streaming into china. they're afraid if they were to collapse that would happen. >> right. and they would lose what is, you know, an ally for china. >> a very dangerous situation indeed. thanks very much for that. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in ""the situation room."" erin burnett out front starts right now. >> breaking news, trouble on the senate floor. the gop tax bill facing last minute unexpected problems. are they enough to derail it completely? plus public shaming. the white house leaks word of rex tillerson's ouster. is the secretary of state on borrowed time. and a border patrol agent that the president is using. he is right or wrong on the facts? we investigate tonight. good evening. out front tonight, the breaking news, 11th hour drama and it is drama. trouble unfolding as we speak on

the senate floor. lawmakers hours away from this big vote on a tax reform fwhal would completely change the american tax system as we know it. and unexpected serious and dramatic problem, senators rushing to negotiate final details and moments ago the republican senator bob corker there on the floor raising a major issue with the bill. specifically with the so-called trigger. what the trigger would do is basically raise taxes if the economy doesn't grow as quickly as the bill anticipates. so it's an automatic thing. if the numbers don't come in right, guess what the taxes go back up. corker's republican colleagues including senator pat toomey of pennsylvania have become frustrated with corker. this is all playing out on your screen. all of this undoubtedly reaction to the analysis released hours ago by the bipartisan joint committee on taxation. this study shows that the bill would add a trillion dollars to the american deficit over ten years. trillion dollars is a huge blow to the republicans and the trump administration. who, of course, promised again and again and again this bill

will pay for itself. just listen to the treasury secretary. he talked about the president's tax plan. >> not only will this tax plan pay for itself but it will pay down debt. >> so pay for itself and then extra money to pay down the trillions of dollars in debt. so it is shocking when it comes out that it's going to cost a trillion dollars never mind one of those things. so what is the secretary talking about? it's hard to say. "the new york times" is reporting that his own treasury office of tax policy does not have a report to back the bosses claims up. which is pretty amazing. we're hours before the senate could vote on legislation that will impact every single taxpayer in america and lawmakers do not have the report from treasury that backs up the most fundamental claim. dianne feinstein tweeting, we may vote on the republican tax bill tonight. we don't have a final bill or a treasury department analysis. this is outrageous. bill mattingly is out front from capitol hill. phil, obviously this is an 11th

hour drama that is playing out. where does the debate stand? >> it's unexpected and very serious. you set the stage perfectly. to provide context here, why the senators were on the floor is to vote for a the kraic amendment that was largely considered pro forma. republicans walk in, vote against it, walk out. it wasn't expected to be problematic at all. it turned into a major scene inside the well of the senate. i'm told from several aides that senators not named bob corker are furious now. one that it happened publicly and so problematic to the bill. you talked exclusively about what the trigger is. here are the issues. first and foremost, the trigger won't fly with the budget rules that are required under the process the republicans are working under. so that is flnow out the door. the other is that jct report. they said the modelling is wrong and say any number of different things. bob corker has not. several aids telling me seized on this issue. not only does he want tax increases, some type of tax increases to be in this bill, he now wants more money than he want wld he was drafting the

triger in the first place. here are the options right now. i'm told there are several, erin. one of them is possibly increasing the corporate tax rate. they would bring down to 20% after six years. stepping it up on a basis of .5% over the next couple of years. the other option is perhaps reinstituting the amt. both on the corporate and individual side. then there is another option too. lose bob corker. i think the big issue right snou there were three senators that wi withholding votes on the floor. jeff flake, also a deficit hawk was with bob cork eastern ron johnson. we talked about before wants him more expanded tax cut for past through entities. problem is those two issues run head long into each other. if you want to address senator johnson's issues, you have to add more money. if you add more money, you have serious problems with bob corker and jeff flake. what republican leaders are doing right now behind the scenes, drafting multiple options to see if there is a way forward. the key point here is senate republican leaders this morning were talking about the

possibility of finishing this bill, final vote, get through the vote around everything by the end of the day. that is very clearly not on the table right now. instead, they're back to the drawing board on one of the most central pieces of their entire plan and they are actively considering raising taxes on americans in a republican proposal. that is something that would be like any republican and yet right now that's at least one of the issues they're left with. >> all right. phil, thank you very much. explaining the details. so here's the thing. everything -- it's hard to overstate how much this matters to the president. if he doesn't get this legislative victory, it is a massive failure. he needs it. we're out front at the white house. sarah, now the president obviously seeing this drama play out. the white house says he's been working the phones. but this is unexpected for the president as well. >> well, that's right, erin. i think that's part of the reason we were talking to senior white house aides today. they said the president feels good about this. we're feeling positive about the direction that things are going. we think we're going to get the

votes. nobody's popping champagne corks in the west wing and that's because they have seen major pieces of legislation go down before. they remember the lessons of health care. they remember what it feels like to be close to a victory and have it snatched out from underneath you. so that is exactly what they were afraid of happening when it comes to tax reform. now we know the president has been a little upset lately. we have seen his twitter feed. we have seen him lashing out. we seen him tweeting andy muslim videos, going after news executives. he's getting some advice from his allies. they're saying, look, you need to calm down, you need to stay focused on tax reform. most importantly, you need to not give anyone a reason to want to vote against you at this point. that is the advice he is getting. so why is the president still stug? he feels like he's not getting credit for any of his accomplish ments. you can check out the twitter feed to see him tweeting about the stock market, the economy, trying to get more support and, of course, more applause for what he thinks he has done

right. >> thank you very much, sarah. i want to go now to rick santorum from pennsylvania. our senior political commentator and gene sperlg, speakersperlin. now we have the drama. oftentimes you see them and say okay, they'll figure it out. the track record thus far is there is huge failures. they're going to figure this out or not? >> oh, yeah. obviously, there is ligit drama. they're tl are serious issues here. but there is no doubt in my mind that there will be 50 votes whether it's late tonight or whether it's tomorrow. there will be 50 votes to pass a bill out of the united states senate. and the one thing that i think you need to pay attention to is the two names and the people that are the most problematic right now, bob cork easteer and flake. throws are the two people that the president has gone after and

attacked. you can say that had nothing to do with the other, maybe it didn't. but neither of them feel a particular affinity to the president that they have to do something to help him. both of them are now leaving office. in part because of president trump's opposition to them. president trump has to understand that there are consequences to some of the things he does, particularly within his own party in alienating people come the very crucial votes. neither of these folks should be where they are right now. whether they lose both of them or not, i don't know. i think ron johnson will get back onboard. i think they'll have the 50 votes to do it. i know they're working both of those issues. but there is a problem that is in part created by this administration. >> and, gene, what is your take? i know certainly you would agree with the senator's analysis of that. do you agree this will get done? they'll get there? >> look, i think we're watching a fierce battle between desperation on one hand and incompetence and irresponsibility on the other side.

and, you know, it's possible desperation might win. but it's nothing to be proud of. i mean, erin, let's just step back. you guys have all given great analysis so far. but let's just remember they are by design increasing the deficit by $1.5 trillion. no party, not when rick santorum and i were sevenirving together one ever thought through that. even in the face of that, they design a plan that would raise taxes or give no tax cut to virtually 80% of americans by 2027 when it's fully implemented? ien into is fair why are they in this situation? because they built a tax plan, a tax strategy on a fundamental lie. if they give hundreds of billions of dollars, deficit increase to the major corporations that somehow that is going to lead to wage increases when over the last 16 years we've seen corporate

profits go do near record levels and the percentage of that money going to employee compensation, going near record low levels. >> so let me ask you about that, senator. that is the core of this, right? if you're going to say i don't believe the trillion dollar deficit number. you're going to say -- >> i don't. >> then you have to be betting on the -- >> by the way, president obama put together the stimulus package. nobody offset that. that was added to the deficit. and here gene sperling and others complaining about deficits. >> how many wrongs make a right. >> that wasn't a wrong. that was a deep recession. >> they suggest it's government spending and what republicans are saying is, no, we need to unshackle this economy and we need to release lt -- >> what are you going to -- the whole bet is we're going to cut the corporate tax rate. that's the core of this. >> it is. >> and then the money is going to come home. they'll have a lower tax collate is liar thhigher than a lot of

countries and they're going to increase it to wages. senator, why? why would they do that? >> if you create more economic growth and more jobs, you're in an economy that is already starting to see for the first time in 20 years as gene pointed out wages beginning to come up. why? because president has done something about immigration. the president actually been in a position where he is trying to say, look, we need labor markets that work for wage earners, not just salaries employees. i think the combination of trade and immigration and now more economic growth. >> what about what he had to do with immigration which is unskilled labor which stopped because of the slowdown? >> you have unemployment rates at 3%. >> almost fuel employmell emplo. we've seen illegal immigration come into the country soaking up a lot of the other jobs. they are low skilled workers. that's you see wages going up. we don't have as much of an

influx of workers coming into this country. >> gene? >> first of all, the one thing donald trump has done right is follow barack obama. because he inherited a strong economy. >> what about the immigration point though, gene? do you give that to the senator? >> i give him absolutely nothing. wages were already going up. the idea -- you no he what would lep wi help with wages is if you had more people undocumented right now feeling they had a path to citizenship and come out of the shadows. that would help wages go up. that's what would help. but the real issue is that there is no connection here. it's got to be embarrassing for rick santorum to have to defend a plan that raises the deficit by $1.5 trillion that even after you have aggressive optimistic dynamic scoring still has the official score keepers as of tonight saying it's going to increase the deficit by a trillion dollars. and, yet, it's still by a time it's fully implemented, raises

taxes on most middle income americans. >> i'll leave it there since the senator began the conversation. he would like to get a comment. but we'll go that way for fairness. thanks to both. and next, speaking of embarrassment, president trump publicly shaming his secretary of state on purpose. he is trying to humiliate rex tillerson to quitting because he's afraid of firing him? plus, it's now confirmed. a former senate investigation launch flood al franken's alleged misconduct, there are five accusers and the white house saying the president likely didn't know that he was retweeting a white nationalist group whether he promoted three anti-muslim videos. how many times do they have to give that same excuse? we're out front. well, like most of you, i just bought a house. -oh! -very nice. now i'm turning into my dad. i text in full sentences. i refer to every child as chief. this hat was free. what am i supposed to do, not wear it?

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the president trying to publicly shame the secretary of state. a source telling cnn that white house purposely circulated a story today that president is considering replacing rex tillerson with cia director mike pompeo to express the president's displeasure with tillerson. he was asked directly about there today and here's his answer. >> do you want rex tillerson on the job, mr. president? >> he's here. rex is here. >> we're out front at the state department. and michelle, look, the president tillerson hasn't had the most cozy relationship.

last month at a press conference to deny reports that he called trump a moron. but obviously you would think if trum health care plan real problems or wanted to talk to him in private, that is not how this president works. will tillerson take the bait? >> i don't think that white house feels that tillerson deserved that. it is clear that they wanted to do this in this way because of those simmering tensions that clearly now did not go away. and tillerson doesn't have a choice now. i feel like the choice he really has is to either go quietly, we know he's been a man of few words. or to go loudly and do something like give an interview where he publicly reacts to. this but a source close to the white house says that, yes, this was a narrative that was finally put out by the white house to express that extreme displeasure over tillerson and his tight inner circle. they're not now considered to be staunch trump supporters. and this source acknowledged that this is a public shaming of

tillerson and the goal is to wait for limb to "punch out" and that clock is ticking. i did ask, you flow, isn't this a sad way of doing things? and the response was, is it though and tillerson should have seen the writing on the wall. so nobody wants to leave the sta state department unmanned. we could see tillerson stay but how excruciating is this going to be through the end of the year at least, possibly longer. we're not so sure and not really sure if the white house is completely sure who will then replace pompeo, erin. >> thank you very much, michelle. and, of course, there is always this possibility, right. everybody you could say rex tillerson could say it's excruciating for me. it is way more excruciating for him if i sit here and force him to fire me. there is that. out front now, editor the alarge for cnn politics. it does come down to in a sense

to that. because this is a president who likes to say you're fired publicly. it's part of his brand. but he actually is pretty meek about doing it. >> sure. but the writing has been on the wall for this. i mean we know that this is a secretary of state who privately called the president a moron and then held a press conference to not disavow it. to a great degree. they disagreeden issues. the president tweeted about rex wasting his time negotiating with north korea. i was told this evening by a very good source that there is a disagreement over moving the embassy to jerusalem. there is a lot of disagreement. i think that there has been trouble in terms of tillerson and reorganization of the state department. and that there are a lot of complaining from dip low plats that they can't get through to rex tillerson.

if you put that all together in one box, you have a problem and, you know, tillerson will be gone one way or another. >> certainly will and of course it doesn't help that he never got the rank and file of the state department to support him. i think we should acknowledge that they were willing to do so. there is a real willingness to do this that there would be a voice of reason. chris, i want to play what white house press secretary sarah sanders said today. when she was asked whether the president still has confidence in tillerson. so first here is her response to that. >> look, as swed many times before and as many of you love to write these type of stories when the president loses confidence some someone they will no longer serve in the capacity that they're in. >> and then, chris, here's what she said when asked the same question about reince priebe us. she answered the question this way on the day priebus was fired. >> look, i think i've addressed this question when it comes to

staffing and personnel many times. if the president doesn't, then he'll make that decision. >> sounds a lot alike, chris. >> and just adding to that, remember reince priebus was fired on a friday. guess what tomorrow is. >> right. >> yeah. look, i watched that briefing. sarah sanders had a number of opportunities to answer with a very specific yes or no. does does the president have confidence in rex tillerson? yes or no. that's the answer she repeatedly gave. i'm with everything gloria said. it seems untenable at this point that tillerson can stay that much longer. the only thing i'll throw-in there as a little bit of a caveat is jeff sessions is still the attorney general. trump called him beleaguered. there was story after story that trump wanted him to quit but he didn't fire him. and here we are, jeff sessions said i'm going to stay here. you have to come fire me. the question is, is trump willing to do that with

tillerson? this is not a new story but trum top this point has not been willing to sort of tip over to that willingness to say yes. i'm not going to say the catch phrase. but you know it, you're fired. >> you point out that tillerson and trump clashed publicly. one of them as you point out was on north korea when rex tillerson said we have lines of kplungs communications to pyongyang. the president said i told rex tillerson our wonderful secretary of state that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with little rocket man. save your energy, rochl. we' rex. we'll do what has to be done. and then rex comes out on the blockade and says saudi arabia should stop it. the president comes out and slams qatar and continued to support saudi arabia. the question i have for you here gloria is there are a the love people in the diplomatic community who say thank god for rex tillerson. somebody who actually doesn't

want to up the rhetoric on war with north korea, someone that acknowledges the situation in the middle east is more complicated than taking saudi arabia's side on every issue. losing rex tillerson opens the door to someone that is a complete yes plan to trump. >> that's right. and who is very political and comes from a political background. don't forget rex tillerson was a ceo. he was a master of the universe. he wasn't a master of the congress. so pompeo, if it is pompeo, comes from congress. and he has established a relationship with trump, has done trump's bidding on occasion, has, you know, met with a conspiracy theorists because the president told him to. and so i think, yeah, there are a the love people who would be very concerned about this. on the other hand, as i was saying before, rex tillerson has not gone out of his way to endear himself to a whole bunch of constituencies including, you know, not only the congress and not only the bureaucracy in the state department which he wants to pair down, but also the

president's family. i mean he and jared kushner have been sparring over foreign policy turf since the day he arrived. >> oh, yeah. the meeting that jared kushner would have and not even include rex tillerson that were meetings that the secretary of state should be having. thanks to both. next, nancy pelosi. after calling john conyers an icon days ago is now saying he should go. this is conyers' is hospitalized for stress amid major sexual harassment allegations. and embassies put on alert. are president's tweets putting americans in danger? because yes again we're talking about video. each year sarah climbs 58,007 steps.

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john conyers hospitalized for stress after sexual harassment allegations. the highest ranking african-american in the house

says it is in conyers' best interest taupe is it down and nancy pelosi also now saying it's time for conyers to go. keep in mind this comes just days after she defended him and actually called him an icon. >> the allegations against congressman conyers as we have learned more since sunday are serious, disappointing and very credible. it's very sad. the brave women who came forward are owed justice. i pray for congressman conyers and his family and wish them well. however congressman conyers should resign. >> now conyers attorney today adamant response. no one, not nancy pelosi or anyone else will tell conyers what to do. >> it is not up to nancy pelosi. nancy pelosi did not elect the congressman. and she sure as hell won't be the one to tell the congressman to leave. he is not going to be pressured

by flansy pelosi or anyone else. eric swallow of california. i know you had a major russia investigation meeting today. is it time for your colleague, congressman conyers to resign? >> yes. it is. the accounts are credible and by his own admission through the settle ment i think that shows the behavior occurred. i think what is for important, erin, is what we do noechext. i think we should unseal the names of anyone who conducted themselves this way, to protect every woman who works on the hill from working in one of these offices. so that they have notice and they're protected from that. and that we put more training and transparency in place. >> just a quick question i have to ask you. someone raised this point to me the other day. i thought it was an interesting one on the issue of unsealing. at first it makes complete sense. you might see a situation where

if you thought that an agreement was going to be sealed and you were innocent you went asaid and settled. you didn't want to go through the process of it becoming public. you thought it would never be public. now we're going to unseal everybody's names. you are concerned about that? >> i'm very concerned. i've given a lot of thought to this. i would like to unseal the names of the perpetrators and do everything we can to protect the names of those making the accusations. it's a small, you know, it's a small workplace. it's smaller than most people think. most offices are eight to ten people. by deduction, you know, the risk is that victims' names could be exposed. i'm thinking about the hard-working women in my office. if they ever were to leave and go twoshg in another office, i would hope they had a notice as to which office has the type of agreements so can you protect them. >> so you saw pelosi. she said conyers should resign. you just made that point yourself. but a few days ago she was defending him when asked if he

should resign. here she is. >> we are strengthened by due process. just because splun is -- someone is accused, i think john conyers is an icon in our country. he's done a great deal to protect women. >> one of your fellow democrats congressman kathleen rice was outraged by the remarks. she said "i think her remarks on sunday set women back and quite frankly our party back decades. i'm not going to ask you to comment on women, but in terms of your party, did congresswoman pelosi by defending conyers at that time set your party back decade? >> i look at the full context of the remarks on sunday just i think hours later she issued a statement, leader pelosi saying that no icon gets a pass. and i think she's correct. and she today again called that we pass the me too legislation. i think the actions are, you know, what we need to do in the

house. again, i really worry about, you negotiation the future working environment on the hill if we take no action and we leave women without knowing what type of environment they're working in. >> so i want to ask you about the hearing today. your committee met today as partst russia investigation he had close links to the trump campaign. 'tended a controversial meeting of the say shells with the russian businessman with close ties to putin earlier this year. and prince did so after meeting with trump transition officials. i can report, i know, that senior leaders from the united arab emirates delivered the russian businessman to this meetding. the russians believed prince was going to set up a back channel to the russians with the trump campaign prince was seen as a conduit. prince told me he couldn't remember the name of the russian he met with and the meet hg nothing to do with trump or his team. i wanted to play the exchange. >> who did you meet? >> that's pretty thin. >> some funneled manager. i can't even remember his name.

>> a fund manager. you don't remember liz name? >> i don't remember his name. we didn't exchange cards. >> how long was it? the meeting? do you remember? >> it probably lasts about -- as long as one beer. >> so it was a casual setting? >> absolutely. >> so over beers. no one was aware -- >> it had nothing to do with the u.s. government or the trump team or the transition team. >> and what was the meeting about then? >> future business. it's about the russian was some they had done business with and maybe someone useful for you to know. >> and that was pretty much the extent of it. >> that's it. >> and in terms of when you say people talk about whether there was a possible back channel or anybody, all that you're saying, flo. off the table. >> complete hog wash. >> complete hog wash. he couldn't remember the fund manager's name. a few hours after that i asked whether it was dimitriev, he didn't have a comment. were you satisfied with liz answers to you to day? >> no.

notal all. actually, he chose to end the interview early. now a transcript is forthcoming. that was something that the majority desired to do. but i can just say through the public reporting that, you know, here again we have an individual who had made contributions to the campaign, had a relationship with the campaign manager who was traveling over to a foreign land during the transition period and meeting with russians. a sanctioned russian. just as jarrod cued kushner meta sanctioned russian banker. it fits into a pattern. a constellation of contacts with russians from people afill yalted with the campaign. >> and just a quick follow up. he is released a statement, eric prince about, congress plan shift, of course the ranking member, saying he should apologize for wasting american taxpayer money and a pointless fishing expedition that has no merit whatsoever. that's his comment about your meeting today. >> i hope my republican colleagues, you know, from the

information we were able to glean that there is a lot there and he should come back now under subpoena as every witness. there construct we have of allowing witnesses to come in on a voluntary basis and attorney over what they think is relevant is not working. it's a take them at their word investigation and that's not going to be sufficient if we're going to understand what the russians did and who they worked with. >> congressman, thank you. >> my pleasure. >> next, worldwide fallout for trump for sharing the anlt y anti-muslim individual yeenz stunning beliefs from u.s. senate candidate roy moore. he reportedly does not think that women should be members of congress or hold any elective office. patrick woke up with a sore back. but he's got work to do. so he took aleve this morning. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain

for up to 12 hours with just one pill. tylenol can't do that. aleve. all day strong. all day long. was supposed to be a wake reup call for our government?sh people all across the country lost their savings, their pensions and their jobs. i'm tom steyer and it turned out that the system that had benefited people like me who are well off, was, in fact, stacked against everyone else. it's why i left my investment firm and resolved to use my savings for the public good. but here we are nine years later and this president and the republican congress are making a bad situation even worse. they won't tell you that their so called "tax reform" plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations, while hurting the middle class. it blows up the deficit and that means fewer investments in education, health care and job creation. it's up to all of us to stand up to this president.

not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed. join us. your voice matters.

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new tonight, fallout from president trump's retweets of anti-muslim videos. they're on alert after the concern that tweets include videos that show muslims engaging in violent acts could lead to violence against americans. of course, we all remember video in benghazi in the same sentence. this as the white house continues to defend trump's

actions despite admitting that president probably didn't realize he was retweeting the leader of a far right islam phobic group. >> did the president when he retweeted her know who she was? >> i don't believe so. again, i think he knew what the issues are. and that is that we have a real threat of extreme violence and terrorism not just in this country but across the globe, particularly in europe and thats what the point he was making. >> out front now, host of fa re fareed zakaria gps. it doesn't matter if the videos are true or not, that's what they said yesterday. it's just that there's a problem. so they're raising awareness of that. how damaging are these videos? is this embassy alert going up related to this? >> pause for a minute and think about what sarah sanders said. it doesn't matter if this is true, the threat is real. in other words, we can make up stuff.

we can promote false narratives. we can use misleading videos and do whatever we want as long as we're talking about an issue that is real. i mean that is almost a definite of a orwellian attitude towards news. you say, you know, it doesn't matter if it's all fake, it's all false as long as the cause, you know, is real -- >> the means don't matter. >> the means justify the end -- the end justifies the means completely. look at the fallout just in britain. remember, britain is the strongest ally of the united states. this is a conservative government in britain. it is in fact a populous conservative government. there say government in britain we got because of brexit. teresa may is not a shrinking liberal. >> let me play -- i want to play what she said and get your reaction. here is prime minister may. >> the fact that we work together does not mean that we're afraid to say when we think the united states have got it wrong. and to be very clear with them and i'm very clear that retweeting from britain first

was the wrong thing to do. >> as you point out, she is going ahead with brexit, right? this isn't someone that is i had logically opposed to the concept that started this whole britain first thing. very loud and clear. >> you know, i think the tragedy here is also that, you know, can you see how compromised teresa may feels. american allies feel compromised. you can imagine what the jordanians and the saudis have been trying to make reforms in their religion now feel. because all the radicals are going to say we told you. the presidentst united states hates the muslims. look at what does he. you rob him of any defense. so the guys that trump is going around saying he loves the king of saudi arabia. he loves the king jordan. and he is much more difficult. and it's coming at a time when actually the threat against radical islam is waning. i mean isis is being destroyed. al qaeda has not been able to

revive itself. there is for the first time in years a 13% decline in debts by violent -- by radical islamic groups this year. and, you know, you already said, saudi arabia is talking about reforming. in this moment to, you know, to talk about this is stat. >> the severity to the united states and they said it is worse as bad or worse than it was on 9/11. here they are. >> the terror threat in our country equals and in many way exceeds the period around 9/11. we are seeing a surge in terrorist activity because the funnel fundamentals have changed. >> they have shown them receives to be persistent out of the box theirs with respect to aviation. aviation related threats have long been and remain at the top of the things that demand our focused attention. >> do things like the tweets have any link to that or is that

a step too far? >>, no it actually does. i tend to think that is a slightly more om nuts pictuinou than i would paint. but everybody agrees that real threats we now face are these lone wolf attacks, self radicalized people not isis being able to command it or what radicalizes these people. what enrages them? the sense that the west world is against them? the sense that the president of the united states is, you know, spewing anti-muslim bigotry? that is -- if you're looking for things that radicalize people on the street, a lone person through videos and things like that, certainly the tweets don't help. >> fareed, thank you very much. as i said, fareed, host of fareed zakaria gps. next, president trump not dam campaigning with roy moore technically. he is holding a rally 25 miles away from alabama just days before that crucial election. and also border patrol agent's death. trump is saying that it was an attack and it's the reason to

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breaking news, president trump told a campaign style rally a few miles from alabama days before the controversial senate election. going to hold in friday, pensacola. part of the mobile, alabama, television market. while the white house says trump wouldn't go to alabama to campaign for roy moore, he's in alabama's back yard and will be seen and covered by alabama media. women may decide whether moore wins or loses this race. this is about that. >> reporter: if there's any middle ground left in the race, anyone still on the fence, quickly disappearing. particularly among women. kim, a lifelong republican never

voted for democrat, now not just voting but actively campaigning against the republican. >> never questioned the allegations. >> reporter: knew right away they were true? or thought it right away? >> yeah. it's hard for a woman to say that. anywhere in the country but especially in the south. says she was raped at 16. when the allegations came out, couldn't bring herself to keep supporting moore. >> surprised me. i was big -- i like the guys who go against the grain, really like the guys who go against the grain but there's a limit. when you abuse your power in the way he abused his power, you can't continue to support that. >> reporter: now she goes door-to-door with signs, doug jones is hoping many more kims out there. seized on the allegations quoting president trump's daughter ivanka saying there's a special place in hell for people

who prey on children. moore has denied the allegations, calling them false and dirty politics. president trump himself is standing by the former judge and many if not most of his female supporters. cindy just moved to birmingham and allegations without hard evidence are not enough. >> suspect they come out 40 years later after man has run for office six to eight times. not conspiracy but makes me question. >> reporter: was there a moment when you questioned your support for roy moore? >> no, no. i'm very much aligned with his values and his principles and his policies that he talks about. a secure border, lower government, repeal of goobamaca. >> the moore campaign put female supporters front and center in his ad and on the campaign trail, including ann who told us it was a different time when

these allegations took place and even so, bigger things. >> doug jones is far left liberal democrat who will vote like the democrats tell him to vote, we do not want that. >> reporter: and erin, latest controversy around roy moore is course he cowrote in 2011, reported by think progress. said that women shouldn't be allowed to run for office and encourages people saying they have a moral obligation not to vote for women. doug jones campaign pounced on this releasing a statement saying this is part of a larger and disturbing pattern against women, brings more examples of how his agenda would make washington worse and shouldn't represent alabama in the senate. we've reached out to roy moore's campaign and so far not

responded. thank you. problematic. united states homeland security saying don't know why a u.s. border agent died but president trump saying he was attacked. why? the mediterranean. but have you? how warm is brazil in february? what color is dusk in san francisco? there's a whole world out there and no other card lets you experience it like the platinum card. ♪ ♪ backed by the service and security of american express.

new tonight, trump administration admitting the death of border patrol agent in texas is a mystery. elane duke saying unclear what led to the death, stark contrast to what the president has said. >> reporter: whatever happened in far-flung corner of texas remains a mystery. rojelio martinez was found with severe head injuries and broken bones. died after airlifted to hospital. another agent was injured but survived. cnn has confirmed identity of

the second agent but customs and border protection citing security concerns requested that cnn hold off on reporting details for now. released from the hospital last week. fbi investigating a potential assault. >> don't have full picture as to what transpired. >> reporter: after the incident president trump, greg abbott and senator ted cruz quickly claimed the agents were attacked or ambushed by migrants or drug smugglers. >> we lost a border patrol office yesterday, another brutally beaten and badly hurt. we talk about the wall, we're going to have the wall. we need it. >> reporter: but facts so far don't appear to point to attack. fbi not named any suspects or provided any evidence of attack. has said at scene it's looking

at all possible scenarios which includes some kind of accident. this is the culvert where the border patrol agents were found. sits a few feet after interstate 10, trucks and cars flying by at high rates of speed. if they fell off into the culvert, it's ten foot drop with a hard cement bottom. local sheriff who responded to the scene that night tells cnn he didn't see any signs of ambush or attack. another source says the agents' gear, radios and weapons, were left intact. and border patrol official says the night the agents were found, not enough details to issue a be on the lookout bulletin to other law enforcement agencies in the area. border patrol agent who spoke with survivor's wife said second agent called home night of the incident and unsure where he was. lack of clarity is concerning for the agent's family says a

friend of martinez. >> i hope the fbi comes out with a statement soon. it does look weird, and what i've heard, it's weird. >> reporter: israel val quiz was best friend. says death has been painful for family and friends. mart his loved working as border patrol agent and unfazed by dangers of the job. >> but for me, he's gone. so you know, that's -- that's all i know. is that i'm not going to be able to talk to him. >> reporter: at first officials said martinez and second agent were responding to suspicious activist around the culvert but border patrol now says it believes martinez was on routine patrol of the culvers around interstate 10 where smugglers

often hide loads of drugs. spokesman says group remains convinced it was tack but sheriff says it would be premature to make that conclusion based on what he saw. hasn't stopped political leaders from calling it attack despite there being no real proof at this point. >> thanks. anderson starts now. good evening, we begin with breaking news on the undocumented immigrant and woman he allegedly killed who president trump made twin centerpieces to his campaign. kate steinle and jose inez garcia zarate. jury found him not guilty and could have repercussions. what happened? what have you learned?