your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. other side effects include upper respiratory tract infection and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ♪ otezla. show more of you. all right, good morning, everyone. i'm john berman. a key presidential adviser has resigned following accusations of domestic abuse from two former wives. this is what white house chief of staff john kelly first said about these accusations yesterday. rob porter is a man of true integrity and honor and i can't say enough good things about him. overnight, kelly did amend that some, i was shocked by the new allegations released today against rob porter. no place for domestic violence in our society. i stand by my previous comments of the rob porter i have come to know. so why was kelly shocked when

our sources say he knew about these allegations for months. abby phillip at the white house with these growing questions. abby? >> reporter: good morning, john. this story continues to be disturbing and questions are swirling about what exactly john kelly did know about rob porter and these accusations against him. our sources are telling us that he was aware that the allegations existed for months, but apparently did nothing. the question is did he know the extent of it when the photos of these women -- his ex-wives were published in the daily mail became very clear that this was a big problem. now, meanwhile, we have learned that president trump learned this week about the accusations against porter and was upset about them. was he kept in the dark by his own chief of staff? and another white house source tells us that some on the staff now feel misled by rob porter, that perhaps he didn't let everyone know exactly how severe these accusations were. now, regardless, john, two

women, both ex-wives of rob porter's, have alleged he abused them during their marriages, pictures or no pictures, those accusations are in fact very serious. rob porter, by the way, is someone who despite his title as being staff secretary is someone who is pretty important in this white house. he came to the white house from the united states senate, where he was a senior aid to several lawmakers. he's a harvard law school graduate, a rhodes scholar and also someone who was a gatekeeper to president trump. he was responsible for virtually every piece of paper that went across president trump's desk. and was a top deputy of john kelly's. we have learned that despite saying he might be leaving in the coming weeks, rob porter might be gone as early as today as this controversy continues to swirl around the white house, john. >> interesting as far as we know he's not gone just yet. abby phillip at the white house, thanks so very much. rob porter's ex-wives are speaking out.

this is his second wife, jennifer willoughby. >> rob wasn't finished fighting, i suppose, at that point, he was still angry and so he came and grabbed me by the shoulders here, and pulled me out of the shower in a rage. and immediately on seeing the terror in my face, retracted and apologized and changed composure immediately. but that was -- that was the first time that he had laid hands on me. >> i want to get straight to cnn's m.j. lee. these women are telling very harrowing, very similar stories, the same stories they told the fbi more than a year ago. >> that's right. very disturbing allegations from both of rob porter's ex-wives. we spoke with them yesterday on the phone. i want to walk you through some of the allegations that they're making about their ex-husband. the first ex-wife colbie

holderness married him in 2003 and said she suffered constant emotional and verbal abuse from porter and things did get physical immediately after the wedding, that during their honeymoon he kicked her in the thigh during a fight, and that over the years that he consistently would choke her and then throw her on the bed and put his body weight on her and leaning sort of his limb, elbow, knee, to sort of show his anger. and then, of course, the photos you just showed, that was an incident she says took place in 2005 where he actually punched her in the face. extremely disturbing. the second ex-wife is jennifer willoughby, we just saw her speak obviously a few moments ago. she married porter in 2009. she also described to me deep emotional abuse from porter and she also said that things sometimes got physical, for example, in 2010, when he punched a glass pane in the front door and the police had to come. she says the police recommended she take out a protective order

against him, so she did that. and later in the year is when she says that the shower incident happened, where they had a fight. she was in the shower afterwards and he came in and grabbed her by the shoulders, making her feel very frightened. now, john, an additional twist to the story is that both of the ex-wives tell me they were contacted last year, by a woman claiming to be porter's ex-girlfriend and that she told them that she was also abused by porter and that she was essentially reaching out to them for help. this is one message that she wrote to one of the ex-wives. she said, i work in politics, and despite rob's repeated abuse, some of which i think may be known about, he continues to rise and i'm afraid to go against him. i'm sorry to bother you. i wanted to reach out and hear your story if you're willing to share as well as how you broke out of it with him and mostly how you recovered. as abby laid out, port, of course, denied the allegations, calling the allegations a coordinated smear campaign.

>> m.j. lee, terrific reporting, important reporting, so good to hear the stories of these women, the bravery of having them come out so publicly now is so interesting. thanks so much. there is a serious security component to this. joining me now is shawn patrick maloney of new york, served as staff secretary to president bill clinton, the same position that rob porter is still serving until this morning. and now, the congressman here is calling for the house oversight committee to open an investigation into the process that went through here. first, congressman, let me ask you as someone that experienced inside this job in the white house, explain your proximity to the president. >> there is not a day that goes by that you don't have direct interactions with the president. you see them every day. >> no full security clearance. he was not granted a full security clearance. our reporting is the fbi made clear he would never get that clearance. what kind of message should that send? >> look, this is the most serious part of this from a

national security point of view. the allegations are disgusting and well corroborated, and my god, the rest of the country is trying to make progress in the me too movement, we have white house senior staff overlooking these kind of things, but from a national security perspective, the staff secretary sees the country's greatest secrets. there is a stack of red envelopes, folders, excuse me, on that desk, every day, and the staff secretary brings them to the president. the staff secretary sees literally everything that the president sees. and to have someone in that job for 14 months with no national security clearance is outrageous and john kelly owns that. and has some very tough questions to answer. not just about why he's still defending him, which is outrageous, but about why you would allow somebody to be in the position who can be so easily blackmailed. it is crazy. >> apparently had some temporary clearance, congressman. you want the oversight committee to look into this. explain what you want them to do. >> well, we have to understand how classified information was handled for the last 14 months.

and what the heck is going on at the white house. because bare in mind, the women, the victims in this case came forward in january of 2017. that would have stopped in its tracks the security review. look, the fbi went to south america, where i worked as a volunteer with the jesuits, between college and law school, and they interviewed people in the village i worked in. this security review is the most thorough thing any white house staff is ever going to go through. and it would have been stopped in its tracks by a protective order, by police documents, by blackmailable allegations and by people who were coming forward saying this happened to me. to ignore this and to allow this person to continue in that position seeing our country's greatest secrets is incredibly irresponsible and we are seeing now even today the chief of staff defend the wife beater, not the victims. but it is his own conduct, it is john kelly who has tough questions to answer, about why he ignored this and let someone who could be so easily

compromised do this job. >> as you said, you know, the fbi ended this, we believe we have the answers there, the fbi was told this back in 2017. one of the former wives, in fact, said that she told the fbi she feared that porter could be compromised because she believed that so many people knew about the alleged abuse. >> and the washington post is reporting this morning that even while doing the job, mr. porter is reaching out to try to suppress these accounts. as the women are continuing to talk about it, that is the profile of someone who can be blackmailed. that same person is reading code word, top secret national security information that goes to the president. that's a bad mix. and maybe it is understandable that the staffer tries to cover up their own wrongdoing and maybe get his day in court, but when you're the chief of staff, and you become aware of this, you put a stop to it. and you sideline the guy, and you keep top secret information out of the hands of somebody who is so easily blackmailed. >> congressman, if i can move on to the other big news facing congress today, which is this

spending bill that will be first voted on in the senate, which increases the deficit quite a bit, some $500 billion, but it doesn't address specifically the issue of immigration and i know there are a great many house democrats like yourself who would like to see that. what is your opinion of this senate bipartisan deal? >> i have a big problem with this spending bill because it is drunken sailor level spending. and i'm in the going to go along with it just because the domestic spending is as high as the defense spending, which seems to be the bipartisan agreement here. we just put 1.5 trillion on the credit card in an outrageous tax cut, 83% of which goes to the richest americans. we now have a huge debt problem in america, made much worse. and to put $500 billion in new spending that is not offset, except for a one shot on this strategic petroleum reserve is incredibly irresponsible. and that is on top of ignoring the dreamers, which we should also deal with. so we should deal with our deficit, and the dreamers and our other problems in a

straightforward way. count me out. this is bad for my neighbors in the hudson valley. not bipartisan. it is collusion between the parties who can only agree on spending money, we don't have, it is outrageous. >> so, congressman, one of the guys who struck this deal was the senior senator from the state of new york, chuck schumer. are you calling senator schumer a drunken sailor? >> we have a disagreement on this. i do not believe that reaching agreement at the expanse ense o fiscal stability is wise. i think it is far past time in the wake of the tax cut bill, when we blew a $1.5 trillion new hole on top of the $10 trillion we're already going to take in debt over the next decade, when we blew that new hole into the debt and the deficit, we cannot throw $500 billion in unpaid forced spending on top of that. i say that as a democrat. i say that as someone who also thinks we should deal with the dreamers issue now. and not keep kicking it down the road. so i'm a no. other democrats make their own decision. i have great respect for senator schumer, he's in a tough job and

he's got a commitment on the senate side to get a vote, a lot more than paul ryan has done in the house. i don't have anything but respect for senator schumer. i'm going a different direction on this. >> congressman shawn patrick maloney, thank you for being with us. appreciate it. >> thank you. nancy pelosi, what she just said about the spending deal next. and vice president pence talking tough on north korea as south korea plans to meet with kim jong-un's sister for lunch. the u.s. and south korea, are they on the same page here? stick around.

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also have what is mitch mcconnell guarantees in the senate, a vote, a vote on the floor. i'm pleased with the product. i'm not pleased with the process. >> you won't vote for it? >> no, i won't. >> nancy pelosi is a no vote. i had a democratic congressman tell me earlier he's a no vote. sunlen serfaty on capitol hill. we're getting very public noes, sunlen. you still get a sense there is confidence it will pass. >> reporter: absolutely, john. nancy pelosi making her views of this bill yesterday known when she held that eight-hour speech on the house floor. she is against it. but that said, things are on track to get this wrapped up today to avoid a shutdown at midnight tonight. certainly there are many steps that this has to go through up here on capitol hill today to make that officially happen. the senate will be convening in the next half hour, 10:30 eastern time. at some point in the early afternoon they will hold a vote on that bipartisan massive

two-year budget bill that they were able to negotiate. that will pass through the senate. that gets kicked over to the house side. there it certainly does face a much steeper climb. in the last 24 hours, we have been hearing really from two groups unhappy with this bill as nancy pelosi said. there are many house democrats that are unhappy that this bill does not include a daca fix, unhappy and wants more assurances from the house speaker that he will hold a vote and a debate over immigration on that house floor. and then you also have the flip side. many deficit hawks, house conservatives, unhappy about this substantial ads that this bill potentially has on the deficit, all that said, the house speaker notably this morning really striking a confident tone. here is what he said in the last hour on the hue hewitt radio show. >> do you have the votes in the house of representatives to pass what looks look a done deal in the senate? >> i think we will. i feel good. it is depend on the democrats. this is a bipartisan bill.

it will need bipartisan support. we are going to deliver our share of support. i feel very good about republicans. >> reporter: and that really backs up what aides up here on capitol hill have been telling us, john, that despite all these public, as you said, no votes, there is a good contingent of people from those unhappy house democrats, unhappy house conservatives, that will ultimately end up voting for this deal. and that certainly is a markable and notable statement from the house speaker this morning, going into potential votes tonight, before that midnight deadline that he's feeling like he's in a good spot. >> sunlen serfaty, we'll watch this closely all day and maybe even all night. joining me now, cnn political commentator angela ryan, alice stewart and jackie kucinich. we heard from nancy pelosi, the ranking democrat in the house saying she's a no vote. shawn patrick maloney said he's a no vote. liberals in the house now are not happy about this. >> no. i think we have to rely on what

folks have said -- what folks have done more than what they have said. so this is -- there have been now five short-term spending bills that all were supposed to be considering daca. none of that has happened. so now we're supposed to take -- we're supposed to rely on the words of the senate that if you do this spending measure this two-year bill this two-year budget, we're going to consider immigration at a later time. we can't rely on those words. five other times you haven't considered this bill, or these people, i don't know how we got to a place where we're not considering the people that the policies impact. that is the big issue. and democrats have to hold that line. i think nancy pelosi did a good job of doing that on the house floor. but it has to go beyond the pomp and circumstance into what really matters and that's passing the legislation. >> that's the line you're hearing from some democrats, alice, the line you're hearing from some republicans, the freedom caucus, i heard it from john kennedy, senator from louisiana, is the spending here is out of control from the

things they would like to see. this will drive up the deficit, pure and simple. granted the tax cut they voted for, that will drive up the deficit as well. this will even more. >> sure, the freedom caucus is really strong on making sure that we don't pass a budget bill that adds to the deficit and they're going to stay firm on that. with regard to the democrats on this, i don't understand why they're going it die on the daca hill yet again. they should have learned last month that it didn't work for them. they need to separate their immigration policies from this budget bill. appropriations bills should be about appropriations and not policies. i think what -- if we didn't learn anything else last month, let's focus on a big -- a nice budget deal that people can agree on and let's deal with immigration. we still have time. we still have until march to worry about daca. i think we need to take one issue at a time and right now it is getting this budget passed before midnight. >> and that seems to be the chuck schumer calculation right now. jackie kucinich, why this debate is going on, it will go on all day and into the night, there is

this cloud of controversy over the white house that -- i really -- i got to say this one surprised me the way that general john kelly, the chief of staff, has handled this. rob porter, the allegations of domestic abuse came out, credible allegations, two women on the record, a picture of one of his former wives with a black eye, another telling a story to cameras about how she was dragged out of the shower. and up until late yesterday, john kelly was apparently arguing that rob porter, the staff secretary, should keep his job. john kelly is in hot water now. >> it is disturbing. initially there was -- they tried to say he didn't know about it when in fact it is very unlikely that john kelly did not know about these allegations against an aide that was so close to him. he's putting loyalty over these allegations. and the fact that someone with this alleged history of violence and as you said, very credible allegations, was able to get so far on this white house, even

when these -- there is reporting that a third woman went to counsel don mcgann and also raised that this was an issue. so they had all of this evidence and chose to just promote him. and keep -- allowing him to rise in the white house. and it really -- again, there is no other word for it than disturbing. >> i got to say, we like to say this is isn't an issue of politics, but this isn't an issue of politics. >> this isn't an issue of politics. this is a moral question here. this is the story of john kelly, whether or not the white house chief of staff is comfortable with someone that this close to the president being accused of domestic abuse. >> but you have someone who is the president being accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault by multiple women, so are we that surprised that this is an issue in this white house? this is about the lifestyles of the rich and wretched, it was the rich and the famous back in the days, but these folks are

problematic, privileged and used to consequences going past them, going right by them. i'm not surprised by john kelly's reaction to this. the president has some issues around this. >> alice, is that fair? >> sure. i think, look, people in this white house looked at porter as someone with an impeccable pedigree and work performance in the white house that may have been stellar, but that overshadowed their judgment. and good judgment on what the right thing to do with regard to these domestic abuse charges. look, he denies this happened. he says that what is being reported isn't anywhere close to reality, but i think their stories and their claims far outweigh his lame denials in this. and i think the white house, moment they heard about this, should have let him go and what is even more disturbing, john, you talked to a few people, the fact that he had no full security clearance and he had access to these documents, that is a huge security risk for this country. and he's someone that is easily compromised by those who want to find someone who has a

dr. jekyll and mr. hyde personality. i think all of the issues need to be seriously addressed. but more than anything, he doesn't need to leave on his own terms, he needs to leave right now. >> and we have not heard that he's gone yet. the timeline moved up. we were told today would be his last day, but as far as we know, he hasn't walked out that door yet. so we're watching that very, very closely. jackie, again, this is a rob porter story, accused of doing horrible, awful things, this is very much a john kelly story, the chief of staff, chief of staff, jackie, who has been to the center of his own controversies. he was supposed to be the guy to clean up white house controversies. yet he has been a central figure, even maybe the causal figure, for several issues lately. you know, calling daca immigrants lazy people, saying they should get off the couch. suggesting, you know, making comments about the civil war, the comments he made back when we learned about the soldier being killed in africa, going after frederica wilson. >> right. there is a question of

leadership here. there is a question of judgment here. of someone that was supposed to be the adult in the room. and will this lead to his ouster? i don't know. the president wasn't happy with him reportedly over some of the comments that kelly made about him because once, you know, when the staffer says something negative about the president, it matters more than some of the other issues that are more important. so we'll have to wait and see, but certainly there is cause for concern. i have to bring up the fact that hope hicks who reportedly is in a relationship recently with rob porter, the fact she was allowed to craft this -- help craft this statement that the white house put on, that, again, that is a lack of judgment. that is a lack of leadership. the fact she was allowed to do that -- that is -- it is unprofessional and, again, i'll use the word again, it is disturbing. >> and, john, if i can just say -- i think she's a beautiful

young woman. she can date whoever she wants to do. that's her personal business. professionally to jackie's point. you're involved in a personal relationship with someone, and a pr crisis, you should be the last one drafting a character statement on his behalf when it comes to something so important. >> jackie, angela, alice, thank you all, very, very much. a key u.s. ally south korea meeting with kim jong-un's sister, is this a sign of thawing relations, a sign that south korea is going its own way despite what the u.s. might want? stick around.

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this morning, vice president mike pence on the ground in south korea for the winter olympics. another high profile visitor, the sister of north korean leader kim jong-un. and while the vice president has been ratcheting up the rhetoric on the korean regime, south korea is taking the opposite approach. the south korean president is sitting down with kim's sister. they're going to lunch. joining me now, cnn's ivan watson. ivan, this is a huge development. historic development on the korean peninsula. to have the sister of the north korean leader meeting with the south korean president. >> reporter: that's right. they haven't gone to lunch yet. that's scheduled to take place on saturday on the 10th. instead, the south korean president is having dinner with vice president pence and his wife tonight. i think having chicken. but, yeah, it is a big deal because the kim dynasty has ruled north korea since the korean war, more than half a century. this is the first member of that dynasty who will be coming south

of the demilitarized zone. and she's part of a delegation that is actually led by the ceremonial head of state of north korea. but the south koreans are having a kind of thread a needle here. they have to balance vice president pence on the one hand, who is trying to put more pressure on the north korean regime and to try to say, hey, they're not as nice as they look right now, just because they're participating in the olympics. while at the same time, trying to be -- make nice with the north koreans who have come down in large numbers, about 500 on the ground here, having concerts, having tae kwon do demonstrations and trying to charm the south korean population. >> so, ivan, on the eve of the opening ceremonies in south korea, pyeongchang, north korea is displaying its own military power, real show of force this morning. >> reporter: that's right. and that's where their charm offensive has kind of fallen flat. i talked to a south korean who

went to one of these north korean concerts and said, yeah, i want to see the music, but this doesn't make me feel good knowing that their having a military parade right before our olympics. and they showed off some of their missiles. missiles that were launched as recently as last november. that shows you how fast this diplomatic -- this olympic diplomacy has moved forward. and, you know, it is also kind of ironic seeing the north koreans parade their missiles at a time when the trump administration is discussing having its own military parade. that said, vice president pence, he keeps trying to pound this idea home. let's try to isolate north korea and make it give up its nuclear weapons. take a listen. >> all options are on the table. and the american armed forces, and self-defense forces of japan, will be ready to defend our people and our way of life. to any who would threaten our people, our allies know this, under this commander in chief,

the greatest fighting force in the world, the united states is ready. ready to defend our home land, defend our allies. anytime, anywhere. >> biggest question here, john, what happens at the opening ceremony on friday, when you have vice president pence on one side of the stadium and you have kim jong-un's sister on the other side. the north koreans insist there will be no meeting. john? >> we'll watch it very closely. ivan watson for us, thank you very much. happening today, congress will vote on a spending deal that will keep the government open and funded for two full years. what we have been hearing a lot of members on both sides saying they are no votes. where is this headed? we have a key senator joining us next.

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huge budget deal yesterday, the tune of $300 billion to keep the government running fully funded for two full years. joining me now, someone who gets to vote on this very shortly, democratic senator from maryland, ben carter. thank you for being with us. you get to vote on something that is bipartisan and long-term. that must feel really strange. >> well, john, you're absolutely right. it has been a long time coming. it is disappointing it has taken this long to get a budget for fy 18, this current year, which started october 1 of last year. but this agreement goes through next fiscal year. so it really does give predictability to the agencies, the department of defense and all the agencies of government. it is bipartisan. and that's how we should be operating. it deals with some of the health care and tax issues we need to deal with. so it is -- it is a big agreement, i think we're all trying to sort through it right now.

make sure we know everything that is in it before we ask to vote on it. it is certainly a good sign to see that our leaders have come together in a bipartisan way. >> so you sound like you're a yes vote on this. the first one i have spoken to today. i heard from members of both parties who say they're a flat out no on this. let's address the liberal concern from the left, nancy pelosi said no. shawn patrick maloney told me he's quite upset that the immigration issue has been separated from this. he thinks that democrats are making a mistake by giving up this issue in the budget deal. >> first, i do want to read the agreement before i commit to voting yes or no. i think that's important to deal with. and we're in the process of doing it. in the senate, we have a commitment to take up the immigration bill and it will be on the floor next monday, in an open process, in which we have a real opportunity to protect the dreamers. there is no such commitment in the united states house of representatives.

i think leader pelosi made that point very clearly yesterday. what she is asking for, she's not questioning the budget deal that was reached in the senate, but saying that speaker ryan needs to do what leader mcconnell did and make a commitment to bring up the dreamer issue. >> so the other issue, we're hearing this from the right, how do you justify this new spending. the hundreds of billions of dollars this will add to the deficit, senator bob corker, who is the chair of the foreign relations committee, ranking member, he says he's actually discouraged by this deal, because he thinks it is too much military spending. >> what really gets me concerned, the critics of this proposal that -- about being fiscally responsible are the same ones who voted for the tax cut that takes on $1.5 trillion further into debt. at least. so they're somewhat hypocritical to say all of a sudden they have

this concern about the deficit when the tax bill was the big increase. >> but do you have the concern? >> i do have concern about fiscal responsibility. i raised those issues. that's one of the things we want to look at. some of this is offset. as far as discretionary spending is concerned, we need reasonable caps. we have seen in recent years significant reduction in our ability to defend our nation, to support our agencies, and their important mission. i'm for giving them the resources they need to be able to accomplish their mission. one example, nih will get 2 billion additional dollars. social security administration is going to get some additional help. they need it, and that's part of their mission, which is critically important to our country. >> money certainly makes deals happen in washington. we have seen that again. and sometimes, you know, if it helps bipartisanship, that can be a good thing, senator. let me ask you about another big story in washington now. it has to do with the white house. staff secretary rob porter resigning after these allegations emerged of domestic abuse against not one, but two

of his former wives. the chief of staff john kelly knew about some of this, and as far back as november, yet chose to keep him on, defend him up until yesterday, even argue he should stay yesterday calling him a member of honor and integrity. what do you make of it? >> well, you know, clearly i don't know all the details concerning this circumstance. i know what the allegations were. they're extremely serious. his resignation today, i think, puts this matter somewhat to rest as it involves this individual. but the broader question is what is the policy in the white house, the policy in agencies to make sure it is understood, that this type of behavior, there is zero tolerance. >> the security clearance issue also comes up. i spoke to former house intel chair mike rogers last hour who used to be staff secretary, says, he has serious concerns about the way the security clearance was handled. this is a guy, the staff secretary and the white house is the one who puts the papers on the president's desk. >> you're right.

there is a security clearance process that should have picked this up. the fact that it did not is a matter that needs to be looked into because we have to make sure that the security clearance procedures deal with vulnerabilities of individuals and this is an area that should have been explored. >> one question in russia, if i can, the russia investigation. ron johnson, the chair of the senate oversight committee, he's been releasing these text messages between lisa page and peter strzok, including one yesterday which johnson, senator johnson suggested showed president obama was meddling in the hillary clinton e-mail investigation. the president wants to know everything we're doing. the problem is this was after the e-mail investigation was all but wrapped up in july and seems like it was about russia there. my question to you is about what do you think the motivations are of senator johnson? is he playing this on the level? >> i would never question the motivation of one of my colleagues in the united states

senate. but what i would say is i think this whole issue of trying to deal with the nunes memo, to deal with the clinton e-mail issues, is a distraction from trying to compromise the independence and integrity of the department of justice and the mueller investigation. and i hope everyone will recognize that no one is above the law, that congress has a responsibility to make sure that the department of justice maintains its independence and ability to operate as an independent agency, and mueller investigation is fully supported as far as its integrity and its independence. >> the special counsel's team still looking to speak with the president, the president's lawyers have been saying that they haven't met the standard for a presidential interview. and they may advise them not to, they're concerned this could all be an idea to get them caught lying under oath. should the president testify? >> president trump said he would fully cooperate, and he was looking forward to meeting with

mr. mueller and having that interview. now, he has a different story. i would hope that the president would fully cooperate with mr. mueller. an interview by mr. trump would be normal procedures in an investigation. the normal process is to get as much information as you possibly can before you meet with the president of the united states, if there is any indication that the president has information that could be helpful. so i would hope that he would be cooperative with mr. mueller. >> senator ben cardin, we'll let you get to reading this giant spending bill, two years worth of money, thanks so much for being with us. >> thank you. the freezing cold not keeping millions of eagles fans from hitting the streets of philadelphia to cheer on their champions. look at these pictures. pictures i hoped i would never see. the bleacher report is next. looking for balance in your digestive system?

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the city of philadelphia bracing for one of its largest crowds ever today at the super bowl victory parade. andy scholes has more on the bleacher report. >> the parade should be getting under way any minute now. the officials believe that more than 2 million eagles fans are going to brave the freezing temperatures there to celebrate the team's first super bowl title. this bleacher report brought to you by the new ford f-150. live pictures from philadelphia. people began lining up bright and early this morning to get a good spot on the parade route. will go through downtown, end at the art museum on the iconic rocky steps. fans will be treated to all kinds of free stuff along the

way. bud light providing free beer to those 21 or older along the route, one per person. ice cream, a nod to head coach doug pederson who loves himself some ice cream and school canceled in philly today so people of all ages could be on hand for the parade. aaron hamlin will be the flag bearer at tomorrow's opening ceremony in pyeongchang. hamlin from upstate new york is a four-time olympian, first american woman to medal in the luge getting the bronze in sochi. the sixth female flag bearer for team usa at the winter games. not everyone was pleased with the decision. speedskater shani davis, the first black athlete to ever win gold for team usa in an individual event at the winter games, tweeted this, i'm an american and when i won the 1,000 meter in 2010, i became the first american to two-peat in that event. team usa dishonorably tossed a coin to decide the 2018 flag bearer. no problem, i can wait until

2022, #blackhistorymonth2018. all the olympians for team usa get a vote on who they think should be the flag bearer. in the event of a tie, they do a coin flip, which hamlin won. the opening ceremony is tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. eastern. it is going to replay in primetime. the game actually is already under way with mixed doubles curling. finally, yesterday was national signing day for college football. and jacob cokeland, tennessee, alabama, florida, he picked florida. you see him putting on the hat. his mom, she was expecting alabama or tennessee based on her wardrobe. and she immediately got up and left when her son picked to go to florida. she must have been on the outs in terms of that decision. she did eventually come back and give her son a hug and sign his letter of intent. john, clearly, her heart was set on tennessee or alabama. for unknown reasons.

>> all right. don't upset mom. andy scholes, thanks so much. a key us who aide out as early as today. what did chief of staff john kelly know about the domestic abuse charges against staff secretary rob porter. much more on that coming up. and then the most exciting, important story on this show you'll hear all week. stick around for that. so, dave here is taking the family up to the lake for the weekend. but without the white knuckles this time. 'cuz his new 2018 ford f-150 has blis with trailer coverage. it's brainiac smart. not only does it watch your f-150's blind spots, it's got your trailer covered too. just another reason why ford f-series is america's best-selling truck for 41 straight years. ♪ this is the new 2018 ford f-150. it doesn't just raise the bar, pal.

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an important developing story this morning. nine pounds of developing, look at this. that is poppy harlow with baby luca, the newest addition to the cnn team. congratulations. sources tell us so far luca is sleeping. we'll see how long that lasts. giant hugs and kisses, congratulations to you all. that's it for me. i'm john berman. "at this hour" starts now. hi there. i'm brianna keilar in for kate bolduan. we have two major stories in washington now. one on capitol hill, where congress is expected to vote today on a giant budget deal that would keep the federal government running, but also add billions in spending. all eyes on the house. are the votes going to be there? and update from the house speaker himself, paul ryan will appear before reporters later this hour. now, the other major story invokes that classic washington