jeff zeleny, set the stage for us. i mean, looking at all of the pictures, the water, the water cannons going off, what's going on? >> reporter: well, brooke, this is certainly a day of protest, the beginning of several days of protest here in hamburg and from our vantage point on a rooftop here, i can see in the distance and see a water cannon right now being sprayed across a group of protesters. there are a group of law enforcement officials, perhaps s.w.a.t. team officials with white helmets who have lined up to essentially block what would be a running path or sort of a promenade along the river there and there was orange smoke coming from some of these protesters. this is usually the sign of tear gas or something like that. we hear intermittent shots. do not believe they're gunshots or anything like that. but perhaps just a cannon of tear gas or something. but brooke, i can tell you, from our vantage point here, there are a lot of people. and a lot of police. and as fred was just saying on the air, we are a couple

jeff zeleny is back. so nice to have you all here. let's begin with the word of the day from the white house and that word is transparency. nothing to see here. we have been fully transparent. if you look back, it's anything but the case. the saturday statement that didn't disclose the purpose of the meeting from donald trump jr. was now reviewed. we've learned from the "the new york times" by the president himself. they had to change that drastically by sunday. the message sunday was jared kushner and paul manafort had no idea about this meeting. that was not the case. they were forwarded this e-mail with all of the information about the meeting. that's a low bar for transparency is it not? >> it is a low bar and that is what we heard from the president, praising his son for being transparency. he tweeted again he felt like his son was open and honest in his interview last night as well. what we've seen here is sort of rolling disclosures about this meeting and shifting stories from donald trump jr. about why that meeting happened, t

and jeff zeleny talked earlier that he thought reince priebus was weak. one of the reasons he's been so angry at jeff sessions is he recused himself, and he thought that recusal was weak. so he's looking at the general as kind of a strong person, and perhaps even, and this is what he hasn't had in the white house, perhaps even someone he regards as a peer, somebody that he might be able to go to for advice and take that advice, which perhaps he doesn't feel like he's had in this white house. so will he listen to him? who knows. >> it's so interesting, david axelrod. the definition of what strength and weakness is in this white house is fascinating. the idea that being bombastic is strength, but a guy like reince priebus who is offered multiple opportunities to respond with fire or harsh words for anthony scaramucci, you know, just chooses not to do that, and tries to leave in an elegant way, that's viewed as weakness. one wonders if reince priebus had called in to cnn after anthony scaramucci had called in and bashed back, if the president viewed that as

we are joined by our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, you were in the briefing today. we certainly did not get a whole lot of clarity. >> reporter: wolf, indeed, not a lot of clarity. many questions about this policy, and largely because of how it was announced. it wasn't a speech. there wasn't a back room briefing, no information handed out. it was simply sent out in a short burst on social media this morning and it certainly gives rise to a lot of questions. at this briefing today, the new press secretary sara huckabee sanders called it a very difficult decision. but then she had trouble answering what it actually meant and how it would be implemented. >> implementation policy is going to be something that the white house and the department of defense have to work together to lawfully determine. the president has a lot of support for all americans, and certainly wants to protect all americans at all times. the president expressed concern since the obama policy came into effect, but he's also voiced that this is a very expensive an

for the latest, jeff zeleny is with the president in paris at 10:01 a.m. good morning to you, jeff. >> reporter: good morning. we are here in paris where president trump is going to be appearing as a guest of french president macron at the bastille day celebration today. this year, it also coincides with the 100th anniversary of the u.s. entering world war i. i can tell you that questions about the russia investigation are following the president here to paris. they were front and center yesterday as he was taking questions at a press conference. the new questions this morning are just as you outlined. the questions specifically continue about exactly when the president and others around him knew about that meeting in june of 2016 between jared kushner, donald trump jr., paul manafort, the three top, high command officials of the trump campaign, and that russian lawyer. and there's information to suggest they knew about it in advance of what they previously said. specifically, lawyers for jared kushner were aware in mid-june. we have asked the white house r

jeff zeleny with more from the white house. >> reporter: the escalating feud between the white house and justice department is continuing. increasingly it's looking like a one-way feud. attorney general jeff sessions at the white house on wednesday for routine meetings. president trump was not in the west wing when he was in there for his meetings. president trump, of course, sending messages on twitter, sort of urging and goading the attorney general into investigating hillary clinton. at the white house briefing on wednesday, the new white house press secretary, sarah huckabee sanders, was asked again and again about the attorney general, what his standing is. this is what she said -- >> look, you can be disappointed in someone but still want them to continue to do their job. that's where they are. >> will he continue in that job? >> i think that i made clear last week if there comes a point there doesn't, he'll make that decision. >> reporter: the reality is the people we talked to in the justice department say that jeff sessions is simply doing his job. he's going to keep his head

jeff zeleny with more. >> reporter: the white house is facing a fluid of questions here over a meeting -- a new round of questions here over a meeting that happened in 2016 over donald trump jr., the president's oldest son, as well as jared kushner, and the former campaign chairman, paul manafort. the white house spent a lot of time on monday devoted to this question -- what happened at that meeting, what happened with that russian lawyer they were talking to. the white house wants to talk about anything but this. they wanted to turn the page on this, of course. but there's word from the senate that they want to talk to the president's son. take a listen to senator mark warner, the vice chairman of the intelligence committee. >> it's also a continuing pattern that we've seen since the election of trump campaign and trump administration officials who have conveniently forgotten meetings with russians only when they are then presented with evidence they have to recant and acknowledge those kind of meetings. it is why we've got to continue this investigation. >> reporter: now donald trump

jeff zeleny is back on the scene. you have information about how the ouster went down? >> reporter: it was pretty extraordinary. you showed that photograph of anthony scaramucci standing inside the oval office for the new chief of staff john kelly. it was shortly after he was in the oval office watching this all happen, watching his new boss be sworn in, that he had a face-to-face meeting, i am told, with the new chief of staff in the office here in the west wing and said, look, you are going to have to leave. it was not a voluntary resignation that scaramucci would have to leave because of the profanity last week, because of what he viewed as just inappropriate comments but also not the type of discipline he wanted to instill here in the west wing and the fact that anthony scaramucci bristled at the fact that he would be reporting to the new chief of staff. but throughout the weekend, i've talked to three people who have talked to anthony scaramucci and they said they thought he could weather this storm. denot plan to resign. he was not coming here this morning with th

jeff zeleny, our senior white house correspondent is also there with us in paris. jeff, as you look at these pictures and think about the importance of this meeting for both new presidents, the president of france and the president of the united states, what do you believe covering the white house so closely, the white house wants to gain out of this trip and the headlines they want to see upon the president's return to the united states? >> poppy, i think there's no question that, i mean, of all the differences in policies between the two presidents certainly came into, you know, leadership and power in very different ways, but they do have some similarities in the sense that they are both trying to make their mark in sort of this world. but i think the -- there was a lot of surprise in washington and at the white house indeed when president trump accepted this invitation here to appear here today with so much else going on. it has turned into something of a respite, actually, a bit of a relief from what president trump has been dealing with back in washington. but

i understand our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny is on the phone. help put into context. covering the story from day one. sean spicer's up, down, on the outs. the day is finally here. many for some time including a lot of sean's friends who said how much can he take? how much will he take? being undermined by the president and pushed aside inside the white house? today he resigned. >> reporter: no question, john. a key point here is, as we're talking to sources in the white house as well as republicans close to the white house, who want this president to succeed, they say that sean spicer believed this morning really for one of the first times that the president was doing something that would not allow him to succeed. sean is a creature of washington. sean believes that deeply in you know, the, the process of how things work and thought he could be the most helpful to the president in this way. by hiring anthony scaramucci it essentially makes the point clear which has been emerging, that the president wants to be his own communications director. th

jeff zeleny is our who he is correspondent. eff, the president in his motorcade, did they drive past any of these protests and see what was going on? >> reporter: brooke, we are told that the president's motorcade did not drive past any of these protests. as he finished dinner with the prime minister of japan and the president of south korea, he went back to the place he's staying tonight and we are informed by the reporters, the pool reporters, the small group of reporters traveling in his motorcade, that he, in fact, did not see any of this. there were some people along the route but no, you know, no one causing any issues, no protesters. and that's the thing, brooke. this is a large city, so the protesters are miles away from there but he is now locked in for the evening, and he, of course, has a big day on friday, but just one more view here from the rooftop, brooke, as the sun now finally begins to set. you can see the smoke in the distance there as we pan backwards. we've seen a lot of smoke, a lot of sirens, other things.

>> thanks very much, jeff zeleny. pictures now of donald trump and the first lady melania trump arriving at the dinner for the g-20 summit. those are the live pictures you see there right now. matthew chance, he's in, in russia right now. we know matthew chance russia actually pushed for a one on one meeting with trump. a longer, perhaps more formal meeting. the fact this went longer, private, would that seem like a victory for vladimir putin? >> reporter: i think so, because pretty low expectations leer in russ here in russia and the kremlin about what this first meeting could achieve. the media saying, agree to meet again, it would be considered success. very apprehensive what donald trump can deliver in terms of meeting russia's interests on various issues. so they were trying to play down the significance of the meeting saying a first step in what will be a long relationship. breaking news is coming to us from the russian state media tass quoting president putin and what was discussed with the 2 hour -- almost 2 h

jackie kucinich is here from "the daily beast" along with cnn's malika henderson, jeff zeleny and jackiehe "los angeles times." jeff, start with you. you cover the white house every day. first and foremost, what do you make of the fact that donald trump jr. is the one to release these? we hear leak, leak, leak, leak, leak. this was an intentional release but he didn't just offer it unsolicited? >> he didn't offer it because he wanted to be transparent. we're on day four of this now. the "new york times" first reported this saturday. so saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday. the reason that donald trump jr. and his lawyer released these this afternoon in the tweet or late this morning i should say is because the "new york times" was on the verge again of publishing all of it. the "new york times" is writing in its story on the verge of publishing them, called donald trump jr. for comment for all of these and did not respond instepped released all of these. what we call sort of getting ahead of the story. you know? friday afternoon document dump. coming tuesday shortly before lunch. shows y

jeff zeleny has more from the white house. >> reporter: christine and miguel, president trump and the house increasingly focused on the special counsel's investigation. the independent investigation into the russian meddling of the 2016 election. there are indications the election is spreading. president trump made that indication in his interview with "the new york times "earlier this week when he talked about robert mueller. and that he could being look into the trump family's finances. the president said he thought that would be outside of the purdview of that. this is increasingly dominated much of the conversation here at the white house as the legal team is looking at strategies. the washington post and new york trims both reporting that the president is also looking into ways to disrupt this investigation. they're looking into the background of the attorneys working on this investigation. it just shows how much time and attention here at the white house is being foe doesed on this. so much fallout reverberating from the interview with "the new york times" earlier this week, at

it's what he spent a lot of times in that it interview talking about. >> jeff zeleny at the white house, thank you. we recommend reeding the entire transcript. a source familiar with jeff sessions thinking says he has no intention of stepping down in the wake of the comments to "the new york times." >> joining this morning to discuss these late developments, we have ellis hengan. let me ask you first. you heard some of the sound bytes from the president and read the transcript and saw the stories about the interview. what do you make of his demeanor and what's your head line? >> wow, you gois are going to have trouble the next two hours fitting all this in. there's sujust so much here. the russia stuff is the thing to focus on. it's what's top of mind for the president. pretty much whatever the topic is, he's somehow or another ends up back with russia and he's deeply troubled by it. >> he did talk health care, but only in relation to how he stacks up to hillary clinton and president obama. it was about me primarily when you look at the overall theme of this. let me bring in on jeff ses

robert: jeff zeleny, the senate wants to take a pause. what about the white house? the president was livid in his promotion of health care. does he want to move on? jeff: in the short-term, they have realized health care is so difficult. despite what he said running for president, that this would be so easy, they know this is difficult. we were talking to the legislative affairs director mark short and he suggested the white house wants to move on to tax reform, as something they want to put together. start talking about the outlines with more specifics as early as next week actually. the challenge of all of this, as you well know, they are linked. the idea of tax reform was initially built around doing health care reform as well. that is what some of the tax policies and tax rates were designed to follow. that is why they picked the sequence -- health care first and then tax reform. then health care is very difficult to do. it may come later. it may be something they are working on in committee, but there is a lot of second-guessing around here if this is the order

jeff zeleny begins coverage l this morning from the white house. >> there's no question that today is going to be filled with questions about the president's own words about his own attorney general. in an extraordinary interview posted last night on "the new york times" website, president trump was really deliverance with the strongest words about someone who works for him. jeff sessions, who was one of his earliest supporters, the earliest senate republican to sign on to his campaign. the president expressing in no uncertain terms the displeasure for attorney general sessions recusing himself in the russia investigation. >> he should have never recuseded himself. if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before i took the job and i would have picked somebody else. >> he gave you no heads up? >> zero. so jeff sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, i then have -- which frankly i think is very unfair to the president. how do you take a job and recuse yourself. if e he would have recused himself before the job, i would have said thanks, but i'm not g

let's begin with jeff zeleny. hi, jeff. >> reporter: good morning, pamela.nt trump, as you said, wrapped up his whirlwind trip to paris after spending 30 hours or so here in paris. a lot was among white house staff and others, consumed with questions and wonder and worry in regards to the russia investigation, still looming and expanding in washington. we heard the president yesterday give a vigorous defense, a fatherly defense, if you will, of his son. he called him a good man, a, you know, young boy. the reality is, he is the exact same age as the french president, emanuel macron, so not a boy. this is a moment where there are more and

we begin with jeff zeleny at the white house. ripe all eyes in washington -- >> reporter: all eyes on washington from here at the white house to capitol hill are focusing on the critical vote in the senate on health care. the senate is scheduled to vote this afternoon on proceeding to debate on the actual bill. it's a two-step process. yesterday here at the white house, we saw president trump engaged in this issue, engaged in this matter, more so than ever before using the power of the presidency, that unique megaphone to make the case for why republicans, he says, should vote for this bill. >> for the last seven years, republicans have been united in standing up for obamacare's victims. remember repeal and replace? repeal and replace. they kept saying it over and over again. every republican running for office promised immediate relief from this disastrous law. we as a party must fulfill the solemn promise to the voters. >> reporter: president trump engaged and vice president engaged, as well. we received late word monday that s

let's go to jeff zeleny, he was at the scene. the crowd seemed very engaged. president very praising of the polish people and their experience. >> reporter: good morning, chris and poppy. the crowd was indeed engaged by this very interesting speech that president trump delivered here. and really sounding some of the themes that he of course has been talking about so much in the united states. but by weighing in essentially more deeply than he ever has before here on foreign soil about the immigration controversy sweeping the world he's bringing his western first if you will to the crowds of poland. take a listen where he called this a dire threat facing the west. >> there are dire threats to our security and to our way of life. you see what's happening out there. they are threats. we will confront them. we will win. but they are threats. >> reporter: now, by saying that directly you see what's happening out there, that is a phrase we heard president trump say as candidate trump. he went onto talk specifically about immigration. and, chris and poppy, as you kno

jeff zeleny in paris. shimon, thanks so much. >>> here to share, from the wall street journal, and from real clear politics and from the associated press, jonathan start with you. this is a lot of associated press reporting on this individual. let me remind you before we even start of what donald trump jr. said just tuesday in his interview with sean hannity about how transparent he was being as of tuesday night. listen to this. >> so as far as you know as far as this incident's concerned, this is all of it? >> this is everything. this is everything. >> well, it's not quite everything. is it? review here. the white house and trump associates not formcoming about the fact of this meeting. took more than a year to get it out. not forthcoming about the substance. the statement saturday said all about adoption. and three, haven't been forthcoming on the attendance of that meeting. learning today, jonathan, who was there. >> so how big was this room? at this point, the white house and the trump allies are confr

jeff zeleny at the white house. >> reporter: as the white house ends another tumultuous week here, annal fight inside the west wing is brewing unlike anything we've seen in the first six months of the administration. by now, everyone knows about the fight between white house chief of staff reince priebus and the new communications director anthony scaramucci. a lot of this played out yesterday on cnn's "new day" when anthony scaramucci called in and questioned reince prie s priebus, his credibility. saying if he was not leaking, he should speak for himself. reince priebus did not comment throughout the day on thursday. asked at the daily press briefing, the new press secretary, sarah huckabee sanders, was asked if the president had confidepends in his chief of staff -- confidence in his chief of staff. this is what she set -- >> does the president have confidence in his chief of staff? >> look, i think i've addressed this question when it comes to staffing and personnel many times. that if the president doesn't, then he'll make that decision. we all serve at the pleasure of the presid

i'll send it back to you. >> jeff zeleny getting buzzed overhead along the champs d'elysees.riend. >>> with all that as the backdrop, president and the first lady are attending the bastille day parade in paris along with the president of france and his wife. they have been watching french and american troops marching side by side marking 100 years since the u.s. entered world war i. that was, of course, a turning point in that bloody conflict. joining us from the parade route along the champs d'elysees, cnn's melissa bell. good morning. it's interesting that the president has come to power on the america first slogan. this is a reminder that it was the american leadership that defined the last century. >> reporter: you put your finger on it, christine. you have to understand that with donald trump's victory in the american election, all eyes in europe were very much on what was likely to happen next. and indeed, alarm continued to grow with everything that donald trump had to say about nato, with the retreat behind american borders. and the question for the rest of the world

. >> i'll bring in lar ra, gloria borger and jeff zeleny. where do we start here? i mean, we were spoft to tauppok about -- i thought the big day was about health care. also made in america, here he is again stepping on his own message. i'm not sure why he gave this interview, but it is quite an interesting interview, gloria. what do you think of this? the most fascinating thing to me is the department of justice has somehow now become political. how is that -- >> well, you know, first of all, let's talk about jeff sessions as you were talking about with maggie. i think it's very hard for him to continue in his job. i don't know how he does t. he's supposed to have a press conference tomorrow oh another subject. i'm kind of wondering what's going to happen. you have a president who is not only expressed no confidence, but he's expressed anger in his -- you know, in his attorney general. this man, by the way, was the first person to endorse donald trump in the senate. was there from day one. was a close adviser and very important to him. and the loyalty has gone out

jeff zeleny at the white house, thanks very much. drama of the health care vote left us with several memorable moments, including this one. watch this. >> when i was diagnosed with kidney cancer and facing my first surgery, i heard from so many of my colleagues, including so many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who wrote me wonderful notes, sharing with me their own experience. with major illness in their families or with their loved ones. you showed me your care. you showed me your compassion. where is that tonight? >> i want to bring back senator mazy has rhone i ha roe ma mazie hirono. discussed this in the past. very moving. your vote, nos coming in from republican senators susan collins and lisa murkowski and john mccain of arizona. you specifically mentioned in your remarks last night. >> yes, and we were on the bring of voting on a bill that would have resulted in 17 million people getting knocked off health care. raising costs for so many others. and i'm so glad that the senator, john mccain, who only a few ni

jeff zeleny, thank you very much. more now on what is at stake tomorrow and friday in hamburg for a president who has seen major western counterparts begin distancing themselves from washington. joining us is retired rear admiral john kirby, david gergen, who has been there in the room during countless crises dating back to the nixon administration. david, i want to start with you. i count three major issues facing the president. the north korean missile test, his meeting with vladamir putin, and the array of allies that are wary about the u.s. role in the world going forward. any one of these issues would be all-encompassing at a g20 summit. now president trump has to deal with all three. how important is the way he navigates the next few days? >> these are probably the most important international meetings that he's going to have the first couple of years in office, because everyone is still taking a measure of donald trump as a world leader and whether he's going the retreat from the stage, as he's given indication

more now from jeff zeleny in paris. this has not stopped him from defending his son. >> no, it hasn't stopped him at all, anderson. in fact, it raised the questions because the president did something he doesn't do very often. he held at least a brief press conference taking about four questions or so and, of course, one of them was about his son. one of them was about that meeting on june 9th, 2016, that marks the first time someone from his inner circle had a meeting with a russian government operative. this is what the president said today. >> as far as my son is concerned, my son a wonderful young man. he took a meeting with a russian lawyer. not a government lawyer but a russian lawyer. it was a short meeting. it was a meeting that went very, very quickly, very fast. two other people were in the room. they -- i guess one of them left almost immediately and the other one was not really focused on the meeting. i do think this. i think from a practical standpoint most people would have taken that meeting. it's called

jeff zeleny, to you first, and then i want everyone to weigh in.ake a look back at some of, let's call them sean spicer's greatest hits. >> this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period, both in person and around the globe. >> when we use words like travel ban, that misrepresents what it is. i've said it from the day that i got here until whatever, there is no connection. you've got russia. if the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight somehow that's a russian connection. but every single person -- no -- well, no, i appreciate your agenda here. but the reality is -- no, no, hold on. no, at some point report the facts. let me -- >> i am just reporting -- >> you're asking me a question and i'm going to answer, which is the president -- i'm sorry, please stop shaking your head again. we didn't use chemical weapons in world war ii, you know. you had a -- someone as difficult spencer christianable as hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons. >> sean, can i ask another question, please? sean? >> sea

i quickly want to go straight to our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. >>> jeff, these are powerful dramatic moments in the trump presidency. >> reporter: no question, wolf. this is one of the biggest resets that we have seen so far in the first six-month tumultuous often administration of donald trump. but it came fast and furious today with the president sending out this information. there had been speculation growing that reince priebus, the outgoing now chief of staff, was on thin ice with the president, but that certainly was up for some debate. but earlier today when the president was in long island, he mentioned in very flattering terms the homeland security secretary john kelly. he said this about him. >> i want to congratulate john kelly, who has done an incredible job of secretary of home lapped security. [ applause ] >> incredible. one of our real stars. truly one of our stars. john kelly is one of our great stars. >> reporter: so, one of their great stars there, in about 90 minutes after that, wolf, would become the new white house chief of staff. obviously the

let's begin with jeff zeleny. hi, jeff. >> reporter: good morning, pamela. president trump, as you said, wrapped up his whirlwind trip to paris after spending 30 hours or so here in paris. a lot was among white house staff and others, consumed with questions and wonder and worry in regards to the russia investigation, still looming and expanding in washington. we heard the president yesterday give a vigorous defense, a fatherly defense, if you will, of his son. he called him a good man, a, you know, young boy. the reality is, he is the exact same age as the french president, emanuel macron, so not a boy. this is a moment where there are more and more new questions, focusing on the meeting. on june 9, 2016, the meeting between donald trump jr., as well as jared kushner, the president's son-in-law and paul manafort with the russian lawyer. now, there's been a lot of discussion about when people knew about that meeting. the timing has been up to some dispute. the white house insists the president did not know about it until "the new york times" reported last we

and with that, i want to bring in our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, no mention of the president's meeting or the president's son's meeting in his tweets, but certainly people at the white house are forced to talk about it. >> dana, they are indeed. they are forced to talk about this even though the president wants to talk about anything but this. the reality here is that the white house is going to be defending once again deflecting questions about this, but dana, to put it all in context for viewers. this is the first time that there's been a public indication, an acknowledgement. during the campaign, of a meeting, between the top officials of the trump campaign and someone inside the russian operative world here. kellyanne conway, senior counsel to the president was on cnn's "new day" this morning and pushing back. let's watch. >> you can't take a meeting that lasted 20 minutes, that is reported to have lasted 20 minutes, produced no information, it was, we're told, mainly about russian adoption, and spin that into some kind of tale and some ty

so, let's go to warsaw to our senior white house correspondent, jeff zeleny who is there. and jeff, he is facing a number of foreign policy tests the second he hits the ground. >> reporter: brooke, no question about that. i mean, the north korea situation that michelle was just explaining, of course, is the most urgent threat the president is facing but so many more are also waiting for him here as he arrives back within the hour or so on this continent for the second overseas trip of his presidency. really some six weeks after he critted the first time, brooke, and i can tell you that the relationships and the tensions across the board are pretty fraught but it is still that meeting on friday with the president of russia, vladimir putin, that is the most high stakes moment of this presidential trip. but you may be wondering why he is coming here to poland before going to germany for the g20 tomorrow. that is because the white house intentionally selected poland as a place to begin this, and the president is going to be giving the biggest overseas speech of his presidency h

. >> and jeff zeleny was saying this feels like more than a reset. do we think that will will be -- now it's just monday, do you think with general kelly as chief of staff, and scaramucci being gone maybe that is a harbinger, is this a good thing? this is not the end of staff changes in the white house, i can pretty much assure that. i think kelly will clearly have the latitude to do exactly what the statement says, so -- this scaramucci thing is -- even forget john kelly starting today. i've never seen a ten-day tra ject story like this at all. this was a dominant person from the trump white house last week was an theory scaramucci. hi came on the screen like a rocket, and last-minute trying to stop it from happening, names sarah huckabee as press secretary, and on cnn's "new day" with guns blazing. so what's the -- >> don't become the start of the --s. >> there's another star, four stars, right there. and if you're a four-star general, you might thing that somebody who was threatening to fire people publicly getting out hat of the president and chi

let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, the president clearly still fuming at jeff sessions. >> reporter: wolf, he is still fuming at his attorney general. important to point out this is one of the longest and most loyal supporters, but this is how much these relations have broken down, would have. jeff sessions, the attorney general, was at the white house today. he was in the west wing of the white house today for other meetings. he did not meet with the president. they have not yet spoken since that "the new york times" explosive interview last week. and i am told actually a long time before that interview, they simply have not been speaking to each other. he was in the west wing for other senior staff metings, meeting with the white house counsel don mcgahn. you get the sense that the president does not want his attorney general to stick around. but the communications director, anthony scaramucci, new communications director, he told our sara murray today, this afternoon, this, wolf, a very interesting comment from

i want to bring in cnn's senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, a date has been set. this is going to be big. >> reporter: a date indeed has been set, brianna. one week, next wednesday, july 26, is the date that paul manafort, the former chairman of the trump campaign last summer, and donald trump, jr., the president's oldest son, will testify before the senate judiciary committee next wednesday. now, this is going to be a fascinating bit of testimony and it's going to be in public session. the committee is just announcing a few moments ago they are going to be part of 7 or 8 witnesses who will be questioned that day. but certainly they are the two who are the closest members of the president's inner circle and of course one of the things that the senate wants to ask about is that meeting from june of 2016 that we've been talking about so often. the meeting with the russian government, the lawyer, the lobbyist and others here. that is going to be the first opportunity that senators have to question them, next wednesday on capitol hill before the senate judiciary commi

. >>> first, let's go to our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, we heard from the president, but the attorney general's future is still very much in question. >> reporter: wolf, there's no doubt about it. his future is in question. but the president's views of him are not. the president clearly sees this as an act of betrayal. never mind that jeff sessions was the first republican senator to sign onto his campaign. tonight the question is whether he'll be the first cabinet member to go. >>> president trump made clear today he's willing to shame attorney general jeff sessions, but estopped short of saying whether he'll fire him. >> i'm very disappointed with the attorney general, but we will see what happens. time will tell. time will tell. >> reporter: in a rose garden press conference, the president blasted sessions once again for stepping aside from the russia investigation that's now consuming the white house. >> if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me prior to taking office. and i would have quite simply picked somebody

i want to get right to cnn's senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. ive editor at large, i should say, chris cillizza, and political analyst april ryan. my goodness. every night there's something. jeff, i want to get to this big news from the "washington post" tonight. here's what the "post" is reporting. this is a quote, "some of president trump's lawyers are exploring ways to limit or undercut

>> jeff zeleny, thanks so much. the meeting took place in hambu hamburg, but it is no stretch to say that putin had an advantage. does that mean expectations were different in moscow than washington? let's check in with matthew chance at the russian capital. what has been the reaction in moscow to the meeting today? >> reporter: well, it's been quite astonishing. russian officials have been reacti ining really positively this meeting. the first face-to-face meeting between president trump of the united states and president putin of russia. one senior lawmaker said the results of these talks on the sidelines of the g-20 summit, quote, this is a quote from him, they surpassed expectations and were psychological break through. i can tell you, the expectations were pretty low, to be fair. i mean, the russians had been somewhat disillusioned with the notion of president trump being able to deliver the kind of radical change in the relationship that he'd promised during his campaign and in the early days and weeks of his

jeff zeleny is at the white house with the latest. what do we know about this ban other than what was tweeted? >> reporter: anderson, that's all we know this evening. the president sent out those urgent messages early this morning saying, look, you know, the military service will not be allowed -- any transgender member of the service will not be allowed to be an active member of the military. beyond that, it was left at that. there were background briefings today on what's going on in venezuela, a background briefing for administration officials on what's going on in the job announcement in wisconsin. anderson, for a major policy change like this, there was not a single background briefing. administration officials we talked to were, quite frankly, caught off guard, they could not answer basic questions, like what happens to active members of the military who may be serving in afghanistan or elsewhere, who are transgender individuals. it was clear this was an announcement that happened abruptly. it took people here on surprise, on ca

joining me now, jeff zeleny, traveling with the president today in france. jeff, the first question to the president in paris there was about don junior's meeting with the russian lawyer. >> reporter: it was indeed, ana, and that is a sign that of course this news, this cloud really followed the president over here to paris, but i think when you dissect the president's answer, when you go through what he said and, in fact, he repeated himself pretty much verbatim about twice in that sort of long, meandering answer and he presented it as a benign situation, a run of the mill standard practice. if that was the situation, i do not believe the republican chairman of the judiciary committee, senator chuck grassley, as well as other republican leaders on capitol hill, would be wanting to hear from donald trump jr. next week before the judiciary committee. the reality here is that republicans, democrats, and indeed the president's own director nominee to lead the fbi said that is simply not standard practice, and in fact, the trump campaign should have alerted feder

i want to begin with the war in the white house and jeff zeleny who is outfront there tonight. jeff, i don't think even at this point anybody could have made this up and yet here we are. this is really happening. what's going on? >> for all the unusual fights, for all the, you know, infighting, the discussions that have happened, today was a different day entirely. white house chief of staff reince priebus has been on the ropes for a while. he's been unsure of his standing inside the white house. but that has been largely a private conversation. today that spilled out in public view with apparent blessing from the president himself. anthony scaramucci, the new white house communications director, less than a week in the job, is more than a communications director. that became clear today by making these statements. and you were just reading them there, the expletives. we got a tweet from an nony scaramucci himself who explained it like this. let's take a look at this. he said i sometimes use colorful language. i will refrain in this arena, but not give up the passionate fight fo

jeff zeleny is "outfront" at the white house tonight. jeff, what is the president's thinking right now with regard to his attorney general who was the first sitting u.s. senator to endorse him? >> reporter: jake, good evening. there's no question at all that the president is fuming and it's apparently got worse week by week, month by month. since that march decision, the attorney general made to recuse himself of the russia investigation it was simmering for a while, i'll told. now it's something more of a full boil. and what's so unusual about this, we're seeing it play out in realtime tweet by tweet, statement by statement and this is someone who was once, as you said, his most loyal supporter. this was one of the closest people to this president but now he's throwing him under the bus and is equating him with hillary clinton and other things. that's about as low as it goes in the trump world. and jake, we're watching the president's speech to boy scouts before you came on the air there and he brought eagle scouts from his cabinet along

jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >> jeff, thanks for the reporting priebus gave his first interviewmy colleague wolf blitzer. wolf asked priebus to respond about ugly comments made about him, some comments that i can't even say on television made by incoming communications director anthony scaramucci. >> what was the impact of the new communications director anthony scaramucci, you saw the "new yorker magazine"ly called you a paranoid schizophrenic, he said that reince priebus would resign soon and he expected priebus to launch a campaign against him. what was your reaction when you saw that? >> no reaction, because i'm not going to respond to it. i'm not going to get into the mud on all sorts of things. look, the president and i had an understand, we talked about this many times and we ultimately decided that yesterday was a good day. and that we would work together. and i think that general kelly is a great pick. so, i'm not going to get into the weeds on that. i support what the president did. and obviously, i think it's a good thing for the white house. >> priebus was noticeably

jeff zeleny is at the white house. jeff, the white house is trying to distance themselves, just as the president, that is, from this particular meeting with three of the people closest to him were all in attendance. they are just saying he just found out about it now even though, muof course, it happene in trump tower. >> reporter: they say the president just learned about this reading the news reports flying back from germany when that story first broke in "the new york times" on a saturday afternoon. the issue here, though, is the president has said repeatedly that he has no knowledge of any meetings with the russian officials. he said in a press conference after his election, he said at several other times, the question, though, is trump tower is a fairly small place. the trump campaign was much, much smaller than most campaigns. we know that donald trump was in new york city that day. he was meeting with republican officials or republican donors and this was the same week that the presidential campaign basically end

. >>> number two, jeff zeleny -- do we have jeff? i don't see him in the box. there he is, jeff zeleny, in the briefing, the real question that was dominating, i felt like, was the transgender issue and how the president, and we saw him throughout the campaign saying to the lgbtq community,ly stand for you, i will fight for you. it seemed to me that sarah huckabee sanders had a hard time defending the president eats twee -- president's tweets on this one. >> i think in part because this came essentially out of the blue. this is not something that the president had been talking about at all, at least not publicly. this is not something that the president had been working with a small working group or bringing his staff along here. it had the feel today when he did it that he was either trying to, a, change the subject or b, give some conservative groups something they've been asking for. but brooke, just a response on the readiness from the pentagon to here at the white house after the president sent out that huge policy decision via social media, not be making

jeff zeleny joins us with that. so what is he say, jeff? >> anderson, this is a significant development. senator mccain's office is saying he's going to be coming back to washington tomorrow to be on hand for that critical vote in the senate on health care. his office just released a statement a few moments ago. it says this, can stays "senator mccain looks forward to returning to the united states senate tomorrow to continue working on the important legislation including health care reform, the national defense authorization act, and new sanctions on russia, iran and north korea." so health care, obviously, getting the most focus. we also know that senator mccain is deeply engaged in the russian sanctions bill and has been furious at the house of representatives, republicans there, for not following the lead of the senate. so with the new agreement there, he also plans to focus on that. anderson, this is a significant moment that senator mccain, of course, is battling an aggressive form of brain cancer here, and this is, you know, by no me

. >>> we'll turn to our jeff zeleny in the hall where the presidents are expected to meeting with reporters in 15 minutes. what are we expecting to hear? >> reporter: good morning. a. in the royal castle here in warsaw. the scene behind me is the flags are set up here and the podiums are set up. we believe it looks like what could be a press conference. the white house has not confirmed officially that it will be a press conference. they'll be making statements sure? -- statements for sure. it has that look. in the next 15 minutes or so or in this half hour, it will be the first press conference, the first opportunity the president has had to answer questions anything going on for a month, since june 9th, the last setting in the rose garden with the president of the romania. here inside the royal palace, the president has been meeting with the president of poland. they're doing a bilateral meeting as we speak now. they are talking about similarities they have. their populism, their strain is similar here. the law and justice party here in poland similar to the strain that helped elect the u

cnn's jeff zeleny, cnn's phil mattingly and jackie call, of the "los angeles times." now, if the white house shake-up brought in anthony scaramucci as communications director was designed to take public all the messy white house in-fighting that previously played out for anonymous sources, then score a smashing success. >> as you know from the italian expression, the fish stinks from the head down. i can tell you two fish that don't stink? okay? that's me and the president. i don't like the activity going on in the white house. i don't like what they're doing to my friend. i don't like what they're doing to the president of the united states. or fellow colleagues in the west wing. if you want to talk about the staff, we have had odds. we have had differences. when i said we were brothers from the, from the podium, that's because we're -- some brothers are like cain and abel. other brothers can fight with each other and get along. i don't know if this is repairable or not. in a will be up to the president. >> okay. if the goal inspire confidence in the cabinet things w