the democrats emailed their talk points out so the cnn white house reporter reads the talking points.eads the talking points and regurnlg 80s the of -- and regurgitates it on air. >> is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign. >> no, it's not a comic book and it's not have nice the way you say that. >> we don't have superman presidents. you would have as much chance as you would flying away from that podium. trish: weren't they supposed to be neutral? not seems the their new reporter is making a run at the other guy's schtick. soap the president was not in touch with reality. >> what we are witnessing is the he roaftion our freedom. >> i'm not negotiating you. i'll let congress take care of that. >> i think we saw the president's true colors today and i'm not sure they were red, white and blue. >> you are attacking our news organization. trish: can you imagine blake berman, our white house correspondent doing anything like that. joining me, monica crowley. it's good to see you. >> great to see you, too, thanks for having me. trish: lots to celebrate on the jobs front. >>

. >>> with us now, john harwood, cnn white house correspondent jeff mason, white house correspondent for reuters. you guys, you cover the politics on this, jonathan, i'll start with you, given you're at the white house, the president seemed to hear barr's comments, but then tweet that fine for you to say that, but i'm going to go my own way. >> reporter: jim, the white house reaction on this was a tell. you had stephanie grisham put out a state last night saying the president was not bothered by bill barr's comments. the president has made clear through his conduct throughout his presidency that he is bothered by criticism approximately 100% of the time. so if he -- if the white house is putting out a statement like that, that is a sign that they're not really bothered. now, when the president tweeted this morning, that's his maximum flexibility position. i didn't do this wrongdoing i'm accused of, but i could have if i wanted to. remember, we learned from the mueller report this is a president who according to the testimony, this white house counsel, directed him -- the white house

cnn, trump vindictive and acquittal celebration, trump vindictive and vulgar and john, hired as cnn white houserespondent, right from cnbc had this to say. >> it was dark because he's made clear that his mind is dark, this is something in deep psychological distress right now, self-pitying, insecure, angry. howie: hardwood, describe as psychological distress. >> the president was accused of being a trader and the media pushed the narrative, they won awards for pushing the narrative, they were completely exposed as not being good reporters, they are embarrassed and in a position right now to accurately describe what is going on, people can hear the speech themselves, the media seem unable because they're implicated in this false story that led to this acquittal. howie: opinion people can say it's vulgar, do you think melanie that journalists should be more cautious, i asked a number of times in describing the president's state of mind, he's unhinged, all the negative attributes as prescribed by the arm's chair psychologist to have media? >> yeah, we have to be vigilant on how we approach the iss

cnn white house reporter sarah westwood in west palm beach. r down, a yes or no on that if he's going around that track? >> well, victor, that is something under consideration. cnn has reported that the white house is considering having the president take at least a partial lap around that track in the presidential limo known as the beast. that would be similar to something vice president mike pence did in 2017 at the indianapolis 500. the president is the grand marshal. as the grand marshal, he'll give the famous command, drivers, start your engines. as you mentioned, he'll also be speaking before the race. the trump campaign is also taking the opportunity of a friendly viewership of this race to run an ad that has a racing theme. take a listen. >> america is great. better than ever. under president trump's leadership we are racing to new heights, millions of new jobs, rising wages. record low unemployment. securing our border. protecting our country and respecting our veterans. >> the president is likely to get a warm welcome from this crowd

cnn white house correspondent john harwood is joining us now. john, the news continues here, the president is essentially admitting that he trusts his personal lawyer more than the institutions of the government. what are you hearing from the white house? >> reporter: he absolutely trusts his personal attorney more than institutions of government because if the one thing donald trump's life and career has taught us is that he does not like people whether it is in the government, in the legal system, in the media, he doesn't like people who constrain his actions or hold him to account. rudy giuliani is somebody who was trying to at the president's behest gather information to discredit the mueller investigation and the work that the intel community had done. that's of a piece with his criticism of the career prosecutors who convicted roger stone. and the undercutting of their sentencing memorandum. the president is nothing if not consistent, and he's nothing if not straightforward and subtle about expressing his wishes and he's done appointed by

courts and the prosecutors in the department that we're doing our work with integrity. >> a white house official told cnn that trump was not upset with barr after that interview. and we've learned the white house was actually given a heads up before that interview. so, who do you think barr was really talking to? >> well, as i say, i think he was talking to the line prosecutors and the rank in file in the department of justice that he had a feeling a mutiny might be brewing. and this was an effort to cut it off. i'm interested to hear your confirmations that there was a heads up and that he had, indeed, given them advance notice. i speculated that in the way things operate in a tweet when i said i thought this whole thing was just a show and there was little real sincerity. he was telling trump back off, don't make my work harder, i'm doing the job for you that you want done. >> so i want to read you part of a "washington post" op-ed. he writes anticipating trump's narcissistic whims and desires in just this fashion remains the key to survival in this administration. and outside the white house proper no

the democrats emailed their talk points out so the cnn white house reporter reads the talking points. e reads the talking points and regurnlg 80s the of -- and regurgitates it on air. >> is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign. >> no, it's not a comic book and it's not have nice the way you say that. >> we don't have superman presidents. you would have as much chance as you would flying away from that podium. trish: weren't they supposed to be neutral? not seems the their new reporter is making a run at the other guy's schtick. soap the president was not in touch with reality. >> what we are witnessing is the he roaftion our freedom. >> i'm not negotiating you. i'll let congress take care of that. >> i think we saw the president's true colors today and i'm not sure they were red, white and blue. >> you are attacking our news organization. trish: can you imagine blake berman, our white house correspondent doing anything like that. joining me, monica crowley. it's good to see you. >> great to see you, too, thanks for having me. trish: lots to celebrate on the jobs front.

officials tell cnn that barr has ordered a reexamination of several high profile cases including flynn's. let's get right to the white house and cnn's john harwood. john, how is the white house reacting to all these developments? >> reporter: brooke, the president's speaking right now at a border policy event. have not heard, at least as i came out to the camera, him address the mccabe developments or the flynn developments so far. we'll see what happens the rest of the day on twitter and in terms of his own remarks. but i do think the second of those two events that you recounted is much more significant than the first. with respect to andy mccabe, that was a case that was made difficult even though the inspector general had pointed to places where he argued that andy mccabe had lied, the president himself had injected himself publicly in that case in all the ways that bill barr was complaining about the other day. that was going to be a difficult problematic prosecution under any circumstances. but in the case of flynn, that reflects the real sense of momentum that the president and his allies have been acting on ever si

let's begin at the white house. cnn white house correspondent john harwood, listen, political national prayer breakfasts have become political events, but this one particularly political, was it not, and bitingly political. >> reporter: exceptionally so, just like the state of the union a couple of days ago. look, democratic member of congress tom swazi took the microphone at the end and said the whole love thine enemies thing, some people haven't gotten it yet. donald trump is not a person who feels himself subject to the dictates of the christian faith, he did the opposite of what bill clinton did after he was acquitted in 1999. bill clinton came out in the rose garden and apologized to the country and to the congress for putting them through the agony of an impeachment process. instead, what president trump is doing is coming to the prayer breakfast and saying, i am the victim here, they have done wrong to me. that's simply the way donald trump is, it is not the way that nancy pelosi or mitt romney is, but that's the

and now to the white house, and cnn white house reporter jim acosta. jim, all of this is raising questions about the independence of the justice department. >> yes, that is right, brianna, and president trump did not talk to the reporters about this decision at the justice department to review the case against the former national security adviser, and that move is not going to sit well with the career prosecutors who are alarmed that the president was meddling in the justice department's probes of the associates. i am told that the president is angry that federal prosecutors won't pursue charges against the former deputy director andrew mccabe, a target that the president has blasted for months. >> reporter: he is finding that the convicted associates have friends in key places as attorney general william barr is calling on the prosecutors to look into the case of michael flynn who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi in the russian investigation. mr. trump has repeatedly complained about the handling of flynn and just as he has voiced displeasure about

white house alive. let get into all of this with cnn's jeff zeleny in south carolina with zelina jones. jeff zeleny, you spoke to joe biden just a short time ago. how confident is his campaign that that state can turn it around for him? >> reporter: alex, the short answer is they simply don't know. they're putting all of their hopes in south carolina. the next six days are absolutely essential to joe biden continuing in this race. we should point out that voters are just tuning in here. they like joe biden. they have been paying attention to the race but they aren't necessarily going to follow what happened in iowa or new hampshire or even in nevada. but there is a question here. bernie sanders also has been campaigning aggressively here, and he doesn't have to win. he can perform just fine without winning and move forward. he's focusing on super tuesday. for joe biden himself he's going to be focusing on the electorate here, some 60% of the democratic electorate are african-american voters. many of them have a long relationship with him, the voters we spoke to today certainly like him

officials telling cnn when the news broke the president discussed it with lawyers at the white house and there was no question he thought mccabe should have been charged. he hasn't said a word in public. he hasn't tweeted about it. this from a president who never, never, ever let's go of a grudge against someone who crossed him or someone he thinks crossed him. don't forget mccabe authorized the to investigate the president in the first place in may of 17 after he fired comey. >> the people that started that investigation are mccabe. who is a proven liar and fired from the fbi. >> mccabe made a fool ut of himself. and really looks to me like a poor man's hoover. >> he's a bad guy. a sick guy. >> mccabe what he's done is just despicable. >> look at mccabe. who is a bad, bad guy. he's walking around. >> remember what i said last night. projection. despite the president's fuming the case is closed. here's the thing, this is a case that's been dead for months, really. though in all that time, what did we hear from the justice department? that's what we heard. nothing. crickets. and a fed

let's bring in cnn white house correspondent. to answer some questions for us. good to see you. the president down playing the threat posed by coronavirus. everyone as new case of origin was announced in california. will this quiet the critics? >> definitely not. in part because the president himself was a little rambling and uncertain. he said we have asked for $2.5 million and republicans want $4 million. republicans want eight. we don't care. that was not a focussed response. you played the disagreement. with his specialist on this and saying i don't think it's necessarily inevitable. they have said community spread is inevitable and we have a case of it after the press conference. that plus the chaotic choreography of the pence and who's in charge. that the press conference is not going to quiet the criticism from democrats and from republicans as well. republicans in the last couple of days have been clearly uneasy with how the president was handling it. >> there's a bit of keystone going on here. this is him down playing the threat in china. >> if you can count on reports

joining me now cnn white house reporter sarah westwood.onal reporter for "the washington post." you cover this white house. trump aides once viewed the tuesday's state of the union as an opportunity to walk vindicated onto the floor of the house in front of speaker nancy pelosi. kind of wave the flag a bit. that will have to be delayed. how does he approach this thing? >> that's right. sources tell cnn last night at mar-a-lago president trump seemed a little bit distracted, seemed a little bit more subdued. white house aides had wanted, as you mentioned, to have the president walk on the floor and be vindicated, have this hit the reset button and pivot towards the election. with this deal mcconnell and republicans say they had no choice but to take they could have gunned up forces with nights and weekends with procedural members. but now they have no choice but to do this. at best the president will get about a half day coverage of the state of the union. the coverage will be tainted by the fact he's still facing a trial in the senate. so

cnn white house correspondent has the latest on bill barr. >> what we're being told is the attorney general is telling people that he has considered resigning from his job at the if the president doesn't stop getting involved at matters in the justice department. pointing to the tweets that from last week after the sentencing recommendation for roger stone but going through today even after bill barr gave the remarkable interview where he said that the president's tweets do not help him do his job and make doing his job harder. the president acknowledged that today when asked about it. the question of course and there are skeptics going to question barr's motive. he is someone who people close to him describe as extremely calculated. he has had a tough time inside the justice department with the rank and file members and saw over 2,000 former federal prosecutors and officials calling on him to resign after they overruled the prosecutors. we know from sources that the tension between the president and barr over the tweets is real. barr made it clear privately as well as publicly to the presi

cnn's white house reporter sarah westwood is joining us live. sarah?ago, president trump announcing on twitter that in a little over an hour he will be briefing reporters, having a press conference on coronavirus. this comes days after he held now sort of unprecedented press conference in the briefing room, something he hadn't done before. he told reporters at that time he would be having more briefing room press conferences, and it comes as the president's coronavirus taskforce has been meeting here at the white house. earlier this week, the president put vice president pence in charge of that taskforce, pence and other officials across the government have been meeting in the situation room at the white house to deal with coronavirus response. there's criticism that the white house hasn't demonstrated enough urgency in response, for example, didn't ask for enough funding from congress when they made a formal request to capitol hill for emergency coronavirus funding. the white house and top administration officials had been working to calm concerns abo

cnn white house reporter sarah westwood is in west palm beach with more. will he?hat is the question, amara. whether president trump will take a lap when he attends the daytona 500 later today. that is a possibility. the white house possibly planning on having the president do that lap in the presidential limo known as the beast. the president will also be serving as the grand marshal of that race, which means he'll be giving that famous command, drivers start your engines. he'll make a little bit of history. he'll be the first sitting president ever to say the words at the race. the last time a president served as grand marshal was president obama. likely to be friendly to president trump. take a listen. >> america is great. better than ever. under president trump's leadership we are racing to new heights. millions of new jobs rising wages, record low unemployment. securing our border. protecting our country. and respecting our veterans. >> the president is likely to get a warm welcome from the audience at this race today. it's keeping on a string of sporting even

cnn white house correspondent mr. boris sanchez is here. crime and justice reporter shimon prokupecz, laura coats, and michael isikoff, investigative correspondent for yahoo news. man, i got everyone here. thank you for joining. it's good to see you all. he's quoting barr. he said the president has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case, a.g. barr, this doesn't mean i does not have president the legal right to do so. i do, but i have so far chosen not to. he says he hasn't influenced criminal cases, but he could that's what he's saying. >> well, first of all he hasn't spoken to anyone when we see these 1:00 a.m. tweets, i mean he must not be able to read them of course. but the idea the president has absolute right is belied by the constitution. he keeps referencing article 2, and that takes full faith to execute to law. that doesn't give him absolute authority over the department of justice. he cannot undermine the bill of rights, due process, someone's first amendment rights to be able to associate or be part of a political part

cnn white house correspondent john harwood joins us now and, john, general kelly was very candid at this event, also talking about north korea as well. >> reporter: he was, bianna. the statements that john kelly made, they're not surprising, many of the observations were perfectly obvious to those of us outside the administration before. what is surprising is that someone who once was the most -- the ultimate insider in the white house is saying them. so he said, for example, as you noted a moment ago, that alexander vindman did the right thing by speaking up about the aid for investigations, quid pro quo that the president was imposing, the person, of course, has criticized him and fired him from the white house for doing that, said that president trump did the wrong thing for intervening in military justice and the multiilitary outcome of court-martial of eddie gallagher, charged with murder, but later reduced in rank and the president restored his rank. he said the president was played by kim jong-un in north korea, because kelly said it is perfectly obvious that the north koreans hav

was totally out of control and perhaps should not have been brought, and kaitlan collins is our cnn white housenow that the president is not only, you know, attacking the judge in the case, he also pulled a separate nomination for the former u.s. attorney who oversaw the sentencing, what can you tell me? >> yeah, there's a lot going on, and the president is even talking about this right now in the oval office as he's welcoming the ecuadorian leader. he is defending these tweets saying that he doesn't believe they were political interference in this, but then he's going back to thanking the justice department and those top officials for getting involved in all of this. brooke, what he's not saying is whether or not he's considering a pardon for his long-time friend roger stone telling reporters just a few moments ago he didn't want to weigh in on that, we'll likely hear more about what it is the president said once those reporters leave the room. yes, this is all part of this ongoing situation. this jesse liu part is just one small part of this. this is really notable. she is someone who ran the

. >> now the white house is mulling, and listen to this, additional travel restrictions here in the u.s. to stop the spread of the virus here. let's begin with cnn white house correspondent john harwood. john, what more do we know about where the president's mind is on this? because he's deliberately tried to downplay this. he's tweeting about that again in the morning while the information we're hearing is of this becoming more serious. >> reporter: jim, i think it's pretty clear the president's mind is not in a good place. he did, as you mentioned, try the sunny side up message when he was in india, so did aides like larry kudlow back in washington saying, yeah, the stock market is dropping but it's a buying opportunity for investors. we've got this thing under control. privately what our reporting has shown is that he is upset and second-guessing aides for things like letting those 14 passengers fly back to the united states after they tested positive for coronavirus. he is very concerned about the decline in the stock market. the potential, as kevin hassett discussed with you a few minutes ago of a global recession if this thing escalates in

we have cnn white house correspondent jeremy dimon also there. president won't get his victory lap before his state of the union address. what are you hearing from the white house on this time line. >> reporter: well, brianna, president trump and his aides at the white house had viewed that state of the union address coming up on tuesday as an opportunity for president trump to walk into the house of representatives, the chamber, where he had been impeached late last year and come in as a newly vindicated man, newly vindicated president. they had hoped, of course, for that to happen that the president would be acquitted in the senate before that state of the union address. it became clear last night that that was not going to happen despite the fact that the white house had expressed to republican senate leadership that they did indeed, want that vindication, that acquittal in the senate to come before tuesday. so now the question shifts to how the president will respond to this acquittal when it comes after the state of the union as we expect it

cnn white house correspondent john harwood joins me now. john, so why is mulvaney on shaky ground?reporter: well, the president moves through staff at quite a rapid pace. he tends to discard people if he thinks that they have slowed him down or constrained him or created problems for him. obviously mick mulvaney went into the white house briefing room and was honest about the quid pro quo on ukraine. so that's one reason. but events like the acquittal, turning point events, are a trigger for things like this. we have every expectation the president will move ahead. don't know if it will be 15 minutes from now or a week from now or a month from now, but it is likely he will. leading contenders, mark short, the chief of staff to vice president pence, eric euland, political professional, head of legislative affairs. the front-runner for the job, jim, is on the plane with the president today, going down to north carolina for that opportunity zone event, mark meadows not running for re-election, so we'll stand by for news coming out of that trip potentially. >> okay, so, another victim

let's bring in cnn white house correspondent jeremy diamond, who has brand new reporting on this storyd to put a fine point on this it is complex. it is nuanced. the top intelligence official for security, shelby pearson, she told lawmakers a week ago on a briefing on capitol hill that the russians have a preference for the president in the 2020 race. your sources are telling you it's not as simple as that. why? >> reporter: look, none of this is cut and dry, alex. it is complicated. it is nuanced. from three national security officials is that pearson may have overstated the extent of the u.s. intelligence as it relates to russian interference. she says russia was interfering in the 2020 election with the goal of trying to help president trump's re-election campaign. three national security officials tell us that this is actually what the intelligence says. one hand, that russia is, indeed, interfering in the 2020 election and secondly that russia used trump as a leader that it can work with. but the u.s. doesn't yet have the evidence to actually conclude that russia is interfering in

joining me now is cnn white house correspondent kaitlan collins. she's in charleston, south carolina. president trump once again lashing out. what did he say at his rally tonight? >> reporter: yeah, it's perhaps not a surprising argument from the president, but he is trying to say essentially democrats and the media are weaponizing the coronavirus outbreak, trying to use it against him. an argument his acting chief of staff mick mulvaney made today. listen to exactly how he's phrasing this. >> now the democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. you know that, right? coronavirus. they are politicizing it. we did one of the great jobs you see. how's president trump doing, oh, not good, not good. they don't have any clue. they can't even count their votes in iowa. >> reporter: now, don, what's notable about this is what you've been hearing from the president the last several weeks is saying his administration are down playing the risk of this. saying it's not going to spread. he said if it spreads. it's not a question of if but when in the united stat

joining us is cnn white house correspondent john harwood and our crime and justice correspondent shimon prokupecz. how real is this consideration to resign by barr who is so aligned with the president philosophically on so many things. >> and really has had the president's back throughout this -- throughout his entire term at the department of justice from the mueller investigation, you know, to on through. that's the big question. how real is this? a lot of people are very skeptical. and in part, the department of justice, the attorney general, lack a lot of credibility right now. perhaps maybe have no credibility. so what can we believe if people are telling us, well, he's thinking about resigning. we know he was at the white house yesterday, the attorney general, and he met with the white house counsel there during his meeting. but other than that, we've seen no signs that he's actually going to somehow quit or that he's actually fighting with the president over this. it is -- the problem that's going on right now internally over in main justice is that he is really starting to lose

cnn white house correspondent john harwood joins me now. the president was disappointed in mulvaney's defense of him? what's behind this? >> he certainly wasn't happy that mick mulvaney told the truth about the quid pro quo on aid to ukraine which turned out to be the linchpin of the democratic case against him. as ted cruz says in the reporting our colleagues have done, senators believe there was a quid pro quo. the president believes he has a history of having people who he can blame for things that go poorly, discarding them when events go badly and trying to move on. there's every reason to believe mick mulvaney will be that next person, and one of the questions is going to be, does anyone constrain this president? some of the candidates include mark short who works right now for vice president pence. eric euland, the affairs director for the president. mark meadows, the tea party figure in congress. i think the favorite is considered to be meadows, and he's also the one least likely to put constraints on this president and so we will s

cnn white house correspondent jeremy dimon is following this for us. jeremy, vindman's firing was by far not the only thing that kelly criticized the president for. >> no, it certainly wasn't, brooke, and look, in the 14 months since john kelly left his position as white house chief of staff, we haven't heard him speak out on the president very often. it is notable to see him talk about several different issues, criticize the president on several different fronts in this talk at drew university. besides vindman there was also this issue of eddie gallagher's case, the navy s.e.a.l. was who accused of war crimes, ultimately acquitted on that charge, but convicted on a lesser charge. the president intervened in that case to restore gallagher's rank and keep him from being kicked out of the navy s.e.a.l.s. here's what john kelly had to say about that. the idea that the commander in chief intervened there in my opinion was exactly the wrong thing to do. kelly also went on to say that gallagher doesn't represent the u.s. military. so notable on that front fr

cnn white house coordinator kaitlan collins has some new reporting for us. ave you just learned? >> yeah, alisyn, it's going to be notable when the president walks into the house chamber to deliver the address, that is one reason because it's the first time he and pelosi have come face-to-face since october. according to what her spokesperson is telling my colleague manu raju, the two have not spoken since that october 16 meeting at the white house. remember the one that was supposed to be about syria but essentially went off the rails, where the president stormed out of the room and democrats stormed out of the white house, stormed out, told reporters essentially what had happened where the president started off saying, i didn't want to have this meeting. you wanted this meeting. that was the briefing that democrat congressional leadership had requested on syria, and it ended so poorly they could not agree on which insult the president had called pelosi. one was saying third great, the other was saying third rate. they have not spoken since then. of course,

jim acosta, cnn, the white house. >> and joining me now from washington, cnn political analyst michael shear, also white house correspondent for "the new york times." so lieutenant colonel vindman literally escorted by security from the white house. he got the eu ambassador sondland recalled and of course the former ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch recalled aurally and left the service. retribution under way? >> i don't think you can think of it as anything else. not only did president trump himself talk about retribution, talk about his anger in the sort of rambling sort of hour' long venting session at the white house the day after the senate trial ended, but you also had the white house press secretary publicly say that she thought that people who had done president trump wrong in the course of the impeachment inquiry were going to have to pay for it. and so i think it's hard to look at the actions of today in any other way than as retribution against people that the president perceives as his enemies. and i just don't know whether it's over. that's the question i think we al

jim acosta, cnn, the white house. >> cnn scott jennings resists me now.e is a personal assistant to george w. bush. thank you for being with us. >> glad to do it. thank you. a historic day for the senate. with mitt romney voting with the democrats to convict the president and in so doing, proved this was not the partisan exercise the president insisted it was. what was your reaction to romney's conscience vote? >> well, i worked for mitt romney in his 2012 campaign. these are u.s. senators. they can do whatever they want to do. his vote is largely out of step with the rest of the republican party. president trump has a 94%, 95% approval rating in his party. every republican in the senate and in the house voted against this impeachment. he's a man standing alone. i found it amusing having worked for his campaign in 2012, all of the people who said, a lot of terrible things about mitt romney and his character in 2012, are now praising mitt romney. i find it interesting to if you are willing to call someone great moral character when it's in your best intere

and it certainly seems the white house is cleaning house. kirsten holmes, cnnhe white house. >>> next, multiple u.s. troops are dead after a shootout in afghanistan. we'll go live to kabul for the latest on what happened there. >>> travel restrictions due to the coronavirus means one family's dream of adopting a young girl from china. that dream will have to be put on hold. hy-a-lur-onic acid. there's a reason 1 serum is sold every minute! revitalift derm intensives hyaluronic acid serum from l'oréal. with our highest concentration of hyaluronic acid in a serum, seriously hydrates to visibly replump skin in 1 week. and reduces wrinkles for younger looking skin. powerful results. validated by dermatologists. now we're talking. revitalift hyaluronic acid serum from l'oréal paris. because we're worth it. sleep this amazing? that's a zzzquil pure zzzs sleep. our liquid has a unique botanical blend, while an optimal melatonin level means no next-day grogginess. zzzquil pure zzzs. naturally superior sleep. what's the time? device: a dime is ten cents. severe cold or

some of these exchanges with reporters have gone viral like his tense back and forth with cnn's chief white house correspondent jim acosta turned on when you report fake news which she and does a lot you are the enemy of the people go ahead. the enemy of the people a tagline t that has hit a whwhe industry. in the u. s. there about twenty eight thousand tv reporters and about twenty three thousand more working in print. like reporters from the sentinel a weekly based in maryland where editorial meetings often fococus on dc politics. democrats have made a pretty strong argument about trump abusing power in the coursing a- foreign entity to interfere with that of american election. this is where the legendary bob woodward started his career before breaking one of the biggest stories in american history watergate. in the face of repeated attacks on the press this local news room is finding disinformation paternalistic rigor the perception journalism i think is being tarnished a little bit. because of the things that trump says and- if you do your job and you can back whahat you found. you know is th

the race for the white house getting pretty intense. cnn's abbey philip reports from manchester. >> reporter: here in new hampshire the stakes were high for all of these 2020 democratic presidential hopefuls, and the tensions were even higher. from the very beginning it was clear all of these candidates believed there was one person on that debate stage who was the center of attention and it was former south bend mayor pete buttigieg. from almost the very beginning he was the center from a lot of the attacks coming in from several of the other candidates. most notably from certainter bernie sanders who criticized buttigieg how he raised money. sanders making the case he is the candidate who can unify the country and bring out new younger voters. buttigieg for his part said it was time to turn the page to a new type of politics, but it wasn't just sanders who criticized buttigieg, it was also senator amy klobuchar who called him a cool newcomer and warned there was already a newcomer in the white house saying the country couldn't risk having a

kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >>> well, let's go to straight at the bureau chief. joining me now live from moscow. and this, a bombshell revelation. once again implicating russia. what has been the reaction from moscow? >> russian president vladimir putin has kunlsistently said that russia has not, will not and did not interfere in the domestic politics of other states but has contended patriotic hackers targeted us in 2016. and president trump appears to have taken putin at his words. appearing along him in 2018, here is what trump had to say. >> i have great confidence in my intelligence people. but i will tell you president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> and interestingly enough, it's the u.s. intelligence community and russia who have pointed out that russia has tried to forward a conspiracy theory that it was ukraine, in fact, interfering on behamp of the opponents. so, certainly most experts and the mueller report that's included -- the blauder aim of russian interference in 2017 is to score and capitalize on the division oz o

. >> so we have cnn white house reporter sarah westwood with us. een criticized for their response to the outbreak. any indication that's what prompted the president's remarks? >> it is, christi. president trump responding to criticism from democrats that the administration is not responding to this outbreak with enough urgency, including that they didn't ask for enough when this week the white house went to congress to ask for emergency funding. the president claiming that democrats and the media are fanning the flames of fear about this outbreak and that they're just looking for a new avenue to undermine his presidency now that the russia investigation and impeachment is over. he also talked about democrats, what he described as their open border policy contributing to the coronavirus crisis. this comes as the white house and top administration officials have been trying to ease concerns that have sent the market plunging over the outbreak. they have now tried to crack down on messaging as well, victor and christi, with all messaging about coronav

white house. what a celebration it was. here's cnn's kaitlan collins. >> this is what the end result is. >> reporter: one day after he was acquitted, president trump touted the headlines and expressed no remorse as he claimed vindication. >> i never thought a word would sound so good. it's called total acquittal. >> reporter: from the east room of the white house, the president lashed out at the democrats he says tried to bring him down. >> adam schiff is a horrible person. >> reporter: he repeated a jab that he made at house speaker pelosi at the national prayer breakfast. accusing her of being dishonest when she says she prays for him. >> she doesn't pray. >> reporter: pelosi who was four seats away from trump at the breakfast, later hit back. >> i don't know if the president understands about prayer and people who do pray. >> the one in his party that voted to convict him on the abuse of power charge. >> and you have some that use religion as a crutch. they never used it before. say hello to the people of utah and tell them, i'm sorr

cnn recently learned the white house is actively working to keep information about the president's travelrom going public. a new report sheds light on why that could be. cnn's tom foreman has more on how taxpayer dollars are flowing straight to the trump organization. >> reporter: hotel rooms at $650 per night for dozens of stays. close to 4 hunl$400 a night fors more, a whopping $17,000 a month to use a three bedroom cottage. those are bills for secret service agents lodging at trump properties during presidential travels. according to a new "the washington post" analysis of available public records. and the post says the documents collectively show more than $471,000 in payments from taxpayers to trump's companies. the trump organization says that's total nonsense. we provide rooms at cost, and for anyone to suggest otherwise is not only inaccurate but an outright lie. eric trump once claimed the same about when his father travels to the properties. >> saves a fortune. if you go to the hotel across the street it would be 500 bucks a night whereas we charge them 50 bucks. >> vacations, y

white house. an adviser to the president told cnn it was necessary and at that white house is, quote, flushing out the pipes. >> let's start with cnn's sarah westwood at the white house. good morning to you. what else can you tell us about these dismissals? >> reporter: well, good morning, yeah, president trump yesterday enacting what can only be described as retribution against these two key witnesses, colonel alex vindman, inbouescorted out well as his brother. both reassigned to the department of the army. vindman's detail on the nsc wasn't set to end until summer. this is an early dismissal. vindman was a crucial witness because he was a participant on that now-infamous july 25th phone call between president trump and ukrainian president zelensky. vindman raised concerns internally about what he described as the president's efforts to pressure zelensky, to announce these politically motivated investigations into the bidens and burisma. he testified to that and its effect on u.s.-ukraine relations before the house during the impeachment inquiry. the president also recalling u.s. ambassador to t

cnn original series "race for the white house" airs sunday at 9:00 only on. -- only on cnn. hing specialkay. ♪ even if she says she doesn't need a thing ♪ ♪ show her you care, make her heart sing ♪ make this valentine's day mean more. ♪ jared. ♪ ♪ don't just plan to retire. plan to live. an annuity helps cover your essential monthly expenses, so you're free to live the life you want. find out how an annuity can give you lifetime income at protectedincome.org >>> attorney general bill barr is facing strong criticism for injecting himself into criminal cases involving the president's supporters. this week, the justice department backed away from recommending a stiff prison sentence for longtime trump associate roger stone. i spoke with steven mihm, an associate professor of history at the university of georgia, and he says trump is hardly the first president to attempt to manipulate the justice department. >> well, it's more or less comparable in many ways to previous presidents' transgressions. people like richard nixon, for example, leaned on his attorney general to meddle in criminal in

kaitlyn collins, cnn, the white house. >> what a week. a lot to talk about. for that perspective, scott lucas is with us, professor of international politics at the university of birmingham, and also founder of ea world view live this hour in birmingham, england. good to have you with us. >> great morning to you, george. >> let's start with the firing of the u.s. ambassador to the european union, gordon sondland, and also vindman, top ukraine expert at the national security council dismissed. one trump adviser reportedly described this as flushing out the pipes. how do you see it? >> if you want to call it flushing out the pipes, fine, but let's call it what it is. it is revenge. it is retribution. donald trump jr. tweeted in celebration of it afterwards. donald trump sr. spent all day on twitter yesterday spreading slanders against alexander vindman, slanders that say he is disloyal, that say he should not have worn his military uniform when he testified before congress. the crime of alexander vindman and of sondland oig who rememwa subpoenas and to testify.

jim acosta, cnn, the white house. >> so that is the reporting of how things stack up state side. how come things stack up there in russia? let's bring in nathan hodge there with the story. nathan, the u.s. president here saying again this we go again. bernie sanders quite blainely s plainly saying he is no friend of vladimir putin. how is this playing there through russian officials and media? >> reporter: yeah, we're also seeing kind of a repeat of what we've seen in the past, which is blanket russian denials. yesterday we were told warnings of russian meddling in the 2020 election were, quote, paranoid messages. and this squares very much with the messages that we've heard in the past from the kremlin, basically vladimir putin has said that russia does not, mass not and will not meddle in the elections of other countries. but it is also important to point out sort of the glee with which russian officialdom has greeted news. take for instance the hdnc hack in 2016, putin said that the important thing wasn't who did it but the information was out there. so if we learned anything,

jim acosta, cnn, the white house. >>> among those bracing for the impact of the coronavirus, the u.s.barbara starr has more now on how the pentagon is preparing. >> the white house may want to say the coronavirus is under control. but at the pentagon, top officials are saying not so fast. the top personnel chief at the pentagon has written a memo in part saying about the infection. that it is, quote, an increasing force health protection threat in areas where department of defense personnel live and work. and, in fact, cnn has spoken to a number of top officials in the military at various locations. they are all expressing concern. exercises are being postpone and cancelled. we've already seen one exercise in south korea, with the u.s. military, cancelled. a number of u.s. troops returning home from israel, when they decided that they weren't ready to go full steam ahead with an exercise they had planned. all of this, if it keeps go like this, can lead to readiness problems. if troops can't train, they may not be as ready as they should be, as commanders want them to be, to engage in

trump is hearing a lot of namsste as he visits india, but it's all about naming names at the white house. cnn has confirmed there's an effort underway to push them out and top white house officials are all but endorsing the effort. >> look, if there are any list, i've not seen them, but we know there are people actively working against this president. the federal government's massive with millions of people and there are a lot of folks out there working against this president. as we find them, we'll take appropriate action. >> ginni thomas, wife of clarence thomas, has been gathering lists of staffers deemed to be disloyal and part of a depp state and passing them on to the white house. a trump adviser tells cnn many people have sent her names to make sure the right people are in her list. it appears to be part of a pattern after mick mulvaney bashed the deep state in a speech last week before new presidential personnel director told aides his office was on the lookout for never trumpers. it comes as the president has been forcing out aides who testified against him during the impeachment sag

. >> reporter: cnn, the white house. >> deny sis an infectious disease he expert and the director of the emerging threats division. he is with us from washington. thank you for taking time to be with us. i guess at this point, if anything, the u.s. government had a response team within the white house. a group of experts working off the viral emergencies before we get to the edge of an epidemic. and you helped design the group. jut as the coronavirus was emerging, the whole thing was shut down. so the timing couldn't be worse. as they put it, trump has sabotaged america's coronavirus response. how do you see it? >> well, the coronavirus response, first off, has the predictable event. we knew eventually there would be an event, a coronavirus and influenza that would pose exactly this problem. and for years, there is been a significant effort to put in place a kind of preparedness capability that's would make us toward respond for events like this. kr cdc has a preparedness plan for what local communities can do. the challenge has been significant reduction main resources. it is one th