i spoke with david axelrod and david gergen and maggie haberman who reported that "new york times" storyoriginal letter appeared to provide the clearest rationale for firing mr. comey. what specifically does that mean? >> it's a wonderful question. we have not seen the letter. so we're trying not to say what we don't know. what is described to us is it was an unfettered screed. several people used the word screed who are familiar with the content of the letter. it was the president talking about his views of comey and his views of comey's professionism over the course of the clinton e-mail investigation and through the course of 2016. and he made a reference -- i'm paraphrasing here, but he made a reference to comey telling him, the president in private conversations that he was personally not under investigation. the implication was obviously related to the russia investigation. which was ongoing at that point, and mr. comey's refusal to say that publicly and to publicly clear the president. but basically, this was a stew on the part of the president, that he had been laboring over ment

david axelrod, you first.ave this breaking news tonight after president trump's dinner with the democratic leaders. those leaders put out a statement tonight and i want to read them, as much of it as we can read. we had a very productive meeting at the white house with the president. the discussion focused on daca. we agreed to enshrine the protections of daca into law quickly and to work out a package of border security excluding the wall that's acceptable to both sides." and that's chuck schumer. what do you think of this, the president -- they agreed to enshrine daca outside of the wall? >> what i think is that a lot of people in washington are going to be walking around with neck braces tomorrow from whiplash because things have changed so dramatically, so quickly. but look, let's understand something about donald trump. he can be a demagogue but he's not really an ideologue. there are not many things that he seems to have deep convictions about. the thing he has a deep conviction about is his image as a d

david axelrod, always a pleasure. thank you. >> same here. great to see you. >> thank you. and what david just mentioned, newly released cnn poll, shows where the country stands on the nfl protests and president trump's reaction to them. >>> and i've got montel williams waiting in the wings here. he's going to weigh in. a marine, you know, why the military veteran has been passionately defending the players taking a knee. is this a phone? or a little internet machine? it makes you wonder: shouldn't we get our phones and internet from the same company? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. >>> as another sunday approaches for america's favorite sport, the country will once again focus their attention on how nfl players choose to observe the national anthem. air week of conversations that -- after a week of conversat

i will bring in david axelrod. i wanted to get your reaction to lindsay gram. he predicts at least two democrats would vote for this bill. could you imagine a scenario or is that wishful thinking in your view? >> the democrats held firm against the previous bills. this is not more desirable than the other bills. it would be hard to understand how democrats would shift their position based on a bill that most of the analysts and disease groups, medical groups say is worse in some ways than the previous bills. look, i'm not there and lindsay gram is having conversations. a lot of people thought lindsay gram would deliver john mccain and that hasn't happened. now they will have to fish in that other pond if they have any hope of beating this september 30th -- this september 30th deadline. one thing i would say, he mentioned there may be republican senators breathing a sigh of relief. i think there is an element of mccain taking other people off the hook because, you know, as david mentioned he has a very tough diagnosis, not likely he will be running for reelectio

. >> joining us now, cnn political analyst and "new york times" correspondent, and david axelrod.hat she was responding to the homeland security secretary. >> there's a problem with making sweeping declarations in any kind of disaster. we have seen it in new york with the mayors over many years and this is a much broader scale. there's a degree in the trump administration where officials are adopting the same language the president does constantly is something of self praise and how well they are doing because that's important to the president. you can look at the images of what is going on and see the delays. i think you said it before, right before i came on, the two things can be true, it can be true that there are efforts to make this happen and it can be true that it's not good enough. when you listen to this mayor, her words are pretty heartbreaking and clearly heartfelt. this is not going to end anytime soon. you have the president this morning tweeting about how big decisions are going to have to be made about rebuilding and that feels, i think, for people there dealing wi

let's and analyst david axelrod. what did you think?north korea's been defining presidents for decades. so there is a great deal of frustration. and they've been particularly provocative this year, so that needs to be noted. the question is getting into more of a soph mauric word of taunts with an unstable leader with nukewer weapons is the right way to go. and it's not really clear where all of this leads. most people believe any kind of military conflict ends in catastrophic amounts of damage and death. and so we need to pursue a diplomatic path. i'm not sure what he did today gets us there. and ben carden raised an interesting point about iran, which is if we walk away from an agreement if there's no material evidence it's been violated, what does that mean? what would that mean to the koreans in terms of entering into any kind of negotiation for nonproliferation here? and the one person who may be happy about this -- i don't know -- is elten john, whose song has now become part of the debate. i've heard that. >> jeffrey toobin, what

does this add to a sense that there was an in tent just as david axelrod said was there a motivationller down. does this add to the weight of that charge. the fact that the white house counsel does not want the president to send the letter because as maggie reported, he found it, quote, problematic, think there are things in there that suggest -- that the white house counsel didn't want mueller or the public to see. so you have to say that there is something going on here that the white house would block the letter, but we did -- we didn't be definitive. it may add to the weight of mueller concluding that the intention on the part of the president was to distract. >> and talking about the comey firing, the white house staffer that delivered the letter, keith schiller who is a close aide to donald trump for decades is telling people he's leaving the white house because of financial reasons. and the white house press office denies the story and you know his place in the presidential orb -- orbit. would it surprise you that he left. >> i think that he had not plan pd on being in washing

don't miss "the axe files" with david axelrod. this week's guest james baker, of course. that's saturday night at 7:00 eastern right here on cnn. >>> and when we come back, players lock arms in solidarity at tonight's packers-bears game. but president trump says the owners are afraid of them. is that a dog whistle or a megaphone to his base? and the president is not the only one exploiting racial divisions. we have exclusive new cnn reporting about how russia tried to stoke race tension during the election. ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ well i'm gone you won't see these folks they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. get a 4 week trial, plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. >>> president trump is not done with the nfl feud saying today he thinks the owners are afraid of t

don't miss the axe files with david axelrod. that's saturday night at 7 eastern right here on cnn. >>> and when we come back, players lock arms in solidarity at the game. the president is not the only one exploiting racial divisions. we have exclusive new cnn reporting about how russia tried to stoek race tension during the election. we've had a lot to do with (muswhat you've been doing. ♪ your browsing. your posting. your selfie-ing. your- you know what you've been up to. in fact, you wouldn't be doing any of it if our engineers hadn't gotten to doing it first. every 9.8 seconds you're reaching for it, that thing we did. no, we're not the name you think of when you think of smartphones. but we are the smart behind every phone you can think of. and we're just getting started. because the company that changed everything with the smartphone... is about to change everything about everything else. i enjoy the fresher things in life.o. fresh towels. fresh soaps. and of course, tripadvisor's freshest, lowest... ...prices. so if you're

this is what david axelrod and all the obama things were saying with us was so unpopular and half inhe first place. that it may not be popular now, but how popular it will be when republicans try to repeal it, and that is exactly how it played out. charlie cole and republicans will go to voters in 2018 without the repeal and replacement of obamacare, correct? bob: we will have to see. it's only september of 2017. you see the majority leader on tuesday saying while tax reform is the next thing on the agenda, he thinks it is more doable than health care. health care has been emotionally charged for republicans and democrats. s onlook at the protest capitol hill, and on tax reform, mcconnell and trump relieved that at least when it comes to cutting tax rates -- or get about deductions of the broader aspects of tax reform -- at least on rates, maybe the party can come together and have a majority of votes to get behind that. charlie where does it stand now? that thestands now leaders on capitol hill, speaker ryan and mitch mcconnell, have agreed to an outline working with the treasury se

let's get to david axelrod. first speech at the general assembly. it's always a big deal.er deal for this president who has more questions to answer. without question. he always stated america first, we will look after ourselves and everybody else looking after themselves, and he's suggesting sovereignty issues concern him and suggesting they are not carrying their load. he's facing a very skeptical body there, and this will be a challenging space. at the end of the day he's concerned about domestic audiences as well as international audiences. >> do these speeches shift the sands geopolitically? >> i think it does. the president of the united states has enormous power. i always said when president's speak it could send army's marching and markets tumbling, and here you have to hear from him on american policy, and it's significant. this is not just another political event. >> this is happening with this new cnn report overnight, the exclusive from cnn, paul manafort had his phones tabbed with fisa warrants twice during the campaign. this is not a drip but a torrent of wat

. >> sandra: i want to bring in former obama senior advisor, david axelrod and his thoughts that if congress fails to re-legalize daca, he'll revisit it. >> kennedy: he's tackling a couple of different things. one is the legality of it. former president obama said in 2011 that that's not how democracy works, that he cannot just circumvent congress and crack his own immigration policy which is what he did in 2012 and it was politically convenient for him when he was running for reelection and that's when he signed the executive order. it's really interesting because his own lawyer who helped crack the executive order, president obama's lawyer, said that if this were to be challenged in court, it would lose. they knew they were on shaky legal ground. the interesting thing, you talk about congress working together, both sides actually want immigration to work out. they have not been able to do it. they've taken so many whacks of the pinata, the only real chance they had was in 2009 and 2010 when they had both congress and the presidency. that's when president obama should have tackled immigrati

i was on with david axelrod. he said he cried when obamacare was passed.d because he had a dur with epilepsy. he had a hard time pag for her medical bills before obamacare. under your bill will every single american be able to afford health conditions? if states get a waiver that basically come won't afraid because of those with preexisting conditions. >> yeah. first, i have a child with a preexisting condition. i have a disabled daughter. this is a concern for me. i am on the obamacare exchanges. i am not buying affordable health insurance right now. my health insurance premiums are over $30,000 a year for silver plan. my deductibles are about $10,000 a year. i don't know how -- and they are not allowed to discriminate against me. that's what everybody pays. i buy insurance because i have a daughter with preexisting condition. if i had healthy kids i might be an off label than what's on obamacare exchanges. that's what's happening. folks like me who have children who need that kind of care we are buying insurance even though it's really high cost. people

former secretary of state james baker talks to david axelrod about it on tomorrow's "ax files". >> i think it's outrageous there are plenty of ways that you can call into question some of the racism that may still exist in this country, but that's the wrong way to do it. you don't -- you don't denigrate -- the one thing that used to, and i hope it still will, unify us, is that we're all americans. >> colin kaepernick expressing a sentiment many people in the community feel about injustice, about the problems within our criminal justice system, that are deeply felt and he drew attention to them. he made clear he wasn't protesting the military, the flag. he was exercising the rights that the flag offer to him. >> you can't tell me not standing up for the national anthem with your hand over your heart is not denigrating the national anthem or the flag. it is. >> all right. you can watch the rest of david's interview with james baker tomorrow night 7:00 p.m. eastern on the "ax files" on cnn. diabetes can be a daily struggle, even if you're trying your best. along with diet and exercise,

. >> david axelrod on wednesday tweeted this -- wondering if harvey might call potus to think his proposeda funding? we had houston mayor, sylvester turner say we need an army of fema agents, he said that just yesterday. any indication that this natural disaster has swayed the president to rethink that policy? >> you just asked the key question, that we should all be asking. how does president trump look at himself in the mirror knowing that he is slashing fema, and now we need fema more than ever? he's trying to cut the environmental protection agency, you know by 30%. and we now have an environmental disaster going on in the gulf south. this idea of slashing, slashing, but then we're going to need billions of dollars of appropriations, you know, at some point you can't believe the b.s. of your own campaign trail. federal government is there for a reason. fema needs funding, the epa needs funding, we need big infrastructure money for the gulf south. they need a marshall plan for the waterway system around houston. you're seeing the high gas prices. houston ship channel there, it's very vu

or david axelrod and a bunch of congressional democrats.ff doesn't normally happen. and it goes to bannon's independence from the party. it goes to the fragility of the coalition that trump put together. it is a republican coalition, but it's not a traditional republican coalition. and there is a lot of disdrus happening on the republican side of the aisle. moderate republican congressmen and women announced retirements fairly far out. you're seeing senate republicans ponder retirements. corker and the hatch retirement. you begin to wonder, what are they going to get done before the entire thing begins to implode and how big a role will steve bannon play in the implosion? >> i also want to ask both of you about climate change. it's something -- sam, you've been writing about this. something that has not been raised in much of the coverage. we've been covering these back-to-back storms. i know there's no cause and effect relationship that can be established, but there are certainly trends. >> sure. >> and warmer waters are certainly one of t

cnn political analyst mark preston is here, ma leaka henderson and david axelrod.l for joining us. it was a fascinating debate on health care, but let's talk about this story that has been really raging all weekend. there's escalating tensions in north korea, hurricane aftermath in puerto rico, battle for health care as we just heard, tax reform. president trump is on day three of attacking nfl players who kneel in protest during the national anthem. why did he pick this particular fight? >> i think in many ways this is where the president is most comfortable, not only fighting but fighting the culture war, kind of framing himself as a defender. and i think he typically i think is playing along with white identity politics and sort of great grievance politics, right. i think he is talking to white americans who have some cultural anxiety about the sort of demographic changes that we see in this country. and this has been a feature of this president even going back to when he was right. his entire identity was another sort of racial dog whistle around the president,

axelrod. >> what are we going to build? >> this model. >> 13-year-old davidrother daniel and their 9-year-old pal, michael elliott are lego fanatics. >> i have a huge lego bin in my house. >> huge lego bin. >> huge. pretty simple. see it in your mind. build it with your hands. >> if you know what pieces to use how to use them where to put them. >> reporter: if you know those things, then you are good to go. with whatever you can imagine? >> yeah. >> reporter: it's been that way since the danish company began exporting lego here in 1961. >> a whole new world to build. >> reporter: with ref knee down this year and profits too, the company is running into some digital head winds. >> do you guys play video games? >> oh, yeah, i do. a lot. >> parents report more than 60% of kids, 12 and under now use touch screens in their play. less than 50% use blocks. >> i like to say that toy industry is a 19th century industry struggling like hell to get into the 21st century. >> with creative marketing, lego is a model for old school toymakers struggling to deal with the dig