thank you. >> we have breaking news tonight from the new york times about "the new york times" and the panic "the new york times" has created within the white house. the times is reporting that the white house has discussed senator rand paul's idea to use polygraph tests on senior officials of the trump administration. here is the times report tonight. senator rand paul of kentucky recommended that the president force members of his administration to take polygraph examinations, and there was at least briefly some discussion of that among advisers to the president. another option mentioned by people close to mr. trump was asking senior officials to sign sworn affidavits that could be used in court if necessary. one outside adviser said the white house had a list of about 12 suspects. and joining us now by phone is new york times chief white house correspondent peter baker, who is one of the reporters on this article. and, peter, this is an extensive look at what "the new york times" has created, the crisis atmosphere it has created inside the trump white house. what more have you learn

now he wonders who's writing about him in "the new york times." new signs tonight of a war within president trump's white house. an anonymous op-ed in "the new york times" written by a senior trump official offers a blistering look at how people inside the government are trying to protect the nation from the president. "we believe our first duty is to this country and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic," the person writes. that is why many trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions, while thwarting mr. trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office. an extraordinary claim, and tonight the president is blasting the newspaper. >> if the failing "new york times" has an anonymous editorial -- can you believe it? anonymous. meaning gutless. a gutless editorial, we're doing a great job. >> reporter: yet it rocked the white house, amplifying and echoing the same overarching theme of a bombshell new book by bob woodward. >> the book means nothing

i know a lot of people at the new york times, it isa lot of people at the new york times, it is a seriousrson in order to... grab attention. so i'm prepared to believe the new york times, because i believe it is a fine newspaper. but lots of people won't. lots of people will think it is a cheap trick by them and they won't believe this person is as senior as they say. ok, the white house press spokesperson sarah sanders without out a tweet refuting the story. we wa nt to out a tweet refuting the story. we want to show you that. there is in this tweet and statement the phone number of the opinion desk of what is called the failing new york times and she suggests people who don't like the piece should call the new york times. how unhelpful would shah have been to you. i would not have enjoyed that. it is worse than childish. what the trump 5 administration is trying to do is de—legitimise the press and i can't think of a single mainstream politician who has done that in re ce nt politician who has done that in recent times. it is dangerous and an awful thing to see and for trump to say that

he talked about "the new york times" on pp-pop-ped. it's interesting, don, before the rally got started he did a staged one-on-one interview with fox & friends where he essentially said that what "the new york times" ran in the form of that op-ped was treason. he called it, quote/unquote, treason. then during this rally a few moments ago, he confessed to the crowd he doesn't know hell it is is the way he put it. he seemed to position all this, describe all of this as part conspiracy he believes is conspireing against this administration. here's what he said a few moments ago. >> the latest act of resistance is the op-ped published in the failing "new york times" by an anonymous, really, an anonymous, gutless, coward. you just look. he was -- nobody knows who the hell he is or she, although they put he, but probably that's a little disguise. that means it's she. for the sake of our national security, "the new york times" should publish his name at once. i think their reporters should go and investigate who it is. that would actually be a

remember this also about "the new york times." when i won they were forced to apologize to their subscribers. they wrote a letter of apology. it was the first time anybody's ever done it because they covered the election incorrectly. so if the failing "the new york times" has an anonymous editorial -- can you believe it? anonymous. meaning gutless. gutless editorial. we are doing a great job. the poll numbers are through the roof. our poll numbers are great. guess what. nobody's going to come close to beating me in 2020 because of what we have done. we have done more than anybody ever thought possible. it's not even two years. thank you very much. appreciate it. [ applause ] [ cheering ] >> all right. the president had a meeting with sheriffs from around the country in the east room of the white house and then of course he was reacting to the extraordinary op-ed in "the new york times." blasting him and an op-ed entitled, quote, i am part of the resistance inside the trump administration. an anonymous person wrote this article, the

times makes what would otherwise be an explosive statement doubtful. that is one of the unfortunate things. you can't trust the new yorkimes but the new york times lies repeatedly. the history of lies, good reason to say this might be true. heather: thanks for joining us, have a great day. it will be a busy one again, 20 minutes after the top of the hour and a true case of teamwork. making the dream work. and this guy found out the hard way what happens when you run away from police, the dramatic canine takedown caught on camera. ♪ bad to the bone ♪ your typical bank. capital one is anything but typical. that's why we designed capital one cafes. you can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. and one of america's best savings rates. to top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. this isn't a typical bank. this is banking reimagined. what's in your wallet? willy davis, who has alzheimer's. i decided to make shirts for the walk with custom ink. the shirts were so easy to design on the site. the custom ink team was super helpful and they just came out perfect. seeing my family wearing my s

" all the time the president reads it obsessively, he speaks to the reporters of the "new yorkimes" constantly or near constantly he grew up with the "new york times. he views it as a barometer in some way of how he's doing or how a part of the world views how he's doing he values it but he denounces it at every turn. the fact this appears in the new york times is probably not a coinciden coincidence. it feels like a secret this big as to who this person is who wrote this just can't be kept for long in modern washington given the technology and communications we have, the fro forensics. i think this person knows they will be found out and is prepared to go this is a last hurrah for this person >> if you're going to send an op-ed to the "new york times," it's going to be found out eamon javers, thank you very much >> let's bring in david nelson from bell point emerging asset i will ask you to begin with this you're not a political guy, but we now have a -- i don't want to say a crisis but another leg to an intriguing story in the white house. does that impact the markets at all?

as far as we know he hasn't issued any statement in the after math of this op-ed in the "new york timessee what happens. we will keep our eyes on president trump's montana trip as well as the white house hunt for the writer of the anonymous up-ed in the "new york times." . little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats moderate to severe plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla . it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with... ...an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have  a history of depression or suicidal thoughts,... ...or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. timeit should be measuredsured byby how long steak & lobster is back at outback. ba

and why did "the new york times" publish it anonymously? look at "the new york times" and their standard, we have that handy somewhere, i was reading it somewhere, in order for someone to use in their publication to use anonymous sourcing, it really had to merit the news judgment of the editors publishing it. in other words, it had to be newsworthy. if you have read this, and i have several times over, looking for the news, there is really not any news there. it is much of what we heard over and over again people don't like him and that they are trying to, quote, stop him. all right, i guess we can confirm then it is really and truly happening within the halls of the administration because this person just admitted this. but what would be news is if this person was a very big deal, right? i mean suppose it was mike pence, i'm just throwing that out there, don't infer anything, suppose it was him? then it would be newsworthy, perhaps even so much for the new york times to publish it anonymously. but who is deserving? who has a big enough titl

the screen one more time. this is rosenstein's reaction to the "new york times" story. "the new york times" story is inaccurate and factually incorrect. i will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda, but let me be clear about this, based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th amendment. so that doesn't sound like a firm denial, i never recorded anything, i never even raised the possibility of the 25th amendment. this is what they often call a nondenial denial. >> it is. rod is a very good lawyer and he has definitely written a lawyerly answer. it's really the only answer he can give. i think if you contrast -- i think these comments allegedly were made and certainly andy mccabe and others who witnessed them, they heard these in a certain context. again, these are the opening days of rod rosenstein's tenure as a deputy attorney general. you fast forward since then and from what i'm told rod rosenstein and the president ac

who is the author of the new york times op ed piece who the president calls gutless and anonymous and is now demanding that "the new york times" must turn over that person to the government. that person has already been turned over to the government by donald trump. donald trump chose the person who wrote today's op ed piece that has become the president's obsession. it is one of donald trump's best people. >> we've got the best people. >> i know the best people. >> we're going to use our best people. >> the best people. >> the best people. >> i know guys that are so good. >> and now they're gutless. it's one of them. and it's someone who knows what the cabinet was thinking early on about possibly invoking the 25th amendment to remove donald trump from the presidency. the times used only the word senior official to describe this person. so the member of the cabinet of someone in the room with members of the cabinet all the time, a cabinet level official. the person still works there. so it is not the first secretary of state rex tillerson or priens pree does -- reince priebus. in the

the failing "new york times." ns and the validation provided by the no"the new york times" op e, a sense they have not would have granted for an official and the likelihood we will find out who this person is means that trump, whatever the public statements they put out in the white house understands this is a real person and represents a real threat to his presidency. so i think it's a very significant moment especially combined with the reporting in the woodward book. you know, this is not a michael wolff book. this is not a book by omarosa. he has wrote books, probing investigative books, i think this is the eighth president he's written a book about. he gets his facts right and the details are damaging and astonishing and tend to corroborate this notion of resistance inside administration that perceives themselves to be constraining and stopping the president from doing what he wants to do. >> i think you're so right on what you said about the new york times and if you look at the two organizations he criticize

" -- >> "new york times," come on. "new york times." the failing "new york times," stand up, go ahead. >> i think they're going to endorse me. >> abc, fox. i like fox, i really do. abc, cbs, nbc, "the times," they're all going to endorse me because if they don't, they're going out of business. could you imagine if you didn't have me? >> i know you were pointing to me but i work for pbs' news outlet. >> no, i know that. >> they weren't laughing at me. they were laughing with me. we had fun. the fake news said people laughed. they didn't laugh at me. i've had many false statements against me. sean hannity covered it. >> is it okay if i give it to "the new york times," mr. president? >> can i ask a question since i am from "the new york times" before this gentleman. >> where? >> i'm actually from "the new york times." >> i'll let you do it after he does it. in honor of a paper i once loved. >> "the new york times." >> oh, okay. >> thank you, sir. >> i would have gotten a bad story in "the new york times," but i will anyway, so i guess it doesn

the kitchen cabinet on fox news. any day of the week. the president should watch show time's "fourth estate" to see how the washington burro of the "new yorkt takes its business. donald trump is from this tabloid world where they get paid for putting stuff on their platform. all of this -- it the sleazy and bottom feeding and i don't want to say journalism of information in this country. he cannot and a lot of people around him i think cannot conceive of the high end of american journalism and those of us who go out every day with this mission and by his standards make lousy money and were fools and why the hell would we do this anyway but we believe in the role we play in democracy. he doesn't get that. he'll never get that. >> thank you. i like to hear that. i just want to add, yes, people are trying to leak against each other and trying to manipulate reporters in this white house and on brbit, that's true, but have to trust the reporters at the "new york times" are doing their job and making sure they are not being mislead and used as political tools. i certainly trust them but i also, when you look at sean hannity saying i have a messa

howie: the "times" editorial page knows who it is, this person is making serious charges, it's news worthy. sara: we'll find out eventually. if the "new york times" was to publish this knowing it will come out who it is, then they are risking their credibility if it's not a senior official. we heard the "new york times" podcast say the way they use senior officials, it's not directly linked to the president. howie: "times" editors say they are proud they published it. of course, they are, they detest president trump. phillipe: i think any paper would have done it. here is a problem with the deep state. whether it's five minutes for five days from now we'll know who it is. if you want to call him gutless. he's employing gutless people. there are a lot of problems to this that we won't know until we find out who it is. be careful how hunt for because you night find them. this might be someone 10 feet away from his office. it could be someone he knows. howie: the president called the source gutless. and he has a point. even if you buy into the self-righteousview view that we are saving america from a crazy president. didn't he undermine his o

, and we are standing up for our national anthem and our flag. >> reporter: the president wasting no time slamming the new yorkegedly written by a senior official within his administration. >> anonymous, gutless coward. nobody knows who he is or she but for the sake of our national security the new york times should publish his name at once. there reporters should investigate who it is. >> reporter: the trip to montana one day after scathing claims calling him adversarial, petty and ineffective. milania trump backing up her husband's demand saying, quote, is a person involved enough to accuse someone of negative actions, they have a responsibility to publicly stand by their words and people have the right to be able to defend themselves. to the writer of the op-ed you are not protecting this country, you are sabotaging it with your cowardly actions. the list of top white house officials denying they are the authors of the opera growing fast, 30 officials including vice president mike pence, secretary of state mike pompeo, secretary of defense james mattis and gina haskell have denied being the mysterious op-ed

"the new york times" isn't failing. if i weren't here, i probably believe "the new york times" wouldn't exist. >> the white house press secretary sent an official response which reads in part, the individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive rather than support the duly elected president of the united states. he is not putting country first put putting himself and his ego ahead of the american people. this coward should do the right thing and resign. let us bring in our leadoff panel on a busier than average wednesday evening. can we agree on that? ashley parker, pulitzer prize winning reporter for "the washington post." robert costa, national reporter for "the washington post." also happens to be moderator of "washington week" on pbs'. richard painter, former ethics lawyer for the bush 43 white house. good evening to all of you. ashley, i'd like to begin by highlighting a brief portion of the biline you shared tonight from "the washington post." the phrase, the sleeper cells have awoken circulated on text messages

but do i trust "the new york times"? i'm sorry, chris. i know this shocks you. i do not trust "the new york times." >> you believe this anonymous person either doesn't exist or isn't telling the truth? >> i didn't say that. i said i don't know. i don't think he's telling the truth. but he may be a guy inside the white house. he may be upper level, lower level. maybe he's in the old executive office building. a whole bunch of other things. but i don't trust anything i read anymore, not after the stuff that's been done to me, the latest one being the great wonderful totally honorable bob woodward, who will quote a scurrilous thing about a public figure and not ask for their version of it. >> i'll tell you what gives me concern about believing what's in the op-ed and what's in the book. very often i measure veracity by reaction. i see how people react to stories. and it often tells a lot. what the president has done in reaction to the last two days screams concern that he's dealing with the truth. with him going on a hunt in the white house for who talked to woodwar

and of "the new york times" is failing. i weren't here, i believe "the new york times" probably wouldn't even exist. so if the failing "new york times" has an anonymous editorial. can you believe it? anonymous. meaning a gutless editorial. we are doing a great job. >> sean: this is truth. "the new york times," "washington post," conspiracy tv msnbc, the networks. when trump leaves office in six years, they are going to decline precipitously. it will be fun to watch. the president continued his response on twitter and wrote, "does the so-called senior administration official really exist or is it just "the new york times" with another phony source? if the gutless anonymous person does indeed exist the times must for national security purposes turn him or her over to the government at once. e tonight, we are asking the question, who is this person? where does this person work within the administration's potentially hundreds of so-called senior officials in the executive branch? does this person have access to top-secret infor

contemplate that we are in 25th amendment territory. >> the content of the op-ed will appear in the "new york times" tomorrow. the president lashed out at the times. >> when you tell me about some anonymous source probably who is failing, and probably here for all the wrong reasons. if the failing "new york times" has an anonymous editorial, meaning gutless, a gutless editorial, we are doing a great job. the poll numbers are through the roof. and nobody is going to come close to beating me in 2020 because of what we have done. >> zer lina, your analysis. he looks sweaty and a little bit unhinged to use omarosa's word. this validated what we knew from the previous book. and all the reporting that has been done. we as citizens what we need to decide is what do we do next? is it the 25th amendment. in november, we can perhaps talk seriously about the possibility of starting an impeachment process. which is a two step process. the beginning of that would be talking about it in a serious way. and we are actually in that moment, the president is a national security threat because he doesn't understand fo

the president tearing onto the senior white house official who penned the anonymous op-ed in the new york timess source in the administration, probably who is failing and here for all the wrong reasons and the new york times is failing, anonymous meaning gutless, a gutless editorial. rob: the president correct hearing? was the new york times wrong to publish this op-ed? here to debate is chuck rocha and republicans strategist ned ryan. thanks for coming on early this morning. the op-ed said a lot of good things what the administration is doing and it seems the conservative is trying to make progress with the administration of the quote so these successes when talking about deregulation and tax cuts and several good things have come despite not because of the president's leadership style which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective. we want to start with you on this. what did you make of this? this made a lot of waves, the fact that this was published. >> these things did happen because of donald trump. the american people have a lot of different choices in 2016 and they chose donald t

what do you make of "the new york times" publishing this? >> yeah, i don't know the name and the op ed pages are managed separately than the news department so it was handled separately. look, it is unprecedented. the editorial board of "the new york times" and the op ed editors at the times look over submissions very carefully, very deliberately and deliberatively and, you know, you can be sure they know exactly who this person is. it was probably vetted very closely. there was a lot of care and just knowing the people up there, probably a lot of discussion went in not only to the content but also to the appropriateness of publishing an anonymous editorial. like you said, it is unprecedented. the times takes very seriously whether or not to use anonymous information, and i think in the times, they sort of said this, that they believe and we believe, the editorial page believes that the importance of the subject matter, the details, the specificity of the discussions that were going on inside those rooms warranted publication, met a standard

he took on "the new york times." he said this. >> when you tell me about an anonymous source within the administration, probably who is failing. probably here for all the wrong reasons. if the failing "new york times" has an anonymous editorial, meaning gutless editorial. we're doing a great job. >> reporter: he will be traveling today to montana for a campaign rally in billings, montana. then staying on the road and going to north and south dakota for campaign events as well. we know all of this will follow him. clearly the white house pushing back on this. press secretary sarah sanders says the person is a coward and should resign. dave and alison. >> jeff zeleny, thank you. a sources close to the white house aides are following leads to find the author based on the way the op-ed is written. just hours before the opinion piece published, the president asked for aides to help him determine to cooperate with the other portrayal of bob woodward's new book. he spoke about his former adviser h.r. mcmaster was the person

>>> tonight, the stunning letter published late today by "the new york times." from someone reportedly inside the trump administration. it reads like a warning from within. an unprecedented letter, a senior officialing telling americans, quote, they should know there are adults in the room, and that we fully recognize what is happening. we are trying to do what's right, even when donald trump won't. tonight, you will hear the president's blistering response just a short time ago. and we ask "the new york times" why publishletter? >>> also tonight, supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh grilled on capitol hill at his confirmation hearing, asked, should the president have to comply with a subpoena, and can a president pardon themselves? judge kavanaugh pressed on guns and a woman's right to choose. >>> the major storm gordon slamming the gulf coast and now barrelling inland tonirning dea. a toddler has been killed. >>> in new york city, a flight quarantined at jfk. the mystery illness effecting nearly a dozen passengers and crew. more than 500 passengers met by poli

helping "the new york times" with a story on the supposedly top-secret fisa court. is is beyond bad. supposedly he's running the investigation. what does it say about "the new york times"? what does it say about "the washington post"? all you need is one anti-trump official to hand them propaganda and misinformation, distorted lies from a known trump-hater at this point. blow it up, act as though it's gospel truth. where are the corrections? one of the coming? don't hold your breath. we did reach out to the doj, "the new york times," "the washington post" and strzok and page for comment. we have yet to get a response but tonight we have brand-new never before seen text messages. it now appears that on top of -- let's see, the director of national intelligence, the fbi and doj colluding in all this and leaking to the press, it seems like the cia, they too were involved in the same kind of illicit leaking and we are talking about you, mr. sanctimony, john brennan. foxnews.com just obtained brand-new texts showing that some officials were "leaking like mad in the lead u

the "new york times" is reporting that deputy fbi attorney general rod rosenstein suggested wearing ae to record president trump and discuss invoking the 25th amendment. he denied it in a statement saying the "new york times'" store is inaccurate and factually incorrect. i will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and advancing their own personal agenda. let me be clear about this: based on my personal dealings with the president there is no basis to invoke the 25th amendment. so, this story literally breaking at 1:59 p.m. i don't have a chance to give you the full thing and read it basically it was during the time when there was all this question of putting the russia investigation to the deputy attorney general that he would oversee the firing of james comey you, of course why know that rosenstein wrote the letter and now somebody anonymously is saying that there was. 25th amendment and possible wire. in the story it does say that someone said even if he said it was sarcastic. >> so outrageous. i hate it when they

if i weren't here, i believe "the new york times" probably wouldn't even exist. [laughter] [applause] someday when i'm not president which hopefully will be in about six and a half years from now, "the new york times," cnn, and all these phony media outlets will be out of business, folks. they will be out of business. there will be nothing to write and there will be nothing of interest. nobody has done with this administration has done, and i agree it's different from an agenda which is much different than ours and it's certainly not yours. that i can tell you. it's about open borders. it's about letting people flee into our country. it's about a disaster and crime for our country. so they don't like donald trump. i don't like them because they are very dishonest people. remember this also about the "the new york times." when i won, they were forced to apologize to their subscribers. they wrote a letter of apology. it was the first time anybody has ever done it because they covered the election incorrectl incorrectly. so if the failing "new york times" has an anon

howard: the president -- it is no secret is not a fan of the new york times, criticized the failing new york times, challenged the credibility of the paper, so in saying this, i know you've had this position before, this latest bombshell story, but it sounds like you believe the new york times story in this instance and should that be the basis for rosenstein getting booted out? >> well, look, i think that there are many journalists over at the new york times, and not all of them are happy to push out fake news and that's true probably with all media outlets. but in this case, this is something extremely explosive because jeff sessions has an employee that now is apparently articulating the exact same thing that was recently outlined the anonymous op-ed just a couple of weeks ago, this is very serious. this is occurring under jeff sessions nose. and he's the one that should address it. howard: when rosenstein says that the story is false, it is inaccurate, you don't believe him? >> i don't believe him at all. as i said before, for months we have been hearing a number of disturbing thing

time and if that view were suppressed -- >> okay. we'll continue to monitor that hearing but we do have some breaking news to bring in the politics lead. "the new york times" published an anonymous op-ed that editors say was written by a senior official in the trump administration and titled, quote, i'm part of the resistance inside the trump administration" and details the way that the author and his or her colleagues are according to the op-ed working to thwart part of the president's agenda and his worst inclinations. the author writing, quote, to be clear, ours is not the popular resistance of the left. we want the trump administration to succeed and think many of the policies made america safer and prosperous and the first duty to the country and the president, president trump, continues to act in a manner that's detrimental to the health of our republic. that's why many appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions. while she warting mr. trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office. a shocking, shocking op-ed written by an anonymous senior official in the trump administration. cnn's kaitlan collin

the new york times and this piece believes that it will cause the next financial crisis. i don't think directly that debt well because it's only two hundred three hundred billion dollars compared to the trillions of dollars that was a subprime mortgage debt and that have been packaged up and sold to people all over the world these are debts that won't be able to really repaid clearly but they're held in pension funds and pensioners and america not getting their money anyway everybody knows it's all a sham but i think the knock on effect if these companies do go bust then that oil production that i showed you in the first chart because remember this is how much oil the u.s. produced from the eighty's all the way up to two thousand and eight when it took off when factoring was possible but when oil prices do rise if those debts full you know are unable to roll over then then of course you could have a financial going to have a contagion you know lehman brothers was only seventy or eighty billion dollars but it caused a multi hundred trillion dollar collapse so i also want t

administration, probably who is failing and probably here for all the wrong reasons -- and the "new york times" is failing. i believe the "new york times" wouldn't exist. >> reporter: the president just left the white house a few minutes ago and he didn't answer questions about this op-ed including whether or not he would take senator rand paul up on his suggestion to issue lie detector tests to some of the staffers who work here and have security clearances. he will have a stage tonight and a microphone and an arena of supporters when he has a campaign rally in montana. we can hear from the president more on this then since we know within the last 24 hours his anger has only gotten worse. >> what can go wrong? thank you for that report. i just want to say how odd i think it is to see all of these senior administration officials giving this story more credibility by even acknowledging that it could have been -- >> he has been reading the leadership guide written by kim jong-un where each person has to pledge their loyalty to the leader. this idea of each person coming forward bearing the piece

for the president but like minded colleagues and i have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda the new york times describes the oath as a senior official in the government his claims of spock's control of the sea and of course damning criticism from the president himself. if the failing new york times has an anonymous editorial in the anonymous meaning gutless gutless editorial. really doing a great job the poll numbers are through the roof our poll numbers are great and guess what nobody is going to come close to beating me in twenty twenty because of what we've done trump plates of fun at this up with a tweet. does the so-called senior administration official really exist or is it just the failing new york times with another phony source trump asked if the gutless anonymous person does indeed exist the times must for national security purposes turn him over to government at once the times has defended its decision to publish the editorial anonymously and while some are scrambling for clues as to the author's identity others want to focus on the message i think the all the alarming hard ball. is

folks, it has been a wild day of fallout after an anonymous senior official, to "the new york times," in the trump administration wrote that explosive op-ed in "the new york times," describing a team of like-minded senior officials, who view the president as an impulsive, amoral, anti-democratic reckless danger of office he holds and the people he represents. reporters at axios say two senior administration officials reached out to them to say the author stole the words right out of their mouths. the phrase, quote, the sleeper cell is circulating. and the president and his allies are trying to smoke out who betrayed them. the president is demanding that "the times" must, for national security purposes, turn him or her over to government at once. "the times" is refusing to disclose this person's identity. the who dun it speculation has unleashed a torrent of denials from senior officials and cabinet members, all claiming to, quote, shaggy, it wasn't me. and amid the chaos, the president is the angry, paranoid, and increasingly isolated. folks, we're not just getting this portrait of a

they like to talk down about the "new york times." of raising the "new york times" as journalistic judgment as something to support them. interesting moment. >> trace: it is interesting. we have drawn parallels. as thursday comes about, what do you expect to see? i only have about 30 seconds. what do you expect to see on thursday? what's your take away. >> my take away it is going to be similar in some ways to the clarence thomas and anita hill. learn 27 years ago. i do think in the end they will turn over most of their questioning on the republican side to a woman lawyer. maybe kelly ayotte as one of your reporters said before. strange they have six female republican senators none of them on the judiciary committee. the democrats have four of their female senators on this committee. you know, it's going to be incredibly tense. every word will be parsed with incredible precision. and then in the end, the country is really going to have just a few days, it looks like, to make up their mind who they believe. and unless, jeff flake, one

the fox news channel. good night from new york. kennedy: the president calls the "new york times whether it's treason after the times publishes an explosive anonymous op-ed reportedly written by a senior trump official. author or authoress says he and other white house officials are working behind the scenes to top the president's misguided impulses. he says i'm part of the resistance inside the trump administration and says he and

the president also called for potential action against "the new york times." "new york times," wolf, they're issuing a statement about the op-ed saying this. take a look. we are confident that the department of justice understands that the first amendment protects all american citizens and not participate in a blatant abuse of government power. the president's threats both underscore why we must safeguard the identity of the writer of the op-ed and serve as a reminder of the importance of free and independent press to the american democracy. it started with the woodward book and now an op-ed. the president coming back here to a stormy night in washington. he's campaigning in south dakota now. spending the weekend here at the white house. wolf? >> jeff, thank you. jeff zeleny at the white house. we also have some new reporting on the attorney general jeff sessions. i want to bring in white house correspondent kaitlan collins. where does the attorney general -- what does he think right now? where does he think he stands as far as the president is concerned? >> re

if i weren't here, i believe the new york times probably wouldn't even exist. applause. when i am not president, which will hopefully be in about six and a half years from now, the new york times and cnn and all of these phoney media outlets will be out of business folks, they will be out of business. because there will be nothing to write and there will be nothing of interest. our washington correspondent chris buckler has more on events at the white house. it is coming from someone who are conservative republicans and someone who believes in what donald trump's party believes in but fundamentally that are not believe in what donald trump believes and at times they are going out of their way to try and water what he wants to do for the best interests of the country. they say his leadership style is impetuous, at the —— adversarial. they want to keep that decisions from leaving the office and they did to an idea that this is somebody who believes they are trying to stop president trump from doing things that they could potentially damage the country and, fundamentally, a

the "new york times" does know this. t the president making the pivot to blame all of this, anderson, on the "new york times." >> and as much as the president is trying to dismiss bob woodward's book, he does want to though who talked to woodward, right? i used the term "witch-hunt" earlier obviously kind of ironically. but understandably, he wants to know, and it's from his perspective it's absolutely fair that he would want the know who talked to woodward and what they said. >> no question. we've heard the president throw out the term "witch-hunt" so much this year talking about the russia investigation. but the reality is i was talking to administration officials earlier today long before "the new york times" report came out. and they said in fact the president did want to know who talked to woodward and who didn't talk to woodward. he was keeping a list and keeping a careful eye on who was issuing denials, who was not. and, you know, several people were not issuing denials who were mentioned in this book. but there is

the times op-ed and calls out president trump by name. actually, i believe for the first time, at least since the election. we'll have more on his comments ahead. "the new york times" published the column from a senior, unnamed senior administration official on wednesday. the author writes about a resistance inside the administration. a group of trump appointees trying to save the country from what that official calls president trump's misguided impulses. it is far from the first time we've heard of such a thing. dozens of top administration officials have said that they did not write the open said. the first lady, melania trump and the vice president, mike pence, have denied it. "the new york times" reports the white house has a list of 12 possible suspects. republican senator rand paul from kentucky suggested having administration officials take lie detector tests over this. the president said he respected senator paul but didn't say if he's considering such a thing. the chief white house correspondent john roberts is live. hi, john. >> the president was on his way from billings, montana to fargo, north dakota. the rally you just saw. when he came back to

according to the "new york times" report, ross rhoden stos was coming up with ways to get trump out of the white house, but today he's hitting back at the "new york times" story. >> he floated the idea of wearing a wire to secretly record president trump last year, according to the "new york times." the second-most powerful person at the justice department also reportedly discussed with doj officials recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th amendment to remove trump from office for being unfit. in the days following fbi director james comey's firing. rosenstein vehemently denying the claims, saying in a statement, the "new york times" story is inaccurate and factually incorrect. i will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. adding, let me be clear about this. based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th amendment. one source who was in the room for the discussion tells cnn, rosenstein was being sarcastic when he discussed the wir