geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. back with breaking news. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. live pictures inside that briefing room at the white house, set to begin. we are getting breaking news, actually, on multiple fronts over this negotiation on so-called dream ers. >> increasingly pessimistic. another possible government

shutdown. >> we're going to get it done. i'll go a step further. we're just talking ms-13. gang members we haven't even mentioned. if we don't change it, let's do a shutdown. it's worth it for our country. i would love to see a shutdown if we don't get this stuff taken care of. >> senator jeff flake on the floor about to call out the president. >> if we are numb to such words then we will surely regret that we failed to defend our colleagues in the congress against such a vile remark. this conduct in an american president is simply not normal. i wish i could stand here today and say my words of last october

have been proven wrong, that i had been unfair against the daily sundry against our country, that i had beenh exaggerated threats against principles, freedoms and institutions, flagrant disregard for truth and most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons. reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with the fortunes of people that we have beenv all been elected to serve. i wish i could say that i have been wrong but i cannot. i have seen the president's most ardent defenders that the president's comments were meant as a joke, just sarcasm, only tongue in cheek, but treason is not a punch line, mr. president. the president said that the state of the union address was meant to promote and encourage unity in government.

then why follow up less than a week later with this divisive and harmful rhetoric? unity is not secured in a speech. it must be pursued constantly through appropriate behavior, mutual respect and gained by effective leadership. mr. president, respect is earned, not commanded. applause signals approval of an idea, not loyalty to one's country. love this country as much as we do. to suggest otherwise is unconcionable. none of us pledge loyalty or service to the president. this is not a royal court. our oeth is to the constitution and to the people. as members of congress, we must never accept undignified discourse as normal because of the requirements of tribal party

politics. none of this behavior should ever be regarded as normal. we must never allow ourselves to lapse into thinking this is just the way things are now. we will get to this period and when we do, we will look back at the destruction of our discourse and attacks on our democratic values as nothing but a tragedy. may we also be able to say that this were an abberation. but that, my colleagues, is up to us. we must recognize this is abb r hchh abhorrent before. in opposing this behavior we defend our noms, our ideals and our values. it is in opposing this behavior that we stand for decency. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

>> so, senator flake there, you heard him, treason is not a punchline plrk president. joining me now, democratic congressman tim walls, highest ranking enlisted soldier ever to serve in congress. thank you so much, sir, for being with me. thank you for your service. >> well, thank you, brooke. >> let me begin to go back for a second. this is originally what the president said. >> they were like death and unamerican. unamerican. somebody said treasonous. i mean, yeah, i guess, why not? can we call that treason? why not? i mean, they certainly didn't seem to love our country very much. >> congressman, what is your reaction to the president calling you unamerican and treasonous? >> the president clearly doesn't understand the founding principles of this nation. literally, the reason the

revolutionary war was thought was to question those, be able to speak your mind. to hear the president say it -- again, so often -- i thank senator flake for those beautiful words. people say it's just the president saying that. you cannot go to that point. as i said, i did not serve 24 years in uniform to be called treasonous. i served in that so my fellow americans can criticize who and when they want to in peaceful protest. this behavior has to stop. one of my biggest frustrations, i was saying earlier, that my republican colleagues were not speaking out. jeff flake, former colleague and friend of mine, did speak out. i'm grateful for that. >> sarah sanders says the presidentias joking, congressman. what do you make of that? >> i don't have much humor for the president after all he said and you certainly don't joke about elected officials representing people simply disagreeing with your policies on principle. the president has no understanding of that. and i said those of us who served together in uniform -- i

served with people from all walks of life, all faiths, all economic backgrounds but that democracy is solid there. we know that's not a place where you question people. so, i don't find it funny. i think the american people don't. again, i'm grateful for senator flake's expressing the foundational principle of this. these are people -- what's dangerous about this is you see here in minnesota republican legislators are trying to forward anti-protest bills, stifle people's opinion to speak out. that cannot stand. if it starts with the president and they think it's normal to call treasonous and traitors to this nation simply because i disagree with his policies, that's a line that can't be crossed. >> it goes back to the state of the union, folks in your party not standing up, when he was talking about, let's say, unemployment numbers improving. help us understand why some people didn't get up and applaud? senator joe manchin said about

his own party, it was disrespectful. what would you say about the joe manchins of the world? >> each of us choose where we stand on those things. for the president, he takes things out of context. the african-americans decreased half under president obama. we're happy with that. but this president stands on policies that he wasn't there to craft, didn't help make happen and uses it as a political wedge against us. because we want a long-term budget that we don't stand with the troops. that's a line he cannot cross. we're traveling to watch the vice president cross the atlantic to talk to soldiers. if the president wanted to come to us and say together we've worked on policies that have made a difference, he will get the applause, on the issues that bring us together. this president has proven he can't and then the day after the speech go out and say we're treasonous for zbradisagreeing

his plan that says -- >> on -- >> please, go ahead. >> on the shutdown, mr. walz, i don't know if you just heard the president, what he said in this round table. he's reacting. his words, i would love another shut down if simply democrats don't meade meet his immigration demand. i would love another shutdown. >> no one else would. this hurts people. it's diysfunctional. you compromise to get things that make a difference. this something, again, the president's tendency to lean toward totalitarianism, it's my way or no way. with the treasonous way, it's my way or you are against the country. it's that type of behavior that has us into this place that americans hate. compromise to get things done. build some roads. fix health care. deal with comprehensive immigration. don't simply question someone's love of the country and then say he would love a shutdown. he will get what he wants on

some of these things but the american people certainly won't. >> congressman tim walz, thank you so much. the direct quote on the president, let's have a shutdown. it's worth it for our country. i would love to see a shutdown. gloria borger, our chief political analyst, is standing by to also respond to that kind of language from the president. why would he say that? >> well, look, i think from his point of view, it's probably a negotiating ploy. >> so an opening move? >> yeah, an opening move and probably feels that the shutdown last time was a political fizzle for the democrats, which it was, that they didn't get anything out of it. so he's probably thinking why not do it again? if you put that political explanation aside, this is the president of the united states calling for the government to shut down, which is kind of astonishing. i don't recall any president in -- that i can recall ever saying gee i think a shutdown

would be great for the country. shutdown is not great for the country. the president -- you can pick a tweet over the last ten years. the president always saying before he was president that shutdowns are bad and the president ought to be blamed for them. so, he has a history of being all over the lot on this. this is political. again, it's sort of another indication that he hasn't grown into the office. saying it as president say very different thing han saying it as a candidate or private citizen. >> maybe sarah sanders is about to tell us he was joking on this, too, though i don't think anyone is laughing. another nonlaughing matter, chief of staff swren john kelly, talking about dreamers. >> there are 690,000 official daca registrants. the president sent over what

amounts to be 2 1/2 times that number to 1.8 million. the difference between 690 and 1.8 million, some would say, were too afraid to sign up, others would say they were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn't sign up. probably the biggest shock was in a path to citizenship. that's beyond what anyone could have imagined. >> too lazy and get off your asse asses. >> john kelly has surprised a lot of people since he has been chief of staff at the white house. best advice might be to keep john kelly sort of out of that range of answering questions off the cuff because he tends to embarrass himself and he tends to embarrass the white house. there are different ways of

describing the discrepancy between the 700,000 daca or dreamers we know about and perhaps the larger number that are in this country. and what he was trying to describe was the fact that the president put everything on the table and the democrats didn't give anything. i think clearly this was a very inartful way to do it. and won't gain any brownie points from those voters who were looking for hope here on dreamers. >> maybe the base would say atta boy, but words matter. >> absolutely. >> gloria, thank you so much. >> we are all standing by for that white house briefing. first, to the resistance in this russia investigation, lawyers for president trump are advising him not to sit down with special counsel robert mueller, according to reporting out of "the new york times," which also reports the reason his lawyers fear that the president of the united states could be charged with lying to investigators. keep in mind that the president said publicly two weeks ago.

>> are you going to talk to mueller? >> i'm looking forward to it, actually. >> you want to? >> you have a date set? >> there's been no collusion whatsoever, no obstruction whatsoever. and i'm looking forward to it. >> you would do it under oath? >> absolutely. >> with me now, acting solicitor general under president obama. he has argued more cases in front of the supreme court than any other minority attorney in history, recently breaking thurgood marshall's record. wow! also traveling the president's travel ban before the supreme court. thank you for coming? >> thanks for having me. >> what does mueller do if team trump says no? >> i sure hope that the president doesn't say no. that would be unlike any other president in recent memory. he would have to be acting much more like president nixon. reagan testified, george w.

bush, president clinton. all these people have testified. if he does, i expect mueller to go and subpoena the president to testify. >> what does it tell you that these lawyers are literally worried the president will just lie, lie, lie, lie, lie? >> it's not like a normal client. donald trump's relationship to the truth is kind of very much like roy moore's to shopping malls. >> ouch. >> or something like that. it's iffy all the way down. i understand why the lawyers are advising the president not to testify. but, boy, to say that, they really have to distrust their client. >> there is one lawyer, who has been a law partner of yours. although you've not dealt with him on anything trump related. that being ty cobb, a man alone on an island, saying we should fully cooperate with bob mueller here. why do you think he's sticking his neck out the way he is? >> he is the good lawyer who understands that the president has got to do what other

presidents have done like him, which is be forthcoming. when ronald reagan -- iran-contra discovered that ronald reagan had private diaries and the spokesman said these are his most private diaries, president reagan said i want to get to the bottom of the matter and fix what went wrong. get to the bottom of the matter and fix what went wrong. can you imagine donald trump saying either of those sentences? i think that's what the problem is. >> what would the consequences be of him saying no? >> if -- >> the political consequences? this could drag fon for a couple of months. we're going to blink and it's going to be november and mid terms and republicans wanting to hold on to districts or grab other districts. won't that rain on their parade? >> extraordinary catastrophe for the president not to testify. every day thousands of people testify to federal investigations in federal investigations and the idea that

this president who, after all, got taxpayer funded lawyers, has the ability to fire the chief investigator, comey, against him, his own gierks rod rosenstein, supervising the mueller investigation, to say i can't testify, it's unfair, what signal does that send to everyone else who has to go through ordinary law enforcement investigations every day? >> neal katyal, thank you. come back, please. moments from now, that white house response. president threatening another government shutdown, saying it may be a good thing. the stock market now rebounding ahead of the cloegs bell here, about 33 minutes to go on wall street. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. we'll be right back. but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.

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40 minutes to the closing bell and surprise, the dow swinging in the other direction, quite a volatile day for the stock market, up nearly over 400

points. yesterday it suffered the largest points lost ever. the president has been pretty quiet on these dramatic swing but his treasury secretary said this today. >> i'm not overly concerned about the market volatility. i think the fundamentals are quite strong. >> the administration has claimed credit for the markets going up. are they going to claim credit when the markets go down? >> again, i think we'll still claim credit for the fact that it's up over 30% since the election. >> with me now, columnist for the washington post, katherine graham pell and trump's former economic adviser. good to see both of you. >> hi, brooke. >> explain this to me. >> i can't. nobody can explain it. >> i'm like had an? the fact that main street is doing so well, the wage increases, the economy. yet wall street has been spooked. >> yeah. >> why? >> because too many people on wall street don't like it when workers do better and get pay

raises. they think that's going to cause inflation. if you're looking for one trigger for that big selloff on friday and monday, it was probably the jobs report when we got good wage gains. when we put together the tax plan, economic plan, the whole idea was to try to raise wages for workers. but wall street thinks that's inflationary. today is an amazing day. just one hour ago -- >> i blinked. >> the dow was down by 00 points and now it's up 400 points. i've been watching this stuff for 40 years. my neck is getting sore, getting whiplash from one way to the other. >> do you think we'll see interest rates janua s janet y? >> how her successor will interpret this data. if inflation is coming down the pike, which may be a result of

these wage gains, we don't know, and beyond yields were quite high last week. that may suggest that they're expecting more inflation. all that data could convince the fed to be little less dovish, to speed up the process of those rate hikes. another reason that markets may be more skittish about whether those rate hikes might be becoming sooner has to do with the fact that we've had this massive fiscal stimulus at a time of low employment. this is not well timed fiscal stimulus, the tax cuts. you normally don't have a $1.5 trillion stimulus package coming when you have 4.1% unemployment. >> why do it now? >> the idea was to increase output. when you increase output, that doesn't increase prices, that lowers prices. the tax cut is going to make things more affordable because, look, it's very simple. if the economy produces more apples, what happens to the price of apples? they fall. >> you have a stimulus package. >> it's not a stimulus. >> it is a stim laos will you

say. it's absolutely a stimulus. >> creating jobs, investment. >> we have 4.1% unemployment. >> we want 3% unemployment. >> you want to overheat the economy? >> look, how does 5% growth over heat the economy? >> 5% growth? no one thinks we're going to have -- >> fed atlanta reserve thought we could have 5% growth in the first quarter. >> a sugar high for one quarter -- >> wait a minute. you were just saying that the economy is over heat iing. i'm not saying it's over heating. i'm saying we can get sustainable 3.5% to 4% growth, put a lot of people to work, create higher wages for workers. why are you against higher wages for workers? >> i'm not. it's just fantasy to say to the american people that we're going to have 3.5% growth. the. >> those are the exact same people that said tlump was going to cause the stock market to --

>> got to go to the white house with sarah sanders. >> assistant attorney general john kronin who supervises more than 600 federal prosecutors who conduct investigations and prosecutions involving organized and transnational crime, gang violence and other crimes. will he make a statement regarding ms-13 and take a few of your questions on this topic and i'll be back up after that to finish and answer questions on the news of the day. thank thanks. >> good afternoon. my name is john kronin, acting assistant attorney general of the criminal division of the department of justice. before serving in my current role i supervised terrorism and international narcotics unit for the southern district of new york. prior to that, i served as an assistant united states attorney where i prosecuted violent

criminals, national security defendants, including osama bin laden's son-in-law and the attempted times square bomber. on the idea that attorney swren jeff sessions was sworn in, president trump sent executive orders to reduce crime in america and to target trans-national organized crime. as acting assistant attorney general, i support the attorney general in accomplishing these goals by directing the enforcement of all federal criminal laws with the exception of those that are specifically designated it other divisions of the department of justice. as sarah mentioned my duties include oversight of 700 prosecutors, the international criminal investigative training assistance program and the office of overseas prosecutorial

development and training. i had the opportunity to brief president trump about one of the most significant threats to the public safety of our communities. ms-13. and i appreciate the opportunity to also speak with you today about that threat. ms-13 has grown to 30,000 members worldwide. 10,000 of whom. live right here in the united states. this violent, murderous gang has infiltrated our country. it is estimated that there are 2,000 members in los angeles between 800 and 1,200 members in dallas and houston. 2,000 members on long island,

between 800 and 1,200 members in boston and approximately 3,000 members living right here in washington, d.c. probably the most violent and ruthless gang terrorizing our streets today. their motto is mata viola catrola which means kill, rape, control. it is this motto, indiscriminate violence that ms-13 lives and rules by. they commit rape, murder often just for the sake of it. they attack their victims with chains, bats, machetes,

firearms. they recruit children to be murderers. they gang rape young girls and sell them for sex. i briefed the president on a few examples of ms-13's brutality. these include a 15-year-old gaithersburg, maryland, girl, who was stabbed 13 times with knives and a wooden stake. the girl's killers filmed her murder so they could show gang leaders back in el salvador what they had done. her body was savagely dumped next to railroad tracks under the same road, the beltway, that many of us take to work every day. i briefed the president about the ms-13 members who murdered a

fellow gang member they believed to be a snitch and who murdered a recruit for violating gang rules. one of those individuals had his head severed. ms-13 buried those two victims in shallow graves in a park in falls church, virginia, just about ten miles from here. i briefed the president bay long island victim, lured into the worlds in central islip, new york, by ms-13 members, where they beat him with sticks and fire extinguisher. gang members ultimately cut his throat with a pocket knife and sadistically stuffed his body into a drainage pipe where it went undiscovered for months. the department of justice, under leadership of attorney general sessions is devoting resources

to accomplishing the president's directive of reducing violent crime and ensuring that our citizens are no longer held hostage by murderous savages like ms-13 members. attorney general sessions has assigned it a priority for the drug enforcement task force. hundreds of federal prosecutors, neufeld prosecutors to the field specifically to focus on violent crime and immigration offenses. the department has enhanced our relationships with the northern triangle countries, el salvador, guatemala and honduras. this past summer, attorney swren sessions visited el salvador where he met with the attorney general to discuss joint efforts to dismantle ms-13 at its roots. soon after that meeting 70 gang

members were charged in el salvador. in total, our work with our central american partners has thus far resulted in the arrest or charges against more than 4,000 suspected ms-13 members. the justice department in coordination with our partners on the state and local level will continue to prosecute scores of ms-13 gang members located in the united states. but because ms-13 is based and operates in el salvador and because it directs its murderous missions from prisons out there in el salvador, we must do more than enforce our domestic violent crime laws against gang members in the united states. our investigations have revealed when we fail to enforce our

immigration and human smuggling laws, when we failed to enforce immigration laws and allow for loopholes to exist, to let future gang members into the country, ms-13 can very easily simply replenish its jailed membership by sending more gang members across our borders. for that reason as well, the department of justice also remains committed to enforcing our criminal investigation laws, and to identifying and targeting ms-13's smuggling networks. to be clear, we will undertake all lawful measures to end this scourge on our communities. thank you for your attention.

>> why has attorney general sessions renewed an increasing enforcement against marijuana, even though a lot of states have tried to decriminalize or make it legal? >> sure. i'm not able to talk much detail into the marijuana policy. i will say that there are a number of policies that the department of justice pursue on any given day as the assistant attorney general with the criminal division i've certainly seen the harm that marijuana can do. more importantly, the priorities here are not at the expense of any resources being addressed with the marijuana policy. with respect to the ms-13, attorney general made clear he's devoting additional resources to ensure that the districts, u.s. attorney's office has the

resources necessary to fight the scourge. >> why put a priority in an area that had been deprioritized and not had been considered nearly the threat that this kind of violence you're talking about is? >> we're dealing with multiple priorities any day at the department of justice, of allocating resources. there will be sufficient resources targeting ms-13 and we'll continue to devote those resources to that threat. >> john, people in this community have been reading about ms-13 since 2006. is it your position that the previous two administrations, bush and obama, simply did not prioritize this or is it much worse now than it was then and, therefore, it is justified to have the folks you're describing here today? >> you're correct, it's certainly been around for some time. i do think we've seen a significant uptick in their violence in the past several years. you're looking at the acts of

atrocities they've committed, both in local communities here and really across the country. i think it's a new threat. unlike one we've really seen from a violent trans-national organized crime operating on united states soil. ms-13, as i said in my remarks, not only has 10,000 members in the united states, but they are across the country in 40 states and the district. ms-13 prosecutions are going on in virginia, new york, l.a., texas, all around the country. >> did the previous two administrations not appreciate this, let this go and become a problem? >> i can't talk to the priority of the previous administrations but i can talk of the priorities here. targeting and combating ms-13 is a top priority. in order to effectively target ms-13 it's not enough that federal and state authorities are enforcing the criminal laws with respect to ms-13 members on u.s. soil.

we have to make sure that it's not in position to replenish its ranks by sending additional members, additional uncompanied children into the united states to later be recruited by ms-13 to be their murderers few years down the road. otherwise we'll be in a constant situation where we are unable to effectively eradicate it. >> two questions. >> yes? >> you've given the president an update. what beyond immigration issues will the justice department be doing to break the back of ms-13? that's the first question. you can answer. >> sure. the first question is that the department of justice has been and will continue to dedicate sshl resources to ensure that ms-13 is being targeted and i think we're seeing that. more convictions have been secured against 1,200 gang members last year.

we charged the most federal firearms offenses in a decade. we brought more cases in a quarter of a century. domestically, that's what we're doing. i mentioned additional prosecutors that are going to be sent out to the field, additional prosecutors going out to specific areas where ms-13 is a problem and we will enforce our robust criminal statues that allow us to target a variety of conduct, robbery, racketeering. another component is capacity building. one focus, like i mentioned, is working with our partners in the northern triangle countries, central america. we provide trading down there, their law enforcement, their prosecutors and whatever systems to make sure they are able to target ms-13 before -- at the roots in el salvador, hon

durias, gaduria honduras, guatemala. >> second question on another issue. i'm glad you're here today. eric gar nechlt r case is still out there. and people are waiting for an indictment. his mother is looking for justice. he cried out 11 times, i can't breathe. what's new? what's happening? what should we expect on that case? >> with respect to that case, i have no update i would be able to share. that would be better directed at others in the justice department. >> in the criminal department, we understand, the criminal portion of justice. so, i mean, is there any movement at all? i'm hearing that there should have been an indictment. >> i apologize. to the extent that an ongoing investigation exists i can't talk to that at this point. >> yes, please? >> in the cabinet room where you gave your first presentation, the whole ms-13 issue was wrapped up in the need to increase border enforcement, to

change our immigration laws. did you have any idea how many of the 10,000 gang members of ms-13 in this country are here legally and how many are here illegally? >> it's hard to put a statistic on that number. often they are not caught and they enter the country without us knowing. i would give one example as a snapshot of what we're seeing. this past november the department of justice and the department of homeland security announced the results of operation raging bull. operation raging bull was our enhanced efforts to target ms-13. it culminated in the arrest of about 267 -- 267 arrests both in the united states and in el salvador. 214 arrests in the united states, 94 of them on criminal charges from federal or state, murder, racketeering, robbery, firearms and many other offenses. of the 214 individuals arrested

in the united states, 198 were foreign nationals and only five of those 198 had legal status in the united states. and 64 of those had illegally crossed the border as uncompanied children and many of whom have since become adults. i do not have a number to give you, statistic to give you. i think that snapshot from raging bull gives us an extent of the problem. >> john, isn't it true that ms-13 makes up a small fraction of gang members in this country? >> i'm not sure what percentage of gang members it makes up. department of justice efforts targeting violent gangs is not limited to ms-13. we have numerous prosecutions go on around the country. into violent subsets, the bloods, the nine trade gangsteres. not too long ago we announced a charge against mongoose motorcycle gang. many gang prosecutions going on

around the country. not to say that ms-13 is the only threat we face but it is a unique threat. it is violence for the sake of violence. indiscriminate killing, brutality and also a threat that is very tough to stop. we're in a position where ms-13 is able to replenish its ranks as we incarcerate its members in the united states. >> >> some people would argue with that description, but what would you say to critics who say you're using a broad brush to paint a picture about immigrants and scare people here? >> we look at the reality of the ms-13 in the d.c. metropolitan area, long island and around the country, scare tactics being used are not by the department of justice but by ms-13, a brutal gang of savages engaging in indiscriminate violence in

our communities. >> we're going to pull away from that and take you to cape canaveral. spacex falcon heavy rocket. this is elon musk. one of his quotes has been i would consider it a win if it just clears the pad. it is mere minutes away from takeoff is the latest guidance i have. keep your eyes peeled on this rocket here. if it is successful, it will be the most powerful rocket in use. spacex -- let's listen in. >> startup. [ cheers and applause ] >> stage two.

>> t minus 30 seconds. >> contact on one. spacex. falcon heavy. go for launch. >> minus 15. stand by. >> 10, nine, eight, six, five, four, three, two, one. [ cheers and applause ]

[ cheers and applause ] >> t plus 30 seconds if you can hear me over the cheering. falcon heavy on our test flying building on history of apollo, returning interplanetary mission. getting ready to throttle down. [ cheers and applause ] >> you heard the callout. vehicle is supersonic. side boosters are now throttling back up to full power. we are past max q, period of

maximum loads on the vehicle. next up we'll be waiting for the side boosters to begin to throttle down prior to booster engine cutoff and celebration 2 1/2 minutes into flight. trajectory looks good on the falcon heavy. reports show that the engine performance is nominal. [ cheers and applause ] >> side boosters have begun to throttle down in preparation for the upcoming shutdown in 20 seconds.

major event coming up with side booster shutdown and separation. >> shutdown. side boosters. [ cheers and applause ] >> successful separation. we're coming up on shutdown. [ cheers and applause ] >> side boosters.

startu startup. >> coming up on clearing separatio separation. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> any "space odyssey" fans? he wants to take people up to

mars but in terms of a rocket, this has been a success. look at the crowd looking upwards and applauding. there they are. miles o'brien, first of all, who knows all things space and, i mean, a huge what's the goal here? >> reporter: the goal right now is for me to get my composure. i'm a little misty. this is an emotional moment. i missed greatly the launches of the shuttles. i never had the opportunity to see in person the launch of the saturn 5. i was in florida today but couldn't get there. looking at that crowd. one of the things that really strikes me, if you think about how the united states got to the moon. it was on the backs and the brains of 20 something's. really smart young people. look at that crowd in hawthorne, california. spacex team. a new generation of space travelers and explorers that are putting this amazing rocket into

space. and really, in so many ways, a game changer for ultimately exploring space in a more sustained way. so this is a big moment. >> and leroy, i've got you also, retired nasa astronaut. i imagine equally misty eyed. talking about the heavy rocket and the successful launch. what are you thinking about watching that going up, up and away? >> reporter: i tell you what. i am pretty overcome. this is fantastic. the first time in a very long time we've launched a rocket, anyone has launched a rocket that's this powerful. watching it fly away and it looks like everything is still going phenomenally. we're all watching the upper stages burn. the first stages look flawless. everything looked great. as miles was saying, the crowd of young people in hawthorne is just really inspiring. i think this is an important

moment for exploration. you have visionaries like elon musk who put their own profits into exploring space and that's why this rocket is being built and flown. it is much, much capacity just to launch a satellite. this is a big moment. >> we should point out, people are being, this is an incredible moment but more light-hearted, there are no leroy chiaos on board. this is what they call, there is a payload on board. a hunk of metal. it is my understanding that elon musk put up his own tesla roadster as part of launch in this rocket. is that right? >> that's right. that's a used tesla that elon himself drove with a crash test dummy. i would certainly never call my son leroy a dummy. but this is a substitute astronaut for now. what they do typically on tests like this, what nasa would do is

put ballast in there to give it some weight. part of what i appreciate is the enthusiasm and the tweaks and the sense of humor and for elon, the cross promotional benefits of putting a tesla in orbit for a million years. >> and rachel crane who is actually there, lucky, lucky fellow space geek who is there taking it all in. jumping up and down. i feel your enthusiasm jumping in front of the camera. talk to me and tell me about these boosters. >> reporter: right. well, brooke, we did just see two boosters coming down moments ago. the entry burn was shut down. we don't see them anymore. i do hear people around me. oh! there's the sonic boom! woo! i can't even begin to describe the excitement around it. everybody is coming out. >> pan the camera over!

>> reporter: can you guys turn the camera over to see it? >> no. there's a building. >> oh, there's a building. no worries. >> reporter: seeing this, these incredible landings. unfortunately, i can't see them myself. but to describe the feeling of this launch here at kennedy space center. this historic launch. this is one for the books, brooke. it was really truly incredible. yesterday i spoke with elon musk. he was running through all the things that could possibly go wrong here. he said he would consider it a success if the rocket just simply cleared launch pad 39 a. of course this is an historic launch pad. this is where apollo 11 sent humans to the moon. but had it been destroyed with this launch, it also would have delayed all the further launches. they said falcon heavy could be toward relaunch in three to six months and of course that would have been delayed if the launch pad was destroyed. as we saw today, it was successful. it was not destroyed so that will not be a problem.

we're waiting to see how successful it was. as you were speaking with miles, there is his own personal tesla roadster on board with that space dummy on there playing david bowie space odyssey. we will keep you updated as we get all this incredibly exciting space information. >> i love, love, love the enthusiasm. thank you so much. i still have miles o'brian and leroy caio with me. where is the rocket going? >> it's going if what they call a highly elliptical orbit. it will meet up race track style. it is about 250,000 miles at its farthest distance from earth so it is a pretty decent stretch of

the way to mars. not entering the orbit or landing on mars but the tesla orbit will be there for who knows how long? for the eons with the dummy looking into the void. >> and leroy, i remember standing down there at cape canaveral and watching the final space shuttle take off and being thrilled to see it. but also, sad and nostalgic. here as an astronaut, a former astronaut, what are the next major steps like today? in space exploration? >> this is huge. a huge deal. it looks like it has entered the parking orbit. we saw the landing of the two side boosters. we don't know if the third booster has landed but everything looks flawless. the next steps are to continue flying this vehicle. getting more pedigree on it. launching other pay loads. and as you know, elon musk said he has two paying customers who

want to go around the moon apollo 8 style and it would be this prokt would take them on their way. that would be a huge deal. that would be the first commercial vehicle that leaves earth's orbit with passengers with astronauts on board. ever. pretty neat stuff. >> what is the price tag for this? is this all elon musk? or is he hoping for the federal government to help out? what is the scoop, miles? >> well, the first thing to know is the price tag is a fraction of what nasa projects the cost of its comparable rocket, the space launch system will be. a big part of that is what you just witnessed. the return of the two boosters to the pad, fully reusable and we hope before not too long, the third boost cher will land significantly down range on a platform in the sea. bits 30% of the cost that nasa

is projecting for the cost. that is a game changer. we used to say with the shuttle, that it was about $10,000 a pound for any pound of anything you put on the shuttle. elon musk is claiming before $1,000 a pound. so we're talking about an order of magnitude here and that changes everything when you talk about space exploration. so you have to ask yourself who will get to mars first, nasa or elon musk. right now the smart money would be the guy who puts teslas in space. >> apparently so. mize, thank you so much. leroy, thank you. and rachel crane down there in front of launch pad 39 a. we'll send to it wash. special coverage continues with special coverage continues with my colleague, jake tapper. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com breaking news, the dow

roaring back today after the largest one-day drop in history but there's still volatility in the stock market as the closing bell rings on wall street in just a second. the dow swinging 1,000 points today. let's go to christina. even with the drop, the markets up about 30% since president trump took office. is what we saw yesterday, whether you want to call it a panic or a downturn, is it over? >> reporter: it is too early to tell. one thing is clear. many market participant were calling for a correction, a 10% drop from the last high which was just a couple of weeks ago. we touched that point actually as i have watching the dow open this morning. we touched a correction point. now it is all about whether or not we touch that level again or go lower. to your point, it is too early to tell. one thing is for sure. volatility is the word of the day. it is back in a big way. some people would say, this is healthy. but here's what's troubling some

investors i spoke to today. it was the way we got the correction. it was very sharp. it was over two days. and there you have the closing bell. right now, another very crazy day on the market, in the market. we'll have to see. this volatility is driven by the fact we had stability for such a long period of time. one of the traders told me this morning when i was on the phone with him that stability breeds instability. but that's what happened here. you layer on the fact you have inflation fears and the fear that the fed may raise rates more, or more frequently than expected. and you have a situation where investors believe that people may take money out of equities yielding assets, potentially bonds. that's why we see the gyration that's we're seeing. wh