does your business internet provider promise a lot? let's see who delivers more. comcast business gives you gig-speed in more places. the others don't. we offer up to 6 hours of 4g wireless network backup. everyone else, no way. we let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. them, not so much. we let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. the others? nope! get internet on our gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call or go on line today. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. it's a very busy friday. thank you for sharing your day with us. president trump meeting with u.s. automakers as we speak. he says they're benefiting big

time in his approach to taxes and regulations. they don't disagree but they also want him to cut a new nafta deal and end confusion. the president berates her for her border security. and a rally in one of 2018's safest places for the president: indiana. he says those with a midterm message should check their bank balance. >> nancy pelosi said yesterday she want to end the tax cuts and raise your taxes. i said, tell me, is that good politics? it's not about politics, but think about that from a political standpoint. i don't think her party was too happy. but you know what? that's her thought. that's what they want to do. >> this programming footnote, reporters have been brought into the room at the white house where the president is meeting with auto manufacturers right now. the president is talking reports.

we'll bring you that when we get it. meghan mccain came to the fierce defense of her father last hour after the white house mocked senator john mccain as he battled brain cancer. he is opposed to the confirmation of gina haspel. he told colleagues, quote, it doesn't matter. he's dying, anyway. here's how meghan mccain responded last hour on "the view." >> kelly, there is a little news flash and this may be intense at 11:00 on a friday. but we're all dying. they're dying, we're dying, we're all dying. since my dad has been diagnosed in the past, it's almost been a year, july 19, i almost feel like i understand the meaning of life. it's not how you die, it's how you live. i don't understand a work environment where that is acceptable and you can still come to work the next day and have a job. and that's all i have to say about it.

>> that's all she has to say, noting that she thought kelly should have lost her job over it. a source telling cnn that she did apologize to meghan mccain, saying this was a joke in a meeting that, quote, fell flat. but senator lindsey graham, one of the closest aides to john mccain says, ms. sadler, may i remind you that john mccain has a lot of friends in the united states senate on both sides of the aisle. nobody is laughing in the senate. the united states senator is still fair game. the joke fell flat. every human being makes mistakes, start there. but why would that come up? >> i think the why gets to what meghan mccain was saying on "the view" this morning. this is the environment in the

white house right now. this has been the environment in the white house for the past year and a half, it's the environment in the campaign. it starts at the top. president trump has said things that are just as disrespectful about senator mccain. that tribbckles down. i can tell you also the white house is frustrated by this. they thought -- there is also a leak, right? and i don't think this is a leak from someone defending john mccain. i don't think this is a leak for someone trying to protect john mccain at the white house. this is another internal rivalry that's a junior staffer, and after a lot of junior staffers have been fired and a lot of senior staffers have been fired after being blamed for the leaks, this is still going on. this backfighting inside the white house is still happening. >> it's not even what they said, it's how the white house is handling it. in the aftermath, you haven't seen any real apology in the white house. while this staffer did apologize

to meghan mccain, where is the white house apology? the president could have tweeted about it and the staffer should have some serious repercussions. in some ways there is a doubling down of this. we'll see what sarah sanders has to say about it this afternoon, but the white house does not want to take responsibility, even with something as egregious as this. >> i think we need to look at the briefing to see if they offer anything else. so far bwe had a very bland comment from the white house last night. there has been no actual apology and there seems to be no indication that the staffer is losing her job. >> aiit's a pattern, right? it's this mentality that makes things worse and makes it look like you are approving or even lauding the bad behavior. there is not a message from the top down that this should not be taught. i've had plenty of talk with john mccain about policy.

if you go against the mccain family, you have to know that they're going to fight back and they have a platform to do so. >> john mccain's wife says, may i remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren. john mccain is still in the public arena and he would be the first one to say anything he does in that arena is fair game. saying he's dying, anyway, is beyond the pill. we can't escape that you're responsible for your own actions. kelly should be looking in the mirror and what we haven't seen is an apology from her. i made a mistake, i'm sorry. i made a mistake, it was a bad joke. never should have gone there.

i'm sorry. but the other point is what about the president? we'll hear from sarah sanders. john mccain is beloved by his colleagues even though he disagrees with him because of how he conducts himself. here's ben saying how about from the top? >> i would like to hear from the president of the united states. he's the one they take their direction from in the white house. the president should say, this happened under my watch and i will not tolerate such comments. but we vaehaven't heard from th president. >> he also has a history with john mccain that goes back to early parts of the campaign where he questioned his war heroism and said he wasn't a real war hero because he was captured. he underwent brutal torture for

five years. >> he said, i'm more concerned about all the other prisoners of war who he's talking about and who he is denigrating with these comments. mccain, as he's gotten this illness, he's pushed back on the president on a number of key issues. we learned that mccain himself does not want the president to attend his funeral when it happens. clearly there is some feeling in the white house that there is no love loss with senator mccain even though he's going through this. at the same time you have to handle things like this in a diplomatic and respectful fashion which the president has a difficult time doing. >> it's also important to note, though, the president never apologizes for remarks but he faces consequences for them. remember at the time there was a big cry about would this be the end of his campaign? that didn't happen. a lot of his voters -- >> that was one of the early things. >> a lot of voters are quite

happy with him. >> the republican party has changed and donald trump has changed even more. but the republican party, john mccain 2008 republican nominee, the party has been moving under his feet and all of our feet for many years. many conservatives all john mccain republican in name only. they don't even consider him republican. it's a pretty conservative record to the point you have this white house staffer saying something that is republicepubr overall. a secretary questioning john mccain's conduct while he was a p.o.w. >> john mccain said he was not going to endorse haspel also, in part because she believes in torture, that she thinks it works of the. >> john mccain, it worked on john. that's why they call him

songbird john. >> i honor your service, sir, but i don't honor those comments. meghan mccain took issue with that, too. >> it's a really ugly nickname. at some point when you're tortured, everyone breaks. that's how it works and that's how you get information. my father's legacy will be talked about for hundreds and hundreds of years. these people? nothing burgers. >> beyond that, especially not even true despite the criticism -- the comments which were pretty stunning of someone to say that. there is no evidence that mccain gave any information to the vietnamese against the americans while he was brutally tortured in vietnam. >> in fact, when they offered to release him because his father was an admiral and they thought they would get a p.r. spot, john

mccain refused. >> they don't like the positions he's taken over the years, they don't like his criticisms of the president, and they'll go to lengths like this. >> this has all come up since john mccain has not been in washington since december. he's home in arizona, there were times we thought he would come back, but he's had issues with the brain cancer and the treatment from the brain cancer does hard things to your body. senator lindsey graham was talking to our colleague dana bash and she said, you know what, i saw john the other day, and i'm optimistic a little bit. >> how was your visit with john mccain? >> the last time i saw him, he had just gotten out of surgery. he's in a weakened condition,

but eating good, in great condition since monday and tuesday. cindy is doing such a wonderful job, and i'm hopeful that he's getting stronger. don't believe what you read about john mccain. we're not talking about funerals. i'm going back. >> senator mccain wants him to come back. they also watched his favorite western and senator mccain gave a narrative through the whole thing. that means he's feeling normal. >> also some questions, it would be remarkable if he would come back to the senate, too. we don't know if that will be the case. he says he does not plan to stepping down any time soon despite questions whether he'll be able to return. >> senator mccain is not immune to criticism now or in the past, but it's fairly easy to keep it to those things. >> he's issuing these statements because he wants to be in the

fight. it's just the tone of the fight. >> and the white house has leveraged his positions recently. his support for mike pompeo was a key data point when the white house was trying to get moderate democrats who like john mccain to support the secretary of state. >> and his opposition to gina haspel has not changed the fact she'll probably be confirmed, too. the president is in the room with reporters now with auto executives. he has just defended the service of his environmental protection agency director scott pruitt. more on that when we come back. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember.

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those two countries critical to the automakers here. it also comes at a very interesting time inside the white house. seated two seats away from the president at this meeting was epa administrator scott pruitt. scott pruitt, of course, under fire for spending at the agency, for questions about the cost of security, for questions about why they spent tens of thousands of dollars on a soundproof booth. as the president meets with automakers here, one key question from reporters, do you still support scott pruitt? >> thank you very much. we have at this table the biggest car manufacturers in the world all represented by their top people. we had probably my first meeting was with you and the group and we've made a lot of progress in the last year and a half. we're working on cafe standards, environmental controls, how to build more cars in the united states. we have great capacity for

building. we want a lot of the cars to be made in the united states. i think what we'll do very quickly, because we're represented by so much media, we'll just run around the room real quickly and you can introduce yourself in the company. we'll talk a couple minutes and we're going to talk privately. we are again, for the media, we're really talking about environmental control, cafe standards and manufacturing of millions of more cars within the united states. for michigan, for ohio, for pennsylvania, for all the different places. south carolina getting bigger and bigger. north carolina. so these are the biggest in the world, and we're going to be talking to them and we want them to build more cars in the united states, and also build them here and ship them overseas. we're doing a reverse act, and that's going to be something that is happening, and we see it happening. a lot of it has to do with the great tax cuts and tax incentives that people have been given, and we have other

incentives coming. we appreciate you all being here, and thank you very much, everybody. appreciate it. >> do you feel confident in scott pruitt, the epa administrator? >> yes, i do. thank you, everybody. ted? >> are you concerned that nafta may adversely affect these automakers? >> we'll see what happens. we're negotiating nafta right now. i've never been a nafta fan. nafta has been a terrible deal for the united states, one of the worst deals in history. we have some bad deals in this country. between the iran deal, nafta, mary, we can look at bad deals. nafta might be better, we'll see what happens. mexico and canada, look, they don't like to lose the golden goose, but i'm representing the united states, i'm not representing mexico and i'm not representing canada. nafta has been a horrible, horrible disaster for this country, and we'll see if we can

make it reasonable. thank you very much. >> most of those auto ceos would disagree on that last point. they have enjoyed the relationships of the expanding business with mexico and canada under the nafta deal. also you heard the president right there say scott pruitt's job as administrator of the environmental protection agency safe for now. yes, he says he has confidence in him. but even today the white house and the trump cabinet after trump pushed yet another cabinet member to almost quit. a source tells us the president exploded at his cabinet secretary for not doing enough in his opinion to secure the southern border, including not find ing a way to get quicker progress on the border wall. nielsen went so far as to draft a letter of resignation. a source close to her described her as miserable. as of yet a letter has not been

submitted. how significant -- the president didn't use many words, but he was asked with scott pruitt two seats away and he said, i have kfl confidence. >> he is well versed in favorable comments. we have to take that as it is. but we know that despite this steady drumbeat of headline, the president appears to like the policies and the policymaking there. but there has been concern in the white house about the negative stories, and i think what's not really clear is how much longer. >> and a lot of concern on capitol hill. in the senate they don't want to go through the confirmation process, but this is the kind of thing voters get. million-dollar security details, $40,000 soundproof booth. the members get feedback, shall we say. >> it's interesting to see the difference in the way the

president views scott pruitt and all the staff views scott pruitt, the staff and the members, are seriously concerned about him. they don't have the confidence the president is expressing, but the president needs to make a choice, and that's why pruitt is still there. >> chief of staff john kelly has asked that the president fire scott pruitt and he has not done that. now she's ho the homeland security secretary was berated by the president in front of her colleagues. the "new york times" said she drafted a letter of resignation. i was told that she thought the tone he used was inappropriate, and two, that she's just uninformed on the numbers. for the president to keep saying people are flooding across the border, you can look at these statistics about any way you want. these are border reports going

back to september. you do see a difference in last april to this april. a lot of speculation is that on the southern side of the border, people thought, donald trump, campaign, let's be careful here. but historically the border wall has a low number. why is he screaming at his border security secretary? >> for what it's worth, i think -- the president's confidence is worth the paper it's printed on this afternoon. in this moment he's confident in pruitt. white house staff is -- it has wrapped themselves around the axle on pruitt and he's very frustrated he hacsn't been able to put this story to rest. the president is very confident in him at the moment.

i don't know how confident he is with secretary nielsen. >> she has been out front for him pushing his agenda. >> absolutely. that's why kelly is chief of staff, basically. there is no prior relationship with trump and kelly. it's those numbers, it's kelly's presentation, getting something done in the first six months of the trump administration, or at least trump saw some tangible results he wasn't seeing elsewhere. but as soon as that chart goes down, that's when the president will flip. she's right, she's complaining he's not buried in the details on this. he's not. he's very much in tune to what chart is in front of him. >> so the boss vents a lot and you just have to accept that as the price for admission when you work for him? john kelly larl, larl giflz.

it's well documented. every person at this table has been reported that he's been frustrated at times with the president to the point of thinking, do i still want to be here no, i never thought of quitting. >> do you have times where you want to leave? >> no. there's times of great frustration, mostly because of the stories i read about myself on others that i think the world of and wonder if it's worth it to be subjected to that. but then i grow up and suck it up. >> i wonder if there's backfighting and a circle of fire within the white house because they're all engaged with that. two, it's about having to meet with the president. as far as pruitt goes, there is one thing going for him which is it is a drip-drip story in a flooded news zone. customarily that would be a

problem, but it's sort of overtaken by events daily and sort of bears its head again. for nielsen, her folks say this letter doesn't exist, but for kelly and her, they're matched temperamentally. they're not necessarily matched with trump temperamentally. >> kelly is certainly putting her best face on things in this interview, but we're hearing time and time again that the president has cooled on him and he's not sure how long he's going to stay. the president hit the road last night in indiana to give voters his vision of the midterm election. ok here you go... over... under... hey whoa, pop, pop...

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welcome back. president trump was on the road last night giving indiana voters this midterm mission. >> so give me some reinforcements, please, okay? >> now, conventional wisdom says the president might not get that wish, and a big blue wave is coming if you talk to strategists in washington. but there are some new signs to republicans that maybe all is not lost. there is a steady rise in the so-called american ballot advantage. from six points in march to just three points now. while no means confident, republicans in washington are feeling a little bit better about november, especially if they can keep the president, as they did last night, stuck to the message. >> all of the great momentum that we're having as a country on jobs, on safety, on security, on our military, it's all at stake in november. the strides that we're making have never, ever been made like

this before. but it can also disappear if you put fools and if you put the wrong people in. it can disappear. >> that's the president's case about the economy. it also can disappear. republicans think by no means momentum, don't get me wrong, but a slight improvement in the climate which was horrific, and when it gets better, they feel better about it. republican feel more confident about the senate race there, but if you're a republican, you worry about the president on the road. if you were watching last night, you think, i can live with that. >> republicans will say there is a benefit to the president if he can stay on message, if he can execute some attack lines didn't become a major distraction, it didn't become less popular. those are all risks, as we know, particularly with this president and the controversies that

consistently come out. republicans are feeling better about keeping the senate. the map has always favored them. there's ten states democrats hold seats in. they have generally good candidates who could knock off at least one of those incumbents, keep the senate narrowly. but the senate is still a very difficult hole for them. that margin, though, getting narrower. if you're a democrat, you can't be too confident. >> and you're at the moment in the parallel universe in the sense that you have the mueller investigation, the president about to sit down with kim jong-un. he thinks it's the right thing, ripping up the iran nuclear deal. but look, the numbers don't lie. he's at 48% in our latest poll.

but some republicans were worried it was going to keep dropping down on the low to mid-30s. look at the president on issues like the economy, immigration. the trajectory, at least, is heading up. if you're a republican, you should be feeling a little better. as a democrat, he wants to get out. you saw him last night. he wants to have a robust campaign schedule, and it's good focus for him. it keeps him on the road if he stays on message. but one question, you've all seen that we've been at these rallies the last couple years, so he doesn't sometimes go off script. you have to be prepared for anything. >> that's a good way to say it. a little nervous. last night, i think what you had

wanted. hopefully the -- i was at the joint base andrews the other night when he brought those prisoners back. it was a legit moment for this administration, one of the few things, he did stay on message. it took him a minute to bring up mike braun. he tried to go after keith ellis ellison. he predicted i would win, so we can't really hate the guy. that's just something you have to deal with. >> it would be breathtaking how these trump states navigate the trump effect. >> he does defy political

gravity a bit, sort of like a half-filled balloon. he goes lower than you should be, but there are good things for many voters to focus on that sort of base democrats are focused on something else, mueller probe and all this stuff. but the economy numbers and the big moments like bringing hostages home, folks, that resonates with necessary of this wlrks it-- w >> they're trying to generate enthusiasm from their base which is running a campaign on resistance. >> joe donnelly's campaign last night knowing he had voted with the president, 62%. next a former president using the words of winston churchill to send a not so

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led california's fight ofor clean, renewable energy.or he cleaned up pollution at the port of l.a. and created more good-paying jobs. antonio villaraigosa for governor.

because antonio villaraigosa millions got it done.healthcare he defended women's healthcare, banned military-style assault weapons, banned workplace discrimination, and more. antonio for governor. topping our political radar today, two companies admitting it was a big mistake to enter a deal with president trump's personal lawyer. novartis gave michael cohen a $1.2 million contract. that deal quickly soured. at&t which is trying to buy time warner also admitted serious misjudgment in hiring michael cohen. they gave him $600,000.

the justice department is suing, trying to block. some people in scotland are seeing orange after a local country resort banned the biggest selling soft drink. they nixed it after concern it would stain the fancy carpets. the backlash was swift. one calling it tant amount to a declaration of war. the president warned the country of the dangers of isolationism. the warning coming just days after trump's decision to pull out of the iran nuclear deal. bush was here in washington accepting an award from a foreign policy think tank as he expressed the need for a morality-based foreign policy. >> america is indispensable for the world and the dangers of isolation loom. the price of greatness is

responsibilities. one cannot rise to be in many ways a leading community in a civilianized world without being involved in its problems. the people of the united states cannot escape world responsibility. >> and as we mentioned a short time ago, the white house chief of staff john kelly giving a rare interview to npr. one thing we learned from these interviews, he shares his boss' view on hard line immigration. >> let me tell you that the vast majority of people that move illegally into the united states are not bad people. they're not criminals. they're not ms13. but they are also not people that would easily assimilate into the united states. they're overwhelmingly rural people. in the countries they come from, fourth, fifth, sixth grade educations are kind of the norm.

they're coming here for a reason and i sympathize with the reason but the laws are the laws. should it be based on an easier economy or should it be the rules of the statue of liberty? >> you're already seeing the backlash from the left, the spanish caucus put out a statement moments ago saying these are bigoted comments. clearly kelly does not see it that way but that is how the left is pushing it. it will be interesting to watch whatever happens legislatively on the immigration in the house. there is a push by a bipartisan group of members led by republicans to force a vote on the house floor on daca to ensure those dreamers don't get deported. he's resisting it at the moment because he says the president won't sign it. >> it's rare to hear from john kelly. it's just as rare, if not more rare, to hear from about the

bush, who said it was important for him to stay out of politics for the most part. a shot to president trump, right? >> it comes right after this announcement on the iran nuclear deal, and yes, it's hard to separate the two things. and there is a real doctrine. they made that america first idealogy clear. >> and yet trump. there's an agreement, maybe you need to stay in it for a boss you don't like. >> the research is seeing the movement and the gravity in the white house as well. as far as foreign policy goes, we've gone from the reince and bannon white house to the kelly white house and now it's looking

like a mike pompeo and bolton white house. >> still debatable but not as alone. >> they're much more aligned with foreign policy than reince was. do you know about the rich you not records? are they working?

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trump's constant attacks on the special counsel are working if you accept that his goal is to shore up his base more than to win any legal argument. get this from a new cnn poll. just 17% of republicans approve of robert mueller's investigation. it has dropped. contributing to that drop are the president's allies in congress. the latest example, an effort by some house republicans to audit the special counsel to reveal

the scope of his investigation. it says to find out what he's spending but we know what it's about. it's the president himself leading the charge, and whether you like or don't like rush limbaugh, he gets this just right. >> i think the president likes the perception that they're out to get him. he loves tweeting about the witch hunt. he loves tweeting that they're out to get him. i think he believes that appearing as a victim of this giant, deep state effort to get rid of him solidifies the bond he has with his supporter. >> and it has two goals, essentially. number one, we're in a midterm election where he has significant advantage. number two, if they come out with a critical report, the president is convincing more than a third of the american people, don't believe it. >> there's the political

argument and the legal argument. the remarkable thing about that same poll is to show the partisan divide in this country about how they view the mueller investigation. roughly 8 in 10 democrats view it as a serious effort, and 8 out of 10 republican voters view it as an attempt to discredit the presidency. he's doing this in a year when the republican enthusiasm is down. maybe this will make them get riled up because this is viewed by the president as a witch hunt. in that regard it could be working. >> the question here is, will the president agree to sit down with robert mueller, the special counsel. it's funny, rudy giuliani appears to have changed his mind on the question can a president say no to a subpoena from the special counsel? a little then and now. >> if the president is asked to

testify, subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury and says, no, not going to do it -- >> you got to do it. you don't have a choice. >> what happens if robert mueller subpoenas the president? will he comply? >> well, we don't have to. he's the president of the united states. we can assert the same privilege that other presidents have. >> all politics is legal, correct? that was a long time ago. rudy has learned a lot more about the law in those couple decades, i think. >> we talked to some of the lawyers around trump, and as we've seen trump talk about rudy catching up to the facts, so are the rest of his team. this idea of a potential interview is not a decision that's imminent, but to bring that back to the poll, there is a lot of people who want to see trump testify, which, i don't know, i think we would all like to see trump testify, right, just out of a sheer kind of --

>> it will raise the federal deficit with the pay-per-view. >> that's right, the news value of that. when you look at these numbers, that's got to be what america wants to see. maybe trump sees a certain value in that as well. you talk about breaking the ratings at 3:00 in the morning when he brought the north korea detainees home -- >> that's what his lawyers are worried about. they're worried he'll think of it as a spectacle and not legal jeopardy. >> it's in the same direction, republicans, democrats and independents. it's interesting to me and i think there is another element of this, which is a hallmark of american justice expeditious and not never-ending. i would like to know before 2018 what exactly was going on here, and it has been going on for a long time. that part of it i think he taps into as well in addition to his obvious moral obligations. >> mueller at some point is

going to have to be more -- i get the secrecy right now, i get the investigation, but he'll have to be more open and transparent with the american people for legal reasons and political reasons. thank you for joining us on "inside politics." i hope to see you bright and early sunday morning. i'll be here. wolf starts after a quick break. have a wonderful weekend.

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hi, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 12:00 noon in mexico city, 8:00 p.m. in sdwrjerusalem. wherever you're watching in the world, thank you for joining us. kelly sadler sent off a sensitive remark about john mccain. she joked that his opinion about the matter doesn't matter because, quote, he's