robert: how can people help? what's the easiest or best and most effective way to help your organization? erin: i think if it's not money, which it doesn't have to be, one of the biggest things that helps us is just for people to come to our events, because our students even do research, from even in kindergarten, they start to do research, learning about their sf communities. and one thing that everyone is invited to is an annual community show, which we are holding this year in may. robert: okay, well, you come back then and we'll talk about that, okay? erin: yeah. robert: all right, well thank you. good luck. erin: thank you. robert: well, it is time to hear from one of our talented and accomplished performers, maddie b performs for us live next, so stay with us for that. i recently saw maddie b get a rousing ovation at a golden state warriors game when she sang the national anthem. we are proud of her success and proud to have her return to our show. welcome back. maddie b: thank you for having me. i'm super

robert: a presidential order months ago up-ends washington this week. i'm robert costa. president trump's handling of robert mueller's russia probe once again front and center. all as he makes his sales pitch to the world, tonight on "washington week." president trump: very excited. robert: president trump's debut at a global summit is overshadowed by bombshell reports that he demanded the firing of special counsel robert mueller. president trump: fake news, folks. robert: one of the president's confidante's, news max c.e.o. chris ruddy, told the "pbs newshour" last june, that mr. trump was actively considering firing mueller. >> i think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. i think he's weighing that option. robert: and there are new reports that at least 20 current and former white house staffers have spoken with mueller's team. it all comes as the senate intelligence committee prepares to release transcripts of interviews with donald trump jr. and jared kushner. some republican critics of the russia probe are raising questions about the integrity o

did the president say he wanted to fire robert mueller? >> well, i have no inside information regarding what he did or didn't say. that wasn't part of my portfolio while i was in the white house. >> you never heard him say that he wanted to fire robert mueller? >> no. and i couldn't talk about it even if i d. so let's move on from that. >> hang on. i just want to get to this quickly and then get to a bigger issue because i think it is important. any knowledge did you ever he ever hear that he threatened to quit to stop the president from firing robert mueller. >> i wouldn't be able to do it under my obligations anyway. >> have you testified to special counsel? we have heard eight lawyers, eight people have? >> again, i wouldn't be sitting here today if i had been interviewed. so the answer to that is no as well because of my ethical obligations having left the white house recently. >> good. now, that we have that behind us, what is your take on the reporting that cnn has confirmed that the president said he wanted to fire robert muler and

so he didn't -- he tried to fire robert mueller. he obviously didn't fire robert mueller. does that make a difference whether or not there this is an actionable obstruction case? >> if that were the only fact, the only piece of the mosaic in the proof, it might have less weight. remember, he fired jim comey one month before. so firing was very much on his mind as a means to rid himself of the so-called retro thing. he bragged to foreign minister lavrov and kislyak that he was so relieved that he had fired comey and thereby stopped the investigation. now it's the surrogates that are attacking the special counsel, the surrogates in congress, the defenders who are launching it. i saw it on the fbi and law enforcement. we have a constitutional crisis looming and that's the reason why we need to protect the special counsel with legislation that i've offered along with a number of republican colleagues and democrats to make sure that the special counsel is protected in this investigation. >> you described that as a constitutional crisis. clearly that would be a conflict with the

robert: all right. well, you did a great job in "the little exile." jeanette: oh, thank you. robert: all right, i really recommend it. thank you for being here. jeanette: oh, my pleasure. robert: all right. well, jeanette arakawa will be a panelist along with other prominent speakers at the forum "immigration and civil rights: what can be done to achieve positive change?" the panel discussion will take place tuesday, december 5 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the bus barn theater at 97 hillview avenue in los altos. our friend, historian connie young yu, will be the moderator. for more details, you can go to nbcbayarea.com. and when we come back, telling our stories through home movies and making it art, memories to light is up next. robert: memories to light was a project we featured on a show partially preempted by nbc hurricane coverage. fortunately, it's still timely, so here it is. robert: well, memories to light is a project that always makes me marvel, what took so long to come up with this idea? as i ment

robert: yeah. you know, the job part of it is really, you know, an interesting thing because it sounds so simple, yet in terms of just fundamentally changing somebody, having a job is really a key, especially at the beginning, isn't it? adriane: oh, absolutely. i mean, we find that in work, there's dignity. you're not only learning the hard skills of cash management, but you're learning the soft skills that you need for your career, the real professionalism skills. robert: yeah. was that something that you felt like you were lacking? is it like something that you even know that you're not really familiar with until you actually start doing it? alvin: yeah. i mean, growing up, i always worked in my parent's restaurant, and that was all i knew of work. and i think when i first stepped into the stadiums, that was a mind-blowing experience because we're talking 40,000 people that we have to deal with every single day. and it's not that--it's not that easy, and i think it was a complete flip around and

robert: the spread product is attractive. the value on the back end of the curve is very difficult to judge. context, you have an 80 year basis point, 30 year jgb. we're at 90 plus percentile relative value relative to europe. alot of the marginal pricing mechanisms for the united states are coming from abroad, which is why the back end is running out of steam. the shutdown deadline nears. in to this this play dysfunctional washington, d.c. story, the wavering bond market? in the short-term it could be a wobble. they need to come to a deal. the problem i have is that this congress, this government is incapable of cutting spending. we are going to have a larger deficits next year. whatever deals are going to come to believe to greater spending. jonathan: where do you see that funding coming from? -year yield has managed to kiss almost 2%. they are going to keep issuing out of three to five years. they don't really go out with extending further. that is why we should listen to their idea about the front end, robert? robert: the

robert: that is -- jonathan: we have to go. robert: ecb. jack: ebc. marilyn: ebc. -- jonathan: you have been great, to get your thoughts on the market. jack, robert and marilyn. from new york, that is it for us, we will see you next week. this was "real yield" and this is bloomberg tv. ♪ ♪ scarlet: this is bloomberg "etf iq." ♪ scarlet: with interest rates creeping higher, the flow of money for high-yield debt has taken a detour. state street is losing ground to blackrock when it comes to new cash. how they plan to get back on track. what is in a name?

jonathan: that plays into the idea, robert? robert: shortly and in the intermediate. i think the fed will keep a lid on the front end of the curve. there is less impact on the front end of the issuance than on the back end. the back end is benefiting from discussions on deregulation. that would make it easier for dealers to carry inventory of long treasuries, since you are seeing pressure on swap deals rather than treasuries as treasuries become easier for dealers to hold. jonathan: i want to get your thoughts, robert, on what has been happening with inflation linked securities. you now see the breakeven spread between the 10-year and 30-year go to negative. what does that mean when the spread starts doing that? what happens if that break goes negative? robert: the difference in the drivers whether are short-term or long-term. on a long-term basis, there are global dollar precious on prices that are likely to keep inflation under control for the foreseeable future. in the near term, commodity prices have been strong, they've been the biggest driver of in the near term

go ahead, robert. shane sato: well, i've been working on this book for over 20 years, working with the veterans, trying to take their photos. and at first, i really didn't know what i was going to be doing with the photos. i tried to take the photos 'cause i really felt that it was necessary. but i first did a black and white series with film back in the day, and then i started taking the pictures, starting making the portraits. and then after a while, i thought, "okay, maybe try and do another series." that series was a color portrait series. and that color portrait series, i tried to also incorporate a different style, where the photos looked like they were part of world war ii because when i first started to take these photos, they didn't come across as veterans, yes. and people didn't relate to them, these senior citizens at that time, to be the veterans. so, when i took some more photos and i did some tests, and when i used these pictures in the uniform, then people could really understand and rel

i mean, robert mueller, there is some real conflicts. he comes from a law firm that represent members of the trump family. he interviewed the day before, or a few days before he was appointed special counsel, with the president who was looking at him potentially to become the next fbi director. >> so you see the talking points there, eli, and i was reminded of this moment. i heard an interview with maggie haberman of the times tonight that while he was attacked in realtime for those remarks, it turns out he was right. >> chris knew this because he was one of the people talking with the president in realtime and perhaps putting those ideas in his head. i talked to chris ruddy a lot. he's consistent in his belief that he's talking with the president and that his lawyers have not been defending him enough in fighting off the special counsel and challenging enough in the courts in considering terminating him. so this may be something chris ruddy thought was a good idea, going out and talking about it publicly. this took place in june, appare

i'm robert costa. the charged and changing debates over immigration plus the russia probe. tonight on "washington week." >> mr. president, are you a racist? >> vile comments made by the president. robert: zphart dick dirt bun, who was in the room, confirms president trump insulted the people of haiti and african nations but the president denied making racist remarks, saying in a tweet if language was tough but this was not the language used. republican congresswoman mia love, whose parents are there haiti demanden an apology. she called the comments elitist and fly in the face of our nation's values. the exferings exploded just weeks after it was reported the president made similar remarks at a meeting last summer, claiming that all haitians have aids. the white house denied this reporting. plus, new droments in the russia probe. testimony about a frump-related document is released and the president skirts questions about testifying before special counsel robert mueller. >> we'll see what happens but w

jack, robert and marilyn. what does it say that the most popular issue in europe this week was the first issue of cocos? jack: people still believe that risk on is a thing. i think that is really what it comes down to. people believe in growth. you are seeing growth throughout the world. jonathan: even with the conversation, you think the ecb will pull back? you still have this tremendous resilience and credit even though the ecb are buying corporate debt, as well. robert: they are. but there is a real thirst for yield. as i was saying before, the demand is strong in europe. the ecb has been crowding out, but they have been winding down the amount they are buying. some of the things that would indicate that they were supporting the market, where sovereign bonds were trading relative to cbs, for example, those relationships have indicated the market isn't leaning that much on the qe buying at this point. there may be surprising resilience in the markets as we go forward. jonathan: marilyn, they don't buy financ

jack, robert and marilyn. what does it say that the most popular issue in europe this week was the first issue of cocos? jack: people still believe that risk on is a thing. people believe in growth. you are seeing growth throughout the world. jonathan: it was the conversation you think the ecb , will pull back? you still have this tremendous resilience and credit even though the ecb are buying corporate debt, as well. robert: they are. but there is a real thirst for yield. the demand is strong in europe. the ecb has been crowding out, but they have been winding down the amount they are buying. some of the things that would indicate that they were supporting the market, where sovereign bonds were trading relative to cbs, for example, those relationships have indicated the market isn't leading that much on the qe buying at this point. there may be surprising resilience in the markets as we go forward. jonathan: marilyn, they don't find -- don't buy financials in europe, but the reach for yield has been clear. ca

so he didn't -- he tried to fire robert mueller. he obviously didn't fire robert mueller. does that make a difference whether or not there this is an actionable obstruction case? >> if that were the only fact, the only piece in the proof, it might have less weight. remember, he fired jim comey one month before. so firing was very much on his mind as a means to rid himself of the so-called retro thing. he bragged to lavrov that he was so relieved that he had fired comey and there by stop the investigation. the surrogates in congress, the defenders who are launching it. i saw it on the fbi and law enforcement. we have a constitutional crisis looming and that's the reason why we need to protect the special counsel with legislation that i've offered along with a number of republican colleagues and democrats to make sure that the special counsel protected. >> clearly, that would be a conflict with the president exerting his ability to, you know, change and direct the attorney general to change the rul rules. why would that be a constitutional crisis? >> it would be a constituti

i'm robert costa. federal programs and those who depend on them are wondering what is next and both parties pdo, too. tonight, on "washington week." president trump: there's never been a better time to hire in america, to invest in america, and to believe in the american dream, than right now. robert: president trump marks the end of his first year in office, celebrating the strength of the economy. and faces a potential government shutdown as the friday deadline looms. >> we could get this done in a few short days and not kick the can down the road. this is the fourth c.r. we have done and accomplished nothing. >> democratic senators fixation on illegal immigration has already blocked us from making progress on long-term spending talks. that same fixation has them threatening to filibuster funding for the whole government. robert: we discuss it all with dan balz of "the washington post," kelsey snell of npr. kimberly atkins of "the boston herald" and jeff zeleny of cnn. >> celebrating 50 years, this i

robert mueller will be fair to you? this larger investigation? zbloo we're going to find ouct.t because here's what we'll say. no collusion. there's no collusion. now they're saying oh, well, did he fight back? did you fight back? said -- fight back. fight back. oh, it's obstruction. so here's the thing. i hope so. >> how do you define collusion? mag asked this earlier. >> you're going to define it for me. but i can tell you, there's tho collusion. i couldn't have cared less about russians having to do with my campaign. the fact is, you people won't say this, but i'll say it. i was a much better candidate. you say she was a bad candidate. you never say i was a good candidate. i was one of the greatest candidates. nobody else would have beaten the clinton machine, but u i was a great candidate. some day you're going the say that. good-bye, everybody. >> another exchange he had. rebecca, what's your analysis of what we just heard from the president on a whole host of issues. >> that statement you just played, wolf, is an

robert: that is -- jonathan: we have to go, robert. boj or ecb? robert: ecb. jack: ecb. marilyn: ecb. jonathan: guys, it has been great to catch up with you all and get your thoughts on the market. jack flaherty, robert tipp, and marilyn watson. from new york, that is it for us, we will see you next week. this was "real yield" and this is bloomberg tv. ♪ scarlet: i'm scarlet fu. this is bloomberg "etf iq." ♪ scarlet: with interest rates creeping higher, the flow of money into high-yield debt has taken a detour. we take a look at interest rate hedged itf's. state street is losing ground to blackrock when it comes to new cash. jim ross with how they plan to get back on track. what is in a name? and we drill down into a new etf

i mean, robert mueller, there is some real conflicts. he comes from a law firm that represent members of the trump family. he interviewed the day before, or a few days before he was appointed special counsel, with the president who was looking at him potentially to become the next fbi director. >> so you see the talking points there, eli, and i was reminded of this moment. i heard an interview with maggie hab haberman of the times tonight that while he was attacked in realtime for those remarks, it turns out he was right. >> chris knew this because he was one of the people talking with the president in realtime and perhaps putting those ideas in his head. i talked to chris ruddy a lot. he's consistent in his belief that he's talking with the president and that his lawyers have not been defending him enough in fighting off the special counsel and challenging enough in the courts in considering terminating him. so this may be something chris ruddy thought was a good idea, going out and talking about it publicly. this took place in june, ap

president, did you seek to fire robert mueller? >> fake news, folks, typical "new york times" fake stories. >> reporter: but a source confirms to cnn that trump did call for mueller's firing and don mcgahn refused because he disagreed with his reasoning. two people told the "times" the president expressed concern over what he saw as three possible conflicts of interest with mueller serving as special counsel. one involving a dispute mueller had at trump national golf club causing hum to resign his membership. another that mueller's law had previously represented his son-in-law, jared kushner and, finally, that trump had just interviewed mueller as comey's replacement for fbi director. back in june trump was also openly airing his frustrations overs russia probe on twitter saying "you are witnessing the single greatest witch hunt in american political history led by some very bad and conflicted people." two months after the reported attempt to fire mueller, he was asked if he'd ever considered it? >> i haven't given it any thought.

once again, from washington, moderator, robert costa. robert: what a week. president trump's on-again and off-steve bannon and is a thorn in the republican establishment took direct aim in a new book "fire and fury by michael wolff and called the son's unpatriot trick and claiming to have dirt on hillary clinton. and he said the russian investigation could turn up money laundering. steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency when he was fide. he not only lost his job but lost his mind. trump stepped up his attacks and taunted bannon for losing the support of the mercer family where bannon now serves for chairman. we are joined by josh green, the author of "devil's bargain." josh great to have you back. when you look at this break, was it a strategic break or another complicated turn? >> in the end, bannon was done in and at one point he was the architect of president trump's victory and viewed himself as a historical figure and the administration went off the rails and bannon began feuding with many of the people he goes after, done junior, ivank

so robert mueller knows. robert mueller knows that the president tried to fire him. robert mueller wants to interview the president in his investigation into possible obstruction of justice by the president, and he knows that one of the pieces of evidence of obstruction of justice is that the president tried to fire him. the president's firing of fbi director james comey provoked the appointment of the special prosecutor, who is investigating the president for obstruction of justice because of the firing of james comey. and now we know the president tried to fire the special prosecutor himself. and now donald trump knows that the special prosecutor knows that the president tried to fire him. is the president still eager tonight, as he says he was last night, to be interviewed by the special prosecutor who knows the president tried to fire him? the president has probably known that since december 2nd. probably known. could have known since december 2nd, that robert mueller knows that the president tried to fire him because december 2nd is the day when we discovered pu

carol has been investigating him for the last year or so robert mess. he is an absolutely brilliant scientists. did really pioneering work. in the sixty's and in the field of natural language processing which is the base of ai basically. in the early one nine hundred ninety s. mercer left i.b.m. to join a new york based hedge fund renaissance technologies there he applied his methods of calculation to the stock exchange in order to predicted supply actuations. relaxants technologies he pioneered algorithmic trading which now is a massive field and how much trading it's down. by applying his mathematical tools mercer revolutionized renaissance technologies investment methods making it the world's most profitable fund in ten years. so became very rich. because the performance of the fund which he had his own money here. was extraordinary i mean if it goes up thirty percent thirty five percent every year then pretty quickly you become very. as a billionaire mercer might have chosen to quietly enjoy his new fortune however the former engineer also heads. wr

i mean, robert mueller, there is some real conflicts. he comes from a law firm that represent members of the trump family. he interviewed the day before, or a few days before he was appointed special counsel, with the president who was looking at him potentially to become the next fbi director. >> so you see the talking points there, eli, and i was reminded of this moment. i heard an interview with maggie haberman of the times tonight that while he was attacked in realtime for those remarks, it turns out he was right. >> chris knew this because he was one of the people talking with the president in realtime and perhaps putting those ideas in his head. i talked to chris ruddy a lot. he's consistent in his belief that he's articulated to reporters and the to president that the president and that his lawyers have not been defending him enough in fighting off the special counsel and challenging enough in the courts in considering terminating him. so this is a possible action that the president considered that chris ruddy thought was a good i

mueller, with the white house pushing back. >> did you want to fire robert mueller? >> fake news, folks, fake news. typical "new york times" fake story. >> the president's common proclamation, how might the latest reported episode fit into the big picture of the russia investigation? >> it adds up to a continuous pattern of interference, obstruction of justice. >> saving mueller, democrats want to make sure the president can never fire the special counsel. might republicans join them in that effort? plus nikki haley having to answer a question she probably never imagined she would get as u.s. ambassador to the united nations. details, next. >>> so new this morning, democrats launching efforts to protect special counsel robert mueller in the wake of reports that the president ordered his white house counsel to fire muler in june. "the new york times" and "washington post" reports senate democrats plan to include that legislation as part of continuing budget negotiations, with republican senator lindsey graham co-sponsoring yet another measure. and republican senator t

robert mueller was not fired, obviously. so in and of itself the act isn't grounds for obstruction or anything else. but could the intent, how does the intent tell you about the president's mind-set and might that seep in other parts of the investigation? >> well, first of all, you don't have to succeed in obstructing justice to obstruct justice. that he didn't ultimately fire mueller doesn't mean anything. in and of itself, it is a conclusive piece of evidence. it is one more piece in the puzzle as we try to discern what the president's motives, intent was. that is actually quite important because he does have the legal authority to fire government officials. and in this case it would be indirect. you would have to pressure somebody at doj to do it. but he can't do it corruptly. you would have to look at intent to see if he was trying to prevent himself from being further investigated. he certainly told us that was his intent in firing mueller -- comey. so this fits with that. he said i haven't even given getting rid of mue

carol has been investigating him for the last year or so robert mess. he is an absolutely brilliant scientists. did really pioneering work. in the sixty's and in the field of natural language processing which is the base of ai basically. in the early one nine hundred ninety s. mercer left i.b.m. to join a new york based hedge fund renaissance technologies there he applied his methods of calculation to the stock exchange in order to predicted structure way sions. response technologies he pioneered algorithmic trading which now is a massive field and how much trading it's down. by applying his mathematical tools mercer revolutionized renaissance technologies investment methods making it the world's most profitable fund in ten years. less or became very rich. because the performance of the fund which he had his own money year. was extraordinary i mean if it goes up thirty percent thirty five percent every year then pretty quickly you become very. as a billionaire mercer might have chosen to quietly enjoy his new fortune however the former engineer also hea

funded by robert moore. and headed by steve benen cambridge analytical offered its services to candidate donald trump. by late june twenty sixth seen the partnership was a done deal and on july twenty ninth the first payment was sent to the english company you can find it in the campaign accounts in four payments between july and october twenty sixth teen cambridge analytical would receive nearly six million dollars. at the same time the political action committee for donald trump funded by robert mercer would also pay over five million to cambridge and only the cut. the english firm would receive eleven million dollars to work with the trump campaign. from aug twenty sixth the robert mercer election winning machine was running full speed ahead for trump all that was needed now was a strategy to put it to use in the american elections. certainly be some camp which includes cables that will take us saw something in the american electorate that the clinton campaign and the media certainly did not see. thanks t

he's the one who appointed the special counsel robert mueller. he's the one who mueller reports to at the justice department. rod rosenstein was appointed by president trump. he's a republican. nobody quite knows what to make of him and his inclinations on the russia investigation, which he has steadfastly refused to discuss in public, other than to say that he believes mueller is doing a good job and that he's the right man for the job. but then today, surprise, whole bunch of reporters, including scott wong from "the hill" newspaper were staking out paul ryan's office. they were staking out the peopler of the house, his office today, hoping to catch some news about budget negotiations in congress. they're all outside paul ryan's office when, hey now, here comes, isn't that rod rosenstein? and his security detail? yeah, there's the deputy attorney general filing into house peopler paul ryan's office. what he is doing here? reporters including scott wong were soon able to susz out that nobody knew this was coming, rod rosenstein, in fact, was the

wanted robert mueller to be fired here. this is something the white house cannot move beyond here as he tries to address business matters here at davos. the reality here for the last six or seven months, the white house has said it is not true. the president did not want to get rid of robert mueller. this, of course, is not the case. so the white house lawyers are not commenting on this. they are saying they are cooperating with the office of special counsel. the reality here now is this potential obstruction of justice investigation still going on here is centering more on that moment last june when the president, we are now reporting, and told wanted the firing of robert mueller. christine. >> bombshell. you are right. the russian investigation -- every development casting a long shadow to davos, switzerland. jeff zeleny, thank you. >> joining us on skype is senior analyst areeva martin. thank you for staying up late. a lot to discuss regarding the president's desire to fire the special counsel robert mueller. his counsel

robert from fixed income. jack and marilyn. that the most popular issue in europe this week, jack, was the first issue of cocoas? people still believe that risk on is a thing. people believe in growth and that you are seeing growth throughout the world. jonathan: even with a conversation, is the ecb going to pull back? you have this tremendous resilience in credit. robert: there is a real thirst for yield. europe is is strong, strong. the ecb has been crowding out, but they have been winding down the amount that they are buying. some of the things that would indicate that they were supporting the market, where sovereign bonds were trading relative to cbs, those relations have indicated that the market is not leaning that much on the qb buying. there may be surprising resilience in the markets as we go forward. jonathan: they do not buy financials over in europe, but the spillover has been clear. can you remain constructive on financial credits, hybrids, contingent convertibles, at a time when the ecb is set to pull back further

you considering firing robert mule snellemueller? >> tonight, they're refusing to comment on reporting the president tried toot just that. cnn learned president trump -- to fire mueller last june. but he balked and threatened to resign if the president went forward, a source tells cnn. in statement, trump's attorney would only say we decline to comment out of respect for the office of the special counsel and its process. trump has disparaged the inquiry in the election. but the stunning revelation that trump tried to oust the man leading the probe is perhaps one more point in pattern of behavior some say could be considered obstruction of justice. the criminal act of interfering with a law enforcement investigation. in addition to trying to fire mueller, the president asked former fbi director, james comey, for his loyalty in january, then in february, trump asked comey to drop any investigation into michael flynn. he fired comey officially in may. saying it was because of the fbi director's handling of the clints e-mail investigatio

go ahead, robert. >> i think michael's got it right. the real relevant question here is one of whether or not the conduct would constitute abuse of office. and that's a determination ultimately that congress makes under its impeachment authority. i remain of the view despite how many times others can say it, the president is consumerly entitled to have who he wants as the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, the director of fbi, and also the special counsel. if he were to fire the special counsel that doesn't mean we're not going to have another special counsel. there will be political pressure obviously in the system that would allow that to happen. frankly the story of the system worked. i think you saw from back in june that the white house and people under the president understood what a bad political decision it would be to attempt to remove bob mueller from office. >> and that's what -- this decision as well. >> and i think that's right. and i think also you also have seen over the course of the past seven months that th

president, why did you fire robert mueller? why did you want to fire robert mueller? >> fake news. typical "new york times" fake stories. >> i'm sure the president does regular interviews with the "new york times." ty cobb, the white house's lawyer in chief, in part of russia-related matters, simply said, quote, we decline to comment out of respect for the office of the special counsel and its process. mueller still in place, of course, as special counsel, reportedly learned of the incident through interviews with white house staff and document requests. joining me is white house correspondent kristen welker. kristen, i mean, i'm not even going to say, do we know why robert mueller -- i mean, excuse me -- president trump wanted to fire mueller, but why did he back down on it? >> reporter: well, he backed down because his white house counsel, don mcgahn, refused to do it, steph. he essentially argued that it would be a catastrophe for the trump presidency, to fire robert mueller. he said he wasn't going to do it. i think that ultimately allowed cooler heads to prevail and the presid

. >> you considering firing robert mueller? >> no, i'm not. >> that is a sample from the president's denials. here are those from his administration. there have been several. our graphics department working overtime to get them in one screen. are these the actions of an innocent man? if you want to and you should want to believe in the innocence of the president of the united states, are these the actions of an innocent man? >> certainly many will conclude they're not. that becomes a problem. what is his credibility? if he is innocent, many say let the investigation complete. >> he had said that. >> he has said that. then these stories come out behind the scenes he is trying to stop it. he is trying to discredit it constantly. it looks bad. >> what is his agenda? he is talking about regulatory reform and tax cuts. immigration plan dropped overnight. what does it mean for the agenda? >> i think it hurts it because it undermines his credibility with both parties and consumes the news. we have a bit of momentum after the tax cut a

he got robert martian off. b got the jail time thrown out and the conviction thrown out and that was probably the end of robert martian being famous for the watergate scandal, but it was unexpected for the kid lawyer. that kid lawyer was named tom green. and tom green has been representing political figures in massive political scandals ever since his strange tart sta watergate. after accidently representing the assistant attorney general in watergate, he went on to represent defendants in the whitewater and iran-contra scandal and the state department passport scandal. when the same prosecutors who convicted spe convict convicted spiro agnew, he represented a senator named david duringberger when i ghe g indicted. i represented the governor of puerto rico. the horrifying scandal involving denny hastert. tom green represents denny hastert in that scandal. if are you a significant political figure but even if you're not and find yourself criminally charged in a political scandal of any size, if somebody loves yo

has he been interviewed by robert mueller? >> caller: i'm not sure whether he is among the people who has gone in or not. most people who are in the white house or have left the white house have already been in for at least one round. >> this would have been something, i wonder if this would have been something that robert mueller himself was aware of previously or at that time. >> caller: i don't know the answer to that, so i don't want to speculate, if mcgann has been in already and it didn't come up, i feel confident he will be called back in and it will get raised. >> i think don mcgann has already testified, and i agreed with maggie. if it wasn't raised he'll be asked about it. don mcgann is a witness here in a lot of ways. don't forget, sally yates went to don mcgann about general flynn. and that was 18 days before flynn was eventually fired. >> he was the point person. she was -- >> he was the point person. and we've been told throughout this year that don mcgann and the president have had a very uneasy relationship, an

robert: champs in their mind. jonathan: you talk about the redskins cleaning out other take lockers. this time that all the teams are cleaning out. robert: it's cleaning time. michelle: you have a lot to tell us. bill: there are snow late tonight and early tomorrow. then we drop the temperatures in the teens. around if you add the winds we are easily sub zero wind chills. to the seven-day. michelle: oh, boy. "world news tonight" with david muir coming up next. jonathan: thank you for being try and >>> tonight, two breaking stories. the major storm slamming the east. and the storm inside the white house. steve bannon turning on the president's family. calling donald trump jr.'s infamous meeting with the russian lawyer inside trump tower, quote, treasonous, claiming there's zero chance don jr. didn't take them to the president's office. tonight, president trump firing back. >>> also tonight, the states of emergency at this hour. the massive storm called a bomb cyclone. possible hurricane force winds slamming into th

he got robert martian off. got the jail time thrown out and the conviction thrown out and that was probably the end of robert martian being famous for even a watergate figure, but it was unexpected for the kid lawyer. that kid lawyer was named tom green. and tom green has been representing political figures in massive political scandals ever since his strange start in watergate. after accidently representing the assistant attorney general in watergate, he went on to represent defendants in the whitewater and iran-contra scandal and the state department passport scandal. when the same prosecutors who convicted spiro agnew, he represented a senator named david duringberger when he got indicted while he was still serving in the senate. in 2009 he represented the governor of puerto rico when he was charged with money laundering. the horrifying scandal involving denny hastert. the molst -- molestation and then hush money. tom green represents denny hastert in that scandal. if are you a significant political figure b

president, why did you fire robert mueller? why would you want to fire robert mueller? >> fake news, folks, fake news. typical "new york times" fake story. >> the report has been confirmed by nbc news, "the washington post," cnn, "the wall street journal," even fox news. it does raise troubling questions. is it obstruction or at least part of a pattern of obstruction to do what he did and where are republicans? hasn't the president crossed a line here? >> will trump try to do it again. if he was willing to before, why not now when it appears the investigation is sniffing close e er and closer to trump. then there's the question of honesty. if the reporting it true by multiple news organizations, president trump wasn't telling the truth, was he, when he said this last august. >> mr. president you thought about or considered leading to the dismissal of the special counsel. is there anything bob mueller could do that would accepted you in that direction? >> i've been reading about it from you people. i'm not dissing anybody. i want them to get on with the task. >> michael

carroll has been investigating him for the last year or so robert mess. he is an absolutely brilliant scientist he did really pioneering work. in the sixty's and in the field of natural language processing which is the base of. basically. in the early one nine hundred ninety s. mercer left i.b.m. to join a new york based hedge fund renaissance technologies there he applied his methods of calculation to the stock exchange in order to predict its pluck shueisha us. with a science technology he pioneered algorithmic trading which now is a massive field and how much trading is down. by applying his mathematical tools mercer revolutionized renaissance technologies investment methods making it the world's most profitable fund in ten years. became very rich. because the performance of the fund which he had his own money here. was extraordinary i mean if it goes up thirty percent thirty five percent every year then pretty quickly you become very. as a billionaire mercer might have chosen to quietly enjoy his new fortune however the former engineer also heads. wro

mueller. >> why do you want to fire robert mueller? >> fake news, folks. fake news. >> "new york times" fake story, it's fake news, it's not true. the best we can ascertain is along the following narrative. we first started looking into this into the beginning of june, the newsmax ceo and a friend of president trump set on pbs about the president was "weighing" whether to fire robert mueller. i was told at the time that the president had a conversation with don mcgahn and other people in which the president said something to the effect of i have the authority to fire him, i can fire him if i want to but the conversation didn't go much further than that. in the last 24 hours, i've been doing some more digging and talk to a few more people who said the conversation likely bridged into the idea of should we think about getting rid of mueller and the president saying don mcgahn, could you go talk to rod rosenstein over at the justice department who is the person in charge of the special counsel and take his temperature on it to which don m

carol has been investigating him for the last year or so robert mess. he is an absolutely brilliant scientists. did really pioneering work. in the sixty's and in the field of natural language processing which is the base of ai basically. in the early one nine hundred ninety s. mercer left i.b.m. to join a new york based hedge fund renaissance technologies there he applied his methods of calculation to the stock exchange in order to predict its punctuations. reactions technologies he pointed. out a rhythmic trade which now is a massive field and how much trading it's down. by applying his mathematical tools mercer revolutionized renaissance technologies investment methods making it the world's most profitable fund in ten years. became very rich. because the performance of the site and which he had his own money here. was extraordinary i mean if it goes up thirty percent thirty five percent every year then pretty quickly you become very. as a billionaire mercer might have chosen to quietly enjoy his new fortune however the former engineer also heads. stro

john roberts in davos nor us. let's go to chris wallace live in washington. hi, chris. >> hi, shep. >> shepard: nuances, depends on the source, depends on the reporter, i guess. >> yeah. i'm not sure it matters. we're kind of slicing the salami fairly thin here. either the president ordered mcgann to fire the special counsel and he threatened to quit or he talked about it and mcgann said it was a terribly bad idea. clearly the conversation was brought up and mcgann helped talk the president out of it. the real significance here isn't that fine distinction. it's that you have to figure the special counsel who apparently was hearing the stories, one version or the other from current and former white house officials that this event happened in june of 2017 just after mueller was set up as the special counsel is going to look at this as part of a potential pattern of obstruction of justice. remember, you've got a month before comey was fired by the president and before that, the president asked for a loyalty oath from comey. some where in the middle of that, he s

especially here in roberts county, texas. where 95% of the votes went to him. that's the highest county percentage in the entire country. we wanted to spend time with folks on the ground here to better understand why they supported trump in the first place an to see what changes in their lives during his first year in office. it's february when we make our first trip to this quiet community and meet mitchell lock. >> i was born and raised here mand great great grandfather helped to found the town. >> he's fifth generation cattle ranchers. >> sometimes it's hard where do you draw the line father-son to employer-employee he called me at 6:00 wanting to talk about work, i said we'll talk about this at work and hung up the phone. >> the avalanche is worth millions of dollars and though been in the family for generations because of the value of this land mitchell will have to pay a hefty tax on it when he inherits it from his father. >> my dad is 72 years old when he dies we'd have to pay the value of 50% of the land something he worked his entire life for. >> so mi