Thanksgiving in more than a century for millions. We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Wolf blitzer is off today. Im jim acosta and youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. And breaking news tonight. An extraordinary public feud between President Trump and the chief justice of the United States. The president is chiding john roberts and urging him to, quote, study after roberts rebuked the president s sharp criticism of the ninth Circuit Court of appeals. The president slammed the court after a judge temporarily blocked the administrations new policy on migrants seeking asylum. I will talk about that and more with senator hrono and our correspondents, analysts and specialists are standing by. Lets go to our cnn senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny. He is in south florida where the president is spending thanksgiving holiday at maralago resort. Jeff, it is a Remarkable Exchange between the president and the chief justice. Reporter jim, it certainly was. Good evening. President trump spent about six hours or so today at the Trump International golf course here in west palm beach, but once he got back to maralago it was clear he was in a fighting mood, going after the Supreme Court justice who is trying to defend the judiciary. The president said he didnt buy it. He said he believed there are obama judges. President trump in an extraordinary public feud tonight with chief Justice John Roberts. On the eve of thanksgiving, an an precedented and up seemly exchange that started earlier in the day when the chief justice issued a rare rebuke of the president for criticizing a member of the federal Appeals Court as an obama judge. We do not have obama judges, trump judges, bush judges or clinton judges, roberts said. He said, what we have is an Extraordinary Group of judges. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for. The president firing back on twitter. Sorry, chief justice, but you do indeed have obama judges and they have a different point of view than the people charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if tninth circuit was, indeed, an independent judiciary. The president went on to ask whether there are opposing views on border and safety advised there and why so many cases are overturned. He added, they are shocking and making our country unsafe. It started as the president left the white house yesterday, blasting the judges decision for blocking a change in the immigration policy. You go to the ninth circuit and it is a disgrace. It was an obama judge. I tell you what, it is not going to happen like this anymore. Reporter the Supreme Court chief justice, appointed by president george w. Bush, has been striving to bring civility to the bench. We speak for the constitution. That job obviously requires independence from the political branches. Reporter it was his statement defending the judiciary that provoked the response from trump. All of this tonight as the president finally submitted his written questions in the russia investigation. Rudy giuliani telling cnn special Counsel Robert Mueller may be far from finished with the president. Guilliani, one of the president s lawyers, is bracing for new questions from mueller about potential obstruction of justice, a move he said the trump team would fight. Well consider them and answer them if necessary, relevant and legal, guilliani telling cnn. If it was something that would be helpful, relevant, not a law school exam. As trump opens his sixday holiday visit to his florida resort, guillianis comments tonight signal the russia probe and the president s role in it is very much alive, despite repeated attempts to diminish it like yesterday while leaving the white house. The written answers to the witch hunt thats been going on forever no collusion, no nothing theyve been finished. Reporter guilliani said any questions about trumps transition and actions during his time in office, including whether he obstructed justice firing fbi director james comey, would violate the president s executive privilege. Cnn did learn that the president answered questions about the russian collusion, including what he knew about his sons meeting at trump tower and whether he knew anything about russian hacks when saying this about Hillary Clintons emails on july 27, 2016. Russia, if you are listening, i hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. Reporter so even as that russia investigation is still hanging over the president s head here with potential new questions to come from the special counsels office, the president seems focused on the border again. Look at this tweet he sent out shortly after he engaged in that backandforth with the chief justice. He says this. He said, there are a lot of criminals in the caravan. We will stop them, catch and detain. Judicial activism, the president says, by people who know nothing about security and safety of our citizens is putting our country in great danger. Not good. So the president clearly escalating this, trying to bring the judiciary into his ongoing political fight about the border. But, jim, the curious point of this is this. The president has never blasted the Supreme Court like this. Hes always revered the Supreme Court and, of course, pointed to his two appointments on that court. He just couldnt potentially use that Supreme Court, need that Supreme Court with all of these Court Decisions going against him. Thats what made this fight so interesting. Never mind, jim, it is on the eve of thanksgiving. Absolutely. Of. Reporter jim. Cnns jeff zeleny. Thank you very much. Lets bring in laura jarrett, cnns justice reporter. Laura, take us through this spat. As jeff was saying, it is unprecedented and unseemly. Why is there happening . This never happens. You never see Justice Roberts speak out like this, and it makes you wonder why now. This is not the first day we have seen trump attack judges, much less the ninth circuit. We all remember his attack on the socalled judge he had for the judge out in seattle during the travel ban and, of course, who can forget during the campaign trail when he viciously attacked the judge for his mexican heritage when he was over seeing the trump universities. The attack on judges arent new. The fact that roberts hit back is the part thats fascinating and you wonder why now, but this is a losing battle i think for the president. Justice roberts is considered the cream of the crop in the washington judicial circles. Yes, conservatives are mad at him. They still talk about what he did on the Affordable Care act, but members of congress arent going to like this. And the president would like to change the court. He wants to change these courts with judges that he likes, but, you know, he cant he cant change the contours greatly of what were seeing right now. So all he is really left with, i suppose, is lashing out in the way that hes doing. Right. And he keeps talking. He has talked at length about breaking up the ninth circuit. He cant break up the ninth circuit on his own. You need legislation for that. He has been talking about that for over a year. Were never going to see anything like that. What he can do, and which he has been extremely effective at, especially with his former White House Counsel Don Mcgahn at the helm, is putting in a number of very conservative, very young Circuit Court judges, and that obviously will make a huge impact for generations to come, way beyond his presidency. Is there a risk for the president in picking this fight with the chief justice . You know, i suppose the chief justice, the other justices on the Supreme Court will put all of this aside when weighing cases that matter to the president. Perhaps. But you have seen him go after justice ginsburg. I dont know, what has been the fallout from that, the repercussions . The attacks, i think, again, by monday we may not necessarily be talking about, but in the moment it is extraordinary just to see this kind of war of words, when roberts really never does this and the way he went about defending his fellow judges. He didnt mention trump by name but he didnt have to because everyone knew exactly who he was talking about. No one talks about obama judges and clinton judges and bush judges except for President Trump, at least not out loud. It is amazing to see, typically you will see a Supreme Court justice and his opinion about a president or a president s policy in a Supreme Court decision, not in a statement coming from a chief justice from the Supreme Court issued in the way it was today. Just an cheered development. Laura jarrett, thank you very much. We appreciate it. President s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, tells cnn special Counsel Robert Mueller may have more questions for the president , but he says the trump team will fight any questions they think violate executive privilege. Cnn National Correspondent alex cord is working that story for us. What now, alex . Will mueller read trumps answers and that will be the end of it . Reporter he reads those answers and we understand from Rudy Giuliani, who is on President Trumps legal team, that the mueller team will respond in about a week to ten days. Remember, jim, those questions, this first round of questions are really focused on two issues. The first was don jr. s meeting in trump tower with the russian lawyer to try to dig up dirt on hillary clinton. The second was President Trump himself calling on the russians to dig up Hillary Clintons 30,000 emails. So Rudy Giuliani has said that there could be more questions coming. The big question really, jim, is whether this will another round of questions would focus on obstruction of justice, because that would pertain to the period of time since President Trump became president , which Rudy Giuliani and his legal team argue is protected by executive privilege. What happens then, Robert Mueller could try to subpoena the president for a sitdown inperson interview, which the president for a long time said he would be willing to do. Now he and his legal team say that they dont want to do. Remember, Robert Mueller is not working independently. He falls under the Attorney Generals Office under the department of justice. Even if he were to subpoena the president , that would then need to be approved by Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein and the now actingattorney general Matt Whitaker who has shown in the past his disapproval of the Mueller Probe. Jim. Also today, alex, a fascinating development, mule pers team asked a judge not to delay george papadopolouss jail time scheduled to start monday. Where does it stand . Remember, papadopolous was sentenced to 14 days in jail as part of a plea deal. He could have gotten up to 16 months. At the time of his sentencing he was contrite and sorry. He is now fighting back. He is due to turn himself in on monday to a federal correctional facility in wisconsin, and the basis of his argument is that there is a challenge in a different in a separate court to the actual legitimacy of the Mueller Probe overall. Now, the mueller team has responded, saying there shouldnt be any sort of delay. The quote from his office was the defendant received what he bargained for in that plea deal. As i mentioned, when he was sentenced papadopolous was contrite and sorry. Very publicly his tune has changed and he has lashed out. He called this the biggest case of entrapment. He said that he was framed, that there was government misconduct and that he now wants to renegative torenegative on the plea deal. Jim. Lets get more on all of this from democratic senator mazy hrono. Happy thanksgiving. Thank you, jim. Lets begin with this remarkable statement. Im sure it jumped out to you all the way in honolulu to see the chief justice, john roberts, rebuke the president of the United States. What did you make of that today . I was very delighted he finally took a position in defense of the independence of the courts, which, by the way, the president has no interest in an independent court. He wants a Republican Court and he has been working very hard to place all of his ideologicallymotivated republicans that are by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation on the courts. And this isnt so im really glad that the chief justice came out and finally said, wait a minute, the courts are an independent branch of government, we have checks and balances. And this isnt the first time the president has attacked the federal court system. Why do you think the chief justice chose to speak out now and what about the sense that, well, you know, yes, the president can make political comments all the time but that that the Supreme Court doesnt always put out statements like this . It is unusual to see a chief justice respond in this way. Well, these are not normal times and we dont have a president who acts normally, so i dont think we can expect the judiciary and chief justice to also act normally. Im very glad he came out to remind everybody that the judiciary is an independent branch of government. In fact, they are pretty much the last resort for people with complaints and cases that they would like to have treated fairly. But let me ask you this because you were there as brett kavanaugh, now the newest Supreme Court justice, tangled with democrats on the Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing this year. Yes. We all remember that explosive hearing, and there were so many explosive exchanges, when now justice cou kavanaugh aired hess personality feelings and they smacked a lot of people as being very partisan. Do you worry the Judicial Branch is becoming overly politicized . Is in a concern there . Clearly i have a concern about the Court Packing that is going on, and judge kavanaugh in his hearings made it very plain he is a political operative. He also had said that that the sitting president should be immune from either criminal or civil proceedings, and thats music to trumps ears. He just cares about his own protection. So im very concerned about the Court Packing thats going on. Im very concerned that with both justices gorsuch and kavanaugh, particularly kavanaugh who is a political operative on the court, i worry about the independent of the court. Im glad that chief Justice Roberts has come out to say and to remind everybody how the court is supposed to operate. Lets turn to the russia investigation. President trump has turned over written responses to special Counsel Robert Mueller. Do you think these written answers are useful without the opportunity to follow up . Are you disappointed that they are now just dealing with written responses . Of course i am. When i was practicing law you also want to actually question the witness, but it is what it is and it just raises further concerns for me about any efforts on acting aga whitaker to stymie the Mueller Investigation. So it points out several things. First, as you know, i am party to a lawsuit to have the courts make a clear determination that officers such as an attorney general acting or otherwise needs to be confirmed by the senate. That is very clear. The second thing is that the Mueller Investigation needs to continue and, therefore, Mitch Oconnell should bring the bipartisan bill that was passed out of the Judiciary Committee on the floor of the senate so that special counsel, which includes mueller, can be protected from political firings, et cetera. Let me ask you this because the president s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, you probably saw this, suggested President Trump himself would decide whether or not to answer these additional questions that are expected to come from the special counsels office. If the president refuses, what happens then . I think that it raises a constitutional question as to whether or not the president can refuse. Claiming what . Executive privilege . I dont know because i the calling the president the executive privilege is one that probably the courts need to clarify. So everything that this president does is motivated by a concern to protect himself,