let's break it down with our brianna keilar and manu raj new. manu, it's been a tough road for mulvaney, it looks like he's going to get the votes but he doesn't have the support of big name republicans including senator john mccain. >> reporter: that's absolutely right, john mccain actually coming out yesterday forcefully opposing mulvaney because of his views, mulvaney's views on defense spending, because mulvaney was a conservative member of the house freedom caucus that was very aggressive in opposing big military budgets, trying to cut that spending, and mccain being a defense hawk, is trying to boost funding for the pentagon. so this is a big flashpoint, something that led to a very testy exchange between mccain and mulvaney at the confirmation hearings just last month. mccain voted no. but at this point, poppy and john, we're not getting any indication if there are any other republicans who are going to flip. there was one, thad cochran of mississippi, who raised some significant concerns in private. but we are told that those concerns ha

i'm brianna keilar. you're in the "the situation room." >>> tonight after four rocky weeks in the white house, president trump is revisiting the greatest hits of his campaign, returning to the kind of rallies in the america first message that got him elect. talking jobs and facing friendly fans at a bowing plant before he heads to a big rally tomorrow. he will spend his weekend in florida. after retired vice ad mrl bob harward turned down the job. harward couldn't get assurances he could form his own team and concerned about the chaos in the white house. >>> right now vice-president pence is on a mission to reassure allies. he's set to meet with european leaders who have been concerned about president trump's embassy of russia and other early foreign policy moves. scott pruitt is set to take charge of the environmental protection agency he's promised to reign in. winning despite democratic opposition and before release of the e-mails that could shed light about his views. we have republican congressman,

the head of the correspondents association spoke with brianna keilar about it. >> it is not a surprise to say that the president has said many negative things about the media and comparing the media or suggesting that the media is the enemy of the american people. that, of course, is something that the correspondents association and journalists reject. the media is an incredibly important part of a vibrant republic. we celebrate that at that dinner. it is up to him to decide whether or not he wants to come. the correspondents association and the members that work in their room every day will continue to do our jobs and write the news and tell the truth about this administration as we have done by every administration before. >> you insist the dinner is not going to be canceled but do you see it as being a different event than in past years? >> it was already going to be a different event. we haven't had a whole lot of details about that yet. obviously, the fact that the president has decided not to come will impact the dinner, it will impact who sits up on the dias with the rest of the

i'm brianna keilar in washington. the democratic party used the democratic process and elected a new leader this afternoon at its delegate gathering in atlanta. tom perez, the former u.s. labor secretary was chosen today to guide the democratic party through what he calls an all-out battle to deny donald trump a second term as president. cnn's ryan nobles is in atlanta. >> reporter: yeah, brianna, it was certainly a dramatic afternoon here in atlanta, as democrats picked their next chairman. and it will be the former labor secretary, tom perez. but it wasn't easy. perez fell one vote short o

brianna keilar will take you through the next hour. that's all. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> hi there i'm brianna keilar in for wolf blitzer today. we begin with breaking news this hour. we are now just moments away from president donald trump speaking live in south carolina and as soon as this event begins we are going to bring you his remarks live. president trump actually just arrived in north charleston about an hour ago and this is where he's meeting leaders and also workers at the boeing aircraft company and he will be watching the debut rollout of boeing's new wide body aircraft called the 787-10 dreamliner. we have jason carol in north charleston right now. jason,ost of south carolina of course went red in

brianna keilar will take you through the next hour. that's all. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> hi there i'm brianna keilar in for wolf blitzer today. we begin with breaking news this hour. we are now just moments away from president donald trump speaking live in south carolina and as soon as this event begins we are going to bring you his remarks live. president trump actually just arrived in north charleston about an hour ago and this is where he's meeting leaders and also workers at the boeing aircraft company and he will be watching the debut rollout of boeing's new wide body aircraft called the 787-10 dreamliner. we have jason carol in north charleston right now. jason, most of south carolina of course went red in november but where you are charleston county did not. what has the president's reception been like so far there? >> well, here in this room the reception has been very favorable. these are thousands of boeing employees who have come to hear the president speak. outside a short while ago there were a number of protester

. >> brianna keilar is with me, a senior white house correspondent, such a rich sound bite. president obama would not like a single thing that president trump has done these last two weeks but there's something to be said about these two having a friendship. >> i will tell you you do have this other side of him that is very charming and engaging and we heard about the first meeting that president obama and president elect trump had in the oval office, this was quite the extraordinary step brooke as you noted on your program, we weighed in on the travel ban and basically did this because it met that litmus test that he felt it violated american values, he was pretty civil in his criticism but weighed in none thele less. >> can we say on tv that president obama is jacked? >> well, you just said it. he seems to have had some time to perhaps spend some time in the gym. he did make a habit of that as president, he has been relaxing but come on if you were on richard branson's private island and spending days kite boarding how excited and relaxed are you going to look? >> i just w

. >>> i'm brianna keilar coming to you live from capitol hill before the president's first address to congress. president trump will have hours from now his biggest moment since his inauguration and lay it out in primetime and before a joint session of congress. will he succeed in restarting a turbulent committee. he admits he could do a better job communicating. >> all i can do is speak from the heart and say what i wt

>>> i'm brianna keilar coming to you live from capitol hill before the president's first address to congress. president trump will have hours from now his biggest moment since his inauguration and lay it out in primetime and before a joint session of congress. will he succeed in restarting a turbulent committee. he admits he could do a better job communicating. >> all i can do is speak from the heart and say what i want to do. we have a really terrific i believe health care coming out. we have to understand obamacare has been a sdradisaster, we hav health care plan that will be inclusive and do what people want it to do, i'll be talking about that, talking about the military and about the border, and remember, we're getting the bad ones out, gang members, drug lords in some cases murderers. >> do you think that's not been communicated effectively. >> no i don't think so, maybe it's my fault. >> let me turn to white house correspondent sara murray, the president's aides are telling that it's going to be an optimistic speech, what are you hearing? >> reporter: that's right, we know that he's b

. >> all right, carl bernstein, we saw you in brianna keilar's speech. >> my bar mitzvah picture. >> but as you said in the last hour, you were wary about comparing this, obviously to watergate. there's so much we don't know. but in terms of a congressional investigation, watergate is a clear example of congress deeming it important enough to a separate committee. >> not only was it a select committee of both parties, but the american system worked in watergate, and republicans ought to welcome a real investigation of what happened in the campaign involving the russians. if there is an innocent explanation for all of this, what did the president know and when did he know it, as was said during the watergate investigation, they should welcome such an investigation, because we need to find out what happened. and the great thing that occurred in watergate was this bipartisanship, the key votes for impeachment came from, in the house judiciary committee, came from republicans, courageous republicans. it was barry gold water, the nominee of his party, the republican party to be president

with us, cnn washington correspondent brianna keilar, paul lewis and matt, i want to start with you. i watch you on tv. you've been seeing a risk for the trump white house is it doesn't have a lot of loyalty on capitol hill among republicans. when you see jason chaffetz, david nunez, none of them seem to be launching investigations into the substance of the reports. is president trump winning the first round, matt? >> i think the senate is very different. senators, for one thing, are elected every six years, so they're insulated from the republican base that still loves donald trump. they have more leeway, so i think the house may be a lagging indicator. having said that, i do think the members of the house who were worried about intel leaks have a point. they should also be worried about what's happening with donald trump and mike flynn. but the intel leaks are very serious. i think it's worrisome that we could have a shadow government or deep state that selectively leaks information and tarks down people that it doesn't like. so i think whether it's chaffetz or whoever and the hous

. >>> i'm brianna keilar. moments ago, president trump condemning the recent wave of anti-semitic crimes across the country including bomb threats toward jewish community centers. the president spoke at the national museum of african-american history right here in washington, d.c. let's take a listen to that. >> the anti-semitic threats targeting our jewish community

. >>> hi there, i'm brianna keilar in for kate bolduan. as the immigration debate heats up across the country, we're keeping our eye on the southern border. republicans in congress will be meeting there to assess the cost of president trump's campaign promises, building a wall between the u.s. and mexico. house speaker paul ryan will be arriving at the border shortly. we'll take you there live when things get under way. >>> on the other side of the border, secretary of state rex tillerson and homeland security john kelly are going to meet with mexican president enreek can a pena nieto to talk border security and to ease icy tensions between these two allied nations, all this as fears rise over president trump's new guidelines for aggressive enforcement of immigration laws which

>>> top of the hour, live in the cnn newsroom, i'm brianna keilar in washington and breaking today, the democratic national committee picking a new leader as the left struggles to take on president trump's agenda with the united front. former labor secretary tom perez right there, beating out narrowly congressman keith ellison for the top spot. but they perez appointed ellison as his deputy. sparking words of praise from former president obama and words of caution from senator bernie sanders. we're going to have more on that in a moment. but first we're learning more about communication between the white house and officials in charge of investigating president trump's ties to russia. cnn wars the first to reveal that the fbi and the white house reports contact between trump campaign staffers and senior russian officials and the chairman of the house intelligence committee said he had contact with the white house on this story and he engaged with reporters on it. i want to turn now to white house correspondent athena jones. i want to go through the details with you on this. before we go

more on that from brianna keilar. >> reporter: vice president mike pence making the rounds this week. backing up president trump after his comments about respecting russian president vladimir putin. >> putin's a killer. >> a lot of killers. you think our country's so innocent? do you think our country's so innocent? >> reporter: pence was pressed to explain trump's comments. >> i expect he's always going to be candid with the american people. but what you have in this president is an absolute determination to reengage the world. >> reporter: trump put this spin on the tweet about the so-called judge, as he put it who suspended the immigration ban. >> the president ever the united states has every right to criticize the other two branches of government. we have a long tradition of that in this country. >> is that a constructive way of doing that? >> i think people find it very refreshing that people understand the president's mind and how he feels about things. >> reporter: and when the president says this about iran's behavior and the nuclear deal, president obama struck. >> they circ

. >>> i'm brianna keilar. moments ago, president trump condemning the recent wave of anti-semitic crimes across the country including bomb threats toward jewish community centers. the president spoke at the national museum of african-american history right here in washington, d.c. let's take a listen to that. >> the anti-semitic threats targeting our jewish community and community centers are horrible. and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil. >> this was very noteworthy because it comes amid growing outcry over the president's silence on this issue which even prompted a response from hillary clinton this morning who publicly addressed the president directly for the first time since the election when she tweeted this. jcc threats, cemetery desecration and online attacks are so troubling and they need to be stopped. everyone must speak out, starting with the president of the united states. and cnn's sara murray is live at the white house

i'm brianna keilar in washington. the democratic party used the democratic process and elected a new leader this afternoon at its delegate gathering in atlanta. tom perez, the former u.s. labor secretary was chosen today to guide the democratic party through what he calls an all-out battle to deny donald trump a second term as president. cnn's ryan nobles is in atlanta. >> reporter: yeah, brianna, it was certainly a dramatic afternoon here in atlanta, as democrats picked their next chairman. and it will be the former labor secretary, tom perez. but it wasn't easy. perez fell one vote short on the first ballot, before capturing the nomination on the second ballot. but he understood that this is a fractured party. and that he needed to welcome in those progressives that didn't necessarily support him. that's why he brought up the man who came in second, minnesota congressman, keith ellison, and made him his deputy chairman. take a look at that moment. >> i would like to begin by making a motion. it's a motion that i hav

more on that from brianna keilar. >> reporter: vice president mike pence making the rounds this week. backing up president trump after his comments about respecting russian president vladimir putin. >> putin's a killer. >> a lot of killers. you think our country's so innocent? do you think our country's so innocent? >> reporter: pence was pressed to explain trump's comments. >> i expect he's always going to be candid with the american people. but what you have in this president is an absolute determination to reengage the world. >> reporter: pence put this spin on the tweet about the so-called judge as he put it who suspended the immigration ban. >> the president ever the united states has every right to criticize the other two branches of government. we have a long tradition of that in this country. >> is that a constructive way of doing that? >> i think people find it very refreshing that people understand the president's mind and how he feels about things. he expresses himself in a unique way. >> reporter: and when the president says this about iran's behavior and the nuclear deal,

i'm brianna keilar. "erin burnett out front" starts right now. >>> "out front" next, breaking news, the dow hits an all time high again seven days in a row. trump taking the credit. does he deserve it? >>> and the secret service investigating an incident tonight involving trump's mor or the cade, what happened, and trump's twitter tirade. he tweeted, deleted, retweeted. let's go "out front." good evening. i'm erin burnett. one thing going right for trump. an all-time high. these are the facts. stocks hit a record today in the midst of their best streak in 25 years. it's a dramatically different headline than the ones about chaos and turmoil in the white house. those headlines are true, but so is this one. the economy is surging. another fact. a survey at its highest level since 1984. president trump today taking credit at a boeing plant in south carolina. >> since november, jobs have already begun to surge. the president celebrating his boeing visit. but does he get the credit or would that headline be f

. >>> top of the hour, live in the cnn newsroom, i'm brianna keilar in washington and breaking today, the democratic national committee picking a new leader as the left struggles to take on president trump's agenda with the united front. former labor secretary tom perez right there,

brianna keilar is outfront. >> what do you say to those among the jewish community who believe and feel that your administration is playing with xenophobia and may be racist tones? >> reporter: twice in two days, donald trump was given the opportunity to outright condemn anti-semitism and did not. >> i think a lot of good things are happening and you're going to see a lot of love. you're going to see a lot of love. >> reporter: and twice in two days, chelsea clinton hammered it for him on twitter. "one would think he would have thought of an answer since yesterday," she tweeted. here's one, "there's no place for racism anywhere in america." >> to me, this campaign is about repudiating donald trump's demeaning, degrading rhetoric that should offend all of us. >> reporter: but her attacks have gotten sharper, when top white house aide kellyanne conway recently referred to a terror attack that didn't happen. >> after two iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and were the masterminds behind the bowling green massacre. >> reporter: chelsea clinton trolled her. very grateful no