Sean Spicer's Big Blunder; Steve Bannon & Jared Kushner Battle for Position; Trump Racking Up Costs for Trips to Mar-a-Lago.
SESAY: Hello, everyone. White House spokesman Sean Spicer is apologizing for saying even Adolf Hitler didn't sink to using chemical weapons during World War II. Spicer was trying to draw a contrast with Syrian President Bashar al Assad.</s>VAUSE: Well, the White House spokesman tried to clarify later saying he is aware Hitler used gas chambers to kill millions of Jews and others during the Holocaust. He said he should have stayed focused on Syria. Here is the moment during the White House briefing. Listen to this.</s>SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We didn't use chemical weapons in World War II. You know, you had a -- someone as despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons. So you have to, if you're Russia, ask yourself is this a country that you and a regime that you want to align yourself with?</s>VAUSE: Joining us now are Democratic strategist Dave Jacobson and Republican consultant John Thomas. Guys -- thank you very much for being with us.</s>SESAY: Welcome -- gentlemen.</s>VAUSE: Happy Tuesday, Wednesday where I think you're watching us from Europe right now. Spicer tried to clarify his remarks during the briefing. He was given that opportunity by another reported. He failed during that clarification. He then issued a statement after the White House briefing to try and explain what he said -- that was a fail, as well. Luckily, third time lucky right here on CNN. Listen to this.</s>SPICER: I was obviously trying to make a point about the heinous acts that Assad had made against his own people last week using chemical weapons and gas. Frankly, I mistakenly used an inappropriate and insensitive reference to the Holocaust for which frankly there is no comparison. And for that, I apologize. It was a mistake to do that.</s>VAUSE: So Dave to you -- at this point Sean Spicer, should he just quit his job and go and do PR for United Airlines?</s>DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Precisely, I know. But in all reality, like President Trump needs to fire the guy. I mean this is emblematic of the larger sort of anti-Semitic problem of the Trump administration. We saw this throughout the course of the campaign. Of course, we've seen it in the administration where, on Holocaust Awareness Day or Remembrance Day, of course, they neglected to mention the slaughtering of millions of Jews. But Sean Spicer's statements today were abhorrent. They were tone deaf. And I think it's a glaring example of this press secretary increasingly everyday losing flat-out credibility.</s>SESAY: And let me ask you this -- John. How does he manage it? How does he manage to consistently become the story? Isn't that a big no- no for being the spokesperson?</s>JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: I mean it is. This is a screw-up through and through. I'm pleased to hear that he did at least apologize for it. But rule number one of not just political communications but communications in general is you don't ever compare anything to the Holocaust or Hitler for that matter. I mean it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that. He screwed up. You know, Kellyanne Conway was making similar mistakes in the sense that she was becoming the story. And you'll notice she hasn't had as much of a public profile of late. The problem is Sean Spicer's job is to have a public profile. So he needs to tighten this up quickly or he should find another job. It's just that simple.</s>VAUSE: Ok. Well, speaking of people finding another job, there is -- we've been reporting on this power struggle under way in the White House. On one side there's Steve Bannon, the White House strategist and you know, the former boss of the alt-right Web site Breitbart. On the other side you've got Jared Kushner, senior aide, adviser to Donald Trump. He's also happens to be the son-in-law.</s>SESAY: Son-in-law.</s>VAUSE: And, you know, there's been a tussle between the two. So we now learned in the last couple of hours that Donald Trump has thrown Steve Bannon under the bus. He gave an interview to the "New York Post" and he said this. "I like Steve, but you have to remember, he was not involved in my campaign until very late. I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors and I didn't know Steve. I'm my own strategist and it wasn't like I was going to change strategies because I was facing Crooked Hillary. Steve is a good guy, but I told him to straighten it out or I will." You know, so Dave to you once again -- it seems Trump is using the "I hardly know the guy" formula here. But also what's interesting about this, not necessarily to quote an opinion of the "New York Post" but when CNN called to get it confirmed, they confirmed that this is what the President actually said.</s>JACOBSON: Look, Donald Trump is never the person who creates the issue. It's never Donald Trump's fault. Donald Trump didn't hire Steve Bannon to be his chief strategist. He didn't put him on the National Security Council. Look, at the end of the day, the buck stops with the President. He has empowered this white nationalist, this white supremacist. But I think going to Steve Bannon, I think the glaring issue there is why would you pick a fight with somebody in the Trump family? There's no way that like Donald Trump is going to detach himself from his daughter's husband. And so I just think it was a poor choice for him to sort of create this turf war and this bickering process between someone who is closely aligned and part of the family. I don't understand the calculus there.</s>SESAY: And John, optics aside, let me ask you, does this distancing from Bannon, because that's effectively what we're seeing and what we're hearing in these comments, does it signal a change in this organization, that this administration's priorities, its policy priorities?</s>THOMAS: It potentially does, and it gives a lot of people in his base cause for concern because Jared Kushner is more of the -- more moderate, kind of neo-con wing of the party. So that does give people concern. I think what you have to remember about Donald Trump is really he's more of a guy of what have you done for me lately? And Steve Bannon, his chief strategist, has presided over several significant failures or inability to pass health care reform, not recommending going for tax reform out of the gate. Perhaps this wiretapping situation might have had something to do with Bannon's recommendations. So I think --</s>JACOBSON: Or perhaps the travel ban, too.</s>THOMAS: Right, exactly. So I think President Trump is basically trying to give someone else a try. What's more fascinating to me is you have the President of the United States talking to the "New York Post" about inside baseball stuff like this. You would never see George W. Bush or Barack Obama do this.</s>VAUSE: Or pretty much any president in the past, you know, 80 years we think. We didn't get to the Carter Page story. We should mention here the "Washington Post" reporting FBI had obtained a warrant to monitor communications of Carter Page. He was an adviser at the time to candidate Donald Trump. This suspicion being he's working as a foreign agent for Moscow. We don't have any time for this. But we should mention that we haven't confirmed the reporting, but Page did issue a statement to us. We want to read this very quickly. This is what Page said to CNN about this FBI warrant essentially to monitor him. Page said, "It shows how low the Clinton-Obama regime went to destroy our democracy and suppress dissidents who did not fully support their foreign policy. It will be interesting to see what comes out when the unjustified basis for those FISA requests are more disclosed over time. And yes, Carter Page, the man that Russian intelligence described as an idiot, it will be interesting indeed. Dave and John -- thanks for being with us.</s>THOMAS: Thank you.</s>JACOBSON: Thanks.</s>SESAY: Thank you -- gents. All right. Coming up, new reaction from the CEO of united airlines after videos of a bloodied passenger being dragged off a flight sparked global outrage.