[Brooke Baldwin, Cnn:] Hi, I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are watching CNN on this Monday. Thanks for being with me. Here's the breaking news I have for you. The FBI has fired the agent who sent the anti-Trump text messages during the 2016 campaign. Once that revelation came to light Peter Strzok was removed from Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and he was reassigned within the FBI. Still, President Trump and his Republican allies have tried to use Strzok's involvement on the special counsel's team to discredit the entire investigation. Last month, Strzok was grilled during a ten-hour congressional hearing. Here's a reminder of the fiery exchange.
[Rep. Trey Gowdy,  Chairman, Oversight And Government Reform Committee:] I don't give a damn what you appreciate, agent Strzok. I don't appreciate having an FBI agent with an unprecedented level of animus working on two major investigations in 2016.
[Peter Strzok, Fired Fbi Agent:] I think it's important when you look at those texts that you understand the context in which they were made and the things that were going on across America. In terms of the texts that we will stop it, you need to understand that was written late at night, off the cuff and it was in response to series of events that included then candidate Trump insulting the immigrant family of a fallen war hero. And my presumption based on that horrible, disgusting behavior, that the American population would not elect somebody demonstrating that behavior to be president of the United States.
[Baldwin:] Yes. Remember that? Shimon Prokupesz, our crime and justice reporter is here to discuss this firing. Do we know, was the firing the direct result from those text messages?
[Shimon Prokupesz, Cnn Crime And Justice Reporter:] We don't know, Brooke. Because the FBI essentially is not commenting on this. It is a question that certainly we have, certainly his lawyers are asking as to why he was fired and why he was fired on Friday. According to his attorney, according to Pete Strzok's attorney, the Office Of Professional Responsibility which has been investigating Peter Strzok did not recommend that he be fired. In fact, they said that a 60-day suspension and a demotion was what was appropriate in this case. His lawyers taking issue with the deputy director, the deputy FBI director, excuse me, who essentially fired him. He made the decision. He went ahead and fired Peter Strzok. Now Peter Strzok's lawyers have issued a statement saying, quote, the decision to fire special agent Strzok is not only departure from typical bureau practice but also contradicts direct race testimony to Congress and his assurance that the FBI intended to follow its regular process in this and all personnel matters. It goes on to say, this decision should be deeply troubling to all Americans. No doubt, Brooke, his attorneys, Peter Strzok's attorneys feeling this was political, that perhaps the FBI caved to the pressure from the president. Because, as we know, he has been attacking Peter Strzok for quite some time. Also, important to know, this is now the third person, really when you think of this three people now that have been fired as a result this entire investigation. You have the former FBI director. You have the former deputy director, Andrew McCabe. And now Peter Strzok. Who knows who else will succumb. Lisa Page certainly has been under investigation. She has been to the hill, met with congress members. Certainly, think about the impact of this entire investigation on the personnel moves and the personnel of the
[Fbi. Baldwin:] You make great points, we are going to put them to my next guest. With me now CNN law enforcement analyst, Josh Campbell, a former FBI supervisory special agent. Listening in, do you think the FBI caved? Do you think the texts were fireable offense?
[Josh Campbell, A Former Fbi Special Agent:] Two parts. Let's start with the second. Was this a fireable offense? In a sense it was. What it takes to be removed, there is two aspects, performance and conduct. Nobody is saying Strzok was a bad FBI agent throughout his career. I know he had a reputation he was someone who was an excellent investigator. And then there is misconduct, a fireable offense. It is hard to say it is not a fireable offense. With respect to whether or not the FBI caved I don't think they did, I know the people that sit up there on the seventh floor and make those decisions specifically Dave Bowditch. I know him to be a man of the utmost integrity. He doesn't serve at the pleasure of the president. He is a career employee. I think he weighed the facts and how they impacted the operations at the
[Fbi. Baldwin:] Strzok was demoted, taken off of the Mueller investigation. 60-day suspension. Could it be as simple as the investigation had ended and simply, they fired him.
[Campbell:] It could be. I mentioned knowing the person who made this decision. It would be unfair for me to say trust me, I know this man, he made a tough call. He is a good person. But let's put ourselves in his shoes. On one hand, you have allegations of serious misconduct. You talk about the text messages, talk about someone opening themselves up to this scrutiny by this conduct that was taking place. That's on one hand. Then the person making the decision has the figure out how that's going to impact the investigation and what kind of message that signals to the troops. Then you have to look at the recommendation were the internal affairs division of the FBI which as you mentioned didn't recommend firing. They recommended a demotion. Nevertheless, if you are the person in the top seat that is simply a recommend days ago. You have to look and say what do I think is the gravity of these allegations. It is not a great day for the FBI. It's tough for peter Strzok but it is a page being turned on the road to rebuilding confidence in the public in the
[Fbi. Baldwin:] "Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI," Trump tweets, "finally the list of bad layers in the DOJ and FBI gets longer and longer. Based that Strzok was in charge of the witch hunt, will it be dropped? No collusion, I just fight back." You were saying actually the president's tweets could help Strzok if he tries to appeal his firing. Tell me why.
[Campbell:] Absolutely. Once the word first came out that Strzok had been fired I looked at my watch and knew it was only a matter of minutes before the president would weigh in and overplay his hand. Obviously, he has done this. We were expecting nothing less. This has been an unprecedented action in the history of the country where the president of the United States is actively going after a career civil servient. It's not only unprecedented. It's disgusting of it's destroying a norm that has been long held that the employees have the civil service protection, should remain outside of politics. But I think it helps Strzok because if he does appeal, and I'm sure the decision makers at the FBI who decided to terminate had no question there would be some type of appeal. He being Peter Strzok will be able to look at the president's tweets did and say look the deck was stacked against me. You had the president of the United States, the commander in chief, who oversees the director of the FBI weighing in and saying nasty thing about me. How could I have gotten a fair shake here? I think that's what we can expect.
[Baldwin:] Josh Campbell, thank you. Good to see you. From service as an adviser to the person holding the highest office in the land to being called a low life by Trump, former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman is out with another recording this time, she captured the president himself on tape. She released the audio ahead of the debut of her new salacious mostly unverified book. Omarosa told NBC the clip is from 2017 and it appears the president is unaware his chief of staff John Kelly has just fired her. Listen.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] Omarosa what's going on? I just saw on the news that you are leaving what happened.
[Omarosa Manigault Newman, Former White House Staffer:] General Kelly came to me and said that you guys wanted me to leave.
[Trump:] Nobody even told me about it. You know they run a big operation. But I didn't know it. I didn't know it.
[Newman:] Yes.
[Trump:] Goddamn it. I don't love you leaving at all.
[Baldwin:] Just one day after another bombshell release of a recording of the chief of staff, John Kelly, the general's words are not as shocking as the fact that Omarosa recorded him from the situation room in the White House, a room the White House describes as the nerve center for the president, a hub of intelligence gathering. It is within that room that Omarosa recorded this.
[Newman:] Can I ask you a couple of questions? Is the president aware of what's going on?
[John Kelly, White House Chief Of Staff:] Let's not go down the road. This is a non-negotiable discussion.
[Newman:] I don't want to negotiate. I never had the chance to talk to you General Kelly. This is my departure. I like to have at least an opportunity to understand
[Kelly:] We can talk at another time. It has serious violation. I'll let it go at that. The staff and everyone on the staff works for me, not the president.
[Baldwin:] After the president called her a low life over the weekend, the president repeated the insult today as he explained the reasons he hired and then fired his former assistance who earned $180,000 a year according to public records. This is what the president tweeted, "wacky Omarosa who got fired three times on the apprentice now got fired for the last time. She never made it. Never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes. I said OK. People in the White House hated her. She was vicious but not smart. I would rarely see her but heard really bad things. Nasty to people and would constantly miss meetings and work. When General Kelly came on board he told me she was a loser and nothing but problems. I told him to try working it out if possible because she only said great things about me until she got fired. While I know it's quote not presidential to take on a low life like Omarosa and while I would rather not be doing so this is a modern-day form of communication and I know the fake news media will be working overtime to make even wacky Omarosa look as legitimate as possible. Sorry. So that is the confirmation that Omarosa was not among the, quote, unquote, best people that the president promised to bring on during the campaign trial. Remember that line?
[Trump:] We are going to make America great again. We are going to use our best people. I'm going to use the best people. We don't want people that are B level C level D level. We have to get our absolute best.
[Baldwin:] So, there is a lot to talk through on this one. Chris Cillizza, I want to start with you, our CNN politics reporter and editor at large. And on the whole best people line, talk to me about the best people he hired.
[Chris Cillizza, Cnn Politics Reporter And Editor At Large:] As you played, great clip there, Donald Trump loved to talk about the best people, a list, he could bring people in that no one else could. Oops. He rightly notes Omarosa has been fired by Donald Trump either in reality TV or in the White House multiple times. But he fails to note that Omarosa was hired by Donald Trump multiple times. It's not as though he didn't know what he was getting into. This guy blanked wow, nothing there. What that was supposed to be was a picture of Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump, Brooke. What that tells you is Donald Trump he called him beleaguered, called him weak, called him ineffective. Now, this is amazing, over the weekend it got overblown by the Omarosa story. "I have never seen anything, our AG is scared stiff and missing in action." Scared stiff and missing in action. He calls it the department of "Justice." Jeff Sessions and Omarosa are far from the only people who Donald Trump has grown disgruntled with or have resigned or been fired. Seven cabinet secretaries have left under duress or under their own power. George W. Bush, by comparison, four cabinet secretaries. Remember, Donald Trump has been president for 18 months, 57 percent these aren't my numbers. These are the Brookings Institute a think tank down here in DC, 57 percent of Donald Trump's top staff, including cabinet officials have turned over already, 18 months into this. I want to show a picture, because this really speaks to it. Let's quickly run through what we are looking at. Corey Lewandowski. If you don't know Scaramucci, his glasses should have their own twitter feed, Sebastian Gorka, and in the background, that's Rob Porter the former staff secretary. How many of these people these people were all working at the White House when this picture was taken? How many of them work at the White House now, Brooke?
[Baldwin:] Zero. Zero.
[Cillizza:] Zero. All of these people are gone. And I will tell you it's not just this picture, again, six in ten top level Trump staffers do not work at the White House anymore. 18 months. It's the kind of boss he is. He plays people against one another. He is willing to publicly shame people as he has done repeatedly with Sessions, that's six and 10 number, Brooke, that does not include Sessions, who continues to be the attorney general tide despite being scared stiff and beleaguered and weak. It is a remarkable thing, it is not normal piece of the presidency that has redefined not normal to be a president means. Back to you.
[Baldwin:] You are one of our best people for rolling through that. We appreciate that.
[Cillizza:] Always, not A, B or a C list person.
[Baldwin:] I got you. Chris Cillizza thank you so much. We have the security aspect of the whole thing that happened in the situation room. We have so much more. Including legitimate questions about Omarosa's credibility, what was her official role in the White House, what did she do in the last year half? Does anyone really know? Also, in a major development in the stand your ground case out of Florida where a man was shot and killed in an argument over a parking spot. Almost a month later why charges are just now being filed. And any moment now, speaking of the president, we waiting to get eyes on him in Fort Drum New York. This will be the most we seen from him in more than a week. He has been on vacation. He is back in Washington, taking a trip up to New York. We will monitor what he has to say in just a moment. You are watching CNN I'm Brooke Baldwin.