Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Victor Blackwell And Christi Paul 20180317

Affair with the president violated her nondisclosure agreement and could owe more than 20 million. President trump assembled a team for his 2020 run. Meanwhile, his team has been kicked off facebook for allegedly misusing data. Were covering all of this from a lot of different angles here. Abby phillip is live at the white house. We want to start with sara sidner with more details on the Stormy Daniels case. Yeah, this is pretty remarkable because its really the first time we have seen the president himself injected into the lawsuit. His attorneys have now filed on behalf of donald trump in this lawsuit that Stormy Daniels filed. But what has happened is his attorneys have filed and they are asking for 20 million in damages, saying that she broke the confidentiality agreement, and for each violation, theyre asking for 1 million. That was in the nondisparagement agreement, the agreement she signed saying every time she violates the agreement, its a million dollars. Theyre saying she has done that 20 times essentially. Very remarkable now because for a very, very long time, as you know, the president himself has never spoken about this. His personal attorney Michael Cohen, who created essential consultants llc to pay Stormy Daniels 130,000 to keep her quiet about her alleged affair with donald trump in 2006, he has been the only one who has come out and talked on behalf of the president saying that he knew nothing about this, he knew nothing about the deal, he knew nothing about the money, that he knew nothing about any affair and denied there ever was an affair. Then the white house has at times after being asked said the president denies there ever was an affair. Now, the president s attorneys are fighting back, saying that she owes them 20 million. We have also heard from the attorney representing her. He has been prolific across all of cnns properties and many other media agencies, talking about this case. Heres what he had to say about this now request to remove the case from the state courts and put it into federal courts and the 20 million that the president s lawyers say that his client owes them. The reason why they have engaged in this tactic is pretty clear. That is what they ultimately hope to do is move this case to a private arbitration thats going to take place in an Office Building somewhere far out of the view of the public, far out of view of any scrutiny. Because they want to hide the facts from the American People, and they dont want the American People to learn the truth about what happened with my client, what happened with the coverup, what happened with their efforts to intimidate her into remaining silent. Now, this case was filed by the president s attorneys on friday. And well be looking into the details and how this unfolds as the days go by. No doubt about it. Sara sidner, we appreciate it. As his lawyers prepare for another legal fight, the president is celebrating the firing of his former fbi Deputy Director. Cnns abby phillip is live at the white house. The president calls it a great day. Thats right. This is something ptd pt. Has wanted to see for quite some time. Its also drawing controversy because of the timing. The firing of Andrew Mccabe just two days before he was set to turn 50 and retire with a pension is drawing questions of whether it was motivated by the president s personal animus toward him. Attorney general Jeff Sessions made that decision very, very late last night, an 11th hour decision to fire mccabe, but he did it in response to an Ongoing Investigation that had been going on into mccabes conduct as it relates to the clinton investigation, investigations that the fbi had been looking into for several months and years. Now, that investigation, the internal investigation into mccabes conduct ended up with a recommendation he be fired. But mccabe had already resigned, so sessions had to decide whether to go ahead and do that. He ultimately did. Mccabe says that all of this leads back to President Trumps desire to get him out of the fbi because of the fact that he might be a witness in the special counsel investigation and also because President Trump has been attacking the fbi and Law Enforcement. Mccabe said this in a statement. This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally but to taint the fbi, Law Enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. Its prart of this administrations ongoing war on the fbi and the efforts of the special counsels investigation which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign not only highlights the importance of the special counsels work, highlights the importance of the special counsels work, so mccabe there pointing directly to the special counsel and also spoerpted by President Trumps tweet in which he said its a great day for the men and women of the fbi, a great day for democracy. Sanctimonious james comey knew about the corruption going on at the highest levels of the fbi. The president now directly in the middle of the controversy when it could have been just an internal investigation. Mccabe now has to decide how hes going to move forward, whether hes going to seek legal action to retain some of his pension, perhaps using the president s own tweets to bolster his own argument. Abby phillip for us, thanks. Joining me now is charlie dent of pennsylvania. Good morning to you. Good morning, victor. Let me start with the fiery statement from the former cia director john brennan in reaction to the firing of Andrew Mccabe. When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude and political corruption becomes known, you will take your place in the dust bin of history. You may scapegoat andy mccabe, but you will not destroy america. America will triumph over you. That apparently directed towards the president of the united states. Your reaction to that . Well, heres my reaction to the whole mccabe thing. First, we havent seen the Inspector General report. So i cant speak to whether or not mr. Mccabe was completely truthful or was he evasive in that investigation. I simply dont know. But this firing looks a bit forced, a bit rushed. Candidly, it looks like retribution and a bit vindictive. I think its unfortunate. The man said he was resigning, and on a friday night, before his 50th birthday, you know, hes fired to take away his pension. I dont like the optics of this. I really dont. And i have to tell you, it looks like the attorney general may have been browbeaten into this. Hes been publicly humiliated and shamed by the president on multiple occasions. And i just dont think this bodes well. And one other thing i wanted to say, too. We just had a special election on tuesday. And all this continuing chaos and drama that were seeing with the tillerson firing, mccabe firing, Stormy Daniels, all this stuff, this is having an impact on republicans down ballot. If people didnt get the message on tuesday, i hope they get it now. So do you expect to in the context of what you say is residual impact on republicans down ballot, should we hear from paul ryan . Should we hear from leader mcconnell on this specifically . And Stormy Daniels, and the firing of tillerson, and all of these other elements . Well, look. I have told my republican colleagues on multiple occasions, and were running into a major storm. A bigtime Hurricane Force wind. And were going to be defined by all of these issues swirling around us unless were able to identify our own brand and our own identity and our own districts. This is a fivealarm fire. We simply cant dismiss the election on tuesday to local events. That would be, just to say this is all about the candidates i think would be an overstatement and simply not the case. Its about these larger issues of this toxic political environment we find ourselves in. And thats my message to leadership, my message to my colleagues. What do you think the message is to the Law Enforcement community . The president in his tweet that abby just shared with us, called it a great day for the men and women of the fbi. A great day for democracy. What do you think the message is this sends to that agency . Well, it seems that the president , hes been battling with the fbi and certain elements of the Intelligence Community for some time. Like i said, i dont think its in the interest of the republican party, which traditionally has been the party of Law Enforcement to be engaged in this kind of a battle with the fbi. Again, i always had the sense that the rank and file fbi had pretty high regard for mr. Comey. I dont know what their relationship was with mr. Mccabe. I hadnt heard terrible things. I guess the point im making is comey and mccabe seem to have respect in the fbi by the rank and file. Im not sure what the message is that the president is sending there. Deputy director mccabe was questioned as part of the house intelligence russia probe. He will very likely have to speak to Robert Muellers part of the special counsels investigation into russian meddling and any potential collusion there with the campaign. The attorney general recused himself from all matters involving russia. In the context of mccabes role in the investigations, should he have recused himself from this decision to fire mccabe . Well, first, ill say the attorney general sessions was absolutely right in recusing himself on the russian probe. All of the documentation and all of the rules i had read suggested he did the right thing recusing himself. Should he recuse himself in the case of the firing of mccabe . Well, to the extent i cant speak to the extent mr. Mccabe is involved in the russia investigation. It would seem the attorney general is within his rights to fire in this case. I think thats probably whether its right decision or not is a completely different matter, but i think he was within his rights to terminate him. Congressman charlie dent, always good to have you. Thank you. Great to be with you. Coming up after the break, were talking to a former fbi special agent. Well get his thoughts on what sessions characterization of la lack of candor means in this firing of Andrew Mccabe, and representative dent just said its affecting the republican party. How does this affect the intel community. The department of Homeland Security says Russian Hackers targeted u. S. Power plants, factories, even water sources. Should we be worried about that . Whoop. Unexpected stop. Abdominal pain and diarrhea. sighing lets fly. No. All right. Okay, ill. Ill be right back. Pep in your step, kid. Your recurring, unpredictable abdominal pain and diarrhea may be Irritable Bowel Syndrome with diarrhea, or ibsd. Youve tried overthecounter treatments and lifestyle changes, but ibsd can be really frustrating. Talk to your doctor about viberzi, a different way to treat ibsd. Viberzi is a Prescription Medication you take every day that helps proactively manage both abdominal pain and diarrhea at the same time, so you stay ahead of your symptoms. Do not take viberzi if you have no gallbladder, have pancreas or severe liver problems, problems with alcohol abuse, longlasting or severe constipation, a bowel or gallbladder blockage, or are allergic to viberzi. Pancreatitis may occur and can lead to hospitalization and death. Viberzi can cause new or worsening abdominal pain. If you are taking viberzi, you should not take medicines that cause constipation. The most common side effects of viberzi include constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain. Stay ahead of ibsd with viberzi. Stay ahead of ibsd i am totally blind. And non24 can make me show up too early. Or too late. Or make me feel like im not really there. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442342424. Lets team up to get the lady of the house back on her feet. And help her feel more strength and energy in just two weeks yaaay the complete balanced nutrition of great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. Ensure. Always be you. This is the story of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters dark magic told in the time it takes to brew your cup. First, we head to vermont. And go to our coffee shop. And meet dave. Hey. Why is dark magic so spellbindingly good, he asks . Let me show you. Lets go. So we climb. Hike. See a bear. Woah. Reach the top. Dave says dark magic is a bold blend of coffee with rich flavors of uganda, sumatra, colombia and other parts of south america. Like these mountains, each amazing on their own. But together . Magical. All, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. Green mountain Coffee Roasters packed with goodness. I want to talk about the fbi Deputy Director Andrew Mccabes firing with somebody who knows the fbi quite well. Cnn Law Enforcement contributor steve moore, also a retired fbi special agent. Thank you so much for being here. Any time. We appreciate it. First and foremost, your reaction and perhaps if you know the reaction of people within the fbi community to whats happened in the last 24 hours. Well, i can tell you that in the last week or so, i have spoken to probably a dozen current and former agents about the entire mccabe situation. And there is a crisis of trust right now between the rank and file agents and headquarters. And its not so much based on political issues. Its based on the fact that headquarters seems to be doing things that traditionally the fbi is not allowed to do. And thats getting involved in politics. Whether its mccabes involvement or comey speaking publicly or mccabe speaking vicariously through papers. Theres some concern about the behavior of seventh floor at fbi headquarters. So sessions attorney general sessions characterized it as a lack of candor, part of the reason for this firing. What exactly does lack of candor mean to the fbi . Lack of candor or shortfall of candor is a term that every single fbi agent knows. They learn that day one at the fbi academy. They learn that even through the application procedure. The rule is this in the fbi. And its very simple. That if you lie, if you dont even tell the whole truth during an internal investigation, then you will be terminated. This is a bright line. This isnt a gray area. They fire people for that every single year. And even if what you are being investigated for would never rise to threaten your job, if you lie in any internal investigation, youre gone. One of the reasons is because that lie and the fact that you were caught lying goes into your file, then every time you take a case to court and youre about to testify, the defense attorney says, oh, hes already lied to the fbi. Will he tell the truth to the jury . So it is standard, and the word is always either lack of candor or shortfall of candor when somebody goes out the door. That makes sense to agents. So if this is proven true, theres not going to be any question about this firing among the agents. Okay, i want to read to you something that we just talked about. Former cia director john brennan tweeted out, but i want to get your take on this from your perspective, when the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude and moral corruption is known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dust bin of industry. You may escape andy mccabe, but america will triumph over you, seeming to direct that to the president of the united states. Do you believe that andy mccabe was scapegoated here . I have some feelings that the president and the administration were after andy mccabe. But that does not i mean, how big do people want to believe that this conspiracy would be . Because then you would have to get all of the office of professional responsibility, which is kind of the internal affairs at the fbi, everybody in the office of Inspector General at the department of justice, and you know, for this to be a firing that trump completely manipulated, then it would have to be a huge conspiracy. Right now, i think, yeah, its possible that they were after him. Its possible that they wanted him job. But could they bring it to this kind of conclusion . 48 hours before he was supposed to retire. If he lied, he handed himself over to them on a plate. Thats the bottom line. They couldnt have predicted that he would lack candor in an interview. Well have to see if those charges are true. But thats the deal here. I want to read you something that andy mccabe put out, because we are hearing from him this morning. Heard actually quite quickly after this news came down. He released a statement, and part of it reads as this. This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally but to taint the fbi, Law Enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. Its part of this administrations ongoing war on the fbi and the efforts of the special counsel investigation which continue to this day. Do you believe that do people in the fbi believe that they are at war with this president . The fbi agents in the field believe that fbi executive management and the and the white house are at war, yes, i believe they believe that. But the rank and file right now has some concerns about the credibility of people in executive management because theyre seeing things. Comey talking to the press about the Hillary Clinton thing. You dont do this. Its just so many things that an agent would never do. Do you believe that theres im sorry to rush you, i only have a second left, but do you believe theres a real threat to National Security because of all of this . I think that any time the president is criticizing an Intelligence Organization so openly and so viciously, that it could hurt the operations in that agency. Okay. Steve moore, really grateful for your perspective this morning. Thanks for taking time with us. Thanks. Still to come, the president s attorneys claim that porn star Stormy Daniels violated a nondisclosure agreement and could owe up to 20 million for what she said about her alleged affair with the president and that agreement. Those details are ahead. Also, we learned Russian Hackers have now tried to target power plants, even factories. Is our power grid Strong Enough or secure enough to stop them . You cant predict the market, but through good times and bad at t. Rowe price weve helped our investors stay confident for over 80 years. Call us or your advisor. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Howd i get this yard . Behind petes great looking yard, is his secret weapon. The scotts turf builder program. Its the best way to get the yard you want all year long, guaranteed. All it takes is 4 feedings, with a scotts solution for every season. And with a customized plan from the scotts my lawn app, your yard can look like petes. Its that easy. This is a scotts yard. Download the scotts my lawn app for your personalized plan. Brushing only reaches 25 of your mouth. Listerine® cleans virtually 100 . Helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. Never settle for 25 . Always go for 100. Bring out the bold™ 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. Welcome back. Im christi paul. Im victor blackwell. This morning, President Trump facing some backlash after praising the firing of his own former fbi Deputy Director. One of those critics is former cia director john brennan. He tweeted this. When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude becomes known, you may scapegoat andy mccabe, but you will not destroy america. America will triumph over you. Lets turn now to the Stormy Daniels saga. The porn actress could owe 20 million because she violated Confidentiality Provisions of a settlement agreement. Also, her attorney claiming she has been physically threatened to stay silent and alleged some of the accusations shes making against trump have occurred since he was in office. Joining us is Kurt Bardella and cnn political analyst josh rogin. Good morning to you. Good morning. We want to get to that element in a momen, but there was something just reported by the daily beast that i think we need to discuss first. This is in response to the firing of andy mccabe, an interview via email or a question via email. This was the response from the president s personal lawyer, john dowd, who said this. I pray the acting attorney general rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the fbi office of professional responsibility and attorney general Jeff Sessions and bring an end to the alleged Russia Collusion Investigation manufactured by mccabes boss, james comey, based upon a fraudulent and corrupt dossier. And then dowd wrote, he also said this. He told the daily beast that he was speaking on behalf of the president in his capacity as the president s attorney. So kurt, let me come to you. My read of this is through his attorney, the president is now hoping that rosenstein will fire mueller. Whats your read . I dont think hes hoping. It sounds more like hes ordering rosenstein to end the probe, to fire mueller. And if he doesnt, the president will fire him. I dont think you can look at this in any other way than when the president s personal attorney, who goes out of his way to say im speaking for the president , and he declared this needs to go away. The president has no problem with firing anybody at any level of the government, from cabinet secretaries to staff in the west wing over twitter, and we saw it last night with mccabe. If rosenstein doesnt do what trumps lawyer tells him to do, hell be next. Josh, do you get the same feel . And let me throw in, if the president wants to order rosenstein to fire mueller, he can do that without going through dowd and the daily beast, right . The question is will rosenstein do it or not. He can do it at any time. The question is, can he do it politically, and will the blowback be worse than the benefit . I think thats what theyre trying to game out here. I mean, listen, the whole theory of why they fired Andrew Mccabe over his failure to be totally honest, that didnt last 12 hours. The cover story didnt even survive the morning news cycle. Theyre being very open and blatant about their motivations here. And that is to create a political situation where the Mueller Investigation is untenable and where the firing of mueller can be defensible. Theyre not there yet, okay. Its clear that the political backlash of firing mueller would vastly overwhelm any political benefit that the president could have. It would set in stage a cascade of events that could lead to some really drastic things that could be very bad for the president and his team. But theyre trying as hard as they can to shift the publics perception of whats going on here. And doing so, you know, fired a 20year fbi veteran two days before his retirement. I want to move into the Stormy Daniels territory, because there have been a couple developments this morning. One of which is that President Trumps attorneys and Michael Cohen are now filing suit to have the case brought from california, from state legislature there, into federal hands. They want to take this on in the federal court. This lawsuit that shes filed. Does that suggest in any way, kurt, that the president knew about this nda, this nondisclosure agreement, that he has said for so long he didnt know anything about, and that his attorney said, i paid it from my own money. I took out a home loan so i could pay her off. I mean, how does this bring the president so much more closely into the fold here . Well, at times its almost laughable how flagrantly donald trump and those associated and acting on his behalf lie to the media about these things, when they become very clear that what theyre initially saying, their initial spin on things isnt true. We have already seen that. It wasnt necessarily Michael Cohen acting by himself. There were emails with the trump org on it. There were emails with other Trump Organization employees that were a part of this deal. I dont see that theres any way that donald trump isnt aware of all of these things going on in real time. Any lawyer is going to consult with their client, if you will, before taking this kind of action. Any lawyer is going to find out, is there any merit to what this other person is saying about you before agreeing to give them a sixfigure payoff a week before a president ial election. It doesnt pass believability that donald trump hasnt been intimately involved in every aspect of that, and now theyre almost formalizing that and recognizing that through this lawsuit. Josh, let me read again this tweet from former cia director john brennan. Because it is striking. And he speaks to the president here, when the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat andy mccabe, but you will not destroy america. America will triumph over you. He has tweeted out some strongly worded statements before. But this one this one is unique. Yeah, i think what youre seeing is, you know, around washington, the united states, really around the world, is increasing shock and anger, and pushback against what is widely viewed as the president s and the trump administrations assault on what we understand to be the institutions of not just america but the world order that both parties have held up for decade, if not longer. And the idea here is that most of what makes up america is not really the law, per se. Its the customs and norms by which we agree to interact with each other and have a government that has limits and has morals and integrity and respects institutions. And works in a way that is in the benefit of the American People and the world and not just to the benefit of the presidency. And this president doesnt seem to think that way. And you know, that attitude is now eroding those institutions in the view of brennan and many others. And we dont know how its going to turn out, but thats the fight going on right now. We just got new reporting from cnns gloria borger. This was just a couple minutes ago, actually. That statement that i just read that was reported by the daily beast from john dowd, that statement still holds. However, this is the reporting from gloria. He had earlier told the daily beast, which first reported the statement that he was speaking on behalf of the president , but soon corrected that to cnn. Dowds comment was not authorized by the president. A person close to the president told cnns evan perez, dowd was speaking for himself. So that is the reporting now from cnns gloria borger, that dowd was not speaking for the president , was not authorized to speak for the president. Thats from evan perez. Dowd was speaking for himself. Important krexz. Thank you, gentlemen. All right, before we go to break, we have abby phillip. Thank you both so much. What more do you have on this . Yes, this is really an Interesting Development this morning. It seems like the president s personal lawyer went off script, delivering a statement of pretty strident statement suggesting the president wanted Rod Rosenstein to fire Robert Mueller. Now thats being pulled back by sources by dowd himself and sources close to the president who said dowd was not add all speaking for the president in that respect. This is really important because up until this moment, the position of the president and his lawyers were that they wanted this investigation to continue to its conclusion. So the suggestion that Andrew Mccabes firing could be used as a justification for firing Robert Mueller and ending the russia investigation is one that would be a step farther than trumps attorneys had been willing to go up until this point. We have asked the white house for comment on this, and we received nothing yet, but we have heard on the mccabe situation, the white house does not intend to give any more statements beyond the president s tweet last night. This is clearly a situation that can quickly spiral out of control for this administration, as they try to keep these issues narrowly focused on where they are. Mccabe separate from the Mueller Investigation. Remember, mccabe said in his statement that he believed that his firing was all about the Mueller Investigation. So thats where we are at the moment. Were still waiting for the white houses official comment on these statements from the personal lawyer, john dowd. All right. Abby phillip from the white house, we appreciate it so much. Stay close. Were back in a moment. Why did i want a crest 3d white smile . Dinner date. Meeting his parents dinner date. So i used crest. Crest 3d white removes. 95 of surface stains in just 3 days. For a whiter smile. That will win them over. Crest. Healthy, beautiful smiles for life. But having his parents over was enlightening. You dont like my lasagna . No, its good. Hmm. Oh. Huh. [ both laugh ] here, blow. Blow on it. You see it, right . Is there a draft in here . Im telling you, its so easy to get Home Insurance on progressive. Com. Progressive cant save you from becoming your parents. But we can save you money when you bundle home and auto. Progresoh, look. Save you from becoming your parents. Another antiwrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® works in just one week. With the fastest retinol formula available. Its clinically proven to work on fine lines and wrinkles. One week . That definitely works rapid wrinkle repair®. And for dark spots, rapid tone repair. Neutrogena®. See whats possible. I neverunderwear thats this, but actually pretty. Leak always discreet boutique. Hidden inside is a super absorbent core that quickly turns liquid to gel. So i feel protected. And pretty. Always discreet boutique. Officials will meet next week to plan their response to russia after learning the kremlin is expelling 23 british diplomats. Russia is responding to the uk expelling 23 Russian Diplomats a few weeks ago and giving them a week to leave. Its because of the nerve agent attack on british soil earlier this month. The kremlin is taking it a step further, matching actions by the uk, and closing a ukcontrolled consulate and a cultural center. The statement from the uk says russias response will not change the fact of the matter. As part of the sanctions announced, the Homeland Security department accused russians of targeting the u. S. Power grid. While were learning more details, we have known russians have been targeting utilities for months. Our next guest wrote about the threat last sment. Joining us now is andy green brg, Senior Writer for wired. Good morning to you. The u. S. Power grid is probably too complex to cut power across the country all at once. So how big, how broad is the threat of these siper attacks . Its certainly serious. Believe it or not, hackers have been 3epenetrating the u. S. Gri and other grids for decades. But six months ago, a Security Firm warned us about something unusual, that state sponsored sophisticated hackers had gained deep enough access to the u. S. Grid that in a handful of utilities, they had actual handson controls. They had direct operational access. They could have started flipping switches. Now, the news this week is that the white house has pinned those attacks on the russian government. And thats especially serious because the russian government is simply so brazen. They have done things on the internet no one else has done, attacking our election, and they actually have turned off the power using cyberattacks in the past, and no other country in the world has done that. So how vulnerable is the u. S. To attacks like this . Speaking to security analysts, i have heard that it would be possible with persistent sophisticated attacks to take down power to a city for an extended period, to take down power to a region for a shorter period. Taking down power to the entire country would be, of course, very practically impossible. Any power shutdown, any blackout that hackers could cause would be temporary. Especially with the techniques we have seen. But russia has developed and used in ukraine in late 2016 a piece of malware called crash overwrite or some people call it destroyer. This was an automated grid attack. Imagine if russia were to plant that on perhaps a dozen power utilities at once and then trigger them simultaneously. That could be an unprecedented kind of regional or at least multiple city blackout, which would be a huge geopolitical event. What are the defenses . And are these power companies, is the u. S. Keeping up with trying to eliminate the threat . Well, were clearly not keeping up because hackers are getting operational access to American Power utilities. Now, after these blackout attacks in ukraine, which happened in 2015 and 2016, american regulators did go on a kind of road show warning American Power utilities, which are private companies, that they need to do a better job of patching their vulnerabilities, of separating their operational controls from the internet. And thats the real key here, is that there should be an air gap, no Internet Connection at all. But nonetheless, this keeps happening. Utilities seem to create these kind of sneaky connections. Sometimes theyre not even aware themselves of all the connections between their operational controls and the internet. And those need to be cut. That air gap needs to be concrete. So andy, we were talking about russia, but what about iran and north korea . There are reports theyre trying to improve their cyberattack capabilities . How advanced are they . There are reports north korea is probing the u. S. Power grid as well. Hints that iran is developing destructive, infrastructure disrupting cyberattacks, too. This is not just about russia. We dont know in what situation russia might actually pull the trigger on one of these attacks, but we have to think about the attack more broadly, that there are these rogue states out there. Our infrastructure is vulnerable and we cant really predict what the consequences of that will be. Andy greenberg from wired. Thank you so much. Thank you. Quick break. Were back in a moment. I am totally blind. And non24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442142424. Hesumatra reserve told in the time it takes to brew your cup. Lets go to sumatra. Wheres sumatra . Good question. This is win. And thats wins goat, adi. The coffee here is amazing. Because the volcanic soil is amazing. Making the coffee erupt with flavor. So we give farmers like win more plants. To grow more delicious coffee. That erupts with even more flavor. Which helps provide for wins family. And adi the goats family too. Because his kids eat a lot. All, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. Green mountain Coffee Roasters. Packed with goodness. Alright, i brought in high protein to help get us moving. And help you feel more strength and energy in just two weeks ill take that. Yeeeeeah ensure high protein. With 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. Ensure. Always be you. If these packs have the same number of bladder leak pads, i bet you think bigger is better. Actually, its bulkier. Always discreet quickly turns liquid to gel, for drier protection thats a lot less bulky. Always discreet. We the people. Are defined by the things we share. And the ones we love. Who never stop wondering what well do or where well go next. We the people who are Better Together than we are alone. Are unstoppable. Welcome to the entirely new expedition. Hall of fame quarterback jim kelly is fighting cancer again. Coy wire is here to show us what hes doing to kind of help hes helping other people through it as hes going through it. Strength through struggles. This difference maker is presented by the ford f150. Jim kelly is tough. Concussions, torn ligaments. Four straight super bowl losses. The real pain, he lost his only son hunter when hunter was 8 years old. Jim persevered through cancer twice and chemo. A prosthetic jaw, eight fake teeth, and unbearable pain in his face, but the pain in his life, perhaps the toughest challenge has begun. Cancer is back, and for a third time, hell attempt to conquer it. Take me back to when you first heard your doctor use the word cancer. Well, i think most people when they hear that word think about other people. I have been through so much in my life, and i couldnt imagine the word cancer coming into my life. I was worried about my wife, my two daughters. That i had already been through hell and back with seeing what my son went through with his genetic disease. And he fought for every day of his life. If he can do it, man, i know i can do it, because i have two beautiful daughters and i had a wife who sacrificed so much to spend time with me and make sure i was all right, that i was going to do it for everybody in our family. Ill not stop until we beat this thing. I know theres so many people on my bandwagon. Keep jumping on. Keep jumping on because we can make it a long, long way. And im passionate about it, no matter what i get into it, im passionate about it because i know through you, through everybody else, through social media, we can make a difference. As you can imagine, this journey has been tough for jims family and his friends. His wife jill posted a photo on instagram saying this, that while they were praying, getting ready to go up to new york city for more tests, she said that while she was praying for healing and a miracle, shes looked at the friends and realized that having friends praying for him is the miracle. You can go to yourcancergameplan. Com to help jim and others struggling with cancer. Pretty incredible. Thanks so much. So earlier this week, we have been talking about whats happening today with this breaking news update, as we have been watching all of these things unfolding over the week. Just minutes ago, President Trumps lawyer released a statement saying this, regarding mccabe, since mccabe was just fired. He said he praised acting attorney general Rod Rosenstein will continue the investigation or will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the fbi office of professional responsibility and attorney general Jeff Sessions, and bring an end to the alleged russian collusion investigation manufactured by mccabes boss, james comey, based upon a fraudulent and corrupt dossier. Dowd says he was speaking for himself, not on behalf of the president. Now, earlier, in an interview with the daily beast, he said he was speaking on behalf of the president. He quickly corrected that with cnns gloria borger, and evan perez found out through sources at the white house that the president did not authorize that comment from dowd. Dowd saying it was straight from him. Thank you so much for being with us. Fredricka whitfield is going to take you through the next few hours. Stay close. Broccoli cabbage beans get your vegetables without a side of gas. The activated charcoal in charcocaps adsorbs gas for fast gas relief, without passing the gas. Charcocaps. Put less boom in the room. Ii need my blood osugar to stay iin control. I need to cut my a1c. Weekends are my time. I need an insulin that fits my schedule. Tresiba® ready announcer tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. Dont use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Dont share needles or insulin pens. Dont reuse needles. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. Check your blood sugar. Low blood sugar can be serious and may be lifethreatening. Injection site reactions may occur. Tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. Taking tzds with insulins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. Your insulin dose shouldnt be changed without asking your prescriber. Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue, or throat, dizziness, or confusion. Ask your Health Care Provider if youre tresiba® ready. Covered by most insurance and medicare plans. Tresiba® ready wemost familiar companies,s but we make more than our name suggests. Were an organic tea company. A premium juice company. A Coconut Water company. Weve got drinks for long days. For birthdays. For turning over new leaves. And we make them for every moment in every corner of the country. We are the cocacola company, and were proud to offer so much more. Its hard to get all the daily thats why i love fiber choice. It has the fiber found in many fruits and vegetables, all in a tasty chewable tablet. Fiber choice the smart choice. I we worked with pg eof to save energy because wenie. Wanted to help the school. They would put these signs on the door to let the teacher know you didnt cut off the light. The teachers, they would call us the energy patrol. So they would be like, here they come, turn off your lights those three young ladies were teaching the whole school about energy efficiency. We actually saved 50,000. And thats just one school, two semesters, three girls. Together, were building a better california. Oh theres one. A the sea cow manatees in novelty ts . Surprising. Whats come at me bro . Its something you say to a friend. Whats not surprising . How much money matt saved by switching to geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. So this weekend, we start another year of introducing you to everyday people changing the world. People we call cnn heroes. After carol rosensteins husband was diagnosed with dementia, she began to feel him slipping away. She started to lose hope, and then one day, he sat down at the piano. I was seeing something magical happening before my eyes. The doctor told me that we were watching the power of music changing brain chemistry. Playing a Musical Instrument is like a fullbody workout for the brain. The music actually resurrected him. To watch carol and erwins full story, go to cnnheroes. Com. You can also nominate someone you think should be a 2018 cnn hero. Were always so glad to spend our mornings with you. We hope you make good memories today. Much more ahead in the next hour. We turn it over to fredricka whitfield. Morning, fred. Thank you so much. Have a great rest of your day. We have a lot going on today on this st. Patricks day. Its 11 00 on the east coast. Im fredricka whitfield. Newsroom starts right now. This is cnn breaking news. And we begin with this breaking news, just moments ago, cnn learned that President Trumps attorney is calling for an end