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 online today. welcome to "inside politics." i'm dana bash. john king is off. jury selection is under way right now in the trial of former trump campaign chairman paul manafort, the first trial for special counsel robert mueller and his team. plus, on the road again. the president travels to florida to campaign for a republican candidate, and he's telling aides to add more to the calendar. and while the president adopts rudy giuliani's take on

collusion, one of his other attorneys plays it safe when talking about the russia probe and how it's going to end. >> it's been a year, and we're ready to move on. we'll see what happens. i'm not going to predict the next move because this is washington, d.c. you never say never to anything. >> and we begin with the first real test of special counsel robert mueller's investigation. former trump campaign chairman paul manafort's trial began this morning in alexandria, virginia. it's the first of two trials for manafort. this one centers on manafort's work as a political consultant in ukraine and allegations that he hid millions of dollars of income from the irs. despite his short tenure in trump's inner circle and the specter of the mueller investigation hanging over the trump administration, aides insist it's not a hot topic over at the white house. >> we've not discussed that in quite a while. i would note for your audience,

bill, that the judge has very strictly instructed no mention of paul manafort's role in the trump campaign. don't mention trump. don't mention russia. don't mention collusion. this trial obviously centers on matters that have nothing to do with the campaign. >> now, russia collusion may not come up at the trial, but that's not stopping the president's team and the president himself from continuing often unsolicited to protest their innocence. just this morning, president trump echoed a new take his lawyer rudy giuliani debuted here on cnn yesterday. the president tweeted this. collusion is not a crime, but that doesn't matter because there was no collusion. cnn's shimon prokupecz joins me live now. shimon, let's talk about the manafort hearing -- excuse me, the manafort trial. what should we expect in these early days? >> certainly once jury selection finishes, we'll have the usual opening statements. certainly significant here is paul manafort's connection to the president, to the campaign,

the work he did on the campaign. like you said, all of this has to do with his personal business dealings and his personal finances, but there are going to be interesting intersections perhaps. in particular, where the prosecutors are going to allege that a loan, a bank loan that he got approval for was really -- he got that because of a bank executive who was hoping to land a job in the trump administration. there are two employees of that bank who have been given immunity. they're going to testify. also, obviously, rick gates, his former business partner who also worked on the trump campaign, he's set to testify. he's cooperating. obviously he pleaded guilty and has been cooperating with the special counsel. so that's going to be a key day in this investigation. it's going to be the first time that we hear from rick gates.

the other thing, there is going to be some interesting color at this trial. we're going to hear about the lavish lifestyle that paul manafort led making all this money from the ukrainian government, some $60 million, using that money to buy expensive cars and suits and some of the landscaping and property that he purchased with all that money. all of that is going to be brought up at the trial. but really, i think the big thing is going to be how all of this plays politically inside the white house. >> no question about it, shimon. thank you so much for that report. here with me at the table to share their reporting and insights, cnn's jeff zeleny, eliana johnson with politico, and mary katherine ham with the federalist. hi, everybody. happy tuesday. is it tuesday? >> it is tuesday. >> who knows anymore what day it is, what time it is. >> last day of july. >> oh, yeah. summer, slow down. let's focus on paul manafort. shimon was talking about some of the things we're going to see

and hear. to wrap it up in a bow for out viewers, i want to show what we know and what we expect. this is the first trial stemming from the mueller probe. it is going to focus on his lavish lifestyle, not possible collusion. in fact, the prosecutors said they're not going to introduce specific russia ties, anything related to that in this trial, but they're going to call 35 witnesses, including rick gates, who was manafort's business partner, deputy campaign chairman for donald trump, and this is just the first trial. so what do you think is the significance for the white house you cover every day? >> i think the significance is as much as everyone at the white house is saying, this has nothing to do with us. paul manafort was not importat. it is important to think back to two years ago, really right now in the summer of 2016. paul manafort was important to donald trump. you know, he likely would not -- mr. trump likely would not have

been the republican nominee, or it wouldn't have happened as smoothly at the convention in cleveland without paul manafort. so yes, this trial is not about that, but it's impossible to disconnect that. as much as you want to hear the white house officials, you know, saying, oh, he was barely involved in the campaign. but that said, i think it's also a test of the special counsel. we've seen a lot of corruption and financial crimes, trials happening in washington. i was thinking of the one with senator ted stevens. these are also hard to prove in some respects, especially before a jury. it is a major test of the special counsel, i think. imagine if there is a not guilty verdict or a hung jury or something. boy, that gives the white house really something to seize on. i was wondering yesterday when the president was going so hard after bob mueller, trying to discredit him, what if they want to hold up the result as a good thing for them at the end of this? we don't know exactly where this is going. so i think -- >> that would be mind bending. >> it would be.

but there's no doubt the white house is watching this unfold just across the river. >> he was the president's campaign chairman at a crucial time to help get those delegates on board and make sure there wasn't a revolt at the campaign. and now if robert mueller didn't have any success, i think it is going to be a big success for the president because look at what he's got on the table against manafort. 18 counts of tax evasion and bank fraud, 35 potential witnesses for their prosecution, 500 pieces of evidence. >> yeah, i mean, paul manafort is low-hanging fruit as far as this probe goes. this should be a slam dunk for robert mueller. if he doesn't make the basket, to belabor the metaphor, that will be an enormous fluke. the other thing i think this really draws out is donald trump know this doesn't directly

implicate him, but it does draw out he's surrounded himself essentially with crooks or at the very least very seedy people who are believed to be crooks at key points throughout his life. that's something the manafort trial is putting on display. it's something the michael cohen investigation is putting on display. while the president himself hasn't been implicates, certainly people around him are being implicated. i think trump has lowered expectations to the extent that nobody is surprised by this, but that doesn't necessarily speak well of the president. >> and if you add up all the charges here, cnn has reported that manafort could be facing 305 years in prison, if he's convicted on all of these things. he's 69 right now. you do the math on that. this probably explains why he's been fighting this, why he's been doing things that have led to allegations of witness tampering. it is true that this is a little peripheral to the main case. they're not talking about russia meddling here. this seems to be about financial crimes he allegedly committed while he was lobbying for a ukrainian politician. so that gives the white house

some ability to pull back. i also don't think democrats who are running in tough races in the midterm elections, which is going to be very close to when this trial ends, are banking on russia in any shape or form to put them over the top. as long as trump is not directly implicated, don't believe the fall of people around him are necessarily going to hurt them. >> so the real deal is happening in alexandria, the first real trial. and the noise continues, of course, from the president, from his team, and from, in fairness, from his critics. and the thing that i think is one of the many things that is so interesting, rudy giuliani unveiling here on cnn the notion that, well, collusion isn't a crime. it looked like a stream of consciousness. but then the president this morning seized on that and repeated it. look what he said in a tweet. collusion is not a crime, but that doesn't matter because there was no collusion, except crooked hillary, blah, blah, blah. but let's focus on collusion is not a crime.

that is a window or a step way further than the president has ever taken beyond the mantra there was no collusion. we're always reading tea leaves. should that be an indicator they're seeing something that we're not? >> i'm not sure that it should be an indicator of anything, only because he's so frequently unclear and contradictory. >> he is, but this is something he's been the most clear on. no collusion, no collusion, no collusion. >> it's bizarre. i just never buy that there's some grand strategy from rudy giuliani and trump. i'm not sure that's what's going on here. as usual, they shoot themselves in the foot. it's silliness to assert manafort was not central to the campaign. he was. these charges are different, and they're separate from the campaign and that's important to note. but if they kept their mouths shut while this peripheral issue was going on, and for instance they did end up not getting a conviction, then they can talk about that. but that's not how trump does business. i think the other part that's

interesting with 35 witnesses and with all of this going on with the people surrounding trump is how nervous those people get about mueller and about what happens to them and that, of course, creates more opportunity for more information. >> it may also just be word games, if i could add briefly. there is no talk of collusion in the statute as it relates to this stuff, but conspiracy, you know, is a crime, conspiracy to violate laws, whether it relates to hacking. >> no question. we didn't even talk about the fact that's technically true but not true when it comes to the president. really fast, what do you think is behind this slight shift? forget about giuliani, but from the president saying that. >> i think it does seem intentional. i'm not sure if it's part of a grand strategy, but it seems to -- the president seems to have liked what he heard yesterday, i think, and wants to spend this out. we'll see. i wish i had the answer. >> well, i'm sure you will, jeff. i have absolutely no -- i have total faith. >> right about everything else

up to this point. >> i have total faith. before we go to break, i want you to take a ride with us on the "inside politics" way back time machine. one year ago, one of the most memorable departures from the trump white house. anthony scaramucci. he wasn't the first or the last to leave. >> when sean spicer resigned, it was for a clean slate. now that anthony scaramucci resigned, that's also for a clean slate. has the slate been totally cleaned at this point? should we expect any more staff shake-ups? everyone else in senior staff positions is planning to remain for this time? >> yes, they are. sometimes a day at the ballpark is more than just a day at the ballpark. stadium pa : all military members stand and be recognized. sometimes fans cheer for those who wear a different uniform. no matter where or when you served, t-mobile stands ready to serve you. that's why we're providing half off

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he wants them to schedule more political rallies for him. a lot more. i'm also told that mr. trump is increasingly expressing his concern to aides about losing the house in november, which he understands would put a damper on passing husbais agenda. so i'm told mr. trump wants to tackle this the way he has many other challenges over his career, both in business and politics. he wants to take things into his own hands, get on the road more, hold his own megaphone, and control the message. back with our panel. look, i'm told he's really itching to do this because he's frustrated, and his own experience, never mind in business, but also politics is when he follows his gut and he kind of says what he wants and does what he wants, it tends to work for him. >> you know, he is not the first president to enjoy the campaign trail more than the act of governing, but he certainly does. and the president i think

strongly believes he won in 2016 because he is a great and gifted politician, and i do think that's why these -- the whole russian meddling thing really gets under his skin. any idea russia helped him win or that hillary clinton was a bad candidate and he didn't make her so really cuts to the core of his view of himself and why he won this election. so he wants to get back out on the campaign trail. he believes, i think, that he can reap benefits for other candidates. >> he does, but let's just do a reality check that our friend david reminds us of many, many times a day. he is great on the stump. he's great with the base. but he can do that in florida, which he's doing today for a republican primary. he can do it in places where he won by a bazillion points. but the house is largely going to be decided in swing districts where republican candidates might not think it's so helpful

to have the president. >> he wants to control the message, and that has worked for him in the past, but there is no message control when he's controlling the message. that's what the people in swing districts have to worry deeply about. i think with senate and governor's races, he can have a better track record probably, but generally what works for trump and when he's good at transferring power is when the -- or transferring enthusiasm is when the candidate is very trump-like himself in his demeanor and the way he does business. that's not going to fly as well in these swing districts even in a base-pumping election. >> you know this better than anybody, jeff. you watched barack obama try to do this, try to transfer his magic to other candidates, and for the most part, it failed miserably. the question is whether donald trump could have the same perils. >> it's the big test. i'm told several months ago that president trump was surprised to learn that the history of midterm elections is so poor for the president's own party.

history will show it's very difficult in the first year. now, he may be different. he can fire up his base unlike anyone. but as mary katherine was saying, for governors and senate races, absolutely. but in house races, it just doesn't work the same. does want to defy history, does want to keep as many seats as he can. if republicans control the senate, that's no small thing. but that's more likely. those house races. if he's going to campaign as much as he said he will, he'll be hard pressed to find that many republicans who want him to come to their town. >> exactly. as you jump in, i want the viewers to see exactly what the president's schedule is on the campaign trail this month alone. at the beginning of july, he started in montana, then missouri, illinois, iowa. today in tampa. thursday to pennsylvania. >> it's a momentous shift in his thinking, in president trump's thinking that your reporting

reveals. before he had indicated, you know, to people around him that he was not that worried about the midterm elections, that he was dismissive of the idea that republicans would lose the house given their advantages. and yes, he should be concerned. ask president obama what happened to his agenda after the first midterm when the opposition party took control. ask for where he campaigns, he's got to pick his spots well. if the candidates are running base turnout elections, he can do very well. he could be helpful to someone like kevin cramer in north dakota. he can be helpful in west virginia. but is he going to go to miami? is he going to go just outside d.c. to the suburbs for barbara comstock? is he going to go to modesto? if i were those people, i'd probably want him to stay out. >> he's going to be greeted today by a republican candidate in a republican primary in florida whom the president has endorsed. listen to the kind of message that he is going to be clearly welcoming with open arms. this is ron desantis.

>> well, obviously, you know, he's the 800-pound gorilla in republican politics. i think a lot of our voters at the grassroots level are frustrated when they see some republicans not trying to support him. so that's something that they look for. you know, are you supporting the president? well, in my case, people are seeing that the president is supporting me, but i think trump's support kind of separates the wheat from the chaff. i think it's been a big booths f -- boost for me. >> and that is why president trump is going to tampa to have a rally for that candidate. republican candidate for governor. up next, why on earth would president trump tell the mega donor koch brothers that he doesn't want their money? we'll give you the answer after the break. billions of bacterias but life can throw them off balance. re-align yourself with align probiotic. and try new align gummies with prebiotics and probiotics to help support digestive health.

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we have breaking news out of the white house. i want to go straight to kaitlan collins, who's reporting that news about chief of staff john kelly. >> reporter: that's right, dana. john kelly announced at a senior staff meeting here at the white house yesterday that president trump asked him to remain on as the chief of staff for a little bit longer, at least through 2020, we're told by sources inside the white house. now, dana, that's surprising because it comes after weeks of speculation about what seemed to be an imminent departure from

john kelly, who has really lost his power and his standing in the west wing since he came into the west wing as the chief of staff last year, a year ago yesterday, to replace reince priebus. there has been much reporting and speculation about john kelly lately, even by people inside the white house and even by president trump himself, who has been polling aides and allies in recent weeks on what they thought of kelly's performance. at times he would fluctuate from complaining about kelly and going off about him and profanity-laced tirades to the next day praising kelly in front of other staffers and telling them what a good job he's doing. in the weeks leading up to president trump's swing through europe where he caused chaos along the way, not only in the united kingdom but also at the nato summit in brussels and during that infamous summit in helsinki with russian president vladimir putin. before that trip, dana, aides thought that john kelly only had hours or days left in the white

house. but they said afterward that the chaos of that trip helped cement his standing in the west wing because it meant the president needed him a little bit more. now it does seem as if the president is seeming to express some confidence in john kelly, even though there was rampant speculation about his departure. one moment that really shows this was yesterday in the oval office as the president was swearing in the new veterans affairs secretary robert wilkie. he gave john kelly a shoutout, something we haven't seen him do in recent days, saying that it was his one year and kelly smiled and saluted the president in return. now with this latest reporting that he's sitting here asking john kelly to remain on as chief of staff, he seems to be expressing some confidence in him. of course, this has to come with the caveat that white house officials do not sign contracts. they're not guaranteed any amount of time in any white house, but especially this white house where this president seems to change his mind sometimes on a near daily basis. but for right now, he does seem to be expressing a vote of

confidence in his chief of staff john kelly. >> kaitlan collins, thank you so much for that great reporting, as always. appreciate it. back around the table. jeff zeleny, you are a senior white house correspondent. you are there every single day. what does this say to you? i'll just say as i ask you that question, my initial take on what kaitlan was saying is for someone who's known to be apolitical and not have a political bone in his body, meaning john kelly, this is very shrewd to get it out there that the president asked him to stay until 2020. >> no doubt. this was said at a senior staff meeting, as kaitlan was reporting. this is john kelly doing what he does, managing the staff. he's very much the staff part of the chief of staff. he's sending the word to senior staff that, yes, indeed, the president has asked me to stay. so for all of those in the room who may not like me, i am here to stay until 2020. now, as kaitlan said, no one at the white house signs a

contract. this president, who knows. >> maybe more than ten days like carr scaramucci. >> it does say there's no longer a fear of john kelly, that he's going to be fired. he has to make the decision how long he's going to stay. up until now, you know, there haven't been any lines that have happened. he's frustrated at times, but he's invested in this. his portfolio, as you were saying, it's so much smaller than it was. going into the midterms and then into 2020, the president needs someone to run the back of the house and keep the foreign policy and other stuff running. chief of staff but he's not as strong as he was coming in, no question. >> yeah, i mean, no question about that. you're exactly right. that was my point about him being shrewd. he's making this his terms. he's putting this in his terms.

he can stay until 2020, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll decide to stay until 2020. >> that's exactly the point of this. he's really making the point that if he stays, it's going to be because he wants to be there and the president wants him there. if he leaves, it's going to be because he wants to leave. this is all going to be done on kelly's terms. whereas before, it was really watching what the president was going to do. so for people who are wondering if john kelly is going to stay or leave, don't watch trump, watch kelly. it's so interesting because whenever -- you know, as reporters, we're working on stories about the white house. the white house will always emphasize, you know, john kelly is the chief of staff. he manages the staff. he doesn't manage the president. former chiefs of staff would laugh out loud. the chief of staff is really intended to be first among equals. he's the first person the president talks to during the day and the last person the president talks to at night. that is not the role john kelly is playing in this white house. and it's why -- but i think that's precisely why the president wants to keep him

around. >> and does it also mean the other people who are floated out there to do the job either wouldn't or couldn't or a combination of both? >> that's the question. who's behind door number three? i would also like to reflect for a moment on the fact that reince priebus was the chief of staff just one year ago. >> that is crazy. >> feels like much longer than that. if he makes it to 2020, he should get the 40-year gift you get at a normal job. i don't know what that is. a car, i don't know. >> it's remarkable to think -- >> purple heart. >> it's remarkable to think how many near-exit or speculated near-exit moments john kelly has had. go back to charlottesville when he looked outright despondent during the president's press conference. family separation, he was the face of that before it happened, talked about it being a deterrent. there are some reports he said some insulting things about the president. i'm reminded of something that a former trump aide told me. i think i mentioned this at the program during the time of the rob porter scandal. president trump doesn't like

firing people as much as his reputation suggests. there's always some crisis for him to deal with or create. in the case of john kelly, no one knows who would replace him. >> that is true. before we go to break, a quick update on the paul manafort trial proceedings. the judge says he anticipates a jury will be selected by the end of this hour. that means opening statements could begin today. we're going to keep you up to date as we learn more. we'll be right back. friends, colleagues,

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president trump's twitter war of the day is not with the media or mueller or chuck or nancy. nope. today he's lashing out at libertarians turned conservative

king makers charles and david koch. in a two-part tweet, he slammed the billionaire brothers as globalists and a total joke in real republican circles opposed to strong borders and powerful trade. he says he doesn't need the kochs' money or bad ideas. the attack comes after the president was criticized at the koch summer network meeting. there was talk there the mega donor brothers are turning their backs on republican candidates, as well might even support democrats. now, this matters not just for this drama we're talking about but the huge divide it represents within the gop between ardent trump supporters who see the president and his populist policies as the future and the traditionalists. >> we've seen some great success. tax reform. we've seen justices. we've seen va reform. i could go on and on.

but we've also seen tremendous setback. those setbacks are significant. a $1.3 trillion spending bill. then we see families being separated at the border. we want to make it clear that building policy coalitions as we move forward, we think, is the best way to cut through the divisiveness we're seeing across the country and to actually mobilize on some change and make progress on some of these issues. >> the spokesperson from the koch network. this is one of the most fascinating political stories of the day and the week. it's because the kochs -- i mean, how many times did we hear harry reid on the senate floor making the koch brothers the boogy men. they're the ones supporting republicans across the country. it's not the republican candidates' ideas, it was the koch brothers' ideas. that was exaggerates for political purposes, but they have spent umpteen dollars and

have helped change the game. yet, here we are in a very important midterm election. according to politico, at least for now, the koch organization has not supported three of the most important republican candidates that will determine whether the senate stays republican. kevin cramer in north dakota, mike braun in indiana, dean heller in nevada. they're clearly trying to tell these guys don't take us for granted. we support, the kochs, support traditional republican policies like free trade and even immigration, to help with their businesses. the president and his supporters do not. >> yeah, i mean, the bottom line is they're ideological people. they're where someone like me is on policy. that's an uncomfortable place to be in the trump administration and with populism. you get somebody who cares about debt, criminal justice reform. they care about keeping immigration open to some extent.

and these things don't sit well with the populist movement. now, the republican party and voters as we found out is not as ideological as the kochs, but i think they're happily turn their money to doing things like ballet and fossil displays at the natural history museum. >> which they have done. >> so there is a risk here for republican candidates. >> and you say people who have the political ideology of someone like you, mark short worked for the kochs previously and made the point on cnn this morning that they started out as libertarians. they are libertarians. they're independents. they gravitated towards republicans and funding think tanks. and look at what -- just a couple quotes from some of the heads of americans for prosperity. look, if this were 2015 or 2016, we would likely have gone ahead

and endorsed him, meaning the republican candidate in north dakota, but we're raising the bar. then why would cramer, that north dakota candidate, or any republican candidate feel like they need to listen to this network if they knew we just support them anyway? >> that's a great point in many respects, but i think this story will be more interesting if they actually support democrats. or do they just stay on the sidelines? that's a big difference. if they actively support -- if they're not supporting heidi heitkamp in north dakota, that would be something far more significant. but this is kind of the nonpolitical equivalent of mommy and daddy are fighting. i think it raises serious questions for candidates like marsha blackburn, someone like that in tennessee. she has a long history of being supported by this network and also supported by the president. so what are these candidates specifically going to do if there's a tug of war between both sides? or is this going to just be a summer fight and cool off? we'll see.

the president obviously deciding this morning to engage in this fight. we don't know where it's going. >> when mommy and daddy are fighting, one wants to live at the beach, one wants to live in the mountains. it's hard to see where they reconcile. >> i think the direction of the republican party has turned in a poll y populist direction that cares about cracking down on immigration and protectionism. the koch network has shifted its emphasis to criminal justice reform and other things, so these two parties are really diverging. they don't have much in common. i think taxes and the repeal of obamacare are maybe the only issues they overlap on. >> and we have to go to break, but you're right that not everyone relies on the koch network. but some really significant victories were born out of the koch network, like scott walker in wisconsin, the fight against, you know, trying to take him off the ballot. okay. everybody stand by. up next, lebron james speaks out

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a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! topping our political radar, justice anthony kennedy officially hangs up his robe today. his retirement could transform the supreme court for generations. the 82-year-old often cast the swing vote in several crucial cases, including the one in 2015 that cleared the way for same-sex marriage, and in 1992 he upheld roe versus wade. kennedy was nominated by president ronald reagan and served on the high court for 30 years. and homeland security secretary warns the nation is in

more danger from cyber attacks than from physical attacks. speaking at a national cybersecurity summit today, she emphasized that everyone and everything is a potential target, individuals, industries, infrastructure. she said once again that russia did interfere in the 2016 elections. >> let me be clear. our intelligence community has it right. it was the russians. we know that. they know that. it was directed from the highest levels. and we cannot lane not allow that to happen again. an nba superstar, lebron james, says president trump is using athletes to turn americans against one another. lebron sat down with our own don lemon for a candid interview, and he's opening an elementary school for at-risk children in his hometown of akron, ohio. during the interview, he said, i can't sit back and say nothing. he suggested the president is using race as a wedge issue.

>> he's kind of used sport to kind of divide us. >> do you think he uses black athletes as a scapegoat? >> at times, at times. and more often than not i believe he uses anything that's popular to try to negate people from thinking about the positive things that they could actually be doing. >> and today senators are questioning administration officials about family separations at the border for the very first time. up next, one democrat says a cabinet resignation is in order. ballpark. stadium pa : all military members stand and be recognized. sometimes fans cheer for those who wear a different uniform. no matter where or when you served, t-mobile stands ready to serve you. that's why we're providing half off family lines to all military.

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on capitol hill, trump administration officials are facing senators this morning for the first time since the government was ordered to reunite more than 2,000 families separated at the southern border. 559 children, 559 children, i wanted to say that again, are still in detention centers without their parents. most of them are gone, the parents have already been deported. nearly 100 of the parents' locations are unknown. republican senate judiciary chairman chuck grassley underlined the concern he has about those deported parents. >> these public reports indicate that many of them may have not made an informed choice to leave their children behind. some of these reports suggest

that these parents weren't presented information in a language that they could even understand. >> a federal judge ordered the government to finalize plans for reuniting the children with missing parents by thursday. senate democratic whip dick durbin had another demand aimed at at homeland security secretary. >> i am today calling on the architect of this humanitarian disaster, department of homeland security secretary kirsten nielsen, to step down. the family separate policy is more than a bureaucratic lapse in judgment. it is and was a cruel policy, inconsistent with the bedrock values of this nation. someone, someone in this administration has to accept responsibility. >> before we get to a discussion, i want to play another moment at the hearing that comes from the associate

director of removal -- help me out here, guys -- of enforcement and removal operations in i.c.e. listen to how he described the areas and the detention centers that these children without their parents are in right now. >> i think the best way to describe them is to be more like a summer camp. these individuals have access to 24/7 food and water. they have educational opportunities. they have recreational opportunity, both structured as well as unstructured. >> except in summer camp, your parents drop you off, they say we're going to get you on this date, they send you letters, send you care packages, and you have fun. you're not ripped from the arms of a parent or a loved one.

undocumented, fine, but these are children we're talking about. the fact this very senior person in charge of this operation is calling it summer camp. >> that's some remarkable spin. it also comes one day after senators grassley and feinstein wrote a bipartisan letter calling on the trump administration to investigate what they call serious and disturbing allegations of physical and sexual abuse of detainees by guards and other staff at hhs facilities. not the kind of things that happen at summer camp. this whole thing is a mess. and it smacks of an administration that did not think about the end game, did not think about uniting these families or how this would end once they put this policy into place. the purpose was punishment. the purpose was to inflict pain for the purpose of a deterrent, to send a message to people, don't come here, don't bring your kids, or it's not going to turn out well for you. this is the result. >> it's just a giant failure, and it will lead to more bad moments like this fthat reflect badly on the administration.

>> failure is one thing, but how do you say things like that? >> i'm not including the summer camp talking point, but i think there are many good-hearted people trying to deal with this will gi logistical nightmare that the trump administration put on them. so i'm sympathetic to some of that, but the federal government is inherently bad at doing these things. it's heartbreaking. >> certainly is. thank you so much for joining us here on "inside politics." wolf picks up right now. this is cnn breaking news. >> hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. we start with breaking news, an announcement by facebook that they're shutting down dozens of facebook and instagram accounts believed, suspected to be run by russians. one of the pages was actually coordinating a left-wing political protest here in washington, d.c. let's go to our senior investigative correspondent drew griffin. he's joining us right now. drew, update our viewers. >> wolf,