plans for a joint women's ice hockey team got a somewhat frosty reception from south korea's coach sara murray adding somebody in north korean or south korea having somebody in supposedly on because it's a little bit dangerous on just written history because the girls have been together for so long. it's not just the sporting di lemma the political implications split opinion among south koreans. really a part of who would have thought i am worried about how the international community will react if we were to accept the north korean proposal for the olympics get there so i personally hope that we will not agree to it's nothing if you look at those things. and again it was up which it is can improve our image as the international community has been worried by the tensions that have had to go to meeting them to talk about sports first provides a good platform for talks on politics and other issues that is going to come into. that sentiment is echoed by experts who feel the olympic cooperation may pave the way for comprehensive peace talks and now i'm gonna share point about building trust betwee

i want to talk about the latest on the investigation now with cnn political correspondent sara murrayere she is. sara, thanks for joining us. what are we learning today about both steve bannon and cory lewandowski's testimony in front of the house committee? >> we know when steve bannon went he managed to infuriate both republican and democratic members, which is no small feet, because he wouldn't talk about his activities during the transition or during his tenure at the white house. and a number of lawmakers thought that an overly broad interpretation of executive privilege. axios did report what was apparently a slip-up. he talked about this meeting that occurred in 2016 between don junior and jared kushner was also at that meeting at trump tower with a number of rugs. and apparently according to axios bannon did say he spoke about that meeting with reince priebus, sean spicer and one who was at one point a spokesperson for the president's legal team. they did not get answers to the questions that they wanted. and they left with a similar feeling from corey lewandowski today. remem

we get more now on the latest from sara murray. >> did you order -- >> reporter: president trump using one of his favorite phrases to deny the bombshell report from the "new york times," that he called for special counsel robert mueller's firing last june. but a source confirms to cnn that trump did call for mueller's firing and that white house counsel don mcbeggahn refd the order. trump's effort to remove mueller came just a month after he created a firestorm by firing fbi director james comey. two people told the "times" the president expressed concern over what he saw as three possible conflicts of interest with mueller serving as special counsel. one involving a dispute at trump national golf club causing him to resign his membership. another made mueller's law firm had previously represented his son-in-law jared kushner and finally that trump had just interviewed mueller for comey's replacement as fbi director. white house lawyer ty cobb telling cnn we decline to comment out of respect for the office of the special counsel and its process. back in june, trump was also openly airi

our sara murray is watching all of it from west palm beach, florida, where the president is currently. a number of tweets and messages for the iranian people, sara? >> that's right. it's clear the president's mind is on foreign policy this morning and as you mentioned in that tweet he's coming out on the side of the protesters taking a strong line against the iranian government. obviously that matches with the tough talk we've heard from this president when it comes to iran. he also weighed in last night amid his new year's eve celebrations on north korea. he was asked about north korea's nuclear ambitions and their potential to reach the united states. all he would say, though, is we'll see. poppy? >> and he also this morning is taking to twitter, sara, talking about pakistan, really directing the message of pakistan's government leadership. do we know why? >> it's not clear exactly what has inspired this tweet from the president on pakistan this morning. i'll read it. he says, the united states has foolishly given pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years and they

let's go to sara murray in west palm beach where the. the is enjoying the final few hours of this working vacation. so many messages from him on iran yesterday during these protests, sara. >> reporter: that's right, poppy. as you said the president is on vacation for a few more hours before he heads back to washington, d.c., but it's clear that at least today and last night foreign policy has been the top of his mind. you saw his tweets this morning on iran, and then last night he was asked about north korea, and kim jong-un's nuclear threats. the only thing the president said about that, though, is we'll see, as he was headed into a new year's eve celebration. that's of course fitting with this president. he likes to keep any of his foreign policy plans pretty close to the vest. he has said time and time again he prefers to be unpredictable, poppy. >> and what is also at least a bit unknown what he means is what he wrote on twitter about pakistan. pakistan is responding. do we know where this came from? >> reporter: that's right. he's be

(steve) that was sara murray reporting.t year yet -- tweeting: "since taking office i have been very strict on commercial aviation" (catherine) this week president trump is scheduled to meet with top republicans in washington to discuss his 20-18 agenda. one issue that's expected to come up: the future of obamacare. and as kron four's white house correspondent mark meredith shows us, new government information shows millions of people could be affected. republicans spent most of 2017 trying to repeal and replace obamacare.but new numbers show that didn't stop 8.8 million people from signing up for health insurance."the demand for coverage seems to be incredibly strong"josh peck is the co-founder of the pro- obamacare group "get america covered". he says despite a shorter enrollment period and lots of confusion, he's happy people got the message."more people enrolled in these 45 days of open enrollment, than ever before that's a real testament to the demand"while enrollment on the federal exchange is now closed, six states a

sara murray has details on that. >> months after president donald trump's reported efforts to fire special counsel robert mueller, he is still fuming about the russia investigation. but now he's directing his ire at deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. rosenstein oversees mueller and the investigation. president trump has been airing his frustration about rosenstein. they say that seems like bluster. but it does give you a window into the fact that one year into trump's presidency, he is still extremely preoccupied by this investigation and looking for any way to bring a conclusion to it swiftly. now, we did get a comment from ty cobb, the white house special counsel and in his comment he said this. we do not find it to be a questions dense that there is an john lawsuit of onslaught of false stories circulating in what appears to be speculation about already reported buysace and corruption. >> and today, there are calls for republicans to return cash given by major donor and casino magnet steve wynn, who also happens to be the finance chair of the republican national committee. this fol

let's begin with cnn's sara murray at the white house. sara, what did the white house have to say about the president today on twitter referring to his own justice department as the deep state? >> reporter: that's right. a pretty surprising tweet from the president. certainly a shocking one. and one in which he left the white house press secretary to clean up his mess for him today. the white house insisting, no, no, the president doesn't believe that the entire justice department is part of the deep state. with a jam-packed legislative agenda looming, today, the president is talking about almost anything but. at stake early this year, funding the government. tweaking obamacare. renewing c.h.i.p., a children's health care program and striking an immigration deal. and while trump closed out 2017 with tax reform and high hopes for the new year. >> it will be a fantastic 2018. we're off to a very good start, as you know, with the great tax cuts and anwar and getting rid of the individual mandate, which was very, very unpopular, as you know. b

sara murray out front tonight. what more can you tell us? >> i think when you look at this, not really a surprise. obviously we know the firing of james comey is it a key element in mueller's investigation into whether president trump tried to obstruct justice. but take another look at michael flynn. remember, national security adviser ousted after lying sanction ws the russian ambassador including lying to vice president. so mueller can see that into ha window into any collusion along the way by the high ranking trump officials and other officials. we know he pleaded guilty to the fbi. but when you talk about the time line for mueller to meet with the president. "the washington post" says the coming weeks, that could mean in twi weeks, in two months. so not clear exactly what time line we could be operating under here. i think one thing though that you can certainly draw the conclusion of is, look, this mueller investigation is in full swing and clearly has no reservations about bringing in bigger targets. as you pointed out already spoken

(catherine) north korea is not the only controversial tweet from the president today..sara murray from our partnership with cnn has the latest from the white house. today the president appears more focused on airing grievances than on legislating starting his day with a tweet storm that continued into the afternoon. trump - calling for jail time for former hillary clinton aide huma abedin for reportedly including confidential government information in personal emails. adding on twitter -- "deep state justice dept must finally act? also on comey & others."the president's swipe at his own justice department coming days after he told the new york times he plans to stay out of the way of any investigations related to clinton's emails. "i have absolute right to do what i want to do with the justice department. but for purposes of hopefully thinking i'm going to be treated fairly, i've stayed uninvolved with this particular matter."the white house later clarifying trump's statement that the department of justice was part of a conspiracy called deep state.(sarah sanders/white house press secr

sara murray is at the white house. >> we haven't heard from the white house on this, but remember, this is a tweet from the president. it is essentially an official stately from the white house and it marks a change in rhetoric. remember, this is a president who has decided he's going to push the envelope when it comes to kim jong-un. he's not going to shy away from comparing the size and effectiveness of buttons in this case. but also from personal insults in the past. remember when the prosecute was abroad on his asia trip. he tweeted why would kim jong-un insult my by calling me old when i would never call him short and fat? not exactly the kind of diplomacy we're used to seeing but perhaps not a surprise from a president who billed himself in the campaign as someone who is going to be unpredictable. i think that's certainly what we've seen. >> it is certainly a ratcheting up of the rhetoric when it comes to north korea. >> reporter: especially when you consider what we heard from secretary of state rex tillerson. we heard that the u.s. would be willing to come to the table and have

sara murray is joining me now. ell me what's going on now. >> certainly not easy to do by angering both sides, but bannon did just that. he said he couldn't remember anything that went on during his tenure in the white house. the committee actually subpoenaed him, and this was six is hours of closed door testimony, steve bannon's attorney was on the phone with the counsel's office, and the white house counsel's office came back and said, you cannot talk about your time in the white house, which was very frustrating to lawmakers. he is not going to be on the hill today. the committee is giving him a little bit more time until the end of the month, and bannon's lawyer put out a pretty striking letter that we've been reporting on today that basically said, look, we need the white house and the hill to get on the same page about what we are actually allowed to talk about next time steve bannon comes up here. because you saw the reaction from lawmakers yesterday, brianna, they were certainly not impressed by bannon's app

for more let's go to cnn's sara murray at the white house. >> reporter: good morning dave and christine. president trump setting off a fire storm on thursday when in a private meeting with lawmakers he was discussing immigration and the issue of restoring temporary protected status came up particularly from people from african countries as well as haiti. as for the white house, they responded they did not deny that the president made these remarks. instead, a spokesperson raj shah said in part, president trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation. back to you guys. >> there has been a global outcry over this remark. mexico's former president vicente fox tweeted at trump, your mouth is the foul est shut hole in the world. with what authority do you proclaim who is welcome in america and who is not? america's greatness is built on diversity. or have you forgotten your immigrant background, donald? >>> as for the reaction from africa, let's go to cnn's f

. >> outfront now political analyst gloria borger and sara murray. talked to john dowd personal attorney. you heard the president he wanted to get all the credit i'd love to do it two or three weeks subject to my lawyers. then shockingly the lawyers come out and say, we'll decide. no decision has been made. talk to john dowd. what else can you tell us? >> well, look, i think what's going on here, and we heard this fromty cobb at the white house last night after the president spoke and from john dowd this evening. there is a shuffle brigade. and what they are trying to do is fix what the president said and say, wait, a minute, no desist has been made. it's up to the president's lawyers, as the president has kind of indicated. and i think what the president was doing last night, quite honestly, was playing to the american public. and saying, look, i have nothing to hide here. i would love to sit down and talk to the special counsel. so he's the good cop. and let the lawyers be the bad cop. and i think john dowd clearly is saying no decisions have been

lastly, david, and then we're going to go on this russia investigation and, yes, we broke the news, sara murray and team that steve bannon will be the next to be questioned by robert mueller. we still have the white house spokesperson standing at that podium and saying this whole thing is a hoax. what planet are they on? >> saying it emphatically. they are definitely on a different planet than house and senate republicans and democrats on committees investigating this. mueller's entire team and fbi agents. none of those people would say this is a hoax for the most part. the president is on a bit of an island here. what was so interesting in sarah sanders' exchange with maggie haberman, our colleague and contributor of "the new york times," when pressed it reminded me that the president spoke about this at a press conference almost a year ago. is she denying anything that the campaign did at large or is she just denying the president's action and knowledge? she separated out for a moment saying speaking that the president did nothing or knew nothing about this. that's what she is claiming. that

. >> sara murray out front, what is going on here? house for more details. but looks like a game of semantics here. maybe he's saying they didn't speak directly to steve bannon, instead conversations with steve bannon lawyer or maybe he's saying the white house hasn't asserted executive privilege. but here is what we do know, steve bannon was behind closed doors and testifying for nearly six hours and throughout that testimony he took breaks. and while taking breaks his lawyer would confer via telephone with the white house council office what he was allowed to say and come back with the guidane he could not talk about tran sticks or tenure in the white house. and in fact when sarah sanders the press secretary answering questions about bannon appearance today she didn't dispute the notion that these phone calls were going back and forth. instead she said it was totally normal for that to be happening. take a listen. >> that's the same process that is typically followed. sometimes they have a white house attorney present in the room. t

conduit to improve relations between the north and south is a good thing, the south's coach, american sara murraydr drawbacks from a sporting perspective. >> team chemistry. adding somebody in, north korean, south korean, adding somebody in so close to the olympics is a little bit dangerous just for team cre chemistry because the girls have been together so long. i think people understand this is a political statement. they understand north korea and south korea coming together, countries divided coming together through sports. it's a great story. i wish it would have happened earlier. >> we end with some fun and inspiration this saturday morning. the most-decorated american female olympic skier in history, julia mancuso, retired yesterday in wondrous fashion. fashioned as wonder woman. she made this downhill run in italy and received that champagne shower at the finish line. she said that the crazier she dressed, the last chance she would get emotional and cry. kind of like that. i picture my retirement hopefully going out, walking down the haullls someday, also dressed as victor blackwell, my b

. >> sara murray, thanks very much. we have mark hurtling with us now. former principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for asian affairs. what do you make of this tweet tonight? >> anderson, i'd suggest that it's not good to address complex, international engagement issues on twitter. diplomacy is not meant to be done on that kind of a device, and especially when you're talking about posing the world's most powerful man, president trump, the leader of the free world, with a guy who's really a third-rate dictator. you're putting them on an even keel and allowing them to be seen by the entire world going at this school yard bullying fight. having conducted exercise on the korean peninsula, if this comes to a catastrophic war or some type of conflict, it's going to be like nothing we've ever seen before, especially if it's some type of nuclear exchange which is what's been in these tweets. i don't see any of this as contributing to a diplomatic solution to what's been going on in the korean peninsula. and that's my primary objective as a former soldi

sara murray, that's an interesting conversation group. so this is where we are. david jolly, former gop member of the house from the state of florida. david, i can't wait to hear from you on what you make of this scene. >> listen, brian, we're there. we're at a shutdown. there's no way the house could actually pass anything that's different than what they sent to the senate. the only thing that might save them is if schumer and mcconnell are working on flipping ten votes. i think both bases have been served through this, and the party leaders know they have catered to their base in going up to this brink. the question is what does history hold? because these shutdowns, i've been through 20 years of them, they do not take a linear jump. we remember gingrich complaining about being in the back of it plane. in '13 we remember cruise and his crusade. will it be that schumer decided to try to play hardball? that verdict is days away if they don't solve this within the next 20 minutes. >> and what do you tell the folks back home? >> if you're a republican, and this is

sara murray is "outfront" at the white house. on this issue of the deep state, the president obviously seems to be making the case that his own justice department is part of a deep state conspiracy against him. what does the white house say about that today? >> that's right. and look, obviously, we have heard complaints from this president before about his own justice department. but it's striking that he would go so far as to liken the justice department to part of the deep state, suggesting there is this broad conspiracy that somehow is taking place to undermine trump's presidency. now, no surprise, white house press secretary sarah sanders did not go that far when she was talking to reporters today. she said that of course the president doesn't believe that everyone who works for the justice department is part of the deep state. but she did add caveats to that. she did say that the white house believes that there should be changes that are taking place within the ranks of the justice department. she pointed to the facthat the

what she said, sara murray, they were simply following in her words the same practices and processes that earlier white houses have followed. >> steve bannon did a particularly good job of inf infuriating republicans and democrats. it's not easy because of the scope of the way he talked about privilege. it's not unusual for the white house to be talking to these witnesses, to be going back and forth and protect privilege. they didn't admit they invoked executive privilege but didn't refuse to talk about things that happened. once in the white house, he refused to talk about things in the presidential transition before donald trump was the president of the united states. and i think that's one of the key questions the white house hasn't answered. how far are you pressing these witnesses to be tight lipped? it seems like the transition is part of that and what is the legal grounds for that? why can you tell people not to discuss even conversations that occur during the transition before trump was president? >> he obviously talked about these things publicly to michael wolf in an incend