[Paul:] It's good to have your company this morning. I am Christi Paul.
[Blackwell:] I am Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you.
[Paul:] Breaking news for you. An active manhunt right now in Ohio, a gunman has shot 15 people at a nightclub and police confirm one person has died.
[Blackwell:] The shooting happened about five hours ago. This was near the Cameo Nightclub in Cincinnati. Officers were on the scene acting as security at the club before the shooting happened and they were there as it happened and of course, they responded because they were so close. The captain described the scene as very chaotic with a possibility of more than one shooter but no more than two.
[Paul:] Now authorities say some of the injured were able to drive themselves to area hospitals, and CNN is told all of those victims are being treated. No word so far on the extent of all their injuries, but this is a story that is constantly updating for us this morning, so we will keep you informed as we get more word throughout the morning.
[Blackwell:] Vice President Pence says they are going back to the drawing board. The Trump administration turning to tax reform next after failing to repeal Obamacare.
[Paul:] Yesterday in West Virginia, the vice president said Congress, quote, "was not ready to roll back the Affordable Care Act." He blamed Democrats and even acknowledged a handful of Republicans who caused the GOP bill to be pulled without a vote. Now Vice President Pence also said he was grateful to House Speaker Paul Ryan for his efforts. Two dark storm clouds now loom over the Trump administration, though, you got the failure of House Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare, and the FBI investigation into Russia's meddling in the election, and possible ties to Trump associates.
[Blackwell:] South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham trying to fend off questions from voters angry of a vote even drew some boos there watch.
[Sen. Lindsey Graham , South Carolina:] Here's what I think about health care Obamacare is a disaster and it's going to collapse.
[Blackwell:] Yes more than a few boos there. The senator spoke at a town hall where he told constituents that politics should not muddy the waters. Our Polo Sandoval was there Polo.
[Polo Sandoval, Cnn Correspondent:] Hey, Victor and Christi. Good morning. Senator Lindsay Graham came here at Columbia, South Carolina. He listened to constituents but he also fired back. There was a moment during the nearly one and a half hour long town hall in which a woman near the front row essentially accused Senator Graham and some of his fellow Republicans of quote "obstructing" this ongoing investigation into possible ties between Russia and the Trump organization. Senior senator South Carolina responding very quickly. Take a listen.
[Graham:] I think that's a bunch of garbage when it comes to me. I don't think I have obstructed anything. I think I have been more than on the case when it comes to Russia. I think I have stood up for the idea that I am not going to sit on the sidelines and watch the Russians try to undermine our democracy. But I'm not going to so I don't agree with you.
[Sandoval:] Russia dominating the conversation yesterday but so did this latest attempt to repeal Obamacare. Many of the constituents that we heard from here in South Carolina, many of them liberals and moderates that were in attendance at the town hall saying that they were relieved that this law will remain in place until lawmakers can come up with a better solution that we heard from Senator Graham yesterday saying that they likely won't be taking that issue up again instead possibly moving next to tax reform. Thank you, Christi.
[Blackwell:] All right. Polo, thanks so much. Jack Kingston CNN political commentator and former Republican congressman is joining us this morning. Good morning to you. I want to play one more bit of the town hall yesterday from Senator Graham. Let's watch.
[Graham:] I don't think one party is going to be able to fix this by themselves. Here's what I think should happen next. I think the president should reach out to Democrats. I should reach out to Democrats. And we should say let's take a shot at doing this together because it ain't working it doing it by ourselves.
[Blackwell:] That's the senator talking about Obamacare. I want to talk separately about what they want to do or at least what he says he wants to do and how it's going to be done, and first one word, fix. Is that what is next? Fixing Obamacare and they are done potentially with a repeal?
[Jack Kingston, Cnn Political Commentator:] I don't know if we are there yet, but if they can't replace and repeal and replace then absolutely it has to be fixed because it's not sustainable as it is, and even Bernie Sanders has said that the premiums and the deductibles are too high. So we have to go back into it, and that's one thing that I think Democrats and Republicans would agree on. Get the premiums down. Get those deductibles down and make sure you have quality health care choices for all. But, you know, I want to say one thing though. It's not like the Senate can't just start working on this thing. There's a lot of fingers that are being pointed to the House, you had every senator ran on repeal and replace as well, so they can introduce their bill this week if that's what they want.
[Blackwell:] Yes, we look back to 2009, and the building of Obamacare there was Senate legislation, there was House legislation, both moving through. Let's move on to what we are learning from the negotiations over this attempt to repeal and replace. President Trump said he was disappointed by the conservative Freedom Caucus. A senior White House official says this. I'll put up on the screen. "I think the Freedom Caucus made a mistake in the end. This is a president who wanted to work with them and he is dismissive of them now." Can the president should he considering that these these representatives are in districts that he did very well and discount the more conservatives of the party in the House and work with the moderates to try to get the Democrats on as well?
[Kingston:] You know, you really can't because in the House of Representatives everybody is an independent contractor, and who is against you one week might be with you the next week, so you have to really they all have their own constituencies and their own empires if you will, so you're not going to cower them into submission but just because somebody was your enemy last week doesn't mean they're not going to be your friend the next week. So you have to work with each other. But the thing that I heard from my friends in the Freedom Caucus is that they were not included in this process early enough. They did give the president credit later on but they felt like particularly on the House leadership side they should have been at the table in November, in December and earlier January.
[Blackwell:] Yes it's obvious that the different factions weren't on the same page not just on policy but on the approach, and it appears now that we are hearing from the speaker, from the president, from the vice president that there is no consensus on what is going on happen next. I want you to listen to Paul Ryan, President Trump and Vice President Pence.
[Rep. Paul Ryan , Speaker Of The House:] We are going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future. I don't know how long it's going to take us to replace this law.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] I think we have to let Obamacare go it's way for a little while and we will see how things go.
[Mike Pence, Vice President Of The United States:] We will end the Obamacare nightmare and give the American people the world class health care that they deserve. Until then I can promise you, President Trump is never going to stop fighting to keep his promises to the American people, and we will make America great again.
[Blackwell:] So is this administration going to let it run for a while or is he going to keep fighting to repeal it?
[Kingston:] You know, I think they are going to have to do both. They are going to have to let it run for a while but what I hope is that Paul Ryan will get the moderates and the conservative Republicans in a room and he'll say, you guys got to work something out. But at same time
[Blackwell:] All right. Jack Kingston, we will talk next hour.
[Kingston:] Thanks, Victor.
[Blackwell:] Yes.
[Christi Paul, Cnn Anchor:] We are continuing to follow the active search in Cincinnati, Ohio. At least one gunman, possibly two had shot 15 people at a nightclub there. One person has died. We have more for you. Stay close.