but sara murray and dana bash are both reporting tonight that they are really trying to persuade him russia is a threat. why can't they persuade the president to take this russian threat seriously? >> i'm not sure i can answer that question on why you can't persuade the president of the united states not to take this threat seriously. we heard in the general's testimony that the chief law enforcement officer of the united states had not received a briefing on this issue. the reality is this administration is not taking the russia threat at all seriously. perhaps it's because this president happens to have a soft spot for russia. there's plenty of evidence for that to be true. he clearly regards any talk of russia as undermining his claim to the presidency of the united states, and that's why he's called this a hoax. this is why he has slandered people like jim comey, the media who report on this. this is a sensitive topic for the president. i don't disagree with the president that our last president, president obama, he did not do nothing, he did a lot, but he didn't do enough. he di

i'd like to thank sara murray for being here. -- senator murray for being here. we expect senator wyden soon but i'm going to start, to discuss this jaw drop regular port from the congressional budget office. today's report confirm what is doctors, patient adhave cats, democrats and republicans have have been saying for weeks. trump care will lead to higher costs for lescare and lead to tens of millions of americans left without any insurance. for weeks, senator republicans tried to tell us that their bill would be better than the house bill. it would be different than the house bill. many house members even said they only voted for the house bill because they said the senate bill would make it better. c.b.o.'s report today makes clear that this bill is every bit as mean as the house bill. this c.b.o. report should be the end of the road for trumpcare. republicans would be wise to read it like a giant stop sign. urging them to turn back from this path that would be disastrous for the country, for middle class americans, and for their party. there's a lot to unpac

cnn sara murray joins me now with this new reporting. hello, sara. you have been reporting this out all day. what are you learning from inside the white house? >> well, don, multiple senior administration officials say they've been struggling to convince president trump that russia still poses a threat to the integrity of america's elections. in fact, one official told me there's, quote, no evidence to show trump is actively engaging on this issue. now, the president still gets his daily briefings and that includes updates on russia. but beyond that, an administration official says there's no paper trail, no sked ulz, no readouts new yo, no bri documents, nothing to indicate the president is convening meetings or roundtables on this subject the way he has with other threats, for instance, threats against the u.s. power grid. on top of that, sources tell my colleagues dana bash and jim sciutto the national security agency director mike rogers actually expressed to lawmakers how frustrated he is that he can't convince trump to even accept u.s. intellig

so let's go to sara murray.live in cincinnati where the president just spoke at an infrastructure event. sara murray, what are they saying? >> reporter: well, brooke, on the plane ride back to washington, d.c., sarah huckabee sanders spoke to reporters and essentially said that they are reviewing this testimony. they didn't have a comment on it yet. it came out basically as president trump was leaving the stage here in cincinnati to head back to the white house. sarah huckabee did remark on the interesting timing. she didn't elaborate exactly what she meant but pointed it came out right after we saw dan coats and mike rogers testifying on capitol hill today. one thing that is interesting about watching the white house knave ga navigate this, they have put out documents and rapid response stuff this afternoon ceasing on the parts of the testimony that comey told president trump he was not personally under investigation in those private conversations. the reason, the republican national committee is handling so mu

our sara murray has more from the white house. >> reporter: president trump may have come clean about the tapes about the conversations with james comey. >> you never know what is out there, but i didn't tape. >> reporter: he is showing no sign of regret over the original story. >> my story did not change. my story was always the truth. you have to determine for yourself whether or not his story changed. i did not tape. >> it was a smart way to make sure he stayed honest in the hearings. >> it wasn't very stupid, i can tell you that. >> reporter: comey testified earlier this month the president's tweet prompted him to share memos detailing conversation in the hopes of spurring the special counsel investigation. >> i needed to get that out into the public square. >> reporter: the justice department named former fbi director robert mueller special counsel last month. a move after the dismissal of comey. now the president is raising questions of mueller's ties to comey. >> good friends with comey which is very bothersome, but he's also -- we'll have to see. we'll have to see in terms. lo

let's bring in our white house correspondent sara murray. sara, sean spicer indicated earlier in the day as you well know that the white house might comply with that deadline even after the president's tweet revealing he personally doesn't have any tapes of james comey. what's the latest? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. lawmakers were not incliened to take trump at his word, via twitter. they asked white house counsel to provide any evidence of whether tapes, recording that kind of thing, exists by the close of business today. earlier today, white house press secretary sean spicer in an off-camera briefing suggested they may have something to provide to congressional investigators. listen to what he said. >> does the white house plan to deliver some sort of official written response to from the intel house committee? >> i believe there was some communication we have to have by close of business today. so, i'll figure out if that is going out. >> reporter: now, at this point if there was some kind of communication, the white house is staying

let's bring in white house correspondent sara murray. sara, you have been doing great reporting on this, what are you learning? >> we are learning there are multiple senior officials say they struggle with president trump -- one official told me there is, quote, no evidence to show trump is actively engaging on the issue the president is still getting his daily briefing. that includes updates on russia. but beyond that, administration officials say there is really no paper trail, no schedules, no read outs, no briefing documents, nothing to indicate the president is convening meetings or round tables on this subject. the way he has with other threats, for instance, threats against the u.s. power grid. and on top of that, sources tell my colleagues as well as jim sciutto that national security agency director mike rogers actually expressed to lawmakers how frustrated he is that he can't convince trump to even accept u.s. intelligence that russia meddled in the election. >> sara, as you know, top officials are describing this as a major thr

let's bring in cnn's sara murray at the white house. sarah, with so much of the president's agenda in play today, these tweets clearly taking everyone in washington off message including the president's aides? >> reporter: that's right, jake. so much the president could have been focused on plenty of news coming out of the white house including that the president is going to be meeting with vladimir putin on the sidelines at the g20 including the controversial health care vote. but instead, the president is taking at the media and doing it in a very personal way. president trump setting off a firestorm today as he blasted this out on twitter. i heard poorly rated morning joe speaks badly of me. don't watch anymore. then how come low i.g. crazy meek qaa along with psycho joe came to mar-a-lago three nights in a row and insisted on joining me. she was bleeding badly from a face-lift. i said no. the white house doubled down on two msnbc anchors. >> i don't think you can expect someone to be personally attacked day after day, minute by minu

our white house correspondent sara murray is standing by on the north lawn of the white house. our congressional spent phil mattingly is up on capitol hill. sara, the white house had been working on what's call a war room to respond to the russia investigation. comey's testimony on thursday. what's happening with that so-called war room? >> wolf, they had hoped to create kind of a war room to krooet there a create their own narrative. it does not look like that will come to fruition before comey testifies. they've had difficulty setting it up. they've had difficulty trying to create this. at the same time that mark kasowitz, the president's outside legal counsel is trying to stand up his legal team. in many ways it leaves the administration a little bit flat footed going into these hearings. obviously we know this is something president trump has been very preoccupied with. we've seen him tweet about it. we know he was very frustrated when jeff sessions recused himself from the russia investigation stepping aside and then allowing rod rosenstein to appoint this special prosecuto

sara murray, thank you so much. what are the other big questions out there for the president? let's go to brian stelter, host of "reliable sources." you have a list of five questions, my friend. let me guess, at the top of that, are there tapes? >> number one on my list as well. are there any recordings of any conversations the president has had in the white house with comey or anybody else. maybe that can be put to rest today. number two on my list, brooke, is again about comey and what senator reid was jued asked. and also building on the hearings from yesterday, there's reports that attorney general jeff sessions possibly had a third unreported meeting with the russian ambassador. is that true and, if so, are you going to fire jeff sessions? i think his fate is crucial today. my fourth on this list, brooke, is about comey and russia. comey said yesterday there is no doubt russia attacked the united states and they will be back. the president, according to comey, did not seem interested in asking questions about that. so what is the president doing today to protect america a

here is sara murray with more. >> no collusion, no obstruction, he's a leaker. >> reporter: a defiantident trump says he is willing to testify under oath about his conversations with james comey. >> so he said those things under oath. would you be willing to speak under oath to give your version? >> 100%. >> reporter: after restraining himself during comey's testimony thursday, today trump is going on offense. >> frankly james comey confirmed a lot of what i said, and some of the things he said just weren't true. >> reporter: one day after comey made clear he thought president trump lied, trump accused the former fbi director of lying under oath. but he refused to say whether he has tapes of his conversations with comey. >> i'll tell you about maybe sometime in the very near future. you're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer. >> reporter: this as trump and allies adopt a questionable defense strategy, insisting the president is in the clear because comey testified that trump was not under investigation when comey still led the fbi, arguing other parts of comey's tes

would depend on the scope of the questions, but a senior administration official is telling our sara murray that the white house actually might hold back and hope that jeff sessions actually restrained on his own. so, there is a lot of anticipation for what will likely be another largely watched round of public testimony. it all begins this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. and senators, meanwhile, they're still deciding whether attorney general jeff sessions will be asked to testify in a classified briefing after that public hearing. dave and christine? >> jessica, thank you. >>> the white house pushing back hard this morning against a claim by a longtime friend of the president that mr. trump is considering firing special counsel robert mueller. press secretary sean spicer rejecting the claim by news max ceo chris ruddy that the president was weighing the option. spicer issued a statement overnight, saying mr. ruddy never spoke to the president regarding this issue. "with respect to this subject, only the president or his attorneys are authorized to comment." >>> in the wake of fbi director james co

cnn's sara murray is live for us at the white house today. sara, of course, this is not what the what is staff wanted to be talking about today. >> reporter: well, jake, when you're debating whether or not we should pay attention to the president's tweets, it's pretty clear that things have veered off message. for what it's worth, sarah huckabee sanders who it is briefing reporters say she does think the report remembers and america should pay attention to the tweets, how he speaks directly to the people but what he was speaking directly to the people today had nothing to do with his own policy agenda. today president trump is trampling his own agenda. >> today we're proposing to take american air travel into the future, finally, finally. >> reporter: after the administration teenagersed a week of infrastructure-focused events, the president derailed that strategy with a fiery tweet storm. trump using the terror attack in london to defend his travel ban and slam his own justice department, tweeting the justice department should have stayed wit

sara murray is out front near new jersey. ut this latest tweet from the president, even though this one is actually on the topic they wanted him to tweet about. >> reporter: well, it certainly does throw a wrench into the plan that republicans were proceeding with. they are preparing to take a difficult vote on health care. and the goal was to do repeal and replace at the same time. in fact, this was the goal because days after he was elected, president trump said these things would happen near simultaneously. but today he threw a wrench in those plans, suggesting that if this bill, this republican health care bill cannot pass the senate, then maybe they should move forward with repealing obamacare and replacing it later down the line. the white house insisted the president's thinking on the subject hasn't changed. here's what sarah huckabee sanders had to say. >> the president hasn't changed his thinking at all. he's campaigned on repealing and replacing obamacare. >> now, the white house may be insisting the plan hasn't chan

sara murray?ed in the wake of comey's testimony but a number of republicans are queelg queasy how the gop is handling this. i spoke to one who got the republican talking points around comey essentially questioning his credibility and this person told me, "i feel like i live in the twilight zone," just reacting with disgust one of the two major political parties is smearing the former fbi director and that's the talking point. >> that's the talking point from the white house. carl? >> i hear more and more that republicans are going to get rid of this old senate practice called the blue slip where senators get to weigh in on whether a judge can go forward, there's a lot of states that still have only democratic senators. republicans don't want these democrats senators to be able to block this push for trump judges, so i think there's going to be some changes there, and there will be some uproar over that. >> one of the places where trump has kept fidelity with the conservative base, not happy with t

and cnn's sara murray is at the white house for us. sara, president trump made his feelings pretty clear on twitter this morning and then again a few minutes ago. >> reporter: that's right. even though a the president cannot seem to stop tweeting about this investigation today, sarah huckabee sanders, a spokeswoman here at the white house, in an off-camera briefing declined to talk about it eight times. instead, instructing reporters to reach out to president trump's personal lawyer. this as the russia investigation appears to be inching closer and closer to the oval office. the russia cloud looming over the trump white house is expanding. and threatening to engulf the president. trump isn't holding back his fury, tweeting thursday, they made up a phony collusion with the russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. nice. and you are witnessing the single greatest witch hunt in american political history, led by some very bad and conflicted people. trump's tweets coming soon after "the

i want to go to sara murray who was at the white house. what are you hearing about the tension between president trump and jeff sessions? >> reporter: well, we know it's been a frustrating relationship. sessions decided to recuse himself and it came as a surprise to the white house and since then, as maggie pointed out, the president has been fuming in his conversations about the fact that sessions recused himself, which led to a special counsel. and once you're in a special counsel, there's no way to unring that bell that could delve into the campaign and we've already seen the way the investigation has touched the inner circle. it's touched jared kushner, his own son-in-law. when the president appeared very briefly if front of the cameras today, he couldn't even get beyond that. he was saying that jared kushner even now is more famous than i am and i'm a little bit upset about that. but, could ha of course, it's b the russia probe. when we get closer to james comey testifying on capitol hill where the president tends to get more spun up.

sara murray is joining me now. the president was calling for unity in the aftermath of the violence and it was certainly received well here on capitol hill. >> reporter: he commended capitol police and sent his prayers to the victims but also made it clear this is not a time for differences but for people in washington to come together. here's a little more about what president trump said today. >> we may have our differences, but we do well in times like these to remember that everyone who serves in our nation's capitol is here, because above all, they love our country. we can all agree that we are blessed to be americans, that our children deserve to grow up in a nation of safety and peace and that we are strongest when we are unified and when we work together for the common good. >> now, earlier today, the president spoke with house speaker paul ryan as well as congressman scalise's wife. they scrapped their public events today. a very somber day here at the white house. back to you, brianna. >> sara murray, tha

cnn's sara murray is live for us at the white house. sara, hard to parse out. what's the headline there? a lot of headlines on tapes and basically him calling comey a liar in return. >> that's right, jim. we really saw a defiant president trump in this rose garden event today, disputing what comey said under oath, saying that he lied and trump even saying he'd be willing to testify about his own version of events under oath. >> no collusion, no obstruction. he's a leaker. >> reporter: after initially restraining himself during james comey's testimony, today president trump is lashing out. >> frankly, james comey confirmed a lot of what i said and some of the things that he said just weren't true. >> reporter: trump going on offense, accusing the former fbi director of lying under oath, but refusing to say whether he has tapes of his conversations with comey. >> i'll tell you about that maybe sometime in the very near future. >> reporter: but trump did say he'd be willing to testify to his version of events under oath. >> so he said those things under oath. woul

sara murray. it's been echoed by a number of folks on this panel, sarah huckabee sanders, multiple people have covered her and known her for years. she's a lovely woman but clearly as she was speaking behind that podium, she was speaking to her audience of one. >> reporter: i think that's probably right, brooke. i think that the president has made clear he wants strong spoeks people who will go out and defend him, especially no matter what he says, and i think this is sort of a difficult arena in which to do it and difficult tweets to defend and we've seen that in the way that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have responded today. it's been pretty universal from democrats and republicans. they find it appalling. they find it sexist. they find it beneath the office of the presidency and that's, i think, one of the key differences here is that if you are elected president, if you decide you want to run for president and then you are successful, which president trump was, there's heat that comes

i'd like to thank sara murray for being here. -- senator murray for being here. we expect senator wyden soon but i'm going to start, to discuss this jaw drop regular port from the congressional budget office. today's report confirm what is doctors, patient adhave cats, democrats and republicans have have been saying for weeks. trump care will lead to higher costs for lescare and lead to

. >> i want to go sara murray at the white house. you're in the briefing room. they're going to be forcing our cameras soon to stop live coverage of the upcoming press briefing that's about to begin. the deputy press secretary about to brief reporters on this and the health care bill that the republicans introduced in the senate. but you're getting more reaction to the final word from the president. i'll put it up again, his tweet he just posted. let me read it for viewers who may be tuning in. "with all of the recently reported electronics surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, i have no idea whether there are "tapes" or recordings of my conversations with james comey, but i did not make and do not have any such recordings." what additional reaction are you getting? >> i think one of the things we're hearing, one of the things my colleague, jeff zeleny, is hearing is this was a misstep by president trump to suggest that these tapes existed and to sort of leave that notion hanging out there for so long. this is also what we've be

sara murray joins me with this brand new reporting. sara, what are you learning from the white house. >> reporter: officials say they struggled to understand president trump, that russia continues to threaten our elections. there is nothing showing that president trump is actively engaging in the issue. there are updates on russia, but beyond that, the administration says, there is no paper trail, no briefing documents to really indicate the president is convening meetings or roundtables on this subject the way he has other threats, for instance, threats against the u.s. roger stone actually expressed to lawmakers how frustrated he is that he can't convince trump to speak with russians who meddled with the election. >> why is president trump still reluctant to address this issue? >> people have spoken to the president about this and they say he's really struggling with the possible collusion from russia to the investigation of russian meddling ift. trump sees everything regarding russia being organized to challenge him, basically a move

one told our colleague sara murray, there's no evidence, no evidence, to show trump is actively engaging. the president gets a daily briefing including updates on russia. beyond that, an administration official says no paper trail, no schedules, readouts, nothing to sayhaving meetings like other threats like the u.s. power grid. a congressional source tells me in a recent closed-dosh meeting on capitol hill, national security agency director mike rogers expressed to lawmakers how frustrated he is he can't convince the president to even accept u.s. intelligence that russia meddled in the election. >> and, dana, he, and so many other intelligence officials, called this a major threat. the president is quick to criticize the obama's administration handling of it. why so reluctant to address it themselves? >> what we're told, people who have token spoken about this, h trouble separating the collusion with the meddles of the election. trump seeing everything regarding russia as organized as a challenge to him, and republican congressional source told me he can't admit anything that may taint

let's go to cnn's sara murray in cincinnati where the spoke just this afternoon. ow is the white house reacting to the release of these prepared remarks? >> well, we're certainly not getting a lot of reaction for them. you know, this came out basically as president trump was leaving his event here in cincinnati, heading back to washington, d.c. sara huckabee sanders, of course, the spokeswoman for the white house, spoke to reporters on the plane and essentially said that they were looking it over as she was talking to reporters. there were questions, of course, about whether the white house is going to push back or dispute the accuracy of anything that comey puts in his testimony, and sara basically said they were reviewing that right now and would keep us posted. this is sort of fitting what we've seen from this white house. very little comment officially in terms of reacting to developments regarding the russia investigation, regarding comey. so far they have mostly been kicking things over to president trump's personal lawyer but we're still waiting to see wheth

sara murray was there and reports that there is no doubt that keeping members focussed on investigationse trying to deliver to the american people. that's a white house official saying that the turmoil is getting in the way of what he's trying to do. >> and he is speaking candidly. he is right. we were talking about how surprising it was for him to say that publically. it's not the first time we have seen in the in the past 48 hours people saying things publically and explicitly to remember how this president consumes information on twitter, on television and we know this from the campaign. to get messages to the president, many people find it easier to do it through media than by walking into the oval office or doing it through appropriate channels. but i will also tell you that republican after republican who were so excited for this president to be inaugurated because they could finally do these things, tax reform, obamacare repeal and so forth, they are ripping their hair out because not just the investigations but that he sends the whole agenda off kilter with a single tweet in the

go straight to white house correspondent sara murray. sahr are plaek it down for us. >> in many ways we saw president trump go back to basics today. he hit the sort of nationalist theme, the america first theme he campaigned on and o ohs o as he made the monumental announcement the u.s. would no longer be a part of the paris climate agreement. >> the bottom line is that the paris accord is very unfair at the highest level to the united states. >> today president trump is putting a economic mark next to one of his key campaign promises. >> in order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect america and its citizens, the united states will withdraw from the paris. [ applause ] climate accord. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. but begin negotiations to re-enter either the paris accord or a really entirely new transaction. >> trump announcing the withdrawal from the paris climate agreement in the face of protests from business groups, world leaders and even trump's own daughter, ivanka while critics have said backing out of the deal will put t

let's go to our white house correspondent sara murray for the very latest. what are you learning? >> reporter: well, there's certainly no love lost between president trump and james comb de, and when the president was asked about this today he gave a very brief answer just two days ahead of comey's hearing. the president only saying that he wishes comey luck. just days before fired fbi director james comey is set to testify on capitol hill about his conversations with the president, the white house is still grappling with how to respond to a barrage of questions about russia. >> what methods do you have to -- >> i wish him luck. >> reporter: trump may be maintaining his calm in public but in private conversations the president section pressing irritation that there isn't a more robust operation to defend him. efforts to create a comprehensive war room to push back against the drumbeat of russia news have stalled, at least for now, but the president's frustrations are still simmering and spilling out on to his twitter account. and ever since attorney general jeff sessions recused h

sara murray is "outfront." the trump administration slams the report and the cbo itself? >> reporter: that's right. this appears to be the white house defense, to slam the budget office. they put out this statement after the cbo score saying, "the cbo has consistently proven it cannot accurately impact the insurance coverage impact and the history is demonstrated by its flawed report and uncovered premiums and deficit arising out of obamacare reminds us that its analysis must not be trusted blindless." there were some differences that were projected but people who have worked in this field say it's impossible to fully predict the effects of legislation perfectly. cbo is the best we've got. and it's worth noting that the only thing the white house is not doing is trying to lobby senators. mike bepence is inviting a handl of senators over tomorrow night, senators lee and cotton and langford and mike lee so far has said he cannot support it. >> thank you very much, sara. let's go to senator ron wyden, a member of budget and intelligence committee. thank you for being with me

cnn's sara murray is live for us at the white house. sara, hard to parse out.t's the headline there? a lot of headlines on tapes and basically him calling comey a liar in return. >> that's right, jim. we really saw a defiant president trump in this rose garden event today, disputing what comey said under oath, saying that he lied and trump even saying he'd be willing to testify about his own

one official told our colleague sara murray there is, quote, no evidence to show trump is actually engaging on the issue. the president still gets his daily briefing and of course that includes updates on russia. but beyond that, an administration official says there is no paper trail, schedules, nothing to indicate the president is convening meetings or round tables on the subject the way he has with other threats, for example, threats against the u.s. power grid. on top of that, a congressional source tells me in a recent closed door meeting, national security agency director mike rogers actually expressed to lawmakers how frustrated he is that he can't convince trump to even accept u.s. intelligence that russia meddled in the election, erin. >> that's a pretty incredible thing to say. top intelligence officials, obviously you mention rogers, but others also have called this a major threat. why is president trump so resistant, so reluctant to address it? >> well, people who have spoken to the president about this say they think he's struggling to separate the investigation into his campai

cnn's sara murray is live for us at the white house.gal experts, even many friendly to president trump have suggested his tweets might be an albatross around his neck. >> reporter: they think it's been essential for certainly points of his presidency but this is definitely an instant where the tweets do not seem to be helping. the president insists the travel ban will go through once it makes its way to the supreme court >> another whether for president trump as the ninth circuit court of appeals rules against trump's travel ban. on the same day that trump touted his productivity in the white house. >> i think we've been about as active as you can possibly be, and at just about a record-setting pace. >> the court dealt trump a stinging defeat on a signature policy priority, largely agreeing with previous rules that temporarily blocking all refugees and foreign nationals from six muslim majority countries, likely violates the constitution. the judges cited trump's own tweets to back up their ruling, including one miss any of which trump

now more from cnn's sara murray who joins us now from the white house. both way with the president's tweets. what are they saying now? >> reporter: well, yeah, talk about mixed messaging. we did hear both things, that the media is too obsessed with what the president puts out on twitter and also that he thinks it's an effective way to talk to voters without having to go to the media because president trump hasn't been sitting for very many interviews. and it's a situation that top white house officials think that twitter can be very useful if the president is using it to further his agenda, to drive the message of the day. but you know, it puts them in a box, it makes them feel a little bit awkward when the president is tweeting about something entirely differently. >> he often is stepping on the message of the day. >> and tweeting about a travel ban today in a way that could actually be harmful to the case the government is trying to make defending that travel ban, presumably, in front of the supreme court at some point. so he sort of boxes in his own a

sara murray is out front. >> reporter: today president trump is hitting the road for a rally in iowa,a chance for this embattled president to do one of the things he likes best. saver the sweet taste of victory. >> i said, i think i'm going to win this state and i won the state easily. breaking news, donald trump has won north carolina. that was unbelievable. you remember ohio, oh boy. it was supposed to be close. it wasn't close. >> it wasn't actually trump who notched a win tuesday evening. that would be karen handle who picked up a house seat. but trump and his aids are still rejoicing, noting a race that was billed by some as a referendum on trump's presidency broke for the gop. trump tweeting, well, the special elections are over and those that want to make america great again are 5-0. all the fake news, all the money spent equals zero. the president also chastising the democrats saying democrats will do much better as a party if they got together with republicans on health care, tax cuts, security, obstruction doesn't work. and trump allies relish the win. >> they want to make t

for more on the big announcement, let's go to cnn's sara murray at the white house.ting that he's been expected to withdraw. but is there a chance the president could pull something here? >> reporter: with donald trump, there's always a chance for things to change. with that said, we're being told that the president will announce a withdraw in this rose garden ceremony. remember, it's a pledge he made on the campaign trail and he's certainly been sending signals, publicly and privately that this is his plan. that's why we've seen so many european leaders leave him last week feeling disappointed by what they heard from the president. this is a monumental decision. as you pointed out, it really isolates america from the rest of the world if in fact the president comes out and announces that we expect, that the u.s. is withdrawing from this decision. >> this could have massive implications. what is the political calculus here if he announces a withdraw? >> reporter: well, it will be very fascinating to see how the president explains his decision. he's spoken to a number

sara murray at the white house, military and analyst, john kirby, mark preston, cnn chief political analyst gloria borger and michael zeldin, a former special prosecutor who used to serve as assistant to robert mueller. mark, i'll start with you. bring us up to speed. what's the latest on what james comey might say. we know senator burr talked about his conversations with the fired fbi director. what should we expect? >> well, we're not quite sure to the point that we don't know how far he will go in his conversations that he had with president trump. but as you noted, senator burr said that he's going to be unencumbered by what he does speak about, meaning he's not going to come to the senate and the united states is going to put parameters about what he can speak about. we should note that he's been in discussions with robert mueller, the special counsel right now looking into the russia investigation on behalf of the trump administration. so you have to think that those two men have discussed and have choreographed what exactly he will say. >> sara, you have new reporting on the white ho

now more from cnn's sara murray who joins us now from the white house.he white house seems to be having it both way with the president's tweets. what are they saying now? >> reporter: well, yeah, talk about mixed messaging. we did hear both things, that the media is too obsessed with what the president iputs out on twitter and also that he thinks it's an effective way to talk to voters without having to go to the media because president trump hasn't been sitting for very many interviews. and it's a situation that top white house officials think twhart can be very useful if the president is using it to further his agenda, to drive the message of the day. but you know, it puts them in a box pinpoint makes them feel a little bit awkward when the president is tweeting about something entirely differently. >> he often is stepping on the message of the day. >> and tweeting about a travel ban today in a way that could actually be harmful to the case the government is trying to make defending that travel ban, presumably, in front of the supreme court at some poi

>> sara murray from the white house. out front tonight, republican congressman joins us. congressman thank you for taking the time in what is a difficult subject. you of course saw the president's tweets. i want to ask your response? >> well, i'm certainly not going to stand here tonight defending these tweets. i look at it as a missed opportunity. he does have a very effective tool. twitter when you have over 30 million people following you, you could wake up in the morning and be talking about how you could make the economy rift with tax reform. you can talk about what you're doing to help our veterans or a more effective foreign policy. but when you wake up in the morning and you engage on twitter to this particular level, what happens is so many missed opportunities instead of talking about your legislative again dachlt people are talking about this back and forth over twitter. >> but is it really just a missed opportunity? because this is not a sin of omission. he took an active step here, very personally attacking a woman in public from the pulpit of the white house

let's go to sara murray in covington, kentucky, near where the president spoke earlier today. the white house coming out with a very clear response to this tonight. >> reporter: well, erin, it was interesting to watch this play out. the president was here. he was speaking and essentially as soon as he left this stage that is when the testimony dropped. we have not heard from the president directly on this. but we have heard from his special counsel mark kasowitz. he pointed out that the president feels completely and totally vindicated. that was the message from mark kasowitz. from the white house's perspective, they are directing everything to the special counsel or they are directing it tost republican national committees. actually pointed to a statement from the rnc chair woman today defending trump, also saying he feels totally vindicated. this is a little bit of an unusual relationship to see the republican national committee sort of playing the rapid response effort for the white house because the white house could be at the zmaerlt of this investigation and so they they