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 a close associate of paul

manafort, and the court document said gates knew of this connection while he was working for the trump campaign. >> shimon, what kind of information could gates have? >> well, gates has ties to members of trump's inner circle, including, as we said paul manafort, long-time business associate of his, and tom bare rick who is a close friend of trump's. gates was in on some of the fund-raising decisions, he was also the guy who developed this reputation for keeping tabs on what others were up to in the campaign including that trump tower meeting which is under investigation by the special counsel where donald trump jr. and others met with the russian lawyer who promised dirt on hillary clinton. >> shimon, thank you for sharing your reporting. let's bring in cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein and cnn political analyst julie pace. great to see both of you. >> good morning.

>> robert mueller's work has been done, as they say, in a black box. meaning no sunlight gets out of that. what we do is look for bread crumbs in court filings. we seem to have a trail of bread crumbs now that rick gates was having contact with a russian intelligence officer. so where does this leave the investigation in your mind? >> first, as you point out, modesty chastened the attitude toward what we don't know about mueller is always called for because they have consistently shown the ability to surprise the media and political world with the quantity and depth of the information they possess. bread crumbs was the exact word i was going to use. one thing we have learned is they do not casually drop these bread crumbs into their court filings. the piece of information that mr. gates was in contact with a russian intelligence officer that he knew to be such is significant, and it underscores that they are continuing to

explore this central issue. the president can type "no collusion" in capitals as often as he wants. but leaving aside what we already know, for example, about the meeting at trump tower, this is a reminder that this investigation grinds on and moves in directions that we cannot fully apprehend from the outside. >> you call it bread crumbs, but the information that the deputy campaign chair was talking to someone connected with russian intelligence, that's like a hogie. there's something going on there. jul julie, it seems there's something of a message, whether intentional already or not, is very much looking into collusion, despite there are people obsessed with the notion that he's looking into paul manafort, whether it be obstruction or perjury. no, the central charge here, collusion. he is looking into it this seems to say. >> he's looking at all of irt. that's our main takeaway from bob mueller.

it is true. the centerpiece of this investigation remains whether the trump campaign was coordinating or colluding with russia during the election. as ron points out, the president keeps saying there's been no collusion. that has been proven. it has not been proven. there's been nothing proven on that front. the only thing that's been proven is bob mueller has not put forward any evidence of that. this investigation is one that is going to go on for quite some time. it's not one that is on the verge of wrapping up. it's impossible for the president to say that has been ruled out at this point. that's the takeaway from the recent court filing. >> ron, let's talk about the changes in the administration. rex tillerson leaves tomorrow night. hope hicks, we saw her good-bye yesterday with the president. we know the president has fired the va secretary and is now replacing him with his personal white house doctor. how do you think that one is going to go in terms of senate confirmation and how it's been received in d.c.?

>> i think the first point is the pattern is clearly established, whether it's for personal or political reasons. donald trump believes the chaos benefits him, i think. and that the -- i think the markets, the congress, the public has to be kind of accepting that this is going to be the model, there is going to be extraordinary turnover, unprecedented turnover in the administration across the board, in the white house and in the cabinet. specifically on this area of replacing the va secretary, david shulkin had ethical issues common that many cabinet officers have had, but the decision to remove him, he's attributing to this desire to partially privatize the va speaks to vulnerability. half of trump's votes came from whites over 45. anything that moves toward undermining government-provided health care,

government-guaranteed health care is a real warning sign, the efforts to undermine medicaid and the aca were very unpopular. the ideas of paul ryan and partially privatizing medicare and partially privatizing the va as well is extremely unpopular with veterans. all these issues i think are creating an opening that democrats have not had in a long time with older americans. >> when you talk about who is surrounding the president, john mccain used to have a joke that his support is basically down to blood relatives. the west wing is practically down to blood relatives, maybe a little more than that. we're getting reports that there are outside advisers to the white house saying you don't need a communications director, you don't need a chief of staff, just handle it all yourself. you've covered the white house for a long time. is that possible? >> no, it's not possible. you have to remember that these outside advisers have a real incentive to be pushing this message to the president,

because the fewer gatekeepers there are around the oval office, the more access these people will have. that's been the frustration that many have had with john kelly, that he really has at least tried. he hasn't been successful always. he's at least tried to cut down on the number of people who can call the president directly, show up in the hoefl office unannounced and try to push more unconventional ideas. for them, having fewer people around the president would be better for them. the reality is that governing is such a massive job. you are overseeing this incredibly large federal government. the number of decisions you have to make on a day-to-day basis are enormous. the president himself can't do all that. he needs people around him. you can be the best communicator, have a robust twitter account. but the day-to-day functions of the government and the white house itself require a staff. it's that simple. >> go ahead, ron. >> i point back on many things to the congressional republicans and the move over the course of the trump presidency from one

posture of kind of independence at the beginning and the suggestion they would put some constraint on him to one where they have basically given him the signal, that they will support and defend him almost no matter what he does. they actually have a lot of leverage over personnel through the appointment, through the confirmation process, yet they really have done nothing to try to rein in this tendency, this inclination toward chaos which is an animating principle of his management style. now i think they're riding this tornado aware that there's going to be i think throughout this presidency -- the pattern is pret difficult well struck -- there's going to be this high level of chaos and they have very little ability to rein in to anything more straightforward or reliable because they have largely self-surrendered that power and influence over the first 16 months. >> we just had stormy daniels attorney, michael avenatti on. he said there's more to come. he says they will settle at

nothing -- he just told us -- until the president and michael cohen tell the truth, whatever that is, and michael avenatti and stormy daniels's mind. i ask is there any amount of money, any number of digits that they would accept to go away and stop being a thorn in the president's side. he said no. so how is this going over in washington? >> this has been quite the phenomenon because it's been a controversy that has out lasted pretty much any other controversy that we've seen in the trump administration or the trump campaign. i think that is due in part to the strategy that stormy daniels and her attorney have been employing where they are trying to be out there every day. they are dropping new revelations. in the press, our focus continues to be on getting the president to answer questions on this topic, no matter how many times sarah sanders says he has already answered this, the fact remains he hasn't. we have not heard from the

president directly on this. he's not tweeting about it, not taking questions on it. if this is going to be out there and a controversy swirling around his presidency, he has to be held accountable. >> it strikes me that michael avenatti saying there's no amount of money short of the president and michael cohen telling truth will stop him, i'm not sure that's a legal outcome. that's what i don't fully understand. what is he filing for? i don't think there's a legal result that donald trump and michael cohen all of a sudden give a public speech about what happened there. >> he wants him deposed. >> he wants him deposed which i think is purely political at a certain point, ron. >> look, this all goes back to jones v. clinton and the supreme court ruling that a president could face these private suits while in office. donald trump accused all of the women who made accusations against him of lying. the prospect that others will

seek defamation cases against him seems to be very high. we obviously have that track going on with the former ""celebrity apprentice"" contestant. i think the likelihood is that you are going to see multiple efforts through his presidency to depose him on these issues. i remember during the clinton years thinking every time another special prosecutor got appointed, it was like in "jaws" when they put another barrel in the shark and the shark could keep diving, but there were more barrels and it was harder and harder. i think that is the likelihood what we are going to see. there is so much material, chum in the water to continue the "jaws" analogy that is out there, i think whatever -- after stormy daniels is resolved one way or another, there are plenty of other potential litigants to take her place. i would bet he is going to be in this situation for as long as he is president. >> it strikes me the deposition as an end here. usually a deposition is a means to an end.

>> as it was in paula jones. >> there you go. ron brownstein, julie pace, thank you very much. have a nice holiday weekend. president trump's pick to lead veterans affairs has no managerial experience. is the white house doctor fit for the job? we will ask a republican congressman and veteran next.

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the man just fired by president trump will way in on his replacement. >> i'll do everything i can to help dr. jackson succeed in this position. this is a tough position. no doubt about it. this is one of the most complex organizations anywhere to run. it's going to be a challenge for anybody to take. fortunately we have a process that we go through where senate confirmations are required where all these things will be brought out. i have confidence that dr. jackson is a person who is honorable and cares about our veterans. >> joining us, republican congressman scott teller of virginia, former navy s.e.a.l. and iraq war veteran. good morning, congressman. >> good morning. how are you? >> i'm doing well. what do you think of the replacement of secretary shulkin with dr. jackson? >> much like the good senator you had on earlier which has a

vote. i know he's a white house physician for both president obama and president trump. i think he worked under president bush as well, too. he's a serious person. there's no question about that. i think some of the questions you are hearing and you raised as well should be asked and need to be asked in a senate confirmation hearing. in general, do you think someone needs managerial experience to run the second biggest agency in the government? >> i think it's helpful. there's no question about it. earlier when -- john actually asked the senator a good question. hey, have you ever voted for someone who wasn't perceived as qualified? he said basically yes. so the president has his own prerogative in terms of who he wants to lead his agencies. secretary shulkin i think has done a good job. i've had the chance to meet with him many times and he sat in

many hearings, an appropriations committee over the budget of veterans affairs. i think he's deeply committed to our veterans. i'm pretty certain the rear admiral is deeply committed to our veterans as well. >> why do you think president trump chose dr. ronnie jackson? >> i can't answer that question. the president has his desires and opinions and every person has the right to pick who they want to be there. i will tell usec tear shulkin was in front of us a couple times just recently, maybe a couple weeks ago and he was asked a question numerous times about privatization or if he's been forced or pressured to do so. he said no. i will tell you within the administration and also within the veteran population, veterans are none a monolyth. there are certainly veterans who desire more private care or privatization and there are veterans that want to keep the va as it stands now. me personally, i think it's the duty of government to protect and take care of our veterans afterwards. they have to have the full responsibility.

however, there are circumstance, and in my area we have the fastest growing veteran population in the nation, so there is more need for partnerships to deal with the care that's needed for that veteran population. there should be more private care available to veterans. however, it's the duty to take care and have the responsibility for our veterans. >> you're so interesting to talk to because you were a navy s.e.a.l., you served in the iraq war. was there somebody that you wanted to see head the va? >> i wasn't sure that there was going to be a replacement this quickly. there's been rumors, reports, stuff like that. i don't have a specific person that i'm lobbying for. i care mostly about the fact -- i care mostly about taking care of that veteran population in my area and around the whole country. so i want someone who is deeply committed. secretary shulkin, joust had a clip of him and he talked about this complex organization of the va. it is. there are a lot of moving parts. it's very complicated.

there are a lot of problems obviously. they've been highlighted over the years. one could spend a career fixing the va and all the issues that are there. but i want someone who is a hard charger, who is going to get in and be deeply committed to doing so. i wasn't lobbying for any specific person. >> do you have a sense if dr. ronny jackson is that person? >> i don't know the answer to that question. just like the senator who is going to vote on it, on the confirmation. >> you don't have enough information. >> that's correct. >> let's talk about russia. as you know, president trump expelled the 60 russian diplomats and they, in turn, did a tit for tat and expelled u.s. diplomats from russia. so what should the president do next? >> it depends on what happens next. i think they anticipated russia would respond in kind, if you

will. we have to be careful for tit for tat and not let it'sing late out of control. i think it was important that we stood together with our allies and those other countries to push back on bad behavior from the russians. obviously we've been reporting on that, of course. there have been multiple incidents of bad behavior, if you will. this is just one of them. i think what the president did was the correct thing to do. again, we pretty much anticipated that russia would respond in kind. >> do you think there's more that needs to be done. we've heard from people like senator richard blumenthal from connect cut who says this is just the beginning, he wants to see more be done. some suggested throwing out oligarchs, sanctioning them, seizing money. go you think this is enough for this attack they did in the uk? >> i do. look, we have to be careful. i know the senators and those on the other side who don't support the president, there's a

political interest there. this is a big deal. what the president did is a big deal for standing for our allies and sending those diplomats home. that's not a small thing in international relations. i think we need to be careful about the rhetoric, about escalating this. let's face it. we should push back on russia for bad behavior, but there are things that happen in syria and other places that we have to work with the russians. so they're part of the international community. let's be careful creating international incidents just for political gain. >> congressman scott taylor, always great to get your perspective. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> the part of that interview that jumped out is "john asked a really good question." president trump ramping it up against amazon saying it doesn't pay enough taxes and it's making the postal service lose money. we'll speak to the former senior economic adviser to the trump campaign. that's next.

president trump slammed amazon this week claiming the retail giant doesn't pay enough

taxes. this is what the president wrote. i have stated my concerns with amazon wlong before the election. unlike others they pay little and no taxes to state and local governments, use our postal service as delivery boy and putting many thousands of retailers out of business. does the president have his facts right? joining me to discuss cnn senior commission analyst, stephen moore, former senior economic adviser to the trump campaign. let's talk about the facts. in your mind, going after amazon, is that the right policy for the president? >> amazon does pay a lot of taxes. >> so he's wrong on the facts? >> they pay about $500 million a year in taxes. there's an honest dispute about whether they should be paying more. i actually think this whole issue about whether these online retailers should be paying sales tax in these states. that's i think the issue trump was talking about.

a lot of people feel they're not collecting the local sales taxes that need to be taxed. that's what the president was driving at. no, they do pay a lot of taxes. look, it is true that jeff bezos owns "the washington post." there might be a personal feud here. >> do you think there's a political motivation to this. amazon doesn't own "the washington post," jeff bezos does. do you think politics is part of what's driving this? >> who knows? it's quite possible. i think what's important here is what's the correct policy. i find myself against requiring these online retailers to have to collect the sales tax in these places because if you're an online retailer and you don't have a physical presence in that state, the supreme court has been pretty clear on this, you're not required to collect the taxes there. >> you're cleverly trying to say this in a lot of words here. you think the president is wrong on the policy? >> look, it's an honest dispute.

>> you disagree with him? >> i disagree with the whole premise that we should be taxing these online retailers. a lot of people in the retail sector, you saw toys "r" us went bankrupt a couple weeks ago. there's no question that the brick and mortar retailers are facing a tough time with the competition from the online folks. >> do you think it's appropriate for a president of the united states to target a company like this by name? >> i don't like that. >> why not? >> because when you have the power of the presidency and the executive branch of the government behind you, you shouldn't be bullying companies. >> it's inappropriate what he's doing? >> it's not inappropriate to call out -- i think donald trump honestly believes that amazon should be paying more taxes. there are a lot of democrats that believe that. >> you think he's wrong on that. >> i do. i agree with him 80% of the time but i don't always agree with donald trump. >> you say you agree with him 80% of the time. you disagree with him on international trade policy. >> that's an interesting thing you say. i think the big story this week,

i wish cnn were covering more, is the big victory donald trump has gotten on trade. he's gotten big concessions from korea. china saying we won't steal intellectual property. i see what he's doing is pretty effective. wouldn't you agree? >> we covered it earlier in the week. you know who is talking about backing off that deal with south korea? >> who? >> donald j. trump. >> because he thinks it might not be good enough. >> earlier this week the white house was bragging about this trade deal, not the president. the president had been silent on it. yesterday he goes out to ohio and says we may have to wait. we're going to wait and see depending on what happens. >> the one thing i've learned with donald trump and i think you would agree with this, whether you agree or disagree with his policies. what is his best-selling book? "the art of the deal." this guy has proven to be a pretty darn good negotiator especially when it comes to trade. i think what he's doing is saying, south korea, this isn't good enough, we want to make

sure you buy more of our wheat and cotton and soy beans and blue jeans. >> it might have been doing with north korea and nuclear policy. it may be that he was saying words out loud. we have no idea what he meant because he didn't make clear what the actual policy was. you talk about the idea that amazon pushed out brick and mortar stores here. this is the new economy. >> it is. >> amazon added more jobs last year. amazon may be largely responsible for what trump likes to call the trump boom in the stock market. >> there's a lot of truth to that. >> do you think he understands the nuances of this new economy? >> sure. i think he understands why the economy is growing so well. he wants companies like amazon and our technology companies to grow. as i said, i think there is a real -- look, there are a lot of democrats in congress who agree with donald trump. >> absolutely. keith ellison, there are democrats who agree with him. i'm trying to see what the facts

are here. >> the big story -- yesterday we had great economic news. we had the lowest number who applied for unemployment insurance claims in 25 years. the revision upward of the economic numbers for the fourth quarter, just short of 3% growth. this economy is doing really well. >> it is. they also sold $300 billion in debt, the highest figures since the great recession. >> that's the big issue for trump. can he start to bring that debt number down? i agree with you on that, too, john. that's a problem. >> stephen moore, we agree on a lot. appreciate it. bright blue water flowing from the faucets. what led one kentucky community into a serious water crisis just ahead. at booking.com we can't guarantee you'll find gold

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details of the autopsy on stefan clark, the unarmed man shot by sacramento police are expected today as the protests continue. cnn's nick watt is live with the latest.

what's happening, nick? >> reporter: this independent autopsy, the results released in a few hours. so far we know officers fired 20 shots. we may find out this morning how many of those shogts hit stephon clark and where they hit stephon clark. those results could, of course, inflame the protests we have seen here since clark was killed. he was also laid to rest yesterday. that was an extremely emotional ceremony. his brother was hugging the casket. the reverend al sharpton flew across the country to be there, he said to support the family. but he also made some political points. if you remember, sarah sanders said from the white house that this was, quote, a local matter. sharpton said this is definitely not a local matter. he said that brother could have been any one of us. as i say, we're on the lookout for perhaps more protests today depending on the results of those autopsies.

john, back to you. >> nick watt of sacramento. clean water for cooking, drinking or brushing our teeth, most of us take it for granted. martin county, kentucky, dr. sanjay gupta has more. >> reporter: the hills of appalachia are part of america's legacy, the people here in martin county, kentucky, proudly self-sufficient. it's hard to take care of yourself when you don't have the most basic of necessities. >> we have blue water here. >> reporter: it's left hope workman with no other choice. twice a week, hope and her daughter drive up this dirt path on the side of a mountain. >> this is what we go through to get water. >> reporter: 20 years ago she placed this 3 1/2 foot long pipe into this hillside to tap a spring just to collect clean

drinking water because obviously no one drinks the water here. >> do you drink it? >> oh, no. there's no way that i drink it. >> reporter: gary ball is the editor and chief of the local weekly paper, the mountain citizen. water has been a front page story for most of his career. what's going on here, the citizens, the people who live here and deal with this every day, where do they put this on their list of concerns? >> in 2018 in the very place where lbj declared the war on poverty 54 years ago, water is our number one issue. >> reporter: you declare a war on poverty. 54 years later you come back and can't reliably get clean water. what progress have we made? >> it's like a third world country here as far as water. we've let our water sis stem delap date to the form of collapse. >> you went how long without

water? >> ten days. >> hope has collected rain water for even the most basic needs. >> to wash your clothes, to get water to bathe in, this is what you have to do? >> yes. i've done this in 17 dee weather and weave had to take a chainsaw and drill through the ice. >> you use the chainsaw to get to the water and syphoned the water with your mouth. >> yes, that's what it's come to. >> reporter: the american society of civil engineers gives the united states drinking water infrastructure a grade of a d. how does the water get so contaminated here in martin county? it's worth looking at how we get our water. here it comes from the tug fork river where it's then pumped into the krum reservoir. from there it makes its way into the water treatment center. after getting treated about 2 million gallons of fairly clean

water leaves this treatment facility through a cascade of pipes traveling all over the county. the problem is those pipes are also old and cracked. more than 50% of the water leaks out before it gets to the people who need it. even worse is what's getting into those pipes and into the water. we reviewed the most recent epa data. and the martin county water district has violated federal drinking water standards every quarter between october 2014 and september 2017. in fact, until just a few months ago, the district's nearly 10,000 customers received notices that their water exceeded federal limits for potentially cancer causing chemicals. >> doc, i got this thing, what am i supposed to do? am i going to get cancer? >> it's a very difficult question. i can't tell them that it's safe or it isn't safe. >> dr. lafferty is the quintessential small town doc. he's pretty sure that almost every person in this county has

come to see him at some point. >> we shouldn't be asking in 2018 whether or not the water is causing cancer in our region. we should be at a point in 2018 in the richest country in the earth that we have clean water. it shouldn't be a question. >> reporter: eastern kentucky has some of the highest cancer rates in the country. there's plenty of blame, smoking, obesity. one thing that stands out to many who live there, the water. >> is it the rain water that you're getting is better than what's coming out of your faucet? >> yeah. >> reporter: on this day, hope is filling up three additional pots of water from her pool. >> it's not easy, but it beats not being able to flush the toilet or take a bath. i hope you see this, mr. trump because i don't know who else to talk to about it. >> reporter: president trump released a $1.5 trillion plan for infrastructure across the country. experts estimate $1 trillion is needed to meet our drinking water demands for the next 25

years. >> central apalacha is being left behind. central apalacha certainly voted for president trump, but we seem to take a wait-and-see attitude, time will tell. >> is water a basic human right? >> i believe so. i believe so. >> reporter: that's not happening here. >> that's not happening here. >> reporter: alisyn and john, i can tell you this is not a unique situation. there are about 150,000 water systems in the country, but it is the small ones like martin county that accounted for 72% of the total epa violations. these are often small water systems, often rural and often ignored. alisyn, john? >> oh, my gosh. that was so eye opening. >> water is life. water is life and these are people who need help desperately and have been left behind again and again and again. >> just seeing how they live and the trouble that they have to go through to take a shower, to flush the toilet, to drink

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ai ready. secure to the core. the ibm cloud is the cloud for smarter business. we have breaking news. a u.s. official says preliminary reports show at least one of the two people killed in syria yesterday is a u.s. service member. at least five others were wounded in this road side bombing. their identities and nationalities have not been released. this comes as president trump contradicts his top military officials telling the crowd in ohio that u.s. troops will withdraw from syria soon. a defense official tells cnn that now is not the time to withdraw. the state department also says they were unaware of any plan to withdraw u.s. forces. >> an important discussion. a twist in the high stakes media merger trial. one of the justice department's own witnesses may have helped the other side. the government is suing to block at&t's proposed merger with time

warner, cnn's parent company. cnn politics media and business reporter hadas gold joins us. this witness seemed to undermine maybe the key point the government is trying to make. >> that's exactly right. one of the government's main arguments against this merger is we would give at&t unfair leverage when it came to content such as hbo, cnn, tnt and tbs. they're saying they could raise prices, even do blackouts or something like that. yesterday when the government called a comcast executive to the stand, it was surprising that on cross examination he pretty much undercut that argument. comcast is a big rival for att. he said on the stand, i don't know how they're going to operate the company but i have no reason to believe it would impact my negotiations with time warner or hbo. that was really surprising for a lot of us in the courtroom. that is a clear negation of what the government is arguing in

this case right now. >> hadas, i don't suppose there's any way at this early date to tell which wide is getting the upper hand with the judge yet? >> it's really hard to tell. but it was interesting yesterday. there was another witness, an m.i.t. professor who did a survey that was commissioned by the justice department to look at how many cable subscribers would drop their packages if they lost access to turner channels like cnn or tnt. the judge asked him some questions about the survey that was conducted online. he said how do you know they're telling the truth? what if they have questions during the middle of the survey? they can't call you up in the middle of it and ask you. that doesn't necessarily tell you everything. you have to keep in mind there's no jury in this trial. it's just the judge who gets to decide it. any question that he asks gives a little clue into what he's thinking. >> he's very active in this case as it goes on day by day. hadas, who is the next big

witness that you're watching? >> there's actually another turner executive coming up. this is a turner executive coleman breeland who used to be in charge of content acquisition for turner n. the future, what we're paying attention to is when the big ceos, randall stephenson, the ceo of at&t or jeff buick cass of time warner will be coming up. those are the big days we're looking forward to. >> hadas gold, thank you very much for being with us. >> more than 40% of kids and teens sent to juvenile detention in texas once will be back within a year. a dallas chef opened a cafe with a built-in training program to make sure they get the opportunity to serve meals instead of serving more time. cnn hero chad houser describes his a-ha moment. >> i remember consciously thinking the system is rigged. based on choices that were made for him, not by him, the color of his skin, the part of town that he was born into, the

schools that he had access to, and i just thought it's not fair. he deserves every chance that i had. if you're not willing to do something yourself, you're being a hypocrite. either put up or shut up. that was it for me. >> for more on the story go to cnnheroes.com. if you know someone who deserves to be a cnn hero, nominate them. late night not tight lipped, the relentless bash of the stash. do you get that one? >> i get that one, too. does this map show the peninsula trail? you won't find that on a map. i'll take you there.

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. president trump's pick for his next national security adviser is getting a lot of attention. it's all about that sweet stache that john bolton is rocking. >> cnn's jeanne moos explains. >> reporter: the man president trump wants as his national security adviser must be pretty secure to step on the world stage knowing the first thing people will meet is his mustache. >> this is john bolton, by the

way. mustaches don't always tell you everything you know about a person, but this one does. >> reporter: must be resigned to being portrayed heading to the white house for his first briefing as yosemite sam. he's not just depicted as a loose cannon, but one with a mustache. already the president's hair has been affixed to bolton's upper lip. >> if he looks familiar to you, it may be because he's been on the captain crunch box for 40 years. >> reporter: one of president trump's issues with him insnishlly. >> huss miss tash. >> reporter: steve bannon is quoted as saying bolton's mustache is a problem. trump doesn't think he looks the part. more than a year later the president got over it and comedians can't get enough of it. >> ambassador bolton -- >> when dana car i have joined colbert, he gave his mustache a name. >> who is general snowball? >> that's the name of my

mustache. >> reporter: car i have kept making weird noises and his mustache kept growing. >> easy, fellow. no, boy, stephen friend, stephen small little feminine man. >> reporter: car i have called his mustache -- don't expect bolton to capitulate. back in 2016 he tweeted, i appreciate the grooming advice from the totally unbiased mainstream media but i will not be shaving my mustache. of course, that was before he was portrayed bread feeding a puppy. that's enough to make your facial hair stand on end. >> come on nussle up sugar buns, here we go. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> by the way, john bolton's mustache could not be reached for comment. >> what was that at the end? that took a very deviant turn. >> i can see the connection

between mustaches and breast-feeding puppies. >> i think he's going to bring back the stache. he already has a hashtag. i don't mean the stache with the goatee like the hipsters, i mean the full-on -- i don't know what style stache that is to call it, but i think that will -- >> it is interesting that tom selleck is being brought in as a possible replacement of jeff sessions because as a p.i. he has experience and the mustache. it's all about the stache. >> oh, my gosh. hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend. happy easter to everyone. >> i wore an easter basket. >> you look fantastic. >> happy passover to everyone as well. time for "newsroom." anna cabrera is with us. >> i'm ana cabrera. happy friday. the big question this morning, collusion or no collusion.

brand new details in the special counsel's russia investigation show just how robert mueller and his team are using information from former trump campaign deputy rick gates and how gates could help tie the campaign to the russian intelligence agency. cnn's shimon prokupecz has been following every development and is joining us to explain the connection. shimon, why is it significant that rick gates is now cooperating with mueller's team about this part of the investigation. >> reporter: you're right. it certainly is a significant development here. one of the things that makes it so significant is all along we have thought that he perhaps was cooperating and helping in the man fort investigation, but we've now learned based on our reporting that this really doesn't have anything -- his cooperation doesn't have anything to do with man fort, and it more has to do with the central mission of the special counsel investigation into russia collusion and russian interference. we know at least on court