>> north korea isn't talking about an address the president made to the nation, but rather a tweet he sent off over the weekend. "just heard foreign minister of north korea speak at u.n. if he echoes thoughts of little rocket man, they won't be around much longer." that of course an echo of something he said on friday from alabama. >> he may be smart, he may be strategic, and he may be totally crazy. but you know what, no matter what he is, we're going to handle it, folks, believe me. we're going to handle it. and when he wasn't threatening north korea, he was trashing the nfl, both the players who bend the knee during the national anthem and the owners who don't fire the, quote, sons of bitches. football did not listen. on sunday, teams bent the knee or stayed in locker rooms. here is what lebron james said

in the last hour. >> while i have this platform, i'm not going to let one individual, no matter the power, no matter the impact that he should have or she should have, ever use sport as a platform to divide us. >> if that were not enough, there's the battle over health care. this hour, senators will hold their first and only hearing on the graham/cassidy health care bill before a deadline to vote this week. hundreds of people, many in wheelchairs, lined up for hours to get a spot in that hearing room. they'll beg lawmakers to kill the bill, not them. >> medicaid, if it gets cut, we're going to die. >> what's we need, a solution that isn't heartless, a solution that puts american families first. >> i want for them to know that this bill in particular is going to bankrupt a lot of people, it's going to leave a lot of people without insurance. >> do you think lawmakers are listening? >> i hope they're listening.

because if they're not listening and they vote for it, i think a lot of them will lose their jobs. >> nbc's peter alexander is at the white house. garrett haake is at the white house. north korea is now saying essentially they believe the president has declared war on them. how the president responding? >> reporter: as expected, sarah huckabee sanders will be addressing these issues moments if now. one of those topics deals with national security, the white house yet to respond formally to the comments by the north korean minister. secretary of defense jim mattis was asked while traveling in india about the north koreans' threat that they might detonate a hydrogen bomb over the pacific. general mattis said that was a shocking example of

recklessness. the white house has been ratcheting up not just the language but also the diplomatic sanctions on the north koreans in recent days, targeting some north korean individuals, the chinese central bank also instructing some of the chinese banks not to do business with north korea. nonetheless, while many analysts agree there are no good military options available to the u.s., the president and his aides here have suggested that all options remain on the table, katy. >> on the nfl, peter, players and owners are not backing down. we saw that over the weekend. some of those people are the no only friends with donald trump, but they donated to donald trump, some of the owners of those teams. lots of folks are saying this is just another example of the president being divisive. is the white house responding? >> reporter: well, the president has been doubling, tripling down on those comments, tweeting almost 16 times in the course of the last 72 hours on this topic. what's notable about this is among the president's friends and allies in the nfl, the

quarterback, the super bowl champion, new england patriots, saying in fact he viewed the president's comments when he used that "s.o.b." word, referring to colin kaepernick who initiated this protest of kneeling during the national anthem as a way to highlight racial and social injustice in the country, tom brady said he thought that was divisive. athletes across the country locking arms. you heard from lebron james a short while ago. the president says the issue is not race, he says it's about respect for our flag and for our country. he's been talking about it again today. i think it's one of the things the white house will be forced to push back on again as they get more questions from reporters on this topic coming up momentarily. >> and a lot of people are pushing back and saying it does seem to be very much about race. garrett haake is on capitol hill, garrett, i hear there are arrests going on in the hallway behind you. >> reporter: katy, yeah, we saw

one demonstrator here taken out in flex cuffs here, the first arrest i've seen at what has at times has been a high energy, positive situation, and now has turned -- you can hear people screaming, "don't cut medicaid." i've got police officers telling me i can't stand in the hallway. people are screaming at senators, they're being yelled at. >> garrett, we're having a pretty hard time hearing you, can you try to bring that microphone closer to your mouth? >> reporter: yeah, katy, sorry, we're having a hard time hear ourselves. capital police are trying to keep this hearing room open. they're trying to get senators, witnesses, journalists into the room. a lot of the activists here are

furious that there's not room in the room. we've heard folks complaining there may only be room for seven folks in wheelchairs in the room, that in and of itself was enough to they've been standing out here for hours. police are telling us the hallway is closed and they are pushing us, in some cases, so far fairly friendly, but they are moving us physically backwards out of this hallway, clearing all the press out as people are cheering, don't cut medicaid, kill the bill, don't kill us. you're watching it right now, katy. the police shutting down this hallway. the only hearing for this health care bill. >> what's the reason for pushing the press out, garrett? >> reporter: well, katy, it's hard for me to answer that. i've got police with their hands on me moving me backwards as we speak. they say they're trying to keep the hallway clear. it's unclear who that is for. if you look to my left, there's

room to drive a golf cart here. they're trying to take some of the folks in wheelchairs out of here, and that's not an easy thing to do. you can see that in our shot right now. again, as we continue to get pushed backwards here. this has been what's happening on capitol hill. the capitol police tolerated for a while and then when they feel like the situation is not under control anymore, they start moving us toward the exits. and it's incredibly frustrating. i mean, we're trying to record this, we're trying to see the folks who are here to have their say, and as you can see, we're getting pushed further and further back away from this door. >> same thing we're hearing is happening inside the hearing room where protesters are getting arrested. we have live pictures of that right now. many of these protesters have been there for hours. they wanted to get into this hearing room to tell lawmakers that they believe this bill is

dangerous to their health. you can see they're trying to physically remove a man in a wheelchair in that last shot just there. they're begging lawmakers to -- look at that right there. literally carrying that man out of the room. begging lawmakers to kill the bill. don't kill them. obviously this is a pretty controversial situation. the graham-cassidy bill is on life support, if you will. if you want to use another life care term. john mccain saying he will not vote for it. rand paul seeming to soften his position on it. ted cruz coming out over the weekend in austin saying as of now that bill does not have his support. they've reintroduced it. they've added some more funding, if you will, to alaska and maine to try and convince senators murkowski and collins to vote yes for this bill.

it's unclear if that will happen. senator collins has expressed grave reservations about it. senator murkowski has been pretty mum about it. it's not clear, though, if ultimately those changes will clearly help those states as the funding for medicaid is going to be cut quite significantly. but again, dramatic images out of the capitol as we've seen every time health care has come up for a vote. this one, though, probably the most dramatic. a number of folks with disabilities, folks in wheelchairs being forced to leave the hearing room, saying they cannot watch this hearing take place. senators just waiting. you can see senator warner right there waiting and watching as this happens. it was so loud, it was difficult to hear our reporter garrett hague in the senate hallway. police are now trying to remove reporters from that room, from that hallway as well to push them back. it's unclear what the goal is. maybe it's a clear path so they

can get more folks with wheelchairs out. but again, a controversial, controversial bill and a lot of drama on capitol hill as many folks do not want this bill to go through. it is not a popular bill. the majority of americans say they would rather have obamacare, the aca, instead of this bill. democrats mostly want it to go away. republicans are a little more in favor of it but still, it's certainly not popular on a broad scale. again, people in wheelchairs being forced to leave the capitol. garrett hague is still standing in that hallway. garrett, talk to us more about what's going on. >> reporter: well, katy, we've been pushed back maybe 30 feet from the doorway of the hearing room itself. we're seeing a steady stream of people being arrested as they're being taken out. some folks, from all appearances, lifted out of wheelchairs, folks being dragged

out forcibly. we suspected this might happen. earlier in the day i overheard conversations from folks asking in the line who has legal representation, who was prepared to get arrested today, who was prepared to make this sort of a moment that would live on on television, and i think that's exactly what's happening now. the hearing was supposed to get underway a few minutes ago. from where i stand now, i can't tell you if that's taken place. >> senator hatch has just said the hearing will be in recess until order is restored. we saw senator graham walk into the hearing room a moment ago, but our own been nji sarlin has said they will not start until they can get this under control. >> that will be a tall order, katy. there were probably 500, maybe more, activists, regular folks, demonstrators, people who lined up here for hours to be part of this today going from the dirksen building over into the next building over, the hart building here on capitol hill.

lined up all morning. there are a few dozen, perhaps, capitol police officers in my line of sight, but they've just completely shut down this hallway. as you can see, they are bringing people out one at a time to try to restore order. but if you've got a few hundred demonstrators who want to make a scene and make this a televised moment, they're succeeding right now. >> don't kill us, kill the bill. politically speaking, garrett, these images are not going to play. i would imagine they're not going to play in the republicans' favor to see people in wheelchairs, people with disabilities being forced to leave the hearing room as they chant, don't kill us, kill the bill. >> reporter: no, absolutely, katy. look, is this an intellectual high point in the debate over health care? no, it's not. but is it something that will jar people awake who have been maybe not following this attempt to repeal this bill perhaps as closely as some of the earlier ones over the summer? almost certainly. this becomes the image of this effort, right?

this is the grassroots anger of a democratic base, of an independent base of people who see this as an assault on their own personal health care pushing back. now, again, this is not going to win any intellectual arguments over the merits of this bill, but that's apparently not the conversation we're having here today. >> garrett, to be fair, a lot of them are people who rely on medicaid to cover their health care costs, and they're astronomically expensive. to have medicaid cut in the way it's being proposed to be cut is scaring a lot of people who rely on it. there are adjustments that are being made for states like alaska and maine, but those states rely very heavily on medicaid. so a cut to medicaid isn't really mitigated with more money being sent to those two states. of course, this bill is going to leave a lot up to the states,

how they distribute these funds, which means senators can't really tell you, can't guarantee that the costs of health care will not go up. they can't even guarantee that if you have a preexisting condition that if you do have that preexisting condition that your premium won't go up so high that you won't be able to afford it. i had that conversation with senator glosso just the other day. sarah huckabee sanders has taken to the podium. she's going over the schedule right now. i think we'll hold off until she starts taking questions, but the white house is definitely trying to get this bill over the line. the president hasn't really been campaigning on it so much but he's been tweeting about it quite a bit. he did address it last friday when he was in -- when he was campaigning for luther strange in alabama. but he sent out a lot of tweets

over the weekend in between those tweets about the nfl. we're going to take a listen to sarah huckabee sanders right now. stay with us. >> the president will also sign a presidential memorandum to ensure that american children are empowered to succeed in the work force of tomorrow. technology is playing a growing role in our economy, and this means that technical knowledge and skills are more important than ever. but more than half of our schools do not currently offer courses in computer programming and nearly 40% do not offer physics. the memo the president will sign today directs secretary of education betsy devos to take several steps to address this issue for our students. first it directs the secretary to address high-quality stem education with a particular focus on computer science as one of the department of education's priorities. secondly, it establishes a goal of devoting at least $2 million per year in grant funds toward this priority. finally, the memo directs secretary devos to explore administrative actions that

increase the focus on computer science in existing k-12 and post-secondary programs. this memorandum comes on the hills of the executive order the president signed in june to expand apprenticeships, giving more americans the opportunity to earn while they learn and to receive skills training that will put them on the path to fulfilling work. the president believes it is our responsibility to give our students, especially unrepresented groups, minorities and women, and those from rural communities, every opportunity to succeed. by signing this memoranda, he is taking action to make sure they have access to the stem education they deserve. to take this action for underprivileged communities is appropriate today. a few weeks prior to central high school's first day, they called in the national guard to stand by as segregates blocked the black students to enter the

all-white school. they recalled, and i quote, they moved closer and closer. someone started yelling. i tried to see a friendly face in the crowd, someone who could maybe help. i looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed like a kind face. but when i looked at her again, she spat on me. 20 years ago today, as a new student at central high myself, i watched bill clinton and my dad mike huckabee open the doors, the same doors that had been closed to them because they were black. ernest green, gloria ray, t terrence roberts and the late jefferson thomas are american heroes who courageousing advancadvanc -- courageously advanced racial equality. central high is one of the most highly diverse and racial

schools. it is a testimony to the last 20 years. it is not lost upon the administration that there is more work to do. we need better jobs and better schools to ensure a more prosperous america for every american. president trump is making america great again for all citizens and his actions exhibit how committed he is. with that i'll take your questions. >> sarah, clearly the president has strong views on whether or not players in professional sports teams should stand for the national anthem. given the response the president has gotten in the last 48 hours even from tom brady of the new england patriots who believes what the president said on friday night was very divisive, does the president regret at all describing these players who take a knee for the national anthem as s.o.b.s who should be fired? >> look, this isn't about the president being against anyone, but this is about the president and millions of americans being for something, being for

honoring our flag, honoring our national anthem and honoring the men and women who fought to defend it. i think general martin dempsey, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said it best when he said this this morning:it's important to remember that our military is composed entirely of volunteers. it takes a special person for people to volunteer, to risk their life for their country. they are not blind patriotism who pretends there's nothing wrong with the country. every man and woman in uniform knows we have more to do to create the skbrjustice that we aspire. he continued, i just hope that the athletes who were using the anthem as a protest understand why people like me intend to keep standing during the national anthem. we do so not because we agree with everything america has done

or everything that has been done in america's name, but because despite all of that, the world is a better place because america exists. that seems to me to be worth the honor of respect during the national anthem. >> i understand general dempsey's position. i think people would thank him for his service to this great nation. but did the president go too far in referring to the players as sobs who should be fired? >> i think it's always appropriate for the president of the united states to defend our flag, to defend the national anthem and to defend the men and women who fought and died to defend it. peter? >> you often talk about how the president used twitter as a platform to emphasize those things that are most important. over the course of the last 72 hours, the president has tweeted more than a dozen times about sports, about kneeling, about nascar on this topic. he tweeted zero times about puerto rico. i guess the bottom line question is, what message is the president sending by emphasizing sports right now and not the big crisis affecting so many? >> he's not emphasizing sports. you're missing the entire

purpose of the message. he's emphasizing something that should be unified, celebrating and promoting patriotism in our country. it's something that should bring everyone together. when it comes to puerto rico, the president has sent both administrator long and senior adviser to homeland security tom bossert to puerto rico today. they're on the ground to assess the damage. we've done unprecedented movement in terms of federal funding to provide for the people of puerto rico and others who have been impacted by these storms. we'll continue to do so and continue to do everything that we can possibly under the federal government to provide assistance. >> so to be very clear, you're saying the president is instead emphasizing something that brings americans together. then what message does it send for the president to stand behind the presidential seal at a rally in alabama and call an american citizen who is expressing his first amendment rights a son of a bitch? >> again, i think it's always appropriate for our president to defend our flag, to defend the national anthem -- hang on, i'm not finished.

it's always appropriate for the president of this country to promote the flag, promote the national anthem and ask people to respect it. north korea's foreign minister said president trump had declared war on north korea and that it reserves the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down u.s. aircraft. does the white house view president trump's comments at the u.n. as a declaration of war? >> not at all. we've not declared war on north korea, and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd. >> what is the white house's reaction to north korea's threat to shoot down u.s. aircraft even if it's not in their airspace? >> it's never appropriate for a country to shoot down another country's aircraft when it's over international waters. our goal is still the same. we continue to seek the peaceful denuclearization of the korean peninsula. that's our focus. doing that through both the most maximum economic and diplomatic

ways are important at this point. >> was the president singling out any athlete or are they all s.o.b.s? >> we certainly respect the rights people have but we also need to focus. this is not about the president being against something, this is about the president being for something. this is about the president being for respect in our country through symbols like the american flag, like the national anthem and the hundreds of thousands of people that actually stand versus the few hundred that may have knelt. >> the president said that kneeling has nothing to do with race. colin kaepernick took to his knees in these games, many of these games, specifically because he said black people in this country were not being treated fairly by police. how is that not an issue of race? >> i think the focus has long since changed and certainly the message in a lot of what has been communicated over these last several weeks through this process, through these protests

by these players. >> sarah, from this podium you've often expressed some frustration about the media not focusing on the agenda that the president has, substantive issues, things he wants to get done, tax reform, health care, et cetera. when did the president decide at this rally that he was going to spend so much time talking about the flag itself? and doesn't that distract from the things you are trying to accomplish this week, whether it's tax reform or health care or the efforts in puerto rico or the showdown with north korea? >> look, i certainly don't think that talking about the american flag is a distraction for the president of the united states. again, this should be something that every american can get behind and support and celebrate as a national pride in our country. and supporting those that have fought and died to defend it from all different backgrounds. and so i think, again, that that certainly should be a priority of the president, but you act

like that's all he did over the weekend. we also did a lot of other things. we're continuing to push forward on fax reform, continuing to push forward on health care, continuing to push forward on the safety and security of the border and our country. >> so he came to the rally with that in mind, though? that was the point. he said, i want to put that in the headlines. >> i'm not sure when that decision was made, i wasn't there, but i know it was a priority for the president to always defend our flag, always defend the national anthem and certainly to support the men and women in uniform. jennifer? >> a couple questions, if you don't mind, sarah. on the general election, has the president called merkel to congratulate her on heroine? >> i know they spoke on friday and they're working on a second call of concongratulations. i don't think that's taken place yet today. >> why not yet? she won on sunday. >> i think they're just working on the logistical piece of coordinating. >> has the president signed off

on tax reform? does he have a final plan now for tax reform? >> he's had several conversations with members of his team, both secretary mnuchin and gary kohn. those will continue and he'll make those announcements on specifics on wednesday in indiana. mike? >> you addressed the "new york times" over the weekend that the president was warned by top aides, including not to provoke kim in the united nations speech because it could potentially backfire? >> i'm sorry? i missed the first part of your question, i'm sorry. >> the l.a. times reported that the president was warned not to provoke kim jong-un in his united nations speech because it would potentially backfire, and now we see that they've taken this as a declaration of war. >> as i've said many times before, i wouldn't use another new source as your source and i would push back on that story at the time. that is a false narrative.

the national security team was involved and engaged throughout the speech-writing process and was very happy with the president's speech at the u.n. go ahead. >> sarah, when colin kaepernick says his protest is about fighting police brutality, fighting racial disparity, racial injustice, you're not taking him at his word. you're saying the focus has long since moved on. but when white supremacists say their protest is about heritage, not hate, the president does take them at their word. so why is there this disparity about who gets to decide what protest is about? >> i think tif the debate is really about police brutality, they should protest the police that are protecting them rather than the american flag. >> i wanted to ask on interstate view the president gave this morning on the radio. he seemed pretty pessimistic

about health care and i wondered what his interactions were today. is he calling individual senders? is the vice president calling? i know the vice president has been doing that. what is his thought today and do you think there will be a vote this week? >> whether or not there is a vote, we sure hope so. we've been calling on congress to do what they were elected to do and certainly what most of them campaigned on and that's to repeal and replace obamacare. we're continuing to push forward. we know we can't live with the obamacare status quo to complete disaster, so we're hoping this moves forward and goes through. >> is he doing something about it? >> he's continuing to be engaged both directly and through his team legislative affairs. >> tomorrow he's going to new york. can you tell us what that dinner is? it looks like some kind of fundraising dinner as we've seen from some e-mails. can you tell us what he's doing tomorrow? >> there is a fundraising dinner and i'll have to get back to you for the specifics. >> this is a pivotal week for the president, and it's an

opportunity, some say the last best chance for repealing and replacing obamacare. yet much of yesterday, the beginning part of today was focused, as far as the president is concerned, on the nfl, on players who take a knee. can you explain how that's helpful to that effort of repealing and replacing obamacare when the president spends so much time on that other issue, the issue involving sports? >> it really doesn't take that long to type out 140 characters and this president is very capable of doing more than one thing at a time and more than one thing in a day. john? >> you see, sarah, how it's taken up so much oxygen, right? when the president speaks about that particular issue, you see how the majority of questions that have been asked of you so far today have been about this particular issue. >> that's determined by you guys. >> he has a tremendous amount of power when he tweets and we report on it. so when he tweets on something, it does take away from his legislative agenda.

would you agree? >> no, i wouldn't, because i think it's important for a president to show patriotism, to be a leader on this issue, and he has. john gizzy? >> thank you, sarah. two questions. one, secretary carson recently voiced his disagreement with the president and the vice president on the runoff in alabama tomorrow. my question is not about the runoff but about the personnel. are members of the cabinet and the president's official family free to disagree with him on matters such as a political contest? >> the president has a lot of people with a variety of backgrounds and certainly with a variety of opinions. he always welcomes them voicing those. on that specific issue, i couldn't speak to that because i haven't talked to the president about it. second question. >> on september 15, a spokesman for the state department spoke at the national press club and i think this is important, because prime minister rahoy is meeting

with the president tomorrow. they said the u.s. took no position on the plebocyte that is scheduled october 1st about separating and becoming a separate country, and i quote, we will work with any government or entity that comes out of it, end of quote. now, does that mean that if caledonia votes to secede from spain, it will act as a separate country? >> i have no information other than what heather gave me. if it changes after that, we'll let you know. >> is the white house reviewing the use of e-mail accounts for official government business, and how widespread is the use of e-mail accounts in this white house? >> to my knowledge, very limited. white house counsel has instructed all white house staff to use their government e-mail

for official business and only use that e-mail. >> has he instructed them since this came up? >> i think we get instructed on this one pretty regularly. >> politico reported that professor weitz has been taking the jet for months. were they aware of price's travel? given he spent 400,000 on taxpayer money for private jets just since may, is there an understanding of what is and isn't tolerated by this white house when it comes to this conduct? >> this wasn't white house approved travel. this was done about ythrough th department of hhs. they're conducting both an internal and ig review, and all travels on private charter has been suspended until that's

completed. >> if i can get the white house's take on that travel now since you said it wasn't approved ahead of time, is it ever appropriate for an official to use private planes? and that differs from international security. >> i think in some instances there is, but i think that's done on a case by case basis. >> do you know if the white house, looking back on that now, approved for that travel? >> that would not have gone through the white house for approval so i couldn't speak to that. >> two immigration related questions. one, do you anticipate a refugee announcement in the next couple of days on both the cap on refugees from the president which has to happen, i guess, before the end of the fiscal year, end of this week? if so, can you give us some sense of what that's going to be and what that will look like? will there be restrictions built

in? and second, on daca, there is word on principles that the white house wants to put out to sort of describe the way forward on a legislative deal. is that something you can give us some guidance on? >> on the first question, i suspect something will happen on this relatively soon, and when we have those details and it's appropriate, we'll be happy to share them. again, i think it will be soon and we'll let you know when that's been finalized. in terms of your second question -- >> daca principles? >> yes, on responsible immigration reform, we will be putting out specific principles that the white house supports and would like to see done legislatively. >> when will that happen? >> probably in the coming days. >> sarah, could you just clarify -- are you encouraging nfl players to protest police? >> no. no. that's not what i'm saying. i was kind of pointing out the hypocrisy of the fact that if the goal and the message is that

of police brutality, which they've stated, then that doesn't seem very appropriate to protest the american flag. i'm not sure how those two things would be combined. >> today iraqi kurds are voting on a plebocyte, and you already expressed kind of your dissatisfaction. i was wondering if the white house has a message for the turks, the romanians, the iraqis as they weigh their response to this vote? >> we hope for a unified iraq to annihilate isis and certainly a unified iraq to push back on iran. >> why is sudan not included in the countries for the travel ban? >> because countries have to meet a minimum baseline requirement and also be part of sharing information.

over this last period of time they've stepped up and met those baseline requirements they have laid out. zeke? >> can you address some of the criticism from the islands, the territory delegates, other lawmakers, about the slow pace of federal assistance? what steps is the administration taking presently and in the coming days to sort of increase the pace of relief and aid? and it was the administration put in here after two other massive storms. is there a third one or is that bridge too far? >> the federal response has been anything but slow. in fact, there's been an unprecedented push-through of billions of dollars in federal assistance that the administration has fought for. as i mentioned earlier, both tom bossert and brock long are on the ground today to do a more thorough and deeper assessment of what needs there are. our focus is still continuing to be on the lifesaving efforts and

the immediate disaster response efforts which are still currently under way. those funds have been secured and are available, and once we have a greater insight into the full assessment of damage, then we'll be able to determine what additional funds are needed, but we're still kind of in that fact-finding process on that piece of it. >> on jen's question earlier about tax reform, you didn't answer her question whether the plan the president will be announcing wednesday is finalized. we've heard a number of different statements from the president in the last several days about what corporate tax rate will be set. is the tax plan finalized right now? >> there are details that were finalized. the president will announce those on wednesday. >> what would the administration say to people on the island who are saying there's not enough time to do this big fact-finding mission. there's isolated areas in the

island that don't have any water, electricity, gas. there's buildings that don't even have roofs and there's water coming into houses. this has all been reported out there on the media. what do you say to people who say there's not enough time and aid needs to be rush out there immediately? >> the response has been at an unprecedented level and we're supplying federal assistance as quickly as possible. we're going to continue to do that. the president asked tom bossert and brock long to go along the ground and come back and give us a list of what is needed and that we can turn around quickly. i'm talking about longer term assessment which simply can't be done in a day. we want to make sure the funding is provided, but we also want to make sure we're funding the correct things. deb? >> steve bannon and another former white house official are supporting ray moore in the primary tomorrow. we also know ban i don't know

met with tarkanian who is challenging dean heller. he talked about loyalty friday night. does he believe he owes people who supported the second health care bill? has he spoken about it? >> as i said many times before, due to the political nature of the question, i'm not going to weigh in about a specific race or involvement in a race. >> i'm asking about principle here. the president talked about loyalty friday night. does he feel on principle that the people vote how he asks them to and does he owe them something in return? does he feel the people who work in this white house should go along with his thoughts on the races? >> i think the president feels he owes it to the american people who elected him, which means they support the agenda he was trying to promote.

as long as we have like-minded officials to try to pass that lenls la legislation, the better off we are. i think that's why this president was elected, and the more we can help make this successful, i think that's a positive thing and the right foot forward. holly? >> will the white house commit to releasing jared kushner's private e-mails? >> i would have to ask him. i'm not aware of that discussion. >> but it's something you would do? >> i'm not going to get ahead of a conversation that hasn't taken place. >> will you let us know? >> sure. >> i want to assess a question that's been going out here today. you talked about the president wanting to defend the flag. you know the oath of office was to defend the constitution. does the president have a problem with the first amendment? >> not at all. the president is simply stating that pride in our country is a good thing. it's something that we should all celebrate, something that frankly should bring us together, not divide us.

standing up for the national anthem he feels is a symbol of that. jim? >> can i follow up on what h hallie was asking? why is the president seemingly going after african-american athletes, and this morning he put out a tweet praising nascar, which is clearly a different demographic, and the way they stand and respect and honor the flag? is he trying to wage something of a culture war? >> not at all. the president is not talking about race. the president is talking about pride in our country. what you saw yesterday were players and fans of all races joining together as americans to honor our servicemembers. that's what the president is talking about. that's what his focus is on. as you all know the president has an event in a few minutes so we're going to close there. thanks very much. >> it is a cultural reference. >> if case you're just tuning in and in case you weren't paying attention at all this weekend, the president called all those

who do not stand up for the flag during the national anthem, those who take a bended knee sons of bitches. sarah huckabee sanders trying to defend the president for those remarks in the white house press briefing. asked multiple times why the president is going after the nfl and promoting nascar in the two different demographics there, also asked about colin kaepernick initially taking the knee last year to protest police brutality. why he was saying that's not appropriate but he was saying it's okay for white supremacists to use the first amendment to protest heritage. sarah huckabee sanders saying that that was a conflation of two matters and if nfl players wanted to protest police brutality, they should protest the police on the field. jarring to see that alongside

images of disabled people, disabled health care protesters protesting this new health care bill on one screen on your television set and sarah huckabee sanders talking about sons of bitches in the nfl on the other hand, but we want to get back to that health care protest because there were hundreds of people there and we saw, again, dramatic images of folks in wheelchairs being wheeled out and others literally being dragged out by capitol police. garrett hague hack there. orren hatch said a moment ago if you want this hearing to start, you better shut up. >> reporter: well, you can probably hear out here, katy, people are not shutting up. we've had maybe two dozen or so protesters who have been arrested or detained literally dragged down the hallway. we're probably 40 yards from the door of that room. these folks wanted to be arrested in a dramatic way, and frankly, they got what they want. i don't know if you can make out

behind me, we're sort of at the staging area for capitol police where they've been taking people out of that hearing room, sta staging them here and taking them out on elevators. it's just a jarring thing to hear that briefing in one ear and then be watching this scene here, as people with missing arms and legs and in motorized wheelchairs are being taken down this hallway screaming "no kuts -- cuts to medicaid, save our liberty, save our care." this will be what people take away from this hearing. the president may say, what a farce. if you want a hearing that turns into this, why do hearings at all? a powerful moment, a powerful visual, and a reminder how starkly personal and important this issue is to so many people and what the stakes are here, i think. >> garrett, thank you. we're going to continue on health care and then we'll go to the white house briefing to talk about everything that happened a

minute ago. i want to bring. house speaker baynor. thank you, gentlemen, for joining me. mib michael, are you concerned about the people who have a disability dragged out of that room as they're protesting, "kill the bill and don't kill us"? >> certainly. the situation is designed to provoke those terrible images. policy is always a matter of life and death. in terms of setting those policies right right now, the big takeaway is they do not have the votes in the senate, let alone in the house, to pass and become law, and it may be time for the white house to admit this particular approach isn't going to work, shift health care to the back burner, focus on tax reform, also focus on the situation in north korea and the situation in puerto rico. >> jeff, bernie sanders obviously is trying to put

forward a single payer plan. is that the way to go right now, or is it time to find something that the majority of congress, or at least, say, even a simple majority of congress, of democrats and republicans, can agree on, something more in the middle? >> look, bernie sanders has advocated medicare for all, but he's also been the point person for the senate democrats in defeating the repeated public attempts to throw tens of millions of people off their health insurance. i think the people you're seeing on their screen being dragged out of the public hearing room have it right. we talk about numbers and statistics and all this, but at the end of the day, people in this did you ncountry are goingf republicans get their way. i think the focus has to be on

defeating this who rehorrendous attempt for people -- >> do you think that's extreme to say people are going to die if they don't have their health care? >> access to health care extends your life span. people who don't have health care have less time in life. people who don't like to talk about it are budget numbers and cbo estimates. this affects people in real ways, and if you saw the press conference the senator had a couple weeks ago, a young woman with her child who makes the choice between medicine for her child and medicine for herself, these are the kind of impacts that go on in these hearing rooms. the people you see being dragged out, they know firsthand better than anybody else what the impact of health care legislation would be. >> jeff weaver, michael steele, i'm sorry to cut is so short but we had a truncated amount of time because of that briefing. i want to get back to the white

house press briefing room with peter alexander. peter, a couple headlines i think we should mention. by the way, we're not at war with north korea. the president never made that declaration. they didn't assume that tweet would be taken as such even though the north koreans did. sarah huckabee sanders asked about it but notably did not mention puerto rico which is undergoing a massive humanitarian crisis in her opening remarks. didn't mention it at all, and those are americans down there that are facing that crisis. but again, most of that briefing certainly focused on the nfl and the president's tweets. >> the topic specifically about north korea, with the foreign minister of that country saying the u.s. had declared war on north korea. sarah huckabee sanders said that claim was, quote, absurd. as for the situation in puerto rico, while she didn't bring it up initially, she did talk about the crisis taking place right now in puerto rico, noting that the fema administrator, brock long, and one of the

top advisers on homeland securi security, tom bossert, are on their way to deal with what we call the disaster there in the wake of hurricane maria. obviously a lot of oxygen for this white house has been sucked up by the president's repeated tweets and comments about the kneeling of professional athletes, most notably in the nfl to protest racial injustice as those protests were designed. here's part of my exchange with sarah huckabee sanders just moments ago. take a listen. >> what message does it send for the president to stand behind the presidential seal at a rally in alabama and call an american citizen who is expressing his first amendment rights a son of a bitch? >> i think it's always appropriate for our president to defend the flag, defend the national anthem -- hold on, i'm not finished. it's always appropriate for the president to defend the flag, defend the national anthem and

ask people to respect it. >> so what i followed up with there was if he's going to defend the flag and the national anthem, why not also defend our amendment? she didn't really answer that is, does the president support the first amendment. >> and especially when it comes to race. this is brought up as well. go to the white house and the president didn't disinvite tom brady. he did that to steph curry over the weekend. a couple more exchanges from the briefing. one with cecilia vega, our friends at abc and another from another reporter. take a listen. >> does the president believe there are very fine people who neemed yesterday watching those games or are they all s.o.b.s? >> i think you're trying to conflate different things here. look, we certainly respect the rights that people have but we also need to focus -- again, this isn't about the president being against something. what everybody wants to drive.

this about the president being for something. the president being for respect in our country. >> and his country is about fighting police brutality, fighting racial disparity, racial injustice. you're not taking him at his word? saying the focus has long since moved on. when white supremists say it's about heritage, not hate. so why is there a disparity what protest is about? >> i think the debate is really for them about police brutality they should probably protest the officers on the field protecting them instead of the american flag. >> protest the officers on the field. sarah huckabee sanders also asked, you know, the president swore an oath of office to protect the constitution. doesn't that mean the first amendment as well? and she said, respecting the flag is part of that. jarvis green, former nfl player with the new england patriots twotime super bowl champion,

terrence moore national sports journalist and visiting professor of journalism as miami university in ohio. doesn't really make sense to me. miami university in ohio? [ laughter ] apparently it's right. talk about obviously this much more serious matter. race. and you can't help but talk about race with this. especially -- i say this over and over again when talking about president trump. what he says and what he does, doesn't happen in a vacuum. there's a whole lot of history of his comments before any one thing he says and when it comes to going after the nfl and players who kneel, it's good to remind yourself that this is a, a president who crusaded against barack obama, was, you know, the leader essentially of the birther movement who said mexico is sending rapists across the border. called for a muslim ban. he got into a dust-up with the

kaiser kahn family and muslims. his response to charlottesville, said a federal judge with mexican heritage couldn't be fair. the president, jarvis, is saying this is not about race? do you they he's credible in that? >> you know what jie mean, the president said a lot of different things. that's his opinion. again, going back to the freedom of speech and what goes on. we all know what's happened in american history and right now it's just a lot of things that's going on everywhere. you have to stay positive and, again, we do have freedom of speech in america. >> yes. terrence what do you think? the white house says you have freedom of speech but do it on your own time. >> katy, this is clearly about race. i mean, all of this latest stuff started in alabama. hello? okay? with a rally? that's not a good look there. okay? you talked about it earlier.

about how he mentioned, praising nascar, being this great force now that they've come out. nascar, a lot of owners saying that they don't want their people to be anywhere near this type of thing, but don't forget that also on sunday, he also praised the pittsburgh penguins for being this wonderful team and coming to the white house. pittsburgh penguins play in a national hockey league, 99.9% white. nascar, 99.9% white. again, that's a bad look. here's the thing, you know, we got to get the obvious out of the way here. this is all a distraction. at least an attempt by donald trump to distract from all the other stuff going on in this world. talked about this numerous times on the network. most things aren't good. i want to say something that's been very positive about this and the huge. a lot of people are missing this. we are in an era, the antithesis

what was going on in the 1990s with athletes. michael jordan, who didn't want to say anything controversial, because he wanted to sell sneakers. you had charles barkley doing that commercial saying that i am not a role model. all of a sudden we have role models everywhere. okay? colin kaepernick may never get a job again in the national football league but is a hero forever in this movement. the guy really liking this movement, lebron james. held a press conference that was fantastic. eloquent. like the 21st century version of muhammad ali and jim brown, of that ilk. you see things like that. it tells you what he meant for good to paraphrase the bible, did for evil, rather, has turned into good in many ways. >> i want to hit on colin kaepernick, jarvis. he still does not vat job within the nfl. seeing lots of players take their knee in support of the first amendment, and your right

to protest and camaraderie with him certainly and against this president what he said. does this change, in your opinion, kaepernick's prospects going forward? >> well, i mean, that's a tough question, actually. because kaepernick -- >> could it? >> well i don't think so. i mean, you know, for the things that happened from the time he took the knee to now, i mean what has changed? you know. that's the question you have to ask. either with the nfl. i mean, nfl is still going. we just passed season three. we had week three. we have week four coming up. a lot of things happen in that situation and i know with the nfl. i played my nine years there. a lot of politics come in as well. and the thing you have to do, but you have to remember at the same time, when you take something personal like that, and you do it, you have to understand what's going to be the outcome. you know? from it happening. i mean, kaepernick his last

season, i mean, was it the best season? no. we have ups and downs. >>s this is more about his performance on the field than it is about the protest? >> i mean, at the end of the day, that goes on everywhere with sports. talked about lebron and curry, the situation with the flag and everything, taking a knee again, you know were she , we have to football and have different views on and off the field, but nfl, it's about what you've done lately. you got to play ball. >> jarvis and terrence, stay with us. eli is with us a white house reporter over at the "wall street journal." eli, terrence was saying that this is just another way for the white house to distract from the other issues going on. i'm not so sure about that. i think donald trump just shoots from the hip. might be watching football or talking about football, and then he just goes on a rampage and tweets about it. i don't know if there was a real strategy here. >> reporter: i agree with you.

this is a compulsion he's shown for, ever since he's been on the political stage, really. and obviously coming onstage, in alabama over the weekend, knowing it was going to be a receptive crowd. katy, you remember back in the campaign there was a line he would always go to towards the end of his rally speeches about how people should salute one american flag. this is playing out in the fall of 2016, right as the colin kaepernick protests were beginning and it was something that got a huge reaction from the mostly white audiences at his rallies. donald trump's entire, the reason he's in the white house is white identity politics. he continues to press that button. one of the only buttons he continues to press with any success because it keeps his base locked in. that's what he did over the weekend and compounded by the reaction to it, and you see him doubling and tripling down with the criticism of steph curry and others and the succession of tweets, talking to people inside the white house, i know its sarah huckabee sanders's job to come out, defend the president. a tough job. talk to others they don't want

to talk about this. many folks in the west wing are dismayed he continues to do this. to them it's a distraction from the other things they're trying to get done. >> it's unfortunate. a lot of serious stuff going on in the world. puerto rico is in desperate need of aid right now. desperate need of aid. reminders, those are americans. north korea thinks we've declared war against them and threatened to shoot down our planes in, anywhere in the korean peninsula if they see them, not just in north korea's territory and then the health care vote and bill that's going on. those -- those protesters with the disabltilities dragged out. a lot of extraordinary important stuff and your colleague hit it on the head asking the question, why this pret doesn't believe or sarah huckabee sanders doesn't believe this was ultimately about kaepernick protesting police brutality? didn't immediately believe that that's ultimately what this was about and that it moved on to other things, but they're willing to say and the president

was willing to say that white supremacists were -- taken at their word. white supremacists were protesting removal of their heritage. eli stokals, jarvis green and terrence moore. guy, thank you so much for joining us. i was going to do one more thing also about the nfl, but we have completely run out of time in this hour. it flies by especially when sarah huckabee sanders pull as briefing. ali velshi picks things up. >> one more thing -- swallow it into my show and make it an appendage to yours. >> i feel like it is at the moment. >> hathat's okay. happy to be an appendage of yours. have an excellent afternoon. i'm ali velshi, a jam-packed hour ahead. north korea's foreign minister calling the presiden