welcome back, everyone. 31 past the hour. here's what we're monitoring for you. new questions this morning after a week of stunning headlines on the trump white house. to name a few, president trump made an unexpected tariff

announcement and gave mixed messages on his gun control position. jared kushner lost his top security clearance. some of his loans came under fire. a business deal by ivanka is reportedly being investigated. he sparred with sessions. hope hicks resigns. looking for a replacement for h.r. mcmaster. chief of staff kelly misrepresents his handling of former white house staffer rob porter. got all that? let's bring in a team. joe watkins, political analyst rick tyler. you guys have all of that straight? there's so much going on this week. >> and indicted on new charges. >> that's right. i should have had that as well. i'm going to ask you all to think about what the most important thing is, the most significant thing. i will start with you, atima.

what do you think it was? >> i think it is a combination of sort of all the questions around the ethics in this white house, whether it be hope hicks's resignation after she knits she tells the president white lies. a big ethics cloud that is getting bigger and darker around the white house. that has been the theme, some of the standouts. >> ethics for atima. joe, what about you? >> well, i'm going to agree with atima. i think the cloud around jared kushner is about to get a lot worse given what's come out this past week. whether it is gun control or the president's surprise announcement of raising tariffs on these aluminum and steel imports, that's all bad news. that's bad policy. not well thought. but it even took republicans by surprise. it is going to end up hurting

american workers as well as trade partners. >> and rick, what's most alarming for you, most significant? >> i think all of those things are alarming. but to me the most alarming thing was buried in the meeting that the president had with congressional leaders over gun. control when he said we take the gun and do due process later. you may disagree with people on the second amendment or even me and the second amendment. but when you take away due process, that is like saying you and i could be arrested and go to jail for saying something the president or any politician doesn't like. >> the president was referring to those who may have a history of mental will health issues. just take the guns, due process later. right? >> yeah. but you have to have a law to do that. >> i'm not disagree with you, trust me. i agree. all right. so we've got -- >> you don't want a unilateral president who makes up laws.

that's what putin's regime looks like. people look to the united states for free inspect people who govern themselves. >> 100%. all right. ethics, tariffs, due process for you, rick. all right. let's go to what the "new york times" has, joe. an article reading in part that trump has at times confused some of his aides and allies with seemingly ad hoc, gut-driven proposals that conflict with republican ortho docksy like seizing guns from the mentally ill without due process where other politicians strain for at least the appearance of consistency, mr. trump shows no reluctance to think out loud and change his mind. how do you know how to move forward when that is coming from top leadership? >> it is very, very hard.

very hard when you don't know which way the president stands. it's hard for the staff when they don't know what he will say next. when i worked for the president of the united states, we were never surprised by anything the president said because before he said it there has been lots of discussion about it and we knew what page we were on. that's not so with this white house or this president. it is very, very difficult. he may have a meeting with republicans and democrats and come to a conclusion that reasonable gun control makes sense. and then talk later on that evening and decide everything they said earlier in the day is out the door. very, very difficult for republicans. difficult for staffers. difficult for democrats. difficult for the country. >> all right, rick, what about this feud between the president and attorney general sessions after he made another swipe at him on twitter. he was seen with rod rosenstein and the solicitor general. how do you interpret that? >> i think the president uses

him as somewhat of a punching bag and distraction. there is all of this news over here. the reason he's upset with jeff sessions is because, one, he's frustrated with this russia investigation which they are recused from. and, two, he won't open up new one for political he opponents, including former secretary of state. jeff sessions stood his ground. i thought it was actually really good. he was seen dining with rod rosenstein who put out indictments on the 13 -- i'm sorry. made a statement about the russian hacking that it did occur. he said, look, i'm tkpog to do my job. if the president wants to fire me, i'm willing to stake the job that i have always wanted on it. john kelly, by the way, is doing the same thing with jared kushner. >> how so?

>> he is basically saying i'm in charge here. he makes him do staff updates that shows he's in charge. he's limited access to ivanka in limited order. and took away his security clearance. he was thoroughly diminished. he said, look, i'm in charge. the president can reverse that by giving classified information. he can do that as president. but john kelly saying he's willing to stake his job and the fact that i'm in charge here. if i can't be in charge, i'm willing to get out. >> what were you going to say? >> i find the sessions situation to be a very interesting thing. i think reince priebus will put in his upcoming memoir how he had to run to his car to stop him from reis signing. this sort of weird relationship where they both need in eve, he

wants this job and to stay in it. he is recusing himself from the russia investigation. and you can't let him go because that would very much upset his base. and so they're in this weird holding pattern. it is tenuous at best how they get along. in some way sessions has showed his muscles a little bit, especially when he went out to dinner with rod rosenstein. >> sit tight. we will talk about hope hicks and white lies with all three of you. coming up next, the money trail leading to a myriad of trail. how does it factor into robert mueller's investigation? we'll take a look. boost high protein nutritional drink has 15 grams of protein to help maintain muscle and 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d. all with a great taste. boost gives me everything i need...

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new developments in the russia investigation. it appears special counsel robert mueller's team may be zeroing in on jared kushner. fellow investigators are looking into whether business discussions during the presidential transition later shaped white house policies. here to explain the legal ramifications is former federal prosecutor cynthia oxnade. with a good morning to you. we have sources saying that mueller's team is asking witnesses all about kushner's conversations during that whole period with regard to his family real estate business. if there is wrongdoing here,

what are the charges kushner could face? >> well, what mueller is looking at, rye to remember there's two basic things he's looking at. he's looking at the e-mails and whether or not when the russians hacked the e-mails and used them to effect the election, whether or not americans were involved and colluded with that. and that key investigation involves three people, kushner, don jr., and paul manafort. and so there are all kinds of investigations going on with those lee people to find out what happened in that june 16th meeting and whether or not there was an agreement in some way that meeting or before to use them to effect the election and that the trump campaign was participating in that. now we are hearing about all the questions revolving kushner. other investigations are going on in each of the three.

the pressure is heavy on kushner that we know. but probably what is the next thing that is going to happen in that, it's not kushner. that is happening under the radar. it's manafort. he is in a really tough situation. he has been charged and he's -- the charges are easy to prove. he's 69 years old. or his birthday is coming up. you know how they have a tendency to get your focus. he's out of money. he owes a russian oligarch $20 million, allegedly who is a mob guy. and his best friend or business partner is testifying against him. and he's going to have to go to trial in september in virginia. as soon as manafort makes a decision, and i believe he will plead guilty because in his best interest, we will be able to find out more what happened and

whether there was a deal and whether trump was involved. it looked like he knew something based on his statements. at the same time, you have kushner. if you take a piece of paper and put on the left side of the paper conflict of and and the right side of the paper conspiracy to defraud the united states and you draw a line, he's somewhere on that line. and that's what the mueller team is trying to find out. has he actually used his influence in the white house to affect his business over american policy. that would be a conspiracy to defraud the united states. >> if you look at these three, manafort is the only one who is not a family member, right? you're thinking he pleads guilty in a plea deal? that's what this is all about? >> he yeah. i think he will because it is in his self interest. otherwise, he will go to jail for the rest of his life. and nobody wants to go to jail or to the rest of their life. that's what he's facing.

what's interesting, if you look at the timeline on that big meeting in june, that's really what you have to stay focused on. hope hicks is beautiful and it's great. but if you focus on whether americans were involved in allowing the russians to come in and affect our election, if you look at the meeting and the timeline, it's interesting because the meeting is set up. once the meeting is set up, the new jersey primary happens. and president trump is rifting after the new jersey primary win. he teases the press. we're about to have a big announcement about hillary. i'm sure the press will want to know about that. he teases that. it is fascinate to go watch. when you see, what does he know? something is up.

then they had the meeting. they don't get anything in the meeting. and the following monday he's like, oh, never mind. we're not going to talk about that right now. so everything has to do with those e-mails and whether or not trump was involved. it is interesting to relook at what trump said. >> meaning the president knew about that meeting, knew what the expectations were, got nothing, said nothing. >> right. >> question about what nbc news is reporting, mueller is now asking witnesses if the president was aware that the democrats's e-mails had been stolen. so how does this play into the president's case here? >> it fits in perfectly. if there is this meeting in june and if manafort, kushner or don jr. told the president, oh, we're meeting with the russians and they have these e-mails, that's what mueller needs to find out. that's what we're trying to find out.

it makes since that is what he's doing and asking all of these questions to find out the truth. it is one thing if it is spy craft and the russians do it. it is a totally other thing if americans are involved in letting the russians get involved in our election process. and that's why i think mueller sees this not as an attempt to get trump. he sees it as his patriotic duty, how has the american election process been elected and what does he need to do so it doesn't happen again. >> it is not a case of opposition research as the president tried to classify all of this. cynthia, we will be talking again. appreciate your time. thank you. "vanity fair" called hope hicks the linus of the west wing, trump's security blanket. next hour, one of the congressman on the intel

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our ideas, we gave our, how would i say it, we gave our view of what the story was. >> former trump campaign adviser sam nunberg on reports that hope hicks told house committee investor investigators that her work required her to tell white lies. the white house said her decision to resign what been in the works for several weeks. does everyone in washington tell the occasional white lie? and democrats included? >> well i'll tell you what -- >> yeah, yeah. >> i'm sure when it comes to certain things. but anything that you know, in regards national security or things the president needs to know, i would hope not. >> what about, rick, if you were being asked by intelligence community investigators whether you told a lie in a political context, what would you have to say? would you have handled that any differently than hope hicks did?

>> you have to tell the truth. i think in some sense, i don't think it was very fair the way the committee treated hope hicks. every major political figure has hope hicks, someone who takes care of things for them. they're sort of like you imagine radar o'riley on m.a.s.h., they know where all the passwards are to social media. it's an important, it's an important job. and i think the president is going to really be frustrated without her. and also, even if she was thinking about this for weeks. you don't come to the white house and discover i'm going to move on to other things. you serve your term in the white house. so she was clearly frustrated and no longer happy serving the president. >> what do you think, joe, was she treated unfairly in this interview? >> this interview was always going to be tough. i agree with rick, you have to be honest. you can't mislead the committee. you got to be honest. >> it appears that she was, she

was hesitant. she knew what she was being asked and she leaned over twice to her attorney before answering the question. >> the white house is a tough place. if i were the president, i would have never suggested to jared kushner or ivanka or who hope hicks to come work with me in the white house. it's a tough place, you have to know what you're doing, you have to understand the scope of the job, the scope of the kinds of decisions you're going to have to make. the work of the president of the united states, it's serious business and it's easy to get in trouble if you don't know what you're doing. >> last word to you atima. sum it up in your sentiments to hope hicks. >> a lot of folks have said she's young, she doesn't know what she's doing. but and i think that the we can agree, there's a lot of young people who come and work in the white house. in that capacity and were very young when they first started. certainly that was definitely bo obama's staff. she was very much in over her head she hadn't worked in politics before. there's a lot more you can get

away with when you're working for somebody in business that you can't quite do. when all of the lights are on. >> well good to see you guys, thanks so much. coming up next hour, admitting to white lies, how did hope hicks' private testimony before the house intel committee actually get out. i'll speak to house intel member mike quigley. e ones we love. who never stop wondering what we'll do or where we'll go next. we the people who are better together than we are alone... are unstoppable. welcome to the entirely new expedition.

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good morning, i'm alex