We begin at the white house where last night the white house faulted the media for questioning whether President Trump will fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Now, after the president and one of his top lawyers offered unprompted criticism of mueller this weekend, amid a number of tweets about Andrew Mccabe, a potential witness in the Mueller Probe just hours before his full pension eligibility, President Trump issued his first tweet specifically attacking mueller by name. Quote, the Mueller Probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a fake dossier paid for by crooked hillary and the d this c and improperly used in fisa court for surveillance of my campaign. Witchhunt. Why does the mueller team have 13 hardened democrats, some big crooked hillary supporters and zero republicans. Another dem recently added, does anyone in this is fair . But the president falsely claimed that there was no crime, falsely claimed there are zero republicans on muellers team. Among other falsehoods and exaggerations leveled just this weekend. Now, in a statement, the president s special counsel ty cobb said in response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the administration, the white house yet again confirms that the president is not considering or discussing the firing of the special counsel Robert Mueller. A little too late. Who knows. You trigger the incident and then you turn around and say, nothing is there. This is new pressure on the president and his lawyers appear to have led to these attacks. The president s tweets came as mueller is said to have sent letters to trumps legal team and after reports that mueller subpoenaed the Trump Organization demanding documents about russia, on saturday, trumps outside counsel, john dowd, told the daily baste i pray that acting ag rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the fbi office of professional responsibility and attorney general Jeff Sessions and bring an end to the alleged Russia Collusion Investigation manufactured by mccabes boss, jim comey, based upon a frad ewe lieutenant and corrupt dossier. When asking if dowd was speaking on behalf of the president , he said yes, but then he said later he was speak in his personal capacity and not on the president s behalf. If you have an innocent client, mr. Dowd, a act like it. If you believe, as we found, theres no evidence of collusion, you should want special counsel mueller to take all the time and have all the independence he needs to do his job. There has been relative silence from Republican Leadership on the issue. Senate majority leader Mitch Mcconnells office said they are not issuing a statement, but pointed to earlier support for mueller. And it took House Speaker paul ryan nearly a day and a half to issue a statement through you a spokesperson that mueller and his team should be able to do their job. On saturday morning, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence committee, democrat mark warner, called on every member of congress to speak up in defense of the special counsel now. From Arizona Republican john mccain, he tweeted out saying special counsel mueller has served our country with honesty and integrity. Its critical he be allowed to complete thorough investigation into russias interference in the 2016 elections unimpeded. While other republicans sounded the alarm or denied the president would go there. Well, as i said before, if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning and the end of his presidency because were a rule of law nation. When it comes to mr. Mueller, he is following the evidence where it takes him and i think its very important he be allowed to do his job without interference and there are many republicans who share my view. I remain confident that the special counsel is going to conduct a probe that is fair and thorough and is going to arrive at the truth and is not going to go down rabbit holes that are not places that we need to be going. Talking to my colleagues all along, it was, you know, once he goes after mueller. Then well take action. I think that people see that as a massive red line that cant be crossed. I dont see the president firing him. I think the white house said ten times, maybe more, that theyre not going to fire Robert Mueller. They want to finish the investigation. What i read yesterday was what a typical attorney puts out at every stage saying this is wrapped up, we should be done. So in the wake of Andrew Mccabes firing, President Trump is raising doubts about whether mccabe kept person notes about their oval office meetings. Two people familiar with the case told the Washington Post that mccabe memorialized his interactions with the president in memos, which if true could become key issues in muellers meeting. President trump lashed out saying this, i spent very little time with Andrew Mccabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I dont believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. We will not be respond to go each childish, defamatory, disgusting and false tweet by the president. The whole truth will come out in due court. But the tweets confirm that hes has corrupted the entire process that led to mr. Mccabes termination and has rendered it illegitimate. Before his firing, mccabe told politico that his work on the fbis russia probe is what sparked a Smear Campaign against him. He said, quote, i firmly believe this is an ongoing effort to undermine my credibility because of the work that i did on the russia case. Because of the investigations that i oversaw and impacted that target this administration. He went on to say this. They have every reason to believe that i could end up being a significant witness in whatever the special counsel comes up with. So they are trying to create this counternarrative that i am not someone who can be believed or trusted. And the President Trumps approval has experienced a slight bump since january, according to the latest nbc news wall street journal poll. 43 of americans now say they approve of trumps Job Performance up four points since the beginning of the year. 53 disa approve, thats down four. However, only one in four americans said they strongly approve of trump. 43 say they strongly disapprove. And with both republicans and democrats gearing up for the midterm thes, democrats hold a double digit lead over republicans among voters. Half of registered voters say they want democrats to control congress. Thats up 1 point since january. 40 said they would want republicans to retain control. Thats down three points. Joining us now, steve nelson. Steve, great to have you with us this morning on what was a very busy weekend. Lets start by talking about the white house for a moment. Do you think at all that the white house was surprised by how strongly fellow republicans rushed to defend bob mueller, Lindsey Graham even going so far as to say this is the end of the or the beginning of the end of the presidency if he were, in fact, going to fire robert mule snerp is it enough to deter the president hearing criticism from his own party about that decision . Theres been running tension for months and months between republicans in congress who have a general sense that there is no collusion and trump needs to wait with out this Mueller Probe. And the patient, who is very impatient for the probe to be over quickly. Its a tension that is not going away at least until the investigation is over. I dont think that they were surprised and i dont think thats i dont think thats they are going to be necessarily making up their mind based on what republicans in congress say, but i think they make a pretty strong case to the president that he should wait it out. Im wondering if that is why ty cobb did release that Statement Last night. Lets turn to the firing of Andrew Mccabe. He was immediately met with condemnation from both sides of the aisle. But yesterday, things changed a little bit. We saw democrat adam schiff acknowledge that the firing of Andrew Mccabe may have been justified given the fbi Disciplinary Office recommending his firing. Are you seeing reactions to his dismissal softening a bit now . Soite not public the exact reasons why he was fired. What we know is there was an Inspector General report, which is a Nonpartisan Office, and thats the fbis office of professional responsibility and other Nonpartisan Office recommended the firing. Then Jeff Sessions, after considering the case, made the rather lastminute decision to actually fire him. We dont know what the alleged lying to investigators looks like. It could be pretty damning, but mccabe said its not. This is certain to come out, the exact details going forward. What will be interesting is how this affects mccabes ability to air his views on the russia investigation. There are other former officials routinely called upon by tv stations and news outlets. But this could be a cloud that hangs over mccabe for years to come if the lies are actually lies. Similar to james clapper. Thats a five year statute of limitations for lying to investigators. So this is something that could impeach his credibility for a while. Lets switch gears and talk a little bit about the white house, the staffing there, the cabinet. All of it is in turmoil. I know you have some recent reporting on va secretary david schulkin. Is he the next to go, do you think, and who else is on your short list of most likely to be fired by the president . Not something you want in a year book, most likely to be fired by the the president. Shulkin appears to be one of the first to go of the cabinet. He and ben carson for different reasons, slightly different scandals involving the use of money. They arent giving good headlines to President Trump and their peripheral members of his team, anyhow. So the guessing is that those two are probably next out the door. Theres significant talk, of course, about hr mcmaster, the National Security adviser. He seemed to tease the press with a couple appearances outside the west wing on friday afternoon indicating that he was still here. But those three are the ones to watch going forward. All right, steve nelson for us. Well talk to you again. Thanks. Turning now to texas in a string of bombings in austin, two people were injured yesterday after a package bomb exploded as they were passing on bicycles. Its the fourth explosion to hit austin this month and the police say they are working under the assumption that all are related. Police say yesterdays explosion was slightly different than others and that it was possibly triggered by a tripwire whereas in the other three victims, they tried to pick up packages that had been left at their homes. Two people had died and several others have been wounded in the sdmroegzs. The Austin Police chief says the bombings were meant to send a message without elaborating what that message is. Still ahead, it was a cliffhanger in russia. Vladimir putin wins his sixth term as russian president amid heightened tensions over the poisoning of another spy. And later, another Government Shutdown looming at the end of the week. Lawmakers are expected to unveil a spending plan, but will it pass . People would stare. Psoriasis does that. It was tough getting out there on stage. I wanted to be clear. I wanted it to last. So i kept on fighting. I found something that worked. And keeps on working. Now . They see me. See me. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Never give up. See me. See me. Clear skin can last. Dont hold back. Ask your dermatologist if cosentyx can help you find clear skin that lasts. You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. Welcome back, everybody. In a result bound to surprise absolutely nobody, Vladimir Putin has won the election in russia. Preliminary results show voters elected putin to a fourth sixyear term with more than 75 of the vote. It was a lot closer than what the ballots suggested. The victory extends putins hold on power to 24 years longer than any russian leader since joseph stalin. Putins main opponent alexi novalny was barred from actually even running. The election comes at a time of heightened tensions between russia and the west after russia attempted to assassinate russian spy Sergei Skripal using an extremely toxic nerve agent. Yesterday, british minister Boris Johnson said the uk has evidence russia has been manufacturing and stockpiling the nerve agent in recent years. Joking aside, he is pretty popular in russia even though the election itself may not have been close. They actually say if he had gotten less than 70 support, that would have shown a waning tone. Popularity. Then senator Jeff Sessions may not have been as opposed to the Trump Campaign meeting with russian officials as he previously testified. This is according to a new reuters report. You may recall that last november attorney general Jeff Sessions told congress that he, quote, pushed back against a proposal by former Campaign Adviser he george pop top husband to meet with the russians. That proposal came during a march 16 meeting of the Trump Campaigns Foreign Policy team. And three people who attended that meeting tell reuters that sessions did not object or push back against the idea. Instead, one source says sessions said something to the effect of quote, okay, interesting. Another source said it was almost like, well, thank you. And lets move on to the next person. All three say she have spoken to Robert Mueller or congressional committees about the matter. Bill, youre tracking some Severe Weather in the south and we could be in for another noreaster come wednesday. Yeah. No one wants to hear from me. Back to you, louis. Severe weather you expect in march, its that time of year in the south. But now it looks like were dealing with another noreaster on wednesday and snow in some areas, even heavy snow. Lets get to the Severe Weather threat first. The storm is now spinning over the top of oklahoma. Weve had snow overnight in denver. Roads are covered. Theres lightning in thunderstorms and areas of southern kansas. Later on today, the this line of storms makes its way to northern alabama. Its going to be in the 80s today. So plenty warm enough for severe storms. Nashville to birmingham and tupelo, then towards atlanta, thats the greatest chance for a tornado. And then on tuesday, those storms go through early in the morning. Then the sun comes out. Then we do it all over again as we go throughout tuesday afternoon. As far as the snow goes, were okay through monday. But the northern portion of this snow begins in the mountains of virginia and also merit. By the time we get to tuesday afternoon, we start to see the snow breaking out from d. C. Towards philadelphia. Here is unfortunately the snowfall forecast. It looks like the worst of it tuesday into wednesday. This pink area here, guys, north of d. C. Towards philadelphia, thats 4 to 8 inches. I know. Even new york city, borderline from about 2 to 3. But pavement will be just fine, wet, mostly on the grass. Hopefully not a lot of accumulation. Just on those suburbs would be the worst of it. Still reeling. Thanks a lot, bill. Still ahead, bracket busted yet. Im pretty sure there cant possibly be anyone who still has a sole on lid bracket. I do. March madden is surely living up to its name. Six National Title favorite picks are already done dancing, believe it or not. Yasmin still has a bracket. I do. Wait, whats a bracket . Well show you who is Still Standing in the sweet 16. Stay with us. Across web and tablet . Do you want 4. 95 commissions for stocks, 0. 50 options contracts . 1. 50 futures contracts . What about a dedicated service team of trading specialists . Did you say yes . 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