pam brown, thanks. my conversation with jenny willoughby about whether she thinks her ex-husband has changed, his request she give what amounts to a false account of what happened over the last several days, and the fears she has for his current romantic interest, hope hicks. i wanted to ask about a couple of things the white house has said, about what they've done or not done. chief of staff john kelley said porter is "a man of true integrity and honor." that's what he said earlier yesterday. they now say they only became fully aware of the allegations yesterday and then when asked today what changed between when the first statement was made and a later statement, they said it was "the full nature of the allegations, particularly the images." do you think it should have taken the white house seeing images of colby bruised and battered to come up with a different statement? >> knowing rob the way that i do, he probably is able to, even if his clearance hadn't gone through and they knew it was because of

first i want to two to pam brown standing by at the white house. >> reporter: at the white house morale is low about the handling of the rob porter situation with the white house so fiercely coming to his defense in the wake of these domestic abuse allegations. in fact, you heard today a rare admission from the white house saying that this could have been handled better. there's still a lot of outstanding questions here tonight about what john kelly, the chief of staff knew and when today the white house said that he was not fully aware until yesterday. then when pressed on that, the deputy press secretary said he didn't know about the picture of rob porter's ex-wife where she had a black eye. before there, there were on the record allegations from two of rob porter ex-wives that they were physically and verbally abused by him. john kelly, the chief of staff and other top white house aides knew months ago about some of these allegations. it raises the question why wasn't there an internal review. why was he able to keep his security clearance. the white house explains that away by sayin

. >> i want to head to the white house where we have our pam brown with some reporting. i wonder, is the white house reacting to this yet? >> the white house we're told is working on a statement that is will be putting out shortly and i'm told by an official familiar with working on this statement that it will touch on the fact there were these 13 russian indictments and the fact that according to this official no one in the trump campaign to include the president ever wittingly worked with or colluded with the russians. as you all have been talking about in this indictment. there is -- there's a point to be made about people in the trump campaign unwittingly working with some of these russians. you just pointed out the tennessee gop twitter account. we know don jr., kellyanne conway, among others, retweeted that. so basically this indictment is -- the statement from the white house as far as earlier today was meant to make the point that no one wittingly ever worked with any of these russians. we're told that the president was briefed on these 13 indictments this mornin

let's begin with our cnn correspondent there, pam brown. pam, give me the details on this meeting with the chief of staff today. >> reporter: the chief of staff, john kelly, held a routine meeting with a dozen or so staffers today. in this meeting, he sat to clarify his role in the handling of robert porter's departure here from the white house. he told staffers this morning, according to a source familiar with the matter, that he handled situation with porter within 40 minutes of seeing that picture of one of rob porter's ex-wives with a black eye, he said, within that timeframe. that is when he secured porter's resignation from the white house. as you'll recall, though, sarah sanders said that he would then be staying on board for a while to ensure a smooth transition. the next day, the deputy press secretary said that porter had been terminated. it's been all over the map here in terms of what exactly happened. some of the staffers walked away from this meeting, feeling as though kelly's portrayal of events was accurate in how he handled

as you heard pam brown report there, the white house is mum on what they'll do, saying they'll evaluate it when and if it comes to the white house. certainly no firm word there what president trump intends to do. democrats up here on capitol hill are certainly trying to ratchet up the political pressure on president trump to do so when it goes over there to the white house. the minority leader chuck schumer over the weekend saying it's only fair, a matter of fundamental fairness to let the public see both sides. both the republicans and now potentially the democratic document. >> you may have said this, but what time is the vote expected so we can anticipate it? >> 5:00 p.m. eastern behind closed doors on capitol hill. the highly secretive house intelligence committee. we'll certainly be reporting around that vote tonight when and if they send that democratic memo. >> thank you very much. appreciate that. we'll check in later on. joining me now john dean who was white house counsel for president nixon. john cooperated with investigators during watergate. kim whaley, associate counsel du

so our reporting from pam brown yesterday is that the administration responded to cnn's questions abouthis. and i'll just read portions of it. u.s. officials on wednesday tried to as swaeupblg concerns about the white house's stance on russia telling reporters that the administration has taken, quote, direct action, to address moscow's election meddling under the trump administration, including delivering, quote, a direct warning to putin. he has been warned, one senior administration said. the official declined to detail any specifics about those actions that the administration is taking, citing concerns, including the classified nature of some of this information. so are we just supposed to accept that putin has been warned and he will back off? >> you know, i would not personally. look, i really hope that what they report sd is factually correct and beneath the surface we're really going after this. but i don't see evidence of that. frankly, al sip, you take the president's tweets, you take other things the president has said. he certainly is not publicly building the intellectual fo

. >> pam brown, thanks very much. earlier this evening, i spoke with "new york times" columnist and best-selling author thomas friedman about this question, whether the president can and will take on the group that spent tens of millions of dollars to make him president. tom, do you believe the president can actually stand up to the nra? do you think he has the will to stand up to them? >> it's a good question, anderson. i think he does have the will. and if a conservative president, a republican president like president trump particularly given the sort of unique political characterization, if he actually said, you know what, enough is enough. enough is enough. and we actually have to do something meaningful and significant to reduce gun violence in this country. and i'm going to be a bridge between, you know, where the nra is and where the public is. and i'm actually going to move the needle on this. i'm actually going to lead. i'm actually going to lead. i'm going to go out and i'm going to build a constituency for

pam brown, thanks very much. >>> more now on the memo. no parade for manu raju who joins us. over the weekend, the president tweeted he was totally vindicated with the release of the nunes memo. how did lawmakers react to that today? >> reporter: well, they don't see it the same way as the president does. even republicans have said, look, this nunes memo targets one specific aspect here, is how the surveillance warrant was obtained to monitor carter page, who was of course then the trump campaign foreign policy adviser and those allegations the republicans are making that was done in an improper manner. this does not daeeal with what e president said he was vindicated from was the larger russia investigation, obstruction of justice. that is not part of what this nunes memo was about according to the members themselves. paul ryan said last week that the memo should be completely separate from the mueller investigation. so i asked him about that and the president's comments that he was vindicated from the nunes memo. >> last week you made the case that the memo -- the nunes mem

some of the developments on this investigation into russian meddling in the election, cnn's pam brown is reporting that an administration official says the u.s. warned russia not to interfere with the midterm elections coming up this year. what do you think about that? >> well, i think that's important. but it is not nearly enough. president barack obama warned putin not to do it in 2016. and, you know, warnings and stern language doesn't work with the russians. the russians understand shows of strength, they understand retribution. and, you know, while i've been very disturbed, again, i gave the president credit for his actions on guns, i don't give him a lot of credit for being strong on russia. and to go back to the previous president, you know, barack obama actually did, you know, kick a bunch of russians out of the country, shut down a bunch of facilities, that was not enough. until we make it very clear that attacking our elections is in a sense an act of war, and that there will be retaliation, the russians will keep doing it. >> and what about -- the memo that democrats on the

>> cara, myself, gloria borger and pam lo brown and myself are told investigators for the special counselert mueller have recently been asking witnesses questions about donald trump's business activities in russia prior to the 2016 presidential campaign. and this as he was considering a run for president. this is according to three people familiar with the matter. the lines of inquiry indicate that mueller's team is reaching beyond the campaign to explore how the russians might have sought to influence trump at a time when he was both discussing deals in moscow and considering this presidential run. now, mueller was appointed to investigate russian meddling in the 2016 campaign as well as links, we should note, between trump associates and russians and any issues that might arise from those investigations. however, as we've often said on the air, the president claims that any investigation of his family's personal finances would be a breach, in his view, of the special counsel's mandate. >> in terms of the kind of questions that mueller is asking witnesses, what have you learned? >> so we

diverse people" trudeau will meet will governor jerry brown and lieutenant governor gavin newsome on friday...before traveling to los angeles. (pamsco ... is suing california... it is all because of a state law that allows uber and lyft drivers .... to have a single business license to drive anywhere in the state. san francisco filed the lawsuit today in state court. city attorney dennis herrera says, the law prevents san francisco from requiring drivers who live outside the city ... to obtain a local business license when driving in the city. herrera says, that deprives the city of money that could be used to offset maintenance and traffic costs ... from the large number of out of town drivers. (pam) the first controversy of the 20-18 winter olympics has emerged, and the games have not even áofficiallyá started yet. it involves four-time olympian erin hamlin, who won a coin toss .. to become the u-s flag- bearer in the opening ceremony. that honor is usually decided in a vote by the eight u-s winter sport federations. hamlin got four votes ... but so did decorated speed skater shani davis. hamlin won the tie- breaking coin toss,

cnn's pamela brown, gloria borger brought us the first details of this last week. pam it tracks with what

cnn's pamela brown, gloria borger brought us the first details of this last week. pamnew york times" report which broke about 45 minutes ago, it tracks with what you and gloria were reporting last week. it seems to sound a more definitive note about the line the president's legal team will draw with the special counsel. >> my colleague and i had been reporting this is the stance of the president's legal team. a week ago we reported that they believe robert mueller hasn't met the threshold to interview the president. they don't want the president to sit down with robert mueller and his team because as ty cobb, the president's lawyer, has said on the record he believes it's a perjury trap, and they want to prevent this from happening. they want to prevent any type of fishing expedition. the sources we've spoken to have said that first of all, they believe that the president shouldn't be treated like anyone else. second of all, they believe that robert mueller's team hasn't shown the evidence, the proof that they have to sit down to talk to the president to understand his

pam) 64-year-old kim klopson is now charged with felony child abuse. the driver is accused of abusing a special-needs second grader at browns valley elementary. the incident happened, police say, when the young girl did not want to get off the bus... eventually -- as carma dickerson reports.. she was forceably removed. shock and dismay from parents after learning that a bus driver at browns valley elementary school in vacaville is facing felony charges for allegedly assaulting a special needs student.sot-6:40:58 oh wow, thatús sad, absolutely sad sot-6:34:45 this should have never happened in the first placethe incident reportedly happened during morning drop off last tuesday february 6. according to the vacaville unified school district, kim klopson was working as a substitute bus driver, dropping off students at school, when a second grader didnút want to get off the bus. klopson... who has worked for the district 18 years... reportedly then grabbed the little girl and tried to forcibly remove her, while speaking in what one vacaville police officer described as a 'mean tone'.sot-kimberly forrest/ vacaville unified school district - 6:24:07

pam) as our state capitol bureau reporter kody leibowitz tells us - it comes amid some recent controversy and a slight setback. the long proposed project is known as "california waterfix." governor jerry brownhas proposed constructing two - 35 mile long tunnels to under the delta to bring water from the sacramento river to southern california farms and cities. supporters say it would modernize an outdated system. but delays in hearings have come amid controversy first -- allegations of illegal talks between the state water resources control board and the department of water resources. in a statement in january - discovery bay assembly member jim frazier said - "the publicdeserves to have confidence that the process is fair" then - reports that the tunnels project may turn out to be just one tunnel. restore the delta has been an opponent of the project. barbara barrigan-parrilla, restore the delta "if a single tunnel project were to go through, the cost per acre foot of water would go up dramatically, more expensive payers.(kody) (;15)kody leibowitz, @kodyleibowitz "now i spoke with a spokesperson with the waterfix project on thursday. she said there's no updates yet with expect something th

he has brown hair and eyes and was last seen wearing glasses and a black northface sweater. christian is about 4 foot 10 --- 85 pounds. (pamederal judge that president trump mocked during his presidential campaign ... has ruled in the administration's favor on a challenge to building a border wall on the u-s - mexico border. u.s. district judge gonzalo curiel, denied claims by the state of california and advocacy groups , that the federal government is overstepping its bounds with the border wall proposal. california attorney general xavier becerra issued a statement, saying:"we remain unwavering in our belief that the trump administration is ignoring laws it doesn't like, in order to resuscitate a campaign talking point of building a wall on our southern border... we are preparedto do what is necessary to protect our people, our values, and our economy from federal overreach. a medieval wall along the u.s.- mexico border simply does not belong in the 21st century." (steve) coming up.. only two republicans are in the race to take the california governor's seat ... tonight, we hear from one of them .. and he is calling many