i want to bring back david chalian and gloria borger to talk about this. this is really interesting. we don't know for sure that there are enough votes. we're going to get a clearer picture here as democrats start coming out of that room. but whether they do or not, whether there are enough democrats, gloria, to join republicans and vote to reopen the government, it is hard to imagine a unified democratic caucus on this issue, right? >> right. there is a split and we saw it publicly because dianne feinstein put out a release. she's up for re-election. liberal state of california, which she says you have to allow a vote on the dream act as an amendment to much must pass legislation which means the budget, the continuing resolution. clearly you're going to have democrats who are saying, what did we get for this? we got a vote that maybe we were going to get anyway. why did we, you know, why did we shut the government down? we need more of a commitment and someone like dick durbin, very involved in it, may say, look, i think i have a commitment. >> because wh

pamela brown and gloria borger, thanks so much for the reporting. appreciate it. my political panel joins me now. brian fallon, put on your former department of justice spokesman hat for a second. how much wiggle room is there in what the lawyers for president trump want and negotiate, as lawyers for ronald reagan and bill clinton have done previously, and what the special counsel might demand? >> yeah, so there's certainly nothing that prevents donald trump's lawyers from asking for a lenient approach here, in terms of being able to submit answers, for instance in writing. they wouldn't be doing their jobs if they weren't seeking the easiest way for donald trump to handle this as possible, but i don't see a scenario where bob mu mueller is going to go halfway and submit to something like a set of written answers. the trouble for donald trump, of course, for all the bravado we hear from him when he's behind the podium or in an interview, for instance in that lester holt interview he basically admitted to firing jim comey because of the russia investigation. what y

randi kaye, cnn new york. >> gloria borger and dana bash back with us. those images, leaders on both sides of the aisle are happy the parks will stay open. >> that is right. and remember the big difference politically between 2013 and now is that then, the democrats had the white house. barack obama was at 1600 pennsylvania avenue and there was blame going around saying the republicans are responsible for all of these things. that could be likely is why the parks and other things closed down and now, when republicans are in total control of the government, they are saying, in the trump white house that it is not going to be that extreme. probably for the reason that you just alluded to which is that the optics won't be as bad assuming they can't get to a deal by midnight tonight. the workday in the u.s. government isn't officially until monday, but parks and other things that people in this country enjoy don't stop on the weekend. since you and i last talked, the things that i am hearing from sources on capitol hill is some discussion about whether or no

sources tell myself, my colleague gloria borger that mueller's team has reached out to the president's lawyers asking him to request him on a couple of areas on the obstruction of justice umbrella. investigators would want to talk to the president ideally for them, whether the white house would allow that is a different story. they want to find out his state of mind, his intent, why he fired james comey. there was a reporting that the president allegedly asked comey to drop the investigation of michael flynn. sources tell us that these discussions are still on the preliminary stages at this point. don't expect anything very soon because there is a lot to be worked out still. >> is there any indication about how the interview would take place or if it will happen? >> reporter: right now sources tell us that basically, what the lawyers would like is to sit down with mueller and first try to present a case to them to tell them why there is no case essentially on the obstruction of justice front. from there there is a willingness to open the president up to perhaps written answers to quest

anderson, let's go to you. >> let's go to our panel, gloria borger, is this the final position of president trump's lawyers? >> no it isn't. what they are trying to do by saying to the special counsel, you haven't met this threshold, we think it is very high for a president to testify. i think what they are trying to do is put the special counsel to put his cards on the table and to say, yeah, we think we have met this threshold and this is why. they are making the case to the special counsel that a president cannot testify unless he is the only one who can give you certain information period. it has to be something that only he can do and they are saying if you can get this information from somebody else, get it from somebody else. i think they are trying to suss him out and see where he is. >> they are trying to establish what his state of mind was and who they can speak to other than him. they obviously have spoken -- >> i am not saying they are going to win this. >> if i were them, politically, it is incredibly difficult not to testify and the country seems in large numbers believes he

. >> with me now, gloria borger. what are you thinking? >> there's an awful lot of talk about the children's health insurance program. this is a program that could have been reauthorized any time. and i spoke with a senate democratic leadership aide who said to me this morning -- and i think it's a legitimate point. it's nice the republicans have discovered c.h.i.p. they could have reauthorized it. they let it expire under their watch. now, republicans will say, well, it passed the house but didn't go anywhere in the senate. yes, it did not get reauthorized. what we are seeing here is c.h.i.p. being used as a chip, as a bargaining chip. this is children's health. this could have been reauthorized at any time. >> right. >> not just now in the 11th hour. >> we know that's the issue for republicans. and senator cassidy it's about democrats holding it up. >> now republicans have made it part of this continuing resolution as a way to get democrats to do this because they know how important this is to democrats. and, you know, it's a little bit

gloria borger is with us as well. that's your reaction? >> she said a new day is on the horizon and everyone perked up and said is that in regard to women and sexual harassment or her own political ambitions? she said and laughed it off in the past, et cetera, etc. but now, it seems to be a more serious issue. she is clearly a powerful speaker. she clearly has a ready made constituency because it's hollywood and it stretches beyond that. after donald trump, why would we think that only people with political experience with elected office should run for president? >> her long time partner steadman graham is quoted as saying it's up to the people. she would absolutely do it. the actress merrill streep told "the washington post" she launched a rocket tonight. i want her to run for president. i don't think she had any intention of declaring, but now she doesn't have a choice. you know oprah. what do you think? >> she is one of the most inspirational figures and she is a uniter. there are african-americans in chicago and latinos in california a

let's bring in gloria borger. it's truly stunning, when you look at "the washington post" story, as jim has reported, we've confirmed it ourself. why are we having all of these people from s-hole countries come here, the president told the bipartisan group of the house and senate who were in the oval office with him. >> why is it that every time the president seems to open his mouth, it's a problem for him? or tweet something, it's a problem for him. i mean, it was disgraceful and disturbing and vulgar. and this is a president who not only seems to understand his office of the presidency and what makes america great. and to listen to this, i'm reminded of "the new york times" who reported late last year a meeting that the president had with his national security team where he said something very similar and now we're seeing this kind of pattern here and the fact that the president had no sense of dignity of what he was discussing and the people he was discussing it with and talking about is stunning to those of us

let's go back to gloria borger and david gregory. gloria, you know, when you hear republicans say, look this is all going to be blamed on the democrats, it's the democrats' fault, they're against helping kids -- what is the democratic argument? is it, for them, is it just a political roll of the dice that they believe, if it does shut down, republicans will get the blame? >> well, look, you know, the democratic argument on children's health is, if this is so important to you republicans, why didn't you take it up earlier this year when you could have? when the democrats wanted to deal with it? i mean, children's health insurance is something that you can bring up on the floor any time and renew it and they've been screaming about it for the -- the democrats have been screaming about it for quite some time. i think, look -- i was just talking to a senior democratic leadership aide who pointed out to me that we have not talked to republicans since donald trump became president. we really don't deal with each other. so, they're kind of

let's go back to gloria borger and david gregory. when you hear republicans say this is all going to be blamed on the democrats, the democrats fault, they're against helping kids. what is the democratic argument? is it just if it shuts down the republicans will get the blame? >> if this is so important to you republicans, why didn't you take it up earlier this year when you could have. children's health insurance is something you can bring up on the floor anytime and renew it. and they've been screaming about it, the democrats have been screaming about it for quite some time. i was just speaking with a senior democratic aide, we have not talked to republicans since donald trump became president. we really don't deal with each other. so they're kind of flying by each other here. the democrats are incensed about what the president said, his vulgar remarks on immigration. that added heat to the fire here. they're concerned about d.r.e.a.m.ers, they believe this something that hit have been done a while ago. and the republicans are tryin

. >> trump's lawyer quickly qualified the president's statement, telling gloria borger, quote, while mr. trump was speakinghurriedly, he's in complete cop ration. we have been learn nud details about how he wants to interview the president. that it be a sit-down meeting rather than written and that topics would include the president asking james comey to drop the investigation into michael flynn. mueller also wants to know about trump's reaction to comey's may 2017 on capitol hill. comey's comments reportedly angered trump. >> do you stand by your testimony that there is an active investigation counterintelligence investigation regarding trump campaign individuals and the russian government as to whether or not they collaborate? you said that in march. >> to see if there was any coordination between the russian effort. >> is that still going on? >> yes. >> in addition, they want to learn more about the president's outreach to intelligence leaders. the range of topics suggesting an interview would largely focus on obstruction of justice. something the president has repeatedly denied.

i want to bring in now gloria borger, our cnn chief political analyst and april ryan. happy dr. king day. thanks for coming in. gloria, when he signed the proclamation, he asked americans to serve. he hit the links instead. historically what have other presidents done today? >> other presidents have done exactly what president trump advised. they spent the day in service, a combination of that and reflection. i mean, we all know how president obama used to take his entire family to a soup kitchen for mural painting at a homeless shelter. george w. bush invited african-american clergy to the white house for lunch, attended church services. and bill clinton did the same thing. and, of course, he was the one who signed the legislation, but he painted walls in d.c. he spent the day with senior citizens. so, you know, the former presidents have really spent the day in honor of dr. king. i mean, the president did something late last week, but today he played golf. >> april, the white house did release a video statement by the president, but he spent his day golfing and attacking the s

glor gloria borger joins us with details. what's his attorney say? >> john dowd said that he is going to be the one to decide if the president is going to sit down for an interview with the special counsel. and moreover, he said i haven't made any decision yet. so there's a lot of cleanup going on here, anderson. the president did caveat his statement a little last night saying, you know, subject to his attorneys, and his attorney today said not so fast. >> gloria, there's more breaking news happening right now. i believe we have maggie haberman on the phone, do we have maggie? what's this breaking story that you're just breaking now? >> caller: sure, my colleague, mike schmid and i just reported that the president last june ordered the white house counsel to fire robert mueller, mcgann protested and threatened to quit if he was ordered to go through with this. the president ultimately backed down. this is the first time that we know of, anderson of the president actually engaging in this and doing what had been seen as an option he was keeping open,

we again with chief analyst gloria borger with the trump/mueller story. what are your sources telling you about an interview between the special counsel and president trump. >> lawyers for donald trump are anticipating they're going to get this request for an interview, as one might expect. and there have been no substantive discussions on the matter yet. but his attorneys, as you would expect, have been talking about this amongst themselves for months about how they would handle any requests from the special counsel to talk to the president. as you can imagine, anderson, they're going to try to put as many parameters around it as they possibly can to try to protect their client. >> what limits could the legal team imposes? >> they can ask. it is not clear what mueller would say to them. they can say look, does this have to be under oath, for example? can you give us written questions to which we would reply with written answers as happened with ronald reagan and iran contra. does this have to be recorded? can we have an informal interview rather than a f

joining us gloria borger. brian steel. of course we had the president touching on the good news, the fact that dow jones hit 25,000 and touting tax cuts and how it's helping americans already. let's begin with gloria borger where sarah sanders over and over ripping michael wolff. just jotting down what she said, complete fantasy, laughable, mistake after mistake after mistake. what did you think? >> well, she also called it trash and tabloid gossip, sad, pathetic, any other word you can think of. you know, it's clear to me the white house had two objectives in mind today. the first was to get the president himself, and don't forget he thinks he's his best spokesman to come and try to turn the page to point out to people as a result of tax reform, workers were getting more money in their paychecks, et cetera, et cetera. and then have sarah sanders go out there and push back even harder today, i this i, in a way, then she did yesterday, pointing out, of course, that michael wolff didn't even sit down with the president, whic

one of the president's other attorneys, his personal attorney, john dowd, told gloria borger yesterday, he has not made a final decision of whether whether or not he would sit down with robert mueller as part of this investigation. and in fact, dowd telling gloria that it is ultimately dowd's decision on whether or not he will -- the president will sit down with bob mueller. this despite the president saying before he left to davos he would be willing to sit down with bob mueller, do it under oath, under the advice of his attorneys, but some of his attorneys may not be there yet. they're saying those negotiations are still ongoing. >> can't imagine what the questions would be, did you try to fire me? thank you. >>> let's break it down further. here are cnn and legal national security asha ranga. let me use your expertise for this first. how does this change mueller's investigation on the obstruction of justice front? >> i don't think it changes it as much as potentially strengthens it. again, mueller's main challenge here is to prove in his obstruction case that the president fired com

i want to bring in now gloria borger, our cnn chief political analyst and april ryan. cnn political analyst. happy dr. king day. thanks for coming in. gloria, when the president signed the mlk proclamation, he asked americans to engage in acs an of community service today. he chose not to lead by example. he hit the links instead. historically what have other presidents done today? >> other presidents have done exactly what president trump advised. they've spent the day in service, a combination of that and reflection. i mean, we all know how president obama used to take his entire family to a soup kitchen for mural painting at a homeless shelter. george w. bush invited african-american clergy to the white house for lunch, attended church services. and bill clinton did the same thing. and, of course, he was the one who signed the legislation, but he painted walls in d.c. he spent the day with senior citizens. so, you know, the former presidents have really spent the day in honor of dr. king. i mean, the president did something late last week, but today he played golf.

sources tell myself, my colleague gloria borger that robert mueller's deep has reached out to the president's lawyers asking to question him on a couple of areas under the obstruction of justice umbrella, the firing of james comey and the firing of michael flynn. investigators would want to talk to the president ideally for them. now whether the white house would allow that is a different story. but they would want to find out his state of mind, his intent. why did he fire james comey? what was the reason? was it to obstruct the russia probe? as you'll remember, there was the reporting that the president allegedly asked james comey to drop the investigation into michael flynn. why was that? so this is all being worked out. they're in the process of it. sources tell us, though, anderson, that these discussions are still in the preliminary stages at this point. that don't expect anything very soon because there is a lot to be worked out still, anderson. >> is there any indication about how the interview would take place or if it will happen? >> so right now sources tell us that basically, what

sources tell my colleague gloria borger and i that robert mueller, special counsel robert mueller, has made it clear to the president's legal team that he wants to do a sit-down interview with the president. you heard there the president say today here at the white house, i was there in the room, he said he would be more than happy to sit down and talk to robert mueller, but the lawyers for the president will in ongoing negotiations and sources tell us that an in-person interview would really be a last resort. now, we're told that robert mueller has also made clear some of the topics he would like to discuss, any potential interview with the president, under the umbrella of the firing of former fbi director james comey and former national security adviser michael flynn, looking more specifically at the president's reaction to james comey's may testimony. you may remember our reporting then that his testimony angered the president and shortly after james coachmey was fired. want to learn more about what he said to james comey in the oval office, allegedly asked him to let the michael fl

gloria borger joins us with details on what she has been learning. what have you found out about exactly what went on in the hearing with bannon yesterday? >> can you imagine the committee finally gets steve bannon after michael wolff's book for which bannon was a major source, and called donald trump jr.'s meeting in trump tower treasonous. you know, they finally get him behind closed doors, anderson, and they want to ask him about what happened during the transition and during his time inside the white house. and instead they are met with, i can't answer this question. i'd like to answer this question, i really can't answer this question. and what they find is that his lawyer, during breaks, is conferring with the white house counsel's office to figure out whether answers to some of these questions would be in violation of potential executive privilege. and so it got pretty heated. >> the white house says it's cooperating with all of these investigations. >> right. >> so, why are they trying to limit what former staffers can say to congress? >> wel

gloria borger joins us with details. what's his attorney say? >> john dowd said that he is going to be the one to decide if the president is going to sit down for an interview with the special counsel. and moreover, he said i haven't made any decision yet. so there's a lot of cleanup going on here, anderson. the president did caveat his statement a little last night saying, you know, subject to his attorneys, and his attorney today said not so fast. >> gloria, there's more breaking news happening right now. i believe we have maggie haberman on the phone, do we have maggie? what's this breaking story that you're just breaking now? >> caller: sure, my colleague, mike schmid and i just reported that the president last june ordered the white house counsel to fire robert mueller, mcgann protested and threatened to quit if he was ordered to go through with this. the president ultimately backed down. this is the first time that we know of, anderson of the president actually engaging in this and doing what had been seen as an option he was keeping open,

i have cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and cnn chief political analyst gloria borge borger. it seems that the president has made up his mind to get this memo out there without seeing it first. >> that seems to be where things are headed. how many law enforcement officials may go out the door with this membomemo? will chris wray, the new fbi director, quit in protest? will rod rosenstein quit in protest? will he be fired? given how the republican base has become fixated and obsessed with this memo, even to the point where they have not let the democratic response be relea released. regardless of what the law enforcement community wants. >> you have this. rosenstein, wray, last-ditch effort monday night, semi private meeting. now doubling down the fbi putting out this public statement, again, expressing these grave concerns which puts chris wray directly at odds with president trump. >> sure, it does. it's like the presidewaving a r front of a bull. chris wray put out that red flag saying no, i don't think you can do it. i think rosenstein made the same case and both of them n

joining us now, political analyst curran for politico, glor gloria borger. gloria, we'll start with you. we thought he was going to leave in march. it's not even february yet but he's gone. >> nothing like this happens in a vacuum, wolf, and our justice department team is reporting that his departure came as a surprise to even people inside the justice department. one source said that it wasn't even in the plans as of friday. so you have to wonder, you know, if you're going to retire, take your pension, et cetera, you make it effective a date certain in the future, and it's kind of orderly and people are anticipating it. i think this was a jolt. and it doesn't happen in a vacuum. you know that the president has been griping about him. he's also been griping about other people at the justice department. rod rosenstein comes to mind. i mean, we did a story on friday saying the president would like to have him removed as well. he's grousing about him internally. and perhaps, and this is just speculation, that it came to a certain point where maybe chris wray th

here with us are pamela brown, analyst laura coates and gloria borger. we knew the president was upset with the attorney general when we refused himself, but this goes a step further. >> it do

here with us are pamela brown, analyst laura coates and gloria borger. we knew the president was upset with the attorney general when we refused himself, but this goes a step further. >> it does. he told the white house counsel to visit jeff sessions and tell him not to recuse himself and according to the times when don mcgann toll the president that sessions is going to recuse himself, the president explodes. its you about the world the president thinks the has. he believes the attorney general should be his personal lawyer and his defender and protector. i believe it was in michael wolff's book he wants the attorney general to be like roy cohn. he was very controversial and that was trump's attorney. he was kind of an attorney that defended at all costs. that's what trump wants. that's what he wants his attorney general to be. he doesn't want the attorney general to represent the people of the us, but the lawyer to represent him and gives you an insight as to how it was expanding under a special counsel. >> this is a big deal. >> it's a huge deal. what

here to discuss tonight's eruption between republicans and democrats over the memo, gloria borger, jack kingston and bakari sellers. gloria, what's happening with this committee? >> well, i think it's kind of stunning. i think it's sort of devolved into partisan wrangling, and i think you have a president right now who is taking on his own department of justice, including the fbi. i spoke with a friend of the president's today, who said to me -- and maybe you can confirm this -- said that the president believes that his fbi is corrupt, period. flat out, that's it. and i think what you saw going on today was devin nunes and many of the people on that committee were basically saying the same thing. and that even though the head of the fbi said, please don't do this right now. can i come up and talk to you? they said they want it released. and my next question is, what is chris wray, who runs the fbi, do next? >> that's what's so interesting. we had a congressman on the committee saying chris wray looked at it and didn't have any changes, but everyone else we talked to said, that's not how

gloria borger is with us. steve bannon had this to say about the june 9, 2016 trump tower meeting between campaign officials and russians, quote, even if you thought this was not treasonous or unpatriotic or bad explaive, and i happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the fbi immediately. donald trump jr. was in the meeting, jared kushner son-in-law was in the meeting, campaign chairman, paul manafort was in the meeting with all these russians. how incredible is it to hear steve bannon talk like that? >> publically. i think it is incredible. i think what's the most stunning about this part of the book is that he is saying this publically about the president's family. he is saying this about donald trump jr. and jared kushner. and for the president that is a real kind of dividing line here. i think that bannon has spoken out of turn one time too many with his statements in this book. i think, look, we all know there is no love lost between steve bannon and jared kushner. i mean, they're at war w

borger. you are our own legal analyst. can the president really stop the author of this new book from distributing the book and releasing it? >> we hopes to, but he is going to fail on more than one ground. he has two courses of action. he is trying to say it's disparaging what has been said and he doesn't like what has been said. that's the standard. it has to be what was published was knowingly false or made in reckless disregard for the truth. the opinion cannot be a basis for a defamatory action. he has a confidential disclosure with steve bannon. >> explain what that suggests. >> are you cannot reveal anything you learned while in my employment. that's the crux of it. maybe michael wolf never had to sign it. >> steve bannon did sign it. >> however, courts are really, really reluctant to ever enforce a contract that is against public policy and transparency is in the public policy to have that administration. and you have public figures for the president of the united states. and based on

i want to bring in dana bash and gloria borger right now. gloria, both of those elements had caused enormous, enormous coverage, enormous angst among conservatives, but now they're going to have to back down. >> never mind. as roseanne, roseanna deanna used to say. i think it just shows you that there are lots of people out there who want to discredit the fbi and discredit the investigation into donald trump and discredit the mueller team. and i think that there are lots of ways of going at it. and this is just part of an effort to kind of muddy the waters, and i think that is exactly what's being done every single day. and bob mueller for his part, as dana and i know, they don't comment on any of this stuff. they just keep on doing their work. >> and the president was outraged by both of these developments, and he's going to have to back down now as well in light of what the justice department has just released, his justice department, led by the attorney general, a former republican senator jeff sessions. it's a significant development as

another white house official told my colleague gloria borger that the president was loving all of the controversy surrounding the remarks. all of those denials really raises the questions why wouldn't they have just denied it if they didn't believe the president said it in the first place, brook. >> if you can read my thought bubble, it's saying this is ridiculous. okay, thank you so much. let's have a bigger conversation, be real. i have with me cnn political reporter and cnn political analyst brian care imof sentinel newspapers. this whole couple of republican senators go from i don't recall to no, he didn't say it. is it s hole countries and s house countries but yet the president is bragging about it and not denying the sentiment hipd it. behind lindsey graham said he said it. >> there's a couple of big points to make. first of all, i wish every republican and for that matter every democrat were as honest when the camera is on them as they are to us when it's off. now the republicans specifically say the president was elected for his authenticity, earthiness and honesty. don't car

. >> you know, we are hearing, gloria borger, has a source that says the president, as he's been obviously keeping track of all this coverage of this controversy of the words he's apparently chosen to use, and that the source is saying the president loves it. loves it. >> he loves this? okay. >> what are you hearing? >> well, what i'm hearing, well, as you say the president loves, there is collateral damage. i've had more people calming me yesterday, hbc presidents, presidents of historically black colleges and universities very upsetment they are now saying they have to go to their students and reassure them that they are okay, that they are safe, that we want you here. many of these historically black colleges and universities have international students. for instance, tennessee state university, i talked to the president there, dr. glenda glover who says she has so% of her student body coming from the africa or caribbean and she says they do very well, engineering, get degrees and come back for more degrees. and many of these schools depend upon students to help them to continue to go.

gloria borger, having covered washington for some time how incredible is it to see the fbi and the president of the united states at odds like this? >> it's just stunning. i think you have to go back to richard nixon to find anything at all similar. the department of justice saying any release of this memo would be reckless. you have the fbi saying that essentially if it is released it's inaccurate, a lie and misleading. put those two things together and you have the president of the united states who, offhandedly, before reading it, tells a member of congress, 100%, 100% i'm going to release this. the president now is at lagerheads with the justice department, with his newly appointed head of the fbi. if he releases this, what does chris wray do? does he resign? does he get fired, like james comey got fired? we don't know the aens to these questions. >> jeffrey toobin, he is the president's handpicked fbi director. you had republicans alleging that there is this deep state of obama administration hold overs, that they are anti-trump. this is someone president trump pick who had is trying to

it's bedevilled barack obama and gloria borger a george wush. the two parties have is not been able to get it done. you have an interesting die mallic where you have three moving parts with immigration. you have the chamber of commerce business wing. you had the democrats who largely wanted to take care of undocumented immigrants who were here and wanted a pathway to citizenship for them and you had the hard core restrictionists on the right, who basically have always scuttled the deal, but have never been the principle players at the table. now in the white house, that faction is represented by. the president so we'll see if that makes the thing r more difficult or the key to unlocking a big comprehensive deal. that's what i'll be watching for if he lays something out that gets both parties there. >> there will be a global audience, but we also understand in the audience of the chambers will be absent many members of congress. and i understand you have done some reporting and uncovered at least one more name adding to the list of those who will

now let's go to our chief analyst gloria borger and richard painter. gloria, a big takeaway from sam. he's not denying what was said in terms of what he said. obviously he's trying to say maybe that the nuance of it is a little bit different when it's coming in but he's not saying that that moment did not happen. >> no, he's not. look, his point i think to you is that donald trump is different from anyone we've ever seen in the oval office. >> right. >> that he's unique, he's interesting, and he's stubborn. this is who he is. and that, you know, he didn't deny the anecdote at all, but it seems to me as if he said this is the guy who won. >> right. >> that's who he is. >> it is what it is and that's who he is. so take it for what you want. but it is what it is. richard, president trump's lawyer, that cease and desist letter, they sent it. the response is no. they think it's an extraordinary contribution to american society. they are not pulling it out. but this -- pulling the book out. i'm sorry, in fact they're rushing it to the press. yet the white ho

pamela brown and gloria borger join us now. >> sources tell my colleague and i that special counsel robert mueller has made it clear that he wants to do a sit-down interview with the president. you heard the president say, he would be more than happy to sit down with robert mueller, but the lawyers for the president are in ongoing negotiations. and sources tell us that an in-person interview would be a last resort. we are told robert mueller has made clear any of the topics he would like to discuss. under the umbrella of the firing of james comey. and national security adviser michael flynn. they also want to learn about what they told james comey when he allegedly asked them -- and also another topic we are told by sources that robert mueller is interested in is when the president reached out to the intelligence chiefs of various agencies asking them reportedly to intervene. we reported that mueller has interviewed three of the top intelligence officials so far. these are things that are on the negotiating table. most of the topics right now that he has conveyed he is interested in follow

borger. it's largely symbolic because it's not going to pass the majority of the house. but it's significant. >> it is significant because you'll have a group of people on the floor talking about this. and i think what you're going to see is the outrage people have about the president's comments, and i think it's an effort to kind of not let that slide and put it front and center again. again, symbolic in the extreme and we know, as someone was saying, that its fate is pretty much predetermined, but i do think that it is a way for members to register their complaints about this president vis-a-vis race. >> there is a lot of complaints. speaking about race, i want you to assess what lindsey graham told our dana bash just a little while ago on capitol hill as far as the president's views on race. listen to this. >> why don't you ask me, is he a racist? >> that was my next question. >> why don't you ask me. >> do you think he's a racist? >> absolutely not. you could be as dark as charcoal and li

joining us cnn legal analyst paul cowan, political analyst, david gregory and gloria borger paul, the president's remarks that the administration is going to take a closer look at libel laws here in the united states, what's your reaction to this? is it simply reaction to that controversial book that came out this week, "fire and fury"? >> i think that was the final straw for the president. he's been talking for a long time about changing libel laws in the united states. but i have to say, he had better be careful what he wishes for because he's the king of insults and defamtory comments himself. and if you made it easier to sue people, i would imagine that he would get sued quite a few times himself. in the end, it's going to be virtually impossible to change the laws in the united states because the first amendment protects political free speech. the supreme court ruled in sullivan versus "the new york times" that in fact, in political campaigns or political oriented speech, we have wide latitude to criticize politicians. so i don't think you're going to see the supreme court changi

. >> outfront now political analyst gloria borger and sara murray. you talked to john dowd personal attorney. you heard the president he wanted to get all the credit i'd love to do it two or three weeks subject to my lawyers. then shockingly the lawyers come out and say, we'll decide. no decision has been made. talk to john dowd. what else can you tell us? >> well, look, i think what's going on here, and we heard this fromty cobb at the white house last night after the president spoke and from john dowd this evening. there is a shuffle brigade. and what they are trying to do is fix what the president said and say, wait, a minute, no desist has been made. it's up to the president's lawyers, as the president has kind of indicated. and i think what the president was doing last night, quite honestly, was playing to the american public. and saying, look, i have nothing to hide here. i would love to sit down and talk to the special counsel. so he's the good cop. and let the lawyers be the bad cop. and i think john dowd clearly is saying no decisions have b

richard quest, gloria borger both with me here. we were chatting when we were listening to him. america's comeback, promise, money in your paycheck. you made a point about repetition, how he keeps drilling it home to americans. i've got you. and i've got to say it's pretty effective. >> it's more than effective. he has just a single message which like -- i don't mean this literally, but in a brainwashing fashion, drip, drip, drip. >> you say it over and over. >> i'm going to say often enough that you're getting more money back, that the economy is doing better than it's ever been done, that i'm responsible for all of this and if you keep doing it and, bear in mind, he is effectively running the perpetual election. so, if you add this -- extremely powerful formula that has worked before, it worked in reality television. it worked in his other businesses and -- >> on the campaign? >> absolutely and it is working. and he has got something to be praised for. the economy is doing very well. and he can bear some of the credit for it. >> deplora, what do you think? >> i think this is t

we again with chief analyst gloria borger with the trump/mueller story. >> well, lawyers for donald trump are anticipating that they're going to get this request for an interview, as one might expect. and there have been no substantive discussions on the matter yet. but his attorneys, as you would expect, have been talking about this amongst themselves for months about how they would handle any requests from the special counsel to talk to the president. as you can imagine, anderson, they're going to try to put as many parameters around it as they possibly can to try to protect their client. >> what limits, and could the legal team impose? >> they can ask. it is not clear what mueller would say to them. they can say, does had have to be under oath? can you give us written questions to which we would reapply with written answers, this happened with ronald reagan and iran-contra. does this have to be recorded? can we have an informal interview rather than a formal interview? so there are all kinds of thing they're thinking about. they're looking at precedent, at reagan, at george w. bush, wi

with me right now, our cnn political analyst david gregory and chief political analyst gloria borger. the news we broke at the top of the hour, that steve bannon in the coming days is going to sit down with robert mueller and his team and answer all the questions they have. >> right. which is what he did not do in congress, and he has to answer all of bob mueller's questions. i think what mueller wants to ask him about is the comey firing and what happened with flynn. what did people in thehite house really kno about flynn and flynn meeting with the fbi? i mean, bannon was not at new jersey that weekend that the president decided to fire comey. but it is very clear that he has been involved in discussions with people about what occurred that weekend. and there's a group of people inside the white house and outside the white house who say that, for example, jared kushner was a driver of that firing. what will bannon say about that? why would people believe that kushner was a driver of that? why would he have done that? kushner, i will add here, denies that he was a driver, says it was

for more about how the president thinks and operates, we're joined by gloria borger, maggie haberman. how do you look at why the white house allowed us to watch this t? >> i think the why the white house allowed us to watch it is it was aimed at quelling these questions about not the president's mental illness but whether he's intelligent. that's one of the themes that ran through the michael wolff's book. the president is very defensive about his intelligence as we've seen over the last three years or so. what you saw in terms of the four different answers that he gave at various points is what we saw throughout the came pain. he has vague, loose ideas. he can be per situated by who he last talked to and takes two different positions in conflict with each other in the same sentence. you don't normally see it play out like this in realtime. the white house has done a lot to shield people from seeing what we saw today over the course of the last year. so it was really striking watching this happen. what ends up happening is that the president says these different things and sometimes p

as well as cnn chief political analyst gloria borger. they're breaking the story for cnn right now. pamela, what are your sources telling you

a source familiar with the president's thinking tells our gloria borger that all the controversy around this, the president, quote, he loves it. that he has been told by a friend from outside the white house that this is a mistake, that it is alienating constituencies he needs including businesses and the language has to stop, but gloria is also told that the source explained that the president loves taking things to the edge and proving he won't fall off. our sunlen serfaty is on capitol hill with more. and sunlen, i'm getting some comments on twitter people saying look, even though republican leadership hasn't said anything responding to this yet, it is important to note and i should note once again that republican members of congress are speaking out like senator tim scott, and like mia love, the first haitian-american elected to congress, called it unacceptable, demanded an apology, but we have not heard from republican leadership, right. >> that's right. we haven't heard from leadership and that is significant. we will see in the coming hours and days if they, indeed, do step up an

our cnn senior political analyst gloria borger, she's with us. both have been working their sources. pamela, what do we know about mueller's team and the talks, potential talks with the president's lawyers and eventually maybe with the president? >> well, wolf, sources tell us that the president's lawyers are anticipatings anticipating a request to interview the president from special counsel robert mueller and there have been internal discussions about settling the parameters for any such interview, what the possible interview might look like. our sources tell us the matter was broached in a previous meeting between both sides, the president's lawyers and special counsel robert mueller but there was nothing definitive. we're told there were no substantive discussions or active negotiations going on. in fact, we're told that that will likely take place at a later date when both sides meet. but the expectation, wolf, has been for months now that robert mueller would not wrap up his investigation without putting in a request to interview the presid

and maybe like gloria borger has been reporting, he likes this. what does it do for the african nations, for the descendents of africa, who are here? what does it do for zploemsy? what does it do? i'm going to go back to pastor burns really quick. the bible also says love thy neighbor as thyself. it does not quantify or qualify my next door neighbor. >> that's true. >> he is the moral leader. he sets the tone. and if a president of the united states just disregards that serious question -- and it was very hard for me to ask that question of a u.s. president today, when he was doing this proclamation. i had to ask and i stand by. you have to remember, he sets the tone. i hear what you're saying about taking care of home. but it's also love thy neighbor as thyself. >> absolutely. the thing is, the ongoing, ongoing support of countries like haiti from america is a clear indication that the united states government and president trump desire to help thou neighbor. >> he's trying to send them back. >> help thou neighbor. >> i don't know how sending the

and then another white house official told my colleague, gloria borger, that the president was loving this, all this controversy and chaos, surrounding this one remark. and staffers, for most white houses, this would be an absolute disaster, their worst nightmare they would ever want to deal with on the planet. but for this white house, a lot of the staffers last night were telling me they didn't see it as that big of a deal because they didn't think it would alienate the president's base. it would resonate them, much like his attacks on the nfl players who protested during the national anthem. >> you just heard, a victory lap, but it is not just destroying the president's reputation, america's reputation here in the united states and around the world is on the line. >> absolutely. let's be clear about this, this is the kind of -- the president is a distinctive racist. in that he's a racist stricken with narcissism. the fact that he's bragging about this, the fact that he takes pride in it. makes it clear that the racism is not merely personal, it is policy. and so to the extent, it i

"outfront" now, john dean, president nixon's white house counsel during watergate, gloria borger and mark preston. john, the president hunlging on whether he will testify to bob mueller and last summer, emphatic and direct that he would do so. what's the cig tans to you? >> well, i don't think he really has much room the to play. it's probably a negotiating tactic. technique he's employing, but he has very little room because watergate did establish very clearly that the support level, that presidents have a duty to appear if they're subpoenaed by a grand jury. so that wouldn't be difficult for mueller to have happen. so this is really him negotiating to try to get something less than appearance in front of a grand jury. >> mark. >> ais >> his answer today should have been said back this summer. as we see president trump is very cavalier with words and he'll say things and does he necessarily mean them? if he is going to be subpoenaed, if he has to appear before robert mueller, just think of this. it opens a bigger pandora's box where it could lead down other alleys that might be gen

borger is with us. it seems they've got a deal in the senate but doesn't necessarily mean there will be a deal in the house of representatives. >> no, and even if there is approval of this in the house and we don't know, we don't know what's going to happen in the house. >> i think the house will approve this three-week extension to end the government shutdown, but i'm talking about this immigration reform including daca. >> no, there is no commitment. look, i think what the democrats got out of this was six years of funding for children's health insurance, you know, and commitment to a vote on daca in the senate, but mitch mcconnell can't control what paul ryan is going to do, and paul ryan can't control what his conservatives are going to do. so that's very much up in the air, and that's why the president needs to get involved. >> republican senator jeff flake of arizona. >> that's basically what we ended with but just a firmer commitment than we had initially. >> did you promise to put mcconnell's fe

borger, the president, quote, loves this. so certainly a very different response to something like this than you would see from any other administration. we actually heard from the president himself this morning on this on twitter, he tweeted, never said anything derogatory about haitians other than haiti is obviously a very poor and troubled country. never said, quote, take them out. made up by democrats and i have a wonderful relationship with haitians. probably should record future meetings. unfortunately no trust. now that tweet comes after multiple sources inside the room have confirmed to cnn that the president did, in fact, use this language, but it also comes after the president's own spokespeople did not deny that he said, quote, shithole countries during that meeting with lawmakers at the white house. if you look at the response we got from the deputy press secretary last night, he said, certain washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries but president trump will always fight for the american people