robert: unrest at justice in e white house, on the hill and conflict in syria. i'm robert costa. a former f.b.i. director's book ignites a firestorm and the russia probees conti. tonight,." on "washington we >> no one to myeclections asked so what's coming next from russians? how might we stop it? robert: president trump reacts with fury, unleashing a barrage of tweets about comey's allegations. james comey is a proven leaker and liar, trump wrote, addings t wa my great honor to fire him and the russia investigation takes a dramatic turn. the president's personal lawyer now in court after an f.b.i. railed may have captured aud recordings. and the future of deputy

attorney general rolled rosenstein, who oversee the federal probe, remains uncertain, even as he visit the white house. meanwhile, house speaker paul ryan tells congressional republicans, already nervous out the midterm elections, that he will not run again this fall. >> i will be retiring in january, leaving this majority in good han what i believe is a very bright future. robert: we gos inside rya exit and what it means for the g.o.p. and the president. the world turns itsttention to syria. how willru the tmp administration respond to the chemical attacks? we discuss it all with abby phillip of cnn. michael crowy of politico, philip rucker: of the "washileton post." sm sheryl of "the new york times" and -- sheryl gay stolberg of "the new york times" and nancy use receive of "the wall street journal." >> this is "washington week."

corporate fundg is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> on a cruise with an cruise lines, you can experience thstoric destinations alon mississippi river. the columbia river and across the united staams. ican cruise lines' fleet of small ships explore amerlaan marks, local cultures and calm waterways. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of "washgton week."

>> additional funding is provid by -- newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. koo and patricia yuen for the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural oufferences in communities. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation.rp the ation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington, moderator robert costa. robert: good evening. the headlines from james comey'l ll book, "a higher loyalty" come amid a tornt of developments in the special counsel investigation of russiad ng in the 2016 election. the f.b.i. raided the home, office, and hotel room president trump's personal

lawyer. michael cohen thiseek. the railed gathered documents and electroniceves. in federal court friday, cohen asked the judge to block the justice department from having access to the materials, which may have inchuleded convsations with campaign televisors' rofrledings ands perh of even his most famous client. they say thehes are the result of a lengthy investigation inton cohen i seek evidence of crimes. the railed sparked the president's fury to be sure and ptured talks with special counsel robert mueller. up until sthis wee raid, it seem it would president was prepared to sit for an interview th mueller. now that may be off the table and today, reports tha demty attorney general rolled rosenstein, who headshe mueller investigation, has expressed concern that he may be fired. abby, where is the white house moving tonight in lights of all

this act with michael cohen? we've heard and there have been many reports that the presidents d cohen spoke by phone. abby: right, which is not unsiual for this pnt who has a pattern of reaching out to people who are under investigation who he probably shouldn't if his lawyers had a say. at the white house this morning, there was a sense of anxiety on multiple fronts. one, about how the president would react, what he was -- whelle do. he's here in washington for the hewhole weekend. as supposed to be in peru, far away from the television a triggers that would cause him to react hlshly on soc media. now he's here and he's going to let loose. some of the exserpts coming out overnight, anxiety over what he would do. michael cohen is a gate keeper in trump's world in his personal life, his business life and also on the campaignn some bays so it's a huge pandora'sbo

for this white house. robert: it's been confirmed, phil, he's under criminal investigation. >> he is and a big challenge, i think for trump's team is they don't know where in investigation is going. they don't knot ws seized in those raids. they don't nope what information the f.b.i and robert mueller may have about robert cohen. there's concern in trump's orbit. a colleue at the post reported eythis yesterday, that th mail seized take plac thatohen would record a lot of his conversations. they don't know what kind of information is in those sake plac there's a heightened sense of almost alarm about where this is a going. robert: what about attorney-clits privilege? the blt is saying this violates that. >> it'snclear what kind of communications they had. presumly if cohen were giving trump legal advice, then attorney-client.

privilege would be there. what if he was justm giving advice on the campaign? we'rtold that the president is more concerned about this michael kol investigation than he is even about the mueller probe. robert: bob mueller seems to have sent this to the southern ewdistrict ofork, the u.s. attorney, why? >> there are a few religious. one could be that the charges or the suspectedrimes here don't directly relate to the russia investigation. he might have stumbled on, for instance, the cohen paid to stormy daniels. he has evidence of bank fraud, galty. that cohen is lying about what he did. it could be it's jt out of his lane. it would -- it could also

extra caution where he may think there is some element of the russia investigation involved in the evidence tt was turned up but he wants to create a little bit of evidence anticipating that the president is basically his to freak out over railed. from all the evidence we'll seen for president trump, this was taking things to a new level of outrage. ecd mueller michael made a strategicion, that it might be nice if he could have someone else carry out that work. one thing on attorney-client privilege. lot of people have to sign off on a raid like this. goes through the justice department, a federal judge so the facts thatld there c be some violation of attorney-client privilege, despite the normal protections c it i think shows the seriousness of probable cal that was at issue here. robert: so much of this is aboue ontext of what cohen was doing. was it as being the president's

attorney or was it trying to cut some ofhese side deals struck with different figures in theen press life, different rhythms. but phil, you got the big story this week. you read the commie -- comey book before ninls. former f.b.i. director james coasy's bookst come out yet but some things are incendiary. the boss in complete control, he writes and sums it up by saying words, st fire, tough that is the trump presidency. explosive. >> it's a skating cross-examination of not only trump's character but his ethics and he poray trump as a congenital liar, as someo who creates a web of alternative reelt around him and wrap people, including comey as

the f.b.i. director in it. people who are looking for something for articles of impeachment are going to be disappointed. there's not a ream smoking gun, i don't think. robert: it's fueling a lot of anger with the president. today he's also raging against former f.b.i. deputy director andrew mccabe. the in thor general came out with a pet -- pretty critical report of mccabe. he's tyingcce with comey. >> that's right. it actually said that would have lied to comey or misled comey about some of e details around the clinton investigation but these pte perspective is tying these two -- president is tying the two people together because they represent these forces who remember within his own government trying to undermine him. in the comey book, not only comey talk about the president and his demeanor ande governa

but also about his fall appearance, the nature of his marriage with melania trump, about the size of his these are such cutting korea kentucky teaks designed to get turned president's skin and you felt from hisdvisors today a channeling of the president's angerho about characterizations as well. robert: what about he overseas the mueller probe. if the psident gets rid of rosenstein or maybe even the mueller probe is cgress going to try to protect this investigation? >> that's a big the senate judiciary committee next week is going to possibly vote on legislation that would offer special protections from mueller to keep mueller from being bill is probably actually not going to go anywhere. that's really the only leverage that congress has. even if the bill passes the senate andhe house, guess what

president trump would likely veto so - it. so i think there would be a lot of outrage with rosenstein were orred and even if mueller were fired but it's unclear what mueller can do to stop that? robert: rosen steen is telling sorkts -- rosenstein is telling associates privately he expects to t fired this weekend. >> he thinks it's going to come, there's nothing he can do about it. it's his fate. it's interesting that president trump has obviously walked up to the lionel of frying to fire muller aouple of times. eforein december and once that. many of his advisors seem to think that theic pol backlash would be so severe, it would be counter produive. u could imagine the scenario where he fires rosenstein, republicans fulminate for a week or so and then it fades, someone

else comes in. what couldappen is mueller could remain special counsel but he would report to a new person who would p narrower limits on his investigation. for instance, to prevent something like the referal of the michael cohen evidence to the southern district of new york so you could kind of reanl mueller in withoutnding his investigation entirely and imagine a scenario where the political system can bear that obert: certainly a chorus of voices out there urging the president to fire rosen stein. i spoke wit steve bannon, the former white house chief strategist who said the president has to fire rosenstein to get the cloudout outside of his white house. speaker paul ryan announced he will not seek relection this faucet this announcements comes at a critical time as record numbers of republicans announce peir retirement and the party faces asible blue wave of

energized democrats. ryan says he'sou staying t january but the race to replace him hastarted. an today endorsed majority leader kevin mcc thy o california but others are considering bippeds. sheryl, you've been covering ryan for a long time. you were just in his hometown. is et the of the era for the republican party? sheryl: i think it is. the republican party is very fractured. that's how paul ryan got co-to where h is in the first place. when boehner got pushed out. mcrthy tried become speaker at that point but was noment able to get the backing of the conserva drafted ryan. ties he came in and he's managed to sort o maintain an uneasy pales among the faction.he very well respected. a consummate fundraise for republicans. so his leaving has now thrownop

an era of uncertainty for recommendation. as you said, they're looking at a possible blue wave. his leaving could spark another wave of retirements. people are worried about how will fundraising g if ryan isn't there to rake the money and, of course, there this jockeying for leadership. robert: where's the president d going to comn on this? finish: we knowhe -- philip: we know the president has a close rhythm with mccarthy. ryan effective li endorsed him earlieray t president trump calls him my kevin but i don't know that the president is going t give an official endorsement yet. the white house press secretary was asked today whether the president would bk mccarthy and was told to stay tuned. so it' a little dice if i -- dicey for him. >> it will be tricky considering ther might be a freedom caucuso

vying some through in this race but the president has to monitor and baby state -- baby sit that actiono while a perhaps wanting mccarthy in. there's a sense that mccarthy has the kind of closeness to the president to be successful ine that rnd he has the backing of his fellow mention. nose two things are probably as good as you're going to get in this election cycle. >> we'd be remiss if we didn't talkbout steve scalise, the republican whim. he is the sentimentaldavorites. shoufrled should mccarthy stumble, sclees, who was grievously injured during a b congressionaeball practice. he was shove. and is on crutches and has made this incredible comeback. he's said that he will not

challenge mccarthy but shouldca hy not able to get the supports of his caucus, scalise would be there ready to step in. robert: he's been supportive of the investigation to continue its work but also encouraged david nunez to go on with his work. does ryan change his tune at all now that he heads for the exit? >> that's a very interesting question. we s trey gowdy, who after announcingis retirementn particular, has really i think spoken critically of republican colleagues and the way they've tried to exchange the narrative from the russiann interference the election and alleged collusion between the trump he campaign and kremlin. some republicans are frying to make it more of a story of business misbehavior and misconduct andrey gowdy has come down hard on that. particularly after announce e nags leaving congress and

feeling more liberated to do so we'll see if ryan does it but i think a lot of democrats were very disappointed that ryan-game david nunez and otherbl reans a leash to take on law enforcent officials in that way and really to try to paint a narrative of ext me misconducts in the russian investigation without ryan himself ever investing in that narrative. kind of saying that's them doing, that not me. but i think there was a sense from a lot of democrats he was trying to have it bothsdes. w staying above the fray but letting them have a long leash. ro tensions remain high in the middle east as the white house is debating a responie t to the chemical attacks in syria lastat weekend. he u.n. security council today, u.s. ambassador nikki haley accused russia for covering up for the government of al-assad. joined now by nancy youssef of the "wall street journal."

nancy, thanks so much for being s. where is this debate going inside of the administration and how close are we to action, if any? nancy: it seems it's pretty close indeed. that it could be in a matter of hours or sometimes this weekend. the debate from inside the white house is the same of it, how many targets and what the administration homes t achieve. that is, does it want to completely disable the assad's air pow, destroy the facilities that holds these chemical weapons? how mu does its wants to take outs its proxies, iranians and russians. on one side we're hearing that trump wants a more aggressive strike, more than we saw last ye and on the other side we're hearing that secretary of defense jim mattis wants a more squert approach. fearing thenk379ed cops agains of an extended strike campaign

inside sere heir. robert: is john bolton urginiv that aggre posture? >> that's our understanding that essentially secretary mattis is standing alone because of the same of the number of strikes, one that would involve a coalition of at least three nations, the frembling, ite and. united states and again, we're seeing the assad rege do things like hide their assets amongst russian bases near irisha. there's the possibilities that t russiangets are hit and so there's a real concern abo what are the consequences of a strike campaign. could we see acenario where the strikes do damage but also lead to new conflicts with russia? and remember that the united states have a decon knicks line with eussians on thetern side of the country to make sure u.s. troops are not puppet in harm's way in thetl ongoing b against iciss.

robert: russia has been denying thehemical attacks and blaming the united kingdom for having a covert operation to do this. s what is thte of play? t that's a tried and true russian tactic deny and blame the other side. to reducet. i know you are but what am i? it doesn't have much credibility at this point if it ever did. se russi like to confuse and divert but there is a huge riske here of ane lating conflict with russia. we'ren this strange situation where president donald trump calls putin to congratulate him against his advisors on his election victory. he congratulates him, inviteshe him to white house, let's talk, be friends but gradually u.s. policy has gotten pretty touch towards the russians and diplomatically there's real escalations of tensions. the russians are talking in very

bellicose terms about potential american action against assad, who is a russian ally. they hate seeing america use force around the world and there's a bat for the influence in the middle east specifically right now and they're threatening to retaliate. to shoot down or missiles or potentially strike assets of ours that fire at thens syr and if you have two leaders like putin andrump, two men with ig egos and chips on their shoulders. one last points, there are a lot of people in washington who thk that jim mattii is is the last representation of morn military blip. it will be interesting whether he can talk the president out of aggressive acti. is he choosing this as a battle for him to fight that could put his job at risk? that is a sub plot to t watcht is hugely important.

robert: we're -- talki about proxies in the russia and u.s. but what's iran's position? nancy: iran has ground forces in syria and have a vest interest in seeing assad stay in poear. we've rumblings from iran about objtions to any strike campaign but the complicating factor that bheyng so it -- to it is because they're on the ground and so in the mix with syrian forces, there's the potential of killing iranian proxy fargos othe ground and i think it's important to point out because this is veryt differhan last year's strike. last year's strike was a show of snow showers strike, a messaging strike and the terrain was not as complex with proxy forces as it is now. in addition, the u.s. had more clear evpbled -- evidence. last year, this has been much harder, this is aarea surrounded by the regime so it's

beenarder to prove presighsly what happened. while the regime is being he'd sponlts responsible by the u.s., the sfembings of what kind of chemicals were used is still open. it will be having to see what responsibility thed aso government had. we're starting to hear thoseli rus. robert: nancy, as always, really appriate you and your fresh reports on the pentagon. and cheryl, welcome to "washington week." great to have you. we'll continues this coverage about syria online at the web amount pbs.org/"washington week" and stay tuned for the premiere of the new pbs program in principle. here are the co-hosts with a look also what to expect. >> tonight we explore bridging ivthe politicale and

fostering conferrings. >> my co-host asks glenn beck about his role in creating a divided nation. >> do you feel that there was any moment that you were cranking up the volume to g nose ratings? >> no, not intentionally. >> a fasciting interview, next. robert: "in principle" airs fridays at 8:30 p.m. on thisbs station. have a great weekends. i'm robt costa. >> funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today and research the technologies of tomorrow.

some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> additional funding is provided by -- >> american cruise lines, proud porn of "washington week." >> newman's own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own food producto t charity and nourishing the common goods. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. koo and patricia yuen for the yo yen foundation. committed to bridging cultural differens in differens in ou ( traffic, car horns honking )

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