david chalian are with me. tease before the break.to talk about the news today that the rumblings, david chalian, around the white house, that the president -- he spent a lot of time, former staff secretary rob porter, who had been accused of domestic violence by both his ex-wives, never had that full clearance. he has been gone a few months. news is that the president has been in touch with him and rumblings that the president is talking about considering bringing him back. to you, a, how real do you think the consideration of that would be given the brouhaha surrounding his ousting and, b, are you surprised that the president is still in touch with him? >> i'll take the second question first, brooke. i'm not that surprised. first of all, when you're in trump's orbit in a close-knit ring like that, you don't really leave, even if you're physically moved to a different building. so, i'm not at all surprised to hear that he's reaching out to somebody that he spent a ton of time with. i don't know that there were many more west wing aid

david chalian, thank you. tony blinken, thank you for calling in.e the perspective. >>> never a dull morning. >> nope. >>> cnn's breaking news coverage will continue right now. stay tuned. cnn "newsroom" with john berman starts now. >> there is major breaking news this morning from the trump administration. just moments ago the president announced that rex tillerson is out as secretary of state. ousted would be more accurate here, to be replaced by the current head of the cia mike pompeo. the president says gina haspel, the deputy director of the cia will secede him as director. there might be some issues which

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joining me now, cnn political director david chalian. e talk about the state of new hampshire, what it means, the political implications, the president has a real reason for going, to talk about the opioid crisis. it is something very important in new hampshire. and something the president has talked about in new hampshire. >>ia, iyeah, it was a big them during the campaign when he was campaigning in new hampshire. that opioid epidemic is a crisis across the nation, but it is particularly acute up in new england and specifically in new hampshire. so it is something we have heard from politicians up there. the president plans to roll out the plan of how to spend the $6 billion that congress recently appropriated for it and that includes things like an education campaign, advertising, treatment for people who are addicted to opioids, some job helping folks get jobs. but also cracking down on drug traffickers and perhaps going as far as what some drug traffickers using the death penalty. >> and that will get a great deal of attention. the pr

maybe given the past 48 hours or week, but big picture, sure it is. >> and david chalian, let's talkicture right now, the race, there's been no victor declared, conor lamb is ahead. it would be surprising if he didn't win based on the numbers. >> poised to be the next member of congress from that district, yeah. >> you just said it, i don't have to. but there's a bigger picture about what it means heading into november and it means a lot. >> it does mean a lot. it is a wake-up call and i think speaker ryan in his honest moments with his conference will be saying if he hasn't already said the very same thing, this is a wake-up call, fortify yourselves he's saying to his members because this wait is big. the enthusiasm in the trump era, not different from the republican enthusiasm in the obama era in his first midterm year, this is the energy in american politics right now. it is swelling for democrats, we saw it throughout 2017 and now we're seeing it to actually convert into stealing a house seat that they have no right owning, the democrats. so that is when you say to your members i

david chalian, thank you. >>> cnn "newsroom" with john berman will pick up after this break.e'll see you tomorrow. enamel is the outer surface of the teeth that's white. if there's a thinning of the enamel, the teeth actually appear more yellow. pronamel is making your teeth stronger and more resistant to wear. start using pronamel right away and have that be your toothpaste for the rest of your life. ♪ >>> turmoil, turbulence, words that fit to a t when it comes to the white house this morning. want one more? trouble. good morning everyone. john berman here. trouble brewing inside the white house this morning. mike allen, one of america's great reporters writes, we have never seen top officials this concerned defeated. anthony scaramucci, the president's friend and briefly a white house insider put it this w way. >> morale is terrible. the reason the morale is terrible is the rule by fear and intimidation doesn't work in a civilian environment. >> you predict more departures? >> i predict more departures. >>> key people going out, continued news bombs coming in. ho

i want to bring in cnn political director david chalian for our very favorite thing, the key race alerte wake of the special election, we're not just looking at pennsylvania, we're looking at a shift that is much broader. >> we are indeed. and these latest ratings, we are now moving 17 house races, brianna, and moving all in the direction of the democrats. not all of them are becoming tossups but all moving, all 17 changes, in the direction of the democrat after we looked at the demography of what pennsylvania 2018 looks like and where else across the country, if indeed it is going to be that kind of a democratic wave, that good a year for democrats, where they're winning in deeply red places, we looked at some places that are even more competitive than pennsylvania 18 should have ever been on paper, candidate quality, fund-raising, and to make this determination. >> and what does that mean when you're looking at the majority? is it at risk for republicans? >> it was at risk for republicans before the result of pennsylvania 2018. i think what the result in this week showed us is that it

let's get "the bottom line" from political director david chalian.r heard of it. if you want this to be your man and woman, they have to be vetted. >> no doubt. it could be a two-step thing. first of all, let's back up. the fact that donald trump is not pleased with jeff sessions is not a secret to anybody. he's made this clear over the better part of the last year, mostly stemming from the fact that sessions recused himself from the aush yeah investigation. if he wanted scott pruitt, a former state attorney general from oklahoma, in that role and wanted him immediately, because he's already senate confirmed, because he can be appointed as acting attorney general and then go through the full process and be confirmed by the senate. >> instead of the process, i'm more interested in the idea of these musical chairs that people are interchangeable. don't they have special credentials that allow them to be epa administrator? don't answer that. that's rhetorical. or the idea that any of these things are up for grabs is what i think is noteworthy. >> that i

joining us cnn political director david chalian and editor at large chris cillizza. let's talk first about rex tillerson and what's going to happen with mike pompeo taking over as secretary of state. this is the opposite of a team of rivals. this is a team of clones or a team of parrots or whatever you want to call it that is aligned with president trump's world view. so what does that mean going forward for the next year? >> i don't know that it's parroting. it's certainly apparent that the president is putting together a year two team that is much more inclined to allow him, the president, pursue his basic instincts, his gut level approach to things whereas team year one there were a bunch of people he put into place that sort of were i think trying to be boundaries that he would bump into. this stead he wants to go ahead with his gut on things, whether it's foreign policy or some do mystic policy and not be encumbered by people trying to rein him in in some way. >> what's the plus-minus on the move, chris? >> the plus is he gets someone much more in line with his

i want to bring in david chalian to talk more about all of this. rick saccone wins, should republicans feel like, you know, easy street, midterm elections? >> no republican is going it feel like easy street in 2018. that is a given, fred. if saccone does pull out a win, and as alex just mentioned, obviously even single digits is going to raise questions about just how big of a democratic wave may be building this year, because it is a trump plus 20 district, he won it by 20 points, but a win is a win in politics, right? if saccone emerges and republicans hang on to this district, they will breathe somewhat easier. flip that around, if the democrat wins here, if conor lamb emerges victorious tomorrow night, you're going to see a real earthquake inside the republican party about the level of concern about 2018 really ratcheting up, you may see some more retirements, you may see some of the outside money folks trying to figure out who really to place their bets on, it is going to become a real public hand wringing for the gop if they lose this district

so david chalian is with me. and riva martin is back with me. so david, here is my question to you. know, aside from michael cohen sort of coming out of this whole thing looking like he has gone to rent an attorney law school and, you know, the president having maybe not the best moral compass, what is the worst possible outcome really for the president in this? >> well, i'm not a lawyer, so i don't know that there will be a -- >> political pli spely speaking i'm asking. >> i'm not sure that there will be a huge amount of negative impact for him. i think that this is not new information about the president's alleged behavior. it's been out there. i think it was baked in -- i'm not even sure quite frankly if indeed this affair was revealed before the election that it would have had an impact on the election. remember, he had been through the "access hollywood" tape. >> grab them by the you know what. >> exactly. but i do think there is a fundamental issue of whether or not the president is telling the truth to the american people and that deserves our attention. that is one thing tha

let's get "the bottom line" with cnn political director david chalian.ra meeting, cox heard something and took it to mean that nothing is going to happen at all, maybe it was on one aspect. >> doesn't it mean that the president plays to his audience. >> i was giving the best reading of this obvious contradiction, is that cox took a little bit and made it into a whole general proposition. >> guys, i think the larger point is what is the president's position? that's what remains unclear, right? he threw out some stuff on wednesday. we'll see if there's any follow-through to it. sarah sanders says the president hasn't changed. he also says he supports conceptually an assault weapons ban, something he supported before he ran for president, flipped on it, said he opposed it. i didn't hear him say he supported an assault weapons ban on wednesday even in concept. it is not clear where the president stands right now and how much political capital he's willing to spend. what is clear is he got a lot of conservative backlash and called the nra in to try to fix his

joining us now, david gergen, david chalian, and gloria borger. let's talk about hope hicks. gergen, you've worked in a lot of white houses. have you seen in any white house where you worked that there is somebody as close to the president as hope hicks? i mean she really kind of plays a role similar probably to ivanka trump and jared kushner just in terms of their proximity and access to the president. >> i've certainly never seen anybody as glamorous so close to the president, and i think that's partly what distinguishes her. we've seen this parade of photographs. but, no, look, i think she's very close to the president, but she was in this job, she's the fourth person in 14 months to be communications director. >> what does that tell you? >> it tells you that it's impossible to be successful in that job because that job is all about planning strategy, communications strategy, themes, working it out, and you've got a president who uses twitter to bust up all that. >> you were communications director under reagan. >> i was indeed. but, you know, that was -- of course he was -

. >> more importantly, but that this doesn't make et as david chalian said earlier, the freaking out factor any less among republicans. even if saccone, the republican ends up pulling ahead it's entirely possible that in some of the very, very tight swing districts where republicans are running in areas where hillary clinton won that you might see more retirements. we already have 38 republican retirements this election cycle. you might see more because they don't want to deal with a situation that they have in their district where they don't have the benefit of a 20-point lead -- or 20-point win that donald trump had in their district. it's a lot harder. and so i think we have to keep that in mind in terms of big picture. >> they are counting the absentees as we speak. we're about to get more numbers. could make the difference. we'll have much more on the dramatic contest right after this. ♪ ♪ there are two types of people in the world. those who fear the future... and those who embrace it. the future is for the unafraid. ♪ ♪ searching for answers may feel overwhelming. so start you

david chalian brought up that some democrats may want to support this. i think this could go the other way where? democrats and republicans could use this as a way to stand for veterans and against president trump. so it will be very interesting to see what the veterans groups say in the coming days about this nomination. i think that will make a big difference. >> and again ronny jackson was be loved in the obama white house for his medical expertise. we'll see how that translates. and hope hicks' last day was yesterday. what is the vibe inside the west wing? >> there is real concern about her departure. she sits about ten feet from the oval office. she is the closest person to the president. and she is somebody who shielded the president not only from the news media, but from the rest of the white house staff really seen as a liaison from the president to the rest of the white house stach. a staff. and there is no replacement for her yet. so i think there is concern about how the president will handle it. there have been a lot of white house departures

. >> david chalian pointed out the fact that the president just didn't e-mail.w if you are looking into these e-mails and you are not going on a mega fishing expedition, but you could see -- what are you looking for? >> i think it defends on who you are. there are so many facets to this. you have the stormy daniels facet which is sort of losing a little bit of steam. people are now thinking in the larger terms when potential violations of federal election law. and what ultimately could happen is we'll find out once you go into the e-mails, if the litigation is allowed to continue, the discovery process will start urks t, the e-mails revealed and we could start to see where the money is coming from. mr. cohen saying that he out of his own good will dished out $130,000 -- >> which he really wants back. >> everybody is raising eyebrows, how could of a friend are you? 2 out of your own pocket, it didn't pass the smell test. >> and the bigger question, are there others. >> there are other people name in the lawsuit including this woman jessica drake, angel rae who be

but i think just the fact that we are waiting for the absentee ballots, which by the way david chaliand me had to be in by friday, and friday was just as the president was signing his tariffs policy which he was hoping was going to help with these exact kind of voters, union voters and so forth. and it was before the president actually went to the district to campaign there. the fact that we're waiting for these absentee ballots means that this sort of live vote that happened today was tighter than both sides expected. that is why republicans feel, particularly trump republicans i've talked to, and i'm sure you have as well heard from them, saying that they believe the president's visit helped. but at the end of the day, the president helping a candidate to maybe, maybe get over a finish line where he, the president, won by 20 points and it hasn't been in democratic hands for 14 years, isn't a whole lot to crow about. that's why, candidly, most republicans are saying, no matter what happens at the end of the day, whether it goes to the democratic side or not, it is a canary in the coal

joining me now, we have cnn political director david chalian and back with us, tony blinken. let's be clear about this. the president makes up a trade deficit. and then insists it exists when it doesn't to the prime minister of canada, then he publicly reasserts this bogus claim. and then he admits to donors that he was making it up. and while he had this meeting with the prime minister, he talks about how he sent someone out to verify the facts. they sort of came back with the way for him to be right, and it just occurred to me that, you know what is this like? i wondered, it is like painting the roses red. >> exactly. i do think you get to the heart of what is so revealing about donald trump's character in this episode. forget the facts that he's just wrong about the deficit and the surplus for a moment. what he told the donors last night, he thought this was a private setting. >> the president knows that. it is so regulatory. he says it -- admits fully i didn't know what i was saying if it was true or not. i did not have the facts with me. i just made up a thing that i wan

david chalian, thank you. tony blinken, thank you for calling in. appreciate the perspective. >>> never a dull morning. >> nope. >>> cnn's breaking news coverage will continue right now. stay tuned. cnn "newsroom" with john berman starts now. >> there is major breaking news this morning from the trump administration. just moments ago the president announced that rex tillerson is out as secretary of state. ousted would be more accurate here, to be replaced by the current head of the cia mike pompeo. the president says gina haspel, the deputy director of the cia will secede him as director. there might be some issues which we'll get into in a moment. cnn's abby phillip at the white house. we understand, abby, the secretary of state was informed of this on friday. >> reporter: that's right, tillerson was informed while he was traveling in africa according to sources. he was told by the president that the president wanted him gone. that coincided around the same time we were learning there were going to be negotiations, potentially a meeting with north

we want to bring in cnn political director david chalian. i admit, i'm confused how sarah sanders could have run afoul of the president and the president be angry about what she said. what she said is that arbitration was won in the president's favor. that didn't roll off her tongue. that's not an extemporaneous remark. these are prepared remarks that she comes to the podium with. >> and there are only two people that could have given her that information or maybe three. michael cohen, the president of the united states or michael cohen's attorney. clearly she got that piece of information to share. you and abby are both right to underscore that. in the president's favor, by saying that expression, and i don't know if that was part of the written remarks or if she was supposed to just stick to "arbitration was won," i have to agree with the president's analysis according to jim sack costa's reporting, that this is putting steroids into this story. we hear from the podium for the very first time that the president is party to there dispute wi

let's get to the bottom line with david chalian. >> yes, this is our brand new cnn poll conducted bylections and that generic congressional ballot. take a look at these results. you see that the democrats still hold an advantage 50% to 44%, a 6 point advantage and a good one, but much narrowed the eed 16 point advantage we saw last month. so enthusiasm, democrats still hold a big advantage. these are people that say they are very likely and enthusiastic to vote in november. 51% democrat, 36% republican. and in fact if you look at the post enthusiastic voters, the democrats have a big midterm advantage. of course the overall congressional approval is not good. you know this. 18% is where congress sits right now. doesn't get much lower than this th . but this is about 10 points below of where american s approved of congress the last time house changed hands. and who would do better? democrats win on health care, russia, immigration and gun policy. they died on the budget and economy. and the one clear advantage, republicans on national security. >> so what do you see in terms of what i

. >> with me here is jen psaki, david chalian, and gloria borger. it's hard to overstate the importance of hope hicks. people at home, maybe they've seen pictures of her. during the campaign i remember doing interviews with then candidate trump and it seemed like the whole campaign for a while was just trump, corey lewandowski, and hope hicks. >> totally. she's always been around. she's the trump whisperer. she is completely, 100% loyal. she's young, and she is, as one source said to me, is very close to trump. he said, she is his emotional support, period. that's what he has. and he predicted to me with some trepidation that without her there, the president would go iran to what into what he called a tailspin. >> it's not only that she's gone. his former body man, security guard who has been with him forever, keith shilling, he's also left. >> when you look at the people he was close to originally, you had corey lewandowski he was close to, hope hicks, keith schiller, and he's got problems with jared now, which means he probably has problems with i