a president for far less. yet today people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger who's mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. and they do nothing. join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing what's political and start doing what's right. our country depends on it. to find smarter solutions. to offer more precise and less invasive treatment options than before. like advanced genomic testing and immunotherapy.

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fomy doctor recommended ibgard. abdominal pain and bloating. now i'm in control of my ibs. nonprescription ibgard- calms the angry gut. now. cnn learned president trump is expected to announce today the nation's opioid crisis is a public health emergency.

addicts are desperate for a solution. sanj sanjay gupta has more on this. >> throwing up, diarrhea. your will to live in gone. >> withdrawal from opioid drugs. many will tell you you continue to use because after a while it's no longer about getting high, it's to chase away the feeling you are about to die. for patricia, it all started four years ago wifor abdominal pain. >> i was taking a high dose of pain medication. i had to get on pain management. >> every month they say how are you? i say, i'm still in a lot of pain. add this to it.

this patch. >> patricia's younger sister also had abdominal pain, and she has five operations including a he he hysterectomy. within months two sisters, lisa and patricia, were both addicted to opioid painkillers, but things would soon turn more desperate for patricia. >> every time they would give me more, my body would get immune to it. if i did not have it, i would get real sick. >> so what did you do? >> there was a guy that i worked with, his wife had a lot of them and she didn't take them so he would sell me, so if i ran out i still had some. >> one day that same guy didn't have any pills. offered up a cheaper alternative.

heroin. >> and the rest, as they say, is history. the rest went downhill from there. >> she called asking for more money for heur wroin, and i tolr i would not send you money for drugs, but i will send you crateam. lisa new from personal experience. >> the reason i started taking it is because i didn't want to with draw. i had no idea it would help me with the pain like it did. >> we believe this could be a solution to -- or part of a solution to the opioid crisis we are currently in. >> a handful of scientists are studying the plant. >> i don't see anything that

rivals or what comes close to the plant to serve as a potential treatment. >> in the u.s. it's banned in six states and the dea considers it a drug of concern over worries of potential addiction and some reported deaths. that concern is because it's not regulated and has been mixed with other drugs. >> definitely there needs to be regulatory measures put into place with this plant material, but there's a huge wealth of annic tkoet annual evidence out there, and some scientific that there's potential for this plant. >> you may wonder why others and big companies have not investigated it. part of the problem. it's a plan the. that means nobody can patten it. >> there's no company to pursue developing this into a drug.

>> how does this look now, your family, all your teenage kids that you have? >> it looks beautiful. i have hope. >> how confident are you that you won't go back to heroin? >> never fully confident. it's a powerful, powerful drug. i think as long as i have cradum, as long as i can get it, i will never go back. >> it's astonishing i have never heard of it. i am in the news business and i know lots of people that struggle with addiction, and so is it -- would this be a cure for addiction? >> well, it's interesting. this is something that we come across quite a bit in that you have something out there that shows a lot of promise but for various reasons it's not even studied adequately, alisyn. you don't have data on this sort of thing.

for hundreds of years it has been used in other countries and the scientific community here is paying more attention and because it's not regulated, there are reports it's cond contaminated from other products, and what astonished me is just how much evidence there has been that makes this worthy of further study, regulation, so people can buy a product that has data behind it and they know is safe. that's the key, i think, going forward with cradum. >> we don't know what the answers are, but we have to keep asking the right questions. cnn "newsroom" with poppy harlow and john berman will pick up right after this break. it was tough getting out there on stage. i wanted to be clear. i wanted it to last. so i kept on fighting. i found something that worked. and keeps on working. now? they see me. see me.

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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> good morning, i am john berman. >> i am poppy harlow. we begin this hour with breaking news this morning. what is not going to happen, we have learned, after months of promising he will declare the opioid in the country a national emergency, the president will not do that today as expected. he will call it a public health emergency. >> this is a significant step. but it's different than what he said would happen. joe johns at the white house with us this morning. what you have