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New Day

Trump Abandons Call for Unity, Attacks Media Again; Investigators Search Florida Mail Facility for Clues on Bomb Maker; Unproven Mail Bomb Conspiracy Theories Go Viral. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 26, 2018 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of the packages originated from Florida.

[05:59:21] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an investigation that's very much in its infancy. It's all hands on deck.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: There is a question as to whether or not the bombs were designed to detonate or to intimidate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No president has ever spewed the kind of consistent hate, disdain and division.

SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president is certainly not responsible for sending suspicious packages.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: The president has the greatest megaphone in the entire world, and the way he speaks matters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Friday, October 26, 6 a.m. here in New York.

Investigators up all night chasing new leads in the hunt for a serial bomber. The president apparently up all night tweeting about the media. More on that in a moment.

First, the investigation. CNN has learned that all 10 bombs went through the U.S. mail system, several through a processing center near Miami. The bombs were sent to individuals and organizations that President Trump regularly targets, including the Obamas, the Clintons and CNN. At this moment, FBI analysts are pouring over the packages for clues: DNA, hair, fingerprints.

One of the key questions: why didn't any of the devices detonate? Was the bombmaker or makers inept, inexperienced, or so skilled that the bombs were designed only to scare and not explode. Keep in mind: officials are warning that more bombs could still be out there.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So while the manhunt intensifies, President Trump appears consumed by the perception that he's not being presidential through this crisis. He was up late, his last tweet posted just after 3 a.m. this morning. The president is abandoning his very short-lived call for unity and attacking the media again. Sources tell CNN he is upset. He believes he's being unfairly linked to the package bombs being sent to his critics. Sources also tell CNN the president has no plans to cool off his fiery rhetoric and that he will not accept any responsibility for his toxic tone.

So let's begin our coverage with the latest on the investigation. CNN's Rosa Flores is live in Opa-locka, Florida. What is the latest, Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, good morning.

CNN has learned that some of those packages were processed at the Opa- locka mail distribution center that you see behind me. Now, from being here since yesterday, I can tell you that some of the law enforcement resources here have been very visible. We have seen the Miami-Dade bomb squad, Miami-Dade K-9. Also, several units of postal police.

Now, some of these resources, the law enforcement -- the law enforcement is using is not very visible. And talking to employees working inside, I can tell you that they tell me that at least 20 inspectors are inside following clues.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): The nationwide manhunt for the person or persons who sent at least ten explosive devices to people vilified by President Trump now focused on South Florida, specifically, this postal facility near Miami, where law enforcement tell CNN several of the packages were processed. Local police calling in their bomb squad and K-9 units to help in the investigation.

KIRSTJEN NIELSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There were some leads, and I think the FBI is tracking them all down, wherever they take them.

FLORES: On Thursday, three packages containing potential bombs were discovered, including two addressed to former vice president Joe Biden that were intercepted at separate postal facilities in Delaware.

JOE BIDEN (D), FORMER VIE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People want us to be more civil.

I hope this has been enough of a shock wave for people to say, "OK, enough is enough."

FLORES: Hours earlier, this package was found addressed to another Trump critic, actor Robert De Niro, at his Tribeca production office after a retired police officer noticed the package and notified authorities.

JAMES O'NEILL, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: This package that he saw yesterday was almost exactly like the package that they were showing on TV, and they took affirmative steps to call us to make sure we could take it away safely.

FLORES: Law enforcement sources tell CNN they believe that all ten devices went through the U.S. postal system, including the package ultimately delivered to CNN by a private courier and the device placed in businessman and Democratic donor George Soros' mail box. Many of the packages have no visible postmarks, which is making it more difficult to pinpoint where and when the packages were sent.

Another key question puzzling authorities: Why none of the bombs detonated, raising questions about the skill and motive of. Outside experts tell CNN that the lack of a triggering mechanism suggests the bombs were never meant to explode.

RAY LOPEZ, FORMER FBI: I think they were meant to be found, and again, just to deliver the message of fear and terror and to, you know, garnish attention.

FLORES: Still, authorities urging the public to be vigilant.

BILL SWEENEY, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE, FBI-NEW YORK: These devices should be considered dangerous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Now, it's safe to say that the full force of U.S. law enforcement is working to find out who the person or persons are who are responsible for mailing these packages.

Meanwhile, Alisyn and John, there are men and women, mothers, daughters, sons, that are working in this mail facility that are just processing mail, doing their jobs and hoping that they can go home safe. I talked to one woman yesterday who said she just wanted to go home safely to her three grandbabies -- Alisyn and John.

BERMAN: Rosa Flores at Opa-locka. And I hope people pay attention to that, because this is having a wide impact, not just on the intended targets. Thanks so much, Rosa.

I want to bring in CNN crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz and our CNN analyst, CNN counterterrorism official and former FBI intelligence advisor Phil Mudd; and former FBI supervisory special agent Josh Campbell.

[06:05:08] First of all, I feel much safer this morning being here with you.

Shimon, part human, part cell phone.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BERMAN: Tell us what you're learned overnight. Where's the investigation?

PROKUPECZ: I think there's been significant progress in the investigation. I think, you know, having this facility, Opa-locka, seems to have given investigators a lot of clues. I think they're a lot more optimistic today. And really, just yesterday, you could tell, in talking to these guys, that they were a little more optimistic about where things were going to go.

I think there are other things going on in south Florida that are significant that we don't know about, we're not seeing. But this facility is one part of it, but I'm also told that there is large focus, there's an intense focus on South Florida in general now. Perhaps maybe they think this is where the person lives, in this area. Somehow, maybe used mailboxes in South Florida. There may be, sort of, to mail these items. It's unclear to me entirely, but there seems to be -- the south Florida area seems to be the focus for investigators right now.

CAMEROTA: Stands to reason, right, Phil? I mean, if all of them went through this processing center on Opa-locka, it would, I think, stand to reason that they were mailed there.

But we also now know that there -- there weren't couriers. In other words, for a while yesterday in some of the original reporting was that maybe some of them were delivered by courier. That's true. But that -- they still came through the U.S. Postal Service and some organizations have a courier system that takes U.S. Postal Service mail and deliver its, because there's too much, perhaps a quantity. But either way, we know they were -- they all came through the U.S. postal mail system.

MUDD: So think of this as a clue that takes us into what I'd call phase two of the investigation. Phase one is like when you're on vacation, you dump the puzzle pieces on the table. You've got a bunch of stuff. Some of that stuff might not fix. You know, for example, I remember being evacuated from the White House on 9/11. People were saying there was a bombing at the State Department. It didn't turn out to be true. A lot of false information out there.

Stage two, you're slowly getting information. You weed out the negative information. For example, I assume that -- and Josh would know this -- Quantico has come out, the testing facility for the FBI has come out with information on whether they see any fingerprints on the weapon, on the tape. This stuff in the coming days is going to take out the edge of the puzzle, and you're going to start once you get bits and pieces to accelerate towards the center.

I'm with Shimon. I'm guessing that over the next couple of days will accelerate to phase three when they get a name or a piece of a name, and bam, game on.

BERMAN: You know, Josh invoked your name there. Josh would know. Tell us what's going on at Quantico with these bombs?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Phil holds me in higher regard on national television than he does privately, I'll say.

But no, it is interesting. If you look at some of these cases in the past, right, we tend to look back on previous instances, and we see developments chronologically. But oftentimes, what we fail to realize, as Phil mentioned, is that

acceleration piece. So it can only take -- it can take one tip that could set this thing in motion.

If you think recently, the Austin bomber, right? It's that frustrating period. We're trying to figure out who is this person? Will there be more devices? What's at stake here?

Police officers got one tip and, bam, within 24 hours we were off to the races. I think that they're -- we know they're working on that. The forensic analysis is going on at Quantico. We know officers are down in Florida, trying to go through this postal facility. CCTV, other areas around the neighborhood to try to figure out, OK, is this someone who came here to deliver something? Is this something that transited to this facility? I think it's a matter of time before they start to get those tips, and you know, as our colleague said here, that will set things in motion.

CAMEROTA: So ten total packages thus far, Shimon. Is the feeling that they've -- they've basically looked everywhere and that's it, or there may be more out there?

PROKUPECZ: I think right now the feeling is that we may be in the clear here, certainly when the postal inspector yesterday -- I'd asked him this question about, you know, was there was any concern about other packages? They said that as -- you know, within -- I guess now owe can say within the last 24 hours, they have not seen anything new.

And that's significant. It certainly should make people feel better that there aren't other packages out there. They've been looking all over, really, the country all over, the postal facilities; and they have not found anything else.

BERMAN: You were nodding your head there. One thing I will say is that the De Niro package, which we were reporting on yesterday morning, it turns out that it had arrived as far back as Tuesday.

PROKUPECZ: That's right. Yes.

BERMAN: So that all of these ten packages appear that they were sent.

CAMEROTA: Already in the system.

BERMAN: Already in the system, maybe Monday or Tuesday, not as far as we know Thursday at this point, Phil.

One of my questions is we keep on hearing that the postal service scans or has imaging of so many of the parcels that go through. How does that all work?

MUDD: If you're looking at how -- one of the revolutions in our business and law enforcement intelligence business over the past decades, including after the Unabomber, you look at postal organizations. They don't deliver packages. They track packages.

I talked to one of them once when I was at the bureau, a major postal organization. They're saying, "We're in the tracking business."

So they're trying -- they spend their days trying to figure out how to get something from point A, B, C, D, E, F, to ensure that you minimize time, maximize efficiency when delivering a package. That is really important when you're looking at what's happening at that Opa-locka facility. Because they're necking down, trying to say, "Now, can we get to the post office this came to," for example.

[06:10:02] By the way, one more thing. It's 6:15 in the morning. Don't be happy. If someone is sitting out there saying, "I made the decision to terrorize this nation."

Even if you decide that the devices don't go off, they're watching and realizing, potentially, the time is of the essence. I could see him sitting back, saying they think these things aren't going to go off? What's the next stage of this operation? Until this person goes down, there's one thing you've got to think about, they have a mindset that says, "I want to scare people." And I wouldn't write anything off.

PROKUPECZ: And that's certainly what some of the concern from law enforcement has been in this, and that's why they don't want to reveal a lot of the clues that they have. Because I think they are tracking people that they're interested in, that they want to rule out or rule in or whatever the case may be.

And so they don't want -- they have not revealed a lot of details. Specifically, I mean, there are a lot of questions about these devices. And we just don't know. We don't know what the wiring was made of. We don't know about clocks and batteries. Were these things capable of going off and exploding? They haven't told us any of that, and there are specific reasons for that.

CAMEROTA: OK. So let's profile this suspect. Because Rush Limbaugh says he know who it is, and there's a whole bunch of right-wingers on radio, et cetera, who are quite sure they have cracked this case wide open. Let me play a little bit of the false flag theory for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Republicans just don't do this kind of thing. Not one of these bombs went off. And if a Democrat operative's person here is to make it look like, "Hey, you know, there are mobs everywhere. The mobs are not just Democrat mobs," it might serve a purpose here.

MICHAEL SAVAGE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I say -- I will repeat, it's a high probability that the whole thing is set up as a false flag to gain sympathy for the Democrats, No. 1, and No. 2, to get our minds off the hordes of illegal aliens approaching our southern border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Phil Mudd, does unhinged behavior discriminate between Democrat and Republican?

MUDD: Can you tell me what difference it makes? Can you explain that to me? If you're sitting behind the scenes in the investigation, and you're sitting there, saying as we discussed a moment ago, there's a potential for somebody who's already decided it's appropriate to terrorize America, that that person says, "Now, I'm going to make sure these things are operational, so I kill or maim dozens of people."

And we're there saying, "Well, maybe it's a Democrat or a Republican," can you explain to me why he heck an investigator would care? I wouldn't.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, and it's interesting, too. No disrespect to special agents Limbaugh and Savage there, but I can tell you, inside the FBI, the politics doesn't factor in.

And you know, it's interesting. You know, we're in a politically- correct world, where people will say, "OK, you know, it's too soon to talk about this," or you know, "maybe certain things are not on the table."

I can tell you. and Phil knows this, having been inside government, inside the FBI everything is in play. Everything is on the table. So law enforcement officers aren't going to look at this and say, "Well, because it looks as though these targets all happen to be Democrats and progressives, that's not something we can look at, because that's political." That's nonsense.

You go in the direction that the facts take you. And in this instance -- and we've been talking to law enforcement officers working this investigation that tell us that, "Look, it appears that the targets fit certain commonalties, one of which being they're Democrats, they're progressives, they're people who have been at the business end of ire from the president." That's not something that the, you know, law enforcement officers are going to discount.

Now, sure, they're going to keep an open mind. So you know, due respect to those who are saying, well, it could be a number of things. Everything's on the table, so law enforcement officers will look at other possibilities. But again, they're leading in a certain direction. At some point, it just becomes pure nonsense to not follow the facts where they go.

BERMAN: You were saying politics doesn't matter to the investigators. It's all the matters to Rush Limbaugh and that other guy. That's all that matters. They were saying that out of the gate. There were still bombs in buildings when they were speculating like that.

CAMEROTA: Guys, thank you very much for all of the expertise.

It appears President Trump is losing sleep over coverage of his handling of these package bombs. The president sounding off on Twitter just about exactly three hours ago. Once again, lashing out at his favorite target.

CNN's Abby Phillip is live at the White House. So he was up late, Abby. ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Either up late or up extremely early. And tweeting about his favorite target, the media.

Now, the president, according to our sources, has been so consumed by that aspect of this whole story, he is attacking the media for criticizing him in the wake of these bomb scares.

According to our sources, as the president has been calling around to his friends and his advisers, talking to his aides here in the White House, the main thing that he is focused on is how unfairly he is being treated in all of this.

He's been telling them that he thinks that he's been blamed unfairly for these bombings that have gone out to people on the Democratic side, in particular, that have been the targets of his criticism. And the president has no intention of toning down his rhetoric on this.

Now, this is after earlier this week, he delivered some remarks at the White House and at a rally calling for unity, calling for the country to come together. But clearly, that did not last long. By the next morning, President Trump was tweeting angrily at his critics, blaming the media for the anger in the country.

And what we're seeing here is the White House doubling down on the president's rhetoric, doubling down on this strategy of saying that this is not in any way his fault. He doesn't have to look at his own rhetoric but rather, the media has to look at theirs.

[06:15:13] So Alisyn, I think what we're seeing from President Trump is someone not backing down at all. And as he heads out later today for a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, we will be looking to see if he goes back to this idea on the campaign trail, attacking the media before these campaign crowds as he hits the trail, Alisyn and John.

BERMAN: -- for us at the White House. Abby, thanks for laying this out.

Abby mentioning a political rally tonight. We will see what message the president delivers. We've also seen overnight another way the president is trying to change the focus, change the story. Much more on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[CAMEROTA: President Trump apparently losing sleep last night over the pipe bomb scare. He's lashing out at the media over it again, abandoning his call from the White House earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In these times we have to unify. We have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:20:05] CAMEROTA: Well, that didn't last long. Hours later, the president said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories. Have to do it. Have to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's discuss where we are with our political analysts and commentators. We have John Avlon; former press secretary under President Clinton, Joe Lockhart; and Washington bureau chief for "The Daily Beast," Jackie Kucinich. Great to have all of you at the table.

Jackie first of all, it's just amazing to see the president's different tone when he's reading words that somebody else has written for him on the teleprompter. It's like he's sleep talking.

And then he wakes up at the rally and reverts to the mean, literally and figuratively, and goes back to blaming the media.

I just want to say that I remember vividly at FOX News how often they pounded the drumbeat of personal responsibility. People need to take personal responsibility, they would always say, for whatever ailed them. People need to take personal -- I mean, that drumbeat was constant when President Obama was in office, and President Trump doesn't take any personal responsibility for the toxic tone of where we are in our sort of rhetorical climate right now.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Why take responsibility if you can pass the buck; and the people that support you believe it? And he has made the calculation that it won't stick to him, that they agree with his grievances, particularly about the media.

The fact that -- I mean, they were still chanting "Lock her up" the other night. This doesn't -- this is -- these are -- because nothing happened -- because not nothing happened but because, you know, no one was hurt, I think he can turn this around.

We saw how quickly he turned this around. Usually, when he makes one of these stilted, hostage-like statements in front of the camera, it lasts at least 24 hours. Never longer than yogurt but usually longer than milk. And but -- but this -- I think it's because it's so hardwired, because it does have to do with the media, that he just -- he felt very comfortable going back to his normal speech, you know, that evening.

BERMAN: It's beyond hardwired. I think the problem for the president is that attacks on the media were a big part of his closing argument in the mid-term election. We heard it when he praised the body- slamming that Greg Gianforte, congressman of Montana, did.

The media is part of the closing argument for the midterm, so we can't turn it off. And he doesn't want to.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, and he believes it's an effective foil. He believes polling shows that. You know, members of the Trump administration will tell you that, that he thinks this -- going after the media, going after the free press is a good look for him, and it's smart politically.

And of course, the biggest problem is what the president of the United States is doing is undermining trust in institutions that our society depends on, not just the media but basic concepts of trust. And he knows that when he plays the victim card, he can get, you know, armies of trolls and bots to echo whatever kind of nonsense or conspiracy theory might benefit him.

The fact that the president of the United States, the most powerful person in the world, feels the impulse to play the victim is fascinating and disturbing.

CAMEROTA: Yes. And what -- what also is baffling about that role that he's playing is that he thinks that being the president is the same as being a cable news pundit. So he likens the two. The two are on the same plane for him. "If a cable news pundit says something critical about me, why can't I use the megaphone of the presidency to say something critical about the media?"

He equates those. And that is just an interesting look at his psyche and how the president can feel so impotent.

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Frankly, I'm a little tired about worrying about the president's psyche. He was elected to be president of the United States, not, you know, a mental patient.

And being up at 3:30 in the morning, you know, there's the famous ad about, if the call comes at 3:30, will the president -- this guy is tweeting and criticizing people, you know, who are just reporting the news.

I think a little underreported, in part, over the last couple days, people talk about the media. Well, FOX News, "The Daily Caller," the right-wing media has a big part here.

If you look, John did a really interesting piece yesterday --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

LOCKHART: -- that shows the parallel between the people who receive these attempted murders -- I mean, he can -- the president can say it's nothing, it's nothing. You can't -- I mean, these were assassination attempts. And the -- the symbiotic relationship with the FOX News Network, the sort of state-run TV now have, you know, organizing and prosecuting these campaigns.

CAMEROTA: Yes, and the timing. I just want to go back to that for a second, because everybody said, "Why Robert De Niro?" He didn't -- he hasn't criticized the president since the Tony Awards in June. But you found that it's what happened -- what Sean Hannity says had a direct link.

AVLON: May have. We don't know who it is. We don't know the motive. But what was fascinating is you see a direct pattern between the president's attacks on Twitter and the stage, being echoed and amplified by FOX News and other folks in the conservagentsia.

[06:25:10] But De Niro's not like the others. Right? Why Robert De Niro?

Well, one of the things I found was that October 15, Sean Hannity was doing a whole segment, blasting De Niro for things he said on "The Alec Baldwin Show," of all things, in which he said that Trump allies will regret it, because they made a deal with the devil.

So that all of a sudden becomes Trump -- "Robert De Niro's calling the president a devil and us devil worshippers, in effect." It's the playing-the-victim card, but it was top of mind 10 days ago. And it's interesting that we see, what is that? When we find out who this is, because some of these figures are more prominent on the campaigns being prosecuted in conservative media, than the president's feed. That's an example.

BERMAN: I just want to know. We are spending a lot of time talking about the media. What's important here and what the president could be focused on is the investigation into a serial bomber. And he could be focused on the people who received these bombs: former presidents, former administration officials. A lot of folks have received bombs in the mail, and that's what he could have been tweeting about overnight.

He chose not to. So the argument -- Sarah Sanders says, you know, he couldn't be more presidential. Well, I could think of a few ways in this case maybe he could.

KUCINICH: You know, Alisyn has been saying how, you know, he elevates everyone, basically, to merit a president -- presidential response.

I remember during the Obama administration there would be debates whether he was going to mention something, in order to elevate it to that level that he needed to address it. That doesn't happen now.

Now, in terms of mentioning some of the officials, including President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, who received these packages, not only does he -- he doesn't have any relationships with any of these people, which is unusual, even if it is from the opposite party. There usually is some comity in between -- between administration. And he views them as adversaries. He's cast them as adversaries, so that -- that might be rooted. Again, I don't want to psychoanalyze the president. These aren't -- these aren't people he has relationships with, and he doesn't want to mention their names apparently.

CAMEROTA: But I do --

KUCINICH: Is there a political cost? AVLON: Yes. The president of the United States was up at 3 a.m. this

morning, not trying to unite the nation, not trying to bring perpetrators to justice, not protect the integrity of our political system, but basically hate tweeting and feeling like a victim in something that he was not, you know, implicated in. And it's just -- it's a really sad snapshot of where this president seems to be.

LOCKHART: And let's not forget that he's now depending on the FBI to find the perpetrators, an institution that he has spent two years running down and saying that, you know, in every way -- so there is an impact when you start trying to take apart institutions in this country. And there is a price to pay, and I think he's -- he's going to have to pay that price, because he can't now turn around and say, "Oh, the FBI is the finest investigators in the world."

CAMEROTA: Yes. So the president is redirecting and so, instead of talking about a domestic terrorist who is loose. I mean, this is what law enforcement has called whoever sent these package bombs. Domestic terrorism. Within our borders.

He is, again, talking about the group of people who are now somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 miles away in a different run tree, and their numbers have been cut in half as they've been marching about roughly 20 miles away. So we don't know how many, if any, will reach the U.S. border. We don't know when. It will probably be more than a month away from now. It will be after the midterms. But that's what he's focused on, and in fact, he is going to send 800 more soldiers --

AVLON: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- to the border to stop them.

AVLON: Yes, and they're floating a hypothetical plan about denying asylum seekers at the southern border, as well.

But the president wants to talk about the border. He wants to talk about the caravan. Not as a product of public policy but as a closing argument for his campaign. Right up there with calling Democrats "mobs."

The problem is that what occurred earlier this week is counter to that campaign, and he's going to do everything he can to try to bring the attention back where he wants.

BERMAN: All the reporting overnight, the breaking news is he's going to issue some kind of an executive, or a travel-ban-like statement, declaring it a national emergency, even though the caravan size has been cut in half.

And I will just note, again, if you're going to call this national emergency, this number down here is the number of arrests at the border in 2018, near the historic low. It's 396,000 right now. It was less last year, but this is not a high number, especially when you consider in 2000, it was 1.6 million. And that's what the president now is going to declare a national emergency. The timing is fascinating. CAMEROTA: It is. Jackie, Joe, John, thank you very much.

CIA chief briefs President Trump on the evidence that she heard in the murder investigation of Jamal Khashoggi. So now, what will president do to confront the Saudis? We have all that.

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