dave and christine. >> kaitlan collins, thanks. a new report shows that russian operatives got the top threat to the trump campaign. they did it by setting up fake accounts on facebook and twitter and instagram and other sites. they targeted pages to create the russia probe as nonsense. they did it by setting up fake accounts on facebook and instagram and they used the narrative that the russia probe was nonsense. >> the campaign targeted african-americans as part of the broader effort to suppress voter turnout among democrats. the report goes on to say other ethnic groups were the focus of one or two facebook pages or instagram accounts, the black community was targeted specifically. >>> james comey's disputes with the president is nothing new, but now targeting the republican party for refusing to stand up to the commander in chief. comey defended the issues on monday after a second round of questioning with the congress. >> the president of the united states is lying to the fbi. he is attacking the rule of law. the words of a pr

dave and christine. >> kaitlan collins, thank you. >>> president trump will meet with chuck schumer and nancy pelosi later this morning at the white house. democrats, republicans and white house have until december 21st to reach a budget deal and avert a partial government shutdown. democratic leaders plan to offer $1.3 billion, far short of the $5 billion the president wants to fund the wall. down from the $1.6 billion they offered earlier. in a joint statements, pelosi and schumer says this, his wall proposal doesn't have the votes to pass the senate. democratic leaders say the country cannot afford what they are branding a trump shutdown at this time. >>> a bipartisan group of senators working to defend democracy. they are warning that the country is entering a dangerous period with the investigations of the president likely to ramp up in the new year. the 44 ex-senators write in the op-ed quote at other critical moments in our history when constitutional crises have threatened our foundations, it is the senate that stood in the defense of democracy. we urge current and future senato

our colleague kaitlan collins reports that ayers and trump discussed the chief of staff replacing kelly. the president wanted a two-year commitment from ayers. cnn has been told the president is considering four names to replace kelly. one may be mark meadows. a close ally of the president on capitol hill. cnn is told that the president is saaimed to make the decisiony the end of the year. >> thank you. according to special counsel robert mueller, paul manafort lied about five major issues after agrees to cooperate. including the interactions with the man named konstantin kilimnik. mueller says kilimnik has ties to the russian internet which hacked during the 2016 campaign. we have fred pleitgen with more this morning. fred, what do we know about konstantin kilimnik? >> reporter: not much. he is someone who doesn't like to be in the spotlight. the documents show this man, but he was very important to paul manafort. he worked for manafort for a long time in eastern europe. specifically in ukraine where they did business with the pro russian government of ukraine and also with the russian

we get more from some girl, a terrific reporter, kaitlan collins, at the white house. >> reporter: iteems that president trump bottled his anger toward the special counsel robert mueller and unleashed it in a series of tweets going after the special counsel, but after his former attorney michael cohen who recently pleaded guilty to lying to congress. president trump is not only saying he lied under oath, but calling for the maximum prison sentence for michael cohen saying he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for the crimes he committed which he says were not related to him. two high profile guilty pleas have had to do directly with president trump. one admitted he violated campaign finance laws which he did at the direction of president trump and lying to congress, which he said he did out of loyalty to president trump. this seems to have unnerved president trump. we reported michael cohen sat down with the special counsel's team for at least 70 hours over the last several weeks which is something clearly giving the president a cause for concern. dave and christine

kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >>> in charlottesville, virginia the man who drove a car into a crowd protesting a white nationalist rally was convicted of murder and nine other charges. 21-year-old james field was found guilty for the incident in august of 2017 which took 32-year-old heather heyer's life. he faces possible sentencing of life in prison. his defense tried to argue that field was panicking and acted in self-defense. he also faces 30 federal hate crime charges which will be decided in a separate case. >>> we're watching these live images from paris. and these are images from just moments ago where we understand tear gas has been fired into the crowd. you see the crowd is moving about. we understand now some 1500 protesters are on the streets of paris right now. they are protesting a fuel tax, and they have continued even after the french president backed away from that proposal. police at this point have detained 342 people for questioning. these images from moments ago of tear gas being fired into the crowd. cnn will continue to monitor these live images. we'll

i want to bring in kaitlan collins at the white house. as i bring in kaitlan, we are going to take a look at the markets after this hit with her. china has confirmed president trump's claims which the markets have been responding to here. there seems to be disagreement here. >> reporter: there does seem to be disagreement coming out of that dinner they had. president xi and president trump while they were in argentina and president trump is touting this as an undeniable success. he is saying it's always the white house that they put essentially a 90-daytime frame that was supposed to happen on january 1st, but they continue to work things out according to what the white house said. president trump is announcing new things saying that the chinese agreed to reduce that 40% tariff on cars coming in from the united states even though the chinese have said nothing about that and have not confirmed that. bria kn anna , something else i 90-daytime line is that president trump and economic advisers keep pointing to saying that's when they work out

our correspondent kaitlan collins is joining us. e here up on capitol hill later this evening i understand to pay his respects? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. in the next hour or two president trump and the first lady, melania trump, are going to come up to capitol hill to pay their respects, and then tomorrow they are expected to visit with the bush family at the blair house. that's the president's guest house that is right outside the white house that the president has invited them to stay in while they're here in washington. wolf, of course, it is no secret there's some animosity between the president and the bush family since that 2016 campaign when it turned ugly. but since president, the former president died on friday night, there's been nothing but praise from president trump, who cancelled his press conference in argentina, he said, out of respect for his predecessor, for the former president. he also followed protocol and sent air force one to pick up his casket to send him here for the final flight from texas to washingt

more on that from kaitlan collins at the white house. >> reporter: the white house seems to be signaling that president trump may be backing off that demand for funding for his border wall, easing fears in washington that there is going to be a partial government shutdown on friday. trump hasn't gone as far as white house officials have, telling reporters only we'll see if there's going to be a shutdown. but aides like the press secretary, sarah sanders, seem to be offering a glimpse of hope that they will come to some kind of compromise and that the government will not shut down on friday. during the briefing on thursday, sanders was trying to explain how they could get the border wall build and funded without taxpayers having to pay for it, though her reasoning seemed to raise a few eyebrows. >> we're not asking american taxpayers for that. we are looking at existing funding through other agencies right now that we can draw on to do that in the -- immediately. the president's been clear, the president has been clear that the u.s. mca deal would provide additional revenue through that d

kaitlan collins at the white house, thank you.sident trump prepares to make more changes, we are hearing striking insights from rex tillerson who was fired by tweet almost nine months ago and while speaking at a charity event, he said the president struggled to grasp the limitations of his powers. let's listen. >> we did not have a common value system. the president said here's what i want to do. here's how i want to do it. i would i have to say to him, mr. president, ied understand what you want to do, but you can't do it that way. it violates the law and the treaty. he got really frustrated. i think he grew tired of me being the guy every day that told him you can't do that. >> wow. evan perez and laura coates back with me. evan, what i want to know in the next question, what were the thing that is the president proposed that tillerson said you can't do that, they are not legal. >> we know a number of people who played the role to tell the president you can't do that, he lashes out at every one of them. tillerson seems to get th

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. >>> chief analyst, and former federal prosecutor, jeffrey toobin, and ken cuchnelli, and kaitlan collins, and from the "washington post," as we come to air, that russian social media accounts are going after robert mueller. >> well, it's just consistent with how the russian government has treated donald trump since he declared his candy is. they are -- his candidacy. they are doing his bidding, whether it's by supporting trump explicitly, suppressing turnout by support es ers of hillary clinton, attacking hillary clinton or attacking president trump's adversary, robert mueller. now, i don't know if there is any connection between the trump presidency or the trump campaign, and what's going on now. but again, it shows how russia's interests are aligned with president trump's interests. >> you know, ken, as a republican politician and leader, are you comfortable that the russian message so often is directly in line with the white house message? >> well, i'm not comfortable with any involvement by the russians. i would note this is all min secu -- minuscule, and jeffrey rattled off what the

>> kaitlan collins at the white house. thanks. >>> blunt and forceful words in court for michael flynn. quote, i am not hiding my disgust. that's what the judge said before delaying sentencing for michael flynn lying to the fbi. at sullivan's urging, the former national security adviser asked to postpone, flynn wants more time to cooperate with investigators. >> special counsel robert mueller's team suggested little to no prison time for flynn, but sullivan's frustration, it was evident in that courtroom. his voice growing harsh as he vilified flynn. the judge ordered flynn to stay within 50 miles of washington and surrender his passport in january. >>> cnn has obtained a document showing president trump sign aid letter of intonight move forward with -- intent to move forward with negotiations to build a trump tower in moscow of the letter is dated october 28th, 2015, and bears the president's signature. asked on sunday about the letter, mr. trump's lawyer, rudy giuliani, incorrectly told our dana bash it had not been sign

i want to bring in now cnn's kaitlan collins, also major marks, and david axelrod. so glad to have all of you on tonight. caitlyn, i know you're up against the dlok get off the white house lawn. we're glad to have you as long as you can tonight. caitlyn, i want to start with you. a looming government shutdown, mattis leaving, is the white house aware of the chaos enguchling them? >> they've been aware of it all day long. some senior officials were surprised to learn that secretary mattis was leaving tonight. that really adds to the level of chaos they've been dealing with all day, discussing with president trump about signing the short-term spending bill. but mattis really caught him off guard. publicly officials are trying to say that the president and secretary mattis have this great relationship. behind the scenes things had actually been much icier than that. you can't downplay the fact the secretary is resigning in protest of the decision to abruptly withdraw the troops from syria as he did yesterday, something that caught not only mattis, but also the secretar

cnn's kaitlan collins joins me live from the white house. and kaitlan, senate democrats are on board with this stopgap spending measure. we just learned that president trump has agreed to sign it if it passes the house and senate. but the white house somehow is claiming this is neither a blink nor a flip. >> reporter: and they're struggling with that defense. and we're told by sources that behind the scenes as they are struggling with what to say, president trump is becoming increasingly concerned there is this criticism that he's backing off his signature campaign promise of building that wall on the u.s./mexico border, and that concern from the president is coming as there is increasing concern among aides they are running out of ways to potentially fund this wall. the white house bracing to cave. >> we'll see what happens. too early to say. we need border security. >> reporter: after senate majority leader mitch mcconnell announced he'll introduce a bill that would fund the government through the new year and end a looming government shutd

cnn's kaitlan collins is at the white house for us now. it looked like this was a done deal yesterday. vice president pence seemed it was a done deal and as always the president is unpredictable and erratic. >> reporter: but he doesn't think he's unpredictable because a few minutes ago while signing the farm bill he says his position has been very clear, that any measure to fund the government must include money for border security, but then, jake, minutes later you don't have to call the wall a wall. can you say they are steel slats in order to give the democrats a way out to fund. it not a lot of clarity here, but there is one thing that does seem to be sure, and that's that washington could be headed for a christmas shutdown. washington on the brink of a government shutdown today after president trump told house republicans he won't sign a short-term spending bill to keep the government open that doesn't include money for his border wall. >> the president said he will not sign the bill that came over from the senate last evening because

cnn's kaitlan collins at the white house. while guiliani was saying this, his client, the president was making some false assertions about the fbi raid on michael cohen's office. >> yeah. and the president's eyes, the fbi broke into michael cohen's office and in everyone else's eyes they legally entered to perform an authorized search with even michael cohen, whose office was the one being raided, saying that the agents who did the search were both professional and courteous. but that doesn't matter to the president, because what he is doing is trying to undermine and discredit the many investigations that are now surrounding him. ♪ as the cloud of the russia investigation grows darker, president trump is remaining calm in public. >> but i think it's going to be a really exciting year. >> reporter: but out of view, making clear, he's starting to feel boxed in. launching a fresh barrage of attacks on the special counsel. tweeting nine times about the russia investigation this weekend, claiming it has nothing to do with collusi

let's go to cnn's kaitlan collins at the white house.use chief of staff used to elevate people, but with reince priebus and john kelly it actually diminished their reputations. >> reporter: you better bet that's a big factor being considered by people whose names are now being floated. what's complicating this search it essentially got started 24 hours ago. because president trump did not think nick ayers was going to decline this job, and there was no backup. now old names are being floated and essentially it is a free for all in washington as to who is going to be the next chief of staff. president trump scrambling tonight as the hasty search for his next chief of staff continues. with no clear replacement in sight. >> john kelly will be leaving at the end of the year. >> reporter: who will replace john kelly is an open question after mike pence's chief of staff, nick ayers turned the president down because they couldn't agree on timing. trump wanted a two-year commitment, but ayers only wanted to run the west wing on a temporary basis

cnn's kaitlan collins is live at the white house. he argue that flynn was ambushed when flynn's lawyer said this was not a case of entrapment by the fbi and flynn himself today said he knew at the time that lying to the fbi was a crime? >> reporter: yeah, the judge made a point of having mike flynn saying he lied to the fbi, knew it was a crime and took full responsibility for it today. but that's not what the white house entered for that hearing thinking was going to happen. they thought that judge was going to be much more critical of the way the fbi interviewed mike flynn. but instead he told the president's former national security adviser he believed he had sold out the country. in the first white house briefing in weeks -- the trump administration was on the defense. after a wild two-hour sentencing hearing for fired national security adviser, michael flynn resulted in him taking a federal judge up on his offer to delay the sentencing until he cooperates his investigation with the prosecutors. >> the delay is something between

let's bring in cnn's kaitlan collins at the white house.omes just hours after we learned of a new investigation by the u.s. attorney in manhattan into the president's inaugural committee. >> yeah, jake, that raid of michael cohen's home office and hotel is creating another headache for the white house. and now there are questions about how the president's inaugural committee spent or misspent its funds. now, the white house is trying to distance itself from yet another investigation, saying this time that the president had nothing to do with his own inauguration. >> thank you all very much. >> reporter: the investigation surrounding president trump starting to pile up tonight. with the revelation of the investigation into trump's inaugural committee, there are now inquiries into almost every aspect of the president's political and personal life. based on cnn's reporting, the special counsel and other u.s. attorneys are looking into aspects of his campaign, transition, inauguration, time in office and his company. >> i, donald john trump --

kaitlan collins is at the white house. you're learning his relationship with trump is so tense they're currently not on speaking terms? >> reporter: that's right, jake. they have been in the same room for meetings this week, but when it comes to just the two of them, they are not talking. that shows how much things have changed from just five months ago when president trump asked john kelly to stay on as chief of staff for two more years, which he agreed to, and now it's an open question inside the west wing whether or not he's even going to be here for two more days. >> i want to confirm -- >> reporter: president trump finally making good on his promise to shake up his cabinet today. emerging from the white house to announce he'll nominate bill barr to be the next attorney general. >> he was my first choice from day one. >> reporter: barr ran the justice department during h.w. bush's administration and has received widespread praise from republicans and even some democrats. if confirmed, he will take over for matt whitake

and i say this, mark, in the context of, we're learning -- kaitlan collins is reporting that john kellyresident's chief of staff, and the president are not even talking. so is anybody -- not that anyone's ever in charge of him but is anybody minding him right now? >> look, erin, kaitlan is a great reporter and i trust her reporting that john kelly and the president aren't talking today but there's been a lot of reporting about john kelly will be out any day and maybe that's to be determined too. but we've been down this road a few different times. the president clearly believes that his ability to tweet is his direct ability to communicate with the american people and get around the mainstream media and he continues to do that. that's been the case from day one. it was the case on the campaign and it's not going to change. >> it is not normal for a chief of staff and a president of the united states to not be in contact. aside from all of the controversy and scandal around president trump, he remains the president, and in order to govern the country and function, he needs to have a work

cnn's kaitlan collins live at the white house. this meeting was supposed to be behind closed doors, but the president called the cameras in, the first hint this was not going to be a normal negotiation. >> reporter: it was not a normal negotiation. when president trump was speaking, he doubled down on what he said during the oval office clash with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, that he will own a government shutdown if it's shutting it down over getting funding for his border wall. now, when he was just speaking with reporters, he also described it as a friendly meeting, saying that he respects both schumer and pelosi. but that's not what we saw play out on the camera earlier when they were pointing fingers at each other, shouting over one another, and cutting each other off. >> okay, thank you very much. >> reporter: it started out with a laugh. >> and then we have the easy one, the wall. that will be the one that will be the easiest of all. what do you think, chuck, maybe not? >> it's called funding the government, mr. presiden

kaitlan collins is live at the white house. kaitlan, the president juggling a lot right now on this friday and shifting the blame when it comes to the shutdown, potential shutdown we should say. >> reporter: a lot of what he's juggi juggling is self-induced. people aren't sure how to react. not only is congress in upheaval but also the military and the markets as well. it's almost too much to fit into one story because there is so much going ton heron here. judging by the comments you just showed that the president made while sitting in the oval office, it does not appear they're any closer to clearing that up. mitch mcconnell made that clear when he went back to capitol hill and didn't add anything. white house aides are trying to figure out what the strategy is behind the shutdown here. they don't think there's a way out. they think maybe there's a chance they could own the shutdown at the beginning say it's the president fighting for his border walls but they do say after several days of that going on, they know the optics ar

((pam))c-n-n's kaitlan collins has the latest on these investigations.t sound:the investigations surrounding president trump starting to pile up tonight with the revelation of the investigation into trump's inaugural committee, there are now inquiries into almost every aspect of the president's political and personal life.based on cnn's reporting, the special counsel and other u.s. attorneys are looking into aspects of his campaign, transition, inauguration, time in office and his company....nat sound: the latest...an investigation into spending by the president's inaugural committee....and whether it misspent funds or gave top donors access in exchange for money.the new york times adding that prosecutors are also looking into whether the committee and a pro-trump super pac received illegal foreign donations....from some middle eastern countries, including saudi arabia.the white house responding today by claiming trump's inauguration had nothing to do with him.hogan gidley:"this charge has nothing to do with the president of the united states..."as the p

kaitlan collins is live at the white house. president clearly back from his trip and catching up on his dvr and he's not happy. >> he is taking it out on twitter. tweeting not only the things you just showed and continuing to say bob mueller who is much different than people think and his out of control band of angry democrats don't want the truth, they want lies. he said the truth is very bad for their mission. it seems the special counsel would disagree since they prosecuted people mostly for lying to them, but overall what the president seems to be doing is criticizing the special counsel while distancing himself from michael cohen and what michael cohen is going to tell them now that he is cooperating with them. he said michael cohen should be prosecute and go to prison for the crimes he committed that weren't related to president trump, but of course two of the biggest things and most high profile guilty pleas from michael cohen was pleading guilty to violating campaign financing that he said he did at the direction of pre

kaitlan collins and michael warren, phil mattingly. there is a lot of questions about michael flynn and contacts with the russians. some of the spy novel stuff and we are not sure if it's smoke or something there. one of the key questions is did the president of the united states know that michael flynn lied to investigators and what else did he know when he fired jim comey. was there an effort to obstruct here? >> and a big question will be, how will the president respond when whatever the facts are are laid out. he has been agitated. he was tweeting his concerns about robert mueller, he's not the man we think he is and all of this. he is clearly upset. it seems like he is upset about something. how will he react if anything implicates him or other people that are close to him. >> upset because remember, he knows more than we do and sees what's happening with michael cohen and knows there is a manafort filing and the flynn filing is coming and michael isikoff from yahoo. he said they have been telling people they are tying up loose en

>> kaitlan collins at the white house that, sounds like the definition of dysfunction, not being on speaking terms with his boss, the president. as we continue the conversation, pam brown and michael zeldin at the justice department. let's come back to this. a lot of pieces and chat enjs in trying to cover the investigations. we will see memos filed about paul manafort. john kelly sits down as part of the obstruction investigation. john kelly has been good at giving us crumbs. it's hard to see the bakery, if you will. i want to stick with this for a second. they come to the president of the united states and the special counsel wants to interview your chief of staff. let me start with you. the president has every right, whatever your politicses, to have a small group of people. how do you make the case as a prosecutor that i have the right to this information? >> they have the right to deliver to process privilege. if the communications are about policy matters that the chief of staff is providing, the president, that's the base for the executive privilege. if it's not that, it's not easily

let's bring in kaitlan collins. president tweeted a good luck message to michael flynn and we saw an interview from sarah sanders. i wonder with these unforeseen developments how they are responding. >> that's what we are going to see when sarah sanders holds a press briefing with reporters and i don't think what happened was expected by a lot of people. it was not expected by the white house. she made clear she thought that the judge was going to focus on how the fbi treated michael flynn when they interviewed back during that month when he was the national security adviser when he lied to the agent about his contacts with the russian ambassad ambassador. she said she believed that the word i'm using is a quote. michael flynn was ambushed during that interview and she repeatedly kept going back during that interview even when asked if she and the president broke the law. that's not the argument we heard from the legal team when they were there in the courtroom when they said he was not entrapped by the fbi and he w

. >> kaitlan collins is our white house reporter. the question is a valid one. the president refers to michael cohen as a yet and yet michael flynn meets with team mueller 19 times, has lied to him, lied to the fbi and yet he wishes him well? >> reporter: right. of course they say it because michael cohen is a rat because he's a liar but michael flynn has also pleaded guilty to lying. what's the difference? clearly the white house believes one is lying about the president and one of them has nothing to do with the president, even though his lies were told on white house grounds in an office here functioning as the national security adviser. the white house is on the defense today. they thought today was going to go very differently than it did, as most people did. they were under the impression that the judge was going to go in there and be critical of the way the fbi interviewed mike flynn. but after michael flynn and his legal team didn't even use that defense today saying he was well aware it's a crime to lie to investigators and that he was not entrapped by

>> i want to get right to the white house with my colleague, kaitlan collins. a lot of kay organization chaos name of the game. >> it certainly is. it looks like washington might be getting a government shutdown for christmas after that last-minute lunch here at the white house, they came out and said president trump informed him he will not be signing that shor short-term spending bill that they felt pretty confident he was going to sign. it seems that the criticism from conservatives who have been revolting in recent days has gotten under president trump's skin so much that he even followed one of them on twitter last night when she said she would not vote for the president in 2020 if there was no wall built and this was essentially seen as a last chance to get the funding before the democrats take over in january. where we go from here is an open question right now. when they came out, paul ryan and kevin mccarthy said they were going back to figure it out. when sarah sanders put out a statement of the lunch, they said they wanted border security that includ

kaitlan collins is out front at the white house. kaitlan, the president makes this announcement and says nothing to anybody all day and is afraid to take questions, putting out a video where he was safe and secure from anyone asking him anything. >> typically, erin, a president would come out to some kind of address and announce this or someone would appear on camera from the white house but the president tweeted his tweet and the press secretary issued a statement to reporters but did not answer follow-up questions about this statement. and here's insight into how much this cost officials at the white house off guard. they held a background grieving which is typically where an official comes on, explains the administration's position where they are going forward with this. but during this call with reporters today, erin, they could not say how many troops have come home from syria, what the timeline will be or when the rest of the troops are going to come home as a move they've signal signalled. instead, referring several reporters

but then our kaitlan collins had reported that they were not on speaking terms, and then kaitlan has also just said that based on information she has learned from her sources that apparently yes, president trump and john kelly had discussed his departure over the last 24 hours, according to a source, but it was not the plan to announce it on the south lawn. >> interesting. we've seen this before from president trump. he tries to get ahead of some of the pre-planned or staged announcement, maybe that's because he is trying to define the conversation, or define the terms of the conversation. we will see what kelly's side of the story is. because we only heard trump's side right now. but trump's side is that kelly is leaving bit end of the year. the point you made earlier about sara about the interim nature of the next appointment is also noteworthy. we can't ignore the headlines of the last 12 hours by talking about kelly, the president has been implicated in crimes and that raises the question, who wants to work with this president? rex tillerson yesterday quoted as saying this is a p

. >> here is cnn's kaitlan collins with more from the white house. >> reporter: dave and christine, president trump is very much scrambling to replace john kelly as chief of staff now his top contender, nick ayers, has bowed out of the running. he and president trump could not come to agreement on the timing. president trump wanted him to commit to two years. he said he has a desire to move back to his home state and wanted to do the job of a -- job on a temporary basis. now he is no longer seen as an option for that job. that is leaving president trump to find someone to take his place. unlike what donald trump has done in the past, two people up for consideration for a job, he only had nick ayers as taking over for john kelly and did not think he would turn down the job the way he did. it is a fluid list. white house officials are cautioning nothing is final. we have mark meadows at the top of the list and robert lighthizer and steve mnuchin also on the list along with a few others whose names have been floated in the past during discussions of john kelly's job and now brought up again. joh

kaitlan collins is out front at the white house, how is the president dealing with this shot from jim comey? there was a moment, several long long minutes today, where jim comey was on every single cable screen calling the president of the united states a liar. >> you can bet the president likely saw that, i've talked to white house aids, there's almost no doubt the president is going to respond to what james comey said when he came out there and said, the president is essentially trying to burn down the fbi. and that republicans on capitol hill are his willing accompli accomplices. james comey also refused to take responsibility for any damage that's been done to the fbi's credibility. blaming it all on president trump. the question is not whether or not the president is going to respond to this, because aids have said keep an eye on your phone and your twitter feeds. you can expect a tweet from president trump in the future. as the mueller probe has progressed, he's trying to paint this picture of an fbi and law enforcement system that's biassed against him. after seeing james comey

kaitlan collins is joining us now. so thumbs up our thumbs down from nick ayers?rter: well, this is certainly a surprise to most people even in the administration who thought that nick ayers who has served as the vice president's chief staff for over a year now was going to take this job. he has been widely seen as the leading contender to replace john kelly for at least six months now. but we are now being told by sources inside the white house that negotiations between the president and nick ayers fell apart over a time line. the president wanted a two year commitment from nick ayers, but nick ayers told the president that he could only on commit to a few months citing his young children and his desire to move back to his home state of georgia at the end of the year. and the president was insist tainsistent and so we're being told that nick ayers is not expected to become the chief of staff any l longer. so of course this raises the question who will be the next chief of staff. and from what we've largely been told, most of the negotiations about replacing john

out front now, kaitlan collins, you're reporting, trump is already asking ayers to look into politicalere we are. >> yeah, that shows you two things. just how much president trump thought he was counting on nick ayers taking this job. nick was insistent that he wasn't going to stay on for those two years that president trump wanted. two, it also shows you how concerned trump is getting for what washington is going to look like in january. when you have those newly empowered house democrats with what they vowed to say is going to be strict oversight of his administration, that is a growing concern for him, he realizes that, he wants his chief of staff to be politically focused, and be by his side to help guide him through the tumultuous next few years that are going to happen. he didn't think john kelly was politically shrewd enough to do that job. >> who is in the running at this point? you go from one to who knows what? >> people are all over the place, some of them are names that have been brought up in the past, have you to look at the fact that this list is 24 hours old. now he's e

kaitlan collins has the latest.. the white house tonight bracing to cave...trump: "we'll see what happens, it's too early to tell - we need border security."after senate majority leader mitch mcconnell announced he'll introduce a bill that would fund the government through the new year and end a looming government shutdown...but deny the president funding for his much promised border wall... trump: "i am proud to shut down the government for border security, chuck."the move will put funding the government into the hands of newly empowered democrats next year...while effectively closing the door on one of the president's loudest campaign promises...natstrump: "do not worry. we are going to build the wall, okay?"three sources close to the president tell cnn he has become increasingly sensitive to criticism he's breaking his promise...as conservatives who were once his allies have become his critics...ann coulter: "it'll just have been a joke presidency that scammed the american people, enraged, the, you know, amused th

with me to share the reporting and insights, kaitlan collins and "the washington post" and michael zeldin stays with us. if you read the tweet this is morning and this is part of your job, sadly, for better or worse as part of all of our jobs, this was not normal trump tone. this was done in consultation with someone on his legal team who didn't like the looser language the president used the other day. >>. >> you can tell when it's a trump tweet and when it's something he had the help of someone. the president doesn't use terms like liability or tweet the way we saw him tweet with that three-part series. it was seeking to put distance between himself and michael cohen and he is not disputed that he directed michael cohen to make the payments, but that he directed him to break the law, saying michael cohen should have known better because he was my legal counsel. if he didn't know better, that was not my fault. he denied on camera on air force one, making the payments or knowing about them in the first place. he didn't know about the payment and they would have to ask michael cohen about

from our partner's at c-n-n reporter kaitlan collins tells us: it's just part of the latest staffing shake-ups at the white house. president trump:"i want to confirm..."president trump finally making good on his promise to shake up his cabinet today...emerging from the white house to announce he'll nominate bill barr to be the next attorney general... president trump:"he was my first choice from day one." barr ran the justice department during george h-w bush's administration and has received widespread praise from republicans - and even some democrats.if confirmed, barr will take over for acting attorney general matt whitaker, who has faced scrutiny for his past comments on the russia investigation, but praised barr today.matthew whitaker:"i commend the president for this excellent choice."nat sound:trump announcing his new pick to oversee the russia investigation just hours after he launched an angry morning attack on the special counsel, promising a major counter report in response to robert mueller's findings...claiming 87 pages are already done.the fresh attacks...an apparent re

(pam)c-n-n's kaitlan collins explains.und:it started out with a laugh....president trump: "and then we have the easy one, the wall. that will be the one that will be the easiest of all. what do you think chuck? maybe not."sen. chuck schumer:"it's called funding the government, mr. president."but today's oval office meeting between president trump, and democratic leaders nancy pelosi and chuck schumer quickly descended into chaos....as washington watched talks over funding the president's border wall break down on live television.... schumer:"one thing i think we can agree on is we shouldn't shut down the government over a dispute and you want to shut it down."trump:"the last time, chuck, you shut it down." schumer:"no, no. twenty times, twenty times, twenty times you called for, 'i will shut down the government if i don't get my wall.' none of us have saidyou said it. you said it." trump:"i'll take it. you know what i'll say? yes, if we don't get what we want, one way or the other. whether it's through you, through a milit

kaitlan collins is with me now.ing here, we know that canadian officials arrested her the very same day that trump and president xi of china sat down for that dinner at the g-20. i have to imagine that the white house was aware of this impending arrest. what have you learned? >> reporter: the white house hasn't official live ly respond any request for comment. we have from the national security adviser, john bolton. he did an interview earlier today when he was asked if he was aware of this and this was his answer. >>i is knew in advance but thiss something that we get from the justice department, and these kinds of things happen with some frequency. we certainly don't inform the president on every one of them. >> reporter: so there, brooke, john bolton is saying he knew in advance of that dinner with president xi this arrest was coming. we didn't know it had been carried out but we knew this was on the way. he does leave a little bit of leverage room saying the president is not briefed every time they're about to a

from our partners at c-n-n kaitlan collins explains.at sound:it started out with a laugh....president trump: "and then we have the easy one, the wall. that will be the one that will be the easiest of all. what do you think chuck? maybe not."sen. chuck schumer:"it's called funding the government, mr. president."but today's oval office meeting between president trump, and democratic leaders nancy pelosi and chuck schumer quickly descended into chaos....as washington watched talks over funding the president's border wall break down on live television.... schumer:"one thing i tnk we can agree on is we shouldn't shut down the government over a dispute and you want to shut it down."trump:"the last time, chuck, you shut it down." schumer:"no, no. twenty times, twenty times, twenty times you called for, 'i will shut down the government if i don't get my wall.' none of us have saidyou said it. you said it." trump:"i'll take it. you know what i'll say? yes, if we don't get what we want, one way or the other. whether it's through you, through a mi

. >> cnn's kaitlan collins was banned from a rose garden event. >> mr.nt -- >> for asking the president questions following an oval office event. >> mr. president, are you worried about -- >> thank you very much. >> -- what michael cohen is going to say to prosecutors? >> they thought the questions i posed to president trump were inappropriate and inappropriate for that venue. >> thank you, everybody. >> i told them that is often our only chance to ask the president questions. those questions were questions any reporter would have asked. >> thank you. >> sanders issued a statement saying collins shouted questions and refused to leave. >> let's go. come on, guys. thank you very much. >> to be clear, we support a free press, wrote sanders. another example of trying to control the white house press corps are the actual press briefings. >> audio check. one, two, three -- >> the white house holding its first on-camera briefing in 19 days. >> over june, july, and august there were a total of 13 briefings. september through december there were just five. rememb

let's go straight to cnn white house correspondent, kaitlan collins live in washington with this breakingpecting john kelly to resign in the coming days. that's the mood in the white house because president trump and his chief of staff, though they are 17 months into what has been a very tumultuous relationship, the relationship has deteriorated so greatly where john kelly's job security has been seen as permanently endangered, and right now the president and his chief of staff are not on speaking terms. it's believed john kelly could resign in the coming days, and they are preparing for a staff shake-up if that occurs, because it will ask questions like who will replace john kelly, and are the loyalist to john kelly going to leave and follow him out the door of the white house. john, president trump and john kelly have had a tension-filled relationship at times, and sometimes described as a love-hate relationship between the two of them, where president trump will go one minute praising john kelly to his face and then the next minute complaining about him to other aides. over the summer

and cnn's kaitlan collins explains, his aappointment puts an end to several days of confusion after the president's top pick turned down the job. >> reporter: president trump announced on twitter late friday night that mick mulvaney, the white house budget director, will become the acting chief of staff when john kelly, currently the chief of staff, leaves at the end of the year. now that word "acting" came as a surprise to most people in the white house since that was the word that led to the failure and breakdown in negotiationings over nick ayers -- negotiations over nick ayers, vice president mike pence's chief of staff, become coming to the west wing. he didn't want someone previously the acting chief of staff, yet the president now has an acting chief of staff. this could cohave come down to timing it. president trump was discussing the possible government shutdown and so was the senior staff throughout the day. and mick mulvaney, budget director, came over to the white house to sit down with the president, go over what would happen during the shutdown, and discuss it, and walked

let's get to kaitlan collins at the white house this morning. the president is making a number of legal arguments here, and one we haven't heard before, but we're hearing this morning from the president, you wonder what his legal team thinks about it. look, look, look, nothing to see. i did nothing, this was all on, quote, advice of counsel. >> aides around the president had been happy he hadn't commented on michael cohen yet, but this morning we get the three-part tweet that doesn't exactly sound like it was written by president trump himself. it raises all these questions, and the legal argument that the president is now making, essentially not disputing the fact that he directed michael cohen to make these payments but saying he didn't direct him to make them in an illegal manner. that's what the president is essentially arguing on twitter this morning. but of course, that comes, and we have video of president trump on air force one denying he ever knew about that payment to stormy daniels and saying that they would have to ask michael cohen

kaitlan collins reported that yesterday. >> it is just insanity going on in the white house.nce on the filings yesterday, fred, was that southern district pre-sentence memoranda, that alone in and of itself vaporized the ability to have michael cohen as a witness for mueller or everybody. when you lie during the cooperation period, your testimony is useless and the southern district said he withheld information, he is not credible, no reduction, slam in. he is done. mueller can't use him for anything. >> it has been concluded by the filings that the president is implicated in two felony crimes here. so then it promotes the question of while there is the justice department policy that says a sitting president cannot be indicted, does that mean this president could be implicated in these crimes and nothing could be done besides, you know, congress impeaching, but then nothing in terms of being held accountable of crimes? avery? >> well, while he serves as president, it is the policy of the department of justice, not to seek indictment. that doesn't set him free until, you know,