like hitting a brick wall. i mean, had they just gone with reader favorite, they probably would have filled out the week at least. >> i have to go. political cartoonist, michael de adder. good luck to you. our coverage on cnn continues right now. happening now. breaking news. dramatic drop. a new cnn poll shows joe biden clinging to a narrow lead after dropping ten points in the wake of the first democratic debate. kamala harris is jumped into second place closely followed by elizabeth warren. nuclear power, in a sharp reversal of past policy, a new report said the trump administration may be willing to agree to a nuclear freeze by north korea. is the u.s. about to let north korea continue to be a nuclear power? and embracing dictators. before his meeting with kim jong-un, the president embraced autocrats and strong men at the

g-20 summit. is his fascination with dictators leading him to make concessions. and misusing security. democrats are investigating a with whistleblower claim that pompeo used security to pick up the dog from the groomer and takeout food are now uber eats with guns. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. breaking news, a new cnn poll shows dramatic tightening of the race for the democratic presidential nomination. joe biden's lead has been cut to five points as kamala harris and elizabeth warren have surged following the first debates. biden has slipped to 22%. and harris at 17% and warren at 15%. bernie sanders has dropped to fourth place at 14%.

no other candidates hit the 5% mark. also tonight, president trump is back from what he calls a perfect g-20 summit. and a stunning visit to north korea where he walked into the demilitarized zone for a historic meeting with kim jong-un. democrats are slamming that as nothing more than a photo op while north korea is celebrating it as a propaganda victory and "the new york times" reports that the trump administration is now weighing a nuclear freeze for north korea which would let the north koreans keep their nuclear weapons. i'll speak with congressman ro khanna of the armed service committee and our correspondents and analysts will have full coverage of the day's top stories. let's begin with the breaking news. a brand-new cnn poll just out showing a significant tightening of the democratic presidential race. let's go straight to cnn political director david chalian. so, david, walk us through the new numbers. >> wolf, this is a dramatic reshaping of the democratic

nomination in the brand-new exclusive cnn numbers. joe biden's lead in this race has dramatically narrowed. take a look at the top line numbers here. you see this is a four-way race here now at the top. biden, his lead is a narrow one at 22%. followed by kamala harris at 17%. elizabeth warren at 15%. bernie sanders at 14%. let's look at the change just since last month. i think it shows you how dramatic the shift is. what you see here is biden is down 10% points from last month. harris and warren, they have doubled their support in the last month. harris up nine and warren up eight and sanders gone down and buttigieg down one there. we also see the success of kamala harris' debate performance because we asked about it, democrat voters that watched or tuned into the debate, we said who did the best job in the debate. take a look at this. kamala harris gets 41% of

debate-watchers saying she did the best job. nobody else is even close. 13% for warren and 10% for biden. another good factor in this poll for kamala harris is people want to know more about her. we asked other thap the candidate you're supporting who do you want to hear more about? kamala harris scores on this front. 30% of democrats want to hear more about her and 24% for warren and 23% for buttigieg. so good news for kamala harris and that top line number concerning for joe biden. >> joe biden tried to paint himself as the front-runner as the most electable in the contest against president trump. what are the numbers mean for him now? >> well, you raise what is his calling card in this race. we asked democrats, wolf, what matters more to you, defeating donald trump or getting a candidate who agrees with you on the issues and it is not even close. six in ten democrats say that they want a candidate that could defeat trump. only 30% of democrats say they

want somebody who shares their positions on the issues. and then we asked, okay, well who do you think you could beat trump and 43% of democrats say they believe joe biden could defeat donald trump, nobody else is close. you see sanders and harris and warren there, all bunched up. wolf, if there is a candidate that can pierce this notion that biden is the best one to beat trump, he could be in serious trouble. i was going to show you one other area of support. part of the strength is african-american voters. take a look, you could see this by race. look at that among african-american voters on the right there, biden is at 36%. to harris at 24% and to warren at 12% and to sanders at 9%. and you see on the right it is a close race. and that advantage among african-american voters is keeping joe biden with the narrow lead right now. >> so kamala harris, she obviously did very well at the debate. what does she have to do now?

>> well, we did test on a bunch of issues. and she clearly is the front-runner when it comes to who can best handle race relations. take a look. 29% say kamala harris can, indeed, deal with race relations better than anyone else in the field but if you look at these next issues, climate crisis, she drops. if you look at the economy, you see that that is a strong suit for joe biden. but again, kamala harris down at 6% on who can best handle the economy. so these are issue areas that are advantage for biden and warren and sanders and if you look at health care, it is a similar story. you see that sanders had the advantage on health care. 26% say he could handle that the best. biden at 18. warren at 16. harris down at 10% and this may explain why harris has not seen a dominant on the health care issue, you've seen the whole conversation about private insurance, should it -- this is among democrats, wolf. i want to make that clear. among democrats, only 30% favor

going to a government -- a government-run program to replace private insurance and 49% say we should not replace private insurance with a government-run program so when kamala harris and elizabeth warren and bernie sanders sand de blasio raise their hands and kamala harris the next day heard the question wrong, that is the political concern. not even democrats are supportive of getting rid of private insurance. >> and the numbers show before and after the debate where the top democratic candidates were. let me put those numbers back on the screen and get your takeaways, joe biden lost ten points. >> yes. now, remember, this poll was from may to now, obviously the debate performance was critical. but that ten-point drop is a dramatic shift. we saw joe biden dropping from april to may and to the 32 and now down to 22 and we have a clear top tier four candidates

in the hunt for the nomination. >> it is interesting, harris and warren and sanders, they are very progressive, very similar on a lot of the issues. joe biden not necessarily. >> right. it is interesting that you note that. i just mentioned the kplar for all and private insurance, and harris, warren, sanders, they all raised hands. harris said she misheard the question. but you were right to notice the ideological divide and in the poll we see joe biden does well with moderate democrats, conservative democrats, older democrats. we see the others doing well with liberals. doing better with younger voters. so joe biden is depending now on a turn-out in this democratic contest that really relies more on moderate democrats than it does on liberal younger democrats. >> it is wide open right now. we'll see what happens. especially toward the end of the month when the second debates right here on cnn will be taking place. david, we'll have more on the numbers coming up. thank up very much. in other news, president trump is basking in the after

glow of the stunning visit to north korea, a historic meeting with kim jong-un. let's go to our senior white house correspondent pamela brown. did that photo op come with a price? >> reporter: that remains to be seen, wolf. but certainly president trump is back at the white house tonight. he is boasting about the surprise meeting he showed with kim jong-un, the north korean leader and the success of the g-20. but, wolf, even as president trump revels in the history-making trip he faces new challenges tonight relating to iran. tonight president trump back at the white house. tweeting there wasn't a thing missing or a mistake that was made. perfect. on the heels of the g-20 and his monumental surprise visit to north korea. where he had an impromptu meeting with north korean leader kim jong-un. >> i didn't expect to meet you at this place. the first u.s. president to cross this line. >> reporter: trump taking 20 step news north korea, making

him the first sitting american president to set foot in the hermit kingdom. he was greeted by the smiling kim jong-un. >> this is my honor. i didn't really expect it. step ago cross that line was a great honor. >> reporter: the two leaders met for almost an hour, agreeing to restart negotiations on a long, illusive nuclear agreement. the president even suggested kim jong-un should visit the white house. all of this as the "new york times" is reporting the u.s. may be willing to agree to a nuclear freeze. which would pause further weapons development in north korea, but allow it to keep existing weapons. this would be a reversal for the trump administration's previous goal of complete denuclearization by north korea. white house national security adviser john bolton slammed the report, tweeting, i read this "new york times" story with curiosity, no staff for i have discussed any desire to settle for a nuclear freeze by north korea. this was a reprehensible attempt

by someone to box in the president. there should be consequences. bolton, who has been a strong advocate for full denuclearization of north korea was in mongolia and not press for the trump meeting with kim. after the kim meeting, he took aim at the administration. >> president obama wanted to meet and chairman kim would not meet him. the obama administration was begging for a meeting, begging for meetings constantly. and chairman kim would not meet with him. >> reporter: that prompted a sharp rebuttal from former obama national security adviser susan rice with this tweet. this happening in the same day that iran has exceeded the uranium stockpile limit set in the 2015 obama administration nuclear deal with iran. the move is iran's first breach of the accord since trump with drew from the agreement last year. the deal limited iran's uranium enrichment in exchange for an

easing of international sanctions. trump's meeting with kim came after several days of cozying up to other dictators and strong men at the g-20, including saudi crown prince mbs and president xi and turkey president erdogan and russian president vladimir putin who he joked with about election interference. >> don't meddle in the election -- >> reporter: and, wolf, moments arg reporters were called into the oval office with president trump for a bill signing. this is an opportunity for the reporters to ask questions so we'll see if the president makes any news and of course we'll bring you the latest. wolf. >> we'll be getting that tape. we'll watch it closely. pamela, thank you very much. that tape should come in fairly soon. joining us now, democratic congressman ro khanna of california, a member of the oversight and armed services committees.

congressman, thank you for joining us. you served as co-chair of the bernie sanders 2020 campaign and sanders as you just saw in the poll has dropped four points. how do you explain why other progressive candidates right now are seeing a dramatic surge in their poll numbers? >> well, there is no doubt that kamala harris had a good night in the debate. and i give her credit. but we should remember, wolf, that at this point in the cycle donald trump was at 1% or 2% and barack obama was way down to hillary clinton. so the poll numbers as you know will change and we're still a long way from caucus day in iowa. >> i saw how dramatic the increase in popularity according to this poll for kamala harris, a nine-point bump in the poll. could her growing popularity, congressman, explain why you think she was recently targeted by donald trump jr.? >> i do. those were disgusting attacks by donald trump jr. engaging in birtherism and every democrat

should condemn them. look, kamala harris had a terrific night. she articulates a vision of a pluralistic america very well and she's a compelling candidate. she's a serious contender that we should make sure that the republicans don't resort to those kind of attacks. >> let's turn, congressman, to the president's historic steps into north korea. the first american president to do so. you say the president should be applauded for his latest meeting with kim jong-un. what does president trump have to show for all of this? >> well, he has to show that we at least aren't having an escalation of threats. you remember when we were having the bloody nose theory. largely of his own making, at least that has calmed down. but i think there are two things that we could have happen moving forward, first let's have a peace agreement and move past the 1953 armistice and then insist on denuclearization. and i think if we have the first, the north koreans would be willing to do the second.

>> you think the north koreans would be willing to give up their stockpile of what 20 or 50 or 60 nuclear bombs, give up that nuclear capability that they currently have? >> -- was in my office, a senior adviser to president moon of south korea and he believes that at this moment if we were to sign a nonaggression pact and have a peace agreement that kim jong-un would be willing to gage in at least 90% denuclearization. i think it is worth strongly exploring. what i wouldn't do is remove the sanctions before we saw massive concrete action from the north koreans. >> as you know, the goal of the trump administration is complete denuclearization on the part of north korea. "the new york times" now reporting that the administration is considering accepting a freeze on north korea nuclear program, keeping it where it is today but not moving further along. would you view that as a win? >> i would view that as a constructive first step.

especially if yong buyon, where they are developing nuclear feel is suspended. of course north korea still has estimates of 20 to 60 nuclear weapons and i don't think we could stop at a freeze and say it is okay for them to have a thousand pounds of uranium and the nuclear weapons and we certainly can't lift sanctions until that threat is there. but i think a nuclear freeze is at least a constructive step in the right direction. >> after a very dramatic and dare i say historic week, a high-stakes diplomacy, you would rather have ivanka trump there with the president than john bolt on, the president's national security adviser. tell us why you feel that way? >> well, ivanka trump didn't rip up the north korean agreement that bill clinton negotiated. bill clinton had almost solved this issue back in the late 1990s and then john bolton said let's put north korea as an axis of evil. ivanka trump didn't architect our waur in iraq, one of the greatest blunders.

ivanka trump didn't lead us to almost another war with iran. so i don't want john bolton anywhere close to our foreign policy negotiations and the best news of this weekend was he was exiled to mongolia. >> well, the president was meeting with kim jong-un, he was actually visiting mongolia. you're absolutely right. congressman ro khanna, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. up next, joe biden is still the front-runner but not by much. what is his drop in the new cnn poll mean for his campaign going forward? and kamala harris and elizabeth warren are surging after the first debate. can they keep their momentum? dear lexus, dear lexus, it is with a very gratesful heart that i write you about your amazing employees. eric volunteered to come to my rescue that evening. ...to a mom, these things really matter. from this day forward, i'm a lexus customer for life. thank you. sincerely... ivy, kim, david, greg. crafting every experience for our guests with the same level of care we craft our vehicles.

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we have breaking news in the democratic race. the just-released cnn poll taken after last week's first presidential debate shows joe biden's lead shrinking dramatically while senators kamala harris and elizabeth warren are -- are surging. and bianna golodryga, i'll put the numbers back up on the screen. and take a look and see how biden has gone down from may at 32% and now only 22% and harris has gone up from 8% to 17%. warren has gone from 7% to 15%. sanders has gone down from 18%

to 14% and buttigieg has gone down and everybody else is below 4%. >> it was joe biden's night to lose coming out of the gate. he to perform strongly. his team will tell you they expected the numbers to drop given he's a front-runner and that is traditionally what happens. but we could all assess this was not a strong night and performance for joe biden. he came in visibly unprepared for some of the issues that were raised. specifically race relations coming from kamala harris. he stopped short given that he said he was out of time, which is something historically you never see from a candidate up there given especially this was his third dance now at running for office. and it is early. they will have many more chances to debate. but given that sharp drop in numbers, it is something that he's got to really be prepared for going forward in these other debates. on issues and you alluded to earlier in your conversation with david chalian, among

african-americans. if african-americans can visualize a scenario where kamala harris could take on trump, then joe biden should be really concerned and take a page from hillary clinton and never to underestimate the african-american vote or take it for granted. >> well, on that point, take a look at these numbers in our brand-new cnn poll among white voters in general, biden is at 20%, harris 17%, warren 16%, sanders 15%. fairly close. but among african-american, among black voters biden still has a lead, 36%. kamala harris is at 24%. and elizabeth warren at 12% and bernie sanders 9%. buttigieg at zero. >> this is pretty big -- a significant moment for joe biden. he is the one that everyone wanted to -- to get when it comes to the black vote. he had the numbers. one, because he was the vice president of the first black president, barack hussein obama and worked on issues of equality

but kamala harris knew he was one to get at this last debate. she chipped away at his numbers. now this is the big piece. this weekend, if joe biden wants to really secure or try to get back those numbers he lost, this weekend joe biden has a critical moment. the essence festival, the largest gathering of black america is happening in new orleans. the cabinet there is going kamala harris, elizabeth warren, beto o'rourke, also cory booker. joe biden has logistical problem. he can't make it. he'll be in texas on friday, and then south carolina for the rest of the weekend. and he's doing a debate in south carolina. which is one of the first states that holds -- >> what do you mean a debate? >> not a debate. a town hall. >> it is a not a debate. >> a town hall on sunday but not able to make the essence festival, which is a big gathering and it is a political gathering right now in this political season. so if he wants to keep his black numbers, he has to figure this weekend out and moving forward.

kamala harris is coming for him. >> susan, what do you make of the fact that bernie sanders numbers in this brand-new cnn poll have clearly gone down. maybe at the expense of some of the other left-leaning candidates like elizabeth warren for example, kamala harris, how concerned should he be. >> this is a sign that it is a really different primary than 2016 when bernie sanders was able to stake out sort of -- a vast left position while hillary clinton really was sort of a traditional centrist. people like elizabeth warren has come out with highly sophisticated specific proposals that are ever bit as left as bernie sanders is offering, we saw candidates like julian castro offering a policy proposal of decriminalizing border crossing and that is a position unthinkable even just a few years ago. i think as well, castro is young. warren is a woman. both are substantially younger -- younger than bernie sanders. and i think one of the lessons of the 2016 primary is having an anointed candidate is not a

healthy thing for a party and so of course biden remains the front-runner, but what we're seeing is a substantive issues-driven debate which these candidates are offering very, very different visions to their voters for the best direction for the president to take the country moving forward. >> bianna, i want to point out mayor pete buttigieg of south bend, indiana, he's polling now at just 4% and he was at 5% in may in our poll and now at 4%. but in the second quarter he raised an impressive $24.8 million. will this money, and it is a lot of money now he has, enable him to go forward in a better way? >> well, it will enable him to stay in the race for the foreseeable future, that is for sure. this is a lot of money that he's been able to raise. but even more impressive are the number of donors. some 400,000 donors that he's been able to bring over to his camp. now that having been said, this number is sort of a lagging metric. he was in his honeymoon phase in the second quarter and since then a few bumps in the road

specifically given race relations and his handling of police shooting in his town of south bend. so that having been said, i think this guarantees him a slot in this race for the foreseeable future and i think his performance last week shows he really, despite the fact that he doesn't have a lengthy resume, really has a firm vision of what his candidacy would bring to the country. >> stand by. sean, stand by, we'll get to you in a moment. we're standing by to hear from the president. he just answered reporters questions in the oval office at the white house and we're about to get that tape. we'll be right back. uh-oh, looks like someone's

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we're back with our experts and analysts as we stand by for the playback of president trump's question and answer session with reporters over at the white house. the president signed into law hr-3151, the taxpayer first act which makes the irs supposedly a little bit more taxpayer friendly. the president spoke at length about that. but then he took reporters' questions. we're told he answered questions on the iran nuclear deal, what is happening with iran right now. the protests unfolding in hong kong. the questions involving the census that the supreme court rules on the other day and so important citizenship questions that the president is talking about.

also several questions about china. the president going into -- at some length just coming back from the g-20 summit in japan and then went off to south korea and then stepped foot into north korea for a meeting with kim jong-un. here is the president answering questions. >> any message to iran? >> no. no message to iran. they know what they're doing. they know what they're playing with and i think they're playing with fire. so no message to iran whatsoever. >> your reaction to the protests in hong kong today? >> in hong kong? i hope it gets solved. i was with president xi of china and we had a great talk and discussion. we're talking about doing something and we talked about it briefly, but it is very sad. i rarely see protests like that. it is very sad to see. >> will you be going to -- mr. president. >> what? >> will you delay the census.

>> we're looking at that. we think that a census obviously, if you do all of this work, and you talk about -- nobody can believe this, but they spend billions of dollars on this census and you're not allowed to ask -- go and knock on doors of houses and check houses, you go through all of this detail and you're not allowed to ask whether or not somebody is a citizen. so you could ask other things but you can't ask whether or not somebody is a citizen. so we are trying to do that. we're looking at that very strongly. >> why -- if i could follow up, why do you think it is important that question be asked. >> i think it is very important to find out if somebody is a citizen as opposed to an illegal. i think it is a bigifference to me between being a citizen of the united states and being an illegal. and you know, the democrats want to treat the illegals with health care and with other things better than they treat the citizens of our country. if you look at a coal miner that has black lung disease you're talking about people that could treat it better than the coal

miner and these people got sick working for the united states. and we treated people that just walked in better. you look at what they're doing in california, how they're treating people. they don't treat their people as well as they treat illegal migrants. so at what point does it stop? it is crazy what they're doing. it's crazy. and it is mean. and it is very unfair to our citizens. and we're going to stop it. but we may need an election to stop it and we may need to get back the house. >> mr. president -- in trade talks with china begin after your agreement. >> it has already begun. already begun. they're speaking very much on phone and also meeting. it is essentially already begun. it began before our meeting. >> but do you know when the -- >> whatever it takes. look, if we don't make a great deal or a fair deal -- it has to be better for us than for them because they had such a big advantage for so many years. you can't make a 50/50 deal when somebody else has been absolutely -- i've been talking about this for years.

china made -- we had a surplus meaning they did on us of $507 billion. it is been hundreds of billions of dollars a year for many, many years. so obviously we can't make a 50/50 deal. it has to be a deal that is somewhat tilted to our advantage and if we don't do that, we're taking in a fortune from tariffs and we're hurting china because many of the companies are leaving and going to a non-tariff state. so they don't have to pay the tariffs. and the other misconception about china and i think you read an article today in the "wall street journal" about it, people aren't paying for those tariffs. in that case certainly. china is paying for them. and those companies are paying for them. china devalued their currency substantially and put money into their economy. they're pouring in. it is fake money but it is money. and they're pouring money into their economy to take care of the tariffs. our people aren't -- you don't have increased inflation, you have no increased inflation. but i'll tell what you is

happening. our treasury is taking in billions and billions of dollars of money that normally would be for china. so we'll see what happens. we hope that we can make a deal. because it has to be a fair deal. we had a deal as far as i was concerned. and then at the last moment china decided they didn't like that deal. and -- they changed it and i said it is all right, you're going to pay 25% tariffs on $250 billion. >> and did president xi said he would move on the issues. >> i expect him to move. but if he doesn't move, that is okay too. i'm happy either way. i think they want to make a deal because their losing many companies that are leaving because of the tariffs. because they don't want to pay the tariffs. so they're losing many companies, they're moving to vietnam. and by the way, some are moving back to the united states where they belong. >> mr. president -- [ inaudible question ]. >> now they are because i think the president is doing a great job. he put 16,000 people in this

weekend and they're forming but they're getting to the border and doing a great job and he has 6,000 people at the border with guatemala. so i mean it has been way down. it is cut way down. you will start to see the numbers over the next three or four -- >> you continue to -- [ inaudible question ]. >> that is true. sure. no, no, that is true. if they don't do it. but they're doing a good job. right now they're doing a very good job. we're very happy with the job they are doing. because of tariffs they are doing it. but the point is they're doing a good job and he's very smart to do it because that is a tiny fraction, it sounds like a lot of soldiers but that is a fraction of what tariffs would cost mexico. but i very much appreciate it. and he's doing a great job for mexico because the mexican people were very upset with all of these tens of thousands of people, hunts -- hundreds of t of people walking through mexico and people of mexico are just as happy as i am with what they're

doing. >> the border patrol group were making derogatory comments about members of congress. >> i don't foe what they're saying about members of congress. i know the border patrol is not happy with the democrats in congress. the republicans do want border security. the democrats want open borders. open borders means tremendous crime. if you look, there was a report that came out where approximately 600 people in the last caravan with serious criminals. i don't want them in our country. so the border patrol, they're patriots, they're great people and love our country. they know what is coming in. and you know who knows it better than anybody, hispanics. hispanics love what i'm doing. because, number one, they don't want to lose their job. they don't want to take a pay cut and very importantly most importantly they don't want to have crime. they understand it. the people that understand the border the best are hispanics. they understand it better than anybody. and they don't want to have to

suffer crime and they don't want to take a pay cut. they don't want to lose their job. that is why my poll numbers went way up with hispanics. because they really understand the border the best of anybody. okay. any other -- >> you have tanks on fourth of july at the lincoln memorial for your speech. >> we'll have a great fourth of july in washington, d.c. it will be like no other and it is special and i hope a lot of people come and it is going to be about this country and it is a salute to america and i'm going to be here and i'm going to say a few words and we'll have planes going overhead, the best fighter jets in the world and other planes too. and we're going to have some tanks stationed outside. pretty careful with the tanks because the roads have a tendency not to like to carry heavy tanks so we have to put them in certain areas. but we have the brand-new tanks and the abram tanks and we have some incredible equipment -- military equipment on display. brand-new. and we're very proud of it. we're making a lot of new tanks

right now. we're building a lot of new tanks. and in lima, ohio, our great tank factory that people wanted to close down until i got elected and i stopped it from being closed down and now it is a productive facility and it is the greatest tank in the world. >> do you think -- >> the abrams -- >> that could reach all americans. >> i think so. i think i've reached most americans. most americans want no crime, most americans want a strong military, they want good education, they want good health care, and if you look at pre-existing conditions, the republicans are going to say pre-existing conditions and the democrats won't be able to do it. what the democrats plan is going to destroy the country and it is going to be horrible health care. horrible health care. and everybody taxes will go to 95%. and by the way, that is not enough. the taxes, if they ever didn't d what they want to do, the taxes go to 95% and that isn't nearly enough. thank you very much, everybody.

>> [ inaudible question ]. do you have a message to the demonstrators saying they want more -- [ inaudible ]. >> well, they're looking for a democracy and i think most people want democracy. unfortunately some governments don't want democracy. but that is what it is all about. it is all about democracy. there is never anything better. and i think we're the best example of it right here in the united states. okay. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> so the president in the oval office going through a wide range of issues there. answering reporters questions and everything from the demon stras administrations in hong kong, what is going on with iran right now and the president saying the iranians are playing with fire right now and going after the democrats. he said the democrats want open borders, republicans he said want secure borders. let me get sean turner into this. when the president said the iranians, because of the uranium

enrichment will go beyond what the iran nuclear deal allowed, the deal that he walked away from, he said they're playing with fire. how do you interpret that? >> yeah, wolf, as the tension continues to arise with iran i hope people don't forget that just as you pointed out, and as the president pointed out, we had a deal with iran. we had a deal in which the international community and the other signatories were able to verify that iran wasn't moving forward with the nuclear program. so when the president now said that iran is playing with fire, we have to go back and look at -- at how we got here. everything that happened since this administration walked away from the joint come prehencive plan of is designed to to escalate from tariff organizations to increase tariffs, right up until the president got pulled back this recent action. so what i interpret the president doing here is kind of this continuing maximum pressure. but it is a very dangerous thing because as we know, iran will

respond to increased pressure and we've seen them doing that in the past. and as a result, this could get out of control very quickly. >> clearly, april, the president had politics on his mind as well. but let me get your thoughts on this -- the president's son donald trump jr. deleted a post that he had over the weekend. he deleted this message somebody else wrote, kamala harris is not an american, black, she's half indian, half jamaican and donald trump jr. added, is this true? wow and then he went ahead and deleted. kamala harris's mother was from india and her father was from jamaica. >> eerily familiar. president trump began his political career with birtherism and that gave him basically the oval office. he began that way and now his son is trying to throw this at another black person who is of mixed race, but who was born in

this nation. no one questions president trump when he talked about his father was born in germany or even ted cruz. but let's get back to this. kamala harris is a threat to this white house because she is a black woman. this president has a problem with strong black women or black women period. end of story. and then watching her in those debates, kamala harris showed that as the young people say, the clap back. she had a clap back. when she went after joe biden, she definitely showed in this first round of debates that she could stand toe-to-toe with donald trump and give him what she -- what he gives her. so she is a threat to them in more ways than one. >> how do you see, it susan? >> i think it is a new manifestation of birtherism, the questioning of the birth and legitimacy of any person of color to dare to enter into politics. and when we saw birtherism come out against president obama pioneered by donald trump senior

and people dismissed it as too absurd to respond to and now we're in a different place and we understand how damaging and how racist these attacks really are. do you think it is notable that we saw all of the other democratic contenders coming forward, calling these -- calling these attacks unacceptable and racist and calling them out and seeing that strong pushback and it is an indication about the disinformation problem is going to persist into this election. once again even after everything that was domed in the mueller report, we have the president's son on twitter re-tweeting a lie about other political figures and so to the extent that there are lessons to be learned it is clear that donald trump jr. is on the interest -- >> bianna, this tweet from donald trump jr. with the re-tweet and the commentary that he removed, is it proof that the trump campaign, the trump team sees senator kamala harris as a potential real threat? >> well, you recall the day she announced the president

complimented her announcement and roll out and said he was impressed by the crowd size. i think in everything i'm hearing from sources close a and -- and within the administration, they don't know what to make of kamala harris and the president and while he may be intrigued by her, doesn't necessarily know how he would combat her if, in fact, they were to debate. and i think from viewers perspective, specifically democrats, last week showed them that kamala not only could stand toe-to-toe with joe biden but perhaps that gave them a window into what she would look like standing next to president trump. >> let me get sean to weigh in. go ahead, sean. >> you know, i think first of all, it absolutely is the case that the point that susan made with regard to disinformation is really important. look, as people as we get into the election cycle, it is important for people to remember as we concern ourselves with the influence of foreign disinformation, what you saw right here was a great example

of home grown domestic disinformation and it is very interesting what donald trump jr. did when he deleted the tweet, someone on his behalf put out a message saying he was simply asking a question. we've seen that before with the president, where in order to kind of get something out there in a narrative, he simply asks a provocative question and that is important for people to remember. look, this is a -- this is a preview of reprehensible dialogue we'll see going forward as we get into this election and it is just -- it is important for people to be hyper-aware of exactly what we're looking at here. >> and it also -- it also came, remember, just three days after the president sort of flippantly when asked told vladimir putin knock it off, don't interfere in our election system, this is why we always stress regardless of what the administration does with regards to sanctions and what have you, what the president said and how he reacts to this is of utmost importance because he not only represents this country, but other leaders see him as that. and if he's flippant on these

issues, they see it potentially as a green light to continue. >> going back to sean really fast, wolf, what sean is saying basically is absolutely right. there are people who believe that and keep pushing that narrative, trying to say, again, another black person is illegitimate and she doesn't deserve this high office that she's trying to fight for. >> you heard the president just now, i know your ears popped up, susan, i can see, when he said that democrats want to treat what he called illegals better than they treat americans. he says it's crazy, it's mean, it's very unfair. he says that the democrats simply want open borders, republicans want real border security. >> and so this is significant. the president of the united states pretty much admitted that the reason why he wants this question to be on the census is that he thinks it's ridiculous that you would count, quote, illegals, as he calls them. the problem is that the united states constitution says that every ten years, we will count all persons in order to decide how many representatives that state has in the house of representatives. it is not about counting

citizens. that's precisely why the supreme court said they had to delay this question. and for the president to once again suggest that they would potentially delay the census, the census is april 1st, that's dictated by statute, would require a law to change, it continues to raise real concerns, not of the formal delay of the census, but potentially of the executive branch trying to sort of muck up the works, even very, very minor delays in census returns can cause serious problems for counting and redistricting purposes. so this is really something to stay focused on. >> and bianna, he says, hispanics love -- and i'm quoting him now, hispanics love what he says "we're doing." >> yeah, i don't know where he's getting that information. but i do think a takeaway is not only does the president love tanks, but he also loves tariffs. and it's clear that he views tariffs, with whether it be trade negotiations with china or even border issues with mexico as leverage. and to his credit, over the past few weeks, ever since the mexicans have said that they

would, in fact, send out more of their troops to prevent migrants from coming over to the u.s. side, the numbers have gone down. but it is an indication of what a priority the president views this as and his administration is saying that the mexican government is doing more and being more proactive than even the democrats are. >> everybody, stand by. there's more breaking news coming into "the situation room." cnn has learned a whistleblower has gone to congress with allegations against secretary of state mike pompeo that the allegation being that he's misusing members of his security detail by having them perform personal errands. let's bring in our senior diplomatic correspondent, michelle kosinski. michelle, what have you found out? >> this whistleblower went to congressional verlinvestigatorsa key house committee with concerns in the diplomatic security service over how secretary of state mike pompeo's security is being used. for example, to pick up chinese food for him, causing agents to complain that they're basically at times, quote, uber eats with

guns. at another time, picking up the pompeo family dog from a groomer. and we saw documentation that somebody on pompeo's staff asked deployment security or ds, to pick up his son from the train station. now, under long-standing procedures within ds, pompeo would have to be in the car for these trips, and if not, there would have to be a specific threat that necessitated them. so in a carefully worded statement from the state department that took days to produce, they didn't deny any of these trips, but they said at no time did any member of the pompeo family ask anybody to do anything that was inconsistent with protection. but the bigger issue here, wolf, according to this whistleblower, is that multiple special agents within ds don't understand why pompeo's wife, susan, has a dedicated security detail of her own. they don't believe that long-standing procedures were followed, which would be a specific threat assessment to be done, within a particular intel

office of diplomatic security. and they don't buy that there is enough of a threat to necessitate that. the state department pushed back on this. they said that the threat is real against susan pompeo. and our sources, though, say that in the past, when diplomatic security was afforded to a secretary's wife, it would only be for a very specific threat and for a short period of time. furthermore, this whistleblower says that agents were asked to not use her call sign, which is a shocker, over the radios because they, quote, knew it was not koeshsher. the state department vehemently denied that that radio issue took place. and on the issue of susan pompeo, they say that an initial threat assessment was done in july of 2018, wolf. >> michelle kosinski with that exclusive report for us. michelle, thank you so much. coming up, there's more breaking news. a new cnn poll shows joe biden

clinging to a narrow lead after dropping ten points. kamala harris jumps into second place, closely followed by elizabeth warren. so, was the first set of debates a game changer? [alarm beeping] {tires screeching} {truck honking} (avo) life doesn't give you many second chances. but a subaru can. (dad) you guys ok? you alright? wow. (avo) eyesight with pre-collision braking. standard on the subaru ascent. presenting the three-row subaru ascent. love is now bigger than ever.

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happening now, breaking news. ten-point drop. joe biden takes a dramatic hit in cnn's exclusive new poll. the first survey since the leadoff democratic debates. we're going to break down his slide while kamala harris and

elizabeth warren surge. honoring autocrats. president trump cozies up to kim jong-un inside north korea after getting warm and fuzzy with vladimir putin and other strong men at the g-20. tonight, critics are demanding to know why mr. trump keeps treating brutal dictators with kid gloves. first diplomat? ivanka trump's expanding presence on the international stage is under fresh scrutiny after she seems to butt into a conversation of world leaders. is she taking her role as an unpaid adviser to her father too far? and star pitch erp der dies. we're getting new details on the sudden death of a player on the los angeles angels. the team is in mourning tonight as their game has been postponed. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room". we're