we're safe in saying this memo doesn't just divide republicans and democrats it divides the trump administrationlf. rod rosenstein is a trump appointee and that letter that came out last week was scorching. >> betsy woodruff, journalist for the daily beast, thank you for being here. >> sure thing. >> that's remarkable what she was reporting there. we talked about rod rosenstein as the one person in charge of the russia investigation who hasn't been fired or tried to have been fired, which is wrong grammar, by the president. this is a really point of contention, a serious point of contention between the fbi and the trump white house and the house republicans. the trump white house and republicans are winning this. it depends on whether the fbi gets more steel in their spine or whether they concede to what the trump administration wants. the independence of law enforcement in this country is an important thing and we haven't seen it tested like this in our lifetimes. we'll be right back. ♪ take off for mexico with expedia. ♪ one click gives you access to discounts on thousands of hotels, cars and

this is a key difference between the trump administration and all the previous administrations we've seen in modern history going back to the 1960s. >> there is a few things there you mentioned i want to follow up. one on this dragnet idea there has ban lot of reporting on this. this comes from the houston chronicle. this is an advocacy group file in houston. it is increasingly common federal practice to target predominantly hispanic complexes and then questioning bystanders without any evidence they are illegally here. that something you're hearing them do? is that a new practice that has really flourished in the last year? >> it's something that the federal government experimented with during the obama administration and actually gave up. i think what's new with the trump administration is that they are encouraging joe arpaio type tactics like the one texas example that you just gave. they want to unleash both federal i.c.e. agents and border patrol agents as well as state and local officials who want to participate. and they want to pressure state and local officials who don't wan

this comes as mcclatchy reports the trump administration is considering a plan that would not only impose work requirements for medicaid enrollees, but which would also put a lifetime limit on adults' access to medicaid. meanwhile, trump's budget would see a 13% rise in spending on weapons in war, bringing the pentagon's budget to $686 billion. the administration says its plan would add $7.1 trillion to u.s. budget deficits over the next decade, though many economists say that number relies on rosy projections. the budget comes less than two months after trump signed into law one of the largest tax cuts in u.s. history, one that overwhelmingly favors the wealthies americans. on capitol hill, the senate convened a rare open debate monday on immigration, as hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the united states as children face a march deadline, when the trump administration will begin canceling the daca program, or deferred action for childhood arrivals. the senate debate comes without a bill currently on the floor; it follows congress's passage of a spending bill last w

the trump administration is in charge of that and the trump administration is behaving pretty inexplicably when it comes to russian sanctions. it is amazing where we have been in the past year. it is necessary to look up, look forward and see what we're bumbling into but something wrong with where we are right now, what the administration is doing now because administration is doing now on sanctions is what russia was asking for through the 2016 election in the secret meetings. we didn't know what was happening because meetings were secret. that was our excuse but that's what russia asked for and now, right now in 2018 we can see in realtime that they are getting what they wanted and asked for from this administration. ( ♪ ) ♪ one is the only number ♪ that you'll ever need ♪ staying ahead isn't about waiting for a chance. it's about the one bold choice you make, that moves you forward. ( ♪ ) the one and only cadillac escalade. come in now for this exceptional offer on the cadillac escalade. get this low-mileage lease on this 2018 cadillac escalade from around $879 per month. visit your loc

and there have been a bunch of those who have departed from the trump administration today. this is just the latest. we'll have more on that story tonight. and while we are talking about high-profile departures from the trump administration, we can also confirm what we first reported during the president's state of the union address last night, which is that the president's nominee to be ambassador to south korea, obviously a very important ambassador post, that nominee has now either withdrawn or been pulled from consideration. during the president's speech last night, the ambassador o nominee, victor chau announced he is no longer in contention for that position and publicly came out in opposition to the president's approach to north korea, calling it a huge risk to americans. and actually, there's a trifecta tonight. if you are looking at departures and potential departures for people in high-profile roles in the trump administration. the "washington post" is now out with a brutal report on corruption allegations, involving housing secretary ben carson. juliette alperren

it's extraordinary, confounding and dangerous how little the trump administration is doing about putin's campaign to undermine our grand democracy. president trump refused to punish putin after he took office despite the consensus view of 17 american intelligence agencies that putin interfered in our election. he will not pass sanctions that passed this congress with only five dissenting votes combined in the house and senate. yesterday when my friend, the senator from rhode island, asked admiral rogers if the trump administration had directed him to counter russian meddling, he replied no. a hostile foreign power continues to interfere with our democracy and is planning to interfere in our next elections and the president of the united states is hardly lifting a finger. it was as if they were planning for war. cyber attacks, manipulation of newspapers is another way that hostile powers attack us. people have to wonder why president trump is so soft on russia, so unwilling to criticize president putin and so slow to stand up for america and protect our democracy. finally, one final word

journal," former member of the obama administration talking about foreign relations during the trump administration. "washington journal" continues. host: jake sullivan joins us now. he previously served in the obama administration and he recently released "the world after trump." first, explain what we mean when we are talking about the international order. what does that include? guest: it is not world government, a group of people calling the shots for the united states or anyone else. it is a group of sovereign states, the world and fall, led by the united states, who built the world after the end of the aroundworld war alliances, the united nations system, a system to deal with international and comics and finance, and the basic purpose of this set of institutions and partnerships is to manage disputes so we do not get into wars, to mobilize cooperation to do with challenges like climate change and nuclear floor affiliation, and set standards around aviation or maritime security so that we are all working off of the same page in a world where there is so much interconnection in the country. it

the trump administration appealing the judge in san francisco and his ruling. we'll have to see if they will do the same here. thank you very much, peter doocy. >> fox news is learning that the president's legal team sblg an argument that he should not sit down for an interview with special counsel robert mueller amid new calls for a second special counsel to look into the f.b.i. and justice department's questionable actions that brought the case to the fisa court in the first place. that prompted "wall street journal" columnist bill mcgurn to write this. representative devin nunes has rendered the public a service single handedly. he has pried loose documents used clinton campaign research to justify a warrant to spy on carter page. a one-time trump campaign associate. why are republicans threatening to undermine this good work by calling for a special counsel? bill mcgurn, former chief speech writer for president george w. bush joins us in studio. why do you think a special counsel would be a detriment to move? >> three principles. first one is special counse

the trump administration tried to use bargaining chip as democrats.e federal judge said no, they tried to leapfrog to the stream court and as you pointed out, supreme court said no. that means it's going to the ninth circuit in san francisco regardless of what happens there. it almost certainly be appealed to the stream court and instead of -- supreme court. instead of deadline to end the program this coming monday, the program's in place almost certainly for another year. >> mark, i look forward to your whoppers of the week every week and we know that daca is the subject this week. >> the double speak on this, michelle, just remarkable. president trump ended the daca program on september 5 saying by march 5, it was dead, it was over unless congress could figure it out and use it had as a bargaining chip. now that the democrats didn't go along with his chip, which was to build the wall and to limit legal immigration, he tweeted this out this week. look at some tweets, he said democrats no longer talking daca. out of sight, out of mind. nancy pelosi tr

the reality is the trump plan would put the administration's immigrationline agenda on the backs of the young people. these young daca protected people are being held political hostages for president trump hard-line immigration agenda. for example, the white housema wants to dramatically reduce legal immigration by prohibiting american citizens from sponsoringng their parents, siblings and children as immigrants. we are talking about literally millions of relatives of american citizens who entered the system legally and are following our immigration laws and some have been waiting for as long as 20 years to emigrate to the united states. the conservative cato institute says the following about the president trump's puzzle put in the most likely scenario the new plan from the trump administration would cut the number of legal immigrants by up to 44% or half a million immigrants in italy. the largest policy driven legal immigration cut since the 1920s compared to the current law it would exclude nearly 22 million emigrate legally to the united states in the next 5 degrees. go back in time

the trump administration is now in charge of that and the trump administration is behaving pretty --t is amazing of where we have been in the past year. it is necessary to look up and forward to see what we are bumping into months ahead. there is something wrong where we are right now with what the administration is doing right now. because what the administration is doing right now on sanctions is what russia was asking them for all through the 2016 campaign and all those secret meetings. we did not know it at the time it was happening because those meetings were a secret. now, we know that's what russia is asking for. we can see in realtime that they are getting what they wanted and what they asked for from this administration. friends, colle, gathered here are the world's finest insurance experts. rodney -- mastermind of discounts like safe driver, paperless. the list goes on. how about a discount for long lists? gold. mara, you save our customers hundreds for switching almost effortlessly. it's a gift. and jamie. -present. -together we are unstoppable. so, what are we gonna do? ♪

resources in the community puts the safety of officers and the public at greater risk. >> as the trump administration'sd with california over immigration builds its relationship with mexico continues to deteriorate. according to "the washington post," mexico's president enrique pena nieto canceled his tentative white house visit after president trump rejected the request to affirm mexico's position of refusing to pay for the proposed border wall. it's unclear what if any affect this disagreement will have on the two administrations negotiations on other issues, including the north american free trade agreement. >> bret: thank you. president trump says north korea wants to talk in the u.s. will but only under the right conditions. a north korean envoy sent a message through south korea sunday thing the north has ample intentions of holding talks with the u.s. the trump administration insists north korea must give up its nuclear and missile programs first. kim jong un is insisting he will not do that. syria meantime is sending ground forces into a damascus suburb. this comes despite demands from the inte

so in the wake of that, here comes the trump administration and they have seriously gone from dumb to dumber to go right back into this fight where it blew up in the obama administration's face among the red state communities of the atlantic coast. good luck finding support for this up in new england. in new england our ocean economy was valued just a few years ago at over $17 billion. it employs about a quarter of a million people. who thinks we're going to walk away from that? who thinks we're not going to defend that ocean economy against an idea as dumb as offshore drilling in the atlantic? we are not going to permit it. i have authored with my house colleague david cicilline, legislation that the whole senate new england representation supports to ban this as a matter of federal law, to stop this. the attorney generals of states from maine down to north carolina, including massachusetts, delaware, rhode island of course,ers iners in, new york -- new jersey, new york, maryland, virginia owe owe all have spoken -- virginia, all have spoken out of it. our governor has come out again

use of military strike, but i think that is also on the table too. >> do you think that the trump administrations waiting for the right moment to negotiate, or do you think donald trump fundamentally hasn't decided whether he wants to negotiate? >> i think he has not decided, but i think it's really hard to get back to negotiation right now. sanctions take time. i mean, iran's case, it took three years of hard sanctions, so they need to take time, and it's just fighting. so now negotiation is not what the administration is looking for right now. >> fascinating. we will of course, be following this issue. >>> next up, the woman who wants to take vladimir foputin's job. she is running for the presidency of russia in next month's election. does she have the chance to win? i'll ask her. rn honking ] [ engine revving ] what's that, girl? [ engine revving ] flo needs help?! [ engine revving ] take me to her! ♪ coming, flo! why aren't we taking roads?! flo. [ horn honking ] -oh. you made it. do you have change for a dollar? -this was the emergency? [ engine revving ] yes, i was busy! -24-hour roadside

conducted by mueller and this is a problem. >> how concerning is it, this news, that 30 to 40 trump administration officials still don't have their full security clearance more than a year into this administration? how worried are you about that. >> i would be worried. in the white house in the executive branch and what we see in congress there is a lot of classified material, especially classified material that should only be reviewed by the people and how people are trained and have trusted backgrounds. obviously there are some things that can be handled by people that have some level of interim security background or security clearance but anything above top secret is a problem let alone that the fact that you have situations where you could be exposing these men or women to blackmail. we know, for example, that jared kushner through his security clearance has belied multiple times. we don't know his forward entanglements when it comes to money in his family corporations and who he solicited money for yet he still has security clearance and that worries many of us. we don't know who can be comp

we saw in this document and we've seen, i think, in other trump administration statements over recent months the constant reiteration of nuclear modernization as being the top priority which was also the obama administration's view and often the comments you would hear from obama administration official, i remember once we had admiral richardson here and i challenged him in a friendly if that was the right way to think about nuclear modernization, and he said that it must be, because our submarines are getting old philanthropy ohio class is getting close. they are not safe any more. what i want to propose we look more critically at the overall estimated price tag and i want to suggest we may need prioritize. right now there are five as i define them five big categories of nuclear modern consolidation in trump administration plan. mostly consistent with obama administration plans. there is the replacemen of the ssbm forks ballistic missile arms nuclear submarines, the ohio class becoming a columbia class. there's the b-21 bomb terrify raider being built. and that among all these capabi

the trump administration seems to be getting pretty serious about blocking china.he question is what the chinese are going to put on the table. one problem they face is the trump administration still seems to be the economic relationship to the bilateral trade deficit with china, which has been growing with every passing month. unfortunately, that is driven by macroeconomic factors, including the u.s. trade deficit and the u.s. economy strength. there is not much china can do about it. they will have to make some serious concessions to keep talking to the u.s. david: where did it go off the rails? the chinese-u.s. trade relations. did notr-a-lago, we know or was going to go. we had modest announcement after the mar-a-lago meetings and it look like they would have these out in a series of negotiations but now it is hostile. has the u.s. changed its mind? did the chinese play too hard to get? >> i think the chinese are hoping it could go back to the previous administration. that they would make certain commitments, meet them halfway, and the u.s. side would play alon

this fund is reportedly to help with legal fees for the trump campaign, trump administration or trumpion when it comes to the inquiries being conducted by the committees of the u.s. senate and house of representativ representatives. we have reported this truth on the trump investigation. one that created weird incentives for people caught up in these. that is that the trump campaign spent hundreds of thousands of dollars paying fees for two people and two people only, donald trump and donald trump jr. recognizing that was a little weird, the president's lawyers announced months ago that the president planned to set up some kind of mechanism, using his own money to help staffers pay their bills, too. ticklish proposition, how do you reconcile the boss, the president, dangling help with your legal bills while you the staffer answer questions to the special prosecutor who's asking questions about your boss. they said the future legal defense would be for witnesses, staffers and campaign workers forced to incure extraordinary legal expenses merely because they were witnesses. the fund wou

the russian government meant that even during the presidential transition, the soon-to-be trump administration still had to go out of their way to disavow him, to pretend like he had never been announced by trump as one of his five foreign policy advisers. >> carter page is someone president-elect does not know and was put on notice months ago by the campaign. >> that was january 2017 before the inauguration. we can piece to the from the timing that that is probably around the time when the fisa surveillance warrant on carter page was being renewed. fisa warrants have to be renewed every 90 days. u.s. investigators, law enforcement have to show a judge that there has been continued production of useful intelligence from the existing warrant. they have to show that there's been continuing or even fresh indications that the target of the warrant is, in fact, acting as a knowing agent of a foreign power. so that fisa warrant for carter page was initially granted in either the summer or the fall. it's hard for us to tell. we know that it was renewed multiple times. we think probably one of the tim

she reports on a littl clause that has the trump administration and progressives on the same page. >> the era of economic surrender is over. from now on, we expect trading b relationships fair and to be reciprocal. >> reporter: on the campaign trail, upon taking office, right up to his recent state of the union speech, president trumpbe ha consistent about what he calls america's "bad trade deals." and that includes the northad american free e agreement, nafta. the 1994 pact allows goods and services to move more freely among and between america, canada and mexico. ntt critics say it also threatens each c's national sovereignty, its ability to govern and enforce its own laws. there's a provision in nafta and thousands of trade agreements called investor state dispute settlement, or i.s.d.s. it allows foreign investors to sue governments for passing laws or regulations that could harm the value of their invts. geoffrey gertz is an i.s.d.s. scholar with the brookings institution. f says i.s.d.s. was created in the 1960s to proteeign investors from governments taking control of their ast

so, yes, that's another, yet another senior trump administration official who is leaving the administrationee them all on one screen. so far, we don't have the appropriate font. in this case, though, the thing you need to know about the census guy that's leaving is what he was famous before trump named him to run the census was this book. "redistricting and representation." why competitive elections are bad for america. why competitive elections are bad for america. he was going to run the census, the census, which is used to redistrict and set up r representation to make sure that we have competitive elections in america. so, he's out. but he's not the most interesting trump administration failure of the day. he's probably not second place. the best one is next. stay with us. i know when i hand them the keys to their first car it's gonna be scary. but i also know that we're gonna have usaa insurance for both my boys. it's something that they're not even gonna have to think of. it's just gonna be in the family. we're the tenneys and we're usaa members for life. lobsterfest is back at red lo

but how different is what trump and his allies are doing than what the obama administration was doingand what do you think needs to be done? worse., it is much i want to be fair, what trump and the gop are doing is much worse than obama. but you are right in your question. it is a difference in degree. mr. obama came in with great hopes, as everyone knows, that there would be changes and a redirection. real was not, to be brutally honest, there really was not. that in the light of what mr. trump does, it all kind of looks better here we have a history in america that with each president, the previous one looks a bit better than he did before. for me, the basic issue is what you said, what has to be done? for me, here is how it looks. the decisions we see of the decisions made by the people who run the businesses of america, the corporations, the boards of directors, the major shareholders who really do control this economy and have for a long time. if we are not happy with the outcome, which i assume we are not as we are discussing that, we have to go the problem. we have to be willin

happy to have you to discuss the trump administration nuclear posture review, came out february 2nd, following earlier national security strategy of december and national defense strategy of january. so the administration is doing a nice job keeping its clock work running smoothly. prior to unveiling the budget request. thrilled to have david trachtenberg beginning the discussion today. he has one of the longer titles, but one of the more important titles in the pentagon. principal deputy undersecretary for defense policy, a job jim miller also had. we will talk about that in the panel that follows with jim and others. for now, i want to introduce david who has been one of the administration's most important authors and voices on conceptualization, framing and writing of this document that's now available and all of you can access as you're aware on the net. about 70 page document, longer than the unclassified version of national defense strategy. has a lot of elaboration of trump administration thinking on a number of issues. we will hear about that today. david will give short remar

why would the trump administration stand in the way of it? >>> i'm ali velshi. >> i'm stephanie ruhle. what a week. american's pain. more than one week after another mass shooting incident targeting our kids, it is stoking rae ini emotions on all sides of the gun debate. >> many have made the case for more common sense controls on gun sales. president trump started off the week talking about strengthening background checks for guns and banning bump stocks, which are devices that go onto a semi-automatic rifle. then he changed his tune and called on all, quote, adept teachers to carry concealed weapons into classrooms or at least those who are adept. in other words, more guns, not fewer, which is right out of the national rifle association's playbook. just listen to the nra's chief, wayne la pierre. >> they want to sweep right under the carpet the failure of school security, the failure of family, the failure of america's mental health system. and even the unbelievable failure of the fbi to stop a bad guy with a gun. it takes a good guy with a

the obama administration closed two government compounds. obama scrapped the missile treaty, trumpmissiles over there and natural gas that undermines russia. the obama administration wouldn't give lethal aid to ukraine. trump reversed that. trump administration responded with their own missile and boosted defense spending and maybe most importantly the trump administration has a pro energy agenda. when energy prices go down globally russia is weakened. these are some of the things the trump administration has done. >> bill: you came with your list. wendy, i guess you give him credit for that. i think the sales of arms to ukraine is something that hasn't gotten a lot of coverage and sarah sanders mentioned that yesterday. respond to that. maybe you can answer this. what does the left want president trump to do or say? >> great question. you know, i think it is on both sides of the aisle we all know obama could have done more by his own admission he said that's where he felt as though he was weakest. we can't negate what he did. he expelled 35 russian diplomats and imposed russian sa

and it's clearly the case today with the trump administration. if you listen to the trump administration's position, they're not saying as they escalate again witharial bombing and a few more troops in pa pakistan, they're saying the same thing as be. weeed to batter the taliban sufficiently. but there's though time line for that and no resourcing of negotiation going on down. and under president trump the state department has been demoted as an instrument of american power and diluted as democracy and diplomatic service. so i'm not sure this administration is really motivated to try to fight and talk at the same time. and even during the obama administration when fight and talk was the policy, the fight part was resourced much more heavily than the talk part. >> and just want to ask you whether you agree with what sort of analysts are saying inside of afghanistan now, that they believe the recent unbelievable, almost unprecedented space of blood letting, i mean 100 people killed by an ambulance suicide bomber, dozens killed in a hotel, the conti

. >>> open secrets. 30 to 40 trump administration officials operating without full security clearance, including the president's son-in-law jared kushner. what this means for america's national security. >>> and getting warmer. the trump administration indicating it's willing to talk to north korea but saying it's up to kim jong-un. so who blinks first? all of that coming up. >>> let's start with the confusion inside the white house as officials try to get their heads around president trump's stance on rob porter, the former aide resigning over spousal abuse allegations. publicly the president has defended porter, saying the accounts are just mere allegations and shouldn't ruin someone's career. but reports say that privately the president considers porter, and i'm quoting now, sick. our senior white house editor jeff zel aeny. what are you hearing from the president to publicly stand by rob porter? >> reporter: we do know at this moment, first of all, white house chief of staff john kelly is still on the job here. he is the key to this equation. rob porter, who resigned abruptly last

bill that will benefit big corporations anddd the wealthy while adding to the deficit the trump administration is now proposing a curtailment of the programs that at the same time bincrease the deficit. the bad magic trick, very bad. after entire campaigns worked promises to pick medicaid and medicare president trump proposes to cut deeply into both and after calling education the civil rights issue in our time in his first address to congress president trump proposes a 10% cut in education funding and ask your school boards .-dot america how they feel about that. alongside is delayed in for such a plan. president trump proposesru to ct transportation funding by nearly a fifth. a decrease so large that will result in a net cut in infrastructure funding even if you added the new president new infrastructure bill. on the heels of a massive corporate tax cut this budget is the very inverse of economic populism. he comes back from nearly every program to help the middle class in those struggling to reach it in the top budget is the encapsulation of an administration that promises populism

on the use of military strike, but that's also on the table too. >> do you think that the trump administration is waiting for the right moment to negotiate? or do you think that donald trump has not decided whether he wants to negotiate. >> i think he has not decided. it's really hard to get back to negotiations. sanctions need to take time. so it's just fighting, so i think premature negotiation is not what the trump administration is looking for right now. >> fascinating, we will of course be following this issue. next up, the woman who wants to take vladimir putin's job. does she have a chance to win? i'll ask her. 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. on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort your sleep number s

trump. all this administration is about is donald trump and his family, his own ego. i would not want to work for him. and rachel brand is a very good lawyer. i knew her in the bush administration. he's been at the united states chamber of commerce. she's an excellent lawyer. she got an offer to be the top lawyer over at walmart, i'm sure she grabbed that. but i would take any job at walmart, the jobs at the bottom of the pay scale over at walmart rather than work for this administration in the justice department because she would have been put in a situation where rod rosenstein quit or was fired, she would be pressured to fire robert mueller or to somehow constrain the russia investigation and that's a very good way to end up in jail making license plates. as i say, i think any job at walmart would be a heck of a lot better than that. so she got a good deal for herself and i would not be surprised to see some other people leave as well. >> well, john harwood, speak to richard's points and what this means about who wants to end up holding these posts. >> well, look, p

the trump administration is seeking to avoid the obama stimulus trap. it says the trump administration hopes that $200 billion in new federal infrastructure spending over the next 10 years can trigger $1.8 trillion in investment by the private sector , plus state and local governments, at the benefit of roads, bridges, and jobs. $50 billionld sink into new rural infrastructure programs and speed up the process to allow new projects to projects --ew allowing the private sector to fish -- fix the deficit. president trump said in his state of the union address, but remind us of what we spent in 2009 on infrastructure, through the stimulus. does the opinion piece make a point? guest: we spent only about $75 billion on infrastructure. than is a good bit less most people assume, and about one third was spent on highways. part of the understand -- misunderstanding is how long it takes to build infrastructure projects, anywhere from three to six years. i think people had perhaps an unrealistic expectation that the soon as the dollars when out the door we would

it's a legal setback for the trump administration. who had hoped the supreme court would get to this case and decide it this year. but now that's not going to happen. stephanie. >> okay, so let's just make sure i understand. that march 5th deadline that was this do or die headline -- >> that's a -- >> -- deadline that mattered to daca recipients is now null and void. they'll keep on proceeding with their lives and this will now be heard six months or a year from now? >> well, i would say two things. number one, that daca deadline became a dead letter last month when the judge in san francisco said you can't shut this program down. now, the trump administration had a decision to make here. they could have asked the supreme court to take this case and block that lower court order while it was deciding what to do. but they didn't ask for that. they said they thought that would be too disruntive, turning the thing on, turning it off. too much of an on/off switch. so they didn't do that. march 5th i think has been a dead letter for over a

what do you think the trump administration is trying to do in its view of the iran deal. guest: i don't want go into detail the issue of that statement. that was the payment of a court ordered settlement of resources appropriated by the united states in the iranian revolution time. let's go to the agreement, that is more relevant. i think that there has been a misconception from the beginning in 2015 in terms of the agreement. the principal criticism was not of the agreement, but what the agreement is not. -- neverver attended intended to a dress, yemen, hezbollah, or human rights. we had a lot of problems in the region, and now syria is in there as well. believe we of us should be pushing back hard with our allies and friends on these issues. very concerned about the security of israel with hezbollah and iran supporters of lah.ol in the obama administration, after the iran deal, additional sanctions were placed on a -- on iran that were not related to nuclear. does not relieve the need to address the other issues. now we hear a lot about the sunset of the agreement. i wa

we re failure by the trump administration were chemical attacks have taken place. we're almost looking at massive displacement from ghouta and still no action. still no ability to alleviate suffering. and just briefly again an international outcry as there was over aleppo but an international outcry is not going to stop what the syrian government are doing full stop absolutely, we have seen for example how the un security council, the chemical weapons investigation moves were vetoed down. that isjust a brief example. of what is going on. today we're meeting with uk officials and saying the uk has to take a strong position forcing the un to operate efficiently inside syria. u nfortu nately efficiently inside syria. unfortunately food efficiently inside syria. u nfortu nately food stores efficiently inside syria. unfortunately food stores are not more than ten miles outside of ghouta and still be un is not able to go in and provide some food, basic food for people and not able to provide food and i'm not sure what they will be able to do. i think the uk has a positio

director james comey about sharing information on the russia investigation with the incoming trump administration. what do you know about that? >> this is interesting. it's about a meeting that happened an january 5th, 2017, some 15 days before president trump was sworn into office. this was a meeting that president obama at the time was having with the fbi director, james comey. and he was talking about essentially how much information should be shared with the new trump administration about the russia investigation. by that time the administration had. start this investigation before they left office. all this is coming out in a letter that a couple republican senators, chuck grassley of iowa and lindsey graham of south carolina were sending specifically to susan rice, the national security adviser. she sent herself an e-mail documenting that meeting that happened on january 5. she sent herself this e-mail on inauguration day. a bit in the weeds here, don, but the point is that the obama administration was urging the fbi and others to follow this investigation by the book. so that, again, is pu

his attorneys called the charges politically motivated and an effort by the trump administration to make an example out of him. >> the prosecution is vindictive, a sense that they're trying to override the verdict that was brought forward by the san francisco superior court jury. or not even override it, but they're going to essentially try to punish our client harsher than the san francisco superior court did. >> the defense lawyers say they'll be asking the court to dismiss the charges as an illegal vindictive prosecution. he is due back in court on april 24. >>> the family of a man shot and killed by a b.a.r.t. officer in january is demanding justice. celine tindle's family told us about police body camera video about that incident and it shows key facts about this case. here's the story from west oakland where dozens of protesters gathered this morning. >> he had his back turned. >> reporter: celine tindle's older brother has seen the body camera video that shows tindle being shot in the back by a b.a.r.t. officer. it happened on january 3. the b.a.r.t. officer heard a gunshot, when

but i really see more continuity than change in the trump administration's approach.e continue to seek a military solution to the war that even commanders say is not winnable on purely military terms so you know we've got to find a better way, the afghan people deserve more from us, we've made promises, we've sacrificed enormous amounts of our national budget and given 2,000 american lives to the war, 20,000 wounded. and yet, our strategy is really a case of doing the same thing again and again. and expecting different results is. >> steve, the administration has made changes to rules of engagement. does that potentially bring progress to ending this quagmire? >> i'm afraid not. dropping more bombs is not going to change the facts on the ground. and we already know this because at the peak of our military commitment to the obama administration, there were 150,000 national combat troops in afghanistan trying to roll the taliban back. but the maps didn't change. today we have 10,000 to 15,000 american and international troops in afghanistan. to expect with that number o

policy perspective trump administration is clearly limiting ballistic missile program to its one of the four conditions essentially for continuing u.s. commitment to the jcpa stated publicly. and since the beginning of the administration, the trump administration has made very clear that it does not necessarily separate the jcpa from iran's broader broader strategy. it has clearly disparaged previous administration in materials of deprioritizing iran's other o afnghts and capability development in the region. and capable clearest linkage between those broader afnghts. but really looking at them as one comprehensive whole which is in many ways imperialed the jcpa but also statement helped -- strengthen some of the -- support from gulf countries believing they have deprioritized some of the other elements of a iranian focus and i think they have -- in some ways appreciated that trump administration linkage between the two although -- that has made maintaining the commitment to the jcpa more difficult. so you know, both of a benefit but also a weakness in kind of making that linkage togeth

. >> reporter: from the air the message to the trump administration was large. as crystal-clear as the ocean they are trying to protect. >> we are a marine sanctuary, we have to protect it for ourselves and kids. >> say no to the trump administration. >> reporter: the rally to oppose the white house's plan to open the waters of the coast to oil drilling for the first time in decades.>> there is no safe way to drill for oil. the only known fact is inevitably there will be an oil spill and some point, somewhere.>> reporter: the trump administration says relaxing the rules on offshore drilling will lessen the countries dependence on foreign oil. plan was unveiled and we are in the middle of a 60 day public comment period. protesters say it is important for them to make their voices heard. >> when it comes to the oceans and environment, the administration has to understand these are treasures we will protect with everything we have.>> reporter: likely means the battle lines will shift from the shore to the courts. and if the trump administration decides to move forw

looking thoughtful with her hand on her chin. >> in response to the opioid epidemic from the trump administration. jeff sessions focusing now on enforcement rather than treatment. >> administration is linking violent gang crime to the spike in opioid deaths. doug has more from washington. >> reporter: as the trump administration ramps up its response to the opioid epidemic, attorney general jeff sessions is increasingly focusing on enforcing and highlighting the link between gang crime and opioid deaths. >> addicts also become death risk and get in all kinds of terrible situations and violence can occur. >> critics say it's a tactic that won't work and the focus should be on treatment and prevention, even those that take opioids for legitimate reasons say they feel victimized. >> we automatically feel like we are a criminal, just trying to take care of our life. >> it's confronting the problem head on, according to the 13 billion they have requested to fight the opioid project. most is geared for education and rehab programs >> move it to things that are in line with the president's priority, so

collusion between the democrats and the russians. >> everybody wants to blame this on the trump administrationnder the obama administration. >> democrats outraged as the trump administration pushes low cost healthcare plans as alternatives to obamacare. >> lets them be flexible so people can get lower cost plans if they choose to. >> most people have to struggle

in the most likely scenario, the new plan from the trump administration would cut the number of legal immigrants by 34% or half 1 million immigrants annually. the largest policy driven legal immigration cuts in the 20s.s. compared to the current law, it would exclude nearly 22 million people from the opportunity to immigrate legally over the next five decades. mr. president, go back in history to a time with a proposal that passed on the floor of this chamber to cut as many legal immigrants in the united states. 1924 and calvin coolidge was president. world war i with the growing fear because of all the damage done inur europe, europeans would come to the united states. also a concern the wrong people were coming in the eyes of congress. so the immigration act past of 1924 and set quotas for countries and for people expressly designed to exclude certain people from around the world from entering the united states of america. a notorious piece of legislation those excluded from america included people from italy, eastern europe, japan, asia and jewish people. that was the immigration p

give us a chance to look at everything when we, the trump administration, take office on january 20that would not van been inappropriate. >> martha: those new sanctions you referred to were put in place because of what the obama administration saw as meddling in the election. >> that's right. >> martha: they slapped new sanctions on right at the end of the obama administration. now, what about sally yates' ya' role in all of this? we all remember watching her sit at that table. she was very upset. she felt michael flynn had done something very wrong and she wanted to bring it to the attention of the trump white house while she -- when she overland and was still in her position there she clearly felt he did something wrong and also observers of this story would say so did michael flynn because he admitted to something. >> well, sally yates was essentially running the justice department during the transition and she was the acting attorney general for the first 10 days of the trump administration as well. she has reportedly thought that michael flynn in that phone call might have violat

this as the trump administration is dealing with more fallout with sexual abuse allegations against robort and david sorenson. arthel: welcome to a brand-new hour of new "america's news headquarters." arthel: critics same kelly knew about the allegations but failed to remove him. but mick mulvaney said it's was right for kelly to give him the benefit of the doubt. he said i'm being accused of these things, they are not true. for the president and the chief of staff to give that person the benefit of the does it a normal and human reaction. as soon as will be porter was proven wrong and proven he was not telling the truth. he was gone almost immediately. arthel: molly henneberg is live from the white house. >> rob porter is gone but questions remain why and how he was able to stay in a position so close to the president, staff secretary with allegations from two ex-wives. >> this should have surfaced in the initial security clearance process. so there had to be a reckoning of this issue sooner or later. and apparently he was sitting there with an interim security clearance. that's not an

we'll begin with a major shake-up for the trump administration. man who resigned from the white house today held the title of white house staff secretary. make no mistake, there may have been no one with more daily access to the president of the united states than robert porter. he announced his resignation following allegations of physical abuse by his two former wives, allegations he denies. the white house including chief of staff john kelly is left answering questions about its knowledge of those allegations during his employ and those allegations prevented him from getting a security clearance. porter has held the position since the start of the trump administration. his role was strengthened under john kelly and he was instrumental along with kelly in vetting any information that would reach the president's desk. porter reportedly helped draft president trump's state of the union address last week. he traveled with the president to davos instead of john kelly. according to reports in both the intercept and "the daily mail," both of his forme