Malware, and thousands of dollars in cash. Was she involved in espionage . And mueller to testify. The House Judiciary Committee chairman says he intends to bring in special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify and attorney general william barr is due on capitol hill tomorrow. Are we about to learn much more about the Mueller Report . Im wolf blitzer and youre in the situation room. Breaking news, President Trump cleans house over at the Homeland Security department. Hes firing alles a day after the firing of Kirstjen Nielsen. And a senior official says that President Trump has become unhinged over the immigration situation. Cnn has learned that white house aide Stephen Miller, an immigration hard liner, has played a key role in the ouster of nielsen. A source says the firing of the secret service chief is not tied to the security lapse at the president s maralago resort, where a chinese woman managed to enter illegally. In court today, prosecutors said she had a device that could detect hidden cameras, a flash drive with malware, four cell phones, and chinese passports. Ill speak with a republican congressman will hurd of the intelligence committee. And our correspondents and analysts, they will have full coverage of the days top stories. First, lets go straight to our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta. Jim, an allout sweep at the Homeland Security. Take us through the latebreaking developments. Reporter thats right, wolf. President trump is shaking up the department of Homeland Security, a fullscale purge is underway, as the president as essentially fired the Homeland Security secretary and the secret Service Director in the last 24 hours. There are more departures expected soon. And a familiar face. As you said, the white house immigration hard liner,stein miller, is working behind the scenes to clean house. But a trump adviser said much of the blame in all of this for the chaos at dhs lies with the president , as this adviser put it, the president still has not learned, quote, how to govern. In one of the biggest shake ups of his administration, President Trump is cleaning house over at the department of Homeland Security. The latest official to go, secret Service Director, randolph alles, who follows the forced departure of dhs secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and the sudden withdraw of the nomination of ron vitello over at i. C. E. Officials at the dh s general counsel could be next. The secret Service Director told Agency Employees that he wasnt being fired, but had been warned weeks ago that transitions in leadership were coming to dhs. Nielsen, whose exit was tweeted by the president sunday, insists she still support mrs. Trump. I share the president s goal of securing the border. I will continue to support all efforts to address the humanitarian and security crisis on the border. And other than that, im on my way to keep doing what i can for the next few days. So thank you all for being here. Reporter before she was forced out, nielsen was clashing with the president over the influx of migrants at the border, as mr. Trump told Asylum Seekers, theyre no longer welcome in the u. S. The system is full. Cant take you anymore. Whether its asylum, whether its anything you want, its illegal immigration, cant take you anymore. We cant take you, our country is full. Our area is full, the sector is full. Cant take you anymore, im sorry. Reporter sources tell cnn the president wanted to resurrect the family separation policy at the border, as a deterrent, despite mr. Trump signing an executive order last year ending the practice of tearing children from their parents. Were going to have strong, very strong borders. But were going to keep the families together. I didnt like the sight or the feeling of families being separated. Reporter cnn has also learned that top domestic policy adviser, Stephen Miller, an immigration hard liner, has been acting as the president s ring leader behind the scenes, directing top dhs officials to adopt harsh tactics on the border. A top Trump Campaign adviser says much belongs to the president , saying the president will not find border success until he learns how to govern. The border situation is his failing and his alone. The fact that trump listens to Stephen Miller on this issue is why it will never get resolved. Part of the problem, the adviser said, is that the president doesnt understand government policies. Just last friday, the president got his facts wrong about a key part of Immigration Law known as the flores settlement, saying it was named after a judge, but it was really named after a young migrant. Weve had some very bad court decisions. The flores decision is a disaster. I have to tell you. Judge flores, whoever you may be, that decision is a disaster for our country. The president has tapped the top official at custom and border protection, kevin mcaleenan, to take over at dhs as acting secretary. That means the Trump Administration is run by yet another acting official. The president has also blindsided the secret service, which is dedicated to protecting the commander in chief, even though he has repeatedly praised the agency in the past. I could not be happier with secret service. Secret service has done a fantastic job from day one. Very happy with them. Now, a Trump Campaign adviser questioned whether the president actually knows what hes doing as hes cracking down on the border and shaking up his immigration team, as this adviser put it, this is not a Kirstjen Nielsen or Jeff Sessions issue, this is a lackofunderstanding issue, and as for Stephen Miller, a Senior Administration official told me he might as well become the new dhs secretary, as hes driving much of the policy at the department. But wolf, getting back to this notion that the president wants to bring back family separations down at the border. Yes, he wants to do it as a deterrent, but a Trump Campaign adviser just told me a few moments ago that one of the other reasons that the president wants to do it is to have leverage with democrats when it comes to this debate over immigration, so the president apparently wants to get back to this practice of taking children away from their parents to have leverage on capitol hill. Wo wolf . Jim, thank you. Jim acosta at the white house. Were also learning that the president was willing to actually break u. S. Norms and laws to keep migrants out of the country. Lets bring in our chief washington correspondent, the anchor of the lead, jake tapper is here in the situation room. Youve been doing a lot of reporting on this, and the president issued a pretty stark warning, were learning now thanks to your reporting, a couple of weeks ago. What are you learning . All of this is the context for why the secretary of the department of Homeland Security was fired, Kirstjen Nielsen. They had been at odds for a long time. And one of the issues was the president wanting her to do things that she thought were either contrary to the law or just unwise. One of them, two thursdays ago, the president in the oval office before he departed for a rally was meeting with her, with pompeo, with other top advisers, dan scavino, mercedes schlapp, Stephen Miller, Jared Kushner, and he basically said he wanted it wasnt basically he ordered pompeo and nielsen to close the el paso border the next day, friday, by noon. And then he wanted a policy of other ports of entry with the border with mexico shut down in subsequent days. Secretary nielsen said that that was not a good idea, closing down the border would not achieve the desired effect. People would just come in through the illegal ports of entry between the ports and President Trump said, quote, i dont care, according to two attendees of that meeting. At the end of the day, that order was not carried out. Somehow, whether it was Jared Kushner or mick mulvaney, someone talked the president out of it. But he had ordered the port of el paso closed. He was there at the border on friday. And youre learning more details. What happened . What are you learning . Well, subsequently, on friday, when he was at calexico, california, he said publicly, we need to start saying we have no more room, no one else can come in, thats it. Whats interesting is, he was also saying that privately. He told Border Agents, just dont let people come in, even though the law is that Central American migrants seeking asylum have every right to come to u. S. Soil and as soon as theyre on u. S. Soil, seek asylum, and they get due process, et cetera. Thats the law. Whether or not people like the law, that is the law. President trump told them not to carry out that law. He said, and if a judge says you have to do it, say, sorry, judge, we dont have anymore room. Now, subsequently, President Trump left the room and the leaders of these Border Agents had to tell them, dont do that, thats not the law, you have to follow the law. If you do what the president said, that will be personal liability on you, so do not do it. And another pretty shocking development, youre learning the president not only wants to reinstate whats called the child separation policy, separating kids from their mothers and fathers, but actually wants to expand it . He wants to expand it. Yeah. So the original policy put forward by Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, even though secretary nielsen became the face of it, is that if you come into the country through the illegal ports of entry, if you cross the border illegally and they catch you, to prosecute you as a criminal, and that would mean that your children get separated from you. President trump thought that that policy was successful in terms of deterring people from coming illegally. So he wants it back, according to administration officials, Senior Administration officials. Not only does he want it back, he wants to expand it. He wants, if you are an Asylum Seeker coming through a legal port of entry, separate you from your kids. If you are caught in missouri and youre undocumented, separate you from your kids. Hep wa he wants it wider. Hes gotten a lot of pushback. Communications people in the white house saying, that would be a disaster. Secretary nielsen saying, there are court cases against this, we cant do this. The health and Human Services secretary, azar saying, i do not want to do this. But this is what President Trump wants. Its hard to believe. And its so heartbreaking, some of those kids are still, to this day, separated from their parents. They were separated and its going to take a while to find their mothers and their fathers and get them back together. Thats the point. The cruelty is the point. He wants the deterrence. Yeah, its so cruel. Great reporting, jake tapper, thank you very, very much. Also breaking, a Court Hearing for the woman accused of breaching security at the president s maralago resort in palm beach, florida. Prosecutors say she had multiple electronic devices, including one that can detect hidden cameras and possessed thousands of dollars in cash. Lets go to our crime and justice reporter, shimon prokupecz. Hes on the scene for us down in west palm beach. Shimon, the devices and the malware in her possession raising lots of concern. Could she actually be a chinese spy . Reporter it certainly is, wolf. And that is the biggest question right now surrounding this investigation. And that is something that prosecutors say theyre investigating. Theyre investigating whether she was acting as a spy, trying to act as a spy, whether or not she was sent here by the chinese to spy, perhaps, on the president , on maralago. This is the big question here. You went through some of the items that they found on her. But what we learned today raises the stakes a little bit in that we also learned that in her hotel room, they found quite a number of other gadgets that she could have been using for this spy operation. Specifically, it was this device, this signal device that was being used to detect hidden cameras. This is what prosecutors say they found in her hotel, after her arrest, when they went there and they were searching the hotel, they found another cell phone. They found five u. S. Five sim cards. They found nine usb devices. So theres a whole lot of other stuff, electronics that certainly could be used in a spy operation. And now investigators want to know exactly what she was doing here. They also, wolf, found cash. About 7,500 in u. S. Currency, cash in her hotel room, as well as several credit cards, they say. Today, she was in court. It was the first time that we certainly got a chance to take a look at her. She sat there, listened to the judge and listened to her attorneys, trying to argue that she should be released. However, thats not happening. Shes on hold now. Her visa, essentially, was suspended. She no longer has a visa that she used to come to the u. S. And now were just waiting to find out whether or not shes going to stay here, whether or not shes going to face any other charges, wolf. Tell us a little bit more about the, what theyre calling the malicious malware that they found. Reporter yeah, so this is certainly significant. And speaking to cyber experts, theyll say, this is not unusual for the chinese, in general. There is malware. They found the secret service said that there was a flash drive that they have on it. It was a thumb drive, actually, they found malware. And what happened is, when they removed this from her, during her arrest, they went back to their offices and they put it into their computer. They wanted to see what was on it. And what they described was that the minute that they put that into the computer it, just started unloading. It just started going into their computer, whatever that malware is, they would not say specifically what it is. But the malware started going into their computer, the secret Service Agent said he shut his computer off. Its unclear if that infected his computer. But certainly, this does sound like something that she was carrying that was to be delivered into some sort of a computer system. Now, whether that was at maralago wof maralago, obviously, thats whats important here. When you think about everything that she had here, it certainly sounds like she was under some kind of operation. And the fbi is now part of this investigation and that is something that theyre looking into. What a story that is. Shimon, thank you. Shimon prokupecz down in florida for us. Joining us now, republican congressman, will hurd of texas. Hes a member of the intelligence and the appropriations committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Always a pleasure to be on, wolf. So youre a former cia officer. Let me ask you about this situation down at maralago. I want to talk to you about that in just a moment. But let me get your reaction to the reporting we just heard from jake tapper on the president s order to effectively close the border, the port of entry in el paso, texas. Thats just outside your district in texas. Whats your reaction to that news . My reaction, wolf, is simple. There is, indeed, a crisis going on along our border. Last month in march, 100,000 people came in illegally. And to give some context to that number, 400,000 people came in illegally all of last year. Resorting back to family separations is not going to solve this problem. Family separations didnt work. Its not a deterrent. People still kept coming and we started to see an increase when that was all happening. Second, closing down the border is not going to also solve the problem. A trade is vital to these communities. And you have communities that are using some of the taxes they get through trade to put back in to Border Security and making sure a Civil Society is helping Border Patrol and i. C. E. We have to focus and make some tough decisions on longterm issues that are going to solve the longterm problem, the root cause is violence and lack of Economic Opportunities in northern china and el salvador. Congressman, do you think the president flee understands where youre explaining . I dont know the answer to that. But i do know what we should be focusing on. Our acting secretary of dhs is someone whos well respected in both the house and the senate and both sides of the aisle. He has a tough situation that he is inheriting, but lets be frank, this is a problem that has transcended multiple administrations, multiple congresses, because we havent been focusing on these root causes. One of the things i think should happen is the secretary of state should announce a special representative for the northern triangle, thats el salvador, guatemala, and honduras, and making sure that were engaging everyone in the western hemisphere on this problem. We need to be engaging things like opic, the International Development bank, organization of american states, in order to address those root causes, which is going to be ultimately the solution. And then here, one of the things our acting secretary has is, you know, Border Patrol has a transportation contract to move you from point a to point b. Ice in the same location has the same theres a lot of efficiencies that can be improved to prevent things from happening, like this past quarter, 78,000 man hours were spent by Border Patrol at hospitals dealing with immigrants. Why are we not contracting out that service . So there are some administrative things like that, that can improve the situation. And we do need to address some of our asylum laws. Our asylum laws are being taken advantage of. A 1950s asylum laws are not going to solve this problem. But there needs to be a bipartisan conversation around that. But thats the law of the land right now. If somebody comes in the United States and seeks asylum, you cant simply just kick that person out and claim, as the president says, you know, the country is full right now. No more room for you. Yeah, we have to follow our laws, plain and simple. And we should be making sure the men and women Border Patrol and ice in vbp, and uscis and hhs are following the laws. And when there are things that need to be tweaked, these are the conversations that should be had up here in washington, d. C. Let me press you on this, congressman. Because you just heard jake tapper reporting that the president said, forget about the law. I want these people out. I cant want them to come in, the country is full. Forget about the law. Well, i dont think we should be forgetting about the law. I dont think we should be putting the men and women in Border Patrol. The men and women and Border Patrol and i. C. E. Are having a difficult situation. I was down in el paso two weekends ago. We all saw those images of those people under the bridge in a tent in 55degree weather on rocks. These are these people are having to deal with that. The folks in i. C. E. Are overstaffed, just for el paso, 2,400 Border Patrol agents, only 150 i. C. E. What does it say to you, congressman, when the president says, ignore the law . Again, this is the reporting. I dont know if that is indeed what happened. I would not be suggesting to anyone to ignore the law. My job is to suggest and articulate solutions to. And we have shortterm lusolutis and longterm solutions. Having the number of acting individuals throughout dhs is adding a making a difficult situation even more difficult. But our acting secretary now, again, weve got to focus on the shortterm ways that deal with the problem and my fear, wolf, is in april, this month, were going to see more people coming into this country illegally than we did in march. That could potentially lead to a loss of life, so thats people in Border Patrol, you know, in custody or even some of our officers being hurt. But look at this. The president is clearly conducting a purge over at the Homeland Security apparatus. Take a look at whats going on. You can see individuals fired, let go, moving on. Are you concerned by this very highlevel, very constant turnover inside the Trump Administration . Turnover is never good, especially when youre in the middle of a crisis. So this is going to make things tricky. However, our acting secretary of dhs, hes been the head of Border Patrol, hes a longtime Border Patrol agent, understands the roles of that agency and knows the problem firsthand. So i feel confident in his ability, in order to deal and be in this breach, when were dealing with this current crisis. Skplu and ultimately, i think theres going to be a lot of time for pointing fingers and blaming each other, but april is going to be bad. And when it starts getting hotter in texas, youll see tempers flare. Youre already seeing men and women and Border Patrol and i. C. E. Pushed to their max for the last couple of weeks and months. This is, this is indeed a crisis. And we need cool heads to prevail and make sure that were actually working towards these longterm solutions. Speaking of cool heads, are you concerned that the president s senior adviser, Stephen Miller, whos an immigration hardliner right now, is apparently driving u. S. Policy . Well, i think folks that have experience on the ground on this issue are folks that we should be talking about. Theres also another element here that we havent talked about yet, wolf, is that these kingpin human smugglers that are moving people back and forth to get from that ambiguo abut are you concerned about Stephen Miller . Well, i would rely heavily on the acting dhs secretary, because he is someone that understands this. When were looking for a new i. C. E. Director to put forward, we need people who have experience on the ground in dealing with this. These are the listen to the folks on the ground, as well. Theres a lot of talent and capabilities that people have been dealing with this. Ive seen a lot of senior Border Patrol agents that were sector commanders that have left, big able to bring some of them back in an advisory capacity, especially when dealing with this current crisis. So these are the folks that i would be listening to. And again, we need to be addressing the root causes in these countries. And we need to be improving our intelligence on these folks that are coming here illegally. And cutting off all that aid to those countries, whether its el salvador, honduras, guatemala, obviously is not going to help either. Just going to promote that kind of immigration. Youre a former cia officer. Does the evidence suggest to you that this chinese woman down in palm beach who tried to gain entry to maralago was in fact a spy for the Chinese Government rather than some kind of rogue operator . Look, it is when you look at all the superficial evidence, it looks pretty bad. Fbi are great when it comes to counterintelligence. I would not be surprised if this is, indeed, an attempt by the russian government excuse me, by the Chinese Government top invade and probe maralago. Ive seen this when i was in the private sector. Aye seen the chooiinese cdo thi stuff. And theres likely to be a major summit happen at maralago wean the president s of the two country. And i could see them trying to get in, to understand that, to help get a leg up. There will be some tough negotiations going on while theyre down there. I would not be surprised, this is a tactic weve seen the Chinese Government do in other places. Of course, they are going to deny that they were involved in this. Of course, theyre going to say, this is a rogue operation. But, you know, it just it just it smells of an intelligence operation. And heres the good thing. If youre going to do Something Like that, youre going to use your best. And the fact that our men and women in federal Law Enforcement and in counterintelligence areas were able the to discover this, thats a good move. Thats an important point. But do the president s frequent visits to his club down at maralago, where there are a lot of members over there walking in and out, do you believe that actually poses a direct National Security threat . The men and women in secret service are professionals. They know how to protect locations. If youre going to youre going to have any service trying to get a leg up. We know that theres been attempts to get access into embassies, to get access into the white house in the past. So, the president of the United States is always going to be a collection target by hostile intelligence services. And that doesnt matter where he or she may be. But the point is, she actually got into maralago, she walked around, eventually, she started asking some questions, raised some suspicions, and she was eventually arrested. But she did manage to enter that compound over there down in palm beach. And thats causing a lot of concern. You want to say yeah, go ahead. And on that piece, you know, i dont know the layout of maralago, i dont know if this is an area where any Sensitive Conversations would ever be, just because its a big property. I dont know if the president is ever in that part of the location. Theres a whole lot of questions to ask to understand the level of threat it possibly is. But this kind of tactic is something weve seen by the chinese. Ive been down at maralago and ive been there when he was a private citizen, donald trump, he walks around the whole place. Hes very, very familiar with his club. I assume hes doing the same thing right now. Congressman will hurd, we always appreciate your joining us. Thanks so much. Thank you, wolf. Up next, breaking news. A powerful house chairman plans to call special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify. And the attorney general will appear up on capitol hill tomorrow. Will we soon learn more about the Mueller Report. And the Actress Felicity Huffman and a dozen other wealthy parents, they agree to plead guilty to the College Admissions scandal. So what fate awaits them . Ive talked on this phone through the happiest times of my life, and through the saddest times of my life. But i never dreamed in a thousand years that it would save my life. Boom i fell 22 feet, completely shattered my pelvis, in the middle of the woods. I called my wife, she thought i was jokin. I said, man, im not. Im not. I was so lucky that day. Saved my life. vo there for you when it matters most. Get unlimited on the best network with apple music included. And save big when you switch. Only on verizon. With the most lobster dishes lobsterfesof the yearred lobster like our classic lobster lovers dream. So hurry in lobsterfest ends april twentyfirst. And now for a limited time, get ten percent off red lobster to go. If yor more a month in rent, 1500 dollars newdays Operation Home can help you buy a home for what youre paying in rent. And you dont need a down payment or one dollar out of pocket for closing costs. To save 30 on all the medications we carry. So go directly to petmeds. Com now. Also breaking tonight, the top democrat on the House Judiciary Committee says he intends to bring in special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify before his committee. That comes as attorney general william barr will be up on capitol hill, as early as tomorrow. Lets go to our senior congressional correspondent, manu raju. Manu, what are you learning . Yeah, jerry nadler, the House Judiciary Committee chairman made it very clear that the special counsel, robert mueller, will be testifying in public before his committee, but he said it would happen after bill barr, the attorney general talks before this committee on may 2nd. And all of that presumably would occur after barr releases at least a redacted version of the Mueller Report, as he said, by midapril. But all eyes will be on bill barr tomorrow, wolf, as he comes to capitol hill and talks to a separate committee, a subcommittee on house proportions, about the budget request for the department of justice. B but, i talked to democratic members of this committee who made very clear, they plan to ask about the status of the Mueller Report. Certainly, by this time tomorrow, were going to know a lot more about mr. Barrs thinking process and why he did why he did and why he didnt do mar, and all of those questions. I think whats on everybodys mind right now is how much is he going to redact . And i think he takes a very sparing approach to his redactions, because he knows that everybody is going to want to know, whats behind the black ink . Reporter and tomorrow will be the first time that barr comes before public in the aftermath of his release of that fourpage letter, outlining the topline conclusions of the Mueller Report. A lot of questions democrats and republicans have about how exactly that letter came together. His thinking about why the president was not charged with obstruction of justice. And as you heard from congressman cartwright there, about those redactions. A huge fight looming here on capitol hill as democrats demand to redactions from the Mueller Report. Barr is indicating at least four categories of redactions, but still a lot of questions about how much congress will see, how much the public will see, and what democrats do next. Members of congress, im sure, will be asking bill barr, the attorney general, lots of questions tomorrow, precisely on this. Well cover it, obviously, very closely. Manu raju up on capitol hill. Thank you. Lets bring in our political, legal, and National Security experts to talk about all the breaking news. Sean, lets get back to the news right at the top of the hour. How serious is this split between the president and some of his senior Homeland Security officials, including a few apparently who have been fired, who ignored his orders to go ahead and do certain things that they believe would break the law . Yeah, wolf, i dont think we can underestimate the significance of having the president of the United States give unlawful orders to Law Enforcement officials. And then having their leaders have to counsel them to ignore those orders. Whats particularly troubling about it is that the president has already demonstrated that when he encounters leaders who will not carry out his orders, when they do what he wants them to do, he simply replaces them with leaders who will do what he wants them to do. I think the split is only going to intensify, because over time, well see the president continuing to want to have people to do things that are unlawful, and when those leaders wont follow his orders, hell simply replace them. And we know this isnt an isolated incident. Rex tillerson said after being removed from secretary of state, he said, i had to at times inform the president what he wanted to do ran afoul with the law. Don mcgahn, the white House Counsel repeatedly cautioned donald trump, this is politically disadvantageous a at a minimum and legally dicey and can get you into trouble. And he pushes boundaries, and even more so, he doesnt even recognize that those boundaries exist, which is dangerous when you are the top you are at the top of the government food chain. You are the boss of all of these folks. You heard laura report earlier, the president refuses to understand that the department of Homeland Security is con trained by the laws. Its a real problem. He is the president of the United States, essentially telling Border Agents to break the law. He said, if the judges give you trouble, tell them i said, theres no room. At which point they turned to their leaders, saying, basically, what am i supposed to do with that . And their bosses are essentially telling them, dont listen to the president of the United States. Think about that. Thats just extraordinary. And on the children separations front, he wants to put it back in a place, despite the fact that theres a court order saying its unconstitutional. On all of these different fronts, on the immigration front, he seems to think the rules dont apply. Bianna, its rahal interesting. There seems to be a wholesale purge going on at the department of Homeland Security. Take a look at all of these individuals who have either been kicked out or moved in another direction. But if you take a look at the bigger picture, Senior Administration officialses are in acting capacities throughout the administration. Look at all of these other people who have acting roles right now, as opposed to officially confirmed senateconfirmed roles as cabinet members. And thats no accident, wolf. Earlier this year, just take the president at his words, he said he likes acting secretaries, because in a way, i guess, it gives him more leverage as to who will listen to what he wants and do what he wants, as well. It also circumvents the confirmation process. It eliminates the role that Congress Plays in doing any kind of vetting, when it comes to these secretaries. And you could also argue that because he may hold more leverage over them, they may be more inclined to do or give in to some of the president s demands. I would also go back to what the others were talking about, the Panel Brought up, and the president would joke at times about how he would be jealous of authoritative figures and autocrats in countries like turkey and china and russia, and this is the very reason why. He gets frustrated when the rule of law gets in the way of what he wants to do, whereas in those countries, they are the law, they make up the law, and anyone that doesnt Pay Attention or obeys the law, obviously gets reprimanded. And i would put it up on the screen, these acting officials who are leading various National Security and other agencyies Homeland Security secretary, acting, u. N. Ambassador, acting. White house chief of staff, acting. Interior secretary wakting. Office of management and budget director, acting. Is there a National Security problem here . Absolutely, wolf. In the National Secu when it comes to the leaders that you have at the top of our National Security agencies, you want a couple of things. You want consistency across those agencies. You want people in those seats who understand the issues and who have worked with those teams at those agencies so they can make sure they capture the National Security challenges that we face. You want to make sure you have people who have relationships with each other. Because we need our agencies to talk to each other and work together. As bianna was saying, this is a real issue when the president is putting these people in these positions, because he believes he can exercise leverage over them. That is not in the best interests of our National Security. And look at what comes up even with acting secretary of defense, everything that we have heard about his connections with boeing, all of this has come up after the fact, obviously. But you can imagine any other of these acting administrative figures being in a similar position, when were learning more and more what could have been brought to the forefront. And theres a whack a mole aspect to this. He takes one, and there are three others here, now i have to cover this. And as a result, what you have is not even, yes, the acting defense secretary, interior secretary, huge problems, right . But take it go one step below that or a step below that. Brookings has done great work in the 66 of the senior level in executive office staff, that started in the trump presidency, no longer work there. For george bush, for three years, it was 63 attrition. Theres a wholesale gutting out even below those names we obviously know. Everyone, stick around. Theres a lot more news were following. 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For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Were back with our reporters and our analysts and laura, this whats going on at maralago, this woman, this chinese woman was in court today, theres a lot of suspicious activity, a lot of sense that she may, in fact, have been some sort of chinese spy. Its such a strange case. And they described today all of the different bizarre devices that she had, she had a bunch of cash with her, a device that even could detect whether there was a hidden camera. And so the prosecutor said, look, we havent charged her with espionage yet, but the implication is that they are still investigating. We know its part of the fbis larger look into chinese and to s spying, where generally something theyve certainly been looking at for a while. Its just a bizarre case. And im sure as sean could speak to, a question of whether this was a one off or whether she was coming at the direction of somebody. You used to work for the director of national intelligence. Yeah, clearly, theres something going on here with regard to this woman trying to gather information. But i have concerns here with the idea that shes a sanctioned spy. Look, there are several things about the process that she went through that dont make sense. For one, they found this information because she left things out in her hotel room. Thats just not the kind of thing that thats not good spy hygiene. The fact that she didnt have a story ready to go when she was caught, it all looks very suspicious to me. What this looks to me based on my time in the intelligence community, this looked like someone that was trying to gather information that they could then go back to the Chinese Government with or go back to some other entity that would be interested in having information on the president or having access to the president. I just question whether or not this is a sanctioned spy on behalf of the Chinese Government. Lets turn to the 2020 president ial contest, specifically, chris, Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of south bend, indiana, democratic president ial candidate. I dont know if hes formally announced, but he will announce formally very soon. Hes gay, hes 37 years old. And he really went after the Vice President , a fellow indiana, mike pence for some of his antilbgt positions. Listen to this. Speaking only for myself, i can tell you that if me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade. And thats the thing i wish the mike pences of the world would understand. That if youve got a problem with who i am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator. What do you think of his decision to go after his fellow hoosier . Yeah, so on one level, being a democrat running for president in 2020 and attacking mike pence is like relatively lowhanging fruit. I mean, mike pence is not the only person less popular in the Democratic Party than mike pence is probably donald trump. So on the one hand, that. So it makes sense strategically. But i also think, you see in that clip why buttigieg is getting attention, starting to move up in polling and raise more money than i certainly thought he would, 7 million in the french quarter. Its because he speaks in ways that dont feel overtly partisan, dont feel nasty, dont attack mike pence for his beliefs, but simply say, sir, i am someone of beliefs, as well, and youre more than welcome to take it up with that person, but for me, this is my reality and this is my truth. Again, its a powerful message, well delivered, in a way that isnt sort of the knife fighting that our politics has become. Let me let bianna way eigh i. I spoke to a Party Official who echoed what pete is saying, in the sense that Pete Buttigieg doesnt seem to be excluding anyone. He is appealing to democrats, but also republicans. Republicans have gay and lesbian members of their families and communities as well, too. And the way hes talking to them and referencing his own experience is not only raw and personal, but hes not talking down to them. Hes not in the gutter. Hes explaining where he comes from, from an intellectual, but also from a sympathetic and i would say, very engaging standpoint. Everybody continues to be impressed by him. Its going to be an issue thats going to continue to be at the forefront, at least during his campaign. We have never had a gay or lesbian, open hi gay or lesbian president of the United States. Its something he knows he will have to address and ive seen democrats and republicans really commending him for how hes handling it so far. Hes doing a lot for the than most of us thought he would do. Very impressive, indeed. Theres another major story, a breaking story were following right now. The Actress Felicity Huffman is among 13 wealthy parents agreeing to plead guilty in the College Admissions scandal. She and the others are accused of using fraud and bribery to get their children into prestigious schools. Huffman issued a statement saying shes ashamed of the pain she caused her daughter, her family, her friends and apologizes to the parents and students who work hard to get into college honestly. Coming up, new aggression by russias military. What is Vladimir Putin up to now . At fidelity, we make sure you have a clear plan to cover the essentials in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. Because when youre ready for what comes next, the only direction is forward. Yeah, i thought doing some hibachi grilling would help take my mind off it all. Maybe you could relieve some stress by calling geico for help with our Homeowners Insurance. Geico helps with Homeowners Insurance . They sure do. And they could save us a bundle of money too. Im calling geico right now. Cell phone . Its ringing. Get to know geico and see how much you could save on homeowners and condo insurance. Get to know geico and see how much you could wenit gave me a leafput in the names almost right away. First. Within a few days, i went from knowing almost nothing to holy crow, im related to george washington. I didnt know that using ancestry would be so easy. And not one dollar out of pocket buy for closing costs. N payment no down payment, no closing costs. Why rent when you can buy . Jx and i dont add trup the years. S. ÷s2v but what i do count on. Is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. Boost® high protein. Be up for life. Were following an aggressive new move by russias military. Vladimir putins warships have turned up in the philippines and the timing is ominous. Bryan thomas is following the latebreaking developments. Whats the russian leader up to . Its not sure what the russian ships are doing in the philippines but analysts say you can get Vladimir Putin deployed them to flex his military might and disrupt. This comes as the u. S. And philippines hold joint military exercises and comes as tensions in that region are at a boil. These ships are a menacing reminder of Vladimir Putins military ambition, a show of force in a region thats in the center of tense relations between the u. S. And its enemies. The three Russian Navy Ships are docked in the philippines. I think putin is looking to give the United States something to worry about. Its the second time this year russian warships have docked in the philippines. No america it symbolizes a worrisome shift in the area. America kept one of its Largest Overseas naval bases there but recently the philippines president has started to pivot away from the u. S. Toward a closer alliance with putin. Even though his navy is cuttinging largescale joint military exercises with American Forces right now. Meantime, the russian president , experts say, is having only moderate success in expanding his navy. But he has improved one capability which threatens American Forces. They have been building new Ballistic Missile submarines and also been building nuclearpowered fast attack submarines. We are seeing cruise missiles coming from vessels in the caspian sea. They are testing a lot of hypersonic missiles, a lot of them submarine based. Putin is jumping right into the middle of a region fraught with military tension. China has laid claim to several islands in the South China Sea and even built some islands from scratch and placed military installations on them. The u. S. Has tried to curb chinas aggression there and duterte recently threatened a Suicide Mission against Chinese Forces which were spotted near that island. Experts say putin is eager to exploit these tensions for his own gain and eager to drive a wedge between the u. S. And its ally. His arrival in the philippines with these three navy vessels is to reminding the United States that russia is a global power. Can he separate the philippines from the United States in any way . Can he be a disruptor . Cnn has reached out but so far no response from the white house or the pentagon to the russian ships deployment in the philippines. How can america kourngt this effort by putin to divide america from its allies in asia . The u. S. Has to stay its course, keep holding joint military exercises with its allies, keep engaging with countries like the philippines, malaysia, vietnam, indonesia, make them realize america is the friend they want to have in that region and not Vladimir Putin. Coming up, the breaking news that President Trump fires the secret Service Director after ousting Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Like our classic lobster lovers dream. So hurry in lobsterfest ends april twentyfirst. And now for a limited time, get ten percent off red lobster to go. Now kayak and opentable let you earn travel rewards every time you dine. With just one reservation on opentable, you can start saving money on hotels with kayak. Get started at kayak. Com diningrewards. Happening now, breaking news. Wholesale decapitation. President trump cuts the top leadership over at the department of Homeland Security, firing the dhs chief and the head of the secret service. Tonight more ousters could happen at any time. Spy at maralago . Prosecutors reveal new evidence in the case of a chinese woman accused of illegal entry at the president s florida resort. Why did she have a stash of cash and electronics and tell a string of lies . Calling mueller. The House Judiciary Committee chairman promises to get testimony from the special counsel after lawmakers have his full report in hand. How soon will mueller be pressed to share details about his investigation . And hitting the bar. S as the attorney general works toward releasing the Mueller Report, hell face tough questions from congress tomorrow. Democrats will demand to know how much of the report bill barr plans to keep secret. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Were following breaking news on whats being described as a purge at the highest levels over at the department of Homeland Security. President trump firing the dhs secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, and the director of the secret service. Were told more heads are likely to roll as mr. Trump is said to be, quote, unhinged about Border Security. Tonight sources tell cnn the president has been pushing to reinstate and expand the widely criticized family separation policy. Also breaking, prosecutors say theyre still investigating whether a chinese woman accused of