i'm christine romans. 16% irish. i'm christine romans. it is friday, march 17th. 4:00 a.m. in the east. the white house lashing out defending the unfounded wiretapping allegations. the most combative stance yesterday in the briefing for the ages. this was epic. press secretary sean spicer quoting the leaders who say there is no evidence president obama ordered a wiretap of the trump campaign. >> we have not seen evidence there was a wiretap or fisa court order of somebody in the trump tower. >> ryan backed up by richard burr and ranking democrat mark warner. based on the information available to us, we see no indications the trump tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the united states government before or after election day 2016. cnn's jim acosta was directly in the line of fire at the white house. >> reporter: dave and christine, the white house is digging in trying to explain to donald trump's baseless claim during the 2016 wiretap. sean spicer the president will be vindicated after the committees investigate the matter. >> the president has already sai

christine romans is off. getti getting better, my friend. the administration seeking to retake the initiative with a new legislative agenda and strategy. at the top, tax reform and infrastructure and shoving neil gorsuch to the supreme court. -- quote that's for 30 years, we're told there's growing friction between aides loyal to chief of staff reince priebus and steve bannon. some are using the health care bill's failure for their own power and if republicans manage to make peace will they build a bridge to the democrats. these are the same democrats president trump blamed after failure to pass obamacare. over the weekend it really got interesting with the president backed away from that tone asking people to watch judge jeani jeanine pea row from fox. >> i think it was more coincidental, chris. >> come on. >> i did not talk to the president about the tweet. i'm just telling you the truth. there was no preplanning. >> why would he say watch her and that's the first thing out of her mouth. >> does he want paul ryan to step down or not? >> no

. >> i'm christine romans. it is thursday, march 9th. 4:00. opposition to the new republican health plan growing among conservatives on capitol hill, president trump wants a plan a to get it passed and plan b if it doesn't. he told leaders he will allow obamacare to fail and let democrats take the blame. sources say mr. trump scolded the groups for calling it obamaca obamacare-light. they could have done more outreach ahead of the rollout. >> for now, the white house sticking with plan a. shifting in full campaign mode to sell the republican repeal and replace. the president will stump for the plan with a visit to kentucky and tennessee. although, a feeling in the west wing the republican leaders saddled mr. trump with the heavy lifting. paul ryan is confidence the vote will pass. phil mattingly has more. >> reporter: as legislative action gets under way, that action the republicans promising now for campaign cycle after campaign cycle. the question is will they push this over the finish line? through the house of representatives? the reality

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. "new day" starts right now.room as the winner of the election. for the united states. >> we are a country that stands united in condemning hate in all of its very ugly forms. >> the speeches and realities are very far apart. >> i believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible. >> the policies that he's doing don't add up. >> repeal and replace obamacare. >> i thought it was a home run. i think he did a fantastic job. >> believe in yourself. believe in your future. and believe, once more, in america. >> announcer: this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> all right. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day." wednesday, march 1st. 6:00 here in new york. it is a new day indeed for america's president. in a big speech to congress, it was a big plea for unity and optimism. trump stuck to the script, avoided the petty sniping that has gotten him in trouble. instead, laying out an ambitious fiscal policy filled with tax cuts and moreoney

christine romans calls epic. sean spicer pushing back who all say there is no evidence president obama ordered a wiretap of the campaign. house speaker paul ryan speaking out. >> we have not seen evidence of a wiretap or fisa court order of trump tower. >> that was paul ryan on cnn after the briefing. ryan backed up by chairman richard burr and marc warner. based on the information available to us, we see no indications that trump tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the government before or after election day 2016. our friend jim acosta was in the line of fire at the white house. here is his report. >> reporter: dave and christine, the white house is trying to dig in to talk about the baseless claim of the wiretap in the 2016 campaign. at the briefing, sean spicer predicted the president will be vindicated after the committees on capitol hill investigate the matter. here is what he had to say. >> the president said clearly when he referred to wiretapping, he referred to surveillance. >> it sou

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. it is monday, march 6th.he crisis of public trust. welcome to that. this morning, the white house faces a daunting challenge as friend and foe call on the claim of president trump's tweet had president obama wire tapping him. now the fbi asking the justice department to refute the claim that is according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. the fbi seeking deny because it implies the bureau may have broken the law by obeying president obama's order. so far, no comment. >> president trump asking congress to investigate the wire tapping claim. a claim he made with no evidence. it is getting a mixed response. house chairman devin nunes says he will look into the matter in the committee. other republicans pushing back and former national intelligence chief james clapper telling nbc it did not happen. >> there was no such wire tap activity mounted against the president-elect

. >> i'm christine romans. a lot of news on this tuesday morning. after years of promises to repeal and replace, the republican plan to dismantle obamacare is at the starting gate. republican leaders face a tough job rallying support on their side. this may be branded as repeal, but this plan keeps several popular components of obamacare. it would bring major changes in two key areas. the insurance mandate and medicaid expanse. allowing insurers to hike premiums for people who allow their insurance to lapse. >> and a tweet with the house introduce the bill to repeal and replace obamacare. time to end this nightmare. nothing from his personal account. today marks an important step toward restoring health care choices and affordability back to the american people. president trump looks forward to repeal and replace obamacare with both chambers. they have their work cut out for them with reservations. our coverage starts with phil mattingly on capitol hill. >> reporter: dave and christine. this is the moment republicans promised would come for years. e

. >> i'm christine romans. it is 4:00 a.m. in the east. jeff sessions met with the russian ambassador to the u.s. twice last year. what is in question is whether he did so in capacity as a trump campaign surrogate or member of the senate armed services committee. now sessions is facing accusations he misled congress about the meetings. with all of this making a devastating blow as attorney general. twice last year, sessions met with a top diplomat in washington. once during the convention in june and the second in the session' offices. he was a surrogate at the time of the meetings with the russian ambassad ambassad ambassador. he is considered to be a top spy recruiter. listen to what sessions said or did not say when senator al franken asked about contact with the campaign and russian officials. >> if there is any evidence that any one affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of the campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. it is friday, march 10th. 4:00 a.m. in the east. if you had to be in a meeting for 27 hours as congress members did, how would you stay awake? growing involvement by the white house in negotiations over the obamacare repeal bill met with growing resistance from republican factions and a major pivot, the white house is open to a big change in the house republican bill. rolling back obamacare medicaid expansion years sooner than the current proposal. that's according to two senior officials and house aide. >> this comes after two signed off on the bill after marathon markup sessions. one ran 27 hours that dave briggs is talking about. with concerns growing about the content and pace pushed through the house, republican opponents are ramping up public criticism. >> there is no deadline. we need to get health care right and fast. there are republicans saying the same in private. i'm saying the legislation as it is written, one, cannot pass the senate. two, would not solve the problems of our health care system. problems that obamacare m

. >> i'm christine romans. it is tuesday, march 21st.president trump back in washington this morning after one of his trademark campaign style rallies in kentucky. he talked about health care and tax reform and other topics. did not touch on the extraordinary testimony by the fbi director james comey. this despite tweeting all day long about the capitol hill hearing. a hearing that features fireworks, but not smoking gun connecting russia to the trump campaign. the fbi director confirmed for the first time there is an fbi investigation into whether trump allies colluded with russia with the election meddling. >> comey told senators the investigation started in late july and they had come to the clear conclusion of the russian interference driven by vladimir putin's disdain for hillary clinton. >> they wanted to hurt our democracy. hurt her. help him. putin hated secretary clinton so much, the flip side, he had a clear preference running. as the summer went on and the polls appeared to show secretary clinton was going to win, the russians

i'm christine romans. it is win or go home. laying down the ultimatuultimat. pass it today or you are stuck with obamacare. all this after the vote was postponed thursday after it was clear they did not have the votes. frustrated with the freedom caucus after both spent the day trying to quote grind them down. >> one senior administration official said the president tried to address the freedom caucus concerns with the bill. they kept moving the goal post. mr. trump is just done. another official says he wants to move on with tax reform. now emerging with the white house laying the ground work to place the blame on others to paul ryan to caucus and others in the staff to roping him into the bill. the freedom caucus chairman mark meadows told members to vote their conscious. >> i'm optimistic. i don't put grades or numbers on anything. that would make for a better headline. i'm still optimistic that everybody is negotiating in good faith. >> then among the horse trading, this dropped. the score from the congressional budget office. worst than the first. this re

i'm christine romans. this is thursday, march 16th. let's begin with the president vowing to appeal the federal court order that blocked the travel plan. blocked again. a tennessee rally, the president declaring he will go to the supreme court to overturn the hawaii order by judge watson. that issued hours before the travel ban was to take effect. >> the justice department slamming the order. and strongly disagrees with the federal district court ruling which is flawed and reasoning and scope. senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny has the latest. >> reporter: christine and dave, the white house is crafting the legal strategy in the wake of another federal judge putting a restraining order on the travel ban. president trump minced no words wednesday night. he went after that judge. he expressed regret about making changes of the first ban to the second ban. he called it a watering down. >> a judge has just blocked our executive order on travel and refugees coming into our country from certain countries. the order he blocked was a

i'm christine romans. i've heard about the baby monitors.hey get into phones, cars. >> tvs, hi, everybody, i'm dave briggs, it's wednesday, march 8th, it's women's day. >> he brought me a tulip. you did nothing. >> 4:00 a.m. in the east the future of the plan to repeal and replace obamacare depends on who you ask. the lawmaker and president's meeting with house republican leaders tell cnn the endorsement came with stern warning. we're told the president said failure to pass legislation after seven years of promises will lead to a quote, bloodbath, mr. trump even channeled president obama's most famous unfulfilled health care promise. >> this will be a plan where you can choose your doctor. this will be a plan where you can choose your plan. it's a complicated process, but actually, it's very simple. it's called good health care. >> so president trump's effort to get resistant republicans on board has not done the trick. at least not yet. released boy rank and file groups, powerful senators. one aide telling cnn the bill is dead. too many con

i'm christine romans. it is 4:00 a.m. in the east. snow we have been worrying about is falling across the northeast. this is the early hours. it is expected to be heavier throughout the morning and falling throughout the day. heavy snow all morning. tens of millions of people are under a blizzard or winter storm warnings. states of emergency from maryland up to new england. making more dangerous and deadly conditions. here in new york city and boston expected to be hit hard. new york to get a foot of snow or more. parts of massachusetts up to 2 feet. high winds creating whiteout conditions. schools are closed in boston and philadelphia and new york city. they made that decision yesterday. >> preemptive cancellations. airlines have done the same. 5,300 flights in the u.s. according to flightaware.com. amtrak is running a modified schedule in the northeast today. as always, ahead of the blizzard, people are clearing off grocery stores like it is the end of the world. cleaning out. >> popsicles, ice cream and cheetos. >> kids love it. he

christine romans, don't go anywhere, we need you to stay with us. and we welcome our guests. welcome. i want to put back that tweet from donald trump this morning, and as poppy insisted on doing, parsing it, and the president wrote our wonderful new health care bill is out for review and negotiation. jackie, number one, he is taking ownership. he calls it our bill and he calls it wonderful all at the same time. jackie, the question is how much is he willing to fight for this, and how much juice does he have with republicans on the fence? >> those are both the questions of the hour, because he is going to be fighting kind of a multi-fronted war with the bill. not only with democrats who have no intention of supporting anything they were going to put forward because they want to keep the affordable care act, but there are different factions, and you mention the more moderate republican senators who wrote about the expansion states, and then rand paul is joining the freedom caucus this afternoon to trash the bill because they don't like it, and they are calling it obamacare lite

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. we start with history being made today one way or the other. republicans will take the vote to actually repealing and replacing the affordable care act or we could see a staggering blow against obamacare and perhaps the entire trump agenda. the white house deep in a furious to turn no votes by members of the conservative freedom caucus into yeses. >> one point is ending essential health benefits that obamacare requires in every insurance policy. more on those central benefits in a moment. first, there is still no deal. freedom caucus chairman mark meadows is sounding optimistic. >> i'm optimistic we can get there. there are a lot of details, sean. to say we have a deal that wouldn't be accurate. the president and i came to agreement in principle. i think what we are trying to do now is make sure that our agreement is actually something that can be executed in a way that passes the senate. >> that's the big question. meadows, conservatives changing his tune, moderate republicans are so

. >> i'm christine romans. >> and i'm dave briggs. a tour de force.e're now one day away from what could be the change of health care in this country. president trump bringing his patented brand of hard sale to capitol hill. trying to coax reluctant republicans to vote for the american health care act repealing obamacare. and all hands, closed-door meeting for house republicans, the president said, quote, a loss just isn't acceptable. even called out mark meadows by name. meadows is the chairman of the house freedom caucus. trump predicted meadows and the caucus will get on board. and repeated that at the national congressional dinner. >> the american people voted for historic change. and they also voted for serious action. the american people gave us clear instructions. it's time to get busy, get to work, and to get the job done. these are the conservative solutions we campaigned on. and these are the conservative solutions the american people asked us, as a group, to deliver. >> the house rules committee takes up the health care legislation this mor

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. they called it obamacare. this one, they are calling on twitter #trumpcare. the technical name is american health care act. after years of promises to repeal and replace, the republican plan to dismantle obamacare is finally at the starting gate. just at the starting gate. republican leaders face a tough job rallying support. the headline of the plan, eliminates the individual mandate and employer mandate. replaces with a new set of incentives. including the replacement of obamacare subsidy with refundable tax credits to encourage people to buy insurance on the open market. it also would eliminate the medicaid expansion and states would receive a set amount from the federal government every year. >> the bill might be branded as repeal, it keeps several popular items of obamacare. children can remain on the plan until age 26. it allows people with pre-existing conditions to continue coverage. these were two cornerstones of obamacare. one change is insurers allowed to hike premiums for

i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans.ill have no impact on my life today. >> i'll text you. >> this morning, president trump vowing to appeal the court order that blocked the 2.0 version of the travel ban. >> a judge has just blocked our executive order on travel and refugees coming into our country from certain countries. the order he blocked was a watered down version of the first order that was also blocked by another judge. it should have never been blocked to start with. >> that order issued by watson houred before the ban was to take effect. the justice department saying it strongly disagree was the federal district court ruling which is flawed in reasoning and scope. >> why did the court's ruling against the travel ban again? in a 43-page ruling, the judge in hawaii cited several examples of trump suggerrogates states i w was a muslim ban. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total shutdown of muslims entering the united states until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. >> when he

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. the goodwill just lasted less than 24 hours. now some big questions for president trump. here's what is not in question this morning. attorney general jeff sessions met with russian ambassador to the u.s. twice last year. the question is did he in capacity of the donald trump campaign surrogate or as a member of the armed services committee. now facing acquisitions of misleading congress for making a devastating blow to the attorney general. the justice department confirming that twice last year, sessions met with the top russian diplomat in washington. once at the republican convention in july and the second time in september in the sessions' senate office. sessions a surrogate at the time of the meetings for the trump campaign with russian ambassador sergei kislyak. he is considered to be one of russia's top spies and not simply a diplomat. listen to what sessions said when senator al franken asked about the trump campaign and russian officials. >> and if there is any evidence that

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs.s there ever been so much anticipation? as the white house is advancing the agenda on health care, the spotlight returns to the unfounded wiretapping claims. the house intelligence committee asked the trump justice department to hand over evidence to back up the president's allegation that president obama ordered his phones tapped during the campaign. >> more than a week after president trump tweeted out that claim, the white house has still offered zero evidence to support it. ahead of the deadline, one lawmaker is demanding an explanation. our white house correspondent athena jones has more. >> reporter: the deadline looms today. a letter septembnt last week regarding the explosive wiretapping allegations against his predecessor president obama. no indication that the white house or the department of justice is prepared to offer up any such evidence. this is something that members of congress, not just democrats, but republicans, very much want to see. here is what arizona senator jo

. >> i'm christine romans. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. history will be made today one way or the other. either republicans take their first vote toward repealing and replacing the affordable care act or we could see a staggering blow against obamacare and perhaps to the entire trump agenda. the white house and republican leaders now deep into a furious last-ditch campaign to turn no votes by members of the ultra conservative freedom caucus into yes votes. >> one critical issue at this point is ending essential health benefits that obamacare requires in every insurance policy. more on what those are in a moment. right now, still no deal. house freedom caucus chairman mark meadows is sounding upbeat one will be made soon. >> i'm really optimistic we can get there. there is still a lot of details to work out, sean. to say we have a deal that wouldn't be accurate. the president and i came to agreement in principle. what we are trying to do now is to make sure that our agreement is actually something that can be executed in a way that passes t

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. "new day" starts now.isyn. >> james comey meeting with the gang of eight. >> we are confident that the by partis bipartisan investigators. >> whether there is a kegs with the trump organization and russian bank. >> the russian bank looked up the address to the trump servers 2,800 times. >> the health care system is a monstrosity. >> we don't have to get it fast. >> this is the closest we will ever get to repealing and replacing obamacare. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day." it is friday, march 10th. 6:00 in new york. up first, james comey meeting behind closed doors with the eight lawmakers who have access to the nation's most sensitive data including that on russia's alleged meddling in the election. >> we have reporting for you. cnn is learning that federal investigators are continuing to examine the server connection with the trump organization server and a russian bank. what exactly is known and what

i'm christine romans. it is 31 minutes past the hour.have been warning about is starting to fall across the northeast. expect it to get heavier and keep falling. tens of millions of people under blizzard or winter storm warnings. >> new york city and boston expected to be hit hard. new york to get a foot of snow or more. parts of massachusetts could see up to two feet. high winds creating whiteout conditions. schools in boston and new york city and many places are closed. >> so far, airlines canceled 5,400 flights. there is the map of what is in the air according to flightaware.com. amtrak is running a modified schedule in the northeast. ahead of the blizzard, folks are clearing off grocery store shelves like it is the end of the world. my kids got two oreos. we have the latest on the storm with reporters along the east coast. starting with chad myers. meteorologist chad myers in columbus circle. you are an hour and 20 minutes into your post today. how is it going? >> reporter: it's not bad. it is still snowing. it is okay. people are de

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. "new day" starts now.t alleged wiretapping. >> it is clear nothing has changed. >> the president is incapable of admitting error. >> the fbi is investigating links between the trump campaign and russian government. >> investigating it and having proof are two things. >> no one could have chosen better than neil gorsuch. >> senate judiciary committee will extend courtesy denied to merrick garland. >> we feel really good where we are. >> thursday is our chance are. >> thursday is our chance to end the obamacare catastrophe. >>> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and allison camarata. >> this is "new day," 6:00 here in new york. up first, the trump administration trying to distance itself from two former campaign aides following the fbi's revelation that it is investigating whether trump associates colluded with russia to interfere in the twist white house election. the white house also not backing down on president trump's bogus claim that he was wiretapped by former president obama despite no evidence. >> s

welcome to early start i'm christine romans. >> aim dave briggs. not wearing yoga pants, i don't own leggings, two top democrats say the time has come for house intelligence committee chairman to recuse himself of the investigations between trump ties with russian officials. he was on the groun

cnn's chief business correspondent christine romans. what are we looking at here? >> looking at a hard power budget. the budget director says this is a blue prinlt that is all you heard from the president on the campaign trail put into numbers, promises to shrink the role of government in citizens life, epa budget cut almost a third, state, 28%. that includes foreign aid which many say is a counterpart to our hard power, the soft power is important, too. hhs down 18%. and a $6 billion cut to hud, billions of dollars there. there's alarm among housing advocates when you say get the government out of your life, you're meaning get the government out of poor people's lives or people's lives who need it in a crisis. where is the boost to spending? defense, $5 billion. no surprise there. vet john, the border, $3 billion there. a down payment on the wall, but also a down payment on some of the promises the president made in his executive orders, hiring a thousand new immigration agents, 500 new border patrol folks. that's what this budget looks like. it won't happen tomor

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. >> did you see that?et an espresso machine? >> tom hanks supporting america's journalism. love it. >> they aren't up before 4:30, we are. president trump stepping forward with a forceful defense of attorney general jeff sessions just hours after sessions recused himself from any investigations into mr. trump's presidential campaign. the move comes amid growing calls by democrats for the attorney general to resign over revelations sessions met with the russian ambassador at the same time he was serving as a trump campaign surrogate. then failed to disclose that at his senate hearing. sessions recusing himself at a news conference just two hours after the president said he should not do so, sessions denied any wrongdoing saying that he told senators he never spoke with russian officials about the trump campaign. >> i was taken aback a little bit about this brand-new information, this allegation that surrogates -- and i had been called a surrogate for donald trump -- had been meeting continuously with russia

christine romans earlier on the show nailed it. she was right.ve a distraction like this with respect to the allegations donald trump made over the weekend, no question about it, the market doesn't like that. the market wants congress and the president focused on getting these tax kugts done, getting baerk repealed, getting regulations rolled back. when there's distractions like this, the market falls. >> a lot of this buildup. i know, austan, you only give the president 1/15th of the credit for this market. a lot of this gain has been an anticipatory gain. remember the night futures were down during the election. carl icahn turned it around the next morning. they bet on him executing on major tax reform. how long of a road does he have to actually get it done before this market turns and says were you all talk, no action? >> look, if you care a lot about what the stock market thinks, then you are a little bit going to be a prisoner to that exact question, that the markets are going to say, we're getting impatient, we want you to do x, y, z, we w

. >> i'm christine romans. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. the future to repeal and replace obamacare depends on ho you ask. a lawmaker at the president's meeting with house republican leaders tells cnn his endorsement came with a stern warning. the president said failure to pass legislation after seven years of promises would lead to a, quote, bloodbath in the 2018 elections. mr. trump even channeled president obama's most famous unfulfilled health promise. >> this will be a plan where you can choose your doctor. this will be a plan where you can choose your plan. it's a implicated process but actually it's very simple. it's called good health care. >> president trump's effort to get resistant republicans on board has not done the trick. at least not yet. objections released by rank and file lawmakers, powerful conservative groups and key senators signal threats to the bill's very survival. one aide to a conservative house member tells cnn the bill is dead. too many conservative groups are coming out against it. there's no way they'll have v

i'm dave briggs. >> and i'm christine romans. let's see it again.ng. >> which means it's mar-a-lago time. >> 30 minutes past the hour. breaking overnight president trump stepping forward with a force full defense of his attorney general jeff sessions just hours after sessions recused himself from any investigations into mr. trump's presidential campaign. the move comes amid growing calls by democrats for the attorney general to resign over those revelations sessions met with the russian ambassador at the same time he was serving as a trump campaign surrogate and then failed to disclose that at his senate hearing. sessions recusing himself at a news conference just two hours after the president said he should not do so. sessions denied any wrongdoing saying that he told senators he never smoke with russian officials about the trump campaign. >> i was taken aback a little bit by about this brand new information, this allegation that surrogates and i had been called a surrogate for donald trump had been meeting continuously with russian officials, and

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. never tried russian dressing.use intelligence committee probing alleged ties between president trump and russia, nothing. no meetings, no hearings, no nothing at all. trump-russia probe has broken down at least for now amid a growing divide over whether house intel chairman devin nunes should recuse himself. >>> what will get things moving again. for one thing the reining democrat adam schiff want republicans to reschedule hearings set for yesterday. former acting attorney general sally yates was set to testify. she was expected to discuss communications between former trump national security adviser michael flynn and russia's ambassador to the u.s. "the washington post" reported the white house tried to block yates from testifying. that's a claim the press secretary sean spicer flat out rejected. >> on the 24th miss yates attorney sent a letter requesting that consent specifically saying if they did not receive a response by march 27th at 10:00 a.m. they would conclude that the white house does not assert executi

i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. 31 minutes past the hour.crucial week ahead for president trump. the supreme court legacy and credibility on the line here. the drama with hearings on the hill. in hours, fbi director james comey testifies before the committee he is expected to contradict the president telling the lawmakers the trump tower was not wiretapped on orders from president obama. comey is likely to be asked about alleged russian interference about the election and collusion with the trump campaign and russians. >>> later this morning, democrats may take aim at nominee neil gorsuch as the senate confirmation hearings begin. let's start with the fbi director's testimony. cnn's ryan mobinobles has more. >> reporter: this is the first time lawmakers can get james comey to state publicly what the department has learned about the wiretapping trump tower allegations. the white house refused to back down as republicans and democrats saying there is no evidence to back up the president's claim. now in addition to pressing comey on the wiretap

i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. it is monday, march 13th. time to get your brackets filled out. as an american, you should. >> time honored tradition. >> you need tips? don't ask me. great fun. >>> this morning, also much of the white house. they want to advance on health care other issues, but coming back to the president's wiret wiretapping claims. asking to hand over evidence to back up that president obama ordered the phones tapped. >> and the white house still offered ear o eed zero evidencet it. one lawmaker is demanding more information. we have athena jones with more rmt. >> reporter: good morning. the house intelligence committee sent a letter last week asking to provide all relevant documents regarding the president's explosive wiretapping allegations against his predecessor. there is no indication that the white house or the department of justice is pre-tard pare to off evidence. many republicans very much want to see. here is what john mccain had to say about all this on state of the

i'm christine romans, 4:00 a.m. in the east.very some of his critics say that was the presidential tone they've been waiting for. the president's big speech provides a reset of sorts in the adjustment of a settle of congress. the president casting a more presidential image. spent mostly sticking to the teleprompter, as he ran through his policy goals, he got a lot of answers how to pay for them. the president offered up this challenge to lawmakers. >> the time for small thinking is over. the time for trivial fights is behind us. we just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our hearts. the bravery to express the hopes for our souls and the confidence to turn those hopes and dreams into actions. >> now, there were some polarizing aspects as president trump recapped many of the greatest hits from his campaign. at several times we saw all of the republicans standing and all of the democrats stuck in their seats. cnn jim acosta at the white house with more. >> christine and dave, president trump put the divisive rhetoric of

cnn's chief business correspondent christine romans has a preview. hi, christine. >> hi, pamela.he big question, can the rally keep going after big gains and high hopes we've seen since the election in november. we're starting to hear some doubts from wall street pros about the recent gains. goldman sachs in a research note citing maximum optimism in the market right here. also the stock market has a big time birthday this week thursday. the bull market in stocks turns eight years old. some perspective march 9th, 2009, lows, dow slipped below 7,000. today it crashed above 21,000, 14 points in eight years, the blue chips have more than tripled in value. the other major event this week comes on friday with the first full month of jobs data since president trump took office. we've seen steady job gains over the past few months, 227,000 jobs added last month. the white house is taking credit for that, even though it was mostly under president obama. in any event, these new stats will be under president trump. this friday we'll start that uphill battle to create 25 million jobs over t

christine romans here now. wow, this market likes this president. >> it really does.ldman sachs, caterpillar, are the kind of stocks doing well today, and you can see why. he's promised to cut taxes for these companies, to lower their tax bill. he's promised to roll back and kill regulations, probably going to roll back regulations for some of these banks. that's wall street and main street, and since this election, wall street has soared some 10%. 2500 plus points for the dow jones industrial average. what used to be derided as fat cats, they're even fatter today. will that roll down to main street, that's the question. >> i'm glad we could share this 21,000 moment with you. one number that no one likes because it's not a true number, it's a misleading number, is the number the president keeps on using for people not in the labor force. listen to what he said about that last night. >> tonight, as i outline the next steps we must take as a country, we must honestly acknowledge the circumstances we inherited. 94 million americans are out of the labor force. >> we must

i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. breaking news.eans committee voting to the obamacare repeal bill. >> we have had a long night. we understand. >> this after 16 grueling hours of debate. republicans voting down the democratic amendments from out of pocket costs to tax increases to the president tax returns. >> you imagine they would try that. >> the ways and means twitter account saying we are delivering on the promise to bring relief from obamacare and empowering americans to make their own health care decisions. at this hour, the energy and commerce committee still debating. >> the sun will soon rise. >> still in ties. once this committee passes its portion of the bill, both still need to go through house budget committee. then house rules committee before going to a full house vote. you have to roll up the sleeves. take off the jacket. >> they have been there all night. this is the first step. on a broader level to the plan growing among conservatives on the hill. president trump laying out two strategies. plan a for getting it p

i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans.se facing a challenge as friend and foe alike over the tweet storm that president obama had president trump wire tapped. everyone in the position to know has so far denied. now the fbi itself asking the justice department, the fbi asking the justice department to refute the claim from president trump. a rare move. according to two sources. the claim implying the bureau may have broken the law by obeying the president obama order. no comment so far from the justice department. >>> president trump asking congress to investigate the baseless wire tapping claim. and house chairman devin nunes will look into the party inmatt part of the russian campaign accusatio accusations. and we have james clapper telling nbc it is not happened. >> no such wire tap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time or candidate or against his campaign. >> if the fbi, had advice of court order, would that be information you would know? >> yes. >> you would be told? >> i would know that. yes. someth

next our chief business correspondent christine romans breaks down what's on the chopping block.newsroom. (vo) this is not a video game. this is not a screensaver. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪ say goodbye to extra taxes and fees on your wireless bill... ...and hello to t-mobile one. right now, get two lines of unlimited data for a hundred bucks. taxes and fees included! two lines, a hundred dollars, all in, all unlimited. switch today. >>> defense spending and border security are the big winners in president trump's very first budget outline, taking the hardest hit, the environmental protection agency and the state department. the president is proposing cuts to their budget of up to 30%. the president also wants to eliminate funds for public broadcasting and the national endowment for the arts. backlash to this budget is growing, especially among members of both parties. >> reporter: anna, the white house budget chief calls this a high powered budget, big

i'm brigdave briggs. >> i'm christine romans.the house intelligent committee investigating alleged ties between trump and russia nothing. no meetings. nothing. the trump-russia probe has broken down at least for now amid this growing divide over whether house intel chairman devin nunes should recuse himself from that probe. those calls coming from a growing number of democrats but even now from the ranks of nunes own party. elijah cummings points to a claim made by nunes he was on the white house grounds to read classified material and no one on the white house grounds was aware. no one knew about his visit cannot be true. nunes was not a white house fence jumper he was invited in. >>> there's a republican house member saying nunes should recuse himself. walter jones of north carolina. meantime nunes is scoffing at the suggestion that he might step aside. >> are you going to stay as chairman and run this investigation? >> well why would i not? you guys need go ask them why these things are being said. >> can this investigation co

christine romans joins us now. morning. >> we talked a lot about that market value added since election day. i can show you what that looks like. since election day the dow jones industrial average, the 30 big stocks of the dow, up almost 16%. the s&p 500, that's the broader index of stocks, probably your stocks in your 401(k) look like the s&p 500. it's all about perspective. this 2.7 trillion rally, when i look at value added, u.s. stocks, almost $3 trillion. back to the bottom in 2009, you can almost say the trump rally is the icing on a very sweet cake. the dow up 14,000 points since 2009. the s&p 500 up about 265%, more than doubling for both of them. a couple things going on here. lower taxes for companies. that's what they're all hoping for. the presidential sound the other night, made investors think he might get tax reform done, might get infrastructure done. they're hoping he can dwlifr on the promises. the economy is humming along. 15-year high for consumer confidence. the fed will likely start raise int

. >> i'm christine romans. 30 minutes past the hour. a lot of good stuff in the papers.g in washington. the political version of win or go home. president trump laying down ultimatum for republicans. talks are over. vote on the health care bill today and pass it or you will be stuck with failing obamacare and forced to explain why you didn't vote to repeal it. all this after leaders postponed the vote scheduled thursday when they did not have the votes. both the white house and leaders are said to be frustrated with the freedom caucus after both spent the day trying to quote grind them down. >> now a familiar trend emerging with the white house laying the ground work to place the blame on others if this bill fails. the republican source says freedom caucus chairman mark meadows told members to vote your conscious. >> i'm optimistic. i don't put grades or numbers on anything. i know that would make for a better headline, but i'm still optimistic that everybody is negotiating in good faith to get there. >> the vote just hours away. big questions will the president's ultima

christine romans breaks it down next. and the self-propelled ml makes mowing effortless. the ego power+ mower. exclusively at the home depot and ego authorized dealers. i just had to push one button wto join.s thing is crazy. it's like i'm in the office with you, even though i'm here. it's almost like the virtual reality of business communications. no, it's reality. introducing intuitive, one touch video calling from vonage. call now and get amazon chime at no additional cost. ♪ can i get some help. watch his head. ♪ i'm so happy. ♪ whatever they went through, they went through together. welcome guys. life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. at the marine mammal center, the environment is everything. we want to do our very best for each and every animal, and we want to operate a sustainable facility. and pg&e has been a partner helping us to achieve that. we've helped the marine mammal center go solar, install electric vehicle charging stations, and become more energy efficient. pg&e has allowed us to be the most sustainable organizati

. >> and i'm christine romans.big trump tease turned out to be something closer to the trump distraction, perhaps. the white house confirming a report that donald trump's 2005 tax return showed $38 million in taxes paid on more than $150 million in income. the white house releasing the figures after msnbc's rachel maddow teased a major scoop. they brought on pulitzer prize winning journalist david k. johnson, a tax expert, who said an anonymous source 11 the top two pages of mr. trump's return in miss mailbox. in the end, maddow said it was overhype. >> and there a chance that the return was leaked by mr. trump himself, perhaps in order to draw unwelcome attention away from the republican health care bill and the russian connection. cnn's don lemon asked the journalist who obtained the tax return that question. >> do you think it's possible he could have sent them to you? >> oh, absolutely. donald trump has a long history of leaking information about himself. he doesn't think quite like the rest of us do. he doesn'

i'm christine romans. welcome to "early stafrrt." >> i'm dave briggs.1 today. good wishes sent to the young man. a crucial week ahead for the legislative agenda and supreme court pick and credibility on the line. drama starts with two hearings on the hill . in hours, fbi director james comey testifies in front of the intelligence committee. he is expected to tell lawmakers the trump campaign was not wiretapped on orders from president obama. comey is likely to be asked about alleged russian interference in the election and whether there was collusion with the trump campaign and russians. >> democrats may take aim at nominee neil gorsuch as the senate confirmation hearings begin. let's start with the fbi director testimony. cnn's ryan nobles has the latest from washington. >> reporter: good morning, christine and dave. this marks the first time that lawmakers can get james comey to state publicly what his agency has learned about president trump's claims. that president obama wiretapped him at trump tower. the white house refuses to back down. as republi

christine romans, cnn's chief business correspondent, the start of "early start" here to explain whateans. >> it means the borrowed money is going to be more expensive. in particular, credit cards. if you have debt, the balance you keep on the credit card, it's going to cost more money every month. interest rates on credit card debt will rise. new auto loans could be more expensive. mortgage rates are expected to rise, tied to the ten-year treasury note, tied to what the fed does with interest rates. increased savings rates. the last one has been a big bone of contention for seniors, more conservative mom and pop investors. it used to be you could have certificate of deposit or money in a bank account and get some money -- >> savings accounts have been because this is i think where the big money is for many famous, one of the their biggest investments ever. 15-year mortgage, 3.42%. these are still very historically low. but you can see those bump up. if you're talking about locking in a mortgage rate, now is the time to lock in on that. what is the fed looking at? >> what is the fed l

bringing it to us, chief business correspondent christine romans. it's a big one. >> not exactly as strong as the highest estimates but 235,000 net new jobs. that's a good number here. when you look at the trend, a few months of good numbers here overall, 235,000. you can see last month was very good in january, revised up, december revised up. you look at the whole shebang, it matches almost exactly last february and the february before that. there's something about february that's strong. you'll hear business enthusiasm about donald trump allowing them to keep hiring. unemployment rate 4.7%. pretty much steady. i think this number could have gone lower if not for the people coming off the sidelines to get jobs. a renewed enthusiasm of strong jobs growth. people coming off the sidelines and starting to get jobs. where are the jobs? business and information services tend to be higher paid category, construction tend to be higher paid category, manufacturing jobs came back in the month. that is really interesting and politically interesting there. wh

cnn's christine romans is here with more. >> this is hard power, america first. it's pretty dramatic. it's little but it's dramatic. it reshapes how government interacts with american life, shrinks government. what you would see if this budget were enacted would be an awful lot of empty metal desks in washington, dc and a lot of smaller programs. let's take a look at how much smaller. epa, down 31%, that's what this budget calls for. state, 28%. hhs, health and human services, down 16%. and hud, a $6 billion cut there. this is the housing and urban development department. there are concerns among advocates for the poor and for equal housing that this would dramatically reshape how low-income people receive their housing. what you hear from the government, what you hear from the white house, is that they see a lot of duplicative programs, they would move money around, get red id of waste and things that shouldn't be done, eliminated. the corporation for public broadcasting would be eliminated entirely, a 50-year-old wish list for conservatives who see a leftist pr

let's bring in christine romans. >> i think so. if he's going to create 15 million jobs over the next ten years, he needs more months like this. it was a very strong january. and when you look out over the past last year, this number, interestingly, almost exactly what this number was last year, when it wasn't the animal spirits of donald trump fueling business optimism but just an economy starting to roar. unemployment rate ticking down, the jobless rate would have fallen further if people weren't coming off the sidelines. >> which is always good news. >> more people coming in, you want to see that. february matches exactly february of last year. the jobless rate down steadily from those terrible old days in 2010 when we saw about 10% unemployment. so this has been a steadily improving labor market. you will hear, though, people say, oh, wait, there's another job number that's terrible. the underemployed. those count people who are working part-time but would like to be working full-time. look how nicely that's come down as well.