the north lawn is where lafayette square is. were in commercial, you heard a loud sound, almost like that with the car door opening or something like that. the attack dogs that they have positioned up here in cars near the residence took out across the north lawn. secret service officers from the car deployed with long rifles drawn and we began to hear the shouts of the secret service officers in lafayette park where the public is allowed and there were hundreds of members of the public enjoying this beautiful saturday in washington. with that, their shouts came, get back, get back, go, go, go! and the crowd took off running towards 15th street. we didn't see anyone apprehended. we did see sort of over the crest of the north lawn, we'd estimate somewhere between half a dozen or a dozen of the secret service uniform division officers. that is when they told us to leave the position we are normally at where you see the picture of the executive mansion. and then come in here to the briefing room. you can imagine the secret service

>> kristin fisher live on the north lawn. thank you.ver on healthcare, the white house is doubling down now on the possibility of working with democrats to pass big ticket items including tax reform. >> we're going to build a coalition and we're going to work with members of both sides of the aisle to see what we can find agreement and move forward. i don't want to prejudge the outcome at this point. >> shepard: earlier today, gop leaders said they're getting gop lawmakers ready for the tax reform bill. >> we want this to be the last tax season that americans have to put up with this broken tax code. i don't want to us become a fractionalized majority. we have to sit down and talk things out until we get there. that's what we're doing. >> president trump has called for lowering tax rates for middle class and corporations. a major sticking point could be a proposed border tax on imports. some republicans are critical of it. john bussey is here. they're trying to say we're a united party. yet last week they proved they're absolutely not t

john roberts is on the north lawn. white house aides were planning to get the lights on late for an impending vote that will be happening tonight. we will get the latest and we begin with mike emanuel with the late-breaking action on capitol hill. >> good evening. house leaders hoped to vote to repeal and replace obamacare but lacking enough yes votes, the talks continue and perhaps a final vote will come tomorrow. tension builds, and so does frustration. >> this is one of those moments where you've got to say who you really are deep inside of you. are you for president trump and repealing and replacing obamacare? or are you against president trump and you are against repealing and replacing obamacare. >> the dilemma for paul ryan, conservatives have been pushing for eliminating so-called essential health benefits which required insurance companies to provide coverage for maternity care, prescription drugs, and mental health. negotiations continue. >> with the freedom caucus, they are trying to get to yes. that's why w

secret service agents clear the north lawn for suspicious package. we have the latest. >>> your surfing habits can all be tracked and sold to whoever without your knowledge or even your consent. >> fight for internet privacy continues. why house republicans are trying to roll back a law put into place by president obama and how it could affect you. >>> montgomery county police continue to investigate a shooting involving an officer that left a man dead last night. we have the latest coming up in a live report. >>> and i hope you hadou you still need this afternoon. coming up, i'll show you what you can expect as far as thunderstorm chances later on today. and drier weather tomorrow. >>> we're kicking off news 4 midday with a look at the weather. it's cloudy over the capital city this morning. you may want to keep the umbrella handy as you head out for lunch. >> sheena parveen is here with us now. what can we expect? >> you don't with a the umbrella with you. we plaid a large area of rain that moved through and now it's heading up towards pennsylvania

john roberts joins us with another day from the white house north lawn. >> it's always a full day here. good evening. the white house portrayed the new health care bill as phase one in a conference of process trying to keep the messaging today as positive as possible. standing beneath the portrait of the woman he vanquished and the election, president trump welcomed their first tour group since his inauguration to the white house. >> work hard, everybody. speak at the president is anxious to get back on track after the latest blow up in the rush of controversy and his activations of wiretapping that left even the president's staff scratching their heads as to what he was talking about. the remove to review and relates obamacare is president trump's first big legislation initiative. he met with the congressional team that will whip at the republican votes to get it through the house. >> i am proud to support the replacement plan released by the house of representatives and encouraged by members of both parties. i think really that we are going to have something that's going to be much m

chief white house correspondent john roberts on the north lawn. >> good evening. the speech has been described as a pivot point for president trump in terms of tone but it also marks the transition when the days of executive action now to the difficult business of crafting and passing legislation. >> thank you very much. we are here to start the proces process. it begins as of now. i think were going to have tremendous success. >> president trump set the table with his speech last night. today it was time to eat. a lunch meeting with republican leaders to chew over the bold agenda the president outlined to congress. >> dying industries will come roaring back to life. heroic veterans will get the care they so desperately need. our military will be given the resources its brave warriors so richly deserve. crumbling infrastructure will be replaced with new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports and railways, gleaming across our very, very beautiful land. >> if the president hopes to win reelection three years and eight months from now, he will need to make good on a few o

called, put in place after security breaches where people attempted to hop over the fence on to the north lawn and there's a sign here that says, restricted, do not enter. what we're being told and i talked specifically with an official familiar with the situation is that a suspect hopped over one of these expanded bike racks and as soon as you do that, you can see uniform secret service agents that patrol this front of the white house. as soon as you jump over this fence, they're going to be on you immediately and that's exactly what happened in this case. within two minutes, the suspect was arrested. we're told that it's a man. this man had a sort of document, a letter he wanted to deliver to someone here at the white house. we're told that the letter was not intended for president, but for someone else. we don't know who exactly that is right now. we also know that on the other side of where we are here at the corner of 15th and i, sorry, the secret is secret service is looking at a vehicle that belonged to the suspect. they're searching the vehicle as we speak. now, right after he jumped o

john roberts on the north lawn where they trump administration has been working to change some mindsn late here, but we begin with chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel. good evening. >> it is not clear they have the votes to pass it, but >> paul ryan announced tonight that plans are to go forward with a make or break vote. >> 47 1/2 years, we have been promising the american people we will repeal and replace this deal. >> they all came to capitol hill this evening urging a vote tomorrow. >> mr. mulvaney made it clear that the president is done negotiating, that this is a conservative package that lowers health care costs, and so, at his request and leaderships, we are moving forward with the vote. >> is source in the room says if it fails, mulvaney says, "it means we are stuck with obamacare." >> if we don't get this done, where are we going to go when it comes to tax reform, immigration reform? this is step one. without step one, really, really don't get to step two. >> leader of the house freedom caucus, mark meadows, said it turns up the pressure as leadership sources ar

, we don't want to give you the impression this was the only protest, at the white house on the north lawn there were 40 groups that got together, differing agendas. the thing in common, they did not like what the trump administration had been doing in regards to choice efforts. a lot of decisions in the trump administration made in the last six weeks has significantly curtailed that the free choice movement in this country. shawn and jim, the question is this, how long can this protest movement, this resistance, as they call themselves, sustain this momentum? there has been weeks and weeks of protests. we had the day without immigrants. today, day without women. certainly, as we move on, there are going to be other groups and agendas. the crowds we saw were not even close to what we saw on women's march the day after the inauguration. as this moves along, there has to be this question as to whether or not the appearance of this is smaller and smaller crowds are going to start to affect the enthusiasm people are trying to get across >> i certainly will be watching and waiting. i know the f

chief white house correspondent john roberts is live on the north lawn. the camera microwave will get you every time. >> i can confirm, shep, having been in trump tower, there's a couple microwaves that i have seen down there in the basement where the deli is. the white house refusing to specifically answer any questions regarding this. certainly the president has had ample opportunity to, though he sort of hit away from the press the last few weeks, when he was asked about this during a couple pool sprays last week, refused to any answer any questions about it. he will likely get asked about it this afternoon. so far nothing specific. the latest evolution is the press secretary saying the initial tweet about "wiretapping" meaning he didn't believe his phones were tapped directly but there were other forms of surveillance being used against the folks there at trump tower. listen to what the press secretary said. >> the president was clear in his tweet that it was wiretapping. that that stands a whole host of surveillance types of options. the house and th

may get over the fence, but at the same time we're still going to have a beautiful look at the north lawn. >> well, i think you just nailed it. we don't want to live in a world like that. we don't want to live in a world where we have a bastille. we're a free people and we want to be free and we like the idea that he's our president and we want to be able to see our house: that white house belongs to me and you and to the people of america and i think that's what makes the secret service job so hard. they want to make it appear inviting and friendly and still secure. that's what makes their jobs so hard and why they're the best in the world. >> danny, we're now 12 hours into this story. we only learned about it about an hour ago, but we're 12 hours from the time this guy jumped the fence and was taken down by the secret service. the secret service hasn't said he was taken peacefully, but we didn't hear he was in any way harmed. but he was arrested and they picked up the backpack and searched that and nothing nefarious in the backpack. you take those two data points and put it together wit

kellyanne conway from the north lawn we'll wait for the briefing later today. appreciate the time. we'll talk again. >> thanks, bill. >> shannon: all right, we're also going to speak with congressman mark meadows and opposes the bill and says it costs too much. kellyanne's interview with bill changed his mind. we'll find out in 30 minutes. interested she noted the president is hands-on shepherding this himself and nancy pelosi did what most would argue the heavy lifting and he seems more engaged than people thought he would be. >> bill: and face the issues or quences, mark hannity. >> once it's repealed or replaced, republicans you're going to own this and those who put you in control will not settle for obamacare lite. you have to get this right and join forces. >> bill: what happens if they don't? karl rove is standing by and we'll talk to karl in a moment from austin. >> shannon: we'll tell you where this happened and how dicey it got. stick around. liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. i just snapped a photo and got an estimate

john roberts is live on the north lawn with more for us. >> one of the immediate problems for this whiteouse is that the president has a big speech this afternoon aboard the uss gerald ford. nobody is talking about his speech today, everybody's talking about what's going to happen with senator jeff sessions. the doj acknowledging that while he was a senator, he did meet twice with the russian ambassador to the united states. one was a private meeting in his office on september 8th, the other was a chance encounter on the sidelines at the republican national convention back in july at a heritage foundation event. he met with him not as a campaign official. and a statement earlier today, jeff sessions said "i have never met with any russian official to discuss the issues of the campaign. i have no idea what this allegation is about. it is false." some democrats are calling on sessions to resign, others are saying he has to recuse himself from the department of justice investigation into russia and its involvement in the campaign. on that point, the democrats are getting support from republ

white house correspondent, kevin quirk is live on the north lawn. how did the president sent spent his sunday, an important weekend after friday. still trying to work with the conservative republicans to move his agenda forward. >> no doubt. he had a few meetings today. i'll tell you more about that in a second. the second question is an important one. can he still work with conservative republicans? obvious is yes, will he, we'll see. maybe the best question is, should he? at the white house there asking about loyalty. the president showing support for the conservative wing of the party. he feels like maybe they turn their back on him on friday. still the chief of staff is asking for cooperation for the good of the country. >> this president is not going to be a partisan president. this is a president that wants to provide. he wants to make sure people do not get left behind. wants to make sure there is competition in the marketplace so rates are lower and people can choose their dr.. if those three things are incompatible with some members of the

john roberts joins us on the north lawn with what president trump told republicans today and where the headcount stands. >> not looking good at the moment. president is driving toward a vote on the new health care bill for the day after tomorrow. passage of the measure looks like it could be in jeopardy. president trump spent some political capital today lecturing house republican conference on the need to pass health care reform were paid dearly for it in the 2018 election. >> we had a great meeting and i think were going to get a winner vote. >> the president insisted things were looking good. house speaker paul ryan was over the moon. >> president came here and knocked the ball out of the park. he explained how it's important to unify, important to work together. >> some conservatives remain unconvinced. >> i thought the president did a good job but that is in change before corners of the document, and what is in the legislation itself is a concern. our focus has been simple. let's do what we told the american people we were going to do. this bill doesn't do that. >> the president s

john roberts has it all from the north lawn. >> good evening. for weeks the white house staff has been trying to find a way out of the public relations hole president trump dog when he tweeted saturday morning that president obama had been wiretapping him. today president trump was thrown a lifeline. the bombshell came from the house intelligence committee chairman devin nunes who reported the trump transition officials were the subject of so-called incidental collection by the intelligence agencies. >> recently confirmed on numerous occasions the intelligence community incidentally collected information about u.s. citizens involved in the trump transition. >> the intercepts appeared to be authorized by the foreign intelligence surveillance act. the information urgent enough that nunes rushed to the white house to brief the president. nunes provided no details, transition officials may have been instantly picked up talking to foreign officials who were the actual targets of surveillance. >> we knew there was some incidental collection. does this

john roberts is live on the north lawn. >> is just another typical day at the white house. fox news is confirming that two white house staffers did assist devin nunes in his investigation into whether or not members of the trump transition resulted in the election. whether they were unmasked or made clear to him who they were is a serious crime in the united states. this was reported by "the new york times" yesterday which identify the two staffers as edward cohen wotton egg, and michael ellis. ellis used to work for the house intelligence committee. the tick-tock of all of this is becoming more clear, but there's still some areas that are little bit murky. it appears that information about surveillance and unmasking was discovered on the ends echoed of branch computer system. that information but apparently minutes way to the white house counsel's office, chairman nunes came to review it. still little holes in the timeline that we are trying to fill in. what's not clear is if he happened to cross the information on his own or if he was asked by chairman nunes to look for i

john roberts joins us from the north lawn. >> you cover this place long enough to know that a developer like this is rather a stunning one. there's no question that president trump and many republicans are frustrated, even angry with the house freedom congress saying they "bought the health care appeal and replacement" when it comes to obamacare. the president this morning all but declaring war. he tweeted, "the freedom caucus will hurt the entire republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. we must fight them, & dems, in 2018!" it only took about a half a heartbeat for member to tweet back "it didn't take long for the swamp to drain donald trump. "jim jordan who is one of the founders of the freedom caucus was more diplomatic this morning saying the white house should in panic. listen to what he said a short time ago. >> this is our best chance, but not this build. it was just a postponement. people are acting like the sky is falling and the world is going to end. this guy came up today, it will again tomorrow. let's take time to get this three thing right. >> a lot of issu

earlier on saturday, a man jumped over an extended barrier attempting to get over the fence of the north lawn but was stopped by secret service agents. the president was not here at the time. he is at his resort, mara mar-a. this is going to start another debate about security conditions here at the white house. ryan nobels, cnn, washington. >>> also, in washington, monday will mark one of the most crucial days yet for the new president and his administration. that's because the fbi director, james comey, is set to testify publicly, before the house intelligence committee, the focus, possible russian meddling in last year's election, specially any russian connections with the trump campaign. cnn presidential historian, timothy napthali, says it could be a revealing moment even if the director is short on details. >> i suspect that monday we will hear a little bit about the extent to which the fbi has undertaken a counter intelligence investigation about possible u.s. assistance to the russian active measures or deception campaign. i don't expect a lot of detail but that we will learn about th

we are on capitol hill with reaction from lawmakers, but we begin with john roberts live on north lawn. >> good afternoon for to you. he has met in the past with democrats, will meet with democrats in the future, but this is all about charting an agenda and setting a timeline for that agenda and the people who will be driving that agenda forward in congress are republicans, so that's why he's meeting with mitch mcconnell on the left there and paul ryan, and the rest of the republican leadership, so they can get things done. last night and that speech, the president laid out a pretty bold agenda, one that will require a lot of heavy lifting in congress considering he wants to repeal and replace obamacare and virtually every democrat is going to be against that. then he wants to dramatically reform taxes and democrats will not support that as well. he will need a lot of momentum from republicans in order to drive that agenda forward. the president wants to get this all done of course, because, i don't want to jump too far ahead of myself, 2020 is coming up fast. when you want to run agai

the chief white house correspondent john roberts is live on the north lawn. john? >> good afternoon. the press secretary this afternoon again reiterated that he has been told by many people in various agencies that there is no evidence that anybody from the trump campaign or the transition was colluding with russian officials to influence the outcome of the u.s. election. of course, the fact that lieutenant general michael flynn is asking for immunity to go testify before the house and senate intelligence committee says a lot of people are suggesting maybe he has something to hide. anybody who has lived any time in washington knows these things have attendan tendency to spin control, especially with a politically charged environment like the one we're in now. some people think it's prudent for michael flynn to ask for immunity before he testifies. the spokesman said michael flynn should do whatever it takes to get up there and be open and transparent about everything that transpired during the campaign. here's what sean spicer said. >> what he's asking, go testify.

kristen fisher live from the north lawn. are they sweating the white house were taken this in stride? >> will find out by tomorrow. right now there are two big outstanding question. the first question is will the white house comply with this request to give the committee evidence about the wiretapping allegations by tomorrow and second, the second, to study evidence actually exist? today the top democrat on the house intelligence committee says he doesn't think so. >> i don't expect we'll see any evidence of this either. i agree with timecard. one of two possibilities here. the president quite deliberately for some reason made up this charge are perhaps more disturbing the president really believes this. reporter: the charges former president barack obama ordered the wiretapping of trump tower during the election. the former president has led the charge. so as the current fbi director reportedly asked the justice department to publicly reject the president's claims. congressman schiff plans to ask about it directly when he t

. >> john roberts live on the north lawn. john, thank you. what do you think the u.s. should do about sir ra i can't? let me know on twitter or facebook. there are some serious questions here in washington tonight about just how much the president's initial pick for national security advice or made it known his past through the vetting process. this comes after word that retired general michael flynn was actually working for a foreign government during the trump campaign. here is chief intelligence correspondent jamesrosen. >> two days after former national security advisor michael flynn filed new paperwork, retroactively registering himself as a foreign aid to trushing ki, the associated press reported that flynn had alerted lawyers for then president elect trump that he may need to -- >> we trust people to fill out the forms that they're required to do so in an honest and legal manner. in this case he retroactively filed the forms. we advised him what to do and that's the right thing for this administration. >> he was forced out of the top spot on the national securi

john roberts is live on the north lawn. hi, john. >> shep, good afternoon. the president refers to the bill as beautiful. but to hear many conservatives talk about it, it's the ugly stepchild of obamacare. the president trying hard to sell it. he's not getting very far at this point. mentioned ted cruz. he and his wife, heidi, were here for dinner last night. there's tom cotton that says it's dead on arrival in the senate. he's widely considered to be president trump's wing man in the senate on a number of issues. senator cotton joined people from the freedom coalition saying paul ryan and the white house are trying to ram this thing down people's throat before it's fully checked out. senator cotton tweeting "gop shouldn't act like dems did in obamacare. start voting wednesday with no budget estimate. what matters in the long run is more affordable healthcare, not house leaders arbitrarily legislative calendar". the white house said that senator cotton's tweets weren't helpful and that the president should give him a call and talk to him about it. the press

a person was taken into custody but the north lawn was evacuated. jonathan: war on terror and the rescue crews are sorting through the airstrike in mosul. they pulled a survivor out of the rubble. one survivor. a recent strike targeting an isis truck bomber also there. rescue crews are still looking for other survivors. so far, at least 112 bodies have been found. in the fight to push isis out of mosul has drawn criticism on both sides of the civilian toll skyrocketing as a result. this is a situation the united nations and the u.s. is keeping a close eye on. with the civilian death toll skyrocketing in mosul, the u.s. is under fire and the unis calling on iraq and the u.s.-led coalition forces to review the tactics to project civilians and abide by the international law. the human rights chief said the bodies were showing up in buildings are where isis held civilians as human shields later targeted in airstrikes. in a skating report, amnesty international accused the coalition forces failing to prevent civilian deaths saying that the army told civi

chief white house correspondent john roberts begins our coverage tonight from the north lawn. good evening. another political brush fire that the white house off message, overshadowing what was supposed to be a showcase speech for the president onboard the uss gerald ford. jeff sessions moved to take himself off the front page just as quickly as he could. >> i have recuse myself in the matters that deal with the trump campaign. >> the attorney general said his possible recusal from an investigation regarding the trump campaign was already in the works, that a meeting had been scheduled for today to make the decision. >> my staff recommended recusal. they said that since i had involvement with the campaign, i should not be involved in any campaign investigation. >> the attorney general's choice was at odds with president trump who had come only minutes earlier, recommended sessions not out -- bow out. sessions insisted he was truthful in his january confirmation hearings when he said he had no communication with russian officials during the campaign. sessions said he was answer

john roberts joins us live from the north lawn with details of a major diplomatic appointment. >> good evening. fox news has learned president trump has tapped the former utah governor in 2012 presidential candidate jon huntsman junior to be the new united states ambassador to russia. sources say president trump called huntsman, who was the ambassador to china in the obama administration, ambassador to singapore under bush 41. offered him the job and huntsman excepted. he will go through the vetting process and he will be off to moscow. as the president uses his top man in moscow to deal with vladimir putin, he is putting the hard sell on his health care plan to skeptical republican conservatives. the president invited leaders of some of the most prominent conservative groups opposed to the american health care act. >> the president is proud of the product we've produced. we are in full sell mode talking about how this is the best way to solve the problem the american people face. >> the groups have labeled the new health care bill obamacare lite, a warmed over substitute from governme

and all of us do remember the 2014 incident when the intruder ran through the north lawn of the white house, got inside. and we assumed the secret service had learned lessons from that incident. did they? >> we have been given repeated assurance by the secret service that the technology was working, they solved the problems, they went through this. i was impressed when i talked to secretary kelly. he has been out there. he walked the route exactly how the intruder did it. he's very hands-on secretary. he's flabbergasted by this. i've shared with him the past few years that we've looked at the secret service. the men and women are better than that, but how can they have such repeated constant failures on this? i don't know how else to sound the alarm bell for the secret service and say, i know, folks, it's boring and nothing happens maybe for days, weeks and months, but then when it does happen, you have got to pounce on these people. it's common sense, and it's frustrating. >> i have to take a break, congressman. for 17 minutes alarms were going on but this guy was running around the

john roberts is live on the north lawn. the white house still says this will get done. >> they're saying they're going to get this passed, shep. you can find a lot of support for this on capitol hill. as you pointed out, there's a lot of opposition as the member wing of the republican party will be here tonight, 5:00. they're going to get some arm twisting. gentle, maybe tougher from the president tonight. because he's in, according to sean spicer that just finished his briefing "full cell mode" trying to get this thing through. he's going to go across the country in the days and weeks ahead to sell it to folks in the middle part of america where his base of support was to win the election on november 8. according to kellyanne conway, there could be room for compromise here, but only a little bit. listen to this. >> the president has made it clear as the vice president, this is the plan. but the president has used the word "negotiation." there's a process at play here. it's called reconciliation. everybody knows as this ame

. >> bret: john roberts live on the north lawn. thank you. a school complex in syria bombed by syrian government forces in october was deliberate. one of the atrocities a united nations investigative commission sites in a report looking at crimes committed over the last seven months. the report stated government forces and their allies have shown a complete disregard for life and international law in the conflict. iraqi forces are making big gains in the fight against isis, as commanders announced troops have taken nearly three quarters of west mosul from the terror group. the u.s. envoy to counter isa says any fighters left inside the city will die there. making those comments as the coalition announced the group was completely surrounded. president trump, hosted a meeting with one of our strongest allies in the middle east. president met with saudi arabia's deputy crown prince at the white house. joining me to talk about it is an advisor to the deputy crown prince of saudi arabia and a member of the royal family. your highness, thank you fo

chief white house correspondent, john roberts, on the north lawn. >> the democrats are calling for thettorney general to resign, but as you mention just a moment ago, he does have the full support of the president who in a statement last night in a series of tweets said the following. "jeff sessions is an honest man. he did not say anything wrong. he could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional. this whole narrative is a way of saving face for democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. the democrats are overplaying their hand. they lost the election, and now they have lost their grip on reality. the real story is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information. it is a total 'witch hunt!'" yesterday, the attorney general recused himself from any doj investigation that might a arise regarding the chum campaign and any encounters with the russian ambassador. sessions ran into trouble when he told the senate and confirmation hearings that he had no contact last year with russian officials. sessions argue

labelling him -- [technical difficulties] >> it appears we lost our connection with john roberts on the north lawn. that's a place where connections with reliable. in this case, it's gone done. we'll work to re-establish with john. actually i should tell you, he's back. hello. >> hey, shep. sorry. i don't know what happened there. we're back. good. glad to hear we're back. president trump tweeted out a picture of senator schumer back in 2003 standing with vladimir putin when vladimir putin was in new york city to open the first luc oil was station there saying we should start an immediate investigation with schumer's ties to russia. schumer fired back in a tweet, happily talked my contact with many putin and his associates. senator schumer added they were krispy kreme doughnuts that we were eating there. of course, the senate minority leader has been calling on senator sessions now attorney general sessions to step down saying that he's lost the credibility to lead the department of justice. but the vice president, mike pence, who is visiting in janesville, wisconsin, with paul ryan, said that the

chief white house correspondent is live on the north lawn. >> good evening to you, bret. the las

some expressive allegations but we begin with chief white house grossmont to john roberts on the north lawnh all that is happening today. >> good afternoon to you, this is a complete 180 from the white house that lester was dismissing the idea and need for congressional investigation into all of this because they said there is no there there. now reaching out to say the intelligence committee should take a look at whether or not president obama or someone else in the obama administration ordered a wiretap of the facilities there at trump tower. the president tweeted on saturday and offered no evidence but what he did by doing that is put obama administration officials on the defense, forcing them to prove negative. anyone who has ever tried to prove a negative knows that it's acutely difficult. kellyanne conway this morning on fox on "fox & friends" said to get up to congress, let them look at all of it, here she is. >> let's investigate this and see where it leads, let's have the house and senate intelligence committees do their work and think about whether to include this that the preside

joining me now from the north lawn of the white house, mullaney, director of office of management andget. i want to start with your reaction to the reaction of the rollout of the budget, a former member of congress and a conservative one, i'm sure to get pushed back on all sides. >> sure, i've been a member of congress, i had my own constituency, represented my own people in south carolina, i know that every member of the congress and house and senate have the groups back home they feel like they need to take care of and that's fine. there's also a lot more special interests at play than there are other places, a lot more lobbying for example. what i tell people is this. the president represent everybody, he rip her since the entire nation, that's who this budget was written for. this was not a budget written in consultation with special interests or lobbyists or many members of congress, this is a national budget from a national representative and a former president. we're very pleased with the way it turned out. spoon it's interesting to say that, democrats including senator schumer

chief white house correspondent john roberts tonight on the north lawn. >> the ongoing controversy surroundingorney general jeff sessions clasp his contacts with the russian ambassador completely derailed what had been a terrific week for president trump. with white house staff struggling to find a way past it, the president today decided he was going to punch his way out. >> education is a civil rights issue of our time. >> on his way to florida to talk school choice, president trump launched a twitter war with the senate minority leader over russia. the first shot? a 13 year old photo of chuck schumer sharing a doughnut with vladimir cutin. the present writing, "we should start an immediate investigation into senator schumer and -- within minutes, he fired back. -- would you and your team? schumer and his democratic colleagues are still calling for attorney general jeff sessions to step down, even though sessions yesterday announced he would recruit himself from any investigation regarding the trump campaign. in gainesville wisconsin today, the vice president said sessions isn't going anywhe

john roberts joins us live from the north lawn. >> good evening. we should point out it just started snowing here outside the white house. president taking aim today at democrats, accusing them of holding up the last four nominees for the cabinet and in the face of renewed democratic opposition to his health care plan dug in for the fight. meeting for the first time with his almost complete cabinet, president trump kept up the sales pitch to repeal and replace obamacare, indicating the final bill may be substantially different than the one voted out of committee. >> it's a big, fat, beautiful negotiation hopefully will come up with something that's going to be really terrific. >> the beneficiary of a new health care plan will be the american people, the president insisted to. today holding a listening session with people he billed as victims of obamacare. >> we are cattle ranchers paid we can't afford our equipment if we are paying these rates year after year. our food source is in jeopardy because of the health care law. >> i know. it's all right.

john roberts is live on the north lawn. what is the reply? >> we're hearing from president tr u.s.s. gerald ford, the first of the new ford class aircraft carriers. he was in hampton roads virginia. he was asked by the pool if he had confidence in his attorney general. he said yes, that he had total confidence. he also said he wasn't aware that sessions had spoken with the russian ambassador. when asked if sessions was truthful during his testimony, the president said he think he probably did think he told the truth and was asked if he should recuse himself from the d.o.j. investigation into possible russian meddling. he said i don't think so. let's go back a little bit more over the timeline. there were two meetings that jeff sessions to the russian ambassador of the united states. one was on september 8. that was in jeff session's office on capitol hill. the other time was on the sidelines of the republican national convention in july in cleveland at a heritage foundation event. it was a lunch time speech. jeff sessions had been giving the

see you on john roberts on the north lawn. let's get some perspective on the stories. brit hume joins us. i want to start with the rollout of obamacare. as you get down in the details, do you think republicans are going to go after each other on some of this or that they will unite? >> i think republican will be fine on most of this but there's always been a problem that obamacare included the subsidies for people to buy insurance under the obamacare plan. the repeal of obamacare is you take those subsidies away, and we all know from years of watching entitlement reform efforts go by that the hardest thing the world to do is revoke a benefit once it has been granted by law. what the republicans have done is replace the subsidy with a tax credit which is in effect another form of subsidy. there are conservatives in the house and i think we know some of them are who think this is a bad idea, that it amounts to obamacare lite or even an element of obamacare lights. i think republicans in the house leadership have some work to do to sell the idea of the credit to some of t

. >> joining us from the north lawn. it looks like the president is keeping a stiff upper lip. maggie ha maggie haberman told us that he was very measured in his conversation with her. are you getting a sense of how he's handling this debate? >> reporter: a little bill stunning for a president we've seen willing to publicly fume about any slight, including by involved members of his own party. that is not the president we saw today. i think his aides are insisting that he's okay with this defeat. he obviously wanted a win. this white house needed a win in such a difficult week, but i think part of this stems from the fact that he did what, he did health care first, because he felt like this is what they needed to do first. this is what republicans ran on for seven years. this is what the house speaker said they should do first. but it's not really donald trump's first passion. he would much prefer to move on to tax reform. and he certainly feels that now he's given hey,it a shot. and now they can move on. >> the white house seems poised to steer the blame away from the presiden

chief white house correspondent john roberts is here with the story from the north lawn. >> good evening. the white house legislative team is conducting a little 10-pin diplomacy, inviting house republicans for a bowling party, hoping to strike a deal on health care. the president wasn't tipping his hand on his health care sales pitched today, but the white house is putting a hard sell on the bill. >> no matter where you are, especially on the conservative side, you cannot possibly believe the current health care system is an effective program. it's a monstrosity, and government gone wrong. >> republicans may be united in their opposition to obamacare but there's a tremendous amount of blowback on what the white house and house speaker want to replace it with. texas senator ted cruz, who had dinner with the president last night, proclaimed the bill will never pass the senate in its current form. arkansas senator tom cotton, widely seen as the presidents wing man in the upper chamber, tweeted the plan will be dead on arrival. "house health care bill can't pass on it without major changes.