peter baker >> thank you mr. president. in light of a very busy newsweek, a lot of people would like to get to the bottom of a couple things. i would like to give you a chance to go on record. did you ever urge james comey in any way shape or form to closer back down the

we have two of the best reporters on white house beat joining us with, starting with peter baker and nbc's kelly o'donnell on the north lawn. peter, you have news for us. >> sean spicer might be moving on but other people aren't. you have john conyers and ee elijah cummings on the house judiciary and house government oversight government reform committees sent a letter to the white house just now asking for copies of any tapes if in fact there are recordings and they point out very notedly in the letter, they say it's a crime to try to intimidate a witness, that's what they are saying the president might have been trying to do with his tweet this morning. the point is the president raised that himself and it certainly we did not hear a firm answer from sean spicer today. >> and kelly, i watched the briefing and follow you on twitter and you were struck by the fact there was no denial of the existence or practice of recording meetings in the oval office. >> i think it's very important given the sweep of american history where tapes were an substantial element of what brought down a pre

and with that, let's bring in tonight's starting panel, peter baker, chief white house correspondent for the "new york times." and correspondent for the washington host covering foreign policy and politics. and jeremy bash, chief of staff to both the director of the cia and the secretary of defense during the obama administration, notably former council of the house intelligence committee. it's going to get you the first question tonight. first of all on wording. and let's say something three times that's important. presumption of innocence, presumption of innocence, presumption of innocence. there's other words. we heard person of interest sticks days ago in the washington post. we just heard courtney correctly say not a target. first of all, what does under scrutiny mean to you. second part of the question, where does this mean mueller might be as he looks that the kind of overarching topic of russia? >> it's pa jortive to say under scrutiny, if you look at ken and peter's reporting. there is nothing particularly pejorative that he may have information that bears on this broader in

we welcome ann to the broadcast, and we welcome back peter baker. thank you all for being so generous with your time and helping our broadcast tonight. when we come back, the montana race, which has so much attention focused on it tonight for reasons that originated last night. why weigh yourself down? try aveeno® sheer hydration. its active naturals® oat formula... ...goes on feather light. absorbs in seconds... ...keeps skin healthy looking and soft. aveeno® naturally beautiful results. >>> right now we are waiting for the final results of this special congressional election in montana. and the race between republican greg gianforte and democrat rob quist is probably getting more attention than it would have for one reason. the body slam heard around the political world. deputies charged gianforte with misdemeanor assault late last night after a reporter from "the guardian" newspaper named ben jacobs, accused him of body slamming him. it started when jacobs asked him a question about the congressional budget office scoring of health care. >> we'll

and we he choice peter baker. s? >> tnk you m psident. of a ry busy ws week peoe ulli to give u a chae gonecd re. at any timerg former i director jame comey in any tback downhe investigiointo mhael fnn analso as yo looba -- >> no. no. next question. >> next question look ckvethpa x month oyear, have you had ny recollecti wreou've wondedf anyinyoha doneas been sothg at mit be wort o criminal in tse investigatis or impchnt asome on the mplyin it'ridiculo. we have to get back to working properly tt can kearf e obms th wha. heley problems. aanst jo we hava emdo group of pele, millions a millions of there loong at what you just said andai wt e they dng rector comey w ver unpular withos people. actually out when made atecision and i also got a very stng recommendation t deputy w from attorney general, rod when i madeha decisi ictlly though it woulbeiptin decision. because you lk all the oth democtiside. t only the republicasi. t atere saying such teiblehings about direct comey. poor perfoan o weesy. pr ft that i belie and you ulhave to ask hi l

ashley parker, and peter baker chief white house kroerpdent for the "new york times." welcome all three of you. peter i'm going to begin with you. you today were admonished for shaking your head at that briefing. i've heard people speculate there were a lot of things we were watching today. perhaps it was sean spicer's last and he knew it. what do you think we witnessed in that room today? >> that's a good question. you saw a press secretary who was on the bubble himself. he has had multiple he will conversations with his boss over his job security. there is all kinds of conversation about what the role of the briefing will be going forward, will they continue to have them on daily basis the way we have under previous presidents, will they restructure them. tomorrow there is not a daily on camera briefing. he will do it as a gaggle. it means without cameras, on the record but without cameras so it can be televised. i think you will see changes coming forward. it's he the same day that mike dubke the communications director is resigning. it is a sign of the changes that

peter baker. >> thank you, mr. president. in the light of a very busy news week, a lot of people would like to get to the bottom of a couple of things, give you a chance to go on record here. did you at any time urge f.b.i. director james comey in any way shape or form to close or back down the investigation into michael flynn. and also -- ty ksrl cf ump: no.y hi h dotrropele hth poor, poor performance. so poor, in fact, that i believe, and you'd have to ask him, because i don't like to speak for other people, but i believe that's why the deputy attorney general went out and wrote his very, very strong letter, and then on top of that, after the wednesday performance by director comey, you had a person come and have to readjust the record, which many people have never seen before because there were misstatements made. and i thought that was something that was terrible. we need a great director of the f.b.i. i cherish the f.b.i. it's special. all over the world no matter where you go, the f.b.i. is special. the f.b.i. has not h

there was a striking moment in there, you heard the president say peter baker, or peter back there, appeared to be pointing at me, peter becamer from "the new york times" was not in the room. i'll have to go to the will call window to get my question at the next news conference asked. i think you're right in laying out what we heard which is a bit different than the way the story had been communicated communicated it was based on the deputy attorney general. today it appeared again by the president's remarks it was the deputy attorney general's recommendation that he was following once again. you know, i don't know that there was anything that struck us beyond the statements you've been talking about today. there were some other questions that didn't get answered. i think still a lot of unanswered questions about michael flynn, whether he regrets the decision to have hired michael flynn. president obama, we're told, warned him about michael flynn. if he has any regrets that he didn't follow that advice back in the day. more broadly about the information, the highly class y classified informa

the veteran "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker is with us, who we are happy to say also happens to be on our own most newly minted msnbc political analyst. we welcome back to the broadcast villi viv ya salah mow. we also welcome back political white house reporter matthew nussbaum. to a lot of people, that was chilling. i can't talk about that. i won't talk about that. you reacted in realtime, and the important, i thought, was appropriate. you think this is a very serious moment right there. >> well, i do. it's very striking. i mean, look, it's been 40 years since we had a president that we knew of anyway who was recording on any regular basis, tape-recording his conversations. and there's a reason why other presidents haven't done it. that's because it didn't work out so well for richard nixon obviously. and the idea he's sort of holding out there is either he is in fact secretly taping conversations with the fbi director of all people, or he's bluffing, or he's misleading in order to intimidate somebody who might have information that he considers to be dam

and to keep things fair, peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." welcome, all three of you. peter, i'm actually going to begin with you because you, today, were admonished for shaking your head at that briefing. i've heard people speculate there was a lot of things we were watching today. perhaps it was sean spicer's last, and he knew it. what do you think we witnessed in that room today? >> well, it's a good question. you saw a press secretary who was on the bubble himself. he's had multiple conversations with his boss over his job security. there's all kinds of conversation about what the role of the briefing will be going forward. will they continue to have them on a daily basis the way we have under previous presidents? will they restructure them? tomorrow there's not a daily on-camera briefing. he'll do a gaggle. that means without cameras. it will be on the record but without cameras so it can't be televises. this is the same day that michael dubke, the communications director that sean spicer helped bring into the white house, resigned after

. >> i'm going to bring in peter baker to our conversation here. "new york times" white house reporter. as we look at the response coming out of the administration right now, we also have the statement, official statement from the white house. we -- it says here that we congratulate president-elect macron and the people of france on the successful election. we look forward to working with the new president and continuing our close cooperation with the french government. that comes from the white house. then there's also the tweet that came from president trump earlier as well. in that tweet he also is consistent with the white house official statement saying congratulations to emmanuel macron on his big win today as the next president of france. i look very much forward to working with him. peter, is president trump very excited to work with him? >> that's a great question. what's striking about this press release and this tweet is how normal they are. >> yeah. right. >> this is what any president would normally say no matter who won in an election

but he asked -- he was channeling peter baker. he asked a peter baker question. i love the question. hey, mr. president, since you've taken office, has anything you've done been impeachable? that's a question that -- the president -- i expected him to go, let's see, there was the -- i have about five things, actually that -- what was the i goi go's name? >> scott? >> what kind of answer do you expect if you ask list the impeachable offenses. >> that's what we say in the business is a self answering question. >> you wonder why i don't want to have those. i love that. i talked to him afterwards. he said it was not preplanned. that the president would call on him. >> but he had that one ready. >> but the president signaled at him and said peter baker. which was not scott's name. they handed him the mike any way. he stood up and asked the question. >> peter alexander nodded that he would get the question. he called on peert ater alexand nodded at the other guy and give it to sid or scott -- >> scott. >> peter baker would have been proud of that question. >> a lot of

i'm joined by ken dilanian, robert costa, heidi przybyla, and peter baker. i'm going to throw each one of these questions by you and i want to ask you. first of all, ken, what would you ask about the flynn matter? >> well, i would ask, you know -- >> if you got this guy in the box. >> look, i would ask is it true, did he ask -- did president trump ask jim comey to go easy on mike flynn. the larger question i would ask is did trump ask comey to put the kibosh on the russian investigation, and does comey believe he was fired because he didn't do that. >> heidi? >> what was his understanding of i hope you can forget about it, i hope you can move on. what more was said? >> what are the possible interpretations. >> according to the republicans, like it was just -- is it a suggestion, or was it an order? but to anyone who is looking at this and observing, he's the boss. anything that is said like that can be taken as an order, and so it is -- when we walk away from this after this testimony, are we left politically -- forget the legal stuff, but politically with t

peter baker, white house reporter for the "new york times."had a chance to listen in at least to part of this. some of the major things we've heard, for example, was the acting director saying absolutely, he does not think there was a bad relationship between comey and the people who worked at the fbi. in fact, he said, i hold them in the highest regard. it has been the greatest privilege and honor of my professional life to work with him. he said the investigation is ongoing. he said there's no indication on his part more money is needed. from what you've heard, peter, what do you make of the hearing so far? >> obviously, you see through this hearing why the dismissal of the fbi director is, in fact, a big deal. because, in fact, there's a lot of questions to be asked. some of these answers aren't really satisfying to senators. you can tell. he was asked, for instance, about president trump's assertion in his letter firing, you know, mr. comey, that mr. comey had, in fact, reassured him three times that he, the president himself, was not unde

peter baker. >> thank your. president. in the light of a vy busy news week, a lot of people would li to get to the bott of a couple of things, give you a chance to o rorhere. did you at any time urge f.b. reor james cey to close or ck down the investigation into michael flynn. president trump: n >> next question. as y lk back over the past six monthsrear, have you had any recollection whe y've woered if anything you have done has been something that might be worthy of criminal charges in thesenvtigations or ieame as so on th left are implying. prident trump: i thi it's totallyidiculous, everybody thinks so. weave tgeback to wki r country propey we ca ke care of the problems. weave plenty of problem. we hav done aantastic job. we have a tremendoro of people, millionand peoples -- anmillions of people out ere, who take a look at what yo jussaid and saidhat are they doing. director comasnpopular with mt peop. i thought whei dehat desi and i got a very, vy stng recommendation, as you know, fr t deputy attorney general, rodosst

peter baker. >> thank you, mr. president. in the light of a very busy news week, a lot of people would like to get to the bottom of a couple of things, give you a chance to go on record here. did you at any time urge f.b.i. director james comey in any way shape or form to close or back down the investigation into michael flynn. and also -- president trump: no. next question. >> next question. as you look back over the past six months or year, have you had any recollection where you've wondered if anything you have done has been something that might be worthy of criminal charges in these investigations or impeachment as some on the left are implying. president trump: i think it's totally ridiculous, everybody thinks so. and again, we have to get back to working our country properly so that we can take care of the problems. we have plenty of problems. we have done a fantastic job. we have a tremendous group of people, millions and millions of people out there, who take a look at what you just said and said, what are they doing.

peter baker writes about the -- in the new york times this morning talking about pressure from republicans about this meeting saying a host of republican senators are lobbying mr. trump to use this meeting, president of the palestinian authority's to demand financial payments to the families who commit violence against israelis or americans. the senators introduced legislation to cut off aid if they refuse. , thessue of payments family of suicide bombers and others who committed violence has become a frequent complaint by israel and supporters. this that about $315 million a year distribute cash and benefits to 36,000 families. according to a new york hedge fund executive, also a fellow at the jerusalem center for public affairs who brought his research to american law makers. next up, victoria for morgan, democrat line. caller: good morning. i think the james comey affect was huge. it shook me up. the irony now is he was under investigation but trump was also and we did not know it at the time. they were both being investigated. as far as the whole benghazi thing, we had over 10 investiga

peter baker, thanks for being with us. hans nichols, thank you for being on the receiving end of my russia ire today. >>> joining the panel today, former democratic congressman harold ford. now a policymaker and re and re of the university of michigan gerald ford's school of public policy. biana, who i'm guessing has strong feelings about the body language at nato. john heilman, executive producer and co-host of show time's "the circus." and rick stengel. i got to start with you, biana. he didn't push aside anyone, he pushed aside -- >> there's no bigger thorn at putin's side than nato obviously. this is once a again a big coup for vladimir putin who has been watching this very closely. the fact that the president as we mentioned the bar was very low and know the other countries there purposely didn't bring up the russia issue and their concern that much about ukraine because they didn't want to sort of appease the president, get to know him and be flattering -- >> how about who pushed aside? >> yes, the newest members of

peter baker >> thank you mr. president. in light of a very busy newsweek, a lot of people would like to get to the bottom of a couple things. i would like to give you a chance to go on record. did you ever urge james comey in any way shape or form to closer back down the investigation into michael flynn, and also -- >> no, no. next question >> as you look back over the past six months or year, have you had any recollection where you wondered if anything you have done has been something that might be worthy of criminal charges in these investigation or impeachment as some of the left is implying >> i think it's totally rude ridiculous and everybody thanks health. we have to get back to working our country properly to take care of our problems. we done a fantastic job. we have millions and millions of people were looking at what you just said and said what are they doing. director comey was very unpopular with most people. i actually thought when i made the decision, and i also got a very strong recommendation from the deputy

peter baker, final thoughts. >> well, everything you guys said is correct. house and every white house could take in on board and we haven't seen as much of that in recent years. but i remember he was kind enough to do a blush about the book we did about russia and to journalists to help us understand the world around and generous to presidents and public policymakers. it's a loss for washington and a sense of time changing and a city changing. >> and i know we're over and i hope stephanie ruhle

robert: we take the pulse of healthcare across america with peter baker of the "new york times, molly ball of the "atlantic," ed o'keefe of "the washington post," and erica warner of the associated press. >> celebrating 50 years, this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinct ive. they understand the challenges of today. and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> additional funding is provided by newman's own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. koo and patricia yeun. the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live from washington, moderator, robert costa. robert: good evening. president trump has declared obamacare dead after house republicans passed a healthcare bill by a narrow vote, 217-213. republicans rushed the vote, just 17 hours after the bill was finalized, and before the congressional budget office could score the plan to est

we tackle it all, with peter baker of the new york times, vivian salama of the associated press, adam entous of the washington post, and erica werner of the associated press. >> celebrating 50 years, this is "washington week." funding is provided by... aragon. midway. normandy. medina ridge. these are places history will never forget. but more important are the faces we will always remember. >> additional funding is provided by... newman's own foundation. donating all profits from newman's own products to charity and nourishing the common good. the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! >> once again, moderator, robert costa. >> good evening. president trump winds down his first trip abroad. the ongoing investigations into russia election meddling continue to cast a shadow over the administration. we learned this week that jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, and white house advisor, is under f.b.i. scrutiny for a series of

. >> peter baker of the "the new york times" wrote that story or broke that news. peter, tell me about the bob muller/james comey relationship. >> they are, in fact, obviously close. they did serve together in the bush administration as you guys were just saying. they have this formative experience in standing up to a president, standing up to a vice-president. they both threatened to resign and it was when bob muller made clear that he would resign with james comey who was then the deputy attorney general over this surveillance program that president bush realized how serious it was. president bush realized he had another saturday night massacre on his hands and he wanted to avoid exactly that. he backed off in order to, you know, address their concerns. so, it was bob muller who ordered the fbi agents at the hospital when jim comey was rushing to get there, but to see ash croft, the attorney general before the president's emissaries got there, it was bob muller who ordered the fbi agents, don't let jim comey be thrown out of that room no matter what happens. they

"new york times" peter baker with their latest reporting on the white house.right here on "morning joe." es. my a1c wasn't were it needed to be. so i liked when my doctor told me that i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating what's within me with once-weekly trulicity. trulicity is not insulin. it helps activate my body to do what it's suppose to do, release its own insulin. i take it once a week, and it works 24/7. it comes in an easy-to-use pen and i may even lose a little weight. trulicity is a once-weekly injectable prescription medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. trulicity is not insulin. it should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not take trulicity if you or a family member has had medullary thyroid cancer, if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to trulicity. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have a lump or swelling in your neck, severe pain i

let's bring our kickoff panel on the, the veteran "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker is with us, who happens to be our newly minted msnbc political analyst. vivian solana, and matthew nussbaum. good evening to you all. peter, i was watching you on live television slight' after 4:00 p.m. eastern time. micolle wallace played the clip. >> that i can't talk about. i won't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest. i'm sure he will be, i hope. >> you reacted in real time. i'm not going to talk about that. you think this is a very serious moment right there. >> i do. it's very striking. it's been 40 years since we had a president that we knew of anyway who wasrd recording on any regular basis, tape recording his conversations. there is a reason why other presidents haven't done it. because it didn't work out well for richard nixon, obviously. the idea that he is putting out there is either he is in fact taping conversations with the fbi director of all people or he is bluffing or misleading in order to intimidate somebody who might have conferring that he consid

peter baker. >> thank you, mr. president. in the light of a busy news week, people would like to get to the bottom of a couple things. did you at any time urge director james comey in any way, shape or form to back down on the investigation into michael flynn? >> no, no. next question. >> next question. as you look back over the past six months or year, have you had any recollection where you wondered if anything you have done has been something that might be worthy of criminal charges in these investigations or impeachment on the left has been imply something. >> it's totally ridiculous. we have to get back to working our country properly to take care of the problems. we have plenty of problems. we have done a fantastic job. we have a tremendous group of people, millions and millions of people out there looking at what you have just said and said, what are they doing? director comey was very unpopular with most people. i actually thought when i made that decision and i also got a very, very strong recommendation, as you know

. >> i used to talk elizabeth miller, peter baker, white house corresponds covering bush. the fights we used to have were about -- i think what michael was trying to do was challenge the veracity of her assertion that she'd heard from countless fbi agents. i don't know how she'd know countless fbi agents. i know a little more than a dozen and i reached out to all of them and every one of them was and is loyal to jim comey. so it's sort of odd that she found countless that were thrilled that he'd been fired. i only know a little more than a dozen. when you lose the ability to speak with credibility from behind the podium, you're supposed to leave the podium. and i don't know how they're expected to do their job when one, they don't check with the president on the way to the briefing room, two, the president undermines and throws them under the bus as does this politico story we talked about. everyone's willing to throw the press up under the bus. they're brought in an hour before a major announcement. and again, i'm not speaking from some place on high. we have plenty of cr

i think it's interesting what peter baker of the "the new york times" had as far as advice for these leaders who are meeting trump. he says keep it short. no 30 minute monologue for a 30 second attention span. do not assume he knows the history of the country. compliment him on his electoral victory. contrast him favorably with the president barack obama. watch this. >> translator: the president we you have a unique personality that is capable of doing the impossible. >> thank you. i do. >> he complimented his personality there, lynn, your take? >> it's going to be a lot harder in israel then -- then these leaders who went in knowing that it would be better to be scripted, keep it short, because they didn't know him and he didn't know them. you go to israel, prime minister netanyahu is a known figure, the israeli press is aggressive. they're -- they get their own scoops and leaks that will also possibly shape the conversation and he's not going to be treated like royally. that's not how israel works. that's now how the west bank works. it's very down to earth territory he's going int

with us to share the reporting, laura meckler, cnn manu raju, peter baker and jackie . you might think if you watch cable news if you visit a website that deals with politics. president trump's campaign committee is on the air. >> donald trump sworn in as president 100 days ago. america has rarely seen such success. >> back to that remarkable twist in just a moment. but first the agenda for the second 100 days beginning with today's breaking news. a deal to keep the government open through the end of september. it is the first big spending negotiation of the trump presidency. the first time to set government priorities across the board in the all republican washington. and it is democrats who are most happy today. there is more money for the pentagon, more money for border security and more money for health research and for minors health care. even with a republican president, a republican house and a republican senate the spending bill has no funding cuts for planned parenthood, no money for deportation, no spending cuts for sanctuary cities and no money for border cll

charlie, i have to note that behind you, for the past few minutes, i've seen glen thrush, i've seen peter baker,' se i'ven matt rosenberg -- either you're in a very interesting part of the world today or should we watch for something breaking? >> i think it's also important that you stay abreast of what we're about to publish. >> great answer. thank you to all my panel. >>> after the break, we head to the hill where the russian investigation is moving ahead. ahh. where are mom and dad? 'saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico! goin' up the country. love mom and dad' i'm takin' a nap. dude, you just woke up! ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. ♪ everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. the uncertainties of hep c. wondering, what if? i let go of all those feelings. because i am cured with harvoni. harvoni is a revolutionary tt

peter baker chief correspondent from "the times" and back with me bloomberg's shannon pettypiece and hington examiner" sarah westwood. peter, let's start with you. typically in an administration you might have people lined up down pennsylvania avenue and what are you hearing from outside the administration about jumping in? >> yeah, there's a challenge here, obviously, what you have seen in the four months since he took office the president who is his own chief communicator and his own decider and resistant to advice. you know, that's a good thing from a political point of view in the sense that he has, you know, thrilled audiences of supporters over the last year and a half with his sort of unfiltered, unscripted, anti-political correctness kind of approach. but from the point of an adviser, it could be very frustrating. when they lost their communication director yesterday, who said he is stepping down, they checked in with four differenteople who might replace him all of whom said no. it's a real challenge for them to see if they can find epeople who are willing to come in at this

peter baker wrote it this way. tips for meeting trump, keep it short.og for a 30 second attention span. do not assume he knows the history of the country. contrast him favorably with barack obama. this is like crib note it is for foreign policy. is it that simple? >> we've seen it play out here in washington. when world leaders come to the white house to meet with trump, they do all of those things almost to a tee. you'll hear it in their oval office handshakes. you'll hear it when they're on the podium congratulating the president on his enormous victory. they understand that these small gestures are worth doing if it's going to get them an overall better relationship. nobody wants a bad relationship with the united states. nobody in this world stage can really afford that. so that's why you're seeing so much grace being extended to trump at this point. >> and a giant challenge. sunday morning our time in saudi arabia he's going to give a big speech where he's going to call on islamic nations to join the united states in the fight of against terrorism.

peter baker, final thoughts. >> well, everything you guys said is correct. i think he's a model, obviously, as a public servant that this white house and every white house could take in on board and we haven't seen as much of that in recent years. but i remember he was kind enough to do a blush about the book we did about russia and to journalists to help us understand the world around and generous to presidents and public policymakers. it's a loss for washington and a sense of time changing and a city changing. >> and i know we're over and i hope stephanie ruhle indulges us a few more minutes. one of the biggest surprises for me when we were just starting the show and we would go out on book tours, and everywhere we were across america, people would come up to us and they would say, i had your father at columbia and he taught me and he would stay after class for an hour explaining a point or however -- whatever we needed from him, and it could have been an accountant in des moines or it could have been an investment banker, you know, in, you know, san franc

peter baker. yes. >> thank you, mr. president. in the light of very busy "newsweek" a lot of people would like to get to the bottom of a couple of things, give you a chance to go on record here. did you at anytime urge former fbi director james comey in any way, shape oform to close or back down the investigation into michael flynn? and also as -- >> no. no. next question? >> next question. as you look back over the past six months or a year, have you had any recollection where you have wondered if anything you have done has been something that might be worthy of criminal charges in these investigations or impeachment as some on the left are implying? >> that is totally ridiculous. everybody thinks so. we have to get back to working our country properly so that we can take care of the problems that we have. we have plenty of problems. we've done a fantastic job. we have a tremendous group of people, millions and millions of people out there that are looking at what you have just said and said, what are they doing? director comey w

and then your colleagues, peter baker and maggie, i think added some reporting, that this has now becomea white house that has talked about a war-room, but the president is sort of realizing his owndestabilizing, and maggie write by this morning nobody feels safe inside donald trump's white house. >> yeah, i think there's a sense that absolutely everybody is the target of the president's rath. look, this is a guy who's not particularly good at accepting responsibility for his own mistakes, shall we say, and i think we saw it pretty vividly in the off-camera gaggle today with sean spicer. this extraordinary exchange where it was, like, the president meant to do that about the tweet, when clearly it was something else. he just won't accept blame, so he's pointing fingers at everybody in his inner circle. even people like jared kushner aren't particularly safe anymore. and, you know, there is just a sense, i think, what's really happened in the last two weeks is a lot of members of the staff who had been willing to really go for the -- go to the wall for the president. i think are now askin

"new york times" reporter peter baker reporting trump has a long-standing interest in surveillance. >> this is not the first time, by the way, that somebody has suspected that donald trump might be taping them. that was a recurrent suspicion while he was in business. people thought maybe trump tower had some recording devices and so forth. this is not a new thing. but to have sean spicer not confirm or deny it leaves it out there is a very real possibility. >> the third admission against interests came as trump indicated he thinks he can personally impact the pace of a criminal investigation into his own aides. >> i said to myself, i might even lengthen out the investigation. but i have to do the right thing for the american people. >> did you ask him to drop the investigation? >> no, never. >> did anyone from the -- >> no, in fact i want the investigation speeded up. >> it is illegal for the president to order an investigation sped up or slowed down. that would actually be the kind of tampering that could lead to obstruction charges. we will cover that in a special report later this

peter baker, yes. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. in the light of a very busy news week a lot of people would like to get to the bottom of a couple of things. given you a chance to go on record here. did you at any time urge former fbi director james comey in any way shape or form to close or back down the investigation into michael flynn? >> no. >> reporter: also as you look back -- >> no. next question. >> reporter: next question. always you look back over the past six months or a year, have you had any recollection where you have wondered if anything you have done has been something that might be worthy of criminal charges in these investigations or impeachment as some on the left are implying? >> i think it is totally ridiculous. everybody thinks so. again, we have to get back to working our country properly so that we can take care of the problems that we have. we have plenty of problems. we have done a fantastic job. we have a tremendous group of people. millions and millions of people out there that are looking at what you hav

peter baker. >> thank you mr. president. if you would like to get to the bottom of a couple of things can get a chance for you to go on record. did you earn james comey in any way, shape or form to back down the investigation into michael flynn? president trump: no. . , have youlook back had any recollection where you have wondered if anything you have done has been something that might be worthy of criminal charges? >> i think it is totally ridiculous. workingto get back to our country properly so that we can take care of the problems. we have plenty of problems. we have done a fantastic job. we have a tremendous group of people looking at what you just said and said what are they doing? director comey was very unpopular with most people. i thought when i made that decision, and i got a strong recommendation as you know from the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein. when i made that decision i thought that it would be a bipartisan decision. you look at all of the people on the democratic side, not only the republican sid

so, joining the conversation, chief white house correspondent to the "new york times," peter baker.obama, john earnest, john heilman, richard haas. >> i'm sure you've heard much what i've heard that donald trump is increasingly isolated, wail ago way at his staff, screaming at tv sets, whether in the white house or whether he's even at his clubs. the situation seems to be deteriorating by the day. >> he doesn't have someone around him to manage him or help him find the path forward. the fact that he didn't talk to a lot of his staff produces the obvious outcome. it doesn't go very well. at least it's not communicated very well. as you say, the portrait of a president sort of watching that 60-inch television in his dining room and going through tapes of hearings and picking out specific moments, as reported by "time" magazine this week is a pretty alarming and pretty strike i striking of a president who is not in control of his white house. >> this weekend the washington post quoting a republican close to the white house, close to trump, saying he seems to be in a state of delusion.

peter baker? yes. >> thank you, mr. president.busy news week, people want to get to the bottom of a couple things, giving you the chance to go on record here. did you, at any time, urge the former fbi director james comey in any way, shape, or form back down from flynn -- >> no, no. >> also as you -- >> no. next question. >> next question. as you look back over the past six months or year, have you had any recollection where you wondered if anything you have done has been something that might be worthy of criminal charges or impeachment as some to the left imply. >> it's absolutely ridiculous. everyone thinks so. again, we have to get back to working our country properly so that we can take care of the problems that we have. we have plenty of problems. we've done a fantastic job. we have a tremendous group of people, millions and millions of people out there looking at what you had just said and said, what are they doing? director comey was very unpopular with most people. i actually thought when i made that decision, and i also g

>> we'll have great reporters around the table and peter baker, from "the new york times," back fromn trip. we'll talk about that foreign trip and also what the white house is going to do legally, politically, to deal with these new questions about russia and about how they've handled it, and the special counsel. try to put it all together in half an hour and have a candid reporting based conversation. >> willie? >> another big night. >> it will be another big night for us. >> raw steaks soaked in scotch. >> i'll bring the slim jims. >> no, you can't come in. it's a pretty small group. >> that's scotch marinade for our steak is amazing. we'll be watching tonight, we swear. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> still ahead the president reportedly calls germany, quote, very, very bad, even threatening to stop german car exports to the u.s. we'll have the clarification just issued from the trump administration. >>> plus, live to manchester, england, as police continue raids there, the wake of a terror attack at an ariana grande concert. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ sfx: engine revving ♪ (silence) ♪ this is a s