mcmaster is gone. president just tweeting, quote, i am pleased to announce effective 4-9-18 ambassador john bolton will be my new national security adviser. i'm thankful for service of mcmaster done outstanding job and always remain my friend. the president has privately expressed frustrations with mcmaster calling friends and other advisers to complain. a source saying that their differences stem from very different personalities and styles. bolton meanwhile has had a positive personal relationship with the president according to sources. his views though can at the least be hawkish on issues like north korea and iranian make him a very controversial pick. jeff zeleny at the white house. let's start with this. we know the president wanted to get rid of mcmaster here you have at the final hours of the day a major shake-up at the white house. >> reporter: no question about it. continues a series we've been seeing over the last several weeks in change of philosophy and change in direction. people who hav

mcmaster. they're looking for a high-ranking job in the military or a way to remove him without causing embarrassment or humiliation. >> this has been talked about certainly for a long time. do you know what the issues between the president and h.r. mcmaster were? >> well, they haven't really agreed on anything, frankly, anderson, or at least on many issu issues. they clashed over the iraq war, the strategy on the iraq war. they clashed over the role of foreign aid in the world. the president's world view has been far more america-first as he describes it than h.r. mcmaster. the president often finds mcmaster to be too professorial, too condescending in his words and was really never a natural fit. he obviously was hired after the departure of michael flynn, first national security adviser who's now pleaded guilty in front of the mueller probe, and h.r. mcmaster while, you know, respected in the military community never really got along with jim mattis, the defense secretary, either. we reporte

mcmaster. they're looking for a high-ranking job in the military or a way to remove him without causing embarrassment or humiliation. >> this has been talked about certainly for a long time. do you know what the issues between the president and h.r. mcmaster were? >> well, they haven't really agreed on anything, frankly, anderson, or at least on many issues. they clashed over the iraq war, the strategy on the iraq war. they clashed over the role of foreign aid in the world. the president's world view has been far more america-first as he describes it than h.r. mcmaster. the president often finds mcmaster to be too professorial, too condescending in his words and was really never a natural fit. he obviously was hired after the departure of michael flynn, first national security adviser who's now pleaded guilty in front of the mueller probe, and h.r. mcmaster while, you know, respected in the military community never really got along with jim mattis, the defense secretary, either. we reported tha

mcmaster is to be replaced by john bolton. well again you're watching al-jazeera live from doha with me also coming up. it is the largest deficit of any country in the history of our world it's out of control. from slaps tariffs on china as fears grow over a trade war. there as congress debates whether to accept the president's resignation after he steps down over a vote buying scandal. and the police in south korea arrest the former president lee myung bak over charges of corruption. ok our top story for you this still developing this hour the u.s. national security adviser h.r. mcmaster has resigned from the trumpet ministration he will be replaced by john bolton who also advised to. george w. bush on foreign policy issues mcmaster replaced michael flynn fourteen months ago bolton as a hawk he has previously advocated the use of military force against iran and north korea. is also become as has become customary for trump's major personnel and policy decisions the announcement was made on twitter trump tweeted i'm pleased to

mcmaster. is there any chance of another upgrade in that job? >> i don't think we know thatch about how h.r. mcmaster has been at his job. some much of the reporting has been about the president's feelings about him and not about the incredibly difficult job of the national security council, so i don't think we know how good a job he has done. it's hard to imagine how somebody else might slide into it. for me to have, you know, lost one national security advisor to a felony conviction and a cooperation plea with the special prosecutor to a forced out fbi director, to the a forced out attorney general, to have fired the secretary of state. to have no permanent secretaries in six of those jobs, nobody is in any of those. to be about to fire the deputy director of the fbi, he's thinking of doing that too and now to throw out the nooational security advisor before you go talk to the north korean dictator for fun, this to -- national security is a gasoline soaked tinder box on a good day and this gu

mcmaster, general mcmaster is out as his national security advisor and former ambassador john bolton, a fox news contributor, is in as the national security advisor. i think it's fair to say -- let me first bring in the panel, byron york of the washington examiner, susan page of usa today and jonathan swan of axuous. i think it's fair to say while the timing may be a bit of a surprise, the fact that mcmaster was going to be out sooner rather than later, the surprise at the timing of it. jonathan, you've been covering this, as to whether mcmaster was going to be out, your thoughts? >> i tell you, this has shocked people inside the building. again, it's the timing of it. there was an assumption at some point he was going to remove h.r. mcmaster. they never fortunateli fortunatelied -- formed a chemistry. he never figured out how to brief the president. this is not about ideology. john bolton is about as hawkish as they come. this is about chemistry with the president of the united states. he thinks he's strong, he sees him on television, likes him and, again, h.r. mcmaster never really

mcmaster. two sources say the president has not made the final decision on who will replace mcmaster. the timing is unclear. we are told the president wants do it before direct talks before the united states and north korea. one source says any delay stems from mcmaster delaying his final steps. one report is the president wants a softer landing with mcmaster over the secretary of state rex tillerson firing over twitter. >> there has been a personality and stylish you between the president and mcmaster. the press secretary sarah sanders tweeting this. contrary to reports, the president and mcmaster have a good working relationship. there are no changes at the security council. donald trump called reports exaggerated and very false. listen. >> we have gotten to know a lot of people in the past year. i have been in washington for more than a year. some people have been here 30 or 40 years. i have gotten to know great people. there will always be change. >> the president signalled he is prepared t

mcmaster is out as national security adviser. and nick christoph said trump is leading us down a dangerous path that he saw in the run-up to the war in iraq. this is "hardball." and your approval rating... goes here. test drive the ztrak z540r at your john deere dealer and learn why it's not how fast you mow, it's how well you mow fast. nothing runs like a deere. save 250 dollars when you test drive and buy a john deere residential z540r ztrak mower. if these packs have the same number of bladder leak pads, i bet you think bigger is better. actually, it's bulkier. always discreet quickly turns liquid to gel, for drier protection that's a lot less bulky. always discreet. the lsave up to 50 percent onon hundreds of your favorite items. gnc amp. force factor. cellucor. mega men and women's ultra mega. only at gnc. i thought i was managing my moderate to severe crohn's disease. then i realized something was missing... me. my symptoms were keeping me from being there. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira is for people who stil

mcmaster as security adviser. here's the thing. tomorrow is critical, the most critical day of the year. we're near a double bottom, the huge deficit established for the dow and key support points for the nasdaq and s&p. if these things don't hold, it could be again, just program selling. so before we talk about that, the news out of the white house, it's more turnover, the mainstream fodder to make it a negative thing. most defense experts might like to move but what is tim pact on the market, erin? >> for me the constant headlines iheadlines. in general, wall street doesn't like it, the knew news. this is relatively less economic sensitive position. certainly more about security. so i don't see as huge a reaction to it versus trade impact, which has a direct impact. charles: although the economic nationalism includes being very very tough around the world. and that upsets wall street from time to time as well. >> i agree. more turnover is not a positive. and secondly, i'm not expressing an person opinion on this, whether you thin

mcmaster. is there any chance of another upgrade in that job? >> i don't think we know thatch about how h.r. mcmaster has been at his job. some much of the reporting has been about the president's feelings about him and not about the incredibly difficult job of the national security council, so i don't think we know how good a job he has done. it's hard to imagine how somebody else might slide into it. for me to have, you know, lost one national security advisor to a felony conviction and a cooperation plea with the special prosecutor to a forced out fbi director, to the a forced out attorney general, to have fired the secretary of state. to have no permanent secretaries in six of those jobs, nobody is in any of those. to be about to fire the deputy director of the fbi, he's thinking of doing that too and now to throw out the national security advisor before you go talk to the north korean dictator for fun, this to -- national security is a gasoline soaked tinder box on a good day and this guy

mcmaster. two sources telling cnn the president has not decided who will replace mcmaster. one delay is mcmaster stemming from finalizing the next steps. the president wants a softer landing than rex tillerson whom he fired via twitter. >> president trump has a personality and stylish you with mcmaster. sarah sanders tweeting this, contrary to reports, the president and mcmaster have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the national security council. for his part, president trump called the staff changes ex-a - exaggerated and false. >> i have been in washington for a year. some people have been here 30 or 40 years. i have gotten to know great people. there will always be change. >> the president has signalled he is prepared to get rid of aides he clashed with after a year in office. mr. trump is starting to trust his gut more. >>> the russian investigation is picking up steam. a source tells us special counsel robert mueller has subpoenaed the trump organization for business

general mcmaster may be moving on to a different role as early as the end of march. >> general mcmaster may be too substantive for his boss. >> what a way to put it. >> he comes at this, general mcmaster, three stars on his shoulder, army lieutenant general, books he's authored, a studious approach to national security. i think he's done a good job. in the national security council in the wake of mike flynn. for some reason he has not clicked with the commander in chief. the president doesn't countenance his overly substantive approach to foreign policy, nicolle. >> let's take some elegance off the answer. the president doesn't like him. >> never has. >> and the president has put him in some pretty unseemly positions. the first big flash point was when the president had sergei lavrov and kislyak in the oval office and he said, you know, the pressure is off me now that i got rid of comey. and it was reported out of that meeting that he had revealed some sensitive classified information from another country's intelligence service. >> right. >> that was the first time that mcmaster really

he expressed confidence in that the national security hr mcmaster, a mesz age she then passed onto mcmaster. but the president didn't relay to mcmaster himself oon though sarah sanders did acknowledge they met several times today and she is not sure if all of this came up during those meetings. but, erin, to be clear here, it's the president who has fueled a lot of this speculation himself by saying his cabinet is not the way he likes it. he likes change. aen there could be more change coming in the future. and we are actually told by sewers familiar with what's been going on with the president that he has actually been watching the television in glee over the last few days as he's seen the buildup of this idea of a potential shake-up happening. so a lot of this is president himself. he enjoys being able to control the banners that flash across the lower part of the screen. so a lot of this is many coulding from the top down. and staffers certainly were concerned. and the white house could say today that no one is being immediately fired, but they couldn't answer if it was going to happen i

mcmaster he's one of the good people. there aren't a lot of good people in this administration because nobody wants to work for donald trump. he's impossible to work for. and when the good people leave, who are they going to replace him with? this is a very bad situation. it's a big problem for our national security. and vladimir putin is looking at us like we're vulnerable. he's already attacked our country once in the election of 2016. he's developing new missiles. and we have constant turnover in our national defense apparatus. this is a very bad situation. a president who doesn't care to understand foreign policy or national security issues. >> richard's question who is going to replace him, the thing i think about too, do you want to walk into a situation in which the next day bob mueller might knock on your door about some conversation can you overheard. >> people do keep taking jobs in the trump administration. one of the sort of interesting sub texts of this mcmaster story is that in the big west story about jared

mcmaster in the oval office. president trump said the nbc news story is fake news and told mcmaster that he is doing a great job. >> he is a man of tremendous talent. >> mcmaster was brought into the administration from the pentagon a year ago to replace michael flynn who has since pleaded guilty in the russia investigation to lying to the the fbi. it all comes as the president's inner circle is getting increasingly smaller. hope hicks afounnounced her resignation. jared kushner's top security clearance revoked last week. kushner's family business received loans after bank executives had meetings at the white house. >> jared is still a valued peb of the administration and he's going to continue to focus on the work he's been doing and we're going to continue pushing forward on that front, as well. >> chief of staff john kelly poked fun at his -- >> i miss every one of you every day. the last thing i wanted to do was walk away from one of the great honors of my life, being the secretary of homeland security. but i

mcmaster. this has been expected for some time. nicolle wallace reported earlier the president was preparing to replace him as early as the end of the month. there were multiple reports that they have not seen eye to eye, tonight "the washington post" writes it this way, trump is now comfortable with ousting mcmaster, with whom he never personally gelled. but is willing to take time executing the move because he wants to ensure both that the thr three-star army general is not humiliated and that there is a strong successor lined up. the turbulence is part of a broader potential shake-up under consideration that is likely to include senior officials at the white house. this news comes just two days after the president fired secretary of state rex tillerson. tonight white house adviser kellyanne conway addressed the shake-ups in the administration. >> people say i see chaos. a lot of us see streamlining of some parts and sophistication because we had too many people over time. we had too many of

mcmaster at this time? did he do something with respect to policy such as russia that they disagree with or just about body language and chemistry that the president talks about so much? he didn't like the guy. he feels more comfortable with john bolton. we don't know that but we should know that because it is extraordinary that he is replacing somebody that i have a lot of respect for, h.r. mcmaster after a few months on the job. why is he doing that now? is it related to policy or personality? does it mean for the future he's chosen bolton now? we'll have to wait and see. i'm nervous about it. it's a bad choice i think. >> michael mcfaul, former u.s. am bbassador to russia. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >>> still more to come on this crazy news night. the other, other story with a claim to headline of the day. that's next. stay with us. your snapping pics all day, all night thing. your getting the low-light, just right thing. ♪ introducing the samsung galaxy s9 with low light camera

what are you learning about mcmaster's likely exit? >> erin, my colleague barbara star and i are told mcmaster could leave his position in the end of the month or near future. multiple sources telling cnn in addition it is becoming more likely that the mcmaster will not return to the military and possible four star there, but retire as three star general. among the names is sa fa cash, ceo of oracle, former member of the trump transition team, bolt, former ambassador to the u.n. steven beghana vice president at the ford company, and bush administration considered, although ford is telling us that he has not spoken to the white house about his position. nsc spokesman michael anton has dismissed these reports saying the favorite phrase of the white house, fake news. we reached out to pentagon mattis office and they are referring all questions back to the white house. i should add that at least one senior military officer currently serving has been informally approached about whether he would be interested in the job. he has said no becau

mcmaster is in trouble. there's also va secretary david shilkin, under scrutiny for a trip he took with his wife. and jeff sessions, the former alabama senator, has been on the outs with trump kind of from the beginning. >> for doing his job. >> by recusing himself from the russia investigation. anyone's guess how long he has left on the job. trump calls him mr. mugu and makes fun of him. >> wilbur ross, it has been reported multiple times, fell asleep in meetings. jeff sessions has been off sides with the president for months and months paubecause he didn't recuse himself. a name not on here is john kelly. it's been widely reported there are some in the white house that want to push kelly out. if mcmaster is out, here's a question, who is going to replace these people? who is going to be confirmed? i talked to people in the white house last night. could it be john bolton? another name is kellogg, one of the deputies in the white house. someone said, if it was kellogg, there'd be mutiny inside the white hous

mcmaster who said that there are some expectations that general mcmaster, once he leaves the white house and once that's finished and finalized, that he'll go to the hoover institution, which is a leading think tank here in washington and out in california, which also has ties to condoleezza rice, by the way, but this source was cautioning that that is not finalized yet, that the deal is not finished. but that is a possibility in terms of a landing spot for mcmaster. >> and if and when this happens, i mean, this will be, what, the 11th top level official to leave this white house. >> that's right. and earlier today, as you heard, the white house press secretary sarah sanders was not really closing the door on the possibility that jeff sessions, the attorney general, may be leaving. when she was asked whether the president wanted to get rid of his attorney general, she said, not that i know of. i talked to senior administration officials earlier this evening about all of this, this official said that sessions just doesn't pay attention to this kind of political drama, that his job doesn't

mcmaster, he's leaving. there's going to be a new national security adviser, rider ambassador, john bolton. (vo) dogs have evolved, but their nutritional needs remain instinctual. that's why there's purina one true instinct. real meat #1. a different breed of natural nutrition. purina one true instinct. now, try new purina one true instinct treats. vof hundreds of families, he'se hmost proud of the one the heads he's kept over his own. brand vo: get paid twice as fast with quickbooks smart invoicing. quickbooks. backing you. jushis local miracle ear t at helped andrew hear more of the joy in her voice. just one hearing test is all it took for him to hear more of her laugh... and less of the background noise around him. for helen, just one visit to her local miracle-ear is all it took to learn how she can share more moments with her daughter. just one free hearing test could help you hear more... laughter... music... life. call now! for a limited time, you can get $500 off miracle-ear hearing aids! but prevag

mcmaster at this time? did he do something with respect to policy such as russia that they disagree with or just about body language and chemistry that the president talks about so much? he didn't like the guy. he feels more comfortable with john bolton. we don't know that but we should know that because it is extraordinary that he is replacing somebody that i have a lot of respect for, h.r. mcmaster after a few months on the job. why is he doing that now? is it related to policy or personality? what does it mean for the future that he's chosen bolton now? we'll have to wait and see. i'm nervous about it. i think it's a bad choice. former u.s. ambassador to russia, thanks for being with us tonight. >> thanks for having me. >>> still more to come on this crazy news night. the other, other story with a claim to headline of the day. that's next. stay with us. poor mouth breather. allergies? stuffy nose? can't sleep? take that. a breathe right nasal strip instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than allergy me

mcmaster? >> craig, let's start with chief of staff john kelly because we know the relationship between president trump and john kelly has been strained at times as kelly has tried to instill discipline on the president's free-ranging approach. kelly saying that god punished him when he left the department of homeland security to go to work in the white house. based on our reporting, it's save to say that john kelly is not going anywhere soon. multiple officials are pushing back against the reporting suggesting otherwise. as for h.r. mcmaster, the national security adviser, his depart suriminent but how long he might stay at the white house remains unclear. the president and mcmaster haven't gelled personally. and they've also had public disagreements over policy on issues such as iran, afghanistan and russia. president trump, remember, publicly rebuked mccaster on twitter for not more forcefully defending the president's 2016 win when mcmaster was talking about russia's election interference.

mcmaster. this comes as the president is weighing who else to fire in his embattled cabinet. >>> and a major development in the russia investigation. special counsel robert mueller has subpoenaed documents from trump's family business, the trump organization. does that cross donald trump's red line on them investigating his personal finances. all of this as the trump administration finally imposes new sanctions on russia for its election interference. let's begin with cnn's abby phillip. she is live at the white house. what's the latest this morning, abby? >> reporter: well, good morning, alisyn. the russia investigation is ongoing. it is h.r. mcmaster, the president's national security adviser, that is the big story this morning. sources tell cnn that he could be out as soon as today, even if the white house denies he is on his way out the door. meanwhile, robert mueller's investigation continues and appears to be picking up steam. multiple sources tell cnn that after months of tension, presid

mcmaster out, john bolton in. mcmaster had clashed with the president over policy issues, over statements about russia, over the direction of the foreign policy of the united states. john bolton known as a hard liner with experience in the bush administration. bolton had led a super pac that spent over a million dollars with that firm. an international news connection that may or may not have been fully digested at this point. because of this breaking news, i want to turn immediately to u.s. senator richard blumenthal, a democrat from connecticut, your view of this change, sir? >> as important as the change, ari s the way it was made, lack of explanation and indication of continuing churn and chaos and deep division in this white house. and the lack of any clear direction from the president on policy. you're absolutely right, john bolton is known as a hard liner, clearly different than others in the administration now on the iran agreement, for example, and it points to danger signals. >> i want to read from the s

mcmaster. the white house had previously denied media reports about mcmaster leaving. last week a come of the said the stories were very false, but last night, the president confirms that he will take mcmaster's place. george w. bush and his administration, in the past, he has called for the u.s. to bomb iran and launch a preemptive strike. he has also repeatedly defending the u.s. invasion of iraq, something president trump has called a terrible mistake. the national security advisor position does not require senate confirmation, so bolton is it set to take over in a few weeks. we will go back to john roberts out the white house. >> finally paid off, this has been a long time coming, he has been thinking about replacing him for a long time. he has been thinking about an exit plan. it happened right after the memo that was it prepared with a vladimir putin of russia, that's about did not really factor too much into this. it was the fact that every time he sits down with john bolton, he thinks to himself i really, really like this guy. he has a hawkish view of foreign p

mcmaster. a 34-year military veteran brought in a year ago to right the ship after the firing of the first national security adviser michael flynn. this has been in the works, but it came much quicker than people thought it would. officials here at the white house last week, the press secretary stood and said there would be no change in the national security adviser role. >> has the president spoken to mcmaster, carson, shulkin, to tell them their jobs are in fact safe? >> i spoke directly to the president last night. he asked me to pass that message along to general mcmaster. >> reporter: the question is what does it mean for foreign policy? mcmaster was setting up the negotiating talks with the u.s. and south korea over the north korea nuclear program. having someone who has a harder line view will certainly change the shape of the talks and could interrupt them. we will see a pattern as the president reshapes the foreign policy team and economic teams and others. we will see what happens whe

mcmaster. figures out how to execute this decision which is to try to preserve humility and wants to make sure there is somebody in place to take his seat when he vacates it. we were told by sever senior officials he decided to make this and they have been talking about this decision as being final in their conversations inside the west wing. so that's our reporting at this hour. we standby it. >> phil, how is dangling a departure for long -- this is a rhetorical question i guess. >> yes. >> and you raise that this is unique. he is an active duty three star. his next assignment, his next posting, his next deployment is critical. they would like to give him a voice in that i'm sure. >> there is a desire inside the white house by the president by also by kelly and others in the administration to find app safe comfortable landing spot for mcmaster, perhaps a promotion and somewhere outside of washington. it is unclear what that vacancy is at this time. there is an effort to carve out a path for hi

mcmaster. >> there will always be change. i want to see different ideas. >> he bragged about i hired the best people, but he can't seem to keep people. >> i'm looking forward to seeing the president have the cabinet that he deserves. >> special counsel is looking into trump businesses. >> it is investigation 101 to follow the money. >> the president believes very strongly there is no collusion. >> no one individual in the united states is above the law. >> cars are just squished. >> we all want to do our best to try to find out exactly what happened here. >> this is "new day" with chris quo he mow and alisyn camerota. >> welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day". it is friday, march 16th, 6:00 here in new york. here's our starting line. sources tell cnn that a turmoil inside the trump administration is nothing short of total disarray. cnn reporting that president trump is ready to oust his national security adviser, general h.r. mcmaster, and is conside

mcmaster. figures out how to execute this decision which is to try to preserve humility and wants to make sure there is somebody in place to take his seat when he vacates it. we were told by sever senior officials he decided to make this and they have been talking about this decision as being final in their conversations inside the west wing. so that's our reporting at this hour. we standby it. >> phil, how is dangling a departure for long -- this is a rhetorical question i guess. >> yes. >> and you raise that this is unique. s he is an active duty three star. his next assignment, his next posting, his next deployment is critical. they would like to give him a voice in that i'm sure. >> there is a desire inside the white house by the president by also by kelly and others in the administration to find app safe comfortable landing spot for mcmaster, perhaps a promotion and somewhere outside of washington. it is unclear what that vacancy is at this time. there is an effort to carve out a path for

mcmaster leaving. you know, this is another sign of a white house that is just in this constant state of turmoil. i did talk to a source earlier this evening with respect to hr. mcmaster who said that there are some expectations that jgeneral mcmaster will go to the hoover institution, which is a leading think tank here in washington and out in california, which also has ties to condoleezza rice. the deal is not finished, but that is a possibility in terms of a landing spot for mcmaster once he leaves. >> if and when this happens, this will be the 11th top official to leave the white house. >> that's right. and earlier today, white house press secretary sara sanders was not closing the door on the possibility that jeff sessions may be leaving. when she was asked whether the president wanted to get rid of his attorney general, she said not that i know of. i talked to senior administration official earlier this evening about all of this. this official said that sessions just doesn't pay attention to this

mcmaster. we've been hearing rumblings about the general's departure for a while now, two weeks ago my colleague nicolle wallace was the first to report the white house could oust mcmaster by the end of the month. >> the president feels emboldened a year into his presidency. >> publicly he says he respects h.r. mcmaster, but privately their relationship has been rocky. >> it's the adults in the room that talked him down. it's scary to see those guys leaving. >> what it tells the world is we are in chaos here at home. >> thank you for letting me get out of washington. it's a thrill a minute up there. >> anyone who works for the white house is inherently on borrowed time. >> mcmaster's exit is just one part of a broader shakeup under consideration by trump that is likely to include senior officials at the white house. so who else might be on their way out? the bottle is spinning. chief of staff kelly, attorney general jeff sessions, va secretary jeff shulkin and epa administrator are a few of the

mcmaster. let's bring in now congressman denny heck, a washington democrat, who sits on the intelligence committee. never a dull moment, representative. thanks for joining us. first, let me get your reaction to this breaking news tonight. cnn is reporting president trump decided to oust his national security adviser, h.r. mcmaster. that's another top staffer. what's your thoughts? >> revolving door, musical chairs, over at the white house that's gripped by chaos. mind you, when he replaces general mcmaster, assuming that that trigger is pulled, the new one will be the third one within a 14-or 15-month period of time. so i'm from washington state, don, i literally pray that general mattis, secretary of defense mattis hang osas a bason of stability in this sea of chaos. >> how is this going to affect an administration already plagued by chaos and staff turnovers and on and on? >> it's just very, very hard to get a sense of where we're going with respect to national security thing. we've had these

mcmaster. let's bring in now congressman denny heck, a washington democrat, who sits on the intelligence committee. never a dull moment, representative. thanks for joining us. first, let me get your reaction to this breaking news tonight. cnn is reporting president trump decided to oust his national security adviser, h.m. r. mcmas. another top staffer. ma what's your thoughts? >> revolving door, musical chairs, over at the white house. mind you, when he replaces general mcmaster, assuming that that trigger is pulled, the new one will be the third one within a 13 or 15-month period of time. so i'm from washington state, don, i lot riterally play gener mattis, secretary of defense mattis hangs on as a bastion of stability in his sea of chaos. >> how is this going to affect an administration already plagued by chaos and staff turnovers and on and on? >> it's just very, very hard to get a sense of where we're going with respect to national security thing. we've had these institutions evolve and dev

mcmaster's afternoon yesterday. and then last night there was an explosion of reporting that yeah, he'll be fired. one possibility here is those two events are totally unrelated. total coincidence. another possibility is mcmaster knew he was getting fired, that we were in the ramp up to him being fired and we knew he was on his way out and felt like this would be a good time to take shots at russia since they are getting rid of him anyway. maybe that's a possibility. another possibility of course is that mcmaster made these strong anti-russia remarks yesterday and that somehow precipitated the president's desire to fire him or start telling lots and lots of reporters that in fact, he decided to fire him and it's weird we have to consider that kind of a possibility. but part of the reason we have to consider that possibility is that in the last few days, we just went through something very similar with the secretary of state rex tillerson. secretary of state rex tillerson was fired by the president on tuesday morning

mcmaster. carol lee is going to have for us just in a moment where kelly stands on all of this which i think is on very shaky ground because it appears donald trump thinks that he can do this job himself. that he can represent himself, that he can be his chief of staff, and that he can bring in voices that really back up his extreme views or his immature views as it pertains to foreign policy and representing our country on the world stage and the bigger question, is he wants to be backed up, some would argue on whether or not he should fire bob mueller and the question is, are we one step closer to that? and michael schmidt, you have reporting on the latest attorney to leave the team. what does that indicate to you? >> this indicates that dowd is out, john dowd, who had led the president's team since last summer. >> that happened hours before mcmaster was out. >> correct. and dowd was someone who was telling the president something he did not want to hear. he was telling the president, you sho

mcmaster. i have little -- no appetite at all for kremlinology style coverage and speculation about who is in favor and who is out of favor. who has been able to move the desk closer to the oval office. who is angling for what job. the government is not supposed to be conducted like the gong show. it has been a weird 24 hours in the news because of this word that went out from the white house. about the national security advisor was to be fired. why did the white house put that word out last night? i don't know. neither do you. but you should know that right before the white house put out that word last night, this is the last public thing that national security advisor h.r. mcmaster did yesterday afternoon. >> russia is also providing political cover for assad's crimes, from february 24th to february 28th, russia conducted 20 bombing missions every day in the eastern guda and damascus areas. syria. thwarting efforts to hold the regime accountable for using chemical weapons. this morning, the u

why is hr mcmaster being replaced. full weeks there's been speculation that hr mcmaster is on his way out of the white house, and so it has passed, the latest high—profile white house figure to go with donald trump's point of view that he is not surrounded by the people he wants in these positions, and that's certainly true with the position of national security adviser. he had clashed with hr mcmaster over the months and he has been replaced. although he has given a warm tribute to him, he has had moments when he has been less than favourable towards hr mcmaster. for example he was openly critical whenever hr mcmaster suggested there was evidence russia had interfered in the 2016 general election. but i really think what you're here at the white house is a changing of the guard when it comes to foreign policy, because only a matter of ten days ago we had rex tillerson replaced as secretary of state by the cia director mike pompeo. we now have hr mcmaster being replaced by john bolton. they are both figures who think

mcmaster, but the timing is up to the president. let's go to our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, what more can you tell us about the turmoil and the idea that the president seems to be enjoying all of this? >> there's no question that president trump has spent much of the week fueling this expectation himself. he has said publicly a couple different times change is good, and he is about to change some members of his cabinet to have it just like he would like it to be. so that is built up here. certainly in conversations here at the white house and indeed across washington and different administrations wondering who could be the next to be a fired or dismissed. so much so that there was a hash tag firing friday that was going around on line on twitter. but now white house aides are urging and advising aides to focus on their work. they're trying to dial back this speculation that anybody is going to be fired immediately. we do know, as you said, the national security adviser, h.r. mcmaster, could be among the seni

we now have hr mcmaster being replaced by john bolton. they are both figures to think more along the line of donald trump, especially if you look at the ambassadorjohn bolton. he is at the ambassadorjohn bolton. he is a hardliner, someone from the bush era. he was critical over iran and north korea. many people know who john bolton is in the international committee because he was the former us ambassador to the united nations. —— community. us ambassador to the united nations. -- community. that is absolutely correct. he has also been outspoken over the years and is well—known in america not least because he is a media commentator, popping up on fox news quite regularly. indeed, he has been on fox news within the past hour or so discussing what he intends to do as national security advisor. perhaps what is key here is what he had said in the past is in the past. he says he is focusing on the past. he says he is focusing on the now. he has been very critical of recent lea ks the now. he has been very critical of recent leaks from the

mcmaster. h.r. mcmoster knew. the staff knew he was considering making a change, but i would tell you i'm reliably told that john bolton woke yesterday morning with no idea in the world that by the end of the day he was going to be named and appointed national security advisor and doing a hit on fox that evening as the new national security advisor. he knew he was in the mix. he knew his name was being mentioned, but you know, this was donald trump in the room making the decision and as usual, his staff had to scramble to -- to make it all happen and the announcement. >> i wonder if he would have been outed as the new national security advisor had he not been spotted walking into the west wing around 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon. i think there were some reporters who spotted him walking in with a smile on his face and that tipped people's hats a little bit. let me ask you quickly, how do you think this will change u.s. foreign policy on some of the issues that you've talked about,en north korea, on iran, perhaps

so if mcmaster goes, who comes next? >> if mattis were to be talked about going, i think that would be really scary. this just gets back to when he speaks mcmaster is long-winded or condescending. i think that plebes he's precise and intelligence and he's pushing back against president. the other pieces is the president has continually demonstrated, he doesn't blank he's doing. snouk a perfect example. he was ma anymore-related and took bait. >> with north korea, the idea was he wanted tillerson out because he wanted pompeo in. it is not clear that pompeo will be in place by the time it happens. it will take time. it is true that the president is his own adviser. even if there's some massive prep operation needs to be done, you feel like he will go into that meeting and kind of wing it. >> and about mcmaster, he is labeled a trump critic but even the most ardent allies do see mattis as stabilizers. >> the president hasn't fired anyone today. i looked at my phone. did he just convince someone to quit. who? that's next. li

mcmaster gone and bolton coming in. what's happening inside of the white house that's making the president move in this drecks? idea logical shift, a personal shifts, a transition? >> i think it's a persona shift. a matter of personal sometime.th president doesn't really have an it lodge. when he w asked during the campaign, where do you get your twice? he said i watch the shows. he's bringing all the people from the shows into the administration. one thing they have in common -- these jobs we've talked about. whether it's bolton as national security advisor or larry cudlow, head of the national economicns c. those two jobs within the white house are jobs that you are supposed to be a honest broker and not hold forth with your own opinion so much as bring the opinions of the administration to the president and lay out options and these aoth two people up cannot see standing by and not expressin >> you make a great point and i think we're seeing the f continuation a trend that's developed over the last two weeks. the equ

mcmaster gone and bolton comin in. what's happening inside of the white house that's making the president move in this drecks? idea logical shift, a personal shifts, a transition? >> i think it's a personal shift. o a matt personal sometime. the president doesn't really have an it lodge. when he was asked during the campaign, where do you get your twice? he said i watch the shows. he's bringing all the from the shows into the administration. one thing they have in common -s these j we've talked about. whether it's bolton a national security advisor or larry cudlow, head of the national economic counsel. those two jobs within the white house are jobs that you areos su to be an honest broker and not hold forth with your own opinion so much as bring the opinions of the administration to t president and lay out options and these are both two peoplep cannot see standing by and not expressing. >> you make ant great p and i think we're seeing the continuation of a trend that's developed over the last two weeks. the equipment

mcmaster's afternoon yesterday. and then last night there was an explosion of reporting that yeah, he'll mabe fired. one possibility here is those two events are totally unrelated. total coincidence. another possibility is mcmaster knew he was getting fired, that we were in the ramp up to him being fired and we knew he was on his way out yet we felt this would be a good time to take shots at russia since they are getting rid of him anyway. maybe that's a possibility. another possibility of course is that mcmaster made these strong anti russia remarks yesterday and that somehow precipitated the president's desire to fire him or start telling lots and lots of reporters that in fact, he decided to fire him and it's weird we have to consider that kind of a possibility. but part of the reason we have to consider that possibility is that in the last few days, we just went through something very similar with the secretary of state rex tillerson. secretary of state rex tillerson was fired by the president on tuesday morning

he asked me to pass that message along to general mcmaster. i know the two of them have been in meetings today. whether or not that came up i don't know but, again, our focus is not on a lot of the new stories that you guys would like us to be focused on but we're actually focused on what the american people want us to do and that's to come here and do our job. general mcmaster is a dedicated public servant and he is here not focused on the new stories that many of you are writing but on some really big issues. things like north korea. things like russia. things like iran. that's what he's doing. and that's what we're going to be focused on every single day we show up for work. reporter: there san issue when you look at the number of people you're hoping to confirm. to look at the people in these top positions that continue to change, just wanting to know if the president gave assurances to carson, to shulkin as well as mcmaster that their jobs are in fact safe? sarah: look, we are not making, as i said, we don't have any personnel changes at

mcmaster bit. you were reporting all this material out and now you have sarah sanders a second ago saying she talked to the president last night, that he asked me to pass along mcmaster's job is safe and she was in a meeting with mcmaster today. what was your reaction to hearing that? >> you know, it wasn't just me, brooke. it was me and my colleagues and people at other news organizations were all hearing the same things. and i think that, you know, she had to go in to the president. he put the kcabosh on it. he can say for whatever reason okay i'm not going to do that now. maybe it's because he doesn't have a replacement. everything is up to the president. every story is hard as jell-o until the president decides that. is the way it is. we can report and kaitlyn is absolutely right. we live in this echo chamber where we talk to people inside the white house, people who were recently of the white house but no longer, people who are friends of the president. he tends, himself, to muse aloud about,

mcmaster as the national security advisor. kellyanne, give us your insight on that change. >> this president was elected in part because he was going to be so tough on radical islamic terrorism and has. through the leadership of his team including general mcmaster the president noted yesterday there is a america first national security strategy. isis is all but gone. particularly in places like syria. this president has brought north korea to the table. under conditions of course, and many different areas of his peace through strength policy. but, if you can show a great distinction between the left's view foreign policy, national security and terrorism. and this president, it really is along the fault line of how to deal with radical islamic terrorism. this president is willing to name them and blame them and then go after them. and it's been a very successful strategy as you see. it doesn't get a lot of coverage in the mainstream media. but, what's happened over time, just under his 14 months in office, it's called causation

mcmaster. i know the two of them have been many meetings today. whether or not that came up, i don't know. >> and the white house wonders why people don't trust what they say. and then there is this. john dowd. john dowd is the lead lawyer handling president trump's response to the russia investigation, quitting today after the president just last week tweeted "the failing "new york times" purposely wrote a false story stating that i am unhappy with my legal team on the russia case, and i am going to add another lawyer to help out. wrong. i'm very happy with my lawyers, john dowd, ty cobb and jay sekulow. they are doing a great job." well, dowd wanted the president to cooperate with mueller's team and resist the urge to attack the special counsel publicly. dowd is out today as part of a shake-up of the president's legal team. sources tell cnn at least three defense attorneys from major firms recently turned down the chance to join trump's legal team. a fourth is still being considered, but woul