i'm wolf blitz ner the situation room. you can follow me on twitter and instagram @wolf blitzer. you can 2003 tweet the show @cnn sit room. have a great weekend. he erin burnett outfront starts right now. >> outfront next, breaking news, the president says he is not looking for war with iran but, warning, if there is it's opolite ration. plus a civil rights icon coming to the defense of joe biden and his comments about segregation senators. will that stop the attacks from his 2020 rivals? and profiting off the presidency, how president trump is reportedly getting taxpayers to give his properties a big financial boost. let's go outfront. and good evening, i'm erin burnett outfront on this friday. breaking news, obilliot ration. president trump tonight saying war with iran would end with obilliot ration for iran. but he doesn't want a war. even though he ordered a strike against iran only to brag about then calling it off, this is the

core of it. his explanations as to why he did this strike and when he did it or didn't do it, don't add up. so let's start with the when. because this depends on which trump you believed. here is how president trump recounted the situation about the strike in an interview this afternoon. >> you never gave a final order. >> no, no, but we had something ready to go subject to my approval. and they came in about a hoff hour before said sir we're about ready to go. >> i want. >> planes in the air. >> we're about ready to go. >> no but they would have been pretty soon. and things would have happened to a point where you wouldn't turn back oh or current turn back. >> okay with that is after a tweet this morning where the president quote we were cocked and loaded to retaliate last night on three different sites ten minutes before the strike i stopped it. well time really matters here when you talk about killing people. half an hour before, no planes

in the air or 10 minutes before, cocked and loaded. take your pick. so then the president called the whole thing off. why did he do that? >> they came and said, sir we're ready to go we'd like a decision. i want to know something before you go. how many people will be killed? and in this case iranians. i said how many people are going to be killed? sir i'd like to get back to you on that. great people these generals. they said, came back said, sir, approximately 150. and i thought about it for a second. i know, you had you said they shot down an unmanned drone, plane, whatever you want to call it. and here we are sitting with 150 dead people. >> so the united states was about to strike iran killing about 150 people which could start a war. and no one had told the president that people would be killed until he asked? >> or what about the fact that when he did ask he didn't ask until the minutes before the

strike according to his time line? frankly this is all really dumb founding and disturbing. it seems it conbe true. and it all now begs the question of why the president made the decision without asking questions in the first place. a senior administration official tells cnn that the president's national security advisers and the leaders of the department of defense were unanimous inially in favor of the strike which would kill 150 people including national security advisers john bolton vice president mike pence, secretary mike pompeo on all board. everyone around trump on this was okay with it. so then why did the president ultimately go against them all? well, the official tells cnn that president trump was being urged by outside advisers not to carry out the strikes. outside advisers like who? we don't know who they are or why he would share it with them, people not in the chain of command or in his defense circle incredibly krafd information about a military strike on iran? here is one thing we do nop at least one person outside the white house that the president likes listening to these days

vocal against a strike was fox news host tucker carlson. we know the. listens to carlos and watches his show in part because he rrnsed him twice on twitter this week. last niem tuck are carlson talked about strikes of iran before the president made the decision and here is what tucker said. >> the very people -- in some cases literally the same people lured us in the iraq quagmire are demanding a new one o war this one with inner. the president to his credit appears to be skeptical of this, very skeptical. >> so was it him? katlyn colin is outfront you have new reporting about how the presidents feels about the decision. he didn't for a feel it was proergs knit to kill 150 in exchange for killing nun no one. >> we are told the president feels confident about his decision. watching the coverage play out today. getting praise from people usually critics and so the president is telling people he

feels like he followed instincts here and made the right division row decision. that comes as cnn reporting showed virtue equalually all the national security advisers were in favor of action against iran, some kind of strike that varied to some degree pb including mike pompeo and the national security advisers john bolton. but today as the president explained his decision to call off the strike at what he said was the last minute, the president said that there were sanctions in place on iran which the energies is imposed previously but he said that they added more sanctions last night. but erin that's just not the case. the treasury department has not announced any new sanctions against iran today. we did know that the treasury secretary steven mnuchin was down in florida today giving a speech and said if iran does continue its activity that they say is going on with money laundering or financing terrorist organizations that they will impose the additional countermeasures though he didn't detail those. but right now there are no new

sanctions on iran. now we reached out to the whitehouse and asks what the president referenced. what about the imclaim? they have not gotten back to us. a administration told my colleague that they are considering additional sanctions but still none put in place yet. >> thank you very much katlyn. i want to get more on that. let's go outfront to the chairman of the armed services committee. dmat smith, who of course not only has a chairmanship but attended the meeting at the white house on iran last night. let me start with you chairman with the strike itself. do you applaud the president for going against his advisers and going with kwhafr outside adviser or advisers it was and ultimately calling off the strike? >> i think it was the right decision not to do this strike. i think it would have had a very unpredictable consequence and could easily have escalated into a severe armed clchkt with iran. don't forget we have a lot of u.s. military personnel in that region who would be vulnerable to a response from iran. i think it was the right decision. i'm not sure about the process

leading up to that decision or the way the president chose to explain it. but, yes, i think showing restraint in this situation was the right thing to do. >> so let me ask you though about how this went down. as you say the time line and how it played out is actually really important here. you were at the white house briefing on iran yesterday. so you were there. were you aware that a strike where people would die, 150 odd people would die was imminent on the table? >> that was not said. but, yes we all few that was on the table. at the briefing they basically first of all wanted to show us the intelligence, showing us they had clear evidence that iran was responsible for this. and then they wanted to sort of discuss what they were thinking in terms of possible options. now they were very hesitant about naming specific options. but gosh i don't know 12, 15 members of congress from the house and senate and all asked what are the option sns and they gave us the range of the options. it was obvious from the conversation that this was one of them. they did not give us an

indication that they had decided at that point on what option they were going to koos zpla all right. so at that time what was the -- did you feel there was anything like -- you knew there was an option of killing scores of people, 150b people i guess in the case as the president said. do you think that that would have been proportional? i mean the president was explicit. 150 people. unmanned drone. >> yeah appear i agree with it. it was obvious the white house -- the president was genuinely conflicted. he does not want to give iran a blank check to strike assets in this way. on the other hand he is mindful of the fact that any response we have could escalate the situation. now sitting around him wsh the national security advisers john bolton secretary pompeo, vice president pence they were more willing to take that risk. but in the big problem with that is i don't think any of them know where does it lead? you say you don't want regime

change in iran. okay. well what do you want? and what do you think is going to happen if you strike iran? what is your plan for dealing with it? the bottom line coming out of the meeting and many other conversations they don't have a plan. >> they don't have a plan. >> that's troubling. >> what i'm trying to understand, you talk about the possibility of something happening that could cause a serious armed conflict, a war, you want to know that people are doing things in an in a specific way. you want to know there is a process and procedure. the president says that within ten minutes or half an hour of the strikes happening depending on which trump you believe. they said we are ready to go we'd like a decision. he says i want to know something. how many people are going to be killed? and so they said we'll get back to you and get back to you about 150. this is ten minutes or 30 minutes before a strike. you're telling me hours before you were aware that iranians would be killed when you look at the range of options. do you think he literally was not paying attention before in. >> i don't know. and keep in mind they've had

months to contemplate in. because the maximum pressure campaign that they've put on iran, the sanctions, pulling out of the jcpoa putting the irgc on the terrorism list i talked to a lot of intel people on the lead up. they could have predicted how the iran would have responded and the way they have responded. as they dmemted this plan they had chonts could contemplate we're doing this it's reasonable to assume this is what iran does. what comes next? that's the part they didn't think about. i think this is sort of evidence of a failing within the national security councils. john bolton kind of wants to run things on his own. he doesn't have the regular conversations with the nsc and pentagon that they should so the president can hear here is what we think appears happens here here are the ongss. it's not a literal last minute decision. >> which again all we have is his time line and it appears it's that way. which is deeply unsettling for people no matter whether you think he should have struck or

not struck. the point is the way it went down smub deeply unsettling. the president tweeted sanctions are by the wayingen and more added last night you heard the reporting there were no sanctions added. are you aware of new sanctions about to go in place additional one sns was that discussed in the meeting? >> dwas not. well actually it was. the president said to us what he said publicly. but you're right, there is no evidence of that. i do want to say it is not bow side the point whether or not he struck. it does matter and give and choice between him having gone ahead and done it and deciding at the last minute not to do it i would prefer the latter. you're right the process is troubling. this is part of the way the president negotiates. and basically what's the right word he doesn't tell the truth when he negotiates. he says what he thinks is most useful in that moment. i guess i understand that's a negotiating strategy. but the truth comes out fairly quickly. and kin of undermines that argument. and to say that well here is what we did we put on sanctions when we didn't, again, that

undermines -- keep in mind one other big point here, we need allies and friends. okay to confront iran effectively the more people with us the better. and if they're looking at this and trying to figure out what are you guying should we be with you or not? it's undermining their confidence in being with us because we don't appear to know what we're doing and don't appear to be krer on it. >> you think very much chairman, i appreciate your time. >> thanks for the chance. >> and next the president claims he called off the strike after learning 150 people could die. does that excuse that out in a frrm general who has been in the decision making rooms, in the situations is outfront. and you won't believe where trump want toed holds the next world economic summits then maybe he will. plus pete buttigieg pressed to answer why he believes black lives matter after a recent police shooting?

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bracing news, president trump with a new message for iran. >> i'm not looking for war. and if there is it will be obilliot ration like you have never seen before. but i'm not looking to do that. >> and as you just heard our katlyn collins is reporting that the president is very pleased and very confident with the zilgts he made not to kill 150 iranians in a counterstrike. outfront now general mark hurt aaron ryan correspondent more american radio marcs and former air force cornell.

leyton. general you served apprehend the world and in the middle east. you know how the process works. is it possible the president of the united states did not know he was about to kill 150 people until he asked ten or 30 minutes, which have i have is the case, before a strike that could start a war in. >> i won't say whether it's possible or impossible, erin. but if it happened it's bizarre and i'm skeptical. the military decision making process is what we call it, measures different analysis, providing information on collateral damage, circular area of probability of hit, identifies the type of weapon systems used and what's going to be struck and how it's going to be struck. part of the rewards risk restraint scenario that you have is here what we're trying to do here is the end state. this is what we are using to do it. the risk to personnel in the area are the ones delivering the weapons is considered. opinion and you have restraints

if it's striking a building next to a hospital where there is a lot of civilians around you look at the proportionality. all of those things are part of an on russ process that every occurs every time you a launch a strike package. for the president to say he wasn't briefed on that goes beyond the pale in terms how i've seen it done before, how i experience in terms of this kind of package and doesn't make sense to me. >> colonel leyton. >> i agree with general hertling, you lock at the processes used for conventional strikes and special operation strikes, these are the kinds of things that go in there. you want to know what weapons you are going to be using. you want to know the possibility of collateral damage, in other words deaths of civilians. you want to know what is going to happen to any of the structures that are around that area. and to make sure that you don't violate the are yous of war. that's what it boils down to. >> april, you know you cover the white house.

do you have any idea who the outside advisers were in because we know the -- the internal advisers, you know, the important ones on national security were allied and in alignment right and o on going ahead with outside advisers said don't. do you know who they were who said no, hold back, don't do this? >> you know, erin itch reached out to several people. white house insiders standing firm saying the decision made the decision on his own without going to anyone else. it's a sobering moment not only for a president to have to possibly pull a strike on another country but particularly iran, but it's a sobering moment for a president who does not understand the gravity of this, who doesn't seem to understand the intelligence. and, again, from my insiders they are saying that the president made in decision himself. they are putting the onus on the president, not on outside advisers.

>> which of course obviously goes against some of the at least our reporting out there. we'll see. >> we'll see what happens as it comes out. i don't know. it's hard to tell we know things don't add up. colonel one gop source tells cnn it was a mistake that president trump chose not to retaliate. here is one of them, congresswoman liz cheney. >> the failure to respond to in kind of direct provocation that we have seen from the iranians in particular over the last several weeks could in fact be a very serious mistake. >> congresswoman adam kinzinger who also serve who asked by cnn does the president risk looking weak. >> he applied i think there is a risk, yeah. what do you say colonel, what other options what other options does the president have after pulling back on the military strike after and telling the world. >> the problem he had was telling the world about it. he could have had a brilliant

tactical move if he had gone with the course of action he chose and basically warned the iranians that if this happens again if you the shoot down another global hawk or do anything like that again we will actually strike you. this is your warning. if he had done that it would be a completely different issue. but given the fact that he he has revealed so much of his planning of his thinking, that really limits the option of surprise and his options diplomatically as well. >> general, i want to ask you because -- i don't know if you heard chairman smith from armed services, he was saying, there yesterday with the president. he felt like the president was paying full attention. the chairman said he was aware of the options on the table, one of which included killing people and killing people in the amount that we're talking about here in this strike. but he corely knew that houclea hours before. getting back to the point, do you think it's possible the president isn't telling the truth when he says he didn't know 150 people would die until a few minutes before when he

explicitry asked. >> i wasn't in the room, erin but, no i don't think he was telling the trueing. it's beyond the pale again he would say something like that. in fact he is attempting to put the blame on the military and showing himself as the hero in this particular scenario. he is saying the military didn't tell him. i guarantee the military told him as part of the briefing, because they react to the request for the type of strike. they give the president the options that he wants and gives him the pros and cons of what the options are to include collateral damage. so by him saying, gee, nobody told me and i was the one that called it out, i just got to throw the b.s. tlag on that it doesn't make sense because it's not the way it's done. >> april? >> what i go back to at the beginning of the administration, and how this president could not handle taking those briefing books that were size the books to read them every day. he needed bullet points. again we don't know who is telling the truth.

but unfortunately we understand that the president has a problem with -- with telling the truth. erin, this is such a serious situation, and the president is operating in a stance of weakness, not a stance of strength. he is talking too much on twitter instead of going to the american public from the oval office to talk about in or to have his press secretary, his outgoing press secretary talk to the american public. we can't trust the president as to what he says at a time as grave as this, a sobering moment that could also -- we're not out of the moment as of yet. >> thank you all very much. >> thank you. >> and next nearly every 2020 exactic hopeful at a key event in south carolina happening now. how is joe biden being received in light of his remarks about segregationists? and dozens of horses dead at a california racetrack. why? we investigate. ♪

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a key chance to woo voters that holds the first southern primaries. all eyes on joe biden still on defense for citing work with graciousist senators in 70s. defending biden the civil rights icon and democratic congressman squ john lieu sflies i don't think the remarks are offensive. >> lewis went on to say the civil rights movement required working with people omdsing the movement would engage in assault and even members of the ku klux klan. outfront now keith boykin a an aide in the clinton wlous and former governor of, ed rendle endorsed joe biden for president. keith starting with you. you strongly believe joe biden needs to apologize. he hasn't done so and lining people up to say why what he said is okay. congressman lewis saying that he is not offended. and see significant for you? >> not for me. i respect john lewis. he is a civil rights icon

legend. and he has contributed a great deal to the discourse. but his words are just one person's words. and there are a lot of people in the african-american community who are still concerned about what joe biden said. there may be a generationingle divide. maybe it's younger people as opposed to older people feeling that way. but they're still part of the democratic party base and joe biden mass a doubt to speak all the different people. you can't -- you can't just give the impression that you're more comfortable working with james eastland, a segregationist senator than you are working with a black senator named cory booker. that's not a good look for joe biden. he needs to do something about that. >> what do you say to that governor renle. >> joe biden never said that at all. we're at the congressman klei inner picnic. congressman clyburn said he would work with strom thurmond, the the most notorious of all segregationist on issues important to south carolina. so if it's good enough to jim clyburn, good enough for john

lewis, that should end this. let me tell you, erin if we democrats keep shooting at each other and if joe biden falls out and elizabeth with warren takes the lead and we attack elizabeth warren we are electing donald trump and democratic voters will be very ticked off as people attacking other democrats. >> you know, i don't agree with that, governor. i think the fact that it's good enough for john lewis and good enough for jim clyburn means it's good enough for john lewis and jim klei inner. doesn't mean it it is good enough for all african-americans. we're not a month lithic kpun. just because two older people subpoena say that it's all the the rest of us. it's offense every to say that two people crossdown the conversation for the entire black community. >> do you think this is a generational sthu. >> jim cli rn did more than say it's okay. he said he did the same thing. and the message is clear here. the american people by 70% want us to get things done. want us to talk to each other.

want us to talk to people who are political opponents. they're sick and tired of the grid lock in washington. and joe bidden is by far the best candidate to break that grid lock. >> part of the problem, governor with the exactic party, i'm a pastor party i worked in that clinton wlous and dynamicic candidates in the past but the let party has been too accommodating of white racist and people using whie racial resentment politics. and we haven't been cultivating the african-american people of the party. and women in the party. the majority of the population. and we indicator to white men 29% of the population. in particular white conservative men that's not a god look for party in 2019. >> i want to play for each much you -- what we happened earlier today. with the mayor pete buttigieg he was supposed to and i the fish fry. but he cancelled plans to return home for march related to the deadly shooting of a black man buy a white police officer in south bend. this is actually you're looking

at here is live but i want to play for you what happened moments ago an exchange with community members. >> when you say to us today in front of all the cameras that black lives matter. >> did you ask me if black lives matter. >> yes we want to hear you. >> of course black lives matter. >> then fire your -- >> of course are you a racist. >> what about a black live what matters about a black life to you, mayor pete? what matters about a black life to you? answer that question. >> -- >> keith, you sort of worked -- your is. >> i'm shocked i saw this the first time. that's in south bend. >> yes. >> you know, this is i think going back to the conversation i was having with governor rendle african-americans are not a month lithic community. there are a lot of black people fed up and tired of the democratic party not to mention

even the republican party but the democratic party speaking the right language did you are but not doing the right thing when it comes to going to the matt and fighting for african-americans. yes the democratic party is head and shoulders above the republican party no doubt about that. but in terms of being willing to fight for the issue that is black people are concerned about, black people want to see the party leaders, see the presidential candidates do something and lead on the issues not be followers. >> governor what do you make of that? i'll give you a chance to respond here to one more thing that happened with the exchange with mayor pete moments ago. here it is. >> i do not have evidence that there has been discipline for racist behavior in the case so far. >> and you running for president. >> but. >> you running for president and you -- you ask people to vote for you. >> but if they have. >> you running for president you want black people to vote for

you. that's a do you feel. that's not going to happen. >> i'm not asking for your vote. >> you ain't going to get it either. zbloots governor, what do you make of this? i mean this is -- >> i guess it's generational at all as keith said. >> this anger. >> so it's clearly not a generational problem. look, the answer is african-americans like all americans have the right to respect that political parties will do things to benefit them and to deal with their problems. and i will tell you there is no person in american life who has a better record over the last 40 years of dealing with civil rights issues of dealing with justice issues, than joe bidden has. joe biden has done more to combat racism and has done more to create opportunity for african-americans than anybody else. the aca, the affordable care act, did more more for african-americans than any piece of legislation in the last 20 years. joe biden helped pass the aca judging by record not words.

>> i will leave it there and obviously much to discuss there era there. i'll have you both back. thank you. next how taxpayer money is reportedly helping one of trump's struggling processor and outfront investigation tonight, what's behind the mysterious death of dozens of race horses at one of america's most popular race tracks? (paul) great. another wireless ad. so many of them are full of this complicated, tricky language about their network and offers and blah blah blah. look. sprint's going to do things differently. and let you decide for yourself. they're offering a new 100% total satisfaction guarantee.

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leaders at a trump property. the "washington post" reporting trump wants g 7 world leaders and entourages to possibly convene at trump's doral golf club in florida. that detail part of a new report that looks at how much money truch's properties made off of his visit there. the president spends so many days at his own properties. outfront now josh doddi one of the reporters breaking the story. i appreciate your time, josh. let's start with doral. it's a resort that has been struggling as you report, has had plenty of trouble since the president took over. but it seems to be that the president thinks he can, you know, use his situation now to turn that around? >> well the president was there this weekend, erin for a high-dollar fund raiser with a supposedly raised $6 million petition did a lufrm, talked to a top ceos executives in florida. and the president floated also having the g 7 at doral in 020 when the united states can host it. it's one of his favorite

properties. but as you said it had has had financial difficulties of late. some of it maybe abe tributed to the presidency being polarizing. other parts it's a bit unclear. but the president certainly loves this property and wants to be there. and wants others there. >> and obviously the others spend money and maybe that turns things around. >> correct. >> you report about how rampant this behavior is, josh. i think it's important to highlight from your reporting, taxpayers are paying for this. you write a o about a visit to mar-a-lago in era moormg in 2017 the after trump took office in four days the federal government spend $30,000 on rooms in your reportle you saw e-mails one official emails michael dops dobbs with a trachl coordinate with the state department. tune what they charged for each room. dops plies in 56 dollarsible it was 30% of the lodging per dee imthat's an merrell. mean action tais pairs paid four times the federally allowed amount to trump's hotel. >> when the president goes

there. there is an entourage there with him. someone from the chief of staff office national security advisers office. the secret service personnel be, what we found in that visit and dozens since, is that the white house officials government officials use the mar-a-lago bar, spent more than $1,000 on alcohol. they also stayed in the property's best suites. in a matter of four days racked up a tab as you stated. the bar tab itself was about $1,000. one of the nights spent for more than 50 shots of alcohol. there is a lot of copious spending going on at his properties. >> copious spending and uting the sclams point and in cases paid for by the american people. >> correct, correct taxpayers, yes. >> all right. thank you very much. i appreciate it, josh. >> thank you. and outfront next, why are dozens of horses dying at a legendary american racetrack? wow! that's ensure max protein, with high protein and 1 gram sugar. it's a sit-up, banana! bend at the waist!

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>> trainers, right now under investigation at santa anita. are some of them to bram for the 29 horses that died this season at the fabled california track? a spike that put horse racing under the national spotlight increasing calls for this sport to be banned. >> horses have emotions. >> investigators also looking at whether heavy winner rain was a factor was the track at tault. >> they kept seeming the track. but unfortunately eefr time you seal itle the pad gets harder. >> stephen friedman represents the owner. >> it's not just the track there are some medication. >> were some trainers overkmed indicating horses. >> for every hundred days there is one or two not paying attention to do something

flakey. people just like pushing, especially owners. they don't want to pay for them sitting at a farm and not making money. >> 25 trapers lost horses this santa anita system, big names like jim cassidy. >> what happened. >> we haven't figured it out yet. >> hall of fame jerry who willen hover is the only trainer who lost three at santa anita since december and another two at golden gate fields near san francisco since november. >> we've been looking at every trainer record. >> have you been looking at his record? >> yes. >> and what are you finding. >> well, 80s it's an ongoing process. we have gotten information about what he has done. and his violations and so we're considering whether he will be -- ever trainwreck we're considered whether they will be welled back. >> the the california board is leading the probe but won't release information to us until done. a probe by the los angeles d.a.

also under way they say to determine whether unlawful conduct or conditions affected the welfare appear safety of horses. not everybody is on the same page. >> well, unfortunately we all get painted with the same brush. and that hurts us. and the -- but i think they're -- they're getth tougher >> meantime scott herbstson professional gambler race horse owner is speaking out. >> i think it's a few bad apples making us look bad. you got guys pushing horses beyond their limits. and causing these catastrophic accidents. >> this is not just a 2019 issue. 29 dead over this year. according to the chrb 37 died at santa anita last year. 54 the years before. and it's not just a santa anita issue. it's nationwide, systemic. >> our incidents of fatal injury is higher than most of the other countries we studied. in some cases as much as five times. >> joining club stats suggest

ten race horses die in the u.s. every week. anti-racing active it claims the real figure is higher. >> we have documented over 5,000 confirmed kills on u.s. tracks just since 2014. we estimate that over 2,000 horses are killed racing or training across america every year. >> cnn has not independently verified the figures. >> i hope to think that even with some of the breakdowns be, the guys feel like the horse can run one more time and take too many risks. >> of three horses jerry who willen dover has bought in the eight months two of them are now dead, including cocheese. >> right about hear yar know feels them going wrong and bring him out safe. >> who willen dover bought the 8-year-old horse after a claiming race back in november. to enter, you put a provides on your horse and anyone can buy it. or claim it. >> when jerry who willen dov era claims a horse. >> you just cringe.

you hope for the best. >> cocheese was dead in a little over six months. >> he knows his name. >> want a carrot. >> he starts swaying his head. a sweetheart horse. >> after cocheese died he told the associated press we thought he would run well and win. in my mind there is no doubt there is no doubt that we've done every single thing properly and all the rest of our horses too. we don't yet know how his three horses died at santa anita. we training a horse with a fractured leg. and trying to enter him in a

race there. pender said he couldn't talk to us until after the investigation. >> you've seen trainers training horses that are clearly unfit. >> all the time. >> the jockeys are concerned. i'm riding for a big guy, i don't want to scratch the horse if he doesn't feel 100% because the guy will fire me or get mad at me. we've explained to the riders, look, you blame it on the veterinarians. you say hey, the vet said no. >> there's a lot of money involved. there's a lot of different actors involved. frankly, the regulations are not good enough. >> and then there's the issue of medication. the jockey club states improper drug use can directly lead to horse injuries and deaths. >> stopping the potential masking of injuries, that is how you are going to reduce these numbers. >> according to the doctor at uc davis, more than 85% of horses that die on a track have a previous injury. which led to their death which might have been masked by med.

>> often times people will say i just gave it to help the horse. he felt better with it. and yes, the horse did feel better with it, but in some cases the horse felt better than he actually was and that put that horse at risk of injury. >> there are now cameras in every barn at santa anita and right now a trainer under investigation after an assistant was filmed allegedly doping horses at the end of march. we tried to speak to him after a hearing. he went to the men's room. he denies the charge. he has been sanctioned for overmedicated and doping issues 19 times since 2006. we couldn't find any evidence of successful appeals. >> that doesn't surprise me. >> why? not? >> because jerry is tunnel vision. he does what he wants to do and that's it. you don't like it, it's too bad.

>> total fines for those events in california, only $16,950. and it never suspended. bob baffort is one of the most famous in racing. five time kentucky derby winner. santa anita is his home track. >> people don't understand jerry felt really bad when he lost those horses. felt really bad. he's a hall of fame trainer. he's a really good trainer. he does take really good care of his horses. but he runs lower quality, you know, those claiming races, sometimes they can be, you know, it's tough. >> we certainly are pretty sad when they get hurt, he told the ap. the owners of santa anita and california authorities say they are reducing the use of riding crops, prohibited most meds in the 48 hours before a race or training, carrying out deeper pre-race and now even pre-training vet checks, bringing in a pet scanner, and cracking down. but issues remain across

america. among them racing in the u.s. is governed by 38 independent jurisdictions. >> you go to a different state, you don't know what the rules are. >> jockey club now championing a congressional bill that would create a national anti-doping body to reduce the number of horses dying on america's tracks. >> we think that we're at a tipping point. this is america's legacy sport, but it has to look inside and make some substantial changes. >> scott believes strong pre-race exams will weed out the bad apples. >> are you worried what people are going to say when they know that you've spoken to us? >> i'm sure i'm going to get backlash probably from all sides, but i can't sit silently and watch this happen. it's too sick. >> now, they did close the track back in march while they were trying to figure out what is going on here. there are were calls in the past couple weeks for them to close it again from senator feinstein, from the governor of california,

from california horse racing officials. the owners of the track have refused. they say we have introduced sweeping ground breaking changes. if we continue racing, we will prove that those reforms are working. this is the last weekend of the santa anita season, so erin, fingers crossed. >> thank you so much, nick. and we'll be right back. maria ramirez! mom! maria! maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars in tuition assistance, education, and career advising programs... prof: maria ramirez mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! to help more employees achieve their dreams. mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! yesss, i'm doing it all. the water. the exercise.

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. thank for joining us on this friday night. don't forget you can watch out front anytime. go to cnn go. anderson starts right now. the president first said you will soon find out about military action against iran. then he took no action against iran. now new remarks tonight. he is threatening if it comes to war, quote, o bl-- that is the breaking news. in the wake of president trump's decision to abort a strike on iran just minutes before it was set to begin, and it is not the only breaking news. also tonight a new and very serious allegation against the president. a woman coming forward accusing the president of the united states in terrifying detail of sexually assaulting her. we begin with iran. cnn's abby phillip joins us now

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