mueller has his eye on the ball. it's the trump campaign. >> president trump can no longer say that collusion has not come up at all. >> we have very little evidence that shows collusion. >> did the president himself come under russian influence? >> there's a lot of stuff that smells very bad. >> 375,000 employees, a budget of close to 200 billion dollars. >> he had the confidence of president obama. >> don't know much about him. that's part of the concern. we made a lot of progress. i want to give them a choice. >> there is toxic culture in the west wing. >> the ideas are really dumb. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to your "new day". chris is off. john berman joins me.

great to have you. >> great to be here. >> cnn has learned why special counsel robert mueller wants help from deputy chair rick gates. court filings suggest is mueller is going after bigger fish as he investigates contacts between president trump's campaign and russia. >> in the meantime, the pick for v.a. secretary is drawing criticism and concern over his thin management record. "washington post" reports dr. ronny jackson, the doctor himself was taken aback when he got the news and expressed hesitance about taking a job that oversees 377,000 employees. and denying a motion from the attorney for stormy daniels to depose president trump and michael cohen. let's begin our coverage with is

shim shimon. >> reporter: this is related to the rick gates. we are told he has primarily been using rick gates about the central mission of the investigation, which has been russian interference or as we have all referred to it as so-called collusion into the 2016 campaign. the interesting thing here, very early on before gates agreed to cooperate with special counsel, we're told that mueller's team told him they needed him -- that they didn't need him for paul manafort and instead wanted to hear about what he knew about contacts between the trump campaign and russians. we may have a hint how they have been using gates's information. that came from a recent court filing that shows he was communicating with a russian intelligence official who was a close associate of manafort. and the court papers said gates knew of this connection while he worked for the trump campaign. >> shimon, any sense of what

rick gates could know about all of this or what information he might have had access to? >> reporter: he had a lot of access. he had a seat at the table. he had ties with members of trump's inner circle. he was deputy to paul manafort, a long-time business associate of his. and he has connections to tom barrack, a close friend of trump. rick gates was in on some of the fund-raising decisions and developed a reputation for keeping tabs on what others were doing in the campaign, including that trump tower meeting where a russian lawyer promised dirt. remember that happened over the summer during the campaign where this russian lawyer promised dirt on hillary clinton. alisyn? >> shimon, thank you very much for all of your reporting. so skepticism appears to be

growing over president trump's pick to lead the department of veterans affairs as he made headlines in this unscripted rally in ohio. cnn's abby phillip is live in west palm beach, florida with more. so what happened, abby? >> reporter: good morning, alisyn is. president trump is waking up at his resort here in mauer ltpin . it is the person he picked as his new v.a. secretary is coming under scrutiny as his inner circle shrinks. mounting criticism on capitol hill about the qualifications of president trump's nominee to lead the department of veterans affairs, white house doctor navy admiral ronny jackson. >> this is half the size of the united states army. it's going to be tough, nothing is going to change.

>> 375,000 employees, a budget of close to 200 billion dollars. >> reporter: former cia chief brennan calling it a terribly muss guided nomination. jackson himself was taken aback by himself nomination and hesitated to take on such a big job. but the president continued to push for his selection. he said mr. trump has been pleased with jackson since he praised his health in january. >> i told him if he had a healthier diet the next 20 years he might live to be 200 years old. >> there were some political appointees within my administration that didn't see it that way and wanted us to take a much harder stance toward privatization. i wasn't going for that. >> reporter: president trump hinting at his support for privatization at a rally thursday. >> we made a lot of progress

with the veterans, but i want to get them choice. >> reporter: mr. trump defending his decision to oust shulkin. >> i made some changes because i wasn't happy with the speed with which our veterans were taken care of. i wasn't happy with it. >> reporter: after largely staying out of sight for days, president trump going off script at a rally meant to tout his infrastructure plan. threatening to up end his first major trade deal with south korea. >> i may hold it up until after a deal is made with north korea. >> reporter: and surprising the pentagon with this announcement about the u.s. presence in syria. >> we'll be coming out of syria very soon. >> reporter: before leaving for ohio, he bid forward well to outgoing communications director hope hicks thursday. so far nobody is in line to take her place. cnn has learned that the president is being told by some advisers he doesn't need a communications director or chief of staff if general kelly departs.

>> if general kelly does decide to leave or the president decides it's time for him to move on, i don't think there will be another chief of staff. >> reporter: well, we are learning new developments about another of president trump's cabinet secretaries. scott pruett is under scrutiny for his 24/7 security detail according to a letter by sheldon whitehouse. he used the security detail not only for his time here in washington but also at home in tulsa for a trip to disneyland and a trip to the rose bowl. more troubles for the president's cabinet secretaries, alisyn and john. >> we'll get to all of that. let's bring in cnn's john avlon. it is hard to follow every threat of the russia investigation. but what has happened now with this court filing and rick gates does feel like it is a big deal to delve into. explain it to me.

>> it is a confirmation that the mueller investigation is looking at collusion and direct contacts between members of the trump campaign and russian intelligence services. that's the simplest way to say it. it is not just lobbying and surrounding the campaign and whether they tried to influence the election, which they did via st. petersburg. it is a close member, deputy to the chair paul manafort who is in business and in contact with a member of the gru, russian intelligence services. >> it looks like the mueller investigation tries to send signals, subtle signals. when they indicted 13 russians. in this obscure court filing they are trying to say, no, no, no. we're looking at campaign contacts between the trump campaign and russia. it is also a reminder we have rick gates. >> right. >> rick gates is cooperating with us.

we have michael flynn. he's cooperating. >> and a few others probably not mentioned. we're looking from the outside in. we are describing motive to the action that we can't be aware of. because i have to tell you having covered the doj for years and knowing the people that know him, it's been described as a black box. is and the other metaphor is peeling back of an onion. he progresses methodically. what we see is to give us -- i don't think he cares. he's doing his job. he's going to do it the best way he knows how. and i think we find that they're not going to be coming forward with too much information except through court documents. and then he's going to -- which is really very professional way of doing things. very contrary to washington, d.c. where if you say hi, it turns out three blocks later that you gave the gettysburg

address. it speaks to the professionalism of this investigation and the thoroughness of it. i don't like the word collusion, though, since it's not -- you can't be charged for collusion. i think what they are probably looking at is obstruction of justice. while collusion could be used to impeach. but if they're going to indict him on anything, it won't be collusion. it will be something else. >> let's talk about what's going on in the white house as a whole. he said publicly good-bye to hope hicks yesterday. she was with him before the campaign. this was a truster adviser, aide, and confidante. i'm no body language expert, but this was an awkward -- that part wasn't awkward. they're very close. that part is actually nice. and good-bye, farewell. best of luck to you. >> clearly he has affection for her and vice versa.

he may not replace her. he thinks he may not need a director. >> apparently the president is getting advice that he doesn't need a communications director. whoever is giving him that advice is they are not his friends. if ever he needed a chief of staff and communications director it is this one if he is going to listen to them. therein lies the problem. we're at the end of march. let's just look at the body count in the president's inner circle. communications director, gone. secretary of state, gone. chief economic adviser, gone. national security adviser, gone. v.a. secretary, gone. that is massive upheaval. >> and wait until hour. >> there's still time. >> these are people who were key to the white house. >> that's the chaos. he said he loves to operate in chaos. and i can tell you there's nothing out of covering a lot of

administrations. i've never seen. it is almost scary how mean spirited and chaotic the white house is and can be. so to operate without -- the idea of operating without a chief of staff to me is apt to running a government. how do you run without a communications director? he likes to fly by the seat of his pants, make his own decisions. everyone who has ever done business with him will tell you that. he means well. i get it. but this is the u.s. government. it is not a start-up operation. it's been going on since the 1700s. so maybe you might want to kind of follow road. >> john brought up a great point. these are not friends if they're giving this advice. you can't dismiss them as powerless quacks. we know the president listens. in some ways they might be more powerful than people in the west wing. >> some of them may have spent time in the west wing and may no longer be in the west wing. that may be some of the people

he's listening to. he finds it more convenient. familiarity breeds contempt. perhaps when they're outside, he listens to them and you're right. it's a good point that you made, john. the scary point about it is when you have people outside of the white house giving you advice and you take it and you don't listen to the people who are there on a daily basis, that's a recipe for disaster. >> what's the upshot to the american public if he doesn't have a director of communications. does it matter? >> it does at the end of the day. we know the president is not a big fan of studying american history. just for a second, both gerald ford and jimmy carter tried to stretch this without a chief of staff. it was a disaster. there is a reason that role exists. >> i understand chief of staff. but director of communications? he says whatever he wants on twitter. >> maybe they can have a message

to counteract his shoot from the hip stock. >> we will go through one news cycle. i know regan would spend all day long. you would two in early in the morning. larry speaks would say, this, this, this. someone else would explain the facts. someone is else would come in and you would spend a week crafting it. and this guy does it in a tweet. maybe what hope hicks was providing is enough of a break to keep it sane. and you do need that traffic cop in the white house. otherwise, bedlam and chaos is going to overwhelm us all, if it hasn't already. >> very quickly, will he become the v.a. secretary? >> is i think republicans control the senate. they will be inclined to vote for whoever the president's nominee is. he's going to get tough

questions about what is his experience, what are his policies, detailed about the physical perhaps. look for a revealing hearing. he is a charming guy. the question is does -- and a good doctor by all counts. does his experience match up even in the same ballpark to running the v.a.? >> and the situation is the administration, as i said yesterday, has been screaming that it wants its people. give us our people. we can't do our job. we want our team in place. inasmuch as -- like i said yesterday, he'll probably be seated because the republicans at the very least, unless there is an overwhelming that don't, want to give him his chance and his team. there is nothing actually wrong with that. the president comes in to do the job. you want him to have the team that he wants. >> the team has to be able to play the position. >> well, that's right. >> that's up to the coach.

>> it's not the ball club. >> i'm stopping the sports metaphors right here because i don't understand them. thank you very much. so a legal setback for stormy daniels's team, a judge denies her request from her attorney to depose president trump and his attorney. ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla.

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alis alisyn, there is language where the court agrees with our assessment of the law and appears to suggest that we're going to win this motion. i mean, this is two minutes into the first quarter and the other side is declaring victory and popping champagne bottles. it's a little ridiculous. >> it seems to us every day you have something up your sleeve. and you either roll out a new tease of something you have or a new action. so what today are you going to do? >> well, i don't believe we have been teasing about it. we have been performing actions and litigating this case. look, we have a lot of evidence. we have a lot of cards up our sleeve. we're going to be strategic. we're going to be smart. this case has a long way to go. we're going to follow -- is as far as next steps, we will file this motion. and the court is going to decide this. and i think the president and mr. cohen are in a world of hurt as it relates to this. >> when i say tease, i mean you've been dangling a lot of

reported evidence that we haven't seen. for instance, you tweeted out that photo of a cd connected to the 60 minutes interview with stormy daniels. what is that? we don't know what that is. you never explained it. why did you connect it to "60 minutes"? >> well, as i explained, that was a warning shot to mr. cohen and the president they better be very careful after the "60 minutes" broadcast related to the denials of this affair. alisyn, guess what, it worked. because since the "60 minutes" interview, we have heard nothing from mr. cohen or the president, and they haven't denied it. i think it was heck of a warning shot. it served its purpose. in due time, americans will learn what's on that dvd. >> tell us right now what's on the tkfd. >> i'm not going to do that. we're in society where everybody wants immediate tkpwrat

indicati gratification. i was asked a question whether other women had contacted us. i didn't tease that out. i was asked a question. i come on the shows and answer basically 95% of the questions, unlike a lot of politicians and other people that come on these shows. i don't dodge questions. let me talk about the eight women. eight women have contacted us. we're vetting those. two appear to have ndas. we will be careful before we start releasing information and facts about those, because i'm not willing to stick my reputation behind them. >> i guess what's your evidence? what is your evidence that there was an affair? >> we have a mountain evidence -- >> such as? >> i'm not going to lay out our evidence. >> we've been taking you at your word and stormy daniels's at your word. at some point you have to cough up something. >> i think we have coughed up something. my client sat for a two-hour

interview with "60 minutes". it was played for the american people. her statements are evidence. that is part of evidence. that's number one. number two, we have the fact that michael cohen paid $130,000 to my client within two weeks of the election. who pays $130,000 to someone if it's b.s. i think the american people, no question at this point that the american people believe this affair happened. >> yes. i hear you. americans have decided they believe her over the president. >> correct. >> however, what is your evidence? is and this is where it's important to have evidence. you are reporting that a crime has been committed that the president knew about the $130,000 payment. >> we're not purporting a crime was committed. >> if the president knew, then it would suggest more that there was a federal election commission violation. >> 100%. we're going to get to the bottom of this.

and i think it's common sense and the american people are smart enough to know the story they have been told by mr. cohen and surrogates of the white house makes zero sense. it is is ever changing. we'll get to the bottom of it. it is very straightforward. we will ask very finite questions to mr. cohen and the president, not through the whose spokespeople or someone elsewhere there is deniability. we will get through all of this. this is really not that complicated. >> what do you want from president trump? >> we want the truth. we want him and mr. cohen to come clean about this $130,000 payment, about what he knew, and what he did about it. >> if president trump called and said you have been a thorn in my side. this is annoying to me. i have bigger business that i would like to move on to, how much do you want, i will write you a check. >> i don't think there's a number. >> there is no number that you and stormy daniels would take from michael cohen for the president to make this go away? >> a number that would allow him

to continue to hide the truth? is that the question? >> yes. for you to go away. >> no amount. >> no amount of money. >> we're going to get to the bottom of it. i'm committed to it. my client is committed to it. i know people find that hard to believe in society but we want the truth. we're going to get to the bottom of it. >> how about just apologize to your client. stop talking. he's going to issue an apology, and you go away? >> no. it's not acceptable. we want the truth from mr. cohen and we want the truth from mr. trump. it doesn't matter if it's next week, next month, or next decade. it's not going away. >> the president, as you know, has been uncharacteristic live silent. he generally punches back when someone comes after him. when there was the "access hollywood" tape that was so embarrassing for him, he decided not to stay silent. let's just remind people what he did in response to that tape. here it is.

>> i never said i'm not a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that i'm not. i've said and done things that i regret. and the words released on this more than a decade old video are one of them. anyone who knows me know these words don't reflect who i am. i said it. i was wrong. and i apologize. >> how about something like that? i regret what i did, i apologize to ms. daniels. but i didn't know about the $130,000 payment. is that good enough for you guys? >> i don't think so. i don't think he's prepared to come clean with the american people. it has to be him and mr. cohen. that's what this is about. it's not about money. it's not about apologies at this point. >> how do you know he knew about the $130,000 payment? >> we are highly confident that he knew about it. it doesn't make any sense that he wouldn't know about it or the agreement. somebody is lying here, alisyn, and we are going to find out who it is.

>> thank you very much for being auto. >> happy easter to you. >> you too. john? democrat chris coons joins us with what he wants to do to make sure the russia probe is completed. that's next.

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joining us now senator chris coombs from delaware, senate judiciary committee. senators, what does this new information tell you that rick gates is talking about these contacts that he had with someone that he knew had contacts with russian intelligence? >> well, john, it is striking that in these latest court filings special counsel robert mueller reveals that the individual who tied russian intelligence, their military intelligence unit, the gru,

directly to the trump campaign is linked through rick gates, deputy campaign manager. since he is a cooperating witness, that to me would be a very concerning development if i were in the trump administration. this is the first time you've got a direct link between an active campaign leader and russian intelligence. >> an knitted link at this point. it was lied at various times by various individuals. does this contact. does this link constitute collusion? >> it's as close as has been alleged publicly so far. the next thing you will see special counsel mueller working on is a meeting around the republican national convention that now attorney general jeff sessions also participated in that resulted in the weakening of the republican party campaign platform in a way that favored russia over ukraine. something that was a high

priority for the kremlin. that's also something about russian intelligence. >> it is highly pertinent given we have been at this for a year. what would constitute collusion to you? >> well, collusion is a complex legal term. for me just to put it in common sense terms, it's where two parties are cooperating in a way intended to break the law, to share information or resources in a common effort to undermine the law. >> so just to backtrack even more, donald trump jr.'s meeting with a russian at trump power promising dirt on hillary clinton from russian intelligence, is that on its face collusion? >> that's also highly suggestive. there's been obviously after that meeting was uncovered after a number of initial misrepresentations or outright lies about who was in the meeting, what was the topic of

the meeting, the questions remains information was vital to the campaign was shared at that point between russian intelligence and the trump campaign. that makes it clear that folks at the highest levels of the trump campaign were eager to receive information from russia. >> you are part of a bipartisan effort by tom till list to put a legal buffer between the president, which would make it much harder for him, if not impossible, to remove special counsel. you have been at this for a long time. any recent progress? >> well, we introduced the bill late last summer in august. we had a hearing last fall in front of the judiciary committee. and puzzlingly to me, a number of my republican colleagues questioned whether it's

constitutional. there is a key supreme court case, morrison v. olson, in which justices said a much stronger law was constitutional. some of my colleagues have been hesitating moving forward on this bill. most importantly the chair senator grassley. we have engaged in a campaign to try and remind our colleagues that this is constitutional is, that it is the easiest way that we can put a speed bump before president trump in the likely event that he decides to fire special counsel robert mueller. >> you said in the likely event. do you really go to bed at night worrying that by the time you wake up the president will try to fire special counsel? >> yes. i'm very concerned given that president trump said publicly it would be a red line if special counsel started going after his personal finances or his

family's business. and we know starting several weeks ago, that is exactly what is being done in the special counsel investigation. they sent a subpoena to the trump organization. just in the last two weeks, the the president has started attacking the special counsel by name in tweets. we know from reporting by the "new york times" that back in january, president trump wanted to fire the special counsel and was only stopped from doing so when white house counsel don mcgahn threatened to resign if he did so. i think it is obvious he would like to fire him. whether he will or not is the core question. many of my colleagues think it would be dreadful if he fired him but don't believe he will. i think the president's abrupt recent actions in how he dismissed the v.a. secretary, the secretary of state, other key members of his cabinet, is suggest this is something he is likely to do. >> likely to do. you're again using that word. when mitch mcconnell and other leaders say they don't think he will try to fire robert mueller,

do you think they are wrong? do you think they are being dishonest or just covering for the president? >> i think they have been given assurances by people in the west wing that they've got this under control, that the president won't make such a precipitous or unwise move. but i will remind you president trump's own legal team just had a major shakeup. john dowd was serving as the lead of the president's legal defense team just resigned i think partly in protest over the president's decisions about how to interact with special counsel mueller. i'm sure they have their own reasons for -- >> in this case it seems john dowd did not want him to cooperate, did not want him to testify. by all accounts the president says he wants to. let me just ask you because we have a chance to talk to a senator right now who will be involved in the process, dr. ronny jackson. will be nominated to be the new v.a. secretary.

do you know how you will vote on his confirmation? >> i have not had a chance to meet him, interview him or look deeply into his background. i will say by all accounts he is a good doctor, good man, but has no relevant experience running any major administration. the veterans administration is one of the largest and most complex federal agencies. this shows the troubling trend president trump has of preferring nominees for his cabinet or cabinet members who are personally loyal or telegenic over these with relevant deep experience. >> can you confirm nip who didn't have any relevant experience to runny agency? >> i have been in the senate eight years. it is entirely possible that at some point i did. but in general i tend to judge nominees based on whether they have the experience to run the relevant agency. i voted against the secretary of education betsy devos, tkpeps

the secretary of hud ben carson. although experienced people, neither had run a federal agency or government agency or frankly any agency of anything like the department of education or department of housing and urban development. >> senator chris coons, thank you for being with us. have a terrific holiday, sir. >> thank you. currently the mayor of new orleans. does he plan to run for president in 2020? what are his plans? the mayor next. (vo) dogs have evolved,

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instead of revering a four-year brief historical aberration that was called the confederacy, we can celebrate all 300 years of our rich diverse history in a place called new orleans and set the tone for the next 300 years. >> new orleans mayor landreau, has the last of the confederate statute choose removed. a white southerner confronts history. good morning, mayor. >> hey, alisyn. how are you? >> i'm well. good to have you with us. >> it was one i came to after a lot of consultation with a lot of people. when it was clear what the history was, the answer about what to do rather came easy. it was just hard to do it. >> yeah, of course. even though of us who didn't live in the south were gripped by this national debate.

you heard the pushback on the other side. you are expunging an important chapter in america history. you're whitewashing it, sanitizing it. those are people's grandfathers or great grandfathers who fought in the civil war. so why are you expunging their history? >> well, a couple of things. first of all, after the killings at mother emmanuel in charleston, it was clear that the confederacy was still alive and well and promoting harm that couldn't be anymore. you can't change history by taking a statue down. you're is just moving it to another place. in the speech and the book i write about the reverence of individuals that did something really bad and the remembrance of it so we will never repeat it again. they reflect only four years of new orleans's 300-year history, crowding out all the history. not only are we not whitewashing

history, we are adding to it and telling the whole story. >> you're getting a kennedy profile in courage. >> amazing. >> for having tkhudone this. your reaction? >> i was rendered speechless. i don't feel, you know -- i'm humbled by it and i don't feel capable of receiving that award. and i receive it on behalf of the people of new orleans who has been through, as you know, an incredible amount the last 12 to 8 years and have brought the city back. it is an incredible honor. i accept it humbly. >> you have a little more than a month left. what is your next month? >> it has been a great eight-year run. the city is ready to celebrate its 300th anniversary. we invite everybody to celebrate with us. i haven't given much thought to what we will do next. it has been a hard eight years. it's been fun.

i'm thankful i have been able to do it. when i finish, i'll have time to think about what's next. >> i'm sure you don't like the 2020 presidential question, and i think you said you are not there yet. are you interested in say did a i in running for president? >> well, you never say never in politics. you it is not something i'm intending to do or planning to do. i obviously feel good about the possibility that people think that you could do that one day. anybody in the world would be honored by the thought. it's not something i'm planning on at the moment. >> if the climate were right, do you think that you could run for president? and i ask that because i know you have said -- i think you've said that you think you're too moderate to run? >> well, i do given the scope of what it is in the republican national committee. it has less to do with the climate than it is to do whether or not it is actually something i think i'm supposed to do or something i would be prepared to do. it is way too early" for anybody

to think bit. i don't know where everybody is going to be. of it changes dramatically. heads are spinning. there is an incredible amount of chaos. it is too early to think about it. of course you have to step back and think about the entire possibility of it happening. but i don't really see it happening. >> pretend you are not running in 2020. then who do you think rises? >> there will be maybe 130 people trying to get the democratic nomination. there are a lot of people that are really qualified. i have the highest regard for joe biden. bloomberg is thinking about it. eric garcetti. cory booker. there are a ton of good people. you have good people talking about it on the republican side. jeff flake i think has been a profile in courage in the united states of america. we ought toencourage really thought civil debate where we can be hard on the problem and soft on the people. that's really what this country needs. get out of chaos, back into

stability, and get us focused on winning together. >> do you think joe biden will run? >> i hope he does. i think he would be great. >> all right. mayor mitch landriu. >> bill cosby's in decent assault retrial begins next week. eye it will look very different this time around. we have a live report next. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. flonase. an expectation to surpass. burden. but that's the point. ♪ bring us doubt, and we'll bring you the first car with true hands free driving for the freeway. bring us a challenge, and we'll reinvent what it means to own a car.

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. bill cosby set to stand trial again for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting andrea constand. the first trial ended in a mistrial. this time as many as five accusers may take the stand. cnn's jean casarez live in norristown, pennsylvania with more. >> reporter: today is the pretrial hearing. the judge is still deciding what evidence will and will not come from the second jury.

the prosecution this time around will allowed to have five prior bad act witnesses, women who said i, too, was drugged and sexually assaulted by bill cosby. a source close to the case confirms that former supermodel janice dickinson has been subpoenaed and will be flying to pennsylvania. the defense wants a witness that is named margot jackson, someone who they say says talked to andrea constand back in 2003, 2004, not sure of the exact date, but that andrea constand said she could fabricate this whole story and get a lot of money. i sat down with former lead defense attorney for this trial, brian mcmonangal. >> you believe they had a romantic relationship? >> i don't think there's any doubt about that fact. the testimony in this trial was that ms. constand had been to his home on a couple different occasions, there had been romantic settings and

interludes. >> constand testified the relationship was not romantic. he was a temple friend she said, somebody i trusted, a mentor. as for the romantic interludes, mcmonangal says happens, constand insists they were passes from cosby that she rebuffed, which made sense to her sister who said her sister has no interest in romantic enter luds with men. >> andrea was about 16 years old when she told us she was gay. >> cosby's attorneys used phone records to try to prove a romantic relationship, pointing to more than 50 calls constand made to cosby after the alleged assault and before march 31st when constand left temple. >> reporter: andrea constand testified in the trial that as a manager for the women's basketball team at temple

university and bill cosby being so involved with the team and supporting them, she had to take those phone calls because there were many calls after the fact, after the alleged assault. but she said it was part of her job duty, the defense saying that is what proves there was a romantic relationship. john? >> jean, you've covered this situation for so long. what's it been like in the courtroom this time around? >> it's tense. there are moments of invensity on both sides. remember, this is a brand new defense team all from california. tom mesirow, the very after famed attorney that got an acquittal for michael jackson on sexual as salt charges. the intensity is apparent because if convicted bill cosby could spend the rest of his life in prison. this is very, very serious for all accounts, and the commonwealth, they want justice for someone they say was a victim of bill cosby. >> jean cass sar rez in

norristown, pennsylvania. join us for the case against cosby, 8:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. a lot of news we're following this morning. let's get to it. >> robert mueller is connecting the trump campaign, paul manafort directly to russian spies. >> my bet is that gates revealed russian connections. >> he could have seen and heard a lot. >> we have a lot of partisan smoke, but we haven't seen that direct connection. >> the president ought to be cautious, don't ever mess with director mueller. he'll crush you. >> that's why i made some changes because i wasn't happy -- >> i'm concerned about putting somebody in charge of the va who doesn't really have management experience. >> i wouldn't exclude the possibility that he would be a fine secretary. >> wanted us to take a stands towards privatization. i wasn't willing to do that. >> president trump saying good-bye to hope hicks. >> nobody can replace hope hicks

for the president. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome to your "new day." it's friday, march 30th. john berman joins me today. up first, a development in the russia investigation. cnn learned why special counsel robert mueller wants cooperation of former trump campaign deputy rick gates. court documents indicates that gates could be critical to nabbing even bigger fish in a collusion case involving the kremlin. >> president trump's pick for va secretary drawing criticism and skepticism. dr. ronnie jackson tapped to oversee 360,000 federal employees and a budget of $186 billion. he has virtually no management experience. according to "the washington post," dr. jackson himself was taken aback when he got the news that the president wanted to nominate him and expressed hess tans in taking the job. shimon prokupecz is live in

washington with our top story. >> rick gates, the former campaign official with trump has been cooperating, as we know, with the mueller team. what we're told is the mueller team has been primarily using rick gates for information about what they call the central mission of the investigation which has been russian interference and collusion in the 2016 campaign. the interesting thing here and perhaps significant development is that very early on, before gates had agreed to cooperate and when he was in talks with the special counsel to cooperate, they told him we're told they did not need him for paul manafort. instead, wanted to hear about what he knew about contacts between the trump campaign and russians. now, we may have a hint as to just how mueller has been using gates' information from a recent court filing that shows gates was communicating with a russian intelligence official who was also