breaking news in the russia investigation. after 24 hours of bombshell reports and developments, just in, cnn has now learned that the special counsel, robert mueller, wants to question the president's former white house chief strategist steve bannon about the firings of the fbi director james comey and national security adviser michael flynn, and the interview could happen by the end of this month. significant development indeed. let's bring in our cnn legal analyst, former special assistant to robert mueller at the department of justice, michael zeldin, and our cnn politic political correspondent sarah

murray, who helped break this story. what are you learning about mueller's interests? he clearly thinks steve bannon can help. >> that's right. obviously we've seen mueller taking on a number of higher level administration officials. we saw him bring in jeff sessions. now he's moved on to steve bannon, who's the former chief strategist at the white house. but one of the things that's interesting is when we saw bh bannon go on the hill, he refused to talk about his time at the white house whatsoever. sources expect that to be a key area of focus for mueller. specifically, what happened around the decision to fire michael flynn. what did these various advisers and the president learn about michael flynn's discussions with the russian ambassador about sanctions? what went into the decision to fire the acting attorney general sally yates? and then the decision to fire fbi director james comey. so this will be a fascinating interview. it's not at all what we saw or heard or reported on from bannon out of his hearings on the hill. >> when he was before the house intelligence committee, he was willing to answer questions about the campaign, not willing to answer any questions about the transition or the time he

served in the white house as chief strategist. but we're now told this time he's going to be answering questions on everything. >> that's right. he will not be able to invoke executive privilege when he does go in and meet with mueller the way he did on capitol hill. it does tell you that mueller believes that there could be revelations, moments bannon could shed light on that happened in the white house, both in terms of collusion, perhaps, when it comes to what flynn knew and what these various advisers knew about flynn's discussion about sanctions, but also when it comes to obstruction of justice. we know, for instance, the president's decision to fire james comey is a key area of focus and mueller's investigation into whether the president was trying to obstruct justice. >> and it could be before the end of this month, meaning next week, as early as next week. >> it could be soon. as of right now, we're not aware any firm date has been set. obviously we know steve bannon's team has been preparing for this. they're watching the news developments just like we are. they know mueller is in full swing and certainly isn't worried about bringing in high-level players at this point. >> so michael, what about the

executive privilege? to answer questions on ing ready everything and won't exert confidentiality executive privilege. >> so executive privilege resides with the president. it's the president who asserts the privilege and instructs the person who is going to give out information about the policy communications they had not to answer that question. so it's not really on bannon to decide whether something is an executive privileged communication or not. it's on the president. so we'll see whether or not the president through white house counsel or his private counsel tells bannon not to answer that question, as he said he was told during his house intelligence briefing. so we'll see about that. >> when he refused to answer questions about that nature. i want you to listen to what he said on "60 minutes" when he was asked about the president's decision to go ahead and fire comey. listen to this. >> someone said to me that you described the firing of james

comey. you're a student of history. as the biggest mistake in political history. >> that would be probably -- that would probably be too bombastic even for me but maybe modern political history. >> so you're smiling but he's obviously a very blunt guy. >> well, yeah, i might put archibald c up there as blunders by presints. cleay this is what set in motion the entire special counsel investigation. but for the president having done this, it's not likely that there would have been a need for a special counsel. there may have been a need for sessions to recuse himself because he worked on the campaign and that's what the doj regulations require, but not necessarily a special counsel. >> and i'm sure the special counsel is going to want to question him about what he said in that michael wolff book about that trump tower meeting being treasonous, that money

laundering potential i will ly e heart of all potential crime there is. they're going to want to get into all of that. >> steve bannon says in that interview that's maybe too bombastic for him, but he's obviously very colorful, very bombastic in his language, as we saw in that book. a number of his comments did raise the interest of investigators not only on capitol hill but among mueller and his team. they're going to be parsing what he said in the book. look, we know from steve bannon's testimony on capitol hill that he acknowledged that some of these things were just hie besh l hyperbole, but mueller wants know what he has the facts to back up. even if he wasn't involved in a key decision, for instance the decision to fire james comey, what was the president's mind set at the time? what were the conversations among the president's aides around him? even if he wasn't party to one of these decisions that set off so many alarms with investigators, he was in the white house, he certainly saw a lot, certainly talks to a lot of people, including the president regularly, and mueller is going to want tonow about those conversations. >> one perfect example of that is the donald junior meeting on june 9th where bannon has a

point of view about that, whether the president was informed of the meeting, whether he met the actual russians, what the president's mind set was when they were on air force one and drafting their response of statement. bannon doesn't have to have been on the ground at the time of knowledge of those facts. , that w >> that was a meeting designed to obtain dirt on hillary clinton from the russians, who showed up there. everybody stand by. there's more news we're following. the special prosecutor's desire to talk with steve bannon just one in a series of bombshells to drop in the russia probe. on the white house, the flurry of action could also be a sign that the special prosecutor's investigation may be entering its time phase. let's go to our senior white house correspondent pamela brown over at the white house. pamela, take us through these late-breaking developments. >> wolf, there's been an avalanche of russia-related headlines, much to the irritation of white house officials who want to keep the focus on the president's trip to the world economic forum in

davos. we have learned that robert mueller, special counsel, is seeking to question the president specifically on topics related to obstruction of justice, his decision to fire james comey, as well as his decision to fire former national security adviser michael flynn. the circumstances surrounding that. investigators want to learn more about the president's state of mind, his intention with the firing of those officials. in fact, we have learned, wolf, that robert mueller has interviewed james comey, the former fbi director, about the circumstances last year. he's also interviewed jeff sessions as recently as last week. of course, the attorney general, sources tell us that interview lasted for hours. jeff sessions, as we know, was involved in the decision making to fire james comey. he spoke to the president about it before it happened. so all of this is part of what robert mueller is looking at. my colleague also broke the news, wolf, that rick gates has hired a new white-collar

attorney. that's a signal that perhaps he's changing his strategy to his not guilty plea and negotiating behind the scenes with robert mueller. rick gates was a former campaign aide, trump campaign aide, close to paul manafort, who was also charged and pleaded not guilty. all of this -- as we learn all of this, wo, we're also learning about a conversation the president in the oval office with andrew mccabe, where he reportedly asked him who he voted for, and mccabe -- that made mccabe feel uncomfortable. the president has been very outspoken on twitter about that. in fact, the attorney general jeff sessions, according to sources, went to christopher wray, the fbi director, asking him to remove his top leadership, including andrew mccabe. when you look at the big picture here, now 17 former and current administration officials have now been interviewed by robert mueller. of course, the next big interview will be waiting for is the interview with the president. if and when that happens, only

time will tell, wolf. >> and maybe before the end of this month with steve bannon. then the president, presumably, will be one of the final witnesses to appear. pamela, thank you very much. pamela brown over at the white house. robert mueller could have the president in the hot seat in a matter of weeks as well. so what questions could the president face? that's coming up next. and from accuser to soul mate, the republican congressman who used taxpayer dollars to settle a sexual harassment claim has a new line of defense. and after seven days and more than 150 victims coming forward with their stories of sexual abuse, an ex-usa gymnastics doctor is now sentenced to 40 to 175 years of prison. you're going to see what happen in court. stay with us. (vo) i was born during the winter of '77. i first met james in 5th g. we got married after college. and had twin boys. but then one night, a truck didn't stop. but thanks to our forester,

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there'swhatever type ofhe end of eweekender you are,ton. don't let another weekend pass you by. get the lowest price when you book at hilton.com questioning the president, there are still many details to be worked out before the special counsel gets to interview president trump as part of the russia investigation. once again, michael zeldin is

with us, our cnn legal analyst, former special assistant to robl mueller at the justice department. so how do you see this interview with the president eventually playing out? what will they focus in on? >> i think there are five broad areas. the first one is comey. what did you think when you were going to fire comey? what did you think when you were asking for loyalty? what did you think when you called him at the first responders meeting? was all of this an effort to buy loyalty, intimidate, and when you didn't get your outcome, fire him? so i think that whole interview of comey is about obstruction of justice. that's the first primary area that if i were mueller, i would be asking about. >> i assume they'll get into the whole issue of that sensitive june 2016 meeting at trump tower in which the russians participated, supposedly providing, quoted, dirt on hillary clinton. >> that's right. that's the second area which

we'll call coordination. some people call it collusion. but it's coordination. what did the campaign do in its communications with russians, whether it be the june 9th meeting with the russians at trump tower or the communications that don junior had with wikileaks or the papadopoulos or the carter pag meetings. what was going on around that communication process. >> i assume he'll ask the president also about michael flynn, his national security adviser for a month or so, about his communications with the russians. >> that's right. so there are a couple of things about that. there are the december 22nd and december 29th conversations that flynn had with the russians about sanctions and settlements. then his potential logan act violations with respect to that. then his lies to michael pence, vice president pence, about his

communications. but that whole outreach, what was at play there and how did that come to inform the campaign about how it should be proceeding with this russia/trump campaign relationship. >> what about communication or alleged coordination with other russians? >> well, there are russians that are direct state actors, kislyak and the foreign minister. there are them. then there are the surrogates of which the u.s. intelligence agency consider wikileaks one of them. then there are all of those eight or nine participants at the june 9th meeting, some of whom are supposed to be private people but are alleged to be state actors hiding behind prate people, you know, p. >> there's also the issue of money laundering. >> that's right. money laundering is a creature of statute. it prohibits money from coming in or money going out. in this case, the allegation is

that the trump organization, the financial real estate organization, while floundering in the 1990s and mid-2000s was receiving infusions of illegal oligarch or alleged illegal russian organized crime money to keep itself afloat. don junior in 2008 gave a speech that says we don't need banks. they weren't going to get any anyway. we don't need banks because we have russians, especially in our high-end real estate ventures. so that -- bringing in to the united states of illegally sourced money is money laundering. a crime in and of itself, wolf, but also potentially an understanding of how it came to be that the trump people had contacts with russians that then ported over to the coordination question that we just talked about. >> and steve bannon, the former white house chief strategist who is about to be interviewed in

the coming days, he's the one that raised this issue of money laundering, improprieties in this new book by michael wolff. >> he said it was as plain as the hair on your face. >> chael, thanks for all of that. the president's reasons for firing james comey at the fbi have changed over time. i want to remind our viewers right now what he said last spring during an interview with nbc news. >> i was going to fire regardless of recommendation. he made a recommendation. he's highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy. the democrats like him. the republicans like him. he made a recommendation. but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey, knowing there was no good time to do it. and in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.

>> all right. with me right now, our cnn political analyst david gregory and chief political analyst gloria borger. the news we broke at the top of the hour, that steve bannon in the coming days is going to sit down with robert mueller and his team and answer all the questions they have. >> right. which is what he did not do in congress, and he has to answer all of bob mueller's questions. i think what mueller wants to ask him about is the comey firing and what happened with flynn. what did people in thehite house really kno about flynn and flynn meeting with the fbi? i mean, bannon was not at new jersey that weekend that the president decided to fire comey. but it is very clear that he has been involved in discussions with people about what occurred that weekend. and there's a group of people inside the white house and outside the white house who say

that, for example, jared kushner was a driver of that firing. what will bannon say about that? why would people believe that kushner was a driver of that? why would he have done that? kushner, i will add here, denies that he was a driver, says it was the president's decision. what did they know inside the white house about flynn's conversations with the russians, about his interviews with the fbi? these are all things that bannon can shed some light on. >> and bannon is the one in this new book, as we've pointed out. he raised the possibility of money laundering that should be investigated as well. sf >> right. and even though he and paul manafort were not there at the same time, he's still a senior adviser to the president then goes inside the white house. certainly knew a lot of people who were having conversations about things that manafort might have been involved in. so look, bannon has some credibility questions, some credibility problems, but that's not as important. if you were doing a story on

this or if you're running an investigation, there are things he might be able to confirm or provide some insight on. remember how this is all working. there are lower level folks that investigators are talking to. they get information and they then go up the ladder to talk to people as that information comes in. so he becomes incredibly unpredictable and perhaps very important for any case that they bring against the president or anyone around the president. >> and sooner rather than later, probably sooner, the president himself is going to have to sit down with mueller and his team and start answering questions. >> right. his attorneys, i think, would prefer to have the questions be answered on paper. i think the question we have now is whether it would, in fact, be acceptable to the special counsel. i doubt it. i mean, i think you have to hear from trump. >> can you imagine a more undisciplined subject of an interview for a deposition or this kind of interview that will not be under oath?

still, this is an opportunity for the special counsel to either answer some questions that make the issue go away or to certainly press the president about what he specifically was involved in and what else he's being told. so it becomes very important. >> and you know, the president has been telling his friends that he would like to, in fact, talk to special counsel. he's done this many times. don't forget, he's a serially litigious person. >> and the's lots of people cocky enough to think i can deal with these lawyers and their questions. i'll just put it all to bed. doesn't always work out that way. >> i think his lawyers would like a take-home test. >> that applies to a lot of people. >> i don't think a written q&a is going to happen. everybody, stand by. there's much more we're following. no wall, no daca. the president is blasting the senate majority leader chuck schumer after the top democrat takes funding for the border wall off the negotiating table. plus, as the russia probe

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we're starting over. that's how the senate minority leader chuck schumer describes negotiations over the fate of dreamers, those young immigrants brought to the united states illegally as children. earlier, president trump lashed out at senor schumer for taking the border wall with mexico off the table th president tweeting this. quote, crying chuck schumer fully understands, especially after his humiliating defeat, that if there's no wall, there's no daca. we must have safety and security together with a strong military for our great people, close quote. david and gloria are still with us. so what, are we back to square one right now? we're talking about 700,000 or

800,000 daca recipients who have until early march for the government to figure out whether they stay or go. >> yeah, chuck schumer took his marbles and went home. he decided that's not the game he's playing right now. and yeah, we are back to square one. i mean, i think that i'm of the lindsey graham school that the president has to kind of tell people what he will accept and what he wants, and then you'll get to yes sooner because then republicans and the house will be able to see if they can live with it. but the president just kind of sitting back now, these guys are going to be children all over again. >> at the end of the negotiations to reopen the government, schumer was on the record saying, yes, we'll support the billions and billions of dollars for the border wall in exchange for the dreamers. >> i guess there was a question about whether he was willing to authorize it versus actually pay for it. i have this math teacher in high school who would say, i can't take knowledge from you. well, you can't take the knowledge from president trump that he knows the leader of the

democrats was willing to back the wall and pretend like it didn't happen. he's going to insist on it. democrats, i think, are going to have to cave at some level to the concept of a wall. whatever form that ultimately takes, the president campaigned on it. he's adamant about it. he's influenced by people all the way up to his chief of staff who want him to fight for it. he's got people like lindsey graham who want it. so in some fashion, i think democrats are going to have to give on that. and louis gutierrez, the congressman from the chicago area, and schumer have indicated they're probably going to give. >> let me -- >> you call it border security and make believe it's not a wall in some way shape or form and kind of try and fudge it with semantics. >> different elements. >> there's a wall, there a fence. >> drones and all sorts of electronicquipment. lisey graham had a message for the president. i'll read it to you. you better start telling us what you're for rather than what you're against. to my friends at the white

house, you've been all over the board. you haven't been a reliable partner, and the senate's going to move. he's obviously, together with a lot of his colleagues, republicans and democrats, frustrated. >> he might not be invited on the golf course any time soon with the president. i think he is frustrated because he believed that at that open meeting where trump said i'm going to take the heat, i'll sign whatever you bring me, he said a bill of love. and lindsey graham came out after that and said this was the man i know. this is the man i played golf with. well, i think he may have been deluding himself to a great degree because that's not the man that we heard from during the shutdown or who said you have to have the wall or who was listening to general kelly. >> but this is a perfect example that the president of the united states does not know what he believes about this issue. this is a hard issue. he doesn't know it. he habsn't been a governor.

he hasn't been a legislator. he hasn't faught in these wars over immigration. so he pops off during the campaign about we're going to have a wall and mexico's goi toay for it,ouingike a populist and nativist. then he turns around in front of the ceras and says we want a bill of love and i'll take the heat. i think he has the potential as an outsider to pull off something really big. but you know, former president bush got a lot of heat on immigration and plenty of other matters. he understood this issue. if not for 9/11, he would have had it and gotten it done. i think lindsey graham is right. he's got to commit to what he thinks about it, what he's prepairpr prepared to do. >> the only thing he really committed to in the campaign is wall, wall, wall, wall. so there has to be something so he can go to his base and say i kept my campaign promise. that's what the democrats have to kind of figure out. >> i think that's fair enough for him to do. >> exa >> exactly. >> and the white house press

secretary made it clear yesterday they hate the lindsey graham/dick durbin compromise. listen to this. >> it would not secure our border, encourage more illegal immigration, increase chain migration, and retain the visa lottery system. in short, it's totally unacceptable to the president and should be declared dead on arrival. >> looks lake they got a lot of work to do if they're going to resolve this. >> this fighting between the conservative view about immigration is playing out between the white house and capitol hill. that's interesting. democrats might be able to deal more. they may not be able to overcome this problem within this conservative circle. >> maybe the democrats should say mexico should pay for the wall. we're for it. >> don't hold your breath. all right, guys. thanks very much. the republican congressman who's been under fire for using taxpayer dollars to settle a sexual misconduct complaint is now calling his accuser his soul mate. plus, seven days of wrenching testimony came to an end last hour. the disgraced ex-usa gymnastics doctor has now been sentenced to

40 to 175 years in prison for sexual abuse. we'll take you inside the courtroom. stay with us for that. this extravagant? or make a back seat that feels nothing like a back seat? why give it every feature you could want, along with a few you didn't know you needed? it's simple. you can build a car, or you can build a cadillac. come in now for this exceponal off on the cadillac ct6. get this low-mileage lease on this 2018 cadillac ct6 from around $549 per month. visit your local cadillac dealer. won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call

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we're pretty sure no one's everg asked howsaid microwaved. eggs, you deserve a breakfast made with respect.

try the new bacon, egg, and cheese on brioche. panera. food as it should be. why did you pay her off using taxpayer money? that's the big question. why did you do that, congressman? >> because i wanted her not to caulk out of the situation onc it got engaged with attorneys i a way that was just going to harmful. i paid a severance because i cared about her. and i didn't want her to be in a situation that was not going to resolve itself for years. and that's what happens in litigation. >> republican congressman from pennsylvania patrick meehan admitting he used taxpayer money

to settle a sexual misconduct claim filed against him by a former aide. meehan, a married father of three, told "the philadelphia inquirer," he saw the much younger woman as his, quote, soul mate, adding that when he found out she was dating someone else, he didn't act the best. cnn's m.j. lee is with us following this story. what else do we know about the contact he had with this woman? >> what's stunning is that we know quite a bit about the interactions the congressman says he that wihad with this fo aide, even though he signed a confidentiality agreement with this woman, he's now speaking out sense that story first broke. he says that he developed a deep affection for this former aide, and that he basically considered her his soul mate even though he denies the allegations of sexual harassment. he said that he is happily married and was never interested in and did not pursue a sexual or romantic relationship.

but at the same time that he's saying all of this, he also acknowledges that when he found out that this woman had a serious relationship with somebody else outside of his office, that he did not react well, that he lashed out. to try to clear the air a little bit, he wrote a letter to this woman. let me read a part of what he wrote in this letter. he said, you are kind and sensitive and caring and infectious with your laugh. you are and have been a complete partner to me and have brought me such happiness. it is a very, very lucky man who might get to be your partner for more of your life is this indeed the one. i hope you will find great contentment. now, the woman's identity is not being revealed. her lawyer, in fact, says that she values her privacy and she does not want the congressman continuing to speak out about the details of their relationship. house speaker paul ryan has removed the congressman from the house ethics committee, which is now investigating him and wants him to pay back the money that he used for thissence, for

this settlement. the congreman, ithe meantime, is saying he's not going awhere. he plans to run for re-election. >> all right, m.j. thanks very much. another scandal on capitol hill. there's more breaking news we're following. the president's former chief strategist steve bannon getting ready to speak with robert mueller. you're going to hear where the special counsel wants to focus in. plus, mueller also hoping to sit down with president trump himself after several of his firings to discuss several of his firings. stand by. over the years, paul and i have met regularly with our ameriprise advisor. we plan for everything from retirement to college savings. giving us the ability to add on for an important member of our family. welcome home mom. with the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant.

special counsel robert mueller's investigation has now clawed all the way up to president donald trump.

sources tell cnn that mueller has indicated very strong interest in questioning trump about the firing of the former fbi director james comey and the firing of the former national security adviser michael flynn. it's a culmination of at least 17 interviews with current or former trump officials. let's take a quick look at how we got here. mueller was appointed as special counsel on may 17th, 2017, and in the sixth months that followed, mueller interviewed nine officials, including former white house chief of staff reince priebus and former white house press secretary sean spicer. in november, that's when mueller began closing in on the president's inner circle, interviewing senior policy adviser stephen miller and the president's son-in-law jared kushner. the biggest bombshell yet came on december 1st. that's when michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and announced he was fully cooperating with the special counsel's probe. and just a few weeks later, mueller interviewed white house communications director hope

hicks and white house counsel donn mcgahn. in january, we learned mueller issued a subpoena to the former white house chief strategist steve bannon. he's going to be testifying. 's going to be answering questions later this month, we're now told. and on january 17th, he sbh interviewed the attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions. as i said earlier, president trump could eventually be added to this very long list. here's what the white house said when asked whether the president would sit for an interview. >> we're going to be fully cooperative with the special counsel, and we're going to continue to do that throughout the process, but we're also not going to comment on who may or may not or could be interviewed at any point, but we're going to continue to be fully cooperative with the process. >> why doesn't the president just get rid of bob mueller? just fire him. it was said today it's wasting taxpayers' money. in that regard, why doesn't he end the investigation because it's wasting the taxpayers'

money? >> look, we want to see this come to a complete and full conclusion. i think we all know what everybody in this room would do if the president did that, and i don't think that's helpful to the process. >> all right. let's discuss with our cnn commentator and former director of the office of government ethics, walter schaub, and james schultz. walter, let me start with you. there's this report in "the washington post," and i'm sure you saw it, that during a meeting back in may, the president asked then-acting fbi director andrew mccabe who he voted for in the 2016 presidential election. mccabe later said that he found the exchange quite disturbing. is it normal for a president to ask an acting fbi director who he voted for? >> no, it's completely outside the culture of the federal government to the point of being shocking. it would be what we'd call a prohibited personnel practice under a particular statute if

anyone other than the president asked a subordinate that. once again, we have the president holding himself to a lower standard that the 2.7 million civilian federal employees who work for him. >> and andrew mccabe is a career fbi official. jim, do you agree? >> i don't agree. if it's in the context of -- at the time, i believe it was in the context of discussing whether andrew mccabe was going to be fbi director. the president of the united states, that's an inherently political office. the people of the united states chose a republican. he can ask whatever questions he wants relative to someone's background and their political filiations, et cetera. there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever, admitted by walter here today. >> go ahead, walter. >> that's so unbelievably hypocritical given the attacks of partisans and ton the fbi fo being supposedly nonobjective

and being biased. we have members of congress screaming that employees at the fbi gave legal donations to candidates during elections. yet, the president is going to ask somebody in the fbi director role who will be supervising them if he's enough of a partisan for the job. in fact, i could tell you no one ever asked me who i voted for when i was nominated for the director of the office of government ethics. >> go ahead, jim. >> walter, i think it was pretty clear who you voted for. nonetheless, elections have consequences. when you're selecting members of your cabinet, folks to lead agencies, the president has every right to know the political affiliation, every right to ask those questions as it relates to people who are going to serve in his cabinet and serve in leadership roles. >> jim, you think the president should sit down with robert mueller and answer all the questions he has? >> i think the president should sit with mueller. obviously this is going to be negotiated in terms of how, the

place, the time, whether questions are written, what's submitted beforehand, the scope of that discussion. but i think it is important that he does sit across from mueller so this can be brought to a conclusion, and i think that's why i think that's why we're seeing now that mueller is looking to interview the president, just to bring this to a conclusion. >> let me get walter and then jim to respond. i look at the instructions that the acting attorney general at the time, rod rosenstein, gave mueller when he was named special counsel and conduct the investigation into any links and/or coordination between the russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of president donald trump and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation and any other matters within the scope of 600.4. so he can go and investigate any allege crime, right, walter,

even if it has nothing to do with collusion or coordination with the russians? >> that's absolutely true. it has to have arisen from the course of his investigation. >> so, for example, if there's a money laundering issue that is not directly related to the collusn issue, he can go ahead and investigate that? >> he could although i wouldn't be so quick to assume they're not related. this may be the source of links to russia that they'll eventually uncover. think back -- it was under a different statute but think back to the ken starr investigation that ended up with a sexual relationship with a subordinate. so there is precedent in our country for investigators to not turn a blind eye to criminal activity or other activity they find. >> jim, how broad of a mandate does mueller have? >> look, i think you have to look no farther than the team he put on it, with the team on

financial crimes to understand they will be looking at a broad scope. what you also have to understand is if they're getting this close, they're getting to the president's inner circle, they've interviewed the attorney general, they're likely going to interview the president of the united states, they're interviewing steve bannon, according to reports. so if they're getting that close, they're coming close to a conclusion on a set of facts so that mueller can make a determination going forward. and it's not likely they're going to get the president a second time. >> does it look like they're wrapping things up, as they get closer to the president himself sitting down for an interview? >> it's too hard to speculate. we don't know what's going on in the investigation. with the blatant partisan attacks coming on the mueller investigation from congress, from the president, from people like jim, it's possible that mueller feels the need to accelerate and conduct an investigation into the obstruction matter while perhaps the money laundering matter

could take longer. >> walter shaub and jim schultz we'll continue this conversation, very good conversation indeed. after decades of sexual abuse, more than 150 victims speaking out, the disgraced former gymnastics doctor is sentenced up to 175 years in prison. we'll take you inside the courtroom. ♪ this is what our version of financial planning looks like. tomorrow is important, but this officially completes his education. spend your life living. find an advisor at northwesternmutual.com.

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now to a very powerful court case in michigan where a judge has sentenced former usa gymnastics dr. larry nassar up to 175 years in prison over the course of seven full days, more than 150 women and girls read impact statements, detailing how nassar sexually abused them. he addressed the court, reading a statement directly to his

victims. >> your words these past several days, your words, your words have had a significant emotional affect on myself and has shaken me to my core. i also recognize that what i am feeling pales in comparison to the pain, trauma and emotional destruction that all of you have felt. there are no words that can describe the depth and breadth of how sorry i am of what has occurred. >> before sentencing, the judge read a letter written to the court by nassar, defending his medical practices and accusing the women of lying. the judge then addressed him directly. >> survive 60 years first and then serve another 40 years, you've gone off the page as to what i'm doing. my page only goes to 100 years.

sir, i'm giving you 175 years, which is 2100 months. i've just signed your death warrant. >> the fallout from this case is really only beginning. now the public eye has focused in on the institutions that actually employed nassar. usa gymnastics, the u.s. olympic committee and michigan state university. that's where he worked. and a number of women accused the organizations of turning a blind eye to nassar's abuse and even pressuring some of these victims to remain silent. awful, awful situation. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in the situation room. for our international viewers, amanpour is coming up next. for our viewers here in north america "newsroom with brooke

baldwin" starts right now. this is cnn breaking news. >> hi, there, i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn. thank you so much for being with me here. any minute now the white house press briefing will begin. it is happening a day after a bombshell after boshell dropped in this russian investigatio with another two breaking headlines today, both do not focus on the campaign but specifically what donald trump did after he became president of the united states. two sources say that special counsel bob mueller has indicated an interest in questioning the president on his dismissal of these officials, former fbi director james comey and former national security adviser michael flynn. and the president isn't the only one muchlt eller plans to ask about these firings, which leads to development number