with me, but first, cnn's phil mattingly is on capitol hill with the very latest. so, phil, what are you hearing? what would another, another undisclosed meeting between sessions and kislyak, what would it mean? >> reporter: well, it could be very potentially problematic, based on jeff sessions' own testimony at his confirmation hearing january 10th, where he stated that he had not met with any russian officials during the campaign, testimony he later had to amend, because it turns out, he had. now, here's the issue if you want to track back. this goes back, kate, to april of 2016. if you remember, it's a very big foreign policy speech by then candidate donald trump. among the attendants was sergey kislyak, russian ambassador to the u.s. jeff sessions and the justice department have said repeatedly there was no meeting between kislyak and jeff sessions during that speech at the mayflower hotel here in washington, d.c., but as you know, kate, yesterday, in the classified setting, after the public hearing, jim comey told senators, according to sources, that they had raw intelligence of

ahead of the facts. there's probably more that we don't know than we do know. phil black is joining was the latest. what do you think about this incident. and i'm giving our viewers a heads up, these are very early moments, and these reports are from eyewitnesses and it's very inaccurate and there's a lot that we don't know. >> t >>. >> reporter: the plirs in manchester are calling this a major incident. we know that it was deadly. we know that whatever has taken place there has claimed lives, there are casualties and fatalities as well. but we don't know the precise number. we can see from witness accounts, from people that have posted to social media, and it looks like a terrifying scene. almost 20,000 people in this venue, teenagers, perhaps children with parents who went there to watch arianna grande perform last night. all of them trying to escape this venue in a very uncontrolled way. so it's also possible people have been hurt in that sort of scenario as well. what we have consistently heard from resources on the ground, there was one loud noise, a bang of some kind and that has

that. with me -- 15 seconds to get to the president. phil mattingly live on capitol hill. phil, you have to wait until after the president. we know you've had a long day. a little bit of patience there. in studio, let's listen to the presiden president. >> this looks like it will be our last cabinet meeting until the beginning of the year but who knows? you never know. we've had some great and productive cabinet meetings and this will be one of celebration because of what took place last night. we had a historic victory for the american people. it will go through final passage today in the house then the congressmen and women and the senate will be coming over, the republican senate, unfortunately, the democrats don't like to see tax cutting, they like to see tax increases and they like to cam plain but they don't get it done, unfortunately, but they complain a lot so we're going to have the republican senators come over, we're going to have the republican members of the house come over. we're going to have a news conference and people are starting to see how great this historic vic

, but that did not work. what is next in the health care fight? phil mattingly is live on capitol hill with all of the breaking details. you've had a very long night, phil. >> reporter: good morning. a lot of people have had a long night. the furious lobbying not just taking place behind the scenes but in public view on the senate floor. senate majority leader trying his best just to get the 50 votes he needed to move forward. in the end, one senator made clear wasn't going to happen. >> the yeas are 49, the nays are 51. the motion is not agreed to. >> reporter: the republican party's seven-year effort to repeal obamacare collapsing after a dramatic senate floor vote that dragged on into the early morning. [ gasp ] in the end with senator john mccain casting the decisive final no vote. siding lisa murkowski and susan collins who voiced disapproval on every measure voted this week. the republicans' last-ditch amendment, the skinny deal voted down 49-51. >> this is a disappointment. i regret that our efforts were simply not enough this time. >> reporter: mccain rejecting despress pl

today on russia's interference in america's democratic process. let's go to phil mattingly who is on the hill for us. phil, chilling testimony today. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. it is worth keeping in mind this is a hearing that was supposed to lay the ground work for the pathway forward in the senate investigation, but some of the details that came out were jarring. >> ain't nobody going to be -- i'm going to be on my own. >> reporter: tonight, the sheer scope of russian meddling in the u.s. election dramatically swinging into the open. >> the take-away from today's hearing, we're all targets of a sophisticated and capable adversary. >> reporter: in the first public hearing since the launch of the investigation, senators and witnesses laying out vivid detail. >> the other part that i think we should be looking at is follow the trail of dead russians. >> reporter: national security expert clint watts warned russia is still interfering in u.s. politics. >> this past week we observed social media accounts discrediting speaker of the house paul ryan, hoping to further foment unr

votes that includes questions about the health of the arizona senator, john mccain. phil matingly is closely watching this. phil, we get to the votes in a moment. but first, what response are you hearing with the deal? >> mostly republicans are trying to digest things. this is moving at a very, very quick clip. the proposal has not been unveiled. republican leaders say good about where they will end up. the mentioned the state and local tax deduction expand and that hit a lot of concerns from republicans in states like new jersey and new york and most importantly california. they feel good about where that is. there is no question about it. the details matter a tremendous amount. not just for congress, but everybody in the country. until all of the details are out, it's likely you won't know where things are going to end up. the expectation has been and will continue to be in the days ahead that they will move on this. on monday. they expect to have this to the president's desk. what's going to be in the 500 plus pages that you noted? i want to get more specifics on the proposed deal

." let's go live to london and get the latest from phil black. good morning to you, phil. what are we hearing this morning? >> reporter: hardshii, dave. yeah, after midnight the white van, according to witnesses, swerved into crowds to of people who were just emerging from a mosque, having observed prayers during this holy season of ramadan. you heard the witness account there. a truly terrifying moment as it plowed through people. that man you heard from was among a few who wrestled the man to the ground and held him there for about ten minutes until the police arrived. now while they were holding him down, he was fighting back, we're told, punching, kicking, swearing, and kroushl crucially things like, "you deserve it. you guys deserve it." authorities are considering this terrorism because it includes the characteristics. they're talking about the attack near the parliament building, the attack on london bridge earlier in june where the driver mowed down as many as possible before using knives. in this occasion, police are keen to stress no one suffered any knife injuries. they are

need to go to phil black in london. juliette, stand by with us. phil, what can you tell us? what are you learning? >> reporter: what we know so far is really very limited. it comes from a statement we received from the police, where they talk about dealing with an incident. they say it is a vehicle that's been involved with colliding with pedestrians, and they are dealing with casualties at the scene. a person has been arrested, and at the moment their investigation is continuing. it is as limited as that. that's all the police have made public at this stage. but, of course, any sort of incident involving -- that involves that sort of description is, of course, of great concern in this city given recent events here. >> phil, do you know what this area would be like on a typical sunday night? can you describe this zone? >> reporter: well, seven sisters road is a major -- it is a significant road in london. it depends upon where this incident has taken place on the road itself. but this is not central london, as i believe you pointed out. this is north of the center of the city itself.

on all things taxes. phil mattingly. all right, phil, what are the biggest differences on the senate version versus the house? >> yeah, brooke, if you go back to where the agreement was always supposed to be, nine page framework, house and senate, top lines always supposed to be the same. for the most part the plan does that. but it can be problematic how they shake out over the next couple of weeks. house fras four brackets basically with the top brackets of 39.6%. the senate has seven brackets doing that in part for revenue reasons but top bracket would be 48.7 percent. and president has made clear 20% is line corporate rate. but senate phases that in. a number of different areas as well whether it's the home interest rate which the senate keeps untouched. and state and local tax reduction hugeish u in the house, the senate bill repeals it entirely. basically there are a lot of differences here, brooke, is what i'm trying to say. but the top line framework stays mostly in line. here's the big question going forward. how do these two chambers, how do both republican parties reconcil

lot wider. the explosives in the vehicle are very concerning. >> also by the way, phil mud is with us, david simon. phil it's interesting seeing that timeline, you get more and more of a sense, you heard for that long for them to breach the door. the shooting only went on for ten minutes. they were able to get up to that floor and they found a security guard that had been shot, it seemed like from the timeline, it was the shooting of that security guard from the hotel that redirected his attention to the possibility his room was going to be breached and stopped him from firing any more out the window. >> it did. it broke the scenario. the fact that law enforcement could ascertain from when the first shot was fired and began making it to the floor and intervene in ten minutes. >> it's incredible. >> it is incredible. >> whether you look, it's blocks away, it's too small windows on the 32nd floor, i assume some officers saw a muzzle flashing and that's the way they figured it out. it was only that amount of time i think it's remarkable. >> it's dark, there are tens of thousands of pe

moment. for more on the emerging shape of the tax plan, we go to capitol hill and phil mattingly. >> reporter: christine and ryan, you can name them, the president, senate majority leader, the speaker. republicans say they are on the verge of passing their overhaul of the u.s. tax system, something that hasn't been done in 31 years. negotiators struck a deal on all of the top-line elements about how to reconcile the house and senate plans. now, the details are extremely important and a lot of them diverge from where the house and senate were. take the hop individual rate. that will move to 37%. you remember, the house had it at 39.6%, the current rate. the senate, 38.5%. now take a look at the corporate rate. that, both the house and senate republicans said they wanted to move from 35% down to 20%. that will end up at 21%. why? well, one percentan point equals $100 billion in revenue, which helps pay for a lot of the issues in the plan. also, the mortgage interest deduction, the house dropped the threshold to $500,000 and the senate left it untouched at $1 million. they'll compro

will be affabilitied by that. phil mattingly up on capitol hill.e by that. phil mattingly up on capitol hil by that. phil mattingly up on capitol hile by that. phil mattingly up on capitol hilc by that. phil mattingly up on capitol hilt by that. phil mattingly up on capitol hile by that. phil mattingly up on capitol hild by that. phil mattingly up on capitol hill. only a handful of republicans know what's inside. what's the strategy here? why do the people inside that room feel that that's the best way to handle it? >> reporter: it's a bad look, that's republicans inside congress are saying they don't have enough information and specifically they don't like the process. but one thing is for sure, this is deliberate, this is exactly what senator majority leader mitch mcconnell wants to do. there are incredibly divisive issues inside the republican party, whether it's the medicare advantage, the structure of the tax credit, the reason they're doing this behind closed doors, shield their member, allow them to get things out on the table and allow them to fight it out behind the sce

manufacturers. cnn's phil mattingly is on capitol hill where house republicans are trying to sell the plan not only to their colleagues but also to democrats and the american people. phil, do you see any potential roadblocks for this bill getting through the house and senate as it stands right now? >> no shortage of them at this point, jake. we have work to do. that was the text message i got from a gop official who supports the plan just a short while ago. the help that jeff zeleny was outlining coming from the trump administration certainly appreciate it. no question about it this is a numbers game and right now work is certainly on the menu. this is obamacare gone. less than 24 hours after the house gop obamacare repeal bill finally saw the light of day -- >> this is the first and most important step to giving relief to americans from this terrible law. >> reporter: house and senate conservatives are already threatening its very existence. >> i think the bill as it stands really is dead on arrival. i don't think it's going to ever arrive in the senate. i think it's dead on arrival

karoun and phil mudd, counterterrorism expert. we have big headlines now. we have these developments in the russia investigation. we have development that they interviewed the white house aide stephen miller about the comey firing. that is all being reported out. phil mudd, talking to stephen miller, what does that mean to you? what does it indicate? >> you have to understand the timing of this. timing is critical. he's got to know about critical issues in the investigation, including the circumstances surrounding the comey firing. but here's why i raise the issue of timing. just a couple of weeks ago we had the mueller team indicting a few people, including papadopoulos for lying to federal agents. when you go into this meeting with steve miller, you have to ask how much does the mueller team know what i know. secondly, if i make a mistake, the mueller team has now proven they will bring 1,001 charge. that is lying to a federal officer. they come right before the conversations with senior white house officials. what does that tell me? the message those white house officials is if yo

muddy situation. so let's discuss with phil mudd, former cia official and mike rogers, cnn national security commentator and former house intel chairman. mike, you had the same job, you never did anything like this, never heard of anybody doing anything like this. we know that. it deserves observation. he goes to the president and says it's so important i had to tell him. he later says i haven't looked at all the documents. i'm not really sure who got caught up or what it was about. how do those two statements go together, mike? >> it was a bit unusual. obviously he heard something that certainly bothered him and he thought he was going to do something about it. in an investigation like this, it's best that both sides aren't running the the microphone candidly. i know adam schiff came out, the ranking democrat and said he had more information on collusion. all of that needs to stop candidly. we have some huge issues facing that intel committee and our national security around the world. think about the defense minister from russia, a guy named shoigu who said we're going to ramp up

. chris and alisyn. >> thank you, joe. we have laura coats and david gregory and phil mudd and national security analyst david sanger. david gregory. let's read for people who may not have had an opportunity to read james comey prepared statement. we were reminded this is a sworn statement. it serves as a sworn statement. this is james comey talking about michael flynn. he says that the president then said i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go. to letting flynn go. he is a good guy. i hope you can let this go. i reply he is a good guy. i did not say i would let this go. it is fascinating. all of these are fascinating to read, david, particularly we see president trump's dedication to michael flynn who had lied to the vice president. >> that's right. in this particular case, donald trump is contradicted by his own words. he denied ever having that conversation with jim comey. he made that assertion in a press conference. the high stakes of the hearing are underlined by the question of who do you believe? do you believe the president or do you believe the fired fbi

health. what are you hearing, phil? >> yeah, john, good morning. you join me here just as huge crowds are gathering to watch the changing of the guard. the palace wants everyone to know they shouldn't be worrying about the queen. the palace says it is a cold. a nasty lingering one but she is recovering. there was concern as she missed the successive holiday church services because that never happens. she is the head of the church of england here. she takes that seriously. getting to church at this time of the year is a big part of the job and she hasn't been able to do so so the palace is trying to get out about any speculation about the queen's health by letting everyone know she is okay and up and about and working. she is still going through government papers and documents that she stays on top of as part of her job as britain's head of state but she is staying indoors and that's probably a good move. don't let the blue skies behind me fool you, britain's winter weather is no place for anyone with a cold. especially a 90-year-old. back to you. >> it does look chilly there. thank yo

former white water independent council robert ray and cnn counterterrorism analyst phil mudd. phil, what does it mean that robert mueller is using a grand jury to issue subpoenas for the june meeting between don junior and the russian representatives. >> first of all, alisyn, it can't be just about that one meeting. we have information on one day, one session with a couple of people. i'm looking at a campaign that goes on months and months with allocations about russia involvement and inserting data into an election. i've got to believe director mueller is looking for information that relates about an expansion of contacts with russians beyond that one meeting. that's the only thing we know about. the second thing i would take from this, the guy i worked for doesn't do fishing expeditions. as evan said, this investigation is going into year two. i will lay money it won't go into year three. the fact they're going into a grand jury suggests to me they have enough information to ask the right questions. the right questions about people and the right questions about things like data,

public. let's bring back david gregory and karoun. and joining them is analyst phil mudd. the media perspective is this, phil, they want to keep some information hidden. you learn about things you would not learn about otherwise. what is the other side when it comes to intel? >> chris, are you correct, but in half the cases. when we see embarrassment is not a national security leak. let's give you a definition of a national security leak. when adversary gains advantage. in this case, it did. somebody in the u.s. government decided "the new york times" should know what the brits revealed secretly. when you reveal the name of the bomber, you thought you had a day or two to escape or destroy evidence. now i realize the british security services and services are on us. i have to act more quickly. you may not believe that scenario, i saw terrorists do stupid things like they assume they had more time. when you see the word leak, you differentiate embarrassing and what gives the adversary the advantage. that is why the british are angry today. >> david, phil lays out the case from the int

will see. >> i want to get more from phil black who is live in eastern ukraine where the fighting has been taking place. phil, when you hear president trump question with whether the separatists there have any contact with russia, that's is often the language that russia uses. >> reporter: it is not welcomed here, john. i will give you a sense of what people here have been experiencing over the last week or so. i'm standing on a residential street in avdiivka. behind me is the home of the 65-year-old woman. a artillery shell fell here blasting much of the house and blasting in all of the glass windows doing significant damage. the woman had fled the home few minutes earlier. if she had been inside, she would not be alive today. this is one example. she was lucky. so many here were not. dozens of people have been killed. many civilians. during the escalation, both sides, ukraine and russia, have essentially accused the other of starting it and being responsible for it. both accuse the other of guided by the same motivation. trying to trigger new reaction from the new american president

phil mattingly following this for us. how did all of this go down, because a lot happened over the last 12 hours? >> absolutely right, kate. as you've pointed out, trump broke his unusual period of silence on twitter this morning, lashing out on the appointment of a special counsel to lead the russia investigation as "the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in american history," going on to say, "with all the illegal acts that took place in the clinton campaign and the obama administration, there was never a special counsel appointed." now, we've learned from sources yesterday, kate, that the president was not given a heads-up about this decision, instead only learning about it after the fact, when rosenstein had signed the special counsel order, and he told the white house counsel's office. but despite trump's anger over this, this is one of those things that is actually not in his control. as mueller's appointment under a special counsel regulations gives him wide latitude to pursue this investigation into any coordination between the russian government and trump campaign

second. i want to go to phil black, live in london. and phil, what can you tell us about this right now? >> erin, as you can see from the pictures, truly terrifying and something deadly has taken place, in one of criteria tan's biggest music arenas, the manchester arena. the venue for ariana grande, the huge pop super star. that venue holds around 20,000 people. and something has happened, which has triggered panic and terror in that crowd and what you see, those huge numbers of people desperately trying to get out of that venue. now, we don't know what has caused this stampede-like situation. the police say they are responding to reports of explosions, and that's what witnesses there are talking about, as well. some sort of loud bang which triggered all of this. as a result, police have said there are fatalities, a number of injured. we don't know the number just yet. and we don't know the cause of what hurt those people. the explosions that have been reported, or simply those panicked scenes afterwards, the crush that followed, as huge numbers of people and clearly, they are young tee

. there are some excellent people here, phil mudd, dana bash, former attorney general of the united states, michael mukasey, phil mud, you worked at the cia, you know about these issues, you have read it now, you heard ellen, what is your reaction? >> you see thing over 30 years in washington, d.c., and you never think you'll be surprised, and history proves you wrong, this is not surprising, stunning, if this is true, let's step through a timeline, in the summer of 2016, somebody receives a presidential nomination, in this case, in the republican party, it's donald trump, he's cleared to receive top secret briefings. in early december, his son-in-law, if this report is correct, decides to go to the russian embassy, which has a primary responsibility of spying on america, and saying i want to subvert the american bureaucracy. >> there was actually a conversation at trump tower, talking about establishing communications, outside the u.s. bureaucracy to talk to the russians, remember, less than a month later, president of the united states, president obama sang shctions the russians. remembe

get some insights from our experts. phil mudd, you're an expert in this area and worked at the cia, the fbi. a lot of us were really looking forward to the open public hearing today involving the former cia director john brennan, the former director of national intelligence james clapper and sally yates, the former acting attorney general, but the chairman cancelled that investigation. that testify taltd. why if they have a good reason for that, but allots of people are now questioning his imprargsity. are you? >> yes, i am, and i think not only should he be out but i think the committee should be out. this has been a mockery from day one. in the past week we've been discussing this issue of the chairman nunes coming to the public and the media about intelligence before he talked to his committee members. this cockamamy story about how he acquired that information from the white house which nobody can figure out and today the cancellation of hearings that i think would have helped us understand the foundational question. forget about talking to administration officials. what did ru

cpac. we're going to get back to you, congressman in a moment. but our congressional correspondent phil mattingly is on the scene at cpac. this was a victory lap for the president. >> no question. just one year ago, at the same event many of the attendees were cool at best, to then-candidate trump. now he's president trump and his agenda is something they support wholeheartedly. >> the era of empty talk is over. it's over. >> reporter: tonight president trump, a man who surprised the republican party and its conservative activists laying out his hard line agenda to a movement that has become his own. >> as we speak today, immigration officers are finding the gang members, the drug dealers, and the criminal aliens, and throwing them the hell out of our country. [ cheers and applause ] and we will not let them back in. they're not coming back in, folks. >> reporter: pledging congress a request in boost for the funding u.s. military. >> we're putting in a massive budget request for our beloved military. [ cheers and applause ] and we will be substantially upgrading all of our military, all

is retired navy rear admiral john kirby, and cnn chief political analyst, gloria borger, and phil mudd. if anybody thought the president was going to change his tone, he seemed to have doubled down on fire and fury and set up some sort of, whether challenge, or basically kind of drew a line under the north koreans' own date of august 15th in guam. >> it's five days away, anderson. it's interesting, because this is a guy who was elected because he was a great businessman, and a great negotiator. and he's already going to the final option. it would be as if he was in his business and already going to suing before he tried to negotiate. the war of words is not good. it's never good on the diplomatic front. i'm not sure what he's trying to do. i thought he would tamp it down. i thought some of his aides would get him to get it under control, especially general kelly, maybe general mattis and secretary tillerson, but they didn't. he should be the guy being quiet and let, in my view, and let his secretary of state and his secretary of defense be either the good cop/bad cop and him weigh

to be in that final piece of legislation, anderson. >> phil mattingly, thank you so much. thanks for watching "360." time to hand things over to jake tapper, in washington. the "lead" starts now. >>> good evening and welcome to the special prime time edition of the lead. i'm jake tapper. we're going to start with today's breaking news. tonight a source close to the white house tells cnn that the president and the white house are in a bubble when they should be in a state of red alert. this after a bombshell in the russia investigation today. michael flynn, the president's fired national security advisor and influential official in both the trump white house and the trump campaign today pleaded guilty in federal court for lying to the fbi about conversations he had with russia's ambassador during the presidential transition. flynn is also cooperating with the special counsel investigation. he is talking. he has flipped in a move widely interpreted as his only play in order to guarantee he and his son, michael flynn jr. avoid jail time for a series of questionable, and potential il

." >> joining us now, admiral john kirby and our cnn political and former cia and senior official phil nye. if anybody thought that the president is going to change his tone, he just seemed to double down and set some sort of whether challenged or basically kind of drew a line under the north koreans own data. >> it is five days away, anders anderson. >> it is interesting because this was a guy who elected because he's a great businessman and negotiator. he's going to his final option and already going to suing before he tried to negotiate. the word war is not good. i am not sure what he's trying to do. i thought he would tamp it down. i thought some of his aids would get him to get under control, maybe general kelly or tillerson, he did not. he should be the guy be quiet and let his secretary of state and defense to be the bad cop and him weighing in at the appropriate time. that's not what's happening. by doing that, he's limiting his options and making things a little tenser. >> and again, he seems to be setting a confrontation that somebody has to blink on august 15th. >> yeah, this is

rhetoric, and he got crushed. >> then, in new jersey, democrat phil murphy taking back the governor's office after eight years of chris christie. what does the democratic momentum mean for next year? we have it covered for you. let's go to ryan nobles live from richmond, virginia. >> reporter: good morning. it was a rough night for republicans all across the country, but it was a very rough night for them here in virginia. this was a governor's race that was supposed to be close and it wasn't. many republicans i talked to blame one person for their big loss last night, and his name is donald trump >> the democratic party is back, my friends! >> reporter: an anti-trump wave fueling a big democratic sweep, including the hotly contested governor's race in virginia, crushing republican ed gillespie by nine points in a race that was expected to be close. >> 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. >> president trump blaming gillespie for the loss accusing him of not embracing him and

see where things stand. congressional correspondent phil mattingly is there. phil, you have the details and the important people speaking to you. what are they telling you right now? >> look f you look at politics, the timeline, if you look at the votes there's a lot to unpack. start with the policy, this is extraordinarily important. virtually every american will be impacted by this bill. that they expect to pass as soon as early next week. what republicans have changed, we want to start with the corporate rate set in the house and senate at 20%, moved up to 21%. why? $100 billion approximately of revenue there. they needed that to pay for a lot of other changes. mortgage interest rate deductions. senate left it untouched, the house took it to 500,000. they will meet in the middle, 750,000. the state and local tax deduction, this has been a huge issue for tie tax states like new york, new jersey, california, illinois, that will be expanded to go beyond just property tax and include sales and income tax as well. that's something they've been looking for and something very expens

. in the course of the last week, it was not responsible. >> phil, some of the people in mr. trump's campaign who have said to have the dubious ties, roger stone, they have been tapped to testify. will we hear from them? >> i don't think we should. this is like my ncaa bracket. it is hosed up from day one. i lost on the first weekend. let's step back. a critical point we are blowing through. the purpose from the outset is to understand russian involvement in the election and to have the congress ask appropriate question. is there a congressional role? and ensuring the next elections that we can protect candidates and the american people to vote free and fair. i think congress should look at whether they provide cyber protection for candidates like the secret service provides physical protection. what are they doing? calling witnesses. who can call witnesses for their cell phones or travel records? who has the investigative tools and walk across the street to the department of justice and ask someone be considered for prosecution? the fbi. they already told us they are investigating.

this afternoon on the signature republican plan to repeal and replace obamacare. phil mattingly live for us on capitol hill with details. phil, this emission to deliver good news or the other? >> definitely the latter, john. a lot of alarm bells went off when we heard the speaker was heading to the white house. he is heading to the white house to brief the president on what they the vote count right now in the news that the speaker is bringing to the president right now "not good, not good at all." a recognition as we have been watching this day play out despite the optimism after that closed door meeting and budget as the votes just aren't coming. the concessions they made to the freedom caucus while they thought it softened their votes, it hasn't brought anybody to yes and the bigger issue right now and i've seen this first hand in talking to lawmakers over the course of the last couple hours. they're not sticking around, even those that they assumed would be with them. john, the chairman of the house appropriations committee is saying that he's right now leaning hard no. that's ma

security experts. phil mudd, he's receiving a lot of prays as someone who is a independent thinker. how important is that? >> boy, wolf, i'd take tough. you've got the former ceo of exxon, four-star generals, you've got mike pompeo and a former businessman in the office. we need toughness, yes. you've had the secretary of defense and the vice-president talking about our commitment to nato and europe. with tough words on europe that's a markedly different way than what the president said. you need somebody in that chair who brings toughness. that man in my world is well-respected. >> do you worry there are too many generals in that cabinet, the senior positions. >> i worry but not for that reason. i look at this role as someone as a coordinator than individual bringing ideas to the table. inside washington you have a three-star general telling four-star generals what to do. when you're dealing with those generals and rex tillerson, it will be tough. i don't think the generals will be deciding. we've got a bunch of people like you and me, old white dudes. it's 50, 60, 70-year-old people w

, phil mudd, these leaks are coming from the intelligence community which he continues to smear, or could they be coming from political aides, if you will? >> are you kidding me? this guy has to read a book. i joined government in 1985. every president comes in office and says, wow, there's gambling in vegas and people in washington, d.c. leak. the second challenge you find when you determine that you get leak like that is not all of them come from the department of justice, the fbi, the nsa, people you don't like. some have come from within your own house. in this case the white house. i think one of the questions we have here is we've got a smoke screen. we have a national security advisor who had inappropriate conversations with the russians and lied to his boss. and the blame goes on the national security agency, are you kidding me? happens every year, every administration, wolf. and i think this president is having a hard time accepting that. >> and look at this tweet, phil. quote, this is the president. information is being illegally given to the failing new york times and was

, putting iran on notice. we have cnn military analyst, retired general mark hert ling, phil mud, and cnn senior international correspondent fred pleitgen who was just in iran. fred, let me start with you. you were there talking to hard liners, where was their head about trump as a non-conventional person and what do you think this means? >> i think it pours cold water on a lot of the thinking that the iranians, es special the hard liners where they say we're not sure whether some of what we heard from donald trump on the campaign trail actually translate into policies. he was always very negative towards iran and the nuclear agreement. they thought because he's what they think is an unconventional politician that they were maybe even able to do deals with donald trump. one of the things the deputy oil minister told me, we have a lot of oil to offer, huge investments that iran has to make not just in the oil sector but other sectors as well. perhaps american companies can benefit from that. now i think they're seeing is the reality could be very different. certainly those statements b

you so much. i want to bring in counterterrorism expert phil mott to get his reaction. what do you make of the reports the gunman may have been casing other music festivals, in fact someone with his same name reserving a room in chicago. >> i'm looking at this, what we didn't hear yesterday. we saw the sheriff speak yesterday, the cia agent in charge in the las vegas office got on the podium, said nothing. that's telling to me in relationship to this. why? the fbi's responsible for digital data, looking at his laptop and cell phone. that the point, they've got things like credit cards, they're starting to piece together where he was, where he was in chicago, whether that corresponds with other information like whether he was speaking to friends and family at the same time. they're starting to put together the digital trail and the exposure of the fact that he was in chicago suggests to me that that's starting to bear fruit, unless somebody in the interview told him that. >> and while this is all going on and the police are sharing with us very limited amount of what they know becau

reporter paul brinkman and cnn terrorism analyst phil mudd. phil, what are you hearing how law enforcement is viewing this case with her right now? >> law enforcement is saying they are very confident that she had some role in this. with when we look specifically at some of the details that have come out over the past six, serve months, she knew that he bought a gun. she knew that he had gone to pulse or drove with him to pulse. did she know exactly what he was planning? i'm not sure that that's certain, but there's also supposedly she made statements that she tried to prevent him from doing some kind of attack. that in itself would be -- that would be a pretty important statement. that would indicate that she did know something was happening. >> it would be more important if it went along with her contacting authorities before or during the attack, which there's no proof that she did is my understanding at this point. phil, the delay, how do you view that in term of the timing of when the attack happened versus when she's brought in? >> pretty straightforward, chris. first, what's the rus

you so much. victor? >> all right. let's go to phil black live in moscow. phil, what is the kremlin saying about this u.s. allegation that russia may be complicit in this chemical attack? >> we put it to them, victor, and they deny it. simply as that. they insist they're not complicit in any way either through knowing and not doing anything or through actively helping out. they stick to their line that the syrian government doesn't actually have chemical weapons anymore because it gave them up as part of that international process it agreed to some years ago. what we hear from russian officials here is a predictable mix of outrage, predictable outrage but pragmatism in the sense that russia insists and we hear it from every level russian officials talking about this strike being illegal and undermines the legitimate sovereign government of syria while at the same time only helping the people who are fighting that legitimate government and who are the real bad guys here, the terrorist groups on the ground. i describe that as predictable because that's the same thing russia has said a

against him during the election season. >> joining us is phil mud and steve hall. phil, the fact that the dossier was part of the justification to approval to monitor carter page, what does that say? >> it doesn't tell me much. if you want to go to a judge with a fisa package, that's one of the most intrusive. remember what we got. we have a british agent, former british agent talking presumably to a source in moscow who might be talking to a subsource. in this game of telephone, we're taking another step to get to the fbi. you have to have corroboration of some of that if you are going to use it in a package to apply to listen to somebody's phone and e-mail. otherwise the judge will say, have i to have more. >> phil, to be clear, you are saying the fbi would have to have corroboration of stuff in the dossier? they wouldn't have just used unverified information? >> not some sort of. i'm saying this could at best be supporting to a fisa package that had much greater specificity about who the source of the information was and got much closer to the target than three or four steps away from

. ahead this hour, a rare interview you don't want to miss with tv legend phil donahue. sharing his surprising views on the media's trump coverage and the president's relationship with his favorite morning show. we've investigated his ties to fox and friends. what he's hearing every morning when he turns on the tv. i'll explain how this is the fox news presidency. >>> a little later, the public seems to be in the dark about the gop's health care bill. i'll talk with top health care reporters about what's being missed. first, the trump administration rolling back press access inch by inch by inch. declining to answer questions and dodging interviewers. this month we've seen a sharp increase in off camera briefings, with the white house forbidding live video and audio, leaving cnn to send in a sketch artist on friday afternoon. what is this about? is it a sign of insecurity at the white house? a way of admitting they don't have answers? or is this trump's latest attempt to please his base by ticking off the press? either way, it's about a lot more than briefings. it's about whether th

scenes? where do gop leaders go from here? we'll go live to phil mattingly on capitol hill. good morning to you, phil. how did this go down late last night and early this morning? >> reporter: yeah, an amazing moment. to get context from the video you saw, senator mccain voting no. the gasps and shuffling you heard were reporters sprinting out of the chamber where you can't have cell phones. that's how surprised everybody was that this occurred. sources had been saying it was possible that senator mccain was leaning leading up to the vote. mitch mcconnell, vice president mike pence, and at one point vice president mike pence handing his phone to john mccain. on the other hand, president trump trying to sway the senator. in the end, it wouldn't work. take a listen to what leaders from both sides had to say after the vote -- >> imagine many of our colleagues on the other side are celebrating. probably pretty happy about all this. our friends on the other side decided early on they don't want to engage with us in a serious way. in a serious way, to help those suffering under obamaca

coverage there. cnn's phil black live at the scene in north london. phil. >> reporter: chris, good morning. we have exclusive video of the man witnesses say was responsible for this attack. this video was just just moments after they say he drove a white van through a crowd of people that had just emerged from a mosque in the earliest hours of monday morning. it was just after midnight. these people had just emerge friday the mosque observing prayers, observing the holy month of ramadan. they say he swerved directly, plowed through these people. there were witnesses who watched this unfold. they didn't just emerge, they took him out of the vehicle and wrestled him to the ground. they say he resisted, punching, biting, swearing. he repeated you deserve this, you guys deserve this. british prime minister theresa may talked about this attack from downing street. here is what she had to say. >> today we come together as we have done before, to condemn this act and state once again that hate red and evil of this kind will never succeed. >> reporter: police were very quick to say they're treatin

muslims were specifically targeted. we'll get the latest developments from cnn's phil black in london. where do we stand on this investigation? >> reporter: the police are saying that this bears all the hallmarks of recent terror attacks because once again a car has been used as a weapon. what they're not sure of or not being definitive on yet is the motive. it is beginning to look pretty clear. it was just after midnight. that's when the white van came down the road behind me. and witnesses say it swerved and seemingly deliberately plowed through people who were emerging from a mosque following late-night prayers during the holy ramadan season. eight people have been injured. one person has died. the police qualified that, too, saying they're not certain he died as a result of this attack. there were claims that an old man collapsed in the road moments before. that could help explain that. then bystanders ran in, pulled this man out of the vehicle, wrestled him down to the road. they say he was fighting, biting, scratching, and swearing the whole time saying things like, "you

want to get now to cnn congressional correspondent phil mattingly. he's on capitol hill for us. what are you hearing, phil, with republicans about their concerns over the current gop plan? >> we're currently trying to defined, brie na, what occurred. speaker ryan asking about obamacare endorsing their plan. most notably, refundable tax credits. that's an issue hanging up conservatives. those opposed to the idea end up thinking that h become a large federal program somewhat eakin to obamacare. that's not what they want them to think obviously and i think the key is they spoke with senator ted cruz. his concerns still stand. but at that meeting today with congressional leaders and president trump, the big issue is how can they work together to move this forward and we're starting to see this happen behind the scenes. health and services secretary, tom price, a very conservative former house member who led their house reform plans while he was in the house is starting to reached out to skeptical conservative, trying to assuage their concerns, trying to make clear that it was, in fact, a

. live on capitol hill, phil what a dramatic night and morni. >> reporter: all taking place live. the culmination of weeks upon weeks of fits and starts and fa failures and what looks like the final end to the repeal and replace effort of obamacare. >> the -- the mos is not agreed to. >> the republican party's seven year effort to appeal obama collapsing after a vote that dragged on into the early morning. in the nd, senator john mccain cast the decisive no vote. republicans' last-ditch effort, the skinny repeal amendment voted down 49-51. >> this is a disappointment. i regret that our efforts were simply not enough this time. >> mccain rejecting desperate pleas from vice president mike pence and senate majority leader mi mitch mcconnell. but none of it swaying the veteran senator who lived up to his nickname, the maverick. >> tonight was an unfortunate night. it was a sad night but i don't believe that journey is over. >> so now, mr. president, it's time to move on. >> the vote, capping off a day of uncertainty. the republicans shuffled back and forth from meetings in the senate flo

analyst david gregory, cnn legal analyst laura coates and cnn counterterrorism analyst phil mudd. let's start with the law. the court said, at least in part the executive has a legal right to do this, this being the ban, and it will go into effect in part. but then they put out a very curious nondescript legal standard to put into effect a bona fide relationship. i can't find it in case precedent as something that stands out as discernible. this is going to come down to interpretation. it seems like grandparents, fiancees, and a lot of other people may be carved out which means they can't get in here for at least 90 days. if they're refugees, they can't get in for 120 days. but the basis of the decision seems to be soft. that smells like litigation and bureaucratic problems to me, laura coates. what is your legal reckoning? >> i absolutely agree, chris. in fact, the dissenters didn't know this would be the case. this blurred distinction invites future litigation. there may be a nuanced reason for that. number one, the supreme court is not in the business of giving legislative advice. th

. cnn's phil mattingly is tracking those questions and others as republicans gather for lunch and, phil, the big question in the lunch is -- what next? >> reporter: look, senator mcconnell made clear about 14 hours ago in a very late-night statement after two more senators came out opposing the senate draft plan he was going to try for a repeal-only effort. that means, the last congress republicans while the democratic president was in office voted to repeal large portions of the affordable care act via reckon sailiation through the budget rules, same process as now. and conservatives asked for that, the president has as well and didn't believe they had support to do that and wanted to repeal and replace. they don't have the votes for that, senator mcconnell says. they'll try for repeal only. the issue -- they might not just have the votes for repeal only, they might not have the votes to take up the bill. i'm walk you where things currently are. you appreciate this john, but to be able to vote on legislative text you need to vote to proceed to that text. a procedural vote but a very im

for them. our intread pid reporters have pride the information loose, phil mattingly on capitol hill we've been waiting to learn the details. what do you know. >> that's right. this is what matters, what determines whether or not things move forward. not a nine-page framework but the details. let me run through a couple right now because they are extremely important. on the corporate side, john, obviously, president trump has made no secret about the fact that 20% is the rate he wants it, at the 35% currently. that will happen. it will go down to 20% and be permanent according to sources who have been read out summaries of what's going to be in this bill. house republicans right now still behind closed coodoors in about a 90 minute briefing of the contents of the bill. the individual side that's what's going to matter to every video, we have where the rates are going to be. it's never been secret this plan was going to shrink from seven to four rates. at the top rate they will leave the 39.6% rate for individuals who make more -- or for couples that make more than a million doll

for a moment. phil black is also getting some information. what are you learning, phil? >> reporter: wolf, where i'm standing there is just across the road from britain's houses of parliament, that iconic building. it is now currently surrounded under absolute lockdown in what is a very large and new police operation. police around here are still in the process of driving people back from the scene. they've established lines. there are vehicles, police motorcycles, heavily armed police officers. all of them have locked down this area. if you're familiar with it, we're talking about houses of parliament, the area around parliament square. police are moving people back down, a road known as whitehall, the historic road that runs through this city's government area. we're just a short distance from downing street, the prime minister's residence. this is the location where according to police, only a short time ago, they responded to what they are subscribing as a shooting incident. that's all we know at this stage, according to many and varied witness accounts, pointing to potentially

sitting president in decades. we'll look at the angles starting with tonight's phil mattingly. >> reporter: nine one on one interactions with president trump, three in person and six on the phone, detailing former fbi director comey's testimony. comey describing one meeting with the president and other counterterrorism officials in the oval office where all but comey were asked to leave the room. i want to talk about mike flynn, comey quotes the president as saying, referring to his recently fired national security advisor. i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go, comey says trump told him. he's a good guy. i hope you can let this go. comey goes on to say he prepared an unclassified memo of that conversation, understanding that the president was requesting he drop any probe into flynn. he shared that assessment with his fbi leadership team, but declined to share it with attorney general jeff sessions on the assumption sessions would soon be recused. while those details were kept closely held, comey says the next time he spoke to sessions, quot