Transition team. But we begin with breaking news. Investigators now believe a nerve agent was used to poison a former russian double agent accused of betraying his own br intelligence. He and his daughter were found slumped on a bench in salisbury, england, sunday afternoon. Now we have the First Official word that they were, in fact, poisoned in a deliberate act. Investigators led by Scotland Yards counterterrorism command are now working to pin down whos behind this plot to kill these two individuals. Lets go straight to cnns nick paton walsh, joining us from Scotland Yard in london. Police have security video theyre studying. What more can you tell us . Reporter thats right, wolf. Theyre trying to piece together a timeline of exactly what happened between about 1 00 and 4 00 local time on sunday afternoon when he and his daughter visiting from russia were found slowly falling unconscious on a quiet bench near a shopping center, a mall, in the rural city of salisbury. But the bombshell, frankly, weve heard behind me takes that instance to a whole new international level. The top Counterterrorism Police officer for the United Kingdom saying that they believe this is attempted murder through the administering of a nerve agent. Theyve gone on to say that they specifically know what that nerve agent was. Theyre not publicly identifying it. Wolf, as you know, that narrows down enormously potentially who could have supplied a chemical like that. Vx, sarin, two wellknown ones. Only a small number of countries own those. They went on to say here that those two individuals were deliberately targeted in this specific attack. They are putting together a closed Circuit Television timeline, appealing for information. They went on to say that one of a number of First Responders who went to the scene there, a police officer, is still seriously ill from that nerve agent. So we have three people still in hospital here, but there are a lot of questions not answered here, purposefully, given the ongoing investigation. We know an Italian Pizza restaurant and a pub, a bar nearby, are still sealed off by police, still being pored over. The area around there, of course. Theyre trying to work out exactly where it was they went and where this could have been administered. But step back and listen to exactly what were dealing with here. A former Russian ForeignIntelligence Officer convicted in 2006 is given 13 years in a russian jail for working for britains mi6 intelligence agency. Swapped in 2010 as part of an exchange for four russians held in jails. They were all thought to be foreign agents. Swa swapped for russians held by the United States accused of being spies. He then chose to live his life out in salisbury in that quiet town. His wife died sadly. His son died, sadly, too, in recent years. Yulia came to visit. Seems quite close, in fact, to the birthday of alexander, his son. At this stage, theyre still trying to work out precisely who it was who delivered that particular poison and who they were working for. All fingers at this point, pointing toward moscow. And this russian double agent, his daughter yulia, how are they doing . Are they still in hospital . Reporter yes, they are still in hospital. They are still critically ill. Of course, their condition is paramount concern. Any testimony they can provide they are, of course, the key witnesses here, if theyre able to explain when they began to feel ill. They will of course be looking to see if there was any third party who may have administered the poison. This is not something you could necessarily leave lying in wait for somebody. Thats a key part of the situation here. Wolf, remember, this is not the first time. Remember back in 2006, former russian spy was killed, murdered by a poison. People will ts on this nerve agt so clearly left . Why is it so obviously going to lead back to a small number of countries who could ultimately be responsible . In the british house of commons, there will be enormous pressure to respond authoritatively toward russia or whoever summit matly found to be to blame for this. Nick paton walsh on the scene for us. Well get back to you. Very, very intriguing. Very disturbing developments indeed. There are other important stories were following now. Turning to the irreconcilable differences at the white house and the resignation of a key adviser to President Trump. Top economic adviser gary cohn is out. The president ignoring cohns advice on controversial trade tariffs, but dont call it chaos in the west wing. The president says its just the way he actually likes things to work with a very healthy dose of conflict. Lets go to our chief White House Correspondent jim acosta. Have we heard anything today from the white house . Reporter a little bit, yes, wolf. Earlier this morning, Sarah Sanders, the White House Press secretary, held a brief gaggle with reporters and essentially said, you know, look at the record of this administration. This is not chaos. Of course, she was talking about policy and Foreign Policy issues, not exactly the staff turmoil thats going on inside the west wing, which weve seen unfold week after week after week. In this weeks episode is the departure of gary cohn, the president s top economic adviser. Essentially what the white house is trying to do at this point is minimize the magnitude of cohns departure, even though there are some Top Republicans on capitol hill who are lamenting all of this. Democrats are latching on to this as well, sensing an issue. Heres what the Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer had to say about this earlier today. The problems here is the white house is getting hollowed out and the number of people capable of doing things, doing real things, whether you agree or disagree ideologically, is getting smaller and smaller, and they seem unable to recruit new people to take these jobs. So the kind of messups weve seen this past week, i think, were going to see over and over and over again. The president s erratic style i didnt vote for Jeff Sessions, but i think its a symbol to everybody what he did to his best friend Jeff Sessions. Dont go work there. Ive heard story after story of capable people trying to be recruited by the white house and no one wants to go. Now, speaking of people being recruited by the white house, the white house is acknowledging the fact that they are starting to consider some replacements for gary cohn. Larry kudlow, the analyst on cnbc, is said to be among the top names on the president s list. The president likes to watch people on tv. Larry kudlow is somebody he likes to watch on tv. So that certainly means hes probably high on the president s list. But wolf, keep in mind over here at the white house, and i think well hear this, this afternoon, potentially at the briefing with Sarah Sanders at 2 30, theyre trying to minimize the importance of gary cohns departure. Last night i talked to a source close to the white house who said west wing officials were essentially brushing off cohns departure, saying he was a new york guy. Going back to new york, sort of lumping him in with hope hicks, as new york people who go back to new york. Wolf, west wing officials may have been neglecting to mention when they were saying that to this source outside the white house for us in their spinning, their attempt to spin all this, is that the president is from new york. I suppose new york people do go back to new york, but they probably dont want the president to go back that quickly. Another sign of the chaos here at the white house. President trump certainly is a new york guy himself. Originally from queens but lived in manhattan for most of his life. All right. Thanks very much for that, jim acosta. Gary cohn is the most recent highprofile departure from the trump white house, but hes certainly not the first. I want to go to cnn politics reporter and editor at large Chris Cillizza at the magic wall. Walk us through this rather unusual amount ofunusual amount feuding. Yeah, wolf. I think thats the most important thing to start with. This is not normal. Youre talking about almost four dozen senior staffers throughout the administration. Its lucky the magic wall is big because we could barely fit them all. Theres lots of people, some youve heard of, some you havent. Its not just the number of departures, its who. Mike flynn, the National Security adviser. Reince priebus, chief of staff. Anthony scaramucci, communications director. Steve bannon, white house counselor. Over and over. Sean spicer, ooanother communications director. Gary cohn, the National Economic adviser. Over and over again, people who have left. You have james comey, who didnt leave of his own volition. Over and over again, you see highlevel, senior people leaving. Reminder, as you look at this, donald trump has been in office for a little over 13 months. Lets go to the next one. Its not just about the people who have left. Okay. So these are active feuds the president is currently engaged in. Youll notice all these people are members of his administration that hes feuding with. These are active feuds. H. R. Mcmaster, trump has run down in private. Hes fought with rex tillerson, the secretary of state. Rumors literally every week that tillerson might leave. Jeff sessions, we know. What name hasnt he called Jeff Sessions . Chris wray, who by the way was the replacement for jim comey that donald trump chose. Rod rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney general. Trump has made no secret of his dislike. Lets go to one more slide. This one will really get you. This is just people who he may not be actively feuding with but that have issues of their own. I think these are the two really to pay the most attention to. Jared kushner and ivanka trump are two of the people closest to donald trump in his orbit. Obviously his soninlaw and daughter. Jared kushner, any number of issues, most notably on security clearances. Dealing with only a secret, not top secret, security clearance. Down here, these are cabinet officials. Scott pruitt at epa, shulkin at veterans, zinke at interior, ben carson at hud. Ben carson spends 13,000 on a dining set for his office at hud. Must be a nice dining set. They canceled that. Shulkin, spending money on a trip to europe with his wife. Misuse of taxpayer funds. Inspector generals report pending. Don mcgahn in the middle of all the russia stuff as white house counsel. So its not just the departures. Its not just the feuds with his administration. Its also this is a whos who of about half of Donald Trumps most relied upon allies. They are struggling on their own. So its not a staff issue. Its a can you get things done amid all this controversy. And i know donald trump like to hear the word, but all this chaos. Certainly is chaotic over there. Thanks very much, Chris Cillizza, with that report. Joining us now, cnn political analyst molly ball, and Senior Writer juana summers. What do you make of gary cohns departure and what it means for the chaos inside the white house . Sure. Just the latest chapter as chris was noting of this rapid string of departures. There sure is corn on wall street about what gary cohns departure means. He was seen particularly among republicans as somebody who was a steady force in the white house in this very important economic position. Someone whoi could keep the president from the brink of starting a trade war, something he said in a tweet last week that might actually be a good thing. I think there is a lot of concern as to what could come next and what this could mean for economic futures. We saw the markets respond to that. Markets were not very happy about that. Peter navarro, hes rumored to be in line potentially to take over that position. Hes more like the president , a protectionist, as opposed to a free trader. Thats right. Unlike a lot of the dispute. This is about different ideological factions. The president has always had protectionist impulses. It was really the centerpiece of his campaign. It differentiated him from all the other republican candidates in the primary and then from Hillary Clinton in the general election that he was adamant about enacting tariffs to make america stronger in the world market and to combat the influence of china as he perceived it. He brought in some very unorthodox people with unorthodox economic views, notably Peter Navarro and Robert Lighthizer and wilbur ross, the secretary of commerce. They have been held at baby peop bay by people like gary cohn, who really dont want protectionism and believe in free trade and free markets. Now gary cohn appears to be signaling hes lost that fight. Even though the paperwork hasnt yet been signed objen the tarif theres still a Pressure Campaign to get the president not to go through with it. Heres what the president said about all the infighting thats going on right now. Listen to this. I like conflict. I like having two people with different points of view. I certainly have that. Then i make a decision. I like watching it. I like seeing it. I think its the best way to go. I like different points of view. Hows that working out . Not very well, clearly. I think, you know, the president doesnt like to call it chaos, but the fact of the matter is that people have been departing either by their own volition or being pushed out by the president and his top aides at an unprecedented pace. We simply cant ignore that from a policy standpoint, as molly notes, with gary cohns departure, and from a political standpoint because the president is pushing away from people who fundamentally disagree with him. The president wants people close who agree with him, who support him. I think thats why these departures are so important. Hope hicks, longtime aide to the president , announces hes gone last week. Now gary cohn. More are on the way. Theres no doubt about that. Probably. I mean, there does seem to be an Expiration Date for anybody working in this wlohite house, part because its a stressful place to work. Its a highpressure place to work. The kind of conflict trump is talking about can be productive if you think of the idea of a team of rivals like Abraham Lincoln famously had. But it wears on people when its so acrimonious. When the president seems to pit people against each other and enjoy it almost as if hes sort of watching a cage match. People get tired of that. Or the president gets tired of them. And they eventually decide the grass is greener on the other side of those white house doors. Lets see what happens to general h. R. Mcmaster, the National Security adviser, in the coming days, and john kelly, the white house chief of staff, among others. Everyone is watching, guys. Thanks very, very much. A porn star suing the president of the United States. Why a missing signature on a hush agreement may be what exposes the alleged affair. Plus, fresh off security clearance downgrade, Jared Kushner is abroad, meeting with mexicos president as tensions escalate. And hes a middle east specialist with deep ties to the president s inner circle. Now hes cooperating with the special counsel robert mueller. An explosive development. We have details. Stay with us. Joint pain. And clearer skin. This is my body of proof that i can fight Psoriatic Arthritis with humira. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the number 1 prescribed biologic for Psoriatic Arthritis. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. 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In the lawsuit, Stormy Daniels claims the hush agreement, as its called s invalid because President Trump himself never signed it. The suit also claims the agreement is invalid because President Trumps personal attorney, Michael Cohen, admitted it existed. Heres daniels attorney. Her lawsuit states that she had an intimate relationship wi delicate. Did s