to the new white house counsel to tell the new white house counsel that the brand new president'snal security advisor is compromised by a hostile foreign power and they needed to act in whatever way they felt was appropriate to act in response to that information. >> we believed that general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. to state the obvious, you don't want your national security advisor compromised with the russians. we knew that was not a good s situati situation, which is why we wanted to let the white house know about it. >> it's been a persistent mystery about mike flynn and the trump administration and the president and this white house ever since sally yates gave us that information. all right. how is it, why is it that after the white house received that hair on fire warning from the justice department the attorney general coming in person to the white house to say hey, the national security advisor is compromised by a foreign government, there is an intelligence operation that has been run by the russian government that has resulted in there being so

. >> he said, "it's from the white house." and i go, "talking about d.c. white house?" i was just stunned. >> the white house neither confirms nor denies... >> what do you see? >> gold! [ laughs ] >> let's investigate! >> i scrape the paint layers down to the wood. >> and when you heard what it was worth? >> and sold! [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm in boston to meet an heir who has an inheritance so strange, it takes years just to figure out what it is. >> my name is mike meister. my siblings and i inherited something that goes back to our great-uncle more than a hundred years ago. we'd always been told that it came from the white house, but it was just a family story. hi, jamie. welcome to boston. >> thanks, mike. nice to meet you. >> yeah, nice to meet you, too. >> mike leads me inside, saying he has something amazing to show me. he keeps it in its own molded, air-tight protective case. can i take a look? >> sure can. >> you brought me all the way here, mike. this is... what is it? mike's strange inhe

, i can't think of an office outside the white house that outranks the white house counsel's office sort of the last place you go. you get some of the policy folks to brief you on substance. you deal with the actors if it involves different cabinet officials. you go to the counsel's office last. what would your theory be about how the story changed from the counsel's office to the podium? >> i think the important context here is remember that sally yates went over to the white house counsel's office before all this unfolded. before spicer even made a public statement. and said you have a problem on your hands with michael flynn. we're worried about his contacts with the russians. this wasn't a new event for the white house. mcgahn essentially blew her off. he said i'll take this under advisement. he went back into the white house. as far as we know, the white house took no action after that other than she got fired shortly after that for refusing to enforce the president's muslim ban. so none of this should have taken them by surprise. and i think it's amazing given what mcgahn, we

>> is the gate the white house press core uses to get to work. down a short driveway, past the green tents where tv reporters do live shots. >> where you come through the gates of the white house, it doesn't take you very long to walk right into the west wing. >> that regal portico is the gateway to the oval office. the office of the president of the united states. the man who constantly attacks. >> the world's most dishonest people. >> and tries to undermine the mainstream media. >> i call the fake news the enemy of the people. >> about 75 feet to the left is the door where the journalists he calls enemies enter the white house. the entrance leads directly into the briefing room. site of the much-watched -- >> and i'm trying to answer. >> -- much-talked-about daily briefings. >> frankly i think my credibility is probably higher than the media's. >> actually the briefings are no longer daily. but we're getting ahead of ourselves. >> all rise. >> it never gets boring. >> what is it about these white house press briefings that has become must-see t

in the case of the shutdown, he was at the white house. >> he was at the white house. part of that is because the appearance factor, the optics. the government is shut down. you have 800,000 or so federal workers who are eerither not getting paid, have to work and not get paid, others not getting paid at all and that sort of thing. it would not look for good for the president of the united states to be jetting off to his palatial estate in sunny florida. that's one thing the white house had in mind during the shutdown. the second thing is that presidents are president wherever they go. they travel with a scaled-down staff, all the communications equipment they need to do the job, to get on the phone with whatever foreign leader or national security official they need to, to handle whatever comes up. yes, there have been complaints that he's traveling too much. if you compare to barack obama, obama didn't have a second home. he basically only traveled during christmas. he went back home to hawaii for 2, 2 1/2 weeks. during the summer, he'd go to martha's vineyard for ab

the white house has announced on twitter that vladimir putin is coming to the white house in the fallay that again? >> vladimir putin is coming to -- >> did i hear you? >> yeah, yeah. >> okay. that's going to be special. >> that happened in real time on live television, and remarks like those back in july may serve as evidence that president trump and his director of national intelligence dan coats haven't always been on the same page. and tonight a "washington post" story that happens to be co-written by shane harris who's still with us has this headline. "trump grows frustrated with coats, leading some to fear he might be fired. post reports that after coats appeared to contradict trump in congressional testimony just last month trump grew enraged and felt undermined. privately the president has continued to fume, and this weekend he told the adviser that coats, a former republican senator from indiana, is not loyal and he's not on the team." back with us the aforementioned shane and clint. gentlemen, thank you for sticking around. and shane, i have to -- i have to ask, it appears t

so far crickets from his twitter feed and the white house. the president meets with his cabinet later this hour so please stay tuned for more on that. let's get to where things stand at this very moment. dana bash, abby philip, phil mattingly standing by. can some 800,000 federal employees breathe a sigh of relief? >> i think there has been a lesson probably wait until the president puts pen to paper before breathing signs of relief or grasping the possibility. i would say this. there is a reality on capitol hill. they will lose democrats for issues on the bill. it was said that not everybody got everything they wanted. that is the art of how these things work. mitch mcconnell said the senate will move to this in short order. speaker nancy pelosi is likely behind the deal. if you want to get a sense of the mood, take a listen to what my colleague got from a couple of republican senators a short while ago. >> we don't shutdown again. shutdowns never work for anything. >> i certainly hope it is something he can accept. >> the compromise that ha

looking at the week ahead in washington, white house correspondent for the associated press darlene superville joins us. mike debonis of the washington post who covers congress. mike kelly will start for you and the headline for one of your pieces. house democrats have a tuesday vote on overturning the trump emergency declaration. the reelection gets rolling today with the house rules committee. this seems to be happening faster than originally thought. the house is moving forward on this quickly. what is behind their timing and motivation? they see no reason to wait in moving forward with this vote. this was declared on the 15th, that was the day congress left town for a week. essentially the first time they could come back and vote on something. they have wasted not a moment in taking this vote. that goes to the senate and mitch mcconnell will have to decide when he is going to put this up, either the while he has come a certain window of time to schedule this. he has not announced his intentions. getting ahead of the house and senate, darlene superville, the president tweeting minutes ago a

>> the president just arrived back here at the white house after his annual physical with the white house doctor, but officials were definitely interested in a different examination. we're watching to see how matt whitaker performed today. a white house official told me earlier this evening that they believe that the hearing went about as expected. one question in particular that they were interested in hearing over here is how whitaker responded when asked whether he had briefed the president on the mueller investigation. one whousz official said whitaker's denial that he had spoken with the president was consistent with what mr. trump had said in the past and they felt pretty good about the answer. he was confident about how he was going to perform, and here's how he put it. >> i would say if he did testify, he would do very, very well. he's a very, very fine man. >> wolf, the president just arrived back after the physical at walter reed. he did not answer reporters' questions, so he did not weigh in on how matt whitaker was handled. i believe he feels matt whitaker did not do any harm

axios says there is a chaos at the white house.not been this bad since the anonymous "new york times" op-ed. >> i take chris's point there, i think this one took a lot of people by surprise that so much material was leaked relating to this broader schedule. about 388 people have access to that schedule. so if you're looking for a leaker, right? narrow it down to that pool. but that said the white house is defending the president's use of executive time saying it allows for a more creative way for the president to be thinking and conducting his leadership style to help him be more productive. we heard from another white house aide as well that said this is how the president works, we know the president in executive time tweets and watches tv. how do we know that? because he watches tv, tweets about it, and we see his twitter. and they say he is also making phone calls to people you don't see. like to world leaders. he is speaking to trump al lili as well. sometimes it is pad time so he is not late to other meetings. the "new york ti

just said white house and then the president cut out. >> he was white house. >> you personified the white because you personfied the white house and you know presidents, did you see a future president beto o'rourke? >> i saw a future candidate for president. beto o'rourke ran a great campaign in texas that he lost and then wandered into the wilderness. it was weird. there were people who were wondering what he was up to. >> he was soul searching. >> you generally don't do soul searching if you are a candidate on instagram. last night offered a unique opportunity for him to stand side by side with the president, offer a different vision, speak in front of a big crowd. he was talking last night like someone who is about to get in the race. i think it would have been weird if a mile from the president he announced. he should do it on his own terms. he was given an opportunity to sort of get back in this. he took it. he succeeded. i think he'll be in the race by the end of the month. >> you have covered a bunch of the races. he looked like a guy who wanted to run. jeff zeleny asked him direct

i worked in a white house.residents are debriefed on all terror plots unless he's dispatched all of whiz white house advisers which, i didn't read in your paper. and he said it would be two hours from now. can you fill anything in on that for us? >> he said two hours would be the final briefing. i can't imagine a world that he didn't know this happened until he was just asked. and two points to button this up, one, joe digenova, just on that clip talking about war, was actually somebody trump nearly hired as his personal attorney in the mueller investigation, so keep that in mind. number two, if it weren't who hallie jackson asking those questions, we still wouldn't have heard anything from president trump. he did not voluntarily make this comment or condemn that action. he only said so in response to her question. so good on hallie for that. >> always good on hallie but especially good today. thank you for making those points, phil rucker, and thank you for spending so much of the hour with us. guys do whateve

at the shutdown, i'm here at the white house busy. he believed according to the aides i spoke to that his presence at the white house was symbolically important as he was there ready to work. it's the same thing that staffers will tell you when he goes golfing and they tell you he's taking meetings and calls. meetings and calls is sort of reporter shorthand for the president playing golf or watching television or doing something that is not meetings and calls. so because of that, the white house has really lost credibility where in another situation, if they retained some of that, we might actually take them more at their word when they say executive time amounts to something other than the president sitting in the executive dining room off the oval, and watching dvr'd episodes of shows on fox. >> i guess, eli, if things were going well, you might write like a steve jobs management book about how doing nothing is a great way to run the country, because the president has hi historic approval ratings, the government is functioning but t

white house is --white houses. to a certain extent, some of us have an an extent that the use of that list has become a no new taxes pledge. i would be interested in your thoughts on whether that has become something that will simply be, politically important if not necessary for all republican candidates to use in some form or another, going forward. r. mcgahn: time will tell. when you say that no new taxes thing, i think of the 92 election. mr. mcgahn: the difference here is that president trump didn't break his pledge. he delivered on everything he said when it came to judges. now, it has become a standard thing for tax pledges that people sign from the house candidates to governors, to everybody. it would be wonderful if it did become a standard kind of thing. if people had a power to appoint judges and which judges they would appoint. i think it would be great. i'm not sure it really happens. there are very political consultants who see the drop of the political industrial complex of d.c. who think it will be

however, white house press secretary sarah sanders said earlier today that the white house is ready for any legal challenges. again the bill on the way to the white house right now. 1,159 payments. president trump's team working all night and he will sane it tomorrow morning. >> it takes a village, apparently the read bills now. thank you very much. now joining me via phone is the host of the program laura ingraham. welcome to your program. thank you so much for calling in for us. >> laura: hey, tammy. i'm winding my way through the mountains of colorado. if i go in and out, sorry about that. >> sounds nice. >> laura: i just got off the phone with a white house source. he said that -- this is their point -- they were really in a no-win situation. they had to sign this. if they didn't pain inflicted on the american public and pain in the way we saw unfold before. a lot of frustration, however, from the white house about the provisions in the writing process. this only lasts, only good until the send of september, the end of this fiscal year. this is not a forever thing but it's still fru

or future white houses. to a certain extent, at least observing it, some of us have the sense that the use of that list has become kind of like a no new taxes pledge. i'd be interested in your thoughts on whether that has become something that is simply going to be politically important if not necessary for all republican candidates to use in some form or another going. >> you know, time will tell. when you say no new taxes, i think of the 1992 election. the difference there is president trump actually did not break his pledge, he delivered on everything he said when it came to judges. i take what you say is that now it has become a standard thing for tax pledges that people sign. it becomes a standard thing. it would be wonderful if it did become a standard kind of thing. if people have the power to appoint judges, what kind of judges they appoint. it becomes an issue that people can hear about and decide. i think it would be great. i'm not sure it really happens, there are experienced political consultants

and mexico, the white house now says that although the president will sign this bill that has just passed the house in the last couple of minutes, although they say the president will sign this bill that's pa that's passed the senate and now passed the house to keep the government open, the white house says the president will also in addition to that simultaneously declare an emergency, a national emergency. so he can raid military funds essentially to build a wall on his own despite the wishes of congress. now, grain of salt here. the white house says that's what the president is going to do, right? they say that he's going to sign the bill that has now passed the house and the senate. they say that he is also going to declare the national emergency, but with this presidency, honestly, is that actually going to happen? we don't know. the white house says it's going to happen, but in this presidency, is anything really done and dusted before "fox & friends" says it's done and dusted? i mean, we never know exactly what the president is going to do. whether or not the white house has announ

i mean this is the white house all over it. >> do you know for a fact that this is the white house?that i have had and other documents that i am aware of - it gives every indication and i firmly believe that this is president trump giving instructions to the campaign to take action. i mean the lawyers for the campaign from what i understand exists out there have made it very clear that they are representing not donald j. trump candidate or donald trump runniru running again in 2020. they represent president trump. that's the precedent. >> the focus of your book is the time at the white house and what you saw in the administration? >> that's right. in the arbitration complaint that they sent to us every single thing they listed was something from my time in the white house. so what our suit is really getting i served donald trump, but ultimately i work for the american people. so, this private entity can't keep me from talking about unclassified things that i experienced when i was working for the american people. >> is this something you actually think will go all the way through to

i mean, this is the white house all over it. >> but do you know for a fact that this is the white houseell, from my own sources that i have had and other documents that i'm aware of, it gives every indication, and i firmly believe, that this is president trump, giving instructions to the campaign, to take action. i mean, the lawyers for the campaign, from what i understand exists out there, have made it very clear that they are representing not donald j. trump, candidate, or donald trump, running for president again in 2020, they represent president donald j. trump. that's the government. >> because, cliff, the focus of your book is the time in the white house and what you saw in the administration. >> well, that's right. and actually, in the arbitration complaint that they sent to us, every single thing that they listed was something from my time in the white house. and so, what our suit is really getting at is that, as a federal government employee, i served donald trump, i've served him faithfully, but ultimately, i work for the american people. and so this private entity cannot basi

the white house says the president will sign it. also declare a national emergency to fund his border wall. also breaking, there's a new boss for the mueller investigation as the former fbi acting director is speaking out about the russia probe. let's go to pamela brown. william barr, he was sworn in as the attorney general in the midst of drama at the justice department. >> quite a day to be sworn in. the former fbi director andy mccabe revealing for the first time how seriously he took conversations about rod rosenstein wearing a wire with the president and how much invoking the 25th amendment was considered among top doj officials in the aftermath of comey's firing. for the first time, former acting fbi director and drew mccabe, the man who took over after president trump fired james comey, talking about his former boss. >> i was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency. and won the election for the presidency. and who might have done so with the aid of the government of russia, our most formidable adversary on the

let's begin with the white house.he white house going all out in defense of president trump's national emergency declaration. it is the opening roar of what's sure to be a prolonged battle over border funding. hundreds of protests nationwide. they're aimed at stopping what's called trump's dangerous power grab. >> working with at least six other states in a lawsuit to try and stop the declaration. they say it's going to be filed imminently. white house aide and immigration hawk steven miller insisted the "american ninja warrior usa versus the world" is real. chris wallace pushed back with government statistics that show otherwise. this was his response. >> that's like saying you apprehend the contraband there because that's where you have the people, that's where you have the screeners. i assure you if we had people across every single inch and mile across the southern border you'd have more drugs interdicted in those areas. >> mueller also seemed to struggle on a presitant for funding that congress seemed to deny. >>

john roberts at the white house. thank you so much. i appreciate it. to brett bear and mike emanuel on the hill. the thing is, this is what the democrats have been screaming, appropriations bet long with the house of representatives. if there were an emergency, he could have declared it when there was an emergency. nothing has changed. you went around congress. we'll see how that plays in court and how that plays with the two sides of the political aisle as well. chad pergram on the hill. my first question is, when might the senate vote on this? is there a timetable set out yet? >> they're on this procedural vote right now -- >> shepard: i think the martians have invaded his audio source. which is unfortunate. there's -- i don't know. what is the frequency? they're going to work on that there. there's a procedural vote, a motion to move forward and then they'll be able to take the vote itself. the truth is, once it gets through the senate, then they have to go to the house of representatives. they have said they wouldn't vote till 6:30. it's about stack

>> i work with another opter josh who is a great white house reporter and he was able to confirm itpold, thank you very much for joining usav with your latest scoop tonight, i really appreciate it. david fahrenthold gets tonight's last word. "the 11th hour with brian williams" starts now. tonight's. >>> breaking news. a federal judge rules paul manafort intentionally lied to the fbi, the special counsel and a grand jury and the result may be a 70-year-old man in failing health may spend his last days in federal prison, all of it serving to revive the gnawing overarching unanswered question, why all of the lies about russia? plus trump says the wall is, quote, very, very on its way. while congress hopes and prays he signs their compromised deal, all of it as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a wednesday night. good evening, once aga f

however white house press secretary sara sanders said earlier today the white house is ready for any legal challenges. that bill on its way to the white house right now. 1159 pages, president trump's team will be working all night and he will sign it in the morning. >> tammy: it takes a village to read bills. joining us is the host of this program, laura ingraham, laura, welcome to your program. thank you for calling in for us. >> laura: hey tammy i'm winding my way through the mountains of colorado. if i go in-and-out, sorry about that. i just got off if the phone with a white house source and he said that, and this is their point, they were really in a no win situation here. they had to sign this because if they didn't, you know, pain inflicted on the american public, pain inflicted in the way we saw unfold before. a lot of frustration, however, from the white house about these provisions that were slipped in, in the writing process of this legislation. remember it only lasts, this only is good until the end of september, the end of this fiscal year. this is not a forever thing. bu

i worked in the white house for six years, and i'm not sure what authority the white house has for appropriating funds for a border wall. >> there is an argument, we interviewed in the past legal experts who say there's an arguable case, anyway, the president can do this under the legislation that's currently on the books but it's not a slam dunk and it's definitely something a lot of other experts say is subject to challenge. it will depend on which judges take a look. if it gets in the supreme court, of course, right now there's a 5-4 split among conservative appoint e!s and liber-- appoint and if it comes to that, he could get authorization for it. it's too early to say. they had been looking and studying this. we don't know if there's a justice department olc, office of legal counsel, opinion on it. but white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders came out a few minutes ago and said they're prepared for any legal challenge that might be instituted against it. >> never the sign of a good rollout when you're prepared for a court fight. thank you, peter baker. we will keep an eye on your

>> abby philip at the white house. kaitlin collins, you're also a white house correspondent just, i don't know, half hour, 45 minutes ago, you reported that white house aides were starting to back way from their confidence of the president, or assurances that the president would sign this. do you think that that reporting prompted mitch mcconnell to take action and get this done? >> i think it's hard to overstate what a roller coaster today has been. earlier today, the president was calling his allies on capitol hill, saying he didn't know if he was going to sign this bill, venting about the parts of it that he didn't like. white house aides earlier this week were telling us behind the scenes -- they wouldn't say on record but behind the scenes that the president was going to likely sign this bill and we would avoid a shutdown. aides were no longer saying that, were increasaying it was increasingly looking like he wasn't going to sign it. and then they interrupted and said the president said he would sign it and declar

. >> did you talk to any white house personnel before you were hired, anyone at the white house? >> congressman -- >> that's an easy one. did you talk to anyone at the white house? is the answer no? >> congressman, i had previously been at the white house when i was a private citizen to talk about a different position. >> i understand, but did you talk to anyone at the white house about your views on mueller, anyone at the white house at all before you assumed the position? let me just go forward. here's the issue. when you became the attorney general, since becoming the attorney general, you said that you have been briefed on the special counsel. did you use anyone else to have communications -- did you do anything to make sure that the white house might have learned some of what you learned in those briefings? could it be that somebody else on your staff might have spoken to someone at the white house since you told us you didn't? >> congressman, i'm not aware of that happening. >> how many people were in those briefings with you when you were briefed about the mueller investig

you find the white house responds after you publish. they want to see it in its entirety. >> you gave them the details. >> we did. we gave them what we were planning to report. there was not response. >> let's talk a little, shimon, about the scope of all of this. is there concern at the white house right now -- the justice department for that matter, over the strength of mueller's overall obstruction case? >> i think overall, they have consistently been concerned about the mueller investigation. i think what mark's piece with "the new york times" lays out, the biggest concern i think right now for people on the trump team is the sdny. this is why i think he wanted burman to oversee this investigation. he was concerned that someone else would come in and start overseeing this investigation. that is where many people think most of the president's problems lie right now, is at the southern district of new york. and that investigation. we don't yet know where mueller stands on things, obviously. i think we're probably close to learning as

immediately after the department of justice notified the white house counsel of the situation, the whiteel briefed the president and a small group of advisers. the white house reviewed and determined there is not a legal issue but rather a trust issue. that's why the president decided to ask for his resignation and he got it. >> two years seems like ten years with trump, doesn't it? now according to "times" the night before that briefing president trump and his briefers were in the oval office explaining that resignation. one mentioned that paul ryan then speaker of the house told reporters they asked flynn to resign. it was unclear where he got that information. trump seized on those words. according to people with the knowledge, trump says that sounds better and turned to sean spicer, say that, trump ordered. spicer reportedly asked whether or not it was true, trump repeated, say that i asked for his resignation. the "times" reports lawyers met with spicer about what she should say about what was a sensitive national security investigation. as spicer's briefing began the lawyers starte

host: the white house looks confident at this point? guest: yeah. they would like to pick off manchin or one or two others. they always want to get as many votes for these nominees, especially something like attorney general, especially given matthew whitaker's controversial testimony last week before the house judiciary committee. they want this to look as bipartisan as they can, even if it is just three or four .emocrats and expect the president server tok -- expect the president go back to us virginia and places like this and to tweet about joe manchin, who he likes a lot. i would expect to see attorney house, barr at the white either in the oval office or, weather permitting, in the rose garden this week with a ceremony with the president. host: plenty more to talk about. but let's take your calls. ed from georgia, republican. caller: good morning. what i do not understand is all of the politicians have all of these grandiose ideas, things they want to do, but we have a $21 trillion debt, and nobody seems to care about that. nobody talks about h

here is a live view at the white house. the presidential motorcade, they call it the beast. no traffic on pennsylvania avenue. it is completely shut down as he pennsylvania up avenue, across independence to the house chamber, arriving shortly before 9:00. speech getting underway a few minutes after 9:00 p.m. eastern time. [indiscernible chatter] ♪ steve: despite the tight security, there are protesters at capitol hill. they are kept at a distance. you can see some of the "impeach trump" signs and disgruntled federal workers here. not a huge crowd. they seem to be relatively quiet. capitol hill police making sure there kept a distance from the tight security inside the u.s. capitol. you also saw moments ago from the white house as the president and first lady prepared to leave. the president spending time this afternoon fine-tuning his speech, using what the white house called his black sharpie to market up one more time. steve miller has been a huge force behind the speech. they have been working on at the last couple weeks. the president spending time this weekend in mar-a-l

it can't force the white house to issue sanctions.force the white house to issue a report on something like that if it doesn't want to. the trump administration is saying the same thing that in this case we're not going to do it. legally it holds up, but look at the way it looks when you have the cia determining that the saudi crown prince ordered this murder, when you have the senate voting unanimously to condemn the crown prince for this murder, but then you have the white house not even willing to say whether or not they believe he was involved, it raises a lot of questions. they're not willing to say that he was not involved in this murder or ordered it or behind it and they're not willing to say that he was >> thank you. right now we are wait to go hear what happened inside president trump's annual physical. our chief medical correspondent is with me next from the white house about whether he followed orders to change his diet and start exercising. this is a very difficult job. failure is not an option.a. more than half of employ

white house. >> that's the point, isn't it, mr. cohen? >> no, sir. >> yes, it is. >> no, sir. you wanted to work in the white house and you didn't get brought to the dance. >> i was extremely proud to be personal attorney of the united states of america. i did not want to go to the white house. i was offered jobs. i can tell you a story of mr. trump reaming out reince priebus because i had not taken a job where mr. trump wanted me to which was working with don mcgahn at the white house general counsel. >> i think the issue there is that one sentence. i did not want to go to the white house. all of our reporting suggests that's not true. >> after he said that i reached out to reince priebus and his comment was no comment. he said i'm not getting involved in this and we of course, witnessed this real time that this president probably more than any other, if you want somebody in the white house they're there. you know, reince priebus and john kelly probably didn't want omarosa to be oworking in the w

. >> did you talk to any white house personnel before you were hired, anyone at the white house? >> congressman, i -- >> that's an easy one. did you talk to anyone at the white house? is the answer no? >> congressman, i had previously been at the white house when i was a private citizen to talk about a different position. >> i understand. but did you talk to anyone at the white house about your views on mueller, any personnel at the white house at all, before you assumed the position? >> in -- >> let me just go forward. here's the issue. when you became the attorney general, since becoming the attorney general, you said that you have had -- you've been briefed on the special counsel. did you use anyone else to have communications -- did you do anything to make sure that the white house might have learned some of what you learned in those briefings? could it be that someone else on your staff might have spoken to someone at the white house since you told us you didn't? >> congressman, i'm not aware of that happening. >> how many people were in those briefings with you when you wer

criminal law perspective as to whether or not matt whitaker is a conduit of information back to the white house. but i'm not convinced, nicolle, that the counsel, special counsel's office, has communicated those concerns to the judiciary committee of the house. sometimes there's an ability to coordinate investigations between a doj investigation and a congressional investigation, but sometimes when the doj investigation is so sensitive, and so closely hold, they're not going to tell the company of the judiciary committee, hey, we're interested in this topic. >> i spoke, nick, to a congressional source close to the preparations for this questioning on the democratic side. and he said that the questions are so basic, how did you get your job? i think sort of at the heart of understanding whether the fix is in on the mueller probe is this question of how did you get your job? he was appointed chief of staff to sessions by former white house counsel don mcgahn. he was installed to spy on sessions after that recusal and at least one trump ally thought his mission was pretty clear. here's chris chris

. >> as you talk to any white house personnel before you were hired, anyone at the white house? >> congressman -- >> that's an easy one. did you talk to anyone at the white house? >> i had previously been at the white house when i was a private citizen. to talk about a different position. >> i understand. but you do talk to anyone of the white house about your views on mueller? any personnel at the white house at all, before you assumed the position? let me just go forward. because here's the issue -- when he became the attorney general, since becoming attorney generalt you have been briefed on the special counsel. did you use anyone else to have communications western mark did you do anything to make sure that the white house might have learned some of what you've learned in those briefings? could it be that someone else on your staff might have spoken to someone at the white house, since you said that you didn't? >> i'm not aware of that happening. >> who else customer county people were in those briefings with you when you were briefed about the mueller investigation? >> come

last summer, cnn was told by people close to the white house that a lot of white house staffers werenger signing non-disclosure or non-disparagement agreements because they were seen as unenforceab unenforceable. is that still the case? we got no response from the white house today. >> didn't the former white house aide am aromarosa reject an off over an nda? >> she did. she said she refuse ed a $15,00 retainer from trump's 2020 campaign because that came with another nda. trump likes these ndas. he does get into sticky business with them. >> brian todd, thank you. >>> more breaking news ahead on the rare split within the senate intelligence committee over evidence of collusion in the russia probe. the panel's chairman is lashing out at michael cohen after the former trump fixer and lawyer delayed his senate testimony. will cohen pay a price? what does help for heart failure look like? it looks like george having a busy day. ♪ the beat goes on george has entresto, a heart failure medicine that helps his heart... so he can keep on doing what he loves. in the largest heart failure stud

they happen in every white house. more often in a white house that is, you know, fraught with warfare, as this one is. that's not the issue. the issue to me is, what does the president do with his time? as i say, it's precious time. >> yeah. >> one of my favorite stories from the clinton white house is from the deputy chief of staff. they did a time and motion study of bill clinton. they followed him around, and they charted everything he did during the day, opposed to what he was supposed to be doing. >> okay. >> turned out, he was spending none of his time on his important pryioritiepriorities. they showed it to him, and it got him on track. >> interesting. we love the factoids. thank you for being on. >>> we'll be right back with today's big picture. right backh today's big picture. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. humira can help stop the clock. prescribed for 15 years, h

why is the white house staying mum? >> well, they are violating the law, congressman dated a response. here i think they had some sympathy with the realists in the white house who understand that saudi arabia is an important ally of the united states, that the crown prince is not going anywhee as some people hoped he would, that he'd be pushed aside, that's not happening. and so it's very an eclectic moment. i think the white house and trump know very well what happened, but it's not for the relationship to go blip about it and some of the same people have to say who decry national interest quality of the trump white house are also decrying violence on khashoggi when, in fact, there are i think compelling national interest reasons for trump to keep his mouth shut on this one. >>> i want to pivot now to the acrimoney we saw, the testimony in washington. the acting attorney general, contentious might be the word of the day. someone called him snarky. it's tough to say the word snarky the question, was he credible, forthco

thank you at the white house. coming up u next is president trump prepares to deliver the state of the union address tomorrow night, we now know the local impacts the government shutdown has had on his job approval. we'll show you the new poll that may surprise you and he's currently under a pentagon investigation amid allegations of improper behavior. why ronny jackson is being tapped for a new role in the white house and fans know him as a grammy nominated rapper from atlanta. or is he? i.c.e. officials say east actually british and is in america illegally. we're back in a moment. hi i'm joan lunden. today's senior living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. and there's never been an easier way to get great advice. a place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. a place for mom. you know your fami

later in the show. >>> a top white house o