kushner was talking to foreigners. i look at his access and the access of the trump team and i say that's an advantage in america. they have a relationship with people overseas like russia that is almost unique in the american government. the problem he has is not that he met with people but that he didn't report the meeting and those in the security business say when you don't report it that gives you vulnerability to countries as you see here saying maybe he's exploitable. >> you worked for the director of national intelligence, you served in the marine corps for 25 years, what are the potential risks that the u.s. law enforcement or u.s. intelligence community sees why they're refusing to grant these top secret sei security clearances? >> there are a number of different risks. if we assume jared kushner does everything right with regard to his access to classified information, one of the biggest concerns here is that these other countries will do simply because jared kushner has influence and the position of authori

. >> a very rough day for jared kushner. talking to officials inside the white house tonight, brian, they say he has lost not only his security clearance, at least that high level access to classified information downgraded to a secret status. he is losing his top aide inside the white house. not a well-known presence nationally, but inside the west wing, inside of washington known as a real keen operator. he's leaving the west wing. and you also have kushner struggling with general kelly, the chief of staff. these tensions about the scope of his role, all of it culminating today with this new clearance announcement. >> jeremy bash, if homeland or any number of broadcasts were doing this, they would establish a meeting in the situation room where they would have to pause and they would say i'm afraid to continue we'll have to and you to leave. in the real world, in a practical sense what does this mean jared kushner will no longer be able to see or hear or handle and who's the enforcer? >> he won't be able to read the presid

information about jared kushner. let me read a couple lines from the story. officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, and senior advise or, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of policy experience. among those ways discussing kushner, china, israel, and mexico. the current and former officials said of the that'll would help explain why over the past 13 months, the fbi, the intelligence community, decided they can't give him full security clearance. >> and it goes on to say that jared kushner was having contacts with foreign that's the that he did not coordinate through the national security clearance or report on the channel that's would you expect. i think this goes back to initial kernels that everyone had about his business dealings when he came into the white house. the unique thing about real estate holdings, you don't suddenly forget that you own this building, 666, that

it is the biggest issue in jared kushner and his father charles kushner's life. 666 fifth avenue is a huge problem. it's a $1.2 billion that is still on the books for them that comes due less than a year from now. and it has put them in an extraordinarily vulnerable position. and it casts all of these matters into a great deal of concern. every one of the meetings as jared kushner and his father have sought foreign money to try to solve that problem. it puts him in an extraordinary position of vulnerability. makes him a huge security risk. and it's not just a question of special prosecutor. i was just going to commend people to keep your eye, not just on bob mueller, but to keep your eye on eric schneiderman, the new york state attorney general and what he might be looking at and what he might proceed to do in the months ahead on this question. >> jill, a lot of us could not imagine the president choosing john kelly's rule book over jared kushner's needs in the white house. but it could be that the lawyers combined with john kelly have convinced the president that at this point, it is

before trump took office kushner met with executives of a chinese company to discuss a troubled kushner investment in a new york office building at 666 fifth avenue. that company was just taken over this weekend by the chinese government. that's who kushner was negotiating with during the transition for like a $400 million investment in his family's company building. so this is in "the washington post" tonight. this is a bombshell for a couple reasons. one, there is the unprecedented and bizarre personal drama where we can't predict the outcome because we've never had anything like this before. this bizarre personal drama that derives from nepotism which is why there are anti nepotism rules. bizarre drama from the white house including the security advisor and chief of staff drawing a line and saying no to the president over his son-in-law. saying that on national security grounds and there are concerns about the behavior of a white house senior advisor and contacts with multiple foreign countries, serious concerns they would rank among the biggest scandals in any modern presidency even

that jared kushner did not ask for special treatment. but, erin, on a day like this, when jared kushner was on capitol hill and then holding a conversation about prison reform, it was clear that he did not necessarily expect this. but he is going to keep doing his job at least for now. but that is the question here tonight, erin, how longwill jared kushner and ivanka trump of course stay at this white house. will they stick it out? or does this change his interest here in working at the white house? >> erin. >> thank you very much, jeff. on that let's try to get some answers. outfront with the white house raj shaw. good to have you back with me tonight. a day of some sunning and very quick moving developments jared kushner stripped of access to nation's top secrets with the downgrade in his security clearance. were you shocked by this, raj? >> reporter: well, erin, good evening. thanks for having me on. the white house has been saying the same thing about this matter and related matters for rather a number of months now. we do not comme

the statement also contends no concerns were raised about kushner's application. the "washington post" has reported that earlier this month, deputy ag rod rosenstein personally phoned the white house counsel to say new information had opposed and obstacle to kushner's clearance. and the major stories reporting today that officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate jared kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements and financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience. those nations are alleged to be the uae, china, israel and mexico. according to current and former u.s. officials familiar with intel reports on the matter, the officials said that national security adviser hr mcmaster learned that kushner had contacts with foreign officials that he did not coordinate through the national security council or officially report them. and that the issue of foreign officials talking about their meetings with kushner and their perceptions of his vulnerabilities was raised in mcmaster's daily intelli

kushner and john kelly. the president technically gave the authority to john kelly in front of everyone at that press conference and he does not give jared kushner a waiver. this isn't something jared kushner has seen before when he's gone up against people. on the campaign trail, reince priebus, where he's come out on the lose go end. >> coming up, he met with the survivors of the florida shooting. what they want to do about guns and gun violence and what could be done. -looks great, honey. -right? sometimes you need an expert. i got it. and sometimes those experts need experts. on it. [ crash ] and sometimes the expert the expert needed needs insurance expertise. it's all good. steve, you're covered for general liability. and, paul, we got your back with workers' comp. wow, it's like a party in here. where are the hors d'oeuvres, right? [ clanking ] tartlets? we cover commercial vehicles, too. i think there's something wrong with your sink. we cover commercial vehicles, too. you wouldn't accept from any on

and the depth they incurred in the kushner companies. looking for international investors trying to shore up the debt. discussing he might be leverageable. >> they paid a huge amount, they refinanced that. that money coming due and even in the transition, kushner was meeting with potential investors. >> meetings with a russian banker. there is discrepancy. it was no secret of course that he had this debt and it is important to remember that a normal person when they go through a process for trying to obtain security clearance, your credit card debt might be flagged. and does that make you vulnerable to some kind of blackmail or perhaps a pay off by a foreign official. in the case of jared kushner's company there was a $1.4 billion note coming due. that becomes a red flag in a security clearance. >> all of the countries are in the portfolio in what jared kushner are working on in this legislation. israel is looking at ways to snipp manipulate him. and mexico, as a candidate going down to mexico and other things in the middle east. >> thes

an investigation in jared kushner and his money connections. also a key real estate developer have money questions that are -- money relationships that are questionable. let me cut to the chase. this is not about whether somebody is a spy or somebody colluded with the russians. this is about when somebody from russia picks up the call and says i want you to meet one of my friends do you take the call or not. and if you take the call is it because you have dirty money. that is what is going on. >> a lot of trump reporters would say, we had 1:00 last night on the program, if mueller is going back old business dealings, that is going back too far. that would be a red line. what do you say to those people, why would old business dealings play a potential role in collusion if there is any or any kind of shady compromising position that russia may have over somebody. >> let me flip the question and this is not complicated if you walk into a room and you are investigating a burglary and you see a murder, and you are the fbi, do you say we are investig

in the first place. >> kushner's security clearance should absolutely be suspended. >> kushner absolutely should not have a current clearance. >> richard blumenthal with this reaction today. >> jared kushner's security clearance blocked brings the word overdue. there's no reason these interim security clearances should let people who have secrets in their background to handle the nation's secrets. >> this is a thing he doesn't want. it's at least a slap on the wrist. so the question tonight as this news breaks is, why isn't president trump helping jared kushner out? as a legal and constitutional matter, this president like any president is the ultimate classifying authority. he can give kushner the full security clearance, but remember last week, the president said he would stay out of this one. >> your chief of staff general kelly has recommended ending the practice of giving interim security clearances to members of the trump administration. >> yes. >> if that proceeds, would you be willing to grant a security clearance to jared kushner? >> jared kushner has been treated very unfairly.

kushner under scrutiny. cnn has learned the special counsel is expanding his investigation to look at the foreign business dealings of the president's son-in-law and senior adviser going beyond jared kushner's russia contacts. stand by for our exclusive report. >>> all tweet, no action. president trump is on the attack once again tonight, blasting president obama's response to the russia election meddling while refusing to blame vladimir putin. we are tracking mr. trump's on-going rant about new russian indictments. >>> kremlin denials. russia is helping the president feed his false narrative, dismissing the mueller investigation is much ado about nothing. cnn live in moscow with new reaction from the putin government. >>> and warnings and anger. the florida school shooter appears in court as we're learning more about his arsenal of deadly weapons and warning signs that were missed. the family who took him in is now telling cnn what they knew. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around th

kushner under scrutiny. cnn has learned the special counsel is expanding his investigation to look at the foreign business dealings of the president's son-in-law and senior adviser going beyond jared kushner's russia contacts. stand by for our exclusive report. >>> all tweet, no action. president trump is on the attack once again tonight, blasting president obama's response to the russia election meddling while refusing to blame vladimir putin. we are tracking mr.

kushner did not respond to cnn questions. a spokesman said they won't respond to "unnamed sources peddling secondhand hearsay." >>> hope hicks didn't have much to say during a nine-hour closed door appearance tuesday before the house intelligence committee. according to a source with direct knowledge of her testimony, the white house communications director did admit she has to tell "white lies" for the president on occasion. she insisted she has not had to lie about anything substantive. >> she refused to answer questions about her time in the white house. she did not invoke executive privilege but told lawmakers she had been instructed by the administration not to answer the questions. >> hope we'll get to all the answers. >> reporter: has there been a subpoena issued for her? >> no. >> reporter: should there be? >> yes. >> reporter: why is that? >> as within who doesn't answer -- with anyone who doesn't answer questions, they ought to be subpoenaed. >> corey lewandowski also declined as did steve bannon to answer questions

kushner's application. it is true that it can take a long time for anybody to get their full security clearance. do you think and do you have any indication this is just part of normal process? >> from my understanding it's absolutely not part of the normal process. we're talking about 13 months now. we're talking about over 100 people in the administration who have not completed the process, but remember about jared kushner. remember he's had to make several amendments to his clearance, to his application. issues have been raised from day one. it's not my understanding at all that somebody of his level who makes consistent requests for classified information can have a position like this. now, the interesting thing is going to be who is going to win. is it going to be the clehief o staff? will the president listen to the chief of staff or overrule. we'll find out before week is over. >> i want to ask you about one o other thing regarding russia. the president tweeted obama was president up the and beyond t

it's not just jared kushner's russia contacts. sources telling cnn, while kushner was working on the presidential transition, he was also trying to get financing from his -- for his company from foreign investors, including the chinese. mueller's investigators have been asking questions about kushner's conversations with those investors. more on that in just a moment. >>> plus guess who is coming to dinner? donald trump jr. hosting dinners in two cities, in india for buyers of trump-branded apartments, raising questions of whether he is selling access for the price of a condo. >>> the movie taking the country by storm, "black panther." what this superhero saga means in donald trump's america. we'll discuss all of that. >>> our cnn exclusive reporting on the mueller investigation, cnn justin reporter kara scannell, part of the team that broke the story. what's at the center of what mueller's vest investigating? >> cnn learned the special counsel, robert mueller, is asking questions about jared kushner's personal business dealings d

jared kushner denied access to top secret intelligence. the president's son-in-law and senior white house advisor who was operating on an interim clearance had his access downgraded last week after chief of staff john kelly made changes to the security clearance system. and we are learning officials from at least four countries have reportedly discussed how they could use kushner's business dealings, inexperience and financial troubles to manipulate him. that is according to the washington post, which also reports that those countries, israel, mexico, china, and uae, acted on those conversations. the report goes on to say that a source said top white house officials were worried that kushner was, quote, naive and being tricked by foreign officials. going to bring in now cnn's chief national correspondent jim sciutto. jim, good evening to you. what are you learning tonight? >> sir don, my colleagues gloria borger, pamela brown and i are told that investigators for mueller have recently been asking witnesses about donald trump's business act

kushner is in an unusual position. he not only holds a senior office in the government, but he has access to virtually all of the government secrets by virtue of his being the president's son-in-law. >> john, you know, what this also shows, i would say, is that this investigation goes far beyond questions of collusion. mueller is also looking at financial ties, obstruction of justice. his investigation is wide ranging. >> it's very wide ranging, and that's in his charter. when he was granted authority, it not only included the russia issue but anything that came up in the course of his investigation. and i think these are the things that are coming up just in the natural course of an investigation, and he has every right to follow them. he is within his charter when looking at these issues. >> president trump said the mueller investigation, if it turns towards his family's finances, it would be a red line. does it appear we're getting close to that red line? and what are they going to do about it? >> it's hard to know.

on the 666 building or kushner company deals. nor any reason to question the regular business transactions. his attorney seems to think the story was based on one source. we spoke to several sources who said the line of questioning has been under way by the special counsel team for several months. dave, christine. >> shimon, thank you. >>> the president's weekend twitter barrage on russia extended into the holiday. he dropped another tweet on presidents' day. light on facts. obama was president up to and beyond the 2016 election. so why didn't he do something about russian meddling? >> here are facts. obama officials insist they took steps to stop interference and the confrontation with obama and putin. the obama administration hit moscow with sanctions in december of 2016. an obama aide says for him to speak out more vocally against russian meddling would have seemed political. especially candidate trump claimed the election was rigged. >> they seized property and imposed sanctions. >> could have done more. >> there were those w

what do you think the ripple effects are of both kushner losing those clearances today and kushner and ivanka losing their top spokesman? >> as my colleague, ashley, said, it certainly is easy to sort of delve into this world of conspiracy theory, what does this all mean, why is it all happening now? which is totally fair, particularly given the position that the mueller investigation, itself, is in. >> right. >> he's sort of wrapped up the whole manafort wing of it, the russian media -- >> which is the campaign wing. >> exactly. it's his entry into the campaign wing. there are still these outstanding questions about the role that jared kushner played, about this potential obstruction which wasn't just in michael wolff's book, it was reported by "the new york times" that hope hicks said this thing. these are significant questions. it's also important to remember jared kushner was always in a weird space. he's not paid. not a paid staffer. he's sort of the son-in-law of the president who got special clearance to come work in the white house. he's always been in a weird position doing a

about 666 building or kushner company deals. kushner may not have been quizzed on the company's dealings, but multiple people familiar with the probe told investigators that in exploring the questions and interviews with people over the past two months. >> what are some of the details of the meetings? >> we're aware that mueller's team is exploring meetings with two investors from two different countries. one involves a meeting that kushner companies had with a chinese insurance company called anbang. the new york times wrote about this meeting, it occurred one week after the election and they were discussing financing for 666 fifth avenue. no deal was commenced and the deal fell through. the mueller team is asking and exploring conversations that kushner had with a prominent qatari investor. according to intercept, they had meetings between kushner and the investor, but no deal reached in those cases. representatives for kushner companies and anbang declined to comment. and we have not received a response from the qatari invest

or is it jared kushner? h.r. mcmaster says, i'm the head of national security, i should have something to do with what's going on here. the words "naive" and "manipulate," which flash out to the trump family when they're watching the television all day long, this came from h.r. mcmaster. clearly he was shocked and appalled to see that jared kushner had been meeting with people he didn't even know about. this became part of his daily briefing. this clearly came from mcmaster's office even though he's saying, we've kissed and are playing nicely now. >> i don't have time to get to the axios piece that says that jarvanka and john kelly are in a death match. i know someone who would like that to be true, and that's steve bannon, who is clearly watching this, possibly promoting it while eating popcorn and laughing. >>> let's turn to the major move by dick's sporting goods. turn up the volume for this because this is a very big move. the nation's largest sporting goods retailer is taking a bold stance, the company will

jared kushner has not been able to get clearance. you're seeing intensifying focus from bob mueller in recent weeks with the 13 indictments. i certainly do not see the limelight going away from kushner any time soon. i think we have a few interesting weeks ahead. >> i've got say, caitlin, abbe lowell giving public statements when it comes to security clearance issue, also. i think that's bizarre. i understand where these issues intersect, per se, but when you're having a private defense attorney speak for a white house employee -- the attorney for jared kushner says it will not affect mr. kushner's ability to continue to do the very important work he's been assigned by the president. >> right. having that statement suggests it is interfering. jared kushner has an extensive portfolio. we or not clear exactly what he has been doing. the background checks and security clearances have been one issue. this would be another. the interesting thing is when it comes to the family, we have seen donald trump respond in realtime to the entire ru

kushner's level whose process is delayed. >> margaret, do we know if jared kushner's background check raised any red flags? >> well, no red flags per se. but that final approval is still being delayed. the president himself on friday blamed some on complex financial transactions, and a broken system. but as to his ongoing role as an adviser to the president, multiple administration officials have raised concern that, kushner may be naive or even easily manipulated, because he doesn't have experience on some of the incredibly complex foreign policy, use that is involved with. jeff. >> white house correspondent and moderator of face the nation. margaret brennan. >> surprise decision by a federal judge in san diego, the judgdeid cllenge to construction of a wall. curiel, the ju k criticized suggesting mexican heritage made him biased against university fraud case. >> as investigations continue into russian meddling. congress wasd it could happen again this year. pegues. that now from jeff >> we are taking step but not >> admiral rogers kicked responsibility for the lacofon >> i want to k

jarnd jared kushner zpied access to intelligence. the son-in-law and senior adviser operating on an interim clearance had the access downgraded after the chief of staff made changes to the security clearance system. and we learn that officials from at least four countries reportedly discussed how they could use kushner's business dealings and experience in financial troubles to manipulate him. that's according onto the "washington post" which also reports the countries, israel, mexico, china and uae act the on conversations. the report goes on to say that a source said top white house officials were worried that kushner was, quote, naive, and being tricked by foreign officials. i'm bringing in now cnn chief correspondent jim sciutto. good evening to you. what are you learning. >> so, don, my colleague, gloria boringer pamela brown and i are told that investigators for mueller have recently been asking witnesses about donald trump's business activities in russia prior to the 2016 presidential campaign as he considered a run for presid

with the matter have identified as kushner. he seems to be in the center of everything, the firing of comey, the contacts with kislyak, his own contacts with a bank that was sanctioned, his contact asking for a back channel to talk to russia. so kushner feels like the person most in jeopardy after manafort. is that the way you read it? >> completely. it's been interesting to me over the last few months what a silent figure kushner has remained. i think under the very strict whip of his very sophisticated washington counsel. but as you say he is everywhere. one other place i would add, he's the last figure to leave the oval office before trump buttonholes comey and says can you maybe drop these charges. and you would have expected him to be an essential figure in the building of an obstruction case, which you figure is complete save for trump's interview because they're negotiating trump's interview. what i surmise but it's just tea leaf reading is that kushner's lawyer has advised mueller that he's going to take the 5th amendme

. >> and so was the president's son-in-law, jared kushner. >> do you have any comment, mr. kushner? >> kushner hasn't been charged with any crimes but troubling questions have been raised about his connections to russia. >> jared kushner is incredibly important for several reasons. he's a witness to virtually all the central issues in this investigation. he is also important because he's an independent actor. he is someone who had contacts with russian representatives. >> kushner has not been forthcoming about those contacts. he was required by law to disclose them to the fbi to get a security clearance. >> was it appropriate for you to meet with the russian officials. >> but he has repeatedly omitted foreign contacts and had to submit his forms four times, sparking tough questions from both parties. his reasons for the revisions range from forgetfulness to a clerical error. >> there have been stories that have been appearing for months about jared kushner's meetings. >> december 1st, 2016, kushner meets with russian ambassador sergey kislyak in trump tower. >> that russian ambassad

kushner, a representative for kushner declined to comment. >> so note panel it is qatar and china. >> this is first time we're seeing interest in investors that extend outside of russia. and it is unclear to us what the interest is, and what the curiosity from mueller's probe is, but it is the first time we've seen it expand beyond that. >> a different story for the trump campaign, another trump campaign adviser who is pleading guilty. >> this involves the foerm trump adviser rick gates. last week we were the first to report that he was finalizing a plea deal with robert mueller and he appears poised to cooperate. the "l.a. times" said that over the weekend, he will plead guilty to fraud-related charges. he is like toy intend 18 months the prison and he is willing to testify against a co-defendant, paul manafort. they both pled guilty in october for financial crimes unrelated to the trump campaign. >> now we have three former advisers to the president, two very significant, the former national security adviser, michael flynn, and the former campaign chairman who are pleading guilty to

kushner's application. but the washington post reports that earlier this month deputy attorney general personally phoned the white house counsel to say new information had posed an obstacle to kushner's clearance. meanwhile, new reporting from the washington post that officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate jared kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience. those nations are alleged to be the united arab emirates, china, israel and mexico according to current and former u.s. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter. the officials said that h. rvrmt mcmaster learned that kushner had contacts with foreign officials that he did not coordinate through the national security council or officially report. and that the issue of foreign officials talking about their meetings with kushner and their perceptions of his vulnerabilities was raised in mcmaster's daily intellig

do you believe jared kushner should have final clearance? >> i clearly believe he should not have t.s. or departmental code access. that's a no brainer. >> frank figliuzzi, ken thomas, thank you for your time. it appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >>> coming up, president trump vows to do a lot on the issue of guns. but what exactly does that mean? "the 11 hour" back after this. or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. tell your doctor if these occur. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of de

kushner's background check within a month. at that point, it would be up to the white house. >>> meantime, a report in the "washington post" says officials in at least four countries discussed ways they could manipulate jared kushner. according to the "washington post" report, mexico, israel, china, and the united arab emirates all considered taking advantage of kushner and discussed how to do that. they would have used kushner's intricate business arrangements, lack of foreign policy experience, his financial troubles. it's not clear based on u.s. officials familiar with intelligence reports if they acted on any of those conversations. they discussed it according to the "post." >> the "post" report says the subject was first raised in initial briefings after national security adviser h.r. mcmaster learned kushner had contacts with foreign officials that he did not coordinate with the national security council. kushner did not respond to cnn questions tuesday. a spokesperson for his attorney says they won't respond to "unnamed

jared kushner, he wants to get back to work. he is working. the question is will he be able to be in the situation room, other things, for those private meetings. probably not. >> a lot more on the president and the humiliation of his attorney general coming up. extraordinary what's going on there. jeff zeleny, stand by. to get a better understanding as to what this downgraded security clearance means for jared kushner and his work in the white house, i want to bring in our military and diplomatic analyst, retired rear admiral john kirby. you've had a top-secret security clearance at the state department, at the pentagon. walk us through the difference between what kushner had, an interim top-secret, sci security kpleerns, clearance, as opposed to what he has now. >> sure thing, wolf. it's important to remember there are three levels of security clearance. confidential, secret, and top-secret. we're going to break down the differences between top-secret and secret. it's also important to also remember that it's not just your clearance that mat

do you believe jared kushner should have final clearance? >> i clearly believe he should not have t.s. or departmental code access. that's a no brainer. >> frank figliuzzi, ken thomas, thank you for your time. it appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >>> coming up, president trump vows to do a lot on the issue of guns. but what exactly does that mean? "the 11 hour" back after this. whoooo. going somewhere? here's some advice. tripadvisor now searches more... ...than 200 booking sites - to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30%. trust this bird's words. tripadvisor. looking for a hotel that fits... whoooo. ...your budget? tripadvisor now searches over... ...200 sites to find you the... ...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino! find a price that fits. tripadvisor. >>> it's concealed! so this crazy man who walked in wouldn't even know who has it, that's good. that's not bad, that's good. and a teacher would have shot the hell out of him before he knew what happened. and there's nobody that loves the second amendment more than i do

kushner today ignored questions about both reports. he had on the hill to talk about prison reform. >> joining me ted lieu. you're reaction to the reporting that foreign governments had identified kushner as manipulatable due to his complex financial arrangements. >> thank you for your question. if the west story is accurate, jared kushner needs to resign. his mounting business debts, his complex financial arrangements and the lies he's told on his previous security clearance forms make him a national security liability. we cannot have a senior white house adviser that can be manipulated and leveraged by foreign powers that's completely unacceptable. >> what do you think of him losing his clearance today 14 months after he started? >> it is a good first step but it also means he can no longer do his job. the president has charged him with getting a middle east peace plan between israel and palestinians. he cannot do that if he doesn't have access to the highest levels of intelligence about what these positions are of these various enti

kushner's level whose process is delayed. no concerns were raised about mr. kushner's application." deputy attorney general rod rosenstein informed the white house three weeks ago that there were still a number of items in kushner's file that require further investigation. not known when the process will be completed or whether kushner will receive his full security clearance. the department of justice weighed in on president trump's request to ban so-called bump stocks used last october by the las vegas shooter. jeff sessions saying he believes it can be done without going through congress. >> our top people in the department of justice have believed for some time that through regulatory process we cannot allow the bump stock to convert a weapon from semiautomatic to fully automatic. >> on the broader issue of gun safety and school shootings, the white house today said it will have some policy proposals to announce later this week. one question, while the president make good on his pledge to raise the minimum age to buy a rifle or shotgun to 21? to do it, he would have to go up aga

special counsel robert mueller expanding his interest in jared kushner beyond kushner's contacts with russia. mueller now interested in kushner's efforts to get financing for his real estate ventures from foreign investors during the presidential transition. >>> meanwhile, president trump is once again blaming president obama for not preventing russian meddling in the u.s. election. so why, then, has mr. trump still not imposed those sanctions on the kremlin that congress passed nearly unanimously months ago? we have it all covered. let's begin with cnn's rosa flores. she's live in parkland, florida, with our top story. what's the latest there, rosa? >> reporter: alisyn, good morning. student survivors are not taking no for an answer. they are hopping on buses today at 1:00 p.m. they're heading to the state capital, demanding, insisting that state lawmakers listen to their voices. and they plan to challenge any state lawmaker who thinks, who believes that they might not know more about gun control than a student survivor who came face to face with death. >> my friends and i, my commun

so if the president wants jared kushner to get this presidential daily briefing then jared kushner will get the presidential daily briefing. at the end of the day, i think that may be what it comes down to, if john kelly is adamant that no one who has more than an interim clearance see this information and donald trump really wants him to. >> phil, let me read you a quote from "vanity fair" tonight. it's about the weekend that was, the president's foray into social media and apparently a family foray to the caribbean. as trump melted down at mar-a-lago and the administration reeled from one of the most dismal weeks in 13 months, kushner and ivanka weren't in the country, according to two people familiar with their travel plans. the senior aides took a holiday in the sun, enjoying the long weekend in the caribbean. phil, prompting a friend of mine in this line of work to say, why is it when something bad happens, those two are so often out of town and not in the loop? >> you're exactly right. i remember back last spring when the health care vote was coming into the house and there was a

kushner's extensive cooperati cooperation. nor would there be any reason to question these regular business transactions. we have multiple sources for the stories. these questions were being asked. and kushner himself may not have been asked about these. but there's no way for his attorneys to know what others are being asked. >> what do we know about the meetings that took place? >> reporter: the meetings is that these are meetings that have to do with chinese investors anbang. it's a chinese insurance company that owns the wald orf astoria. and as the company was looking to invest in the 666 property, there were talks between the kushner company and this chinese investors. and during this transition when they were close to getting a deal done, it fell through. there is also a qatari investor and we are told that deal fell through. and that happened during the transition. we are told this is why mueller is asking questions about it. >> and do we know what mueller might be focusing in on based on the types of questions he is a

let's start with a look at the kushners' assets. though he resigned from his company, he's the beneficiary of trusts. they're worth a reported $761 million. kushner has not been sitting back counting his dough. in a new revision to his wife, ivanka trump's, financial disclosure, they increased their debt from $19 million to $98 million, up to between $31 million and $155 million. that's big. let's look at the debt. the "new york times" notes over a week after the election, kushner met with members of a leading chinese financial group, trying to get investment in his flagship fifth avenue property. according to cnn, the special counsel is looking into the meeting and another meeting held with a qatari investor, where kushner was looking for a $500 million investment when the chinese investment fell through. the money never materialized either, but it brings us to one of jared's biggest liabilities. jared's big building. 666 fifth avenue. he bought it on the eve of the financial crisis for just under $2 billion. he's got 12 months lef

among them, his son-in-law, jared kushner. kushner has a broad variety of duties, but will he keep his access to the nation's classified secrets? kelly o'donnell has more. kelly. >> good morning, ayman. there was a notable change at the white house this week and it has to do with the nation's most coveted secrets. it involves employees whose background checks have not been completed or who have not yet this hr permanent security clearance and it happens to include one of the president's the closest advisers. rarely heard in public. >> my name is jared kushner. i am senior adviser to president donald j. trump. >> jared has done an outstanding job. i think he's been treated very unfairly. >> the more inside of insiders. the 37-year-old jared kushner, husband of ivanka trump, does not have permanent high level security clearance. >> there's nothing normal about a senior adviser having an interim clearance for more than a year. >> rod rosenstein took an unusual step of calling the white house counsel, don mcgahn, in early february

but we are not just talking about jared kushner. there are potentially dozens more high level aides working at the white house who are working on temporary clearances that could be impacted by general kelly's decision, including white house counsel down mcgahn, and the president's own daughter, ivanka trump. david? >> cecilia, thank you. >>> and it's not just jared kushner in the spotlight tonight. so is hope hicks, another one of president trump's closest aides. hicks arriving on capitol hill today to be questioned in the russia investigation. she has been at the president's side since long before his white house run. grilled today about what she heard and saw and abc's chief justice correspondent pierre thomas up on the hill tonight. >> reporter: she's a true insider, one of president trump's closest advisers. white house communications director hope hicks, often seen by the president's side. and tonight, she's under increased scrutiny after getting called by the house intelligence committee to answer questions about allegations o

because kushner, among other things, we fist started thinking about kushner's security clearance because of undies closed contacts with russian government actors. and that is within mueller's per view. my assumption is is that mueller's people at least have situational awareness of this and "the washington post" did report yesterday as part of this incredible story that they ran, there was a reference to the fact that mueller's people have been asking about kushner's protocols that he used for taking foreign government or meetings with foreign actors outside of the nsc process. so it's an open question how much this is on mueller's radar screen, but i suspect it's not zero. >> michael, pick up on that point. there's been a lot of talk about jared kushner and his foreign contacts. this raises the specter of that. part of the probe. >> i do think it's a collision of some of the issues that are definitely front and center in the investigation. money laundering or what else financial onbligations do they have to other people. this is in a thicket of thorns. >> just very quickly. this comes f

at the same time, we heard the president speak so highly of jared kushner. it's hard to imagine that john kelly would create a situation in which jared kushner would be forced to leave. >> frank, one interesting aspect of this is that this conversation between rod rosenstein and don mcgann did not occur between rosenstein and john kelly. because originally that is who rosenstein called to talk to. he said i want to talk to the white house chief of staff, the chief of staff was not available to that have conversation. do you read anything into that? >> well, we don't know the facts. it could be that he truly wasn't available. i have to tell you, i'm actually pleased that two lawyers were talking with each other. because maybe there is some sense of policy and protocol and avoiding a double standard and all the repercussions of carving out the exception for just jared kushner when you have about 30 people at the white house who are similarly situated. so maybe it was a good thing. and now we've got the white house counsel weighing in on this. it may actually h