for being here. we're following a lot of news this morning. let's get right to it. >> they have crossed from dangerously dealing with intelligence to a coverup. >> when you read the memo, it's going to be clear by democrats didn't want it to come into the public light. >> we had votes today to politicize the intelligence process. >> if they're going to release the memo, they have to release the democratic memo. >> well, the house has the minority vote. >> you have not seen the intelligence it's based on? >> we're not permitted to see that. >> doesn't that concern you? >> the latest turmoil comes as the president is about to deliver his first state of the union address. >> the decision was made by that of the white house. >> to say they had no influence on the part of the deputy director is a little disingenuo disingenuous. the sun is finally up. that's a good sign. good morning. welcome no your "new day."

it's tuesday, january 30th, 8:00 here in washington. we're here because we're just hours away from president trump delivering his first state of the june union address. while selling lawmakers and the american people on his immigration and infrastructure plans. a political firestorm is also consuming washington. president trump and allies escalating the campaign against the russia investigation. tough timing for a message of unity. the house intel committee voting to release a classified memo written by republicans alleging surveillance abuses by the fbi. it is now on the president's desk. he has five days to decide whether or not to make it public which would pit him against his own justice department. so the fbi deputy director, andrew mccabe, at the same time this is going on with the memo, we get word that he is abruptly resigning. he is one of the people that

oversaw the russia investigation. he has been a target of repeated personal attacks by president trump. we'll talk to white house counselor kellyanne conway in just a moment. first, cnn's abby phillip has the latest. >> reporter: the house intelligence committee voting along party lines to publicly release a secret partisan memo spearheaded by trump ally devin nunes, accusing the nation's top law enforcement agency of abusing its surveillance authority. committee republicans ignoring the justice department eastern warning that releasing the memo without agency review could be extraordinarily reckless, criticism cnn learned enraged president trump last week. the four-page memo is based on classified intelligence from the justice department that nunes and the committee have not even seen. >> you've seen the memo? >> i have. >> you have not seen the intelligence it's based on. >> we're not permitted to see that. >> doesn't that concern you, that something so heady, so

provocative and you don't get a chance to see where -- >> that's why i said it should be footnoted and cited. that's not the choice the committee made. i think the memo will speak for itself. >> reporter: the house intelligence committee voting against releasing a democratic memo insisting they're following protocol. >> why not release them both at the same time? >> the house hasn't had a chance to look at the minority report, nor have we. we voted to send it to the house and we need to read it as well. >> reporter: the decision prompting scathing criticism from democrats. >> they have crossed from dangerously and recklessly dealing with intelligence to a coverup of an investigation that they don't want the american people to see come to fruition. >> this is a continuation of the effort to protect the president's hide, push out a misleading narrative, selectively declassify information. >> reporter: ranking member adam schiff telling reporters that republicans refused an

invitation from fbi director christopher wray to brief the committee and express concerns about the memo. the extraordinary move coming hours after the abrupt resignation of fbi director andrew mccabe. it comes after months of criticism from the president and allies over mccabe's handling of the hillary clinton e-mail investigation and political donations his wife received from a super pac associated with a clinton ally. >> should mccabe go? >> mccabe got more than $500,000 from essentially hillary clinton. is he investigating hillary clinton? >> reporter: a charge president trump denies. a source says he recently said he's bringing in his own team that mccabe would not be a part of, prompting him to leave ahead of his expected retirement in march. wray suggesting at an upcoming

inspector general report played a role in mccab's decision. >> the president wasn't part of this decision-making process. we would refer you to the fbi. >> all right. here to discuss it all, counselor to the president, kellyanne conway. good to see you. >> great to see you. welcome to washington. >> let's deal with some of the news and you can take us into what we're expecting. this memo being voted on to come out now on the president's desk. he has five days. do you expect him to take the full five days? is there a chance we'll hear something today, tomorrow? >> that's up to the president. we want it to be a deliberative process and we respect the process, the transparency and accountability. can't really comment on the substance of the memo. >> the timing is open-ended. he has up to five days. you say the transparency. is there concern about the lack of transparency to the intelligence community, trump appointee stephen boyd saying this could be extremely reckless to release it this way, we've

never seen congress go around the intelligence community, using the president and himself instead of the intelligence community. >> i think there are concerns all the way around. that is one person's opinion. at the same time we've been very concerned to see a year-plus spent on innuendos and insinuations and this lack of any connection of russian collusion. everybody is yet to produce any evidence of that. it's. >> reporter: frustrating, chris, frustrating to a lot of america when we can't get enough coverage of 275,000 companies giving their employs bonuses and pay raises and investing in the community, it's frustrating to the american voter that put this congress here, put this president off to make us more prosperous, more safe, more transparent and accountable and frankly has done this. as for this, this is all brand new. as you say, the president has five days to review it. we take it all very seriously.

for those saying for a year plus transparency, accountability, get to the bottom of it. as you say, go after it, investigate it. i hope the same applies to this particular memo. >> it seems to be very tit for tat. people concerned the russia investigation hasn't bared the frud. then this comes out. are they that connected, we don't like this, so we're doing this. >> they're connected insofar as this is a town that sometimes focuses on all the wrong things. donald trump struck at the heart of not one, but two party establishments and promised to be a disrupter and come here and do things differently. he is. he's a builder by profession. he wants to rebuild infrastructure, rebuild our broken immigration system. look what he's done in the last couple weeks, holding forth for one hour for all the world to see unscripted, unfiltered, uninterrupted, with democratic leaders flanking him on both sides to have a conversation on

immigratio immigration. he, this president, is doing what other presidents failed to do which is to try to resolve the d.r.e.a.m.ers, the daca recipients, not just the 700,000 or so that are often talked about, but 1.8 million who qualified under the action that president obama took almost six years ago. this is somebody who made good on a promise that five presidents had made. it took donald trump to make good on the promise of five presidents to move the american embassy to jerusalem. >> there's a reason they didn't do it. >> historic tax cuts and now an ambitious infrastructure plan. chris, i can't think of many things that are more non-partisan than infrastructure. i hope the democrats will agree. >> you have problems on both sides. i hear it. i hear it at home. i got a guy in my own family that talks infrastructure all the time.

but one of the problems you have, you say he's flown as a builder. he's done a lot of demolishing, also. as a result, the chance for unity very slim. infrastructure, to your example, demands unity, within your own party, a lot of people will say you just did the tax bill, that's going to blow up the deficit. now you want to blow up the deficit more. no way. you have democrats not incentivized to work with the president because of things like this memo. this has been -- has really rattled their cage. >> you really think it's the memo, christopher? >> i've never seen nancy pelosi the way she was last night, not just because she told me i don't know what i'm talking about. >> she and i were the two back-to-back speakers at a forum at "the washington post." she said tax cuts hangs like a dark cloud over the capitol. that's such nonsense and so irresponsible. when you have constituents in san francisco where she is a member of congress and all across this country directly benefiting from that tax cut. >> her argument is unequal distribution, that the top --

>> tell that to the single mom who just got $2,000. >> people like me, like you, we got a lot more than that. >> why can't she say -- she represents northern california, why can't she say the fact that apple is going to create 20,000 jobs in this country, repatriate billions of dollars in wealth to the united states of america, how is that not a good thing? there are so blind by their reflexive hate -- >> oh, my goodness, obstruct, resist, stop, don't do it. that is not a message. the biggest statement is the color of the clothing, braering black to protest, what, harvey weinstein? >> no. the immigration policy. i think this is a legitimate debate. what he's doing with the d.r.e.a.m.ers, i'll be shocked if he can get it through your

own party. >> do you give him credit for trying? >> i do. i think it's ambitious. >> taking away a blunt instrument from the democrats in the midterms -- >> i hope that's not why he's doing it. >> of course he's not. he's doing right by them. >> we'll see if he gets it done. but in exchange for what is he doing? the reason pelosi says make america white again, i know that's inflammatory, won't help the process. >> horrible. >> when you get rid of the lottery visa, when you call something chain migration when it's really about family unification, you're messing -- >> president trump didn't invent that term. that term has been around for a very long time. >> on your side of the aisle to make it look ugly, what these people are doing. i'm saying you're change what the country is about. it's okay. you have the right to do it. you're saying, well, let these people -- we'll keep out everybody else like them. >> you want to put in my chair,

i'm not in charge of cnn booking, i'll give up my seat all day long for the guests coming tonight. an incredible lists of gefts invited by the first lady to sit with her in her section. parents who have buried their daughters killed by ms-13 gang members. an issue i work on every day at the white house, the opioid crisis. you've got -- you've got the only man who reenlisted after being a doum amputee. so beautiful up lifting stories in this country. this president and this first lady want to shine a light on that tonight. that's very unifying and up lifting and positive. >> it is. >> you've got people right now i'm sure attacking my dress and hair because that's what we're doing now. we can't take a look at this guy as a double amputee is far more a consequence -- >> nobody will have a problem with a down amputee.

>> he is rebuilding the military, including its morale and its respect, christopher. we need to do that as a nation. my goodness, they're out here every day fighting for our freedoms, for you and i to be able to sit on this set all cozy, exercising our respective first amendments. thank god they are. we respect them tremendously. there are such great stories in that box tonight. some called out, others will be available to the media any time you'd like to speak with them. that is very unifying and positive. >> they're mixed messages. >> there's something that the democrats can say this is good for america. they showed it last week when about 80 of them or so voted to reopen the government they had shut down. they saw they were starting to own that. they changed their tune pretty quickly. >> talk to their base. they weren't happy about it. it's about consistency of message. you say we want to help the military. yet by most intelligence

officials they'll say the biggest mall factor is russia. congress in a bizarre event of untold unity vote for sanctions because of russian interference in the election, 98-2 in the senate. when does that ever happen? five non-votes, otherwise they're in it. come to the white house, you guys don't put them into effect. a russian jet coming within five feet of a navy plane. this president talks about jay-z, doesn't talk about that. why so soft on russia. >> he talks about plenty. he's not soft on russia. >> doesn't talk about the jet, doesn't talk at sanctions. why? >> overnight i'm sure you saw the state department came out with its report, the treasury department came out with its report. >> exact echoes of a forbes list and the entire population of the russian government. >> that's not fair to say our state department and treasury department didn't do their jobs. >> the white house didn't do its job. they were supposed to enact

these and they didn't. >> that's not true. this president has been very tough about flrj, isis, and we're trying to work together on big issues like a nuclearized north korea which is everybody's business. >> in exchange for punishment in the election. >> what did they do in the election? >> they tried to disrupt our democracy and doing it rye now. >> do you think that's why he won and why the person whose name i never mention on tv lost? >> no, i don't. >> i think you going there by default explains why there's such resistance. leave it alone. he won. punish them for what they did. >> hold on, hold on, hold on. i think you talking about this every single day including a day when we have invited people to the capitol -- >> don't mix that. >> you're mixing it. >> that cheapens the argument. if you're bringing them here to distract -- >> we won, we're governing. now you're talking about russian interference.

>> it's separate. they're trying to disrupt our democracy. there's a troll farm that number one hash tags is release the memo. the white house won't punish them. >> that was a vote by the intelligence committee. >> i understand. it's about the propaganda they put out there to try to see division. >> are we going to talk about propagan propaganda? i'll come back another day. >> kellyanne, you haven't given me one reasons they didn't put the sanctions into effect? >> the state department and treasury department made their independent determinations. you have to read that and respect it. >> if the president had wanted it in place, they wouldn't have come to -- >> he's been plenty tough of putin -- >> give me one example. >> do you think it's positive, negative or neutral that the president of the united states that president trump would sit down and hold forth with president putin when the media said it's only supposed to be 20 or 30 minutes, they're still in

there. is that not a positive thing to have the president of russia and the president of the united states sit down and figureout where we can work together on big issue, let's be very clear, again, a nuclearized north korea, helping isis continue to be in retreat. he's willing to call terrorists who they are -- >> tell that to the people in kabul. >> tell that to the people who didn't vote for the person who lost the election, whose name i never mention on tv. >> you just brought her up twice. >> she wouldn't call them radical islamic terrorists. >> again -- you said he met with putin. that shows he's strong. this person talks about respe respecting strength more than any man i met in my life, let alone president. strength is showing, if you do something to us that is wrong, there will be a price. he says it all the time. they did something to us that is wrong. there is no price. where is the price? congress comes together, they

pass the sanctions, he doesn't do it. the same day they buzz us with a russian fighter jet, he does nothing. >> you ever feel the list bit kind of, i don't know, gush back or a little ashamed that we've had person after person on your network and elsewhere for a year -- literally someone on your payroll, i saw your clip and laughed out loud, it's kind of sad, promising russian collusion, impeachment, treason. >> never. >> coming around the corner. >> never. >> it's over wrought and ridiculous why americans are losing faith in institutions. >> nobody is losing faith in american institutions because you have people of good faith -- >> people saying things like it's a fact? >> bob mueller -- >> i'm not talking about bob mueller. i'm talking about people on your network and elsewhere. >> we examine this forensically. you know my background is law. >> here comes the treason, here comes impeachment. >> if we want to criticize what

people on cable network say not adhering to the facts, we'd have a very long conversation. i control what i do. alisyn controls what she does on this show. we go after these things forensically and facts first. >> i respect both of you enormously. >> that investigation matters. cillizza, he's his own problem. the russia investigation is serious. what they did was real. to conflate it with why the president won is wrong. to ignore what they did -- >> the state of the union a strong, safe and should be proud. we should look at these stories tonight, the welder from ohio coming to talk about what the tax cut means to him. you should talk to the people who think nancy pelosi is as out of touch as the deplorable comment was. excuse me, you are insulting me and my ability to take that $1,000 and the $2,000 and all the job security and invest it in my children's education or invest it in home repair, put it

in a savings account. we had families in the white house, the president spontaneously gave them the microphone and said, why don't you tell us what the tax cut means to you? we had five families, one said education, one said found repairs, one said giving it to the local charity. this is the true american spirit that we should lift up and be positive about. >> absolutely and nobody should say otherwise. you don't use people's character and their pain as cover -- >> whoa, excuse me. don't do that. they were not using them as cover. they want to be here to be part of the american fabric of this speech. >> good. we're happy they're there. >> to say thank you president trump, for calling out and standing up against the gangs. we've been working with other countries on this issue as well. thousands of arrests.

it's such a big difference from some of the soft on crime policies that look the other way at gangs like this, looking the other way at the opioid crisis. why? we had a couple weeks ago, the president in the oval office with a bipartisan group of democratic and republican house members and senators there while he signed into law a major step forward in laws against fentanyl. >> you don't do it, and i say this to you all the time, you don't do it as cover for what deserves criticism as well. >> it is not cover. >> we do both. >> look at the cnn polling. chris cillizza and i scoured the cnn polling. i can tell you cnn polling doesn't have this -- this isn't a top five issue. the thing you're trying to cover today. >> russian interference. >> they want to hear about jobs and the economy, terrorism and you're going to show, when we

ask people is it important, 82% say it's important. everything is important when you ask it in isolation. >> you can always do just what's popular. sometimes you do what's right. somebody messing with your democracy deserves covering. >> everybody who said donald trump couldn't win, everybody who said the election was all wrapped up, every screaming headline, every wrong poll, every anchor, every pundit who said this is over, it's a joke, he can't win, tried to interfere in the election. >> oh, please. you're going to put them on the same -- >> i didn't say that. get out of bed, breathe air and -- >> insult the audience, nice. >> love the audience. >> alisyn, over to you. president trump weighing whether to make that house intel memo public. is that a smart move. susan collins from the senate intel committee next.

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the whisperer? why do they call him the whisperer? he talks to planes. he talks to planes. watch this. hey watson, what's avionics telling you? maintenance records and performance data suggest replacing capacitor c4. not bad. what's with the coffee maker? sorry. we are not on speaking terms. all right. it's a big night. president trump delivering his first state of the union address. there are many developments in the russia investigation. tough timing for the president done by his own party. a vote publicly releasing a partisan memo about the fbi surveillance abuses as they see them, and the abrupt resignation

of deputy director andrew mccabe came right at the same time. joining us is republican senator susan collins of maine. she's a member of the intelligence and appropriations committees. senator, always good to see you. you're much taller in person. >> i was just going to say that to you. you stole my opening line. >> you've always made me feel small. this time it's literal. you heard the interview with kellyanne. it's very interesting that so much of the talk of this memo, and i know the senate committee has nothing to do with it. i know it's about the house, even shy about showing it to people, including the ranking member. that's odd. people are frustrated with the russia investigation, so then there's this. there are no answers in the russia investigation, and so we have this. is this tit for tat politics? >> this issue is too important

to break down along partisan line. the chairman richard burr, vice chairman mark warner have worked together and the committee has worked together. when you're dealing with allegations that are this serious of the russians trying to meddle in our elections, that's the kind of approach i think should be taken. >> you have been counsel and also a solid interview for us when it comes to these matters. i wanted your take on this. the idea of releasing a memo and not the classified information that comes with it. so you have people reaching a set of conclusions but not the basis for the conclusions. then we find out that the person whose name is on the memo, devin nunes, didn't read the supporting information that his own conclusions are based on, how should we have confidence in something like that? >> those are the kind of

questions that arise when you have a partisan investigation. there is a legitimate concern that the justice department has about whether the release of this memo would result in a compromise of sources and methods aside from whether or not it's cherry-picking intelligence. that's another issue. what we did in the senate committee when we had a controversial report on the torture allegations. we sat down for months with the cia and others from the intel community. we went through it, redacted parts of it and ultimately we released it. we released assenting views at the same time and it gave -- not all of us was released, some of it were renamed classified. but it was a much better way to proceed. it seems to me that what the house intelligence committee ought to do is sit down with the

justice department, go through the report, see if there are issues that are contested or would compromise our security and come up with a redacted report. that's not as satisfying to the press and the public, but there's some underlying intelligence that will never be able to be released. >> they say no, they're not going to do that because they don't trust the justice department. now it's on the president's desk. do you think he should release it? >> i believe he should follow the advice of his justice department which so far is to not release it. i think there's a compromise here, and that is to go through the report and redact those parts that are sensitive. i also don't like the idea of these duelling reports. it's going to be very hard for the public to know what is true. that's why i place a lot of confidence in having the senate intelligence committee complete its work, robert mueller

complete his work and michael horowitz, the inspector general of the department of justice, conclude his investigation. that's the kind of outside, impartial review that we need. >> do you think mueller will be able to complete his work? you know the report about the president once expressing frustration, wanting him out. mccabe is gone. comey is gone. do you have any concerns about whether or not there may be an effort to stop this investigation? >> it would be a devastating development if mr. mueller were in any way impeded in completing his investigation. it is absolutely essential that he be allowed to complete it. he is a person of great experience, impeccable integrity whose appointment was praised by both sides of the aisle, and he has to be allowed to finish his work. >> kellyanne conway has never ceased to amaze me in her ability to answer questions.

yet, she has no answer for why the president didn't execute the sanctions that you guys voted 98-2, very wide margin in the house as well. why, why didn't the white house move on the sanctions you voted on? >> that is perplexing to me. that bill passed with only two dissenting votes. it was not partisan. bob corker, ben cardin, the leaders of the foreign relations committee worked very closely together. they came up with a bill that was balanced and needed. the one thing we know for sure already is the russians did attempt to meddle in our elections, and not only should there be a price to pay in terms of sanctions, but also we need to put safeguards in place right now for the elections for this year, because we know the russians have not given up on their disinformation campaign and their attempt to sew discord

in this country and to undermine faith in democratic institutions. they've also tried it in western europe and in montenegro. we sneneed to act now to try to stop that. >> border security, they'll throw all the money at it in the world. cyber security, nothing so far. >> senator collins, as long as you're around, i feel we'll get to the right place. >> thank you, chris. we have a studio full of senators. president trump plans to sell his immigration plan to lawmakers and the american people at tonight's state of the union address. joining us is heidi heitcamp of north dakota. thanks for coming in the studio. >> not a problem. >> flush with senators. >> good ones. >> absolutely, the best. what can the president say tonight to get democrats on board with his immigration plan? >> i think the one thing everybody is forgetting because there's so much talk about

what's happening with the fbi, so much talk about what's happening with the daca kids and whether we'll get this fixed, there's a whole world out there. i go to work every morning thinking about what we're going to do for rural america. what i'm going to listen for, what's happening for working men and women? yes, these other issues are critical and important and we'll work through them. this speech is supposed to be about the entire country. i think there are a lot of people who feel like they're getting left behind in these discussions. i think we're working through with senator collins, the common sense coalition is working through a lot of the issues we have right now with what do we think we need on border security, what's going to happen with the daca kids. that's going to work its way through. but at the same time the state of the union has to be a broader discussion. >> that's good to know. it's good to know things are happening behind the scenes. obviously i think that would comfort americans in terms of

getting to a solution because what we often see is the president put out something the democrats think is inflammatory and republicans say nothing is going to happen. you're saying behind the scenes you think you will reach a bipartisan approach or plan for immigration before the next government shutdown? >> i think the discussion is -- there's a lot of people who want to do the whole immigration reform. that's not going to happen by the 8th. there's a lot of people who say, if we just kind of extend this program and codify this program, make it foolproof in the courts, that takes care of it. i think there's a lot of room in the middle and there's a lot of consensus in the middle. so one of the things that i believe the common sense coalition brings to all of this is a willingness to sit down and not just talk about process, but talk about substance and how can we get from point a to point b. one of the things that we learned i think from the '13 shutdown where the common sense caucus didn't engage until the

13th, well into the shutdown, this time we engaged right away and had a better and more immediate result. >> we understand what the president is going to be talking about tonight and what they previewed is touting his tax cut, touting what he sees as the booming economy, how well the stock market is doing. and so from where you sit, do you think all of those -- the issues that you find most pressing and you see people want to talk about, are they feeling those successes? >> i think the reaction would be mixed, and a lot of times it's through a partisan lens. i like to look at facts. it's really important because they are fairly significant in public policy making, alisyn. one of the things that they say, okay, wells fargo gave a big bonus. but at the same time they also announced they're going to dividend most of their tax break. we just heard kimberly clark is going to lay off 5,000 people.

you know how they can afford to do that? they said the tax cuts gave them the liberty to do that. >> that wasn't supposed to be the point of the tax cuts. >> sure, there's going to be positive things. moody's which analyzes this for a lot of states and companies basically said this is a watch. in fact of stimulus on the individual tax cuts, because the majority of it is going to very wealthy people, won't have much effect. >> that's not going to be the president's message. the president and the white house are touting this as though it's all good. >> those things aren't bad, alisyn, but it's not like -- and then you go to, we're going to have 3%, 4% growth. where is the proof that's going to happen? there's no economist in the country that said of of any legitima legitimacy. we saw less than 3% in the last quarter. let's be honest with the american people. at the same time we have 58,000 bridges that are defective in this country. to me that's a national

emergency. we ought to be talking about that. >> i think the president is going to talk about infrastructure. those things do fall into that. >> is he going to fix 58,000 bridges with his infrastructure plan? >> you're bringing a guest, a special guest tonight that i think does personify a lot of these issues that you deal with in your home state. >> i'm bringing dennis corn, a former ups driver who will have a substantial cut to his pension if congress doesn't act. to me, when you look at rural issues and you look at the industrial midwest, that feels particularly left behind, this issue of pensions is critical. we've got to fix it. we have a great bill designed by a group of us, led by senator brown from ohio called the butch lewis, an amazing organizer and patriot and advocate and veteran who died in this fight.

this would fix the pension bill. we want this in the final passage of the bill that's going to basically fund government. are we going to get it? is anyone even talking about it? that's why i think it's important for people like us to say, look, there are other issues that affect families. these are families that would be devastated by this level of cut in their pension. let's talk about them. let's let them see congress actually looking at their problems. >> so when you hear the counselor to the president, kellyanne conway who we just had on moments ago say listen, look how good it is, all these 275 companies are giving these bonuses, about $1,000 bonus for the year. >> alisyn, i wish you would turn around and say, if they were that comfortable, why don't they give them a thousand dollar boost in their salary which would continue. the other question you need to ask is, of those, how many

actually gave bonuses last year and whapt were the bonus amounts? nobody talks about that. we've got to look at this. it's interesting because my good friend barbara mikulski, a whip that is unsur pazzed in the senate. she used to say we need to care about the macroeconomic issues, but we need to care about the macaroni and cheese issues. dennis corn represents where the rubber meets the road, where economic policy is not working today. we need to fix it. i would love to hear him talk about pension reform. that's something on the mind of many, many americans. >> senator heidi heitcamp, thanks so much for being here. >> senator heitcamp also known forgiving senator collins the talking stick. >> oh, we know all about the talking stick. >> you can't imagine this, a room full of 20 senators. you can't imagine how much chaos. >> senator collins says you came at her with the talking stick.

she disarmed you. you said keep it. >> it actually began, this tradition began with a lay that senator herono gave me. but the men were uncomfortable putting it around their necks. >> they prefer each other's hands. >> not quite that bad. we've been talking about problems abroad. deadly violence spreading across afghanistan. over 100 people killed in less than ten days. why? we have a live report from kabul next.

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afghanistan is reeling. four terror attacks in kabul have killed at least 130 people in just the last nine days. the taliban claiming responsibility for two. isis taking credit for two others. cnn's nick paton walsh is live in kabul with more. what's the situation on the ground? >> reporter: chris, really a city waking up every morning with a new sense of dread since that ambulance car bomb caused 100 of those particular deaths.

this spate of bloodshed in what used to be the secure sanctuary of afghanistan's kabul, causing president trump to make a tweak of u.s. policy. he no longer thinks talks are a good idea, backed up by the afghan government who says the recent violence have caused red lines. that's according to a spokesperson for the president. a bit of a reality check. peace talks were never about to happen, but were a key plank of the u.s. military strategy, the idea you suppress the taliban enough and they decide they want a political settlement. that was far off. the taliban more extreme than ever and competing for the low point of extremism with isis who has a foothold here as well. we may hear about the afghan strategy potentially in the state of the union speech tonight. we may hear what front line

soldiers will do. calls for greater transparency about how well this war is going. a key indicator of success, how many afghan soldiers and police dying on the battle field has been classified by the u.s. military citing afghan requests and also, too, confusion about what the taliban controls in terms of territory. but still, really dodge gee months ahead here potentially. fear i haven't seen in a decade of coming here in the afghan capital. >> nick, stay safe. so great to have your perspective on the ground there. thank you. president trump's first state of the union address through the eyes of a 2016 rival. what does governor john kasich want to hear? does he have his sights set on 2020? it's not too soon to ask. he'll tell us next. whoooo.

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president trump will deliver his first state of the union address tonight amid a flurry of new developments in the russia investigation. here to talk about all of this, is ohio governor and former

republican presidential candidate john kasich. good morning, governor. >> alisyn, i'm in your studio and you're in washington. i would rather be here than there. >> is that right? what do you have against d.c.? >> i did 18 state of the union addresses. that's really an amazing time. this one is going to be much different because, even though, if you go to a speech, if there's a democrat president, the republicans sit on their hands and vice versa. now the country is so divided with people on the hard right and people on the left who have reacted to president trump, i think there's going to be very few people in the middle who will actually listen to this. alisyn, one speech doesn't make a difference. it takes a heck of a long time. whatever speech you make, has to be followed up with policy. so we'll have to see how it all shakes out. this is a whole different time in our country, and it's

concerning. >> governor, i want to get your perspective on that. as one of donald trump's rivals, obviously during the campaign, now that we're a year in, what do you make of it? what is your perspective from the outside of what you think is happening in the white house? >> i think we've seen a hardening of where the american people are. again, you have the far right, and you have the hard left who are reacting to donald trump, and neither side will listen to the other side. so the fight really -- the action i think is really in the middle. who are people that are willing to watch cnn and fox and try to decide what they really think and try to work through things, worried about our country. i'd put my hope in the millennials and the gen xers. it may take a generational change to get the country united again. if you take the issue of daca, the d.r.e.a.m.ers, i don't understand why congress can't

pass something to take these people off the razor's edge. i don't want to shut all immigration down. of course we have to protect the border. i also get very, very concerned about the type of people, we want to have people with phds coming into the country. that's not what's on the statue of liberty about give me your tired and your poor. my grandfather couldn't speak english when we first came. this notion that we're not part of the global active tift is not healthy for us. the attack on basic institutions, attack on the press. a lot of people on both sides say the press is bias. okay, everybody has your point of view. what if you didn't have a press? even now the attacks we see on the fbi and justice department. >> i want to ask you about that. >> it concerns me. >> i hear you. i want to ask you about that. everything you see happening with the fbi, obviously andrew mccabe has stepped aside now. do you think there is damage

being done? do you think the president saying this is a clearinghouse of people who have bias, or do you think americans' trust in the fbi will be impacted? >> that's what i'm concerned about. the fbi is an institution that's been above politics. there have been people inside of it who have done inappropriate things, okay, then they have to pay the price. they should leave or be sanctioned or whatever. but the institution itself, the fbi, the justice department, this is a very important part of the fabric of the united states. so do i have concern that these institutions are being eroded? i do have concerns about that. so, look, i hope tonight the president is going to be positive. i hope he's going to make every effort to bring the country together. you see economic growth. he deserves some credit for that, no doubt about it. but at the end, can, in fact, you bring people together by considering the other person's

point of view because it's critical for the future of our country. >> governor, are you running for president in 2020? >> i have no clue what i'm doing in the next day. i know i'm going back home tonight. i don't know, alisyn. we don't know what's happening in politics today. we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. >> i know. >> i just don't know. >> governor, listen, you have long talked about bipartisanship and how important that is. just now you're talking about how you don't like how hardened each side has become, how polarized. is there possibly a split ticket in your future? this is the message you want to get out. why not sayah, i'm going to try it again and i'm going to run in that middle ground that you like to talk about? >> alisyn, look, i've served my country and my state and my community for 30 years. i ran for president, did everything i could possibly do. i didn't win. i'm not bitter about it. i'm having a great life. as to whether i would do

something like that again, if i felt my country called me and it was practical, i'd have to very seriously think about it. right now i'm not out there trying to create delegates and states or anything like that. i don't know what the future is going to bring. i want to be a voice to help our country to come together because that's when we're strongest. i'm not trying to give you a political answer. honestly, i don't know exactly what my future is. it's in the hands of the lord. >> on that note, governor john kasich, thank you very much. we always appreciate getting your perspective. great to talk to you. >> thank you, alisyn. cnn's prime time coverage of the state of the union by ginns at 5:00 p.m. eastern. >> we will be live here again in washington tomorrow morning. one of our guests, white house press secretary sarah sanders. our coverage of this very big day and big developments continues right now with cnn "newsroom" with john berman. let's take a break and then you get j.b. >> see you tomorrow.

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