ivanka trump becoming a distraction?hink we are seeing here, i wonder kristin, whether you think there is just sort of an an misananimus following this c. do you think this is driven by press negativity? kristin: yes. the media is probably overblowing the amount of chaos in the white house. trump has a bold, brash personality, he tells it like it is, and that probably does cause conflict in the white house be especially those who are used to the swamp. the heritage foundation found trump accomplished 63% of his agenda goals in the first year. howie: cathy, do you think the chaos is overdram tightsed? -- over dram dram dramatized. cathy: the media has to report on it. they are telling the facts. howie: great to see you both, cathy and kristin. the press says the white house is being damaged by this bad press. does alec baldwin really want to stop playing the president? howie: what the press is portraying as a very rocky week for the president, i sat down with dave bossie, president of citizens united and a fax news contri

we haven't mentioned the names jared and ivanka in this segment with ivanka new investigation into hercouver deal and jared having raised $500 million from countries and companies that came to visit him when he had this job. these people don't belong in the white house either. >> all right. thank you very much. you mention that. we are going to be talking about that in a moment important story tonight. did jared kushner company land mega loan after key meetings at the white house. if so itsds a stunning story of co corruption just ahead. >>> and knocking on doors about guns and taking people completely by surprise. >> how do you feel right now? >> stupid. thy armor was forged by a feeble-fingered peasant woman... your mom! as long as hecklers love to heckle, you can count on geico saving folks money. boring! fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. i'm not really a, i thought wall street guy.ns. what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentl

jared kushner, ivanka.his one particular deal and her contacts with perhaps some of the unves or thes, some of the people who were maybe buying into this property, something triggered the counterintelligence. the fbi has been spending well over a year now looking at some of their contacts, some of the deals that were being made. but something in this particular deal, i've been told, really triggered the fbi and they've really been looking into it, trying to get a sense, again, it's sort of what you said. was there some kind of influence? were they trying to exploit her, her husband? all of that remains a concern for the fbi. >> and shimon, would this have any impact on the mueller investigation? >> it potentially could. anything that has to do with this family, with the president, is all now being run out of the mueller team, out of the mueller case. so, potentially, it could. and, you know, from everything that i know, mueller has seen some of this information, it is before him, it is before his prosecutor

now it's ivanka's turn with this fbi probe.osh roguen with us as well, cnn political analyst and washington post columnist. you heard about this vancouver deal and how it pertains to ivanka trump and her role in the white house. as a former federal prosecutor, what would the questions be that you would have about this? >> well, i think in his contacts we're seeing a lot of norms, rules that have been broken by this administration from the day they walked in. things that they just took the position this doesn't apply to me. we're seeing that the rules are there not only to protect the integrity of the process and make sure that people are secure this their jobs -- that is, they cannot be manipulated or bribed, so to speak, but also to protect the president and the white house itself. if we follow these norms and rules that were developed over many, many decades, we don't have this unnecessary drama. to the extent to which there's a question or even a scent of a quid pro quo, that's a problem. >> and with jared kushner it's reall

you have john kelly and jared kushner versus ivanka trump. palace intrigue administration. there isn't much else. it's mostly -- i was thinking it's like a wrestling score card. if you're not interested in this match, we've got this match, too. it's all versus. this one versus this one. these two in a tag team match against these two. the players change, who is on what side changes, but the fundamental nature of it being, we're going to pair two people off and see what sparks fly and what the result is. that's the story. it's not a distraction. it's not a glitch. it's the fundamental reality of how trump operates his white house. >> the last straw man would be, this is of no consequence, though, this intrigue is of no consequence. i say that, chris, as we have the famous split screen, the dow off 312 points this morning. i don't think it's because of you -- >> you these things have consequences. >> they do. i think one of his great weaknesses is not understanding that. i heard from a lot of people this week, who said, look, i know you guys kn

do you want jared and ivanka to stay? i'm not sure. it seems like he wants people to leave, he doesn't want to push them out. he doesn't want anybody getting too much power besides the president himself? a lot of this is sort of a feature of mr. trump and his governing style. he has several campaign managers. obama had five in from 2015. it may be distracting to us, and i'm sure if you work in the west wing, it's not very reassuring, but it seems to be how trump likes to govern. >> caleb mcmaster, again, talks about him leaving. there were a number of them leaving and the presidents are upset. >> the people he wants to stay in the white house, like hope hicks, take off. mack master, we have long reported, that he is essentially on his way out. it's never been a question of if, it's a question of when. now it seems like it is more imminent than it ever has been because these two men have never gotten along. they brought mcmaster into the west wing because mike flynn obviously had to leave. trump doesn't like mcmaster and the feeling is

saying privately he doesn't think jared and ivanka should have come to washington. the growing inquiry by robert mueller into the possible misdeeds of the trump campaign are hitting very close to home for jared and ivanka. so it wouldn't surprise anyone, i think, who follows this white house, if jared or ivanka were to pack it up and go back to new york. but whether or not that's imminent, i don't think that's the case. >> does anyone know what the logic was for bringing them to the white house in the first place in these positions? was it so the president could have family around him, loyalists, that's pretty much it? in terms of job requirements they didn't necessarily check all the boxes for the positions they hold. >> no, they did not. and you continue to see that play out with the denial of jared kushner's security clearance. so no, they certainly were not qualified to be in these positions. but that has not stopped trump from -- in situations like this in the past, he puts people around him he's most comfortable with. and experience is really a secondary chara

amy, what's your take on ivanka's response? is she right to put her role as first daughter ahead of her title as senior adviser to the president? how does that ultimately reflect on her responsibilities in the white house? >> you know, it's a very tough situation to be in. of course she's going to support her father. she said it herself, that she believes her father, and why shouldn't she? but as a senior adviser she does have to have an answer ready for questions such as these. unfortunately there are no questions that are going to be off the table for someone in that position. and i think she handled that very well. >> to that point, peter, look, meghan mccain says when you're out there in the public eye, all is fair. i mean, it's all out there and it's all going to be fair game. is it fair for ivanka to say it's inappropriate to ask her about the accusations against her father? >> it's very inappropriate given that she is a representative of the u.s. government. she's taken on a role as a representative of the u.s. governmen

i just don't understand why ivanka has yet to be brought in. expect she will, but probably that mueller is biding his time, waiting for the appropriate time when he was all the evidence he needs just like with the president to bring her in, and examine what she has to say. >> michael stay with me. wasn't to bring in jamil javer. when you take all this in and where we stand, let's pretend you're back in the white house now in that role, in the trump white house. how are you advising him with all of the headlines coming up, with all the questions popping up? >> the real challenge is that this is getting in the way of the president's agenda, making it hard for him to operate, the clearances, all the questions of foreign influence, even if they're not true, it is making it hard for the white house to get the job done. in some ways you want to say if we can clear the issues off the deck, put the people in a position of doing something else, we can focus our agenda, tax cuts, regulatory reform, that's the hard part. >> in terms of the security cleara

. >> ivanka trump's defense of her father. we'll play you parts of the interview you likely did not hear for the rest of the story. >>> and losing hope, a member of the house intelligence committee who was in the room when hicks reportedly said she told white lies for the president. >>> capping off a roller coaster week this morning, the three big stories we're following. an nbc news exclusive report on what may have prompted the president to launch a potential trade war. with a surprise announcement which sent republicans and the stock market reeling. officials say the president was angry and quote unglued about simmering issues when he proposed tariffs on steel imports. catching his white house completely off-guard. the "washington post" digging into whether anyone had direct knowledge the announcement was on the horizon. as the "post" studied an sec filing. former adviser and billionaire icon dumped millions in stocks. >>> looking into whether jared kushner's foreign business ties have influenced the president's policy. at

he worked with ivanka trump. like many of these it's a hotel and tower which means there are a number of luxury combos. it's not clear exactly why they are interested in this deal. it could be the timing, the proximity. it could be the negotiations surrounding this or the foreign money going through it. >> you're getting more information as well about why counter intelligence might be interested as far as robert mueller's investigation. >> keep in mind that the counter intelligence, the agenerats are working with mueller on this. people around the president, his family and friends look for months we have been reporting they have been looking at this and wondering about some of these financial deals and they have gone far back many years to look at this. we don't know what it is in this particular one that triggered the fbi's concerns. we have been told by people that there was something triggered. there is a concern here. keep in mind they are being scrutinized by the fbi. we just reported about klichina. there i

this is a statement from ivanka trump's -- ivanka trump i would imagine it's her attorney.cnn is wrong that any hurdle obstacle concern, red flag trump. -- saying basically ivanka trump has done nothing wrong. jared kushner followed the rules and done everything he could. david do you want to say something. >> well with he don't really quite say that. they are artfully worded to their non-denial denials. jared kushner followed the advice he was given. okay. fine. nobody has suggested otherwise. and in the case of ivanka trump, you know, it's set up as well there hasn't been a red flag raised. excuse me if counterintelligence is asking questions about it by definition that's a red flag. >> richard what do you say? >> well, first of all there is no ethics advice given in this white house. this is the ethics shop that wrote the office of government ethics and said the rules don't apply to the white house staff. they get the ethics from fox news. and it's also accurate to say that this is nothing has change because this is how the white house has operated since january 20 of 20

that leads us to ivanka. here is the new reporting. she is being scrutinized for one of her international business deals, trump hotel, in vancouver. we're not sure why they are skraout needing this. that is preventing her from having a full security clearance. she and jared now both don't. what does this mean? >> i have news for you. it might be nothing. the president of the united states certainly it is within his purview to hand to ivanka and to jared his daily briefing if he so desires. so while it may be nice and may give us a comfort level if they have the security clearances, at the end of the day it may mean absolutely nothing to the operation of the white house. and that's the frightening part. that's why you have nepotism laws. they all throw up robert and john ken did you. but, you know, robert kennedy and jared, not really. >> the problem is they would echo each other's politics no matter what. >> right. >> you're not talking about what external things they may be arguing. we have never seen sophisticated people like this be

ivanka made that choice. when she made that choice, she opened herself up to questions that she would have not have been asked if she stayed in new york and worked on her business and been the first daughter by extension. she can't really have it both sway ways and she's trying to do that. which one are you? are you working for your father or regardless of whether or not you're in the white house or are you first daughter and doing your own business separate from the white house. >> there's a new poll out, joe, which show few americans think highly of the president's daughter ivanka and jared kushner when they first started serving as senior advisors. are jared and ivanka liability or given all the instability should they fight to stay on as long as possible? >> i agree, i think they should leave. if i had been president i would not want them to come in in the first place. working in the white house is serious business and you have to understand what you're doing and there are lots of ways you can get in trou

as a sort of gatekeeper to ivanka and hope really got her entry into this trump orbit through ivanka and doing public relations for her, so she's not only important to the president but also to jared and ivanka. >> i think gatekeeper's the right word. let me turn back to you. yesterday, we woke up to this tweet. the president taking aim at his attorney general yet again. a lot of people thought that tweet may have been sent out because hope was on her way out. already may be starting to see the impact of her departure. and then last night we saw this remarkable scene. the attorney general having dinner with rob rosenstein. how do people interpret this image? the attorney general wanting to send a show of force, a united front, in the face of that criticism? that continued criticism by the president? >> so not the first time that the president has taken aim at the attorney general or the department of justice or the fbi. but the first time that i can recall where the attorney general has pushed back and pushed back hard. and that's wonderful. look, i think there's two answers to this.

even for ivanka trump.year, her company got a provisional okay from the chinese government on three trademarks, a huge business boost. that very night, she and husband jared kushner dined with the chinese president at mar-a-lago. speaking of kushner, here's a refresher on his foreign ties. from israel alone, a $30 million investment in the family business helped financing a $146 million purchase and co-ownership of about 150 of property with a businessman under investigation in the united states. the "new york times" and cnn reported on meetings with a chinese financial group and qat qatari investor after the election. both deals fell through. officials in four countries privately discussed ways kushner could be manipulated. then there is the $285 million loan deutsche bank gave the family business just one month before the election. prosecutors in brooklyn subpoenaed bank records. it is unclear if they are looking into that loan. that is on top of the meetings that kushner reportedly took at the white hous

he has said repeatedly to aides ivanka gets terrible press because of me. taking attacks on my daughter because of me. however, jared kushner is someone with whom he is frustrated. he goes back and forth to feeling bad by what happens happened to feeling irritated that jared kushner has become a liability of sorts in his own right, getting a ton of negative headlines. he will talk about how jared's getting killed, jared's getting killed. he is not always saying it with any sort of sense of self reflection or this is an extension of how they're looking at me. trump does not like when people attract negative headlines that could be a problem for him. and now he has a member of his extended family getting that in droves. >> that's very macheavelean. >> trump the white house, very reality tv showy. sure, she's my daughter and he's my son-in-law but i would appreciate you pushing them under the bus. i do think maggie's last point is the most important one. this is what we know. donald trump hates negative press. but he doesn't like it when other people create it

jared and ivanka in this position. has kelly lost his authority, his control, his ability to do his job? >> that's an excellent question. i think we have to go back to the premise, did he ever actually have authority in that position? we hoped, john touched upon the fact he had this military background, would he be able to bring order to a white house that has been in chaos from day one? clearly, he hasn't been able to. in a lot of ways, the critics lodged reince priebus keeping trump in line could be lodged to kelly. he's brought some order. we have to give him credit for bringing some order to the office. in the meantime, he's med enemies. that's why aides are coming out, trying to stab him in the back. he's in a difficult position. >> you see the back stabbing going on. it's hard to keep track of it. everybody is stabbing everybody else in the back. what are you hearing about john kelly right now, julie? >> reporter: in the aftermath and the flop of his resignation, the white house's refusal to speak openly until a

tom: jessica, let's go to ivanka. want to ask you the question, that that wonderful interviewer asked clinton. ivanka, do you think she has designs on the presidency. >> i don't think so at all. i think jared kushner does. >> why wouldn't you vote for ivanka when she has liberal views on stuff. jessica: she thinks family leave is a good idea and she used to cleave in climate change and gun control. i don't think there should be any more trumps in the white house and i didn't lose any election. tom: most of trump voters don't want ivanka trump. they are not big fans of ivanka trump. >> i don't know. i know people thought people wouldn't be fans of donald trump. but he found a way to connect with the american people. he learned their language. he resonated with their pain and they elected him. i can't say who the american people will elect and who they won't elect. tom: thanks, joe, lawrence and jessica. coming up, president trump vowing to crack down on sanctuary cities. now a city in california has voted to defy the r

so she comes from the jared and ivanka side of trump world. departure happens at a difficult time for jared and ivanka when jared in particular has been publicly hugh mill yatesed and effectively demoted in the white house related to his inability to obtain a permanent security clearance. i say he was humiliated in a technical sense. this is the headline. the white house chief clig rav now has a higher security clearance. that is literally true. and while this, while jared's difficulties mount, including this new story from the "new york times" about him and his companies receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in investment after he took white house meetings from executives from those companies, the jared and ivanka part of trump world, they've been losing people left and right. josh raffle was technically a communication director, but what he was was a spokesperson for jared and ivanka. he quit as of yesterday. another close friend of jared and ivanka who was put in charge of the office of american innovation, reaid cordish announced that

there is friction with jared and ivanka.keeps him isolated to keep him on track. >> i think there's a lot of problems. if you look at how erratic the president is personally, professionally, he has no experience in government. and so the great promise of him is that he would come in, as an outsider, and stay as an outsider, even as the ultimate insider. the problem is the recklessness means that people around him, let alone people on the hill, let alone foreign governments can't put any stock in what he actually says or what he actually believes. now, we were told in one important measure that the stock market was a sign of his fabulous leadership. well, guess what, he is tanking the stock market with this tariff decision. and the dow, which was about 27,000, is now 24 and change. thank you, mr. president, because you said that's how we should judge you. i'm just going by what you said and here we are, after your decision. so i think in addition to that, this kind of -- nobody he will listen to who will say, no, mr. presiden

the president is trying to have jared and ivanka pushed out. so, rachel, who does the president have in his corner right now as he shapes policy. >> it sounds like he's hunkering down, right? we have seen a lot of reports. there was a great story friday talking about how the president felt like he was being attacked and that's why he in part rolled out this huge tariff push, this whole thing about going back to the campaign. he promised that he was going to slap tariffs on a bunch of goods coming from other countries and he was feeling there was an attack on his white house and an attack on himself. he hunkered down and returned to the fundamentals of how he feels. even though tariffs go 100% against gop orthodoxy and free trade and things that republicans stand for. we talk about donald trump changing his mind and saying these controversial things off the cuff. i feel like republicans in a way while they're concerned about his comments and it might undercut them keeping his majorities in congress, they have almost become immune about this. whe

we see that ivanka, cnn reported yesterday that ivanka's business deal with trump real estate over the opening of trump hotel in vancouver is now reportedly under investigation. and i think that's definitely -- stories like that and there was also a story about jared kushner's father recently reaching out -- trying to reach a deal with the qatari government months back and then there was a bit of a scuffle between the trump administration and qatar like shortly after. so, i think these reports don't bode well for the white house at all. and it seems that it's really bad publicity and i think the president has certainly picked up on that. but we have to remember, this is also the president's daughter. and i think the president has really seen his daughter take a beating in the press recently. so, i think the president is very concerned about her well being with kushner, though, i think it's just a series of bad headlines for him. >> sean, speaking of security clearance here. john kelly spoke to reporters yesterday to give them a timeline for rob porter's resignation last month. how are

there's this exclusive reporting on first daughter ivanka trump. counter intelligence officials telling us scrutinizing negotiates. this is part of the background check for a full security clearance. we should point out it's neither clear why the interest in this deal or any allegation of wrong doing. "new york times" reporting on jared kushner. white house meeting with investment firms and their loans. loan to the tune of $500 million. a lot happening with the white house. it makes quite a picture. something to talk about with ax files host. something to talk about with david axelrod who worked with a president whose nickname was no drama. >> he'll be the 11th top leveller staffer to leave. what does that say? >> there's never been a parallel to this in previous white houses. you want an experienced team. you want a team that works well with the president and each other. you want them in place over a long period of time so you can have consistent policy and implement it effectively. if your honoring people in and out like a basketball game. it's n

signs of letting up and the national security adviser appears to be heading out the door and one of ivanka trump's business deals is under the fbi microscope. >>> a day after appearing to back gun reform, the surprise sit-down with the nra. now the president does not want gun control. this is a 180 far faster than it was on i mmigration if the nra s right. welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it is friday, march 2nd. 4:01 in the east. big news here. president trump slapping tariffs on steel and an aluminum. sparking pefears of a trade war. 25% on steel and 20% on aluminum to help those struggling industries. >> when it comes to a time when our country can't make aluminum and steel and somebody said it before and i will tell you, you almost don't have much of a country. >> trump gave no further details. he said the policy is still being written and this decision makes good on his promise, it was made against the wishes of the top advisers. people close to the president, titans of industry. people in the republican party are against this. it could bring a host

is ivanka the best choice to delegate a high stakes diplomatic meeting?question about is ivanka the rightperson to be doing this is something she's run into time and again during her tenure in the west wing. is she first daughter, is she taking over the role of first la lady? is she the interim secretary of state? what exactly is it that she is supposed to be doing there? the rest of the people i talk to in the west wing are mystified in terms of what exactly she wants her role to be. we know that's created some miles between her and john kelly who is chafed at her, what he says is playing at government kind of position. i think the question is valid and i don't think anybody has really an answer for it. >> look, she wasn't emissary for the united states going to south korea for the olympics recently. do we know what kind of influence she's exerted over her father? >> it's interesting. early on after he was elected, everyone was rhee re lying on ivanka, i mean people in democratic circles, relying on her to be a moderating influence. she kind of presented

so that could be for ivanka trump, too. they said this.wrong that any hurdle, obstacle, or red flag has been raised with respect to that's trump or her clearance application. nothing has changed her ability to do the same work she's been doing since she joined the administration. if that looks familiar, it is because they said something very similar when jared kushner's security clearance has been downgraded to just secret. and if she has managed to all of a sudden get a top secret clearance no, one will say. >> it could make the u.s. defense system useless. that's the claim from putin. wait until you hear president trump's reaction. deyou were persecuted,, and forced to flee the country of your birth. but you started a new life in a brand new world. when i built my ancestry family tree, i found your story... then, my dna test helped me reclaim the portuguese citizenship you lost. i'm joshua berry, and this is my ancestry story. combine ancestry's dna test and historical records to discover your story. get started for free at ancestry.com

this is less about ivanka and primarily about jared. but he said repeat lid to aides, ivanka trump gets terrible press about me. this is terrible. however, jared kushner is someone with whom he is now frustrated. he goes back and forth between feeling bad about what happened and irritated that jared kushner has become a liability in his own right. he is getting a ton of negative headlines on his own. it is all about the meetings he has taken. a lot of focus on investigations. he will talk about how jared is getting killed, jared is getting killed. he is not saying it with a sense of self reflection or this is an extension of how they are looking at me. trump does not like people who attract negative headlines that could be a problem for him. now he has a member of his extended family getting that in droves. >> you just put a fine on it. i will just read the key paragraph because it is so striking. >> it is better than my spewing. >> privately some aides have expressed frustration that mr. kushner and his wife, the president's daughter i

and the role of ivanka, ivanka and jared, principally ivanka, is a lot of your reporting today. >> yeah. we actually ended up doing an ivanka profile in part based on peter alexander's great interview with her at the olympics where it's clear she's trying to straddle this is dual role. she's a senior adviser. she went to the olympics as a senior adviser. she went there with a diplomat mission. she was prepared to deal with north korea, but she's also the president's daughter and she's very unapologetic about that. she talks to him multiple times a day. she's sort of trying to figure out exactly what she can do. one area where she's come under a lot of fair criticism is a lot of people wanted her to be a moderating voice. they're frustrated on is she x or is she y? they thought she could prevent trump from pulling out of paris. she explains she treats herself like any other senior adviser. so, she will not publicly contradict the administration in the way most other senior advisers would not. the interesting thing to watch for, we learned, is she will push for the issue she's passionate

why do you have to embarrass jared like that ivanka complained to a friend recently. so, what do you think, are the three going to be able to last under the same roof together, erin? >> remember, there has been a decline in the jared and ivanka faction with hope hicks leaving and jared kushner while he's had that trouble with his security clearance has taken into his portfolio and beyond the security clearance dealing with the foreign governments during the transition. there's more here to unpack. they're not native washington, d.c., folks. they're from new york. they have a life outside and beyond this. and even in ivanka's public platform you see her distance herself from her father and by being a member of this administrati administration, she's tied to him. >> does it appear the president is choosing towards leaning his family during this time? >> he did say the controversy over jared's security clearance that john kelly would make the decision and he was confident he would make the right decision. and john kelly decided to strip jared of that temporary clearance.

and we also found out that counter intelligent officials are investigating ivanka trump's business deals, and that could make her husband more vulnerable, because at least four countries had expressed ways to exploit him. hud director ben carson had to apologize for buying a $31,000 dining room table with taxpayer money. and trump made off of the cuff remarks that rattled his own party and others. and first he said that they should take people's guns and then get to due process later. and then he said that he would putt tariffs on steel and aluminum, and this shocked gary cohen so much, his aide that he may resign. so this is that some are worrying that their friend could be unraveling, a waund source is saying that, quote, something is very wrong. and here to discuss is ryan cillizza, and so does this chaos feelle any different than the rest to you? >> well, it feels like the second major cycle of the white house upheaval. there are is always a low level upheaval in the white house, but this is feeling like last july when anthony scaramucci famously self-destructed which led to reince p

and that his wife leaves as well, ivanka trump. how would that change the dynamic inside the white house, do you think? >> well, i think that the facts and the headlines already show that jared is a liability. he doesn't have a single significant policy achievement to hang his hat on right now. connell: what if he leaves? how would that change? >> then what we see is that trump is finally going to not deal with a downgrade of kushner but rather hand all of the policy reigns over to kelly. if you look at what kelly has been able to do since he came to the oval office, yes, there's been the rob porter fiasco, but for the most part he's been able to bring semblance of order out of discord. so i agree with one writer who said that kelly really is the indispensable man and if jared and ivanka leave that clears the road for him. connell: i get what you are saying about order that's what general kelly has been credited with for those who support him. what about policy? you think about what jared and to some extent ivanka represent in that

>> well, these business entanglements that have dogged jared kushner, ivanka trump and the president himself, they haven't given up their ownership stakes in their private comes. so it just sort of opens them to these charges that they have, you know, some kind of potential to influence them with their -- whether it's loans to their businesses or, you know, to sort of influence governmental policy in a way that would result in their bottom lines for the companies that they have. none of them has really given up their business entanglements. so you have to figure there are going to be some questions raised about conflicts of interest. and, you know, is that too much now for the president to handle? we're going to find out >> just to resurrect another issue, tim, john kelly spoke to reporters yesterday and gave a timeline for porter's resignation last month. how are you reading into the timing of this explanation? why reignite it? it's not like they didn't have enough going on this week. >> i think the chief of staff feels the need to lay out exactly what happened there. for the first

rob: chelsea clinton says her 1-time friend ivanka trump is fair game, social media calling out whatndard. rob: police search heather locklear's home after threatening to shoot sheriff's deputies, assaulting three police officers, told deputies she would shoot them, not smart. police never found the gun she said she has. likelier is trying to check into rehab. jillian: hope hicks may be a hacking victim. one of her email account is compromised, it was not related to donald trump or the white house, resigned one day after her testimony, the white house says the events are not related. >> chelsea clinton says ivanka is fair game. >> a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father. >> why wasn't the former first daughter asked about her own father of skeletons in the closet? rob: carly shimkus here with what some are calling a double standard. >> you don't think friendship but chelsea and ivanka were one time just that. their relationship has cooled down. chelsea clinton telling stephen colbert the two haven't spoken in a long time but also s

one person told us he does view ivanka as his little girl. on the one hand he thinks they might be better out of the spotlight. on the other hand this is classic trump, often talking to jared and ivanka, you can't go back to new york, i rely on your counsel, i need you here. it's mixed messages but he does not like the negative headlines. >> let me show all of you something that happened at the press briefing that just wrapped up, showing that another week, more questions about donald trump's reluctance to ever condemn russia. we'll talk about it on the other side. >> you're not saying that russia was behind it? >> right now we are standing with our u.k. ally. i think they are still working through even some of the details of that and we're going to continue to work with the u.k. and we certainly stand with them throughout this process. >> either russia using -- giving chemical weapons to a third-party, the latter being highly unlikely, given the nature of this weapon. >> we stand with our ally and we certainly fully support them and are read

can you imagine if president trump lost hope hicks, jared kushner and ivanka all at the same time? there would be absolutely no inner circle left. we know the president has a tough time trusting people to begin with. we could see more outbursts like this one. on wednesday, trump went off on his attorney general jeff sessions again, calling him disgraceful and demanding to know why he put a, quote, obama guy in charge of an investigation into surveillance abuse allegations. but this time, and that's why i said it was a joke, sessions fired back, saying, quote, as long as i'm attorney general, i will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor in this department, will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial matter manner. and this is what i can't get over. hours after releasing this statement, sessions had dinner with none other than rob rosenstein and the solicitor general noel francisco. hitting trump where he hurts. showing the picture, social media. can you believe this is what's happening with the top leadership in the government of the united states of amer

ashley knows and particular because of the story she wrote ivanka, how people feel about ivanka. ashley: i sat down with ivanka and jared a number of times and they were incredibly polite. i rane a story and then into jerrod and he could not of been nicer or more polite. i had to deal with stephen miller on stories and people have a lot of opinions on him. i found him for personal, polite. i did a profile on him, not revealing sources, but one thing supposedly is everybody in the white house and even people are diametrically opposed of his views, like him as a person. i kept on trying to get someone to explain, how do you find him so charming? but he is someone who is widely liked throughout the white house. it is particularly uncommon in this white house, but he is incredibly loyal to the president. that is in short supply in this white house, but he does not always agree with the president and all of his views, but we would not see stephen miller hislancing and giving personal views on immigration. he would not link or do any of that. he might try to hold the president back but

hope hicks, jared, ivanka, they've been like surrogate -- he left the end of last year. there is no indication jared and ivanka are leaving any time soon, but there is one clue, and we're reading tea leaves here. the clue is that their top spokesman, josh rafael, deputy communications director in the white house, has been the crisis manager for dealing with all of these crises involving jared kushner -- >> very forcefully behind the scene. >> correct. he announced his resignation last week. he is going to be leaving in the next couple of weeks. that's going to be a huge hole for jared and ivanka to fill. >> you've been out of the administration for a little while. how does this feel now compared to what you saw when you were kind of behind the scenes? reince priebus was talking a little bit this morning on abc, how when i left t wasn't quite that bad when i walked out the door. it's gotten a lot worse. is that what it looks like you to? >> it's hard to tell when you're inside and seeing how it's reported on the outside of what it's like. it's usually not very close to wh

now, we also found out that fbi counterintelligence officials are investigating one of ivanka trump's business deals. and her husband's business ties could make him vulnerable, too. "the washington post" says officials from at least four countries discussed ways to exploit kushner. hud secretary ben carson had to apologize after buying a $31,000 dining room set with taxpayer money. and finally, trump made off the cuff remarks that rattled not only his own party but in some cases members of his own administration. first, he suggested officials should take people's guns and ignore due process. and then he announced tariffs on steel and aluminum, sending the stock market into shock. this apparently upset his chief economic adviser gary cohn so much he threatened to resign. so even by trump white house standards, this is a lot. i want to take a closer look at just one of these stories. a cnneclusive. the fbi is looking at one of ivanka trump's business deals, financing involving trump international hotel and tower in vancouver, canada. the extra attention could make it harder for the pres

let's talk about jared and ivanka's positions in the white house.e are questioning the veracity of this reporting, that people are cautioni ining them hang on as long as possible so as not to make it appear that kelly railroaded them out of the west wing. how do you interpret that, basil? do you think those two will go soon? >> i think they have to. i don't think they should have had jobs in the first place. somebody referred to jared as the secretary of everything. i think that the fact that the president seems to rely on fewer and fewer voices over time is concerning. the fact that jared and ivanka, who clearly have a strong relationship with him, but don't necessarily need to be advising him on matters of national security or cutting deals with foreign leaders across the country with the presumption that they may be enriching themselves. that's what's sort of out there and because no one has seemed to be able to disabuse the american public of that, i do think other people need to step in and shore up the trust that we should have in this white h

right, ivanka? you're a great warrior. >> thank you. >> really is great. >> thank you, mr. president.

and a friend of the couple told reporters that ivanka is fighting for her life. after her recent trip to the olympics, kelly remarked that ivanka is just "playing government." to be fair, "playing government" was one of ivanka's favorite games as a child, along with "pin the tail on the maid," and "hungry, hungry, hungry people." ( laughter ) so how is this all going to end? according to one white house official, the couple, known as "javanka," and kelly are locked in a death match: two enter, only one survives. how married are we to this "one survives" thing? what if none survives? what if it's like a mexican sphawf? ( cheers and applause ) it's a mexican standoff of people who really don't like mexicans. and they're not the only ones in trouble. yesterday, the house intelligence committee heard testimony from white house communications director and her own evil twin, hope hicks. she refused to answer almost all of the committee's questions, but she did acknowledge that she sometimes tells white lies for trump. well, duh! ( laughter ) telling lies to white peopl

jared and ivanka aren't too happy with him either. so will the president's daughter and son-in-law be the next to go? let me ask katie after lip. she knows an awful lot about the white house. let's discuss. i interviewed anthony scaramucci last week. and he says this whole evident about jared kushner is a concerted one to get him out the white house. >> i think the reports about john kelly singling out ivanka and jared kushner. if you look at the way he looked at the security clearances. it was dozens of staffers in the white house. so to say he's going after jared kushner i don't think mends with the facts. but there are questions what jared kushner's role will be going forward. benjamin netanyahu has been assigned to coming up with some kind of peace agreement between the israelis and palestinians. the israeli palestinian issue for the united states is all about security. kennedy: it's impossible to take on a task that huge without having that clearance because of the information and untell surrounding it is classified at that level

and their voices are going to be so valued. >> kennedy: it was a much different story when ivanka trumpn with nbc news during the winter olympics. watch. >> do you believe your father's accusers? >> i think that it is a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter. she believes the accusers of her father when he is affirmatively stated that there is no truth to it. i do not think that that is a question that he would ask many other daughters. >> kennedy: chelsea clinton telling stephen colbert that ivanka trump is fair for criticism. >> anyone who works for the president is certainly should expect to be scrutinized for whatever decisions not only is she or he is making, but whatever decisions the white house is making on any given day. >> kennedy: a little bit of a double standard? >> guy: the last point that she made is absolutely correct. if you work with the president, does not matter if you are a blood relative or not, you work for the american taxpayer and you should be scrutinized with the media. but the rest of that set up, i do think that it is pretty glaring where to have th