before congress that the fbi is investigating the trump campaign's ties to russia. so the fbi is now reviewing the information it's gathered in this investigation which includes human intelligence, travel, business, phone records and accounts of in-person meetings. so the information raised suspicions of fbi counter intelligence investigators that the coordination may have taken place, though officials we've spoken with cautioned that this informationclusive and that the investigation is ongoing. trump officials have denied there was any evidence of collusion. >> this gives us more insight into what comey knew when he spoke on monday at those hea hearin hearings. >> that's exactly right. in addition to comey saying the investigations include looking at connections to trump associates, he also explained what it means that the investigation is being done. take a listen. >> don't you need some action or some information besides just attending a meeting, having been paid to attend a conference, that a picture was taken or that you traveled to a company open to investigation for counter i

, what about, what has russia been doing? does vladimir putin have his eye on libya? we'll discuss that. let's get to david k. johnson who broke the trump tax story, the author of "the making of donald trump", also jeffrey toobin and norman eisen. it's so good to have all of you on. you guys know, i'm going to spend a hlot of time with david. you're free to jump in at any time. >> he's the real reporter. >> he made $150 million. paid $38 million in taxes. >> didn't pay $38 million. paid $36.5 million. >> how is this not good for donald trump? >> it may be good for donald trump. one of the things that's very strange about this is donald trump would probably benefit from releasing his tax returns with a lot of people. more than $81.5 million a year. that would put him almost in the top 400 tax returns. and why is he hiding his tax returns? well, i think he doesn't want us to know other things. what are the sources of income? who is he a partner with? does he have divided loyalties? he has a history of being involved with serious, vicious criminals, convicted felons and in particular

>>> breaking news on the fbi's russia investigation. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. cnn has learned the fbi has information that indicates associates of donald trump communicated with people known as russian operatives to coordinate release s information about the hillary clinton campaign. and new questions about former campaign manager paul manafort. the white house is scrambling to change the subject. but what happens if americans lose faith in their president? and could there be a deal on the gop bill to repeal and replace obamacare? new details on the fbi investigation in individuals and deals with russian government. pamela, what are you learning? >> we learned the fbi has information, intelligence that indicates associates of president donald trump communicated with suspected russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to hillary clinton's campaign, according to u.s. officials we've spoken with. as you recall, fbi director james comey made bombshell announcement monday before congress that the fbi is investigating the trump campaign's

the russia's efforts. as with any counter intelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed. >> this is not politics as vulgs. we've said that before, and we're going to keep saying it. it is not politics as usual for the fbi to investigate a prejudice campaign with possible ties to a foreign government. and it's definitely not politics as usual for the fbi director to publicly state the bureau is investigating whether any crimes were committed by those associated to the trump campaign. political km political commentator, jason miller and robert mudd and hillary hook. thank you for coming on. danna, you first. i want to respond to what we heard from president trump tonight. but this is also we should not just pretend was business as usual. what happened today was extraordinary. what did we learn? >> well, we learned that the fbi is and has been investigating the trump -- the then trump campaign, trump associates and whether or not there was any involvement with regard to russian interference with the u.s. election. and if that

agents working in the shadows. secret briefings on capitol hill, but what do we know about russia? now a week after president trump's infamous wiretapping accusations the leaders of intelligence committee teg cnn they still haven't seen any evidence to back up the president's claims. let's get to our breaking news. the fire fg dozens of u.s. attorneys. joining me is cnn legal analyst, laura coats, attorney stewart kaplan a former special agent with the fbi. good evening to you so glad that all of you could join us this evening. it was a total surprise to the u.s. attorneys who were fired tonight, many of them are shocked, some are traveling on government business now. how was this handled? >> you know, it's not particularly strange that a new administration has called for the exist are or the hold over u.s. attorneys to actually resign in the usually happens at the beginning of every administration. what is odd is the abruptness, and of course you're dealing with a president who has some pending lawsuits across the united states which makes people kind of raise their eyebrows and thoink

began to do it, but also formally russia the colonel and also kyle karpenter. thank him for service. awarded medal of honor for rushing toward hand grenade launched at him and fellow marines in 2010. president obama honored him with the medal in 2014. >> well, i would like to say thank you. you are a role model and inspiration. i also would point out you're one of the few aviators whose number of landings doesn't match the number of takeoffs. >> i was military lawyer prior to service. honored to be in room with three people like this. thanks. >> before we go, i have to ask you. harry truman famously said if you want a friend in washington, get a dog. but you two found each other. >> his dog ran away. >> so many people leading up to this town hall asked me how did they become so close and more importantly what is it about this friendship between the two of you? >> i think it's common interests, common ideals, common goals for our country. we mentioned my war experience. this guy for 23 years spent every time on active duty in afghanistan or zblooirk hiraq. >> is that how you got to k

>>> breaking new, unanswered questions about the largest private bank in russia and the trump organization and why president trump made those wiretapping accusations. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. sources tell cnn there's a federal investigation into a "odd computer server relationship" between the trump organization and a russian bank. could it be the root of president trump's intame miscellaneous wiretapping accusations against president obama? >>> plus our man in moscow. jon huntsman signs on for what may be the toughest job in the trump administration, ambassador to russia. we'll talk about all of that. >> cnn's justice correspondent pamela brown is looking into this. what have you learned about the investigation? >> don, we've learned fbi investigators and computer scientists continue to examine whether there was a computer connection between the trump organization and a russian bank called alpha bank. according to several sources familiar with this investigation, this is the same server mentioned in a breitbart article that a white house official had sparked pres

great weekend. >>> president trump is at mar-a-largo but his russia troubles have followed him there. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. michael flynn, jeff sessions, even jared kushner, all meeting with the russian ambassador. what's that about? what is the connection between the kremlin and the white house? we'll investigate. and what does vladimir putin want from all of this. meanwhile president trump responds to all of this just as you'd expect with a twitter war against chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. joining me. learn about the meetings with the inner circle and russian officials, what is the latest? >> counterpunching. going on the attack on twitter. favorite social media platform. maybe favorite communications. this time tweeted a photo of chuck schumer with russian ambassador in 2003. drink hot beverage and eating crispy krooem doughnuts, said should start immediate investigation into schumer and his ties to russia and putin. total hypocrite. schumer responded, saying happily talk about contact with mr. putin and associates. took place in full view of press and public. un

anything wrong with united states senator meeting with ambassador from russia. >> right. >> i see you're asking questions about it, that's fine. but i think it was a perfectly reasonable meeting. i had professional nonpolitical staffers with me. and we discussed some important international issues. i learned something perhaps in that meeting. i usually did. so that's the -- what happened. people were -- ambassadors were coming by to see me pretty often. >> here with more on the sessions firestorm and what it means for trump administration is senior white house correspondent sara murray. >> tonight the administration had hoped would still be riding high on the glow of president trump's speech to congress which they feel was very successful. instead facing yet another firestorm over russia. saw attorney general recuse himself from any potential probe about interactions between donald trump's campaign advisers and suspected russian operatives throughout the presidential campaign. the president today says he has total confidence in jeff sessions so for now his job could be secure but

attempt to dangle a shiny object, change the subject from russia and throw us off the track. it's at worse an angry president trying to make someone else a scapegoat for the problems of his administration. former president obama, not the obama administration, no one in the administration, but the former president wiretapped him. we have no evidence of that, zero, and no one in the administration has provided any. none. only spin, james clapper was the director of national intelligence when such alleged wiretaps would have happened. >> for the part of the national security apparatus that i oversaw there was no search wiretap activity mounteds against the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign. >> and at this point you can't confirm or deny whether that exists? >> i can deny it. >> there is no fisa court order? >> not to my knowledge. >> of anything at trump tower? >> no. >> james comey incredulous the president would say such a thing. former nsa and cia director michael hayden gives this blunt explanation. >> the president of the united states put his

campaign and russia's efforts. as with any counter intelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed. >> this is not politics as ush. we've said that before, and we're going to keep saying it, it is not politics as usual for the fbi to investigate a presidential campaign for possible ties to a foreign government. it is not politics as usual for that investigation to go on for eight months with no end in sight. and it's definitely not politics as usual for the fbi director to publicly state the bureau is investigating whether any crimes were committed by anyone associated with the trump campaign. none of it is politics as usual. >> let's discuss now, let's bring in our chief political correspondent dana bash. rick santorum. jason miller, a former trump senior communications adviser. counter terrorism analyst. good evening to all of you, thank you for coming on. dana, you first. i want you to respond on what we heard from president trump tonight. this is one of those things we should not just pretend is business as usual. what did we lear

find the right person to engage with on russia, a to open a back-channel to vladimir putin. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. meanwhile, we're now just hours away from the senate's first public hearing on russia's meddling in the election. top leaders of the senate intelligence committee outlining plan outside of the capitol that stalled the investigations. we haare just getting this comg in laura. >> that's right, don, so a federal judge in hawaii has granted the state's request for a longer term halt of the president's revised travel ban. you will remember two weeks ago a district court judge in hawaii derek watson revised executive order but was only a temporary halt called temporary restraining order which typically expires after around 14 days. so the plaintiff asked it to be converted to longer term preliminary conjunction so it could last through trial and the judge agreed saying they have met their burden establishing a strong likelihood of threat on the merit of establishment clause. will you ren the entire discussion from judge watson two weeks ago as what he reviewsed

. >>> we've breaking news on the fbi's russia investigation to tell you about. this is "cnn tonight," i'm don lemon. revelations coming fast and furious. cnn has learned the fbi has information to indicate trump associates communicated with suspected russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to hillary clinton's campaign. according to u.s. officials. get to breaking news. joining me, they broke the story with evan perez. pamela, what are you learning? >> we learned that fbi has information that indicates associates of president donald trump communicated with suspected russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging hillary clinton's campaign, according to u.s. officials. fbi director james comey made his bombshell announcement as you recall on monday before congress that the fbi is investigating the trump campaign's ties to russia. fbi is now reviewing this information that includes human intelligence, travel, business and phone records and accounts of in-person meetings according to officials. information is raising suspic

investigation into ties between the trump campaign team and russia. is it compromised? and can it move forward? this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. intelligence chief devon nunes defending his visit to the white house grounds to review classified information that he claims suggested trump team communications may have been picked up during surveillance of foreign nationals. did the white house know that nunes was on the property? and who gave him the sensitive material to review in the first place? tonight the top democrat on the committee says he has yet to see those documents and calls on nunes to recuse himself from the russia probe. plus, new questions about a newly disclosed meeting between trump's top adviser, his son-in-law jared kushner, and the head of a russian bank that is subject to u.s. sanctions. we'll discuss all of that. but i want to begin with cnn's global affairs analyst david rhode, national investigative editor for reuters. also contributor emily jane fox, a staff writer at "vanity fair." senior political analyst mark preston, political analyst david drucker. seni

campaign and russia's efforts. >> and in a rebuke to the president, comey said there is no evidence to support the president's claim that former president obama had wires tapped inside trump tower. >> i have no information that supports those tweets, we have looked carefully inside the fbi. the department of justice has asked me to share with you that the answer is the same for the department of justice and all its components. >> the head of the nsa also denying a report repeated by the white house that the obama administration asked british intelligence to spy on the trump campaign. >> did you ever request that your counterparts should wiretap mr. trump on behalf of president obama? >> no, sir, nor would i, that would be expressly against the construct of the agreement that's been in place for decades. >> republicans avoided asking about trump's wiretapping claimings, instead, focusing on whether laws were broken. even insinuating former obama appointees could be the source of the leaks. >> do you know whether director clapper knew the name of the u.s. citizen that appeared in the

. >> you're kidding me. >> it's silly. >> it's not a side for russia and the united states of america who ended up meeting with all these other people, other than you, of course. >> but the democrats -- >> the point is he accepted them -- >> he said two things that were untrue under oath. >> we're going to the get to vice president mike pence, the star reporting that he was using his own private e-mail address as governor. it's not illegal but there's concerns it may have been hacked. and shown to you. mike pence was one of the biggest critics of hillary clinton for the use of her frooift e-mail server. how do you explain this one? >> what hillary clinton did was illegal. she should have been prosecuted for it. >> she wasn't. >> she should have been. the good news is mike pence, what he did is perfectly legal in indiana state law. he didn't have a private server. we're talking about the nice color of apples and grape fruits over here. they have nothing to do with each other. but they're struggling to find some dirt, some mud. it's crying wolf once again. every time they do this they try t

. this is at best a clumsy attempt to dangle a shiny object, change the subject from russia and throw us off the track. it's at worse an angry president trying to make someone else a scapegoat for the problems of his administration. former president obama, not the obama administration, no one in the administration, but the former president wiretapped him. we have no evidence of that, zero, and no one in the administration has provided any. none. only spin, james clapper was the director of national intelligence when such alleged wiretaps would have happened. >> for the part of the national security apparatus that i oversaw there was no search wiretap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign. >> and at this point you can't confirm or deny whether that exists? >> i can deny it. >> there is no fisa court order? >> not to my knowledge. >> of anything at trump tower? >> no. >> james comey incredulous the president would say such a thing. former nsa and cia director michael hayden gives this blunt explanation. >> the president of the

>>> the trump administration's intriguing ties to russia. if there's nothing to hide as the white house insists, why all the unanswered questions? this is "cnn tonight." why did jared kushner meet with the head of a russian bank who has ties to vladimir putin? american intelligence called the bank chief a spy. jared kushner set to testify in front of the house intelligence committee. >> if the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that's a russian connection. >> and first lady melania trump at the white house reception tonight. what role can she play in a white house under siege? let's begin with this hour with jared kushner's meeting with the russian bank and his ties to putin. i want to bring in my guests. good evening, gentlemen. thank you so much for coming on. michael, we learned jared kushner is going to testify to a senate intelligence committee. the committee is going to want to ask him why he met with sergei gorkov, the head of the russian bank, when it was under economic sanctions. >> gorkov not just the head of any bank. putin wanted someon

person to engage with on russia, a back-channel to vladimir putin. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. the source saying the meetings weren't about sanctions on russia. meanwhile, we're now just hours away from the senate's first public hearing on russia's meddling in the election. top leaders of the senate intelligence committee outlining their bipartisan plan for the investigation saying they'll interview 20 witnesses, including kushner. >> this was one of the biggest investigations that the hill has seen in my tenure here. >> and the house investigation completes stalemate tonight, one glimmer of hope, chairman devin nunes and adam schiff planning to talk tomorrow, finally. can they get their investigation up and running again? i want to begin tonight with senior legal analyst, toobin i'm joined by jeffrey toobin, sally quinn, founding editor of "on fact," kristin powers and political commentator an draw bauer. good evening to all of you. thank you for coming on. jeffrey i'm going to start with you here because it seems like the grown-ups are officially in the room now. the senate

-american. >> i want to get to this but still saw you -- >> russia is good place to look for extreme actions we see lurking in american politics. -- said russian civilization was created as experiment of the worst things, most extreme things that can happen to humanity. and sometimes get hints of it in extreme american policies taken to vast veem extremism. had friends separated because parents labeled enemies of the people. mothers sent to gulag and fathers shot behind kgb headquarters. that's my comparative framework. >> i want to talk about this. democrats are on a political witch hunt according to some of the president saying that. learning about the meetings after minority leader nancy pelosi claimed she never met with russian ambassador president tweeted i demand a investigation after schumer of pelosi for her close ties to russia and lying about it. with a picture of the two meeting. pelosi responded by saying, president trump doesn't know the difference between official meeting photographed by press and closed secret meeting ag lied about under oath. >> this is school antics.

investigating the trump campaign's potential ties to russia in exchange for immunity from prosecution. flynn's attorney saying, quote, no reasonable person who has a benefit of advice from counsel would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution. let's get right to it now. our cnn senior white house correspondent joins us now from the white house with more on this. jeff, good evening to you. there are serious questions facing the white house tonight and people are asking if there is a cover-up. we're learning serious information about the president's former national security adviser, lieutenant general michael flynn. fill us in. >> reporter: well, don, as you said, michael flynn through his lawyer has offered to testify in this ongoing russia investigation before the house committee and the senate intelligence committee as well as the fbi, in exchange for some type of immunity we're being told. we do have a statement from his lawyer. you saw part of it a second allege. he also goes on to say this. he said, ge

tune on russia now or is this going to force him to do that? >> you know, that's the thing to watch, right? i don't think he is right now. i think that one of the things that has kept this going, one of the -- we've used the fire aal analogy a lot. one of the things that's blown a lot of oxygen into this is this remarkable spirit of generosity that donald trump has expressed toward russia and you can argue maybe that this is his one great kissinger/nixon insight, that he wants some great geopolitical balance, but that would be the one and so i think that one of the things that has kept this going is why does president trump continue to appear to give vladimir putin the benefit of the doubt at every turn? >> yeah. david, i ask that because sources say president trump believes the current atmosphere with ongoing probes into trump/russia/putin ties in the election meddling, it's going to make it impossible for him to make a deal. that's the first time we heard something like that from the president. >> he's right. he's right. listen, it's of his own doing. i mean, we wouldn't be here t

ties to russia come because deeply entangled with them financially and giving them money. >> and we don't know bhuch that. thanks to the panel. hand over to don lemon and "cnn tonight." >>> we have breaking news. never before revealed information on president trump's taxes. this is "cnn tonight," i'm don lemon. white house says the president earned more than $150 million in income and played $38 million in taxes in 2005 and insist he had a responsibility to pay no more taxes than regularly required. in response to the leak of the 1040. who revealed the return and why is it coming out now? great questions. jim acosta is standing by at white house. put out statement about the taxes. what can you tell us? >> reporter: put this out to get the jump on something happening on another network earlier this evening. former "new york times" tax reporter david k. johnson obtained 2005 tax return and shows that he made about $150 million in income in 2005 and paid $38 million in taxes. according to white house, we have not received that tax return over here at cnn, but have obtained a scathing s

flynn, roger stone to name a few. do they have ties to russia and will they come back? get to cnn reporter nia-malika henderson. and -- and david axelrod. nia start with you. walk us through the changes made to the health care bill. who are they aimed at winning over and are more changes coming here? >> if you listen to president trump says more changes coming. in some ways not something that paul ryan necessarily wants to hear but music to people in the house freedom caucus who want to see more done in terms of medicaid, one of the changes is allow medicaid states to grant the funding. important to the freedom caucus as well. change being made in terms of how medicaid is funded in new york. upstate new yorkers want the state to foot the bill rather than the counties. that's aimed at getting those folks to support the bill. my thinking on thursday is it's hard to imagine paul ryan will bring this to the floor without knowing he's going to pass this thing. 48 hours to go. imagine will be arm twisting and horse trading in the meantime but i think it's hard to think that we get to th

russia. is it compromised? and can it move forward? this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. inls chief devon nunes defending his visit to the white house grounds to review classified information that he claims suggested trump team communications may have been picked up during surveillance of foreign nationals. did the white house know that nunes was on the property? and who gave him the sensitive material to review in the first place? tonight the top democrat on the committee says he has yet to see those documents and calls on nunes to recuse himself from the russia probe. plus, new questions about a newly disclosed meeting between trump's top adviser, his son-in-law jared kushner, and the head of a russian bank that is subject to u.s. sanctions. we'll discuss all of that. but i want to begin with cnn's global affairs analyst david rhodee, national investigative editor for reuters. also contributor emily jane fox, a staff writer at "vanity fair." senior political analyst mark preston, political analyst david drucker. senior congressional correspondent for the "washington examiner." and

this. look, i would like to think that there are no connections between the campaign and russia. i would like to think that there is a lot of what we're hearing just doesn't play out. but it looks as though there might be some there, there. when we're hearing from these members of congress that have seen many classified information, there seems to be some indication there mean something there. so it remains to be seen, like the trump administration wants this investigation. let's get all the zpakts see how it plays out. i think it is extremely disconcertaining to level a claim against president obama without having the exact information and all the data that you need to back it up. i would like to think it is not true. if he's going to say something like that, it needs to hold water. >> i think one thing we should all keep in mind. there is a very easy way to if i goett out would you a long drawn investigation. without costing americans a lot of money. make phone call. i think that says everything. so one more and we'll talk about the border crossings. another of the president's ma

wiretapping allegations, what is russia doing? have eye on libya? discuss that. david k. johnson, breaker of the story. and brookings institution. good to have you on. >> going to spend a lot of time with david. you can jump in at any point. talk about this. $38 million in taxes. >> didn't. $36.5 million. >> how is this not good for donald trump? >> i think it may be good for donald trump. one of the things that's strange about this, donald trump probably would benefit from releasing tax returns with a lot of people. would show his income which i think probably averaged at least or more than $81.5 million a year. put in almost the top 400 tax returns. why is he hiding his tax returns? i think he doesn't want us to know other things. what are the sources of income? who is he partner with? does he have divided loyalties? also has a long history of being deeply involved with serious vicious criminals, convicted felons and in particular major cocaine trafficker he risked his fortune to show loyalty to. maybe stuff in returns to tell us about the russians or criminals he's involved wi

trump's ties to russia come because he got deeply entangled with their finances. >> and we don't know any of that. >> it's time to hand things over to don lemon and "cnn tonight." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> we have breaking news, never before revealed information on president trump's taxes. i'm done lemon. the white house says the president earned more than $150 million in income and paid $38 million in taxes in 2005. and insists he had a responsibility, quote, to pay no more taxes than legally required. that's in response to the leak tonight on president trump's 1040. about who revealed that return? and why is it coming out now? those are great questions. let's get right to our senior white house correspondent, mr. jim acosta. he's standing by at the white house. the white house has put out a statement about the president's taxes. what can you tell news. >> reporter: that's right. the white house put this out to sort of get the jump on something happening on another network earlier this evening. david k. jackson had on it and donald trump's tax returns and it showed he ma

person to engage with on russia, a back-channel to vladimir putin. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. meanwhile, we're now just hours away from the senate's first public hearing on russia's meddling in the election. top leaders of the senate intelligence committee outlining their bipartisan plan for the investigation saying they'll interview 20 witnesses, including kushner. >> this was one of the biggest investigations that the hill has seen in my tenure here. >> and the house investigation completes stalemate tonight, one glimmer of hope, chairman devin nunes and adam schiff planning to talk tomorrow, finally. can they get their investigation up and running again? i'm joined by jeffrey toobin, sally quinn, founding editor of "on fact," kristin powers and political commentator an draw bauer. good evening to all of you. thank you for coming on. it seems like the grown-ups are officially in the room now. the nate is making it clear that they are going to get to the bottom of russia's meddling in the election. >> they are going to try. remember, it's not just a matter of interviewing wi

government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and russia's efforts. >> and in a rebuke to the president, comey said there is no evidence to support the president's claim that former president obama had wires tapped inside trump tower. >> i have no information that supports those tweets, we have looked carefully inside the fbi. the department of justice has asked me to share with you that the answer is the same for the department of justice and all its components. >> the head of the nsa also denying a report repeated by the white house that the obama administration asked british intelligence to spy on the trump campaign. >> did you ever request that your counterparts should wiretap mr. trump on behalf of president obama? >> no, sir, nor would i, that would be expressly against the construct of the agreement that's been in place for decades. >> reporter: republicans avoided asking about trump's wiretapping claimings, instead, focusing on whether laws were broken. even insinuating former obama appointees could be the source of the leaks. >> do you know whether direc

w5uatching cnn newsroom. donald trump said jeff sessions did nothing wrong with meeting with russia's u.s. ambassador in the 2016 presidential race. >> jeff sessions recused himself from any investigations into last year's election after he met with the russian envoy twice. he vowed to disclose those meetings. >> i don't recall any discussion of the campaign in any significant way. it was in no way a coordinating of an effort by doing anything improper and i don't believe anybody in that meeting would see or believe i said one thing improp onner or unwise. it was a sad thing to be attacked like that, but i think we explained it and we intend to move forward. >> a senior trump official said the president's son in law and former national security adviser michael flynn also met with the ambassador at trump tower in december. >> california talk radio host and california republican national committee member and attorney from seattle washington and former cnn bureau chief. thank you all for being with us. let's start with the president who is standing by the attorney general. >> mr. president d

tomorrow. >> trump white house facing accusations over a cover up. over ties to russia. the administration denying it blocked former acting attorney general sally yates from telling the house intelligence committee what she knows about the trump campaign and russian officials. that hearing was supposed to happen today but was canceled. the man who canceled it, committee chairman devin nunez. saying he's moving forward with the probe. but democrats charge he's too close to the white house and must step aside. they want to know who signed him into the white house grounds to view classified information which he briefed president trump about before sharing it with the rest of his committee. all these questions about russia waiting to be answered, this from the press secretary spicer. >> if the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that's a russian connection. >> that happened. i want to begin with senior political analyst and gloria borger, april ryan the white house contour for american radio networks, the woman who got spicer talking about that ru

information on the russia connection. top democrat on the house intelligence committee says he has new evidence of possible collusion between trump associates and russia. political dream team with me but first phil mattingly live on capitol hill. burning midnight oil. we've been following every congressman, you have on capitol hill for us. finding out how everybody is planning is vote. negotiations is over. what is the latest? >> reporter: it was message delivered abruptly with no subtle tones whatsoever by one of the president's top advisers in a closed door meeting after it appeared multiple times everything else had fallen apart. it's time to vote and negotiations are over. reality is their blind as to whether or not they have the votes. going into the consequential meeting didn't have the votes. coming out, still unsure if they'll get the votes. that's what we're going into tomorrow. high stakes game of chicken. but the hope when you talk to sources and members of congress, involved a lot of emotion. 30 people coming to support this bill, hoping to ride that into a vote that seven

russia. back with me my panel including that reporter, april. >> i give the floor to april. totally. >> as you do every single day, you ask tough questions. >> the last 20 years. >> so you asked about this russia connection. let's play it and then we'll talk about it. >> april, go ahead. >> sean, don't seem so happy. you're like go ahead. anyway, with all these investigations, questions of what is is, how does this administration try to revamp its image two 1/2 months in. you got other things go s goin russia, wire tapping -- >> no, we don't have that -- i've said it from the day that i got here until whenever that there is no connection. you've got russia. if the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad, somehow that's a russian connection. but every single person -- i appreciate your agenda here but the reality is -- no, at some point report the facts np facts are that every single person that has been briefed on the subject has come away with the same conclusion. republican, democrat. you're shaking your head. i appreciate it. but understand this at some point the facts

>>> the trump administration's intriguing ties to russia. if there's nothing to hide as the white house insists, why all the unanswered questions? this is "cnn tonight." why did jared kushner meet with the head of a russian bank who has ties to vladimir putin? american intelligence called the bank chief a spy. jared kushner set to testify in front of the house intelligence committee. >> if the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that's a russian connection. >> and first lady melania trump at the white house reception tonight. what role can she play in a white house under siege? let's begin with this hour with jared kushner's meeting with the russian banker and his ties to putin. i want to bring in my guests. good evening, gentlemen. thank you so much for coming on. michael, we learned jared kushner is going to testify to a senate intelligence committee. the committee is going to want to ask him why he met with sergey gorkov, the head of the russian bank, when it was under economic sanctions. and what they talked about. beb not just any bank. >> gork

fbi. and congressional officials investigating the trump campaign's potential ties to russia in exchange for immunity from prosecution. flynn's attorney saying, quote, no reasonable person who has a benefit of advice from counsel would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution. let's get right to it now. our cnn senior white house correspondent joins us now from the white house with more on this. jeff, good evening to you. there are serious questions facing the white house tonight and people are asking if there is a cover-up. we're learning serious information about the president's former national security adviser, lieutenant general michael flynn. fill us in. >> reporter: well, don, as you said, michael flynn through his lawyer has offered to testify in this ongoing russia investigation before the house committee and the senate intelligence committee as well as the fbi, in exchange for some type of immunity we're being told. we do have a statement from his lawyer. you saw part of it a second ago. he a

campaign had meetings with russia's ambassador to the u.s. but didn't disclose it in confirmation hearings. this is "cnn tonight," i'm don lemon. thanks for joining me. evan perez, what are you learning tonight about the two meetings between senator jeff sessions and russian ambassador. >> well don, at issue are two meetings that then senator jeff sessions, now tern general jeff sessions had with the top russian ambassador here in washington. sergey kislyak, one of the them on the sidelines of the republican national convention in july. event sponsored by the heritage foundation. about 50 ambassadors at event he met with. second in september in jeff sessions' office at time he was member of the armed services committee. and two of them had a private meeting in his office in the senate. reason this is disconcerting or an issue is because sessions said at his confirmation hearings in january that when he was asked whether or not -- what he would do if there were any meetings or contacts between people who were surrogates of the trump campaign and russians, he said he knew of no such

. we'll continue to follow this and new questions about president trump's possible ties to russia. >>> our breaking news a federal judge in hawaii has granted the state's request for a longer term halt of the revised travel ban executive order we'll keep on that story and see if there's a response from the white house in the coming hours -- in the coming moments. now to the question about possible ties to russia, not going away for president donald trump. here to discuss my panel. and carl burnstein and back with us. so in the segment let's talk about what we know and don't know about connections with president trump and his businesses, his current and former associates, and russia. so let's start with the president. so, carl, this is what trump tweeted on january 17th. "russia has never tried to use leverage over me. i have nothing to do with russia. no deals, no loans no nothing." listen to this. >> i don't know have anything to do with russia. russia is all a fake news fabricated deal to make up for the loss of the democrats. i own nothing in russia. i have no loans in russia.

intelligence committee to recuse himself from the russia investigation. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. nunes defending his visit that he says suggests trump teams may have been picked up by foreign nationals. the top democrat has yet to see those documents and calls on nunes to step aside from the russian probe. let's go right to cnn's evan perez. what do you have? >> well, there's been a lot of twists and turns in this story in the last 24 hours and of course towards the end of the day in an interview with phil mattingly, a top democrat said one or suggested one reason why the chairman of that committee should step aside from this is the communications he's talking about, the intelligence reports he might be talking about may include his own name. you know he served on the trump transition as a member of -- as an advisor, donald trump's transition to the now president. and nun esmight be conflicted in his handling of the investigation. earlier in the day nunes began the day by essentially outing his source as someone he met with at the white house. that was an unusual statement today

to dictatorships like russia. with trump you don't get that sense. i think that tension is probably at the heart of it. also doesn't help that donald trump was extraordinarily uncharitable toward angela merkel last year when she took in a million refugees from mostly syria and she was starting to hemorrhage in popularity, trump did something he often does, kicked her when she was down. used to say nice things about her when she was popular. now she's ruining germany, a disaster. lowest moment in tenure as chancellor. she's not going to forget that. >> and think if running for president, if i do make to high office, going to come back to haunt me, apparently didn't matt matter to him. give us the back story to the joke. >> referring to the fact that one of the leaks from edward snowden is that the nsa, the national security agency, was listening in on phone conversations of world leaders, which by the way something that all spy agencies try to do. u.s. has more capacity. as bernard kushner, former prime minister of france, we all try to do this stuff, just jealous that america does i

discussion about russia colluding with the trump campaign is partisan bull. >> doesn't mean it's true. maybe someone should tell him it's not. >> democrat but looking at same thing and saying that tweet was irresponsible and bad. i think this whole debate is reflection of -- >> republicans are saying it too. >> i hope in two weeks. >> do you think -- >> whoa, whoa. >> truth. do you think it was irresponsible for the president to put that tweet out? >> i think he should have said surveillance. >> come on jack. honest with me. >> responded in legalistic way. >> obama spokesperson. >> even if he said surveillance -- >> would have been wrong. >> comparing president obama to richard nixon and trying to pull off a watergate style -- >> heat of the campaign. >> is that not what the democrat party is doing right now when they say collusion -- >> no cleanup on 5th avenue on this one. i think this is just if the president could delete these tweets, whoever it is he dictates to, could dleemt, doing a service to every american. >> i might walk back what i said about president obama but you have to walk

russia investigation hangs over this entire administration. it's not quite -- it might be a bit too early to say they're paralyzed by it, but it is getting close to that point in terms of their agenda. their approval rating and other things. the white house tonight has no comment on the offer from general flynn. they certainly will be asking about it again tomorrow. >> absolutely. jeff zeleny, thank you very much. i appreciate that. now i want to bring in cnn senior political reporter nia-malika henderson. matt murray. and deputy assistant commerce secretary for the obama administration. also, joining us, cnn legal analyst, laura coates. matthew, thank you for joining us. laura, nia, welcome back. i appreciate you joining us this evening, coming on this evening. your reaction to tonight's breaking news, nia, news news that former attorney general, michael flynn, excuse me, national security adviser, michael flynn, saying this in a statement that on behalf of flynn, "general flynn certainly has a story to tell and he very much wants to tell it should the circumstances permit. no reas

documents and in it person interviews by march 17th. the material to reveal any links between russia and individuals associated with political campaigns. the president is also renewing his calls to probe what he calls pervasive leaks that are undermining national security, that's all according to his press secretary, sean spicer, spicer is still not offering up any proof from the president when it comes to those wiretapping claims. don? >> thank you very much, i appreciate that. >>> i want to turn now to brian salter. brian, good evening to you, allegations from the president like this are explosive. we understand that he was furious about this breitbart article that was passed around the white house. could that lead to the president tweeting such unfounded information, falsehoods on saturday? >> i think so, it's the most logical explanation we have. all starting thursday. >> call that logical. >> a silent coup, on his show. this was the allegation on his opinion radio show. then on friday, there it is oorn breitbart. amplifying it further, adding more detail, picking up on news accounts

that the fbi is investigating the trump campaign's ties to russia. fbi is now reviewing this information that includes human intelligence, travel, business and phone records and accounts of in-person meetings according to officials. information is raising suspicions of counterintelligence operatives that coordination could have taken place but information is not conclusive and investigation is ongoing. the fbi would not comment nor would the white house, though. trump officials have denied there's any evidence of cuclusion. don. >> this gives us insight into what comey knew when he spoke on monday correct? >> absolutely don. it certainly does. if you recall in addition to comey saying the investigation includes looking at connections to trump associates, he also explained what investigators are looking at, what exactly they're doing and how they come to this point. take a listen. >> don't you need some action or some information besides just attending a meeting, paid to attend a conference, or a picture was taken or you traveled to country before you're open to investigation

things are not getting out of his way. his alleged links to russia and the wiretapping questions. >>> and vice president mike pence sidestepping questions about that wiretapping claim. >> the president has alleged that the former president has committed a felony in wiretapping trump tower. yes or no, do you believe that president obama did that? >> well, what i can say, the president and our administration are very confident that the congressional committees in the house and senate that are examining issues surrounding the last election, the run-up to the last election will do that in a thorough and equitiable way. >>> and the president is about to take his pitch to the american people. we get details now from jeff zeleny. >> reporter: it's the biggest sales pitch of the young trump presidency. white house press secretary sean spicer says the president is ready to hit the road and make his case. >> this is going to be a very, very comprehensive approach to make sure every american understands there is a major problem and we are here to fix it. >> trump care is a health care hando

count? we'll see. plus new information on the russia connection. the top democrat in the house intelligence committee says he has new evidence of possible collusion between trump associates and russia. there's a lot to get to tonight. i've got my political dream team here with me. there they are. you can show them. but first i want to get to cnn's phil mattingly live for us on capitol hill. phil, good evening to you. burning the midnight oil. we've been following every congressman you have, i should say, on capitol hill today for us, finding out how everyone is planning to vote. the white house says negotiations are over. so what's going to happen? what's the latest? >> reporter: yeah, and don it was a message delivered abruptly and without any subtle tones whatsoever by one of the president's top advisers in a closed-door meeting after it appeared at multiple points throughout the day that everything else had fallen apart. it's time to vote, and negotiations are over. here's the raelteality, though. they are blind right now as to whether or not they actually have the votes. i

himself from the russia investigation. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. nunes defending his visit that he says suggests trump teams may have been picked up by foreign nationals. the top democrat has yet to see those documents and calls on nunes to step aside from the russian probe. growing number of democrats calling for him to step aside. let's go right to cnn's evan perez. what do you have? >> well, there's been a lot of twists and turns in this story in the last 24 hours and of course towards the end of the day in an interview with phil mattingly, a top democrat said one or suggested one reason why the chairman of that committee should step aside from this is the communications he's talking about, the intelligence reports he might be talking about may include his own name. you know he served on the trump transition as a member of -- as an advisor, donald trump's transition to the now president. and so devin nunes might be conflicted according to adam schiff in his handling of the investigation earlier in the day nunes began the day by essentially outing his source as someone he

we know what was discussed? >> they talked about russia and part of this growing investigation is happening on capitol hill as well as the fbi inquiry that is happening by the attempts to influence the election and whether or not there were any improper contacts that occurred between trump associations and people tied to the kremlin. they get the most sensitive information on capitol hill. they would not answer a single question. they had an community to ask him about an issue he has been in the middle of since trump tweeted over the weekend that he was spied on by president obama. we learned that comey himself was upset at the tweets and asked the main justice department to knock down the story. this was an opportunity for them to ask if there was any evidence of the claims to have been spied on. we don't know the answer, but it's an answer to look into that and the broader issue of russia which is at the heart of what members are looking into right now. >> march 20th, comey will be testifying publicly? >> that's right. the first public hearing at the house intelligence with a nu

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on all the people supposedly associated with he and russia without some form of surveillance. maybe not wiretapping, some type of surveillance. >> and you think the former president ordered this surveillance, there's no evidence of any surveillance either but certain people, minority by the way, believe that something -- something that is not true we should not cover it? >> no. absolutely not. i will say i don't think he should have used president in his tweet. i wish he had not. but other than that, i think he probably knows more than we think. but another fact. rasmussen said several percent of people think the country is moving in the right direction when was 20%. >> approval rating is -- fact is a fact. every single response to something that is not favorable to donald trump is his voters don't care about it. that means nothing talking about facts. lot of people don't care about a lot of things. when people say they didn't want this or that, lot didn't believe that same sex should get married or black and white people get married or go to school together or integration. but gues