and an in-depth interview with sebastian gorka.white house press office and sebastian gorka himself have refused. >> all right, drew griffin joins me now and drew you obviously heard the reporting tonight that the firing of steve bannon may not be the end at the white house, what is particularly crucial -- >> i keep watching my e-mails, jim acosta has sources who say he is on thin ice, a senior official saying there is a nervous feeling about the people at the white house and the changes. the official saying it's not so much about bannon as it is about the overall stability. no hard evidence but the official speculated that sebastian gorka may be the next person to go down. that is a quote from a senior administration official speaking on condition of a nonimity, andi did speak to one source, have you been fired or offered a resignation? no response. >> as of now drew griffin thank you very much. coming up, changing hearts and minds in charlottesville. the mayor reverses courses and now says he wants confederate statues moved from

remind us of who sebastian gorka was. the controversial surrounding him and what he's saying right now. >> he was a contributor to breitbart. he was seen as a far right person when it came to national security and terrorism. his credentials have been called into question by some of his former professors. it was his role on television and also he spent a lot of time on twitter. between twitter and television is what the president appreciated about gorka. he was a staunch vocal defender of the president and that's leaving the white house with gorka being forced out here. it's unclear whether he was ever in. the key terrorism meetings that were happening in the west wing. >> times he would go on with chris cuomo in the mornings and the interviews would go on for a half hour. the president liked that. he liked that he would go back and defend and have back and forth. >> now gorka says that he disagrees with what he says are moderates that are ascending in the white house and this scathing letter he calls a resignation letter,

gorka of skepticism.s defending the president on tv. according to people close to the president, mr. trump values gorka's tv appearances because he can hit back with anchors and reporters. >> it is just fake. >> i am going to ignore the insults because i don't think it will get us anywhere. >> gorka tried to become a mailer in hungary small town. his political town have been a source of unfounded allegations, he's anti-msemantic. the allegations won't go away largely because of this metal that gorka often wears. gorka himself is not a pledged member. he wears the metal to honor his father. he did get a phd from a political science from a university in budapest. the sdissertation he wrote is called inadequate by many scholars. he calls some of the criticisms against gorka is partisan. >> i would not call him an expert on terrorism. >> sloane says he did not anticipate gorka's rise to the white house. >> his level of expertise did not meet at the level he stands in the white house. >> his wife runs an iron

none of them can tell you what sebastian gorka does. in fact, it's been reported that sebastian gorka doesn't even have a security clearance precluding him from sitting in on any of these sort of national security meetings. president trump sarcastic or not earlier this week thanked president putin for cutting down the u.s. government payroll. there seem to be about 155,000 reasons for letting sebastian gorka go from the white house in addition to the fact that he seems to do very little for our national security. >> in addition, you then have this memo. really quickly on this memo from an nsc official who was fired because of it.

gorka is the wife of trump adviser sebastian gorka, who has been linked to a hungarian far-right, nazi-allied group. later in the broadcast, we will speak with the group's founder, life after hate founder, christian picciolini. meanwhile, leaders of four congressioional caucuses are demanding the whwhite house fire senior aides sebastitian gorka, steve bannon, and stephen miller over their white supremacist views. in a letetter to president trur, the congressional asiaiapacific-american, spanic, progogressive and blblak caucuses wrotete -- "we are deeply concerned that their continued influence on u.s. policy emboldens and tacitly approves the ideological extremism that leads white supremacists to spread violence and d hatred." the e letter c came as steve ba, president t trump's chief strategist, grgranted an extraordinary interview with robert kuttner of the liberal magazine "the american prospect." in an article titled, "steve bannon, unrepentant," the former breitbart news editor dececlared there is no military solution to the north korean nuclear crisis. and bannon said the u.s. should e

once bannon was out of the picture, gorka was next. with regard to the base, 35% of the base the president is working hard to keep that base. with regard to sheriff arpaio, a poll came out yesterday said 74% of republicans want him to build the wall and secure the border. he's energiziing the border, so he's keeping his promise he h build that wall even if we have to shut down the government to do it. so he is throwing a bone to his base, but the staff in the white house is happy about gorka. it's no surprise it happened on a friday night. unfortunately, it will get lost in the huge news, which is really a concern for this country, which is the hurricane coming. but this is typical of the administration to drop controversial news late on a friday. but this late on a friday during a health care raiurricane raise questions. >> millions in its path and days of torrential rain. jeffrey toobin, if you're still on the phone, you point out that so off we know and remember the final pardoning of a presidency, because sometimes the president tr

gone, gorka's out, gorka's been forced out. it seems the good dr. gorka is attempting to do a kind of, you can't fire me, i quit this evening. or the white house is lying its teeth off about the fate of sebastian gorka. one of the two is correct and only one of them can be. >> i appreciate the logical line you're drawing. why do you think this president, who got famous pretending to fire people on a reality show, has such a difficult time closing the deal if he did it anything like his famous catch phrase in any public setting or had a clear and orderly process, there wouldn't be these constant recriminations, every friday night they force someone out. >> that's just trump's style. it's a cliche almost at this point to note that the president does not enjoy firing people. he prefers other people, when he's not in the context of reality tv, to do his dirty work for him. and in this case, as i reported at the daily beast a week ago to the day today, sebastian gorka's fate was extremely uncertain right after the ouster of steve ba

sebastian gorka will be here on this program on monday night. stay with the fox news channel tonight. all weekend long. continuing breaking news of the hurricane. our prayers for everybody out there. we will see you back on monday. >> good evening, 11:00 p.m. on the east coast. at 10:00 p.m. in corpus christi, texas. you are looking live as hurricane harvey, a massive category 4 storm bears down on the lone star state. literally do do to make landfal any minute now. fox news has a live team coverage. we will take you to the area where the eye of the big storm has been hitting hard for several hours. update on harvey's path and what we should expect in the next few hours. fox news meteorologist joining us now. >> this is the eye of that storm. just crossing over that barrier island right there. when it's right in the middle of the eye, to get the crossover -- look like what's going to be here any second. we are going to see the most intense wins for the last hour, we have seen rockport move through that area. we are talking consistently up to 130

gorka's statement afterwards. matter is this, things have changed in that while it must be appealing to be in the white house, that is not necessarily the sole center of power. these are individuals like mr. bannon and mr. gorka really beginning to get the army in the field set up and going. so for everybody who is concerned about the trump agenda, the fact of the matter is it's incredibly important to not just have people inside who can be really kind of quashed, but to have them outside to. and i think this is a loss also for the establishment. if anything, they should have tried to, in a way, co-opted mr. bannon and mr. gorka which they couldn't do. so now i also say to the left, be careful what you wish for, you just may get it. laura: congressman, i want to ask you what your first reaction was and about this back and forth. mr. gorka says he resigned, the white house says he didn't. what are you hearing? >> well, dr. gorka and steve bannon both were strong advocates of a policy which involved not escalating t

and sebastian gorka is out tonight. we will have the latest on this very busy night of breaking news. right here on cnn. again, thank you for staying with us. thank you for joining uh us. our reporters are in the middle of the storm along the texas coast. cnn chad myers in hurricane headquarters. so, we get to chad in a moment. cnn's martin savage is in corpus christi, texas. martin, understand you are in full frontal assault. what is happening where you are? >> you are right. seems that every hour i keep telling people that they is, couldn't get worse. and yet, every hour it does seem to get worse. and now, it's, about the wereest we have seen so far. the way -- weather is not just howelling, not blowing, it is blasting. it is like standing in, in behind a 747 and trying to remain on your feet as a struggle. the rain that comes at you is coming at you horizontally. it stings on every part of your exposed skin. visibility has been reduced. obviously by darkness. outside of the immediate lights here. all along the water

the white house said gorka is no longer with the administration. joining me now, heidi przybyla, a senior political reporter for "usa today." also molly hooper, congressional reporter at "the hill." if the texas governor gets under way, we'll have to shift our focus but heidi, let's talk about the pardon of sheriff joe arpaio first. is this more than just the president rewarding one of his diehard supporters? >> i think this and the transgender ban announcement are a message, a political message that he is still in charge. look, this is happening after steve bannon is gone and it's happening as advisers are trying to surround the president and kind of moderate his positions on some of these issues. it's something that he went to a rally in arizona to preview in a campaign-style rally. so the implications of this, you cannot understate in terms of the rule of law. this is something that was done without a justice department review. this is someone who was convicted of violating constitutional rights of other people, of latinos in particular. and jus

curt, i have to ask about sebastian gorka. source told cnn gorka submitted his resignation today after it was clear he wouldn't have a role going forward. but another official disputed gor gorka did not resign. also he's walking a fine line now that gorka is gone and bannon is gone. he's got to be really careful about that base. >> and i think you're seeing gorka had that letter written the minute steve left the white house. i think it was clear he was not going to survive. i'm sure all of us are expecting that announcement that gorka will be going back to breitbart just as bannon did. i think the real challenge for this white house for president trump that's really concerning is he keeps hemorrhaging staff and never replacing anybody. and so who's actually in place to take care of the business of the federal government particularly at a time when you have a major disaster happening and unfolding before our very eyes? who's actually doing something for this government? >> i've got to ask you something but i've got to get to th

his * sebastian gorka resigned from the white house.s the afghanistan policy have something to do with that? (keyboard sounds) dear freshpet, tank was overweight and had no energy. until freshpet... put the puppy back in my dog. lisa: sebastian gorka is out as deputy assistant to president trump. i want to talk about afghanistan as well as sebastian gorka. he's critical of president trump. i want to read your quote and get your thoughts on that. he says the peach removed i mention of radical islam or radical islamic terrorism. what were your thoughts on the president's speech and what were your thoughts on gorka's statements about it? >> i think the president has proven time and time again that he recognizes the role militant islamic terrorism plays. but there is as foundational ideology fueling that throughout the middle east and europe and pockets of the united states. so the president understands that. i thought not having that in the speech was more because he was focusing on the military strategy. i think it its concerning with som

i think sebastian gorka was on tv a lot.e was one of those people who had access to the president when they need to instill order. for the american people to look at this, anything that lessens chaos in the white house is good for the country. the positive move and i find it encouraging. >> 's been gone, gorka out, is this a sign that kelly is raining and the white house staff? >> it's a sign that were once stuff safer, someone like gorka to be dealing with national security is the chief advisor to the president on those issues is a bad thing. anything that gets him out of the circle and white house makes america a little bit safer. >> i was in phoenix the other night when he the president hinted about pardon daring joe arpaio, his supporters went wild in the arena. >> i don't think anybody questions that, those are matters of public record in public back. there's a sinister message here that's not getting as much attention which is the fact that this sends a subtle but strong message from our president to those people being

white house aide sebastian gorka out.d president trump pardons joe arpaio, tweeting i have just pardoned 85-year-old american patriot sheriff joe arpaio. he kept america safe. reaction to the president's pardon of sheriff arpaio has been swift. till us about it. >> swift. >> swift and growing condemnation on both sides. we should note that right out of the gate, the justice department and others are making it clear that this was distinctly president trump's decision. this was a call by him. this was a personal pardon by the president. a spokesman saying we respect his decision. a source telling cnn, this is the president's pardon. joe arpaio was a staunch supporter of president trump's during the campaign. i was the sur garogate on the campaign trail. he was convicted of criminal contempt for refusing to stop racially pro pilifiling latinos. there was a lot of speculation as to whether the president would be announcing a part at the rally. that speculation because the president's approval has narrowed. he has played more

deputy assistant sebastian gorka resigned, portions of his resignation letter. but within an hour the white house gave the statement sebastian gorka has not resigned but i can acknowledge he no long every works at the white house. did he resign or was he fired? >> to have a whenly official in the comms shop basically lie about how i left the white house, that disappointing. it's disturbing. the fact of the matter as was reported in the federalist and elsewhere after the afghan speech and i decided it's time to resign and support the president from the outside more effectively. i told general kelly, i requested a meeting with him. i informed him both over the phone and via e-mail on friday that as of that day i am resigning. those are the facts of the matter. >> are those the facts of the matter? we have documentary evidence from the white house an e-mail entitled staff, do not admit gorka. that's thing 2 in 60 seconds. >>> of like steve bannon beforehand, sebastian gorka continues to insist he voluntarily left the white house despite officials saying he did not

>> i think the important context to view the ouster of gorka under is chief of staff john kelly.ber, john kelly's been -- has been in the white house for about a month now and since his a rival, we've seen the departure of three of the most controversial white house figures within president trump's orbit. we've seen former communications director anthony scarmucci get shown the door and probably most significantly former chief strategist steve bannon and now gorka so i think what this signals is kelly has been given broad latitude to kind of clean house in what has been an extremely tumultuous white house. the question now that i'm hearing from gop operatives that are to the white house is, you know, this doesn't necessarily, just because kelly has been given the authority to impose order on white house staff, this doesn't change the president. donald trump is still the president. so whether or not kelly will be able to kind of put a curb it on the president's more free-wheeling style, that remains to be seen, and i don't think most sort of outside gop watchers are particularly t

i actually don't think that's what gorka was trying to do. think he was trying to say, hey, tillerson was speaking in his lane, mattis is speaking in his lane, and i want to say that i think what he meant by nonsensical was you shouldn't mix the individual roles of the state department with the defense department. i didn't really take it as a slam against the secretary of state's credibility or authority. i think he was trying sort of parcel out why they each had different statements and sort of what was the context behind that. >> colonel, how did you hear it? >> well, i think i heard it a little bit differently from my friend admiral kirby. i would say that, you know, for mr. gorka to say the things that he said really flies in the face of two major things. first of all, the constitution of the united states which predicates civilian control of the military, and the traditions that we have, where the state department is actually the number one when it comes to foreign engagements, foreign diplomacy in the military, plays a supporting role i

malcolm, who do you think that gorka is talking about there?, he's obviously talking about the three generals who have introduced common sense and american decency back into the white house. general kelly, general mcmaster, and you know, general mattis at defense department. gorka is an amazing character, you know, i can tell you from the counterterrorism community's perspective, he was never an expert in counterterrorism, and no one could figure out how he was rising up through the ranks, so to speak, by using his islamaphobic and bigoted, you know, information that he was spewing out to the special operations in marine corps and when he got, as a fox news analyst, got brought over to the white house, it was just obvious that steve bannon had brought him over there. we have now reintroduced common sense back to this story and real expertise on to the national security council staff. good ri danddance. >> this morning, kund kind of a confusion over whether it was a resignation or firing, i sent three different e-mails to hope hicks, the new int

he kept arizona safe" around the same time reports started to surface saying sebastian gorka was out at the white house, initial reports said gorka resigned in part because he did not aprove of the president's plans in afghanistan but white house officials told fox news gorka did not actually resign; however they did confirm that the national security advisor no longer works at the white house. all of this as weather officials watched hurricane harvey escalate to a category 4 hurricane. in a series of tweets democratic senator chuck schumer accused the president of using the hurricane as a cover to pardon arpaio, implement the transgender ban and avoid scrutiny. neil? >> neil: do we know in the case of gorka leaving, ellison that there are mixed reports as to whether chief of staff john kelly would let him talk to the president and tell him that and apparently refused? >> reporter: right we've heard reports of that here but what gorka has said in that statement that initially came out, he says he resigned we've heard from sources at the white house that he did not resign he was asked

gorka is out. of course what we're talking about, the arpaio pardon, all, quote, against the backdrop of this storm. can you remember a politician, pardon the dylan reference, seeking shelter from the storm previously to do a document drop? >> look, i don't offhand. but i'm not sure he was seeking shelter from the storm. i think this is a president who understands the news cycle in different ways than most of us and previous presidents. i don't think he needs to follow the traditional rhythm. we've had many weekends where big news happens with president trump. and there's part of me that imagines that when many americans are watching a storm which is the kind of event that attracts a lot of viewers, the president knew exactly what he was doing with a series of decisions, particularly the pardon. particularly the transgender order which appeal to the people who love him the most. and so, i'm not sure he was trying to bury this. i think he is constantly trying to find new ways to announce key positio

gorka from a white house official, sebastian gorka did not resign, but i can confirm he no longer works at the white house. then goes on to say, sadler's claim that she is a senior white house official is not true. she is not a senior white house official. she's a low level press staffer and commissioned officer as special assistant to the president. and lastly, the breitbart article says in addition her claim that gorka did not resign is also not true. gorka sent the president a detailed resignation letter as media outlets detailed. bannon said he will support the president in his agenda and also looks like he's supporting steve bannon's agenda and amounts to the classic friday night document dump which all recent administrations have done, none nor exquisitely than the obama administration, back to you. neil: depends where you're from and where you're working at the time being. thank you, doug mche will -- mcelway from the white house. and we'll have more on harvey in a minute. d it really shows. we've got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. had an accident with a vehicle, i actuall

gorka. you wonder what does he do to earn his $150,000 taxpayer funded salary. his title is deputy assistant to the president, worked with steve bannon, includes writing breitbart.com posts on national security. apparently has a problem with pajamas. >> the message i have, it is a simple one, bumper sticker, shawn, the era of the pajama boy is over january 20th, and the alpha males are back. >> poor pajama boy. he has a ph.d. from a questionable university in budapest, insists on being referred to as dr. gorka. considers himself a counterterrorism expert, most actual experts didn't know his name even a few years ago. tried to join national security council, was denied security clearance and has ties to ultra right groups in hungary, which is descended from actual nazis. here he is proudly wearing their pin. he denies ties to the group, said he wore it as a tribute to his dad. this is what he had to say about recent fire bombing of a mosque in minnesota. >> great rule. all initial reports are

top advisor gorka matter to you? it tells us something powerful about progress: that whether times are good or bad, people and their ideas will continue to move the world forward. as long as they have someone to believe in them. citi financed the transatlantic cable that connected continents. and the panama canal, that made our world a smaller place. we backed the marshall plan that helped europe regain its strength. and pioneered the atm, for cash, anytime. for over two centuries we've supported dreams like these, and the people and companies behind them. so why should that matter to you? because, today, we are still helping progress makers turn their ideas into reality. and the next great idea could be yours. it's a highly contagious disease that can be really serious... especially for my precious new grandchild. it's whooping cough. every family member, including those around new babies, should talk to their doctor or pharmacist about getting vaccinated. >> president trump's counterterrorism advisor sebastian gork

gorka was not someone who resigned. he was let go. it's an unusual thing to have that spill out into public. the thing with dr. gorka, as someone who followed his time in the white house, i don't really care. it's not part of the story whether he has a beard or whether he's a combative personality on television. he was somewhat of a typical president's inside of this white house. didn't speak in the same way about rules-based international work that we see on both sides of the political aisle. he was always this outsider in washington regardless of his appearance. i think him being out thereof is, again, a reaffirmation of the general mcmaster, general kelly, the more hawkish traditional voice rs asserting themselves as the power center. no longer bannon or gorka. >> we'll take another break in our coverage. you could say that we are covering to major newsmakers that are taking place in a circular motion. one of them the trump administration, the other a category 4 hurricane that is battering the coastline of texas. we'll be back with

i'm hoping gorka is the same, but i'm not really certain that's going to happen.e clearly appears to be angry, has been doing a lot of media since this happened to get his side of the story out there. so let's hope that he comes together and furthering his agenda. but that remains to be seen. >> and, doug, can you tell whether he'd be an advocate for the president outside the white house? >> you know, we don't know, but fredricka, let me tell you my last conversation face-to-face with reince priebus about two months ago. he asked me what i was hearing, i said, well, it's not very good. he asked how much of it had to do with staff. i said, reince, there's only one issue here and there's only going to be one issue. if you love donald trump, what this administration does, it's because of donald trump. if you don't love this administration and what it does, it's because of donald trump. that's going to stay that way regardless of who's hired, who's fired, what happens on a friday night with particular staff. it becomes very unimportant theater we all like to talk abou

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controversial presidential adviser sebastian gorka announced he was leaving. he said he was pushed out. tonight the president issued orders incompetent strukting the military to carry out the ban on transgender service members that he announced on twitter last month. we'll cover all of that. the weather channel's mike seidel in port lavaca, texas, northeast of corpus christi. >> reporter: we're taking the brunt of hurricane harvey early on a saturday morning here in port lavaca, texas. the rain has been unrelenting. over 5 inches. we could see four or five times that amount by the middle of next week. we're getting the eastern edge of the eyewall. we didn't get the eye itself. that was on shore in aransas county late friday night. those towns, including rockport, sustaining damage. some of that significant. we're hearing on first reports. concern now is the fact that wind is going to blow on shore through saturday and maybe into sunday. so this water that's piled up, it's approaching 6 feet, could go as high as 9 or ten feet. it will be slow to back out. the p

sebastian gorka out of the administration.here has been a tussle because he returned to "breitbart." he had a stinging resignation letter saying make america great people have been undermined. but there are report that gorka was forced out. emily: the white house says he was forced out. they didn't say he was fired. and gorka said he resigned. but i think there was sloppiness on the coverage friday night. howie: his main job at the white house was to be a cable news surrogate sticking it to the pundits. erin: i think steve bannon and sebastian gorka and others can still be effective trump surrogates from outside the white house. but it's fascinating the white house went so far as to try to clarify this. usually the white house want to keep a lid on this staff drama. i thought it was interesting. this is a little bit off that topic. but how the white house is handling things because in the middle of the week the white house put out a statement saying the president and mitch mcconnell are actually on the same page about things.

mcmaster asked about working with gorka and bannon.e a listen to this. >> this gentleman by the name of sebastian gorka. what's his role in the national security council? >> he is not in the national security council. what we have -- >> seems to represent himself as a spokesman on the national security. why is that? >> the scheduling people for the media and spokespeople is not my area of responsibility. >> can you and steve bannon still work together in this white house or not? >> i get to work together with a broad range of talented people. it is a privilege every day to enable the national security team. >> you didn't answer. can you and steve bannon work in that same white house. >> i am ready to work with anybody who will help advance the president's agenda. >> dancing around those questions. isn't he? reverend? with me all hour, and howard dean, richard painter, former white house ethics lawyer under george w. bush and brian darling, and eliysia brooks anda lawyers committee for civil rights representative. thank you for joining

none of them can tell you what sebastian gorka does. in fact, it's been reported that sebastian gorka doesn't even have a security clearance precluding him from sitting in on any of these sort of national security meetings. president trump sarcastic or not earlier this week thanked president putin for cutting down the u.s. government payroll. there seem to be about 155,000 reasons for letting sebastian gorka go from the white house in addition to the fact that he seems to do very little for our national security. >> in addition, you then have this memo. really quickly on this memo from an nsc official who was fired because of it. rich higgins talking about marxists and deep state actors. that is what's going into donald trump's brain. >> he read the memo after donald trump jr. sent it to him. >> who shouldn't have had it. >> just in terms of gorka, if this had been any other administration, rex tillerson would be calling the president and saying, i want that guy out, and he would be fired. it's kind of peculiar to me that tillerson is p

president trump's deputy assistant, sebastian gorka, has resigned.s letter of resignation the national security expert said people in the white house were undermining the president's policies. mr gorka was closely aligned to the nationalist steve bannon who was ousted earlier this month. a man has been shot and killed by security forces in brussels after attacking two soldiers with a knife. the man, a belgian of somali origin, shouted "allahu akbar" or " allah is the greatest." prosecutors said they were treating the incident as a terrorist attack. the soldiers were slightly wounded. two police officers in london have been slightly wounded tackling an armed man outside buckingham palace. a man in his 20s has been arrested. the metropolitan police said it was too early to speculate on a motive. stay with us here on bbc news. still to come. we'll have the latest from vegas and one of the most hyped contests in boxing history. now, they were small businesses that found themselves in trouble, during the financial crisis. but instead of helping them their

gorka.ry single one of them in the white house, i'd go right through that staff from a to z and talk to everybody and find out what they know about russian political activity inside the united states, collaboration with the russians and the rest of it. this is a serious threat to our national security and i will emphasize i think vladimir putin had a wonderful day watching cnn, fox and msnbc yesterday, laughing at what's going on in what used to be a global super power. >> perish the thought. congressman lieu, i wonder if, in your view, if you could tell us whether or not there is an iron-clad commitment among the various committees in correct me if i'm wrong who are investigating this matter to avoid granting immunity to any of these potential witnesses in a way that might obstruct or hinder or ultimately thwart robert mueller's investigation? >> i think it's too early to tell. the investigations are still ongoing. keep in mind, you can grant certain kinds of immunity and still allow prosec

when you take the joe arpaio situation, you take this gorka situation, what we're not talking about isalking about tax reform and laying the foundation. you come in september, they have to do the debt ceiling, passing a budget, we have these huge massive things let alone healthcare and that's not where the discussion is. somehow we need the president and the speaker and mcconnell get on the same page and put a unified message about tax reform on the table so the american people are ready for it when it comes up for a vote. >> do you think they will be able to get this done? at this point i'm betting on tax cuts not necessarily tax reform. what do they have 12 day once they get back to actually get real legislative victories? >> there's 12 legislative days on the calendar, six of those are fly in and fly out days. i don't think tax reform has to get nor will it get done before the end of september. the real deadline there is funding the government, getting the border wall funding done plus be able to put in, you know, dealing with the debt ceiling. i think you are going to find that it

is gorka right? >> i think he's completely wrong. it shows a lack of understanding of the president's broader policy when it comes to protecting americans at home and abroad with all terrorism. terrorism has manifested itself in many types of organizations. the president has charged us of developing policies and practices to attack terrorism wherever it exists in the world or where there wherever it would pose a threat to america's. we need to develop techniques that are global in their nature. we want to ensure terrorist do not have the capability to organize and carry out attacks. >> chris: what you make of this vision between america first and these globalist. >> i don't see a division. i think it's a question of tactics and how you achieve those. the present was clear that we are not undertaking nationbuilding. we'll shift our diplomatic aid and development programs as well to coincide with the president's view that the afghan government people must own their form of government must come to some reconciliation with all ethnic gro

sebastian gorka in washington, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen.t to begin with something you just said five days ago, you said, "the atmosphere here in the white house is absolutely wonderful. we've got a new broom sweeping through the communications shop in anthony scaramucci and we are humming along on all cylinders." plenty has happened since then. what's the atmosphere in the white house like today? fabulous. i literally just left the oval office, where we swore in general kelly as the president's new chief of staff. it was like a family gathering, great, great, great mood, lots of press interest, so we are very excited about recent developments. are you? quite interesting, this is a heck of a family you're living in, at the moment. mr scaramucci, who you so warmly welcomed last week, with his words to the new yorker has surely throwing a bomb into the building behind you, the white house. not at all. i know that's what our colleagues on the hill on the left and in the chattering classes of the leftist media would want people to believe, but i

>> reporter: i'll sake gorka first. gorka often controversial in his remarks has left the white house. he says that he resigned. a white house official says, no, but he no longer works here. he was in the orbit of steve bannon, chief stratstrategist, also departed a week ago so it was not a surprise gorka would be out. it was unclear what his role would be if he didn't have a national security advisory position and it's our understanding that chief of staff john kelly wanted a change how this was being handled so there was no place for gorka so he is out. when it comes to the pardon, this is really a big story. it's the first time the president is using his pardon authority. he did it without going through the normal channels of the department of justice. he can do that. typically, though, there's a long practice of review at the department of justice for any kind of pardon. in this case it's a recent conviction for the veteran sheriff of maricopa county, arizona. he has been convicted of criminal contempt because he di

catherine, there was something you wanted to say. >> about gorka. we should bear in mind it's not only that he didn't add value in his role in the white house because he didn't actually know anything about islam. he was actually creating harm. there was recently a terrorist attack, i think it was a mosque or an islamic center, he said the white house couldn't come out against it and call it an act of terrorism because it mike a fake hate crime. >> this was in minnesota, a week and a half ago. >> it feels like so much longer. yes, recently. so he was clearly passing along that advice within the white house and projecting it out to the rest of the world. it's not only that he didn't know anything. but he was, you know, polluting the water, basically. and encouraging people to second-guess actual discrimination, actual acts of terrorism that were occurring. >> the reporting indicated that part of the reason he had managed to hang on as long as he was able to is because he went on tv a lot. >> that seemed to have been his only job. >> his only job. char

gorka's departure. it was right at the moment there was a shift in the policy of afghanistan. (vo) when i brought jake home, i wanted him to eat healthy. so i feed jake purina cat chow naturals indoor, a nutritious formula with no artificial flavors. made specifically for indoor cats. purina cat chow. nutrition to build better lives. the whole country booking on choice hotels.com. four words, badda book. badda boom... let it sink in. shouldn't we say we have the lowest price? nope, badda book. badda boom. have you ever stayed with choice hotels? like at a comfort inn? yep. free waffles, can't go wrong. i like it. promote that guy. get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed. when you book direct at choicehotels.com. book now. it's time for the biggest sale of the year with the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your every move and automatically adjusts on both sides to keep you effortlessly comfortable. and snoring.... does your bed do that? the new 360 smart bed is part of our biggest sale of the year where all beds are on sale. and right now save 50% on the labor da

ali, gorka, what are you hearing in terms of resignation or getting the boot?er: so we're hearing both. and it's interesting because last night when we first saw this story pop up, i had one white house official telling me that sebastian gorka resigned because it was clear that he wasn't really going to be able tow a substantial path forward after all of the item ultimate that the west wing has seen in terms of staffing this month. every friday means some kind of if new departure and of course this friday was no exception to that. the person was basically telling me gorka resigned knowing that there was really no meaningful way for him to have a role going guard. and then of course another white house official coming out saying he's no longer with the white house but he didn't resign. mixed messaging there. on the white house point they're trying to save face a little bit because of course it looks good for them to say that someone that controversial has been pushed out and that he didn't resign, but they were the impetus for that. and then on the other hand, o

because first it was bannon, now it's gorka.m that nationalist thought process. what do you make of the fact that they're now both gone? >> some of it had to do with the fact that they were running kind of a rogue operation within the white house, right? sebastian gorka, i remember being on multiple programs where he would talk scornfully and sarcastically and making pronounce innocents about national security but he wasn't on the national security council. he had a vague undefined role. he would criticize other members of the administration apparently including the secretary of state which i think was the last straw that saw him get thrown out of there. steve bannon was kind of the same. they were so busy playing politics within the administration, so busy trying to sort of fight for the president's attention and undo their ideological enemies within the white house that, whether their view was going to prevail or not, the style with which they conducted this internal warfare was just unacceptable. the chaos within the white ho

gorka is where in that line? >> i don't work with dr. -- with sebastian gorka.m a previous life and a previous career but i have not spoken with him about the comments he made. while we're on dprk, let's stick to that. any questions on dprk? okay. hi, rich. >> and this is in the diplomatic lane. talking about china, south china sea, freedom of navigation. china says the recent u.s. navigation operation harms chinese sovereignty. this is an issue in response to what we've seen before. do issues like freedom of navigation, some economic issues, do they make for a more difficult campaign on north korea with china? >> freedom of navigation operations happen all around the world. they tend to get the most attention when they happen in the south china sea. they happen off the coast of canada. they happen in the waters offshore of our major allies, friends, all around the world. that's why we're focusing on it right now. that's why you're asking me that question because of the issue of dprk. as you know, secretary tillerson coming back from the asean conference where t

sebastian gorka says, wearing is merely ai medal tribute to his late father.dn't dad have a favorite thai? really? i don't about you, but i don't particularly where my father's neo-nazi metals. amy: and steve bannon? >> here is the politics have in the white house. president trump is clearly afraid to fire steve bannon because president trump probably wonders what else steve bannon -- he is destroying the country. amy: let me play what president trump had to say about him interesting that steve bannon is not a racist. pres. trump: i like mr. bannon. he is a friend of mine. it mr. bannon came on very lata. i went through 17 senators, governors, and i want all of the primaries. mr. bannon came on much later than that. he's a good man. .e is not a racist he actually gets a very unfair present that regard. we will see what happens with mr. bannon. he is a good person. i think the press treatats them ununfairly. >> donald trump really is the expert on saying whether someone is racist? give me a break. come on. i am intrigued by that clip. we had heather heyer die o

i think the gorka news is you know, gorka has tried to go out on his own terms. the story out there is he submitted his resignation letter, he said forces aligned with make america great again are descend enter adescendant ad the ascendant forces are trying to get him out, and he was getting hit on all sides and wasn't able to do what he wanted to do. i agree with nicolle, he wouldn't have a job in any other white house even as an intern. there are a lot of people who question his academic credentials. he's a one-note sally on violent extremism all the time. a lot of people will be celebrating that he's out. the question is whether it changes the president's thinking. that's very much an open question. i don't think it will change the essential way the president sees the world and views things like violent extremism. >> matthew, because we've all been in this business too long, we ourselves made warnings at our editorial meeting around dinner time tonight that this is a friday night in summer. traditionally a time when you get news out. the problem is, you just d