welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. president trump's re-election strategy is in overdrive today. his plan to force a citizenship question on the 2020 census. before that a so-called white house social media summit whose guest list includes far-right conspiracy theorists and smear artists. plus flip, flop, flip. amy mcgrath was against brett kavanaugh's supreme court nomination, then for it, now against it again. a very rough start for the kentucky democrat. party leaders here in washington say is the best challenger for majority leader mitch mccaonnec. alexandria ocasio-cortez says speaker pelosi is disrespecting the new liberal women of color in the democratic house. just moments ago the speaker defended her leadership, but chose not to respond directly. >> i said what i'm going to say in the caucus, but i'm not going

to be discussing it any further. with all due respect maybe you didn't hear what i said. i said what i'm going to say on the subject in the caucus yesterday, got an overwhelming response and that's all i'm going to say on the subject. if you want to waste your question, you can waste your question. >> we begin there, the very opposite of puppies and rainbows. house speaker nancy pelosi reckoning today with a growing rift within her own party after she gave a big speech, a private speech to her caucus on wednesday pleading for unity. it seems that rallying cry has ba backfired at least slightly. alexandria ocasio-cortez, ayannay pressley, ilhan omar andra she hadda talib called her demoralizing and perhaps being racist by singling them out. this morning speaker pelosi says she respects every member of her congress but she said she's done

talking about it in public. >> i said what i'm going to say in the caucus. they took offense because i addressed at the request of my members an offensive tweet that came out of one of the member's offices that referenced our new dems essentially as segregationists. our members took offense at that. i addressed that. how they are interpreting and carrying it to another place is up to them, but i'm not going to be discussing it any further. >> elsewhere on capitol hill, at least one member of that so-called squad not done talking about it. >> i have to represent my district. i'm not giving this any more oxygen. >> knowing the media environment that we're operating in, knowing the amount of death threats that we get, knowing the amount of concentration tension, i think it's just worth asking why. >> do you think she has racial animus? >> no, no, absolutely not. absolutely not.

>> cnn's sunlan is here. what else are you hearing about the rumblings and grumblings in the caucus? >> reporter: i really could feel, john, in that room some frustration by the speaker. the fact that this is essentially the elephant in the room among democrats today and has been for quite some time. you could sense that speaker pelosi today did not want to breathe any more oxygen into this, did not want to give it any more air time. she has been frustrated that the democrats' dirty laundry has been aired out in public so she wants to squash all of these stories about the infighting. of course myself and other reporters are pressing her on this today, pressing her on the dissatisfaction of many of the house progressives, those freshmen women, who have been very vocal in recent days, you

know, really critical of speaker pelosi. today she said she didn't want to talk about it much, but she did give us a few things. she said we, of course, respect the values of each member. specifically on this i find this striking. diversity is our strength, unity is our power. i thought that was something of a veiled response to some of the criticism that came out in a recent "washington post" interview of alexandria ocasio-cortez when she said that sheechlt that speak she felt that speaker pelosi was isolating and singling out freshmen women of color. speaker pelosi trying to diffuse the situation but we've been talking about in recent weeks and months seen this rift and this feud simmering beneath the surface for months. clear to say it has boiled over completely up here on capitol hill this week. john. >> as one of our deputies put it yesterday, it's all rainbows and puppies. no, it's not. appreciate the live reporting from the hill. with me, kaitlin collins, carl

hulse, sahil kapur and rachel post. rachel, when these comments first started, i kind of thought she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm's distance in order to protect more moderate members. but the persistent singling out, it got to a point where it was disrespectful, the persistent singling out of newly elected women of color. you just heard her saying, no, no, no, she doesn't think there's any racist element to this. why say it that way? >> i think there's some frustration. before pelosi came in this week and tried to tell the whole caucus stop fighting, stop tweeting at each other, she made this comment to "the washington post" where she dismissed the squad as having no power in congress. obviously they have a huge twitter following and liberal activists love them and invite them to hundreds of events. but in congress, their power,

they have struggled. this is not the first time pelosi took this back haenhande at them. i think that was just a tipping point for aoc and the group. i just went up to the hill and caught them one on one and tried to talk about their relationship with pelosi and what is going on. the thing i kept hearing is she's not only disenfranchising us and minimizing our voices, but the people who we represent and brought to the table, women of color, minority groups, and that's what they're sick of. >> what do you make of this, carl? you've covered this a long time. she was a liberal from san francisco. there were liberals in the house caucus but women didn't get much respect in those days. >> she would say she was more of a team player when she was starting out and had run the democratic party in california. i think there's a lot going on here. i think that for them to imply some racist or racial context with the speaker is very dangerous for them.

i think the other members of the democratic caucus will backlash to that, calling nancy pelosi, suggesting she has some racial motive. i think that, you know, for the democrats who are sitting there and seeing attacks on blue dogs as segregationists or somehow also being racist, i mean this is a big problem in the party. i'm not surprised that the speaker tried to cut it off today. they have got a lot of things to do and they need to get going. one thing to rachael's point, this happens. people who are new to congress get a big celebrity following and they're important on the outside but they're not important on the inside. these members marginalize themselves even further by voting against their own party's own bill, so they took themselves out of the legislative discussion. that's how it works in congress. you know, they have to be able to use that celebrity status constructively. right now it doesn't seem to be going that way. >> right now there's the four of them. that's what pelosi is saying and

it sounds very dismissive to them. they think they're important, they think they're new members, they think they have new ideas and the party needs a kick in the you know what. they think they're important and she says you're four. you're four. >> she can counting. >> until you get more, you don't matter. you have to come in and say i can block your bill, then i will listen to you. it's great internet theater. it's great personal drama. does it matter, to carl's point, about the big things they have to do. the defense department funding. they're trying to raise the minimum wage to $15. an election security bill, budget deal, debt ceiling increases. speaker pelosi talked to lindsey graham in the senate and there was a possibility of some bipartisan efforts on immigrati immigration. does it matter when we has only four voices on social media, on cable television, are they a nuisance or a problem?

>> i think speaker pelosi is channeling the frustration that they have towards this squad. the fact that they have the megaphone and the ability to set the agenda but pelosi knows they're not a threat to her legislatively. but i think as we saw today, she recognizes that it was probably a mistake to get into a back-and-forth with them. they have the activism and energy of the party on their side. they have the desire for generational change there. they're not a threat on the vote card. why get into a back and forth when it just channels frustrations and irritations. >> but it also generates headlines, mostly in conservative websites, that suggest the democrats are in disarray. "newsweek," nancy pelosi against the squad. breitbart, alexandria ocasio-cortez calls pelosi racist. fox news, aoc ups ante in feud in pelosi, suggests speaker is sing lig out newly elected women of color. it does provide a punching bag especially in the conservative

outlets. >> and this is what the white house and republicans want to see. this is what they want to see play out in the presidential primary. they have some members far to the left and they don't want that to affect people like joe biden, someone who's more moderate who they fear could beat the president. but i think going back to all this legislation they have to pass, that's why nancy pelosi is looking at it like this. just the bill last week, some of these four members were negotiating to get changes and then voted against it. that is not something you can do in the eyes of nancy pelosi and still be on her good side. i think you'll see republicans in the white house happy to exploit this division. >> i think if it blows up, it gets more dangerous. if you watch it right now, the republican strategy has been nancy pelosi is this wide-eyed liberal from san francisco. so nancy pelosi standing up to liberals i think nancy pelosi thinks helps her, that she's trying to be more pragmatic and manage the caucus. you were about to jump in, as you do. this is another member of the squad, ilhan omar. our job isn't to make sure we have our colleagues voting a certain way.

and i hope that leadership understands their role and understands what our role is. what is she trying to say there, that we want to be disruptive, we want to be insurgencies and it's nancy pelosi's to count votes and we'll do what we think is right? >> i think that the squad is struggling to figure out what kind of group do they want to be. do they want to be another freedom caucus where they try to whip votes against the leadership bill and tank a democratic bill to show muscle and actually influence change? it seems like they are really hesitating on that. they haven't even tried. and so her saying we're not trying to convince members to vote a certain way, i think that just speaks to how much, you know, inside the capitol pelosi really is still queen here. she doesn't have a group who's trying to do that, at least not these four. at the same time, i will say all these policy issues you just laid out, whether defense authorization, immigration, there are progressives who are irritating right now and who are agitating and who want changes and want bills to be more democratic. but interestingly enough, the ones that actually have

influence with the rones who ar closest with pelosi, not the squad. so there's an interesting dynamic behind the scenes. >> the ones who try to work the inside game, which is what pelosi wants, not the outside twitter whatever, as she likes to call it. up next, what the president's agenda and his morning tells us about his focus. [alarm beeping] {tires screeching} {truck honking} (avo) life doesn't give you many second chances. but a subaru can. (dad) you guys ok? you alright? wow. (avo) eyesight with pre-collision braking. standard on the subaru ascent. presenting the three-row subaru ascent. love is now bigger than ever.

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white house in very big ways. this morning the president teased a rose garden press conference this afternoon. he says on the census and the citizenship question, his administration wants to put on the 2020 census. that will come minutes after a white house social media summit with a roster after tendies that doesn't include social media companies. it includes conspiracy theorists who shape the universe to conform to the president's maga narrative. a familiar mix of bragging, themes, painting as fake any fact he doesn't like. he's going to come in and say we're putting the citizenship question on the census. that's going back into the courts, but it's an immigration focus there. we're told that these promised i.c.e. raids to throw out people who have gone to court, been told they have to lee tave the country and are staying here, this is rose garden strategy

meets trump. use your platform and advance your campaign themes. >> i think it's an 80% chance of rain so i'm not sure they'll be in the rose garden, but you have to picture what the president is going to have to just done, sat through, met with and talked with before he comes out to make this announcement about the census, this executive action that we're expecting him to take. not necessarily an executive order, it's likely to be an executive memorandum which doesn't carry the same weight. the president is going to have just met with people who on social media say they have been censored because of their politics. they're right-wing supporters of the president and that's something the president has said he feels. he's going to come out and make this action on the census, something he's been frustrated by the past two weeks because they haven't been able to make any action on that. it's been a chaotic strategy on behalf of the administration. they use words in the west wing that you can't say on tv to describe how this is going.

being denied able to add this. on the other hand the president is balancing these raids that will be carried out, that they have essentially facing issues with, not only because there are divisions within dhs but also because the president has been telegraphing them which could create low gistic al problems for people who do want to carry them out. >> you mentioned this so-called social media summit. he has issues with twitter, google, facebook. invite them in. that's not the case. instead great reporting on this. among those invited are bill mitchell, a radio host who supports conspiracy theory, an anonymous troll who won a contest put on by infowars and ally alexander, an activist who attempted to smear senator kamala harris saying she's not an american black. what is the purpose here? because these people on the internet say the president is

right, up is down and east is north even when the facts are not such? >> i think there's a lot of power in the conservative political movement and playing up the feelings of bias. social media is just the latest flash point for that debate. president trump is very happy to engage in that. there are other prominent republicans like senator ted cruz who frequently engages in that debate as well. i think it's a political rallying cry more than anything else. >> political rallying cry more than anything else. >> and we know about this because they're on social media. so we're not -- the censorship isn't all that extensive because they're extremely active. there are complaints today from some of the people who are censored, some of the even more extreme elements that they're not invited. so it's confused. i totally agree with you, this is just one more area like the census that he sees this as a way to rally people. i'm really curious to see how far they want to go today in defying the courts. but the president has -- he wants this fight even if he doesn't get his way, because it

keeps everyone ginned up. >> and his attorney general will be there with him for this. normally an attorney general will say, mr. president, we tried. we went to the supreme court and lost. >> they did try that route. >> so now they're going the executive route to try to press this question, which there are other ways to ask this question. in fact the government does ask this question in other settings but they want it as a signature issue on the census. they say they need that information. others say they're trying to depress the latino counting. >> and barr's apparent presence, this is just another kpacexampl the attorney general who has become trump's best friend. somebody he didn't know and didn't have any relationship with has turned out much better in terms of helping him politically. this week barr was talking about if robert mueller didn't want to show up to congress because it was going to be a spec tacktacl would support him in doing that. it will be interesting to see if barr talks, how he can justify

going around what the supreme court said. >> he has already said that he considered the decision to be wrongly decided, so what form is this going to take? >> the supreme court has left some door open to an extent, right? they didn't say the entire thing is invalid, this is unconstitutional to ask this question, they said the pretext, the reason that the administration gave was contrived and yinvalid. it sounded like the chief justice was sending the administration on a fool's errand, knowing there's a deadline. but now it seems like the administration is going to try. i don't know how they get around this legal box. >> you also have to keep in mind it's not just the supreme court, they're facing issues in new york courts, maryland courts. some people inside the west wing think they have achieved what they needed to because they talked about adding this question so much that people who are undocumented are going to be more hesitant about answering the census. so they may have already gotten in a sense what they wanted to get by adding this question. >> a bit earlier today, speaker

pelosi in the middle of all of this, the president is going come out and say he's going to use executive action to put the citizenship question on the census. democrats are going to fight him in court. they don't like the i.c.e. raids. nancy pelosi said she had met with lindsey graham to talk about immigration issues and she thinks it's possible, possible for some bipartisan progress. >> and there may be some possibilities of some things that we can do. it may not be the total comprehensive, but it would address some of the points. we have to do that. >> what does she mean? at a time when they disagree with just about everything, are there some small things they might be able to agree on, democrats and republicans sending to the president something on immigration that he will sign? >> i think the democratic leadership thinks there are some things in their bill that they passed that they could get the senate to agree to, including requiring the administration to tell congress right away when a child dies in custody, requiring

children to only be held for 90 days in these detention facilities that have been proven to be overcrowded and potentially dangerous. and so she was able to talk to mike pence, who agreed to some of these things. and so i think they think maybe there's a couple of things they can do around the edges to get some democratic wins in the future. >> that and lindsey graham is an eternal optimist on the issue of immigration. you know, he has a long history of a moderate record but i'd be very skeptical of in ikind of a big deal on immigration. >> we'll see, we'll see. mr. unpredictable, i guess. cory booker is running for president. guess what, that doesn't mean that you get excused from normal civic duties, like jury duty. >> we're in jury duty tie and today is your birthday. >> yes. >> and a whole bunch of people here on jury duty want to say what? >> happy birthday! >> this is the best jury room in all of america. yes! side suft? with the sleep number 360 smart bed you can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. so, can it help us fall asleep faster?

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2020 candidate who seemingly has a plan for everything just today debuting her immigration plan. this hour senator elizabeth warren is far from first to chime in on what could be considered the defining issue of the trump presidency. five 2020 candidates have introduced a kprecomprehensive immigration plan. as we come to expect with any warren plan, the details are specific. m.j. lee joining us now from new

york. what sets this plan apart, if anything, m.j.? >> reporter: well, john, the timing is certainly notable that she is putting out an immigration plan now given that what's happening at the border, the treatment of migrants, has created so much controversy lately. it is the reason or part of the reason at least that she and so many other candidates visited the homestead migrant detention facility around the first debate. this is a pretty detailed plan so just a couple of highlights from warren's new immigration plan. she says that he wants to decriminalize illegal border crossings. this was an idea championed by julian castro that she said she supports. she wants to reduce the number of migrant detentions. she's also talking about, and this is interesting, creating an independent immigration court system that is essentially separate from the doj. the idea being that that would help prevent conflicts of interest from the trump administration. she is also talking about adding protections for asylum seekers

and refugees, and also just broadly expanding legal immigration and also pathways to citizenship. john, clearly this is one of the many ways that elizabeth warren is trying to create a contrast between herself and president trump. she wrote this morning that she feels like the trump administration has advanced a policy of cruelty and division that demonizes immigrants. clearly she's trying to say that this is not her vision of america. john? >> that's m.j. lee with the details in new york. appreciate the live report. as we bring this into the room, the warren plan in the context of the other democrats not all that different. a few details are a little different than the others, but it tells you whoever the democratic nominee is, unless steve bullock rises from the bottom of the pack right now, joe biden not as far to the left as some of the other democrats but still moving to the left. what a contrast we are going to have in this general election on the specifics of immigration. >> elizabeth warren does go

further than most democrats, i think, on the issue of decriminalizing migratiomigrati. her plan would also set up a justice department task force to investigate criminal abuses of immigrants by the trump administration. that would be pretty explosive. this election, no matter who the democratic nominee is, especially if it's elizabeth warren, would set up the sharpest contrast between the two parties on immigration. president trump using anti-immigration rhetoric and messages very effectively to galvanize his base. it's going to be remarkable. >> some democrats are warning that these candidates are going too far left and seeming to embrace open borders and that could have a backlash. when it comes to making sure migrants are getting standards of care and are not being treated adversely, making sure that migrant kids are not dying, i think that is an argument that democrats can easily win and one that the whole party wants to embrace and run with. when it comes to decriminalizing

illegal immigration, this is really controversial, even though we see warren and most of the democratic candidates embracing it right now. >> just look at the trump map. pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, can the democrats sell this in places where they need to sell it to more conservative white working class voters who voted for obama and then switched to trump. another candidate with a new plan out today is mayor pete buttigieg. he is having trouble attracting african-american support. he calls this the douglass plan. look at the proposals he believes would fight racial inquality. fight racial gerrymandering, get k-12 level black history education. you see all the proposals here. it's a lot. it's a lot. is it a credible plan, i guess, in the sense that can any president get that? >> well, i think one thing, when

you do a lot of provisions like that, people wonder what exactly you're going to be able to get out of that. it's almost too much. kitchen sink. he obviously has a problem with that demographic group and he's really reaching out there. i think he's sincere, but when you look at the lineup, what's your real focus there. i think that the issue he needed to address is the police interaction, right, and he probably should have maybe limited it a little bit. >> well, he has that issue back home at the moment. let's listen to the mayor last hour on msnbc trying to explain that, yes, it may be a big proposal, may be comprehensive, may have some controversial things, but he thinks not only should he have this conversation, the country should have this conversation not only among african-americans but in white america. >> this isn't just aimed at black voters. it's very important that we have this conversation as a country, because while racial inequality is being visited upon the heads of people of color and black americans in particular, frankly

there needs to be a conversation with white america, with white audiences about how none of us can or should be willing to live in a system where these kind of systemic racist dimensions persist. >> it's interesting. he was an early surprise. then he's had some struggles. we're a couple of weeks away from the next debates an he's trying to take himself to the next level. >> he's trying to navigate this pretty delicately. he went from a sudden rise and i think that's been something he's been forced to face while from his position at home but also broadly. and so that will be interesting to see how he sets up that standard because pete buttigieg is seen as someone who is more moderate of this group of presidential candidates. if that's something he can make a broad appeal for, which we did see broad support when the president did the criminal justice reform bill. so that will be the question going forward, if you see the stark contrast like with the immigration proposals and what the white house is going to say. >> i do think his fund-raising

has pushed him into the top tier and now he has to do things like this to sustain himself up there and prove that he belongs there. >> he shot to the top so quickly, but there's no way that he can actually win the white house without having the support of black voters. >> or the nomination. >> correct. but i mean he started -- this is like a real test in that he started by first apologizing. he used the debate to actually acknowledge that i haven't done enough as mayor for seven years to recruit black cops who could really help in terms of making sure that black citizens don't feel like white cops are in any way coming after them. and he's following that up with a detailed plan. so i mean this is what he's got to do if he's going to be sincere about that apology. >> interesting test. we shall see. up next, more fallout after the labor secretary alex acosta explains the way he handled the jeffrey epstein case as a prosecutor more than a decade ago.

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topping our political radar today, this hour defense attorneys for jeffrey epstein putting forward a bail package. they want to keep epstein out of jail and have him wait for trial at his $77 million new york city mansion. also today the white house standing by the labor secretary, alex acosta, and how he's explaining why he gave epstein a sweetheart deal over a decade ago. he was the u.s. attorney who brokered a nonprosecution agreement with epstein who then spent 13 months in jail. speaking to reporters wednesday, acosta defended his decisions. >> simply put, the palm beach

state attorney's office was ready to let epstein walk free, no jail time, nothing. prosecutors in my former office found this to be completely unaccept al. one of the tough questions in these cases, what is the value of a secured guilty plea with registration versus rolling the dice? and i know that in 2019 looking back on 2008, things may look different. but this was the judgment of prosecutors with dozens of years of experience. today's world treats victims very, very differently. today's world does not allow some of the victim shaming that could have taken place at trial 12 years ago. the message to victims is come forward. >> the state attorney in florida back at the time of epstein's conviction is blasting secretary acosta, accusing him of rewriting the history of the

case. meanwhile the lawyer for some of jeffrey epstein's alleged victims was on cnn last hour. he said epstein should stay exactly where he is, locked up. >> i can tell you that they're ecstatic that he's now behind bars, which is a good thing and hopefully he'll stay there. they're also skeptical because of what they went through as to what the system is going to actually do with him this time. they're hopeful that they'll do the right thing, but again since they have seen how the system has failed them in the past, they're really very skeptical. >> up next, joe biden's big speech on what he sees as his biggest asset in the 2020 campaign. uh-oh, looks like someone's still nervous about buying a new house. is it that obvious? yes it is. you know, maybe you'd worry less if you got geico to help with your homeowners insurance. i didn't know geico could helps with homeowners insurance. yep, they've been doing it for years. what are you doing? big steve? thanks, man.

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some important news just in to cnn from capitol hill. the house judiciary committee green lighting subpoenas of a dozen trump administration officials, including the president's son-in-law, jared kushner, former white house chief of staff john kelly and the former attorney general, jeff sessions. let's get straight to manu raju on capitol hill. manu, what are democrats looking for here? >> reporter: a very contentious morning session, a party line vote 21-12 to authorize subpoenas for a dozen individuals as part of the democratic investigation into potential obstruction of justice. you named some of the big ones, jared kushner, john kelly, corey lewandows lewandowski, people like jeff sessions, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein.

but others as well, including david pecker, who is head of the parent company of "national enquirer." democrats are trying to probe into that hush money scandal involving the president's payments to silence those alleged extramarital affairs. those stories that were about to come out ahead of the 2016 election. those into part of the broader investigation into potential obstruction of justice. the question is will the white house ultimately comply? there is not much of an expectation that they will, so this could ultimately all get wrapped up into court. but also today significantly democrats moving on another front authorizing subpoenas over immigration. democrats trying to learn more about the family separation that's happening at the border, that so-called zero tolerance policy. on two fronts democrats moving this morning to move forward with subpoenas to compel records for the administration to turn over. again, the big question is will they get compliance and probably will this end up in court. john. >> escalation in the oversight

fight. appreciate it. here, help me. jared kushner, jeff sessions, rod rosenstein, john kelly. the white house is going to say sure, right, any time? >> what we've seen so far is they have blocked it and not let them go and testify or people who have testified they haven't let them answer a lot of questions. what's interesting about that tactic are a lot of people on that list are people that did not work in the administration. corey lewandowski, david pecker. those are people that are not subject to the same privilege excuses that the white house has used with other people that worked in the white house closely with the president so that will be interesting to see how that plays out, what did those people do. corey lewandowski is protected by any presidential privilege from working in the west wing. >> and david pecker is central to the idea of what did you know about the hush money payments, did you help president trump hide alleged affairs. >> yeah. >> it's just one more battle that looks likely to ending up in court. there are also house democratic subpoenas on issues like the

president's tax returns, the census case as well. the administration hasn't complied. we don't know what the democrats' end game is. are they setting up a standard where if there are enough logs on that fire, now is the time to impeach? i don't think they're going to do that. >> it's been seven months since the new congress and it still feels like they're sort of reaching for a whole bunch of things and don't really have a clear strategy here. these subpoenas also come at a time mueller will be on the hill next week. i feel like democrats on the hill feel that's a real make-or-break moment for them to try to get the public to pay attention to the mueller report. can they actually do that. these subpoenas, even when they do get people in, like hope hicks who was close to the president and talked about her time on the campaign, that was behind closed doors. they released a transcript, sure they got some headlines. but in terms of moving those everyday americans who aren't paying attention to this and haven't read the mueller report or these trimanscripts, that's t going to cut it. up next, an early misstep

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court? she said she probably would have. then a very quick retreat on twitter. upon further reflection and further understanding on his record, i would have voted no. i will make mistakes and always own up to them. the priority is defeating mitch mcconnell. today's headlines a campaign nightmare. would amy mcgrath have voted kavanaugh onto the supreme court? depends on when you ask her. you're running for senate against mitch mcconnell. you've got to have an answer on brett kavanaugh. that's campaign 101, right? >> if you're running against mitch mcconnell, judges is the thing you're going to want to be talking about. what a disaster. this is just a disaster. i'm not sure what was worse, being for kavanaugh or having to flip so quickly and say you weren't. >> you're not going to raise any national democratic money if you're for kavanaugh and that's her only hope. >> and she had raised a bunch of money already.

i mean mitch mcconnell and his people are ruthless. she was going to have a really hard time anyway with trump on the ballot and this kind of mistake, they're rubbing their hands together. >> this is from team mitch on twitter. amy right now -- put it up. there we go. it's a dog in a laboratory. i have no idea what i'm doing. i mean they're quick. >> ouch. >> ouch is the right word, thank you. >> this whole thing kind of shows how democrats have to twist themselves into a pretzel to run in a state like kentucky. part of amy mcgrath's message is president trump won by a big margin and she wants to work with him on things like infrastructure and draining the swamp. she's painting mccaonnell as -- >> you've had chuck schumer who's had some setbacks in his recruiting who thought this was a big success. she ran a house race. she lost but some people question whether is great

success. but a former marine fighter pilot, a woman candidate to go against mitch mcconnell. in kentucky, from reporter philip bailey, the first 36 hours have not been a good confidence builder for kentucky democrats. already hearing from several consultants that are saying and they list two other candidates there. maybe people in a state like kentucky people are saying huh-uh. >> this was tested in 2018. there were a number of female american heroes from the military who ran in red districts and defeated republican. amy mcgrath got super close to defeating andy barr. but they tested this in 2018 and most of those women won. she was definitely a star and someone people thought should run again. so if anyone -- if they thought they could have a success of beating mcconnell, they thought it would be her. really after this, she probably can't recover from it. >> it's early and we'll see if she can recover but it was a tough race to begin w she

doesn't get many mistakes. speaking of justice kavanaugh, just a shoutout to one of our guests here, carl hulse and his new book. you see it right there. come on the show some day and carl will sign it for you. thanks for joining us on "inside politics." don't go anywhere, brianna keilar starts right now. i'm brianna keilar live from cnn's washington headquarters. under way right now, all eyes on the gulf and the levees in new orleans anz millions brace for a storm that could make landfall as a hurricane. fears rise in cities across america as the trump administration gets ready to carry out raids on undocumented families. and the president expected to take executive action to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census. he's setting up a fight he likely can't win but he's hoping his base catches him trying. plus alexandria ocasio-cortez is suggesting speaker nancy pelosi is