kushner, mr. harris's firm, apollo, makes this sizable loan to kushner companies to refinance this building. >> $184 million. >> $184 million, which is both a very large loan by the standards of kushner companies and a large loan for apollo. for the most part, their loans are nowhere near that size. when you look at the average loan at apollo, the average real estate loan, it's approximately $60. $60 million. this is essentially triple the size of their average loan. >> is there anything about that loan on its face, just as a substantive matter that looks -- if you didn't know about the meetings, if you didn't know about the communications between jared kushner and the executive from this firm, is there anything about that loan that looks financially awkward? it looks like the kind of deal apollo wouldn't typically snama ? >> so i don't -- no, not necessarily. other than the size, right? the size makes it an outlier. we don't know much about these loans. we know the amount. we know when the loan i

kushner, mr. harris's firm, apollo, makes this sizable loan to kushner companies to refinance this building. >> $184 million. >> $184 million, which is both a very large loan by the standards of --ner compani of kushner companies and a large loan for apollo. for the most part, their loans are nowhere near that size. when you look at the average loan, it's approximately $60 million. this is essentially triple the size of their average loan. >> is there anything about that loan on its face, just as a substantive matter that looks -- if you didn't know about the meetings, if you didn't know about the communications between jared kushner and the executive from this firm, is there anything about that loan that looks financially awkward? it looks like the kind of deal apollo wouldn't typically snake. >> so i don't -- no, not necessarily. other than the size, right? the size makes it an outlier. we don't know much about these loans. we know the amount. we know when the loan is due. but we don't know anyt

but with mr. kushner, at least, it seems clear his lawyers are very much earning their pay. we've got more on this news scoop and the member of congress who figured it out. that story is next. stay with us. time to bask... in low prices! tripadvisor compares prices from over 200 booking sites to find the right hotel for you at the lowest price. refreshing, isn't it?. tripadvisor. ♪ ♪ applebee's to go. order online and get $10 off $30. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. order online and get $10 off $30. the toothpaste that helps prevent bleeding gums. if you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse. help stop the journey of gum disease. try parodontax toothpaste. ♪ >>> the wheels of government and the wheels of government scandal frequently turn quietly and where you can't see them. now a letter from the office of government ethics has revealed the white house counsel's office is revealing whether jared kushner violated ethics rules when his company took hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans righ

before that, mr. kushner was represented by jamie who is also the real deal top drawer. with this new news discovered tonight. on a more human level, though, it's also just a striking contrast. as of this weekend it looks like the president has no serious legal representation with the russia scandal. the lead lawyer had been this man, john dowd. that's who had been negotiating with robert mueller and prosecutors when and whether and how the president would be questioned by the special counsel and his team and it feels like there has been a lot of chaotic lawyering with the president and his legal defense, but what has happened there, what has happened on that subject in the last week, which has resulted in the president no longer having really a russia legal defense, i got -- it's been nuts but what just happened in the past week is almost impossible to believe. we can now tell from the reporting that's happened over the weekend into today that it appears what happened with john dowd is that the reason he quit, the reason the president's lead lawyer on the russia scandal

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kushner." let's talk about this with our guests, tamara keith, white house correspondent for national public radio. and michael crowley, national security editor for politico. tamara, obviously these are allegations, this is a story running in "the times" tonight. what will get so many people angry and energized is the optics all over again. this building that is so special in the history of our nation, that sits on 18 acres in washington, d.c., people approach it with awe. people enter it to serve the people of the united states. but these stories have been about enrichment instead. >> right. and there is a lot of correlation in this story. and there's a lot of correlation because jared kushner didn't divest. he has these large -- holdings in his family's company. his family's company is massive and does a lot of business with a lot of different other organizations. and so they're just -- there simply is this perception problem that there isn't a great answer to. and this is not the first time

. >> mr. kushner, will you sign my russian flag? sign my russian flag, please. >> and so was the president's son-in-law, jared kushner. >> do you have any comment mr. kushner? >> kushner hasn't been charged with any crimes, the troubling questions have been raised about his connections to russia. >> jared kushner is incredibly important for several reasons. he's a witness to virtually all the central issues in this investigation. he is also important because he's an independent actor. he is someone who had contacts with russian representatives. >> kushner has not been forthcoming about those contacts. he was required by law to disclose them to the fbi to get a security clearance. >> mr. kushner -- >> but he has repeatedly omitted foreign contacts and had to submit his forms four times, sparking tough questions from both parties. his reasons for the revisions range from forgetfulness to a clerical error. >> see you guys, bye. >> now, kushner's temporary security clearance has been downgraded by white house chief of staff john kelly,

kushner. is jared kushner the only one inside the white house who caused those meetings? was there somebody else who could have taken them? >> right. i mean, that was the question that mr. fox raised in our article last night, which is you have jared kushner -- let's step back. one of the big problems here is that jared kushner's portfolio is extremely vague. we don't exactly know what he's supposed to do. it's not like he's defense secretary. given his nebulous responsibilities, mr. fox said why does he need to have meetings about making loans to his company? so i think it's a very good question. why is he kind of uniquely positioned to be the person to interact with apollo or city group. >> what happens now? >> well, i think it's very difficult for us to know. obviously there are potential violations of the ethics regulations. but whether anyone will seek to enforce those is another matter. obviously there are also implications -- this tells us a lot potentially about how companies are seeking to do business with the administration. obviously all these companies that ar

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they write, the long knives are out for mr. kushner and they'll keep slashing. it ends with this line, mr. kushner and ivanka have to decide if they'd serve themselves and the president better by walking away from their formal white house roles. how big of a liability is he, in fact, becoming, shannon? >> i mean, the questions around jared kushner and ivanka trump have been there really since the first day. people have been predicting their departure from this west wing. since this time last year. of course, like with all these high-profile departures, it never happens until it happens. never leaving until all of a sudden we're surprised like yesterday at 5:00 p.m. with someone who we thought would be one of the last people standing, many people thought, hope hicks, leaving. it's sort of beyond trying to predict who's going to leave and when. but they have served an important role in this administration. one that i think is getting increasingly important with hope leaving. as true allies of the president. the president being someone who came up through a family

a spokesman for kushner attorney tells us, quote, mr. kushner has had no role in the kushner comes since joining the government and has taken no part of any business, loans or projects with or for the companies after that. i want to bring in one of reporters who broke this "the , my friend, kate kelly. walk us through about what we know about the white house meetings. because it is fair to say a lot of these people who came to the white house, whether you're talking about the president, apollo, the head of citi. they already knew jared. it's not a surprise they would also go to the white house. >> there are a number of buckets. first, there was this infrastructure panel. some litigation over whether it was an unofficial planning body. for purposes of our discussion, there was this infrastructure panel. >> this was jared's baby, these infrastructure group, he loved them. >> right, all these industries, bill ford who runs general atlantic, josh paris from apollo, in addition to others -- >> and an old friend of the trumps. >> absolutely. t

the "new york times" -- mr. kushner. a "new york times" story that curb numbers real estate company got $500 million in loans. no direct connection, no under case he got below end rates. ed: jared kushner rarely speaks. i think what's been going on. there was a leak that came out of nowhere. donald trump on drudge is running for reelection and brad parscale is going to be the campaign manager. my understanding from people inside trump world, this was clearly leaked by jared kushner. kushner is looking for his way out. six months or a year from now. but they were locking that down, parscale is doing that. and that gives jared a way out. howie: all presidents are running for reelection. capri: i think there has been an intrigue surrounding this power couple and i think there are people inside and outside the white house who don't know what to make of this. howie: they never liked the fact that two members of the president's family where high-level advisors. capri: they almost want them to fail. ed: the media has been out t

against mr. kushner. >> woodruff: how unusual is it for top government officia to be in these kinds of mtings with people whom their firms or firms they are associated with stand to benefit from financially? >> it's amazingly unusual. it is basic protocol for government officials to run what is known as a conflict check or a due diligee check to make sure that, before they meet with prerate financial its and persons, they don't have any kind of a conflict. that coul not possibly have been done in this case, and it's rather sattunning at this high level and this far into thh administration such a check wasn't done. >> woodruff: and evan osnos, as if all this weren't enough, u have the swirling questions around his security clearance, the fact tt it's now 13 months into theew administration, jared kushner still does not have a full security clearance and he was downgraded this week. >> yeah, this is, in a sense, the culmination of the iss s we haen talking about. from the very beginning, jared gkus

against mr. kushner. >> woodruff:ow unusual is i for top government officials to be in these kinds of meetings with people whom their firms or firms they are associated wit stand to benefit from financially? >> it's amazingly unusual. it is basic protocol for government officials to run what is known as a conflict check or a due diligence check to make sure that, before theyeet with private financial interests and persons, they kin't have any of a conflict. that could not possibly have been done in this casend it's rather stunning that, at this high level and thisarnto the administration, that such a check wasn't done. >> woodr and evan osnos, as if all this weren't enough, you have the swirling questions around his security clearance, the fact that it's now 13 months intohe new administration, jared kushner still does not have a full security clearance and he wasowngraded this week. >> yeah, this is, in a sense, the culmination of the issues we have been talking about. from the very beginning, j

president trump needs the discipline that mr. kelly has imposed. mr. kushner and ivanka have to decide if they serve the president better by walking way from the white house roles. >> staggering. >>> the white house expected to release the school safety proposals today or tomorrow following a fascinating meeting with president trump and group of lawmakers. that meeting left democrats optimistic about progress on gun violence and left republicans absolutely shell shocked. >> the president pushing to raise the legal age to purchase a rifle from 18 to 21. and nra leaders oppose that idea. the president rejecting steve scalise's call for a pro conceal carry measure in a broader gun control plan. >> we put conceal carry between states into this bill. we are talking about a new ball game. you know, i'm with you, but let it be a separate bill. you never will get this passed. if you add conceal carry, you will never get it passed. >> the president did not hesitate to call outlaw makers. listen to this exchange. >> some of you people are p petrified of the nra.

kushner's family company. the loan was triple the size of the average real estate loan made by apollo. shortly after kushner's companies received the loan from apollo, the private equity firm emerged as a beneficiary of the tax cut package that the white house championed. they got a loan from citi loan, that was made shortly after mr. kushner met with citi group's chief executive. last years' ad campaign was a success for choicehotels.com badda book. badda boom. this year, we're taking it up a notch. so in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, "wow, maybe i'll glow too if i book direct at choicehotels.com". who glows? just say, badda book. badda boom. nobody glows. he gets it. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com tempur-pedic delivers. only tempur material precisely conforms to your weight, shape and temperature. and tempur-pedic is the best at minimizing motion transfer from your partner, so you won't be dis

kushner's family company. the loan was triple the size of the average real estate loan made by apollo. shortly after kushner's companies received the loan from apollo, the private equity firm emerged as a beneficiary of the tax cut package that the white house championed. they got a loan from citi loan, that was made shortly after mr. kushner met with citi group's chief executive. last years' ad campaign was a success for choicehotels.com badda book. badda boom. this year, we're taking it up a notch. so in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, "wow, maybe i'll glow too if i book direct at choicehotels.com". who glows? just say, badda book. badda boom. nobody glows. he gets it. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com i was wondering if an electric toothbrusthan a manual.s better and my hygienist says it does but they're not all the same. who knew? i had no idea. so she said, look for one that's shaped like a dent

that is a top priority for us, and we expect mr. kushner to continue his work on that. it is something very important to the president. >> shannon: joining me now, former ambassador to the united nations, senior fellow at the american enterprise institute, fox news contributor, ambassador john bolton. >> glad to be with you. >> shannon: you know he is involved in all sorts of things, middle east peace, how does this impact him? still got security clearance, just not top-level. what does it mean? >> there is a pretty significant gap between seeing material at the top secret level with all of the code words and compartmented information versus adjusting information at the secret level. in that sense, until the security clearance is resolved, he sees a smaller universe of information. now, whether the negotiations, what is going on behind the scenes, really, that doesn't make that much difference in his day-to-day work. i don't think you can tell from the outside. i think what it illustrates is, they've got to get these issues resolved. i don't blame jared kushner. i don't

kushner. >> up the gentlemazoo. he bought a building on sixth avenue. couldn't afford it. wasn't a good investment. he's under water. >> multiple properties. >> to fix the problem, he uses the white house as a way to cut good dead deal sg. >> and his sister went to china saying we can get you visas if you do certain deals with us. this is something kushner has been doing all along. it's now just coming to accumulation. >> this is third world stuff. >> this is what happens when you elect a president who is in over his head who doesn't understand how government works who thinks because he won he is entitled to do whatever he wants. >> do you think he knows what his son-in-law is up to. >> how is your day? $185 million today sitting in the white house seat you gave me. meanwhile, major question to hang over the white house, is jared kushner on the way out, according to "new york times," he is also firing mr. kushner. legal entanglements the investigation of the kushner family's real estate compan

trump needs the discipline that mr. kelly has imposed. mr. kushner and ivanka have to decide if they would serve themselves better by walking an away from the white house roles. >> joining us from washington, d.c. is tal kopan. i want to give a split screen of the latest 48 hours at the white house. tal. >> one issue is it is another day in the trump administration. it feels like this is the pace of news that we have grown accustomed to today. it is remarkable. the continued headlines show disarray of the organization. it is easy to get sidetracked by the palace side of it. these are the people crafting policy and steering the ship. it has broader implications beyond the whiff of chaos and drama that we are focused on with the personalities. this has serious consequences. >> hope hicks. some called her trump's prozac. >> we have to find out. she was close to the president with him the longest other than his children in the white house. you know with him from the beginning. reports she was the last person to walk him to the residence every nig

harris met on multiple occasions with jared kushner. >> in november, apollo lent $184 million to mr. kushner's family real estate firm, kushner companies. an even larger loan came from citigroup, which lent the firm and one of its partners $325 million. that loan was made in the spring of 2017, shortly after mr. kushner met in the white house with citigroup's chief executive michael corbat. >> seth: you know that saying when a friend asks you for money because he's in a jam and you decide hey, he's your friend, you'll help him out. so you say "how much do you need?" and he says "half a billion dollars." [ light laughter ] and you say, "what the [ bleep ] did you do?" [ laughter ] that's jared kushner. [ laughter and applause ] seriously, that -- that is cartoonishly corrupt. how much more suspicious can jared kushner get? he took millions in loans from companies he met with in the white house, tried to set up a secret channel to talk to russia, can't get a security clearance to complete a background check and lurks ominously in the background of every white house photo like he's the

stay with me, mr. parker. ...saving time when it matters most. stay with me, mrs. parker. that's the power of and. >>> just days after being stripped of his top secret security clearance, new information about jared kushner and blurred lines at the white house. the "new york times" is reporting that kushner's family business received half a billion dollars in loans from two companies after kushner met with the heads of those companies right inside the white house. and kushner reportedly discussed giving the co-founder of one of those companies a job within the administration. kushner who is the president's soon in l son-in-law was among a group of white house officials stripped of their top level access after working on a temporary clearance for more than a year. i want to bring in anthony brown of maryland with us now. he is a retired army colonel, harvard he had indicateducated are also on the house ethics committ committee. we appreciate you being with us. >> great to be on. >> so jared kushner has had his security clearance downgraded, but we learned that there were fo

according to the "new york times" mr. trump is also frustrated with mr. kushner who he views as a liability because of his legal entanglements. the kushner real estate company and publicity over having his security clearance downgraded. according to two people familiar with his views. in private conversation the president vacillates between sounding regretful mr. kushner is taking arrows and annoyed he's another problem to deal with. jonathan, i can understand how that can be at some point you root for a guy and then realize your rooting for the salvation of your son-in-law when you have other things you ought to be doing. >> i think the "new york times" wrote it correctly. the president is conflicted over this. he does vent about jared privately but likes having ivanka and jared to some extent around. the most interesting thing that happened this week on that front is the "wall street journal" put out an editorial in the kindest possible way suggesting that ivanka and jared might want to consider and walking out and leaf the white house for the good of t

presumably, unless mr. trump restores mr. kushner's clearance or selective access, mr. kushner won't have the ability to find out what he doesn't know. >> chief of staff john kelly says, you're not getting them, at least not yet, but the president can overturn that if he wants. aaron miller, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >>> when it comes to president trump's new trade policy, it's the united states versus the world right now with one of his top trade advisers saying that right now no country will be left off the list when it comes to new steel and aluminum tariffs. but even as the trump administration digs in on a possible trade deal, he tweeted, quote, we have large trade deficits with mexico and canada. nafta, which is under renegotiation right now, has been a bad deal for u.s.a. massive relocation of companies and jobs. tariffs on steel and aluminum will only come up if the new and fair nafta agreement is signed is, closed quote. you can see canada is the largest number of steel exports, mexico is 9%. aluminum in canada more than triples the amou

mr. kushner. the bigger problem for kushner may be the fact that mueller's investigators are asking questions about mr. kushner's interactions with potential investors from overseas. kushner's internal foe chief of staff john kelly displayed some humor today in the homeland security department. >> i would just open by saying i have almost no right to be up here on this stage. i was in the department -- >> you have every right. >> i missed every one of you every day. i went -- [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> truly, six months, the last thing i wanted to do was walk away from one of the great honors of my life, being secretary of homeland security. but i did something wrong and god punished me, i guess. [ laughter ] >> you're not alone. all this as the white house may be getting ready to say good-bye to one of its other generals, multiple sources familiar with the matter confirmed nbc news that general mcmaster may be departing his role as national security advisor as early as the end of this

i think the time has come for mr. kushner, having been stripped of his secret service access and no longer, i think, able to be the master of middle eastern diplomacy or relationship with mexico, and his company that he left having this huge loan to pay off in january, it's really time for him to think about does he want to depart and attend to his business? isn't it much better to separate for his father-in-law's sake, to separate out the business now from the governance issues? it just seems to me the time has well come. >> i do think it's important to make a distinction when you say this doesn't look great, but there's no evidence that there was any kind of conversation in the white house about securing a loan. i mean -- >> we have no idea. >> we don't know. >> you don't know because it looks bad, but for clarity's sake, let's say there is nothing in this article that says that happened. >> there's no recording or transcript of what this -- >> and it would implicate the companies themselves which don't need to do t

i think the time has come for mr. kushner, having been stripped of his secret service access and no longer, i think, able to be the master of middle eastern diplomacy or relationship with mexico, and his company that he left having this huge loan to pay off in january, it's really time for him to think about does he want to depart and attend to his business? isn't it much better to separate for his father-in-law's sake, to separate out the business now from the governance issues? it just seems to me the time has well come. >> i do think it's important to make a distinction when you say this doesn't look great, but there's no evidence that there was any kind of conversation in the white house about securing a loan. i mean -- >> we have no idea. >> we don't know. >> you don't know because it looks bad, but for clarity's sake, let's say there is nothing in this article that says that happened. >> there's no recording or transcript of what this -- >> and p would emapply caimplic companies themselves which don't need to do

gates and all the rest, can you explain our audience any linkage mr. kushner has with mr. manafort and mr. gates? theyn the zeitgeist, are separate or is there some form of linkage there? guest: they worked together on the trump campaign. there was a meeting in trump tower that is being examined by the special counsel's office identify paul manafort and jared with russian operatives that have offered to her on hillary clinton. after paul manafort left the trump campaign in august and, rick gates stayed on worked very closely, as i understand come with jared , anothernd others issue we think the special counsel is examining. there is certainly a crossover. what i can say for sure is we don't know what robert mueller has on this. francine: stephanie, thank you so much. we will be back with our guest jordan rochester and kristen taylor of barclays. we are also hearing from russian president vladimir putin, giving his state of the nation speech at the federal assembly in moscow. this is very interesting because we have the russian elections march 18. he was talking about the s

is jared kushner on his way out? according to t"new york times," mr. trump is frustrated with mr. kushner. the investigation of the kushner's family real estate and his legal entanglements, the investigations of kushner family's real estate company and the publicity over having his security clearance. >> i can understand how that can be where you root for a guy and you spend your time rooting for the salvation of your son-in-law when you have other things to do. >> the president is conflicted as it is. he does vent about jared privately and he also likes having ivanka and jared to some extent around. the most interesting thing that happens this week on that front is the wall street journal put out materials in a possible way suggesting that ivanka and jared may consider walking out and leaving the white house for the good of the president. >> rupert murdock, they are very close. nothing of that will get published at a minimum and people who are familiar of the process say probably actually more than knowledge and probably a bit of a back and forth on that. that's a significant sig

in case of mr. kushner. we jumped over norms with regard to nepotism torsion divestment of interest. we jumped over norms with regard to his security clearance and look where we are now. a lot of reports including our own reporting that mcmaster could be out at the end of the month. we all know it has happened to michael flynn. this turnover, how does it impact national security? >> it can't be good. what we're seeing is we're seeing this story appear on about a 30-day sine wave. and i think that's a reflection. >> i think it might be a problem. the problem is process. unless your national security adviser is brent scowcroft, it is your process guy. he is the one who imposes order and discipline and sequence. and he dislikes all of those virtues. so i think we see this recurring every three to four weeks and it will recur even if hr leaves. this week putin delivered a major speech and showed a lot of video for what he describe as invincible nuclear weapons in florida. the president stays silent when it comes

how has it been -- what has mr. kushner's engagement on the issue been from your perspective? >> jared has a lot of very refreshing ideas. he's also got a refreshing amount of intellectual curiosity. he likes to learn about issues like this. and he asks a lot of good questions. he has a lot of enthusiasm as a reformer. so i've appreciated the opportunity to work with him. >> so i want to turn for a moment to the policy itself, to sentencing reform as one aspect of the broad problem i think it's fair to say of incarceration in the u.s. and its spread. some would say that sentencing reform, and especially federal sentencing reform is kind of nibbling around the edges of the scale of the problem, that because relatively -- a relatively small percentage of those under correctional observation in the u.s. are federal prisoners, now this is where the matter of women is most directly affected, of course. half of drug offenders that are imprisoned at the federal level are women. but it's still a small number being imprisoned in the country overall. most are in state and local prisons.

mr. lemere, as of tonight -- first of all, you site 16 sources. so the leaking business is robust these days in washington. is there any more stability tonight than say -- let's pick a long time ago -- last night? >> no. >> continue, please. >> the people we have talked to, white house officials, aides on capitol hill, outside advisers all paint the same picture, moral in the west wing is as low as it's been in months. and they all point back to beginning with one thing, the departure of rob porter, which set off a chain reaction which has had a significant effect throughout the building. when porter left after accusations of domestic abuse by both of his ex-wives a spotlight was shone on john kelly, chief of staff, who came under extreme fire br letting porter be in the building and defending him immediately after the allegations came to light. our reporting tonight suggests that -- you may recall, it's ash wednesday and a week after the porter scandal broke, john kelly with the mark of

mr. kushner and his wife, the president's daughter, ivanka trump, have remain at the white house despite mr. trump at times saying they never should have come to the white house and should leave. yet aides also noted that mr. trump has told the couple that they should keep serving in their roles even as he has privately asked mr. kelly for his help in moving them out. it's like hunger games. >> it's like hunger games. i don't even know what the right analogy is. the hunger games cannibalism involved in it. i was thinking more reptiles. it's like scorpions in a really wet sock. you know, you've covered elections for a long time and that you know person sell policy. to some extent there's a feedback loop. this presidency, the person and he will the policy have always been kind of messed up. so most of these, of the existing white house staff, the senior ones who are still there, there have been simmering grievances against them since the beginning and none more than jared kushner and ivanka

mr. ruddy said, mr. trump relied on a small circle of colleagues and a management style that amounted to trial and error, the strongest survived, the weak died. mr. ruddy insisted that mr. trump was finding his groove in the oval office. but his subordinates are faring less well. >> if you judge him by the standards of which he sort of sees the world, which is am i getting attention in ratings, it's going pretty well, right? if you judge it by the prism of the american presidency, it's spinning out of control. it just depends how you view it. the issue is the folks that work for trump, most of them are pretty conventional political operators, so that's why they're talking to folks like caitlyn and my colleagues and saying, oh, my gosh, what is going on here? to them this is not a good thing when a president will go on one day and flout his subordinate from the nra and come out with gun control, and the next day announce sweeping news to his staff. in the end, i don't know if trump himself

kushner decided not to do. safe travel, guys. >> eboni: when we come back russian president vladimir putin puts in a bid for reelection, how moscow and beyond are prepping at the polls. when he's not campaigning or maybe when he isn't, vladimir putin boasting of new invisible missile, how the u.s. officials are reacting. alright, i brought in high protein to help get us moving. ...and help you feel more strength and energy in just two weeks! i'll take that. -yeeeeeah! ensure high protein. with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. ensure. always be you. ancestrydna can pinpoint where your ancestors are from... and the paths they took to a new home. could their journey inspire yours? order your kit at ancestrydna.com i'm trying to manage my a1c, then i learn type 2 diabetes puts me at greater risk for heart attack or stroke. can one medicine help treat both blood sugar and cardiovascular risk? i asked my doctor. she told me about non-insulin victoza®. victoza® is not only proven to lower a1c and blood suga

in fact, mr. kushner showed up there, apparently went to see king abdullah without any real sp support from the embassy. this ad hoc diplomacy is not good and it seems to be consistent. we don't have an ambassador in somalia. i was visiting there. that's where we have troops in contact. we don't have an ambassador in libya, we don't have an ambassador in turkey. this is not just one issue. this is a department that i think has been deliberately undercut and that will not help us. we can't conduct the business of diplomacy in the united states on a one-off basis, ad hoc meetings by people that frankly may be well-intentioned but unknown in the area. >> you're a former u.s. army ranger, you know a lot about classified information. can a special u.s. envoy like jared kushner really go into meetings with a leader like the president of mexico or king abdullah of jordan or go to china, deal with the israeli-palestinian peace process without top secret information? >> i think it's difficult. first of all

mr. mueller determine that. there is no better person, patriot, prosecutor, than mr. mueller to determine the truth and the facts. but having been in government a very long time, as well as on the outside, and having seen a lot of traditional pay to play, this is now bribe and benefit. i've never seen anything like it. and people who are close to the kushner family in new york vis-À-vis the real estate business see this as a very, very dangerous development for kushner and for his family. >> now, i have to say, again, the kushner -- and the family is saying this content did not take place inside the white house. i mean, is there any way to know for sure who is telling the truth? >> ultimately mr. mueller will come to that conclusion and he'll present the evidence. second, it doesn't matter whether a bribe, if in case that was what happened here, takes place inside the oval office or at a restaurant a block away. a bribe is a bribe. a pay for play, a bribe to benefit is what it is whereve

a spokesman for kushner's attorney says mr. kushner has met with hundreds of businesspeople during the campaign, transition, and in the administration. to hear ideas about improving the economy. he said no role in the kushner companies tends joining the government and is taken no part of any business loans or projects with or for the companies after that. the downgrade of kushner's security clearance provided another opportunity to stop democrats taken a swing at the son-in-law. >> i don't think he should have been there to begin with. especially with the portfolio he had. the president doesn't place a high value on experience, knowledge and judgment. he just, i guess, it's people he knows and trusts. >> bret: sarah sanders called kushner a valued member of the of administration. president trump has opened the white house to extensive and often live coverage of some of his meetings, as we saw yesterday in the cabinet room. tonight chief national correspondent ed henry looks at whether the president's open mic policy shows effec

my understanding is that mr. kushner no longer controls or makes decisions regarding his companies. there has been that separation. but even with that being the case, once again, i think the more information we have, the better that is for the american people. >> and the same thing ivanka trump surrounding her business dealings? >> i think it would be consistent throughout. my understanding is all the members of the trump family have separated themselves from those business dealings chl. look, anyone who comes to the white house, almost all of them, have been dealing with something already. they knew that before voting for donald trump, but just as i want the others to be transparent. there is no evidence, by the way, that they haven't been. there's no evidence that it's quid pro quo at all. i know that sounds exciting, but there's no evidence that's been the case. let's go ahead and see what the answers are. i suspect at the end of the day, it probably won't amount to much. >> your intelligence committee heard from hope hicks, the president's now soon to be foreign director this we

do we have any sense with mr. kushner's role and whether he had anything to do with this firing? >> well, jared kushner having lost his security clearance doesn't have access to some of the most sensitive intelligence, which would allow him to take part in the most sensitive national security deliberations. he's still involved in trying to put together a middle east peace plan and the white house intends to table that. he went down to mexico and i think he's trying to work to smooth out a relationship that's obviously been extremely contentious because of president trump's repeated promises to build a wall. so i think it's going to be interesting to watch whether he can carve out a place with very powerful new penalties in the mix. mike pompeo is going to be aggressive. he has the president's ear, he gets along well with the president. john bolton is an extremely outspoken figure, someone who goes on television, writes regularly to advocate for his views. these are arguably bigger personalities, stronger voices than jared kushner was dealing with before. so we'll how he fits in.

kushner and his wife have remained in the white house despite mr. trump at times saying they should never have come to the white house and should leave. yet aides also noted that mr. trump has told the couple they should keep serving in their roles even as he has privately asked mr. kelly for his help in moving them out. he wants them to stay, but wants them to leave. that representative of so many other issues the white house is dealing with. >> that tells you everything you need to know. what's happening now is this seems to actually -- this white house operated in a state of chaos for over a year. this seems to be kind of having an impact now, not only with the gun meeting earlier this year -- earlier this month -- this week when the president was all over the place on guns, scrambling the issue for lawmakers, but yesterday talking about imposing these tariffs without any plan, spooking the stock market, concerning u.s. allies and relevant republican lawmakers on this policy chl when you have the inner circle shrinking with the departure of hope

what we know, part of mr. kushner's role is negotiating middle east peace. if there is information he needs to have access to in that capacity, he needs to help achieve that goal. he should have an opportunity to do it. that is completely at the discretion of the president in a limited basis and that i know of. the president is clear he gave john kelly the chief of staff the ability to decide what was going to happen on the clearances. john kelly has made that decision. >> under the category of chaos, we look at these tariffs. i understand, you understand what trump's disposition of in terms of muscling up and then falling back on a position. but tariffs are a dangerous thing to do that with. that's why he took people by surprise. this isn't what advisers wanted. people are telling him that isn't the intelligent way to do this. let us get people on board with it. he blew all of that away and went all out with it. now he is negotiating through twitter. is this the right move? >> i think, chris, if you go back and look at the campaign two years ago, he had bee

keep serving in the roles, even as he has privately asked mr. kelly for his help in moving them out. that's stunning. >> as you know, he can say did i have things on different people within the same half-hour and he will adamantly believe whatever he is saying at that moment or tell you. i think he is really conflicted with his daughter. on the one hand, he is proud of her and he talks about how she has done well on the tax issue. he is very pleased with her work there. he likes having her round and he believes she is getting beaten up because of him. jared kushner he has started to see as a liability. and on the one hand, some people have said, he has some sympathy for him. but on the other hand, this president doesn't like when other people's headlines start to make the president look bad. and that's how this president sees it. 97 mind that it is a larger piece which is this russia probe. the president feels like the all splashes back on him and it is not really sustainable. that having been said, does that mean they will eminently leave? my u