we have jeff zeleny joining us live from davos. good morning, jeff. the president heading to the globalist gathering. should be interesting. >> reporter: no question about it. good morning, dave and christine. president trump arriving here at the world economic forum in davos. he is the first president fro n from -- president in two decades to come to davos. you heard that sound the president speaking in the introduction of the show. extraordinary comments back and forth with the president and report reporters. he dropped by a meeting that john kelly was having with staffers. he said he will sit down with the special counsel. he also explained how he has been defending himself and how it could be interpreted as obstruction of justice. he said he is simply defending himself. let's watch. >> do you think robert mueller will be fair to you? >> we will find out. here's what we'll say and everybody says, no collusion. there's no collusion. now they're saying did he fight back. did he fight back. >> what does that mean, sir? >> oh, it's obstruction. here's

let's bring in our key players, jeff zeleny and also phil mattingly. jeff, i understand you have some sort of official statement from the white house. what do you have for me? >> reporter: we have the first official statement from white house press secretary sarah sanders about the impending shutdown here. as you can see, we're just below three minutes here, and this is as we're watching these dramatic develop 78 developments on the senate floor that will not lead to any vote before midnight. i'll read the statement from sarah sanders, don. it says this, senate democrats own the schumer shutdown. tonight they put politics above our national security. military families, vulnerable children, and our country's ability to serve all americans. she goes on to say, we will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. she goes on to say, this is the behavior of obstructionist losers. during this politically manufactured schumer shutdown, the president and his administration will fi

jeff zeleny traveling with the president. he joins us live from davos. he has that reaction. good morning to you, jeff. >> reporter: good morning, dave and christine. on a sunny and snowy day in dav davos, the president as you saw, continuing his meetings here. he will give a speech in three hours time about the american first business agenda. the white house still focusing, consumed, if you will, by the bo bombshell report that the president six months ago tried to order the firing of special counsel robert mueller. going back in time, we know the president last may or june was furious that the special counsel was set up. this came after the firing of james comey. this was a moment ago when the president made his way to the congress center in davos having the meetings. when the press asked about the reports. this is what he said. >> fake news, folks. fake news. typical "new york times" fake story. >> reporter: so the president, of course, using a common refrain. fake news. a phrase he says a lot. "the new york times" reporting that cnn confirming that the president did want t

that is where our jeff zeleny is with the latest. good morning, jeff. >> reporter: good morning, christine. the president is making his way to davos. it has been snowing all week. sunny here today. the president will meet with world leaders and delivering a major address tomorrow. it is the russia investigation hanging over him as he comes to switzerland. no question his drop by the attorney general's office before leaving the white house adds fuel to that. he says he is eager to testify and answer questions. his attorney walked that back a bit. the president was eager to leave for davos and the negotiations of the interview must be worked out. the president clearly wanted to make it known that what others may construe and obstruction of justice he calls defending himself. >> do you think robert mueller will be fair to you? >> we will find out. here is what we'll say. and everybody says. no collusion. there's no collusion. now they're saying did he fight back. did he fight back. you fight back. oh, obstruction. here's the thing. i hop

backed off when house lawyer don mcgahn threatened to quit. >>> senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny joining us live from davos. jeff, good morning to you. pushing back on the breaking news. >> reporter: indeed. good morning, dave and christine. the president as he was heading into the meeting in davos, he was asked by reporters about the bo bombshell report. that he wanted robert mueller fired last june. he said fake news. fake news. typical "new york times" story. the president went on to talk about his warm reception in davos. reporters asked him specifically about. that he respond-- specifically that. he gives that speech later this morning he will essentially be wearing a sales man's hat. encouraging to invest in america and the successes of the first year in office. the reality is this speech at davos and trip to davos has indeed been overshadowed by the overnight revelation here that the president was eager to get rid of the special counsel. it is important to think back what was going on at that time. this was in june. a couple of weeks after he fired the fbi director james c

. >> let's bring in our correspondents and analysts in jeff zeleny, does it sound like the senate will be able to come up with a bipartisan solution by this february 8th date? 17 days from now? >> senator nelson was talking about a pathway to a solution. i think in the senate, that pathway is there. the problem here, the challenge is, the pathway likely only goes over one half of the capitol. the problem here still remains the house of representatives. that is always been the issue on immigration. it was in the issue on immigration the last go-round here in the obama administration. the senate passed the bill, the house didn't. so i think that the president here, it's all on the president. if he would endorse a bill that would give house conservatives and republicans the chance to vote for it, that is still very much an open question, but we have seen more engagement from him this afternoon. he had senators over to the white house, a group of six republican hard-liners and a couple moderate democrats as well. it's all on the president. he was something of a bystander the last 72 hours

dave and christine. >> jeff zeleny, thank you. some of the tickets for the state of the union address inviting people to the state of the uniom. not clear how many had typos. all of the tickets have been reprinted. those who have not been picked up have been swapped out. >>> all right. spell check. senate republicans failing to pass a bill to criminalize abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. it came up short to advance. the opposition from democrats. the bill passed the house back in october. it included exceptions in cases of rape and insen -- incest. >>> breaking overnight. the u.s. puts more than 200 officials and oligarchs on notice. why russia is concerned and why no new sanctions were leveled. we're live in moscow. successful people have one thing in common. they read more. how do they find the time? with audible. audible has the world's largest selection of audiobooks. books like peak performance... and endurance. books that energize and inspire for just $14.95 a month. less than you'd pay for the hardcover. with audible,

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let's get straight to senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny who is at the white house. i know you've been talking to your sources and have new information about what the president will or will not say about russia. >> indeed, dana. one question has been will the president talk about the russian investigation. he talks about it so much, he's called it a hoax, he's called it a witch hunt. when i asked a senior white house official if he'll mention it, flatly the answer was no. so the plan here at the white house is for the president not to dwell on or perhaps mention at all the investigation. they want the president to reset his message in a broad swath with the american public. this is one of the largest audiences he will have. people are watching who aren't following the daily machinations here. talk about the economy, talk about the tax cut pledge he signed into law last year, talk about immigration, talk about infrastructure. officials here say the president, and dana, they actually hope the president won't talk about the russia investigation as well. of course, that i

let's get more from our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, what are you hearing from your sources about a potential meeting between the president and the special counsel? >> reporter: wolf, good evening. even though the president said no collusion, as jim said, that was in a span of a minute and 35 seconds. the president said no collusion or a variation of it eight times during that period. but the reality is somewhat different inside the west wing among conversations with the lawyers and advisers. they know that the reality of what is coming with this mueller investigation does not necessarily jive with the fantasy of the fact that there is certainty no collusion. the reality is here that advisers and lawyers inside the west wing realize there is still an ongoing investigation to see if there was collusion. we do not know the answer, they do not know the answer, if there was or wasn't, that's the point of this investigation. wolf, the reality here is that the president is most likely going to half to testify. that is at least the thinki

let's go to jeff zeleny who is traveling with the president in switzerland. d christine romans is also with us. jeff, this is a club of elites, unless you're a journalist, it's tough to get an invite. the president as a businessman never got the invite before. now he's not only invited, he's on the world stage making a speech. how was he received with that message this morning? >> reporter: poppy, that is such a good point. of course president trump, donald trump had such a well-known brand name, but not in this crowd, not at this level. i was struck here talking to people. they were curious about what president trump was going to say. was he going to come to davos and essentially poke his finger in the eye of globalist, people having conversations about the global economy? in fact, one thing i was struck by was the president's tone. it was muted in one respect, but almost sounded like he was the head of a chamber of commerce, urging people to come to america, to invest. much less of what america can do for the world, what global partnerships can do for the wo

jeff zeleny is standing on the lawn. jeff, you said before we went on the air, right at the top of the hour, the lights went off at the white house. we got this notice saying there's a lid. where is the president? why aren't we hearing from the president, from the administration? a government shutdown is imminent. >> reporter: don, good evening again. sorry for not being here before. i went back into the white house actually to see if anyone was around. i can tell you the offices that we can interact with, the press secretary offices, they are closed. i am told there is going to be a statement at some point coming. it could be held up a little bit by what is happening there on the floor. if there is indeed something happening here. but, look, we did not expect to hear from the president this evening. i would expect that he is in this building mind behind me he. our lights are shining in his windows. the lights at the front of the house are indeed not on right now. usually it's closed by 11:00. we are not allowed in here u

. >> i want to bring in cnn's jeff zeleny. jeff, you have breaking news about the staffing. >> this is typical at the end of a first year that has been anything but typical. i'm told john kelly, the white house chief of staff, has said if you're going to leave between now and some time this year, do it before the end of january. give us a sense of this before the end of january. he is trying to get things in order here before this second year begins. now, several people have already said they are leaving. a couple people are very much considering it. one at least a pressure on him is don mcgahn, the general counsel at the white house. the president has expressed his displeasure with him in some ways. a friend of his expects him to stay actually because that gives him the protection of the white house around him. he's a potential witness in this case. he is one person mentioned, of course. several other aides as well. so as we report this out this afternoon, dana wash bash and i are hearing from aides explaining why they are lea

let's go to the white house where we find cnn's jeff zeleny. jeff, the white house says that the author, michael wolff, barely spoke with the president. they're calling the book fantasy, fiction. you're at the white house every day. did you run into him? >> reporter: jake, we saw michael wolff a lot here last year. he was a fixture on the campaign trail in twoik2016 in the west . not through the same entrance that reporters like myself and others use, through the actual official entrance. he was able to watch the comings and goings, essentially be a fly on the wall in the west wing. all of this now as the white house for the third day in a row tries to discredit this book. president trump heading off today for a weekend retreat with republican leaders. >> we're going to camp david with a lot of the great republican senators and we're making america great again. >> reporter: but not answering questions about his anger over the bombshell book about his first year in the white house. as ff "fire and fury: inside the trump white house" was released

let's go to jeff zeleny. jeff, a simple question right here. we've had a united states government shutdown. we are two and a half days into that shutdown and we've not had one public appearance by the president of the united states. now it appears we're poised to end that shutdown with no meetings with the president or key people involved. how can they explain the so-called great deal maker hasn't been present? >> no doubt the president has been on the sidelines with the exception of being on the phones and talking to republicans in the last 24 to 36 hours. he has been absent. i'm told by a white house official as dana and phil were reporting, the white house is, quote, optimistic this is going to pass the senate. they've gotten word from those democratic senators. they do believe there are 60 votes there and likely is as often is the case in washington. there are going to be many more than 60. people are going to climb on this because democrats don't want to look like they're voting against this. back to the

our jeff zeleny is there waiting. good morning, jeff. >> reporter: good morning, john and poppy. you're right. president trump did arrive earlier this morning and he is on his way into the first meeting with british prime minister theresa may. we should see pictures and perhaps words from those two leaders shortly. we know, of course, their relationship has been fraught with some tension over the weeks. the president, of course, was scheduled to go visit london. he pulled back on that. the two leaders are meeting right now. it is still the words, the president's own words from the white house last night before leaving to fly here overnight that are still reverberating all the way over here in switzerland, particularly on the russia investigation. now, the president has said he is eager to testify. he also was asked if he believes mueller will be fair to him. let's watch. >> do you think robert mueller will be fair to you in this larger investigation? >> we're going to find out. here is what we'll say, and everybody says, no collusion. there's no collusion. now they're saying, oh,

. >> i have with me jeff zeleny, shimon, over grave concerns over not just accuracy but several issues can you talk to me about that? >> very rare public statement. their sish the accuracy of this memo. the only person that's seen this memo has been the fbi director, christopher wray, clearly at odds with the president's decision to release this memo. what he saw in this memo has given him concern in that they have sort of picked information, put information into this memo that favors their message, what congressman nunes wants to say, placed it in this mmemo that is inaccurate. they're saying a lot of this information does not give a full picture of what was going on at the time that the intelligence officials, that the fbi was gathering this information. putting it together for fisa. there is a picture that will misrepresent the entire picture of what was going on. fbi officials i've been talking to, other heers at cnn have been talking to have expressed this concern. it's so rare for the fbi and fbi director to issue this kind of statement because of the concern. it was an all day t

. >> cnn's jeff zeleny is live in dave yos. remarkable, it's news anyway, but the point that the president choose a summit meeting where it's usually kumbaya, let's get along, not disrupt things. >> reporter: it may be no surprise, but president trump not mincing words and taking a stand different from other u.s. presidents who tried to broker middle east peace not necessarily by insaergt themselves, but by trying to bring bother sides together. but the president said directly and clearly that he would withhold aid from palestinians if they do not come to the negotiating table. now, this certainly breaks with precedent that the u.s. has had for decades trying to negotiate peace. the trump administration argued that has not worked, so he's trying to take a different approach here, but the whole point the palestinians are angry at the trump white house, john, as you mentioned, is the decision to move the embassy. so, this appears to be at somewhat of an impasse here. the president has not talked about middle east peace much for a

. >>> let's go straight to our jeff zeleny, our senior white house correspondent, following all of this with the president in davos. we're getting more reaction to the two key meetings with prime minister theresa may and netanyahu. what are you hearing. >> reporter: no question, the president meeting here with these two leaders, you heard, of course, and you saw the very warm relationship between these two leaders and it is one of the reasons that meeting was in fact scheduled. these two leaders don't necessarily have as much business to do because they do agree on so many things. of course, central issues here are where does the peace process stand as admiral kirby was saying there, that's an open question here. we know where it stands on one side, but not the palestinian side, outrage was certainly coming after the announcement of the capital, but even before that meeting, president trump was meeting with british prime minister theresa may here as well on the sidelines of the davos economic forum. of course, so much bad blood between those two, the president had essentially called off

cnn's senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny joins me me now live from west palm beach where the president is set to land this evening. jeff, what are you learning about how people in the white house are responding behind the scenes? >> reporter: well, jake, we know that as this news was breaking yesterday, the president perhaps ironically was taping a message on martin luther king king day, for martin luther king to be released on monday. he was delivering a message about martin luther king when he was asked about this earlier today. let's take a look at what he was asked and what he didn't answer at the white house. >> mr. president, will you give an apology for the statements yesterday? >> mr. president, did you remember to african nations as shithole country? >> mr. president, are you a racist? mr. president, will you respond to these serious questions about your statements, sir? >> reporter: the president clearly not answering questions there, jake, but we are told by talking to several advisers and officials that the president actually at least initially thought this was pl

jeff zeleny at the white house. let's get perspective on all of this bannon's latest bombshell comments. joining us white house reporter kaitlan collins, politico's senior investigative reporter josh meyer and cnn political analyst april ryan. what do you make of steve bannon saying that june 2016 meeting at trump power in new york city was in his words treasonous? >> that's huge in the president's words. wolf, when i think of what steve bannon is saying, one, it lets me know for sure that the fight that steve bannon had with jared kushner and don junior was real. and it was rough because this is hard. treasonous, talking of the president's son, the namesake of the president that's huge. yes, and also it makes you wonder what more does bannon know we don't know or that's been trickled out. for bannon to say this who is still an adviser to the president, he calls every now and again on the phone, that's huge. what happened and not to have a lawyer present, that is saying something, he's putting something in the atmos

. >> jeff zeleny, thank you. steve bannon's flame throwing sparked a cease and dezisist lawyer from the president's lawyer. sources tell cnn the president began the year furious. >> cnn reported last month some members of the president's inner circle feared he would erupt early in 2018 at tif the end of probe was not here. a rambling 16 tweet assault including a bizarre taunting of kim jong-un, aides in side the white house asking the pris president's outside the white house to present to him the risks those present. >> an interview with others paint a picture of a president who's intent on shaking up this country's political forms even as he faces crucial dead lines. >> then there is this. from michael wolff's upcoming book. ivanka trump may have her sights set on becoming the first woman to occupy the oval offers. wolff writes they made a deal that if the opportunity arose, she would be the one to run for president. wolff does not disclose his sourcing for this. steve bannon said to be horrified when hearing ab

but first, correspondent jeff zeleny begins our coverage from the white house.eporter: christine and dave, an extraordinary war of words breaking out between president trump and his former top strategist, steve bannon all over the release of a new book coming out talking specifically about the russia investigation. steve bannon of course fired from his job in august but still in touch with the president, accused the president's son, son-in-law and former campaign manager of treasoness behavior, unpatriotic behavior in his words all about the 2016 meeting at trump tower. this is all coming out in new details in a book comes out later this month, fooir and fury inside the trump white house. steve ban nonused extraordinary language here describing the president's family. the president shot back with a very harsh statement on wednesday. in the white house believing press secretary sarah sanders described the book as trashy tabloid fiction and said the president's reaction was this. >> i think disgusted would probably certainly fit when you make such outrage claims a

let's go straight to our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, the president seems to be going all-in on a conspiracy theory, is that right? >> reporter: wolf, it is, indeed. there is a big legislative agenda on tap for 2018, but the president instead today went after his justice department. escalating an extraordinary confrontation with the agency that's heading up the russia investigation. president trump opening a new front tonight in an unprecedented war with his own justice department. the president blasting the doj for being part of what he calls the deep state, a conspiracy theory suggesting the government bureaucracy is against him. in a tweet, the president saying, deep state justice department must finally act. the president adding that hillary clinton's top aide huma abedin should go to jail and implying former fbi director james comey should be investigated. >> the president finds some of those actions very disturbing and he thinks that we need to make sure if there is an issue that it's looked at. >> reporter: when asked whether

i want to go to white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, you heard us talking there. this really pits the fbi with a director chosen by the president against the white house, openly defying the white house and jus us it departme tice department on this. >> it does indeed, jim. this is only the latest installment of what's been an extraordinary feud and fight between this white house and its justice department and indeed its fbi. we do know that christopher wray, the director of the fbi, was over here at the white house on monday making that argument directly to white house chief of staff john kelly, urging them not to release it. clearly they are escalating that by releasing this statement. in terms of where things stand right now, we heard from white house chief of staff john kelly earlier this morning. he was talking in a radio interview that he says this is going to be released fairly soon. he said advisers and lawyers are, in his words, slicing and dicing it. we mow it's a three and a half page memo and is likely to be released soon. the white house is not saying

i want to bring in now cnn senior white house correspondent that is jeff zeleny. jeff, thank you so much for joining us. what is the white house position on all of this? they're thinking a tweet might solve everything? >> reporter: well, don, a tweet will certainly not solve everything but you can expect some tweets will likely be coming in the morning. but watt tweet -- the white house hopes to send out about tomorrow night at this time if the senate passes something. what the white house was saying earlier is they still are hopeful this can be resolved and if the senate would happen to vote and approve some type of stopgap measure the president could send out a tweet or a simple old-fashioned e-mail announcement as others have done saying that he will sign this bill at some point over the weekend. so they are hoping they can -- if there is a shutdown to minimize the disruptions here in the service of the federal government. but as phil was just reporting, it is absolutely unclear. that tweet will not come if the senate does not vote on this. so the question tomor

jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >>> the clinton foundation back in the spotlight. u.s. authorities are once again investigating allegations of corruption which is bill and hillary clinton's charity. the fbi and prosecutors are looking into whether donors for the foundation were promised political favors or special access to hillary clinton while secretary of state. you may recall, an initial inquiry stalled prior to the 2016 election. a representative for the foundation is dismissing the allegations. calls them unfounded. let's talk through the day's political headlines this hour with scott lucas. scott is a professor of international politics at the university of birmingham. typically via satellite in the united kingdom but this day here on set with us here in atlanta. great to have you, scott. let's talk about attorney general jeff sessions from recusing himself. and we now know more officials were involved, don mcgahn, and reince priebus and ex-secretary sean spicer. they were involved in phone calls we understand with the justice department. the white house is not c

. >> let's go to the white house and bring in our senior white house correspondent there, jeff zelenyearning about the white house responding to this and why mccabe is out? >> well, brooke, it certainlies interesting. this is one of the first days that the president and people here at the white house have not had anything to say in a negative way about andrew mccabe. the president has made no secret of the fact that he does not trust him, does not like him. of course it all goes back to the investigation into the clinton e-mail episode that the fbi was conducting, that andrew mccabe was involved with. the president simply thought it was not fair. so he has tweeted countless times over the last six months or so. the question here, brooke, which we frankly don't have an answer to which is why andrew mccabe would have waited six months through all this criticism, even more than that, through the first year of the administration, but decided to leave six weeks before he was planning on retiring. so that is a question we simply do not have an answer to. the white house is saying the presid

. >> let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny joining us from the white house right now. what are you hearing over there about the prospects of a government shutdown or passing tis temporary spending bill? >> reporter: wolf, there certainly is a lot of confusion, certainly much dysfunction here yet of another potential government shutdown. this all started with the president himself earlier this morning throwing a lot of confusion into this entire matter by talking about the children's health insurance program. the republicans' strategy was to sweeten the deal, if you will, by including that, but the president, of course, went on social media and he had this to say about that. he said chip should be part of a long-term solution, not a 30-day or short-term extension. of course, chip is the acronym for the children's insurance program. that was confusing to many republicans on capitol hill, but just a short time ago, a few moments ago, i caught up with the white house legislative director mike short and asked him if the president confused this entire process. >>

. >> let's go live to jeff zeleny, in davos. jeff, update us on what was a really significant speech. >> it was, brianna, good morning. president trump is flying back to washington as you said. he did deliver a speech here this morning in davos that was certainly one of the more interesting. largely because he was walking into a den of global elitists, if you will, he's often railed against and he was retreated with respect, much more conciliatory nation than confrontation. certainly a moment where the president was indeed trying to sell america. he sounded almost like a chamber of commerce president, if you will, you know, talking about the plans of america, the economy of america, not talking as much about what america can do for the globe, but more what people can do for themselves. he was trying to urge business leaders to come invest in the u.s. so certainly a pro forma speech he's given other places, but not the harsh rhetoric we have heard from him on the campaign trail where he railed against globalization and capitalism

jeff zeleny is live in davos traveling with the president. hi, jeff. >> good morning, alisyn. president trump got a bird's-eye view of the snowy swiss alps as he arrived in davos a short time ago. he will make his first appearance, indeed the first appearance from a u.s. president in nearly 20 years. but all the president's words here likely to be overshadowed by his words last night at the white house on the russia investigation. president trump touching down in switzerland this morning for the world economic for numb davos. after a remarkable session with reporters before leaving the white house. the president now saying he will commit to questioning from special counsel robert mueller. >> i'm looking forward to it actually. >> you want to? >> here's the story, just so you understand there's has been no collusion whatsoever. no collusion whatsoever. i would like to do that, and i'd like to do it as soon as. good luck even. >>> do you have a date set, mr. president? >> i don't know, no. i guess they're talking about two to three weeks. i have to say, subject to my lawyers and

jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >> let's talk about it with our guest, professor in london. leslie, thanks for being with us. we have that statement from the white house. we have not heard, specifically, from president trump. one analyst said earlier on the program, what he wants from this is to look good, no matter what. how does he wake up on this anniversary of his first year as president, looking good, when the government is shut down? >> i think it is the sort of the ultimate encapturing of what we have seen over the last year, a lot of dysfunctionalty and now turning up in global leadership polls that have come out with the united states approval from people around the world shrinking from 48% down to 38%. this won't play well for donald trump. of course he won't like it. for americans, more generally, of course the crucial services will remain open. the bigger story here, of course, is the failure of the congress to strike a deal. remember, this is in the context of nine days ago, the very inflammatory language used by the president to describe immigrants from haiti a

. >> jeff zeleny at the white house. jeff, i want you to stand by. we're going to get to our other players in just moments. i think it's important to let this play out. there are ten seconds left officially until the top of the hour until there is an official government shutdown. your lawmakers now still working to try to come up with something, but obviously that will be too late. here's the breaking news. it is midnight. no deal. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. a shutdown of the federal government is now beginning. senators still on the floor intensely negotiating. negotiations are contining past the deadline even though the deadline is midnight, and that is when the government officially shuts down. but there is no deal yet. and that means a shutdown is under way. i want to get to cnn's phil mattingly. he was on capitol hill. jeff zeleny joining us again from the white house. phil mattingly, to you first. take us behind the scenes. still negotiating going on, but the deadline was midnight. midnight is here. >> reporter: that's exactly right. i

let's begin with cnn's jeff zeleny at the white house. and, jeff, in this statement, the likes of which we've never seen before from a president about an aide, going after bannon. he says that bannon was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with president trump and really didn't have much influence. is that true? >> reporter: jake, that simply does not comport with what we saw here during the first eight months of the trump administration. just to set the scene a little bit here, the west wing is actually a small place, as you know. steve bannon's office was just steps away from the oval office. he had walk-in privileges. that means he could walk in whenever the president wanted to see him. one official i talked to just a few minutes ago said he met privately with the president all the time, more than many of his advisers. of course that is normal because he was the chief strategist. so the fact that the president today is trying to distance himself from steve bannon obviously in advance of this book does not comport with what actually happened

>> jeff zeleny was saying the advisers around president trump saw this as a success. bar is actually pretty low right now for what would be a successful event for the president. the fact that he, you know, stuck with the teleprompter speech, yes, that was a successful speech in that sense, but i think we got a glimpse of sort of where he is right now in his head at the moment when he was not actually scripted and was not on that stage, right, when he walked by reporters and was asked about this "new york times" reporting and he called it fake news. when there was a little q and a after the speech and he was asked about the lessons that he learned during the presidency, i believe that was the question that was asked, he then, as you said, talked about hillary clinton, though not mentioning her by name, talked about the media being fake news. i think all those things kind of give you a sense that he's frustrated and is angry, because otherwise i think his head would not necessarily go there. i think you made a really good point that those are the things he tends to talk

. >> jeff zeleny, thank you very much. >>> the president and ceo of the naacp. you heard jeff zeleny, the president having those conversations, not describing it at all. another source telling cnn that the president loves the controversy over the s-hole remark. the president and white house believes these comments are going to play just fine with the trump base. what's your reaction? >> it's not enough to win elections. for african-americans, it is unfortunate to hear this type of language. it is the language of the '50s and '60s. it is the language of the george wallace but also the language that will energize the base for these mid term lks elections. unfortunately much of what he is doing is also serving as a distraction to some of the administrative policies he's advancing. the nominees to the federal court. we have to be careful not to get so caught up in his words. we know he's a racist. he demonstrated that, just like the package you just showed previously. now the real question is, how do we stop some of the bad policy that's coming down the and how do w

. >> senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny is in davos right now. jeff, the president outright telling the palestinians there that the money is on the table. what else did he say, what is the reception of this? >> reporter: throwing down the gauntlet at davos, switzerland, at the meeting that the president had with benjamin netanyahu, the first meeting they had since the president made the announcement last year with his intention to move the embassy and he said he does intend to move at least a small portion and open a small portion of the embassy to jerusalem sometime in 2019. nw, of course, this is extraordinarily controversial. it sparked outrage at the time, as will this essentially a threat to take away the aid money. the reality here is that the middle east peace process is stalled. it has essentially stalled because of the actions of the white house, the actions of the administration, that many in the region believe are leaning more in favor of the israelis here. so certainly this meeting this morning did not do anything to ease the worries o

jeff zeleny out front in the white house, jeff, what do you know, those dmismissing this wl robert mueller, why do we care now? this is putting it back on the table right now. >> reporter: well, erin, never left the table at leesz in the president's mind. yes it cob a possibility. that does not mean it's going to be reality. many political impediments and red lines that republicans on capitol hill say that that would simply be too much to bear here. that the president if he fired bob mueller it would not put it a side as the white house wants it to do. it would simply deepen it. and also questions does he have the authority. his lawyer says he does have the constitutional authority to do so. others say not so fast. the attorney general rod rosenstein appointed is. so would the president get rid of him? also possible he has been in the president's cross hairs. but all of this of course is coming as this remains a focus here, a distraction here at the white house. i am told that the russian investigation, this probe that is so angered the president, he calls it a hoax, witch hunt, he will no

cnn's jeff zeleny explains. >> reporter: on the one-year anniversary of president trump's inaugurational government shutdown. the senate failed to pass the house passed version to keep the government open. that funding deadline expired at midnight on friday. president trump will be waking up on saturday here at the white house now presiding over his first government shutdown. not since 2013 has there been a government shutdown. then of course it was president obama's, a 16-day government shutdown to be exact. at that point, then donald trump privacy zen donald trump said it was the president's responsibility to lead the way out. now it is this president's responsibility to do the same. a predictable fight broke out friday evening between republicans and democrats. the white house called it a schumer shutdown referring to minority leader chuck schumer of new york. senator schumer called it a trump shutdown. regardless of what you call it -- it is an indeed an american government shutdown. the white house came out with a blistering statement about the shutdown. press secretary can the sa

cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house this morning. and jeff, president trump released a statement unlike anything i'd ever seen before from a president talking about one of his senior strategists. >> reporter: jake, it was quite a day here. and certainly, we have seen the president zidismiss some of his closest advisers before, put them at a distance. but steve bannon was no ordinary adviser. this was the president acting like steve bannon was the coffee boy, if you will. but that statement released this afternoon saying that the president had a personal hand in actually writing, it said this, let's take a look, jake. it said, "steve bannon had nothing to do with me or my presidency. when he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people, with no access and no clue whom he helped write phony books." so if you unpack that there, a, they're trying to discredit steve bannon, b, trying to discredit this book that's out, of

it would be advisable to do that, but just to a point that jeff zeleny made. i do think that just trying to be a little detached and not as involved as we are in our work, and looking at this story, i wonder how many americans are watching this and seeing this sort of cucafany of finger pointing and blame making, while no one is really working to solve the problem. if he were to call people together, at least there would be a sense that he was trying to solve the problem. >> because rebecca, it doesn't seem like -- this is mission impossible, they could work it out and get the government back operating. >> they could, but the problem, wolf, is you have two positions, the republicans on one side and the democrats on the other, and not sort of an obvious middle ground to reach a compromise here. republicans are saying they don't want to negotiate on immigration while the government is in a shutdown. they want to reopen the government, get back to the negotiating table on immigration. democrats say they want the immigration problem solved as soon as possible, and

jeff zeleny is there with the latest for us. you're there at the white house, which is where the president had not expected to be, jeff. >> no question about it. the president is here. and he in fact has a few thousand protesters right outside the gates of the white house where he can see and hear, if he decided to look at them. now, the question here is there's not much movement at all here on this end of pennsylvania avenue. yes, there are some phone calls, some meetings, but nothing like the potential breakthrough we saw about 24 hours ago when there was a meeting with the president and the senate democratic leader, chuck schumer. of course, that didn't come to pass. now, both sides digging in. here was marc short, the white house legislative affairs director, talking about democrats, and listen to how he describes them. >> there is nothing in this bill democrats say they object to. yet it's like a 2-year-old temper tantrum to say i'm going to take my toys and go home because i'm upset about something else. it has nothing to d

i am going to wrestle jeff zeleny to the ground next year for that. >> i've seen that before. it ain't pretty. >> no, it's not. >>> the president held an unplanned q&a session with reporters declaring he's looking forward to being questioned under oath. this as cnn learned mueller's team has given the president possible topics for the interview. >>> we saw a new twist in negotiations over immigration reform. president trump put a pathway to citizenship for some d.r.e.a.m.ers on the table, however it's conditioned, only if he gets billions for his border wall and border security. does this bring lawmakers any closer to striking a deal? we have it all covered for you. let's begin with cnn's jeff zeleny live in davos, switzerland, traveling with the president. i hope you're in shape or you know how to fight. cam rot to is coming for you. >> there's so much snow here it has been an extraordinary couple of days here in the snowy alps. a lot of fondue, a little partying at davos. we're working hard. the president arrived, not exactly his crowd necessarily. he's talked again and agai

cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house joining us now. jeff, i mean, i guess there's no comment from the white house, because this just happened. >> reporter: there's no comment, but this is the president who is saying this himself, so there's really nothing for the white house to comment on. of course, this will be -- we'll ask them if, you know, what specifically provoked this. anderson, this is certainly a dramatic escalation, something we've not seen probably since last fall when the whole rocket man was first coined, but it definitely is coming at a time when many people in this administration certainly at the state department have been trying to use a diplomacy here. now, this certainly blows that out of the water. we've not heard language like this about kim jong-un really for several months. there was definitely a point made by this president, it seemed to sort of dial back the rhetoric a bit. tonight, it certainly starts that all over again, even more so than we've heard. >> jeff, what's so odd about this is that, i mean, correct

we want to go now to the white house to cnn's jeff zeleny, who has an update on what the president is told, how he's involved in, this and also what his plans might be and whether they're going to change since he was supposed to attend this retreated. >> that's right, dana. president trump was scheduled to visit the retreat tomorrow. told that is still the schedule now, but of course they're awaiting to see if the retreat goes on, if the house and senate members will be there tomorrow. but we do have a new statement from white house press secretary sara sanders, who i just spoke to moments ago about this. i'll just read it to you. she said, the president has been fully briefed on the situation in virginia and is receiving regular updates. she says, there's one confirmed fatality and one serious injury. there are no serious injuries, again, repeating, there are no serious injuries among members of congress or their staff. senior administration officials are in regular contact with amtrak and state and local authorities. our thoughts and prayers are with everyone that has been affected

days at the total absence of the council until it was really shocking i saw and i saw the legion jeff zeleny being filmed on the first day looking at certain shell shocked as we all were and then that was it that gone and completely gone there was nobody there was no help we wait a day after day after day for the council to step in to say hello this is what's nice to happen this is what we need to do. nobody to date has com and said actually this this this and this was their way and they had to register themselves. about residence the vibe is how to grow and document who survived or who never and that was going on for a day that you i don't know what the council thought was going on or how they fail to see and see but they seemed to in some way fail to see the emergency and that first day i remember thinking wow they've been caught with a pounce on a bit here and like oh but then by the end of the day when nothing much had improved thinking. this is a this isn't this feels like more significant than incompetence or even by request from the council who seem less than impressed with their resp