Importantly, we will hear from the new fbi director Christopher Wray who has been in the middle of several washington fire storms, plural, fire storms with an s. This is his first real public appearance since the release of the memo alleging fbi abuses in the russia investigation over his objections. What will he say about that and about the holdup in releasing the democratic response . Will he reveal new information about why he pushed out former Deputy Director andy mccabe. Then the brand new controversy, the claim from the white house that his people, the fbi people, are the reason that dozens of west wing staffers still dont have security clearances. That came up as a result of the deepening mess of response from the white house of former staffer rob porter accused of Domestic Abuse. Theyve clarified little and confused a great deal. Cnns abby phillip has the latest on that. Reporter good morning, john. Were one week into the contingency over rob porter and the Domestic Abuse allegations. Theres still a lot of confusion about the timeline as more information and the more that the white houses allegations dont hold up. After the daily mail published those photographs, huddling with reporters and rob porter to give his side of the story. That contradicts what we heard from Sarah Huckabee sanders at the podium yesterday when she insisted that the white house acted quickly. Meanwhile, theres still more that we are hearing from porters exwives, specifically his exwife Colbie Holderness wrote an op ed in the Washington Post in response to what we heard from kellyanne conway, counselor to the president , over the weekend. Kellyanne made comments about hope hicks, the White House Communications director suggesting she was strong and capable of handling herself in a romantic relationship with rob porter. Holderness says, while i cannot say im surprised, i expected a woman to do better. She continues to say being strong with excellent instincts and loyalty and smarts does not inoculate a person against abuse. It doesnt prevent her from entering into a relationship with an abuser. Its worth noting, kellyanne on social media late last night responded to holderness. She suggested that she had actually agreed with that sentiment, that she believes strong women can be in relationships where there is abuse present, but clearly this white house is having a lot of trouble dealing with this controversy after seven days. Theres still a lot of questions unanswered about who knew what, including white house counselor don mcgahn who we know according to sources was told about these allegations months ago. Again, john, these questions are going to continue well into the day today. The timeline continues to be in flux. The timeline is a mess, abby phillip at the white house, especially with the new reporting thats out. Joining me, dana bash, cnns chief political correspondent. Patrick healey cnn political analyst and Mary Katherine ham, cnn political columnist. We just got it confirmed, and i think its significant, that after the photo of one of rob porters exwives was released the photo was public, Sarah Sanders, the press secretary, sets up an offtherecord meeting with rob porter accused of Domestic Abuse so porter could tell his version of the story to several reporters there. Despite what she was saying at the podium about trying to push him out within 40 minutes of this stuff going public, the white house now we learned is trying to spin their way out of this, even after the photo was released. Dana, this is a problem. For now, Sarah Sanders. There are so many problems. As you said, the timeline and the reality of what theyre saying now about the swift action that they took versus the reality of what was going on and the fact that kaitlan collins, our White House Correspondent just confirmed that Sarah Sanders brought in four print reporters to speak off the record to rob porter to get his side of the story on wednesday. Wednesday being the day that these photos came out. The photos came out online wednesday morning. Of course, it flies in the face of the notion that john kelly is running around arguing that he took swift action. It just does. It just does. They were in defiance mode, in defense mode, they were in were going to fight this mode until the obvious expected overwhelming outrage that this guy was still there took hold and was made clear inside the white house. Mary katherine, not only is there a timeline problem here, but theres also an appropriateness problem here which is that the response from the white house, Sarah Sanders now, was to help rob porter essentially explain this evidence of abuse. It wasnt to question rob porters story, it wasnt to push rob porter out. It was to amplify his version. Right. This is sort of a bizarre move to bring these folks in and have this off the record. But it illustrates, as often with this team, this bunker mentality where her priority was to hear from porter. Their priority was trumps priority is to talk about porter and how this has been hard for him after this came to light. Look, you can vet allegations and you can decide if someone has gotten an amount of due process. In this case we have plenty of evidence. We have photographic evidence contemporaneous reports, several of them talking to fbi representatives for security clearances. Its not like theyre just gabbing with friends here. This is a level of seriousness that was not taken seriously. Its because that was their priority, was him. And its them picking a side. Showing them picking a side even after the photo was released. I guess its surprising to me, this new little piece of evidence really shows where their mind was even after, as far as i can tell, they knew just about everything there was to know. Patrick healey, your take on this. Willingness by the white house to spin Domestic Violence allegations, thats what were now talking about. Basically the white house was so determined to put forward a version of events that they werent even willing to deal with the allegations, to deal with the photos as they were, but instead putting rob porter in front of reporters to sort of create an alternate timeline. The white house knew exactly what it was doing. Don mcgahn and john kelly had known for months that at least there were allegations that were holding up a permanent security clearance for rob porter. They knew that these allegations at least were sufficient concern to the fbi to be, at the very least, sort of slow walking a security clearance process. Yet, even when the photo comes out, even when you see the black eye on a woman, maybe they didnt know that woman. Maybe they knew rob porter very well and didnt know this exwife, but they were still creating essentially a situation where john, dana, we certainly know were put into rooms for offtherecord briefings basically to get a spin of a version of events. We know were being spon. Its audacious. Dana, youve been on the phone with people surrounding this white house overnight. This morning, do they think at this point that theyre getting out ahead of this store i have ri . Do they they theyre handling it well . How do they they theyre doing here . Poorly, poorly. Theyre remarkably selfaware on that note. But what struck me, i was talking to one trump adviser outside the white house who was talking at this point in terms of the political ramifications, less about the Domestic Violence which, lets be honest, is potentially huge, but also about something that were maybe talking less about which is the security clearance issue, and more importantly, a nepotism issue. Here is what i mean by that in patricks paper this morning there was a story about jared kushner, this was brought to the fore, a reminder hess doesnt have his permanent security clearance. In that story it notes that perhaps part of the reason people didnt kind of shake the trees and raise questions about rob porter who was handling sensitive papers all day long not having his permanent clearance is because, by doing that, it raises the obvious question about jared kushner. Hes the president s soninlaw and that puts everybody in an uncomfortable position. This trump adviser noted that this idea of nepotism, at least in internal polling, is off the charts. People do not like it. Mary katherine, we did hear from Colbie Holderness, the first wife of rob porter, the one in the photo with the black eye. Let me read you the first statement. Monday White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders declined to say whether he believes willoughby and me. While i cannot say that im surprised, i expected a woman to be better. Im sorry she had to write that. Shes been thrust into the National Spotlight by the white house failure to deal with this through the proper channels. Theyre suggesting maybe they dont believe her. The praising of her exhusband was off the charts in the early going even though they had all this evidence saying were better for having known him. Here is the deal. Someone like this, as with his wives and many other coworkers can trick a lot of people for a long time and look great in the workplace and be different behind closed doors. It can be a dr. Jekyll and mr. Hyde situation. Once you know mr. Hyde exists, stop praising dr. Jekyll. The white house totally unable to do that. At this point now that we have this increasing timeline were developing from our reporting here and we know what we know here to quote hamilton and what the white house is doing about it is just increasingly surprising. Dana bash, patrick healey, katherine ham, thanks for for being with us. Well hear from fbi director Christopher Wray on the latest on the russia investigation and the criticism of the fbi itself. Christopher wrays first public statements in a long time. This will be fascinating. Lets get right to manu raju on capitol hill. Reporter thats right, the first time Christopher Wray will have weighed in publicly about the nunes memo drafted by the house intelligence chairman devin nunes alleging fbi misconduct in the russia investigation. Christopher wrays agency put out that statement eviscerating that memo, saying it was misleading and had grave concerns about it. Well hear from Christopher Wray about the concerns he still may have about releasing that memo. In addition, what does he think about the democratic rebuttal adam being reviewed right now by the House Intelligence Committee after the white house rejected its declassification, what does Christopher Wray think about that. Beyond that, a much broader hearing focusing on worldwide threats. One of the major threats that members of this committee will undoubtedly ask about is russia. It will be once again these Intelligence Committee chiefs pushed to ask about their views, concerns about russia and whether or not theyre concerned that russia may try to interfere in the 2018 midterms, and whether or not the country is taking adequate protections to ensure what happened in 2016 does not happen in 2018. Watch for this dividing line of sorts to play out between the president s intelligence chiefs and the president himself about that line hes taking against russia and whether or not the president is taking a firm enough line. Well see in a matter of minutes. Manu raju, stalking senators as they head into this important hearing. Thanks so much on that. The hearing begins in moments. We will bring it to you live. First, the white house insists that the president supports abuse victims, but we have not heard him say it. Hes had multiple opportunities. He also has this thing called twitter. 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Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Other side effects include upper respiratory tract infection and headache. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Intrtechnology withnema. Incredible color, sound and streaming. Just as the creators intended. Up to 40 off at dell. Com the im grapgs debate set to begin in the senate shortly. The president weighing in. He said this is the last chance to fix daca before the march 5th deadline. That deadline actually doesnt exist until a court weighs in. Joining me, senator joni ernst, republican from iowa. You were one of the sponsors of a bill which largely mirrors the white house framework, his socalled pillars on immigration. You support it because you say this will help the dreamers like one who in your home state of iowa who wanted to join the National Guard. Absolutely. I met a young lady at the clay county fair in iowa. She approached me and said she was a daca recipient. We were standing by a National Guard recruiting booth. She said i had spoken to a recruiter a number of months ago and i was not able to sign up. She said i love this country, i want to serve my country, this is the only country i have ever know known. Id like to see her find her pathway to citizenship. If she can do that through the military, we want to help her with that. Some democrats say the problem with your proposal is the limits it puts on legal immigrati immigration, family reunification. You have to get to 60 votes. Anything is going to have to get to 60 votes in the senate right now. Would you be able to make some concessions to democrats on this in order to get to 60 votes. I do think were at a very good starting point right now. We know this will be an open debate process. Leader mcconnell has promised that. Were at a good starting point. It mirrors what the white house has already proposed. Im okay with starting there. Maybe there will be concessions along the way. I think what we have right now is a very good plan. Id like to see that plan move forward. Senator, when you were in college, you volunteered at a Womens Crisis Center in aims, iowa. Ive seen you quoted saying oftentimes i felt angry, frustrated and helpless, wishing there was more i could do to stop this from ever happening to them, to women again. Given your own personal experience with this issue with battered women, how would you assess how the white house has handled the Domestic Abuse allegations against former key staffer rob porter . Im not sure of the internal workings of the white house and when they found out what they found out. Im extremely disappointed in this situation. Abuse is never okay. It is never okay. And so i feel very bad for those women. I am glad that they have come forward and again, not understanding the internal dynamics of when was this discovered. We know that rob porter is now out of the picture. But i just want to reemphasize to everybody that abuse is never okay. We need to send a very clear signal that it wont be tolerated and it wont be tolerated with our employees. Is the president sending that signal . I think he needs to send a stronger message, a stronger message. We need to allow women and men that have been abused to come out, make sure their stories are heard and believed. He hasnt said enough yet, in other words. Id like him to come out a little bit stronger on that. We just learned moments ago even after the photo of Colbie Holderness, rob porters first wife was released with a black eye, after that the White House Press secretary set up a briefing where rob porter could tell his version of the story, apparently justify that photo and other things to reporters. Your reaction to that . I think you cant justify it. You cant justify that. And you believe the women . I do believe the women, yes, i do. Senator, i want to move on to another subject because youre very clear on this. Just to be Crystal Clear here, you want to see more from the white house. Do you support a congressional investigation into what happened . Its possible that could be looked into. But how much time are we focusing on those employees, or should we be focusing on other things on a federal scale . We can raise this issue and talk about this issue and encourage awareness, but we also have National Security issues going on that we really need to focus on. We have north korea, iran, china, russia, things that im also very passionate about that we need to focus on. We have a lot of spending issues. But obviously we do want to raise that awareness. But congress does need to be focusing on the federal priorities as laid out by the constitution. There may be a National Security issue here as well given that rob porter could not get a full security clearance, was working on a temporary one. You brought up federal spending. This is a good time to talk about the president s budget. I was looking at your senate website. You said were already more than 20 trillion in debt. Our children and grandchildren deserve better than more debt from washington piled onto their future. Given your stance on the debt and deficit, i assume you oppose the budget that the presi