hi, there, i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn on this monday. thank you for being with me. let's jump to it. you're getting your first in-depth look at how far russians went in their effort to help elect donald trump as president. releasing these two major reports. what they found was that russians used every single major social media platform to sway people to vote for trump. twitter, facebook, instagram, youtube. the list goes on and on, reaching millions and millions of people on these popular sites, and the attempts to interfere did not stop with the election. they actually spiked in the president's first months in office and still remain a significant threat to this point. the report warns of the, quote, sustained effort to manipulate the u.s. public and undermine

democracy. so, how are these social media companies responding? silicon valley may have done the bear minimum to help the russia investigation. with a look at what all of this means for all of us, here is senior correspondent drew griffin. what else can you tell me about these reports? >> brooke, we've been reporting on this two years now, the scope of this problem and the russian attempt to drive this dialogue in the u.s. is astounding. more than 10 million tweets, 116,000 instagram posts, 61,000 facebook posts, 1,000 videos, these are posted by the russian government-linked internet research agency, all of these. this is the troll group indicted by special counsel robert mueller earlier this year. the report by cnn shows how the trolls, as a group, regularly tried to co-op unsuspecting americans to work for them by

holding rallies, staging protests, even handing over their personal information. we have reported some of this before, that the russians were behind various black matters groups even on social media, pro and against nra groups. this reveals something that is even beyond politics. they made up a fictitious group called the army of jesus, targeting christians. brooke, they were offering free counseling to people with sexual addiction. according to new knowledge the company that did the research on this, this could have been a way to create an opportunity to blackmail or manipulate individuals, essentially a way to pressure americans into working for the russians. it is really astounding. >> it is stunning. and the report says certainly before the election, the efforts were aimed at getting trump elected in suppressing the potential supporters of hillary clinton, but it didn't stop there. >> no, it didn't stop at all. all the major social media platforms used as part of that campaign, the report said.

new knowledge in 2017, investigators began unearthing the russian social media campaign on facebook and twitter, which they mostly used. then this happened. the ira shifted much of its activity to instagram and said the most prolific activities are specifically targeting black american communities and appear to have focus on black audience and recruiting black americans as, quote, assets. amazing. >> and this went on for as long as it has. drew griffin, thank you very much on those reports. meantime, all of that, as the man who once led the fbi's investigation into russian interference is back up on capitol hill for his latest face-off against lawmakers. we're talking about james comey. he is wrapping up around 2:00 with the judicial and oversight committees after a grilling ten days ago on a whole range of topics, including the fbi's handling of hillary clinton's e-mail case. manu ra swrchlt u is up on the

hill, tracking those developments. what do you know so far today? >> that's right. james comey has been behind closed doors more than four hours now. we expect him to wrap probably early this afternoon. this comes after more than six hours sitting behind closed doors with the same two republican-led committees, final days in power before the democrats take control in january and republicans have been called in as part of the larger investigation into what they believe was fbi bias and how they handled the clinton e-mail investigation, the russia investigation and republicans going in believe that james comey has not been consistent in some of his responses, particularly what he knew about the democratic national committee, the clinton campaign's involvement in funding for research that led to the steele dossier. democrats are making it clear out of these hearings that this is nothing but a waste of time. >> i can tell you that when you look at his public statements

and also the testimony that he has given, those don't seem to reconcile. >> i do believe it is a waste of the taxpayers' money. basically what we've been hearing since we've been here over and over again. >> do you think that the fbi handled the interview with michael flynn appropriately based on what you know? >> i have no reason to believe they didn't. michael flynn has been in intelligence just about all of his adult life. he has dealt with all kinds, he knows fbi rules and the whole bit. i practiced law for quite a few years myself. i believe it was appropriate and he was dealt with properly. >> now that last point, of course, is a new area for this committee to talk to james comey about. since he came last to this committee, court proceedings have shown that michael flynn's

legal team believe he was not handled properly, the questioning that led to his lying to them about the interactions of sergey kislyak has come under question. mueller's team has pushed back. and you hear elijah cummings, that he believe it was handled properly. we'll hear what james comey says himself. he was exasperated last time on the clinton e-mail. >> we'll look for that, manu, later today. before comey went to capitol hill he had choice words for president trump. the president claims that the authorities broke into the office. survey says that's fault, and the fbi had a search warrant. he also ripped his former fixer

as a rat, went on a ten-tweet tear sunday, reviving his greatest hits like witch hunt and hoax in the process. nbc news/wall street journal poll suggests that the president's rants are not resonating beyond his base. some 62% of americans think he is lying about the russia investigation. that is up six points from this summer. to all of this, you can add rudy giuliani, who probably isn't exactly helping his client's credibility with statements like this. >> did donald trump know that michael cohen was pursuing the trump tower in moscow? >> up until november 2016, he said he had conversations with him. >> november 2016, that is at odds with michael cohen's statement with then candidate trump that conversations ended in 2016, cohen then admitted

that he lied to congress on trump's behalf when asked to clarify by cnn, giuliani said he did speak to cohen but doesn't offer dates. they don't really remember when they happened. so many contradictions, so many investigations. my next guest has been keeping track of all of this, compiling a list of the 17 different inquiries into president trump and russia. and this is part of his piece scrolling there on your screen, this massive list that touches on russia, super pacs and the trump family business. gary graff "inside mueller's fbi and the war on terror." welcome back. my goodness, this is a mighty -- what a piece this is. before we actually delve in to your one through 17, going on television and admitting that trump was working on this moscow

project basically into his transition and my question to you, why is he admitting to this? >> well, i think it probably -- rudy giuliani, who knows why he gets up and says the things he's saying on a given day. this is a guy who is doing an incredibly bad job even playing a lawyer on tv, let alone actually being helpful to the president's defense. >> ouch! >> i think what it probably means is that he has been doing -- that the president's written answers are so vague and so noncommittal as to cover any myriad, number of possibilities and that there are sort of -- written answers to mueller might be sort of as fact free as the preside president's tweets end up being. >> okay. you write about how donald trump faces, your words, illegal assault unlike anything previously seen by any

president. total of 17 distinct court cases. as you also point out, this doesn't even include congressional inquiries and the like. is there any area, garret, where the evidence, as we all know it right now, seems the strongest? could one main theme emerge? >> so one of the things, you know, that the president spent the weekend sort of flipping out, as you were saying, about these investigations, and when you look at them in total, there's sort of good reason to be stressed out about them if you're the president. these are, as i lay out, 17 different distinct court cases and investigations that are currently under way from seven different offices, prosecutors and state attorneys general. when you look at the totality of cases, it's probably actually thinking about this wrong, that what we sort of shorthand as the mueller probe or the russia probe is actually this much

broader investigation into how money moved in and out of virtually every aspect of donald trump's world and how a number of countries, not just russia, but also potentially the uae, turkey, israel, saudi arabia, potentially other countries even beyond that tried to buy influence through donald trump's campaign, businesses and presidency. >> isn't that what so much of this is about? many people harkn back to watergate and follow the money, which we know has been trump's red line. but what are the chances as it relates to the president that money trail is the thing that leads to something substantial? >> and it is certainly looking, with almost every single passing day, more and more like the president's greatest criminal liability lies in his campaign

finance filings, in the finances of his own organization. and, remember, those are the only places where we have seen donald trump's main, actually in court papers from prosecutors is as individual one tied to various finance problems both with the trump tower moscow deal and the campaign finance conspiracy and that, you know, the president has long said that diving into his business was going to be a red line, but really it looks like the president himself is culpable here, that he, in turn, mingled his business, his campaign, his presidency in such a way that it's impossible for prosecutors to separate out investigating one without investigating everything. >> one more for you as it pertains to his national security adviser michael flynn. he will be sentenced tomorrow. we'll be talking about that then. former business partners of

flynns were charged in this turkish lobbying case. my question to you, do you think this is a direct result of flynn's cooperation and that it gives us insight as to what could be happening in this investigation behind the scenes? >> yeah. it seems like this case grew directly out of flynn's cooperation. his own court filings show that he turned over voluminous business records. one thing that really stands out in that indictment is that he -- that michael flynn is highly culpable in that scheme where the fresh indictments came down today. remember the fact that he's getting off, effectively, without being prosecuted in that case at all, is likely to face little to know jail time, prison time at all tomorrow, makes you realize just how substantial the cooperation was that he has likely provided prosecutors in other matters and, remember, there aren't that many people in michael flynn's world above him in the hierarchies.

and most of them are named donald trump or have the last name trump. >> shows how much he has cooperated and how much information he has shared and will likely, depending what happens tomorrow, serve no time. garret graff, good to see you. >> five days and counting. the clock is ticking on this possible government shutdown. neither the democrats nor the president willing to budge on the border wall. then there's the issue of the lame duck republicans who may or may not be planning to vote at all. also he is the subject of more than a dozen and a half investigations. and interior secretary zinke is next to be out at the white house. who could be next? we have poll numbers just out from a key primary state on how they feel about trump challengers. i'm alex trebek here to tell you

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in washington, d.c., just five days until partial shutdown of the federal government and neither side is willing to blink. no one on capitol hill seems to know president trump's bottom line, what he will or will not accept as a deal. he has threatened to shut down the government and his adviser is repeating that threat. >> we'll do whatever is necessary to build a border wall to stop this ongoing crisis of illegal immigration. if it comes to it, absolutely. this is a very fundamental issue. at stake is the question of whether or not the united states remains a sovereign country, whether or not we can establish

and enforce rules for entrance into our country. >> republican lawmakers who lost their re-election bids aren't necessarily feeling compelled to even return to washington let alone vote. phil mattingly, when you read this "times" piece it paints it as all these republican members of congress saying, eh, what's in it for me to return by the end of the year? >> not a lot of enthusiasm. whatever the end game is here, brook, as you rightly point out, lawmakers on capitol hill don't know what the end game is or, frankly, what the next steps are until president trump tells them what he wants or wants them to put on the table as they move forward. what that demonstrates, republicans retiring or lost re-election in november demonstrate by the fact that they've not been showing up for a lot of votes since the election is just the general lack of willingness to have this fight right now. i've covered a lot of these. you've been in the chair for a

lot of these shutdown fights the last five years. one side or both sides are rarely willing to go. put the brass knuckles on. it's rank and file, leadership, across the board. republican and democrats just want to go home. you have this group of republican lawmakers in the house, 40 or so that were defeated. think about it this way, brooke. a lot of them no longer have offices anymore. they've been moved out as they are setting up for their replacements to come in and a lot of republican members sleep in their offices, that's their housing. the idea that they want to come back and be here for a fight that they're not enthused about doesn't really fly right now. where does that leave things going forward? it's an open question when you have lawmakers on capitol hill who don't want the fight but on the republican side of things they don't want to undercut the president and his key campaign promise. right now everybody is kind of in a freeze. they're waiting for him to weigh in. sources involved in these

negotiations made it very clear, multiple options have been worked up behind close doors for the president to try to move forward on. they're just waiting for him to do that. when that's going to come, no one really knows. as far as i know in talking to the sources, the president was calling lawmakers over the weekend but did not tip his hand one way or another. there's a lot more tea leaf reading than there is actual knowledge of what actually happens. >> phil mattingly, we'll be watching right there with you on capitol hill. thank you very much for now. meantime, so much outrage over the death of this little guatemalan girl in u.s. custody. her father says he has no complaints over how his daughter was treated. we'll take you live to the texas border for her story. and more turnover in the trump cabinet. just a couple of months ago, chris cilizza made predictions about who would be left standing. how did he do? a look at who's in and who's out.

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a group of congressional democrats say they want specific answers from u.s. customs and border patrol about this little guatemalan girl who died in their custody nine days ago. she was 7 years of age. she passed away in an el paso hospital fewer than 48 hours after she and her father were picked up by border agents. a timeline has been given about what happened after they were found. some, including that delegation traveling to the region tomorrow say they want a full investigation. ed lavandera is live for us. the father said agents did

everything they could to save his daughter so tell me more about this case and what exactly is being called into question. >> reporter: a couple of things. a lot of questions as to what exactly unfolded in the seven or eight hours that this young girl and her father were in border patrol custody and what might have happened during that time that led to this. but the father, through various people over the weekend, has been saying he believes that border patrol agents did everything they could, that medical teams did everything they could to save this young girl's life. in fact, over the weekend, he expressed his gratitude to the efforts they made to save her life. some of the questions about the timeline and some of the initial statements that the department of homeland security made early -- late last week department officials said this young girl had been traveling through remote areas for several days without food and water. the father poignantly said they

traveled by bus south of new mexico and that the girl had been well fed and hydrated along the way. there was also some -- the words of the father's attorneys, they found unacceptable that they would have this man, who doesn't speak english and spanish is his second language -- he speaks native guatemalan, indigenous language and he had this form in english he signed early on after turning themselves in to border patrol agents, form in english that basically said his daughter is fine. those are some of the things that the father and people who represent him have been saying over the weekend. they all agree -- doesn't seem to be any confusion, that the fact that the girl first started showing signs of distress, vomiting, on this bus ride around 5:00 in the morning last -- on friday. not this past friday but the week before, when she was being taken from the border checkpoint to this border patrol station

some two hours north. >> we'll continue to follow the story as clearly it should be looked into. ed lavandera, thank you for reporting that we have so far. we want to bring in ana navarro who is with us. you've been following this closely. and, again, on the story out of new mexico with this little girl, there's so much we don't know. as we pointed out, this father says he has no complaints as to how they were treated. i want to get this reaction to the death of this little 7-year-old. >> it's just so damn sad and heartbreaking. i really can't take, you know, the image of little jakelin, 7-year-old jakelin out of my mind. i think it speaks to the larger problem. i really -- you know, i really wish that folks in washington didn't do political posturing over this issue. it is a humanitarian crisis and it's one we need to figure out how to solve in a pragmatic and

also compassionate way. i would hope that they would do things and look at things like opening up refugee centers in places where refugees could seek political asylum in the united states in their own countries instead of making a 2,000-mile treacherous journey to then have a very small chance of making it in. i think, you know, the international community, including the united states, led by the united states needs to do something about addressing the problems in those countries. corrupt governments that have allowed the mushrooming of gang violence that have made those countries of guatemala, honduras and el salvador some of the most dangerous countries in the world with the highest violent death rates in the world. we have to look at the root cause of it and figure out how to address it. this is happening in our

hemisphere, in our backyard and we just can't turn our eyes away to the human tragedy that is happening there. >> appreciate your passion and we'll follow it. let me totally switch gears and ask you about this headline, this district court judge last week in texas striking down the entire affordable care act, including the protection for pre-existing conditions. as "the washington post" put it today, the republicans are to blame if the law with no alternative is not revived by a higher court. we covered the midterms closely and that was a key issue -- it was a winning issue for democrats. if your party doesn't figure this one out, how worried are you that it might backfire on republicans come 2020? >> i think it's a huge problem. listen, be careful what you wish for, because you just may get it. and republicans have been wanting to repeal obamacare. it looks like this judge has just tried to do so in this

court. let's see if it is upheld by higher courts. it's a problem. brooke, there's nothing more difficult in politics and in life than taking something away that has already been given. it is easier not to give something than it is to take something away once people have gotten accustomed to it. there are a lot of people relying on obamacare, on the pre-existing condition exclusion, relying -- 26-year-olds relying being on their parents' health insurance. there's a lot of people who got insurance for the first time in their lives, relying on those subsidies. i think there's going to be hell to pay in the ballot box. and i think we saw it already in november. it was the one polish where democrats laser focused and it worked for them. >> it did work. it did. >> look, i'm sitting here in miami, and the district i'm in, this is the highest number of

obamacare cases anywhere in the nation and where we saw a democrat win what had been a republican seat for decades. >> there you go. looking ahead, though, iowa. we've got new numbers out of iowa. trump's favorability among republicans is up but 60% said they would welcome a republican challenger. i know there is no love lost between you and this president. and i imagine you would support someone opposing him. i'm imagining. i could be wrong. do you think there could be another republican, ana, who has a chance at challenging him and if there is, is that risky at dividing the party further? >> the party is already divided. as far as dividing it further, i'm not sure there's that much risk. >> that doesn't worry you? >> really the question -- no because i feel the party is very fractioned between people who now define the republican party through the trump prism and people who define the republican

party through what it was before donald trump decided to become a republican. as a republican, i would hope that there are other voices that are traditional republicans that have traditional republican values and ideology that have been long-time republicans, not opportunists, johnny -- donnie come lately to the party. i think he has very strong support. he has done and said 100 things during the campaign and as president that should have made republicans really peel away from him, and they haven't. and so, you know, i think beating donald trump in a republican primary will be very, very difficult. >> do you think anyone -- is anyone up for the task? >> i can't think of any that i can readily think will give him

a realistic challenge. will john kasich do it? i hope so. would mitt romney do it? i don't know. would jeff flake do it? i don't know. look, even if they are to be sacrificial lambs, i hope this happens so there are debates and policy and values and ideology and principles and character is debated and republicans are reminded of what it used to be like. sometimes you take one for the cause. and i hope there are republican leaders who come out and who risk -- take the risk and do it for the right reasons. >> ana navarro, thank you. thank you very much. how much turnover has there been in the trump administration? my goodness. look at these faces. look at these faces. we'll take a look at the latest big name to go and who may be next. >> and tough talk from the

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president trump is ending the year with another cabinet shakeup. ryan zinke is out as secretary of the interior and mick mulvaney is in as acting chief of staff to re play john kelly, leaving at the end of the year. chris cilizza joins me now with your predictions and the part where you get to say, i called it. >> yeah. well, given the amount of turnover with the trump administration, i don't know that i should take too much credit. but you're right, this was way back in march. it feels like a millenia go. pretty good/bad for the trump administration. all this top row gone jeff

sessions, h.r. mcmaster, ryan zin zinke. the three holding off, mattis, carson, devos. i'm surprised devos has stuck around. you say you're picking and choosing. not really. i'm not going to go through all of these. you only have two hours, brooke. i want to make this point. katherine tempest works at the brookings institute here in washington. she's done the math. a-list staff members, not junior staff, senior staff, 65% turnover, brooke, to this point in trump's presidency. that rooifbls the total turnover for the first four years of george h.w. bush and george w. bush. not normal. the latest to go, zinke. all of this stuff -- first of all, he was under investigation repeatedly, including by the inspector general at the department. but all of this falls under was

he using his office for his own personal benefit? i'm surprised, candidly, brooke, he hung on this long. in a normal administration, one operating by the traditionals of politics, he is gone six months, maybe even further ago. >> mick mulvaney will be stepping in for this chief of staff role. he did have some choice words with the president in the last couple of years. tell me about that. >> mulvaney is a fast riser in the administration, head of office management and budget and acting white house chief of staff. but like almost everybody else, while donald trump was running as a republican, he had some choice words to say about him. this comes from a debate in 2016 when mulvaney was still a member of congress from south carolina. let's play it. >> yes, i'm supporting donald trump. i'm doing so as thuskal ll lly

enthusiastically as i can given that he's a terrible human being, given that the choice on the other side is just as bad. >> paul ryan said he was disavowing donald trump, speaker of the house, disavowing donald trump, wouldn't campaign with him anymore. then trump won. then republicans made a deal that they were going to go along because they were afraid of their own base, didn't want to lose. mick mulvaney saying the guy he works for, aka the president of the united states, is a terrible human being. back to you. >> chris cilizza, thank you for the latest ins and outs of the trump administration. coming up next, fiery words from first lady melania trump's spokeswoman. why she's picking a fight with a cnn contributor.

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today the first lady's spokeswoman is jumping to her boss' defense in a fiery op-ed, poll numbers, falling by double digits in a new cnn poll. and after kate anderson brower ripped mrs. trump for saying this. >> what's been the hardest thing that you have to deal with? >> i would say the opportunists who are using my name or my family name to advance themselves. >> brower's response is this. really? after all the pain she has witnessed as first lady from meeting with the parkland survivor to visiting with children separated from her

parents at the border, has the media really been the most difficult part of her job? if so, that's a big problem. the first lady spokeswoman, stephanie grisham, called brower's opinion uncalled for. the media consistently ignores the first lady's work, her comprehensive be best initiative is focused on helping children and yet somehow she is still characterized as a reluctant first lady. what do you make of her criticisms? >> the backstory is that i think she felt strongly about responding to kate anderson brower's op-ed. we have often seen her punch back. she's not different from her husband that way when she feels attacked and it's an unnecessary

attack. i think both women have excellent points to make. i think the first lady's answer to sean hannit were about the hardest part of her job was maybe not the best answer but as someone who covers the first lady full time i will tell you that the story i wrote about the first lady's visit to the aircraft carrier on osprey, historical visit, stayed on top for most of the day. the first lady is a bit ham strung in a way. she started off her tenure as not being in the oval office and she's also dealing with a country -- this is just stating a fact, coming off eight years of feeling like they knew their first lady quite well, michelle obama, who would go on talk shows and do things with jimmy fallon, carpool karaoke and felt very relatable to her. melania trump is very different,

very private. it makes it a challenge. as she is doing things, as stephanie grisham says, which are very typical first lady things, visiting hospitals, victims of tragedies, talking to the military, what's always going to happen with her is the mystique when she does speak will probably be more amplified than the actual event itself, and that's also a seed effect of this news cycle. i know from covering her, brooke, many times we'll be on a trip or event with her that is newsworthy in any other news cycle but her husband will have something happen that day and unfortunately the news these day s is dripping from a fire hose. the things that will make headlines will upset stephanie grisham, the first lady and be the juicier, more gossipy thing. but kate brower makes a good

point she's not found her footing. she speaks from her gut, perhaps not what should be said but what she feels like saying. so, you know, it's six of one, half dozen of another. both have points but until melania trump becomes more sort of known and does more interviews and is able to break through that news cycle, we might end up with more of this. >> we may, indeed. her husband just keeps making news. kate bennett, thank you very much. it's important to hear from everyone, including stephanie on cnn.com. everyone, go read it for yourself. coming up next, rudy giuliani goes on tv, muddies the waters when it comes to the mounting legal pressure when it comes to president trump. we have that for you coming up next.

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you are watching cnn on this monday. i'm brooke bald went. thank you for joining me. placing blame and causing confusion as his legal jeopardy grows. with no less than 17 separate investigations currently under way by one tally, the president in a wide-ranging twitter rant lashed out at his favorite targets, robert mueller, the media and his former fixer michael cohen for cooperating with the feds, trump calling him a rat, while falsely claiming that the fbi broke into his office. the truth is that the fbi had a search warrant and rudy giuliani, his personal attorney,

picked up where his client left off. giuliani says there's no way the president will sit down for an interview with the special counsel. >> he is special counsel. he wants to hear from the president. >> good luck when he trapped him into perjury, 14 days for papadopoulos? i did better on traffic violations than they did with papadopoulos. >> you say no interview? >> over my dead body but, you know, i could be dead. they're a joke. >> also raising questions about cohen, trump. there are conversations about that trump tower moscow project. what did giuliani say? >> he seems to be indicating, brooke, that those conversations between the president and michael cohen might have gone longer than we previously knew. we know michael cohen pled guilty to lying to congress when he said that deal to pursue a trump tower in moscow