excuse me. 10 former white house chiefs came to the white house and gathered around the table to give him their best advice. agreedl told him and all that he needed to be empowered to be effective as white house chief. of course, donald had no intention of empowering him as we found out. most of those chiefs came away feeling not very optimistic about his chances, feeling he had not prepared seriously. one former white house chief put it rather unkindly. he said rights previous had the attitude of a personal aide and cruise director. host: what did he mean by that? guest: he meant that reince priebus did not do any serious perforation for the job of white house chief of staff. it's an enormously important job and requires an extraordinary skill set. it requires a kind of infrastructure of deputy chiefs and things that you have to know in order to run the white house well. in this former chiefs opinion, priebus had not done any of that preparation. priebus would argue that donald trump was a unique president. donald trump is who he is and he was going to run the white house like the 26

an exhaustive week from the white house. we'll look at the events that might have the most impact. >> 25% for steel. it will be 10% for aluminum. >> steel wars. new reaction to the president's tariff remarks and how other countries are ready to retaliate by hitting jeans, bourbon and motorcycles. >>> the hope hicks era. the latest on her sudden departure from the white house and what it means for the parking lot. >>> new comments from form attorney general eric holder. he talks about the donald trump/jeff sessions conflict. >>> right now, new reaction from capitol hill from a member of the house intel committee dismissing the significance of hope hicks' comment about telling white lies for the president. here is democratic congressman mike quigley just a short time ago. >> it's not what she talked about. it's what she refused to talk about. she joined mr. lewandowski and bannon and jump junio-- trump j in refusing to answer questions. the fact that they're going along with the white house on a gag order, which makes finding

he was invited to the white house the outgoing chief of staff ten former white house chief came and gathered around a table to give the best advice and they all told him and agreed he needed to be empowered to be effective and of course donald trump have no intention of empowering him as we found out but most of those chiefs came away not feeling very optimistic for his chances and he had not prepared seriously. one former white house said he had the attitude of a personal aide and a cruise director. >> what did he mean by that? >> i thank you meant that 18 hadn't done any serious preparation for the job of white house staff it is enormously important that requires an extraordinary skill set and the infrastructure deputy chief that you have to know to run the white house and his former chief's opinion he had not done any of that preparation but he would argue donald trump wass a unique president and is who he is he would run the white house like the 26th floor of trump tower not empower anyone in the traditional way is white house chief. >> at that lunch reince priebus was given advice but w

house and aren't the white house. this is seriously going to be a situation where things just leak and they are this one-sided and potentially damaging, don't we need to know the whole story? and so let's just find the leakers. >> well, i would certainly like to find the leakers. it would be a heck of a news story. >> harris: yeah. >> it would be a public service. i mean, having said that anybody who has been around washington for a long time, harris, knows it's almost impossible to find the leakers. leakers are smart. they -- you have people in the media who want the information. and don't wants to give up their sources. and, lord knows, we have done that, too. you have gotten leaks. i have gotten leaks. i don't give up my sources because you want people to continue to talk to you. and the result is very, very seldom do we ever find out who these leaks are coming from. it's clear that there is a series of leaks and does it make it harder for people to just do their business in this town? absolutely. >> you know, i wo

and hope hicks whose job it is to make the white house look good, made the white house look completely out of control and unsympathetic to the two abused wives of rob porter. and that was an accurate description of the white house, they did not care about the ex-wives of rob porter, donald trump, john kelly did not care about the ex-wives of rob porter, and hope hicks helped direct that to the country. no white house director has had a worse episode in the job than that. that came after the lack of judgment after she got caught publically engaged with n a romantic affair with a married man who had the title campaign manager, corey lewandowski. she got caught by reporters on the streets of manhattan having a quarrel with the married man she was having an affair with. donald trump had the good sense to fire corey lewandowski but never had the good sense to fire hope hicks. part of why hope hicks survived as long as he did as the most incompetent white house director in history, is that most of the white house press corp. fell for her and fell for her in a way they have not fallen for mem

interview with the president from the white house. which did not think the president in the most favorable light, make president with child petulant, because we were in his house and he came down and spent time with us and was jovial and resting in person, focused and clear. completely friendly. i will say this and think about her. she does know her stuff and is steeped in policy. us, which she fed especially goes a long way camera crews. was are interesting examples of people who get a hard time almost every day, and ashley knows to story short on ivanka and how people feel about ivanka. >> i sat down with ivanka and jarrett a number of times and they are incredibly polite. i wrote a story that followed the line, follow the house of questioner, and he couldn't have been nicer and more polite. front the story coming he mentioned it -- and i think i had to deal with stephen miller on stories and people have a lot of opinions about him. professional, polite. i did a profile on him, not revealing sources, but one thing that supposedly ab

at the hands of the white house. >> reporter: t

i'm not sure it matters if the conversation took place in the white house or out of the white house. this is more than an appearance of a conflict. if these are all factually true, this is him taking advantage of being in a position in the white house. what that means legally for him, i'll let lawyers say that. but people need to understand the ethics rules are some of the most stringent that happen in any government office, in any private sector company if you work in the white house. >> i think it represents a bigger pattern of a problem with this white house, which is that they've come in, and from everything that we've seen, they don't think the rules apply to them. so we see it in this context of applying the ethics laws and the ethics rules that all other administrations of both parties have adhered to. we see it in the security clearance context where they set aside the rules that have applied to administrations of both parties historically. >> also jared kushner meeting privately with the chinese ambassador and jared kushner meeting with russian businessmen during the transit

jeff bennett is live at the white house. before we get into all of that, there was an incident outside the white house a few minutes ago. get us up to speed as to what happened. >> secret service says emergency personnel responded to what they describe as a male victim who suffered a self inflicted gun shot wound outside the north fence line here of the white house. the man is, at the moment, still unidentified. it all unfolded shortly before noon eastern. uniformed secret service officer came into the briefing room, warning of a report of shots fired. we were told to shelter in place here in the briefing room. then outside unfolded the emergency response. we could see secret service officers with gun drawns taking up positions all around the west wing or white house here. president trump is not here, as you mentioned. he is at his private mar-a-lago estate. sarah sanders said the president had been made aware of the situation and fully briefed on it. we know from the secret service no one else was injured in the incident th

whether she's in the white house or out of the white house. this is someone who's a close confidant, a gatekeeper of sorts to the trump universe and the trump political orbit. the role that the -- comparison to make is to uma abedine and the hillary clinton and regardless of what people think and the opinion of the president, there's no question that hope hicks, you know, a 20-something is someone who has had a consistent access to the president and to candidate trump and she'll have that as long as she wants it. >> last question here about that trade announcement we were talking about. i want to ask you about the way this which that announcement was made. we saw meetings like last week many times before. the president opens the door to cameras. reporters come in and watch it unfold. you had a steel companies and aluminum companies there and not a lot of give or take or differing views. what does the announcement tell you about policy making for this administration at this moment in time? >> well, what it tells us is that it's being done in a

somehow linked to trump or his campaign or his white house or. his staff who have been indicted some of them have already pleaded guilty so there's just a big big complex of people who are behaving in ways that the american culture sees as inappropriate unethical illegal or even dangerous and that's why there's a special prosecutor the full power of the law has now been brought in to investigate all this issues whether it's russia in the campaign and now it's a dealings of question or another things are being investigated. as well so it's a question or is the is the kind of tip of the iceberg here here's the most dramatic and most glaring example of this apparently unethical behavior he still hasn't been indicted there are mostly reports in the press that we're dealing with so we just have to give the guy his constitutional rights and wait till the actual facts come out in a court of law or in some other mechanism but it seems that he is just the tip of a much bigger iceberg a bigger problem of people who behave in this way and they are very much

mcmaster could leave the white house by the end of the month and i'm guessing the white house is pushing back on that? >> they are pushing back on that. there was a quote from one spokesman over here that the president is referring to some of these reports as fake news. now, of course, don, as you and i have talked about frequently on your program, when the president describes something as fake news, more often than not it's not fake news. and we're hearing from our sources jim sciutto, barbara starr and others here at cnn, hearing that mcmaster could be out by the end of the month. jim sciutto and i are also hearing that plans may be in the works for h.r. mcmaster to join the think tank, the hoover institution, which is based here in washington and out at stanford, and that that may be the landing spot for h.r. mcmaster after he leaves the white house. no plans have been finalized or anything like that, but that is something that is being discussed at the moment. and so in addition to having jared kushner's security clearance downgraded from top secret to secret, the communications dire

the white house. but cnn learned the president is encouraging an ally to tortures his chief of staff on television. is the president trying to bring down john kelly? >>> and the sex guru tapes. she says she has 16 hours of tapes that could help the u.s. investigation into russian election meddling. but where are the tapes and will she hand them over? >>> welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> we're following breaking news. another high level white house official is leaving. president trump's top economic adviser gary cohn is resigning. the news came just a short time after the president denied any chaos in the white house, but admitted he does like conflict. we'll talk about the breaking news and more with senator chris coons and our correspondents and analysts standing by. first let's go to the chief white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, another west wing shakeup. >> reporter: that i

when he's in the white house? >> jared kushner simply cannot continue in his present role. >> some of you people are petrified of the nra. if you add concealed carry to this, you'll never get it passed. >> mr. president, it's going to have to be you to bring the republicans to the table on this. >> we need to act. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to your "new day." it's thursday, march 1st, 8:00 in the east. two days of chaos in the white house. white house communications director hope hicks is resigning. she's still there, but will soon be gone. a source tells cnn that the president berated her for admitting to lawmakers that she tells, quote, white lies, end quote, on his behalf. adding to his turmoil, president trump attacking his own attorney general again for how he's handling allegations of surveillance abuses.

as white house communication s director. >> this looks to me like more evidence of a white house in disarray. >> taking ae ining aim. the president stuns republicans with a clear message he's ready to embrace gun control. lawmakers are doubtful he'll keep his word. >> is this the tuesday trump or the thursday trump? >> i don't know whether that was a performance or that is actually the new position of the white house. >> your word is your bond. maybe not. and no reservations. just hours after president trump attacks jeff sessions on twitter, the attorney general fights back with an interesting show of solidarity. this is a joke. >> these attacks on attorney general sessions are inappropriate and unwarranted. >> crazy town. we begin today with a turbulent 24 hours for president trump. lashing out at his attorney general on the same day he loses one of his closest and most loyal confidants, hope hicks. she was like family to the president. ironically, it is a member of trump's real family that could be causing him the most headaches. i have a great team to break all of it down. but fi

he met with them in the white house. today another story suggests kushner may have used his public office for personal gain. nbc news today is reporting that federal investigators are scrutinizing whether any of jared kushner's business discussions with foreigners during the presidential transition later shaped white house policies in ways design either to benefit or retaliate against those he spoke with. that's according to people familiar with the investigation so far as well as witnesses who have been questioned by mueller's team. those witnesses say the special counsel is asking about kushner's efforts to secure financing for his family's real estate properties focusing on his discussions with individuals about qatar and turkey, russia and china and united arab emirates. a spokesman tells nbc says he didn't mix or his former companies business in those contacts and any claim otherwise is false. joining me now is to sort it out is the co-author of that report. i want to start with you. tell us what you know, what you

house and the front door of the white house, only a few hundred yards away from where the person would have been standing. and this is of course, all fenced off. you can't walk up to the front door of the white house, and in fact, they have increased the barrier between normal pedestrian traffic and the white house grounds, because of the recent spat offense jumpers, and so in addition to the fencing that lines the entire perimeter of the white house, there is an additional line of bike racks, and similar to those behind me. and so, there is a pretty good distance between where the average person can go and the white house itself, but nonetheless, when somebody has a firearm that close to the white house, and uses a that firearm, that is something that is quickly requiring a major law enforcement presence. we should point out that the secret service made it clear that none of the protech tees were at the white house at the time and that means no one from the first family were there and the president and the first lady are in florida back en route to washington, d.c., and so at no time

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somehow linked to trump or his campaign or his white house. or his staff who have been indicted some of them have already pleaded guilty so there's just a big big complex of people who are behaving in ways that the american culture sees as inappropriate unethical illegal or even dangerous and that's why there's a special prosecutor of the full power of the law has now been brought in to investigate all this issues whether it's russia in the campaign and now it's a dealings of question or another things are being investigated. as well so it's a question or is the is the kind of tip of the iceberg here here's the most dramatic and most glaring example of this apparently unethical behavior he still hasn't been indicted there are mostly reports in the press that we're dealing with so we just have to give the guy his constitutional rights and wait till the actual facts come out in a court of law or in some other mechanism but it seems that he is just the tip of a much bigger iceberg a bigger problem of people who behave in this way and they are ver

white house officials say it is all perfectly normal. we'll discuss that next. ♪ ♪ there are two types of people in the world. those who fear the future... and those who embrace it. the future is for the unafraid. ♪ ♪ the future is for the unafraid. mvo: we had support from the synagogue, the churches. ♪ when disaster strikes to one, we all get together and support each other. that's the nature of humanity. ♪ i'll stand by you. ♪ i'll stand by you. ♪ and i'll never desert you. ♪ i'll stand by you. intrtechnology withnema. incredible color, sound and streaming. just as the creators intended. ♪ up to $200 off at dell.com ♪ when watching what you eat is causing a whole lot of food envy, try new marie callender's delights. a new take on comfort food. like our baked turkey meatloaf. because eating well calls for marie callender's delights. because eating well i'm an outdoorsman. so i've asked chase sapphire reserve cardmembers to find my next vacation. chile, what's going on? i'm at the el tatio geysers. geezer. geyser.

so imagine being here to see the white house and have someone run up in front of the white house and fire off a couple of gunshots and end up dead. that is the scene for many people here this afternoon. and now this individual is not released by the secret service. they have identified him, but they are trying to notify the next of kin. and now sh, on ther side of the white house complex, law enforcement officials are taking a look at the vehicle that had a bomb squad na cleared the vehicle and pulled the contents out of it and investigating the vehicle, and the law enforcement on the scene said they believe that the vehicle is connected to the incident and so we don't know exactly what the details are right now, but we want to point out that no one connected to the white house was in dan r danger. the only person connected is the person who committed the suicide. no law enforcement fired any guns at any time. the investigation continues though, and this part of the white house remains a lockdown. ana. >> scary situation, and again the president was not there and the vice president w

house on tax policy and on trade policy, i think it's a big loss for the white house. yes, i don't think chaos is too strong a word. >> so the gary cohn departure would be another sign of what you initially called dysfunction or also chaos? >> yes. gary cohn, i think he's been a very constructive force on a number of issues. i think that's a very big loss. >> do you think it's a sign that the president is drifting one way or another, if he can't keep someone who you clearly respect like gary cohn in the white house? >> well, it appears on the trade battle, gary cohn and steve mnuchin lost to mr. navarro and secretary ross which i think is very unfortunate. i felt that the way these tariffs were rolled out was simply terrible. it was not done properly and apparently took a lot of people by surprise, and candidly, we all acknowledge here that tariff issue is one that as it relates to china, we need to deal with china on metals. but this proposal they put out there really went after our friends and allies in canada and germany and south korea and elsewhere. so i think we

white house? >> what do you make of maggie's reporting then that you would expect from the president relating to ivanka? >> i don't think i believe her reporting, to be honest with you. >> why? >> i don't think that's how the president would operate. he puts something out in orbit or people are allowed to say sun certain things that aren't actually as it seems. that may be the narrative they're putting out there. that might not be the actual truth of how this is going on. >> i have no problem believing that donald trump would ask john kelly to throw ivanka, his own daughter, under the bus. but i think the important thing is that he would just do it. he cares about himself, he doesn't care about anybody else. i think the problem is -- look, they look like a nice couple. i don't know them. they're family. but they cause nothing but trouble for donald trump since they've been in the white house. it is double trouble. so jared has all these problems with foreign banks. he can't get a security clearanc

somehow linked to trump or his campaign or his white house. or his staff who have been indicted some of them have already pleaded guilty so there's just a big big complex of people who are behaving in ways that the american culture sees as inappropriate unethical illegal or even dangerous and that's why there's a special prosecutor the full power of the law has now been brought in to investigate all this issues whether it's russia on the campaign and now it's a dealings of question or another things are being investigated. as well so it's a question or is the is the kind of tip of the iceberg here here's the most dramatic and most glaring example of this apparently unethical behavior he still hasn't been indicted there are mostly reports in the press that we're dealing with so we just have to give the guy his constitutional rights and wait till the actual facts come out in a court of law or in some other mechanism but it seems that he is just the tip of a much bigger iceberg a bigger problem of people who behave in this way and they are very m

kushner in the white house. i respectfully request you provide an advisory opinion on these matters and this member of congress lays out the concerns, raised in this article about jared kushner not being divested. from his active business entities' financial holdings. jared kushner having personally guaranteed loans to a private business while he's serving as a white house official. jared kushner meeting with potential investors and creditors in the business entities while in a position to do favors for them as a white house official. quote, do these actions by mr. kushner constitute a breach of his ethical obligations to the american people? thank you for your attention to this matter. i look forward to your response. sincerely, a democratic member of congress from the eighth district of illinois. he says i look forward to your response, does he really think he's going to get a response to this? he has. and it comes with a big surprise. the office of government ethics wrote back and broke some news. the office

two days of chaos in the white house. white house communications director hope hicks is resigning. she's still there, but will soon be gone. a source tells cnn that the president berated her for admitting to lawmakers that she tells, quote, white lies, end quote, on his behalf. adding to his turmoil, president trump attacking his own attorney general again for how he's handling allegations of surveillance abuses. "the washington post" reports robert mueller is looking into the president's efforts to force sessions out last summer. >> and there's more. jared kushner has heat on him. the president's son-in-law is now facing a damning report in "the new york times" that says he secured hundreds of millions of dollars in loans for his family business after taking meetings with financial executives at the white house. the key here is the timing. now, moments ago we spoke about all of this, all this west wing chaos, whether it's real, with former white house communications director anthony scaramucci. listen to what he says about morale at the white house. listen, this is a man with zero

many inside the white house are reporting this week the white house staff has moved beyond worry to near panic that the president of the united states is now completely unleashed. that is to say, somehow measurably more unleashed than he already was. and it's all about the woman who had to suffer the world-wide humiliation of a public trump today -- yesterday, actually, on her way out the door. just watch how natural this is. that was donald trump reduced to sign language because he needed to keep that far away. a great distance away from reporters so that he would not be able to hear any of their shouted questions about stormy daniels or anything having to do with the governing of the united states. the white house did not release a translation of the sign language. i, for one, have no idea what it means to stand beside a person and just point at her repeatedly. so please feel free to share any of your suggested sign language translations with us on twitter. the woman the president was pointing at is the youngest white house communications director in history and not the most incompeten

kushner in the white house. i respectfully request you provide an advisory opinion on the matters and this member of congress lays out the concerns, raised in this article about jared kushner not being ding di divested. having personally guaranteed loans to a private business while he's serving as a white house official. meeting with potential investors and creditors in the business entities while in a position to do favors for them as a white house official. quote, do these actions by mr. kushner constitute a breach of his ethical obligations to the american people? thank you for your attention to this matter. i look forward to your response. sincere sincerely, democratic member of congress from the eighth district of illinois. he says i look forward to your response, does he really think he's going to get a response to this? he has. and it comes with a big surprise. the office of government ethics wrote back and broke news. office of government ethics wrote back laying out the serious ethical and criminal matt

you ever seen a white house like this? >> no. and i think what's going on now -- there are two stories that are coming together. there's the mueller investigation. there's the russian story and the possibility of collusion and the possibility of obstruction of justice. but there is now a subtext that people in the white house will say to you, it is unclear to them whether donald trump can effectively govern, whether he's capable of it in terms of his own abilities, conduct, and whether or not things have gotten to the point where the wheels are coming off of this presidency. we don't know that. but certainly people in the white house are openly, with each other and with journalists, raising those kinds of questions. >> it's not clear who has authority or what authority. >> and it's been that way from the beginning. >> indeed. but, you know, as people disappear, like hope hicks was, you know, one of the sidekicks, and i remember talking to her about what job she was going to take after the election. and she said, i just don

and he's lost secretary of health and human services, white house chief of staff, deputy white house chief of staff, yet another white house deputy chef of staff, national security advisor mike flynn, another deputy national security advisor on the national security counsel he lost the intelligence director there and middle east director there and the director of strategy planning there and deputy chief of staff and the chief white house strategist steve bannon and that other white house strategy where we don't know where wat his job is went on tv a lot, sebastian gorka i think was his name. the director of public liaison, the communications director, am rosa and james comey, chief of staff of the fbi, special advisor to the president on regulatory reform, carl icahn more on him in a moment. he's lost the director of use of government ethics, the counselor to the treasury secretary, the director of the national security agency, the deputy director of the domestic policy counsel and the vice president staff it has been amazing. the vice president's chief of staff, the vice president's

house that is almost like losing a member of the family white house communications director hope hicks is quitting she's only have the job about six months and she was the fifth person with that title since trump took office last year an obvious hit to his administration but hope higgs is more than just white house staff she was considered the closest and most loyal of all of trump's inside circle having worked with him longer than anyone the closest a family that you can get with donald trump and now after testifying before the house intelligence committee she says she is leaving is there a connection we'll go to washington in a moment and ask first this report on trump losing hope perhaps no one else was as close to president trump her departure came as a surprise to most in the white house hope akes had a seemingly untouchable role in the west wing as trump's communications director and one of his longest serving advisers she was well known to have the ear of the president he never publicly criticized her as he's been known to do with other advisers as the news broke trumpet her a f

but back to the real white house. jeff zeleny and others are reporting that the president doesn't think -- is being told by friends that he doesn't need a new communications director. hope hicks had her last day. the job is vacant right now. he's been told he doesn't need an official communications director or even maybe official chief of staff. what do you think? >> in any other white house, this would be mind boggling. such important jobs would be left unfilled. we don't know if the president will leave the jobs vacant, but the mere idea that he wouldn't need a chief of staff or communications director i'm sure will shock and frankly kind of worry folks who used to have the job. we both know bush and obama communications directors, we know how important those roles were in those white houses. people organizing events for the president. trying to help him set the agenda, figuring out ways to communicate his message through interviews and press conferences. these are not optional jobs. these are vital roles inside any

heel trod the white house floor. alluding to the black guests at the new year's reception, a dayton, ohio newspaper snidely noted that on february 3rd, 1864, and i quote "a negro major in full uniform was put off the streetcars in washington. and made to walk. let him go to the white house for consolation. there he will be received as one gentleman receives another." three weeks later that african-american major, alexander t. augusta took up that newspaper's sarcastic challenge and went to the white house. dr. augusta was the director of the freedmen's hospital, along with his assistant surgeon and protege dr. anderson abbott, also black, he attended a white house reception, where, according to a baltimore newspaper, they were kindly received. dr. abbott recalled that the commissioner of public buildings, benjamin brown french, greeted them, that is he greeted him and dr. augusta with all the urbanity imaginable, and conducted them to the president. upon catching sight of major augusta, lincoln advanced eagerly a few

white house." the best example of lincoln's solicitude for black staff members is his treatment of william johnson, a valley/barber who accompanied the first family on their journey from springfield to washington in 1861. at first johnson worked at the executive mansion as a porter but the other african-american employees, who were all light skinned, objected to his dark complexion so vehemently that lincoln reassigned him as a furnace keeper and handyman and tried to find him another post outside the white house. to secretary wells he wrote in mid-march, 1861, "the bearer that is william is a servant who has been with me for some time and in whom i have confidence as to his integrity and faithfulness. he wishes to enter your service. the difference of color between him and the other servants is the cause of our separation. if you can give him employment, you will confer a favor on yours truly." with lincoln's help, johnson landed a job at the treasury department and to enable him to earn extra mon

. >> a chaotic 48 hours at the white house. hope hicks is stepping down leaving the president without one of his most trusted aides and advisers. >>> and pressure ramping up on jared kushner. a new report says big loans went to his family business after he met with those lenders at the white house. >>> go through due process. >> take the guns first and go through due process second. president trump leaving the republicans and nra in shock. he appearedmeasures. now several big companies are trying to take the lead on gun violence. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. a whole week of news in one day. >> you got that right. i'm dave briggs. after the horrible day at the white house, it is thursday, march 1st. you have the president who has loyalty above all else and without his loyal hope hicks. she is set to depart in the coming weeks. this comes a day after what hicks told white lies to protect the president. >> there is quote nothing nefarious about hicks leaving. the president calling her outstanding and a great per

wolf, it was pretty clear in the white house press briefing that the white house press secretary sarah sanders was struggling to talk about this issue. at one point she said the president has made it clear he's denied these allegations. that has not heaappened, wolf. we haven't heard from the president. my guess is the next time the president is in front of the cameras he'll be asked about this. >> sarah you said repeatedly you've addressed our feelings on that situation in regards to the stormy daniels payment. specifically, can i ask did the president approve of the payment that was made in october of 2016 by his long-time lawyer and adviser michael cohen? >> the president has addressed these directly and made very well clear that none of these allegations are true. this case has already been won in arbitration and anything beyond that, i would refer you to the president's outside counsel. >> when did the president address specifically the cash payment that was made in october of 2016 -- >> the president has denied the allegations against him. again, this case has already been won in

saying something very wrong at the white house. i want to you elaborate. >> the chaos does seem worse but there have been many weeks during the trump administration. remember infrastructure week? these weeks where the news from russia dominates. the president is tweeting his way into trouble. there have been a lot of weeks like this and that's why he is a significantly unpopular restaurant. i think we can overstate how bad things are because he is still the leader of the republican party. the economy is doing pretty well. having learned if 2016 to write him off. i ain't doing it again. >>> a new bid to influence public opinion taking his claims of russian military superiority directly into americans' living rooms. and later, a self-acclaimed russian seductress. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain.

believe me, everybody wants to work in the white house. yeah, there will be people, i'm not going to be specific, there will be people that change, they always change. they want to go out and do something else. as is their custom, the new york times has added a new layer of intrigue regarding mr. kohn's sudden departure, his plan to leave also followed conversations mr. kohn held with the president in recent weeks about the possibility of replacing john f. kelly as chief of staff. the president never formally offered mr. cohn the job, those people insisted. they had discussions with him about whether he would be interested. cohn had threatened to resign in the wake of the president's comments about charlottesville, but remained and went on to shepherd the tax cut legislation. his resignation comes almost one week after hope hicks resigns. this is make no mistake an all time record in the modern era for turnover in the key positions around the president. put another way, this is a picture of the swearing-in at the white house back on januar

he is in charge of that white house. if he didn't know, why didn't he know? i think, frankly i'm stunned they're going back to this. could be arguing about many other things, and other things transpired but this must have stuck in twith him and the president. >> great reporting to break that story initially. thank you both. >>> coming up, exclusive reporting from nbc news. unplanned trade war because he was furious about the news cycle. the unglued president in two minutes. peninsula trail? you won't find that on a map. i'll take you there. take this left. if you listen real hard you can hear the whales. oop. you hear that? (vo) our subaru outback lets us see the world. sometimes in ways we never imagined. (avo) get 0% apr financing on all-new 2018 subaru outback models. now through april 2nd. and i recently had hi, ia heart attack. it changed my life. but i'm a survivor. after my heart attack, my doctor prescribed brilinta. it's for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. brilinta is taken with a low-dose aspirin. no more than 100 milligrams as

his abrupt departurefrom the white house sending a shockwave from the white house to wall street. >>> and don't miss the interview d th morgan stanley's chairman anceo james gorm egorman today 3:30g thing. you, us together for the rest of forever thing. buy one iphone 8, get one iphone 8 on us. more for your thing. that's our thing. >>> gary cohn out, resigning from the white house as a trade war brews. the fallout straight ahead. >>> doubling down, president trump threatening a new round of tariffs, this time aimed at the eu full details ahead. >>> and sounding off the biggest leaders in corporate america weighing in on the president's trade plan on cnbc full reaction coming your way. it's march 7, 2018, you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc >>> good morning a warm welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. i'm wilfred frost. >> i'm seema mody. good morning to you. >> good morning to you great to have you with us. let's get straight to the markets following that bombshell announcement that president trump's top economic adviser gary cohn is leaving the white house. it saw future

if they're not working for the white house they're working against the white house. we see a lot of people throwing other people under the bus in front of the press in order to distract from their own scandals. we see a lot of stories that are meant to sort of create facts on the groun, as much as cover facts on the ground. they've got to cut it out, settle down and get their act together. the big question is can this kind of chaos go on? some people say no, it's leading to something. or something drastic is going to happen or we're going to get to a crisis, some sort of emergency where that chaos system won't function. i'm of the view we might see this chaos in a constant way for a long time. >> oh, wow. okay. >> get use d to it. >> next week will be interesting, then. josh rogin, kim wehle, thank you very much. >>> one of trump's economic advisers joins us live to debate the merits of raising tariffs on steel and aluminum. it's time for the 'sleep number spring clearance event' on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number sett

house that the president enjoys stoking, white house personnel reporting there has been in washington all week long and the president appears to enjoy stoking, what really stands out here is the white house has not really had to answer for at all is that in addition to firing rex tillerson on tuesday morning, later on the day tuesday they went on to fire another senior official from the state department. they fired the guy who put out the statement. the undersecretary of state that put out what we believe is the true statement explaining the realtime line when tillerson was fired, the timeline that says he was fired right after the russia remarks and put as freaking spotlight on this question whether his russia criticism could conceivably have been the precipitating event for why he got fired. the statement goldstein put out that tillerson had not spoken to trump, despite the president saying they had, the statement that goldstein saying that tillerson hadn't been fired days before, that he only found out he was being fired on tuesday morning when the president tweeted about it, it wa

chung to go out and tell the white house press corps. and that set off this very panicked kind of huddle among the president's aides about how you actually do that. i mean, this gentleman is an official of a foreign government to have him walk into the white house briefing room and announce something from the podium would be highly unusual so they sort of had this as the fallback position will send them out to the microphones in the white house driveway. and that's what ended up happening. so you have this rather extraordinary spectacle of the national security adviser of a foreign country announcing a major item of american foreign policy in front of the white house. >> and the president at one point saying to him, let's just do it and he's saying that his president had not agreed to it so they're dialing up the south korean president to get his sign-off. in the midst of this, tillerson had to be notified and they had to say something to prime minister abe of japan. >> that's right. and you know, president trump got to prime minister ab

of white lies and the white house killed the president's credibility?

russians at the white house. those aren't just damaging leaks about infighting. that's classified ffgs that's being given to reporters. that's a whole other classification of leaks and that is something that john kelly in particular had moved to crack down on. the fact that we're seeing another one this week suggests maybe he is starting to lose his grip on the operation of the west wing. >> journalists benefit from leaks and yet i wonder if a do not congratulate type leak where it addresses national security, and if that's the leak that the president gained sympathy from some americans. wait a second. he has these staffers who are not working in his best interests. >> absolutely. i think you didn't see a lot of people jump to exploit that leak as much as you would the other more gossipy leaks and some people who are critical of trump are defending him in the wake of this leak, and it shows that president trump needs to do a better job of vetting his staff. a president from any party shouldn't have people around

of this white house. people don't want to endure that. as a democrat, just as an american, i can tell you there are couple of people who are thankful for in this white house. there was a point in time when i had general kelly on this list but he's become wayward. general mcmaster, as a democrat you're thankful he's there because he upholds some of the tenents of our democracy. these are the only two people along with nikki haley who haven't taken on the personality of their boss. everyone else has been tainted by donald trump. you look in the mirror and you become donald trump. >> we have to take a quick break. it seems to be in turmoil. we'll examine the fractured relationship between president trump and his own attorney general. ♪ i thought i was managing my moderate to severe crohn's disease. then i realized something was missing... me. my symptoms were keeping me from being there. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other

the white house insists he's not. some members of congress are not concerned after the president's latest face to face meeting with the nra. his second one this week. some are concerned on wednesday remember the president met with a broip group of lawmakers at the white house. he seemed to signal support for stronger background checks raising the minimum age to buy rifles and taking guns away from the mentally ill. that puts him at odds at times with the nra. but the president insisted he would never cave to them. >> the reason i had lunch with the nra i said you got to do something. they have great power. i agree with it. they have great power over you people. they have less power over me. >> that was wednesday. a couple of days after his first meeting with the nra. the second meeting came yesterday. chris cox was there and he tweeted, quote, "had a great meeting with donald trump and the vp. we want safe schools, mental health reform, and to keep guns away from the dangerous people. the president and vice president

other sides of the white house. not every one looped in. at least then the excuse was they had just gotten there. this was a new band of people who had never experienced the west wing before, protocols. they've had 13 months now. this is way things. are you have had a number of departures. one thing we've seen in terms of policy, the absence of rob porter, the staff secretary who left because of spousal allegations, he was playing a facility role. there's no one in that role. so what you saw in the chaos and the lead-up to what the president bmd tariffs, that's emblematic of how empty these chairs are. >> you reported that privately some aides have expressed frustration that mr. kushner and his wife are have remained at the white house plflt trump has told the couple they should 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 wh