Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20171127

The president s legal team they can no longer share information. And insults and lies. President trump attacking the news media and insulting native americans in the oval office while reportedly telling people privately that the access hollywood videotape, which he apologized for, was not authentic. Is the president s thin skin going to lead to harassment or harm of reporters around the world . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Were following breaking news, including a federal Court Hearing here in washington over who is in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Two people are claiming to be acting director following the resignation of the former chief richard cordray, who is one is leandra english, who served as his deputy. The other is the white house budget director Mick Mulvaney named by President Trump. Both showed up at the bureau today. Also breaking this hour, the future of the republican tax overhaul plan is increasingly uncertain with another gop senator now voicing deep concerns. Steve danes of montana just put out a statement demanding changes to protect Small Businesses. And another gop senator has already said hes a no vote, and at least half a dozen other republican senators have yet to commit to the bill. Republicans can only lose two votes and still pass the measure, which they plan to vote on this week. And the white house is also facing questions about controversial new comments by President Trump. Just a short time ago, he took a dig at democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, calling her pocahontas while speaking at an event honoring a group of native americans. And the New York Times is now reporting that mr. Trump suggested to a senator and one of his advisers that the inma plus access Hollywood Tape was not authentic. Mr. Trump himself acknowledged and apologized for the tape after it was made public. The white house says his position has not changed. Were covering all of that and much more this hour with our guests, including congresswoman Kathleen Rice of the Homeland Security committee. And our correspondents and specials are also standing by. Lets begin with the controversial new comment by President Trump. Our senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny is joining us with the latest. Jeff, the white house denies President Trump used a racial slur in front of a native american group. Reporter wolf, the president has often used derogatory terms to call his political rivals, but seldom has he done it in the oval office, carrying so much more weight, but that is exactly what he did this afternoon with senator Elizabeth Warren, referring to her as pocahontas as he was honoring navajo indians who fought in the second world war. Wolf, all of this was happening under the watchful eye of andrew jackson. Of course he was a president who presided over so many deaths of native americans years ago. That caused silence to fall over the room. I was in the oval office and i can tell you veterans were stunned there as the president called senator warren pocahontas. President trump is dusting off his salesman hat tonight, trying to salvage the republican tax plan facing a vote in the senate. Its a critical week for the trump presidency. With his only major legislative victory hanging in the balance. How is the tax bill going, sir . I think the tax bill is going very well. We had a meeting on it today. Its going to be a tremendous tax cut. Reporter and a critical month ahead for republicans. With a yearend spending bill looming to keep the government open. I think the tax bill is doing very well and i think the republicans are going to be very proud of it. Reporter but the white house and Republican Leaders are still scrambling to make changes to the 1. 5 trillion tax package in hopes of winning over at least Six Senate Republicans who arent sold on the bill. Senator ron johnson has said hell vote no, senator steve danes is opposed to the bill as it currently stands. Susan collins, bob corker and jeff flake also are voicing concerns, with senator john mccain perhaps the biggest wildcard of all. If we win, well get some Democratic Senators joining us. Reporter so far, that seems unlikely. But in the oval office today while honoring navajo indians who fought in world war ii, mr. Trump made a crack at one of his democratic foes, senator Elizabeth Warren, who has has branded pocahontas. You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her pocahontas. Reporter the call the rally insensitive remark may have been lost on those in the oval office but not on warren. It is deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heros without having to throw out a racial slur. Reporter later at the white house briefing, press secretary Sarah Sanders defended the president and said it wasnt a racial slur. She took aim at warren, who faced controversy during her senate race over claiming native american heritage. I think that senator warren was very offensive when she lied about something specifically to advance her career. I dont understand why no ones asking about that question and why that isnt constantly covered. Reporter all this as the Alabama Senate race still hangs over washington. The president would not say whether he would campaign in the state. Mr. President , will you go to alabama . Reporter sanders said the president would not go to alabama, despite embracing moores candidacy last week. The controversy has reopened a debate from when the access Hollywood Tape surfaced before the election. With mr. Trump bragging about the assault of women. And when youre a star, they let you do it. Reporter while briefly apologizing for it at the time i said it. I was wrong. And i apologize. Reporter trump has been telling people the tape was a fake, the New York Times reported. As he explained why he believes moores denials from women accusers in alabama. Sanders pushed back on that today. Look, i said that he had already addressed it and that we didnt have any updates to that. I said what he didnt like and what he found troubling were the accounts that are being reported now. But what accounts are being reported now that werent reported last year . What accounts are you talking about . The ones that are current that hes questioning. Reporter so, again, we tried pressing the White House Press secretary for exactly where the president stands on that old access Hollywood Tape. Of course right before the election he said, i did it, im sorry, i apologize, but there is this new reporting from the New York Times he said since that copy of the tape is a fake. Sarah sanders said he stands by his original position but did not answer further questions. She said the media has been misrepresenting the coverage of that old access Hollywood Tape. Wolf . Jeff zeleny at the white house. Thanks very, very much. Lets in get moreover the battle who is in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Our justice reporter Laura Jarrett is working this story for us. The issue is in federal court right now. Thats exactly right. White house budget director Mick Mulvaney says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is open for business and his name is on the door. Hes pushing back on any assertion that that agency is in chaos while lawyers for the bureaus Deputy Director, leandra english, say that under federal law she must serve as the acting director until the president s permanent pick is confirmed by the senate. Now, of course, aside from who is legally entitled to run this watchdog agency, senator is also a battle of who can do the job better. With democrats worried that mulvaney could dismantle protections for consumers while mulvaney told reporters just a short time ago that the bureau under the Trump Administration will be dramatically different. Take a listen. This agency will stay open. Rumors that im going to set the place on fire or blow it up or lock the doors are completely false. Im a member of the executive branch of government. We intend to execute the laws of the United States. Including the provisions of dodd frank that govern the cfpb. That being said, the way we go about it, the way we interpret it, the way we enforce it will be dramatically different under the Current Administration than it was under the last. Anybody who thinks that a Trump Administration of cfpb would be the same as an Obama Administration cfpb is simply being naive. Elections have consequences at every agency and that includes the Carly Fiorina fb. Cfpb. Each claiming to be the interim head of the agency in dueling emails to the staff. Legal experts tell me, wolf, there are no easy answers here and a federal judge is going to have to be the one to decide. Laura, thank you very much. Laura jarrett reporting for us. Also following another setback for Senate Republicans as they scramble to lock down support for the tax overhaul bill under a looming deadline. Lets go for Phil Mattingly up on capitol hill. Another gop senator has just joined the list of holdouts. Reporter thats right, senator steve danes of montana. His issue is similar to one weve heard from senator ron johnson from wisconsin, about passthroughs, Small Business entities like partnerships or scorps that pay taxes through the individual side of the tax cut. The proposals have a significant cut for those entities but steve danes and ron johnson say thats not going far enough. Theyre asking for something that is competing demands for republican leereds at they try to scramble to get these votes. While they want more money to be spend and allow these passthroughs to have a bigger tax cut, that competes with say the red sox who want deficits to be considered, people like jeff flake, people like john mccain, people like bob corker who have raised significant concerns that this 1. 5 trillion package wont pay for itself in economic growth. Something weve seen an awful lot of analysis up to this point proves to be correct. You have people have Susan Collins very concerned about the individual mandate from obamacare, that repeal in this bill. Basically what you have is a lot of senators who have a lot of demands and gop lowered whos only have a for you days to try to assuage those concerns. John cornyn, the number two in the senate, said they plan to have at least a procedural vote on this as soon as wednesday. Things are moving very quickly behind the scenes. Im told changes are already being made, but were going to get an early test of that tomorrow, wolf. Consider this proposal before it goes to the floor. That committee only has a 12 to 11 advantage for republicans. Senator johnson isnt happy, he can sink that as soon as tomorrow, wolf. Well we watching that very, very closely. Phil mattingly, thank you very much. Lets get some more on all of this, democratic congresswoman Kathleen Rice of new york is joining us. Shes a member of the house Homeland Security committee. Congresswoman, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, wolf. Lets talk taxes for a moment. Republicans clearly feeling a lot of pressure right now to deliver on tax reform. Do you think thats going to be enough to get this bill over the finish line before the end of the year . I personally dont think so. I mean, the more the American People are learning about what exactly is contained in either proposal, the house or the senate tax bill, they dont like it. I can tell you from new york state, we have a bipartisan representation of house members on long island, for instance. Four of us, two democrats and two republicans, and the republicans are not supporting the house bill. It is its going to its a giveaway to the rich, to the rich people in this country. And to big corporations on the backs of the middle class, seniors, through medicare cuts that are going to be interevtable inteevitable to pay for this tax reform bill, and i think the longer we go the more time people have to actually absorb what its going to mean to them in their daytoday lives and the public is going to outcry and say we dont want this plan. This is what knot what the president says its going to be, which is a Great Big Christmas present for everyone. Its going to mean bigger taxes, more taxes for more people across this country. But congresswoman, even those two republican congressmen from long island voted against the house tax plan, it still passed overwhelmingly in the house of representatives. It got through relative easily, right . I wouldnt say easily. I mean, they were looking for votes. They knew how many they could sacrifice, so i guess they gave a break to meme in states like new york, which are going to see some of the biggest hits. I can tell you that even republicans that im talking to, wolf, in the state of new york and across this country are saying they dont want this bill to pass. It would have been nice if it had been a bipartisan effort. We havent had tax reform in 40 years. And in order for it to be really comprehensive and benefit all people, it would have been nice to have some democrats at the table. They wanted to go this one route and i think theyre going to end up regretting that decision. In the Senate Version of the tax bill, they repeal the individual mandate, the obamacare individual mandate. Is that a tax . Well, look, if you want tax reform if you want people to have access to health care, you have to have Healthy People buying into the system. Thats what the mandate is. If you talk to a lot of republicans, wolf, and said do you like the mandate, theyd say, no, no, no, no. What about if we had an automatic enrollment system . That i have no problem. Whether you call it a mandate or auto enroll, the point is the same. To get Healthy People into the system so the burden can be borne across the board. I think what were going to see if they repeal the mandate, this is going to affect americans all over the country. Tens of millions of people are going to lose their Health Insurance and the republicans are going to have to answer for that. The Congressional Budget Office says about 13 Million People who have Health Insurance would lose their Health Insurance over the next ten years. Maybe 4 million over the next year or two. On a separate but very sensitive issue, why do you think President Trump is attacking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau right now . Because he wants to give a gift to Financial Institutions and his friends in this country. I mean, there is no other reason to explain why you would try to gut an agency that whose sole purpose is to protect consumers. And what we need to do is bring americans back to 2007 2008 and the economic, you know, tsunami that we had. That was because, you know, people were being duped into buying homes that they couldnt afford. You know, Financial Institutions were making out like bandits and regular americans were left holding the bag. The consumer firearm Protection Bureau really was created to be the voice for consumers. And theyve actually returned billions of dollars to consumers in protection, you know, in making cases where consumers were being taken advantage of through whatever Financial Institution was trying to, you know, whatever scheme they were trying to push. If we do not have this agency, and, you know, look, i heard mik mull vain and say before to the victor goes spoils. Did you think a trump cfpb was going to be like an obama one . Well, maybe not, but i certainly dont expect this agency under this administration to be run by someone who voted to do away with the agency and get rid of these protections for consumers. So this is another issue where we need the voters to kind of educate themselves about this issue. Understand how important it is to keep this agency going to protect consumers, especially, you know, when youre, you know, working in this kind of climate right now with the tax reform bill that they want to pass. Lets turn to the issue of Sexual Harassment and assault up on capitol hill. Was senator al frankens apology today enough to merit him staying in the u. S. Congress . What do you believe . I dont think so. I think if you ask any person on the street, do you think the action that cbs took with charlie rose was appropriate . Or louis c. K. Or anyone else in hollywood, Harvey Weinstein they would say, yes, they took the right action. Why cant we do the same thing in washington . What is so problematic, and the reason why im being so vocal on this issue, wolf, is because what we are saying in washington is that there is a set of rules that apply to people who are not politicians in washington and there a totally different set of rules that apply to elected officials serving in congress. And thats why there is such distrust of government and Congress Just in general across the board. People are seeing us circle the wagons and protect our own. Whether its donald trump not coming out against roy moore and supporting him to the extent that he is or if its nancy pelosi protect pentagon john conyers and saying that she leaves it up to him to make the right decision. I think thats ridiculous. I called on john conyers to resign. For all of these women who make these have made these credible allegations, wolf, there were to a story professional repercussions for every single one of those women harassed. There should be repercussions for every single harasser. It seems that the private sector has it right and us in congress dont. Guess what . We werent elected by a board of directors in washington, we were elected by the people, and whats important is that when scandals like this happen, we cant circle the wagons and protect our own. There is no reason for the public to trust us if we cant even call people out and say you have betrayed the public trust and there has to be a consequence. So you want conyers and franken to resign . I think they should. I think thats what most people feel would be an appropriate consequence for these elected officials. And, you know, if we can do it in the private sector and we all applaud what happened to Harvey Weinstein and everyone else in the private sector, why cant we do it here . I dont think its enough to say al franken you should apologize and thats good enough or john conyers, you have to step down from your leadership position but you can stay as a congress person. What is cbs said to charlie rose after all of those horrible allegations that were all found to be credible, you know what, instead of putting you in prime time, were going to put you in a time not as many see you. People would be outraged by that. Thats not a real consequence. In washington, stepping down from a powerful committee is not a consequence either. Ive got to take a quick break. Well resume our conversation right after this. It can detect a threat using ai, and respond 60 times faster. It lets you know where your data lives, down to the very server. It keeps your insights from prying eyes, so theyre used by no one else but you. It. Is. The cloud. The ibm cloud. The cloud thats designed for your data. Ai ready. Secure to the core. The ibm cloud is the cloud for business. Yours. I mwell, what are youe to take care odoing tomorrow 10am . Staff meeting. Noon . Eating. 3 45 . Uh, compliance training. 6 30 . Sams baseball practice. 8 30 . Tai chi. Yeah, so sounds relaxing. 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The outside world does not see the truth from them. He then followed with another tweet this morning, which said, we should have a contest as to which of the Networks Plus cnn and not including fox is the most dishonest, corrupt and or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite president , me. They are all bad. Winner to receive the fake news trophy. Whats the impact of these kinds of tweets . I think when you read these you see how this is really one mans attack on one channel. So say excludeing fox, which has really just become an arm of the administration, shows that the president as thinskinned as he is, he does not he cannot countenance people giving truthful stories about him that may shed him or his administration in a negative light. And this when he talks about fake news, if you travel anywhere in this world and you see the effects of russias interference and their fake news propaganda in countries all across the world, this is really stuff. And for the president to talk about this as if, you know, the fake news began and ends with begins and ends with cnn and other News Agencies in this country just because he doesnt like the reporting of him and his administration, is so disturbing its beyond words. I mean, russia has made attempts to upset democracies all across the world. We know this for a fact. He until is the only person in this country who will not acknowledge the interference by russia in the 2016 elections. And i just dont know when this is going to end and when hes going to just admit it and move on and understand that this is an issue of National Security for us in this country to not allow a foreign, not friendly country interfere into our elections. Congresswoman rice, thanks for joining us. Thank you so much, wolf. Coming up, new questions about whether the former National Security adviser Michael Flynn will cooperate with special counsel Robert Muellers investigation of the Trump Campaign. Also coming up, more on the breaking news as the white house defending President Trumps use of a word many consider a racial slur against native americans during an oval office visit by members of the navajo code talkers. We have a representative in congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her pocahontas. My experience with usaa has been excellent. They always refer to me as master sergeant. They really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. Weve got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. Had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. Usaa was there handson very quick very prompt. I feel like were being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. Were the webber family and we are usaa members for life. Usaa, get your insurance quote today. We thats why at xfinityic. Weve been working hard to simplify your experiences with us. Now with instant text and email updates youll always be up to date. You can easily add premium channels so you dont miss your favorite show. And with just a single word, find all the answers youre looking for. Because getting what you need should be simple, fast, and easy. Download the xfinity my account app or go online today. Were following multiple breaking stories, including the white house now brushing off criticism of President Trump referring to senator Elizabeth Warren as pocahontas. During an oval office visit by members of the world war ii navajo code talkers. President ial press secretary Sarah Sanders this afternoon told reporters the word is not a racial slur. Lets bring in our political specialists. Chris cillizza, let me play the clip with the president in the oval office with the world war ii heros, the navajo code talkers who helped win world war ii and here is the president. You were here long before any of us were here, although we have a represent in congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her pocahontas. But, you know what, i like you. Because you are special. Okay. Chris, your reaction . I mean, you know, its sort of in a way beyond parody. Like that he has said this before, number one. He has called her pocahontas before. That he would do so in those circumstances. You cant even tell in that shot, wolf, because its a little tight. If you pull back, hes doing so in front of a portrait of andrew jackson. The president who issued the forced removal orders of native americans and led to the trail of tears. Its a combination of bad optics, but also just a president who i think conflates sort of not being politically correct with civility. He seems to think, well, im just saying it how it is and people will laugh at this. People will laugh at it. Some. That doesnt make it right. That doesnt make it a way in which a president i think should act. And i think it will have lasting consequences well beyond the four or eight years that donald trump is president. How he is willing to mainstream incivility and bully. Dana . Look, this not surprise anybody that the president did what he did. I think its important that we dont all become immune to statements like this from the president of the United States in the white house. Which is theyre completely inappropriate. Sarah sanders at the white house podium kind of said what she had to say because thats her job being the press secretary for donald trump. That, well, you know, it was really about Elizabeth Warren. Its not. Its about having respect for the office, having respect for the people who hes talking to. Never mind native americans. Its nothing to do with Elizabeth Warren. Ryan, how did you see it . I mean, just from the from beginning to end, the way that the white house the way that they dont understand the optics of a ceremony about native americans. I mean, i still cant get over that doing this in front of the portrait of andrew jackson. This is a president that both republicans and democrats have celebrated, but it would be like doing an africanamerican heritage event under a portrait of a famous confederatesnf. Robert e. Lee. Or jefferson davis, right . Jackson essentially committed a genocide against native americans. So just start with that, that no one in the white house thought, whoa, this is probably not the greatest place to do this event. Then what it suggested to me just watching it is that trump knew nothing about native american history, about the people who were there, about why he was honoring them. So the only thing that popped into his mind was this joke that he has patented. When he says people call her that, thats not true. The president is the only one as far as i know that calls her, senator warren, pocahontas. So just boneheaded from beginning to end. And just to add to ryans point, i think ryans exactly right about what sort of pops into his head. I think he thinks native americans, pocahontas, ive told that joke on the campaign trail and people have laughed at it. So he just goes to it because thats sort of what he does. To the extent he thinks at all about the potential for insult or offense, and i dont know that he does. Maybe he does. I think he thinks, oh, those snowflakes they get offended at everything. Political correctness run amok. I think if there is a thought in regards to, im doing it anyway. Weve got some other topics i want to discuss. Take a quick break and resume this discussion right after this. [vo] quickbooks introduces jeanette and her new mobile wedding business. At first, getting paid was tough. Until she got quickbooks. Now she sends invoices, sees when theyve been viewed andtadahpaid twice as fast for free. Visit quickbooksdotcom. E for mom, the nations largest Senior Living referral service. 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You know your family. We know Senior Living. Together well make the right choice. carol of the bells playing music ends drumsticks clattering were back with our political specialist. Chris cillizza the tax bill in the senate coming this week, its going to be potentially very, very divisive, but the Congressional Budget Office, the committee on the joint committee on taxation, both nonbipartisan, bipartisan, theyre both suggesting middle class families can be hurt over the ten years. The wealthiest will do just fine. This bill will add to the deficit by a not insignificant amount of money. The Republican Party predonald trump would be very opposed to a bill like this, i believe. Postdonald trump, well see. Remember, this is a party largely defined by its commitment to lowering the deficit. I remember watching a million john mccain speeches in 2008 in which he said were passing this debt on to our children and grandchildren. This is no longer acceptable. So mccain, bob corker, jeff flake, yes, these are people who are outspoken trump critics, gut in the case of each of them, theyre also people who have been consistently concerned about the added adding to the deficit over time. Except that my sense in that covering the last big tax cut, the bush tax cuts of 2001, where it tremendously added there were no offsets. It really added to the deficit. John mccain voted against it and he was in the minority at the time. I think its maybe in large part a reaction to that that there is even a discussion in the Republican Party about deficits. But, look, i think at the end of the day the whole question is how they get to yes. Its not unlike any piece of legislation, but particularly among republicans how you get the 50 republican senators who are going to vote yes. And Lindsey Graham said to me on cnn yesterday, failure is not an option here. And that is a very, very, very big driving force. If it wasnt really an option with the obamacare repeal, which did fail, but this is the stakes are even higher on this because of the obamacare. Because the Congressional Budget Office says it will over the next ten years increase the National Debt by 1. 4 trillion. Yeah, and, look, there has been a pattern of republicans when they are in power caring a lot more about tax cuts. When theyre out of power and a democrat controls the white house talking more about deficit. So there is some, you know, for strategic reasons there is a long history. But, you know, it does mean that republicans who are not so fond of trump have a pure policy reason to say they dont like this tax bill, right . So mccain and flake and corker, who lets be honest are not big trump fans, have been very explicit about that, if they decide to come out against it, they have a readymade reason. They can talk about deficits. Its not just the tax bill, but the omnibus bill being negotiated right now that is going to increase defense spending and discretionary spend pentagon tens of billions of dollars of Disaster Relief that have to go through congress. This is going to be a big spending month. If republicans say they cant support that, they have a reason to do that. Not to mention dealing with the d. R. E. A. M. Ers is not going to be popular. Dana, those three republican senators or any three republican senators, the democrats are not going to vote for it, any three republican senators vote against this legislation, it winds up like repeal and replace obamacare. It does. It does. Except that, ryan, you talked about the fact that its about whether or not you want to support the president or not. For some of these senators who are retiring, it doesnt matter, but for most of them corker and flake, yeah. Corker and flake, right. Most of them, its not about supporting the president , its about their own hides and making sure that they signal to i mean, this is the big thing. Its about signaling to republicans who voted them in office that they know how to govern and they know how to keep their promises. If they cant get this done, it means they cant really get anything done and its they believe its lights out for the majority. Dana is absolutely right. And i think that that is the motivation beyond all other things of trying to pass this. That said, this could be a rock and a hard place situation for republicans in that i think it is a very dire situation if they go to their voters and say, well, we said we were going to change and know how to govern, but we didnt pass anything and its fine. At the same time, ive not seen a poll on this tax cut, tax reform bill that shows it even close to the kind of thing that the public is asking for. Theory is that will change. Maybe it will if and when money comes back into peoples pockets here. They are playing with fire here. This is not if we pass it its a big win in 2018 and if we dont. It could be a loselose. More news happening now, including whether the former National Security adviser Michael Flynn may be cooperating with the special counsel Robert Muellers investigation of the Trump Campaign. Your Insurance Company wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong Insurance Company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. We are the driven. The dedicated. The overachievers. We know our best investment is in ourselves. We dont take no for an answer. We fight for what we want. Even for the things that were once a given. Going to college. Buying a home. And not being in debt for it for the rest of our lives. But were only as strong as our community. Who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. Sofi. Get there sooner. Questions right now about whether the former National Security adviser Michael Flynn is cooperating with investigators for special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. Our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto has been working his sources for us. Jim, what are you learning . Wolf, the key signal was wolf cutting off white house lawyers, an investigation that flynns team is at least discussing the possibility of making a deal with prosecutors. To do so, flynn would need to make clear exactly what information he could provide to the prosecution. Tonight the legal fate of Michael Flynn, once both u. S. National security adviser and loyal supporter of President Trump donald trump to be the next president of the United States reporter is an open question. Flynns attorneys have cut off ties with trumps legal team and other defense lawyers involved in the ongoing russia probe, telling them they would no longer share information as they had been doing for months. That change could mean that flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal that could end with flynn pleading guilty. When flynn notifies the others in the group, im no longer aligned, it means hes got Something Different going on. In this case, its either plea negotiations or plea negotiations and cooperation agreements. Reporter at the same time, President Trumps lawyer is putting new distance between general flynn and the president , stating, its important to remember that general flynn received his security clearance under the Obama Administration. Notwithstanding, that it was donald trump that named flynn his National Security adviser. As of today, we are officially putting iran on notice. Reporter sources interviewed by the special counsel tell cnn that flynn is under scrutiny for failing to disclose paid lobbying he performed during the president ial campaign on behalf of the turkish government and for failing to report payments he received from the russian government including during a trip to moscow in 2015 in which he appeared alongside russian president Vladimir Putin at a lavish banquet. Flynns son, Michael Flynn jr. , was direct wly involved in his work for both turkey and russia, opening himself to legal scrutiny as well. Cnn has learned that general flynn is now deeply concerned about his sons potential legal exposure. In addition, flynn may be under scrutiny for making false statements to the fbi. While serving as National Security adviser, flynn told fbi investigators that he did not discuss u. S. Sanctions on russia with then Russian Ambassador to the u. S. , sergey kislyak, a position that Vice President elect suspenpence echo at the t an interview with cbs. They did not discuss anything with the u. S. Decision to dispel diplomats. Reporter when investigators pressed him, flynn changed his answer to say that he didnt remember. That episode led to his ouster from the white house. Concern that he had lied to the fbi, then acting attorney general sally yates made this stunning judgment. We believe that general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. Reporter a key witness to this special counsel investigation of flynn, the former cia director James Woolsey who also advised the Trump Campaign showed up at maralago this weekend for dinner with President Trump. Politico first to report that, and had a lengthy conversation with the president. Woolseys spokesman would only say that he has served multiple president s over the course of his career and has never shared the content of his conversations with them. Thanks very much for that. Jim sciutto, good reporting. Breaking news up next, President Trump accused of using a racial slur while speaking with a group of native americans over at the white house. You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her pocahontas. But you know what, i like you because you are special. So how old do you want uhh, i was thinking around 70. Alright, and before that . You mean after that . No, im talking before that. Do you have things you want to do before you retire . Oh yeah sure. Ok, like what . But i thought we were supposed to be talking about investing for retirement . Were absolutely doing that. But theres no law you cant make the most of today. What do you want to do . 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Tonight, President Trump is predicting the bill will pass, even as a new estimate warnings the legislation would hurt the poor. Acting out. The president s budget director takes charge of a consumer watch dog agency pushing aside the Deputy Director who argues that shes the boss. The bitter power struggle is playing out in federal court right now. No magic words. Senator al franksen acknowledges theres nothing he can say to regain the Publics Trust as he faces an ethics probe into Sexual Harassment allegations. Its a very tough day back at work for democrats with congressman john conyers also