disaster, to now. that's what is being looked at now. >> a watered down version. >> fascinating case. that's it for us on "inside politics" today. see you back here this time tomorrow. "wolf" starts right now. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 7:00 p.m. in paris. 9:30 p.m. in tehran, where we're watching from around the world. thank you very much for joining us. up first, they called him the candy man. we're learning new details about the allegations against president trump's nominee for veterans affairs secretary, rear admiral ronny jackson is vowing to fight, but his nomination is in limbo, as lawmakers investigate accusations of misconduct. among them, that he handed out prescription sleep medications like candy during overseas flights. decides allegations of mishandling prescription drugs, he's accused of being described as a toxic work environment and

excessive drinking, as well. four sources describe an incident during an overseas trip in 2015. they say jackson was intoxicated and banging on the door of a female employee, the ranking member of the veterans senate committee spoke to cnn about that accusation, and others. >> it's one of the allegations that are out there. there are many. and i think it goes to the point that, you know, as a member of the senate, our job is to vet and confirm. we need to do our job and get to the bottom of these accusations to find out if they're true. and so they're very serious accusations, whether it's prescription drug handing it out like it was candy or intoxication or toxic work environment. there's over 20 people that have come forward, active and retired military people, who actually put their jobs on the line if their name becomes public. and so we've got to take it seriously. and we have to get to the bottom of it. that's what is going to happen over the next few weeks.

>> sources say some in the white house think admiral jackson is being railroaded and the president has you remembered him to stay and fight. earlier today, the white house press secretary sarah sanders defended jackson's qualifications, while ledge lay tich affairs mark schwartz called the candy man label a low blow. >> it was unfair to drop that label. i think there have been multiple -- every year, they come in and they deal with a review of the white house physician's office on things like prescriptions, and every year they said he was in compliance. >> there's probably not a person around that has managed a department of over 300,000, and certainly he's a very highly qualified, highly respected person in the military and in the medical community. >> joining us now, cnn white house reporter sarah westwood,

correspondent pamela brown, david gregory and dana bash. you have been doing a lot of reporting on this vetting process, that was perhaps under way. what have you learned, what went wrong? >> president trump's push to nominate jackson and his refusal to seriously consider any other nominees for this position is sort of why the white house is in this mess to begin with. sources say that potentially they were discouraged from amying as much scrutiny to his political suitability for the job as they might have otherwise if there were other names in the mix. we're hearing a sense that because jackson had worked in such close proximity to presidents across multiple administration he had been vetted, that he was a known quantity. so i think they maybe underestimated the damage that some of these allegations, which say they jackson was forthcoming could do, and they overestimated the amount of cover that senate republicans would provide. >> sarah is right, dr. jackson

apparently warned white house officials there could be some allegations that would emerge. apparently they weren't thoroughly discussed or assessed what the impact would be. >> what we're hearing is this lack of foresight and due diligence in talking to all of these people who worked with dr. jackson. current service members, past service members, to learn about this and get ahead of it by going to congress members over the weekend or even prior to that to say hey, these allegations are out there. we don't believe them to be true, because what it sounds like is happening from republicans on capitol hill speaking to my colleague phil mattingly, is that they were surprised to learn about these allegations. they reached out to the white house for answers, and they said that the white house has not been giving them the satisfactory answers or even, you know, leaving the open question whether the white house knew about some of these allegations. we are told that dr. jackson was forthcoming about some of these allegations that could be out there, that there were some

disgruntled past employees that could be saying things about him. but in terms of excess sich dri -- excessive drinking on the job, that caught the white house off guard, and caught flat footed, which is why you're seeing this late reaction with the talking points set out. it raises the question, why wasn't that done earlier. >> how much did the president know about potential problems? >> that's part of where the communication breakdown happened. because president trump was so forceful that jackson was always going to be the nominee, we know that the allegations were discussed in the meeting yesterday with president trump and jackson. but president trump is standing behind jackson as long as he wants to keep fighting. the question is really whether senate republicans will stay on board. >> i think also to make clear, just from talking to sources within the white house, the allegations they knew about including in the reports that

were released last night in 2012-'13, they knew about that prior to the nomination, select white house officials did. they did not view them as earth shattering, they didn't think it was going to be that politically damaging. so it was sort of -- they didn't calculate how widespread it could get beyond what they knew about. >> we're getting mixed signals from the president of the united states. yesterday, he said i wouldn't blame him for wanting to walk away. this is something he doesn't deserve. he seemed to be suggesting, you know what? end it. but later in the day, the president is fully on board. >> yeah, he gave him a wide opening to walk through and say, you know what? i'm out. i'm not doing this anymore. and they obviously had a conversation in the oval office that you're reporting on, pamela, and the outcome of that was that he's not leaving, you know, whether it's pride, ego, whether it's just sort of sticking it to congress, we don't know. but at the end of the day, this is going to be ronny jackson's

reputation that is going to continue to get sullied. i will say, and david and i were talking about this, because we covered the white house together, the bush white house. the notion of calling him the candy man because he was, as the white house doctor, handing out ambien and another drug to help people wake up, to people that covered the white house and sources that worked in the white house, under him as the white house doctor and others, because it's actually done a lot, that the white house doctor will hand out ambien on a foreign trip to help people sleep, and another drug perhap it is they wanted to help wake up. it is documented, but it is done not just by ronny jackson, but by other doctors. so it's not as if he was just willy-nilly handing out prescription drugs. unless we have information from a whistleblower who is not disgruntled that says something different. >> i spent seven years as a white house correspondent for

cnn during the bill clinton administration. i was on air force one a lot. and there were secret service agents, reporters, staff, couldn't sleep, a long flight from andrews air force base outside of washington to bosnia, and they would go to the nurse or the physician, the doctor on board, can you help? and he would put out some ambien. but it happened, they were giving out these kinds of sleep medications for a lot of people. >> right. people just need to understand, particularly if you're going to asia where you're upside down in the earth, and the white house is going to work and those of us covering them are working on kind of both ends of the clock, so it can be helpful. white house physicians, i wasn't around with dr. jackson, but they are very helpful to the president and staff alike. if you're stick, they play a very, very big role. i'm uncomfortable with that. and i'm also uncomfortable -- i

agree with the white house folks on this, for senator tester to drop that like he's handing out narcotics, and he's the candy man, i would really hold back and reserve judgment. for a senate tore do that was getting too far ahead of himself. clearly there are critics coming out, in part because he doesn't have the experience to run a huge agency like this. the president said how important the v.a. is. highly qualified people have turned down this job at the v.a. in prior years because it was such a difficult problem to fix. so that's fair scrutiny, and maybe some of these other charges are related to that. the president is not a normal president, as we know. so he gave them this opening to walk out. but i also think, we all talk about it, the president, in some ways, relishes the fight. let's have a fight about him being railroaded, because his supporters will say yeah, exactly. they're not concentrating whether he was vetted properly, only whether he was being unfairly treated now. >> i just want to point out,

pamela, that he was the white house physician, not just during the trump administration, but during the obama and bush administrations. and president obama wrote this about dr. ronny jackson, he does a great job, general enthusiasm. >> and you're hearing from other obama officials, as well. like david axelrod, who were coming to his defense. so i think what happened, just behind the scenes from our reporting, in the change of tune yesterday with the president first coming out, giving him an out, essentially, not coming to his swift defense, to then the white house coming out full fledged defending them. they reached this conclusion this is a sabotage campaign. they were initially caught off guard by these allegations of excessive drinking and so for the. as they continued to learn about it, white house officials started to believe this is a

sabotage campaign. he's doing nothing wrong. he's still our guy. that is why you saw the change in the tune last night with the fiercely coming out -- >> the much more serious allegation is that he was drunk, supposedly, knocking on the door of a female employee, the secret service had to intervene. that's a serious allegation. >> no question. that is a serious allegation. we'll see what the details of it. maybe we won't. maybe we won't even get that far in terms of his nomination. i think you made a really important point, pamela. there is no question that something is happening, that 20 people go to the veterans affair committee to give this information. now, it very well could be that people who work for him or around him or know about his actions are so distraught that they are willing to come forward as jon tester, the lead democrat in my committee said. but there is no way these allegations or questions would have legs or would have a different kind of import if at its core, ronny jackson was

frankly more qualified for this job, which david said is a very, very hard job. he by most accounts is a terrific physician, had good experience, a lot with the people he worked for, maybe than the people who worked for him. but that's a completely different skillset than running the v.a. i think that is the core of the issue. >> up to this point, that was the focus, getting him prepared for the lack of experience questions, what his policy views will be, not all these allegations. >> all right, stick around. a lot more news we're following, including breaking news at the u.s. supreme court, where the legality of the president's travel ban is being argued. that's new audio just coming in involving those argument that is were just made before the justices. you're going to hear for yourself what was said. plus, the art of the new deal. the french president macron pitches president trump and congress on a new pact surrounding iran's nuclear ambitions. as the u.s. justice department

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a new deal on iran. that's the proposal being pushed by the french president emmanuel macron. he discussed it with president trump during a series of meetings and brought it up once again in front of a joint meeting of the u.s. congress earlier today. saying he intends to stick with the original iran nuclear deal, but also wants to add to it. listen. >> there is an existing framework to control the nuclear activity of iran. we signed it. at the initiative of the united states. we signed it, both the united states and france. that is why we cannot say we should get rid of it. it is true to say that this

agreement may not address all concerns. this is true. but we should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead. >> let's bring back dana bash and david gregory. among the items that macron is recommending be adding to this existing iran nuclear deal, iran's ballistic missile needs to be curtailed. the volatile influence of iran in the region, in yemen, lebanon, iraq, syria. president trump seemed receptive to some of these ideas. but he's got to make a decision by may 12th, david, whether or not to rip up the iran nuclear deal or build on it. >> and there's a lot of pressure from trump's base to stick to his guns and rip it up and start working with the europeans. lord knows there's plenty of his supporters who don't want to see that prospect. but it's interesting, macron, who has been very astute in

courting president trump, is addressing trump's concerns, which are fair concerns, about the missile program, about the use of billions of dollars that they got in freeing up sanctions and they got in cash payments to wreak havoc throughout the region, which iran does. so i think the president sees twofold interest here. one, can he drive a process to get a better deal? i think the president likes being on the world stage, being a leader on the world stage, being influenced by and courted by a major european power, as is macron is doing with him. it reminds me a little of the influence tony blair had on xwb george bu -- george w. bush in that administration. i think president trump is really focussed on north korea and not iran. you can't tear up a deal on nuclear weapons with iran and think you're going the get a good deal with north korea. i think he has his eye on north korea thinking i can get an unprecedented deal. the north koreans are watching

is the point. snoz questi >> no question, that's what i was thinking. world leaders are watching, his aides are, as well. if you're on the cusp of making a potential deal with the most sort of rogue regime on the planet, how do you expect them to trust you or the united states if they see that the successor of the president who was involved in one deal just rips it all up? it just doesn't make any sense. and if somebody is as skilled a negotiator as president trump says he has always been, he'll understand that. i do think that in terms of the added issues that the french president talked about, things about ballistic missiles and about aiding and abetting terrorists, those are all things that a lot of -- there's bipartisan support for that, and certainly support along allies. the question is whether you do that separately, or whether you then, in addition to that, rip

up the deal? ripping up the deal simply does not have support among allies. >> president macron seemed to be talking to president trump when he was addressing congress, saying, you know what? you've got to have an international policy. you can't retreat to isolationism and nationalism. listen to this. >> let me say we have two possible ways ahead. we can choose isolationism, withdrawal, and nationalism. this is an option. it can be temperaturing to us t closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. it will not douse, but inflame. we have to keep our eyes wide open to the new risks right in front of us.

>> go ahead. >> i think president trump is particularly thin skinned, and insecure. and he wants and likes to be thought of as legitimate on the world stage, especially since he has no experience in politics or in leadership in this kind of way. and so yeah, you can say macron is playing him very well. but i want to be less cynical and if we look at history, we know that presidents grow in their jobs. and it is totally appropriate that any new president comes in, learns more, gets exposure to other leaders, gets a grasp of what the problems are and the challenges in the world, how much more complex it is to govern than it is to campaign, and that they embrace that. we're in the middle of that with macron, who is a different french leader, angela merkel, who will be a tougher relationship to improve upon for president trump. but he has this opportunity now to learn from them and work together. i think that's going appeal to

trump. >> we'll see what happens on may 12th when the president has to decide to rip up or to keep the iran nuclear deal. we'll be anxious to see what he decides. thank you very much. we're following breaking news of the president's travel ban as opponents and supporters argue the legality of it before the u.s. supreme court. there's new audio of those arguments just coming in. we'll have that. not stepping back. why isn't jeff sessions recusing himself from the criminal kroeb into the president's personal attorney and fixer michael cohen? i'll ask a key member of the house intelligence committee. afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual, you could save $782 on auto and home insurance. and still get great coverage for you and your family. call for a free quote today. you could save $782 when liberty stands with you.

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acted to protect the country's national security and does not discriminate on the basis of nationality or religion. opponents say it represents executive overreach, citing tweets and campaign promises from banning muslims from the united states. our correspondent was inside the court when the oral arguments were presented. jessica, what struck you most? >> reporter: just how much these justices are wrestling with how much weight to put on the president's statements during the campaign, when he did say that he wanted to institute an anti-muslim ban, and also what weight to put on that rhetoric he retweeted as recently as november. but their questioning did break down along idealogical lines. justice kennedy emerged as the likely swing vote here. he asked what the court should make of campaign rhetoric by any campaign when it comes to subsequent policy that is

implemented, like in this case with this travel ban, the third version of it. but he noted that the president has the pow toer to protect the country and this is not imposed for an indefinite time period. then there was justice sotomayor, justice kagan. they took issue with the president's campaign rhetoric. justice kagan pitched a lengthy hypothetical asking what if a future president was an antisemite and issued a ban on all people from israel? she was concerned about that possibility. she followed that up with her skepticism about the president's true intentions with this travel ban. take a listen. >> this is an out of the box kind of president, in my hypothetical. >> we don't have those, your honor. >> and he thinks that there are good, diplomatic reasons. and there might be, who knows what the future holds? who knows what his heart of

hearts is? i take that point. but the question is, not really what his heart of hearts is, the question is, what are reasonable observers to think? >> right. >> given this context, in which this hypothetical president is making antisemitic comments. >> reporter: so a very long line of questioning there from justice kagan. what's interesting is the attorney for the challengers, he indicated that this case might have never even got thn car to the supreme court if president trump had disavowed his campaign statement, something he said the president they have did. of course, the solicitor general shot back that the president has made crystal clear as recently as september that this wasn't a muslim ban. so wolf, now of course, this is in the justice's hands. this travel ban, it continues to be in effect while they weigh these arguments. we're expecting a decision and opinion perhaps by the end of june here. >> we've got some hims from these justices. but you can't tell how they're going to decide when all is said

and done based on the questions. sometimes they play devil's advocate. jessica, thank you very much for that. former justice and national security prosecutor joseph marino is joining us, with anna navaro. how will the president's comments during the campaign and tweets affect this case? we all remember what he used to say. >> wolf, that's the wild card here. if this were a traditional case, most likely you would see the conservative justices give large deference to the president on national security grounds. but these texts, the tweets, the comments on the campaign trail are really a factor here. it's interesting to see if any of the conservative justices will be convinced that these comments the president made meant that the policy was implemented in bad faith. if that's the case, that could corrode support for it.

so most likely we're not going to get a unanimous decision here. you're going to have partisan lines. if the liberal side can peel one conservative justice to their thinking, that could be a real debtment to this policy. >> there are five justices, ana, two were appointed, named by republican presidents, four named by democratic presidents. how do you think the makeup of the court will impact the case? as you know, justice kennedy is very often that swing vote. >> it's fun y because i think it goes back to what we saw in the campaign. i have so many republican and conservative friends who didn't like donald trump but told me the only reason they were holding their nose and voting for him was because of the supreme court, because that was going to be decisions made there, that affected our lives for decades to come. we are seeing that now play out. donald trump has not had many legislative victories, but he did give neil gorsuch on the court, giving him the majority. what we are seeing the justices

wrestle with, when to take this president literally and when to take him figuratively is something that in the media we wrestle with, it's something that americans wrestle with. we don't know when it is a serious presidential statement or when it is the former host of "the apprentice" who can't keep his twitter finger at bay, and who can't help but make some of these outrageous comments. >> you know, joseph, at one point, the chief justice john roberts stressed the president's national security concerns in this area. but in a number of friend of the court briefs, former national security experts argued that the travel ban not only violates american law, but also has harmed national security. could that influence the court's final decision? >> wolf, it could. the president has the right to make policy, even bad policy. of course, others have the right

to disagree with him. what the court will weigh in on whether the policy is effective or ineffective, and possibly even bring us a big step back, that's possible. but i think to ana's point, it's going to be, what was the intent behind the policy, and was this simply a suber tterfuge for enag a ban on muslims? president trump made that comment a number of times, and on the campaign, he made the campaign how he would tweak his rhetoric to make this sound more legal. so the justices, i think, very well can zig into that and say was the genesis of this rotten to the core? and if so, will they allow it to continue. >> ana, a federal judge ruled yesterday that protections for young immigrants known as dreamers must stay in place and the government must resume accepting new applications at the same time. what is your reaction to this and how do you think congress will go forward on this critically important issue?

>> look, i've given up on congress. this is an issue which has over 85% approval rating amongst americans. and yet this congress cannot get anything done. i have now heard the two past republican speakers, john boehner and now paul ryan, make promises on the dream act, say they would get it past. i heard paul ryan say that to a dreamer on our network, and nothing has been done. we are getting closer and closer to an election. if you are a supporter of the dreamers, as i am, thank god that there's an independent branch of government still in this country, which is the jew judicial. they say they want to see a solution for the dream act, but cannot get its act together. the white house has changed its position i don't know how many times in the last six, seven months. so what we see is a complete disaster on the political front.

and it seems it's the judiciary doing the right thing here. i'm grateful they get another reprieve, but i think it's dereliction of duty by congress and the white house this continues to happen and these kids continue to live in limbo. >> guys, thank you very much for joining us. there is other news we're following, including the allegations of excessive drinking and mishandling prescription drugs swirling around the president's pick to lead the veterans affairs administration. but the white house is standing by dr. ronny jackson. and just days after the justice department announces an investigation into james comey and his leaked memos, we're learning new details about his high profile lawyer. stand by for that.

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a possible future member of the trump cabinet dr. ronny jackson is under fire. president trump's pick for the veterans affairs secretary is facing serious questions about alleged personal and unprofessional behavior. the president has encouraged jackson to fight for his confirmation. joining us from capitol hill is congressman mike quigley. lots to get through, but let me start with dr. jackson. he says he's not dropping out, even though the deck seems stacked against him. by numbers from both sides of the aisle. what would your advice be, fight or drop out? >> i think my advice would be to the president of the united states. why add to the problem? 19 people left the administration already. others are under fire. you're supposed to be draining the swamp. but adding dr. ronny jackson to this mix seems to be adding

water to the swamp, instead of trying to solve the problem. >> so you want him to drop out, and find someone else many >> i think the president doesn't have any choice at this point. it just seems the utmost in stubbornness, recognizing there are calls to have mr. pruitt resign, and there are other investigations. here's what is frustrating. just last week, mr. mulvaney, under my questioning, said that he wouldn't tolerate the activities of mr. pruitt, and the expenditures and activities and his administration. and that he was going to do that investigation. and then we read last night that even for mr. mulvaney, policy appears to be for sale at the white house. >> i want to get to some other issues. the president has repeatedly called the former fbi director james comey a leaker and a liar, and now the justice department is actually taking a new look into the case. we know that one of comey's attorneys is patrick fitzgerald, former u.s. attorney, a special

counsel in the scooter libby case. what does this tell us about the state of the investigation right now and about patrick fitzgerald joining comey's legal team? >> mr. fitzgerald is from illinois, a well respected attorney and someone who i am sure will do a good job. i think what it tells us in the larger picture is this, the administration, including those involved on the republican side of the house intelligence committee, continue to find other issues to investigate. in the meantime, they have dropped on the house side, the investigation of the russian interference to the democratic process. so they're no hong longer investigating what russia did, but investigating their own government. it's the priorities that are mixed up. >> the attorney general jeff sessions recused himself from the russia investigation. but has not, at least not yet, stepped away from the criminal investigation in new york, the u.s. attorney in new york into

president trump's long-time personal attorney and close friend the so-called fixer michael cohen. should he recuse himself? should sessions recuse himself from that investigation? >> he promised he would. he said during the confirmation he would recuse himself. when questioned as to investigations that might be in the periphery, he said he would stay out of those, as well. he's simply not doing that, and that makes this task far more difficult. >> you were there in the u.s. congress when the french president emmanuel macron spoke to this joint meeting of the house and senate. you're a supporter of the current iran nuclear deal. what did you think of president macron's new plan for expanding that nuclear deal? >> look, i think the deal could always be improved. i think the problem would be, if the trump administration decided to pull out of it entirely. i don't think the rest of the world would follow, and iran would be free to do whatever they wanted. i don't think our allies would follow us.

if our allies work with us, and iran, to commit to a better deal, all is the better. >> do you think iran's ready to accept a new deal? let's say the allies join the original nuclear deal included france, britain and germany, but also russia and china. >> i don't see all of them agreeing to a new deal. i think the deal is working. it is far from perfect. i would love to see it improve. i can't imagine it taking place under the circumstances. >> thanks for joining us, congressman. >> thank you. an important note to our viewers. it's your turn to ask james comey the questions. anderson cooper moderates a live town lhall later tonight on cnn. up next, he rarely speaks, but cnn caught up with jared kushner's father to talk about the deal that tainted his son's business reputation, and why he's taking the blame. and remember, we're also

standing by for a white house press briefing. there you see live pictures coming in from the west wing of the white house. sarah sanders getting ready to answer reporter's questions. stand by for that. so we swapped your car out for the all-new chevy traverse. yes. do you think it's going to surprise your daughter? absolutely. wait, is mom here yet? where's mom? she's in this car. what the heck? whoa. yo, whose car is this? this is the all-new chevy traverse. this is beautiful. it has apple carplay compatibility. do those apps look familiar? ohhhhh. do you want to hit this button? there's a hidden compartment. uhh, whoa. mom, when i'm older can you buy me this car? i wanna buy me this car.

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it's the deal that tarnished his business reputation that but jared kushner's face on a bad deal. now jared's father is making a confession about the manhattan sky scraper at 666 5th avenue in manhattan. cristina alesci tells us how his

father is shouldering the blame. >> reporter: in the last year alone, plans for an $800 million residential project in new jersey was stalled and another in new york to rezone 140,000 square foot lot scuttled by local politicians. kushner, calling them, quote, trump haters. >> kushner faces some very real challenges that another investor here in new york would not face. >> charles kushner, who declined an on-camera interview, tells cnn that's discrimination. that's like me telling you i'm not giving you a loan because you're a woman or because you're jewish. despite these challenges, he says the company is still securing funding, including $1.5 billion in fresh capital this

year. but it was the family's own missteps when scouring the globe looking for capital that drew unwanted attention to its crown jewel that is now a financial and political albatross, 666 5th avenue, a 41-story tower that the kushners bought for $1.8 billion just before the financial crisis. jared and his father were finalizing a deal to redevelop 666 in 2016, during the campaign, igniting allegations impropriety. >> reporter: it would give the appearance of some kind of potential quid pro quo with the administration. >> reporter: then charles held at least one meeting with the qatari finance minister in 2017

while jared was already in the white house. charles tells cnn he accepted the invitation out of respect to tell the qataris there was no day they could do business, admitting now that taking the meeting was stupid. the kushner patriarch now concedes the original deal for 666 was both bad timing and judgment on his part. charles says if the blame is to fall on anyone's shoulders, it's his, saying i pushed jared to do the deal. >> the fate of 666 5th avenue looms large over the kushner brand and reputation. >> reporter: although jared sold his stake in the new york sky scraper along with other projects to a family trust, real estate experts say his proximity to the president alone gives investors pause. charles telling cnn he's poised to seal a deal on 666 any day now but declining to provide additional details.

>> and cristina, kushner's companies clearly having some problems with major real estate deal also, but this one across the river in new jersey. what can you tell us about that? >> that's right, wolf. plans for a 66-story tower, residence tower, in jersey city now at risk for falling apart, wolf. it's a very high-profile deal from kushner companies. now kushner companies, charles kushner telling me it's a discrimination, it's a political attack on his family and his business. the mayor shooting back saying no way. if there's opposition here it's because kushner companies has missed deadlines and there's been delays in construction but clearly this is another example of kushner companies facing some very serious headwinds since jared left and took a high-profile senior adviser job

with the administration at the white house. wolf, the biggest challenge for the company really lies ahead. they have to refinance at least $1.2 billion for 666 and it is a definitely a mark on the family's legacy if they can't pull that deal off and we'll be watching very closely to see how they do it. wolf? >> we certainly will. and what did he say about his son's decision to come to washington, leave new york with his wife and family, ivanka and take a job in the white house? >> well, it was a very emotional part of the discussion with me, wolf. and he said he speaks to his son every day and he also very -- he very honestly said that he had a frank discussion with his son before taking the job and he declined to say whether or not he advised jared to take the job but that jared was so excited, thought he could make such a

positive impact that charles, his father, ended up giving him his blessing in the end. wolf? >> cristina, thanks very much. good reporting as usual. any minute the nominee for the veterans affairs department finds himself in controversy. stand by for that.

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all right. you are watching cnn on this wednesday afternoon. i'm brooke baldwin. we have break being news off the top on those fbi raids of the president's personal attorney and long-time fixer, michael cohen. a judge had given all parties today to submit letters describing how they intend to review all the evidence that they seized in his hotel room and office to see if it violates