not operating in the white house. then, the fbi director testifies and today, sarah sanders is asked what accounts for the discrepancy. >> the fbi portion was closed. the white house personnel security officer who is the one that makes recommendation for adjudication had not finished their process. >> who? the office of white house personnel security? that is who she is now pointing the finger out. she said yesterday this is a process that doesn't operate in the white house. now naming the office that has white house in the title and is blaming them for not making a recommendation to the white house to which they are part. even if you believe this news story and that is a big if, if somehow the white house credibility is intact, then you have to disbelief what they said yesterday. >> those two statements, the fbi director's statement mr. wray and your statement yesterday seem to be at odds with one another. do you see anything you would like to clarify based on your answer yesterday? >> my understanding is that any inf

how can the white house chief of staff -- how can the press secretary, how can this white house still porter appeared to be acknowledging that he had -- >> i think it's fair to say that we all could have done better over the last few hours or last few days in dealing with this situation. but, you know, this is a rob porter that i and many others have dealt with. sarah have dealt with, other officials including the chief of staff have dealt with. emerging reports were not reflective of the individual we had come to know. >> one other question. >> jeff? >> did the president know rob was using -- working on a temporary clearance? >> no. the president saw the news report tuesday night and was informed of the resignation on wednesday. he was saddened by it. saddened for all the individuals involved. >> over the last year, is that ever something he was concerned about? >> he was not informed about the specifics regarding rob porter's security clearance. >> okay. >> do you have any information on how many senior white house staffers are currently working under an interim security clearance?

how does the white house get out of this mess? >>> total agreement on russian meddling in the upcoming election. new year, new phones for the family. join t-mobile, and when you buy one of the latest samsung galaxy phones get a samsung galaxy s8 free. yahoooo! ahoooo! plus, unlimited family plans come with netflix included. spectacular! so, you can watch all your netflix favorites on your new samsung phones. whoa! join the un-carrier and get a samsung galaxy s8 free. all on america's best unlimited network. listerine® cleansaches 25virtually 100%.. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™ this is food made to sit down for. slow down for. put the phone away, and use a knife and fork for. and with panera catering, it's food worth sharing. panera. food as it should be. >>> it's pretty clooer that the stories still aren't straight at the white house. today, as we mentioned, press secretary sarah sanders pointed in a new direction, a white house so obscure, few people ha

he would not have had any job in the bush white house or the obama white house to the best of my knowledge someone with that type of background problem. you don't need to prove he's a wife beater. we shouldn't be arguing about this at this point. he should never have been there to begin with. political people made the decision. it's not career people making the decision what to do about these types of allegations. it went to the west wing and somebody wanted to keep him on anyway. now they're paying the price for it. then jared kushner and other people who lied about their contacts with the russians, once again, those people would not be working in the bush or the obama white house. they wouldn't be let in the door. if they were there they would be fired for lying about contacts with the russians. whether or not they committed criminal offenses, that would be unacceptable in any white house that i know. >> richard brings up the case of jared kushner. i guess the obvious question that jumps out, it's been 13 months. he's still on a temporary clearance. it suggests to me the very strong like

the way the white house has dwelt this scandal has made even some of the strongest supporters, even white house aides. this was president trump's response of the. >> we wish him well. he worked very hard. found out about it recently and i was surprised by it but we certainly wish him well. obviously a tough time for him. did he a very good job when he was in the white house. and we hope he has a wonderful career and hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him. >> it's a tough time for rob porter, the president said. we home he has a great career ahead of him. so the president expressed sympathy for port he, wished him well, said it was a tough time for him and reminded everyone that porter denies the charges. that's what the president said. that's what we all heard. here's what we didn't hear. any expression for porter's ex-wife, colbie holderness, or his other ex-wife, jennifer willoughby. perhaps we should not be surprised given the white house position when it comes to claims of he said about men in and around the white house have behaved an the hornly, president trump or steve

is the white house turning a blind eye? the president said he hires the best people, so why one out of three of them left in the first year? a lot to get to in the hour ahead. we begin at the white house with cnn's jim acosta. jim, explain what sarah sanders said today about what the white house knew and when about rob porter. >> reporter: well, there have been shifting explanations as you know, anderson, for the past week. today was a new one. we had not heard the words white house personnel security office before today, but we heard it in the white house briefing. the white house press secretary sarah sanders was asked about some of these conflicting stories, why the fbi director was up on capitol hill testifying that his agents had completed their investigation last july, when we were told by raj shah, the deputy white house spokesman and sarah sanders that that process was on going and her explanation was that the process had not been completed. so by my count, that is the fourth or fifth different explanation officially

that stuff was all raised with the white house. remember it was in january that the fbi interviewed the women that were involved in this, and it was after that point they put together this report. and in march, at least in the preliminary report, what we're told is some of that information was shared with the white house. you know, one person, a law enforcement official, told me the white house basically chose to ignore this information. at least, that's what it seems to this person, but insisting everything they knew up until march, they shared that with the white house. >> shimon prokupecz, i appreciate that reporting. we're back to the issue about management, about reporting, and whether someone with that allegation should be anywhere inside the white house. as we get into this, this is not only an issue of rob porter's conduct but white house credibility. credibility from the chief of staff all wait dothe way down t ceo. this is this morning. the deputy white house press secretary on fox news. >> the fbi would not give a backgro

chief of staff leaving the white house, that makes him actually the third deputy white house chief of staff to leave the trump administration and they only got there 13 months ago. have we tried to even -- did we make -- did we try -- look, we squeezed them in in yellow front there. reince priebus, another deputy white house chief of staff and now yet another deputy white house chief of staff. we need a bigger wall. anyway, while we await news of whether the president is about to fire another chief of staff, as well, yet, another deputy white house chief of staff is gone and no sooner did that news arrive "the washington post" broke news another staffer resigned this evening and in his case, the second white house staffer in two days to resign because of domestic abuse allegations. now, this is not the same story as rob porter, the white house staff secretary who left office yesterday. this is a new white house staffer who you may not have known of before tonight, his name is david sorenson. we think he's in his early 30s. he was previously a spokesman for the republican party in main

so the, it looks like a white mini van. >> yes. ow. >> reporter: think of how dynamic these are. they went from condition normal to a vehicle rams the gate. at an unknown speed at this point. so the windows could have been smashed there impact but it could have been the instant response by law enforcement to take custody of the suspect. they may have to, they couldn't get window open in the back to quickly search the car for secondary devices or explosives. we have to ascertain in a split second what is the threat of that vehicle and that individual. so the smashed up glass could have been the officers or the impact. >> we have learned the woman in this car intentionally drove into this barricade. one of these security layers outside the white house that apparently she did this and her aim, her ire was not directed at the president. she is known to secret service. believed to have mental health issues. that's what we're getting from law enforcement. that's potentially the car that she was driving. josh campbell? thoughts? >> i want

the white house spokesman just said that white house chief of staff john kelly only became fully aware, quote, fully aware of the allegations against porter yesterday, although, sources tell cnn kelly had known for months. we'll talk to the top democrat and house judiciary committee, congressman jerry nadler. let's quickly begin with a breaking news on wall street. our business correspondent is working the story for us, richard, another very disturbing day for the dow. >> reporter: absolutely. the two largest point falls happen in the same week, monday and today. off over 1,000 points, a 4% drop in the dow. that means that the dow and s&p have now fallen more than 10% since the recent highs. that, we can pretty much say defines a correction. what we don't know, of course, is what happens next. we can draw some stripes. we're not totally helpless here. we know the reasons why it's happening. bond yields edging up towards 3%. worries about inflation. concerns about debt and deficits, raising interest rates more, so, wolf, the key message from today, as i think you and i spoke earlier in

the former white house aide who got hir star on the apprentice. ing white house dirt with tv personality. ross matthews. y, this is happening. there he i. your new brother-in-law. you like him. he's one of those guys who always smells good. his 5 o'clock shadow is always at 5 o'clock. you like him. your mom says he's done really well for himself. he has stocks and bonds your dad wants to go fishing with him. your dad doesn't even like fishing. you like your brother-in-law. but you'd like him better if you made more money than he does. don't get mad at your brother-in-law. get e*trade >>> she started in reality television with donald trump and she's back in reality television. omarosa is on celebrity big brother. living in a house with rudy huxtable. ross matthews is very nice. she said going to the white house was a call to duty and serving her country and not donald trump and it was bad. this is real life or reality television. we show you a clip where they are all whispering on celebrity big brother. >> like i was haunted by tweets every single d

as the director said information was coming to the white house personnel office in february. reporter: in the july report and back to march, what information was in those reports? ms. sanders: i wouldn't know the answer to that. raj said the nd investigation was ongoing. director wray said it was closed. who is telling the truth? ms. sanders: both. the white house personnel office which is the one that made the recommendation had not finished their recommendation. reporter: you said yesterday you didn't get any paperwork from the f.b.i. chris wray said he did submit paperwork. ms. sanders: that will come through the white house personnel security office and had not completed their investigation. reporter: you do acknowledge you received paperwork. ms. sanders: we need to be clear about this, multiple groups here. the white house personnel security office which is staffed by career first may have received information. but they had not completed their process and made a recommendation to the white house for ajudication. kellyer: who allowed john or rob porter rather, to stay her

he knows the way white houses work. he knows the way white houses are supposed to work. and one big outstanding question tonight is was he familiar? was he aware of these shocking and deeply ugly allegations against rob porter. that's something that we can expect, particularly white house reporters to be digging into in the coming days. >> gabe sherman has been following this closely is tweeting tonight. he says widespread chatter tonight among republicans close to the white house that trump is nearing a decision to name gary cohn as kelly's replacement. peter nicholas, in "the wall street journal's" moments with john kelly, did it seem like the end could be near for him? >> well, replacing john kelly would be a risky thing to do. bear in mind he has only been in the job six months. he is the second chief of staff. if he is replaced that would only add to the perception that this is a white house in turmoil. the question is does trump want that? does he believe whatever problems have been caused by john kelly, however this mess, however this mess started, is it solved ne

and whether or not the white house also agrees to it. neither of them do, jim, then the decision will be left up to the house intelligence committee and republican of the house to override the white house. and no indication yet the republicans are willing to buck the president, so discussions are going to continue behind the scenes. >> that would be pretty remarkable step. i want to ask you about hearings on chill, powerful force telling senators they fully back not only russia interfered in 2016 election but agreed that russia is likely to interfere in upcoming elections. let's have a listen. >> well, so no change in high view of the 2017 assessment and i support that. and i agree with director pompeo's assessment about the likelihood of the 2018 occurrence as well. >> and participated in that 2018 work, and i stand by it now, and i grew he with pompeo this will not change or stop. >> yes, it's not going to change or stop. >> throughout the entire community, we have not seen any evidence of any significant change from last year. >> i ag

. >>> tonight the trump white house under siege. day 7 contradicted on basic facts by the fbi director and the president avoiding two chances today to side with victims of abuse. >>> plus chief of staff john kelly called a big fat liar by a white house official in the "the washington post" as he and white house counsel don megan face serious questions about what they knew and when they knew it. >>> and there's this, across town on the hill today one of our intelligence chiefs warned us america is under attack. all part of "the 11th hour" as we get under way on a tuesday night. well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 390 of the trump administration, and this was day seven now of this still widening scandal over domestic abuse allegations against one of the closest men to the president. today the fbi publicly contradicted the white house time lean of what it knew and when about these allegations of spousal abuse facing rob porter. allegations that he denies. at issue here the fbi background ch

they didn't think it was true and the white house came back and said, oh, yeah, just in from the field interview. and that vets out. that's true. which at any other white house, either this one or this one would have been the points for dismissal. >> for a job this senior in the white house, it almost never takes a year to do an investigation about -- >> never. >> stick with never. so, the question that is begged here, again, in the course of 24 hours i talked to at least ten people who had been in senior level in the white house who kind of qualified to speak to this. the staff secretary is supposed to have the highest level of clearance possible. he gives all the paper to the president. code word clearance, top of the top. kelly arrives as chief of staff and the staff secretary is under these terms, because he has an interim security clearance, temporary was, is not able to handle the paper that he's supposed to handle in part of that job. so, the question that is begged here, someone can get with the chief and actually go through this with him and say, so, when you found that the st

the white house spent the day muddying the waters. yet another development, let's go back to cnn's pamela brown. what's happening? >> reporter: anderson, we've learned the ex-girlfriend of rob porter called white house counsel, don mcgann, to inform him of some of the abuse allegations against robert porter. now where that information went and how high up is unclear. but the source i spoke with said clearly it wasn't handled properly, clearly it didn't go up high enough, because he continued to work here and the white house continued to come to his defense once these allegations came out in the public. the source i spoke with said that morale has been low in the white house today, just given all that has unfolded, the fact that john kelley, the chief of staff, aides, revolutions they knew about, at least part of these allegations months ago, the fact that white house counsel was made aware or received a phone call from the ex-girlfriend alleging that robert porter was physically abusive and verbally abusive. and then the fact that the

>> on four different occasions the fbi has said it made the white house aware of the allegations. white house official said that -- the fbi or personnel security office being punished for not telling white house officials? how can those two things be? >> that is something that would be well beyond my scope to determine. >> they weren't told? if everyone knew but no one in the senior staff found out? >> i haven't asked them about that specifically. >> matthew? >> last week raj said the situation could have been handled better. yesterday you echoed that. today the chief of staff said it was all done right. can you explain, does the white house think this rob porter situation could have been handled differently or do you think it was all done right? >> as i said yesterday every day we come here, we do the very best we can and every day we can do better than we did the day before and we're going to continue to strive for that. we're humans, making us imperfect people. i think every day we can learn from the day before and strive to do better. that's our goal within our team and we're g

house, the senior staff at the white house, the chief of staff here at the white house aware of those findings. one more point it's important to underscore, that office does not give the final say on who gets permanent security clearance. that's done at the white house council's office. there's a lot of sort of questions that continue and as you point out, a lot of buzz behind the scenes about whether or not john kelly will somedtay go. yesterday from the podium sarah sanders insisted the president still has full confidence this him. >> what are you hearing, there's a lot of reporting by you and your colleagues at the washington post as well as others, that the president is doing what he does. calling friends and complaining about kelly, talking about replacements. we've heard the names. let's bring in paul ryan asked about domestic abuse. >> do you think they should not condone it? >> absolutely. clearly, we should -- come on. clearly, we should all be condemning domestic violence. if a person who commits it, gets in government then there's break down in the system. >> we should put

we begin coverage with jeff zeleny in the white house. what do we know about how much the chief of staff knew? >> rob porter's job was to control what the president sees and what he doesn't see in the oval office. we are told chief of staff john kelly had known about this for months. rob porter said he was part of a coordinated smear campaign. he said that as the white house was trying to explain and contain the fallout. >> reporter: few people stood closer to president trump. even a hand shake with chinese preside president. some top officials new about the allegations for months. >> rob has been effective in his role. >> reporter: porter responsible for every document that came into the president's hand even classified once despite having a security clearance. denying security clearance last fall. white house communication director hope hicks has been in a romantic relationship with porter aides tell cnn. despite he was involved in crafting the initial denial to the abuse allegations. porter first wife told cnn started shortly after thei

the white house released the 2019 budget blueprint. with the two-year spending bill, this budget will not be adopted by congress. it showcases the president's priorities for government spending. $200 billion to spur infrastructure spending. $23 billion for border security. including funding for a wall. $17 billion to fight the opioid especially em i-- epidemic. imagine food delivery for food stamp recipients. or privatizes the nasa space station. $666 billion, one of the largest in u.s. history. this cuts deficits in ten years. the president recently signed two deficit increasing bills. the new tax law increases spending by $300 billion. that pushes the deficit past $3 trillion next year. >>> and the letter addressed to her husband, donald trump jr. opened the letter and was sent tonight hospital. she responded by saying thank you. >> her husband was angry and relieved. tweeting that she and my children are safe and unharmed after the scary situation that occurred this morning. disgusting that individuals choose to express views with s

the white house or donald trump's fbi pick, christopher wray? >> the fbi submitted a partial report on the investigation in question in march. and then a completed background investigation in late july that is soon thereafter we received requests for follow up inquiry. and we did the follow up and provided that information in november. and then we administratively closed the file in january. and then earlier this month, we received some additional information and we passed that on, as well. >> under questioning from oregon senator ron wyden, wray directly contradicted what the white house has been telling americans about what they knew about rob porter and when they knew it. >> his background investigation was ongoing. he was operating on an interim security clearance. his clearance was never denied. and he resigned. >> i can't get into the specifics. i can tell you that we were -- the process for the background was ongoing. and the white house had not received any specific papers regarding the completion of that background check. >> catch that?

it is, as john said, the fbi versus the white house and the fbi pleading with the white house, do notmo, it is not accurate. do not do it. we will learn what the house is going to do today. that's new reporting from abby phillip. so the president has made every indication this memo is coming out. if he does that, despite this fbi warning, ron brownstein, to you how does this end? does christopher wray stay? where does this go? >> you wonder about that. the hand picked fbi director of the president was so strongly worded, you do wonder if he'll stay. i would say the real meaning of this is broader than the initial framing that you just put. it's the fbi against the white house and the house republican majority which is the key here. republicans would like the 2018 election to be about the good news on many fronts in the economy. but the actions of mitch mcconnell and especially paul ryan in encouraging this kind of second front assault on the doj and the fbi i think moved to the center of the 2018 election, the overriding question of whether a republican majority in congress can be tru

at the white house. the white house personnel office. that of course is the exact opposite of what sanders said just 24 hours ago. take a listen. >> this is a process that isn't within the white house. it is handled by our law enforcement and intelligence community. >> the white house has yet to be forth right and trans barnlt the american people about how this happened. the most clarity we have gotten so far might be from president trump himself who has wished porter well in his future but has not said or written one single word of support for the victims of his alleged abuse, or for survivors of domestic violence. and we've been lied to time and again. for what? to cover up for the guy who allegedly did this? let's to go jeff zeleny. you were in the briefing. how is the white house explaining what appear to be clear inconsistencies in the time line today? >> reporter: well, sarah sanders tried to explain in one word when she was asked who is telling the truth, who is giving version of the events, the fbi or the white house, she said bo

we will see how the white house responds. rried about threats from north korea what about a proxy war in syria heating up between the united states and russia. all that and more at the top of the hour on the daily briefing. ♪ ♪ >> there are very few americans or american families that have served this nation more honorably or sacrificed more for this country than the family of general john kelly. john kelly's service in uniform, his distinguished service at our department of homeland security where we saw dramatic reduction of illegal crossings at our southern border and his distinguished service as chief of staff. gives me and the president great confidence. >> harris: that was vice president mike pence obviously within the past hour commenting on the chief of staff john kelly and then going to be say that he is looking forward to continuing to work with him for many months to come. this as the house oversight committee has launched an investigation. this caught a lot of people by surprise into the white house's handling of d

tonight the white house says the first statement was drafted before the picture was released. a senior white house official also says that porter misled people in the white house, including kelly, mark, even still, are you surprised kelly issued a statement of strong support like that initially? >> it's just the wrong reflex in a position like that. the reflex should be to show empathy and concern for victims. the second thing is to protect the president. and so, you know, this is not an issue about what his work habits were like. this was an issue about his character and habits with women outside of white house. >> um-hum. i need you to stand by. i'm getting instructions. go ahead, maria. okay. mark, i want you to stand by i want you to react to this. as i told you we have new information you were going to hear from someone involved in this. on the phone is a reporter for the "washington post". josh wab the "washington post" has been doing extensive reporting. you have been speaking to some of the women involved what are they saying. >> the women involved in the story are sayi

the white house counsel, don mcgahn, who is the top lawyer at the white house, he was told by the fbietting these security clearances, it's going to drag on. but they let it stay on that. they clearly liked him and maybe professionally he was doing a solid job, but there was this other issue that was preventing the fbi from saying, you know what, he's going to get clearances. >> i think that's a bit of a problem. it's like congressmen who want to serve out the rest of their term by committing some heinous acts. i just have problems with that. >> if the president called you and said, what do you think we should do? should he get rid of these individuals who allowed rob porter, the the white house staff secretary, to stay on the job even though he wasn't getting permanent security clearances, even though there were these alleged incidents in his previous marriages? >> i think they need to revisit the entire interim security clearance process. if we're going to have clearance, then get him clearance. >> but should those individuals like don mcgahn or others who knew about this, should th

that's not something that's decided by the white house. it's the same way that it has been -- >> classified information, when you have someone like -- >> i'm sorry? >> can you guarantee classified information when you have someone like rob porter who didn't have a permanent security clearance -- >> i think we are taking every step we can to protect classified information. i mean, frankly, if you guys have such concern with classified information, there's plenty of it that's leaked out of the hill, that's leaked out of other communities well beyond the white house walls. if you guys have real concerns about leaking out classified information, look around this room. you guys are the ones that publish classified information and put national security at risk. that doesn't come from this white house. >> we take every precaution possible to protect classified information and certainly to protect national security. it is the president's number one priority, protecting the citizens of this country. it is why we spend every single day doing everythi

the -- well, obviously, the white house -- >> the changing message and the screw up and -- >> the white house is responsible for it. and good on director wray for setting the record straight, as to what the fbi did. and so, you know, it's really disturbing to me, once again, to see this performance. it would have been so much better if they had just fessed up and said, you know, we didn't handle this very well. we critiqued ourselves, here's what happened, and here's what we're going to do to correct ourselves. but they just compound the errors here by changing their stories and not being forthright about this. and mistakes are going to happen, because even the white house prior administrations, you know, it's composed of people. people make mistakes. and i don't know why the reluctance to acknowledge that. >> yeah. should john kelly go, director? >> well, that's a tough call. i -- you know, i know john kelly, not well. i knew him when he was on active duty and he was a great marine, served as a military assistant to leon panetta when he was secretary of defense and his last assignment

he's in the middle of every scandal in the white house includes some of the ones that may results in rious legal troubles himself. he remains. he's politically bullet proof. we don't know what that is. since they're both responsible for white house personnels and things like security issues. we expect the director and the white house's spokesperson may have to go because of their roles and plainly contradictory and how this all went down. so the porter's scandal continues to bang around washington tonight like a pin gal ga ball game without a glass on it and something is going to break there. the parallel happening to flynn one year ago is striking. the damaging aspects of these scandals are about the white house's reaction whuonce they w informed of the troubling troubling -- they came to the white house to warn that michael flynn was a serious security risk. now, the revelations about flynn's behavior and his lies about his behavior they did ultimately leads to flynn's resignation, the delay between the warning and him leaving the white house is still now the bigger scandal for the

is the white house covering up for porter? did it look the other way because he was doing an important job in their view well? there's more reporting to be done. today's brand new account from the white house about the office of personnel security being a bottle neck where accounts of abuse got stalled is not the end. our chief white house correspondent john roberts is live there today. there was a bottle neck and the -- what is your understanding of this, john? >> this really -- first of all, from the surface, the 30,000 foot level goes against the principle of tell it all, tell it quickly, tell the truth. the white house may be telling the truth but they're not telling it all and certainly not telling it quickly. we're seven days into in now and there's another layer that's been peeled off the onion here. white house officials talked to me about this days ago. did the file go to the white house security office? did it go to the counsel's office or end up on the chief of staff's desk? the white house security office is in a re

today the white house tried to pass the buck to white house intelligence agencies. withal pan the panel. >> i thought the most important thing he said was drawing that distinction. it is not uncommon to have people there who have not been fully approved. i was there for six weeks, seven weeks waiting for my -- that's normal. but once it's clear that the fbi is not going to approve you because you are a security risk in their eyes, it's normal for you to be out. the idea that there's this whole new category of people who just, y'all ain't never going to be approved but here's some security documents anyway, that is new. it's weird. it's not normal. it's bad. it's risky. it's dangerous. no matter what anybody else tries to say, oh, well, this is a new way of doing government. there's a reason we do it the way we've done it because i hate to keep pointing this out. if somebody can't pass the fbi vet, that means they could be blackmailed. they could be bribed. there's something about them that history has proven people in that category are dangerous to our country. this

>> the white house generally. again, i can tell you that the process for the background was ongoing. and the white house had not received any specific papers regarding the completion of that background check. >> okay. so she switches when asked about the white house counsel to speak generally about people in the white house saying we. and then she claims that the background check was still ongoing. she didn't receive any papers about the end of it. the only part of the story that the white house was clear on today is that the president takes domestic violence seriously and above all else supports victims. that is not actually true. jim acosta was at the briefing today and he joins us now. it seems like we still don't have a time line from the white house. >> reporter: they are not giving straight answers at these briefings and we saw that again today. you heard sarah sanders that we warrant aware of the extent of what porter was accused of until s tuesday night. anderson, we have known for months, or we know they k

any evidence that nunez has coordinated with the white house? those of us on the committee, this looks too much like a rerun. that's what place the day after james comey testified in our open session that since last july -- this looks like a rerun of that. we're more concerned when the chairman refuses to answer questions. what does this do for future relations with democrats and republicans? hope that we could get back in earnest to doing an investigation that we were given the charge to do and that is the issue of collusion with the trump campaign. there are a whole host of and wheng meetings they generated false statements, securityhe national advisor live out his contacts with the russians and plead guilty to doing so. those indictments took place in record speed, in a matter of months and for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who were in the white house to say there is no evidence of collusion, you really have to be looking away and trying to ignore what is obvious. i do the mental exercise of saying, what would be the response if

how did the white house react? at the time of the loose key sticking out of the lock box, the lock bag, the white house still had no response to the warning. when this photo was taken, make flynn was still there still serving during the 18-day after the warning when we don't know why they didn't react to the warning and why they kept him on board. they took no action to curtail his access to classified information despite the very serious warning they had just received about him as a counter intelligence risk. a few days after the key in the locked bag photo op, president trump went to mar-a-lago where he hosted abe. rather than getting up, the president decided to review the matter at the dinner table at mar-a-lago. see, there was mood lighting, at the time a little dark so people gathered around with cell phones and they did the president a favor and lit up all the material he was reviewing about the north korean missile launch that night using the flashlights from their cell phones so they are signing lights onto

moo too front at the white house. as, you know really rocked a lot of the relationships and clearly they saw very different person in rob porter than david sore wereso sorensen thany turned out to be. >> people can behave very differently publicly than privately. by all accounts people say rob porter was a very good person to work with. it doesn't mean in his private life it's all the same. it's not about a he said, she said thing because it also affected her security clearance. finance f. it's credible enough whether he can get a security clearance. even though public and private lives can be separate they are not completely separate and people should take this seriously and know that private behavior does also reflect on public performance. >> martha: guy, tonight the focus is on general john kelly in a big way. there are two different stories coming out of the white house, one that he offered his resignation, the other that that absolutely did not happen. how secure do you think his position is? >> your guess is as

part of the white house. they have been frustrated with mcgann and they've often played to the president's own frustrations with mcgann and his own legal advice about different decisions the president makes. the way he interacts with different federal agencies. and so mcgann before all this began was already on the razor's edge. he was facing challenges inside the white house. it's brought all those challenges forward and precipitating all these fights happening right now inside the west wing. mcgann is getting blamed by many people for the entire situation. a situation that has many fingerprints, but it's mcgann and kelly being zeroed in on. >> let's repeat, day 390 of the trump administration. you guys always bring it. robert costa, jonathan swann. >>> up next the fear and risk of blackmail. when top white house advisers don't have that full security clearance that goes with their job title, what kind of threat does it pose to our country? >>> and believe it or not it's a question in the news, why the presid

let's watch. >> reince is doing a fantastic job at the white house. and i believe he has the president's confidence. >> does he remain as chief of staff. >> i think reince is doing a great job as chief of staff. >> basically question here, does the national security adviser enjoy the full confidence of president trump? >> yes, general flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president. >> was it a mistake not to ask jim comey to step down from the fbi at the outset of your presidency? is it too late now to ask him to step down. >> it's not too late. i have confidence in him. >> priebus, comey, flynn, all gone, all this is a recording. really? no, i'm kidding. 100% u.s.-based customer service. here to help, not to sell. befoto treat her frequent 24hr heartburn... claire could only imagine enjoying chocolate cake. now, she can have her cake and eat it too. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated a

from the white house. we hope these phases of distraction will come to an end and once again, the committee will focus on what the russians did to interfere with our elections, what we know about the trump campaign's contacts and communication or collusion with the russians and what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future. so that is where we hope our investigation will get back on track. with that, i am happy to answer any questions. -- if the president does block this -- schiff:tative chef: -- i think the republicans realize that after calling for full transparency, they were criticized for hiding the minority response. what will we do if the white house redact to protect itself or refuses to release? i think it is going to be very hard for the white house like it was hard for republicans on our committee to block release of this. i am more concerned they make a lyrical reactions, not to sources and methods -- politic al react -- reductions. -- so we can segregate any political interferenc

how can the white house chief of staff or how can the press secretary, how can this white house still be standing behind him when mr. porter appeared to be knowledge and that he had -- mr. shah: i think it's fair to say that we all could have done better over the last few hours, or last few days, in dealing with the situation. but this is the rob porter that i and many others have dealt with, sarah dealt with, that other officials including the chief of staff had dealt with and the emerging reports were not reflective of the individual who we had come to know. reporter: can i just one followup? reporter: did the president know rob was working on a temporary clearance? mr. shah: no, the president saw the news report on tuesday night and was informed on the resignation on wednesday. he was saddened by it. saddened for all the individuals involved. reporter: other the last year is that something he was concerned about? mr. shah: he was not informed of the specifics regarding rob porter's security clearance. reporter: do you have any information on how many senior white house staffers are

of the white house in the middle of the night.he must have been a pretty good pilot to be able to do that, and then he gets up and flies around, lands again this time the secret service opened fire. you can see the chopper riddled with the bullets and everything. and aside from the fact that it wasn't too good for his army career, he was -- [laughter] thrown in jail for a year and fined about $2400. and i thought, that's it? that's all you get for landing a helicopter on the white house? so those are kind of the stories that i think are interesting when you sort of look at, you know, some of the presidents in the white house. but speaking of the white house, by the way, let me talk about that too. people think that for a young -- this is actually an older country than you think. and the white house really probably the most, certainly the most famous structure in this country, perhaps in the world. but what people don't know -- i find this fascinating -- that the white house was first inhabited in 1800. john adams moved in on novem

sanders: the white house generally. reporter: two don mcgann specifically though, had he learned at any time before last tuesday when the story was thatn by "the daily mail" there was any allegation of any sort level by any person against rob porter? sec. sanders: i can't get into the specifics. i can tell you the process for the background was ongoing, and the white house had not received any specific papers regarding the completion of that background check, so i can't go any further than what we party settlement. that's what we've already said on that -- what we've already set on that. reporter: to follow up on the last two questions come up is don mcgann -- last two questions on what is don mcgann's status as counsel? sec. sanders: he is the head of the white house counsel and i have no indication to see differently. reporter: the other question is senator corker said last night he was reconsidering and possibly will reverse his decision not to seek reelection. already a republican primary is in the process in the sta

a live look inside the white house. the brief willing start in 14 minutes. first, there's word some trump administration officials did know and knew for many months about accusations that a senior white house aide had physically and emotionally abused two ex-wives and his boss knew about it for months. we believe since november. that's what sources are telling multiple correspondents, including john roberts. the man's name is rob porter. he has announced his resignation. he did so yesterday as president trump's staff secretary. a big job. he denies the accusations or has thus far. he called them outrageous and a smear campaign. part of porter's job was vetting the paperwork that made it to the president's desk. so to get to the president, paperwork had to go through him. he also traveled on air force one, helped write president trump's state of the union speech. at first, the chief of staff john kelly who is said to have known about the allegations released a statement calling porter a man of true integrity. and then later after some vetting, kelly said he wa

last i looked he was in charge of the white house. the only thing he said to my knowledge was to express sympathy for rob porter's career being damaged. >> sarah sanders is vouching for the fact that now he's expressed concern about this but he has not tweeted about it, at least at the moment that i got on the air, the last time i was reading, he hasn't said anything. susan, the other thing that really flies in the face is the politico reporting, which is not disputed by the people who are present, that four major organizations had reporters brought in to sit down with rob porter and hear his self-defense after the charges were made. so instead of the 40 minutes and he was out, they were still trying to spin it and have porter explain himself to people from the new york times, "the washington post" and other organizations. >> and this was after the photograph of the ex-wife with the black eye had been published. and for some people at the white house, that was apparently the turning point. although i think it is unrealistic and fair to

there's the briefing room at the white house. ect the defense secretary to join sarah sanders there just moments from now. when that happens, we'll listen. we'll listen to james mattis make opening remarks. and when he's pressed about the budget deal, we will take you there live. that should happen moments from now. new developments for this moment in the russia investigation. we learn more about the probe and the so-called steele dossier. christopher steele, the former british agent, has become a flash point in the investigation. and president trump tweeted this morning on another aspect of this investigation all caps he writes, new fbi texts are bomb shells. we want to bring in nbc news intelligence and national security supporter and national political reporter mike memly. the president referred to 400 pages of these text messages released by the republican. the senator from wisconsin, ron johnson, who serves on the affairs committee and homeland security. context is key. the president refers to a bomb shell. do we have any con

in a normal presidency, he has damaged the credibility of the white house and the office of the presidency's not a normal white house. there are many people who would like him to stay because he is effectively blocking the president in ways -- in some cases that we don't know about. i would like to know where he stands on north korea. is he one of those pushing for the bloody nose strategy, or is he one of those trying to rein in a president who really doesn't understand the international system and is upset with north korea because apparently his button is bigger than the other button. if he is one of those standing against war, then it may be in the interests of the united states for all of his flaws that this man stay. i don't know enough to know that. but i do know that in a normal presidency, mr. kelly or general kelly would be on his way out. he would have to leave. >> on friday night, i think a lot of people were sort of expecting, okay, this is the way friday night is going to end. he would be out the door in a normal presidency. >> surprise, surprise. >> he'll only be out the door