that's up to the white house now. and we'll see what they do. >> you think there's a chance -- i guess it would be considered settling out of court. >> absolutely. the sensible resolution here is simply for the white house to say, look, okay. we made our point. but here's your press pass. let's go forward. instead, they could say well, the judge said we need to set up a procedure. we're going to set up a procedure, and we're still going to try to take your press pass away. >> one of the important things we have seen come out has been the number of news organizations that have come forward in supporting cnn's decision. is there any indication that that support, those friends of the filings have weighed on the judge at least in how he's decided this initial step? >> we didn't hear a lot from him about that in court, but it is quite possible. c n cnn's out with a statement thanking all the other news outlets for standing up not just for jim acosta but for the rights of the press in general. the aclu as well. i think we c

i mean, any white house is a hot white house. jeff zeleny is "outfront" live at the white house. hot white house aside, what are you learning? yeah, we've got all these headlines of possible firings and this unprecedented story with melania trump. >> reporter: erin, tonight the white house was hot but maybe in a different way. in a very unusual way. for all the staff shake-ups that happened here and we have seen a lot of them, we have never seen this cross firing from the east wing of the white house from the first lady's office to the west wing of the white house where the national security advisers are. it was very unusual to get that type of a statement from the first lady. she doesn't issue that many statements at all, certainly not about the deputy national security adviser so the reality here is there has been a lot of rumors and some discontent about the deputy national security adviser. john bolton, the national security adviser, brought her in. he's known her for a long time. she has a long history at the pentagon on capitol hill. she apparently has rubbed a lot of peopl

run the white house. if they think it's a disruption, that seems reasonable to me. they can take the pass away. now, of course, our lawyers have a very different view of that, that jim acosta is being a journalist. asking hard questions in sometimes impertinent ways is the heart of what journalism is about. so that -- that's the counterargument, but, you know, you just don't know -- i mean, just to answer your question, i'm sorry, but you said about content, you know, it's permissible to punish a -- someone who doesn't follow the rules, but it is impermissible to punish someone for speech that you object to. that you find too liberal, too conservati conservative. that you object to the content. so weather jim acosta's behavior was was speech or simply behavior that can be punished, that's the heart of this case. >> the fact that the white house, specifically sarah sandesand e sanders initially claimed jim acosta was physical toward a white house intern trying to take back a microphone, the white house put

let's begin with the white house, imminent shakeup there. a stunning, unprecedented move by melania trump. the first lady calling for the removal of deputy national security adviser mira ricardel. and president trump said he is ready to fire her. she clashed with mrs. trump during a recent trip to africa. listen to what she told abc news during that trip. >> has he had people that you didn't trust working for him? >> yes. >> did you let him know? >> i let him know. >> what did he do? >> with some people, they don't work there anymore. >> sources tell us ricardel has also butted heads with defense secretary jim mattis and chief of staff john kelly in receipt weeks. so far no official word from the white house on her status. more now from senior white house correspondent pamela brown.

amazing what is going on in the white house press corps. and what is going on at the white house. whoever is running -- you know, the press room, get it under control. because it's disgraceful. it's embarrassing to the nation. it really needs to stop. joining me now to take all this up and the national left media senseless and ridiculous attacks against the president. president trump most loyal supporters and diamond and silk. great to have you with us. i have to tell you both. you guys know i love you. i got to tell you. i'm so ticked off, i can't -- it is just amazing to me that the white house permits that kind of conduct on the part of that sort of person. what do you think? >> well, yeah, it's time for acosta for his press credentials to be removed. >> yeah. >> it's very sad he don't understand as a journalist he is supposed to report news, not make the news. not be the news. yeah, he is the enemy of the people. not only that but the enemy of the truth. he is very disrespectable, disparaging. you know what? why is he even in there. he don't even need to go to the white house

every day at the white house. it is really damaging and harmful. >> cnn sent a letter to the white house on friday asking for an explanation, asking for the ba pass back. >> cnn tried to work this out, requested that the pass be restored. mr. acosta was denied a day pass in france, even though the french government would have allowed him to cover president trump's appearance at a cemetery. but the white house has basically just been ignoring these requests. so we really had no choice but to sue. we didn't want to have to go to court. we wanted to just report the news. so that's what the courts are for. the first amendment and the fifth ameandment arguments. we're asking for emergency relief because every day that this pass has been revoked is a first amendment violation and irreparable harm in the eyes of the law. >> the case is intended to be not just about one reporter or even one news organization. >> i think that's an important piece of this, that acosta happened to be targeted last week, but the president has

you are in the white house. when i see the way some of my people get treated at press conferences, it is terrible. we are setting up a certain standard which is what the court is requesting. but that's the way it is. and we always have the option of just leaving. you know? if we feel that things aren't being treated properly, that people aren't being treated properly, we always have the right to leave and i think the other media, the other press in the room will not be very happy if that happens and instructed my people when they're not treated properly, you have the right to just leave when you want. >> mr. president -- >> response this week to -- requests. have you seen that response? >> you say china? >> china, yes. >> go ahead. tell me what their response was? >> a response of 142 items on -- >> yeah. that's good. china wants to make a deal. as you know, jeff, china wants to make a deal. they sent a list of things that they're willing to do, a large list. and just not acceptable to me yet but i think some po

cover the white house. he has 50-plus other colleagues who can do the same. the judge is trying to think to himself, is this a matter of a true chilling effect on speech or is this an issue for a particular person who wants to have facilitated access? that's where the hang-up is. the case law is very clear about the 1st amendment protecting the free press and the right and you cannot decide to take somebody's rights away because you don't like the questions they're asking. >> laura, on a couple points you made, one of them you were saying they're making the case of, you know, they could kick out anyone they want. but then they call on jim acosta all the time. >> they do. >> if they had an issue with him, they wouldn't call on him. they did. it would seem there's a problem right there to make that case, isn't there? >> there are several problems. they talk out of both sides of their mouths. they say the first reason they revoked it is because a physical assault on an intern. there's an infowars doctored d vi

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trump sided with cnn and ordered the white house to reinstate the press pass of our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta. i'll talk about that much more with senator ron wyden of the intelligence committee and our correspondents, analysts and specialists are also standing by. >>> first, let's begin with those two stories coming out of the white house tonight. our chief media correspondent, brian stelter, standing by with details on the federal judge's order and cnn's lawsuit against the administration. but first, let's go to our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta, who is reporting from the white house north lawn right now. jim, even though the president and his team have spent months negotiating and reviewing mueller's questions, he says they weren't difficult to answer. >> that's right, wolf. president trump revealed today that he's already answered a list of questions from special counsel, robert mueller's team. and the president all but accused mueller and his investigators of setting a trap. predicting that the russia investigation is winding down, president trump

house and you're talking about white house business. shane, that is the explanation from the white house. does ivanka trump still deserve ank job within the white house? is thiswi going to imperil her position in any way? >> i don't know if it will imperil her position or not. itr seems like the political backlash so this has been kind of issubdued today. maybe because ubeveryone's out townev for thanksgiving. i think donna's right that the house oversight committee is poised to take this up when they come back, when the new congrese convenes. hugh's right too in the sense of this idea that somebody in ivanka trump's position could bo a foreign intelligence target, somebody whosein e-mail you mig want to get in. nott to see if she has any classified documents but to see what she's chattering about or iftt she tells somebody via personal e-mail, i had a conversation with my dad today about something that's a policy consequence. she's number one in the westol wing, number two close to the president, in a senior position in the white house

house unveiling a new code of conduct for the white house press corps. oh, that's going to make a few of them very uncomfortable. journalists with the national left-wing media must act like adults. do you think they can to that? is this a fair set of guidelines? we take that up and is more right after the break. gregg jarrett joins me. stay with us, we'll be right back. you could have gone down to the nearby tree lot and picked out a nice little spruce for the holidays... but you've got a ford escape with 4wd, and an example to set. ford escape. built for the holidays. with our best offers of the season. >> the white house todayoutlinir presidential news conference. the white house has dropped the effort to remove the hard pass of cnn reporter, jim acosta. it includes limiting journalists to one question meacham follow-ups at the discretion of the president. should you refuse to follow these we will take action. joining me now the fight over the acting attorney general and more harvey dillon, with california. gregg jarrett, good to have you all with us.

and about access to the white house. the government lawyer representing the president and the other trump aides who are being sued, he said that hypothetically, the white house could bar any reporter from the white house at any time. that is a real break from decades of tradition and some established case law, which says the only reason why a reporter would be ejected from the white house would be if a person was a physical threat to the president. so the white house -- the trump administration, the doj, going much further than that, saying that a reporter could be barred at any time for any reason, although they say in this case, that's not what's happening. they say that in this case, acosta was suspended because of his conduct at a press conference last week. obviously, cnn rejects that argument. and by the way, most of the nation's major news organizations have sided with cnn, because they're concerned if acosta gets kicked out, other reporters could also be kicked out in the future. >> and when you say most of the m

house correspondents association and to cnn now suing the white house essentially. six defendants that are now part of a lawsuit. the white house correspondents association is backing cnn in that suit in what is really frankly a rare move. it is not often -- only a few times in modern history that a news organization has sued the white house for access. this comes after the white house pulled one of the cnn reporter's credentials. >> that's right. we saw this unfold last week at that press briefing. the correspondents association is fully in support of this. the associated press put out a statement at the time and continues to believe that the white house should not be in the business of taking credentials away from journalists or preventing them from doing their job. >> something i said on the show last week that's accurate today which is several things can be true at once. it can be true that the white house wants this fight and likes this fight with the media. it can also be true that not all reporters behave in the same way at the same time as other reporters do

to communicate with white house or cabinet officials. a spokesman for trump's lawyer tells fox news, quote, there was never classified information transmitted. the account was never transferred or housed at trump organizations. no emails were ever deleted. they say ivanka reviewed her practices and explained the issue to congressional leaders 14 months ago. the white house has new rules for the press after the dispute over jim acosta. journalists will be allowed one question each and will only be given a follow-up at the discretion of the official. the white house -- cnn says it's lawsuit against the administration is no longer necessary. it is beginning to look a lot like christmas at the white house, donald trump and milania receiving their first official christmas tree delivered via horse-drawn carriage. the 20 foot tall fraser for hand-picked from a farm in north carolina will be decorated at the end of the blue room at the white house. this game lives up to the hype, the la rams come on top in the highest scoring monday football gam

it's a white house, administration, in disarray. this reflects this underlying tension that's just eating away at our government. >> with that, let's bring in our leadoff panel. peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." aforementioned nancy cook, white house reporter for politico. jeremy peters, political reporter, also with "the new york times." peter baker, i have been looking forward to our conversation tonight because there's no other way to put it, you and i are old enough to remember first lady nancy reagan getting sideways with reagan chief of staff don reagan. former ceo of merrill lynch. don reagan was soon former chief of staff. so there's precedent for this, but how unusual is this and why? >> don reagan was chief of staff during iran-contra. nancy reagan felt he ill served her husband. he hung up on her at one point in a testy fury. you don't hang up on the first lady. obviously, we have a situation where another first lady is pretty peeved at an aide to her husband. for her to make a stateme

you're in the white house." so, in the president's own words, here's what should have happened to kanye west. >> if i think somebody's acting out of sorts, i will leave. i'll say, thank you very much, everybody, i appreciate you coming, and i'll leave. >> like this? >> no, i'm standing in that spot. i love this guy right here. let me give this guy a hug right here. i love this guy right here. yeah. >> a hug for kanye, but for reporters he doesn't like, his own lack of decorum is on prominent display. >> what a stupid question that is. what a stupid question. but i watch you a lot, you ask a lot of stupid questions. the same thing with april ryan. i watch her get up, i mean, you talk about somebody that's a loser, she doesn't know what the hell she's doing. >> i don't even need words here, do i? this isn't about decorum or respect for the white house, right? it's about controlling the press. the president making it clear that if he can't take away press passes, fine, he'll manipulate other journalists to accompli

it is normal at the white house. >> that's what reporters do. thank you very much, brian stelter, working his sources on all of this as well. let's get more on the president and his lawyers reviewing robert mueller's questions about possible collusion. our political correspondent sara murray is here with us. sara, mr. trump's responses to mueller could be submitted in the coming days. what comes next after that, an actual sitdown q & a between the president and his team? >> certainly i think mueller and his team would love to have a sitdown q & a but it probably is not in the cards. it depends how soon they hand the questions over and how mueller's team feels the answers compare to the interviews they have done. the president is saying he would love to sit down with the special counsel, he would be fine with that. the reality is that he and his legal team seem to be doing everything possible to avoid putting president trump in a room with robert mueller or his investigators. >> we know that the president's long-time fixer and lawyer, spent a dec

house in the white house counsel's office? did the russia investigation, the mueller investigation come up in the course of your time working for trump? and here's what he said. >> intelligence committees, possibility -- the white house counsel's office in january 2017, have you worked or advised on any matters related to special counsel mueller's investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election? >> i have given legal advice on a few discrete legal questions arising out of the investigation. i have no knowledge of any underlying facts regarding russian interference. >> can you tell us what those legal questions were? >> i'm sorry, i cannot. >> and why can you not? >> this goes back -- >> are you asserting grounds of privilege? and what are those grounds? >> i am saying that the executive branch needs confidentiality in order for the president to receive confidential advice, in order for lawyers to provide confidential advice. >> so, this man is being nominated to the appeals court in d.c. he says under oath, no, i

he was asked about it today at the white house. >> mr. president, you just said that people used disguises to cast illegal votes. do you have any evidence of voter fraud like that? do you have any evidence of people doing voter fraud? >> okay. so no answer. he dodged that question because he has no evidence. remember his voter fraud commission? disbanded. but there's no doubt that some people in his base believe it. that's why he says stuff like that. the trump white house is so dysfuncti dysfunctional, the president was completely caught off guard by the first lady, melania trump's, statement yesterday that deputy national security adviser mira ricardel no longer deserves to work in the white house. according to our reporting, trump was furious, angry that he looks like a bossed around husband. but now we know just how influential the first lady really is. the president is doing what his wife wants. we learned tonight that mira ricardel is, in fact, leaving the white house. she'll take a new role somewhere else in the trump administratio

the moment we get rid of this clown in the white house. that's the point. >> and for a long time, that has been a concern among democrats or something they should have been. it's not a matter of can they do both. they must do both. at this -- there were calls for, at the time, for example, when the republicans were trying to repeal the affordable care act. the democrats could have not only opposed that but also said, look, these are our fixes for health care. we're ready to govern when the republicans were going back and forth on immigration. democrats could have stepped up and said this is our plan. when they're done playing games, we are ready to move forward. they have to do that plus now because they need to pass some legislation. they need to talk about health care, which emerged as the big issue in the midterm elections. moving forward, if they're going to have a shot at 2020 and beyond. not just the presidency. republicans also have twice as many senate seats up in 2020 than democrats do. 2020 is going to be an incredibly consequent

shep. >> john roberts from the white house. ivanka trump, while a government employee as assistant to the president sent hundreds of e-mails from a personal account, even after her father spent many months ark tacking hillary clinton about private e-mails, according to the "washington post." the paper reports the first daughter and presidential advisor, used her personal e-mail to contact white house aides and cabinet members and others. when asked about if, she said she was unaware of the rules. again, her father made hillary clinton's e-mails a driving force in his campaign, he called for hillary clinton to be put in jail, again, and again. of course, there are differences in the two cases. they are numerous. ivanka trump is not accused of using a private e-mail server, she's not accused of deleting any e-mails. she's not accused of sending classified information. but the "washington post" reports similarities were enough to worry some of the president's own advisors. house oversight committee under the leadership investigate

we shouldn't be fighting with the white house just to fight with the white house or just to fight with the president. but at the same time, the american people deserve answers on these very important and consequential questions about who interfered with our democracy in 2016 and when the president or his people had any role in that. so, yes. if he oversteps his bounds, we have to make sure that we push back. >> the bombshell announcement today that sessions has been effectively fired, just the day after the democrats won back the majority of the house of representatives, what do you make of the timing of all of this? >> i think that he's been waiting to do it for a long time. and i think, you know, they were probably concerned that it would have an effect on republicans' viability in different house and senate races. so they waited until the next day. but there's no question, the president has wanted jeff sessions gone for a long time. and i've told you before that honestly, if you're jeff sessions, i don't understand after being beaten up by this president so much, somebody that as yo

let's start at the white house. cnn's chief white house correspondent joining me now. what is the president's message this morning? >> we have never seen a president so happy about losing the house of representatives. that is what we are seeing for president trump. he put out several tweets basically declaring victory. he will take a victory lap inside the east room of the white house. yes, even after losing the house of representatives to the democrats. we saw the president this morning tweeting about the mueller investigation. that is obviously on his mind and also trolling nancy pelosi who is going to be taking the gavel in about a month in a half or so. the other thing we are looking towards in terms of what the president will have to say is what he plans to do about looming investigations as we were talking about late last night into we morning hours. this president is facing a lot of different investigations on capitol hill inside the new democratic house of representatives. democratic lawmakers have indicated they want his tax returns and want to dig deeper into

today we got this statement from the white house. we got to get into what pompeo just did there and what is actually in this statement. joining me to do that is national correspondent peter alexander from the white house, along with ali velshi, who just finished up his show but was nice enough to stick around. what i found so interesting -- and peter, i want to start with you because you cover this white house. you watch how they try to justify their actions. in this statement, and it's a lengthy statement, what donald trump and the administration is doing is saying we can't punish saudi arabia for a couple of reasons. number one, we need an arms deal. we need to make sure our business interests are taken care of. they talk about a $450 billion arms deal. the problem with that is only $14.5 billion have come throug . so far. so that arms deal is far from actually happening. then they try to claim if they don't go through that arms deal, then saudi arabia will go to russia or china. it is not that simple. they've already bought arms f

her spokeswoman saying, in part, she no longer deserves to serve in the white house. nbc's kristen welker has more on the first lady's feuds. >> reporter: thead first flexing her muscles. melania trump taking the unprecedted step of publicly calling for the firing of one of her husband's top advisors, mira ricardel amid other clashes with the chief of staff, john kelly, so significant it could lead to kelly's departure. seven people familiar with the situation tell nbc news kelly has tangled with the first ve lady's team o everything from staffing issues to travel requests. one white house official telling nbc there have been instances where the east wing staff were not treated as equals to the male dominated decision makers in chief kelly's office. but in a statement, the first lady's spokesperson called the retionship with kelly's staff very positive. melania trump acknowledging last month the white house can be a challenging environment. >> we alwayseed to watch your back. >> reporter: the first lady blasted th deputy to national security advisor john bolton. that

for the white house to act too. broadly speaking i think the answer is yes and that's a good point what's called the five eyes to the five closest allies of the united states. to allies from world war two whose close relationship has continued united kingdom canada australia new zealand in the us probably would have. routine. access there be procedures where information of the sensitivity would likely be shared because of overlapping interests and probably with other close allies to to some extent certainly the conclusions would be shared the sources almost never but that the information would be shared yes and then what other countries do it it who knows who knows indeed to call. what do you think ultimately what does this reported finding meaningful mohammed been so none the saudi crown prince it means it does not mean he is gone that turns more on internal saudi dynamics. to have been someone has succeeded in consolidating power last year where it's very hard for anyone inside the monarchy to mount a challenge as

welcome to wednesday in the post mid-term trump white house. so far the deputy national security adviser who the first lady demanded be fired is still on the payroll at this hour, as is the homeland security secretary, whose firing is said to be imminent as well. in fact, kearseston. cnn joe johns is watching. joe, tell us about the fate as best we know it now of kooeirs niels nielsen. >> reporter: this white house has been in continual, if you will, upheaval over staff almost from day one. the kirstjen nielsen unknown. the president has been known to change his mind. now, there is also certainly some question right now about the situation with the white house chief of staff john kelly. up teenth time perhaps that we have heard about the possibility of john kelly departing the white house. there has been some suggestion that the president has been eyeing the chief of staff for the vice president strimike pen. it has been said that he was planning on keeping john kelly around here at the white house until at least 2020, the end of the president'

i work at the white house now. i can only talk to you via my official white house account. it is not hard to do. this is something everybody knows. the fact this mistake was made, i think, suggests that possibly she didn't really think it through or maybe she didn't care. i'm not saying that this wasn't a problem. i'm not saying that foreign powers didn't get a hold of the e-mails and look at them. especially adversaries. if you asked apples and oranges. i would say we're in a fruit basket. it is all in the same category. one is a little bit rougher than the other. i'm not going to begrunge democrats chanting lock her up. the president was aware of the sensitivity of this and you think it may have been communicated to his senior staff which she is a member. >> it is tough to acknowledge she did not know the rules given the chant and continued as recently as october. >> either she didn't know the rules -- she knew the rules and skirted them or incompetent. you can't have it both ways. take your pick. the fact if it is true the e-mails were given to the government, the govern

access to the white house. a judge last week order td reinstated for two weeks as the case between cnn, the president and others proceeded. then came word from the white house that the pass would be revoked when those two weeks were up. but now they've changed their mind. cnn has dropped the lawsuit and now the white house says it's come up with new rules on decorum when questioning the president. speaking of decorum, the president's certainly been busy lately on the old electric twitter machine. here's what he said about california congressman adam schiff, ranking member of the house intelligence committee. before i read, it decorum requires a warning. the president misspells the's probably tell where this is an - going. i'm quoting now. "so funny to see little adam schitt talking about the fact that acting attorney general matt whitaker was an proved by the senate but not mentioning the fact that bob mueller who is highly conflicted was an proved by the senate." joining us now, two men who've seen all kinds o

, and that is not going to be tolerated in the white house. tolerated in the white house. access to the white house briefing, which he has held for many years. at president trump's request. on the attorney general‘s removal. the frantic pace of this presidency picked up once again. mid—terms was very much mistaken. the announcement that the attorney generaljeff sessions was fired. no great surprise, the president had been threatening this. taken thejob. the president had been criticising him for more than a year now. saying that he was weak and embattled. that russia was meddling in the 2016 election. was doing so independently. will be maintained. they are worried about the threat to that investigation now. what about the timing of this? of the results of the mid—term elections. quite a strategic move by donald trump. yes. it is no surprise that jeff sessions was on the way out. the question really was only about the timing. but surprising that he has done it straight afterwards. to be approved by the senate. in the sand. investigation. investigation previously. this is only temp

acosta is back at the white house continuing to report and returning to his job at the white house. we will see him on television later today. it is unclear. president trump made comments about writing rules and regulations. they will go ahead and satisfy the due process part by coming up with guidelines so that perhaps in the future they can revoke other credentials and he will end up winning in court. we don't know if the white house continued to fight the lawsuit or if it will try to settle. all of that remains unclear. one of cnn's outside lawyers and said cnn would like to reach a resolution and like to be reasonable about this. the white house is unpredictable and we don't know what's going to happen. cnn remains ready and willing to litigate the case in the months ahead. he said to me the system worked. the courts responded to the executive branch and challenged the executive branch's revo revocation of the press pass. he put an order into effect and the white house did abide by that and that's why acosta's press pass is back into his hands. >> he just walked back into the wh

cnn white house correspondent boris sanchez is outside the white house for us tonight. boris, this was a wide-ranging interview with fox news, but these comments about mcraven have quickly become the headline. how is the white house handling this? >> reporter: hey there, ana. yeah, i reached out to press secretary sarah sanders a short while ago to see if they would have any response. they have nothing so far. i should point out this isn't the first time, as you noted, that the admiral has been critical of this president. it's not the first time that president trump has pushed back on those who have been critical of him. president trump well known for fighting back, even when those criticizing him are members of the military or military families. in fact, here's a list of awkward moments the president has had with members of the military or their families. notably, back in the 2016 campaign, president trump said that senator john mccain was not a war hero after he was captured by the vietnamese. the president also dismissive of the khan family during the 2016 campaign.

white house. but what you allowed us to see is that it isn't always as it seems and that the white house is really a paradox. i'd like for you paint the picture of life inside. >> the white house? >> yes. >> wow. describe it as like living in the fanciest hotel and you have your elevator that takes you up to your room and there's a lobby where all the action is going on, and that's the central floor. what you see on tv about the white house, the state floor, that's not the private residence. that's where all the official stuff goes on, the red room and blue room and green room and all the rooms, the east room, that's the ceremonial floor. but then up the next floor the are two more floors that are the residence, and those floors are private. to the families who live there. and once you get in that elevator and you come up to that floor and those elevators open and there's usually an older black gentleman in a tuxedo, who is -- works at the white house for decades, often through many -- >> standing

it is clear the white house adequately consulted with senators and the white house first reached out to senators in april 2017 and the white house made several offers in an attempt to agree with the senators regarding all federal court vacancies in new jersey and that would include circuit and district positions. there are now six such vacancies. in the years' long consultation period, the new jersey senators did not agree to even meet with mr. mayti or did they recommend anyone else for the vacancy and the only reason the new york-new jersey senators gave the reluctance agreed to mr. mayti's nomination is that he was too conservative and in my opinion, the white house attempted to meaningfully consult and their efforts were not reciprocated. the new jersey senators declined to return the blue slip for ideological reasons and i don't consider that a valid reason not to have this hearing. i would now like the ranking member to speak. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would yield to senator booker just as he did for senator cassidy. >> i was going to call on senator booker after you got do

and i think that that is the kind of system that the white house should have here. essentially, self-enforcement, even in journalism, is a pretty powerful tool. >> speaking of the press corps, its relationship with the president, we saw the white house correspondents' association make an interesting announcement this week. instead of having a comedian show up at the usual dinner in april, there's going to be an author, instead. the acclaimed historian rob chernow will be speaking. i wonder, olivia, if this is a capitulation by the correspondents' association. they're saying, all right, trump's not going to come to our party, so we're not going to have a comedian anymore. >> i think it is. i think the way that it was handled last year with all of the controversy was fairly ridiculous. everyone sort of played their part, as you would expect them to. >> you mean people being outraged by michelle wolfe's jokes? >> people being outraged, people being outraged by the outrage. people being upset that we were having the conversation at all, that it was a distraction. but i

house, the white house having a far more difficult time. on capitol hill today we've seen

we are a white house that people want to work with. >> a hot white house. it's a hot white house, all right. but for a host of different reasons. and people may not want to work there because of what's likely to be coming down the pike. the l.a. times is reporting tonight it's sinking in for this president that he took a drubbing in the midterm elections and now he's becoming bitter and resentful. democrats will soon take control of the house. they're likely to use their subpoena power to investigate the trump administration and go after the president's tax returns. the mueller investigation, in the spotlight once again. more indictments may be coming. and the president has met with his lawyers to go over a series of responses to written questions submitted by mueller's team, those answers could be submitted as early as this week. and the president's barely been seen since returning from his weekend trip to france. did you notice that? he barely showed up to official events there, while he was there. but as usual, he is tweeting. today taking jabs at french

. >>> a dark cloud surrounds the white house. the president's move takes a turn for the worse after the midterms and public rebuke from his wife. >>> democrats pick up two more house seats. nancy pelosi's path to reclaim the speaker gavel faces challenge. >>> election numbers due today in florida. what it means for major races. >>> and get redd -- ready for an ugly day. ice and snow in the deep south up to new england. >> we're not in bad moods. i don't know about the mood of potus. welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it is thursday, november 15th. 4:00 a.m. in the east. the president and mrs. trump will visit the marine barracks in washington. the president criticized for not going to arlington on veterans day. he is pissed at damn near everyone. a direct quote from someone in the white house after the election night and fighting among aides and the first lady's public demand to fire a national security official. aides say the president is isolated and becoming angrier by the hour. >> a week after

jeff sessions sent the letter to the white house. fox news through the great work of jake gibson at the department of justice was first with the news. we confirmed that matt whitaker will be taking over as the acting attorney general while the president sought a permanent replacement for the attorney general. the president was asked about changes to the cabinet, specifically sessions. the president said asked me about that at a later date. we didn't know it would be 90 minutes later. the president talking about the mueller investigation at that press conference saying it's not his intension in any way to affect the ongoing process of the mueller investigation. listen here. >> i could have ended it at any time i wanted. i didn't. there was no collusion. there was no anything. i didn't. they went after hackers in moscow. they went after people with tax problems from years ago. they went after people with loans and other things. nothing to do with my campaign. this is an investigation where many, many millions of dollars has been spent

from our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta. now the president is vowing to make rules for how white house reporters act. >>> almost all. with his embattled homeland security secretary standing just feet away, the president says he loves almost

acosta's access to the white house. then came word from the white house that the pass would be revoked. now they changed their minds. cnn has dropped the lawsuit. speaking of decorum, the president has been busy lately on the old twitter machine. here is what he said about adam shif. before i read it decorum requires a warning. you can probably tell where this is going. so funny to see little adam schitt talking about the fact that matt whit taker was not affirmed. joining us now two mean who have seen all kinds of behavior from all kinds of presidents. the president said decorum was needed in the white house yet he doesn't appear to be very concerned with his own decorum regarding congressman schiff. >> i think this has been a significant victory for cnn and for the country. we have now reinforced through the courts and the white house backing down, reinforced the first amendment. we go back to work. what we have to see is a night of ironies. an irony here is that this is a white house that prides itself on i don't kno

at the white house. but she dressed in clothing largely imported from europe and in a french style that was for many of the older federalists a little bit too risque or revealing. but it was also in the napoleonic style and that emulated the jefferson democracy emulated the new post-monarchy in france. so mrs. madison would wear bright colors and instead of wearing a crown, she came up with the idea of wearing a turbine. in fact, that became her trademark. and just so you would never fail to know where she was in the crowded rooms, she would often wear long birds of paradise feathers in the turban. but in fact almost all of her portraits i think except two certainly painted while she was first lady are all painted with her turbine. and as to the fact that she wore these low-cut dresses that were a little bit scandalous, it is really kind of extraordinary when you think of the fact she had been a quaker and had been raised as a quaker and used to being all covered up and wearing gray and dark colors. in f

>>> the white house issuing a new warning to cnn's chief white house correspondent jim acosta, threatening to pull his press pass again at the end of month. now cnn is taking the case back to court. this follows an initial ruling back on friday when the network won a temporary restraining order, forcing the white house to restore acosta's credentials for 14 days. with me now, brian stelter, our chief media correspondent. what's going on? >> it's a littlebit unclear what's going on, brooke. clearly cnn was able to be victorious in round one in this case on friday, but then kind of surprisingly on friday night, the white house responded with a letter to acosta saying, hey, you did violate our rules. we haven't really printed the rules anywhere, but you violated them and we're going to take away our press pass once this temporary restraining order expires. that's in 11 days from now. that means that cnn and acosta and the white house might be back in court after thanksgiving. this morning, cnn went to the judge saying, this is getting ridiculous, we need to have another hearing and settle thi

decorum in the white house. people should have decorum in the white house. >> of course. >> kanye dropped the f-bomb in the white house. is that decorum? didn't call him out, did they? right? what did he say about stormy daniels? that she had a horseface. >> yeah. >> nobody said anything about decorum for that. >> no. >> and i'm just saying there are all kinds of things that happened coming from the man whose in charge. >> right. >> why should a correspondent have more decorum than the president of the united states? >> look, again -- and i know that a lot of people won't like this. they never do when i say it. i don't believe that you act the way you're acted to in this particular context. >> i agree. >> i believe that the job demands that we be our best and we be our most respectful. >> take the high road. >> i just think it's the only road because when you're right and you're making good points and you have good questions, you never need to go at the person that you're talking to personally. when it's persona