own citizens more brutally than north korea. >> the russians are fighting -- >> politicians can be cheered for the promises they make. the country will be judged by the promises we keep. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> sun comes up on another day in the capital. good morning. it's wednesday, january 31st, 8:00 here in washington. president trump hailing the start of a new american moment in his first state of the union address. he's calling on a deeply divided nation to unify and challenging republicans and democrats to work together for the american people. the president also laying out the four pillars of his immigration plan leaving both sides of the aisle on edge but for very different reasons. >> absent from the address, any mention of russia's interference in the election. this as the president gives a glimpse into his thinking about

that classified and controversial republican memo alleging fbi misconduct. the president said he'll 100% release it. >> joining us now exclusively, white house press secretary sarah sanders. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> you're always welcome. thank you for taking the invitation. >> absolutely. >> you and i have seen a lot of states of the union. although i'm much older than you. >> you said it. not me. >> facts first. i've never seen nancy pelosi's face like that. the president made outreach to them but focusing mostly on the republican side. how can he unify that room? >> i think doing exactly what he did last night. i'll be a little in disagreement with you. i think nancy pelosi looks like that all the time. i think she should smal a lot more often. she seems to embody the bitterness that belongs in the democrat party.

i think last night was a good step forward. hoflly they can let go of that. they need to decide do they love america more than they hate this president, and are they willing to put some of those differences aside, come together and do what's right for this country. >> a fundamental disagreement is where's the hate. nancy pelosi has argued on this set that it is righteous indignation you see coming from her, the way last night the president identified the people who killed the children of those african-american couples that were there last night as illegal sbrants as minors. they took it as code for dreamers. >> there was no code. the president could not have been more clear. he has laid out exactly what he wants to see in an immigration reform plan. all the things he has laid out are thing that democrats have support. bill clinton got a standing ovation for using similar language in one of his state of

the union addresses. democrats voted to end the visa lottery stims. they support a pathway to citizenship. these are things the president has given and laid out a good and solid compromise that frankly everybody should be excited about. democrats and republicans should both be celebrating. as the president said, everybody didn't get everything they wanted but the country is getting what they need. it's time for republicans and democrats to come together and put some of that common sense solution forward. >> message versus messenger. clinton -- you know you have problems, you know you have to make the process better in terms of who gets into this country and also whom you decide to throw out. the motivating ethos from clinton, the idea was we are our diversity. the feeling with this president, he sees diversity as a minus. not one story last night -- by the way, the president did a good job articulating people's story last night. and it's very powerful for the media. not one about a successful dreamer.

he did say all americans are dreamers, which not only is not true. i didn't understand the point of doing that. >> the president has committed to solving this problem. he has said he wants to find a solution, and he's laid one out. democrats don't have a message. they simply are sitting on their hands and being angry instead of coming to the table to have real negotiations. >> they believe it's a policy of exclusion. >> how is it a policy of exclusion, chris, when the president frankly went further than barack obama ever did as president. he has tripled the number of people he has included in this program. >> fair point. >> that is the opposite of exclusion. that is broadening the spectrum and taking it a much step further. the idea that democrats are saying that this president is not being inclusive and is not try to put an actual solution on the table is frankly laughable and they should be embarrassed they are trying to peddle that kind of false premise. it's frankly not true. >> the premise is this. with one way he gives, pathway to citizenship. going to be hard to sell to part

of your party, b i the way. with the other hand he's taking away. there are obviously at least two of these pillars, if not three, to limit who comes into this country and what types of people continue into this country which is what the democrats are trying to protect against. the first one, you have two pillars too many? do you think you can get any deal that goes beyond dealing with daca and security. it seems like the democrats will give you security. the other two may be a bridge too far. >> you can't just do partial security. it has to be the whole thing, otherwise we're dealing with the same situation in two, three, four, five years. the president doesn't want to kick the can down the road anymore. he wants to be able to sit down with democrats, sit down with republicans and say, look, we have a problem with the daca system. let's fix it. we have 1.8 million people. let's give them a pathway, but at the same time let's make sure we don't find ourselves back here again. that's why you can't just have one or two pillars. you have to have all four, the same reason a stool doesn't work

with two legs. you've got to have all that. >> it's too much exclusion. >> it's not exclusion. it's the safety and security of the american people. >> when it comes to the lottery, the selling point is we don't know who these people are. you know that's not true. they get vetted several times. what you call chien migration, which the democrats call family unification. >> which democrats have voted to end in the past. >> no, no, no. what they've done is to vote for limitations. nobody is saying you don't want to improve these processes so you know who is coming in. the idea, what the president said last night, somebody can bring in as many people as they want. it's just not true. it's not true in the facts, not true in reality. >> people have multiple instances where they're bringing in dozens of people. we're not saying they can't bring in anybody. we're limiting the number to be the nuclear and immediate family. >> you're making the exception the rule when you do that. you're making the exception the rule about who krits crimes, who are malefactors. the rule you're painting all these people with the same

brush. >> that's not true true at all. that's what democrats are doing, trying to paint the president as saying that. i've heard him say it hundreds of time. he wants people from all over the world, all different places to come. he wants to make sure they want to come here for the right reasons, they want to come here to be part of our society, to contribute, to work, to help raise a family, and to make sure they weren't coming here to do harm to our citizens. i think that's a positive. i think everybody in america thinks that's a positive. i think that's a reason that 75% of the country last night said they liked donald trump's speech. there was a poll last night -- >> there was plenty of stuff in there to like. we had 48% were highly favorable. it's one thing to say it. it's what do you do or tweet thereafter. we don't have to go back into the language he used. he wants people to come to the country but not those certain s hole countries. we wants them rich and white. that's not america. >> that's not true. >> we wouldn't be here. >> that's the opposite of what this president has laid out.

by very definition a merit-based system is colorblind. it's absolutely outrageous to claim it is anything different. >> he said exactly that, sarah. >> democrats have been begging for some of these things in the past and now they claim they're racist. >> but he said it, sarah. >> he said he wanted a merit-based system. >> no, he didn't. >> i guess i missed you being in the room -- >> are you saying he didn't hear that. >> i'm saying you're trying to create a narrative that doesn't exist. you're trying to take words of the president and make them mean something that they don't. >> based on the context of all the other things he said about immigrants that is so ulgly and destructive. >> i'm going to have to disagree with your premise. this is a president who loves this country. this is the president who wants to see the very best things of this country. i think you saw him highlight his heart, has soul and the optimistic vision that he has for our country last night. i think you see that every day in the policies he's been pushing over the last year and everything he has laid out that

he wants his administration to accomplish over the next seven years. >> the other side saying those exact same criteria, they don't trust he wants to do the right thing by these people. now the second obstacle. you're in the five-day period now with this memo. if that memo is released, it will dominate the discussion for good and bad reason. it will dominate deal making. you said in a statement from the white house, he hasn't reviewed it yet. we're nowhere on releasing it. let's put up the statement. there you are. good enough picture. everybody always starts with the picture. contrary to the published report, there are no current plans to release the house intelligence committee memo. the president hasn't seen or been briefed on the memo or reviewed its contents. last night we had this piece of sound. explain it to us. >> let's release the memo. >> 10%. >> 100% he's going to release the memo.

is that the new position from the sfwhous. >> we've said all along from day one we want full transparency in this process. at the same time we're still going to complete the legal and national security review that has to take place before putting something out publicly. that's the place where we are right now. >> is there any chance that the president does not release the memo? >> i think there's always a chance. again, i don't know -- i haven't seen the memo. i can't make that judgment, but i do know we're going through that process. i know that will be part of what's taking place at the white house today. and we'll certainly keep you guys posted as i know you'll continue to ask until you hear the final answer on that. >> has the president seen the memo yet? >> not that i'm aware of. i know he hadn't as of last night prior to and immediately after the "state of the union." >> so obviously he should read this. did devin nunes work with anybody in the white house on that memo?

>> not that i know of. >> he wouldn't answer that question. >> i just don't know the answer. i don't know of anyone that he did. and i haven't had a chance -- >> he's work with the white house before when it comes to intelligence and the russia investigation. >> look, we have certainly coordinated with members of congress as is appropriate as to specifics on this, i just don't know the answer. i'm not aware of any conversations or coordination with congressman nunes. >> rosenstein, trump's choice, says he doesn't like this. he goes to the chief of staff to say it. stephen boyd, trump's choice at the doj says this could be reckless, dangerous. the intelligence community says let us review this. you have thehouse josing we don't trust it. you have the president saying we'll have to see. why do this to the intelligence community? why call into question their legitimacy with the american

people? >> i don't think we are calling into question -- we've said many, many times before the president has full confidence in director wray and his ability to lead the fbi. i don't think there's any secret that there's some frustration, and certainly great cause for concern by some of the actions of some of the previous leadership at the fbi. but the president put director wray there for a reason. he has great confidence in the rank and file members of the fbi which we've said repeatedly. there are a number of things that have given reason for, not just the president, but the american people to have cause for concern out of the actions of that department. >> why not let the system work? >> that's exactly what we're doing. >> no, no. this is a naked end run by the house republicans. they're saying usually -- >> that is the process. >> we've never seen this before. >> you've never seen the obsession over a total hoax like we have seen over the last year.

>> what's a hoax? >> i would say the russia collusion and russian fever that you guys have perpetuated every single day. how is it a fever? did it happen? was there russian interference. the american people have never said they don't want to hear about it. >> that's not what you're talking about. you're not talking about whether or not russia was involved, you're talking about where the president is involved. those are very different things. >> that's part of the special counsel's purview, a man who you guys interviewed for a job at the white house, a lifelong republican and decorated veteran. >> we're fully cooperating with him. we've turned over thousands and thousands of documents. >> you have reports that the president thought of making a move on him this summer. >> we have continued to be fully cooperative with him. the president has been fully cooperative with him. he's publicly been very positive in saying i don't have any problems here. let's see what happens, let's get this done. >> he said i'm look forth ward

to sitting down with him. now there's reporting your lawyers are looking for an exception to get him out of an interview. which is it? >> those two things are not mutually exclusive, chris. >> how? >> the president has nothing to hide. >> then why look for a reason to get him out of an interview. >> at the same time his attorneys are going to go through the proper process. you guys want to paint these crazy ludicrous things and create stories that aren't there. >> what's crazy and lewd rouse? he says he wants to meet the moouler and now looking for an exception that probably doesn't apply. >> if you want to talk about wasting tax money. talk about the entire investigation as a whole with this president and collusion. that's a waste of taxpayer money. >> how do we know if we don't know what the investigation will yield. >> we have spent a year digging and digging and digging. everyone comes to the same conclusion. >> mueller has come to no conclusion, the senate intelligence committee have come to no conclusion.

>> multiple members of the senate committee have said they've seen no evidence of collusion. >> the investigation isn't over. why wouldn't you want to see it through? >> we do. i don't think anybody wants to see it more than we do. >> why do you allow nunes to do this end run that we've never seen before in subverting the intelligence community to release things that could be jeopardizing the national security? >> no one here is going to make a decision that jeopardizes national security. that's been the president's number one priority. >> then how can the president release the memo. rosenstein, boyd doesn't want him to do it. >> you haven't seen the memo. >> the president is promising 100% -- >> he's going to take the advice that those that have the knowledge and experience to make that decision. i don't and neither do you. we shouldn't sit here and pretend like we do. the president has individuals on his legal team, his national security team that are doing that review, will make that recommendation and make that final decision at that point. the point i'm trying to make is

we have spent the better part of the day, wasted a year. think about all the incredible things this president has been able to accomplish in the last year. the economy is booming. isis is on the run. we're remaking the judiciary. we've gotten rid of thousands of regulations that have allowed our economy to actually thrive. we're making strides in places that we haven't seen in decades. if we did not have to deal with the obsession by the media over this, then i can't imagine the other amazing things that could have been accomplished in this past year. >> the media isn't keeping you from accomplishing things. you set policy. we report on it. both of these things are true. >> all the crazy questions day in and day out. >> give me one crazy question. we're watching the investigation that goes to the heart of the legitimacy of our democracy. they're not mutually exclusive to borrow your phase. you have to report on all of it.

don't dismiss the russia investigation before we know what mueller has. >> we've spent a year. frankly, if in a year they haven't been able to find anything, i think that's very telling. here is something else. you guys say you report on both of these things. 90% of the coverage of this president is negative. how can 90% of the coverage be negative when so many incredible things are happening. >> here is your answer. >> -- oh. >> keep the president off this device -- actually i don't want him to do that. i want the window into his mind. >> so does america. they appreciate the fact that they have a president who directly -- >> that's where the negative coverage comes from, what he says and what he does. what is helpful to the american people, you coming on shows like this to make the case directly to them. we know you have to go. you're always welcome. >> thanks for having me. always great to be with you. a lot to talk about obviously from press secretary sarah sanders interview. we'll break it all down with our pundits next.

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. we just had on white house press secretary sarah sanders. we talked to her about the president's state of the union address and, of course, the russia investigation. let's get to it. let's bring if our pundits, cnn senior political analyst and executive director of political programming mark preston and cnn politics reporter and editor at large chris cillizza, the two men with the longest titles in

the building. >> that's part of the deal. >> sarah sanders was here, to recap for everybody, of course, chris brought up all sorts of things. let's start with what might happen this week in the devin nunes memo. chris asked if the president has just read it. we had jackie speier on and she said she has read it. she said there's dangerous, classified information in there she doesn't believe should be released. chris asked sarah sanders if the president read it. here is what she said. >> we've seen all along from day one that we want full transparency in this process. we haven't hidden that. at the same time we or still going to complete the legal and national security review before putting something out publicly. that's where we are right now. >> is there any chance that the president does not release the memo? >> i think there's always a chance. again, i don't know. i haven't seen the memo. >> he said 100% to congressman duncan last night when asked about it. he hasn't even read the memo

yet. >> on tape. this is actually on tape. i have sympathy for anybody who has to go out and try to explain away anything the president -- >> not me. that's the job. you work for the american people. you're supposed to speak truth to power and address their concerns. i had the answer prepared. >> i've heard that. >> having said that, though, unfortunately she doesn't have the answer. she said the president hadn't read it before the state of the union speech. >> also, how do you have the considerations she outlined, chris cillizza and release the memo? >> the reason he's going to release it before he reads it is because it confirms what he thinks which is -- i don't know a thing that's in it. but in his mind it confirms the idea that the fbi -- that there is a deep state conspiracy burrowed within the fbi and law enforcement that doesn't want him to win and tried to help hillary clinton win. we know this from the andrew

mccabe tweets about he took money and, therefore, hillary -- donald trump seizes on things that affirm his points of view, and he believes that they are true. that's why he says 100% despite the fact he hasn't read it. by saying there's always a chance -- like 1 in a hundred, more like one in a million. i think it would be stunning at this point if he didn't release it because it has become sort of a real cause celeb in the conservative blogs sphere twittersphere. to not doing it at this point -- he's doing it. >> interesting to hear her use the president say when you asked her about russia, she said it's a total hoax. you said what part is a total hoax. aren't we past the total hoax,

now that people have pled guilty, now that we have a special counsel, aren't we past the total hoax? she pointed out because she said -- her argument was she said you talk about russia. you said the meddling is a hoax? >> of course we talk about meddling, that's where it started. the question is about collusion. she also said we have russian fever quite frankly. what's ridiculous is we already have two people right now who are cooperating with the special counsel. we already have two people indicted. by the way, the two people cooperating are pleading guilty. we have two others that are under indictment. one of them might actually flip and start cooperating as sources are telling cnn at this point. the fact is that russia has been this very dark cloud over this administration, a very dark cloud over all of america for the past year right now. and the fact that donald trump continues to try to stop this

investigation and he does it very clumsily. >> here is the thing. the media, no matter what anyone thinks, we are not involved in the special counsel's office. we are not the attorney general. we are not the deputy attorney general. we are not the director of the fbi. all of these people are republicans, chris, up to and including bob mueller. all of these people are people, with the exception of bob mueller, donald trump put in these jobs. the special counsel investigation is not being run by the four people you see here. it's being run by people donald picked to do these things. rosenstein, that was a jeff sessions donald trump pick who then said we need a special counsel. that was bob mueller who was george w. bush's pick for the fbi. the idea this is some sort of

media conspiracy is not borne out by what should be agreed-upon facts. >> to add to that, you have congressional committees on capitol hill in both chambers being led by republicans that are investigating. >> obviously her allies who are members of these committees -- that's where she's getting that. >> here is the truth. she's right, however, for the wrong reason. that will be frustrating to people. the truth is also often complicated. they haven't found things that we know about. we don't know what mueller has. and the idea of not letting it finish, which is the senate intel committee that's run by republicans -- every committee run by republicans, why are they continuing to meet? they don't know yesterday. >> in fact, the democrats as we just heard yesterday said they have new documents in the past few months, they have led them in a different path. >> they go to sessions, the

circumstances surrounding sessions' resignations which is telescoping concerns about what was the motivation to push him to resign, does that feed into obstruction? if i were working for the administration, i would say leave it all alone, let them come to their conclusion. let it be cleared. then i had a clear path to say i let them do everything they wanted me to do, answered every question. i am clean. can we move on. but he's frustrated a. >> a lot of it is psychological. when donald trump hears russia, he believes they're undermining my victory. i won and they're trying to say i didn't. your logic make sense, but i don't think it applies. the thing that drives me insanes when i hear all the time, they haven't found anything yet. mark will appreciate this as a boston native. that's like saying in last year's super bowl, the falcons are up 28-3.

it's not over! we simply do not know. it's an na, it's a not known. >> investigations take a long time, especially fbi-type investigations. this nunes memo, the one thing she argued that i just don't know if it holds, you tell me at home who are watching, the idea that this is allowing the process to take its course, it is demonstrably false. we've never seen congress go around the intelligence community to release information like this. it's a political play. it's to distract and demean the russia investigation. it just is. >> chris and mark, thank you very much. senator joe manchin criticizing his own, talking about democratic colleagues saying they didn't show enough respect during the "state of the union." should they applaud or stand when they disagree. senator manchin joins us next. running a business is not for the faint of heart. luckily, office depot® officemax® is here to take care of you.

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under the current broken system, a single immigrant can bring in virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives.

under our plan -- >> all right. you just heard democrats booing president trump during his state of the union. after the speech, joe manchin insisted that his fellow democrats didn't show respect. he told manu raju, quote, i stand and show respect for the office. you can see lots of democrats not following that advice. senator manchin joins us now. >> did you see disrespect? >> i've seen it on both sides. i was there when obama gave speeches. i was there the horrible night when he said you lie. i saw them not standing. that was disrespectful. this was not the way i was raised in west virginia and the family i was raised in. you respect the office -- >> what if they disagree with what he said? >> i can stand up and still disagree. the president laid out some things that i can work with. he talked about opiates, i've

got a serious problem in my state and my country. we need the funding. i need to get that funded. talked about clean coal technology. i need clean coal technology because we're going to use it. >> you always see things through a bipartisan lens. that's one of your superpowers. as you can see from the faces of nancy pelosi and james cliburn, steny hoyer, they did not move a facial muscle. that's their protest vote. they don't agree with what he was saying. they don't like the policies that he laid out. they don't like the rhetoric. what do you want them to do? >> we're talking about immigration. right now we have a hard date of february 8th. we've got to do something. we've got to keep this government open. >> is it going to happen next week? >> we're going to make something happen. susan collins, the common sense coalition, we have almost 25 senators coming to every meeting. we've met more in the last week than i have met collectively

with any other bipartisan group over seven years. >> you're getting traction? >> we're getting traction. the president put out a template of his four pillars. can we accept all four pillars, can we start with two or three? a lot of knowledgeable people in this room that really understand immigration. >> i want to talk to you about something you said over the weekend which was -- there was news, cnn had reported and "the new york times" did as well that the president wanted to fire robert mueller. the only person who stopped him was the white house counsel, don mcgann who refused to carry out that order. you seemed to dismiss it as, quote, new york talk. >> let me say, new york talk. sometimes a little more bolster rouse than what i grew up with. sometimes they talk through each other rather than to each other. they know they're going to get to the middle. let's take chuck schumer and president trump. you hear all this rhetoric back and forth. at the end of the day, those two can sit down and work something out.

>> i know new york talk. i'm from new jersey. that's like new york talk on steroids. are you suggesting that's not right, that the president didn't want robert mueller fired? >> i don't know that. >> what part is new york talk? >> i've been around people, been around the president, they'll say that's just wrong, we've got to do something. the facts that come into play, you can't do that, that's not what we're going to do. i've said this openly and said this to staff people, moving on mueller, firing robert mueller, it would cohese the partisanship and bring us together. this is one person we believe in. this is one person we have the confidence and faith in that is going to do an investigation thoroughly. at the end of the day, we'll come out with his findings and conclusion and we can move on. >> you think it would be unwise. doesn't mean the president won't do it. >> i would recommend strongly he

does not. if he moves on rosen stein first would be the direction. at that time i guarantee you you'll see movement immediately to protect the judicial system. >> you mean legislation? >> i do mean legislation. we're going to protect three branches, the democracy we have. >> as you know, there are already people worried he's going to do something to robert mueller. why not do legislation now? >> i'm fine with that, too. i'm going to vote for and support that. i think we need a separation, make sure we protect judicial. my recommendation to the president and the administration w e have a tremendous judicial system i believe in very strongly. we have a good intelligence community, the best in the world. get to know these people, have confidence and faith and let them do their job. help them expedite this investigation so that we can get to the end and get a conclusion. >> do you think senator chuck schumer is right to try to tie the legislation to protect mueller to whatever the funding deal is you all make next week? >> the whole thing, when people tie things together, they look for a vehicle that's going the

carry it, something that's going to pass. i'm not going to hold anything up until we call poison pills: i'm not going to vote for poison pills. i know it's something you will never vote for, but i can use it against you. a poison pill is put in there by a democrat or republican to use against the next election or next campaign against that person. that's not why we're there. >> should the devin nunes republican memo be released? >> that's as as nine thing. they don't have any confidence no matter what he does. this is a man sanctioned by his own committee that he could not be involved in a russia investigation. >> wasn't supposed to be involved, but here he is. >> let me tell you how this works. in the intelligence committee, we cross-check everything. they're going back and forth all the time. we look at everything before we move forward.

he won't even reveal his sources, won't even tell adam schiff and the other side. >> he won't even show you, am i right? >> none of us. he won't even show richard burr, the republican chairman of the senate intelligence committee. >> what does that tell you? >> it tells you it's a scam. why he's doing this, it doesn't help the president, our country, the administration. it doesn't do anything but put more of a cloud and doubt. i have no clue. >> do you think there's dangerous classified information in there? >> the fbi seems to be concerned about that. i would pay attention to what the fbi is saying. if they say, listen, i recommend you don't. you're going to be putting more accusations that put more doubts in the judicial system. i believe in the fbi, the cia, the intelligence community that comes to me with the facts. we cross-check them. if we have nine different intelligence communities giving us the facts, and let's say two or three doesn't match up, they're different, we don't go with it.

that's just the way we do it. >> senator joe manchin, great to talk to you. >> thanks so much. >> interesting times when laums feel compelled to say they trust the fbi and cia. president trump resisting the urge to talk about the russia investigation during his address last night. behind the scenes several major developments on those probes including the possibility trump may still fire special counsel mueller. we'll discuss why that is a suggestion next. duncan just protected his family

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as you're learning every day, sometimes it's important to hear what questions people won't answer, what they don't mention. for example, last night only one brief mention of russia in the state of the union. president trump is growing impatient with the russia investigation. a source close to trump tells cnn it's still possible the president would fire special counsel bob mueller. joining us now, cnn legal analyst richard ben veniste, the former special prosecutor in the watergate investigation. always a pleasure to be in your presence, sir. >> thank you. >> everybody knows he can move on the special counsel. everybody seems to agree it would be a disaster politically. let's put politics to the side. let me hit you with a number of propositions and you tell me what matters and what doesn't matter to this special prosecutor. the latest information that there are documents delivered to the special prosecutor by the

doj, which is run by trump appointees, that suggest circumstances surrounding the request for resignation of jeff sessions' attorney general. remember he felt sessions shouldn't have recused himself, pushing him on loyalty, is he his guy or not. sessions put in a letter of resignation. trump ultimately didn't accept it. relevant? >> sure. >> why? >> because it's all a piece of the president's desire to control the investigation rather than have someone independent running an investigation that implicates his campaign and perhaps him personally. >> where are you on the president's obstruction of justice versus he can fire whoever he wants. he calls it fighting back, you can interpret it as fighting back with corrupt intent. he can fire comey, tell sessions he's out, he can stop any

volleyball investigation to a point. where is the line? >> the line is a political one in the first instance. in watergate you'll remember there was a firestorm of adverse reaction to richard nixon firing the man who demanded evidence concerning the tapes. here -- >> nobody considered, as you well know, nobody considered an indictment surely, but an impeachment of nixon on firing archibald cox. >> actually they did. >> it's not recorded well. >> that's part of the first article impeachment by the house committee, that nixon interfered with the investigation by firing archibald cox. it's quite clear when you look at the tapes, he always intended to do that, and he found a pretext to do it in the tapes fight. so yes, all of these cumulative

events that suggest that the president wants to control the investigation -- >> controlling the investigation, is that necessarily wrong? >> as in watergate, people ask the common sense question what is he hiding? what was nixon hiding? why would he go to the extent of firing archibald cox? here the same question pertains. people will ask why won't the president simply keep his hands off of mueller, this orchestrated campaign to denigrate the fbi, to denigrate mueller who -- his picture is in the dictionary next to public servant. i mean there's no one better equipped to conduct an impartial investigation than robert mueller. >> insults aren't equated with criminality. with nixon, because of your expertise and experience, it was that he was hiding material that was relevant to the investigation of an actual

crime, a felony of that rars any, that break-in, that burglary. where is the equivalent here out of the suggestion well, donald junior's meeting which was inarguably stupid they had with that russian lawyer, he wanted to doctor the statement and make it better for them politically? >> put the obstruction of justice piece of this aside for a moment. there are a lot of things cumulative that add up to an inference there. there's a lot of smoke, but we don't know because mueller is doing what he's supposed to do, and that is not leaking. he speaks in court, not off the record to some journalist. so we don't know what mueller has. but consider the other pieces of this investigation such as money laundering. we know that russians, olig

arc's, mafia related people spend tens of millions in access of the value of true properties they bought from trump. why did they do that? because they're foolish and didn't understand what the real estate values were of the property, or was it connected to something involving putin? >> richard ben-veniste, we know you're very busy. we're always asking you to come on because your perspective is second to none. you've lived it and understand it so well. thank you. >> thank you. after the president's big speech. the punch lines followed. late night hosts and humor next. new year, new phones for the family. join t-mobile, and when you buy one of the latest samsung galaxy phones get a samsung galaxy s8 free.

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technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how. late night hosts last night reacting to president trump's state of the union. here is some of their take. >> the theme for tonight's speech was safe, strong and proud. i guess they felt it was better than loud, orange and out of

control. >> paul ryan and mike pence, they look like his sham roanes are there for the evening, uh-huh, read the words. >> he listed some of the natural disasters we've endured this year. >> we have endured floods and fires and storms. >> and stormys, don't forget her. she was one of the most expensive disasters for you personally. >> it was like the bachelor after the rose special where they bring all the contestants that hated each other back together in the same room. chuck schumer and nancy pelosi spent the whole speech looking like they ate a bag of expired batteries. >> the secretary of agriculture, i was like what is that person going to do in an attack? secretary, north korea has launched the attack. bring me the cabbage. >> if there was any question about the first lady's enthusiasm for her husband, she put those rumors to rest tonight.

[ applause ] >> that was melania wearing a tasteful white pant suit in tribute to the president she voted for. >> that's funny. but, yeah, the white pant suit, she looked beautiful. interesting choice given so many of the women there were in black. that was an optical message. >> i wonder if that were a consideration or not. cnn "newsroom" with poppy harlow and john berman will pick up right after the break. look at that beautiful shot. >> beautiful. see you tomorrow. ss ♪ with print services done right. on time. guaranteed! expert tech support. and this week all dell pcs are up to twenty five percent off! save even more when you purchase a dell monitor.

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feel a light-as-air finish in a flash new olay whips ageless top of the hour. 9:00 a.m. eastern. i'm poppy harlow. >> i'm john berman. in the wake of the state of the union, is this some grand moment of bipartisan togetherness, or is it wednesday? you might want to bet on wednesday. the president's speech, all 80 minutes of it was well received by those who watched, a more republican audience. whatever partisanship might be short lived as evidenced by what the president said just after the speech. >> you'll hear about the key exchange berman notes.