i'm alex marquardt. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. >>> hello and thanks for joining me. i'm ana cabrera in for brooke baldw baldwin. after a g-7 summit dominated by uncertainty, ambiguity, and little productivity, president trump and the first lady are now on their way back to the u.s. but before leaving france, the president held a lengthy, somewhat meandering press conference, where he addressed a range of topics, including russia, iran sanctions, the environment, brexit. the possibility of next year's summit being held at the president's golf course in miami. and after markets were confounded by the president's whiplash signals on chinese

earlier, my colleague, alex marquardt, spoke with the mayor of el paso. dee margo. >> the governor and i just visited with the families waiting on information over at one of the schools here in el paso. it's tough. it's really, really tough. >> it's extremely tough and extremely heartbreaking. what about the investigation? what are federal authorities telling you? what is the government telling you about the suspect? we understand he's a 21 year old man who drove all the way from allen, texas. what do we know about the investigation into him and his motive? >> well, there isn't much to update since we had the press conference. we talked about this gentleman, i should say gentleman, this murderer. who came from outside of el paso, and, as i've said before, no one in el paso would have done something like this. this is not what we're about as a community. the investigations are still going through and identifying the bodies, and they're going through their normal forensic work, and then the families will be notified. but nothing new is happening yet, we're here at the

alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >>> a u.s. state department foreign service officer has very publicly resigned and written a scathing piece in "the washington post" where he criticized donald trump and said he could no longer serve in the so-called complacent state. chuck park wrote in part, i came into the government inspired by a president who convinced me there was still some truth to the gospel of american exceptionalism. a child of immigrants from south kor korea, i felt a duty to my parents. over three tour as bros abroad, worked to spread values freedom and fairness and tolerance. more and more, i found myself in a defensive stance struggling to explain to foreign peoples the blatant contradictions at home. chuck park spoke with anderson cooper about his high profile resignation. >> the past three years have felt like the house is on fire and not only on fire, but a man purposely lighting more fires. so, you know, when i talk to my colleagues, it is not that they don't feel the same distress that i do. they absolutely d

. >> josh spoke with alex marquardt, about the attack. let's listen. >> the bureau has opened what they're calling a domestic, along with a state investigation. the fbi has opened a concurrent case to look at the motivation of the shooter, ideology, if there's a hate crime angle to this. trying to get into the mindset of the shooter. someone who came here on the basis of hate. i was covering another mass shooting, and the fbi providing resources. the profilers from the behavioral analysis at quantity coe. we can bet there will be a host of resources that the federal government will be bringing to bear. there's offices that are sending resources here and headquarters are standing by to deploy to this location, should they get requests from state officials here. >> a fraj di, that played out. my home state. diverse people, and people coming together in times of tragedy. we're seeing that play out right now. we saw long lines, people coming together to donate blood given this terrible attack that happened. we'll have more on that, as "newsro

joining us now, cnn national correspondent alex marquardt. alex, that's the administration claim here. what are the facts? >> well, jim, the bottom line here is that this new rule will allow the trump administration to hold migrant families for much longer, perhaps indefinitely. there are two core provisions here, that families are kept together during immigration proceedings and that the standards of care for children is much higher. the acting secretary of homeland security rattled off a long list of improvements on the way that children would be held under this new rule. but jim, the fact of the matter is that this administration will now be allowed, if this rule goes into effect, and that's a big if, hold families for a longer period of time. this is in response, of course, to this record surge of migrant families arriving at the border. as you noted, under current conditions, under the flores settlement agreement, the administration is not allowed to hold children for longer than 20 days. and what the administration is saying, what mcalee

>>> i'm alex marquardt in for brianna keilar. under way right now, he's increasingly isolated on the world stage, but the president defending his trade war, wanting russia back into the g-7 and the possibility of hosting next year's summit at his golf club. one picture completely disproves the white house's excuse about why president trump didn't show up for a meeting on the climate crisis. plus, why the president's purported idea of dropping a nuclear bomb into a hurricane isn't a good one. and just in, a new poll shows the 2020 race tightening and becoming more volatile as two rise and the front-runner falls. >>> president trump is wrapping up his time at the g-7 summit in the south of france. we just heard a lot from the president in a wide-ranging press conference that ended a short time ago. he said there was tremendous unity between the world leaders. he also said he'd love to welcome russia back into the group. and he said he may meet with iran's president rouhani under the right conditions. pamela brown is there in france

i'm alex marquardt in for ana cabrera. this year in the south of france where seven of the world's most powerful leaders have been gathering. now it's just past 11:00 p.m. over there. they should be finishing dinner following a full and long day of meetings. and it was earlier during those face-to-face talks that we saw something we don't normally see from president trump. what, at first, seemed like an honest admission of something that he might have gotten

alex marquardt is in for brianna. he starts right now. >> i'm alex marquardt in for brianna kielar. under way right now, dorian heading toward puerto rico. >>> the president under water on the economy. >>> plus, he is reportedly so frantic about building his border wall that president trump is telling his aides he will pardon them if they break the law to get it done. >>> and the president's former defense secretary breaking his silence and issuing a warning about the u.s. being at risk. >>> first, we begin with that breaking news out of puerto rico, islands getting ready to take a direct hit from tropical storm dorian and florida could be next. the storm is forecast to strengthen into a category 3 hurricane in the coming days and could make landfall in florida by this labor day weekend. our meteorologist chad myers is here with the latest. chad, dorian's track has significantly changed shall from what i understand, in a short period of time. what can you tell us about the latest? >> boy, it sure has, alex. this time yesterday, the forecast was just to the west of ponce. now the cen

alex marquardt is in for brianna keilar and he starts right now. >>> i'm alex marquardt in for briannar. on alert, a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch issued for puerto rico as dorian strengthens with florida potentially in its path. >>> any moment the president's banks will be forced to reveal whether they have his tax returns. >>> a judge rules that a pharmaceutical giant is to blame for one state's opioid crisis. who's next? >>> plus, is brazil saying no thanks to over $20 million to fight the amazon fires? a curious statement from brazil's president. >>> and as president trump attacks his predecessor on foreign soil while praisin

alex marquardt is in for brianna keilar and he starts right now. >>> i'm alex marquardt in for brianna keilar. on alert, a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch issued for puerto rico as dorian strengthens with florida potentially in its path. >>> any moment the president's banks will be forced to reveal whether they have his tax returns. >>> a judge rules that a pharmaceutical giant is to blame for one state's opioid crisis. who's next? >>> plus, is brazil saying no thanks to over $20 million to fight the amazon fires? a curious statement from brazil's president. >>> and as president trump attacks his predecessor on foreign soil while praising a former kgb agent, the question remains why is the american president so differential to vladimir putin? >>> right now all of puerto rico is under a hurricane watch. tropical storm dorian is speeding towards the u.s. territory, gathering strength as it gets closer. residents are stocking up on food, water and gas. as they prepare for this potentially dangerous storm, they are still dealing with the destruction left behind by hurricane mari

alex marquardt is in for brianna keilar today, and he starts right about now. >>> i'm alex marquardtianna keilar. under way right now, he's increasingly isolated on the world stage, but the president defending his trade war, wanting russia back into the g-7 and the possibility of hosting next year's summit at his golf club. one picture completely disproves the white house's excuse about why president trump didn't show up for a meeting on the climate crisis. plus, why the president's purported idea of dropping a nuclear bomb into a hurricane isn't a good one. and just in, a new poll shows the 2020 race tightening and becoming more volatile as two rise and the front-runner falls. >>> president trump is wrapping up his time at the g-7 summit in the south of france. we just

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alex marquardt is in for brianna. he starts right now. >> i'm alex marquardt in for brianna kielar.ng toward puerto rico. >>> the president under water on the economy. >>> plus, he is reportedly so frantic about building his border wall that president trump is telling his aides he will pardon them if they break the

jake. >> alex marquardt thanks so much. me now is former counter-terrorism official and cnn analyst phil mudd. gordon got a lot of praise from the intel community, bipartisan support from lawmakers, everyone was telling the president that she is the person for the job. what questions does this raise for you on the president's judgment when it comes to who he wants running intelligence? >> pretty simple question, who is going to speak to us about things like you're just talking about, election security. dan coats said something different in public about election security and russian interference than the president wanted him to say. look, the audience for the intelligence community isn't just the president. it is also the congress and the american people. so let me lay out why people are concerned about the change and sue gordon's departure. going into election season, if you have a loyalist in that office, will they speak about what the intelligence community sees in terms of russian interference, or will they hear the same

alex mar alex marquardt is with me. why did he withdraw his name? >> his name came to surface last sunday when president trump said he would be nominating the three-term texas congressman to the post of director of national intelligence. at the time a lot of people say who? the men who have held this role since 9/11 when the position was created are people who have had deep foreign policy and intelligence experience. so criticism over his lack of experience grew. he had been a u.s. attorney in eastern texas and as we started digging into his time as u.s. attorney before he was a congressman, he stated clearly that he had put terrorists in prison. when we looked up terrorism-related cases in that area, in his time there, we saw no evidence that he prosecuted any of those. it quickly became clear that not only did he not have the experience, but also that he had embellished his resumÉ. there was also an example in that same bio where he said he arrested 300 illegal aliens. that was an embellishment as well. he had been part of a multi-state, multi-age

alex mar alex marquardt is with me. why did he withdraw his name?rface last sunday when president trump said he would be nominating the three-term texas congressman to the post of director of national intelligence. at the time a lot of people say who? the men who have held this role since 9/11 when the position was created are people who have had deep foreign policy and intelligence experience. so criticism over his lack of experience grew. he had been a u.s. attorney in eastern texas and as we started digging into his time as u.s. attorney before he was a congressman, he stated clearly that he had put terrorists in prison.

i'm alex marquardt in new york. it is breaking news right now on cnn, gunfire and bloodshed, death and unimaginable fear at a walmart earlier today in south texas. 20 people are dead killed by a man who opened fire with a rifle outside and then inside the crowded store in el paso. i'm about to show you video taken moments after the massacre. we have to warn you, it does show people who are badly hurt and you may find it disturbing. >> no! >> help! >> who needs cpr? >> this happening in el paso at about 10:00 in the morning local time. all indications are that the man used a rifle to kill those 20 people and wound at least 26 others. [ gunshots ] . >> can you hear those single, deliberate shots there. police were there within minutes. they arrested the gunman without incident, without firing a shot. they are already planning to bring capital murder charges against the shooter, a white man, 24 years old who posted what police chief are calling a manifesto. he were is the governor, greg abbott. >> we are here to be sur

joining me with more details on this is cnn's senior national correspondent alex marquardt in washington, where the acting secretary of homeland security just laid out this announcement. alex, what did he say? >> reporter: that's right, kate. acting secretary of homeland security kevin mcaleenan is essentially saying that this new rule that they're putting into place will replace what is known as the flores settlement agreement. that, as you said, allowed migrant children to be held for no longer than 20 days. as a result, mcaleenan said, that created an incentive for migrant families to come to the u.s. illegally because they know that they could then get released after 20 days. so what this new rule will do, if and when it goes into effect, would mean families will be held for much longer period of time. as you say, it could be indefinitely, but essentially it's as long as the immigration proceedings will last. the second core component to this new rule is that it sets a higher standard for the way that children are kept, the way that they are held. obviously we've seen these horrific

alex marquardt is here for us. s important to note because there's been a lot of confusion that most service members or federal workers serving overseas who have a child or are going to have a child, they're not going to be impacted, but there are some who will. so walk us through this. give us some examples of who will be affected. >> this is really quite confusing so let's break it all down. the bottom line here is the people who are going to be affected are either new naturalized u.s. citizens or people who aren't yet citizens but are still serving the u.s. government in some capacity overseas and sometimes in harm's way. so for starters, let's say that, for example, you have come to the u.s. and gotten u.s. citizenship. then you've been sent overseas to serve either in the u.s. military or somewhere in the u.s. government. if you then have a child while stationed overseas, that child will not automatically be american, even though you're still serving the united states. you'll have to apply for that kid to be na

earlier our alex marquardt spoke with the mayor of el paso. >> the governor and i just visited with the information over at one of the schools here in el paso. it's >> it's extremely tough and extremely heartbreaking. what about the investigation. what is the governor telling you about the suspect? we understand he is a 21-year-old man who drove all the way from allen, texas. what more do we know about the investigation into him and into his motive? >> well, there isn't much to update since we had the press conference. we talked about this? i should say gentleman, this murderer who came from outside of el paso and as i've said before, no one in el paso would have ever done something like this. this is not what we're about as a community. the investigations are still going through and identifying the bodies and they're going through their normal forensic work and then the families will be notified but nothing new is happening yet. we're here at the scene as it stands now. >> was the shooter, do you know, was he known at all to authorities? >> i don't know that. i do not know that. he cam

i'm alex marquardt in new york. on cnn, gunfire and bloodshed, death and unimaginable fear at a walmart earlier today in south texas. 20 people are dead killed by a man who opened fire with a rifle outside and then inside the crowded store in el paso. i'm about to show you video taken moments after the massacre. we have to warn you, it does show people who are badly hurt and you may find it disturbing. >> no!

cnn's alex marquardt has the latest. >> reporter: in just a few carefully chosen words, sue gordon makes it clear it was not her choice to leave. a handwritten note to the president attached to her resignation letter saying it is an act of patriotism, not preference. you should have your team. a team she saw she would be no part of. >> sue did a great job. i like gordon very much. >> reporter: the president praising gordon, as he did on twitter thursday night, announcing her departure. but she has represented what he has railed against, almost 40 years in the intelligence community, making her firmly part of that establishment he has long been suspicious of. tweeting after the intelligence chiefs worldwide threats briefing that they should go back to school. in recent years, she reported to president obama's cia director, john brennan, and then dan coats, the president a fan of neither of them. former cia director general michael hayden told jake tapper coats is a good man, but gordon kept the trains running on time. trump doesn't understand what it is to be a professional intelligence o

. >> when alex marquardt and evan perez, they asked ratcliffe's office about this and ratcliffe's office up this statement. department of justice records will confirm that as both chief of anti-terrorism and national security for the eastern district of texas from '04 to '08, john ratcliffe opened, supervised numerous terrorism-related cases. cnn's initial search of court records does not find any terrorism cases that he was listed as prosecuting. what do you make of their statement there after the research you've done? >> yeah. so i can decode that as a former u.s. attorney. first of all, it doesn't speak at all to the specific lies, i think would be the right word, about the cases he's touting on his website. but he was in this role in the office for a couple years where anything having anything to do with terrorism would officially kind of come by his desk and maybe get the t on it. of course in east texas, it's not a hotbed of terrorism. whatever there is seems not at all to have been what we think of for a director of national intelligence, but kind of, you know, little incidents in

cnn's senior and national correspondent alex marquardt is with me now. >> there was a lot of confusionnnounced and the citizenship and immigration services is saying this is a policy that is being put into place to align it with the state department policy. but essentially, fred, who this is affecting directly, are new naturalized u.s. citizens who are serving in the military or the government overseas, as well as people who are not yet u.s. citizens, who are trying to become u.s. citizens and are doing so while they serve the united states government overseas. so imagine you are someone who has been deployed overseas and you have just become a u.s. citizen in the last few years. or as there are thousands of cases of, you are a not-yet u.s. citizen serving in the military overseas. if you have a child overseas, that child will not automatically become a u.s. citizen. as parents, you will have to then apply for that child to become a u.s. citizen. it doesn't make them ineligible, as you said, but it adds a process. it's a long and arduous process to apply for american citizenship, of co

first bob behr a former -- alex marquardt. i've got sam and bob here. t alex can you tell us about sue gordon and the significance of why she is leaving before i ask you about mcguire. >> it's hugely significant it's maybe not a name known to the general public but within the national intelligence circles she is well-known, well respected decades in the business both at the cia and the office of director of national intelligence. there were a lot of people in the community who really wanted to see sue gordon stick around and be named acting dni especially when there is a political appointee named in the vein we expected trump to want his dni. you want someone who knows the kpun well, to hand hold a political appointee. and then when dan coates announced he was stepping down august 15th and the president did not name sue gordon as acting dni there were -- there was a lot of fear within the community you can be sure, erin, that there is some excitement some happiness within the maga crowd, the trump base tonight, the ones who believe in the deep state and

joining me now is cnn's national correspondent, alex marquardt and samantha vinaigrette.e a lot of folks democrat and republican voicing strong support for gordon as she is on her way out and concerns about what her departure means. what are you hearing about why she is leaving? >> well, it appears that she really had no choice but to leave and she makes it pretty clear in that handwritten note, which was extraordinary. that was released by the white house. that was a note that was attached to her resignation letter. i think it bears re-reading. she says that her resignation was an act of patriotism, not preference. you should have your team. as in i didn't want to leave. it's clear to me that you don't want me on your team. if you look at what sue gordon represents, it's not what the president is interested in. you've got almost 40 years in the intelligence community. she's part of that intelligence establishment. she has reported to obama's cia director, john brennan. the president wants loyalty. he doesn't like obama's people, he doesn't like the establishment. that's

i'm alex marquardt in for ana cabrera. we're beginning today at the g7 summit taking place this year in the south of france where seven of the world's most powerful leaders have been gathering. now it's just past 11:00 p.m. over there. they should be finishing dinner following a full and long day of meetings. and it was earlier during those face-to-face talks that we saw something we don't normally see from president trump. what, at first, seemed like an honest admission of something that he might have gotten wrong. or so we thought. take a look. >> any second thoughts on escalating the trade war with china? >> for sure, yeah, why not. might as well. might as well. >> you have second thoughts about escalating the -- >> i have second thoughts about everything. >> he has second thoughts about everything. and within minutes the white house claimed the president had been misinterpreted. >> the president was asked this a couple of times and he said a couple of times. >> i think we're not cleaning up anything. i want to be clear

i'm alex marquardt. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. >>> hello and thanks for joining me. i'm ana cabrera in for brooke baldw baldwin. after a g-7 summit dominated by uncertainty, ambiguity, and little productivity, president trump and the first lady are now on their way back to the u.s. but before leaving france, the president held a lengthy, somewhat meandering press conference, where he addressed a range of topics, including russia, iran sanctions, the environment, brexit. the possibility of next year's summit being held at the president's golf course in miami. and after markets were confounded by the president's whiplash signals on chinese tariffs, today, another reversal, saying all is calm. >> i do. i think i want to make a deal very badly. the vice chairman of china came out that he wants to see a deal made. he wants it to be made under calm conditions, using the word "calm." i agree with him on that. and china has taken a very hard hit over the last number months. i believe that they want to do a deal. the tariffs have hit them very ha hard. >> with us now, michael

as cnn's alex marquardt reports, the president is blaming the media for this failure and accepting none of the validity about the criticisms of his background that democrats and republicans were openly questioning. >> reporter: congressman john ratcliff no longer president trump's pick to be the next director of national intelligence. before even being officially nominated. sources two spoke with president trump telling cnn he privately voiced concerns in recent days about ratcliff's ability to be confirmed despite saying this in public yesterday. >> i think he's just outstanding. highly respected by everybody that knows him. >> reporter: but as he spoke, pressure was growing on capitol hill. >> he strikes me as -- as extremely unqualified in every way. >> reporter: senate democrats and some republicans compressing their own concerns about ratcliff's experience and possible dishonesty about his past. >> there needs to be a thorough investigation of his implied claims. >> reporter: ratcliff has touted his time as a u.s. attorney in east texas as his main national security credential. a p

alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >>> democrats on capitol hill have reached a significant milestone. a majority of the u.s. house of representatives now, 118 so far have come out in favor of a formal impeachment inquiry. not too long ago, only a handful were making that argument there, but is no indication yet that house speaker nancy pelosi is on board. let's talk more about it with jessica levenson. she joins us from los angeles. she is a professor of law at loyola law school. jessica, hello. thanks for being with us. >> great to be here. >> well, first of all, mr. ratcliffe's nomination had been highly controversial because he lacked experience in foreign policy and intelligence. why do you think he was nominated in the first place by president trump? >> i think he was gnonominated because he is somebody who president trump i think likes. he's been an early supporter of president trump. he -- and that's the biggest thing for president trump is to demonstrate some loyalty. and i think what this also shows is, frankly, a limited vetting on behalf of the trump white house. we now hav