messy commute tonight and a little bit of snow for boston, but other than that, the snow is winding down. every day gets warmer and every snowstorm gets smaller, we hope. >> that is the happiest thing i've heard you say in quite some time, chad. every day it's a little less bad. we're heading toward spring sunday. good to see you. thanks for joining me, everybody. "inside politics" with john king starts right now. ♪ ♪ thank you, kate. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. president trump lashing out at new reporting detailing how he tried to the interfere in the investigation involving his longtime fixer michael cohen. it's a fascinating twist. did the president try to obstruct one investigation despite knowing he's already being investigated for possibly obstructing another? plus the trump administration cancels a giant grant for california's high-speed rail project. the democratic governor says it's retaliation because his state is among those suing to

challenge the border emergency declaration and bernie sanders makes an immediate splash in the 2020 race. a giant first day fund-raising hall. now a twitter battle with the president. a bigger campaign challenge? defending his self-styled label as a democratic socialist. >> what do you think is the perfect motto for him to run on? venezuela or cuba? >> i think fdr is the best model. >> they called fdr a socialist for creating social security and they called lyndon b. johnson a socialist for medicare. we want to empower people and not empower wall street. >> we'll begin right there with presidential politics with new and clear evidence bernie sanders is not a one-shot wonder. vermont senator is at a tweet war with president trump today and hoping it only adds to his very rich opening act of the 2020 campaign. by rich we mean nearly $6 million. that's the eye-popping number the sanders campaign says it

raised in the 24 hours after sanders officially launched his 2020 run yesterday morning. that's a take that will get the attention of the rival democratic campaign. sanders is on the president's radar for a different reason. trump re-election strategy is anchored on painting all of the democrats as too liberal, socialist is the president's preferred term and sanders, of course, proudly describes himself as a democratic socialist. here is the president's tweet recycling his 2016 nickname. crazy bernie has just entered the race. i wish him well. sanders all too happy to return fire. quote, what's crazy is we have a president that's a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and a fraud. we will not only defeat trump, but transform the economic political life of this country. a link to the sanders campaign page in hopes he can raise even more money. with me this day to share the reporting and their insight molly ball with "time," cnn's phil mattingly, the washington

post and arid john with bloomberg. big day for bernie. some people thought crowded field this time, and wouldn't be a big deal this time. we all know how this ends, but if you're bernie sanders it's going well. >> he obviously wanted to do a sort of shock and awe show of force to open because i think a lot of his rife will as were discounting bernie's chances this time around thinking that a lot of the momentum that he got last time was produced more by his position in the race as the alternative to hillary clinton, but this really shows that bernie sanders does have a very loyal and active fan base that still wants it to be him, doesn't want a stand-in bernie standers type, doesn't want another, you know, progressive who just isn't bernie, and ironically, right? because bernie sanders has always been about his ideas and he's not about personality and he's not about a particular political figure and yet for his followers it really isn't about

which democrat embodies these progressive ideals and it's specifically bernie sanders. >> i was just going to say because, to be clear, the democratic field now has covered bernie for a long period of time has gravitated toward his approximately see proposals which were considered out of the mainstream and pushed aside by clinton supporters and something that's not electable if you're backing that and now those are the proposals that the vast majority of the democrats in the field are taking and the fact that the o.g. can still raise all of the money here and it's not just the top line figure and we all know we had a massive e-mail list and the thing i was struck by more than the $600,000 in recurring donations per month based on the way people are signing up. this base is not going anywhere soon. i don't think there was ever a question whether or not bernie sanders would have money and the money to compete, but it is clear he will have the most money and the most money to compete whether or not he will break through given the people who are sharing and co-opting his ideas remain the question,

but to your point. >> this is for any candidate to start any campaign. >> who gets nervous by that? is it elizabeth warren who is closest to him in terms of ideas and trying to take the progressive wing of the party or kamala harris, i had a great roll out. i raised a million and a half. that's a lot of cash. >> all of those candidates running as progressives who are saying i support medicare and a new deal. his supporters will say welcome to the party. i've been saying that we need to do this for decades and that's why i think bernie sanders still has this strong base of supporters. if you look at the fund-raising numbers i think it works out to $27 which was sort of his average donation rallying cry. his supporters are with him because he's been on this for a long time. >> $27. you remember it all too well, right? $27. $27. hey, it worked with all those e-mails saying $27, but it worked. in terms of getting in a tweet

war with the president. some candidates would pull back from that. bernie sanders seems to think, fine. you come after me, call me crazy bernie, let's do this. >> this is something that the white house is very much willing to engage in, as well because they want to brand the entire field of democrats as socialists and we heard that language from the president over the past few weeks and from his ecosphere on capitol hill and the media and anyone who has a d next to their name as a socialist and bernie sanders who wears that label of democratic socialist and he's seeing the fire coming from the white house and saying they want to brand not only his policies of socialism and also all of the democrats policies of socialism and he's willing to fight back against the president and one poll that came out last year showed that that's where it's want as toxic as it used to be and democrats view socialism as more favorable than capitalism according to this poll that came out. >> and that will be one of the fascinating questions and some of the other candidates get a

little nervous. if you look back historically, presidential politics in the united states of america. he's quite comfortable with this, he was a socialist and now he's an independent and he's running for the democratic nomination and he doesn't mind the label and if you throw it on him, he has a good retort. >> when i talk about democratic socialism, somebody wants to call me a radical? okay, here it is. i believe that people are inherently entitled to health care. i believe people are entitled to get the best education they can. i believe that people are entitled to live in a clean environment. people are entitled to have decent paying jobs. that's what i believe. >> he's comfortable with it. there is a flip side. you ask some of the other candidates and you get this. >> to compete in new hampshire in the democratic primary, do you need to move toward the democratic socialist part of the party? >> the people in new hampshire will tell me what's required to

compete in new hampshire, but i will tell you i'm not a democratic socialist. >> part of the fascination of the sanders campaign is the guy said he's a socialist. in the real sense i don't know what that means. that's my point. the word has lost its meaning. >> if we want to beat trump, we should not put up the candidate who embraces socialism. >> it's going to be a fascinating debate. there will be eight or ten or maybe 12 sanders rivals and he's comfortable in his skin and that's what he's called himself forever and his supporters are very quick and if you saw chuck on fox news, it's like lbj, but the other candidates cringe. should they? is that the right reaction? >> it's also kind of an opportunity for them, right? even when elizabeth warren can go out there and say i am a capitalist. it gives them a chance to differentiate themselves as what they view as the left wing of the party even if they're advocating pretty much the same policies just by disassociating themselves with that label.

the question is do democratic primary voters find that label so inherently appealing that they're not looking for the candidates who are differentiating themselves in the left wing? they're looking for the left flank, and that's the position bernie seems to be in right now is with a very powerful appeal to a strong and active part of the party base. is it the whole party base? do you hear democratic strategists and a lot of them will question whether he's got a ceiling particularly in a multi-way democratic primary, his appeal though very, very strong is still limited to that narrow swath of voters, but we're going to have to see. it's certainly wider than a lot of people expected in 2016. >> that is part of my big question, the sense that bernie himself and all politicians say this and for those gambling in the casino. it's about the idea and not about them. this will be a test of how much. >> you talk to a lot of bernie

sanders supporters and they do feel like he, not got robbed, but the primary process was unfair and there was proof that he polled better than donald trump and hillary clinton did. bernie would have won comes into play and sanders has also said this is about continuing the political evolution that started in 2016 and that means not just getting through the primary and elevating these idea, but actually winning the general election. >> can i say also, it seems also about authenticity that he's willing to embrace that label, that he's not afraid of the attacks that the republicans will throw at someone who calls themselves a socialist and that's powerfully appealing that he knows who he is. >> a, he's comfortable in his skin and b, he's been on the presidential track and sometimes experience helps. we'll see how it goes. new episodes how the president allegedly attempted to stymie federal investigations. one hour pickup order? got it. ran out of ink and i have a big meeting today. and 2 boxes of twizzlers...

yeah, uh...for the team. the team? gooo team... order online pickup in an hour. and, now save up to 40% at the furniture event. at office depot officemax. you hardly ever play catch0% with the grandkidsalk?event. or show them how to give a good handshake anymore. now look at me... i'm all bent out of shape. (vo tv) if you have bent fingers and can't lay your hand flat, talk to your doctor. it may be dupuytren's contracture. (gary) see ya! (hand) you're all about friendly service, and you rarely shake hands? come on!

(vo) your hand is talking. isn't it time you listened? there are non-surgical options. take the first step and learn more about dupuytren's at factsonhand.com. about medicare and 65, ysupplemental insurance. medicare is great, but it doesn't cover everything - only about 80% of your part b medicare costs, which means you may have to pay for the rest. that's where medicare supplement insurance comes in: to help pay for some of what medicare doesn't. learn how an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by united healthcare insurance company might be the right choice for you. a free decision guide is a great place to start. call today to request yours. so what makes an aarp medicare supplement plan unique? well, these are the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp and that's because they meet aarp's high standards of quality and service. you're also getting the great features that any

medicare supplement plan provides. for example, with any medicare supplement plan you may choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. you can even visit a specialist. with this type of plan, there are no networks or referrals needed. also, a medicare supplement plan goes with you when you travel anywhere in the u.s. a free decision guide will provide a breakdown of aarp medicare supplement plans, and help you determine the plan that works best for your needs and budget. call today to request yours. let's recap. there are 3 key things you should keep in mind. one: if you're turning 65, you may be eligible for medicare - but it only covers about 80% of your medicare part b costs. a medicare supplement plan may help pay for some of the rest. two: this type of plan allows you to keep your doctor - as long as he or she accepts medicare patients. and three: these are the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp.

learn more about why you should choose an aarp medicare supplement plan. call today for a free guide. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® [indistinct conversation] [friend] i've never seen that before. ♪ ♪ i have... ♪

sharp new attacks from the president today on new reporting that again raises this question. did the president try to obstruct justice? dishonest, no basis, out of control and false, this is how the president in some tweets describes the nearly 5,000-word new york times report. two years of presidential frustration with investigations and numerous efforts to battle them. the president's then acting attorney general matt whitaker asked him to the change the leadership of the investigation in new york that directly touches the president and could reach into the family business. it is part of the president's quote, more sustained, secretive assault on law enforcement, a covert companion to his public raging constantly against the special counsel. the times cautions there's no evidence that whitaker took any action to make the change the president reportedly wanted. shimon prokupecz joins the conversation. to me fascinating in the sense

that this is more recent in the tenure of matthew whitaker, now departed and the acting attorney general, the times is saying that a president who knows he is under investigation for potentially obstructing the mueller russia probe called matthew whitaker and said can you put jeff berman, the u.s. attorney, in the southern district of new york, back in the investigation from which he recused himself. the president meddling in an investigation even though he knows he's under investigation for meddling in the other investigation. >> it also comes way after the president has been told that it's inappropriate for him to have this kind of contact with people at the doj and the fbi and not to talk about what's going on in the southern district of new york. what's very clear and what this reporting lays out for us is that he is very concerned about what's going on in the southern district of new york. there's been a lot of focus on the mueller investigation, but not a lot of focus the southern district of new york where the trump organization certainly has

the most liability and the most concern. that's what i think this does. it also is interesting that he -- he wanted someone in that job in the southern district of new york who would ultimately protect him. the fact that berman, jeffrey berman had recused himself from the cohen investigation concerned him and they knew what was going on there. that investigation is not ending about time soon. this could go on for a couple of years. the question that if he was asked to do anything wrong. here are one of his answers. >> at no time has the white house asked for more have i provided any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel's investigation or any other investigation. >> you could take that as matthew whitaker saying no, i didn't do anything or you can read it closely, provided any promises or commitments. it doesn't mean that the president called and vented and called and said is it possible,

is there any way you can pick up the phone and make this happen. that's different than saying, you know, do it. >> this is a very loyally statement. you saw him looking down reading what was written because this wasn't saying he was saying off-the-cuff. very likely this was written in a way in a rhetorical slight of hand where it sounds like he's denying the president did anything improper and not necessarily denying what we've seen in the new york times and the president was angry and he called and asked matt whitaker to take some action that people could interpret as obstruction of justice and that statement is a non-denial denial and we'll have to see if whitaker or anyone in the justice department comes out with any more forceful or more direct language saying the president did not say this because often we've seen deniles of stories than we've seen the stories turn out to be true. >> to that point, when we are witnessing in recent days is to turn on the television and find

andrew mccabe who -- to your point one of the values of mccabe is he's proving a lot of journalism right. things that were reported that the white house denied and labeled as fake news and labeled as reckless and labeled as law enforcement run amok and andrew mccabe is answering them. this is interesting with last night. he said he briefed key members of congress and they didn't say anything. the question is what don't we know? listen to this. >> are there other things that haven't been made public at this point that contributed to the opening of the investigation into the president? >> i'm not so sure that there are things that haven't been made public. >> that, to me, looks like well, wait then. how much is there classified information about interactions with the russians? is there something else behind it? what did you make of that?

>> there's a lot of intelligence. human intelligence, i think there are intercepts and a lot of stuff that the intelligence community we're dealing with that was shared with the fbi that they were working to try to corroborate. there's a lot of information from the russians and talking to each other and perhaps indicating that they infiltrated the campaign or they thought they infiltrated the campaign and there are conversations about paul manafort with the russians that we know about, and other conversations, yeah, there is, and were fbi and the mueller team able to corroborate with that, and the other part of that is could this ever be revealed? it is considered sensitive intelligence and that has always been one of the things for the fbi in his investigation is how do you put some of this forth? how do you go forward and reveal some of this information. even in court documents it's very difficult to do that. >> we will see what happens when we get to the point of a mueller report and what if that becomes public. shimon keeps thinking it's going

to be soon. do you have a powerball number for me on that one? another interesting thing and one of the more interesting things mccabe has said and trump supporters call this essentially an attempted coup, the deep state, rogue law enforcement and the president winning the election. andrew mccabe says no, we had every reason to launch the investigation and we went up and told the top members of congress as we're supposed to do on sensitive things and number of them objected and that would include allies with the president including devin nunes and this is trey gowdy, former republican, and knows the former speaker paul ryan saying it's not fair. >> the way he's doing this this way is devin and paul, they're not supposed to discuss it and paul and devin cannot refute him. >> is that right? you're not supposed to discuss the things you discuss at meetings, but would it be out of bounds if andrew mccabe is not

telling the truth. he said they briefed them and there were no objections. can't they issue a statement saying i can't describe the meetings, but i was not in one that andrew mccabe described? >> they would feel if the confidentiality was breached to the point that they could at least -- you can do a vague denial saying there are statements out there that are inconsistent with what i said. that has not happened and the sound of crickets from some of those quarters i think is significant. it might not mean anything. it could be that, like gowdy says, that they would love to quibble with this, but their hands are just tied, but it's not like we have suffered from a lack of information coming out of the -- out of those meetings and that committee. >> devin nunes in particular who has not been shy about saying he thinks there was corruption in the fbi. one would think that if mccabe's not telling the truth that nunes would find a way to say

something. >> and he has broken plrotocol n the past. talk about unmasking. we had memos released that the fbi did not want released that had information about, you know, internal methods that the fbi was using and devin nunes was very much a part of that process as republicans on that committee tried to run interference for the president. so the idea that they're now following protocol and their mouths are tied because they're not able to talk about this gang of eight meeting doesn't line up too well with what we've seen over the past with devin nunes and breaking protocol. >> everyone could just be returning to norm, right? >> no one has an opinion on that? no, not a safe bet. up next, plenty of team changes over at the justice department, but one very important thing hasn't changed. the boss down the street. liberty mutual accident forgiveness means they won't hike your rates over one mistake. see, liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates

because of their first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

♪ ♪ t-mobile will do the math for you. right now, when you join t-mobile, you get two lines of unlimited with two of the latest phones included for just one hundred bucks a month.

neighbors...loved ones. living with diseases like cancer, epilepsy, mental health conditions and hiv. maybe you're one of them. but new medicare rules could deny access to the latest, most effective therapies... therapies that keep them healthy. are medicare cuts that save less than one percent worth the risk to millions of patients? call and tell congress, stop cuts to part d drug coverage medicare patients depend on. stop cuts to part d drug coverage all of you. how you live, what you love. that's what inspired us to create america's most advanced internet. internet that puts you in charge. that protects what's important. it handles everything, and reaches everywhere. this is beyond wifi, this is xfi.

simple. easy. awesome. xfinity, the future of awesome. there's a new leadership team taking shape at the department of justice. william barr on the job as attorney general. he's the permanent replacement for jeff sessions and the president says he will nominate jeff rerosen as the next deputy attorney general. rosen will replace rod rosenstein. new team, same boss in the white house which raises the same question. will barr and rosen face the same presidential scorn as sessions and rosenstein? the president went after jeff

sessions and rod rosenstein more than two dozen times on twitter alone. tweets like this one from last summer. the witch hunt continues all because jeff sessions didn't tell me he was going to recuse himself. i would have quickly picked someone else. so much time wasted, money wasted and so many lives ruined and sessions knew better than most that there was no collusion. you now have by most accounts, two adults will be leading the justice department. not that jeff sessions wasn't an adult or rod rosenstein wasn't an adult. the george h.w. bush administration viewed this in town, that was bill barr's choice, a guy he's known for 20 years. how long, how long until the president realizes, wait, just like jeff sessions and rod rosenstein they are not going to fire bob mueller. they are not going to shut things down. they are not likely, anyway, to listen to me when i ask them to do things?

>> that's two courses here, right? door number one, barr does move in some way to quash or temper the mueller investigation whether it's by firing mueller or doing something else. now he was seen as doing well in his confirmation hearings and didn't make enough commitments to that end for democrats to vote for him. door number two is, just like you say, he follows the letter of what he believes he should be doing. he does not quash the investigation or interfere with it in any way and that inevitably makes the president mad. i don't think there's any middle ground and i don't think he'll go to the white house and sit the president down and somehow convince him that this is the way things ought to go. it's just very simple, i think, for the president if this investigation is going on and it's going where it's been going, he doesn't like it. >> and we're talking about the mueller investigation, but there's also, as we were discussing in the previous conversation in the southern district of new york which has an investigation into michael cohen that expanded into the hush money payments and the

potential finance violations and looking at the trump organization and a separate organization into the trump committee and it would have the power to say shut it down and there's no indication that bill barr will do that and i asked the question, when comes the tweet. >> it's when the mueller report is filed and it's sent to capitol hill and we're still kind of waiting to see where the justice department goes. that would seem a natural point or tension that the president is frustrated about and it's been it's own private island that the attorney general has that much control over and therefore bill barr won't try to exert control over that, too. those are the two points of tension. you made the point about the testimony. when you were talking to democrats and they were being candid including democrats who voted against bill barr and this was the best they could do in terms of the justice department. the deputy attorney general is not supposed to be anyone that they know who they are.

i think rod rosenstein's made that joke in the past and because bill barr will not be recused he will likely be the primary target of whatever the president is frustrated on and not jeffrey rosen. i think those are the two most likely triggers is when the president starts to get frustrated. >> here is a democratic senator fighting the president all of the time. since william barr has been attorney general before and no attorney general has been under a president who has such con temp for the rule of law and the judicial process and law enforcement generally. buckle in because it will be a wild ride, mr. barr, you ain't seen nothing yet. that's from a democratic senator. he has reasons to say that, because of how he treated them. the department has faced ever-increasing scrutiny from other quarters as they've shrunk from days to hours to nanoseconds and he goes on to say, blah, blah, work with

integrity. that seems to be his way of saying i know before i got here, you've been taking harpoons all of the time. i'm with you now. >> he realizes that the twitter feed can put the laser on the department for the past couple of years and it could end up demoralizing workers who have had to deal with the justice department. it was corrupt and there were these obama appointees and everyone who has been investigating me and my inaugural committee and my family and my organization and my campaign are all just part of the deep state just trying to come after me and harass me and you see the words presidential harassment and barr has the dual challenges of making sure he stays on president trump's good side while making sure that the thousands of workers in the justice department do not see him as the president's, and he's working to protect the president from what are valid investigations into areas of presidential employees. >> and he's hanging around for

another month to help with the transition. and this all feels like. up next, some quick updates and important updates on the 2020 race and while senator elizabeth warren, get this, sharing a late-night spotlight with 50 cent. >> you're a big 50 cent fan. >> oh, absolutely. >> are you more into tipsy or are you a classic inda club. >> in da club. >> of course, you are. s disease, stelara® works differently. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection or flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions

and lung inflammation can occur. talk to your doctor today, and learn how janssen can help you explore cost support options. remission can start with stelara®. explore cost support options. ♪ 'cos i know what it means ♪ to walk along the lonely street of dreams ♪ ♪ here i go again on my--- you realize your vows are a whitesnake song? i do. if you ride, you get it. geico motorcycle. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more. and back pain made it hard to sleep and get up on time. then i found aleve pm. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid, plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. we all make excuses for the things we don't want to do. but when it comes to colon cancer screening...

i'm not doin' that. i eat plenty of kale. ahem, as i was saying... ...with cologuard, you don't need an excuse... all that prep? no thanks. that drink tastes horrible! but...there's no prep with cologuard... i can't take the time off work. who has two days? and i feel fine - no symptoms! everybody, listen! all you need is a trip to the bathroom. if you're 50 or older and at average risk, cologuard is the noninvasive option that finds 92% of colon cancers. you just get the kit in the mail, go to the bathroom, collect your sample, then ship it to the lab! this is your year! own it! cologuard is not right for everyone. it is not for high risk individuals, including those with a history of colon cancer or precancer, ibd, certain hereditary cancer syndromes, or a family history of colon cancer. ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. covered by medicare and most major insurers.

♪ topping our political radar today republican senator susan collins and a message to the white house expressing support for dan coats.

he's a confidant of president trump that might soon lose his job. a leader of integrity who has serve our country well. he contradicted the president, and one factor has put his job in jeopardy. john james who ran unsuccessfully as a republican candidate is pitching himself now for a prominent vacancy in the trump administration. the president is considering james for the post of united nations ambassador and he's making clear, offer me the job, mr. president, and i'll take it. >> it's an honor to be considered for the u.s. u.n. mission. i believe that having should be with a business background who understands how to bring a lean management a form, reforms and business practices to make the u.n. run better, also a combat veteran who understands the consequences of war. >> sounds like you want the job. >> of course, i do. >> the government ethics office is rejecting wilbur ross' financial disclosure form. the commerce secretary violated

his ethics agreement by reportedly he sold stock in a bank when in fact he had not done so. he had thought the stocks were sold and once he realized his mistake he then did sell them. kristen gillibrand will be in texas, and her first visit to texas since jumping into the 2020 race. the senator now responding to the now internet famous ranch girl. a college senior named hannah kinney who brushed past her in iowa looking for dressing. >> i don't think -- the debate and the grassroots care about. [ laughter ] >> senator gillibrand says she's learned her lesson. two important things and the caucus gohhers and never get between a midwesterner and their ranch and the next trip to iowa

city. >> a challenger to president trump, and governor larry hogan is a vocal candidate. when asked if he would jump in and challenge trump in 2020, governor hogan said this. >> are you thinking about running in 2020? >> i was just sworn in a month ago for my second term and i have a lot of work to do in maryland. i'm getting approached from a lot of different people and the best way to put it is i haven't thrown them out of my office. >> we want to talk about here the hogan threat, if there is one to president trump or phil mattingly's pizza habits about the ranch. ranch on pizza? >> i'm right and that's all that matters and just because everybody at this table doesn't agree with me doesn't mean that i'm not right which is the only way you should ever approach anything in life. >> look -- [ laughter ]

>> the hogan thing is actually very interesting. you should look at the polling and when you talk to republicans and you watch the 2020 ramped up. there is a small number of disaffected republicans and it remains a small number and people look at the approval ratings like larry hogan noted in the interview and it doesn't look weak here and maybe there is an opportunity and i've yet to see the clear pathway for an opportunity and i've heard from many people who said they've been reaching out to him and they want another option there, but the question is would it be to play spoiler or to win? >> there is already somebody there. there already is a republican challenger, so if you're just looking for a name to be on those ballots in the primaries just to prove that there's another option, there is somebody, he's got to think that he actually has a chance and to your point, the path is hypothetical at this point. the idea has got to be that the political calculous will change based on unforeseeable events. >> are you trying to make a statement about the post-trump

republican party? there are different ways to do it. they have to get in before we can answer that question. up next, the trump administration picks a $1 billion fight with california. for the past five years, i've spoken with hundreds of families and visited senior-care communities around the country. and i've got to tell you, today's senior-living communities are better than ever. these days, there are amazing amenities, like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars, and bistros, even pet-care services. and nobody understands your options like the advisers at a place for mom. these are local, expert advisers that will partner with you to find the perfect place and determine the right level of care, whether that's just a helping hand or full-time memory care. best of all, it's a free service. there is never any cost to you. senior living has never been better, and there's never been an easier way to get great advice. call today.

a place for mom -- you know your family, we know senior living. together we'll make the right choice.

the news just in to cnn, former trump attorney and fixer michael cohen will be a free man for just a little longer. today a judge granting a new request for cohen's lawyers to delay his surrender day to prison. cnn's cara skinnel has more. why did the judge sign off on this request and how long is he now free? >> the judge overseeing michael cohen's kras has signed off on this agreement for michael cohen, the prosecutors with the u.s. attorney's office did not object to this and they requested it because cohen has post-surgical physical therapy that he needs to undergo at the

supervision from his doctor from that shoulder surgery which is why cohen has delayed testifying before some committees on capitol hill and he has to prepare for these testimonies for these committees, and he will testify before three committees by the end of the month. cohen has already delayed these testimonies. he was supposed to see the house oversight committee and the house intel committee. those hearings have been postponed and delayed. now cohen saying he needed this extra time. the prosecutors are not objecting to this. they say one-time 60-day delay and the judge is giving him until may 6th before he has to report to prison, john. >> cara scannel, appreciate that, and now we'll call capitol hill to see when will you schedule those hearings and appreciate that news there. quick break. thea president is in a new war of words with the governor of california. is it about high-speed rail or is it really about the border?

♪ ♪ t-mobile will do the math for you. right now, when you join t-mobile, you get two lines of unlimited with two of the latest phones included for just one hundred bucks a month. a lot will happen in your life. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. neutrogena®

means they won't hike your rates over one mistake. see, liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

ir are. president trump stoke a fight with twitter with the california governor. the president says this is about spending on high speed rail. it is canceling a nearly $1 billion grant in federal funding for a high-speed rail system in california, that after good afternoonor gavin newsom announced he's scaling back the project because of cost

overruns, the president quote, send the billions wasted. now it's a surprise decision to cut off funding to this infrastructure project. the governor said look at the timing, one day after california joined with other states to sue the trump administration for the border. it's no coincidence and he's getting back in the president's face. this is clear political retribution by president trump and we won't sit ideally by. this is california's money and we are going fight for it. to the substance in a minute and the politics here, if you're the democratic governor, relatively new in office, picking the fight with the president is unpopular in your state, probably not bad politically, and if you're president trump, you're not going to win california in 2020 and picking a fight, probably not so good for you either. >> this isn't the first time president trump has gone after california for exactly that reason. if he's actually subjecting

california to policies based on political retribution that's quite troubling, but it certainly isn't the first time that any republican politician has used california as a punching bag for, you know, the scary liberal governance that they stand against. >> a couple of issues here in the sense that newsom did scale back the project. is that an opening for the federal government saying you'll scale back the project and we'll give you less money? >> they've restricted and this is supposed to be a high-speed rail that goes from san francisco to l.a. and now it appears it's going from bakersfield to merced. ne newsom said this will be a problem for california and you factor in the green new deal and here in washington, discussions about how do we change the way we travel? the republican argument has been this is expensive. you can't get the government involved and now we see in california which is supposed to be the leader of progressive

policies, yes, high-speed rail was too expensive. it didn't work out. we had to scale it back. >> and so to your point, is it political retribution? the president probably not helping the cause of department of transportation lawyers who would like to argue we are doing this on the merits and you scale back the project and the cost overruns and we don't like that. the president tweeting, as i predicted, 16 states led by open-border democrats and the radical left filed the lawsuit and the 9th circuit and the state that wasted billions of dollars on their out of control fast train and no hope of completion, seems in charge. he would prefer it not be put together. >> there say three-page memo giving the rationale for why they were pulling $990-some-odd-million. you're supposed to let other people connect the dots for you and he goes ahead and tweets about it. first up, the initial grant that the department of transportation

will end up in a court fight. keep a close eye on the california delegation which is very large and has a lot in the house. there is a speaker of california and a couple of committee chairs. >> and now the republican leader. >> i don't know if it will be enough on this one, but they will get involved and they can make life very painful for the department of transportation if they want to. there's already $2.5 million that's in use and there were murmurings that what the president is trying to say here is they should obligate that money and how you would do that, i'm not sure what the mechanism would be, but if you want real money, pulling $1 million is a fight and pulling $1 million in use for a project that would be a massive fight that will be interesting to see. >> it is a tactic that the president is accused of using before and we should see it from july 2018 and this is when there was a big spending bill planned and the president was mad at chuck schumer and the democratic leader in the senate and wanted to build the gateway project for new york and new jersey and the

president openly signed a deal and there was a back and forth about this, and did the president do this and there's some evidence in the past and this is the way he's done his business in the past. i'm going to try to take your money. >> the president has done the same thing with puerto rico and he said there's democrats down there and the federal government shutdown and all of the government workers are just democrats and we can keep the government shut down for weeks at a time and this is something that the president is very vulnerable to this charge that he is using federal dollars and taxpayer dollars to attack people that he thinks don't vote for him or people that aren't part of his base. and there is a flipside and california is about as blue as you get and the governor has not been shy about saying i don't like you, mr. president. >> it's been a tough two years. to those agents of anger determined to divide us instead of unite us, it's time to pack it up and for you to pack it in. we will offer an alternative to

the corruption and the incompetence in the white house. the answer to the white house, with all due respect, no more division, no more xenophobia, no more aetnaivism. >> we were just talking about the trump potential political calculation, he's got one, too. >> it's funny, i kept hearing in my head thinking of when obama was president and you heard a lot of the same things from the governor of texas, right? saying this is going to be our political identity is we're the opposite of what you see in washington and so, you know, with the parties flipped that's california's role now. >> it's also to some degree what republican attorneys general did during the obama administration with the lawsuits and you've seen xavier becerra involved with the border wall lawsuit and the travel ban and the border wall and on and on, and almost take the playbook from the attorneys general it can help you politically and it can can help you push back. >> the playbook is a good way to put it because it worked in some cases and you make a political

point and it worked in court. thapgs f thanks for joining us on "inside politics." brianna keilar starts right now. ♪ ♪ this is cnn breaking news. i'm brianna keilar live from cnn's washington headquarters and under way right now we begin with breaking news. we have the clearest indication yet that special counsel robert mueller is nearly done with his almost two-year investigation and that the endgame here is near. sources say the justice department is preparing to announce as early as next week that attorney general bill barr has received mueller's confidential report and soon after that announcement barr will review the findings and then submit his own summary to congress. we have crime and justice reporter shimon prokupecz, justice reporter laura jaret and evan perez with us. we know that the timing could change on this. walk us through what, by regulation a