robert: unrest at justice in the white house, on thendill conflict in syria. i'm robert costa. a former f.b.i. director's book ignites a firestorm and the russia probe continues. tonight, on "washington week." >> no one to my recollections asked so what's coming next from the russians? how m iight we stopt? robert: president trump reacts with fury, unleashing a barrage of tweets about comey's alleomtions. james is a proven leaker and liar, trump wrote,dd ag it was my great honor to fire him. and the russia investigation takes a dramatic turn. the president's personal lawyer now in court after an railed may have captured audio recordings. and the future of deputy

attorney general rolled rosenstein, who oversees the deral probe, remains uncertain, eve as he visits the white house. meanwhile, house speaker paulan tells congressional republicans, already nervous about the midtermns elect that he will not run again this fall. >> i will be retiring in january, leaving this majority in good hands what i believe is a very bright future. robert: weo inside ryan's exit and what it means for the g.o.p. and e president. the world turns its attention to syria. w howill the trump administration respond to the chemical attacks? we discuss it all withli abby ph of cnn. michael crowley of politico, philip rucker: of the "washington post." smaller sheryl of "the new york times" and -- sheryl gay stolberg of "the new york times" and nancy use receive ofthe wall street journal." >> this is "washington week."

corporate funding is provided by -->> heir 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 american cruise lines, you can experience historic destinations along the mississippi river. the columbia river and across the united states. american cruise lines' fleet ofr small ships examerican landmarks, local cultures and calm waterways. american cruise lines, proudof sponsowashington week."

>> additional funding is provided by -- newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. koo and patricia yuen for the yuen foundation, committed tul bridgingral differences in our communities. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. the corporation for public ouoadcasting and by contributions to ypbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washingtort moderator roosta. robert: good evenin the headlines from james comey's tell-all book, "a higher loyalty" come amid a torrent of developments in the special counsel investigation of russian meddling in the 2016 election. the f.b.i. raided the home, office, and hotel room of presidentl trump's perso lawyer. michael cohen this week.

the railedoc gatheredents and electronic devices. in federalri courty, cohen asked the judge to block the justice department from having access to the materials, which may have inchuleded conversations with campaign televisors' rofrledings and perhaps ofven his most famous client. they say the searches are the result of a lengthy investigation into cohen in seek evidence of crimes. the railed sparked the president's fury to sure and ruptured talks with special counsel robert mueller. up untilthis week's raid, it seem it would president was prepared to sit for an with mueller. now that may be off the table and today, reports that deyty attoeneral rolled rosenstein, who heads the mueller investigation, has expressed concern that he may be fired. abby, where is the white house moving tonight in lights of all this activity with michael

cohen? we've heard and there have been many repor that the presidents and cohen spoke by phone. abby: right, which is unusual for this president who has a pattern of reaching out to people who are under inestigation who probably shouldn't if his lawyers had any say. ning,e white house this m there was a sense of anxiety on multiple fronts. one, about how the president would react, what he was -- whelled do. e's here in washington for the whole weekend. he was supposed to be in peru, far away from the television and triggers that would cause him to react harshly on social media now he' 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'sorld, in his personal life, his business life and also on theamign in some bays so it's a huge pandora's

box for this white house. robert: it's been confirmed, phil, he's under criminal investigation. >> h is and a big challenge, i think for trump's team is they don't know where in investigation is going. they don't know what was seized those raids. they don't nope what information the f.b.i. and robert muelr may have about robert cohen. there's concern in trump's orbit. colleague at the post reported this yesterday, that they mail seized take place. that cohen would record a lot of his conversations. they don't know what kind of informations in those take place so there's a heightened ense of almost alarm about where this is all going. robert: what about attorney-clients privilege? the blt isaying this violates that. >> it's unclear what kind ofat communns they had. presumably if cohen were giving trump legal advice, then attorney-client.

privilege would be there. at if he was just giving him advice on the campaign? we're told that the president is more concerned about this michael kolb investigation than is even abo the mueller probe. b robert mueller seems to southern his to the district of new york, the u.s. attorney, why? >>here are a few religious. one could be that the charges or the suspected crimes here don't irectly relate to the russia investigation. he might have stumbled on,, or instane cohen paid to stormy. danie he has evidence of bank fraud ill galty. that cohen is lying about what he did. it coulde it's just out of his lane. it would -- it could also be extra caution where he may think

there is some element of the russia investigation involved in the evidence that was turned up butan he to create a little bit of evidence anticipating that the president is basically going to freak out over this railed. from all the evidence we'll seen for president trump, this was taking things to a new level of outrage. and mueller michael made a strategic decision, that it d have nice if he co someone else carry out that work. one thing on attorney-client privilege. a lot of people have to sign off on a raid like this. it goes through the justice department, a federal judge so the facts that there could be some violation of attorney-client privilege, despite the normal protections it faces i think shows the seriousness of probable calls that was at issue here. robert: so much of ts is about the context of what cohen was doing. was it as being the president's attorney or was it trying to cut

some of these side dealswi stru different figures in the president's life, different but phil, you got the big story this week. you read the- commie - comey book before ninls. former f.b.i. director james comey's books hasn't come out yet but some things arend inry. the boss in complete control, he writes and sums it up by saying the forest fire, tough words, that is the trump presidency. plosive. >> it's a skating crs-examination of not only trump's character but his ethics and he portray trump as congenital liar, as someone who creates a web of alternative reelt around him and tries to wrap people, including comey as the f.b.i. director in it.

people who are lking 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.da he's also raging against former f.b.i. deputy director andrew mccabe. the in thor general came out th a pet -- pretty critical report of mccabe.'s ying mccabe with comey. >> that's right. it actually sai that mccabe would have lied to comey or misled comey about some of the details around t clinton investigation but the prosecute perspective is tyi these two -- president is tying these two people b togetherause they represent these forces who remember withinis own government trying to undermine him. in the comey bk, not only did comey talk about the president and hisemeanor and governance

but also about his fall appearance, the nature of his marriage with melania about the size of his hands. these are such cutting korea ntucky teaks designed to get turned president's skin and you felt from h advisors today a channeling of the president's ger about those characterizations as well. robert: wt about rosenstein? he overseas the mueller probe. if the president gets rid ofns roin or maybe even the mueller probe is congress going to try to prote this investigation? >> that's a big question. the senate judiciary committ xt week is going to possibly vote on legislation that would offer special protections from mueller to keep mueller fm ing fired that. bill is probably actually not going to go anywhere. that's really the only leverage that casgress even if the bill passes the senate and the house, guesspr wt ident trump would likely

veto so -- it. so i think there would be a lot of outrage with rosenstein were fired and even more if mueller were fired but it'sar unc what mueller can do to stophat? robert rosen steen is telling sorkts -- rosenstein is tellin associates privately he expects to get 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 trumpas obviously walked up to the lionel of frying to firell a couple of times. once in december ande o before that. many of his advisors seem to think that the political backlash would be so severe, it would be counter productive. you could imagine theercenario he fires rosenstein, repuicans fulminate for a week or so and then it fades, someone else comes in.

what could happen is mueller could remain specialounsel but he would report to a new person who would put narrower limitsn 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 reanlt mueller in wit ending his investigation entirely and imagine a scenario where the political system can bear that robert: certainly a chorus of voices out there urging the president to fire rosen stein. i spoke with 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 s will nk re-election this faucet this announcements comes at a critica time as record numbers of republicans announce their retirement and the party faces a possible blue wave of energized democrats.

ryan says he's staying through january but the race to replace him has started. ryan today endorsed majority leader kevin mccarthy of california but oth s are considering bippeds. sheryl, you've been covering ryan for a long time. you were just up in his hometown. is it the end 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 he is in the first place. when boehner got pushed out. mccarthy tried become speaker at that point but was noment able to get the backing of theco ervatives so the parties drafted ryan. he came in and he's managed tos of maintain an uneasy pales among the faction. he's very wellct res. a consummate fundraiser forpu icans. so his leaving has now thrown open an era of uertainty for

recommendation. as you said, they're looking at able blue wave. another ng could spark wave of retirements. people are worried about how will fundraising go if ryan isn't there to rake the money and, of course, there's this jockeying leadership. robert: where's the president going to come down on this? finish: we know the - philip: we know the president has a close rhythm with mccarthy. ryan effective li endorsed hea ier today. president trump calls him my kevin but i don't know that the president ioing to give an official endorsement yet. the white house press secretary was asked today whether the president would back mccary and was told to stay tuned. so it's a little dicef i -- dicey for him. >> it will be tricky considering there might be a freedom caucus

vying for some through in this race but the president has to monitor and baby state -- baby sit that action while also perhaps wanting mccarthy in. there's a sense that mccarthy has the kind of closeness to the president to be successful i that role and he has the backing of his fellowno mention. two things are probably as good as you're going to get in this election cycle. >> we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about steve scalise, the republican whim. he is the sentimental favorites. and shoufrl should mccarthy stumble, sclees, who was grievously injured during a congressional baseball practice. shove. and is on crutches and has made this incredible comeback. he's said that he will not challenge mccarthy but should

mccarthy not able to get the supports of his caucus, scalise uld be there ready t step in. robert: he's been supportive of the investigation continue its work but also encouraged dad nunez to go on with his work. does ryan change his tune at all now that he heads for the exit? >> that'ser a very iting question. we saw trey gowdy, who after announcing his retirement in particular has really i think spoken critically of republican colleagues and the wayve tried to exchange the narrative from t russian interference in the election and alleged collusion between the trump campaign and the kremlin. some republicans are frying to make it more of a story of business misbehavior and misconduct and trey gowdycoas down hard on that. particularly after announce nag he was leaving congress and fe more liberated to do so

we'll see if ryan does it but i think af democrats were very disappointed that ryan-game david nunez and other epublicans a leash to take on laworcement officials in that way and really to try to paint a narrative of extreme misconducts in th russian investigation without ryan himself ever investing in that narrative. kind of saying that's them doing, that not me.in but i there was a sense from a lot of democrats he was trying to have it botde ways. staying above the fray but letting them have a long leash. robert: tensions remain high in the middle east as the white house is debating a response tonight to the chemical ttacks in syria last weekend. at the u. surity council today, u.s. ambassador nikki haley accused russia for covering up for the government of al-assad. joined now b nancy youssef of the "wall street journal."

nancy, thanks so much for being was. where is this debate going a inside of thdministration and how close are we to action, if any? nancy: it seemsre it'sy close indeed. that it could be in a matter of hours or sometimes this weekend. the date from inside the white house is the same of it, how many targets and what the administration homes to achieve. that is, ds it want to completely disable the assad's air power, destroy the facilities that holds these chemical weapons? how much does its wants to take outs its proxies, iranians and russians on one side we're hearing that trump wants a more a strike, more than we saw last year and on the other side we're hearing that secretary of defense jim mattis wants a more squert approach. fearing the unk379ed cops agains of an extendedn strike campa

inside sere heir. robert: is john bolton urging that aggressive posture? >> that's our understanding that essentially secretary mattis standing alone because of the same of the number of strikes, one that would involve a coalition of at least three nationmb the fng, the brits, and. united states and again, we're seeing the ass regime do things like hide their assets amongst russian bases near irisha. there's the possibilities that russian targets are hit and so there's a real concern about what are the consequences of a strike campaign. could we see a scenario where the s do damage but also lead to new conflicts with russia? and remember that the united states have a decon knicks line with russians on the eastern side of the country to make sure u.s. troops are not puppet i harm's way in the ongoing battle against iciss robert: russia has been denying

the chemical attacks alaming the united kingdom for having a covert operation to dohi what is the state of play? >> that's a tried and true russian tactic to deny and blame the other side. to reduce it. i know you are but what am i? it doesn't have much credibility at this point if it ever did. the russians like to confuse and divert but there is auge risk here of anesque lating conflict with russia. we're in this strange situation where president donald trump calls putin to congrulate h against his advisors on his election victory. he congratulates him, invites him to the white house, let'sta , be friends but gradually u.s. policy has p gottetty touch towards the russians and e diplomatically's a real escalations of tensions. the russians areki t 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 eastpecifically right now and they're threatening to retaliate. to shoot down orsi ms or potentially strike assets of ours that fe at the syrians and if you have two leaders like putin and trump, two men with big egos and chips on their shoulders. one last points, the are a lot of people in washington who think that jim mtii is is the last representation of morn military blip. it will be interesting to see whether he can talk the president out of aggressive action. is he choosing this as a battle for him to fight that could put his jk? at r that is a sub plot to watch that is hely important. robert: we're -- talking about

proxies in the russia and u.s. but what's iran's position? nancy: iran has g forces in syria and have a vest leds interest in seeing assad stay in power. we've heard rumblings from iran about objections to any strikem gn but the complicating factor that they bring so it -- tos because they're on the ground and so in the mix with syrian forces, there's the potential of killing iranian ar proxys on the ground and i think it's important to point out because this is very different than last year's strike. ikst year's strike was a show of snow showers s a messaging strike and the terrain was not as complex with proxy forces as it is now. more tion, the u.s. had clear evpbled -- evidence. last year, this has been muchhi harder,is an area surrounded by the regime so it's been harder to prove presighsly

what hd. while the regime is being he'd sponlts responsible by t u., the sfembings of what kind of chemicals were used is still open. it will be having to see what responsibihety asolid government had. we're starting to hear those rumblings. robert: nancy, as always,eally appreciate you and your fresh reports on the pentagon. and cheryl, welcome to "washingtoo week." greatve you. we'll continues this coverage about syria online at the web extra. amount pbs.org/"washington week" and stay tuned for the premiere of the new pbs program in principle. here are the co-hosts witho a look ahat to expect. >> tonight we explore bridging the political divideer and fog 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 get nose ratings? >> no, not intentionally. >> a fascinatingne interview, . robert: "in principle" airs fridays at 8:30 p.m. on this pbs station. have a great weekends. i'm robert costa. >> funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive. they uerstand 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." >> newmas own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own p foodducts to charity and nourishing the common goods. the ethics and excellence in urnalism foundation. koo and patricia yuen for the you yen foundation. committed to bridding cultural erences in erences in ou ( traffic, car horns honking )

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