politics." i'm john king. thanks for sharing your day with us and a newsy friday it is. president trump paid a triumphant visit to a big conservative meeting here just outside of washington looking to rally support for his agenda and looking to stifle any lingering distrust on the right. >> we need to define what this great, great unprecedented movement is and what it actually represents. the core conviction of our movement is that we are a nation that put and will put its own citizens first. [ cheering ] >> plus, rare public insights from the man driving the new nationalist tilt at the trump

white house. >> they're corporatist, globalist media. they're adamantly opposed, adamantly opposed to an economic nationalist agenda like donald trump has. if you think they're going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken. every day -- every day it is going to be a fight. >> and the iraq war helped define both the george w. bush and barack obama presidencies. is president trump now on the verge of approving a new long-term u.s. troop presence? >> we have, as has nato, begun a dialogue about a long-term commitment to maintain a capacity of the iraqi security forces. with us today they share their reporting and insight, cnn manu raju, molly hemingway and jackie

kucinich of the daily beast. vice president mike pence addressing the nation's governors at a big luncheon in washington. we'll take a look at both of those as they happen. plus, an unusual move that could be seen as white house meddling in the fbi's investigation of russia's role in last year's campaign. we'll bring you more duties as well. let's begin around the table with what we just saw at cpac. a 50-minute speech from a president of the united states, a republican president, donald j. trump, who if we go back that long ago, was viewed with hostility by the republican party and the conservative movement. he now leads them both, and he walked into that room today looking not only to sell his agenda and to get support for his agenda, but it was remarkable. we could go through the greatest hits if we want. there were a lot of greatest hits from the campaign. if you listen to the entire speech, this is a new president telling the party and the movement you are going to move my way. move my way on issues like trade, go ahead. >> the thing that struck me, matt lewis said this the last hour. it wasn't really a conservative speech. he was talking about spending money on a lot of different

things, and that is something that -- that is a shift that we've seen in this new trump era where there is -- i don't know. congress is going to go along with this. that's going to be his biggest obstacle. there are fiscal conservatives there that are going to pump the brakes. a lot of the things he is talking about, not -- he is not going to address entitlements. he is going to increase the size of the military. all of these things cost mean. >> it was a campaign speech in a lot of ways. laid out all the things that he talked about he would do talking about everything from obliterating isis to making sure that the wall will be built soon on the border with mexico. >> also expensive. >> also very expensive and a lot of hurdles to get that done.

>> before we get to that part, next year, the year after, though, if anybody at home is waiting to see it if this president made broad outreach to those that didn't vote for him. hit the pause button. if we learned anything early on, in that room today was proof his focus right now is on keeping his promises from the campaign and keeping his voters. keeping his group. >> and this was to some extent repositioning by saying, you know, cpac is my base now. you're my base now. i'm your leader now. right? this is him saying i know i wasn't here last year. i thought i would be too controversial. all that stuff that seemed too controversial. that's happening now. i'm doing that now. there was also one sort of mostly unspoken undercurrent in the room, and that's that of the supreme court nominee. for all those conservatives who have questions about some of the other things, that is going to go a long way. he gets a ton of ongoing mileage out of that. >> remember cpac a year ago or

remember cpac even two years ago when donald trump was beginning to move around. a lot of the conversation there was that he is a -- there were the seeds of the never trump movement. this is his movement now. >> well, winning solves a lot of those probes, skpv wants to be with a winner. it is interesting how there is a realignment with the republican party and it's one that everybody should be paying attention to. one of the more interesting things he said is the republican party is now going to be the party of the american worker. >> that is kind of an olive branch. >> a republican branch standing at the -- praising bernie sanders, saying he was right on trade, and saying my doors are open to everyone including labor unions.

>> the republican party has been in the last 20 years or so the party of free trade. the party of globalism, the party of an integrated global economy. listen to the president. >> global cooperation, dealing with other countries, getting along with other countries is good. it's very important. but there is no such thing as a global anthem, a global currency, or a global flag. this is the united states of america that i'm representing. i'm not representing the globe. i'm representing your country. >> it's all well and good to say that, but it's not like places like china are just going to sit back and say, oh, well, they're just taking a break. they're going to go in. they're going to go into where the united states pulls back. there are other entities happy to fill the void if the united states decides to seal off the

border. i'm not talking about education. >> that's not the speech that rex tillerson or general mattis giving. this nationalism, oddly enough, is kind of a global movement. you're seeing it pop up in different countries, and it's the most uncovered issue of the day. it is -- >> it's the biggest -- it is now the ds -- the you believe abouting has turned into boiling. it's a reaction to globalism. people think they're getting screwed, to use a polite word, and it's a reaction to the refugee and the moving around and diversity in many countries. >> it's going to be so interesting next week when he addresses a joint meeting of congress. does donald trump stick to these nationalistic themes? does he stick to what he said to cpac? does it sound like the speech we just heard? or does he deviate in any way knowing that his own party does not go along with some of these issues like nafta is hugely supported among republicans in congress? does he come in and say this is one of the worst trade deals ever, a disaster like he said today, or does he deviate from that language in any way? it would be fascinating to see. >> what we saw today was a bit

of what we saw in the campaign when they were trying to keep him on the teleprompter? it was really two or three speeches. he gave the speech to the teleprompter, and whenever he heard applause or when he fails the speech on the prompter leaving the crowd flat, he goes off and tells diversions and antics. his language, again -- his language, this is one of the reasons he got elected. he speaks differently. he does not speak like a traditional politician, and we know one of his complaints during the bottom years is that the president wouldn't use the term radical islam. this president doesn't shy away. >> let me state this as clearly as i can. we are going to keep radical islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. >> we will be taking brand new action to protect our people and keep america safe. you will see the action.

>> this is one of the many trump pair docks, if you will. the career people with foggy bottom or the pentagon going -- when he says that. trump supporters are saying, thank you, mr. president. that's the way we want to hear it. >> that's exactly right. look, foreign policy situations that are taking shape right now, whether it's on the approach to isis or whether it's on the approach to nato relations or whether it's going to be a border tax or whatever. what he says publicly in tweets and in speeches like this is really different than the sort of gradual policy shifts and feelers that, you know, his representatives are trying to lay out, and there's been a lot of mixed messaging. some have asked whether it's a cleanup act. what the president has found out of speaking off the cuff rather than explicitly or cautiously, is that it creates sort of a space for him to find a middle ground and while diplomats and foreign governments are, like, worried about it, they all also know that it doesn't necessarily mean what he says.

he has found in space. >> it's an interesting point. people said the same things about railroad. that railroad would have bold ambitions. worry going to balance the budget. we're going to shrink government. that didn't happen. the wall fell down. the cold war ended. to the point, you two -- you're saying can you get these things done, or will chooirn step into these voids. the president gives what sounds like a clear america first pulling back message, but if he points to that as the north star, and the truth is somewhere in the middle, that the united states doesn't fully retreat, it just tries to rearrange, is he fine with his base? is that good enough? >> i think it's also just a change of direction. there is a big problem with his tim precision, and it's very frustrating for a lot of people. he is clearly making a change in the direction in u.s. policy, and he does allow his cabinet to then worry about the details, and it is -- it's a challenge for reporters to understand that there is a big difference between what he says and what his administration is actually

doing. >> that's a new movement. it's interesting to see how he manages this going forward, but, remember, even after he was elected, there was talk of a ted cruise challenge in 2020. i don't think anybody hears that at the moment. this is his party. >> this is his party. remember, last year he placed in that straw poll at 15%. esbehind marco rubio, number two. ted cruise won that. it just shows a dramatic shift. folks coming to his side. he knows that. it's -- that's the power of his presidency right now. >> it is true, he is doing things that please conservatives. nominating gorsuch, and he is doing things that please people, and it's not just that he is changing them. he is governing as a conservative. >> mike pence is a very key part of that group.

>> we'll see. that's the great challenge. just ahead, does president trump's promise to obliterate isis mean sending troops back to iraq and possibly even syria? if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis like me, and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a medication... ...this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain... ...and protect my joints from further damage. humira has been clinically studied for over 18 years. humira works by targeting and helping to... ...block a specific source... ...of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain and... ...stop further joint damage in many adults. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas... ...where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. talk to your doctor and visit humira.com this is humira at work.

welcome back. you may remember one of the early actions called on the pentagon to quickly draft a new plan to intensify the fight against isis, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said the plan could include asking the president to take a huge political risk. >> recommit the united states to a long-term troop presence in iraq and perhaps also deploy u.s. combat forces in syria.

>> that includes more u.s. troops. >> i will go to the president with options. >> general dunford being careful answering that question, now the brookings snugts, though. he did say the united states and nato already talking with the iraqi government about a longer-term troop presence. a to train iraqis, by a greater level we have there now. they'll go to the president with these recommendations, and a more aggressive robust effort in syria. >> is he going to consider? >> he is going to consider all of his opgs because of the political rhetoric, and there's a lot of mixed opinion inside the republican party about whether the pace of the withdrawal from iraq and from that theater in general has contributed to some of the insecurities that have, you know, given rise to the current situation, but considering something and doing something are two really very different options. he has a new national security advisor who has both been aggressive about the need for

military modernization and spending, and very cautious about the idea of in and out quick successful military engagements. he has a divided republican congress. it's one thing to have democrats and republicans divided, but on ray situation like this, particularly given what it did to president bush's political legacy, this is a place where he is going to be kbsed to be very cautious. >> they remember their own stealth approach. they were commanders during the rumsfeld approach to iraq. i assume if they're going to the president, they won't think the president should do anything they think is half you know what. >> we're going to have troops there the interesting thing is he doesn't want a lot of engagement, but when he is there, when he puts u.s. troops there, he is going to want to be decisive about it, and i imagine that we'll see -- he did say he has actually made unbelievable promises about eradicating isis,

things that are impossible to achieve, but he will. >> elts an interesting question if he decides to send a professional to authorize the use of military force to congress. that's something they decided to punt on during the obama years using that same -- from after 9/11 and during the iraq war, and does he try to build support for whatever plan that he has, whether it is sending in more troops or taking other action. if he does send in troops, he said -- he has been very vague about his own plan. >> even, again, today we know from the campaign he does promise to be tougher, and it's somewhat inconsistent because he also voices great relukt yangs about deploying u.s. troops overseas. smart and cautious of any good commander in chief, but this is one of the most soeb aring

decision that is any new president faces. you just heard the general say we're going to bring in the options. more troops in iraq. maybe troops in syria. the president's instincts are otherwise. . >> in the middle east we've spent as of four weeks ago $6 trillion. the middle east is in what -- it's not even close. it's in much worse shape than it was 15 years ago. if our presidents would have gaub for the beach for 15 years, we would be in much better shape than we are right now. that i can tell you. a hell of a lot better. we could have rebuilt our country three times for that money. >> that's where his heart is. don't waste money overseas. that's infrastructure money here at home. don't get involved in overseas military adventures that spiral out of control. yet, forget whether it's a democrat or a republican.

here's a new president that will be sitting around the table with the generals in a week or two facing these decisions. >> go ahead. >> remember, it was a year ago before the south carolina primary. he made some of these types of comments about what a disaster the iraq war had been and how bush was responsible. he kwon that primary. this is a message that rez onates. >> you can hear it in the room. >> hard core military supportive people. it's not about -- it's just about being wiser and smarter about our military engagement, and i think that he is offering very new perspective on this that is very different from the bipartisan consensus on how to fight wars and how much to be embroiled in -- >> there are no good options, which is the really challenge. you can't just go in and bomb isis. they're not sitting around in some city somewhere where you can just get rid of everybody at all once. it's a strategic war. it's a drone war. >> he might like the bomb theory. if you do send in more troops as we discussed,ing that creates a whole slow of other issues.

it's a very tricky test. >> there are also two things that didn't happen in the last couple of weeks. president trump met with two officials who you remember from the bush era and from their involvement in strategy and the iraq war. john bolten and elliott abrams. elliott abrams did not get -- did not get brought in as the national security advisor. now, trump -- the president and his team have said that the president wants there to be a role for john bolten and presumably on the national security stage. that has yet to be announced, but it's not national security advisor. that may be the clue. >> it's one of the most -- president obama didn't want to stay in iraq. he was in iraq as well. i noted the entire time, lower troop levels is a tough one. in that room even when he starts talking about the misguided policies in the middle east, he gets applause and a conservative. normally a pro-military crowd they still don't want to waste resources. it's an interesting -- one of his first big foreign policy decisions when it comes to the tough ones for commander in chief. >> absolutely. the other thing that struck me,

he is talking about not spending money and how much money was spent on war, so they're talking about building up the military. there's a lot of kind of seesawing going on in just one speech. >> peace through strength. we're waiting for some time tape. the president signed and we'll roll you the tape in a second. before you do, i want to play one line. the president gave an extensive interview to reuters yesterday. we were talking earlier about the spending plans of this new republican president. conservatives sometimes try to add up the math. one of the things the president says is vital is increasing modernizing, strengthening the u.s. nuclear arsenal. >> it would be wonderful -- a dream would be that no country would have nukes. but if countries are going to have nukes, we're going to be at the top of the pack. >> interesting. anyway. also especially because we have seen for all this talk of having a cozy relationship with vladimir putin and whether he wants to have a cozy

relationship with vladimir putin, this is a priority for the russians right now, and the president seems to be countering. >> china and russia are modernizing their nuclear programs. trump has been so public. >> he also triggered that obama improved and the senate ratified suggesting there was a one-sided deal. he was going to try to cut a new start treaty, new start treaty with the russians. that will be an interesting decision by trump. he thinks he can negotiate better deals bilateral deals on not just and a range of issues. we'll see. >> let's listen to the president signing new -- let's listen p in.

>> ago audio issues. the president is standing there. some of the biggest countries. you can show the tape. i'll talk over it to try to get t audio back. he is there with -- named -- he is talking here about regulatory reforms. regulatory reform task force set up to, what the president says, is relieve unnecessary burdens on the economy. we can bring this. let's listen. >> ken fisher and ken frazier, alex gorske, chairman and ceo of johnson & johnson, marilynn, and she's been very tough to deal with, but that's okay.

president of lockheed martin. gregory hayes, chairman ceo of united technology. andrew, chairman and ceo of dow chemical company, mario longi, president of the united states steel corporation, juan luciaro, president and ceo of arch are daniels midland company, denise maher oes president campbell soup company. lee styles langer iii chairman and ceo of alti knowing. mark sutton chairman and ceo of international paper and -- president of 3m company and we have made tremendous progress with these great business leaders. amazing progress. they are getting together in groups, and they're coming up with suggestions about their companies and how to bring jobs back to the united states, and i

think it will be a fantastic day for the country. we met yesterday and met with these folks some more. excessive regulation is killing jobs, driving companies out of our country. reducing wages and raising prices. i've listened to american companies and american workers. i have been listening to them for a long time. i've been listening to them complain for a long time. today this executive order directs each agency to establish a regulatory -- therefore, harmful to the creation of jobs and business. each task force will make recommendations to repeal or

simplify existing regulations. the regulatory burden is for the people behind me and for the great companies of this country and for small countries. an impossible situation that we're going to solve very quickly. they will also have to really report every once in a while to us so we can report on the progress and so we can come up with some even better solutions. this executive order is one of many ways we're going to get real results when it comes to removing job killing regulations and unleashing economic opportunity. we've already issued an order which says that for every one new regulation, says to old regulations must be eliminated. that in itself is going to be tremendous, but what we're doing is much more than even that. every regulation should have to pass a simple test. does it make life better or safer for american workers or

consumers? if the answer is no, we will be getting rid of it and getting rid of it quickly. we will stop punishing companies for doing business in the united states. it's going to be absolutely just the opposite. they're going to be incentiveized for doing business in the united states. we're working very hard to roll back the negative regulatory burden so that coal mines, factory workers, small business owners, and so many others can grow their businesses and thrive. we cannot allow government to be an obstacle to government opportunity. we are going to bring back jobs and create more opportunities maybe more than ever before. we've made tremendous strides over the last short period of time. we're four weeks into it. i think for four weeks we've done a good job. again, i want to thank these great business leaders. some of them are with us in the white house, and they had tremendous success. reed and jared and so many

others in business and they are helping us sort out what's going on because really for many years even beyond -- long beyond obama, president obama, i will say it's been zas disastrous. this is going to be a place for business to thrive. with the signing of this executive order, i will congratulate everybody behind me and i would like to thank you for getting the group together. >> thank you. dow chemical. right? >> very proud. that means a lot of jobs. thank you, everybody. thank you very much.

>> president trump there in the oval office surrounded by ceos just a short time ago signing yet another executive action. whether you like the president or you don't like the president, we've seen a lot of this,ing and in some cases when you sign an order saying the department of homeland security should get moving on the wall as soon as possible, you know, don't expect that to be there next week. you got to have money from congress and -- when it comes to these actions, he has had a lot of actions focused on jobs, there is a lot the executive branch can do when it comes to regulations, and there's a clear record by the president almost i would say every other if not more than that of these photo opportunities we see are ceos, business leaders, manufacturers, union people focused on jobs. smart move. >> yeah. part of this is the optics of being able to name some of the major corporations that americans are familiar with and to make it seem like he is doing something to create jobs. the messaging is one thing. the numbers are another thing. he knows that statistically however you slice and dice employment rates, it's going to be very difficult for him to show a huge amount of progress on that front with those

tangible numbers the way the numbers have always been analyzed. this is a way to counter that message. the other is just to get this momentum going from the e.p.a. to, you know, health and human services across all these -- treasury department has its own guidelines. there are a lot of frm policies he can work with, and we saw just yesterday the business roundtable come forward with this long list, it everything from clean water to, you know, overtime pay, things he can do now to begin making the climate easier for them for business. >> for the business community. they're optimistic. they're optimistic, and we'll see if the numbers -- the president sometimes throws out numbers about new jobs. we'll see if they're there six months or a year, two years from now? in terms of the climate, if you look at the stock market and the business -- the ceos that you mentioned are in town, they think they're going to get tax reform and regulatory reform, and he this think that's going to be better for business. >> last year gdp growth was 1.6%, which is the lowest it's

been in five years. obama was the first modern president to not have a inc. isle year of gdp growth above 3%, and that's a stated goal of this administration. doing these kind of pullbacks on regulations that really constrict that growth is going to be hugely popular. not just when you are meeting with the ceos, but, again, think of last week, when you are meeting with miners in hard hats on what he calls a job-killing regulation that his industry was very worried about. >> we'll see if the jobs come. it's important for the president and smart to focus on this quite a bit. we'll watch as it plays out. up next, an innocent request for help. the fbi's investigation over russia's election meddling. broke into a house owned by three bears. she ate some porridge, broke the baby bear's chair, and stole some jewelry, a flat-screen tv, and a laptop. luckily the geico insurance agency had helped the bears with homeowners insurance. they were able to replace all their items...

...including a new chair from crate and barrel. call geico and see how easy it is to switch and save on homeowners insurance. i wanti did my ancestrydna and where i came from.

and i couldn't wait to get my pie chart. the most shocking result was that i'm 26% native american. i had no idea. just to know this is what i'm made of, this is where my ancestors came from. and i absolutely want to know more about my native american heritage. it's opened up a whole new world for me. discover the story only your dna can tell. order your kit now at ancestrydna.com.

president trump is lashing out at the fbi again today complaining on twitter about more leaks. here's one here. classified information is being

given to media that could have a devastating effect on the u.s. find now, the president tweeted. the latest leaks, however, have nothing to do with classified information. cnn was first to report last night that the white house through chief of staff reince priebus asked the fbi to knock down media reports that several trump associates were in frequent contact with russian officials during last year's campaign. several sources familiar tell cnn the fbi said no to the white house. white house press secretary sean spicer tells cnn the white house was not trying to pressure or influence the fbi investigation. just an effort, he says, to get it to tell the truth, but here's the tricky part. even if that's true, such contact violates rules that have been in place for years. the 2009 justice department memo says any contacts about five investigations, number one, should be extremely rare, and then "will involve only the attorney general or the deputy attorney general from the side of the department and the counsel to the president, deputy principal counsel to the president, the president, or the vice president from the side of

the white house." so just here's how i'm going to put this. if president clinton can't get on the plane and talk to attorney general loretta lynch in the military of the hillary clinton e-mail investigation, reince -- and he shouldn't have, he shouldn't have -- reince priebus should have known. the white house is saying it was the deputy fbi drirkt who brought this up, started a conversation about this. reince priebus, a trained lawyer, the gate keeper at the white house, if the white house account is absolutely right and there was nothing here, he should have walked away. >> he handled this in a clumsy manner. the white house is not disputing the fact that they did discuss these reports and even if they were discussing just the p.r. aspect of it and not believing -- not knocking down the reports, the essence of the reports are what these investigations are looking into, which is russian contacts with trump campaign officials, and whether there was anything inappropriate in those contacts. this is going to be an issue for the senate intelligence committee to look into, the

house intelligence committee likely will look into the issue of contacts largely, and we'll see if they get into the priebus communications with the deputy fbi director as well, but clearly raising this issue because it does violate this guideline that were in place for decades to limit these communications between the white house and the fbi during these times of an open investigation. >> it's a bit of asymmetrical warfare here too. you have this ongoing massive leak campaign. you know, it looks coordinated and involves people from the obama administration. very willing and receptive journalists. there's no way to fight it. it's very difficult. it sounds like what priebus wanted was just someone to say what's actually going on, which is not as nefarious. >> hold on a second. this is an important point. let's assume you're right and that there's nothing here, that the fbi director said that story is overblown. we don't know that yet. we're still investigating this, and that story makes it sound a lot more nefarious or more

serious than we know it or that we believe it is. one of those words. i think the point was -- they're still investigating and are not sure. reince priebus at that point, there is a gift to reince priebus, yes, but he has to say go talk to don, go down the hall to talk to the counsel then. please. i have to walk away because this is inappropriate. it's hard. it's a new white house. of all people in the white house, the chief of staff has to know the rules, especially he is the former party chairman. he has to understand the politics. >> the deputy fbi director mccabe should have known that as well. >> right. >> he should not have brought this up to priebus saying that he did not believe the "new york times" reporting or that it was overstated. we don't know exactly what mccabe said to priebus, but this is the white house's account of what mccabe said, but even if he did suggest that, that is a potential problematic thing for him. >> the deputy director skewed up. two wrongs don't make a right, and we have to understand the sensitivity of this.

>> the chief of staff has to walk away and say, whoa, not me. that's the counsel's office. please. >> i do think this has been a communications challenge for this new bhous, though, because on almost any other area, if there were reporting that was kind of right but kind of wrong or overblown on an issue related to currency or the treasury or the environment or obama care or what have you, it would be completely appropriate for the white house to reach out to that agency and say, hey, could you come to the briefing next week and come stand at the podium with us and answer some questions about this? this is a little too in depth for the press secretary to address, you know, for the record, and it would be really good to be able to answer these questions for the record and show that, you know, there's no fire here. in this case -- i suspect probably a lot of reporters, including me saying, you guys keep saying these reports are overblown. put some on the record and show us. i think they were trying to figure out how to do that. >> i want to go back to the point. the chief of staff reince

priebus did go out and sunday, and he said he had the blessing to say this wasn't such a big deal. let's listen. >> the "new york times" last week put out an article with no direct sources that said that the trump campaign had constant contacts with russian spies. basically, you know, some treasonist type accusations, top levels of the intelligence community have assured me that that story is not only inaccurate, but it's grossly overstated, and it was wrong. >> it was after that will appearance that james comey we want to capitol hill and we talked about this the other day on the program. senators left that meeting. usually they give you a little headline. they don't disclose class feud information. it was about this and that. they came out button lipped. >> i talked to several members of the intelligence committee this week asking them about priebus's comments over the weekend, and a lot of them were very surprised at how cat gore cal he was about there was nothing untoward and there were

no contacts. absolutely overblown. they believe about the -- perhaps an oppression that was not accurate. they're still pressing forward looking into that aspect of contacts between russia and government operatives and the trump campaign. we'll see what they find out. >> it's the same interview with reince priebus revealed unnamed sources, and he is using unnamed sources as he is making that point. right before trump's speech today, not to mention, he is rag the on the media for us autoing unnamed sources. then they said you can't use the name of the person telling you the information about this incident in particular. >> you are looking for consistency in washington. >> i know. i know. i know it's a fool's errand, but there is not a single named source making a single verifiable claim of wrong doing, and that is frustrating. it would be nice to have a single source. it's so many people making claims without any substan shags. it's time to -- for reporters to demand a little more.

>> you are absolutely right about that. we should be -- we should have a higher bar for anonymity, especially when we're casting aspergss. you should have a high bar. i know from our reporters here who are working the story, they do have a high bar. particularly this story. we go four, five, six sources sometimes just to make sure one or two sources aren't trying to twist us a little bit. this has come up a lot in the town halls. we've seen republican lawmakers going home, people coming up in town halls, and let's be clear. a lot of these are democratic activists showing up at republican events. no doubt about it. listen to the freshman congressman here. when this issue comes up, some people say the president could end some of these questions about potential russian ties, alleged russian ties if he shows us the tax returns.

>> i think if you hear me out, you'll like the answer. [ shouting ] let me say, right here, right now, absolutely donald trump should release his tax returns. [ screaming ] >> that's one freshman congressman in florida. senator susan collins, republican of maine. she's willing to push for that if they think that -- we don't have any indication that this is just one or two examples, right? nowhere near any critical mass. republicans will come back to washington left armed about this. >> we don't have any examples of that. the senate committee did is have rules in which five members of that committee could subpoena anything. just democrats if they wanted could try to subpoena those tax returns, but there are issues, privacy laws involving tax returns, obtaining tax returns. they could prohibit congress from obtaining them. it's unlikely we'll see that. you can see there's a lot of pressure. >> if the democrats get too

political, then the republicans might move. the democrats better be careful if they want to to be long and thorough. up next, the often unseen man behind president trump's agenda spells out just what he believes. well, it was nice to see everyone.

i just wish it had been for a better reason. me, too, but the eulogy that frank's daughter gave was beautiful. i just feel bad knowing they struggled to pay for the funeral, especially without life insurance. i wish they would've let us help. but, it did make me think, though. about what? well, that i could leave you in the same situation. i don't have life insurance, either. if something were to happen to me tomorrow, how are you going to pay for my funeral? or my other bills? nothing's gonna happen to you tomorrow. you don't know that. i made a promise to always take care of you kids. without life insurance, i'm not keeping it. besides, i already looked into it and between my budget and health, well ... you should call massmutual.

they have a new policy called guaranteed acceptance life insurance. i got covered with one call, and it was an affordable option for reliable coverage. what do you think, mom? i think it's time to make sure i keep that promise. if you're age 50-75, it's easier than ever to get reliable coverage at an affordable price. call massmutual today for guaranteed acceptance life insurance. with no medical questions or exams, you cannot be turned down. with one phone call, you can get coverage ranging from $2,000 - $25,000, and premiums can start at less than $10 per month. guaranteed acceptance life insurance can help your loved ones cover expenses such as funeral costs, remaining medical expenses and credit card bills. we have several payment options, and benefits are paid quickly and directly to your beneficiaries. they can use it for any expense they choose. for more than 160 years, our policyowners have mattered most to us. massmutual's ratings are among the highest of any company in any industry. you can feel confident we can help you protect the people who matter most to you with

guaranteed acceptance life insurance. call massmutual today at this number. call now.

>> if you watch a show called "inside politics" my guess is you've heard the name stevon bannon. he is the president's advisor, now senior advisor to the president of the united states, a key architect of the america first nationalist message. we don't see him much publicly. it was a big event when he appeared at the conservative conference yesterday laying out

his view of the trump agenda. >> kind of breaking out the three verticals. the national security and sovereignty, and that's your intelligence, the defense department, homeland security. the second line of work is what i refer to as economic nationalism, and that is wilbur ross of commerce, steve manuchin of treasury, peter navarro, steven miller. people rethinking how we can reconstruct our trade arrangements around the world. the third broadly line of work is what is deconstruction of the administrative state. >> fascinating to see because we don't see him publicly that much. number two, whether you might disagree with the agenda, but a very articulate lay-out, communications strategy for the agenda. i want to start at the end there. the deconstruction of the administrative state. a very conservative federalist approach that washington has amassed way too much power and steve bannon views his job as donald trump's senior advisor to help the president blow a lot of

it up where. >> not just too much power, but too much ub accountable power. you see this with the agencies going rogue and people having different ideas than either the president or congress that they report it. a lot of the problems with obama care came out not from the bill, but the way hhs interpreted the bill. a lot of the restrictions on religious liberty came out from the administrative state, not from the -- >> it's a concise argument that anyone has managed to say that anyone from the white house has delivered about what trump's world view is. broebl even more so than trump himself to hear that the deconstruction of administrative state. >> it's an interesting way to discuss how trump views the world. probably in a way that trump himself talked more ask trying to explain and sell his agenda. >> the president is not a criticism.

he talks more transactional. i'm for this and this and then for this. this is the deal we're making. steve bannon, they're laying out an idealogical conservative america first and nationalist when it comes to the foreign policy, national security trade stuff, but a very states rights, let's deconstruct washington. that is a little bit of reagan and goldwater. reagan wasn't able to deliver as much as he promised where. >> reagan was still an establishmentarianism. he believed in apecing order and chivalry. one is nationalism. one is deconstruction, which also goes along with the words disruption. it's not just the administrative state in terms of agencies. it is all of the way you consider the admistrative state of washington. it is disrupting and deconstructing the power of congress, the power of the press, the power of institutions that put -- that central core inside the white house in check.

>> here's steve bannon on how he thinks the president will proceed. >> he has laid out an agenda with those speechlz and the promises he made, and our job every day is just to execute on that. it's the to simply get a path to how those get executed, and he is maniacacially focus odd that. >> go back and see what he said during the campaign, and that's what you're going to get. >> he is executing on what he said. bannon has been saying this a long time. to the ek tent that trump has just adopted it and is executing it. has been a fascinating thing. >> there's a long way to go in this presidency. there's a lot that still needs to happen. we'll see if that -- he can -- they can still say that. >> he was also signaling that it's very hard to achieve this and they have all the forces in washington aga washington against him. >> asking cpac to stay on the team to help and to push when

necessary. we'll see you back here on monday. inside politics sunday morning 8:00 a.m. as well. after a quick break, wolf blitzer is in the chair.

♪ for millions of baby boomers there's a virus out there. a virus that's serious, like hiv, but it hasn't been talked about much. a virus that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. that's because hep c can hide in your body silently

for years, even decades, without symptoms and it's not tested for in routine blood work. if left untreated, hep c can cause liver damage, even liver cancer. but there's important information for us: the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested for hep c. all it takes is a simple one-time blood test. and if you have hep c, it can be cured. be sure to ask your doctor to get tested for hep c. for us it's time to get tested. it's the only way to know for sure.

hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's noon in louisiana. 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 2:00 a.m. saturday morning. wherever you are watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we start wr cpac, the conservative activist conference just outside washington taking center stage once again today. president trump taking that stage just a little while ago. the first time a sitting republican president has made an appearance there in his