happening now, breaking news. campaign crowds, the president is bonding with his base in arizona as he tries to put a week of intense controversy behind him. just hours after his scripted speech about war and unity, will he go back off the rails tonight? the heat is on. supporters and opponents of mr. trump are on the streets of phoenix right now. they are weighing in on his presidency, his policies and his response to the violence in charlottesville, virginia. we're following the frustration out west as the president ignores an appeal to stay away and feuds with top republicans. still simmering, charlottesville residents demand answers during an explosive city council meeting. emotions raw after the racist rally and the president's reaction. even the house speaker here in washington now declaring that president trump messed up.

and changing his view, the president abandons promises to get out of afghanistan, admitting he's going with the advice of his generals and against his instincts. new reaction tonight as mr. trump's policy is attacked by the far-right. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> we are following breaking news. president trump returning to campaign mode in arizona one week after his widely condemned remarks about white supremacists and the violence in charlottesville, virginia. mr. trump leaves soon for a rally in phoenix from arizona's southern border where he's been meeting with the marines and border protection officials. people are on the streets of phoenix right now. they are awaiting the president. thousands are expected to protest his visit, giving

president trump a fresh taste of the charlottesville backlash. the state's top republicans will be conspicuously absent tonight amid concerns about what he may say and the state of his presidency. also tonight, "the new york times" report that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is spriechlly expressing uncertainty that mr. trump will be able to salvage his administration following one crisis after another this summer. right now republicans are divided over the president's address to the nation overnight, outlining his new afghanistan policy. many mainstream gop leaders are backing his decision to abandon his past calls to withdraw u.s. forces from america's longest military conflict, but the far-right is fuming accusing him of supporting unlimited war. one of his harsh est critics, breitbart news, the right wing website where fired strategist steve bannon is now back at the helm. this hour i'll talk about those stories and more with republican

congressman mark sanford and our correspondents and specialists are also standing by. first, let's go to our senior national correspondent alexander mar quart. he's in phoenix at the site of the president's big rally later tonight. alex, so, what can we expect? >> reporter: well, wolf, the big question is which trump will show up. is it the free wheeling unscripted trump these people here, his base loves, or is it the more scripted on message, on teleprompter trump we saw last night in the speech on afghanistan? the white house is saying very little about what the president will actually say, but in the wake of those violent events in charlottesville, the press secretary saying just a short time ago that we can expect to see more condemnation of hate in all forms. president trump arriving in arizona tonight for a campaign rally facing angry crowds over his response to the violence in charlottesville and an escalating feud with a fellow republican, senator jeff flake. >> the american people are weary

of war without victory. >> reporter: tonight's rally comes one day after monday's more serious and somber primetime address on afghanistan in which the president reversed course on his repeated calls to withdraw troops from afghanistan. >> my original instinct was to pull out, and historically i like following my instincts. but all my life, i've heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the oval office. in other words, when you're president of the united states. >> reporter: trump has used past campaign events to rally his diminished base, feeding off the crowd, reveling in their support. >> with the exception of the late great abraham lincoln , i can be more presidential than any president that's ever held this office. that i can tell you. >> reporter: tonight's rally coming during a particularly tough time. a new poll showing the

president's overall approval at 37%. and just 28% approved of his response to the deadly violence in charlottesville. >> very fine people on both sides. >> reporter: monday night house speaker paul ryan told a cnn town hall that trump, quote, messed up. >> i think he made comments that were much more morally ambiguous, much more confusing. and i do think he could have done better. i think he needed to do better. >> reporter: today vice-president mike pence coming to trump's defense. >> the president specifically denounced white supremacists, neo-nazis and the kkk repeatedly, and he did it when he denounced hate and violence on saturday. he did it in his address to the nation monday. and he did it again in the press conference. >> there was no moral equivalency drawn by the president. >> reporter: that fall out had the potential to get worse if the president follows through on pardoning the deeply controversial sheriff joe arpaio convicted of criminal contempt

for refusing to stop racially profiling latinos. he tells cnn he was not invited to tonight's rally, but he was a stan much trump surrogate on the campaign trail. >> i'll see you again with donald trump because once he becomes president, i know he's never going to forget arizona. he'll be back and i hope to see him as president. >> reporter: trump also threatening to deepen the divisions in the gop, engaging in a war of words with arizona senator jeff flake, a staunch critic. last week he called him jeff flake, weak on borders and a nonfactor in senate. he's toxic. >> how about the president calling you a nonfactor in the senate and toxic? >> i don't worry about it at all. i'm going ahead and doing my job. >> reporter: now, in that same tweet that trump wrote about flake, he did appear to endorse a challenger in that reelection. next year, writing great to see

dr. kelly ward is running against flake. ward is a former state senator. she will be in the crowd tonight. as for sheriff joe arpaio, we are told by the white house that no action will be taken on that possible pardon today. press secretary sanders saying in a statement just a short time ago, no action will be taken any time today. wolf? >> all right, alexander mar quart reporting for us. he's in phoenix. meanwhile multiple protests are planned in phoenix for tonight as the president's visit deeply angers his opponents. and even some members of his own republican party. our national correspondent miguel marques following the demonstrations for us. miguel, what's the situation where you are right now? >> reporter: well, it's getting a bit fraught at this point. we have about 10 or 12 different protesters who have come down here to basically be present as the trump people start to go into the convention center here. i want to show you a little bit of how these things are happening. if you go up high, these are two people having a heated argument.

you have police in there in plain clothes who are trying to do two things. let them have their first amendment rights and yell and scream as much as they like, and keep them from getting to anything more in terms of physical violence. it is a very difficult thing for them to do clearly. there are several groups, anti-trump groups certainly, but jewish groups, pro-immigration groups that are gathering at different points in the city. it is likely in the next several hours they will start to come here. let me show you the individuals who have come down here so far. maybe there are now 15, 20 people who have come down here. they say they are self-organized and they just want to have a presence here. it did cause some sort of moments with the police down here and with pro-trump supporters, anti-trump people, them exchanging very, very heated words. i can tell you the crowds have also started to go into the convention center now, so that

will help keep things at a somewhat less of a fever pitch. the first person in line had been here since 7:00 p.m. last night, almost coming up on 24 hours at this point. the president isn't expected to be here for several more hours. and for police, they are treating this like a major event. whether it's the super bowl or the world series, it's all hands on deck. all police agencies are involved here, even the national guard just in case things get out of hand. as you know, the mayor here in phoenix has asked that the president trump not show up here, put off this rally for sometime, but he did not do that. and people, i can tell you, trump supporters have come in from all over the country as well. i met people from texas, from florida, from california. they are rallying behind the president. wolf? >> how many people can fit into that convention center? looks like thousands are getting ready to begin to enter.

>> reporter: there are thousands. give a look at the line. there are thousands who have been lining up. there will probably be between 15 and 20,000 in there by the time it's done. protesters hope to have up to 10,000, perhaps more protesters, several different protests they have planned. but it is not clear how this is going to go. wolf? >> we're going to stay in very close touch with you. miguel marques on the scene for us in phoenix. stand by over there. in the meantime, let's talk a little bit more about the president's trip with republican congressman mark sanford of south carolina. congressman, thanks so much for joining us. >> yes, sir. >> this is your first interview since president trump's response to the white supremacists, the protests, the cara tack attack charlottesville, virginia last week. how do you think the president handled the situation? >> i think it's been well state, probably overstated at this point. people were disa int toed with his response, that there wasn't immediate condemnation of some

of the groups that were, i think, way, way, way out of bounds and any kind of equivalency i think was, again, equally out of bounds. >> what would you have wanted the president to say immediately? and all of us recall what happened in your home state when there was a white supremacist who went on a rampage. >> well, what the governor at that time did and a host of leaders did was condemn unequivocally pure and simple say there is no justification. there can be no righting of the ship. what happened was tragic and wrong period, end of story. and i think if the president had done that in charlottesville, he would have been applauded for that. there was initially a lag, and then there was sort of, well, there were bad folks on both sides. that isn't the time nor the place to go into those kind of subtleties. it was a time to be unequivocal in simply condemning what had happened, and condemning racism in any form, fashion.

>> the president said there were very fine people on both sides. that's the statement that really irritated, angered so many people out there because on the one side there were white supremacists, kkk, neo-nazis. on the other side there were protesters who opposed those white supremacists. when you heard those words, very fine people on both sides, congressman, what was your reaction? >> well, as i just stated, a bit of shock and a bit of disappointment. you know, i attended business school in charlottesville, virginia. i have two boys -- one who is there currently, and one who graduated a couple years ago from charlottesville. i put out a facebook comment, said this is not the charlottesville i know. we need to overcome evil with good which is the beauty that happened in the tragedy that occurred here in charleston, south carolina in the wake of the tragic shooting at the local church. >> what would you like to see the president say, if anything, about this tonight?

>> well, i think he has backed up and made the vice-president stated, a number of different points of condemnation. the problem is it was late. the problem, again, there was that equivalency component i think troubled a lot of folks. if he wants to, again, come out with further condemnation, i think it would be a good thing. i don't know that this is where it's going to fit in given i suspect much of the conversation, in fact, will be about border wall and what happens next on immigration. >> a lot of people are wondering why the president decided to hold this campaign rally tonight, this huge campaign rally in phoenix so quickly after what happened in charlottesville, virginia. here's the question, congressman. does this send the right message about trying to bring the country together? >> you know, you can parse these things to -- i mean, a fairly crazy level.

no. in other words, my first reaction would be no, give it a little bit more of a pause. but in fairness, you know, there's been a long-standing promise he made with regard to immigration policy in particular securing the border. i think a lot of republicans, a lot of conservatives would like to see a more secure border. there was a funding built into the mini bus appropriations bill passed in the congress that would have another 173 miles worth of border protection in it. at some point we have to get onto that conversation. the timing might be a little bit off from my end, but in fairness, there is an important transition in moving forward on a number of issues that i think are going to be very, very important this fall, whether that's on the deficit, whether that's on what comes next and how we fund government prior to the end of the fiscal year, which is september 30th. or what happens next on the border. >> but is it appropriate with 3 1/2 years before the next presidential election for the president to be out on the campaign trail attending these

huge reelection campaign rallies as he's about to do tonight? a lot of people are wondering why. >> the one place i'm not going to try and get is inside donald trump's head. so, in fairness, he's going to do what he's going to do. you know, as a legislator, i have to simply react to what comes next from a legislative standpoint and it's going to be an awfully busy season come, you know, a couple weeks -- couple days from now when we get back into session. >> right after labor day you have a lot of work to do including raising the nation's debt ceiling to make sure the full faith and credit is not undermined. "the new york times" just reported senate majority leader mitch mcconnell was privately horrified by the president's handling of charlottesville and the relationship has disintegrated so far that the two haven't spoken in weeks. how damaging is this to the trump presidency? >> i don't know. wolf, you're asking me to go off

on, you know, a private horror, private speculation, private comment. i don't know what was said. i don't know what wasn't said. i don't want to get into, again, donald trump's mind. i don't want to get inside mitch mcconnell's mind. until they are public about what each is saying about the other, you know, i'll wait and see and see how that plays out. again, it's conjecture at this point to say what mcconnell is really thinking given this report that came from "the new york times." >> but, congressman, if the relationship between the republican president of the united states and the republican leader in the senate, the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, has so deteriorated that they're not even speaking to each other right now, and that mitch mcconnell is privately, according to "the new york times," expressed uncertainty the president will be able to salvage his administration. how extraordinary -- you've been around for a while, so have i. this is pretty extraordinary,

isn't it? >> it is. to that point, which is a different point, i would say it's a real problem because, again, i've been in executive capacity. your hands, at the end of the day, are going to be driven by what the legislature does or does not do. and you better find a way to work with them because at the end of the day they can, again, stymie your efforts or move forward. it is a real problem from the standpoint of him advancing his legislative agenda. what's, again, allegedly going on between the president and mitch mcconnell. >> it's a real problem for so many republicans, especially in the senate that are going to have to pick, do they stand with the majority leader mitch mcconnell, do they stand with the president. these two men apparently not even talking to each other. i guess the bottom line question, we have to take a quick break, but you can give me a quick answer, congressman. are you proud of where the republican party is right now?

>> am i proud of it? oh, wolf, you have a lot of strange questions tonight. what i'd say is i think that it is an awfully tense time in politics right now. on the one hand you have a lot of the trump supporters out there who legitimately are frustrated with their belief that nothing is getting done in washington that improves their lives. on the other hand, you have people who are saying, wait a minute, some of the institutions that made this country great are being challenged in the process and you're going to have a real tug of war over the weeks, months and even years ahead between those two points. >> congressman, i want you to stand by. there is more we need to discuss. we are following what's going on right now in the streets of phoenix, arizona. the president getting reds i to arrive there shortly. we'll have much more right after this. andre is confident. but when it comes to mortgages, he's less confident. fortunately, there's rocket mortgage by quicken loans.

apply simply. understand fully. mortgage confidently. i was playing golf love golf.... i used to love golf. wait, what, what happened? i was having a good round, and then my friend, sheila, right as i was stepping into the tee box mentioned a tip a pro gave her. no. yep. did it help? it completely ruined my game. well, the truth is, that advice was never meant for you. i like you. you want to show me your swing? it's too soon. get advice that's right for you.

investment management services from td ameritrade.

it's our back to school beeone cent evente. at office depot office max. 10 pack pens, one cent. composition notebooks,scissors, and plastic folders all one cent each! hurry to office depot office max. ♪taking care of business. when only the best will do... tempur-pedic delivers. tempur material provides up to twice as much pressure relieving power, so you wake up feeling like a champion. through september 17th, save up to $500 on select adjustable sets. tempur-pedic sleep is power. on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates. maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today.

liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. if you have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's, and your symptoms have left you with the same view, it may be time for a different perspective. if other treatments haven't worked well enough, ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works by focusing right in the gi-tract to help control damaging inflammation and is clinically proven to begin helping many patients achieve both symptom relief as well as remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. while not reported with entyvio, pml, a rare, serious brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections, or have flu-like symptoms, or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's medication isn't working for you,

ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach. allergytry new xyzal®.ou have symptoms like these for relief is as effective at hour 24 as hour one. so be wise all take new xyzal®. we're back with the republican congressman mark sanford. congressman, as president trump holds this huge campaign rally in phoenix, arizona tonight, triggering lots of protests, the president and the house speaker paul ryan, they want to push tax reform. what are the chances of that moving through the house and getti getting passed any time soon? >> i think they're better than people realize, because given what didn't happen on the health care front, if you talk to folks within the republican base, they're absolutely desperate for some kind of win moving forward.

and i think the tax reform would represent just that win. and it doesn't carry with it the emotional weight that, you know, frankly the health care debate did. it's a different conversation, you know. let's talk about your cousin, nephew or child with cancer versus what's on your w-2. so, i think it's a debate that will move forward. it's got to move forward from a political standpoint and i believe a monthly si standpoint in terms of making this country more competitive. >> there is another immediate issue that is going to be on your agenda before the end of september. the congress has to vote in favor of raising the nation's debt ceiling, otherwise there could be financial disaster. the full faith and credit of the u.s. coming into play. will you support passing legislation to simply raise a clean bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling without attaching anything to it? >> i won't. you know, we've got to look at the fundamentals of how we ended up with a $20 trillion national debt.

oddly enough, $5 trillion . national debt in essence is attributable to the wars in the middle east the last 16 years. that's a different conversation. but we've got to look at what are those fundamentals that are driving us to a higher and higher debt level and we've got to do something to put the brakes on it. so, the idea of clean without addressing the core issue of how you're building up that debt to me doesn't make sense and i don't think it makes sense to the number of conservatives as well. >> will the conservative freedom caucus as it's called in the house of representatives go along with raising the nation's debt ceiling? >> i can't speak for the group, but my suspicion, based on the members that i know, would say no, they would want something for that vote. >> what do they want? >> something, again would go -- something that addresses the core issue of how do you slow down spending in washington so that we don't end up with, frankly, a much bigger financial crisis as a result of not slowing down what is clearly an unsustainable path in debt buildup. >> so, congressman, what do you want in order to get a yea vote

from you? >> well, again, i think that there will be a whole host of different policy alternatives that come to us. you know, some people would say, you know what i want is a balanced budget amendment. other people would say i want two-year budgeting. there are going to be a number of different proposals all built around this larger theme, how do you slow up spending so we're on a sustainable path. >> but, congressman, are you willing to risk a stock market crash that potentially could go along a recession if the full faith and credit of the u.s. government, the treasury, is questioned? >> well, again, people can draw a lot of scary pictures. and again, treasury secretary's job, it seems, republican or democratic president's job is to do so. every president seems to want to clean debt ceiling whether republican or democrat. and, again, it's historically been conservative. said wait a minute, we have got

to stop and, again, put the brakes on what's happening here. so, i think that if we do nothing and we simply add debt ceiling increase upon debt ceiling increase upon debt ceiling increase, the one guarantee that we are headed toward is a financial crisis and a financial crash that would impact a whole lot more than the stock market. so, i think the scarier picture is doing nothing to slowing spending and seeing frankly the financial crisis that will come as a consequence. >> but you know, congressman, there is not much time. you only have until the end of september. that's the deadline. mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader, he guarantees that this legislation will pass raising the nation's debt ceiling. you sound much more concerned. >> i am. and let's make no mistake, there is a big difference between a country's technical default, if you want to call it that, in saying we're in the process of reordering the way we spend money so that we can stay on a sustainable path so we can pay

back your bond versus the inability to pay it back, which is where you end up here in the not too distant future. if you look at the charts of where greece was at the time of their crisis or a whole host of other countries, america is headed for that point if we do nothing. and, so, we're going to have a real tug of war in the month of september about where we go next on spending and how we pay for this additional debt increase. >> congressman mark sanford, always good to have you on the program. thanks so much for joining us. >> yes, sir. pleasure. >> just ahead, we'll have more on the lead up to the president's campaign rally. how far will he go to fire up his base and potentially rile up protesters gathering outside? we'll also talk about the private fears of the senate's top republican, mitch mcconnell. reportedly questioning whether the president can salvage his presidency.

it's our back to school beeone cent evente. at office depot office max. 10 pack pens, one cent. composition notebooks,scissors, and plastic folders all one cent each! hurry to office depot office max. ♪taking care of business. buried just under the surface, the answer to it all. ♪ we want to need each other. ♪

♪ whoa that's amazing... hey, i'm the internet! i know a bunch of people who would love that. the internet loves what you're doing... ...so build a better website in under an hour with... ...gocentral from godaddy. type in your idea. select from designs tailored just for you and publish your site with just a few clicks-even from your... ...mobile phone. the internet is waiting

start for free today at godaddy. when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night... so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?!? with liberty mutual's 24-hour roadside assistance, get a jump, tow, and more - any time of day. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

breaking news this hour, president trump is in arizona tonight preparing for a campaign rally that's drawing protesters to the streets, a huge crowd for him as well. also "the new york times" now reporting new details about the very frosty relationship between the president and the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell who is said to be privately questioning whether the president can salvage his presidency. let's dig deeper with our correspondents, our specialists, our analysts. david swerdlick, let me read the lead story.

the relationship between president trump and senate majority leader mitch macon, georgia connell has disintegrated. they have not spoken to each other in weeks. he has expressed uncertainty whether president trump will be able to salvage his administration after a series of summer crises. if he's lost, the president has lost the senate -- the republican leader in the senate. he's got deep, deep problems, the president. >> he does, because mcconnell, he needs him as much as anybody if not more than anybody to move his agenda in congress. if you're mitch mcconnell, you have to be asking yourself this. the one unequivocal win of president trump's presidency so far is neil gorsuch to the supreme court. it was mcconnell who handed that to him on a silver platter by taking that opportunity away from president obama. so, from senator mcconnell's perspective, the idea that president trump is either going to bad mouth him in public or not push harder on health care or do any of the other things that he wants him to do, he's got to be just completely scratching his head.

>> bianna, very interesting, it describes a very angry phone call between mcconnell and the president. i'll read another line from the article. the president was even more an mated about what he intimated was the senate leader's refusal to protect him from investigations of russian interference in the 2016 election, according to republicans briefed on the conversation. it looks like the president is so, so concerned about that russia investigation that he's telling the senate republican leader, the majority leader, you know what, you didn't protect me enough. you've got so stop some of those committees, the judiciary committee, intelligence committee from pursuing this investigation. >> it always does seem to come back to russia with this president, wolf. from mitch mcconnell's standpoint his hands were tied. this wasn't something he wanted to focus on. to go back to what david was talking about, mitch mcconnell wants to focus on pursuing his legislative achievements and what he wants to see going forward. he's not achieving anything with

a republican president right now. in some ways it may be easier to explain to constituents at home you're not able to achieve health care or tax reform or infrastructure reform or anything that you wanted to do legislatively if you had a democratic president. but you have a republican president in office right now. you are coming upon a crucial month when you've got a budget you've got to come together with and a debt ceiling, as you heard from congressman sanford, you're not seeing resolution from amongst the republicans themselves if they're going to raise the debt limit. and to be focusing on russia and to be focusing on this president attacking members of his own party in the senate is not something mitch mcconnell wants to be dealing with right now. >> he certainly doesn't. it's interesting, caitlyn, you cover the white house for us. "the new york times" article also says the senate majority leader has privately described president trump as unwilling to learn the basics of governing and is questioning the president's ability to lead the republican party in the 2018 midterm elections and beyond.

so, what does this say about the future of the republican party, at least in the short term? >> well, it doesn't look good right now. but let's not forget this most recent feud between them that has become so public. it was most recently re-ignited after mitch mcconnell said that the president had excessive expectations when it came to getting health care passed. as we know the president thinks mitch mcconnell bungled that moved to try to repeal and replace the affordable care act, but we really saw the president try to strong arm several members of the house and of the senate when it came to be their time into passing this bill. in that story, it says that the president told senator capito he would let her ride on air force one if she voted in favor of his bill. she declined it because she said she hadn't seen the bill, but that just shows what the president thinks he needs to do to get legislation passed. but let's not forget how stunning this is that the president of the republican party and the senate majority leader of the republican party are publicly feuding like this. in the article is says they had

a profane conversation while trump was on the golf course and we assume that's the last time they've spoken. but it's really stunning that their fight is this public. >> yeah, and the president was tweeting against mitch mcconnell. also republican senator jeff flag, it's playing out tonight, flake won't be attending the president's big rally in phoenix. but mitch mcconnell supports flake's reelection. the president clearly does not. but listen to this ad that a mitch macon, georgia connell aligned super pac just put out against one of the challengers running against jeff flake. >> kelly has her head in the clouds with crazy ideas. she bizarrely blamed john mccain for isis. >> john mccain is directly responsible for the rise of isis. >> embarrassing behavior, dangerous ideas. no wonder republicans rejected her just one year ago. kim trail kelly. not conservative, just crazy

ideas. >> she's going to be at that rally with the president later today although it is unclear if the president is going to mention her, endorse her, anything along those lines. but it underscores a huge problem the republican party has right now. >> it's a huge schism. but what you see here is that senators, including senator mcconnell, senator flake, they're not as scared as they might have been six months ago to take sides against the president. senator mcconnell knows that he won his last reelection by 15 points over grimes. he's not worried about his own seat and he's not worried about his support among other senators. senator flake never supported president trump to begin with in his election. he was one of the senators most critical of president trump during the 2016 campaign. so, they look at the president's approval ratings, around 35% in most polls, including in some swing states, and they're saying, look, we can afford to take a stand with a different republican. >> clearly -- go ahead, bianna. >> the president may be in over his head when it comes to

bashing senators of his own party. lindsey graham colorfully in this "the new york times" article saying they will invoke article 5, obviously referencing the nato doctrine, one attack on a senator is an attack on all republican senators. look at how they rallied around jeff sessions when he went against him. he apologized to jeff sessions. we may see the president forced to do the same when it comes to the attacks we're seeing now. >> clearly, phil mudd, the president's reaction, some of the comments he made last tuesday involving the charlottesville violence that erupted thanks to the white supremacists rally that was taking place. that's exacerbated, further exacerbated some of these tensions between the president and republicans. he's got a rally that he's going to have very soon out in phoenix. he's going to try to rally his base. what is that going to do to the tensions that currently exist right now? >> let me give you one question, wolf, and the answer to that

question will answer your question. will the president be trump or will he be president? when we saw the reaction to charlottesville, we saw a president who stepped back and said, i'm going to ad-lib and i'm going to talk about what i'm interested in, what my base is interested in. and he stepped out in a way outside of what his advisors would have suggested, horrible mistake. when he spoke last night about afghanistan, i was rereading it right before the show. whether you agree or disagree with what he said, a more presidential statement. the question is for a man who is so proud of his own image, who is so comfortable stepping out ad-libbing, when he steps off and speaks tonight, is he going to be president or is he going to be trump? that's going to be answered whether he solves the problem of race in america or begins to solve it or whether he steps in it again as he did after charlottesville. >> we know the president will point out thousands of people are inside supporting him. he'll know there are thousands outside protesting, and that's going to cause him to react, i am sure. everybody stick around. the wife of the u.s. treasury

secretary steve mnuchin is forced to publicly apologize after online rant against a mother she dismissed as, quote, a doorably out of touch. hey, i've got the trend analysis. hey. hi. hi. you guys going to the company picnic this weekend? picnics are delightful. oh, wish we could. but we're stuck here catching up on claims. but we just compared historical claims to coverages. but we have those new audits. my natural language api can help us score those by noon. great. see you guys there. we would not miss it. watson, you gotta learn how to take a hint. i love to learn.

watson, you gotta learn how to take a hint. you myour joints...thing for your heart... or your digestion...

so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. no, please, please, oh! ♪ (shrieks in terror) (heavy breathing and snorting) no, no. the running of the bulldogs? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money aleia saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ♪ never stop ♪ never ( ♪ )

♪ over your head... she needs to go to college. i don't know how we'll do it. ♪ never stop ( ♪ ) ♪ 'til we get there ♪ ( ♪ ) ♪ 'til we get there ♪

we're following the breaking news. protesters, they're already on the streets of phoenix ahead of the president's campaign rally later tonight. it comes less than 24 hours after the president outlined a new strategy for the war in afghanistan. let's continue our analysis.

a very different subject as far as afghanistan is concerned, phil. the washington post reports very interesting anecdote about how the president was persuaded by his national security advisor general h.r. mcmaster to support continuing to have a u.s. military presence in afghanistan. he showed president trump a picture like this one of some young women wearing mini skirts in kabul to make the point western values could return to afghanistan. what do you make of that? >> not going to happen. not now, not 16 years ago when we moved in. i was there in the fall of 2001. not ever. if you want to understand what's happening in government, we're increasingly learning that you have to listen to cabinet officers. in this case, secretary of state tillerson who also in the past 24 hours spoke about afghanistan, and what the president said, what did tillerson said? he didn't say we're going to change afghanistan. he said we're going to continue pressure on the government with the potential there would be reconciliation, maybe even

dialogue. let me cut to the chase about what that means. if we ever, and i suspect we will, dialogue with the taliban, there will never be a skirt in kabul. the message from the president is idealistic. the realistic message is there will never be a short skirt in kabul. >> what did you think, bianna? >> i'm curious to see if this president will now take responsibility and ownership of something given that he's been in office for eight months now. he's laid blame on his predecessors for many things that he says he was dealt a bad hand for coming into office. this is now going to be his war that he's inheriting as well. these additional 4,000 troops, if that does prove to be the number, it did seem like he tried to cushion himself a bit yesterday by saying that he typically goes with his gut, but he's going with what the generals were telling him. and thus you could see a point maybe in the future, hopefully this will not happen, but if there is some bad news that does come out of afghanistan if the

troop surge does not go the president's way or the general's way, the president can kind of deflect back to this going with his gut. it should have been what he was going to do, instead he listened to these generals. >> for years he was sailing, as you know, david, get out of afghanistan. 100,000 troops in afghanistan, not going to win with 15,000 or 15,000. just get out, take the trillions of dollars, spend it, rebuild the united states instead of rebuilding the infrastructure in afghanistan. >> that's what he used to say. he said if for years and as a lot of people pointed out i think it is an important point to point out, the president did signal last night that he was willing to change based on the realities of what he learned once in office. but i don't want to give him too much credit for that because that has been the trend on a number of issues, wolf. he used to say that jobs numbers were fraudulent. now he touts positive jobs numbers. he used to say get out of afghanistan. now he says, we're going to have to stay the course. on any number of issues the president has sort of shown that

when he campaigned, he was sort of talking freelancing when he was talking, and now he's actually having to govern with reality, and that he didn't play straight with his voters. >> very different story. i'm anxious to get your quick thought on this, caitlyn. the wife of the treasury secretary steve mnuchin, luis, has now apologized for posting a picture tagging her high-end designer clothing from >> when a commentator had some criticism of her, she wrote back have you given more to the economy as me or my husband? pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day trip than you did. she went on to say this woman who criticized her was adorably out of touch. a lot of people are buzzing about that. >> there has been so much criticism that she put her profile on private and has now apologized for her nasty remarks

to this woman. she posted this bragging about her designer clothes and this woman decided to comment on it and said she didn't think it was appropriate for her to do that. she's not an elected figure, but she is a very public figure now that she's married to someone in the trump administration. >> we'll stay on top of all of these developments. there's more breaking right now as we await the president's phoenix campaign rally. we monitor the protests that already are around. your insurance company won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back

including depreciation. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. hey, i'm the internet! ♪ i know a bunch of people who would love that. the internet loves what you're doing... ...so build a better website in under an hour with... ...gocentral from godaddy. the internet is waiting. start for free today at godaddy. miracle-ear, your mornings can come to life with sound.

call the number below so that your day can start just like this. today can be the day you join millions of americans who have already started hearing better days with miracle-ear. if you do happen to have hearing loss, miracle-ear can help keep you more connected to the world around you - and the people who matter most. now's the time to pick up the phone and schedule your free no-obligation hearing evaluation. miracle-ear has 1,300 locations nationwide, so your caring, dependable miracle-ear center is right around the corner. our exclusive, cutting edge genius 2.0 technology, which offers our absolute best sound quality ever, makes connecting to your mobile device, television and the world around you easier than ever. at miracle-ear, we take the time to get to know you, so we can ensure you hear what's most important in your life. our hearing care specialists are committed to addressing any questions you may have before, during and after we identify the perfect solution for you. so, when your choose miracle-ear, you can rest easy knowing that from day one,

you'll receive attentive, ongoing support. and, with a 3-year warranty, we're always available to assist with anything at all, big or small. now's the time to schedule your free no-obligation hearing evaluation. our experts are trained to help you find a hearing solution that fits any budget. act now and you can take advantage of our generous 30-day money back guarantee, so there's absolutely no risk to you. when you hear clearly, (granddaughter) grandpa! (vo) this is what your day could sound like. this is what it could look like. and this is what it could feel like... and it only gets better from here. why wait?! you can start hearing your better days by scheduling your free hearing evaluation today. miracle-ear...hear a better day.

there has been concern about health risk for people living near certain types of coal mining operations. toxic minerals in ground water. but now the trump administration is abruptly stopping that study. the president has been a strong advocate of coal. >> he has been. he's promised to bring coal country back. he has eliminated environmental rules the industry calls burdensome and the administration shut down a study into whether certain coal mining techniques are correlated to increased rates of cancer and other diseases for people who live near these mining sites. donald trump has branded himself as the pro-coal president. >> and for those miners, get

ready because you are going to be working your asses off, right? >> the administration's latest move may hurt their industry. a letter directed to cease all activities on a study to determine whether people living near mountain top coal mining sites are more prone to certain diseases like cancer. >> the evidence that we have seen so far in over two dozen articles and studies have shown higher cancer rates, higher rates of heart and cardiovascular disease. >> the agency said it put a hold on one million dollars in funding for this study because of its changing bugd situation. the study focussed on west virginia, virginia, kentucky and tennessee where coal mining is most prevalent. instead of drilling, explosive

blasts blow up mountains to get into the coal inside. it is dumped into streams and valleys near by. >> president trump is showing he is looking out for the coal industry and the coal executives and not the people. >> since taking office, trump has withdrawn from the paris climate agreement, issued an executive order reopening federal lands to new coal leases and rolled back environmental rules, including ones aimed at requiring the coal industry to monitor and report toxic mining waste. >> they stopped the requirements for companies to report. now they have halted a study that would investigate whether there were any public health impacts for smun communities in vicinity. that fits into an overall pattern of setting science aside. >> the national mining association, which represents coal miners, pointed to a july

study that said there is no conclusive evidence connecting mountain top mining with health hazards and questioned whether studying the health impacts is even necessary, saying, quote, these mining practices today account for less than 1% of total u.s. coal production. >> coal mining advocates say studying showing a link between cancer and mining don't take into account other lifestyle factors. it is worth noting that the trump administration halted a study that was being done by independent, nongovernment institutions that congress actually chartered to advise the government on scientific matters. the study started under the obama administration and it was officials in west virginia that actually asked for this study. >> thanks very much for that report. finally tonight i want to thank you and sadly good-bye to a

beloved member. she's been my producer, making me and this network much better and along the way she made all of us smarter as well. she is moving to new york, on to new adventures in her work and life, getting married in just a few days. we wish her every happiness. you'll always be part of our situation. thanks for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >> breaking news, president trump about to hold a major campaign rally. protesters out. what is his message tonight? and more breaking news, trump and mitch mcconnell reportedly haven't spoken in weeks. angry phone calls, private bad mouthing. mcconnell now casting doubt on trump's ability to salvage his