that is a wrap for me. i'm alex witt. i'll look forward to seeing you again tomorrow morning. but right now i'll hand it over to my colleague, david. >> happy new year. see you tomorrow. hello, everybody. truth lies in an audiotape. more fallout from "fire and fury" from the white house and beyond. while michael wolff stands by his report, president trump dismissed the book saying he was never even interviewed. >> i hear in guy that does not know me doesn't know me at all, did not interview me for three hours. didn't exist. okay? it's in his imagination. >> i have recordings, i have notes. i am certainly absolutely in every way comfortable with everything i've reported in this book. >> the president goes on the defense and his republican colleagues are on offense

calling for a criminal inquire ary into christopher steele, the man behind the dossier as the fbi renews its probe into the clinton foundation. critics calling it fake and casting ahe oval office. the president is at camp davis, and he cannot retreat from questions aboutly mental stability calling himself, quote, a very stable genius on twitter this morning. the president also said his two greatest assets have been mental stability and being like really smart. the president elaborating on those tweets just a short time ago. >> i went to the best colleges or college. i went to a -- i had a situation where i was an excellent student, came out, made billions and billions 6 dollars, became one of the top business people. went to television and for ten years was a tremendous success as you probably have heard. ran for president one time and

won. >> jeff, what prompted this tweet storm this morning and the followup here from the president at that retreat in maryland? >> reporter: good afternoon. look, you can definitely draw a dwrekts li dwrekts li direct line between the tweet storm and the revelations in the book which paint a picture of president trump as emotionally erratic, perhaps intellectually mentally unfit, also a picture of the way in which maechbt president's advisers hold him in low arreregard. the book certainly struck a nerve. he was asked directly about it. and the president gave his longest strongest most specific answer. take a look at it. >> i will tell you the one description that everyone gave, everyone has in common, they all say he is like a child. and what they mean by that is he

has a need for immediate gratification. it is all about him. >> that we should say was the author of the book michael wolff speaking with savannah guthrie earlier this week. he is making one of the aemgtss abo allegations about the president, trying to how many advisers view him. i can tell you based on a conversation with a source familiar that many of the people in the president's orbit wanted in i am to ignore this book, to just let it slide. they thought for the president to yubd cut michael wolff as he has painted him as a fraud, to publicly exor great steve bannon for his role would just sdwrif more attention and more publicity for the book certainly as it has. but one thing we know about the president, his character is that he cannot let any slight go unaddressed. >> let me ask you what is supposed to be taking place here at camp david. we saw the president flanked

there. jeff sessions notably not present at camp davis this weekend. what do we know of the agenda they are trying to hammer out there at that retreat? >> they were there to talk about their legislative agenda for the remainder of the year. we know from chief staff john kelly that they spent a local of time talking about daca, the policy, obama era policy that president then rescinded and kicked over to congress giving lawmakers time to come up with a plan to keep the roughly 700,000 young people brought to the country illegally as children to keep some protections in place for them before that program ends in march. the other thing apart from policy that they are talking about is popolitics, how to kee control of both houses of congress. you have a president with historically low approval ratings, somewhere in 30% to 40% range. he said he wants to do what he with k. to help get members of

congress reelected. it remainings to be seen if they actually want his help. but on those two things, policy and politics, that what they were there talking about, not about the president's mental acuity. >> there you you intgo. jeff, thank you very much. president trump lashing out directly at michael wolff and that new book today. >> and then i hear this guy that does not know me, doesn't know me, did not interview -- he said he interviewed me for three hours. didn't exist. it is in his imagination. so many of the people that i talk about in terms of fake news actually came to the defense of this great administration and even myself because they know the author and they know that he is a fraud. the libel laws are weak. if they were strong, it would be very helpful. you wouldn't have things like that happen where you can say

whatever comes to your head. >> and i'm joined by ned price and evan mcmulcmullan, as well. let me start to your reaction to the book. the comments about the president's mental acuity. as you look at this administration contemporaneously, as you look back on the last year, how much of a concern has this been just for you the level of engagement that this president has with the issues and duties of the job? >> well, there is an adage in politics and communications that when you are explaining your losing and i think the president's tweets early morning, his statements earlier today, suggest not only that he is losing, but quite possibly that he has lost it as this book contends and those around him including some of his closest advisers previously served as his advisers would contend.

but i think this is manifested itself over the course of the past almost one year. you know, this book has really revived the conversation, but we've seen this all along. we saw it when he has taunted kim jong-un, just last week when he talk about the nuclear button, the size size of the nuclear burt ton tton on his de. many leaders who have been left stunned after meeting with president trump. commenting on his apparent lack of knowledge of the issues. so there is really nothing new that we've learned from this book, it has just put it all in one place and put it all in stark relief. >> and i want to ask each of you about what this says about the world in washington, d.c. and evan, let me ask you about that visit that the president took to the ceo about a day after he was inaugurated, he goes there in response to criticism that he alien natured the intelligence community, delivers an address

to the officers of the ceo.natu community, delivers an address to the officers of the ceo. and a huge point was to make things better. has he done that over the last year, has he made progress here fixing that alienation that was there early on? >> i don't think so. in some areas maybe his policies are consistent with elements of the agency's mission for example. but in general, his continued contempt for intelligence agencies and for law enforcement for the fbi continue to do harm to that relationship, continue to undermine those organization which is fulfill of course critical roles for our country, national security roles. and there remains quite a bit of concern at the agency among many people there at all levels about the president's ability to fulfill his role as commander in chief. >> ned price, how about in your world, looking at the relationships with national security advisers, michael flynn

and hr mcmaster who is described as a deer salesman in terms of look. what sense do you get about the advice he is getting from those advising him? >> i think that they are providing advice. people like hr mcmaster, people like secretary of defense mattis, like secretary of state rex tillerson are providing advice, but i think the open on question is the president listening to their advice and most importantly is he digesting that advice? this book and other accounts suggest that the president may sit there stone faced and really not take it in. and that includes in his morning intelligence briefing, in the pdb briefing. there is the notion that he doesn't actually read the document that is prepared for him. he may listen to the briefer, but how much he actually internalized is an open question and that question itself, it speaks to the dangers and threats that this president's inattention to issues including

issues of national security really presents to us. >> and this is something that the white house press secretary has been asked about a few times here. the president's mental fitness. let's take a listen to an exchange between sarah huckabee sanders and members of the white house press kcorps. >> should the americans be concerned about his mental fitness that he appears to be speaking so lightly about the threat? >> what is his reaction to the growing number of suggestions that he is mentally unfit to serve as president? >> when he goes to his physical, are there mental acuity tests that go along with that or is purely physical in nature? >> how does this all end it? i left the building yesterday wondering about the degree to which we should weigh in on this here on the program, but you see the president i thiengaging wit himself here on twitter and at camp david as well. how does this end? >> i think we have to step back

from this and realize how abnormal and how concerning it is that we even have to have this conversation about the mental acuity or mental fitness of our president, how serious of an issue that is. the truth is we're not going to know. there are experts that are credentialed to make these kind of judgments. most voters, and i do not possess that kind expertise, but i will tell you that as voters, all of us as citizen, we have to make judgments about our leaders and about people who wish to be our leaders even without having perfect knowledge and perfect expertise. and so this is a case where although we don't have that, most of us, we have to make a judgment about what kinds of leaders we want in the white house and in congress and we have to take that into consideration when we go into the ballot box. and as we head into 2018, knowing that we have the president that question do who i

believe is demonstrating extreme unfitness, something many of us warned of, we need to keep that in mind. we need a congress that will hold the president accountable and we need a free and independent press that will do the same. and we need to cast our votes in a way that allow that to happen. >> and ned price as i've made my way through the book, smpg that stood out is the way that the president reportedly consumes information and reacts to it. what do you make of the way that he reacts to news? obviously this is front and center and he is quick to talk about it, he wants to respond. what do you make of how on a day to day or hour to hour basis he seems to be respondinging to the news engaging with that kind of information in a way that maybe he is not engaging with the kind of intelligence briefings that you described? >> well, i think that is right. i think that the division of

what we've seen between how he assumes intelligence, how he consumes briefings that are presented to him by his team with disinterest and with a blank stare compared to how he watches cable news. most of the day according to some accounts. he occasionally live tweets fox and friends in the morning. so clearly he is paying attention to that. and i think it is especially dangerous for a president to be impulsive, to be quick to respond to cable news but for a president to be dismissive of the information that his national security infrastructure is providing to him. when his national security advisers come to him, it's often said that he erupts at them, that he erupts at bad news. and as president of the united states, that is your job to not only digest bad new, but to figure out how to respond to it. this is a president who does not want to do this, but he does as

you pointed out seem very eager to engage with the news media. >> all right. thanks to you both. and michael wolff will continue to unpack his book right here on msnbc and nbc. tomorrow he will join chuck todd on "meet the press." still ahead, new revelations in the russia investigation. the president speaking out about whether he tried to talk his attorney general out of recusing himself from the russia investigation. here's what he had to say about jeff sessions just about six months ago. >> i am disappointed in the attorney general. he should not have recused himself almost immediately after he took office. you not only want a clean feeling every day, you want your denture to be stain free. did you know there's a specialty cleanser that's gentle enough 12k3wr5ir7b8g9sd uktsd doctors 12k3w4r50i6r7b8g9 than regular toothpaste,andl color of your dentures

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. everything that i've done is 100% proper. there has been no collusion between us and the rub shan rus. there has been no crime. everybody tells me i'm not under investigation. maybe hillary is. i don't know. >> trump also standing by jeff sessions, but we should note sessions was not invited to participate in the gathering at camp david. this as nbc news is reporting that trump pressed sessions not recuse himself. and three congressmen are calling for sessions to step aside. and we somewhehave a criminal a

joining us. and mike, let me start with you. no collusion. we heard it 16 times. what do you make of what happened? they are eager to turn the page. nothing markedly has changed in order for them to say that the investigation is 23450eri innea end or done. >> mwhether he wants to admit t himself, it is sth a major threat for him and the country. take a step back. remember, we had a hostile foreign country meddling in our election. and russia or somebody else will be back to try to do the same thing in the next election. and any president who swears to uphold the constitution should be saying what can we do to protect the country but instead he keeps confessing to what looks like a lot of evidence of obstruction. he said he fired james comey

because of russia investigation. they pressured the attorney general to recuse himself and according to the new book, he said i want someone like roy cohn who is the corrupt henchman for joe mccarthy. the wou words out of the presids mouth keep tangling himself up. it reminds me of when nixon said i am not a crook. you don't want to repeat your own charge against yourself. >> and let me ask you about the president asking don mcgahn at the white house to try to dissuade jeff sessions from recusing mts himself. what is the gravity of that? >> you know, this issue of refusal and trump's lack of understanding about when it is warranted actually reminds me of a time not too long ago when then candidate trump wanted a

hispanic judge to refuse himself from presiding over his cases simply because he was hispanic. but for some reason, can't understand and went to great lengths to try to prevent sessions from recusing himself from overseeing an investigation into the trump campaigning in which he was a former adviser to. so trump just doesn't care about the role of an attorney general. what he cares about is that he has an attorney general who is going to protect and serve his personal interests and not the interests of the american people. this is problematic moving forward because what we have seen from trump is that he is willing to get rid of whomever whoever doesn't play by his rules. and that is setting a dangerous path right now because what is the reason for wanting to remove jeff sessions now? i don't agree with the direction he wants to take the department. but he did the absolute right thing. he saw that there was smoke and where there is smoke, there is fire. and jeff session is trying to get out of that kitchen because he does not want to get burned.

>> let me play an exchange here about the role of the attorney general. let's take a listen. >> is it jeff sessions' job to protect the president? >> i think sessions shouldn't have refuscused himself. >> is it his job to protect the himself? >> it is his job to do his job. >> is it jeff sessions job to protect the president? >> i think it is jeff sessions job to be the attorney general. >> you keep giving me the same answer. >> and it went out. what is your sense of the job of the attorney general is? we heard him invoke loyalty in the context of talking about eric holder and the relationship that he had with president obama. to whom is the attorney general accountable? >> the attorney general's client is the country, not the president. there is always political loyalty, the attorney general and the president presumably are

broadly on the same page as a matter of policy. but we as a country since watergate especially have developed the idea that you protect the law best when there is some independence on the part of the attorney general especially when the matter comes to whether the president is investigated or not. under bill clinton where i worked, janet reno agreed with bill clinton's policy, but she appointed special prosecutors to the great unhappiness of a lot of people in the white house because she thought it was the right thing to do. it is not always a comfortable relationship, but a smart client doesn't want a comfortable relationship, they want someone who will follow the law. >> and one other element of the news, two ranking senior members of the senate judiciary committee including the chairman asking the justice department to look into christopher steele. how important is that, what happens next now that that criminal referral has been made? >> well, the criminal referral was made, but the justice

department doesn't have to look into it. it was just a referral. it is kind of funny that this is now happening. you have to kind question the timing of this all. is it another distraction along with the clinton foundation investigation? is this another attempt to distract us from what is going on right now as an american? i'm concerned with what is happening with our current administration but that affects me and everybody else now. so if there is a crime that was committed, there is evidence of that, absolutely look into it, investigate. but i can't help but to wonder is this someone that the republicans are looking do in order for us to be distracted with what is going on now? we need to focus on this administration and whether we have a corrupt government. >> and weigh this here especially with the news that the fbi is looking into the clinton foundation. >> what is new and disturbing is that president trump publicly

demanded that the fbi investigate his opponent. and now they are. and that is a really dangerous -- kind of a tin pot authoritarian move and it is troubling also when you see not just his own inner circle, but now elements of the republican party doing things like pointing the finger at the guy who by all accounts alerted law enforcement about the russian efforts in our elections, christopher stooem. more and more people are taking actions that are less and less defensible and there is always politics, also partisanship. but sooner or later, the best interests of the country and its democracy have to take precedence. and people will be held accountable if they aren't. >> michael, thank you very much. than you thank you to you both. and still ahead, how the author appeared to be unfettered access to the white house. >> i will tell you the one description that everyone gave, everyone has in common, they all

say he is like a child.

president trump lash position out this afternoon at michael wolff, author of the book fire and furey, while also taking a shot at steve bannon."o

taking a shot at steve bannon. >> i never interviewed with him. he was never in the oval office. and i did a quick interview with him a long time ago having do with an article. but i don't know this man. i guess sloppy steve brought him into the white house quite a bit and it was one of those things. that is why sloppy steve is now looking for a job. >> the president's reaction is following the book release and wolff's exclusive comments on "today." >> i absolutely spoke to the president. whether he realized it was an interview or not, i don't know. but it certainly was not off the record. i will tell you the one description that everyone gave, everyone has in common, they all say he is like a child. and what they mean by that is he has a need for immediate gratification. it is all about him. they say he is a moron, an

idiot. this man does not read. does not listen. so he is like a pinball just shooting off the sides. my credibility is being questioned by a man who has less kr credibility than perhaps anyone who has walked on earth. and the president has tried to put this book about steve bannon. so let me say very fort rightly, this book is not about steve bannon. this book is about durd.rightly this book is not about steve bannon. this book is about durd. donald trump. >> joining us now, ken vogel, julia amesly and also the justice reporter and also he had t i had the tore at lea large for magazine. matt, what is the takeaway for you?tore large for reason magazine. matt, what is the takeaway for you? >> i think this is a

preponderance situation. we have gotten reporting including from some of our panelists here of yes, his staff treats him like a child and all these types of details. it is stacked up level of detail there added with what mike wolff claims and i find it hard to believe where he says every single person believes that he is unfit to be president. that is a lot to take in and you can see the president being very defensive on that and saying that he's smart and all these kinds of things. it's a weird thing to think about being in a country where the president's cabinet in theory and certainly a lot of republicans in the united states senate think that he is fundamentally kind of wrong or off in some ways. and it calls into question what then. how do you behave then. people like lindsey graham and john mccain who agreed on everything in life disagree about that. lindsey graham is playing interference in the russia investigation and the mccain world is beating him up for it.

so an interesting challenge. >> alex, we heard from the president this morning speaking of camp david the frustration was palpable a few hundred miles away here in new york. the white house upset about this book, what is conveyed in it and how it came together on. what do you make of the reaction and the white house's willingness to engage with it to the level it has? >> well, this was another sort of random bomb that blew up in the white house's face. in the first week of the new year. they came out of 2017 on a real high. he signed the big tax bill right after christmas. he thought that was the biggest accomplishment of his presidency. and he was hoping to turn that momentum toward new policies in the new year. and instead he has to deal with this book. instead of just letting it slide like his advisors apparently but telling to him, he took him on in a public way. and julia, how does this change your world? there is a dhap ter hes is a chn

james comey. the president's in-aability to understand what motivates james comey. how does it change your understanding of that relationship between those two men and what we know of where the russia investigation is at this point? >> well, it really kind of coincides with what we knew about the way that the president viewed james comey and how he viewed his relationship with the intelligence community overall. we saw people were badmouthing comey as well as john brennan in this book as the trump president city was coming into office. we also now know from recent reporting and recent days about the way the white house saw jeff sessions, that it was his job not to recuse himself and to try to protect the president during the russia investigation. it paints a picture of someone who is either very misinformed or very angry about the tradition that is supposed to keep a wall between the white house and the justice department.

and as alex said, the white house could have stayed back from all this, continued to ride on the high after the tax bill. instead they have gotten so involved that they are bringing all of these things back up to the surface again and it really bh begs in to question does the white house and this president bring up things as a deliberate distwraraction or did he just n help himself. and this is the same thing that got him into trouble in those early conversations with james comey. >> ken vogel, at the center of this book is steve bannon. he played an outside role in the administration from day one. central to this as well is the relationship to rebecca mercer, to bob mercer her father, these big republican fundraisers. what is his level of influence at this point? you heard the president say he's looking for a job. i believe he's still at bright part news. how does it change the role that he plays within the republican party at this point? >> well, his influence and his

relevance is vastly diminished as a result of this episode. it's not just that he has lost the blessing of donald trump from whom he was sort of drifting anyway. and causing problems for in alabama, promising to recruit these candidates who would challenge republican incumbents in the midterms in just 11 months from now. and he has lost his financial backing, the mercers. it is impossible to overstate the impact that the mercers' funding has had on steve bannon's ability to build a platform that he has used to drive this sort of possible uhe list national list messaist mes the republican party bloodstream and into donald trump's campaign without either the financial support or the blessing of donald trump. it is hard to imagine how he really excerpts a great deal of influence over the 2018 mid terms in a way that he has staked his reputation on. >> and led read the statement,

my family and i are v. not communicated with steve bannon in many months and provide in order financial support to his political agenda nor do we support his recent answers and statements. we get a great look at this triumpherant. jared kushner, steve bannon, reince priebus, all fighting no who will be in control of this white house. and indeed the president's agenda. what sdl sdm tell ydoes that te the direction of the administration and the republican party? i think steve bannon would say he was fighting for the soul of it. where does this leave the republican party? >> if donald trump is kind of the sypher in the middle of the book and the excerpts that we've all read, he is someone we don't really know what he thinks and people kind of work around him, i think that there is a blooder s symbol of that is where the republican is. there used to be the rand paul tea party upstarts and the angry birds and john mccains on the other side and they are duking

it out over foreign policy over things like surveillance and civil liberties pretty well defined. and fiscal conservativism. all that has gone out the window. where is fiscal conservativism in the party route now? everyone is kind of shellshocked figuring out how to act vis-a-vis the person in the center of the party who just won a populist campaign, but doesn't have a lot of politicians and allies who share his own program. not a lot of trumpees out there who hold office. so the republican party is an absolute mess. it is ill defined. there isn't any hardcore center to it. >> and as the president spoke this afternoon, i was watching those around him and a question a reporter asked is do you plan to play a role in the 2018 elections. i was looking for reaction among the republican leadership there. are republicans happy to have him on the campaign trail for their candidates near 2018? >> well, i think at this point they will be happier to have the president than steve bannon. i think you will see him in some limited measure on the campaign trail, but there will certainly

be candidates who will shy away from him. you always have to think hard about whether you want a president whose approval ratings are in the 30s to come out on the campaign trail for you in a competitive state. >> all right. thank you all very much for the time. still ahead, xwgop delegate discuss the future of daca and the border wall. what is at stake for the millions of d.r.e.a.m.ers whose legal status remains uncertain? the winter of '77. i first met james in 5th grade. we got married after college. and had twin boys. but then one night, a truck didn't stop. but thanks to our forester, neither did our story. and that's why we'll always drive a subaru.

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we want the wall. the wall is going to happen or we won't have daca. we want to get rid of chain migration. very important. and we want to get rid of lottery system. in addition, we want money for funding. we need additional border security. i believe that mexico will pay for the wall. i have a very good relationship with mexico. as you know, we're negotiating nafta. we'll see how that goes. but mexico will pay in some form. >> president trump earlier this afternoon speaking about the border wall he wants to see built along the u.s./mexico border, echoing again mexico will pay for it, but his administration is seeking $18 billion from congress. mexico has repeatedly said it will not pay for that barrier. and so far the proposal calls for 316 miles of additional barrier, bringing the total coverage to nearly half of the border and 407 miles of replacement or secondary fencing all by september 2027.

high cost is parts of the trump administration's demand to strike a deal under the daca program leaving some top democrats warning of a potential government shutdown. let's bring in our gop strategist and howard dean. lauren, let me start with you. the president with steve scalise and kevin mccarthy and other member of the leadership bl projecting unity moo ity among ranks. how much does that that really translate on this issue and others? >> well, i think that what the white house is asking for regarding the border wall, i think that is more of a negotiation tactic. you know, he has to talk about the walled to appease his base, but it is not a very politically popular concept. but what is politically popular is protecting d.r.e.a.m.erss. various polls have showed that at least 80% of americans support finding a solution for d.r.e.a.m.ers. so what i think would be better to do for the president and for

leaders on the hill would be to come to an agreement on daca, certainly you could include some border security measures. but the political consequences of not addressing the daca situation are dire. >> governor dean, does president trump get that? i go back to the article in the "times" about a meeting on immigration early in the summer in the white house. in which the president expressed some sympathy for the d.r.e.a.m.ers. why isn't that manifesting itself, why can't he get beyond this one fast set of his immigration policy? >> i think it is almost impossible to say why trump does what he does. he does live in a bit of an alternative universe. but i think there is no reason for the democrats to vote for the continuing resolution if they don't get anything out of it. and the two things that we care about the most are the reauthorization of the children's health insurance program, which is having an immediate effect now on kids losing their health insurance and the d.r.e.a.m.ers. and so if they are not willing to compromise, why should they

expect democratic votes? >> dick did yoat this point are convinced that there could be ad not see the democrats as culp able? >> i'm not sure they could be possibly seen as culpable. they are in charge of everything. if they wanted to pass a continuing resolution with anything they wanted in it, they could. but they don't have the votes in their own party. they are hardly expect to rely on the democrats to vote these ridiculous right where i think things that will be in that bill without some concessions of the people we care about.i think things that will be in that bill without some concessions of the people we care about. especially children. >> and looking at who is lined up there today, stage left paul ryan, and you look at this book by michael wolff and the sdripgts of t description of the uneasy

relationship that the president has had with the speaker from day one, paul ryan not shy of expressing his distaste for the candidate donald trump when the campaign was under way, what kind of relationship do they have now, who is he working with in congress, what is your sense of the working relationship between the white house and the congress? >> well, i think what is going on capitol hill, you do see some people who are very willing to work with the president, try to come to some agreement. some people like lindsey graham who is also a very focal critic of the president on the campaign trail. but look, ultimately, you know, what i wish that they would have talked about today was continuing to tell people about the tax bill that passed at the end of the year. we had great momentum. and also what they discussed at camp david, whether an infrastructure plan or also coming to an agreement on the d.r.e.a.m.ers issue. they would have been better served to discuss that today. >> what do you make of the president talking about his mental acuity, responding to what is in that book and what is in the conversation about

whether or not he is up for the job and engaged with the job? >> well, he would have been much better served to not have addressed the book at all. you know, if he had spent this weekend and past couple days reminding people about the tax bill, talking about the agenda for this year, he would be much better served and i do believe that he is adding fuel to the fire and probably selling more books for mr. wolff. >> all right. thank you both. and still ahead, dangerous cold. a look at the record low temperatures and how long they could last. for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.

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welcome back. here are the headlines we're watching at this hour. president trump and top members of the gop spending a working weekend at the damp davcamp dav retreat trying to hammer out key events for this year's agenda including the future of daca and the border wall. missing from that power panel? attorney general jeff sessions who reportedly was not invited to attend. expect to see more tweets from the commander in chief announcing that it will not lock world leaders or today light any of their controversial posts. doing so would hide important

information people should be able to see and debate. and john young has died according to a statement from nasa. young who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight was 87 years old. bomb cyclone is gone, but the bitter cold remains as almost half the country battles below freezing temperatures. as many as 28 may have died from the extreme weather and cold temperatures could stick around for a little while longer. bonnie schneider is here with us for the latest. >> and the cold is continuing. the bitter arctic air reinforced by that huge snowstorm we had earlier in the week. and what that means as the cold air is here to stay for the weekend. so right now in washington, d.c., it feels like it is only 4. it feels like it is in the negative numbers in the upper midwest. and for sunday morning, we're looking at windchills of negative 12 in cleveland and it will feel like only 11 in nashville.

so the cold is stibli sticking the next couple days. and we have a storm system out of canada and eventually that snow will work its way through the great lakes and also heavy down pours in the mid sort, rain across mississippi, alabama and northern georgia. eventually it may bring snow across parts of upstate new york and into pennsylvania. record low temperatures are possible for sunday morning. look at this, the low temperature typically gets down to i'd say maybe in the 20s this tooik ti time of year, but we're dropping down to 1 in philadelphia. that would likely shatter the record of 4. and even colder further northeast. bangor, it will get down to negative 14. so that is likely also to shalter a record. you may be wondering where is the warm air and when will it be here? well, eventually all the warm air across the west will, would its way to the east. it will just take a couple more days. so temperatures are still cold

on suchbd, but nday, but middle the week, we'll start to see the warmth spread out and we'll start to get some improvements in the forecast. until then, we're still dealing with the arctic cold that is taking over a good portion of the east. i'm sure many people are ready for the warmth to get here. >> absolutely. b bonnie, thank you. more on the president trump tweet storm later here. i've said from the beginning i think he has short term memory loss. because when he says it and the next minute he says it again. >> next hour we'll have a couple doctors with us to discuss the headlines the president is making about his mental health. ♪ this is what our version of financial planning looks like. tomorrow's important,

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women coelcome back. all eyes this afternoon on camp david where it is all about tweets from a retreat president trump is attending along with top congressional republicans and administration officials. as he so often does on saturday mornings, he made headlines with a series of tweets, in this one defending his mental fitness and calls himself a very stable genius. this a day after the "fire and fury" because released, a would book that questions the president's intelligence. president trump not shy to share his thoughts about guy that does

not know me, does not -- he said he interview need three hours in the white house. it didn't exist. it's in his imagination. sole of t . so people that i talk about in terms of fake news actually came to the defense of this great administration and even myself because they know the author and they know he's a fraud. the libel laws are weak. if they were strong, it would be very helpful, you wouldn't have things like that happen where you can say whatever comes to your head. >> president trump just moments ago, jeff bennett is live at the white house. the president said 2018 will be a great year, hard to top 2017. and then he took some questions from reporters. how did we get from talking about the agenda to again talking about michael wolff's book? >> yeah, the president engaged directly on that question from a reporter, the reporter asking the president why did you see fit to talk about your mental fitness on twitter. and the president gave his most