[Alison Kosik, Cnn Anchor:] Did President Trump dictate the initial response to his son's meeting with a Russian lawyer? A major new report this morning that could spell further trouble for the commander-in-chief.
[Dave Briggs, Cnn Anchor:] And it didn't take long for the new chief of staff to make his mark. Anthony Scaramucci is out as communications chief. John Kelly putting a quick end to a whirlwind 11 days and a whirlwind 24 hours it was at the White House. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.
[Kosik:] Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik, sitting in for Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour. And we begin with new reporting that suggests President Trump himself personally dictated the initial misleading statement about Don Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer during the campaign. According to the "Washington Post," the president insisted on a change in strategy after advisers planned to issue a truthful statement to get ahead of the original story before it broke in "The New York Times." "The Post" citing people with knowledge of the deliberations says the president dictated a statement saying his son and the Russian lawyer discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children. The statement was worked out on Air Force One on the flight home from the G20 summit in Germany.
[Briggs:] The adoption claims were later shown to be misleading. Trump Jr. even acknowledged he took the meeting because he was promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton from the Russian government. President Trump's lawyer already on the record denying the president had anything to do with crafting this statement.
[Chris Cuomo, Cnn Anchor:] Well, he didn't have anything to do with the statement that Don Jr. put out, that was being worked on with his team?
[Jay Sekulow, President Trump's Lawyer:] That's no. The statement that Don Jr. put out you talking about yesterday's, Chris?
[Cuomo:] The one over the weekend that the president's team was helping with.
[Sekulow:] That was written no, that was written by Donald Trump Jr. and I'm sure in consultation with his lawyer.
[Cuomo:] Because "The New York Times" is reporting that the president OK'd the statement.
[Sekulow:] Well, they're incorrect.
[Cuomo:] "The New York Times" is wrong?
[Sekulow:] Yes, I know. Is that shocking that sometimes they make a mistake?
[Kosik:] The extent of the president's personal intervention adding to a series of actions Trump has taken that advisers fear could place him and some members of his inner circle in legal jeopardy. There's concern that his direct involvement leaves him vulnerable to allegations of a cover-up. We should also note CNN was the first to report concern that White House aides involved in the Trump Jr. response may have exposed themselves to special counsel scrutiny.
[Briggs:] The president's son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner offering up a new defense to knock down claims that members of the Trump election team colluded with Russia. On Monday, Kushner spoke privately to a group of congressional interns and told them collusion could not have occurred because staffers were barely talking to each other. Quote, they thought we collided, Kushner told the interns, but we couldn't even collude with our own local offices.
[Romans:] OK. We know what Kushner told the interns because a source provided a copy of his written notes to the publication "Foreign Policy." Kushner also downplayed his failure to report more than 100 instances of travel and contacts with foreign officials on his security clearance forms which he had to update twice to include meetings with Russian officials. Kushner claims he didn't track the meetings because he didn't expect to get into politics.
[Briggs:] The days of tolerating B.S. in this White House are over, end quote. That from a source close to the Trump White House. If you don't believe it, just ask Anthony Scaramucci. His tenure as communications director ending before it really began, technically his start day was August 15th. Scaramucci lasting exactly 11 days. A White House statement saying: Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give chief of staff John Kelly a clean slate and ability to build his own time.
[Romans:] Sources say Kelly delivered the news in a face-to-face meeting with Scaramucci after being sworn in. They say the retired marine general thought Scaramucci lacked discipline and severely damaged his credibility after a profanity-laced tirade in "The New Yorker". And President Trump apparently agreed.
[Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House Press Secretary:] Look, the president certainly felt that Anthony's comments were inappropriate for a person in that position. I don't think that it's complicated to understand that the president felt the comments were inappropriate. I can't really explain it any further. I'm not sure what's hard.
[Briggs:] Sarah Huckabee Sanders also telling reporters that all White House staff will now report to Kelly. The president had no official comment on Scaramucci's departure but tweeted last night: A great day at the White House. Earlier, Mr. Trump had also tweeted: no chaos at the White House. Nothing to be seen here, Alison.
[Kosik:] If that was a great day, I would hate to see what a not-so- great day looks like.
[Briggs:] Well, it's funny, the word great, right? If you're making America great again, what do we mean by that if that was a great day yesterday?
[Kosik:] All right. New chief of staff John Kelly was so upset with how President Trump handled the firing of FBI Director James Comey in May that he called Comey afterward and told him he was considering resigning. That's according to two sources familiar with a conversation between the two men. They tell CNN it is not clear how serious Kelly was about stepping down from his post as secretary of homeland security. He's described as angry and hurt by the way Comey was treated.
[Briggs:] The former FBI director learned he was fired from TV news reporters as he was addressing staffers at the agency's L.A. office. Comey took a call from Kelly while he was traveling back to Washington and told him not to step down. Comey has declined to comment. The White House and Department of Homeland Security have also not responded to CNN's request for a comment.
[Kosik:] Obamacare's outlook in 2018 just got a little brighter in Ohio at least. Insurers agreed to sell policies in 19 of the 20 counties that had zero options next year. That's according to the state's department of insurance. And regulators are working to bring coverage to the last county. This cuts the number of so-called bare counties in half, ones who lack insurers on the Obamacare exchange. Eighteen counties in Nevada and Indiana are still at risk of having zero Obamacare providers next year. But the deadline is coming soon. Carriers have until late September to commit to participating in 2018. Roughly 11,000 Ohio residents were at risk after Anthem and Paramount Health Care exited the exchanges earlier this year. The insurers blamed huge losses and uncertainty of the future of Obamacare, including the continuation of federal subsidies that helped pay for low-income Americans. However, the president is currently threatening to end those payments as he pushes for the repeal of Obamacare.
[Briggs:] Yes. The key word there that you said is uncertainty. And that's what's facing the entire health care system in the United States until we see some leadership on this issue.
[Kosik:] Yes.
[Briggs:] Ahead, friends of Anthony Scaramucci aren't the only ones sad to see him leave the White House.
[Stephen Colbert, Comedian:] I guess it's time to say goodbye, Anthony Scaramucci. We hardly knew-chi.
[Briggs:] As you might imagine, a field day for the late-night hosts. Much more next.