. this is cnn breaking news. welcome back. you are watching cnn. i can brooke baldwin. the breaking news is this, the president possibly tried to reign in the investigation into his personal attorney michael cohen. the "new york times" is reporting president trump asked his acting attorney general whether or not the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york could, in fact, unrecuse himself from the investigation into michael cohen. i just talked to one of the lead reporters who broke this story opened for the "new york times." he talked to me about how this conversation with trump and matt whitaker actually went down. >> not long after whitaker was installed as the acting attorney general, trump calls him and asks whether a new person could be put in charge of the investigation taking place up in new york. he "asks" whether the u.s. attorney, who had to recuse himself out of a conflict of

interest could be put in charge. trump thought that this individual, jeffrey berman, might actually be more of an ally and clearly it indicates that the president saw this investigation up in new york as being problematic and potentially spiraling out of control. so that was the request he put in to matt whitaker. >> and whitaker ultimately said what? >> whitaker was unable to do anything about it. it appears that he didn't take too many steps to try to follow through on the president another request, knowing full well that actually trying to get someone put back in charge unrecuse is someone he did not -- did not have the power to do in the justice delaware we reported trump sours on whitaker. he is angry whitaker is not able to carry out some of the tasks the president had hoped he might be able to do. so it was one kind of window into the president's attitude

towards law enforcement toward these investigations, which as we report, are kind of encircling him. >> all right. moments ago, president trump was asked about this "time's" report as he was at the white house. >> reporter: mr. president did you ask attorney general math coup whitaker for investigation into your former personal attorney michael cohen? >> no, not at all. >> laura jarrett, let's just context is important. right? so explain the context of what was going on between trump and his acting attorney general matt whitaker during the month of just this past december. >> so the larger context and picture is that the president is deep in the weeds when it comes to the michael cohen investigation. as pamela brown and i reported late last year the president was frustrated by what he saw as

prosecutors in manhattan running amuck. we reported on at least two dozen calls to mit kerr essentially venting why whitaker couldn't do more to control them, suggesting the campaign finance violations michael cohen pled guilty to that implicated the president as an unindicted co-conspirator in the money, hush money to the women. essentially telling whitaker, none of that is a crime. i don't understand why this is happening. accepting him op-eds on the issue. he is venting about it to whitaker. he thinks he can actually do something about it as the acting attorney general. the "new york times" is part and parcel of the same issue there. he seems to be under the assumption if he makes a switch to berman, somehow that will help him out. otherwise, why would he care? we he know interviewed berman. jeff sessions installed him as the u.s. attorney there in new

york. a court approved him as the u.s. attorney. we know he has stepped aside. he has been recuse from that piece of the michael cohen probe, on other pieces, for instance the prosecutors investigating the inaugural committee, he is not recuse. trump was concerned, in particular about the michael cohen hush money payment issue. when mit kerr wwhitaker was ask president about his house judiciary testimony, he tried to thread the needle on what he would and wouldn't say. when it came to his conversations about mueller, whitaker was happy to give answers. when it came to answers about whitaker and the president and u.s. prosecutors, he was more circumspect. here's a little of what he said about the president did and didn't do, brooke. >> yeah. >> at no time has the white house asked for nor have i provided any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel's investigation

or any other investigation. >> of course, our reporting wasn't that he made any promises. our reporting is that the president was venting at him and frustrated about what was going on in new york and at the justice department. the justice department has just put out a statement backing what whitaker's testimony had been there, reiterating that he didn't make any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel's investigation or any other investigation and saying he stands by his testimony. brooke. >> laura jarrett, thank you so much. we will analyze what you all laid out there. a former u.s. assistant attorney is the southern district of new york is with us as is paul rosen swieg, former counsel to ken starr. gentleman, ali, start withing with you, out of the gate, this is obstruction? >> what other reason could the president have for calling matt whitaker as the cohen investigation was growing, threatening him.

clearly trump knew it was coming for him for a reason and asking whitaker, can we get my guy, berman, session technically put him in. that's a white house pick to get my guy back in charge? the thing that jumped out at me in the "new york times" article, whitaker said the southern district needs adult supervision, that's laughable when you look at whitaker's credentials. he wanted them to conno remember with the image of what prosecutors should do, protect him, donald trump at all costs. that's why he was so furious that sexes wasn't there. and at james comey for protect. i don't see an innocent explanation for this. >> palm, what do you think? >> well, it's really hard to come up for an explanation to ask somebody to unrecuse from a recusal that seems wholly appropriate. i think it is like they this would form the basis for additional investigation both by

the southern district in attempts to interfere with its criminal investigation of the trump enterprise, the trump organization, but also, frankly, this is a ground for congressional inquiry, since this sort of abuse of power, this sort of violation of the independence of the department of justice in a case involving his very own conduct is precisely the sort of authoritarian impeachment process was intended to stand as a bullwork against. >> so am i hearing that this could potentially be an impeachable offense? >> well, it's of a peace with the activity that led to the impeachment proceedings against nixon and led to the impeachment proceedings against clinton. it's a little early to say for sure. but the fact are, since we, mr. whitaker sort of denied this, but if the facts prove

out, this is potentially impeachable. >> it paints the picture of certainly his mindset, of the president's mindset, why he selected, excuse me, whitaker, his part of the "time's kweise, mr. whitaker told associates part of his role at the justice department in taking on the acting ag position is to jump on a grenade for the president. >> i think that's what we said about whitaker. it's interesting to hear him saying it, himself. there was flashing red lights from whitaker's appointment at the start. he was vastly unqualified for that position. he was nowhere in the chain of succession. i do not think rick kavanaugh on the supreme court, matt whitaker, william barr? all of them before they were chosen by the president wrote theses the president can do whatever he want. it cannot be the obstruction of

justice. it unites all three and i don't think it's irrelevant from the president chose them. >> paul, you hit on this a second ago. there are all these parallel track investigations. right? have you the special counsel investigation, the fdny, which is what we were talking about, where he wanted you know mr. berman to unrecuse himself so he could be over it, perhaps reestablishing the deck so to speak. but how might -- if this turns out listening to you guys, this could constitute obstruction, would this at all affect the mueller investigation? paul? >> it could. it could. it's probably outside the scope of mueller's investigation directly. it could reflect on him in the sense that it's another aspect of the president's efforts to undermine that investigation. but this is more kind of in the core of the southern district of

new york. it is their investigation of cohen, of the trump organization, of the trump inaugural committee and the president the subject of the investigation's ongoing efforts to obstruct that very investigation. so this will circle back i think not to mueller, but backs to the southern district of new york. back to manhattan. >> isn't it extraordinary, sitting with you, your experience with fdny. we talked for months about the mueller investigation, who knows when that will come to a conclusion? it could be this fdny piece, michael cohen, that, dot, dot, dot. >> you can't sleep on the southern district of new york ever, donald trump knows that that's what's gat him amped up right now. >> stand by for me. we will have more on this, plus we want to talk about the stunning return in the roger stone case. the judge ordering him back this thursday after he posted an image of her on his instagram next to a set of crosshairs.

we have learned senator bernie sanders has raised a million dollars in online donations in a matter of hours after launching his presidential campaign. but the math isn't all entirely in his favor. we will break down what he has to do to win over some key voting blocks in this country. you are watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. things, we didn't know where to turn for more information. that's why i recommend a free service called a place for mom. we have local senior living advisors who can answer your questions about dementia or memory care and, if necessary, help you find the right place for your mom or dad. we all want what's best for our parents, so call today. yeah i'm excited. finally earned enough rewards points. so jealous. yeah i can't wait to get that shave-ice! what's shave-ice? it's like a hawaiian snow-cone.

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all right. we are back watching cnn. i'm brooke bald win. now to the man with the nixon tattoo, roger stone saying attack, attack, attack. a picture showing judge amy

berman jackson next to crosshairs mimicking the scope of a rifle. the "post" attacks the judge labeling her an obama appointed judge and claimed legal trickery by deep state robert mueller guaranteed the judge wouldover see a show trial. stone and his attorneys quickly issued separate apologies via court filings, since jackson appeared stone to appear thursday for a new hearing on his gag order. the judge wants him to explain his instagram post and decided she should change his order. flash forward with me to just thursday, what are the judge's options? >> so, the judge can do nothing. she can decide it was some sort of misunderstanding. not likely. she can change his became conditions, put him on higher supervisors to check in more or remand him, send him to zwral pending his trial.

>> you have theories why he is doing this? >> two theories? it's roger stone, beavers will build a dam. roger stone will do wild things. sometimes it's strategic play, if a defendant thinks ki make it personal between me and the judge or turn the judge into a witness, potentially they feel threatened the judge will have to recuse, they'll put in a new judge. it never works, defendants try it. the judges know it. they will not play along with this. judge jackson will not recuse herself. >> we will talk with him and her on thursday. thank you very much. just ahead here, senator bernie sanders now jumps into the presidential race, a college student asks amy klobuchar whether or not she supports free tuition. feel why she feels she is confident saying no. >> we are on a college campus. >> i know that, but i got to tell the truth.

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just ask. [ ding ] show me my wifi password. hey now! [ ding ] you can even troubleshoot, learn new voice commands and much more. clean my daughter's room. [ ding ] oh, it won't do that. welp, someone should. just say "teach me more" into your voice remote and see how you can have an even better x1 experience. simple. easy. awesome. senator bernie sanders is out today with a clear message about 2020 to his supporters. it's time to, he says, complete the revolution and the vermont senator believes he is the one to do just that, jumping into this crowded field, one of several rivals have touted the policies he touted a couple years ago. >> in 2016, many of the ideas

that i talked about, medicare for all, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, making public colleges and universities tuition-free, all of those ideas people say, oh, bernie, they're so rad cam. they are extreme my american people won't accept those ideas. you know what's happened in over three years? all of those ideas and many more are now a part of the political main stream. >> so are you saying the party came your way? >> well i don't want to say that, i think most people would say that. >> our cnn senior political writer and analyst and so the deal is, according to a source in the sanders' camp. he raised a lot of money. >> that's a lot of money. >> in a mother of hours, after he announced. you say there are several key groups and constituents he needs to win over. >> money doesn't buy votes. first off african-american voters, right?

hillary clinton won those by 57 percentage points, they make up 27% of the base. bernie sanders is struggle, south carolina, specifically. he will do better than in 2016. he needs to close this gap in 2020. >> which explains why he came on so strong? >> exactly right. another group, look, bernie sanders is an independent senator from vermont. he makes a key point of that. remember this is a democratic primary. even though he won independent streeters by 29%. he lost democratic voters, the reason that's back, self identified democratic voters make up survive% of the democratic primary electorate. you simply put cannot do so bad. older voters, bernie sanders is like the oldest man in the race with the candidate youth, older voters over age 45 make up 60% of primary voters, he lost them by 33 percentage points. >> very interesting. >> it is interesting.

she needs to do significantly better with that group if he wants to win in 2020. he lost women voters by 22 percentage points in the average state, they make up 60% of the democratic primary voters. the fact that he did so poorly, he has to close this gap in 2020. finally, despite the fact that bernie sanders was the liberal candidate. he actually didn't do that well among them. he tied hillary clinton. he will have to do better with this base. with so many liberal candidates, i'm now sheer he can do it. he will have to do so with his base. >> sharing the lane. >> kamela harris, elizabeth warren, that may make it difficult. >> thank you very much. so, bernie sanders acknowledged the democratic party has moved closer to his way of thinking, but call senator amy klobuchar a bit of a skeptic, unlike several of her rivals the minnesota senator and

u.s. hopeful has a more simplest approach to policy, something she made clear in last night's town hall in new hampshire. >> first of all, i believe this is unconstitutional what he is doing. okay. ly the first day as the president sign us back into the international climate change agreement. >> that is on day one. i think that they are aspirations. i think we can get close. i don't think we are going to get rid of entire industries in the u.s., there will be compromises. it's not going to be exactly like that. >> so no medicare for all? >> it could be a possibility in the future. i'm just looking at something that will work now. i always look at every proposal and say, would this hurt my uncle dick in the deer stand? to paraphrase, martin luther king, if you -- you can do all you can to integrate a lunch counter, but if you can't afford a hamburger, what good did you do? am atough boss? sometimes yes. have i pushed people too hard? yes. but i have kept expectations for myself that are very high.

i am not for free four-year college for all. no if i was a magic genie and could different that to everyone and we could afford it, i would. >> we're on a college campus. >> i know. >>. >> many colleges e college students here. >> i have to tell the truth. we have this mounting -- >> simone sanders, the national press secretary for bernie sanders 2016 campaign. jeff mcintosh outreach for the hillary clinton 2016 campaign, ladies. good to have both of you on and simone, flashback to 2016. obviously, you were like the chief of feeling the bern and now, now you just saw all of the groups who harry just ran through, a, he's now sharing the lane, espouzing congressive policies with all these other candidates, a. and, b, he's got some serious ground to make up in 2016. so how does he do it? >> look, i think the key thing

that will confront the sanders 2020 campaign will be how to distinguish himself in a field 15 to 20 democratic candidates, many of which who say they believe in the universal healthcare, many of which have different proposals about taxing the rich and, you know, doing things for middle class americans, so i this i the thing he'll have to do is be able to say this is why you should pick me. frankly, i think that's something the senator has to work on, you saw in the vermont, in the vbr local vermont newspaper, he said it's not enough to be a candidate that's just a women or person of color and so on and so forth. we've heard different iterations of him over the last month or so i don't necessarily believe that is the pitch, if you will, that is -- >> if i may, is that a little tone deaf given the array of diversity within even all these candidates who will be vying for the nomination along with him?

>> i don't know as much tone deaf as it is, look, i don't speak with senator sanders, i'm not saying. it's a jab, it's a real i think characterization of what the race is. i will say that no one in this race, not any of the women who are also running for president. not any of the people of color who are also having to be presidential candidates say vote for me, i'm a person of color, vote for me because i'm gay. so that part is tone deaf. because nobody is saying that. so i think that that's something senator sanders does continue to say. you might hear other presidentials say that. so right now we're having this high fluting politic conversation. it might not be such high fluting politics conversation. >> nice talking politics. >> nice talking. >> we don't know if it will stay this way. >> i hear you. for now on policy, even looking at a senator sanders versus a senator klobuchar. you know they couldn't be more different within the democratic

lane. right? the pragmatist and the progressive. you know the democratic party. who do democrats really want? >> that's why i always said i was way less afraid of a 20-way primary or a two or four-way primary, we don't have to choose, we have senator klobuchar, warren, kamela harris, corey booker. we have a whole array of democrats that fall in different places on the progressive spectrum, hopefully we get rid of this idea there is just a left and just a right. i know senator sanders is seen left on policy. i agree with him on lots of things. where i dulles agree with him where he tends to see abortion as a social why, not an economic one. he talks about inequality and doesn't patriot race or lens over it. i don't know if i can put him as more aggressive than say elizabeth warren, i believe his position on guns, that wasn't in his announcement, it's such a

tena tenant. i am glad the field is long and it gives candidates to stake-out their positions and make their points known with voters. i thought it was an odd tone deaf remark for me. the day you announce to suggest kamela's fans were somehow with her because she was a black woman or other people in the field, i think starting this race where you feel disadvantaged as a white guy running for president is not the position of strength you want. >> simone over on cbs, senator sanders said his words, radical ideas are a part of the political main stream, do you think his 2020 campaign about winni winning or more about cementing his leg ace on the u.s. political landscape. what do you think of that? >> i think it's a fact in 2016, folks were talking about medicare for all. people said it was a jab at obamacare and it was tearing down obama's legacy, now you have a number of presidential candidates that have endorsed

the idea of universal healthcare and are talking about some form of medicare for all and single payer. i think it's not about bernie sanders though. i think the senator previously said in 20 skerngs it's about the people the revolution. so i'm cautioned to say put this all on bernie. yes, it's just starting a national conversation or a number of these issues. a lot of these things were percolating. i think we can credit senator sanders as being bold and having the conversation where most people wanted to have it. now we're in a place most people have it. >> i got you. but now he's sharing the lane with so many others and one back to senator klobuchar, you know, we played the clip of her last night at her presidential town hall, where she was answering questions on how she treats her staff. she says that she is tough and just we've heard her give this response before. the difference this time, there was an audience and how it

resonated was it landed with full applause. >> yeah. >> i'm curious what you make how she is responding to that? a tough question? >> there with is a conversation around this where certain behavior gets coated as leadership in men and coated as unnatural in women. i don't know i want to say that is necessarily the case at play here, given some of the things we have heard from senator klobuchar's former staff. which seem pretty bad. we see hoard driving, task masters. we see demanding, anger even in our mailboxes, we read it as that's the leader. as a society, we look at those same character traits in women. we see it as so unnatural it need to be called out. so i understand where the applause is coming from in the room. i think a lot of people are tired of being pigeon holed in ways because they don't stick to happiness or jen gentle it all

the time. >> everyone go to cnn and read it, she talks about klobuchar, she says there is no equivalent of boys being boys for women. pen are bosses and women are bossy and another "b" word. thank you all very much. many more conversations to come. meantime, a stunning piece of information. the fbi opened an investigation into whether the president of the united states was a russian foreign agent. one of these maga accusations out of andrew mccabe's book, he now has much, mump harsher words. we'll be right back. if i built a van, it would do more than haul. if i built a van, it would carry my entire business. i'd make it available in dozens, make that thousands of configurations.

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it was the blockbuster story cited by sources. for the first time we are hearing a top law enforcement official admit on camera the fbi open an investigation to see if the president of the united states was a russian foreign act. andrew mccabe the spyer at fbi director insists there was no political motivation in starting that counterinvestigation into president trump. mccabe is promoting his new book. it's called "the threat, how the fbi protects america in the age of terror and trump." here is what he said a short while ago on "the view. request itself. >> the things that were causing us to believe that a threat to national security might exist had been building up throughout the investigation we had been conducting through the fall. it was the way the president had been interacting with us, the way he talked about the case publicly, undermine our efforts,

made it clear he wasn't happy about the fact that we were doing. the fact that he asked jim comey to shut down the investigation with mike flynn, an important part of that investigation. then, of course the fact that he fired the director when he didn't do those things that the president had asked. so you put all those circumstances together and then, of course, add to it the president's own public statements indicating that he was thinking about russia when he fired the director of the fbi, we felt it was our obligation to act in those circumstances, it was undeniable. >> with me now cnn law enforcement james galiano, an fbi special agent who once worked with andrew mccabe. james, thank you for coming on. you write in this pretty explosive piece in the washington "examiner," yes, how your path crossed with his 20 years ago. certainly, have you defended him. but you refer to him as a pitiable figure.

tell me why you are not holding back. >> harsh terms, brooke, i want to be fair and preface this what mr. mccabe describes in the return-up to the 2016 election was a wholly different time. we have the benefit now of 20/20 hindsight. it's fair both people can look at the decisions he and comey made. some can argue they were the right decisions at the time. some can argue they weren't. that's not my issue with mr. mccabe. the reason i said he's a pitiable figure the more he and comey talk now after having been fired the worse things get and why is that? mr. mccabe was fired for an unconscionable sin in the fbi, for a lack of candor, which is a euphemism in the department of justice for lying under oath. he's had differences with many of the people he's gone out of his way to attack in the book. look, i am not defending the president and some of the things

the defendant said punching down career servant is also equally unconshunable. when an fbi stands up in the witness box and raises their hand to tell the truth the whole truth, nothing but the truth, they have to be believed. in this instance, i question mr. mccabe's veracity of account. >> what about the fact that he came out this morning and he said that he and other fbi officials actually warned the then gang of eight, which included at the time you know, mitch mcconnell, pulmonary rain, devon nunez, that the fbi had opened that counterintelligence investigation, you know, into president trump after he fired comey, none of those guys pushed back. >> yeah. i don't have, again, i don't take any issue with the fact that there weren't things that candidate trump and then president trump, the new administration, things that he said that should have raised suspicions and demanded

scrutiny. i think that was appropriate. what happened after that, some of the processes and the protocols that many of us, former agents, have questioned the way the nice sa application was submitted. -- fisa application was submitted. the things that were the actual impetus behind opening that investigation. we can disagree about that again, i'm not discrediting him for making the decision that something needed to be looked into. it's how they western about it. the fact that they talked about the 25th amendment, those are the things i criticize mr. mccape for. >> james galiano, thank you for your opinion and perspective and your years at the fbi. you will hear much more from andrew mccabe. he will take answer from anderson cooper at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> thanks, brooke. still ahead, we will take you to north carolina, whether there were calls for a new

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in north carolina, officials are looking into an involved voter fraum scheme amid absentee ballots. it calls for an election. they are holding out mark harris over democrat mccready in shocking testimony yesterday this woman admitted to falsifying absentee ballots under the treks of a political operative. so with me, wayne goodwin, chair of the north carolina democratic party. thank you so much for being

here, out of the gate, do you believe that there is evidence that there are enough suspicious ballots in question that could actually clang the outcome of this election? >> the short answer is yes. we knew there was sufficient evidence before the investigation began. what investigators unveiled in shocking testimony and today and perhaps into tomorrow, i believe it further underscores there must be a new election. this election was tainted in the 9th congressional district. >> is it enough to close that thousand-vote gap? >> well, i believe it is, but in north carolina the law says it's not just showing that there is enough to close the goop. if there was sufficient activity of illegal behavior and here it's not just a question of alleged election fraud, it's actual election fraud that has been found and admitted to by others. if the election has been tainted

in such a way to where there was an unfair process, an unfair election was held, then it doesn't matter if the gap is closed or not. i believe the evidence will show there were sufficient ballots that never made it back to where they have gone. we don't know what happened. if you slow that the process was unfair from the get go. >> and this is what you say on the flip side. they say the number of stanted votes would not have overcome the vote margin. this is his response when asked why not have another election. >> it has to rise to a level to at least bring it into question. we are simply not there. >> what would you say?

>> he has left out a lot of information. there is a statement that he and the state republican party said if it was proven there was election fraud and now there's admitted fraud by at least one witness on the stand in addition to what was found out today that there were early vote totals and released illegally before the election was over the republican party of north carolina said they would call for a new election. they have been on so many sides of this issue. first they were for a new election then against new election. for certification, against certification. they have been everywhere on this. the republican party and those watching this, if you look at it in an objective way you can only say there must be a new election because this process was tainted. the evidence supports that. >> what about the north carolina board members? do you any indication on what they will decide?

>> no. of course not. they are free to make up their minds however they choose based on the evidence that they weigh and based on what the law as it is here in north carolina. that is what i and the north carolina democratic party have always stood for. let the investigators do their job. let them do its job. wave the evidence. look at the law and see what the law requires and make a ruling. based on what we knew already for most people i would think if not everybody unless it was somebody that was hyper partisan you can only rule far new election. there is too much illegal activity that has been found to rule otherwise. >> we are watching very very closely. thank you very much for your time there. when we come back you got it, we'll get back to the breaking news that the president denied he talked to the attorney general about getting the u.s. attorney to unrecuse himself in

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that protects what's important. it handles everything, and reaches everywhere. this is beyond wifi, this is xfi. simple. easy. awesome. xfinity, the future of awesome. west virginia teach rers back on strike. they fighting instead an education bill that would introduce charter schools and allow money to gro go to private school tuition. after west virginia lawmakers voted down the bill that sparked this whole thing. now that lawmakers have pulled

the bill any ward if it is enough for the teachers to end the strike. >> we play get an answer to that question about when they will come up with a decision and decide whether or not they will go back to the classroom. this time teachers seeing the picket line for a different reason. a lot of this that the main point of contention here, the main debig development when members of the house in the state of west virginia decided to postpone this. however the reason we are not able to know for sure if the teachers will go back is because members of the house of representatives could have this option to call this back up. they have 24 hours do so. this is why they want guarantees. they are inside. they are leaving from a press

conference. they hoping they can at least get a promise that lawmakers won't consider this again and as you play imagine until they get those guarantees, and it's hard to say when they will go back to school. is it possible it could happen? absolutely. we don't expect a specific answer until about three hours for now when they will finally decide if what hay heard was enough. >> what about students? what does it mean for students in west virginia? >> i can tell you what we witnessed a year ago clwhen we were here. some were taken to local boys and girls clubs. so far it's only one day in. it is hard to say if it will drag onto day two. you can imagine teachers will probably -- or parents will consider those kinds of options as well if the latest walkout continues to drag on. >> thank you very much.

let's go to washington d.c. now. the lead with jake tapper starts right now. feels like we know president trump's least favorite word, recusal. the lead starts right now. an exploes ifr report. president trump trying to meddle into his own actions asking once again if someone can unrecuse themselves and take control. plus former fbi acting director spilling more tea about the bureau's investigations into the president including what he told congressional leaders behind closed