thanks so much for joining us. i'm john berman. >> i'm poppy harlow. "at this hour with kate bolduan" begins right now. hello, everyone, i'm kate bolduan. new this morning, intelligence under review. not the actual intel that threw the white house into turmoil but the intelligence agencies themselves could now be investigated. and this is the man we're going to show you that the administration is considering to lead that effort, stephen feinberg, a billionaire investor who sits on the president's economic advisory council, someone with no national security experience as far as we can tell. how will that be received? this is all happening as capitol hill still hasn't figured out what to do with the leaks of contacts between trump aides and russia. investigate the content or investigate the leakers? and we've just found out, as we just found out, president trump will be holding a press conference, a news conference in the next hour. he's going to face a lot of questions. how many questions will he take?

lots to cover. cnn's joe johns is at the white house and manu raju is on capitol hill. let's get first to you, joe, this news coming out that president trump will be holding a news conference. he was just before cameras and reporters next. what are we hearing about this, joe? >> reporter: that's a very interesting development, quite frankly, the idea that the president is going to hold a news conference at noon eastern time. you hit the nail on the head. the question is what kinds of questions, how many questions, will he take any questions at all, or are they holding a news conference simply for a statement to be read publicly? anybody's guess right now. that's the only information that we have at this time, that there will be a news conference at noon eastern time, kate. >> a lot to learn there. one of the big pieces of news coming out, joe, what do we know about this broad based review and the man being considered to lead it right now, of the intelligence agencies? >> reporter: right, his name is stephen feinberg. he is a billionaire.

he runs something called cerberus capital management. the founder of it, actually. he's known for, among other things, its work with distressed assets and counts among the people on its team former vice president dan quayle as well as former treasury secretary john snow. now, stephen feinberg is a friend of the president. he's also apparently well-known to the adviser steve bannon and some others in the administration. and "the new york times" first reported this story, among the things they said about it is that feinberg has notified shareholders, apparently, of his company that he is in some type of discussions or negotiations with the white house about possibly assuming some role in the trump administration. so this review that we have asked about and been told he

might be considered for or is being considered for would look at a variety of things in the intelligence agencies. but the focus, according to people here at the white house, would have at least in part to do with the leaks that come out of the intelligence agencies. as you know, the president has been very concerned about it. he's tweeted about it. he's talked about it. and the suggestion is feinberg would be called on to come in and leave the review of those issues. back to you. >> i wonder if that means root it out. great to see you, joe, a lot to come with the breaking news that the president is going to be holding a news conference at the very top of the hour. we'll be bringing you live coverage. manu, to you. i'm so excited to talk to you. from the capitol hill side of things, who is going to be investigating what over there? >> reporter: yeah, that's been the big focus here. on the senate side, the senate intelligence committee taking the lead for looking into

russia, those contacts between michael flynn and the russian ambassador and the runup to the trump administration coming into power, as well as on the house side. the house intelligence committee, what was interesting this morning, i had a chance to talk to the chairman of the senate intelligence committee about donald trump's concerns about the leakers. and he made very clear that it's not within his committee's jurisdiction to look into the possibility of folks leaking information to the press and possibly breaking the law. and he also said they were going to look into those transcripts, request those transcripts between flynn and the russian ambassador. take a listen. >> we're concerned with leaks, because it jeopardizes our national security, and the committee is responsible for classified material, that's important. but we turn to the fbi if in

fact we have an indication of the direction for them to look. the white house can do that, the justice department can do that. it has been done. i'm told there is an aggressive effort to try to figure this out. there's a tremendous amount of leaking going on today. it's all getting reported as fact. and the reality is that it's not all factual. it's absolutely crucial that if people break the law, which some of these likeeakers have, we fu investigate it and hold accountable any individuals that would do that. >> reporter: i also asked him are you requesting those transcripts between flynn and the russian ambassador, and he said that they have actually made that request. he says he has actually not seen those transcripts yet. he said actually nobody on the hill in his opinion has seen those transcripts yet, discussing whether or not they discussed the issue of sanctions as donald trump was coming into power. and interestingly, kate, he also

is not aware, has not been told from the trump administration about naming steven feinberg, potentially naming him as part of that oversight on the intelligence community. he said he had no idea about it, he said he was reading about it in the newspaper. this is the chairman of the senate intelligence committee not being told by the president of the united states and the administration what they're doing about the intelligence community. it just goes to show you, a lot of folks on capitol hill are not being kept in the loop on the plans of the new administration. >> that's a complaint we're hearing from a lot of folks on capitol hill, they're hearing about it first in the media. manu, great to see you, a busy day up there, thanks so much. joining me, former cia operative bob baer is joining me. when you hear that they're considering a broad based review of the u.s. intelligence agencies, what does that mean to you? >> i think this is part, kate, of the war against of the intelligence community. clearly the president is furious about these leaks.

by the way, which were top secret, intercepting phone calls of the russian ambassador is a top secret transcript. so he does have a point there. >> right. >> but going outside to this man steve feinberg tells me that this is going to be a hostile relationship. feinberg is very close to erik prince, the head of blackwater, who is hostile to the intelligence community. i think we're going to see some heads roll, some big changes. the dni is probably going to be ultimately sidelined in this. and feinberg is very interested in intelligence. he at one point was considered to be head of director of operations for the cia, but because of conflict of interest, that was dismissed. he's very close to bannon. bannon has a clear dislike for the intelligence community. so we're going to see -- i think we're going to see big changes over the next year. >> with that in mind, how will this be received by your former

colleagues? >> i think there's going to be resistance. i think there's going to be more leaks, there's going to be resentment. the intelligence community is very upset about these connections with russian intelligence. they don't look at this lightly. for them the cold war never ended, russia is the enemy. and we're going to see pieces of this come out, this whole russian story, over months and months. it's not going to be pretty. >> bob baer, great to see you, a lot more to learn about this. mary catherine hamm is here, david drucker, senior congressional correspondent, peter beinert, and kayleigh mcenany, a cnn political commentator and contributor to "the hill." before we begin, we're getting a little more clarity on this news conference that president trump is going to be holding at noon. according to the pool, he's going to be holding this press conference to announce his new pick for labor secretary, of

course after andrew puzder pulled away from his nomination just yesterday, a little bit of news for us there. let's talk about where things stand with the intelligence community, the leaks, the news, and now the broad-based review that's being considered of the intelligence community. kayleigh, bob baer says it's a war on the intelligence community. what do you say about this review? >> i don't think that at all. i think we've seen a series of leaks. and i find it very troubling, troubling, you had nine former and current member of the intelligence community come out and share top secret information, as bob mentioned, not only that, "the wall street journal" reported today that members of the intelligence community are selectively deciding what to share with the president because they don't trust him. >> we do not have that reporting, cnn doesn't have that reporting. >> even if "the wall street journal" is wrong about that, the fact that they're leaking intelligence is very bad.

the fact of president trump having somebody look over the intelligence community, that's not a bad thing, it's a good thing. >> is the problem the leakers? no president likes a leak. president barack obama prosecuted more leakers than any recent president. is the problem just the leaks? if the leakers are the problem, why did michael flynn get fired, then? >> right. i don't think the leakers aren't the only problem. we have two sets of leaks, one from the intelligence community, we don't know why they're motivated, and two or three different sets of leakers from the white house. parsing this is complicated. when it comes to the intelligence community, there is a worry in like a systematic campaign that is perhaps motivated by not liking this guy. i think there's a circular reasoning going on where people go, he must be doing this because it's very bad. that doesn't make the behavior good. same for trump. it doesn't make the behavior look good, contact with the

russians looks like circumstantial evidence that it's bad. none of this is getting healthier anytime soon, when you bring in the independent reviewer, i don't think. >> if there's nothing there, then where is the denial from president trump in terms of the contacts from campaign aides to people known as operatives in russia? that's one question. but this afternoon we may have -- you know what, actually we're seeing president trump right now, as i speak, he comes on my show, meeting with supporters on capitol hill. this is some video coming in, let's listen. >> good morning. hello, everybody. what a nice group. very good. come on, that's what we like. let me grab that for you. >> oh, thank you.

>> thank you all for being here. i have had a lot of good discussions this morning. i'm negotiating a lot of contracts that are saving billions and billions of dollars for the american people and for all of us. and i'm very proud of it. the a-35 fighter jet, the air force one program, which was totally out of control, and now it's back very much in control, and many other things. in addition, i had a very good phone call this morning about a major plant that's moving back into the united states. we'll be talking about it soon. what i do have is a little free time at about 12:00. so i don't think the press will want to show up, but i think i have a press conference, probably at 12:00 in the east room. we had a little time in between things. so if the press would like to show up, will anybody show up to that press conference?

historically they don't care about these things, for me they show up. i think 12:00 in the east room of the white house. we'll have a press conference. i just want to thank you folks for coming today. this was great. this was scheduled a long time ago. some of my very, very early supporters. and i've been your supporter also. we're doing really well. the fake news media doesn't like talking about the economy. i never see anything about the stock market sets new records every day, chris, i never see that. but i think the people understand it. we're giving a speech in melbourne, florida, on saturday. i think it's going to be around 4:00. and i hear the tickets, you can't get 'em, that's okay, that's better than you have too many, right? so it's going to be great. i look forward to that. that will be melbourne at 4:00. i really appreciate you folks. you folks have been so great. and right from the beginning,

and tom, right at the beginning, just about every one of you, right at the beginning, some were a little after the beginning. but we forgive. but we forgive. let's go around, just for the media, you'll introduce yourselves, and then we'll start talking and i'll see the media back at 12:00. chris? >> mr. president, we're all honored to be here. this is really our trump caucus. reconvening for the first time in a little bit. our first meeting was the first part of march. duncan hunter and i both endorsed you on february 24th, a week from tomorrow the one-year answers. this is the trump caucus reconvening. we're so honored you're taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us. >> these are real friends. >> western new york. >> that's right. >> mr. president, very good to see you, sir. from santiago, california. >> kevin kramer from north dakota. >> bill shuster, western pennsylvania, chair of the

transportation committee. i'm looking forward to -- >> we'll give you some money for transportation. >> amen. >> that's good. >> from pennsylvania. >> good territory. >> a pleasure to travel with you to florida, congratulations. >> thank you. >> from williamsport, pennsylvania. please indulge me, 30 seconds. i have something for you. >> uh-oh. >> something for you to sign. >> beware of members of congress. >> 60-some years old, never voted, never registered, he registered for you and voted for you and asked me to give this to you, i'm sorry, mr. vice president, i'll set this over here. >> that's beautiful, thank you. he's a talented guy, i can see that. >> and then i have the chairman and ceo of world series

baseball. mr. vice president, i kind of figured you would be here as well. this is from the new york team last year that was in the world series. that's for you. and this is a jersey, an original jersey of the new york team in the world series last year. this is for you as well. >> well, thank you very much. [ applause ] thank them for me. >> i will do that. >> thank them for me. >> from tennessee, i just want you to know that tennessee is fully behind you, we're excited about the work you're doing. we know that health care and tax reform has to be done this year. we like the work you're doing and we need you to help us. >> we'll get it done. the health care is going really well. and now that we finally have tom, tom price, dr. tom price, that was a big thing, we couldn't get him. we are going to be announcing, i

guess i'll do it at 12:00, a new secretary of labor who is really phenomenal. so that will be at 12:00. and we're getting -- this is the slowest in history, the approval of a cabinet. and these people are outstanding people. the man i'll be announcing for labor is a star, great person, great person. and so i look forward to that. but i appreciate everything you've done. you've been fantastic, and i appreciate it. thank you. >> mr. president, good to see you, mike kelly, thanks so much. what an exciting summer we had together. we did better than okay. >> we took an area that wasn't a big republican area, and we swamped 'em, right? >> we did. 34 years since erie voted for a republican. >> thank you very much. >> billy long, i'm co-chair of the delegation to japan, on

saturday. meeting with prime minister abe on monday. if you will tell me how many golf balls he lost. >> he played well, i'll tell you. we played with ernie els, i called up billy and said, the prime minister of japan wants to play golf. we get to the front of the club and ernie els is waiting for us. we had a good time. he played very nicely. and he's a great guy, you're going to like him. >> oh, yeah, i met him, the last three or four years, he's a great guy. i knew you all would hit it off. >> we had a good feeling. >> i know you guys would get along good. >> i always said about president obama, it's great to play golf, but play golf with heads of countries and by the way, people like yourself, when you're looking for votes. don't play with your friends that you play with every week. does that make sense? >> yeah, it does. >> i hit it off with the prime minister. he's a fabulous guy. he loves his country.

and we spoke all day long, and we will into the night. as you know, they launched a missile, north korea, and we were discussing that. it was really -- it was really something. have a good time over there and give him my regards. >> ambassador sasai was in my district for two full days, he mentioned he was in florida with you also. one last quick thing, fran drescher from "the nanny," you were on "the nanny" one time, she has a request, she's in the battle for cancer, that you have a cancer board with one non-medical person. she wanted me to put her name in the hat. >> why don't you give me that request, billy, and let's see if we can do that. marsha? >> marsha blackburn from tennessee, i chair the telecommunications and technology subcommittee at energy and commerce. we are looking forward to broadband expansion.

real broadband. >> you're going to get it. thank you very much, everybody. see you at 12:00. if you don't show up, i won't be there. >> reporter: are you going to get those leakers, mr. president? >> we're going to find the leakers. they'll pay a big price for leaking. >> there you have it. donald trump, president trump, meeting with some of his original supporters from capitol hill as he went around the horn and let them all present their gifts or had their say, then you heard at the very end, "we're going to find the leakers and they're going to pay a very big price." the panel has stuck around. david, from capitol hill, you hear that from president trump, we'll find them and make them pay. but from capitol hill, the reaction ranges from, we're going to investigate the content of what was released, we want to get to the bottom of these contacts with russia in the campaign, we want to get to the bottom of the phone calls between michael flynn and the

russian ambassador, but you also ha have, we want to investigate the leakers. forget republicans and democrats, this is a republican/republican problem. >> correct. if there's an area where they don't want to give to trump, they've let a lot of things slide, they've appreciated his unconventional approach to the consternation of many conservatives at times, but one area where they're not going to give is russia. we're seeing two different approaches when it comes to republicans on the hill when it comes to the flynn matter. one is, there is concern about the content of what mr. flynn had to say to the russian ambassador and concern about the relationship that the president has with the russians. why? because from the beginning of the campaign, he has been a putin apologist and excused putin's bad behavior at every turn, deference he has not shown to the chinese or even many of our allies. it raises a lot of questions. however, a lot of republicans

are similarly concerned about the fact that the transcript or things that flynn said did leak. and as republicans pointed out to me yesterday, they want to know how an american citizen, michael flynn, even if it was caught up in the spying on the russian ambassador, how that stuff was not washed away as they explain, according to our laws, the intelligence community cannot spy on americans. and if the fbi did it, because they can, where is the warrant? >> this is creating very -- i would say a concerning situation kind of on all fronts, period of time, in terms of the leaks coming out, the information, and who is being targeted here. because you hear very specifically what the president has to say about the information. he's not talking about the information. he's talking about the leakers. you hear from some of his allies on capitol hill who are saying that because donald trump, like steve king, he says donald trump has so many enemies in the intelligence committee, the way he termed it, you don't even beeve anything that comes out of the intelligence comnity now. that's not a sustainable situio if you can't trust your

intelligence professionals and the information they're giving you, who do you trust? >> it is frightening, because after all, the president is supposed to be working with the intelligence community to keep us safe, right? beyond all of this stuff, donald trump is supposed to be, you know, actually this guy who is going to prevent terrorist attacks. those of us who are highly critical of donald trump should not fall into the trap of i dealizing the intelligence agencies. it is a problem when people start leaking information. the largest context is, as you were saying earlier, what is the relationship between donald trump and russia? that's really what happens. the flynn conversation is only a very small part of this. why would so many trump campaign officials talk to russian government people and intelligence officials during the campaign? what were donald trump's financial records? and why has donald trump so consistently been an apologist for the russians since he

entered the political campaign? those are the questions we need a fundamental investigation of. and it should be as above board as possible. >> if there is nothing there there, i said this earlier, kayleigh, if there is nothing there there, i'm confused as to where is the president's denial of all of this. he essentially fires michael flynn over it then says the next day he is a wonderful man even though there is an erosion of trust. he hasn't answered any questions to him about these constant contacts between his top aides during the campaign and russian contacts. we saw on twitter a little while ago donald trump tweeting, "the democrats had to come up with a story as to why they lost the election so badly so they made up a story, russia. fake news." again, i'm not going to pretend to assume i know exactly which bit of the russia story donald trump is speaking to, i don't think we can. but he hasn't denied anything. >> right. i think he should have a press conference, at noon, hopefully he'll take some questions on

this, i do think he should answer questions. to your point about not knowing, none of us has seen that transcript. the gang of eight hasn't seen that transcript. >> they do think it's concerning that they do want to see it. >> 100%. but we don't know what president trump has seen. he might have seen a transcript that was as simple as the russian ambassador saying, hey, what about those sanctions, and michael flynn saying something to the effect of, oh, we'll talk about that after inauguration. until we have that information, i don't think we can scrutinize how the president has handled it. >> doesn't it benefit the president to have this investigated, not just investigating the leakers, doesn't it benefit the president maybe not to have the transcripts made public but to have the senate investigate what the transcripts say? >> right. that would be my position, let's get to the bottom of this. what i fear is that in this investigation, which i support, that it would be in the best interests of intel folks, of democrats, and of some of the trump people, to keep it as sort of foggy as possible, so then you're going to have politically

motivated leaks out of the investigation in perpetuity. i'm not sure what we end up learning. not to say it shouldn't happen, but i'm worried that it doesn't become more illuminated. >> breaking news, mick mulvaney has been confirmed as the budget director for president trump. as president trump was saying in his meeting with lawmakers, this is the longest, slowest go of getting his cabinet in place. now one more, mick mulvaney confirmed after some touchy moments, david, being confirmed as omb director. >> i think that trump will end up getting almost everyone that he's nominated confirmed. i think the issue with puzder was more personal, and that's why he dropped out. that's why most presidents don't get every cabinet pick, there's always something wrong with somebody. but the votes are going to be there. republicans in general want to support the president. they in general agree with him on domestic policy. there's not going to be much issue there. one last thing to watch on the president's sort of war with the intelligence community, as he brings in an outsider from wall

street to try and take a look at things, the issue isn't so much that the president wants to produce better intelligence. as peter said, he needs to work with the intelligence community to keep us safe. the issue is, is this about making intelligence work better or is it just about the president gaining control over the work product because there are parts of the work product he doesn't like. >> what does this mean for mike pompeo, the cia director, what does it mean for dan coats, the man he nominated to be director of intelligence, what does it mean for congress people who have oversight over the intelligence community? >> none of them can be happy about this. as you know, first of all, there's a lot of turf protecting when it comes to stuff like that. if you're dan coats and you're on your way in, you're probably thinking, what am i supposed to do if you bring in somebody to look over my shoulder? >> dan coats hasn't even been given a shot yet, congress hasn't confirmed him yet. one final thought, peter. >> we know the russians were

trying to influence the american election. was the trump campaign complicit in that effort? everything comes back to that question. >> we have no information to suggest that they were. >> we don't, but with he know the intelligence community is highly concerned about the possibility. >> we know they meddled. we don't know that that tipped the election. hillary clinton made a lot of mistakes. >> republicans on capitol hill want to know the level of meddling that the russians had. you know that john mccain and lindsey graham are not letting this go. we won't let it go either. thanks for sticking around. coming up, the first high level face-to-face meeting between the u.s. and russia since president trump took office. words of friendship and a warning from trump's new secretary of state. details ahead. we'll be right back. deal with . or be done with it. fructis sleek & shine. with argan oil, hair is stronger, smoother, shinier... forget the frizz. sleek & shine. fructis stronger hair, stronger you.

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germany for the g-20 summit. it's the first high level meeting of u.s. and russian officials since president trump took office. here is one of the messages coming from secretary tillerson. >> the united states will consider working with russia when we can find areas of practical cooperation that will benefit the american people. where we do not see eye to eye, the united states will stand up for the interests and values of america and her allies. >> cnn's senior international correspondent ivan watson joins me live from moscow. ivan, you have this message from the new secretary. at the very same time you have a russian spy ship off the coast of connecticut. what are the russians saying about what's going on right now? >> reporter: you know, it's interesting to note, in addition to the diplomatic meeting, you've got the top military commanders that chairman of the

joint chiefs of staff of the u.s. and his russian counterpart, they're also holding a meeting today in azerbaij azerbaijan. they're talking about trying to communicate better so they can avoid incidents like perhaps last week where the u.s. says russian war planes buzzed a u.s. warship in the black sea. >> ivan, i'm sorry, i'm going to have to jump in. we have to take you live to capitol hill. house speaker paul ryan taking questions at his weekly press conference. let's listen in. >> from the administration or wherever they're coming from. if you know, let us know. what i do worry about, though, is if classified information is being leaked. that is criminal. so i think there should be an investigation as to the leaks of information leaving wherever they're coming from, and if it's classified information, that is criminal and there should be a criminal investigation of these leaks. that does compromise our national security. casey? >> reporter: -- investigation into these leaks? >> the house intelligence

committee is the proper place for this. they're the ones that get access to the sources and methods. all of these, by the way, everything involving russia is what the house intelligence committee has been working on, looking at. we've had an ongoing investigation into all this. yes, that would be the proper purview for something like that. [ inaudible ] i'll defer to the -- i hadn't given any thought to that, i'll defer to the house intelligence committee. >> reporter: yesterday the federal reserve chairwoman testified on the hill that a tax would create economic uncertainty and even in some cases weaken the dollar. what's your response? >> weaken the dollar? i don't know if i would agree with that. yeah, i think most analysts -- maybe the other way around. here's how border adjustability works. there's a lot of confusion surrounding this. we are one of the few countries around the world that do not

border adjust our taxes. 160 countries currently border adjust their taxes. we're in the company of countries like somalia, afghanistan, iran. what that means is you tax based on, if it was consumed in your country, not if it's made in your country. what america does, we tax people based on whether it's produced in america. and so that means we do not tax our imports, and we tax our exports. and we're putting american-made products at a huge disadvantageous. there is a built-in bias in our tax code to outsource manufacturing and reimport into this country. that's not good for american jobs, that's not good for american manufacturing, that's not good for american economic growth. all we're suggesting is, let's equalize the tax treatment. let's be fair to ourselves and let's treat ourselves like every other country is treating them. when we make something -- just wait. when we make something in america, let's put them on a level playing field with

everybody else. let's take this tape recorder here, i hope i didn't turn it off. this is an olympus. i have no idea where that's made. sony, made in japan. oops. i'm sorry. i just want to explain this. all right. american-made tape recorder, japanese-made tape recorder. when japan makes this tape recorder, when they send it for export, they take the tax off it. it comes to america, it's not taxed, it comes here to competes against our goods, which is taxed. theirs was untaxed twice. when america makes something like a tape recorder, we tax it, it enters japan and is taxed again to compete against their tape recorder. we're doing it to ourselves. we're hurting american manufacturing and jobs. we're putting a bias against making things in america in the tax code. that's why -- i hope i didn't screw up your tape recorders -- that's why we think this is very important. this is good manufacturing

policy. with respect to currency adjustments, it is obvious and mathematical that a currency adjustment would occur when we harmonize our tax laws with the rest of the world. for people who are concerned about it, i believe that there are things we can do and ways and means committee is looking into this to ameliorate these concerns, to address those concerns so that the transition from a really bad tax system to one of the best in the world we would get out of this is a gradual transition. i would also say that those who are concerned about this, i think they underappreciate how much better our tax system will be with this kind of provision. you got me going on tax reform. i'm sorry. >> reporter: growing republican opposition to the border adjustment tax to jeopardize -- >> no, i don't. go back and read the books about the 1986 tax reform. that was the last time we did tax reform. it will be up and down, on and off. you're going to report 150 stories on tax reform's fate

between now and when we get tax reform done. we are doing tax reform. tax reform is going to happen. do you know why tax reform is going to happen? because it has to happen. america has the worst tax code in the industrialized world. it is killing economic growth. it is driving companies to become foreign companies. more and more and more, u.s. companies are going to leave this country because of our tax laws, or get bought by foreign companies and we will lose our seed corn, our employers. we will lose economic growth. this is existential to our economy and we know this. and so we're going to get tax reform done. there's going to be a whole bunch of drama that you're going to enjoy covering between now and then. yeah. laura. [ inaudible ] they called them refundable tax credits. they're subsidies. they're subsidies that say, we will pay some people some money

if you do what the government makes you do. that is not a tax credit. that is not freedom. a tax credit is, you get the freedom to do what you want and buy what you need. and your choice. the affordable care act is the opposite of that. the affordable care act is, the government makes you buy this, and by the way, like i just said, there's one or two plans left, there will be zero plans left in certain markets. they make you buy and subsidize what you buy. a tax credit is a fixed amount that is universal to americans in the individual market to go buy the health insurance plan of their choosing. it is the opposite of obamacare which is not a patient centered system, it's a government run system. what we're proposing is a patient centered system where the patient is the -- designs their plan. the patient gets to decide what they're going to do. the nucleus is the patient and her doctor versus the nucleus of the system being the government in obamacare.

>> reporter: i know that you've heard from secretary price this morning. i was wondering if there are any areas where you think the white house can improve communications with capitol hill. >> i should know. we're doing really well on that front. i don't know what you guys report, but we talk with the white house daily. our teams, our house and senate teams are in consultation with the white house couldnnstantly. tom price was one of the primary architects of our obamacare replacement plan that we rolled out last year. and now he is the secretary of hhs to execute and implement that plan. so we're very pleased with that. and i think we have fantastic communication with them. better than i've ever seen before, actually. [ inaudible ] no. i heard it's coming but i have no idea who it is. yes. [ inaudible ]

[ inaudible question ] we would love to have support from the other side. they've made it clear to us they're not interested in doing that. i think, jennifer, what the democrats, just taking them at their word, they want to go down the socialized medicine path. they want to go down the government run health care path. they want what they call the public option, which is to basically have no options but a government run plan. that is not something that we're interested in doing. we think it will do even more damage to the health care system in america. and so we believe in a patient centered system where individuals have the freedom to buy what they want and not what the government makes them buy. also we think, jennifer, it's really, really important to have choice and competition in health care, because choice and competition lowers costs and increases quality. that is the opposite of what obamacare does. obamacare restricts choice. it denies competition. we have monopolies in a third of the counties in america.

and as a result of the lack of choice and the lack of competition, you have much higher prices and fewer supply. how about somebody in the back. [ inaudible question ] yeah, i think it's 32 states, if i'm not mistaken, have medicaid expansion. mine did not. we're going to have to find a solution that accommodates each of these two concerns. i've asked our chairman of the commerce committee, he along with orrin hatch are working with governors to come up with a solution, so that whether a state chose to take the money or didn't, that going forward, as we give states more control, as we advance the principle of federalism by giving states more control over medicaid so they can have innovative reforms, that we do it in a way that doesn't disadvantage either of the two sides of that coin. say it again? [ inaudible question ]

it's after the recess. we're waiting for our scores. so i hate to tell you that cbo and joint tax are going to give us exactly what we want when they say they're going to give it. pending drafting issues, we'll bring it up after the recess -- after the district work period, excuse me. >> we're listening to paul ryan, at his weekly press conference, making a lot of news, talking tax reform, and saying about leaks, if it's classified, that's criminal and there should be a criminal investigation, that coming from the house speaker. on obamacare, but we got to the press briefing, he did also make a big announcement. there's finally, it appears, a timeline for how they will be moving forward with repeal and replace of obamacare. house speaker paul ryan announcing at the top after the upcoming president's day recess they will be introducing legislation to do just that,

repeal and replace obamacare. then of course he tried to sabotage reporters by throwing their audio recorders on the ground to stop them from doing their job. just kidding, a light moment at the press briefing. we'll take you for a live look at the confirmation hearing of president trump's pick for ambassador to israel. that's democratic senate tim kaine, of course. david friedman is a pick for ambassador to israel that five former ambassadors to israel have called unqualified. a lot more to come, that's next. and this is the lobster party. red lobster's lobsterfest is back with 9 irresistible lobster dishes. yeah, it's a lot. try tender lobster lover's dream and see how sweet a lobster dream can be. or pick two delicious lobster tails with new lobster mix and match. the only thing more tempting than one succulent lobster tail, is two. is your mouth watering yet? good. because there's something for everyone,

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moments from now, president trump will be holding a news conference. and he will be announcing his new pick for labor secretary. this, of course, after his first nominee withdrew his nomination over opposition he was facing. we'll bring that to you live, and we'll see if the president takes questions and how many. also happening right now, a highly anticipated confirmation hearing on capitol hill. president trump's pick for ambassador to israel faces a senate foreign relations committee. david friedman is known for his staunch support of israel, israeli settlements and opposition to a two-state solution. five former ambassadors have come out against friedman's nomination. they are saying he holds radical positions but, still, very close to president trump. and he shares his views. let's go -- let's discuss much more of this as david friedman is facing a confirmation hearing. with me is national security adviser and global affairs analyst tony blinken. so you have david friedman testifying. we also heard quite a lot

already from president obama yesterday in his joint news conference with the israeli prime minister. and especially on the -- his view of the middle east peace process and specifically the two-state solution. listen to this. >> so i'm looking at two-state and one state and i like the one that both parties like. i'm very happy with the one that both parties like. i can live with either one. i thought for a while the two-state looked like it may be the easier of the two. but honestly if bebe and if the palestinians have -- if israel and the palestinians are happy, i'm happy with the one they like best. >> when you heard this, what was your reaction to this? >> kate, i'm not sure the president fully understands the implications of what he said. >> why do you think that? >> in move away from a two-state solution and endorsing the possibility of a one-state solution, what he's saying is, forget israel as a jewish, democratic state.

in a one-state solution, it can't be both because palestinians and arabs will eventually become a majority of the population. if you're going to give them the vote and treat them democratically, they lose their jewish character. if you try to preserve the jewish character by denying the vote, it's not a democracy. i don't think the president should want to preside over the demise of a jewish democratic israel. >> the president didn't take a side. he wants the parties involved to make their decision and also you heard donald trump saying where the u.s. has stood and what the u.s. has pushed for and other international partners have pushed for for so long for decades, it hasn't worked. you've opened the possibility that a donald trump approach could? >> the one thing that was positive that he talked about, although it's not new, is trying to bring more arab countries into the process of trying to find peace. this goes back to the 2001 arab

peace initiative. that was premised on the two-state solution. secretary john kerry was trying to bring the arab countries back in to help support the process. but this can't lead to a good place if it leads to one state if you care about a jewish democratic israel. >> and you assume that he does. >> one would hope. one would think. maybe he hasn't focused on this enough. what he does, he'll recognize the only path forward is two states. >> one thing on display yesterday was the closeness of the relationship between the israeli prime minister and the president. they looked like the fastest of friends. and i think they wanted it to look at they. now that you are no longer in the white house, can you describe how rocky the relationship really was between president obama and netanyahu? >> it's no secret they didn't have the closest personal relationship. but where it mattered, that is israel's security, to date, no president has done more than

president obama for israel's security. if you look at it -- >> and israel always acknowledges that. >> mr. netanyahu's acknowledgment. he called it unprecedented. where the rubber meets the road, the relationship was as good as it's ever been. >> let me ask you about the news today. the president is considering this broad review of the intelligence agencies and also considering bringing in an outsider, steven fein berg, a private equity guy but has no national security experience. do you think a review of the intelligence agencies is needed? what is this? >> it's very troubling. the first question is, why? what for? what's the purpose of the review? >> what if it is just because they want to find leakers. is that good enough? >> that's not the way to do it. first, when you have a review, you really have to know what it's for, what the purpose is, what the scope is. second, keep this in mind. it really has to be for something exceptional because you're taking people away from their jobs to try to work on this review. people whose job it is to protect the security of the united states. that's generally not a good

idea. but in this context, there's so much suspicion already about the relationship between the president and the intelligence community. this just feeds that. the notion he'd be in effect putting somebody in who is close to him to do this review who has apparently no experience in intelligence. in fact, as far as i can tell, he's an investor who is investing in some companies relating to security. that's not a good place to go. there's a lot of speculation that the purpose of this, putting him in charge of this review is to then build him up to take a full-time job as leading either the national intelligence or the -- >> before dan coats gets a chance. >> i've had history with this before. president reagan appointed a businessman to do this and it didn't work out so well. >> thanks very much. we'll have you on much more. we are waiting once again for president obama to come and speak to the cameras. speak to the media.

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is caringing because covering heals faster. for a bandage that moves with you and stays on all day, cover with a band-aid brand flexible fabric adhesive bandage. this is cnn breaking news. >> hello. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. >> i'm jake tapper. yet another whirlwind day at the trump white house where just minutes from now, president trump is set to announce his second nominee for secretary of the department of labor. this was supposed to be the day mr. trump's first pick for labor second, andrew puzder, finally sat for a confirmation hearing. bu