let's bring in carl bernstein and bob woodward who broke the story of the watergate scandal wide open the sources say president trump is furious with rod rosenstein and jeff sessions and sara sanders referred to the comments in the press corp last night and do you think it is a matter of time before one or both of the men are fired. >> that seems to be every indication from people i speak to and in the white house and i think it is the belief of too many people on capitol hill. republicans who are afraid that is going to come to pass. and we're on the edge of a constitutional crisis. one thing that is very clear is that this president does not give a damn -- and it is a reptorial fact not an opinion or assertion about the rule of law and yesterday he once again declared war on the rule of law. this is not a witch hunt. there is no evidence of this being a witch hunt and if it were, there would be hell to pay at the end of mueller's investigation. and there ought to be hell to pay if it were a witch hunt. but there is no indication of that. trump is trapped. he knows that he is trapped

i worked with a great team on this, jake and evan and carl bernstein.ly hard to get the facts right. this was a story -- i always tell people, i've never involved with a story where there's been greater teamwork. i'm proud to be part of the team. >> people talk to me all the time about the need for good journalism right now. you guys exemplify that. it's in challenging times when journalists are not always the most popular. >> you might have heard of some people throwing rocks in our direction. even some this morning. you keep at it. >> great to work with you, jim. >> thanks for having me. >> and you as well, john avlon. >> sort of. >> you made it super easy. great to have you here. thanks so much. >>> time for cnn "newsroom" with erica hill. >> good morning. i'm erica hill in today for john and poppy. we're an hour away from a very big first in the mueller investigation. the first sentencing of a defendant who flipped. we'll go live to the courthouse in just a moment. >>> first, a bombshell from the special counsel himself. a memo written last august a

joining me now a man who's seen it all in washington carl bernstein. good to have you, sir. >> good to be here. >> given your perspective, carl, one of the reporters who broke the watergate scandal is it surreal to you what's going on at the white house? it's surreal the country is at this juncture. and it's a tragedy. >> it's very clear that the president of the united states is presiding over a massive cover up. its unclear exactly what he's covering up, but one of it differences between watergate and this is that people in the nixon white house largely believed up until the end that the president was not, in fact, trump white house and many who have left the trump white house it is now apparent to them that the presiding over a cover up and a massive attempt to keep the truth from coming out about whatever has transpired. >> well, carl, let me ask you, you say that but i haven't seen anyone really say that publicly. people are going to say what is your evidence? his aides keep saying, his spokespeople keep saying no evidence has been found. it's time

years the merriman smith award for broadcast goes to evan perez, jim shootout, jake tapper and carl bernsteincnn. [applause] these journalists and a number of other cnn reporters broke the story that the intelligence had briefed president barack obama and president-elect donald trump that russia had compromising information about mr. trump. you remember that story. cnn then reported that fbi director james comey personally briefed president trump about the dossier. the judges called the reporting breaking news at its very best. [applause] [laughter] [applause] [whistling] >> the merriman smith award for print goes to josh duffy. [applause] josh's story about the resignation of white house press secretary sean spicer grabs the reader from the opening sentence. duffy hustled to find a wide variety of sources and conveyed in the drama of the resignation and help the reader's attention. otherseported details simply did not have, beautifully reported and written, say the judges. [applause] others i also congratulate chris johnson. where is chris? honorable mention for the merriman smith award, chr

the merriman smith award for broadcast goes to evan perez, jim schuto, jake tapper, and carl bernsteinf cnn. [ applause ] these four journalists and a number of cnn reporters broke the story that the intelligence community had briefed president barack obama and president-elect donald trump that russia had compromising information on donald trump. and that then fbi director james comey first briefed trump on the dossier. it's breaking news at its very best. [ applause ] the merriman smith award for print goes to josh dossey. josh's story about the resignation of sean spicer grabs the reader from the opening sentence. he hustled to find a wide assortment of sources and woven narrative that conveyed the drama of the resignation and held the readers' attention. he reported details others simply did not have, beautifully reported and written, say the judges. congratulations. honorable mention in the merrismith award, chris johnson from the washington blade. well done. and i should mention, honorable mention, by the way, from the merriman smith award, lester holt from nbc news. the edgar a.