have yet to receive any testimony from the fbi on the investigation of potential links between the trump campaign and russia. so we're not in any position to reach any conclusion and i think it's very important, having been assistant u.s. attorney for six years, you do not begin an investigation by stating what you believe to be the conclusion. we are looking at the report that the intelligence community put out which acknowledged not only the role of russian media but also the hacking and the dumping of documents. we are not accepting even that report at face value. we are investigating the underlying raw intelligence to make sure the conclusions are substantiated by the raw intelligence. and the same should be true of every aspect whether it is on hacking, collusion, fbi response when it was learned the russians were in the computers of democratic institutions, the use of russian media, all of these things that we are investigating we should not accept any summary conclusion or form any premature conclusion about where the investigation will lead. i also want to say that in my op

white house clearly wants to get its point across on this fbi story that we have been doing reporting on and they clearly are upset at this and these other news organizations are protesting because there was a blockage here, so we'll have to see how serious this goes if there are more ramifications from this, but look, the white house does not mind this fight. the white house in some respects the president wants this fight. it fires up his base to a large degree. >> this is what i mentioned a moment ago, he had tweeted a couple of days ago and doubled down on this notion that he thinks the media is the enemy of the american people. here he was. >> a few days ago i called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are, they are, they are the enemy of the people because they have no sources, they just make them up when there are none. they're very dishonest people. in fact in covering my comments, the dishonest media did not explain that i called the fake news the enemy of the people, the fake news. they dropped off the word fake. and all of a sudden the story became the media is the e

contact between the white house and the fbi surrounding the investigation into alleged contact between the trump campaign and russia. new details and concerns with the white house about the story. and also the white house taking a swipe at us and a number of media organizations that brought that report to light. trump lashed out at cnn for using unnamed sources, he said today, nobody loves the first amendment more than me, while again calling the press enemies of the people >>> we begin with the fbi story in russia. jim sciuto broke it for us last night. he's got more right now. jim, what's the latest? >> reporter: tonight the white house vehemently defending, denying reports that -- the administration's intense push back following cnn's exclusive reporting of that request, senior administration officials insisting that it only asked for the denial after a top fbi official himself volunteered that the "new york times" story on the communications was inaccurate. i should note, the white house is not disputing cnn's reporting, which spes fighted these communications during the ca

, two former top fbi officials weigh in. so will carl bernstein. but first the very latest from jim sciutto. >> reporter: tonight the white house vehemently defending, asking the fbi to deny reports of communications between trump campaign associates and russians known to u.s. intelligence. the administration's intense push back follows cnn's exclusive reporting of the white house request. senior administration officials insisting it only asked for the denial after a top fbi official himself volunteered that the "new york times" story on those communications was inaccurate. white house officials who asked not to be named today outlined their timeline of events, saying the conversation happened on february 15th, after a 7:30 a.m. meeting led by white house chief of staff reince priebus. fbi deputy director andrew mccabe asked priebus for five minutes alone after the meeting ends. this according to senior administration officials and calls a report linking trump campaign advisers to russian advisers total b.s. he asks whether we can do anything about it and whether there is anything t

briefings after being forced to admit reince priebus asked the fbi to push back trump russia stories. >> i'm not a sloppy guy. >> what we now know about white house efforts to influence the fbi. and the central question -- can the bureau be trusted to investigate the president? >>> plus, as town halls continue around the country, the president divides. >> the people that you're watching, they're not you. >> new fears from the right that the resistance is winning. >> i don't know if we're going to be able to repeal obamacare now. >>> and speaking of obama, a sighting -- [ cheers and applause ] when "all in" starts right now. >> sequestchur. >>> good evening from from new york, i'm chris hayes, in the wake of an explosive story unfolding over the last 24 hours involving improper communication between the white house and the fbi investigating the president and on a day president trump again called the media the enemy of the people, the white house did something news organizations are describing as an unprecedented retaliation -- barring reporters from five prominent media outlets from e

fbi to reject reports the trump campaign spoke with russia? did it violate procedures? cnn reporting and the white house response you don't want to miss. >>> president trump getting ready to take the stage at cpac. his advisors setting the stage for him. we will show what you they said. >>> and is the white house injecting politics to soothe its needs on the up coming travel sfwh? good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. the best kind of week is a two-day workweek. we should stick with this. friday, february 24th. the white house overnight voicing objections to exclusive cnn reporting about communications with the officials and russia. the fbi rejected a white house request it knock down reports about constant communication with trump officials and russians. cnn and new york times reported on the contacts last week. late last night, sean spicer objected to our request to the fbi. he told us quote, we did not try to knock down the story. we asked them, the fbi, to tell the truth. >> another white house official said the request was made after t

every aspect whether it is on hacking, collusion, fbi response when it was learned the russians were in the computers of democratic institutions, the use of russian media, all of these things that we are investigating we should not accept any summary conclusion or form any premature conclusion about where the investigation will lead. i also want to say that in my opinion for the white house to theeeking help from intelligence leadership either or elsewhere, to knock down stories it does not like is completely inappropriate and threatens those agencies. if indeed conversations were had with officials about whether or not accusations were accurate, that is not appropriate. if the cia director was tasked to knockdown stories, that is even more inappropriate and threatens the independence of that agency and any investigation that agency may be undertaking in terms of counter intelligence. predominantthe challenges we will have in conducting a credible investigation are we have to make sure it remains bipartisan. it will lead little value if not. and we will need the cooperation of the fb

says that the request was only made after the fbi indicated to the white house it did not believe all of the reporting was accurate. multiple u.s. officials telling cnn the white house sought the help of the bureau and other agencies investigating the russian matter to say the reports were wrong and there had been no contact. these officials said fbi director james comey rejected that request according to multiple sources in part because the alleged communications are part of an ongoing investigation. sean spicer says we didn't try to knock the story down. we asked them to tell the truth. the fbi did not comment. alisyn? >> so obviously this is not a typical request, pamela. how did it start? >> this all began with fbi deputy director andrew mccabe and white house chief of staff reince priebus on the sidelines of a separate meeting in the days after those stories were published. mccabe told priebus that "the new york times" story vastly overstated what the fbi knows about the contacts. a u.s. official says mccabe didn't discuss specific aspects of the case but wouldn't say exactly wha

big news day. >> it always is. we begin with two cnn exclusives this morning. learning that the fbi rejected an unusual request from the white house to publicly dispute media reports that aids on the trump campaign were in constant contact with russian official durs during the 2016 race. the steps the white house is taking to build a legal case to justify it's travel ban. the white house politicizing intelligence. she is part of the team that broke these exclusive stories. cnn is told that they rejected a request to publicly knockdown reports about the 2016 presidential campaign and russians known to u.s. intelligence but a white house official says that the request was only made after the fbi indicated to the white house it did not believe all the reporting is accurate. and investigating the russian matter to say the reports were wrong and there's been no contact. fbi director james comey rejected that request according to sources in part because they're the subject of an on going investigation. we did not try to knockdown the story. we asked them to tell the truth. that coming fro

, the white house says it did no wrong in asking the fbi to knock down reports of contacts between trump aides and russian officials during the election campaign. but democrats are demanding an investigation. >>> blocked from briefing, in an unprecedented move, the white house bars cnn, the new york times, and other major news organizations from a press briefing while selectively letting others in. did president trump order the punishment? >>> irony and insults, the president gives a speech slamming the news media and repeating the phrase, quote, enemy of the people. the president says no one should use unnamed sources, this on the same day that the white house held a press briefing attributed to unnamed officials. >>> and nerve agent murder, did north korea use the deadly est of all chemical nerve agents, a substance banned around the world, to kill the half brother of the dictator kim jong-un? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in t"the situation room." >>> president trump on the offensive, lashing out at both the fbi and the news media. he used twitter to slam the fbi saying you can't sto

white house chief of staff reince priebus pressured the fbi to publicly knock down news reports about trump associates communicating with russians known to u.s. intelligence. a request that the fbi declined. >>> now democrats are demanding answers. >>> plus, it kills in minutes. authorities say a highly toxic chemical weapon was used to murder kim jong-un's half brother. how did the alleged assassins get it and what might that mean? >>> good afternoon and welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. the white house appearing today to take punitive action against news organizations. press secretary sean spicer in the people's house just briefed reporters on the day's news. he was at the white house, of course. he did not allow news outlets including cnn and the new york times and the los angeles times and politico and others to attend that off-camera briefing which is known as a gaggle. this is a wild deviation from basic white house protocol which normally allows any credentialed news organization to participate. for more let's go right to cnn's sara murray live in the briefing room. i hav

now. >>> the white house vehemently defending asking the fbi to deny reports of communication between trump campaign associates and russians known to u.s. intelligence. >> i'm against the people that make up stories and make up sources. >> this is something that embarrasses the white house. that's not a leak. that's a news story. >> if you think they're going to give you your country back without a fight, you're sadly mistaken. >> the democrats have a real chance to change things. >> that's why he beat all of those other republicans because he stole a democratic message. we do have to lead with our values. >> we're all in this together. that's got to be a message. >>> well, good morning to you on a saturday, i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. good morning to you. wub stabbed we're starting with pushing back the white house. denying any wrongdoing asking trump to speak out about reports between the trump campaign and the russians. >> the revelations is raising decades olds questions, can the white house have an open discussion with the fbi when there's an a discussion o

can't keep the white house under control, how do you expect the fbi to do it can we go back to the attacks on the media because i think all of us collectively are living in the media. the idea there's sort of one colonel, the question i have for them is a statement i can only trust breitbart, that is the only real news media. i need the definition of what fake news is to be more clear. how did you repond to that? >> the fake news, i outlined a couple of examples early on but the fake news again we're going to get to the story a little bit later about reince priebus and the fbi. the way that. the way they harp on that and try to convey that reince priebus actually initiatessed the contact which was not true. you would believe that if you saw the news coverage all morning long. >> so what we just saw the president do is give his own exame. isn't just germests making mistakes. zeek miller the pool reporter inside the white house who said you know, martin luther king's bus was removed from the bust was removed from the office. eight hours later he tweets i guess it was behind the guard

conversations with the fbi and the white house. well tonight, a source says the president himself is frustrated. and democrats are asking, did the white house break the law? >>> and also president trump promised to protect coal try, but now plants are now set to close. is the president to blame? >>> and now some republicans are invoking gabby giffords's name as a reason not attend town hall meetings. out front tonight, the white house pushing back against cnn's exclusive reporting that white house chief of staff reince priebus -- this as a source close to the president tells cnn there is consternation tonight in the white house over this story, saying, quote, this is the type of distraction the president does not need right now. on capitol hill, democratic leader nancy pelosi releasing a blistering statement saying priebus has committed an outrageous breach of the fbi's independence. pamela, is the white house pushing back? >> reporter: well, poppy, today the white house isn't denying cnn's exclusive reporting that it requested the fbi to speak out kbeps a report about trump's associates and th

. >>> "early start" continues right now. did the white house try to get the fbi to reject reports that donald trump campaign spoke with russia and did it violate procedure by speaking with the bureau? exclusive cnn reporting and the response. >>> president trump getting ready to take the stage at cpac. his vice president and top advisers setting the scene for him. we will show you what they said. >>> is the white house injecting politics into intelligence agencies to suit its needs on the travel ban? live coverage on all of the political headlines. good morning. i'm dave briggs. >> nice to see yo i'm christine romans. it is friday, february 24th. 5:00 a.m. in the east. voicing objections to the cnn reporting about communications between the trump campaign and russia. multiple u.s. officials tell cnn the fbi rejected a white house request that it knock down reports about constant communications with officials. cnn first reported on those contacts last week. sean spicer objected to the characterization of the white house request to the fbi. he told us we did not try to knock the story do

reporting denying any wrongdoing and asking the fbi to speak out against reports of contacts between the trump campaign and russians. this is "cnn tonight." as we look at live pictures from the white house, i'm don lemon, thanks for joining us. administration confirming it did speak to the fbi about communications with russians but took unprecedented step of blocking cnn and other major news organizations from a white house press briefing. got a lot to get to tonight. start with evan perez, sara murray and alan dershowitz. we're going to start with you evan. great reporting from the team in washington and we appreciate it. american people do as well. part of the team that broke this story last night. what is the latest? >> today is a day the white house is on the defensive. wanted to make the point they did nothing wrong in the contacts between the white house chief of staff reince priebus and deputy director of the fbi andrew mccabe. if you recall all began last week after cnn and "new york times" reported there were contacts between people with the trump campaign and people in russia k

pushing back. the white house strongly defends asking the fbi to deny reports of communications between trump campaign associates and russians known to u.s. intelligence. denied entry, the white house blocks cnn, the "new york times" and other major news organizations from an off-camera press briefing. is it escalating its war on the news media. >>> still campaigning. president trump takes a victory lap at a conservative conference touting his hard line agenda. are republicans united behind him. >> deadly development. the half brother of kim jong-un was killed with a banned chemical agent. who was behind the murder? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the "the situation room." >>> we're following new developments in our exclusive reporting. tonight the white house says it did nothing wrong by asking the fbi to deny reports of communications between president trump's campaign aides and russians known to u.s. intelligence. the president himself didn't address the issue as he spoke to the annual conservative conferen

we'll talk about these conversations between the white house and the fbi about this on going investigation, i'm brooke baldwin and this is cnn. >>> welcome back, you're watching cnn president trump once again slamming the intelligence community but this time focussing on the fbi. he says in two tweets quote the fbi is totally unable to stop the national security leakers that have persmeated our government for a long time, classified information is being given to the media that could have a devastating affect on the u.s. find now. the fbi rejected a question to publicly refute media reports about the trump campaign ties to russia, evan perez is part of the team at cnn that broke the story wide open. evan give me the details on what you have learned. >> reporter: the white house has been on the defensive holding impromptu meeting in response to our exclusive reporting that the fbi had refused the white house request to knock down stories about trump associates contacts with russians during the 2016 campaign. two senior administration officials friday earlier today strongly argu

out. we have time weiner, the foremost modern historian of the fbi and the cia. time weiner will be here to help us sort this out. but there are just some baseline fundamental questions we don't have an answer for. or that we have answers for that make no sense. first there's the direct simple question of mike flynn and how he got to be national security advisor. how he lasted 24 days at that job. it's wudly reported general flynn was under investigation by counterintelligence community at the fbi and by counterintelligence investigators at the cia. he's also reportedly under investigation by the u.s. army for having taken allegedly undisclosed payments from the russian government during the presidential campaign at the end of 2015. those investigations didn't just start now. how did he get named national security advisor? the president is cleared to receive all classified information, included information about the investigations under way. what the president must have known about the counterintelligence investigations of michael flynn why would you ask michael flynn to be your nat

reporting, denying any wrong doing when those, with the trump campaign and the white house asked the fbi to tamp down reports of contacts between the trump campaign and russian official, now to cnn chief national security correspondent, jim shuuto in washington. >> well, fred, in the midst of the white house criticism of the media o media's coverage of the story, the white house did admit it did communicate with the fbi about an ongoing investigation between trump advisers and russian officials and that it did ask for the fbi's help in tamping these stories down. tonight, the white house vehemently defending, asking the fbi to deny reporting of communications. the administration's intense push back follows cnn's reporting, insisting it only asked for the denial after a top fbi official himself volunteer ed at "the new york times" story was inaccurate. white house official who is asked not to be named today outlines their timeline of events. saying the conversation happened on february 15th, after a 7:30 a.m. meeting led by white house chief of staff, reince priebus. fbi depp pty director

the top of his speech on some of our reporting that we've had here on cnn about those fbi contacts with the white house and the fbi, poppy. >> it's a good point, jeff, because he has not responded to the substance of cnn's exclusive reporting on this, only attacked the leakers on twitter. jeff zeleny, before we hear from the president, i want to get to this exclusive reporting from cnn and how the white house is pushing back this morning on it. the reporting is about an unusual eye raising request, eyebrow raising request from the trump administration to the fbi. sources telling us, multiple sources, that the trump administration went to the fbi, wanting them to publicly dismiss reports of contact between russian officials and trump campaign advisers during the runup to the election. our justice correspondent pamela brown has been working her sources, breaking this story. our joe johns has spoken to senior u.s. officials about it. pamela, what have you learned? >> reporter: poppy, cnn has learned that the fbi rejected this recent white house request to publicly knock down on media

fbi interviewed michael flynn. the legal department started reviewing the matter to get a report on whether or not anything was actually done wrong and whether or not he in fact talked to the russian ambassador about sanctions. and at some point after we were first tipped off and got to the point of reviewing whether he was being honest or not, after we got the report back from the white house counsel, that's when we looped in -- or that's when the vice president was brought into the conversation more fully in regard to whether or not michael flynn was honest. >> waiting that long, do you -- do you regret that it looks like that the vice president is essentially not in the loop? >> no, the vice president is in the loop on everything, chuck. it happened so fast. i mean, what happened was the legal department was tipped off, they looked into the legality of it. the actual investigation was ended almost immediately, so there was no investigation. it was a matter of whether it was legal. but then when we found out that, hey, he may have talked to the rausch russian ambassador, that's wh

call off leaks from twitter. fbi is unable to stop the national security leakers within our government. classified information is being given to media that could have devastati devastati devastati devastating affect on the u.s. ken, you can give me the time line on this dispute that has arisen? >> sure. this is about the fbi, on february 14, there were a pair of stories were the new york sometimes and cnn asserting that the fbi had obtained evidence th that members of the trump campaign were in contact with russian officials. while russia was engaged in that covert campaign to interveer with the election. the next morning, deputy fbi director, andrew mccayed, according to sean spicer today, pulls aside white house chief of staff, reince priebus. we think the story was garbage, it wasn't true. can you push back on it. the fbi decides no, we can't push back on it we're not in the business of correcting media accounts. one is these conversation appear to have violated long-standing justice department hinge -- not fbi talking to white house chief of staffs. they have been after all could i

eyebrows. sources tell us the administration wanted the fbi to publicly dismiss reports of contact between russian officials and trump campaign advisers before the election. the president responding this morning on twitter we'll have what he said in just a moment. first let's straight to justice correspondent pamela brown who has been working sources all day and night breaking this news. what can you tell us? >> cnn is told by multiple sources that the fbi rejected a request from the white house recently to publicly knock down media reports about communications during the 2016 presidential campaign between donald trump's associates and russians known to u.s. intelligence. a white house official says that the request was made only after the fbi indicated to the white house it did not believe all of the reporting was accurate. multiple u.s. officials telling cnn the white house sought the help of the bureau and other agencies investigating the russian matter to say the reports were wrong and that there had been in contacts, the officials said. fbi director james comey responded by re

agents. white house chief of staff reince priebus sought unsuccessfully to have the fbi refute news reports that donald trump's campaign advisers were in frequent contact with russian intelligence agents ahead of november's election. that's according to cnn, which reported thursday the fbi declined to publicly corroborate priebus's denial. his outreach violated policies intended to limit communications between the fbi and the administration on pending investigations. we will have more on that story with white house counsel, former white house counsel john dean. the pentagon is considering a plan that would see troops to defeat of after the isis. they are discussing the possibility, saying the possibility to extend troop deployment -- officer gerrit lansing was among six staffers fired by the white house after they failed an fbi background check. lansing is the former head of the republican party's digital operations. according to politico, lansing failed due to conflicts of interest posed by his business investments. in the philippines, police arrested an opposition senator and fier

refused request. exclusive new reporting from cnn says the white house asked the fbi to knock down reports about contacts during the election campaign between aides to donald trump and russians known to u.s. intelligence. >>> long way to go. top mexican officials state their disagreement with president trump's immigration policies as they meet with secretaries of state, the secretaries of state and homeland security during a mission to ease strained relations. did president trump just make their job harder by calling deportations a military operation? >>> flawless, the white house says the president's revised executive order on immigration is being delayed by efforts to make sure it won't result in the same chaos and legal challenges as his initial travel ban. will it meet the mark? >>> and greater enforcement. the white house also says it expects law enforcement agencies to enforce federal laws on recreational marijuana even on states that have legalized its use. is the crackdown on weed in the works? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wo

exclusive. is the white house playing politics with an fbi investigation? this is "cnn tonight," i'm don lemon, cnn learning exclusively that fbi declined white house request to publicly knock down media reports about communications between donald trump's associates and russians known to intelligence during the campaign. according to numerous sources. and assigned homeland security to work with the justice department on legal case to justify its temporary travel ban on people from iraq, iran, libya, somalia, sudan, syria and yemen. lots to get to. white house efforts to respond to cnn and other reporting about contacts with russian and high level donald trump associates last year. here we have evan and jim joining me now. good evening. jim, what did you find out? >> don, cnn is told that fbi rejected a recent white house request to publicly knock down media reports about communications during the 2016 presidential campaign between donald trump's associates and russians known to u.s. intelligence. multiple officials tell cnn that white house sought the help of not just the bureau but othe

♪ >>> the white house vehemently defending asking the fbi to deny reports of communication between trump campaign associates and russians known to u.s. intelligence. >> i'm against the people that make up stories and make up sources. >> this is something that embarrassless the white house. that's not a leak. that's a news story. >> if you think they're going to give you your country back without a fight, you're sadly mistaken. >> the democrats have a real chance to change things. >> that's why he beat all of those other republicans because he stole a democratic message. we do have to leave with our values. for all of us together, that's got to be the message. >>> well, good morning to you on a saturday, i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. good morning to you. welcome to your new day. the question, though, is this a new day for the democrats? the democratic national committee is set to elect a chairman and they have two important questions to answer. first, who will lead the opposition for president trump's agenda and can they heal the division within their party? >> that's o

. >>> president trump takes aim at the fbi tonight, saying the fbi is totally unable to stop the national security leakers. adding, they can't even find them within the fbi itself. >>> and, the amber alert across six states. and the race to find a 6-year-old girl, 300 miles away. >>> good evening. it's great to have you with us here on a very busy friday night. we begin with a deadly police shooting. two officers shot and wounded. the suspect shot and killed. tonight, there's video of the harrowing scene as it unfolded. police struggling with an armed suspect. one officer seen falling to the ground. authorities still trying to figure out if the officers were shot by a suspect, or if there was friendly fire. pierre thomas is on the scene tonight in washington. >> reporter: disturbing video shows police swarming over the suspect at the end of a dramatic foot chase. as shots ring out. it's not clear what triggered the gunfire or who shot first since the officers are in such close quarters, struggling with the suspect. but four shots can clearly be heard on the video. at least one apparently

, brian fallon, matt lewis, thank you to all of you. >>> explosive new reporting that the fbi rejected a white house request to publicly deny the intelligence that trump campaign officials were in touch with russia. this is a clear violation and we'll discuss that. >>> plus is the white house trying to politicize intelligence to justify its new travel ban? we'll have developments that have officials concerned. >>> and facing a room full of angry constituents. a republican congressman tells the president, release your tax returns. hear why. ♪ hey, bud. you need some help? no, i'm good. come on, moe. i have to go. (vo) we always trusted our subaru impreza would be there for him someday. ok. that's it. (vo) we just didn't think someday would come so fast. see ya later, moe. (vo) introducing the all-new subaru impreza. the longest-lasting vehicle in its class. more than a car, it's a subaru. we need yourassword so we can lock down the system. my password? yes, sir, we need your password. the passrd that i use? yes, sir, your password. there's been another breach! sir! right. okay. i-h-a...

committee can't do the work of the fbi. so are you investigating the fbi's investigation? and that is the case, why wouldn't you wait until the fbi finished its investigation? >> well first of all, we can't do everything the fbi is doing because we don't have the resources. and frankly, we shouldn't attempt to do everything the fbi has done. indeed, when we look at the intelligence community's analysis of the russian hack we are not going to be starting from scratch. we are going to look at the conclusions they reached, the raw intelligence they looked at. and among other thing we are going to be trying to determine, did each of the conclusions they reach, were they supported by the actual intelligence? we'll go beyond that, but that is certainly an important part of what we're going to do. why shouldn't we wait until the fbi is finished? we have our own responsibility to the public to investigate what the russians did, what impact it had, whether there were u.s. persons involved. and we ought to conduct our investigation. if the fbi is still doing one contemporaneous with anything they a

reince priebus tried to put pressure on the fbi to knock down a story that had gotten wide circulation that there was lots of association during the campaign between trump associates and russian intelligence. what do you make of that story? >> first of all, i don't know what is true and isn't true. y i don't necessarily believe a mainstream media's version of it but i don't necessarily believe donald trump's version of it either. look, a lot of this the press brings on itself. some reporters -- the animosity level against donald trump in some quarters is in the unhealthy range.im some reporters would like to see him destroyed. but, but, bias as bad as it is, isn't fake news. there is a big difference, and o think donald trump, sooner or later, is going to have to realize that news he doesn't like isn't fake, it's biased, which shouldn't be. fake news is hillary clinton's running a sex ring for children out of a pizzeria in washington. that's fake. reporters -- i worked at cbs news for 28 years. they have biases, they have faults, but they don't go into a room and say, let's

yesterday. >>> a white house official asked fbi to pour cold water on stories that trump campaign advisers were in touch with russian advisers during the election. cnn reported that they refused to bow to that effort. it is reported that reince priebus made the request of deputy director andrew mccain but the question after the bureau told the administration it believes "the new york times" describing those contacts were not accurate. joe, i understand you have new reporting? >> let's build on that aittle bit. two sources. one in the white house and intel community tell us at "morning joe" that while over at the white house on other business deputy director mccain asked priebus if he could set five minutes at the end of the meeting to discuss another topic. p priebus said yes. mccain said the u.s. report on contacts with russian was overblown and not supported by any evidence the fbi had. priebus asked mccain in the meeting if they could clear it out and get the information out. mccain said think about it and calm him. later that afternoon, mccain called priebus and said even thou

priebus asked the fbi to push back against a new story on the trump camp's ties to russia. critics say the white house chief of staff crossed the line, but did he break any laws? >>> and it is going to be decision day for democrats. >> let resistance plus persistence equal progress for our party and our country. >> hillary clinton won't be leading the democratic party in the trump era, but she is speaking out as the race to be the next democratic chairman reaches the finish line. who has the inside track? we are going to break down this weekend's big election. we'll do that in label the. >>> we begin with the top story today, trump at cpac. the president addressing the annual gathering of the conservative grass roots. he becomes the first republican president to speak to cpac since ronald reagan, the godfather of modern conservatism back in the early 1980s, and how much things have changed in this era of trump. in so many vital areas from trade to entitlement spending, to the subject of russia, trump being cheered today by offering a vision of conservatism that in some ways would be unreco

to try and get this fbi -- kelly, i'm sorry. let's start with you. what is the white house doing, how are they reacting to this news that the fbi -- about this report the fbi and reince priebus were in conversations about how do tamp down on this news that the campaign could have been talking to russia? >> reporter: well, how this played out is senior administration officials today talked to reporters and notably on background, not able to use their names, which is something the president objected to in his remarks at cpac, and the story, as they tell it, is that a senior fbi official spoke to reince priebus, initiated the conversation after an unrelated meeting, to say that the fbi's view was that a specific story in "the new york times" was inaccurate. and priebus asked for help from the fbi to publicly dispute that story in order to counter this narrative that is out there that has been reported by a number of agencies, but in different ways. that there were contacts between associates of donald trump during the campaign era with individuals in russia. some reports called that

priebus asked the fbi to knock down stories about the russia investigation. brand-new reporting breaking right now. while center stage, president trump with a big speech this morning in front of a giant conservative conference after this rare appearance by steve bannon. >> if you think they are going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken. >> an arms race. the president in a new interview vows to build up america's nuclear arsenal. >> if countries are going to have nukes, we are going to be at the top of the pack. >> put your seatbelt on. we have a lot to cover starting with that brand-new reporting about conversations between the president's chief of staff and fbi officials regarding reports about russian contacts in the trump campaign. we have the best team in the business to break it down. let's start with kristen welker live at the white house. help me. you just got out of a briefing on this, what did you hear? >> reporter: it was a 40-minute briefing with top officials here at the white house. they are pushing back vigorously on reports that t

fire at his own fbi blasting the bureau for leaks. we'll show you what may have set him off. why john boehner says washington will never repeal and replace obama care. live looks with the president there at the white house. and the peruvian leader with him. news is breaking now. let's get to it. >> shepard: first from the fox news deck, the white house is just frozen out media organizations that president trump has blasted as fake news. instead of holding the daily press briefing today, the press secretary sean spicer called what is called a gaggle with reporters behind closed doors. he would answer questions off camera. and he hand-picked which news organizations could attend. that is highly unusual. not included were "the new york times" newspaper, cnn and the website politico. that prompted boycotts. "time" magazine refused to attend the gaggle. the times editor says "nothing like this has ever happened at the white house in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties." free media access to a transparent government is of crucial national interest. the

request was only made after the fbi indicated to the white house it did not believe some of the reporting to be accurate. now multiple u.s. officials tell the white house they stop the help of the bureau and others investigating the russian matter and there have been no contacts the official said fbi director rejected sources in part because they're the subject of an on going investigation. sean spicer told cnn last night we didn't try to knockdown the story. we asked them to tell the truth. the fbi did not comment, allison. >> so pam larks this is not a typical request so what is the time line here. how did all of this back and forth start. >> this all began with the fbi director and white house chief of staff on the sidelines of a separate white house meeting on the day after those stories were published by cnn and the new york times. a white house official said he told them about the contacts made during the election but didn't discuss aspects of the case but the white house official says he later reached out but james comey asking for the fbi to at least talk to reporters on

. >> senator, i thought you were in europe. >>> plus, new reporting the fbi rejected a white house request to publicly knock down reports of trump campaign ties to russia. >>> and my exclusive interview with the muslim woman who worked onnen donald trump's national security council only to quit after eight days. when "all in" starts right now. >>> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. the man dubbed "the gras manipulator" chief strategist steve bannon who some refer to as "president bannon" came out from behind the curtain to rally the faithful at the conservative political action conference. bannon appearing on stage with white house chief of staff reince priebus where he took a victory lap at the election results and lashed out at the media which bannon says opposes president trump's "economic nationalist agenda." >> as economic conditions get better, as more jobs get better, they'll continue to fight. if you think they'll give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken. [ applause ] everyday it is going to be a fight and that is what i'm proudest about donald t

case specifically with the fbi and the department of justice in one of their investigations. in the 1970s, in the aftermath of watergate, they started putting rules in place to stop that from happening again. to specifically limit contact between the white house and the justice department when it came to either ongoing or pending investigations. as these rules have evolved over the years, there have been become areas that are carved out there. have been exceptions made for matters of national security and things that are imminently important to the president being able to do his work as president but beyond those carveouts, they set in place these new rules, restricting communication between the white house and the department of justice on pending justice investigations. current investigations. it's interesting the way those rules worked. it's one thing to talk about that as a principle. it's another thing to figure out how to enact it. they put the responsibility for handling those communications properly, they put the responsibility for that on a very small handful of highly trust

reported that the white house chief of staff reince priebus asked fbi official to push back. that conversation started two stories administration objected to. one by "new york times" characterizing trump's campaign as intelligence officials. another cnn describing both sides as being in constant contact. glenn, this is your world of trying to figure out the stories. the white house, the old trick of flak erie, you deny the story. you say the story is inaccurate. because the piece doesn't fit the fact when 90% does. what's the white house flaker ri here? >> that's what is curse about this. a couple of things are happening, first of all, in some instances, the white house is not responding to inquiries on fact which makes things difficult. the other thing that i find interesting of this white house is their use of categorical denials. on one of the stories, i forget which, reince priebus described it as garbage. you hear from spicer unbelievable or in an instance yesterday talking about something being 100% wrong or true. i never heard that kind of language out of any -- i think tha

clear here so that the fbi specifically told you that they have found no contacts between the trump associates and russian officials. >> and okay. we are not going to be saving the whole i.c. here, and get specific to one agency here, but as of right now i don't have any evidence that would of any phone calls, and it does not mean they don't exist, but don't have that, and what i have been told by many folks is that there's nothing there. >> but you are still look into it. >> absolutely, and we want the information, but i can't call in american it citizens with no information. >> and are you saying that there is no contact with the russians and are you referring to contacts with manafort and contact with the ukrainians and other -- [ inaudible ]. >> yeah, i think that specifically, this is going to be on the contacts with any association whatsoever to any anyone even with within the realm of the russianle inth realm of the russianle inte rus intelligence apparatus. >> and you said many people, and can you tell us who -- >> no sh, i will not get into specific conversations that i i h

>>> two big breaking news stories right now. this is cnn tonight. learning exclusively that the fbi declined a request to knock down media reports about communications between donald trump's associates and russians known to intelligence during the campaign. that's according to multiple officials briefed on the matter. meanwhile, is the administration playing politics with the travel ban? they are working with the justice department on a legal case to justify the temporary travel ban on people from iraq, iran, libya, somalia, sudan, syria and yemen. let's go to our exclusive reporting about white house efforts to respond to others who are reporting about russian contacts with high level advisers and then candidate donald trump last year. jim and evan broke the story. jim, what did you find out? >> don, what we have learn side that the white house reached out to the fbi and asked the fbi to tamp down in effect to challenge media reports that members of the trump campaign were in touch with russians known to u.s. intelligence during the campaign and we are told that the fbi refused the