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. the brand more doctors recommend for minor arthritis pain. this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome to "inside politics." i'm dan a bash in for john kin. a southwest airlines jet just moments ago that was bound from chicago to newark was diverted to cleveland. and that after a passenger window, you see the photo right there, cracked. the airline says flight 957 landed safely and uneventfully. alison, what do we know about

this flight and more importantly how and wen that window cracked? >> reporter: okay so, yes, just to go over where the flight was coming from and going to. it took off from midway international in chicago heading to new jersey, new jersey, making that emergency landing in cleveland. that's after what we're seeing on twitter, the window cracked during flight. we are hearing from one of the passengers through texts that she made to her son. she said she was -- that the cracked window was right behind where she was sitting, and across the aisle. she had said that she heard a loud noise, a large crack with a piece of window missing at the bottom. she went on to tell her son ryan that she had just landed, everything is okay. and that southwest airlines was making arrangements for the 76 passengers on this flight to get other flights out. southwest airlines saying that

the crew of the flight made the decision to divert the plane to cleveland for maintenance review. the flight landed uneventfully in cleveland. the aircraft has been taken out of service for maintenance review and our local cleveland employees are working to accommodate the 76 passengers. in that statement, we're not hearing about the window being cracked. but we're seeing in those pictures it is cracked we are trying to confirm if there's something missing at the bottom of that window. this is very scary, coming less than a month after the other southwest incident happening april 17th when an engine exploded, shrapnel going through a window, blowing that window out and partially sucking a woman out of a plane. just yesterday, the pilot of that plane in april, along with some customers who were hero cli tried to save that woman, they were recognized at the white house for what they did during

that flight and how calmly that pilot was able to land that plane in philadelphia. but this is scary news again, because again, a window cracked during flight. dana? >> beyond scary, alison. coming on the heels of what happened last month. thank goodness this appears not to be deadly or certainly scary for the passengers. but a lot of unanswered questions. i want to talk about that with cnn aviation analyst mary schiavo, who was a former inspector general at the u.s. department of transportation. mary, this statement from southwest talks a couple of times about maintenance review. it sounds like, you know, that they needed to put gas in the plane. it's very benign, when obviously we're looking at a photo and hearing from passengers that it was anything but benign, specifically what happened last month with this very same airline and the same issue, a

broken window. >> and it's not benign. there are federal regulations concerning the condition of the windows and the window housing. and when you have a cracked window, you must land. the plane is not airworthy with a cracked window. here's beyond a crack with a piece missing. your windows must be in tact, particularly on a pressurized plane, as this is. as the whole world saw, if you lose a window, you have a rapid decompression and the oxygen masks will fall and people and things can be sucked out of the plane. so while they're doing a maintenance check, they have to. with a cracked and partially missing window, the aircraft is unairworthy by law. so now what they have to find out is why. it's not, you know, completely uncommon. these things do happen. but it's a very serious event. so it couldn't be a bird strike, it's on the side of the plane, so they have to find out if there were any warnings on these

windows, perhaps manufacturing flaws or there was something wrong with the housing around that window. and so they need to find that out. >> mary schiavoschiavo, thank y much. we're also tracking a plane crash in georgia. we have some live photos of smoke coming from the crash site of a military cargo plane. we don't have the pictures now. there you go. wow, pretty unbelievable video there, smoke billowing out of this cargo plane that crashed a short time ago in savannah, georgia. according to a manager at a nearby airport, emergency crews are responding. we're getting more information about this. let's go straight to cnn's kailee live in atlanta. what do we know? >> reporter: we don't know much. those pictures taken just a few moments ago, not far from the savannah hilton head airport. we're told a military plane has crashed, emergency crews are

responding to the scene. we don't at this time have much more information than that. an official telling cnn this crash not happening on their property, but just few miles away, off of highway 21, as we learn more, we will keep you posted. this a very developing situation. those pictures of that smoke billowing taken just moments ago. >> as you mentioned, a military cargo plane. we weren't sure if it was military or civilian, but you're report thing it is in fact military. as we get more information, we'll bring it to you. thank you for that report. turning back to politics. the president versus his own justice department. we'll talk about that, next. with 5 times more regions ancestrydna can pinpoint where your ancestors are from and the paths they took to a new home. could their journey inspire yours? order your kit at ancestrydna.com

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deputy term. rod rosenstein is firing back at those who drafted articles of impeachment to have him removed as deputy attorney general. they say he failed to hand over documents on high profile investigations, including the russia meddling probe. democrats say the caucus simply wants to protect the president. rosenstein, who rarely speaks out, is doing so now. he says he'll follow the law and he won't be bullied. >> i just don't have anything to say about documents like that, that nobody has the courage to put their name on and that they leak in that way. but i can tell you, there are people who have been making threats privately and publicly against me for quite sometime, and i think they should understand by now that the department of justice is not going to be extorted. we're going to do what's required by the rule of law. >> the people or person he was talking about, freedom caucus chairman congressman mark meadows lashed out at rosenstein after those remarks. he said "if he believes being

asked to do his job is extortion, then rod rosenstein should step aside and allow us to find a new deputy attorney general, preferably one that's interested in transparency. the president reinforcing that pressure by tweeting that the system is rigged, and that he may have to use the powers of the presidency to get involved. let's go no -- i want to add that we learned that congressman meadows and the freedom caucus we're told yesterday that the doj would not be handing over documents they requested with. that new information, let's get straight to our correspondent who joins us from the mill. manu, you're hearing about new details what mark meadows and jim jordan are asking rosenstein for. >> reporter: that's right. we are learning that private meeting last month, meadows and jim jordan asked rosenstein to provide a key document, an august memo that detailed the scope of the mueller investigation. that memo was turned over earlier this year, but it was heavily redacted and the details

of what mueller was allowed to investigate are not known to the public. both meadows and jordan demanded that they get access to that document that's something that rod rosenstein resisted in that private meeting according to jordan. we're learning now that the justice department said no to that request officially. that comes as both meadows and jordan, other house republicans are demanding scores of documents, thousands and thousands of documents that they believe may show some impropriety in how the fbi handled the clinton e-mail investigation and the russia investigation. so far, the justice department has turned over documents, but not to the satisfaction of these republicans and certainly not to the satisfaction of president trump. and this all comes as democrats are concerned this effort to go after rosenstein, to criticize rod rosenstein and threaten him with impeachment will be a pretext for the president to fire rosenstein, and perhaps put in a new person in charge of the

mueller investigation, something that the republicans say that needs to be wrapped up sometime soon here, dana. >> and manu, that final point is the key here, why are we talking about rod rosenstein, why are these republicans going after him? let's be frank, it's because he's the guy in charge of the mueller investigation right now. thanks for that great reporting. here with me at the table to share their reporting and insights insight is my panel. thanks, everyone. good to see you. let's just start with that last point. it's really heating up, this sort of back and forth between the president's allies, who the white house says they're not doing the president's bidding. and rod rosenstein. what are you hearing from your perch on the hill? >> i think the interesting thing, one, it's just phenomenal, this clash between the republicans and the republican justice department. that just throws me for a loop. but democrats are really worried

about this, because while all the attention is on, will the president fire bob mueller, that they believe this is just being built up to get rid of the deputy attorney general, which won't get as much attention, but has more impact because a new deputy -- he oversees the investigation, which is the clash with mark meadows and the freedom caucus, demanding transparency, and if they replace him, someone else can come in and limit the scope of mueller's investigation. keep him in place, and it will look like it's proceeding. so these kind of things often happen when congress is on recess, as they are now too, because, you know, it's easy. there's not -- congress isn't there to make noise about this. >> and one thing is clear, i think we should make this point, there is no member of congress that i'm aware of that a president talks to more often than mark meadows. they talk all the time. if they're on recess or not. so sitting in the white house briefing yesterday, and sarah

sanders was saying we're not involved in that. i've not looked at that information. the reality is, the president has. so the president talked to mark meadows several times a week. so it's clear that they are sort of doing his bidding. not saying that they don't believe it or agree with it, but that is what is happening here. the president is trying to game the refs here. >> and it's the members of congress and let's go get 'em chorus on television. the president's supporters and the legal community, like joe digenova, he's certainly trying to help the president on tv. take a listen. >> that is a firing offense, by the way, for saying that, because it shows an ignorance of the constitution that a deputy attorney general would say that congress is acting

extortionately, because they are asking to see documents they have a right to under the constitution, is so outrageous, from a constitutional officer like that, that it shows that he's unfit legally and professionally to continue in the office of deputy attorney general, and he should resign. >> yeah. i mean, you can almost see the circularity between this, right? something happens on fox and the president tweets it. he talks to mark meadows, mark meadows talks about it. this is where the president in some ways is at his best, the fighting against everyone, basically donald trump versus everybody to paraphrase eminem. that seems to be what is happening. it works for him in the campaign and it seems like a footing that he's on now. and also you have this new fighter in thinks catch in rudy giuliani, and we've seen some changes and some kind of movement happen since giuliani has gotten into his camp. and he's obviously a fighter.

he has a television presence, or had been. but yeah, this is where her right now and i think it's going to continue. >> it's kind of a smart strategy, too. if you're going to go after mueller, you're going to lose a lot of people in the gop. that's a third rail you can't touch right now. but the idea of government transparency and congress having its weight respected at the table, they're choosing rosenstein because it's a much more legitimate target. rod rosenstein is screwing up a little by saying this is extorti extortion. so it's feeding back into this circle. it's the smarter tact to take, if you are the conservative gop right now, which wants to destabilize at least what's going on with the mueller probe to go in this direction. >> it's also trying to discredit the whole investigation. but it may be smart at the moment. but i think we have to sit back and ask ourselves, the president's lawyers have convinced him that this wasn't a

big deal, it's going to end any moment. it is a big deal, when you look at the list of questions there. so it may be keeping him occupied, which is important, as well. but at some point, this is a major real investigation, he can say it's a hoax on twitter. at some point they have to make the decision, and that's the clash that we're watching for here is, you know, when the president and his lawyers say he won't sit down with mueller, then what happens? >> and rudy giuliani, the day it was announced that he was joining the legal team, he said to me this whole notion of firing rosenstein and mueller, it's not going to mueller is the best we're going to get. everybody stand by, we have more information about that military cargo plane crash in georgia. we'll give that to you right after a break.

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we're keeping an eye on that military cargo plane crash in savannah, georgia. you're looking at a video from a few moments ago, thick smoke billowing from the crash site. a local eyewitness whodescribed. the ground shook like a bomb was going off. all the people in the building started panicking. it was absolutely horrible. let's go tod kaylee hartung. >> reporter: that was a air national guard c-130 that crashed in savannah. we're unsure if it was coming or going from the vicinity. there is a base nearby. a spokes person from the savannah hilton head international airport saying this crash didn't happen on airport property but off site. highway 21 near gulf stream

road, the savannah firefighter's association saying that highway is shut down until further notice. emergency crews, as you can see through this eyewitness video, they are on the scene responding to this crash that happened within the last hour. there are still many questions, how many people were on board. did anyone survive? dana, we'll continue monitor thing situation and keep you updated. >> thank you for that update. we're going to move back to politics now and another very busy day. we're in donald trump's washington, a wednesday. there are new developments from the russian investigation. the president tweeted and taublted the special counsel robert mueller saying there is no obstruction of justice. that is a setup and trap. he punctuated the tweet with "witch hunt" for good measure. this is about a looming legal showdown with the special counsel and the president's he will people.

th -- legal team. two of the sources say mueller raised the possibility of subpoenaing president trump 234 at least one meeting with the president's lawyers who say he hasn't shut the door entirely on sitting voluntarily with mueller. but sources tell cnn, the slim chances that he would do so just got even slimmer. back with our panel. as we've been on the air, one of the president's lawyers, ty cobb, did an interview with abc news and here's what he said. it's certainly not off the table and people are working hard to make decisions and work towards an interview. and assuming that can be concluded favorably, there will be an interview. assuming an agreement can't be reached, you know it will go a different route. now, ty cobb, as gloria borger has been reporting is in the distinct minority in terms of the president's legal team trying to continue to push the

notion of the president sitting down with mueller. >> most people in a legal team and the president's orbit say it would be a disaster. >> anyone who comments on this, asked if the president should sit down, you see those list of questions, asking very detailed information about incidents. and you see that list and then you hear the president who has a tendency to go off script, to not really talk in truthful ways about any number of things. so you understand why there's great fear of him sitting down. bob mueller, he himself has shifted. initially he said sure, i would love to do this. at this point, it does seem to be very unlikely, setting up probably a pretty protracted fight in terms of get thing president to talk. will he be subpoenaed? does he plead the fifth? and what does that mean? >> and it seems to me, jeff, this new ty cobb statement, and he doesn't talk to the press very much, so let's start there.

it's not just about him pushing his own agenda or his own view, i should say, that maybe the president should talk. it seems like maybe he's trying to clean up what the president did this morning, as i mentioned, taunting the special counsel, more than ever before. >> i think that's right. trying to perhaps bring the temperature down a little bit. it's getting pretty hot this week in washington in many ways. i think the president is agitated. as we've been reporting. the more he learns and sees and realizes about this investigation, the more it frustrates him that he is in this position. so he now is lashing out, going after everyone. so that's what it seems to me that ty cobb is trying to be the voice of reason. it's still possible we're thinking about an interview. when i asked sarah sanders yesterday, she wouldn't answer. but the president has always said there's one reason to do it, which is to speed this investigation up and bring it to a close. it seems it would be, you know, hard to imagine him doing that now. but he'll make the decision.

so it seems that ty cobb is trying to cool things down, but who knows? >> we have something -- a new quote from that interview that just came out. he added that it's still an open question as to whether a special counsel can compel a president to testify, which goes back to the whole question of a subpoe a subpoena, which was reported by your paper this morning, and john dowd, a former member of the president's legal team, said this isn't some game. you are screwing with the work of the president of the united states. that, combined with what we just heard there ty cobb, the whole legal question whether you can compel him. if they're going to have this fight, it's going to go straight to the supreme court. >> it's going to be a really high profile -- it already is that high profile. yes, you can say this is messing up the work of the president but it's investigation that involves the president. if it gets to that point where they're having a real legal fight over what the president can and can't be forced to do,

yeah, it's going to go to the highest court and be a very, very all-consuming -- in terms of headlines and what we discussion on the air issue, as well. and just to go back to what you were saying, the question is, is this a good thing or bad thing for the president to draw it out this way? yes, his lawyers don't trust that he can go into an interview like that and not perjure himself or complicate his standing vis-a-vie the investigation. but the president likes to use the russia probe to drum up sympathy points and going into the midterm elections, how -- >> that's a good point. there's a new poll that suggests that the president knows what he's doing in whacking at mueller constantly and whacking at this probe. if you look at that, back in july of last year, on the right, it was 62% said that the probe should continue. now, 54% say it should continue. a big drop. >> yeah.

it's a big drop. i think it goes to him knowing the public. and certainly republicans rallying around him. it will be interesting to see what the split is in terms of republicans and independents and democrats. but he's branded this over and over again "witch hunt." he talks about it as a witch hunt and in some ways, it's working. >> i do think, though, that the republicans -- this is a different set of voters for the midterms. it's hard to separate these out. there's trump's base, but there's also the suburban swing voters who are going to be the deciding factor in the midterms opposed to a presidential election. so i think it works with a group of voters, but i'm not sure it's the right group of voters for this situation. as far as the subpoena situation, you know, people look and say, the president can't be indicted. maybe there's more law about that. there is some precedent here that presidents can be subpoenas. >> president clinton. >> you start resisting

subpoenas, people think you're putting yourself above the law. that's a big, fundamental issue. >> there's a great irony to this. [ overlapping speakers ] >> it really gets to be tricky. >> as trey gowdy said, you're not acting like someone who has nothing to hide. so i do think you're right, if this becomes a fight like that, that's why they're trying to discredit this investigation six ways till sunday. >> he can always take the fifth. >> the legal community is very much split. it has been over how this fight would end. just listen to alan dershowitz on one side, jeffrey toobin on cnn last night. >> i think the president has a way of short circuiting this entire process, and i think that's what he's going to do ultimately, which is take to

fifth. >> oh, no, no. >> there is nothing mueller can do if he takes the fifth. >> of course, he gives them immunity. >> he's never going to do that. >> of course he is. immunity doesn't apply in an impeachment proceeding. >> midterm messaging. immunity, impeachment. >> you've heard donald trump's own words talking about what it means when somebody takes the fifth. i mean, legally, it doesn't mean you're innocent, but to a pub c public, this guy who said he's insent, this is a witch hunt, prove it. why would you take the fifth? the public, some voters might take it not so well. >> that's key, because we're getting a very good legal education and the nuances of where things are split. but ultimately speaking, what matters is the house going to flip? the president has to be thinking about that, and if he's not, then he's missing it.

>> he is. he talked about that at the rally in michigan on saturday. he said there are some democrats, and he brought up maxine waters and others, and republican s pushing the impeachment message. so we don't know politically how this will play out. but he should be concerned about legally, because that has far higher stakes for this president. >> i want to play one more clip from joe digenova's wife, another very well known lawyer, talking about the idea of the president testifying. and she speaks for the majority of people who have the president's ear. >> if you were advising him right now, would you say mr. president, sitting in a chair opposite rob is the last place you need to be. >> i would say, if you want to go down there, i'm going to go stand in the door, and you're going to have to go over my dead body to go down there.

and i have said that to other clients. and then they didn't go. and they thanked me later. >> so that makes the ty cobb comments, you know, sort of perspective. why are all these people going on fox? so the president sees them. >> we have more developments, if you can believe it. yes, you can believe it. we'll take a quick break and bring them to you next. accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. flonase.

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this just in. "the new york times" reports that white house special counsel -- excuse me, white house lawyer ty cobb is leaving the administration. president trump is planning to

hire emmett t. flood, a long-time washington lawer, with a long list of high profile clients, including bill clinton and dick cheney. wow. so this is a big deal. we were talking not so long ago, feels like a couple of minutes ago about ty cobb calling in to a podcast on abc giving some rare remarks, and now we know why, because ty cobb is leaving. he made that clear in this phone interview that he did with "the new york times," saying that it's an honor to serve in this capacity. i wish everyone well moving forward. but the big news is emmett flood, who is a power house, no nonsense big-deal washington attorney. he's the guy, one of the guys that you want if you are the president in this situation that the president is in. >> things move fast in trump's washington. i think this resolves a problem that a lot of people in trump's inner circle and elsewhere have been saying, they didn't have a

real heavy hitter, a serious washington lawyer. these things are real specialties, these kind of washington cases. if you're going toward s impeachment, you want somebody that understands the nuances here. and you know, i think there was a lot of concern that the he will advice the president was getting wasn't strong enough legal advice for the situation he's in. >> emmett flood has worked on both sides of this, inside the white house, outside the white house. so we are confirm thing from a white house official, as well. they will be putting out a statement shortly. but ty cobb was saying i've been planning to retire. and basically he was somewhat of a package deal with john dowd. this was done at a very different time in this investigation. he was brought on board at a very different time. he's had a -- sometimes friendly, sometimes not so friendly relationship with this president, as everyone who works for him has. but this signals to me that the president is getting advice to,

you know, sharpen things up and fight. we should point out that he's had a hard time finding lawyers. but now, in the last really couple of weeks or so, has really lawyered up in a significant way. and they're being paid by the trump re-election campaign. it's a 20% of the -- of money he's raising is being spent on lawyers, at least it was in the second quarter of this year. so this is a sign that it's getting much more serious, and perhaps urgent to the president. >> you raise an important point, that part of the issue with the president's legal team has been their inability to hire lawyers. whether it is lawyers who work for big firms who say they have a conflict because they have a client in their firm who is caught up in the investigation, or people who don't want to do it for lots of reasons. emmett flood was one of those people who, according to our reporting, was reluctant to go in.

so the question is, as we big into this, why now? >> how did they convince him or why did he change his mind? because it's a coup for a team that was struggling to bring respectable names on board, to have somebody like this who has been on both sides of the spectrum, defended a democratic president, and now he's going for a republican president. and is a very big hitter. we'll have to learn the details in the coming hours and days. >> he's not alone, though. one of his reservations for going in initially we were told, no one wants to go in alone and do this. but now there is more of a legal team. some miami lawyers, rudy giuliani, jay sekulow is still on here. but bob mueller has built a very specialized team here that's been working for so long. so it explains why he needs lawyers like this. but emmett flood, he's about as serious as you can get in this

town. >> it will be interesting to see if there's any change on the president's behavior. that was some of the reluctance of the lawyers joining this president's team. we know what people say about people who think they're their own best lawyer. so does his behavior change? does he tweet less? >> i think that's one thing i'm safe to say will not change. >> did you say tweet? he did tweet about this subject in march, which i guess is like ten years in trump years ago. but he did say, this is aimed at you, carl, the failing "new york times" purposely wrote a false story saying i am unhappy with my legal team on the russia case. wrong, i'm very happy with my lawyers, john dowd, ty cobb, jay

sekulow. two months later, sekulow is the only one there. >> there's a risk with this kind of hire. it's so high profile, if things go bad, there will be a lot of attention focused on this. i do think there's a risk involved here with bringing this guy on. >> is there more of a risk than every other risk the president is taking? >> is he going to change his behavior? everything we've seen is he never changes. >> remember, this is not the only legal trouble the president is having across the board. this focus on the mueller probe is the most serious one. but a few days ago we were talking about stormy daniels. >> i forgot about that. >> look, a lot of the president's closest confidants in other matters are getting pulled away. so does that mean he'll change tact to listen to these other advisers?

remains to be seen. >> this is one giant distraction from the point of the president, but something that he's dealing with. and then there are things that are going on inside his own administration. for example, yet another whiff of scandal from the head of the epa. 11 federal investigations are under way. will the president continue to stand by epa eadministrator scot pruitt? that's next. the new gillette3 & gillette5. available now. gillette. the best a man can get. touch is how we communicate with those we love, but does psoriasis ever get in the way? embrace the chance of 100% clear skin with taltz.

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we just got a statement from white house press secretary sarah sanders who says for several weeks ty cobb has been discussing his retirement and last week he let chief of staff john kelly know he would retire at the end of the month. we turn to the epa administrator scott pruitt. he's been building up a small

mountain of bad press for the trump administration, not to mention himself. just take a look at this. the latest headlines, a lobbyist for the moroccan government helped pruitt plan a trip there last year, costing taxpayers more than $100,000. and congressional democrats say that before pruitt was confirmed, a top aide asked the epa to consider opening an office in pruitt's hometown of tulsa, oklahoma. on top of it all, you saw that mountain, two of pruitt's top aides have announced they are leaving the agency amid questions surrounding their role in some of his controversies. so far, the white house is keeping quiet on pruitt's conduct, but that strategy may not last. he is now the subject of at least 11 federal probes into possible misconduct. any one of those would be crushing, it would be a career

ender. >> right. >> and he's got 11 and he's still hanging on. jeff zeleny, what are your sources telling you how long this could last? >> the president doesn't like the headlines, no question about it, but he likes what he hears from some of his donors, many in the oil and gas industry, who say we like what scott pruitt is doing, so stick with him, stick with him. it seems to be fairly hard to believe that that is going to be the outcome here. the white house essentially, at least in their public face, has gone from defending him to basically not saying anything. we'll see what the reviews are doing. so the president has been hearing a lot about they like the roleback of things, but it's being pointed out that anyone he would appoint would do similar things. the president does not like when people profit off of him, and that's what this sort of looks like, that he's abusing his role here. so hard to see how he withstands it. >> that's like the swampiest

excuse we've ever heard. yes, he has all of these allegations, now almost a dozen against him, federal probes, but he's really doing a good job. like that certainly wasn't the trump 2016 message. >> there's a lot of things in the trump 2016 message that haven't been brought out in the presidency. but pruitt bought himself some time last week. he did a pretty good job. he said the right things, he played a little hardball. but he's not going to get another chance like that any time soon. that was important, because it was several hours worth of the cameras on him where he could make his case. and we keep seeing things coming out that reinforce the bad behavior and bad outlook how he could use and manipulate his job in ways that cost the taxpayers money. we have not seen him call a press conference, he can't withstand this pressure as it builds. >> carl, look at this quinnipiac poll about the approval rating

that pruitt has among republicans. it's 51%, barely a majority. and if the base was so happy with the things he was doing, this would be way higher. what are you hearing from republicans on the hill? >> you know, i think there's a little bit of an ethical toxic waste dump at the epa. >> bad joke. [ laughter ] >> they want to see it cleaned up. but i think that, you know, we reported that there was some things in oklahoma that he had done. this was a pattern of behavior, again, kind of goes to the vetting. they'll stick with him as long as the president sticks with him. >> so that's one cabinet area that he's got a problem. another is a vacancy at the v.a., which is no small thing. the v.a. is incredibly important. big controversy over how ronny jackson went down. the president blaming the top democrat jon tester, but the top republican johnny isaacson is saying he's not playing politics.

listen to what he said. >> i did my job and every senator has the responsibility if they're presented with accusations to try to seek the truth. and that exonerates everybody who seeks the truth. so if you're seeking the truth, then you're covered. if you're not seeking the truth, or if you're fractionalizing the truth or twisting the facts, that's something else. but i don't think that was done. >> so he's defending -- >> he is defending him, and sort of tacitly approved of what tester did there in terms of revealing some of the testimony that they were getting from people who had problems with jackson. you're going to see this play out in that race in montana. there are ads already. but the problem is, jackson doesn't have many defenders. >> the republican senatorial committee is taking a different view. they are running the president's words there in ads. so republicans are going to seize the opportunity to try to get that seat. we'll see if it works. >> and by the way, amid all of

this, there's still no v.a. head. the president is meeting with former congressman jeff miller. everybody, thank you so much for joining me today. and thank you for joining us on "inside politics." i'll be back here tomorrow. and "wolf" starts after a quick break. you get another day in paradise. get a sunset on a sunday. get more stories to share. get more from your summer getaway with exclusive hilton offers. book yours, only at hilton.com

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talk to your doctor about xarelto®. this is cnn breaking news. >> hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington, where we are watching from around the world. thank you very much for joining us. we start with breaking news. a major shakeup of the president's legal team, just as a showdown looms between the white house and the special counsel robert mueller. a white house official now telling cnn that the attorney ty cobb is leaving. he becomes the second major member of the president's legal team to leave in the past month and a half. john dowd quit in late