decades of terrible politics where hyperpartisan politics have divided our country in ways we could never have imagined. i think it's time to turn the page on that. get back to talking about some of the things we agree with each other on, right now? get some things done for the american people. and i think we have to start the conversation now. >> and we just did. congressman john delanie, thank you for being here on "gold zone" great to have you. "new day" continues right now now. the president and the entire administration take domestic violation very seriously and believes that everyone should be treated with due process. >> he's say, hey, look, let's not rush to judge. he strongly said the same thing in back in 1989. >> there should be moral leadership from the white house. >> they have another 30 or 40 persons who have not received security clearances. >> this is a process that doesn't operate within the white house. it's handled by our law enforcement and intelligence community. >> the long-awaited immigration debate, it's officially under

way. >> we think there's a good chance of getting daca done if the democrats are serious and actually want to do it. >> the purpose here is not to make a point. the purpose is to get something done. >> the time for political posturing is behind us. now we have an opportunity to resolve the issues. i hope we make the most of it. >> announcer: this is "gold zon zone". >> still writing. good morning and welcome to your "new day." the white house insists president trump supports victims of domestic violation. there's one problem. the president has refused to say that himself. and he's had lots of chances. he said the opposite basically when supporting a top aide who was forced to resign. one week into this scandal, the white house still refuses to say if the president believes rob porter's ex-wives. nor will they give us any details about when top officials learned about the abuse allegations. porter's first ex-wife slamming the white house response in a

new op-ed for applying that abuse victims are not strong. meanwhile, president trump's $4.4 trillion budget getting a lot of scrutiny this morning. conservatives are blasting the deal, which is projected to add trillions of dollars to the deficit over the next decade. but this morning, the president's focus is on immigration. he has just tweeted this morning saying that this is the last chance to fix daca. and after the march 5th deadline is over, it's over. so can congress get a deal done? we have it all covered. let's begin with abby phillips live at the white house with our top stories. hi, abby. >> reporter: good morning. well, it's been a week since these domestic abuse allegations first surfaced from rob porter. the white house won't say who knew what and when about these allegations. >> the president and the entire administration take domestic violation very seriously and believe all allegations need to be investigated thoroughly. >> reporter: press secretary sarah sanders defending president trump after he expressed sympathy for accused

domestic abuser rob porter but said nothing about his alleged victims. >> the president supports victims of domestic violation and believes everyone should be treated fairly and with due process. >> reporter: sanders reading a statement that she says was dictated to her by the president. but that's not what mr. trump has publicly said. >> obviously tough time for him. it was very sad when we heard about it. and certainly he's also very sad. now, he also, as you probably know, he says he's innocent. and i think you have to remember that. we absolutely wish him well. >> reporter: sanders also addressing this tweet from the president a day later calling for due process for the accused. >> he's not taking a side necessarily one way or the other on any specific issue here. he's talking about mere allegations shouldn't be the determining factor for any individual that there should be due process. >> reporter: the conflicting remarks leaving several party officials who spoke to cnn

confused about mr. trump's stance. a former campaign official telling cnn i don't understand why the white house is hedging on condemning domestic abuse. a member of the central park five, who was wrongly convicted of raping and beating a jogger in 1989, accusing the president of hypocrisy for demanding due process for alleged abusers but calling for the death penalty for the central park five defendants. >> what we're seeing is clearly that there are two separate americas. one america for blacks and people of color and another america for whites and people of affluence. >> reporter: rob porter's ex-wife colbie holderness criticizing sarah sanders response to the allegations and kellyanne conway. i cannot say i'm surprised, i expect a woman to do better. holderness siting conway's statement that she is not concerned about white house communications director hope hicks who is in a relationship with porter. >> i'm sorry for any suffering that this woman has endured, but in the case of hope, i rarely met somebody so strong with such

excellent instincts and loyalty and smarts. >> reporter: holderness writing her statement implies those who have been in abusive relationships are not strong. this, as the white house continues to insist that senior officials only learned about the, quote, extent of the allegations last tuesday. cnn has reported that white house counsel don mcgahn knew a year ago that porter's ex-wives could present damaging information on him to the fbi. and chief of staff john kelly learned about the allegations last november, as porter struggled to get approval for a full security clearance. >> mr. president, do you have a vetting problem? >> reporter: sanders blaming the fbi for the backlog of dozens of white house staffers continuing to work without permanent clearances. well, this scandal is really not going away yet for this white house. we're still waiting to see if president trump is going to speak in his own words about domestic abuse victims. meanwhile, he's already been tweeting about other subjects,

immigration and also infrastructure. and he has a meeting with a group of sheriffs this morning and also a gathering of african-american history month today. >> abby, thank you very much. >> can't go away as long as they keep weaving the whip. let's discuss cnn politics reporter and editor at large chris cillizza and dana bash. dana bash, the state of play down there, i think the tangled web thing seems to work. it is clear that they're not being forthcoming about the timeline. the reporting keeps evidencing gaps in what they want us to know and the biggest factor is well known, which is that the president wanted to support victims of domestic abuse, wanted to put out a statement, he would do it now. >> absolutely. i mean, he's not shy about saying things when he wants to say them, which is the main reason, probably the only reason, why he called cameras into the oval office on friday, the one and only time he spoke in front of cameras about this,

where he talked glowingly about rob porter and of course said zip about the alleged victims and his ex-wives. look, every single time that the white house makes a statement, it seems to make things worse. it's really mind boggling. it really is. even in the most basic sort of rules of crisis management, of crisis communication, they're failing. look, even though it is sort of a chaotic environment, a chaotic communications team, a chaotic process inside the white house, there are people who they have access to to say what are we doing wrong here? and when you have cnn contributors who are trump fans, like jason miller, like mike shields going on anderson cooper last night, pleading with the white house to say -- pleading with the president to denounce

domestic violation, you know that that says something because people like that are loathed to criticize the president on television. they were doing it to send him a message. >> so, chris, people look to the women in the white house for some wisdom. and the -- at least the ex-wives of rob porter don't feel they have heard that from kellyanne conway and sarah sanders. kellyanne conway when asked if people should be worried about hope hicks having a romantic relationship with rob porter, we don't have to worry about her because she's a strong woman. i think it's striking to note that there's obviously a stigma and taboo around all these subjects particularly domestic violation and talking about if you were a victim. but she has this morning a washington post op-ed. i will read a few portions of what his first wife is now saying. on monday, white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders again declined to say whether

the president believes jennie willoughby and me. ky not say i'm surprised, i expected a woman to do better. next, i walked away from the relationship a shell of the person i was when i went into it, but it took me a long time to realize the toll his behavior was taking on me. you can start as a strong woman. you can start thinking you have a normal relationship and then domestic violation, you know, it doesn't matter if you're a strong woman. it eats away at your soul. >> yeah. i think it's sort of a fundamental misunderstanding of the cycle of abuse and how it works candidly. it's not about strength and weakness, personality wise or otherwise. it's -- and also sort of the the ways in which women are able -- feel able to come forward, what makes you strong and weak. i wish we could get rid of the strong and weak words as it relates to this because i just don't think they apply. i think people who try to apply

them both misunderstand it and also do a disservice to women who are struggling with decisions like that. i do think -- i just want to echo a point dana made which is i think it's very important in this white house and i think we've learned it over time that you need to follow his tweets. the president's tweets are the best reflection that we have, the best window into how he thinks what he cares about, what he's focussed on in the given day. we've seen it on a variety of issues throughout this first year in his white house where he will tweet something that is directly in opposition to what his white house, his sort of official apparatus of the white house represented by sarah sanders says. i don't think there's a debate over which one we should believe. one is the president literally talking or typing and the other is an attempt to moderate, mitigate, change, adjust that view. but we know where the president

comes down on this. not just because of his tweet over the weekend but because of where he came down on roger ailes, bill o'reilly, roy moore. you know, this is a consistent pattern of behavior. >> can i just add one thing to the strong woman notion that did clearly force the first wife of rob porter to come out and write this op-ed. it really is stunning that in today's day and age, with the cultural awareness that we are witnessing happening in warped speed, that somebody would think that even though you know somebody so well, like hope hicks -- and she is a strong woman -- to think that knowing what we know now because people have had the courage to come forward, that even strong women can get caught up in situations and cycles of violence. just as a cultural touch stone,

look at big little lies. there's a reason why our sister network did so well with that show. it's because people could relate to this very story line, a very strong woman who was in a relationship and it appeared to be the perfect couple. and she was getting hit all the time. >> right now. and by the way, that's usually the end of the process. look, i think that the president is caught out in a bad situation this time that he's ultimately going to have to fix. i don't think that he can stay mute on this. it's too big a deal. it's related to the metoo movement. i know what you're going to say. he always doubles down. he won't come out. he said he never asks god for forgiveness. i get it. but this is a different kind of issue. my team has been steeped in this for months. we have a documentary coming out about it. strong women are necessary to survive this cycle. the inequities in the law, the inequities in our culture are too pronounced. one in four women are exposed to

this. one in seven men. he is feeding a cynicism, a jaundice and a lie about the reality here that i don't think is going to go away, chris. i think it's going to stay on. i think journalists have high ground in not letting it go away. it's not like the latest stupid thing he said in a tweet where -- >> correct. >> ultimately you have to focus on things matter. i don't know what matters more than this. >> so i wasn't going to make the roy argument. >> i thought he was going to. >> no. the argument i will make and i do think this is the reason you see trump react the way he does. look, this is a president who more than a dozen women have accused of somewhere between sexually inappropriate behavior and sexual assault during the -- not during the 2016. that's when the accusations came, over the last few decades. he denied all of them. said they were lying. said they were politically motivated. i'm not saying he shouldn't say more because clearly i think he should, i just wonder if he is

not in a very difficult spot because if rob porter's accusers need to be not just heard but believed, what does that say about donald trump's accusers, all of whom he has said were lying for political reasons? >> right now. >> it's hard. it would be hard -- not that this president hasn't done things like this, one thing is directly contradictory to other things he ease done. >> he's got a black eye. he's got an order of protection. and he has statistics that would scare the heck out of anybody. it is a leading cause of homicide among half your population. it's something that i think rises to a level where he can clear space for himself where this isn't about him. i don't think it's going to go away. >> dana chris, thank you very much. >> thank you. so the white house has struggled to get its story straight and its timeline

straight on the rob porter abuse scandal. two former white house advisers tell us what they see in how this damage control is being handled. that's next. how do you win at business? stay at la quinta. where we're changing with stylish make-overs. then at your next meeting,

set your seat height to its maximum level. bravo, tall meeting man. start winning today. book now at lq.com start winning today. but through goodt times and bad at t. rowe price we've helped our investors stay confident for over 80 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. essential for vinyl, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections,

including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. needles. a must for vinyl. but for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. an "unjection™".

swho live within five miles of custyour business?-54, like these two... and that guy. or maybe you want to reach women, ages 18 to 34, who are interested in fitness... namaste. whichever audience you're looking for, we'll find them we're the finders. we work here at comcast spotlight, and we have the best tools for getting your advertising message out there. anywhere, any way your audience watches. consider them found.

♪ all right. facts first. when we're talking about domestic violation, we're not talking about a he said/she said. this is one of the leading causes of death for women in this country. all right? but we do have to look at the right now thing to do policy wise and what's been done fact wise with the truth. the white house wants you to believe that it only knew about the domestic abuse allegations against rob porter last week. >> we learned of the extent of the situation involving rob porter last tuesday evening. and within 24 hours his resignation had been accepted and announced. >> full extent. okay? that's cover language. and it's also not true. white house counsel don mcgahn was first made aware of the allegations in january of last year. how do we know? because the reporting is that rob porter told mcgahn about them himself. then in september, mcgahn learned that the allegations

were holding up porter's security clearance, according to "the washington post." and in late november, an ex-girlfriend of porter's disturbed by porter's relationship with white house communications director hope hicks called mcgahn directly to warn him. mcgahn reportedly relaid this to other white house officials. okay. so that's what the white house knew. what about what the fbi knew? here is sarah sanders on that yesterday. >> the process for the background was on going. and the white house had not received any specific papers regarding the completion of that background check. >> papers. again, that's a cover term. and again, not true. while there's no way to know what sanders means by specific papers, in early 2017, porter's exs supplied the fbi with descriptions of their alleged abuse, including pictures. remember, one wife got punched

in the face. the other one had an order of protection. and in the spring, the fbi gave that information to the white house. in fact, the fbi reports they told the white house that porter would likely never get permanent security clearance. that's what "the new york times" is reporting as of last night. now that raises a legal question because it is illegal to share classified information with someone not cleared to have it. so that's on one of the burners here as well. so, what about what white house chief of staff john kelly knew and when? not much, according to raj shaw. >> well, there's been some reports about the chief of staff. he became fully aware about these allegations yesterday. >> fully aware. what does that mean from raj shah. the facts are kelly was aware of the accusations not last wednesday but last november.

and yet sarah sanders claims kelly acted quickly. >> i can tell you that a conversation took place within 40 minutes and beyond that i really don't have anything else to add. >> she is correct. john kelly did act quickly to defend porter. within 12 hours of the black eye photo, kelly called porter, quote, a man of integrity and honor. around the same time he and other officials strongly urged porter not to quit. 19 hours later, kelly said while he was, quote, shocked by the, quote, new allegations, he stood behind his positive description of porter. so, there are a lot of inconsistencies and questions here, but that's okay. because the white house is going to clean it all up for us, right now? >> i'm not going to get into the specifics regarding who may have known what pieces of information because they were all part of an on going background check information. >> i'm not going to get into the

details of the process beyond what we've already said. >> you're going to get into them because we're going to get into them. and reporting has revealed more specifics and they paint a different picture than the white house wants you to believe. and those are the facts. >> chris, thank you for laying all of that out for us. let's bring in our guests now. we have former white house communications director under president obama anita dunn and former adviser to george w. bush and mccain, co-host of show times the circus returning for its third season in april. he is decked out in a fine hat. good morning to both of you. mark, i want to start with you. i want to start with what raj shah said on tape. this is part of an on going background check. we can't give you the information. is that right now? and does the public deserve answers on when these officials in the white house knew about the abuse allegations?

>> no. it just makes it worse. when you say you have information that you can't give out, that raises everybody's antenna. there's three basic rules we have in the white house for communicating a situation like this. number one, don't make a bad story worse. here we are a week after the story broke still talking about it. number two, speed kills a bad story. kill it in the crib. don't let it walk, don't let it crawl, don't let it run circles around you like it is now. if you change the story, you prolong the story. so you have a situation now where everyday, almost every news cycle we get a new iteration, a new version of what happened. that's prolonging it and making it look worse. by the way, this is a problem that is in many ways obscuring the bigger problem which is that we had somebody who didn't have security clearance who has one of the most sensitive positions in the white house who never should have had that job. >> i do want to get into ma momentarily. first with the coms problem. anita dunn, you had hope hick's

job in the obama white house. you are the perfect person to talk to. would there ever have been a scenario where you would be the person crafting the statement about the person who -- on whom the scandal revolves around if you were having a romantic relationship with that person? why was hope hicks the person crafting the statement about rob porter? >> so there are so many questions to unpack right now there, alisyn. let's be clear, the white house communications director doesn't get brought into clearance questions or security issues until there's a problem. and in this case, given the fact that she has this relationship with rob, it probably would have made a lot more sense for her to take herself out of that circle, at least initially. but there are bigger problems here. mark has outlined some of them. but i think what's really critical here is to say how does the white house now fix this? and one former white house communications director's advice would be use your sheriff's event today to go make the

strongest declaration you can about supporting the two very strong women who walked out of those relationships with rob porter and victims of domestic abuse nationwide. go fix it today, mr. president. as mark says, time is ticking. >> anita, that is some great free advice that you are giving, very generous you are giving to the trump white house. and if he does that, if the president does that, does this clean it up? i mean, then can everybody sort of exhale and say, okay, he's finally addressing the victims of domestic violation? >> there's an accountability question that mark outlined that is going to be very real. chris's lead into this piece, the facts, the timeline, they're all kinds of questions. but listen, this is a white house that has never had good process. bad process leads to bad outcomes. in this case a very, very bad outcome. and they're doing what they like to do first blame the media and then blame the fbi. it's not the fbi's job to make

decisions on security clearance. it's the counsel to the chief of staff to the president. so, the bad process they have in this white house has led to a disastrous outcome. they can short term fix this problem, but the bigger problem here is actually the fact that they thought it was okay to have this person in an extremely sensitive job that sees every document that goes to the president. the gate keeper. >> so mark, that leads to your issue, which is how can this guy be functioning without full security clearance? is that common place that after a year somebody with this much access to the president wouldn't have security clearance? what is the danger? >> no, it's not common place at all. i can tell you for sure that nobody with any sort of sensitive position in the bush white house would have served in that position without full fbi security clearance. and this goes to a deeper problem, i think, which is that there's just a general staffing problem with this

administration. in other words, they're having trouble getting good people and getting good people to stay. and therefore i think they get into situations where they have people like porter in the position that he was because they thought that he did a good job and they thought, oh boy, here is a guy who handles the paper well. and let's just kind of obscure some issues in his past that may be problematic. but this white house now has 34% turnover in the first year of its administration, which is three times the worse administration before that which was ronald reagan. >> 34% turnover for high ranking aides and officials. so that tells you something. and anita, just to be clear about what you were saying about they're pinning it on the fbi. right now. you heard raj shah and sarah sanders. the fbi was in charge of the security clearance. why don mcgahn didn't act on this if he knew for a year or john kelly didn't act sooner. just help us understand because you were in the white house in this role, does the white house

grant security clearance or does the fbi? >> the fbi doesn't grant the security clearance. at the end of the day, the decision is with the white house. and the reality is that from january 2017 when rob porter first reportedly told don mcgahn about these issues, there's no way this white house should have had this person in that position. there just isn't. as the fbi background process confirmed the very serious nature of what he had done, there's no way he should have been in this position. >> and so anita, what does it say that they did have him in this position? what does that tell you about how seriously they took these allegations? >> you know, who can know what was going through their minds. but what we can infer from the fact that we kept -- that they kept him in this position is that clearly domestic abuse is not an issue that they take seriously when it's compared to having someone who they think is moving paper well.

and that's a value judgment that i think women across this country are going to remember as they head for the polls this fall. >> mark, what's the upshot for you that they kept him in this position knowing about these allegations? >> well, i think it's a process problem and a staffing problem. they're having high turnover, high rate so they found somebody as anita said to shuffle the paper. let's just look at that and let's not look at the deeper issues about who is qualified to work in this white house and who should have clearance. it's been a problem since the very beginning, the white house more than any operation in the country obviously needs to have a really buttoned up process. process is important in a white house as anita can testify. if you screw up the process, it leads to bigger problems like this. >> and so i understand that you're saying that it's process and so many people, though, see it as deeper than that. that there is generally when the president has to come out on a side, he, as we've seen in the

past and in this takes the side of the accused. not the side of the women who are making the allegations. >> this is a president who had the press brought into his event last friday so he could talk about how victimized rob porter was. this is a president who has been tweeting on all kinds of issues since the end of last week, including his thoughts on due process in the metoo movement. and raising issues around that. this is a president who as recently as this morning has tweeted about infrastructure and daca. so we know he hasn't lost his phone. we know he still has his ability to communicate. but he hasn't said one word supporting directly the women who suffered domestic abuse. and that tells you all you need to know about this white house and this president. >> mark, the first wife of rob porter has felt compelled to go public and write an op-ed in the washington post. i think that we need to just talk about how striking that is for victims of domestic

violation, even if you want to call them alleged victims of domestic violation because of the stigma attached to them. she was so disheartened by what the women in the white house had said. kellyanne conway saying she doesn't worry about hope hicks because hope hicks is a strong woman. here is what colbie holderness is saying in the op-ed. monday, sarah huckabee sanders again declined to say whether the president believes jennifer will lou by and me. i expected a woman to do better, while i can say i'm not surprised. in the white house, what should the president's advisers like kellyanne and sarah sanders be saying to them? >> well, the first piece of advice is the very first statement out of this white house should be support and sympathy for the victims. that should have been the very first thing. and the fact that the victims are still talking about how this white house has failed to come to their support in any fashion,

any kind of statement of support, still seven days later just testifies to a much greater problem in the white house which is a tendency and reflex to defend the perpetrators and not the victims. >> okay. anita dunn, mark mckinnen, thank you very much for sharing your expertise from inside the white house with us. >> thank you. >> chris? >> now beneath this major cloud over the white house, there's some significant policy matters. the senate taking up the debate on immigration. can lawmakers strike a bipartisan deal? or will time run out in this trump-imposed deadline of march 5th? we ask democratic senator richard blumenthal next. whoooo.

going somewhere? here's some advice. tripadvisor now searches more... ...than 200 booking sites - to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30%. trust this bird's words. tripadvisor. listerine® cleansaches 25virtually 100%.. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath.

never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™

the president is up and tweeting. he has not cleaned up the disgrace of his position on domestic abuse, but he will. but for now he's talking about immigration. saying negotiations on daca have begun. republicans want to make a deal. democrats say they want to make a deal. wouldn't it be great if we could finally after so many years solve the daca puzzle.

this will be our last chance. there will never be another opportunity. tell the federal courts that who have made his march 5 deadline inoperative, but politically is he right now? the senate begins debate today on immigration. can congress beat this self-imposed deadline in just three weeks. joining us democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. good to see you, senator. do you believe you can make a deal before the march 5 deadline? >> not only do i believe that we can reach an agreement, i believe we must reach an agreement. i've looked into the eyes of these dreamers. i've talked to them. young people brought to this country through no choice of their own. this country is the only one they know. english is the only language they speak. 800,000 of them came forward because the united states made a promise to them that it would protect them from mass draconian

deportation and now we have to seize this moment. absolutely. >> all right. but to stand on that principle, what are you willing to give? it seems the democrats are willing to give trump billions and billions, maybe 25 more, who knows the way you guys count down there, for a wall. chain migration as they call it, which is known as family reunification by the system itself, and lottery visas. are you willing to give on all three to get daca? >> we cannot make the dreamers a blank check for a nativist far right now fringe agenda. so we are willing to compromise. absolutely. board of security is a must. >> but he wants all three. the four pillars. >> that's what he says, but the only way to do a deal is narrowly and simply to provide

permanent status for the dreamers in a path to citizenship. we're talking about better training for the border agents, more of them, security, and strengthening the fences and the physical barriers where it will do some good. not a wall from sea to shining sea. the limits of compromise are there because basically we're talking about fundamental core american values. and let me just add a personal point here, chris, if i may. my father came to this country in 1935. he was 17 years old. he had not much more than the shirt on his back. he spoke no english. he knew virtually no one. he was escaping persecution in germany. he borrowed $10,000, at that point a fortune for a penniless german refugee and brought over his parents and his three siblings. this idea of family reunification is part of the american ideal.

it's the immigrant's story. and we all know it. it's part of our lives. and betraying that fundamental american value is something that we cannot tolerate. >> look. i hear you. and there's no question it's been grossly exaggerated as chain migration. and this idea that it goes on forever is demonstrably false. the backlog of spousal and child documentation cases proves that. but this is about politics. what i don't understand is if it's such an impassioned principle, why are you adding anything to it? why don't the democrats just stand on doing daca and fixing the situation? and adding nothing. not adding billions for a wall that isn't necessary. you can put all that money for security into the budget bill. in fact, you are. the president's proposal right now now has border security spending in it. why add anything to it if it matters as much as you say? >> you took the words out of my mouth, chris. that would, indeed, be my

solution. let's limit the deal to the dreamers and daca. if politically it is workable in the senate and we can muster sufficient majority here to provide momentum going into the house of representatives where, of course, as you know, speaker ryan has made no commitment even to allowing the bill -- >> if you know it's not going to go that way, right now? that seems pretty politically obvious. ryan has spoken about this. he's not going to do immigration the same way that mcconnell said he would for you guys. okay. but then why not stand on principle. you have the filibuster in the senate. and if the president wants to blame you, have that fight. why isn't this a bedrock principle for the democrats that they're willing to stand on and maybe die on? >> we have made that fight. it's the reason that i voted against the continuing resolution the time before this one. and we're willing to make that fight again but we also need to be realistic because there are human lives in the balance.

if it takes some compromise on border security, a few more dollars for censers and surveillance and fences -- >> a few more dollars, you're talking about 25 billion. i hear you. we'll see where it goes on that. i want to ask you about another point of compromise while i have you, senator. your perspective matters. explain to me why the democrats want to rekindle the nunes memo by releasing the democrat memo. i don't get the political strategy. the nunes memo did not resonate the way nunes and the president hoped it would. your memo, the democrat memo in all likelihood will not change any of the minds that want to believe what is in the nunes memo. why breathe air back on to smoldering flames? >> the record deserves a refutation of the nunes memo. you're absolutely right now, chris. it fell flat because the nunes memo in a sense contradicted itself. it showed that the investigation did not begin as a result of the so-called steele dossier, george

papadopoulos began it. nunes himself admitted that the warrant was not fatally infected by any political impact and of course that warrant was renewed several times. so it had to be productive the surveillance was, in fact, producing results. but the point is, there are elements of the nunes memo that deserve to be refuted on the record. and the democratic minority of the house intelligence committee is being very responsible to work with the fbi and the department of justice to eliminate any parts of it that may compromise security. and this white house has been contemptible about security. i'm going to be calling later today for the 30 to 40 names of the interim security clearances because i believe they are a threat to national security. they owe us those names. and cnn has revealed their 30 to 40 of them. that's profoundly significant.

and security matters. that's why the refutation of the nunes also matters. >> well, good luck with that, senator. we look forward to reporting on any progress you have. thank you for being on the show as always. >> thank you. so on that topic of the border wall beyond the politics, would it actually make america safer? cnn goes to the border to get to the bottom of the human smuggling next. ♪ stay at la quinta. where we're changing with stylish make-overs. then at your next meeting, set your seat height to its maximum level. bravo, tall meeting man. start winning today. book now at lq.com

start winning today. the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

♪ the immigration debate begins today on the senate floor. the president demands, as you know, a wall be built on the border with mexico. but will a wall stop illegal immigration and human smuggling? cnn's leyla santiago is live in mexico city with all of her reporting from the border. tell us what you've learned. >> well, to get to the bottom of the very question, we headed to the border. mexico's southern border because often what happens there is an indicator of what will happen on the u.s./mexico border. and what we found, we found a lot of people telling us they don't believe this wall will actually be built. and if it is built, they say it's not enough to stop them. >> reporter: mexico's southern border with guatemala, you will not find a wall here. for many, this is the gateway to the u.s./mexico border thousands

of miles away. some use this river to transport goods. others use it to migrate north. just 20 minutes here, we find this family crossing. so he made it to the u.s. and then was deported back to honduras and now he's trying again. he's headed north to escape violence and poverty in honduras. they once feared president trump's tough talk on immigration, not anymore. he says he's going to get there with or without a wall. everyday people cross this river. this is not part of the challenge for those fleeing violence in central america. it only costs about a 1.50 to go from guatemala into mexico. but once you get to that side, the risks can be deadly, forcing many to hire a smuggler.

this is a human smuggler. he would only speak to us if we concealed his identity. he says he's brought in 3 to 4,000 people to the united states. he charges about $6,000 per person and works with a network of >> reporter: he's saying it's easy to get from guatemala to mexico. what about amerimayor mexico to u.s.? he said that's a little more difficult. he noticed the slow of immigrants slowed down when president trump took office. members of the u.s.-mexico border has shown an uptick. the south earn border has seen a similar trend. business for smugglers has picked up again. >> immigration, he says, is unstoppable. it doesn't matter what president

trump says. some people are just determined to get to the united states. >> when you get to the u.s.-mexico border, will you be using a smuggler there? >> yes, that's correct. >> reporter: we found darby outside one of mexico's immigration offices where so many are waiting for permission to be in mexico as they travel north. >> it's just a fulfilling of loneliness. >> reporter: darby says he was deported from the u.s. in may. he's worried about the dangerous trek back where he has no protection against cartels. many are robbed, kidnapped, killed. still he says it's worth the risk. staying in honduras could mean gangs will carry out threats to kill him and his family. >> the only other choice i have at this time is to go back to the u.s. and try to make an entry, an illegal entry again. >> you know this is illegal? >> i know it is illegal.

>> why not do it the legal way? >> it's very, very difficult. >> reporter: he doesn't have enough time or money to get back to the u.s. legally, he says. it's desperate. >> i still have a dream. >> reporter: no matter what the u.s. president may say or bui build -- he said trump can't build a wall in the ocean. >> reporter: they all agree, they will find a way north. it's important to know, while we are seeing that uptick month to month, the numbers are down in terms of year to year. in april we saw a 17-year low. the change though, again, is that month to month we're seeing the numbers rise yet again. as far as who is coming, immigration officials on the southern border of mexico tell me they're seeing an increase in hondurans coming given the political unrest in that country. chris? >> leyla, it was really important for you to give us that perspective.

we're used to the mexican northern border, not the southern border. that's where it begins, so much matriculation from central america. thank you for doing it. thank the team as well. the obamas turned into art. the portraits of the formerment and first lady has social media buzzing. everybody has an opinion. what do you think? whoooo.

looking for a hotel that fits... ...your budget? tripadvisor now searches over... ...200 sites to find you the... ...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino! find a price that fits. tripadvisor. the roasted core wrap.belly fat. 3, 2, 1... not cool.

freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting? now that's cool! coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. and no surgery. results and patient experience may vary. some rare side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort and swelling. ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting.com today... for your chance to win a free treatment. mikboth served in the navy.s, i do outrank my husband, not just being in the military, but at home. she thinks she's the boss. she only had me by one grade. we bought our first home together in 2010. his family had used another insurance product but i was like well i've had usaa for a while, why don't we call and check the rates? it was an instant savings and i should've changed a long time ago. there's no point in looking elsewhere really. we're the tenneys and we're usaa members for life. usaa. get your insurance quote today.

we know that when you're spending time with the grandkids every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield. that's why we show you exactly when we'll be there. saving you time, so you can keep saving the world. >> kids: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪

the obamas making history, their portraits are now down for the national portrait gallery, not the white house portraits. >> which would have been more traditional. these are the less traditional depictions. >> we looked at those gallery and those tend to be pretty traditional or not. these are not. that's what the story is about. creative comparisons going on on social media. we had to bring in cnn's jeanne moos. here is her take. >> reporter: there they were in the thresholding hands waiting

for their national gallery portraits to be unveiled. first hers and then his. not your average national gallery presidential portrait. >> that's pretty sharp. >> reporter: but what's with all the greenery. in the weeds as usual i see, tweeted one critic. both president obama and the former first lady chose african-american artists ke hind wiley explains the plants include flowers from chicago, hawaii and kenya. all some could see was sean spicer hiding in the bushes. someone else noticed a similarity to beyonce's pregnancy announcement. the artist wiley is known for painting african-americans like michael jackson in royal settings, mimicking old masters. he choked up thanking his mom.

>> we didn't have much, but she found a way to get paint. >> reporter: amy sherald paintd michelle's, her personality coming to the fore. president obama thanked her for catching the intelligence. >> the hotness of the woman i love. >> reporter: the first lady reacted to her own image. >> let's just start by saying wow. >> reporter: but who instead of wow is what half of the people we said asked. >> an actress? >> a little like michelle obama. >> i don't think it is her. >> who is this woman? >> that's a good question. >> that's a gorgeous picture of michelle obama. >> reporter: some who recognized michelle obama -- >> god only knows. michelle obama. >> reporter: did it the round-about way. >> i know those arms. >> great guns as they say. >> reporter: you know what they say about obama's portrait.

he has very big hands. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> she always has an interesting take. >> it used to be you can't please everyone. now it's you can't please anyone ever. >> those are really creative interesting takes. you could hear the gasp when it was unveiled. >> if the former president and first lady like them, that's good enough for us. we're following a lot of news. let's get after it. >> he certainly supports the victims of domestic violence. >> he said very strongly that he's innocent. >> the president doesn't say one word about the lives that have been scarred. >> it's not believable when the president wants to get a message out, he does it. >> we learned of the extent of this situation last tuesday evening. >> if somebody did know the full extent -- >> i'm the president and i want to get rid of them. >> we're going to have the strongest military we've ever had by far. >> president trump outlining