i was there between the day before palin was picked and the day after. in terms of the energy -- and let's just remember, john mccain, joe lieberman best friends. all right, everybody. thank you so much. wolf starts right now. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington, 7:00 p.m. in rome, 2:00 a.m. wednesday in pyongyang. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. a stunning new report shows nearly 3,000 hurricane maria linked deaths in puerto rico, up from just 64. also, a secret letter from north korea to the united states that resulted in the cancellation of secretary of state pompeo's trip to pyongyang. so what was in it? and i'll be joined by pennsylvania's attorney general who says he has evidence the vatican knew about a systematic cover-up in his state to protect

abusive priests. all that coming up. let's begin with the breaking news. hurricane maria killed thousands more than initially reported. that according to a new study commissioned by the government of puerto rico. researchers from george washington university here in washington say the correct death toll should be 2,975. that's up from just 64. let's go to our correspondent layla santiago. she's here in washington over at george washington university. you've been doing a lot of excellent reporting on all of this. this is a massive, massive change. remember, these are all u.s. citizens we're talking about. update our viewers. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, i just finished talking to the two lead researchers on this study, and the big question now, wolf, this study commissioned by puerto rico, has found 2,975 to be the number of excess deaths, but

will the government of puerto rico now take this study, now take this number and make it the official death toll? i have reached out to the government. several hours now waiting on their response. they have not given that. i want to make clear exactly what this is. again, 2,975 is what they believe is the excess in deaths over what they believe would be average at this point had hurricane maria not gone by puerto rico, not destroyed puerto rico. but this is not a list of nearly 3,000 deaths that they have causes for that they believe to be hurricane maria related. so for many of the families who were hoping for some sort of closure, for some sort of help financially by being counted, they will not be getting this from this statistical analysis. there have been other studies. we've both reported on the harvard study that came out a few months ago that believed it

was about 4,000 deaths. our own investigation, which revealed back then in november that there were hundreds of people who died related to hurricane maria. so what made this different? and the researchers say that what made this different was that they had access to cooperation from the government of puerto rico, access to information that the other studies did not have. this study, the researchers say, is not all the way complete. this is only phase one. they want to do a phase two, which would then go and talk to the families, talk to more people, possibly get that list of names and have a better understanding of what happened. they've also highlighted some of the trends, some of the things that could be used in the future to prevent deaths. they said particularly vulnerable were old men in areas that were poor in puerto rico. they saw more deaths in that, about a 60% increase in deaths

among that population. they also talked about lack of communication between health care and government officials, local municipality officials, central and federal government officials. they really did highlight some discrepancies in filling out death certificates and how doctors were not formally trained on how to do that and how that could lead in such a gap where today we stand at an official government death toll of 64 while this study stands at nearly 3,000. but again, wolf, the very big question, the next step in this is finding out, will the government of puerto rico change that death toll to reflect this number? when this study was officially commissioned, i specifically asked the governor of puerto rico that question. he told me he would be accepting those findings. i have not had that response today. waiting on that, wolf. >> waiting on that. just for some perspective, it was almost exactly 13 years ago

this week that hurricane katrina wound up killing about 1800 americans in new orleans and elsewhere along the gulf coast. 1800, now close to 3,000 in puerto rico. layla, we'll stay in touch with you. when you get the word from the governor, we'll put that on the air right away. there's other important news we're following here in washington. back in court, attorneys for paul manafort are discussing the terms for his next trial. the judge agrees to a delay. manafort's lawyers push for a change of venue. on the hot seat, a justice department official gets grilled by republican lawmakers in a closed door hearing up on capitol hill. bruce ohr is under fire for his contacts with christopher steele, the former british spy who compiled that infamous dossier on donald trump during the campaign. republicans point to ohr as evidence of bias within the u.s. justice department that led to

the special counsel's russia investigation. democrats say the gop is pushing conspiracy theories. but a republican lawmaker at today's hearings is raising questions about the dossier. listen. >> not only did the fbi know that the dossier was unverified, but they also knew that there was real credibility issues where it would never end up in a courtroom because of the inherent way it was collected and the bias that was associated with that. it appears before we actually ended up initiating that first fisa application that there were credibility issues with regards to the dossier that the fbi knew about. and that's very troubling. >> let's bring in our crime and justice reporter shimon prokupecz. bruce ohr is testifying behind closed doors. first of all, why is it behind closed doors, and why is it just

republicans who are asking the questions? >> wolf, obviously it's the republicans who have taken issue with some of the work that went into the dossier, with the fisa, the carter page fisa. they're the ones predominantly who have been raising this issue. some feel because this is what the president has wanted them to do, to try and discredit the entire russia investigation. a lot of this is closed door because they're talking about internal issues, department of justice issues that have not been public perhaps. also, there's supposed to be a classified briefing on some of this information as well. as we all know, bruce ohr has been under attack by the president, recently threatening to remove his security clearance. keep in mind this is a clear employee of the department of justice. it would be difficult. they would have to find cause to

try and -- these conversations continue even after the fbi stopped using christopher steele as an informant. the other thing they're looking at is bruce ohr's wife, who had worked for fusion gps. this is the company obviously that was hired by the clinton campaign to do the dossier. >> we mentioned that paul manafort's lawyers were back in court today. fill us in on what was decided and the efforts to move this tri trial. >> they asked the judge to move this trial out of washington, d.c. all this as they were in court today arguing about the jury instructions and questions that could be asked. two things that came up, most importantly, one is that the judge has agreed to delay the start of the trial, that is the opening statements, by a week. supposed to begin on september 17th. it's now going to start on

september 24th. jury selection will still begin object on the 17th. the other thing that came up is whether or not president trump would be brought up at the trial through witnesses, through evidence. the judge saying today that's not going to happen. this is something that the defense team, like in the first trial, was trying to keep out of the jury. >> shimon prokupecz with the latest on both of those fronts. shimon, thank you very much. let's bring in our experts for some analysis. we have the former department of justice prosecutor joseph morino and a.b. stoddard with real politics. what do you make of the fact that manafort's lawyers met with paul mueller's team to see if there's some sort of deal potentially, even as the first trial was under way that potentially could be work the out? >> i was stunned. all along paul manafort has made it clear he wanted to fight this out through two trials, that he

was going to proclaim his innocence and defend himself to the end, that there would be no deal, no cooperation. he ended up in solitary confinement because of witness tampering. he's been pretty defiant all along. the idea that during those deliberations he actually so 11th hour sought to come to some kind of agreement. it obviously fell apart. our understanding is he wasn't willing to go as far in full cooperation as those deals require. it's interesting. it doesn't seem he in the end really wants to cooperate. the timing of it was very, very strange. >> what do you think? >> to a.b.'s point, i think the public surprise is that paul manafort has had this public face of defiance. i will fight the charges. i'm not interested in a deal. but the reality is as these trials progress and you start to see the weight of the evidence against you and you see the juries kind of nodding their heads at the prosecution's story that they're telling about you

and you're getting closer and closer to that final day of judgment, people's minds can easily change. having another trial around the corner in a probably more hostile venue with even more dramatic charges against him, i have to think that a plea has to be on mr. manafort's mind. if negotiations have broken down, it would not shock me a minute if they are restarted at s some point. >> would you be surprised if they move the trial outside of the district of columbia? >> that's a fairly extreme measure. i can see why mr. manafort's defense team would make the argument. he'll say, i can't get a fair hearing in d.c. because the president has single-digit popularity in this jurisdiction. that's an extremely difficult decision to get from a judge. more likely they'll have a vigorous voir dire. they'll vet the jurors, as they did in virginia a few months ago. can you view the evidence fairly and make a fair decision? and the criminal justice system

will work as it's supposed to. >> rudy giuliani said yesterday it's been three weeks since they responded in a letter to mueller's team about the possibility of the president sitting down for an interview. they haven't heard anything back since then. does anybody really think there's going to be an interview? the various options are a subpoena to testify before a grand jury if that's what the mueller team wants to do. >> right. i heard alan dershowitz on your air this morning basically saying that the trump team made an offer that mueller couldn't accept. they'll always argue it was an offer, but all along they've known the president was not going to sit down for an interview. are they waiting for a subpoena? we don't think. the study we've made of bob mueller is he's a by-the-book guy. it's not likely for him to get into a huge subpoena battle late into the month of september with the president and his legal team.

there's also a ruse afoot perpetrated by rudy giuliani and other trump allies that mueller is going to finish the entire investigation by this weekend. it's going to go on and on. we're looking probably at a long pause but also an investigation that's likely to carry on much longer than the president's team is willing to admit. >> if there's a subpoena to the president to testify before a grand jury, that could drag through the courts for a long time. >> it can and it will. ultimately my view and the view of most of us in the field is the president would ultimately have to submit to a subpoena or plead the fifth. it will take months to weave etc. way through the courts. >> how is this playing out politically right now, a.b.? we are only, what, 70 days or so from the midterm elections. is it likely that -- there's no way it's going to be wrapped up before then. it's going to go on, but the question is, does mueller, for political reasons, because there is a tradition at the department of justice.

you don't make these kinds of announcements, major statements in advance of an election by those who are part of the election. i guess the president is part of the election, even though he perch personally running. there's a tradition you avoid that. >> i think it's going to be dark from now through well after november 6th. i think this idea that you can see conservatives on twitter saying special counsel mueller, it's time to get everything wrapped up by the weekend. like he's going to have a report to congress. we're looking at a long, long road. it could go well into 2019. is it going to affect the midterms? it is because there's new news out of the southern district of new york. >> let's not forget the iran contra investigation went on for seven years. the white water investigation during the bill clinton administration, that went on for six or seven years too. this has been going on for just more than a year so far. guys, thank you very, very much. up next, a new push for president trump to fire his attorney general jeff sessions. this time coming in from some

evangelical leaders here in the united states. is he losing support for his remaining allies at the same time in the u.s. senate? and a rare reversal. what's behind president trump's decision to finally praise senator john mccain? republican senator mike rounds is standing by live. we'll discuss that and much more with him when we come back. >> tech: at safelite autoglass, we really pride ourselves on making it easy for you to get your windshield fixed. with safelite, you can see exactly when we'll be there. saving you time for what you love most. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪

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i'm telling you what everybody in the country knows. this is a dysfunctional relationship. we need a better one. is there somebody who's highly qualified that has the confidence of the president that will also understand their job is to trek mueller? yes, i think we can find that person after the election if that's what the president wants. >> let's discuss that and more. south dakota senator mike rounds is joining us. he's a republican, a member of the armed services committee. senator, thanks so much for joining us. let's get your quick reaction to what we just heard from lindsey graham. is jeff sessions the right man for the job right now, or as senator graham suggestions, the relationship with the president can't be fixed? >> i think lindsey probably does as good a job as anybody does in terms of trying to analyze the situation. that doesn't mean that jeff sessions has lost the confidence of folks within the united states senate. we really think the president made the right choice in the first place. we thought he was a great choice as the attorney general. we understand that relationships are strained right now.

we just simply think the president did make the right choice in the first place and think attorney general sessions has made the right choice when he stepped aside to begin with, with regard to the mueller investigation. he did what he thought was the right thing to do. that's the one thing about jeff sessions. he's going to do what he thinks is right. that's what this department needs right now. >> are you okay if the president does go ahead and fire sessions after the midterm elections? >> look, i hadn't really thought about timing on this stuff as much as i have just the thought that it sends a message of distrust or a suggestion that the president would want someone who might very well take a different approach to the mueller investigation. if he would be terminating attorney general sessions because of the mueller investigation, then i think we're going to have some serious issues because most of us believe that we should follow this through until it is complete. at the same time, we still have this huge amount of respect for a man that we really think is doing things for the right

purposes. look, times can change, and no one should ever say someone should be in a position forever. but i think this is something that attorney general sessions and the president need to look at each other, sit down, and come to an appropriate decision. if it's simply a matter of coming after mr. sessions because the president feels that jeff made the wrong choice when he excused himself or recused himself, then i think there's going to be some real hard political questions for the president to have to answer. >> do you agree with senator lindsey graham that any potential replacement, a nominee to become the attorney general of the united states, has to promise the u.s. senate during confirmation hearings that the new attorney general would allow the special counsel robert mueller to do his job, to finish the job, even if he's ordered by the president to fire him, to end the investigation. >> i think that's part of the reason why we keep saying that attorney general sessions is the right guy for the job right now.

as long as he's in office, you don't have that question being asked. you also don't have the president of the united states being reminded of the need for that investigation to continue on. so i think regardless of who is in that position of being the attorney general of the united states, that question is always going to be there in terms of do you support the independent investigation that is currently moving forward. we just want to see it get completed. we'd like to see it expedited. we'd like to see it complete. the president's been right when he says there has been no evidence of collusion. and so when you move forward, you can understand the reason why he's frustrated. he'd like to get on with things he wants to get done. we don't blame him for that. >> we have no idea what mueller may have collected, you know, behind closed doors. there's been very little, if any, leaking coming out of mueller's team. we don't know what evidence he does or doesn't have. but you're right, let him finish his job, issue a report to the deputy attorney general rod

rosenstein, who oversees him, and then rosenstein can submit it to congress and you in the house and senate can do with it what you want. let's move on to john mccain. a man you knew well. what do you think of the criticism the president has been receiving for his lack of an early response in praising senator mccain as an american hero and the role he played? >> i wish it wasn't so. i met john back in 2008 when he was on the bus and i rode with him from rapid city to sturgis, where he spoke to 40,000 bikers. it was one of the most memorable events i've ever been at. john got up there and just wowed them. they loved him. at that point, you realized what an impact he had and how revered he was. look, we'd love to see the president be able to step in and to have that same type of respect for the body of work this man has accumulated over

literally decades. look, he truly is an american hero. he truly represents some of the finest things that this country has to offer. but i can also share with you john could be cantankerous. that was part of the -- part of what i think we loved about him. i remember telling him one time, i said, john, i haven't had anybody yell at me in over two weeks. you feeling okay? so he could be a character. but we all knew that. sitting in the committee, you knew what his focus was. it was on the men and women who wear the uniform. you knew his focus was on what was right. he also held the department of defense accountable. i remember on numerous occasions where he would step up and say, i think they're out of line with their buckdget. i think they're asking too much. they're wasting money of here. so he was a hard driver. in doing so, he wasn't afraid to ruffle feathers. you have another strong personality in president trump. he doesn't like it when somebody is ruffling feathers. you can see where the two would conflict. the difference is with john,

most folks have been able to come back in, sit down, and say, look, i get it, that's his personality. i don't think those two were ever able to resolve their differences. that's very unfortunate. >> very quickly, you support this proposal to rename the russell senate office building the mccain senate office building? >> i think that's one proposal that would be a very good one. there's another one to rename the armed services committee room. i think mitch has got the right idea. mitch mcconnell has the right idea. let's get a regular order committee put together. let's go back in and look at all the different ideas. then let's lay out a planned strategy after we get all the ideas. i think the russell building is one very good idea. >> senator rounds, as usual, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. up next, pennsylvania's attorney general standing by to join me live. he says he has evidence the vatican knew about a systematic cover-up in a state to protect abusive priests. we'll have more with him. stand by for that. and the defense secretary of the united states, james mattis, now weighing in on the future of

joint u.s. military exercises with south korea. what that could mean to the relationship between the u.s. and north korea. liberty mutual saved us almost $800

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he also claims church leaders in pennsylvania hid details of each allegation in, quote, secret archives. the investigation comes after a grand jury report detailed the 300 so-called predator priests who preyed on more than 1,000 children. here to discuss this, the pennsylvania attorney general josh schapiro. attorney general, thank you so much for joining us. i know these are extremely sensitive issues. let's get to some of the substance right now. after you made that accusation this morning about the vatican, a vatican spokesman told cnn, and i'll read the quote from the vatican spokesman, if the prosecutor is referring to something outside of the report, we'll wait to see that before commenting. so what evidence, attorney general, do you have that the vatican knew of a cover-up? >> well, let's be clear, wolf. as the chief prosecutor in pennsylvania, i deal with facts and evidence and apply the law. 23 grand jurors in pennsylvania sat for two years collecting evidence, listening to

testimony, reviewing over a half a million pages of documents from the church's own secret archives detailing comprehensive, widespread sexual abuse by predator priests of children. noting 301 predator priests. they also found a systematic cover-up, a cover-up led by senior church officials, people like bishops and now one cardinal. in many instances, as the grand jury report shows, not a claim from me but as the grand jury report shows, that cover-up went all the way to the vatican. the church's own documents that were in the secret archives presented in the grand jury report show the connection between the abuse and cover-up in pennsylvania and the fact that the vatican was informed of it. >> that's pretty stunning to think about. at what point, attorney general, do these secret archives indicate a cover-up actually started? >> well, we went back decades,

roughly 70 years. we found information actually on more than 400 predator priests. but the grand jury wanted to be very, very careful and specific about naming names and making sure that the abuse could be corroborated, that the cover-up could be corroborated. that was corroborated in a number of ways. put very basically, it was corroborated in part by people testifying before the grand jury, but it was also corroborated by the church's own documents. understand something, wolf. these predator priests raped little children. they abused children. bishops knew about it and covered it up. they lied to parishioners. they lied to the public. they lied to law enforcement. and then they wrote it all down. they documented all the facts. oftentimes, they shared those documents that were in the secret archives with the vatican. for the representative of the

vatican to say somehow this is new information, i would just say to him and to all people in pennsylvania and across the united states, read the report. the details are all contained in that. i thank the 23 men and women of the pennsylvania grand jury for listening to this gut-wrenching testimony over a two-year period of time and coming up with the most comprehensive report on clergy sex abuse in the history of this country. >> do you have evidence, attorney general, that pope francis was aware of this? >> i have evidence that the vatican was aware of it. once the vatican learned of it, i do not know whether the pope learned about it or not. as a prosecutor dealing with facts and evidence, i'm not going to make a statement, nor am i going to attribute something to the grand jury that is not in the grand jury report. we're going to stick with the facts and the evidence. as to what the vatican -- who in the vatican knew, what the pope knew, that's an answer that only they can provide. >> as you know, missouri is now

the second state to go ahead with an investigation along the lines of what you're doing in pennsylvania. are you cooperating with them? do you expect more states to follow your lead? >> wolf, i've received calls from over a dozen attorneys general across this country, along with a senior representative of the department of justice, our federal government partners. some have already begun investigations, at least one you cited that has been open about that. others are contemplating investigations. certainly if pennsylvania can provide any support to them, we will. look, i think pennsylvania is a pretty special and unique place, but sadly, i don't think we are unique when it comes to this. i certainly don't have any evidence of it happening in other states. what i do have evidence of, though, is these predator priests were passed around to other states and shielded from law enforcement in the process. understand, wolf, this cover-up served a very specific purpose.

it was not only to cover it up within the parishes, within the churches, but it was also to shield them from law enforcement. so law enforcement officials like me couldn't charge them with crimes. you know, we understand covered 301 predator priests as part of this grand jury investigation. sadly, because of our weak laws in pennsylvania and our limited statute of limitations, i could only charge two of them. one of those predator priests has already pled guilty. the other one will be in court later this fall. so we've got to hold these individuals accountable. if other states are going to step up and try and do that work, the federal government step up and maybe do that work, i think that's a good thing. >> yeah, yesterday i interviewed josh holly, the attorney general of missouri. he says he was going to move quickly on this area as well. josh shapiro, the attorney general of pennsylvania, thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me, wolf. up next, more news we're following. a major setback with north korea, this time a secret letter delivered to the secretary of

state mike pompeo with a very strong warning for the united states. plus, a rare reversal for president trump. what was behind his decision to finally acknowledge the late senator john mccain for his service to the united states? stay with us. unlimited ways to be you. unlimited ways to share with others. unlimited ways to live for the moment all for as low as 30 bucks a line unlimited for you for them for all right now, get unlimited for as low at 30 bucks per line for four lines at t-mobile

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the secretary of state mike pompeo. sources tell cnn that it warned pompeo that talks may fall apart because the kim jong-un regime feels the u.s. is not making progress on replacing the armistice agreement that ended the korean war with a full-scale peace treaty. it added if talks failed, north korea could resume nuclear and missile activities. shortly after the letter was shown to president trump, he canceled the secretary's scheduled trip to pyongyang that had been scheduled for this week. let's talk about this and more with william cohen, the former defense secretary under president bill clinton. mr. secretary, thanks for coming in. what's your take on this letter? >> well, it confirms what i thought months ago, that it was a mistake to have had that meeting in singapore. what the president did was to turn the pyramid of diplomacy on its head. normally you would have secretary pompeo and others do all of the leg work necessary, building all the blocks in terms

of finding what we were after with a step that would be necessary to confirm, et cetera. and then have the top man come in and say, now we can have an agreement. so he did it completely in reverse. the result now, we're back to square one. so resumption of the military exercises, which again i thought was a mistake to cancel, but one of the problems we're having now is that the south korean president may decide to go forward on his own without us. it would be a big mistake on his part to separate south korea from the united states. it would put south korea in jeopardy as well as our forces there. so it's going to be hard to put everything back. you can't go home again quite the same. you can't get the chinese to commit, as they have been in the past. you probably won't get the russians to do the same. so i think we're seeing why it's important to follow the rules that have been established over time. >> and listen to the secretary of defense, james mattis, today speaking about those suspended

u.s./south korean military exercises, which of course the north koreans hate. listen to this. >> we have no plans at this time to suspend anymore exercises. we suspended several exercises at the direction of the president. the good-faith effort was made. we have had -- we have done no planning for suspending others. obviously we know what exercises are out there. so we could do that if directed to. but right now there are no plans to go further. >> you know what's going to happen, though, when the u.s. and south korea resume full-scale military exercises, which over the years the north koreans have always complained about, always have taken action. they presumably will resume their nuclear testing, their ballistic missile testing, which they have suspended at least over these past several months. >> we were at a point when we

were marshaling our forces there. the rhetoric was high, as the president continued to escalate it rhetorically. we had the chinese on board. we had the russians on board. we had the japanese on board. then we had the meeting in singapore with the handshake without anything concrete to talk about, to sign. so as a result, now we're back on our heels, and it's going to be very difficult to put all the pieces together in a way that can bring maximum pressure against the north koreans. i don't think that any of those in the region are anxious to have the united states go to war with the north koreans, nor should we be, but i think we were at a point where we had maximum leverage, and i think we gave that up. now we're going to try to regain it. >> very quickly, on your friend john mccain, i know you're going to be a pallbearer saturday at the memorial service at the national cathedral here in washington. give us a thawiought or two abo this extraordinary man.

>> well, what was most remarkable about john was his absolute passion. his passion, his patriotism, his desire for the united states to continue to exercise leadership throughout the world. you know, it's really kind of ironic that here's a man who was beat son badly he could never lift his arms up to comb his hair. yet, he was able, through the sheer strength of his personality, to lift up the hopes of millions of people who were under the heel and boot of tyranny and oppression and totalitarianism and authoritarianism, lift them up by giving them hope. so here's a unique individual. yes, was he flawed, absolutely. but what was unique about john is he always recognized when he made a mistake, he had to correct it. his conscience would not allow him to say something he knew in his heart was not right without going back and telling the people not just privately, publicly, internationally, i made a mistake. i was wrong on the confederate

flag. i was wrong on this issue. i was right to fight to bring the vietnam people together with the united states. even though it cost me lots of criticism and charges of lack of patriotism. i think he's a unique individual. i was disheartened to see the way in which the flag was treated. it's ironic when you think about it. you have black athletes taking a knee to protest injustice in america being criticized of being unpatriotic. then you have the refusal to raise the flag -- or lower it, i should say, to half staff on behalf of a patriot. there's something wrong with that picture. >> i know you knew him well for many years going back to your days in the senate, the house of representatives, and i know this is a sad time for you and your family and everybody else. >> but it's a time to celebrate him too. not only to be sad but to be uplifted with his message of

promoting democracy. he was the paul revere riding through the night saying democracy is not safe, it's f j fragile. we have to constantly reinforce our commitment to its values. >> he was a great american. a true american hero as well. mr. secretary, thanks for coming in. >> pleasure. up next, honoring the life and willilegacy of john mccain. soon we're going to hear from one of his best friends, senator lindsey graham. stay with us. eligible for medi. gimme one minute... and i'll tell you some important things to know about medicare. first, it doesn't pay for everything. say this pizza is your part b medical expenses. this much - about 80% - medicare will pay for. what's left is on you. that's where an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company comes in. this type of plan helps pay some of what medicare doesn't. these are the only plans to carry the aarp endorsement

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a rare reversal for president trump after of refusing to acknowledge publicly

the passing of senator john mccain with warm praise and order the white house flag ordered to half staff, the president finally relented to both. here with us now is david gergen who knows a lot about presidents, knows a lot about presidential presidential ego. what was behind this? >> anger, resentment, rage at the fact that john mccain so much more popular than he was with the president and john mccain blocked him as he thought on repealing obamacare. but they have two different value sets. you know? one believes in the old-fashioned traditions of honor and courage and president trump is who we know he is now and that caused -- but i think what's been, you know, we were saying over the break, you know, many people around the world find this just impossible to understand why the president wouldn't be -- salute john mccain because he's held in affection and respect around the world but it's also true that i think the silence is not -- was

not just sort of childish and move beyond that but the silence for 48 hours i think gave permission for a lot of the people who are actively -- active extremists on the right to pour out and attack mccain and now we have the sludge, the anti-mccain on social media competing with this outpouring from other americans, millions of americans who would like to get back the traditions of bipartisanship. >> yeah. it's not every day you see this president, president trump, basically cave on something like this. he doesn't usually do this. >> he does not. and we should say i wonder why it appears to be the american legion was principally responsible. whether his wife melania weighed in in a way that made a difference, we know he rejected the staff's comments. wolf, i cannot remember, perhaps you can, because we have had the experiences, i can't remember a president had to be dragged

kicking and screaming to acknowledge someone who had been a political rival. >> what did you think of john mccain? >> oh, i was a big, big fan of john mccain. he came -- you know, i teach at the kennedy school and we had him. >> harvard university. >> yes. harvard. and he -- i moderated a conversation with him with students in 2000 and studented flocked out to hear him. after he spoke, they were so inspired. they just wanted to touch him, have a sense -- they knew they were with someone special. i think every time the students saw him they erupted and just admiration. >> really was a great american. and we're going to be hearing a lot more about him in the coming days as to various memorials take place. david, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> always good to have you here. up next, voters in senator mccain's home state heading to the polls for a primary on another senator, jeff flake, when's retiring.

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-you're taking a shower? -water pressure's crucial, scott! it's like they say -- location, location, koi pond. -they don't say that. hi there. i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn. thank you for being here. a week after a jury convicted paul manafort on eight federal charges, a federal young in washington, d.c. delayed opening statements in the second criminal trial by a week. the defense team for president trump's former campaign chairman wants the trial moved out of the nation's capital. this as "the wall street journal" reports that manafort actually tried to strike a plea deal with prosecutors this time around but apparently it fell through. cnn crime and justice reporter