to handle this. it's hard for me to see how jared does the job he has been doing without substantial clearance. the president has said to his friends, jared and ivanka are taking a lot of hits here in washington. maybe it's best. >> had a pretty good life in new york. maybe it's best for them to go back. thanks very much. that's it for me. the news continues right now. top of the hour. i'm briana keilar. chief of staff john chill meeting with reporters a short time ago and defending himself for his role in the rob porter scandal. abby philip, what's kelly saying? >> reporter: defending his reaction to this porter scandal. he is saying, going back over this timeline that he first learned of these allegations on

february 6th. that's the day that reporters from the daily mail came to the white house with these allegations of physical and emotional abuse against porter by two of his ex-wives. he said, quote, i have absolutely nothing to even consider resigning over. he did add that the white house did not cover itself hin glory f how it handled the situation. why they sent out statements praising porter even after photos of his battered ex-wives had been released into the public. meanwhile, kelly is also going over this timeline and insisting he did not get information from an office called the white house security office about problems with rob porter's file. he says he never learned about any of this stuff until the media came to them. when the media did come to them, porter resigned and accepted that resignation. it's important to read here.

mj lee has gotten from one of porter's ex-wives. when he first learned of these allegations he characterized him as emotional abuse. jenny willoughby said they after they thought it was only emotional abuse. that is insulting to anyone in an abusive situation now, emotional and psychological abuse is abuse. meanwhile, both of those ex-wives tell cnn's mj lee today that the white house still has not reached out to them about these allegations, but clearly this telling by john kelly of how this all went down really goes against a lot of what we learned. sources told cnn that people in the white house, including kelly, knew about these allegations long before they came out in february and, you know, perhaps how we square this

circle is just the way in which kelly said this to reporters, to us in that room when we were in there. he said he did not hear from the security office about the specific allegations or problems with rob porter's file. that's a very specific telling of the situation. it doesn't cover what we have heard from our sources, which is that on multiple occasions, there were people who came to folks in this white house with these allegations. we also know that the fbi had, in their possession, these photographs long before the daily mail published them in early february. >> very good point. abby philip at the white house, thank you very much. let's discuss this further with editor at large chris cillizza and juana somers with us as well. your reaction to this latest news, this defense from john kelly that we're hearing from abby? >> right, brianna. abby phillips said this goes against the mantle of the reporting we had. we reported at cnn that not only

was rob porter someone that john kelly had a lot of confidence in, he was actually being considered for a promotion here. i have to imagine that john kelly is always looked at as the grown-up in the room. even if he didn't know the full scope of what was going on, as he said, if you heard even an inkling of these allegations, whether it was emotional abuse or physical abuse as seen from one of his ex-wives as mj lee noted why didn't he dig in and figure out what was going on here? >> what do you think, chris? >> i think john kelly has learned the central lesson of donald trump's life learned from roy cohn which is never, ever apologized for thig and act outraged when people say you should apologize. >> and also deviate from the facts. >> that's the point here. i guess you can debate whether he had something to apologize for in his own mind. what is more difficult to

square, because it's not subjective, are the facts. we know last fall kelly knew at least something of the allegations against rob porter. he says i didn't know the extent of them. remember that he had information on the day -- by the way, hope hicks was helping to craft the rob porter statement in support of rob port er. he had the information. did he have the whole picture of the ex-wife with the black eye? the timing is very close. point is, he had much more information. this was not someone flying blind about what was alleged about rob porter. what was clear then and, frankly to me now is, john kelly liked rob porter. he thought rob porter did a very important thing, which is serve as a gatekeeper to donald trump, which is what john kelly wanted to do, limit the amount of information. rob porter played a role john kelly needed and therefore was

willing to defend him despite -- to juana's point would have to be concerns based on what you know. either he's the least curious person on earth about this or didn't care to pay attention. >> seems obvious he would have been fired about this yet he's sort of pushing it off on the personnel office. >> absolutely. that's the point here, this is something that came to him -- we found out that people in the white house, including kelly, knew about this. chris is absolutely right. they made a value judgment, decided not to look into this because porter was valuable, because he was someone that kelly personally liked and saw value, that these allegations without the picture -- sure, he didn't have the pictures but the allegations on their face should be enough. >> so there's another story percolating that is fascinating by maggie haberman, who has a number of very good scoops coming out of "the new york times." this is her reporting about the

president trying to get john kelly to push his daughter out of the administration. >> it is primarily about jared. he has said repeatedly to aides ivanka gets terrible press because of me. taking attacks on my daughter because of me. however, jared kushner is someone with whom he is frustrated. he goes back and forth to feeling bad by what happens happened to feeling irritated that jared kushner has become a liability of sorts in his own right, getting a ton of negative headlines. he will talk about how jared's getting killed, jared's getting killed. he is not always saying it with any sort of sense of self reflection or this is an extension of how they're looking at me. trump does not like when people attract negative headlines that could be a problem for him. and now he has a member of his extended family getting that in

droves. >> that's very macheavelean. >> trump the white house, very reality tv showy. sure, she's my daughter and he's my son-in-law but i would appreciate you pushing them under the bus. i do think maggie's last point is the most important one. this is what we know. donald trump hates negative press. but he doesn't like it when other people create it. steve bannon, reince priebus. if they're in that list, feen they're family -- they have a higher bar. >> he has a limit. that's clear. >> he does and he's a person who doesn't want to be upstaged fundamentally. there have been questions about ivanka trump's role as senior adviser, at moments she walk this is line, wanting to be seen

as a daughter who doesn't want to answer serious questions about her father and then want to be seen as a senior adviser. like rule 101 of the trump white house. he is the star of his show. don't do anything to get in his way. >> one other quick thing from a logistics point of view, neither thechl have permanent security clearance. >> that's right. >> yet if you made a list of the five most central advisers to donald trump, they're on everybody's list. so, how do they go about doing their jobs, particularly jared, given his portfolio? how do they go about doing their jobs just day-to-day. forget the broader -- their rise and fall of their relationship with donald trump. >> chris cillizza, juana summers. wall street is fluctuating wildly as president trump doubles down on his threat saying trade wars are good. his sudden decision to slap punishing tariffs on steel imports reverberating around the

world. richard quest is also the host of quest means business. first the stock market. your take on what we're seeing today. >> you're seeing a knee-jerk reaction from yesterday just continues. it was down more than 370 points at its worst. and we can -- look, the market, brianna, was already fragile. while this talk of tariffs did was tip it over the edge. now why is it coming back? why are we starting to move back? because there is a feeling in the market that it's a wait and see. he has made the threat. will the president carry it out? you have to put this into context, though. there is just aboutfrom the eur union to the chinese, just about every international organization, including many republicans, including the speaker of the house have all said that this is a very bad idea. to impose these tariffs.

>> the fear, richard, is that other nations will respond in kind and raise prices and that american consumers are going to pay? >> i'll go further than that. this is a racing certainty. make no bones about this. if the u.s. does broad-based tariffs on steel and aluminum, the european union has already said it is looking at tariffs on harley davidson's, and levi's. symbolic on we're going to get your attention. what happens when china does soy beans? what happens when brazil or europe does some other parts, crucial parts of u.s. agriculture? you can take this to the bank. if the u.s. does full-scale tariffs on steel, there will be full-scale retaliation in return.

>> richard quest, thank you so much. next, chaotic week in the west wing might be an understatement. what we're learning about the future of national security adviser h.r. mcmaster, one of his possible replacements is calling for a preemptive strike against north korea. retiring senator orrin hatch apparently not a fan of anyone who supports obama care calling them, quote, the stupidest, dumbass people ever seen. my next guest is an expert on the affordable care act. your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.

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the president's announcement on tariffs isn't the only thing

calling chaos. the west wing full of resignations and announcements in the russian investigation. "the new york times" has reported that the president has asked chief of staff john kelly to push kushner and ivanka trump out of the white house and back to new york. sheer cnn contributor maggie haberman. >> ivanka trump gets terrible press because of me, he has repeatedly said to aides. however, jared kushner is someone with whom he is frustrated. he goes back and forth with feeling bad about what happens happened and then being irritated that jared kushner is becoming a problem in his own right. he has a lot of negative headlines. he'll talk about jared is getting killed. he's not always saying it with any sense of sort of self

reflection or this is an extension of how they're looking at me. trump does not like when people attract negative headlines that could be a problem for him. and now he has a member of his extended family getting that in droves. >> joining me now to talk about this more, we have cnn political commentator paris denard and bill press, host of the bill press show. paris, would the president really push out his own daughter? >> i don't think he would utilize his chief of staff to push out his daughter. i do think if that conversation was to be had, he would have it directly with ivanka. being his daughter and being a trusted adviser throughout the campaign and now until the west wing, she has a unique position. the president does not want his daughter, someone whom he loves, to have these negative headlines and be attacked personally like she is. he has to figure out is it best for my daughter's counsel to be inside the white house or outside the 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 clearance. >> that's not true. >> he can't get a security clearance. >> he has a security clearance. let's be accurate. it is not at the highest level. >> he can't get a top security clearance and yet he's supposed to be in charge of the middle east and prison reform and mexico and all of that. >> why do you need top secret to be in prison reform? >> if i may, if i may, ivanka is out there, hocking her products. getting bad publicity. i think the president would be better off -- he would be better off if they went back to new york. >> paris, the president came out, tipped his hand on tarrives on aluminum and steel and seems to be against what so many people think he should be doing. they're upset with it. what do you think about him disregarding all that advice? >> at the end of the day, he's

the president of the united states and the president makes the decision. he gets the advice and counsel from those around him. on domestic policy, international policy, foreign affairs, he makes the final decision. people voted for him for his decision-making ability and how he wants to guide this nation. he makes the best decision based on what he believes is best for the american people and american businesses and interests. >> this speaks to a problem, brianna. nobody knew what the hell he was going to say before this meeting. john kelly wasn't even in the white house at the time. they did not know. he said maybe i'm going to do it, maybe i'm not going to do it. nobody in congress knew. the people in that room didn't even know. so the decision-making process david gregory just made this point, has really broken down. we don't know where he is on guns. he has this big meeting. he hasn't said i'm going to do this. i'm going to take on the nra but then he doesn't. he walks into these tariffs.

the whole place is out of control. >> and then he targets alec baldwin with a tweet. alec baldwin, whose dying mediocre career was saved by his terrible impersonation of me on snl now says playing me was agony. alec it was agony for those who were forced to watch. bring back darrell hammond funnier and far greater talent. that was sent at 4:00 a.m. people are worrying he is unraveling when they see things like this. >> today is friday, correct? >> yes. >> tomorrow is saturday. "saturday night live" comes on tomorrow night. he will repriev the role. doing it again. the president is known to get up very early. he operates on very little sleep. >> this is early even for him, right? >> he had a very early day

today. he was at billy graham's funeral service. he has been leading it well with dignity and honor. and quite frankly, darrell hammond is a lot funnier. >> you have to admire somebody like paris, who will go to any length to defend anything donald trump does. let me say this. he's my president, too, okay? i want to believe when vladimir putin says we've got this missile that can get around any u.s. defense system, i want to believe when the national security adviser, mcmaster, looks like he may resign, gary cohn, chief economic adviser, may resign. rex tillerson may be out. he's attacking jeff sessions. now his daughter and son-in-law may be on the way out. i want to believe that the president of the united states has more important things to worry about even at 4:00 a.m.

than alex,'s ca as he calls him baldwin. >> he can multitask and do multiple things at once. the average life of any white house employee will have served 18 months. with this white house it may be shorter. these departures that are speculative, rex tillerson went on the record on "60 minutes" and said he's not going anywhere. >> now anybody serving in government -- >> back to alex baldwin. >> so you want to focus on alec baldwin? >> if fairness, i asked about alec baldwin. >> she asked the question sfwlu went back to it. >> i did. the problem with the president is he's more interested in cable tv or snl than in running the united states of america. >> no. he's interested in tariffs and trade. >> let's face it, tv is over,

mr. president. run the country. >> he is running the country. >> paris denard, bill press, thanks to you. outgoing senator orrin hatch ripping into obamacare and its supporters calling them, quote, the stupidest, dumbass people. the architect of obamacare joining me live, next.

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the individual mandate tax that was established under that wonderful bill called obamacare. now, if you didn't catch on, i was being very sarcastic. that was the stupidest dumbass bill that i've ever seen. now some of you may have loved it. if you do, you are one of the stupidest, dumbass people i've ever met. one of the most regressive taxes in the tax code with lower income families paying most of the freight. >> let's talk this over with dr. zeke emanuel, health care architect and the author of several books including "prescription for the future." okay. you hear orrin hatch saying that. i think of some people that are known for colorful language. you may actually be related to one of them.

but i don't always think of orrin hatch with that. so, what are you thinking when you hear him say that? >> first of all it's a sat day in american politics when it's an ad homonym attack. you can can have your own opinion but not your own facts. affordable care act has been a pretty good success. coverage in terms of number of people uninsured dropped from 18% to under 11%. health care inflation has come down and the number of hospital acquired conditions has gone down. when the republicans repeal the individual mandate the projections are that premiums are going to go up, 18% on average and that the number of americans who are going to be uninsured is going to increase. i ask you, which policy is dumber, one that increases premiums and gets more people uninsured or one that gets

people insured and brings health care costs down? the affordable care act has been a big success. >> it's worth noting, and certainly i wouldn't want to just take your word for it. when you do look at the kaiser family survey you see it's the most popular it's been since 2010, which is when it was really dismal, not a good outlook for obamacare then. >> right. that shows you the longer the people are in the program, longer we have experience with the program and when you look at the alternatives, it's a pretty good deal. >> but it's changing because republicans have made some changes to it. they have attempted to dismantle it. >> right. >> i think you're going to see that the american public will rally towards it. one anecdote that reinforces your kaiser family foundation poll. the moment obama care came on i

signed up for it. i love the program. it allows me to get free, preventive services that i haven't been able to afford before. that's just one example. and i think the republicans have shown they don't have an alternative plan. what they have done is going to make the situation a lot worse. and it's interesting that senator hatch said it's a regressive tax. >> i was going to ask you about that. he said it's a regressive tax primarily funded by low-income families. >> totally false. what the plan does, affordable care act does, if you're poor, under 133% of the poverty line, you get medicaid and don't actually have to pay for your services. if you're above 133% of the poverty line and up to about $100,000 for a family of four, you get subsidized to buy insurance in the private market if you don't get it through your employer that. is helping people at the low end. contrast that with the republican tax cut which everyone says gives its biggest

benefits to the top 10% and undermines poor people and takes away any of the tax cuts they're going to get by 2025. the affordable care act is quite a positive, progressive subsidy of poor people. >> do you worry, though, with the changes that have been made if, people see a negative effect on their health care they still associate that with obamacare? >> i agree with you. i am worried because of the appeal of the individual mandate and a few other changes that the republicans have made under the radar that you are going to have this big increase in premiums and the republicans are going to blame obamacare when, in fact, it's their actions that have done this. this blame game is one of the problems. and, you know, unlike senator hatch, i don't like to insult people. but i do think we need to stick to the facts. the facts are that the affordable care act has been a success and the republicans have no alternative. >> zeke emanuel thank you very much. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me.

revolving door at the white house may be spinning again as cnn has learned h.r. mcmaster may be the next to go. who has topped the list to replace him. plus russian president vladimir putin doubling down on his announcement of missile capabilities as he releases what appears to be missiles flying over the state of florida. when i received the diagnoses, i knew at that exact moment ... i'm beating this. my main focus was to find a team of doctors. it's not just picking a surgeon,

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the revolving door at the white house could soon include the white house national security adviser. speculation is running high that general h.r. mcmaster could be the next high-profile trump aide to head for the exit door. one administration exit official says he could depart by the end of the month even. if mcmaster steps down, president trump will be looking for his third national security adviser in 14 months. joining me to discuss this, rear admiral john kirby, diplomatic analyst, former spokesman for

the state department and the pentagon. john, there are already three names that are floated as possible replacements. tell us about them. >> that's right. there are three names. we must start by saying that the white house denies vigorously that mcmaster is on his way out any time soon and that there's a search going on. there are three names that sources have told us are in consideration. let's take them one by one. first is the name by stephen biegun, vice president at ford motor company, third generation but has quite a bit of national security experience, working under the george bush administration, secretary of the counsel staff and senior staffer to condoleezza rice when she held that job. friend also tell you he is a quiet professional, very calm, very measured, good team player. he seems to be the lead pick and preferred choice of secretary of defense jim mattis, who sees in him that perhaps he could work a little bit better with than he

did with h.r. mcmaster. ford motor company denies that he's in consultations with the white house over any kind of move up dcoming. next would be safra catz, a co-ceo of a telecon company in silicon valley. and last year in 2017 she was considered for jobs inside the administration. some sources say one job she was under consideration for was direct efr national intelligence. that went to dan coats but her name is in the mix, somebody well known to the president and to the white house. not surprising she would be on this list. born in israel, emi dgrated to e united states. as an imfrant to this country but also a woman business leader, one of those rare

elements in silicon valley, very vocal republican, somebody well known to the white house. next up is somebody who is probably the most well known of all the candidates to americans and that's john bolton, age 69, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations under the bush administration. before that had a long record in the foreign service and diplomatic corps. well known throughout the world. during the transition he was, as you might recall, considered to be secretary of state. that went to secretary rex tillerson. he has been in the mix and also is somebody that the president continues to reach out to. he is known for having frequent phone calls with the president, he visits the west wing on a very frequent basis and, of all the candidates we've talked about he is probably the one that is most ideologically aligned with donald trump, hawkish on north korea, prefers strong, bel ichbellicose and cr

of the deal with iran. he probably thinks the most like donald trump. national security adviser is a key job. two sets of relationships you have to manage. first you have to manage relationships inside the cabinet. that's something that l. mcmaster has been criticized for. you have to get along with secretary of state, secretary of defense. you're the integrator and facilitator. secondly have you to get along with the president. obviously there are tensions between h.r. mcmaster and donald trump. whoever get this is job will have to make those relationships work in the most trying time that we've seen in recent years. brianna? >> john kirby, thank you very much. this comes as the trump administration is considering military action against north korea. if it succeeds in building a nuclear missile that can hit the united states. multiple sources telling cnn national security officials are also worried that north korea could spread nuclear and missile

technology to countries like iran, pakistan, maybe even terror groups. john bolton is one of the names we just talked about there, being considered to take over for general mcmaster. he has argued that 25 years of diplomacy with north korea has failed and says it may be time to take military action. >> otherwise the american people have a choice. live with a nuclear north korea and the threats and nuclear bribery that will entail forever or do what the politician said, do not accept the nuclear north korea. that could involve a military option of some sort. >> with me now to discuss this is a cnn nationalmisleading. we're kind of presented with

these or we're going to have a large-scale war. there are many gradations in between. you could have a strike to take out some of north korea's missiles. you could do what we saw in iran where you sabotage their nuclear weapons capabilities. >> that was a cyber attack? >> cyber attack. there's a whole range of options but presented to us in this binary way, there's not very productive. >> this is my question. yes, but if there's a range of options militarily or not necessarily options for what the strike would be but if you're considering what the what north korea's response may be, does any range even on the low end, result in a mass loss of life or

do you see a situation where there could be military action against north korea by the u.s. and you don't see a big loss of life? >> i think it's very complicated. the second we initiate some type of option that is very aggressive or uses force, even if it was a precision strike, per se, you don't necessarily know what type of response it's going to be. >> a wild card, right? >> total wild card. it becomes extremely, extremely risky. one thing that the north koreans have over us is that they had been gaining out their strategy vis-a-vis the united states for decades and decades. we were, if not the single, the dominant -- foremost on our minds the last 18 months. as a national security issue, it waxes and wanes. they've game theoried this out in a way i would wager against

we maybe haven't at this point. >> elliott ackerman, thank you. appreciate you being with us. >> thank you. coming back, breaking news out of the white house, chief of staff john kelly meeting behind closed doors with reporters, defending himself in the rob porter scandal. details ahead on that. powerful nor'easter morphing into a bomb cyclone. we'll take knew the storm next. let's go to sumatra. where's sumatra? good question. this is win. and that's win's goat, adi. the coffee here is amazing. because the volcanic soil is amazing. making the coffee erupt with flavor. so we give farmers like win more plants. to grow more delicious coffee. that erupts with even more flavor. which helps provide for win's family. and adi the goat's family too. because his kids eat a lot. all, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee roasters. packed with goodness.

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along with heavy rain and snow. this is called the bomb cyclone. it's getting stronger by the hour. looking who are, the national weather service is warning this really is a life and death situation. you have evacuations under way. there are thousands of flights canceled. many planes are grounded in new york. conditions are only going to get worse as the day goes on. cnn's brynn gingras is joining us now. >> reporter: life and death situation as you mentioned. that's what officials are calling this we're seeing this storm happen in stages. less than an hour ago, we were seeing heavy rain coming down on us. now it's really the wind, as you mentioned, up to category 1 hurricane levels along the south shore here in massachusetts. i want to give you a look at the waves. they may not seem that impressive to you but this is the next stage we're expecting,

another high tide later tonight. i can can can ctell you, briann waves crashing over two-story homes. we've seen coastal flooding all along this area, power outages. officials keeping that warning to evacuate, stay in a safe place until the storm is over, which we don't think it will be until some time on sunday. brianna? >> brynn gingras, keeping an eye on things there in southern massachusetts. thank you. brand new reporting from our own gloria borger, the president's allies worried that the turmoil in the west wing is just the beginning and will send the president on a downward spiral. woah. plus, netflix for the whole family. on us. prrrrrrr... so, they get their shows... let's go, girl! you're gonna love this bit! and you get yours. watch however you want. on your phone, tablet, or tv. for a limited time, get 4 lines for just thirty-five bucks per line, with no extra charges.

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sunday night, the night of the oscars, hosting e! networs s ryan seacrest. kelly rippa came to her co-host's defense, addressing the controversy on their talk show "live with kelly and ryan." >> i just want you to know that you are a privilege to work with and i adore you. and i'm speaking on behalf of all of us here. i know what an easy, professional, great person you are. i feel very lucky to work with you each and every day. we all do. >> the oscars, of course, are on sunday night. it is top of the hour now. i am brianna keilar. breaking news, regarding the president's right-hand man.

chief of staff john kelly revisiting one of the biggest scandals to plague the white house, in order to defend himself. anklecy clarifying exactly what he knew about rob porter, the former white house aide who was fired when domestic violence allegations surfaced. michael bender is with us now, white house reporter for "the wall street journal." michael, you were in this meeting with john kelly. tell us what he revealed. >> it was a lengthy meeting with john kelly. he spent quite a bit of time talking about the security clearance process and the handling of rob porter's security clearance in particular. and what he said for the first time today was that it was mishandled here. i talked to him about a week into this, which was almost a month ago now, where he said they did nothing wrong. today, he reversed course, wanted to say that things were done wrong. he wishes that sort of the chain of command -- he didn't let people know in time that rob porter was resigning. there was a lot of confusion, he

said, around mr. porter's resignation and strongly suggested that this should have been handled differently. >> and rob porter, it's important to note, was central in these internal white house debates over the tariffs donald trump just announced. is that right? >> yes. this whole porter saga is striking for a number of reasons. one is the staying power this has had. here we are in the first month of march. one controversy leads into the next and the next news cycle on a weekly or daily basis and we're still talking about the porter saga. it has led to a rewrite of the security clearance issues. it's intensified the area of disagreement between jared can kushner and john kelly and we reported in "the wall street journal" last night it had a direct correlation to the trade policy y