>> white house correspondent athena jones is with us now. athena, the president is talking about a deal that was cut between republican moderate congressman tom macarthur and leaders of the house freedom caucus. i understand vice president pence gave more details on these high-risk pools we heard the president reference that are supposed to cover people are pre-existing conditions but give states a lot more leeway. explain. >> hi, ana. that's right. the reason this is important is because this has been one of the major sticking points on getting republicans to come together on this latest effort to repeal and replace obamacare. you have a lot of moderate republicans who are very concerned about making sure that people with pre-existing conditions continue to get coverage and coverage that is affordable. in this latest gop proposal, insurers are required to cover people with pre-existing conditions, but they could be allowed to charge them more than other people in the plan if they ever let their coverage lapse, for instance. and there are a

our white house correspondent athena jones is joining us with the latest. athena, candidate trump promised he would do a lot in his first 100 days, but with little accomplished legislatively so far, president trump now calls the 100-day mark, and i'm quoting him now, a ridiculous standard. what's the latest. >> reporter: hi, bomb, that's right. the president's perspective has clearly shifted quite a bit in the last six months. white house press secretary sean spicer insisted they are not trying to rush anything through just because that 100-day mark is around the corner, but white house officials also often talk about how this president is in the promise-keeping business, and with this late announcement on tax reform and the renewed push to repeal and replace obamacare it's pretty clear that folks around here are looking to put some big wins on the board and soon. with the clock running out on his first 100 days, president trump is now questioning the significance of the marker tweeting tailed no matter how much i accomplish during the ridiculous standard o

thanks, athena, for that preview.e former president will be heading to the university of chicago. i bring in with me cnn presidential historian tim neftali, former director of the nixon presidential library. >> nice to be here, kate. >> i've got a lot of questions for you on this. what do you think of the setting for his first kind of -- for his first public remarks? he's in his hometown. and as athena's laying out, he's going to be speaking with students and talking about getting back to his roots, civic engagement, community organizing. what do you think about it? >> well, there's a lot of pressure on president obama, not only his supporters, but people who might not have voted for president obama but are disappointed in president trump may want him to become a symbol of some kind of opposition to the current president. and that would be a violation of the president's -- the way in which president as do business. what's really interesting is to see how president obama, former president obama, navigates the shoals of

back to you guys. >> athena, thank you. you heard athena mention the mixed messages for the border wall for officials. there was homeland secretary kelly, saying the president would do the right thing but insist on funding. reince priebus and mcmulvaneny said the budget would shop short of not having money on that funding of that wall. >> one of our biggest priorities was border security, keeping americans safe and part of that was building that wall. >> will he sign a bill that does not include funding for the border wall? >> we don't know yet. >> it will be enough for the administration to move forward with the construction or the planning or enough to move forward in september to get going on the border wall and border security. >> i think as long as the president's priorities are reflected in the c.r. and allows us to get moving with an increase in military spending and rebuilding of our military as he promised in one of your bullet points, and there's enough, as far as flexibility for the border wall and border securit

athena jo athena jones joining us from palm beach florida. what is the president saying about all of this? >> fred, that's right. he tweeted a few hours ago during a visit to his golf club here, he said so sad to hear of the terrorist attack in egypt. u.s. strongly condemns. i have great confidence that president al sisi will handle the situation properly. he welcomed the egyptian president warmly to the white house. it was just on monday. this was the first visit to the white house by an egyptian leader in seven years. the obama administration was critical of the human rights record. he was a general and a strong man. but president trump has chosen to focus on the need to maintain a strong partnership with egypt to fight terrorism and these latest attacks highlight that focus. during the visit on monday the president delivered a message to journalists in the oval office. he said we are behind egypt and the people of egypt. i look forward to a very long and strong relationship. >> and then athena, while the president has received a lot of pra

lee and white house correspondent athena jones.e do things stand based on all the reporting you're doing with this revised health care repeal and replace legislation? do they have the 216 votes needed to pass it? >> wolf it's almost too premature to ask the question of do they have the votes because they don't even have at legislative text yet. the members we have been speaking to say that if there is a deal or anything close to a deal, they have not actually been filled in on these details. what we do know is that leaders of the tuesday group and leaders of the house freedom caucus, they have have been in talks over the easter recess. there are two things they're talking about right now. one is the issue of whether states can opt out of certain requirements that are under obamacare and the second issue is preserving certain protections that near obamacare that more moderate members want. obviously obviously apeasing both sides. the other thing we'll pay close attention to is a conference wide call, a conference call among all of t

. >>> let's go to athena jones. she's outside of mar-a-lago in florida where president trump is waking up this morning. athena, you know, you couldn't have helped notice that ambassador nikki haley said we're prepared to do more. do we know what she's signalling? >> reporter: that's the big question here. what will the next steps be for the u.s. government? according to secretary of state rex tillerson who briefed reporters, a small group of reporter at mar-a-lago yesterday, next steps would depend how the syrian government responds. he said the future will be guided how we see their reaction. he said the u.s. is monitoring the syrian response, whether they try to attack u.s. forces or coalition forces. whether they attack the syrians may be considering launching another chemical weapons attack. thursday's strike were targeted to degrade syria's ability to carry out these attacks but didn't completely destroy. military strikes avoided that area on the airbase where they believe the nerve agent was being stored. so u

let's go to white house correspondent athena jones.athena, there is a lot of talk about what will happen and won't happen next week. what do by knwe know right now? >> we know folks at the white house are confident that a government shut down won't happen next week. they are confident congress can overt that. they could pass a deal to keep agencies open while they work on a longer-term deal. but other thing to look at next week is a vote on the latest effort to replace and repeal obamacare. something house republicans have been working on. but not at all clear a vote could happen as soon as next week. the president was asked about some of the legislative goings on and his plans for next week. watch what he has to say. >> -- the legislative action you are planning on next week. how are you going to accomplish that? >> it'll be great. >> is it health care and reform -- >> we will see what happens. no particular rush but we will see what happens. but health care is coming along well. government is coming along really well. a lot of good t

correspondents athena jones, rene march and brian todd join us. the roll back of obama-era epa regulations as one of his biggest achievements so far. these protesters clearly see it differently, brian. >> reporter: they certainly do, ana, they're very much against that rollback of the epa. they're concerned that the president is going to pull the united states out of the global climate change agreement. they're concerned with his executive orders about possibly drilling in protected areas and drilling off the coast of the united states. check this out, this is just a great shot here. this is a sit-in in front of the white house. they moments ago sat down and are going to be observing a moment of silence in a couple seconds here. we have people here, we told about this earlier, listen to this sound for just a second. this is planned. they were planning on pounding on their chests to signify the heartbeat of this environmental movement and i'll let you listen to it for a couple more seconds. so it's a sit-in. it is a heart-pounding choreographed mom

athena. >> reporter: hi, alisyn. this first direct u.s. military action against the assad regime is meant to send a message that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated. it represents a major turn around for a president who was initially slow to respond to the latest chemical attack and once argued against military intervention in syria. >> tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. >> reporter: president trump announcing that for the first time the united states has taken direct military action against the syrian regime. >> using a deadly nerve agent, assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. it was a slow and brutal death for so many. even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. >> reporter: the president again citing the disturbing video of the tuesday chemical attack as the influence on his decision. the escalation from the white house a dizzying turn around for the administration that just days ago decla

lets go now to athena jones in palm beach near mar-a-lago. what did we learn of the conversation this? >> hi, fred, we got a read out a short while ago about this phone call that took place yesterday between president trump and the king. they said the king affirm strong saudi support for the united states against the airfield in syria and thanked the president for his courageous action to the response to the chemical weapon attack on civilians. >> that was part of the statement that we got from the white house about that car. one o f tf the big questions go forward is what happens next. that's going to depend on a great deal of what syria does. tillerson says u.s. is monitoring russia's responses looking or launching another chemical well upon attaapon att. >> nisan ak, they avoided strikes a storage facility that was on the air base that was storing the nerve agent that was used and some of the recreent attacks. >> syria takes this kind of action again, the u.s. can respond similarly because the whole point of thursday's strike was to show t

athena was wearing a blue hoodie, black leggings and black slip on shoes. katrina was wearing a gray hoodie, dark blue jaenz and a light color blouse. >>> happening now in union city, you may run into delays on 880 after a dadely shall contract. it happened at the whipple road off ramp. several vehicles crashed and a person on the highway was killed. it's unclear whether the person was walking or outside of a broken down car. all lanes reopened about 10 minutes ago. >>> new at 11:00, the two groups that invited conservative commentator ann coulter to speak at uc berkeley are threatening to sue the university if she cannot speak on the day originally plan. it's claimed uc berkeley infringed on coulter's right to free speech by canceling and rescheduling the event. they are giving the university until 5:00 tomorrow afternoon to honor her original date to speak or they say they will sue. the university says it changed the date because of specific security threats. on fox news tonight, coulter vowed to come to berkeley next week and give her speech no matter wh

athena, the white house put out a statement and video boasting about the president's performance during these first 100 days. what does the administration see as its biggest accomplishments and biggest frustrations? >> hi, wolf. well white house a doubt the administration's biggest accomplishment in the first 100 days is getting justice neil gorsuch confirmed to the supreme court. this is something the president ran on. he bragged about it yesterday in his speech before the national rifle association. and, in fact, members of that organization which, of course, bashed trump early on, spent millions to help him get elected, they also pointed to this appointment of justice gorsuch to the highest court in the land as a huge accomplishment that was included in an editorial and an op-ed in the "usa today" by chris cox who was a top nra official and one of the attendees at the event said the fact that gorsuch is now on the court means that gun rights are now protected for another 30 or 40 years. that's definitely his biggest accomplishment. the biggest frustration, the ability to repeal and r

athena was wearing a blue hoodie, black leggings and black slip on shoes. katrina was wearing a gray hoodie, dark blue jaenz and a light color blouse. >>> happening now in union city, you may run into delays on 880 after a dadely shall contract. it happened at the whipple road off ramp. several vehicles crashed and a person on the highway was killed. it's unclear whether the person was walking or outside of a broken down car. all lanes reopened about 10 minutes ago. >>> new at 11:00, the two groups that invited conservative commentator ann coulter to speak at uc berkeley are threatening to sue the university if she cannot speak on the day originally plan. it's claimed uc berkeley infringed on coulter's right to free speech by canceling and rescheduling the event. they are giving the university until 5:00 tomorrow afternoon to honor her original date to speak or they say they will sue. the university says it changed the date because of specific security threats. on fox news tonight, coulter vowed to come to berkeley next week and give her speech no matter wh

let's go now to cnn's athena jones in nearby palm beach. so, are we hearing any comments from the president in detail on the missile strike? >> reporter: hi, fred. well, no comments in detail. we are seeing his first remarks about thursday night's missile strikes since that night. he tweeted earlier today, congratulations to our great military men and women for representing the united states and the world so well in the syria attack. those are the first comments we're getting from the president on that attack. as you mentioned, we did capture some footage of the president on the golf course today here in nearby west palm beach. this is his 15th visit to a trump branded property and the tenth week he has visited such a property. he often frequents his golf club, whether in south florida here, west palm beach or jupiter. he also frequently visits a golf club in virginia. it's an opportunity for him to promote his brand, to promote these golf clubs. often the white house will tell us that he is taking phone calls or having meetings. occasional

athena, we heard from ambassador haley, ambassador to the u.n. that the u.s. is prepared to do more. but hoping that it does not have to. what is next? do we have an answer to that question? >> reporter: hi, victor. we don't have an answer to that question yet. what the u.s. does next will depend a great deal on what syria does next. it sounds like ambassador haley was communicating that all options remain on table. secretary of state rex tillerson had a briefing with reporters at mar-a-lago yesterday and he said the future will be guided by how we see their reaction the syrian's government reaction. the u.s. is monitoring the syrian response looking into whether they tried to attack u.s. forces or coalition forces or detect the syrian government is planning to launch another chemical weapon attack. thursday night's strikes were targeted at degrading syria's ability to carry out attacks but didn't completely destroy. in fact, that thursday night strike specifically avoided hitting a storage facility at the airbase where they believe sirin gas, the nerve agent

cnn's athena jones live from there this morning. athena. >> reporter: good morning, chris. that is one of the key questions. will china do more? president trump has been quite vocal on twitter and otherwise about his desire for china to step up and put pressure on north korea to rein in the nuclear ambition. china is north korea's main trading partner. even china may not have the magic bullet here. what is clear from the perspective of the national security team is that some sort of action is going to be necessary. here is national security adviser h.r. mcmaster. >> i think it is really the consensus with the president and allies in the region. japan and south korea in particular. also the chinese leadership. that this problem is coming to a head. it is time for us to undertake all actions we can short of military option to try to resolve this peacefully. >> reporter: so you heard mcmaster talking about undertaking all actions short of the military option. it is interesting to see the president take to twitter on sunday morning to talk about u.s. military prowess. he tweete

back to you. >> athena jones at the white house, thanks so much. let's bring in errol lewis and tom lovianco. errol, where we left off, the funding for the president's plan for this border wall, where is this going is in the likelihood at the end of the week he'll sign some legislation with more than a billion dollars to start this wall project? >> it seems extremely unlikely. he'll need democratic votes to make something like that happen and the democrats have signaled they are not taking even a half step in that direction. the real challenge here, victor, he is trying to get all of this done before the hundred day deadline and somewhat artificial political construct. it's possible he could get the funding he wants for the wall if he can arrive at some kind of a compromise with democrats and members of the republican conference, but to put the additional pressure on that he has got to make some tangible movement on it before may 1st arrives puts more pressure on the congress than they can really sort of handle. there is no reason to think that the

athena jones, thank you. i want to bring in former republican congressman jack kingston and also with us, "washington post" reporter david fair rin holtz and julian enstein. is this 100 day marker really a key yard stick of success or is it in his words ridiculous? >> i don't think it's ridiculous, just one of those kind of a washington sport, the 1 o00 day clock is something th we watch, but i don't think it really means anything in the long term outside of franklin roosevelt. there really isn't anything that anybody has done in the first 100 days that changes the needle. and so he's going to have a lot of achievements though. athena mentioned what he had done with the dakota pipeline and the keystone pipeline, she talked about the first president to select a supreme court nominee in his first 100 days. people don't realize he's actually signed 28 pieces of legislation and done 25 executive orders. so it has been a very vigorous first 100 days. >> so supporters will obviously point to what you just discussed

i think athena pushed right at it. it's been polarizing.pproval rating at the end of 100 days is lowest we've seen for any president since the birth of modern polling in the 1950s. i think you can understand what they have and have not accomplished. one is difference between executive action where they have been energetic on many fronts although less than meets the eye versus legislative where they struggle to mold this republican control of the house and senate into a true governing majority and other axis that's important is think of where trump's agenda overlaps with less regulation and less spending and less taxes. generally that's where they have more alignment with republicans in congress but the distinctive economic and racially tinged nationalism that he ran on, america first nationalism, that's been imperfect. in immigration they're moving full speed ahead but on trade and on foreign policy as you saw in australia, there have been a lot of concessions to more traditional republican thinking. >> let's take a couple of these individu

athena jones, thank you so much in palm beach, florida. also looking at pictures we're just getting in of donald trump arriving at his -- i believe this is shhis arrival at the pa beach golf course, correct? >> right. i haven't seen those pictures. i did see a picture of him with reading glasses appearing to read something in the back of his vehicle, but i have not seen the latest pictures you're looking at. >> this is the tenth straight weekend as you mentioned that he's heading to a trump branded venue or resort so here he is at this one. as athena mentioned which was interesting and you get a sense of the motorcade heading this direction in palm beach, this is an opportunity for president trump perhaps also for there to be branding opportunity with his venues there with his golf courses and resorts but it was interesting that it was pointed out that he does have meetings although sometimes we're led to believe sometime there was a meeting but we see the photos as you mentioned on social media come out and someone might see him passing i

cnn's athena jones is there in florida. there you see air force one on the tarmac there. athena, what more is trump saying about what's transpired in egypt and so many really large items of global importance on the map this week alone. >> absolutely, fred. so much has happened just in the last few days. the president too being to twitter a few hours ago say something so had to hear terrorist attack in egypt. u.s. strongly condemns. i have great confidence that president el sisi will handle situation properly. we know now that el sisi has announced there will be a three-month state of emergency in egypt. it is hard to believe that it was less than a week ago on monday that president trump welcomed the egyptian president, el sisi, to the white house warmly. it was the first visit by an egi egyptian leader in seven years. president trump has focused on the need to continue to have a strong pardnership betweo partno fight these terrorist attacks. >> when it comes to the chemical weapons attacks in syria, and what happens next in terms of the international community and partic

for more, let's bring in cnn's athena jones. >> reporter: hi there. a big week ahead in washington.ublican leadership held a brief conference call with the entire caucus today to talk about this coming week and made it clear that passing a bill to keep the government running is the top priority and will be the primary focus of this coming week. we know a couple of things the white house wants to see included in that funding measure. one is money for the hiring of more immigration agents. another is money for the border wall the president promised on the campaign trail. senate democrats, though, say that the border wall money is a nonstarter. they do not want to see that in this bill. they're also opposed to including the money for immigration agents in this spending bill. so the big question is will the president sign a bill to keep the government running that doesn't include money for the border wall. my colleague dana bash spoke with homeland security secretary john kelly about this. watch. >> let's start with the border wall with mexico and how it relates to keeping the governmen

cnn white house correspondent athena jones joining me now. anything more from the white house on that? >> reporter: not so far. you heard the heated rhetoric coming from north korea and there is this tough talk we've heard in recent days from the trump administration as well. the question is -- there's new tough talk but is there a new tough plan for how to deal with north korea and what will it entail? we've heard trump administration officials talk about how all options are on the table. we heard the president earlier in the week talk to reuters about how there could be a major military conflict with north korea. the bottom line is you hear from everyone that diplomacy is what's preferred. diplomatic talks because the military option is a much more dangerous option. it's not like that strike the president ordered several weeks back on the air base in syria. this is much more dangerous. you have, of course, a nuclear armed north korea and u.s. allies in the region like japan, like south korea to think about because they would be in the line

cnn's athena jones is there. and athena, we have heard from the national security adviser maybe some different language than the vice president. >> reporter: hi, john. that's right. h.r. mcmaster, the national security adviser, putting the emphasis on nonmilitary options. but john, the central question in all of this, or a big central question in all of this is what china will do. will china do more? president trump has made it clear he wants to see china step up pressure on north korea to rein in its nuclear ambitions, and he believes china can do so because china is the north's main trading partner. the north relies heavily on china when it comes to trade. but the president has acknowledged in recent days that even china may not have a magic bullet here. what is clear from the perspective of the president's national security team is that some sort of action is going to be necessary. watch what h.r. mcmaster had to say about this. >> and i think it's really the consensus with the president, our key allies in the

athena jones, thanks so much. with north korea raising the stakes and claiming it's ready for another nuclear test, how will president trump respond? a member of the house foreign affairs committee, congressman adam kizinger will join me next. stay with me. , arc lithium battery technology, it delivers the cutting-torque of gas. the ego mower's durable construction makes mowing in difficult conditions easy. the self-propelled model makes it effortless. and it folds flat in seconds for easy storage. the ego power+ mower. exclusively at the home depot and ego authorized dealers. dearthere's no other way to say this. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced, our senses awake, our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say: if you love something... set it free. see you around, giulia ♪ ...that knew when color whatdidn't go on evenly,t... so it could find balance and achieve its richest state. if a paint could realize the full potential of any color... .

anna. >> thanks to athena jones at the white house. with us cnn political commentate or and former ohio state senator nina turner and former governor of south carolina andre bauer. back in february republican lawmakers were raising doubts about the border wall, some saying they didn't see how it would work, others saying they don't see a way for it to pass unless spending is offset. do you see the bill including funding for the border wall? >> i hope it does. i hope it at least starts the process. you do this by charging for wires going back to mexico. you put a tariff on the wires going back and ultimately mexico does pay for the wall. >> you think it is as simple as that, nina? >> absolutely not. it is ridiculous. i know that the president and his administration wants to make this wall a bargaining chip, but it is a non- starting with democrats. it is not first things first. the president really needs to start to honor his campaign promises, which is to make sure that healthcare was available to all people in this country, to america

let's go to cnn's athena jones who is nearby at palm beach. what more are you hearing from the president today as he hits the golf course, we understand, there? and what's the focus? >> hi. well, fred -- >> reporter: the president also tweeted about china, this two-day summit he had, first meeting with china's president xi jinping. he tweeted out it was a great honor to have president xi jinping and madam peng liyuan of china as our guests in the united states. goodwill and friendship was formed. but only time will tell on trade. candidate trump spoke a great deal about it on the campaign trail, saying it had taken advantage of the u.s., talking about the massive trade deficit the u.s. has with china, importing more than exports with china. it doesn't appear that there were any huge breakthroughs. this is something that the white house was saying all along. they were downplaying expectations for any big announcements out of that meeting, describing it, instead, as an introductory session to begin building a relationship. it appears that the pr

athena jones, on top of it, thank you so much from the white house. >>> all right. now to a new exclusive cnn reporting, that adds to the emerging picture of how russia may have tried to influence the 2016 u.s. election. the fbi gathered intelligence last summer that suggests russian op fromtives tried to use trump advisors including carter page as you see right there to infiltrate the trump campaign according to u.s. officials. page spoke with michael smerconish this morning and once again denied any wrongdoing in his contact with russian officials. >> no information i was ever asked for was anything beyond what you could see on cnn. there is great depth of reporting, great information, nothing i ever talked about with any russian official, extends beyond that publicly available immaterial information. >> joining me now is cnn crime and justice producer showmoan, part of the team that broke that story. good to see you. explain to us furtherer what this new reporting reveals in terms of tried to infiltrate trump's orbit? >> well, we're told by several u.s. officials

white house correspondent athena jones is also there.are we expecting to hear from the president today. >> kate, i expect we will hear him talk about the importance of protecting gun rifles, something that he ran on. he often brought up the idea that he would be more pro second meant candidate for president, that his rival hillary clinton. we could also hear him talk about steps his administration have already taken to expand gun rights. rolling back obama era regulations such as one that made it harder for people with certain mental illnesses to buy guns and also an obama era ban on the use of lead ammunition. we know this is a very pro trump crowd. i'm told 10,000 tickets were sold. we know the nra endorsed candidate trump early on and spent millions and millions to help him get elected. especially in states like pennsylvania and ohio. in an op-ed u.s.a. today chris cox praised president trump and mentioned that he ran as the strongest second amendment candidate in history. i spoke with the nra spokes person here who said that the firs

athena faucet and johnson disappeared around 5:00 yesterday. athena wearing a blue hoodie and black shoes, and katrina wearing a gray hoodie and dark blue jeans and a light-colored blouse. >>> state officials fine four bay area hospitals after determining their staff or almost caused serious injury or death to patients. st. luke's campus hospital in san francisco fined more than $47,000. kaiser permanente in san francisco fined 47,000 $47,000 . bay area tech companies are known for offering employee perks, right? now some are adding another incentive to attract and retain their workers. paid time off to protest. according to the chronicle, the san francisco database startup recently began allowing its 13 employees to take unlimited paid leave in order to participate in rallies, vote, and take part in other civic activities as well, and facebook offers a similar perk. >>> new this morning, fighting words for the trump white house from hillary clinton who says we can't count on the current administration to lead on gay right issues. >> gay rights

poppy. >> athena jones in washington. thank you. u.s. military experts analyzing these images of the north korea missile arsenal for the world to see over the weekend at the parade. what does this issay about the military advances? we have barbara starr at the pentagon. they are pointing to one image they say is new. >> good morning, poppy. the slow moving parade rolled through pyongyang. the question is how fast does this represent an advancement in the weapons program. and lalysts looking at the canisters that could contain intercontinental ballistic missiles. the missiles which could reach the united states one day. is this real or not? canisters, but are missiles with it? officials are not saying. it would be bigger than anything north korea has built so far. only one thing they showed off in the parade. intermediate range missiles. these are the missiles that could hit south korea or japan. as they look at all of this, they are trying to determine how much of this is real. how much of this represents north korean operational ability

athena jones is out front. athena, why? this is a change from the obama administration. >> reporter: it is and communications director tried to explain why they're making the move siting "grave national security risks and privacy concerns." it's not entirely clear what grave national security risks would be revealed. i can tell you during the obama administration sensitive meetings like with the potential supreme court justice or top national security officials were scrubbed before being released. this was a move that the trump white house doesn't want to take. this is prompting criticism from both political parties. people reason concerned the white house is trying to hide information about who was come to meet the president, who was flupsing the president and shaping his policy. the group crew is blasting trump, promising to "drain the swamp" and then taking what they call a massive step away from transparency with this move. c.r.e.w. is suing the trump administration over this issue. >> senior communications advisor and

so athena, what is the president saying about this and this coming on the heels of u.s. strikes in syria? >> hi, fred. that's absolutely right. the president tweeted about the attacks just a couple of hours ago. he said so sad to hear of the terrorist attack in egypt. u.s. strongly condemns. i have great confidence that presidenti presidential -- it's hard to believe it was less than a week ago that president trump gave a warm welcome to egypt's president. he became the first egyptian leader to visit the white house in seven years. the obama administration had been critical off a-- president trump has focused more on the need to have a strong partnership to fight terrorism and these latest attacks highlight that focus. during their meeting in the oval office last week, the president's message was we are very much behind egypt and the people of egypt and he said he looked forward to a very long and strong relationship. >> so meantime, you know, incredible lengths between the president meeting with the leader of egypt and now this taking place and then of course the presid

let's go to cnn's athena jones. she is in chicago for us.l us more about what former president had to say. >> reporter: hi, wolf. well, during his final weeks in office, we heard the president talk a lot about his post presidency and what his plans were. he talked about the importance of bringing new voices into the political process. and today he said that developing the next generation of leaders would be the single most important thing he could do as a former president. he also said today that conversations like these with young people make him optimistic about the future and he was clearly enjoying himself. president obama in his first public appearance since leaving office. >> what's been going on since i've been gone. >>> at the forum at the university of chicago where he once taught. >> the single most important thing i can do is to help in any way i can prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton. >> reporter: former president joined on stage by young leaders for a wide-ranging discussion and bridging divides betwe

my colleague, athena jones, is standing by.i can sort of tell that from the crowd reaction, but you were in the middle of it, this is a fired up base. how did they respond? >> reporter: hi, brooke. a lot of strong reaction from this very pro trump crowd. it's almost as if he read an op-ed. folks feel that he means that the court is now going to be where guns rights are protected and other appointments and he spent several minutes talking about the wall saying, once again, the wall will be built even though illegal border crossings are down. here's another moment that is putting a basic promise to the folks here. take a listen. >> the eight-year assault on your second amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end. [ applause ] you have a true friend and champion in the white house no longer will federal agencies be coming after law-abiding gun owners. no longer will the government be trying to undermine your rights and your freedoms as americans. instead, we will work with you by your side. >> so that got a pretty big response a

athena jones, thank you so much.till ahead this hour, global reaction rallies in cities around the world, call for a support for science. anyway to find out how rising sea levels have changed an entire landscape. later, call on camera, another dramatic confrontation on a commercial flight, a woman crying, a stranger jumping up to defend her, and the heated responsibility from the flight attendant getting a lot of criticism. you're live in the "cnn newsroom." weeks taking probiotics! days and nights of laxatives, only to have my symptoms return. (vo) if you've had enough, tell your doctor what you've tried and how long you've been at it. linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. do not give linzess to children less than six, and it should not be given to children six to less than 18. it may harm them. don't take linzess if y

>> athena jones reporting.ow former democratic party chairman and from washington, d.c., former south carolina lieutenant governor andre bauer. house speaker paul ryan today got fellow republicans on a conference call, talked about the spending deadline, the chances of a health care vote which sounds slim. listen to what one congressman told us about this apparently 15-minute paul ryan conference call and i'm quoting. they were short on details and didn't take any questions because they said they had to assume the call was being recorded by somebody and it would get leaked. it was so content free it was embarrassing. so, andre, what was the point of this call? >> i don't know. i guess it was to get the bullets out at least what they want to address next week. i would say they need to address if they think they have leaks they need to address those because -- i guess circling back around more than anything it shows you there are so many different groups within the republican party now, and that's why they have p

cnn white house correspondent athena jones joins me now. >> reporter: we've already heard from senatey leader chuck schumer saying that democrats -- that this border wall funding is a non-starter. democrats also don't want to see another priority of this white house which is more money for immigration agents. democrats don't want to see that in this funding bill either. but you have several members of the administration who in interviews in the last couple of days have stressed the importance of border security. take a listen to what dhs homeland security second stare john kelly, followed by budget director mick mcveiulvaney, and chief of staff reie priebus. >> i think it goesithout staying that the president has been pretty straightforward about his desire and the need for a border wall. so i would suspect he'll do the right thing for sure, but i will suspect he will be insistent on the funding. >> we want our priorities funded. one of the biggest priorities during the campaign was border security, keeping americans safe. and part of that was a border wall. >> we expect a massive inc

cnn's athena joins joins us from palm beach, florida since the president was at mar-a-lago. he's ed hheaded back to the whi house. >> reporter: ana, north korea did come up in the phone call that the president had yesterday with prime minister abe. a retweet from the readout that the white house gave to us saying president trump and prime minister abe agreed to further cooperation on a range of regional issues, including the threat posed by north korea. north korea really is one of the top challenges for that region and for the u.s. partnership with allies in that region, not just japan but also south korea. you've been talking about this navy aircraft carrier led strike group that is heading to the western pacific ocean near the korean peninsula. h.r. mcmaster, the national security advisor, was asked about that move this morning in an interview on fox news sunday. watch what he had to say. >> well, it's prudent to do it, at any time is? i mean north korea has been engaged in a pattern of provocative behavior. this is a rogue regime that is now a nuclear-capable regime, and

athena jones at the white house for us.hank you. >>> some tough talk from the head of the cia, talking about wikileaks, the same website candidate trump said he loved. stay with us. this bar is made with cranberries and almonds. so, guess what? we call it cranberry almond. give kind a try. that $100k is not exactly a fortune. well, a 103 how long did it take you two to save that? a long time. then it's a fortune. i told you we had a fortune. get closer to your investment goals with a conversation. tech: when your windshield trust safelite autoglass.. our exclusive trueseal technology means a strong, reliable bond. at safelite, we stand behind our work... because the ones you love, sit behind it. (parents whisper jingle) safelite repair, safelite replace. z2bg6z z10mz y2bg6y y10my >>> welcome back to "the lead." we have even more breaking news in our politics lead if you can believe it. a stunning assessment from the cia director mike pompeo. minutes ago he came out and said wikileaks is a non- state hostile intelligence ser

let's bring in correspondent athena jones.undtable since leaving office which leaves a clear signal of what kind of work he wants to be doing. >> reporter: we heard the president talk quite a bit about this in his final weeks in office. he often spoke about the importance of bringing new voices into the political process, and he said developing the next generation of leaders would be an important part of his post-presidency work. today he said conversations like these with young people make him optimistic about the future and it's clear he was enjoying himself. president obama in his first public appearance since leaving office. >> what's been going on while i've been gone? >> reporter: using humor and anecdotes to make the case for civic engagement during a forum at the university of chicago where he once taught. >> the single most important thing i can do is to help in any way i can prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton. >> reporter: the former president was joined on stage by young leaders for a wid

athena jones, keep us posted. appreciate that. >>> so in that wide ranging cbs interview, the president also had a lot to say about the current north korea crisis. trump offered some candid thoughts on the young unpredictable dictator of that rogue nation and the president described his strategy on north korea as a chess game in which he likes to keep his opponents guessing. >> mr. president, you and the administration said to north korea don't test a missile. they have tested a missile. is the pressure not working? >> well, i didn't say don't test a missile. he's going to do what he itself to do. he understands i won't be happy. i will tell you a man i like and respect, the president of china, president xi, i believe has been putting pressure on him also. but so far perhaps nothing's happened and perhaps it has. this was a small missile. this was not a big missile. this was not a nuclear test. which he was expected to do three days ago. we'll see what happens. >> you say not happy. what does that mean? i would no

correspondents athena jones, rene marsh and brian todd are joining usbrian. you have been with these protesters all day. what is the mood right now on the president's 100th day in office? >> reporter: ana, the mood is really kind of jubilant. they're very happy with what they've been able to accomplish here today. they got a lot of energy. check out the scene behind me, this is a massive puppet that these people constructed in north carolina around the chapel hill area and brought it all the way up here. they just had to squeeze it through kind of a chain link fence on constitution avenue to get it through here. this is supposed so symbolize mother earth. this was the gentleman who was instrumental in making it. jan berger, can you talk us to for a second? what made you want to bring this all way from north carolina up here? >> well, we thought it was different, important that one of the biggest issues that everybody faces is trying to save the world that we live in for ourselves and for everything else. we wanted to make a beautiful big impact to try and hig

back to you. >> absolutely, we will, athena jones. thank you.n florida where the president is right now holding this meeting. meantime, these strikes could very well send a very strong message to north korea. our ivan watson is in hong kong. he has many more details. look, the question is, what will kim jong-un take from all of this, and will it change any of his provocations? >> reporter: we don't know. there hasn't been any formal response yet, poppy, from pyongyang, but i think it's quite telling that hours before the cruise mission aisle strikes took place, north korea sent a message, a congratulatory message to the syrian president, bashar al assad, congratulating him on the 70th anniversary of the founding of syria's ruling bath party, or what's left of syria that it still rules, and basically expressing solidarity for the syrian president's fight against what north korea describes as imperialism. so, no question there about where north korea's sentiments lie when it comes to syria's civil war there that's gone on for some six years. now,