[Jake Tapper, Cnn Anchor:] Almost fired. President Trump denies a report saying he tried to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] Fake news, folks. Fake news.
[Tapper:] But sources say it happened. And Democrats are crying foul.
[Sen. Richard Blumenthal , Connecticut:] There's a credible case of obstruction of justice against the president of the United States.
[Tapper:] What does a key Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee think? Senator Susan Collins responds next. Plus: Dead on arrival? The White House proposes an immigration framework.
[Trump:] We need the wall. We need security at the border. But there are fierce critics on both sides.
[Rep. Nancy Pelosi , House Minority Leader:] That plan is a campaign to make America white again.
[Trump:] Can moderates find a compromise in the middle?
[Sen. Joe Manchin , West Virginia:] The president wants to get this done. He's sympathetic towards that.
[Tapper:] Democratic Senator Joe Manchin joins us in moments. And prime-time speech. President Trump is getting ready to deliver his first State of the Union address.
[Trump:] The United States is once again experiencing strong economic growth.
[Tapper:] But which President Trump will show up?
[Trump:] No politician in history has been treated worse or more unfairly.
[Tapper:] Hello. I'm Jake Tapper in Washington, where the state of our union is stormy. That's a reference to the tenor in town, not to the porn star by the same name, whom, according to "The Wall Street Journal," was paid $130,000 by Trump's lawyer for her silence. With all eyes now turning to the president's State of the Union address to see whether the president will try to alleviate tensions with Democrats in Congress, according to a senior administration official, the president's speech has been in the works for many weeks. If the president sticks to his prepared remarks, he is expected to take a victory lap, taking credit for the healthy economy and touting his tax reform plan. He also plans to look ahead by introducing his trillion-dollar infrastructure plan and pitching his new immigration framework to the nation and to Congress. Late Saturday night, the president was up tweeting about the plan, which includes a proposal for the dreamers covered by DACA that's the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and attacking the Democrats. He tweeted quote "I have offered DACA, a wonderful deal, including a doubling in the number of recipients and a 12-year pathway to citizenship, for two reasons, one, because the Republicans want to fix a long-time terrible problem, two, to show that Democrats do not want to solve DACA, only use it." Casting a shadow over the moment, of course, is the ongoing Russia investigation and the news first reported by "The New York Times" that President Trump ordered the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller in June. Here with me now is Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine. She's a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senator, thanks so much for being here. We always appreciate your being here.
[Collins:] Thank you.
[Tapper:] So, I want to start with the reports that the president ordered his White House counsel start the firing process of special counsel Robert Mueller in June after he heard Mueller was investigating him for obstruction of justice. Because the White House counsel threatened to quit if the plan was carried out, Mueller was ultimately not fired. The president's supporters say this story doesn't because Mueller wasn't actually fired. Does it matter to you?
[Collins:] Well, first, I think it's important to note that the president cannot directly fire Mr. Mueller. The only person who can fire Mr. Mueller is the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. He's the person who appointed Mr. Mueller. And last year at a hearing, I questioned him at length on this issue, and he was adamant that he would never give in to any White House pressure to remove Mr. Mueller. I think what happened here is, the president had a bad idea. He talked with his counsel, who explained to an angry and frustrated president why it was a bad idea, and that was seven months ago. And the White House counsel is still on the job, and Mr. Mueller is still aggressively investigating. And that's as it should be.
[Tapper:] Sources tell CNN the president has been talking about firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because of this frustration.
[Collins:] Well, if that's true, that obviously would be a terrible mistake. We have seen what happened back in the Nixon administration when President Nixon, on the Saturday Night Massacre, kept going down the line until he would find someone who would fire the special counsel. And that didn't end very well.
[Tapper:] Beyond whether or not the president has technically obstructed justice, because that's a decision that will be made by Mueller and then theoretically Congress, maybe even judges, do you agree with the idea, as a political matter, that the president has has clearly tried to stop or impede the Russia investigation?
[Collins:] I think the president would be best served by never discussing the investigation, ever, whether in tweets, except in private conversations with his attorney. And this is hard for us, but I think we have all got to be patient and allow the independent counsel to conclude his investigation and bring his findings forth before speculating on whether or not there are sufficient grounds for any kind of wrongdoing. We just don't know.
[Tapper:] There have been a number of bipartisan bills proposed in the Senate that would attempt to protect the special counsel from firing by the president. And you said in December that quote "You haven't seen the need for legislation protecting Mueller." Do you see the need now?
[Collins:] It probably wouldn't hurt for us to pass one of those bills. And I give Senator Tillis and Senator Coons great credit for coming up with a bipartisan bill. And Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Cory Booker have a different approach. There are some constitutional issues with those bills. But it would certainly not hurt to put that extra safeguard in place, given the latest stories. But,again, I have faith in the deputy attorney general that he's going to do what he told me he would do.
[Tapper:] There are a lot of Republicans calling for the release of a memo written by the committee, the House Intelligence Committee, under Chairman Devin Nunes that alleges FBI abuses of surveillance laws in this case, in this case against Trump and this investigation. "The Washington Post" is reporting that President Trump wants this memo released, against the advice of his own Justice Department, people in the Justice Department very concerned that it might reveal sources and methods and that there are other issues with the memo. Democrats, who have seen the memo, say it's quote "profoundly misleading." Do you think it should be released?
[Collins:] Well, one of the problems with the House investigation, it has been very partisan. In contrast, the Senate Intelligence Committee, under the leadership of Senators Burr and Warner, have worked together. And I think that's a far better approach. There I have a lot of confidence in the FBI. They are the nation's premier law enforcement agency. That doesn't mean that there weren't that an agent and a lawyer who had inappropriate and highly political text messages in the midst of investigations, but let's look at what happened. First of all, the special counsel immediately removed the agent from his team in response to that. And, second, perhaps even more important, there is an ongoing inspector general investigation into this matter. And I think, again, we should let the inspector general sort this out. And...
[Tapper:] So, defer to the Justice Department on the memo; don't release the memo?
[Collins:] On the memo, I don't know what's in the memo. But if it...
[Tapper:] Burr doesn't either. They won't show it to Senator Burr.
[Collins:] And I think that needs to be shared. But, also, my concern is whether it would compromise classified information. And that's a really serious matter. So, to me, the preferable way to handle the allegations of wrongdoing by certain FBI agents and a lawyer there is to leave it in the hands of the inspector general, Michael Horowitz. I know him. He's aggressive. He will do a fair investigation.
[Tapper:] Let's turn to immigration. You have been working with a bipartisan group of senators to try to come up with some sort of compromise that can pass the Senate and pass the House and can be signed by the president. And that's no small task. The White House released a framework for immigration. It proposes a path to citizenship for 1.8 million dreamers, $25 billion for the border wall, an end to the diversity lottery program, drastic changes to family or change migration. How different is the White House proposal from the one that you're working on?
[Collins:] Well, we're going to be meeting this week, our Common Sense Coalition, to take a look at the four pillars that the White House has put out there. I think all of us realize that it's going to take a compromise on this issue for us to get something done and to protect the dreamer population, which is certainly a goal of mine. But I think the president is also right about border security, that we do need to beef up our border security. We know that from a state in Mexico, there's been an influx of this tar heroin, which is very inexpensive and is ravaging communities and families across our country. And we have been talking about securing the border better since the George Bush administration. We passed the Secure Fence Act. That doesn't mean a wall literally across our southern border, but it does mean using technology. Now, some people aren't going to like that. Some people aren't going to like the path to citizenship for the dreamers. What this is about is a compromise. And it's important to note that our coalition is not a legislative committee. We're going to be making recommendations to the chair and ranking member of the Immigration Subcommittee. That's Dick Durbin and John Cornyn. And I hope we can find a way forward. I think it's really important.
[Tapper:] What's your reaction to the "Wall Street Journal" story alleging that President Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen saw a $130,000 payment go to a porn star who at one point had been claiming a relationship with President Trump while married to Melania, although both she and President Trump now deny it?
[Collins:] Well, I don't know the circumstances of it. In some ways, this sounds like an issue that's between President and Mrs. Trump, because it doesn't seem to be a workplace issue, as far as I know.
[Tapper:] OK. I want to ask you about the former now former finance chair of the Republican National Committee, Steve Wynn, who stepped down after another "Wall Street Journal" investigation alleging massive accusations of sexual misconduct. He has now stepped down, but he still donated a lot of money to Republican candidates. And after the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the RNC made a big case that Democrats need to give the money back. I asked a senator, a Democratic senator, about that then, so I will ask now ask a Republican senator about Steve Wynn. Do you think Republicans who took money from Steve Wynn should give it back?
[Collins:] In if they have accepted contributions recently from him that have not been spent, absolutely. I don't even think it's a close call to return the money. I'm very pleased that he immediately stepped down from the RNC position. I was going to call upon him to step down. And the allegations against him are very serious, because they do involve harassment at the workplace and inappropriate behavior and sexual abuse. So, I think they're very serious allegations, and should be treated as such. And I'm pleased to say that I have never received any money from Mr. Wynn, so I have no money to return.
[Tapper:] Senator Collins, it's always good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
[Collins:] Thank you.
[Tapper:] House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi says President Trump's proposed immigration framework is a plan to quote "make America white again." Will language like that help lawmakers reach a bipartisan deal? We will ask Democratic Senator Joe Manchin next.