about not when we expect to live to, but when we could live to. let's plan for income that lasts all our years in retirement. prudential. bring your challenges. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington, 8:00 p.m. in zimbabwe. and 12:00 a.m. thursday in daca, bangladesh. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. make or break. all eyes on president trump who has yet to speak up on the fate of senate candidate roy moore. as more republicans denounce moore, will trump call on moore to quit? the pressure builds. plus, jeff sessions, being floated as the answer to the seat in the u.s. senate. so if the attorney general leaves, what does it mean for the russia investigation? and hail mary. the republicans going for it all by targeting obamacare in their

tax bill. and there are new signs the risk might work. but up first, the waiting game. will president trump finally weight in on republican senate candidate roy moore of alabama. >> so far he's been silent. he told reporters he hasn't had much time to devote to the issue but mish mcconnell says he has talked to the president about the scandal and now mcconnell is flowing an interesting if not controversial fix to launch a write-in campaign for the former alabama senator jeff sessions who is now the u.s. attorney general. >> the name being most often discussed may not be available. but the alabamian who would fit that standard would be the attorney general who is totally well-known and extremely popular in alabama. that obviously is -- would be a big move for him and for the president. >> the second top republican in the senate, senator john cornyn has just come out in support of

this idea, as well. the move could potentially kill two birds with one stone. first, it could keep the senate seat in republican hands potentially, secondly, it could pave the way for a new attorney general one who could oversee the russian investigation instead of having to recuse himself or herself like sessions. there is a chance it could backfire though by splitting the gop ticket because as of right now, moore is showing it absolutely no signs of giving up. >> after 40 something years of fighting this battle, i'm now facing allegations and that's all the press want to talk about. but i want to talk about the issues. i want to talk about where this country's going and if we don't come back to god, we're not going anywhere. >> with pressure mounting for the president to speak, i want to go to senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny joining us from the white house. what's the thought process behind the president's silence

so far. >> reporter: good afternoon. president is definitely taking a wait and see approach on this, at least publicly. i'm told by a variety of officials here that he is closely watching this and they're closely watching the larger implications for what this means for control of the senate. that's, of course, why this is such a big deal. but he has had conversations with the senate majority leader and he is watching this. i am told he is waiting in one respect pore outside voices to weigh in and offer their view on this. one of those is sean hannity, the fox news program host, the conservative host talks to this president all the time. he yesterday gave judge moore 24 hours to make a decision or to better explain himself on this. so the president may weigh in on this today. he may not. aides here don't know. but he is watching this very carefully. i am told based on our reporting this morning that the jeff sessions write-in scenario is certainly one option.

but i'm told it is likely not a preferred option at least at this point. for one reason, jeff sessions is not interested in going back to the senate. of course, if the president asked him to, he always has that option and may follow suit on that. that is something that is seen as something that could divide the vote here. so the preferred scenario is for judge moore to step aside. of course,' we just heard he has not indicated a willingness to do that. we know steve bannon, the former chief strategist here at the white house the head of breitbart news who supported roy moore is still with him at this point. our colleagues jeremy diamond and dana bash and others are reporting steve bannon is still supportive of judge moore. but wolf, this is a fluid situation. we've not heard from the president on this topic. he's been tweeting about a variety of topics since waking up this morning here at the white house. he returned last evening from his trip to asia. i'm told we could expect to hear from him later on this afternoon

about his journey, as well, his trip. but that is not yet announced. that will potentially.coming. wolf, the president certainly watching this even though he's not talking about it as of now. >> we'll see if he does. all eyes are on the president on this very sensitive issue. jeff, thanks very much. i want to bring in our panel. david shallian, cnnfully director, can carobie cordero, former counsel to the assistenent attorney general. so doe republican lawmakers want the president to weigh in on this issue right now? >> they do, especially mish mcconnell would like the president's voice add into the notion moore should step away. republican lawmakers and operatives around town i've spoken to about this say the president's voice is going to be important. it may not be definitive for roy moore. he may stay dug in and not bow

out. while every republican senator are saying he needs to get out of this race, having the president adding his voice to that is something the republicans on the hill would like to see. >> mish mcconnell, john cornyn, the number two republican both want jeff sessions to give up his role as the attorney general of the united states and go back to what he used to do, be a united states senator from alabama and as a write-in candidate. is that realistic. >> you just heard jeff zeleny reporting that one of the options folks at the white house are looking at. by no means is that the only way some folks see their way out of this. mitch mcconnell said it in the sound bite. jeff sessions is known throughout all of alabama, much more so than luther vang. he has a deep relationship with the voters of alabama. having jeff sessions write in his name gives you a real shot at people being able to write in the name on the ballot. it's not easy to get people to write in on the ballot.

no matter whether roy moore stays committed to the race or he and the alabama state party decide to end the nomination, his name remains on the ballot. >> let's talk about the possibility. let's say sessions gives up, resigns as the attorney general, carrie. walk us through the process. then there would have to be a nomination for a new attorney general, presumably someone who wouldn't recuse himself or herself from the russia investigation from any special counsel being named to investigate hillary clinton and all of that. >> there's a lot of ifs then whats. but the first step would be if he resigned immediately there would need to be an acting attorney general. the question would be would that be the current acting attorney general rod rosenstein in which case he is supervising is the special counsel anyway and that would continue or a different acting could be announced. so in other words, they could have the current number three at the justice department rachel brand, the associate attorney

general could become the acting attorney general. then the next question is who would be nominated. it could be either of those two who could be nominated for the attorney general position or someone else entirely. >> as you know, david, the president has made no secret he has been disappointed in the current attorney general jeff sessions. he's tweeting about that, spoken about that, hated the idea that he recuse himself. so presumably the president would be happy if he were to go. >> right, imagine he's able to solve a lot of problems in one fell swoop. tell jeff sessions he really wants him to be the write-in candidate. he then gets rid of an attorney general where there's clearly no love lost between them. he would get to bring in somebody who may not have to recuse themself and full trump loyalist who would have overith from rosenstein. somebody would have oversight over the mueller investigation. >> more likely somebody who be nominated for that position who would not have to reduce

themself. if there was a hearing for a new attorney general, the first question that's going to be asked is are you going to fire the special counsel. i can't imagine a scenario where anybody who would be leaning towards getting rid of the special counsel would be able to be confirmed. but the president has also tweeted some nasty things about the current deputy attorney general. so i do think it's possible that they would look to the number three rachel brand instead of the deputy to come into that position. >> yeah, if there were a nomination for a new attorney general, the confirmation hearings before the senate, that could be lively indeed. >> every other questioner, namely a democrat would make it all about the russia investigation. >> we'll see if that happens. we're all waiting to see what the president has to say if anything. a lot of pressure on him to speak out finally on this issue. guys, thank you very much. carrie and david. let's get to the tax fight on capitol hill right now. senate republicans raising the stakes on tax reform by reviving the health care fight. the senate gop tax plan now

includes the repeal of the obamacare individual mandate. that's the requirement that individuals get health insurance or pay a penalty. republican supporters in both the senate and house agree on the need to get rid of it. >> so obviously, we're in favor of repealing the individual mandate but didn't want to needlessly complicate the passage of tax reform. we want to see the senate go first and see if they can get that done and then we'll discuss whether it's included at the end. >> you have pretty strong agreement among republicans we don't like the individual mandate. it's a tax directly on people that can afford it the least. in my state, 81% of the people that say the individual tax make less than $50,000 a year. this was a tax intended to push people to buy the product but landed on people that can afford it the least. it doesn't take away subsidies. individuals can still get full subsidies. we remove the tax penalty for

people that can't afford it. >> all right. let's take a closer look at the senate tax plan and what the repeal of the individual mandate as it's called would mean. jim is the tax and economics reporter for the "new york times" and with us right now. what would repealing the obamacare individual mandate mean for this entire tax bill? >> what it does is gives republicans more money to use in their bill revenue tax revenues to expand the amount of tax breaks they're give together middle class. $238 billion is what cbo says they would get because the government spends less money on health care. people sign up less for medicaid and pay out less in subsidies. more money. there are trickle through effects that happen to people on health care. their premiums go up as the market gets destabilized cbo says and 13 million people left uninsured. >> over the next ten years. >> that's a significant number. there would be several million in the first year potentially,

as well. >> what happens over the ten years is, this is the full amount and the number of people yes, go down. what's really going on here is a swap for the republicans in the bill. they are expanding middle class benefits at the expense of particularly middle and low income people on health care. >> talk about the middle class tax brackets in the senate bill right now. walk us through that. >> so this is part of what they do with that money. they reduce rates from 22.5% to 22%. from 25% to 24%. from 32.5% to 32%. also expanding the child tax credit up to $2,000 per child. what the goal is of each of these and the mechanics of it work is that middle class people pay a little bit less in taxes. they get larger breaks for having kids and again, that offsets some of the other things that go away. benefits for middle class people that go away in the bill like the state and local. >> these reductions relatively modest for middle class

families. >> right. the guess is that what this do is reduce the number of middle class families who see a tax increase under the bill particularly with the child tax credit. there are millions of families who looked like they might see their taxes go up. that number now is going to fall over the first several years of the plan. the other trick that's been tossed in is that all of these benefits sunset after the end of 2025. and so if congress doesn't reauthorize them, then all of those folks would see their taxes go back up again. >> tim tinkserly, thanks very much for that. one republican says that donald trump jr.'s secret communications with wikileaks is no big deal. but i'll speak with a democratic senator who strongly disagrees. plus new today, north korea launching a parade of threats at president trump calling him a mean trickster, a human reject and saying he'll pay dearly for insulting kim jong-un. harassment up on capitol hill. explosive allegations two current lawmakers are harassers

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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.

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a potential snack for democrats who want to see donald trump jr. called before congress for secretly corresponding with kick which leaks during the 2016 campaign. the chairman of the senate judiciary committee now says he doesn't think it's a big enough deal to warrant a public hearing. republican senator chuck grassley told cnn i'm yoeting minimum now, i read those e-mails. he only responded to two or three of them and they were very innocuous. i don't know why you would be asking about him if you read them. want to note that the

president's own cia director mike pompeo described wikileaks as a nonstate intelligence service often aided by state actors like russia. joining us ben cardin, the ranking member of the senate foreign releases complete. thanks for joining us. >> it's good to be with you. thank you. >> do you agree with senator grassley's assessment that donald trump jr.'s communicationings with wikileaks was not very significant? what's your analysis? >> not at all. first of all, we know that wikileaks has been working with russia in regards to what happened in our election. now we know there was communication between wikileaks and donald trump jr. about using the information of wikileaks. shortly thereafter, candidate trump issued a tweet in regards to wikileaks. this is more than just having information that's interesting. this is extremely troublesome and does require a congressional

hearing. > does it just require a congressional hearing or more? do you want the special counsel to be investigating anything look those lines? >> i'm certain that the special counsel is looking at this. mr. mueller has a reputation of being very thorough. i expect that is certainly a part of his investigation. yes, this goes to a complete investigation. this is information that is beyond just having one bit of information that doesn't connect. we now have connections. >> the attorney general jeff sessions, as you know, he was grilled for several hours yesterday by the house judiciary committee about inconsistencies in his earlier statements when it comes to contact between the trump campaign and russia. some of those questions tested his memory. listen to this. >> i do not recall such a conversation. i don't recall it. i don't recall. i don't recall it. i don't recall it. i don't recall it. i don't recall that.

i don't recall how that exact occurred. i do not recall. but i did not recall this event. i don't recall. i don't recall at this moment sitting here any such discussions. >> more than 20 times he couldn't recall certain specifics. he insists he always told the truth and i'm quoting him to the best of my memory and he blames his hazy memory on the chaos of the trump campaign. do you believe him? >> i can just imagine attorney general sessions as senator sessions hearing that testimony and how he would have responded. no, that's unacceptable. he has a responsibility to the respond completely to the questions. and the way that response took place is unacceptable. >> speaking of senator sessions as you know, the senate majority leader mish mcconnell has floated the idea of the attorney general jeff sessions becoming or giving up his position at the justice department and bookkeeping a write-in

alternative to the senate republican candidate roy moore who is facing an enormous sexual misconduct scandal. take a listen to this. >> the name being most often discussed may not be available. but alabamian who would fit that standard would be the attorney general who is well-known and extremely popular in alabama. that would be a big move for him and for the president. >> so senator, as you know, attorney general sessions had fallen out of favor with the president due to his decision to recuse himself from the entire russia investigation. now are you concerned at all about what might happen if sessions were to leave his post as attorney general and that there would be a new attorney general presumably would not necessarily have to reduce himself or herself from that oversight of the special counsel? >> first, the voters of alabama

will select the next united states senator. and we expect doug jones will get that nod very qualified person. >> he's the democratic candidate. >> he has an incredible background. we're expecting voters to make the right choice. in regards to attorney general sessions, there is no indication he's leaving office. we are very concerned about the white house interfering with the department of justice. we hear tones about that every day, most recent about requesting another special counsel in regards to hillary clinton. look, we want an independent department of justice. attorney general sessions did the right thing recusing himself. the mueller investigation must be given the confidence and credibility to complete its investigation without interference from the white house or from the attorney general. >> very quickly in an unrelated matter, senate republicans announces their revised tax plan will feature a repeal of the

obamacare requirement that all americans have health insurance or pay a mandate or a fine or a tax, whatever you want to call it. you sit on the senate finance committee. that's your reaction to this move? what's the prospect as far as you can tell that it will pass? >> it was added late last night. there's been no hearings obviously in our committee. we're being asked to take it up without any real consideration. we do know it will result in 13 million more americans losing health coverage, will not have insurance. we know that the premiums will go up for those in the individual marketplace by 10%. and we know that all of us will pay more because of uncompensated care for those who have no health insurance using our emergency rooms and not paying for their bills. this is really bad news from the point of view of what will happen to our health care system if this were to become law. >> thanks for joining us. >> thank you. president trump asking if the ucla basketball players released by china will thank him

after he asked the chinese president to intervene. so will had he? the players getting ready to speak moments from now. plus, north korea with new threats against president trump. and new insults involving his trip to asia. stand by for those details.

an old lunatic, a mean trickster, a human reject are some of the insults is north korea is now heaping on president trump today after he referred to the regime as a country ruled about a cult and a hell that no person deserves. and as if the rhetoric wasn't enough, north korea's state-run newspaper also published this

response to president trump. "he should know that he is just a hideous criminal sentenced to death by the korean people. he will be forced to pay dearly for his blasphemy any moment." joining us now someone who understands full well the threat north korea poses former ambassador to china under president obama max baucus. thanks very much for joining us. is that just rhetoric coming from north korea? is there a serious threat? how do you interpret it. >> it's unfortunate two the leaders of two countries insult each other so much. it's harmful. it's not helpful. i think it's mostly rhetoric but it doesn't happy create an environment nor dialogue. >> do you think it could escalate into actual tensions? because there's a nuclear tension that is escalating right now. >> that's correct. there's been a bit of a lull. kim jong-un has not fired off missiles or nuclear devices in

the last several weeks. second, president from south korea moon is scheduled to visit president xi in china next month. add to that, one of the top party envoys going to north korea. that's good. >> china is sending this emissary to north korea right now. that seeps like a positive move right now because there's been tension between china and north korea. >> that's right. i think china wants to keep the dialogue open, keep the channels of communication open. it's kind of tricky. china also wants to work with south korea a little bit but doesn't want to the offend south korea. >> maybe all the pressure president trump put on president x in china is paying off right now. >> it might. all these little lulls are helpful but for the tweet storm back and forth. >> the rhetoric is not good. you're right. it's been several months since there was a nuclear test or a ballistic missile test. that's encouraging although that

could change any day. so far it's encouraging. > you can't hold your breath on this stuff because governments of north korea and china are opaque. you don't know what's going on. when i was in china last week, it's very clear talking to chinese friends in the government and private sector china wants to play a responsible role generally and feeling their oats. compared with trump's perceived decline in the united states. they're feeling their oats. this may be an opportunity for china to exercise their leadership. >> it's interesting the president raced the issue of these these ucla basketball players arrested in china supposedly for shoplifting and they were released. they're back in los angeles right now. the president just tweeted do you think the three ucla basketball players will say thank you, president trump? they were headed for tep years in jail. clearly the president raised with president xi and these three players are free. >> that's the good news.

but i would like to see president xi do something more substantive. it's good he released three basketball players. that's good. there are existential issues facing u.s. with respect to china. its nuclear rifs in the peninsula and all the trade issues that apparently trump did not raise with any significant result. >> we'll see what he has to say. we're anticipating he will say something. he's propsing a major statement. we'll see. >> we'll see what it is. >> then we'll continue our conversation. ambassador, thanks very much for joining us. coming up, millions spent to settle sexual harassment claims up on capitol hill. guess who is picking up the tab in the u.s. taxpayer. what should they do to address the problem? our panel getting ready weigh in.

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lots of questions surrounding the fate of the alabama republican senate candidate roy moore. we're waiting to see if president trump weighs in on allegations of sexual assault against moore and what it would take for senate rons to expel moore if he were to win the election december 12th. moore would be sworn in, the majority leader mitch mcconnell would lead the charge to find him unfit for office. two-thirds of the senate would have to vote to remove him. then he would appoint an interim senator till a special election could be held. editor-at-large chris silly za and amber phillips from the "washington post" political blog, the fix. amber, what do you think? is the president going to step into the controversy? >> i think his silence suggests he doesn't know what he's going to do. the president is in a really

tough situation. if he decides to give rye moore the benefit of the doubt, he is on the other side of the rest of washington except for steve bannon right now. then there's also the issue of the president's own accusers. women who just like roy moore put out that your names on the record. dates, details of their stories. the president has said they are all lying. if he wants to say you know what, i think roy moore should go and join the rest of the republican party, he's got to explain why it's different. >> it's an awkward situation for him. >> i mean, the moral high ground will be a hard place for donald trump to seize here exactly to her point. why are all the women who accuse donald trump of things lying but roy moore's defense which is all these women are lying is somehow not acceptable. in some ways it highlights the hypocrisy happening here. mitch mcconnell very much pushing roy moore out did not try to push donald trump out amid all these allegations. he doesn't have a lot of good

options. i would say tonally and approach buys, i know he endorsed luther strange in that primary. he's more of a roy moore guy than he is a mitch mcconnell person. he views mcconnell as having given him bad advice to endorse luther strange to distinguish go to the state because he didn't think he could win. he has to say something. the reason we haven't heard anything yet is because he doesn't they don't know what to do. he has to say something. as the a gigantic be story. >> there's another story, allegations of sexual misconduct on capitol hill. listen to what democratic congresswoman jackie speier of california just said and then we'll discuss. >> in the last 20 years, there have been 260 settlements at a cost to the taxpayers of this country of $15 million.

th $15 million has been there to silence victims of all types of workplace discrimination. today we are here to change that. abusers and sexual predators have thrived in the shadows in our current system where all the power is deliberately taken away from the survivor. >> she's also suggested said there are two sitting members of congress who abused women. she has not named names. >> wow. is what i say to that. listen, i think that we've been in a moment in time for the past couple weeks or months where you've had heads of state accused of sexual harassment. giants of entertainment. besides roy moore this hasn't filtered to lawmakers till now. the reason for that is congress gets to write its own rules how sexual harassment is dealt with. as this congresswoman pointed out in vivid terms, lawmakers when they get accused of something and decide to settle,

it's very arduous for the victim to try to prove that point. they have to go through counseling and lawmakers don't have to pay anything. they don't have to pay a dime. it comes out of taxpayer dollars. >> this is $15 million. doesn't the public deserve to know where that went? >> number one, i'd urge people to read the piece by m.j. lee sundayly ser fatty on the rules amber referenced. these arcane rules on cnn.com. this is stunning. the rules feel like they're from 250 years ago in terms of how victims report and how that gets litigated out. >> victim heavy. >> the other thing is, how is this not a bigger story? $15 million of taxpayer money has been paid out to at least most of it as congresswoman spear said most they believe to silence or quiet sexual harassment accusations? congress? i mean, that's stunning. i would assume we're going to hear much more about this. i thought that hearing yids in which congresswoman comstock from northern virginia, a

republican, congresswoman spier told stories regarding elevators regarding staffers going to a home and members of congress disrobing. this is the stuff i cannot believe candidly, may be i'm naive, i cannot believe these things are happening. and again, these are our leaders. whatever you think of congress, these are people elected to lead the country. policy wise and by example. and so i think they need to start doing that. we need to see a transparent process by which this stuff is explained, the rules are made far less to amber's point far less sort of victim, the proof is on the victim. and i hope that this will shine a light on that because this is literally crazy, wolf, that the payments and stories coming out are crazy. >> we're going to be learning a lot more about this in the coming days, weeks and months. thanks very much. chris and amber. coming up, a cnn exclusive.

clarisa ward gets a firsthand look at the massacre unfolding in myanmar, what's being called ethnic cleansing. how refugee babies and families risk everything to escape. cnn is there. we'll be right back. strength y in just two weeks! i'll take that. -yeeeeeah! ensure high protein. with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. ensure. always be you.

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secretary of state rex tillerson says the myanmar refugee crisis is showing some signs of crimes against humanity. till ersan made the comments after a meeting with the leadering and song suu kui. he says he's not prepared to follow the u.n. in calling the situation "ethnic cleansing," adding this.

>> we're deeply concerned about credible reports of widespread atrocities committed by myanmar's security forces and by vigilantes who are unrestrained by the security forces during the recent violence in rakhine state. we're also distressed by the fact that hundreds of thousands of men, women and children have been forced to flee to bangladesh. >> no matter what you label the situation, the fact is a religious minority is being targeted in their homeland of myanmar. they are homeless, they are desperate, they are dependent on mercy from a world that has shoem them non. clarisa ward spoke to many risking everything to escape. >> reporter: at first light, you can see them dotted along the coastal road. homeless, stateless, huddled in the cool dawn. they are known as the most persecuted minority in the

world. the distance they have come is not far but the journey is long. for many, it begins on this river. that's myanmar on the other side. every day, hundreds of rohingya muslims try to cross it to safety. >> so we can see now coming towards the shore one, two, three, four, five, six different rafts all of them have at least 20 to 30 people on them. crudely made of plastic and bamboo and laden with whatever belongings could be salvaged. they're not welcome on this shore. the coast guard waves them further on. so we wade out to talk to them. [ speaking foreign language ] how are you? how many hours have you been on

the boat? since early in the morning? do you know how to swim? no one does. yet, the raft is full of children. of course, we are worried. look, she has twos babies, this woman tells us. the kids were practically slipping off the raft. the u.n. says that scores of rohinghya have died making this crossing, but that hasn't stopped them from trying. we can't follow them any further. so they drift on down the river unsure of what awaits them. their best hope is that they end up in one of these camps. that aid workers have called a massive slum in the jungle. bangladesh is struggling to cope. another 200,000 refugees are expected in the coming weeks.

for the rohinghya, life here is a constant battle. dignity is hard to come by. these are refugees with no refuge. as dusk approaches, we happen upon a group who made it to shore. they tell us they crossed at 2:00 a.m. to use the cover of night. where will you go from here? we will go wherever they will take us, she says. but whatever happens, we won't go back. dependent on the mercy of a world that has so far shown them none. clarisa ward, cnn on the bangladesh/myanmar border. >> and thank clarisa and her team for that really powerful report doing amazing work out there in the field. thank you search. more news we're following. he's 93 years old accuses of brutality, corruption and

luxurious living but now an apparent coup under way targeting the long time leader of zimbabwe. another story we're following, moments from now, three ucla basketball players released by china are set to speak out after president trump requests their praise. ♪ there's nothing more important than your health. so if you're on medicare or will be soon, you may want more than parts a and b here's why.

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and connect, as a family. just, uh one second voice guy. [ bloop ] huh? hey? i paused it. bam, family time. so how is everyone? find your awesome with xfinity xfi and change the way you wifi. major development, lets get to the political crisis unfolding in assault and battzi. they the denying this. the secretary is urging all sides to show restrengtaints ri now. david, up dade our viewers, what is happening and why it is happening right now.

>> reporter: what's happening is there is a strange feeling in neo-nazi zimbabwe. you got personnel carriers that we have seen throughout the city and government building and the presidential palace and militaries on the streets checking ids and clearly in control. no sign of police here. n now the military came out and gave a statement on national television saying this is not a coupe. everything we are seeing is they are defactor of control of this country, the u.s. embassy is closed. they're asking american citizens to hunker down and staying safe and it is a volatile situation. countries in the region especially south africa is scrambling to try to solve this situation paeeacefully.

it is all because factual fielgifiel fighting of the ruling party. robert mcgauthy has been ruling this country for so long. it is an eerie calm but tense, wondering what will happen to him and his wife, will they sent out of the country in the coming hour. it is a very, very tense situation here in neo-nazi m zimbabwe. >> david mackenzy is on the scene for us, we'll see what's going on. thank you very much for that report. >> an incident of sunglasses, shoplifting in china, the three

players are now back. we are standing by for a press conference as president trump makes clear once these three basketball players speak, he tweeted a while ago, he wants to get a thank you from them for getting them out. this is cnn's breaking news. >> all right, here we go. i am brooke baldwin, thanks for being here on cnn. the top two republicans in the u.s. senate are calling jeff sessions to be come the writing candidate for the senate race in alabama that's in guengulfed of scandal right now. president trump who have yet to weigh in on the case of roy moore. lets begin with our senior white house correspondent. the big question right now, now that the