President's reaction to this book seems to be overshadowing the politics plan for this weekend at Camp David; Secretary of state Rex Tillerson spoke out today about President Trump's mental fitness
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: The top of the hour. 7:00 here in New York. 4:00 in the afternoon out in the west. I'm Ana Cabrera. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you so much for being with us. One hundred percent proper. Those words from President Trump today describing his handling of the Russian election meddling investigation, 100 percent proper. The President is hosting Republican leaders at Camp David right now. This is a weekend dedicated to mapping out the New Year's legislative agenda. But a reporter asked the President about reports he tried to prevent attorney general Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the Russia investigation.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everything that I have done is 100 percent proper. That's what I do is I do things proper. And you know, I guess the collusion now is dead because everyone found that after a year of study, there has been absolutely no collusion. There has been no collusion between us and the Russians. Now, there has been collusion between Hillary Clinton, the DNC and the Russians, unfortunately, you people don't cover that very much. But the only collusion is between Hillary and the Russians and the DNC and the Russians and one of those things.</s>CABRERA: That was the public President Trump today. Earlier in private and on twitter, he lashed out again at that new book that paints the oval office in a not so flattering light. And reports suggest he is not mentally stable. While in one tweet, the President refers to himself as a quote "very stable genius." CNN's Boris Sanchez joins us from the White House. Boris, the President's reaction to this book seems to be overshadowing the politics plan for this weekend at Camp David.</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ana. The President making news on several fronts today, not only backing his attorney general Jeff Sessions, whom several congressional Republicans in the freedom caucus called to be fired this week, but also praising direct talks between North and South Korea, sending a message to Democrats on immigration saying there would be no solution to the legal status of Dreamers, the issue of DACA, without funding a border wall, also talking about the Russian investigation. All of that, though, being overshadowed by his defense of his mental state. He clearly has taken the comments from Michael Wolff personally in his book "Fire and Fury." And not just that but also some of the comments that Wolff has made during television interviews saying that the President has quote "lost it and going as far as to say that 100 percent of the people around the President question his fitness for office. In turn the President calling Michael Wolff a fraud. Saying that what he is doing is disgraceful and going as far as to question or rather refute that Michael Wolff had any access to the President saying that he was never in the oval office. Questions about the President's mental state have long been swirling, though. It was a few months ago Steve Bannon reportedly said there was a 30 percent chance that people around the President might bring upon the 25th amendment and force him out of office because of his mental state. And just last month, you had some dozen lawmakers in both chambers of Congress being briefed by a psychiatrist from Yale University about the President's metal fitness. Despite those previous questions, we have never really seen the President be as aggressive as he was today at Camp David defending his mental state. And at the same time while trying to outline and then move forward with his 2018 agenda -- Ana.</s>CABRERA: And a part of that little press Q&A the President re- affirmed his support for attorney general Jeff Sessions. But Sessions is not at Camp David this weekend. What does the White House have to say about that?</s>SANCHEZ: That's right. They say it has been part of a long-held plan. The absence certainly curious as I know that before. Because this week you had several congressional Republicans calling for Jeff Sessions to step down. Despite that the White House says that this week was all about the legislative agenda. And that it had long been a part of a plan for the lawmakers and cabinet members that there now to be there not a part of the executive branch department of justice agenda for this weekend. So it would be natural that Jeff Sessions, this is attorney general, will not be there, Ana.</s>CABRERA: OK, Boris Sanchez at the White House. Thank you. President Trump's comment on Jeff Sessions following the "New York Times" report, suggesting he ordered White House counsel Don McGahn to try to prevent Sessions from recusing himself from the Russian investigation. Now CNN has learned that three White House officials, in fact, were a part of that effort. CNN crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz is joining us now. What does this mean for special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, Shimon?</s>SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE PRODUCER: Right. So keep in mind, Ana, that this revelation, these sort of new facts are not necessarily new to the special counsel. Some of the people who we have reported were involved in trying to put some pressure on the attorney general in not recusing himself from the Russia probe, have all been interviewed by special counsel, by Bob Mueller's team. So some of this information is probably already before the special counsel. And it could go into a sort of building a bigger pattern, a fact, a pattern here into obstruction. You know, Bob Mueller's team, the obstruction is still a big part of the investigation. We know that several people who have been interviewed by the special counsel have been asked questions about who played what role in the firing of the former FBI director. This Air Force One statement regarding the Trump tower meeting with Don Jr. and a Russian lawyer, where the President had direct involvement in the statement and the crafting of the response when that story surfaced. So all of this goes to the obstruction case, because in the end, you know, every time the FBI, we now know, when the FBI had asked questions of people associated with the campaign about their connections to Russian, some of them lied to the FBI. George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser was arrested by the FBI, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russians. So all of this just continues to build out perhaps a pattern of continuing to hide information from investigators, continuing to hide contacts with Russians. And we know that the obstruction case is still going on and is still a big part of this special counsel probe.</s>CABRERA: There are a lot of Republicans now calling for Jeff Sessions to step down because of his recusal from the Russian investigation, which led to this special counsel appointment. What is the mood like right now inside the justice department regarding session a future there?</s>PROKUPECZ: I think it's fair to say that there is probably constant confusion between some of the people who worked there as to what the future holds for the attorney general. There are today the President said he had the attorney, he supported the attorney general, you know, tomorrow that could change the day after that could change. You know, there is constant inconsistency in where the President stands. I think the other issue here is the relationship with the FBI in the department of justice. And, you know, the President's attacks on the FBI. The revelation from the "New York Times" that the department of justice has denied that, you know, someone in the department of justice was trying to, was ordered to try to find dirt went to the hill to try to find dirt on the FBI, the former FBI director. So all of this just sort of keeps happening. There are new facts that come out. The department of justice has denied that they were looking for dirt on Comey. But, you know, all of this is very interesting because it does go to the continued kind of morale within these agencies that they feel beat up, you know. We are still talking about them. And they really want to move forward. But the career folks and the people who work at these agencies will keep doing their job in trying to keep us safe, keep prosecutions open investigations. That is going to continue. But you know, you do have to expect that it does hurt the people who work there, morale and how they feel about their leaders, about the people that are heading these agencies that they' are working at.</s>CABRERA: Shimon Prokupecz in Washington. Thank you. I want to discuss President Trump's actions today, defending his mental stable, lashing out at the author of a tell-all book and turning the spotlight back on the Russia probe during that press that was supposed to be the focus of the legislative agenda moving forward. Joining us now to talk more about it is Douglas Brinkley, CNN Presidential historian, Samantha Vinograd, former member of President Obama's national Security Council and Page Pate, defense attorney and constitutional law professor. Douglas, President Trump's tweets, the ones saying she a very stable genius, where does this fit into a big pick historically. Have previous Presidents weighed in the base over their mental fitness?</s>DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: No. I mean, there often been Presidents have had to defend their health. I mean, when Woodrow Wilson had a stroke, people wondering what kind of condition he was in. Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack in 1955. And you have to come out and show that you are vigorous. This is about the psychological health of the President. Some people raised that about Lyndon Johnson in 1968 when he decided not to run for re-election. And, of course, Richard Nixon in his last months. I mean, Nixon - I edited Nixon's tapes and you can hear him screaming at Henry Kissinger and others to do crazy irrational things and they would say yes sir, yes boss, and not -- listen to him. But the fact that he came out the way he did, Donald Trump, and reminding me of Nixon saying I'm not a crook. Donald Trump basically said today I'm not a moron. And I think it was silly of him to have taken the bait of the Wolff book this fulsomely.</s>CABRERA: Douglas, in all of the bluster about Wolff's book, one thing is missing, not one mention of vice President Mike Pence emerged in any quote or published exit (ph) so far. What do you make of his notable absence in this tell-all book?</s>BRINKLEY: That Pence stays very quiet. Tries to avoid the media spotlight. You don't see him saying a lot of things that would anger Donald Trump. I mean, he is the nation's plan b if Donald Trump has to resign or and Democrats get control of Congress in the Senate and they move to impeach him. So Pence has shown that he stays under the radar often. And it speaks well of him not to have spoken of Wolff. I still don't know how Wolff got that kind of access into an administration, but alas he did. And his book is beyond being a bestseller. It's in the history books, a lot like a Woodward and Bernstein, in the sense of -- it's a permanent part of this year and what's going on right now in the book.</s>CABRERA: Samantha, Trump blames Bannon for these revelations that came out in the book. But is Bannon to blame for the kind of access he had to the White House and these other aids are also quoted on the book?</s>SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it was bad staffing. I worked for two Presidents. And it's staffing 101 that before a reporter or writer enters a White House, has any meetings, has any discussions, two sides, who is he or she going to talk to? Is it going to be on or off the record? Those are the kind of details that you work out in advance sow don't get into the scenario that we are seeing right now. But I think that the reaction to the book has a lot of national security impacts that we are not talking as much about perhaps. Let's do a little bit of role playing here. If you are Kim Jong-un or you are Vladimir Putin and you are watching the President of the United States react this strongly to a book. This is not the first bad thing that's ever been said about the President.</s>CABRERA: And it won't be the last.</s>VINOGRAD: Most definitely. How many books have been written about Presidents in the past? How many bad news stories? The Presidential thing to do typically is to shrug it off. But again, if you are a foreign leader, if you are an enemy of the United States, you just learned the very valuable lesson. You have learned that the surest way to throw the President off track and to distract him is to insult his image. We have seen Kim Jong-un do this in the past. He has done it over twitter. He has made fun of Donald Trump. Now we see Michael Wolff writing a book and poking at the President and his stability. And instead of the President spending time working on infrastructure, which is sensibly why he is at Camp David or really digging deep on the myriad of national security issues we have in front of us. He is tweeting about a book that's messaging to our enemies all over the world that you just distract him by insulting him.</s>CABRERA: And he is tweeting about just how smart he is and how mentally stable he is. Page, here is what the President said about Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, if Robert Mueller asks to you come and speak with his committee personally, are you committed still to doing that?</s>TRUMP: Yes. Just so you understand, just so you understand, there has been no collusion. There has been no crime. And in theory, everybody tells me, I'm not under investigation. Maybe Hillary is, I don't know. But I'm not. But there has been no collusion. There has been no crime. But we have been very open. We could have done it two ways. We could have been very closed and it would have taken years. But you know, sort of like when have you done nothing wrong, let's be open and get it over with. Because honestly it's very, very bad for our country.</s>CABRERA: Page, you are a defense lawyer. Does the President's argument that his administration has been opened to Mueller's investigation, hold up?</s>PAGE PATE, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, somewhat Ana. They have been producing documents, the White House has, that were documents that were requested by the special counsel's office. But as far as interviews, making themselves available to discuss with investigators' specific allegations, that really hasn't happened yet. But there is going to come a time as the special counsel gets close to finishing their investigation, when they are going to want to talk to key people in the White House. And I'm interested to see whether Trump and other folks in the White House will try to rely on things like executive privilege, attorney/client privilege to try to block those interviews. So as of now, they have been somewhat cooperative. But the real test is as we get closer to the end of the investigation.</s>CABRERA: He was asked if he would be willing to talk with Robert Mueller. And he appeared initially to say yes, but he quickly deflected. Is there any chance you can pick he isn't asked to come before the special counsel?</s>PAGE: You know, it's unusual. This entire investigation is unusual. But normally, in a federal criminal investigation like this even when it's done by an independent or special counsel, they will gather all of the other evidence first. They will charge other individuals, which they have done in this case, get cooperating witnesses, which they have done in this case. And then at the very end when they think they have satisfactory information of either a criminal act or that there is no crime been committed here, then they want to interview the guy at the top. Because then, they know a lot more than perhaps the President does about this investigation. So no longer is it just about collusion, conspiracy or obstruction, but it is about making that false statement. So anyone who is representing the President will certainly want to keep him away from any sort of sworn testimony in front of this particular special counsel.</s>CABRERA: Douglas, the President also saying today he stands by attorney general Jeff Sessions. We also know secretary of state Tillerson is defending Trump's mental fitness in his interview with our Elise Labott and he is saying he is not planning to go anywhere. Are these signs of this administration is stabilizing is perhaps stabilizing from earlier days of chaos?</s>BRINKLEY: Well, I thought Rex Tillerson did an amazing job in the interview, right, when just what Samantha was talking about, people in the world worried about Donald Trump's stability on the news of the book went global. And there was Tillerson kind of reassuring people that American foreign policy had a steady hand in the state department. So, yes, I think Tillerson now looks like he is probably going to stay on at least for this year. Jeff Sessions would be a disaster if he quit for Donald Trump or if he got fired. So I think you are starting to see some of those key players stabilize a little bit. Although, there is no love lost between Sessions and Trump and Tillerson needs to get more of our ambassadors in place and start jump starting the state department, not just, you know, trying to get to know his boss as he did if 2017.</s>CABRERA: Sam, real quick. Your take on the impact of Jeff Sessions were to resign at this point.</s>VINOGRAD: I think that it would be just another blow to the functioning of our legal system. Now, leaving aside whether he has done anything improper or now. What we do know from all this different threads is that it looks like the President is trying to interfere with the separation of powers. And that the independent judiciary is a core part of our democracy. We know that Russia is trying to undermine that democracy. So every single time we see the President or a thread about the administration, trying to interfere in the investigation or gather dirt on Comey, all that's doing is making the Russian's job easier so the best case scenario is that the department of justice continues to function without interference from the White House and the special counsel continues to do its work.</s>CABRERA: Thank you all so much Samantha Vinograd, Page Pate, Douglas Brinkley. I really appreciate it. Still ahead here in the NEWSROOM, as headlines swirl about this new book about President Trump and the White House, the Republican agenda waits. How "Fire and Fury" is overshadowing everything from DACA to infrastructure. Congressman Dan Kildee give us this take next. Plus, secretary of state Rex Tillerson telling CNN in a TV exclusive what he thinks of the President's competence as commander-in-chief. And later, the riffle effects of the bomb cyclone leaving passengers stranded for hours at one of the country's busiest airports. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. Don't go away.