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Erin Burnett Outfront
President Trump About To Depart NJ For White House; Trump Attacks Media for Eighth Day In A Row; WH Official: Video Trump Tweeted "Not Pulled From Reddit"; Admin Sources: Trump Plans to Talk Syria, Ukraine with Putin; Interview with Congresswoman Karen Bass of California. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired July 03, 2017 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:00] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Thank you for that report. I'm Brianna Keilar. Thank you so much for watching. ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT with Kate Bolduan starts right now.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, Donald Trump stepping up his anti-media tweets, should he be focusing on his meeting maybe with Vladimir Putin instead? Plus, Trump's controversial video tweet attacking CNN, did it come from someone who paddles tape? And New Jersey Governor Chris Christie blistered over his day at the beach. Why is everyone outraged except him? Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to a special edition of OUTFRONT tonight, I'm Kate Bolduan in for ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT tonight, we do have breaking news.
You're going to be looking at right now Air Force One, President Trump preparing right now to head back to Washington. He spent most of the long holiday weekend at his golf club in New Jersey. And maybe, just maybe, he's also with his return tweeting twitter attacks for something else like preparing for what maybe the most important meeting yet of his presidency, the first face to face with Vladimir Putin.
Trump expected to meet with the Russian leader at the G20 Summit this week. The president also on calls today with several world leaders, but it wasn't a complete about face for this president. The weekend Twitter attacks against the press continued today with this. I will read it "At some point the Fake News will be forced to discuss our great jobs numbers, and strong economy, success with ISIS, the border and so much else!" which is ironic considering a rough analysis of the president's tweets since taking off the show that he spends most time tweeting, talking about the media than he does anything else.
Sara Murray is live right now at the White House with more on this. So, Sara, a week that was dominated by his attack against a female journalist is now escalating even further with this video that the White House is now facing even new and more questions about.
SARA MURRAY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kate. And the President will be returning here to the White House shortly. He's capping off a few days of phone calls with foreign leaders ahead of this foreign trip, but also launching a fiery tweet at his favorite foil, that would, of course, with the press.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY (voice-over): Days before a series of high kick meetings to foreign leaders, President Trump is turning his attention to bashing the media. Trump taking to twitter over the weekend to post a video showing him pummeling a CNN logo, and using a speech honoring veterans to lob attacks at the media.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The fake media is trying to silence us, but we will not let them because the people know the truth. The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, but I'm president, and they're not.
(CHEERING)
MURRAY: Trump continued to air his grievances today on Twitter saying, "At some point, the Fake News will be forced to discuss our great jobs numbers, strong economy, success with ISIS, the border & so much else!" While some say Trump overstepped with the wrestling video, White House officials like Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert insist it didn't go too far.
TOM BOSSERT, WHITE HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: I think that no one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they don't, but I do think that he's beaten up in a way on cable platforms that he has a right to respond to.
MURRAY: But more members of Trump's own party are sounding the alarm about the toxic tone toward the press. Republican Senator Ben Sasse accused Trump of trying to use distrust in the media as a weapon to undermine American freedom.
SEN. BEN SASSE (R), NEBRASKA: There's an important distinction to draw between bad stories or crappy coverage and the right that citizens have to argue about that and complain about that and trying to weaponized distrust.
MURRAY: But urging Trump to tone it down could be a futile pursuit. He defended his twitter habits this weekend saying, "My use of social media is not presidential, it's modern day presidential." Trump attempts to tweet the media just the latest distraction from weightier policy matters. He spent the weekend and Monday prepping for his overseas trip which include stop in Germany and Poland by calling the leaders of Germany, Italy, Japan, China, and Saudi Arabia.
The G20 meeting in Germany will mark the first time Trump is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin face to face. Trump has lavished praise on Putin in the past.
TRUMP: If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability.
MURRAY: But the president is expected to use this meeting to focus on pressing matters for the White House including disputes in Syria and Ukraine. What's still unclear, according to administration officials, is whether Trump will raise Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY: Now, we have, of course Trump's advisers have encouraged him to stay away from Twitter in the past, but they're not particularly concerned by his attacks against the press. They believed that he still getting the job done, making his call supporting leaders preparing for this potentially pivotal upcoming foreign trip.
[19:05:05] And as for the attacks against the media, they believed that just energizes the Trump based (ph). Back to you Kate.
BOLDUAN: The modern version of walking and chewing gum at the same time. Great to see you Sara, thank you so much.
OUTFRONT tonight with me, Chris Cillizza. He is a reporter and editor-at- large of CNN Politics. April Ryan, he is White House Correspondent for AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORK. Presidential Historian Doug Brinkley is here and also David Drucker, Senior Congressional Correspondent for the Washington Examiner.
OK, friends. Chris, first to you, tweets from the president today. He was on calls with Italy, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, all the above, you keep going with it. But there are only a couple tweets criticizing the media. So, should we take this as the president has less learned the lessons from the weekend of his weekend rants?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER & EDITOR-AT-LARGE: OK. I pledge during the 2016 campaign to not make anymore predictions, but I will break that pledge to make this prediction, Kate.
BOLDUAN: Don't use the word the (INAUDIBLE), please.
CILLIZZA: He -- this is in no way, shape or form, any new leaf, any Trump 2.0. There is no Trump but Trump. Donald Trump is a 71-year- old man who's had a lot of success in his life, both in his life as a businessman and now in his life as a presidential candidate, and now president. He is not going to change who he is.
We are, you know, 96 hours removed from attacks on MSNBC hosts. We are less than that removed from attacks on our network using a pro- wrestling video. This is who Donald Trump is. You know, you can -- it can be a week. It can be, well, it really can be a day, maybe it can be a week but he will return back to who he is. This is what animates him.
If you want to look through for a true life for a consistent message from day one, Donald Trump announces for president to today, it's that anti-media. These people are lying to you. They are fake. They are false. They are biassed. That's the true line it gets through it and that's not going to change whether he goes to the G20 or whether he sends out a handful of tweets about speaking the foreign dignitaries. That's who he is.
BOLDUAN: But the defense of why he does it, that seems to have changed a little bit, April. His defense on these tweets now it's -- this is what modern day presidential looks like, but he has also spent, as you will recall, a good deal of time in the past hitting another president, President Obama for not being presidential enough. Walk down memory lane for this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I definitely think he should have worn a tie. You know, he's the president of the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a good point. I never thought of that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What message is he sending by not?
TRUMP: It's sloppy. It's not appropriate. It's not presidential. He's the president of the United States. Let him put on a tie.
Did you see yesterday Obama screaming and screaming and screaming? Just like the way he runs the country, nobody listens to him, screaming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: There's a sound bite for everything. That's what we've all learned. April, if tweeting your every thought bubble is modern day presidential then who is the president to criticize that?
APRIL RYAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORKS: Well, let me say this, Kate, many people are -- people from all sectors, be it Obama supporters, be it Republicans, be it whomever, people are thinking that this president has an obsession, and this administration has an obsession with President Obama.
Well, get over it. You are now president. But here's the thing, here's the issue. Former President Barack Obama, you know, he put his feet on the resolute desk. People complained about that. But people are also complaining about Kellyanne putting her feet in the sofa of the oval office when the HBCU presidents were there.
So, we have to be very careful how we throw stones at glass houses. But at the same time, when you talk about modern presidential versus traditional presidential, it's presidential period. There is a high standard for president. And, Kate, I'm hearing words now from Republicans' lips, things like oh, yes, Donald t Trump is uncouth. Oh, yes, he's a liar. Since when did we think that's great to say our president was those things?
I mean, I remember a time when people revered Ronald Reagan and how he stood in the oval office in George H. W. Bush. I remember hearing about them. I remember, you know, other presidents, and now we've changed the bar.
So these tweets are very damaging to his credibility, into his look, into his presidential stature, whether it's modern or traditional.
BOLDUAN : You raised an interesting point. And as I ask this question, we are looking a live pictures of, I believe as they zoom in, President Trump himself heading off the rim when heading towards Air Force One to head back from his long weekend away in New Jersey to Washington D.C. to take part in the 4th of July ceremonies.
[19:10:02] OK, enough of the breaking news, back to the question, Doug Brinkley, what is the difference between presidential and modern day presidential?
DOUG BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: It's Donald Trump is sort of shattered the mold of what is presidential. I mean, he is now behaving in a kind of buffoonish way of the national inquirer has become the newspaper of choice with his relationship with Mr. Pecker and he goes in media bashing any time he gets in a jam.
And last week he was having a terrible week. Congress was adjourning. There was no repealing, you know, placing of Obamacare. He kind of had egg on his face. So, instead he went after Mika Brzezinski and went after and I thought a very sexist and vicious way, and it continued with the phony video of the take down on CNN over the weekend.
Its red meat for his base and it makes him feel like he is -- it feeds the narcissistic beast that people are talking about him and it varies the story of Obamacare is actually very popular.
BURNETT: We can talk about both of these things. I can walk and chew gum the same time too, but you get this one. David Brucker, Ben Sasse, he has been speaking out quite a bit, but Ben Sass also had this tweet. And let me throw it up, "Random quote is reloading 4wheelers Gala (ph) Ben Sasse, "Hey, Uncle Ben, did you know the president used to be a professional wrestler?"
David, if that's to take away, is that Trump winning or losing here?
DAVID BRUCKER, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: I think that trump think he is winning because he looks at this different than a typical politician. Look, I think one day when we look back on the Trump presidency and we play a word game and say, you know, what one sentence, what one word defines Trump's presidency? We can look back on this weekend and go, "I'm the president and you're not."
And I think for Trump, so much if this is about driving his personal brand and the fact that he's never really internalize the fact. Their function is the fact that he is no longer a leader of the Trump organization, but he's now representing United States.
And so, I think, you know, for him, the only issue becomes if there's ever any electoral consequence because he is somebody that understands politics and understands winning and losing. And one of the reasons he's able to do this right now Kate, is because there is no blow back from Republican voters.
A lot of focus has been on Republican lawmakers and why isn't there more criticism and why don't they, you know, disown him or chastise him. But the truth is Republicans on the hill are most in touch with voters. They're the ones that have an election sooner and they don't have many of their voters telling them to do anything about it.
And in my conversations of Republican voters in that past month, they have said, they don't like his twitter habit which we've seen in the polls. They have said, they don't like his behavior which was seen in the polls and then they've told, but I'm still supporting him anyway.
BOLDUAN: Right.
BRUCKER: And I don't regret my vote. And so, as long as this is the atmosphere in which the president is operating, he will assume like many presidents before him that whatever he is doing is working and things will continue as they are.
Now, I will say this, he tends to go from moments like this and days like this, to conventional -- of conventional few days or weeks where he seems like a normal president actually gets some things accomplished. And then he will revert back to patterns.
So, as Chris said, nothing will change, but I do think we may see a few weeks or a few days in between these episodes from now until the day that he is no longer president, whether that's three years, three and a half years or eight years?
BOLDUAN: You are a risk taking kind of guy. Look at you making predictions in the Trump era. That is a risky bet. Great to see you guys. Thanks so much, thanks for being here.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: All right, OUTFRONT next, where did the president get that anti-CNN video and why is it such a mystery? Plus, Trump and Putin's face to face for the first time. Will they discuss Russian election hacking? Should they? And New Jersey governor Christ Christie taking heat for his day in the sun on a public beach, he closed to everyone but himself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:45] BOLDUAN: Welcome back to the special edition of OUTFRONT. New tonight, the White House pushing back against serious questions being raised about the origins of the doctored wrestling video President Trump shared with his tens of millions of followers over the weekend.
A senior White House official insisting it did not come from a controversial user on a message board. Only problem, we can't find any evidence of it existing anywhere but that message board before the president picked it up.
Tom Foreman is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The video shared by President Trump to his 33 million personal Twitter followers and then to 19 million more on his presidential account was apparently first posted by a Reddit user who goes by this online name and was also laid claim to it. That user of Reddit's online message board reacted enthusiastically, "Wow, I never expected my meme to be retweeted by the god emperor himself. I am honored."
But others are worried, including the anti-defamation league which surveyed the user's post and found a, "Consistent record of racism, anti-Semitism and bigotry. This individual traffics in online hatred and at times violent rhetoric." And the ADL seems to call out the president saying, "When those on the fringes of society feel their messaging is getting mainstream attention, that should raise alarms."
TRUMP: The fake media is trying to silence us. But we will not let them because the people know the truth. The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House. But I'm president, and they're not.
FOREMAN: It all comes as the president who is raging away at the media with a fiery speech at a Twitter attack on two MSNBC hosts that was so course, members of his own party were stunned.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: But for the president of the United States, the greatest country of the world, the person who is representing our country to use that kind of language which just so inappropriate.
FOREMAN: For many critics, it harkens back to the campaign when team Trump was at times, accused of sharing material promulgated by racist whether on purpose or carelessly is unclear and inciting violence.
[19:20:05] TRUMP: I like to punch them in the face. I'll tell you.
FOREMAN: The campaign always denied accusations especially those about violence. And his Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did it again just last week.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President in no way, form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence if anything, quite the contrary.
FOREMAN: And CNN's official response to the new video however the network said "Clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Now we should note that this wrestling video does not appear to be exactly the same as the one from that Reddit user even though that user is taking claim to it, saying there have been some changes to the pictures, some changes to the audio.
And that raises questions about who made those changes. And even though the White House said they didn't get it from Reddit, how did the President get it. We don't have an answer to that question either. And was he aware that it had ties to this other poster on Reddit. All these are questions that we have thrown to the White House and Kate for which we are waiting for answers.
BOLDUAN: A mystery, and a necessary one, I would say. Great to see you Tom, thank you so much.
FOREMAN: Good to see you Kate.
BOLDUAN: OUTFRONT with me right now, Amanda Carpenter, she's a former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz. Former republican congressman, Jack Kingston is here, also former senior advisor to the Trump Campaign, and Kirsten Powers, the USA today columnist. Great to see you all, thanks so much for being. Into the ring, as you say, Jack Kingston. Let's get to it.
Amanda, a White House official says they didn't pull the video from Reddit, but they are also having said how it landed in the President's hands? Take a guess. How do you think it did?
AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, I think it's clear that people in the White House serve a lot of alt-right websites. People in the White House prominent advisers regularly cite by this fake news sources as a reputable source of information.
I mean, look at what Kellyanne Conway tweeted earlier this year after 60 minutes did interview with Mike Cernovich who pushed a really wild ideas I want to get into. They pointed that to it and said this is must-see T.V. ratings bonanza. Donald Trump called Alex Jones a conspiracy theorist and told him he had a great reputation.
Donald Trump and his sons said the national inquirer should have one appeal that serves for their coverage. So we may not know where this particular video came from, but without a doubt, people in the White House are using official channels, taxpayer resources to promote information from very, very questionable sources, and whether you think it's funny or not, the sub tax is pretty alarming.
BOLDUAN: Congressman but here on the most basic level, why is this a mystery? Doesn't -- The fact that the White House hasn't said, doesn't it few more questions than camping down which you would assume they would wanted to do?
JACK KINGSTON, FORMR SENIOR ADVISER, 2016 TRUMP CAMPAIGN: You know, I think that there's a great dance that's being played out here between the media and the White House and their used of social media as the floor, you might say.
And I think that they're maybe a little bit of enjoyment saying, you know what, we don't have to tell you, let that be out there. You know, I want to say as somebody whose works for CNN part time. I've enjoyed it. You -- CNN has been great in letting conservatives like me, Pro-Trumpers like me have a voice. So I say, you know, put me in, coach.
You know, this is a game that is changing the world. And the reason why it is, is because as somebody who came up from politics, I was elected to the state legislature in 19 -- when I was 29 years old.
BOLDUAN: So long ago you can't even remember.
KINGSTON: Yes, Yes. But I was told never argue with those who buy ink by the barrel. If the newspaper says something about you, don't even try to fight back. But because of those 54 million followers that the President has on twitter and on other social media networks, he's in a unique position as a politician that he can fight back.
So I think as part of his view is, you know what if you're going to undermine me, I'm going to undermine you. And I think it's a profound debate that's evolved in American political scene. And so, you know, some of these answers we're just going to have to find out in time in terms of the ramifications are.
BOLDUAN: Don't throw the only time will tell at me. You know that's not acceptable enough. Kirsten, any day, any topic, you can make the case, can you -- is there anyone that can make the case that associating himself, the President, associating himself with someone linked to anti-Semitic and racist content is a good thing though?
KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No. And I think you can make a case that for your average person on twitter if they saw a mean and they wanted to tweet it out and tweeted it out, they wouldn't be, you know, they wouldn't necessarily be --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
POWERS: -- linking themselves --
BOLDUAN: Right.
POWERS: -- to somebody else. This, however, is the White House. And I would use an example of any major company, if it was Pepsi or something. That the head of Pepsi or the P.R. person would not just tweet something out without finding out where it came from, because once you send something out under the name of the institution, the institution kind of owns it.
And so, when you have the White House, which is the most prestigious institution really in the country, then they should have a process where you're running through, you know, that runs this through that and says, you know, look, where this came from. We don't want to use it.
[19:25:12] That's separate from the fact that he shouldn't do it in the first place, right. And regardless of where it came from, but in minimum, they should know where it came from.
BOLDUAN: Yes, I just ask --
POWERS: And if it's a came from that kind of place don't use it.
(CROSSTALK)
CARPENTER: -- I think a part of a different view. I think they're kind of deliberate about that. I think they surf this chat forums to see what's popping, what's popular, and what they like. And it's not as even like a dog whistle to his base. It's saying, hey I'm one of you. I'm reading your threats and giving your content. He is saying, you know, he essentially has an online troll army at his disposal. We all know this. He cultivate, base it. He likes it. And this is how he sort of winks at them and says, you know, punch CNN in the face, but they're not really it's just, you know, fake wrestling, but really, punch them in the face.
BOLDUAN: But beyond just the - But just beyond the trolls, I mean when you talk about the base, is it OK, if he is just playing solely -- if he is playing solely to his base, that's a 30 percent, 35 percent game. Is that good enough, congressman?
KINGSTON: You know, I think what he's doing is fighting battles on multiple levels. You know, like in June, there were 160 tweets by the White House, 120 of them had nothing to do with the media. They had nothing to do with politics. They were on substance.
I'll give you an example. Kate's law that was just passed by the house after two or three years of debate, there were a couple of networks that gave minimal or zero coverage to it. And so, the President tweets it out, and he talks about these things. And I think he's not going to give up twitter, because it allows him to drive substantive issues. But just like any social media outlet, you know, he does put some of this crazy stuff out there that keeps people reading.
You know, you -- sometimes you don't pick. I mean, this was not an endorsement of that webpage of that guy. We don't even know who that guy is by the way.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
KINGSTON: But you can't hold, they're my -- right in his comments against Barack Obama, you can't hold Black Lives Matter when they were talking about, let's kill cops. You can't hold that against Barack Obama when he invited them to the White House. You know, I think to what -- the president was really, I mean, you know, Madonna is on the Capitol Hall saying I want to blow the White House up.
BOLDUAN: OK, but we went all the way back to Jeremiah right. That's like basically going back to when you just won in the state legislature.
KINGSTON: OK, well let's go to Johnny Depp. Let's go to Johnny Depp.
BOLDUAN: Please stop.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: I didn't hear one Democrat being massive (ph).
BOLDUAN: Why are the celebrity name dropping?
KINGSTON: Because --
BOLDUAN: Kirsten, final word, go. POWERS: No. I mean it's just -- it's not the same thing. I mean I think this is something that they sent out from the White House twitter accounts. So there is some accountability for where they find.
I mean its not saying that he's responsible for what some supporter does out in the, you know, in their lands. We're saying, if you take that product and you tweeted out to the world, then, you know, you should know where it came from and you should know the kind of person that created it. And also, you know, again, I will just say I guess that the content of it was completely inappropriate obviously, wherever it came from.
BOLDUAN: And there we have it. Good to see you all. Thank you so much, except for you, Congressman.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: Out of the ring. He's out of the ring.
OUTFRONT first next, Donald Trump and Putin. Set to meet face to face, but will Trump confront the Russian leader about hacking the U.S. election? And out of touch, that's what some are saying about Trump and his party's healthcare bill. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My life is being threatened by a bunch of people who have no idea what it's like to be chronically ill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:51] BOLDUAN: Welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT.
Tonight, President Trump preparing for likely the biggest meeting so far of his presidency, face to face with Vladimir Putin at this week's G-20 Summit. They are expected to talk about Syria and Ukraine. One issue there's little expectation they'll discuss -- you probably guessed it -- Russia's interference in the U.S. election.
But Trump himself has even seemed confused about whether or not they've crossed paths before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Do you have a relationship with Vladimir Putin?
TRUMP: I do have a relationship.
I have no relationship with Putin.
I was in Moscow recently, and I spoke indirectly and directly with President Putin.
I have nothing to do with Putin. I've never spoken to him.
I got to know him very well because we were both on "60 Minutes.
I don't know Putin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Michelle Kosinski is now OUTFRONT at the State Department.
So, Michelle, what is the State Department saying tonight about this meeting?
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kate.
I think even just to see the handshake would be very interesting. But at this point, the State Department is saying very little. In fact, late last week, when we asked the State Department, does the secretary of state expect the president to raise this issue of Russian meddling in the election? Does the secretary want him to? The State Department could only say they didn't know.
And we're hearing similar from the White House at this point, that they're still working on setting the agenda, and even deciding what kind of meeting this will be, how formal it will be.
It's obvious they don't want to say much at this point. The pressure is on. The entire world is going to be watching to see how the president of the United States responds to the fact that not very long ago, Vladimir Putin himself, according to the unanimous opinion of U.S. intelligence agencies, launched an attack on American democracy itself and the election. And it's President Trump himself who has at times cast doubt on that assessment or diminished it.
I mean, it wasn't very long ago, just in May, we saw those pictures in the Oval Office of him with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador laughing and looking like they were friends. Those were the pictures the White House didn't want to get out there.
BOLDUAN: Right.
KOSINSKI: So, you know, it's very possible the White House does not want this to come up. Many times we've heard Trump and his administration accuse the press and opponents of trying to delegitimize his presidency by even talking about this.
But then, again, you can't have it both ways because just a week ago, we heard him and his administration attacking President Obama and his administration for not doing enough to punish Russia for this.
But so far, this administration has not answered the question what do they intend to do to punish Russia for this -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: Great to see you, Michelle. Thank you so much.
OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass of California. She sits on the House of Foreign Affairs Committee. Congresswoman, thanks for coming in.
REP. KAREN BASS (D), CALIFORNIA: Thanks for having me on.
BOLDUAN: What are you expecting from this meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin?
BASS: Well, you know, it's very hard to know what to expect. I'll tell you what I'm concerned about though, I'm concerned that the national security adviser, McMaster, says that there basically isn't going to be an agenda. And so, we all know that Trump without an agenda, Trump without talking points is can be quite dangerous, because you never know exactly what he's going to bring up.
[19:35:04] But I don't see how he could have any credibility at all to talk about Russians' intervention in Syria or the Ukraine without talking about Russian intervention in the United States.
BOLDUAN: If you're concerned that he goes in without an agenda, do you think President Trump should be meeting with Putin at all?
BASS: Well, I think absolutely he should be meeting with him. I mean, he should be meeting with him, and he should be raising the fact that they intervened in our election. I mean, we're just a little over a year away from another election. Our midterm elections, and I think that we need to be very clear with the Russians that they cannot intervene again, and he needs to make that point in a very strong manner. But without an agenda, who knows what he'll talk about.
BOLDUAN: Well, let me ask you this then. I mean, President Trump, he has been reluctant to speak out forcefully against the Russian cyber attack. I mean, it took him a very long time to even agree with his own intelligence community about that. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Could have been China. Could have been a lot of groups.
It also could somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?
I think the Democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So, with that in mind, I mean, if -- if it does come up, do you trust the president to hold Putin's feet to the fire on this?
BASS: Seventeen intelligence agencies have said that the Russians intervened. As far as I'm concerned, he's still in denial about it. I wouldn't be surprised when he meets with Putin if he doesn't do what he's done with so many other international leaders, which is talk about how many votes he got, talk about how many people attended the inauguration. I mean, this is really embarrassing. I just hope that he goes to the
G-20 in general and be prepared. It's actually an opportunity where he could make an incredibly positive impression on the world stage, but I don't know that he will actually have it together to do that.
But I know that we'll know because when the meeting is over, if he leaves the meeting, and he is essentially repeating Putin's talking points, and if he concedes and gives back the compounds, then we will know. We will know whether or not Putin once again played President Trump.
BOLDUAN: Well, that gets a lot to the sanctions bill that is now waiting to be voted on in the House of Representatives.
BASS: Exactly.
One of your fellow Democrats, let me ask you, Congresswoman, Jamie Raskin, he was on this show last week. And he was calling for a commission to determine if the president is mentally or physically unfit for office. Do you agree with your fellow Democrat on this?
BASS: Well, I'm not aware of the commission, but I actually raised those questions more than a year ago in the middle of the campaign because, you know -- and I think it's very frightening to say, but if any of the viewers want to Google narcissistic personality disorder, I'm concerned about his fitness to be the president as well, and maybe a commission is the way to get at it.
BOLDUAN: Right. But if the president -- if you think the president has gone too far in what he's done, is this not going too far on the part of Democrats basically saying he's got a mental illness?.
BASS: Well, you know that there are thousands of psychiatrists and psychologists that are raising concerns. You know, I do think that our focus needs to be on the investigations that are going on. We need to get at the truth of whether or not the Russians were involved.
But there's so many issues with this president, be it the conflict of interest, the emoluments, the fact that he essentially lies pathologically, and you know that. I mean, you just showed it by the clips that you did about whether or not he's met Putin. You never know whether he is going to tell the truth. You don't know what the truth is, and you don't know if he knows what the truth this.
BOLDUAN: Let's see what comes out of this meeting with President Putin of Russia.
Thank you s much, Congresswoman, for coming in.
BASS: Thanks for having me.
BOLDUAN: OUTFRONT next, Republicans trying to salvage their health care bill that some Americans say is the difference between life or death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What worries you most about what
could happen to your situation?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Death, honestly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And Chris Christie enjoying a day at the beach. What's wrong with this picture? Jeanne Moos has so many answers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:42:50] BOLDUAN: Welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT.
New tonight, Republican leadership appears to be at odds with President Trump on how to repeal and replace Obamacare. We're learning that repealing first and replacing later is not on the table for Republican leadership. This after Trump as well as some conservative senators signaled support for that very path forward.
And this is sure to only increase pressure on Republicans especially for one senator who could make or break the bill.
Ed Lavandera is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: What worries you most about what could happen to your situation?
JENNY STILES, 29-YEAR-OLD: Death, honestly.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): With the help of her mother, 29-year-old Jenny Stiles walks into a Las Vegas phone bank and starts dialing numbers, drumming up pressure on lawmakers to vote down the Senate Republican health care bill.
J. STILES: I'm calling because we need your help to stop the American Health Care Act.
My life is being threatened by a bunch of people who have no idea what it's like to be chronically ill. They just don't.
LAVANDERA: Stiles was born with multiple birth defects, so many that health insurance is a life and death issue. She's endured nearly 30 surgeries including a kidney transplant. He's on the waiting list for another kidney. Routinely makes visits with 13 different doctors, kidney dialysis three times a week, and if that wasn't enough, there's the $6,000 a month in prescription medications.
Right now, she's covered by a combination of Medicare, Medicaid, and her mother's health work insurance, but they fear the slightest change, anything could be devastating.
KAREN STILES, JENNY'S MOTHER: We wouldn't be able to afford these medications. And then what do you do? Her -- everything would just stop working.
LAVANDERA (on camera): It could bankrupt you, guys?
K. STILES: Oh, easily. Yes.
J. STILES: It could bankrupt Bill Gates, honestly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need you guys to continue to stand up.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): In Nevada, the focus of protests has been Republican Senator Dean Heller, who has vowed to vote no against the original draft of the Senate health care bill. Heller is feeling the heat from both sides of the debate.
The Republican governor of Nevada expanded Medicaid under Obamacare, helping insure nearly 300,000 more people in the state. During a recent meeting at the White House, Senator Heller was seated close to President Trump, but conservative groups went after Heller.
[19:45:05] AD ANNOUNCER: If you're opposed to this bill, we are opposed to you.
LAVANDERA: Including a pro-Trump PAC, something the senator who is up for reelection next year confronted Trump about at a recent White House meeting.
JET MITCHELL, BREAST CANCER PATIENT: I'm going to ask him to vote no to the new healthcare bill.
The Nevada coalition!
LAVANDERA: Jet Mitchell flew from Las Vegas to Washington to lobby her senator in person. She was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. She has employee-provided insurance, but fears insurance companies could limit the spending on her chemo treatments, a popular protection under Obamacare.
MITCHELL: As a constituent, I thought that was very encouraging because he's listening to the needs of citizens like me in Nevada that are -- have preexisting conditions and are living with critical illness.
LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN, Las Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Ed, thank you so much.
OUTFRONT next, sheriff siding with President Trump refusing to offer sanctuary. A story you'll see only on OUTFRONT.
And when a day at the beach turns into a political nightmare. Jeanne Moos sounds off on Governor Chris Christie.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: Welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT.
Tonight, President Trump on Twitter touting his success securing the border.
[19:50:01] But a new law could derail the president's promise to fight illegal immigration, including keeping dangerous criminals off U.S. streets.
Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They call it the ICE super max of the West. It's 4:00 in the morning, and three dozen undocumented immigrants, many of them violent felony detainees, are being transferred into ICE custody.
Four Orange County deputies work for the county and the federal government. It's the only jail in California that allows local deputies to also work as ICE officers, a partnership that could end under the so-called sanctuary state law.
SANDRA HUTCHENS, SHERIFF, ORANGE COUNTY, CA: The public is going to be angry at the sheriff, and they should be. If I had the ability to protect them and I did not.
LAH: Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens runs for county jail. She's gotten the attention of the president.
TRUMP: I want to thank Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.
LAH: And minces no words about the sanctuary state law. Among many of his measures that blocks local officers from acting as federal immigration agents. It is this progressive state's response to the new president.
HUTCHENS: It's very political. It's anti-Trump. For me, you've got to make -- you've got to think about what's best for Californians instead of making a statement.
LAH: The sheriff's fear, the law would prevent jails from holding dangerous criminals until federal agents picked them up. They point to the case of Kate Steinle, murdered by an undocumented immigrant, released from the county jail even though he had been deported five times.
DONNY YOUNGBLOOD, KERN COUNTY SHERIFF: I believe this sanctuary state thing is really just absurd. To give people sanctuary who are criminals.
LAH: Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood represents a more conservative area and says frankly he welcomes the immigration policy shift since Trump's election.
YOUNGBLOOD: What I can tell you is there's a greater cooperation between local law enforcement and their federal partners than there ever was.
LAH (on camera): How do you view that greater cooperation?
YOUNGBLOOD: Well, I think it's a very positive thing for our communities. From my standpoint, it's just absolutely crazy to look at some of the bills that come out of there.
SEN. KEVIN DE LEON, PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE CA STATE SENATE: I don't think it's crazy at all, because what I want to do is make sure we don't increase crime. You will increase crime if local police officers are actually acting as cogs of the Trump deportation machine.
LAH (voice-over): The number of nonviolent arrests by ICE have more than doubled since Trump's election, since California senate leader. That's why Democrats want to send a signal to California residents and to Washington.
DE LEON: Nowhere in my lifetime have I ever felt this real insecurity with the current president of the United States, who I believe is a very clear and present danger.
LAH: Back in Orange County, four of the detainees are in street clothes. They're off to be deported. The rest step aboard an ICE bus, now in federal custody.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Santa Ana, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Kyung, thank you so much for bringing that to us.
OUTFRONT next, Jeanne Moos on why Governor Chris Christie is no longer having fun in the sun. And CNN is about to take you back to the '90s.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think (INAUDIBLE) decade (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of my favorite shows of all-time aired in the decade.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't talk about the '90s without so many monumental bands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nirvana gave the record industry a wake-up call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pressure was building up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gangster rap really starts to take hold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a hip hop tsunami.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While the '90s represented so much growth, so much progress, we still had so much to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rodney King in 1992 exposed some of that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: O.J. was a guy who felt like he was above race.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury find the defendant --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Columbine, the bombing in Oklahoma, the Davidian compound in Waco. Something dark was moving in the society.
BERNARD SHAW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Something is happening outside. The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: The promise of a new world order --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: George Bush took the loss to Bill Clinton very hard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bill Clinton was the president who was turning the corner to a different time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was scandal, scandal, scandal, scandal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bill Clinton is christened the comeback kid because he was resilient.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bill Gates' game plan was world domination.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could see the start of this new online culture.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the equivalent of the industrial revolution. It's the equivalent of electricity. The changes are just so profound.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: Welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT.
What is wrong with this picture this? Chris Christie shuts down state beaches, only to decide, hey, it's great idea, and great day to go to the beach.
Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRRESPONDENT (voice-over): For a governor lounging on a sunny beach, Chris Christie sure is getting a lot of shade. All because a photographer in a plane spotted the governor relaxing on a New Jersey state beach that was closed to everyone else because of a budget standoff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You would think you would at least want to leave office with not everyone hating your guts.
MOOS: A plane with the banner tell Governor Chris Christie to get the hell off the Islands Beach State Park was cheered. It was a mocking reference to the time the Governor said --
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Get the hell off the beach.
MOOS: -- to make beachgoers take shelter from a storm.
Waves of mocking tweets rolled in. Island Beach State Park is all mine.
It didn't help when asked, the governor said he didn't get any sun.
CHRISTIE: I didn't get any sun today.
MOOS: Which his spokesman explained away by saying he did not get any sun, he had a baseball hat on.
True, the governor has a residence there.
CHRISTIE: This is where we live. One of the places we live.
MOOS: But what will live on are the photo shopped memes. Governor Christie transported to from here to eternity, to the George Washington Bridge, scene of bridgegate. From Forrest Gump's bench to "The Planet of the Apes", another time Chris Christie thought he had the whole beach to himself.
(on camera): Not so sunny, the governor's poll numbers in his own state. His approval rating is at low tide, 15 percent.
(voice-over): Photojournalist Andrew Mills shot the photos. I've been on enough stakeouts to know when I've been made and Governor Chris Christie looked right at me as I pointed the long range lens at him. The governor tweeted that New Jersey beaches are opened in 119 miles of our 132 miles of our coastline, but use sunscreen and hydrate.
Instead of hydrating, people are venting that the governor sunbathing is like saying, let them eat sand.
Jeanne moos, CNN --
CHRISTIE: Get the hell off the beach.
MOOS: -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: That's a good message for you.
Thanks so much for joining us, everybody. I'm Kate Bolduan.
Up next on CNN, CNN's original series "THE SEVENTIES."
