game, ms. mccain thanked the cardinals and fitzgerald for the tribute. they tweeted out a photo of her hugging fitzgerald. i'm poppy harlow in new york. i'll see you back here tomorrow morning. let me pass it to my colleague, kate bolduan. hello, i'm erica hill in for kate bolduan. we begin this hour with hurricane florence, a massive storm that has just strengthened. now a category 3, which makes this a major hurricane, one that appears to be barreling toward the carolinas. it could be the strongest hurricane to hit that area in more than 20 years. just moments ago, we learned more about it. we also learned a mandatory evacuation about to get under way on north carolina's hatteras island. right now, the national hurricane center is releasing its latest updates. cnn's chad myers is tracking all of this for us from the weather

center. chad, the question obviously a lot of folks want to know is when could florence hit the u.s.? >> probably the first effect would be some time noon on thursday. maybe a little earlier, outer bands kind of coming in with lashing 75-mile-per-hour winds, but the problem is not really that we're 115 right now. it's the problem of what's going on from here. the water is getting warmer, erica. it's now 85 degrees under the storm. and it's forecast to be 145 and right behind here, 150-mile-per-hour storm. even if it loses some strength on the way into land, it's going to have this massive bubble of water called a storm surge. the same type of surge that we see in every landfalling major hurricane like katrina, like hugo, like all of the big storms that push water onshore. it could be 15 or 20 feet high as it comes onshore. then the storm is going to stop. and it's going to rain a little bit like harvey.

hopefully not a lot like harvey but it's forecast to come onshore, stop, and put down somewhere in the ballpark of 20 to 30 inches of rain somewhere in between west virginia, virginia, and down into the carolinas, which is very topographic, not flat like houston. this is going to run off, be flash flooding, major problems with this storm. it's time to prepare. this looks like a true buzzsaw right now. and this means right now this is going through rapid intensification. if you're doing anything, anywhere along the coastal areas and you don't belong there, don't live there, just leave now so you don't clog the roads for the locals that are trying to leave as the week progresses. this will be an evacuation type storm where people will need to get away from that water, especially if it's going to go that deep that quickly, erica. this is going to be a big one we haven't seen in this area in decades. >> all right, chad myers with the latest for us. thank you. while hurricane florence is still days away from landfall, as chad pointed out, those warnings, those preparations

already under way. cnn's kaylee hartung is live in wilmington, north carolina. you have been speaking with folks not just on the beach yesterday. today you're at some of the stores. are people really starting to heed the warnings and get prepared? >> they are, erica. we're seeing shelves clear from savannah, georgia, up the carolina coast, into virginia. this home improvement store behind me selling out of the generators that they restocked this morning. getting more on the floor as soon as they can. water, bread, and milk. those types of hurricane necessities, emptying out in grocery stores across the area. but people here recognize this storm, as ched mentioned, isn't just a threat to the coast. you also have to be concerned with areas inland. we talked to one lowe's home improvement store an hour and a half inland from where we are here in wilmington, north carolina, a store in lumberton, north carolina, that sold more than 200 generators in the past day. so many people here preparing

for a storm that this area really hasn't seen in about 20 years. you mentioned those evacuations. hatteras island now under mandatory evacuation starting at noon today. hatteras island in the area familiar called the outer banks, that entire county of dare county will be under mandatory evacuation starting 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. people here are taking this serious, so are officials. we're aware of the states of emergency that were declared before even the weekend. people asking why were those declarations made so early? for this reason. so allocations could be made, resources and assets put in place well before the storm hits. >> kaylee hartung with the latest for us. thank you. at the trump white house, the list of suspects shrinking. the roll call of denials growing. in the latest twist here, a sitting vice president goes to extraordinary lengths to say he will prove his loyalty to the commander in chief.

add mike pence to the lengthy list of trump officials to deny writing that scathing op-ed for "the new york times." but pence going a step further. he says he never discussed removing president trump as unfit for office and is even offering now to take a polygraph. >> should all top officials take a lie detector test, and would you agree to take one? >> i would afree to take it in a heartbeat, and would submit to any review of the administration. >> one of the claims made in the op-ed is that there had been discussion of invoking the 25th amendment, to even remove the president from office. have you ever been part of a conversation about that? >> no, never. and why would we be? >> all this as the embattled white house is bracing for tomorrow's release of bob woodward's book, and its damning account of a president dangerously impulsive and uninformed. the president not wasting any time, firing back this morning, quote, the woodward book is a joke, he tweeted. just another assault against me

and a buraurj of assaults using disproven, unnamed and anonymous sources. many have come forward to say the quotes by them, like the book, are fiction. dems can't stand losing. i'll write the real book. abby phillip is at the white house. let's begin with this "new york times" op-ed. a source telling cnn white house aides have actually whittled down the list of suspects. what more do we know about their efforts to determine who the author is? >> well, white house aides are being pushed to identify this person by the president himself, who has talked publicly and privately about his anger at this person. he's raised some national security concerns that he might find himself in meetings with a person who would write an op-ed like this. but what we haven't gotten a sense of is who they think this might be, where they might have come from within the administration. what is their profile? we haven't heard anything about that. and meanwhile, there are, as you just mentioned, a slew of officials talking about the fact that they weren't behind it.

and denouncing the unnamed administration official who did write the op-ed. listen to kellyanne conway yesterday on "state of the union." >> if this person really thinks that he or she is being patriotic and not pathetic which is the way i view it, they should come forward. i think the motivation was to sow discord and create chaos. >> we asked her how is the search going? she says she doesn't know anything about it because she's not involved in it. meanwhile, we are wondering now, what is president trump going to do when it comes to his claim that he might ask jeff sessions, the attorney general, to investigate this person. kelly ann also said yesterday that she didn't know of any laws that this person might have broken, but she left the question open. we'll see today whether or not the president moves forward with that and whether that has actually been conveyed to anyone else in this government. >> all right, appreciate it.

thank you. >> let's continue the discussion. joining me now, josh dawsey, "washington post" white house reporter, and cnn senior political analyst mark preston. good to have both of you with us. all of this is unfolding with "the new york times" op-ed and the parlor game still going there as we're waiting for bob woodward's book to drop tomorrow. he was on the "today" show this morning and savannah guthrie asked him point blank, you have john kelly and jim mattis coming out and saying the things you said i said in the book, i didn't say. they're refuting his claims. she said are they lies? his answer, they're not telling the truth and he felt they had to make political statements to protect their jobs. josh, who do we believe? >> well, there was certainly a lot of pressure on senior officials last week to go back and push back on bob woodward's book and the early accounts that came out. mr. woodward said he interviewed more than 100 people for this book. yesterday, he talked about his meticulous reporting history as a journalist in washington, but you also have senior officials who are saying their comments

were misattributed. the book, i think what's important to say is a mosaic of what it paints, a portrait of his presidency that in some ways is aligned with what we have been reporting here at the post or books at "the new york times," "wall street journal," other places have reported, and lot of the anecdotes in the book are things i had heard separately and i think my colleagues have heard, too, and we know to be true. i don't know every detail in the book, but i know a lot of the reporting aligns with what i heard inside the white house. >> which tells us all a lot. bob woodward was also asked if in working on the book, he feels he may have spoken to the author of the op-ed? >> i want to ask you if you have any suspects, but i wonder when you read that op-ed -- >> i don't have any suspects. >> did you think this might be someone i also have talked to? >> no, i didn't, because the people i talked to i insisted be very specific about the incidents. >> mark, does that answer in any way narrow the list of possible

authors? >> no, i mean, look. a good question by savannah guthrie as we're trying to figure out who the person is, and i should note, we will find out who the person is. there are no more mark felts, no more deep throats in this culture we live in, in this information age where everything moves so quickly. it was bob woodward who protected the identity of mark felt for all those years as his source for watergate. no surprise he wouldn't even address the question so much when asked right then, but i want to go to something i trust as well, the overarching narrative about chaos in the white house is something that we have been reporting on since day one. so we shouldn't be surprised that conversations that have come up in this book, controversial subjects that have come up, the 25th amendment have come up. we shouldn't be surprised at all that these conversations have happened in the white house. >> and you know, it's just to pick up on that point. what's fascinating here is this

white house media blitz that they put out certainly over the weekend, to try to keep the focus on the letter while sort of complaining a little bit about the focus on the letter, it hasn't really focused on the content of the letter. take a listen to some of what kellyanne conway had to say just yesterday. >> i think the motivation was to sow discord and create chaos. >> you think the person broke the law? >> i don't know. i have no idea. >> we don't know if anything illegal happened here, but the president wants an investigation. we don't know why. clearly, this was about sowing discord and chaos in the white house because i guess there wasn't any before that. again, josh, what's not addressed here is the content of this letter. >> that's correct. and one of the challenges the white house has had in sussing out who wrote the letter is there are a number of officials who privately agree with the contents of the letter. we did reporting last week where they were trying to figure out early on who it could be and everyone had five, ten guesses

which tells you a lot of people share the insights put in the letter. i was on air force one with the president on friday. he came to the black of the plane and was talking about the letter and saying how shameful it was and how he wants jeff sessions to investigate. but we haven't from a lot of officials heard as much about the contents of the letter and the claims it makes of the president that he's incompetent and amoral and more about how atrocious it was for the person to pen such a letter, which is an interesting divide. >> you know, mark, something i wanted to bring up that you touched on talking about bob woodward and deep throat. one of the other things that was interesting, he was asked this morning by savannah, have you ever put out a book with information you know to be true and then the person who is quoted in the beak says, oh, i never said that. he said that does kind of happen. and that eventually he said, you know, and i'm paraphrasing here, eventually, the truth comes out. as you were saying, mark, eventually we'll know who wrote this op-ed. you know, none of us has a crystal ball, but what's fascinating that eventually,

that timeframe of that is much different in 2018 and how quickly that can come to light. >> erica, i'm surprised we haven't found out yet. i'm surprised the name hasn't come out yet. what i do think is interesting and i do think our viewers should really hone in on this. when you have somebody come out such as general mattis or anybody and say look, i did not write the op-ed or i never said those things, take into context that he's a secretary of defense for a president right now that a lot of people have questions about his stewardship of the country. could you imagine if jim mattis came out and said, you know what, i did say that? we would be in absolute turmoil. so when bob woodward says that's a political statement, they have jobs. it's more than they need a paycheck. there's much more to it than that. there is the country at stake. so i do think that's what woodward is getting to. >> and the op-ed denials are interesting to me because you have folks, if you wrote an anonymous op-ed like this and would you then immediately say, oh, actually, i did do it when

asked by the press? if you were willing to write such an op-ed and place it, hard to imagine now i received a press question so i'm going to fess up to it. >> i don't need to be anonymous anymore. sure, it was me. >> right, it was me. so it's hard to know, you know, how if any of the denials are disingenuous because you're not going to just say i did it. >> oh, and at and point, perhaps we'll look back on this and laugh at the fact it took us now six days to figure this out. mark and josh, always appreciate it. thank you. coming up, an awkward mistake from the u.s. government. prosecutor they they were wrong to accuse a russian national of offering sex for political access. is her case, though, really the one the president is thinking about? plus, president trump says the economy is so good, but one of his latest tweets about it is flat out wrong. the facts ahead. >> tech: at safelite autoglass,

we really pride ourselves on making it easy for you to get your windshield fixed. with safelite, you can see exactly when we'll be there. saving you time for what you love most. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ ♪ you said you're not like me, ♪ never drop to your knees, ♪ look into the sky for a momentary high, ♪ ♪ you never even tried till it's time to say goodbye, bye ♪ ♪ everybody fights for a little bit of light, i believe. ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. today's senior living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. and there's never been an easier way to get great advice.

a place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. a place for mom. you know your family we know senior living. together we'll make the right choice.

slonly remfresh useseep one in ion-powered melatonin ht. to deliver up to 7 hours of sleep support. number one sleep doctor recommended remfresh -your nightly sleep companion. accused russian spy marina butina heads back to court this afternoon for a status hearing. this comes days after prosecutors acknowledge they misunderstood text messages used as the basis of a claim that she offered to trade sex for access. it's a stunning admission that threatened to undercut the government's cloak and dagger portrayal of this 29-year-old russian accused of working to infillerate american political circles. joining me, paul callan. that headline grabs you. we got it wrong, not about sex. is there more to it, though, than the salacious headline? >> first, they have done her a

grave injustice, and i think unfortunately in my line of work, which is white collar criminal defense, it happens more often than you think that the government gets things wrong. i think it highlights the bigger difficulty that prosecutors are having in the russia investigation at large. this isn't part of the mueller probe. this is in the d.c. federal court system, but it does have to do with sort of russia at large. and prosecuting these types of sort of spy cases are very ambiguous. they owned up, fessed up to the fact they made a mistake when they read these text messages. it was clearly a joke. but you know, everything is supposed to be coded when you're talking about spy language. so it's very difficult to sort of get to the heart of a case like this. i think it's a pretty flimsy case against her. >> it does hurt it a little bit. >> yeah. >> which is fascinating. i have to get to this too. we also learned the president is going to provide written answers in the defamation suit brought against him by former "the apprentice" contestant summer

zervos. the questions aren't limited to just what is a part of this defamation suit, correct? >> that's correct. and in state court in new york, unlike federal court, where you have limitations on the questions that can be asked, you really can ask almost anything that's somewhat relevant to the litigation. there's a lot relevant potentially to the stormy daniels litigation. but you know, i really think the bigger issue here is that he has, the president is now withdrawing, reportedly, the proviso that she has to remain silent, the nda. if that disappears, i'm wo wondering how much of the stormy daniels case will be left in the end. >> that's for the stormy daniels case. but if we focus in on summer zervos and the written responses, yes, it could bring up more. the other question, too, though is if these are written responses, you're not following up on anything, right? >> you're not, but you can ask

for a deposition in new york, which i think it's hard to say that a deposition of inpresident would definitely be granted, but this is new york. there's a lot of hostility against president trump and they have ordered depositions in the past for him. that's the big danger for the president in the zervos case as opposed to stormy daniels which may be getting better for him. >> it's fascinating, too, to think of what could we learn, and would this set a precedent, too, in the fact he has agreed to provide these written answers because this isn't the only case? >> absolutely. not necessarily in the context of written answers but as paul was saying, the possibility of a deposition. remember, summer zervos had argued, this is really the sleeper case of the trump presidency, in my opinion. i think it could have farther reaching implications than the stormy daniels case because it could get to a deposition, erica. remember, clinton v. jones, 1997. supreme court case. unanimous decision that a sitting president is not immune

from civil ligatio litigation o nature. mark case awits tried to make a distinction because this is in state court. the judge said, uh-uh, it's the same. a sitting president is not above the law. the implications have to do with the mueller investigation at large. all of these different things are coming together. you know, this is what got bill clinton impeached. >> this case has been pointed at as, it does have more meat. that's why it was allowed to go through, and the merits are perhaps different than some of the other ones. >> caroline makes a great point, when you look back at the clinton impeachment, that turned on a statement that president clinton made in a civil deposition, the paula jones deposition, where he lied. that eventually wound up before a criminal grand jury, and of course, in impeachment proceedings. there are analogous situations in the zervos case. >> so much still to come. appreciate it. thank you. coming up, president trump says this has not happened in

100 years. spoiler alert, actually happened as recently as 2006. so why is the president muddying the waters around his good economic headlines? that's next. why did i want a crest 3d white smile? dinner date...meeting his parents dinner date.

so i used crest. crest 3d white removes... ...95% of surface stains in just 3 days... ...for a whiter smile... that will win them over. crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life. when we switched our auto and home insurance.

with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual, you could save $782 on auto and home insurance. and still get great coverage for you and your family. call for a free quote today. you could save $782. liberty mutual insurance. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist relieves your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. it helps block six key inflammatory substances. most pills block one. flonase sensimist.

most pills block one. this is moving day with the best in-home wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. and this is moving day with reliable service appointments in a two-hour window so you're up and running in no time. show me decorating shows. this is staying connected with xfinity to make moving... simple. easy. awesome. stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. president trump is right to be proud of the success. yet, while the president is

clearly starting to focus on that message, he can't seem to get his facts straight. tweeting this morning the gdp rate is higher than the unemployment rate for the first time in over 100 years. numbers from the bureau of labor and statistics and the bureau of economic analysis show gdp growth has been higher than unemployment seven times in the last 20 years, let alone a century. here to break it down, steven morin steen and rona. the president does have a lot to tout. and a lot to talk about when it comes to the economy. and yet it seems he can't get out of his own way. >> he can't get out of his own way, and the factual inaccuracies undermine his message. to be fair, he has done some things that have put the economy on turbo charge. the tax cut being the main one of them. unfortunately, the president often takes credit for things that are not completely his. you know, the federal reserve keeping interest rates low is in my opinion the reason that we

have the kind of growth we do this far on from a recovery. so it's a nuanced story but the president doesn't really do nuance. >> no, he does not do nuance. in addition to the strong numbers there are good headlines. today in "the washington post," i think we can put that up, talking about the strong growth for blue-collar jobs we have seen. i mean, under trump. the jobs have reached blue collar workers. steven, that in and of itself is something great for the president to tout. why is it that he seems to pick economic fights when it's a winning issue for him? you speak to people still regularly in the administration. >> so yeah, this increase in the blue-collar jobs and blue-collar wages is a big triumph for trump and something a lot of people said couldn't happen. i mean, barack obama, i remember when i was campaigning with trump and obama when trump said he was going to wring the jobs back, obama said what are you going to do, wave a magic wand? i don't know if he has a magic wand, but those jobs are back.

she's right that the tax cut had a very positive impact out of the gate. the deregulation, the pro america energy policy. i think most americans know this president has a penchant for exaggeration, so he might have been exaggerating when he said this was the first time that the groel right rate was higher than the unemployment rate. i don't kneif you saw the numbers that came out last week, but for the third quarter, which is almost over, the latest estimate is 4.4% to 4.5% growth. so that's a phenomenal rate of growth. and i think trump has a right to maybe thump his chest a little bit with these great numbers. >> you know, but the thing is, yes, the tax cut has put the economy in a good place for the time being, but the question is, what's it going to do going forward a year, two years? i felt very much that this was not the right time for a massive tax cut at the end of an economic recovery. of course, every politician wants the good news to last through their term, and i think the president did the tax cut in part to push out through the

midterms, hopefully with a strong economy that would help republicans. i don't think in the long term it's going to be a good thing that we have put so much kerosene on the economy at the end of a recovery cycle. i think we need to be making investments here at home, infrastructure, education, all the things we talk about all the time. not sexy, but this is the hard work that needs to be done now. >> you know -- >> i have been traveling all over the country this summer, from portland, oregon, to portland, maine. and i have to tell you, everywhere i go, every city with very few exceptions, all you see is building cranes. you see new factories being built, new warehouses, apartment buildings, condominiums. this is the biggest construction boom we have had -- i'm not going to see in history, but one of the biggest construction boons we have it. you talk about infrastructure. my goodness, everywhere i go, all i see is infrastructure is being built. >> thank you, erica. >> my ride into work this

morning was a little scary. >> i'm going to be on the bqe in about an hour and it's a different story. >> we have to fix the roads. you're right about that. >> it's very bifurcated. most of the real estate boom in this country is in the top 12 markets. i agree, there are cranes in some rich areas in certain cities, but there's still a lot of communities around this country where we need to do public infrastructure programs, and that's something we don't hear the president talk about. >> it's not just the top 12 cities, though. you go even to places like buffalo, new york, or cleveland, even detroit, my goodness, i was in downtown detroit, you're seeing buildings going up. >> sure, right in the middle -- >> in the middle of the downtown areas. >> where there's a lot of wealthy millennials. i would like to see them build bridges between the middle and outer rings of detroit where there's still a lot of needy people. >> that's what you hear consistently. we have to move on. we'll think detroit, cars. hey, let's talk about ford. >> let's do that.

>> this is a good one to pick up on. the president tweeting yesterday about ford's manufacturing decisions. and taking credit that it is in fact related to his tariffs on china. this is not the case at all. the president, once again, had his facts wrong. and ford very quickly came out with a statement to make it clear that this was not how their decision was made, that this is not what it had to do with. this was essentially a business decision that was not tied to those tariffs. and ford's not the first company to push back. we're seeing apple push back against tariffs now as well. we're seeing companies that the president has gone after, be it nike, harley davidson, you know, they're doing all right. and so it's fascinating to watch this back and forth when again, the president could just use the facts that are out there and the numbers from his own government to say look how well i'm doing instead of going after individual companies. >> i think it's actually a big strategic mistake and in some ways it's more of a political mistake. these companies will make the right business decisions for them regardless of what the

president is saying, but what i wonder is what does it do for his support in the business community. what i'm hearing, people that had been pretty pleased with tax cuts, you know, like them or not, that's something the business community did like. they're less excited about being called out by name around things that really should be apolitical. they're not excited about tariffs. we haven't talked about that yet. what is this going to mean for business support for the administration? >> stephen, i'll give you the last word. >> look at the small business optimism index. look at the ceo index that came out recently. these companies are euphoric about the direction of the economy. now, maybe it isn't, you know, the reason you're seeing some of these factories being built. maybe it's not because of the trade protections policies. by the way, i'm opposed to those generally, but i will say this. you have a pro-business president, an environment out there that's so conducive to growth, and i have to say, for barack obama to say, well, gee, i started this, my goodness. one of the things trump has done is reversed so many of obama's

policies, and we have gone from 1.5% growth in obama's last year to now 4.5% growth. that's like a racecar versus a pinto. >> we're going to have to leave it there. i do like to bring it back to cars. stephen more and rona furue, good to see you. >> we want to get to breaking news out of washington related to the office of the palestinian liberation organization. michelle kaczynski is live at the state department with the latest. what's happening? >> hi, erica. we're about to hear from national security adviser john bolton who is giving a speech in washington. he's going to announce the closure of this office. this is the palestinian liberation organization. it's been here in washington for years. designed to be here to help the peace process and work diplomatically with the united states, with the israelis. the state department now says it's just not working. that the palestinians are not engaging in the process. they are not doing enough to move that process forward, according to how the u.s. would

like it to go. they are now going to close that office. the organization, of course, reacting with some shock and anger. you know, saying that this is not the way to go. obviously, much different viewpoint than the u.s. and israel on this. erica. >> michelle kaczynski with the latest for us. thank you. just ahead, the president thanks the north korean dictator kim jong-un for leaving his missiles out of their 70th anniversary military parade. but is the president getting played? stay with us. if you're 65 or older, even if you're healthy, you may be at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia - a potentially serious bacterial lung disease that can disrupt your life for weeks.

in severe cases, pneumococcal pneumonia can put you in the hospital. it may take weeks to recover making you miss out on the things you enjoy most. just one dose of the prevnar 13® vaccine can help protect you from pneumococcal pneumonia. it's not a yearly shot. prevnar 13® is approved for adults to help prevent infections from 13 strains of the bacteria that cause pneumococcal pneumonia. don't get prevnar 13® if you have had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine or its ingredients. adults with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, limited arm movement, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, less appetite, vomiting, fever, chills, and rash. prevention begins with prevnar 13®. ask your doctor or pharmacist about prevnar 13®.

there's also a lot to know. part a that's your hospital coverage, part b is all the doctor stuff... the most important thing to know? medicare doesn't pay for everything.

and guess what that means... yep...you're on the hook for the rest. that's why it's important to consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. a plan like this helps pay for some of what medicare doesn't. so you could end up paying less out of your own pocket. that's nice. and these are the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. it feels good to have someone looking out for you. want to find out more? call unitedhealthcare insurance company now to request this free decision guide, with aarp medicare supplement plan options to fit your needs. and learn how this type of plan works together with a part d prescription drug plan. here's something else good to know. with a medicare supplement plan, you have freedom. freedom to go with any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. you're not restricted to a network. ever. and if you need to visit a specialist, you'll have a choice there, too.

your coverage goes with you, too, anywhere you travel in the country. we have grandkids out of state. they love our long visits. not sure about their parents, though. call unitedhealthcare now to learn more and ask for your free decision guide. want to apply? go ahead, apply. anytime's a good time. remember, the #1 important thing, medicare doesn't pay for everything. a med supp plan could help pay some of what's left. and this is the only plan of its kind endorsed by aarp. that's the icing on the cake... i love cake. finding the right aarp medicare supplement plan for you could be just a quick call away. so...call.

president trump appreciates north korea's decision to leave its long-range missiles out of the country's 70th anniversary parade. he tweeted, thank you to chairman kim. we will both prove everyone wrong. there's nothing like good dialogue from two people who like each other. pyongyang left the missiles out as a sign of their commitment to denuclearize. there's been no proof that is happening. joining me for a closer look is gordon chang, columnist for "the daily beast" and also author of north korea takes on the world. i take it you're not buying the explanation. >> thenic north koreans are continuing to produce fissile material, and this is happening in the background of they're trying to stall us. up until the end of may, we had

a maximum pressure campaign to cut off money to kim jong-un. that's the reason he became much more cooperative. since then, we allowed chinese sanctions busting, the russians to do it, kim is doing everything he wants. of course he's going to be nice because he's going to make sure we don't use american power to take away his weapons. >> trying to keep president trump happy. it was interesting, too, a chinese official who was reportedly at the parade telling chinese state tv they highly value the efforts to denuclearize, which is interesting in a statement because we don't know that's happening at all. in fact, perhaps the opposite. >> certainly the opposite, and the chinese have been supplying crucial equipment for north korea's ballistic missile program recently. they're supporting the economy, busting the sanctions. we're seeing this with the coal purchases from north korea, ship to ship transfers. chinese money is -- north korean money is laundered through chinese banks. this is not a good story. we're just watching this and not imposing any costs on beijing. and of course, the north koreans

aren't going to be cooperative because we're not doing anything. >> this isn't just about placating president trump and making him feel good about where we are. a lot of what happened or was not shown at this parade is also a message that is aimed at south korea. >> south korean president moon jae-in is going to pyongyang september 18th for two days of talks. moon is pro north koreans. he's undermining his own democracy to make south korea more compatible with north korea. also, he wants to shovel a lot of money into the hands of kim jong-un. he wants to open up this liaison office in north korea which shovels a lot of money into north korea when it's open. so kim has a real important ally. not just xe gjinping or vladimi putin. >> is the president getting played? >> he probably is. the alternative argument is what

he said in ottawa before the g-7 summit. he said i'm giving the north koreans a one-shot opportunity to do the right thing. he's given the north koreans maybe a two-shot opportunity, a three-shot opportunity. and i wouldn't have given them any opportunity at all, but nonetheless, this is the president's plan. it's not a bad one. he's really trying to cooperate and try to create this good atmosphere where the north koreans can feel comfortable giving up their weapons. but i think that's the wrong strategy. >> how long do those chances last? when do you finally put up your hands and say wait a minute, this could get dangerous? >> very dangerous because the situation is getting beyond control. a lot of people speculate the president will pivot to a more resolute policy after the midterms. i don't know. but nonetheless, we have to do it at some point because the north koreanerize just proving the fundamental assumptions we make about the north koreans have been wrong. >> thank you. 20 republican-led states are taking the affordable care act back to court. is it unconstitutional as they allege? up next, we'll speak with

louisiana's attorney general, jeff landry, who is part of that challenge. ♪ hungry eyes ♪ one look at you and i can't disguise ♪ ♪ i've got hungry eyes applebee's new 3-course meal starting at $11.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

the fate of obamacare is in the hands of a texas judge. they argued when congress eliminated the penalty for not having health insurance, lawmakers render the the act unconstitutional and asked the judge to block the law. core principals including protections for people with preexisting conditions and limits on how much older americans can be charged are at issue here. joining me now is one of the 20

attorneys on that lawsuit. we appreciate you taking the time to be with us today. >> good morning. >> texas ag argued it should be the states, not the federal government who should be responsible for forcing insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions. do you agree? >> look, let's take ourselves back to why we are having the discussion. we go back to 2005, 2006. we had a health insurance crisis, not a health care system crisis. instead of fixing the insurance market which republicans will always spar, the democrats decided to retool our health care delivery system. that's the problem that we face today. this experiment has done now but raise premiums and cost billions more. the law was always flawed. >> a number of americans would agree with you.

obamacare is divicive. democrats have been saying it needs to be fixed, but the question i pose is the texas ag is saying part of the issue is when it comes to preexisting conditions which are important to americans. they have strong broad support that the decision of whether or not insurance companies should have to cover them should be left up to the states. do you agree? >> if the republican party has taken a position that we would like to prohibit insurance companies from penalizing citizens for preexisting conditions or using a sort of age as a determining factor. we believe by engaging the marketplace by ripping down the barriers and adding more competition into the marketplace, you lower the particular premiums. bush introduced health savings accounts and obamacare eliminated that and catastrophic plans that would make the market

more competitive. there by eliminating the preexisting condition issue. and taking it off the table. you saying the market will just figure it out? i want to make sure i follow you. if this was left up to the states, competition would allow it to figure itself out and preexisting conditions would not have to worry? is it not something you would have to do to guarantee coverage. this is something 75% of americans support. >> absolutely. i think the party has always supported it. all of the republican candidates. >> what specific in your state was the plan b? what is the plan b in the state of louisiana? >> that are would be something for the legislature, that would be a debate of which we have at the capital. >> is there a plan. you have the conversations and you agree with the texas ag and this is what he was arguing last week. you are part of this lawsuit.

you are right. we don't want the follow government to control this. is there a plan in your state? have you spoken with lawmakers if in fact you are victorious here. what is that plan? there are 850,000 non-elderly adults in the state of louisiana with preexisting conditions. what is your message in terms of your guarantee of coverage? >> the message is that look, once this law would fail and once it's found to be unconstitutional and ripping down the barriers state by state and allowing health care insurers to compete and bringing more into the market, you will lower the premiums and regulating the marketplace. again, that's what we have always said from the beginning. not this universal health care plan which has done nothing but been a drain on the state. >> just to be clear, there is not an exact plan to ensure that

those with preexisting conditions will continue to be guaranteed coverage in the state of louisiana. is that correct? >> i would disagree. >> all you are saying is competition will figure it out. >> i'm not the legislature or attorney general making sure we abide by the law. >> appreciate you taking the time. joining us from louisiana. thank you. a congressman is announcing his resignation. who and why? that's ahead in our next hour. geico has over 75 years of great savings and service. with such a long history, it's easy to trust geico! thank you todd. it's not just easy. it's-being-a-master-of-hypnotism easy. hey, i got your text- sleep! doug, when i snap my fingers you're going to clean my gutters. ooh i should clean your gutters! great idea. it's not just easy. it's geico easy.

todd, you will go make me a frittata. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist.

welcome to inside politics. i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. president trump said his white house is a well-oiled machine, but he's on a manhunt for aides who think otherwise. they try now to avoid a government shut down and prepare for the mid-terms. plus, the president channels james carville saying it's the economy, stupid. he has good reason to brag. why twist the facts and lie? survivor democratic edition. nancy pelosi acknowledges the revolt on the left and