we get more on that from cnn's jeff zeleny at the white house. >> reporter: christine and dave, there is a policy here at the white house to not comment on the russia investigation, the ongoing russia investigation. that, of course, does not apply to the man in the oval office, president trump. he made his views perfectly clear throughout the day on thursday, from morning until evening, going after the investigation, calling it a witch hunt. he called it a phony investigation. and then he went after hillary clinton herself in a series of messages on social media, saying what about her dealings with russia? it certainly underscores the challenge here and the frustration in the minds of the president going forward as this russia investigation goes forward, and it is widening, indeed. the vice president, he has hired a personal lawyer. that was announced thursday evening. richard pullen, a former virginia attorney general, a former u.s. attorney from virginia, will be representing the vice president separately in this investigation. so, the president trying to get back on message, but he

let's go to our white house correspondent, jeff zeleny, joining us from the white house. laura jarrett is with me here in the studio. jeff, what are you hearing from the white house on the status of the investigation? >> reporter: you can see the president as he was meeting with the leader of panama that he's not answering the question whether he's under investigation. he's the one who started this when he said last friday he is being investigated as part of this widening investigation here. but his lawyer over the weekend and again this morning on "new day" said the president is not under investigation. let's watch. >> have you been notified by the president, by the special counsel that the president was under investigation, the answer to that was no. >> if you are going to spend so much time on this, why not pick up the phone and get the answer? then you can tlactually say i asked mueller, we are not. why not pick up the phone? >> you are asking me to pick up the phone on an investigation that right now we don't know exists. >> so the president again on friday said in a

jeff zeleny, thanks. back with our panel. charles, to you. obviously, i want your reaction that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein considering recusing himself from this investigation. one more element of chaos in an already tumultuous investigation. >> it would be extraordinary but also you can understand how you could get to that point where that would be a reasonable step. he becomes a witness in the case because of the memo that he wrote. he can't exactly be the person who the chief investigator is reporting to. it's understandable. but then it becomes a different question about then who replaces him? if that perp son is going to go through donald trump, that's a problem. >> the person who be the number three in the justice department, rachel brand, someone you worked with. >> i worked with rachel. she's tough. she's smart. she has high integrity. one of the smartest lawyers republicans would tell you in washington, d.c. a lot of folks two months ago didn't know rod rosenstein. maybe you don't know rachel. she's sharp. if she steps in

jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >> thank you. that will be the first point we talk about with a writer, columnist, political and nis ellis hen i began from new york. >> good morning. >> heard jeff zeleny's report, the president continuing to tweet. this is his way apparently to, quote, discredit the investigation. let's talk about that. he says he is under investigation, keeping up that aggressive stance on twitter. how could this help or hurt the president, could the tweets be taken as evidence? >> first of all, it is classic trump, so i think he's going to do it, and highly likely to keep doing it. it's a very risky approach. boiled down to simplest terms, if you are angering the people whose job it is to investigate you, doesn't it make them more likely to be rougher in that investigation? his lawyers and any other lawyer would say boy, that's not a really good strategy, but boy, it's trumpian. >> could those be used in a court of law? >> it does seem to be so. the case is made a little stronger when the press secretary the ot

but my colleague, jeff zeleny, did speak with a white house official who says that this latest tweet storm is by design. this official says it's a sign the president is taking matters into his own hands. that's a quote. we've heard a lot's made of the president believing that he is his own best messenger. we've heard white house officials echo that statement or similar statements quite a bit in recent weeks, and we know from this official that the president has been advised of the legal ramifications of making these sorts of statements on twitter, but the president feels this is a political fight and a fight that he's going to fight. they believe, the president and a few of his advisers believe that the political fight right now over this russia investigation is more urgent than any potential legal ramifications down the road. so, the president is feeling under siege and he is doing what he has long done, including during his professional career, which is not shy away from a fight. that is why we're seeing these tweets and why there's certainly a suggestion that we're going to contin

cnn's jeff zeleny joins us with more. about the response from the white house tonight. >> anderson, no question, the president responded so differently than we've seen him respond in previous rulings. for one, he won. there was at least, i would say more than a partial victory, a substantial victory, something this white house is not really expecting. because all of those ninth circuit rulings. the white house was certainly taking a more measured tone than we've seen them take before. the president, though, simply was not reacting in the way he normally does. we could see that in his statement, and simply he did not call it a travel ban as he had before. i think we have that statement here. let's take a look at it. he said this. he said it was a clear victory for our national security. it allows travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries, and the refugee suspension to become largely effective. a couple of weeks ago, he called it a travel ban. he said we're not -- >> that sounds like a lawyer wrote that. >> it so

jeff zeleny isality the white house. how many arm-twisting are we seeing from the president and his aides? >> reporter: not as much as you think. the bill is significant. one senator coming to the white house at least as of this hour for a meeting, and that is rand paul. the republican from kentucky, of course. he either was meeting or is still meeting with the president here in the west wing, and i'm told what the president is trying to do is focus on that first vote. that manu just talked about. the motion to proceed. the senate vote allowing them to debate the actual bill. it's very much an open question if they have support for that. five republican senators came out against it. rime told the president, the white house, the legislative staff here, is reaching out to those conservative senators. urging them to stay onboard with this. reminding then it's a republican priority. a priority this republican party has talked about and worked for, for almost a decade, actually, wolf. and something this president, of course,

>> jeff zeleny, appreciate the update from the white house. there were two changes today. yesterday was sean spicer and no cameras. today, it was camera, no spicer. sarah huckabee sanders fielded questions. one focused on the congressional budget office scoring of the health bill. watch if she did the cherry picking you normally need a cherry tree for. >> in terms of the cbo score, as we said yesterday, the cbo is a budget office, and while it does very well at times predicting things on budget, whether it's revenue or spending, i don't think it does a great job, and i think the administration has been clear and consistent that we don't always agree that it does a great job predicting coverage. >> well, clearly not a man of the cbo's work. but the criticism does seem selective. the cbo did overestimate the number of people who get their care through the obamacare exchanges, however, if she is suggesting that the cbo did a bad job overall on obamacare, other facts don't support her. the cbo estimated the loss impact on the total percentage of people with and without insuran

more on that from jeff zeleny? >> the white house was hoping to change the subject from the lingering cloud of the russia investigation. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: but during his first televised briefing in eight days, press secretary sean spicer didn't help matters with this. >> just very plainly, a yes or no answer, does president trump believe that the russian government interfered in the 2016 elections? >> i think i have not sat down and talked to him a about that specifically. and obviously, we've been dealing with a lot of other issues today. i would be glad to touch base. >> reporter: asked again, spicer gave the same answer. >> i have not sat down and asked him about his specific reaction to it, so i would be glad to touch base and get back to you. >> reporter: keeping 'em honest, the entire u.s. intelligence community says russia did interfere with the election. and the president's reluctance to acknowledge it has confounded his allies and armed his critics. it's also helped fuel the investigation on

cnn jeff zeleny reports. >> reporter: the white house was hoping to change the subject today from thehe russia investigation. >> good afternoon. >> but during his first tfzed briefing in eight days sean spicer didn't help with this. >> just very plainly a yes or no answer. does president trump believe that the russian government interfered in the 2016 elections? >> i think i have not sat down and talked to him about that specific thing obviously we've been dealing with a lot of other issues i'd be glad to touch base. >> spieser gave the same answer later. >> i have not asked about a specific reaction to him i'd be glad to touch base. >> keeping them honest the u.s. intelligence community says russia did interfere with the election. and the president's reluctance to acknowledge it has confounded his allies and armed critics. it's helped fuel the investigation on capitol hill and by a special counsel. meeting with the president of ukraine in the oval office mr. trump had strong words for north korea about the death of otto warmbier, the university of virginia student who died machined.

senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny traveling with the president has more from cedar rapids, iowa. >> reporter: president trump taking somewhat of a victory lap wednesday night at a rally in cedar rapids, iowa. his first visit west of the mississippi since taking office. iowa, of course, one of those blue states he turned red last november, winning by 10%. he was not talking about that victory. he was talking about the victory in the georgia special congressional race. that's what he started out talking about. he also ran the gamut, speaking more than an hour, about twice as long as the white house initially said he would, clearly reveling in the support from iowa republicans here. he started talking about health care and the bill moving through the senate. >> so we have a slim 52-48. that means we basically can't lose anybody. and i think and i hope, okay, can't guarantee anything, but i hope we're going to surprise you with a really good plan. you know, i've been talking about a plan with heart. i said, add some money to it. a plan with heart. obamacare is dead. >> reporter

let's go to our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, the special counsel robert mueller two days ago we were talking about him potentially being fired by the president, associates of the president were raising that possibility. now he's moving ahead possibly with an obstruction of justice investigation. have you heard anything more from over where you are other than that tweet by the president this morning? >> wolf, the president was asked directly about this if he believes he is under investigation as he was signing an executive order earlier today by our athena jones. he asked the question a couple times. he did not answer that question, wolf. but that is on the minds of staffers and officials here at the white house. it is something that is spoken in hushed tones mainly. but there is a sense that this investigation certainly is moving toward the oval office. now, it's just an ofinvestigati. that does not mean there's any wrongdoing. certainly the investigation in the sense that this is happening is hanging over this white house

so far he is not. >> all right, jeff zeleny, thanks. joining us now, david gergen who worked with four presidents, and david axelrod who had an up-close view of the affordable care act. david axelrod, you said that obamacare passed, quote, because of the sustained personal commitment of the president to the cause. the details and the process. do you see that from president trump, sharing that to get it passed? he certainly ran on it and has been making calls on it. is that enough? >> no. i don't think that president trump has the personal investment in this issue or the knowledge of the issue that barack obama did. he, president obama was into all the details of this law. when he spoke to lawmakers about it, he understood it in an intimate detail. for president trump, this is important to get a win. and what isn't clear is whether he understands what a win is or what it would look like, and that makes his involvement difficult, because he doesn't quite know where to go with this. i thought it was interesting to hear jeff talk about the

jeff zeleny joins us from the town that made schlitz famous. the white house offered thoughts on jeff sessions' testimony. what did they say? >> these were the first comments we heard from the white house after the president was flying back to washington from here in wisconsin. sarah huckabee sanders, the deputy press secretary, she said this. let's look. she said, what he did see and what he heard he thought that the attorney general session s today did a very good job and was strong there was no collusion between russia and the trump campaign. so interesting, the president was trying to fly here to wisconsin to change the subject, to talk about jobs, the economy. he was trying to desperately get beyond this cloud that's been hanging over the white house. of course, i am told by someone who is on that plane with him that he watched it for the entire 94 minutes that he flew from andrews to here in milwaukee earlier this afternoon. he went about his business here holding three events and just flew back. this was on his mind here. also going back

jeff zeleny, thank you very much for that report. joining us now, democratic senator, chris coons of delaware. he's a member of both the judiciary and foreign relations committees. senator, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> all right, so let's review. the president tweeted this morning. i'll put it up on the screen again. you are witnessing the single greatest witch hunt, in all caps, in american political history, led by some very bad and conflicted people. he's calling this a witch hunt, bad and conflicted people. later this afternoon, he started tweeting with attacks against hillary clinton, democrats. i want your reaction. >> well, wolf, i have family ancestors from the boston area and i think the salem witch hunt has to be the greatest witch hunt in american history. one of the things that president trump is going to run into here as we tries to change the subject is the fact that bob mueller commands very wide bipartisan support here in the senate and in washington, generally. he's one of the most respected

our correspondent there, jeff zeleny. we're going to talk about why it's difficult for these republican senators to get to 50 with david chalian here in just a second. >> reporter: brooke, i think first and foremost, one thing the president, really he can do that no one else can at least try and do is bring up the public approval rating of health care. a new poll out today shows that just 17% of americans, that's fewer than -- americans actually support this senate plan. so what we have not seen from this administration is really explaining this bill to the american people. going out on the road, campaigning, using the power of the presidency to explain why this bill is needed. and boy, it would be so much easier for republican senators and perhaps even democratic senators to vote for this if that approval rating for the bill was not so dire. i cannot think of any legislative measure passing with such a low approval. one thing the president can do is explain why this is needed, explain what's in the bill but we know this

jeff zeleny, thank you. let's delve deeper into what you just laid out for us. a asha, a dean at a law school is here and gloria borger, chief political analyst. thank you for being with me. gloria, let me begin with you. to jeff's point, from what we're hearing from the white house, this is the president wanting to drive this, deal with the legal later. but we're not lawyers to interpret what this means as we take the fight so publicly. >> well, this is donald trump. he has always called himself the spokesperson as the name of -- he's his own spokesperson and the best one and that's why he tweets on his own behalf. he's also quite impulsive about it and i think if there's anything that any lawyer anywhere will always agree on, it's that your client ought to keep his mouth shut. and that is not what is occurring here and we know that it's been a real problem for donald trump, including the travel ban, because lawyers in arguing about the travel ban used his own words against him and that can, of course, happen over and over again and i think it's going to be a r

our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny is standing by. jeff, the republican senators just left the white house. give us the latest. what came out of that meeting? >> reporter: wolf, the republican senators just left as you said and they talked about an hour and 15 minutes or so inside the east room of the white house. and i'm told that it was more of a listening session. the president talked at the very beginning of the meeting, but then sat and listened to so many of the concerns from the rank and file republican senators. but after the meeting senator mitch mcconnell he said that no is not an answer. they must reach a consensus. >> we made good progress. the president got an opportunity to hear from the various members who have concerns about market reforms and medicaid, the future of medicaid, medicaid expansion. so, i think the meeting was very helpful. the one thing i would say is that i think everybody around the table is interested in getting the yes, interested in getting an outcome because we know the status quo is simply unaccept

this is about jared kushner from our senior white house correspondent, jeff zeleny. jeff joins us now. "the washington post," jeff, reports that the special counsel is reporting jared kushner's business dealings. what's the response from jared kushner tonight? >> well, don, the lawyer for jared kushner, is responding in this way. let's take a look at this statement from jamie gorelick, his lawyer. she says this. we do not know what this report refers to. it would be standard practice for the special counsel to examine financial records to look for anything related to russia. mr. kushner previously volunteered to share with congress what he knows about the russia-related matters. he will do the same if he is contact in connection with any other inquiry. so, don, what this is all about here, the people who are close to jared kushner, who have spoken to him say that, look, this is something that is standard and routine. we knew several weeks and months ago that members of congress, these committees were interested in this. this is just simply the special counsel saying t

our jeff zeleny has that. >> and by the way, other things are happening. we've done a lot.g one. we have a lot of good ones coming. prosecute president trump signing a new law for the veteran affairs administration, a rare bipartisan action in a divided washington. but the russia investigation is threatening to overshadow the president's agenda. he raised new questions about the objectivity of special council robert moouler, suggesting he's too close to fired fbi director james comey. >> he's very, very good friends with comey which is very bothsome, but he's also -- >> reporter: the president didn't had to say he interviewed mueller for the fbi post one day before the russia role in the 2013 election. >> look. there has been no obstruction, there has been no collusion, there has been leaking by comey. but there's been no collusion, no obstruction, and virtually everybody agrees to that so we'll have to see. >> reporter: inside the west wing the president is growing increasingly furious about the widening russia probe. the president said he had no regrets for what amounted

jeff zeleny at the white house for us. jeff, president trump seems to be doing the leaking for us this time. >> jake, he appears to be doing just that. he's the one who announced he's under investigation, and that we're told by a white house official is based on what he saw in news accounts, not what any official actually told him. now he's been advised of all the legal ramifications of sending out all of these messages, but one person who has spoken to him in the last 24 hours told me that the president does not care. he's taking the fight into his own hands perhaps in hopes of discrediting this investigation. president trump saying publicly for the first time today that he is under investigation as the probe of russia's influence in the 2016 election expands. he also asaid the integrity of the justice department official overseeing the investigation. i am being investigated for firing the fbi director by the man who told me to fire the fbi director, the president said. witch-hunt. that man is deputy attorney general rob r

>> jeff zeleny, thanks so much. back in washington, they are talking about russia and the special counsel, robert mueller, meeting today with members of the senate judiciary committee. it's part of an effort as manu raju reported earlier, to make sure their probe, his probe, and the two intelligence committee investigations, don't get all tangled up in each other. it was also increasingly clear today that not only is he, bob mueller, investigating possible obstruction of justice by the president, it does seem the judiciary committee is, too. late today i spoke with democratic panel member chris coons of delaware. senator coons, special counsel mueller met with leadership from your committee today and released a statement that characterized the meeting as including the investigations, plural, into russian interference in the 2016 election and the circumstances surrounding the role of former fbi director, james comey. can we deduce, then, that your committee is, in fact, looking into possible obstruction of justice in

our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny is joining us from cedar rapids, iowa. eff, what are you learning about preparations for the unveiling of the senate republican health care bill first of all? >> reporter: well, wolf, even as the president flies here to iowa tonight, we're told that his top aides are going to be briefed by senate republicans at the white house about the details of this health care plan. it is going to be announced tomorrow morning on capitol hill. they are trying to win the president's support. the president not involved in those briefings at this point, wolf. he's coming back here to iowa, his first visit since taking office, to bask in the glow of his adoring supporters. president trump has a new reason to smile tonight with the republicans seizing victory in a hotly contested congressional election. tonight he's heading a campaign rally in iowa for his 2020 reelection. his first visit west of the mississippi river since taking office five months ago. republicans won the most expensive house race in u.s. history on tuesday, denying democr

. >> now, john, our colleague jeff zeleny did speak to the person in charge of bernie sanders' iowa campaigneration. robert becker who told jeff that nobody has any recollection of james hodgkinson, the man who shot the members of congress and opened fire during this baseball practice. according to becker, bernie sanders' campaign aide, nobody has any recollection of hodgkinson. he's not anybody anyone can remember. that's the quote that he gave jeff zeleny. he said there were more than 10,000 volunteers at the time. he said he was not a paid volunteer but clearly important enough for bernie sanders, he believes, to come out and condemn these acts and to make it clear he had been told this morning that the shooter was in fact, someone who did volunteer on the campaign, john. >> manu raju bringing us that strong statement condemnation by senator sanders as we learn more and more about the shooter today. here's a little bit more on those who were shot today and their condition. representative steve scalise is undergoing surgery listed in stable condition according to a statement from his offic

jeff zeleny is at the white house tonight. is there a logical reason, jeff, why sean spicer doesn't have an answer to these questions? ro >> reporter: logical and also legal. sh shawn spicer doesn't want to contradict anything the president has said. i've covered the bush administration, the obama administration and the trump administration. never have we seen a press secretary who responds like this. but it is because of the principal, because of the president, because he is quite flexible and fluid on his views. so the white house press secretary and others speaking for him have intentional hi taken the line of, i've not asked him about that, because they know he's changed his view. on the issue of russian interference in the election, this happened seven months ago, election day was. everyone in this town has stipulated to it, republicans, democrats, every member of every intelligence community, but sean spicer did not feel confident enough to say the president believes that, because he's one of the few people left in this t

jeff zeleny over at the white house. let's turn back to the breaking news in the russia investigation. we are joined by congressman eric swalwell. he's the democrat on the house intelligence and judiciary. congressman, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me back, wolf. >> all right. so, cnn has learned the special counsel robert mueller -- of your house intelligence committee, i believe right now. what can you tell us about that? >> yeah, wolf, i can't go into any specifics on when meetings are occurring. i can tell you that we want to make sure that the fbi through the special counsel cooperation is able to make progress again on this investigation. we want to -- if there are resources that they need to conduct this investigation that they can do so. we want to have an understanding of what the time line is. we don't want to interfere in any way. we want to make sure they are able to report back to the american people whether any u.s. persons worked with russia or whether that did not occur. >> he's involved in

so far, he has not. >> all right, jeff zeleny, thanks. joining us now, two former white house insiders, david gergen who worked with four presidents, democrats and republicans. david axelrod who had an upclose view of the passage of the affordable care act during the obama administration. david axelrod, you said obamacare passed, quote, because of the sustained personal commitment of the president to the cause, the details and the process. do you see that from president trump sharing that commitment to getting a republican version of health care bill passed? because he certainly ran o it, he has been making calls about it. is that enough? >> no. look, i don't think that president trump has the personal investment in this issue or the knowledge of the issue that barack obama did. he -- president obama listened to all the details of this law. when he spoke to lawmakers about it, he understood it in intimate detail. for president trump, this is important to get a win and what isn't clear is whether he understands what a win is or what it wou

jeff zeleny thank you for that report. let's get some more on all of this democratic senator richard blumenthal is with us. so you've heard, you've seen the tweets. is this a witch hunt? >> very far from a witch hunt. in fact, calling it a witch hunt and these continuing tweets are almost themselves a continuing course of obstruction because they are transapparently an attempt to put pressure on the special prosecutor and the fbi to abandoned a lawful investigation that's based on some very, very clear facts. the firing of comey, the acknowledgement indeed, almost bragging about it afterwards to the russians as well as on the nbc interview that it was because of the russian thing create a prima fascia case to go forward with this investigation. >> it's not unusual, though, for someone whose being investigated to criticize the special counsel or the independent counsel. remember bill clinton he used to criticize the independent counsel ken starr and his investigations whether white water or monica lieuenski all the time. >>

we'll get the latest on these stories and more, from jeff zeleny of cnn, alexis simendinger of real clearolitics, geoff bennett of npr, erica werner of the associated press. and adam entous of the washington post. >> celebrating 50 years, this is "washington week." funding is provided by... >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today. and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> additional funding is provided by newman's own foundation. donating all profits from newman's own products to charity and nourishing the common good. the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! once again, live from washington, moderator, robert costa. >> good evening. washington is known for its bruising partisan bickering. but things shifted this week, in the wake of a shooting that turned an all-american ballpark into a battlefield. house majority whip steve scalise rema

jeff zeleny is there. jeff, any sense of what we expect the president to talk about tonight? >> reporter: john, there's no question, president trump is going to talk about georgia. yes, he's here in iowa. yes, he won this state in november by some ten percentage points. but the word on his mind, the thoughts on his mind tonight are about that victory last night in georgia. we got a preview just a few moments ago when the president was acrosstown here in cedar rapids visiting a community college. he was supposed to be talking about jobs and agriculture, but he talked about that georgia congressional race. he bashed the media for its commentary on the race. and he said that look, he's now undefeated in these special congressional elections. so i have no doubt in my mind he'll start this speech and talk about his victory, the republican's victory in georgia last night. >> does it come in the first 30 seconds or the first 45 seconds of the address tonight? we are getting word in about a campaign fund-raiser scheduled for next week at a special place. what have we learned? >> repo

let's get to cnn's jeff zeleny at the president's rapid. good evening jeff, president trump escaped the growing russia cloud. taking a victory tonight after the republican win in georgia. what do you know? what's the latest. >> good evening don. it was part victory lap and part journey. you get the feel the president miss these campaign rallies. this is a safe happy place for him to talk about his proposals. he ran through campaign favorites that sparked the interest from this conservative group. over 6,000 or so iowa yan's republicans here. he began to plan the seed for democratic reinstruction insist as the reason why he's not getting as much done as he would like. >> you'd have to take a look at what's happening here right. if he set aside the sinnics and the critics, we have a chance, and it's a great chance that lies before it to do extraordinary things in our country in the years ahead. history's written by the dreamers not the doubters. they have phony witch hunts going against me. they have everything going. and you know what, all we

a trump associate telling jeff zeleny if he doesn't regret this he should. >> didn't dawn on me originally that there might be corroboration for our conversation and a tape. my judgment was i needed to get that out into the public square. >> reporter: comey testifying that the president's tweet prompted him to leak memos of their conversations which led to the appointment of special counsel robert mueller and to the report saying the president is being investigated for possible obstruction of justice. president trump raising questions about mueller. >> he is very, very good friends with comey which is very bothersome. there has been no collusion, no obstruction. we'll have to see. i can say that the people hired are all hillary clinton supporters. >> reporter: the white house briefing today is expected to be off camera around 1:30 eastern time with the white house press secretary sean spicer. there have been only two on camera briefings in the last two weeks. >> thank you very much. white house that doesn't want to face questions from reporters and apparently can't answer tough questions.

let's get right to cnn's jeff zeleny at the president's rally in cedar rapids, iowa. good evening, jeff. president trump escaped the growing russia cloud to take a victory lap in iowa after a republican win in georgia. what do you know? >> reporter: good evening, don. it was part victory lap, part sentimental journey. you get the sense the president missed these campaign rallies. this is a happy place for him to talk about his proposals. he really ran through a litany of campaign favorites that sparked the interest from this conservative group of some 6,000 or so iowa republicans here. but the president also was talking about the cynicism that's out there. he was beginning to plant the seeds for democratic obstructionists as a reason he's not getting as much done as he would like. >> you just have to take a look at what's happening here. right? if we set aside the cynics and the critics, we have a chance, and it's a great chance. it lies before us, to do extraordinary things for our country in the years ahead. history is written by the dreamers, not the doubters. they

first, jeff zeleny is out front at the white house. what can you tell us about the new attorney the president just hired? >> reporter: good evening, kate. the president is adding more firepower on his legal team. you mentioned john dowd who led the baseball investigation into pete rose but he defended senator john mccain in the keating five scandal. all of this comes as the russia investigation is widening, and the president said today he believes he's a target. >> president trump saying for the first time today that he is under investigation as the probe of russia's influence in the 2016 election expands. i am being investigated for firing the fbi director by the man who told me to fire the fbi director, the president said. witch hunt. that man is deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who made the decision to appoint a counsel. only a month ago rosenstein, a veteran of the justice department received the president's praise. >> highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy. the democrats like him. the republicans like him. he made a

jeff zeleny is at the white house.ave been a series of defeats by lower courts so to many this was a surprise. they cited religious discrimination but tonight the president declares victory. >> reporter: he is declaring victory and i'm told by someone in the room with him, he views this as vindication. so interesting, his reaction tonight entirely different tone and type of language. a few weeks ago, the president said i'm going to call it a travel ban. it's a travel ban. today his statement is entirely dinner. he said, "it's a clear victory and allows suspension from the six terrorist-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective." the reason his language is softer, the oral arguments in front of what could be a friendly supreme court, he does not want to complicate them by any sort of statements he makes between now and next fall. we'll see if he can hold on to that and be disciplined. it's a victory for this president. at least the spirit of this travel ban, he's campaigned on it and it's no

first, jeff zeleny at the white house. any response to this new and possibly extremely significant news on general flynn? >> reporter: erin, there's no response to this specific news. here's why. at this point in this investigation, it's essentially every man for himself here. michael flynn was the national security adviser and he was central to this and now he's central to the russia investigation, of course. but the white house has its own problems of its own. they are not focusing on that. but the white house is also looking at messaging and staffing issues. again today, the white house daily press briefing not on television. they are trying to change the subject. they had a bunch of ceos trying to get people to focus on that but the reality is here, sean spicer, the white house press secretary, of course, was giving a briefing that was not on television. we could not have his sound -- his pictures at all. they are trying to limit all of this. now there are also questions tonight if his role is going to stay on. they ar

. >> so, we're just getting some color from jeff zeleny, our white house reporter. i'll read it to you. "we are told," jeff is, that this statement from the president is "a sign he is taking matters into his own hands." white house aides have been instructed not to talk about the russia investigation, but that clearly does not apply to the president, as we've seen this morning. >> also another important beat from this, as we go through it, as you're getting it, this official at the white house saying that the president has decided over the last few days that "this is a political fight," and he's going to fight it. >> what we don't have is clarification on exactly -- >> on who. >> -- if he's talking about rod rosenstein, and if so, why? but margaret hoover, we do know from earlier this week that the president has had discussions about firing bob mueller or was considering about it or the thought was in the air there at the white house. you know, rod rosenstein is the person who would fire bob mueller directly right there. it seems strange, but it really is reasonable

phil mattingly,'die flil im"the washington post," carlin dermersian "the washington post" andcnn's jeff zeleny. we have a presidential tweet this morning at 6:30, tweeting when it "the make america great again agenda is doing very well despite the distraction of the witch hunt. many new jobs, high business enthusiasm, massive regulation cuts, 36 new legislatives bills signed, great new supreme court justice and infrastructure, health care and tax cuts in the works." we've seen something of the president, white house and republican strategy in terms of dealing with russia in that cloud that's hanging over this presidency. how do trump's tweets fit into that larger strategy? >> he's clearly trying to discredit this investigation by calling it a witch hunt, but the reality is it's very real. can he call it fake news, a phony investigation but his white house realizes it's real, republicans certainly realize it's real. so the message he sent out this morning is a slightly optimistic view of where things are. if you talk to republicans on capitol hill or anyplace, things are not going very well. we

jeff zeleny is out front tonight at the white house. and obviously the deadline for the white house to inform congress about tapes has passed, but i believe you have some breaking news on this right now. >> reporter: i do. literally moments ago we got a copy of a letter that was sent from the director of legislative affairs here at the white house. he is the person who deals with the house and senate on capitol hill. he sent a letter to the house, the chairman of the intelligence committee and the ranking members as well essentially quoting the president's tweet. it says this. let me look at it right now. i'm just getting this erin. we referred you to president trump's june 22nd, 2017 statement regarding this matter. that statement was on twitter. it said with all of the recently reported intelligent electronic surveillance, intercepts unmasks leaking of information, i have no idea whether there were tapes or recordings of conversations with james comey. but i did not make and do not have any such recordings. so essentially at the end o

i want to bring in cnn political analyst carl bernstein, senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny, laura coats and tara pamieri. here we go. we're seeing a frustrated president today, at least on twitter. you could see that he's frustrated. writing this, "i am being investigated for firing the fbi director by the man who told me to fire the fbi director. witch hunt." what do folks around the president say about his complaint? >> well, don, there's no sort of guessing what his mindset is. we all know what his mindset is. we can see it here in realtime. i'm being told that the tweets that we've been seeing particularly on this matter are less spontaneous than you might think. the fact of the matter is, he's basically trying to take the reins of the communication strategy here, the talking points, if you will, and send the message out early in the morning about this and that witch hunt message, he wants his core supporters to believe and in many respects they do. but the challenge here is this. i mean, this is a different type of fight that he's ever been in. according to one person

as jeff zeleny mentioned moments ago. previous words on the topic might come back to haunt him.eady happened before. back in march, the 9th circuit put the executive order on hold saying there was evidence of, quote, religious animus. one of the pieces of evidence was an interview i conducted with then-candidate trump during the campaign. take a listen zb. >> i think islam hates us. but there is a tremendous hatred, and we have to be very vigilant, we are to be very careful, and we can't allow people coming into this country who have this hatred of the united states. >> i guess the question is -- >> and of people that are not muslim. >> i guess the question is, is there war between the west and radical islam or war between the west -- >> it's radical but it's very hard to define. it's very hard to separate, because you don't know who's who. >> the ninth circuit used that interview to say that trump's intent to specifically target muslims because of their religion, the question is will the supreme court make the same call? back with our panel to break it down. leon, how is this a

jeff zeleny at the white house where a busload of senators sat down with the president late today. >> the president summoned the republican senators, all 52 of them, over to the white house after it became obvious this was not going anywhere this week. so he brought them all into one room, and this was important, republicans believe, because there's so many different factions inside some senate republicans. there are some conservatives, a few moderates but different sets of disagreements. more of a venting session, a listening session. this is what he said at the beginning. >> we're getting very close, but for the country, we have to have health care. it can't be obamacare which is melting down. the other side is saying all sorts of things before they even knew what the bill is. this will be great if we get it done. if we don't get it drngs it's just going to be something that we're not going to like, and that's okay, and i understand that very well. if we don't get that done, it's okay. i understand that. of course, they know, though, that a failing here is not an option. senator mcc

six-month mark of his presidency, and now the first big hotel ballroom kind of fundraiser to, as our jeff zelenyting to, according to republican sources, to ward off a potential primary challenger. at least say, "hey, i'm not going anywhere." >> seth: you know things are bad when five months into your presidency, you have to tell people, "hey, i'm not going anywhere." [ light laughter ] that's like hearing a couple is renewing their vows a month after the wedding. it's like, "ooh, who cheated on who?" [ light laughter ] also, how much more obvious can trump be about the fact that he's scamming us? he's holding a high-dollar fundraiser at his own hotel. when he does leave office, he's definitely stealing stuff from the white house. [ light laughter ] "what, this? no, i brought this with me. this is my bust of abraham lincoln." [ light laughter ] but, trump has already focused on 2020. and, i guess in a way it makes sense because he loves running for president, but he hates being president. and the reason he hates it, is it's hard. as evidenced by the fact that the signature legislation of his pre

our jeff zeleny is at the white house for us tonight. he joining us now.today, talk about what he had to say. >> reporter: well, he had nothing to say when we asked the question directly of him, if he believes he's under investigation. he was asked that question after a signing an executive order earlier today. but anderson, you are right, he was venting throughout the day on social media, as he likes to do. the white house won't answer questions about the russia investigation investigation, referring them to his lawyer. but this is a sampling of what the president said. this afternoon, he was focused on hillary clinton. we are 219 days since the election. this is what he said about hillary clinton this afternoon. he said this. so, why is it that the hillary clinton's family and dems de dealings with russia are not looked at, but my nondealings are. he also said, you are witnessing the single greatest witch hunt in american political history. led by some very bad and conflicted people. he also said this. they made up a phony collusion with the russians sto