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Those russian sanctions, kind of force the presidents hands to sign it. i think the presidents question is are they going to do that again or has he sort of successfully brought the republican majority in line behind him, this close to the primaries for the midterm elections? so the next step really is in the house republicans court about what do they do? do they help him or do they say, hey, we already voted to let this thing go, were going to make sure this in large form gets out. thats where ...

Sources say senior white house officials including white house counsel don mcgann learned more than a year ago about porters alleged abuse. rob port, the secretary of the white house, his alleged abuse. civil rights professor avery freeman and criminal defense attorney richard herman, both professors, may i remind you. richard, you first, if don mcgahn, the white house counsel, knew about the allegations of domestic violence but didnt act, does he face any legal issues as a lawyer? >> well, fred...

Supported roy moore. and this administration is not dialed into the -- >> all right, so, really quickly, avery, you are disputing all or which part of that? >> h well, i mean, look, you want to assign significance to the women who accused trump and this is legitimate but to tie it all in is troublesome when it come t comes to this particular event. the president was not sympathetic to the vick are tims, and that is true, but in dealing with porter and what you do on the one hand where he said we...

Tells the president, how he tells him, and how he interprets the law for him. because clearly now the president says allegedly he didnt find out about porter until a couple weeks ago. >> right. >> it just seems insane because mcgahn knew at least a year ago. he was briefed by the fbi on this. he saw the pictures of the black eye when porter beat the crap out of one of his wives. he even got direct phone calls from girlfriends of porter. i mean, he had all this information. >> in november, right....

And then now playing a part in crafting a statement about rob porter. shes dating him. shes now -- its also being reported now that she was told about these allegations. it did rattle her. but then fast forward, somehow she was involved in crafting the statement which was very complimentary about him and shes also dated corey lewandowski, who was also accused of, you know, roughing up a few male reporter. so what is this, you know, is the president upset about the relationship? is he upset about...

>> youre right, she was like a daughter, so it will be interesting if he will be the father-like figure and, you know, keep her under the wing there or if she is an employee who potentially could lose her job over this type of, you know, upstaging of the president. eleanor cliff, thank you so much. >> thank you, fredricka. still so much more straight ahead in the "newsroom." first, one company is going green with the help of spiders. cnns tech correspondent rachel crane has the story. >> repor...

Get to be in a position as important as anything for any white house working for any president of either party. and particularly as job sensitive as somebody who is supposed to have top secret clearance handling red folders, handling really vital information, getting their own briefings on what the president heard and in his daily brief. there are considerations. and anyone who holds a position like that. about whether theyre vulnerable to blackmail, when this have good judgment and whether they...

Those who are accused. and their lives being turned upside down. is the president also indirectly making a reference to the accusers by omission, you know, by saying these are mere allegations? is he belittling the seriousness of these allegations? >> right. of course it is important to have due process if youre talking about a criminal proceeding. but in this reporters case, theres photographic evidence. which white house officials themselves found so moving and kind of unchallengeable that it ...

Of allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct himself by people including one of his ex-wives. so once you establish the standard that an accuser in a case like this is to be believed by defaults which, you know, is what a lot of people would approach these types of questions saying, you know, he indianapol ipso facto lends credence to people accused of similar things. when you have the republican party out there bashing, for instance, democrats taking money from harvey weinstein and then i...

Times. and she works all behind the scenes. but a family friend told me shes always been very good at dealing with people who were older. she knows how to deliver, you know, bad news and shes never confrontational. i think the president really came to trust her as someone who has no other agenda but his, which is why this episode now with her relationship with rob porter has gotten in the way, because now, oops, she has an agenda other than donald trump. >> which is interesting, because, you kno...