sarah westwood, the president yesterday with cbs' jeff glor.o run against joe biden. >> who do you think your democratic opponent would be? >> i dream about biden. joe biden ran three times. he never got more than 1%. president obama took him out of the garbage heap and everybody was shocked he did. >> the rest of the top five. elizabeth warren and kirsten gillibra gillibrand. sarah? >> one of two schools of thought. joe biden is someone who can match president trump's rhetorical style to take air out of trump's sails. biden does come from the obama administration. he would carry a lot of the same baggage as hillary clinton did in terms of representing the era of the democratic party that some want to leave in the past. in that sense, president trump would have an advantage over biden. that is potentially someone who would be the perfect foil for president trump in the way hillary clinton was. >> harry, does anybody solve the democrats problem here? >> not yet. this is what is wonderful about campaigns. if last time around hillary clinton was t

. >> sarah westwood is live near the president's golf club. sarah, good morning to you. the white house is now having to defend this decision to have a second meeting in a few months. >> that's right, victor, this is coming as president trump's legal team is worried that any advantage they had gained was erased by president trump's widely criticized performance alongside president putin. in the court of public penalties, trump's team turned the tide in his fave. polls show a recent inspector report raised questions of select bias, sources them our colleagues, dana bash and gloria borger that trump's attorneys now fear that trump's demptial treatment of putin and the indictment of 12 russian intelligence officers accused of conducting cyber attacks on americans in order to interfere with the process could start to blupt the momentum that they had created through their campaign of relentless attacks on muel r mueller. obviously this comes on president trump and his attorneys negotiating over the prospect of going an interview. it is not a good time for the white house to h

lease go to sarah westwood, and, sarah, talk to me about this report. it's coming out of politico on this study that they're saying the e.p.a. buried its a cancer study. it's a study they say they have purposely blocked from the public. tell me more. >> that's right, brook. the e.p.a. may be free of its most controversial leader, but it's not free from controversy today. current and former echl p.a. officials tell politico that the agency is suppressing a report about the dangers of inhaling formal formaldahyde vapor. it's coming at the end of the obama administration, and it links formaldahyde to illnesses like leukemia, and the officials say this report is being kept from the public as part of an ongoing effort to undermine the scientific research that the e.p.a. performs. now, an e.p.a. spokesperson denied that the reports released as being delayed intentionally. telling cnn in a statement assessments of this type are often the result of needs for particular rulemaking and undergoing extensive intra-agency and inter-agency process. outgoing epa head

senior international correspondent sam kiley and sarah westwood. sarah is near the opinipresiden golf club. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. president trump is back in the headlines for his dealings during the campaign. michael cohen, his longtime lawyer and fixer again making trouble for trump thanks to a newly unearthed recording that is in possession of the fbi. on the tape cohen and trump can be heard discussing the prospect of making a payment to karen mcdougal, the former "playboy" model, alleged to have an affair with president trump long before he took office. ultimately, mcdougal signed a contract with american media, inc. ami owns the "national enquirer" and other publications and whose ceo is a personal friend of president trump's. rudy giuliani, president trump's attorney, has downplayed that agreement between ami and mcdougal, describing it as nothing more than a nondisclosure agreement and saying that trump and cohen were discussing that deal on the brief tape. this is obviously troublesome for the white house, not only because

joining us with more is sarah westwood. what are you hearing there this morning, sarah?> reporter: president trump spent the weekend in new jersey at his golf resort working on filling the supreme court vacancy that anthony kennedy will soon leave. he made calls to his white house counsel don mcgahn who is here at the resort. miles away, protesters were protesting amid cries. the agency that is enforcing trump's very unpopular policy of separating families at the border. massachusetts democratic senator elizabeth warren was among the national democratic figures who are joining those calls to make sweeping changes to i.c.e. take a listen. >> the president's deeply immoral actions have made it obvious, we need to rebuild our immigration system from top-to-bottom, starting by replacing i.c.e. with something that reflects our morality and -- >> reporter: now president trump responded on twitter by defending i.c.e. and saying he would resist any of these changes to that immigration enforcement agency. president trump then accused any democrats who oppose the immigration prior

we want to go live to sarah westwood in berkeley heights, nrks n, near where the president is spending the weekend. sarah. >> reporter: dianne, president trump sending another signal he will not cooperate with special counsel robert mueller. "the new york times" reporting the president's legal team made those statements yesterday rudy giuliani told the times, if they can come to us and show us the basis and it's legitimate and they have uncovered something, we can go from there and address thard objectivity. president trump and his allies have spend months waging a war of public opinion against mueller, arguing this investigation is a witch hunt and pointing to text messages as evidence that the foundations of the investigation are ill illegitima illegitimate. obviously his legal team telling the special counsel there's now a new set of preconditions is indeed a sign that president trump is shifting his position here. trump and his allies have pushed mueller to wrap up the investigation. now, as we can see, president trump is continuing to resist what could be one of the final steps in

cnn's white house reporter sarah westwood joins us live from new jersey near the president's golf club where he is spending the weekend. how is the president handling this? >> reporter: president trump is settling in for a weekend facing many unanswered questions about that 2016 trump tower meeting involving his son, donald trump, and a russian lawyer. trump refused to answer questions about those claims from his attorney michael cohen. that trump had advance knowledge of that meeting. rudy giuliani, trump's current attorney, is going after cohen in the wake of cnn's reporting about what cohen is prepared to testify. take a listen to just how dramatically giuliani's tone has shifted when it comes to trump's former fixer. >> he doesn't have any incriminating evidence about the president or himself. the man is an honest honorable lawyer. i expected something like this. he's been lying for years. >> reporter: now, the president is also going after michael cohen in another remarkable shift, claiming cohen is simply lying about the meeting in order to extricate himself from legal troubles.

sarah westwood is standing nearby. how are things there? >> good morning. president trump may be enjoying this relatively quiet weekend in bedminister, new jersey, but his lawyer is hard at work defending the president against the bombshell new allegations about the trump's contact with russia. we heard rudy giuliani had already accused trump's former attorney michael cohen of being a liar after cohen signaled his willingness to tell investigators that trump knew in advance of that infamous 2016 meeting at trump tower involving his son in a -- promising dirt on hillary clinton. last night, rudy giuliani accused cohen tampering of a recording he made of a 2016 conversation with then candidate trump. we should note no evidence to suggest the tape was altered but here is what giuliani had to say about it. >> i hope it exists. this could be a recording of a recording. we are not sure yet. that, they can probably determine. and then you're right, we may never be able to determine that, but we have determined the fact that he tampered with the tape in the sense t

sarah westwood is in new jersey with more details. we know this does not -- the moment we watched did not make president trump happy and now hearing from coats. what else did he say? >> reporter: that's right. national intelligence director dan coats is attempting a bit after cleanup effort this weekend after that reaction to president trump's latest embrace of putin and widely interpreted as disagreement with trump and additional evidence of that friction between trump and the intelligence community. coats saying, in a statement, some press coverage has mischaracterized my attentions in responding to breaking news presented to me during a live interview. trump has been quizzing his aides daily on the status of those talks and pressing them to show more signs of progress when it comes to denuclearization. this as american officials are having trouble even making contact with their north korean counterparts. for example, secretary of state mike pompeo traveled all the way to pyongyang earlier this month and was apparently stood up by k

cnn white house report er, sarah westwood is standing nearby.s the president saying anything about what rudy giuliani is talking about? >> reporter: well, president trump is staying quiet on this weekend here in bedminister, new jersey, as his lawyer is out defending him against these bombshell new allegations about the trump campaign's contacts with russia. rudy giuliani had already accused michael cohen, trump's former attorney, of being a liar after cohen signaled his willingness to tell investigators that that trump had advanced knowledge of that trump tower meeting involving his son donald trump jr. and a russian offering dirt on hillary clinton. but last night, giuliani accused cohen of tampering with a recording of a 2016 conversation with then candidate trump. now we should note there is no evidence that the tape was actually altered but this is what giuliani had to say about it. >> we have to hope it exists. this could be a recording of a recording. we are not sure yet. that, they can probably determine. and then you're right, we may ne

our cnn white house reporter sarah westwood joins us from new jersey. what do we know about the planned meeting thus far? >> reporter: well, fred, despite the fears, bipartisan backlash to president trump's performance alongside vladimir putin this week, trump is essentially doubling down on his russia policy by rolling out plans for a second summit. the white house stunned even some of trump's own cabinet members thursday when it announced plans to invite putin to the white house sometime this fall. the russian president hasn't stepped foot in the white house in more than a decade. trump asks his national security adviser john bolton to extend that invitation even as the fire storm on capitol hill was raging with democratic and republican lawmakers, slamming trump over his refusal to take a harder line with russia over its aggression in ukraine and syria. chuck schumer was among the democrats calling on the administration to reveal what trump and putin discussed in the first summit before making plans to host round two on american soil because remember

sarah westwood, good to see you this morning. thank you. >>> joining us now to discuss this, daniel lippman, reporter and co-author of "the political handbook," and joy jackson, cnn legal analyst and criminal defense attorney. good morning to you both. >> good morning. >> good morning, martin. >> daniel, let me start with you. the revelation that cohen is prepared to tell mueller that donald trump knew, or he knew of this meeting in 2016 before it actually happened. that is huge, correct? >> it is, because it would undermine what trump has been saying all year, you know, ever since that meeting was revealed in the "times," and trump himself dictated the statement on the plane responding to "the new york times" report in saying this was all about adoption. and so, this would be a devastating blow, because there might be other -- there are other people in the room who mueller might be talking to who could corroborate cohen, so trump has to worry about that as well. >> and then, joey, of course, this would seem to fit, maybe not the

>> sarah westwood is nearby in berkeley heights, new jersey, near the president this morning. good morning to you, sarah. what are you hearing from the president? >> reporter: well, president trump is settling in for another weekend here in bedminster, new jersey, amid these unanswered questions about that now-infamous 2016 meeting in trump tower involving his son, donald trump jr., and a russian lawyer. now, president trump left the white house yesterday without taking questions about claims from his former attorney, michael cohen, that trump knew in advance about that meeting, something trump denied friday morning in a tweet, as his legal team goes after cohen's credibility. and sources told cnn this week that president trump is fuming about the legal scrutiny now facing him and his inner circle. meanwhile, trump has struggled to change the conversation away from this controversy, making remarks yesterday at the white house about the economy and firing off a series of tweets that attacked democrats. and of course, this is all happening against the back drop of an otherwise su

our cnn white house reporter sarah westwood joins us live from nearby trump's gulf resort in bedminister, new jersey, where he is this weekend. what more do we know about what the white house wants to say about what happened? >> well, fred, despite the intense backlash to president trump's performance alongside vladimir putin this week, trump is essentially doubling down on his russia policy by making plans to host a second summit here in the u.s. the white house stunned even some of trump's own cabinet members on thursday when it announced plans to invite putin to the white house later this fall. trump asked national security adviser john bolton to relay that message to moscow even as the fire storm on capitol hill was still raging over how trump had treated putin and even some republicans who typically withhold their criticism of trump when he breaks with them on issues of gop orthodoxy like trade and immigration had slammed trump's approach to the summit. the white house has revealed few details about what trump and putin discussed five days after the helsinki meeting and republicans

. >> sarah westwood in new jersey, thank you very much. we are learning about a trump campaign questions to paul manafort's trial. >> they say a banker helped them get $16 million in loans while he was trying to get a role in the campaign. they say they plan to show the loans were approved, meanwhile, weeks before the child is set to start, manafort's lawyers are asking to move the trial and the start date. joining me now to talk about this, senior political analyst and for the hymn, amy barnes, well woman back. >> thank you. >> so you believe, oh, let me say this co-author of "shattered" inside hillary clinton's campaign. cannot forget the book plug. you believe this is a credibility play? this is to try to chip away at the credibility of the mueller probe, if case there is something that comes out, whether it's an indictment or faming the president as a co-conspirator to try to convince the country, the president's supporters that it's as he calls it a witch hunt? >> you are seeing a complete shift in strategy, the president earlier want

sarah westwood is with us, and lynn suiweet from chicago sun times is with us as well. sarah, i want to ask, what is going on with the president? is he saying anything this morning? >> reporter: as is so often the case, trump is not allowing his own message to break through, getting in his own way, engaging on twitter on the michael cohen situation. by any measure, this was a successful week for the white house. you had trump having a break through in trade talks with the eu, you had robust economic growth figures released friday. trump traveled to illinois for the reopening of a steel mill that was saved by his tariffs, and north koreans returned remains of americans killed in the korean war, none of it is gaining tracks trump thinks it deserves because he is back in the position of being on defense when it comes to russia, and his legal team is going after michael cohen now, a man trump recently was defending because the narrative surrounding the infamous trump tower meeting with donald trump jr. are now being shifted. >> lynn, let's talk about the economy. there are s

. >> sarah westwood, thank you for that report. >>> on that note, let's talk about how this really got started. new york senator kristen gillibrand was one of the first to start the list of people who say that i.c.e. needs to be revamped. >> you don't think i.c.e. today is working as intended? i believe -- i believe that it has become a deportation force and i think you should separate the criminal justice from the immigration issues and i think you should reimagine i.c.e. under a new agency with a very different mission and take those two missions out. >> reporter: discussing with us now is commentator writer and editor for "the washington examiner siraj hashmi and julian zeleny. "the washington post" is reporting that officers are citing newly taped evidence showing that north korea doesn't intend to fully conceal their stockpiles but concealing the number of weapons they have and secret productive facilities intact. julian, did anyone really believe that north korea was going to give up its nuclear weapons or its program? >> i never thought north korea would give up its nuclear weap

sarah westwood is live for us to explain. >> reporter: national intelligence director dan coats is certainly attempting some cleanup. late yesterday after his statements on thursday at the aspen security conference had been interpreted as disagreement with president trump over the issue of whether trump should invite putin to the white house for a second summit later this fall. remember that dan coats learned from his interviewer that president trump had extended that invitation. he said in a statement, some press conference has mischaracterized my intentions in responding to breaking news to me during a live interview. my awkward response was not no way meant to be disrespectful or criticize the actions of the president. a pals of negotiations in north korea, according to a report in "the washington post," president trump has been quizzing his aides daily about the status of the negotiations as the talks stall. president trump has been publicly proclaiming the north korea talks to be a success. but as recently as earlier this month, secretary of state mike pompeo traveled to pyongyang and w

. >> sarah westwood there at the white house. if you're tempted to think it's purely partisan, those were republicans sitting in the house who were criticizing the president, raising those hard questions. house speaker paul ryan spoke out against the president's comments as well. he had a very different characterization of putin and russia. listen to what he said a short time ago. >> vladimir putin does not share our interests. vladimir putin does not share our values. we just conducted a year-long investigation into russia's interference in our elections. they did interfere in our elections. it's really clear. >> that was speaker ryan there. manu raju, our capitol hill senior congressional correspondent is up there in capitol hill. so ryan certainly did not pull punches when it came to the russian president vladimir putin, but he did not take a shot at the president himself. why is that? >> reporter: yeah, this is the line that republicans have been trying to draw. they want to be tough on russia, but they don't want to get cros

sarah westwood with the story. this case got attention when it was heard. and i know at least the elder has served three years. what is this pardon about? >> reporter: obviously president trump is not afraid toize his pardon authority. -- afraid to use his pardon authority. we've seen him to it in more controversial cases. the sentencing of these two oregon men to five years in prison for their involvement in causing the fire sparked outrage in the local community and ended up causing an armed stand-off with federal officials in the area. that got a lot of attention obviously at the time. a judge had originally recommended that these two men, dwight and steven hammond, cattle ranchers in the area, receive a lighter sentence because of the way the community might react. they ended up getting sentenced to five years in prison. dwight hammond has served three, is even has served four. president trump announcing the pardon coming after he's used the power to pardon joe arpaio to activists. clearly president trump not afraid to use this authority more liberally

cnn white house reporter sarah westwood joins us from new jersey, near the bedminster golf club wherepending the weekend. how is the white house handling this today? >> reporter: fred, president trump is settling in for a weekend here in bedminster with unanswered questions still surrounding the 2016 trump tower meeting involving his son, donald trump jr. and a russian lawyer. leaving the white house yesterday, president trump refused to answer questions about claims from koenmichael c as former attorney. he said he had knowledge of the meeting, something trump and his legal team continue to deny. rudy guiliani is going after michael cohen, attacking his credibility in the wake of cnn reporting what cohen is prepared to testify. look at how dramatically rudy guiliani's tone shifted when it comes to trump's former fixer. >> he doesn't have any incriminating evidence about the president or himself. the man is an honest, honorable lawyer. i expected something like this from cohen, lying all week, been lying for years. >> reporter: trump is also wading into the controversy on twitter, den

and sarah westwood, cnn reporter live in berkeley heights, new jersey, near the president's golf club. welcome back to both of you. sarah, let me start with you. post wouldn't and no but not that no clarifications from the president, for those around the president, how do they see or assess the degree of control they have over the narrative of coming out of helsinki? sam listed all of the russians' narratives about what came out of the meeting, how do they assess what they're giving the american people and do they have control? >> sources have told cnn that the immediate aftermath of the summit was focused more on containing the fallout from that disastrous press conference trump had alongside putin and less on the substance of the meeting. that was made difficult because trump and putin met alone with their translator. there are many administration officials who still don't have a full picture of what was discussed let alone the american people. and because the white house has refused to provide details of these agreements that the kremlin is claiming trump and putin struck, that's l