[Keilar:] We have breaking news here in THE SITUATION ROOM. President Trump has just tweeted that budget director Mick Mulvaney will be named his acting chief of staff. Let's go straight now to the White House and our chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta. Give us the details. Tell us what you know.
[Acosta:] Well, we were just saying a few moments ago, the president may be tempted to change up this news cycle, and he did. I guess temporarily speaking. He just tweeted a few moments ago that he's named Mick Mulvaney, the budget director over here, as the acting White House chief of staff. Notice that it says, "I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, will be named acting White House chief of staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the administration. I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! John will be staying until the end of the year. He is a GREAT PATRIOT, and I want to personally thank him for his service." A couple of things on that, Brianna. Just wanted to note that we were hearing from sources that Mick Mulvaney was not interested in this job, that he was interested in perhaps being treasury secretary or commerce secretary or serving in another function in the government. But I know, you know, having dealt with Mick Mulvaney over here at the White House and talking to various officials who work with Mick Mulvaney, he is seen as one of the people over here who kind of keeps the trains running on time. And so it's not really a surprise Mick Mulvaney's name has come up before. When Reince Priebus left the White House, Mick Mulvaney's name came up. And through all of these news cycles where we thought General Kelly might not make it, Mick Mulvaney's name would pop up again. So it's not surprising that the president would make this selection. I do think it's interesting and maybe a little odd that he is being named on a temporary or acting basis, Brianna. I think it goes back to this notion that the White House just did not have a Plan B when Nick Ayers, the vice president's chief of staff, bailed on the president over the weekend and decided not to take on this job as chief of staff. And so it sounds as though, unless the president and Mick Mulvaney come to some kind of agreement and decide that he'll stay on on a permanent basis, that this is sort of a Band-Aid that has been decided on by the president here earlier today Brianna.
[Keilar:] All right. Jim, thank you so much. Let's bring in our panel to discuss more about this. Dana Bash, you heard Jim. He's reported before Mick Mulvaney did not want this job. Now, this is acting, but what do you make of this? Interim interim, right, is what you'd expect?
[Dana Bash, Cnn Chief Political Correspondent:] Yes, exactly. That look, the president has made clear, and people who are close to him have told him, the best thing you can do right now is somebody who has Hill experience. Or at least relationships on Capitol Hill. Now, Mick Mulvaney was a conservative firebrand. Is a conservative firebrand. But when you're a conservative firebrand on Capitol Hill, it means your relationships are mostly not entirely, but mostly with fellow Republicans. I'm not sure how this helps with the new House Democratic majority. But it is temporary. There is no question, because he is happy in what he is doing. Mick Mulvaney is a policy wonk. He likes to be the budget director. And the chief of staff job, as we have seen from the turmoil and drama and chaos around not just the first and second chiefs of staff, but trying to find somebody to fill it in, is just a thankless, thankless job, despite President Trump saying he has all these people who want it. It's just not the case.
[Keilar:] It is a job for someone, Gloria, who can make the the trains run on time. Then the request he is, only until they're discarded.
[Gloria Borger, Cnn Chief Political Analyst:] Right.
[Keilar:] Which is what we've seen with other chiefs of staff.
[Borger:] Right. First of all, you know, nobody can make the trains run on time at this White House because there's President Trump; and he drives the train off the track half the time. Not to overuse that metaphor. But he does. Secondly, Mulvaney runs a department. He's a conservative, as Dana was saying, awash in red ink. OK? Because the budget deficit has ballooned under him. It has not shrunken under him. I think they're hoping that they can talk him into doing this, and maybe they can. And maybe they can't. And also, it's been a very bad week for the president, a really, really bad week. And they're changing the subject right now, also, as Jim was saying. So, you know, I think I'll put all of those things together. They're keeping their fingers crossed. Maybe he'll do it, maybe he won't. But, you know, at this point, what are their better choices?
[Abby Phillip, Cnn White House Correspondent:] It's also clear that this is not going the way that the president wants it to go. First of all, we started this week by talking about Nick Ayers, the vice president's chief of staff, who was the president's top pick for this job. And who basically turned it down, according to our sources, because he wanted to take it on a short-term basis. And that the president didn't want to accept a person who wouldn't commit to two full years. So now President Trump is saying, "Actually, I will take someone who will take the job -"
[Borger:] For two weeks?
[Phillip:] "- for a short-term basis." We don't even know how long the period of time is. And he's had two other people who were named as possible contenders. Mark Meadows, Republican congressman, and Chris Christie, say they don't want the job. I mean, it is so unusual for people to be taking themselves out of the running as they are being named as top contenders. And it shows you, the president is having trouble filling this position. He's having a really bad week on the legal fronts. And this is an effort to try to change the subject, make it seem like he's back in control of the situation. But I think what it reveals is that this is a huge problem. He's having a hard time finding a candidate who he wants and who also wants to be in this White House at this particular time.
[Keilar:] And we have seen the president try to change the subject before, and we know he is very unhappy with where the news cycle has been this week.
[Bash:] Oh, yes. I mean, there is I don't think any president maybe any individual on the planet, who has watched as much cable news and consumed as much news as this president does. He's well aware of how bad it has been, even if he doesn't have to hear it from a lawyer. You know, he sees it. And he likes to play with the news cycle, and he has the ability to do that, as any president does. In this case, it just so happens that he does need a chief of staff. He was telling the candidates he was talking to that he hopes to come up with a final decision by next week. Maybe that didn't happen, and he just had to convince Mick Mulvaney, obviously, to at least take it temporarily, since he's the closest thing to it already in a White House job.
[Keilar:] But I wonder I wonder, Gloria, how much this can distract from some serious headlines this week, legally for the president, implicated by Michael Cohen's felony plea. He pled guilty to two felony counts, among others. But two that implicated the president. This is just a temporary staffing assignment. It's an important position. But this does not really eclipse what happened this week.
[Borger:] No. Chiefs of staff come and go, as we learned. And it's not going to distract Bob Mueller. You know, Bob Mueller is doing his job. We saw that today in the filing on General Flynn, where he was very tough on General Flynn for lying to them. We see how how he has gotten Michael Cohen's cooperation, and it's very clear to us, who are reporting all of this, that Michael Cohen will continue to cooperate with Bob Mueller. And the president has been caught in lies by prosecutors, saying he didn't know about the payments and then, of course, now we know that he did, because his friend David Pecker told on him.
[Keilar:] Yes.
[Borger:] And they were all in the room together.
[Keilar:] A number of his friends
[Borger:] A number of his friends have turned their backs on him. So, it's been a difficult week for him.
[Keilar:] Joey Jackson, our legal mind here, in this new filing, the special counsel really fired back on Michael Flynn's lawyers, who said that, you know seemed to indicate that one of the reasons he lied to the FBI was because he was caught off guard. And this filing makes clear, no, you lied. You were committed to your lies. You said these lies over and over. What stood out to you in this filing that also came with some attachments that were so interesting?
[Joey Jackson, Cnn Legal Analyst:] Well, here's the bottom line and I think everyone is addressing it. Everyone, right, is addressing the issue of this president who is a master brander. Yes, other presidents have the ability to push the news cycle, but now we have Twitter. And as a result of that, when you say something, immediately as the president, it becomes news. And so, this is an interim appointment before addressing your core issue, Brianna, right? It's not even this is the guy who is taking over for good and so, therefore, it takes us away from what happened earlier. What we were listening to? We were listening to clips of Michael Cohen talking about he's not going to lie for this president any more. He lied and he's covering up his dirty secrets. And then, we switched to the actual Flynn issue and what at its core was really of issue to me, when you look at that, is that the special counsel is addressing the issue of process. What they're saying is, this isn't a witch hunt. We're not acting outside the bounds of our core responsibility. We're acting properly, we're acting thoroughly, and we're acting appropriately. We went to the White House, he knew we were coming, it was a cordial interview, he was given the opportunity if he wanted to have White House counsel sit or address the issue with him. It was a jovial conversation. There's nothing untoward, there's nothing irresponsible, what we're doing. And if you look at the filing in total, I think that's what he's pushing back on. And the proof of that, Brianna, is at the end of the day they're not saying in light of this, in light of you trying to say that you lied because of us, we're going to up what we're looking for. They're still saying, hey, look, we recognize you're a respected general. You served with distinction, you were the first to cooperate, your cooperation allowed others to cooperate, as well. They're sticking with that. And so, in essence, they're saying we still want you to get the low end if any jail time. They are, the special counsel, concerned with process and to know that they are an office of integrity. So, that's what stands out in the filing in general.
[Keilar:] You're useful to us, but we're not going to let you get away with this. And Abby, the president telling Fox yesterday, this was so interesting that this happened yesterday when this filing came out today maybe they scared Flynn enough that he'll make up a story. What message? Then you have this filing today where they're saying, no, that was essentially, you read between the lines. It rebukes what the president said. What message is a special counsel sending to other people involved in the investigation who the investigation might be looking at?
[Abby Phillips, Cnn White House Correspondent:] It's clear that the special counsel understands what President Trump is trying to do, which is undermine confidence in their process. Trying to imply that they're putting the squeeze on people, forcing them to lie, forcing them to flip in order to get a lighter sentence. So, this filing is kind of them showing their work about what they did to get to this point. And rebutting not only what the president said yesterday, but what he's been saying for quite some time now. He's been saying this about Flynn, he's been saying this about Manafort. And I think you will see him say this more and more. Any time that someone is in a position where they can say something that puts the president in jeopardy, he's going to try to imply that they were forced to lie. And I think the special counsel is laying out in documents that that's not how any of this works. And that there are facts at play here. And when you lie, it is it's clear. It's on paper. It's in black and white.
[Dana Bash, Cnn Chief Political Correspondent:] And that's I totally agree with you about the process, about what Robert Mueller and his team are trying to do to send signals, not just to us, but to Donald Trump and the people who are involved in this investigation. But if you look big-picture, one of the unanswered I think the most unanswered question in this Flynn filing today is why did Michael Cohen lie? Why did he lie?
[Keilar:] Because he should have known! This is
[Bash:] OK.
[Keilar:] This is an accomplished former intel officer.
[Bash:] OK. But in terms of what he did. What did he do? What did he lie about? He lied about having a conversation with the Russian ambassador about sanctions. Why did he have that initial conversation, which he should have known about, and therefore lied about? What was the reason for that? What drove him to do something that was inappropriate to the point that he knew he had to lie about it? And that could go to a core question about collusion, more broadly, or maybe it's just about Michael Flynn.
[Borger:] I think the question that you're getting at is, did someone direct him to lie?
[Keilar:] Precisely.
[Borger:] Did someone direct him to lie or did someone direct him to do what he did? And he didn't want to talk about it? In other words, so he lied say he didn't do it. Is that clear?
[Keilar:] Yes.
[Borger:] That he didn't want to you know, he didn't want to tell the truth, because maybe he talked to Kislyak, the former Russian ambassador, about sanctions at the direction of fill in the blank.
[Keilar:] And that's the question, Joey, was he acting as an island unto himself, or as Gloria says, and this is what the special counsel wants to know, was there was he doing this with the blessing or encouragement of somebody? And who would that be?
[Jackson:] You know, that obviously is the question, right, the million-dollar question. But I think what the special counsel is saying is that, look, don't blame us, for you lying to us. You already stuck in the narrative. And you were stuck in the narrative, because before you even met with us, you had already sold your statement to the vice president; it was already out there in public. And so, you were already on the hook for this narrative that there was no discussion or issues about sanctions or anything else. So, by the time we came, says the special counsel and McCabe and the FBI to interview you, you couldn't change the story. You were looked in a box. That was the basis for your lie. Nothing we did inappropriate to you or forcing you would have told you or shifted the story.
[Keilar:] I'm going to have to have you guys stand by. We have much more on our breaking news. We'll be back in just a moment. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.