Who says trump should be even more trump i was in the oval office all of today and we were talking about letting him be himself, lettinghis ll identity dickerson has been himself Jeff Sessions along withmuelr w charge of the new legal team, junior, generated kushner and Paul Manafort all edspeawith in talk with two key members of the investigating Trump Campaign contacts with russia. Senate republican Susan Collins and the top schiff. As Senate Republicans scramble to savatioal well talk with the leader rh nor senator John Barrasso news on john mclicaisey graham is his b friend. I do know this, this disease is never had anymore worthy opponent dickerson plenty of political announcements ahead on face the nation. Good morning and welcome to captioning sponsored by cbs face the nation. Im john dickerson. He marked the sick months in office with characterizing. A healthcare bill died yet again the he summoned republicans to the white house for lunch and scolding seven years you promised the American People that you would repeal obamacare then mr. Trump gave a winding interview to the New York Times. In which he raised questions about attorney general Jeff Sessionss conduct. The job, at least for now i plan to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate. Dickerson the Washington Post reported that former Russian Ambassador told his bosses in russia that he and then senator sessions had discussed the Trump Presidency in their meetings. Something sessions has down played. Also this week, the president and his team raised questions about special counsel Robert Muellers motivations anded president warned mueller not to go too far in his investigation. Might he fire him . Even republicans reacted negatively to the idea. I believe it would be catastrophic if the president were to fire him dickerson reports that the president was asking his advisors about his power to pardon his aids and himself were knocked down by the president s lawyer only to beery animated by the president himself who declared that he had complete power to pardon. We want to r welcome the Incoming White HouseCommunications Director, Anthony Scaramucci. Welcome to face the nation. I want to start with the president s tweet yesterday about pardons. He said he has complete pardon power. Why is he tweeting about pardons . I think unfortunately, he may have had a conversation in the oval office or somewhere about it and then people rush out to leak that information to people. Its very unprofessional and harmful and i think the gist of that tweet is that hes not going to pardon anybody he doesnt need to pardon anybody. And its just really about the leaking that is actually injury yus to the government. But hes done absolutely nothing wrong, theres no need for him to pardon anybody. He doesnt like the fact he has on a two minute conversation in the oval office or in his study and people are running out and leaking that. Of were going to work on culturally changing that because its extremely unprofessional. Hes the commander in chief, the president of the united states, the people that are standing around him doing that sort of nonsense are actually unamerican, doing an injustin tin to the american what happens to leakers on your watch they will get fired. Tomorrow ill have a staff meeting and it will be very im not going to make any prejudgments about anybody on that staff, if stay, theyre going to stop leaking. If the leaks continue, we are strong is our weakest link and ill say it differently in a pun where a strong as our weakest leak. If you guys want to keep leaking, get together and make a decision as a team that youre going to stop leaking. If youre going to keep leaking im going to fire everybody. Dickerson you talk about the president s success in communications getting his message across, is it helpful when he tweets about the special counsels investigation. Truth of the matter thats crystal essence of the president , some of you guys thinks its not helpful, if he thinks its helpful, let him do the, at the end of the day i believe when those investigations are over, it will be another chapter in washingtons Scandals Incorporated that we had to have a scandal going on and all this sort of nonsense and run around chasing something thats all about nothing and so i know we do that a lot in washington. I certainly dont want to do that. What i wanted to is focus on the president s agenda, how hes going to help middle class people, lower middle class people. How were going to take it to isis like were taking it to them right now. Those are the things that i really think are super important for us to focus on. Let Robert Mueller and that team focus on that, i will folk as little as possibleed isnt there a conflict between that the president is raising issues about the motivations of muellers team. Is that helpful . Like i said, it doesnt matter whether its helpful on that mattered does it get in the way of the message you were just talking about it may and may not. Im going to do were going to be proactive, and aggressive on the president s agenda and so you guys want to talk about that, thats fine. Im going to talk about the stuff things like this are important to the American People. Dickerson sounds like theres new line, you wont be talking about the special counsel, Kellyanne Conway was on raising questions about donations counsel staff made, will that stop, there will be talk about the agenda and no talk about the investigation im going to sit down with the outside counsel very close to jay sack low, we know each other very well, i know john dowd. I will understand the lines of communication, what we can say from the white house, what we cant say from the white house. And then well operate a strategy that i think will knock the socks off of people. What i dont like about whats going on right now is that were were he get hit we are on the heels of our feet and we want the president to be on the heels of his feet . President doesnt operate like that. The president operates off the balls of his feet, hes an aggressive guy. Its the reason he won the presidency, so were going to come up with a strategy thats going to knock peoples socks off and its going to be pro trump agenda. And when the investigation dies wn back on the show, see that was another one of those ridiculous investigations. Dickerson youre from the the attorney general in public in New York Times. How does that help . Well world, what i would say about that, and from may experience with the president , the president is a pretty, wears his he a guy. If people are very thin skinned and things will be super tough. The president has said things to me in a tough and hones way and i think hes a very good athletic coach, if you will and so what i4kw washington i know the president very well. If has a saying stuff about you up, go see him, go get in the oval office or the study. Dickerson why not in private . It undermines the manned trying to serve the countrydent personality. Its not really that big of a deal. If you have a thin learning about washington, crocodile skin is not even the titanium oxide. Dickerson the president is known fore about him, so surely he respond to everything said about him. Sk. The president doesnt have thin skin. The president is a fighter. He doesnt like t hipele he wants them to stop it and so he hits back. Youre saying something about him that he doesnt like and then he says something about y upset. Then you dont want him to get upset when youre saying stuff its asymmetrical nonsense. Why dont we focus on the agenda stead of all of this nonsense dickerson you said in a tweet, my politi matter, that assume carries over to the donations youve made, the supported democrats in or y doing your job listen, im an american guy, support add lot of different people, went president obama. If you noticed the last two years iveeeont like attacking people personally. I like debating policy. Attackey secretary clinton. I have found when i have attacked people per a stupid mi my part. So whoever ive attacked personally i apologize forutg t yesterday with those tweets, i think it is nonsensical d washington nonsense that we have to take this political pure tea i did deal logical test. Es i say i was for something and w e a hypocrite. I dont believe in that. I want to subordinate my political views to the views of president and his agenda dickerson if youre able to subordinate the people in the past and money youve given, why then does the president raise past donations of dis qualifying of the people who are working for Robert Mueller . Shouldnt the principle work in both case hold on. Im not the president , john. Dickerson im talking about the principle. You said past donations dont matter i understand let me. You asked me the question. Let me just answer the question. I dont think it really makes a difference for me but im the Communications Director. The president saying something a little bit different. The president suggesting that there might be people that are politically motivated to hit him and his family members, even though theres nothing there. Now, i had been the victim of that. Its a nasty thing. Its really not something youll like going through, someone accusing you of something you didnt do and you have to hire yourself a lawyer and have to prove. For one reason or another in these scandals we flipped the constitution around youre guilty until you go out and prove yourself innocent. Youre not innocent until proven guilty. The president doesnt like that. The thinks its dishonest and subverting the agenda hes trying to project dickerson the investigators are doing the work. I dont think they accused him of anything, he says hes not being accused of anything and not under investigation but theyre doing their job and subordinating whatever they may have done with political donations which seems like the same accommodation youre asking for. But again, im not the president. So if the president want to say that about them. Let him say it, its fine. Dickerson do you think their am i comprising dickerson do you think the investigators are do i think the investigators are . I dont know. I dont know these guys personally if you give me half hour with each of these guys im pretty good at reading people. I can figure out in probably 30 minutes if theyre comprised or not. They may or may not be. Ed let me ask you on the question of mixed messages. This week the president said three Different Things about healthcare. On the 17th he said the republicans should repeal the obamacare bill and start with a clean slate. 18th he said let fail, the 19th he said the country needs more than repeal, it needs repeal and replace. Thats three different messages. Isnt the president s message muddled in the at all. I hope we can do this for the president. I hope we can explain what hes doing and explain what hes thinking and i hope that what youll start to realize which is very refreshing to the American People, hes signalling over the top of the mainstream media. Lets go over each tweet. He basically wants to repeal and replace obamacare. He knows thats the best thing for the American People. It turns out that he may not be able to get that done with theory cal gent congress. Hes working super hard, probably the most Effective Legislature person in the world. He may get the chance to repeal and replace. Hes a business person, got a rubic cube on his desk. And hes trying to figure out if he can get his objectives done which are to repeal and replace obamacare. A lot of different interest there. Dickerson the senators working on the bill right now i have no idea what his position is not hes betting them up on the one hand then saying he should do this, i guess thats the point. Thats not true. Theres not one person in washington that doesnt know the president s position. And if there is, and hopefully they watch your show, because you got a great show. He would like to repeal and replace obamacare. Thats what he would like to do. If youre going to stop him from doing that, the next best thing would be to repeal obamacare. If youre not going to repeal and replace obamacare, then the third best thing is to let it implode. Because if you let it implode there will be a big enough crisis and unfortunately in this town call washington, these politicians respond better to crisis than practical problem solving, which we can do right now before the immotion. I think on a gradient thats what the president saying dickerson will he get what he wants next week . Hes going to get what he wants eventually because this guy always gets what he wants. What i know about. Is that the world, hes got very good karma, very good to the people that are super close to him. Look how great his kids turned. You cant fake good kids and the world turn back to. My prediction is hes got to gel exactly what he want, healthcare reform, tax reform and start to put the deregulatory pillars in place, so that our businesses and our economies can grow again, Community Banks can start lending again and the people that i grew up with. The people in my neighborhood that have been struggling with low income and low wages are going to see a burst in Economic Activity and hes going to getry elected. Hell work work feverishly over the next two and a half three years. Dickerson the senate and the house passed sanctions legislation on russia or going to mean will the president sign that and if not what more does he need what more does the president need to know about russian interference with the election thats a good question. I dont know the answer to that. Or whether hell sign it but well know shortly and when we do, whether he signs it or doesnt, if you invite me back on ill try to explain to you the rational and the reasoning that went into that decision dickerson Anthony Scaramucci thanks so much for being with us, well be back in a minute with a lot more face the nation. Excuse me, are you aware of whats happening right now . Were facing 20 billion security events every day. Ddos campaigns, ransomware, malware attacks. Actually, we just handled all the priority threats. You did that . We did that. Really. We analyzed millions of articles and reports. We can identify threats 50 faster. You can do that . We can do that. Then do that. Can we do that . We can do that. Republican senators Susan Collins, senator i want to start with your former colleague, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, the Washington Post has a story suggesting those answers he gave to you and the rest of the Intelligence Committee in the senate may not have been complete. Based on wiretapping of what apparently has been overheard by the former Russian Ambassador. What do you make of that story . Well, first of all, let me say that the Intelligence Committee will follow any credible allegation part of our investigation. I would point out that there is a big difference between an unsubstantiated leak about an alleged intercept versus sworn testimony and facts. And our focus is on sworn testimony and getting all the facts. I would note also that the Russian Ambassador is our adversary and the russians have shown themselves to be masters at misinformation. Nevertheless, this scenario that we need to pursue further, the one final point that i would make is if, in fact, this is a leak of an intercept and i dont know whether or not the report is accurate, that is extremely serious, that has the potential to compromise our National Security and to undermine the safety of those who are in the intelligence community. Dickerson the president said it was unfair for attorney general sessions to recuse himself and not tell the president before he hired him. Do you agree with that . I dont agree with that at all. The attorney general followed the rules and guidelines of department of justice. He met with staff and made the right decision in recusing him dickerson in my conversation with the new Communications Director at the white house Anthony Scaramucci suggested this new strategy weve seen which is to raise question about the special counsel, mr. Scaramucci said of the president who has been critical of the special counsel, quote, let him do it. Whats your assessment of what the white house message is about the special counsel . I understand how difficult and frustrating this investigation is for the president , but he should not say anything further about the special counsel. His staff or the investigation. I know its hard but he needs to step back and not comment and let bob mueller, who is an individual with the utmost integrity, carry out the investigation and make his determination. Dickerson i understand the memos from former fbi director james comey are with the committee, have you looked at them . We have not yet been given access to those memos. Im very eager to see them as you know, the fbi director memorized his discussion with the president. Particularly about his suggestion that the president directed him or implied that he should drop the investigation into michael flynn. So its important that we see these memos. Having said that, i do think that it was a violation of the fbis old guidelines, which mr. Comey helped to write for himself to have leaked some of those memos to a friend of his in hopes of prompting the appointment of a special counsel. Dickerson let me switch to healthcare. Whats going to happen next week, and what will you be doing and what will your position be . Well, its a g