sergei kislyak. >> matthew. thank you. >>> the obama administration took steps to make sure information about russia's meddling in the election would be preserved after mr. obama left office. this is according to a blockbuster report in "the new york times" saying the effort was to ensure a trail of information for government investigators after obama left office. eric schultz is a spokesman from the former president. he tells cnn, the situation was serious. prompting president obama to call for review by u.s. intelligence. now white house staff members instructed by administration lawyers to save all records related to potential russian interference in the election. those coming after the democrats asking the white house and other agencies to preserve those materials. >>> one person paying close attention to the developments is jon huntsman. he is in talks to become the u.s. ambassador to russia. huntsman has spoken with rex tillerson about the job as top vers advisers. he ran for the republican nomination in 2

real professionals and sergei kislyak, both they'rer is gays lavrov and kislyak. they are both professionals. it's painful even for me to see what course they are now serving. th their professionalism is devoted to the putin regime. that's painful for me morally but professionally they are doing a great job. >> the fact that he would be meeting with senator sessions who was so close to donald trump, that would be, what would be the reason to go and set up that meeting? >> for ambassador, it's definition of the job. the job definition. meet as much people especially knowing he was a surrogate for donald trump especially in september, so i mean it's just normal procedure. >> he would then be writing back. he would file a report as any ambassador would? >> of course. >> to moscow. >> but you know what? i guess professionally that the first he would report that sessions apparently didn't tell him to stop the hacking, to stop the interference into american domestic policies, and sessions says that he does not remember even conversation then. he said oh, we discussed uk

whatever he is, who is sergei kislyak? joining me, nicholas burns, former undersecretary of state for political affairs. he worked for both presidents bush and clinton and now is a professor at harvard's kennedy school. ambassador burns, thank you so much for being here. give us some insight, because you've actually negotiated with the man. >> well, sergey kislyak is a long-time russian diplomat, a physicist, nuclear arms expert. i worked with him when he was -- i was ambassador to nato and he was the russian ambassador to the nato alliance. they actually had a mission there. i worked with him when i was undersecretary of state and he was deputy foreign minister. i found him to be, he's highly intelligent and experienced. he was always very well prepared for meetings. he is no friend of the united states. he's cynical about the united states, aggressive towards the united states, he does not wish us well. i always considered him to be an adversary of our country. i think, michael, as you look at this wider story, the real

did you meet sergei kislyak? >> i'm not going to deny that i talked to him. although i will say i never met him anywhere outside of cleveland. >> i'm respect to feel the organizers, i'm respectful to confidentiality. whether it's in government or outside. >> but you're not going to deny you talked with him in cleveland. >> i do not deny that. >> okay, we have established this. here's my other question. there's weird things about whether you are an adviser or not. the man who is president of the united states, donald trump reads your name to the "washington post." its own campaign disavows or disowns you. what's the deal. were you an adviser to donald trump? >> i never directly briefed donald trump. i was part of a named committee which was put together -- >> so you were part of the committee that advised the campaign? >> that's a fair assessment. >> what did you do in that role and capacity? >> you know, similarly i don't like talking about internal discussions. it's the old first rule of fight club, don't talk about fight club. i think if you look at a lot o

. >> was it sergey kislyak? >> it was sergey kislyak. >> excitement emoji. >> you and your friends will have fun connecting the trump administration to the person u.s. inthels has called russia's top spy. >> former adviser j.d. gorden. >> is it sergey kislyak? >> be car careful it's not as ey as it seems. >> rex tillerson was awarded the order of friendship by this person.

just to is sergey kislyak. welcome to the hotel with the worst view in the world. tonight we will take you inside the latest project in bethlehem. welcome to "world news america." the red cross says weapons appeared to have been used in the rocky city of muzzle, which government forces are trying to liberate from the so-called islamic date. while people have been hospitalized for the exact chemical is unknown. civilians are trying to escape the fierce fighting. our correspondent reports. reporter: an 11-year-old boy he rushed to hospital after chemicals struck his home. two incidents and 12 victims including a month-old baby. doctors say it was a chemical weapons attack. n infection of a the respiratory tract. developed of blisters, especially in exposed areas. reporter: tonight, the committee for the red cross said the chemicals used was very likely mustard gas. they have threatened to use chemical weapons before, but what isn't known is what chemicals they have, how much they have, and what weapons they have to deliver the chemicals affect the play. -- effectivel

and russia has soured, and one russian foreign policy expert says sergey kislyak is performing his job very well. >> sergey kislyak has always done a good job of making sure that he is talking to everyone, so when democrats are in power, he talks to democrats, but he also talks to republicans, travels a lot and gives lectures and talks to students. he clearly is getting the sort of zeitgeist sense of what is going on in american society, which during the election, very, very important. >> he says he is unaware of anyone working in foreign policy, russian policy in washington, d.c., who has not has at lease had a conversation with kislyak peer he's an expert and arms control. he came back to the united states in 2008 to take up his current position as ambassador from russia to the united states. days after the election in november, he was speaking about u.s.-russian relations at a talk in stanford university in california to which he said "most probably we are living in the worst part and our relations after the end of the cold war. there are no ideological divides by difficulties still

in addition, the person we're talking about, meetings he had with sergey kislyak, who u.s. intelligence considered to be russia's top spy in washington, not only top spy but top spy recruiter in washington. going to see a lot more questions asked about these meetings and why the senatoe apparently -- senator apparently didn't remember them. >> he's saying the meetings in his position on the armed services committee. but one of them at least at republican convention. why was the ambassador even there and can he claim that this was in his capacity as senator when he's meeting at nominating convention for his party? >> that's a good question. one of the things that people might be interested to know, at both conventions, democratic and republican conventions, you have invitations made to ambassadors. it's not uncommon for ambassadors to come to these conventions as celebration of american democracy. obviously additional context here is talking about the russian ambassador and this is the time -- well known by july that russians are behind an operation that is not only hacking

sergey kislyak became russia's ambassador to nato in 1998. he served in that position in the 2003 when he became russia's deputy minister of foreign affairs. in 2008 he was named russia's ambassador to the u.s. and he's been serving here in washington ever since then. ambassador sergey kislyak is well known in washington as a great television interviews. barbara harris talked to him about the state of relations between the two countries. >> it's very unfortunate, the current state of russian/american relations. i think we can do significantly better. when i say we, i mean us and you. and we can -- the normalcy is a return to relations. i do not see russia and americans like poles or adversers. we have differences and we need to be talk to talk on these differences seriously and work on them. >> again, that interview was from back in december. barbara also spoke with the ambassador in january. >> barbara, tell us more about your interaction and what the ambassador was like. >> we had the opportunity to spend some time with him back then in dec

the kremlin is disputing the cnn characterization of sergei kislyak. we reported that current and former officials that kislyak is considered to be one of the russian top spies. we stand by our reporter. russia pushing back significantly on that this morning. >> the resumes of spies doesn't usually say spy from 1985. >> he is a diplomat going back to the 1980s here in the united states. >>> do you recognize this guy? evan spiegal. his net worth is about to go huge this morning. the ceo of snapchat. his ipo is about to go public. >> genius. you have access to in-depth analysis, level 2 data, and a team of experienced traders ready to help you if you need it. ♪ ♪ it's like having the power of a trading floor, wherever you are. ♪ ♪ it's your trade. e*trade ♪ ♪ hei don't want one that's haded a big wreck just say, show me cars with no accidents reported find the cars you want, avoid the ones you don't plus you get a free carfax® report with every listing i like it start your used car search at carfax.com nobody does unlimited like t-mobile. wh

among them sergey kislyak, the russian ambassador. earlier today nancy pelosi said never she had a meeting with kislyak. that picture shows otherwise. and that is why you have the president tweeting out what he did this afternoon. by the way, pelosi's people say what she really meant was that she had never met with kislyak one-on-one. it started though earlier today with president trump going after chuck schumer, the top democrat in the senate. he wrote on twitter, tweeting here again, quote, we should start an immediate investigation into senator schummer and his ties to russia and putin. a total sip crit. that had schumer and vladmir putin eating doughnuts, buddy buddy, laughing with each other. schumer fired back afterwards, happy to talk. read my contact with mr. putin and his associates, took place in '03, in full view of press and public under oath. would you and your end quote? bottom line here, david, in the middle of all of this with jeff sessions, the president on this day going to twitter to say, oh by the way, nancy pelosi

peter, in your opinion is sergey kislyak a diplomat or is he a spy? >> well, look, in the russian system it's essentially without a difference. if you are the ambassador from russia in washington it's your job to meet and cultivate american officials and to collect information. whether he had any formal ties or not, i don't happen to know. what he was doing here in washington is what ambassadors have done for a long time. the problem is he did it with officials from a campaign that wasn't yet in office who then didn't necessarily tell the full truth about their contacts. that's what's gotten both michael flynn and now jeff sessions in trouble. >> is there reason to believe kislyak was meeting with sessions because he was a senator or because he was part of the campaign? the "washington post" contacted all 26 senators in the armed services committee and none of them had met with kislyak except for sessions. >> he is a smart guy. he understood who jeff sessions was. he understood that jeff sessions was a real, you know, insider with the trump campaign,

kislyak, during the campaign. sessions did not disclose this when he was asked at his confirmation hearing about contacts between the campaign and the russian government. sessions was a campaign adviser. u.s. intelligence has concluded the russians tried to influence the election. now the f.b.i. is investigating whether trump campaign associates colluded with russian operatives. last month, the president fired national security adviser michael flynn, after flynn lied to the vice president about contacts he had with ambassador kislyak. no administration official has been accused of collusion, but questions are being asked about why top trump officials have been evasive in explaining their meetings with ambassador kislyak. jeff pegues has today's developments. >> in retrospect, i should have slowed down and said, "but i did meet one russian official a couple of times." >> reporter: u.s. attorney general jeff sessions said that he would have no involvement in any investigation related to the trump campaign. the annou

"the washington post" first reporting sessions met with russian ambassador sergey kislyak during the republic campaign. and again on september 8th in sessions' senate office. >> we need to make america great again. >> reporter: sessions was one of trump's top advisors in the campaign, the first sitting senator to endorse him. his september meeting with the russian ambassador came in the middle of the controversy over the election hacking, and just one day after candidate trump said this about russian president vladimir putin. >> if he says great things about me, i'm going to say great things about him. he's been a leader. far more than our president has been a leader. >> reporter: so did that moment come up in sessions' meeting with the russian ambassador? today sessions says he does not remember what, if anything, they discussed about the campaign. >> i don't recall, but most of these ambassadors are pretty gossipy, and they like to -- this was in the campaign season. but i don't recall any specific political discussions. >> reporter: sessions said he met with kislyak purely in his

kislyak. >>> three former aides have said they will testify freely without immunity. paul manafort, roger stone and carter page. so far this morning, the white house is refusing to comment. the latest now from cnn's jessica schneider. >> reporter: general flynn's lawyers putting the offer out there that he will talk to congressional investigators if he is offered immunity. a statement saying general flynn certainly has a story to tell an wants to tell it should the circumstances permit then going on to say no reasonable person who has the benefit of advice from counsel would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution. a spokesman for the house intelligence committee saying they haven't gotten any requests from general flynn yet. the senate intelligence committee refusing to comment. general flynn resigned after it was revealed he had not disclosed his communications with the russian ambassador sergey kislyak. will gen

sergey kislyak. is there concern in russia there are more revelations to come and that this particular individual is going to undergo even more of a character assassination than he's already had? >> reporter: well, i think there must be. obviously, there are a lot more meetings between russian officials including sergey kislyak the russian ambassador to washington, and trump officials than we earlier understood. i mean, it's emerging almost by the day that there were more contacts that weren't previously disclosed. and the russians of course say this is just a normal part of diplomatic activity. that their ambassador to washington as their other diplomats are -- they have the job of making contacts with prominent people from the united states. particularly people from the incoming -- what was the incoming trump administration. and they say they're doing nothing wrong and that this is just a witch-hunt to manipulate the perception of those contacts. but yes, look, this going to be very difficult. obvi

sergey kislyak, the russian ambassador is considered by u.s. intelligence to be one of russia's top spies and spy recruiters in washington. according to current and former senior u.s. officials, russian officials dispute this characterization. sessions failed to disclose those contacts with kislyak during his confirmation hearings in january. in sworn testimony, sessions was asked about russia's meddling in the elections and alleged ties between trump associates and the kremlin. >> i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i didn't have communications with the russians. and i'm unable to comment on it. >> reporter: in a questionnaire, senator patrick leahy asked sessions if, quote, you have been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the russian government about the 2016 election? either before or after election day? sessions' response, no. but sessions said he did not mislead the committee, saying that the two meetings with the russian ambassador were not tied to his role in the trump campaign. >> i was tak

meanwhile, who is sergey kislyak? how he found himself at the center of the controversy and what did he want? right now president trump on the attack, going after democrats who want jeff sessions to resign, ahead of a trip to florida where he'll visit a private school this afternoon to promote school choice. the president is slamming democrats who want attorney general jeff sessions to resign overs legal and political questions piling up over his meetings with russia's ambassador. democrats say recusing himself is not enough. and the president in a statement calls it all, quote, a total witch hunt. russia's foreign minister, sergey lavrov said the same thing last night. >> do you see this as a witch hunt? >> i don't think what was said about that meeting i had with the russian a

. >> did you meet sergey kislyak in cleveland? did you talk to him? >> i'm not going to deny that i talked with him, although i will say -- i will say that i never met him anywhere outside of cleveland. let's just say that much. >> the only time that you met him was in cleveland? >> that i may have met him possibly, it might have been in cleveland. >> reporter: meanwhile, attorney general jeff sessions is drafting a detailed explanation for his answer to this question at his confirmation hearings. >> if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do? >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i didn't -- did not have communications with the russians. >> sessions now admits that wasn't the whole truth. >> in retrospect, i should have slowed down and said what i did is meet one russian official a couple of times. that would be the ambassador. >> reporter:

., sergey kislyak. who met with several top people. reluctant to disclose it. jeff sessions didn't in confirmation hearings. now he says. >> in retrospect i should have slowed down and said i met an official a couple of times. >> reporter: likewise carter page. >> did you have meetings with russian officials in russia, outside russia? anymore? >> no meetings. >> now, did you meet sergey kislyak in cleveland? talk to him? >> i won't deny i talked to him. >> and jared kushner joined meeting between flynn and ambassador in december. democrats say it calls for independent investigation. trump calling it a witch hunt and tweeting out photo of chuck schumer eating doughnuts with vladimir putin, writing should start immediate investigation. total hypocrite schumer said it took place in full view of the press. abc news new york. >>> vice president pence is downplaying his use of private e-mail account to conduct business as governor of indiana. contacted -- via aol account hacked in the summer. voc vocal critic of hillary clinton's use of private e-mail server. he says

meanwhile, who is sergey kislyak? how he found himself at the center of the controversy and what did he want? right now president trump on the attack, going after democrats who want jeff sessions to resign, ahead of a trip to florida where he'll visit a private school this afternoon to promote school choice. the president is slamming democrats who want attorney general jeff sessions to resign overs legal and political questions piling up over his meetings with russia's ambassador. democrats say recusing himself is not enough. and the president in a statement calls it all, quote, a total witch hunt. russia's foreign minister, sergey lavrov said the same thing last night. >> do you see this as a witch hunt? >> i don't think what was said about that meeting i had with the russian ambassador was legitimate. i think it was hyped beyond reason and i think it was unfair. i was glad to be able to address it today. >> this morning vice president mike pence is also facing fire. he right now heading to wisconsin for a meeting wi

>> sergey kislyak is one of the most prominent russian diplomats. he's had high-level posts in the past, including their representative to nato. he's an arms control specialist. he's a friendly, ingratiating guy who's also very tough advocate for government positions. he has been portrayed in our media in the past few days as a great schmoozer, someone gifted at outreach. you would have to say, i don't know this. i've known sergey kislyak for a long time, but in the time that he's been in washington, the image that americans have of russia has declined. their opinion of president putin has drastically declined. there's only so much good marketing can do. if you have an effective market, schmoozing isn't going to save us. >> where do we stand in the u.s. relationship between the u.s. and russia? >> well, i would say things are not looking very optimistic with regards to u.s. relations. so, whatever vladimir putin had hoped or had invested or allegedly invested in a trump presidency doesn't seem to be working out for him in the respect that, let's say

did you meet sergei kislyak in cleveland? did you caulk to him? >> i'm not going to deny i talked with him. >>> an administration plagued by deception. >> i don't recall any discussion of the campaign in any significant way. >> did they just get caught in a new lie? >> why did you soften the gop platform on ukraine? >> i wasn't involved in that. >> tonight, as the white house pushes back, new reporting about russians, ukraine and what transpired at the republican convention. plus, billion to -- following the money, david korn on oligarchs. and draconian dhs plans to scare women and children away from the border. >>> and about those e-mails. >> i'm confident our e-mail practices were in full compliance with all of indiana's laws. >> when "all in" starts right now. >>> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. tonight the latest chapter of the trump administration's on going challenges with the truth, particularly on the subject of russia. after what was for him a lengthy hiatus, the president of the united states returned to twitter today trying

sessions failed to disclose two meetings with sergei kislyak during his confirmation hearings. the fbi is investigating whether people associated with the trum campaign colluded. russia's foreign minister called the scandal a witch hunt. jan crawford has more. >> reporter: counterintelligence agencies are always suspicious of russian officials here in the u.s. there is routine surveillance. kislyak has been on the fbi's radar for some time. now he's at the center of controversy involving the trump administration's contacts with russia. >> it's not my first time in the states and i lived here in the cold war. >> for nearly a decade sergey kislyak has been russia's link to washington. >> in a way he's a man behind enemy lines were politico's michael crowley describes kislyak as russia's most dangerous diplomat. >> at a time when putin is one of the great villains, his job primarily is to gather information and report back to moscow. >> reporter: over the years he's met with senators and top officials. in recent months with then u.s. senator jeff sessions who said thursday he did

amid revelations kushner sat down with sergei kislyak at trump tower during the transition and met with the helped of a russian bank with deep ties to vladimir putin. >> that was part of his role and he executed it completely as he was supposed to. >> reporter: date for kushner's testimony has not been set. the white house said executive order president trump will sign on. epa will rescind t t senato >>> apparently republican t ove. house huddled with administrat he told republican donorsnge fo he reportedly is aiming to outl retreat thursday. >>> the fre amacare was a blow to the administration andbuanfor folks health care thee i ca big relie 2-year-old son is in the hospitaled u a loter the aca bu winter a republican. so and our principles. >> reporter: ca she's grateful for some of the aca did for mecourse, the pre-existing conditions. he has two major life alteringo and shop for it able to afford it. >> r was one of dozens of republicans who planned to vot ew health care bill before it got pulled. the bill because it didn't do enough to addre addiction treatment. pennsylvania has ov

kislyak, who entered through the back door. >> it's in the interest of the president and the people around him to get this all out. it's the drip, drip that's really going to be damaging. >> reporter: sessions told fox he and sergey kislyak never talked politics. >> i don't recall any discussion of the campaign in any significant way. >> reporter: some on capitol hill want sessions to come back and explain. >> the only way he can really restore full trust and credibility is to answer our questions under oath. >> reporter: the president calls it a total witch hunt, designed to suggest his team colluded with russia to rig the election. >> that's irresponsible. there's no proof of that. it didn't >> don't run for politics. >> reporter: congress has found no proof so far. they're still investigating. still unknown, will jeff sessions come back here to capitol to testify under oath again? some lawmakers want him to. sessions said he told the truth the first time when he thought lawmakers wanted to know about any russian connections in connection with his work with the campaign, not with

who is sergey kislyak? he is a career diplomat who joined russia's foreign minute ci -- ministry four decades ago. in 2003 he became the deputy minister of foreign affairs. he's been serving as the russian ambassador to the u.s. for nearly a decade. the individuals who's met with him, we know now the presi's with him back in december during the transition speerperiod. joining him in that meeting, michael flynn. two other campaign officials carter page and jd gordon also say they met with sergey kislyak at the convention last summer. >>> president trump meanwhile is once again in florida for the weekend. today discussing his push for school choice. the president and education secretary betsy devos toured st. andrew catholic school in orlando and met with students there. mr. trump called florida his second home and referred to the southern white house, his mar-a-lago resort, saying there's no rest there. he also jokingly told a student who said he wanted to be a business owner not to run for politics. >>> wel

kislyak, eric trump tower. it is said to have been a ten minute introductory meeting, nothing much more than that. simply to establish a line of communication between the incoming administration on the russian ambassador. >> bret: while this one-on-one meeting happens between then senator sessions on the russian ambassador in his office, happened at a time when russia was the news during the election. some are saying he shouldn't have forgotten about senators have lots of meetings with ambassadors, tons of them. sometimes when they are trying to criticize, they forget with a match with. >> exactly where they have so many meetings, the capture member them all. senator mccaskill of missouri tried to claim the moral high ground on this idea of senator sessions meeting with the russian ambassador, tweeting "i've been on the armed services committee, the same when the senator sessions, for ten years. no call or meeting with russian investor ever. a masters call members of the foreign relations committee." except tha

michael flynn as a secret conversation with sergey kislyak. michael flynn lies about the secret conversation. the vice president unknowingly then assures the country that no such conversation ever happened. the president is informed that flynn has lied and pence has misled the country. the president does nothing. two weeks later the press revealed that flynn has lied and the president is forced to fire mr. flynn. the president then praises the man who lied, mr. flynn, and castigates the press for exposing the line. is it possible the removal of the ukraine provision from the gop platform was a coincidence? is it a coincidence that jeff sessions failed to sell the senate about his meeting with russian officers? is it a coincidence that mr. flynn would lie about a meeting with the same russian ambassador when they spoke over sanctions over russian hacking? is it a coincidence that the russian gas company sold a 19% share afr former british intelligence officer steele was told by russi sources that carter page was offered fees on a deal of just t

over the reports that sergei kislyak is engaged in espionage activities, something we've been reporting over the past couple days. the foreign ministry saying this is a provocation. but when i spoke to the spokeswoman yesterday she said stop cnn, stop spreading lies and false news. which is obviously, again, a very familiar refrain to us. >> where does the diplomatic relationship with the u.s. and russia stand right now? >> reporter: well, i mean, i think from the kremlin point of view, it's a confusing picture. they were expecting donald trump to come into office with a pro-russian agenda, the kind of stuff that he'd bokspoken about during his campaign, doing a deal over ukraine. but the issue of russia and its connection with american politics has become so toxic in the united states, none of that has followed through. now there's an understanding with the press a lot, that donald trump is not going to be the sort of president who, the american president who's sympathetic to the russian point of view, the idea that donald trump was going to transform the relationship between washingto

kislyak. does this go beyond that and does this qualify, the wiretapping that the president was tweeting. >> it definitely goes beyond what happened to general flynn. we don't actually know yet officially what happened to general flynn. we know his name leaked out but we don't know how it was picked up. >> the president was corrected and what he tweeted? >> it's possible. >> after that, he said to some degree, he does feel vindicated by what chairman nunes told us. nunes will continue to look into it. >> kimberly: thanks, john. we are going to take you live to the capital with representative adam schiff. >> the surveillance was anything but lawful and what people need to understand about foreign intelligence gathering and incidental collection is, if we are listening to two foreign spies talking to each other on foreign soil or to representatives of a foreign government and they mention a u.s. person, that is incidental collection. doesn't necessarily mean there was a call from a foreign party

no meetings. >> but on thursday, page's answer changed. >> did you meet sergey kislyak in cleveland? did you talk to him? >> i -- i am not going to deny that i talked with him. >> by the way, we contacted paul manafort last night. he told us that he has, quote, always been forth right with us and had no knowledge of the platform change until the sunday after the convention so he couldn't have authorized the change. joining me now senator marco rubio, republican of florida. senator rubio, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you. good morning. >> good morning. you travelled with the president on friday down to florida on air force one. on saturday morning, the president went on a tweet-storm, including accusing former president obama of illegally having him wire-tapped. do you have any insight, first of all, did the president talk to you about this on friday? and do you have any insight on what precipitated all this? >> we never obviously discussed that, number one. i have no insight into what exactly he is referring to, and i would imagine the president and the white house in t

kislyak, mike flynn, we all knew about that that just got disclosed, you mentioned a moment ago and a leader of a state controlled russian bank, bank that was under american sanctions after russia's incursion into ukraine. the trump white house says that kushner met with him as a member of the transition team, reuters got a statement that he met with him as a businessman kushner companies, so there's another -- there's more in congruicongruit they talking about sanctions and lifting them? >> jared kushner went to harvard. i did not. is it possible he did not know russia was a thing or going to be a thing and he accepted a meeting with a russian banker? >> during this transition period, jared was very much -- donald trump was elected and didn't have like a shadow cabinet full of foreign policy think tanks and kind of preparing the way, he had jared kushner basically do everything, so it wasn't really a surprise that he bhet t-- met with the russian ambassador, that is something something that often happens. >> there were certainly a lots of questions about what the relationship was b

. >> sergey kislyak has spent years living amgd working as a diplomat in the united states. here's more on his background and the controversy swirling around him. >> reporter: sergey kislyak is the russian ambassador again at the is that right of damaging allegations about trump administration contacts with moscow. he's been russian's man in washington since 2008. before which he held a series of key diplomatic posts including ambassador to nato and the russian deputy foreign ministers, he was also instrumental in working out a complex arms reduction treaty between russia and the united states agreed during the obama presidency. more recently ambassador kislyak has been actively engaging the trump team. remember, it was conversations between the ambassador and michael flynn, the former national security advisor that led to general flynn's resignation after just 24 days in the post after it emerged that u.s. sanctions on russia had been discussed. government officials say they suspect ambassador kislyak is one of russia's top spies and spy recruiters. russia's foreign ministe

he and other national security advisers to then candidate trump spoke with sergey kislyak last july. it was during these conversations, i'm told by j.d. gordon, they talked about improving relations between the u.s. and russia. it was dur thag time, erin, that j.d. gordon says he went to the convention, advocating on behalf of the campaign for language in the gop platform that advocated against the arming of the ukrainians in their fights against the prorussian rebels. that is something the trump campaign denied they were doing at the time. it denied it was advocating for that language in the gop platform. flash forward to december and according to a senior administration official, the president's son-in-law, jared kushner and the former security adviser, michael flynn, wret with the ambassador during a previously undisclosed meeting. sean spicer talked about two interactions between michael flynn and the russian ambassador. this meeting was not known and not disclosed to reporters at that time. that is new information as well. we should point out, as for the information we got from