let me turn now to kevin cirilli, our chief washington correspondent. what has changed since president obama put these changes in effect, have we seen an uptick in tourism, business, in that relationship between the u.s. and cuba? kevin: yes, we have. when you look at the tourism industry, the airline industry, when you look at even the r&d in cuba, all of that has increased. but clearly the florida constituency of conservative cuban-americans, a constituency that was really part of the reason that president trump, then candidate trump was able to carry the key battle state ground of florida, they have been against president obama's administration's policies pertaining to cuba of easing those diplomatic and economic ties. i think when you're seeing now, no question, marco rubio has been one of the most outspoken conservatives opposed to former president obama's policies with cuba. there is a reason he is down there with the president as we speak. this is something that plays to the heart of cuban-american conservatives who come in florida, are such an im

with us is kevin cirilli. g on capitol hill, the senate committee continuing to look into the russian connection, opening today? kevin: nicholas burns, the former ambassador to nato under the george w. bush administration, he was testifying and criticizing president donald trump's response to russian cyber hacking into the election, but also president barack obama saying that neither president did enough. i spoke with a democrat from west virginia to get his take on this, take a listen. >> i think that ambassador burns was very direct saying please, take up the russian sanction bill that the senate passed 97-2. it could've been controversial, but it was not. we are asking the colleagues on the house side to do the same. kevin: they kicked it over to the house, but no word yet on when the timeline will be. anna: trump in moon meet tomorrow, trade is on the agenda. kevin: trade, how to deal with north korea, and expect china to come up as well, for how they are working with these two countries as well. david: tha

kevin cirilli is at the white house. turn to you first and ask you, we note that house members have been called in to an all member meeting and they are asked to go to congress as well at 12:00 p.m. in the house will speak. what can be sawed -- said about an event like this? kevin: i spoke to several lawmakers to stop before i got here, i spoke to mark meadows. he was actually a member of the whoressional baseball team was skipping practice today. he said he was alerted by one of his republican colleagues and staffers who were looking out for him in trying to see what had happened. all focus and appreciation, republicans and democrats, including chairman meadows spit into the importance of bravery of the capitol police -- speaking to the importance of bravery of the capitol police. scalise is in stable condition and doing well from that shot in the hip. i spoke to a senior aide of kentucky senator rand paul who said he is shaken up but will continue onwards to try to get back to work. this is taking everybody by surprise

in q2 kevin cirilli and anita -- thank you to kevin cirilli and anita sharpe. taylor: i will bring you back to markets, mostly mixed picture in the dow was off and the nasdaq recovering and seeing gains. the s&p make -- mostly 0.01%.ed, down let's look at what is driving. -- healthtwo themes care and energy. i will start with health care because the index is almost up 1% and energy is down to its lowest of a multiyear. down to its lowest since april of 2016. "the new york times" coming out with a report that saying drug regulations are not going to be as strict as people thought maybe giving drug companies some relief and a break when it comes to pricing and regulation. i will be looking at it, 4% today. jumping this morning to its highest in a year and you look of items, triple the average weight and the morning trading hours. the other theme whether talking about his oil. -- is oil. oil is down. --dest down more than 15% crude is down more than 15%. brent crude dipped low 245. that picture does not look so good, you will see down 24% on a year basis. relative

vonnie: the bill is already under attack with some against it.enators kevin cirilli joining us. what may turn it down? we saw something similar in the house and it managed to pass? kevin: it is my political deja vu in the senate with the same battle lines in the house replicated in the upper chamber. kucinich majority leader is going to have to work to placate the far right and also moderates. we saw comments from rand paul, and saying it is not conservative enough. more moderates like lisa murkowski, susan collins and of nevada upheller for a tough reelection fight in the state of nevada and the proposed cuts to medicaid or something they are uncertain with. the nonpartisan congressional budget office will have to score this. what they do score it, i would anticipate that whether or not moderates are able to get on board, that will weigh heavily on their decision. vonnie: kevin cirilli of a chief washington correspondent. we really appreciate your reporting on this health care. here is somebody who knows about conflict. i wanted to bring in former senate majority leader george m

we will go to kevin cirilli with her chief washington correspondent on capitol hill. magine that senators are hard to find, given that they are probably running through this bill, 142 pages worth. kevin: i just spoke with senator richard shelby. a meeting earlier this morning, all republican senators , led by mitch mcconnell, where they went over this document. the three big takeaways of what's actually in this piece of legislation is that it would phase out parts of the affordable care act or the obamacare medicaid expansion by 2020. that's slower than the 2018 provision in the house provision. republicans in the senate are saying that this is a more moderate, or as president trump said, let's mean version. it would also provide tax credits for people buying individual insurance and provide protections for evil with pre-existing conditions. republicans led by mcconnell heading to the senate floor by 11:00 to discuss the proposal are suggesting that this is again a more moderate path forward. have to be candid, democrats pouncing on this, united in their opposition, re

back to kevin cirilli who is joined by a senator from connecticut. of this horrific tragedy that is unfolding with the congressional baseball team? >> my heart and prayers go out to the capitol police. the members of congress and their staff may have been affected. affiliationf party or political belief, we really need to send our hearts and prayers and do whatever we can for these families. is such ahington partisan place but this congressional baseball tradition is something where politics are really set aside. there is an opportunity for lawmakers to engage as people. just how important is this tradition and just how -- just talk about that, how much tradition it is. sen. blumenthal: the political differences are put aside for this game. they have no place in baseball or sports but especially, this game gives us an opportunity to a littleand to take less seriously the everyday issues and take more seriously the friendships we have across party lines. jarringincident is so and unsettling and really touches us in our hearts because these were wonderf

david: that is kevin cirilli, chief washington correspondent joining us from capitol hill. perspective of the repugnant bill, jan brewer. she is now urging congress to save that expansion. if this is a piece of legislation, is this a bill that you can back? we all know that we expanded the medicaid portion of the affordable care act here in arizona and it has been very successful. in theblem with the bill way that i see it is the simple fact of the matter is that medicaid was established to take care of those in our community that aren't the most vulnerable. bill that has been presented, it will cut back. , everybody'se medicaid program is different. first and foremost, i think they better slow down and give this some thoughtful consideration. maybe even separate the private sector employer self bought insurance from the medicaid portion of it. we all know that there are no free lunches. going to pay for something somewhere along the line. if the federal government takes away the federal money to the states, then we have uncompensated care taking place at the hospitals. and

joining us now is kevin cirilli. want to ask you first about the negotiations that went into this. the attorney general saying a couple days ago that he was eager to do this. how does it matter that is open session instead of closed? kevin: it was a lot of back and forth about whether or not this was public or private. clearly the attorney general telling aides that he wants to do this in front of everyone to make it public. the second when i would raise is that there have been a lot of reports that there have been some tense relationships between the president as well as the attorneys general. senator jeff sessions was one of the earliest senators to endorse candidate trump. this all comes down to what one republican strategist told me earlier today, which is is there going to be any wiggle room between the president and the attorney general on anything? also, is there ar going to be any space from the testimony we heard from former fbi director james comey when he testified in the senate and also what he may or may

david: kevin cirilli let me turn to you next. themember the printable of accords were called upon to talk about other matters. mike rogers declining to talk about detailed conversations he had with the president of the united states. what did we learn todaynd how does it set the table for what is going to happen tomorrow in the same hearing room on capitol hill? david, i'm here outside of the senate intelligence committee and that hearing just wrapped. as you say, the head of the nsa and mike rogers saying they did not feel any pressure from the white house nor president trump directly in influencing the russia investigation. appetizer, so to speak, at of tomorrow's main event. james comey testifying for the first time publicly since the president fired him. women good story crossing on the bloomberg with jennifer jacobs. we are reporting that the white house, as well as the rnc and trump political orbit from super pac's are treating this as a presidential debate. they are ready for political battle mode. they want to put pressur

let's bring kevin cirilli -- sahil kapur joins us. but mr. with you. what did you here today that was news -- i noticed he said this would get done by the end of the 194 days till the end of the year, that aual days not legislative. what is the sense from talking to lawmakers on how likely it is to get that done before the end of the year? the speech by speaker ryan was more of a cap talk and anything else. there's new policy details, no shift in his thinking. he is staying the course with this blueprint that he unveiled. just last year round this time and we can fact -- this happens as there are growing republican divisions about how to do tax reform, whetr it should be temporary or permanent. the divions aut how to raise money for -- how to pay for it. he kind of hinted at that he is staying the course on his border adjustments tax which has a most no support in the senate and lacks support from house republicans. this was a response to people we call -- the naysayers, that this was unlikely to happen as hopes are dimming, but he's trying to remain o

kevin cirilli joins us now from our d.c. bureau. where are we on the timetable for the president's agenda? kevin: i just spoke with a source is going to the meeting with vice president mike pence later today to discuss these issues. the senate is really where all of this is going to be in a jam. here's where it gets interesting tax reformnot get to until they pass a budget. vonnie: thursday is clearly the most risky event this week. what can be done legislatively ?efore next week kevin: james comey will be testifying for the first time since president trump fired him. should he release some type of smoking gun or something that could impact the ongoing russia there's no evidence right now, but should he provide new evidence, that would very much impact the president's ability to accomplish anything. vonnie: what is congress doing this week? maybe some health care legislation? kevin: there's report on politicos and the timeline for , they aree reform trying to move that along faster. i spoke with another source earlier today who said

and kevin cirilli, staying with us from capitol hill.carlet: we are moments away from attorney general jeff sessions' testimony before the senate intelligence committee. we will bring it to you live when it begins. from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪ scarlet: in just moments, attorney general jeff sessions will be facing the senate intelligence committee. he will likely be bombarded with questions about what he knew about the firing of former fbi director jim comey, as well as his own meetings with russian officials. whether he will answer them is a different matter. he could very well invoke executive privilege. we are joined by cambridge halley, the former republican attorney general of the commonwealth of -- ken cuccinelli, former republican attorney general of the commonwealth of virginia. what you expect to hear from mr. sessions? what you want to hear from mr. sessions? ken: there is an so much i want. it says a lot that he asked for this and wants it to be open. he wants to get by everyone's speculation and lay out the timeline of

let's bring in kevin cirilli. kevin, we have heard from about southump korea.oader conversation here. broaderhis is a much conversation. former president barack obama hadn't negotiated the 2011 trade deal. following that deal, there was a $13 billion u.s. trade deficit with south korea alone. fast-forward, last year there was a $27 billion trade deficit with south korea. president trump saying that needs to change. he will look at using things industryauto and steel to renegotiate that. that is something the two leaders talked about. take a listen to what president trump said earlier in the rose garden about that. president trump: the year of strategic patients, with the north korean regime has failed. -- the year of strategic patience. that patience is over. kevin: those comments, a day after steven mnuchin told reporters he is imposing new sanctions on a chinese financial institution. sanctions against china, but a bank. david: let's look ahead to next week that the president is going to take -- let's look ahead to next week+++ president is going to take. kev

joe: kevin cirilli feating day in -- fascinating day. "what'd you miss?," going to the of defaults on treasuries has become routine as congress squabbles over federal finances. bloomberg intelligence analysis suggest the government will if the debtoctober ceiling isn't raised. is bloombergw intelligence analyst ira jersey. thank you very much for joining us. this thing every custom years. no one really thinks we're going to default. as we get closer, you do start to see some reactions or some anxiety build in the short term end of the market on fears that could happen. >> that's right. it takes between two and three date.before the drop dead best guess is early october. that being stated, there's a lot that go into that date. we get really close end of august. that's something actually that's officials have been talking about. we get too close to for comfort. wants why they really congress to act in july. scarlet: how important in the we're seeing here between mulvaney and steve mnuchin. the day that'sf a political decision. buy u.s.e who government secur

kevin cirilli joins us from our d.c. bureau. thet fair to say that ministration is preparing for all outcomes? now, i think washington isn't to spitting president trump will announce they are removing the united states from the paris agreement. -- washington is anticipating. elon musk emerging as the goto person in the business committee ar. has the president's e he is urging the president to not leave the agreement. citigroup,on, goldman sachs, morgan stanley -- all these businesses urging the president to not get out of this agreement. there are prominent heavy kh industries feel it would be in america's best interests to remove themselves from this agreement. vonnie: steve bannon as well wanting out of the accord. an outoes turn out to be decision, doesn't that put more work on everybody when nothing is getting done in washington anyway? kevin: the devil will be in the details. the president could have a series of options where he perhaps removed some salt the agreement but allows other folks to look into it. whoe were top co

for more on the testimony, let's go to capitol hill with kevin cirilli, and we are also joined by sahil kapur, bloombergs national political reporter. kevin, i will go to first and outline what i said there, a pretty stringent denial that there was no interaction or challenge with russia and if there had been, he would have left the campaign. kevin: absolutely, julia. he was stringent and adamant that he had no type of collusion communication with russian officials. he was pressed on this, and to be quite frank, you will hear strong criticism coming from democrats who said that he did essentially invoke executive privilege, because he dodged repeated questions about his own communications with president trump. democrats are already taking to twitter to criticize that. i would anticipate that that line of attack is going to continue. republicans are going to say this was pretty much a boring hearing, i'm nothing -- a nothingburger, in that the critics did not get the kind of smoking gun that they tried to get from these hearings. most folks when you talk to them suggest there is not enou

for the latest on the health care bill, let's get the kevin cirilli. elay of the vote trade when can we expect this to be taken up again? kevin: mitch mcconnell saying he will not have a vote until after the july 4 recess. we should note all the top republican senators met at the white house yesterday to hopefully begin crafting what they hope will be some type of legislative push. candid, i have spoken to several republican communications officials from the conservative and moderate movements, and they are scratching their heads. they do not know whether or not a majority leader will take this bill further to the right or to the middle. he risks alienating either side anti-can only afford to lose -- and he can only afford to lose two votes. byk: our leaders surprised the objections within the party? kevin: i think they are surprised the majority leader has crafted a bill that suggest which way he wants to go. the white house has been pushing in terms of hoping to bring on board some of the lawmakers up for reelection in 2018. that is where this could m

is kevin cirilli.ell us what happened over the weekend in terms of negotiations and back channels and changes of allegiance. >> it has been a tough sell for mitch mcconnell as he tries to get his caucus all on board. two major group of distractions. if got the conservatives led by senator rand paul. -- you haveing like senator dean heller who say this is a bit too conservative. they don't like the cuts from the entitlement programs. now bloomberg reporting there could be a revised version of the bill as early as today. not very unclear whether or the majority leader is going to work to appease conservatives or moderates. the nonpartisan congressional budget office is expected to release a scoring of this piece of legislation as early as today. in thesimilar jockeying house of representatives when they had released several versions of the bill. it means the cbo could score one version of the bill but the bill that is ultimately voted on could be different. analysis give cbo mcconnell some wiggle room to

kevin cirilli is with us now. how much more do we talk about whether these tapes existed or whether there is taping of the oval office from, you know, whatever side it might be? kevin: vonnie, i think you are right when you describe it is complicated because it is complicated. president trump being the one to really first drive home the notion that there could be recordings between himself and now fired former fbi director james comey, but right after our very own for jacobs and shannon pettypiece scoped that there were no takes the president had of the conversation, he then tweeted, with all the recently reported electronic surveillance in the can of information, i have no idea whether there are tapes are recordings of my conversations with james comey, but i did not make an do not have any such recordings. the president taking some type of legal advice from his legal counsel and tweeting that there are no tapes. but this was kind of, he was back-and-forth, back-and-forth for several weeks in terms of whether or

let's bring in kevin cirilli and anna edney. the day that we would see a procedural vote which would allow a debate. will the bill even get to the floor? kevin: it is unclear. senator susan collins says she cannot bring herself to advance the measure. people like senator rand paul as well. ist are two republicans, he saying the bill was not conservative enough and they are saying they will not allow this to come to a vote. that is a detrimental blow should this not happen. you also have a republican from nevada who is out against this bill. they are trying to have these negotiations but it is increasingly unclear whether or not this will come to a vote. what does mitch mcconnell have up his sleeve that he could possibly offer these three to five senators -- three defiant senators? anna: they are trying to make sure that people have better access to coverage. whether that is through medicaid or through purchasing plans on the individual insurance market, possibly, he's got about $200 billion to play with, as far as being able to g

vonnie: kevin cirilli chief washington correspondent. speaker paul ryan is responding to reports that president trump is considering firing robert mueller as the special counsel investigating ties between the president's campaign and russia. >> i think the best thing is to let robert mueller do his job. the vindication for the president will be to let this investigation going on. to me that is the smartest thing to do, the best thing to do, and what hopefully will happen. the ceo of newsmax media and longtime friend of mr. trump told pbs the president was considering terminating robert mueller. the white house is saying that only the president and his attorneys are authorized to comment. the british prime minister is discounting a possible alliance with leaders of northern ireland, the democratic unionist party. she needs their votes after last week's election cost conservatives their majority in parliament. may has apologized to fellow conservatives angry about the disaster. she says she will get the party out of the mess. she signal sh

bloomberg is bloomberg's chief washington correspondent kevin cirilli. the president was all around the world in eight or nine days last week, heard from many different leaders, what would prompt him to pull out at this point? kevin: he is being advised by several folks the pullout, including the coke industry. if they have been prominent critics of this agreement as well as several grassroots conservatives and the chief strategist, steve bannon. there are many prominent folks within the business community, everyone from elon musk to morgan stanley, citigroup, pushing for the president to remain in this agreement. we are going to get the final decision when he announces it at 3:00 p.m. later this afternoon. vonnie: some are making economic arguments for pulling out of the agreement. ceos are not in agreement with ceos, a good proportion of ceos in the united states, want to stay in. how will the president defend his decision if they don't? pullout kevin: he is going to make the case that perhaps the argument was -- under the previous administration didn't

we go to kevin cirilli come our chief washington correspondent at the white house.next ordinary moment. we saw speaker ryan and the president speak. what is the agenda for late afternoon and the shock of washington? n: votes in the house of representatives have been postponed because of the tragedy that occurred early this morning. the president is still very much in the white house and continuing with business as usual. trump convened top ceos earlier today about an apprenticeship program. there was an event schedule that the department of later -- of labor that was postponed as a result of the tragedy early today. top ceos including the ceo of siemens are gathering at the white house. they are discussing economic measured moodore coming out of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. tom: it seems forever ago when we were speaking in the 6:00 hour this morning about business as usual. let me address one item that seemed important at 5:00 a.m. and that is the senate discussion of our health care in america. janet yellen has to worry about the amount we spend on health care. what

joining us now is kevin cirilli at the white house and alex webb, a reporter for bloomberg telik analogy-- bloomberg technology. alex, let me start with you. these tech executives are not just going to give the president some advice. what do they want? alex: they are trying to make sure they are on his good side. that means when it comes to issues they really care about, things like h-1b that will be discussed today and the net , and taxy issues repatriation of offshore cash, they have to make sure not to rub in the wrong way. that may be one of the major motivations. vonnie: are you hearing any rumblings in washington of what might be agreed upon today or is it another listening session? kevin: just another listening session. alex makes a good point. let's be candid here. the culture and silken valley is very different -- in silken silicon valley is very different than washington, d.c. there have been private rumblings about concerns of what it might mean to actually take these meetings with the white house. you will remember that it was elon musk the other week that actually removed hi

tom: we have robin niblett at parliament, willem buiter in new york, and kevin cirilli in washington.ersonal lawyer, the white house counsel, and eight others lawyers to be do not want him to do this. why is he doing it? kevin: i have spoken with several sources analyzing the president's twitter as a whole. in his tweet it uses the word "vindication. statement -- the word we heard. so from the white house's perspective, a don't like it when he tweets and it is not on script, but that tweet he tweeted is pretty much scripted and that it is a repackaging debt in that it is a repackaging of the public statements he used before the testimony as well is what his attorney said. that is a legal tweet. francine: i like the way that you put that into perspective. what is the gop talking about today? will it be the tweet, the testimony, or how they can regroup and push things forward? kevin: members of the house freedom caucus will be releasing their tax principles. this is seen as an opening bid in terms of the part of theative republican party, but all attention inside the beltway is focusing

kevin cirilli is at the white house. government reporter patrick donahue is in berlin.et me come to you and ask you about the technicalities. made ant trump will have decision by 3:00 p.m. eastern. are there people working on various outcomes or is it more or less decided? kevin: we just got word from the white house that this announcement is scheduled to come at about 3:00 p.m. you can expect -- anticipate that all the fanfare will begin at about 2:30. i think the bottom line is that the president has already made his decision, but the devil will be in the details because there is the potential that he would be able to perhaps provide some wiggle room in the sense of giving congress a little bit more oversight or control over negotiating the paris accord. top conservatives argue for that during the obama administration. we should note the juxtaposition of the president fulfilling a alsoign promise while having a bit of a walk back on keeping the u.s. embassy in tel aviv as opposed to moving it to jerusalem. the white house putting out a statement saying that decision o

so i want to hand it back over to washington bloomberg chief correspondent kevin cirilli on the hill. kevin: we are here with representative yarmuth, top democrat on the house budget committee. you've had a chance to look over the bill. what do you think? john: it's not a whole lot different than the house bill which has about 20% approval. and 65% disapproval in the country. it's a bill that will decimate medicaid. will cause millions of people to lose their coverage. and will raise premiums for a lot of other americans. in short they just move money around. and change the timing of some provisions. but they really haven't made any kinder or jedgetter than the mean bill that was characterized by president trump. kevin: president trump is suggesting that the health care exchanges are failing. and that if government doesn't intervene, that this will be a disaster for many americans including in the health insurance industry. and how this impacts coverage. what's your response to that? >> first of all the bill eliminates the individual mandate which destroys the individual market. if pe

we get a briefing on what we are going to see from kevin cirilli.> from a political standpoint, you have to remember this is largely politically ideology ideology debate. it is worth noting, there is a lot of intrigue. noting outside groups who have lobbied for and brothers,is, the koch very powerful in washington. they have been against the paris and aregreement significant within the president's administration. tom: i see the idea that the president can punt this to the senate. how does that happen? i was speaking with an expert yesterday to go through the process. in the sense this was never ratified, as a result, by some experts view the paris accord agreement as something that should have been ratified by the senate during the obama administration. if that is the case, we are going to talk about the paris accord agreement for a long time. the downside is the senate already has it hands full. they have to keep the government open when we hit the debt ceiling. nejra: regardless of what happens with climate accord, companies are going to do their

kevin cirilli will join us as well as gideon rose.rg. ♪ ♪ tom: again, a senate panel. this time, the attorney general on russia and a clandestine meeting at the mayflower hotel. meanwhile, could rosenstein, sessions, could they fire special counsel mueller? trump supporters ponder this morning. a yellen press conference tomorrow. and in francine's united kingdom, prime minister may survives another day, boris support.roviding good morning. this is bloomberg. crazyom keene with the news flow with francine lacqua. she is still prime minister, right? francine: yes, and she will meet the french president of little later on. she has negotiations with the d.u.p. and she starts talks with the french. will smoke and have an espresso or whatever. issue like a prime minister or is it still up in the air? francine: it is up in the air, because she had to apologize to her lawmakers, saying clearly that she made a mess of it but will get them out of it. unclear how she will do that at this point. tom: to bring you up-to-date on the washington soap

joining us with more, kevin cirilli. a little bit of confusion there. [laughter] kevin: a lot of confusion. is he or isn't he? : can we assume he isn't? listen to the legal counsel? kevin: listen to the legal counsel. ice -- i just spoke with a political advisor to president trump. i said -- what's the deal? what the source told me was that there wasn't enough characters in the tweets. this is the reason i just got from the phone. there were not enough characters in the tweet because of their was, the president would have alluded to or linked to "the washington post" story, but either way i can tell you that this type of back-and-forth and miscommunication between the president's twitter account, communication staff, and the folks surrounding the white house, there is a lot of frustration that a lot of this is not forming a cohesive strategy in combating what they feel are also allegations, so they are not helping themselves when they are not on the same page. that frustration has quite candidly become palpable. also not helping matters, the fact that th

i want to bring in kevin cirilli.day, donald trump tweeting that i'm being investigated for firing the f ei director by the man who told me fbi director, witchhunt. what does he mean by that? >> apparently he is saying that he is being investigated for that decision. the legal team surrounding him is urgent oaks to preserve -- people to preserve any and all documents from the campaign in case the congressional committee should start issuing subpoenas for those documents but also, of course, the special counsel. the president returning from his remarks earlier today in miami, they are facing a weekend where there are dealings with russia that are very much on going. >> the chief washington correspondent has had a very busy week. would be if he didn't, coming up in france, they had back to the polls for the second and final round of in legislative election. we take a look at the expected outcome, next. from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ >> france holds the second and final round of his parliamentary elections. -- the

joining us is kevin cirilli. wray is not a stranger to washington. in the justice department under george w. bush. does this, is a surprise? kevin: this is someone who was on the short list. i was speaking with a source familiar to the issue regarding the president's thinking regarding the fbi director. this is a choice the administration feels will have widespread support within all factions of the republican party. there were several other people on the shortlist including fred townsend who was perhaps one of the most well known in terms of the punditry world. towers spotted at trump as senator lindsey graham this week. when you take a step back and you look at how they arrived at this situation, they are looking for someone who can have the full backing of the republican party. hopefully get some democratic support, but also have the perception they will be impartial to the ongoing investigation into the russia probe which will dominate the news cycle in terms of the next 48 hours. david: fran townsend was head of counterterrorism under bush. was n

kevin cirilli joins us now capitol hill. course, jim comey testifying will be the big story thursday, president will hosted an arrest with senate and house republican leaders. what is likely to be on the agenda? will they discuss at all the fbi director's upcoming testimony? >> i was just speaking with a prominent republican mentor -- member of the house of representatives who told me the feeling right now is that the white house -- looking to do some outreach to a dress what they feel is going to be a major distraction of sorts. now former fbi director james comey testifies before the senate intelligence committee. i just interviewed some -- democrat from delaware who said, democrats are going to be -- hearing directly from the why he believes president trump fired him last month -- whether not this has to do with any collusion. the washington post -- for cost reporting -- the president is considering live tweeting this event. the spectacle, intrigue, ramifications, are only going to be the center of attention here in washi

david: joining us now is kevin cirilli. kevin, i don't think you are in capitol hill.m trying to get there. expectingwhat are we and where will this go? kevin: there it will go remains to be seen. dese spoken with several ai to the lawmakers who are frustrated with how this has been negotiated behind the scenes. there are a couple of nonstarter issues for moderates. cutting medicare and medicaid. portions of obamacare -- they are concerned about the policy of this and how it will impact republican chances in 2018, particularly if they have to defend something that they are only going to get one week to look at. inid: we are all interested health care because we all have to use health care. but we are also concerned because of what it means for tax reform and infrastructure. what have you learned about what -- about where that stands? kevin: i interviewed representative davis and illini -- and delaney. -- is a member of the house freedom caucus. plane is working on a tax with the members of the house freedom caucus that they hope to , and he august recess told me that h

joining us now is chief washington correspondent kevin cirilli. his is all coming at a very, very busy time for president trump. about thes questions former director of the fbi. toin: yesterday, he said reporters that they have made significant progress to health care reform, but all the attention is on the russia probe. the top intelligence community officials are testifying, as well -- michael rodgers as well as dan coats, saying they did not feel pressure from the white house on their pressure -- russia probe investigation. can tell you that i have spoken to several lawmakers on their way in and out of this hearing who have said they are still waiting to see how they feel about the nominee to the fbi, which he tweeted out earlier today. all of this again is a political prelude of the drama is unfolding tomorrow with mr. comey's testimony. vonnie: kevin, thank you. we're watching some pictures of the president and his gaggle of children there as he comes to make some statements about health care. what could he possibly be saying in the next few m

alix: thank you so much to kevin cirilli.nt and center for president moon as well as president trump. this is energy week. energy dominic, whatever that w te, whatevermina that winds up meaning. the purple line is exports, natural gas, crude exports moving lower sense that march high that we saw. joining us with more is nicholas potter, reckless head of natural gas resource. head of natural gas resource. nicholas: you hit the nail on the head. everyone is focused on oil, but this started with the shale gas revolution 5, 10 years ago. they found a great way to unlock all the reserves from the u.s., and we have gone from essentially being one of the largest importers of natural gas to the role to now being operably one of the top four to five exporters globally by 2020. we are already exporting a significant amount of gas in a transport to mexico. alix: at the end of the day, this is all about economics, and keeping the arms open and european buyers will want to buy natural gas to what can the administration due to facilitate m

thank you so much to kevin cirilli.r we hear the words residence and of section of justice, it is serious business. we are now going to be joined by barbara mccabe, a former attorney for the eastern district of michigan, she is on the telephone now. thank you for being with us. barbara: thank you for having me. my first question is, given what we have heard, is it surprising that a special counsel would be asking questions of other officials in the government about the circumstances surrounding mr. flynn? i think it is actually a logical step assuming the reports are true. testimonysed on the of james comey alone, that would be enough or robert mueller to want to investigate this. one of the things that is extraordinary, if the reports are true, there are other officials of him trump asked the same thing. david: we heard from a former u.s. attorney, like yourself, who said based on what he heard, there was too little to conclude either that there was obstruction of justice or was not, but there was enough to investigate

joining us is kevin cirilli. hat jeff sessions will address and what he is not going to address. kevin: he is going to address how many meetings he specifically had with russian officials. there is some discrepancy about how many meetings he had, if they were all disclosed. there are reports that in the closed briefing with fbi director james comey there could have been meetings that were not disclosed. he will also address the relationship he has with the president because he had offered to resign. he had recused himself against the president's wish. i have been told that they so -- patched it up, so to speak. another day in washington will be dominated by this russia probe. probe what is the russia at this point? is it a probe about russia and its relation with the united states and what it did or did not new -- and do in the election or is it the report on james comey? it turns out the russian intervention at the state level in the elections was somewhat more expensive, like 39 states, which is bigger than what

kevin cirilli caught up with democratic senator ron white.s looking to hear from sessions. important especially to me are the circumstances with respect to his recusal. in the open hearing, i asked mr. comey about that. mr. comey said he could not give a full answer because he responded to me there were problematic matters that he could not discuss in public. vonnie: for more on what we can today, what are the odds that sessions doesn't evoke insect get information? >> part of the expectation is attorney general sessions may invoke executive privilege. that seems to be the expectation. that is not going to satisfy democrats. senator wyden myself yesterday, who mentioned he intends to ask the attorney general about what james comey, the former fbi director, said at his own testimony when he said he learned things about sessions that made it problematic for him to continue in the russia probe. as suggested, he is going to ask about the circumstances of his recusal. he said that it does not seem like a real recusal. the fact that he was particip

vonnie: kevin cirilli, thank you. ahead, the latest on a bloomberg first report amazon is thected to get slack, messaging service. it could be the biggest ever. ♪ ♪ time for the deals report where we look at him in a business, reporting first today amazon may be looking to acquire the messenger status/. -- started slack. tell us about for those who don't know what slack is. slack is a general messaging service that is used in offices all over the place at this point. it is like a silicon valley darling. here is what we know so far. we reported last night, amazon and one other tech company have reached out to slack in recent weeks. one other one so far that we have heard, but amazon may be in the lead. the idea is they may pay $9 million, amazon or some other company, to do this. slack as i mentioned is a way to chat with colleagues in the work with. it also is a good drop elements. it allows for secure file sharing like a virtual conference room. that might be the best way to amazon has try to get into this business a

kevin cirilli, the chief washington correspondent, let me ask you as a party is saying. what is the republican national committee saying about mitch mcconnell decision to do this? kevin: a coupler mulligan sources have made the point that just the intense pressure that the senators are going to face when they go back home for july 4 recess. you're having their picnic parties out of the fireworks display, they're going to be meeting with constituents and also some config again folks are going to be wondering what exactly in the health insurance market, what exactly is going on. in terms of peeling back the onion a little bit more about some of the legislative arm of the white house, there are a significant number of folks who have been twisting arms here in the senate, who are going to also have to be answering to the boss about what exactly went wrong, and what exactly needs to be changed. i spoke with one more conservative person, conservative consultant and from this person's perspective, it's a good thing, because from the far right perspective, it is not a bill that a

kevin cirilli is on the hill with the latest. kevin?er today i with bill cassidy, a republican from louisiana. he is a man caught in the middle of the ongoing legislative policy lawmakers procedure on health care. majority leader mitch mcconnell is expected to unveil new details of the senate health care proposal tomorrow morning or later this evening. a man whoht up with testified for the senate finance committee. we talked about nasa and health care. here is what he had to tell me. >> we want to make sure our agricultural products remain to have -- to continue to have market access, there is no more pressure to add products because there is some other issue. similarly, there has been some lack of enforcement of some things. question i raised is that under nafta currently, there is a 25% domestic content law on things ite steel for pipelines, but has been increased to 50% and we have not enforced that. so to some degree, we will want to address new domestic content laws, and secondly, how will we enforce it? kevin: should currency regu

let's bring in kevin cirilli in washington, our chief washington correspondent.y conservative lawmaker who perhaps can help answer that question. , a top memberdan of the house freedom caucus. is the holdup with health care going to hurt peoples -- your ability to get the other issues like tax reform? rep. jordan: i hope not, we want to get tax reform as quick as we can. that is what we call the american people. the holdup -- told the american people, you cannot get tax reform without reconciliation and cannot get that until you pass the budget. we will get health care. is goingss the senate to mirrors what took place in the house. they were going to have a vote but it got us postponed, they took a break, then they came back. kevin: the budget was postponed impacthouse, that has an . rep. jordan: we are concerned about the idea that we will increase spending and not have offset, like the offsets to the level we think is appropriate and needed to deal with the $20 trillion debt. the idea that there will be a border adjustment tax. i do not think americans elected

kevin cirilli is joined with a top gop consultant. >> barry bennett, a top gop consultant in washingtonnterned at the white house? it is a unique situation, typically white house stats are teams, this one seems to be a -- i do not know who the coach is. there does not seem to be one team on the field. >> how do you correct course, so much reporting on various infighting and different intrigue stories. all is interesting but it is starting to have a concrete impact on policy. we are seeing this with the paris accord, how do you correct course? the current regime is not empowered to fix it, there needs to be someone who is. it cannot go on like this. i am tired of reading these leaks from one side attacking the other side and back-and-forth. they work within 10 feet of each other, it is insane. >> the president said that there needs to be an investigation and instructed jeff sessions to do that. now hearing reports that former fbi director james comey will testify next week before the senate intelligence committee at 10:00 a.m. what will he say? this has the potential to derail more polic

joining us from the white house is chief washington correspondent kevin cirilli.ing unanticipated in the speech? evin: nothing unanticipated, but the president taking direct aim at former president barack obama for the 2011 traded deal negotiated with south korea. he alluded to the $13 billion trade deficit that began in 2011 when the deal was first negotiated. now, of course, last year alone the trade deficit exceeded $27.2 billion from just the last year alone. the president saying that they talked about auto deals and the steel industry, and of course, the big issue, national security, particularly as it pertains to north korea and its nuclear weapons program, trying to pressure the chinese to do something on it. you remember it was just yesterday that treasury secretary steven mnuchin announced they were going to be new sanctions on a chinese bank as a result of its ties with north korea. vonnie: kevin's really at the white house following that meeting. thank you for that. -- laurao include keller is joining us for the fourth of july-themed special chart, woul

vonnie: kevin cirilli, thank you. we will bring you those remarks on infrastructure live at 1:20 new york time today. full coverage of tomorrow's testimony before the senate intelligence committee starting at 9:30 in new york. to the other big event investors are watching closely, britain's general election. voters heading to the polls. manchester.is in we are almost there. what is the main message political parties are trying to get across today? day ofit's the final campaigning. both prime minister theresa may and jeremy corbyn on whistle stops around the country giving speeches on this final day of campaigning. conservatives in the past few days since the terror attack in london, have wanted to shift the debate back to brexit, but it seems on this final day at that debate is still firmly about security. we heard from theresa may that she would be willing to tear up human rights legislation in order to combat terrorism. labor meanwhile saying this is a distraction on the part of the conservatives because theresa may

joining us now is kevin cirilli. you first about the negotiations that went into this. the attorney general saying a couple days ago that he was eager th

washingtonis our chief correspondent kevin cirilli standing by with a congressman instrumental to thisth the transportation committee chairman, representative bill shuster of pennsylvania. yesterday, the president painted a dire picture of the air traffic control system of america, is it that bad? >> we have a safe system that is antiquated, the equipment is from the 1950's and 1960's. we still use paper strips in the control towers and all across america. >> they are using paper strips to navigate flights? on.hey pass these if you go to a tower in toronto or london or hong kong, they use digitized equipment, modern computers, no paper strips, it is much more efficient and we have a safe system but inefficient. >> this is a proposal that has been talked about for 30 some years. exactly do and what is the next step now that it?president has endorsed rep. shuster: the clinton and bush administration attempted to do this by the time is right and the next that is to mark up a thiswhich we will do later month and take it to the house floor which starts the process. having presidential leade

let's check in with kevin cirilli, bloomberg's chief washington correspondent.h a cbo score, highly anticipated. we don't know when we'll expected. how much do some senators votes -- and fringe, that cbo score says, devon? heller, alike dean republican from nevada, will be reading closely, the nonpartisan cbo -- congressional budget office this morning of mitch mcconnell's health care proposal. they want to know how many people are going to lose health insurance. if that number is high, particularly if it is significantly higher than what they scored at the house version, that could hurt the chances of this legislation. even being a starting point for -- in terms ofd how they are able to move forward on this. especially if the senate majority leader will have a vote on this piece of legislation by the end of next week. david: a couple of things for foreign leaders -- the leader south korea coming at the end of the week. its focus on that visit in specific. there have been height -- heightened geopolitical tensions in that region. what will it be like between the