all right. good friday morning, everyone. i'm poppy harlow in new york. >> i'm jim sciutto. it is 9:00 in the morning in the east. make that only 9:00 in the morning. already the news is coming fast and furious. emphasis on furious. that would be the president on a tear this morning against the special counsel ahead of two hugely significant revelations today. today, any time now, mueller is due to tell port why he accused the president's former campaign chairman, paul manafort of violating a plea agreement requiring him to cooperate fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly. what exactly did manafort allegedly lie about? was it worth risking life in prison for him? >> on the flip side, and i do mean flip, mueller is due to recommend a sentence today for michael cohen, the president's former lawyer and fixer who pleaded guilty to bank fraud,

tax evasion and just last week admitted to lying to congress, quote, out of loyalty to individual one. individual one being the president. now cohen says he shouldn't spend a day in prison because of all this cooperation. we'll see if bob mueller agrees with all that. already it is triggering a barrage from the president that could only be read as a pre-rebuttal. we may hear these attacks repeated on camera later this hour because the president will leave the white house for a day trip to missouri and he may stop and take questions from reporters. >> keep in mind he does this with intent to undermine confidence in the special counsel's investigation. he has been doing it for months. this is just the latest attack. but as the president goes today, will he take john kelly, his long suffering chief of staff with him? the world's longest awaited termination is now imminent, and that's where we begin this hour.

abbie phillip is at the white house. abbie, you know, his departure has been rumored for some time, but it looks like it is now immine imminent. >> reporter: that's right. it does seem that every few weeks there are rumors that john kelly may be leaving the white house. but sources are telling our kaitlyn collins that within the white house, john kelly's resignation is expected to be imminent. that's because the situation with president trump has deteriorated dramatically within the last couple of days. it has become untenable for both men who have been working now with each other for 17 months. john kelly's power here in the west wing has been weining for quite some time. now it appears that's not happening at all, and the president is preparing for a transition to a new chief of staff. now, despite that, we are hearing that no decisions, no

concrete decisions have been made about exactly who will replace kelly. one of the leading contenders is vice president mike pence's chief of staff nick ayers, who is someone who has been around this white house for some time now and has been rumored to be angling for this job. president trump likes ayers, likes his political mindset. as he is looking toward his re-election is interested in elevating himself to that position. but there are a lot of detractors to nick ayers here in the building, and this trauma continues to unfold. we are waiting. john kelly's departure from the west wing and several other officials could be seeing some turnover. of course, as you just mentioned, president trump has spent the morning lashing out at the mueller investigation, anticipating these filings coming later today and also some

testimony from james comey on capitol hill. so there is quite a bit going on here this morning here at the white house. jim and poppy? >> no slow friday morning. abbie, don't go anywhere for a host of reasons. thank you very much. let's get more on all of this. cnn's john avalon is with us. this has been the sort of longest impending resignation that we have seen in a long time. >> since jeff sessions. >> there you go. look, in november, so last month, the president said on fox news that he is still supportive of kelly, that he does a great job on certain things. other things are not his strength. there was that moment in may. let's remind people of that. let's play it between the two. >> i want to just tell you something. general kelly is doing a fantastic job. there has been such false reporting about our relationship. we have a great relationship. he's doing a great job as chief

of staff. i could not be more happy, so i just want to tell you that. "the new york times" has falsely reported. they have said things absolutely false. so i just want to tell you that. and general you might have something to say. >> i would say it is a privilege to work for a president that has gotten the economy going. we're about to have a break-through i believe on north korea. the jobs report today, everything is going phenomenally well. >> okay. so that was may, john. that was after nbc news was reporting that kelly called the president an idiot. sources tell cnn that kelly had privately called the president unhinged. they made that very clear show of unity. now what? >> that's right. the president saying it is all fake news, false reporting. apparently not. look, john kelly brought a degree of professionalism to the west wing after priens prreince. but there is certainly a lot of bad blood. he fired a lot of folks who had

their knives out for him since day one. but the president months ago said he is going to stay on through '20. it was after the bob woodward book that quoted him calling the president an idiot. we were led to believe this was fake news. turns out it was real reporting and it looks like john kelly may be heading for the exits. >> john avalon, we often have talked in this administration. do you remember when kelly joined the administration. his appointment was welcomed as a moderating voice for this president. and we have seen over the course of the last several weeks the departures or the decline of some of those moderating voices, nikki haley being one. john kelly here. the relationship between the president and defense secretary james mattis supposedly reportedly not as close as it has been. who remains in this white house and is telling the president

things he doesn't want to hear, trying to control some of his worst instincts? who remains? >> that's the key question because that access of adults you referred to. they were there to give him accurate information and then execute his orders. that's what john kelly has tried to do. it really leaves mattis at the pentagon, and it really is a question of who takes that role, who fills kelly's shoes? is it someone who is a real strong trump person who is never going to contest? >> just on that point, what does it mean if it is nick ayers. >> he's really an establishment figure, a political operator, someone well known on capitol hill, not without enemies. that would be not of washington. but a georgia political operative that could make sense on paper, at least, in terms of unifying the vice president's staff with the white house and preparing for a presidential

campaign. but is he a policy guy? is he a government guy? not so much. there is always a danger that it is designed to get shot down. >> you know, john, on the mattis point there, we had a test of that just recently on the khashoggi evidence, right? and you saw mattis line up with the president and mike pompeo, which seemed to be contradicted by the cia director's testimony. always good to have you on. let's get now because, again, another story we're covering today. d.c. federal courthouse, our own jessica snyder is there waiting for the latest peek into robert mueller's investigation into paul manafort, how he has broken this cooperation agreement. what do we expect to see today, jessica, and when? >> that is the question, jim. another day, another waiting game. we're waiting for two key filings, one here out of d.c.

district court. the one here related to paul manafort. the special counsel's team must detail to the judge exactly how they believe that paul manafort lied and what he lied about during these plea talks. remember, it was at the beginning of last week when the special counsel's team revealed that they believe that paul manafort has lied about multiple subjects over several different meetings, but in that past two weeks we have been led to wonder what exactly did paul manafort lie about. the question will be in these filings. will the special counsel reveal what he lied about. and the key question being did paul manafort lie about anything to do with the trump campaign, with the president himself who at the time was the candidate? did he lie about anything possibly related to any possible collusion between the trump campaign and russia or were these lies, instead, about paul manafort's business and trysts in ukraine.

remember, he faced that trial in virginia related to that and was convicted eed on eight counts. if paul manafort lied about any possible collusion with russia, that could have huge implications and could reverbuate all around a washington that's already on edge. we're waiting to find out. this filing could drop at any moment. the special counsel has said that some of this, at least, will be made public. it remains to be seen how much will be redacted. >> could come any minute now. we will be right on top of it. thanks very much. >> look, you're waiting to hear a lotto d today, as we all are. one big question is on michael cohen. a sentencing memo is going to come and it will outline a lot more on how helpful michael cohen was to the special

counsel, how much he cowop raop and what that will mean in terms of leniency. what can you tell us? >> that's exactly right. look, the attorney for michael cohen already did his filings. that came last friday at 11:30 at night where he called michael cohen's cooperation specifically in the special counsel's investigation significant. the key here is going to be how the prosecutors, how the mueller team describes his cooperation. was it significant? what exactly has he provided. it's unlikely we will know everything because there is still this ongoing investigation and much like we saw in the michael flynn filing there is probably going to be redactions. but the key thing here is will they at least give us some idea about how michael cohen has been cooperating. and the other thing to keep in mind here, there is also a bigger investigation going on with the u.s. attorneys office here in new york, the southern

district of new york, which can perhaps see a lot more people, including the trump organization. he is cooperating in that investigation, michael cohen is. and we also could hear some of that cooperation. there is a lot we could hear. but i think it is important for people to keep in mind there is still many aspects of this investigation that are ongoing that we're not going to know about for quite some time. most important for michael cohen, obviously, is jail time. how much jail time will the special counsel's office tell the judge they want him to serve? his lawyer, michael cohen's lawyer says he shouldn't serve any jail time. he's been helpful, and he's going to continue to be helpful to the u.s. attorneys office, to the fbi. >> and just to remind people, if we see the president sort of continue on this distancing himself from michael cohen, it was michael cohen standing up in federal court just last week

saying he lied to congress out of loyalty to individual one, that of course being the president. stick around for us on that. we do have breaking news on the economy. brand-new jobs numbers out. weaker than expected. still a sign of a pretty strong labor market, jim. >> let's go to christine romans. so the economists were expecting 90,000 jobs. this one came in significantly below that. >> yeah, about 155, 000 new jobs. but you are on track for 2.3 million jobs. take the broader view, about 2.3 million jobs created so far this year. that's already better than last year, and it's on track to beat 2016, which is a very good year for job creation. so one reason why you might see 150 and not the 200 some had been expecting because at 3.7% unemployment, it very well could be not that companies aren't hiring as much but that they can't find the workers.

this is what you call full employment. it will be interesting to see if we are a strong, tight job market right now that you can't be adding 200 plus workers every month without bringing in new workers from someplace else. business information services up 32,000 jobs. you also saw in health care 32,000 jobs. that has been a steady performer. health care in this country, hospitals and outpatient services and all the hospital facilities and health care facilities we see are a huge driver in the economy and manufacturing. 27,000 jobs created there. one manufacturing trade group saying that its investment in metals, in aluminum and steel facilities firing back up again because of the president's tariffs on overseas, that is helping that particular part of the white house. >> christine romans, thank you so much. we appreciate it. as you can see, a lot of news going on this friday morning. on top of it, a new cnn report

sheds light on the hectic days after president trump fired james comey. we have heard andy mccabe opened an obstruction of justice investigation even before the special counsel was appointed. plus, marketing racing after a wild thursday. investors on edge after a top chinese tech executives as the u.s.-china trade truce hanging in the balance. and kevin hart quits the outcries after homo phobic messages he had tweeted in the past. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999... intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. it can even warm your feet to help you fall asleep faster. how smart is that? smarter sleep. to help you shed those sugar cookies, get a running start on the holidays, and take it all in with the patience of a saint. don't miss the last chance to save up to $500 on select

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be quick to talk ♪ can you feel it 's doctor ♪ can you feel it amazon has everything you need for your holiday get together. with low prices and free shipping on millions of items, for everything you need this holiday, visit amazon. this morning cnn has learned that in the days after james comey was fired by the president, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein and top fbi officials viewed president trump as a leader who needed to be reigned in. >> that ultimately then led then acting fbi director andrew mccabe to open a department of

justice investigation before robert mueller was brought on. with us now, former fbi special agent, john avalon also back with us for the politics of it. let's talk about the legal significance of what we have learned from the reporting overnight that andy mccabe, a foe of the president, clearly. the president has been very critical of him. but he was then acting fbi director, opened an obstruction investigation before mueller was brought on. >> yes. this doesn't surprise me at all. it's important to remember that the special counsel didn't open these investigations, and they're not only legitimate because there is a special counsel. the special counsel stepped in to existing investigations, including the russia investigation and the obstruction investigation because the attorney general was recused and there was a conflict of interest with the deputy attorney general. those are the grounds for

appointing a special counsel. when mccabe opened the investigation, the question is was there a reasonable factual basis to believe that a violation of federal law had occurred? at that point what you had was comey's memos that there had been some problematic conversations and then the firing of james comey. so that would have been sufficient to open an obstruction investigation into which mueller later stepped in to oversee. >> yeah. john avalon, you have a different issue now, right, in that the president has fired his attorney general in part or large part because he had rec e recused himself in the investigation. he now has matt whitaker in that investigation. do we know, would we know if the new acting attorney general has already taken steps to reign in mueller and the special counsel probe? >> we do not know yet. it's the subject of, of course,

much speculation. we know earlier on the president got a head's up about certain actions taken and indictments about michael kcohen pleading guilty. but but don't know the extent to which he has involved himself. he oversees that investigation. but the mueller probe and certainly the documents we have seen and expect to see later today have continued. it will take time to see how involved he's been. but it also raises the question of the administration floating a new attorney general, someone that had been a previous attorney general for bush 41 to try to remove some of the controversy around whittaker's appointment. so someone who has not been senate confirmed has never been in this position for this amount of time. >> barr has been critical of certain aspects of the mueller probe. john, let me get the political play here of one of the

president's newest tweets this morning that fascinates me. i'll paraphrase for you here. he's saying that, you know, rudy giuliani, his personal lawyer is crafting a counter report to the mueller probe and the mueller report that 87 pages of it, john, are already done and he said we can't finish it until, you know, mueller is done with his work. politically, john, what's the play here? that they would feel the need to write a report responding that is already 87 pages long and they have started doing so before the mueller report. >> this has been reported that basically they want to offer their counter factor, the alternative facts to whatever the mueller report comes down with. then this was actually dismissed in an interview that rudy gave last night. that's what the president is trying to correct, in offering this specific number 87. it shows there is a high degree of chaos in the white house when it comes to their plan, their strategy to respond to the mueller report, which might be

characterized as a known unknown. one quote that jumped out to me, this is like jesus takes the wheel, but scarier. >> just before we go, you have this day, revelations coming on both manafort and coming, revelations that will possible affect this president or involve this president, and he has gone on another one of these tweet storms attacking the mueller probe. are those tweets relevant to the special counsel as he looks at the question of obstruction of justice? >> i think that his tweets over time can establish, particularly when they have attacked people in a position to have power over the investigation. you know, it can establish a certain motive for wanting this investigation to go away. i think it is important to understand that no individual tweet is going to be

obstruction. but it is painting a picture that i think mueller will take note of. >> just a note, and we have live pictures there of the former fbi james comey arriving on capitol hill where he will be testifying behind closed doors, a testimony requested, demanded, i should say, by house republicans. we will keep you apprised of what we hear from there. thanks very much, as always. we are just moments away from wall street's opening bell. are u.s.-china trade talks in jeopardy after the arrest of a high profile chinese tech executive? we will ask one of president trump's top trade and economic advisers. that will be live coming right up. your enamel is very precious. acidic foods can wear away your enamel. your tooth is going to look

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all right. james comey now very outspoken james comey just arrived on capitol hill moments ago. he will testify behind closed doors in just about half an hour's time. this is at the request of house republicans from the judiciary and oversight committee. democrats invited. some democrats will be in the room for this. manu, look, comey fought hard through the course to have this in public. it won't be, but the american people will know what is said on all sides here, right, because the transcript will be released i think in 24 hours. >> yeah. they said in 24 hours or as soon

as practicable. whatever that means. it could be tomorrow. it could be over the weekend. it could be early next week. but we do expect to see a transcript soon. now, this hearing is closed doors. this interview will happen. it will take place probably all day long. two committees, republican-led committees, the judiciary committee. the republicans on this committee have been eager to interview comey on a range of subjects because of what they believe are fbi improper actions over the russia investigation in 2016, as well as the clinton e-mail investigation. now, the democrats say this is all part of a witch hunt, all part of an effort to change the focus from potential areas of collusion that may have occurred with the trump campaign and russia and instead focus on the investigation itself. but all those matters expect to be discussed as republicans will have their time to question. democrats will have their time to question. they will go back and forth, back and forth all day long until comey eventually emerges and we do expect him to talk to

cameras afterwards. so we'll hear what he has to say at the end of the day, poppy. >> yeah. that is otable, thate's very likely may answer those questions, manu, that reporters have after this testimony because he has wanted it to be so transparent. most witnesses we have not seen answer questions. thank you very much. jim, now to you. well, all eyes on wall street now. markets flat so far this morning. this after down about 40 points there. the u.s. added some 155,000 jobs in novembe. unemployment rate holding tight at 3.7%. also this morning, investors raising doubts about the fragile trade truce with china. this after the arrest of a top chinese tech executive. a lot to get to this morning. thanks very much for taking the time this morning. >> good to be with you, sir. >> let me ask you about the jobs report. economists have been expects

190,000. it's 155,000. you have other signals out there the markets have been very edgy. concerns about tricking earnings. the oil markets as well. are you concerned an economic slowdown is coming? >> i love christine romans analysis that pointed out over two million jobs created. about 75% of the people coming in were coming off the bench essentially. they weren't being counted. those are the kind of trump folks we have been trying to campaign to get back into the workforce. the other highlight for me given what i try to do is manufacturing jobs. i would say that there has been -- >> give it six more years. it's like if you look at the last -- going back to 1970.

we have had 12 months where we have had unemployment below 4%. seven of them are in the trump administration. what i also love is that the lower part of the income stream is benefitting disproportionately, both from the rise in jobs as well as in the rise of income. we had again rising wages, both in real nominal terms. so there is a lot of great things in that report. we think it's strong and on trend. >> let's talk china because there is a lot going on there and i know it is close to your heart. first the arrest of this chinese executive. someone made a good comparison. it would be the equivalent of tim cook of apple being arrested in china. you are in the midst of sensitive negotiations. is the administration angry, frustrated, surprised that this negotiation might scuttle those negotiations? >> so, they are two separate events. the problem we have is not the

events. it is the bad actions of huawei. a very large company, founded by someone from the chinese military. it is frightening that any one of those cell phones can have a listening device for the chinese government. >> they said they wouldn't carry a phone because of that concern. >> our government doesn't buy them. new zeal laand doesn't buy them more and more countries. the point is, while they are a bad actor, let's look at what the indictment says and let the justice department do its thing. it was good cooperation between the ka nad yacanadians. the timing was unusual, but the actions were legitimate. that's par for the course in terms of what the justice department does. >> give us a sense of what

president trump and xi are talking about and what progress can be made in these 90 days. we have close to about 60 more days now in this because coming out of that meeting president trump made a lot of claims about agreements made by the chinese. those claims were not echoed by the chinese at any of their public announcements. if progress was made, why are china and the u.s. on different pages? >> so let's talk about what happened in that room because it was an extraordinary piece of history. on our side we had secretary mike pompeo, ambassador bolton, john kelly and others. on the other side we had president xi and his team. none of us spoke except for the two presidents. mostly who spoke was president xi. he came in to that room and talked for about 45 minutes, offering a very detailed offer

for a deal. clearly the chinese side motivated because of president trump's strong stance on their practices. they want a deal. and, so, when people say that, oh, the vagueness or whatever. inside that room, that president on the chinese side went over 142 items based on our demands for -- think about this. i mean, do we want to work with a government that forces technology transfer? that steals our technology and intellectual property, that counter fits and pirates, that sends in fentanyl across our borders, that spies on us? >> these issues have been going on for years. they are issues in china's national interest, to steal u.s. technology, to close its markets to foreign competitors. >> this is far more historic

because we have an economy and an authoritarian state in china which fundamentally has to restructure its economy if it is to be a good citizen to the rest of the world because, if it won't, the rules are changed now. this president is the first president to stand up to this chinese per vags. >> we do have some breaking news. very important interview. we'll get to that in a moment. first of all, we have learned the president's chief of staff, john kelly, is not traveling with the president today to kansas city. that is significant, of course, given the talk about his impending resignation. abbie, to you, though, on two really significant nominations coming through from the president, the president will nominate william barr to be the next u.s. attorney general. he is senate confirmed. he was attorney general under

president bush. let's begin with the significance of that. >> reporter: the president confirming to reporters as he's walking out that he will nominate william barr. this is a man that served as attorney general under george h.w. bush and was here in washington just a few days ago, saw a lot of people who were here in this west wing at the funeral for president bush. but one of the things that people are focussing on with barr are his past comments and writings about the mueller probe, talking about president trump's firing of james comey, saying there was perhaps a justification for the president to do that. he's also talked about whether the justice department should investigate hillary clinton for the uranium one deal. this is something president trump has talked a lot about in the past. in some ways you see barr echoing some of the things president trump might want to hear from his attorney general. at the same time, he is viewed as a more conventional pick. robert mueller has worked for

him in the past. earlier this week, even a democrat, patrick leahy, had praise for barr as his name was mentioned as a possibility. it remains to be seen how this will go down on the hill. but here we're seeing someone who might have perhaps an easier time of getting confirmed in the senate for a position that is under a lot of scrutiny. >> yeah. the significance of having some democrats where he is notable. we are going to hear likely from the president in just a few minutes as he walks across the lawn there to go to cans is citcit -- kansas city, missouri. currently a cabinet position, whether it will remain a cabinet position is to be seen. former fox news host and journalist, what can you tell us about this pick by the president? >> she was someone in the president's sights for some time now. the president likes her way of

handling herself at the podium. but a lot of people are raising questions about whether she has the qualifications, the foreign policy qualifications for this very important post, which is at the moment a cabinet level position. i know we're hearing from the president as we speak right now. >> i think we are. all right. one minute? jim, back to you with peter. peter, we were talking trade policy there, but you have major moves by this president, the expected departure of the chief of staff john kelly. >> stop right there. that's not happening as far as i know. >> you don't believe the chief of staff is leaving? >> i don't believe that until i see it. we have seen this reporting every day since he got there. we saw it back in may. and the chief not going on the plane today, that's no big deal. >> but he's not -- >> no. when we were in ben nose a arteries everything was fine.

i mean, this is unfair to our administration, to pick on people one by one saying they're going to go or they don't have the confidence of the president or they don't have this and that. it's got to stop. it's like when and if the chief resigns, let him go. he's an honorable man. he's a great chief. >> stor sorry to interrupt agai. here's the president. i want to confirm that bill barr, one of the most respected jurists in the country, highly respected lawyer, former attorney general under the bush administration, a terrific man, a terrific person, a brilliant man, i did not know him until recently when i went through the process of looking at people. and he was my first choice from day one. respected by republicans and respected by democrats. he will be nominated for the

united states attorney general and hopefully that process will go very quickly, and i think it will go very quickly. and i have seen very good things about him even over the last day or so when people thought it might be him. so barr will be nominated for the united states attorney general position. i also want to inform you that heather nauert, who has done a great job working with mike pompeo and others at the state department, heather nauert will be nominated. she's done work with nikki haley to replace nikki at the united nations. she's very talented, very smart, very quick, and i think she's going to be respected by all. so heather nauert will be nominated for the ambassador to the united nations.

those are two very big ones. i have another one for tomorrow i will be announcing at the army/navy game. it will have to do with the joint chiefs of staff and succession. i look forward to telling you, and i will see you later. i will see you in kansas. >> okay. so there you have the president confirming the news that we just brought you, that he is nominating william barr to be attorney general once again. already senate confirmed. and heather nauert, the former fox news host, current spokeswoman for the secretary of state to be the u.s. ambassador to the united nations. jim, he did not take any other questions, jim, from reporters who have a lot of pertinent questions this morning about a lot of news. >> no question. and did not provide clarity on the fate of the chief of staff, john kelly. >> that's right. >> of course, we have a number of folks here. abbie phillip, you have been there at the white house

watching this closely. tell us what you're hearing there about is there any news on john kelly's position since cnn's reporting earlier in the day. >> reporter: well, not since this morning. but we do know he's not traveling to kansas city. that being said, it is not unusual for john kelly to not be on every single trip the president takes. but at a moment like this, for him to be absent as the president is heading out on a trip like this and on a day that he's announcing a lot of other staff changes is very telling. we are still, though, expecting, according to our sources in the coming days for kelly to submit a resignation. but the problem here, jim and poppy, is that the president has not settled on a replacement. and i think that there is a sense here that the president will want to make that decision first before announcing anything further. he also teased some announcement tomorrow as he is going to the

army/navy game tomorrow. so that is also another impending decision. but there is a lot going on today. the white house apparently not ready yet to announce the fate of chief of staff john kelly. >> okay. michelle, to you on the president's choice to replace nikki haley at the united nations, a very important role. you covered the state department, and heather nauert is currently the spokesperson for the state department. a big question, michelle. does this role, if she is confirmed, does it remain a cabinet position? what can you tell us about her and how prepared she may be for us? >> they believe this will be a lower role, that it won't be a cabinet position, which is what nikki haley is currently holding. that remains to be seen, though. and this has been quite a process. for weeks and weeks it has been rumors that healther nauert was

the president's favorite pick for this role. she was strongly supported by ivanka trump and jared kushner. we know that within the administration there were some others who were urging the president to consider other people. we knew some of those names had been circulating. that might have been part of the delay, that there were urgings to look at other names. some of whom had more experience than heather nauert. but now we know the pick is heather. the president is choosing another fox news alumni for a very senior position in his administration. heather nauert at the beginning of this administration had come from fox and friends. she's been a journalist for about 20 years, most of which spent at fox. she became spokesperson for the state department. within a year's time, though, after secretary of state rex

tillerson was fired, along with his undersecretary for public affairs, heather nauert was appointed to acting undersecretary. she went from being a news reader on fox to the number four person at the state. now she takes another high level position to become the u.s. ambassador to the un. the administration is speaking very highly of her. one senior administration official put out a statement saying she does have experience with foreign policy. she's traveling extensively. but critics are saying, at least one of them on the record, saying she is now the poster child for an administration that put people in places where they have no business being. >> so we're still with us. and thank you, peter, for rolling with the punches as the news keeps coming. i want to ask you as we see this because we were talking about china and trade. and this is a defining issue for this administration politically, but also economically. it is a defining issue for the

world's two biggest economying right now. you have healther nauert who will be the un ambassador, a role certainly in this back and forth here. if the issues that you mentioned and trump has listed here, the sizable trade deficit, stolen technology, et cetera, if they are not resolved in 90 days, is this administration willing to walk away? >> it is a question of moving forward on the strategy, which is to simply raise the tariffs on the $200 billion from 10% to 200%. i would point out to the american people that today we raised close to $12 billion from the tariffs. what they have done -- >> wait. >> what they have done is drawn investmentcall a tax incidence economics. those are born largely by the chinese exporter. >> and big chunks from folks

like you and me. >> the point is the tariffs are to defend this country from china's economic aggression against our technology and innovation base. they're working with steel and aluminum. they have attracted a tremendous amount of investment. strong for the defense industrial base. what president trump recognized is economic security is national security. when we strengthen our economy, we're also strengthening our national security. and this is a philosophy which permeates everything we do, corporate tax cuts, deregulat n deregulation, the steel and aluminum tariffs. all of these policies, and ch a china, getting back to this idea, this is more historical than nixon/kissinger because china is at an inflection point. it has to change and come to the world of free trading nations and be peaceful or continue doing what it's doing.

if it's doing to continue doing what it's doing, we have a president that's going to stand up to that for once. >> peter navarro, thanks for taking the time and answering a lot of questions on a lot of stuff. >> it was fun watching the interlude here. >> poppy and i will be right back after this. still a lot of news to cover this morning. the cold and flu fighting machine. you put in your machine. press the button to brew up powerful relief. to defeat your toughest cold and flu symptoms fast. new theraflu powerpods. press. sip. relief. ♪ the greatest wish of all... is one that brings us together. the lincoln wish list event is here. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with $0 down, $0 due at signing,

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it is a college football rivalry like no other. army versus navy. trust me, i have been to those games. they are awesome. >> it's not like columbia versus yale, what? not exactly. coy wire has more on tomorrow's

game from philadelphia in today's bleacher report. good morning, my friend. >> good morning, poppy and jim. since 1890, the army/navy game has the pageantry and tradition that make it perhaps the greatest sporting spectacle in the world. it started with teddy roosevelt in nene 01, and tomorrow, president donald trump will become the tenth. he'll be here. he was here in 2016 as then president-elect. it's tradition for the commander in chief to sit on one side for a half and then switch so as not to choose any favorites. it's said that the army/navy game is the only game played where everyone who is playing the game would die for everyone who plays who is watching the game. so i have played in nfl games and historic rose bowl in college and even covered super bowls and olympic games. none of them compare to the stage that is the magic of the army/navy game.

it's tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. >> that's quite a line, coy. everyone playing would die for everyone watching. wow, that is service. >> there you go. >> coy wire, thanks very much. >>lert. we're following a ton of breaking news this morning. a new attorney general pick from the president, a new ambassador to the united nations, and that is just the beginning of it. don't go anywhere. we're back in a minute. when my hot water heater failed it rocked our world. we called usaa. and they greeted me as they always do. sergeant baker, how are you? they took care of everything a to z. having insurance is something everyone needs, but having usaa- now that's a privilege.

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past anything that stands in its way. ...well almost anything. leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today. top of the hour, and it's going to be a busy one. i'm jim sciutto in washington. >> i'm poppy harlow in new york. we're so glad you're with us. he may not get the last word, but president trump today made sure he got the first word ahead of two major new reveals from robert mueller. any time now, the special counsel will tell a court while he's accusing paul manafort of violating his plea deal by lying. separa separately, mueller is due to tell another court how