Trump’s week ends with the spending bill, another staff shakeup and Karen McDougal speaking out

Judy Woodruff:

We return to the White House, where the president left many people guessing if he would sign the massive spending bill, or if there would be more high-level departures.

Yamiche Alcindor is there now to help make sense of these latest twists and turns.

So, Yamiche, the president said he was — tweeted this morning he was considering a veto. Then he went ahead and signed it. What was that all about?

Yamiche Alcindor:

It's hard to say what motivated President Trump to threaten to veto this bill.

Political analysts say that the president wanted to make conservatives who don't like this bill feel better about it by telling them that he was really disappointed and was reluctantly signing it. The president, of course, said today that he was signing it because of personal duty. He said that he felt a duty to keep America safe.

He said that the military funding there was going to ensure that America and the troops got the money that they needed. But it's also pretty clear that President Trump didn't want to shut down the government. If he shut down the government, and then he didn't sign this bill, it would have really been on him if the government shut down.

Congress tried really hard to keep this bill and to get it through, so it would really have been a problem for him.

Judy Woodruff:

Well, he kept us all dangling for several hours there this morning.

Yamiche, the other — one other thing I want to ask you about is the changes at the White House, the surprise last night. The president tweeted that H.R. McMaster was out, he's bringing in John Bolton. We have just been talking about Mr. Bolton here on the program.

But — and there are other changes as well. This is just one of many we have seen. What do we know about the president's thinking here?

Yamiche Alcindor:

The president, at least from my sources, tell me that he really wants to surround himself with people who are going to be loyal to him.

And, as a result, we have seen a lot of staff change. So, just in the last few weeks, we have seen several people leave this White House or announce that they were living. Those people include White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, the top's economic adviser, Gary Cohn.

This also includes his personal assistant, John McEntee, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and of course National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.

And Republicans and Democrats say that these people leaving makes this White House seem as though it's in chaos.

Judy Woodruff:

So, Yamiche, the one other thing I want to ask you about is I guess what's been occupying a lot of news attention in the last few days, and that is the former Playboy model.

Her name is Karen McDougal. She is one of three women suing President Trump. She and another woman, Stormy Daniels, have said they had affairs with the president.

And I want to show our audience just a quick, short portion of what Ms. McDougal said last night in an interview on CNN about her relationship with the president.

Karen McDougal:

After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me. And I actually didn't know how to take that.

Anderson Cooper:

Did he actually try to hand you money?

Karen McDougal:

He did. He did.

And I said — I mean, I just had this look of, I don't know, just — I don't even know how to describe it. The look on my face must have been so sad, because I had never been offered money like that before, number one. But, number two, I thought, does he think that I'm in this for money or why I'm here tonight? Or is this a normal thing?

I didn't know, but I looked at him and said, "That's not me. I'm not that kind of girl." And he said, "Oh," and he said, "You're really special." And I was like, "Thank you."

Judy Woodruff:

Yamiche, what else did Ms. McDougal have to say and what else can you tell us about these lawsuits?

Yamiche Alcindor:

Well, Ms. McDougal gave us a pretty remarkable interview.

She said that she had a 10-month affair with the president, where they frequently had sex. She also said that the president only brought up his wife, Melania Trump, the first lady, once, calling her intelligent.

She said that she broke it off because she felt guilty about him being married.

And the other thing that is really interesting here is, of course, as you mentioned, she's one of three women involved in lawsuits concerning President Trump. Apart from her lawsuit, which is involving The National Enquirer and the right to tell her story, porn star Stormy Daniels is also — is trying — also has a lawsuit.

She wants to get out of an agreement where she would have to remain quiet about her relationship with President Trump. And a former "Apprentice" participant is suing President Trump because she says that — for defamation, essentially, and she said that the president sexually harassed her while she was a participant of that show.

Judy Woodruff:

So much to keep track of these days at the White House.

Yamiche Alcindor, thank you very much.

Yamiche Alcindor:

Thanks.