sean is a creature of washington. sean believes that deeply in you know, the, the process of how things work and thought he could be the most helpful to the president in this way. by hiring anthony scaramucci it essentially makes the point clear which has been emerging, that the president wants to be his own communications director. the president wants to be his own press secretary, and he does not want help from those in washington. this is now more of an outside game. now more of a fight. this is about the russia investigation. this is a much -- much less about the agenda. the writing's been on the wall in many respects. i remember beinging a the vatican end of may, sean spicer slighted not being invited. hoping to be there that day. he was not invited on the trip to paris last week. he has -- been disinvited from the briefing room. i'm told today the phenol straw was, effe the final straw, less what do you know about washington than outside a trump game? walls are tightening in a little bit and more -- people from

"the washington post." and "the new york times" report attorneys and aides are scouring the backgrounds of mueller and his staff searching for conflicts of interest they can use to undercut the russia probe. sources cite several people familiar where the effort. >> the president has asked about his power to pardon aides, family members, even himself. one adviser told "the post" the president was simply curious agent the reach of his powers. this following earlier attacks on mueller and other officials connected to the investigation. >> with thaul in mind, the president is reshuffling the legal team. the president's long time personal attorney mark castle wits will see his role diminish. washington attorney, john dowd, and another trump lawyer, jay sekulow will take the lead. >> sources say by working outside the white house, dowd and sekulow's relationship will be protected by the same attorney-client relationship of all u.s. citizens. cobb will replace strategist mark kuralo who resigned on thursday. >>> g

and now, according to "the washington post," citing unnamed u.s. officials ending the cia program to train and arm moderate syrian rebels fighting pro-regime forces. officially, the official said no peace deal is official without bashar al assad in power. but the u.s. recognizes the reality, he's not going anywhere. ♪ trump has continued barack obama's policies against isis in iraq and syria, letting local forces handle the front line fighting with u.s. adviser, artillery and air power providing usual results. the results, isis has been driven in iraq and same set to happen in the syrian city of ir iraqa. hundreds of thousands were forced to flee no one know how many civilians were killed and isis isn't defeated. as it loses territory it's expected to return to its roots as a deadly insurgency, while still promoting terror around the world. the north korea problem has only grown on trump's watch. if pyongyang pursues its nuclear ambitions recently successfully testing an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time, he's focused on build

moon, president moon came to washington and tried to show that there's no daylight in washington to the north, but, of course, there is. of course, president moon by saying military option is off the table, we're not going to pursue aggressive approach. we're not seeking regime change. he's just talking about the extreme end that we're not going to do but i think those presidents are divergent in -- because president trump is all about maximum pressure with financial sanctions and other pressure means. and president moon wants more open approach, potential dialogue and engagement with north korea. >> do you think that direct dialogue between the u.s. and north korea is even possible? >> well, if you want to talk about denuclearization, i think that's off the table. i think it's very unrealistic for to us think that north korea will return to the talks now to talk about denuclearization. perhaps it in the future, but i think it's a very unlikely scenario. >> sue mi terry appreciate your insight so much. thanks for being here. >> the efforts to repeal and replace obamacare will obviously

in washington. 8:00 p.m. in raqqa, syria. 2:00 a.m. in seoul, south korea. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. >>> we start with a new push from the white house calling it made in america week. like past theme week, the white house looking to change the narrative from the multiple russia story angles to more controllable demoefk and foreign policy issues, but president trump still took time out at least this morning to start tweeting once again. this is what he tweeted. "most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one don junior attended in order to get info on an opponent. that's politics." go to our senior washington were correspondent joe johns over at the white house right now. joe, do we know anything more about when the president's son may actually speak with congressional investigators? >> reporter: wolf, at the moment sounds like a holding pattern from what we've been able to gather.

"the washington post." and "the new york times" report that attorneys and aides are scouring the backgrounds of robert mueller looking for ways to undercut the probe. >> "the washington post" reporting the president has asked about his pow or the pardon aides, family members, even himself. one adviser told the post the president wassimply curious agent the reach of his powers. jeff zeleny has more from the white house. >> reporter: christine and miguel, president trump and the white house increasingly focused on the special counsel's investigation. the independent investigation into the russian meddling of the 2016 election. there are indications the election is spreading. president trump made that indication in his interview with "the new york times "earlier this week when he talked about robert mueller. and that he could being look into the trump family's finances. the president said he thought that would be outside of the purdview of that. this is increasingly dominated much of the conversation here at t

it speeds up the purge, it doesn't mean that there's no one with ties to the washington and the washington establishment, kellyanne conway was a washington pollster prior to her time with president trump and vice president mike pence before. john kelly is someone spent a long time around washington. is but he's not a washington establishment political figure that is reince priebus. he was the olive branch. he was the person cast by folks very nervous about the idea of donald trump being president, republicans very nervous about of idea of donald trump being president, as well, he's got reince in enter and reince brings in sean spicer, katie walsh, a couple of long-time political operatives, the thought was he's going to mix insider and outsider. he's gf to have the steve bannons and his family, jared kushner, ivanka trump. but he's also going to have some of the folks who are known commodities in washington. well six months in, i think donald trump decided that he didn't want to do that any more, he viewed reince priebus as ineffective. most recently because of the inability to get the 50t

this is today in washington. friday, august 9th. the nation awaits the swearing in at noon eastern time of our 38th president, gerald ford, and the departure from political life of richard m. nixon. he and his family are expected to leave by air to their home in california later this morning, and we expect to see their departure from the white house. >> in departing the presidency, richard nixon is leaving us with one notable legacy -- proof that the american system does work, that there is equal justice under the law and that public office must always be regarded as a public trust. ♪ >> i walked out to the helicopter where the old man gave the double v, putting the best face on the worst moment of his life. trying to show he was not broken. and so i'm going in the helicopter and take off for the last time. it was over. >> we think that when we suffer a defeat that all has ended. not true. because only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain. so i say to you on

called washington. so it will be virtually impossible to get rid of every leak. but i think we can take dramatic steps to get rid of leaks. one of the big problems here that i'm discovering in the comstein is that senior people are doing the leaking, and they're asking junior people to do the leaking. i'm proud to be reporting to the president to seal off the coms team from this sort of nonsense. >> that drew this response from the department of justice. "we have seen an astonishing number of leaks in the classified national security information in the recent months. we agree with anthony that the staggering number of leaks are undermining the ability of our government to function and to protect this country." >> after all this went down, scaramucci deleted the initial tweet and sent this one -- "wrong! tweet was public notice to leakers that all senior administration officials are helping to end the legal leaks." again, he tagged priebus. we reached out and found that scaramucci does want reince priebu

cnn's senior washington correspondent joe johns live at the white house with more. i'm sure there would be a long line for that job. >> reporter: certainly seems like it, although it could be a challenge once you get it, quite frankly. look, the attorney general we're told was here at the white house yesterday meeting with the white house counsel, but we're also told he and the president did not meet and have not spoken since the president went after jeff sessions, in an interview last week with the "new york times." the new communications director for his part would not answer a question about whether he thinks sessions ought to resign, according to the president's wishes, but he did say the two men need to sit down and talk about what the future looks like. >> mr. president, should jeff sessions resign? [ laughter ] >> reporter: attorney general jeff sessions' future at the justice department in question with "the washington post" reporting president trump and his advisers are discussing the possibility of replacing him, despite the fact that he has been one of th

this is according to the "washington post," based on information intercepted by u.s. spy agencies. sessions has repeatedly said he never discussed campaign-related issues with russian officials. >> it's important for people to keep in mind, this, again, is kislyak's version of events. sessions, as you just showed very clearly, has sort of changed his accounts as we've gone through the months, from basically saying there were no meetings initially, to the meetings weren't about the campaign, to the meetings were not about collusion or coordination. so, you know, again, either he doesn't recall, clearly, what they are, and maybe shouldn't have said what he said initially, or he is not telling us the full account. >> a department of justice spokesperson responded to the story in a statement saying, in part, the attorney general stands by his testimony from just last month, before the senate intelligence committee when he specifically addressed this and said he never met with or had any conversations with any russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference with an

suzanne malveaux in washington, thank you very much. joining me now to discuss cnn political analyst abby phillip and michael burns, and former special assistant to robert mueller now special counsel when he was at the department of justice, thank you very much for being here. michael, to you, since you have vast legal expertise in this and because of your experience working with mueller, the news out of "the washington post" that the president's attorney this morning is calling nonsense is that, look, the president was talking with aides and others within the white house and saying what are my options when it comes to pardoning aides, family members, even myself if necessary. some of the reporting we have now from our reporters is that he was just having this conversation trying to find out what his authority is. you say this is fiercely debated but this is an unresolved legal question. isn't it really? >> well, it's not unresolved whether or not he can pardon his friends and family members -- >> but himself. >> -- that he can do. as t

, d.c., this is not just a washington, d.c. thing. it's not just people in washington, d.c. who are sending out hateful internet messages. it's mostly people who live in america, away from washington, d.c. >> i think that's where the twitter thing that crown was talking about comes in handy. the part about twitter. >> it's not just twitter. >> there used to be people who were very much fringe elements out there. there were -- they were generally seen as weirdos, and they couldn't get mainstream attention. and if you met them you could discern that they were weird. now they can make videos, they can create memes. i think they're punching above their weight now. >> go ahead, bakari. >> matt and john just quickly, you blame the media. you blame jack who invented twitter and zuckerberg who invented facebook. you blamed everyone else but when i sit here and ask you, the biggest troll of them all who picks on people daily and bullies people daily, who ignites these storms daily, when i ask you why can't the president of the united st

does it work for him in washington? >> from his point of view, if he can get scouts on this, if he can find one person oen that investigative team who would have to recuse themselves or even sort of resign, i mean that's the sort of thing he takes like a ball and runs down the field with. >> so rather than saying hey, i don't have anything to hide, do your thing. do you think this is coming directly from the president? >> i do. as patrick said classic donald tru trump. beyond having a disregard for the independent power of other institutions, he actually doesn't imagine that people have values and people have a set of believes and even core integrity that would motivate them and drive them to do the job they've been elecced to perform or appointed to perform. it's for him always about gain and everything is a zero sum game. so he's going to try to exploit what he thinks is a vulnerability in the other side. in the case of mueller and i think even those he's brought on to his team who may be donors to democratic candidat

welcome to washington, d.c. it's an honor to be here with you today with so many great american success stories. corner stones of american communities large and small. the members of the national retail federation here at the 83rd annual retail advocates summit. great to see you all. [ applause ] >> i bring greetings this morning from a friend of mine, a businessman who knows a little bit about retail. he's been fighting every day to unleash a new era of american opportunity and prosperity. i bring greetings from the 45th president of the united states of america, president donald trump. [ applause ] >> you know, from the first day of this administration, president trump has been fighting to restore jobs, opportunity and prosperity across the country. this president signed more laws cutting through federal red tape than any president in american history. it's already saved businesses and families up to $18 billion in red tape costs every year. in fact, the president, early in our administration ordered every age

and let's go to laura jarrett in washington, with more on "the washington post" report. laura, this could be more than just inconvenient political problems for the president. the optics here. could there also be some legal liability? >> well, certainly, this is another development. another piece of the puzzle, victor. attorney general jeff sessions has really been dogged by this news since march that he failed to disclose contacts with russian officials, but this time, "the washington post" reports that u.s. spy agencies picked up on recordings of russian ambassador sergey kislyak, telling his superiors in moscow, that he discussed with sessions trump's position on russia-related issues and prospects for u.s./russia negotiations. back in the race last year. this, of course, completely contrary to the attorney general's version of events and he has denied it. in a statement to cnn, justice department spokesperson sarah fluoresoores says obviously i c comment on the reliability of what anonymous sources describe in a uncorroborated intelligence intercept. but goes on to sa

that's one of the big stories here in washington. also tonight the senate republican leadership meets to plod its way forward on health care. a vote on obamacare this week on the senate floor. exactly where the debate starts and whether he has the votes necessary to start it is an open question. live on capitol hill is phil mattingly. forgive me. skeptical. will this really be the week the senate debates? >> reporter: yes -- maybe. at least that's the goal of senator leadership pt key point, beauty of senate procedures. you have to vote to even start the debate. that's what they're planning to have this week as soon as tomorrow. leadership aides saying the tentative goal right now and reality is they need 50 votes to be able to move forward on that. the reality also is they don't have 50 votes at least as of this morning to move forward on that procedural vote. as long as they don't have the votes they can't move on to the actual debate on the bill. look, john, you know this process and this place quite well. what they're doing behin

they included seattle, chicago, washington, new york, boston. i was assigned to the new york office in 2005. our squad was responsible for the new york area. couples. the one thing to understand is that if one of these cases went down, it had the potential to affect all the rest of them. >> so it was imperative that we kept all the field offices connected to each other. todd and myself, our job was to set kind of a national level strategy so that each field office understood the trends, what was happening with one couple was pertinent to another couple. >> in 2003, i became an agent, graduated from the academy, and was assigned to the boston field office. we had a front row seat to the svr's most highly valued and most vet program. >> we had identified richard and cynthia murphy were living in new jersey. doesn't heed field living in massachusetts, juan lazaro and vickie pelaez. in each and every case, the fbi used all of the tools in its toolbox to learn as much as they can about their residents, their habits. physical surveillance including cl

try to have decisions in washington. too much disparity within the republican caucus we can't get consensus what the decisions would be and made a basic understanding. it was, let's not make the decisions in washington. give them to the state and the key thing is, this is very important. the states are going to get enough money to be able to deal with this problem. we're working with governors now, in constant communication with several republican governors across the country as is senator graham and cassidy, talking to them, working on the formula, making sure whether you're a state that did expand or a state that didn't expand, you'll be treated fairly and have the opportunity and the resources to be able to provide a great responsible network of care and health insurance for the people in your state. >> first things first. >> this is fundamentally the problem with what they're doing. which is, they are approaching this from an ideological perspective. the federal government program doesn't work. so give all money to t

this report from "the washington post" goes a step further. it says these recordings show kiselak telling his superiors in moscow that he and sessions discussed trump's positions on russia-related issues and prospects for u.s./russia relations back in 2016. and if this is true, it really runs contrary to the attorney general's version of events here. in a statement to cnn, justice department spokesperson sara flores says obviously i cannot comment on the reliability of what anonymous sources describe in a wholly uncorroborated intelligence intercept that "the washington post" has not seen and that has not been provided to me. but the attorney general stands by his testimony from just last month before the senate intelligence committee when he specifically addressed this and said that he, quote, never met with or had any conversations with any russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference with any campaign or election. the other issue to keep in mind here, fred, of course, is whether kiselak's recounting of these convers

that is the consensus in washington. and the president taking a different tax than his son who -- tack than his son who said in hindsight he wouldn't have done it. >> reporter: the fact that donald trump jr. is the one irc -- one who's implicated in the mess, has made the russia investigation difficult for the white house. they're not able to distance themselves from the president's son the way they have with paul manafort, mike flynn, with the satellite associates like carter page, with others who have been found to have engaged with questionable behavior and sketchy contacts with russian officials. donald trump jr. is too close to the circle. he's the president's own flesh and blood. they can't just throw him under the bus. they can't fire him. they have to stick by him. i think the president did the only thing he could do in that situation which is defend his son, defend his motives for accepting the meeting, and explain it as a product of his son's naivete when it comes to the campaign. that's the most innocent expla

good-bye washington republican party? what's the message? >> well, part of it is that the republican party managed to elect a president while going through a very ugly divorce. and now they're continuing to go through this divorce while governing the country. and that is, that divide is illustrated in all of this. in the legislation, which trump doesn't have any particular position on and therefore not bully pulpiting a ton to push for any of these things sometimes undercutting what they did with the staff meaning that the gop union with the new york forces and the trump family, not going smoothly. those guys are out at this point. i think that is the central problem with all of this. it comes back to that trump as a very odd manager who likes some chaos and the fact they were in chaos before they got here. >> officially make him our first independent president? >> interested to see what happens next now that kelly is taking over with mike pence. he is still a traditional old guard, old gop republican. contacts with congress. they try to hav

as i have said many times, i think he needs to go outside washington. washington failed. now it's time to do what we did in 1996 when we did the last reform on welfare. that is go outside washington, bring in our republican governors from around the country, meet and come up with a solution that drains the swamp, gets the money out of washington, back in the hands of governors. this is something that, in my opinion, should have been done in the beginning. to paraphrase, republicans will do something once they try everything first. get the right solution that worked in the past. donald trump can be the savior here, be the leader in working with republican governors outside of washington to make it happen. >> you have the rick santorum of the world saying buck up fellas and ladies, get to it. get to the business of it and continue fighting to reform the health care system. anna, republicans on the hill, they seem to not be there. they seem ready to move on, move on to tax reform, leave health care, the fight for another day or completely, i don't know. if you look at the pr

oblivious to the turmoil in washington. the nasdaq hitting a record high. the dow and s&p 500, they're down slightly. you know, they're still close to record highs. i'll tell you why in a few minutes. first, to housing. a fascinating number in the housing market. existing home sales fell in june as prices hit record highs. sales of previously owned homes basically have been flat since march. the problem here -- simple supply and demand. demand is surging due to a strong economy, improving job market, new millennial home buyers. but there isn't supply. inventory hasn't caught up. sending the median sales price up 6.5%, 263,800, a record high. many homeowners are staying put as prices rise. first-time home buyers are not finding affordably priced homes. more people are renting. a study finds the more u.s. households are renting now than at any point since 1965. hello, american dream of home homeownership. a majority cite financial reasons. isn't that really interesting? >> yeah. you hear about markets, denver where i'm from, people have to pay cash. >> yeah.

he was on air force one, flew from washington up to long island. i assume, i don't know if you're staying in long island right now, or if you're back here in washington, congressman king. were you informed that reince priebus was about to go? >> we actually flew up with scaramucci and reince priebus were sitting at the table all the way up. nobody said anything. i stayed on the plane coming back afterwards. anthony stayed in new york and we were on the plane with reince the whole time. when the flight was over, reince said, all of us said good-bye. no one knew anything was up. the president was announcing that kelly was going to be his new chief of staff. >> this was a total shock, a total surprise to you, congressman? >> yeah, and i tell you, i give reince priebus credit. he certainly kept his game face the whole time. he didn't show anything. he was very friendly and composed and calm all the way up and all the way back. >> so, do you support this decision by the president to bring in general kelly and lose reince priebus as the white house chief

>> hello, i'm jake tapper in washington. the state of our union is defiant. congress ignoring the white house's appeals and reaching an agreement to slap new sweeping sanctions on russia from meddling in the presidential election. this now the first real test for president trump on this issue. he is willing to punish vladimir putin for the election interference snt white house says they want to move on. he is really contemplating the first ever veto of the bill, siding with putin over the overwhelming sen overwhelming sentiment? the white house says they to be the a provision in the sanction bill that gives congress the power to override the president should he choose to ease the sanctions. the house plans to vote on the bill tuesday. it could reach president trump's desk before the end of the month. joining me to discuss this is the incoming white house communication director anthony scaramucci. congratulations on the new job. >> thank you for that. >> you come at a white house when the time that president trump has low approval ratings. he signed into law z

>> look at the latest "washington post"/abc news poll. it shows the president's approval rate, the most recent snapshot. the president's approval rating is down. it was 42%. now down to 36%. his disapproval rating now at 58%. keep that in con effeckocon -- . putting this into context, for a republican president, a republican legislature, a -- republicans on the -- in the house and in the senate who have this job to do to get this repeal and replace done, as tom foreman said in a piece, it's right there in front of them. but they haven't done it yet. >> i think this is a critical two, three weeks. as important as the trump/russia thing might be, it's a critical couple of weeks. people wondering what's going to help to me economically, what's going to happen with health care and my job? remember that mitch mcconnell has delayed the recess by two weeks in august. if they cannot get a majority, this effectively shows a paralysis on the basis not only of the white house but also the gop leadership. then you talk about can they get a budget thr

and senior congressional correspondent for "the washington examiner." let's talk health policy first. this was a shell meant to keep the process moving. as you heard phil mattingly say, at some point, tough decisions have to be made about how to have better health care in this country. and there is not agreement. there still is not agreement. >> reporter: that's right. and in the end, that really led to part of the downfall. what does a replacement plan look like? ultimately every alternative they came up with appeared to increase premiums, increase the number of people who would be uninsured. and when people see those numbers, they may not like obamacare, but they don't like what they're seeing to replace it even more. political at the's difficult to get past that -- politically, it's difficult to get past that. >> the president tweeting early this morning, let obamacare implode. the question is, will it? >> if they were to do nothing, the exchanges where people buy private insurance that people who don't get insurance through the government or through

that's according to the "washington post." that sound you hear just might be the clock ticking for jeff sessions. let's get right to cnn's senior political analyst mark preston. chief national security correspondent, and national security correspondent jim sciutto. senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. legal analyst laura coats. lots to get to next couple hours on cnn. jeff, you first, "washington post" reporting tonight president trump and his advisers to discussing the possibility of replacing attorney general jeff sessions. that does match much of what cnn has also been reporting and follows president trump's swipe earlier where he tweeted this. "so why aren't the committees and investigators and, of course, our beleaguered a.g., looking into crooked hillary's crimes and russia relations?" what are you learning tonight from the white house, jeff? >> reporter: don, when you call your attorney general someone what was once a loyal supporter and indeed a trusted ally and friend, when you call him beleaguered, you know,

we want to change the conversation in washington, d.c. we can't do it if we don't get more democrats elected. what did republicans in 2010 stand for? republicans in 2010, they were against barack obama. >> against obamacare. >> they were against obamacare. >> and now we are against repeal and replace, whatever that may be and we are against donald trump. the central theme of the republican party the last eight years, mitch mcconnell said it best, a one-term president. was the man who was president of the united states. it's okay. we can talk about other issues. >> we have a future elections coming up. we have the 2018 mid term and another presidential election. republicans and democrats, i hope, see this as an opportunity to at least say we have a responsibility to secure the ballot box. we know the russians will do this again. other country also see this as an opportunity. >> they've done it in the past. >> yeah. whatever mueller does, we should accept the facts that russia attacked us and we have a responsibility to make sure it doesn't

he is a powerful washington, d.c. defense attorney who has handled some pretty high profile clients in the past, including defending two officials with connections to the clinton white house. he has also defended major corporations and ex-cia officer and someone with a lot of experience defending white collar crime. he is actually a former federal prosecutor. up until taking this job at the white house he was a lawyer at a powerful d.c. law firm. he is now expected to oversee the white house response to the russia investigation and not only legally but in the press. he is trying to manage a white house response to a story that has created quite a cloud, an impediment almost to the trump guinea. friends of ty cobb including a cnn analyst say he is a shrewd, smart attorney. listen. >> one is they are bringing in ty to replicate what clinton did during his problems which is to create a legal war room in the white house council office to deal with this on a day-to-day base. and you see abby lowell coming in to represent j

we have it covered from hamburg, washington, moscow, and seoul. good morning, and welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm miguel marquez. it is friday, july 7th, 4:00 a.m. here on the east coast. it's one of the most eagerly anticipated meetings of world leaders in decades. this morning president trump sits down with russian president vladimir putin as the g20 summit gets underway in germany. their bilateral meeting comes just a day after president trump said russia should stop its destabilizing activities. minutes later refused to conclude that russia meddled in the u.s. election. >> new cnn reporting this morning says russia has even stepped up its spying efforts in the u.s. more in a moment. >>> for the latest, let's turn to the white house correspondent covering this for us, sara murray, live in hamburg. president trump meets putin face to face in just a few hours. it will be fascinating to see the optics of this meeting. >> reporter: yes, it is a very highly anticipated and will be closely scrutinized. this is expected to be a

by april, watching the debate in washington, can't blame you. confidence that would happen dropped to 20%. now just 18% of americans think it is likely the president will be able to repeal and replace obamacare. a signature trump promise. one reason the president called republican senators to the white house yesterday and told them try again. in doing so, singled out one very vulnerable republican senator from nevada. >> any senator who votes against starting debate is really telling america that you're fine with obamacare. you didn't go out there. this was the one we were worried about. you weren't there, but you're going to be. you're going to be. [ laughter ] look. he wants to remain a senator. doesn't he? okay. and i think that the people of your state, which i know very well, i think they're going to appreciate what you hopefully will do. >> it didn't work. but i do think for all the criticism of the president, people say he haends been hands on our used his bully pull it, in a strategic way in the health care debate gets points for calming

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the news from the washington post is a bomb shell. reporting the president is looking to his power to pardon his aides, his family a

as uncertainty consumes washington, some republicans are leaping to his defense. >> i think the attorney general is doing a fine job and made the right decision to recuse himself. >> he made the right decision to recuse himself. >> if there's any person on capitol hill that has been loyal to the president of the united states, it's jeff sessions. >> while others are saying it's up to the president. >> the president gets to decide what his personnel is. he determines who is hired and fired in the executive branch. that's his prerogative. >> reporter: even conservative media out lights breitbart and fox newscasting doubt on the president's strategy. >> publicly attacking jeff sessions for all of that? that is nuts. >> reporter: the president striking back at critics who have challenged his leadership style. >> with the exception of the late, great abraham lincoln i could be more presidential than any president that's ever held this office. that i can tell you. >> reporter: the recusal that opened the door to the appointment of special counsel robert mueller is really at the root of the ten

all of this chaos in washington. the world is watching, it's not this insular activity happening in the united states. but it could potentially influence how he can gain respect or lose it? >> absolutely. the leaders of many of the nations that will be at this summit are looking at the chaos in the oval office and they see a president who in their mind isn't in full control of the situation. they see how the health care bill fell apart here so they fear him a little less and they have a little less trust when they're going to be in the room this week with him. about what's going to be tweeted. and what kind of stories will shape the u.s. agenda. so i think many of the leaders don't have the same respect or fear of him that they might if he was a different kind of president. >> this g-20 being hosted in hamburg, germany, which happens to be the birthplace of german chancellor angela merkel. she's been speaking out ahead of this summit saying quote, whoever believes the problems of this world can be solved by isolation

the stage is set and the participants are now beginning to arrive here in the washington area. president carter, egyptian president anwar sadat and president begin will sit down in the solitude of cam map david a attempt to come up with a solution. >> failure here would increase the impression that is being reflected in the public opinion polls that mr. carter is a nice man but inept president. >> there are hundreds of reporters here, interviewing each other. what the three are discussing whether the talks are friendly, intense, we don't know because of unprecedented secrecy. >> by the end of the second day, rosalynn says you could hear them screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. carter had to physically separate them. block them from leaving. >> the middle east summit at camp david is a week old and no official word on how the talks are going but how they might end. their length has given rise to reports of a stalemate. >> carter had a photograph of the three men and made up copies for begin's nine grandchildren and signed each of them, "love jimmy carter." very re

they get him out of washington. the event friday with the police in long island was scheduled before they knew they were going to lose the health care vote. >> i have a simple message today for every gang member and vinl ail kren that are threatening so violently our people. we will find you, we will arrest you, we will jail you and we will deport you. >> he talked about the border wall again in that speech. is this just singing his greatest hits at a speech out of town or are they worried about their own base and the president was trying to bring up his own base? >> i think they're always concerned about the base here. his approval ratings are high 30s at best. that's generally the base. if they give up any ground on that, what's left? i mean, that's his -- that's all his leverage right there. >> and i think he's sensitive, too, to the fact that there hasn't been a lot of movement on any of these issues. and so maybe, again, playing those greatest hits is a way to sort of toss a bone to the base or at least to say,

that is not what "the washington post" is reporting right? >> it's a non-denial denial. at this point we can't trust sessions. he said i cannot remember what happened in the conversations i was a senator. and all of these kfrpgs back from mouse cow proven to the right. i think this is horrendous, as a former intelligence officer and american senator, examine worker, doesn't matter whether colluding with a he or she still foreign power, it's treasonist. i know it's not indictable but i think he should re-sign. >> karl bernstein i want you to listen to this this was back in march. >> let me be clear, i never had meetings with russian operatives or russian intermediators about the trump campaign. and the idea that i was part of a quote, continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and intermediaries for the russian government is totally false. >> so that is a direct opposite of what the post sates, quote in current and fortunatelier commissions. >>e may or may not have ions in? committed perjury. in the senate the billions committee need t

he and his family seem oblivious to the brutal realities of washington politics. those realities will destroy will trump, his family and their business reputation unless they change their strategy toward the russia probe. they don't have much more time to do it. more quotes to come. what do you think of that? peter? >> radical transparency is a good strategy if actually there's not that much there. right? it's not a good strategy if it turns out actually that there was serious collusion with the russian government. let's not forget, donald trump jr., whatever you want to say about him, actually practiced radical transparency when he released his e-mails. his problem was that the e-mails said i love it. it's collude. that's the problem. so yeah, this is a guy who didn't release his tax returns last year. was that just because he has a philosophical objection or because actually he knew there was something that was there that was going to hurt him. >> scott jennings, as a conservative, as a trump supporter, what do you make of that line, the quote that i just read y

fact that jeff bezos says no editorial ever at "the washington post." it is an attempt every time he uses the term fake news to muddy the waters, confuse people, undermine integrity in the press even when stories are entirely accurate. and as frank was saying, it's detrimental. it's detrimental to our society. it's a problem. but as to whether or not people see through it, i don't know if that core base, that 30 to 35% of core trump supporters gives a damn about what we say. >> i think it's starting to crack. i think that there are polls that show that. it hasn't completely penetrated but it's starting to crack. even conservative media are wondering how we're going to start covering the actual news instead of creating scenarios about leaks and changing what the story actually is. frank, it is a pattern that we have seen repeatedly. deny a story and then admit only when they have to, then say it's not important. anyone would have done it. is there any indication this pattern will change. anyone would have taken the meeting that don jr. had. is that going

and second, the final estimate from the "washington post" poll was 43% for trump, 47% for clinton who posted 48.5% on election night. that is well within the poll's margin of error. >>> secret service rejecting a claim by president trump's lawyer that the agency would have pre-presevented anything happening at that last meeting between donald trump jr. and a russian lawyer. here is jay sekulow claiming nothing happened at the meeting that included several russians and top members of the trump campaign. >> i wonder why the secret service if this was nefarious, why did the secret service let these people in? donald trump jr. himself said things should have been done differently. have rg said that, that is not violation of the law, it is more process. >> problem being this, well, through the president had secret service protection, the president did, but after that interview, the secret service said it had no responsibility to check out participants in the meeting because don jr. was not under its protection at the time. >> the president's personal attorney's lawyer -- or comment, rather

this is not what normally happens in washington, d.c. particularly on capitol hill. these votes usually go exactly the way that leadership in the senate plans them to go. but that's not what happened here tonight. and this vote has been in doubt for some time. mitch mcconnell has tried every which way to get some form of obamacare repeal on the floor that would just get 50 republican votes. that's all he needed to get it passed, and he has been turned down at every single opportunity, and the most dramatic being tonight. and the person at the center of this drama was senator john mccain, this after coming into washington quite dramatically at the beginning of the week after learning of a diagnosis of an aggressive form of brain cancer. he came all the way to washington to be involved in it this process, to cast a ballot in this situation. he initially voted to move the vote to the floor. but gave a dramatic speech saying that they needed to find more bipartisanship and work together. and when the process wasn't heading in the direction he wanted it to, he was the per

partisan runs deep in washington. but that is now on the table. >> interesting. president are president trump plaming t blaming the swamp. and relive in an era when everyone mocks washington insiders but the ultimate outsierd president could have benefitted from some insider knowledge. trump seemed to have almost no idea about legislation process worked. >> how surprise are you that this president seems to little about how the sift el works? >> not that he doesn't know about it, he is not even trying to learn about it. presidents who are successful start to understand, what are the motives that interest senate and they have some respect for congress if they try to push legislation, meaning give confrence work to work out deals and work out the problems that exist in any piece of legislation and they usually support members of their own party as they try to do correspondents things. and the president hasn't done any of that and he has shown a kind of disdane for the legislative process which doesn't work well in washington. so he is paying the cost of some of that

i still like that he sticks it to the news media, sticks it to washington. does it rise to the level of outrage in trump country? >> i think they will stand by him for many, many, many months. and not to draw parallels between nixon, but it was the same thing with nixon. republicans stayed with nixon deep into the watergate scandal both in terms of rank and file voters as well as lawmakers. and i don't think that's going to change here. >> i was just reading woodward bernstein's book "the final days." one of the points they make is that the republicans stood by nixon basically to the end, and the day he resigned, he was at about 30% in the polls. it wasn't zero. >> right, right. >> so none of our -- fortunately we live in a society where people never agree on everything. you know, and that's okay. >> america's views on russia have changed over the yearsment i mean, obviously from a government standpoint, russia remains an adversary, particularly this government in russia, but americans have seen the relationship evolve and thaw over the years, so for example

diane gallagher, cnn, washington. >>> still ahead here on "newsroom," a cnn exclusive. cnn senior international correspondent nick paton walsh inside the epicenter on the fight against isis. he's in raqqah, syria. we'll have that report. >>> as you know, the turmoil continues in venezuela. the economy isnn shambles. and many don't know where they're next meal is coming from. you're watching "cnn newsroom." glucerna. everyday progress. we, the people, are tired of being surprised with extra monthly fees. we want hd. and every box and dvr. all included. because we don't like surprises. yeah. like changing up the celebrity at the end to someone more handsome. and talented. really. and british. switch from cable to directv. get 4 rooms with hd, dvr, and every box included for $25 a month. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's hel

it is another big day, where i am here in washington. chris is off this morning, john berman joins me from new york. john, great to see crow. >> so much news, we had to be in two cities at once. >> that's right. so let's get right to it. up first, "the new york times" and "washington post" with new reporting that president trump's legal team is trying to undercut special counsel, robert mueller. the president's lawyers are investigating the investigators in hopes of discrediting the russia investigation. >> "the washington post" also reports that the president is asking advisers about his ability to pardon his aides with, family members, and possibly even himself. this as the president has re-shuffled his legal team. we have it all covered for you. let's begin with cnn's senior washington correspondent, joe johns, live at the white house. good morning, joe. >> john, i think reshuffling is the word. the president has already signalled that he is geari inin for a fight against the special counsel investigators, citing conflicts. and it app