then there was this photo in kaitlan collins' story. the first lady holding an orphan baby in her arms. the baby's parents were murdered in the el paso shooting. the president is giving the thumb's up. what are the optics here and the possible impact this photo could have as this election season presses forward? >> this photo is obviously created quite a stir. however, there are many other images that we have of donald trump that he will dismiss as fake news and his followers will believe are fake news as well. in other words, they will say he is just being awkward. perhaps he is trying to give the people a good show and no other media was in the hospital with him. that's his big complaint. he didn't get enough credit for the visits he had. i think this will be seized on by the opposition. i don't think it will sway any core supporters. i do think there is a chance it will bring some of the swing voters over to the democratic side. however, we have a long way to go in the campaign. the campaigns are well known for bringing out photos an

. >> our kaitlan collins has details. >> reporter: yeah. president trump at camp david now where he's going to spend the weekend monitoring the developments of this storm before returning to washington on sunday where he says he'll get a briefing at the fema headquarters and that's when he and state and local officials will start making decisions about whether or not there are parts of florida or other states that could be in the storm's path that they need to evacuate. he said he's not concerned about the fact that this weekend goes going to be surrounded by some officials who are not in a permanent position in this administration but instead are in an acting role, including the fema administrator and the department of homeland security secretary. those two officials have played major roles in helping shepherding and navigating the president's response to a natural disaster like this one. the president did comment on that abrupt departure of an aide that is very close to him, someone who has incredibly close access to the oaf oval office,

kaitlan collins, you cover the white house every day. the president went from common sense, meaningful background checks two weeks ago to now it's dead. it's not going to happen. we saw this before after pa parkland, what's happening? >> it's a pattern of behavior we've seen from president trump before. it's not entirely surprising if you talk to people who know the president well. they kind of saw this come. though some republicans did fear the president was serious about strengthening background checks this time. the president's change in stance comes after this long and sustained effort from not only nra officials like wayne lapierre, the nra boss, but also conservative allies, republican lawmakers, who said these aren't going to make a difference. the background checks he'd been pushing for saying he wanted meaningful gun legislation wouldn't have changed what happened in el paso in their minds and in dayton. and now it seems they've been successful. it appears that call yesterday just cemented this stance that the president had alre

and you just heard kaitlan collins reporting a source telling cnn that mitch mcconnell has no interestving the house bill that expands background checks since it lacks support from the president and sufficient republicans in the senate. how is the manchin or toomey bill, how is it different from the house version? >> well, jake, one of the main differences is that we're going after commercial gun sales. so we think that there should be a background check for all commercial gun sales but a private transaction between family members or friends, we would not require a background check for those kinds of transactions. the house bill is much broader and it's virtually universal with very few exceptions is my understanding. >> you and senator manchin were on this show pushing a similar bill on the floor of the senate back in 2013 after the tragedy of newtown. it did not pass. you and senator susan collins i believe are the only republicans who voted for it back in 2013 who are still in the u.s. senate. do you think it could pass now? do you think you could get more republicans? >> jake, i ho

kaitlan collins kicks off our coverage with this report. >> reporter: congresswoman tlaib is rejecting israel's offer to visit her family on the west bank, an offer that came with conditions one day after the country denied her and congresswoman ilhan omar entry at president trump's urging. visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything that i believe in, tlaib explained on twitter. those conditions would have included a pledge not to promote boycotts against israel while she was there. the president has faced widespread criticism forg gettig involved. >> it is disrespect for the congress and the american political system for our ally to keep two members of congress out of israel. >> reporter: but sources tell cnn the president's advisers believe his fight with four freshmen democrats who call themselves the squad could benefit him in 2020 which is why the president keeps hammering them on the campaign trail. >> it really is keep america great because we have these socialists want to take it away from us. >> reporter: the one message sources tell cn

kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >> kaitlan, thank you.aring from democratic candidates running for president in 2020. several of them say that president trump's rhetoric has encouraged violence and hate. listen. >> donald trump is responsible for this. he is responsible because he is stoking fears and hatred and bigotry. he is responsible because he's failing to condemn white supremacy and see it as it is, which is responsible for such a significant amount of the terrorist attacks. >> the manifesto that apparently this shooter wrote that says that hispanics are taking over the state of texas and changing the country, this engine bows the country, this echos the kind of language that our president encourages. talking about invaders. >> do you think president trump is a white nationalist? >> yes, i do. >> we have a president of the united states who uses the microphone, which is probably one of the most powerful tools in the hand of the president of the united states, and uses that microphone in a way that is about sowing hate and division

kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >> natasha lindstat joins us from paris. natasha, it's impossible not to notice that we've been here before, aftermath shootings during the trump presidency, and we heard the exact same promises from this president. >> yeah, exactly. there have been multiple mass shootings that have taken place, the terrible one in 2017 in las vegas that killed 58 people and the following year the terrible mass shooting at parkland high school in florida. and there have been promises that have been made by the president that they're going to do something but then in the end president trump ends up doing an about-face and does basically what the nra wants him to do, and that is nothing. we've heard rhetoric well, we need tougher background checks. we do know that a strong majority according to many different polls of the population want stronger background checks. >> let me bring up a number, then. the number is 89%. this is according to an npr marist poll from a couple of weeks okay. 89% of americans say they favor background checks on purch

back with us, kaitlan collins and john avalon. he's in the high 30s.'s not where you want to be running for re-election. >> it's not. and the president is clearly concerned about this because you saw him last night at that re-election rally in new hampshire where he was complaining about fake polls. something you often see when he doesn't like the numbers reflected in this. and it's certainly something the campaign is paying close attention to. which is why you see the president travel to places like pennsylvania, new hampshire. because the president is growing increasingly concerned about his numbers when he's matched up with these democrats. >> he got his "f" wrong there. it's fox polls. not fake polls. >> and that's why it's harder for him to dismiss it, right? because he puts so much stock in fox's affirmation unit. being under 40% against all head-to-head matchups is terrible. i mean, that's, like, jimmy carter re-elect levels of bad. and the fact it's not just for joe biden but it's also for bernie sanders, that's a big problem. because it does s

kaitlan collins, thank you very much. as we've been here this last hour, the street has filled up. mostly protesters here. protesters of the president's visit, people demanding action. a similar scene at the hospital, miami valley hospital where the president will be meeting shortly with victims' families. the clapping you're hearing now is for firefighters that arrived here in a fire truck. listen, the community is out. they care. i want to get right now to my next guest, judy dodge, commissioner for montgomery county, the county in dayton, of course, the county seat of. she joins me now live. commissioner dodge, i was in el paso. now i'm here in dayton, two communities that went through tragedies that no american community should go through. what is different now in these places is impatience for action. i've been hearing that in the chants here. >> yeah, a little bit. >> what are folks telling you today about what they want to happen? >> do something. do something for goodness sakes. how long does it take, how many years do we have to go through this, time and again, back from c

. >> cnn's kaitlan collins takes a look at the other developments from friday. >> with the new storm barreling toward puerto rico president trump is reigniting old feuds, clamg the u.s. territory is one of the most corrupt places on earth tweeting "their political system is broken and their politicians are either incompetent or corrupt. congress approved billions of dollars last time, more than any place else has ever gotten, and it is sent to crooked politicians. no good. and by the way, i'm the best thing that's ever happened to puerto rico." >> puerto rico has been taken care of better by donald trump than by any living human being. >> reporter: local officials say otherwise, including the san juan mayor, ho feuded with trump after hurricane maria after 2017, when she blamed his administration for being too slow to respond. as puerto rico and its 3.2 million american citizens brace for another major storm, trump is shrugging off his role as comforter in chief and focusing on the feuds. but critics say he should focus on his response. after he tossed paper towels to a crowd the las

cnn's kaitlan collins is over at the white house. kaitlan, what is the president saying. >> reporter: this morning the president seemed to open the door to tougher gun measures but when he addressed the nation hours later, he made no mention of background checks or any major new gun laws. instead in that speech to the nation, condemning bigotry and white supremacy and vowing to akts but now, there are questions about how. >> our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. >> reporter: tonight president trump is condemning white supremacy after two mass shootings in less than 24 hours. >> these sinister ideologies must be defeated. >> reporter: but he's offering few details on what he'll do to stop another from happening. in a solemn address from the white house, the president said he's directing the fbi to examine ways to identify and address domestic terrorism. but he stopped short of calling for new gun laws. instead turning his focus to mental health. >> mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun. >> repo

and kaitlan collins, she has shown grit throughout all of this.aid, she'll stay on the court if she can go full steam. the question will be, what if she can't? what if she ultimately decides to retire? what is at stake here? >> yeah, that's the question. of course, this is one robust woman. she has been through so much. of course, and the main concerns is her health. but then, what people do think about when something like this happens is the makeup of the supreme court. and that's something that she herself has alluded to many times, as you just noted. she said, she wanted to stay on the court as long as she can. so she's of sound mind and sound body. but the question here is, this has big implications for the next presidential election. we saw that in 2016, when you talked to a lot of voters who weren't necessarily excited about voting for donald trump, but they said they wanted to pick donald trump over a hillary clinton, because they wanted him to put who he could, who they believed a republican would, on the supreme court. that's paid off in

phil, thank you very much. >>> let's go to cnn kaitlan collins traveling with the president. she's in new jersey outside of his resort over there. kaitlan, is there any reaction from the white house to what we just heard about cory lewandowski? >> reporter: well, wolf, cory lewandowski being open to testifying could signal that the white house is optimistic that that strategy of potentially invoking executive privilege so he doesn't have to answer questions about conversations he's had with president trump could be a successful one even though he's never worked in the white house and democrats and executive privilege experts say absolutely not. that is not something that you can do. white house officials are till figuring out how to proceed with this as others in their colleagues are dealing with the fallout after the president urged israel to not let those two democratic congresswomen that he's been feuding with for weeks to entder the country even though israel relented under certain circumstances for one of the women, she said her travel plans have changed. tonight congres

kaitlan collins, great to have you covering the white house. as president trump preparing to pay tribute to the victims in dayton and el paso, he is telling el paso native and presidential candidate beto o'rourke to shut up on twitter. late last night, trump tweeted that the outspoken former texas congressman from el paso should, quote, respect the victims and law enforcement and be quiet, exclamation point. o'rourke himself responded by saying, quote, 22 people in my hometown are dead after an act of terror inspired by your racism. el paso will not be quiet and neither will i. cnn correspondent rosa flores is live in el paso this morning just yards away from that other mass crime scene at the walmart there. as you know, president trump is expected to face protests during his visits there today. you've been speaking to people. what are they telling you about this visit? >> you know, there are mixed emotions, jim. i just talked to a gentleman. his name is ralph, 75 years of age, a vietnam veteran. his eyes were bloodshot. he was very emotional a

kaitlan collins at the white house. >>> more breaking news. in a new court filing deutsche bank indicates it has trump-related tax returns. they won't say whose but those returns could end up in the hands of house democrats who subpoenaed those documents. our congressional reporter lauren fox is joining us. so what is the bank telling the court. >> reporter: well today was that deadline for deutsche bank and capital one to tell the court whether or not they have trump tax returns pertinent to a subpoena that the house democrats made this spring. what we learned today was capital one does not have tax returns that would be pertinent to that subpoena but deutsche bank said they do have tax returns related to the subpoena. however, they will not say publicly whose tax returns they have. it could be president trump, it could be members of his family, it could be businesses and entities related to the trump organization. it is still unclear at this point what precisely they have. the information is under seal at this point. whose tax return informa

kaitlan collins at the white house. thank you very much for your reporting on this.joining us now, california democratic congressman who serves on the house oversight committee and we should also note is co-chair of sanders bernie sanders 2020 presidential campaign. congressman, thank you for being with us right now. it seems like the only thing the president was clear and consistent about in the g 7 was his public and as we learned, his private push to bring russia back into the fold. your reaction? >> well, the standards for this president are so low that if he just manages to finish a dinner without insulting a foreign leader, we breathe a sigh of relief but the reality is that it's very concerning when he was advocating for russia. everyone believes in the civilized world of democracies we should not allow russia back into the g 7 unless two conditions are met. first, they need to get out of ukraine and the annexation of choir m crimea and stop interfering in our election and elections across the world and this president didn't even mention either of those two is

kaitlan collins joining us now from the white house. so, the statement coming from the president tomorrow. he alludes to that in what form might we expect that? >> well, the president is on his way back to the white house. so we'd expect it from here. we knew aides were not tracking any kind of oval office address from the president tonight. but what is it going to be the president is planning on saying tomorrow? you heard him say there that hate has no place in the country but he says he believes this is an issue that revolves around mental health. that's something he brought up multiple times with reporters. one phrase he did not say was anything about white nationalism or white supremacy. of course, that's been the focus of that shooting that happened in el paso at that walmart as there have been questions, not only from democratic presidential candidates tying the president's rhetoric directly to an attack like that, especially beto o'rourke who did as much in an interview with jake tapper this morning where he said he does believe

kaitlan collins, appreciate it. perspective now on the money and the politics, joining us cnn political commentator david urban in addition to being a campaign strategist, a washington corporate lobbyist, representing interests in defense, transportation and energy companies. also joining us cnn political commentator "washington post" opinion columnist catherine rampell. >> it's okay, everybody gets it wrong. >> there won't be a third. what do you marek -- at the very least, mixed messaging. the white house says they're not talking about payroll tax cuts or looking at it, the president says they are, then they are not, then they are. >> i think what's interesting here and what the common theme behind this sort of flip-flopping on both tax cuts and trade as well as a bunch of other dumb ideas, i would argue economic ideas this administration has adopted, it always kind of follows the same pattern. it starts out with trump saying, don't listen to the experts, they're wrong. i know that they say this thing that i'm goi

more now on how this is unfolding at the white house, cnn's kaitlan collins is there for us now. so the president fuming about the coverage. what more are you being told, what more have you learned? >> reporter: well, he essentially thinks, anderson, he's not being treated fairly in the trips he made to dayton, ohio and el paso, texas. he said there aren't enough people defending him in this matter. he thinks he's being unfairly linked to the shooting in el paso even though the shooter manifesto referenced the president multiple times. he thought the trip would help the president get more favorable coverage as he acted in the presidential manner. now this video surfaces of the president talking about crowd sizes in the hallways, and that's not how the president thought it would be portrayed. a lot of times he views these trips through the lens of the coverage. >> i was pointing out that so-called manifesto was a racist screed by the killer in el paso. the killer actually went out of his way to say president, i thought this long before president trump, but he did echo the presiden

our kaitlan collins explains. >> reporter: as hurricane dorian heads for florida, president trump is headed for camp david. >> the storm looks like it could be a very, very big one, indeed. >> reporter: that's where he'll monitor the labor day storm, but he'll do so without a permanent fema administrator or a confirmed homeland security secretary by his side. new cnn reporting revealing that three months into hurricane season, trump's pick to head the disaster response agency just fired is still waiting to be confirmed by the senate. acting administrator pete gaynor has been running fema in his place. while he has a decade of experience in emergency management, dorian will be his first hurricane in charge of the agency. >> they're probably short a few thousand employees when it comes to reserve. >> reporter: he recently told lawmakers that the agency is fully staffed but those temporary employees who helped during disasters like this one are understaffed. >> it has been a struggle. >> reporter: another official by the president's side during a natural diasterer is the homeland securi

let's get to kaitlan collins at the white house. what is the president saying? >> reporter: tonight the president said he's confident that he could get the republican party and the gun lobby on board with tougher background checks even though both groups have opposed such measures in the past and right now we haven't seen any new public stances from either of them. in a week where 31 people were killed in mass shootings, president trump is claiming tonight that republicans are behind him on background checks. >> i spoke to mitch mcconnell yesterday, he's totally on board. >> reporter: but his optimism is add -- at odds with what the gop said publicly. the senate majority leader signals on -- on thursday he's open for legislation. >> the key is making a law and not making a point. >> reporter: but his office is making clear he's endorsed nothing yet. >> this isn't a question of nra, republican or democrat. >> reporter: the president said he's confident he can persuade the gun lobby. >> i had a good talk with wayne -- >> reporter: sources tell cnn nra chief wayne

it is hard to see how this doesn't come up. >> kaitlan collins for us in washington. thanks so much. >>> let's talk more about this right now. caitlin dickerson with "the new york times," look at the factors that the president and his allies have blamed as a possible threat on the economy here. number one, the federal reserve chair. number two the news media, number three china and other countries. the one thing he's not talking about is the effect of his own economic policies and whether or not they may be hurting the economy. is that a surprise? >> no. i was going to ask you the same thing. i don't think that it should come as a surprise. that is not the president's style of discussion. i think the question of how the economy is going to evolve, there is a big one and we don't know. and so he's going to try to get ahead of it. he'll try to talk on twitter as much as possible. to sort of hedge his bets to make sure that if there is, in fact, a recession, that blame is placed elsewhere but if there isn't, he can still claim a success and still take all of the credit f

. >> cnn's kaitlan collins is live at the house. kaitlan, what is the president actually considering? >> reporter: well, the president said mitch mcconnell is totally on board and the president was calling for more extensive background checks, but whether or not that's the case with mcconnell is still an open question. he's back home in kentucky. he did that radio interview yesterday when he did talk about pursuing newlation, looking at new legislation when congress does eventually come back from their august vacation, but he didn't endorse any specific legislation and his office made that pretty clear issuing a statement after the president spoke this morning saying that no, he did not endorse any legislation. so though the president sounds optimistic that republicans are going to be on his side, we've not heard a wealth of senate republicans come out on the record endorsing interest specific kind of background checks measure. that's something they've opposed in the past. whether or not the president can get them on board is still a

let's get to kaitlan collins, where the president has been vacationing. to the subpoena? >> reporter: jake, they were expecting this. behind the scenes i'm told they're having preliminary discussions about potentially trying to invoke executive privilege to limit corey lewandowski to comply. this would be the white house trying to do this for someone who has never held a title in the administration. you might wonder what do democrats want to hear about? you'll recall he had the conversation with the president, where the president directed him to send a message to then attorney general jeff sessions about reining in the investigation, something in the hewletter report that lewandowski never followed through on, according to the report. it does show you just how the white house is trying to test the bouncery here on whether or not they can get people who have never worked in the white house to not have to answer question about sensitive matters. >> executive privilege. kaitlan, the president certainly seems anxious about all the recent turbulence. >> report

kaitlan collins is in new jersey where the president is vacationing.information at talks, but what are you actually hearing about how they're going? >> reporter: the yes is where are they going? the talks are happening on early stages, of course, on legislation that could strengthen background checks, something you have had what are the president calling for, but there's a great deal of skepticism. they say based on what our sources are telling us, if there was any changes to the way the current gun system operates, they don't think there's a wealth of support from senate republicans right now. that's reflected in what we are hearing, the lawmakers are telling lawmakers privately. so, yes, these talks are happening, but evidence and the fact there -- is that the fact that pat toomey is the only republican right now, a senator from pennsylvania, the only republican so far involved in these discussions. if that shows you with these talks are headed, right now there's not a lot of support. the president insists -- with the nra telling him something that h

. >> i want to bring in white house correspondent kaitlan collins, you have new reporting about wheref the president's closest advise er jared kushner and ivanka trump are in the middle of this? >> yes, brianna, as the president has been rotating through the controversies, two of his top advisers jared kushner and ivanka trump has been flying under the radar. a pattern we've seen of the two of them in the past but for the past week where there's been uncertainty about the economy. questions about whether or not the president is going to support background checks. he's been retweeting conspiracy theorists getting into a fight with the danish prime minister. and reports where the president is doubling down on comment where is he thinks jewish people who vote for democrats are being disloyal. we know that jared kushner and ivanka were in wyoming for a family vacation. overall, user seen them be essentially missing in action as the president has been facing these controversies. these questions about comments he's made. even though he's doubling down on the comment, especially about the on

some answers for kaitlan collins at the white house tonight.the president had a lot to say about background checks today and much of which he has said before. let's take a look. >> i think my base relies on common sense and me in terms of telling >> it's by meaningful, what he may be trying to say, anderson, is some kind of checks that would have prevented one of these particular shootings, and the only thing i can think of that would do that, since, and the most recent cases, these guns as far as we can tell were purchased legally, would have been some kind of mental health red flag sort of thing. and so the president could be referring to that and the nra has come out in favor of -- adopted the posture that we don't want mentally ill people to have possession of firearms. when it's come down to it, the nra has opposed legislation, for example, that would deny -- any legislation that would deny firearms to someone who's been dishonor by discharged from the military. >> it's very easy to -- and sort of on the face of it, when you quickly think

let's start with kaitlan collins. you have some information on how the trump aides are viewing the visit. >> a couple of trump aides were coming out defending him saying local officials were mischaracterizing what happened behind closed doors when cameras were not in there, because the white house said they would not let reporters into the hospital while the president was visiting with patients and their medical staff. now we're learning that behind the scenes not everyone back here at the white house thinks that visit was as successful as they were claiming publicly that it was. they are conceding the president's behavior was not what they were hoping for when the president was trying to strike this tone of being consoler in chief. they thought he spent too much time lashing out at local officials after he left ohio and was on his way to texas. and the president was fuming not just about the coverage of that trip but at his own aides because they didn't let the cameras into the hospitals where the president was visit

let's begin with kaitlan collins. >> reporter: we're hearing that the president himself is not pleased with the coverage, and blaming it on the staff for not allowing cameras to come in, but in turn his own aides showing the video bragging about his crowd sizes, shows that trip did not go how they thought it would. tonight some of president trump's own aides are conceding his visits to two cities in mourning didn't go as planned after new video shows him bragging about crowd sizes while at a hospital in el paso. >> we met with the doctors and the nurses, the medical staff. >> reporter: the white house stopped reporters and their cameras from capturing the president's visit. new cell phone video shows trump praising medical staff before turning the conversation to himself. >> i was here three months ago, we had a speed -- what was the name of the arena? >> the coliseum? >> the judge is a respected guy. >> oh, good. come here. that was some crowd. >> thank you for what you do. >> the crowd size, and then this crazy beto. he had like 400 people in a parking lot. they said his crowd was wo

. >>> let's begin at the white house with kaitlan collins. >> reporter: as we're seeing these red flags start to pop up about what could be to come for the economy, we are learning that last year the job market was strong, just not as strong as we thought. the labor department announced today that employers added half a million fewer jobs to their payrolls than initially reported, something they noted today as they revised the data with more hard-line numbers. that calms as the president and his aides are trying to figure out how to keep the strong economy that they relied on the last two years, impact as he heads towards reelection. as economic warnings signs are flashing, tonight president trump is sending mixed messages. >> i'm not looking at a tax cut, we don't need it. >> reporter: part of the confusion, whether or not the president is considering a tax cut. >> president obama did that in order to artificially jack up the economy. >> thank you so much -- >> that's a reversal of what he said only days ago. >> payroll taxes, i've been thinking about it for a long time. >> reporter: t

kaitlan collins in berkeley heights, new jersey, where the president is. >> the new jersey white house. >> a perfect title for it. kaitlan, thank you very much. it's interesting. there are talks going on for sure. ivanka trump was calling members of both parties, we hear, yesterday on this issue. the senate says mcconnell is a good man, wanting to get something done on background checks. but there's a lot of skepticism still. >> reporter: there is so much skepticism around these talks that we're told are essentially in the preliminary stages with white house aides, congressional aides meeting, talking about legislation that could potentially expand and strengthen these background checks. there's still a great deal of skepticism along those talks that actually this is going to go anywhere and that there's a chance they could get any republicans on board with this. evidence of that is there's only one republican so far involved in these discussions. that's pat toomey of rhode island, who we know, of course, was part of that background checks push before that republicans were against and

first kaitlan collins, why is the president -- conspiracy theories we know he has an affinity for -- but why is he pushing this conspiracy theory? >> reporter: the president has had the accusation that google is biassed against him. he once claimed they were suppressing stories about him without evident. now, he clearly saw the clip that you played of the psychologi psychologist. the president is claiming that google manipulated votes, but in the study it is widely disputed and denied by google, the psychologist is saying there is bias in the search results for google, and that's what gave the votes to hillary clinton even though the person doesn't explain what he means by google gave the votes to hillary clinton. the president has taken the claim and run with it. even though it doesn't match what the author himself said, the president is still maintaining that there was a change in the votes. this fits a pattern that the president has had that he has long insisted that he should have won the popular vote. it has bothered since 2016. even just yesterday you were playing clips of the

. >> cnn's kaitlan collins is live at the white house. what do we know about any further action the president may be considering? >> reporter: well, the president says that the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is totally on board but he doesn't say exactly with what and we know that despite a radio interview yesterday where mcconnell said the senate would consider some kind of new legislation potentially as you noted when they get back from their vacation, he did say any specific legislation he was going to endorse and his office came out after the president made those remarks and made clear that he has not endorsed any legislation yet on that. so the president says they've got this tremendous support from congressional lawmakers, not just democrats, including republicans, but we should note there are less than a handful of republicans who are on the record supporting any kind of specific legislation related to these background checks. that could change with all the pressure that they're facing, but right now that's not the case. ho

kaitlan collins on this story. you're there in bedminster.e white house expected to respond to this? >> well, the question in the past has been, how are they going to respond? and what beef seen before, is the white house, with aids like don mcgahn, annie donaldson, they've tried to invoke some sort of executive privilege. now we're learning about a tactic they may try to pursue when it comes to cory lewandowski, someone who has not worked in the white house ever since trump has been in office and hasn't worked for the president since the 2016 campaign. we're now being told by three sources that inside the white house there are preliminary discussions about trying to invoke executive privilege to stop or limit cory lewandowski from complying with the subpoena. now, invoking privilege before has worked, because they make this argument that the president should be able to have conversations with people that are at the highest levels of his own government without those officials having to go, testify or divulge what the president spoke about. wh

resolved president trump is blaming the media he says the media is trying to crash the economy kaitlan collins reports. >>break from his summer vacation for a campaign. >>as fears grow inside the white house that the instability in the economy could threaten his reelection. >>the economy is phenomenal right now we had a couple of bad days. >>one day after the dow jones suffered its worst trading session of the year. trump attempted to ease fears tweeting that the us economy is the strongest and most powerful in the world. the dow dropped 800 points wednesday on new recession fears prompted in part by trump's trade wars. but today trump for light on an old tactic blaming the media claiming they are doing everything they can to crash the economy because they think it will be back and for me and my reelection. sources say the president has kept a close watch on the warning signs he seeing in the markets. >>to announce this week that he would delay some additional tariffs. he's friend on chinese imports. >>and officials say he's treated by a total lack of progress on a chinese trade deal he though

republicans for blocking a gun control bill it is a bill that does have bipartisan support to cnn's kaitlan collins has details. >>amid the political fallout over how to prevent mass shootings president trump is headed to the scenes of the last 2 tomorrow. >>the president the first lady will travel today in an el paso, but not everyone will be happy to see him this is the most racist president we've had since perhaps andrew johnson. >>trump is facing major push back from some current and local officials in el paso and dayton including 2 democratic presidential candidates. >>virgin him not to come and he is responsible for the hatred and the violence that we're seeing right now think he's a polarizing figure. i think especially. >>in el paso. >>el paso's republican mayor dee margo says he's received phone calls and e-mails from an angry texans but will welcome trump over their doing the will the bite. today democratic mayor nan whaley says she will also welcome the president as well as anyone protesting his visit he's made this bed. he's got a lion and you >>yes, and you know his rhetoric has been p

cnn white house correspondent kaitlan collins is with me. it's your job to cover the president each and every day. he's here. he's over at the hospital. i saw the helicopters. tell me who he's meeting with and what his message is. >> he's following a path too many times, comes into these cities, tiply goes to the hospitals where some of the vics are being treated, where they've gone. he meets with law enforcement, first responders, at the miami valley hospital right now. it's less than a mile way from this bar where these nine people were shot and killed. interestingly enough, he stayed behind closed doors in dayton, ohio. he hasn't come out and said anything publicly since leaving the white house. we've seen the president since he was at andrews air force base leaving washington to take that flight before the president left, he was rejecting calls to change the way he talked about illegal immigration and says he doesn't think his rhetoric is to blame for the inflamed tensions and says his rhetoric brings people together, something not somet

what white house officials are considering right now, sources tell my colleague kaitlan collins, is possibly trying to apply executive privilege based on the fact that these conversations came from the president. it's a long shot, but they are having discussions with the white house counsel, with the justice department to see if they can limit it in some way, shape, or form. i've talked to democrats about this. they don't think this is possible at all. but the white house taking every effort they possibly can to try to short circuit this investigation by house democrats into the president's actions in the white house. >> we'll see what happens. a very sensitive issue, diindee. phil, thank you very much for that report. joining us now, congressman ted lieu, he serves both on the judiciary and foreign affairs committee. congressman, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> i'll get to these subpoenas in just a moment or so. but first, president trump did acknowledge that he did speak to people in israel about the decision to ban two of your colleagues. these are elected members of the u.s

as cnn's kaitlan collins reports this is as one of the president's closest confidants is forced out.> as hurricane dorian heads for florida, president trump is headed for camp david. >> this storm looks like it could be a very, very big one indeed. >> reporter: that is where he'll monitor the labor day storm but he'll do so without a permanent fema administrator or a confirmed homeland security secretary by his side. >> new cnn reporting revealing that three months into hurricane season trump's pick to head the disaster response agency jeff beyer is still waiting to be confirmed by the senate. acting administrator pete gainer has been running fema in his place. and while he has a decade of experience in emergency management, dorian is his first hurricane in charge of the agency. >> they are probably short a few thousand employees when it come foz reserve. >> reporter: gainer told lawmakers the agency's full time force is fully staffed. but those temporary employees who helped during disasters like this one are under-staffed. >> it has been a struggle. >> reporter: another official by

then marking the relatively small size of the crowd to join presidential candidate beto o rourke kaitlan collins the story. >>tonight some of president trump's own aides are conceding his visits to 2 cities in morning didn't go as planned after new video shows him bragging about crowd sizes while at a hospital in el paso. >>we met with also the the medical staff. >>the white house top reporters and their cameras from capturing the president's visit. but new cell phone video shows trump praising medical staff before turning the conversation to himself i was here 3 months ago a speech and we had a state and what was the name of the region. >>that place for overnight the judges of respect for a isn't it goes from twice the number of and then you had this crazy video of a toe had like 400 people they said his crowd was wonderful that the president bragging about how many people attended his february rally. >>where he boasted of booting undocumented immigrants from the country they going to our country. >>the good news is we have great law enforcement and many of these people we know where they are a

some answers for kaitlan collins at the white house tonight. the president had a lot to say about background checks today and much of which he has said before. let's take a look. >> i think my base relies on common sense and me in terms of telling them what's happening. i think meaningful background checks -- >> background checks has been the thing that's been on the president's mind since the two back to back shootings. some republicans are hoping to keep the president's support on that steady. which of course in the past hasn't been. or assuring him his base the nra members will be with him on this. and trust him not to take their guns away. that's manager certainly a sentiment you can see from the president comments there today. that is on his mind. weighing what to do here. >> after parkland, he said the same thing. making fun of republican and other members of congress. for being afraid of the nra. saying he's not afraid. and he would take on the bear the burden of this. and folded on it. basically the next day. after the nra went to him.

number two, just listen to him talk or look at the transcript that your reporter kaitlan collins just put out about the way he's rambling and disconnecting sentences and he's acting in a way that is irrational and unstable. what do you mean where i see that? look at the nbc/"wall street journal" report where this was even before last week he's in the 40% category on approval rating. and he's 12 points behind any democrat. i mean, that's any democrat. and so the republicans really have to wake up to this. some of them said to me over the weekend, well, what are my alternatives. we can't have elizabeth warren, they'll cut the stock market in half, capital investment will completely dry up. well, no, you can have elizabeth warren if you remove donald trump. if you get a viable candidate -- this is what i've said to people thinking of running in 2024. the time is now. what are you going to do in 2024, that you stood by with no courage to act? you know that the situation is unstable. you know that the president is off his rocker. whap are you going to say in 2024? well, well, i knew that b

let's begin with phil mattingly and kaitlan collins. phil, first to you. tell us about the subpoena today. >> reporter: jerry nadler is taking a much more aggressive posture towards drafting of articles of impeachment. now today we get in sharper focus what one of the primary targets is, that's potential obstruction of justice. the two subpoenas went to corey lewandowski, a and rick dearborn. the reason why? wolf, you mentioned it. they're both featured prominently as it pertains to the mueller investigation, in one part of the report, or at least according to the mueller report, president trump directly dictated to lewandowski a message he wanted to take to jeff sessions, calling for him to scale back the mueller investigation. a month later, he checked in to see if it had been done. lune douse we content to rick dearborn to ask him to deliver the message. the message was never delivered by either, but now you know and now you see why democrats are so interested in the public testimony. they're asked to appear on september 17th. keep in mind, many of the

kaitlan collins asked him about it today. >> that word slope, that is an nra talking point. >> it's ag point. >> wow. okay. so in the space of less than two weeks, the president went from the notion of a slippery slope on gun legislation to making it his own position for more on the evolution, we'll welcome jim acosta. new reporting when the white house might talk about specific gun law proposals. what have you heard? >> from what we understand talking to our source, white house official says the president has been briefed on a range of options to address mass shootings in this country. the white house staff have been working on this for the last several weeks on this. no details in terms of what is going to be unveiled by the white house and no firm timetable but they do expect to announce something right around when congress returns from recess but anderson, this as you were seeing with the president earlier today, this is changing by the minute. >> i mean, yeah, it's changing, yeah, by any time he opens his mouth, it's not clear what he says has much meaning because it's the exact

cnn white house correspondent kaitlan collins joins me live here in dayton. the president's coming to a difficult moment here, a divided moment in this country. he said a lot this morning as he was leaving the white house. how is he going to handle this? >> that's going to be something he has to grapple with while he's here. >> i don't mean to interrupt. what are folks behind us saying? they're saying "do something." that's what governor mike dewine heard yesterday when he was trying to speak. that's the emotion here. but please go ahead. >> yeah, you see some of the signs critical of the president. dump trump, flip the senate, talking about the politics in washington that's come under such scrutiny in the wake of these mass shootings. the president is going to be following the typical role of a commander in chief. it sadly has been their job too many times after a mass shooting, meeting with law enforcement, meeting with families of victims, some of the victims themselves. also, the president is going to be facing the resistance he's seen from local official

joining us now kaitlan collins, cnn white house coordinator, bin, a gold riga, chief legal analyst and producer of all kinds of hit television shows. >> anthony scaramucci did work in the white house, he has been a supporter of the president for a long time. so there are a lot of people looking at this saying anthony scaramucci, 11 days in the white house, who cares, but it's significant when a longtime supporter of the president goes on tv and says i'm done. >> an ally. president so long defending him on television since he left the white house two years ago. pretty realistically he'll call the president out on things but this is as far as he's gone. he said since he's been in this public feud with the president tweeting at him, he said he's gotten calls not only from trump allies and lawmakers on the hill but people who currently work inside the white house who agree with him that the president has gone a step too far in some of his recent comment. that being said, do any lawmakers come out publicly and agree with scaramucci, he said in the next three weeks he thinks we're going to s

. >>> more now on all this from sneenz kaitlan collins who joins us from the white house. these comments from larry kudlow -- it's hard to see it as anything other than a change to the white house that's saying this week about tax cuts. and the president has been all over the map on this. >> it fits perfectly into this pattern, this week of mixed messaging you're seeing coming out of the white house over whether or not they're pursuing something like a payroll tax cut or not, which has gone back and forth. but, anderson, really what that shows you is that there is a high level of uncertainty in this white house over how to respond to these warning signs that are flashing of the potential of an economic downturn. there's been some disagreements inside the west wing of the president's economic team which we reported in the past. they have very different views from each other. now today you see larry kudlow proposing something like unveiling new tax cuts before the 2020 election, which really truly is not that far away. but, of course, even if that is something that they do t

kaitlan collins. the president's aides defended his el paso and dayton trips. that's not what they're saying behind the scenes, right? >> reporter: it is not. video is surfacing about the president bragging about crowd sizes in a hospital hallway, that's the rally he had in february which is essentially what he associates the city of el paso with. the feud he had with beto o'rourke over his border wall. that's when you saw the president bringing it up in the hallway while visiting with victims of the mass shooting that occurred. something causing aides to say the visit did not go how they hoped it would. tonight, some of president trump's own aides are conceding his visits to two cities in mourning didn't go as planned after new video shows him bragging about crowd sizes at a hospital in el paso. >> we met with also doctors, nurses, the medical staff. >> reporter: the white house stopped cameras from capturing the visit. new cell phone video shows trump praising medical staff before turning the conversation to himself. >> i was here three months ago, we made a