boris sanchez, cnn at the white house. >> the chief diplomat correspondent for "the new york times" is in brussels right now. it seems the white house was quick to distance itself from steve wynn.

let's go now to cnn white house correspondent boris sanchez. boris, is it likely that the republicans will support the plan to protect mueller and team? >> hey there, fred, yes, i actually just heard from a republican operative close to the leadership who told me the chances of them taking up these two bills are low and, in part, because it could lead to a debate that would split party. on one hand, you have the two co-sponsors of these bills, lindsey graham, as well as tom tillis, and on the other, you have people like mitch mcconnell who back in august when these bills were first introduced said it simply wasn't a priority for republicans. and back then, rumors were swirling that robert mueller was going to be fired by president trump. when there was assurances made by the white house and others in the administration there was no such plan in place, the push died down. in light of this new "new york times" reporting, democrats are picking up the push yet again. here's senator mark warner, the highest ranking democrat on the senate intelligence

we go to white house where we find our correspondent boris sanchez. is the president or the white house respond fing to the the n efforts to prevent him from firing the special counsel? >> we have reached out to the ask about the democrats pushing for these bills to be in talks as some democrats have indicated they may do, but no response from the white house. these bills were introduced in august, and there are two separate bills and both of them cospore cospore -- cosponsored for the republicans in this legislation in the past summer and fall when there were assurances are from the white house, prand the administration ta that there was no plan in place to fire robert mueller, and the push for these bills subsided and in light of the recent reporting that cnn has confirmed that the president has told his legal koun stole have robert mueller fired, you now have a renewed push by the democrats and chuck schumer is putting out the statement saying it is the most important thing that congress can do now. and this is mark warner from the senate ethics co

i'm boris sanchez. unprecedented security to ring in 2018 in times square last night. >> it was 9 degrees, minus 4 at the stroke of midnight. that makes this the second coldest times square ball drop on record. in las vegas, 350 members of the nevada national guard helped police keep tens of thousands of partiers safe. >>> in iran, 10 people have died in anti-government protests. the country's minister for communication and technology said iran is not restricting social media sites which helped to fuel these protests. state media has reported that access was being limited. president hassan rouhani addressed the country and said people are free to protest but warned against violence and vandalism. >>> an investigation is under way to the determine the cause of a deadly plane crash in costa rica. ten americans and two costa rhee can pilots were killed. five were from one family in westchester county, new york. it crashed minutes after taking off, leaving no survivors. >>> meantime in california, a sheriff

boris sanchez is in nashville where the president is set to speak. boris sanchez are we expecting this controversy to come up at all in his address and or is it all about look at me and taxes and what we're about to accomplish in this country. >> reporter: brooke, when it comes to president trump in front of friendly crowds you can expect the unexpected. you know when he's around his supporters in an atmosphere like this one he is prone to relish the moment and to go off-the-cuff and to attack his political opponents, whether it be democrat decs, and other republicans and potentially his former white house chief strategist steve bannon or the auth are on of "fire and fury" he's here to deliver a message to the american farm bureau which is the first time that a sitting president will address this group in more than 25 years and that really underscores his messaging to these folks from rural communities that he is behind them, that he will fight for them specifically as you said, he's expected to tout the tax reform legislation that was passed in dece

our white house correspondent is boris sanchez joining us from washington. boris, steve wynn is a man the president has called a great friend. has there been any reaction from the white house? >> reporter: not yet officially, ana. cnn has reached out to the white house press team multiple times but we have yet to hear back. on background, a white house official did tell my colleague jeff zeleny that the president backed wynn's resignation, in part to minimize political damage, not only to the party but also to the white house or the president. the president supporting steve wynn resigning over sexual assault allegations. interestingly, it was curious to see how the white house would respond to this given their inconsistent record on sexual assault allegations in the past. as you know, they attacked al franken, but then backed roy moore, two men accused of sexual misconduct in the past. the president was set to see steve wynn at a fund-raiser in mar-a-lago last week. the president couldn't make it because of the government shutdown, but wynn gave a speech in w

i'm boris sanchez. welcome to this special new year's day edition of "new day." 2018, the mid terms will take place in november. republicans, will they retain control of congress? are the democrats going to ride a blue wave into power? i don't know, with you i got guys who have opinions about it. bring in political analyst david gregory and john avlon. look, i guess the central question, we always have the same one, right, when the president wins, he is vulnerable in the midterms, if certain conditions are in effect. do you see conditions going into this cycle where the president has concern? >> yes, i think the president is vulnerable because of himself, because of trumpism, the effect on the country, a level of fear, disapproval in the country that you see in his approval rating, that you see in a desire for a generic democrat to be in control of congress, and you see because of trumpism, and all of that implies, democrats highly energized, highly motivated, feeling the sting of the loss in 2016, not

. >> i want to get right to boris sanchez at the white house. that q&a question was supposed to focus on 2018. >> the president forced to answer questions about his sanity, clearly taking some of the statements. he's lost it. the president responding by calling michael wolff a fraud and listing his accomplishments as a college student and business person and now -- steve bannon calling him sloppy steve. listen more to what the president say. >> i did a quick interview with him a long time ago having to do with an article, i don't know this man, i guess sloppy steve brought in the white house. that's why sloppy steve is looking for a job. >> it is not the first time the topic of the president's mental state have come up in topics of conversation. it was actually steve bannon who said there was a 30% chance that those around the president would invoke the 25th amount. lawmakers were briefed by yale physiatrists about the president's mental state. >> give us an update. >> yeah, cnn has learned that effort from the white house to put one white house

cnn's boris sanchez is in west palm beach florida and has the latest for us. >> reporter: the white house is not releasing any details right now specifically how the president is made aware of this alarm and later it was a false alarm. they did put out a statement after having confirmed the president was at the trump national golf course when all of this unfolded. the president have been briefed on the state of hawaii. this was a state's controlled exercise, there were a number of questions that the white house is not answering right now and not only about when the president found out about this but what he was doing and who he was on the golf course with and who he was briefed by and whether or not there was any security protocols or measures that were put into place and further if we are learning about these alerts across social media. it is likely that some of our partners in the pacific learned about them as well whether they are in south korea, japan or china. it took 30 minutes for them to clarify it was a false alarm. if so, how could those be characterized, the white house not giv

cnn boris sanchez is traveling with the president at west palm beach where the president is spending the weekend. what do we know how the president learned of this and what is he saying now? >> reporter: ana, we are working get clarity on when the president was told about this alarm and when he was told that it was a false alarm. we actually got words from the white house that the president was a his golf course here at west palm beach when the alert first went out. the white house put out a concise statement and here it is. "the president have been briefed on the emergency exercise." the question we have first office when did the president find out and specifically who he was with when this alert is put out. you can imagine we are getting social media alerts about this message that we sent in hawaii and some of our allies and partner in the pacific got words of this alert whether of south korea or a japan and china. did they contract the leadership here in the united states or did the white house reached out to them. the white house short on answers, this is a reminder that even tho

. >> i want to bring in boris sanchez at the white house. what a scene. the president defending his mental fitness with the top republicans in congress all lined up behind him. >> reporter: that's right. the president answering that question about why he sent out those tweets this morning by listing his accomplishments, saying he was a great student, went to the best college, he was a successful college man and he ran for president and won. he's clearly taken the message from michael wolff and his book personal li personally and calling wolff a fraud and calling claims that people question his fitness for office, he personal lip ly refu having those three hours of interview with michael wolff. the president calling himself a stable genius. let's be clear, though, these conversations about the president's mental fitness for office have been coming up long before this book. some one dozen lawmakers were briefed by a yale psychiatrist on the president's mental state, ana. >> and we're learning about pressure on jeff sessions to not recu recu recuse himself f

let's bring in cnn's white house correspondent, boris sanchez. he is at the white house, and, in fact, you know, boris, we heard people saying, it is incumbent upon them, the senate, to take the lead on this because they are not getting direction from the white house. >> reporter: that's right, fred. some really surprising remarks coming specifically from south just about an hour ago, he told reporters, and i quote, i am begging the white house to help us get to yes, saying that someone has to lead on this issue and saying that it will ultimately come down to the senate to congress people within the senate to come up with an agreement. it gives you the sense that there is sort of a vacuum of leadership. it is very much a criticism of president trump's involvement or lack thereof in this effort. so far today, we have got no confirmation from the white house that the president has been working the phones with lawmakers of either party as we did yesterday when we got a picture from the white house of president trump wearing his white make america gre

boris sanchez is in west palm beach where the president is spending the weekend.hat is the president saying. >> reporter: right now the white house is not saying much about in false alarm. they did confirm that the president was at his golf course here in west palm beach when the urgent message was first sent out and then later 38 minutes later when we returned that it was a false alarm and then they put out the following statement, the white house writing that the president has been briefed on the state of hawaii's emergency management exercise. this was purely a state exercise. they later clarified and said that it was a state controlled exercise meaning that it was under the purview of officials within hawaii and not any federal agency. the white house though not answering key questions, specifically when was the president briefed, when he found out whether or not he contacted anyone at the pentagon or his national security council, further if we're receiving alerts on social media about this fake alert in hawaii, then you have to imagine some of our hal l alli

get the latest from boris sanchez who i understand quhyou just got reaction from the white house regarding lindsey graham's comments. >> yeah, the white house takes exception in part to the portion where lindsey graham said that steven miller was in charge of immigration. coming up with a deal on immigration and the white house's position on that. he here's a statement from a deputy press secretary. he write, quote, as long as senator graham chooses to support legislation that sides with people in this country illegally and unlawfully instead of our own american citizens, we're going nowhere. he has been an outlie r for years. that echoing very closely what lindsey graham said about steven miller, that his ideas were out of the mainstream and that his proposals would never get 60 votes in the senate. the white house also putting out a statement this afternoon confirm thing that the presiden had for the second day, reached out to lawmakers and several secretaries, the head of veterans affairs as well as secretary kirsten nielsen, the head of department of homeland security, and other lawmak

let's go now to cnn white house correspondent boris sanchez at the white house. so boris, democrats are, you know, very concerned. how far are they willing to go to try to protect mueller? ? very far apparently, fred. democrats now revisiting these two bills that were originally introduced in august, designed to not only protect robert mueller but potentially other special counsels in the future. both of these bills make it so that only the attorney, a nonrecused attorney general, could fire the special counsel. theoretically if they were to pass, jeff session, who recused himself from the russia investigation, wouldn't be able to fire the special counsel. the biggest difference between the two bills is that one of them required the attorney general would have to get approval from a three-judge panel before firing the special counsel. the other makes it so that if fired, the special counsel could then dispute the firing before a three-judge panel as well. there was a big push for this kind of legislation going into last year because of all the rumors swirling that

boris sanchez has the details from florida. >> reporter: president trump taking time before dinner to answer questions from reporters alongside house majority leader kevin mccarthy of california on sunday night. the president making news on several fronts, answering some uncomfortable questions, specifically, whether he is a racist after it was reported on thursday that several remarks that the president made specifically about african nations and haitian immigrants to the united states drew ire from both democrats and republicans. listen to the president's response. >> no, no, i'm not a racist. i am the least racist person you have ever interviewed that i can tell you. >> the president also addressed the potential for a looming government shutdown as that friday night deadline approaches for lawmakers to come up with a budget deal. he said that there should not be a shutdown, but that he wasn't sure if one might happen or not. listen to more of what the president said. >> i don't know if there will be a shutdown there shouldn't be, because if there is, our military gets hurt very bad

let's go straight to cnn's boris sanchez straight from the white house. boris, what more can we expect from the president? >> a white house official telling cnn this will be an optimistic speech. the main theme will be building a safer, stronger, prouder america. the president is expected to appeal to people that naturally aren't in his base, and he's going to do that by touting some of his successes, specifically in the booming economy. he's going to talk about the growing stock market, dwindling unemployment numbers, and then transition to talking about the future. the president is expected to ask congress for about a trillion dollars for his infrastructure plan. then the most critical part of his speech coming at a crucial time in the debate over immigration reform, the president is going to try to sell his vision of immigration reform in exchange for allowing a pathway to citizenship to some 2 million undocumented immigrants. the president is going to ask for $25 billion in spending to build his long-promised border wall. the white house has been essen

boris sanchez, cnn, at the white house. >> boris, thank you for the reporting. now let's bring in steven irlinger, the chief diplomatic correspondent for the new york times, live via skype from brussels. always a pleasure to have you here on the show, steven. today, it is about president trump insisting that he is smart, insisting he is stable. in fact, a quote, very stable genius as he describes it. all of this clearly in response to the book "fire & fury" and what the author michael wolff had to say about the president. let's listen. >> they say he's a moron, an idiot, actually there is a competition to sort of get to the bottom line here of who this man is. let's remember, this man does not read, does not listen. so he's like a -- like a pinball, just shooting off the side. >> steven, this question, through the tweets that we have seen from the president, through him advertising his resume to the world, as we heard a moment ago, does the president his pushback, does it help or hurt him? >> it is very hard to say. i mean, honestly, it does seem bizarre that th

i'm boris sanchez.here was bone-chilling cold and beefed up security to ring in 2018 in new york's times square. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. >> the temperatures in new york plunging to 9 degrees at the stroke of midnight. minus 4 with the windchill, making this the second coldest times square ball drop on record. meantime, a new year's eve ambush in a denver suburb to tell you about. a deputy was shot and killed but a barricaded gunman. four other officers and two residents were wounded. the suspect shot and killed by police. authorities say the deputies were wearing ballistic vests but shot in areas not protected. >>> iran's president addressed the people and acknowledged the economic hardship that some iranians face. he said people are free to protest but warned against violence and vandalism. two protesters were killed last night. officials have temporarily restricted access to social media apps used to spread word of the protests. let's get back to a special edition of "new day". ♪ not. >> all right. happy ne

let me bring in boris sanchez. this is surreal. the president and hip hop star butting heads over policy. >> another surreal moment to add to a long list. the president taking aim at a rival, rapper jay-z via twitter. the president has said previously that he doesn't watch cable news. he was watching last night and he heard jay-z's criticism about how the president approaches the african-american community. the president took exception. we have heard from many. of the president's supporters even officials here at the white house that this is something that they like about this president that he does not bow down to criticism. he fights back. i have spoken to several staffers and we heard from lawmakers publicly who approached the president to change his twitter habits and focus on items on the agenda and oppress his message forward. clearly he's set in his ways. >> given the high visibility of the back and forth, will it have an effect on the president's first state of the union address on tuesday? >> it's hard to say. not likely.

. >> cnn's boris sanchez joins us at the white house. stephen miller not surprisingly dismissing the book as garbage. remember, this is a book that the president's legal team actively tried to have blocked from publication. the white house did not want this book out there. are you hearing others at the white house use terms as strong as stephen miller's? >> certainly not in terms as strong as those so far, ana. we should recall when we first saw excerpts from "fire and fury" sarah sanders called the book a work of fiction and attempted to draw questions about the author michael wolff's credibility. just yesterday you had the president referring to michael wolff as a fraud saying what he's done with the book is a disgrace and also launching attacks against one of the main sources in the book, steve bannon, saying that bannon had lost it after he left the white house and coming up with this new moniker for his former chief strategist calling him sloppy steve. despite all of that and other attacks from surrogates that we've heard, that step

boris sanchez has this report for us. >> reporter: the president making news on multiple fronts todaynot only saying he backs his attorney general just one day after some congressional republicans called for a new attorney general, but also praising direct talks between north and south korea, and sending a message to democrats saying that the legal status of dreamers, daca, would not be resolved unless he got funding for his border wall. all of that being overshadowed by the president being forced to defend his own mental state, his own mental condition. he's clearly taking the comments being made by michael wolff, the author of "fire and fury" personally, wolff saying the president has lost it, going as far to say 100% of the people around the president has questioned his fitness for office. the president fighting back, saying that michael wolff is a fraud and what he's done with his book is a disgrace. also refuting the idea that he was interviewed by michael wolff for about three hours. and as he was asked about his early morning tweets on saturday, taking a shot at his former chie

boris sanchez is traveling with the president. he has more to are us this morning from west palm beach. >> reporter: the president taking a few moments before dinner with house majority leader kevin mccarthy on sunday night to answer reporters question and he made news on a variety of fronts. for one having to answer that uncomfortable question that came up this week after the president reportedly made some disparaging remarks about african nations and haitians during a meeting with lawmakers at the white house. here's the president answering the reporter's question, are you a racist? listen to this. >> no. no, i'm not a racist. i am the least racist person you have ever interviewed, that i can tell you. >> reporter: getting back to the question of whether the president said those controversial remarks at a meeting with lawmakers on thursday, sunday night the president asked reporters, did you see what senators said about that meeting? the interesting thing about that is that there are very many different answers even just from re

boris sanchez, cnn, at the white house. >>> joining me now to talk more on this, peter matthews. he is a professor of political science at cyprus college. thanks for joining us. >> good to be here. >> let's begin with yet another sexual harassment scandal this country is hair hearing about. it involves accusations against steve wynn. he has stepped down as finance manager of the republican national committee. a position hand picked by president trump for him. what are the ramifications of what could be another sex scandal, this the first ceo of a public company accused? >> the ramifications are huge, because, you know, here's a powerful man, once again, taking advantage of women that worked for him or his company. and he was the head of the fund-raising. i think personally donated $100,000 to candidates. and some of those candidates are having to give the money back. so he throws a lot of disarray in the picture. not to mention the women were widely suffering and it's more of an example of powerful men taking advantage of many women who worked with or for them. so it's not good a

let's get straight to boris sanchez in west palm beach with the president spending the weekend at mar-a-lago. senators cotton and purdue and now accusing their colleagues are lying. >> reporter: yes, certainly is stunning, as you noted, senators purdue and cotton couldn't recall exactly what the president said. it's interesting because lawmakers divided on whether the president made these alleged derogatory comments about african nations and apparently pondered why so many nations were being given visas to come to the united states. it's not along party lines. you have two dozen republicans who condemned what the president said, including arizona senator flake, on a sunday morning talk show discussing these comments. he was actually not in the meeting when it took place. but he spoke with people who were there shortly after it took place before these comments were reported out publicly. here's more of what the arizona senator had to say. >> all i can say, i was in a meeting directly afterwards where those who had presented to the president our proposal spoke about the meeting. and they said

. >> boris sanchez joins us from the white house. we don't expect stephen miller to have anything nice to say about the book. after the interview aired we received a statement from steve bannon who has fallen from grace. what is he saying today? >> reporter: hey, there, it's the first time we've heard from steve bannon since excerpts from fire and fury were released that were really explosive and drew in question not only the president but first family as well. today steve bannon put out the statement apologizing for the delay in taking so long to respond to those excerpts, what he calls inaccurate reporting in the book specifically one section in which he is quoted as having called the meeting between trump campaign officials and russian nationals at trump tower back in june of 2016. not only unpatriotic but also treasonous. in the statement steve bannon says he was directing those comments not at donald trump jr. but rather at paul manafort, the former campaign chairman who he says should have known better than to have taken the me

boris sanchez, cnn at the white house. >> all right, boris, thanks. we heard from the president's senior policy adviser who appeared on cnn's "state of the union." >> he also had some choice words for the book and its author. >> the book is best understood as a book of poorly written fiction. and i will also say the author is a garbage author of a garbage a book. >> a lot to talk about here. to do so, let's bring in a professional of international relations at university of london, live this hour in our london bureau. always a pleasure to have you with us. >> thank you. >> let's go back to this situation with steve bannon. he has offered not an apology, but offered regret about a single point about don trump jr. but with the president reportedly calling his friends and allies, telling them to pick between him and steve bannon, does bannon's olive branch of regret even matter at this point in your mind? >> well, it's very difficult to know. as we know with the president, he does change his mind actually about people and about situations. so it's diffic

for that part of the story, let's bring in cnn's boris sanchez at the white house. and boris, we are hearing there is actually some frustration inside the west wing over this decision. what's going on? >> that's right, ana. some adviser here is at the white house believe that this is a missed opportunity. one senior white house official actually telling cnn, quote, unless it's a big rally, he is usually not interested, the president, seeming to shy away from taking his message on the road. and it's especially noteworthy in part because it's a departure from previous administrations. and also because people close to the president tell us they expect an optimistic tone during the state of the union speech, one that seeks to reach across the aisle and appeal to people that aren't in the president's base. historically, other presidents have used this as a springboard to promote their agenda and get support from the public for costly projects. keep in mind, the president is expected to ask congress for a trillion dollars on tuesday just for his infrastructure plan. don't

boris sanchez, cnn at the white house. >> all right, boris, thanks. the u.s. president also sparring over the black unemployment rate. not with a political adversary, but with hip-hop mogul jay-z. >> mr. trump responded to comments the rapper made during an interview on jan jones' new show on cnn. >> he is somebody who is now saying, look, i'm dropping black unemployment. black people are doing well under my administration. does he have a point that maybe the democrats have been giving us good lip service but no jobs. maybe he is going to say terrible things but put money in our pocket. does that make him a good leader? >> no, because it's not about money attend of the day. money doesn't equate to happiness. it doesn't. that's missing the whole point you. treat people like human beings. it goes back to the whole thing. you treat me really bad and pay me well. >> right. yeah. >> it's not going lead to happiness. it's going lead to, again, the same thing. everyone is going to be sick. >> mr. trump later tweeted this, somebody please inform jay-z that because of

boris sanchez, cnn at the white house. >> the chief diplomat correspondent for "the new york times" isn brussels right now. it seems the white house was quick to distance itself from steve wynn. do you think perhaps they've learned a lesson from the roy moore episode, the senned candidate accused of sexual misconduct that donald trump had defended? >> well, they're learning lessons all the time. and the difference with roy moore is he really needed that senate seat because the margin is so thin. and what he said and i suspect is right even though he was afraid moore would lose, he wanted to support him to keep the majority, too, in the senate. and that's different things we're talking about. after all he's a casino owner. if you remember that great line in casa blanca, i'm shocked, shocked there's gambling in this establishment. casinos are not churches. i'm not sure what happened with moore and his staff, but you don't usually go to a casino to read a book. >> yes, not too sure how to answer that. >> the problem is that you have attractive young women offering drinks and so on. the wh

boris sanchez, cnn, traveling with the president in west palm beach, florida. >> let's brit in steven erlanger, chief diplomatic correspondent for "the new york times." so steven, the president said a few hours ago, you heard him, i'm not a racist. and he offered no further explanation. your thoughts on mr. trump's defense. >> the president say i'm not a racist? that would be one of the incidents there are people lying here. let's be honest. democrats are lying. but someone's lying about what the president said. but let's think about the meaning of what he said. whether he said s-house or s-hole really doesn't matter. what matters is the temperament behind it and the meaning behind it. and the meaning behind it is i want people from nice white european countries like norway. and i don't want poor black people. that's the implication of what he said. now, does that make him a racist? not necessarily. it certainly gives you an idea of what he would like for immigration. >> listen to what congressman john lewis said on sunday morning. >> we've come so far. we've made so much progress. he

cnn's boris sanchez has more from the white house. >>> on background, a white house official tells cnn that president trump supported the resignation of steve wynn from the republican national committee. there was some question as to how the white house would approach this situation, considering some inconsistencies in the past when responding to sexual assault allegations. you'll recall in just the past two months the white house simultaneously demanded the resignation of former senator al franken while backing alabama senate candidate roy moore. two men that were both accused of sexual misconduct. president trump is actually supposed to see steve wynn last weekend at a fund-raiser in mar-a-lago. the president couldn't attend the fund-raiser because of the government shutdown. but wynn took the stage and gave a speech in which he defended the president, and his agenda. here's some more of what steve wynn said saturday night at mar-a-lago. >> and then all of a sudden, once again in american this try an unlikely person became president. perhaps the most unlikely of all, since abe lincol

boris sanchez, cnn at the white house. >> thank you for the report.resident trump's senior policy adviser appeared on cnn's "state of the union" slamming the author of "fire and fury" and slamming steve bannon himself. >> steve bannon's eloquence in that description notwithstanding, it's tragic and unfortunate that steve would make these grotesque comments so out of touch with reality and obviously so vindictive. and the whole white house staff is deeply disappointed in his comments, which were grotesque. and with respect to the trump tower meeting that he is talking about, he wasn't even there when this want down. so he is not really a remotely credible source on any of it. it reads like an angry, vindictive person spouting off to a highly discredible author. the book is book is best understood as a poorly work of fiction. and i will also say the author is a garbage author of a gorge book. >> and miller wasn't done. he defended the president against the book's claim that mr. trump is not fit for office. take a listen. >> the reality is the president

i'm boris sanchez in for kate bolduan. we hope you're having a happy and productive first day of 2018. the president is. in his first tweet of 2018 president trump lashing out at pakistan for what he calls their lies and deceit, saying the government is giving a safe haven to terrorists. the president also taking aim at the regime in iran while expressing support for anti-government protesters. earlier today president trump tweeting out, quote, iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the obama administration. the great iranian people have been repressed for many years and they are hungry for food and freedom along with human right, the wealth of iran is being looted. time for change. cnn white house correspondent abby philip joins us from florida, not far from the mar-a-lago estate where the president is set to wrap up his holiday break today. what does this tell you about the administration's policy toward iran? >> good morning, boris. well, iran has been really a centerpiece of presiden

we begin with boris sanchez near the president's resort in florida. boris, good to see you. what is the president tweeting about now? >> reporter: hey there, good afternoon, martin. our cameras just spotted the president a short while ago at the trump national golf course where he has spent most of the morning. shortly before arriving there though he took aim at democrats on twitter, blaming democrats for what is seen as a lack of progress during immigration negotiations. as you know, several meetings took place at the white house this week to discuss daca, border security, chain migration among other things. here are the president's tweets. he writes, quote, the democrats are all talk and no action. they are doing nothing to fix daca. great opportunity missed. too bad. he then moments later tweeted, quote, i don't believe the democrats really want to see a deal on daca. they are all talk and no action. this is the time. but day by day they are blowing the one great opportunity they have. too bad. these tweets coming amid backlash against the president for comments that he r

we get more from boris sanchez. >> reporter: christine and dave, a white house official telling cnn thent is set to strike an optimistic tone in his address to the nation on tuesday night. a source telling us the president's focus is going to be on building a safer, stronger and prouder america during his speech. he will try to appeal to people outside of his base. in part by touting the economy and booming stock market and low unemployment numbers and transition to talking about the future. the president said to ask congress for nearly $1 trillion to fund his infrastructure plan. the president will talk about trade and national security. the main focus on the speech on tuesday is how he delivers his image of immigration reform to the american people. the president as it stands now is looking to offer a pathway to citizenship to nearly 2 million undocumented immigrants in exchange for $25 billion for the long promised border wallace we wall as well as the changes to the immigration system. this is not gathering major support on capitol hill. the white house is standing by it. dave and c

for that part of the story, let's bring in cnn's boris sanchez. boris, we are hearing there is frustration over the west wing over this decision. what more are you learning? >> there are advisors at the white house believe this is a missed opportunity for the president to try and gather support for his policies and for some expensive projects too. you mentioned infrastructure. they are expected to ask for a trillion dollars to fund his infrastructure plan and another $25 billion to fund his long promised border wall with mexico. one senior white house official telling cnn that part of the reason the president isn't taking his state of the union message on tour is because he doesn't like traveling saying quote unless it is a big rally he is usually not interested. this is a departure from other presidents that have used the state of the union and at this point in the calendar as a spring board to sell their message. beyond all of that it certainly is interesting because officials are telling us that the tone of the state of the union is said to be a

more from boris sanchez. >>reporter: it's now been days since we got the excerpts that were questioning the president's mental state and relationship with some of his closest advisors including steve bannon, who, on sunday, for the first time, directly addressed some of the quotations that are attributed to him in that book. saying some of the reporting in that book is inrack rat and specifically taking exception to a portion where he's quoted as saying that june, 2016 meeting at trump tower was treasoness and unpatriotic. bannon says quote my comments were aimed at paul manafort. he should have known they're duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. to reiterate those comments were not aimed at don jr., though we should point out according to a trail of e-mails it was donald trump jr. who not only brokered the meeting but then looped in paul manafort and donald trump's son-in-l son-in-law. the president has been making phone calls to allies and friends to tell them they either stand with him or with steve ba

let's go now to cnn white house correspondent boris sanchez at the white house. ocrats are, you know, very concerned. how far are they willing to go to try to protect mueller? ? very far

our white house correspondent is boris sanchez. boris, when is the man the president has called, quote, a great friend. what is the reaction to these developments from the white house? >> hey, there, ana. on background, a white house official tells cnn that the president supported wynn's resignation in order to limit political damage to not only the republican party but also to the white house. there were some questions about how the president would respond to this. not only because he and wynn have known each other for 34 years. president trump hand-picked steve wynn to be the finance chair at the rnc, but also because historically, this white house has been inconsistent when it comes to answering questions about sexual assault allegations. just a few months ago, you had the white house simultaneously demand the resignation of former senator al franken while backing alabama senate candidate roy moore. in this instance, the president clearly distancing himself from steve wynn in light of these allegations. we should note, we don't h

let's get straight to cnn's boris sanchez live for us at the white house. s likely the theme of the speech? >> reporter: hey there. the them of president trump's speech is building a safe

>> let's get straight to boris sanchez at the white house. so, boris, the president opening him up to a variety of questions, whether it be on the topic of their agenda for the day and of course the scope widened from there. >> yeah, certainly from the president making news on multiple front. for one, surprisingly backing his attorney general, jeff sessions. the news this week that there was a concerted effort by the white house to put what one white house official called pressure on jeff sessions to not recuse himself from the russia investigation coming at a time where several republicans in the freedom caucus have called for the attorney general to step down. so it was surprising to hear the president back his attorney general, despite many disparaging tweets dating back to last year. and while he was answering that question, he also got a chance to repeat his position that there was no collusion between the trump campaign and russia ult m multiple time. he was asked if he would meet with the lead of the special counsel, robert mueller, he

boris sanchez joins us from the white house with more. boris? >> reporter: the president making news on multiple front today, not only praising direct taubes betwe talks between north and south korea but saying he backs his attorney general. the president even sent a message to democrats saying the issue of d.r.e.a.mers and their legal status would not be resolved unless he got funding for his border wall, all of that overshadowed by the president making a case about his own mental stability. the president refuting the idea that he was interviewed by michael wolff for several hours, denying that wolff had that kind of access and also using a question about the book and about his tweets on saturday to take a shot at his former chief strategist steve bannon. listen to more of what the president said. >> i did a quick interview with him a long time ago having to do with an article, but i don't know this man. i guess sloppy steve brought him in to the white house quite a bit and it was one of those things. that's why sloppy steve is now looking for

for the latest on the controversy and how it impacts the fragile deals, boris sanchez is near the president'sresort in floaterida. what is the president saying and doing today? >> he returned a short time ago from his golf club to mar a lago. he is tweeting today just five days away from a potential government shut down about progress that is not being made on a deal over daca and the legal status of dreamers. the young adults brought into the united states illegally as children. ultimately the president's comments earlier this week drive a wider gap between republicans and democrats not just on policy, but as you saw on the president's own words. you noted that the president tweeted that a daca deal was probably dead, assigning blame to democrats and he tweeted this, writing "i as president want people coming into our country who are going to help us become strong and great again. people coming in through a system based on merit. no more lotteries #america first." the head of the talk shows was backing up the president's argument that the united states should have a merit based system for en

let's get straight to cnn's boris sanchez live for us at the white house. boris, what is likely the theme of the speech? >> reporter: hey there. the them of president trump's speech is building a safer, stronger and prouder america. white house officials tells cnn this is an optimistic speech one in which the president will try to appeal to people that are outside of his base. he's going to do that by touting his success on the economy citing a boom being stock market and dwindling unemployment figures and then he's going to shift and talk about the future. specifically infrastructure. he is said to ask congress for a billion dollars in infrastructure funding. then talk about national security, as well as trade. but really the most critical part of this speech comes at a crucial time in the debate over immigration. the president is set to sell his vision of immigration reform, in exchange for providing a pathway for citizenship to some 2 million undocumented immigrants. the president will z for $25 billion to fund a border wall and going to ask for changes t

. >> boris sanchez is at the white house right now. steven miller not surprisingly dismissing the book at garbage. this was a book the president's legal team blocked publication altogether. are you hearing people at the white house using terms as strong as steven millers? >> reporter: not quite as harsh. but earlier in the week the white house called the book a piece of fiction, asked serious questions about the author's cred blts. and yesterday you had the president going further calling the author a fraud, saying what he had done is a disgrace and refuting several key components within the book about how the information from sources was gathered for publication. beyond that you have steven miller calling it garbage, the author garbage. we've nod heard that kind of commentary before, but we should note some of the president's and steve miller's attacks were geared toward former white house chief strategist steve bannon, who as you heard miller say, made comments that were grotesque according to him, the senior policy advisor. shrtly a

we begin with boris sanchez. what do we know about what the president is doing today? >> reporter: president trump spent majority of his day so far at trump national golf course. he returned to the estate just a little bit over an hour ago. as you noted he is further driving a wedge between democrats and republicans at a very tenue s time because the government is set to shut down in five days unless both parties come to an agreement over budgeting and funding. the issue at heart is the legal status of the dreamers, these 800,000 or so young adults that were brought to the united states illegally as children. while there was already some contentious disagreement between democrats and republicans on the issue the question of the president's comments on haitians and african nations further driving a wedge between the two parties based on what he allegedly said. we should note the president, as you said, was on twitter earlier today saying a deal on daca with democrats was possibly dead. he further tweeted i as president want people coming into our country who will help u

boris sanchez joining us from the white house. tell us about the back and forth about what we heard from lindsey graham about steven miller, of course a member of the president's inner circle and regarding immigration negotiations and know understand the white house is responding. >> that's right. we have seen quite a shift in the past few days from senator lindsey graham on his take on how the white house is responding to the divide over the issue of immigration. and specifically how that plays into a bill that would fund the government a few days ago. graham was praising the president saying he was compassionate during tuesday bipartisan meeting here at the white house. today you saw graham essentially say that steven miller is in charge of negotiating the white house's immigration position on that issue. the white house taking exception to that. press secretary hogan putting out a statement that almost word for word copies what graham said about miller but speaking about senator graham, here is that statement now, getting ready