i'm suzanne malveaux. we examine the truth and consequences of lies, leaks and alternative facts, tonight on "washington week." >> i inherited a mess. >> president trump insists his administration is a fine-tuned machine and that reports of disarray inside the west wing are simply not true. >> the leaks are absolutely real. the news is fake. >> but less than a month in office, the national security advisor, michael flynn, is forced to resign over his conversation about u.s. sanctions with russia before the president was sworn in. >> i said i don't think he did anything wrong. if anything, he did something right. i didn't direct him, but i would have directed him, because that's his job. >> as the fallout over flynn's resignation continues, the white house is facing new questions about its relationship with russia. >> russia is fake news. this is fake news put out by the media. >> but defense secretary james mattis sees things differently. calling russia's action in the u.s. election an elections overseas a

we have more from suzanne malveaux. >> reporter: after just the first two weeks in office, president trump preparing now for judicial showdown if his travel ban by executive order can stand. to the dismay of democrats and republican lawmakers he spend the weekend disparaging the judge who suspended the ban through tweets. calling him a so-called judge who made a ridiculous ruling. cannot believe a judge can put our country in peril. if something happened, blame him and the court system. people pouring in. bad. the republicans need the 60 votes necessary to confirm neil gorsuch. and some republicans distancing themselves from trump with russia. >> i do respect him. >> why? >> i respect a lot of people. that doesn't mean i'll get along with him. he is a leader of his country. i say it is better to get along russia than not. if russia helps in the fight against isis, which is a major fight and islamic terrorism all over the world, that's a good thing. will i get along with him? >> vladimir putin is a realer. >> killer. >> a lot of killers. you think our country is so innocent? >> i don'

troops when he goes to macdill air force base if tampn tampa. >>> thank you, suzanne malveaux. expect a flurry of legal activity today in the battle over the president's travel ban. the justice department expected to file legal briefs by 6:00 p.m. tonight in the fight to lift thejudge's suspension of the federal order. let's bring in laura jarrett with more. >> reporter: a lot of activity in the fast-moving case. the washington state attorney general's office has just filed its response to the justice department motion to try to get the travel ban reinstated. they argued government must show that it was irreparably harmed. they say the seattle judge's suspension of the executive order doesn't make any sense to try to say the government has been irreparably harmed by that. it would just be returning to the pre-executive order state of affairs. how can that be harmful is what washington is saying. the filing includes high profile names. a declaration filed by former national security and state department officials such as former secretary of state mad line albright and john kerry

suzanne malveaux, cnn, washington. >> okay.et more on russia's reaction to president trump's comments. cnn's clare sebastian joins us now live from moscow. good to see you, claire. so let's start with that fox interview and president trump responding to a question about vladimir putin saying we've got a lot of killers. you think our country is so innocent. how is that defense of russia and president trump being received in the country? >> suddenly getting a lot of attention. those comments by president trump and the subsequent interview that mike pence gave where he essentially left the door open to lifting sanctions on russia should make change its position on certain things. those are getting a lot of attention in russia, leading state tv bulletins overnight and this morning. i think the sanctions issue in particular is a key priority for president putin to see that lifted. that's partly to explain high this is getting so much attention. but here sitting in moscow, i think the striking thing is not just the reaction it's gett

i'm suzanne malveaux. we examine the truth and consequences of lies, leaks and alternative facts, tonight on "washington week." >> i inherited a mess. >> president trump insists his administration is a fine-tuned machine and that reports of disarray inside the west wing are simply not true. >> the leaks are absolutely real. the news is fake. >> but less than a month in office, the national security advisor, michael flynn, is forced to resign over his conversation about u.s. sanctions with russia before the president was sworn in. >> i said i don't think he did anything wrong. if anything, he did somet

our suzanne malveaux begins our coverage tonight in washington. suzanne, they have a deadline of tonight, for both sides to file this brief, then they'll finally hear the case on the merits, then what? >> poppy, it's really interesting, this is just after the first two weeks in washington. now what has happened so far, federal appeals court, early this morning denied the u.s. government's request to overturn the ban. judge james robart who suspended the ban, well that now remains in place. trump spent the weekend disparaging this judge, with his tweets calling him a disloyal judge. washington state must file legal papers, by 3:00 in the morning or 10 hours are now, the justice department has to reply by 6:00 this evening before it goes to a three-judge panel. so we're not the only ones working this weekend, there are other legal minds who are trying to sort all of this out. >> and making news, the president sitting down for that one-on-one interview with fox news's bill o'reilly. talked about a lot of things. repealing obama care, he's much slower

cnn's suzanne malveaux is live in washington with the highlights. >> good morning, alisyn.s you can imagine, it was no ordinary town hall. with so much at stake for americans, the sparring and debate over obamacare, senator ted cruz saying president obama lied to americans about what they were getting. senator sanders defended the impact of the law for some 20 million americans. >> it was built on an etiface of lies. should congress move swiftly to repeople obamacare? absolutely. >> the absolute repeal of obamacare without improvements in it, without a plan to make it better, would be an absolute disaster. >> reporter: the two senators laying out sharply contrasting views of health care in america. >> what is a right is access to health care. what is a right is choosing your own doctor. >> go out and get really great health insurance program. oh, you can't do it because you can't afford it. that's what he's saying. access? you want to buy one of donald trump's mansions? you have access to do that as well. you can't afford $5 million? sorry. access doesn't mean a damn thing.