indiscriminate and irresponsible. >> rex tillerson has come out condemning russia. that has not been met at all by the white house. >> a loud boom. it shook the windows. >> a pool of blood everywhere. >> this is the third over the past ten days. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome to your new day. alisyn is on assignment. the one and only erica hill joining me. good to have you. >> nice to be here. >> we begin with house republicans abrupting ending the russia investigation. why is it abrupt after 14 months? they didn't tell the democrats. the gop breaking with the fbi, cia, nsa and director of national intelligence all of whom invift vladimir putin was trying to help donald trump when russians meddled in the 2016 election. the house intel members of the gop say that's not true, all of those people got it wrong. they also say there's no evidence of collusion between

the trump campaign and the kreml kremlin. be clear about one thing. this report is highly partisan. the president jumped on it and put in all caps, proclaiming his innocence on twitter on the basis of this. the only unbiased authority on whether or not there was collusion or any suspect information or what we need to know about russian interference will come from one source, special counsel bob mueller. >> meantime, all eyes are on the special election in pennsylvania's 18th congressional district. voters there heading to the polls to fill a house seat. the battle is being seen as a referendum on donald trump's presidency. it comes as the president travels to california today, his first trip to the state since becoming president. he's there to see prototypes of his border wall. let's discuss. we have cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein. let's start with the

investigative bona fides going on here. ever since nunes went to the white house, we started seeing the two sides divide. literally put a physical wall between themselves in the work space. leaks all over the place. now one of the members saying the entire intelligence community got it wrong. they analyzed the data information wrong and it's time to end it. >> you know what's remarkable about the house republicans' report here, they didn't have to go as far as they're going in saying that russia didn't want to help trump. of course russia wanted to help trump. now, the more toxic question is did trump's campaign work with the russians. that's very much not established for certain at this point. but to say that russia didn't want trump to win, wasn't helping him win after the wikileaks hack, the social media indictment of the 13 russians and after the trump tower

meeting, why fight that battle when the real battle is one they might actually win. >> there's also the question of, because we know how -- even just the fact there's a physical wall, as you pointed out. from devin nunes going to the white house, recusing himself for a certain amount of time, the month we'll never get back when we're wondering about the memos and when we'll get them, is it in some ways good that this was shut down, because there was not a lot of faith in this investigation to begin with? >> i don't think anybody was looking at the house intelligence community for a definitive word on what happened in the 2016 election for all the reasons you cited. i think this report is more useful as a measure of what has happened with the house over the last generation. going back a long way, the way in which it has been rotted from within by this intense partisanship that has made it into more of a parliamentary

institution. i would predict, as jeffrey suggests, because they went to this very difficult to defend place that there was not only no collusion, which hasn't been established one way or another, but to say that russia was not trying to help donald trump, i think leaves them in a position where it is more likely you'll see democrats than republicans citing this report in the fall campaign and basically arguing it is proof that a republican majority is never going to perform serious oversight or constrain donald trump in any way. >> look, i think -- maybe go a step farther and say you can't have any of these men and women investigate their own, they just can't do it. they can't surrender the me to the we. it's shame on them for not doing what the people put them there to do. this isn't oversight. it's just cya. if it's your party you're looking at, there are going to be problems. isn't that just a simple truth? >> i think we sometimes do a

little false equivalency here in terms of, democrats or republicans, they're both bad. i have to say i think the democrats were trying to get at the facts here, they were trying to interview more people, they were trying to get more documents, trying to get financial records. so i don't think this was a purely equivalent situation. >> the leaks wind up being one of the corrosive aspects of it. i get it if you don't have the power. >> there are always going to be leaks in congress. >> but that spoils the cooperation, also. >> that's true. but i always feel a little funny about -- >> oh, i like the leaks. i'm saying, ron, if i'm on the committee and i know erica is going bad on me when it doesn't suit her political aims, we'll have a problem working together. >> you still end up in this very strange place of saying the sky is not blue, vladimir putin was not trying to help donald trump. i think it's reflective, and i think it's revealing of the

broader evolution of the way house republicans and congressional republicans interacted with the trump presidency, started with more independence, more skepticism, particularly after the tax cut, they've moved to a much more circle-the-wagons position, defending him on all fronts. that paradoxically, they increase their risk in november at a time when his approval rating is 40% or below. >> especially on russia. they're conflating two things the same way the president does, the significance of the interference and the aims and goals of that interference with it being -- making the election result illegitimate. that's what the president does. we see it dramatically running through other big matters of state. such as secretary of state rex tillerson, he had to wind upcoming up after the white house to condemn russia for a nerve agent attack on a former russian spy in britain. listen to what tillerson said. there is never a justification for this type of attack.

the attempted murder of a private citizen on the soil of a sovereign nation, and we are outraged that russia appears to have engaged in such behavior. why is this important? because just hours earlier, the white house press secretary sarah sanders said the same thing, but left something very important out. take a listen. >> the use of a highly lethal nerve agent against uk citizens on uk soil is an outrage. the attack was reckless, indiscriminate and irresponsible. we offer the fullest condemnation and extend the sympathy to if victims and family. we stand by our closest ally and the special relationship that we have. >> you're not saying russia was behind this? >> right now we're standing with our uk ally. i think they're still working through even some of the details of that. we're going to continue to work with the uk and we certainly

stand with them through out this process. >> there's also, too, in "the new york times" in an op ed, president trump has allowed putin with a free hand -- tillerson didn't. >> theresa may comes out and mentions russia. s >> when you ask the question, why did russia enter feern in the election, why did russia want donald trump to win, here you see donald trump never criticizes vladimir putin, neither does his white house, even in the face of the evidence that's good enough for theresa may, good enough for rex tillerson, but not good enough for donald trump. >> rex tillerson's comments went beyond that. he said after a year of trying to engage rush yoo in a more productive relationship, we have little to show for it. in fact, they're becoming more

aggressive. it was just another moment in which you see the secretary of state and white house have completely different foreign policies. >> which is not shocking, but to have it be that clear, the big question obviously is what does this mean going forward, ron? if we're going to continue to have this public difference and presumably at no time in the near future will we hear anything different from the white house, how does that impact the broader issues? >> it's not just russia. it's obviously north korea where you have the secretary of state saying we're a long way from negotiating and the president jumping in to page 370 saying let's hold the summit that other presidents said would be the end of the process, not the beginning. i think all indications are, you throw in the aluminum and steel tariffs, the idea is we'll see a white house that is completely untethered from any of the normal bureaucratic processes that drive policy in the administration. and there will be people who welcome that unpredictability.

there will be obviously allies around the world who make it very nerve-racking. look what's happening on guns. once again, on the dreamers, the deferred action where the president says one thing in a public meeting and then the institutions of the republican party pull him back to the point where he is now almost completely fallen in line with the nra. that kind of -- this kind of swerving i think is going to be the rule, not the exception as we go forward. >> can i hijack this interview for one moment and ask ron brownstein a question because he knows more about politics than anyone in the united states. who is going to win in pennsylvania, ron? >> the late polling, basically as to-up. whether conor lamb wins or loses by a point probably doesn't matter. this is a district 93% plus white. the district donald trump won by 20 points and has been so republican that the democrats haven't put up a candidate in each of the past two elections

against the previous republican incumbent. yet we have talking a knife's edge election. if the democrat wins or comes close, it gives them the one piece that has been missing so far in virginia, alabama, new jersey, the big elections of 2017. they made a lot of progress with college educated suburban whites coiling from trump on cultural and personal grounds. they've shown much less progress among working class white voters, the core of the trump coaliti coalition. there's no way for conor lamb to get close or win if not competitive. if he wins, the last piece is coming together for a really ominous trend for republicans. >> it also shows what could be a shift in the democratic party's approach. you're getting candidates that match the district. they're not just having a cookie cutter set. >> that's what ron did in 2006 with the dccc when they won it

back. >> we'll see how it pays off. thank you, gentlemen. republicans on the house intel committee abruptly shutting down their investigation, and we say abruptly because they didn't even tell the democrats. democratic congressman eric swalwell will give us the inside scoop of what was happening in this probe next. show you exactly when we'll be there. saving you time, so you can keep saving the world. >> kids: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ fthere's flonase sensimist.f up around pets. it relieves all your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist. but through goodt times and bad at t. rowe price we've helped our investors stay confident for over 80 years. call us or your advisor.

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intel committee abruptly shut down their russia investigation and decided to buck the intelligence community's assessment that vladimir putin was trying to help donald trump win the white house. there's just tons of proof of that suggestion. why they decided to reject it we don't understand. they did this without telling any democrats on their committee which is just a reflection of how partisan it had all become. joining us is one of those democrats in the dark, congressman eric swalwell of california. aim wrong, or did you find out about this on twitter? >> saw it on twitter and saw breaking news alerts coming in. more importantly than the process is this report invites another attack, not just russia but other adversaries with similar capabilities. they'll look at us at being weak. they may not stay on the sidelines as in the past, they may try to get their preferred candidates and policies through in upcoming elections. >> now that the probe is over, you can speak more about the tone and tenor of it.

is it true that during testimony there was a real difference in disposition and questioning between the democrats and republicans in terms of who was being probative there? >> the republicans said all along no collusion, no collusion, no collusion. they weren't looking for collusion. i hope the public gets to see these transcripts. they will see how few of them showed up to ask questions, what questions they asked and how off the topic they were and how much they tried to protect the president when our job is to protect the ballot box as we go to the polls this november. the american people should see these transcripts. with little resources -- democrats didn't have subpoena power, didn't have republicans willing to bring them in and force them to answer questions. it was a take them at their word investigation where they could assert something and we didn't subpoena cell phone records, bank records, travel records. no republicans were willing to work with us to get the truth. >> what's the chance that we get the transcripts? >> i hope so. if the republicans believe in

transparency, they'll come out. i don't want to do anything that compromises bob mueller's investigation. you want to hold the information close and don't want witnesses what others said. i wro et that legislation after the attack in 2016. republicans have joined us in it. o now more than ever it's the best way to tell the american people who is responsible. >> the idea of what chris stewart came out and said, the intelligence community just got it wrong. they came to wrong conclusions on data that they've seen. we've seen it. i can say that with certainly. do you share that opinion? >> i believe they were wrong in the way that they responded. part of that -- they didn't respond really at all to russia. part of that was that donald trump had gotten in everyone's head. he said the elections were going to be rigged. they saw evidence that russianss were trying to rig the elections, they didn't want to

validate what donald trump said and they were caught flat-footed. they have sought to discount the assertion that the russians wanted to help donald trump. you don't have to be on the intelligence committee to see that evidence. we've seen all the ads, the social media posts that were pro trump and anti hillary. to go that far to protect the president's fragile ego shows who they're looking out for. >> you're not on strong footing when you say there is no proof that russia wanted to help trump in the election. you see it all over the place, you see it in the indictments from mueller. in terms of the intelligence committee not doing anything, that's a political process. some of that stink has to be on obama and biden. the vice president and i went at this when i interviewed him. they made a decision not to come out more aggressively. they put out their statement. i get the political considerations. they could say mitch mcconnell wouldn't do it with them. they didn't need mcconnell.

>> should have done more, yes, i believe he should have done more. part of the reforms would be when is congress notified when you see election interference? what right does the public have to know about foreign adversaries trying to meddle? i completely agree government response was inak kwat. >> we see something that is schematically consistent, the republicans have joined the president in mitigating russia as an adversary. it's just true. you guys passed the sanctions. people will say no, we didn't. we passed the sanctions. true. but the republicans are criticizing the president -- now we see what happened in the uk, this horrible, got forbid, when asked about why she's not saying

russia, she's saying we're not saying so yet. why does this white house go so far to be quiet about this country and this man, vladimir putin. >> russia helped the president. russia has long invested in donald trump. he's invested in the russians. i think that's the simplest answer that is oftentimes the correct one. >> you believe on some level this is a quid pro quo, or do you think trump just believes the issue has been so politicized, he can't go after russia now because it will expose he should have been doing it all along. >> whether he was working with him wittingly or unwittingly before the election is irreleva irrelevant. the end result is the same, e's drawn us close to an adversary. he can't attribute an attack in the middle of the town square to the russians. he can't impose sanctions, can't say a bad thing about a brutal dictator. whether he worked with him or not, it's hurting america and hurting our ability to have a

secure election. >> eric swalwell, thank you for your take of what was going on inside that mess of a committee investigation. appreciate you being here. >> my pleasure. polls are open in the hotly contested house race in pennsylvania. will the state's 18th district turn blue? turn blue? a live report is next. it was my very first car accident we were hit from behind. i called usaa and the first thing they asked was 'are you ok?' they always thank you for your service, which is nice because as a spouse you serve too. we're the hayles and we're usaa members for life. see how much you could save with usaa by bundling your auto and home insurance. get a quote today. what's going on here?

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the polls are open in pennsylvania and there's a lot on the line in today's special election to fill a house seat in the 18th congressional district. republicans spending millions to keep president trump -- to keep trump country from turning blue. cnn's jason carroll caught up with the democratic candidate moments ago and joins us live from pittsburgh. jason? >> reporter: as you know, erica, conor lamb has pretty much stayed away from the national media. he's denied several requests to be interviewed in the past. but this morning, just after he voted, he came out and answered numerous questions on a number of topics ranging from why the race is so close to his thoughts on president trump. >> will it be a nail-biter today? >> i don't know.

i know we have worked extremely hard. i'm proud of all the people who have worked with me. >> reporter: once again, not only did he answer questions about why the race is so close, but answered questions about president trump himself. he said, look, yes, the president was here, had some influence here, but he felt it was really the hard work of his campaign and enthusiasm among democrats. he said that's the reason why he believes the race is so close. rick saccone, the republican challenger will be voting later this morning at 10:00 a.m. he made headlines himself, erica, when he claimed both the democrats -- he said democrats hated the country and hated god. conor lamb was asked about that earlier this morning as well. he said he had no comment on that. >> jason carroll with the latest, thank you. joining me now, matt slap,

chairman of the american conservative union. good to have you with us today. >> great to be with you. >> we're getting comments from conor lamb as we heard. this is a district that has so much attention, also because republicans have dominated this district for 15 years. at this point, how concerning is it that the race on election day is so close? >> it's definitely concerning, every seat in the house of representatives is going to matter because there's a great concern that democrats might be able to pick up seats heading into november and on the election day in november. i think specifically in this race, the issue is that the incumbent republican who had to resign in disgrace in a scandal has really upset the voters in this district. unfortunately mr. saccone has to run under that banner and try to put that behind him. he's doing the best he can. i think the good news is for him, on the republican side, the trump political operation, the rnc, they are spending a lot of

money. they are working together. at the end of the day it's going to be up to mr. saccone if he can pull this over the finish line. >> you're saying he was given a band hand by what he inherited? >> there's no question. that scandal is about one of the worst i've heard in politics. i don't blame the voters for being angry about it. >> chris was speaking with former governor ed rendell earlier this morning. there is a lesson for democrats in that they're seeing a much more moderate candidate put himself forward who in many ways aligns more with some republican voters there. is that a concern for you, that we're starting to see a shift see perhaps what's great for the voters, how much of that is a concern and is a focus? >> i'm worried the democrats will get smart. when they got the majority in the house and the senate back in 2006, it was on the back of finding democratic candidates that you couldn't call radical.

this nation is not a radical nation. we're a very centrist nation. when the democrats portray themselves as being more moderate, they do much better. i think this democratic candidate, mr. lamb has been smart to disassociate himself from nancy pelosi, from some of the progressive, more radical voices in his party? if he were to win today, he's going to vote with nancy pelosi on all the major issues most likely. that will be his decision to make. if he doesn't make with her, he'll be completely ostracized from the party. the voters in pennsylvania have to decide if he'll actually be a moderate voice in congress. >> we'll be watching to see what happens. i do want to get your take on all the drama surrounding the house intel committee. we heard from eric swalwell talking about he first learned they were wrapping things up on twitter. we've seen the intelligence community stay we stand by our findings, stand by everything we saw. even this, as chris stewart

says, they got it wrong. is the house intel jumping the gun a little bit here, or was it time to wrap things up because it's become such a partisan distraction? >> how many years do we want to spend on this? we spent a year, a lot of money. we have three major investigations going on. i see no evidence of collusion. i've seen evidence of maybe mistakes in judgment. but i see no collusion. even the special counsel has only gotten indictments on people for activities before they joined the trump campaign. so i don't really understand why we need to -- are we going to spend the whole trump presidency investigating the trump presidency? i think condi rice is right. there comes a point where you put your cards on the table, tell the american people the information you have and the american voter has to make their determination. that's what should be done now. >> which is what's happening with the special counsel, we should point out, we don't know about kplugs. >> have you seen any evidence of

collusion? >> i haven't seen any evidence either way because i haven't seen the final report. we can't speak to that because we don't know what they found. >> a democrat can't be upset that an investigation in the house closes when we have seen no evidence of collusion. if you've seen some evidence, please explain it to me. >> first of all, you're asking me, a journalist, i'm not a democratic on the committee, first of all. number two, would a democrat have a right to be upset about the fact that they're learning about this wrapping up on twitter and that the findings are put out there before they're given to the democrats? what does that say to the american people? >> i think it's very unfortunate on basic questions of national security and even the intelligence community that we've gotten so polarized. think about this. how fair is it that the obama administration used the committee to spy on the trump campaign. that's an irresponsible and unconstitutional step. we have to figure out how to

show the world we can work together. i think it's terrible that we're not. >> here is the other thing i want to ask you about. i want to get your take on russia, we heard very strong words from secretary of state rex tillerson yesterday. we did not hear that from sarah sanders. in fact, rex tillerson going on to say, after sayings it's almost beyond comprehension, calling it an egregious act, everything that happened in the uk. theresa may saying russia is behind them. rex tillerson saying we've spent the better part of the year trying to work with russia. what i've seen instead, he used the word pivot. he said they pivoted to being more aggressive. why aren't we hearing more concern from the white house on this? >> i think you will. when these types of things happen, there is a period of time by which you have to learn what the facts are and figure out the right stance. it's not uncommon in an administration to have one

member go out there and be aggressive. i think it's the job of the secretary of state to make that clear, and i think there's no question -- everybody understands the russian menace. everybody understands the putin menace. what donald trump is trying to do with putin is trying to have a good relationship with him. democratic presidents in the past have said they want a good relationships with the russians and usually it's the republicans accused of being war mongers. in this case you have a russian president trying to be measured with china and russia. i don't think it's a bad thing for our president to try to not go to a war of words on every instance. >> there's not going to a war of words and there's actually going on with the facts given to us as our most important ally. we heard from sarah sanders saying we don't have the details. our most important ally says, yes, we do, it's russia. >> this is what countries do, what al allys do, they share information. i think vladimir putin has done terrible things including trying

to intervene in our election. i think there's no question -- look at obama himself. obama didn't keep a safe in the last election. we've got to be much tougher. it doesn't mean the president of the united states needs to be constantly in a war of brinksmanship with him. >> matt schlapp, thank you. >> thank you for your time. we see good proof in this increasing partisan divide because of just abuse of facts. president trump said china was raping the united states, blamed them for coming up with the idea of global warming. so he had no problem going after them. it's russia that he insulates himself from. if matt schlapp administration has proof using fisa court. >> president trump heads to

california soon. he's not going there to talk about law. >> fear gripping austin, texas, at the height of south by southwest. do authorities have a serial bomber on the run? we have a live report next. ♪

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just minutes from now the president is going to take his first trip to california as president. the president is going to be looking at prototypes for his border wall. the trip comes amid a tense battle with the state over sanctuary cities. cnn's miguel marquez is live in san diego with more. the governor sent a message saying we're about bidding bridges, not walls. i gets this is the president's return to that. he's going to go look at walls in fact. >> reporter: there has been a lodge and growing standoff between the white house and the state of california. we're likely to see that take physical form in the form of protests not only in san diego but los angeles as well, and rallies for the president. it's a little unclear how everything is going to break

down, the free speech area that the officials have put together near the prototypes or nearer to the prototypes. most groups are not going to because they're not allowing any parking near there. we expect the president to land at miramar marine air base and he'll go to see those prototypes at some point. there will be a campaign-style rally back at miramar, and then he'll go to los angeles. we expect protests across san diego, protests in los angeles. the left here in california certainly wants this president to know he is not welcome here. back to you. >> miguel, thank you. police and the fbi say three package bombs that killed two people in austin are linked. there's concern this could be the work of a serial bomber. cnn's nick watt is live in austin with the latest. nick? >> reporter: good morning. well, of course we saw one person killed yesterday. the first person was killed march 2nd. the bomb that killed that man has been in the lab for some time now and the police tell us they have ascertained how it was

constructed. they're not giving out any of those details. but the police chief did say this morning on "good morning america" that they believe this is the work of one bomber. the other line of inquiry they're pursuing is whether these victims were connected, whether they were targeted or whether these were random attacks. "the washington post" reports this morning that the stepfather of the first victim and the grandfather of the second victim are very good friends and both are very big players in the african-american community here in austin. back to you guys. >> nick, appreciate it. thank you very much. another big story we're tracking this morning. 44 million people are in the path of a nor'easter. this is the third in just ten days. the snow is really coming down already in southeastern massachusetts. part of that state is under a blizzard warning. some spots are going to see more than a foot of snow. they've taken so much already. let's go live to cnn's alisyn

kosik in boston. oh, boy, i can see it around you. this is going to be a long day for folks. >> reporter: it is going to be a long day. right now it looks quite pretty. we've got this sideways blowing snow. it's wet, it's heavy. making travel very treacherous. you can see some of the accumulation building up on the streets. if you're traveling out of the boston area, i'd say good luck. amtrak service between new york and boston has been suspended. hundreds of flights canceled at logan airport. about the accumulations, expecting 1 to 3 inches per hour. as the afternoon progresses we could see up to two feet of. ♪. chris, this could be the biggest snow fall for a march ever in boston's recorded history. back to you. >> that is not a record that you want. alis alison, thank you. next week we reveal our first cnn hero of 2018. before we do, last year an

update on amy wright, she opened a coffee shop and employs people with disabilities. now she's expanded her mission. take a look. >> the 2017 cnn hero of the year is amy wright. >> oh, my gosh, i cannot believe this is happening. >> incredible night. two months later amy has opened a second coffee shop, this one in charleston, south carolina. for most of these 17 new employees, this is their first job. >> people with intellectual disabilities aren't valued, so this coffee shop has created a place where people see their value. >> you can see anderson's full update or nominate someone you think should be a cnn hero. logon to cnnheroes.com. all right. this is cnn breaking news. >> we have breaking news for you. "the washington post" is

reporting president trump has fired secretary of state rex tillerson. joining us is cnn political director david chalian. we know that there has been tension. tillerson has been far afield when things were going on specifically in washington, d.c. now this. >> there's been more than six months of tension in this relationship at least, dating back to the stories of what tillerson said about president trump in private. so this has not been a rosie romance by any stretch of the imagination. mike pompeo, the cia director is the man may replace rex tillerson with at state, has long been rumored for the last couple months to be in line for the post. >> david, just so you know, donald trump just tweeted that mike pompeo will be our new secretary of state. he will do a fantastic job, the president tweets. thank you to rex tillerson for his service.

gina haskel will become the new director of the cia and the first woman so chosen. congratulations to all. so there you have it. what do you make of it? >> the senate has some work to do here obviously in terms of hearings and confirmations. >> you think the president knows that? do you think he knows he doesn't get to just name them? >> i do. i think he's supremely confident. he got his whole team originally. no reason to think he wouldn't get his team with the balance of the senate the way it is. you only need in today's world a simple majority for cabinet confirmation. chris, this is a massive shakeup of the national security team. that's what's key here. while the united states is dealing with this very precarious issue of north korea and this upcoming potential meeting and negotiations over the thing that barack obama told donald trump would be his single biggest threat and headache to deal with on his desk in the oval office, this is the moment in time as that is just starting

to really develop in an active sense potentially, that he shakes up his national security team. we've seen rex tillerson on a different page from president trump on several issues. according to this "washington post" reporting he cut his trip short in africa at the end of last week in order to come back to washington because the president informed him at the end of last week he was looking to make this move. >> the president tweeting again, but in terms of being on different pages, there's also the issue of russia and the very difference response we saw from rex tillerson yesterday versus the white house. was that the final straw? is that the sense? >> according to "the washington post" it wasn't. the president had made this decision last week, it seems, in what they're reporting. clearly i do think that it will be seen the way they're describing, erica, that was yet again something to add to the list here where rex tillerson is

speaking in a totally different way, much more aggressively towards russia in his comments than president trump would ever dream of speaking about russia. >> well, so was mike pompeo. that's an interesting play here. obviously he was at the cia, quickly forming strong relationships there. i'm sure, david, you were hearing the same thing, that they liked pompeo there, they liked the respect he had for the agency. he came out and contradicted the president about russian interference and said there is no question that it happened. >> and is happening, chris. >> and it is happening and we're not ready to deal with it and we need a plan. the head of the nsa said the same thing, i need a plan, i need an order. pompeo was outspoken about what the intentions of the interference was which was to hurt hillary clinton, help trump in that process. now he's there. any issues for him with the senator no, they confirmed him twuns, they'll confirm him twice? >> because the filibuster rules

are sort of no longer in effect here in terms of trying to get a 60-vote threshold for cabinet confirmations, i'll imagine mike pompeo, a former member of congress, will have pretty smooth confirmation to this role. i'm sure he'll get questioned quite aggressively from the democrats in any confirmation, but the ultimate result is he's likely to be secretary of state. it begs the question, is mike pompeo the one person who donald trump can hear and separate out the notion of russian meddling from any question about the legitimacy of his own election as president. he has publicly proven to be incapable of separating those two thing. as you were right to note, mike pompeo could not have been clearer, he said not only did they meddle, but they're meddling now in our 2018 elections. >> we also want to bring in abby

phillip at the white house. what more are you hearing? >> reporter: this news is what we've been expecting for several weeks. it's always been on whether president trump will pull the trigger and fire tillerson at the end of the day. i would say this is a transition probably on the more streamline, of the ones that were available to the president. he could have brought someone in, nor new blood. controversial names have been floated as people to either replace tillerson or pompeo. he's chosen to pick someone from within the ranks, someone whom he has a good relationship with. we know the president likes the way mike pompeo briefs him. he's one of the closest cabinet officials to the president. by moving him over to state, there's a certain amount of continuity there, and then elevating pompeo's deputy at cia allows for a certain amount of continui continuity. you were discussing, tillerson in the last 24 hours was

contradicting the white house on this issue of russia. it makes you wonder whether he felt emboldened to do that knowing he had already been asked to step aside last week as he was on this trip to africa. he was free to say what he believed ought to be said even though it contradicted almost drktly what the white house was willing to say from the podium here. it's something we've been hearing might be coming down the pike for several weeks now. that day is finally here. tillerson had been telling people for quite a while that he would serve for about a year. that's almost exactly how long he's been in this post. but for a secretary of state to be leaving in the second year of a presidency is extraordinary. >> very little precedent. i think maybe there was one other who left in about 16, 17 months, something like that. abby, your point is well taken. this is a continue apgs of unprecedented turnover. you think they're trying to

blunt that blow, here you go again, another guy you said was going to be great and now he's out and there's more instability, by saying, no, pompeo is read in on all these issues, he's coming from the cia. he'll be fine. there's more continuity than drs. disruption. >> absolutely. this is continuity move on the president's part. we know from our sources that he was considering some people who would have come from the outside, who would have, in fact, disrupted the sort of sense that they had established here in this administration. pompeo is someone who is already here, working with the white house as it is. he has good relationships on the hill. it is of the options that were available to the president perhaps the least disruptive. there's no question that removing tillerson, there were questions hanging over him about whether or not he even spoke for the white house, spoke for the president with any sort of authority, removing him from that job, reenforces for the

last several months there was a disconnect here between the top diplomat for the united states of america and the president of the united states. it's an open question whether pompeo will be able to maintain a sense of authority in that position despite some of the challenges that diplomats have to face dealing with issues like russia where sometimes the official united states position is quite different from what the president says. the president still doesn't want to talk about russian meddling in the election, but that's something that mike pom paper i don't at cia and will be at state having to deal with very shortly. >> that is for sure. david chalian, we've been hearing rumors about more shakeup and chaos for some time now. you're hearing, too, we could be seeing in very short order even more of a shakeup when it comes to national security. >> yes. this could be a total restructuring. you know another member of the president's team that has not been on the same page with him all the time is mcmaster, henry mcmaster, the national security adviser, whose job is to take the secretary of state and

secretary of defense, collate this information and bring it to the president from his own national security council. if he's not long for this world, you may end up in short order having a new national security adviser, new secretary of state, new cia director for what is basically the beginning of year two of the trump administration, entirely new, other than mattis, national security team. >> the only other piece in this puzzle is who takes over for pompeo, and the president says it will be gina has spell. her statement reads, after 30 years as an officer of the kraib, it's been my honor to serve, grateful to the president. appreciate his confidence in me to be nominated to be the next director of the cia. i look forward to providing president trump -- the irony he's been bashing the intelligence community and cia

since he got into office. what about her in terms of confirmation? is there anything in her past that could come up, david? >> sorry. i didn't know who that was to. there's nothing i'm aware of that could come up. as you know, in these confirmation hearings, things present themselves that have not been in the public record. there's no immediate confirmation that she's not confirmable. he'll see as the hours develop if something does emerge. >> abby, you heard anything? >> reporter: not that i've heard of at the moment. as david just mentioned, this is the beginning of that process. what i will say is picking a veteran of the agency is an important thing that the president decided to do today. you just mentioned, he's been attacking the intelligence agencies since the very beginning of his administration. there is a huge issue of whoever leads the cia needs to be able to keep the morale up in that building. i think by choosing someone who is already there, who is a

veteran of the agency, not coming in from the cold, it's going to be an important signal to the people in the cia, most of whom persist through various administrations, republican and democratic, that that agency is not going to suddenly take a turn for the politicized. that's a fine line that pompeo has walked since he's been there. it will be the job of the next director, with all this turnover, to maintain the confidence of the men and women who work in that spy agency day in and day out. >> to your point, having someone they know can definitely help in that respect. we're also, of course, waiting to see the president depart. he's making his way to california, his first trip to the state of california since becoming president, going to see prototypes of the wall. if he takes questions, one would imagine the first would be about rex tillerson. this could overshadow his day. >> which questions the timing. i can't wait for our team to do the reporting to learn how did

the decision come today that the president wanted to roll this out this morning before he got on the plane to go to california. because it does over shadow what is a trip they want to highlight, talking about sanctuary city issues, the wall prototypes and what have you. it also over shadows the stormy daniels headlines that have been back as well as a congressional election in pennsylvania that is a coin toss that could be embarrassing if the republican candidate loses in a district he won by 20 points just over a year ago. i'm curious to find out how today became the day that the president wanted to make this announcement. let's bring in tony blinken in the state department for the obama administration. we're assuming this is going to be an easy move because pompeo is already comfortable with the president and vice versa, but going from the cia to foggy bottom is not exactly the same type of portfolio. what will the transition require? >> i think, chris, he's been doing this transition for the past several months. we were pretty much told at the

end of last year this change was going to happen and pompeo was going to be the guy. there were reports he was talking to a lot of people, getting himself ready. what's going to be very different is the public facing aspect. he has to be the diplomat in chief. pompeo is reasonably well prepared for this. he had a lot of time in congress before taking on the cia job. the president gets someone who is closer to his own views and beliefs on virtually every issue. rex tillerson was on the opposite side from the president. he wanted to stay in the paris climate accord, in the transpacific partnership. he wanted to afr vovoid a meltd between saudi arabia and qatar. time and again he was on the other side of the fence. now the president gets someone much more in line with his own thinking. >> it's interesting, david chalian, we're getting reporting in house that on friday the president approached tillerson about this.

why then today did we wind up hearing about this? obviously it steps on his trip to california. this couldn't have been the way they planned it. >> the timing to me, chris, i think is a bit odd here. i wonder if, indeed, we'll learn a little more. it seems to me the president was quite eager to make this trip to california. again, several issues there t i.c.e. issue, sanctuary city, building the wall, looking at prototypes, these are some wheelhouse sort of base trump issues that he loves being able to high lit. he's making what is the longest time we've had a president in office without going to visit the most populous state, one out of every seven americans or so lives in california. he's finally making that trip to highlight these issues. i'm surprised he's willing to step on himself with this kind of message. as i mentioned, there are a couple of other stories dominating the headlines, stormy daniels and potential embarrassing loss in pennsylvania in a congressional race and perhaps that is why he

wanted to sort of move ahead with this other big headline of the day by making public this desire to shake up his national security team. >> abby, thank you very much. we know you'll be reporting all morning on this. david chalian, thank you. tony blinken, thank you for calling in. appreciate the perspective. never a dull morning. >> nope. cnn's breaking news coverage will continue right now. stay tuned. cnn "newsroom" with john berman starts now. >> there is major breaking news this morning from the trump administration. just moments ago the president announced that rex tillerson is out as secretary of state. ousted would be more accurate here, to be replaced by the current head of the cia mike pompeo. the president says gina haspel, the deputy director of the cia will secede him as director. there might be some issues which