firing bob mueller, i think he will pay a very heavy price. >> what you can feel coming out of this white house is a tension and anxiety. >> i've done my time. i've basically spent a conflict-free life. >> his statements were self-justifying showing no remorse. >> if you take a look at what they're supposed to consider, it was a slam dunk. >> thank you. this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome to your new day. it's friday july 21st, 8:00 here in washington. chris is off, john berman joins me in what looks like a very lonely new york studio. >> it is very lonely, but it's also 8:00 here, i can confirm that also. >> very good. up first, the "new york times" and "the washington post" are reporting that president trump's legal team is trying to undermine special counsel robert mueller. the president's lawyers are investigating the investigators in hopes of discrediting mueller's russia investigation. >> it comes as the president

reshuffles his legal team after being frustrated with how they're responding to the daily russia revelations and perhaps one of the first tasks reported to "the washington post." the president is asking advisors about his ability to pardon his aides, his family, even himself. >> let's bring in one of the reporters from "the washington post" story who can give us the entire scoop. we have national reporter carol laning. thanks so much for being here, carol. >> glad to be here. >> so tell us more. the president's legal team is trying to find some chin ks in the armor obviously of robert mueller's legal team and they're, what, looking into their political leanings? donations? what are they looking into? >> there's a long list of things they're looking into, political conflicts, associations they've had with hillary clinton in the past. the relationship you know bob mueller has had for a long time the with the working fbi director james comey who the president famously fired and which led to all of this investigation. most of mueller's investigative work as you know comes from

comey's own investigation that he had to leave when he was fired. other conflicts are sort of baffling and intriguing to us at "the post." one of them strangely enough involves bob mueller's membership at a trump golf course in virginia. and the president seems to be, according to a source that spoke to me yesterday, really fascinated by the fact mueller resigned his trump membership at the golf course and there were some alleged disputes over the fees he was owed back. mueller's team told us there was no dispute. he resigned. it's a nothing burger. i hate to use that term. >> we love the nothing burger. feel free to use it liberally here. >> so what is the thinking? there might be a beef between bob mueller and the golf club and that would somehow taint the -- >> that would make it look like bob mueller has some sort of

animus towards the president and towards the trump organization. and i have to say there's some division within the legal team about the importance of this, but i have heard that the president finds it disconcerting. just as he finds it disconcerting that several members of mueller's team have given money to democratic candidates, and hillary clinton included. >> is this customary? is it customary? because we've heard from some of our guests that, guess what, bill clinton did the same thing and tried to look into, you know, ken star's legal team and find out if they were conservative leaning. so is this just kind of doing due diligence? >> absolutely there's a feature of it that is absolutely due diligence and the norm. but as you have experienced in trump world there's a brashness and a direct frontal assault that's a little bit different about this. you know, there are teams of people talking about how bob mueller is engaged in a which hunt and is continuing to press on the president.

there are -- the president himself as he said in that wonderful "new york times" interview the other day is talking about a bright line. the president is going to say what he thinks a criminal investigator should or should not investigate. these are not the norms in our world. >> president trump does not think that it would be appropriate for bob mueller to look into his tax returns. >> yes. >> but bob mueller, we understand from some reporting, is looking -- will attempt to look into the tax returns. what do you have on this? >> so look, every prosecutor can walk down to the justice department when they have a reasonable basis to ask for someone's tax returns. when they think -- and a reasonable basis is a pretty low standard to say this could be relevant to my criminal investigation and get the tax returns including the tax returns of the president. and what we are hearing is that the president found that disconcerting. remember, this is a client learning what's going to happen and what could be asked on a very big stage. >> yeah, it's nerve racking, i

get it. however, we've had some of the president's supporters, we just had congressman chris collins saying that would be totally out of bounds. that's basically a fishing expedition because the president already released the financial disclosure statement. nobody needs to look at his taxes. what's the thinking legally on this? >> well, think about the ways in which if you're bob mueller and you're looking at obstruction, would you ultimately find that in his tax returns -- i'm just spooling it out, would you potentially find that a key person that the president's son or son-in-law met with had actually purchased at a ridiculous rate a large bank of condos or helped finance something for the president or helped provide the loans for real estate deal? that might be material, who knows. >> carol, stick around. i know john has some questions for you as well as the rest of our panel. >> that's right. we're going to bring in cnn political reporter, also bob mueller's special assistant at

the department of justice, michael, let me start with you here. this notion of trying to discredit the special counsel investigation here, we keep on hearing this is something that happens in prosecutions. you do go after the other person's team here. how far could the white house and his lawyers take this here? is it difficult if the president wants to to get rid of robert mueller? >> well, there are a couple of questions that are embedded in that question. first is, is it normative to look at your prosecutor to see whether your prosecutor has a bias that could lead to his recusal, if you will? and, yes, that's normative. and i think they're going to do what they can do. and my legal response to that is good luck with that because i don't think that there's going to be anything found there that's going to create a legal conflict of interest that would allow for the removal of mueller himself and perhaps any of his team members. and secondly, with respect to the removal of mueller, the only person that can remove mueller under the regulations that

govern this is rosenstein. and rosenstein's basis under the regulations for removal of mueller is good cause and that there is not going to be good cause found in this fishing expedition into his background. i mean he's a republican and he doesn't have any political orientation in the way he investigates crime. so i don't think it's going to amount to anything. and rosenstein has said in his public testimony that he will resign before he fires mueller without there being a good cause showing. so i think this is a lot of bluster and maybe it has some political resonance. i don't do politics, just law. the others can talk about that. but i don't think in the end of the day it's going to amount to anything. with respect to -- sorry, go on. >> well, i was going to bring in molly because, michael, you've given us a great information as has carol about all of the sort of threads of this, but the big picture, molly, is we're supposed to be talking about

made in america week. >> oh, i didn't get that assignment. i thought we were talking about whatever we want to talk about. >> no, we're supposed to be talking about made in america week, if the white house had its way. and we would have been because there are things developing. there's what's happening at the carrier plant, some jobs are being lost this week. some jobs are being preserved. there's stuff to talk about on this, however, the president in the wide ranging "new york times" interview where he could have stayed on message and talked about anything, talked a lot about the russia investigation. >> right. this is clearly what's on his mind. and, you know, say what you will about donald trump, he does tell us what's on his mind. he doesn't try to obscure it. it's very obvious. you know, i think it's more than just a political problem of not being able to stay on message. certainly that's part of it, but it's a substantive problem that he continues to be completely focused on this to the exclusion of making policy. i mean, i think if we were talking about made in america week, that might not be a great story for the white house

because they can't really point to accomplishments on that score. as you said even the carrier deal turned out to be not what it was advertised as. you know, health care is also not a very good story for them at this point. there aren't a lot of really good stories that they could be pivoting to, to use a political term. so, you know, the president does look like someone who is increasingly desperate, feeling like the walls are closing in, he seems cornered and he's lashing out. >> it's interesting, alisyn was interviewing chris collins, republican representative of new york, big ally of the white house. and chris collins said to alisyn, essentially, you know, the president's annoyed that we're talking about russia. he keeps getting frustrated the focus is on russia. chris, we're talking about it because he brought it up in the interview with "new york times" and made news on it in somewhat astonishing ways. we're talking about it because this legal team is now going after members of robert mueller's investigative team. and we're talking about it because they're now discussing the issue of pardons right now. this is, again, something that

is completely and utterly self-inflicted. and along those lines, you know, we now know the president is warning people, well, you know, special counsel mueller's investigation shouldn't go into finances or taxes. if you're special counsel robert mueller, chris, wouldn't you take the investigation right there because you're being warned not to? >> don't look behind the curtain over there. yeah, look, john, you're right. i would say if you want to not talk about the russia investigation, you should not spend two-thirds of your time in a -- impromptu sit down with three "new york times" reporters talking about the russia investigation. and by the way, not just talking about the russia investigation in ways that he has before, but also saying, and, man, if i had known about jeff sessions, he would have never gotten this job. i mean, we would be remiss as reporters not to cover the president of the united states saying i wouldn't have hired my attorney general if i knew he

was going fo recuse himself. so i think, you know, we're now six months and a day into the trump presidency. i think one of the top if not the top story line is donald trump is his own worst political enemy. i think if you ask republican senators this candidly, you ask republican house members, they would say the same thing. molly's right that made in america week isn't an a-plus grand slam home run for him, but it's a lot better than a series of stories about how have you lost confidence in your attorney general, should he be fired, should he resign, are you thinking about pardoning your senior advisors, could you pardon yourself, none of those things are better than made in america week. that's an f message wise. made in america week may be a c, but as someone who attained a number of cs, they're better than fs. >> thank you for that full disclosure. >> yeah, i like to -- honesty is the best policy. >> the transparency. we vote for that here.

michael, a favorite adage, obviously of investigators, is often follow the money. is there a money trail here in terms of the russia investigation that investigators can follow? >> in fact, i think they are already following it. they are following it with respect to paul manafort and his payments out of the ukraine and the way he purchased properties with those dollars in new york through limited liability companies that hide the transparency of the beneficial owners. i think he's looking at the money laundering as it relates to russian infusion of money into the trump business empire. remember, donald trump jr. in 2008 gave a speech to a conference where he said that in their high end properties, most of their money was coming in from russia. and so they're going to want to look at what is that money and what was the source of that money and does that money infusion into their businesses

create a motive for them to cooperate with russia in the election? i don't know that they'll find anything there in that stream, but you have to look into it. and to the question of the tax returns, the tax returns may well be relevant to obstruction of justice as was said, but i think it's more relevant to this money laundering matter which is one has to ask the question why is donald trump and his ecosystem, flynn, manafort, junior, kushner, why are they behaving this way with respect to russia? and they're going to look at is money a motive for that, does it explain their behavior? and the tax returns are very different than the financial disclosure forms. they tell you in much more minute detail who you did business with, how you did business with them, what the source of that money was, how dependent on that money are you. remember, there's a lot of conversation about the trump businesses being on the brink of

failure. and the only way they survived was from russian money coming in through private sources and from deutsche bank which itself is under investigation for its dealings with russian money. so that has to be looked into. there may be nothing at the end, but that has to be looked into. basically money laundering 101, when i ran the justice department's money laundering section, this is what would have been the first step in our money laundering situations. >> carol, on top of all of this overnight, we're learning that the president's private legal team is shaking up and marc kasowitz taking on a diminished role and john dowd, he is going to take over, does the shift in personnel denote a shift in strategy? is this an attack on robert mueller's team the first part of that? >> i think it's a great question, but i think it's a little more subtle than that. i think as everything is true with donald trump's advisors,

his legal team is also slightly divided about how to pursue this. you know, should we go hard, should we go more traditional. and i think what you see is the asengs -- ty cobb is working on his inside team, i don't think marc kasowitz is going to disappear, but i think you'll see people that traditionally have worked with special counsels and with special prosecutors taking more of a lead role. jay sekulow will do media, dowd, i see this as a traditional team. >> we'll see how long it lasts at this stage in the game. thanks, guys. as russia revelations continue to dominate the headlines, republican senators are still trying to repeal and possibly, because we're not sure, replace obamacare. a progress report from the lawmaker who coined the term,

the jimmy kimmel test. that's next.

well, the daily russia revelations continue to overshadow the big battle on capitol hill over health care. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is still planning a vote next week, but no one seems to know exactly what they'll be voting on. let's bring in one person who can help us answer this. we have republican senator bill cassidy of louisiana, he's a physician. and you may remember he coined the term, the kimmel test as a standard for american health coverage. senator, thanks so much for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> what are you guys voting on next week? >> well, it isn't so much that we don't know what we're voting on, we don't know in which the sequence we will vote. just the process is the first vote will be to take up the house bill. that is just the process. >> but when you say the house bill, do you mean the repeal only, no replacement, the repeal only bill? >> new york cio, the repeal -- >> oh, you mean the original house bill. >> ahca.

>> ahca. >> now, that is a process because bill haves to originate on the house side and come over. that's just how you sequence it. what is at issue is what will be the bill after that. the amendment if you will that would replace that. >> because the people aren't happy with that one. >> no, they're not. but on the other hand you cannot take up the issue without first voting on that bill. >> got it. i appreciate the arcane, you know, procedural issues that you guys are steeped in that all of us may not be. but let's get to the substance of this. so once you dispense with that procedure, then are you all going to vote on the repeal only suggestion? >> so then the question is do we vote on the repeal only or will repeal with a two-year delay in repeal, or do we vote on something else. for example, i am putting up a bill with lindsey graham that would block grant the dollars back to the states to allow states to come up with their own solutions. that will be in the sequence at some point. >> that one will be voted on at some point? >> totally. and so there will be multiple amendments.

what we don't know is the sequence of those amendments and that's the more proper way to say it. >> man, this is complicated. how do you know what you're going to have on the other side of it? do you have any inkling of where you will end up after these procedural votes? >> let's go back to the graham/cassidy amendment. so far i think the only thing that gets 50 votes is that amendment. it is a good conservative republican but also american principle to allow states to come up with state-specific solutions as opposed to d.c. dictating. >> and you think that even sadly in john mccain's absence right now that you have the votes for all of that? >> we don't know if we have the votes yet, but when we speak to governors, they like that approach. they like the idea, wait a second, alaska is different than louisiana different than rhode island. so allow us to come up with a specific solution. we need resources, guidelines, you got to use it on health care, not a ballpark. but on the other hand allowing a state to come up with their own solution is worked very well in other federal-state programs. >> i understand why governors would obviously want that.

but that's not what senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has been talking about. i mean, what we've heard most is the repeal only. that's what they say that republicans promised their constituents and by goodness they're going to vote on that one. >> so we will absolutely vote on that, but there will be a sequence. and you can repeal and replace with again something like graham/cassidy which returns it to the states. if you listen to the leader, he's going to say we're going to vote on many, many amendments. so it isn't so much that we're not going to vote on one thing and vote on others. we're going to vote on lots of things. the question is where do we end up, as you said at the outset. in fact, i think the only thing that gets us to 50 votes on a replace is something like graham/cassidy. >> how do you know that graham/cassidy passes the jimmy kimmel test? you leave it up to the governors -- my question is this, if you leave it up to the governors and everybody has their sort of own autonomy to put in the essential health benefits or not put in the essential health benefits to give this amount to opioid abuse

or not give this amount, how do you know they will all do the right thing by you and jimmy kimmel? >> there's an old saying he or she who governs best governs closest to those governed. who do you think is more accountable to a woman who's child is born with a certain condition? a president who is the president over 310 million people, or a governor who is up for re-election in two years? i would argue the governor. and i think history shows the governor. by the way, when it comes to mandates, marco rub olympio poi out yesterday florida has like 47 different mandates. it isn't states don't know how to do mandates. they absolutely know how to do mandates. it's arguably the issue you raised who should decide, over 310 million people or over that state in particular. i would argue we should trust this person more. >> and you're sure with all the series of votes happening next week that this is going to come to a vote? >> so the graham/cassidy amendment will come to a vote.

>> next week. >> next week. unless there's something in the process that obviates, but believe me, we are told it will come to a vote. and we think it's the solution to get us to 50. >> before we go i want to ask you about the news headlines today about president trump's legal team is looking into robert mueller's legal team's background. >> so i listened to your guest from "the washington post." i thought he spshe put it perfe. she goes, yes, this is what will i bill clinton did, this is standard operating procedure. what is at issue here is his style. one thing we have to acknowledge, president trump has his own style. and she said it's brash. it's more forthcoming. hey, has anybody looked at trump for the last 70 years? he is brash and forthcoming. so i'm not sure the strategy is at issue rather style. i cut the guy slack on style. >> fair. what if it led to him firing robert mueller? >> now you're giving me a hypothetical. >> well, only because he's suggested that he may not be happy with robert mueller and in

fact we've heard his friends say that he has considered doing that. >> so, again, you have a sense that the president when he thinks a thought, it is quickly on his lips. now, any of us in such a situation would ponder what if, what if, what if, but we may choose not to say. the president almost always chooses to say and sometimes a tweet. again, that's a style of brashness and forthcomingness, i'm not sure that's necessarily a strategy. until it's revealed as a strategy, we don't know. >> senator bill cassidy, thanks so much for coming in. great to have you here in studio with me. john. >> thanks, alisyn. elon musk at it again, tech entrepreneur known for shaking up travel is working on a new traffic busting time saver. wait until you hear how fast he hopes you can get to new york from washington. that's next. think again. this is the new new york. we are building new airports all across the state. new roads and bridges.

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number one, mr. trump's attorneys reportedly trying to figure out ways to challenge the special counsel's russia probe. "the washington post" and "new york times" reporting that mr. trump's team is investigating possible conflicts of interest involving mueller as well as mr. trump's pardon powers. bloomberg is reporting the special counsel is expanding his investigation into the president's business transactions despite president trump calling his own family finances a, quote, red line, earlier this week. "the washington post" says the president has expressed concern that bob mueller could access his tax returns. the white house says president trump has confidence in attorney general jeff sessions, after a remarkable public rebuke of him in a "new york times" interview. sessions says he plans to stay on the job. at least two people are dead and several more injured after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake rocks turkey's coast in the nearby greek islands. a parole board ruling in favor of o.j. simpson. the 70-year-old former football

great could be free as early as this fall after spending nearly nine years in prison for an armed robbery conviction. for more on the five things to know you can go to cnn.com/newday for all of the latest. john. thanks so much, alisyn. how would you like to get home from washington, d.c. and get back to me in new york, alisyn, in 25 minutes? tech founder elon musk wants to make that a reality. christine romans in our money center to tell us about it. >> elon musk, john, wants to give you a light speed trip on the east coast, he has a verbal agreement with the government to build high loop and ultrahigh speed underground rail system. no government agency confirming this officially. and musk later walking back a bit tweeting they're working on formal approval. from one moon shot to another, stocks are on a stunning winning streak. all major u.s. averages hit records this week. investors unphased by president trump's political troubles. the stock market doesn't measure

main street but rather reflects how much money companies are making. and corporate profits are fat. donald trump is a pro-business president. he has rolled back environmental and worker regulations at a blistering pace. he often takes credit for the stock market rally, that can be risky. no rally lasts forever. every president since world war ii has experienced a 20% slump. the current bull market is the second longest bull on record. but, alisyn, for now anyone with a 401(k) will just enjoy it. >> there you go. good news. thank you very much. so coming up, a unique perspective on o.j. simpson's parole. we will speak with former o.j. dream team attorney f lee bailey next. dad: flash drives? yup. that's dad taking care of business. laptop setup? yup. but who takes care of dad? office depot, office max. this week, all hp ink,

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>> i rather expected it because he met all the criteria so well. i was concerned that the hovering specter of the criminal case in los angeles, the murder case, might infect the parole board, but it did not. they said it wouldn't and i think they were good to their word. >> o.j. simpson a lot has been made of his behavior when he was speaking yesterday. he said he has led a relatively conflict-free life. that was criticized by many people including our own jeffrey toobin. your reaction to that. >> well, first of all, i don't put much stock in anything mr. toobin says. and number two, if you were o.j. and you did not commit the murders, he has had a conflict-free life except for the incident in las vegas and one domestic difficulty to which he pleaded guilty and paid the punishment. so that's not as far off the mark as people who wanted to ridicule him asserted.

but nonetheless it seemed out of place and i think it came out spontaneously and perhaps unwittingly. >> you said except for the one domestic violence incident. a lot of people point to even one as a giant exception and then of course allegations that it was a lot more than just one incident of domestic violence. it was a whole pattern, some people say, of years of domestic violence with nicole brown. is that not true? >> well, had the prosecution not sabotaged our case, we would have put the head of the domestic violence group in america on the stand to say that o.j. was not a batterer in her opinion. unfortunately, our day never came because jury attrition forced us to shut down before the american people got an objective look at the whole case, not just the prosecution's presentation. >> no, it is interesting because you have been one of his staunchest defenders, not just when you were his attorney, but you maintain to this day that he was innocent of the murders? >> i do. and for anyone who is interested

in the facts, i posted a very extensive fact sheet on my website baileyandelliot six years ago, no one has ever come forward to contradict any of the assertions in there. i was in charge of preparing the case and did prepare it. >> and, again, not only do you believe he's innocent of murder except for, and again, those are your words because i think a lot of people would never say except for one case of domestic violence. you don't think he did anything else wrong prior to those killings? >> well, if he did, i don't know about it. and if you don't accept the court record which has one incident and accept the prosecution's opening statement which went awry very quickly, then i guess you could suspect that he was guilty of other domestic violence. but that's hardly fair. >> okay, mr. bailey, let me ask you what you think life will be like for o.j. simpson in florida if that is where he goes upon

his release this fall? >> well, it's been made clear that he's entitled to go to florida, he'll be under supervision. i think he better not get caught spitting on the street or looking crosswise at a police officer because he's going to be on tender hooks. however, i'm confident from his past conduct and my acquaintance with him that he will tow the mark and you won't hear from him again in respect to the conviction in nevada. >> a lot of people, you know, have looked at what happened yesterday and it brought them back. it brought them back some 20 years to when you were very much in the spotlight and o.j. simpson was very much in the spotlight. just to be clear, have you spoken to him recently? what was the last conversation you had with mr. simpson? >> i have not spoken with him since the night before his trial ended in las vegas. and very frankly i believe he's been discouraged from speaking with me because there is no question that the acquittal for

murder was a component in the way he was treated in nevada, the only fella that went to jail out of that whole tempest in a teapot. and both o.j. and i have been punished pretty heavily for the fact he was acquitted. >> let's talk about that because you say that his conviction in nevada was a result of the murder trial. your career, your life has taken a fairly stunning turn post murder trial right now. explain what happened. >> well, i found as soon as this case was over and i expected people would say congratulations, you did a great job, people instead said this guy got off of a murder because of you, you're at fault. and i heard that from judges, colleagues, classmates who were very rude to me after inviting me to explain how he got acquitted. and it was the damnation of acquittal at its apex.

i have never seen it before in my career. the anger that was whipped up by a public that was led to expect just as hillary clinton was led to expect she'd get elected the public was led to expect a conviction, when they didn't get it, the press whipped everybody in sight except themselves. >> well, i'm not sure with the election this past election has to do with anything, but, mr. bailey, since, you know, in the last few years i'm not incorrect you were disbarred, is that true? >> no. that's not in the last few years. it was in 2001. and i continue to be active in the trial of cases, but, yes, that was the fact. and so be it. i hope that some day i will have the last word, but i have given up any hope that the person who killed nicole brown will be identified. >> f. lee bailey, always fascinating to speak with you

from brunswick, maine, this morning. thank you so much for your time, sir. >> very well. >> all right. cnn is the first news organization to obtain never-before-heard recordings of marc furman, he is the lapd detective who became a figure in the o.j. simpson l.a. murder trial. we have an amazing cnn special report after o.j. the fuh rurksman tapes. >> it's interesting to listen to f. lee bailey, alan dirs wits said his own mother didn't talk to him for years because she was so angry with him and thought a murderer was set free. a lot of these players had friends and family that were furious with them. i think it's because the evidence that o.j. killed nicole brown simpson and ron goldman was overwhelming, and so the best way to get him off a murder rap was cast out on the evidence, which is exactly what o.j.'s legal team did. and it's because they were handed a huge gift. they were handed these tapes of

detective mark fuhrman made by an up and coming screenwriter. and the tapes were vulgar, and the lynchpin in johnny cochran's defense by an l.a. police department willing to convict evidence of a black man. and these tapes changed history. we've been talking about that now for days and many people felt that race trumped justice in this case. and that has haunted laura hart mckinney for decades. let's take a listen. >> there were bits of the puzzle that i was just unable to reveal at the time and i was unable to be as truthful as i really wanted to be. >> reporter: so she is telling her story, her truth. and for the first time excerpts from the fuhrman tapes you've never heard.

vulgar. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: sexist. >> how do you arrest a violent suspect? i yell out, have a man do it. >> reporter: disturbing. >> you got to be a borderline sociopath, you got to be violent. >> wow, it is amazing to hear that now all these years later. did mark fuhrman ever try to get these tapes or ask mckinney to give up these tapes? >> oh, yes. by the way, she was still recording him during the trial which was more fascinating. you'll hear that tonight. but, yes, he called her and she said, i'm sorry, i'm going to court. i will try not to get them released, but she lost on appeal. >> what did you think of the tapes when you heard them? >> i tell you what, it was really hard to get through these. and, you know, we're morning television so i'm not going to tell you the things that you're going to hear tonight. i think it's appropriate for late-night tv. not morning television. but the sexist rants on these

tapes just are mind blowing. and not only did these tapes impact the trial of the century because of the n word and racist things that were said, but her whole game plan was to write a screenplay about sexism in the lapd at that time. so these tapes changed policy with regard to sexism and racism in the lapd. >> so interesting they shocked even you who covered this so closely at the time. and has been covering ever since. >> i had no idea. >> thanks so much. be sure to watch tonight at 10:00. alisyn. >> okay, john, it's been a busy week with a lot of new threads in the russia investigation. so what is the big picture? we will have the bottom line with dana bash here next. i'm leaving you, wesley. but why? you haven't noticed me in two years. i was in a coma. well, i still deserve appreciation. who was there for you when you had amnesia? you know i can't remember that. stop this madness. if it's appreciation you want

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and a drizzle of dark chocolate. give kind a try. ♪ moms know their kids need love, encouragement and milk. with 8 grams of natural protein, and 8 other nutrients to provide balanced nutrition. moms know kids grow strong when they milk life. okay. so there are many headlines this morning involving special counsel's russia investigation and how the white house is responding to that as well as fallout from the president's extraordinary "new york times" interview. and of course this was supposed to be made in america week. that's the agenda that the white house had wanted everyone to focus on. so let's get the bottom line on what a week it's been with cnn political correspondent dana bash. dana, great to have you here. >> thank you. >> good to be in your territory. >> great to have you. >> how do you summarize this week? >> alisyn, this week it kind of, i think, at the end of the day looking back on this week we

might see it as the week where robert mueller appeared to get closer to the white house, at least that appears to be the white house reaction and how they have been kind of moving or remobilizing. gloria borjer and i reported last night that they have reshuffled, the president's legal team. >> and do you know why? >> for several reasons. one is they feel that the president needs better help, better help both on the outside meaning a personal side. john dowd who is an attorney as well as jay sekulow who's been on this program several times, they will continue to do the personal side, which will mean that they will still have the traditional attorney/client privilege. and then as we reported last week, ty cobb is going to come in and be the chief guy inside the white house. but because -- the answer is because, you know, he needs it.

he needs the help. and the white house staff needs the help to try to protect them and to respond to the mueller request more accurately. and, you know, it's so hard for the white house, and, again, we saw another great example of this this week, to get out from under that. the day that the president had a pretty good day on wednesday, when he had the senators down, he got them, cajoled them to get back to the senate. they worked until probably about midnight on health care. which is what he should be doing. and it is leadership he should be showing. which is important. we'll see if that has an actual ending that is good politically for the president. but it's impossible for them to escape this russia issue. >> we had molly on from "the atlantic," she said that there's a feeling among some, probably president trump's critics, that the walls are closing in, the

wheels are coming off the bus. is that a sense in the white house? or is that what it looks like from outside the white house? >> i'm not sure we can go as far as to say the feeling is the wheels are coming off. but the walls are closing in might be a better way to put it. as i said the feeling is that they understand inside the white house that robert mueller, now that these e-mails that don junior sent and had a back and forth with about this russia meeting from june of 2016, now that it's out in the open and remember we reported bob mueller didn't even know about it until it was out in the open, you know, he's in on it. and i think also that the president gaf us some tells in that remarkable "new york times" interview, which i also think, you know, now that it's friday looking back on the week is not only going to define this week but is going to be a defining moment of his presidency, i mean, never mind throwing his attorney general under the bus.

giving us some tells about where he thinks this investigation might be going just mentioning unsolicited the notion of russian condos and things of that nature. >> uh-huh. and is this eclipsing the president's agenda? it seems as though health care, you know, congress is muddling through with what to do with health care and they will have some sort of vote this coming week. the president got in a few of his points for made in america week, but obviously that wasn't the big message of the week. are they managing to do it all, or is it getting in the way? >> it's the question can they walk and chew gum at the same time. when you say they, republicans on capitol hill are trying. they're trying very, very hard. as i said, they did -- they do have kind of a sense at the end of the week of a revived purpose and intent to figure out how to come up with a replacement bill for obamacare that is actually not only okay for their

constituents but could pass, but it is very hard for them to keep focused on that when they have this giant controversy that is swirling around the president. there's just no doubt about it. >> dana, thanks so much. great to see you. >> great to see you. >> thanks for being here. meanwhile, one out of eight american women develop breast cancer during their lifetime. so this week cnn hero is one of them, as she battled the disease she saw the serious toll it took on her husband and young son and was inspired to create a way to give families a chance to reconnect and enjoy life again. meet jeanne patten cobull. >> when the cancer bomb goes off in your house, it's devastating. it's financially, physically, emotionally exhausting. there you go, you got it, girl! our hope and our goal is to put a huge embrace on families as they're going through the breast cancer journey. to have them hit the pause button and just relax and play.

>> all right. to see how she is helping rejuvenate families impacted by breast cancer, you can go to cnnheroes.com. and while you're there nominate someone that you think should be a 2017 cnn hero. john berman, you're my hero. thanks so much for being here today. >> oh, i'm holding out for hero just like bonnie tyler. allison camerota, it was great to be with you this morning even if not in the same place. "cnn newsroom" with poppy harlow picks up after a quick break. >> announcer: cnn heroes is brought to you by geico, 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. visit geico.com for a free rate quote. and by servpro. ♪ you're gonna have dizziness, nausea, and sweaty eyelids. ♪ ♪ and in certain cases chronic flatulence. ♪ no ♪ sooooo gassy girl.

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good friday morning everyone. top of the hour. i'm poppy harlow. this morning, explosive new reports of law and disorder at the white house. president trump shakes up his personal legal team as he ramps up his attack on the russia investigation. the new leadership reportedly assigned to a new mission. both the "new york times" and "the washington post" are reporting that the legal team is scrambling to discredit special counsel robert mueller and his investigators. the goal, according to both papers, expose conflicts of interest that the president says are there, try to undermine the investigation. meanwhile, "the washington post" re