jeff zeleny over at the white house.isit of secretary of state rex tillerson and john kelly to mexico today. this on a mission to ease the tensions sparked by president trump's rhetoric about the country and his immigration policies. mexican officials said they disagree with the united states right now, but tillerson called the talks productive. >> in our meetings, we jointly acknowledged that in a relationship filled with vibrant colors, two strong sovereign countries from time to time will have differences. we listened closely and carefully to each other as we respectfully and patiently raised our respective concerns. >> let's bring in our cnn global affairs correspondent elise bab at. what are you finding out about this. >> it's the mexicans caught off guard. i'm hearing what the mexicans are saying. in public secretary tillerson went down with secretary kelly with a conciliatory message that struck the right notes. secretary tillerson made nods of the problems affecting mexico. president trump expelling bad immigrant

and then, you know, a few hours later at the white house, sean spicer, the white house press secretary, limited what is usually an on-camera daily briefing to an off-camera briefing in his office with a select group of reporters, which did not include "the new york times" or cnn, whose coverage the president has taken issue with. it didn't include huffington post or politico or other mainstream publications that cover this white house. but it did include breitbart, which steve bannon used to be the head of it did include one america news and fox news. what you're seeing is, i think, a very strategic decision that, you know, the press is our foil here and we're going to aggressively go after it. it's a way of undercutting outlets that maybe doing coverage of the white house they find unflattering. it's easier to say it's all lies, all fake, than to say, ok, here's our side of the story. we disagree. robert: real quick from everyone, as we saw what happened at the white house with some organizations being banned, you wonder who is running this trump white house. is it chief of staff rein

jim acosta is "out front" at the white house. you're getting conflicting information from the white house about what exactly happened to general flynn. >> reporter: lots of contradicti contradiction, erin. the white house is putting the blame scarily on former national security adviser michael flynn for misleading the administration about his call with the russian ambassador and the white house insisted today the president was not misleading reporters himself when he claimed he didn't know about the story. one day after the trump administration offered conflicting stories about the fate of now former national security adviser michael flynn, the white house tried to give one simple explanation. flynn lost the trust of the president and it was time to go. >> the evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation in a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for general flynn's resignation. >> reporter: white house press secretary sean spicer says it was flynn who sealed his own fate by

the white house counsel reached the president and a small group of his senior advisors pay the white use counsel reviewed and determined that there is not an illegal issue but rather a trust issue. during this process, it's important to note the president did not have his attorney general jeff sessions who he trusts immensely approved by the senate. when the president heard the information as presented by white house counsel, he and significant thought that general flynn did not do anything wrong, in the white house counsel's review corroborated that. it is not ordinary for an incoming national security advisor to speak with his counterpart about the issues of concern to them. in fact, he spoke with over 30 of his counterparts throughout the transition. as charles krauthammer said last night "it is perfectly reasonable for him to do so." the issue here with this is the president got to the point where general flynn's relationship misleading the vice president and others or the possibility he had forgotten critical details of this important conversation had created a critical mass and

the department of justice is not know that white house and white house counsel at that time until 13 days later. i think it is important to understand. be,first question should where was the department of justice in this? they were aware of this. we were making statements based on what general flynn told us starting on the 13th. the vice president went out on the 15th. they did not notify the white house counsel until january 25. until that time, the president was immediately informed. the white house counsel to conduct a very thorough review. the first part of the review was focused on if there was any legal issue. that is it. what that became the issue, that is shifted into phase two, whether or not there was trust still maintained. that became a separate set of issues. reporter: speaking to the actual evidence. did the fbi transcripts of the , whether any communication between the white house counsel's office and the fbi? there was obviously communication between the department of justice and the white house counsel's office. i will not get into that specific nature of that. it wo

cnn wars the first to reveal that the fbi and the white house reports contact between trump campaign staffers and senior russian officials and the chairman of the house intelligence committee said he had contact with the white house on this story and he engaged with reporters on it. i want to turn now to white house correspondent athena jones. i want to go through the details with you on this. before we go to that, we actually have some breaking news from president trump. this is what he just tweeted. he said i will not be attending the white house correspondents' association din they are year. please wish everyone well and have a great evening. break this down for us athena. i think there was a suspension this might happen. there were obviously this is an event where you have so many celebrities who go and you had a lot of them saying we're not going this year. because of president trump and there was a, i think an open question about whether this event was going to end up being completely different than it had been in the past. >> absolutely, brianna. i don't think this comes as a h

now steve bannon, the white house chief strategist who has influence all over the white house is seldomheard from. he made an appearance yesterday and gave a sense of his world view and what the president plans to do in office. >> if you think they will give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken. every day. every day it will be a fight. that is what i'm proudest about donald trump. all of the opportunities he had. all of the people have come to him and said you have to moderate. every day, he tells us, i committed to the american people. i promised this when i ran. i'm going to deliver. >> reporter: that will be music to the conservatives ears there except for how the programs will be paid for. there is talk of tax reform and health care reform and paying for the wall with mexico. don't look for details today. i'm told this is more of a rallying moment. boy, again, a difference a year makes. donald trump now clearly the man of the moment today at cpac. christine and dave. >> we will hear from the president in six hours. >> safe bet he will address the story and c

any credentialed press at the white house is allowed into white house briefings. this is a major exception, as the editor of the "new york times" said in his statement this is not something that has happened in the white house. the white house should be taking this seriously, we as reporters should be taking this seriously. it sends a message as how the white house is approaching the press. this comes at a time when you're hearing rhetoric from the president, calling the press the enemy of the american people. >> i spent seven years as a white house correspondent, never happened on my watch. but phil, let me play another clip. the president starting the day at that cpac conference speaking about the first amendment. >> they say that we can't criticize their dishonest coverage because of the first amendment. you know, they always bring up the first amendment. and i love the first amendment. nobody loves it better than me. nobody. >> he's being widely criticized for seemingly mocking the first amendment. i'm anxious, phil to get your thoughts. >> he's attacked the j

that is what the white house is disputing. >> the "new york times" story is what the white house has been calling out. >> reporter: the conversation happened february 15, this after a 7:30 a.m. meeting led by white house chief of staff reince priebus. the fbi deputy director andrew mccabe asked priebus for we're told five minutes alone after the meeting end, according to administration officials, and called a report, this being the "new york times" report, linking campaign advisors to russian intelligence, in his words, quote, total bs. and asked mccabe whether we can do anything about it, what the fbi can to do set the record straight. they told priebus that the fbi cannot comment on the reports, priebus then asked if he could cite mccabe in pushing back on the stories in tv interviews on sunday and that's exactly what he did. >> this is unusual, correct? >> reporter: it is. direct communications between the white house and the fbi, unusual, there are decades old restrictions on some contact. donald trump tweeted today, the fbi totally unable to stop the national security leakers th

this white house has been full of surprises. anything can happen. we have to wait and see what they might decide to announce today or tomorrow. john and christine. >> athena jones, thank you. the federal judge in seattle will hear from both sides later today. judge james robart wants to know how it will proceed. the department of justice has two options to appeal to the ninth circuit or supreme court or ask for more evidence to the district court to justify the ban on legal merits. a conference with the judges is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. >>> the democrats are raising concerns of a series of sweeping i.c.e. raids. hundreds of immigrants from new york and los angeles and fear is running rampant in the immigrant communities. i.c.e. officials say these raids have been planned for weeks. president trump is tweeting he is keeping a campaign promise to remove gang dealers and drug dealers from the country. >>> new false statements on the issue of alleged voter fraud. steven miller claim people were bussed from massachusetts to new hampshire to vote in the e

by going to the white house, trump white house which is what they wanted to do but which comey initially did not want them to do, the fbi director, they were hoping to basically defuse the ability of the russians to use this leverage. >> adam, knowing there is a transcript out there, probably several, in someone's hands tonight, knowing that we have already seen leakers weaponized, the likes of which i don't think you and i have ever seen, how -- how do you go about reporting the what did donald trump know and when did he know it question? >> i don't know, i mean, that's a very good question. i don't know the answer to that. you know, certainly one would think that as national security adviser, he had permission from trump before he took the call and placed the call to kislyak and had some -- certainly after the fact would have provided a readout of the call to others. that would be suspected of somebody in his role, whether that happened in this case, i don't know, and i'm not sure that that information is available. you know, this is obviously going to be the subject of ongoing investi

a white house official says that the request was made only after the fbi indicated to the white house it did not believe all of the reporting was accurate. multiple u.s. officials telling cnn the white house sought the help of the bureau and other agencies investigating the russian matter to say the reports were wrong and that there had been in contacts, the officials said. fbi director james comey responded by rejecting this request according to sources in part because the alleged communications are the subject of an ongoing investigation. white house spokesperson sean spicer says we didn't try to knock the story down. we asked them to tell the truth. the fbi declined to comment, poppy. >> pamela, this is not a typical request at all. how did it all begin? >> it's not a typical request. this began with fbi deputy director andrew mccabe and reince priebus. a white house official says mccabe told priebus that "the new york times" story vastly overstated what the they know about the context. the white house officials say priebus later reached out and again to mccabe and to the fbi direc

with that, let's go to cnn white house correspondent sara murray at the white house. sara, you've good the president talking to governors, meeting with health care ceos, meeting with top republicans on capitol hill, and this is a huge topic. but what more are we learning about the fate of obamacare? >> reporter: well, in this meeting with gop leaders later today, house speaker paul ryan, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, that's going to be an important meeting. because while they're going to go in to get a flavor for what the president is going to say in his joint address to congress tomorrow night, they're also going in with an agenda, to impress on the president that they want to see him really go out and pitch, and sell the affordable care act replacement plan. the president's aides have been back channelling with speaker ryan's office but we haven't really seen the president himself come out and deliver specifics on how he wants to repeal and replace obamacare, and not only sell the plan but also provide air cover to these members who are going to have to vo

nunes: first of all, the white house talking to -- having a reporter -- if a reporter asks the white house, hey, can you get a hold of whatever member of congress, i don't know what the issue is. as it relates to the f.b.i., i believe what happened with the white house, as i understand it, and my limited conversations hat i had, i just think it was an obvious question that was asked if there's no evidence was ere can you talk about it? and the f.b.i. doesn't normally talk about leaks and whether or not they're investigating or other issues of who's under investigation. i think it's pretty standard for the f.b.i. not to comment on his. that's pretty unusual if they do comment. and so obviously when -- so i don't even know how true that story is. i would go to the white house and ask what conversations actually occurred but i don't hink there are many. i think they were pretty simple. reporter: do you know how far you are in starting this investigation? mr. nunes: just to make sure you understand what caused me to go out a year ago and say the biggest intelligence failure ince 9/11 was

white house official says white house only reached to fbi because mccabe initiated the conversation. but either way the white house is asking fbi to refute stories which runs contrary to procedure memos issued in 2007 and 2009 to limit direct communications on pending investigations between the white house and fbi. >> great reporting. appreciate it. bring in david gergen, jen saki, kristen anderson, and jon meacham, good to have you. david gergen, get your reaction to the reporting. fbi refused request from the white house to publicly knock down recent stories about the russian contacts with trump campaign last year. what do you think of this? >> for starters it's inappropriate for the white house to reach out to the fbi about a pending investigation. the fbi protocols are quite clear about that. but generally speaking traditions within the white house are you keep your hands off. for the sake of fbi investigation and making sure that it does not either in fact or by appearance that the white house is not trying to influence investigation like this. you just stay out of it. charitabl

it came in to the general counsel at the white house.report must have gone to the president almost instantaneously. it's impossible to believe that the white house staff would sit on that report and not tell the president. if that's the case, why didn't the vice president know at that time what had come in. i don't understand that. there's something here that just doesn't add up about what happened internally. i think the president has to act quickly. i do wonder, maybe mark or someone else can address this. as long as pence stays in the white house, he can invoke executive privilege and not testify. if he leaves, is he vulnerable to testifying, and is that an outcome the white house would like to avoid? >> say that again? testifying to who where? >> well, the congress -- there are a number of people, including john mccain and lindsey graham and others who have been quite curious about the russian relationship for a while. let's say the person who knows what went on in the conversation was mike flynn. congress says mike flynn, come up he

the white house knew about that last month when the justice department warned the white house mr.with the russian ambassador. as a result of that dishonesty, he was at risk for blackmailing by the russians. >> that's one characterization. the fact is general flynn continued in that position. >> let me make clear three points here. number one, there are central question that is need to be answered by the administration today. what did president trump know about mike flynn's phone call? when did he know it? if he knew about the issue with the department of justice revealing information about mike flynn, whyidn't he take action sooner? two other points, it's not just about mike pence. pence was a driver behind this. pence was putting pressure on the president, ultimately, up to the president. pence was disturbed by the idea mike flynn did not reveal the truth. by the way, wasn't just mike pence. chief of staff, reince priebus, i'm told by a source was concerned about the fact he personally had not been given information accurately by mike flynn when this began to come out. listen, a

the calls were orchestrated by the white house. the effort involved senior lawmakers with access to classified intelligence about russia, including senator richard burr and congressman devin nunes, the chairmen of the house senate and intelligence committees. devin nunes confirmed tonight he had spoken to at least one reporter on this matter "at the request of the white house communications aide. senator burr also acknowledged that he had conversations about russia-related news reports with the white house and then engaged with news organizations. this is incredible. it's one thing to have the white house chief of staff leaning on the fbi about this investigation. the other investigations are supposed to be run by the house and senate intelligence hit in tease. the chairmen of those two committees have been enlisted by the white house to call reporters off the record and tell them, hey, there's nothing to this, russia and the trump folks? don't report on that, there's nothing there. trust me. i've got access to this intelligence. th

immediately after the department of justice notified the white house counsel of the situation the white house counsel briefed the president in a small group of senior advisors. the white house also reviewed and determined that there is not a legal issue but rather a trust issue. the acting attorney general informed the white house counsel that they wanted to give quote a heads up to us on some comments that may have seemed in conflict with what he had sent the vice president out in particular. the white house counsel informed the president immediately. the president asked him to conduct a review whether there was a legal situation there. that was immediately determined there wasn't. that's what the president believed at the time from what he had been told and proved to be correct. the issue pure and simple came down to a matter of trust and the president concluded he no longer had the trust of his national security adviser. >> first i have pamela brown in washington. let's be crystal clear on the timeline. we know doj alerted the white house a month ago. tell us specifically what was sa

>> i do not think, first of all the white house talking to, having a reporter asked the white house,ey, can you get a hold of whatever member of congress. i do not think there is any issue there. i do not know what the story is about. as it relates to the fbi. i believe what happened as i understand it in my limited conversations that i have had is that i just think it was an obvious question if there is no evidence here, can you talk about it? and the fbi normally does not talk about leaks and whether or not they are investigating on it or any issues of who is under investigation. i think it is pretty standard for the fbi not to comment on it. it is pretty unusual if they do comment on it. and so, obviously -- i do not even know how true that story is. i would go to the white house and ask, what's conversations actually occurred. i do not think that there are many. i think that they are pretty simple. >> what do you think about starting the investigation? >> so just to make sure that you understand what caused me to go out to a year ago and say that the biggest intelligence failures

it sure seems like the white house, the white house, the leaks, the fighting, it's circus like. >> i would think you would need the washington experience, the diplomacy and negotiating skills. in a business-friendly white house run by a businessman, maybe. >> i do want to point out president trump said we will see that plan for the repeal and replace after hhs confirmation. guess what, it happened. yesterday steven miller said soon. how about it, we'd love to see it. thank you so much. you're not going anywhere. canadian prime minister trudeau has just landed in d.c. we'll bring you his white house arrival live. next, there were many political comments made at the grammys last night. this dress and more was something else. plan your never tiring retiring retired tires retirement with e*trade. i'm in vests and as a vested investor in vests i invest with e*trade, where investors can investigate and invest in vests... or not in vests. sign up at etrade.com and get up to six hundred dollars. by simply enjoying it. boost® simply complete. it's intelligent nutrition made with only 9 ingred

particularly when an investigation involves the white house but also in general the white house shouldn't be able to steer prosecutions, right? shouldn't be able to steer investigations. the rule of law should be independent. the justice department should be independent. that rule put in place firmly and through this interesting mechanism in the aftermath of watergate. and for good reason. that said, nothing lasts forever. one of the scandals of the george w. bush era is that they let that rule, they let that post-watergate reform slide. do you remember there was a scandal in the george w. bush administration about them making federal prosecutor jobs, u.s. attorney jobs, making those jobs into political plums they handed out. remember the phrase loyal bushys. in the george w. bush administration one of their big scandal was they filred perfecty competent prosecutors and replaced them with political hacks who they liked. raising clouds of suspicion that those loyal bushy very republican favorited new federal prosecutors would pursue criminal investigations and prosecutions that were favore

some say the real president in the white house. he opened up about the scenes going on in the white house. listen to steve bannon. >> if you look at the opposition party and how they portray the campaign how they portrayed the transition now portraying the administration it's always wrong. only the first day that kellyanne and i started, we reached out to sean spicer and katy. the same thaem that did the transition. if you remember the campaign was the most chaotic by the media's description, most unprofessional had no idea what they were doing and you saw them crying and weeping on the 8th. >> the white house strategist steve bannon. this was not just average run the mill anger prioriti, this i to tear out your gut kind of -- where is this coming from. >> there's no secret steve bannon doesn't like the media. >> right. >> it's because republicans see consistently that editorial board across the country tend to be screwed against republicans. if you look at trump administration what they went through in the primary when they said t

when did she tell the white house? who in the white house did she tell? who was notified about this? the reporting is that we've confirmed that also dni clapper and john wren knew about it. whether they told their concerns to the white house is another question. >> andrea, the even larger question is what did the president know and when did he know it? already being asked to cross cable tonight, the question made famous by the famous republican from tennessee, howard baker, during a different time in a very different manner. but the question distilled is, did donald trump have any knowledge? was this under his order? or, some say, worse, was his incoming national security adviser somehow freelancing and doing this on his own? >> the presumption would be that michael flynn was talking and briefing the president-elect about his conversations with the russians, but we don't know that. we do know that almost immediately after vladimir putin said he was not going to retaliate, we had this tweet from donald trump saying, we always knew v. putin was a smart guy.

white house staff come and go.n the early days of an administration when people are seen to be unfit and unsuitable for the role they got in and president trump was warned that mike flynn was a hot head if you will. but here's the real issue, which is does this president feel accountable to the american people? does he feel that what -- what happens between him and russia is somehow worthy of transparency to the american people? we saw him compliment an aide on sunday for going on tv saying that the president shouldn't be held accountable by the courts. let's look at the bigger picture not just as a staffer going away today but what the president is going to assure the american people going forward. >> very quickly, to tie this up, kellyanne conway yesterday went on television and said that general flynn had the full confidence of president trump and then according to our reporting they had some new information yesterday they felt that it was not in the works -- >> what are we now to believe? >> who knows? >> that'

fbi and the white house. well tonight, a source says the president himself is frustrated. and democrats are asking, did the white house break the law? >>> and also president trump promised to protect coal try, but now plants are now set to close. is the president to blame? >>> and now some republicans are invoking gabby giffords's name as a reason not attend town hall meetings. out front tonight, the white house pushing back against cnn's exclusive reporting that white house chief of staff reince priebus -- this as a source close to the president tells cnn there is consternation tonight in the white house over this story, saying, quote, this is the type of distraction the president does not need right now. on capitol hill, democratic leader nancy pelosi releasing a blistering statement saying priebus has committed an outrageous breach of the fbi's independence. pamela, is the white house pushing back? >> reporter: well, poppy, today the white house isn't denying cnn's exclusive reporting that it requested the

, the bush 43 white house, the clinton white house, and heavens, horrors, the reagan white house. they all said, fill in the blank white house in turmoil. ronald reagan had six national security advisors and he fired two of them, the first and the fifth. he's judged today by a lot of people including yours truly as a great president. i would just suggest this is a personnel matter, it will be resolved and they'll move on. >> you don't see any signs, jeffrey, of chaos or concern from in the white house or any signs of concern from admiral harward himself who, again, maybe wanted to do things differently? >> that's disputed by the administration. but as i say, this is a typical washington story that's been run with the last several presidents. so, you know, things work as they do, and i just think this is the washington story of the moment and i'm not sure that there's any truth to it. >> lynn, is that how you see it, is this the washington story of the moment, nothing to see here, folks, no chaos, this is just how every transition, the first sort of month in, has been? >> well, tha

, press secretary, from the white house that is extremely troubling, peter baker, veteran white house correspondent for "the new york times" tweeted he covered the clinton administration, bush administration, and obama administration and has never seen anything like this. >> excellent point, brian, and to his point, if you are hand picking who you allow to get information from the white house, what are the broader ramifications of that? >> i'm here in atlanta at a media law conference and one of the big concerns at that media law conference is something like this, president trump not just complaining about the press but actually taking action using the power of the presidency in various ways in order to quash coverage. this is a relatively small step in the grand scheme of things he's not telling cnn to get out of the white house entirely however it's a very troubling step we are seeing from this administration. i remember interviewing now president trump about this, remember during the campaign he blacklisted certain news out lets not allowing them to come to conferences, i said

jeff is live at the white house with all the details. >> the white house is putting iran on notice butow specific details of what that means. this all comes after test firing of the ballistic missiles but take a look at what the national security advisor said yesterday. >> president trump severely criticized the various agreements reached between iran, the obama administration as well as the united nations as being weak and ineffective. instead of being ankled to the united states in these agreements iran is feeling emotio embolden. as of today we're officially putting iran on notice. >> what does that mean? that's a question the white house is going to answer today but some lawmakers very concerned about this rhetoric here and is this a verbal red line if you will and will the u.s. have to back up this talk with action? all of those questions this morning. >> it is ground hog day and once again we do wake up with a major provocation from the president and now we have to figure out it's implications. let's bring back our panel. maggie w the australian prime minister, okay. there was a

a preview of the first white house budget and cuts every else. more on this from jim acosta. >> reporter: president trump's message to washington, get ready for the budget ax. >> we're going to do more with less and make the government lean and accountable to the people. >> reporter: officials say the president plans to ask for a staggering $54 billion increase in defense spending, offset for cuts in non-defense programs, including foreign aid. the budget is so big it eclipses what the federal government spends at the state department and epa. >> we are taking his words and turning them into policies and dollars. >> reporter: the peak of the president's budget comes as the white house is still grappling with questions about the trump campaign's contacts with russia before the election. over the weekend, darrell issa supported a special prosecutor may be necessary to put the matter to rest. >> you're right that you cannot have somebody, a friend of mine, jeff sessions, who was on the campaign and who was an appointee. you're going to need to use t

the office of government ethics calling on the white house at discipline counselor white house counselornne conway saying that the counselor to happen violated ethics standards by endorsing ivanka trump's clothing line during an interview. it was a throwaway and obviously jester on her part. press secretary sean spicer. conway was counseled on the matter. there is a funny matter to think the counselor to the president would be counseled. in my opinion, it went too far. president trump, in my opinion, -- well, my opinion is he shouldn't waste his time on the matter. but then again, i think the oge shouldn't waste its time either. please vote in tonight's poll. the queson is should the fbi and cia urgently and immediately investigate all leaks emanating from the trump administration and the bureaucracy of our government? cast your vote on twitter @loudobbs. follow me on twitter @loudobbs. follow me on instagram. on wall street stocks climbing to all new time highs. the trump rally is now -- i think it was roaring, i think it's now raging. the dow jones industrials gaining 92 points today.

this white house does not seem to value an independent press. there is a word for that line of thinking. the word is un-american. >> jake tapper, thank you. another word for it, unacceptable. an official response from the cable news network cnn saying this. this is an unacceptable development by the trump white house. apparently this is how they retaliate what they don't like. let's bring in sylvia, a reporter with politico. can it be considered a distaction, a continued effort by this white house to distract, to refuse from coverage on topics they don't want to talk about, like russia? >> well, i mean, this is not new to trump. he's been having this attitude toward the media all throughout the campaign. but they had promised that in case he was elected president things would have been different and in december his press secretary said that, you know, those kind of things and cutting out the media from press briefings would have happened when he was in the white house because of course, regardless of the issues that are at stake, it's the presid

what the white house is doing to us is trolling.y are trying to get our -- get us to respond. >> they want you to be the other side. >> yes -- >> not the job of reporter -- >> don't represent -- >> that's not your job. >> i know. his accusation is we have to ri rise to meet the challenge to show we wroork hard to get the story straight it. that we do the depth. that we do things right, the right way. and i think if we do it that way, this is donald trump going to end up producing another golden age in american journalism. that's what "the washington post" is hoping. >> even if you have the story or you don't. they got the story that nobody went after which is a cover up. a lot of other dirty tricks that went with it. that happened. and nix on people didn't want us to know it happened. they don't want other papers to study the connections between the trump people during the campaign and the russians that's what causing all of this heat. >> i think you're right. you can call it fake news or whatever the prosecuesident wan but the fact

take care. >> that ended up being the calm before the storm with the white house admitting it talked to the republican heads of both the house and senate intelligence committees last week asking them to debunk the russian reports and their comments to reporters. both men face questions from reporters today. house intelligence chairman devin nunes was a little more forthcoming than his senate colleague, intelligence chairman richard burr. >> we still have not seen evidence of the trump campaign that has communicated with the russian government. at this point here in the committee, we still don't have any evidence of them talking to russians. we don't have mccarthyism back in this place. we can't have the government, the u.s. government or the congress, legislative branch of government, chasing down american citizens, hauling them before the congress, as if they're some secret russian agents. >> what's your reaction to the concerns from the vice chair on the intelligence committee? >> was it good for you to talk to reporters about this? >> you guys have -- >> if you're watching us from

a stunning and confusing morning at the white house. this morning we know that michael flynn is out as national security adviser. we know he talked about sanctions with the russian ambassador and then lied about it or misled or forgot to tell mike pence, and all of that is big news 25 days into the administration, and what is bigger news may be what we do not know. e we don't know if the president knew about the conversations with russia when they happened and we don't know if or why the white house ignored an explicit warning that russia could blackmail his aadviser. let's begin with dana bash who is in washington, and there's so much. good morning to you. there's so much to walk through this morning. let's begin with all of the reporting you have on exactly how this all unravelled in the late hours last night. >> well, the headline from senior administration officials who i am talking to is that they just realized and the president finally realized the situation was untenable, and they situation they describe as untenable is the idea

sara murray at the white house. let's continue on and sort of let you know we're going to begin with breaking news. the cnn and "the new york times," los angeles times, politico, all blocked from attending today's white house gaggle with press secretary spicer, bright bart, washington times and one america news network were allowed in. sara murray is still with me at the white house, i also have cnn media correspondent brian stelter. but first sara you ayr sara you go, what happened? >> we were preparing for what they were saying was going to be an off-camera gaggle. it's a small group, an expanded pool tends to be one representative from each news outlet, in this case the white house was hand selecting the reporters they wanted to see in this gaggle and blocking the ones they did not want to see, so we saw a couple outlets more favorable towards the president like breitbart and other ones including cnn, "the new york times" and politico were not allowed in. cnn was the only major television network blocked from acc

american woman in president trump's white house. why she quit after just eight days. she joins me next. let it sink in. shouldn't we say we have the lowest price? nope, badda book. badda boom. have you ever stayed with choice hotels? like at a comfort inn? yep. free waffles, can't go wrong. i like it. promote that guy. get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed. when you book direct at choicehotels.com. book now. >>> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shut down of muslims entering the united states until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. >> in december, when donald trump called for a ban on muslims entering this country, when then campaign manager corey lewandowski said trump's proposed ban would apply to "everybody" including muslims seeking immigration visas as well as tourists seeking to enter the country, rumana ahmed was the only hijabi wearing woman born in the white house. born to bangladeshi immigrants, ahmed joined the obama administration in 2011 and after graduatin

white house bureau chief philip rucker is also here. let's just play for you what the vice president said when he did this round of media interviews on january 15th just before the administration took office just to show the extraordinary difference and how antithetical it is to what cnn learned through jim's reporting. let's play it. >> never had any contact in any way between trump or his associates and the kremlin or cutouts? >> of course not. why would there be any contacts between the campaign? chris, this is all a distraction, and it's all a part of a narrative to delegitimize the election and question the legitimacy of this presidency. >> errol, to you, the vice president not only shakes his head and says of course not, he actually says not only was there not this contact, but it's all being pushed by the other side to delegitimize this president. you say? >> that's the narrative we're hearing from the president himself, the president of the united states taking to twitter this morning, a little over an hour ago to say all this i

we have fox team coverage from the white house. kevin corke in the briefing room gets into the details of the proposals. chief white house correspondent john roberts starts us off with the latest developments. >> good evening. event after event on the campaign trail, candidate donald trump pledge to rebuild the u.s. military into a fighting machine no nation would ever dare challenge. today he pledged to put the taxpayers money where his mouth is. unveiling his budget blueprint to the national governors association today, the president pledged an additional $54 billion for the pentagon. an increase of nearly 10% over the current budget. >> it will include a historic increase in defense spending to rebuild the depleted military of the united states of america at a time we most need it. >> and his address to a joint session of congress, president trump will outline his plans to rebuild the military, increase bill order sip. -- increased border security, and take care of americans ames veterans. his big ticket items, to repeal a repla

white houses do this all the time. we just talked about it reince priebus did it himself on sunday shows a few days ago. and president trump has a long hist tear of tweets attacking former president obama used unnamed sources of his own. >> let's put that up while we talk about it. continue, eric. >> saying obama's birth certificate was fake. this birtherism falsehood. trump himself was using unnamed sources. we saw with the priebus episode exactly how these unnamed sources sort of come about. priebus didn't deny cnn reporting. of course, it's sort of the play-by-play here. so, yeah, this is how white houses operate. they have background briefings. they some officials made available, as, quote, a senior official. >> and it's important to sale every leak is not classified that comes into the press. jack, reconcile those for me. the president saying they should not, speaking of the media, use sources unless they use their names. but we just put up the president, then citizen trump, commenting on an extremely credible sou

the trump white house.d that the fbi rejected the unusual request to publicly dispute media reports that the trump campaign was in constant contact with russian officials in the 2016 campaign. >> there is that and another cnn growing concern in the intelligence community the steps the white house is taking to build the legal case to justify the travel ban. is the trump . >> we are now at day 36 of the trump presidency. pamela brown is part of that team that broke these exclusive stories. good morning. >> cnn media reports about the communication between donald trump's associates and russians known to u.s. intelligence but a white house official said that the request was only made after the fbi indicated to the white house it did not believe some of the reporting to be accurate. now multiple u.s. officials tell the white house they stop the help of theea

a white house official says that the request was only made after the fbi indicated to the white house it did not believe all of the reporting was accurate. multiple u.s. officials telling cnn the white house sought the help of the bureau and other agencies investigating the russian matter to say the reports were wrong and there had been no contact. these officials said fbi director james comey rejected that request according to multiple sources in part because the alleged communications are part of an ongoing investigation. sean spicer says we didn't try to knock the story down. we asked them to tell the truth. the fbi did not comment. alisyn? >> so obviously this is not a typical request, pamela. how did it start? >> this all began with fbi deputy director andrew mccabe and white house chief of staff reince priebus on the sidelines of a separate meeting in the days after those stories were published. mccabe told priebus that "the new york times" story vastly overstated what the fbi knows about the contacts. a u.s. official says mccabe didn't discuss specific aspects of the case but w

when you and i covered the reagan white house on a basic level, even in the bush white house, the president needed the president to be the transmission belt the delivery system for the president's ideas. donald trump in a bake way does not need the press in anything like the way george bush or ronald geoghan did. >> i disagree. >> i'm telling you what he thinks. what he thinks. >> i disagree that he thinks that, as well. >> well. >> i'm interested. >> let me finish one more point. i think because he believes he doesn't need the press, he is free to engage in alternative truth, to decide for himself what truth is, when spicer was asked about the question of the votes and why, how can the president assert that he actually won the popular vote, sean spicer said, the president believes that. >> that's right. >> belief is not truth. >> that's right. >> and belief -- [ applause ] >> there is no widespread voter fraud in this country. >> i think part of the landscape we're dealing with is a president who has this enormous ability to reach directly to the public and who believes that he can decide

says that white house official didn't do anything wrong when they asked the fbi to knock down reports of contacts between trump aides during the campaign and russian officials. you sit on the house intelligence committee which is already investigating links between russia and president trump's fired national security advisor michael flynn. should your committee begin digging into this as well? >> yes, we should. and i mean, the idea that they didn't do anything wrong is just absurd. there is a memo from may of 2009 that makes it very clear that people in the fbi and justice department in general are not to have this kind of contact with the white house. people should think a little bit about what it is that the white house and the chief of staff asked the fbi to do. they said help us knock down this story. they asked for a very political thing there. and if you step back away from this, wolf, you have to ask yourself the question. if there's no there there, a the white house has repeat lid claimed and shown to be wrong, michael flynn was only calling the ambassador to wish him a merry

we did not get much clarity from the white house at this point as to how the white house would respond to that. i think it's worth noting that the president absolutely in sean spicer's words stands by the nomination of judge gorsuch despite everything that's developed now over the last 24 hours. >> i was talking to somebody close to donald trump a long time confidant of his and asked this person whether or not they think this was a coordinated effort by the white house to get neil gorsuch to go out there and tell the senators what they wanted to hear. he would remain independent. after all, we're not see him do that publicly. the source pushed back on that and said, listen, if they did do it, they weren't looping in donald trump on this. donald trump cannot take criticism or a slight. this has to be irking him right now. i also want to mention to our viewers and i hope you're still there that we just saw neil gorsuch walking the halls of the capitol today. he's meeting with senators. if you are still there, i want to get your reporting on one other topic because you also were able to a

state department was getting a little more diminished of the white house. rex tillerson has not given an interview as secretary of state, there is been no state department briefing, 34 days into this presidency, should we be bothered by any of that? >> not bothered. it is certainly is a huge change, secretary of state. he's certainly is apart of again and evolution as you mentioned and what's been happening of this powers of the white house and the national security council has expanded five or tenfolds since president clinton's predecessors and what does that when you centralize power, it is easy to make mistakes than abuse of that power. and that's obviously not going to be happening. it is not just with that particular secretary of state. we see the white house gathering power away from all the cabinet secretary. >> catherine, nuclear arm's race, did this come out anywhere, is it a good time to be in our contractor? >> it is a good time to be in arm's contractor. what more can you help more for a president who basic si as we need to stop -- one day decla

we are awaiting the white house reaction, white house daily briefing will be taking place just momentsnow following the resignation of general michael flynn, david, thank you for being here. also get to have you for the first time. >> for her, perfect time. >> news briefing starting moments from now. we will keep it right here for overtime, "happening now" starts now. >> jon: we start with this fox news alert, minutes away from what could be another contentious white house briefing. briefing. >> jenna: first one since the president security advisor resigned last night, we are covering all the news "happening now." >> the level of objection by senate democrats. >> jenna: the push to get president trump's cabinet confirmed by the senate kicks into high gear as democrats dig in for a fight. >> the president has shown his hand by selecting the most anti-working-class cabinet that we have ever seen. >> jenna: plus... outrage at town halls as the words repeal and replace obamacare

when we take this white house and how its posture has been, this white house was relentless, for daysl reporter who misrecorded that the mlk junior bust in the oval office, he reported it had been removed. 30 minutes later, he apologized, said it was a mistake. the white house did not let that go for days. sean spicer talking about it from the podium. the president continuing to talk about it. that's the difference here. >> yeah, i'm going to give kellyanne this one, if she corrected herself. i'm willing to let it go. but i do think that the context is important, back to the issue that brian raised, which is, why do they feel the need to go out there and essentially make up news? because they so blew the explanation and rationale for the travel ban in the first place that they're sort of backfilling so desperately. the best way that they think they can do that is by trying to make people afraid of refugees and of immigration when we actually have a fairly robust system in place already. so i'm much more concerned about the rationale that they use to try to coupme up with these stories

we have a big white house team. i've been to a few of them and briefings sean spicer get more viewership and snl has only heightens that. it is an interesting time. host: how much interaction is there outside the briefings where people could see direct interaction? how much is there behind the scenes when the cameras are off in the briefing room? it varies. there is a reasonable level of interaction between the press staff and the press. toss that still has access the press areas which is important for reporters. for: what about access press with this of ministration and before? i think there was worry about the press being moved out and that hasn't happened. there were concerns about coverage but so far, it hasn't happened. host: john is an independent. good morning. weird: yes, i think it is with the delay, looking back and forth. host: just begin the phone. don't watch tv. caller: it is hard to believe that we're supposed to believe , the viceal flynn president didn't know about general flynn's actions. especiall