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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  March 7, 2017 10:00pm-11:01pm PST

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anderson. >> gary, thank you. thank you to everybody took their team to talk to you. just ahead in the next hour of 360, the white house standing by president trump's tweeltz, claiming president obama tapped his phones. the latest reaction from capitol hill next. i'm going to get you out of this chair. breton. you can use it online and on your phone. nope. it's been masterpassed. winning the little victories, priceless masterpass, the secure way to pay from your bank don't just buy it, masterpass it.
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the white house stabbed by president trump's tweets. what the white house does not do or any lawmaker, leading the investigation is offer any evidence at this point to support the president allegations or say that they have seen any evidence. listen to white house press secretary sean spicer earlier today. >> has the white house come up with any evidence whatsoever to prove the allegation?
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>> i think the president, put out a statement sunday saying we would have no further comment? >> where is the evidence? where is the proof that president obama bugged president trump? >> well, i answered this question yesterday on camera on your air. so we are clear. >> since yesterday. >> nothing has changed. it's not a question, not a question of new proof or less proof. >> have you seen any evidence yourself? >> as far as me, no. >> as for the lawmakers now looking into it. they have been talking as well. and we are joined from capitol hill with the latest. >> manu, what the reaction from republicans today? >> andersen, republicans don't know what the president was talking about over the weekend. i spent the day, talking to top republicans in the house and the senate. and they have not seen any evidence to suggest that the president, former president of the united states, ordered any sort of surveillance on the current president of the united states. even at a closed door senate intelligence committee briefing, earlier today, susan collins of maine told me they did not look
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at any evidence on this issue. so they're waiting for the was to present some of that as part of their ongoing investigations on capitol hill. now, adam schiff, top democart on the house intelligence committee will ask this question to james comey and top intelligence officials on march 20th which is going to be the first hearing of the house intelligence committee on the issue of russia, and russia meddling. at the moment right now, republicans are at a loss of what the president of the united states is talking about. take a listen. >> have you seen any evidence to support the president's claim that he has been wiretapped by the previous president. >> yeah, i have not. i have not seen that evidence. >> will you look into the allegation of wiretapping the president wiretapped by president obama. >> i think, i think all of that its part of the investigation. >> do you believe the president when he says that? >> well like i said it needs an investigation. so we can find out what the facts are. so, we'll follow the facts where
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they may lead. >> now, andersen, at the press conference today, devin n of the n nunez, do you think donald trump's tax returns should be part of the investigation. he said he is leery abouter ewing subpoenas to get tax returns because of privacy concerns. saying he does not believe that there is an sort of russian conspiracy to help elect donald trump even as intelligence community suggested opposite. >> there seems to be concern on the capitol hill, fbi, department not providing enough information about the investigations? >> yeah, right. you heard nunez and schiff earlier today raise concerns suggesting in some classified briefings they were not getting all information about some more sensitive investigations that were ongoing. even nunez suggesting that one of the investigations was an investigation to donald trump and his associates and russia during the campaign season last year. suggesting perhaps capitol hill was not aware of what the fbi
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was doing, really shows anderson some tension looming between the intelligence community and the intelligence committees on capitol hill, at the onset of these investigations. >> yeah, manu, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> although the president yet to elaborate on the basis for his tweets. defenders cite reports including one in "the new york times." jeffrey lord mentioned last hour. joining us, michael rosenberg of the times. michael, a lot of discussion about the sourcing of the president's claim, president obama ordered his phones to be wire tapped. some saying not only it came from right leaning web sites and article that you co-wrote in "the new york times" in january, let me get you to address it. does your reporting in any way suggest the claim the president is making, president obama tapped then candidate trump's phones? >> yeah, nowhere in the story does it say that. it says that there is a broad investigation based on wiretapped intercepted communications. it does not say whose communications were intercepted. point readers, something that
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people leave out is another story we wrote, last week, on march 1. that explicitly says that much of the communications that were intercepted were russians talking to russians. they were hearing about things through those conversations. is there a, wiretaps on donald trump or campaign people phones, i don't know that, if we did know that it would be in the newspaper. >> so communications you were discussing were russians talking to russians. >> russians talking to russians. the communication, can't give you the sourcing, very deeply have to be careful. can tell you absolutely that if, if this, if we knew at the time or knew now, that they were monitoring donald trump's communications, or any of his immediate advisers regularly, we could say that explicitly we would be saying thatten the newspaper. that is a news story. same thing with michael flynn, michael flynn's communications with the russian ambassador. he was picked up talking, talking to the russian ambassador whose phones were absolutely monitored. have been probably monitored,
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russian ambassadors for 70 years now. that's why he was picked up. they weren't tracking michael flynn or wiretapping his calls. listening to the russian ambassador. he got on the phone started talking why he was heard. >> read the lean from your article, mentions the word wiretapping. it says, one official said intelligence report based on some of the wiretap communications had been provided to the white house. do you have any sense of, who was actually being wire tapped. again the russian to russian communications? >> going to get careful on that one. don't want to get into who was wire tapped. saying it was provided to the white house. wasn't saying it is trump. one thing i want to make clear. that people don't understand. in most cases on the phone, two foreign officials talking about an american. the name of the american is masked. blacked out. blanked out in the report. only certain people can have it unmasked. only under certain conditions. context in national security situation. the people maybe figure out from context who it is. the name isn't ordinarily made
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available intelligence reports distributed within the community. >> it says same article, quoting, not clear whether the intercepted communications had anything to do with mr. trump's campaign or mr. trump himself. why do you think given that disclaimer the story has been brought into this discussion at all? >> you know, i can only speculate so much here. but this seems like an after the fact justification, saying, look "the new york times" did it. therefore, we are right. little ironic kidding the same people go around calling us fact news and say we are make stuff up. we are not making this up. but we don't know if trump's phones were being monitored or not. that is something that i think very few peoplen the c ein the know. >> whether there was a fisa warrant, not known assuming. >> what i heard, and what i have read, and what the fbi seems to be saying is that there isn't one. but again i will leave that to colleagues to cover the fbi, intelligence community. it just, this is, this is not what we said. and -- i would point people to the story. that came after it. and to other reporting that does
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say they were listening to russian officials. they were monitoring the stuff. picking people up. being discussed. >> matthew, appreciate your time. if you can stick around. want to bring in the panel. joining us, republican strategist, and the other panel. jeffrey, you cited rosenberg's article previously. >> exactly. the point is "the new york times" stories and other not just "the new york times," "the washington post," guardian, et cetera, were building a narrative that the trump campaign was some how is his itly it -- >> you said the article some how, val dates. >> i listened to the explanation. i still believe that. the thrust as the part of the narrative used, media narrative tips, that trump has got this thing going with the russians, russians kicked over the election for him. that is not true. there is no proof of this. this is part of the media narrative. this isn't just jeff lord. >> don't think people are making
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the allegations that the russians -- affected the outcome of the election. >> that certainly is the allegation. >> donald trump feels that is the allegation being made. but you can believe the russians hacked and that it didn't, didn't -- >> anderson, all i can say this. this is candidly, the difference in the conservative media and mainstream media. in conservative media, whether we are talking, talk radio, or internet outlets and all this sort of the thing. the belief is totally there that the media narrative has been planted that, that the russians swung this election to donald trump and that's what democrats are saying. >> doesn't have haeng to do. >> because it is on the internet doesn't mean it is true. >> will my articles are true, andersen. >> of course. >> you keep conflighting the two things. question whether the russians were involved in the election has nothing to do with your allegation that this was all a "the new york times" setup that donald trump, donald trump's allegation, that obama wire tapped him. they're two separate things. you keep conflighting the two.
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>> where does the information about trump and russians come from? it comes from surveillance. >> well, we just had our annie hall moment. where we had the person, who wrote the story, still there, sake what you said jeffrey is not accurate. the basis for trump's tweet cannot be this "the new york times" article because it has no relationship. >> matthew, want to respond anything to jeffrey has said. >> i don't want to get into a huge back and forth. surveillance goes on in many ways, shapes, forms. kn nowhere in the story does it say donald trump was under surveillance. >> why put the trump name in there? >> because, all right, this its what i mean getting into a back and forth debate. that's kind of not the question, not the point here. you are saying we some how said donald trump was under surveillance. only the most obtuse misreading would lead to one conclude, the story says donald trump was under surveillance. >> margaret. people believe what they want to believe. this, you know we live in a
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polarized nation. as jeffrey said. conservative media there is a narrative out there. and, donald trump supporters believe it. >> yeah, you can also ask people if they think that the news is bias? and largely breaks down, along partisan lines. right? so this is, you know, we are talking about earlier. called it potential constitutional crisis. i don't know if it is, but there is a real burden put on consumers of news to identify and figure out what is real and true. and, going to go to your echo chamber or look at multiple sources of news figure out what is real, what hold water, what isn't. it takes a lot of citizens to figure that tout. >> keep coming back to the idea if the president wanted to, a, you know, hard to imagine the president would tweet such an allegation without the former president without having information. assuming that its what he did. he still could call up, by himself right now or have people call up the fbi department of justice and find out the facts.
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>> you would look to think based on the wording of his tweet he has already done that. or he knows the source of where he got this information from. if you dial it back a little bit. we already have the obama, obama spokesperson saying, we had nothing to do with it. we had former director of national intelligence, james clapper saying he didn't have anything to do with it. it could have still gone on he wouldn't know about it. matthew brings up the point about the warrant. who would know about that? loretta lynch? what did she know. >> the president of the united states could call the department of justice now and get the information and declassify anything he wanted to. >> exactly. exactly. my next point is that, i think that's what he should do. he should put out what he knows, where the source of his tweet came from, and let's get on. let's talk about the new health care plan. new executive order, with regard to the travel ban. i think, we are spending a lot of time talking about this. i don't think is helping.
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what his message should be this week. and he could, very easily put a stop to tip. >> does it step on. we have seen instances where the president, and whether, by design or accident, stepped on rule outs -- rollouts they planned. >> hawe he should live with it. nobody forced hem to tweet out the charges. nobody told him to have his spokesperson make a fufl himself. nobody told him to start any of the things. nobody told hem to call for a congressional investigation that nobody wants. you know he could pick up the phone and call barack obama. pick up the phone call speaker of the house. could have handled this any number of ways. he chose not to. so, let's, let's do all of us the favor of treating him like a responsible adult though he doesn't act like one all the time. say, mr. president, this its what you started now. you are going to live with it. there is going to be an investigation of all of the different things, all the contacts that you, your financial associates, the oligarchs, in russia you
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borrowed money from for 30 years. all that need to come out. >> we heard from nunez earlier today. saying, to the media, you take the president literally. do you think -- i mean if i've was president of the united states i would want people to take me literally. seems patronizing not to. but do you take the president literally? >> well, we should. look, i lived throughout the campaign when he accused ted cruz's father of being involved with the jfk assassination. later became how people take him literally not seriously or some people take him seriously not literally. >> that wasn't true? >> that was not true. news flash. >> here is the thing. he is the president of the united states. his word matter. facts matter. i think when he tweets something like this, surely he knows that, how it is going to be interpreted. it is really important that he understands now that every single word he says is going to be taken seriously. >> got to take a break. thank everybody. matthew as well. you know, used to be fbi directors were all but faceless, not the case with james comey.
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why this director found himself at the center of this and political storms. what does vladamir putin think of president trump and the u.s. relationship with russia now. are w a
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see you, dale. bye, rob. james brian comey jr., tallest director the fbi ever had. with the clinton e-mail scandal,
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and the reaction to wiretap allegations highest profile director since j. edgar hoover, hillary clinton's former campaign manager, his own opinion of the director. first this from randikaye. >> reporter: fbi director james comey reveals he is re-examining hillary clinton's e-mails. months earlier, comey decided not to recommend criminal charges. but the move to take another look so close to election day, was in response to thousand of e-mails found on disgraced former congressman anthony weiner's server in a separate investigation. comey wrote, the fbi learned of existence of e-mails that aper to be pertinent to the investigation. >> i'm confident that whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in july. therefore it is imperative that the bureau explain this issue in
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question, whatever it is, without any delay. >> reporter: director comey dropped the bombshell despite the justice department and fbi's long standing practice of not commenting publicly on politically sensitive investigations within 60 days of an election. comey explained in a letter to fbi employees why he felt the need to share. i feel an obligation to do so given that i testified repeatedly in reecen't months that our investigation was completed. i also think it would be misleading to the american people, were we not to supplement the record. but that's not the whole story. turns out that same month the fbi was also investigating russia's meddling in the presidential election. intelligence officials were looking at possible ties between russia and donald trump's campaign. but none of that was ever made public in the leadup to election day. only the renewed investigation into clinton's e-mails. >> there is a very clear and extremely troubling double standard in director comey's
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action, the director owes the american public and congress a clear explanation of why there is a double standard. >> reporter: long after the election in january this year, comey testified before the senate intelligence committee. when asked whether the fbi was investigating connections between the russian government and the trump team, he would only say we never confirm or deny a pending investigation. >> i didn't say one way or another. >> you didn't say. >> my intention. >> didn't say one way or another whether there is an investigation under way. >> correct. >> comey emfa sized the investigation into clinton's e-mails had been closed already and was no longer pending or open when he spoke about it days before voters went to the polls. and now, with donald trump's latest suggestion president obama had his trump tower phones wire tapped during the campaign, the fbi director is back in the headlines. comey apparently incredulous over trump's wiretap claims and asked the staff to reach out to the justice department to knock down the allegation. long known for his bipartisan
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fairness, james c hospital. mey is certainly in a tangle with both sides. randi kaye, cnn new york. >> one person saw his professional life rocked by what he said, former clinton campaign manager, robbie mook. >> what do you make of the spot that comey is in, could refute the accusation against president obama, sure you will point out, fine commenting abut secretary clinton during the campaign. >> well, yeah, look, it is disappointing that we are seeing restraint now, we dent see restraint last year. i think what matters right now is where we go in the future. and -- the fact that director comey is in a bind, the fact this is made into a partisan issue on the hill and in the white house when it shouldn't be one at all, to me reinforces we need an independent, bipartisan commission to take this matter and, get it investigated and come back to us, and tell us what happened.
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>> it is interesting, regarding comey. until the campaign last year, the director of the fbi was not known as partisan lightning rod, served republican and democrat administrations. do you give him any benefit that his intentions were in the right place? >> i think he was trying to do the right thing. assume he was trying to do the right thing. i think where things went ape little bit off, was the fact that he broke protocol when it cam to sequest came to secretary clinton. there are rules in place you are not supposed to talk about a candidate or election during a certain period during the election. he chose to break that, but now we are seeing all kind of information come out, that he had on now president trump. but then again, let's just get this entire issue of russia out of the political space. and with some independent people who can objectively tell us what happened. >> do have to ask. do you have confidence in the director's ability to oversee an investigation. >> i think the argument i am
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making this is so sticky, he shouldn't have to manage all of this. i recognize that he, faces some impossible choices. and i, i would be the first one to say that the choices he faced in 2016 as well, were not simple or easy. and i think this issue has become so polarized, and, so partisan, that we need to lift it out. because, what would be a tremendous tragedy would be that it, a true national security issue becomes so partisan that we don't actually do anything about it. what i am very alarmed about, if this is allowed to happen election after election, you know you could have campaign strategists like me sitting in a room thinking about russia and china the way we think about super pacs. they're just something that has to be strategically managed. that's incredibly dangerous. we don't want to get there. >> when president trump says everything under the umbrella of russian interference, a witch-hunt by democrats to make up for lost election. what would you say to his
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supporters, not hip, the people who hear him, and, and believe that that logic makes sense. >> yeah, i am really glad you asked this question. and, i have sedate lot. worth saying again. we can't treat this like a partisan issue. i understand how his administration would feel threatened by this. it was his aides that were communicating with the russians. but the message i am trying to got out loud and clear, we cannot allow the russians or any other foreign country to permeate deeply into our political process. to become entities that campaigns align them steflz with, like they're some sort of interest group. that's unacceptable. and so, i, i would actually urge the president supporters, to reach out to their members of congress. and ask them for the independent, objective assessment of what happened. >> robbie, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> well, just ahead as house intelligence committee prepares for hearings on russian meddling in the u.s. election why is russia trying to influence events in the u.s. talk to the new yorker editor, david rennick and a deep dive
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into the answer of that question.
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tonight's breaking news, house intelligence committee will hold the first public
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hearing on russia's meddlingen u.s. elections march 20th. the new yorker has a deep diech into what is behind the meddling. the cover story, active measures what lay behind russia's interfere ins in the election and what lays ahead. co-written by the editor of the new yorker. fascinating read. david worked for years as a reporter and correspondent in russia and wrote about the former sfoviet union. a riff on the first cover. vladamirput in, and donald trump as a butterfly. and the magazine's name is in cyrilic. for russia, that is a way to overcome their inherent weaknesses? >> what does russia want? it doesn't just want the end to economic sanctions. it wants us out of their realm of what putin sees interests. when we raise something about
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cleptocracy or oppression of journalists be darn sure the next time that comes up, that we are going to hear about enemies of the people. the phrase that donald trump used to describe you and me. >> it is interesting. >> a kind of moral equivalence game he plays. >> so far, i don't know itch you can say there is smoke. certainly a lot of questions about contacts between the people around donald trump, around president trump, canned date trump, previously businessman trump. and, and russia and putin. >> and money. >> and money. >> yet, not any actual. nothing he can point to and wrap your hand around. >> what brought all this to the fore. all of it? for the most part. journalism. "the washington post." "the new york times." the new yorker. any number of publications. what seems to me self-evident. to be descriptive. to get answers to all of the obvious questions, as the the president of the united states compromised, to what degree is
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our, our democracy been compromised. what do we have to do to prevent this? what measures to be taken. journalism kanl only go so far. without free and independent and deep investigation, on the part of our law enforcement bodies. and congress, we are lost. >> journalists can't do it all. >> don't think so. i have great pride in what, what journalists should be doing. and, what they are doing at the moment. i think it is an interesting, promising moment for journalism which has been embattled for quite a while in recent years. but it can't do everything. even in watergate you had courts that came into play. you had congressional hearings that came into play. famous senate watergate hearings. i think this is where we are headed. >> interviewed carter paige fry day night. one of the names that has come up. when you meet the guy, there is
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a banality to it. sort of slipperiness to the way he talked to you. >> beyond slippery. >> but also, in -- >> here's what we don't have. we don't have subpoena power. we can't necessarily, the president, look, one of the missing pieces in this whole thing is the president's business dealings. >> that we don't really know. >> we don't have his tax returns. what are tax returns after all for some one president of the united states, but whose background for decade has been in business. essentially a -- a biography, deep biography an accounting biography of all his business dealings. we need to see that. i feel, you know as a citizen. we always need to see that in terms of honest accounting of who he is, has been, as a businessman throughout the campaign. look, we are six weeks into this presidency. look where we are. look where we are.
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candidacy began with the birther theory, the president of the united states on a saturday morning, waking up at 6:00 in the morning, in florida, and tweeting a half dozen times without any evidence, without any basis, that his predecessor had been spying on him. and then following it up with a tweet about arnold neg and ratings. this is where we are. and look how ungrounded we are. so many seriouser use ee eissu. >> on that issue, not the ratings on the accusation against the former president, if the current president wanted to find out information about fisa court warrants. peck up t peck up t >> there has to beep basis in reality. >> the white house says there need to be an investigation, not going to talk about in anymore until the investigation is done. >> perhaps. at the same time there are so
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many, use surrounding his, veracity, his stability, the level of chaos in the white house. my colleague, adam davidson published this week in the new yorker, a piece about, a business deal that the trump organization did in which they were dealing with within of the most corrupt families in the nation of azerbaijan, a hotel deal. and it seems that -- one of their other business parters then this, was a business front for the iranian revolutionary guard. an organization that this administration wants to declare a terrorist organization. so i think the level of investigation that's needed is, is manifest. >> on the azerbaijan article, which i read, fascinating because. the trump organization was saying initially, well, we didn't really, this was just one of the licensing deals. they just put the trump name. as the you discovered. >> nonsense.
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that's the trump organization. and by the way ivanka trump want to baku to look into the deal. >> and was directly involved in the landscaping. >> interior decorating the rest. >> you have a responsibility, as an american business, to do due diligence because of foreign corrupt practices. if you, and, as adam discovered. the most cursory, most cursory examination of this business would have revealed, as would a google serve, that the family, as one of the wikileaks cables from american embassy in baku said to washington, that the family, business partner was spectacularly corrupt even by azerbaijan standard. >> krucorruption in azerbaijan everywhere. >> everywhere. everywhere. >> thank you. >> my pleasure. >> ahead, president trump served up helping of animosity. a big deviation from the respect
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the presidents typically show each other. talk it over with david gergen who worked with four former presidents. coming back. draw the line. one spray of roundup® max control 365 kills weeds to the root and keeps 'em away for up to one year. roundup® max control 365. is america's number-one you kmotorcycle insurer. yeah, she does purr! best bike i ever owned! no, you're never alone, because our claims reps are available 24/7. we even cover accessories and custom parts. we diget an early start! took the kids to soccer practice. you want me to jump that cactus? all right. aah! that lady's awesome. i don't see a possum!
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white house press saketory
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told reporter, president trump has no regrets, alleging president obama had his phones tapped, the white house or president trump has not provided evidence. the investigation fired off in a tweet storm, the latest example of donald trump smashing a time honored code among presidents. >> reporter: the relationship between presidents trump and barack obama seemed to be getting colder by the day. >> president obama, i will say that, it has been, been disastrous for business. >> since the inauguration, acrimony from the trump camp has been nonstop. >> i have actually called the justice department to look into the leaks. those are criminal leaks. >> reporter: trump accusing many government holdovers from the obama administration of leaking classified some times embarrass information about him while bombastic language from trump is not new. >> we have a disaster on our hand. we have a man, right now, that almost certainly will go down as the worst president in the
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history of the united states. >> reporter: the public animosity now that he is in office is at odds with the way past presidents have often behaved. >> we like to believe in our country that our ex-presidents get along. and that they act in a civil mannerly way towards each other. it clearly donald trump doesn't know about that tradition. and i think he lives in a, in a state of paranoia. >> reporter: in times of crisis, presidents have often come together, despite political differences to show country comes first. >> they usually try to treat of other with -- with magnanimous gestures, consultation, kindness, because after all, they're the ones that know what it is like to be in the white house. >> reporter: from president ford, pardoning nixon to save the country. to president george w. bush enlisting his father and former president clinton to help victims of hurricane katrina. what is the president asking you
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to do? tau a . >> we are raising money. >> reporter: presidents have shared moments of grief. president obama invited presidents bush and clinton to join him at nellston mson mande funeral. and he was asked to represent him at the funeral of anwar sadat, the bush s and obamas have grown close seen here at the opening of the african museum of history and culture. >> that surprised everybody. about society. people on opposite side of the political spectrum could like each other. >> so far it isn't clear if trump is interested in maintaining a friendly relationship with obama or commanders in chief. his goal its to set himself apart from any one and anything representing traditional washington. >> thank you very much. lot to talk about with david gergen. adviser to four presidents and seen firsthand how presidents
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treat their predecessors. is there a danger in a current president feuding with a former one? seems to me you would want to feel look you could call up your predecessor for advice. few people who have had the job? >> absolutely. we had a presidents club. fraternity of people who had been president, a handful but who have become friend and worked together. famously, ronald reagan when sworn in, iranian hostages were released that day. and, jimmy carter who had been defeated. reagan gave him air force one to go to germany to greet the hostage. come back. carter forever indebted for that. later on when president sadat of egypt was shot, jerry ford, jimmy carter want together on a plen plane to funeral. they were bitter enemies, became friend and work together on
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bipartisan issues there after. recently. when the tsunami hit pacific, remember how, president bush senior, and bill clinton, raised money. clinton became so close to the bush family they almost treated him like another son. these relationships have made a difference. and it's -- it's distressing and sad that in the current situation we have such it building up quickly between president trump and president obama. >> with the latest accusation by the president is this something that you think the relationship with the former president can bounce back from? >> i think it will create a permanent rift between the two. president obama i don't think he is going to be taking the public stage and fighting it out with, with president trump. but i can tell you this, i think
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a lot of the people around him, president obama, the alumni so to speak will have no reluctance to take it on. by the way, president trump thinks it is the obama alumni who have been fomenting the resistance against him and responsible for a lot of the leaks. >> yeah. >> when you hear that accusation, that idea that -- you know there is a deep state, a permanent government, there are, you know sort of obama moles essentially at various locations trying to slow things down. does that, you know, there is kind of a, a permanent bureaucracy. is it possible? >> there is a permanent bureaucracy, there is no such thing as a deep state in the sense that that word is used to describe politics in pakistan or in turkey, you know where there are strongmen, military people, waiting in the wings, to move in. intervene. if current regime doesn't dupe what they want. we have a bureaucracy which is i think fighting back against the trump people.
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whether it be, state department when the huge cuts are coming, and their budget, sure they're fighting. other parts of the government. they're resisting. that's not unusual in washington. i think it has become let us say i think more adversarial in this administration than i can remember than any other. >> david gergen. thank you. >> should the president's campaign slogan be we are going to build a wall and coast guard and tsa are going to pay for it. we'll explain that next. hey ron! they're finally taking down that schwab billboard.
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entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. while not reported with entyvio, pml, a rare, serious brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections, or have flu-like symptoms, or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's medication isn't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach. president trump said that the travel ban is necessary to protect americans and the wall on the border, but the crackdown on immigration could come at a high cost of other agencies. tasked with protecting
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americans, the coast guard, as well as the tsa. rene marsh has the details. >> well, anderson, two agencies critical to homeland security. the coast guard protects the maritime borders and tsa protects airports and the commercial airplanes we fly on. important to point out, these are proposed cuts. we don't know yet what the final budget will look like, but if they remain as the office of budget management is proposing, several former officials tell me it would create a strain on agencies and their critical missions. the trump administration could be making major cuts to the united states coast guard and tsa according to two congressional sources. the proposed cuts are intended to offset a major increase in military spending and help pay for trump's ramped up immigration enforcement. >> the immigration officers are finding the gang members, the drug dealers and the criminal aliens and throwing them the hell out of our country. >> reporter: but the coast guard
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plays a role in enforcing immigration laws. government statistics show in fiscal year 2016 alone, the coast guard intercepted more than 6,300 undocumented my -- migrants. steven flynn, a retired coast guard commander, says cuts the his former agency will hurt not help the president's national security and immigration agenda. >> just as the lesson we learned post-9/11 is you can't do it piecemeal but a comprehensive approach. >> reporter: among the duties, securing the waterways in florida when president trump visits. the proposal calls for a 14% cut from its $9 billion operational budget. that includes slashing 43 million from the maritime safety and security teams which board vessels trying to bring illegal drugs into the country. over the past five years, coast guard cutters and aircraft have
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removed more than 630 metric tons of pure uncut cocaine with a wholesale value of nearly $19 billion from the high seas. drugs have been a focus for president trump. >> and for drugs to pour in at a now unprecedented rate -- >> reporter: flynn warns cuts to the coast guard could impact national security. >> the terrorist is not a conventional armed forces, something the president knows and the coast guard is a front line agency for that. >> reporter: tsa, the agency tasked with keeping terrorists and bombs off commercial airplanes could see a $500 million reduction. the agency, already plagued by long lines and frustrated travelers in the past, because it didn't have the funding it needed. former tsa official paul smank. >> that significant cut, how goodwill the security be? this cannot be good in either side. >> reporter: well, the omb released a statement saying in part the budget blueprint will be released in mid-march and
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it would be premature for us to comment. it went on to say that the president and his cabinet are working collaboratively as we speak, to create a budget that keeps the president's promises. but some republicans say cutting the coast guard budget is a terrible idea. california congressman duncan hunter said in a statement, quote, omb needs a reality check. back to you, anderson. >> thanks very much. we'll be right back. on here? our insurance company may not have a name your price tool [ shouting ] but we got disses for days! your mother is so lame, she never put any notes in your lunch bag. sandwiches o-o-only. yeah! yeah, well if you use progressive's name your price tool, maybe you could use the savings to buy a decent suit. i got this jaime. ♪ you could throw shade all day ♪ ♪ but it'll never land ♪ 'cause we got the name your price tool ♪ ♪ in the palm of our h-a-a-and ♪ mic drop. mime: ouch. what? it was a sweet burn. progressive's name your price tool. word to your wallet.
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and that's it for us. thanks for watching. time to hand things over to don lemon. i'll see you tomorrow night. "cnn tonight" starts right now. president trump's advisers in spin mode over the wiretapping accusations and the president himself in sales mode on the replacement for obamacare. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. president trump said he's proud to back the gop plan for replacing obamacare. conservative republicans, blasting their own party's plans. is it doa, dead on arrival? will dismantling obamacare hurt president trump's voters? the president not backing down from the stunning wiretapping accusations against former president obama but also not offering the slightest bit of evidence. that's as republican intelligence chairman in the house and senate admit they've