of his embattled chief of staff mick mulvaney during the 75 minutes reporters were in the room today. mulvaney s job security is now in question after he backed off assertions that the white house sought a quid pro quo with ukraine for military aid. that is what people are saying that i said, but i didn t say that. reporter: cnn was first to report there were efforts underway by jared kushner and other top officials to oust mulvaney. before speaker nancy pelosi launched the impeachment inquiry, revealing he s been on thin ice for weeks. get over it. there is going to be political influence in foreign policy. reporter: his briefing room appearance undercut the president s defense for why he shouldn t be impeached. a stance trump maintained today. the president of the united states should be allowed to run the country. not have to focus on this kind of reporter: the president pushing an unsubstantiated theory about the whistle-blower at the center of the scandal. was ther
top officials to oust mulvaney, before speaker nance launched the impeachment inquiry revealing he s been on thin ice for weeks. get over it. there is going to be political influence in foreign policy reporter: his briefing room appearance undercut the president s defense for why he shouldn t be impeached, a stance he maintained today. the president of the united states should be allowed to focus on the country and not this kind of crap. reporter: and the whistle-blower at the center of the scandal. was there an informant. maybe the informant was schiff. reporter: trump claiming without evidence that house intelligence chairman adam schiff was the whistle-blower informant and moments later praising democrats for sticking together in their push to investigate him. they re vicious, and they stick together. the republicans have to get tougher and fight. reporter: those comments coming amid some cracks in republican support. cracks that the president dismissed today.
syria to counter isis if the pentagon has its way. and finally, the split within the white house. acting chief of staff mick mulvaney still on the job at this hour one day after failing to extinguish the firestorm he created during a botched briefing room appearance amidst reports that his boss has been looking for replacements. why did you say in that briefing that president trump had ordered a quid pro quo that investigating the democrats, that aid to ukraine depended on investigating the democrats. why did you say that? that s what people said i said. there was not a quid pro quo. you were asked by jonathan carl. you described a quid pro quo and said that happens all the time. again, reporters will use their language all the time. it s always those pesky reporters. kristin welker joining me now. peter baker, chief white house correspondent at the new york
what s going nonwashington. also, it s not our business also to be the promoter of propaganda or lies. or lies. the best way to sort out what s truth and what s not is to, as you say, take a minute to absorb it. listen, one of the people at the president s briefing room appearance today was chris crane, the president of the national i.c.e. counsel. he s getting a pat on the back from president trump. this is from bob woodward s book fear. crane and the chief of staff john kelly reportedly almost got into a fistfight in the oval office. now crane s back in the white house the date after kelly leaves. does that tell us anything, nina? it does. the theater, the world is a stage. president trump is taking every single opportunity to cement that into the minds of the american people. and the fact that you had general kelly that tried to stop this kind of foolishness and a president now that has nobody there to try to keep him
can i just say just to clarify the reason to do that, what you suggested, don, is not to oppose trump or to harm him in any way or to you know, to get back at him because he s frustrating. it s just it s a more responsible way to present what s going in washington. also, it s not our business also to be the promoter of propaganda or lies. or lies. the best way to sort out what s truth and what s not is to, as you say, take a minute to absorb it. because listen, one of the people at the president s briefing room appearance today was chris crane, the president of the national i.c.e. council. he s the one getting a pat on the back from president trump. you might remember him. this is from bob woodward s book fear. crane and the chief of staff john kelly reportedly almost got into a fistfight in the oval office. now crane s back in the white house the day after kelly leaves. does that tell us anything, nina? it does. the theater, the world is a stage. president trump is taking