Trump Vs. Bannon; Trump Ends Voter Fraud Commission
ROMANS: All right. Steve Bannon's fire met with President Trump's fury. The White House with a statement like you have never seen before --</s>BRIGGS: Yes.</s>ROMANS: -- trashing the former chief strategist. Will Bannon's takedown of the Trumps hurt his own stock as the midterms near? "CNN POLITICS" reporter Tal Kopan live for us in Washington. Good morning. If you live in a cave and you've just woken up this morning and you're hearing these headlines, let me explain what's happening. I don't mean you, I mean for our viewers. There is a book by Michael Wolff, who is a kind of fuzzy book author.</s>BRIGGS: Yes.</s>ROMANS: Not a Woodward and Bernstein, but someone who --</s>BRIGGS: Fair assessment.</s>ROMANS: -- had good access to the White House. Was on a couch there in the West Wing offices and interviewed 200 people, and has come out with this big book and pieces of it have been coming out. And I think the bottom line here -- a few takeaways. Trump and the team didn't ever think he would win. They never did, so some of the recklessness --</s>BRIGGS: But maybe he didn't want to according --</s>ROMANS: Right.</s>BRIGGS: -- to the book. And the lack of discipline you see around them, it was because they didn't think that he would be the president. Steve Bannon suggests that Donald Trump knew about the Russia meeting with Don, Jr., Manafort, and Kushner, and he even calls it treasonous. He attacks -- in this book, Steve Bannon attacks the president's family and says Ivanka and Jared made a deal -- this book says Ivanka and Jared Kushner made a deal that if the opportunity arose Ivanka would be the first woman President of the United States. Is it fair to say that Washington is consumed by the book and its revelations this morning?</s>TAL KOPAN, REPORTER, CNN POLITICS: I think it's fair to say there's certainly a lot of interest in this book. You know, it was interesting. I was up on the Hill yesterday evening as senators returned and you ask Republican senators what they make of this and they all brush it off and say oh, I don't pay attention to it. It's all just -- you know, I hope it doesn't distract anyone. But, certainly, once again, this is what lawmakers are being asked about instead of about policy. This is what's dominating news coverage because it's just so fascinating and remarkable and we've never seen anything like it before. You know, it has implications going into elections in 2018. So yes, it's partially palace intrigue but it also has ramifications in terms of the soul of the Republican Party and the functioning of the Trump White House.</s>ROMANS: And the stability of the President of the United States -- the decision-making process around him. I mean, that -- some of this is very, very unflattering for him.</s>BRIGGS: Yes. The personal characterization of this president is disturbing and I'm not even talking about sitting in bed with a cheeseburger at 6:30 watching three television screens. That's the flattering part of the personal characterization. But let's get to the legal and the implications down the road because Steve Bannon, on Trump's knowledge about that Trump Tower meeting, is of particular interest. Here's what Steve Bannon says, again, according to this book. "The chance that Don, Jr. did not walk those jumos up to his father's office on the 26th floor is zero." Jumos is a word the Internet is debating. Let's just go with clumsy loser from urban dictionary. What if that is true? What does that mean, and might Steve Bannon have his time before Congress?</s>KOPAN: Well, look, if that statement is true -- if, in fact, these individuals were introduced to Donald Trump after that meeting then it has incredible ramifications, including the fact that everyone involved has denied it. But, you know, at this point it's an entirely speculative statement. He is not saying I know for a fact that these individuals were introduced to the president-elect -- or, at that time, the presidential candidate. He's saying the chances that they weren't are pretty low. And so, a speculative comment like that certainly is not anything that could be considered evidence in an investigation in terms of conclusive evidence. But, it certainly opens the door for investigators, again, to go back and look at it because it is a credible questioning of the truthfulness of those denials and will likely open another round of questions. And you're absolutely right. It is quite possible that those folks are going to want to interview Steve Bannon now pretty in-depth about this.</s>BRIGGS: Yes.</s>ROMANS: It will be really interesting to see how the White House continues here today with its counterpunching on this because we heard the president -- you saw the president's statement. A remarkable statement from the White House. I'll read part of it. "Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I already won the nomination by defeating 17 candidates." He really minimizes the Steve Bannon influence here, something that every political reporter who has stood in front of the White House cameras says is --</s>BRIGGS: Not true.</s>ROMANS: -- not true. One wonders if he'll -- they will attack the credibility of his author, Michael Wolff. If they will say some of these things are just fake -- if it didn't happen. What does it mean, do you think, though, for Republicans who are looking for their -- you know, for their north star as they try to win in some of these races in November? I mean, does Steve Bannon continue to have a big influence?</s>KOPAN: Well, it really makes that a lot more complicated. I think at the end of the day Donald Trump is probably still the most popular figure with his base, maybe rivaled only by Jeff Sessions, the attorney general who has long been popular with this particular base. But, you know, Steve Bannon isn't necessarily the leader of this base. He's been more of the channeler of it at "Breitbart" for quite some time and an influencer, for sure. But his influence has long been behind the scenes. It was really his time with Trump that made him a bit of a celebrity. And so, you know, it's likely that voters are still going to consider an alliance with Trump to be a more important factor than the alliance with Bannon. But there are a number of candidates that were sort of counting on that Bannon support in terms of money, in terms of strategy, in terms of endorsement. They're now having to completely rethink their strategy --</s>BRIGGS: Yes.</s>KOPAN: -- if they have to wade into a potential feud between the two men, Trump and Bannon, which way do they go. It certainly makes the water a lot murkier for them and probably, they hope that Bannon will mostly have a behind-the-scenes role and nothing more.</s>BRIGGS: Yes, and Bannon always wanted to deconstruct the administrative state but it looks like he blew up his own career at this point. We shall see how it evolves. Tal Kopan, thanks so much. Appreciate it.</s>ROMANS: Although last night he called the president a great man, whether he's giving a speech or -- you know he had --</s>BRIGGS: Damage control.</s>ROMANS: Right. He had kind words for the president last night. We'll see what happens next.</s>BRIGGS: All right. President Trump dissolving his highly-touted Voter Fraud Commission. The reason given by the White House, too many states refusing to participate. The commission has been criticized as a misguided effort to bolster the president's false claim he would have won the popular vote if not for voter fraud.</s>ROMANS: CNN has learned there has been concern about the commission inside the White House for months. One senior adviser calling it a "blank show that went off the rails." President Trump appointed Vice President Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to lead the panel. A source close to the vice president admitted a recent lawsuit against the commission by one of the commission's own members didn't help. Kobach tells "USA Today" disbanding the commission is just a change in tactics. He insists an investigation into voter fraud will move forward.</s>BRIGGS: All right. Your retirement party, folks, will have to wait. No grand prize winner in last night's $460 million Powerball drawing. That means Saturday night's jackpot worth an estimated $550 million. One person in Florida did match five numbers for a $2 million payoff. Mega Millions north of $400 million. That drawing is Friday night for those not like Christine Romans.</s>ROMANS: Yes. You're just burning your dollar bill but the dream is priceless.</s>BRIGGS: Dream into luck.</s>ROMANS: All right, computer security experts have found two major flaws that could virtually all smartphones and computers at risk.</s>BRIGGS: Wow.</s>ROMANS: It's not pretty, folks. More on "Money Stream," next.