2020 democrats flock to iowa. a new cnn poll highlights a surge and struggle. >> we can make our democracy work. we're building a grass roots movement to make it happen. >> if you want to rely on polling, i would never have won any of the offices i've ran for. >> plus the president asks for foreign election help and says so what. >> it was a totally appropriate conversation, it was actually a beautiful conversation. >> and more troops to the middle east as washington and tehran talk tough. >> we have the most powerful

military in the world. >> tehran does not want war, but we will defend our territory. >> "inside politics," the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters now. >> and welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. to our viewers in the united states and around the world, thank you for sharing your sunday. president trump is leaving the white house for houston any moment now. we're watching to see if he stops to talk to reporters and if he does, we'll bring you the tape asap. we begin with a big weekend in iowa. 17 of the presidential contenders are there and we have new numbers that prove that the elizabeth warren surge is dramatically reshaping the race as we move into election year. let's take a look at those numbers. this is iowa, democrats, likely caucus goers. elizabeth warren is on top and the vice president is second.

warren and biden in top in iowa, senator harris 6, senator booker 3, senator klobuchar 3. a top tier of warren and biden in iowa. warren has had a great summer, not just in iowa but all the polls. she's up 7 in iowa. former vice president down a little bit. sanders down 5, mayor buttigieg is down 6, harris is holding steady at 6. here's your big story up top. this is why this poll is so good for senator warren. when you ask people your first and second choice, when you add those up, warren moves up to 42%. she's a second choice for a lot of people as well. former vice president here, sanders, buttigieg here. if you're not candidate, obviously you're concerned senator warren is on the rise, here's what you're looking for. more than 6 in 10 iowa democrats and democratic leaners who say she'll show up for the caucuses

134 days from now, more than 6 in 10. 63% say she could change their mind. warren is on the rise and a lot of democrats, 17 in iowa over the weekend, including the top two. >> when you see a government that works great for the rich and for the powerful and isn't working for anyone else, that is corruption pure and simple and we need to call it out for what it is. >> eight years of trump i believe will forever change the character and nature of the country we are. we need a president who once again values honesty, treating everyone with respect, not leaving anyone behind and gaving everyone a fair shot and understanding that there's something bigger than our individual self. >> to share the insights, julie of the associated press. we've watched it play out all summer long.

now you have a poll that proves it. warren and biden tied statistically but warren on top in iowa. how does that change the race? >> well, it changes the race because it confirms i think what we've seen anecdotally in the early states, the energy around warren's campaign is very real. she's not the policy wonk that i think a lot of people thought she would be. she's warm and engaging and it shows that biden as a front-runner really is fragile. it's something we've been talking about for several months and i think it is a real thing. the other thing that hasn't changed is that the people below warren and biden, with the exception of maybe bernie sanders, are really struggling to find a foothold here and time is starting to run out. we are into the fall and the caucuses are within sight and one of them is going to have to find a way to make a move. >> on the one hand, 19 weeks is a long time and on the other hand it's not a long time. you have halloween and

thanksgiving and christmas and then you're going to have a blur. among those who describe themselves as very liberal voters in iowa, this is the greatest strength right here, half describe themselves as very liberal and they say they're with warren. we can talk about this poll shows that biden, i haven't called him a front-runner in sometime once i saw him drop, but you can make it about biden's struggle and sanders is struggling. >> it's hard to look at that poll and not think that the candidate you want to be the elizabeth warren. the person who is on top does not necessarily win. but the most striking finding in the poll to me was the net favorable numbers. since march elizabeth warren's numbers went up by 15 and joe biden's went down by 29 points. that's a rough place to be at this point. so he's got a lot of work to do. the importance of iowa if elizabeth warren can win, it can break joe biden's momentum

potentially with black voters, which is his core strength. voters in the carolinas may take a look at the race and say she can win. >> if you look just like in national polls, this is from our des moines register cnn poll, it's the best poll in iowa. what's most important to you, a strong chance to beat trump or shares our issues? 63% say strong chance to beat trump. she is among some democrats who had the question i like her, but can she beat trump. so the other candidates are taking note of this. what do you do, elizabeth warren keeps doing this, going up throughout the summer. mayor pete buttigieg says she's not very clear when it comes to health care. >> senator warren is known for being straightforward and was extremely evasive when asked that question. and we've seen that repeatedly. i think that if you are proud of your plan and it's the right plan, you should defend it in straightforward terms. people are used to washington

politicians not giving straight answers to simple questions. at a time like this on an issue this important, that's exactly what we need. >> will it work in the sense that she has preserved some flexibility, if you will? she won't say straight up. the bernie sanders medicare for all would raise taxes. sanders and warren say in the end costs will go down because you're not paying co-pays and deductibles. she's been asked the question and doesn't answer it directly. will criticism like that work? >> you started asking how this changes the race and it raises obvious questions for biden, who is whole rationale has been i'm the front-runner. it's going to raise questions for warren, if she's going to be at the top of the polls, we'll see if these questions come in sharper from the media and some of the other candidates. look at warren's summer. she's had an amazing summer in the polls. her enthusiasm has increased while some of the reservations about her candidacy have

decreased among democratic voters and she's also got a pretty good run in the press. she hasn't had a tough day in the media since, what was it may when she was on the break fast club and kind of got ambushed about the pocahontas stuff? there's a couple of polls in iowa where she's up at the top. we'll see if the heat gets turned up on her a little bit more. >> yeah, actually warren, very fascinating. the other interesting thing, too, especially coming to light of what her campaign announced late last week are kamala harris's numbers and in the polls she's 6%. it's very little change from the last poll. and all that is interesting because her campaign announced late last week that they're interesting this all-in iowa strategy. they say if she does not finish in the top three that her campaign is essentially over. and that's a pretty risky strategy, considering where she is right now. she stayed pretty stagnant in the state if you look at the number of times she's visited iowa, it actually ranks in the

bottom half of all tcandidates fits. >> apparently she was joking on capitol hill about how she's moving to iowa. that was to me another key data point to watch in this poll. >> somebody will surprise us in iowa, whether it's democrat or republican, you always get a surprise in iowa. to your point, chris dodd did this in the race and he picked up and moved his family to iowa. the people at top of the pack, you don't even see them in the polls. sestak, former congressman, bull lock has the potential to surprise us. and you see harris is way down there. she's going to spend a lot of time there. the question is what is her message? this is a town hall and she's in iowa. she said she packed her sweaters and boots and plans to spend as much time there as possible. when she's out on the road she says voters aren't saying are you a capitalist or socialist.

>> it is rarely a question that comes up, well, let's talk about a debate like we're in some college class, socialism versus capitalism. that rarely comes up and i'm just going to tell you it never comes up as something that wakes people up in the middle of the night. to address the biggest issues that face people in their real lives every day, those issues that wake people up in the middle of the night. and so that's what this campaign is about. >> that's been her message since the beginning of the campaign, i'm the one you can trust to prosecute the case against trump and i get health care costs wake you up, having to work two jobs wakes you up. but she has been stagnant and static for a long time. is moving to iowa the solution almost effectively moving to iowa, or does she have to change how she communicates? >> the best thing harris has going for her is people want to like her, she want her to be successful and they're sort of

waiting for that moment where they can say yes, thank you, i'm now with you. she's still trying to figure out what that message is. prosecuting the case against trump, the 3:00 a.m. issues has been at the forefront, attacking joe biden as sort of a candidate of the past has been at the forefront. so she's still sort of trying to figure this out. i think the challenge for her right now is when you go all in in iowa, that is a risky bet. if that doesn't work, that's it. there's no getting to south carolina. there's no getting to those diverse super tuesday states. there's probably no getting to california, which is what she's been banking on for a while. >> she's been banking on that giant basket of delegates in california. the president asked ukraine for political help but says he did nothing wrong. next down the showdown with iran, u.s. troops to heading to saudi arabia. (in dutch) tell him we need this merger. (in dutch)

it's happening..! just ok is not ok. especially when it comes to your network. at&t is america's best wireless network according to america's biggest test. now with 5g evolution. the first step to 5g. more for your thing. that's our thing.

panera's new warm grain full of flavor, color,. full of- woo! full of good. so you can be too. try our new warm grain bowls today. panera. food as it should be.

you're having one more bite no! one more bite! ♪ kraft. for the win win. since you're heading off to dad... i just got a zerowater. but we've always used brita. it's two stage-filter... doesn't compare to zerowater's 5-stage. this meter shows how much stuff, or dissolved solids, gets left behind. our tap water is 220. brita? 110... seriously? but zerowater- let me guess. zero? yup, that's how i know it is the purest-tasting water.

i need to find the receipt for that. oh yeah, you do. trump administration is sending new air and missile defense units to saudi arabia and to the united arab emirates. the new tensions between the united states and iran are certain to dominate this week's united nations assembly. the iranian president said u.s. troops are not welcome in the region and the prime minister already in new york for the gathering is talking tough. >> are you confident that you can avoid a war? >> no, no, i'm not confident that we can avoid a war. i'm confident that we will not

start one, but i'm confident that whoever starts one will not be the one who finishes it. >> what does that mean? >> that means that there won't be a limited war. >> trump approved the modest new troop deployments on friday, that after a press conference in which he pushed back against more hawkish republicans that advocate a swift and muscular response. >> going into iran would be a very easy decision as i said before, it would be the easiest thing. most people thought i would go in within two seconds, but plenty of time. i think i'm showing great restraint. a lot of people respect it, some people don't. i don't do it for anybody, i do it for what's good for the united states and our allies and it's working out really very well. >> the president actually very honest there about his feelings, very reluctant to get involved in a military confrontation in iran. the question is we have these two countries now talking past each other, how can this be

resolved diplomatically, and if it isn't, then what? >> this week is going to be a big week to get to that point. trump is going to new york as part of the united nations meetings, he has a dozen meetings with foreign leaders. but what's notable here are some of the folks he's not meeting with. germany, france, jordan. these are key leaders he needs in order to exert diplomatic pressure on iran, which seems to be the path forward that this president wants. >> and there's bad feelings among europeans because he pulled out of the iran accord. the president has repeatedly ridiculed the united nations. he hasn't been able to cut deals with korea or china. as he goes to a place he routinely belils, he's trooilgt build some sort of a diplomatic coalition against iran. >> it's surprising that's not working out as the strategy. he went to new york with a lot of unfinished business on a lot

of foreign front and what has been striking about this president on foreign policy is that all of these fires, none of them have really blown up and presidents very rarely pick it out of a four-year teerm with that being the case. there's a lot of anxiety about is it going to be with north korea, is iran going to be the situation that pushes the u.s. back into the middle east in a conflict. and the president and his unpredictability is really what is fuelling those concerns. because no one really knows what he's going to say in these meetings, no one really knows what he's going to do other than he would like to avoid a conflict. i think he also is feeling a little bit of pressure about people are saying are you being weak, i think lindsay graham said something like that. >> the credibility question comes up and the president's instinct, he looks at the iraq war and says no way, i don't want any part of that. but if you look at the u.s. credibility, iran did use mines

to damage tankers in the gulf, the president sent in more troops. shot down the drones and the president called them off and now the targeted saudi oil facilities, the president setting up sanctions. "the new york times" puts it this way, he's finds himself back where he was in june, wrestling with the consequences of using worse and the consequences of avoiding it. >> we've seen him get irritated by this notion that toughness equates to more military strikes and killing more people. he had an open debate with lindsay graham and cheney on this, and on the other side is rand paul. on this one he is closer to rand paul and you heard the iranian foreign minister say a war will not be limited. that is what president trump fears the most because one of the key reasons he won the republican nomination and

residency is because of american's weariness of the iraq war. many people have a family member or friend or acquaintance who died or is living with ptsd. >> he definitely tried to rationalize the world view. he kept reiterating to us, like you said earlier on the show, that you could do anything to iran in a second but it actually shows strength to show the restraint and he has rationa rationalized his tendency to meet with all the leaders. now he knows unpredictability is part of the game but it comes in this shaky time and how that plays out we'll see. >> it will be interesting at the united nations because he tends on the public stage to talk tough. up next, the president asked for foreign help in the 2020 election, he says it's no big deal. democrats say it's another abuse of power. reaches farther than ever before.

with more engineers. more towers. more coverage! it's a network that gives you ♪freedom from big cities, to small towns, we're with you. because life can take you almost anywhere, t-mobile is with you. no signal goes farther or is more reliable in keeping you connected. to severe plaque psoriasis get clearer. and tremfya® was proven superior to humira® in providing significantly clearer skin. don't use if you're allergic to tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms

or if you had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya®. get clearer. janssen can help you explore cost support options. red lobster's endless shrimp is back for just $15.99. janssen can help you explore get all the shrimp you want, any way you want 'em. like new sriracha-honey shrimp, savory grilled teriyaki shrimp, classic shrimp scampi and more! red lobster's endless shrimp is $15.99. hurry in. ♪ (music plays throughout♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ telescopic mascara by l'oreal. length. propels lashes up to 60% longer. the comb bristles precisely define. for legendary length and definition. telescopic mascara by l'oreal paris. you're worth it. here, hello! starts with -hi!mple... how can i help? a data plan for everyone. everyone? everyone. let's send to everyone! [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? -ahhh. sure, why not? how'd he get out?!

a camera might figure it out. that was easy! glad i could help. at xfinity, we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. we now know key pieces of the new spy drama that gripped washington this past week.

we know the whistleblower complaint involves at least in part a july call between president trump and the president of ukraine and we know as first reported by the "wall street journal" that the president repeatly asked his counterpart to investigate joe biden and business dealings in ukraine by biden's son hunter. there's no indication that on that call the president dangled a quid pro quo like u.s. military aid being tied to help with biden. so the president and his defenders say no big deal. >> it's a partisan whistleblower. they shouldn't even have information. i've had conversations with many leaders that are always appropriate. it's just another political hack job. that's all it is. >> did you mention joe biden during the conversation? >> i don't want to talk about any conversation other than to say -- other than to say great conversation, totally appropriate conversation. >> democrats and other trump

critics say this is very much a big deal. they want to see the full whistleblower complaint and the transcript of that july call. they also want to know more about the role of trump attorney rudy giuliani who acknowledges meeting several times with ukrainian officials and in those discussions things like a presidential summit did come up. nancy pelosi said if the president has done what has been alleged then he is stepping into a dangerous mine field with serious repercussions for his administration and our democracy. we will continue to follow the facts and explore every possible option to ensure the american people get the truth. for his part, former vice president biden trying to turn this controversy to his advantage. >> trump is doing this because he knows i'll beat him like a drum and he's using an abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me. he abuses power everyone he can and if he sees any threat to his staying in power, he'll do whatever he has to do.

but this crosses the line. >> it does cross the line for an american president, any american president, to be asking a foreign government for help. it crosses the lines of norms. does it cross the law? >> well, i think we don't -- i don't think we know because we haven't seen exactly what he said. it sounds like he's going to lean on this idea that there was no quid pro quo, there was no if you do this for me, i'll do this for you. it's important to think about this from the perspective of the ukrainians. you've got a country that is feeling under threat from russia and is really looking to the u.s. for aid and knows that president trump is holding that up. so if the american president comes to you in a conversation that you know that that aid package is being held up right now and says do this for me, even if they don't say explicitly i'll do this for you, that's of course in the back of your mine. that's the reality of the dynamic with ukraine. >> here's what makes you a little suspicious. the phone call is on july 25th. if you look at the timeline

here. there are public reports in the middle of august that the administration is thinking of blocking military aid passed by the congress, demanded by the congress. then you have the intel ig whistleblower complaints in august and then congress is told here. so the administration knows congress has been told about this complaint, they released the military aid. so as this becomes a controversy they decide we can't be seen as holding the military aid. if you want to be suspicious, you can look at the timeline and say they realized this was going to be a big deal and they couldn't hold the money anymore. >> the white house has never given an explicit answer as to first of all why the military aid was held up in the first place and why she released it. it came in a senate appropriations committee markup and they announced that the military aid was now free again. but i think because we still don't know a lot about this story that gives republicans who don't want to be seen as crossing the president a little bit of cover, at least for now, in terms of speaking out against

the president. and we saw some of the early reactions on capitol hill on friday, particularly after we saw more and more of these revelations from the journal and from other news organizations, and they say, look, the president is right, this is a partisan whistleblower. we'll clarify the president says he does not know who the whistleblower is, so i don't know how he knows that. but right now you're not seeing a lot of pushback from republicans because we're saying, look, was there an explicit quid pro quo? i'm not sure that matters ultimately at the end of the day but that's the line republicans are treading. >> that's the same line they would repeat if this were hillary clinton or barack obama, i'm sure. to the point, so we're in this climate now, we're approaching an election year. democrats have been reluctant to impeach the president for other causes. the "washington post" looks at where we are this way today in a very interesting analysis. trump senses himself above the law has been reinforced throughout his time in august. as detailed in the mueller

report, he received help from a foreign adversary in 2016 without legal consequence. through the government he has earned profits for his business without consequence. he has blocked congress's ability to conduct oversight without consequence. so you have some democrats saying enough, here's the head line from ap story, democrats bluft trump crisis, but what will they do? alexandria ocascio-cortez tweeting last night, it isn't the president's law breaking behavior, it is the democratic party not oiimpeaching him for . >> the intel chairman adam schiff has talked about law and legality and looking into this as a matter of potential criminal bribery that he said the president would be seriously liable for. but what are democrats going to do about it? they want the whistleblower complaint and a transcript of the president's call. if the white house stonewalls,

they can subpoena. the only real tool that democrats have if they don't get what they want is impeachment. and all the sources i've spoken to in the house over the last few days suggest that the needle has not moved among democratic leaders. they still want the majority in the toughest districts to be on board before they do anything. >> there may not be any actual consequences from this as far as from a congressional point of view. our sources at the journal who enumerated the eight different times that trump pressured the ukrainian president told us that there was no direct tie to this aid on that phone call. and short of that, it's hard to see where the consequences from a congressional point of view come from. >> unless you can prove that that's what giuliani was doing. the president has the phone call, the ukrainians understand the conversation and then they meet with giuliani. >> that raises the more likely scenario this is purely

political and there are i think consequences in that realm. that's why biden is talking about the abuse of power. if you can chip away at this idea of trump using the office to go after political opponents, to enrich his company, this is in direct contrast to the drain the swamp ideal that trump ran on. and we see him already using this as -- the trump campaign sent out an email fundraiser on this story over the weekend. they're putting videos together using this to try to shift it back on biden. but right now it looks like purely a political issue and i think that's where the actual consequence for democrats will be. >> and to the point about biden, hunter biden's business dealings are fair game. but the republicans are trying to say that biden had a ukrainian prosecutor fired to protect his son. this has been covered repeatedly and that is just bogus. biden had a ukrainian prosecutor fired, put pressure on the government to fire a prosecutor that all of the reformers in the

country wanted fired because they viewed him as part of the problem. >> if that is the actual issue, don't you send federal lawyers, doj folks to the ukraine to figure this out, not rudy giuliani? >> that's what democrats say is the problem here, that maybe this ultimately is just a political issue, but this is a president who is using his office and friends to try to help his politics. and what democrats have to try to figure out, is it best for them to try to beat him in 2020 and get rid of this situation or should they hold him accountable for that kind of behavior now? >> interesting to watch will be trump and the ukrainian president on wednesday. >> up next, our sunday trail mix and it's fascinating. another kennedy sets his eyes on the senate, setting off a major primary battle. award winning interface. ♪ ♪ award winning design.

♪ ♪ award winning engine. ♪ ♪ the volvo xc90. our most awarded luxury suv. ♪ ♪ woman 1: i had no symptoms of hepatitis c. man 1: mine... man 1: ...caused liver damage. vo: epclusa treats all main types of chronic hep c. vo: whatever your type, ask your doctor if epclusa is your kind of cure. woman 2: i had the common type. man 2: mine was rare. vo: epclusa has a 98% overall cure rate. man 3: i just found out about my hepatitis c. woman 3: i knew for years. vo: epclusa is only one pill, once a day, taken with or without food for 12 weeks. vo: before starting epclusa, your doctor will test if you have had hepatitis b, which may flare up, and could cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. vo: tell your doctor if you have had hepatitis b, other liver or kidney problems,

hiv, or other medical conditions... vo: ...and all medicines you take, including herbal supplements. vo: taking amiodarone with epclusa may cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. vo: common side effects include headache and tiredness. vo: ask your doctor today, if epclusa is your kind of cure. be right back. with moderate to severe crohn's disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be.

is she alright? i hope so. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible.

a little sunday trail mix now to get a little taste of the 2020 campaign. joe kennedy, iii, 38 massachusetts congressman announced yesterday he will challenge the 73-year-old incumbent ed markey. his grandfather was the late robert f. kennedy and markey is one of the most liberal democrats in congress so this is not a fight over ideology. >> donald trump has forced a reckoning in our nation without question. but to make this moment requires more than just defeating him.

it requires taking on clearly a broken system that allowed him to win in the first place. the challenge is far too urgent to sit there and wait for somebody else to take it on. >> yet another, this one involving a kennedy, but generational struggle in the party. this is not really i'd logical if you look at it. it's not a new candidate saying the other guy is not progressive enough. this is markey and kennedy on issues ranked by organizations. markey has slightly higher grades from the left if you will, than kennedy. so this is not about this vote or that vote, this is about i'm just impatient. >> kennedy sounds a lot like pete buttigieg there. to your point, i'd logically there's not a lot of difference between these two. they both support the green new deal and want to impeach the president. this is a generational value. >> it's going to force some

really tough choices by local politicians and labor unions. >> by elizabeth warren, who has endorsed markey early on saying that this is her great partner in the senate but also is very close to kennedy, taught him at harvard law school. she's probably going to stay with markey, but she's saying all kinds of positive things about kennedy as well. >> if you log onto the boston globe, they have markey on tape and you see elizabeth warren saying nice things about markey. when we come back cory booker says i need help or else i'm gone. eating right and getting those steps in? on it! dimitri thinks he's doing all he can to manage his type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but is his treatment doing enough to lower his heart risk? [sfx: glasses clanking.] sorry. maybe not. jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. so it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. and it lowers a1c! jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections,

and sudden kidney problems. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. a rare, but life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. lower a1c and lower risk of a fatal heart attack? on it... with jardiance. ask your doctor about jardiance.

we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. with jardiance. even a- (ernie) lost rubber duckie? (burke) you mean this one? (ernie) rubber duckie! (cookie) what about a broken cookie jar? (burke) again, cookie? (cookie) yeah. me bad. (grover) yoooooow! oh! what about monsters having accidents? i am okay by the way! (burke) depends. did you cause the accident, grover? (grover) cause an accident? maybe... (bert) how do you know all this stuff? (burke) just comes with experience. (all muppets) yup. ♪ we are farmers. ♪ bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum tell him we're flexible. don't worry. my dutch is ok. just ok? (in dutch) tell him we need this merger. (in dutch) it's happening..! just ok is not ok. especially when it comes to your network. at&t is america's best wireless network according to america's biggest test. now with 5g evolution. the first step to 5g. more for your thing. that's our thing.

of the united states is talking to reporters before he heads to houston. we'll bring you any news for that if the tape is with us in time. back to the 2020 race, candidates sometimes have to change their strategy. cory booker is changing his because he says he believes he

can win the race but he needs more money. he says if he doesn't raise $1.7 million by a little more than a week from now, he's gone. >> i don't think people should be in this race if they can't win. i'm in this race to win the nomination and beat donald trump. so this is a deceaseive moment for our campaign. we can't continue this without support, i won't continue this unless i can look people in the eye and say we have a chance to win it. >> he says he needs $1.7 million by nine days from now. he raised $300,000, which means he would have to raise $150,000 between now and then. it's essentially his own straw poll, support me quickly or else i'm gone. >> it's an honest way to do it. he's saying i'm actually going to drop out unless you give me money. campaigns don't typically go that way, but booker, bigger picture, he is an aspirational candidate with a message of love, but this has been a struggle for him. >> you've seen how he's trying

to calibrate the message of love strategy because he's gone after biden pretty hard at the debates. in the earlier debates there was a moment where he really challenged the vice president. and i know julian castro got a lot of folks is after he questioned biden's age, but booker after the fact was pretty blunt about biden, about the former vice president. so that hasn't worked so far. maybe this will. we'll see. >> this amount of money is about what cory booker has raised before so it's not out of the realm of possibility that he can do this. but the timing is interesting as someone was kind of alluding, there's been another ground chatter about booker as a potential running mate for warren. this sort of talk about dropping out of the race coming as warren is on an upswing so it will be interesting to see how the timing plays out and how booker increases attacks on biden. >> and to the point about senator booker, he's had strong

debate performances and it's like why, you always question why. it's a crowded field, but let's just look at the horse race. we showed you an iowa poll earlier in the show. here's the national poll. you've had the three candidates, biden, sanders and warren essentially since the race began, but biden on top. these are national polls, sanders and warren you see it. now i want to bring the other candidates into the race as well. you've had the same top five or six throughout the summer ask that has been the struggle. now we're down to 19. we had more than 20 at some point. it's hard for candidates who you thought would make some impact to have any, the question is again in 19 weeks, that's a long time. can cory booker or somebody else at the bottom of the pack change things? >> the booker campaign, one thing they were doing differently than the other campaigns is they actually have a really robust organization, so in iowa and new hampshire they have big teams on the ground,

strong professional operations so that if he had a late moment in october or november, december, he has that breakout moment, he's got the infrastructure there to capture it, which is always one of those things for some of these candidates that pop up. they don't have it and it makes it impossible to actually have a good finish in the caucuses. the reality is it's really expensive to do that. that's why i think there is some truth telling to this ask for the money. is he going to be able to stand long enough to fund the big campaign in the hopes that he finally has a breakout moment and that's the gamble for him right now. >> to your poin, it's expensive. you have to pay those people. i want to come back. i think we can show you the results of our cnn iowa poll that has warren and biden on top. that's a remarkable change for her, growth over the summer there as you see the numbers. can joe biden, a guy who is the former vice president, wants to be viewed as the front-runner or the leading candidate, can he

lose iowa and new hampshire? >> his team says they need to win two out of the first four states. they're counting on south carolina as one of those. but if you lose iowa and new hampshire, you're down to nevada and south carolina. that's tricky. >> and if she wins iowa -- again, 19 weeks is a long time, but if she wins iowa, she wins new hampshire, there is this thing called momentum. just look it up in the history books. once that gets started, it gets hard. our reporters share from their notebooks including some promising signs for the president on this north america trade deal. i'm allergic to all things green. (mom sighs) ♪ ♪ kraft. for the win win.

one more time around the "inside politics" table and ask reporters to share with you. >> so democratic presidential candidates are rallying around the rallying striking auto workers around the dispute with general motors, elizabeth warren is heading there today and bernie sanders is heading there and others have spoken out. the strike was prompted in part by the gm plan to close american plants and democrats see this as a prime opportunity in a important state like michigan to hammer trump over what he said are the misleading and broken promises to american workers and for the democrats a compelling argument heading into the re-election, much more complicated for trurp and it is notable that he has not spoken out forcefully in favor of the workers. he said the dispute between the auto workers and general motors is sad. >> sad. we'll see if it is sad for him. michael. >> under the radar story this week worth keeping in mind

moving forward, trump parted ways with the top strategist in florida susie weills and rarely does one person or one thing make a difference in an election. but she's a central figure in some of the republican party biggest victories in florida for the past decade. rick scott gubernatorial election in 2010, trump in 2016, ron desantis in 2018, all within a point or two. and now we have trump parting ways with his top strategist a year out, a proven winner. they want to down play florida as a battleground, it is definitely a must-win for trump. >> it sure is. this map doesn't work without that one. >> i have my eyes on the president's re-election against his likely democratic opponent which he's telegraphing at recent rallies, going after joe biden as old and losing his grip and after elizabeth warren on the native-american issue and what is so striking is here is a

president who refuses to let his own age or verbal blunders stop him from using the same issues against the democratic opponent. it is a shameless as a political strategy and worked for him in the past. >> it sure has. i won't repeat the nicknames of 2016. i was going to but i won't. sunlen? >> while we wait for the president to introduce his gun proposals, there is not just interesting movement on capitol hill among senate republicans when it comes to the issue of expanded background checks. it is not great movement but there is some discussion among republicans senators who either weren't around for the major gun debate back in 2013 or have changed their minds on this issue. one of them is lindsey graham. he said he voted against that expanded background checks measure back in 2013 and now is open to it with revisions. i had an interesting conversation with mitt romney and now a senator and former candidate he's in line with manchin and toomey and doesn't want to make it easier for

people in rural states or areas to get background checks. so there is some interesting movement there but obviously it doesn't matter at the end of the day without the seal of approval from the president. >> there was a washington long ago where the senate would try to influence the president as opposed to waiting for the president to tell it what to do. members of the president's trade team got nervous when the boss started talking about the u.s./mexico/canada trade agreement trying to get there congress and because of the relationship, usmca backers are of the view the less the president said is the better and what is did say was flot confrontational making the point he would consider the passage a major bipartisan achievement. right lighthizer is doing the heavy lifting with house democrats and he is making quiet progress addressing the concerns and it is a small group named by nancy pelosi and that is causing grumbling among democrats but

lighthizer and those working with him hoping to get usmc on a fast track and through the house through the august recess fizzled so they are taking a go slow approach and banking on speaker pelosi giving the go-ahead in early november. keep an eye on this. catch us week days at noon eastern and up next a busy hour. "state of the union" with jake tapper and his guests include house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff and the president's secretary treasurer steve mnuchin. have a great day. ♪ (music plays throughout) ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ and your mother told me all her life that i should fix it. and now it reminds me of her. i'm just glad i never fixed it. listen, you don't need to go anywhere dad. meet christine, she's going to help you around the house. the best home to be in is your own. from personal care and memory care, to help around the house, home instead offers personalized in-home services for your loved ones. home instead senior care. to us, it's personal. but allstate actually helps you drive safely...

with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands?

t-mobile's newest signal reaches farther than ever before. with more engineers. more towers. more coverage! it's a network that gives you ♪freedom from big cities, to small towns, we're with you. because life can take you almost anywhere,

t-mobile is with you. no signal goes farther or is more reliable in keeping you connected. foreign interference. president trump prepared to meet with the ukraine leader as we're learning the president pushed him to investigate a rival. >> it doesn't matter what i discussed. >> how will congress respond? i'll speak with house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff next. and plus maximum pressure. as world leaders gather at the u.n., tough talk between the u.s. and iran raises global fears. >> if they misbehave, they're on borrowed time. >> are the two countries getting any closer to a deal. treasury secretary steve mnuchin joins me. and a warning sign for t