Questions for Conway; Trump Agrees to Honor "One China" Policy
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Go buy Ivanka's stuff is what I would tell them. I'm going to go get something myself. It's a wonderful line. I own some of it. I fully -- I'm just going to give -- I'm going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.</s>ROMANS: Oh, wow. That endorsement by Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway during an interview from the White House briefing room triggering both ethical and legal concerns about using her position to promote a Trump family business. Where is the separation between brand Trump and Trump White House? Critics were quick to pounce. There's even a bipartisan call for an investigation. The top Democrat in the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings, and Republican Chairman Jason Chaffetz, sending a letter to the Government Ethics Office concerning possible disciplinary action. Chaffetz calling Conway's comments wrong, over the line and unacceptable. Asked about the uproar, Conway said this.</s>CONWAY: We are aware of the letter and we are reviewing that internally. I'm just really happy that I spend an awful lot of time with the president of the United States this afternoon and that he supports me 100 percent.</s>MARQUEZ: The White House press secretary says Sean Spicer says Conway has been counseled, but did not elaborate. We're also told Conway did acknowledge making a mistake. No comment so far from Ivanka Trump.</s>ROMANS: Let's bring in CNN politics reporter Eugene Scott and CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. Brian, tough week message-wise for this White House. The optics of standing in the White House and endorsing a family brand. It's everything that ethics experts worried about.</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: And Spicer pretty much has nothing to say about it. The press secretary says she had been counseled and tried to move on. There has been a dozen different stories this White House has been tied up in knots about. This is one of them. It's one of those self inflicted wounds that any administration tries to avoid.</s>MARQUEZ: We want to go to Eugene Scott on the scandal of the day, it seems.</s>EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes.</s>MARQUEZ: "The Washington Post" breaks the news that national security adviser Michael Flynn after he said it, Sean Spicer said it and president said he never spoke to the Russian ambassador about sanctions. "Washington Post" now saying he did. What's the significance here?</s>SCOTT: Well, this is part of the ongoing investigation regarding the Donald Trump campaign team and these conversations with Russia. This happened not just before Trump got into the White House. This happened ever before the election, and there was concern these conversation about sanctions could have influenced what U.S. intelligence agencies believe perhaps motivate Russia to be involved in the 2016 election. As you know, concerns about sanctions, questions about sanctions are ongoing. And people are wondering what impact this could have. What promises were made? Of course, officials were saying none of that happened. But this is ongoing investigation.</s>ROMANS: Putin spokesman this morning denied that the Russian ambassador of the United States discussed this issue with the administration about sanctions with Flynn.</s>STELTER: I thought the most damning part of this "Washington Post" story, number one, there's nine sources that the paper is citing. CNN is not confirming this on its own, but clearly --</s>ROMANS: Nine separate sources who say Flynn talked to the Russian ambassador about sanctions.</s>STELTER: And some of these are U.S. officials who have read the transcripts. So, I think the most damning detail in the story, is this apparent transcripts of Flynn on the phone with folks in Russia. Why are there transcripts? Because the U.S. frequently eavesdrops on these calls. The idea in "The Washington Post" story is why would Flynn not have known eavesdropping would be going on? Why is he denying or suggesting this wasn't happening? He should have known the calls would be recorded and would be transcribed. So, I thought that was a damning part of the story. This is something Spicer will definitely be asked about later today. It will probably dominate, one of the dominant topics in the briefings.</s>MARQUEZ: From the political point of view, from a communications point of view, I mean, it just -- it feels like turmoil and chaos and crisis.</s>STELTER: Yes, I think disarray.</s>MARQUEZ: How are they getting their wheels at all?</s>ROMANS: To that point, let's look at the Jason Chaffetz, the rally or the meeting, the town hall, these town halls around the country. I mean, you can see that disarray and message and what's going on and where is the leadership? I think you can see that in some of these town halls, too.</s>SCOTT: Absolutely. I think many people are fed up. People who voted for Donald Trump and trusted Mike Pence, I think one of the more interesting things about this situation is Mike Pence had a reputation of cleaning things up. Mike Pence actually also repeated this untruth, this fact that it actually happened. And so, whether or not, he will be able to come forward and say I did not know what I know now, or I was just speaking on what I had available at the time. It will be interesting.</s>ROMANS: Brian, those pictures from Jason Chaffetz. What are constituents upset about? They're upset about everything?</s>STELTER: A lot of the frustration at these town halls has been about Obamacare, about what Republicans will do to change Obamacare to possibly dismantle it, to evolve it. We have seen this with several events, with several different representatives. It happened in prior weeks. It is happening again this weekend. You will covering this, Miguel, late last month.</s>MARQUEZ: A few weeks ago, we started doing stories like this. But on the other side, those who want Obamacare repealed. They don't care about the replacement. That -- what we saw in Utah was about the replacement. What is coming? This White House has got to get his message straight.</s>STELTER: And certainly, these images. I think we're going to see this this weekend. Several CNN reporters at different congressional town hall meetings watching citizens interact with their local legislators. We're seeing the anger is palpable. You're seeing people who don't normally go to these things. In some ways, it's a reverse of Tea Party, the reverse of some of the town halls where Republicans are showing up in force with Democratic lawmakers many years ago. Now, we're seeing it seems like Democrats coming to the Republican town halls trying to hold Congress members accountable. The images, of course, are very compelling. We are seeing some Congress members with security and things like that to manage the crowds. But it's very compelling. Another version of protest, you've got airport protests, street protests, now these town halls as well.</s>SCOTT: What is interesting, though, about that Utah protest is that it wasn't just Democrats and it wasn't just Obamacare. So, there are a bunch of conservatives who are concerned about whether or not Chaffetz will consistently hold the Trump administration accountable for all kind of policies. So, it wasn't just Obamacare. It wasn't just women's rights. It's justice, it's all kinds of issues.</s>ROMANS: And we know that he was one of the authors of the letter to the Government Ethics Office about the Kellyanne Conway QVC moment, you know, QVC moment plugging her friends --</s>STELTER: Bipartisan opposition to that.</s>ROMANS: All right, guys. Thank you.</s>MARQUEZ: We want an outsider. We got an outsider. Also breaking overnight, President Trump agreeing to honor the one- China policy during the phone call with the Chinese president. The White House saying the request was made by the Chinese leader and granted by Mr. Trump last night. President Xi expressing his appreciation overnight. The president angered Beijing back in December by speaking directly to the prime minister of Taiwan.</s>ROMANS: Nordstrom shareholders are fine with the criticism and attacks, and all the attention that followed. The stock up nearly 7 percent over the past two days. It's a remarkable rise. Traditional retailers, they're not rolling in cash. In general, retail sector is decent holiday shopping season, but they struggled to compete with online retailers, fast fashion chains like H&M. So, they bring in big names like Ivanka Trump and they target higher end shoppers. If her clothing line were doing well or even showing potential, retail analysts say Nordstrom would not have dropped it. Analysts say the move may actually boost sales now because women who disagree with the Trump policy may be inspired to shop there after all the blowback that the president created by tweeting. Nordstrom tells us this is all about business, saying we made this decision based on performance. Record highs for stocks yesterday. Up with the rising tide.</s>MARQUEZ: Amazing 7 percent increase.</s>ROMANS: Right.</s>MARQUEZ: A very rough night for UCLA cheerleader. She says a nasty fall during a dance routine and it gets worse. Coy Wire has this morning's "Bleacher Report". Oh dear. We'll have that next.