News on Youtube Sep 1 2018

ROBERT COSTA: Hello. I'm Robert Costa. And this is the Washington Week Extra, where we

pick up online where we left off on our broadcast.

Joining me around the table, Yamiche Alcindor of the PBS NewsHour, Erica Werner of The

Washington Post, Julie Hirschfeld Davis of The New York Times, and Mark Landler of The

New York Times. Two big primaries this week. In Arizona, Representative Martha McSally

won the Republican nomination to replace retiring Senator Jeff Flake. McSally retired

from the U.S. Air Force after serving two decades there and the was the first female

fighter pilot to fly in combat. She'll face Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, a member of

Congress, in the fall. And in Florida, one of the country's largest swing states,

Tallahassee Mayor and Senator Bernie Sanders-backed Andrew Gillum, he was the winner

in the Democratic primary for governor.

Representative Ron DeSantis, backed by President Donald Trump, won the Republican

nomination, but DeSantis quickly stirred up controversy in comments on Fox News.

REPRESENTATIVE RON DESANTIS (R-FL): (From video.) He is an articulate spokesman for

those far-left views and he's a charismatic candidate. And, you know, I watched those

Democrat debates; none of that was my cup of tea, but I mean, he performed better than the

other people there, so. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to

embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state.

ROBERT COSTA: DeSantis denied his comments were racially motivated.

Yamiche, we don't know, as David Brooks said on the NewsHour, what's in the congressman's

heart, but to have race immediately injected into this gubernatorial contest, what does

it tell us about the midterms this year?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, I'll say one thing. There's - race was already included in

this because Florida's never had a black governor, so there is this idea that we were

going to be talking about race anyways because he was already - Andrew Gillum is the

first black Democrat nominated for governorship. So that was going to be there.

I think race is also a big thing because I'm from Florida; there's a big racial divide

between South Florida, where I grew up, which is really I would say the Caribbean there's

so many immigrants there, and the rest of Florida which is majority-white and very much

more like the South. That said, when you talk about a black man who's educated and you

say the word "articulate," you say that he performs well, and then you follow it up by

saying the word "monkey," you should know better. If he didn't know better, he should

absolutely have known better. The moment I heard it, especially the way that he said

"monkey," I thought - I sat back in my chair and thought this is so problematic.

So I think that he really needs to own up to the fact that that was something that he

shouldn't have said. He needs to apologize for saying it. And the fact that Fox News

came out and said we apologize, that we are not part of this, that's something - that's a

really big move for Fox News, which of course has had its own issues with racially-charged language.

ROBERT COSTA: Gillum backed by Senator Sanders.

Are we seeing the Democratic Party move a little left in the months ahead of November?

ERICA WERNER: Yeah, really interesting outcome in that both parties kind of showed, you

know, the - what they are in this political season as far as the Republican side, you get

the guy who Trump backed and pulled from behind in the polls to winning, showing, you

know, how Trump is the kingmaker in these primaries. And then on the Democratic side,

as in New York with Joe Crowley's seat, you see that a progressive can overcome polling

and expectations and win. And so it's going to be really interesting to see what happens

when these two face off in the general election and it'll be very telling as to what

direction Florida and maybe even in the country wants to go.

ROBERT COSTA: Trump does seem to be the kingmaker on the Republican side, but Arizona's

a little different. Martha McSally was at first wary of attaching too close to Trump,

but by the end it was all about Trump, and you saw that in Florida with DeSantis.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: Absolutely. I mean, as Erica said, he endorsed DeSantis.

He didn't endorse in the three-way primary in Arizona, but all three of the candidates -

all three of the Republican candidates hugged Trump as hard as they could, even in the

week after John McCain's death, and he was a Navy pilot, war hero.

You might think a candidate like McSally would want to associate herself with him, try

to, you know, draw in some of the voters who kept on sending him back to the Senate from

Arizona, but she didn't mention him at all. She talked about being a supporter of

President Trump's agenda. And of course, Joe Arpaio was - you know, he called Trump

more of a hero than McCain because he was on the receiving end of a pardon from him.

And so the candidates really, I think, have embraced this idea that if you want to win a

primary you really have to hug Trump hard.

The question is really going to be, I think, in the next couple months, whether that gets

you over the finish line of a general election when you have a lot of voters who are

repelled by the idea of Donald Trump - certainly Democrats, but even some independents

and some of the Republicans who may have supported him in 2016.

So it'll be interesting to see how those numbers may change, or maybe they will not.

ROBERT COSTA: Why aren't the Democrats talking about impeachment as much as we may have

thought months ago, that there will be this big push against President Trump?

And of course, some of the elements of the party are doing that - Tom Steyer, the

billionaire donor, leading an impeachment push - but a lot of the Sanders wing seems to

actually be pushing for other issues: a higher minimum wage, more economic and health

emphasis in their - in their call.

MARK LANDLER: Well, there's - a lot of Democrats feel that impeachment's a distraction

and ultimately you need to be talking about issues people care about.

I think, though, that - to talk about these new Washington Post poll numbers that show

this relatively high number of people that are open to impeachment, that regardless of

what the party leadership - whether you're on the progressive end or the establishment,

regardless of how reluctant they feel about impeachment, I think they're going to find it

a very tough pressure to tamp down. I think there is enough fervor out in the

grassroots to push impeachment that, should they take the House, I think they'll

face enormous pressure not to - not just to hold hearings, but to act on those hearings.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And I'll say, in talking to voters after Andrew Gillum won - and even

though this, obviously, is a governor's race - there were so many people that said, well,

as soon as the Democrats can just get the House back we'll impeach President Trump.

So in some ways I wonder if these candidates know that their voters know what the deal is

and that there's an elephant in the room, that they don't have to say we're going to

impeach President Trump because with all the reporting that Axios did this week, with

that long list of investigations, some of the stuff I forgot was things that we did know:

Where's the president's tax returns? Why did he fire James Comey? There are all

these things that Democrats want to know. So even if they don't impeach him, all

these investigations could end up becoming an impeachment process in and of itself.

So I think Democrats are smart to say, hey, Hillary Clinton won on an - or Hillary

Clinton lost running against just Trump, saying I am not going to be Trump; maybe what we

need to do is actually have a Democratic agenda so that years down the line, when we

don't have President Trump, we can still say, hey, this is what our party stands for.

ROBERT COSTA: When you look at President Trump's schedule, he's going to be a lot of

places but he can't be everywhere. And there was a POLITICO report this week that said

that now the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of the GOP

in the House, they're going to have to make some tough decisions because Republicans

still face that blue wave even if President Trump's helpful in a lot of places.

ERICA WERNER: Yeah, there is the suggestion that, you know, as far as the money spigot

for Republican candidates, you have 23-seat majority currently and maybe 45 Republicans

who are quite vulnerable. Well, the party can't lift all those people up, so they're

starting to talk about who do we cut off because they're just not going to make it.

Those are going to be difficult decisions, obviously, but necessary.

I mean, it's all about survival and it's about keeping the majority for Republicans

because in the House, if you have the majority, even if it's a one-seat majority, I mean,

it's going to be incredibly difficult to get anything passed, but you control all the

gavels, and that's really going to be what matters to the Trump administration.

ROBERT COSTA: And Trump can go to a big rally, but who are they sending to the suburbs

from the White House, Ivanka Trump?

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: Well, that's a great question because, you know, we just saw

President Trump tweeted that he was going to have a big rally in October for Ted Cruz in

Texas, who is facing a rising Democratic challenger in Beto O'Rourke. And he said, you

know, I want to rent the biggest arena I can. He loves these big arena rallies.

That's what gets him going. That's what makes him feel like he's needed and like he

is the star, which is what he wants out of these events, and it's also what

Republican candidates want out of these events, but it is a good question.

Some of these more vulnerable Republicans really need him to come to their little small

high school on the outskirts of the city where they really need to get voters excited to

come out and vote for them in November, and he is not going to want to play those places.

The few times when we've seen him go to venues like that he makes comments publicly about

how I never go someplace this small, and so, you know, to get him where he needs to be to

help Republicans get across the finish line is going to be a challenge.

Maybe it will be Ivanka Trump or Mike Pence, or who knows.

ROBERT COSTA: Mike Pence seems to take a lot of those gigs.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: Mike Pence does do a lot - a lot of those gigs.

(Laughter.) He's going to be a busy man.

ROBERT COSTA: That's true. I mean, he was at the Capitol for Senator McCain.

I mean, it's almost like a rock band when they say we won't play clubs anymore, we're

only going to play arenas. (Laughter.)

Speaking of rallies, at a political rally in Indiana on Thursday, President Trump

repeated one of his common themes, calling the mainstream media "fake news." Mr.

Trump has had a contentious relationship with the press - that's not news, of course -

but he's been singling out news organizations and whipping up crowds at his rallies for

over a year now and even before then during the campaign. But it's reached a new level.

The Boston Globe spearheaded a series of editorials nationwide speaking out on behalf of

a free press earlier this month. And this week, a man was accused of calling The Globe

the enemy of the people and he was charged with threatening violence against the

newspaper and its journalists. Mark, you've - I mean, we've all been at rallies, but you've

been recently covering the president. And so have you, Julie, I know, and everybody has.

When you hear about the threat to The Globe, the shots from the president, the punches

at the press, expected. But the violence that seems to be creeping into some

of these attacks on the fringe, it's unsettling to say the least.

MARK LANDLER: It is. And, you know, one of the things that has developed over time in

President Trump's campaign against the press is he started off with the phrase

"fake news," which is derisive and I think inaccurate and offensive to all of us.

But it's not the same as what he has more recently taken to saying, which is "the enemy

of the people." That's a really loaded phrase. It has, you know, a deep historical

provenance. It was used in totalitarian states and Stalinist Russia, in Nazi Germany.

And when you label any group the enemy of the state, you're really declaring them, to

some extent, open season, that they are a group that can be victimized. I don't know

whether President Trump has that historical perspective or that sensitivity.

I do know that members of the press, including the publisher of my newspaper, have

personally asked the president, appealed to the president not to use that phrase and that

language. But he persists, as recently as this week he tweeted it yet again.

So when you see episodes like the threats against The Boston Globe or the mass shooting

at the Annapolis newspaper, which, you know, to be sure was not in any way connected to a

Trump supporter, it's happening within a context, within an atmosphere and an environment

that the president is really contributing to creating.

And so this language, the continued use of this language does trouble me.

And, you know, one of the interesting nuggets that came out of our publisher's visit

with the president several weeks ago was that he mentioned to the president that

newsrooms around the country were beginning to hire armed guards to guard the newsrooms.

And President Trump's response to my publisher was to say I'm surprised they weren't

doing that already, so, you know, sometimes you wonder how much the president thinks

these issues through.

But this type of language in particular is so incendiary that I think that's, you know,

one of the contributing factors and something that I hope we will see less of over time.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: I went to a Trump rally in Charleston, West Virginia.

And I started - I end up - I ended up interviewing people about Jim Acosta because so

many people were yelling and screaming about him in particular.

And it got to the point where I kind of got concerned. And I'm someone who covered

Ferguson, who covers Baltimore protests, who doesn't really get rattled.

I've never really gotten rattled at a Trump rally in all the times I went on campaigns,

and that's speaking as an African-American woman where there were sometimes white

nationalists there. Never had a problem. But the level of anger that I got and

that I received when I - when I was watching people yell at Jim Acosta made me pause.

And people were saying, well, he's the fake news and he wants to let - he wants this

president to go. And it made me think that if Robert Mueller does come out with the

report and it does say this president broke the law, that he obstructed justice and

then we start reporting on that, I don't know how people are going to take that.

I don't know if they're going to be able to receive the evidence if there is evidence

that this president did something wrong. And that, to me, is the thing that worries me.

Yes, it's the media aspect of it, but it's also we're pushing out facts and if you don't

like those facts, I don't know how people would - how people might lash out.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: Well, and that is the point - YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Right.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: - right, I mean, from the president's perspective.

I don't know, like Mark said, whether he has a historical perspective of these terms that

he's using and if he's trying to incite this kind of feeling.

But I think he does very well understand the result and he has a desired result which is

for people to say everything we're reading, everything we're seeing on the news, with the

exception of Fox News, is wrong, is discredited, is fake, is meant to bring somebody

down. And it is actually quite frightening to think of the prospect that something like that

would happen, we would all report it, and, you know, would there be some sort of an

uprising? Would people feel enabled by the president's rhetoric to really take

action rather than just talk about how much they hate the media?

ROBERT COSTA: And it's about information generally. You think about the president's attacks

are on the media - against the media, but also against Google and social media companies.

ERICA WERNER: That's right and kind of against experts of all kinds, right?

Scientists, you know, university professors, that sort of thing.

And unfortunately, it's been effective based on polling that shows that - and I don't

remember the numbers, but the standing in which journalists are held has sunk and there's

more than a majority, I believe, of people who think that we do make up stories and that

we do fabricate sources, which, of course, we don't. So it really is quite troubling.

And I believe the president has in fact acknowledged that this is what he's trying to do,

right, to make it so that he is the one who's believed and that no one else is believed.

And I think Yamiche is right, that when the time comes for Bob Mueller to say whatever

it is he has to say, however damning or not that turns out to be of the president, we'll

report it, a lot of people won't believe it unfortunately.

ROBERT COSTA: Well, that's the question I'm always asking myself and my colleagues is,

what are we supposed to be doing?

Because if that happens, right, if there is a new breaking point in the media where

people are questioning the press and there's real attacks on the press, part of my

reaction is just keep reporting, just keep telling the story. But is there anything

else we should be doing or thinking about as journalists? I don't know.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: I think it's always reporting and it's always respecting people.

It's really trying to bring people and show people what you do. The idea is that I

always think that no one - no one owes me an interview, no one owes me time in their home.

So when I go and I talk to people, I've always had a pretty pleasant experience and I

would say that at Trump rallies.

I wrote a story about people who voted for Obama and then voted for President Trump, and

this was before the election where things were very, very high and people were very

angry. And again, I'm an African-American woman with an afro walking through a Trump

rally saying, who voted for Obama? That's a kind of tough thing to do.

People were pleasant to me because I was pleasant to them.

So I think that if you meet enough people like that and you report the facts, that's all

you can really do because I can't convince you if Robert Mueller comes out either for or

against it because there could be Democrats that are very mad.

If Robert Mueller says, actually, everything the president did was fine, there was no

evidence of wrongdoing, we don't know what people might do on the other side.

People might be very, very angry.

If the Republicans keep the House and Robert Mueller says the president's cleared, there

could be a whole other side of the country that says can we really do another two years

and what that could mean. So I think people - I think as journalists, our jobs are

just to report and be respectful to people.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: Yeah, I mean, I think you have to continue to report the ways in

which the president is attacking these issues. Right?

I mean, the fact that he is, his behavior when it comes to this investigation, when it

comes to the media is very much similar to what you seen in authoritarian societies, is

an important comparison to make. It's also important to talk to people, as Yamiche

said, all over the country who come from different perspectives in order to, you know,

make it clear that not everyone is singing from the same song sheet, not everyone has

the same perspective. But facts are facts.

And so I think it's really important, even in an environment where we are under constant

attack, that we keep on trying to talk to the primary sources and keep on reporting what

we see. Because the opposite, frankly, is what Donald Trump seems to want and what a

lot of leaders in countries that don't have the freedoms that we have here tend to want.

And, you know, we just have to keep on doing the job.

ROBERT COSTA: We'll leave it there for now. And we'll leave it there for the

Washington Week Extra. Thanks for joining us. And while you're online, check out our

Washington Week-ly News Quiz. I'm Robert Costa. We'll see you next time.

For more infomation >> President Trump's contentious relationship with the media - Duration: 18:08.

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Cindy McCain lays wreath at Vietnam Memorial - Duration: 2:03.

For more infomation >> Cindy McCain lays wreath at Vietnam Memorial - Duration: 2:03.

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Watch Live: John McCain remembered | Obama, Bush give eulogies at Washington funeral - Duration: 4:05:45.

For more infomation >> Watch Live: John McCain remembered | Obama, Bush give eulogies at Washington funeral - Duration: 4:05:45.

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Watch McCain's funeral live - Duration: 5:41:22.

For more infomation >> Watch McCain's funeral live - Duration: 5:41:22.

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CRAZY ROAD RAGE VIDEO: Woman smashes windows, runs over bus driver in DC - Duration: 2:33.

For more infomation >> CRAZY ROAD RAGE VIDEO: Woman smashes windows, runs over bus driver in DC - Duration: 2:33.

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La madre de John McCain asiste en su sepelio en Washington | Noticiero | Telemundo - Duration: 0:30.

For more infomation >> La madre de John McCain asiste en su sepelio en Washington | Noticiero | Telemundo - Duration: 0:30.

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Washington le da el último adiós a John McCain | Noticiero | Telemundo - Duration: 2:56.

For more infomation >> Washington le da el último adiós a John McCain | Noticiero | Telemundo - Duration: 2:56.

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Washington pays tribute to McCain: 'He would fight tooth and nail for his vision of the common good' - Duration: 3:14.

JUDY WOODRUFF: This has also been a day of tributes to the fallen, starting with the

late Senator John McCain here in Washington.

He lay in state today in the building where he spent decades of his political life.

It rained briefly as Senator McCain's casket arrived at the U.S. Capitol, along with his

family, from grandchildren to his 106-year-old mother, Roberta.

But the weather did nothing to dampen the ceremony inside the Capitol Rotunda.

Lawmakers paid final respects, and top Republicans testified to McCain's independent streak.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell:

SEN.

MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), Majority Leader: He would fight tooth and nail for his vision

of the common good.

Depending on the issue, you knew John would either be your staunchest ally or your most

stubborn opponent.

JUDY WOODRUFF: House Speaker Paul Ryan recalled the former Navy pilot turned politician as

plainspoken.

REP.

PAUL RYAN (R-WI), Speaker of the House: From time to time, found myself on the receiving

end of John's distinct brand of candor, happily so.

I remember thinking more than once, yes, he really does talk like a sailor.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Vice President Mike Pence remembered a man of boundless energy displayed during

a trip to Iraq.

MIKE PENCE, Vice President of the United States: After another 18-hour day, when I was literally

falling asleep in the middle of a dinner with Iraqi officials, after the dinner, John, who

was more than 20 years older than me, walked up, put his hand on my shoulder and said:

"Mike, we have got a few more meetings tonight.

But why don't you turn in?

You look like you could use some rest."

"Thanks, John."

JUDY WOODRUFF: McCain had openly feuded with President Trump.

And it's widely reported the president was asked not to attend today.

But the vice president praised McCain's long service in the military, then the House and

finally the Senate.

MIKE PENCE: In every generation, there are those who put country first, who prize service

ahead of self, who summon idealism from a cynical age.

John McCain was such a man.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Afterward, family and friends had their own moments beside the casket, and

the doors opened to the public.

A formal memorial service follows tomorrow at Washington National Cathedral.

We will have more on today's remembrances of John McCain later in the program.

And in Detroit, the star-studded funeral for Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul.

The Greater Grace Temple in Detroit was filled with soaring musical tributes from Ariana

Grande and Faith Hill.

Smokey Robinson and former President Bill Clinton were two of those who delivered eulogies

during the daylong event.

We will take some time to listen to more of those tributes later in the program.

For more infomation >> Washington pays tribute to McCain: 'He would fight tooth and nail for his vision of the common good' - Duration: 3:14.

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A legal storm looms over President Trump as the nation remembers John McCain - Duration: 25:40.

ROBERT COSTA: A legal storm looms over President Trump and the nation remembers Senator

John McCain. I'm Robert Costa. Welcome to Washington Week.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) Our Justice Department and our FBI have to start

doing their job and doing it right and doing it now. (Cheers, applause.)

ROBERT COSTA: President Trump, facing mounting legal challenges, rallies his supporters

and says he is frustrated with his attorney general and the head of the FBI.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) I want them to do their job.

I will get involved and I'll get in there if I have to. (Cheers, applause.)

ROBERT COSTA: In rapid-fire tweets and several interviews, the president lashed out at

other targets this week ahead of a potentially stormy season in his presidency.

He called the Russia probe an "illegal investigation." He railed against Google, social

media, and books about him, calling them all fake.

And he downplayed the coming departure of the White House counsel.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) Don McGahn's a really good guy, been with me for a

long time. Privately, before this, he represented me. He's done an excellent job.

ROBERT COSTA: We make sense of the week. Plus - (Singing: Amazing Grace.)

ROBERT COSTA: Remembering Senator John McCain - his heroism, his love of country, and his legacy.

ANNOUNCER: This is Washington Week. Once again, from Washington, moderator Robert Costa.

ROBERT COSTA: Good evening. A week of stark contrast. The nation paid tribute to the

late Arizona Senator John McCain with powerful scenes and powerful words, but politics

didn't stand still. President Trump, he continued to lash out at targets old and new,

and in the process he previewed the battles to come this fall.

The president's fury with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, it remains, but by week's end

he said Sessions was safe until after the November elections. And ahead of those

midterms the president, he's returning to his core issues: immigration and trade.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) A vote for Democrats in November is a vote to

erase our borders and leave innocent Americans at the mercy of hardened criminals.

That's what will happen. We are replacing NAFTA with a beautiful,

brand-new U.S.-Mexico trade deal. (Cheers, applause.)

ROBERT COSTA: While those trade disputes with Canada linger on, the White House is also

facing legal headaches: the exit of White House Counsel Don McGahn and the ongoing

special counsel investigation. Joining me tonight, Yamiche Alcindor of the PBS

NewsHour, Mark Landler of The New York Times, Julie Hirschfeld Davis of The New

York Times, and Erica Werner of The Washington Post.

Mark, you've been tracking the trade developments all day, and what a change from

earlier in the week when the president was touting progress with Mexico, trying to

rewrite the whole North American Free Trade Agreement.

Now the talks have stalled with Canada. Where does the president go from here?

MARK LANDLER: Well, I mean, the Canadians will be back in Washington next week to

continue the negotiations, so this process - like it often does with Donald Trump -

despite these various milestones, it seems to be a sort of a ceaseless, endless

negotiation. So that continues.

But I think what was telling about the Canadian episode these past two days is that even

as the negotiators were closeted in a room trying to work out a deal, President Trump was

giving an interview to Bloomberg in which he had an off-the-record passage where he

basically sounded off on what he really thought about the kind of deal he wanted to do

with the Canadians, and he said there will be no compromises; I can't say this publicly

because they'd be so insulted they'd never agree to a deal.

Then those remarks were promptly leaked to the Toronto Star, which is one of the largest

papers in Canada, in the eleventh hour of this negotiation.

And so, again, as always with Donald Trump, the question became who leaked it, what was

the motive, was someone trying to blow up the talks. And in the end the talks kind of

petered out, not, you know, ending entirely, but with a commitment to come back and

try again next week. So, again, it was the drama of Donald Trump, and it underscored

the extent to which he's always willing to make these things personal. He's willing to

go at the Canadians, and I'm sure it's going to leave a very sour taste in the mouths

of the Canadian negotiators as they go back to Canada and reassess this weekend.

ROBERT COSTA: Erica, beyond the intrigue of the leak - we'll leave that aside for the

moment - what's Congress doing when they watch all of this?

The administration says it could pursue a deal on its own with Mexico and leave Canada to

the side for the moment, but is that actually possible under the NAFTA agreement?

ERICA WERNER: Well, I think that there is some question as to whether that is

technically possible, but I do think it comes down to a political question more so than a

legal or a policy one in that if Congress wanted to take up a bilateral agreement, they

could find a way to do that. But the reality is that they don't. Republicans want

nothing to do with an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico that leaves aside Canada.

NAFTA knits these three countries together.

Republicans think that's been good for the economy for their states.

They want Canada in, so they are not going to pass a bilateral agreement.

And the reality is that even a trilateral agreement is not going to pass this year.

There's just not time under fast track with the midterms, but what some Republicans will

tell you is that, given the pain that Trump's trade policies have exacted on farmers and

others in middle America, they want to be able to show some progress and so that

announcement of a deal, however kind of fleeting or perhaps nonexistent in the end is, is

in fact progress that they can point to politically.

ROBERT COSTA: When we think about why the president is making these decisions, you often

think about the political dynamics around them. And you look at the most recent polls,

disapproval of President Trump is at a new high according to a Washington Post/ABC News

poll that was released on Friday. The national poll found 60 percent of Americans now

disapprove of Mr. Trump's job performance and 36 percent of Americans approve.

His support among Republicans remains strong at 78 percent. Yamiche, is the president

not only trying to rally his voters here, but also reassure voters in the Midwest and

the Northeast, farmers, manufacturers, who may not like where he's going on trade?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, I think that the president wants more time to try to keep this

promise that he made on the campaign trail.

In city after city, he stopped by and talked to people and said I'm going to get your job

back, I'm going to get these factories that were closed back.

And I should say Bernie Sanders on the other side was almost making the exact same pitch

on the trail saying NAFTA was a problem and that it hurt America.

So President Trump, I think, wants to get some sort of deal done because there are all

these people that are looking at him saying, are you going to actually get this done?

When I go to the approval ratings, I think about the fact that, at the end of the day,

Republicans still support him.

Now, that might be because there's a smaller number of people who consider themselves

Republican. Americans are increasingly getting independent.

But the fact that we've seen all these guilty verdicts and guilty pleas - and I've been

out reporting, talking to Trump supporters - they're all still with the president.

And the majority of them say, until the president's actually convicted, until there's

actually concrete evidence that the president committed a crime and he's going to be

charged for it, they're going to stick with him.

ROBERT COSTA: Why is that? Why are the voters sticking with him, Julie? You've been tracking

the president all week. He's railing against the media. He's saying you can only really trust

me. What's the view inside of the White House about how they have to handle all of this?

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: Well, I think they feel like they have no choice other than to

do what the - what is the president's instinct, which is to double down, to become more

intense about his complaints about the press, about his complaints about his own Justice

Department, as we heard just this week. I think Yamiche is right.

Clearly, his core supporters are staying with him.

But I think the bigger issue both for him and for Republicans in the midterm elections

looking forward here just a couple of months is that what really appeals to people, and

not just really conservative Republicans and populists who are the ones who will never

desert him, is what appealed to some independents, what appealed to even to some

Democrats who voted for Barack Obama was him being willing to say these trade agreements

don't work, this is not doing any good for you, I'm the one who's going to get in there

and say I won't have it anymore, I don't want to deal with the Canadians, this is not

fair to us. And they liked that. But what they're not seeing is the result. What is he

doing about it? What agreements is he going to be able to strike that's an alternative

that's going to be good for Americans? And until they start to see that, I think

you're going to see more and more of those poll results that you talked about in

terms of the majority of the country feeling like he's not delivering.

ROBERT COSTA: And so much of this is you have the Mueller cloud hanging over all of it.

So the news today is really that that news wasn't made, Robert Mueller, the special

counsel, didn't issue his report. And so now you wonder, if you're the White House or

if you're an American voter, does that report on the president's possible obstruction

of justice, on his conduct, does that now wait until after the midterm elections?

MARK LANDLER: Well, I think, to some extent, this Labor Day milestone that Mueller was

either going to act before Labor Day or keep his silence until November 9th, perhaps that

was a little artificial and maybe we all spun ourselves up a bit around that.

I thought - just to come back to the poll for a second - the interesting number in that

poll was about the public's attitudes toward the Mueller investigation.

And I'm forgetting the exact number, but it was in the 60s.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: Sixty-three percent. YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Yeah.

ROBERT COSTA: Sixty-three percent.

MARK LANDLER: Sixty-three percent. That's a - that suggests to me that after weeks

and indeed months of President Trump's daily efforts to impugn the integrity of Mueller

and his prosecutors, calling it this week an illegal investigation, it's clear to me

he hasn't made as much headway perhaps as he hoped in discrediting this effort.

And the other number that jumped out in that poll was 49 percent of people were in favor

of impeachment proceedings, also, I thought, a rather high number - I was surprised by

that - and a number that would no doubt put pressure on Democrats were they to take the

House in the fall. But to get back to your question, because the Labor Day thing was

somewhat artificial, I don't think the White House can feel that they're really off the hook.

You know, I think as soon as this midterm is over, he's probably going to drop one or two

really problematic things. Roger Stone's been pretty open that he thinks he's going to be indicted.

So that, combined with the results of the midterms, probably is going to mean President

Trump will continue to act more and more unhinged in his tweets and in his reaction.

ROBERT COSTA: Erica, Mark brought up impeachment.

If the Democrats take over the House, a lot of Democrats are ready to move in that

direction. But is the White House ready for it, for that barrage of subpoenas?

You have White House Counsel Don McGahn preparing to leave.

ERICA WERNER: Right. Well, that's a question that was brought up with the

announcement of McGahn's departure. We also learned that the overall Office of White

House Counsel is, like, drastically understaffed now compared to what it was at the

beginning of the administration. I believe they have 25 attorneys now compared with

something like 35 when the administration began.

Some of those deputy positions right under McGahn are unfilled or about to be unfilled.

It would appear that a lot of people don't want to work in that office and that will

become a very big problem if Democrats take over the House, not just because of the

specter or prospect of impeachment, but just the investigations, the subpoenas.

I mean, every committee in the House is going to be investigating one aspect or another

of the administration and they have to be able to respond to that.

And clearly, they're not really in a position to be able to do so.

ROBERT COSTA: And the White House has Emmet Flood, one of their attorneys who's a

specialist in impeachment, worked for President Clinton in the '90s on that issue, but

they still haven't decided who's going to be the White House counsel. When you think about

the attorney general, how long does this drama continue with the attorney general?

Anyone else in the Cabinet would resign if they lost the president's confidence like this.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: I think the drama of Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump will go on until

Donald Trump feels as though when he fires Jeff Sessions the Senate will be able to give

him another attorney general. Lindsey Graham this week was saying, after saying before

that Jeff Sessions should keep his job, was saying, well, maybe that's not the case

anymore. Mitch McConnell, though, said that he has - he has confidence in Jeff Sessions.

But obviously, President Trump is really, really angry at him.

And he's really, really blaming him for this cloud on Russia.

And just this week, one morning I woke up, maybe it was Wednesday, and before 10 a.m.

there were nine tweets about the Russian investigation from President Trump.

And he was just getting - it felt like he was just getting angrier and angrier because he

can't deal with this and he has someone working for him that he feels like isn't loyal

and loyalty obviously is something that the president really, really feels is the

number-one priority for him.

ROBERT COSTA: Does the president feel that if he moved against Sessions now it could be

construed as obstruction of justice with the Russia probe? Is that what's holding him back?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: I'm not sure if that's what's holding him back. I feel like other

people might be able to weigh in on that. To me, it's more, can I fill the job?

Look, the sources that I've talked to are about, can Jeff Sessions actually have a

replacement from this president? And will the Senate actually confirm somebody?

Because the Cabinet members that he has now that are Senate confirmed, none of them

really are likely to be an attorney general-type person that you could put in that job,

so he would have to go back to the Senate. So I think it's all about filling that job.

ROBERT COSTA: Speaking of the Senate, let's turn our attention there, to the Capitol

where there were tears and tributes today for the late Senator John Sidney McCain.

Family, friends and colleagues paid their final respects to the longtime lawmaker and

former Republican presidential nominee. A former prisoner of war in Vietnam, McCain

was held captive for five years. When he returned home, he decided to serve again in

a different way and ran for Congress. A generational figure in American politics, he

had his critics and his supporters on policy. But on issues of character, he was

remembered this week for his bipartisan and patriotic spirit.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): (From video.) John McCain stood up for

every value that this Capitol Building represents, so it is only right that today near

the end of his long journey John lies here in this great hall under this mighty

dome, like other American heroes before him.

HOUSE SPEAKER PAUL RYAN (R-WI): (From video.) This is one of the bravest souls our

nation has ever produced.

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN: (From video.) John understood that America was first

and foremost an idea, audacious and risky, organized around not tribe, but around ideals.

ROBERT COSTA: On Saturday there will be a ceremony at the National Cathedral where

former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama will deliver eulogies. So many big

names at the Capitol today; powerful to see them all laying their hands on the casket.

But I was intrigued and interested in the everyday people you encountered there, Julie, at

the Capitol. This was not just a political scene; this was an American scene for a lot of folks.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: Absolutely. I mean, obviously, the vice president spoke.

You had clips there of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, the House and Senate leaders, and

there were lots of dignitaries in that hall.

But when the ceremony ended there was just a flood - and it was still going on at

nightfall, with people snaking in lines on the street around the Capitol - of just

ordinary people, many of whom had never met John McCain.

Some of the folks we talked to were veterans who came wearing their hats, you know, with

patches and studs sort of denoting their own service, and said that they felt they owed

it to John McCain to honor him and come and, you know, be there in the room with his casket.

Some of them - many of them said they were Democrats who had never voted for him and

would never have thought of voting for him, but felt that he represented a dying breed, a

fading breed of statesmen, of elected official who was willing to put his country over

his own party and over himself, and really inspired them in ways that they don't feel

inspired by the politics that they see today. So it was - it was quite powerful to

talk to some of these people. And there was a lot of grief in that room, but also a lot

of inspiration. People were - seemed very elevated by the experience of being under the

dome sort of looking at the casket and thinking about what John McCain had meant to them.

ROBERT COSTA: You mentioned Senator Graham.

Who is going to actually fill the role McCain leaves now, that maverick role, sometimes

challenging the president - I know that Senator Graham has become close with President

Trump, but just that kind of figure on the American political scene, if anyone?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, you think about all the Republicans that have been critical of

the president, both in the House and the Senate, and a lot of them are leaving.

They're retiring. Paul Ryan, who, well, wasn't a big critic of the president,

but who privately said he would go to the president and talk to him, he's gone.

Jeff Flake is gone. So there's really a void, I think, in the Senate for Republicans

that are going to push back on the president.

But if Mitt Romney comes to the Capitol, that could be someone who was a voice,

obviously, during the campaign - Mitt Romney had that really famous speech where he laid

out why President Trump would be bad for this country. He then went back and was

seen dining with the president, trying to get a job out of the president.

But if he comes to the Capitol and he's Utah's senator, he might be someone who's vocal.

ROBERT COSTA: What's your thought on what's next in the Capitol, in Congress?

ERICA WERNER: Yeah, I mean, I think that that's a question that senators have been asked

all week and asking each other, and the reality is that McCain just leaves an enormous

void and I don't think that anyone fills it anytime soon. It's not just a question of

who is going to push back on Trump, because perhaps someone can do that. Maybe it

will be Mitt Romney. But it's his very unique biography, it's his legislative ability.

He is one of those, you know, old bull legislators from that generation of Ted Kennedy and others.

And that's why I think so many people poured out to the Capitol today from all over the

country to pay their respects, and there was a lot of sadness in that people feel like he

is passing and that something is leaving with him that is not going to be replaced.

ROBERT COSTA: You've been a reporter on foreign policy and national security for a long

time. A complicated legacy on those fronts for Senator McCain.

MARK LANDLER: Well, yeah, to be sure. I mean, he was an avid and defiant supporter

of the Iraq War and never apologized for that. You know, he was always extremely hawkish.

He was - you know, remember the famous "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," you know, thing that

probably wasn't featured much this week. So that was on the sort of - that side of the

ledger. On the other side of the ledger he was a tireless traveler around the world.

He had his own relationships with world leaders. Probably no senator had that kind of stature -

perhaps Joe Biden came close - overseas and that deep a knowledge of America's relationships.

And again, just keeping with the theme of something's leaving with John McCain, here we

are in an era where our alliances are coming under pressure, Canada and other countries

are wondering about their standing with us and our relationships; John McCain embodied

all of the post-World War II liberal international order that the United States built.

He was really a symbol of that, and he worked hard at preserving and building that up.

And again, you have to ask, who picks up that important work and keeps going if not John

McCain? Biden is certainly one, but you know, he's older now too. So the question

is who are the next generation of American statesmen, and it's not at all clear.

ROBERT COSTA: And President Trump, his tensions continue with the senator even in death

for Senator McCain. There was this skirmish earlier in the week about whether the

flag was at half-staff or not at the White House.

What did this week reveal about the president and how he handles these kind of things?

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: Well, what I found striking was not only the fact that John

McCain had clearly made it clear before his death that he didn't want President Trump to

take part in the celebrations of his death and his life and his legacy, but that

President Trump himself seemed to have no interest in taking part in that himself, which

is a rare thing to see in a president.

Generally we have seen presidents who take it as - embrace it as a key part of their role

that when the nation is grieving, when the nation is reflecting on what it means to be an

American, the president is leading that and wants to be in that conversation.

President Trump had no interest in being in that conversation, even though ultimately he

did issue a proclamation to keep the flag lowered and said - and he said, I think, he

respects the senator's service. He couldn't bring himself to praise John McCain at all

this week, and that is really quite something, and I think that is one of the things

that all the people - both elected officials, Cabinet members, and ordinary people in

the Capitol today - look around and see and wonder, you know, if that's the politics

of the future, whereas John McCain's breed of politics is the politics of the past.

MARK LANDLER: It was just an extraordinary moment in that Bloomberg interview where he

declined to say whether he thought John McCain would have been a better president than

Barack Obama, a president he has pilloried nonstop since his election, so.

ERICA WERNER: And apparently Sarah Sanders was standing there glaring at him and he -

MARK LANDLER: And he said I think I'm going to give Sarah a nervous breakdown, right.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: A nervous breakdown.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: I mean, I will say this. There are also Republicans on social media,

or maybe at least Trump supporters on social media, that were attacking John McCain

after he died. So you have to also think that out in the country there are people who

are at least echoing and repeating some of the things that President Trump is saying

and echoing his behavior.

So we have a country also where, when you have someone who maybe you didn't agree with

but who was a certified hero - five years in - five years in capture is not something

that you can just kind of dust up. That's not something that you can argue about.

And people online were still attacking him for that.

So not only was the president somewhat problematic in his responses, but there are

Americans out there that were problematic too.

ROBERT COSTA: And there's a difference in how people approached these issues.

I mean, you talked about President Trump. I continue to think back to that moment in

2016 where the president, then as a candidate, went after Senator McCain about his

service in Vietnam, and it raised alarms then but it didn't destroy his candidacy.

And that was - that was a time I really thought, if Trump could survive that, then the

norms truly have changed.

MARK LANDLER: I think that might have been the first moment where Trump's political

invincibility started to become sort of clear to people.

ERICA WERNER: Yeah, we all said, oh, this is the end of him. He said, "I like

people who weren't captured," and everyone said, oh, there's no way he can survive

this. And lo and behold, that was the first of a trillion things like that.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: I think it also speaks to how personally threatened he felt by

John McCain. Just the fact of John McCain and his biography, the fact that he is a war

hero, the fact that he represented - McCain represented, I think, to him all the things that

he wanted to define himself as against, and you know, this was a way of sort of trying to

cut with the establishment and I'm not part of that and I don't want any part of that.

I think it was also partly a response to the fact that there was a portion of the

Republican base that really loved Sarah Palin and didn't love John McCain when he was

running for president, and that was the segment of the electorate that Donald Trump knew

that he really had to lock down and ride to victory if he was going to, and that is what he did.

ROBERT COSTA: When you think about the tensions between the president and Senator

McCain, there is also a moment tomorrow when you'll have President Obama and President

Bush delivering eulogies, an historic thing to see presidents come together like that.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: I think it's a historic thing.

Imagine President Trump sitting in the White House watching these two presidents, who are

going to not only eulogize someone who criticized the president, but who are going to be

celebrated for what they say. People are going to be talking about Barack Obama's words.

People are going to be saying President Bush gave a beautiful eulogy. And then you have

President Trump, who has called himself an outsider but who really wants to be celebrated

like Obama and like President Bush. And he's going to be sitting there alone, isolated,

stewing. I think that Sarah Sanders absolutely wants to make sure he doesn't tweet and

White House aides are hoping that he can maybe put his phone down. But I would be watching

his Twitter feed tomorrow because that's going to be a really tough moment for the president.

MARK LANDLER: And also the largeness of spirit that it took for John McCain to ask the

two leaders who had defeated him to be the ones who eulogized him, it's just - when you

think about Donald Trump in that context, the gap between them, the chasm is so great.

ROBERT COSTA: We're going to have to leave it there. We're going to miss seeing

Senator McCain in the hallways. Regardless of what your politics are, if you're a

reporter, he was someone you always wanted to talk to. Thanks for joining us tonight,

and thanks everybody for being here. Our conversation will continue online on the

Washington Week Extra. You can find that Fridays after 10 and all week long at

PBS.org/WashingtonWeek. I'm Robert Costa. Thanks for joining us and enjoy the Labor Day weekend.

For more infomation >> A legal storm looms over President Trump as the nation remembers John McCain - Duration: 25:40.

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John McCain Washington Funeral Live Stream: Watch As The Nation Mourns The Late Senator - Daily News - Duration: 3:13.

America will have one more chance to bid farewell to John McCain. The late senator will be memorialized in Washington D

C., where former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush will pay tribute.    After lying in state at the U

S. Capitol, John McCain will be laid to rest, closing the book on a life of service for his country and its citizens

America will be given one last chance to pay its respects, as a special memorial service will be held at 10 AM ET at the Washington national Cathedral in honor of the late senator

For those who cannot attend in person, Senator McCain's website has offered a live stream so that everyone can say good-bye one last time

   The service, much like the ceremony held in Arizona on Aug. 30 where former Vice President Joe Biden spoke through tears about his good friend, will be an emotional one

John's children will pay tribute to their late father, and many political giants will deliver remarks about the senator

Former senator Joe Lieberman former Secretart of State Henry Kissinger, and two ex-presidents – George W

Bush and Barack Obama – will speak at the event, per Time. Current president Donald Trump will not attend the event

 "John McCain and I were members of different generations, came from completely different backgrounds, and competed at the highest level of politics," Barack Obama said in his statement about John's death

"But we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher-the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed…Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did

But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John's best, he showed us what that means

And for that, we are all in his debt."  Senator McCain's body lied in state at the United States Capitol on Aug

31, allowing members of the public to come and pay their respects. House speaker Paul Ryan, Senator Majority leader Mitch McConnell, Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Minority Leader Chuck Shumer were scheduled to present wreaths for the longtime senator

John became just the 13 th senator to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, an honor reserved for America's "most eminent citizens

"  John, who served two decades in the U.S. Navy, will be buried in Anapolis, MD at the U

S. Naval Academy Cementary. His grave will overlook the Severn River, and he will be interned next to his old friend, Adm

Chuck Larson.