there was a time when white house pet messed up the plans for the white house cook.this involved a dog name links. he was a setter that was on the scene. according to white house reports, on the morning of marcf fried eggs and ham set out for the resident staff. the white house cook made this and stepped away to do something else. when they returned they were all gone. they realize this was because lynx had helped himself to a nice hearty meal. the press had a lot of fun with it and staged a photo of links eating ham and eggs off the plate. the cook was upset so soon after it was announced that lynx was leaving the white house to spend more time with his family. and that paved the way for the more familiar dog. one thing that was interesting is i find overtime these cooks fit into three boxes. they were culinary artists who are celebrated in their time. if you know anything about the food reputation of the fdr web white house is not great. people would have second thoughts of weather to come to a state dinner. i would have to admit i was engaging in race pry because

jim acosta, you're our white house correspondent.s start with you, the president tweeting today expanding his criticism, this one this morning. the failing "new york times" writes false story after false story about me. they don't even call to verify the facts of the story. fake news joke. some of the fake news media like to say i'm not totally engaged in health care. wrong. i know the subject well and i want victory for u.s. apparently that was a response to the story from "the times" who complained at least one republican senator came away from the meeting with the president about doubts about the president's involvement in the health care bill. >> reporter: the president himself has been peddling fake news for some time now. he's one of the founding fathers of birtherism who indicated falsely that president obama wasn't born in the united states when he was born in hawaii. he alleged that millions of undocumented people were voting in the election and that drew the popular vote to hillary clinton. that was also fake news, wolf. he

pet messed up plans with a dog named weeks on the scene in according to white house reports the morning of march march 1930 for friday san ham were set up for the resident staff and then the coach stepped away to do something else when they returned there were all gone then they realized because weeks have helped themselves to a nice meal actually the press had a lot of fun with this and staged a photo but the white house cook was very upset soon afterwards a was announced he was leaving the white house to spend more time with his family. [laughter] and then came the more familiar dog. so one thing that was interesting is that over time they fit into three boxes as a culinary artist so if you know, anything about the fdr white house it was not great people would discuss if they should come to a state dinner so to engaging in race pride i am thinking they're all african-americans on staffre's t but the blade was john henry data into lillian parks inhe her diary sheds light that the african-americans who are the cooks would do their of baying and henry had that would come but behi

>> and in the background, this like every word from the white house comes under investigation, the white house under the specter of russia. >> while i hope the white house is not worried about any of the investigations they should be focusing on helping the president do his job. and that is the discipline that should be at the white house. let the russia investigation take the path that it's going to take. everybody who is working at the white house, unless they're engaged in something that the special counsel is paying attention to they should be focusing on helping the president and let the chips fall where they may in this investigation. >> i have one more question on this statement, only because it's so unusual. aren't you curious in this chain, where it came from, the names, mcmasters, and pompeo? >> if they have not been part of the communications chain -- >> our remarks at the top of the broadcast, when you hear us we hear every night the president at 8:55 a.m., said this on twitter, it reversed and caused this to happen, do you have your arms around this quite yet? >> i don't thi

tonight the white house denying that. one official says scarborough reached out to trump senior advisor jared kushner about that national inquirer story, but kushner did not offer any kind of quid pro quo. >>> also tonight another presidential tweet may be complicating the republican struggle to repeal and replace obamacare at the same time. the president now opening the door to an immediate repeal with a replacement at a later date. that is a dramatic shift from what he said during the campaign. senate republican leaders failed to finalize a compromise repeal and replace bill by today as they had hoped. the legislation remains stalled because of republican opposition. all this playing out as mr. trump held crucial talks with the south korean president. the nuclear threat from north korea very high on their agenda. mr. trump declaring that america's patience with the kim jong-un regime is over and he's promising the united states will defend itself and its allies. >>> this hour i'll discuss those stories and more with con

they're not at the white house to celebrate the passage of the senate republican health care bill. may recall, president trump did with the house version. republican senators are there to meet with white house officials and try to search for some way forward, given senate republicans right now do not have the votes needed to pass their

a bedroom with a bath adjoining his, the little white house and that's where other guests could stay, if eleanor came, she could stay there. though i understand that she usually stayed in the guest house behind the house. i've got a cute story about the little white house. they were nice enough down there to let me go into missy's room and i went into the bathroom and noticed a role of that iky crepey toilet paper like they used to have in europe. it had a wire around it and i asked the ranger why. and we had to do that with both the roles of toilet paper left here in 1945 because people were sneaking in and stealing a sheet. what do you do, do you frame it? tp from the little white house, yeah. but she loved the little white house, loved her time at warm springs, though, i think the isolation during that really difficult few months when she was trying to have rehabilitation must have been just dreadful. because it's a little, little town in the middle of nowhere and she was used to being in the thick of things. she loved working at the white house and with the roosevelts. anyway. >>

the more people who work with the white house -- >> they're not working with the white house!was a chance for a revisit, that to me is a signal from a president saying i sat down with my advisors, a pros and cons, they've come one the position that maybe a new type of agreement needs to step forward and let's work with the community as a whole, whether it's local, state, or state? >> you can't negotiate with yourself. trump has said basically it took 25 years for nations to come together and now he wants to start something on his own. nobody wouldn't to do that. in fact, he has created the biggest power vacuum on the planet by calling that press conference and now you see china rushing forward, california rushing forward, and what he's actually done is give a tremendous gift to his opponents. you see the emerge engs of what you can call a green growth alliance where cities and states and businesses and tribes and governments are coming together, going around the president of the united states. he gave away power. the one thing nobody's talked about is that he also threw his ow

i think every white house is under attack. i was there during the financial crisis. i was there when we lost the house and lost the senate. there are certainly moments where you feel under attack but that doesn't mean that you launch them a misogynist attack. there's a difference between that and going out and stating it publicly. so, yes, i would say that the white house is a tough place because the spotlight is on you. you're speaking on behalf of the president. the american people are watching the president. you have to be tough. you have to be working together as a team. and this kind of response, there's really no place for it. >> one of the things, jeff, i talked to mayor michael bloomberg about, the organization that he had as mayor and that he set up in business and this white house's organization, though he was very careful not to criticize the president because he feels like he's under enough pressure as it is. he talked about the importance as a leader in supporting the people who are under you and you're putting a great team together and supporting those p

the white house says they're routine diplomatic meetings.hen they happened in december, jared kushner is a transition official and would be allowed to meet with foreign officials. >> shepard: on the matter of james comey, there's a lot of hype about this testimony coming up. it's hard to imagine him going too far off the memo. you expecting big news there? >> we don't know. james comey has made a habit of making news at congressional hearings like this. back in 2007 he described this hospital incident where he intervening to stop the authorization and reauthorization of this surveillance program. i don't expect him to reveal any nitty gritty details of the criminal investigation, which that would be huge news. i do expect he will reveal more details about his conversations with the president, including more details about this occasion when president trump apparently asked him -- this is by james comey's account -- apparently asked him to shut down the investigation into mike flynn. i think the question is how many new details will he reveal

will the white house launch another attack against the regime? >>> the white house kaisis capi. isis appears to be losing its terror grip on syria. i'm wolf blitzer. you're inside the situation room. >>> breaking news tonight. republicans leaders delay a vote on their health care bill until after the july 4th recess. the majority leader senator mitch mcconnell tells majority leaders he wants to come up with a bill and make cuts within the budget office. that comes after the cbo reported that the current bill would leave 22 million uninsured by 2026 than under obamacare. a growing number of republican senators have now openly opposed moving forward with a current bill despite lobbying by the president and the vice president. senate republicans have been invited to the white house to air their concerns about the health care bill. the white house says the president is fully engaged, but gop senator susan collins says the president has been hampered by his lack of political experience and says it's difficult to see how any tinkering is going to satisfy her concerns with the bill. >>

the chairman of the senate judiciary committee recently sent a letter to the white house, saying thiss nonsense that you are saying that members of congress can no longer make a request for questions and answers coming from the administration. similarly, jason jay fitz, head of the house oversight committee said there is no difference between how the obama white house and the trump white house are handling these ethics questions. as you know, there has been an increase in requests for waivers to get allowed lobbying requests coming from the trump white house. >> jon: you also write about our fundraiser the president is having this week at the trump international hotel. he entered a good deal to lease that hotel from the federal government while before he was running for president. >> right, but he is now president. much like when you asked people if he should have released his tax forms or recused himself from some situations because of his business activity, the president has not done it and in the case of the hotel, he will hold the first fundraiser for his 2020 effort, i guess. he

we'll go to peter alexander at the white house with reports up to 40 senators have already arrived. what do they expect to hear? this isn't the celebration that they had in the house side, a different kind of meeting today. >> the last time we saw a bunch of buses rolled up to the white house about a month ago, all of the house republicans who framed the president for the celebration in the rose garden. later would then say the bill he celebrated with them was mean. today senators arrived here under different circumstances and sarah huckabee sanders wouldn't cast in any specific terms how the president viewed the mood of the senate bill, whether it was also mean, more mean, less mean than the last one. suffice to say the president will be meeting with dozens of republican senators a short time from now. it will take place in the state dining room, an opportunity to hash out details as they try to i guess resuscitate this in the near future. what's notable is the sort of difference in the tactics that this white house, this president has taken this time around versus the last one. las

and a strong personality in the white house, it is a team, and it is a team of rivals in every white ouse, because they are very competent staffers who are legitimately hired because they have great expertise, many of them have type a personalities and they think they are the only person with great expertise and you have to manage that process and make sure that the playing field is in fact level and not skewed one way because a dominant staffer is bullying the process. so -- but the last word i found the president would frequently seek me out it is a last word, but it wasn't so much about the decision, it was the process by the way the decision was being made by the president. and i would be able to say, sallie mae have been a little too aggressive in that meeting and jane was ready to speak up but she was intimidated by sally. you might want to call jane. >> rose: right. >> you know, mcdonough tells me the story in the book about the walk they would think. >> rose: i was thinking about that. >> at the end of every day at 5:00 o'clock or later they would take a walk around the south

nicole wallace said that women in this white house should not find this acceptable. i think that's a really important point here. >> listen, thanks to all of you. appreciate your thoughts tonight. up next house investigators threaten to subpoena the white house in the russia investigation as susan rice agrees to testify. top democrat of the intelligence committee is my guest. >> and the secretary of state's frustrations with the white house coming out in a very public way. we will tell you exactly what happened. ...it starts a chain reaction... ...that's heard throughout the connected business world. at&t network security helps protect business, from the largest financial markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyber-attacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. keeping the world of business connected and protected. that's the power of and. when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with

on behalf of the first family, welcome to the white house. and thanks to the leadership of president donald trump, welcome to the beginning of a new era for american infrastructure. you know, since the first day of this administration, worked tirelessly to keep the promises he made to the xhern people. our president's been putting jobs first. rolling back excess ive regulations, unleashing energy, ending unfair trade practices an working on repealing and replacing obamacare and thanks to donald trump, america is back. american businesses are growing and investing in america. more than 600,000 private sector jobs have been created under this president's leadership and unemployment hasn't been this low for 16 years. but if you haven't noticed -- >> we will continue to monitor the vice president along with the transportation secretary as we await president trump set to make some announcements here on infrastructure. specifically related to the faa. privatizing some parts of it if for air traffic control to try to make it work better. more of a n

wolf. >> jim acosta reporting from the white house. let's get more from congressman jeffries from new york is joining us, a member of the judiciary committee. congressman, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for being here, wolf. >> i want to get your thoughts on the president's climate decision in a few moments but first let me get your reaction to news that the white house it is consideration blocking testimony from the formerer fbi direct orlt james comey by invoking executive privilege. they would likely node a court order to do that. are you worried that the white house will try to prevent comey from giving his account? >> it would not surprise me if the white house attempted to invokes executive privilege. this is a white house who has specialized in obstruction, obfuscation and trying to keep information away from the american people but i think there is no basis for executive privilege to be invoked and no threat of a court actually agreeing with the white house for one simple reason, that the executive privilege has been waived t

can the white house afford to do that? we'll see. that's all for now. maybe this is the way mexico is paying for things. "for the record with greta" starts now. >> i never miss "meet the press" on sunday. i'm your loyal fan. >> thank you. >>> this is getting weirder. now we learn white house counsel and the president's personal lawyers were all on it. a simple yes or no is all that was needed. period. the president tweeted i did not make and do not have any such recordings. that just doesn't answer the question whether tapes exist or not. that tweet of his is a dodge. why the came? white house press secretary sean spicer was pressed for a complete answer and spicer said he believed an official response on anything related to tapes would come by close of business today. well, we're waiting. we're not the only ones waiting. the democrat and republican on russia investigation are demanding more. >> my view is there's no legal prohibition on prosecuting a president of the united states. the fact he threatened there were tapes is another element that may go

there is still business at the white house. how frustrating is this trying to push a message and you have a real issue to deal with in the legislative branch. a number of this investigation and this hearing. >> it's the nature of the white house after the democrats took over congress in 2006 when they won. the next two years were difficult for us in the white house because the democrats wanted to haul us up for hearings all the time and you try to continue an agenda. right now the president benefits from having republicans in the majority in the house and senate. it doesn't mean it will be easier. these are the cards you're dealt with at the white house and so i think that they're doing the right thing. they basically have several different things going on this week. they're talking about the fact that in the next eight weeks you can expect in the senate that a healthcare bill will be introduced and voted on. they said that yesterday. you'll have a debt ceiling bill. infrastructure week. we haven't seen too much of that because

we've covered the white house. there have been many, many times where there have been off-camera briefings. that's okay. but not at the expense of and in lieu pretty much across the board of on-camera briefings. it's not about whining, it's been television production. it is about transparency, end of story. >> your reaction, eugene? >> yeah. my first thought is that many of the questions that journalists ask the trump administration in these brief regulars questions that the american people asking them. they've contacted us directly via social media. we get questions all the time in our tweets, ask this, ask that. we have an administration led by a man who said he enjoys social media because it allows him to get directly to the voters. this press briefing is another opportunity to get directly to the voters. him not allowing us to show people who are watching, hoping to hear from his administration what he has to say about all of these issues we were hear about today harms him more than it helps him. >> it does com

"in the shadow of the white house." the richard nixon foundation hosted this hour-long program at the nixon presidential library and museum. >> good morning, welcome. this is the new richard nixon library and museum. i am the president of the richard nixon foundation. i'm glad you are here on a very important day for the foundation and library. joining me in this welcome is michael elzie, national archives director of the presidential library, and all of those present today. in our redcoats and blue coats. [applause] before i introduce larry higby, i'd like to recognize three of joe and bob's children -- sue & bob's children. hank haldeman, susan, and an. ann. thank you. [applause] two of our foundation friends who knew bob alderman well are -- bob haldeman, well are also here. now a board member of the next foundation, cindy quinn. [applause] and a truly remarkable and very special woman who was at ucla with bob haldeman in the post-world war ii years, she took a train to washington dc after graduating. in july of 1951

the white house is reviewing this

in the white house.esn't exist for any other agency, and certainly that will likely get used. you can tell the attitude of the va has changed so much because they want people to tell them what's wrong. they want to do something about it, and that's the change in culture. >> sandra: as the president said when he was signing this legislation, he said we owe this to our veterans, we owe everything to our veterans for the blood, sweat, and tears in what they do to protect this country. you hope it brings that necessary. i know it is near and dear to you to your cart to my car. if i may ask at this moment in time, we're waiting to get feedback from the white house press briefing that was off-camera today. just a status of things come up morale in the military, how are things going in your opinion right now as far as progress of this president is making? >> the funding for the military really hasn't hit the military edge, and i think many of us are disappointed by the presidents fiscal year '18 budget because

and once again, so far, unless the white house reverses itself, the white house is not allowing liveameras. the american public won't be able to see it or hear it live, only after the briefing is concluded, according to white house rules. will the networks, cable and broadcasts be able to air the audio-only of the briefing. no video. won't be able to see the questions and answers. we'll hear them, but only after the briefing is concluded. i bring in our senior media and politics reporter dylan byers. the past two weeks we've seen what two live news briefinging at the white house with the press secretaries. what's the new strategy for the rouse about? >> avoid being seen on camera taking questions they don't want to answer, in fact, can't answer, oftentimes because they don't have the go-ahead from the president of the united states himself. it's a lot easier to do that off camera, and not be under the scrutiny of the american people watching at home, but it's twofold as well. a second part to this strategy. an tall ntagonize us, the media. the lack of transparency and access act, the

. >>> white house threat. two tv hosts are accusing the trump team of being threatened if they didn't apologize for negative coverage of him. >>> just repeal. president trump now calling for a new strategy to repeal now and replace later. he isn't giving up on a new health care plan. >>> and patience is over. president trump declares the u.s. is fed up with the north korea regime, but can kim jong-un working to develop a nuclear weapon that can hit the united states, what will the trump administration do to stop it? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the situation room. >>> we're following breaking news. a shooting rampage at a major new york city hospital. police say a gunman who injured multiple people at bronx lebanon hospital has killed himself and that the body of a woman was found nearby. sources tell cnn the shooter was a doctor and former hospital employee. we're also following new developments of president trump's very public feud with msnbc host joe scarborough and mik ark mika brezinski. they claim the pre

myself as a white house correspondent, seven years as white house correspondent.ays saying, you have to go ask the president, he hasn't taken questions from the news media in weeks. only statements we have from him those on climate change, statements he tweeted a few years ago, climate change is a hoax. given the sensitivity of this issue, are they doing themselves white house officials a disservice by not simply answering that question? >> yeah. wolf, on this issue at least, i don't think he is doing himself a disservice for this reason. in the gallup daily tracking poll, he is around 40%. give or take a point or two. which is not very far off where he has been for his entire presidency. what that says to me is that president trump is playing to his base. his base is fine with this. it is a disservice if he is trying to reach beyond the base and right now they are playing to the base. kaitlyn is right, the president hasn't changed his position much since the 2012 tweet. he has changed his position, wolf, since 2009 when he and a bunch of other ceos took out a ful

that's the white house behind me. the white house. and it's just -- it's bizarre, i don't know what world we're living in where we're standing at the white house, and they bring us into the briefing ream here and they won't answer these questions on camera, or let us record the audio. i don't know why everybody is going along with this. it doesn't makes sense, and it feeling like we're sort of slowly but sure by being dragged into a new normal where the president of the united states is allowed to insulate himself from answering hard questions. he hasn't had a full-blown press conference since february. he has the two plus two press conferences with a foreign head of state where he may take a question from a conservative media, and maybe somebody from the mainstream. for whatever reason we're all going along with it. i don't understand why we covered that gaggle today, quite honestly, brooke. if they can't give us answers on camera or where we can report the audi, they're basically pointless, you're not getting the chance to see are t

. >> folks in the white house but look at u.s.igence agencies ironies are the folks in the white house they very often report was kremlin has been saying. it's interesting while america remains target number one and number one enemy and 24/7 russian propaganda keep pounding the united states. donald trump is excluded from -- from the broad criticism. somehow he is being seen as -- did as a man who has been trying desperately trying to bring relations but the deep state prevented him from doing it. >> one of the things president putin said he said blaming russian for already blaming the american election anti-semitism blame willings jews. >> it's a witch hunt if -- if they caught doing something illegal they crying foul. it's a witch hunt, it's some like an anti-semitism he can say whatever he wants he doesn't care. as long as he sees his tactic works he can go with it even being blamed and then he will deny it. he tried to do it in france the failed by the way. he tried to do many other european countries. he is -- he sincerely be

the white house is reviewing this issue. house democrats on the judiciary committee just released a letter saying two things primarily. first and foremost they don't believe on the merits should the president try and invoke executive privilege it would work. if he did, they point out the political ramifications. that it would look like he was trying to obstruct the testimony. these are two key consideration the white house will have to pay attention to as they look forward. as you noted, we don't have an answer yet. >> the day before comey appears, the deputy attorney general will also testify. >> reporter: that's right. separate hearing, separate focus. the big question is, what can members get out of both deputy attorney general rod rosenstein but everybody else on the panel? the acting fbi director, the cia director and the director of the nsa. all of these individuals have played some role one way or another in this russia investigation. the reality is, what we have seen over the last couple weeks is all questions will b

whyould the white house okay it? >> i think they'd like to proceewi whatever, you know, they have in mind with russia. this is an impediment to that. if they can get back to basically make the russians satisfied, that they're made whole if you will, then they might be able to engage in those negotiations that the trump administration seems eager to get along with. >> well, evan, since i don't know what it means, can you answer why would the republicans want to do this? >> the russian embassy in the united states tweeted may 23rd that russia wants these properties back. if they don't get them back, there will be serious countermeasures. >> which could be what? >> who knows what it could be. maybe they'll interfere in the 2018 mid-terms. >> they will. >> or say this is absolutely terrible and we protest. but nine days later, the president is saying he is giving them back. that's a sign of weakness. if he is taking these threats from russia like that. if a tweet is all it takes for a country to get something back that w

white house doing about this? >> well, allison, the president said prevail and he stands by that particularly as president-elect, that he would be concerned about anybody sbefrg in our democracy. we saw a lot of people interfering with our democracy by saying he couldn't win here at home. >> you were asked whether the president believes russia interfered with the 2016 election because he hasn't had a had a chance to have the conversation i'm wondering if you had the conversation and if the president is concerned about the interference. >> i have. thank you. and the only point that i would make as a point of clarification. he commented i think it was january fifth or 17th like that on that at the time and he said i -- russia probably interfered but maybe some other countries did as well. >> i think it was russia but i think we also get hacked by other countries and other people. >> there you go. thank you. >> does he stand by that is he concern about that. >> of course he is concerned about any country or any actor

. >>> is the white house going to invoke executive privilege? >> i think obviously it's got to be reviewed. >> the president can't use executive privilege as a shield in one context and a sword in the other. >> the president can and rightly exert executive privilege. >> more cover-up and more obstruction. >> the behavior of nunez is beneath the dignity of being a chairman of the intelligence committee. >> what does the president believe on climate change. does he still believe it's a hoax. >> president trump hasn't made it clear where he stands on climate change. >> this is one of the most cynical and frankly most ignorant, dangerous self-destructive steps i've seen in my entire lifetime. >>> this is "new day" weekend with victor blackwell and christi paul. >>> i almost cut off james earl jones. happy saturday to you. we're glad to have you with us. >> i'm victor blackwell. >> countdown to thursday, it is on. former fbi director koem set to testify publicly and arguably the most anticipated event since election night. he's expected to reveal det

you wonder what the white house will do, what new set of circumstances the white house will considereping us up to speed on that. >>> the family of otto warmbier releasing a statement in the hours after their son's passing which reads, "it would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost -- future time that won't be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds. we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person. when otto returned to cincinnati late on june 13th, he was unable to speak, unable to see, and unable to react to verbal commands. he looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished. although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed. he was at peace. he was at home, and we believe he could sense all that." funeral arrangements for warmbier have not been announced. >> all right. >>> 37 minutes past the hour. democrats holding the senate floor late into the night. while you were sleeping, they were up past midnight demanding that repu

the white house says the president won't try to prevent fired fbi director james comey from testifying before congress as part of the russia investigation. comey's appearance is now just days away. what bombshells might he drop? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> we're following breaking news. the white house is clearing the way for fired fbi director james comey to testify this thursday to the senate intelligence committee as part of its russia investigation. a spokeswoman says president trump will not invoke executive privilege to try to block comey from discussing a conversation in which sources say the president urged him to drop the investigation into former national security adviser michael flynn. also breaking this hour, british investigators have now identified two of the three men who carried out the terror rampage in london that killed seven people and injured dozens before police shot and killed the attackers. police say one of the men, a british citizen born in pakistan

>> more like the white house.ss the press >> shepard: they need a foil. >> the desire to build a wall around the white house to limit inquiry and you have a chance to criticize the press, cnn ran a story, they retracted it. >> shepard: on the website. >> they apologized for it. >> shepard: and they said, because i want to make sure they get this right. they said they did not go through their procedures. it did not go through standards and practices, and it did not make through editorial checking. afterwards, three people were fired. >> this is what you want to have happen. you want a news organization where they got something that she did not go through the process properly. they retracted, and made a public statement. we made a mistake. >> shepard: dessie the example of how to do it. journalism 101. you make a mistake, you admit it, and you take action. >> you have all those actions and procedures and editor panels. this one, it did not go through. they apologized. >> shepard: this is what we are talking about. t

jeff zeleny at the white house. let's go to capitol hill right now where congressional correspondent phil mattingly is on the scene for us. so, phil, the majority leader mitch mcconnell said senate republicans made good progress in their meeting with the president, but how much trouble is this bill really in? >> reporter: it's in a lot of trouble, wolf. that's just to put it bluntly. there are major concerns, idea logical divides in the 52 member conference mitch mcconnell leads. as jeff noted it's in the building behind me, not in the white house, where those decisions and hopefully for senators' sake, those compromises can finally be made. tonight republican leaders coming up short on health care. >> legislation of this complexity almost always takes longer than anybody else would hope. but we're going to press on. >> reporter: at least for now. majority leader mitch mcconnell holding his pledge to vote this week. the reality sinking in the votes simply were not there. gop sources telling cnn the goal will be to f

today white house press secretary sean spicer didn't rule out that option. >> is the white house going to invoke executive privilege to prevent james comey from testifying before the senate intelligence panel next week? >> that committee hearing was just noticed. and i think obviously, it's got to be reviewed. >> so that is not a no? >> i'm just saying i don't -- literally, my understanding is the date for that hearing was just set. i have not spoken to counsel yet. i don't know what that -- how they're going to respond. >> and late tonight top democrats on the house judiciary committee sent a letter to white house council don mcgahn warning the president not to block comey's testimony. writing "use of executive privilege to block mr. comey would be a mistake. well also warn you that the public would likely and perhaps rightly view the decision as obstruction of justice." and according to a new report, the white house and the justice department may have good reason to be concerned about jim comey's testimony. the former fbi director apparently was never told by jeff sessions or by rod

house either had to be the white house or the whore house. the question was who was h.entually got hunt on the phone, and asked why was your name in the address books of two of these burglars, and he got excited and screamed out good god, slammed down the phone and left town. >> and, of course, it turned out to be howard hunt who had worked for the cia, who had been hired at the white house really to undertake dirty tricks. >> you knew that this smoke that was billowing up from the oval office, there had to be some fire there. >> it's like a dylan song, it don't take a weather man to know which way the wind blows. >> presidential pres secretary ron zieglar called it a third rate burglary attempt, and said it was nothing the president would ever be concerned with. >> richard nixon is obstructing justice from the beginning, but what will be known as the smoking gun was when he approves a plan to use the cia to blunt an fbi investigation that is into the money the burglars had. it's clear this is done to save the skin of the white house. >> there was a source really up up.

lots of people -- >> he doesn't have to tell the white house? >> no. by no means. >> gloria, there's so many aspects to this. the irony, of course, that there may be no collusion. there be no there there on the whole russia story. and yet, now this special counsel investigation is going in another direction. >> right. largely it's because the president's own self-sabotage. if he hadn't fired comey, all the other dominos might not have fallen. on the question of obstruction, we're talking here about the legal case. but is there now going to be a political argument about obstruction that will get stronger and stronger. >> in fact, that's probably more important than the legal case. >> exactly. >> there's not going to be a legal case. >> it's hard to prove, for example, as we were just talking about before. i think that we know that the senate intelligence committee has been interested, the democrats in particular, have been interested in the issue of obstruction. and i guarantee you now they're going to be making the case that they need to hear more abou

>> over last two months this was an approach that the white house had over the house bill when it failed they said they were done. they were walking away. then what seems to have happened was that they had a sense actually a win was possible. it was something they could take out and it was somewhat brought them back to the table. right now we do not know how long they're willing to stick with the senate because you do not know if the first try will succeed. if the first try felt it would be unclear. >> on the senate side we are coming up on the july 4th break. they would like a vote before that. they have even talked about shortening that. senate republicans, are they okay with moving on if it does not work? and if that is the case who are the close people to watch in this debate particularly on the senate side?who can make or break? >> i think it is a great question about mitch mcconnell. does he want to deliver on this win or dylan scott said if it fails i can say they tried to do it and move on. but you know you this next week will be instructive in which place they landed in. i think

the white house does have a point.e're not defending personal attacks, but here is the simple basic truth. nbc so-called news and the restd of the destroyed media are not innocent victims that they're claiming to be here. this war against the president has been going on for a veryey long time and it was declared by the media against him. tonight, and this is something you're only going to see right here on hannity, we will show you how the liberal leftest o propaganda media has been carrying out what is a p relentless campaign to under mine, delegitimize, smear, vand, slander, and destroy the president. let's take a look at the side oe your screen. remember wiki leaks, they exposed what many of us already knew and thought was going on for a long time. the media was caught openly colliding, supporting, trying to elect hillary clinton, helping her campaign. these rigid left wing ideal ogues wanted hillary to win. imagine for a second, the press giving donald trump, any republican, any conservative this type of treatment.

the white house is saying oh, no, no. this was a very diplomat jared kushner at work. >> yeah, it's very odd. and it is -- that's curious. it's one thing to have representatives of a new administration coming in, meet with accredited diplomats. that's normal. that happens. but to meet with the head of a sanctioned bank, a bank that we're not allowed to do business with under american law at the moment, that raises questions. what was that about? how did they get connected? what was the purpose of the meeting? what was discussed at the meeting? what was the goal of jared kushner when he met with his bank, what did he bring away from that meeting? and we don't know the answer to that. in russia basically, people like the head of bank are agents of putin's kremlin. they're not free actors. they're not independent player there's. what was going on there, we don't know. again, we don't want to draw too large inferences from a sketchy amount of fax. but it certainly raise as lot of questions. >> joy, it's awfully easy to constr

those two were spotted at the white house. they are looking outside to potentially steer messaging as they enter into what will be a complicated next several weeks. >> robert, can you think of anyone that you and i worked with over the years in republican politics who would take a job in a donald trump war room? >> no. no one at all. >> really? >> no. can you? >> no. no, i can't. what legal exposure would there be? >> it would be terrible. you would have a client who wouldn't follow your direction. he would be tweeting and you would be telling him not to tweet. you tell him not to. >> he would bang it out. >> for would be a nightmare. donald trump has a reputation in the legal community in new york that he doesn't pay his bills. he stiffs lawyers like he does contractors. >> if his lawyers can't take his phone away from him tomorrow while comey is testifying, they should get malpractice. republicans say a lot of this damage, they have to accept it's coming right from him. putting your kids out there, you have done crisis work.

it was another non-answer from the white house. >> all right, jim acosta at the white house, thank you. >>> in the wake of james comey's testimony more bombshell moments may be ahead with the president talking about testifying under oath and the house intelligence committee trying to get ahold of any white house tapes if they exist. cnn's michelle kosinski is following all the new angles in the investigation for us. michelle, the comey testimony, that was just the beginning. >> reporter: and there was presentee in there to shed a little light, even point to where this investigation could be headed, and this is not only in what he said publicly but also in his closed session he had afterwards with senators. >> the president of the united states. >> reporter: the president says he is willing to testify under oath he did not wrong. >> 100%. >> reporter: it would be an extraordinary step for special investigator robert mueller to investigate and depose the president of the united states about whether he obstructed justice in his conversations with fired fbi director james comey. >> i would

when you are to hire a lawyer as a white house staffer, the white house doesn't pay for it. you pay for it. if you're a young staffer, you get a credit card, put it on a line out credit. if you've been in and out of the private sector, you pay for it out of your assets. talk about life inside this white house today when they're in the situation of hiring private attorneys then they see the president on twitter saying one thing, and saying another about being under investigation, himself. >> of course. well, i think it's sort of -- i don't want to say the final straw, but it's certainly a late in the game straw, and as you know, the white house is a cool place to work, in theory. that's how a lot of these staffers, especially mid-level ones who maybe president trump was not their first, second, or even 12th choice for president were drawn into this administration, but then you have a situation where there's, you know, leaks to the media, you know, just about every single day. there's staff infighting and these aides having to sort of watch their own backs every day. you have

now the white house is conceding it's on the threshold of losing the health care battle. >>> the white house says syria will pay a heavy price if it launches another chemical attack. what prompted this warning out of seemingly nowhere from the administration? >>> and the administration is preparing yet another rollout of its travel ban after the supreme court agreed to take up the issue next term. what changes will happen, and how soon? >>> good morning, and welcome to "early start." i'm alison kosik in for k christine romans, another day or two of vacation for her. >> i'm dave briggs. june 27th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. >>> new in the health care battle, majority leader mitch mcconnell still pushing for a vote on obamacare repeal and replace this week. that despite developments that leave the senate health care bill hanging by a thread. two senior gop aides telling cnn mcconnell wants that vote but plans to assess sentiment today at a senate republican lunch. they say he could change his plans depending on feedback from senate republican leaders. >> the reason the gop bill is barely han

this is where the white house is going to get tripped up. i can't imagine his attorney is too pleased. he now has a client who's agreed to testify under oath and is mischaracterizing comey's words. >> his lawyers are generally in your face in the same way that donald trump is in your face. we have seen this repeatedly with his personal lawyer michael cohen, where michael cohen will go after reporters in not so friendly language for reporting things that they don't want them to report, not necessarily things that are not true. on the subject of tapes, i was just speaking to a source close to the president, and i know there's a lot of question as to whether or not these tapes exist. i know the president said very, very soon we will find out. and that's usually when he doesn't have anything to said. there's a whole host of things that we were going to get very soon that we never good. but to those in the white house, this sounds very much like a bluff. if it's a bluff. what does that mean? his callous disregard for the truth. he doesn't seem to