>> robert mueller wants answers. and there's a leadership fight on capitol hill. i'm robertosta. welcome to "washington week." >> my lawyers are working on i'm working on it. i write the answers. >> the president says he has prepared answers for robert mueller as he escalates his attacks against the special cosel. >> no indication that the mueller investigation will not be allowed to finish. and it llould be aed to finish. >> and acting attorney general mattheou whitaker faces t questions. plus, house democrats confront a leadership tussle. >> i heverwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the house. >> sometimes you just need different voice. sometimes you just need a different kind of a vision. we discuss the president's looming decisions on the mueller probe. hiseam and t new congress. next. ♪[music]

>> this is "washingtoneek." funding is provided by... ♪[music] >> kevin! >> kevin! >> advice for life. life well planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> funding is provided by... newman's own foundation. donating all profits from owman's own food products charity and nourishing the common good. the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cultural ditches in our -- differences in our communities. the ethi and excellence in journalism foundation. the corporation for public broadcasting. d by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! >> once again, from washington, moderator robert costa.

>> good evening. this special counsel is once again front a center in president trump's washington, with the president and his lawyers writing answers for robert mueller. amid news reports of possible indictments coming ptty soon. joining me tonight, jonathan swan, national political reporter for axios. vivian salama, white house reporter for the wall street journal. jonathan lemire, white house reporter for the associated press. and seung min kim, white house reporter for the washington post an a cnn political analyst. here's what the president told reporters insid the oval office today. >> i was asked a series of questions. i answered tm very easily. very easily. you have always be careful when you answer questions with people that probably have bad ntentions. there should haver been any mueller investigation because there was never anything done wrong. there was no collusion. never has been. you would have known about i a

long time ago if there was. >> jonathan, what's the scope of the questions that the president is actually prepao answer here? >> what we've seen today is the return of the special counsel, who has been working behind the scenes for months but publicly tamped down ahead of the midterms. these questions, a series of negotiations between the white house lawyers and special counsel, focus on the question of collusion during the campaign. they don't want the otruction to be part of this. these questions are focused on collusio the president spent a few days this week going over the answers with his lawyers. it has been at the forefront of his mind. there is concern, as you just said, other allies have spoken publicly that they think indictments could be coming for them. the president heen frustrated at the criticism of his new acting attorney general, matt whitaker. and it burst into light thursday morning with aather remarkable tweet storm, his first public comments about the special counsel in a while. today, in the oval office, asked

about whe it stand, he suggested that he was involved, not just attorneys, in preparing hi answers, though they have not yet been submitted to robert mueller. >> it's interesting h tor how much he wanted to take credit today for writing the answers asd insisting that he the one who answered the questions. actually, we have it on good authority that it was his lawyers who took control of that process and the president obviously was consulted on that. but obviously in the last two days, the president had gotten back from paris a couple days ago, and robert mueller is clearly on his mind. yesterday he came out swinging on thursday. he said that the entire investigation is a complete mess. he once again accused mueller of being biased a f beingorable to democrats. he said he worked for obama for eight years.ot again, true. he was actually -- the senate actually extended his term during the obama administration for another two years, but he had actuallyeen appointed under president bush. robert mueller, a registered

republican. a number of things to keep in mind here. veryhe president frustrated, again, with this investigation, clearly wanting to see it end sooner than later. as far as where the investigation for mueller stands, there are two tracks we have to consider.st the firs, before the presidency. and the second is during the presidency. president trump's lawyers really pushing back on any kind of scooperation that invol answering questions that involve anything that happened during the presidency. but they are willing to play ball a little bit with things that happened dur campaign. these are the two tracks. obviously the mueller team wanting more answers about the firing of former f.b.i. director, jim comey. and a number of oth things that have happened since the president took office. but they're starting with the pre-presidency piod first. >> jonathan, is there anything th's going to stop the president and his lawyers from submitting these wri answers at this point? the president says he's writing them. but could there be a snag along

the way? >> i mean, with president tru a, therays could be. but, you know, i spoke to a source with direct knowledge of the situation today. they were very confident that they were going to be submitted imminently. i think one thing to kind of pull back a ltle bit, this really is a literal moment of truth for the -- for trump. he has spent his entire public life, decades, facing scant if any consequencesinor s things that are untrue. it's very clear from his public behavi that he understands the stakes. he understands what would happen if he lied to the special counsel. and even though he's noter cong this in words, just the simple act of putting this letter out, sending this letter to mueller, is trump conferring legitimacy upon the special counsel and onlying, in act if -- acknowledging, in act if not in words, that this is a really important and serious investigation and that it behooves people who are powerful

to cooperate with vt. thy act of submitting it, even though, yes, it's true that it sounds like from giuliani's public comments, that ty are not playing ball on obstruction, that it is an acknowledgment and acquiescence to mueller. >> you think about senator jeff flake retiring from arizona. he wants to have legislation come to a vote in the upper chamber to protect the probe.er is that happening at all? >> well, i mean, as the president has ramped upis rhetoric against the special counsel, in recent days it's really aggravated the situation on capitol hill on many fronts. you mentioned jeff in his twilight hours as a senator, he's taking that bold stand that so many o his kriltics wanted -- critics wanted him to take and vowing to block a litany of judges, about 20 inhe judiciary committee. many more waiting on the floor to be confirm, that heays he will block and do whatever he can until he gets a vote on c tt speciansel protection bill that he believes can pass the senate. he's telling mcconnell, all i i wa a vote. but remember what mitch

mcconnell, the senate majority leader, really loves. his top priority i transforming the judiciary. for flake to push at that is really getting undercconnell's nerves. flake is one situation. there's other factors as well.y obviouis is going to be an issue with the confirmation of a new attoey general in t coming weeks. >> who is it gonna be? >> your guess is as good ars for now, there's a short list in mind. perhaps beginning to interview soon. it's a bit interesting. we've asked aot of republican senators if they've had concerns about the acting attorney general's comments, matt whitaker, and his earlier comments disparaging the mueller probe. they said those made when he was a private citizen. weaver okay -- we're oka now. but the permanent attorney general, whoever that person, when they're nominated, is, almost every senateeepublican wealked to says that person will almost surely have to make

a public commitment that he or shel w not interfere with the mueller probe if they want to geted confi >> has the acting a.g. mad that commission? >> he did say he told senator graham that he would let the mueller probe continue. he has received criticism from both sides of aisle. this is part of the things, one of the many factors behind the scenes that sort of aggravated the president this week, that he thought it would be more of a glide path for this choice. he's been taken aback by the problems with and we saw in his tweets yesterday where he said that whitaker has com under criticism for not being senate confirmed. the preside said, well, neither is robert mueller, the special counsel, not noting that you don't have to be confirmed for that position and that robert muelleras previously been confirmed for other positions. michael cohen's presence was somehaing else frustrated the president, feeling that he might be talking to the special

unsel, his former attorney who knows a lot about the irker gs of the trump organization and campaign. to this point, the white house isin standing b whitaker but there is a growing sentiment bet his time in this job may relatively short, that there's an effort to get the president to pick a more permanent post. >> you mentioned earlier the names of julian assange, the conspiracy theorist on the right, wikileaks, julian assange, roger stone, a longtime trump advisor. there's so many names as part of this process who could be facing indictments. that's the talk. how much are thoseli possies hovering over this white house? >> it's definitely hovering over. hthe question is, how m do they know, and how damaging could it be to the president or any of the members of the inner circle h of campaign? but certainly the president has come out and kind of tried to downplay the knowledge of a number of these people, esrecially roger stone, w he's come out and said, well, he actually really didn't know anything and i'm not that cse with him. he's done that now with michael with a a number of --

number of different people who have gotten so close to the mueller investigation that itik seems they could be talking. obviously any of this -- again, you know, the president is someone who is very -- believes in scet si, non-- secrecy, nondisclosure agreements and this is how he basically operated in h life befor the presidency. for his allies to be talking to investators, it's very unsettling. >> what do you make of the house judiciary committee deciding to bring up former f.b.i. director jim comey to testify in a few weeks, former attorney general loretta lynch to talk about thes e-mail igation? does this show that republicans alltrying to kick back amid this talk about robert mueller? >> well, they kept their focus on that chapter o the 2016 campaign for some time. but remember, they're going out of power in the house judiciary committee in a few weeks. january 3, it will be democrats who control in that committee. and they have a whole list of questions going to

other directions in terms of investigating the president. i do want to point outhe new -- the likely incoming new chairman of the sene judiciary committee is going to be lindsay graham of south carolina,nce a trump enemy, now a very close ally who has indicated that those exact issues will be matters that he would be more than happy to should he become chairman. >> has he become trump's warrior in the senate? is graham in the senate? goings already shown he's to be quite the defender for the president. i think you can definitely expect he's going to be a very vocal ally in the next congress as democrats in the be very aggressive in terms of their oversight and investigations and lindsay a graho has a political imperative. he's up in 2020. always is facing a challenge from the right. >> all these battlegrounds, senator graham and president trump versus house democrats,be all as mueller does his work. i want to turn to some breaking ws tonight about journalist jamal khashoggi.

the cia has determined that mohammadin salmanrdered thes a nation of khashoggi. the washington post broke the story thathe c.i.a. looked into a phone call between the crown prince's brother, who also serves as the saudi ambasdor to the u.s. and khashoggi. jonathan, you talked to your hurces at the whitese. how do we expect president trump to react to this development? the c.i.a. is tying it directly to the crown prince. >> i don't know hin trump is to react to it yet but i think it's very, very important to, as we see these official denials from the saudis -- >> let's seeuihat real. so the saudis have officially denied it. i'm going to come back to jonathan. the saudi foreign ministry and the brother have tweeted, the last conta i had with mr. khashoggi was via text in 2017. i never talked to h by phone, never suggested he go to turkey for any rain. i asked the u.s. government to release any information regarding t>>s claim. have a text message from

erat is that message, monday, the 8th of oct this shows you how credible test he is. it includes you this line. itssure you t the reports that jamal khashoggi went eissing in istanbul or that the authorities h detained him or killed him are absolutely false and baseless. that's what he told me and i've published thi text exchange. and now he's saying it's all false. so you need to put the filter -- so here's the challenge for trump. trump has invested s muc in mbs. trump wants to -- trump wouldhi love n more than to be able to go back to doing business with the saudis, keepob putting into america, let the saudis chop off five people's heads andlame these rogue, you know -- >> it's all traactional? >> 100% transactional. when trump talks about this privatel with aides, h says, oh, you know, it's one guy. look at the chinese, look at all these other guys around the world. it's tough world. all these other dictators.

>> you all were on your phones talking toources before the show. what are you hearing? >> at this point, jonathan is right. i msin, the pnt has not, at least at air time, has not commented on this. he has indeed invested so much he mbs and saudi, as the bulwark iniddle east against iran and so on, making these arms deal. >> but the c.i.a has spoken up. >> they have. there have been moments before w the f.b.i., when the president did not agree with or like the conclusion thatp agency came u with. >> i remember helsinki. you were someone >> i may have been. the president has not been shy denouncing his own agencies. we'll see if it happens here. >> vivian, you covered the f pentagoneign affairs. what do you make of it? >> obviously his hands arehe tid at moment, because of the fact he invested so much in mbs, who was really an unknown when he came to power last year. he put a lot of power into his, son-in-l jared kushner's

hands in terms of managing that parelationship. of it was supposed to be a legacy relationship in the sense of turning things around from the obama administration. you know, getting close with riyadh again instead o iran, which had, you know -- the saudis had been angry over the iran nuclear deal. all of these things at play, plus the fact that he, you know, really touted this historic hitler deal with the saudis which he said -- historic military deal with the saudis, abouthe said were all jobs. now he's got to step back and say, well, you know, we're going to have to put our footown at some point. >> we'll keep an eye on all this it's breaking news. the reason we keep asking about who is talking to the president is becau it's a fluid time right now, inside of this white house. the president has made no secret about his pla to shake up his team. a name at the top of the list in the cabinet, per many reports, homeland security secretary kirstjen nielson. neilson's expected departure raises questions also about the job security of chief of staff

john kelly, who h brought into the white house. we've seen a shake-up pretty a so d.f.s. is kelly on his way oute' >> felt that kirstjen nielson has been on her way out for some time. the president in private has made no secret of the fact that he is displeased with her job performance, which the vast majority of her portfolio is immigration and what's going on at the border.mp she -- it'stant to point out that neilson, she is constrained uer immigration law, with certain things that she can do, but under theti administ, there was a family -- the zero tolerance policy earlier this year. you know, separate from dhs, the president did dispatch troops to th border to try to clamp down on security. but regardless of all that, the president is clearly displtsed with w she has done. >> why? he president,r she just hasn't gone far enough and the president doesn't understand that part of things. we know that she has indicated that she wants to sta on until at least december 6, which would

be her one-year tenure on the job. and i find it interesting, earliehe today in oval office, where he was asked, you know, he mentioned that he was pleased with almost all o my cabinet and their performance. and standing right behind himwa kirstjen nielson. >> what a scene. jonathan, vic vice president pes chief of staff, is he coming soon as chief of staff? >> it's not too soon, because trump has been talking to him about the job for months now actually. and in any normal universe, what trump has said to nic privately, according to multiple people who are in a position to know, he's basically the job.im when trump offers you a job, it's not a normal job offer. does this sort of loose, oh, i want you to do this. then the conversation continues. and there's never a finality to it. the problem for nick is there is a very aggressive internal backlash against him. and trump tends to get unsettled

when he hears from lots of peopleelling him not to do rmething. >> what's teason for the backlash? >> there's a lot of people in there who simply don't like him. it's really that simple. >> now, some people say,h, this is inside baseball. but personnel with this administtion can be policy in a sense. it's a revealing way to see this tministration and what's really driving presidenmp's agenda. you saw this week, the first lady even got involved in national security personnel. >> right. and ousted deputy security advisor. >> that's right. >> one of john bolton's top deputies. we saw jeff sessions, the target of the porsident's ire so long. but of course was very successful moving forward with the trump agenda, in the department of justice, even as he drew the president's wrath for recusing himself from the russian pbe. certainly john kelly, his fate remains uncertain, despite t proclamation that he'd serve until 2020. that was one that was not really taken seriously, either inside

or outside the wesin his departure, we've all is on hisohn kel way out. he's still in this position. but that could change at a moment's notice. certainly, if neilson were to leave, there is some suggestion that kelly may go out too, because the two are so tightly aligned. if he were to leave, that next chf of staff would play a significant role in the next few months or years of the trump administration. we saw at least for a time kel was somewhat successful, sort of organizing the paper process in the building, ming out legislation and stuff. he certainly lost some of the sway over the president. the neef of staff could perhaps begin it. >> perhaps. or the president alone, you've been tveling with him, a president alone in the world, is he also alone sometimes i the west wing? >> he's definitely stated numerous times that he thinks he's a spokesperson and would like to call s thets for tmself and not have to answer

to other people i white house. >> who is his main confidant these days? >> certain his daughter is somebody he's always kept close to him. as far as the main confidant, it changes every couple of weeks that people fall i and out of favor with this president pretty quickly. we have to undhnstand that kelly came into a pretty chaotic situation, where it was a new adminierration. they kind of just getting their sea legs, and he was supposedo, as this retired four-star general, instill some discipline into this white housme things changed but of course things loosened up again over the course of time. but what we're talking about is no ordinary personnel mofter. the chietaff is so significant and basically handles the daily issues of this white house. hill.'s turn to capito this week, senators and house republicans chose their party leadership. there were few surprises. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and minority leader chuck schumer were re-elected to

two year terms. republicansleed kevin mccarthy by an overwhelming vote. and house democrat leader nancy pelosi is hoping to be speaker of the house. but there is a rebel group of house democrats, at least 17, stro and today pelosi met with one of the ohioepresent fudge, who is considering a run for speaker.lo , by far the front-runner. but there's a lot of grumbling ing on in the democratic ranks. >> exactly. it's interesting. i think the senate and capitol hill generally is that nancy losi willomehow find the votes, whatever she has to do to get to 2018 to become speaker again. clearly right now she does not have them. we have about 20 memrs of the democratic caucus and incoming members as well who have vowed to oppose her on the floor. that's learly not enough. but there is a lot she can do with, you know, handing out valuable assignments on ways and

means or energy and commerce or promising to create new panels like we've seen with the climate change issue, whatnot. and we've seen, you know, various factions within the democratic caucus use that to their leverage, to gaine m influence within the caucus, the congressnal progressive ucus, a major block among the house democratic ranks. i met with a pelosi got promises from her that their members will play a more prominent rol in these very powerful committees and in influencing legislation, which is a big deal for them. the congressional black caucus, anotheren major infal bloc, is split, because as you talked about with marcia fudge coidering candidacy. >> marcia fudge, she doesn't have the congressional black caucus as seung min kim was saying, totally with pelosi has done a pretty good job of consolidating powers >> tha right. i'm certainly going to defer to you next. she still would be, as you said, e doesn't have this locked up

yet. she would still be the favorite. she is someone who has survived power struggles before. and one that -- it's interesti to see a lot of republicans almost rally to her support, in they feelse i think that she is a useful foil. we talked to people inside the white house. the preside certainly does have some respect for nancy pelosi. they have been able to work some deals together. but i think there's also a recognition that she is someone who they can easilyort of run against, an easy foil for them. >> can they really cut deals? what should wenow about the new minority leader, kevin mccarthy? >> kevin mccarthy, no one would call him a policy-wog, least of all himself. he is a political animal. he is like nate silver reading the polls, looking at the states, looking at the maps, geing on the phone. he's a hustler. he has great relationships, all the soft skills. hevenows what member needs, what they want.

>> is he going to try to build back the party? >> he is a much better politician than paul ryan, in the pure sense of, you know, glad handing, knowing what people nee what people want, having a feel for the caucus. onat will that amount to? i actually know, because i don't think they're going to get anything done in this new configuration. >> we'll see. infrastructure, prescription drugs. we'll save that for next week. we have to leave it there tonight. thanks, everybody, for being here. i really appreciate it. our conversation will continue on the "washington week" podcast. you can find that on our bsite, fridays after p.m., also on your favorite podcast app. i'm robert costa. a ha great weekend! we'll see you next time. ♪[music]

>> funding is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. newman's own foundation. donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cditural erences in our communities. the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! thank you! >> you're watching pbs.

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