david gergen joins us right now. cnn's senior political analyst. also andre brour, former lieutenant governor, maria cardona. thank you one and all for being here. david gergen, 24 million people. 24 million more people will be uninsured in ten years. that is a tough number. whether or not you support this plan, that is a difficult number. and now speaker paul ryan and the president, the white house, we think are in the business of still trying to defend this plan. how is the white house doing? >> well, right now they are on their heels because it's a much bigger number than anyone else has put out. we've swung from 20 million added to insurance rolls, 20 million now have protection and you swing it back to 24 million then lose it, you know, from the point of view of the population at large, that's a big loss. and also, i think what the republicans have got to understand is, the message is going to get through. what you're doing is cutting taxes for the top 2%. you're cutting back on medicaid. so, yes, the government looks better, but it also means

david gergen? then axelrod. either one. >> go ahead, david, please. >> i was there, so i can tell you that that was a lengthy process. it died a thousand deaths along the way. in certain ways they're mirroring that process because what happened was you had progressives, liberals in the house who thought that the bill the senate passed hadn't gone far enough. you had senators who thought the liberals were -- the bill was too expensive and generous. they couldn't reconcile. these are among democrats. and it was only at the end when it was absolutely clear to the house that the only opportunity for them was to accept the senate bill with some amendments they could do through reconciliation that they grudgingly got on board. and so you're seeing some of that same tug and pull here. what i don't remember is the president -- i do remember him going to members and saying, this is why we ran for office, to do this for people. and he sold the bill on its merits. he didn't make a purely political argument. he knew that the

david gergen -- >> i can clarify that, pamela? >> yes. >> the fbi is the only federal agency to conduct fifa wiretaps. >> exactly, which is what i'm saying. they would absolutely know. that's what i'm saying. the fbi would know. so david gergen, why wouldn't the president do, perhaps, a little bit more investigating? why couldn't he see something like this happening where he makes an allegation like this and then, you know, his own agency, the fbi could knock it down. of course the fbi knows what the reality is? >> jay tapper has been reporting from his contacts at the white house. they seem to be -- the aides of the president seem to be saying to him, listen, he picked this up from breitbart. what a conservative radio commentator said, he hasn't picked this up from official government sources. have you to wonder, pamela, to your very good question. my sense is this is only an interpretation, that he was so frustrated and so angry that he's been looking for a way to go back on offense in terms of pr. he wanted to move the focus aw

joining us now is cnn's senior political analyst, david gergen and the multi-facetis, david ax axelrod. look forward to your show on saturday night. david gergen, you said earlier tonight that, quote, the clouds are darkening over the white house tonight. any way you look at it, and congressman kingston was trying to spin this as -- or trying to say this was a good thing for the white house. any way you look at it, this doesn't seem to be good for them, no? >> anderson, first of all, we've never had a national security adviser embroiled in a legal dispute that potentially has criminal implications since john poindexter back in the reagan years overs the iranian arms deal. we've never had -- never, ever had a president in the first hundred days whose white house is so embroiled in controversies that are increasingly suspicious. so, yes, this is very bad news for the white house, darkening clouds. i'm not quite sure how they deal with it, but, you know, if the national security adviser is ready to sing in exchange for immunity, you know, that has to be worrying to them. because, you know

david gergen, you think he lasts? >> no. >> that's -- >> you said you wanted a -- >> simple and concise. i wanted a lightning round. what do you think, nia? >> probably not. if you see what's happening here, the senate is essentially maligning the house as it goes. senate republicans are essentially talking trash about the house. and you imagine that somebody's going to step in and ask nunes to step aside and recuse himself. we'll have to see what happens over the next couple days. >> that would have to be paul ryan, juliette, if that happens. >> paul ryan can show a backbone and do it. not just for the hearing. other republicans on the intelligence committee are being brought down by nunes. i suspect they don't like it very much, either. it's a be smart political and the right thing for paul ryan to just yank him. >> will that happen, matt lewis? >> i think it might. and here's the reason. according to paul ryan today, nunes did not tell him that the information came from the white house, but that it came from a, quo

david axelrod and david gergen, gentlemen, thanks so much for being with us.e a great weekend and, of course, this programming note. you can see "the axe files," and his interfew wiview with john m tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern. >>> coming up, the president on the hook for millions of dollars for his trump university students. details straight ahead. ♪ everyone deserves attention, whether you've saved a lot or just a little. at pnc investments, we believe you're more than just a number. so we provide personal financial advice for every retirement investor. it's nice to remove artificial ingredients. kind never had to. we've used real ingredients, whole nuts, and natural flavors from the very beginning. give kind a try. >>> back now with our money lead. a $25 million settlement was approved this afternoon in the trump university case. thousands of former students will get most of their money back. in his decision judge curiel said the settlement is fair, adequate and reasonable. you may remember that then candidate trump had accused curiel of being incapa

ron brownstein, david gergen, thank you very much.ate it. >> thank you. >>> senate democrats are getting ready to grill president trump's supreme court pick. coming up, how much opposition judge neil gorsuch will face at his confirmation hearing tomorrow. presents, how to win at business. step one: ask the presenter to "go back a slide." well played. you just tossed a mind grenade into into your colleagues' dulled senses. look at them, "what did i miss?" he one-upped me once again. step two: choose la quinta. and your la quinta reward points can be redeemed for everyday purchases on the go so you can win at business. learn more at lq.com today. various: (shouting) heigh! ho! ( ♪ ) it's off to work we go! woman: on the gulf coast, new exxonmobil projects are expected to create over 45,000 jobs. and each job created by the energy industry supports two others in the community. altogether, the industry supports over 9 million jobs nationwide. these are jobs that natural gas is helping make happen, all while reducing america's emissions. e

david gergen, jack kingston and salena zito. i should have listened to david gergen. i said would get it passed, i was wrong. let you gloat on that david. mark, disastrous day for trump. worst week in this very short presidency. hugely embaergs. what happened? who gets the blame? >> can be spread out a little bit. paul ryan for trying to push this bill to the house floor when they clearly didn't have the votes. donald trump is to blame because as president he should be willing to invest all that he's got into something that he ran on. i put blame on the republican party as a whole to basically try to legislate by campaign promise, which was repeal and replace instead of saying go in and fix and make better. although it doesn't sound as good. i do think it is ridiculous for the president to go out there and say this is the democrats' fault. unless living in alternative universe and i might be, democrats had nothing to do with it. usually not that good strategically and very smart not to get involved in this at all. >> did any republicans vote for the affordable care ac

lot to talk about with david gergen. to four presidents and seen firsthand how presidents treat their predecessors. is there a danger in a current president feuding with a former one? seems to me you would want to feel look you could call up your predecessor for advice. few people who have had the job? >> absolutely. we had a presidents club. fraternity of people who had been president, a handful but who have become friend and worked together. famously, ronald reagan when sworn in, iranian hostages were released that day. and, jimmy carter who had been defeated. reagan gave him air force one to go to germany to greet the hostage. come back. carter forever indebted for that. later on when president sadat of egypt was shot, jerry ford, jimmy carter want together on a plen plane to funeral. they were bitter enemies, became friend and work together on bipartisan issues there after. recently. when the tsunami hit pacific, remember how, president bush senior, and bill clinton, raised money. clinton became so close to the bush

>> they need a david gergen. [ laughter ] >> then they'll have the worst 1,000 days.i think i is, i'm not sure he needs to change the people, but he clearly needs to change the structure so that there's an orderly structure of governing within the white house. >> a lot of chiefs of staff i've talked to say there's too many advisers who can get the president's ear. >> a pyramidal structure, the chief of staff's right there underneath the president, everything comes through the chief of staff, all the paper, all the koord nation to ensure that the president gets the wide spectrum of views and judgments that he needs in order to be a good, effective president. it means you have to bear down as president. you have to read. you can't do this by outsourcing things. as amanda made the point earlier. i think he's got to do a lot of things to put it back on track, and it starts -- i think he's got a better national security team than we did. >>> more breaking news, three former trump advisers have volunteered to talk with congress about their alleged collusion or contacts with

we'll talk over with david gergen who's worked with four former presidents. investing for that low? that's three times less than fidelity... ...and four times less than vanguard. what's next, no minimums? ...no minimums. schwab has lowered the cost of investing again. introducing the lowest cost index funds in the industry with no minimums. i bet they're calling about the schwab news. schwab. a modern approach to wealth management. a body without proper footd needssupport can mean pain. the dr. scholl's kiosk maps your feet and recommends our custom fit orthotic to stabilize your foundation and relieve foot, knee or lower back pain from being on your feet. dr. scholl's. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me. but with my back pain i couldn't sleep or get up in time. then i found aleve pm. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strengt

david gergen made this point several months ago, that donald trump is coming into the presidency withtrack record. his only track record is his business record. and that is a black box. he know he made millions of dollars each year, he made this amount in 2005, apparently, but he said in the court filing that he valued his net worth deend g depending on how he felt that day. we have never had any sense, his credentials being his business background, we've never had any sense of how solid that is. >> i want to bring in timothy o'brien. you have seen some of donald trump's tax returns, because he sued you after you write, i think when you wrote in the "new york times," basically questioning his, his actual net worth, saying i think, what you were saying it wasn't as much as he was claiming, he sued you for that. correct me if i'm wrong, you won that lawsuit or the lawsuit was dismissed. you've been looking at these documents, what jumps out at you? >> he as part of our discovery in our litigation went over a lot of records, including business records, bank records and tax records, those

david gergen, former adviser to four u.s. presidents. alice stewart, cnn political commentator, republican strategist. also former communications director for senator ted cruz. maria car doana, democratic strategist. also cnn legal analyst laura coates, a former federal prosecutor. david gergen, democrats are going to fight today on capitol hill. they're going to fight for this hearing of the deputy attorney general nominee, a guy who actually by all accounts they like and was supposed to get in with smooth sailing but now senators say they're not going to let him in unless he agrees to appoint a special prosecutor. what are democrats after here? >> this case right now is being tried in a court of public opinion. democrats want to be on top. this is really all about gaining public support, putting pressure on the republicans. there is no -- i think it's inconceivable that the nominee for deputy attorney general will give a guarantee today that he'll appoint a special prosecutor. it's inappropriate. he doesn't have all the evidence yet. t

that's the bottom line. >> david gergen, do you agree with that? >> i think there's a very strong argument when you get beyond the cbo, what works and doesn't work. what we know is there are other groups who have said there are going to be millions of people thrown off. standard & poors has done. that the moderate democrats are going to score more points than the more republicans are. how can you justify lowering taxes on the rich and cutting back on medicaid and there are consequences for that. for tens of millions of americans on hernias. how do you morally justify that. in this society. and i think that's a very hard argument for them to overcome. and the dilemma, to try to address that, it's a much more expensive bill, and you can't get it passed by the republicans. >> and gloria, paul begala said the very people are the people who voted for trump. >> there have been studies which says that there will be a disproportionate impact on working class voters in red states. so these congressmen are not going to be thrilled to vote for this. and donal

security analyst steve hollings, new yorker washington correspondent ryan lizza is joining us, david gergen and gloria borger, paul bell b be begala. >> i would argue this was the worst day of his 60-day presidency and that the role road ahead is pretty perilous for him because they now have this big cloud hanging over the white house. today was the day that donald trump's own fbi director said that the president was wrong, that president obama did not wi wiretap his phone and made it clear that there was an ongoing investigation of trump officials communicating with the russians, his own fbi director swatted him counsel and the white house with sean spicer saying nothing has changed or that the hearings are still ongoing but i think a lot kanged today. >> david, watching the hearings, it was almost like there were two different hearings going on, republicans asking questions basically about leaks more or less and democrats focusing on allegations of russian hack organize allegations of cooperation. >> they obviously had game plans on both sides. but the republicans in turn should have give

lot of democrats believe he was. >> david gergen? >> i have a great deal of respect for jim comey coming into all of this, i do think he made a mistake not disclosing both investigations at the same time rather than disclosing hillary clinton investigation and not the other. i think this notion that somehow one was closed and other was not is spurious. as i recall when he went back and said we were looking -- well he said few days before the election, we're looking at some new e-mails. went public with that. and said that's because we kept the investigation open. it wasn't closed really, it was still open. just weren't doing very much with it. i think he should have come with both or none. >> nia before we go ask you, the president's reputation now in washington, where do we stand with that? not many people will tell you on camera how they feel. but behind the scenes his credibility. >> there's self-created drama around the wiretapping and credibility and pettiness around the issue and inability for him to get past it. as you can tel

cnn senior political analyst, david gergen. uch does this health care bill impact the rest of the president's agenda? >> it's going to complicate the rest of the president's agenda and it's going to be, i think, impossible now to get a major legislative victory in the first hundred days. i think you've got his supreme court nominee through, mr. gorsuch, but he won't get that big victory he's been looking for. and, you know, both for momentum purposes and also when you look at the substance of what he must do now, in order to get tax reform, which is next up for him and a big item, the actual substance is going to be much harder to come up, because there's a push among republicans to pay for every dollar in tax reductions, to pay for it in other ways. and they thought they were going to have health care to help to get them there. to make it easier to get there. with health care now gone, it's a much steeper climb to get to tax reform. >> lonnie, did he underestimate the challenges of the details of policies? >> well, certainly, i

and i want to bring in cnn senior political analyst, david gergen joins me live. david, you have served as a white house adviser to presidents nixon, ford, reagan, and clinton. what is your reaction to this latest news from jim acosta? >> well, jim's reporting, as always, is excellent. i must tell you that the fact that the president was so frustrated because he -- the sessions story distracted from his speech and the power of his speech, makes it all the more puzzling, mystifying, why he would then go on this tweet rant today, which is only amplified the coverage and the questions about the russian story, about what was going on in trump tower. you know, he's created a whole new set of problems for himself, so at the end of the week, the speech seemed long ago and we're into new territory with new controversies. so, i find it just totally mystifying how the two things are connected. i thought you asked jim acosta exactly the right question. if he was so frustrated, why did he do this? and i do think, maybe he thinks it's a distraction. but the fact is that this ch

i want to bring you now cnn's political analyst david gergen, and alex burns, national political reporternew york times." also with us is the former congressman jack kingston, who was a former senior adviser to the campaign. your reaction to the fbi investigation into this computer link between the trump organization and the largest russian bank? >> i think there is a lot of smoke, but i don't know how much fire there is, frankly. you know, we know that there were these communications and it looks strange but at the same time there is nothing illegal about the trump organization communicating with the russian bank. president trump has said he has not done business in russia, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to do business in russia and people do that. i think we need more information to show that something nefarious happened here. >> and alex, at least the material on the communications, it is still unclear what the big picture is here. >> right, i think a big piece of the puzzle is the right way to describe it. it's just piles and piles of question marks we have here about all the i

. >> let's bring back my political panel to talk about this, david gergen and doug hine.the former ambassador to the czech republic and a former czar. ambassador, let me start with you. roger stone says he's been completely transparent. what kind of question would you want asked of him? >> well, fredericka, thanks for having me back. not just mr. stone, mr. manaforte, mr. page and mr. flynn all need to answer questions about their contacts with the russians or the russian agents. what they knew, when they knew it, and we need to understand a fuller picture, including the president's own ties, his sons have said russian dollars are very important to their business. so while we need to get mr. stone in, we need to get him under oath and we need to understand what were his communications, not just with gucifer 2.0, but also with wikileaks. he said over and over again that he communicated with wikileaks. it seems clear that both wikileaks and gucifer 2.0 have committed cyber crimes against the united states, against persons in the united states. so we need to understand what

back with me now, mark preston, david gergen, congressman steve israel and matt lewis.s if we figure out what it's going to take for us to get to the bottom of this, you would be a wealthy woman? >> yeah, i think it goes back to what nick kristof was saying. nobody knows what's going to happen. in some ways that's causing panic among some republicans and for democrats they're obviously tossing around the impeachment word. certainly maxine waters has been doing that. i think democrats have to be careful about overplaying their hand in terms of what this investigation might turn out to be. and with the white house, you have them in a very precarious position, basically saying they've never really heard of paul manafort, that mike flynn was a volunteer on -- >> paul who? >> exactly. he's just some gentleman who worked for them for like five or six months. so, yeah, i mean they are in a difficult position. then you have all of this back and forth between nunes and schiff really leading to the question of whether or not any of these investigations are going to be credible to

i want to bring in now cnn's senior political analyst david gergen, political analyst kristen powers, burns, and former congressman jack kingston who was a former senior adviser to the trump campaign. kristen, this link between the trump organization and the largest russian bank. >> i think there's a lot of smoke. but i don't know how much fire there is, frankly. we know that there were these communications and it looks strange. but at the same time, there's nothing illegal about the trump organization communicating with a russian bank. president trump has said he hasn't doneone business in russia, but people do that. we need more information to know whether there's something nefarious here. >> it's so unclear what the big picture is here. >> right. i think a piece of the puzzle is exactly the right way to describe this. it's just piles and piles of question marks that we have at this point about all the interactions between either president trump himself or people in his orbit and people who are associated with the russian government or just live in russia or have business relationsh

new york and washington correspondent ryan lizza, david gergen, gloria borger, and senior contributor jeffrey lord. jen psaki, paul beghala and matt lewis. gloria, no matter how the white house tries to spin it, it was a tough day for the president. >> i think you could argue, and i would, that it was the worst day of his 60-day presidency, and that the road ahead is pretty perilous for him. because they now have this big cloud hanging over the white house. and today was the day that donald trump's own fbi director said the president was wrong, that barack obama did not wiretap his phone, and the fbi director also made it very clear that the fbi had this ongoing investigation into trump officia officials potentially communicating with russians about the hack. so that was not fake news started by democrats as donald trump says. so on both counts, his own fbi director kinda swatted him down. and the white house and sean spicer may be saying nothing has changed, or that the hearings are still ongoing, but i think a lot changed today. >> david, watching the hearings, it was almost like th

and that's why i think david gergen said that. donald trump has weakened himself and his presidency because of the number of bad rollouts and incompetent actions that his white house has taken. so yes, of course i put that in the same league as some of the worst 100 days. ronald reagan had a tough start too. but ronald reagan had a sense of the programmatic changes he wanted to make and he also had some democratic support. donald trump hasn't even been able to persuade people that he understands the details of the great social changes he wants to make. and he's not, until today he's not really reached out to democrats to form a coalition. the real challenge for donald trump, let alone the republican party, is to figure out how you get enough votes to pass bills in washington. that's why a lot of people are saying that he has started in the most incompetent way possible. >> you mentioned john boehner, even from retirement, john boehner said "it's not going to happen, repeal and replace," now here we are, a day after the vote was pu

now former adviser to four presidents, david gergen.istory for a president to accuse his predecessor of something like this. >> a felony, yeah. >> a felony, it's stunning. and obama himself has not responded. now we know there's this conversation. but it is shocking in the sense of, when the travel ban first came out, he did put out a statement. and people said, my gosh, no one's ever responded so quickly to a new president. but now with these allegations, silent. >> well, i actually think he's smart to stay silent, try to stay above the fray a little bit. but there's no question this rift goes very deep right now. and that is donald trump and the people around him, many of them, think that the obama team is trying to sabotage them. outside the administration, but the holdover sure filling up positions that are not yet filled by trump people. they feel they're leaking things massively and all the rest. they've accused him of that. and at the same time, now we have trump accusing obama of a felony, andio ioyou know, sayine worst thing th

cnn senior political analyst david gergen, matt lewis, former ted cruise communications director amanda carpenter joining the panel as well as everyone else. matt, we haven't heard from you. what do you want to talk about? >> not a great day. but i do think that you know, look. there's of this conventional wisdom that says that this is catastrophic and humiliating. i think that donald trump says who says? who says it has to be. abandonment is an underrated political tactic. what happened today is really bad for one day. but it could have been worse. this thing could have dragged on for weeks or months. there could have been fights in the senate. then it could have gone down in flames. the other option they could have pass this had really bad bill and truly owned it and when premiums went up and when people got kicked off their health insurance, they would have paid the price in the midterms and maybe in four years. so yes, it's a bad day. sometimes it's better to pull the band-aid off. >> amanda, i think to a point you made earlier, why after seven years talking about this is the first

david gergen. >> and the idea that jim is talking about is -- makes good sense but you have to understand one thing about it, all that will be done under regular order which means you will need 60 sen votes in the senate. people supporting that strategy has to understand that's what it mean, this will not be done in regulation, you have to do it in constrictive regulations, and you have to physical the byrd rule. >> is there a concern that the president will feel burned? the president has talked about moving on -- already talked about wishes maybe he had done infrastructure or tax reform, is it possible he will want to move on? >> i think he's told us a while, he said if we lose this we ought to just live with obamacare, of course that isn't good for the country, if this goes down you're going to live with obamacare and let it go into a death spiral, that's what they expect. i actually think that would give the democrats an opening and they could come forward, we're delighted we saved obamacare we know there's problems and we would like you the republicans to work with the fixes and make

. >> david gergen make a similar point about competency earlier. and also said i'm told not by democrat there's pervasive piece of evidence that's not yet public. do you believe this piece of intelligence will come to light and what more can you tell us? >> i can't say more about it. but it was very persuasive to my source. as far as i can tell, fbi is holding the investigation, material, quite closely. it has a lot of people working on this investigation. i think it's very serious about it. and one of the things that i don't think is fully investigated yet is question of financial ties. one of the things we've seen in western europe is russia tended to pour a lot of money into campaigns that it supported. i think will be a similar but so far incomplete investigation about whether something similar may have happened in this country and whether it's not just political collusion but issues of financial interference as well. >> i know that you are loathe to make a prediction about what is going to happen since you believe the media got it so wrong. ho

>> 37% approval rating, he's met the expectations of david gergen's words and the promise of what thisntry would go through if elected. it doesn't get worse than that and it's going to get worse going forward because he doesn't have the legislative support of the republican party, he's got the tweets and the russian investigation is going to hang around. i think there's going to be an independent prosecutor which is a nightmare for all of us quite frankly but necessary because it's such a politicized issue whether the russians not only affected our democracy but also, was there any collusion between donald trump and his cohorts and russian individuals? there's circumstantial evidence to support that. that's why the fbi is investigating that. i'm a former prosecutor. where there's smoke, there's fire. we've got to get to the bottom of it. >> the intel committee leaders don't seem to be in sync and that's where the investigation stands. devin nunez delaying the public hearing that was supposed to happen on tuesday into the probe of the election russian interference and accused nunez of i

. >> close to side eye as i've seen david gergen here. >> so angry and frustrated how the administrationas acted over the past 55 days or whatever. >> i don't have to say anymore. >> are you that frustrated with the way they handled this? >> are you kidding? one of the worst handled major pieces of legislation we've had in years. because we have inexperienced white house, you have to give them some leeway on that. but didn't work together well with the congress. president didn't take the lead the way president normally does. president's job, most powerful person in the world. he's certainly most powerful person in washington. his responsibility is to take the lead, help shape the legislation, work with the congress and go to the public to build public support. get hospitals and doctors and nurses on board. none of that happened. instead they talked about politics and not about why this is good for the country. for him now to say in the last clip you had with him saying maybe the best thing to do is just let obamacare continue, but that wouldn't be good for the country. that's what he sai

i want to begin this tower with senior political analyst david gergen, alex stewart, political commentator ryan lizza, and political commentator, assistant editor at the "washington post." good evening. so glad to have you all on. you get the honors to be first, ryan. so thank you again for joining us. jim acosta reporting that at the president's meeting with tea party groups, that he told republicans skeptical of his plan, if it phase, he will let obamacare fail and then put the blame on the democrats. what kind of strategy is that just after this plan rolled out? >> it is pretty ominous sign for the legislation if he is already thinking through the strategy he's going to pursue if it is defeated, right? also, by the time it is defeated and in the event that there is some kind of collapse in obamacare, a very risky strategy. barack obama is not around anymore. trump is president. he runs the federal government. obamacare is the federal government the responsibility so. on two fronts, it seems like not the wisest strategy in the world. you would think in a meeting like that, he is focused

i was talking to david gergen. having said that he may be better off than having this go off for more weeks in the senate, and then in a radically different way unacceptable to the house. the republicans don't have a clear vision of what can replace it that is acceptable in the world where 20 million people have health care. >> the other interesting thing paul ryan said in the presser, he said are all of us willing to give something to get something done. he's speaking to the freedom caucus. he's suffering from the same problem that john boehner suffered from. and he understands he's going to get tax reforms through it all, these are the same people he's got to talk to people. >> and the debt ceiling. short term. >> to keep the government open. and he was basically pleading with them, saying we have to give something to get something done. >> he's been saying for so many years that the republican party needs to evolve into not an opposition party. the part of the problem is you have a quarter of the house republica

hopeful hopefully have jeffrey toobin and david gergen join later as well.an strategist, who said give him credit being presidential for an hour after his speech but tomorrow back with russia, russia, russia. where the news is going. good 24 hours off last noob night's speech but new questions about russia right now. no rest anytime soon. >> there is no rest and interesting to hear from lindsey graham and john mccain who tried their best to talk about support for donald trump and how they want him to succeed but lindsey graham said it sunktly and simile that russia seems to be president trump's blind spot and they want to try and help him with that. what we heard from senator mccain and graham, i think this thought tightly held by certainly democrats and probably not of republicans on capitol hill that russia is america aesz enemy at this point and vladimir putin is a thug and killer and united states has to be careful how to deal with them and seems to have become a blind spot for president trump. only seen him in last couple of weeks come out with rough wo

>> i believe nothing that the man says, and i agree with david gergen. this isn't a question about the chairman recusing himself. this is a question about whether the committee should conduct the investigation. if you're the fbi or one of the targets in the investigation, flex, jared kushner, now you got to talk to the fbi, you got to talk to the senate committee and the house committee where the chairman says i'd rather target the white house before i notify adam schiff. you can't take this seriously. we saw this contrast today when two senators got in front of the microphones, a democrat hand republican, it was likes a model t versus a porsche. we saw the porsche today. let's shut down the model t, they are cooked. >> you were chair of the house intel committee. you've been in the fbi, so you know where they're coming from. would you recuse yourself if you were devin nunes tonight? >> well, i like to think i wouldn't have found myself in this position. and if i were the fbi i wouldn't want to walk down into this food fight, either. there were days and

. >> let's bring in our panel now, senior political analyst and former advisor, david gergen and ryan lewis. i want to get your reaction congressman ted poe is now quitting the freedom caucus because of what happened on the health care bill, on the day that bill died, here what he tweeted, thanks for your leadership, at@donald trutrump @paulryan. is there anything that would have satisfied the demands of the freedom caucus? >> the white house certainly doesn't think so, they thought they made a major concession to the freedom caucus when they agreed that the essential benefits of obamacare would go away and a lot of women, for example, would lose maternity care. the freedom caucus came back and wanted additional concessions and they split. one of the interesting questions is, i think for the president, and it comes up in the supreme court question, is can he build in fact a coalition by going with the freedom caucus? does that really alienate him from much of the country, because the freedom caucus is so conservative, and does that pull him way to the right? or if he tries to go to hi

. >> interest iing you're saying needs to come further because we heard from david gergen who said it's incumbent on trump to come forward or maybe not truch, but a member of his administration to explain why he would be fired after he was initially told that he would retain his job. mike. >> like i said, when eric holder was asked about this, elections have consequence es. the reason. so, look, you don't hear any of the other 46 u.s. attorneys saying i've got an investigation, too, i refuse to step down. so, look, i think this is the first step. you' going to see more people that are obama administration people being let go. if you're appointed by the obama administration, you shouldn't be shocked that at any moment, the clock is ticking that xwrour going to get fired as soon as new administration comes in. i think anyone in washington who works in politics knows that if you work in one administration, you could get let go. in fact, even within an administration, you work at the will of the president of the united states. at any moment, he decides he doesn't want you, you could be let

. >> so talk about this with cnn senior political analyst david gergen who is also a former presidentialser to nixon, ford, clinton and reagan and errol lewis who is an editor with spectrum news. was there a rush to let preet bharara go along with the other u.s. attorneys in part because of bharara's relations with democrat chuck schumer or possibly to impact or potentially slow down ongoing investigations involving trump tower, trump associates and aides? >> that's a lot of speculation, fredricka, that he was possibly going to get his hands on or get close to some very sensitive matters that the white house didn't want looked into. we don't know. there's been pretty much silence out of the white house, so it's really just speculation. it is true, in fact, though, that the reagan administration replaced 89 out of 93 u.s. attorneys, the clinton administration fired all of his on the same day, and this is, in fact, not all that unusual. what's different here is that preet went before the cameras in the lobby of trump tower and said, i just spoke with jeff sessions, i just spoke with the th

. >> david gergen, thank you, as always. >> anna, thank you. >>> up next, a shocking white house security breach, and the bizarre new details on the intruder who made it all the way to the entrance to the president's residence. you're live in the "cnn newsroom." "how to win at business." step one: point decisively with the arm of your glasses. abracadabra. the stage is yours. step two: choose la quinta. the only hotel where you can redeem loyalty points for a free night-instantly and win at business. my belly pain i could build a small city with all the over-the-counter products i've used. enough! i've tried enough laxatives to cover the eastern seaboard. i've climbed a mount everest of fiber. probiotics? enough! (avo) if you've had enough, tell your doctor what you've tried and how long you've been at it. linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. do not give linzess to children under six, and i

. >> david gergen, president trump is clearly all in on this version of the bill. >> yes, he is, and good for him. i'm glad he's wrestling with this and trying to bring voters over. that's what a good president does. he deserves credit for that. but i must it will you, if the rest of his presidency had been successful, 65% in the polls, he would definitely win this vote. >> it has an impact. >> where he is, it's harder. >> donald trump is not going to go campaign against republicans in the midterm elections next year. that won't happen. >> might have in the primary -- >> think about it. they have a narrow majority in the house. his priority won't be to campaign against fellow republicans. the guy he pointed to today as someone who needed to change, mark meadows, head of the freedom caucus hshgs, he won hi general election by 30 points. these guys know their districts well. they're making the calculation support trump or oppose what think think of as obamacare-lite. in the primary, what can they say? their opponents will say you didn't support our president. they'll say this was ryan

former assistant director of the fbi spoke with cnn's pamela brown and senior political analyst david gergen. tom fuentes says the fbi's request itself is a rejection of president trump's claim. >> >> as far as i can tell it is unprecedented. but i think that it's interesting that what seems to be a request of the department of justice has actually knocked down the story. so it doesn't matter now if the department of justice con occurs or not. i'm not sure who would. >> that's a take from tom. joining us live from birmingham, england is scott lucas, professor of international politics at the university of birmingham and the founder and editor of ea world view. a pleasure to have you with us this hour. talk first about the president and these claims that he was wiretapped by the former president of the united states, barack obama. he's offered no evidence. at least publicly to back that up and be is now calling on legislators to investigate. >> well, not only the president but his aides calling on congress to investigate. let's be honest, they're trying to divert from the core story which is

we heard from david gergen just yesterday, something that is getting a lot of attention.rked for four presidents, republicans and democrats. here is what he said about the president's first 100 days thus far. okay. so we don't have that either. here is what he said. let's just play what he said. he said that these are apparently the worst 100 days of any presidency he's ever seen. he says, i think when you add it up in totality, he said, this was the work week of his presidency, i actually think the worst 1 iss100 days of any presidency. what do you think of that? >> i agree with that. why? i think donald trump doesn't have control over his own party. as you've just seen. there are really three factions. there's trumpians, there's conservative republicans, maybe the freedom caucus if you want to call them, and then establishment, more moderates. in order to be successful, you have to own your party. trump has been unable to do that, as we just saw. beyond that, the michael flynn problem, the fact that he's under federal criminal investigation by the fbi for nefarious acti

david gergen is here, former presidential a visor to four presidents, mark preston, and curt bardellao knows steve bannon. obviously breitbart has been critical of the house speaker, paul ryan, and his health care plan. is bannon really doing this, using breitbart to go after ryan? >> i think so. you're see a continuation of the type of parts you've seen from breitbart and steve bannon for a long time. he characterized speaker ryan as a the enemy. it was his and breitbart's mission to have him removed as speaker and have him out by the spring is what they said. this also means they know this bill is in big trouble and they need to create a bad guy, a fall guy, to point the blame. what they've done with this leak is move to the front a very familiar foe. if you read breitbart and support breitbart and trump, that audience, they speak of speaker ryan as part of the problem, part of the establishment that trump ran to try to destroy, that bannon has said he wants to deconstruct and get rid of. here you have now a familiar enemy for that platform, that audience, in case this goethe south.

david gergen told me, we had a great conversation this week saying he is a performer first and foremostives are performers. and you've got to get out there on the campaign trail, you have to, a, perform, you have to interact. i mean, you can quarrel with how trump deals with the press, but he deals with the press. he is not surrounded by layers of handlers which most ceos have been. >> so these are all obviously democratic potential candidates. >> obviously. >> i wonder if it's being driven by opposition to president trump and his policies, or just the fact that looks like you don't need any experience in that corporate experience is as good as any. >> well, i think a lot of people started thinking about it when they realized that, oh, my gosh, we've got a president now with none of the traditional resume. there was a very funny interview with oprah on bloomberg tv where they say have you thought about running for president. because obviously you don't really need any political experience to know, wow, i hadn't really thought about that but it seems to be true. so, a, people are thinkin