DHS Secretary Nielsen Nearly Resigned After Trump Berated Her
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.</s>ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next, breaking news. The president's Homeland Security secretary reportedly almost resigning after the president berated her in front of the entire cabinet. Kirstjen Nielsen is speaking out tonight. Plus, legal troubles mounting for Michael Cohen as new reports reveal more ties between Cohen and Russia. And Trump's tough talk rattling America's closest allies, but is his base loving it, and more loyal than ever? Let's go OUTFRONT. And good evening, I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. A cabinet in chaos tonight. President Trump's Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen telling colleagues she was close to resigning after the president berated her in front of his entire cabinet. According to "The New York Times", Nielsen reportedly drafting a resignation letter after what was described as a lengthy tirade in the White House from President Trump just yesterday. One source telling CNN the president was furious at the lack of progress towards securing the country's borders. This report is just the latest example of a White House in utter turmoil. Many of the president's top advisers have been fired or resigned, several in just recent weeks. Trump's cabinet itself now holes a record for the highest turnover in a century. Just to be clear, a century is 100 years of American presidential history. It's stunning. That statistic, according to NPR tonight. You see on the screen some of the key players who have been hired, fired or just gone since the president took office. Most recently the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, fired V.A. Secretary David Shulkin, fired Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, resigned, in his case under pressure over the use of private planes. Former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster resigned after the president publicly slammed him on Twitter. It's a stunning number of departures given that the president has bragged about how just -- how great it is to work at President Trump's White House.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The White House has a tremendous energy and we have tremendous talent. So many people want to come in. I have a choice of anybody. Everybody wants to be there. And they love this White House because we have energy like rarely before.</s>BURNETT: Everybody wants to be there. Well, it sure doesn't look like that from the facts. Have tremendous talent, well, for the members of the cabinet who remain, ethics is a major issue for some. Just moments ago, the White House spokesman Raj Shah admitting that they White House itself has concerns about embattled EPA Chief Scott Pruitt who is under fire for serious ethical brief breaches, including spending and management. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is accused of wasting taxpayer money, same for HUD Secretary Carson. Well, Secretary Nielsen is not the only official who is reportedly threatened to quit with all of this. One source telling CNN the Chief of Staff John Kelly, of course a mentor to Nielsen has made it clear he'd resign if the president wanted him to and if the president berated him like he's never been berated in his career. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also offered to resign, according to a source. Both of them have been spoken to in furious terms by this president. In fact, "The New York Times" reports several weeks after Kelly started, the president lashed out at him and Kelly did say 35 years of serving his country he has never been spoken to the way President Trump spoke to him then. Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT at the White House. And Jeff, Secretary Nielsen is speaking out tonight, trying to smooth the waters over here. What is she saying?</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Erin, smooth the waters as much as is possible, but not speaking directly about the potential resignation that "The New York Times" reported that she was close to reaching. Now, the reality here is every cabinet secretary who has been in the room with President Trump certainly has been under his fire, but nothing sets him off more than immigration. And I'm told that meeting on Wednesday in the Cabinet Room was very heated, was incredible heated. She spoke back to him about it, tried to defend herself. She's hardly been a shrinking violet on this issue at all. So this is what she says tonight in a statement released just a few moments ago, Erin. She says this, "The president is rightly likely frustrated that the existing loopholes and the lack of congressional action have prevented this administration from fully securing the border and protecting the American people. I share his frustration." She goes on to say, "It's my great honor to represent the men and women of DHS who work every day to enforce our laws and secure our nation." So, again, Erin, not necessarily responsive to what is she going to do about it, you know, is she going to stick around? Is the president going to keep her around? The point here when you work for President Trump, you have to endure a lot of this. The question is, how long will people want to accept it --</s>BURNETT: Right.</s>ZELENY: -- and put up with it? So in this case, the White House certainly not coming to her aid or defense. That statement from the Press Secretary Sarah Sanders simply talked about the president's issue and urged top crack down on immigration. Didn't come to her aid at all. Erin?</s>BURNETT: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much. Interesting that her statement talked about her loyalty to the men and women of the DHS, not to the president himself, which is obviously very crucial here. I want to go now to "New York Times" White House Reporter Julie Hirschfeld Davis who was one of the reporters on this breaking news. Former adviser to four presidents David Gergen, and our Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston. So Julie, let me start with you because you've been working on this breaking story. What can you tell us about what happened in this room? We're hearing words furious, angry, berated.</s>JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, it's very heated, as Jeff said. The meeting -- the cabinet meeting was in large part to discuss border security. That was the top item on the agenda. And we have heard the president in the last several weeks talk about how dissatisfied he is with the level of enforcement and border security in the country and he really went at Secretary Nielsen on that point. There were other cabinet secretaries as well who were implicated. Jeff Sessions was part of the discussion at one point, the attorney general, but he really focused his anger on Secretary Nielsen. She did push back and there was an attempt, I think both in the room and afterwards by a lot of the other members of the cabinet, including Vice President Mike Pence, to try to sort of calm things down and talk the president down. Secretary Nielsen was obviously very angry and upset. But this has been a long time coming, it wasn't as if this was a sudden blowup that nobody expected. President Trump and Secretary Nielsen have clashed in the past on this. He often expresses that he's not getting done what he wants to get done on this issue, and she feels she's doing what she can do. But I think there's also a sense right now of why is she in this position if everything that she is trying to do is not enough? It doesn't appear to be enough to satisfy the president.</s>BURNETT: I mean, David, it is pretty stunning, though, you know, because as Julie points out, there's been tension between the two before. But you now have the president berating her in front of everyone else in the cabinet. And by the way, you have a cabinet in chaos headline that had, you know, sort of been dormant for a week or two while we've been talking about North Korea and pay to play with the president's personal attorney, and all the other news that's out there. You know, you're the cabinet secretary threatening to resign after the president berated her in public. And David, what's shocking is, this is not the first time this has happened, his berating people.</s>DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: Oh, it's happened -- I think he has a long history. When I first heard it, I thought, well, maybe there is a gender issue here. Maybe she feels as a woman she's being singled out. But if you think about it, you know, there been many instances. The one you cited General Kelly saying he's never been talked to like that in 35 years of public service. Going way back to Michael Cohen, remember the bar mitzvah his child had and Trump openly berated him in front of a bar mitzvah, they got a crowd. You know, this is a voice of an angry child who has never really, you know, grown up and conquered a lot of his inner demons. And he lashes out periodically. And you know, he gets in the way of -- and drives people away from him at the very time, say on North Korea, there is some promise in the administration, getting those three Americans back. The other crowning moment in there. He steps all over it with this kind of story. And it -- she is -- I don't know if she's going to resign or not, but I would bet she will not last long. Because even the fact that she's been threatening this to resign, wants to think about it, will it tempt the president to get rid of her.</s>BURNETT: Right. And now, of course, you have this leaking out there, Mark. And the president looks bad, right? Berating, furious, blowing up in front of others. It looks at best out of control and inappropriate to do so in such a public setting. And the fact is it's leaked out there. It's made him look bad. Does he recover from it and say, fine.</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, yes, there is no doubt he recovers from it because he recovers from everything. But, his type of recovery is certainly a lot different than, you know, the four of us that are sitting here discussing it right now. I mean, we have a different definition of it. Just to pull back the curtain a little bit and what's happening inside the White House right now is when President Trump goes and he does this kind of public berating in front of others, what he's doing is that he's showing his lack of knowledge about the situation at the time. And by him imposing himself in that way makes him look like he's in charge. This is from people who have worked with President Trump --</s>BURNETT: Yes.</s>PRESTON: -- on these issues in dealing with him in the White House. And while you don't see a big outcry from the cabinet, you see them quietly, you know, consoling her or trying to help her is because they realize that if they publicly go after him or if they challenge him for what he said, they will become the next victim of President Trump and nobody wants that. 2</s>BURNETT: I mean -- and that's the thing about this, Julie. You know, this was a meeting of the entire cabinet. Of course we all know this is a group the president has forced to do meetings with right in front of the television cameras before, right? When he had them, you know, profess their loyalty to him. I mean, here's a taste of what we've seen when the cameras are on in these meetings.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, what an incredible honor it is to lead the Department of Health and Human Services at this pivotal time under your leadership. I can't thank you enough for the privilege that you've given me and the leadership you've shown.</s>REX TILLERSON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Mr. President, thank you for the honor to serve the country. It's a great privilege you've given me.</s>REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: On behalf of the entire senior staff around you, Mr. President, we thank you for the opportunity and the blessing you've given us to serve your agenda and the American people.</s>BURNETT: All right. All three of those cabinet members are gone, just to make the point, but it went around the room and everybody had to do this. I mean, Julie, are the president's closest team members losing patience with him?</s>DAVIS: Well, I do think this is all part of the job if you're in President Trump's cabinet. As David said earlier, there is like sort of a ritual humiliation that goes on every now and again. And you are expected to kind of speak up on behalf of the president in a way that previous White Houses -- that was not involved in the cabinet job description. Let's not forget that Secretary Nielsen, one of her earliest deeds in this job was to go to Capitol Hill and testify, and she was asked about that famous Oval Office meeting where President Trump used a vulgarity to describe African nations. And she sat there in front of the committee in the Senate and told them that, no, that had not happened. And she pushed back, when, of course, she'd been in that meeting. And we know from many, many sources that it had happened. So -- I mean, she had -- that's the sorts of things that, you know, his cabinet members have to do. And so, she's very familiar with that. And -- so I think that makes it all the more bitter when --</s>BURNETT: Right.</s>DAVIS: -- either behind closed doors or in public they get this kind of treatment from the president.</s>BURNETT: Well, because you realize, David, that, you know, no matter what you're willing to do to humiliate yourself publicly, he'll still do this to you. That's what Kirstjen Nielsen learned today.</s>GERGEN: I agree. And I think it goes through not just the way he treats his own people, with so much disrespect. It's increasingly the pattern we see around the world. It was international relations. The bullying quality. He's a -- he's relentlessly a bully with everything and everybody. That's what the Europeans have felt here recently on the Iran agreement and on the trade that they're forcing him, you know, that -- you know, he's brought that to other parts of the world. He's trying to bully the Chinese. And he's trying to bully in the Middle East.</s>BURNETT: Yes.</s>GERGEN: It is a -- it's a pattern that -- and a really powerful nation can serve him well, but it's the pattern of an authoritarian. It's the pattern of somebody who can't get enough power.</s>BURNETT: And Mark, what happens next here, right? The deputy press secretary, as I pointed out really for the first time just directly admitting there are ethics challenges with Tom Price. They expect he'll be able to answer to them, but they're saying he does, indeed, have to answer to them. So now you have Kirstjen Nielsen threatening to resign. Tom Price -- I'm sorry Pruitt, Scott Pruitt. I confused Tom Price in the intro, on the rocks here as we know in Congress but now possibly from this White House. Will there be more departures in the near future?</s>PRESTON: Well, if you are Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, he does not want to see any more departures. They're having a tough enough time getting through their CIA chief, you know --</s>BURNETT: Yes.</s>PRESTON: -- given what her background is. But look what could happen. You are going into an election right now where all Senate Republicans want to do is try to get as many judges through the chamber as possible for fear that they will lose control of the chamber in this election. They don't want to have to deal with having to go through a whole new round of confirmation hearings for a Homeland Security director, for an EPA administrator or for anybody else right now.</s>BURNETT: All right. Thank you all very much. And next, more breaking news. The White House tonight denying Trump's personal attorney was able to sell access to the president. This as we're learning more about the money Michael Cohen was getting. And hey, there's a whole lot more of it than we knew even a few hours ago. Plus, a White House official mocking John McCain's health, saying, quote, he's dying anyway. And Trump's tough talk on the world stage. How is it going over in Trump country?</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How are you feeling?</s>RON FARSTER, TRUMP VOTER: Great, great. We finally got somebody with some balls.