the nothing? jeanne moos, cnn. >> jobs, jobs, jobs. >> reporter: new york. >> thank you for joining us. watch "outfront" any time, anywhere. go to cnn. see you back here tomorrow night. "ac 360" begins right now. ♪ good evening. we begin tonight with the president saying today that the russia investigations are a form of mania cooked up by president trump's opponents in an effort to undermine him but it wasn't president trump who said that. it was russian president vladimir putin in his annual end of the year conference in moscow. putin praised president trump saying he's made a number of achievements. >> translator: this is all dreamed up by people who are in opposition to trump so as to make sure that everybody thinks that what he's doing, what he's working at is illegitimate. >> as you know, the united states intelligence agencies are

unanimous in this conclusion that russia launched an unprecedented attack during the 2016 presidential campaign and almost certainly are going to try to do it again a clear threat to national security and american democracy. something the leader of a country under attack surely would want to address. but tonight there's new reporting from "the washington post" that says not only does president trump continue to reject evidence of russia meddling to support him, he doesn't even want to hear about it. according to "the washington post," current and former officials say the president's daily brief is, quote, often structured to avoid upsetting him with intelligence related to russia sometimes just in the written assessment, not brought up in the room. when former senior official told "the post" if you talk about russia's meddling, it takes the briefing off the rails. considering the implications of that for a second, the people who brief the president of the united states about a direct attack on this country have to be careful about what they say about the country that did it because it will upset president

trump. now, again, the meddling in this election isn't some conspiracy theory. all of the u.s. intelligence agencies say that it happened. so considering that and this newark ton post reporting, it is worth looking again at what president trump said to reporters last month after meeting with putin. quote, i just asked him again. he said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. he did not do what they are saying he did." he also said every time he sees me i didn't do that he a i really believe that when he tells me that. he means it but he says i didn't do that. i think he's very insulted by it, if you want to know the truth." now, one could take that as the president being worried about th. keep in mind, this comment came -- his first comment set off a firestorm of controversy. so this next comment after that and has more than a whiff of damage control. >> i believe that he feels that he and russia did not meddle in

the election. as to whether i believe it or not, i'm with our agencies, especially as currently constituted with their leadership, i believe in our intel agencies, our intelligence agencies, i've worked with them very strongly. >> so to be fair, that last statement does sort of track with what he said about a year ago just after he was elected but with the caveat. first, here's that statement. >> as far as hacking, i think it was russia but i think we also get hacked by other countries and other people. >> well, the new reporting in "the washington post" says that the president immediately regretted saying what you just heard him say. his inner circle pleading with him to acknowledge russia's interference in the election but after that he told aides, quote, it's not me. it wasn't right. intelligence leaders testified before the senate intelligence committee. >> the assembled leadership of

the intelligence committee, do you believe the 2017 intelligence community assessment accurately characterized the extent of russian activities in the 2016 election and its conclusion that russia intelligence agencies were responsible for the hacking and leaking of information and using this information in order to influence our elections? a simple yes or no would suffice. >> i do. yes. >> yes, senator. >> yes, i do. >> yes. >> yes. >> it's been seven months since those six yeses. "the washington post" says that the president has never convened a cabinet meeting about russian interference or what to do about it. never. not once. one former high-ranking trump administration official tells "the post," there's an unspoken understanding at the national security council not to raise the issue because that would acknowledge its validity which the president would take as an affront. keeping them honest, a threat should jump one man's feelings

especially if that man is the president of the united states. jeff zeleny joins us now from the white house. has the white house responded to this "washington post" report? >> anderson, the white house did not officially respond to the report and went all day without a clarification or explanation. i did go to several administration officials asking them point by point about it and they pointed me back to that piece of sound you just played a short time ago about the president's acknowledgement back in november in vietnam during his trip there saying that, yes, he agrees with the u.s. intelligence community, finally. what they did not comment on and we asked them these questions. they did not respond to, the fact that the president has gone months, in fact, almost a year without acknowledging as much as everyone in this town has that russia meddled in the election. but there is a sense here, this "washington post" sort of story lays bear, a sense that we've heard for a long time here, anderson. why the president-elect and then

president did not acknowledge this early on, start a blue ribbon commission or something of the kind and say, we are going to get to the bottom of this and then move on. many of his republican advisers think that would have been a better way to handle it. but he was always concerned about seeing his election sort of delegitimatize. but at the end of the day here, the year here, this is all front and center. as for an official comment, the white house had none. >> i understand president trump and putin spoke today. do we know what they discussed? i assume election interference -- well, i don't know, maybe it didn't come up. >> reporter: as far as we know, it did not come up. we were told the president, president trump, initiated this phone call to thank president putin for praising his strong economic progress and success as he did in that press conference earlier today in moscow and they also talked about north korea. but as far as we know, at least it's what the white house is

saying, election interference did not come up. >> wait, the president initiated this to thank him for the positive comments that he said today? >> reporter: we are told that president trump initiated this call and he did thank him for praising the strong economic performance and that is what president putin did during his press conference here. as far as we know, what we're being told here, the white house, president trump, initiated this phone call. >> jeff zeleny, thank you very much. just before air i spoke with mark warner, chair of the intelligence committee. someone who is privy to the most sensitive intelligence matters, i wonder what you make of this "washington post" report that says the president doesn't want to deal with interference and that intelligence has to talk around it. >> well, it's very troubling to me and because we have complete consensus that the russians massively intervened in our election to try to help mr. trump and hurt hillary clinton. we know they touched 21 states

in terms of our electoral system. we know they used social media in ways that were unprecedented to, frankly, misrepresent and try to splinter our country. and i've asked repeatedly in all of the trump appointees acknowledge that this has happened, that when we ask, you know, who's in charge, we have no whole of government response because the failure of this president to acknowledge the seriousness of this threat or to designate someone in the white house to run this effort because if one thing we've learned, whether it's the russians' efforts in the united states or their efforts in france or their efforts now becoming apparent in the brexit vote, this is a great rate of return that the russians get on this misinformation and disinformation and they will be back and the president's failure to take this seriously enough or have someone to lead a whole of government effort to top it from

happening again, i believe, is a very serious national security threat. >> "the post" says there's an unspoken understanding that within the national security council to raise the matter is to acknowledge its havevalidityt the president would find -- you can't even raise it. >> you know, anderson, i can't square that mindset because we've had every one of the trump senior intelligence officials come in and acknowledge on a repeated basis how serious this threat is and yet if you don't have someone from the white house who is at the end of the day with 17 different intelligence agencies with this threat having -- taking a variety of forms, you know, you've got to have thisriven, frankly, out of the white house to have a response so that they're not back in 2018. >> what have your colleagues on

the intelligence committee told wolf blitzer earlier this evening that based on what is on the record so far regarding donald trump jr., he believes there was clearly, quote, an intent to collude. do you agree with that? >> listen, anderson, i'm going to go ahead and wait until we have all the testimony in. i've tried to make sure we keep this a bipartisan investigation. i do believe that a number of the principles, including donald trump jr., that individual members are going to want to have a chance to question these individuals before i reach any final conclusions. >> so you want donald trump jr. to come back? >> absolutely. i think the staff did a great job. but, you know, not just mr. trump jr. but jared kushner, mr. cohen, trump's lawyer, a number of other figures. >> your investigation is obviously separate from the special counsel. i'm curious what you make of the accusations of bias against robert mueller.

they seem to be coming from the right-wing media. >> anderson, frankly, i'm befuddled by some of this. you've got -- let's go back and look at this. jim comey, who he fired, a long-time known republican. christopher wray, appointed by president trump, has given, i think, in excess of $40,000 to republican candidates. rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, well-known republican appoint tea and bob mueller, who is extraordinarily well respected but an appoint tea of a republican president and is a republican, the fact that all of these senior law enforcement officials are republicans does not, in my mind, mean that i should question their integrity and the idea that some of mr. trump's allies are, i think, grasping at straws and the one individual that did seem to have a negative view of mr. trump, my information was that as soon as that came to mueller's attention, he immediately fired

him. so i find it beyond hypocritical some of the comments made by some of the president's allies. >> senator warner, thank you for your time. >> thank you, anderson. coming up, new information tonight about the fbi agent who sent text messages about his personal feelings about then candidate trump and what role he had in the mueller investigation. that is next. also ahead, from her days on "the apprentice" to her stint at the white house, the curious case of omarosa newman. with advil's fast relief, you'll ask, "what pulled muscle?" "what headache?" nothing works faster to make pain a distant memory. advil liqui-gels and advil liqui-gels minis. what pain?

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mueller's team for a short time until mueller learned about text messages the agent had sent about his personal feelings about then-candidate donald trump. what more do you know about the role this fbi agent played and in the hillary clinton investigation? >> anderson, the central narrative is that peter strzok's text messages show political bias but we've seen 375 messages exchanged between he and another top lawyer at the fbi and they're trashing a variety of political figures, everyone from senator bernie sanders to chelsea clinton to house speaker paul ryan. so trump wasn't an anomaly there. we're also learning from those who worked with strzok that he's a senior counterintelligence agent and didn't allow his private, political opinions to influence his work and it wasn't as if he was some rogue agent overseeing the clinton probe. he was being over seen by top

officials some with republican leanings, anderson. >> what about his role in the flynn investigation? >> so earlier this year my colleagu colleague evan perez said that they were not in favor of pressing charges against him but we're also now learning that peter strzok in particular who was part of that counterintelligence team investigating any links between the trump campaign and russian officials was actually among those voices who didn't view flynn's answers as purposefully false at the time. so strzok's texts about trump may show one thing but his actions clearly a bit more nuanced, anderson. >> laura jarrett, thanks very much. joining me to talk more about this, former federal prosecutor, jeffrey toobin and criminal defense attorney alan dershowitz author of "trumped up." jeff, does it matter to you one way or the other?

>> not a bit. we do not investigate the political views of fbi agents, period. that is a bedrock principle of how law enforcement works in the united states and all this is is a transparent political attempt to disable the mueller investigation by people who want it to fail. >> professor dershowitz, do you agree? >> well, it may be a transparent attempt to do that but it really does matter. we don't want people being in charge of investigations who are perceived to be bias even if there's no actual bias and some of these e-mails show a real hatred toward donald trump and a real preference for hillary clinton. i have to tell you, this guy should have recused himself. once though e-mails were sent, he had to know that they might be seen and they would create a perception of bias and they give ammunition to the other side and any criminal defendant whose indicted as a result of his input will be able to make

challenges. they probably won't succeed but they'll be made. >> remember how federal law enforcement works in this country? it's run by the united states attorneys who are appointed by senators, in effect, who appoint their campaign contributors, their friends, the u.s. attorney in manhattan for many years was our colleague preet ba rar ra who was an aide to chuck schumer. we don't look into that. that's not part of our legal system and here you have a situation where, you know, if the standard is what offends sean hannity, there's nothing that's going to satisfy him and that's why we don't investigate the political views of the people who are enforcing the law. >> i agree with that. but when you see these e-mails coming out, not as the product of an investigation but of a legal request, i have to tell you, it offended me.

i'm not sean hannity. i wish it hadn't happened because it gives so much ammunition to the other side. it may actually have an impact on the election -- on the prosecution. mueller may be saying, look, everybody thinks i'm so biased now and my people are so biased against trump that i have to have a higher threshold before i actually do anything. it could have an impact on close, subtle prosecutorial decisions. that's why prosecutors should not be sending those kinds of e-mails. you -- >> it wasn't a prosecutor. it was an fbi agent. i think that's a big difference. strzok is not making any decisions about who gets indicted. that's up to mueller. and mueller is beyond reproach. >> you should at least have a rule that says when you're an investigator or an fbi agent or prosecutor, you do not send e-mails expressing extremely negative views about the person

you're investigating or extremely positive views -- >> first of all, those texts -- they were not e-mails, they were sent before this investigation even began. so he wasn't investigating donald trump at that point. >> all i'm suggesting is that we should now -- if i were mueller, i would bring in an ethics expert who was beyond reproach and have the ethics expert look at the totality of the investigator for us and make sure we're not going to see any more of these because if we do, the credibility of the justice system will be influenced and credibility is extremely important. you were right, we shouldn't determine this by hannity but we shouldn't determine it by toobin either. >> you have a situation where you want to look at every text sent by any member of the steve, every paralegal, every secretary in the office and then you -- someone will decide whether they have enough bias. that is madness.

if he were to take this issue more seriously and say, look, when you make appointments of people to investigate a case, you don't take into consideration whether democrats or republicans but you do take into consideration whether they have expressed views, hateful views about the person under investigation. that's the distinction and that's the distinction that the public cares about. >> you're saying he didn't take it seriously. he got rid of the guy. >> well, he got rid of the guy and didn't make it public until it came out through another way. >> well, so what? >> look, i'm not blaming mueller. i'm saying for the future, i think it's important to make sure that nobody on this investigative team has expressed views that are absolutely hateful and show a bias against the subjects of the investigation. >> well argument both sides. professor dershowitz, jeff toobin as well. kind of like harvard law school. up next, republicans have a week left to pass their tax

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well, time is running out for republicans to pass tax reform next week before leaving town for the holidays republicans already have a razor sharp margin and can only stand to lose three votes and have key senators voicing concerns. you've been talking to republican sources. where is this bill actually right now? >> reporter: anderson, today was a great example that a deal in principle does not a final bill make. right now you're seeing various senators, four, mostly, raising concerns about the potential deal going forward. that means that there's a lot more work to do. you have senator susan collins voted yes the first time around. republican aides saying they feel like she's in a good place but there's work to do there. jeff flake had concerns about the expensing provision in the original bill. that still needs to be addressed you have senator bob corker who voted no the first time around. his rationale on deficits, they have not been compared to the previous bills. the expectation while senators

are still working with him is that he will end up there as well. and then you have senator marco rubio. his issue isn't new but straight declaration that he was a no on the current bill, that kind of underscored the problems that they are facing, especially give ebb the timeline. >> does that come to a surprise to republican leaders and could he be bluffing as a negotiation tactic? >> reporter: i think that's the big question that republican leaders have. he said, do you really think he will be the one to sink this kind of once in a generation opportunity for republicans? but the reality is this. republican leaders were surprised. the issue isn't new. senator rubio brought this up when the senator was considering this issue, the idea of expanding the refundability of the child tax credit, basically, the money you could get beyond your income tax liability is something that he's been pushing for regularly. but the idea that he would finally draw a red line was a shock to some. now, several aides have told me they are working with senator rubio behind the scenes right now. they do plan to add more money.

the big question now is, they can't give him everything he wants. it's too expensive, at least according to the republican negotiators. so can they give him enough at this point? anderson, to your point, nobody actually thinks he will sink this bill on his own but the reality is he drew the red line and they're responding to it behind the scenes right now. >> phil mattingly, thank you. i spoke with ohio governor john kasich for his take on it. governor, the consensus tax bill, do you support it as it stands now and if not i'm wondering what change there should be, in your opinion. >> well, i do support the tax bill. i do think that marco rubio saying that we need to do more for the hardworking lower income folks is exactly right. anderson, here's what it gets down to in a nutshell. our corporate taxes are too high and it's causing companies to move production to other places. secondly, there's a provision to

help small businesses. we wiped out basically all small business taxes in ohio on income because we want to spur small business. now, the thing that i am concerned about is the rising level of debt. >> minority leader schumer is calling for doug jones to be seated before the tax bill, democrats are citing scott brown being seated before the affordable care act. do you believe republicans should wait until jones is seated? >> anderson, it's a little too late now. this is -- this is a partisan bill. there are ways that they could tweak this bill but i'm not down there. if they had the corporate rate a little harder and had more for t lower income people, that makes sense. when it gets to this point in time, they are going to pass it as quickly as they can. >> right. >> i just hope they can figure out some ways to deal with the rising debt that this bill will cost. >> i want to ask you about what happened in alabama, doug jones'

win. i'm wondering what it means for the republican party and where you see the republican party. do you think roy moore's loss was a repudiation of president trump, more about moore himself, a combination of the two? >> well, i think, anderson, when you look at this, you look at alabama and you can even look in virginia. i think the party is losing the future, as we're standing here today. i mean, the future are young people. young people right now are not inclined to vote republican. overwhelmingly against. the suburban groups that republicans have counted on, we saw it in virginia. we're seeing it now -- we saw it in alabama. in other words, the party needs to have an agenda that is not reflected on yesterday but on tomorrow and, in addition, if you're going to be a party that's going to be narrow, that's going to try to close, shrink everything, whether it's anti-immigration, anti-trade, that's not going to make it. and in my judgment, and here in the 21st century, we want an

entreprene entrepreneuriel fast-moving economy, that's where the democrats get it wrong because a big, big government snuffs out entrepreneurship. we need to be concerned about the environment and be involved with immigrants and trade. and by the way, we can't be standing around any of the people, i don't think in my party, every -- not every day but often hearing threats about nuclear war. >> so you really believe the republican party is losing the future. people pointed to alabama and virginia as seeing a sort of democratic wave growing. do you see a democratic wave growing among voters? and what should the republican do about it? >> well, there's -- well, you've got to change. you've got to start being more positive. you've got to address the issues that people care about. if i'm a truck driver and i'm going to lose my job to autonomous vehicles, what am i going to do next which requires an entire change in the way in

which we educate people. that means you don't have time for politics. you've got to get out there and bring about the changes. the party needs to be speaking to the voters about the future, not be stuck in solving problems of their way in the past. and anger, that's not good. pitting one group against the other, that's sort of the two paths that i've always spoken about. yeah, there's problems. but we can fix them. let's become a party that can fix problems, not one that runs away or blames somebody else for it. now, the size of the wave, we don't know. i will say this. if democrats think that people across in virginia or over there in alabama are voting because they got some great ideas, they're making a huge mistake. because i can't quite -- i can't tell you what the democrats are for. and what i hear bernie talk about is big government, a hard move to the left, the government doing more things. that's not going to work in the 21st century. so they're the beneficiary of

republicans kicking the ball out of bounds but you cannot over time be the party who takes advantage of somebody else's mistakes. >> governor kasich, appreciate your time. up next, she's leaving the white house and seems to be changing her tune. omarosa manigault newman seems to be talking about a tell-all. nick was born to move. 3 toddlers won't stop him. and neither will lower back pain. because at a dr. scholl's kiosk he got a recommendation for our custom fit orthotic to relieve his foot, knee, or lower back pain, from being on his feet. dr. scholl's. born to move.

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omarosa manigault newman is speaking out after her announcement that she's leaving her post at the white house. she's a reality contestant-turned white house aide. she served as director of communications office and was charged with african-american outreach. her resignation is effective on january 20th. with her being the only african-american in the white house drawing a high salary -- >> and continue to work for.

i don't have a number directly in front of me specifically not african-american but i can say, again, we have a very diverse team at the white house, certainly a very diverse team in the press office and it's something that we strive for every day, is to add and grow, to be more diverse and more representative of the country at large and we're going to continue to do that. >> cnn's abby phillips is joining us from the white house. abby, has senator sanders gotten back to anyone about specific numbers when it comes to diversity in the white house? >> reporter: she hasn't, anderson. we haven't heard much from the white house about that after the briefing but we did our own number crunches and to lay it out here for you, when omarosa left, she left as assistant to the president, the second highest level of seniority in this white house. they make about $180,000 a year. there are only about two dozen people with that title. with her gone, there are no african-americans gone with that seniority in the west wing. among cabinet level officials,

senior white house officials, the only african-american official left is hud secretary ben carson. the white house has been criticized now for the lack of diversity in the cabinet level officials and among its senior staff. however, anderson, sarah huckabee sanders did point out to cnn that they are very brought of diversity in other areas. they pointed out the press shop, which is predominantly female and the white house is saying those folks count, too. >> sarah sanders said omarosa was coming back to the white house. do we know why? >> reporter: her badge was taken and you don't necessarily need a badge to get into the white house but i asked whether she's expecting to be working until january 20th and it's unclear what she was here for today.

the white house is trying not to answer too many questions about this issue, which has spilled into the media in part because of omarosa's own public statements. >> abby phillip, thank you. this morning, she spoke with abc news and hinted she might write a tell-all book. >> there were a lot of things that i observed during the last year that i was very unhappy with, that i was very uncomfortable with, things that i observed, that i heard, that i listened to. when i have a chance to tell my story, michael, quite a story to tell. as the only african-american woman in this white house, as a senior staff and assistant to the president, i have seen things that have made me uncomfortable, that have affected me deeply and emotionally and when i can tell my story, it is a profound story that i know the world will want to hear. >> that's what you call a book

pitch. omarosa is the only african-american at the white house drawing a top salary. there are questions why she's still being paid until next month. >> reporter: you said she'll stay on -- omarosa will stay on through january 20th. why are the taxpayers continuing to pay her salary for another month if she's no longer here? >> i'm not going to say any further. we're not going to get deeper into personal matters. we put out a statement. the president likes omarosa, thanked her for her service and, again, she'll be here later this afternoon so she's resigned from her position but there's really nothing left to add on that front. >> why is she still on the payroll for another month? is that normal? >> there's a lot of different protocols that take place in the government. that's part of the process. if you want to reach out to hr, they may be able to walk you through that. i haven't been through the process myself so i can't speak to it from firsthand. >> omarosa has been a polarizing

figure with a history of feuds. here's randi kaye. >> reporter: omarosa manigault newman thrives on conflict. in fact, she's built a career out of it. >> every woman has a bitch switch. they have to learn how to turn it on and how to turn it off. >> do you know how to turn yours office? >> absolutely. >> that was her on the wendy williams show in 2008 promoting her book, "the bitch switch." she quickly became the star villain on "the apprentice." omarosa has created a name for herself, literally. she's often referred to as simply omarosa, as if she were cher or madonna and her attitude always on display. during a segment on fox business news, the gloves came off after

another guest corrected her for mispronouncing her name. >> it's tamara. >> appreciate it. >> it's the same difference. you want to come off with big boobs you mispronounce your name. >> reporter: after the election, the reality tv star turned white house aide made waves on "the view". >> i know it's got to be really hard after the last year and a half of all the things you said about donald to see him sitting in the oval office. i know it's got to be hard for you. >> reporter: in june, she took on the congressional black caucus and they took issue with her signing it as the honorable omarosa manigault. manigault newman shot back. >> they are showboating and showing their constituents by not coming to meet with the president. >> reporter: two months later, she sparred on stage at this gathering for the national association of black

journalists. >> here we go. >> reporter: back in her reality tv days, she often tangled with la toya jackson on "the apprentice". >> you're on the wrong side of omarosa today. >> reporter: and janice dickinson on "the surreal life." the tough talking manigault newman seems to be taking her queues from her former boss and a former white house official told cnn that former white house chief of staff reince priebus and his replacement, general john kelly, both were anxious to get rid of her. after her removal, she described kelly's style on abc as militaristic. >> she said she has a story to tell. i'm sure she'll be selling that story. >> we'll see. >> reporter: in response, omarosa manigault newman calling

robyn roberts petty suggesting this is now a black woman's civil war. randi kaye, cnn, new york. up next, is there a diversity problem at the white house and what did omarosa do at the white house? we'll try to find out. also, angela rye, the former executive director of the black caucus. remote controlled tens device that's drug free, wire free for deep penetrating lower back pain relief. get aleve direct therapy with $10 back and extra bucks rewards at cvs pharmacy. the world is not flat. you can't just pinch it, swipe it, or scroll it. sure, you've seen the mediterranean. but have you? how warm is brazil in february? what color is dusk in san francisco? there's a whole world out there and no other card lets you experience it like the platinum card. ♪ ♪ backed by the service and security of american express.

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more now on the departure of omarosa, who worked in the office of public liaison. she's hinting at the possibility of some sort of a book, and her exit is raising questions about diversity at the white house. joining me to discuss all this is paris dennard. also angela rye, the former executive director of the congressional black caucus.

this notion that omarosa saw things that made her uncomfortable and upset her. did you hear of that from her? >> it was a surprise to me. first it was a surprise she did that interview, secondly she was uncomfortable with things the president was doing or said. i think when you have positions of power, of influence and you want to speak truth to those people in positions of power, you should do so. i don't know that that is anything that was so egregious that she would have said that to

anybody privately. because if she had, she knows that she could have trusted us, people in her kitchen cabinet, people around her, that were her colleagues, and voiced that. now, listen i've been in the position where you're the only african-american in the room advocating for your community. got it, sometimes you have to educate people and enlighten them to different things, they're not aware of the new answer issues that go on in the community. the things she was insinuate g insinuating -- >> everything i read, it seemed to raise questions about what she was actually doing. >> i think it's important to realize a few things. her position was created for her. because of her unique abilities as an effective communicator and great confidence the president had in her. she was a director of

communications inside the office of public liaison. it's called the public engagement. they have a lot of different portfolios and groups that come out of there, she was supposed to articulate that message on behalf of the entire office. there was a decision made -- i don't know if it was omarosa's not to have an african-american in that position. she added that, she added hbcu's to her portfolio. and the president moved the position and appointed jonathan holyfield. that left her with the black community. the problem is, she was a democrat before she became a trump republican. she alienated herself with the more liberal or nonrepublican blacks she did know.

>> angela, it may be easier for black staffers to be heard in the white house with omarosa gone? >> for the few black folks that do work in the white house, they all had run-ins with omarosa and talked about how she dill gantly worked against them perhaps she didn't have the experience or training to know how to deal with. she didn't even know how to address a letter. she called her service the honorable. little did she know, even folks like valerie jarrett, who were known as the honorable, you don't reference yourself like that in a letter. there were several things. when she went to speak on behalf of donald trump and lied throughout the duration of her speech i had to take my

acceptance speech to correct every lie she said during the luncheon. it started when it became clear to people that omarosa was neither a democrat or a trump republican. but an opportunist, people can see right through that, when your plain goal is the money and attention, people will always spot that and smell it, that is why robin roberts had the bye felicia moment she had this morning. >> right, if you're pitching a job the day after you leave your job. >> right, maybe she's the first lady of a church in jacksonville. sarah sanders couldn't or wouldn't say how many senior staffers at the white house are african-american. you're a supporter of the president, diversity is important. i think most corporations need to do better. what do you make of diversity in

the white house right now? >> it depends how you want to define diversity, if you want to define it in terms of african-american african-americans it's not a good record. if you want to talk about diversity in terms of gender diversity, the white house is very diverse. there are a lot of women. many minorities, if you look at list panics, asians. it is diverse, in terms of african-americans, there could be more representation, there are african-americans serving in significant roles in the vice president's office, in the office of legislative affairs in the white house fellow's office, and there is a white house fellow dedicated to working with hbcu's in the white house. not to forget the secretary of housing and urban development. >> i always argued, any organization is better the more diverse it is. how do you see the white house? >> it's horrible and here's a

point that may be a breaking news moment tonight. i agree with steve bannon on this. he talked about the record of diversity in the white house, as it relates to people of color as abysmal. it's horrible. when you push forth the policy prescriptions that this president has pushed forth since he announced his candidacy the way he talked about latino folks, the mexican judge, the way he talked about charlott charlottesville by the way, omarosa said she was concerned with how he handled this. but when you talk about diversity, there is proof in the pudding, it's all in the numbers. and the numbers aren't there. you don't have it. >> if i could push briefly, there were a number of african-american republicans who voiced concern to me that said they wanted to serve, for

whatever reason they were blocked, many of them said they were blocked by omarosa. i hope they can get in there now and support this president. >> that's a lot of people for someone who didn't have an office in the west wing. i remember there was discussion about whether valerie jarrett -- who omarosa thought she was just like. huh? even with that, you have someone who compared herself to valerie jarrett, but didn't have the same level of access. >> angela, paris, thank you so much. >> the gop tax bill in limbo. the latest from capitol hill in a moment. ♪

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