Well dig into that. An isolated President Trump is lashing out at his own attorney general again calling his work disgraceful. Was Jeff Sessions who publicly defended himself yesterday suddenly trolling the president when he dined out with Rod Rosenstein last night . And the reports of a death match between chief of staff john kelly and gentlem. The internal chaos and the sense that things are unraveling. Communications director hope hicks is resigning. Shes the fourth Trump White House Communications Director to do so. What im worry about right now in the white house is the resolving door. Its spinning like a top. If you want to work in the trump administration, know your blood type because youll be thrown under the bus. Lets talk about mr. Mcgoo because this is reportedly President Trumps behind the scenes nickname for attorney general Jeff Sessions. Its disgraceful. Are you concerned about that . Not at all because sessions is a strong individual and is going to do what an attorney general has to do. Mueller is taking into this period of time last summer when the president considered firing Jeff Sessions as the attorney general. Then there is the Mueller Probe. Theres always the Mueller Probe. New reporting on the obstruction front from the Washington Post that muellers team is asking witnesses, quote, in detail about trumps private comments and state of mind in late july and early august of last year. Around the time he issued a series of tweets belittling his beleaguered attorney general. Was he trying to force him out to appoint a new one who wouldnt have to recuse himself . Over the cooperation front, my exclusive nbc news reporting with carl lee we broke on the 2 00 p. M. Show yesterday. Investigators want to know if donald trump himself was involved in the wikileaks release of stolen dnc and Clinton Campaign emails. What did donald trump know and when did he know it . Take all of that to that at our big question. Is there a breaking point for this white house . True to the chaotic fashion that has come to symbolize this west wing, they called a White House Briefing half an hour ago for 2 30. We have a team of reporters covering every angle. Rosalynn helderman is a political report from the Washington Post. Msnbc political analyst, and Natasha Bertrand covering national security, intelligence and trump and russia for the atlantic. Eli, you were on the campaign trail with me and youve seen this for a long time. Stable is not a way you would describe any trump operation, not the Trump Campaign or the administration. But theres a lot going on with the Mueller Probe and with the staff shakeups. Is there a breaking point there. May be. Ita it tells you something when people who work closely with this president , when they say things like things are at another level inside this white house right now in terms of the chaos and uncertainty. You saw the confusion just over an announcement on tariffs. Total chaos right now. Even the people who think they know what the president is going to do, qualify that information by saying, until he does it, we really dont know. This is a president who is increasingly isolated at this point. People who have covered this and observed it say this has never felt sustainable. You have all the lying and all the lies begetting more lies. White lies or realize . By reason of just white lies in a lot of cases. And you have this Mueller Probe that is getting closer and closer to the president. Were now more than a year into this president. All the people who have come in with him are gone and he doesnt know who to turn to. If theres a breaking point were getting closer to it. But that same quote you just read about how insane things are, sounds like something we read and people were saying three months into this administration. There were Campaign Managers as well. This has never been a normal operation. White lies, lies, it doesnt matter. Every time the president is angry at the russia probe he lashes out at Jeff Sessions. Why is mueller interested in this spat . Theres this long history. He did not want Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the investigation. He sent the white House Counsel to call sessions and try to persuade him not to do so and sessions insisted on doing it in any way. Ever since, hes had it out for sessions. Our understanding is that mueller is exploring the idea that trumps been on sort of a campaign to kind of shame him into quitting, that all these tweets we can see, all these interviews hes given are actually purposeful. And the goal is to get rid of sessions so that he can take control of the russia investigation. Thats what mueller is exploring. Is it kind of part of a monthss long effort to obstruct and control the investigation. Natasha, theres the chaos, as rosalynns reporting, as youve been reporting, theres always one constant, and that constant is the Mueller Probe. Right. Exactly. Its exactly interesting how much restraint trump has shown in not attacking mueller directly on twitter. Hes attacked everyone when it comes to the russia investigation. So hes clearly nervous. People in the white house are nervous about mueller is doing, but theyre doing everything they can to undermine him indirectly. I think with the news report yesterday coming out from the New York Times about kushners potential illicit or inappropriate dealing with getting a loan to his business after a meeting with this massive firm is only going to make it more likely that mueller looks into the possibility of whether or not he was courting Foreign Investors during the transition. Or trying to make money. The line blurring between the trump and kushner brand and the Government Service is getting blurrier, and that ultimately is what mueller is going to be looking at also is the money trail. Were going to look in that in the b block. One of the line of questioning from mueller to witnesses is did donald trump take the positions he was taking because of his business interests as an example. Was he so friendly to russia because he had a business interest with russia. I want to go back to the campaign with you for a second. I talk about roger stone. One of the questions investigators are asking witnesses was was this all a big plot, this wikileaks release . Was roger stone potentially working behind the scenes with donald trump ain some way . Tweets about john podesta, august 21st, 2016, a month later about, the Wikileaks John Podesta emails dropped. Thats on the same exact day just hours after the access Hollywood Tape dropped. Every single day after that there was a batch of new Podesta Emails every single day for a month, a batch of new Podesta Emails. They stopped the day before the election, the day before donald trump won, and we havent seen a podesta email since then. Its an incredible coincidence that the day the access Hollywood Tape dropped wikileaks started producing these emails that were hacked from the russians from podesjoh podestas inbox. There were conversations between the two of them exclusive that were turned over to the House Intelligence Committee late last year after he had already testified to the committee. So the committee didnt know that he had direct communication with wikileaks when they interviewed him. And they tried to get him back in front of the committee, but the republicans have insisted theres no reason to do that. All that being said, now that we know roger stone was communicating with wikileaks and that it was not just confined to october and november of 2016 according to what he told me, it kind of casts doubt on all of the other denials that he has issued since last year about not having any communication with wikileaks or Julian Assange or having advanced knowledge of what they were going to produce. In that sense, hes very obviously a big person of interest for mueller because he, of course, was also in touch with trump throughout the campaign. Hes also such a slippery witness. You never know what roger stone is going to say or what hes trying to make you believe. That might be different if youre a mueller investigator. We should note stone denies having cooperation behind the scenes and so far has not astound wisat down with mueller. Hope hicks said this was already planned, but the timing is suspicious. This isnt a good bit of news for the president whos not only seeing one of his closest friends leave, someone whos been with him forever, but she also could be a key witness or maybe is a key witness in the Mueller Investigation. Certainly is a key witness given her proximity to this president. She was there at his side throughout all of this. She was very good at shaping the media narrative. You and i were talking yesterday about that thing reporters saying the president being his best communicator. Thats something shes said over and over and over again to all of us who have covered him. Thats what he believes. And that is something that we have projected and talked about and said thats what this white house is. She set is narrative and interbacked reporters and brought them in when he wanted to talk to them. She was the gatekeeper. She survived for a long time. We can speculate as to why she left now. Obviously a lot of pressures from the mueller rebound to, the trauma of the rob porter situation, the last month especially, and the. What was the public messaging going to be around had a and on down the line in all these moments, the statement on the plane. Shes going to be valuable to Robert Mueller. Guys, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. We should note that the markets while weve been having this conversation have dropped down 500 points right now. Thats partially at the very least because of donald trump making the announcement he did on tariffs today. Well talk about this later in the hour and keep our eye on this. Meantime, for months the belief has been that special prosecutor Robert Mueller was more likely to be building a case of obstruction against the president. But my exclusive nbc news reporting with carol lee found the scope of muellers investigation is, in fact, much wider. The possibility that he still might be investigating collusion, that is not off the table. Benjamin wittes, msnbc legal analyst. I think its pretty clear theyre still trying to verp investigating. The baby cannon i use to identity stories i think people should Pay Attention to, and this was certainly one. Look, i mean, i never thought that collusion issues had been removed from the table. In fact, the indictment of the 13 russians the other day was very pointed evidence in my view, very public evidence that mueller very much has his eye on the underlying issue of russian interference in the campaign, and i certainly would expect that there would be ongoing attention to the question of what the u. S. Side of that interference looked like. I thought your story was a really interesting portrait from a set of unnamed witnesses who have appeared in front of muellers interviewers as to the sort of questions theyre asking and therefore you can draw a certain amount of inference. But you can draw a certain amount much inference about active lines of inquiry. Why did donald trump take the positions he was taking and could his business interests have been in play . One of the questions was did you see any russians around the office . Did donald trump ever tell you why he was so friendly to russia, especially early on when he was campaigning in a gop primary where russia was a bug aboo, the voters were antagonistic towards russia. Why did donald trump who was running on the republican platform for the republican party, why did he break so fiercely with that longstanding position . This was one of the issues during the campaign that really puzzled a lot of people, including me. I wrote about it at the time. Whenever people including trump, you know, loudly thump the table and say no collusion, i always sort of bite my lip and say except for the part that was done in public because, you know, one thing that theres no doubt that donald trump did was called in public on the russians to release Hillary Clintons emails, and take very public positions that were flattering of putin personally and very friendly to russia, even as you point out in the context of a republican primary where that was really unorthodox. It has always been one of the great mysteries of the Trump Campaign why he did those things. And to what extent there is private or nonpublic elements that might help explain it. And so at one level its completely unsurprising that muellers people are asking questions about it. These are the questions that led us to think that there was something troubling in the trump russia relationship long before we knew about it. Long before we knew about the trump tower meeting or George Papadopoulos or any of that. But it is really interesting to see that those are active lines of questioning. Ben, quickly, what are you looking out for next . Your last segment had this incredible raft of issues happening con currently. I suppose im waiting for the next shoe to drop in ten different areas right now, and i have honestly no idea how to prioritize them. Its john mccain centipede. Exactly. Theres going to be eight shoes dropping. Ben wittes, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Lets get to that breaking news from wall street i mentioned a moment ago. The dow has dropped 500 points, 530 now following the president s announcement that he plans to impose stiff tariffs of imports of aluminum and steel. Here he was a short time ago. Well probably have everything completed by next week. Well be imposing tariffs on steel imports and tariffs on aluminum imports. Youre going to see a lot of good things happen. Itll be 25 for steel, 10 for aluminum. Itll be for a long period of time. Stephanie, he had been saying for a long time he wants all steel to be american steel. When he has that announcement next week is he going to have a moroc mork and mindy reunion . Its straight out of the 80s. Hes going to end up putting america last. Whether youre talking about wilbur ross or Peter Navarro who might think china is gaging an economic war against us, theyre right, but were not even showing up to this fight in a smart way. You saw the president tweet about it this morning. Theres all this fighting happening inside the white house. The gary cohen side of the white house is saying, what are you doing . While china might be sending their cheap steel through us, theyre dumping it in places like turkey and korea, allies of ours. Were putting tariffs on our own allies. You just said thoughtful, sophisticated approach. Does that have a place in this administration . They dont take thought of or sophisticated approaches. Donald trump wants things done in america, he wants to bring coal back even though coal is gone. Its not just environmental sound, its not economically sound. Is it people in congress do think this is a good idea either. Whats going on here . Is this stuff actually going to happen . Thats why you see the market go down. You rarely see the market move on trump rhetoric. The market is like, please, ill see you tomorrow when you do something. In terms of policies the market has liked his policies. If he does Something Like extraordinary tariffs, theyre not going to like it. China and russia, what are they focused on . Spending real money on the future of business. Thats artificial intelligence. When was the last time you heard the president talk about ai . I never heard about it. Correct. He thinks its a steak sauce. Thats a 1 . But thats the future of business. Last time we were talking about the markets crashing and plunging, they bounced back. And theres a good chance they could bounce back again. Markets are irrational, but theyre moving because the president mentioned these tariffs before. Hes back on them. Remember helme wants to change subject away from things he doesnt like. Im going to bring steel back, its good for the american worker. The sophisticated investor says, come on now, this makes no sense. What could he be changing the subject from . You know better than me. Does it rhyme with smusha . Stephanie rule, you have terrible jokes. Almost as bad as my metaphors. You and wish, please. Thats actually wonderful. There you go. Dont got there. Fish, aris hip hop, you know. The cool kids are in the afternoon, obviously. Youre right. Stephanie rule, thank you. Appreciate it. The worst week in washington award could arguably go to Jared Kushner. First he lost security clearance, then this headline raising questions about whether he used his white house role for personal gain. One of the reporters behind that headline and story joins me next. Dont we need that cable box to watch tv . Nope. Dont we need to run . Nope. It just explodes in a high pitched yeahhh. yeahhh try directv now for 10 a month for 3 months. No satellite needed. Hey, sir losealot thou hast the patchy beard of a prepubescent squire thy armor was forged by a feeblefingered peasant woman. Your mom as long as hecklers love to heckle, you can count on geico saving folks money. Boring fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. im 65 and healthy. Im not at risk. Even healthy adults 65 and older are at increased risk of pneumococcal pneumonia. Isnt it like a bad cold or flu . Pneumococcal pneumonia is a potentially serious bacterial lung disease. In some cases, part of your lung may fill with mucus, making it hard to breathe. Can i catch it from a pneumococcal vaccination . No. The vaccines do not contain live bacteria. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about how to help protect yourself. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist its youve never gamed with speeds like this internet. Its all your teenagers streaming at once internet. Its i can get up to one, two, three, four, five mobile lines included . Internet its internet from xfinity that makes your life simple, easy, awesome. See how you can save by adding Xfinity Mobile to your internet. Plus, save even more when you sign up for internet, tv and voice together. Click, call, or visit an xfinity store today. Jared kushners bad week just got worse. Among the many headlines was this from the New York Times. Kushners Family Business secured large loans from two finance companies after meetings at the white house. The times reports Apollo Global management loaned money to kushner companies. The founder Joshua Harris was meeting with kushner inside the white house and had previously been advising the administration on infrastructure. Another loan, 325 million from city group is also raising questions, especially with its timing. The loan came shortly after kushner met with city groups michael correspond vat. He has taken to no part of any business, loans or projects with or for the companies after that. He is followed the ethics advise he received which included recusals when appropriate. New york times report Jesse Drucker is on that byline and don fox, counsel, and acting director of the office of government ethics from 2008 to 2013. Does that statement from kushners camp make sense to you . Katy, it doesnt settle things for me. Sure jared resigned his positions, but jared did not divest himself of the interests which may pose a potential conflict. It can give the appearance of a conflict in this case. How does he prove there is no conflict . Well, thats the problem. You really cant. At the most senior levels of government, people on both administrations have routinely divested themselves of any potential conflict of interest. And he, frankly, didnt resign position, but because he retained those financial interests having meetings like this certainly causes a perception that there is a conflict of interest, or hes also perhaps conducting his personal business while in the white house and not the governments. You usually divest if youre in the government because you want to assure the American Public that the actions youre taking, the decisions youre making have nothing to do with lining your own pockets and everything to do with what is best for americans. Thats just a point we should make. Jesse, you write this blurring of lines is now potential liability for mr. Kushner who recently lost his top secret security clearance amid worries from some u. S. Officials that foreign governments might try to gain influence with the white house by doing business with mr. Kushner. Is Jared Kushner the only one inside the white house who caused those meetings . Was there somebody else who could have taken them . Right. I mean, that was the question that mr. Fox raised in our article last night, which is you have Jared Kushner lets step back. One of the big problems here is that Jared Kushners portfolio is extremely vague. We dont exactly know what hes supposed to do. Its not like hes defense secretary. Given his nebulous responsibilities, mr. Fox said why does he need to have meetings about making loans to his company . So i think its a very good question. Why is he kind of uniquely positioned to be the person to interact with apollo or city group. What happens now . Well, i think its very difficult for us to know. Obviously there are potential violations of the ethics regulations. But whether anyone will seek to enforce those is another matter. Obviously there are also implications this tells us a lot potentially about how companies are seeking to do business with the administration. Obviously all these companies that are meeting with mr. Kushner are well aware of his role in the administration. When you have businesses going to the white house and then making a loan, don, it just feels like this is the so things we wouldnt be reporting on for any other white house. I say that for a dozen stories a day, if not more, when it comes to this white house. Who ultimately is going to be responsible for keeping them in line or at least keeping them within the bounds of tradition or are those lines completely blown and are the traditions no longer valuable . Well, theres only one person who, in fact, could tell jared to do Something Else and i dont think the president is about to do that. But to your point, this white house is just so different than either the Previous Administration or the Bush Administration before that. Just to put things in some perspective, 14 months into this administration, Jared Kushner has now made 40 revisions to his public Financial Disclosure report, which suggests hes either careless about this or does doesnt care. Good point. Don fox, Jesse Drucker, gentlemen, thank you very much. Thanks. Youre welcome. Next the president s public war on i see own attorney general. Did Jeff Sessions suddenly respond by trolling the president . Last years ad campaign was a success for choicehotels. Com badda book. Badda boom. This year, were taking it up a notch. So in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Nobody glows. He gets it. Always the lowest price, guaranteed. Book now at choicehotels. Com at planters, we put fresh roawhich has its drawbacks. An, guys, know anything about this missing inventory . Wasnt me the cheeks dont lie, chet. Irresistibly planters. One of President Trumps punching bags is punching back. Attorney general Jeff Sessions has been a target of frequent attacks by the president. In the last 24 hours the president escalated his war but instead of staying silent, sessions defended himself in a rare statement. Then there was this dinner for three last night. The attorney general eating alongside deputy ag and solicitor general. Apparently sessions is ready for more hits. The Washington Post reports on the anniversary of sessions confirmation earlier this month, senior aides decided to buy sessions a bulletproof vest with his name em blazened on it as a gift. President trump is not in attendance. He is down the hall talking to senators. Will they meet in the white house . We dont know. Joining me to discuss, kimberly atkins, chief washington report for the boston herald, and harry litman and Deputy Assistant attorney general under president clinton. Kimberly, ill start with you. When i read that piece about Jeff Sessions getting a bulletproof vest with his name on it, the guys in my studio resigned themselves to a sad laughter. Is that the state of affairs that we have an attorney general who is just going to take it from the president . He doesnt care hes not moving . Yeah, i think the one thing you can describe the attorney general about all of this, all of the hits that the president keeps sending his way is unbothered. Unless the president fires him, hes going to stay in that job. So far the president has not fired him. It would be easy for the president to fire him. He could do that at any time. I personally think the president just enjoys having someone to sort of swipe at whenever hes angry at whatever hes angry about. Yesterday we saw an unusual move which is generally speaking attorney general sessions does not clap back to say, so to speak. He did it yesterday. Not sessions not clapping back, but how sad is it the president uses him as a punching bag when he was one of the earliest supporters, the first senator to climb onto Donald Trumps campaign when nobody else would touch him. Hes been there for the president. He traveled with the president. And because he cant oversee the Mueller Investigation or in Donald Trumps words, protect him, as he believes eric holder protected president obama, that definition might rattle a few people and sound untrue to a few people, but protect him. Because of that, hes going to keep getting beat up by the president. According to Washington Post, harry, hes being called mr. Ma goo, the bumbling elderly character, the cartoon. Who is this hurting more, sessions or donald trump . Can you imagine . Look, its despicable on many levels. On the personal level hes one of the earliest, most loyal supporters and hes being savaged. Savaged by tweet, not personal conversation, which is totally shmucky from the president. Its despicable at the management level, but really despicable this recurrent theme that the president of the United States views the chief Law Enforcement officer as his personal lap dog and the sort of pit bull to go after the rest of the body politics. I think its got to be humiliating for sessions. I take the point that kimberly made, but hes been trump actually sandoval him to the point of tears last year, and this is not fun to have abject humiliation that trump is subjecting him to. I dont think we can say that word on television, shmucky. I looked it up. Well find out. Kimberly atkins, what happens when donald trump gets really frustrated, like really frustrated with the Mueller Probe when it gets too close to home . Will he finally end up firing his attorney general, which hes been so displeased with . I cant imagine that he would. I think the people around him would remind him that firing the attorney general would set up a confirmation battle at the top spot at the Justice Department just when this russia investigation is ongoing, just ahead of the midterm elections. I think thats one reason Jeff Sessions is unbothered because he knows its impossible for the president to fire him right now. That would be a political crisis. Look, Jeff Sessions is carrying out the president s america first, gettough policy. The only thing hes not doing is protecting the president. Hes doing all of his bidding in terms of the platform but hes not protecting the president from Robert Mueller. And nsa not his job. Hes doing what is actually his job. That is not his job. Kimberly atkins, well said. Thank you for being here, guys. When it comes to gun control, can we believe anything the president promised at yesterdays meeting with senators . Here was connecticut senator Richard Bloom thaul. The actions so far has been lacking. The senator joins me live in three minutes. People come to la with big dreams. We came with big appetites. With expedia one click gives you access to discounts on thousands of hotels, cars and things to do. Like the Bicycle Hotel casino for 30 off. Everything you need to go. Expedia cohigher ad higher parents arent perfect, but then they make us Kraft Mac Cheese and everythings good again. I own my own company. I had some severe fatigue, some funny rashes. Finally, listening to my wife, went to a doctor. And i became diagnosed with hodgkins lymphoma. That diagnosis was tough. I had to put my trust in somebody. When i first met steve, we recommended chemotherapy, and then we did high dose therapy and then autologous stem cell transplant. Unfortunately, he went on to have progressive disease. I thought that he would be a good candidate for immune therapy. Its an intravenous medicine that can affect the patients immune system and unleash it against the cancer. With chemotherapy, i felt rough, fatigue, nauseous. And with immune therapy weve had such a positive result. Im back to working hard. Ive honestly never felt this great. I believe the future of immunotherapy at ctca is very bright. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com Appointments Available now. Start to get people together. I hope he doesnt just leave this because we need to take action. The question is, will he stick to what he said yesterday. And that right there is the big question on capitol hill. Nearly 24 hours after President Trump stunned lawmakers by coming out in favor of some gun control policies, but its not clear when congress will take up the issue. Mitch mcconnell told nbc news that he doesnt plan to bring up any gun bills next week. He told my colleague we would love too little at some point. Im hoping theres a way forward. Yesterday the president held a meeting with a Bipartisan Group of lawmakers and outlined some things helping me be willing to support. We have to keep the guns out of the hands that pose the threat. This includes background checks. We have to do something about the mentally ill not being able to get a gun. You have to look at the age of 21 for certain types of weapons. Take the firearms first and then go to court. But take the guns first, go through due process second. The president appeared to walk back some of that in a tweet this morning. He wrote that many ideas, some good and not so good emerged from that meeting. He also urged congress to prove a bill that respects the second amendment. Joining us is democratic senator Richard Blumenthal and jeremy peters, New York Times report and msnbc contributor who has written expensively of the power of the nra. Senator, i obviously want to start with you. Your colleague senator feinstein said shes hopeful. The president had a meeting want dreamers and daca and immigration a few weeks, i cant tell any longer. And nothing came out of that. Do you share senator feinsteins hope that this will be different . I have a different view, which is that what we saw yesterday is simply reality tv. Until its matched by action. And not just cosmetic or symbolic action like the socalled fix nix bill or raising the age, but real comprehensive action that includes, for example, extending background checks to all purchases, and even a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines and the bill that senator graham and i are going to introduce next week, it has strong bipartisan support. Its a red flag measure that would prevent people who are imminently dangerous to themselves or others by buying or possessing guns. It would federalize statutes that would help save lives. This kind of comprehensive approach is whats necessary. What we have now is baby steps. Jeremy, the president claims that the nra doesnt have power over him, unlike the power they have over other lawmakers. Take a listen. You underestimate the power of the gun lobby. No, i tell you what, the reason i had lunch with the nra sunday, i called them and said you have to come over. If he las, we have to do something. They do have great power, i agree with that. They have great power over you people. They have less power over me. Hes got a unique ability to suppose a weakness, to see a dent in the armor and just to keep punching at it. In that moment, did it feel like he exposed lawmakers for being bought essentially by the nra . But at the same time the president himself, even though he claimed he wasnt being bought by them or wasnt afraid of them, at the same time he reverses course. Unfortunately Sarah Sanders has started. Katy, you and i were at these rallies where he would speak to nra members and bask in the adulation of it. So i find it difficult to believe that the president doesnt understand just how powerful this group is and how important they were to his election. To hear him say that was one of many baffling and really counterfactual things that came out of that meeting. Jeremy peters, senator blumenthal, guys, simon so sorry but Sarah Sanders is talking about tariffs in the markets. Do you have any detail on why he decided to announce it today as john was asking you. Seemed kind of sudden. It wasnt necessarily only public schedule. This is something, again, that the president has been talking about for a long time. Its not a surprise and were going to continue doing what we can to protect American Workers. That was something that the president committed to during the campaign. This is something that he feels is vitally important. Yeah, that part is new. Hes announcing his intent to make those things happen next week, and well have more details on that. Did he make that decision today . Again, this is something the president s wanted to do for quite some time. Was it a surprise to the press gathered there . It wasnt on the schedule. I dont think that the president always tells you guys everything first, but its certainly something hes been talking about for a long time. Because there were for a long time. Hes made his intentions very clear to the team at the white house. And i dont think it came as a surprise to anybody here. [ inaudible question ]. That is the intent but until the details are finalized i wont get into any more specifics. A number of questions. A number of the members of cabinet have fallen under public scrutiny and for spending and whether it be first class travel or ben carson a 31,000 dining set. The president talked about the campaign and he would drain the swamp, does he plan on draining his cabinet. In terms of if you are asking if hes getting rid of anyone on the cabinet, im not aware that is taking place. At any point to be clear on secretary carson, the order that you referenced was canceled and they are looking for another option that is much more responsible with taxpayer dollars. And when the president loses confidence in the cabinet he tells us and we havent heard that and so he has confidence why does he have confidence in the cabinet and carson and zinke, who a number a numerous investigation news their spending. So why do they have a [ inaudible ]. Starting with the b. A. , with secretary shull kene, the president is glad for the job hes doing in reforming the v. A. And modernizing the v. A. A lot of movements theyve had there and he supports him in those efforts. But they are also we have been reviewing these actions and making sure that were being very responsible with taxpayer dollars. This is something the president has asked all of his team to go back and look at. And on gun sales, senator mcconnell on capitol hill a few minutes ago said that next week the senate would not be moving forward with the fix nics legislation and cornyn said theyll be discussing regulation of potentially Human Trafficking next week. And it seems republicans are running away from the president wanted with a quick solution or a quick res lightni resolutio this front. Why doesnt the president have the clout on capitol hill that president that the president and congress, why cant he seem to get congress to bend his will. I dont think it is about bending to his will. I think it is about an ongoing discussion about the best pieces of legislation they could put forward. Yesterday was an important part of that. The president has met with a number of stakeholders, next week hell be meeting with members of the video Game Industry to see what they can do on that front as well. This is going to be an ongoing process and something that we dont expect to happen overnight. But something that were going to continue to be engaged in and continue to look for the best way possible to make sure were doing everything we can to protect schools across the country. Sarah, does the president want to get rid of his attorney general. Not that i know of. And how about Jared Kushner. No. Is Jared Kushner becoming a distraction given the controversy in the latest days. He is still a valued member of the administration and will continue to focus on the work hes been doing and were going to continue pushing forward on that front as well. Are there any concerns about conflict of interest given those meetings that he had with executives from companies that gave his Family Business millions of dollars i would refer to you the statement put out by his attorney. John . And even at peeshs at this white house. I would have to refer you to the statement put out by his attorney. John. Back on the announcement, is the president concerned about the impact that this may have an americas allies, like canada and the u. K. And the e. U. The president s biggest concern is making sure were doing everything we can to protect American Workers and that was what his announcement on the intentions are next week are specifically geared towards. This isnt something that he shied away from or hasnt spoken about regularly and often or something that hes going to stop talking about at any point soon. Blake. Is the president concerned about any retaliation from any of the countries that may be impacted by this announcement. Not that im aware of. And one final thing. About a comment and get your reaction to republican senator ben sasse put out a statement in regard to the he said that the president is proposing a massive tax increase on american families, protectionism is weak, not strong. And he concluded by writing you would expect a policy this bad from a leftist administration, not a supposedly republican one. Do you have a comment on that . I dont know that the president will or should ever apologize for protecting American Workers. And certainly not to senator sass. Let me try to drill down. You wont be getting into details at this point. So if there are details to get into, should we read into it there will be exemptions for certain countries. Again, im not going to get ahead of the final details that will be put out next week. At this point, there is no Additional Information to share as this is all being finalized. Has the president made up in his mind which countries he might exempt or at least is considering. Again, im not going to get into any details on this front. And i dont have anything further to add on his intentions that will take place next week. Were tight so ill keep moving. Jordan. Yesterday was the deadline that chairman gaudy set for the white house chief of staff to reply about security clearances at the white house. Was that request met did the chief of staff send a reply to the chairman gowdy. Were having conversation with the committee and continue working with them and i cant go any further than that at this point. Do you think you might answer the committee . Again were in regular conversations with them. And were going to continue working with them. Trey. This week the president expressed frustration his attorney general and the department of justice. As it related to the process to look into fisa abuses, what would the president like to see done differently . Look, the president made clear he has a lot of concerns like you said with the current fisa process. Nothing makes the problems of fisa cleaner than what was outlined in both the republican and democrat memos. The fbi used Political Campaign material to get a warrant to spy on american citizens. They failed to disclose to the judge that the dossier was funded by the Clinton Campaign and the dnc even as it was being used to spy on People Associated with the Trump Campaign. Obviously that alone shows us that the process needs to be looked at closely and reform to make sure were doing everything we can to protect the viefs viefs of americans. Could you elaborate on the relationship between the president and the attorney general. Does he believe the attorney general is disgraceful. The president made his frustrations very clear. Dont have anything to add. What was the reaction to the mayor of Oakland California when she tipped off residents there was an imminent immigration raid coming. Was hedoes he feel that the mayor broke the law now that the Justice Department is looking into that. I think it is outrageous that a mayor would circum vent federal authorities and put them in danger by making a move such as that and that is currently under review by the department of justice and i dont have anything else to add. Olivia. Two for you. First i know youre adverse to providing detail bt about the tariff fl tariff plan and does he plan to impact say the auto industry. I dont have anything to add at this point. Did you take note of president putins speech and do you have a reaction to his rhetoric and threats about these invincible weapons. Yes. President putin has confirmed what the United States government has known all along, which russia has denied, russia has been developing destabilizing Weapons Systems for over a decade in direct violation of the treaty obligations. The president understands the threats facing america and our allies in this srnts and century and determined to protect our homeland. U. S. Defense capabilities are second to none and because of the new Defense Budget of 700 billion our military will be far stronger than ever. As the president s Nuclear Posture review made clear, america is moving forward to modernize our Nuclear Arsenal and ensure our capabilities are unmatched. John. Thank you, sarah. Two short questions. First, can you confirm or deny that the president has made a decision to go for the outside for a successor to hope hicks as communication director rather than promote from within . The decision on that hasnt been made. I dont have a personnel announcement. And the other thing is that the president has a Good Relationship with senators manchin of West Virginia and toomey of pennsylvania. Has he been in touch with either of them to discuss further the proposed universal gun ban floated around since last week. I know that they were both part attended the meeting this week. The president also spoke i believe with senator toomey earlier today. But has not seen that final legislation as discussions are still ongoing and so i cant say where we fall in position on that piece of legislation at this point. But he is he is continuing to have conversations and hes going to continue to be engaged with members of congress across the board. Francesca. Sarah, attorney general Jeff Sessions was due to be at the white house today for the opening summit. Did the president have an opportunity to speak to him while he was here. Not that im aware of. And moving on to gun violence prevention, the president said yesterday he would sign a bill and then he said and i will call whoever you want me to if i like what youre doing. If senators if the house and Congress Passes a bill that does deal with school safety, gun violence, is the president committed to signing whatever they pass . The president s not going to unilaterally say without seeing that piece of legislation but he does Want Congress to come together and put forward a piece of legislation that addresses the safety in schools and gun violenc
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.