Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20180412

Stillmore breaking news tonight. New reporting on how the president may try to derail the mueller investigation, and whos pitching the plan. Steve bannon is back. And the access Hollywood Tape, what the fbi were looking for or at least in part when they raided three locations. And also this hour, exit stage right. The most powerful republican in congress, third in line of succession, decides to call it quits. And the fbi director President Trump fired is firing back. And james comey is comparing the chief executive to a mob boss and the president is tweeting about sceean hannitys program. Our jim acosta has the latest and joins us now. Explain what youve learned about mondays raid . Anderson, i should mention that ive just talked to sources familiar with all of this. Said these discussions going on at the white house, especially about the Mueller Probe, and this source is saying just a few moments ago that the president is still very upset about the raid into Michael Cohens office and these other areas that are connected to the president s personal lawyer. But, according to this source, anderson, its interesting, this person is saying that the president has not really had time this week to focus on this with his advisers, to study it, to discuss it, to go over it with his advisers and his legal team, because, according to this source, the president has been really focused on whats happening in syria and getting to the bottom of what actions should be taken by the administration. Now, you know, obviously, some of that might sound a little over the top, given the fact that the president has been tweeting about this. But according to this source, he really hasnt had a lot of time to focus on the nittygritty details of exactly what went down with the cohen raid. This source also said that while the president s team is reevaluating the possibility of whether or not the president will actually sit down with muellers team and do an interview, this person is saying that theres still a chance that the president will sit down with muellers team for an interview. But in the words of the source, both sides need to keep their powder dry. The implication being, anderson, that this raid in Michael Cohens office and these other areas connected to him really sent people over top inside the president s legal team. They thought it was way over the top and way out of bounds. Obviously, wave been focusing on this latest development today. And that is that they were looking for information that Michael Cohen might have that might pertain to that access Hollywood Tape that caught the president making those lewd remarks. And the president s legal team is going over that, as well. All right. Jim acosta, a lot to talk about. Thanks. Now breaking news on the man who we thought was completely on the outs with his old boss. Former chief strategist steve bannon. According to the Washington Post in a story thats just breaking, hes now pitching a plan to try to cripple the russia probe. Step one, according to the report in the Washington Post,s is firing Rod Rosenstein. Joining us now by phone is the posts karoun demirjian. So what exactly is steve bannon pitching to west wing aides . This is my colleague, bob costas story, and basically hes pitching this plan that would be a way to pick apart the Mueller Probe, basically. Starting with Deputy Attorney general brad rosenstein. Hes the person who has authority over muellers probe. Hes also newly come back into trumps crosshairs because he had to sign off on that search warrant to actually raid the offices of trumps personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. And then, another part of this plan that bannon is pitching is that the white house stop cooperating with the Mueller Probe and start to exert a rather broad interpretation of executive privilege, that would even involve seemingly revoking some of the permissions given to aides and others who have spoken to the special counsels team already. Hes painful saying the president should go to basically go to Political Warfare over this, by both picking off a person that has been those top officials, adjusted with the authority to oversee all of the parameters of this probe. And also refusing to play ball in a pretty broad sense of with an executive privilege indication that would cover more than just himself. Is there any indication that the president or anyone on his team is listening to bannon or inclined to listen to bannon . It seems where he is right now is in the stage of trying to corral allies to push this. Certainly, weve seen over the last few days that the president is itching to do something and not comfortable with the situation as it is. We see him issuing new statements almost every day. But it seems like the president is reticent to quite take this step. And as it says in the piece, it struck people like bannon, maybe a nudge in that direction, and they can provide that by laying out this plan, which they think that could actually work. But, again, remember, bannon is not inside the white house right now. Hes trying to talk to allies within the white house, allies on capitol hill, that can make push the president in that direction. But thats bannon no longer is the has the stature that he used to when it came to being the person that was in the president s ear about everything. And that, of course, you know, goes back to last summer, the fire and fury book, bannon leaving the white house and all of the bad blood that still exists there, which potentially mitigates how much influence bannon can have over the president and his allies,who need to listen to him and put this sort of a plan in effect. The political stake of doing so are very high. Karoun demirjian, thank you very much. Joining us is josh green who wrote the book on steve bannon called devils bargain and just got off the phone with bannon about this plan. Josh, what did you learn . Reporter basically, i asked him, what made you change your mine . Bannon has been in the camp up until now, dont fire people, you cant get rid of this investigation, he was against firing james comey. Now hes flipped. He said what changed his mind is that mueller and his team crossed a red line, this is a quote from bannon, he said they crossed the red line by subpoenaing the Trump Organization records in doing the raid on Michael Cohen. Hes in the Dark Territory now, he told me. And so he said, quote, rest make this political, lets shift this back to capitol hill, take the moral high ground, do some kind of delaying action and give voters an up or down vote on trump in november. And i asked him, i said, does that also include getting rid of Rod Rosenstein, which trump has been rumored to want to do. And he told me, and this is another quote, you have to get rid of rosenstein, maybe mueller too, and ty cobb, the president s lawyer. He said, we need to get this into the political process and move it away from a fight over Michael Cohen. So i think, anderson, whats going on here is that trump wants people who are going to fight for him. Bannon knows this. And hes trying to signal by going public with this, that hes going to be one of those people, if trump wants to allow him back into his good graces. Is so, this in your opinion, its clearly an attempt by bannon to get back in the good graces of the president . Yeah, bannon has been talking to people all day, in the press, white house allies, you know, outside Trump Supporters to try to rally support for this position. I think like a lot of trump inner circle folks, hes alarmed at the speed with which muellers moving and the fact that as bannon put it to me, you know, he crossed the red line. The red line being, you know, trumps admonition to mueller, you know, not to start looking into trumps own personal financial dealings, which he is now clearly doing. You know, the threat obviously hasnt impacted mueller, but i think for bannon and for people who thought at one point that if trump was cooperative, that the investigation would wrap up, without any kind of legal troubles for donald trump, have now changed your mind based on muellers actions and whats happened over the last week or so and are now telling trump, in bannons case, through intermediaries, telling him that you need to fire Rod Rosenstein. Its also interesting that he said to you about possibly firing, getting rid of ty cobb, the president does not have a ton of attorneys around him at this point who have been with him for a long time. Ty cobb is one of those who has. Right, and hes had hes had trouble finding a replacement for john dowd, you know, essentially Alan Dershowitz seems to be working as pro bono volunteer Legal Counsel for donald trump, you know, through the medium of cable television. So trump is already, you know, down to a pretty thin bench when it comes to lawyers. But bannon going back to his time in the white house, theyve done a lot of battle with some of these folks. So, as always, has his own axe to grind. Its also interesting that bannon has been interviewed by mueller. And as you said, was previously arguing the opposite position, essentially. Yeah, i think thats right. I mean, bannons hope, as i think this is also john dowds hope, was that, you know, if trump was cooperative and didnt fight muellers investigation, that that would hasten the investigation. It would wrap up, and it would exonerate or absolve trump of any kind of collusion with russia or at least any kind of a legal problem. Now, there seems to be a case building toward obstruction of justice or maybe something in the financial area. For bannon, according to what he told me, what convinced him was the fact that muellers investigators are subpoenaing these corporate records. And so i think thats changed the calculus at least as far as bannons concerned. And again, anderson, the other factor here, bannon wants to get himself back into trumps good graces. He was once a very powerful strategist in the white house, probably the most powerful strategist was all but excommunicated from republican politics back in january when trump turned on him. And i think he understands that his path back to relevances and influence has to go through trump. And knowing trumps emotional and psychological needs, especially when hes, you know, insecure or angry about whats happened with the special counsel investigation, if he, steve bannon, can position himself as someone willing to fight for trump, i think he imagines that that is his best ticket back into relevance in the trump white house. This is like a play. This is really just fascinating. Like, just yeah. Its lake, its like altright shakespeare. Yeah. Altright shakespeare. Josh green, thanks very much. Still more on possible firings and what, if anything, would stand in the way of them. Over the past few days, weve been talking about federal regulations barring the president from directly firing a special counsel. Former acting solicitor general neil cutall wrote those regulations in 1999 and revisiting his work today. Neil, the White House Press secretary, Sarah Sanders, says the president believes he has the power to fire Robert Mueller. You literally wrote the rules for how this works. Is sanders correct . Not exactly. The rules say, in part 7, they say the following. That the special counsel, quote, may be disciplined or removed from office only by the personal action of the attorney general. Last i checked, donald trump was not the attorney general. Now, our constitution is bigger than those rules, of course, and it does give the president the prosecution power, but it means that hays got to remove the regulations or go through some other mechanism to try and get mueller removed. So either he orders the acting attorney general in this case, Rod Rosenstein, to fire mueller, or somehow just remove can he directly remove the regulations . No, he cant directly remove the regulation. The Justice Department has said for years, if you have a regulation promulgated by the Justice Department, under the auspices of congress, then only the Justice Department can remove it. So that leaves the president really with two options. Option number one is to order the acting attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, to fire mueller. Now, if he does that, that will trigger thats exactly what nixon did. It is a saturday night massacre. And i fully expect if hed did that, wed have effectively a wednesday night waterloo or Something Like that. A complete disaster in which rosenstein refuses, has to resign, and you go down the chain of succession. He has one other option available to him. He can order Rod Rosenstein, the acting attorney general, to eare move that Justice Department regulation that i just read to you. Now, i suspect rosensteins answer would be exactly the same, which is, im not removing that, heck, no. You know, rosenstein is someone who believes very much in the rule of law and the like. So you would have the same snare unfolding. Can you explain why it was set up like this . Even though it is an extra step for the president to take, he still would be able to have his will done, it would just have to be done through the acting attorney general. Whats the point if there are these obvious workarounds . Well, the premise of the entire special counsel regulations is in our constitutional system, our founder has vested the president with the power over prosecution, the full power. So all the regulations could do was force sunlight into the process. We were worried about, you know, something that goes all the way back to ancient greece or modern day dr. Seusses, did i ever tell you how lucky you are, which is, whos going to guard the guardians. You dont want a system in which the guy controlling all of the prosecution can nullify a prosecutor investigating his wrongdoing. So the idea behind the special counsel regulations is to say, well, you cant really stop the nullification, but the one thing we can do is force sunlight into it, so youve got to fire rosenstein or the attorney general openly. Youve got to remove the regulations openly by ordering the Justice Department to do it. Thats the best you can do in our constitutional system. So just hypothetically, President Trump throws political caution to the wind, uses one of these ways to fire special counsel mueller through rosenstein. Hes opinion on tbeen on the ca to a year. What actually happens to muellers work . Mueller has done something thats really quite brilliant. Mueller is a legendary prosecutor, really savvy. He did something that i wouldnt have thought of and i think most people wouldnt have. Which is from the start, he worked with the new York State Attorney generals office. Now, this is significant, because in our constitutional system, while the president has a prosecution power, he only has the federal constitution the federal constitution power. He cant stop a state prosecution. He cant pardon people under it. So youve got that, which has been going on since the start of mueller. And then this week, we learned that mueller has also been working with federal prosecutors in new york, the United States Attorneys Office. And what mueller has effectively done is create almost like a block chain prosecution. Hes dispersed his files among a variety of different sources, so that if something happened to that central hub, mueller, theres another way for the investigations to still unfold. Now, if the president did this, i do think it would trigger a constitutional crisis and he should rightly be condemned, and indeed, impeached for it. But i dont think its a right to say the prosecution will all be over. So with the president pardoned, say, Michael Cohen, he can only pardon him on federal charges. The state could still go after Michael Cohen if there was some reason to . You got it. Exactly. So the president cant do anything thats going to remove the investigation of Michael Cohen for any state crimes and it certainly looks like there are many. Neal katyal, thank you very much. Later, with tension rising almost daily between the u. S. And russia, well talk about the president s tweet slap at moscow today and the possible repercussions. Social security alerts. 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He did it to such an extent at mondays meeting it left john kelly horrified he would use that moment for such an outburst. Joining us to talk about that, our panel. Im not even sure where to begin. But lets talk about this Washington Post report on steve bannon and his ideas on basically fighting back against mueller. So bannon has been called the president s id. And i think thats what were seeing again. He really is. Hes telling the president what he wants to hear, what the president really wants to do. Theres reporting that the president wanted to fire mueller back in december. So this seems to be the track where its that punchback, that fightback that the president wants and some of his lawyers and others in the white house have been trying to reel if you didnt see the top of the broadcast,reporting that st bannon is encouraging the president to fire rosenstein as way to push back on mueller, squashing the investigation, apparently, and also stop cooperating with mueller. Dont sit down and also exert executive privilege, not only on conversations that are about to happen, but even retroactively. Right. And so, the other thing, he wants to somehow make this part of the midterm elections. And i can tell you right now, republicans i talked to, they dont want to run on trump or this. In the districts that matter, in the districts that are going to make the majority, there are not they dont want to be talking about this. They want to talk about taxes. To the point you broke up about, this is so bizarre, its like an altright shakespeare. If thats the case, steve bannon would be othey will looeotthelo. I dont think the president would do himself any favors by testifying because of his Loose Association with the truth. But at the same time, we have this story going against rosenstein, there is a coordinated effort by many in the gop to also go after sessions and the way he is also overseeing this and not being more of a check and balance for the president and reining mueller in. Were seeing a lot of gop members go out there and attack him. Heres my problem with that. From the standpoint that the president says hes innocent, theres two people that could prove his innocence more than anything. Its mueller and rosenstein. And he would be best served to not call this a witch hunt, to cooperate in any way in providing information, sit back and be quiet and let the facts lead to his exoneration. Steve, you say go with steve bannon on this . Im thoroughly with bannon on this. This is look, the point bannon is making, this is no longer about a crime, because there is no crime. We dont know that. By the way, this is an investigation in search of a crime and nothing could be more unamerican than that, right . We have a crime and then we have an investigation. This is the opposite. This is flipped on its head. Stalin himself said, show me the man and ill show you the crime. Thats whats going on here. The swamp is trying steve youre comparing to stalin . This is why theres a bipartisan bill in the Senate Judiciary committee right now, because of folks like you and people in the white house symone, to your point this is why a bipartisan bill is going to get passed. The congress has every right to delve into this. They are a coequal branch of government. If they want to investigate they dont have the same powers a special counsel would. They have more powers. They have constitutional powers. Because republicans are really focused on doing that, right . Corey lewandowski can tell them to go f themselves and they cant do they can, they can hold him in contempt. Thatll do a lot. Eventually they can impeach, which i think they will. They dont have more power. Thank you do you know, they actually have a little jail cell in the bottom of congress, where they leave people for about ten minutes. Manaforts facing potential life in prison. Thats power. And thats the power you have in criminal prosecution. Because he did the crime well before he was ever associated with trump. Now youre talking about a different question. When was the crime committed . And you know something . This search warrant that was executed kind of indicates that now theyre expanding to look at other crimes. In fact, rick gates, some of the conversations he had was when he was with the campaign. Rate. Or it indicates, paul, and i think this is important, that mueller, because he could find nothing on russia, has decided that im going to go into all of trumps life and try to find anything i can. And first we thought it was Stormy Daniels. And if its not Stormy Daniels, its going to be access hollywood hold on. Youre living in a fantasy world. One at a time. And access hollywood, if there is up with story that we have already beaten to death, its access hollywood. The American People clearly were only apprised clearly, theres more there on access hollywood and on everything else, because what we have known up until now is that things like this fbi raid does not happen on a whim. I know you dont want to believe that. Clearly, bannon doesnt want to believe that. I hope youre right. I hope that the president takes bannons advice, because nothing would make him look guiltier. And heres the thing hang on a second. Heres what i think is so interesting about the whole bannon thing. And i think josh is right. This is clearly his attempt to become relevant, because hes completely become irrelevant. Whats so interesting, though, is remember when he had that fullon interview where he was honest about what he really thought about trump, saying he lost his mind. It was steve bannon who said, if anything is going to get trump in trouble, its going to be the Money Laundering piece. So steve bannon himself might have been a reason why mueller is going towards where the money is. Money laundering and bank fraud zp its interesting that steve bannon said to josh green that the authorities are going to Dark Territory, meaning the financial aspects. You can look at that as Dark Territory that they shouldnt go into or or because they should symone, we havent heard from you. Look, anderson, one, i would like to knnote for everyone, we only know what we know. There is a wealth of information that we do not know we know the tip of the iceberg. We know the tip of the iceberg. Theres a wealth of information that we are not privy too that only Robert Mueller is privy to. So we have to be careful of saying what has been found out, what hasnt been found out, if theres a crime, if theres not a crime. That is why this investigation must play out. That is why i believe theres a bipartisan effort in the senate, gnat Senate Judiciary committee, to preserve the integrity of this investigation, so that the russia investigation can continue uninhibited. What does russia have to do with access hollywood or Stormy Daniels . We have to let it play out. We dont know yet, steve. Are you trying to tell me theres a connection from moscow to access hollywood . But you do agree that the mission that mueller has, the marching orders he has are very broad. Ve far too broad. Just as ken starrs were too broad. Anything that comes up in the course of did i just hear you defending bill clinton . Did you say you were on the side of defending bill clinton . I was a kid. I was playing beer pong at that time. But if had i been in politics, i would say that was the wrong move for him to go that far afield of his mandate. The directive is anything that arose or may arise. He does have a broad privy. Im sick of hearing the pig comments that the president made on the access hollywood bus. But its not about that anymore. Its not about sex with a porn star and not about sex with a playboy playmate or his disgusting talk on a bus. This is about potential for paying money, hush money, covering up and intimidating people to kcover up this activity. And usually potential campaign funds, this is about Campaign Finance violations and also about potential Money Laundering. Prosecutors always look to follow the money trail. Right. The money trail here has led, strangely enough, toe a home equity account that Michael Cohen had, which was used to pay Stormy Daniels for her silence. Mueller discovers this in the course of his investigation. And, steve, hes required, if he stumbles across illegality, to look into it and pursue it. And its not directly relevant, refer it to a local prosecutor. So hes referred that now to the u. S. Attorney in manhattan. Just hear me out for a moment. Like a play within a play. Hear me out for a moment. If that money was used to pay stormy and if that maybe gets linked to Karen Mcdougal and maybe it gets linked to other women, then you have the issue of, is this money being laundered . Twl was there tax was it being deducted for tax purposes. Is there bank fraud involved because of a home equity learn. Weve got to take a break. Stomaumbled into illegallr is this a witch hunt by the swamp trying to nullify its the first, steve. I dont shy away from all right. Weve got to take a break. Continue what josh green referred to as the altright shakespeare play. Act ii is next right after a quick intermission. Ill be right back. Feel the clarity of nondrowsy claritin 24 hour relief when allergies occur. Day after day, after day. Because life should have more wishes and less worries. Feel the clarity and live claritin clear. Internet providers promise Business Owners a lot. Lets see who delivers more. Comcast business offers fast gigspeeds across our network. At t doesnt. We offer more complete reliability with up to 8 hours of 4g Wireless Network backup. At t, no way. We offer 35 voice features and solutions that grow with your business. At t, not so much. We give you 75 mbps for 59. 95. Thats more speed than at ts comparable bundle, for less. Call today. Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive. Not shakespeare, sir walter scott, actually. Were talking about a very full night of breaking developments not just in the russia probe but also Steve Bannons plan apparently to derail it is being reported tonight by the Washington Post. Back now with the panel. So what i was going to say to steve is that, you know, what youre saying is clearly something that a trump supporter would say, because you dont believe the president has done anything wrong. But the fact of the matter is, like i said before, and i think that this merits underscoring, the activity that led to the fbi raid is not done on a whim. You have to have so many people that have to justify and approve and underscore and support that everything is done by the book and most of those people, frankly, are republican. So well, thats irrelevant. Thats irrelevant. Not apparently to the people who think this is the deep state. Heres why its irrelevant. Because the republicans in washington, d. C. , lets be honest, have been every bit as obstructionist towards donald trump as have the democrats. Oh, that is so not true. Tell me who. Who has been obstructionist . Senator sasse, senator mccain, senator flake, senator collins. Do you want me to keep going . Thats four out of the majority of republicans. Theres many more. Hearst the point. You are giving the department of justice the benefit of the doubt. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt, and heres why i cannot. Because of the way they behaved, many of these exact same characters, where he wrote the exoneration memo months before key witnesses, including hillary herself thats a crock. So the department they show their cards. Its thanks to comey, snow that they were bureaucrats, swamp rats, and that they cannot, unfortunately so the department of justice, the fbi, the United States Attorneys Office, the well, he was the senate the senate, senators. Im not talking about senators. You just hold on the intelligence community, the cia, all of them who everyone else, all deep state . The congress has every right to get into this and they should. What do you mean, by this. Because theyve investigated and it they decided to stop it, by the way. On the house side. Right. If the democrats take the house, which i believe they will, i guarantee you, i can promise you, they are going to quickly get into all of these matters, and that is the right, constitutionally. Of course it is. Trumps own Justice Department is not entitled its not his Justice Department. No, its not. He was elected to be the commander in chief from a legal standpoint, just in terms of piercing Attorney Client privilege, thats one of the things that the president has been saying, this is an attack on america, an attack in everything we believe in. There are many ways i mean, not everything, any not every communication is between an attorney and an another person is privileged. Thats absolutely correct. And theres something thats called the crime fraud exception to the Attorney Client privilege. If the attorney confers with a client in a conspiracy to commit a crime or the client comes to you and says, hey, i would like to pay off some people to silence them, using money from a business, a big business, that i operate, maybe can i get a Tax Deduction out of it, how would i go about doing that . And if the attorney advises the person, that could be advice relating to a crime. Thats not privileged. So let me ask you, if Michael Cohen says he paid off Stormy Daniels with his own money and the president knew nothing about it or then citizen donald trump knew nothing about it, would if, in fact, there are communications between Michael Cohen and then candidate donald trump donald trump, about Stormy Daniels and about the payoff, would that be privileged . Because Michael Cohen has said he wasnt my client in this. Well, it would be presumpt e presumptively privileged unless there was more information suggesting that there was illegality involved. And thats why they have what they call these taint teams that come in and review all of the material to see if something looks like it could be privileged. So a taint team basically takes the material that the fbi seized from the office and theyre a specialized unit of fbi agents that go through and look at this stuff. And theyre isolated from the primary investigators. And the way its supposed to work, but pardon me that Defense Attorneys a skeptical about this, is that theyre supposed to isolate the privileged material and then a judge can look at it and say, no, this is protected. You cant have that. This, on the other hand, might fall into the crime, fraud exception. Professor gerchowitz was on, saying, look, theyre going to leak this stuff out. Thats why its so rare that a search warrant of an Attorneys Office is permitted. Its really a major intrusion. And you almost never see it. There must be a big reason all right, weve got to take a break. More with the panel ahead. Coming up, a huge surprise today in washington. Paul ryan announcing he will not run again next year. He says its all about spending more time with his family and not about the president. Does the panel buy that . Well ask them and talk about what it means for the Republican Party. [ doorbell rings ] janice, mom told me you bought a house. Okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. Quiet. Im blasting my quads. Janice, look. Im in a meeting. Janice, look. [ chuckles ] look, look. Im looking. Its easy. You just answer some simple questions online, and you get Coverage Options to choose from. Youre ruining my workout. Cycling is my passion. Youre ruining my workout. Which is why i use armor tall ultra shine wash wipes. Y. They effectively remove dirt, dust and grime with no water. That car is in tip top shape we are both in tip top shape armor all, its easy to look good. House Speaker Paul Ryan announced today that hes retiring from congress at the end of his term this coming january. Speaker ryan says he doesnt want to be just a weekend dad and in an interview with jake tapper, he says he has no plans to run for office again, any office, at least not while his kids are growing up. Jake asked ryan what he thought about the decision . Were very different people. Im from the upper midwest. Im not from new york. Were from a different generation. So we definitely have different styles. But what we learned after we got to know each other, because we didnt know each other at all in the campaign. And, yeah, we had a pretty we had a lot of friction in our relationship. What we learned is we have a common agenda that we agree on and we want to get it done and we know it is going to make a big difference in peoples lives and thats what we were elected to do. Back now with the panel. Jackie, do you think hes telling the truth here . I think he is telling the truth about wanting to be with his family. Ive interviewed paul ryan er e several times over the course of my career. And almost every time he would say, talk about how much he missed his kids, how much he missed his family. And he did lose his own father when he was a teen. And that looms large in his life. That said, i do think, you heard that patient tone to his voice. I do think he did have a lot of trouble coping with this president. He would frequently get up on the podium and say, i havent seen the tweet. The tweet speaks for itself, which is code for, i dont want to talk about this. Also, though, you cant disregard his conference, how difficult it was to try to lead a group of people that doesnt really want to be led. And sometimes doesnt want to pass stuff. And sometimes doesnt want to go along with what he and other leadership wanted. They just want to fight. So i think there were several moving parts to this. But you cant, you cant have out the president. I think a lot of people are trying to read more into it than this. I truly believe that the speaker you know, we all recall, he came into this reluctantly. He was very reluctant. From the very beginning he said, look, ive got kids, i want to spend time with my kids, but he reluctantly took the position, but he embraced it. Hes gone out and raised 115 million for the Republican Party. And look, his goals, professionally, was to rein in political spending and tax reform. Paul ryans shining accomplishment as speaker is passing tax cuts for the wealthiest americans and corporations, which he says theres lasting implications. Yes, lasting for exxon. Not lasting forr asally, sue, tommy, and joe. And then maybe vaguely, but doing so. I think it took a toll on him. He knows a blue wave is coming. And paul ryan was a coward and got out of the way. You think that he knew that that he believed a blue wave was coming . I think thats what it is. Look, paul ryan was faced with a decision. He could either suffer his take his family, his kids, himself through a very tumultuous midterm election, one where his seat could be in jeopardy, because randy bryce was definitely gaining ground, and lose and face a devastating loss or bow out gracefully, spin it and say, we passed these tax cuts, we got done what we said we wanted to get done, and im going out on top. I think he chose the la latter, because thats the easier path. Do you think hes jumping ship before republicans come in . I think november is going to be very, very tough for the republicans. And i thought, symone, you thought i was going to defend speaker ryan. Far from it . I think that he and his ilk are part of the problem. And im not sad, quite frankly, to see him go. Im very happy he got tax cuts done. Wonderful. But we talked about the access Hollywood Tape earlier. He was one of the first republicans to jump ship when things really got hard in october of 2016. And i for one wont forget that, as somebody from the campaign. That was a searing mark against him. Common decency. So now hes good . In that moment, in that moment all right, one at a time. Maria . So, i agree, i believe that he is a committed family man and father. I think all of that rings true. But i almost guarantee you that if this president was sane, normal, and that you could count on him to make, you know, good, again, in any other era, normal decisions, even as a republican, and im saying this as a democrat, i can almost guarantee you that he would not be retiring. Maria, are you on record saying the president is insane then . Yes. Okay. I want to put thooat on the record. You dont really believe hes she just said it. Im asking. I dont think that he is fit for office. Is he insane . I dont think hes got the temperament to be president. You said it twice. Is he insane . I dont think he is normal in terms of his reaction. That goes to his immaturity emotionally. Is he insane . I have never thought he has had the fitness for office. I dont think hes qualified. I dont think hes knowledgeable. I dont think he cares about knowing anything about governing. You twice said he was insane and now you wont say it. Speaker ryan says hell stay speaker through november, until hes done with his term. Watch the trump folks, because i think a lot of them are going to try to push him out earlier. Youre already seeing the drum beat on fox news. Do you want to see him out . Right now theres going to be a leadership battle for six months. If ryan does stay in. For positions that might not be available, though. So youre hearing well, even for the top, to lead the party. And right now, youre hearing kind of from the freedom caucus, youre hearing some agitation to get him out. I criticized the president when i think its correct. And the bill he signed, the spending bill was outrageous. I put some blame at the president s feet. I put far more blame at the speakers feet. That should have never come out of the congress. Given that, do we need new leadership on the republican side in congress . Absolutely . Youre pushing maria to say that again, but heres the thing, his temperament that i disagree with on many occasions and many do, is the same during the campaign as it is now. And the fact is that he won and people voted for him anyway. I disagree with his tone and demeanor but agree with his politics. I think the policies that hes putting forward are reflective of the Republican Party. But we have to understand you do . You think theyre reflective of the Republican Party . Yes. And i think the fact that his temperament hasnt changed and he was elected anyway, i think we just need to a different place, though. Ive got to take a break. Symone, really quickly. When it comes to november, regardless of what everyone is saying right now about everything and what not, when folks are out there in the states, polling is saying and people are saying they care about health care and the economy. People ran away from the tax cut in pennsylvania. Paul ryan is the writing on the wall. All right. I got to get a break. Up next, the president tweets, get ready, russia, because missiles are coming to syria. Whether thats true or what happens now, unclear. Well talk about it next. Hr mar its got potential. I think itll look really good without the stripes. Whatever your home may hand you, behr through it, in one coat. Behr marquee, 1 rated interior paint. Find it exclusively at the home depot. Oone part ribs. Two parts incredible. New steak ribs at outback. 15. 99 for a limited time. Get a 6oz sirloin and make it your own with a choice of honey sriracha, barbecue, or dry rub ribs. So hurry in to outback now. If youd have told me three years ago. That wed be downloading in seconds, what used to take. Minutes. That guests would compliment our wifi. That we could video conference. And do it like that. snaps if youd have told me that i could afford. A gigspeed. A gigspeed network. Its like 20 times faster than what most people have. Id of said. Id of said youre dreaming. Dreaming definitely dreaming. Then again, dreaming is how i got this far. Now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. The president s morning twitter session did little to clarify exactly whats happening in the u. S. Response to the chemical attack in syria. He did take the unusual step of threatening military action on twitter. Theres also new nickname for assad and a russia for message. Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at syria. Get ready, russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart, in quotation marks. Shouldnt be partners with a gas killing animal who kills his people and enjoys it. Kt joining me, general hertling, how high wire of an act is this for the president to tweet Something Like this without a, concrete agreement we his military leaders and allies like the uk and france about a military response . Pretty risky. I would say, anderson. Its, first of all, using a platform like social media to deliver a message to the world when what you really need to be doing is diplomatic engagements with the other countries while Building Alliance doesnt seem to be quite in line with the way you conduct operations. And it certainly doesnt seem to be a link to what candidate trump said on the campaign trail. This is tactics hes advertising. This isnt an operation or strategy where, hey, were about to attack into mosul, the thing that he mentioned during the campaign. This is no kidding, heres when were going to do it, its going to be soon, and this is what were sending your way. Thats a whole different category of announcement that i think is inappropriate, and, quite frankly, its its just not the right thing to do. Yeah, colonel francona, the president is telegraphing possible plans here, something hi did state over and over and over again hed never do while campai campaigning. Youd think that would give assad time to move assets out of the way or give russia time to issue counterwarnings or move assets. And all of thats happening. Weve seen that over the last couple days. The syrians are moving things. Anybody with a computer and the internet can monitor some of these aircraft movements so theyre taking defensive actions. And of course, the president s boxed himself in now. Once he makes these statements, whether they be social media or any other forum, hes got to now deliver. Hes almost on the hook to do something. And i think its foolish to say were going to use missiles. No one knows what were going to use. We dont want to telegraph that. So i think were being a little premature. You know, steve, its interesting, some of the president s supporters said, look, you know, his critics have been saying he hasnt been tough enough on russia, hasnt been critical of vladimir putin, here he is directly challenging russia, sort of taunting them, however he would describe it. What do you make of this tweet . You know, anderson, you can make an argument, as Sarah Sanders tried to do today, which is to say, look, just because he talked about, you know, bright shiny missiles that are really good, he might choose to do Something Else and, therefore, hes trying to throw the enemy off or Something Like that. The problem with that argument is that as mark sort of alluded to a second ago, it presupposes a thoughtful strategy. During the cold war, we had a very elaborate almost dancelike routine we would do with russia to signal, you know, plans and intentions or not to do so, but there were some really very specific rules behind that. And perhaps more importantly, there was a big geopolitical plan in place on the side of the United States and the west with regard to how to deal with russia. What we have with this president is he wakes up in the morning, gets mad at something that the russians say, and then he responds in twitter. The russians, of course, have pi picked up on this and said we dont do this sort of thing on twitter. What happens if something bad happens in the mediterranean, something donald trump doesnt like and gets up in a kneejerk reaction which is what this seem to be puts the United States and russia in a very dangerous military situation . Thats what concerns me. Yeah, general hertling, the defense secretary mattis said they were still assessing the intelligence of who was responsible for these attacks. Are there lessons to be learned from the iraq war here . I mean, the certainty of intelligence needed before acting militarily . There is. In fact, i could give you about nine different examples, specifically, that you dont telegraph these kind of things. You say, if you Say Something that is incorrect or, in fact, does telegraph your move, it could cause the enemy or photodo things you dont want them to do. The thing im most concerned about, anderson, steve just said it, is what kind of risk does it do to our forces . Youre trying to not only attack the enemy, but youre attempting to mitigate the dangers to your own forces on this. Im sure the commander on the scene is just planting his palm in his face saying, gosh, i wish my boss wouldnt do these kind of things because its going to affect the execution of my plan and the way i conduct my maneuver to go after the enemy. And im sure general botell and others on the ground are trying now desperately to adjust their tactics, their techniques and their procedures to either launch strikes or do the things that theyve been asked to do in the options that secretary mattis talked about. Yeah. Colonel francona, general hertli , steve hall, appreciate it. A lot more to talk about. Well be right back. More news ahead. Allergies with sinus congestion and pressure . You wont find relief here. Go to the pharmacy counter for powerful claritind. While the leading allergy spray relieves 6 symptoms. Claritind relieves 8, including sinus congestion and pressure. Claritind relieves more. We know that when youre tspending time with thelass grandkids. Music tech . Every minute counts. And you dont have time for a cracked windshield. Thats why at safelite, well show you exactly when well be there. With a replacement you can trust. All done sir. Grandpa looks great tech thanks for choosing safelite. Grandpa thank you child bye tech bye saving you time. So you can keep saving the world. Kids safelite repair, safelite replace been quite a day, began with the president taunting russia on twitter, including preparations for a military strike on syria. Heavy stuff, life and death stuff. So how does the president end the day . Plugging a conservative talk show whose host echos his talking points and vice versa. That is where we are tonight. Thats about all the time we have. Thanks very much for watching 360. Want to hand things over to don lemon. Cnn tonight starts right now. Ill see you tomorrow night. How youll join us. This is cnn tonight. Im don lemon. Breaking news on two things you thought were behind this president. Steve bannon and the access hollywo Hollywood Tape. And a home of crisis in this country, as the woest wowashin post is reporting bannon is pushing a plan to cripple the investigation starting by firing Rod Rosenstein but going way beyond that, as the president s own party fears it could lose control of the house come november giving democrats an opening to start impeachment proceedings. As President Trump weighs a possibility of a missile strike on syria, one that could come at any time, and as a president taunts russia, tweeting that missiles will be coming. Even as multiple officials insist no decision has been made. In the midst of all that, the access hollywood scandal is back, sources telling cnn that fbi agent who raided the home, office, and h