and gloria borger joins me from washington. what drew just said, gloria, incredibly poignant. because of the past. that's why we have separate hospitals where you don't get equal care. it's been built in a bureaucratic system of the past. this is a president who said he is going to take on bureaucracy. he is going to make the government smaller. he has explicitly said this a couple of times. and yet it doesn't happen. >> yeah. he said he is going to make the government smarter. and this is a president, don't forget, erin, who has proposed government solutions to a lot of problems. at every turn, though, we've seen the problems with government. i mean, you look at the roll-out of the affordable care act in addition to the v.a. problems, you know. you look at the irs scandal. even the question of nsa surveillance. was that government run amok? so here is a president who said trust government. i'm going make it work better. i'm going make it work for you. and now you've seen all these bureaucratic problems. and it goes to the question of

cnn ice chief political analyst gloria borger explains. >> i would be here if her son was not my son-in-law she is marjory morgue lease. her son happens to be married to chelsea clinton. chelsea is now expecting a baby. >> mark and i are very excited. >> reporter: and her mom may be running for president. >> your son has married into a political dynasty. what is that like? >> it's surprisingly normal. >> reporter: that depends on how you define normal, because the back story of the two families is anything but. >> i'm not saying vote for her because 20 years ago she saved the economy. >> reporter: she also saved clinton's presidency. it was 1993, clinton's defining economic plan was on the house floor and about to die. >> republicans were high-fiving saying it's going down. >> reporter: she was a holdout, a philadelphia freshman who had won by just over 1,000 votes. >> a lot of democrats were talking about changing their vote. >> reporter: that's when the president called. >> and i said, and i will only be your last vote. i know how important this is. >> reporter: he hung up and then watche

you know what else is even more important, gloria borger received an honorary degree from her alma materversity this weekend, gave the commencement address. there you are, gloria. you'll see her up there. we've got a great picture of you at colgate university. we know your husband lance was there, your boys were there. an kitie in exciting time for et colgate. not only she worked to get her actual degree but now she's got an honorary doctorate as well. >> wolf, thank you. >> congratulations. congratulations to colgate university an excellent school in new york state. >>> up ahead, nigeria's borno state is a prime recruiting ground for boko haram. cnn went there, met with two informants who say they know where the terror camps are hidden. arwa damon standing by live. anthony bourdain has a new appreciate. he tells us what changed his mind. defiance is in our bones. defiance never grows old. citracal maximum. calcium citrate plus d. highly soluble, easily absorbed. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to re

dana bash, gloria borger. you read gloria's column, cnn.com/opinion. >>> still to come, explosive donald sterling audio released just minutes ago. >> but i'm talking to a girl i'm trying to have sex with her. i'm trying to play with her. >> the l.a. clippers co-owners says he was just trying to come on to v. stiviano and he was jealous she was seeing black men. more after a break. stick with innovation. stick with power. stick with technology. get the flexcare platinum from philips sonicare and save now. philips sonicare thoughtful combinations, artfully prepared. fancy feast elegant medleys. inspired dishes like primavera, florentine and tuscany. fancy feast. a medley of love, served daily. the shingles virus is already inside you. you should know that 1 in 3 people will get shingles in their lifetime. >>> we want to go back now to the explosive new audio released by radaronline.com from donald sterling. in it sterling gives a bizarre explanation for his racist rant. he says he was only try to get into bed wit

let's bring in cnn analyst and writer for politico, maggie and also gloria borger.uch sway do you think he holds on jeb's decision? >> he endorsed romney from an elevator as i recall. he does not hold a ton of sway on jeb's decision as i understand it. what he says about people don't believe we don't talk that much, according to everyone involved, they don't really talk that much about this. i think his brother's experience will have some sway on what jeb does. it's impossible to think that it doesn't. i don't think his brother will be doing too many cajoling phone calls. i think he thinks yes, he should run, he would be a good president. >> gloria, in a cnn exclusive interview, brother neil bush told you that george h.w. bush, the dad, wants jeb to run. mom said no last year on the "today" show. is it time for a family meeting here? >> it might be time for a family meeting. you know, neil said to me, you know, flat out, i heard dad say it, he wants him to run. i think lots of folks in the family would want him to run. one thing president bush told you is something

cnn's chief political analyst, gloria borger, abogood to see y. check my math, there are several hearings already, reports, why now? >> well, look, this is clearly about politics as you pointed out. earlier as you pointed out, there were republicans who thought the white house was effecti effectively covering up the story on benghazi, that they were not truthful with the american public and that they had not really gotten to the bottom of it. but at the very base here we see a select committee that is formed with the majority of republicans on it. and you know they're playing a short-term game here and a long-term game here. the short-term game here is elections, mid-term elections in november. they're not about persuading voters. they're about getting your partisans, getting out your base. what gets out base republican voters? president obama and obamacare, perhaps hillary clinton and benghazi. so that is what this is about. and if they nick hillary clinton along the way, you know she is the favorite candidate to be the democratic nominee at this

gloria borger and jonathan martin.e about this race is that kay hagan is meddling in the race about tom tillis. what is she saying? >> she's talking about his views on the affordable care act. >> trying to paint him as a liberal? >> yes, that's right. trying to bloody him up and trying to get that 40%, the magic number. but you see in north carolina what you saw in missouri two years ago where democrats went in late, jake, and tried to boost todd akin, they did that, got their candidate and what happened? the rest is history. >> she wants a runoff. >> you have course. of course. kay hagan is vulnerable. >> almost as vulnerable. >> that's right. we had a poll in our paper last month. her approval numbers were 44/44. as many folks disapproved as those that approved. that is so key in the state that it drops off between presidential years and off years. a big prop for her. >> we can't understate this. the fate of the control of the senate really does hang in the balance. >> six seats. >> and kay hagan loses and you have a

i want to go to gloria borger.althcare workers that tend to veterans who are honorable and work for low wages and do their best to help our nation's heroes. it does seem some problem when it comes to the system and when it comes to accountability for administrators. we hear this news breaking right now that director of the phoenix va which is beleaguered and she got this bonus from the va. this comes on the heels of other stories of other administrators at va hospitals around the country who had spotty reputations and who had accusations of misconduct at their hospitals who also received bonuses. how does this -- how does president obama address this in this scandal? >> you know, this is a real problem for him, jake. as you know, the president has been speaking about the va and how he needed to build what he called a 21st century va since he began running for president in 2007. it's been a huge issue for him. it's been very important to him. it's been very important to mrs. obama, to dr. jill biden, the vice presid

for more on the benghazi fallout, let's bring our chief political analyst gloria borger. the benghazi issue didn't come up at the news conference the president just had. but it is clearly not going away. republicans, especially in the house, are trying to escalate the matter. >> because they think it's a good political peg for them to use against an administration they would say is secretive and tried to cover up what really occurred in benghazi. you've heard the white house defense on this, wolf. they've said this e-mail that was just released from deputy national security adviser was not about benghazi but about the entire situation in the region. was not a smoking gun. so i assume they're going to go back and forth on this, obviously announcing they're going to have a special committee investigate it escalates it, but do i need to remind you we're heading into the midterm elections here. >> their ordering john kerry to testify. now, he was a united states senator in 2012 when the attack occurred, hillary clinton was the secretary of state. i'm not sure what he'll be ab

joining us in the studio, our chief national security correspondent along with gloria borger at the rosen awaiting the start of this news conference, michelle kosinski is standing by in new york. christine romans and in moscow, matthew chance. michelle, to you first. set the scene for us. these are very important talks underway right now. >> from the beginning, we've seep such alignment between president obama and german chancellor merkel. she has been talking to vladimir putin consistently as well. just within the last few days, another conversation between them. so, we're waiting to hear more about really at this point, the lack of progress that has been made in those diplomatic atte t attemp attempts. early on in the start of this crisis, merkel would speak to putin and say, it seems like hoos agreeing to some of this. there might be a movement of tro troops back from the border. that he's agleed to meet with a contact group. there really seemed to be an openness there and we've seen that erode over the course of weeks and weeks to the point that when you would get the read out from s

gloria borger standing by live. she's going to discuss with me. and the russian president vladimir putin says his troops are moving away drop the ukrainian border. the united states begs to differ. there's new information though coming in right now. barbara starr standing by at the pentagon. humans. even when we cross our "ts" and dot our "i's", we still run into problems. that's why liberty mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness with our auto policies. if you qualify, your rates won't go up due to your first accident. because making mistakes is only human, and so are we. we also offer new car replacement, so if you total your new car, we'll give you the money for a new one. call liberty mutual insurance at... and ask us all about our auto features, like guaranteed repairs, where if you get into an accident and use one of our certified repair shops, the repairs are guaranteed for life. so call... to talk with an insurance expert about everything that comes standard with our base auto policy. and if you switch, you could save up to $423. libe

dana bash is there and gloria borger is in washington keeping her eye on the other key races. dana, mcconnell expected to gate major challenge from the right, from the tea party. what happened? it turned out to not be much of a race at all. >> reporter: that's right. you know, as you said, he promised to crush the tea party opponent and that looks like what he's headed to do. at this point, it looks like matt bevin is probably not going to crack 40% and that matters because it's all about at this point pitching forward to november and how much juice mcconnell can get first and foremost monk the republican friends and republican voters in order to beat the woman he'll likely have a neck and neck race with, the democrat. i'm watching mcconnell four years now try to deal and to play the tug of war with the idea of the tea party coming up and surprising a lot of republican colleagues, some of foremost monk the republican friends and republican voters in order to beat the woman he'll likely have a neck and neck race with, the democrat. i'm watching mcconnell four years now try to d

she has a long history with the clintons, gloria borger reports. >> i wouldn't be here if her son was-in-law. >> she is marjorie margoles, her son happens to be married to chelsea clinton, chelsea is now expecting a baby. and her mom may be running for president. >> your son has married into a political dynasty. what is that like? >> it is surprisingly normal. >> that depends on how you define normal. because the back story of the two families is anything but. >> i'm not saying vote for her because 20 years ago she saved the economy. >> she also saved clinton's presidency, it was 1993. clinton's defining economic plan was on the house floor and about to die. >> the republicans were high-fiving, saying it is going down. >> she was a holdout, a philadelphia freshman who had won by just over a thousand votes. >> a lot of democrats were talking about changing their vote. >> that is when the president called. >> and i said and i will only be your last vote. i know how important this is. >> he hung up and then watched her from the white house. >> as we all gather around this little one-foot

gloria borger, what's happening? >> we are projecting some winners in the primaries.r nathan deal and faces jason carter, the grandson of former president jimmy carter in november. jason carter ran unopposed, anderson. wasn't much of a race on that side but trying to carry on that dynasty. >> for the republicans, vying for the georgia senate seat, vacated by sax xi chambliss, any results yet? >> no. you have five candidates. three from the tea party and two from the establishment and very likely to result in a runoff. and so, we don't know the result yet. >> and as we mentioned earlier, mitch mcconnell secured the republican nomination for senate in kentucky. alison grimes won on the democratic side. is there an early read on how they match up? polls show them even, right? >> very close. don't forget, kentucky, kentucky is a republican state. barack obama only won four districts in that state. so, you know, you have to favor mitch mcconnell. some say over $100 million is going to be spent in this state. but she's a good candidate. she's a woman. mcconnell has to unite

gloria borger, let's get you into this analysis right now. you can see the president -- it's a painful situation for him because when he was the united states senator and he was only a u.s. senator for a short time, he did serve on the committee, the veterans affairs committee in the united states senate. he made that an issue going into the campaign and going into the election to work to make sure the department of veterans affairs got all of these issues right and now he's learning, belatedly, there are so many problems still out there. >> it's painful in a couple of ways. first of all, this is an issue that he cared about when he was in the senate as you point out. he also made it a cornerstone of his first presidential campaign and he's continued to emphasize the importance of veterans. secondly, i think this is a personal issue for him. he went out of his way to talk about rick shinseki as he called him saying he's a very good man. a good person. i think it was sort of with a heavy heart that the president came to the briefing room today

we have barbara starr standing by and gloria borger, people in the room there. home will stay with us. we'll take a quick break and be right back. what can i do on a $7 a month android plan from tracfone? check the weather. borrow ted's wheelbarrow. post big tomato pics. buy a birdhouse for sparrows. download gardening apps. answer my wife's texts. search how to sculpt hedges into a t-rex. i can do all that with my android from tracfone for as low as $7 a month. [ male announcer ] unbeatable nationwide coverage, no contract. for a limited time, save $50 on the zte valet. now just 49.99. tracfone. do everything for less. captain: and here's a tip. bellman: thanks, captain obvious. now just 49.99. when you save money on hotel rooms, it's just like saving money on anything else that costs money. like shoes, textiles, foreign investments, spatulas, bounty hunters, javelins... [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. but for everything we do, we know you do so much mo

. >> gloria borger, good work. thank you very much. remember, always follow us on twitter. tweet me @wolfblitzer. tweet the show@cnnsitroom. join us again tomorrow right here in "the situation room." certainly watch us live. always dvr the show so you won't miss a moment. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." now let's step into the "crossfire" with s.e. cupp and van jones. >>> wolf, we have brand new quotes from monica lewinsky's "vanity fair" article. we're looking at her impact on hillary clinton's potential campaign. >> actually i think the republicans have fallen into some ikind of time warp. they are going to lose. debate starts right now. >>> tonight on "crossfire" he's a global statesman. she's the democrats' heir apparent. so is monica lewinsky the real victim? on the left, van jones. on the right, s.e. cupp. in the "crossfire," ruth marcus from the "washington post." and penny young nance of concerned women for america. the return of monica lewinsky. does it hurt hillary clinton? tonight, on "crossfire." >>> wel

she sat down with our chief political analyst gloria borger for a rare interview. how did it go?r second lady lynne cheney has always been a political animal, also a scholar in her own right. now she's written a book about the fourth president james madison whom she admires as a pioneer of conservatism. she spoke to me about political divides in the country and in her own family and why disagreement can be healthy. >> madison began to worry about too strong a central government. that political party led to an era of partisanship in the 1790s that's the equal of anything we have today. >> we say our gridlock today, our partisanship. do you think it was a terrible thing? >> madison wouldn't have thought so. >> what about you? >> i wouldn't think so, either. it's what happens when you is free and open debate. i'd like to take the edge off it. trust me, i've been through this. >> hi, i'm liz cheney. >> reporter: most recently as a mother watching her daughter's tough wyoming senate bid erupt into a public family feud over same-sex marriage. candidate liz opposed it. her sister, mary,

jake tapper and gloria borger is with us. let's go to you jake first. spent a lot of time in afghanistan. you've written a book about fighting going on there. what do you make of it? >> it was interesting that he mistakenly referred to 98,000 troops being there at the beginning of next year as opposed to 9,800. because president obama is the president who tripled the number of u.s. troops in afghanistan. it was about 100,000. and according to conversations i've had with aides close to him, i don't think he would do that again today if he knew then what he knows now. he wouldn't have done that. he has come to believe that there are limits to what u.s. military force can do. the concern that many experts have, many in the military have, is not so much with afghan security. president obama said he was reassured after being in bagram over the weekend. it's the logistical support. this is not a sexy issue. but anytime you send 5,000 troops, you need 3,000 troops to support them, the resupply of ammunition, the medical and food. the concern that i heard, when

scandal, joining us, gloria borger and drew griffin, who first broke the v.a. story. gloria, what's the latest? how much longer can shinseki survive? >> i don't think much longer. you heard the white house official say he's on thin ice, on probation. john boehner would rather blame president obama than blame general shinseki. i think what everyone is looking for is an exit strategy. shinseki is going to deliver his own evaluations of the problem to the president in the very near future. if i had to guess, they're looking for some way for him to resign. don't forget, general shinseki is a decorated war hero. i think there needs to be a certain amount of dignity assigned to this. this is a president probably looking for that way but they've given every signal starting with the president himself when he said he was holding him accountable and starting with signals from the white house it's clear he's probably going to have to leave. >> you spent time going through this preliminary inspector general's report on the phoenix v.a. facility. what's your take? >> my take is pho

joining us, our chief political analyst gloria borger and dana bash, our chief congressional correspondentw big of a win is this for the establishment republican as opposed to the tea party -- >> the establishment fights back. you've had the chamber of commerce and other establishment republican groups putting millions of dollars into this race because they're sick and tired of nominating candidates that are going to lose in general elections. this was a very important win for them. rand paul, as you know, was on the other side of this. he endorsed the guy who lost. and it took him about what, a nano second, to turn around and say, okay, now i'm -- >> because he went in there, rand paul, to endorse the tea party candidate. >> tea party was split though. >> if there would have been a runoff, would have been good news for kay hagan, the dimmic incumbent. >> she would have loved that because the republican fight would have gone into the summer, ticking away from her. i think when you talk about kay hagan, you talk about tom tillis, people who might not cover politics the way we do might go, h

gloria borger, mark preston, and dana bash joins us again from louisville where she's covering the kentucky. is john boehner right there? you think it is the tea partyiers and conservatives are not that far apart anymore. >> remember the reagan big tent? everybody is one big conservative. what the establishment has done -- and i would consider john boehner a part of that political establishment and the republican party is they have done two things. they have gone out of their way to disqualify the tea party candidates they don't think can win because they don't want a repeat of 2010 and 2012 where they think they lost about six senate seats because of purity, right? >> right. >> and secondly, they have adopted much of the tea party platform. what reunites them now is their opposition to obamacare. some opposed to immigration reform, climate change, what they are saying is absolutely true. the party has shifted to the right and for now at least they want to win control of the senate, they are big happy family. >> what is going on in georgia now? it's really a race between the republicans. th

. >> our chief political analyst, gloria borger is here with me. the president was very specific yesterday. he wants to see the investigations go forward, wants to get a report from rob nabors, his deputy chief of staff and only then will he decide if heads will roll. >> not at all. this is a president who doesn't believe in immediate sacrificial lambs and no drama obama. remember during the bp oil spill, people were saying, where's the outrage? where's the outrage? that's not who he is. we saw it with the rollout of the affordable care act. that was complete disaster. did he fire kathleen sebelius right away. is she leaving now? yes. at irs, did he fire people right away? did people leave eventually? yes. did he leave the door open yesterday for shinseki to be fired or allowed to be resign. the answer is yes. don't forget, erik shinseki is a war hero. he has two purple hearts, four star general. i think this is a president who kind of wants to wait, take the lay of the land. he did publicly say, i told erik directly, as he told us yesterday, i hav

. >> joined now by our chief political analyst, gloria borger and chief congressional correspondent dana bash. you've been monitoring what's going on on capitol hill. when he uses the word "criminal" what his he talking about? >> the fact republicans are jumping on this like nobody's business not a surprise and jumping on two things, this e-mail wasn't revealed long ago when they asked for documents and only revealed because this outside group got it through a request and turns ott his committee got it at the same time that group did but also because of the content they're jumping on the fact it backs up the whole idea the administration was trying to make it clear that this was not terrorism because the republicans accused them of trying to cover it up because of politics. >> is he saying that because the e-mail a year ago or so wasn't made available the white house was breaking the law? is that what he's saying? >> covering up. i haven't talked to him about exactly what he means by criminal. the concept of these people who are u.s. citizens ultimately were killed without getting help f

. >> let's bring in our chief political analyst, gloria borger, our chief congressional correspondent, dana bash. i want to point out eric shinseki may be coming to the microphone shortly outside of this committee hearing up on capitol hill, the secretary of veterans affairs. if he speaks to reporters, we'll go there live. i just wanted to alert you in case i interrupt brilliant thoughts. that's why i'd be doing that. so hillary clinton, the karl rove -- this whole uproar that has been generated, gloria, has it helped or hurt hillary's potential 2016 prospects? >> actually, i don't think it affects it one way or another. in the short term, republicans are kind of separating themselves from karl rove on this because they don't want to be seen as saying she's got some kind of sustained brain damage, right? but, you know, it does set a narrative which is that the questions about her health, about her age. and you know, we do these things in campaigns. people just throw stuff out there like harry reid, you'll recall, mitt romney didn't pay his taxes. john kerry was an elitist and on and o

joining us, gloria borger and our chief commentator alex castellanos. the handwriting was clearly on the wall. with all these, more than 100 members of the house and senate, republicans and democrats, plenty of democrats, saying he must go. the president really had no choice. >> no, he had no choice. and he all but said that today. it's clear that he has a great deal of respect for shinseki. who is, after all, a war hero. the president went out of his way to say he's a really good man. but the president's point was clear. that is that shinseki himself had become a distraction. you can't have that when somebody has to go to congress and ask for money, as the va will have to do to solve some of these problems, that he had to sort of get out of the way so they could get on with the business of making the va start to work in certain ways. >> you have a good column on cnn.com. the president is living his own version of alice through the looking glass. staring down a rabbit hole of government bureaucracy and inefficiency, the government he has studiously trie

. >> let's bring in our chief political analyst gloria borger and our senior political correspondent brianna keilar. what do you make of the president thereaddressing the k rove allegations? >> there's nobody better to do it. the clinton campaign, the clinton people, i should say, put out a -- >> easy to slip there. >> yeah, easy, put out a very strong statement about this yesterday. but there's nobody better to answer the charges about brain damage than brill clinton. the way he handled it was kind of offhand. he didn't dismiss what occur to her. he's a very good surrogate for hillary clinton. sheeps g she's got the stamina, she's this. he turned it around and said now they'll make it an issue that she's got brain damage, i mean, very well done. >> what do you think? >> to do it with humor was effective. i thought it was effective. i will tell you, just having been to so many events because hillary clinton since finishing up her book has really been making the rounds. you can go and you can see, she's kind of been i think work on some of her political muscles as she gets sort of bac

. >> joining us to talk about this, our chief political analyst gloria borger and on capitol hill chiefsional correspondent dana bash. dana, you are in the room where nancy pelosi will hold her weekly presser. what do you expect to hear from her? have democrats made their decision what they will do about this committee? >> reporter: it doesn't sound like they made their decision. what they have been doing all morning is having internal discussions about the options and pros and cons. what's important to remember as said to me by a house democrat, they are tactical, political differences over whether or not it makes sense politically to participate and be in the room and be able to be part of the process to combat what they believe are overtly political questions to witnesses or be part of the questioning process itself or call it what they believe it is, a political circus and not be involved in it and call it that from the outside. those are discussions going on. talking to rank and file democrats going in and out of the meetings, there's a split about the tactical way they should appr

. >> gloria borger, cnn, philadelphia. >> and thank you for joining us, anderson starts now. >>> hey, good evening, thank you for joining us. we begin tonight with breaking news from southern california where wildfires are threatening thousands of homes and have burned about 10,000 acres so far. dozens of fires raging overnight is now down to eight fires, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes, and amid the chaos people are capturing very intense pictures that really tell the story of what it is like across san diego county. take a look at this. >> wow, there it is right there! there it is right there! [ bleep ] [ bleep ] oh my god! oh my god! holy [ bleep ] oh, my god, dude. that was right there! >> just incredible. the worst fire is in san marcos where officials say the fire is taking so much oxygen that it is creating its own weather system. here is video of one of the firenados that formed a swirling fire ball that indicates the intense conditions the firefighters are dealing with as they try desperately to get control of it. take a look at that. gary tuchman reports

our chief political analyst gloria borger is here with some answers. kentucky potentially could affect the majority in the united states senate. >> you heard what dana was saying. mitch mcconnell was running not only for re-election but he's running to be senate majority leader. the republicans need six seats. his seat is going to be a very close race . if he wins his primary today, we expect him to win his primary. i think what you'll see in his senate race down the road is this gauge of anti-washington sentiment. as dana says, he's not running away from being senior. he says he can do things for people in the state. if people hate washington and what's going on in washington, he won't win. but he's not running away from who he is and what he wants to be. >> we've seen a major development this election cycle. the republican establishment really going after the tea party. you see it in kentucky. >> the empire strikes back. >> the republican establishment, they think they have a chance of becoming the majority in the senate. they don't want these tea pa

gloria borger, i want to bring you in. this obviously is in addition to being a health crisis for veterans. political scandal and controversy for president obama and his administration. how did you see him responding to it today? what did you think he was trying to do? >> you know, i saw him make the case very clearly that this is one of the causes of his presidency. he pointed out that he served on the veterans affairs committee when he was in the senate. this was something he spoke about when he ran for the presidency in 2008. has continued to be his cause, h his wife's and jill biden's cause. i saw the same president i saw with the healthcare reform rollout. this is a president who said, okay, i want accountability. i want to know the full scope of the problem. i want a broader review of the va. on the political level, jake, he was very careful about how he treated shinseki. what he went out of his way to say is that shinseki is a great soldier. he's a disabled veteran who cares very deeply about veterans. he made it cl

let's bring in our chief political analyst gloria borger and our chief congressional correspondent dana bash. dana, democrats, what, they've just wrapped up a meeting amongst themselves. what are you hearing? >> house democratic leaders are coming out of nancy pelosi's office saying they don't feel they're anywhere closer, in fact, maybe they've taken a step backwards in terms of what they've been asking for to be able to participate in this select committee on benghazi. it's all about process. that process is incredibly important because it's about access to witnesses. it is about participation and consultation with regard to interviews they're doing and subpoenas. so what we're told is the offer that the house speaker john boehner and his staff gave to the leadership just moments ago was simply not okay. because it says they will do all of this to the extent possible but makes no promises about democratic participation. i want you to listen to what nancy pelosi said earlier today about why democrats are so resistant to participating without those promises. >> either people got tired o

our chief political analyst gloria borger is here. some are already suggesting this book, for all practical purposes, politically speaking, is an introduction of her 2016 campaign. >> certainly i think one of the -- coming at it from that perspective, it's sort of an opportunity for her to cleanse in a way, right, because the last a lot people aren't familiar with her state department tenure. we've heard republicans saying a lot about it. her 2008 campaign went terribly. this is kind of her highlighting her state department years so she can kind of slough off some of the bad stuff from 2008. >> i want to play another audio clip. they've released this, the book publishers and hillary clinton, talking about her life not so much as a diplomat but as a wife and mother. listen to this. >> all of us face hard choices in our lives. some face more than their share. we have to decide how to balance the demands of work and family, caring for a sick child or an aging parent. figuring out how to pay for college. finding a good job. and what to do

i'm joined now by suzanne malveaux and gloria borger who, together with me, we all covered this storyn 1998, '99. we remember it very well. so gloria, why do you think she's speaking out right now? >> she's turned 40 years old. first, i give her a lot of credit. i think she's struggled with this. largely in silence. and i think she wanted to kind of clear the air in her own words. and start a new chapter in her life. as she wrote, you know, it's hard for her to get a job. she does have this history. and people just don't forget the monica lewinsky story. i also think, for example, you've had politicians out there, particularly someone like rand paul, who's called bill clinton a sexual predator. she said, you know what, this was consensual. it was completely inappropriate but consensual it i think she wants to get on with her life. i give her credit for it. >> she's gone through a very difficult period over these years. this is only an excerpt from a much longer article that will come out in a couple of weeks. she went to the london school of economics. she got a masters degree. but sh

. >>> joining me now is john king, chief political analyst gloria borger and jeffrey toobin. e real story of the sex scandal that nearly brought down a president. >> gloria, i thought it was interesting a lot of the things monica lewinsky said in these excerpts in "vanity fair." it does seem to me there is a tremendous double standard. >> yeah. >> that she hasn't been allowed to move on from this and she's still the butt of jokes and lines in songs this many years after is kind of extraordinary. >> it is extraordinary. that's why i give her an awful lot of credit for writing this piece, because she's a 40-year-old woman now. she admits that what she did as a 24-year-old was wrong, but she's got to try and figure out a way to get beyond it. i mean this very often happens with power relationships in which women are kind of the ones who end up on the wrong side of it. i mean if you look at military sexual assault or workplace harassment issues, it's the women who often pay the price. and i think that's what happened with lewinsky here. not to excuse her behavior, but every time s

gloria borger spoke with one of his brothers. made it clear he would like bush to run.per spoke with george w. bush, he said he's open to him run. what's going on? >> open to him run and wanting him to run are different. people would spoke with george w. bush walked away with the impression he is not exactly a one-man drafting committee. something george w. bush's spokesman denied, saying he is very much for his brother running and he's very proud of his record, has no concerns about that getting debated in another campaign. jeb bush's father, most importantly, his former president father, would like him to run. his mother has been more tepid about it. people around her and a spokesman for h.w. bush say in part that's because she doesn't want people to think there's a sense of entitlement that comes with being a bush and he has a prerogative to do this. his wife is also another major concern. >> neil bush, the other brother, told gloria yes, he thinks he should run. george w. bush told jake tapper thinks he should run as well. we'll see what happens. brianna, you've bee

joining me now dana bash, gloria borger, wolf blitzer. i'm so glad to have them here. this is their day job. tonight, their night job. wolf, we had very important results from the governor's race. take us through it. >> pretty significant. first one in georgia. we will talk about georgia, incumbent governor nathan deal, he get the republican nomination. but look who will be challenging him on the democratic side. a guy by the name of jason carter. jason carter happens to be the grandson of the former president of the united states, jimmy carter. there he is, jason carter, democratic nominee. ji son carter against nathan deal, we will see what happens in georgia. one another gubernatorial race, pennsylvania, an incumbent republican governor. tom corbit, the republican nominee, seeking reelection. but tom wolf will be the democratic challenger to tom corbit. tom beating alison swart. that is the seat that chelsea clinton's mother-in-law tried to get. tom wolf will face tom corbit in pennsylvania. normally a democratic state but there is a democratic governor in pennsylva

even robert gates, you know, formerly in the sec def role, has said bureaucracy, as gloria borger very clearly laid out in a piece today, may have just been the foil of this administration. so, jake tapper, when i heard the president and his words, and i'm going to try my best with my quick handwriting to quote him, he called secretary shinseki a very good man, accomplished outstanding sto ining soldier, leadership, more progress was made than under any other secretary in homelessness, in agent orange in brain injury. first thing that came to mind to me, is this too big a job for one person, or was this just too big a job for shinseki? >> well, he did, you know, indupe thatably accomplish quite a bit. there's no question when it comes to homelessness, comes to opening up benefits to those who suffer from the side effects of agent orange, opening up benefits to those who suffer from post traumatic stress, as former secretary shinseki did do a lot, but the problem in the veterans affairs system, and i know this on a personal level as well, because my mom used to work for the philadelphia

jim sciutto's here, gloria borger. >> the administration setting a new standard for inposing broader sectorial sanctions in the president's terms and that is these 25th may elections in ukraine. they have agreement on it. the president even gave details, saying they could target the energy sector, arms, finance, lines of credit. very expensive things. the question becomes how broad are those sanctions. administration officials said they could do it with a scalpel, rather than an ax. so you could see sectorial without a cutoff in trade. >> can they do them at the same time? they can see, exor example,, for example, elections are being impeded before may 25th. the president was quite clear today he felt what was going on there, that he was outraged about the detainment of observers. he called it disgrateful. he called it inexcusable. what struck me is while he and angela merkel are talking about this, wolf, over in the u.n. security council, the russian ambassador to the u.n. was warning russian powers to stop toying with the destiny of the ukrainian people. so leaders living in altern

. >>> let's bring in gloria borger.t do you think about the last point, deval patrick made, that this inevitability thing could be a problem? >> i think it could be a problem. the tables are kind of turned. republicans are the ones that normally nominate the inevitable candidate. john kerry. mitt romney. the democrats pick out somebody who is new blood, represents change. if time, if hillary clinton runs, she becomes the inevitable candidate. they don't do very well, wolf. so what you have to do is present yourself as a candidate of change. last time she ran as a candidate of experience. this time, she's going to run as a woman and a candidate of change. >> i want to play a clip for you, gloria, and for our viewers, that former president bill clinton speaking of the recovery, the therapy, if you will, that hillary clinton had to go through during the long period following the blood clot in her brain. listen to this. >> i was sort of dumbfounded. they went to all this trouble to say that she had staged what was a terribl

les take a closer look right now with our chief political analyst gloria borger as well as the republicanonsultant alex costianos. one of your superpacs did support monica webby. last night we saw a whole bunch of women do well. a bunch of women up for re-election this time. this could be a decisive factor in who roll controls the senat >> in two key races we saw last night, in georgia, michelle nunn and kentucky, alison grimes going up the big dog mitch mcconnell. >> both democrats. >> both democrats. you also have democratic women who are kind of in the hot seat, wolf. you've got kay hagan of north carolina. she's got a tough race against republican establishment candidate tom tillis, mary landrieu, louisiana, jeanne shaheen up against scott brown in new hampshire. so they need to win re-election. the democrats obviously. there's a six -- the republican -- i'm sorry. the republicans want to win six seats to get control of the senate. so the women are really key here and, of course, they're trying to appeal to women voters. >> normally as you know, alex, women voters tend to do better wi

he said his panel was stood up by congressman jeff is here of florida as well as gloria borger and dougrinkley is with us as well. you hear a story like that that vets coming home from iraq and afghanistan, they need treatment. they have to wait for months to get treatment at a hospital in phoenix? are you shocked? >> it's totally unacceptable. these are individuals who put their lives on the line. and people who have secret waiting lists, it borders on criminal. >> some people like senator blumenthal wants the fbi to investigate. they are waiting for more information. are you saying that the fbi needs to get involved, looking at potential criminal violations? >> any time you manipulate numbers at the federal level, especially numbers that affect that,ed fbi should get involved. >> you had a hearing and you were expecting top v.a. officials to come in and testify. tell us what happened. >> we have been trying to get information from the v.a. we subpoenaed them two weeks ago today. we told them we needed particular information. they have been less than forthcoming with that information.

here's cnn's chief political analyst gloria borger. >> reporter: barack obama came to office as somebodyould actually work for you and be your best friend. the question now is whether the president still believes that. >> we now know that va has a systemic totally unacceptable lack of integrity. >> reporter: the scandal at the department of veterans a affairs is only one of a lot of bureaucratic messes that have really dogged this presidency. you have to consider the disastrous rollout of health care reform which is the president's signature legislative achievement. there was controversy at the internal revenue service. controversy on national security surveillance. all of these taken together raise the question of whether this is a government problem or whether it's a problem of management for the obama administration and in particular the president, himself. has the bureaucracy actually beaten the boss? there seems to be a management issue and as far as i can tell, the white house has a couple of ways of managing things. first of all, there's the micromanaging part of the white house a

. >> gloria borger and dana bash, let me bring you both in. we heard leader pelosi saying she wants her five democrats to be there, to fight for this fair hearing and process. that's the point of the column i just read of yours. they're calling this whole thing a witch hunt. they don't want to legitimize the process. if they're not there, to your point, they can't defend it. >> right. in the end she said she could have argued it both ways. in the end she decided she'd rather be inside the room than not inside the room. this is really important as dana knows which is that you want to have the access to documents, you want to be able to form your own narrative. you don't want any surprises, particularly when hillary clinton could be called to testify and she could be the democratic nominee for president. she's a big girl. she can take care of herself. but better to have some people on the committee who can actually know what's going to occur, and also object on the part of the democrats as things move along, at least try to represent that point