opposite off what's drawn powell and janet yellen have stood so for us so once again this is really a trump wolf this is not about policy he doesn't know much about it to begin with this is just to put his person in and surprise the world. last out of it thank you very much for those come and we stay in the us where facebook reported a massive seventy nine percent jump in profits on wednesday as it pushed further into video advertising facebook's total and revenue alone rose almost fifty percent to just over ten billion u.s. dollars still facebook is in the hot seat in the united states for the way it and the political ads align the spread of false news stories facebook said that russians bought thousands of u.s. political ads to spread fake news the social networking platform pledged to double its cyber security force in the future. electric car maker tesla is still having serious production problems and is booking record losses last quarter it was a whopping six hundred nineteen million u.s. dollars there are still only older models on the road that's due to the problem with the mobile three p

opposite of what drawn powell and janet yellen have stood so for us so once again this is really a trump wolf this is not about policy he doesn't know much about it to begin with this is just to put his person in and surprise the world. thank you very much because come. facebook reported a massive seventy nine percent jump in profit on wednesday as it pushed further into video appetising facebook's total ad revenue alone rose almost fifty percent it's just over ten billion u.s. dollars still facebook is in the hot seat in the u.s. for the way it handled political ads along the spread of false news stories facebook said the russians bought thousands of u.s. political ads to spread fake news in the us elections the social networking platform pledged to double its cyber security force in the future. now as a quick check on the markets and possible to be bought in frankfurt only you have an interesting i.p.o. this day especially for food lovers tell us. that's right for food lovers but who are too lazy to go out shopping the company is called hello fresh and the so-called milk it seller and what

that faced some stiff opposition, most notably from president trump, wolf. >> reducing the amount people can deduct for state and local taxes could be rather difficult to swallow. especially for folks in the higher tax states. could potentially mean higher taxes for some individuals, right? >> it could. and that certainly is why it has been and continues to be one of the biggest sticking points about this bill. now we heard from lawmakers from those high tax states like new jersey, like new york come out of the meeting today where they were briefed on the bill and expressing concern. expressing concerns saying that the confessions that were made to win them over notably allowing the deduction on property taxes capped at $10,000. they said that that was too low. that's not enough likely to win them over. we heard about that from new york congressman zeldon. he was a no on this bill as it currently stands because of that as well as his colleague from new york dan donovan. >> i'm always concerned about the deduction. the elimination of the salt deduction. but, you know, we'll calculate to s

asked for an explanation, sergey lavrov blamed the, quote, pencil pushers working for president trump. wolfrussians seemed to think that the president wants to meet with vladimir putin but not his team. wolf? >> interesting. we'll see what happens. jim acosta traveling with the president in vietnam right now. we're back with democratic congressman ruben gallego of arizona. he's a member of the armed services committee. he's also a veteran. were you surprised, congressman, that president trump did not meet with putin this morning in da nang, in vietnam, as had been so widely anticipated? >> of course i am surprised. you know, the president has an affinity for putin, as well as russia. clearly he denies that they have any type of involvement in the last election. democrats and republicans are now pointing out that, in fact, we have proof that they did. but i think what you see here is a -- some good work being done by white house staff to basically keep the president from meeting putin, whether it's for the political optics of them not meeting and what it would cause problems, or just in gene

trump taking a pass on standing up for american principles. wolf, he had a chance to stand up for the press, for human rights, it didn't happen. wolf? >> jim acosta reporting for us from manila in the philippines. thank you very much. >>> joining us now, democratic senator chris coons of delaware. he's a key member of the judiciary and the foreign relations committee. senator, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> we're going to get to president trump's international trip in just a moment, but first i want to get your quick reaction to the latest developments involving roy moore. your republican colleagues are now increasingly calling for him to step aside. so far it doesn't like like he's going to. if he were to win the senate seat in alabama next month, what should republicans do? >> well, i respect the fact that the majority leader mitch mcconnell and the head of the republican campaign committee have both called for roy moore to step down. i found listening to the press conference earlier today just heartbreaking. i believe the women wh

with at least one senior kremlin official and he kept senior trump officials in the loop about his trip. at the same time at this hour, wolf, one of president trump's closest confidants is getting grilled behind the scenes. tonight, the congressional investigations into russia meddling move closer to president trump. his longtime body man, keith schiller, grilled today by house investigators about trump's interactions with russians before he became president. as well as the president's firing of fbi director, james comey. when it happened, cnn captured the moment schiller delivered the letter to the fbi. and the president's eldest son, donald trump jr., soon could have his turn to answer questions about his june 2016 meeting at trump tower, where russians promised dirt on the clinton campaign. the russian lawyer at the meeting suggested this week that trump jr. signaled his father was open to rethinking russian sanctions, if elected. something that has drawn attention on capitol hill. >> what's your reaction to that? >> well, we've still got a couple of additional people to talk to. and then we hope to talk to mr. donald t

it's home. >> still, nearly two days after president trump's speech, no official response yet from north korea. wolfipley reporting. >>> coming up, president trump's former bodyguard tells lawmakers he rejected an offer to send five women to trump's hotel room in moscow back in 2013. [vo] quickbooks introduces jeanette and her new mobile wedding business. at first, getting paid was tough... until she got quickbooks. now she sends invoices, sees when they've been viewed and-ta-dah-paid twice as fast for free. visit quickbooks-dot-com. parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. medicare doesn't cover everything. and like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide. it could help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan t

trump himself know? >> it's like the $1 million question there, wolf. know, though, is that the officials that were aware were people speaking to donald trump -- when i say regularly, i don't mean every couple of days. i mean side by side next to candidate trump at every hour of the day basically. these were people that were aware of the carter page trip. so what president trump knew or then candidate trump knew is something that we will continue to have to find out, but it is not clear exactly from the conversations of corey lewandowski our hope hicks exactly what they may or may not have shared with donald trump. >> how do you see all of this unfolding, dana? you've been watching it very, very closely. >> well, you know, i think at the end of the day we don't really know the impact or the import of carter page and the testimony he gave because of what mark said at the get-go. what he said even to jake tapper last week in public was quite different from what he said to congress that we saw in these transcripts. one thing that i think is worth noting is

in virginia and one congressman there says the election was a referendum on president trump. >> that's right, wolf. there is some bipartisan consensus that it was. and beyond the governor's races, the democrats wmayoral races. you name it, democrats cleaned up across the country. >> reporter: tonight, one year after donald trump won the presidency, voters have delivered a sweeping and decisive victory for democrats in virginia and across the country. >> in 2005, i was head of the dscc. and you could smell a wave coming. the results last night smell exactly the same way. our republican friends better look out. >> reporter: the virginia governor's race was expected to be a nail-biter. instead, democrat ralph northam won overwhelmingly by almost 9 points. >> virginia has told us to end the divisiveness. that we will not condone hatred and bigotry and to end the politics that have torn this country apart. >> reporter: northam defeating former rnc chairman ed gillespie, who embraced the trump agenda but not the president himself. trump wasted no time in blaming gillespie's strategy and not his own dism

trump jr. and wikileaks? >> you know, wolf, i can't comment on that. that goes to what we have received in terms of the committee, so i can't say yeah or nah about that, but i can say that, you know, if these allegations are true that you can add done junior in the list of trump campaign people reaching out and in communication privately with wikileaks to people like roger stone, who is communicating privately with guccifer two and wikileaks to the head of cambridge analytica, also reaching out in an effort to either obtain or coordinate the release of documents that the russians have sfoel enfrom the clinton campaign. >> is donald trump jr. going to come back and testify before your committee, because at the time the campaign said they were not in communication with wikileaks? does this new article in the atlantic, the secret correspondence between donald trump jr. and wikileaks, does that change the investigation in your mind? >> well, we had been planning to have done junior come before our committee for months now and it's our expectation that he w

trump was well-aware of his campaign's russia ties. let's go to our justice correspondent jessica schneider. we're seeing some amnesia from the president and jeff sessions as well. >> that's exactly right, wolf. president trump reiterated his refrain that he doesn't recall when he was asked about the march 26 meeting when george papadopoulos proposed that then candidate trump meet with russian president vladimir putin. the president saying today, i don't remember that much about that meeting. and we've yet to see attorney general jeff sessions address the issue since he was at the meeting, too, and now democrats are accusing jeff sessions of everything from problems telling the truth to perjury. tonight, the president remains defiant amid mounting evidence that he knew about his campaign advisers' connections to russia. >> there was no collusion. there was no nothing. >> reporter: in february of this year, he pleaded total ignorance. >> can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia during the course of the election? >> well, i told you, general flynn obviously was dealing. so that's one person, but he was dealing, as he should have been. >>

wolf? >> very worrisome indeed. brian todd reporting for us. thank you very much. >>> president trump just spoke out about the north korean launch. let's go to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. he has that part of the story. jim, the president addressed north korea, the republican tax bill and the possible government shutdown. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. president trump turned his negotiations for avoiding a government shutdown into a reality tv moment, making a show of congressional democrats who skipped a meeting at the white house today. white house aides placed name cards in front of the empty seats where democrats chuck schumer and nancy pelosi were supposed to be seated. without the help of democrats, the president is still hoping his own party can line up enough votes to pass the gop tax plan. even with all that, wolf, the president was forced to respond to yet another provocation by north korea. in a hastily called statement, the president insisted he's on top of north korea after the communist regime defied mr. trump's fiery warnings in the past and conduc

overshadowed today amidst those tweets. >> president trump privately is still embracing some conspiracy theories, even some new ones. >> indeed, wolf. we all knew that president trump, then candidate trump has fatsd this for years. the first one was about barack obama, that he was not born in the u.s. and was not a u.s. sit. the president is not talking about this but more questions are also coming up about that "access hollywood" tape that has been revived in all this conversation with sexual harrassment and inappropriate conduct. he said he didn't say those words on that tape. what is rattling the president so? some reporters and supporters of the president quietly wonder if it's the russian investigation that causes him to be so agitated about so many things. >> jeff zeleny at the white house. now initial reaction to that powerful missile launch at the united nations tonight. nikki haley is warning that it could lead to war. if so, kim jong-un will be, utterly destroyed, her words. joining me from seoul. you've been there 17 times in the past few years. what are you now learning? >> i can tell you that those comments from ambass

sunday the shooting is the latest in a string of mass killings at the hands of so-called lone wolf gunman trump blamed the incident on the gunman's mental health issues. that iran and its allies at the lebanon based shia group hezbollah have accused saudi arabia the u.s. and israel of trying to fuel tension in the middle east by pushing lebanon's prime minister to resign saad hariri announced that he was leaving his position on saturday while on a visit to saudi arabia. the top twenty three u.n. climate change conference has just opened in germany these are the first un climate talks since u.s. president donald trump decided that the u.s. would quit the. paris agreement. twenty three aims to drastically cut the use of fossil fuels this century and switch to wind solar and other clean energy as let's take you live now to our environment correspondent nick clock is there so nick is the us represented at these talks. they will be ahead but not in the way that they would have been it is that time of year when the annual climate bandwagon rolls into town twenty seven thousand delegates here they're

reporting that we're seeing today how people try to connect the dots between trump campaign and russia, it's one big dot, wolf. that's what we're seeing. it's just staring us in the face. everybody connected to the trump campaign happens to be lying about the russian contacts. that can't be a coincidence. >> well, do you think this senate judiciary committee subpoena could give a clearer view of the roles that george papadopoulos, he pleaded guilty, as you know, carter page and other national security adviser to the campaign, that the connections that they may have had with russia and who they were taking orders from on the campaign? >> absolutely. and it's now been reported in the "washington post" that there were at least 31 contacts between trump campaign officials and russian officials and at least 19 meetings. keep in mind, earlier on trump campaign officials denied any such contacts occurred. so something very, very bad happened last year, and i think special counsel mueller as well as congressional investigators will get to the bottom of it. >> the former russian ambassador, sergey kislyak you just saw

of course president trump has made leaks a focus. and now, wolf, we're getting a closer look at how the leaks may be in the department of justice. >> ed barclay is joining us, a damn on the foreign relations committee. thanks for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> as you heard, the attorney general changed his answer today between trump contacts with russians. and he recalled it after it was reported that papadopoulos actually had pled guilty to lying to fbi about those contacts. what do you make of that switch? >> well, i think what's happening with the attorney general and his memory is it seems to be improve said every time that there is a leak about russian contacts with the trump campaign. and then almost invariably the attorney general remembers. and i think that's been a constant partner throughout the course of this past year with the attorney general in the same way that donald trump, jr. is constantly being reminded of things that happened that he forgot to disclose as well with regard to his contacts with those that might have been tryin

we have new details on the assassination that led president trump to take action. wolf blitzer is off. i'm jim acosta. you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> breaking news. president trump gives his de facto endorsement to alabama senate candidate roy moore who is accused by multiple women of sexually abusing or assaulting them when they were teenagers. the president says moore totally denies the allegations and says of moore's opponent, we don't need a liberal democrat, his words, in that senate seat. while many republican lawmakers say moore is unfit to serve in the senate and may be expelled if he wins, the president just left the door open to campaigning for him. president trump says he had a great call today with russian president vladimir putin, adding that they spoke for almost an hour and a half. and the white house official says they discussed the syria situation, terrorism and north korea. there is no indication that the subject of russia's election meddling was raised. >>> also breaking, the house ethics committee has just launched

wolf. but president trump was tougher on the democrats today than he was on kim jong-un. president trump turned his negotiations for avoiding a government shutdown into a reality tv moment, making a show out of congressional democrats who skipped a meeting at the white house today. white house aides placed name cards in front of empty seats where the democrats chuck schumer and nancy pelosi were supposed to be seated. without the help of democrats, the president is still hoping his own party can line up enough votes to pass the gop tax cut plan. in a hastily called statement, the president insisted he's on top of north korea after the communist regime defied mr. trump's fiery warnings in the past and conducted another intercontinental ballistic missile test. >> we will take care of it. we have general mattis in the room with us and we've had a long discussion on it. it is a situation that we will handle. >> reporter: but the president saved his toughest talk for democrats, who backed out of a meeting at the white house aimed at keeping the government running. the white ho

trump prepares to go to the region tomorrow. it is more alarming than ever given rapid advancements in his weapons program. barbara starr is working her sources. what are you learning? >> reporter: good evening, wolfhere is the latest. before president trump takes off for asia, the u.s. air force has flown two b-1 bombers over the peninsula in a show of force getting a heated response, an indicator of how tense it all is. tonight, north korea is working on an advanced version of the intercontinental ballistic missile six months after it was tested. a missile that could reach the united states. kim jong-un is accelerating the nuclear warhead and missile programs aimed at being able to attack the homeland. president trump's rhetoric already grabbed the attention. >> they will be met with fire and fury. >> reporter: as the president travels through asia, don't expect any of that to change. >> i don't think the president -- have you noticed? >> reporter: top officials have been sounding a more sober alarm. >> in terms of sense of urgency today, north korea poses the greatest threat. >> north korea accelerated the threat it poses to neighbors in the world. >> reporter: north korea is working to improve

wolf. president trump is about to land 35 miles from the border with north korea and his nemesis kim jong-unident is expected to test his policy of brinksmanship. aids say he won't change his trip following the shooting, but he is forced to face a subject he'd rather avoid gun control. >> such a beautiful, wonderful area with incredible people, who would think a thing like this could happen. >> almost immediately shotting down any talk of gun control, the president appeared to reach for talking points of the second amendment. >> this was -- based on preliminary reports this was a deranged individual, a lot of problems over a long period of time. we have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries, but this isn't a guns situation. we could go into it, but it's a little bit soon to go into it. >> the president's comment it's too early to talk about guns mirrors his response to the las vegas massacre a month ago. >> we'll talk about gun laws as the time goes by. >> mr. trump signed an obama era regulation keeping guns out of the hands of those with mental health issues

. >> wolf, president trump's speech in south korea hitting a nerve on a very sensitive issue here in north korea. human rights. something that the north has tried to defend itself against, long-standing allegations of widespread human rights abuses in this country with political dissenters being imprisoned in gulags and forced to endure sub human conditions. the north fires back. they say that they have created a safe predictable collective society and they say it's the united states that is chaotic and dangerous and violating citizens human rights, an argument many around the world would find laughable. that's the narrative they tell their citizens. i'll read you a portion of an article put out in north korea's leading newspaper ahead of trump's speech because there hasn't been any official response to the speech itself. this article does touch on this important issue of human rates say "the u.s. should not impugh dentally style itself as a human rights judge but mind its own poor human rights records in its land where racial discrimination, gun related crimes and all other social c

wolf blitzer. you're in the situation room. breaking news tonight, the trumperious questions about

wolf. president trump is advancing his picks for the federal judiciary at a rapid rate. consider this, the president has already seen eight of his appellate judges approved and six new nominations for federal and appellate judges are being heard just this week. now, you compare that with president obama at this point in his presidency, only two appellate judges were confirmed. now democrats are questioning the speed of these nominations and they're pointing to the controversies swirling around several of the picks. damion shiff is a right wing blogger who referred to justice anthony kennedy as a judicial prostitute in 2007 and wrote that medicare and social security were unconstitutional. president trump has nominated him to the u.s. court of federal claims. john bush has pend hundreds of political blogs under a pseudonym deriding president obama and dispatch arnling gay rights. he has already been confirmed for the circuit court of appeals. recently took down a prolific social media platform where he killed on hillary rotten clinton to be locked up. he has also not trie

trump/putin meeting? >> you know, this relationship, wolf, has unfolded so differently and certainly a year and a half agoars ago, you can correct me, the fruit of a poisoned tree, that has really infected everything that has happened in all of the expectations from both putin and trump that could reshape russia/american relations that has been undermined by this cloud over what russia did and their reluck stantance to confr. there are reports that automated bot accounts were involved in the virginia's governor race in trying to stir up some of the controversies along race-related lines and whether russia is continuing to try to interfere in our elections. i think there are obviously places where a good relationship with russia could be valuable and any leverage that you could bring to bear on north korea but until the president, i think, is able to directly confront and deal with this overriding question, it's hard to see much good coming out of this relationship. >> jeffrey? >> this is something donald trump has never wanted to deal with. he's never acknowledged that it existed. all of our intelligence

trump, we have an exclusive live report coming up from inside north korea. >>> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." >>> breaking news tonight, a just released cnn poll is offering even more evidence of the anti-trump sent innocent that helped fuel the democratic sweep overnight. exactly one year after the president won the white house, 63% of americans now say he doesn't deserve re-election. and in roughly equal numbers, they say mr. trump is not honest or trust worthy, this as democrats celebrate their big win in virginia's governor's race and many other state and local contests across the nation. house minority leader nancy pelosi says the results show that the door is open for democrats to retake control of the house in the midterms next year. the president's party is grappling with the fallout, with at least one gop member calling the election a referendum on mr. trump. but the president isn't accepting blame. he argues that republican ed gillespie's refusal to embrace him is the reason he lost the virginia governor's race. tonight president trump is in

prove to the trump administration they have an effective nuclear deterrent and their nukes are here to stay whereas the united states wants full denuclearization of the korean peninsula. wolf, they say their nukes are here to stay. >> will ripley reporting for us. thanks very much for that report. will is in pyongyang, north korea. president trump pivoted his message this morning saying north korea should come to the table and make a deal and he then offered this assessment. >> will be meeting with the various generals about the situation in north korea. and i think we have a lot of good answers for you over a period of time and ultimately it will all work out. has to work out. >> let's go to our white house correspondent sara murray. what do we expect to hear from the president's major speech later tonight? >> reporter: well, wolf, we're told the president is going to put the conflict with north korea in a historical context and talk up the importance of the alliance between the u.s. and south korea in addition to calling on china, calling on russia to put more pressure on north korea to isolate this nuclear nation. but these are the messages the president has been drivin

accusers is designed to prevent president trump from coming out and push moore out of the race but it's not going to satisfy republicans on capitol hill, wolf, who desperately want him to step aside, are calling on trump to get more involved. are getting agitated that trump is not pushing moore out. because if he's still in the race, pretty much their hands are tied, wolf, with really no good options on how to proceed and may have to decide on trying to expel him if he does become a senator at the end of the day, wolf. >> the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell wants him out. the house speaker paul ryan wants him out. let's go to the white house once again. jeff zeleny. jeff, what are you hearing? why is the president remaining silent on this sensitive issue? >> reporter: wolf, he zechblt watching this and all of these developments right now. as manu and everyone has been reporting the control of the senate is it influenced by this. by i am told by a person close to the white house involved in conversations here throughout the day the president is reluctant i'm told to weigh in on this because he does not want the conversation to become

it mirrored other lone wolf incidences. president trump ordered the department of homeland security to bolster vetting on immigrants. at and kathleen hunter for more. how is this going to impact the immigration debate? the funding story around that debate? kathleen: there is an important deadline coming for congress, the date through which the government is currently funded. barely a month out, there will be need -- need to be a significant discussion to prevent a shutdown. trump and republicans have said they want to have money to crack down on illegal immigration and build the border wall included in that legislation, that was already going to be a fight and yesterday's events provided a degree of urgency to that and probably make for yet another reason why that could be a real showdown over a government shutdown in a couple of weeks. guy: the agenda is getting pretty busy. tweet from the president was put out shortly after we learned of the news in new york. let's turn our news to tax. why was it delayed? there is -- i keep saying the d

we've heard president trump call senator elizabeth warren poke hon tas several times of course as he was running for president. we've never hear him do so from the oval office. wolf, i was in the oval office today and i can tell you silence fell over the room as many of his aides hoped he would talk about tax reform. president trump is dusting off his salesman hat tonight trying to salvage the republican tax plan facing a vote in the senate. it's a critical week for the trump presidency. with his only major legislative victory hanging in the balance. >> how's the tax bill going, sir? >> i think the tax bill is going very well. we had a meeting on it today. it's going to be a tremendous tax cut. >> reporter: and a critical month ahead for republicans with the year end spending bill looming to keep the government open. >> i think the tax bill is doing very well and i think the republicans are going to be very proud of it. >> reporter: but the white house and republican leaders are still scrambling to make changes to the $1.5 trillion tax package in hopes of winning over at least six senate republicans who aren't sold on the bill. senator ron johnson said he'll vote

jim, we saw president trump and president putin face-to-face today. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. d the big question of this trip for trump on this day is, will he or won't he have a formal sit-down meeting with russian president vladimir putin. earlier in the week, the president said the white house expected to talk to putin about north korea. now the world may see a little more than a photo op of these two leaders. after raising expectations of a critical meeting between president trump and russian president vladimir putin at the apec economic summit in vietnam, the two men only make time for this, a quick group photo with other world leaders. the white house says both sides are running into trouble finding time for a meeting. as a frustrated kremlin spokesman put it in theory, they could travel to mars to the tonight. life is a bit different, let's wait and see. the administration officials who had said the president wanted to call on putin to ramp up the pressure on north korea are now hedging their bets. >> clearly, the leaders are going to be at the summit together. it wouldn

trump is stable enough to have command of the u.s. nuclear arsenal. cnn's brian tom is working this story for us. tell us. >> very stark and sobering observations from this hearing, wolfrom a nato ally about president trump's fitness. it comes after months of personal insults, threats of annihilation between the president and kim jong-un which have only escalated. >> they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. >> tonight with military tensions with north korea at a dangerous level lawmakers are openly voicing concern about president trump's mental and emotional fitness to launch a nuclear strike. >> we are concerned that the president of the united states is so unstable, is so volatile as a decision making process that is so quick soughtic, that he might order a nuclear weapons strike that is wildly out of step with national security interests. >> a source tells cnn a nato ally has also raised concerns about the president's command of nuclear weapons. his past comments like one on the campaign trail about bombing isis has caused critics to lash out. >> i would bomb the [ bleep ] out of them. >> experts said if a nuclear tipped missile were to be

wolf? >> well, i think in the primary, this guy wagner is a trumpian sort of figure, but now he's moved away from donald trump after the most recent results. so, him being in the race alone, monica, throws a lot of stuff. and taking the other guy was an opponent in another race, making him the lieutenant governor. >> right. >> the thing i'm most excited about is the fetterman guy, the 6'8" imposing figure in denim, running for lieutenant governor. he gets the democrat party particularly, i think, afraid of what might happen if he is the lieutenant governor. i hope he is. i want to see that. >> a suburb of pittsburgh. it's gonna shake things up, no doubt about it. >> i think mike turzai's entrance into the race is very significant. he's a real figure. he also has a political base in allegheny county and western pennsylvania.

wolf? >> "the new york times" is reporting that president trump privately is still embarrassing conspiracyories, some old, some new, right? >> reporter: no question. "the new york times" is reporting that the president seems consumed and obsessed, indeed, by that "access hollywood" tape given all the news of sexual harassment. he has told several people according to the newspaper that that was not him on the video. we asked sarah sanders, the white house press secretary, about this earlier this week, if he has changed his position. she said he has not changed his position on this, that he sticks with that. of course, he acknowledged that last year, that it was his voice on the video. in fact, he apologized for it. something he rarely does. "the new york times" is reporting he is still sort of consumed by this and talking about it. wolf, also the birther controversy. this is something that he started years ago, some five years ago, questioning where president obama was, indeed, born. it has been a stipulated fact that he was born here in the u.s., in hawaii, of course, but "the new york tim

jeff, the white house denies president trump used a racial slur in front of a native american group. >> reporter: wolf, the president has often used derogatory terms to call his political rivals, but seldom has he done it in the oval office, carrying so much more weight, but that is exactly what he did this afternoon with senator elizabeth warren, referring to her as pocahontas as he was honoring navajo indians who fought in the second world war. wolf, all of this was happening under the watchful eye of andrew jackson. of course he was a president who presided over so many deaths of native americans years ago. that caused silence to fall over the room. i was in the oval office and i can tell you veterans were stunned there as the president called senator warren pocahontas. president trump is dusting off his salesman hat tonight, trying to salvage the republican tax plan facing a vote in the senate. it's a critical week for the trump presidency. with his only major legislative victory hanging in the balance. >> how is the tax bill going, sir? >> i think the tax bill is going very well. we had a meeting

president trump did signal a potential opening to kim jong-un if north korea were to release japanese citizens its abducted over the years, and, of course, the x factor here on the ground in south korea, wolfther or not kim jong-un somehow conducts a military test while president trump is in the region. that would certainly escalate things very quickly if that were to take place, wolf. >> jim acosta in seoul, south korea, only about 30 miles or so from the demilitarized zone that separates north and south korea. i know you're standing by for the president. we'll get back to you as well. >>> our political specialists are standing by. we have a lot to assess. we're following the breaking news. we'll be right back. but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. the ford year-end sales evente. is here. i can guide you in? no, thanks , santa, i got this. looks a little tight. perfect fit. santa needs an f-150. that's ford, america's best selling brand. hurry in today for 0% financing for 72 months across the full line of ford cars, tr

wolf. in this case, that's what trump is behaving like.e is not behaving, as dana said, like they commander in chief, like the leader of the flock who would say here are our rules. here is how we have survived as a nation. constitution-based republic. we are a nation of laws and we understand how despicable this character is but we have a system that can handle it. instead, he derided our own justice system. unbelievable. >> greg: the wolves are not listening. >> juan: as the american people, we care. >> lisa: two president's trump -- he wanted to die by suicide by cop. he was hoping to die, he wanted to be a lawyer. lindsey graham thinks he should be tried as an enemy combatant. if you polled detainees at gitmo, they would rather die than be there. i think we give this guy what he wants if he gets the death penalty. the argument, we are at war with isis. this guy is a terrorist. he's an enemy combatant and should be treated as such. >> jesse: rikers island. >> dana: there is a reason we didn't bring all the gitmo people, president obama w

trump heard him out. we know that jeff sessions did dismiss any possibility of a meeting with putin, but sessions never disclosed the details despite repeated questioning over the past year. they want answers. wolf? >> yes, they do. reporting for us, jessica, thanks very much. with investigators on president trump's doorstep, he is getting more aggressive with the justice department. this is part of a series of tweets this morning. people are angry and at some point the justice department and the fbi must do what is right and proper. the american public deserves it. then as the president prepared to leave on his asia trip, he said this on the south lawn of the white house. >> i'm not involve and i would like to let it run itself, but they should be looking at the democrats. they should be looking at podesta and all of that dishonesty. they should be looking at a lot of things and a lot of people are disappointed in the justice department including me. >> and here's the president in a separate radio interview last night seeming to lament his lack of control over the u.s. justice department. >> the saddest thing is that because of the president of the united states i am not supposed to be involved

wolf blitzer you're in "the situation room." welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. president trump lands in hawaii very soon as he kicks off his most important international trip yet but his public comments suggest he may be more focussed on distracting from the russia investigation. the president unleeching a rapid fire tweet storm before boarding air force one and continuing in flight. his attacks included a slap at his own justice department for not going after hillary clinton. also tonight, a leading republican critic is slamming the president, accusing him of trying to pressure federal authorities to prosecute and punish his political enemies. senator bob corker says the president is undermining confidence in the u.s. judicial system. >>> the president is facing new questions tonight about whether he's misled the american public by denying any knowledge of his campaign aide's contacts with russia. the president telling report erhe doesn't remember much about a meeting where george papadopoulos proposed a meeting with putin. all this as the special counsel's probe moves into ov

the larger question here, wolf, is in china we saw presidents heading in different directions. xi whose power is at a maximum, and president trumpid earlier opinion polls show lowest ratings ever. and both of them are heading in different directions in terms of where they are taking their countries. president trump is closing in. that's going to put china in much stronger position and us weaker position. >> he said he's improved this relationship with china and we'll see some dramatic results and there will be a speech making some major announcement as well. thaun thanks for coming in. that's it for me. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in the "the situation room." in the meantime the news continues right here right now right here on cnn. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> wolf blitzer, thank you so much. i'll take it from here p i. i'm brooke baldwin. thanks for being with me. we have the attorney general jeff sessions getting grilled under oath everything russia. by the way, it's not over. we'll take you back to the hearing as soon as it starts up again on capitol hill. meantime, today first time sessions who was also a key offic

wolf blitzer in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> happening now, tweet and sour. president trump in a sour mood on twitter, stepping up his feud with the nfl and calling the father of a ucla basketball player unan grateful fool for not voicing gratitude for getting the players released from china. is the president more interested in getting thanks than thanksgiving? >>> navy crash. a navy transport plane goes down in the ocean near oak nkinawa. three still missing. what went wrong? calling for congressman john conyers to step down from a key post amid sexual harassment allegations. and new details on why president trump threw his support behind accused sex abuser roy moore, ignoring allegations from women who say the gop senate candidate preyed on them as teenagers. >>> and run for his life. a north korean soldier's desperate run for safety in south korea is caught on video and he's pursued, shot and wounded by other north koreans during his escape. wolf blitzer is off. i'm jim sciutto. and you're in "the situation room." >>> well, president trump was up very early today at his f

trump visited his own golf courses 80 times since taking office. we want to welcome our viewers around the world and in the united states. wolf blitzer is off, i'm jim acosta, you're in "the situation roo room". >>> we're following break news. president trump just off the phone with egypt's president expressing condolences and con semiing a terror attack on a mosque that left 235 people dead. attackers first detonated bombs that sent worshippers fleeing into the gunman's sights. they then moved into the mosque to slaughter more victims. >>> and we're following the growing concern over isis terrorism increasing over the holida holidays. the heightened concern was evident in london today, police boo went into terror mode after reports of gun shots at a shopping center tonight. >>> there's reports that michael flynn may be cooperating with special counsel roy moobert mue and may be trying to get a plea deal. we're covering all of that and more this hour with our guest, including congressman sheila jackson, our kor spore dents and special riists are standing by. >>> let's start with the attack at the egyptian mosque. ian lee has

trump's personal feelings influencing the decision? >>> death toll, the number of people killed by hurricane maria in puerto rico may be nine times higher than thought. >>> i'm jim acosta, you're in "the situation room." wolf blitzer is off. >>> new pressure on north korea tonight from president trump, announcing he's returning the court to the list of state sponsored terrorism. the move clears the way for more sanctions against the kim jong-un regime and sports the maximum pressure campaign. >>> we're also following the russia probe by special counsel robert mueller. they're to interview key inner circles of president trump's administration in the coming week. >>> troubling developments tonight in puerto rico's hurricane disaster. a cnn investigation exclusive has uncovered some 500 deaths that should have been attributed to hurricane maria but were not. we're going to discuss all of that this hour. specialists are standing by. let's begin with president trump's decision to put north korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. jeff zelleny is working the story for us. it's part of the strategy to put maximum pressure on the kim jong-un regime. >> reporter: it is indeed. north korea is being add

so soon after president trump made his tour of asian countries and made a big show of rallying support for pyongyang, wolfack to will ripley in seoul, south korea, it comes after a few days that president trump announced u.s. was once again putting north korea on the list of state sponsors of terror. and i'm sure there is going to be speculation that maybe this missile launch is response at least in part to that decision by the united states. >> and, yeah, sure, they were looking at what happened shortly after he returned to the united states. and i'll say this the north korean say this is calculated. this is not something where necessarily hair trigger response. this is something they have been planning likely and they choose it for shock value, but other conditions, technical conditions, they gain scientific knowledge from these noknowledg whether success or failure they learn something. and they have to have all the right conditions. because every time they launch a new missile they have dozens of cameras. at some point, we don't know when it will be, if this launch turns out to be major success, they

today president trump will head to missouri to tout this tax bill. >> joining us this morning, zach wolf live from washington. i would have thought from a press conference where he was talking about the success of the tax bill he would have had mitch mcconnell and paul ryan sitting next to him. instead these two empty placards. it was a branding moment i think more than anything else, but let's talk about the tax bill. i've been calling it corporate tax relief because that is predominantly what it is. they need a win on this. wall street expects and hopes for tax relief. how -- how likely is it that they're going to pass this thing? >> reporter: well, i mean, sort of heading into yesterday, there had been this narrative that they were going to have trouble getting out of the senate budget committee. so the big step forward, what we're talking about is a committee vote where republicans control the committee. and now they will hope to tweak this bill. we heard mitch mcconnell call it a rubix cube, trying to move the squares around to try and get them all the same color. they're just tryin

trump right now very high. >> reporter: they are very high, wolf, and the white house is pushing republicans up on capitol hillget a tax credit plan to the president's desk been the end of the year. that might be wishful thinking, but today the white house said they'll take either version in the house or the senate. the white house was also asked about the fate of roy moore down in alabama and said that is up the voters of that state. republicans muscle their tax plan through the house. >> this is the single biggest thing we can do to grow the economy, to restore opportunity, and help these middle income families who are struggling. >> reporter: the stakes are high for the president who stormed capitol hill to help push the bill over the finish line. the reason rubbling inside the gop over the details. while the house plan slashes taxes for corporations and cuts the number of tax brackets for individuals, it trims state and property tax deductions that are popular among republicans in the northeast. >> for many people today who are may be voting yes in hopes that something gets corrected. >> reporter: now come

wolf? >> very significant. thanks very much for that. president trumpass shooting in texas that left 26 people dead does not represent a gun problem in the united states. speaking in japan, the president put the blame elsewhere. >> i think that mental health is your problem here. based on preliminary problems. a lot of problems over a long period of time. we have a lot of mental health problems as do other countries, but this is not a gun situation. >> ben cardin is a democrat from maryland. a true tragedy in history. what do you think of the president's assessment that it's a mental health and not a gun problem. >> it's good to be with you. this is no simple answer to gun violence. mental illness is part of it, but where i disagree with the president, gun safety would make a difference. we need to take steps and at least try to help protect our communities. we know that universal background checks mean less people that shouldn't have guns will have guns. that will make us safer. the military style weapons and the high capacity magazines all add to the

wolf. and the white house is defending president trump's decision to quickly inject politics into the aftermath of the terror attack in new york. the president is calling for sweeping changes to the nation's immigration system, calling the u.s. justice system a joke. contrast that with the caution he displayed after the mass shooting in vegas, where he called on the country to hold off on gun control. >> new york city -- >> reporter: less than one day after the terror attack in new york, president trump described the u.s. justice system, a cornerstone of american democracy, as a farce. >> we also have to come up with punishment that's far quicker and far greater than the punishment these animals are getting right now. they'll go through court for years. at the end, they'll be -- who knows what happens. we need quick justice and we need strong justice. much quicker and much stronger than we have right now. because what we have right now is a joke and it's a laughing stock. and no wonder so much of this stuff takes place. >> reporter: asked about that, white house press secretary sarah sanders as

wolf blitzer in washington. from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> president trump about to be wheels up right now going to the midwest to difficult his message on the republican tax reform plan. but instead of trumpeting the tax plan and the success at rallying republicans in the senate or talking at length

they met with president trump today in manila and it will be interesting to know whether or not he raised the issue of what is happening to these people. wolfhocking. very shocking. the ethnic cleansing going on. what has the u.s. government said? what has the community done to deal with this crisis? >> the u.s. and several others in the international community have been quite outspoken about the real concerns about what is going on. so far we have yet to see a real unified support come together across the international community for some kind of a decisive action and not just determining whether myanmar is carrying out ethnic cleansing, about you in terms of dealing with the crisis. 609,000 muslims here in these camps. another 200,000 expected in the next two weeks. simply put, it is not a sustainable situation. wolf? >> it certainly is not. thanks for bringing this crisis to the world's attention. doing excellent reporting for us on the scene as she always does. thank you very much. coming up, he turned 75 years old next week. joe biden said he is not ruling out a 2020 run for the white house with democrats welcome being him with open arm

wolf blitzer in washington. from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> president trump about to be wheels up right now going to the midwest to difficult his message on the republican tax reform plan. but instead of trumpeting the tax plan and the success at rallying republicans in the senate or talking at length about real plans to deal with the latest missile launch from north korea, the president you see him there boarding air force one is inflaming emotions on twitter. forget the repeated attacks on cnn, forget the president taking shots at nbc, seemingly gloating over the firing of maug lawyer. the president of the united states is retweeting very disturbing antibiotic muslim videos from a highly controversial and indefensible source. it's raising all sorts of very serious questions about the president. our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is at the white house. our cnn international correspondent is monitoring all of this in london. phil black is there. let's start with jim over at the white house. we're seeing pictures of air force one getting ready to