Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Ana Cabrera 20170722

Talk about campaignrelated matters including trumps position on policy issues important to moscow. This directly contradicts how sessions described their conversation. I want to bring in white house report erica tlan collins. Kaitlan, how is President Trump responding to this new report on sessions. Reporter well, it should be no surprise hes tweeting about it. In fact, he tweeted about it this morning along with a slew of other things. Lets put that tweet on the screen. Trump said a new intelligence leak from the amazon the Washington Post, this time against attorney general Jeff Sessions, these illegal leaks like comeys must stop. Now, its worth noting that in this tweet the president is not denying the substance of this the Washington Post report, but hes saying he believes the leaks are the problem. Now, Jeff Sessions has repeatedly said publicly that he did not discuss anything related to the Trump Campaign when he met with russian officials last year. Now, that contradicts this the Washington Post report that says u. S. Intel has picked up conversations from Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak who told his superiors back in russia that they did discuss policy issues, Campaign Issues that were relevant to russia when he met with Jeff Sessions. Now, all of this comes in light of the president publicly bashing Jeff Sessions in an interview with New York Times this week where he said he wouldnt have picked him to be his attorney general if he knew he was going to recuse himself from overseeing the russia investigation. And, kaitlan, the white house we know is also pushing back on the reports that aides are now researching the ins and outs of president ial pardons. What more can you tell us about that . Reporter yeah, the Washington Post also reported this week that trump aides and lawyers have been talking about pardons with him, that hes curious about the extent of his pardoning power and that theyve been discussing it. And the president seemed to confirm that this morning when he tweeted about pardons. He said, while ill agree the u. S. President has complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is leaks against us . Fake news. So this is the most notable of everything the president tweeted this morning, though he discussed james comey, Hillary Clinton and the like, this tweet is essentially confirming that the president is asserting his power to pardon whoever he thinks he should pardon. And hes not saying that its an option hes going to pursue, but he does seem to be leaving it on the table here. Now, its worth noting that his lawyer, jay sekulow, has told abc this week that the president is not considering pardoning anyone and that it is not an option thats on the table right now, ana. Well have to see. Kaitlan collins, thank you. Joining us to discuss, Cnn National Security analyst bob behr and Michael Zeldin, former federal prosecutor whos worked closely with special Counsel Robert Mueller in the past as part of the Justice Department. So, guys, this suggestion that sessions talked about a possible Trump Administration and russia policy issues with the Russian Ambassador is all according to this intercepted conversation, apparently, that the ambassador had with his superiors back in moscow. Bob, how much credence would you give the Russian Ambassador here . Is it possible he could be exaggerating or even lying to his bosses about just how close he was with sessions and what they discussed . No, hes not lying, ana. Hes a professional diplomat with a wonderful reputation inside russia. A russian diplomat, especially an ambassador, doesnt call up to moscow and make up stories. It just doesnt happen. And as far as intercepts go, as a former intelligence officer, you know, theyre the gold standard. I love them. And i right now with sessions changing his story every couple months, i would have to go with the intercepts and the Russian Ambassador kislyak, ana. So you believe russia over sessions here . You believe sessions could be misleading the American People and congress in his testimony . Oh, absolutely. Because theres no motivation for the Russian Ambassador to call up moscow and lie. It doesnt work that way. And sessions, you know, hes been changing his story all along that he didnt remember meeting the russians, oh, he met him as a senator but cant remember what happened. And then, you know, then trump has come out and said this is an illegal leak. In other words hes certifying this leak in a sense. Hes saying, yeah, its true and it shouldnt have been leaked. It may not have been leaked, but if sessions would tell the story, the true story of what happened, leaks wouldnt be happening. So, michael, how significant are these intercepted calls to muellers investigation . What does he do with them . Well, hell get the transcript of the call and hell see what is said. And hell see whether it bears on anything that has to do with the collusion aspect of his counterintelligence investigation. But i must say i take a little bit of a different point of view on this. I tend to credit the attorney general over kislyak on this in two respects. One is, one of these meetings that the senator had when he was on the Armed Services committee, which is one of these meetings, was in his role as Armed Services committee and so he could well have had some conversation about russia policy in his role as Armed Services committee senator. And that gets conflated with the second meeting which is that the Republican National convention which could just be on the state of the campaign. So you could theoretically have a conversation where at the Republican Campaign he says how are things going, kislyak to sessions. And sessions says, you know, pretty well, actually. Im surprised, were doing much better than i thought. In his office with his staff present. So there should be notes by his staff. Theyre having a more substantive meeting on matters related to the Armed Services committee. Kislyak reports these two things together and thats what creates the proposition that they had substantive conversations that were otherwise undisclosed. So i want to see more before im prepared to jump to the conclusion that Jeff Sessions is not being truthful here or that there really simply are two ships passing in the night each saying something which is mostly true but from a different point of view from each of them. So lets see how this plays out. Ill just im just not there yet. Okay. So so much to talk about here. The other big thing this week the president reportedly disturbed to learn mueller might go after his tax returns, the same returns the president has refused to release despite promises to do so. President trump also said this to the New York Times in that bombshell interview. Lets listen. Mueller was looking at your finances and your familys finances unrelated to russia, is that a red line . Would that be a breach of what is actual i would say yes. He says digging into his familys finances could be a red line, bob. As a former cia chief, when someone tells you dont look here, is that the very next place you look . Exactly. I mean, especially the finances. I mean, on any mole hunt, and this isnt a mole hunt of course, but you look for the money, follow the money. And the accusation is hanging out there that russians have been laundering money through trump incorporated. And does this somehow give some sort of control over trump. Until you look at the money, you cant understand these accusations of collusion or any coordination or any debt that trump owes to the russians. You have to answer that question. In my mind absolutely you have to answer it. Michael, youre an expert when it comes to financial crimes. That was the focus of your role in the Justice Department. Our sarah maur r murray is now eyeing trumps lineup particularly those with expertise in white collar financial crimes. Does muellers team of investigators suggest to you this is becoming a follow the money investigation . Yes, and ive thought that and said that. I think weve talked about it, ana, ourselves, that he has assemb assembled a group of lawyer who is have financial criminal law background. And i think that he understands that one of the questions he needs to answer is if there was collusion, what accounts of it, if there was some effort on any part of the Trump Campaign, whether it be manafort or his son or trump himself to do something that was favorable to russia in exchange for something else, theyll have to look to see whether money on indebtedness, whether it comes from manafort and his ukraine or flynn and his activities or whether its trump and his casino or his several properties. They have to look at all that stuff on that matter can i have you hold your thought for just a second . Yeah. The president s lawyer haves said that would be out of the scope of this investigation, especially if theyre looking into financial issues, documents, records from years ago because that has nothing to do with the campaign itself. Is it within their scope . Well, yes, the point that i think i want to make here is that it could provide an explanation for why trump and the ecosystem of people around trump behaved the way they did. If theres indebtedness or some level of gratitude or some current obligations that are due which could be called, they have to look at that to understand whether or not there is a motive for the collusion allegation. So it is basically Money Laundering 101. Ive said that when i was chief of the Money Laundering section in the Justice Department if any one of my lawyers didnt follow this lead, wed have a conversation about why not. And i think thats what mueller is doing here. Hes trying to figure out what the relationship is between prior business dealings potentially and current collusion allegations. Bob, do you see anything that could be considered off the table when it comes to the purview of this investigation . Oh, i agree with michael, absolutely not. Youve got to go way back. Even before the campaign. You have to look at the money. Theres so much out there with the Deutsche Bank loans, cypress, manaforts indebtedness to the russians. I mean, just look at the context of this whole thing and it stinks, frankly, ana. Jared kushner asking for a back channel, using russian communications, if this were a true spy investigation, all these people would be waiting out in the street. They wouldnt have their jobs anymore. Until the investigation were done. Interesting. If the president wanted to block it, then, bob, how does he block it . You know, he could fire mueller. He goes down there, you know, just keep ongoing through the fbi. But, i mean, this would be a constitutional crisis. And everyday from my view were moving toward one. Michael, do you see a solution if the president were to try to stop them from going down a certain road . Ive written about this previously on cnn. Com that i dont really think that the president has a tenable way to fire mueller without jeopardizing his presidency through some sort of political impeachment styled inquiry. Mueller can only be fired under the regulations if he acts with bad faith or has a conflict. And i dont believe that mueller will ever reach that level. And so if they were to try to fire mueller, it would be rosenstein who has to do that. And rosenstein said hed quit before he does that. And i think the people in the succession order behind rosenstein would likely do the same thing. So i think mueller is here to stay though, you know, you say that and then you take a swallow and think, well, but were talking about President Trump and he behaves in a ma cure yal way sometimes. And one could be on the losing end of a bet quite frequently if youre going to predict the future of what donald trump is going to do. But i think mueller is here to stay. The speculation that one of the reasons that theyre trying to damage sessions is that sessions will get, you know, so aggravated hell quit, then theyll appoint a new attorney general who himself wont be recused and that person will be loyal to the president and the president will then control the investigation. I just dont see that as a viable strategy. I think that senator burr understands that he sits in a pretty, you know, sort of famous seat in a sense. Its the seat sam irvin sat in during the watergate committee, from the same state no less, and i dont think hes going to let this investigation be politicized in that way. So i have faith that this is going to be what it is, muellers going to be investigating this. Hes going to look at the Financial Data to see whether its relevant. And then hell make a conclusion about whether anything was done that was indictable or not. All right, Michael Zeldin and bob baer, thank you so much. Coming up, sean spicer is out, theres a new Communications Team in town. Can the president s new communication director get the white house back on track . Plus, new fallout over the Police Shooting of a bridetobe. The Minneapolis Police chief has now resigned and protesters are demanding more heads roll. Caught on camera, a Big City Police department facing questions about planting evidence, after this body cam footage goes viral. When this bell rings. It starts a chain reaction. Thats heard throughout the connected business world. At t Network Security helps protect business, from the largest Financial Markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyberattacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. Keeping the world of business connected and protected. Thats the power of and. I enjoy the fresher things in life. Fresh towels. Fresh soaps. And of course, tripadvisors freshest, lowest prices. So if youre anything like me. Youll want to check tripadvisor. 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After roller coaster six months sean spicer is out, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer submitting his resignation yesterday just minutes before Anthony Scaramucci accepted the job of director. Sources say spicer adamantly opposed scaramuccis hiring. The president obviously wanted to add to the team more than anything. I just think it was in the best interest of our communications department, of our press organization to not have too many cooks in the kitchen. For his part, the president tweeted this, sean spicer is a wonderful person who took tremendous abuse from the fake news media, but his future is bright. Now, as for scaramucci, he used his first press appearance before the press corps at the white house to emphasize his love and loyalty for the president. The president s a winner, okay. And what were going to do is were going to do a lot of winning. I love the mission that the president has. I love the president. I obviously love the country. Hes genuinely a wonderful human being. I love the president. And im very, very loyal to the president. I love these guys, i respect these guys. I love the president. The president s phenomenal with the press. The president himself is always going to be the president. I think hes got some of the best political instincts in the world and perhaps in history. Hes done a phenomenal job for the American People. Hes the most competitive person ive ever met. Okay, ive seen this guy throw a dead spiral through a tire. Ive seen him at Madison Square garden with a topcoat on hes standing in the key and hes hitting foul shots and swooshing them. He sinks threefoot putts. Does it seem like he has a man crush there . Kind of seems like he loves the president. Joining me now White House Correspondent for Washington Examiner Sarah Westwood and alex hamlin, so, ellis, ill start with you. Scaramucci doesnt have the experience spicer had, but he did look comfortable up there at the podium. He also is a showman just like the president , of course. He speaks with those big hand gestures. He even blew the president and the press corps a kiss at the end of the briefing. He clearly learned rule number one which is love donald trump. How big of a a deal is this with a white house thats had a messaging problem up until now . But not since have we had someone who loved his leader in the same way. Donald trump had done 11 holes in one the last time he played golf. I dont know who this except for donald. But it is wrong to think of mooch as the new communication director of the white house because donald trump will always be the Communications Director in the white house. Well, and we heard mooch, as he likes to be called affectionately. Im trying. That is scaramuccis nickname and he embraces that. He has even said in this first press conference, let the president be the president , dont try to hold him back. That is probably a Winning Strategy for keeping ones job in the white house, let donald be donald. Not that you could stop him even if you tried, but its a fools errand to attempt it. But sarah, the New York Times Editorial Board was very tough on spicer when we talk about the white house and its messaging. After spicers resignation they called him a four Pinocchio Press Secretary and wrote this, from the beginning when apprehensive america wondered what was ahead you stood at the lectern at the white house and lied. Even though lots of people do it now, you were a trailblazer and nobody can take it away from you. Lets not say goodbye, lets just say you have no further comment. Ouch. I mean, we saw how contentious the relationship was between spicer and the press corps, but will scaramucci change that . Well, thats the kind of sentiment we heard from scaramucci yesterday that he wanted some sort of detente with the media, he actually said the words deescalate, thats the kind of thing he wanted. But at the same time theres a fear that scaramucci is cut from the same cloth as President Trump that he could amplify trumps worst impulses when it comes to chaotic messaging strategy, when it comes to straying off topic, drawing attention back to his negative simply because he cant let a false charge or an unfair charge lie. Those are the kinds of things that i think sean spicer in some of the more Traditional Press aides who come from a more traditional political background have tried to do to stop that kind of behavior, to try to add some more traditional conventional structure to the messaging strategy. And that hasnt always worked. And in fact its sometimes backfired when they tried to Say Something that then the president directly contradicts. We might see less of that with Anthony Scaramucci because he is so similar to the president because they have similar backgrounds. Interesting. Right. So speaking of scaramucci and his background, he hasnt always been so loyal to the president. In fact, he said this in the past prior to being appointed as the new com director. Hes a hack politician. Oh, youre in trouble now. Hes probably going to make Elizabeth Warren his Vice President ial nominee. You got to cut it out now and stop all this crazy rhetoric spinning everybody youre an inherited money dude from queens county, bring it, donald. Hes had some pretty critical tweets as well. And today scaramucci comes out and tweets this, full transparency, im deleting old tweets, past views evolved and shouldnt be a distraction. I serve at the president of the United States agenda and thats all that matters. I mean, speaking of the president s agenda, alice, some of these tweets are in support of Hillary Clinton saying the wall wont work, bashing the president s plan to build a wall at the border. We know how much loyalty is important to the president here. Could these past tweets come back and haunt scaramucci . Well, you are right that loyalty in the Trump Administration is like fifth avenue, its a oneway street. But you know what, ana, you cannot delete a tweet anymore. This is not nixon and the tapes. Any tweet that you try to delete is actually in 50 places that all of us can get it. So its probably the right symbolic gesture but aint nothing going to disappear ever. Sarah, scaramucci revealed he wont be reporting to the chief of staff like most Communications Directors do, rather hes going to report directly to the president. Do you think this will create more staff divisions or actually smooth over some of the issues . Well, clearly there was a divide within the west wing about the president s decision to bring scaramucci on board. Sean spicer wasnt the only one vehemently opposed to this move. Chief of staff Reince Priebus was opposed, steve bannon, the chief strategist also did not want scaramucci to come onboard. In conversations with people familiar with the process what we were hearing was that the president wanted sean spicer basically to continue fulfilling the duties that would traditionally fall to a Communications Director but have Anthony Scaramucci take on more of a public facing role because the president really enjoyed the way scaramucci has been defending him on television lately. Now, sean spicer obviously was opposed to that, but clearly now youre going to have another competing power source within the white house when you already have so many. You have ivanka trump, Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus, steve bannon, dana powell, gary cohn, all with their own agenda, some working together, but clearly this is one more layer of someone else, another Big Personality with the direct pipeline to the president , im sure well see more of this palace intrigue in the weeks ahead. And cnn is reporting that it was ivanka and Jared Kushner who wanted scaramucci to be appointed this new position while, like you said, Reince Priebus, sean spicer, steve bannon, they were on the other side. Look who won out there. Thank you both for joining us. Just a quick programming note, Anthony Scaramucci will be jake tappers guest tomorrow on cnns state of the union, stay tuned for that at 9 00 a. M. Eastern and pacific. Coming up, forced out, the Minneapolis Police chief loses her job after that deadly Police Shooting of a woman who called 911. And now protesters are demanding another top official step down. 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Theres new fallout in the wake of a deadly Police Shooting in minneapolis when a bridetobe was shot and killed as Police Responded to her call for help. The police chief has now resigned. And protesters say its not enough they want the mayor gone too. Their anger boiling over during a press conference last night. We dont want you as our mayor of minneapolis anymore we ask you to take your staff with you. We dont want you to appoint anybody anymore. Your leadership has been very ineffective and if you dont remove yourself, were going to put somebody in place to remove you. All that anger over the death of Justine Ruszczyk shot by an officer after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault. Cnns ryan young has been covering the story from the beginning. He was there for the dramatic scene last night. Ryan, whats the mayor saying now for the calls for her resignation . Reporter it was amazing last night. You could feel the explosive anger when people walked in the room last night they were angry, you could make sure their voices were heard. I asked the mayor would you step down or resign, she said no. Keep in mind shes in the middle of a reelection campaign. So a lot feel this was partially political for her to make the police chief step down. The police union for its part is asking for the mayor to step down. They believe her leadership is ineffective at this point. But so far when you talk to community members, they really want to see more transparency, especially when it comes to these Police Involved shootings because they say they are tired of innocent people being shot. Ryan, i know there was a new witness now to last saturdays shooting that suddenly has emerged, a bicyclist. What can you tell us about this . Reporter you know, that has been the big mystery in this case because obviously we heard from the driver of that car, not from the partner who fired that shot, and people knew that the investigators were looking for a man seen on a bicycle. Weve now learned from state investigators they were able to talk to him. They didnt release any Additional Information in this. In fact, they went onto say they wanted anybody else who may have witnessed something to step forward. We know there was a canvas done in that neighborhood. [ technical difficulties ] ryan, i got to step away. We cant hear you. There are audio issues. Sorry about that. Ryan young, thank you very much. Coming up, more questions about police misconduct, this time in baltimore. Caught on camera, Police Officer under scrutiny there for what he was allegedly seen doing on his own body camera. We break down the video next. When heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. 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Palo, i understand the department is launching an investigation into some of these other cases the officers are involved in. About 100 cases. The Baltimore City attorney wanting to examine them see if there are perhaps other ways of proving those because one of the investigators in question here was directly involved with these cases. Meanwhile, baltimore Police Department facing a challenge of their own and thats maintaining public confidence. If perception is reality, then this video does not help Police Community relations in baltimore. Watch as the officer wearing the body camera appears to stuff a baggy of heroin into a can during a january drug bust. He and his fellow officers walk away, only to return a few seconds later. This time the devices microphone is active. Going to go check here. Reporter after scanning over debris the officer finds what appears to be the same can containing the same drugs. Was this officer intentionally planting evidence, or recreating when and where the narcotics were initially found . An internal investigation will have to determine that, says commissioner kevin davis. If our community thinks that there are Police Officers who are planting evidence during the course of their duty, thats certainly something that will keep me up at night. Reporter this is the latest controversy to rock a Department Struggling with growing public distrust. None of them are perfect. And there are going to be things that are going to happen. Thats going to create some concern. Reporter in march, seven baltimore investigators were arrested as part of a federal racketeering takedown. The group is accused of robbing people and defrauding their department. On friday two of the suspects officers pleaded guilty in court. And Police Community relations reached a breaking point in 2015 after the death of freddie gray while in custody. Residents clashed with police in the streets following the incident, all of the officers involved were eventually cleared of wrongdoing causing further division between the community and police. Cedric alexander, a former top Law Enforcement official, believes bridging that gap requires action on both sides. We cannot give up on each other. Police need community, Community Needs police. And we have to find a way in order to continue to build that trust and build those relationships. Reporter baltimore may be taking a step in that direction with commissioner davis promising transparency by releasing the body camera video. And accountability it sounds like as well as theyre looking into these other cases. But palo, something isnt adding up, because wouldnt have that officer known his body camera was on . Its a fair question. And the way the body cameras work, especially the one the officer was wearing, the moment you hit the trigger to begin recording, to initiate that recording process, that camera automatically captures the 30 seconds before the camera started to record, which means this officer, or at least one would assume that the officer knew that that camera was watching. Ultimately though the investigation will have to provide that. Will have to provide that answer. But as you heard in our piece and as the Baltimore Police commissioner said, really perception is reality. These pictures do not look very good meanwhile these officers, one of them is off the job, two are on administrative leave until we find an answer to that key question. What did he do . Keep us posted, Palo Sandoval, good to see you. Thanks. Coming up, made in america week, were hopes for the president dashed himself . Well discuss next. Ackages. 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Heres what else happened during made in america week, the president blasted his own attorney general and refused to rule out firing special Counsel Robert Mueller during a New York Times interview. He also shook up his Communications Team by adding Anthony Scaramucci and losing sean spicer. I want to bring in our political commentators mark lamont hill, and professor at temple university, and also with us harlan hill, a political consultant who sits on the president s advisory board. Gentlemen, this is a lightning round, that means youll have 30 seconds to answer each question. Youll each get a chance to answer each question. And youll hear this when your time is up. Listen. All right, guys, lets have fun. Harlan, ill start with you here. This was supposed to be made in america week. Health care reform was the other big agenda item. And then President Trump had his interview with New York Times, that set off a whole chain of other news, shifted attention back to the russia investigation. Does the president have some hard times getting out of his own way . Well, look, the media can focus on whatever it wants to, but president donald trump, if he does nothing else but what he did in his first week as president , which was withdraw the United States from negotiating tpp, he has saved millions of american jobs. And he has kept that promise to make things in america again. But it goes further than that. You know, you look at the 4 trillion thats been added to the market capitalization here in the United States, its 4 trillion in american wealth created just in the First Six Months of this administration. Constructions up 6 , minings up 20 something percent. This president has a whole host of successes you guys should be talking about. Okay. I apologize, i dont know if you heard my question, harlan, but ill give mark a crack at answering it. Go for it. Well, i mean, thats the great thing, harlan just kind of modeled what trump does, right . He hears the question and says im going to answer whatever i want to answer. I think its a pretty interesting choice that trump has made this week trying essentially to divert americas attention from those things which we have been obsessed with and concerned with regarding russia, regarding these investigations, regarding potentially firing the investigators. And so made in america is a great set of props, its a great set of sort of distractions, but seeing donald trump for the record, you can always finish your sentence if you hear the buzzer. But lets move forward. Lets talk about sean spicer and the big news there. He was elevated to prominence, of course, a few press secretaries have achieved because of moments like this. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period, both in person and around the globe. When we use words like travel ban, that misrepresents what it is. Ive said it from the day that i got here until whatever that there is no connection. Youve got russia. If the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow thats a russian connection. Ive not asked the president since the last time we spoke about this. And i havent spoken to him about it on the reason. I honestly dont know. I havent asked him that specific question. So people soon wont forget the name sean spicer, but how significant is his departure . We though people come and go from the white house all the time. Its certainly a significant departure for the cast of snl and for those of us who make our living commenting on media because he was such an extraordinary figure. He was obviously a target for laughter, but he also represented a particular disposition toward the media that i think while funny at times was also very, very dangerous. I dont think that changes with the shuffling in and out of people. But spicer in many ways was a lightning rod for a bigger problem which is the Trump Administration has waged war on the media and made the media the enemy as opposed to protectors of democracy. Harlan, how do you see the significance of spicers departure . Well, i see it as a positive step forward for the Trump Administration. I believe that the white house needs to do a better job of communicating the successes of the president. And i did the success. The white house it can finally do that now with Anthony Scaramucci. I know him, i know him really well from doing television with him. Hes an effective communicate their gets the president. And for once hes an adviser to the president thats not trying to change him. That is a really positive development. Harlan, the new book is about the inner workings of the president ial campaign. You know the president and you know scaramucci. But there was an early endorsers Chris Christie had a falling out because president obama was going to call christies phone, but donald trump is a germophobe and you look at the resignation of sean spicer while he demands loyalty he doesnt return the favor . Absolutely not. When scaramucci had trouble getting through the initial process of joining the White House Team the president remained loyal to him. Six months later he has found a leading role for him in the white house. The president has demonstrated that hes one of the most loyal people in politics. Certainly more loyal than just about anyone i can think of in washington and as someone who has crossed party lines to support the president i can tell you from firsthand experience how disloyal Many Democrats can be just because you you have some differing politics. The president even though you disagree with him is loyal to you. He doesnt stab you in the back. Marc, do you agree . The president is loyal to you as long as you agree with him and you dont investigate him. Under those circumstances youre just fine. I think one of the things we have seen in the last few months is that trump will very quickly throw you under the bus and whenever theres a failure he refuses to take responsibility for that failure and he puts it on his team and then he throws the team under the bus. And of course, you know, he loves Jeff Sessions, Jeff Sessions until he doesnt anymore. He loves everybody. Really. Until suddenly they make a turn or a pivot away from him. James comey same thing. For me, hes a model of selfinterest and really disappointing to see just how so flagrant he is. All right. Mark, we heard your voice, your picture froze. So were going to end there. Marc and harlan, thank you both for joining us for that lightning round. 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Whats worse . Snakes on a plane or bare feet on a plane . The disembodied feet reminded one commenter of thing from the addams family. But double and worse. Actually, we have seen worse. Ponytails over the seat back. A passenger during a head stand. A guy who took off his jeans and lounged in his boxers with his feet up. A passenger with his belly exposed and a pillowcase over his eyes so he didnt have to see himself. Which would you prefer . The feet were attached to a woman. Jessy described her as a short woman in her 40s. For once, not manspreading. This would be what, foot spreading . Then they became even more foot loose. Her left foot kind of reached over and pulled up the window shade. Then pulled it back down. When jesse tried to signal a Flight Attendant the feet retracted but at least they had closed the shade. Thus avoiding a repeat of the old Twilight Zone episode in which William Shatner sees a creature out on the wing. The episode was entitled nightmare at 20,000 feet and a nightmare of two feet is the sequel. Well, thank you very much. Nice of you to do this. Jeanne moos, new york. Top of the hour now. Youre in the cnn newsroom. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with us. I want to get to the new action from congress for punishing moscow. They reached a deal just today that if passed would give congress unprecedented ability to block the Trump Administration from easing any sanctions on russia. This as we get a stunning report on attorney general Jeff Sessions preelection meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Kislyak told his moscow bosses that he and sessions did in fact talk about campaign relate