abby phillip, you're joining us now as well. and abby, look. the president responded to your important question saying that it was a stupid question. he actually didn't answer it. and on top of that, abby, it's important to call out and note that the president also threatened to take away more reporter credentials. >> yeah, poppy. you know, in that gaggle, it's usually really loud. a lot of reporters out there screaming questions at the president. i tried to ask him multiple questions during the gaggle. he ignored most of them. one of the questions i tried to ask was whether he was punishing reporters because he didn't like their questions. he refused to answer that, but later on, i did ask him one of what i think is the most pressing questions that a lot of people have about this matt whitaker appointment, which is what's the intention here? does the president want his new acting attorney general to rein in robert mueller? does he want him to step in in a way that jeff sessions did not, which is why the president was so upset with jeff session

and she asked the questions, just as our colleague, abby phillip does. and let's just cut to the chase. what the president does, and i've been on the receiving end of it too. i've been called rude, you know, a year-and-a-half ago, the last time we talked. just because i asked a regular question. what the president does is he goes after the person who is asking a question and he doesn't like the content of it. even though and especially when it's a legitimate question. and that goes for april, and that certainly went for abby today, who asked the question -- the question of the day in a very straight forward, very matter of fact way about whether or not his expectation was that matthew whitaker would, you know, do something to quash the mueller probe. that's it. >> wait a second. wait a second. how about, what do all these people have in common? >> well, that was -- >> april, abby phillip. >> that was going to be my next. take it away, jeff. >> sorry, i didn't mean to. >> go for it. >> ymeechi el cinder. >> she works for pbs. >> all black women. how about

we have the latest from abby phillip with the latest. abby, take it away. >> reporter: good morning, christine. president trump arrived undercover of darkness last night. and a cloud of controversy overshaove overshadowing the trip to the g20. the president talked to reporters about the guilty plea his former attorney michael cohen announced yesterday. the president seemed visibly agitated by that news. he is coming into g20 in a terrible mood distracted by the controversies and cancelling some meetings on the agenda. one of which would be the meeting with vladimir putin scheduled for saturday morning. that was supposed to be two hours long. now it has been scrapped. that could be because of the controversy in ukraine as the president said, but also an effort by the president to change the subject from controversy back home which has threatened to overshadow the visit. the president and white house announcing he has made some of his meetings with foreign leaders public rather than former sit-downs. he has really important things still on

president -- >> brennan: the president there speaking about abby phillips of cnn who is a very smart ournalist. you also heard jim acosta, abby ryan, all getting real fire from the president. what's happening here? the president always seems to be combative with the press but to many this seems a new level of aggression. >> i think that the mid-term election and the set back he suffered there has maybe changed his psychological frame and not for the better. we were used to this kind of a vexed relationship, we've had it with him from the start. but what you saw this past week was really very different order. stripping the credential of the cnn correspondent jim acosta that is something that no recent president in memory has tried to do. and the attacks, verbal attacks on april ryan, abby phillips and others are particularly, i think, problematic because the three of them are african american women. for him to say to yamish a former colleague that asking him a very valid question about his inflammatory rhetoric is somehow a racist rhetoric i think really is at some level beyond the pa

howie: and the president unloaded on abby phillips. >> you want to rein in robert mueller?dent trump: what a stupid question. but i watch you a lot and you ask a lot of stupid questions. president trump: after telling april ryan to sit down, trump brought her up as well. president trump april ryan, you talk about somebody who is a loser. she doesn't know what the hell she is doing. she gets publicity and she gets a contract with cnn, but she is very nasty. howie: the president regularly rips the media, but calling the questions nasty, stupid, racist. mollie: he was in rare form this week. we have a president who is getting more personal in his insults against the reporters and a press corps decreasing its journalistic standards. the american public losses out. we are not getting questions that have fair assumptions. we know they hate the president. but do they respect the office at all? howie: i wouldn't say all journalists hate the president. but the president has every right to push back on what he sees as unfair coverage. when he told abby she asked a stupid question, it

. >> that was abby phillips of cnn. joins me now. kir sten powers and michael caputo. atching the president there. april ryan african american. and abby phil lips as well. and spoke to an african american reporter the saying the question was racist. some says there's a racial component to this. the president willing rns to call african americans stupid. do you see that? >> yeah, i do. he plays on racial troeps that go all the way back totd beginning of this country. and the idea that black people aren't as smart as white people. in our past have literacy tests for black people in order to vote. it's not a coincidence he talks about whether it's don lemon having a low iq or maxine waters. or lebron james. and now we're supposed to believe abby phillip is asking a stupid question. there's a constant theme here. it's frankly out of the white supremacist play book. it's classic. >> michael? do you believe that. >> of course not. i don't. the president is a equal opportunity abuser. when it comes to the media. i don't believe the president is antiblack. anymore that i believ

and cnn's abby phillip. abby, i guess this was a win for the first lady. i don't know if that's way she or her team would see it. it's certainly a sign of the impact she can have. >> it does seem, though, like a double-edged sword for her. in the first place, the fact she has to be public about this, this is a sign that she hasn't been able to influence her husband and, therefore, even his staff to get what she needed done behind the scenes and not go nuclear as she had to do this week. yeah, she did force the president's hand. she did in some ways kind of publicly humiliated him by doing it without letting him know it was going to be happening. he was blind sided by it according to our sources. so both of these things are kind of both pluses and minuses for her. i think ricardel is gone but she's not fired from the administration. she's just being moved somewhere else. at least as far as we know. i think it leads to a lot of questions about what more might be behind this? it does seem that an interpersonal dispute between the first lady's staff and deputy

. >> cnn's abby phillip is live at the white house for us. abby, you were there. you heard the president say he doesn't know matt whitaker. is that true? >> well, kate, he said it so many times, it really leads you to believe that this is the same sort of thing that he has been doing with a lot of people, that maybe he's trying to distance himself from. it is not true that he doesn't know matt whitaker. they had many meetings together here at the white house in the oval office and beyond that, matt whitaker was put at the justice department in part because he was seen as a trump loyalist. some of his comments about the robert mueller investigation had caught the attention of the president and people in the white house. that's really the reason why he was elevated to the position as chief of staff. and now as acting attorney general. but the president saying that in response to questions about whether or not this appointment is even legal, he didn't answer that really at all. but he said matt whitaker is very respected. even though one of the problems is that the w

he talked about you out of nowhere and he also had some choice words for my colleague, abby phillip. watch. >> yeah. >> same thing with april ryan. i watch her get up, i mean, you talk about somebody that's a loser, she doesn't know what the hell she's doing. she gets publicity and then she gets a pay raise or she gets a contract with, i think, cnn, but she's very nasty. and she shouldn't be. >> do you want him to rein in robert mueller? >> what a stupid question that is. what a stupid question. but i watch you a lot, you ask a lot of stupid questions. >> that last, though, was directly to abby phillip. what's your reaction, april, to this? is this just the president, you know, day 750 of him taking on the media? >> he's trying to show that he's strong against the press. we're the enemies. he wants to set an example with what he thinks or who he thinks are weak. we are not weak. abby phillip is a highly educated, very intelligent, smart, great reporter who asks real questions and deserved a real answer. yamiche is a very smart journalist, highly educated journalist who deserved an an

cnn white house correspondent abbie phillip joins us now live from the white house. any indication, abbie, that this good economic changes the president's closing argument? >> reporter: jim, rarely have we seen this kind of message from the president when it comes to immigration. as you point out, the economy is so strong, the economy is the thing that republicans believe that they ought to be running on. instead, president trump is really focussing the entire energy of the federal government on this issue of what is happening on the southern border. beginning yesterday, when he used the white house as a backdrop for remarks about the immigration issue on the border and saying that he would next week sign an executive order changing asylum rules to make it more difficult for people coming up from central america to gain asylum once they get to the u.s. border. he also made another eye brow raising claim as he said this week there would be some 15,000 u.s. military troops sent to the border. he actually also said that perhaps if migrants threw rocks at them, they ought

abby phillip is at the white house with more.white house have any answers to how the president justifies that extraordinary use of american military force on the u.s. border here? >> well, the white house is pointing to that issue, pointing to the president sending troops to the border and saying that they are the ones dealing with

we played, abby phillip plays it. i want to play it again, what the president said about momentum last night. listen to this. >> we did have two maniacs stop a momentum that was incredible because for seven days, nobody talked about the elections. it stopped a tremendous momen m momentum. >> i mean, it is -- it's just callous. and it's so transparently cynical, i think, is what is so shocking about it. i mean, what he's talking about in two maniacs is what's being considered domestic terrorism. and also, the worst attack, the deadliest attack against american -- jews in american history. what should people -- what should people do with this? are people paying attention to his words? when you're talking to voters. >> they are, i don't know that you're going to hear people -- i don't know how much people tune in to any individual trump speech, right? but they certainly do tune in to the big picture of how he's responded over the last two weeks. you know, i was in washington yesterday talking to republicans who are deepl

cnn white house correspondent abby phillip joins us now live from the white house. you got good economic numbers today. any indication the president changes his overall message of fear four days until the election? >> great economic numbers, jim. the question of why isn't the president talking more about it is one that i think a lot of republicans are asking today. the president has been pushing something completely different over the last few days. and has been dedicating virtually all of his public energy, his time, his tweets to pushing this idea that there is a crisis and an invasion at the border. he's even gone so far as to suggest that the u.s. troops that he's sending to the border in a support capacity should greet rocks with guns. >> anybody throwing stones, rocks, like they did to mexico and the mexican military, mexican police, where they badly hurt police and soldiers of mexico, we will consider that a firearm. because there's not much difference. when you get hit in the face with a rock, which as you know, it was very violent a few days ago. very, very

. >> the last one is abby phillip. she works here. up with angela rye and niger innis. >> we know he's nasty. he also attacks black people. particularly black women. almost 250 times. that is a number donald trump used the word dumb to refer to anybody on twitter. the problem is, he uses language insulting the intelligence of black people overwhelmingly. on twitter and person. low iq he called nmaxine waters. and questioned the intelligence of a widow mourning the loss of her husband. he has a problem with women of color. and particularly women of color. women of color who have the opportunity to question him. and challenge him on antics and lies. challenge him on the policies he pushes out that are racist. bigoted and he has an issue with black women. >> let's flip it. to you think you can say with 100% certainty the president is not influenced at all by any opinions about race when he makes comments like this to people of color? >> i can't say that about you. or angela. or myself. i can't dig into the soul of a particular individual

[laughter] joining me now, senior white house correspondent abby phillip. robert costa from the washington post. and mona chair in from the senior ethics and public policy center. her column is widely circulated. welcome to all of you. [applause] i will direct my questions -- we can do this individually, but i wanted to be more like a conversation. if you want to ask, i am not territorial about the moderator role. i think at the time when prospects of an unexpected presidential tweet have reporters feeling like a longtailed cat in a roomful of walking chairs, -- rocking chairs, inc. we can have a comfortable conversation and staff twitter -- stay off twitter. [laughter] mona, we hear a lot today about americans being more polarized than ever. obviously, this is from people who neglected to study the civil war, but i want your sense of how bad it is. >> i think mentioning the civil war is a good reality check. one might also site the 1950's. i was a child in the 1960's. i can remember in the neighborhood where our family had just moved out of -- we moved in

abby phillip is at the white house with more. does the white house have any answers to how the president justifies that extraordinary use of american military force on the u.s. border here? >> well, the white house is pointing to that issue, pointing to the president sending troops to the border and saying that they are the ones dealing with what they have characterized as a crisis on the border. and saying that democrats have refused to do so, but jim, this whole thing is part of a broader closing argument from president trump and his allies that's focused on the issue of immigration. that ad that you just played earlier today is designed to get attention and designed to shock. but a lot of people are asking, is it also racist? is the president's rhetoric around immigration and also that ad, is that a dog whistle to his supporters? he spoke to cbn news in an interview yesterday and here's how he responded to those charges. >> you know, the word racist is used about every republican that's winning. any time ap aren is leading, th

this is trump being questioned by cnn's abby phillip >> d1 him to bring in robert mueller? pres. trump: what a stupid question that is. what a stupid question. i want you a lot. you ask a lot of stupid questions. pres. amy: abby phillip is one of three prominent african-american women reporters attacked by trump in recent days. last wednesday, trump accused pbs reporter yamiche alcindor of asking a racist question at a white house news conference, after she asked trump whether he was emboldening white nationalists. trump went on to attack april ryan of american urban radio networks, whom trump repeatedly told to sit down on wednesday as she tried to ask a question about voter suppression. pres. trump: the same thing with april ryan. i watch her get up. i mean, you talk about somebody that is a loser. she doesn't know what the hell she is doing. she gets publicity and then she gets a pay raise or to get the contract with i think cnn, but she isis very nasty. she should not be. amy: in more news from the justice department, jeff sessions signed a last-minute order limiting the use

he went after our journalists, jim acosta, abby phillips, many women. all in less than two years. ow you, the american people, and i say you, because in many elections across the country, certain sectors of the electorate decided to continue to support people that were openly segregationists, people openly in support of guns, people that were openly xenophobes and women showed up and tyingly black women showed up at the polls. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption cont

he has been tougher on jim acosta and abby phillip than the heir to the throne in saudi arabia.k that's a bipartisan, moral question that anna asked, which we all need to ask ourselves, is, you know, when are republicans especially going to stand up and say enough is enough? and i think that we're actually giving the president of the united states slightly too much credit here. i don't think he's manipulating norms. i think he's flatley ignorant of them. i don't think he understands processes. i don't think he knows any better. i think he's 70 years old-plus, so we're not going to be able to teach it to him. i think he fundamentally doesn't know. do democrats have a message for that? i think democrats do have a message. what we're coming off of is democrats picking up 39, 40 seats in the united states house. we had a map that was not conducive in the united states senate, and we had emotional ties to candidates such as beto, andrew and stacy, which lost. but now democrats have to actually lead. and we cannot get in front of our skis, and we have to make sure we show that we can

abby phillip, who always asks smart questions, by the way -- abby phillip, where do democrats stand onchment question? i thought it was interesting, nadler this weekend, he had some comments saying, listen, you know, this is a divisive path to take. you've got to make sure you have more of the country than just democrats on board for that. but is it your read from covering the politics in washington that democrats are shying away from going that path? >> absolutely. at least the democrats in washington. they understand that that is so fraught for them that even while impeachment is sort of like something hanging over the heads of their base, enticing them, that it could be -- pretty poisonous for democrats in the long term. just look at a couple of months ago, just before the kavanaugh hearings. the argument we were hearing from republicans, from president trump, is if democrats take office, they're going to try to impeach me. republicans think impeachment is a great argument for them. they thought it was a good argument for them going into the mid terms. and chances are president trum

tearing into cnn abby phillips during a press gal outside the white house. listen to this. >> -- involved in the russia probe? president trump: that's up to him. >> do you want him to rein in robert mueller? >> what a stupid question. but you ask a slot of stupid questions. lou: i don't know where they find these reporters over there. i don't know how they come up with these questions. i don't know why anybody puts up with them at all at the white house. be sure to vote in tonight's poll. do you think any reasonable person would support voter i.d. laws to insure voter integrity. it seems like voter i.d. laws would make so much sense. but the courts say no. that those are -- those courts are not necessarily objective on the issue. follow me on twitter @loudobbs and instagram fat "lou dobbs tonight." the latest from california. two wildfires are out of control and they are just devastating. more on the controversial recounts looming in until. we'll take that up after the break. we'll be right back. the day after chemo shouldn't mean going back to the doctor ju

let's start with abby phillip live at the white house. >> reporter: this is a closing argument designed to shock and it's one that might be one of the most controversial in recent political history. president trump releasing an ad demonizing illegal immigrants and democrats are trying to change the issues back to health care, an issue most voters talk about. president trump tweeting the most racially charged political video in decades, accusing democrats to overrun the country with criminals. it's reminiscent of the notorious willy horton ad in 1988 which played directly into white fear and african-american stereotypes. >> despite a life sentence he received ten weekend passes from prison, and he stabbed a man and repeatedly raped his girlfriend. >> reporter: it's said to change the argument from family unification to invasion. >> they have to distract. they have to fearmonger. his dog whistle of all dog whistles is immigration. >> president trump makes falls claims about the migrants making their way through mexico. >> there's a lot of rough people in those crowds. there's a lot of you

let's begin our coverage with cnn's abby phillip live at the white house. >> reporter: president trump made the fact that he will use fears about immigration as a central campaign tactic in the final days before the midterms and now he's using the white house as the backdrop of the federal government to promote mistruths at the border. the rhetoric has become the centerpiece of mid-term pitch. >> if you don't want america to be overrun by masses of illegal aliens and giant caravans you better vote republican. >> reporter: president trump criticized the 14th amendment of the constitution. >> this policy we can end. >> reporter: and suggesting without evidence democrats are funding the migrants heading to the border. democrats and a few republica republicans -- >> this is not politics as usual. this is about hate. >> what is happening is wrong and it's repelling people. i think this kind of heated rhetoric is not going to win elections. >> reporter: earlier today the president using the backdrop of the white house to deliver a speech that was riddled with falsehoods about immigrants. >>

white house correspondent abby phillip has more as she is listening to these remarks. er: that is right, christine. you hit the nail on the head. cordial interaction. it was that, in part, because the two have history. president trump sometimes these interactions can be more stoic. we saw him coming into the meeting walking up to the staircase with the stern look on his face. as the president macri spoke moments ago, you saw the president relax into this moment. this is the first interaction of a very long day ahead of president trump here at the g20. you know, bright and early this morning, right before he was about to leave his hotel to go into the meeting, the president was tweeting about all sorts of other subjects. specifically the special counsel probe. defending himself and his business dealings and defending against accusations that any dealings he had with russia during the campaign were inappropriate. shortly after that, pivoted back to the g20 saying he was looking forward to some of the meetings. we will see how long this lasts. how long president trump can

a colleague of ours here and cnn own's abby phillip is one -- >> i'm missed. i -- mad. president was a bully. some will say he is an equal opportunity bully. some will say you're a loser. you're stud ppid. he is invoking and stirring up stereo types, who we are more deeply nan anybody else. he should be ashamed of himself but he is not. there was a photograph that was captured of seeing him, you know, pointing his finger in a way that it should be totally unacceptable. what do we expect from this president? this is who he really is. he has a disdain for african americans and other people of color whether it is calling countries that are dominated by people of color. from the central park vieb to this moment. >> congresswoman as a former journalist what did you make of all of that? >> the president was disgraceful. he behaved in a way the president should never behave. how he is directing his comments to people of color, you know, we shouldn't have a president who feels like he can speak in those tones, whether it's to african americans, whether it's about people coming

. >> the praez was asked yesterday by our abby phillips if he appointed whitaker to reign in mueller, and he didn't answer the question. instead he attacked the questioner. can you think of any other reason he would have appointed whitaker other than to do just that? whitaker has maybe the bare essentials to be attorney general. he wasn't next up in the line of succession. he is out there making these statements. what if he was saying the opposite? he would be an outrageous pick to oversee this investigation. people would be going nuts, and rightly so. i think it's quite transparent why the president chose him and i think it's going to be a real problem. >> is it time for congress to pass legislation to protect mueller? >> well, you know, it's interesting. i think the plingz of the situation will save mueller. i think that smart republicans have always been telling the president don't touch the mueller investigation. let it go. it's not going to find anything of a criminal nature that you did. i suspect the president will follow that advice. the selection of whitaker is a huge error g

he called an african-american woman a racist and april ryan a loser and said abby phillips's question is stupid. >> he decreed that maxine waters is the leader and targets. he is constitutional and be legal requirements that are not. he lived his life making up the rules as he goes along or assuming rules don't apply when it comes to tax law. he believes the rules are for everybody else and he can do what everybody pleases. the question is whether our institutions can stand up to that. whether the courts or other institutions can enforce laws that the president doesn't want to heed. >> can i add one thing about that? the president always talks about the best schools. harvard university will probably be very surprised to hear the president of the united states talk about one of their esteemed graduates. abby philipp, our colleague and our friend as stupid. let's put that aside. the substance of her question, which was short, to the point, and probably the most important question to ask the president after the morning after the elections. fires his attorney general and instead of doing

let's begin with abby phillips with the latest. >> reporter: hi, alisyn. president trump landed here in argentina late last night. as we learn more about the special counsel's case, building a case on russia collusion in the 2016 election, president trump is clearly spooked and distracted by all of this. a source telling cnn he's in a terrible mood going into the consequenti consequential weekend of meetings. president trump calming on special counsel robert mueller's probe to end after michael cohen pleaded guilty to congress about a moscow project, and to be consistent with a political message. according to charging documents, cohen previously testified discussions about the moscow project ended before the 2016 iowa caucus, but cohen now says negotiations continued through that year. during that summer then-candidate trump and paul m manafort insisted he was not involved in any russian dealings. >> i have nothing to do with russia. i have nothing to do with russia. >> to be clear, mr. trump has no financial relationships with any russi russian oil atkpwa

let's go to abby phillip at the white house with much more on this. abby, the president puts out that video, but also just has announced he's going to be speaking about immigration this afternoon. what are you hearing from there? what's going to happen? >> that's right. day by day, the white house is pushing this message on immigration, and today, the president is going to deliver remarks at the white house around 4:00 on immigration. this was not originally on his schedule, and it's now going to happen just minutes before he departs for missouri where he's having a campaign rally. the central issue that we're hearing from our sources is asylum. this is something that the president has taken issue with because it is what those central american migrants are seeking as they make their way, hundreds of miles, through mexico to the u.s. southern border. but as you pointed out, this ad has become part of a broader strategy here. it is all about the midterm elections just days away. and according to one other source who spoke to cnn in the last day, this ad

the senate. >> let's return to this idea that phil is expressing and what the president said to abby phillipt time he's treated a woman and african american woman in the way that he did and it was just very striking to me. we know he's trying to call the probe a witch hunt and to do it in this fashion. what does it say? >> i think he was revealing himself. he was clearly frustrated after the election with the losses in the house and they did pick up a couple seats in the senate and he seemed to let his feelings show this week including in that moment. he's always combative with the press. he's combative with the press no matter the gender and race. we've seen him go after intelligence and competency of the black women he goes after. we've seen it with three doing this a long time. women that could be on this and we've seen him do it with members of congress. >> april ryan and abby phillip, all of them are, we talked about members of congress and it's very clear he has a very consistent way with black women in particular that leaves no -- it's pretty clear to me and it's clear to other folks.

abby phillip our colleague is there and joins us as well. watching the pressers the president had all morning with other leaders. what is his mood on the ground right now? >> reporter: well, poppy, the president landed here late last night and according to our sources coming in to this g20 meeting or series of meetings, distracted. clear based on his comments two reporters as he was leaving the white house and again this morning before he even left his hotel for his first meeting of the day, the subject on his mind is this michael cohen plea deal. the president's former personal attorney pleading guilty to lying about something that directly implicates him and president trump has been defending himself in these tweets this morning saying that his business dealings during the campaign were known at the time even though as we know they were not known at the time. they only came to light after he was elected president. and president trump is once again calling this all a witch-hunt. according to our source the president's distraction because of

joining us now, abby phillips and cnn political analyst, david gregory and jeffrey toobin. wikileaks has been at the center of so much since 2010 and has been. this has new relevance since the charging documents -- i want to read this again against the russian actors over the summer from robert mueller, he said russian agents worked through wikileaks. the conspirators used the guccifer 2.0 persona, and that's wikileaks. >> at one level this is about the whole issue of collusion in the campaign. did that the trump campaign work with, know about, coordinate with wikileaks to disclose all the e-mails to damage the clinton campaign? that's under aactive investigatn now and all the allegations involving roger stone. could it relate to a possible roger stone case in the mueller investigation? there's also a big legal issue involving wikileaks, which is is the receipt and distribution of classified documents a crime or is it journalism? think about how many distinguished journalist at cnn getting classified information and distributing it through the "washington post" or a book or

let's bring in david gregory and abby phillip and robbie muck. i want to tell you thank you for being here. >> extra early. >> i appreciate you being here. >> riding up on the elevatoelev alisyn was happy to be here. she is so happy with the temperature in the studio. >> there are few viewers in hon kong who want to know. >> just thrilled for alisyn. david, we don't know what will happen today. i think what we do know is this is the day that will set the parameters for the trump presidency. >> this is the first data point we have on the leadership we have here. it is not just tone or tenor or leadership style. it is what he has done and promises to do. the ways in which he has divided the country and united his supporters. all of that is on the ballot. i think the idea of resistance the democrats had after losing the race when so many democrats thought hillary clinton would become president, was felt immediately. the reaction to not just his style, but how he cast america both here and abroad was something that people reacted to very strongly. so

abby phillip is with us. what can you tell us?ome of the more substantive parts of this day. a day that's really chock full of meetings. he siegned a trade agreement wih canada and mexico. there were a few words from the canadian prime minister justin trudeau about the aluminum and steel tariffs. that seemed to have gone off without a hitch. a big win for president trump there. we're heading into a period where president trump is going to have more meetings, perhaps more consequential meetings, especially some meetings scheduled for tomorrow with china over trade. followed by a dinner with president xi where they try to work out some of these issues related to whether hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs will either by put on hold or will be pulled back altogether. there is a lot riding on this weekend, really. a lot for president trump. a lot for a lot of these world leaders. as you mentioned, mohammed bin salman also in the room, and in many rooms with president trump. they have no plans to meet as of right now, but there

they are yamiche alcindor, abby phillips and april ryan.icking up for them but, still, there is something so wrong with hthis. it is beyond disturbing. i'm angry. >> on the campaign trail you called yourself a nationalist. some people -- >> i don't know why you'd say that. that's such a racist question. sit down. i didn't call. you didn't call you. i'll give you voter suppression -- excuse me, i'm not responding to you. i'm talking to this gentleman. will you please sit down. >> the same thing with april ryan, i watch her get up. i mean, you talk about somebody that's a loser. she doesn't know what the hell she's doing. she gets publicity and then she gets a pay raise or a contract with i think cnn but she's very nasty. >> do you want him to rein in robert mueller? >> what a stupid question that is. what a stupid question. but i watch you a lot. you ask a lot of stupid questions. >> trump loves to punch, but this is something else. this feels personal. among the multiple reporters this president has insulted this week, three are african-ame

. >> but, you know, when he says that abby phillip asks stupid questions, that maxine waters is a lowlemon is the dumbest man on television. lebron james is dumber than don lemon and i think he could understand them in at least two of those three cases. he's just trying to excite the racists in his base. i think that excuse -- that suggests that he doesn't feel it. >> when you're at these trump rallies, what is the visceral reaction? what is the gutteral reaction in the room, stadium, in the arena when he's saying those things particularly about people of color? >> i have to demeuer because i can't remember a particular moment being in room where he went after people of color. >> that's fair. >> it's a macho -- it's a man sound. it's almost like a wrestling crowd, an nfl crowd. you know, they are out for the thrill of him attacking people, whoever it is. >> gabe, is this -- again, you know, there's a lot of argument you can make about strategy whether this is him. i think this is very clear it's donald trump. doesn't take much orchestration. what does the white house behind the scenes

abbie phillip joins us now live from the white house. abbie, has the white house said how and when the president voted? >> they have, jim. the president voted by absentee ballot, according to sara sanders. he and melania trump cast their ballot in that way. they are both residents of new york city. here president trump is keeping a low profile. he has had an exhaustive few days, holding three rallies in one day yesterday. now on a rainy day in washington, he is staying at home, staying in the residence. according to sara sanders, he will be watching the returns in the residence with family and friends. what we have also noted, the president has not tweeted. he has not said anything about voting or otherwise. we will be standing by for that to change at any moment. but so far it's been a quiet day as voters head to the polls. now, we have also learned from our sources that the president's aids have been preparing him for the likely possibility that the republicans will lose the house of representatives. we will see that reflected in some o

let's go to abbie phillip who joins us this morning. the president says it is running as smoothly as ever. any news to the contrary is not real. that's his take. you are hearing something much different. what is your reporting on what's going on inside the white house? >> reporter: departures here at the white house are never typically done in an orderly fashion. i think what we're seeing already with the departure of the deputy national security adviser is exactly that. but there are more departures to come, according to our sources. president trump is in a mood for change, and he really wants to move on some of these positions that he's been unhappy with for quite some sometime. perhaps at the top of that list is keer st-- kirstjen nielsen. he says, so you know, always in an administration after the midterms you make changes, so i'm looking at things, and i've got a lot of options. a lot of people want to come in, a lot of politicians that have had successful careers that are very good want to come in, so i'm looking at things. i have

let's talk about abby phillip. she asked the president a question. this is how he reacted. >> do you want him to rein in robert mueller? >> what a stupid question that is. what a stupid question. but i watch you a lot. you ask a lot of stupid questions. >> listen, her question was not only smart and fair right on the money, it was the most pressing political question of the day. >> of the day. >> he is also suggesting that abby is not good at her job, an insult he has hurled at you, at me, at other african-americans knowing that it's a racist insinuation. >> yeah, well, let me say this. people are questioning today because of the president's statement, you know, if his response was stupid. this is real. when you are the president of the united states, you have the responsibility to answer questions. that is part of the job. we are built into the constitution, if you didn't want to deal with us, maybe you should have thought about the job requirements and thought about running for the office, but that was a question that was real. he does not want to

secondly, i want to point out our colleague here at the white house, abby phillip asked president trumpar questions. president trump at the time didn't take a liking those questions, referring to them as stupid, ana. >> borris sanchez at the white house, thanks. i want to bring in cnn legal commentator jim schultz who's worked as an attorney in the trump white house. hopefully he can offer specific insight for us. jim the president says he, not his lawyers, wrote the answers to mueller's questions. do you imagine that to be the case? >> he definitely had to handle and review the questions and answer the questions himself, and i'm sure they're being reviewed by lawyers. that doesn't mean the lawyers answered the questions first or what directive he gave his lawyers. it's not uncommon that he would sit down and prepare a draft of those answers and lawyers would review them before they go out to opposing counsel. >> trump says the questions weren't a big deal, but his attorney rudy giuliani says some were possible traps. how much information could the president and his legal team glean fro

with abby phillip or yamiche alcindor. these are women journalists.e qualified professional asking normal questions and being treated with -- you want to talk about lack of respect. they are being treated with lack of respect. and this president has a history of doing this to black people. if we want to -- we don't have enough time to go through the list. he has a long history of treating black people this way. >> let's check in with chris. >> we have a new segment tonight. that i think people will like. called "don't be a sucker." and it will be at end of show and point out things that should be obvious to everybody. we'll spend time getting deep into florida. and what's going on. we'll test the loyal cases of both sides and talk about the eventuality. >> death toll rising in california wild fire. >> devastation is widespread. a live update ahead. i'm ken jacobus and i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insuranc