obviously listens to that team. but they have got to make very clear to the president what he can and cannot do. this president is a loose can n cannon. we've seen that happen. he e he's got to have some lines here. the president of the united states cannot just do or say or speak whatever the hell he wants. that's just irresponsible. so you need to have some people that sit down with the president before he goes into a meeting and say these are the lines you cannot cross because it relates to the security of our country. if this president is going to be successful, he has got to be disciplined. >> the comey situation, i'm sure you have your thoughts on them. happy to hear them. the idea that the president said threat or not, matter of fact or not, you better hope there is no tapes, do you think there is a chance that there is the

recording of that tape of conversation and those tapes are available, or do you think this was just nonsense? >> we don't know. we don't know. again thrks again, this is a loose statement by the president in a tweet, which is frankly probably the first thing i would do as chief of staff is take away those tweets from the president of the united states because you cannot control what's going on in the country when the president is doing whatever he wants. >> leave me alone. worry about yourselves. >> i say, mr. president, you are president of the united states. you are not just a tv personality. you are a president of the united states. you have a responsibility when you speak to speak clearly, with authority and speak in a way that doesn't hurt this country. >> your disloyal, you're out. is it worth it for the president to risk that? >> absolutely.

that's why you are there. if you are a bunch of question people around the president of the united states, what good is it? you have to be able to discipline yourself, mr. president. this is important. otherwise, you are going to damage the trust in the office of the presidency. and that's the worst thing you can do. you want to pass legislation, you want to get things done in the world, you have to gain the trust of the american people and he's damaging that. >> thank you for your take on these important issues. always a pleasure to have you on "new day". >> big stories going on right now, including a response from a republican senator, a rare animal when talking about the president on television, he is going to react to the latest russia firestorm. let's get after it. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day." poppy harlow is by my side.

we have a defiant president trump defending his decision to share highly classified information. he is not advancing what we heard from his national security advisor about what was said. he is owning he did say things. he is just saying it wasn't wrong, this controversial meeting. the white house is calling the story false. but right now calling it false seems to be false based on the president's own explanation. >> the president's tweets further clarifying what the white house is actually trying to put out there. you have equal shock and concern from both sides of the aisle. some would say about what the president has done. the latest self-inflicted firestorm likely to overshadow this president's first trip overseas. it begins this week. >> good morning, poppy. deja vu here at the white house. the president making his

position clear and confirm anything a couple of tweets this morning that white house staff, including the national security advisor last night tried to knock down. let's look at the president's tweets. he said as president i wanted to share with russia in an openly scheduled white house meeting facts pertaining to terrorism and airline safety. plus, i want russia to step up their fight against isis and terrorism. the white house reeling from another crisis. >> the story is false. at no time, at no time were intelligence sources or methods discuss. the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publically known. >> h.r. mcmaster in a carefully worded statement refuting claims that were not in the story first

reported by the washington post, while falling short of denying the president revealed classified information to russian diplomats. >> that the white house is playing word games here to that effect to try to blunt the impact of the story. >> intelligent officials tell cnn that the president did reveal sensitive information that could expose intelligence sources, potentially jeopardizing access to isis as the terror group hopes to use laptop computers as bombs on planes. the white house insists the president only discussed common threats with the russian leaders. the shocking revelation opening up the president and the republican party to accusations of a double standard after repeated criticism of hillary clinton's handling of classified e-mails. >> we can't hand over our government to someone whose deepest darkest secrets may be in the hands of our enemies. >> i don't think it is safe to

have hillary clinton be briefed on national security because the word will get out. >> the report setting off a firestorm on capitol hill. >> if it's true, obviously, it is disturbing, but i think we've got to find out more before i could comment. >> republican senator, a trump supporter telling journalists the white house is in a downward spiral. the chaos being created by the lack of discipline creates a worrisome environment. calling for a bipartisan investigation into the latest russia firestorm. >> i hope we will be able to proceed in a very nonpartisan why. this is as serious as it gets. >> this kind of serious and grave threat really requires a national response, putting country above politics. >> this report comes as the white house fends off tough questions about the firing of fbi director james comey, which occurred one day before trump's meeting with the russians. sean spicer repeatedly dodging

questions about whether tapes exist of their conversations. >> i think i made it clear last week that the president has nothing further on that. i made it clear what the president's position is. i think the president's position has been very clear. the president has made it clear what his position is. i have answered the question over and over again the same way. >> in the midst of all these controversies, the president is holding an extremely important meeting today, critical to u.s. interests across the middle east. the president of turkey expected to show up here at the white house to see mr. trump midday. chris and poppy back to you. >> at the top of the chain of reaction here, we have the top ranking democrat, nancy pelosi, saying this is as serious as it gets. why? because the classified information that president trump is reported to have shared with the russians centered around an isis plot. and the intel and the access that was provided by one of our

allies could be jeopardized. let's discuss. we have jim sciutto who joins us with me. you have been talking to the white house. what have you gathered? >> so let me start with the story itself and jake tapper, our colleague and i, got the same information last night. and that is that the president did not reveal the source of this information. he did not say we got it from here. but the degree he went in describing this intelligence, details he gave was enough of a trail that some in the intelligence community are concerned they could figure out where it came from. naming details like the city where this plot originated, this kind of thing. that's what gave concern to the folks in the intelligence community. and that's serious because we are dealing with some of the most sensitive intelligence, most highly classified, one, and with a partner that is loathe to

have its cooperation and its sharing of this intelligence get out to the public or get out to the russians. the administration point of view is this the president shared important information about this aviation threat. but he didn't say where it came from and he certainly didn't reveal the source and low and behold, this is a serious threat to us and the russians and it was his right and his responsibility to share with them because it's his intention to have them cooperate in the threat against isis. >> what about the reporting that the white house tried to clean this up? the chief guy called the cia director, called the nsa, tried to strike things from these transcripts. do we know anything about that? >> they say that is misrepresented, that it was not a chickens with the heads cutoff sky is falling conversation,

that it was something to it, detail regarding classified administration. that's the administration point of view. i know because i have spoken to my own sources that there are those in the intelligence community who have genuine concern about this, enough that they are raising the awill remember -- alarm. you can have different points of view on the same intelligence, right? and we did report last night that there is some disagreement in the intelligence community as to how far the president went. >> so let's discuss. stay with us. let's bring in what the president's defense is, what the ramifications are. chris cillizza and john kirby. john, from your perfective of messaging at the department of state, what do you make of this, the response from the white house and your understanding of

what might have been shared and how important it is? >> i think from a messaging perspective and i think they are trying to treat this as a pr problem, which it is an intelligence problem, no question about it, and they are trying to stuff the answer into a shell that they created by the president getting this out there. i mean, you got h.r. mcmaster, secretary tillerson out there trying to put context on this, a nondenial denial and then you have the president coming out in tweets this morning and saying, hey, it is no big deal. that it is a big deal, you don't have to look further into the fact they put out their s information about it. this is in fact something major. >> all right. so the president just tweeted again. let me read this to you. we'll see if we could get it on the screen. i have been asking director comey and others from the begins of my administration to find the leakers in the intelligence community. so it looks like there is going

to be a part two, maybe part three to this tweet. after he comes out and says, yeah, you're right, i said that, he's once again going after the leakers in the intelligence community. >> yeah. i heard the first thing he would do is take away donald trump's twitter account. that would never happen, but it is good advice. this has turned into -- we saw this in the wake of the james comey firing and this has turned into a personal grievance settling. this is how donald trump who we know is unhappy with his communications staff, this is how he vents. this is how he gets what he believes to be his side of the story out. again, i think he winds up doing himself a little more harm than good when you have h.r. mcmaster and you have a number of people come out, secretary tillerson

and say this is false. which i worked by greg. they don't get this stuff wrong. when you come out and say this is false and then on twitter the next morning say, yeah, i mean, it's true, but i have the right to do it and i did it on purpose. those aren't the same thing. i don't know if he knows how much he undermines or cares how much he undermines his staff doing it. but that's exactly what he's doing. >> right. >> not to mention, what he's undermining in terms of our relationships over seas. he wrote in that tweet, i have the right to do it. and he wrote, yes, he can declassify material at his discretion, but he doesn't have the right to violate an agreement that we have a third party nation in the region, who is providing us intelligence almost on a real-time basis. you don't have the right to just do that whenever you want. >> who does it hurt when you do

that? >> first of all, as john is saying there, it hurt it is relationship. the u.s. shares intelligence with loads of folks and has intelligence shared with others. some are obvious. the u.k. france, germany, japan. but the u.s. also shares with partners that aren't comfortable with that kind of relationship, that aren't quite in the ally category. that's the nature of intelligence sharing. so you have to respect those relationships as you are doing this. and the other point is that, yes, the president can declassify anything, but i have been told by a number of folks in the intelligence community this is not something you do willy nilly. you don't make up and tweet out something because i'm president. there is a process to it. the example was president region declassified intelligence that the russians shot down that airliner. there was a process.

he spoke to his advisors. it made strategic sense. he did it. >> that's why chris cillizza, i can hear your grandmother saying to you, don't say anything about trump getting off twitter. because what a gift to journalism and the american people it is because otherwise we would have had the cur kirbyd the world and the professionals getting out a message spin us away. the truth is very often, news is very often what the powerful want to keep hidden. this is a gift. donald trump goes against what h.r. mcmaster said in my reckoning. certainly goes against what he had rosenstein put in his memo and he gives you what his intentions really are and isn't that invaluable to journalism. >> yes, absolutely. i would say from a political

advice perspective, leon is right. i encourage the president to continue his active tweeting. the one thing i would say is it does incap sue late the trump. on the one hand, this is someone who has at best a casual relationship with the truth. been demonstrated in the campaign and the white house. and yet he also had an odd sort of at times transparency to him. he is sort of honest about it. yeah, i fired comey. well, the russia thing. it's terrible to be on staff for donald trump. but he does have this honesty that you're right, chris, most politicians don't exhibit. at the same time, though, let's not forget, fact checkers found two-thirds of the things they factored in the 2016 campaign that donald trump said to be totally false. he repeats falsehoods.

the inauguration crowd was the biggest every. >> at least you get the opportunity. >> go ahead, chris. >> i think that if you had to gauge twitter, it's been far more of a blessing for journalists in this white house and this campaign than it has been hurtful. i think if you are a republican and you make up this morning and you see, you know, tweet one of seven from donald trump, you have to think, this may not ever turn around in any meaningful way, that his transparency at times is damaging. good for journalism. bat f bad for the republican party. >> jim, i know you want to jump in. i just want you to respond to a number of viewers here. if you missed chris's interview, it was a very important one to

hear. and here is part of it talking about the security of our nation. >> sure. obviously presidents can do whatever they want. but what is the damage from that? the damage is that this country may cutoff any kind of intelligence related to the united states on very sensitive issues that relate to the national security of this country. that's the damage that can be done here. and the president needs to understand that. this is not just a joke. this is very serious business that relates to the security of this country. >> jim sciutto. >> it is the conflict between what serves the president in the moment, in that room. he showed to the russians that he's cooperating with them. maybe the washington post he wanted to show the kind of information he's getting as president versus as leon panetta was saying the relationship with this ally versus lives. that's the concern from the

intelligence community, is that he revealed too much and, therefore, risks not just the partnership, but the people on the ground who are facing great risk to gain this intelligence. >> jim sciutto thank you for the reporting. i know you are working around the clock for it. thank you all very much. we appreciate it. ahead for us, how do members of the president's own party feel about this intel disclosure? as we said, ben sasse will join us next on all of it. we're on to you, diabetes. time's up, insufficient prenatal care. and administrative paperwork... your days of drowning people are numbered. same goes for you, budget overruns. and rising costs, wipe that smile off your face. we're coming for you, too. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done.

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president trump defending why he disclosed highly confidential information. his actions not illegal but there could be ramifications. joining us now ben sasse of nebraska. good to have you, sir. >> good morning, chris. >> so important enough. let's spent a block talking about the news and then we'll take a break and talk about the book, good? >> fair enough. >> so the president is once again providing the pathway to our understanding on something. the white house came out with a quick response in the form of general mcmaster. he said story is false that you heard. president didn't reveal any sources, methods or any military operations that weren't already public. now, that's not what the

washington post reporting was about. it was about what the president may have given in detail that could allow the russians to deconstruct and find out where it might have come from. but then the president this morning doesn't follow mcmaster. he takes his own path, which is much closer to the reporting. he said i wanted to share with russia at an openly scheduled white house meeting. remember, the u.s. media was not invited to that. i have the absolute right to do, he says. facts pertaining to terror itch and airline flight safety. plus i want russia to step up their fight against isis and terrorism. i have been asking director comey to find the leakers in the intelligence community. thank god for those leakers, senator ben sasse, otherwise we might not have known about this, the same way we might not have known what was going on with

general flynn. >> i don't know what happened in the meeting and i haven't been in a classified skiff yet. i'll be in the bunker later this afternoon and hopefully i'll know more then. first, when we're talking about sources and methods, why is that important? the american people need to understand if this is something that could lead to the discovery of our sources is such a big deal because sources and methods are the life blood of the intelligence community. the world is a dangerous and broken place and we need spies out there. and these men and women are in the shadows. we don't get to celebrate them the same way we celebrate troops. we need the american people to understand why it is so important. number two, you draw an importance distinction between imprudent and illegality. but the president is the ultimate declass fier in our system. so when media jumps to the line of saying something is illegal, it inoculating people against

the full story. the real story is what's prow dent and imprudent. and third it doesn't help this is with russia. putin is a bad guy. he wants to fracture nato. he's an enemy of free speech. it's not help this happened. but again particulars about the meeting, we don't know all that much yet. >> but you can. it is interesting. speaker ryan put out a terse statement. the first line was we have no way of knowing what was said. that's probably not true, right? because we do know there are reports and transcripts of meeting like this and there were efforts reportedly from the white house to get the information that the president had given to the russians out of those transcripts of what transpired during the meeting so it wouldn't be exposed. is it time for the speaker to not stand back as he seems to like to do and say this president tweets what he tweets. he says what he says.

i'm not here to defend that. isn't leadership about standing up and talking about the checks and balances of how we govern our people. >> it is an important part of our system. and right now we have too many people that feel like our partisan labels is somehow a fundamental part of people's identity. that's not the oath of office i took. i'm one of the most conservative guys on the voting record but i don't start by saying either of these parties are interesting or impressive. i worry about the station chief of different cia installations around the world and at those stations, you want your station chief, you want him to be able to tell those assets a couple of things. one, your work is so important that it is worth you risking your life over because decision makers back in washington need to understand the intel you are going to deliver. and number two, we will protect you. we are concerned about your life and your wife and kids and husband back home.

it is important why we understand why leaks are dangerous because we want those people out in the field that are our assets or our ally's assets to know what they're doing is going to be protected. >> nitpicking or are you seeing a pattern in the behavior of the president and the white house that should be a legitimate cause of concern? >> you know, tweet storms is not a sustainable strategy and the president has picked a lot of good people. they are smart people and honorable people in this president's white house and they have a really, really hard job because it feels like kiddy soccer most guys. people are following one frenzy to the next. i would love it if all of our political leaders, both parties, were thinking five and ten years in the future. are we going to have done things that restore public trust or are we going to have further eroded both of these parties contribute to inoculating the american

people against lying and it creates a shirts and skins exercise. >> the truth starts at the top and that was a point that leon panetta made in our interview this morning. take a quick listen to this. >> the president of the united states cannot just do or say or speak whatever the hell he wants. that's just irresponsible. and, so, you need to have some people that sit down with the president before he goes into a meeting and say these are the lines you cannot cross because it relates to the security of our country. >> your take? >> that's well said. i mean, i'm one of the most conservative people in the u.s. senate. but the guy who is the author of the famous quote attributed to lots of people said you can have your own opinion, but you can't have your own facts. we need shared facts in this

country and right now more and more of us are getting our news and media in a way that creates silos and echo chambers around the world so we only have to listen to people with agree with us and that's not healthy. >> part of this is political. part of it is cultural. and you have win a provocative book and who we are and who we are no longer. do you want to talk about that book? let's take a quick break. thank you for being here. we are going to have more with senator ben sasse. he says there is a new threat to the american way of life. it has to do with your kids. see that book on your screen? a worthy read. we're going to talk about it next. the whisperer? why do they call him the whisperer? he talks to planes. he talks to planes. watch this. hey watson, what's avionics telling you? maintenance records and performance data suggest replacing capacitor c4. not bad. what's with the coffee maker?

sorry. we are not on speaking terms. their leadership is instinctive. what's with the coffee maker? they're experts in things you haven't heard of. researchers of technologies that one day you will. some call them the best of the best. some call them veterans. we call them our team.

all right. now so many of you reach out and talk about who we are as a people and what are our values. we got a great guest for you on that. republican senator ben sasse has a new book out called the vanishing american adult, our coming of age crisis and how to rebuild a culture of self-worth. the senator is here right now. what is the sell on the book? if you are a parent or if you are an american and you have your concerns, why is this the

read? >> more and more of our kids are stuck in perpetual add less sad sans. scar tissue is the foundation of future character. they can persevere, but we need to tell them that's a good thing. >> what do we hear all the time? this is what all you parents always complain about with your kids. it has also been like that for every generation. then you'll hear, well, no, not like this. every kid get astro s a every kid get astro s trophy a being america means whatever you want it to mean. what are your concerns with those? >> well said. first of all, there is no old man get off my lawn screaming on this book. it is one-third cultural analysis and two-thirds constructive. what's different is that our kids live at the richest time in the richest place in the richest nation in human history.

even our poor and working class folkings still have extraordinary material. o we are not helping them distinguish between needs and wants. ultimately, there can be a cotton candy effect. and we near not distinguishing these production and consumption, which gets at this exposure to work. hard work makes you an adult. this isn't beating up millennials. this is more on us than them. >> so from conceptual to practical, what are you seeing out there that you want addressed? >> yeah. when i travel nebraska, it is amazing how often people don't want to talk politics and policy. they want to talk our kids and parenting. they want to talk local community. i commute every week. i am one of five senators never been a politicians before.

my kids range from 6 to 15 and we bring somebody with me back and forth to d.c. every week. i tweet about being a dad and educating my kids on the road and they want to talk about that to see how can their kids get tough work experiences. as i travel, people would say, how can my kids suffer, too? we want to toughen them up. >> trying to get my kids to clean their room. so when people come to you with a cultural dilemma and say we're not who we were anymore sasse. i don't like this idea of it's okay to love whoever you want and be whatever gender that you want to be and go wherever you want, that's not who we are and i don't like it. what is the line between conserving a core value? >> i think we're doing two

things at once and it leaves people really lonely and hallow. we're hallowing out local community and family and media institutions and we're politicizing our national conversation. most of what draws us together as a people is not fundamentally politically or governmental. government exists to provide a frame work, but people should be pursuing the good, the true and the beautiful and loving their neighbors and serving their kids and trying to have a call that's meaningful in ways that are local. and people feel detached from that. we need to celebrate together again our shared civic understanding of america as a place that believes in free speech, press, religion, assembly, protest, the right of redress and grievances and building better mouse traps and building the rotary club and the pta. and people feel there is no venue for that local dinner time anymore. >> something you want more of in

a daily existence level and something you want less of. >> i want more of our kids actually learning to kid. becoming addicted to the habit of knowledge acquisition. want them to travel, work hard. i want them to go to an actual mountain. not just see the top of a mountain on their friends' instagram. economic opportunities are going to go up, up in the world. but we don't want our kids to believe that sedentary, inside on a mobile device more than half of their waking hours is going to fulfill them. it is like cotton candy. but two and seven hours later, i feel hung over from that. we want them to go and actually conquer the world. >> when are you coming to my house to tell my kids they get to get off their butts. >> let's tell our kids to go back to the ranch and deliver some baby cows. >> the book, ben sasse, the

vanishing american adult. it is out today. find it at your leisure. >> it is great advice, even for my one year old. coming up for us, the trump administration is trying, trying to tackle the president's agenda, namely where do all those promises stand, like tax reform? remember that? we asked people to write down the things they love to do most on these balloons. travel with my daughter. roller derby. ♪ now give up half of 'em.

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welcome back to "new day" the president is tweeting, but it is not about his policy agenda. top administration officials are headed to capitol hill to talk about one thing that corporate america cares a lot about. chief business correspondent with more. >> it's the news wall treat has been waiting on, tax reform. chief economic advisor will huddle wednesday with moderate republicans to talk tax cuts. that's the first hearing on reform. this group will be crucial in passing any tax package. trump campaigned for the working class, but the promise of tax

cuts has enriched the investor class. the trump rally has slowed lately, but stocks are on rise. helped by the best earnings system of 2011. ford will cut 20,000 jobs. ford cutting costs after 35% last quarter signed the post recession boom is cooling a bit, chris. >> the big demand. when will those wages start to rise in a real way? thank you as always. former acting attorney general sally yates speaking out to anderson cooper. what did she say about her firing and the resignation of general michael flynn? anderson joins us next. >> cnn money now brought to you by fast signs. more than fast. more than signs.

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>> the underlying conduct itself was potentially a fireable offense. >> i can't speak to a fireable offense. it was up to the president to make that decision about what he was going to do. but we certainly felt like they needed to act. >> he asked you at that first meeting whether or not you thought that the national security advisor should be fired. what did you say? >> i told him it wasn't our call. >> was the underlying conduct illegal? was illegality involved. >> there was a criminl statute implicated by his conduct. >> you wanted the white house to act? >> absolutely, yes. >> we expected the white house to act. >> did you expect them to act quickly? >> yes. >> there was urgency to the information. >> yes. >> i'm just wondering on a personal level and i don't know if you can answer this or not, but, you know, you were in government one week. you get fired and now you are out and you are watching day after day after day go by and nothing seems to have happened

to the national security advisor that you have informed the white house about. just as a private citizen at that point, did it concern you? >> well, sure. i was concerned about it. but i didn't know if perhaps something else had been done that maybe i just wasn't aware of. >> maybe that they were keeping them away from certain classified information while they were investigating, something like that? >> maybe. i just didn't have any way of knowing what was going on at that point. >> were you aware that he sat in on a phone call with russia's president? did you find that surprising? >> well, sure. absolutely that was surprising. >> sean spicer said on the day after michael flynn resigned that it was a trust issue that led to his resignation, not a legal issue. do you agree there was no legal issue with flynn's underlying behavior? >> i don't know how the white house reached the conclusion that there was no legal issue. it certainly wasn't from my

discussion with them. >> do you think michael flynn should have been fired? >> i think that this was a serious compromise situation that the russians had real leverage. he also had lied to the vice president of the united states. you know, whether he's fired or not is a decision for the president of the united states to make. but it doesn't seem like that's a person who should be sitting in the national security advisor position. >> did you leak to the washington post? >> absolutely not. >> did you authorize somebody to leak to the washington post. >> i did not and i would not leak classified information. >> have you ever leaked information to them? >> no. >> the president seems to suggest that you were behind this washington post article. the morning before you testified he tweeted ask sally yates under oath if she knows how classified information got to papers soon after she explained it to white

house council. he seems to believe that you're the leaker. does that -- when you heard that, what did you think? >> there have been a number of tweets that have given me pause. >> you want to elaborate on that? >> no. >> anderson cooper joins us now. we seem to be in this cycle of here is what the white house says. here is what we have to report may or may not be true. that's what this interview is all about. what was your take-away? >> i think she clearly wants to get her voice out there. i think it is very strange for her after having a 27 year career to have her career defined by the last, you know, several days. that's how people know who sally yates is and she's had this extraordinary career before that. i think clearly she wants to --

she was thinking about her next act and what is going to be. there is rumors about an interest in politics. she denies that at this point. but i think she wants her voice out there. >> this is someone who has served under republican and democratic administrations. she's been lambasted in the past by democrats as well. she's had criticism from both parties. did she address, you know, the white house line that basically she was a democratic hack? >> absolutely. i put to her specific quotes here. the white house put out this lengthy position paper on her, going after her the day after she was fired. i put a lot of criticisms to her directly to give her the opportunity to respond, which is really the first time she has been able to do that. it is also the only television interview she is going to be doing. she is going to be doing an interview with the "new yorker" magazine. but i think she -- you know, when we've seen her testify in front of the senate, you know,

that's a very limited kind of interviewing process. and, so, i think this allows -- i think you get a great essence of who she is as a person. >> couple things. was your take-away that what the white house says about a head's up and the president saying didn't seem like something that was supposed to be acted on right away, in wa-- >> clearly, the idea this is a head's up is something she denies out right. she never used the term head's up. she was saying, look, when you -- it is a very unusual situation when you have the acting attorney general calling up the white house saying i have to talk to you today about something so serious we can't talk about on the phone. and then to go back the next day, have that same meeting again. another thing that we talked about is if she hadn't been fired, i asked her, there were 18 days before general flynn was

fired. i asked her if she was still the acting attorney general would she have done more had she seen the white house not moving. she said absolutely. >> it wasn't just one conversation. this was three separate conversations with white house counsel and then 18 days go by and nothing. and would anything have happened if the washington post story didn't come out? i don't know. >> she is very careful in what she says. you know, she clearly doesn't want to set this up as a battle between her and president trump. i mean, she is a career -- career attorney for the department of justice. and she takes that role very seriously. so she's very careful about -- she doesn't seem like she's trying to set herself up as a partisan going after the president. >> yeah. she sounded like she expected they were going to let him go. she expected actions. >> i think clearly she expected action sooner.

she considered this a very serious incident. not only the underlying conduct. that's the term she always uses. she can't say what the underlying conduct was. but you can surmise from the fact that the vice president was lied to about it that it was the russian ambassador's conversation. >> and you have this whole legal battle going on with the executive order that she helped precipitate. anderson, thanks for coming through this morning for us. >> look forward to seeing the whole interview. you will see it tonight. news room continues after this. their experience is coveted.

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whfight back fastts, with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum -tum -tum -tum smoothies! only from tums this is cnn breaking news. >> good morning, everyone. i'm john berman. oh, to be a fly on the wall when the president is being briefed with the country's most precious secrets. oh, to be that fly or a senior russian official connected because then the president might just tell you some of those secrets anyway. that is what is being reported this morning, that the president shared highly classified information in a meeting with the russian foreign minister and ambassador about isis and new this morning, the president is not exactly denying it. he wrote as president i wanted to share with russia at an openly scheduled white house meeting, which i have the absolute right to do facts pertaining to terrorism and airline fligh