>> thank you so much for sticking your neck out. great to see you, mark. it will be awesome. appreciate it. it all happens tonight. cnn's dana bash moderates the texas senate town hall. that's live at 7:00 eastern on cnn. thanks so much for joining me. inside politics with john king starts right now. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. new twist in the saudi crisis. images that undermine the royal family's denial and a big oval office meeting between the president and his secretary of state. plus, rod rosenstein praises the special counsel investigation -- the one his boss calls a witch-hunt and a con job. and a big campaign swing for the president, immigration is on his mind as he heads west but in most close races, health care is a bigger flash point. >> pre-existing condition,

pre-existing condition. people with pre-existing conditions. >> we begin the hour at the white house with a question of enormous consequence -- why is the president willing to be so patient with and deferential to saudi arabia? mike pompeo briefing the president on his emergency travelers to saudi arabia and turkey after the disappearance of jamal khashoggi. secretary mike pompeo told reporters it's critical to remember the u.s./saudi relationship dates back 90 years and secretary pompeo saying the royal family needs more time to investigate. >> they assured me that would conduct a thorough investigation of the facts surrounding mr. khashoggi. i told president trump we ought to give them a few more days to complete that so we have a complete understanding of the

facts surrounding that so we can make decisions as to whether the united states should responsibility. >> kaitlan collins, we didn't learn a lot new there. >> no, we didn't. the only thing new was that he encouraged president trump to give him a few more days to keep investigating. it's been 16 days since he entered the saudi cannes lonsul didn't leave. you would think that's enough time to investigate but the secretary of state said he believes they need more time and they are we are going to get the answers. he was asked how do you trust the saudis to investigate themselves here since they're accused of masterminding the murder of this reporter? he didn't answer but he said he'd let the saudis have a few more days before president trump makes a decision. so not a lot of clarity. but president trump, we didn't hear from him in person, only pompeo at the microphone but he did tweet saying he met with pompeo this morning. he said they discussed what has been going on in great detail including the secretary of

state's meeting with the crown prince. he says he's going to wait for the results of the investigation being done by the saudi arabia dis and the turks and just gave a news conference to that effect. now, that wasn't quite a news conference, john, because pompeo spoke for three minutes and only took two questions, though the reporters had many more questions to ask him but what we know and what could be the first indication of how the administration is going to respond to this is the treasury secretary steve mnuchin is no longer going to go to that investment conference in riyadh. he was scheduled to leave for a multicountry trip leaving tomorrow and that was going to be a big part of it and critics said if he continued to go it would be a signal of support from the united states to send someone in such a high-ranking position as mnuchin to this conference despite the fact we've seen several executives drop out. but mnuchin has made a decision, he won't be going and we are told, john, that no other government officials will be going in his place to that investment summit in riyadh.

>> kaitlan collins live at the white house. appreciate that. with me in studio, julie pace with from the associated press. sirius xm's olivier knox and politico alanna shore. why, to start with? this is complicated and it's co be more forthcoming. they have every right, they don't want to undermine the regime, that could cause a global recession, but secretary pompeo has not expressed outrage, he has not called it a murder, he has not said it's reprehensible. you can chastise your friends and maintain a relationship. why? >> to your point, there has been lack of basic things from this administration like sympathy for this journalist's family, for example or general outrage over a disappearance and murder, the lack of answers being provided and we're not getting any of that from this administration

and that speaks to these complications with the u.s./saudi relationship and the administration seems to be showing more concern about things like saudi arabia's role in fighting terrorism, the $100 billion arms deal and just the general affinity that the president and people in his administration have for the saudi royal family. >> they made a bad call. they're not the first to make a bad call. there were people in the previous administration that called the administration a reformer. turns out he's more of a brutal thug. but listen to the secretary of state. he was asked you're telling us to wait, be patient and trust the saudis to investigate the saudis? >> we're all going see the response that the kingdom of saudi arabia takes with us. when we see that, we'll get a chance to determine, all of us will get a chance to make a determination with respect to the credibility and the work that went into that. whether it's truly accurate,

fair, transparent in the way that they made a personal commitment to me and the crown prince also made a personal commitment to the president when he spoke to him i believe night before last. >> there are many saying they just seem to be giving the saudis more time to come up with whatever story they're going to come up with. >> and kaitlin had a good point. he went missing october 2 so this is a long span of time for an event that occurred inside the saudi consulate. it's not super plausible they've needed this time to investigate and figure out what happened. but to another point, the president speaks very warmly about the leader of the philippines, rodrigo duterte, despite extrajudicial killings, he speaks very warmly about vladimir putin even though vladimir putin has been accused of ordering a nerve agent to assassinate a russian national on british soil. he speaks warmly about those folks than he does about, say, justin trudeau of canada. it's just built into their mind

set here and when you talk to them, they'll say we're include advancing american interest. this is a no friends no enemies interest, old foreign policy quote and they read saudi arabia the same way. its role in countering iran in the region, obviously the oil impact. so that's how they're processing this. >> this is where you wonder this is just the logical conclusion of president trump's hawkish jacksonian foreign policy. it's transactional, arm sales, military, economic cooperation. it doesn't consider value, whether it's democracy promotion abroad or human rights. it rejects international institution there is to bolster those provisions. it sounds like a great slogan but it also means perhaps in this administration's view that they can overlook even awful things like this if it's about money coming in or financial transactional relationships. >> what it's testing and we don't forget this is congress's will to push back at this president. when this came up for a bill in the senate it only lost by four

votes. and republicans and democrats told me this, an arms sale coming up today doesn't go through, that's why the timing is fortuitous that congress is out of session. >> and the president views this as a sign of strength that he can have these personal relationships, be different from other presidents. if you look at the cover of "the week" magazine this is being talked about in the congress and around the world, see no evil. and mr. khashoggi's picture is in the orb there. in the president's first trip to saudi arabia there was the orb with the smiling crown prince. i come back to the question, we've seen this in other relationships, there's a way to chastise a friend, hold them accountable and maintain the relationship when it comes to dealing with iran. that's how you maintain the relationship. donald trump isn't the first president to do this. the united states has overlooked an awful lot of stuff that saudi arabia has done for the last 20 years. he's not the first to do this but that is how you do it. the way you get the arms deal agreed to is you talk tough about the disappearance of a

journalist and probable murder of a journalist. that's how you grease the skids. >> in his final column at that the "washington post" published today, mr. khashoggi wrote this "arab governments have been given free rein to silence the media at an increasing rate. these actions no longer carry the consequence of a backlash from the international community. instead, they may trigger condemnation quickly followed by silence. the arab world is facing its own version of an iron curtain." which is a prescient -- sadly prescient and being the moment where you would expect an american president to stand up and say this cannot happen. we haven't heard that. >> and i think part of the hesitation may be that they don't -- they're not ready to admit error. in other words, this administration has made a big bet on mohammed bin salman as a reformer in the middle east and starting to acknowledge that the evidence that seems to be piling up that they were complicit, lindsey graham said it wouldn't have happened without mohammed bin salman's order.

bob corker is not happy right now. he's seeing the administration clamping down on sharing intelligence which is a remarkable thing. >> i'm surprised how much we'll hear that rhett frick this administration if we get the evidence. in other situations like this, and there have been more m around the world where there's some type of human rights violation from a strategically important country, this president doesn't often get to the point. and i'm not sure you'll see the president take the steps khashoggi was talking about in his final op-ed. >> and the turks are conducting their own investigation, they're not friends of the saudis so secretary pompeo said we'll see these two investigations and see if they're credible, one of the issues will be do they match up at all or do the turks wait for the saudis to put something out

and undermine it as they have through selective leaks. >> or do they get whatever it is they want to get out. remember on monday erdogan says only turkey can lead the islamic world. there's an interesting other rivalry. erdogan against saudi arabia. so they've been playing this well. there is a great "new york times" piece that detailed the way the leaks ebb and flow according to whether the turks are getting what they want from the coverage and the saudi arabia dis. >> yo-- saudis. >> and how do other autocratic leaders perceive this? will there be something to lose if they commit horrible atrocities. >> the voice i really miss in this is john mccain. he wrote to law bob corker is trying to invoke to get an investigation into sanctions. we really feel that absence of a republican hawk who can speak about human rights in that way, the administration is not doing it. >> we will see what happens when the congress comes back, they're on break because of the election. before we go to break, a quick personnel update.

cnn has learned emmet flood will serve as interim white house council until the newly named pat sip loanny comes on board. this comes after don mcgahn's departure yesterday. flood certains as special counsel to the president. we'll be right back. across cars, trucks and suvs-three years in a row. phew. third time's the charm...

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the conversation in many states dominated this year by health care. today republican senate majority leader providing potential new fodder for democrats hoping to drive home this message -- that the democrats will protect pre-existing conditions and the republicans won't. that's what the democrats say. in an interview with reuters mitch mcconnell says if republicans retain control of washington, they could attempt to repeal the affordable care act. quote, if we had the votes to completely start over, we'd do it but that depends on what happens in a couple weeks. that from majority leader mcconnell. we're not satisfied with the way obamacare is work iing.

mcconnell said no one that he knows wants to strip away protections for those with pre-existing conditions. phil, repealing obamacare, we went through that a lot. it's been a republican prior to forever but in this midterm environment, is that what mcconnell should talk about? >> democrats appreciate it and republicans in the house and senate who are running in races right now, even in the reddest sta of states don't appreciate it. democrats have been laser focused on health care and making pre-existing conditions synonymous with obamacare in general for the entirety of this cycle. millions of dollars of attack ads on republican incumbents regardless of whether the state is bright red or in the suburban purple, this has been what democrats have been focused on. mcconnell is in a damned if you do damned if you don't moment. obviously the republican base is still opposed to obamacare. but watching how this debate has turned, thing back to 2010 where obamacare was the driving force

between entire delegations of democrats in some states being wiped out, now democrats running explicitly on this issue. mcconnell made an important caveat. he's saying if he has a few more votes in the senate and he's not saying but also means if the house is still in republican hands then it's obviously something republicans have pledged to do for cycle after cycle and likely still will do. but if you want to know what kind of affect this has on races, look at the statements and ads that have come out over the last 24 hours. everybody's been trying to make this an issue and this, again, gives republicans a chance to roe focus on the issue they have tried to focus on almost everyday for the better part of this entire reelection campaign. >> phil mattingly, appreciate that. you spoke to the majority leader as well. i want to read a piece from your article. our candidates are able to deal with it, regarding the barrage of ads criticizing his gop

candidates in health care. there's nobody that is not in favor of coverage for pre-existing conditions. does he get this is a problem? >> he's heard of it and he's arguing they're doing the best they can. but this is a important point. mcdonnell says everyone favors coverage for pre-existing conditions, everyone says they do but the way they approach it is different. democrats support barring insurers from turning away people who are sick, preventing them from charging higher prices to people who have prior illnesses and requiring they cover a certain set of benefits. republicans want to do the first thing but not the second two which democrats argue say everyone has access to a ferrari but they can charge you a million dollars for it. so saying you're for pri existing conditions doesn't mean you support policies that would cover sick people. okay enlists healthier people to subdies sick people, that's the tradeoff. >> let's go to new jersey, this is democratic challenger to a vulnerable republican and think say remember how many times the house voted to repeal obamacare?

here you go. >> more than 60 times. that's how often congressman leonard lance voted to gut affordable health care. 60 times lance could have been with us but wasn't. leonard lance knew what he was doing and he isn't with us. >> and i'll give you the republican side of this, this is minnesota, a republican candidate saying don't tag me that way. >> my family knows firsthand the importance of affordable health insurance. our son isaac is the light of our lives. he's faced numerous health challenges, including a pre-existing condition. that's why i support requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. anyone telling you otherwise is lying. >> it is remarkable in 2010 and 2014 democrats were sprinting from obamacare. now they are embracing it. >> absolutely. and in mcconnell's conference there are republican challengers sending a similar message so

it's interesting saying he might revisit it because a lot of first-term republicans might be faced with edging back their campaign rhetoric. if he gets a couple more seats, mitch mcconnell doesn't care what lisa murkowski and susan collins do, he has the votes to call this up again. >> the way the politics have flipped going back to that new jersey ad is fascinating. republicans under john boehner and paul ryan had those votes for political purposes. they knew the senate wasn't going to overturn obamacare and under barack obama he wasn't going to sign it into law. it was to give republicans the ability to campaign and say i volted 60 times to repeal obamacare. now that's a drag on them. >> suddenly a drag and i want to show you from this kiaiser poll health care is 30%. the issue is right there for people. democrats think they can use this to their advantage. >> the absurdity is the polli -

polls on okay have been negative when people ask them but component parts of it are popular, especially consumer protections on pre-existing conditions and that's across the reddest of states, claire mccaskell and joe manchin are running against republicans that have signed on to a lawsuit that would void the rest of obamacare. have they endorsed bills that would do that? they have not. that's the box they are in. >> a policy debate is a good thing to have. when we come back, the president takes his message on the road. a look at where he's headed and if his rallies will sell. ♪ that's amore ♪when the world seems to shine ♪like you've had too much wine ♪ that's amore

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the president will spend the next three days on the road, first up, montana campaigning for matt rosendale. mississippi is trump country. he won the state by 20 points. let's look at where the president had been and where he will be going in the final days of the campaign. you can see the 12 states the president had rallies in. on this trip, montana, arizona and nevada. all three of them with close senate races. texas and wisconsin coming up in the days ahead.

most of those states like this trip for senate campaigns, again, montana, nevada, arizona on this trip west. this for the president is person personal. republicans think this is the place where the president can help. you don't see the president in the northeast or mid-atlantic, he's toxic there. but in montana he can help, john tester was among those very vocal when the president tried to nominate his white house physician to take over the department of veterans affairs john tester called him candyman. we lean this race democratic. matt rosendale republicans say is in contention, they hope the president can help. he's been there twice already this year and i'm told by white house officials they are planning another trip before the election so it could be four times against john tester to hear this. >> democrats want anarchy, they

do. and they don't know who they're playing with, folks. democrats want open border which is means lots of crime. we want tough, strong, power pfl borders and we want no crime. democrats want to obstruct that, they want to obstruct our great justices and by the way, you obstruct these justices, you're going to lose your second amendment. you're going to lose your right to those guns. >> this one is personal, montana, for the president, but, b, this is a textbook case of a place where he can help. you have a republican pollster calling it the split-level election. in most house races the president isn't much help. especially vulnerable ones but in a montana senate race, a big boost. >> huge in a place like montana. or even in north dakota. these are states where he won by an incredibly large margin, they have vulnerable democratic

senators so he can inject enthusiasm. it's interesting when you look at the states where the presidential was tighter like wisconsin, if you look at where president trump was going next week, he's going as far away from any major metropolitan areas that have big democratic bases and also swing republican voters, he's going to the sent over the state where you have more rural republican voters and that's a base play to boost enthusiasm, he can't go, though, to these areas where you have the swing independent or moderate republicans that will be important to these candidates. >> the arizona campaign, martha mcsally, they're nervous. there's a trump base in arizona however you have the phoenix suburbs and areas where you have where a lot of mccain or flake republicans who are not so trumpy. >> what i thought was so interesting was the tweet ronny. it was a lifetime ago in

politics but clearly it's personal for the president. john tester has clearly poked the president in a place he is sensitive. >> let me read the tweet. it tells you -- it's great. the president is most transparent president we've ever had. you know what he's thinking when he tweets. ever since his vicious and totally false statements about admiral ron jackson, the highly respected white house doctor for obama, bush and me, john tester looks to be in big trouble in the state of montana. he behaved worst than the democratic mob did with justice k. justice kavanaugh has a new short hand. >> this is testing the boundaries of maryland voters. in 2012 john tester won by 18,000 votes when president obama lost that state in a landslide. president trump won that by a larger margin so tester has shown an ability to win over montana voters who volt republican and president trump wants to push them away from tester as much as possible. >> tester has tried to run as

the authentic montanan. john tester says i'm be you, the national republican party trying to poke him back a bit. >> i come home nearly every weekend, traveling thousands of miles across this great state listening to montanans concerns. when i'm there, i'm taking on everyone defending maryland. these out-of-state dark money groups have a lot of gal lecturing montanans about what is important. >> you deserve a senator who doesn't just talk like he's from montana, you deserve a senator who actually votes like he's from montana. >> they want to impeach president trump and justice kavanaugh. will tester stand with us or with them? you already know the answer. >> tester made clear he's not going to impeach -- in the mood to impeach the president but if you're a republican that's what you try to do. >> and even republican senators were saying they were fine with the way john tester handled the

ronny jackson issue. chairman isaacson said i understand where he's coming from. >> jackson wasn't going to get through. >> republicans were opposed. >> but the president takes it personally. he likes fights and. >> and the way they cast the ad is basically come defend the president, the president is under attack. it adds to his rhetoric which is you are under attack. criminal aliens coming to wash through your streets and all this hyperbolic rhetoric. it's all about that because they don't have the same choice, they don't have the same hillary versus donald trump so they're paints the president as a potential victim of the democrats. >> and they have questions about the caliber of their candidate so they're trying to make it tester versus trump instead of tester versus rosendale. up next, are you a proud democrat? that's the question question that is being asked in one state. come on dad!

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traffic and roads... a mess, honestlyrents going up,le. friends and family moving out of state, millions of californians live near or below the poverty line. politicians like gavin newsom talk about change, but they've done nothing. sky-high gas and food prices. homelessness. gavin newsom, it happened on your watch. so, yeah. it is time for a change. time for someone new.

a close call for the american general in charge of all u.s. troops in afghanistan. the u.s. military spokesman says two americans were wounded in kandahar after a gunman opened fire following a security meeting. the taliban says it was behind that attack. the pentagon confirmed that scott miller, the u.s. army general in charge of the afghanistan mission, attended that meeting but was not injured. barbara star live at the pentagon. sounds like a tragic event and close call for the american general. >> a close call that was too close. general miller with long experience in special operations. now the head of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan was attending a security meeting in and can darr.

on the way out of that meeting, an afghan opened fire on them. general miller not injured but two were. two officials standing close to general mill. we know now one was another senior u.s. military officer said to be in stable condition. he's not been publicly named because they are awaiting family notification said by the military to be in stable condition. two others were wounded. these are people that stand very close to a cop manner when they are out in the field. general miller doing what so many senior commanders have done, going into the field, meeting with local forces, this time in kandahar, afghanistan, taking many of the same risks that the troops take every single day in places like syria, afghanistan, and iraq and many places around the world. no one would ever suggest that the president of the united states take those risks, nobody

would let him but it's worth remembering as donald trump comes up in two years on office, he is a commander-in-chief who has yet to visit his troops in the war zones, john. >> saying the other day he's busy, that he doesn't think that's necessary. barbara star, appreciate the reporting. one of the key races to watch is the tight house race here across the river in virginia. president trump endorsing congressman dave bratton, touting his stance on the border and the military. brat gaining attention where he spoke to incarcerated addicts. listen to how the congressman finds a way to compare his difficulties to theirs. >> i got $5 million worth of negative ads going at me. how do you think i'm feeling? nothing is easy. and you got it hard, i'm not dismissing that, you have real anxiety coming up on a job and you have to find a support system. in arizona the democrat

senate candidate has a message for her own party -- do better. listen. >> are you a democrat? >> i am. >> proud democrat? >> my gosh, hard to say proud, i don't know -- i'm not sure people are even proud of parties anymore because i feel like the parties are not doing a good job. so i would say that i'm a proud arizonan. >> ouch. sinema is running a tight race against martha mcsally in arizona. not so proud? what do you make of that? >> to put this in context. sinema is getting slammed for comments about her state being crazy so you notice ow she said i'm a proud arizonan. that's a nice way to answer the other big hit going up against her that she doesn't like her own state but remember she said she wouldn't support chuck schumer for political leader. this is part of her brand. >> okay. after the election will be just

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millions of californians live near or below the poverty line. politicians like gavin newsom talk about change, but they've done nothing. sky-high gas and food prices. homelessness. gavin newsom, it happened on your watch. so, yeah. it is time for a change. time for someone new.

welcome back, i wonder if the president read the "wall street journal" today. in a fresh reminder, the man who approves every the special counsel does disagrees with the president when he calls the russia investigation a witch-hunt. rod rosenstein said twith the "journal" he is, quote, appropriately managing the investigation that the president calls a con job. this is the deputy attorney general, i committed i would ensure the investigation was appropriate and independent and reach the right result whatever it may be. he told the "wall street journal" i believe i have been faith to feel that. okay. but why? it's not unexpected that he

feels he's doing his job and doing it right and he too old up to the president and others many times and said leave bob mueller alone. why talk about it? >> it's a mystery considering the situation he was just in with the president where it appears he was on the brink of either being fired or perhaps quitting over reporting that he suggested the president should be wiretapped or should get the cabinet together to pursue pushing the president out of office so it's curious he's pushing this knowing how the president feels about the investigation. i think this is something both democrats and republicans will be pleased to hear because there is some concern that the investigation could be undermined in some way or that rod rosenstein could feel pressure to do something to win back favor with the bt. >> democrats and republicans not in the house freedom caucus. >> true. >> rod rosenstein has many critics in that group. this is -- again, you mentioned the point the president is supposed to have a meeting with him. the president knows i'm prepared

to do this job as long as he wants me to do this job, rosenstein said. you serve at the pleasure of the president and there's never been ambiguity about that in my mind. but he has multiple constituencies. one obviously the president. he talks to him through the interview but the other is the justice department and like fbi directors before him, like ray, like comey, too, they've defended their bureaucracies. they've defended the career people. it's important to view rod rosenstein's comments through that prism as well. >> this is an issue he's willing to shout from the roof tops on that he will see through this investigation, he stood up to the president on this and the president's allies in the house freedom caucus caucus, he doesn't want to be seen as the person who messed up the investigation. this rests on him and it's much bigger than him. >> and it's a reminder.

we've had a dormant moment here because of the election. the southern district of new york has gone quiet also. there's hearings in court but no new big splashy announcements. the president is bringing in a white house council. off shakeup there. this is going to pick up again, including this reporting from cnn, cohen and his attorney met with a group of state and federal law enforcement officials investigating aspects of president trump's family business and charitable organization accord dog people familiar with the meeting so we have a lull in news about the investigations but i suspect within a week or so if not sooneer we'll be back in this. >> and it's also important to remember jeff sessions may be out of a job and rod rosenstein has a lot of friends in the u.s. senate, more than he has in the republican caucus so he has reason to believe he has more job security than he might have. >> to your point about this pause in the news about the

investigation. there are a couple things we know that will happen after the election. we know at some point that flynn is going to be sentence and we'll learn about the scope of his kpgs. same with the sco -- cooperation. then there are the unknowns and that for the president is the scarier piece of this. >> and how much does it matter his legal team is changing? you have don mcgahn gone, flood taking over on an interim basis. pat cipollone coming in. the president apparently struck up a rapport with him. >> it seems like there's been more continuity than not. one big shift is when he brought on giuliani and did a more forceful pr strategy. don mcgahn, i think his role in this investigation and the way he refused to carry out the president's ord fore fire mueller will be thought about but his biggest legacy will be judges. he's instrumental in picking the

84 judges the president confirmed with the help of the federalist society that wants to reduce the federal government's power to legislate and regulate. these are almost all in their 40s and 50s. >> all right, next for us here after a debate night, beto o'rourke tries to say how he would solve the border crisis.

president trump threatening possible military action over what he calls an onslaught at the u.s./mexico border. this comes at the "washington post" reports september is the highest month on record for border patrol arrestsover family member members. right now beto o'rourke is trailing republican senator ted cruz and with time running out that might explain why he's taking a more aggressive approach against the senator. >> republicans and democrat ace like know that we have to lead on immigration reform and yet ted cruz is the only senator to vote against moving forward with that conversation. he's vowed to deport every dreamer. he's selling paranoia and fear instead of solutions. >> dana bash joins me from mcallen, texas.

. senator ted cruz was invited multiple times to appear in this town hall but he's declined. texas a border state, immigration a big issue. there was controversy that after a debate the over night maybe the congressman didn't have the right answer. is that ad a makeup? >> it could. be and immigration is not just a big issue. it's the most important issue. this is a big reason why we came here to mcallen, it's about 10 miles from the u.s./mexico border and the issue is what are the differences. and there are a lot of differences. and the fact that beto o'rourke really does disagree with the republican challenger he is trying to unseat on a number of approaches with regard to immigration, especially the border wall. it is leaving voters with a real decision if they are going to

follow what they're telling pollsters and vote based on this controversial very divisive very hard issue. >> let's listen. this is the back-and-forth between congressman beto o'rourke, the democrat, republican incumbent senator ted cruz in a debate this week. >> no wall is going to solve legitimate security concerns. smart policy will. and let me describe one of those two you. senator john cornyn and i, though he's a republican and i'm a senate, he's the senate, time the house, worked on policy to invest in our ports of entry. that's where 90% of everyone and everything that ever comes into the united states first crosses. having a better idea of who and what comes into our country demonstrably makes us safer. >> everyone should notice his answer that he wanted to talk about trade and customs and everything except border security. >> is the abolish i.c.e. debate part of the campaign conversation in texas? >> not as much as you might

think. certainly as you're alluding to, a lot of democrats around the country are saying that i.c.e., immigration customs enforcement agency should be abolished. beto o'rourke doesn't go there but he does say there should be reforms to the agency. you also hit on something interesting that goes beyond the issue of immigration which is the tone and tenor of this debate. one of the reasons beto o'rourke has become a national figure and has gotten record-setting fund-raising hauls especially last quarter, $38 million from all over the country is because he presents himself as a different kind of politician, not just a different kinds of democrat. he's a progressive democrat, somebody who wants to address the issue of the cultural and political divide and it was noteworthy that he went at ted cruz in a big way calling him just as president trump did lying ted.

>> lying ted. we'll see the tone and tenor tonight in the town hall. you can watch the town hall with congressman beto o'rourke tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. take a look at that. thanks for joining us at inside politics. a quick thank you to joe ma ena eatman for his heart work on this program. he's got a great new job in new york. have a good afternoon. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 in washington. thanks very much for joining us. the white house folding under intense pressure announcing the treasury secretary steve mnuchin will not attend a major summit in saudi arabia following the apparent killing of saudi journalist and u.s. resident jamal khashoggi. >> mnuchin tweeting "just met with president trump and secretary pompeo and we have decided i will not be participating i