well, bob woodward has done it again. he has written another book that goes deep inside he another presidency. and as usual, portions of the book appeared in the "washington post" first. they appeared today, a week before the book will actually be published. bob woodward has spent his career at the "washington post" and has written books about the inside workings of every presidency beginning with the nixon white house. bob woodward quotes white house chief of staff john kelly, calling the president an idiot. he quotes defense secretary james mattis comparing donald trump's comprehension level to "a fifth or sixth grader." he quotes james mattis telling the president he's trying to "prevent world war 3." he quotes donald trump calling his attorney general jeff sessions "mentally retarded." and he quotes the president's former criminal defense lawyer john dowd telling the president that if the president testifies under oath in the mueller investigation the president will end up in "an orangeup psuit." the lawyer told the p

the title of bob woodward's book is "fear." they fear if they're not there, if they leave, if they get fired, there's no one standing between donald trump and endangering national security. >> can we put a reality check in here that one of the reasons why donald trump did what he did is because he rightly so thinks that he is his own best spokesman but as you said it was his rebuttal and there still is that 30 and change percent of people who believe, who will choose to believe what he says about "new york times," about the fact that this is not true, this is not real. and the idea that he wanted to get out there to kind of bring all of those very, very loyal supporters in to the fold immediately and catch them is really telling. is very, very telling. it is his anger. it is his rage. but also strategic. >> i also think he wanted to be on tv. >> yes. that's what i mean. >> saying his piece. >> this line that the president had, sarah sanders had, going after the news media in the statement, this is just another example of the li

don't give it to bob woodward. we're glad to have it in any way it comes.ny but why not at the time? one of the questions presented by this book is should you serve this president? for people who are doing it for the right reasons and are in national security roles, i commend them and thank them for serving the president. t but if you are going to leave or if you're forced out, make your resignation count. do it in a group. do it on the same day. and then immediately spell out in detail why you're doing it. >> david frum, tim o'brien, john heilemann, thank you for starting us off tonight. when we come back, the most revealing moment in the kavanaugh confirmation hearing today came when brett kavanaugh refused to shake the hand of a man whose daughter was killed in the mass murder at her high school in parkland, florida. that man, fred guttenberg, will join us and tell us what he wanted to say to the nominee. also tonight, we have more revelations from bob woodward's book and the "new york times" is reporting that s

book is a scam and bob woodward is a liar. but there is an obvious contradiction in the president's statements on bob woodward's book. politico said, this book does not accurately portray my experience, former top stewards of the administration who shards with the famed journalist alarming details of how the white house functions. >>> joining our discussion now leading us off tonight, tim o'brien, he is the executive editor of bloomberg view. he's the author of trump nation, the art of being the donald. and an msnbc contributor. david corn is with us, washington bureau chief, coauthor of the book russian roulette and msnbc political analyst. and washington post and best selling author who has written biographies on presidents clinton and obama. let me go to david marinas on this. you have read books about presidencies. you have written books about presidencies. you have read bob woodward books about presidencies before. >> yes. >> the president tonight trying just the most lame white house reaction to a bob woodward book ever,

the president -- >> in that conversation that the president had with bob woodward after bob woodward basically finished the book in early august, the president said i would have loved to do an interview, but nobody told me. blah, blah, blah. he said i called everybody, i called kellyanne conway, i called the principal deputy white house press secretary, ra shah, who is that? this is unbelievable. >> its absolutely unbelievable and one of the challenges the white house is going to have in pushing back against this book is the president is on tape telling bob woodward i think you're fair and a widely respected journalist. he says he reached out to six people to arrange an interview with the president. the president said you never reached out it me and actually lindsey graham did tell me you were seeking an interview with me. i think that unlike michael wolff's book where they were able to try and discredit some portions of it, over here you have woodward saying that he has actual recordings and receipts. its worth noting, it also underscores that people are just at the whims of an impu

bob woodward hours of time, and that he himself did not participate, the president thinks he is his own best mes n messenger, they they did not bring the opportunity to him aggressively to participate in the book. >> this audiotape that bob woodward recorded with the president. bob recorded it and he was saying he was disapointed that president trump did not participate and president trump said i did not know about it, nobody brought it to me, and he says i spoke to kellyanne co conway, and he says i didn't know anything about it, and she walks into the office and is confronted by president trump. >> she said he spoke to you, but you never told me. why didn't you tell me? >> remember two-and-a-half months ago you came over and i laid out they wanted to talk to the president. >> i do, and i put in the request, but it was rejected. i can only take it so far. >> so the president now saying he would have wanted to participate. >>> he says some of them are scared of me, and he was frustrated that he wa

have dealt with bob woodward in previous books. they know the reliant of his methodology. they've been quoted. i'm reminded when we wrote john dean, who you'll hear from in a minute, when we wrote the final days which was about nixon's last days in office and there's a scene in which we use this same methodology of going to source after source after source, recording the interviews and there's a scene where nixon and kissinger get down on their knees and pray on the rug in the oval office and that scene was denied vehemently by those around nixon and kissinger, you made it up, it couldn't happen. this went on for months and months until finally in their memoirs nixon and kissinger both wrote about what happened. that will happen on this book. if you go down to the university of texas where our papers are and you see the watergate reporting and you see the final days, you'll see the methodology laid out and you'll see the accuracy of it. this doesn't come from one source. this is a reconstruction in meeting after meeting after meeti

that's bob woodward's characterization. what may have happened -- >> that's gary cohn's characterization according to the book. >> do you know if that memo was properly vetted and signed off by gary or others to be put on the president's desk at that time? i don't know the facts behind it but i do know those gentlemen's job was to control paper flow on and off -- >> that's not how it was described in the book. >> of course it's not described that way. of course it's not described that way -- >> remember who you're talking about. that is bob woodward. it's not omarosa. it's not some disgruntled staffer. >> again, i will stand by general kelly and general mattis every day, 10 days out of 10, rather than bob woodward. >> i'll tell you what, the things they're accused of saying, it's not the first time i've heard them accused of it. >> you're saying you don't believe the credibility -- >> i'm saying they say what they say, and i can't disprove it. i'm just saying bob woodward -- >> i've got to say -- >> go ahead. >> as somebody

yes, i spoke to bob woodward. it's as if many of the officials want the public to know they're trying to blow the whistle or save the country. incredible set of circumstances. and as you said, this is very, very rare. only a few times in the paper's history to publish something like this. >> thank you so much. let's bring the panel back. from an anonymous senior trump official. the bigger concern is not what mr. trump has done to the presidency but what we have allowed him to do to us. we have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility. senator john mccain put it best. all americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap with the high aim of uniting through the shared values and love of this great nation. jeffrey toobin, i don't think this op-ed is going to make that point so much as underlining the point of the woodward book. what do you think? >> no. i think it is cumulative with the woodward book, with the omarosa book and the journalism we see every day. i mean,

let me turn to the bob woodward book. many of the same themes about aides trying to restrain the president. the president is an idiot, he's a liar, he's off the rails operating at a 5th or 6th grade level. i can tell you from my firsthand knowledge that bob woodward is a meticulous reporter. while some trump officials are denying the comments, he says he has hundreds of hours of tapes and transcripts. mollie: i think it claims against bob woodward aren't that he makes up quotes. but he talks to just a certain type of fern who is going to trash the principle. howie: let me read you a tweet from the president about this book talking about some of the senior officials around him. their quotes were made up. a con on the public. woodward is a damn operative? notice timing? you can say a lot of the things about woodward. his techniques can be controversial and there are often denials about what he reports. but' a dem operative? you can't dismiss that. sara: when woodward came to him, he said the administration took that serious

bob woodward." and "the post" released a recording o record ing of a call between the president and woodward last month saying this. >> i think you've always been fair, but we'll see what happens. >> reporter: inside the tense west wing today, the president made clear he was keeping track of which current and former officials issued denials. >> already, general mattis came out very, very strongly. he was insulted by the remarks that were attributed to him. >> reporter: in the book, woodward said that the president had the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader during a discussion about north korea. mattis denied that account. >> general john kelly, the same exact thing. he was insulted by what they said. he couldn't believe what they said. >> reporter: and kelly is portrayed as describing the president as unhinged and an idiot. he, too, denied it. yet there was notable silence from other former officials. white house chief of staff, reince priebus, chief economic adviser, gary cohn, and rob porter

bob woodward is a man who deserves respect. you can't -- >> i think bob woodward is a good reporter, but he has a history of being a hostage to his sources. many books he's done where if you're giving him information, administrative sources, administration sources, get good portrayals in the books. people that don't give him good information, they don't come across so well. >> he reached out to the president. he wanted to talk to him. you heard the phone call between the two of them, right? >> the way this book has turned out. >> i think the president was smart not to talk to him because he talked to a lot of people who were ex-administration people who are not happy with the president. at least that's what we were led to believe. it's anonymous sourcing. >> right. but that doesn't mean it's not true. as we all know, most of the best reporting we get is from anonymous sources because they don't want to be revealed, and they're often likely to tell you the most truthful things. >> but, chris, i'm watching your network. they're s

with bob woodward? how could he win that credibility battle? >> once again, i would [ audience reacts ] er take the on record account from people who are here who have been working in this building who have interacted with the president day in and day out like general mattis, like general kelly, like myself. not disgruntled former employees who refuse to put them names on things when they come out to attack the president. >> however, woodward has stood by his reporting despite the recent statements from the white house officials who have disputed accounts from his book. here he is. >> these people -- these are political statements to protect their jobs, totally understandable. but this is as carefully done as you can do an excavation of the reality of what goes on. look, my job here is not to psychoanalyze. it's to describe what happened on specific dates and specific moments. and the people that are -- look, look, the people who are willing to talk are people of conscience, people of courage, people wh

this is the conversation between bob woodward and president trump, which bob woodward recorded. and he told the president he was recording. >> with his permission. >> with the permission of the president. and kellyanne conway was in the oval office when they had the conversation. listen to this. >> you and i spent a whole lunch on it, kellyanne. and i said i want to cover the substantive issues in foreign policy and domestic policy. and you said you would get back to me. nothing. >> yeah. so i did. i presented it to the people here who make those decisions, but -- but anyway. i'll give you back to the president. and i'm glad to hear that you tried through seven or eight different people. >> yeah. >> that's good. you should tell him all the names. thank you. >> but you never called for me. it would have been nice, bob -- if you called for me in my office. i have a secretary. i have two, three secretaries. if you would have called directly, a lot of people are afraid -- i hardly -- i do, i do. and kellyanne went to somebody. but she didn't come to me. >> well -- >> and she should

so the only one that he was denying for some reason was the word idiot, but to bob woodward, bob woodward is a legendary investigative journalist. he is a two-time pulitzer prize winner. he interviewed dozens of sources, all firsthand people who have been in the room with trump, and when you read the book what you will see is that they're all quoted extensively. and why are they quoted extensively? bob woodward did hundreds of hours of taped interviews with his sources. he is known for his credibility and in the past when he's been questioned, you know, there's the great denial that happens when a book comes out and people don't like the way they've been quoted, but then it's proven that it was accurate. >> all coming back to tapes, jamie. >> that's right. >> it's all coming back to the tapes. >> right. >> jamie, stick around. i want to add to the conversation right now, john dean is here and eliana johnson, a correspondent for politico. john, i've got many questions, but an attorney to the president warning him that he can't testify because he's going to person perjure himself and the pr

this is bob woodward and people are not going to listen. will democrats take the house and impeach the president? this is not something the president should be looking at right now. this is distractioning awaydist the mid-terms. >> i used the italian pronunciation here. the president and the white house do have a point. you have a number of officials issuing public denials with things contained in the books. woodwa woodward's explanation is these are folks who are not telling the truth to save their jobs. you have 20 something or 30 something or senior officials s sayi sayi saying they were not responsible. that was quick to deny he was deep throat in the 70s. >> it took a while and will be revealed who this source was. i actually think the "new york times" op-ed took a window of sales of the account. bob woodward is the most reported of our time. his incidence are airtight.

talking to bob woodward, telling bob woodward that bob woodward has always been fair to him. >> that's right. >> we'll play that tape coming up. it's not just the president. a number of administration officials have come out against the book in different ways. >> that's true. and anderson, one thing we should point out, this did not all come out when these excerpts came out this morning. this took some time. this white house was caught somewhat flat-footed by all of this. they did not have a response for several hours, but sarah huckabee sanders put out a statement, the press secretary saying this book is nothing more than fab indicated stories, many by former disgruntled employees told to make the president look bad. but anderson, as you know, many of the people quoted in the book are still in the administration, including john kelly, the chief of staff who, yes, is pushing back on some of the comments, but not all of the comments. but, yes, the secretary of defense james mattis has put out a statement saying that portions that have been attributed to him are not true, as has rudy giu

was bob woodward believed back then? >> it was bob woodward and carl bernstein. they were metro reporters on the washington post. they were relatively new to it and they were out there on an island along for quite a while before anyone else was reporting what they were. so it took a while, but as bob said, our editor in that period, ben bradley would say the truth eventually emerges, and it did, but there was a long time when they were out there alone, and it took the truth a while to emerge. >> christian, it has been by my count, two and a half weeks without a white house briefing. >> ali, pretty stunning. we are hoping for one our fingers and toes are crossed they'll add one to the schedule today. the question why, it's not exactly clear. we know that obviously there's a new communications director in bill shine. of course, the former fox news executive, and there's a sense and a feeling within the administration that they want to as much as possible allow this president to drive the headlines and the narrative coming out of this white house. and so that's why

i think we should take seriously, though, bob woodward's reporting. he's done eight or nine presidents now. his reporting has held up over the years. i'm about ten chapters into the book. it's a better read than i thought it would be. so i think this book's going to emerge, and he's on the right side of history, and he's disclosing what i think is really just book one of a multi-volume set. >> yeah. well, i'm behind because i haven't started it yet. but, you know, good luck. i will start soon. thank you, john dean. i appreciate your time. >> thank you, don. >>> make sure you stay with cnn, everyone, for the very latest on hurricane florence, okay? stay tuned because we have a lot more. we're going to keep you posted on that. >>> when we come back, though, tonight on the 17th anniversary of 9/11, a new assessment of the dangers of terror attacks. i'm going to ask fareed zakaria would our allies still come to our aid today like they did after 9/11? can be relentless. tremfya® is for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i'm ready. with tremf

. >> bob woodward released the audio last month after the book was completed in which he informed the president of his efforts through multiple aides to secure an interview with him. >> sorry we missed the opportunity to talk for the book. >> well, i just spoke with kellyanne. she asked me if i got a call. i never got a call. i never got a message. who did you ask about speaking to me? >> well, about six people. >> well, they don't tell me. >> senator -- i talked to kellyanne about it two and a half months ago. she came for lunch. >> well, it's too bad. i'm just hearing act it. i did hear from lindsey but i'm just hearing act it. we'll have a very inaccurate book and it's too bad. i don't blame you entirely. accurate is that nobody has ever done a better job than i'm doing as president. >> oh, okay. so willie, can i ask you, which lie was less convincing, his lie to omarosa that he didn't know she was fired. >> and escorted out. >> and escorted out. or his lie to bob woodward that he had no idea that the book was being written. >> they're both pretty bad, but this one woodward describ

doing it with bob woodward now. he may hate alabama, but in the words of skynyrd, a southern man don't need him around anyhow. now that i've gotten through that, because mika thinks i'm incapable of asking you a question, because i went to the greatest university on the planet. >> this guy, the phrase he uses, mentally retarded. a dumb southerner couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in alabama. >> he has hatred and contempt for my people, and, yes, my people, places that i grew up in and was raised and went to school in, in one of the great state schools in america, alabama. now, let me get to the question. >> uh-huh. >> what was your big takeaway from the book? a certain story? a certain element that struck you? >> i'd say one. after a series of books, the president, when he's on tape with woodward, oh another one of these bad books. he's had a bunch of bad books. "fire and fury" biggest selling so far. woodward's may exceed that, who knows. they all paint a consistent picture. draw a line between "fir

of the book. >> bob woodward's track record. he had the same problem with other presidents. he's discredited other presidents there. >> obviously nobody is perfect, bob woodward is not perfect, but his reputation is very strong, not just in washington, but across the country, this is the 19th gobook that woodwards has either written or co-written. trump has tweeted against the book not once but eighth time, boosting the preorders. this is what happened with michael wolf and "fire and furry," with ammarosa's book. and now with woodward's book. woodward is saying his book is a wakeup call for the public. >> you look at the operation of this white house and you have to say, let's hope to god we don't have a crisis, people who work for him are worried that he will sign things or give orders that threaten financial security or the national security of the world. >> who do you believe, the president or bob woodward, that is an ongoing argument. but is it an argument that the president is going to win? what about the issues of credibil

clearly when you get into a battle of credibility between bob woodward and this white house bob woodward wins hands down. i'm sure he learned everything he knows from carl, he has a 50-year track record of get things right. on the other hand you have president trump, just today they came out with the latest fact checker saying president trump lies an average eight times a day. they lie more than the nixon white house did. they have negative credibility, less than zero credibility, so it's just hard to take on faith anything they say and denying anything in this book especially because it paints a consistent picture if you read like what michael wolf said or omarosa said, it's very similar where people around trump have contempt around him. they view him as an an idiot, a liar. >> and it's very consistent the credibility -- >> yes, he adds details. >> this is something because when you were telling me to go down the line and name all these people. this is cohn and one that illustrates a level of distrust for president trump. president trump was about to sign a letter that would have ended

i'm assuming you read bob woodward's book, i know a lot of us have. can we expect, other than repeating denials from john mattis, john kelly, john dowd, can we expect the white house to give us a list of all the things in that book that are wrong and can qualify bob woodward as a liar? >> i think that would be a complete waste of time. >> that goes to the fact that 55% of americans believe the op-ed is right and the president is getting a 60% negative rating. 60% of the american people think he's a dishonest person, so does the president think he can win a credibility battle with bob woodward who has taken nixon down and is a legend. >> personally i think i would rather take the actual on-record account from people who are here, who have been working in this building, who have interacted with president day in and day out, like general mattis, general kelly, like myself, not disgruntled employees who put their names on things when they attack the president. i think those are far more reliable voices within this administration, and they can accurately t

they didn't trust him to sit down with bob woodward. this is the kind of thing that sets the president off. it's the kind of thing that i don't care who you voted for in the election, when you're reading about a white house staff of serious people taking papers off the president's desk because they don't trust him, wow. >> that's absolutely remarkable. from what we know of this book, it certainly fits in the broad pattern of things that have been written about the president before and reported by networks like cnn. i think what's different is, a, the level of detail and the level of, as you said, crazy town, that sense of chaos is probably more heightened than we knew. and also, i think it's much, much harder for president trump and his allies to push back against somebody like bob woodward who has a stellar reputation in this town for doing exactly this kind of thing. when he reports these insider accounts of any administration, they hold up. maybe previous accounts, books, the president has been able to push back and question the repo

that's why bob woodward decided to release audio recordings to prove he did make an effort to interview the president for his side of the story. listen now to the conversation between woodward and mr. trump when they connected by phone three weeks ago. >> and as you know and are living, we are at a pivot point in history. >> right. >> and i would have liked to have done that, and i maximized my effort, and somehow, it didn't get to you or -- >> it's really too bad, because nobody told me about it, and i would have loved to have spoken to you. you know i'm very open to you. i think you've always been fair, but we'll see what happens. >> no doubt, the president concedes on tape that woodward has always been fair. overnight, mr. trump suggested the legendary journalist included lies and phony sources in his book. i should note, he also added, christine, on that phone call, well, okay, lindsey graham did actually tell me that you did want to interview me for this book. so, he lied on that very phone call about knno one having told him. >> and he had lunch with kellyanne conway about that an

and everyone speaks to bob woodward, they know that he is the first draft of history. everyone bitches and complains, says oh, he got the story wrong, he got this detail -- the guy goes back, he does dozens of interviews with all these principals and the people that deny it are embarrassed in the end. everybody makes mistakes. but the scope of bob woodward's work, the overall content of his work, has proven to be an incredibly infallible guide to presidential history. he's had an insight into operations of the oval office, and when he looks at this as the most chaotic, shambolic and dangerous he's seen i believe him. >> i've got ten seconds if you want to respond to that. steve or april. >> look, i would say this. i do think when you talk about the scope, i do believe this is happening. i believe there's a cabal of crony insiders within the administration who are working to thwart the president. we know that from the "new york times" op-ed. and i implore the president to take action against those people who are trying to nullify the will of the people from 2016. you ca

because it is bob woodward. his methods are to reconstruct dialogue based on what two sources told him what was said. and so, of course, is it possible that some of the dialogue is inaccurate, not 100% right on the money? of course. memories are faulty. people remember different things. but the way he triang lates information, generally the accuracy of his books have not been challenged. and the picture he paints here is so deeply disturbing, though it won't be surprising to anyone who watches msnbc or regularly reads "the new york times" or "the washington post." in fact, he confirms some previous nbc reporting like the fact that trump called his chief of staff john kelly and idiot and erupted volcanically in a secret meeting about afghanistan policy because he was so frustrated with the proposals that his generals were presenting him. but, i mean, just the words that people are using even in reviews of the woodward book to describe the president of the united states. emotionally overwrought, unpredictable lead

veteran journalist bob woodward says even trump's closest aides saw him as a danger to national security. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: we'll have the latest on a bridge collapse in kolkata, where many are feared to be trapped under the rubble. and they're crazy, rich, and asian. it had box office success in america. now the blockbuster movie comes to the uk. we do so people feel represented and heard, understood and valued. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. glad you could join us. it's 7am in singapore, midnight in london and 8 am injapan, which has been hit by the strongest typhoon in 25 years. winds have been gusting over 200 kilometres per hour. at least six people have been killed, and more than a million have been told to leave their homes. robin brant has more from tokyo. screaming japan knew that this storm was coming, but some were still caught out, and had a very lucky escape from the torrent of water below. typhoonjebi is the strongest to hitjapan in 25 years. in the worst—hit area, around osaka, the da

even the president, in that phone conversation with bob woodward, admitted that he was fair. so i think many readers will see in this book an accurate rendering of history. nick bryant reporting. president trump's latest nominee for the us supreme court, brett kava naugh, has stressed his belief in impartiality at a chaotic confirmation hearing before a senate committee. opponents believe he will make the supreme court substantially more conservative. he said it should never be viewed as a partisan institution. protesters shouting their opposition to his appointment were removed. here is how the first few minutes played out. i welcome everyone to this confirmation hearing on the nomination of... mr chairman... ..judge brett kavanaugh. mr chairman... you're out of order, i'll proceed. we cannot possibly move forward, mr chairman, with this hearing... i extend a very warm welcome to judge kavanaugh, . .. we have not been given an opportunity to have a meaningful hearing on this nominee. ..to his wife, ashley. mr chairman, we received 42,000 documents that we haven't been able t

so says bob woodward. why they say americans should not believe what they read. ♪ >> a number of people have come out and said that woodward never even reached out to corroborate statements that were attributed to them. no effort was made, it seems like a very careless and reckless way to write a book. ♪ your brain changes as you get older. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ♪ >> harris: tributes, and a new monument to honor the victims of 9/11. 17 years later. the terror attacks took nearly 3,000 people, as you know, when hijackers flew planes into the twin towers, the pentagon, and a field near shanks hill, pennsylvania. president trump visited that field today, where he paid tribute to the victims. >> we grouped together for every mother and father, sister and brother, son and daughter, who was stolen from us at the twin towers, the

but bob woodward has a lot of credibility. he has written major books on eight different presidents, won two pulitzer prizes. he is known for his investigative reporting and his accuracy. >> thank you all. i appreciate it. it was a great conversation. >> thank you. >> i'll see you next time. when we come back, another stunning primary upset tonight. boston's first woman of color to serve on the city council, ayanna pressley. tonight, defeating a ten-term democratic congressman, michael capuano in the race for his own seat. ♪ celebrate good times ♪ come on from the very beginning ... it was always our singular focus. to do whatever it takes, use every possible resource. to fight cancer. and never lose sight of the patients we're fighting for. our cancer treatment specialists share the same vision. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. and these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com appointment

the woodward book drops tomorrow. trump calls bob woodward a liar. woodward says, america better wake up to trump's attack on truth. who will readers believe? we have the latest on which way that might go. inside the white house, they are chasing down the anonymous op-ed writer. outside, they're doing their best to tamp down the impact of that, the book and the mueller probe. one man trying to do all three for the president has some skin in the game himself, roger stone. a ninth associate of his just questioned by the mueller team. does he think mueller really is out to get him? all these political storms are nothing compared to what's headed straight for the east coast. hurricane florence. now a category 4 and growing. you have to look at its size and think about what will come

bob woodward finally managed to speak to the president, but only after the book was finished. so help me god. it's certainly a bad one for the embattled attorney general, jeff sessions, who mr trump apparently described as "mentally retarded" and "a dumb southerner". and there are insights into the legal advice the president received about talking to the special counsel, robert mueller. "don't testify", his former lawyer told him. "it's either that or an orange jumpsuit". the president last appeared before the cameras yesterday, on what looked like an aborted golf trip. and now, yet another diversion. the white house claims the book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees. now, the white house chief of staff, john kelly, has also issued a statement saying he didn't call the president an idiot. he's also referred to a statement in may, saying the allegation then was "total bs", in his words. it's crucial that the white house hasn't used the term "fake news," its usual blanket condemnation of the media. maybe that will come, but it is worth

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believe, bob woodward or the president. when i say a credibility issue, it leans toward the president than bob woodward. >> you see that credibility in numbers in cnn's polling today. thanks very much. >>> out front next, president trump boosts economic numbers unseen in 100 years. they're good but not that good. >> what is true is that it's the highest in 10 years. >> that's a big difference. >> and why are top republicans suddenly worried about ted cruz keeping his senate seat. with expedia's add-on advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. add-on advantage. only when you book with expedia. >>> tonight trump's fuzzy map. the president tweeting, the gdp rate is higher than the unemployment rate for the first time in over 100 years. it's happened before, in fact. 62 times in the last 70 years and as recently as 2006. kevin hassett was forced to correct his boss. >> the president said the gdb rate is higher than the unemployment rate for the first time in over 100 y

bob woodward's new book "fear and trump in the white house" offers an unprecedented look of drama and chaos inside the west wing where top officials express disdain for the president's character and intellect and hiding things from the president to protect the nation. white house chief-of-staff john kelly describes trump as an idiot and unhinged. defense secretary james mattis says trump has the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader. john dowd, who quit earlier this year, describes the president as an fin' liar. he told trump he would wind up in an orange jump suit if he sat down with robert mueller. after a practice session back in january, the book says, the president stumbled contradicted himself and lost his cool. these things a dodd damn hoax. i don't really want to testify. >> the russian witch hunt, we got a whole big combination. where is the collusion? >> reporter: after that mock session woodward reports, the president's lawyers went to mueller's office and told mueller that he's incapable of telling the truth. i need the president's testimony mueller replied adding that

but bob woodward has a lot of credibility. he has written major books on eight different presidents, won two pulitzer prizes. he is known for his investigative reporting and his accuracy. >> thank you all. i appreciate it. it was a great conversation. >> thank you. >> i'll see you next time. when we come back, another stunning primary upset tonight. boston's first woman of color to serve on the city council, ayanna pressley. tonight, defeating a ten-term democratic congressman, michael capuano in the race for his own seat. ♪ celebrate good times ♪ come on ♪ (gasps) l'oréal's magic root cover up. 3 seconds to flawless roots. 3, 2, 1. roots gone! magic root cover up by l'oréal paris. look for the turquoise one. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good han

it is written by bob woodward, known for cracking the watergate scandal. if you remember when the syrian regime, assad dropped chemical weapons on his own people, donald trump's initial reaction apparently was to kill the (bleep) lot of them. and he told secretaryjim mattis he wanted told secretaryjim mattis he wanted to assassinate president assad. jim mattis said they would get right on it, and then said no, we're not going to do that. they are not going to just kill everyone. and although pa rt to just kill everyone. and although part of me does think that all of this stuff, as entertaining as it is to read, it is almost priced in. people expect it to be unconventional, controversial and chaotic. all it does is confirm those suspicions that it was chaos. it is interesting because the book by bob woodward is entitled fear, trump in the white house. it is so silly that it is funny, and some of this stuff seems pretty serious, actually. it does, and it is almost like water off a duck‘s back. he has had so many what one would assume very damaging quotes a

explosive new details uncovered by bob woodward in his up coming new book entitled "fear." and it portray

and that is the essential picture of the president that emerges in bob woodward's new book, that he is not honest and he is not levelheaded. and that is the same picture that emerged in the anonymous op-ed piece published in "the new york times" last week by a senior official in the trump administration saying that, quote, many trump appointees have vowed to coo what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting mr. trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office. a poll done this weekend asked for a verdict from the public on that "the new york times" op-ed piece with this question. as you may know there have been anonymously published allegations that senior advisers to president trump worked behind his back to stop him from making what these advisers believe are bad decisions. do you believe these allegations are true or not? 55% believe that the president's staff work behind his back to stop him from making bad decisions. only 28% do not believe that. and 17% are not sure. so only 28% of americans believe donald trump is in control of his presidency. 28%.

i spoke to bob woodward earlier. all right, bob, thanks for coming. >> thank you. >> dana: on "the daily briefing." i want to start by playing some sound from you over the weekend on cbs sunday morning. >> you look at the operation of this white house and you have to say let's hope to god we don't have a crisis. people better wake up to what's going on. >> dana: what struck me by that is do you think people are not aware of what's going on? >> well, i think this book shows meticulous detail what happens at specific meetings, where the issues are addressed by president trump and his staff, foreign affairs, north korea, afghanistan, the middle east, all of the immigration trade issues and so in the coverage of trump, in the focus, a number of people have had on the -- and i think rightly on the mueller investigation, that's been the center of gravity. i think you need to measure a presidency by what actually is done on the issues that affect people. >> dana: there has been several people have come out and said this boo

some really explosive reporting coming from bob woodward the preeminent and pretty one of the more credible journalists in the entire country his book comes out and he says the president don't terms top aides had some very disparaging things to say about their boss he says that the staff john kelly has called the president an idiot saying he has come often gone off the rails and saying this is crazy town he reports that secretary of defense to mattis basically compared the president's ability to understand to a fifth or sixth grade level and that he reports to gary coleman once the president's chief economic adviser once took paperwork trade paperwork off the president's desk saying that he wouldn't remember and he was trying to protect the country he also reports that the president has had very nasty things to say about his top aides including attorney general jeff sessions according to woodward trump said that he was mentally retarded and he referred to him as this dumb southerner. the white house is pushing back on this releasing a statement saying that this is basically fake news and th

that book by journalist bob woodward is called "fear." it claims that many senior staff members, including john kelly and james mattis, consider the president unfit for the presidency. it also says that senior aides sometimes took sensitive documents off the president's desk so he would not act on them. bob woodward's former colleague says it is a portrayal of a presidency in crisis. >> the most important thing that we see in the reporting is that the people closest to the president, in the white house, see their job as to protect the nation and the world from donald trump. >> defense secretary matus is denying quote attributed to him. the president said stories in the book are "fraud, akon on the public." >>> in apartment complex thought it found the perfect way to stop package threats. junior on how a couple of thieves managed to beat the system. >> reporter: concord police are trying to figure it out. was it an inside job? did they hack the system? they have not been caught but they were caught on video. take a look. they are deliverin

they're intensifying efforts to discredit the legendary investigative journalist bob woodward as excerpts from his box shell new book entitled fear portray a president who is unstable and unfit for office. a president that is careening toward what he describes as a nervous breakdown. just a little while ago, president trump fired off a new tweet saying, and i'm quoting now, isn't it a shame that someone can write an article or book totally make up stories and form a picture of a person that is literally the exact opposite of the fact and get away with it without retribution or cost. don't know why the politicians don't change? libel laws. sarah sanders slammed woodward and his sourcing for the book a little while ago. >> he may have hundreds of hours of tapes and most come from disgruntled former employees. what i can tell you is i worked alongside the president, under the president and the last three years. i've been part of the administration since day one and i can tell you that the president -- everything so far i've seen out of this book -- doesn't depict what's going on in the build