she's yamiche alcindor, this is overheard. she's yamiche alcindor, this is overheard. yamiche alcindor welcome, nice to see you. - thanks for having me here. - i'm trying to think about your new job in this way. is being a white house correspondent at the moment the best job ever or the worst job ever? - in my mind it's not the best job ever because i think that there's a lot of jobs in journalism that are amazing, but this is one of the best gigs in town for sure. in dc i think it's the best job, because you have a front row seat to a history making president. before donald trump was elected, i said if we get him, he'll be the first reality tv president. i think that that's completely still true. i think if you are covering donald trump and have not watched the apprentice and do not watch reality tv, then you are absolutely doing yourself a disservice and you need to start doing that, because he is part of the culture and was born out of this culture. - that's like on the required reading list of the class, right? but i'm thinking, you know, we all grow up, well those

i think yamiche's point is a good one. perhaps it is those people in the photograph who are going to be the ones that are permanently outside the frame. >> many of those people ran against each other, but they were still able to appear in the same room at the same time. they hadn't diminished or demeaned themselves to the point where it just would be embarrassing. now, the white house a little bit of cover saying the secret service would have created disruption on the funeral and it would have. but i think trump's presence there would have created a much larger disruption. and i do think the bushes who i have disagreed with many, many times, but it's hard to argue that they aren't honorable people. i remember visiting the bush library, which you can argue is a propaganda place, but -- >> perhaps any presidential library presents the best history possible. >> i read a letter by george h.w. bush to his boys during watergate and he was concerned about the way his boys would perceive watergate. and it was a father instructing

yamiche: i thinkt isoth. at the white house they are very into imagery and president trump knows very much that he wants to look strong and in control. i was kind of surprised by the fact he didn't go on a complete i would say maybe two or three twitters or send two or three tweets today basically taking credit for the fact they were talking about the war being over. you kind of felt was trying to say i'm having a very big deal in this area. instead he kind of was smarter than that. he said, you know, i look forward to meeting with him. we've gotten two locations and we're down to this and getting close. he was careful not to say i'm going to s there and stick it to him. he basically said we have these goals of denuclearization. i don't think he was taking the tough man stance that he was taking when he called him ttle rocket man. robert: tara, welcome to "washington week." are there any tsions in the cabinet or the administration about how to move forward, to take a hardoo line or for the deal? tara: you'll

>> yamiche hit some of the higho ts.hink it's a scathing portrait bu president trump, not only his conduct in offic of his character overall. comey describes thpresidency as a forest fire that has to be contained and describes trump as an unethical, amoral lear, a con congenital liar, someone who would manipulate the norms of washington to play to his personal will and demand loy from people that are not expected to give him loyalty. >> yang: yamiche, you've giv us a lot of public response but have been talking privately to people around the president. what are you hearing? >> most of the people idound the prt say the things dnthering him were the personal attacks comey d have to talk about in his books. he talks about the pnt's hands, hair, orange face. there are all these things thaot around the president say are really annoying this president and you cn tell they're annoyed because they're pulling out kellyanne conway and sarah sanders today and trying dto push back an says the president is feeling the realme anger th

that's where we begin, withci yamiche or. >> i honestly never thought these words would come out of myth. >> reporter: this today, from an abc interview, was one of several first-peeks at what former f.b.i. director james comey is now ready to y about the president who fired him. the interview comes ahead of the release of comey's book, "a higher loyalty," containing new details about his interactions with president trump. he writes that mr. trump's behavi being illegal," but that it is also "untethered to truth," andl ts "basic norms of ethical leadership." he also compares mr. trump to a mafia boss. comey, who prosecuted mob cases earlier in his career, wrote that with trump, he saw "the silent circle of assent. the boss in complete control. the loyalty oaths. the us-versus-them worldview." there were more personal t comments abouthe president, as well. president trump, comey said, "appeared shorter than he seemed on a debate stage." and says of shaking the president's hand, "it was smaller than mine, but did not seemnusually so." in his abc interview, comey also discussed mr. trump'

o yamiche, there were several other things goitoday we reported. administration annsances these netions against russn oligarch. why are they doing this now? what is the overall stance they have toward russia? >> wel the overall stance they have toward russia today is an all-out messaging platform. they wanted to really hammer home the point that thnk that russia has been engaged in troublg behavior. the day started with an 8:00 a.m. phone call with senior administration officials telling me and other reporters that these sanctions against 24 russian officials were becausect of a number ofities, including undermining western democracies, but also carrying out cyber attacks. they then released a white house memo saying russia's behavior was both destabilizing and malicious. and then sarah sanders went to the white house press briefing today, and she said that russia really needs the change its behavior. all this is happeng as president trump continues to be criticized about how he talks about vladimir putin. but it's really important to point out the

so yamiche, you've been reporting on this all day. where do things stand right now with regard to michael cohen and what... this f.b.i. raid? >> michael cohen and his lawyer have been tight-lipped all day. i called his personal cell phone today, and someone hung up on me when i introduced myself. michael cohen told cnn he is vabery worriedut the raids that happened. he says he wants all of this to be over. th he said if he h to do it again, he might have handled that $130,000 payment to stormy daniels differently, but there is this idea that sarah sanders also said that the predent is growing very wary of mueller's investigation d thinks he's going too far, so the president is tired of what's going on and that these raids could be something that's really scary for michael cohen. >> woodruff: but it's interesting that he's saying he would have done it another way. i think that's first time we've heard him say that. >> it's first time we've heard him say, that and unlike in the past where the preside d is doublin and saying that the f.b

nd nawaz: our correspondents yamiche alcindorisa desjardins join me now. welcome, you guys. lisa, let's start with you. we're talking about these tions that have recent come up that senators are now looking at about ronny jackson. what do you know about the >> well, we know about as much as the senators themselves. i spoke tora sevesenators on the committee who themselves have not seen the direct source of these allegations. the committee chairman and rank member apparently has seen them. also senator sherrod bwn o ohio who told me and other reporters that this involves double-dig numbers ofle who know mr. jackson in our military or are former mility. we know what mr. jackson said to one senator we met with today, anat's senator moran of ksas. senator moran told us that one allegation is refuted or that he denies, that he never had a drink on the job. that's from mr. jackson today, but the rest of it is very murky. i think top of these unknown allegations that we haven't seen yet, there is probably even larger concerns about his leveil of expe. this is a man who has not run

yamiche, you have some reporting about this book. it is being read closely inside the white house. what particular passages are resonating, maybe particularly negatively, over there? >> the sources i have talked to say the passages that are really resonating are the personal attacks that comey launched on the president and that is the talking about the fact he was smaller, shorter than he looked than on tv, the fact he looked ovr orange, the fact his hands were small. these are things comey didn't have to put in the book. people expected legal bombshells but they didn't expect a personal accounting of what the president looked like and his kind of disgust with that. even though the president is also upset about the idea he's characterized as someone from the mob and that he's characterized as someone unethical, sources i talked to says the personal accounts are the ones that are really bothering him. >> the president certainly responding in very aggressive and personal terms today on twitter. jonathan, let me ask you about we had thi

thank you, yamiche and john and sam. coming up, the russia probe. mueller's investigators are reportedly tracking down president trump's business partners even showing up unannounced at their homes armed with subpoenas. now there's word mueller's team is particularly interested in trump's long-term it were attorney michael cohen. this investigation is agiceberg. there's a lot happening under the surface of the water. plus, president trump now says he didn't know about the hush money to adult film star stormy davis -- daniels. and what is the worst case scenario for the whole stormy question? i'm going to find out that tonight. >> indicate fang the lawyer. can i skip on this thing? and finally outgoing congressman trey gowdy is saying this time on capitol hill what he's been thinking for years. it's a waste and congress is totally ineffective. the latest such candid from charlie dent, bob corker, jeff flake they all tell you the truth on their way out the door. finally let me finish tonight with trump watch. this is "hardball" where the action is. wi

. >> woodruff: lisa joins me along with yamiche alcindor. >> a source they spoke to today at the white house, who spoke to the president about paul ryan's decision, said that the president is very worry that paul ryan's decision could mean that a wave of other republicans, more than there are now, might also seek to retire. that is because the president really feels as though republicans might be worried about the midterms, worried about the tough challenges that they're facing. i asked majority whip steve scalise about this specifically. i said, "does the president have worry about the fact that republicans might be retiring?" he said, "we're facing a very tough political climate, "and that they're hoping to recruit more people. so he did not-- he didn't push back at all on the idea that republicans are very worried about what paul ryan's decision might mean for their party. >> woodruff: so, lisa, what about on the hill? what are they saying there about-- we know there are what already, 24 or so, retiermses? what are they say about possibly more? >> reporter: in all, there are more th

quite a way to start morning, yamiche. >> this was a pretty long phone call from the president. he talked about hillary clinton in the election. he sounded like he could have talked for several hours. at one point the fox ws host asked the president about his personal lawyer, michael cohen. cohen recently said he would ilead the fifth in a law filed against the president filed by porn star stormy daniels. this morning trump seemed toim distancelf for cohen. >> well, as a percentage of my erall legal work, a tiny settle fraction, but my goal would repr me and represent me on some things. he represents me like with this crazy stormy daniels deal. he represented me, and i hope he's in great shape. but he's got businesses, and his lawyers probably told him to do that. but i'm not involved, and i not involved. and i've been told i'm not >> this was rally important, because the president's words were used against michael cohen today. e lawyers for the federal prosecution, which of course affect criminal casenvolving michael cohen where he's being accused of bank fraud, they wrote a le

so now we're joined by our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor.iche, the president referring to this meeting a few weeks ago between c.i.a. director mike pompeo, the north korean leader. what are we learning abo and what do we know about the meetings the president is having right now with the japanese >> well, the president has characterized the meeting that mike pompeo had wh kim jongn as something that was very prd uctive. he se meeting went smoothly. he tweeted out this morning. and he said that he is now looking forward to some sort of diplomacy with north korea. the prime minister of japan really made it very clee that his top priorities with meeting with this president, with meeting with president trump, is that he wanted to work on the denuclearization of north korea. heaid it was his top priority. that's what he wanted to talk enout. and it seems prestrump is take a different tone. before we remember theck nd-forth between him and the leader of north korea where they were name calling. in this case, it seems as though things are getting a

and yamiche, a political contributor here. what happened today in terms of the law? we're out here.body is watching this. we're hearing it from "the times" and other sources, the "new york times" that this investigation, this possible development or end game in this whole thing involving michael cohen may be a bigger danger to trump than anything else he faces. along that line, what happened today? >> so, chris, what happened today is we had kind of a split decision if you're going to think of it from a boxing standpoint. so basically, the judge today said, you know, what the president is asking for, he is not going to totally get. what michael cohen is asking for, he is not going to completely get. what the government is asking for, they're not going to completely get. the judge says that she wants more time. basically, what she is saying is i want the sides to get together. i want both koecohen's side ande government's side to put a couple of names for a general master, think of a referee, somebody toe oversee the privileged documents to give to the government what they're entitle

wi yamiche, so first scott pruitt.re do things stand with him? the president contio defend him is. that right? >> that is rite. stcurrently scott pruitt il in his job, but the trump white house has shown that things can change really quickly.ai that president trump has said he's doing a fantastic job. the associated press reports today the two men t. scott pruitt met to lay out why he should keep his job. part of the reason why he and president trump say that he's doing a good job athe e.p.a. is because he's getting regulations, taking away regulation, he's changing environmental policy, and he's seen as someone who isul succesn his job. that said, the white house outside of president trump has been a litetl bit less laudatory. sarah sanders said today there is still an investigation into ott pruitt's behavior, and chief of staff john kelly according to sever reports has told president trump that he should fire scott pruitt, but the president is noking his advice right now. >> woodruff: in fact, that's been reported pr

yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> reporter: the list of defendants in the democratic nationalmittee's multimillion dollar federal lawsuit reads like a "who's who" of trump associates. the president himself is not among them, but the d.n.c. is suing the trump campaign; theen prest's son, donald trump jr.; the president's son-in-law and white hou adviser, jared kushner; long-time associate rer stone; and the indict former trump campaign chairman, paul manafort. also includes wikileaks, and the site's founder, julian assange. russia, and russia's main military intelligence unit, the g.r.u., sit at the top of the list of defendants. the d.n.c.'s central allegation? that people close to president trump and russian entitiesto conspirepread documents that were stolen from the d.n.c., and bolster then- alndidate trump's presiden bid. "russia and its co- conspirators," the lawsuit says, "must answer for thesections."de thcratic party set off a similar legal battle decades ago, after the watergate break- in. back then, the d.n.c. sued president nixon's re-election campaign for damages.

r e pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: late today, the trump campaign responded to thesuit, calling it "frivolous" and "completely wimerit." we will hear from the chair of the democratic national committee, right after the news summary. in the day's other news, russia says president vladimir putin is still waiting for president trump to follow up on an invitation to visit the white house. the offer came in a phone call with trump last month. in moscow today, foreign minister sergei lavrov said mr. trump had also talked of visitingussia. >> ( translated ): we proceed from the fact that the u.s. president said that he would be glad to see president putin in thwhite house, that he wou be glad to meet in a return visit. president trump has returned to esthis topic a couple of tso of course we assume that he will make it more specific. >> woodruf there was no immediate response from the white house. in the middle st, violence erupted again at gaza's border, and palestinia said that fived were killed an150 wounded by israeli fire. thousands of gazans turned out, and me burned

terrible mistake to not be loyal to michael cohen. >> yamiche.ays whoever is advising donald trump, that is, in fact, the problem. nobody is advising donald trump, the white house has been leaking and donald trump has been letting everybody know for a month now that john kelly has no power in the white house anymore and this is -- after hope hicks left this is trump unleashed. nobody's talking to donald trump, right? >> well, i would say that donald trump's lawyers have been telling him and warning him that michael cohen could be a big problem if he turned on the president so -- and, of course, we know that the president likes to watch news, likes to read news and then kind of make his decisions from there. so there's been all these stories out there of what michael cohen could know. i've talked to sources who say that michael cohen might have had all these recordings so there's this idea that president trump in the back of his mind would be thinking michael cohen will be turning on me. even if michael cohen isn't going to do that. as a result, h

it's, as yamiche indicated it's about about whattism.point to other things, other directions to insulate themselves and they think hillary clinton can help them do that. there's a risk there, the a.p. just interviewed josh holly who ran a clinton a ad and he didn't want to talk about donald trump. i don't know how you have it both ways. >> jon meacham, can you give us any examples of where a defeated presidential candidate is a effective tool. >> republicans tried to run against jimmy carter as long as democrats tried to run against herbert hoover, but that never worked. >> right. >> ronald reagan won a landslide in 1980 and republicans got their heads knocked off in 1982. it doesn't work. >> right. and there are the old early morph ads of you're a teddy kennedy liberal and denimocrats tried to use newt for that. i think there's something more el mental going on. i think one of the reasons -- and maybe they're not fully conscious of it -- that people on the right or people in trump land would be continuing to bring up secretary clinton i

yamiche, this is really pretty clear-cut. it's not do you like the guy or not, his temperament. did you crash the car? does he drink a lot when they get on the plane together with the president as his number one patient? and he's drunk. it's not like he has a few drinks. he's drunk a lot. this thing about concierge medicine giving out pills all the time, having a nickname candy man. this is flagrant. it's one or the other. >> the thing is the key question here is, if all of these allegations are true, how did he survive three presidents? how did he go from george bush. >> who has been covering for him. >> what's the vetting process been when he's been passed over to the next president because it is undeniable there are harnd written notes from obama. we're not talking about somebody who typed this up on a computer. i saw with my own two eyes the signature of obama saying he's a great doctor. he's doing great. those are the things that the white house is saying. the problem is that i think that ronny jackson has the been backing the white house publicly. the president did not rol

yamiche you have your an tech dote too. >> whether you think about the one that is come out, the factt he was late on his $50 a not right. it speaks to me that he was above the law. if you get this sweet heart deal, like airbnb, they have your credit card on file and charge you right away. >> now, jim to the e.p.a.'s point and scott pruitt's point, they say, well, pruitt needs the security detail. he's had threats, that's that you are argument. they say these disgruntled employees are leaking to the "new york times." do you think this holds water? >> god no. none of these things hold water. they're only in the alternative universe, it is a trump world, could he not only get a full throated endorsement yesterday about a president in the united states on air force-1 now they're mentioning him as next to possible attorney general. this is crazy. >> we have reporting on that, myself and couple of our colleagues here, it was addressed that the president was really angry with jeff sessions but jim roour wiegt about that full throated solution. here's what the president said on air force-1.

yamiche alcindor has the story. >> alcindor: notre dame trailed mississipi state for much of the gamet nit, and in fact, were down by 15 points earlier. notre dame rallied. and the teams were tied with three seconds to go. here's what happened.r ogunbowale, e win! (cheers and applause) arike ogunbowale wins the national championship for notre dame! (cheering) >> reporte >> alcindor: it was the second buzzer beater for arike ogunbowale in as many games. she sank the powerhouse of women's basketball, uconn, on friday night. ava wallace of the washington post was in columbus, ohio for the game and she joins me now. the game ava, how big of a moment was this for notre dame? >> it was huge. it was the coach's seventeenth national title on e day, the anniversary of her first one. it shows you the longevity of the one and she mcgraw is one of six coaches who have national titles to their name. they're pretty much a strapping team but to get twoational titles almost two decades apart from each other is a pretty big decades. >> rorter: you say this wa a huge game. notre dame wasn't favored eve

yamiche alcindons our coverage >> is donald trump unfit to be president? but not in the way i often hear people talk about it. >> reporter: james comey led ofz his media by criticizing president trump, focusing much president'sck on th character. it came during an "abc news" intervieahead of the tuesday release of his memoir, "a higher loyalty." while comey told abc he doesn't support impeaching trump, comey pointed to m trump's reaction to last year's charlottesvilles unrest, his past treatment of women, and what comey said were mr. trump's constant lies.pr >> ouident must embody respect, and adhere to the values that are at the core ofv this country.s the most important being truth.r thiident is not able to do that. he is morally unfit to be president >> reporter: in the iew, comey also opened up about theou 2016 election. he said, for him, having to ehandle the hillary clintil investigation was "a no-win situation." >> i'm here to give you an update... >> reporter: and he explained again y he went out on his own to announce why that probe would not lead

yamiche alcindor gets the latest.ter a judge ruled today that jurors can hear cosby's 2005 testimony, admitting he gave qualudes to women before what he says was consensual sex. >> reporter: jurorspent friday and yesterday hearing from cosby's principal accuser,dr costand. she asserts the comedian drugged and sexually assaulted her at his philadelphia home in january 2004. cosby claims the encounter was consensual, and that costand-- who took a more than $3 million dollars from him in a 2005 settlement-- is a con artist looking to cash in. more than 50 women have made similar accusations cosby, dating back decades. cosby denies all charges of assault. maryclaire dale is a long-time l associated preal affairs reporter, currently on leave for a neiman fellowship in journalism. she has been in the courtroom phroughout both trials, and joins us now froadelphia.ai mary, thanks for being here. now, several women have testified during this trial and have accused cosby of using his celebrity status and drugs to sexually assau

shannon pettypiece had, betsy woodruff, daily beast and yamiche alcindor from pbs.der, i want you all to tell me what grobs you right now. >> i thought there would be more of a smoke gun in here. i think this does say a lot of things that people know. they know comey does not like the president's personality. i mean they know that the president has done and said a lot of outrageous things. this reinforce the narrative and not necessarily change anyone's narrative. >> betsy? >> what i thought was new is that trump according to book asked comey to try to do some sort of us kulpatory investigation into the so-called tape that the dossier refers to. >> hotel room in moscow. that sounds like mum nature any spouse would say i don't want my spouse reading this horrible thing. can you find out. >> it's humanizing to see trump worried about the effect all this would have on his wife. >> who wouldn't. >> comey wouldn't have thought there was a 1% chance he would have done that. >> it's not the fbi's job to do background collection on the president to try to clear his reputati

yamiche? >> i have two quick questions. first one is that "the new york times and others report that federal prosecutors have recommended charges against the new york police officer involved in eric garner's death, but the justice department has expressed some strong reservations. where do things stand with the case of eric garner? and when does the justice department -- when are they going to make a decision about the police officer and whether or not they're going to charge him? >> i don't have an administration update on that front, but would refer you to the department of justice to get further details. and i'll work on getting an update for you and let you know. >> usually when we let one, it's not exactly a secret, but i'll be happy to share that with everybody. >> the second question is that the president tweeted that james comey illegally tweeted -- illegally leaked documents to the press to generate a special counsel, therefore the special counsel was established based on an illegal act. really, does everyone know