john kelly and rod rosen steste.publish a statement saying what it is their position on this is. so far, kate, they haven't said a word on this. they have not put out any statements that he offered to resign to john kelly. that's what we are waiting to hear. this wasn't the biggest thing on the president's mind over the weekend. he was much more focused with the kavanaugh drama surrounding the supreme court pick. which we heard him talk about at the united nations this morning. rod rosen stein was not at the top of the agenda. what they were going to do and what his position was going to be and whether or not he was going to stay on in this administration. right now this concern and confusion over whether or not he resigned, been fired, what is happening in the meeting with john kelly is what we are trying to find out. he offered to resign to john kelly last week. >> offered to resign so the status of his employment, we could have having an update very soon. seeing if the deputy attorney general is arriving. i keep w

we obviously don't know what happened this this meeting with john kelly. think the thing we do know for certain is this relationship between rod rosenstein and the president and john kelly is untenable in its turned situation. if rod rosenstein is going to stay in his job, something will have to be resolved. he can't keep living in this situation expecting to be fire and expecting to have to resign because of the unssht is creates. it seems like at the very least, there was an toast get a handle on these things. the current situation has been untenable. >> we know when the "new york times" story came out friday, rod rosenstein came out about the possibility he said this department happen, but the possibility of wearing a wire because he said he is in these meetings with the president and i will wear a wire and we will have a conversation about removing the president. that was the times reporting and other reporting he was being more facetious or tongue in cheek. we don't know who was in the car and we are keeping track. then friday he issues a statement. j

john kelly is in an interesting position here. he could be the one who would be having the conversation with rod rosenstein right now. there are questions about kelly's role in the administration, whether he is a strong chief of staff by most accounts. people say he is not. now he is going to potentially tell rod rosenstein, the guy who was in charge of the special counsel investigation, you are out of a job. do you think robert mueller might be interested in that potentially? maybe. that puts a lot of people in the cross hairs of this special counsel if, in fact, he does look into what happens next. and so i think that we can't -- there's a lot of times when we are blown up on cable. this is a big deal. this is a big deal if it ends up happening. and i'll say one last thing. the reaction from republicans and democrats on capitol hill. so they're already getting staked out by every capitol hill reporter to get reaction to kavanaugh and the new accusation against him. now the question is if, in fact, rod rosenstein is out of a job,

the washington post is reporting in oval office huddles, john f. kelly, john bolton, sara huk key sanders and jared kushner, among other aids, tried to convince the president he could trust him and others in his inner circle. they argued it was likely a lower-level official. there is donald trump surrounded by people who he does not trust telling him that his betrailyie is not only one of them but is not in their category. and one of the people in that oval office huddle telling the president that he could trust them, then told the washington post about the oval office huddle, proving that donald trump can't trust anyone in that room. tonight's washington post report from inside the trump white house says, quote, trump's aids challenged little of the column's substance, indeed. seen yr officials have i don't think along acted to slow walk the president. there is now no way for donald trump to forget that there is, as "the new york times" op-ed headline put it, quote, quiet resistance inside the trump administration. joining us now, david corn, washington

can we expect, other than repeating denials from john mattis, john kelly, john dowd, can we expect the white house to give us a list of all the things in that book that are wrong and can qualify bob woodward as a liar? >> i think that would be a complete waste of time. >> that goes to the fact that 55% of americans believe the op-ed is right and the president is getting a 60% negative rating. 60% of the american people think he's a dishonest person, so does the president think he can win a credibility battle with bob woodward who has taken nixon down and is a legend. >> personally i think i would rather take the actual on-record account from people who are here, who have been working in this building, who have interacted with president day in and day out, like general mattis, general kelly, like myself, not disgruntled employees who put their names on things when they attack the president. i think those are far more reliable voices within this administration, and they can accurately tell what's taking place in the building behind me. >> is the president a credible voice? >> absolutely.

he would probably do it via tweet. >> is john kelly kind of allowing this to happen because he is one of the people that's trying to pull back donald trump from his worst instincts? i mean, rob porter was close with kelly, we know that. rob porter is allegedly one of the people that was doing this in bob woodward's book. and so far, correct me if i'm wrong, he hasn't denied any of this, has he? >> not that i've seen. >> not that i've seen. >> not rob porter, no. >> john kelly is trying to do the best he can under the circumstances provided. is he doing the traditional chief of staff job? no. and is it problematic? yes, it's extremely problematic. like bob woodward said, today on the "today" show, we should all be very concerned with what's happening. is it normal to take a piece of paper off the president's desk? no. but this president also has no idea how to govern. two years in, he has shown no interest in learning how to governor. he cares about one thing. his ratings. and how he is -- and how he's perceived. that's it. >> let's play that woodward bite, since you brought it up. >>

laid it out perfectly but the white house's version is rod rosenstein during a conversation with john kelly on friday, when kelly, one of those few people still at the white house, president trump was traveling across the country, that rod rosenstein offered his resignation to john kelly. john kelly was under the impression he accepted that resignation and now we're dealing with this minute-to-minute drama in washington right now as to whether he was pushed or jumped, essentially. with this meeting set for thursday. as you heard from the president there during that interview with ger aal geraldo, he's voicing skepticism about that bombshell "new york times" piece that rod rosenstein wore a wire when he met with president trump and he tried to coerce certain cabinet officials to invoke the 25th amendment to force president trump out of office. we knew president trump was skeptical of that reporting because it's based on andrew mccabe, who was fired. a lot of people predicted in the aftermath of that story that had trump would automatically fire rosenstein because he's long talked about his d

that quote in the woodward book from john kelly, the white house chief of staff. what's the reaction you're getting over there? this book is supposed to be released on september 11th, but obviously a lot of excerpts are already out there. >> reporter: well, wolf, we knew in recent days our sources have been telling us that president trump was complaining that he never had the chance to sit down with bob woodward for an interview for this book, even though woodward made several attempts through senior white house officials to sit down with the president one on one, and now we know exactly why the president has been complaining about that. these stunning allegations made in this book not just about things that the staffers said about the president but also things the president said about his own employees, including the attorney general jeff sessions, who he said was a traitor and a dumb southerner, according to this book. that raises questions about the white house about how to react to this book. there have been other tell-alls in the past, but this is different.

but to you point, i want to quickly read the john kelly book. think itencapsulates everything. >> he has gone all of the rails, we're in crazy town, i don't know why any of us are here, this is the worst job i have ever had. >> one other point, i think this might have an impact on the midterms. i think the democrats need a check on trump. and it will make him even more powerful. i think it will have an impact. >> i also don't think -- i think it is bigger than politics. we're living in a time of peace and prosperity. where you worry about deceit and dysfunction after an attack. after a financial collapse, after a true national security emergency where presidential decisions matter and they're really impactful. >> david, jamie, joe, thank you very much. joe just brought up the supreme court nomination process, a contentious start, what can we expect on day two? that's in the report ahead. if you have psoriasis, ... little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats moderate to severe plaque

, as dana said, was the subject of some internal investigation that john kelly did.n friday. where he called rod rosenstein to the white house, asked him about what had happened, told him to issue a better denial if this was, indeed, not true. but they had some discussion about rosenstein resigning. my understanding from two people who were briefed on what took place, john kelly maid clear de expected the president was going to be quite angry about this. the president for whatever reason, whether because of the political ramifications which i do think is the main one, whether it's because he touched the hot stove once before by firing james comey and what he got as a result is robert mueller and doesn't want to go through that unknown again or whether he's distracted by brett kavanaugh or all of the above. he's not been extensively focused on this in the way we've grown accustom to him being so. he might once he gets back from the u.n. general assembly on thursday and he turns his attention to this. one reason why we also heard what jim heard which is a bunch of whit

is he about to get fired or resigned now that he met with the chief of staff, john kelly.n an interview, president trump would not say whether or not he plans to fire rosenstein. >> i think it's a very sad story. people are obviously -- we are looking into it, but it's a very sad state of affairs when something like that can happen. i don't want to comment on it until i get all the facts. i haven't gotten all the facts. it's being looked at in terms of what took place, if anything took place. >> let's go to the chief white house correspondent outside trump tower where the president is and what are you hearing from white house officials? >> sarah sanders, the press secretary finally after all of this reporting going back and forth as to what would happen for the deputy attorney general put out a statement saying he has not been fired or resigned. he is going to meet with the president on thursday. we can put this up on screen. it's cautiously worded, we should note. at the request of deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, he and president trump had an extended conversation

white house chief-of-staff john kelly describes trump as an idiot and unhinged. defense secretary james mattis says trump has the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader. john dowd, who quit earlier this year, describes the president as an fin' liar. he told trump he would wind up in an orange jump suit if he sat down with robert mueller. after a practice session back in january, the book says, the president stumbled contradicted himself and lost his cool. these things a dodd damn hoax. i don't really want to testify. >> the russian witch hunt, we got a whole big combination. where is the collusion? >> reporter: after that mock session woodward reports, the president's lawyers went to mueller's office and told mueller that he's incapable of telling the truth. i need the president's testimony mueller replied adding that he was trying to determine whether the president had a corrupt intent in firing fbi director james comey. the russia investigation provides some of the most vivid moments in the book by woodward, the legendary "the washington post" reporter of wate

been refuted and discredited by secretary of defense, james mattis, and general chief of staff john kelly. their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. likewise, other stories and quotes. woodward is a dem operative.

i don't know that i have seen john kelly more than -- i can't remember the last time i saw john kellysomebody out to their car. normally an entourage of people that walk around somebody, right, pete? clearly seems to me wanted to be on camera shaking hands. >> if they didn't, there were a million ways to avoided it. >> okay. but most people who leigh the white house after a meeting, the person they met with doesn't walk them out to the car. >> but pete -- >> say good-bye like a scene out of "downton abby." >> standing with rod rosenstein isn't necessarily signaling that the president is. we could be in an every man for himself moment where john kelly, he may have a relationship with rod rosenstein for years. we keep saying, well, francisco he doesn't like special investigations. >> remind everybody who that is. this is the guy who is the solicitor general of the united states, argues cases for the united states at the supreme court. he's clerked for antonin scalia and interestingly, pete, this is a rosenstein's job. >> in only one very important sense, overseeing the russia investigat

are we looking at a final chap which in the long feud with john kelly? >> that's right. ivanka and jared have been facing off against john kelly in the white house since he's been in the white house. we see each side staking out their ground now. there are a couple of reasons in that article why jared and ivanka would point at john kelly. one of the things they mentioned is ego. they said whoever wrote this piece just have a big eigo because he single-handedly can prevent the trump administration from take certain actions. and with white house representatives for kushner and ivanka have denied this. >> do you think there's anything for the john kelly rumor? >> i think there's rumors all around. the president has asked him to stay honest. chief of staff, for his entire term in office. if he stays longer than that, we'll have to see. yes, there has been attention between him and jared and ivanka. heavens, there's been tension between him and the president. but they've managed to make it through, john kelly and his staff have said and have shown that they're committed to wo

the question was posed why doesn't john kelly quit and go to congress. people have asked the same thing about general mattis. do you think there's an element -- and you listen to the thing these people are saying, that they're protecting the country from the president, do you think there's an element where they feel like they need to stay? >> i do. that's why reaction when they said why haven't they left? they haven't left because they feel they're protecting either the country or the world and that's serious. they may be denying the quotes they earlier gave woodward so they can do their job. >> what about that, carl? they're trying to keep him contained? >> i think that's certainly the case with mattis. kelly may be a little more complicated than that. there's a part of kelly that's very combative that believes in much of what the president wants to do and at the same time general kelly has made clear to many, many people in the white house that he sees his job as protecting the united states and the world from a rash and unpredictable and reckless pres

and might have just been the general john kelly is of the world who don't want big disruption before the next election trying to spin it because it's hard to predict exactly what president trump is going to do here. but we were discussing this right before hand, we don't know what's happening or if he is gone, if he is been fired or resigned or if he is going to be in the job tomorrow. >> kennedy: i think it's really interesting given the uncertainty around jeff sessions job ten is really critical whoever fills that role if rod rosenstein is in fact fired or he resigns i'm really curious to see what this does with jeff sessions because he may be out of a job after the midterms and what is the department of justice going to look like with its two main players being swapped out? >> christopher: based on the people that have been floated so far. taking over the rush investigation and then met whitaker. >> jessica: we are not sure about that, looks like francisco has a conflict of interest having worked the jones day. >> harris: i do want to talk about the difference between quitting and

i'm told that john kelly was saying that his denial was, quote, unquote, weak. >> stick around.he judge, brett kavanaugh, speaking out about the accusations threatening to derail his nomination to the u.s. supreme court. [kno♪king] ♪ memories. what we deliver by delivering. this is not a screensaver.game. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪ >>> there's more breaking news we're following. we are just getting word on when a vote on the u.s. supreme court nominee judge brett kavanaugh may happen. quickly go to our congressional correspondent phil mattingly. what's the latest, phil? >> reporter: several republican senators coming out of a leadership meeting from senator mitch mcconnell's office a short while ago saying it is possible there's a committee vote on brett kavanaugh's nomination as soon as this week, as soon as friday. that would be one day after the scheduled hearing where judge kavanaugh and christine blasey ford, the original accuser with sexual assau

although he was assigned to chief of staff john kelly he was always there to help anyone who needed it. our hearts are broken. agent johnson will be greatly missed. our prayers are with his entire family. with that i will take your questions. john. >> tuck stalk about the topic. day the anonymous op-ed this "the new york times." the president thought it would be a good idea for jeff sessions to look into this. is there anything about what was published about "the new york times" that would warrant a investigation by the department of justice? >> certainly if there is an individual, whether or not since we don't know who they are, if that individual is in meetings

president's closest advisor and this is according to wood ward, the white house chief of staff john kelly, idiot, unhinged. former secretary of state tillerson, an effing moran, cohn, a professional liar. john dowd, an effing liar. >> two things, if you want to test the woodward and bernstein approach because you're sitting there, i would say go and look at their interviews for the final days at the university of texas and then you can say how they've built the book. this is really damning because woodward is moving the story beyond where wilf or whipple took it. and let me tell you where it's different, mattis is in this story. in my mind the biggest deal that i've heard so far is we're hearing not from the secretary of defense because he's in awfully quiet, but people close enough to him that woodward is confident that he has a sense what mattis is thinking. mattis is playing a role i believe in this administration similar to the way melvin laird played in the nixon administration. he is slow walking things, he is calming down the national security state because the president cannot be

john kelly said no, we're going to wait to see what final report says. we're going to let brock long defend himself and, most importantly, we're going to get through this storm that's hitting north carolina right now. >> michael vendor with the story breaking for us in washington. michael, you framed it right. there's a storm brewing in the carolinas and one brewing in washington as well with the fema director. we'll keep on top of it. our coverage is going to continue here from florence in just moments, and we'll get an update on exactly what tropical storm florence is doing to this area, pounding wind and rain right now. when you're particular, you want things done right. that's why we test all of our paints and stains for months. or even years. we dedicate 175,000 square feet to getting it wrong... ...because you deserve paint that's done right. that's proudly particular. benjamin moore. the standard for paint professionals. only at local paint and hardware stores. when did you see the sign? when i needed to create a better visitor experience. improve

he was seen leaving with chief of staff john kelly.urs of speculation about his fate, white house press secretary, sarah sanders, issued a statement, saying, at the request of deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, he and president trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories. because the president is at the united nations general assembly and has a full schedule with leaders from around the world, they will meet on thursday when the president returns to washington. the new story in question is an explosive report from the "new york times" that said rosenstein secretly discussed recording the president last year, and had conversations about invoking the 25th amendment to remove him from office. >> i do want to have transparency, and openness. and i look forward to meeting with rod at that time. >> reporter: all this as the white house fought to keep supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh's knconfirmation aliv amid new allegations of sexual misconduct which he categorically denies. >> people have come out of the

axios is reporting that rob verbally resigned to john kelly.joined by our correspondent at the white house. this is after the revelation that the deputy attorney general had considered wearing a wire. whether that was a joke or not, it became a major story. what happens now, particularly the special counsel? rosenstein expected to be fired by president trump. he has offered his resignation to john kelly in anticipation of that firing. this follows that friday new york times report in which he says he sarcastically said the 25th amendment should be invoked against the president and suggesting he would wear a microphone to record president trump during those deliberations. the deputy attorney general has denied that new york times report. within then folks president's inner circle come out against the deputy attorney general in the last few hours. this comes amid a report that rob rosenstein has offered his resignation to chief of staff general john kelly. ofs comes in anticipation president trump saying he would fire the deputy attorney general.

there's a litany of things that john kelly has said. he has denied calling president trump, i think, an idiot, but has not said anything else about the other things he is quoted as saying. >> a specific quote or anecdote attributed to him in the book but you don't have a flat denial, a, i didn't talk to woodward or, b, i said nothing critical of the president. if they were so adamant about this, why wouldn't general kelly give some interviews, pop into the briefing room, as he has before at key moments? you see there, that is textbook trump there in his anger. and he starts his sentence and then remembers i didn't mention this person at all. rudy giuliani is also upset. to listen to the president there as he goes through this, it's part of the -- we're saving medicare and social security. there's a great economy that this president has every right to brag about. his supreme court nominee, one confirmed, one up on capitol hill that he has every right and every reason to brag about. but he is the republican president, who was the republic

it is kind of weird given that it is. >> the president's tweet that john kelly told him it wasn't himdon't know that. we know about john kelly saying the stuff about him in the woodward book is not accurate. >> exactly. it all happened in 24 hours. i think that is of note given that everyone else. don mcgahn walked by the cameras and didn't say anything. that is not necessarily an admission of guilt. when we walked back he made sure he said it isn't me. you can dismiss this as box checking. we know this is a president who cares about this. >> a high level official regardless because the "new york times" wouldn't have -- >> they wouldn't have gone through the angst if it was just an unknown official. >> this is not an under secretary of the under secretary. the "new york times" is not okaying something like this anonymously that alleges not a coup but an organized campaign to keep donald trump from himself. >> john kelly issued a statement denying that he called the president an idiot in the bob woodward. as far as we know he hasn't issued any statement in the after math of this op-ed

john kelly, that's happening right now, and oh, by the way, the president, here in new york for the united nations general assembly and that is why andrea mitchell is here as well. >> just another news day in new york city. craig melvin, my new neighbor, leading into our show. >> yeah. >> great to have you. great to be with you. >> thanks for having me. >>> i'm andrea mitchell in new york as we say, we're continuing our breaking news coverage. in washington the showdown between rod rosenstein and president trump. with pete williams reporting that rosenstein was summoned this morning but has no intention of resigning. that if may want to get rid of him, they're going to have to fire him. this of course in sharp contrast from what we're hearing from the white house that rosenstein intends to resign. of course the third possibility, the caution, that this could be a meeting where they'll end up clearing the air over the issues and rosenstein would remain in office for now, but if rosenstein is out, who would then take on rosenstein's current job of supervising the mueller probe? we have nbc's

he quotes that chief of staff john kelly said "i think we're going to lose. we could lose a third of the cabinet," that we're on the knife's edge. >> gary cohn talked about. >> it's a stunning scene. so gary cohn goes in with his resignation in hand, and trump berates him and says this is treason. you're a traitor. he says this is your wife and your park avenue friends. this is all according to woodward's reporting. and he says to cohn finally, you have to stay for the tax bill. and he convinces cohn to stay, and he leaves. but it is a horrible, horrible scene. and chief of staff john kelly is quoted as saying to cohn afterwards that if it was me, having been berated by trump, quote, i would have taken the resignation letter and shoved it up his -- six different times. >> and can i say a little bit of that. i spoke with somebody familiar to what went on during that situation today, and there were a group of senior officials who were waiting for cohn to resign. and if he had resigned, i was told there would have been an exodus right behind him. but since he di

terms top aides had some very disparaging things to say about their boss he says that the staff john kelly has called the president an idiot saying he has come often gone off the rails and saying this is crazy town he reports that secretary of defense to mattis basically compared the president's ability to understand to a fifth or sixth grade level and that he reports to gary coleman once the president's chief economic adviser once took paperwork trade paperwork off the president's desk saying that he wouldn't remember and he was trying to protect the country he also reports that the president has had very nasty things to say about his top aides including attorney general jeff sessions according to woodward trump said that he was mentally retarded and he referred to him as this dumb southerner. the white house is pushing back on this releasing a statement saying that this is basically fake news and the president's come out and said that bob woodward has a credibility issue he really hasn't ever had a credibility issue and he has said today he stands by his story still the president's takin

he had a meeting with john kelly. he talked to the president on the phone and the decision was made he would talk to the president in person on thursday. then he went onto a regular deputy meeting at the white house filling in for the attorney general jeff session who is was traveling. then he went back to the justice department and resumed being deputy attorney general. that's the easy part. why the confusion, i'm not sure. i think we have a little better picture here. you have the friday article that you talked about. on saturday we're now told that rod rosenstein had a telephone conversation with the white house counsel about rosenstein's future. either rod said maybe it's time for me to go or mcgahn said maybe it's time for you to go. that was discussed. today rosenstein gets summoned to the white house to have this meeting and the white house was saying he's coming here to resign. the justice department people were saying he's not kbigoing t resign. if they want him out, they'll have to fire him. we know that it

top aides had some very disparaging things to say about their boss he says that chief of staff john kelly has called the president an idiot saying he has come often gone off the rails and saying this is crazy town he reports that secretary of defense jim mattis basically compared the president's ability to understand to a fifth or sixth grade level and that he reports to gary cole once the president's chief economic adviser once took paperwork trade paperwork off the president's desk saying that he wouldn't remember and he was trying to protect the country you also reports that the president has had very nasty things to say about his top aides including attorney general jeff sessions according to woodward trump said that he was mentally retarded and he referred to him as this dumb southerner. their white house is pushing back on this releasing a statement saying that this is basically fake news and the president's come out and said that bob woodward has a credibility issue he really hasn't ever had a credibility issue and he has say today he stands by his story still the president's takin

chief of staff, john kelly, aggressively pushed back, general mattis aggressively pushing back in thealso pushing back against the things that are attributed to him. and a number of people have come out and said that woodward never even reached out to corroborate statements that were attributed to them, which seems incredibly reckless for a book to make such outrageous claims, to not even take the time to get a $10 fact checker to call around and verify that some of these quotes were happening, when no effort was made, it seems like a very careless and reckless way to write a book. >> the president was saying whether it was looking whether or not to take action. does the president not think that that op-ed is protected by your first amendment? does he really think that the federal government should contemplate action against a newspaper for publishing an article? >> i think it was less about that part of it and whether or not somebody who is actively trying to undermine the executive branch of the government and a dually elected president of the united states. they don't want to be pa

john kelly saying we are in crazy town and the word crazy town trending on twitter.le talking about this book big time. heather: but all of them saying they didn't make those comments. the time is 27 minutes after the top of the hour. silicon valley on capitol hill, top tech companies testifying on foreign interference in the november midterms today. our next guest an ethical hacker, says it is time these conversations were had, he is calling out twitter and facebook for ignoring proper protocol. >> senator booker. >> i'm almost done. >> i'm a trailblazer. heather: ringling brothers may be out of business but their successes for capitol hill, democrats join the brett kavanaugh confirmation hearing into a circus. would help or hurt potential 2020 candidates? ♪ i want it now ♪ i want it all ♪ ordering custom ink t-shirts has been a really smart decision for our business. i love the custom ink design lab because it's really easy to use. they have customer service that you can reach anytime. t-shirts help us immediately get a sense of who we are as a group. from the mome

we have john kelly who just came out with a fantastic statement, the great general john kelly.plause] general kelley came out with a great statement. general mattis said i never said that. one thing with general mattis and another thing with john kelly, when they say they didn't say it, they didn't say it. they're not messing around. four stars, four stars. marines. i said let's put together a little list of some of the things we have done. we have done more in this administration than any administration i believe in this short. of time. not even two years yet been any administration in the history of our country. we have done more. [applause] it is four pages of this. four pages, each line is another thing. this goes on, and on, and on. if i read every one of them, as big as they are, they are big things. you would be bored. more than 4 billion jobs -- more than 4 million jobs have been created with 200,000 jobs created just in the last month. wages are growing at the fastest pace in many years. it is about time. maybe not so much for the people in this room but people who are

their theory was in the hours after the op-ed was published that it was most likely an effort by john kelly and/or his deputy chief of staff zack fuentes because inside the white house kelly has made a lot of these arguments. it's well known he believes he is the adult in the room. that said, that was a moment in time. it's from my reporting, it's indicated that jared and ivanka have moved away from that and they don't necessarily think it's those two. to me what this is reflective of as the op-ed has surfaced, all of the internal divisions inside this white house. the finger pointing is rampant. another name is ambassador of russia jon huntsman, who is again very close to the late senator john mccain, was considered an establishment republican. he is viewed suspiciously by trump loyalists. so that is another example of how this administration is driven by internal conflicts and whether or not we find the identity author, i think we will soon, it is still done a lot to amplify the sense of paranoia and suspicious around this president. >> interesting if and when we do find out who the autho

john kelly is also quoted as saying he's gone off the rails, we're in crazytown. the book paints a devastating picture of chaos and drama inside the west wing. >>> doenlts testify. the president's lawyer worried that the president would commit perjury if he talked to robert mueller after a practice interview with the president, john dowd is quoted as saying, don't testify. its either that or an orange jump suit. >>> stealing papers. woodward reports that the senior staff would steal documents from his desk to protect the country from possible disaster. woodward describes it as no less than an administrative cue dayta and mob rule as hearings begin, the judiciary committee divides along partisan lines with democrats moving to adjourn in a fight over documents. republicans dig in calling the democrats' move mob rule. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> its beyond stunning. in his latest book, bob woodward presents a devastating look behind the scenes of the trump white house. top members of the president's

john kelly quoted as saying it's pointless to try to convince him of anything. he's gone off the rails. we are in crazytown. telling staffers i don't know why any of us are here. this is the worst job i have ever had. that's the current chief of staff who denies calling the president an idiot. he is seen as so dangerous by one cabinet member, he swiped a document off the president's desk to protect the country he mocked hr mcmaster behind his back saying he dressed in cheap suits like a beer salesman. he calls jeff sessions mentally retarded and said he talks like a dumb southerner. the president referred to him as a little rat. he just scurries around. for priebus's part, talking about the president's twitter habit, he refer to the presidential bedroom as the dev devil's work shots and calls sunday night the witching hour. the people who told him all this all on tape directly witnessed or took part in the events they described. we have details on the white is you premtivity march in charlottesville saying there were good people on both sides. there is new repor

that's the chief of staff john kelly. now the defense secretary, james mattis, describing trump as having the understanding of, quote, a fifth or sixth grader. trump's former personal lawyer, john dowd, according to woodward described the president as a f'ing liar. those are his words. in an effort to convince trump not to talk to mueller said, quote, don't testify. it is either that or an orange jump suit. former chief economic adviser gary cohen, who woodward reports was appalled president trump might have signed later withdrawing the u.s. from a trailed agreement with sergey kislyak south carolina. here is a quote from him. i stole it, that is the letter off his office desk. i wouldn't let him see it. he's never going to see that document. got to protect the country. former staff secretary rob porter, quote, a third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas. of course, there's the previously-reported com

denials of portions the quotes, those quotes coming out of the john kelly, james mattis, rudy guilliani and john dowd, but this is an important point. there are tapes. in a note to readers in his book bob woodward says the book is drawn from hundreds of hours of interviews with first-hand participants and witnesses to the events. nearly all allowed me to tape-record our interviews so the story could be told with more precision. cnn has confirmed woodward spoke to at least a dozen former and current white house officials, and the president himself said in a phone call he knew it was being recorded. he said, quote, i think you've always been fair. but then i want you to listen to this, because the president changing his tune in that same call on whether any republican senators talked to him about woodward, okay. >> and i certainly don't mind talking to you and i wish i could have spoken to you. >> well -- >> but, you know, nobody called my office. i mean you went through i guess different people. >> mr. president, how can i spend all of this time talking to people and -- like kellyanne an

in this report he talks about perhaps being able to persuade john kelly, then the secretary of homeland security, someone you know pretty well. and attorney general jeff sessions to see it the way he saw it to maybe bring them around to supporting the invocation of the 25th amendment. >> under the constitution, under the 25th amendment section 4, there's a provision that says if the president is unable to discharge the duties or responsibility of his office. then the majority of the cabinet and vice president basically can go to congress and congress has to agree and the president can oppose that. the phrase unable to discharge the power and duties of his office does not speak to mental illness. it does not speak to physical impairment. it really is an open-ended invitation by people around him to say this president is compromised for reasons we may not fully understand. either he's under the authority and control of a foreign power or he's not mentally with it. or for other reasons but clearly you seen that rod rosenstein had grave concerns in those days that the president was unable t

part of that is because john kelly, the chief of staff, is here in washington. president trump hasn't been here since on thursday because he was traveling last week, then was in new jersey, now is in new york this week. but what we do know is that rod rosenstein simply miscalculated just how angry he believed the president was going to be to that "new york times" reporting. whenever they had reached out for comment, he essentially, of course, as you noted -- their reason has been pretty bad before to where the president openly talked about firing him. so when this story came out, the natural prediction was that president trump would be so angry that his deputy attorney general had floated the idea of wearing a wire to meet with him, that he would fire him. so rod rosenstein was prepared. he offered his resignation. he said he was willing to quit. john kelly was under the impression that he had accepted his resignation, and ha is what led and jump-started all the chaos that happened today. of course, president trump wasn't actually as angry as people thought. on

that he didn't understand what was going on, we hear, you know, chief of staff john kelly has now denied saying he called the president "an idiot." but there are other quotes that wood ward has that he has not denied, where he says that the president is unhinged. he has dangerous impulses, he is erratic. this is something that you see throughout the book. >> jeffrey toobin, in your wheel house, the legal issues in this book. one of the things they're reporting is on january 27th the president's attorney staged a mock sit down between president trump and robert mueller, and it sounds like john dowd played robert mueller. dowd asked questions of president trump that responded with stumbles, contracontradict and lies, and it was then decided that john dowd told president trump this cannot happen, and mueller. >> this is consistent with my own reporting on what has done on here. but of course bob woodward is bob woodward and i trust him implicitly. i think every word in this book is true. in terms of the interview, this is what lawyers do. they look at their clients with a remorseless eye, a

even john kelly, the chief of staff, didn't know there was going to be this meeting. and trump just does it. under the law, he has that authority. some people think he may be stretching it. but now we are in the world of these trade wars which he says he thinks he can win. wow. danger, danger. i mean, the fright that people feel. there's one point where tom bossert, his cybersecurityo chief --ne has talked about this. but he goes to see trump. he's going to go on television on a sunday show and trump says, tell them i'm putting tariffs up to $500 billion on china. now, this was four or five months ago. of course, that's exactly where he's heading. an the president's so so pumped up about this, he says, you know, boy, it's too bad it's a sunday show because if it were monday and the markets were open, you'd tank the markets. the president's job is not to tank the market.o it's t stabilize the markets. i was really surprised by that, that he would -- because hte sp all this time in new york, understands finance a way. in a way he n does. but to speak proudly of tanking

chief of staff john kelly called it pathetic and total bs. defense secretary mattis said it's a product of someone's rich imagination. but so far, no denials from gary comn and others mentioned by name in the book. abc news, washington. >>> shifting gears, nike's stock rebound folifol i following the recent add campaign involving colin kaepernick. the new campaign features the former 49er and reads, "believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything." alluding to his kneeling protest during the national anthem over social injustice. in the past hour kaepernick and nike tweeted out the video version of the ad. >> don't ask if your dreams are ou're crazy enough. ♪ >> the ad runs two minutes long. we have posted a link to our website, abc7news.com, if you want to see it. now, everybody has weighed in on this issue. many people from consumers to the president. so we created a facebook badge, will you continue to buy nike products in the wake of this? go to facebook.com/abc7news and vote. >>> happening now, president trump's controversi