>> this is cnn breaking news. hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington wherever you're watching from around the world, anxious very much for joining us. right now, you're looking at live pictures from cincinnati, ohio where president donald trump is set to speak momentarily. the trip to cincinnati is part of the president's and the white house's push to focus on increased infrastructure spending but as the president tries to focus his attention in southern ohio, most people are zeroing in on what the president left behind here in washington, d.c. before leaving the white house, president trump tweeted out the name of his nominee to become the next fbi director christopher wray. the announcement comes just one

day before former fbi director james comey testifies before the senate intelligence committee in what will be his only public comments on his firing. today, members of the senate intelligence committee had a chance to question most of the nation's top national security and law enforcement officials. the director of national intelligence dan coats, the director of the national security agency, admiral mike rogers, deputy attorney general rod rosen tine and acting fbi director andrew mccabe. the hearing was supposed to be about the foreign intelligence surveillance act but instead focused on the russia investigation extensively. the back and forth was very, very contentious at times with some of the senators bristling over the refusal of witnesses to answer direct questions pertaining to influence and pressure from the white house. here are some of the highlights from today's senate hearing starting with admiral mike rogers responding to a question about whether he had been

pressured by the white house to intervene in the russia investigation. >> to the best of my recollection, i have never been directed to do anything i believe to be illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate. >> for intelligence-related matters or any other matters that have been discussed, it is my belief that it's inappropriate for me to share that with the public. have i never been pressured. i have never felt pressure to intervenor interfere in any way with shaping intelligence in a political way or in relationship to an ongoing investigation. >> did director comey say that the president had asked for his loyalty? >> sir, i'm not going to comment on conversations the director may have had with the president. i know he's here to testify in front of you tomorrow. you'll have an opportunity to ask him those things then. >> i'm asking you, did you have that conversation with director comey.

>> i've responded that i'm not going to comment on those conversations. >> why you are not answering these questions? is there an invocation by the president of the united states of executive privilege? is there or not? >> not that i'm aware of. >> then why you are not answering. >> because i feel it is inappropriate. >> what is the legal basis for your refusal to testify to this committee. >> i'm not sure i have a legal basis. >> wow. let's bring in our senior congressional reporter man knew raj. >> you. what's the reaction at least so far to this very dramatic testimony before the senate intelligence committee? >>. >> well, democrats are not happy, wolf. they wanted to get more answers from dan coats, from mike rogers about those interactionses with president trump and they believe that some of the testimony actually contradicts their assertion they could not speak about it. there were instances in which mike rogers was discussing how he briefed the president on the russia's involvement in the elections, the intelligence surrounding that.

the question is why were you able to discuss those discussions with president trump but not the interactions whether or not president trump asked hem to back down these stories about russia collusion with the trump firms and in coats case to back down this investigation that was occurring that the fbi was launching into michael flynn. i caught up with cam ma la harris a democratic senator on this committee who had a feisty exchange with rod rosenstein during this hearing and also was cut off in her questions by chairman richard burr because he was frustrated about how she was asking questions and she said she wanted to get a direction answer from rod rosenstein about whether bob mueller, the special counsel would have full authority independence to launch an investigation to continue this investigation into the russia med ding issue and as well as any obstruction of justice that may have occurred. she was not satisfied with those answers about i can tell you, wolf, what these senators are

looking for now is this classified session that will probably take place we don't know exactly when in which presumably they would be able to lay out in more detail exactly whether or not president trump did in fact ask these officials to back down these stories about russia collusion, whether he interfered improperly in any way. those are questions that were not answered in today's hearing which is one reason you're hearing a lot of frustration on the democratic side of the aisle after this hearing today. >> there's no guarantee, manu, even in the classified closed-door session that's about to begin in an hour or so from now, that these individuals, these leaders will be able to say what they refused to say during the course of the open hearing. they both were suggesting they asked the white house counsel for some information whether or not the president was exerting executive privilege to prevent them from speaking out.

they didn't get an answer but they're waiting to get an answer presumably right now. if they don't get an answer, what are they going to say in closed-door session? >> reporter: well, wolf, actually this closed-door session will not involve these senior intelligence officials. it will involve their staff. the staff is going to discuss with staff of the senate intelligence committee that expiring statute of the foreign intelligence surveillance act, some technical questions. they're not going to get any answers today in this classified session about these conversations that occurred with president trump. they're going to have to schedule another session to get these members, get these fishes back in. we don't know when that's going to be and what they're going to say in this private session or if they'll be able to tell the public exactly what they told president trump. one thing that is raising some questions here is dan coats, the director of national intelligence saying there's no legal justification for him that he could point to about why he could not disclose those

conversations as well as none of them have been waived off by a former director bob mueller to not discuss this as part of the investigation. they just felt in the words of mike rogers that it would not be appropriate and that's what's something that some members said it doesn't matter how you feel. it matters what congress wants to hear. you're seeing tension between the executive branch and congress whether or not they can get answers. the question whether will be whether or not those answers will come in a classified session and when it will begin. >> you saw the anger from senator angus king extremely frustrated he was not getting answers. good to know these four witnesses will not be testifying behind closed doors during this classified session. i was under the impression they were sticking around for that. they'll be back. still no word from the white house whether the president would exert executive privilege to prevent them from speaking out. all right, man mew raj. >> you manu.

joining us are chief political correspondent dana bash, chief political analyst gloria borger. legal analyst michael zell din and former cia intelligence officer david priess. dana, the frustration level was intense >> and understandably so. i don't remember ever seeing anything quite like this. not that we haven't seen hearing after hearing where witnesses didn't want to or didn't feel that it was their responsibility or appropriate to give a response. but nothing at had level when it was very well-known that this is where the panel was going to be going with these two witnesses because of the reporting about the fact that the president allegedly the president of the united states asked hem to see what they could do to intervene in or stop or however it was that he apparently phrase the conversations, the russia investigation. and the fact that they were so -- there's no other way to

say that. >> how do you spell that. >> they didn't have a real answer except for it wasn't appropriate which angus, angus king was probably the strongest and the most outwardly frustrated. the independent from maine. who caucuses with the democrats. but the fact that marco rubio, the republican was one of the first ones out of the gate to say want. and to understandably parse the language about well, you said not directed. okay, but you said that what does that really mean and this isn't classified. is shows that there is bipartisan frustration and they are perplexed at whether why there weren't better answers. >> that frustration certainly came through in senator mccain's questioning, as well. >> mccain is saying i live in this orwellian world where i see this in the "washington post" today and you're not even talking to me about it and was kind of scratching his head about it look, it seemed to me there was coordination among these witnesses because they

said we received no pressure. this was the message. there was no pressure to intervene. period. and rogers was you know, almost pounded his fist on the table. you could see that he was saying look, i just want you to know, i never felt any pressure. beyond that, they all then decided that they didn't want to talk about their conversations with the president. and when angus king, i think this is what we're going to remember today is dan coats saying angus king, i'm not sure i have a legal basis for the fact that i'm not going to tell you what occurred. >> why aren't you sure. >> it's as if they just went up there today and said you know, i don't feel like it. >> let me play that exchange involving dan coats. watch this. when i was asked yesterday to respond to a piece that i was told was going to be written and printed in the "washington post" this morning, my response to that was in my time of service

which is interacting with the president of the united states or anybody in his administration, i have never been pressured. i have never felt pressure to intervenor interfere in any way and with shaping intelligence in a political way or in relationship to an ongoing investigation. >> you can clear up an awful lot up by saying it never happened. >> i do not share with the general public conversations that i had with the president or many of my colleagues within the administration that i believe are should not be shared. >> i'm not satisfied with i do not believe it is appropriate or i do not feel i should answer. i want to understand a legal basis. you swore that oath to tell us the truth. the whole truth and nothing but the truth and today, are you refusing to do so. what is the legal basis for your refusal to testify to this committee. >> i'm not sure i have a legal

basis. >> that was pretty extraordinary, michael zell din. is there a legal basis that you can see for these witnesses to refuse to answer those questions? >> sure, executive privilege. and. >> but the problem is the white house counsel has not given them an answer whether the president wants to exert executive privilege. >> that i thought was very instructive in terms of the whole way the hearing unfolded. rogers said i called the white house and i asked them, are you asserting executive privilege here. and i got no answer. and so with no answer, he doesn't really know what he can and cannot do. so he's stuck with this position of i can't tell you anything because i don't know what i can tell you. >> don't they give up the right to exert it if they don't answer the question knowing this hearing is coming. >> i think they were served badly by staff. they should have been properly prepared for the proper answers that they should give legal defense, not legal defense, executive privilege, not

executive privilege. and so i don't know how to answer that. the only thing i think is unfortunate in what they said was this characterization of their feelings. i didn't feel pressure. because from a legal standpoint, their feelings are irrelevant. the question of whether one obstructs justice is did the obstructor intend to obstruct an ongoing investigation that they were aware of, not whether you felt pressure and it doesn't even require that they intended obstructor asked for something that is categorically illegal. they didn't really address any of those questions and it left us all in this big mess that we're in. >> hold on one second. i want to go back to manu with senator ron wyden of oregon with him. go ahead manu. >> reporter: hey, wolf, thanks for senator wyden for talking to us. what was the reaction to dan coats' testimony today where he said he could not reveal these conversations had he with president trump in an open session? >> well, certainly i don't share

the view that there is some kind of sweeping executive privilege particularly on matters that the president talks about so expansively. now, with respect to director coats, i was also very troubled about what could be a matter that would concern the senate greatly. and that is on march 23rd, director coats told the armed services committee that he wasn't aware of the president or the white house contacting anyone in the intelligence community with respect to a request to drop the investigation into general flynn. your colleagues in the press have been reporting otherwise. and both accounts cannot be true. so i intend to keep digging. > he said that he would address this in a classified session. is there anything wrong with him doing this in a classified session? >> certainly he will made his comments to the armed services

committee in a public session. so you can't have it both ways. you can't make comments in a public session that you feel comfortable making because the american people should know and then when you're put on the spot about a potential conflict, then suddenly do an about face and say i can't say signature. >> reporter: if he's having these discussions with the president, isn't there a right for him to at least discuss these things privately and not be concerned that someone in congress may ask him about it and have to reveal it publicly? shouldn't he be allowed to have private conversations? >> there certainly ought to be protections for the president and his advisers to talk about matters that are classified what are called sources and methods. but when the president through tweets and a whole variety of public statements is commenting so expansively on the issues

that puts them in my view into the public squa ir. >> it was a pretty feisty exchange that you had with dan coats. have you lost any confidence in him to be as the director of national intelligence? >> what he did with respect to the matter of the foreign intelligence surveillance act is in my view a 180 degree retreat from what he had said earlier and actually what his predecessors said earlier. and it was commentary that reflects a misunderstanding of what this is about. smart policies will give us security and liberty. the two are not mutually exclusive. and somehow, director coats seems to think it's just one or the other. >> reporter: do you have full confidence in his him as the director of national intelligence. >> i'm very troubled what we heard today. i was troubled in the des crip answer in the stories with respect to michael flynn.

i was very concerned about the about face that he made with respect to law law abiding americans in a world where communications are much more globally integrated and with respect to the general proposition he wouldn't say a whole lot about anything other than his own talking points. yes, i thought those were three areas that were very troubling. > one other thing. senator warner said that he -- that the committee is aware of someone who took notes about these conversations that occurred at least between mike romgers and the president and they plan to interview that person. do you know who that person is and what do you know about these notes? >> i can't comment about committee deliberations but since i asked my first question about that, let me be very specific. it was clear that early on, the four witnesses were not going to in any way get into the content of conversations with respect to

the president. so i said, what about notes and memos and additional background information and they all said they wouldn't get into that either. that's not content. that's not apropos of your earlier conversation divulging information about what might be considered secret. that's going to the question of whether there are any records at all. so i intend to keep following up on that. >> thanks for your time. wolf, back to you. >> thanks very much, manu and thanks to senator wyden, as well. david, you're a former cia intelligence officer. i think what senator warner was referring to, the advice charl of the senate intelligence committee these reports including in the "washington post" that the president and i'm reading from the "washington post" story, the president's conversation with admiral rogers, the head of the national security agency, was documented contemporaneously in an internal memo written by a senior nsa official according to officials. senator warner said that official from the nsa no longer

is working at the nsa but he be called to testify on this issue. first of all, what's your reaction? >> it's striking to me all of these contemporary accounts being written down, all of these memos being written and notes filed away and yet when pulled in front of the committee, nobody can seem to remember the details. they will deny that they. >> david i'm going to interrupt for a second. the president is in cincinnati speaking now. i believe he's at the airport. his flight air force one has just landed. he's met with what the white house calls can obamacare victims. i assume he's going to get into some other topics, as well. let's listen in to the president. >> it is great to be back in ohio. we love ohio. you remember ohio. oh, boy. supposed to be close. it wasn't close. and so wonderful to speak on the shores of the very magnificent ohio river. we're here today to talk about rebuilding our nation's

infrastructure. isn't it about time? spending money all over the world except here. we don't spend our money here. we spend it all over. and we'll do it using american labor. american energy. american iron. aluminum and steel. we believe in the dignity of work and in the greatness of the american worker. no worker like our american worker. i want to thank secretary purdue, secretary zinke, and administrator pruett for joining us today and you saw what we did with our great administrator. you saw what happened last week with the so-called paris accord. we will -- we will keep our nation so great and so strong and we will never have outside forces telling us what to do and how to do it.

believe me. >> that would have been a huge anchor on our country. i'm also grateful that governor matt bevin, his wife glenna and his family could be here along with lieutenant governor janine hampton from kentucky, great place. where's janine? and lieutenant governor mary taylor from ohio. thank you, mary, thank you very much. we're also very excited to be joined by top labor leaders in the united states. i have negotiated with these people for so long. they're tough. but they get the job done, right? right? together, we're going to put our skilled trades people back to work. sean mcgarvey is here with us

today, president of the north american building trades union, sean took part in one of our very first meetings at the white house. that was a great meeting, sean. and was there with us when we issued the long awaited approval for the keystone xcel pipeline which has started. after years and years of stagnation, they aid that's never going to happen. we got it started. it's going to happen and it's about 48,000 jobs. it's a big job. that's just the beginning. we have many other things happening including as you know, the dakota pipeline also moving along and very rapidly. we will also welcome eric dean, president of the united ironworkers and terry owe sullivan of the laborers international union of north america. i will troudly say to you all today what i told you and told our labor unions two months ago

in washington, as long as i am president, america's labor leaders will always find an open door at the white house. we had a great day. we love our workers. we're also pleased to be joined by executives from marathon petroleum, bungee north america, cf industries, pea body energy, alliance cole, ak steel, new core steel, scott -- you like that company i guess. scott's miracle grow and many others who are ready to help us build the roads, the bridges, the tunnels and the waterways of tomorrow. and they're currently working very hard, in fact, i brought a couple of greatest builders in america, steve roth of ronato, richard lefrack. where are you guys? come up here, steve. these people aren't used to

this. they like to build and don't know the about this. get up here, richard. two of the great builders of our country. come here, richard. >> i have to do this. do you want to say anything, fellows? they're not big talkers unless they're behind the deck they're big talkers. go ahead, richard. go. >> we're all au fortunate to have the greatest builder in america donald j. trump standing behind an infrastructure program which america sorely needs and is ready to implement. donald, president trump, thank you. >> steve, come, say. no? come here. >> get off the stage, fellows.

richard, that was a good job. thank you. >> these are great builders. we're watching and they're looking over our shoulders. believe me, they don't need the money. they're not doing it for that. i said make sure it's going to come in on time, under budget. maybe even ahead of schedule. but we say on time, under budget and they're going to be watching and looking over some of the big jobs ha we have planned. bch so it gets done properly, not these jobs that take 14 years to build when they're supposed to be done in 14 months. that's been the standard. it won't be happening in this administration. the american people deserve the best infrastructure anywhere in the world. we are a nation that created the panama canal, the transcontinental railroad, and the internet, if you think about this, the great highway system, the interstate white system, we

don't do that anymore. we really don't. we don't even fix the old whohi anymore. we'll take even fixing them. these projects not only open new lanes of commerce but inspired the immigration and the deem dreams of millions and millions of people. we crafted monuments to the american spirit. it's time to recapture our legacy as a nation of builders and to create new lanes of travel, commerce and discovery and we're going to see all the way into the future and the future is going to be beautiful and the future is going to be bright. in my campaign for president, i traveled all across the nation. i saw the crumbling infrastructure. i met with communities that were desperate for new roads and new bridges. bridges were so dangerous, they couldn't use them. they were worried that they

would fall down. you've seen that happen. and i heart the pleas from the voters who wanted to know why we could rebuild foreign countries a big thing, we build in foreign countries. we spend trillions and trillions of dollars outside of our nation. but we can't build a road a highway, a tunnel, a bridge in our own nation. and we watch everything falling into disrepair. it's time to rebuild our country to bring back our jobs to restore our dreams and yes, it's time finally to put america first. and that's what i've been doing if you haven't noticed. while it's very early in the administration, i think everyone has noticed, right? we have noticed. the people are noticing like they've never noticed before.

we're already making historic progress. last month unemployment fell to its lowest point in 16 years. right now, thank you. right now, more small businesses are planning to hire than at any point in the last decade. last week, the stock market soared to record highs, highest ever. boosting the pensions, your pensions and your retirement accounts and those of hard working americans. i've just returned from a trip overseas that secured more than $350 billion of military and economic investments into the united states. that means millions of jobs. afternoon i want to thank the king of saudi arabia king salman. spent a lot of time together and they're doing a great job. they're going to be doing something very special.

you see it with terrorism. the funding of terrorism. it's going to stop. going to stop the funding of radical islamic terrorism. and they're going to stop. and they hosted over 50 all muslim countries. they said there's never been anything like it in our history. in the history of this world, there has never been anything like what took place two weeks ago in saudi arabia. and i'm very proud to be a part of it and hopefully that can be the beginning of the end to this horrible, horrible situation that the world is suffering right now called terrorism. you're going to put an end to it and we have to be very tough and very smart and we have to be very vigilant and we're going to end it. in my meetings with foreign leaders from many countries, i

sent a clear message that america expects fair trade, a level playing field, and so many other things that we're demanding for our workers and for our companies. every other country looks out for their interests. it's time that we finally start looking out for our interests in the united states. no longer will we sacrifice american jobs, factories and wealth. the theft of american prosperity has come to a screeching halt, folks. and a new era of american greatness is about to begin. you see it. it's already beginning. we're going to restore america's industrial might and i look here and something, barges have been waiting for us to say hello. the captain says please wave. hello, captain. he put up that big beautiful american flag.

. creating the jobs and tax base to put new instruct all over our country is what's happening. but to achieve our full economic strength, we must repeal and replace obamacare. since obamacare's implementation began, premiums have increased by an average of 75% in kentucky and 86 first in ohio. . just yesterday, we learned that the last statewide insurer in ohio is leaving. have you folks heard about that? that's it, bye-bye. waive good-bye. what a mess. that could mean another 20 counties and 19,000 people will have no plans. the house of representatives has done and the house of representatives has been working i will tell you very, very hard. it's done in job in passing

along an obamacare replacement bill. now it's time for the senate mitch mcconnell working very hard to act and to save americans from this catastrophic event because obamacare is dead. obamacare was run of the biggest broken promises in the history of politics. remember, you can keep your doctor? you can keep your plan? didn't work out that way. you end up paying not to have insurance. because it was cheaper. but there's another major promise that washington has repeatedly broken, and that is the one where we are here today. it's a promise that's gone unheeded. it's called restoring america. restoring our country. the promise of a safe reliable and modern infrastructure. hasn't been kept. but we're going to keep it.

american lives and livelihoods depend on our action together. that's why i'm calling on all democrats who honestly have really been obstructists. boy, have they tried. i mean every single thing. on health care, i won't get one vote. obamacare's crashing, it's dead. it's in a death spiral as the head of one of the biggest insurance companies said it's in a death spiral. and we're coming out to do good, not to do bad, to do good. we won't get one democrat vote. think of it, they're just obstructionist every single thing is obstruction. i don't think honestly, if i were in that party, i wouldn't be doing it that way. i'd be doing positive things. that's why they lost the house. they lost the senate. they lost the white house. people don't want to see what's going on. they want to see us all come together but i don't see them coming together. they're obstructionists.

i'm calling on all democrats and republicans to join together if that's possible, in the great rebuilding of america. countless american industries, businesses and jobs depend on rivers runways, roads, and rails that are in dire and even desperate condition. and millions of american families rely on their water and pipes and pumps that are on the verge of total failure and collapse. we are pleased to be joined today by representatives from many, many industries that depend on a truly critical component of our nation's infrastructure. the 12,000 miles of inland waterways. we have farmers, coal miners and by the way, those coal miners are happy. coal miners oh, they like trump.

they like trump. same with steel workers and oil workers. we've taken those restrictions and those horrible regulations off your companies. we're going to have clean beautiful air, clean beautiful crystal water. but you're going to have your jobs also. you're going to have your jobs. maybe more than ever before. so i want to salute each of you for the work that you've done. and maybe more importantly, for the work that you're about to do. because it's going to be a beautiful thing. you watch. these citizens know firsthand that the rivers like the beautiful ohio river, carry the life blood of our heartland. in fact, i'm very proud that behind us today are those 12 barges, look as the this. west virginia, do we love west virginia. west virginia. they're filled with west

virginia coal. and you know, next week, we're opening a big coal mine. you know about that. one in pennsylvania. it's actually a new mine. that hadn't happened in a long time, folks. but we'putting the miners back work. the contents of just one nine-barge towboat like the one behind me carries the equivalent much 1,000 semi tractor-trailers. people don't realize it. people don't realize it but they do now. roughly 60% of united states grain expores travel down these waterways to the gulf. more than half of all the american steel is produced within 250 miles of where we're standing right now. and it's production depends on the inland waterway system and wait till you see what i'm going to do for steel and for your steel companies. we're going to stop the dumping

and stop all of these wonderful other countries from coming in and killing our companies and our workers. you'll be seeing that very soon. the steel folks are going to be very happy. up to 25% of the nation's energy cargo relies on these channels. and the refineries along their shores. but these critical corridors of commerce depend on a delap dated system of lockes and dams that are more than half a century old. and their condition as you know better than anybody, is in rerebad shape. it continues to decay. capital improvements of the system which is so important have been massively underfunded. and there's an $8.7 billion maintenance backlog that is only getting bigger and getting

worse. last december, up the ohio river near pittsburgh, one locke by the more than 50 years ago had to be shut down for five days due to hydraulic failure. and you know what that means? five days means everything comes to a halt. we simply cannot tolerate a five-day shutdown on a major thoroughfare for american coal, american oil, and american steel. which is going to get more and bigger. america must have the best fastest and most reliable infrastructure anywhere in the world. we cannot accept these conditions any longer. a few years ago, a gate broke from its hinges at the markland lockes on the ohio river in kentucky. it took nearly five months to repair. any of you know about that in wasn't a pretty picture, right? i don't think so. and in 2011, a massive section

of canal wall collapsed near chicago delaying everything, and it seemed like forever. great american businesses like lan o lakes which is here today from manhattan, where are they? stand up. that's good stuff. come on, stand up. good. that's good stuff -- fear that the locke and dam systems they rely on are no longer dependable. i am here with a message to you and for all of the great businesses that are gathered with us and maybe more importantly because that's what it's ultimately about, those businesses' workers. together we will fix it. we will create the first class infrastructure our country and our people deserve. my new vision for american

infrastructure will rebuild our country by generating $1 trillion in infrastructure investment. our infrastructure program -- a lot. a trillion. you know, as of a few months ago, we spent $6 trillion in the middle east. along with the death of so many incredible people. and along with all of the other problems that you've been watching every night on television and reading about in the papers. $6 trillion and yet, if we want to fix a road or want to fix a school, or we want to make sure that a bridge doesn't collapse in our country, forgetting about even building new ones, we don't ever eem to have the money.

got to change, folks. it's got to change. something wrong. something wrong. >> so there's the president clearly getting ready to wrap up his speech in cincinnati. on rebuilding the country's infrastructure. the president clearly trying to focus on than describing it the theft of american prosperity, he says, will come to a halt. he also got into the other issues in terms of going after the former president's health care, obamacare among other issues. he also promised he would end terrorism saying his meetings in saudi arabia a couple weeks ago were historic. no mention, by the way, of the russia investigations or james comey. the fired fbi director's testimony tomorrow. let's get insight from our panel. our senior washington correspondent brianna keilar is with us, cnn political analyst david gregory with is with us and politics editor editor-at-large chris silly za

is with us, as well. chris, let me start with you. the president clearly anxious to change the subject if he possibly can. so much focus right now on these congressional investigations. >> yeah, look, this is ostensibly infrastructure week. that's what the white house said they wanted to talk about. his twitter feed is not focused on infrastructure which is sort of the main line of donald trump. that's what he's really thinking. this is an attempt to talk about something that, frankly, does have some possibility or at least did have some possibility of getting bipartisan support or at a minimum, putting democrats in tough spots. joe manchin in west virginia, he mentioned west virginia, heidi heitkamp in north dakota, senators up in 2018 and very trump friendly states. they're democrats. you know, at this point though, i think i hate to use the barge ship metaphor but i do think the ship has sailed on donald trump winning bipartisan support for

almost anything. we saw the fbi director. that was an attempt to throw another piece of chum out there and say here's a story that this guy gets pretty good reviews. >> he named a new goib new fbi director. >> and now this story on infrastructure. comey testimony is, you can tell, look there right next to me is the comey count down clock. that tells you what people are most focused on. it's going to be a huge moment i think for washington and for his presidency. he knows it and he can't do anything about it. >> there is a huge infrastructure problem here in the united states right now. david gregory. if he says he wants to spend a trillion dollars there's a trillion dollars worth of problgs rebuilding roads, airports, bridges. there's work that needs to be done and this was one area where democrats would join republicans and work together. >> there's some glimpse what could have been when you hear the president speaking in a disciplined way about his

approach to ending obamacare to an infrastructure plan. the reality is that he has been so self-destructive and there have been all of these diz tractioning both for the media and by extension the public at large because of the president's behavior around the russia investigation and other things by the way. the other point that has to be made is you can't just talk about infrastructure in a vacuum. this requires a lot of the political capital. it is a campaign that requires a lot of work working together in the administration having issue discipline and then you look at the backlog in terms of legislative accomplishms. the senate is bogged down on the idea of replacing obamacare and matching what the house has done. there's still the idea of tax reform, tax cuts that the president wanted to do and infrastructure which is more spending which creates real problems with the conservative wing of the republican party on more spending and what the impact is on the deficit. all these things have to be worked through over time and we're in the middle, we're beginning summer. he's run out of time to keep building coalitions.

that's going to be hard. >> there's a new quinnipiac university poll that just came out. his job approval number there you see it, only 34% in this new poll approve of the president's job performance so far. 57% disapprove. that's hovering near record lows at this point in a presidency. >> and it's not like it was that much higher coming in. when you look at the deficit he had between his approval and his disapproval, this is one of the reasons we talk about the glimpse of what might have been. i don't know if there ever was a glimpse he could get along with democrats. i think back to president obama coming in. he had very high approval ratings. democrats in a political move to me it seemed clear they would have just looked at donald trump, how did i visive he had been during the campaign realized they don't have to sign on to anything he did. seemed like republicans with obamacare at least there was this attempt to try to work with him and in the end they pulled out and didn't do anything with him on obamacare.

when you talk about instruct and other issues perhaps there could have been overlap on maybe picking off one or two democrats. >> he could have made it harder for democrats. this is something they supported. >> on the issue of infrastructure, but there's also a way when i think back to the republican playbook, you look toward democrats could have looked towards maybe trying to work with him but in the end they could have not worked with him just because democrats voters were so anti-trump. >> in a different situation, too. obama in 2008 comes in winning 373 i think if my memory serves, 337 electoral votes. he wins in indiana, north carolina, states that no democrat won since lyndon johnson or jimmy carter. donald trump forget who he is which is problematic in terms of a willingness or ability to reach out. donald trump comes in having lost the popular vote by almost three million. right?

so there is not the -- obama talked a lot about mandate in the first six months. he had a mandate. there were republicans i remember talking to them who were worried about sort of bucking this new guy who people said is the new kennedy. to we want to take that rick. >> remember back in 2000, there was a disputed election and president bush got a big tax cut and got education reform before 9/11. it's a matter of some issue discipline of which there is none. you can't try to pull that out now even though he's getting live coverage of this speech and his focus on it. he has to put the discipline there into there were the themes of rihanna, were very evident in the speech. at one point he says it's time we finally look out for our interests in the united states. the america first argument certainly came through during those remarks. >> >> it's something he's been emphasizing. we heard him the other day in the rose garden as he announced he was going to pull out of the paris climate accord, that he

was elected to represent pittsburgh, not to represent paris. the question then becomes and we're obviously seeing disagreement on this, how do you best represent pittsburgh? do you best represent pittsburgh by a move like the climate accords by what he's talking about here? there's been a lot of discussion about this. i was looking at what former president obama said last night in canada. he was warning against this. and he was making the case for why it was good for america to not take that position but certainly there are a lot of people who are fearful's said who are uncertain and he understood this tendency to do that. we're seeing a lot of people do that. >> everybody stand by. brianna, david, and greg. we have a lot more coming up. he's worked with james comey and robert mueller, praised sally yates and represented chris christie in the bridge gate scandal. a closer look at christopher wray, the president's new nominee to become the next fbi director. that's why you drink ensure.

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same way all of us did, via the president's twitter feed. laura is joining us now. what can you tell us about christopher wray and the reaction to his nomination? >> wolf, the praise so far has been nearly universal. everyone from his old boss john ashcroft to other candidates say this is a person with integrity, whip smart, someone who puts justice before politics. while rwray never worked in the fbi, this is an establishment choice. he was a yale law grad, served as a top official leading the criminal division in the discuss cities department under president george w. bush. this is someone who understands law enforcement, wolf. >> do we know how those on capitol hill in the administration were actually notified? were they simply notified the rest of us was, by way of the twitter feed? >> yes.

it appears that many first learned of this news this morning via twitter, wolf. i'm told that senator jack grassley, who is going to consider this nomination, learned that wray was the pick via twitter. the top democrat on the committee, dianne feinstein, didn't get a heads up either. >> what do you think of the fbi director nominee? >> he may be fine. it looks like he's got good credentials. but i haven't known about it for very long, like for two hours. so obviously i need to look into it. thank you. >> so you were not made aware of this before -- >> no. no. >> reporter: but despite the somewhat untraditional rollout, wolf, the white house has released a statement in which wray says it is a great honor to be selected and, quote, i look forward to serving the american people with integrity as what i know to be firsthand an extraordinary group of men and

women who have dedicated their careers to serving this country. >> he's got a pretty distinguished background and he's received all sorts of awards, among other things. it looks like at this point it should be relatively easy for him to get senate confirmation. right? >> it looks that way, wolf. this is somebody who at least within legal circles is a known quality, known as a superlawyer. >> laura jarrett, our justice reporter, thanks very much. that's it for me. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." for our international viewers, "amanpour" is coming up next. for our viewers in north america, "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right after a quick break. atable protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer with a clean feel. the best for your skin. ultra sheer®. neutrogena®. on a perfect car,

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all right. here we go. i'm brooke baldwin. live in washington, d.c., today for cnn special coverage of the critical moment for the trump presidency and we have just gotten some paper that has landed in our laps today being the eve of the testimony from fired fbi director james comey in which he details multiple briefings, multiple events with the president of the united states and so this has just come out. it's the opening statement for his testimony tomorrow. and so we're just going to all do this together live. i'm going to read for you -- that's how we roll at cnn -- i'm going to read for you from mr. comey's statement ahead of tomorrow. let's begin. and i have a panel that will dissect all of this as we go through. this is january 27th dinner. this is what mr. comey writes. the president and i