Great to have you. Great to be here. Cnn has learned why special Counsel Robert Mueller wants help from deputy chair rick gates. Court filings suggest is mueller is going after bigger fish as he investigates contacts between president Trumps Campaign and russia. In the meantime, the pick for v. A. Secretary is drawing criticism and concern over his thin management record. Washington post reports dr. Ronny jackson, the doctor himself was taken aback when he got the news and expressed hesitance about taking a job that oversees 377,000 employees. And denying a motion from the attorney for Stormy Daniels to depose President Trump and Michael Cohen. Lets begin our coverage with is shim shimon. Reporter this is related to the rick gates. We are told he has primarily been using rick gates about the Central Mission of the investigation, which has been russian interference or as we have all referred to it as socalled collusion into the 2016 campaign. The interesting thing here, very early on before gates agreed to cooperate with special counsel, were told that muellers team told him they needed him that they didnt need him for Paul Manafort and instead wanted to hear about what he knew about contacts between the Trump Campaign and russians. We may have a hint how they have been using gatess information. That came from a recent court filing that shows he was communicating with a russian intelligence official who was a close associate of manafort. And the court papers said gates knew of this connection while he worked for the Trump Campaign. Shimon, any sense of what rick gates could know about all of this or what information he might have had access to . Reporter he had a lot of access. He had a seat at the table. He had ties with members of trumps inner circle. He was deputy to Paul Manafort, a longtime business associate of his. And he has connections to tom barrack, a close friend of trump. Rick gates was in on some of the fundraising decisions and developed a reputation for keeping tabs on what others were doing in the campaign, including that trump tower meeting where a russian lawyer promised dirt. Remember that happened over the summer during the campaign where this russian lawyer promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. Alisyn . Shimon, thank you very much for all of your reporting. So skepticism appears to be growing over President Trumps pick to lead the department of Veterans Affairs as he made headlines in this unscripted rally in ohio. Cnns abby phillip is live in west palm beach, florida with more. So what happened, abby . Reporter good morning, alisyn is. President trump is waking up at his resort here in mauer ltpin. It is the person he picked as his new v. A. Secretary is coming under scrutiny as his inner circle shrinks. Mounting criticism on capitol hill about the qualifications of President Trumps nominee to lead the department of Veterans Affairs, white house doctor navy admiral ronny jackson. This is half the size of the United States army. Its going to be tough, nothing is going to change. 375,000 employees, a budget of close to 200 billion dollars. Reporter former cia chief brennan calling it a terribly muss guided nomination. Jackson himself was taken aback by himself nomination and hesitated to take on such a big job. But the president continued to push for his selection. He said mr. Trump has been pleased with jackson since he praised his health in january. I told him if he had a healthier diet the next 20 years he might live to be 200 years old. There were some political appointees within my administration that didnt see it that way and wanted us to take a much harder stance toward privatization. I wasnt going for that. Reporter President Trump hinting at his support for privatization at a rally thursday. We made a lot of progress with the veterans, but i want to get them choice. Reporter mr. Trump defending his decision to oust shulkin. I made some changes because i wasnt happy with the speed with which our veterans were taken care of. I wasnt happy with it. Reporter after largely staying out of sight for days, President Trump going off script at a rally meant to tout his infrastructure plan. Threatening to up end his first major trade deal with south korea. I may hold it up until after a deal is made with north korea. Reporter and surprising the pentagon with this announcement about the u. S. Presence in syria. Well be coming out of syria very soon. Reporter before leaving for ohio, he bid forward well to Outgoing Communications director hope hicks thursday. So far nobody is in line to take her place. Cnn has learned that the president is being told by some advisers he doesnt need a Communications Director or chief of staff if general kelly departs. If general kelly does decide to leave or the president decides its time for him to move on, i dont think there will be another chief of staff. Reporter well, we are learning new developments about another of President Trumps cabinet secretaries. Scott pruett is under scrutiny for his 24 7 security detail according to a letter by sheldon whitehouse. He used the security detail not only for his time here in washington but also at home in tulsa for a trip to disneyland and a trip to the rose bowl. More troubles for the president s cabinet secretaries, alisyn and john. Well get to all of that. Lets bring in cnns john avlon. It is hard to follow every threat of the russia investigation. But what has happened now with this court filing and rick gates does feel like it is a big deal to delve into. Explain it to me. It is a confirmation that the Mueller Investigation is looking at collusion and direct contacts between members of the Trump Campaign and russian intelligence services. Thats the simplest way to say it. It is not just lobbying and surrounding the campaign and whether they tried to influence the election, which they did via st. Petersburg. It is a close member, deputy to the chair Paul Manafort who is in business and in contact with a member of the gru, russian intelligence services. It looks like the Mueller Investigation tries to send signals, subtle signals. When they indicted 13 russians. In this obscure court filing they are trying to say, no, no, no. Were looking at Campaign Contacts between the Trump Campaign and russia. It is also a reminder we have rick gates. Right. Rick gates is cooperating with us. We have michael flynn. Hes cooperating. And a few others probably not mentioned. Were looking from the outside in. We are describing motive to the action that we cant be aware of. Because i have to tell you having covered the doj for years and knowing the people that know him, its been described as a black box. Is and the other metaphor is peeling back of an onion. He progresses methodically. What we see is to give us i dont think he cares. Hes doing his job. Hes going to do it the best way he knows how. And i think we find that theyre not going to be coming forward with too much information except through court documents. And then hes going to which is really very professional way of doing things. Very contrary to washington, d. C. Where if you say hi, it turns out three blocks later that you gave the gettysburg address. It speaks to the professionalism of this investigation and the thoroughness of it. I dont like the word collusion, though, since its not you cant be charged for collusion. I think what they are probably looking at is obstruction of justice. While collusion could be used to impeach. But if theyre going to indict him on anything, it wont be collusion. It will be something else. Lets talk about whats going on in the white house as a whole. He said publicly goodbye to hope hicks yesterday. She was with him before the campaign. This was a truster adviser, aide, and confidante. Im no body language expert, but this was an awkward that part wasnt awkward. Theyre very close. That part is actually nice. And goodbye, farewell. Best of luck to you. Clearly he has affection for her and vice versa. He may not replace her. He thinks he may not need a director. Apparently the president is getting advice that he doesnt need a Communications Director. Whoever is giving him that advice is they are not his friends. If ever he needed a chief of staff and Communications Director it is this one if he is going to listen to them. Therein lies the problem. Were at the end of march. Lets just look at the body count in the president s inner circle. Communications director, gone. Secretary of state, gone. Chief economic adviser, gone. National security adviser, gone. V. A. Secretary, gone. That is massive upheaval. And wait until hour. Theres still time. These are people who were key to the white house. Thats the chaos. He said he loves to operate in chaos. And i can tell you theres nothing out of covering a lot of administrations. Ive never seen. It is almost scary how mean spirited and chaotic the white house is and can be. So to operate without the idea of operating without a chief of staff to me is apt to running a government. How do you run without a Communications Director . He likes to fly by the seat of his pants, make his own decisions. Everyone who has ever done business with him will tell you that. He means well. I get it. But this is the u. S. Government. It is not a startup operation. Its been going on since the 1700s. So maybe you might want to kind of follow road. John brought up a great point. These are not friends if theyre giving this advice. You cant dismiss them as powerless quacks. We know the president listens. In some ways they might be more powerful than people in the west wing. Some of them may have spent time in the west wing and may no longer be in the west wing. That may be some of the people hes listening to. He finds it more convenient. Familiarity breeds contempt. Perhaps when theyre outside, he listens to them and youre right. Its a good point that you made, john. The scary point about it is when you have people outside of the white house giving you advice and you take it and you dont listen to the people who are there on a daily basis, thats a recipe for disaster. Whats the upshot to the American Public if he doesnt have a director of communications. Does it matter . It does at the end of the day. We know the president is not a big fan of studying american history. Just for a second, both gerald ford and jimmy carter tried to stretch this without a chief of staff. It was a disaster. There is a reason that role exists. I understand chief of staff. But director of communications . He says whatever he wants on twitter. Maybe they can have a message to counteract his shoot from the hip stock. We will go through one news cycle. I know regan would spend all day long. You would two in early in the morning. Larry speaks would say, this, this, this. Someone else would explain the facts. Someone is else would come in and you would spend a week crafting it. And this guy does it in a tweet. Maybe what hope hicks was providing is enough of a break to keep it sane. And you do need that traffic cop in the white house. Otherwise, bedlam and chaos is going to overwhelm us all, if it hasnt already. Very quickly, will he become the v. A. Secretary . Is i think republicans control the senate. They will be inclined to vote for whoever the president s nominee is. Hes going to get tough questions about what is his experience, what are his policies, detailed about the physical perhaps. Look for a revealing hearing. He is a charming guy. The question is does and a good doctor by all counts. Does his experience match up even in the same ballpark to running the v. A. . And the situation is the administration, as i said yesterday, has been screaming that it wants its people. Give us our people. We cant do our job. We want our team in place. Inasmuch as like i said yesterday, hell probably be seated because the republicans at the very least, unless there is an overwhelming that dont, want to give him his chance and his team. There is nothing actually wrong with that. The president comes in to do the job. You want him to have the team that he wants. The team has to be able to play the position. Well, thats right. Thats up to the coach. Its not the ball club. Im stopping the sports metaphors right here because i dont understand them. Thank you very much. So a legal setback for Stormy Danielss team, a judge denies her request from her attorney to depose President Trump and his attorney. If you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,. With reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Tell your doctor if these occur. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. 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Id of said youre dreaming. Dreaming definitely dreaming. Then again, dreaming is how i got this far. Now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. A federal judge denying a motion from Stormy Danielss lawyer to question President Trump and his personal lawyer under oath about the 130,000 payment into silencing daniels about her alleged affair with mr. Trump. Joinings us now is Stormy Danielss attorney michael avenatti. Great to see you. Good morning. This was a setback from the judge. What is the next move . It is not a setback. It is a procedural ruling. What we are encouraged by, alis alisyn, there is language where the court agrees with our assessment of the law and appears to suggest that were going to win this motion. I mean, this is two minutes into the First Quarter and the other side is declaring victory and popping champagne bottles. Its a little ridiculous. It seems to us every day you have something up your sleeve. And you either roll out a new tease of something you have or a new action. So what today are you going to do . Well, i dont believe we have been teasing about it. We have been performing actions and litigating this case. Look, we have a lot of evidence. We have a lot of cards up our sleeve. Were going to be strategic. Were going to be smart. This case has a long way to go. Were going to follow is as far as next steps, we will file this motion. And the court is going to decide this. And i think the president and mr. Cohen are in a world of hurt as it relates to this. When i say tease, i mean youve been dangling a lot of reported evidence that we havent seen. For instance, you tweeted out that photo of a cd connected to the 60 minutes interview with Stormy Daniels. What is that . We dont know what that is. You never explained it. Why did you connect it to 60 minutes . Well, as i explained, that was a warning shot to mr. Cohen and the president they better be very careful after the 60 minutes broadcast related to the denials of this affair. Alisyn, guess what, it worked. Because since the 60 minutes interview, we have heard nothing from mr. Cohen or the president , and they havent denied it. I think it was heck of a warning shot. It served its purpose. In due time, americans will learn whats on that dvd. Tell us right now whats on the tkfd. Im not going to do that. Were in society where everybody wants immediate tkpwrat indicati gratification. I was asked a question whether other women had contacted us. I didnt tease that out. I was asked a question. I come on the shows and answer basically 95 of the questions, unlike a lot of politicians and other people that come on these shows. I dont dodge questions. Let me talk about the eight women. Eight women have contacted us. Were vetting those. Two appear to have ndas. We will be careful before we start releasing information and facts about those, because im not willing to stick my reputation behind them. I guess whats your evidence . What is your evidence that there was an affair . We have a mountain evidence such as . Im not going to lay out our evidence. Weve been taking you at your word and Stormy Danielss at your word. At some point you have to cough up something. I think we have coughed up something. My