historically this committee has worked in bipartisan fashion and steps have been taken together in a bipartisan fashion in terms of investigation. so this whole chapter has been one i'm sorry the republicans would like to put to rest. and going home to their constituents and still have this cloud hanging over the committee in terms of its legitimacy in doing investigation where the chair is in contact with the white house when the white house is part of the investigation surely was causing consternation. >> do you think this -- you know, completely solves, his recusing himself from this investigation, completely solves the issue of it bz politicized. you do have the ranking democratic. your fellow democratic on the committee schiff who has been part of this drip drip drip information. who has come to the microphone and said more than his words. more than circumstantial evidence against the president

here. has he not also been part of what has been a politicized investigation that is supposed to be independent investigation of this administration. >> i think the ranking member has been prudent in not disclosing confidential and credit information. that is not the case from the white house. the chair. moving forward it would probably take all of us to take a page from the senate book and hold on one second. i'm sorry to make your wait again. paul ryan is taking questions. let's listen in.

what this idea represents is seeking how do we lower premiums. how do we lower premiums and continue the protections for people with preexisting conditions. this idea does that. this is one of those ideas that narrows differences and brings people closer to consensus. there are other ideas we are working on and talking about trying to build consensus on to do just that. lower premiums even further. give states more flexibility to address unique needs and still protecting.

[ inaudible question ] >> i will never start believing in charts. i'm a big blooifr in project management. we have in our timeline a lot of flex bltd built into it. you know why. we had to work with the united states senate. they move slowly on any given weekday month year than the house does. we have plenty of cushion built into plans and well within the spectrum of timeline we envisioned dealing with the obamacare legislation. [ inaudible ] >> all those things are still the same. >> into the russia ties and metaling in the election, do you still have faith that he didn't

do anything wrong in this classified information. >> no, i don't believe. i just put a statement up probably while you were sitting here. devin nunes has earned my trust over many years for integrity and dedication to the critical work that the intelligence community does to keep americans safe. continues to have that trust. i know he is eager to demonstrate to ethics committee he has follow all proper guidelines and laws. until the meantime. it's clear the process would be a distraction to the house intelligence committee investigation into russian interference in our election. so chairman nunes has offered to step aside as the lead republican on this particular probe and i fully support his decision. representative mike conway a senior member of the committee will now lead investigation with respect to house i'm confident he will see and follow the facts where they lead. >> i don't think that's the case. chairman nunes wants to make sure this is not a distraction

to a very important investigation. he wants to go clear himself while this investigation continues on without any kind of distraction. >> just to be clear on that. given the fact you say he has your support, you reiterated several times your trust in him, but the fact this has been a distraction, does he still have or do you still have confidence in him to lead the committee overall. >> i do. i do. [ inaudible ] >> i'm not going get in details of conversations going on. we believe there are reformings and ideas that can do both things. protect and lower premiums. more insurers can cover the marketplace. one of the concerns we have is insurers are leaving left and

right and down to one choice and in some casings no choices. that's not good. having a monopoly is not good. it's not a choice. it's a monopoly. ewe want to bring more u uninsurers in the marketplace. we are all dedicating to making sure people with preexisting conditions get the coverage they need and it's affordable coverage. we want to find a way to do that in such a way that everyone else in the insurance market can also get lower premiums. affordable choices and more competition. that's what this is all about. i'm not going to go into details of particulars, but those are the kinds of debates we're having. that's why this is a step in the right direction. it's closer towards the final goal and agreement and we're going to keep talking and working until we get it right. >> did you urge him to step aside, sir? did you urge him to?

>> we saw manu raju trying to force a question. >> did you ask him to step aside because he would have the power. >> you note the speaker did not respond to that. >> this follows the breaking news which came out of nowhere the house intelligence there devin nunez has stepped aside from the investigation into any ties between trump associates and russia. the chair of that committee, the person who will lead the committee is mike conway from texas. paul ryan, the house pespeaker, said he still has faith in devin nunes and supports devin nunes. at the same time, devin nunes thought it was a distraction. >> this is a big deal. if you're just joining us. this was a man defiant in the face of critics, some from his own party, going to the white house, bringing this intelligence. this is someone who time and time again refused to recuse himself, insisting he could lead an independent investigation on the house side. now manu raju with us who has

been following him every step of the way, lhe would not answer whether this was because of paul ryan. he is blaming what he calls left wing activist groups for ethics violation complaints they brought. this is the first -- john and i have heard of this. what is he talking about. >> those complaints were levelled in the aftermath of how he briefed the president on the surveillance information. the allegations that he may have mishandled classified information, but really that appears to be covered in a lot of ways. members of congress are hit with ethics complaints all the time. a lot of these ethics complaints are dismissed out of hand because groups can file these from the outside. there's a process that takes a lot of time for these ethics to be processed. now, the real reason is what you heard speaker ryan say later in his statement that this had

become a distraction. it had become a distraction for the committee. it was a distraction for the information and a lot of criticism about whether or not the house could actually produce a credible investigation. now notably, paul ryan did meet with the intelligence committee, full committee earlier this week. with the republicans on the full committee earlier this week and said afterwards he believes this process is going to be getting back on track. the question is to what extent did the speaker push devin nunes aside. he said he has full confidence in devin nbc news and believes devin nunez didn't do anything improper. i tried to ask him at the end. did you try to urge him to step aside. he heard my question. didn't want to answer at the end of the press conference. that is a real concern the other republicans had that devin nunes just could not lead this investigation credibility anymore and nunes himself had been facing withering criticism.

did not want to answer questions anymore. would not answer my questions yesterday or the day before. given a lot of different explanations about his role in this controversy and clearly realized that he could not longer do this if this investigation were to move ahead. >> standby. we're just getting word the ranking member oeer of the hous intelligence committee is going to hold a conference any second now. while we wait for that, bring in dana bash. we were speaking to congressman jackie spear just a few minutes ago. she told us there was an intelligence committee meeting this morning. within the last hour or so which was shared by chairman nunes who said nothing to the entire committee about the fact he was stepping aside which a strange twist, strange ending to strange devin nunes saga. >> it's not an ending. that's what makes this so troubling frankly to a lot of

republicans, especially those on the committee chltd really kind of gives you a window into the leadership that he's had just in general on this probe. i mean, it was the same story when devin nunes went public with the fact he had intelligence that was very troubling and went to the white house. he hadn't told his committee members yet. one thing i want to add to what m manu was saying about the reason for stepping aside and that is the fact there is now an ethics

investigation into whether or not devin nunes acted properly and whether he released classify id information in that whole dramatic affair talking to the perez running to the white house and so forth. what makes this even more alic and wonder like, now you're going to have an investigation into the guy who was investigating. follow me here. that's what the ethics probe is going to be. whether or not all of the moves that devin nunes made, not just to tell the president, but also to tell the house speaker, whose office is right behind me, whether any of that was improper. so there's so many layers of kind of bizarre world up here with regard to this. it is almost hard to keep tralk track of. certainly there is political cover using this to step aside, but some of it is also real

because he is now being investigated. the ethics committee has the subpoena power. >> indeed and i think you put it better than anyone could dana bash as you often do. an investigation into the guy who was investigating. very important investigation. brings in panel. please stay with us. i just have to get you take on all of this. what do you make of it. the fact nunes didn't tell his own committee. >> i'm with dana. it is alice and wonder happened like. nunes has been under fire not only is he being investigated by the ethics committee for acting improperly. i think there are people on the ethics committee both some democrats and republicans who

are scratching their heads about how he behaved during this entire process with the whole cloak and dagger move. going to the white house. saying his sources were not white house related. then we discovered that, oh, yes, maybe they were white house related after the "new york times" named them. and i think there is a real question about when you are investigating the white house and pooem who worked in the transition and no longer in the white house and potentially in the white house. should you be dealing with the white house on that. the answer of course is no. you should not. he really ruined his own credibility with that move. i think he ruined his own credibility with the public as well as internally on his own committee. there was a war between adam

schiff, the ranking democrat and devin nunes. when you have that kind of war going on in a committee that is supposed to be completely nonpartisan, something has to give. i think it did. remore on the timing here because one of the things that devin nunes said what maybe got him in is his feelings they were people in the obama administration that were improperly perhaps or questioning officials associated with the trump campaign. now all of a sudden this week there's the reporting that susan rice may have unmasked the trump associated. that information comes up. that's not public after chairman nunes kept a secret for a long time. after it's public, he then steps aside. it doesn't make a lot of sense. >> you almost said in a sense, nunes had, you know, gained a little bit of credibility after

having really been embarrassed i think early on. you can argue that he this one thing i doll think is important is here. here mike flynn who was taken down because of communication with russia and he misled mike pence. it appears nunes may have misled paul ryan. remember, he didn't tell paul ryan the information he received came from the white house. he said it came from a whistleblower type person. so he very well may have misled paul ryan, the speaker of the house, the one guy who could push him off as chairman of the intel committee. >> and who didn't answthe quest did you do it. did you have the power. >> or he'll have to give the reporter the silent treatment like the president does

sometimes. paul, your thoughts on this, and, you know, the fact that he's pinning this on the ethics complaints. >> i think nunes has been tripped up by he's the ethics complaints because there's an ar caying rule in the house of representatives that if a member of the intelligence leaks classified information, that triggers an automatic investigation by the house ethics committee. they must investigate. now, what classified information would nunes have possibly released. the existence of a warrant, the foreign intelligence service warrant, which he kind of referred to obscurely in many press conferences. >> hold on. i just want to express my appreciation for what the chairman decided to do. >> i'm sure it was a very difficulty decision for him, but as he mentioned i think it is in

the best interest of the investigation. it will allow us to have a fresh start, moving forward. i look forward to working with mr. conway. this investigation is of such critical importance that we need to get fully back on track. it is i think worth noting that the information never went into hiatus. we've been continues to develop our witness list to work out some of the logistics in terms of how we bring people before the committee. what the process will be. we continue to go through the documents as i understand it. now the terms that the chairman viewed at the white house that i subsequently viewed are being made available to the full committee. that's a very positive step as well. so i do want to say i look forward to continuing to work with the chairman on the whole range of other issues that our committee has to deal with. we have, i think, worked

together very well on a range of other issues and obviously the russia investigation is important, but there are a whole host of other issues the committee deals with on a daily basis, including of course some of the preeminent threats to the country posed by al qaeda, isis, north korea, iran, the challepo china among others. a lot of continues and important work to do. i look forward to working with the chairman on those issues. i look forward to working with mr. conway and the other committee members as well as the investigation goes forward and have great admiration and respect for mr. conway and look ford to continued support on that together. >> >> when did he tell you -- >> all right. the ranking member in the house committee, adam schiff making a statement saying he's looking forward to the continued investigation of alleged contact

with trump associates and russia. with the republican who will take over the job, conway. also said he'll continue to work with nunes on other matters. the big news today, the house intelligence, devin nunes stepped aside from the investigation into russia and he says it's because of these ethics complaints and accusations that have been filed on i him. we just got a statement from the house ethics committee which illustrates what's going on here. this is from the house ethics committee. the committee is a ware of public allegations and representative devin nunes may have made unthorsed disclosures of classified information in slielgs of house rules, law, regulation or other standards of conduct. the committee pursuant so committee rule 18-a is investigating and gathering more investigation regarding valuation. there is a house ethics committee investigation now as we're learning from this statement. >> into the man. >> into the man investigating ties between trump associates and russia. again, paul, you were just

finishing up. i'll let you finish your thought here. an ethics investigation does present problems for a committee chair. >> it presents serious problems. turns everything into a circus like procedure. he's going to be investigated while he's investigating on behalf of the house intelligence committee. here, what information would they be saying he disclosed. if clearest thing they're focusing on right away. he made reference to fisa surveillance. there are masking and unmachking of certain trump campaign members. the existence of a fisa warrant is classified information. so did he in fact refeel the existence of a warrant inadvertently in press conference. >> he didn't specifically say who it was for. >> well, when you start to describe what is in the surveilled information, trump associates, trump campaign members, you're starting to reveal the identity of the

warrant. now, he hasn't done that exactly which doesn't make this a slam dunk case against him, but it's enough of a case, i think, that he has to be removed as chairman for the purpose of this investigation. >> was he removed. did he step aside willingly. do you think he would have stepped aside because he was sick of questions ask p didn't want to be a distraction. or do you think there was paul ryan pressure here. >> if you put it that way, that is possible. there's nobody who has been closer to devin nunes, much to nunes, as manu raju. pretty remarkable. let's just take a step back. i think talking about manu, what he said earlier. yes, in is an investigation. as i said before, it's really like kind of unbelievable and it will be difficult for him to do his job, but let's just get real. if this wasn't such a public

mess, such a frankly public embarrassment for nunes and for the republican leadership, he would still be leading this probe. that's just the bottom line. if he didn't become as controversial as he has, than ethics investigation or not, he would still be doing it. i think that's just the reality, despite the fact that, you know, we have these comments from nunes from the house speaker and now from the ethics committee. when you look at where this goes from here. now yo have this ethics committee investigating what paul is saying may be the revelation of this. making public. do you believe? it sounded like jackie spear democratic on the committee sounded like she thinks the committee can move forward now. schiff has coverkchd on the guy the russian investigation. can the american people have

confidence in the investigation in the midst of what dana just described as a circus. >> i think so. it's a step in the right direction. i think it's a cumulative thing. i think devin nunes discredited himself and this investigation when he acted in really bizarre fashion. he doesn't -- he doesn't inform the ranking membership. he doesn't inform his own committee. immediately goes over the to white house and briefs the president. which he doesn't work for president trump. he represents a branch of government. his loyalty should to the public, to his committee. the optics were horrible. even if it was above board. it looked horrible. undermined his krebltd. krebl credibility. you want the house to be able to conduct a fair investigation that is deemed to be credible. >> you don't want independent counsel or a special prosecutor. >> i think devin nunes was the

best argument for an independent counsel. >> gloria borinquger. we're now 70 plus days. let's just focus on the congressional part of it for a reason right now: they couldn't get the health care bill passed. this republican led investigation has now been blown up and the chair has been relaced. this has not gone smoothly on either end of pennsylvania avenue. because this is a long lasting victory for them. i might add they have to change the rules of the senate to get that done and that is something that a lot of republicans are worried about in the long-term. on p house side it's just been a total mess.

it's been chaos. nair making a last-ditch attempt to get something out of the rules committee on health care. really more for show than anything else. i think what you have on this ethics investigation of devin nunes is just an example on how the house intelligence committee has not been able to even get their investigation off the ground here into something that's quite important. i think you know what you have and i want to echo. the question that i have here is really weather devin nunes even 4re68ed with his own very good friend paul ryan, paul ryan was out there talking about this leaker to devin nunes as being a whistleblower. if in fact it turns out that these were people who work for donald trump in the white house, that doesn't sound like a

whistleblower to me. i think in the end, that argument was kind of unsustainable. from paul ryan's point of view because he was out there talking about it and from deafen nunes point of view. just like general flynn's argument about talking to the russians, well i didn't discuss sanctions and oops, by the way, i misled the vice president on that, was unstainable. so you know, you have situation where people inside the administration and republican party are not leveling with each other about what's going on. and that's a real problem. >> let's remember. i mean now after attorney general jeff sessions had to recuse himself because of russia, now you have chairman nunes having to recuse himself because of something he says it's because of this ethics investigation.

others would beg to differ. >> mike flynn quit. >> this is the third causality of someone close to the administration because of russia. yes, nunes was running an independent investigation, but he was close to administration. he was part of transition. so for that period of time. i mean, this is three strikes for this administration all having to do some way with russia. >> it is. it's interesting how and we're not even 100 days in. and mike flynn obviously being the one who i think was really taking down by it, but look, i will say this. i think this is we can talk about the chaos, we can talk about the mess. this is a great sign for democracy. i think the fact that we hold powerful people accountable and that when ethical questions arise even the republican party, i believe is pushing out somebody in order to have a true bipartisan and ethical investigation. actually a positive side. i don't see it as just the negative.

this is good. it would be a bad sign if we didn't. >> this is exactly how this is operating. >> it is a strange episode. >> no schoolhouse rock episode about the intelligence chairman committee going to white house to get information, doesn't tell committee. goes back to white house and resigns without telling his committee. >> you can't make this stuff up. >> it's bizarre. i think the weird thing is that devin nunes, you would think that somebody who can get elected to the united states congress, somebody who manages to become chairman of the intel committee would know better than to do what he did. what he did was really amateur. not start and i also wonder if mike rogers had stayed in congress, if he were sharing the intel committee. what things would look like. >> we asked him repeatedly. he said much different. >> i weaver going to take a

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breaking news this morning. devin nunes is out. he says he is temporarily stepping aside from role. leading the investigation of russian metaling into the election. why, nunes is siting a series of ethics complaints against him. violating discussing material with the meeting at the white house just over two weeks ago. house speaker paul ryan also says he didn't want him to be a distraction. meantime, nuclear showdown about to begin in senate. democrats and republicans on a collision course over supreme court justice nominee neil gorsuch. take you live right now. looking at is the senate floor.

senators have begun debating the nomination. that will end in a democratic filibusters. that's when republicans will deploy, we expect, a nuclear option. what does that do? that changes what is needed. 60 votes to get the nominee confirmed down to a simple majority of 51 votes. it's a big deal. it could change the senate we know it forever. let's get to sunlen serfaty. little bit of a busy day. >> it is and it is a big deal as you noted. we saw a few moments ago. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell take the floor and open up a very busy day and really defending that he will by the end of the day invoke the nuclear option, talking about precedent that the democrats lead in 2013 when they invoked the nuclear option on lower court nominee. certainly defending move in advance of even doing that. he also blasted the democrats

for their filibuster of neil gorsuch. called it a radical move. noting that this has less to do with neil gorsuch the man. he said the opposition is more about the man who nominated him, i.e., president trump than the party represents and nominating himself. getting out front of this saying he believes there's a lot of politics at play here on the part of the democrats. we will hear from democratic minority leader chuck schumer in a few minutes. and first vote at 11:00 a.m. top of the hour. that's the vote to break the democratic filibuster. republicans don't have the vote. that is expected to fail. a small victory for the democrats here. very temporary victory then move on to the nuclear option after a few more procedural steps. back to you guys. >> sunland serfaty for us. thank you so much. what a day it is. we want to bring back panel. dana bash with us.

where'll talk about chairman nunes step b aide sigh in a money. what you're looking at now. live pictures on the senate side. this has an impact for the next 10, 20, 30 years. has ab impact the decisions being made in the senate today. impact on the senate, gloria, forever. look, the senate is supposed to be the place that thinks about legislation a little bit differently than the way the house does. thinks about judges in particular. let's talk about that. the house is majority, right. you know, you get a majority, things pass. that's it. the senate is the place that's supposed to work towards bipartisansh bipartisanship. this is a difficult thing for a lot of senators to see go away. started with harry reid, when harry reid said, okay, for judgeships, now you're only

going to need a majority because he got sick and tired of republicans blocking his judges, but he said it didn't go for supreme court nominees. we'll leave that aside. that will be different. low and behold now, a lot of democrats warned him, well the tables may turn and they did. low and behold now, republicans control the senate and they're saying, okay, we're going to do away with the filibuster for judgeship. for supreme court judgeships because, look, they can't get their nominee through any other way. the question is is this a slippery slope. dana knows more about this than anyone. i will is ask her this. is this a slippery slope that then will lead to legislation no longer being approved by 60 votes and that will be the huge problem. because for example, something like medicare which no one would

disagree is an important piece of legislation was passed in 1965 in the stat by a vote of 70-24. and that way, everybody had a buy in on something that was so important. and now, this could be the beginning of the unraveling of that. >> you know, dana bash to gloria's grate poineat point, y have republicans who hate the idea of this, but they're going to let it happen. you have senator john mccain who said this is going to be better for the senate overall, didn't mix the words. said that person is a stupid idiot. >> which is redundant by the way. >> he said they're a stupid idiot, but he's still going to support it. there's no way out of this at this point, right? >> i think john berman, redundancy is the least of their problems up here right now. yes, there is no way out of it. that whole quote, tells you

everything you need to know. i have talked to so many senators yesterday even this morning on both sides of the aisle who are momenting this. oh, my goodness. this is so bad for the senate. how could this happen. and yet they're going to go vote for it on the republican side at least. when i say it, i mean the notion of changing the rules and on the democratic side when i say it, it's fiull bu filibustering thi court nomination. then you can go to the other side to where they got to this point. in a lot of ways a lot of crocodile tears being shed up here. just to call it what it is. i don't like what's happening. i don't have a vote. gloria doesn't like what's happening. she doesn't have a vote. only 100 people have a vote. they are complaining and yet they are voting to change the rules and take the senate in a direction that is not necessarily the greatest thing

for the republic. >> it's awful what i'm going. i'm going to go ahead and do it anyway. lost in the political debate is fact you have a young healthy judge, neil gorsuch who will end up on the supreme court for a long time. very long time. legally speaking, what is the impact. >> there's a big impact because supreme court judges outlast presidents. they outlast congressman and they outlast senators. they have an enormous influence on the united states. largely forgotten is getting back to gorsuch's own record. is he really out of mainstream or is he deeply in the main steam of american judicial thought. that's where the debate should be. not so much focusing on filibuster. >> matt louis, to you, do you think, what is the likelihood of what gloria said. this goes beyond getting a supreme court justice on the bench. this goes to changing the rules to only simple majority needed

in the senate to improve legislation. >> first, i would say, if you can't confirm neil gorsuch, who can you confirm. he's a competent credible main street judge. i'm not worried about this. i'm an institutionist. i'm not worried about this for a bunch of reasons. first, nothing in the constitution about the filibuster. it was inadvertently set in place. it's not in the constitution. it's also arbitrary. at one point it was 66 votes. now it's 60. at one point you had to stand up and actually read, the mr. smith goes to washington thing. these a senate rules. not written in stone. they've been changed. you can certainly make a plausible and credible argument that says a president has a right to get a fair up or down vote, majority vote on a nominee for a supreme court, but that's different than legislative, which would still need the 60 vote threshold. i think people are up in arms about this.

this issue -- i do not think this is that big of a deal. i'm not a stupid idiot. this is not. >> so says you. ask john mccain what he thinks. >> let's ask gloria and see what she thinking. >> well, no. look. i think the senate has gotten to a point where even it doesn't work anymore. we all know that. my point is i don't want to see the senate turn into the house. it's going to particularize the senate more than it already is. this has a long-term implication on the courts which is people who will be appointed will be more plimt political to court. they will only have to be approved by majority: let's not talk about the impact on the plural senate for a minute.

let's talk about the impact on the judicial system in this country where you like to think that judges would have to be approved by more of a bipartisan vote to you wouldn't put logs on the bench. now, i think you're going to see that happening more and more. so that, i'm not a lawyer. paul, maybe you can talk to this. i think that is another one of the -- of the implications of all of this. if you only need a majority vote. not only on the supreme court, but also beyond which i would add was harry reid is doing. >> we got to take a quick break. stick around, we're going to be right back. a lot more to talk about. not just this senate debate. using the nuclear option to get neil gorsuch on the bench breaking news. devin nunes stepping aside from the russian investigation. we'll be right back.

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looking at the house minority leader chuck schumer. speaking on the floor. this is beginning of senate floor debate over judge neil gorsuch to put him on supreme court. democrats will filibuster. republicans use nuclear option. neil gorsuch will ultimately get on the supreme court. right-hand side of your screen. house intelligence devin nunes moments ago stepped aside from the investigation into possible ties between trump associates and russia. that was a major development this morning. that's not all that's going on today. >> it is quite a day for the president. because he is holding this high stakes meeting. with china's president today. he is also facing increased pressure to clearly define what u.s. policy in syria really is

after that chemical attack that killed dozens of innocent civilians including children. the president is saying his position has changed. how and what does that mean? what is he willing to do about it? >> that's a question being asked by democrats. republicans and even syria's most important state sponsor, russia. russia is saying what is the u.s. approach. want to discuss with david row cnn global affairs. reuters. thanks for being with us. you're getting information of reporting that the president is reaching out to people with opinions, lawmakers who have been known to be supportive of military action in syria. >> yes, i want to be fair here. just one, but he reached out to someone yesterday and said i'm going o take action. military action in syria. he said, president trump said he was talking about with mattis about what the options were. who knows if he'll follow through on that. this was one conversation. that was something the president

did yesterday. >> flat out. i am going to take military action. >> yes, this is donald trump and he says he's going to do something and you goedon't know what will actually happen, but that's what he said. >> we don't have that from the white house. that's important to note. we don't have any comment from the white house. of course we would welcome one. let's talk with the consequences here. militarily what can be done. the red line was crossed for obama. didn't take military action. multiple lines have been crossed. what are the obstacles. how far can the u.s. go with air strikes. what challenges do they run into with russia in the air literal will. >> it's an immediate yes. if you're going to act militarily in syria, you have to inform the russians beforehand. if you do that, people criticize you for informing the russians. politically, if trump wants to show he will use force and show leaders around the world he's

unplilu unpredictab unpredictable. it's much safer in syria than north korea. make a statement, but it is a huge step forward, and, of course, it's a huge reversal of what he said during the campaign. >> glad you brought up north korea because it will be a big part of the meeting today with chinese leader xi jinping. joining us now, u.s. ambassador to china. mr. ambassador. thanks so much. curious what your thoughts are on xi jinping. how do you think he perceives president trump. >> i think everyone is trying to figure out president trump. they view him as somewhat unpredictable. made a lot of statements negative statements about china during the campaign he walked back some of those statements. hasn't taken action like he promised. and then shortly after he was elected, questioned the one china policy and had conversations with the president of taiwan. since then t two have talked over the phone and now having

this face-to-face meeting. i think it's a good first step in trying to develop the personal relationship. and for each leader to underscore the priorities, the concerns and challenges. north korea obviously is a topic of major concern to both countries. >> mr. ambassador, this is a president who not only said he was going to label china currency manipulator on day one, which he hasn't done or took a phone call from taiwan president. he said, and i quote. china is quote raping the u.s. economy. actually so many of millions of jobs in america depend on trade with china. china is the largest export destination outside of canada and mexico. a lot of stuff going to canada and mexico were components that then come back to america as parts of automobiles and things

like that. china is america's number one export destination for all agricultural goods and commodities and processing. so millions of jobs in america depend on exports to china and if we ever end up in a trade war, both sides would lose consumers on both sides of the ocean would lose. and there would be a loss of american jobs as well as loss of chinese jobs and the coast of goods to american consumers would rise dramatically cutting into the amount of disposable income that americans would have. there are sticky trade issues between china and the united states. we don't feel they've levelled an affordable playing field the way chinese has access to markets in america. china needs to open markets more. they need to treat american companies and all foreign companies more fairly. the last thing we need is a

trade war. >> great to have yo with us. thanks so much on this busy busy day. following major stories on capitol hill. count down to showdown. moments from now, republican senators will invoke the nuclear option on the senate floor. we will be watching it live. also, we're following the fallout after the house intelligence chair devin nunes has stepped aside there the russia probe. much more to come. stay with us.

dear predictable, there's no other way to say this.

it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced, our senses awake, our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say: if you love something... set it free. see you around, giulia ♪

hello everyone, i'm kate baldwin. welcome viewers here in the united states and around the world. right now, house minority leader

nancy pelosi is speaking live. we have that. let's take you to capitol hill and listen in. civilized human behavior, and we want to get the briefing so that we can act upon it. today here we are 77 days. the republican house departs for two week break now. for the easter passover holidays. begin posing the same questions that the republicans will face from constituents. what had the republicans done with the control -- their control of the house the senate and the white house. to produce jobs. . where are the jobs? show us the jobs. democrats believe we should focus every day on job creation and growing paychecks for everyone everywhere in our country. you heard me say that over and over fen again. we should be creating jobs