we just heard a little while ago from jim acosta, our senior white house correspondent, the united states is now actively considering the possibility of not attending the g-8 summit in sochi, russia, in june unless the russians withdraw their troops from ukraine. don't get involved militarily. the immediate and former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul is joining us once again. he's back in stanford university, only back a couple days, ambassador and the situation is escalating by the moment. i want you to listen to what senator john mccain told us here in "the situation room" just a little while ago about president obama. >> it's been clear that maybe the president of the united states has been a bit naive about vladimir putin and his ambitions. >> you served the president of the united states, you were named as his ambassador in moscow, you're a scholar when it comes to russia and the former soviet union. is the president a bit naive when it comes to putin? >> no. and i worked with the president for five years, wolf. i worked with at the white house for three years before going t

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is traveling with fortunate. m. >> reporter: that's right, carol. president obama will be down here in mexico later today to sit down with the president of mexico and the prime minister of canada steven harper on a whole range of issues. you mention ad few there. trade. the president would like a transpacific trade agreement hammered out with these leaders and leaders across the pacific. he's probably not going to get much accomplished in terms of what might be on paper during this summit. that's one thing he's looking at. he's been hearing it from democratic leaders up on capitol hill they don't like the fast track trade authority that the president would like to hammer out that transpacific deal. also on immigration reform the president of mexico would very much like to see the united states pass comprehensive immigration reform and get to it the president's desk. obviously that has been stymied up on capitol hill. that's under discussion according to administration firms. the keystone pipeline something that ca

our seep your white house correspondent jim acosta is joining us right now. are you learning, jim? >> we're learning that the white house is basically sending a diplomatic warning to russia over the events of ukraine. just a few moments ago hearing from a senior administration official that the u.s. may not attend the g-8 summit in russia in sochi where the olympics were just held later on this june if russia is in ukraine. senior administration official basically telling us that it would be very hard for the united states and european allies to justify attending that summit if russian forces are in ukraine. the senior administration official going on and saying that russia has built up some good will after hosting what was a successful olympic games in sochi but at this point, the white house, the obama administration, in the words of the senior administration official, just cannot see a scenario where they would attend that g-8 summit in sochi if russian forces are in ukraine. a clear, clear diplomatic warning to the russians, wolf, something we did not hea

let's talk about this with gloria borger and jim acosta. there was a compelling story that i wrote about president obama at a father 's day meetin with a bunch of fatherless men who came to the oval office. he had been working with them. the program is called b.a.m., becoming a man. they all signed a father's day card for him and handed it to him. they said they never signed a father's day card because they don't have fathers. president obama said he had never signed a father's day card either. that really is the root of a lot of the problems here. >> it is. and i think this is kind of the most emotional, raw, real president obama that you'll ever see. i mean, this is -- this is someone who clearly identifies with these young men who don't have a father, who feel kind of left out there alone and he had a very clear message to them, which is, no excuses, set goals, work hard. this is a president who once compared himself to trayvon, you know. >> he said, if i had a son -- >> sorry. if i had a son, he would look like trayvon. he said, look, i

let's bring in senior white house correspondent jim acosta. cting the president to say here? >> i think the president is going to back up secretary john kerry and other officials, including jay carney earlier this afternoon, that any moves by russia to intervene in the crisis to perhaps invade that territory of crimea would be a grave mistake, in the words of white house officials and according to secretary of state john kerry. one thing that we've been pressing officials all day long, jake, is exactly who those forces are in the crimea area. we're seeing forces with insignias that appear to be blackandover or concealed. it's not clear who is on the ground in crimea. hopefully we'll get updated information from the president as to what that is. jake, make no mistake, this is, again, once again, another confrontation between the president and vladimir putin over what is happening. those events on the ground in the ukraine. >> let's bring in chief national correspondent jim sciutto. i was e-mailing with a senior official who points out that the r

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is on that story. good morning, jim. >> good morning, carol. that's right. the president praises perhaps an end to the politics of brinksmanship as the congress, as the senate passes that debt ceiling bill. i'll have details coming up in just a few minutes. up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com hot breakfast options. hampton, enjoy our free you did a great job. it looks good! then fuel up with up to 9,000 hhonors bonus points on a long weekend stay. make every stay more rewarding and feel the hamptonality. you are gonna need a wingman. and with my cash back, you are money. forget him. my airline miles will take your game worldwide. what i'm really looking for is -- i got tw

. >>> let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jim acosta.o be clear the cbo did not say jobs would actually be lost it said workers can choose to work fewer hours to meet obamacare requirements for coverage. you know, i just think many people have already made up their mind about obamacare, either they like it or they don't like it. >> reporter: that's right. >> so will the president at some point come out and talk about this latest twist? >> reporter: well, i think we're going to have to wait and see. he'll be over at national's park the baseball stadium here in washington with bill clinton later today to address senate democrats at their retreat and this will be all about 2014 mid-term politics, getting the party's agenda on table for the upcoming mid-term election. i imagine obamacare will come up. remember last week at the state of the union speech one of the big lines of applause among democrats up on capitol hill when the president was delivering those remarks was a stout defense of obamacare. democrats really rallied around the presid

thanks very much jim acosta for that. >>> now another big city mayor whose early honeymoon has turnednew york city's mayor bill de blasio. deborah feyerick has our report. >> reporter: the honeymoon ended quickly for new york city mayor bill de blasio and the city's relentless press corps, which follows him day in, day out. do you feel you're being treated unfairly? >> i think too much of the time the debate veers away into side shows. but i'm not shocked by that. >> reporter: since being sworn in january 1, the rookie mayor has taken fire on everything, from keeping schools open during a snowstorm and taxing the rich to seemingly please constituents to perceived favoritism of a political supporter and a do what i say not what i do approach. the mayor asking new yorkers to drive better while his own ka caravan disregarded basic traffic laws. >> we're holding ourselves to this standard. >> reporter: when asked about the double standard, the mayor, visibly annoyed, refused to answer questions. >> mayor communicates to the voters, to the people through the press. and when you lose credib

jim acosta is traveling with the president and he joins us from mexico. what's the latest, jim? in mexico for a summit that was supposed be on issue closer to home, like imgrigs and trade, but he took time to warn the leaders in the ukraine. the question is whether the ukrainians listen. for president obama it seems there is no escape, even on this eight-hour trip to mexico for a summit on north american leaders, the president was forced to switch gears to get another world crisis. this time issuing a stern warning on the violence in ukraine. >> there will be consequences if people step over the line, and that includes making sure that the ukrainian military does not step in to what should be a set of issues that can be resolved by civilians. >> reporter: mr. obama's options for ukraine are limited. the u.s. and other leaders are threatening the ukrainian government with sanctions. but it can lead fewer results and more bloodshed as it has so far in syria. >> when is the united states of america going to show some leadership? when is the president of the united states going to l

. >> bringing in our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta. jim, how will this affect the 34 states where same-sex marriages are not legal? >> well, wolf, first we should point out that attorney general eric holder is going to issue a memo sometime this afternoon to make official essentially what he revealed over the weekend, that the federal government is going to recognize same-sex marriages in all 50 states, even in those states where same-sex marriages currently not legal. and as you mentioned a few moments ago, wolf, this is going to really pertain, as eric holder said, to areas where the federal government has jurisdiction, bankruptcy court cases, other federal court proceedings, survivor benefits, issues and so on. and so this is really leading social conservative groups to attack the white house, the family research council came out with a statement over the weekend saying this was another example of the administration's, quote, lawlessness. but eric holder in that speech to the human rights campaign, wolf, said this is really about equ

jim acosta is in washington with more. good morning, jim. >> reporter: good morning.ed long enough for the white house to pull off a star stud tribute to the french president, francois hollande . i'll have details in just a moment. ? hey, is it true we can get four lines, unlimited talk and text and 10 gigs of data to share for 160 a month? yep. at&t's new family pricing. that's 100 bucks cheaper than us. i know. are you guys with verizon? what makes you think that? oh. just her nametag. and i see you guys at the food court every day. can we go back now? yeah. [ male announcer ] introducing our best-ever pricing for families. 10 gigs of data to share. unlimited talk and text. and 4 lines for $160 a month. only from at&t. and 4 lines for $160 a month. it says here that a woman's sex drive. increases at the age of 80. helps reduce the risk of heart disease. it seems that 80 is the new 18. grannies, bless your heart, you are bringing sexy back! eat up. keep heart-healthy. live long. for a healthy heart, eat the 100% natural whole grain goodness of post shredded wheat. do

joining us, jim acosta and peter hamby. >> jim, let's start with you.ed us out, they referred to us as the friends in the media. we can be grateful for that, carol. the president is not on the ballot this year. he is not running for re-election. his name might as well be. that's why you heard the president at this house democratic retreat in maryland sort of package these democratic ideas for the upcoming mid-term elections. talking about raising the minimum wage, talking about immigration reform. interesting that the president also sort of took a victory lap there on the debt ceiling bill. he got what he wanted. he got a clean debt ceiling bill. this was very much according to white house officials about the president's agenda for the coming year, an opportunity agenda as they call it. he is going to be using those executive actions when congress won't go along with him. interesting to point out what vice president joe biden said. he ripped into republicans. sounded like a guy thinking about unarirunning for presiden. >> there isn't a republican party.

correspondent christine romans is in new york along with financial expert monica, david wessell and jim acosta. christina, i want to start with you. these were disappointing numbers. >> reporter: they are. perspective servicing. 6.6% on the jobless rate. better than 10% at the peak of the crisis but not good enough for where we are right now. i want to show you these important numbers. still have 10.2 million people unemployed. 3.6 million people out of work for six months or longer. i'm very concerned about that part of the labor market. things are not getting better for the long term unemployed and we're hearing and seeing a bias against those people who have been out of work for a long time. people who are hiring those who are newly unemployed. you have a labor force participation rate of 63%. it means too many working age americans are not working. that number way too low, still shows you and economy that's leaving a huge, huge swath of americans behind. >> let's parse this out further. david, is there any silver lining to this? >> it is. i agree it's a disappointing number. the labor depa

jim acosta is at the white house. how do you play it? jim? both sides coming together or they just have to do this? >> reporter: oh, i think this is just a cease n-fire in the battles, legislative battles near washington. the president want add clean debt ceiling bill, no stricks attached and that's what he got and released a statement last night thanking lawmakers for passing this increase to the nation's debt ceiling but also said in the statement he hopes this puts an end to what he called the politics of brinkmanship. something this town has been dealing with the last three years at least on budget matters. as you saw yesterday, senate republicans managed to defeat a threatened filibuster by texas senator ted cruz who wanted budget cuts in exchange for this bill to raise the nation's debt limit and defiant move on the part of republicans because of a lot of conservative and tea party groups saying, do not vote for this bill. after what they saw, their poll numbers in what happened to their poll numbers last fall, they were not about to le

jim acosta questioned the white house press secretary about this. >> it is a fact that there will be no truce? >> yes, correct. >> by december 31st, they will all be gone? >> absolutely. >> no wavering on that? >> absent of the s.a., there will be no troops on the ground at the end of the year. >> joining me now to talk about the zero option is chairman robert menendez. thank you so much for joining us. our jim sciutto reports that a senior government official in pakistan said that a complete withdrawal will lead to a, quote, holocaust. i know you've had your issues with karzai in the past. are you comfortable with a zero presence, no u.s. troops in afghanistan? >> well, look, i think even the administration is not comfortable with the context of the zero option but one thing that i support the administration on is for us to continue to have troops in afghanistan, even at a diminished amount of troops, we need a bilateral security agreement. it's under u.s. authority and without that, it's very difficult for us to leave troops in any country without such a bilateral security agreemen

i want to go to our white house correspondent, jim acosta. you've covered this president for a long time. is this a sign -- this is really a new phase for the president, one of more candor and one of it appears to be coming more into his own. is this a sign do you believe of what is to come later on in the obama administration and even after he leaves office? >> i think so. this is a big part of his legacy, don. he was speaking emotionally and personally in ways we haven't seen since perhaps the race speech he gave when he was running for president way back in 2008. when i was listening to the president's words today, it was not really a marshaling of resources. yes, he has gotten assurances for about $200 million for at-risk youth. this was a marshaling of presidential power and the bully bull pit to go into those inner city communities and say to these young men not just that you can be president, but i the president was once you. i think that was a very important message. >> jim, speaking to many people who have been at the white house, st

also senior white house correspondent jim acosta joins us. nick we spoke to you at the beginning of the program. in terms of where you are, at least some of which appears quite dangerous, is there any talk of a truce, is this calming things at all? >> reporter: right now i'm seeing fireworks go off right behind me fired directly at what seems to be police positions down there. so no sense of peace here at all, frankly. i mean, the real question, anderson, is exactly what talks could result and president yanukovych doesn't seem to want to go anywhere at this point, anderson. >> nick, are people able who are in the square, protesters, are they able to get back and forth or are they stuck there, completely surrounded? >> reporter: no, they can come and go. down further away from here it's possible to get in and out. we don't know what sanction they might face by police if they move away from this area, if they're perhaps arrested or picked up at all. it's a long to the side to my left here where police have very firm lines. they've been pushing

jim acosta is with the president in mexico. let me begin with you. from the president. sounds like he is saying the people in kiev should be able to speak freely and the answer is not violence. >> that's right and keep in mind this was not supposed to be on the president's agenda with the summit of the north american leaders with the president of mexico and the prime minister of canada. world events have intervened and the president is responding and the president made the comments with the adviser. not too far away. one thing jumped out at me with the president that said there would be consequences when people step over the line. they have already invited to that red line. president obama drew with respect to syria when he warned the regime didn't use chemical weapons. when it was reported that they did use chemical weapons. the president came close to using military action against that country and pulled back, choosing the diplomatic route. you have to wonder what the president will do with respect to ukraine. especially when the ukrainian governme

. >>> in the meantime, our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is standing by at the white house because the president had this big meet with senate democrats the other day. what came out of that. you've been doing some digging. >> i have been doing some digging. the prayer breakfast is an opportunity for the president every year to talk about his faith. i'd be really surprised just to briefly touch on that if he does not talk about pope francis. the president will be traveling to rome, the vatican on march 27th to meet with the pope. and the president has talked about the pope's attention to income inequality which is also a goal of the president's to tackle income inequality. so the president may tip his hat to the pope. we'll have to wait and see. getting back to this meeting with senate democrats. the president has been doing this a lot lately. he's been meeting with house democrats over here at the white house. senate democrats at the baseball stadium in washington. did that with bill clinton yesterday. and from what i am hearing from one democratic source, the president did

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jim acosta is in d.c. following the historic announcement. jim? >> reporter: that's right.ral eric holder will make official later today what he revealed over the weekend, which is that the federal government will start recognizing same-sex marriages in all 50 states, even in states where it is not legal. the attorney general did point out this is only going to apply to areas where the federal government has jurisdiction, but this was something immediately criticized by social conservative groups. the attorney general eric holder said this is about equal protection under the law and going further than that, this is a without that seems sick many -- that is why you saw in this u.s. delegation to sochi, a number of athletes who were openly gay. don't be surprised if you see this white house make a statement about michael sam, the college football player who announced he was gay. >> you may want to check your freezer this morning if you bought beef in the last month or so. a major recall affecting more than 8.7 million pounds of meat after federal agents say it came from disea

jim acosta has the details. >> for a least one night it was out in any with the glitz and glamour. >>had washington headliners to greet the president. >> i have an official exhausted my french. >> what president obama french on it was so far, he made sure his taste was not lost. >> to our friend and partners, to all of our friends who are here today. >> god bless america. >> the high profile at dinner had days of diplomacy. the practice of the president has widespread. >> there is no country--the leaders-as he warned companies about following executives who try to do business in a run even though the world is trying to rein in. >> we will come down on them like a ton of bricks. >> both presidents expressed frustration over the war in syria and they're great that no military solution right now. but the two leaders get along, one wanted to know if france cut replace great britain three >> first of all, i have two daughters. and they are both gorgeous, wonderful, and i would never choose between them. that is how are still about my outstanding european partners. >> french president franc

. >> jim acosta thank you. let's look at our headlines. just after the top of the hour.er of a growing battle. newly released documents show within two weeks of the raid that killed the al qaeda leader then vice admiral sent an e-mail ordering photos that were not turned over to the cia that they would be destroyed immediately. conservative group judicial watch said it filed a freedom of information act request for the pictures beforehand. >> two cross country skiers are dead after being caught in an avalanche in oregon. six people have been killed in avalanches in recent days including two others each in utah and colorado. amazingly one man did survive being swept up by an avalanche. you can see the whole thing captured right there. frightening moments on his helmet cam. >>> infant car seats. graco recalling 3.8 million seats for faulty buckles. it involves car seats from the 2009 to 2013 model years. graco is offering free replacement buckles. >>> some wild video out of wisconsin. a bus driver and a student get in a fight on a moving bus. the student instigating the fi

that's why we're going to jim across ta at the -- acosta at the white house. >> reporter: i can tell you the white house is watching these developments in ukraine very closely. as you saw, the white house was cautiously optimistic that the truce would hold. then the president told the ukrainians not to cross a line. that apparently did take place in kiev on thursday. joe biden did place a phone call to january co-skrich to warn him -- yanukovych to warn him to pull back forces. that is an indications that these sanctions are ready to go. while the white house has said he has not engaged in some russian chess match, they have been ramped up pressure on the russians to do something. i talked to an official this week that said this looks very bad for putin. they view what happens in ukraine as very important to the west, very important to europe. and they don't want to see this thing go down and descend into more and more violence. >> more instability is the last thing they need over there right now. jim, thank you very much. >>> we also have new information this morning on the warnings