>> a lot different than how we've responded to mass shootings here in the united states. martin savidge, thank you for your report. thank you 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. the president is again ignoring advisers and putting personal grievances ahead of policy priorities. many see the tweets and the scathing sound bites and ask, why? the better question might be, why is anyone still shocked or surprised? plus, waiting on the mueller report. this is one reason the president is so anxious of late. special counsel said to be close to the finish line. but that doesn't mean you get to immediately see the key findings. one giant test of a chaampan is how the candidates grow or

change. colorado former governor john hickenlooper has a new way to look at democratic socialists. >> would you call yourself a proud capitalist? >> i don't know. again, the labels, i'm not sure any of them fit. >> give me a label. >> i am a capitalist. i started 20 businesses. >> back to that momentarily, but we begin this area with an agitated president who has spent days airing his grievances and drowning out his successes. he relishes a few with his top adviser and shares his anger for the mueller investigation. how sprawling investigations get his scorn. general motors in ohio. and one of our most loved veterans. >> john mccain had an extensive

dossier. i gave him a thank you. get that plant open or sell it to someone and they'll open it. i have fake news hounding me all the time. you better love me, i kept this place open. your union leaders aren't on my side, by the way. >> why? well, there are many theories and one known truth. this is how he prefers to conduct himself. he did it in 2016 when advisers told him he was out of bounds. he did it in 2018 when advisers told him it might help democrats overtake the house. and he's doing it in a 2020 run where advisers think it would be better to tweet about unemployment rather than the president be perceived as a whack job or lowlife. you're just back from ohio. that was interesting. >> it was a day. >> it was a day. look, we've all covered this from the beginning.

there are those who say, mr. president, 4% unemployment, talk about saving those jobs. he did, but what gets drowned out is john mccain and everything else. >> it was interesting, he was standing there right by the tank, and a lot of people might not be on the line on those shifts if not for president trump, his defense spending, his push to keep those army tanks rolling and to be sold not just to the army but other countries with which the u.s. has these relationships now. saudi, egypt, so on and so forth. the mccain moment, once he got going and ramped it up from where we were sitting in kind of a press part of the room, did not play well. people were not comfortable. the room was silent. the looks on their faces were stoic. he got them back in part by trashing the press, in part talking about his love for veterans, his concern for the va. but the idea -- the president wanted to drill down.

the idea that he wanted these people, many of them veterans themselves, to rethink their relationship with john mccain, he's telling them they should blame senator mccain both for deaths post-9/11, military deaths, presumably in afghanistan and iraq. it was an attempt to redefine senator mccain's legacy, and the people in the room were quite startled. >> his facts are off when he does this and his context is off when he does this. he understandably didn't like the health care vote by john mccain. john mccain left us seven months ago. the question is, to what end? does the president believe this actually helps him, or can the president not help himself? >> i think he can help himself. when he talks like this, his audience in the va know what the problems are in the va. they know it's not john mccain. so trump advisers and supporters

i've been talking to in the last few days with this mccain thing is, a, he doesn't have one strategy, many times multiple strategies. he's totally comfortable with the fact this is on the news. most of his base does not like john mccain, so he's fine with that. the ongoing fight with george conway, the report that got very little attention this week. if he's still talking about when it comes time to talk to a president again, i can't imagine this would be helpful to him. he may lose some of the military vote. his advisers told him to move on to something else, we'll see if he does so. clearly john mccain is in his head, which is remarkable. >> he does like dominating the news cycle to the point where i've heard people say they looked up at fox news and they'll have ilhan omar on there

or someone. you would think he likes that coverage but he complains about it. here's more of the president keeping up with the conways again and going after the special counsel. >> never figured that one out. man gets appointed by a deputy, he writes a report. you know better than anybody there is no collusion, but it's sort of an amazing thing when you have a great victory. someone does a report out of nowhere? tell me how that makes sense, who never got a vote. i call him mr. kellyanne. >>. >> again, his facts and his con trex vmt -- context are mixed u. >> he does.

his facts go back to the mccain stuff but he lets the public see that side of him more when he's playing defense, when he feels like he's under attack. obviously he knows the mueller report will come out any second, we're all waiting for it, so he's feeling like he needs to be on defense, he needs to attack and purcnch down more than usua. he is the same person, he's just showing that side of it. >> the response would be, yeah, the media is annoyed, he. anthony scaramucci saying, mr. president, now you're running for re-election, you should dial it back. >> a guy who would win an election on the rising economy, peace and prosperity and security, why take the millstone of all this negative nonsense and put it on your neck and

create a 70-foot wind against your face? people will say he's phenomenal on policy but he's a little kooky with this nonsense and they'll be weighing that. >> it's hard to understand that if ooufr studied proefld, but i pretty overall smart. mr. president, please, but he's not going to change. >> i think it's so jarring for us because we're not used auto r -- i think the independence and the people he lost in the last election is looking at this and saying, wait, you're spending all your time attacking john mccain. that's not going to work with

them at all, and i think he seems like he's under siege. this is a guy and he wants to air all these grievances, but i think for the base it's good. that's why when everyone thought john mccain said he likes his heroes to not have been captured, everyone was like, oh, that's it from mccain. no, because there were a lot of republicans who didn't like john mccain for his campaign finance reform. that's not going to work in an election. >> there was a little bit of intel yesterday when, in the president's comments, he said mccain had wanted to put him in jeopardy by turning the steel report over to the fbi. and i think if you're looking for -- if there is a tell, if this isn't just sort of normal instinctive stuff. we're talking about the mueller report, he's thinking, because

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we report, you decide. out of context or just out of step with the identity politics of the democratic base? today john hickenlooper under fire for how he answered this question at last night's cnn town hall. >> governor, some of your male competitors have vowed to put a woman on the ticket. yes or no, would you do the same?

>> again -- of course. well, i'll ask you another question -- >> you're not asking the questions. >> i know. i know. but how come we're not asking more often the women, would you be willing to put a man on the ticket? >> now, after the event, some explaining from the former governor of colorado. he told cnn, quote, too often -- and i'm not saying all media, but too often media discounts the chance of a woman winning. women i know feel that it's a form of discounting that they're less likely to win the nomination. that's what i'm talking about. people can take it out of context. again, he says his point was, why do we have to have this conversation? we should be past that. men and women should have equal chances. that's what he was trying to say, but that's not the world we live in, right? >> it's also not a difficult question to answer. it shouldn't require this much spinning and coming back and having another go at it. especially since he kind of had a misstep on another simple

question, which was, are you a capitalist, and he was not able to answer that as well. i think this is a series of missteps from hickenlooper that we've seen so far. >> these town halls are great opportunities for the lesser known candidates. a, to get some television, b, to get some social media. on this question he was asked, why aren't the women asked? here's elizabeth warren. she actually was asked. >> would you consider taking a man as your running mate? >> someone who is willing to be out there, that's what matters most. >> cory booker said, look, i would like to be the nominee, that would be the guy at the top of the ticket, but he's sure there will be a woman on the ticket. that means if he loses, he loses to a woman. >> we should be in gender

diversity, race diversity. if i'm elected as the nominee, i'm going to make sure there is gender diversity on the ticket. >> so there would be a woman vice president? you're a good politician, you zigzagged, you did not answer my question. >> i did answer your question. >> no. >> yes, there will be a female on the vice president ticket. >> i guess my question is, how much does this matter? there are a lot of politics in the democratic base. is this a real conversation that's going to impact votes? >> i've heard a lot of candidates ask them again and again. one, i think we should say it's super premature for anyone, for all the democratic candidates. we have no idea how this is going to play out. i can't recall being asked or discussing vp stuff this early. but i think it's a reflection of a couple things. one, it's just an after-effect of the hillary clinton loss in 2016. there are so many women voters

and others out there who saw that as a lost opportunity, a missed opportunity, that is in the atmosphere, the you too movement on top of that. i cannot imagine almost a male nominee selecting a female vp, but the fact they have to go through these gymnastics, i'm not sure they should answer yes right away. the most qualified for the job is a yes final answer. >> i want to go back to hickenlooper. to the point about the vice president. you've done your report and the "new york times" has additional reporting today. if joe biden gets in, his campaign knows they have to make a splash from the beginning. one of the things they've talked about is should the running mate announcement be made from the start? should he pick a running mate early? >> we know there are conversations among his advisers talking about if teshd pi-- thi

is not an academic exercise for what the democratic party should stand for on every issue. it was explained to me by one adviser saying that's what this may be presented as if he does it. but we do not expect this at any time in this moment. we're talking farther down the road. we do not know what the vice president himself thinks about this. i'm told he's involved in these discussions but it's classic tribunal to me. women at the top of the list from stacey abrams to kamala harris. one is running for president, another one is thinking about it. can't be too presumptious for the vice president. >> amy klobuchar is a fascinating new face in the democratic area. i have no idea she couldn't be

president. that doesn't mean she shouldn't get out and run. you saw them in the campaign and she had no -- >> i just thichk this will be a more difficult primary than we've ever seen before. you have them asking about this. it's not usual this early in a campaign. i think governor hickenlooper is finding out what the national media is like. ztz he h >> he had an exchange with "morning joe" about, are you a capitalist, and he wouldn't answer the question. he answered last night, i'm a capitalist. and he takes issue with the

democratic skbas. that should be our. there are over 150 million people that i can't imagine how we would pull them off of health care coverage that in most cases they like. >> i said, it's an honest position, it's his position. it's a risky one and it's private. >> but it's a policy position, and what he's having more trouble with -- or the political litmus test, the quicksand and the sand traps. there are a million traps in this democratic primary and it's barely started yet. it's a completely different line of demarcation. okay, i'm going to say it and i'm going to say it loud. whoever emerges from the primary

is going to have r every opportunity. hickenlooper doesn't have a poker face kbryet. every time he starts thinking three steps ahead. if i answer it this way, this. if i answer it that way, that. what do i do? up next, does the president know something we don't know about the mueller report? . ♪ book now and enjoy free unlimited open bar and more. norwegian cruise line. feel free.

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today a big question about the president's mood and what's driving it. political intuition? insider knowledge? spring has sprung, of course, and the mueller report still has not hatched. the president said he doesn't mind if mueller's work is made public. now there are democratic investigations getting requests from some in the inner circle. b but. a man gets a poind ppointed

deputy, he writes a report. i had one of the greatest electoral victories in our country, huge success, tens of millions of voters and now somebody is writing a report who never got a vote. let's see if the report is fair. >> you came because you wanted to connect the greatest electoral victory to deputy -- never mind. the anticipation has been that this is coming soon. you see all sorts of evidence in people looefrg teaving the spec counsel's office, the deputy saying they're busy this week. can we connect those dots or are we not sure? >> i think there are some dots we can connect. andrew weissen was the head of the task force in the early 2000s in the big fraud crackdown. he left that team before it was officially over but they indicted everyone important, the

chairman and ceo of enron. these are power players within the office that we're seeing leave, and i think those are fair dots to connect. some of them, it's not clear. asking for a postponement for a "washington post" request could be clear for a couple reasons. but these are dots we should be able to connect. >> you heard the president yesterday say, i don't care, release it. i don't think he believes that, but correct me if i'm wrong. if you get findings from robert mueller, you don't have to release anything. you might have to do that, what cues should ween taking from the president? >> he said he would be following guidelines. when the president said that publicly yesterday they should release it, i thought, hmm. i wonder if he's saying this

privately but you want to discredit, any other word for this investigation, and then to say i'm fine with it being a public week. we cannot fairly take the president's first words as the final word. i also have a hard time believing the new attorney general is going to risk his entire reputation, lifelong reputation, in doing something that is at odds with the guidelines in this town. but we will see. we do not know what they're saying privately, if anything. >> a recent renewed and escalating rage of mueller against the president raises my curiosity that throughout the investigation, the president had attorneys because they're getting asked for the documents, because they're being asked for the interview because they're asking for written questions. they always know more than we

know. does he know more than we know or does he just know the end is coming? i asked if his present anxiety is because he's being persecuted. >> the president is upset, he feels there is a grievance against him, he feels this dossier was totally unfair, and he feels there's been an unbalance in terms of what goes on in washington vis-a-vis him. i get all that, but don't attack dead people. it's just stupid. it's like there's no benefit to that. >> can't do anything but agree with the last part there. but to the mindset, we don't have any inside information that they know what's coming. people at the white house said they expect to at least get a briefing on it or know before us, but it fascinates me just because of the consistency. the president starts raging three days later, there is a big development in the newspaper that this recent return of it has me thinking, what does he know that we don't know? >> i think they probably know

something. you would obviously know this better than me, but it feels like that. when we find out later about things that go out of the white house and there's always a lot more going on than we know from the outside, particularly at the time, so there's probably some kind of communication. to the other point about whether to release it, the president reminds me -- we've seen this at a lot of senate confirmation hearings over the years, oh, i wish they could release all those documents, but of course the white house is holding onto them. if it was my decision, i would give them all to you. i think the president probably thinks he's playing it smart here, but he's not. because this increases the pressure on the justice department, and it's just going to make it hard for them when they're trying to do what the president really wants and sit on the report. everybody is going to say, well, the president wants it out, he wants it out. >> i heard what the president said yesterday and i didn't hear him promising at all to release anything. i heard him say, yeah, i want the public to see it.

let's see what it says. basically, let's see if it's fair enough to release. i think part of this for the president is, yes, he doesn't want it to bring the hammer down on him, but he also wants it to exonerate him. if this report does not exonerate him, if there is nothing in there they can release that says no collusion -- i'm paraphrasing but that's the gist of it -- we may hear that spin on it, anyway, but that's the cloud he wants off of him so he can say, once and for all, look, see, now this definitively says i didn't do anything weird. if it do that y gs. he wants it done. >> they political argument, a deputy named a guy who got no votes is writing a report.

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topping our political radar today, the kentucky governor matt blevin saying he exposed every one of his kids to chicken pox on purpose. this after a student was barred

from school for not being vaccinated. he said he won't because of his religious beliefs. >> every single one of my kids had the chicken pox. they got the chicken pox on purpose. they had it as children. they were miserable for a few days and they all turned out fine. this is america. the federal government should not be forcing this on people. they just shouldn't. >> the former ambassador saying, quote, health care costs are too high, but comparing us to finland is ridiculous. ask them how their health care is. you won't like their answer. her tweet compared to bernie sanders' tweet comparing health care between finland and the united states. delaney says larry hogan should challenge trump because he says the president is, quote,

an embarrassment to the american people. but delaney added he's confident he will be the democrat in the white house come 2021. the justice department has issued multiple subpoenas to boeing as it looks at deadly crashes of two of boeing 737 max 8's aircraft. this is a big development. >> it all seems to be centering around the boeing 737 max jet. prosecutors have issued multiple subpoenas to get answers from boeing about its process as well as training manuals and procedures it used for pilots. plus we know these subpoenas relate to the marketing of the 737 max jets which, as we know, came through with great urgency since boeing was racing against airbus to get their newest models on the market. in terms of the probe, it's still not clear what criminal

issues could be front and center, but we do know as part of the safety analysis for the aircraft, boeing actually presented its own certification procedures to the faa, something called self-certification. and it is completely legal, but it is possible that the statements made during that self-certification process, perhaps that could be under scrutiny. but really, john, overall this criminal investigation launch is an ominous step, because criminal probes into the aviation industry are rare, and instead these issues are typically handled at the administrative level, and that's happening, too. the inspector general is auditing the certification process, and of course, john, it's also in the criminal realm. back to you. >> it's a big deal. thank you for tracking it for us, jessica schneider. beto o'rourke traveling across new hampshire. >> we're going inside to eat some tacos and then we'll be

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the beto o'rourke blitz has this milestone today, stops in all 10 new hampshire counties on one very, very busy first visit to the leadoff primary state. the busy campaigning is getting attention to his many rivals as well as fundraiser success. to those rolling their eyes to politic specifics, he says he does have clear goals but he also wants to listen. >> i'm trying told a better job, as i hope you all will agree, in answering your questions, making sure your readers and viewers can hear my answers to the questions you pose. i'm trying to do my best, and i know the people of new hampshire are doing their best. they take this responsibility as the first primary state very seriously. and so many have said, i expect to see you back, i have more

questions for you. i look forward to answering those. >> mia malika henderson joins us on this taco thursday. mia, what are voters looking r for? >> reporter: they're looking to see them, to talk to them. beto o'rourke doesn't have all the policy talk that many in the field do, so you to see people pressing him for specifics. one woman asked him about housing. she was experiencing a problem with housing herself. one answer wasn't specific enough for her. she said, how? one woman asked about education reform, and you could hear a woman in the background essentially critiquing beto o'rourke's answer saying, he's not answering your question. but at the same time, you talk to voters saying it's still

early, they haven't made up their minds on any candidates, so they're willing to give beto o'rourke a chance to flush out his policy ideas and niinitiat s initiatives. at this point they're just willing to listen to what he's got to say. one woman i met in new york when she came to the oprah winfrey event where beto o'rourke was, she was here at this event as well, so he's got some superfans here following them around, but there are also people trying to make up their minds and just want to hear him out. >> one of your superfans was just waving over your shoulder while you were talking to us in the program, so it's not just beto o'rourke. >> great. >> it is interesting. the other candidates will mumble to us and share with us they don't think he has the policy chops. he has money, he has energy, he's pushing. he's a texas congressman. can you sell your record in texas as a national democratic

primary party when the party has gone more left? when you make a certain amount of money, you make less benefits. why would the government give money whether it's higher income or not. he says, no, i've learned a lot. >> what would you say to somebody who says he was for that in 2012, why wouldn't i be for that in 2021? >> yes. you asked the question, has my mind changed on that? absolutely. i think i've become a lot smarter from listening to the people i represented in congress and to others who understand this issue better than i do. >> it's a risk not just for him but for any candidate. we talked about joe biden and how joe biden today is not the same joe biden as 30 years ago. yeah, they learned. i've evolved based on information or i've just blown

with the wind. >> most people don't know anything about it except i think the early primary phase of money is important, but commanding attention is the most important thing. he has done that. is that enough? probably not. but as carl was saying earlier, all rules are out from previous races, so anyone who thinks they know what his end game is going to be, who knows? he can grow as a candidate. he has learned a lot. it's been seven days. seven days that he's been on the road. so we'll see how he learns. my question is, does he have time to sort of crash course as a candidate? is he getting briefings? is he interested in sort of answering the question of why he wants to be president. he was also asked that in new hampshire. meandering sort of a non-answer to that, but he also has a long way to go. i think in this introductory phase, he's learned a lot. let's see what he does with that as he answers and fills himself out here. again, seven days. >> the easy knock on him is

going to be you don't currently have a job and you lost your last race, being able to talk about what he learned when he was last in office might be helpful to him because he can turn back to a time when he did have a day job to go to, and it was an elected one for which he won an election. >> i think a lot of times it's also the reporters who press people on those issues rather than actual voters. you know, based on the reporting, we've seen a lot of voters have said they like his positive energy, which is something that's come up and something that's helped fuel his small dollar donation. >> he also gave joe biden some running room to relive votes of his past. if you have to combine a primary of people who were in it a long time and made votes that wouldn't pass the smell test anymore, and those who have been in it with no experience, being able to talk about things you've learned will be an interesting parameter through which to watch. >> the guy is going to be a

factor, let's just say that. there is something about him, to your point, that captures the public's imagination, and people are interested in what he says. i think that he is going to be around for a while. i think they said that about lirng lincoln, too, when he ran for president. you don't have a job and you lost your last race. it's true. >> just as we go to break, beto o'rourke is buying tacos today to contribute to the economy. o'rourke got a $50 parking ticket. he left it outside the courthouse when he went across the street to the tacoria. 50 bucks. okay, keep that economy going. new zealand is renewing gun control. some ask, why can't the u.s. do that?

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ensure max protein... to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. (straining) i'll take that. (cheers) 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. in two great flavors. some very important international news breaking from the white house on twitter, which is unusual in its own right. the president of the united states just tweeting, and here it is after 52 years, it is time for the united states to fully recognize israel's sovereignty over the golan heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the state of israel and regional stability. it is big of secretary of state mike pompeo to say americans are

quick to criticize the golan heights when they overtook the territory. he has elections on april 9 and there is a lot of questions about the investigations, and will netanyahu survive those elections? here's the president of the united states reversing years of u.s. policy and doing it on twitter. >> netanyahu has been trying to get the u.s. to do this for quite some time. he's been talking to pompeo to do this. netanyahu will be visiting next week, and this will be the centerpiece of that meeting next week. >> it is. let's just be right out about it. this is the president of the united states saying he's trying to help netanyahu in his election. >> this is the president putting his thumb on the scale. look, i traveled with john bolton to the region earlier

this year. the golan heights came up in some of their discussions. they were supposed to do a helicopter tour of the area. it got called because of weather. this is something they've been talking about for a while. there is no coincidence of timing at a time like this. there were questions about whether he could actually still come because of the trouble at home. there was questions of timing with apec. >> he believes he has more leverage in israel because of the syria war. still, for a president of the united states to unilaterally do this and to do it on twitter -- >> it shows you how this white house works so much different than other white houses. this would usually be a big, long deliberation in the white house, there would be all sorts of questions and debate. netanyahu said, boy, i could really use this. trump said, well, here it is, and it's that fast. >> i look for blowback not only here in the united states but in

other countries as well. thank you for joining us. brianna keilar starts right now. have a great afternoon. i'm brianna keilar live from cnn's washington headquarters. underway right now, a white house on edge preparing for the mueller report. find out what to look for when it's released. and the president taking his politicization of the military to a whole new level, saying the military is on his side as he insults a war hero. plus, would revealing a running mate on day one make a splash or box you in? and as the white house defies democrats and investigations of the president, see who is cooperating from the trump orbit. c> we begin with this just in