hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you're watching from around the world, thank you very much for joining us. we begin with breaking news on multiple fronts, including another major cabinet shake-up here in washington. president trump firing the secretary of state rex tillerson, citing irreconcilable differences on foreign policy issues. tillerson finding out about all this firing, finding out about it on twitter. with tillerson out, the president is asking the cia director mike pompeo to switch seats, take over at the state department.

pompeo's post as cia director has been promised to the deputy cia director gina haspel. before heading to california, the president spoke about his reasons for this very dramatic change. >> rex and i have been talking about this for a long time. we got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things. when you look at the iran deal, i think it's terrible. i guess he thought it was okay. i wanted to either break it or do something, and he felt a little bit differently. so we were not really thinking the same. with mike, mike pompeo, we have a very similar thought process. i think it's going to go very well. rex is a very goodm man. i like rex a lot. i really appreciate his commitment to his service, and i will be speaking to rex over a long period of time. >> let's go to our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, do we know when the president made this decision of what the white house is now

saying about how secretary tillerson was actually informed? >> reporter: well, just to walk you through a bit of the timeline here, the secretary of state landed at joint base andrews just outside washington around 4:00 a.m. he was in africa for more than a week. less than five hours later, about four and a half hours later or so, this news was announced on twitter. we do know that the secretary of state was informed by white house chief of staff john kelly last friday into saturday. he was in africa. that the president had made a decision tro relieve him of his duties but did not say when that would happen. so employees here at the white house were surprised when the president made the announcement of the timing here, certainly no surprise that bad blood between the two had boiled over. it had been simmering, they were not on the same page here, but certainly a surprise to the state department that this happened at this moment. wolf, we also heard the president say something else

this morning on the south lawn as he flew to california. this could be very important. take a listen. >> and i'm really at a point where we're getting very close to having the cabinet and other things that i want. >> saying they were getting close to having the cabinet and other changes that i want, wolf, certainly signals that the staff changes and shake-up here at the west wing at the white house are not finished yet. several other people potentially may leave in the coming days or weeks. the top person we have we have our eye on potentially is a national security adviser, general h.r. mcmaster, who has been the subject of discussions is he going to stay. of course, the white house says the president still has confidence in him. wolf, that's exactly what they said about the secretary of state. until he didn't. >> yep, and that went relatively quickly, relatively, i should say, a year and two months into this administration. jeff zeleny, thanks very much. rex tillerson didn't get the

reality tv moment of hearing president trump say, "you're fired" since he learned about the decision through a tweet. the president said he got along well with tillerson but he also says he and mike pompeo are always on the same wavelength. let's bring in our senior diplomat laura kozinski. she's at the state department. laura, has the president spoken to rex tillerson today about the decision to fire him? >> reporter: as far as we know, he has not, but most of our information has come from tillerson's top people. his undersecretary for diplomacy affairs stephen goldstein who told us that not only had the president not spoken to rex tillerson but that tillerson was unaware of why he was fired and had every intention of staying on. shortly after that, we got word that goldstein himself now has been fired by the white house. speaking to him since then,

though, he says that he stands by what he says happened in this, that tillerson got a call from white house chief of staff kelly on friday, indicating that there was something coming, that there was a change brewing, that there would likely be a tweet. but tillerson, according to goldstein, said that it wasn't really definitive that he was going to be losing his job and then it did indeed come as a surprise today via that tweet. when i asked goldstein, well, do you think, then, that the white house isn't quite telling the truth about the timeline? he says he only knows what tillerson told him and that tillerson said the fact he was losing his job today was entirely a surprise this morning, wolf. >> it was a dramatic moment, indeed. the firing of rex tillerson comes as the president is getting ready to meet with the north korean leader kim jong-un.

tillerson was a little cautious about that, i assume. listen to this. >> i really didn't discuss it very much with him, honestly. i made that decision by myself. rex wasn't, as you know, in this country. i made the north korea decision with consultation from many people, but i made that decision by myself. >> he said he totally disagreed -- he said he totally disagreed with tillerson when it came to the iran nuclear deal, but go ahead. >> there have been so many disagreements, so many public undercuttings of tillerson. but the timing of this is just after the president, as he said himself, made that decision to meet face to face with kim jong-un now in the near term. and only hours earlier, tillers tillerson, while he was traveling, said first of all we have to have talks to see if we even can enter negotiations. seemingly the complete opposite of what the party wanted. after that the state department said, no, tillerson was deeply

involved, he spoke to the president twice. bt coming from the white house via chief of staff, that decision was made shortly after the president's decision to speak to kim jong-un. you know, wolf, this has been brewing for some time. so the fact that tillerson is out is in no way a surprise to this building. the writing was on the wall for months, but it seemed as if they had reached some kind of detante among themselves that, at the very least, when tillerson leaves eventually he will go out on his own terms. that's why this is so stunning, that even he didn't see, at the very least, this timing coming, wolf. >> the president himself deciding that he would not even personally notify his secretary of state. pick up the phone and call him and tell him, in effect, you're fired. that was another element. laura kozinski at the state department, thank you very much. much more on the breaking news on the cabinet shuffle here in washington. coming up there's other breaking

news we're following. word just coming in of a russian who was a critic of vladimir putin found dead in his home in london. our senior international correspondent nic payton walsh is joining us from london right now. nic, what can you tell us? >> reporter: i proceed with a note of caution here, wolf, because it's very early days here. we understand from his lawyer speaking at the russian media was it is mthe man who the metrn police said was found dead at his home just south of london in new malden last night at about 10:00. the time of death is not given at this particular point, but the police behind me say they've put the counterterrorism police in charge of the investigation, i think fear that is gripping london because of the deaths of

fill appear and yulia skripal. they say there is no evidence of foul play, philip skripal, a man who has had health problems in his past, is showing up dead in his home. mr. skripal was an associate of what you call an oligarch, a very rich businessman who himself was kind of a king maker in the '90s. many say responsible, in fact, for part of vladimir putin's rush. the kremlin moved to london and the series of corruption cases launched by his then-enemies in the kremlin followed him here, also followed mr. glushkov.

there were accusations he had embezzled billions of dollars from an airline. he did various time in russia on various charges and finds himself here in the united kingdom. it remains a key notion because we don't know at this time of cause of death or if any foul play is found at all, then it raises serious questions. >> the interrogation unit taking over the investigation of this death. stand by for a moment. fred pleitgen is joining us from moscow. fred, what are you picking up from over there? >> reporter: it's interesting, wolf, because a lot of the outlets have piblcked up on thi

immediately. what we have from the russians is pretty much factual reporting. they're saying this man has been found dead. the media on confirming this. there is speculation of what exactly the cause of death could be. that's something they'll be looking very closely at, authorities as well, to see if there will be any more speculation on that. nic is right. this comes at a very sensitive time after the poisoning of skripal and alexander fanenko who was poisoned. he said, look, i might be the next one. he referred to himself as the last man standing at one point. certainly this was someone very critical of moscow, someone who had a falling out with the powers that be here and someone

who very much believed his life was in danger. it will be very interesting to see the next couple hours whether there will be an official statement. this is going to cause more issues between russia and the united kingdom as things are so fired up between these two countries. wolf, i have to tell you today, they've become very defensive about the skripal case. we'll wait to see what comes of this, wolf. >> let's bring in our panel to assess this and all the breaking news here in washington. lisa lav in is with us. he was the deputy secretary of state during the obama administration and our chief analyst gloria borger is with us. tony blinken, this is very disturbing, this death in london today, this russian emigre, what's been going on in

salisbury, england. >> if you're putin, it's not very good for your health. there is a long list, and growing list, of putin who left russia and wound up dead, including in the united states. what's most press sg this case we do know about, involving the death of dairk the poisoning of mr. skripal. >> and his daughter yulia. >> and his daughter. there's a deadline tomorrow. theresa may has said she wants to find out from the russians tomorrow about what has happened. >> and you just heard secretary of state rex tillerson the other day going faurter thurther thane house has gone, saying this is very troubling, putting the blame solely on moscow and saying there needs to be more investigation about it. >> that may have been dangerous

to his political health. they disagreed on a lot of issues, this being one of them. >> tillerson was much more forceful in condemning the russians than, for example, the president. >> well, the president's press secretary did not come out and refused after she was asked repeated times to come out and say, do you believe as the british do that the russians did this, and she did not. everybody stick around. there's lots of breaking news unfolding as we speak. president trump firing his secretary of state rex tillerson. much more on that when we come back.

you finally fix that chair? you know it! woah! (laughter) hahaha-aaaahhhh! gorilla glue. of course. gorilla glue expands into the materials to form an incredibly strong bond. for the toughest jobs on planet earth.

there's a breaking news that we're following. rex tillerson, the secretary of state, has been fired by the president. there's been a lot of reaction coming in from capitol hill. listen to this. we're going to get that sound in a moment, but right now let's bring in maryland senator ben

cardin. he's on the senate relations committee. ben, thanks for joining us. >> nice to join you. it's certainly been a day of surprises. >> your committee as oversight over the department of the secretary of state. were you given a heads-up on this by the white house? >> none whatsoever. we heard no advance notice whatsoever. i understand no one on our committee was informed of this and we read about it through a tweet from the president. >> what did you think of the president's decision to fire tillerson? >> it's very concerning. it looks like the president doesn't want anyone in the room that disagrees with him, doesn't want to hear independent advice, doesn't want to get objective accounts from the state department. it's very concerning. we have major issues concerning north korea negotiations, the iran nuclear agreement, and now we have a secretary of state who voiced his recommendations based upon the experts in the state department being canned because he disagreed with the president. >> he apparently disagreed with

the president on several sensitive issues. the president himself earlier today said he disagreed with tillerson on the iran nuclear deal which, as you know the president hates. tillerson wanted to keep it going. does this suggest to you that the president will now move quick toll chanly to change or that iran nuclear deal? >> we certainly hope that's not the case. iran should not be violated from the agreement. there are steps taken with the united states and congress involved to make sure we make it clear that iran can never have another nuclear weapon. let's work with our allies. let's keep iran in compliance with this agreement so they don't become a nuclear weapons state, and iran shouldn't be the one to violate this agreement. >> but if the president has disagreement issues with his secretary of state on the iran

deal, tariffs being imposed on certain countries, immigration, what's wrong with the president saying, you know what? you're fired. >> secretary tillerson and i disagreed on many issues but i respect his professionalism. the president will make the ultimate decisions. that's his responsibility. but he needs to have the advice of experts from the state department. and mr. tillerson was representing the professionals in the field to let the president know the consequences of his actions. it would be irresponsible for a president to act without getting that independent advice. mr. tillerson's credibility was clear and the president didn't want that. >> the president has chosen the cia director mike pompeo to take over as the secretary of state. the committee chairman, your committee chairman bob corker says the first hearing on pompeo's nomination, his confirmation hearing, will take place next month. as far as i remember, you voted against his cia confirmation,

pompeo's confirmation as cia director. do you have reservations about him becoming secretary of the state? >> i voted against his position on the cia because of his belief on immigration rights. i want to know mr. pompeo's interest in representing american values through diplomacy, good government, anti-corruption. i want to know where he stands on rebuilding the state department with the expertise it needs, filling critical conditions, and yes, standing up in the white house telling the president what he needs to hear. there will be questions i will be asking during the confirmation process. >> so right now you're undecided, is that right? >> that's right, i always allow the confirmation process to go forward. i believe in the confirmation process. let's see the answers to his questions and see how he does in the confirmation process. >> what does it mean for the president's proposed talks for the north korean leader kim jong-un in the next two months?

>> it's not only the absence of a secretary of state, we now have the absence of an ambassador in correspokorea. the president will not have the type of talent he should have around him as he enters into these negotiations. i don't think it bodes well for these talks. >> who do you blame for that hal l lowing out of the state department, all those diplomats being fired over the last year. do you blame the president or secretary of state, rex tillers tillerson? >> i blame the president of the united states. i think this is a responsibility by the president in the oval office for failing to fund the state department. it needs to be funded. i think that message is loud and clear by the people who devote their life to public service and diplomacy. >> but if you talk to the

foreign service office, they say tillerson didn't have the guts to stand up to the president and allow this to take place. >> i agree secretary tillerson was not effective in standing up to the president in regards to the state's budget and having the resources it needs to carry out its mission. tillerson was not firm on that. i had disagreements with secretary tillerson, but i think in how he handled information in order to make decisions is really a problem. >> let me get your quick thought on another breaking story we're following. i assume you've been briefed by what's going on in the united kingdom, the poisoning of this russian double agent. now other critic of president putin was found dead today in his london home. what can you tell us about that? >> this is part of putin's playbook.

i authored in january what we talked about in previous shows about russia's engagement in the united states. our 2016 elections were just part of that. he has authorized killings of his opponents. we've seen it happen in russia, we've seen it happen in europe, so this is out of his playbook. i applaud prime minister may's ultimatum to mr. putin that she has to have satisfactory results by tomorrow in regards to what russia did in the u.k. it's a violation of sovereignty, it's a violation of international norms. >> senator cardin, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. coming up, the revolving door at the white house. top officials in the trump administration leaving in the last few weeks. we'll take a look at the bigger picture. we'll be right back. and forced to flee the country of your birth. but you started a new life in a brand new world.

when i built my ancestry family tree, i found your story... then, my dna test helped me reclaim the portuguese citizenship you lost. i'm joshua berry, and this is my ancestry story. combine ancestry's dna test and historical records to discover your story. get started for free at ancestry.com we know that when you're >> tspending time with thelass grandkids... ♪ music >> tech: ...every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield. that's why at safelite, we'll show you exactly when we'll be there. with a replacement you can trust. all done sir. >> grandpa: looks great! >> tech: thanks for choosing safelite. >> grandpa: thank you! >> child: bye! >> tech: bye! saving you time... so you can keep saving the world. >> kids: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪

but he hasoke up wwork to do.in. so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong. with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis? how do you chase what you love do what i did. ask your doctor about humira. it's proven to help relieve pain and protect joints from further irreversible damage in many adults. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years.

humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ready for a new chapter? talk to your rheumatologist about humira. this is humira at work.

if you'd have told me three years ago that we'd be downloading in seconds what used to take minutes. that guests would compliment our wifi. that we could video conference and do it like that (snaps). if you'd have told me that i could afford a gig-speed. a gig-speed network. it's like 20 times faster than what most people have. i'd of said... i'd of said you're dreaming. dreaming! definitely dreaming. then again, dreaming is how i got this far. now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network.

president trump's dramatic decision to fire secretary of state rex tillerson and to name cia director mike pompeo to be his replacement. gloria, there have been rumors about tillerson going for months and months and months, but the timing this morning, why? >> it's odd. i have a source who said there must have been a precipitating event, because these people, trump and tillerson, have aggravated each other for months and months and months. now tillerson knows what it's like to be gary busey on the apprentice, getting fired just like that. i think that he got a little bit of a heads-up, and they've done some great reporting on that. i think tillerson thought he was going to hang in there because trump doesn't like firing people. they're going into the negotiations with north korea. maybe trump thought it was a

good time to do it. i tend to think that it's not so grand that there was some precipitating issue. i also talked to someone this morning who is a friend of trump's and said to me he's feeling quite emboldened, that he feels he's in charge of his own white house finally and that we should look for some more changes. we've all been talking about how long general mcmaster has in the white house. there's been some speculation about general kelly. and so we may see more of this as an emboldened president feels like he is taking charge, and one way he knows how to do it is to elbow people out that he doesn't like. >> and elise, you are doing some reporting. steve goldstein, undersecretary for state of affairs, learned about his firing on twitter. >> i think they're trying to make a distinction between the official "you're fired" which he

never really got, and a call that came in. secretary tillerson in africa over the weekend got a call from chief of staff general john kelly letting him know something was up. my suspicion, as he didn't say, you're out, that's it, i think he was along the lines of "come back, he's getting ready to get rid of you, i can save it like i have so many other times." and this is part of the reason president trump has had problems with john kelly because a lot of people think john kelly is trying to manage trump. this morning you heard rex tillerson say, as he was leaving africa, people were asking him about these north korea negotiations and whether he would be leading. i think he was trying a last-ditch effort to save his job. he said, i think i could provide the kind of advice that's needed for the president to have successful negotiations. once again trying to hold onto his job. i don't think when he woke up this morning, though, he knew this was going to be his last

day, and he did hear that on twitter. >> actually, he was probably sleeping because he was on his way back flying back from africa. >> he would have arrived at 4:00 a.m. >> got in at 4:00 a.m. and the tweet came in about 9:00. it was the 11th hour. he was going to go in and try and save it but that wasn't going to happen. >> you would think the president, when he was leaving the white house, spoke to reporters. he praised tillerson, decent man, very patriotic, thanked him for his work. you would think he would at least have the courtesy to call him personally and tell him he was fired. >> it would have been the decent thing to do but we've come to not accept that. remember when james comey was fired, the president was insistent he would not take his plane back after his final appearance. at least mr. tillerson was able to come back on the plane. on virtually every major issue they've been on opposite sides. whether it was the paris climate

dale dieh deal, the trade deal, ttp deal. there may be no one to held him no, to contradict him, to tell him he's not going down the right path. that's problematic not having a team. >> we just got word that rex tillerson will make a statement at the top of the hour at the state department, presumably his own reaction to the president's firing. >> i would like to know what that is and whether he takes questions. don't forget, there was the whole controversy -- it seems like yesterday, not too long ago -- where rex tillerson apparently privately called the president a moron. i was told the president never got over that, and rex tillerson, as you know, in repeated interviews, refused to dre directly address it. i've also been told that the president believes that tillerson has been disrespectful and arrogant towards him, and he

doesn't like it. whereas somebody like jeff sessions whom he doesn't like is not disrespectful to him, or general mcmaster disagrees with him but is respectful to him. that still might not save mcmaster, but there was this sort of notion that, i'm the president. these are two alpha males. why are you being so arrogant? >> the idea, right, in these national security meetings, we've seen these cabinet meetings where everybody is like, oh, mr. president, your leadership. secretary tillerson was not like that and it was pretty evident in the meetings that he didn't agree with the president. made that known and would say along the lines of, you're the president, it's your policy. and look, tillerson was as ex aspa exasperated with this relationship as the president was. he didn't resign. he wanted to go out on his own terms. i think he thought this north

korea deal was his way to go out with a win. his undersecretary acknowledged he didn't have any wins on the board. >> and there will possibly be more resignations, like general mcmaster. >> the career diplomats, tillerson was not popular. he kept to himself. i'll leave the rest to you, but they're kind of applauding this change. >> we've seen a hollowing out of the department, unfortunately, with rex tillerson. they're taking out the middle ranks, the senior ranks, and that's a problem, not just for now. around the world, because the president was constantly undercutting tillerson, nobody really took him seriously. he would say one thing and be kra dikcontradicted in a tweet.

people may not like what they hear, but at least they'll know it's a authoritative. >> pompeo has been vpretty popular standing by the president. the white house does not trust the so-called deep state, the career diplomats, and it will be interesting to see how the new secretary of state, pompeo, will come in. will he be able to rally the troops in a way that shows that the state department will be a force for diplomacy again? >> i think one thing we can take away from all of this is that the white house wants to keep foreign policy run at the white house. >> that's what every president wants. speaking of the obama administration, where was foreign policy run? at the white house. listen to some of the reaction, gloria, we're getting from some key democratic senators. they're going to have to vote on the confirmation process and

what's going on right now. listen to this. >> this dangerous game of musical chairs undermines our national security and our credibility around the globe. >> i just think that this administration is falling apart. >> that was senator kamala harris of california. we're getting a lot of that from the democrats. >> i think they thought that before today, to be honest. pompeo will get confirmed pretty quickly. he's sort of been pre-confirmed, so that's easy. haspel at the cia is going to have some issues because of her position on waterboarding torture during the bush administration. i think that's going to cause some problems. but i just think it's the unpredictability that democrats will rail about, and republicans who, i might say, a lot of them didn't like pompeo because they couldn't get through to him on the phone. how many people have you talked to, guys, who say i just can't get through to the secretary of

state? they may welcome somebody who they think is a little more responsive because he used to be in the congress. there is a lot more news coming up. i want everybody to stand by. any moment now, rex tillerson will speak for the first time since he was fired by the president. you're looking at live pictures coming in from the state department. he will be speaking, we're told, right at the top of the hour. maybe earlier, maybe a little bit later, but he will react to the decision by the president to get rid of him. also breaking news on another white house departure. the president's close personal aide. another one fired today and actually escorted out of the white house. you're going to hear why he's under investigation by homeland security. we'll be right back.

we danced in a german dance group. i wore lederhosen.man. when i first got on ancestry i was really surprised that i wasn't finding all of these germans in my tree. i decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. the big surprise was we're not german at all. 52% of my dna comes from scotland and ireland. so, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. get started for free at ancestry.com. the roasted core wrap.belly fat.

3, 2, 1... not cool. freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting? now that's cool! coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. and no surgery. results and patient experience may vary. some rare side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort and swelling. ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting.com today... for your chance to win a free treatment. i'm your phone,istle text alert. stuck down here between your seat and your console, playing a little hide-n-seek. cold... warmer... warmer... ah boiling. jackpot. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, you could be picking up these charges yourself. so get allstate, where agents help keep you protected from mayhem... ...like me. mayhem is everywhere. are you in good hands? and back pain made it hard to sleep and get up on time.

then i found aleve pm. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid... ...plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. i'm back. aleve pm for a better am.

we're continuing our breaking news coverage. secretary of state rex tillerson fired today by president trump.

tillerson isn't the only departure. president trump's long-time personal assistant john mcatee was also forced out after the department of homeland security confirmed he was under investigation for what they say are serious financial crimes. mcentee and tillerson join a growing list of suspects. we're hearing today about the firing of tillerson, but there have been a lot of others and more potentially along the way. >> we are literally running out of room. we have two spots left. we're running out of room. this is basically 14 months of the trump administration. this is mostly senior officials, not junior folks. let's go to the next screen, because i want to show you, wolf, what we think the through line is here. loyalty. i think the best way to understand donald trump is he expects total and complete loyalty to him. not to the government, not to

institutions. reince priebus, lost confidence that priebus was loyal to him. we know how james comey worked out, the fbi director. steve bannon became too big in some ways for donald trump. felt like he was building his own brand. sean spicer, i think, sort of had to go but loyal to trump. and tillerson is your best and most recent example. tillerson always thought he had his own sort of space within the government. he was loyal to state diplomacy and not necessarily to donald trump. donald trump doesn't like that. let's go to the last screen because none of these people currently work in the administration anymore, but both of these men do. jeff sessions. if you had to guess who is the one cabinet official that donald trump might fire next, i would say jeff sessions is in the top one, two and three. he's called him beleagured, he's called him disgraceful.

recused in the russia investigation. we hear john kelly may be out. is this a further cleaning of the white house? don't know but i would keep an eye. >> general m.r. mcmaster still in duty, a three-star general. lots of speculation within the next few weeks that he might be moving out. >> they're potentially looking for a place for him to land back in the military. tillerson, kelly, mcmaster all part of a more globally friendly view of the world and all for amigos, in some ways. do they go as a pair or not? i don't know. but again, there are so many people. you are seeing a massive amount. all of these people, by the way, comey is one, but donald trump picked him, wolf. he put people in office. these are not holdovers. it shows how much turnover we've

seen and i think how much wisdom you lose when you lose this number of folks in such a short period of time. >> the president said today he's close to getting the members of the cabinet that he wants. that would suggest he's not there yet so expect some more movement in the coming days and weeks. chris, thanks very much. take a look at this. live pictures coming in from over at the state department. we're only moments away. the outgoing secretary of state rex tillerson was fired today by the president. he's getting ready to speak live. we, of course, will have live coverage of that. the first comments since being fired by president trump. stand by for that. much more right after this. he gets to be the fun one? ♪

who's the fun one now? made with real cream. reddi-wip. instant greatification. made with real cream. alright, i brought in high protein to help get us moving. ...and help you feel more strength and energy in just two weeks! i'll take that. -yeeeeeah! ensure high protein. with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. ensure. always be you. searching for answers may feel overwhelming. so start your search with our teams of specialists at cancer treatment centers of america.

the evolution of cancer care is here. learn more at cancercenter.com/experts [girl 1] perfect! you can send a digital payment. [man] uhh, i don't have one of those payment apps. [girl 2] perfect! you have a us-based bank account, right? [man] i have wells fargo. [girl 3] perfect! then you should have zelle! [man] perfect. [girls] perfect! [vo] the number one mobile banking app just got better. [man] does your coach use zelle, too? [boy] of course! [vo] another way we're building better every day.

internet providers promise business owners a lot. let's see who delivers more. comcast business offers fast gig-speeds across our network. at&t doesn't. we offer more complete reliability with up to 8 hours of 4g wireless network backup. at&t, no way. we offer 35 voice features and solutions that grow with your business. at&t, not so much. we give you 75 mbps for $59.95. that's more speed than at&t's comparable bundle, for less. call today.

this just coming in to cnn. the florida state attorney says he will seek the death penalty against the parkland school shooter, nikolas cruz, charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the first-degree. tomorrow marks one month since that school massacre. he will face potentially the death penalty right there. another member of the trump administration is now in the line of fire over alleged, alleged abuse of travel expenses. this time it's the white house counselor, kellyanne conway. it's emerging she was on several private flights along with ex-health and human service secretary tom price. taxpayers footed the bill to the

tune of tens of thousands of dollars. price resigned over the scandal and has since repaid the government. it's the latest in a string of trump picks caught up in controversies over the spending of taxpayer monies. has she responded to this? >> i can tell you i reached out to the white house and we've not received word yet. to bring folks up to speed today, democrats with the house oversight committee put out this statement saying hhs, health and human services, the agency allowed them to review documents. over the course of reviewing documents, they found that kellyanne conway was on board several private jet flights with tom price. remember, tom price had to resign over multiple flights on private jets. conway was on board private flights for 11 times.

so, 11 separate flights, she had been on these private jets. they say that her portion of these flights cost tens of thousands of dollars. they say that they've been reaching out to the white house to get more documentation. more information about, number one, whether she has repaid any of -- at least her portion of these flights and whether she faced any repercussions. price was forced to resign over this. they want to know, did she face any repercussions over this? the white house has stonewalled them on this part of the investigation. right now what cummings is trying to do by way of this letter is ask the chairman, republican trey gowdy, to subpoena these documents so that they can get to the bottom of just how exactly her extent of

travel on these private planes were. the treasury has received a check from tom price for the amount of $60,000, which they say covers his portion of flights on those private planes. >> he was fired as a result of all of that. >> yes. >> rene, thank you. we'll stay on top of all these developments as well. much more on breaking news coming up. president trump firing secretary of state replacing him with mike pompeo. rex tillerson, by the way, is getting ready to speak any moment now over at the state department. we'll have live coverage of that, right after this quick break. heartburn. no one burns on my watch! try alka seltzer

ultra strength heartburn relief chews. with more acid-fighting power than tums chewy bites. mmmmm...amazing. i have heartburn. ultra strength from alka seltzer. enjoy the relief.

she pretty much lives in her favorite princess dress. but once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it. i use tide to get out those week old stains and downy to get it fresh and soft. you are free to go. tide and downy together.

my goodness, what a day. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. here is the heads up. we are waiting to hear from the man whom president trump fired today via twitter, outgoing secretary of state rex tillerson. this is the highest level shakeup thus far. fourth in line to the presidenty and, arguably, the last job that should be disrupted as the president prepares for a promised meeting with the north korean dictator kim jong-un. although it was no secret that tillerson was on thin ice with the president, when america's top diplomat woke up this morning, he had no idea this would be his last day on the job according to his spokesman. tillerson saw, like the rest of the world did, this tweet from the president of the united states, saying that cia director mike pompeo was the new secretary of state and that his deputy director