starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. who are all these caretakers, advocates too? turns out, it's californians it's me and it's you. don't stop now, it's easy to add to the routine. join energy upgrade california and do your thing. we're following breaking news out of orlando, florida. you are looking at live pictures from the main airport. police responding to reports of an armed man at the rental car area. police activity has been heavy at type times. breaking news in the white house central probe. sean spicer gives his first news conference back home and makes news on many fronts. new reporting on intelligence

intercepts could shed new light on what moscow believed they had on the man that would become president. first sarah murray at the white house. >> reporter: as the trump administration struggles to find its footing amid controversy, a senior official is stepping aside. the communication director submitted his resignation. his upcoming departure comes as speculation about a broader staff shakeup reaches a fever pitch. >> thanks for having me back. >> reporter: david bossy is playing coy about whether he may be headed to the west wing. >> i'm not going to say that there's -- something is sitting on table for me to pick. it's an ongoing conversation. >> reporter: as jared kushner faces scrutiny in the russia probe, sources tell cnn he isn't going anywhere. for now, sean spicer's job is also safe. the press secretary reemerged in

front of the camera for the daily briefing today. his first since mid may. insisted the president's priorities are on track. >> the president's legislative agenda is in full swing. >> reporter: in a chaotic west wing, crisis management is putting the brakes on the agenda. trump venting on twitter said, the u.s. senate should switch to 51 votes immediately and get health care and tax cuts approved fast and easy. dems would do it, no doubt. both of those irs are slated to move through a process that only requires 51 votes. the biggest problem has been getting republicans on the same page. meanwhile, the president isn't making key decisions that lie within his control. he hasn't named a new fbi director, though he is interviewing two candidates today. he hasn't made a decision about whether to send additional troops to afghanistan. he hasn't announced whether the u.s. will remain in the paris climate accord. fresh on the heels of a trip to nato and g7 where trump privately criticized german

officials, trump took his scold to public. we have a massive trade deficit with germany, plus they pay less than they should on nato and military. very bad for u.s. this will change. >> sarah murray joins us from the white house. the news about michael flynn, what else do we know? >> reporter: we know that michael flynn, who is the ousted national security director, has been a central figure in this probe into the russia investigation. now we're being told from a source close to michael flynn that he is going to hand over a batch of documents, some of these related to his businesses, some personal documents, to the senate intelligence committee all to help them move along in the russia investigation. the first batch of these documents will be due januaryun. this is in response to subpoenaed frsubpoena subpoenas. flynn is one of the figures who

is close to president trump who is being tapped in this russia investigation. >> sarah murray, thanks very much. more now on what russians may have believed they had on the president and people close to him. it's a potentially explosive story. it comes with reasons to be cautious about what we're reporting and what we are not reporting. with that in mind, jim sciutto joins us. >> reporter: two former intelligence officials and a congressional source tell cnn that russian government officials discussed having derogatory information about then presidential candidate donald trump as well as some of his top aides. this in conversations intercepted by u.s. intelligence during the 2016 election. one source described the information as financial in nature and said the discussions centered around whether the russians had leverage within trump's inner circle. the source says the communications suggested to u.s. intelligence that russians believed, quote, they had the ability to influence the

administration through this derogatory information. now, the sources do caution that the russian claims to each other could have been exaggerated. they could have been made up. but they are listening to them and this is part of the bigger picture they're investigating now. >> do we know which trump aitd ? >> beyond president trump, none of the sources would say which specific aides were discussed. one said the report masked the american names as it would do when you have u.s. individuals caught up in collection like this. it was clear these officials told us that the conversations revolved around the trump campaign team. another source would not give more specifics, rather citing the classified nature of the information involved. >> what's the white house saying about this in. >> the white house gave us a comment tonight. they are reacting strongly. here it is quoting, this is yet another round of false and unverified claims made by anonymous sources to smear the president. the reality is a review of the president's income from the last ten years showed he had

virtually no financial ties at all. there appears to be no limit to which the president's political opponents will go to perpetuate. the statement went on including illegally leaking classified material. all this does is put the country at risk. one final note, i should note that by the time trump took office, questions about some of his aides' financial dealings with russian entities were already under investigation. >> jim sciutto, appreciate that. sara murray touched on michael flynn, agreeing to turn over documents. lawmakers want information from two other campaign associates. cohen declined the request. there's a late new development. gloria borger got off the phone with him. what did he say? >> he said he has not been surpri subpoenaed to testify as has

been reported by another news organization. he made that very clear. he said, if i am subpoenaed to testify, i will comply and gladly, he said, as i have nothing to hide. there is no shred of evidence that implicates me. he is very strong here. he says the reason he didn't want to comply with the committee's request earlier as he told me it was poorly phrased, overly broad and not really capable of being answered. you have had flynn, for example, who said the request was too broad. so what they are trying to do is get these requests narrowed down. >> epstein has been contacted by congressional investigators for information. >> right. it's a voluntary request, as was michael cohen. his attorney said it was broad and it was a broad preliminary request. they said not that they wouldn't

comply but they said they reached out to the committee and asked follow-up questions and are awaiting to hear the response. obviously, these things have gone out, anderson. some say michael cohen said it was a fishing expedition. i think that's the way it's being received. if these requests can be narrowed, then perhaps you can avoid a subpoena. >> just to reiterate, michael cohen, the latest is that he says he would cooperate as long as it's more specific? >> well, and he -- also, the important thing is he says he hasn't been subpoenaed. if he is subpoenaed, that he would comply because he has nothing to hide. >> gloria, thanks very much. i want to update you on the information we're getting out of orlando. police are saying there's no active shooter, no shots fired. suspect is contained. that's the latest there. coming up next, conflicting stories about why jared kushner was meeting with a russian banker with a shadowy past.

we will try to focus on the facts, what we know, what we don't know. later, what's going on between the president and angela merkel, from berlin, it sounds like a key alliance is under pressure. from washington, they say it's all good. we will take a closer look. what do you have there? p3 it's meat, cheese and nuts. i keep my protein interesting. oh yea, me too. i have cheese and uh these herbs. p3 snacks. the more interesting way to get your protein.

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shortly after jared kushner met with kislyak about setting up some kind of secret direct line for some reason to moscow, he met with another shadowy russian figure.

as you know, he's a banker, a putin confidant, a graduate of a spy school. he said it was about meeting, the bank's meeting and that of jared kushner and other entrepreneurs. yesterday the white house said kushner was acting in his capacity as a transition official. there's a third possibility related to the meeting earlier in december on the so-called back channel. randi kaye tonight has more. >> reporter: this is the man jared kushner met with in december 2016, just a month after kushner's father-in-law donald trump was elected president. he is a russian banker. the chairman of veb bank. he also has ties to vladimir putin, who appointed him to head the bank. what exactly was discussed between kushner and the banker last year remains a mystery. keep in mind, as an ally of putin, he reportedly may have been using the meeting to help establish a direct line to the

russian president outside the usual diplomatic channels. >> i don't think it's standard procedure prior to the inauguration of a president of the united states by someone who is not in an appointed position. >> reporter: jared kushner has offered to answer the senate intelligence committee's questions about not only this meeting but another meeting he had with russian ambassador kislyak that same month. it was kislyak who had suggested kushner meet with the russian banker. the fact that kushner didn't mention either meeting on his white house security clearance forms may also be a topic of inquiry. he did rectify that quickly. there's also the concern that the russian bank has been under u.s. sanctions for the last three years. also, when kushner met with the banker, he was still ceo of kushner companies and correctics request whether he was looking for financing for a pricey manhattan real estate project. the white house has said there was no discussion at the meeting about kushner's company or about sanctions. the meeting itself didn't

violate u.s. sanctions. but investigators will want to know what was said. >> my dashboard warning light was clearly on and i think that was the case with all of us in the intelligence community, very concerned about the nature of these approaches to the russians. >> reporter: seems that jared kushner, who rarely speaks beyond a whisper in the president's ear, may soon be called on to do a whole lot of talking. randi kaye, cnn, new york. more now on what this adds up to. how to make sense of the flood of information that seems to grow. for that we're glad to turn to general hayden. why would someone like kushner need a direct line to putin if that's what he was looking for or the president was looking for? why would he be talking to a banker with the kind of

background that he has? >> well, the published story, anderson, is that kislyak recommended that he talk to him, which might have been kislyak's way of doing what the trump team wanted, which was to establish this back channel to president putin. to answer your question, why would they want to do that while we were in a transition, why would they want to do that while the then president obama was coming up on a serious discussion with regard to sanctions against this same vladimir putin and the russian federation, i just can't explain that. that's why this is a controversial thing. back channels is back channels. fine. i have been a back channel for president bush. doing it this way with this actor while you weren't in government, that's why all the questions. >> sean spicer was asked about this today. he said in general terms, back channels are an appropriate part of diplomacy. to be clear, you talked about you had been a back channel.

is that how this was being used? >> well, i would not define this as a back channel. a back channel is something that governments do for below the radar conversation so that you can get some things accomplished that might be more difficult to accomplish should the channel be exposed, be made public. anderson, i flew into islamabad to confer with the president. we went in secretly. we left secretly. president bush wanted us to share a certain message. this is what governments do. that's fine. you have good people in the administration, secretary kelly, secretary mattis, h.r. mcmaster, defending back channels. i agree. but i don't think that's exactly what this was. >> does this just seem amateur to you? >> one of the background realities in which this took

place was an administration that was refusing assistance from the professionals inside the united states government, because they were so suspicious of them. and frankly, had a bit of contempt with the administration they were replacing. they refused state department help to actually set up the calls with foreign leaders, to suggest what the foreign leaders might want to bring up with the president-elect, not controlling the president-elect, trying to help him. the administration in waiting pushed the assistance reporting russians believe they had the ability to influence the administration through derogatory information, that might have been financial in nature. there's the possibility that the russians were exaggerated. however the sources discovered this, that it was russians making themselves more important than they were or just lying to each other. if it's true, how critical would it be to the investigation finding out what exactly that information is? >> well, i mean, if it's true,

the investigation would really need to know that, because it depends exactly on the investigation, too. you got the fbi investigation, which is about criminality. but you have also got what's going on on the hill from the two intelligence communities -- two intelligence committees. that is designed to get the story. what's going on? what did the russians do? what expectations did they have? in both cases, you would want to know. let me make a comment on that report which actually began, according to an intercepted communication between two russians, as a former director of nsa that's already bad, having that out there in the public domain. that is actually harmful. therefore, i do agree with the administration that an awful lot of the information out there is hurtful of american intelligence. one more point, anderson, with regard to signals intelligence, which is what this is alleged to be. those of us in the business know

that you live by it, die by it. it gives you great intelligence. but often or sometimes at least you have got people trying to mislead. sometimes you just intercept a conversation between two people who really don't know what they're talking about. you need to be careful with intercepted communications before you draw firm absolute conclusion. >> good to talk to you. thank you. >> thank you. coming up, the white house says president trump would describe his relationship with angela merkel as unbelievable. there have been statements and tweets that some of the president's critics find kind of unbl unbelievable. that's next. i guess i was born with a crayon in my hand.

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very bad for u.s. this will change. sean spicer was asked about the state of the relationship. here is what he said. >> i think the relationship that the president has had with merkel he would describe as fairly unbelievable. they get along very well. he has a lot of respect for her. they continue to grow the bond that they had during their talks in the g7. >> unbelievable. also, spicer said the president's trip was incredible, historic and unprecedented and quoted people who praised him. >> prime minister netanyahu said, for the first time in my life i see real hope for change. one of the israel correspondent wrote, trump carried out a semi-revolution. >> was the trip a revolution, a show of bad manners or both? michelle kosinski has more. rr

. >> reporter: donald trump seemed to want to stand apart shoving to the front the fierce handshakes, the stunning reprimand of allies and what was supposed to be a big moment of support. >> 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying. >> reporter: in italy, he was the only g7 leader not to endorse the paris climate agreement. while they walked in agroup to take a photo, he chose to ride alone in a golf cart. as trump continues to criticize germany's trade practices, its foreign minister didn't hold back saying flat out that trump's policies put europe at risk, calling it short sighted, a new american isolationism. >> this is a crisis of sorts in the trans-atlantic relationship. these are our best friends in the world. there's a major difference of opinion on trade. there's a major difference of opinion on how to handle russia. we never had an american president who was so weak, frankly, and dismissive of the

big institutions that have binded us to europe. >> reporter: it was the new french president who called on putin to his face for spreading fake news, trying to influence his election. in asia, with the u.s. scrapping the huge trading block that would have been the trans-pacific partnership as well as slashing the state department budget and foreign aid, china has been work on big deals and is trying to expand its soft power and influence around the world. russia is also looking for inroads. if the u.s. does step away from its push against climate change, that leaves room for others to lead. >> i think this could do more to diminish american credibility and influence and leadership in the world than any other issue, because outside the united states, this is a number one first order issue. >> reporter: there is concern among allies over what the u.s. will stand for. will it be as strong a voice for

moo h human rights and democracy. europe stating the dynamic of leadership and partnership is changing. michelle kosinski, cnn, the state department. joining me are fareed zakaria and richard haas and author of a world in disarray, american foreign policy and the crisis of the old order. what does president trump achieve by saying the things he said about angela merkel? >> a lot of the behavior toward nato strikes me as not strategic. trump has nursed these grievances since the 1980s. if you look at trump's writings, the few things he talked about, he thought that the -- he wanted to be protectionist. the japanese were ripping us off. later the chinese. the second was that our nato allies have been ripping us off, not paying their fair share. this feels as though toes a long

held grievance that he can't stop himself from constantly expressing. even though it serves no real purpose. it doesn't help the united states. it doesn't help our strategy. it makes the west look divided. it invites people like putin to try to further divide it. i don't think he is thinking it through. i think this is emotional reflex more than foreign policy. >> ambassador, you tweeted about this this morning saying the president's anti-german rhetoric is short sighted mrit eed polid wrong he can no, ma economicall. >> it drives a wedge between united states and the europe. that may not be all that much of a problem so long as you have people like angela merkel running germany. the day will come when we will have somebody very different. now or then it provides all sorts of opportunities for russian mischief making. i just don't understand what's

behind it. economically, the president seems all but obsessed over trade imbalances. somehow assumes a trade deficit is a sign of american weakness or that others are taking advantage of us. it's the argument that isn't justified by rude men teary economics. >> he said the relationship is with angela merkel is unbelievable. had he been trying to further russia's cause, there's not much more he could have done on this trip. >> absolutely. in general, you almost say to yourself, what is the script that vladimir putin would want to write? it would be the president of the united states would go to nato, refuse to affirm article 5, the one for all, all for one declaration of security, have bad -- push the prime minister

out of his, have bad relations with the germans. you couldn't have scripted something to look worse for nato, worse for the west. what's most interesting is you are beginning to see other countries, particularly germany and france, start to say, we are going to affirm the international order, we will strengthen the west. it's almost as though the position of leader of the western world has fallen vacant and president macron of france is stepping in to fill that role. >> can't you make the argument that that's what then candidate donald trump ran on, that america first, he doesn't want to be the world's policeman, he doesn't see the same role for the united states globally that past presidents have. >> the problem with transferring leadership to places like france and germany is even if they doubled what they spent on defense, they don't have the capacity or domestic politics to play a leadership role around

the world. again, i just don't see the strategic purpose. also, what we spend on defense is not something that somehow is only a negative, is only a cost. it totally rebounds to our benefit in terms of the security and stability that we tend to develop around the world. i think fareed a few minutes ago called it a grievance. it's a world view in which trade and which foreign policy effort is only seen as a negative rather than being seen as a positive. >> where does this go? in terms of relations with france, with germany. >> with donald trump, let's be honest, you never know what the next week will bring. if this persists, it's a very serious shift. because what it really represents is that the united states that has built, sustain and nurtured this international order, the western world, he has

decided to back off. so what you are going to see is countries like germany and chancellor merkel was clear, we're going to step up. macron talked about he is confronting russia on the cyberattacks in a way that the united states president refuses to do. >> fareed, ambassador, thank you so much. >> thank you. just ahead, we have confirmed president trump's personal attorney michael cohen saying he will testify before congress if he is subpoenaed. his path to the russia appropriate and his loyalty to donald trump in a moment. ♪ ♪

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a little thing there. starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. who are all these caretakers, advocates too? turns out, it's californians it's me and it's you. don't stop now, it's easy to add to the routine. join energy upgrade california and do your thing. as we said, congressional investigators have asked michael cohen to turn over documents related to potential contacts with russia. they have asked him to testify before congress. as gloria borger reported, he said he will testify if he is subpoenaed, even though he says there's no evidence against him. he is a fierce defender of president trump. he was known for his aggressive style. tom foreman tonight has more. >> reporter: a total fishing

expedition, that's how the president's attorney michael cohen described a congressional request for him to testify in the russian probe. rejecting it outright. it was just as quickly renewed with force. >> in all likelihood, there will be subpoenas issued which he will be compelled to respond to. >> reporter: no confirmation from the committee on that. but even in the hot seat, cohen's response is typically come on his own fierce terms. listen to him insisting trump never disparaged mexican immigrants. >> it was wrong. you haven't admitted that. >> i will not. >> reporter: for years he has served as one of donald trump's personal attorneys. he has fought accusations against trump university and claims of sexual impropriety against trump. he has been a relentless defender of his client's political positions. >> wheththere's really two part. the first is the media and the second is the voter fraud. >> reporter: in 1999, trump was

in favor of abortion rights. >> i'm very pro choice. >> reporter: when i later flip-flopped ahead of the 2012 race, cohen told the national journal, people change their positions all the time, the way they change their wives. when asked about polls months before the 2016 vote, which widely showed hillary clinton ahead, cohen's combative side came out fast. >> you are down. it may -- >> says who? >> polls. most of them. all of them. >> says who? >> polls. i just told you. i answered your question. >> which polls? >> all of them. >> okay. your question is? >> reporter: he says the investigation into any possible link between the trump team and russians are utterly without evidence. while he is not rushing to explain anything to congress, he is calling the congressional probes a rush to judgment.

anderson? >> lots to discuss with the panel. so michael cohen has said he wouldn't comply. he said now he will comply if there is a subpoena. he says that there is no there there. >> that's my sense of it. i got a message from him earlier saying he has not been subpoenaed but if he is he will comply, quote as i have nothing to hide, unquote. he is a familiar face to most of us who cover the trump campaign. he has been an aggressive defender of the president going back to my dealings with him go back a long time, but including 2011 when trump was first thinking of running for president. he has been pretty aggressive against this probe. he has been aggressive that there is no there there. i don't know expect him to go quietly into the good night. we will see. it's an interesting contrast in terms of how he is handling this. it's different than what michael flynn is doing, which is he was

subpoenaed and resisted and i think said he will comply with some documents. it's funny as we were watching that viral moment where the says who moment which a lot of people know, i'm laughing all over again watching it. it was funny. he wasn't wrong. >> right. >> exactly. >> i don't know where this ends up going. >> the polls did indicate that. but the polls were wrong. >> the polls were wrong. there's a difference between michael flynn and michael cohen. michael flynn was involved seriously in the campaign, was the national security adviser. michael cohen has been nothing throughout other than a television spokesman on occasion. the president's lawyer in his business. >> that's not true. he did some stuff on the campaign. >> what i'm saying is, the extent of his involvement here -- he is a good lawyer. he is not going to go out there and say i didn't do anything if, in fact, he did something. that's i guess -- if he had something to report.

>> matthew, how do you see this? >> i mean, i think we're in that situation where this constellation of people, this may be a fishing expedition. but i think the committees and i imagine the federal investigators are at that point where they need to start clearing things off and seeing, okay, are these people we need to continue looking at, are these people we don't? to know that we need to subpoena them, interview them. i imagine we will see more of this in the days and weeks to come. >> to the argument it's a fishing expedition, michael cohen is saying the request was so broad, it was almost impossible to comply with. >> it's not surprising coming from somebody who is an experienced lawyer to say that and one who has a reputation as being a bulldog in defense of trump. a lot of the questions surrounding all of these ties have been about the financial connections or that's always been in the background. he is someone who also presented the ukraine russia plan that was taken from the ukrainian thugs

to trump. he has had a lot of investments in ukraine and has had ties to russia through business. we won't know the answer until he participate s, the committee looks at it and reviews it. they will get to the bottom of the truth. clearly, this is part of that. >> phil, does it seem like a fishing expedition to you? >> it does. i wouldn't comply if i were him. i have attacked president trump from day one. i would do the same thing as his lawyer said. number one, from day one if you look at the congressional committees, they have been partisan. with some exceptions. you are walking into an environment where if you provide information, you are going to be attacked by democrats for siding with the president who from the democrats' perspective has sold out america. mean while, we have a parallel investigation from the fbi that could have criminal implications. why would you comply with this if you are walking into a shark tank? i would do the same thing he has done.

>> to that point, why should he comply? >> it's not partisan when it's burr and warner. it's democrats and republicans requesting information. he will make the decision about whether he will comply or not. if he has nothing to hide and they subpoena him, which they have shown they may do and they did with flynn, then it raises the question as to whether he just is looking sketchy in general. he will have to make that decision if the committee decides they're going to use that lever. >> jeff, just because there's -- the committee is run by a democrat and republican, doesn't mean it's not partisan. >> right. you got insiders there. the question i have, when the dog chases the car and catches the car, then what? as they go through these witnesses and they get somebody like michael flynn who says i didn't do anything and they find out he didn't do anything, then what are they going to? they will work their way through people that they will not have in watergate style sitting there with a smoking gun and said, yeah -- >> michael cohen. >> right.

when they get him there and they find nothing, then what? >> does it hurt the credibility of the committee if it is a fishing expedition ? >> it's too soon to say. you are going to see a lot of this. they said they will be broad in scope. it's not the first committee we have seen that is going to do a wide net, a wide net you can flip it and say it's a fishing expedition. it's not a surprise that michael cohen is asked to come in. i think i have to go back to this, my ears perked up when jeffrey said flynn, when he meant cohen. because with flynn there's a lot more to review. his behavior has been different. he is the one person who investigates just based on this early stage believe could provide them with some information. >> we will have more to talk about with the panel, including the departure of one key aide at the white house and pressure for a larger shakeup. will that fix the problem ss? think again. th?

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working on my feet all day gave me pain here. in my knees. so i stepped on this machine and got my number, which matched my dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic inserts. so i get immediate relief from my foot pain. my knee pain. find a machine at drscholls.com. the white house is facing breaking news on several fronts. this comes as word broke that michael dubke has resigned. back with the panel. you talk to a lot of sources within the white house probably and elsewhere. is there a sense that the

president needs to have a shakeup inside the white house? do they think it's working well? >> it's hard to tell on any given day. you saw the press conference today with sean spicer. that did not go well. especially on the russia stuff, on the russia front, there's this avalanche of you can't come home from europe to this kind of news and think things are going well. i mean maggie knows these guys incredibly well and i think we're all finding they're having difficulty managing this and difficulty absorbing these developments that seem to happen aev other day now. >> within the last hour said this is the personality of the president. this is how he ran his company. it's obviously a very different thing when you're the most powerful person on the planet.

what do you hear? >> i thinking there are a kuchel of things. i think there are people who are there and are in a tough spot and are there because they believe in the president and want to work for him. i think someone like hicks had essentially killed herself throughout the campaign and did a very good job for him -- and i think that there are other people -- correct, number one. and a lot of other people are there for a similar reason who dacare about the country. some people who thought being in the white house was a career enhancer and they are discovering that on any given day -- i think we can all agree sean spicer's briefing today was less than optimal. >> they said he's not going to have anather one tomorrow. >> if you're in a position of having to speak for this president, you go out knowing

within hours he's going to tweet something and that's like dancing on the head of a pin. and so sure, you can do shake ups but there aren't a whole lot of people running towards that buildings right now. because they see what has happened to their credibility. and you can change all the chairs you want but this is the president's purse nalersonality approach. >> i spoke to so many former white house chiefs of staff, all said the same thing. w you can't have all these different power centers. ears to the president at different times. it doesn't seem -- that would clearly seem to help matters, i would assume if that's something the president would tolerate. >> but there's one ingredient and that is the president. he builds the staff out from his

own personality, his way of doing things. >> for better or worse. >> and i think what president trump is discovering is he needs it to respond the way he wants it to respond which is basic impulse they all have. i remember pat buchanan was brought in for this very job and -- >> pres office. >> he was the communications director for this exact job. he did a fabulous job. but his predecessor was having problems. he knew exactly what to do. he knew regan well. they got along. the fix worked. i think what you're seeing is president trump is trying to get this in his own fashion to work the way he wants it and he probably won't stop thinkering with it until he's done. >> do staff changes matmatter? >> they can matter and they can

be moments of reset and community. our first communications director was only there for three months and a change was made. so that's not uncommon but that alone doesn't solve every problem. you need bring someone to any of those jobs that have a close relationship with the president. somebody who the president will give license and confidence to be able to do their jobs. it needs go both ways. so bringing someone new in will only make it work if he changes some of the ways he's doing business as maggie and some of the others on the panel have touched on. >> jen touched on something important which is trust. the thing i've heard inside and outside the white house is he's not generally a very trusting person and he wasn't before he was president. the leaks that have come out -- i don't love the term leak

because often times it is. but the information that has been outside of his control. he always had people sign nondisclosure agreems. he always had a sense of control over the organization he ran. he doesn't have that here. i think this has not instilled in him a sense of comfort frankly and i don't know how he gets that. >> he can't go to the boss and tell them he's off track. is that important? >> that is. there's a couple of really baks issues here. number one, how many avenues of messaging do you have? you have the bureaucrats. there are too many people with too many differences of opinion that have avenues to the president. number two let's have a reality check. the spokesman for the president of the united states haz a right

to spin for the president. you cannot walk away from europe where the european premier, angela merkel for two days running says the western alliance is at risk and have the spokesman say everything's great. you have a message that is not reality. that's the problem here, anderson. reports of a gunman at orlando international airport. details when we come back. wning. where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters? the stakes are so high, your finances, your future. how do you solve this? you don't. you partner with a firm that advises governments and the fortune 500, and, can deliver insight person to person, on what matters to you. morgan stanley.

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quick update orlando international airport is now a stand off. someone reported a man with a gun near the rental car area. negotiators now talking to him. turn things over to don lemon and cnn tonight. home alone. an angry and isolated president hunkers down as the russia investigation swirls around him. russian government officials intercepted talking about potentially derogatory information described as financial during the trump campaign acording to sources who say the russians believe they could influence the administration. meanwhile, looking at jared kushner's meeting with a banker, one with close ties to putin himself. and tame the rr turn over