we have the latest as the president wanted to fire special counsel robert mueller and live coverage from davos tomorrow. no, on monday. it's friday. i almost forgot. it's friday. i almost forgot. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day". it is is friday, january 26th, 6:00 here in new york. chris is off. john berman joins me. another day, another bombshell. >> new developments just in. >> we sure do. we begin with breaking news for you. president trump is denying the bombshell reports that he tried to fire special counsel robert mueller last june. sources say the president backed off that demand after white house counsel don mcgann threatened to resign over it. it could be a key piece of evidence for robert mueller as he investigates crimes, including obstruction of

justice. >> what is not debatable is if the reports are true and cnn has confirmed them, the white house and the president lied about whether he considered firing bob mueller. they lied and lied repeatedly. the president is growing increasingly frustrating with chief of staff john kelly who did not travel to davos is with the president. in two hours he will address leaders at the world economic forum. let's begin your coverage in davos. jeff? >> reporter: there are new questions being raised about obstruction of justice and president trump's own role in trying to shut down the russia probe. now, take us back to may and june. he was so furious about the fact that special counsel was even named at that point. we are learning he has now been talking about trying to fire him. of course he talked about it being a hoax and witch-hunt. it was deeply in his head then.

this is overshadowing the president's trip to davos. >> fake news, folks. fake news. >> what's your message today? >> typical "new york times" fake stories. >> reporter: president trump dismissing bombshell reports that he ordered the firing of special counsel robert mueller last june. a source confirms to cnn that mr. trump backed down only after white house counsel don mcgann threatened to quit rather than car out the directive. the "new york times" reports that mcgann agreed with the president's concerns over mueller's potential conflicts of interest. and also that mueller learned about it in recent months during interviews with senior white house officials while exploring whether mr. trump obstructed justice. the president's to push aside special counsel came only weeks after mueller was appointed may 17th following the firing of fbi director james comey. >> regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. in fact, what 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. >> reporter: chris ruddy told pb is s he was actively considering firing mueller as well. >> i think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. i think he's weighing that option. >> reporter: at the time the white house dismissed ruddy's remarks, insisting he never spoke to the president regarding this issue. white house spokeswoman sarah sanders telling reporters this the following day. >> while the president has the right to, he has no intersection to do so. >> reporter: for the last seven months, the president and his aides repeatedly denied mueller's job is at risk. >> the president has not even discussed that. he is not discussing the firing of mueller. >> reporter: the revelation that the president there attempted to oust mueller raising bipartisan concern. >> if it's true, it would be concerning to me.

if he did, his instincts were wrong. >> they are deeply stunning, frightening because it shows that the president will stop at nothing to protect himself. >> reporter: white house lawyer ty cobb said we decline to comment out of respect for the office of the special counsel and its process. >> how is the conference going? >> really good. >> reporter: mr. trump has rubbed shoulders with elite set of business and world leaders, including the president on of rwanda, given the diplomatic uproar over him calling some african countries shitholes. in a new enter is view he said he was not addressing britain first when he retweeted three of their offensive posts last november. >> can i get an apology out of you just for the retweets. it would go a long way.

>> here's what's fair. if you're telling me they are horrible racist people i would certainly apologize if you would like me to do that. i know nothing about them. >> reporter: now, this morning the president will be addressing the crowd here in davos. i'm told by a white house official he will be wearing his salesman hat trying to incentivize and bring european businesses into the u.s., trying to do more business there. now, all of this is happening of course as the russia investigation intensifying, escalating and coming close to his inner circle back home. he will spend the majority of the day on an airplane. he will be back by dinner time where of course all of this awaits him. >> jeff, you have a busy day there in davos. we have a busy one here. we will carry the president's address at the world economic forum live at 8:00 a.m. eastern. so what was happening last june when president trump ordered robert mueller be fired? we're going to take a much closer look incomes.

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through don mcgann. what does it mean for robert mueller's investigation? >> well, it's pretty hard to understand what the thought process was here. remember, he fires comey to quote, unquote take the pressure off, and it did exactly the opposite. here he's thinking what i will fire mueller and this will end the investigation? if he were a student of history he would know nixon tried that with cox on the saturday night massacre and it ultimately led to his impeachment. had he done that it would have led to another crisis. now we have a window into the president's thinking. when you analyze the president's activities therefore, understanding his intention here was to shut down the investigation by firing mueller, then everything has to be analyzed in terms of either, one, obstruction of justice type

be haoeufr or, two, abuse of his constitutional authority, impeachable offense, styled behavior. it is interesting to find what was in the president's mind. these are crimes of intention, meaning you must intend to obstruct justice or you must intend to abuse the powers of your office. >> exactly. he didn't fire bob mueller. that in and of itself suspect the issue. what it tells you about the fact that he did fire james comey and what was going on in his head then. john avlon, we know what was going on in his head in june at least when ordering his staff to go do so. june 7th, the comey memo was released on the interactions james comey had. robert mueller requesting interviews with the intelligence chiefs. and the president blasting the russia investigation as a witch-hunt. there was a tweet where he

directly talks about obstruction of justice. now they are coming after him on obstruction. so you know what's going on in his head. >> you get insight in real-time. you can compare it to the timeline. look, here's what we know. michael made the point if the president was a student of history. the president is not a student of history. we know that. he is not a deep strategic thinker. he is a genius marketer and hype man. but impulsivity leads to problems like this. for all the ratcheting up of pressure that apparently results in this request which would have been disastrous, don mcgann throws himself in front of the train. all of a sudden blanket denies. they go on air and lie and lie and apparently snow gop senators. >> we have all of that. at least a small smattering of some of those denials. so let me play it for everyone. >> while the president has the right to, he has no intention to do so.

>> the president has not even discussed that. the president is not discussing firing bob mueller. >> will he commit to not fire him. >> he's not even discussed firing bob mueller. >> i haven't given it any thought. i have been reading about it for you people. you say i'm going to dismiss him. no, i'm not dismissing anybody. >> is there any chance at all that the president will try to fire robert mueller? >> no. you know, i saw a couple people talking about it this morning. the answer to that is no. >> no, i'm not. >> is that a problem, michael? is it a problem that the president is on the record, obviously on the in the media, lying about that now. >> well, it's not a crime in a title xviii u.s. code sense of lying to the american people, but it is is a portend

potentially of the problem he may face when put under oath by robert mueller. he has to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, or he's going to face the perjury charge or lying to the fbi charge. of matters that we know know is the truth are matters for him. ty cobb and others are trying to do the best they can to restrict the type of questioning that mueller will give in these cases. >> it's a great point. kellyanne conway, it is a lie. she said the president never discussed it. that is a lie. when the president said i haven't given it any thought, that is a lie. i think michael is right. if he tries to give that answer behind closed doors, that's a problem. >> testifying trump is different

than twitter trump. it is is not the first time he has met with attorneys in deposition. no one makes you take an oath when you go on television. tone comes from the top. to just freely lie about conversations that were had, to try to snow the measuring people and u.s. senators and act like the mere idea is totally crazy, it shows the deep disconnect between what they say on air and what is the truth. >> listen to this new wrinkle. is president trump's legal team going to defend him by arguing the president cannot obstruct justice? how does that work? we discuss it next. i take pictures of sunrises, but with my back pain i couldn't sleep and get up in time. then i found aleve pm.

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now, with instant text and email updates, you'll always be up to date. you can easily add premium channels, so you don't miss your favorite show. and with just a single word, find all the answers you're looking for - because getting what you need should be simple, fast, and easy. download the xfinity my account app or go online today. a source tells cnn president trump transpired to fire special counsel robert mueller last june but backed off after the "new

york times" says the white house counsel threatened to quit. is this the clearest sign yet of an intent to obstruct justice? does it tell you what was going on in his head. that was then. i'm really fascinating by the now. why this story, john, is coming out now. now, we don't know who the sources are for the "new york times". so we won't say who the sources are for cnn. but people confirmed the story fairly easily. who benefits from this story coming out this morning? >> well, i think the american people benefit because it's a little more difficult for the trump administration to pull a fast one. i think congress, who have all been snowed by the president's assurances, his team's assurances, and backing off any legislation that would restrict his ability. i think mcgann stood in front of a train named trump on this issue. but this is a significant pulling the curtain back after

all the denials. at the time we debated it right here, because so many trump allies were floating this topic and then quickly denied. so this is a significant insight into the kind of tempestousness going on behind the scenes. >> michael, the president doesn't consider this obstruction of justice. he considers this fighting back. and he considers that his right to do so. here's what he said when he walked in and surprised everybody for a meeting on background on immigration and they asked him about this. listen. >> do you think robert mueller will be fair to you in this larger investigation? >> we're going to find out. we're going to find out. because here's what we'll say, and everybody says, no collusion, there's no collusion. now they are saying, oh, well, did he fight back? if you fight back -- john, if

you fight back, oh, it's obstruction. so here's the thing, i hope so. >> just one more thing, michael, before i let you respond. his lawyer puts a fire point on that. the president cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under article 2. he has every right to express his view of any case. so freedom of speech, i guess or fighting back, is that all true, the president cannot obstruct justice? >> well, so, there's a whole lot of things in the clips that we should unpack. let's start with dowd. dowd believes and some agree that the united states cannot be charged with obstruction of justice tore doing that which he has the constitutional right to do, which is fire comey. it is a different question whether he has the right to fire mueller when there is a statute

that says only the, in this case, deputy attorney general acting as attorney general can fire mueller for good cause shown which is why mcgann would have resigned rather a than order rosenstein to fire mueller. that is issue number one. issue number two is if he can't be charged with obstruction of justice to do that which he has the constitutional right to do, can he be charged with abuse of office, which is the abuse of his constitutional authority, which is what gave rise to the second article for nixon and third article of impeachment for clinton. so he's got a problem one way or the other. we'll see how the lawyers interpret the a laws of the united states constitution in this respect. we have to remember of course on mueller's staff is michael

drebin, solicit or of the united states and the most constitutional appellate lawyer in the country at the moment. i'm sure he fully researched the question whether, one, you can abuse your powers by firing people and also whether you can be indicted while in office. so that is a secondary question. because some people say he can only indict after he leaves office. he can be impeached while in office. so there is a lot there. >> even if you say the president has the constitutional right to fire whoever he wants to, no president has the right to obstruct justice if that is what robert mueller thinks happens. >> and a different parallel, folks might remember nixon famously said if the president does it, it's not illegal. that is essentially the argument being made right now. that is chilling. no way. you can cloak it up with a lot of nice legal language. if that is the argument being

advanced by president's counsel, everybody better wake up and straighten their sercivic spine. >> the united states has told us that is not a viable defense. >> good. >> and i don't think it will be in this case either. we will speak with maggie haberman, one of the "new york times" reporters who broke the story on the president's order to fire mueller. >> all right. sources tell cnn -- i'm getting choked up over this. >> relationship news. >> president trump and chief of stove john kelly might be on the rocks. love on the rocks. don't let it happen when you buy your diabetes test strips. with the accu-chek guide simplepay program, you pay the same low price. all without having to go through insurance. plus, they come in a spill-resistant vial along with a free meter.

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president trump is in davos at this hour where he will speak in about 90 minutes. we will of course bring you that live. chief of staff john kelly is not with him on this trip. the president is increasingly frustrated with kelly, something highlighted by this moment. this is when the president dropped by kelly's office

unannounced and held an impromptu q&a with reporters. joining is associate editor real clear politics a.b. stoddard. they are sending the pheplg, i am still in charge, i still do the messaging. what do you guys want to know? what do you think the relationship is today with john kelly and donald trump? >> there is credible reporting like maggie haberman indicates that president trump has had discussions the last week or so about his reaction to john kelly going out and sort of going off message. i think john kelly is way out of character for john kelly's conduct these last six months. to go to a group in a room full

of liberal democrats about building awe wall knowing a group like that would leave that out. we had that discussion on your show. of course then he went to fox and said the president's views have evolved between the campaign and the office of the presidency. so that is just naturally something john kelly would know would enrage president trump. >> is president trump -- >> i believe he is doing it to push back because internally his pushback wasn't working. he has been really entitled to this. a great debate on immigration. and i think that it is a known fact that when people cannot convince president trump behind closed doors, they take their argument to television to try to convince him that way. >> but who took this story that there is a rift that the president is unhappy with john kelly to division, right? cnn is reporting in the last 24 hours on the front page of the

"new york times" and the "washington post", someone wants to get the story out that there is a problem here. >> the chronology of who benefits from it, put that aside for this reason. if there is a rift between the president and kelly, that is primarily for the president. kelly has been one of the best things to happen to this white house. in terms of instilling a degree of discipline on the president who doesn't like being constrained but desperately needs discipline and structure around him for the government. does he want to free donald and freewill all the time? i'm sure he does. i'm sure some are saying just let trump be trump. if the standard for advisers is i'll be your best baghdad bob, i'll tell you the sky is purple and i will communicate that to the american people that doesn't actually serve the president well at the end of the day. is the relationship complicated? yes. is it complicated?

yes. kelly and mcmaster tried to impose structure that the constitutional, that respects the fact that he won the election, but also says he needs to be presented with accurate information and the decision he makes we will do our best to execute. >> a.b., let's move from entry to policy and talk about the immigration plan that the white house has now, it seems, gotten behind. it is so interesting. there's lots of developments in there people didn't see coming. awe path waugh to citizenship for not just 700,000, which is the number we have all been using for the past weeks. but more than that, from people who hadn't registered as dreamers yet. the 1 polyp 8 million people in that category. now, in exchange, they want $25 billion to build the wall and other border enhancements. eliminate the visa lottery. we know the president is determined to do that. and eliminate the chain mu

tkpwraeu migration to come. why are some democrats like dick durbin not happy with this outcome? >> i'm fascinating by this because this is absolutely a true compromise. if both sides are furious, you have absolutely split this in half. the democrats do not like the concessions given to up tkpwraeu immigration hawks, con training that, ending the visa lottery system. they don't like that much money on a wall. in exchange for a fix to the d.r.e.a.m.ers they hoped republican colleagues would join them in getting rid of and resolving as soon as possible. it's spwe interesting on the republican side. senator cotton, senator perdue, they were pushing aides, including steven miller, on the right to this issue, or

approving of this compromise saying it's the right path forward, while groups on the outside, your breitbart crowd and pro border security immigration folks are absolutely liv livid. ann coulter is on fire over this. this is going to get a lot of pushback from that wing. look, if senator dick durbin, the democratic whip, says this is not credible and can't move forward, we're not at a compromise. the definition of compromise would be something that makes both parties mad. >> it is fascinating. this is how a large deal is supposed to be done. they have come this far. one of the things that is open is comprehensive immigration reform. what happens to the 11 million in this country. this is signature. >> it will be interesting to see if any of the moderates come forward and support this. they have not as of yet. john, a.b., thanks so much.

we will carry the president's address at the world economic forum live at 8:00 eastern time. remember, it is in the midst of breaking news overnight about the fact that the president wanted to fire robert mueller. >> be sure to watch "cuomo on prime time" tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. a mother speaking out about her own daughter's final moments. it is heartbreaking. [ click, keyboard clacking ]

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(crying, screaming) today is your day. crush it. angie's boom chicka pop whole grain popcorn. boom! breaking news. south korea's deadliest fire in a decade has ripped through a hospital killing 37 and injureding more than 100. officials still investigating the start of this fire, believing it started in the emergency room. patrick meehan announcing he will not seek reelection this year. despite the fact that he serves on the house ethics committee. meehan said he viewed the woman

as a soul mate, but contrary to her claims, he said he never pursued a romantic relationship with her. the kentucky high school where two students were killed will reopen this morning as we learn heartbreaking new details about the victims's final moments. the mother of 15-year-old bailey holt, one of the students killed, said she kept trying to reach out to her daughter as soon as she heard the news of the rampage. in one of her final acts of her young life, she said bailey called her back. >> all i could hear was voices and chaos in the background. she couldn't say anything. i called her name over and over and over and she didn't respond. they took my baby from me. >> preston taupe died at the

hospital. 16 others wounded, including bailey's first boyfriend. he was shot in the face but has survived. the unidentified 15-year-old suspect is charged with two counts of murder and 12 counts of first-degree assault. the point has been made, john, this was the 11th school shooting just this year alone. it is only january. >> look, i can't imagine the pain that that mother is going through, which is why i think it is so important that we hear it given what you just said. this is the 11th school shooting. listen to the pain of that mother. >> we have been here too many times. it seems -- the answers seem obvious to lots of people yet we don't seem to be able to get any movement towards stopping these things. >> our hearts go out to them. 41 minutes past the hour. the nba all-star game taking a different form this year. no more east versus west. instead, the two teams were drafted by le been james and steph curry. andy scholes has more in the "bleacher report". >> the nba trying to find a way to spice up the all-star draft.

drafting the teams is a way to do it. they got to draft the rosters. lebron created an interesting story line. he picked kevin durant first and russel westbrook, reuniting the thunder teammates once again. and he will be reunited with his former teammate kyrie irving in the starting lineup. and draymond green and clay thompson. it lacks the star power that lebron has. him wearing a shirt with lebron's face saying i'm coming for you, stephen. hopefully if he's drafted teams give the players a new sense of pride and make a good came come february. >> i think he knows how to produce drama right there. there's a guy who understands entertainment value to be sure. kyrie irving on his team. love it. >> i like that you looked at insight from me before you move

on. >> it matters to me. >> i'm going to come up with something soon. meanwhile, the bombshell news that president trump has tried to fire robert mueller before then backing down, this raises new questions about obstruction. we take a closer look at that next. and we're just over an hour away from the president's speech in davos, putting a business friendly face on his america first message. we will bring you that speech live. ♪ when heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites.

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a source confirms to cnn that president trump ordered special counsel robert mueller to be fired last june. now, it clearly did not happen, but does the attempt the alone suggest wrongdoing, or what does it tell us about the the president's mental state and intent?

let's ask an expert. walter schwab is senior director of ethics at the campaign legal center. walter, thanks for being with us. part of the sorry is that the president ordered robert mueller to be fired and then don mcgann, the white house counsel, he put his body down on the tracks and said if you do this, i will quit. some people suggest he save the presidency by that action. you're laughing right now. you say be careful where you cannonize don mcgann. why? >> let's keep in mind the history here. we had the saturday night massacre in nixon's day that ended his presidency. and unlike president trump, don mcgann would understand that history and understand the significance that essentially firing special counsel would be the third rail of politics. so it only stands to reason that he would want to prevent this from happening. but let's not forget who don

mcgann is. he is the guy that sat across from sally yates and challenged her came to report her concerns about michael flynn. and he may or may not be the one who communicated that to the president. he also is the guy who contacted the department of justice and tried to get information about possible fisa warrants, which is something any without counsel would know not to do. and of course where was he when comey was fired? so this is -- this -- he's also the one who pressured jeff sessions not to recuse when he had a legal responsibility to recuse under a criminal conflict of interest statute. so this is not a rule of law kind of thing. i seriously doubt he thought incident was a wrong thing to do. i think he thought it was a thing they wouldn't get away with with. >> it didn't happen. robert mueller was not fired,

obviously. so in and of itself the act isn't grounds for obstruction or anything else. but could the intent, how does the intent tell you about the president's mind-set and might that seep in other parts of the investigation? >> well, first of all, you don't have to succeed in obstructing justice to obstruct justice. that he didn't ultimately fire mueller doesn't mean anything. in and of itself, it is a conclusive piece of evidence. it is one more piece in the puzzle as we try to discern what the president's motives, intent was. that is actually quite important because he does have the legal authority to fire government officials. and in this case it would be indirect. you would have to pressure somebody at doj to do it. but he can't do it corruptly. you would have to look at intent

to see if he was trying to prevent himself from being further investigated. he certainly told us that was his intent in firing mueller -- comey. so this fits with that. he said i haven't even given getting rid of mueller any thoughts. and the white house keeps asserting that that didn't happen. that tells you they have some awareness that this is not the kind of thing a president should be using his authority to do. >> is as we are constantly told by lawyers, though, walter, our lawyers we have on tv here, the president is not -- it's not illegal for the president to lie to the american people. it is not illegal for kellyanne conway to lie to the american people. which, if these reports are true, they both did. the president said i've never considered firing robert mueller. if reports are true, they lie about that. that's not illegal to say that

lie in a press briefing or to the american people. but, but it would be illegal if the president is questioned about this by robert mueller's team if he ever testifies, correct? >> yeah. and that's true whether he's under oath or not. because you're not allowed to lie to a federal investigator. and i think that's why his attorneys have been trying to negotiate some limitations on the scope of any interview. they can't trust their client to control himself. he does have what appears to be a hobby of lying. or maybe it's an avocation. if he goes in with a skilled and experienced investigator, it is is worst-case scenario for them. >> you think about it being a message to the president or john dowd, those making a decision about whether he will testify, maybe it is a message they should think about it before

making that decision. great to have you with us. thank you very much. >> thanks. van jones is the host of the brand-new "the van jones show" premiering tomorrow on cnn. we will talk about that in a moment. thank you for being here. >> good to be here. >> democrats's worst fears almost came to pass. it turns out from multiple sources that the president did try to fire robert mueller and was stopped by the white house counsel who refused to go along with the directive. your thoughts? >> well, it's interesting. you had grassroots organizations like moveon.org preparing for the firing of mueller, had protests ready to go assuming this was going to happen because people's confidence in donald trump is very, very low. it wasn't the people who saved him, it was a white house staffer who saved them. that is where we are as a

country. this is part of a bigger set of he revelations this week of republicans's apparent contempt. when you have liberal democrats coming on to defend the fbi, something has gone way off the rails in america. >> i do want to get to that point. the context of everything that's been going on this week, this is part of it. but there was some good staff work here. walter schwab doesn't want to give the him credit for stopping the president. >> people who understand the constitution, checks and balances and our norms and traditions and have been trying to stick up for them where they can. that's good. but the fact that they are holding back a freight train with dental floss half the time, that is not good. that's where we are apparently. >> to your point, it has been remarkable to watch the president of the united states and his republican supporters in congress go after the fbi with

all sorts of innuendo. >> innuendo? just crazy talk. this is a way of saying this is foolishness from you. these are senators and congresspeople on relative committees. what is wrong with the republican committee? you build up a culture of crazy. the culture of crazy has taken over the republican party so even when they're governing they're burning down the house. you are flying the plane and setting it on fire at the same time. there is something really wrong with this party. >> republicans embarked on a smear campaign of the fbi that can-canened only in a dangerous erosion of trust in law enforcement, the subyou gas station of law enforcement to

partisan interests or both for republican leaders house speaker paul ryan, senate majority leader mitch mccouple, senate majority whip john cornyn vice chair map of the senate republican to remain silent is to be complicit. these men could tomorrow end this nonsense of secret societies, phony memos and missing text messages. instead they are allowing fox news personalities, the president and loose cannons such as house intelligent committee chairman devin nunes. >> listen, again, when you have liberal democrats having to defend the fbi, something that's really wrong, let me just say this to you and everybody else. we're going to need the fbi this afternoon, tomorrow. the fbi is trying to keep us safe from terrorism. if you create a situation where somebody knocks on the door and says i'm from the fbi trying to find out what's going on and somebody goes, eh, you are part

of the illuminotti, secret society, that makes everybody less safe. you want for something to be sacred in america. if the republican party won't let law enforcement be safe to protect president trump. >> these are exciting times. you have a show tomorrow. people are fascinating by you. both the left and the right love to listen to you and hear what you have to say. what's the show going to be? >> the show is an opportunity i think to hear from folks who don't get heard from a lot in american society. we do this thing called van in the van. i got a chance to go to charlottesville. and i put conservatives and liberals from charlottesville. and we drive around. of course that's where the nazis marched. and we just have the

conversation in the van. >> it's a mini van. >> it is a mini van. maybe a bigger van later. and you get a chance to hear real people have a real conversation right there in the van. at the same time, you know, we're trying to bring in other people. with the rise of donald trump, pop culture took over politics. now politics is taking over pop culture. we have jay-z going to be on talking about what the heck is going on from his point of view. a little pop limp, a little pop stars. the idea is to take a step back on the weekend and really reflect what's going on in a deeper way with voices you don't hear very often. >> are you going to have him in the van and do karaoke? >> if i do that, i might get sued. that's another show. listen, i'm excited about this. in politics, you used to have to be a news nerd in the corner reading the "new york times". everybody is talking about

politics. celebrities, athletes, ordinary people. really from the unknown to the infamous to the world famous, we want to have a conversation with the american people on the weekend that hopefully gives people deeper insight into what's going on. >> love donald trump or dislike him, everybody is engaged. >> the van jones is going to give people to put that engagement on full display. >> the van jones show is big. the minui van is small. >> thanks to international viewers for watching. for you cnn talk is next. for u.s. viewers, stay tuned. president trump's speech from davos and "new day" continue right now. >> the president is not discussing firing bob mueller. >> president trump ordered special counsel bob mueller to be fired last june. >> i think it would have been his own saturday night massacre.

>> don mcgann saved the president from a major, major political crisis. >> he is totally irrelevant because he didn't fire mueller. >> just because he didn't do it in june doesn't mean he doesn't want to do it in january. there is a crisis hanging over the white house right now. >> they are talking about a path to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented people. >> some republicans not too happy about parts of this plan. they think the president is giving away too much. >> this quote, unquote compromise is a force. >> it will make neither liberals nor conservative happy. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to your "new day". chris is sauf. jo off. >> breaking news across the continent. >> we do begin with breaking news. president trump dismissing the bombshell reports he tried to fire special counsel rob