>> i'm wolf blitzer. it's 9:00 p.m. in moscow and from wherever you are watching, thanks very much for joining us. is the president of the united states above the law? his team of lawyers sending conflicting messages about their strategy. vi vice -- as president trump is facing accusations that he obstructed justice. why the rnc is flocking to the embattled senate candidate. bracing for violence, allies warning the white house of the fallout of the president's potential decision. from tel aviv to jerusalem and

recognizing israel's capital. let's begin with the apparent disarray with the president's legal team right now as the russia investigation clearly intensifies. president trump's personal lawyer sparking a fierce debate after suggesting that the president can't obstruct justice because he is the president. a white house lawyer contradicting that statement saying that wouldn't be his defense and insisting they would be relying on the facts to defend the president of the united states. clearly there are dramatic developments unfolding in this investigation. that has been very, very apparent for sometime. it appears to be escalating. joining us with excellent reporting on all of this, what's the latest? >> ty cobb, the president's lawyer who is dealing directly with the special counsel's

office is saying what john dowd is partner in this. saying that's not a legal strategy. we are not relying on the notion that the president is in a sense, above the law and can't be prosecuted for this. we will rely on the facts and deal with this on the facts and it's really going to be an issue about the facts and not relying on this controversial strategy. >> it's unusual to get different legal opinions from the white house counsel that represents the president of the united states and the private attorney. >> it's unusual and not clear why they are doing that if this is more of a reaction. the clients and they have to scramble and come up with a new strategy and it could be that they are throwing out trial balloons and getting a feel for what people are going to react to it. it is unusual to see this scrambling on such an important issue. >> i suspect that is only just beginning here. thanks very much. there is growing friction in the senate right now over the russia

investigation as the ranking democrat on the judiciary committee may be questioning the commitment of the republican chairman. let's go to the congressional correspondent on capitol hill. what's the allegation here? >> dianne feinstein said the chairman committee chuck grassley may not be willing to do a deep dive into the russia meddling investigation. she sent a number of letters to everyone from carter page to roger stone and senior white house aide, rick deer born. members have have not been signed on. they talked about having a public hearing with donald trump jr. for months. that has not come to pass either. yesterday when i talked to feinstein, i asked her directly, does she have concerns about chuck grassley's approach. she said we want him to sign on. there is an effort that is subtle not to go deeply. i realized it now andy woo will have to figure out a way to deal

with this. i asked grassley about this and he pushed back and said we have been working on a number of issues. some things we work on together and he said he is not slow walking this investigation and we will have one of the three investigations going forward and a real question about whether they can come to a consensus of what happened in last year's election. >> there is another development that is disturbing for the white house. serious questions emerging about the testimony given by the former deputy national security adviser, kt mcfarland who is nominated to be the next ambassador to singapore. what are the questions? >> she testified to the senate foreign relations committee and she was asked directly by senator cory booker in written correspondence whether or not he had communications with michael flynn about kislyak.

she said i am not aware of the conversations. according to the documents unsealed friday that a senior transition official did have a conversation with michael flynn about kislyak. that was kt mcfarland that occurred in late december. i had a chance to suggest earlier if you talk to the senate foreign relations chairman bob corker. i asked what impact is this going to have on her nam natiom. >> if she did testify inappropriately, that's a big problem. i don't know. look, it's a problem. her nomination is frozen for a while until that gets worked out. see has to know that herself. we will deal with it. >> corker making it very clear that mcfarland has more questions that she has to answer to congress, but democrats are

going further saying perhaps she misled the committee. that's what cory booker said, she gave false testimony to the committee. the ranking democrat in the committee told me clearly the nomination cannot move forward until they get more answers about why there is a discrepancy between the testimony and the documents released last week. >> just to be precise, not only her nomination to be the next ambassador to singapore, but potentially she is facing a legal problem being accused of lying during congressional testimony. >> potentially. was she aware of the communication when she said i was not ark wear of the communications with michael flynn. we don't have the answers which is why she is going to have to answer more questions on capitol hill to make sure her testimony was at that point accurate even if there are discrepancies.

did she intend to lie and deceive congress? we don't have the answers yet. >> working the sources on capitol hill as he always does. let's break it down with our legal panel. jonathan is a constitutional law scholar and a former prosecutor who is the senior legal analyst. you have argued that the president's private attorney john dowd dug himself into a deep hole right now. why would this be a big problem for him and more importantly for the president? >> this is a place you don't easily come back from. this is sloppy drafting and cautious navigation. this is a very serious problem. he made a material admission. not speaking for your client, but in your client's name on twitter. it's baffling for all of us. what he did was made himself a material witness. it was bad enough he was trying to be a lawyer and a media

flack, but when you add witness to that, it's intolerable. he may have to withdraw. most attorneys would at this point. just say they are compromised as a lawyer. there is no reason why muller should take his word for it. that the president did not know about this language or that this did not reflect his state of mind. >> i'm going to agree with jonathan about specifically what the -- why the tweet is so problematic. it says in donald trump's voice, i fired flynn because i knew he lied to the fbi. that raises the question of why did you go to director comey and say go easy on flynn? you knew he committed a crime. what the white house is now saying is that the tweet was inaccurate and written by dowd and not by president trump. how this tweet came to be written and based on what information is now a fact

question of relevance to the mueller investigation. that's why he is saying that dowd may have to get out of the case. >> dowd said i am responsible for the tweet by the president and suggesting that the president may be above the law. he can't really be charged with obstruction of justice. you are laughing. >> only because when you think things couldn't get worse in terms of legal strategy, this is not the way to pivot out of the earlier tweet problem. this has been a long standing debate among law professors as to whether a president first of all can be indicted in office and whether in fact he can commit obstruction since he is the head of the executive branch. i fall on one side and argued the president could be indict and can commit obstruction of justice. there is an argument that is long debated and i hope that we won't have to answer it in this administration. the way they are going, we well could. >> richard nixon was unindicted.

>> correct. both ken starr and the whitewater investigation and the watergate investigation in their own research said we believe that the president can be indicted. rather than indict clinton and nixon, they presented evidence relevant to impeachment to the congress. that i think is a much more likely out come. i don't think mueller is going to test the constitutional question of whether a president can be indicted. it is a much safer constitutional course and lower risk for mueller to present what evidence he has. >> talking about the supreme court, the president got a win with the supreme court when they ruled he can fully implement his travel ban affecting mostly muslim majority countries. >> i have been critical of the challenge and i actually thought on the second round the supreme court was going to rule for the trump administration. it's clear that they further

solidified. this is not a ruling on the merits. they can hear the case and the standard for this type of injunction is whether the court believes you are likingly to prevail on the merits. it's a deadly standard for the court that pull out the injunctions and say not only can they go forward, but in full in terms of enforcement. >> it will be appealed, but the supreme court at least for now is on the president's sign. >> it is a good sign for the ultimate ratification of the supreme court. i was in the supreme court this morning. >> we will talk about that in a moment. >> i think by the third try, i think the administration did come up with an order that will pass legal scrutiny in the supreme court and yesterday's ruling though not on the merits is certainly a sign that the supreme court is leaning in the administration. >> an important case that you heard the oral arguments before the justices of the supreme

court and just back here in the studio from the supreme court. tell us about that. >> this is just a fascinating case about a bakery in colorado where the baker has a religious objection to same-sex marriage. a same-sex couple, two men said we want a wedding cake. please make a custom wedding cake for us. the baker said no because i have this religious objection. colorado has a law as the united states as a country does not, colorado has a law that said you can't discriminate against gay people in business. this is a case that is a challenge between the rights of the baker to express his religious and free speech views versus the right of colorado to ban discrimination against gay people. the case as so often appears to come down to anthony kennedy. four justices seem sympathetic

to the gay couple and four seem sympathetic to the baker. anthony kennedy gave conflicting signals. i would say he would come out on the side of the bakery which is the side endorsed by the religious conservatives and the trump administration. the solicitor general argued on behalf of the bakery. it's a close case and the justices were engaged. >> i would like to add it's not just the groups. i believe it is a free speech case and the collision we have been heading towards for years. can't discrimination laws and religious views and most of us view this as a free speech case. anthony kennedy is strong on both gay rights and free speech and he will be the turning point in the case. >> sooner rather than later what the justices have decided. thank you very much. accusing the former campaign chairman of violating his bail and contacting a russian.

you will hear what paul manafort, the former chairman allegedly did and the world is warning the president of the united states over the looping decision to potentially move the united states embassy and israel to reruse elements. we we are now learning there is a fiery debate going on inside the white house over this extremely sensitive issue. an about-face from republicans who are now running back to support roy moore in alabama despite the molestation and assault allegations against them. their reasoning and what it means if he wins the senate seat. stay with us. cancer challenges us.

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phone with several middle eastern leaderses including abbas to inform him about moving from tel aviv to jerusalem. let's go to ian who is joining us right now. clearly the administration has been warned by multiple allies from the backlash. what's the reaction you are getting from the israelis and the palestinians? >> really a split. you have palestinians who are coming out strongly warning of potential slashes and violence and destabilizing of the region if this move goes forward. on the other side you have the israelis and you heard from the mayor of jerusalem who welcomed any movement and for a long time israeli officials have enthusiastically advocated for

this move. it's not just these leaders warning them of the consequences recently. we know that the king of jordan spoke with president trump and he suppress stressed that the adaptation will have serious ramifications on the security and the stability. we know that the palestinians have called for three days of protest. the consulate and the embassies and the missions around the region have beefed up security. we need to say that the president hasn't announced this yet. there is time and 11th hour pressure being put on him by regional leaders and we know that the french president reached out warning him of this move. it really will come down to the president. is he going to fulfill this promise or going to listen to

regional leader who is have been warning him about making the move to jejerusalem. >> thanks very much from jerusalem. let's bring in michelle kosinski. the fear among a lot of experts is this could further complicate the israeli-palestinian peace process which is not exactly moving along. >> to say the least complicated. if not undermine it all together. that's what king abdullah told the president. this could have serious ramifications. the u.s. is supposed to be a lead or this peace process. you have multiple leaders in the region and elsewhere warning the president and the white house that this could undermine the process. it could undermine the u.s.'s role in this. what we are hearing from foreign government is why do this now?

they are confounded by the timing of this. if the status is going to stay the same, if the president is going to announce that the capital of israel being jerusalem and we are going to move the embassy at an indeterminate time and sign the waiver, the u.s. embassy will be in tel aviv. if that's the ultimate results in this waiver-signing process, why do this now? we are hearing that over and over again. >> the president as a candidate repeatedly said he would move the embassy to jerusalem like other candidates have said and recognize reruse elements as the capital. one argument i heard is that the russian foreign ministry in april did issue a statement and didn't get a lot of and the un

ara proved officials as the capital of the state. in this context we view the west as the capital of israel. what if the president said yes, east jerusalem will be the capital and palestine and west jerusalem is the capital of israel. >> we are expecting something like that. we don't know how far it's going to go. we know from the sources that there is concern in the white house. each debate within the white house. as late as last night. potentially hours from a decision. there is that conversation within the white house as to how this should play out. does the president make this a sort of split capital situation?

does he designate parts as down the road with a palestinian capital. does he try to temper this in other ways? maybe he will talk about the needing to be a two-state solution. for all of that and all they can try to balance, the question is going to be how much is that going to assuage the enormous tensions? >> good point and we will see how far the president goes. does he call for a two-state solution or does he differentiate between east jerusalem and say the u.s. will move to west jerusalem and recognize that is the capital? these are issues being debated and discussed as we are speaking at the late moment that the president made up his mind on all of the above. thanks so much for that report. is the president of the united states above the law? a member of the house judiciary

will sond to the president's lawyer claiming that a president can't obstruct justice. robert mueller's team told a judge that the former trump campaign chairman violated that bail by contacting a russian. you will hear the reason and why experts are shaking their heads.

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was ghost writing an op ed as recently as last week with political use for a russian who has ties to the service. explain what manafort did wrong and how potentially it could affect his bail agreement. >> the biggest implication is that this is chances for bail could be out the window. they ordered all parties not to make any statement to the press that could prejudice the case in some way. they uncovered a draft editorial that related to the political work in the ukraine and he was writing it as recently as last week. he was working with a russian business associate believed to have ties to a russian intelligence service. they didn't reveal the consent or the name of the publication, but they said it was clearly done to influence the public's opinion of manafort.

this comes just after manafort's lawyers were working on the verge of a mail agreement that could have freed him from house arrest. let's look at the details by putting up over $11 million worth of property in virginia, florida, and new york. he would be allowed to travel freely to among those states and come off of gps monitoring. now prosecutors are pushing back on the deal. they consistently argued manafort is a flight risk and both are gearing up for a court appearance on december 11th. wolf? >> how much is this russia investigation costing so far? >> according to figures provided by the justice department, nearly 7 million has been spent on the russia investigation from may to september alone. there are different buckets at play. $3.2 million in expenses for robert mueller's team from printers to salaries as well as additional $3.5 million spent by

other law enforcement perm who don't work directly for mueller, but have been working on the investigation. that would have been incurred anyway. we expect another update in the spring. wolf? >> thanks very much reporting for us. let's dig deeper to the threats of this russia investigation. this is the rhode island democrat and a key member of the house judiciary and foreign affairs committee. thanks for joining us. let's get to the sensitive issues. the private attorney said there is no case for obstruction because the president is the highest law enforcement officer in the united states. what do you think of that conclusion? >> it's absurd. we have been taught since we were young children that no one in america is above the law. there is no exception to commit the crime of obstruction of justice because you are the president. there is no basis to claim that the president is no required to

not obstruct justice. there is no basis for it. the fact that the attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer and have been guilty of obstructing justice in the past. there is no basis. the president is not permitted to interfere or impede or stop an ongoing investigation, period. >> what the white house counsel said there is no such interpretation that he supports even though john dowd, the private attorney made that case. the president has we have reported, congressman, knew that his former national security adviser michael flynn misled the fbi in his interview before he went ahead and fired james comey, the fbi director. does this stoke the fires from your perspective of possible impeachme impeachment? >> it's important information. if the president knew an individual had lied to the fbi

and after learning that, suggesting that the fbi director ought to lead this go or stop the investigation, that has the makings of obstruction of justice. the special counsel has more work to do and it's to make sure his investigation continues uninterrupted with no interference and has the resources in necessary to do this work and get to the facts where they lead us. this is very, very disturbing that the president of the united states according to his own tweet although he later said he didn't tweet it, acknowledging that he fired michael flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. after learning that, he had a conversation in which he asked the fbi director to let this thing go with flynn. those have all the markings of obstruction of justice and mr. mueller's team will continue to generate the evidence surrounding this. that seems like obstruction of justice to me.

>> do you believe the president and house republicans are actually interfering with the investigation? >> as we know, there has been reporting that the president reached out to senators in an effort to try to stop this investigation. we know that the president's public pronouncements have been to diminish or ridicule or attack the fbi and they are doing this work to raise uphilluphill on hillary clinton. he doesn't want this thing to perceive that he fires director comby and said in a candid mission that the russia thing was on his mind when he did it and yucks it up in the oval office with russian officials after he fired the director responsible for the investigation. these are all pieces you start putting together that feel like the president does not want this investigation to continue. you have to wonder why. what is he afraid of?

mr. mueller is professional and has a great team. they will demonstrate they live in a country that respects the rule of law and the responsibility that the special counsel has to get to the facts. >> on another issue, you remember the foreign affairs committee and president trump called the authority today and indicated he intends to keep this campaign promise to move the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. angry reaction from turkey. they joined saudi arabia, france, jordan and others to voice serious concerns about any such move. how do you see it? what would this change mean? >> i think for me, jerusalem is the cap on israel and the embassy should be there. one day i hope that is the case. what i think this will be viewed as is a unilateral move and the department sent out warnings to the embassies around the worldan

'tis pating reaction to this. we are in a moment when they restarted the peace process. you are not going to restart when you make a move like this at the beginning. people perceive the united states and take a position on an important issue. this will be resolved in a resolution between the palestinians and the israelis. undermining our role as an honest broker is not in the interest of the united states. it's not in the interest of the world. it's a mistake to take this role, particularly as you try to restart the peace process and i think it's concerning. >> congressman, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> in other news, he is accused of molesting a teen girl and harassing young women. roy moore may be elected to the united states senate a week from today. he just got back a major supporter. stand by for new information. president trump declaring the republican party is united as he

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order your kit at ancestrydna.com the alabama senate race is about to get more contentious. steve bannon will be campaigning for roy moore later tonight and sources tell us he plans to bring and i'm quoting, fire and fury. despite multiple allegations of sexual assault pursuing relationships with teen girls, moore is receiving support from president trump and the republican national committee. just moments ago, the president criticized his opponent, the democrat, roy jones. >> i think he will do very well.

we don't want a liberal democrat this. believe me. we want strong borders and stopping crime and the things we represent and we don't want to have a liberal democrat that is controlled by nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. we don't want that for alabama. >> the words didn't deter doug jones who takes aim at roy moore. >> i damn sure believe i have done my part to ensure that men who hurt little girls should go to jail and not the united states senate. >> let's discuss the editor at large at cnn politics. only a few weeks ago, they said no roy moore and they decided they were not going to spent any money. now there is a reversal.

>> this is a flip flop that is easily explained. the election is in a week. roy moore is not going to dropout of the race. i don't think he ever was. the efforts were more. this is a guy twice removed as a state supreme court justice. one time removed and ran again and won. he is not walking away. that's a real possibility that he is going to win. you see the rnc trying to get right with both donald trump and roy moore at some level and not wanting an enemy. it is the party committee. mitch mcconnell who survived and got to this point in his political live and leadership by being a pragmatist. this is not the scenario mitch mcconnell wants, but he is trying to make the best he can with it.

>> the president fully supporting roy moore right now. >> he was going to decide and not going to alabama, and he is going to pensacola, florida which is the biggest media market in alabama the friday before the election. i would be shocked if he doesn't talk about roy moore. he was throwing his weight behind him and he said go get them. clearly he made the decision about before the rnc did. what they are seeing is that if you look at the poll, all but a couple, roy moore is going to win. if you talk to republicans, they think listen, roy moore is going to win and he will get in and he will be expelled from the senate and republicans will have the opportunity to name another republican. that's a lot of ifs. the fact is by throwing in the lot with him -- >> it's an awkward moment for a lot of republicans.

mitt romney and roy moore in the senate would be a stain on the gop and the nation. no majority is worth losing honor and integrity. a lot of other republicans feel the same way. >> if you gave 52 senators, if you gave 48 of them true syrum, they would say something along the lines. a bunch of them have said something timular to that. mitch mcconnell said we will let the voters of alabama decide. romney is in a position where he could say we should never do this. connell doesn't have the luxury. roy moore may well be coming to the senate in let's say eight days a time after the election. i'm with julie on this. the idea particularly in

washington where if roy moore wins, we will expel him. let me remind viewers, the last senator expelled was in 1862. for support of the confederacy. maybe that will happen, but it is very difficult for republicans to lead an expulsion effort right after voters in the state that roy moore is representing, let's say they give him a victory, there is no way they can say they didn't know the whole story. they got the information and they will choose what to do with it. >> that was the turn about for mitch mcconnell, we will let the voters of alabama decide. >> let the voters of alabama decide. >> to your point earlier, it is not a matter of principal. there are a lot of republicans and mitch mcconnell said a lot of things along these lines that he wouldn't vote for roy moore and they decided that is not

going to be the governing factor. >> i think some of it too is just the train is coming down the tracks. are you standing in front of it? if you talk to people on the state, you are hard pressed to find someone who said roy moore is going to lose. he still could. >> more we need to discuss and the surreal interview. jon conyers announces his retirement from the u.s. house of representatives as he faces sexual harassment allegations. billy bush is speaking out about the "access hollywood" videotape, telling the president of the united states enough is enough. you will hear why.

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breaking news coming into cnn international olympic committee has decided to ban russia in south korea. individual athletes may be invited to compete under struck conditions. this after investigators found systematic doe systemat systemat systematic doping problems. other news, senator con conyers, longest serving african-american in history, says he will be retiring, retiring right away a mid the allegations of sexual harassment by several employees. to make the announcement today.

listen to this. >> i am retiring today. and i want everyone to know how much i appreciate the support, whatever they are, they are not accurate, or they are not true, and i think that they are something that i can't explain where they came from. my legacy can't be compromised or diminished in any way by what we are going through now. this too shall pass. >> all right. let's get some reaction. jul julie, what do you think of announcement? >> well, given he's the long es serving member. nancy pelosi called him icon. it's clear they decided there had to be an exit for him because of the allegations and because of the fact that he hadn't said anything to defend

himself, despite what he said on the radio show today, he was being prodded out and by saying he was retiring, not resigning, trying to maintain dignity. but a wheel surprise that he responded what were suit el cues from colleagues. >> he's 88 years old and wants his son to take the seat. >> yeah. i thought it was relatively tone deaf, candidly. he talked about the first half of the interview saying how his family is doing well, that's great but not the point. then talked about how the clip you played there, well, it's not going to taint his legacy in any way. well, certainly be part of his legacy. because as julie points out he was moved out. the speaker -- house minority leader nancy pelosi the head of the democrat congressional campaign committee asked for him to resign. and then the son endorsing the

son, his son is 27 years old, never elected official office, that would be great but not to be great, not actually a drain the swamp move. i'm resigning but my son here is great is just sort of odd. >> well, there are a lot of odd things going on right now. thanks, guys, very much. once again, awaiting the white house briefing. white house briefing any moment now. this a mid new revelations in the russia investigation and the president's for roy moore. stay with us. cannot live without it.

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find your awesome, and change the way you wifi. letter in for brooke baldwin ch. and just in gallop latest prove showing president trump approval rating is at 35%. you have 58% of disapproval. and has his approval as well for 35%. 58% disapproving among registered voters. i want to go to senior white house correspondent jim acosta. so jim, not good numbers for the president as he's hoping for here in not too long a big legislative victo