Thisat red lobsterest. With exciting new dishes like dueling lobster tails and lobster truffle mac cheese. Classics like lobster lovers dream are here too. So enjoy these 10 lobsterlicious dishes while you can because lobsterfest wont last. Breaking news tonight and throughout the hour surrounding the departure of the president S Communications director hope hicks and the president s fury that she told the truth to congress about telling white lies as she described them on his behalf. And new cnn reporting that special counsel muellers interest in a statement that she made just after the election denying ties to russia. Theres also New Washington post reporting tonight on muellers interest in the president s public shaming of his attorney general last summer, which also continued today frankly. I want to start the hour with cnns jeff zeleny at the white house. Whats the latest . What have you learned . Reporter anderson, of all the times we have stood here and talked about people leaving the white house, none is as perhaps consequential to the president as this. Hope hicks, the Communications Director, said today she is resigning. A big question of why came out. It took everyone by surprise, her aides, her followers. She has many admirers here inside the west wing. She, im told, was meeting with some staff members. She was crying. They were crying. But she said its a time she has to leave, she said, to pursue other opportunities. Of course the timing is suspect, one day after she appeared before the House Intelligence Committee for that closed door hearing for eight hours or so, and a couple months of course after she appeared before bob muellers committee answering questions. Hope hicks is not a political expert or savant, but she is a reader of donald trump. Shes an expert in trump lingo, and she was one person who had oval Office Access really more than anyone else besides, you know, potentially Family Members. So there is a sense here of what does this all mean . I mean this is a sense of, you know, it has shaken people here, anderson. The question is what will the president do from here . Hes relied on her for so many things. Will this change how he adapts and reacts to things . But, again, a couple people are pointing to she was here at very key moments, on air force one of course last summer when that statement was written about that trump tower meeting. She was on that flight from germany back to washington. She was with the president through many of these key periods, of course many of these are now of interest to investigators. But today she said she was leaving. Whats the white house reaction been to her departure . Reporter the president of course praised her. He said that he wished her well. So its been very positive, but theres still a question of why now. I mean there is a sense that this Pressure Cooker environment here is really taking its toll on a lot of people. She, of course, was with him longer than virtually anyone else, from Campaign Rallies early on, long before anyone thought he could be president. And she was able to change his views on some things and soften his temper on some things. She would sometimes send out his tweets. So this is someone who we cannot express enough how close she was to him. But the reality is at some point when she leaves in the coming weeks, he will go on without her. So will that change his demeanor, and what does it mean overall . She is still, of course, has been the subject of questions from capitol hill as well as the special counsel. Theres a big question mark tonight about why shes leaving today, anderson. Jeff, thanks. Perspective now from democratic member of the senate Intelligence Committee, senator ron wyden of oregon. Thanks for being with us. First of all, hope hicks departure obviously a surprise to many people. What do you make of it and the impact it may have on the president because very few people are closer to him than her . Anderson, this looks to me like more evidence of a white house in disarray. If we were going to name all the people who have either left or been fired just in the last couple months, wed spend your whole show just going through it. Not to mention just Communications Directors. And we continue to be faced with the key kinds of questions, one that you and i have talked about is i still think a lot needs to be done to follow the money. And today there were new stories in the press describing potential financial entanglements by Jared Kushner. Right. Do you think yeah, the New York Times has reported Jared Kushner received hundreds of millions in loans for his private businesses from two companies after hosting them at the white house for official businesses. Do you have confidence . Can Jared Kushner remain in his position . Should he remain . Obviously john kelly has had to act with respect to his security clearances, and theres been a question about john kellys role with respect to security clearances in the first place. I had to ask chris wray, the fbi director, to finally get a straight story about when the white house was informed about rob porter and some of his potential security clearance problems. You have security clearance problems at the white house, and youre potentially compromising sources and methods in what can be very serious intelligence matters. This is a president who ran on, a, hiring the best people, and b, going after Hillary Clinton for not handling classified information properly, said she would be the only president who wouldnt be able to get a security clearance. And he seems to get so caught up in potential efforts to try to discredit bob mueller, which arent going anywhere because bob mueller has been so professional. With respect to all these memos and the nunes memo and the schiff memo, the fact of the matter is theres plenty of evidence on the trump aides independent of the dossiers. But the fact was the president was so interested in trying to somehow discredit bob mueller, which was never going anywhere, he just gets caught up in these stories. Youve called on the senate Intelligence Committee to hold public hearings on the president s finances. I mean unless republicans agree to that, thats not going to happen. Do you see any willingness on their part because the president himself has said a long time ago that would be some sort of a red line. What this is about, this is essentially a policy difference between the chairman and i and others. The chairman doesnt really think these follow the money issues are the heart of the committees business. I think, for example, follow the money is counterintelligence 101. The way you compromise people is through money, so im going to keep making the case. Were looking at matters relating to that palm beach purchase. Even if this is business dealings from ten years before he decided to run for office, you think thats fair game . The question, for example, in several of these matters the palm beach property. Were looking at mr. Torshin and the potential involvement with the nra. The question is when you have these kind of financial entanglements by the president or some of his associates, are they potential blackmail targets . Are they potential targets who can be compromised from the standpoint of counterintelligence . Which is the same question about Jared Kushner and others who may have financial dealings. The continuance by this president of attacking his own attorney general publicly, shaming him. We just saw it today. We now, according to the Washington Post, its one of the questions that mueller and his team are asking people about. Last summer, the public shaming. Have you ever does it make sense to you for a president to be publicly shaming his attorney general . I think it is just bizarre. I dont know any other way to characterize it. The reality is, is the president again not really understanding the function of the job. I mean no president is above the law. The position that Jeff Sessions holds means hes got to follow the law. Its not as if hes just working for the president. Hes working for the American People. And thats what he said in his Statement Today kind of pushing back on the president. I appreciate your time. Joining us now, david gergen, david chalian, and gloria borger. Lets talk about hope hicks. David gergen, youve worked in a lot of white houses. Have you seen in any white house where you worked that there is somebody as close to the president as hope hicks . I mean she really kind of plays a role similar probably to ivanka trump and Jared Kushner just in terms of their proximity and access to the president. Ive certainly never seen anybody as glamorous so close to the president , and i think thats partly what distinguishes her. Weve seen this parade of photographs. But, no, look, i think shes very close to the president , but she was in this job, shes the fourth person in 14 months to be Communications Director. What does that tell you . It tells you that its impossible to be successful in that job because that job is all about planning strategy, communications strategy, themes, working it out, and youve got a president who uses twitter to bust up all that. You were Communications Director under reagan. I was indeed. But, you know, that was of course he was being Communications Director to the great communicator. Thats pretty and there was no twitter. There was no twitter, but he was a disciplined you know, he understood communications. He understood the importance of themes and trying to build support and eventually getting, you know, the big things done. And this president is more interested in conflict. I think its impossible to be an Effective Communication director. Im sure shes been unhappy in that aspect of the job. She loves the glamour. I think everybody would for a while. But it wears off. David chalian, i mean its just weird that this happened today, again, because if youre a Communications Director, you want to emphasize the good, and President Trump had this headlinemaking meeting which well talk about this hour about guns, a bipartisan meeting in the white house that probably surprised a lot of people, pushing against republicans, saying to their face theyre afraid of the nra and theyve got to push back, talking about comprehensive gun reform. And then not an hour later or so, this announcement from hope hicks overshadowing the meeting they just had. Its like example a of bad communication strategy. There is no logical reason that this should have come out today because that is not in anybodyS Communications plan would be for that to happen. So it raises the question of, well, just how much, then . Even if this was in the works, how much did yesterdays testimony before the House Intelligence Committee and the headlines about white lies, and we know from our reporting that the president was none too pleased about that. How much did that play into any acceleration of this announcement today, even if it was in the works . Well, and dont forget hope hicks has just been through the whole rob porter issue. Yep. And there were stories at the time that she was thinking of leaving then and tendering her resignation then after she managed the response to it, which a lot of people including myself thought was a bit of a conflict. But, you know, you can understand anybody wanting to leave this white house quite honestly. You know, thats not the surprise. Whats the surprise is that she is sort of the ultimate loyalist. Shes been with him since day one. You know, ive been told that he needs her for emotional support. And a friend of his said to me that he thinks hes going to go into a tailspin without her around because she was sort of like a comfort blanket in many ways. And he needs that because his family is growing more and more distant. And keith schiller, who has been with him for years and years, left earlier. And i do think its important to note a president does need emotional support in the white house. Often it comes from his family, but his wife is not exactly giving off signals of a warm and fuzzy relationship right now. And also if your family is part of this investigation, that adds to the stress. Exactly. Hes engaged in this folly of running a white house like a family business. So its very, very hard to distinguish emotions from conflicts of interest. Its just all roiled together. Two things are happening and hope hicks underscores it. A lot of people are thinking about their reputations and how soon do they have to get out to protect their reputations. It will be a badge of honor to work for donald trump in some circles. For a lot of other places, this is a really hard thing to have on your resume, and you have to explain. The other thing is how do you then find the people you need to fill those jobs who are really good . Were going to take a quick break. More of this conversation when we come back. Well bring in the rest of the panel. Well also have new reporting from the Washington Post that Robert Mueller is examining that time period last summer when President Trump seemed to fire attorney general Jeff Sessions. It starts a chain reaction. Thats heard throughout the connected business world. At t Network Security helps protect business, from the largest Financial Markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyberattacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. Keeping the world of business connected and protected. Thats the power of and. Cohigher ad higher parents arent perfect, but then they make us Kraft Mac Cheese and everythings good again. A hilton getaway means you get more because you get a break on breakfast get an extra day by the pool get to spend more time together get more from your spring break getaway with exclusive hilton offers. Book yours, only at hilton. Com i guess you could say it was a hectic day at the white house. New reporting from the Washington Post about the Mueller Investigation taking a look at the time last summer when President Trump seemed close to firing Jeff Sessions and a day that ended with one of President Trumps closest advisers, hope hicks, turning in her resignation a day after she testified in a marathon session before the House Intelligence Committee. Heres what watergate reporters bob woodward and Carl Bernstein had to say in our last hour. There is now a subtext that people in the white house will say to you, it is unclear to them whether donald trump can effectively govern, whether hes capable of it in terms of his own abilities, conduct, and whether or not things have gotten to the point where the wheels are coming off of this presidency. We dont know that, but certainly people in the white house are openly, with each other and with journalists, raising those kinds of questions. Its not clear who has authority or what authority. Back now with our panel, joining us at the table, carrie cordero, jen psaki, and mike shields. Mike, for this white house, i mean hope hicks as weve been saying was about as close to the president as anybody. Yeah, she goes back predates everyone on the campaign and worked for the trump family before she got involved in this. Sort of a unique person in that regard because she wasnt political. My guess is she will continue to be close to the president. I think this is like a Family Member and so whatever shes going to do after this, shell still be a close confidant. Shell probably still be Running Press traps that she does very well quietly. She doesnt have her name in the paper, but she is very, very effective at running traps for the president. Im guessing shell continue to do that from the outside. So this decision, i dont believe, was related to anything that happened this week. You dont think so . Maggie haber man reported in the New York Times, people dont leave the white house when theyre that close to the president just from a communications standpoint, why announce this on the same day where the president has had this important meeting . I mean maybe the white house didnt like the way it turned out, and they wanted to switch attention. But you could argue it was an important thing that they would have wanted attention on. Yeah. I mean i cant explain that. Theres all kinds of reasons why someone might want to leave or what the timing is for that. But, you know, the thing is there was going to be Something Else that came out later on after this anyway. Theres like four other stories since this afternoon, so in some ways it doesnt matter. Jen, as a former Communications Director in the obama administration, shes, what, the fifth Communications Director since this president took office. Is that an unusually high turnover. Yes. We had about five Communications Directors over the course of eight years and i was in the role for almost two years.