. >> i will not give you credit of jake tapper. eric: jake tapper is an amazing journalist and not a pro trump voice. >> he's not supposed to be he's supposed to be a journalist. >>,. eric: i'm asking you to give me a pro trump voice. >> journalists aren't supposed to be pro or anti-trump supposed to report the facts as they have it and look at any jake tapper-- >> how about john lennon-- >> richard, they've been out to get donald trump and they have made it a point to not even give like a honeymoon period to president trump, and instead, goes straight to-- >> what richard said, the american people weighed in anyway. eric: i have a lot more, this is going to be a hot show. we have a lot more. more of my sit-down interview with president trump, what he says about building the border wall and how somebody's going to pay for it. z286oz zwtz y286oy ywty i did active duty 11 years.my in july of '98. and two in the reserves. our 18 year old was in an accident. when i call usaa it was that voice asking me, "is your daughter ok?" that's wh

"the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. >>> thanks, brooke. it is cinco de mayo today which

that's it for jake tapper and the lead.w, breaking news. travel ban blocked. another major setback for president trump's travel back as a federal appeals court refuses to clear the way for implementation. so what is the white house's next move? withholding the memos. the justice department informs house investigators it won't hand over documents pertaining to conversations between president trump and fired fbi chief j

. >> jake tapper has information as well. jake, what are you learning? >> a source close to former fbi director comey who confirms the details of the new york times report and adds more information. this is a source who has a copy of this memo in question, the source says that director comey was in the oval office on february 14 briefing president trump, briefing vice president pence and also there was attorney general sessions after the briefing of over the president asked the vice president and attorney general to leave the room. and then according to comey writing in this memo, the president said quote i hope you can see your way -- letting this go, to letting flynn go. referring to the investigation of flynn. he is a good guy, i hope can you let this go. he also told me flynn had not done anything wrong. comey was concerned about what the president was saying, about the impression the president was trying to stop an fbi investigation. the source tells cnn and the source says that comey wrote a number of memos. a great many, if not all contacts with t

i'm jake tapper. president trump after months of bashing one. oldest and perhaps most successful military alliances in world history nato is getting ready for upcoming talks with the european leaders in brussels, belgium, about the future of the organization. that's even as a senior white house official last week threatened that the u.s. might leave nato. the president landed in belgium just hours ago after a quick stopover in rome where he and pope francis visited this morning in what the president called a fantastic meeting at vatican city. you will remember last year during the presidential campaign the pope said anyone who thinks about building walls and not bridges is, quote, not a christian and then candidate trump called those comments disgraceful and said the mexican government was using the pope as a pawn. this morning, however, we're told the two men discussed terrorism, climate change and world peace. here in washington the discussion -- seems a bit stalled. his budget proposal was declared

"the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. >>> thanks, brianna.for a possible isis terror cell. "the lead" starts right now. isis claiming responsibility while police identify the terrorist who killed 22 innocent people at an ariana grande show in england. today we hear the harrowing stories from parents desperately searching for their children amidst the chaos. president trump calling those behind this attack evil losers before landing in europe to meet with the pope. plus, enough to make the former cia director worried. john brennan testifies about the trump campaign's contact with the russians, but does he see any concrete evidence of

. >> joining me now is jake tapper, host of "the lead" and "state of the union." when you hear the words of the president today in connecticut taking on added significance and the cloud in which he finds himself what is your reaction? >> he's speaking to men and women on the front lines of protecting the homeland. >> this is their commander in chief. >> yes. they will be fending off narco traffickers, whomever. it can be a dangerous job. i'm not exactly sure -- the president seemed to be complaining and expressing self-pity and i'm not sure what these people are supposed to feel pity about. that's my first reaction. my second reaction is four u.s. presidents have been assassinated and killed. i think people have been treated worse than president trump has been. and when it comes to a president treated unfairly, that president led the charge claiming that the first african-american president was born in africa, which is not only a charge that is false but is not a little bit racist. so i don't really understand -- that appeared to be scripted. that didn't appear to

. >> let's go to cnn chief washington correspondent jake tapper and anchor of "the lead." jake, sources say that the president shared this classified information. >> reporte >> h.r. mcmaster and others, when they pushed back on the story originally yesterday, they were saying that the president did not divulge sources and methods and mcmaster saying he doesn't know sources and methods and the idea of where this intelligence came from. but the fear is that because of of what trump did divulge that that information is enough to be able to try to figure out the sources and methods and the president didn't say where the information came from but the idea that what he said might be more specific that the russians doing counterintelligence, trying to figure out where it comes from, that will enable them to figure it out. we should note, some of the information that the president said in this meeting with russian officials is information that we and the media know about the laptop computer crisis but that we didn't report because we were told not to report it, it will put people's

>> jake tapper, thank you so much. we'll tune in shortly at 4:00 p.m. jake has an exclusive interview with caroline kennedy honoring the 100th anniversary of her father's birth. >>> and staying with the russians, the question is being asked after john brennan said this before the senate intelligence committee. >> frequently, individuals who go along a treasonous path do not realize that they are along that path until it's too late and that's why, again, my radar goes up early when i see certain things that i know what the russians are trying to do and i don't know whether or not the targets of their efforts are as mindful of the russian intentions as they need to be. >>> i'm going to turn now to someone who worked for the cia for 30 years specializing in russia. he's now a spy novelist a and adjunct lecturer. gene, how would this work, when you hear john brennan say this idea that someone may not know that they are doing something treasonous. have you seen something like that? >> no one doesn't know that they are committing treason. and i have to say th

"state of the union" with jake tapper starts right about now. >>> on the world stage, president trump speaks to muslims on his first foreign trip. >> terrorists do not worship god, they worship death. if we do not act against the organized terror, then we know what will happen. >> but will his message be overshadowed by the political firestorm at home. plus, comey speaks. the fired fbi director will testify before congress, could he drop yet another bombshell. >> we are a nation of laws and those laws and rules are going to be followed. >> senator rubio will be here after a week of jaw dropping -- after this week's explosive events, the best political minds will be here to talk about what happens next. >> hello, i'm jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is getting away from it all after the most devastating week of his young presidency, president trump escaped washington for the friendlier con fines of saudi arabia where he is being welcomed quite warmly by that nation's king in his first official visit overseas. the president who was elected after calling for a tempo

i'm jake tapper. explanations today from the white house simply do not add up. in march cnn's evan perez had learned from numerous officials that intelligence deemed credible said that isis was developing laptop computer bombs to be used on international flights. before reporting this on cnn, perez talked to trump administration officials who cautioned perez and subsequently cnn executives to not report certain details about the threat, including the city from which some of the intelligence was collected. by reporting are the city's name, trump administration officials insisted, that would tip off american adversaries about sources and methods used to gather the intelligence. tlt would, th-- it would, they get people killed. cnn did not report the details or the name of the city and last night the "washington post" reported and government officials say that president trump in a meeting with the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and the u.s. ambassador sergey kislyak revealed highly classified inf

i'm pamela brown in for jake tapper. we want to begin with the politics lead. the investigation now including the president's family. president trump's son-in-law, the man perhaps closest to him, jared kushner, now in the spotlight in the fbi's russia investigation. u.s. officials telling cnn that the bureau is now looking at kushner's role during the election and during the transition, and that includes his ties to russians. cnn's elise labatt joins me now. it's an important distinction whether someone is a target, subject or witness in an investigation. where does jared kushner fall in all of this? >> reporter: just because the fbi is interested doesn't mean he did anything wrong and no allegations thus far that jared kushner did anything wrofnlg the fbi has not talked to him yet. it's not even clear that he will, but because he was so involved in the campaign and transition investigators feel he may be able to provide information to assist the fbi probe. tonight the fbi criminal probe of russian interference in the 20

i'm jake tapper. president trump touched down in israel today and met with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, becoming the first sitting u.s. president to ever visit the holiest site in the jewish faith, the western wall. at about the same time as that visit we learned that fired national security adviser michael flynn plans to plead the fifth and will not testify before the senate intelligence committee. that was big news, though, of course, the president is focused on his swing through the middle east. that began in riyadh, saudi arabia, where the president disturbed even some in his own party by suggesting in his speech that he would not, quote, lecture countries on how to live which many took as an abdication of the traditional role of the united states in publicly preaching the values of freedom and democracy, values that some critics suggest the trump administration might not fully appreciate. case in point, a source close to former fbi director james comey told me that in comey's february 14tht

i'm jake tapper. the russia investigation by the fbi and by the house and senate intelligence committees is proceeding at full speed and so is apparently the refusal to cooperate for many key figures closest to president trump. today is the deadline for fired national security adviser michael flynn to comply with subpoenas issued by the senate intelligence commit, and just a couple hours ago we learned trump corporate attorney, michael cohen, known as the president's political pit bull will not corporate with congress to provide information and testify. now this is all happening as presidential son-in-law and senior white house adviser jared kushner comes under increased jewett think for his meetings with russians and his alleged attempts to set up secret back channel communications with russian leaders. this swirl of information presumably prompted the president to alert his supporters to believe none of it, tweeting, quote, it is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the white house are fa

i'm jake tapper. president trump is controlling to the strong man section of the rolodex calling russian president vladimir putin. the white house says the conversation was, quote, a very good one. on the home front the president seems to be sending mixed messages about the congressional budget deal. before a crowd of air force academy cadets earlier today he declared the budget a clear win for american people and clearly irritated that the democrats are claiming victory given that the white house had to drop a raft of priorities to get the budget through the senate and he sent out his budget chief mulvaney to express frustration that the president is not getting enough credit. jason carroll joins us live from the white house. we're learning more about the presidential phone call with vladimir putin. what can you tell us? >> rex tillerson, secretary of state, jake, was also on that call, and he described it as, quote, very constructive. he said there were a lot of detailed exchanges. meanwhile, this p

a source close to comey telling jake tapper comey was fired for two reasons. >> first comey never gave the president assurance of personal loyalty. second, investigation into possible conclusion by team trump into russia was accelerating. that may explain the timing. sources tell cnn comey was fired a week after asking for more resources to investigate the russia connection. the white house for its part denies comey made that request. regardless, there's progress reported in that probe. a senate committee issuing a subpoena. >>> first the white house doggedly defending its rationale for comey's firing. deputy press secretary huckabee sanders using blunt language to describe the investigation into the handling of hillary clinton's e-mail. >> i think one of the big catalysts that we saw was last week on wednesday. director comey made a pretty startling revelation that he had essentially taken a stick of dynamite and thrown it into the department of justice by going around the chain of command, having a letter like the one that he received, and having that conversation that outlined the b

i'm jake tapper.itzer who is right next door in "the situation room." thanks for watching. >>> happening now, breaking news. comey to testify. fired fbi director james combingy is ready to testify publicly to a senate commit de, and sources say that testimony could come next week. will comey confirm the reports that president trump asked him to end his probe into michael flynn's investigation? outside ties, the white house is now referring all questions to the probe to his lawyer. >>> climate changed. his white house and cabinet are divided on the issue, but senior officials say president trump is expected to withdraw from the nearly 200-nation paris climate agreement. the president says he'll make a decision very soon. >>> and all

a source close to comey telling jake tapper comey was

i'm jake tapper. president trump is on his way to saudi arabia, the first stop on his very international trip since taking office, and shortly after air force one left the tarmac this afternoon new explosive headlines about the russia investigation continued to break as they have for the last week or so. the "new york times" now reporting that according to a white house document president trump in the oval office told russian officials ten days ago that james comey, the fbi director, was a, quote, nut job. the paper, quoting the document, based on notes taken during the meeting in the oval office with president trump had the president saying, quote, i just fired the head of the fbi. he was crazy, a real nult job. i faced great pressure because of russia. that's taken off. as the president heads overseas sources tell cnn some officials in the national security council are hoping upon hope that president trump will not cause any international or diplomatic incidents. the responsibility for that lies wit

a quote from an obama administration source to jake tapper, flynn's name kept popping up according toration source. with me here still is jeffrey toobin. that's a little bit of what we were wondering allowed before we went to break exactly what the warning was relating to. >> i think it's clear that president obama understood that president trump was going to appoint people with different policy views than the obama administration. he was not going to warn him away from people who simply had different policy views. this is an -- his concern as jake tapper has learned more specifically now related to mike flynn's relationship with russia. which ultimately led to his departure a little more than three weeks into the administration. but the fact that donald trump would ignore that advice is yet another example of how the trump administration and donald trump himself have looked the other way where russia is concerned. >> it also makes me wonder what does that say also about the vetting that was under way? we played a sound bite earlier of john kelly. when i became secretary of homeland s

voice of jake tapper, host of cnn's 'state of the union': "internally from our president?"clapper: "exactly."clapper says he feels the government's system of checks and balances "is eroding."the criticism follows nearly a week of backlash over the firing of now-former f-b-i director james comey.u-s ambassador nikki haley defended the move on a-b-c's "this week."nikki haley, u.s. ambassador to u.n.: "the president is the ceo of the country. he can hire and fire whoever he wants. that's his right. whether you agree with it or not, it's the truth. what he's trying to do is find his own team, figure out how he's going to do it. were there better ways he could have done that? that's for everybody else to decide." president donald trump says he might choose his replacement from a shortlist for comey before leaving for his first overseas trip as president on friday. president donald trump: "these are outstanding people that are very well-known, highest level... so, we could make a fast decision."reporter: "before the trip next week, you think possibly?"president donald trump: "eve

jake tapper, thanks for that reporting. to the white house. cnn's jim acosta. what's the white house saying about all this? >> anderson, i'm picking up on some anxiety over here inside the white house. even some gloominess in response to this comey news. but the official line coming from the white house, the bottom line coming from the white house tonight, anderson, is that they are pushing back on the memo, the president had any kind of conversation with jim comey and said to stop the investigation of former national security adviser michael flynn. here's the official statement that the white house put out earlier this evening. we can expand on it. it says the president -- while the president has repeatedly expressed his view that general flynn is a decent man who protected and sefshtd our country the president has never asked mr. comey or anyone else to end any investigation including any investigation involving general flynn. the president has the utmost respect for our law enforcement agencies and all investigations. this is not a truthful or accurate portr

that reaffirms reporting from jake tapper that the firing was over a lack of loyalty.inner took place on january 27th. >> that is one day after former acting attorney general sally yates issued a strong warning to the white house about the michael flynn contact was russia. the president addressed the firing of the former national security adviser in the nbc interview. listen. >> my white house counsel came back to me and did not sound like emergency or make it sound like he was -- she actually did not make it sound that way either in the hearings the other day. like it had to be done immediately. this man served for many years. he's a general. he's a -- in my opinion, a very good person. i believe it would be very unfair to hear from somebody who we don't know and immediately run out and fire a general. we ultimately fired, but fired for a different reason. >> you are talking about general flynn. >> yes. >> because of lying to the vice president. >> yeah, but everything plays in. everything plays into it. we fired him because he said something to the vice president tha

so we have jake tapper reporting, this has been handed to me. from a source close to comey and apparently when the president and comey had a meeting february 14th, the president expressed irritation about news stories about private phone conversations he's had with leaders of mexico and australia. he wanted kocomey to pursue the leakers. comey tried to explain that leak investigations are difficult to do because often law enforcement ends up having to threatenen to jail journalist. the president responded he should throw the journalists in jail. >> i'm not vised at this someone close to comey who does not like the president and you have seen a lot of people leaking things every single day and just letting it drip and drip and drip. and the best part is we don't have to worry about getting caught. >> what about the substance of the information? >> i'll say this. i don't know if somebody who obviously is protecting comey and trying to make the president look bad if it's true or credible that he said throw journalists in jail. what i do think is it

i'm jake tapper. we begin with the world lead. at least 22 innocent people including children as young as 8 have been killed in the deadliest terror attack in britain since the 2005 london bombings. nearly 60 more people have been injured. the attack happened in manchester which is about a four-hour drive north of london as an ariana grande concert was ending at the manchester arena. panic and chaos ensued after the blast which was near the box office part of the arena complex. >> oh, my god. what's going on? >> what just happened? >> [ bleep ]. >> what's going on? oh, my god! >> police say that they believe as of now a lone suicide bomber, 22-year-old salman abedi, carried out the attack. authorities are now trying to determine if abedi was part of a larger network while isis has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing. we have cnn cnn correspondents atika shusht and clarissa ward covering all aspects of this attack. let's start with clarissa. we're learning that the attacker was apparently a student? >> reporter: that's ri

clapper, the former director of national intelligence, spoke with cnn's jake tapper to clarify those comments. >> i deferred to the fbi director, both director muller, and then director comey, as to whether, when and what to it el me about any counterintelligence investigations that they might have under way. so it was kind of standard practice. so my statement was premised on first the context of our intelligence community assessment on russian interference with the election. we did not -- there was no reporting in that intelligence committee assessment about political collusion. i did not have any evidence. i did not know about the investigation. >> you didn't even know that the fbi was conducting an investigation. >> i did not. even more importantly, the content -- or the status of that investigation i did not know. there's all kinds of reasons why that's so, but this -- these are sensitive. we try to keep them as compartmental as possible, and these very likely involve u.s. persons. so we try to be very deferential to that. >> this week the president firing the fbi director while

. >> my colleague jake tapper was talking to his source. first off as one person said what was his obligation to do so? and the source told jake tapper that essentially he felt he was making end roads with the white house and he felt he pushed back enough in the meeting and made clear it was inappropriate to ask that. so he felt he didn't need to take any other steps. the big question for me is if he believed this could be obstruction of justice. as we keep hearing legal analysts saying this could be. did he take steps internally to flag it. >> interesting. maybe he thought it would hinder the investigation. if he added this part of it too. and maybe there's much more. let's talk about the politics of this. how much of this is bouts the investigations? how much is about republicans gauge wlg theing whether they'ro take beating in the midterms in 2018? >> i think what we're learning today is troubling on an entirely different level for a lot of republicans. but certainly that has been the concerns -- >> pardon the interruption but do you thi

i'm jake tapper. a lot to talk about. let's bring in mo brooks, a member of the freedom caucus. so much for joining us. >> my pleasure, jake. >> the president said he would meet with kim jong-un under the right circumstances. do what you do i? will there ever be the right circumstances? >> there's an old saying you want to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. it's always a good things to improve relationships with your allies and to create relationships with your foes and in this case i don't see any harm trying to improve america's relationship with a dictator in north korea. we may strongly disagree with a lot of things that he does to his people but nonetheless if it's going to help preserve peace over the long haul both in south korea and the korean peninsula generally and with respect to the united states it's worth a shot. >> i can certainly understand the argument that there's this big nuclear threat and anything the president can do to de-escalate tensions and maybe even eliminate that nuclear threat would be a good thing, but a lot of human rights activists a

. >> that reaffirms the reporting of jake tapper, the president fired comey, in part, over a lack of loyalty. they say the concern took place on january 27ing. >> that one day after former acting attorney general sally >> in my opinion, a very good person. i believe that it would be very unfair to hear from somebody you don't know and fire a general. we ultimately fired, but we fire ed for a different reason. >> you are talking general flynn? >> everything playing into it. but we fired him because he said something to the vice president that was not so. >> two deposit officials who were inside fbi head quart, say comey's office has been cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape. it's not a crime scene. it's seem it's all it had to keep the curious out. >>> let's talk about all this with cnn politics reporter you jean scott a. whirlwind of events. there is a fallout with nbc news interview telling here. have you the president states comey, michael flynn is a very good man. you got the timing changing. the story changing about why james comey was fired and it makes the white houseporos

i'm jake tapper.p is on his way to saudi arabia, the first stop on his very international trip since taking office, and shortly after air force one left the tarmac this afternoon new explosive headlines about the russia investigation continued to break as they have for the last week or so. the "new york times" now reporting that according to a white house document president trump in the oval office told russian officials ten days ago that james comey, the fbi director, was a, quote, nut job. the paper, quoting the document, based on notes taken during the meeting in the

. >> got jake tapper off the top here. our cnn chief washington correspondent and host of "the lead" and host of "state of the union." jake, good to see you. listen, obviously, i want to get into some of your reporting on this tale of two dinners or really two versions of one dinner. but first, i want your response to the whole, i have nothing to add, you know, non-comment comment from the press secretary. >> i don't no what he could possibly say that would make that tweet seem like anything other than a threat to the fbi director to not talk to the press. it's an odd statement. and then, as you've noted earlier in the show today, sean spicer declined to answer the question several times, when asked if the president is recording his conversations. which is a stunning turn of events, given that, obviously, any such recordings could theoretically be suspected if need be, one. and two, obviously, there are, you know, the question of recording your conversations against people -- you know, without people you're meeting with kno

imagine a world where all had you was jake tapper and george stephanopoulos and brian williams. are not going to like, this eric, i promise you that. while i readily admit the left is bias. it's nauseating. trump doesn't help himself. and the small guys on the right are just as loud. can we ever get to the point where there is some rational coverage where it's not i love trump whatever he does is great and it's not i hate trump so whatever he does sucks? rock at this guy and say why is he getting all this negative press is because of him quite frankly. watch "special report" with bret baier. pretty much split down the middle at fox alone panel alone. i didn't hear that i want to. donald trump, 80% negative. negative tone this is a harvard study i said it several times, eric, you know i said it, they don't like him. it's absolutely true. talk about. so reasons why it just so happened and there has been studies on this too, more liberal minded folk tend to go into the journalism profession. that's one thing. they tend to exspouse that there was a thyme back in the day that you cou

i'm jake tapper. >>> the white house is trying to contain the fallout from the most potentially damaging week of donald trump's presidency just in time for another high-stakes undertake when he travels abroad for the first time since taking office. president trump's actions and firing the fbi director and the subsequent white house bed lanl could have long-term consequences as lawmakers on capitol hill begin to push for any recordings the white house may have made, and debate begins about who will take comey's place and whether he or she will be asked to pledge personal loyalty to the president as a source close to comey says happened to him. cnn's sara murray is live at the white house for us. sara, what is the white house's timeline for replacing the fbi director? >> reporter: ideally the administration would figure out their candidate to select someone before the week before the president leaves for his foreign trip, and they would certainly rather have everyone paying attention to that search for

this is something that our own jake tapper spoke with minority leader chuck schumer about this morning on "state of the union." take a listen to how senator schumer responded. >> i think there are a lot of democrats who feel that way, we'll have to discuss it as a caucus. but i would support that move, because who the fbi director is is related to who the special prosecutor is. remember, the criteria for a special prosecutor, independent and making day to day decisions from the hierarchy in the justice department and the white house, can only be fired for cause, has to report to congress, and, very importantly, can look into any attempts to thwart the investigation. are all really important criteria. and to have that special prosecutor, people would breathe a sigh of relief because then there would be a real independent person overlooking the fbi director. so i think the two are related. i think mark warner's idea is a good idea, and i think it will get some broad support in our caucus. the key here of course is getting some of our republican colleagues to join us. >> so there you hear

that is state of the union with jake tapper at 9:00 a.m. on cnn eastern time. >>> the white house is furious with north korea's later missile launches and vowing to rank up sanctions with north korea continues to be a flag rarant nemesis. >>> can you just do this full-time instead of him? >> yeah. i'd also like to ask that question because you are clearly articulate and charming, whereas, sean is bullyish. americans - 83% try to eat healthy. yet up 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more. add one a day 50+ a complete multi-vitamin with 100% daily value of more than 15 key nutrients. one a day 50+. your body was made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz is right for you. xeljanz is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can reduce joint pain and swelling in as little as two weeks, and help stop further joint damage. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections,

i'm jake tapper. stunning news from the white house minutes ago about why it took the trump administration 18 days from the moment they were warned about their national security advisers possibly having been compromised by the russians until the moment that president trump finally requested the resignation of former lieutenant general michael flynn. white house press secretary sean spicer said the white house did not know how to take the warning from then acting attorney general sally yates because they did not think she was a trump supporter. it's a stunning admission when you consider the high stakes of what yates was alerting the white house to and the petty partisan politics the administration apparently allowed to cloud their judgment. yesterday was the first time that the public heard the story directly from yates on her surprise upon hearing that vice president pence and other senior white house officials denying that flynn in his december conversations with russian ambassador kislyak had discu

go the "i'm jim sciuto in for jake tapper. president trump joined americans in paying respects to the military men and women who gave their lives for this country at a ceremony at the tomb of the unknowns in arlington national cemetery. it was the president's first public event since returning from his first foreign trip but behind the scenes and naturally on twitter the president has been busing, tempting some trump-style damage control. cnn correspondent jeff zeleny joins us now. tell us what's happening inside the white house. >> reporter: the white house was hoping the president would return back from his trip abroad with the wind at his back and finally the chance to change the subject. that frankly has not happened. the russia investigation remains at the center of everything here in the west wing, even as the president had a commander in chief moment at arlington national cemetery cemetery. >> present. >> reporter: president trump paying respects today at arlington national cemetery. on his first memorial day as command

i'm jake tapper. we'll begin today with the politics lead. president trump heading to his golf club in jersey for the weekend tweeting this morning, quote, big win in the house. very exciting, but when everything comes together with the inclusion of phase two, we will have truly great health care. now, as the bill moves to it the senate republicans there are saying that they will write their own bill to repeal and replace obamacare, not just use the house version. athena jones is traveling with president trump and is live for us in branchburg, new jersey, and athena, optics of president trump with all the house republicans in the rose garden yesterday, it's as if the bill had become law, but actually we're very far from there. >> reporter: hi, jake, it was a big win for the white house but only a partial one. with the bill now in the senate white house officials say president trump will be fully engaged in selling it just like he was on the house side, but it's noticeable that the president hasn't yet embraced the trump care label or brand fo

. >> chris, an important point to add to that is the fact that jake tapper is reporting that one reason comey was fired was lack of willingness on the fbi director's part to pledge loyalty. at this dinner, the president asked for a loyalty pledge. comey said no, i will give you honesty. i will not pledge loyalty to you. >> look, there is a lot of conflicting reporting on this. donald trump has shown a tendency to stretch the truth on lots of occasions. i won't go through them all. the show is only three hours long. i don't know that we should assume that this is accurate. comey allies insist he would not do that. the assurance that he wasn't under investigation. james comey is a guy who has been a lifetime member of the organization. seems odd he would break protocol like that even in the one-on-one conversation with the president. that puts aside the oddness of the president asking am i under investigation. you know, it is like going out on a first date and asking if the person is in love with you. you put the person in a difficult spot, right? what are you going to say? this is your b

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those democrats, minority leader chuck schumer, who talked about this on "state of the union with jake tapper watch. >> the silence of my republican colleagues is choosing party over country at a time when we can ill afford it. foreign manipulation of our elections, no matter who did it, is a very, very serious issue. it damages people's faith in our government. so, our republicans should be stepping up to the plate and joining us in asking for a special prosecutor. >> reporter: we've also heard from senator mark warner, who is the virginia democrat who is the ranking member of the senate intelligence committee. that's one of the committees that's carrying out its own russia investigation. senator warner has said that democrats shouldn't stand in the way for a vote of the next fbi director if republicans don't join his call to appoint a special prosecutor. the problem there is that you need republicans to join that call, because they just need 51 votes to confirm any fbi director. i should note that as of right now, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein has indicated that he doesn't think th

you guys know jake tapper, right.nn's diversity hire because he's the only guy who's not a silver fox on cnn. ( laughter ) this guy knows how to be serious. just look at him stand up to the which could witch of the wild west wing, kellyanne conway. >> he tweeted at the ther -- hed there were millions of fraudulent votes. there is no evidence of that. is that presidential behavior? >> he's president-elect so that's presidential behavior. >> trevor: so the things bill clinton did in toafl office -- >> are you comparing what bill clinton dmid toafl office to a twitter feed? should we review what he did? >> trevor: i'm saying just because a president does something doesn't make it presidential. >> trevor: oh, son! that's how you do it! stay in the pocket and give her hell, j.t., that's it! that's how you do it! ( cheers and applause ) he stuck with kellyanne conway even when she tried to sliver out of out. he's his best when he has the wrinkles in his head. when he spent three hours looking for ligh light bulbs ate dopeo,

i think jake tapper made an important point about the context. there was a meeting in the oval office about national security. trump asked sessions and pence the attorney general and the vice president to leave. >> right. >> that's -- >> according to comey. >> right. that suggests consciousness of guilt. you don't want to ask for something improper in front of other people. we need to see the memos and of course the great question is are there tapes because president trump suggested there were white house tapes. that could certainly -- congress has to ask for all the underlying documentation. >> so chris, you know jim comey. does this sound like something he would do, to keep this sort of a memo and what would you say about its accuracy are from what you know of him? >> well, it's definitely something that agents do, it's something that lawyers do. i was trained on it. if you don't document it, it didn't happen. i can definitely see former director comey documenting con tem rain yusly as possible, probably right after the meeting and it would be

. >>> welcome to "the lead," everyone, i'm jake tapper. we begin with the politics lead and a dramatic hearing today on capitol hill with fbi director james comey testifying and add hitting he had concerns about the credibility of how the obama justice department led by attorney general loretta lynch was handling the investigation into hillary clinton's private e-mail server, and that, he said, led him to take many of the actions he did. comey said it makes him, quote, mildly nauseous to contemplate that his letter about potential new evidence in the probe 11 days before about the election may have impacted who won. still, comey insists six months later he would do it all again because to conceal the new information he said, would be, quote, catastrophic and destroy the fbi's reputation as a, quote, independent institution. comey stood by the decision not to reveal before the voters went to the poll that the fbi was investigating whether or not donald trump's associates worked in any way with russian operatives to interfere in the election

i'm jake tapper.g with politics as obamacare repeal and replacement bill moves to the u.s. senate. health insurer aetna announced plans to drop out of virginia due to what they say are major financial losses. joining me to discuss this is democratic senator mark warner. senator, thanks for joining us, appreciate it. >> thank you, jake. >> aetna just the latest insurer to announce pulling out of virginia. other states are facing the same thing. according to one study, more than 20 counties in virginia could be left with only one option on the individual market in 2018. is obamacare failing in virginia? >> well, jake, what's happened has been -- and i was disappointed that aetna has pulled out, but i also understand with the lack of certainty. you've got this administration who is obviously very committed to using every tool it can to try to wreck obamacare. so not predicting whether they're going to honor the components of the law that require and affect the risk payments to be made, the fact i heard f

i'm jake tapper in washington. "fareed zakaria gps" is next. life.ect it. the all-new audi q5 is here. after becoming one of the largest broadband companies in the country. after expanding our fiber network coast to coast. these are the places we call home. we are centurylink. we believe in the power of the digital world. the power to connect. and that's what drives us everyday. "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. ♪ ♪ i'm dr. kelsey mcneely and some day you might be calling me an energy farmer. ♪ energy lives here. [vo] the grille is distinctive. but it's usually seen from the rear. the all-new audi q5 is here. >>> this is "gps," the global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i'm fareed zakaria coming to you live from new york. we'll begin today's show with the extraordinary events in washington this wee

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