an intelligence report just fieg it's travel ban. >> intelligence officials are concerned about this assignment. >> it's our job to protect students. >> it's an issue left in the state. >> we will not be silent. >> this is new day. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to your new day. chris is off this morning and david gregory joins me. happy friday. >> happy to be here on a big news day. another 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 from sean spicer. the fbi did not comment. >> so pamela, obviously this is not a typical request. how did this start? >> so this began with fbi deputy director and white house chief of staff on the sidelines of a separate white house meeting on the day after the stories were published. a white house official said the new york times story was vastly overstated about the contacts. and the specific aspects of the case and wouldn't say exactly what he told him. he later reached out to fbi director james comey asking for the fbi to at least talk to reporters on background to dispute the stories. >> it's worth underlining why they did that. between the white house and if you have an on going investigation. >> it's not typical for a reason. the communication between the white house and the fbi was unusual because of decade old

restrictions on such contact. if he sent this to the white house he may have overstepped. not to mention an investigation involving the president's associates and russia. it limits communication with the fbi on pending investigation. there's specific language from 2007-2009 limiting this communication. >> so what is the status of this investigation. is it on going. it's investigating several members of them. and the investigations are in full swing. >> sources tell my colleague and i the white house made the request to the department of homeland security to bolster

it's case for why the seven countries listed in the travel ban should remain after it was blocked by reports. they tell cnn that the department of homeland security and the justice department are working on an intelligence report that will demonstrate that the security threat is substantial and that the 7 countries have all been exporters of terrorism into the united states. the situation has gotten more dangerous in recent years and more broadly a major incubator for terrorism. this is in light that the trump administration pointed to no evidence about why the citizens from the 7 countries pose a threat but cnn learned some current rank and file intelligence officials are concerned about this assignment. >> what are their concerns? >> so it's viewed by some as an attempt to politicize intelligence to fit a policy rather than the other way around. some disagree with the trump white house position on the 7

countries. the department of homeland security agency and office of intelligence analysis followed a report disagreeing with the white house view that blocking immigration is justified according to our sources. and confirm this report to cnn saying while dhs drafted a report on this issue. the document you're referencing is a single intelligence source with thorough vetting. and may also be trying to politicize intelligence. he rejected the assessment that was at odd with the white house assessment. that notion that any intelligence within the agency is being politicize is inaccurate. the executive order will be

breaking down. we want to bring in our political panel to discuss it all. we had the cnn political analyst and washington post columnist. i'm about to ask about cnn reporting and new york times reporting. i'm always inclined to go with cnn reporting and sometimes it's hard to side with the white house when we know they have gotten their facts wrong on say the bowling green massacre or last night in sweden. i can go on. let's say the white house is right on this one. let's say there's a deputy director of the fbi that shared i don't think the new york times and cnn is getting their reporting right on these contacts and the number of contact with russia.

nor are they supposed to direct the fbi to do anything like this. he has of course been saying listen you shouldn't go on background. you should put your name to quotes in newspapers. instructing folks from the fbi to do just what he said they should do and the white house is troubled by these investigations and they're trying to get their side of the story out and none of this is accurate and then they're trying to work the rest there with the fbi and trying to manage what they're saying against the other backdrop of this which is that they had this on going difficult relationship with the intelligence agencies

in calling them so-called intelligence. it's a drip, drip, drip, drop for this white house in terms of this story and no one knows where it's going. >> it is notable whether the fbi in any fashion reached out to say all of this reporting is off base and then a conversation ensued but it's the hipocracy of all of this. when his wife was under investigation. he should have known better. any white house official should know better. you don't interfere when the fbi is investigating. >> right because it's not just about intelligence. it's about the appearance of inappropriate and keeping up a level of distance that assures people that it's not receiving

political pressure. that's what they do. even if they leak to reporters that the new york times is wrong and then he goes out on fox news and says oh the intelligence community approved, nothing to see here, even if he didn't mean to skew their views he shouldn't have gone there. and this is deeply worrisome to national security. that probe has to go on. >> it does. and you've heard people like lindsey graham go to europe and talk about this plague from russian meddling in different elections in different countries like france and the worry that they have in terms of whether or not this is going to go on and even saying overseas he believes

that russia has tried to meddle in democratic elections. it's a real problem. one of the things you're starting to see too is that some of this is really filtering down to some of the town halls with questions from people in those town halls about russia. what is going on with russia. it's a real problem not to mention these are going on in the senate and both houses. we have seen from this house for instance donald trump talking about the leaks and wanting to investigate the leakers and saying he is going to call on the doj to do some of that and again it's not typical that you would have a president direct the doj to investigate what he perceives to be his political enemies so, you know, there's a learning curve for this white house but my goodness, i mean, i think they should have known the appearance of inappropriate here and this idea that these agencies are sort of an arm of

the white house is just -- it's just incorrect. >> yeah, i mean, the russia interference in the u.s. democracy story is the biggest story in the world. it cuts the fundamental functioning of our democracy and it has to be sorted out and i think both sides need to take a step back from any overreporting the story which is a risk when you're relike on imperfect information or b trying to pretend that the story isn't a real story. we need to let the fbi do their work. let them figure out what happened and then tell us we should wait for the evidence. >> there's also a real life consequence that we're seeing now between -- with the tension between the trump white house and the intel community. they now, the trump white house now needs the intel community to support their travel ban. so their original travel ban was shot down as not being constitutional they need the material and the supporting evidence that these 7 countries do pose a grave danger to the

united states so they can institute their travel ban so now they're going to the intel community josh and saying what have you got for us. >> it's worse than that. in that white house official quote to jake tapper he says the intelligence report will show x, y, and z. unless that white house official is like -- how does he know what the intelligence report will show, okay? the intelligence should inform the policy, not the other way around. that's how this works. >> there's a spectrum in pushing the intelligence agenercieagenc >> there's lots of example where is the white house goes shopping for intelligence. it always ends up bad. the presidents remarks coming after his chief strategist talked about the first month in office and repeatedly attacked the media.

cnn's senior washington correspondent is live at the white house with more. what did you learn, joe? >> good morning, this could have a conquering hero feel to it. a year ago candidate donald trump was spurned by so many conservatives that he just decided he wasn't going to show up at the conference. now he is at the center of attention with his lieutenants promises he's going to stick to his agenda. steve bannon assuring president trump will deliver. >> i committed this and i promised it when i ran and i'm going to deliver on it. >> calling the presidency the deconstruction of the administrative state committed to massive deregulation. >> if you look at these cabinet appointees they were selected for a reason. >> full of nationalist and

populist ideology. >> we're a nation with an economy just in some global marketplace with open boarders and we're a nation with a culture and a reason for being. >> vowing the president's war with the media is going to get worse. >> if you think they're going to give you their country back without a fight you are sadly mistaken. every day, every dats going to be a fight. >> white house chief of staff joining bannon, perhaps saying that countering reports that the two men don't get along. >> i can run a little hot on occasions. >> if they're together, similar to steve and i, it can't be stopped. >> vice president mike pence speaking later in the evening. >> this is our time. >> vowing despite sharp differences among republicans health care reform is coming. >> obamacare has failed and

obamacare must go. >> in a new interview with reuters president trump reiterating his call for nuclear supremacy. >> if countries are going to have nukes we're going to be at the top of the pack. >> the president also comparing his crack down on undocumented immigrants to a military operation. >> we're getting really bad dudes out of this country. >> later saying trump was speaking metaphorically. trying to tamp down on fears. >> no use of military force in immigration operations. none. >> an interesting day on tap for the president today besides he is also expected to sign a executive action on regulatory reform and was a big trump critic about a year ago this

time. >> really an example of president trump having taken over the republican party and we'll hear all of that today when he is in front of conservatives. we'll take a break here and growing concerns in the intelligence community about how the white house is trying to justify the president's travel ban. reaction from the top democrat on the senate foreign relations committee is coming up next. your insurance company

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>> rejected a white house request about contacts between his campaign aids and russian officials during the 2016 race and growing concern now in the intelligence community about the steps the white house is taking to build the case legally to justify it's travel ban. joining me now is the leading democrat on the senate foreign relations committee. senator, good morning. >> dave it's good to be with you. thank you. >> you remember back in the campaign, then president -- former president bill clinton got in so much trouble for approaching the attorney general

and having a casual conversation while there was an on going investigation to hillary clinton's use of a private e-mail server, now you have this white house having conversations about the fbi knocking down these or telling the truth as press secretary sean spicer says about the context between campaign officials during the 2016 campaign and russian officials. your reaction to this is what? >> well, it's very troublesome. the president has not come forward. he hasn't released his tax returns. he hasn't cooperated as far as his current assets are concerned. he still has control over it. it raises a lot of questions. there's investigations going on and these investigations must find out exactly what russia is doing in the united states. it was an attack on our democratic system and we know they'll try to do this again. we need to protect ourselves so we need a complete investigation and we certainly don't want the white house at all involved in

trying to influence that investigation. >> why wouldn't you be equally as concerned as the president is about national security leaks coming from the intelligence community that are spelling all of this out? the democrats were outraged when the fbi was leaking from the hillary clinton investigation and now you have the same thing going on as the intelligence community probes these contacts. >> well, we don't want leaks but let's not be distracted from the issue here. the issue here was russia attacked the united states. they attacked our free democratic election system. it's likely that they'll be involved in europe in the 2017 elections. it's very possible that they'll get involved again in an american election. they have an agenda. we need to understand that and protect ourselves and take action against russia. >> the other big story that we're reporting this morning has to do with the legal justification for a new travel ban which is what the white house is working on and as our

colleagues have been reporting there's an effort by the administration to enlist the intelligence community to bolster their case with the intelligence of the threat coming from the 7 countries on the travel ban. as you would i can imagine argue it's not inappropriate to challenge the intelligence community about what information they have, what threats are that's real. this is going over the line in your view? >> again, they're trying to justify a policy that can't be justified. when you set up a poll saz being a religious test on who can come to america, a ban on muslims, that's going to make america less safe, that's the facts. it's a recruitment tool for terrorist organizations. it targets americans traveling abroad. it adds to self-radicalization. that's the facts. the president may try to use his own interpretation of facts but the intelligence community their reputation is such they're going to make sure that they tell the

facts here so i'm confident that this policy cannot be supported in regards to the intelligence community. >> let me move on to the issue of national security between the u.s. and mexico and the immigration issue. here was president trump talking about a policy of deportation. >> we're getting bad dudes out of this country at a rate nobody has ever seen before and they're the bad ones and it's a military operation. >> no, repeat no use of military force in immigration operations. i repeat, there will be no use of military forces. at least half of you try to get that right because it continually comes up in the reporting. >> maybe it's because the president used the language he used. that was secretary kelly of homeland security. you heard from the president

talking about this. his secretary of state was also meeting with mexican officials. you wrote a letter in which you said president trump's commentary during the campaign and since the inauguration is damaging this critical bilateral relationship and endangering u.s. national security. how so? >> i think secretary kelly and secretary tillerson heard what i heard last weekend when i was in mexico city talking to my counter parts in mexican government. our relationship between mexico and the united states has been damaged by president trump. by the language he uses, by the policies he has announced including the wall and trying to say the mexicans are going to pay for it. that's damaged our relationship. why should we be concerned? if we're going to stop the illegal drugs from coming into the united states we need the cooperation of mexico and that's been damaged by what the

president has said. the use of military. he said that. i understand secretary kelly has denounced that but president trump still talk about a wall and mexico paying for it, that damages our relationship and won't make us safer. we need their help. >> we'll leave it there. thank you so much. >> my pleasure, thank you. >> allison, back to you. >> david underfire from voters at a florida town hall. one conservative lawmaker calls on president trump to do something that president trump doesn't want to do. we tell you what, next.

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this was a florida congressman matt gates and he went face to face with a voter.

let me say right here, right now, absolutely donald trump should release his taxes. >> you couldn't hear that audio. they were saying yes or no, yes or no and he said absolutely donald trump should release his taxes. let's discuss this with the report frer the washington post. >> have they begun seeing things outloud that maybe counter to what the trump white house wants them to say. >> this is a one off but this is

part of the strategy. if you're on the left and you go to town halls you either force these republicans to hide or defend the indefensible or criticize their guy. it's a lose-lose if you're the republican politician and i think we can all agree and everybody thinks donald trump probably should have released his taxes but if you're appeasing the mob and telling them what they want to hear, where does it end? it's a dangerous slope if you're that republican congressman. >> it is interesting. i'm not saying at all, i don't believe this is manufactured outrage but it's organized. the polish in these questions these challenges are very well posed. >> you mean from the 7-year-old

yesterday? >> even from him. >> so you have that but the backdrop is obamacare and if you're going to take obamacare away what are you going to replace it with? and he says this about the prospect of replacing obamacare. >> in the 25 years i served in the congress republicans never ever one time agreed on what a health care proposal should look like anything that happens is your fault. fix the flaws and put a more conservative box around it. >> that's a really important

point. >> yeah and he's right about that in the sense that republicans have not agreed on the less ambitious fixes to the law which is surprising considering that they're not really talk about anything that would totally up end obamacare by it's roots and replace it with something else so the mere fact that they're talking about fixes and tweaks here and there, it could potentially have an impact on the overall market but we're not talking about this top to bottom overhaul and, you know, i think that john boehner is also reflecting the reality that as we have said many times on the show, affordable care act is now part of the entire health care system. it is not very easy to just take it and throw it away.

you have to deal with the system as it is. it has already changed irrevocably because of this law. you cannot just throw it out the window and i think republicans who are being candid know that and they are acting on it. >> and the fact that he's saying it will be a fix. >> they never agreed on a solution. he has the ability and freedom to tell the truth now and that's an empowering thing and about a month ago i wrote a column for the daily beast and i wanted to write a column that said this is how republicans can fix obamacare or health care. that's is what i went into it

and they would help me over the years talk about the real problems with obamacare and the conclusion i came to is what john boehner said this is not going to happen and any conservative fix that would fix health care is not politically palatable. it cannot happen in the real world so i think what you're going to end up with is basically obamacare like with a few more tweaks and maybe a little more competition but it's not going to be any sort of grand conservative solution because it's not possible. the tentacles of obamacare are so deeply rooted and the only way to -- you would have to do dramatic change and i don't think there's the political will for that in america. >> all right. we will leave it there. abby and matt thank you very much. in the battle to retake mosul from isis iraq forces are reporting major success this

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breaking news out of iraq. major success driving isis out of oil rich mosul. now clearing ied in the western part of the city after retaking a key military base and the city's airport. cnn senior international correspondent just filed this report from mosul. >> we have seen a steady bombardment of isis targets.

and firing inside the city. this has been going on all day long. the airport is to the south of us. that's already been completely secured. now iraqi forces are trying to take this, this southern neighborho neighborhood. now what is interesting, what we also saw today was a group of american spotters who are working with the iraqis. they spent a long time looking through it. there's another helicopter flying overhead. what we're noticing is the intensity of the bombardment. the shelling, the air strikes on to southern mosul is something

we did not see. of course keeping in mind it took about three months to finally gain control of eastern mosul. when it comes to the west their intention is to go in, go strong, go hard and make sure that this operation is over as quickly as possible. >> our thanks for being on the front lines in iraq to show us what is happening. so it's an important development. >> it is a lawyer for the aclu says 746 people were detained by u.s. border agents in the chaotic hours in the first weekend of the president's travel ban. that was after a judge partially blocked enforcement of the executive order. it's not clear how many people

in the u.s. may have been deported during that time. so those statistics and the trump administration's rhetoric has been sparking fear among immigrants nationwide and it's creating an underground network of safe houses for undocumented immigrants. she's taking us inside the shelters. >> pounding, standing, laying the ground work at the secret home in los angeles. >> how many families would be -- >> about three families that we can host here. >> she walks us through one safe house from the undocumented running from immigration officers. an underground network. >> essentially what you're doing is trying to hide people. is that right? that's all we need to do as a community. >> on the other side of l.a. another safe house in this man's home. we're not naming him or telling you where he lives because of what's at stake. >> it's hard as a jew to not think about all the people that

did open their doors and homes to safe guard jews in moments where they were really vulnerable. >> this is beyond sanctuary churches. we have already seen at this colorado church offering refuge for an undocumented woman. they don't enter under a policy put in place under obama's presidency. >> i do so let mely swear. >> but faith leaders believe that will change under president trump. private homes fall under 4th amendment protection and warrant the authorities can enter. >> something sort of like this. >> faith groups could hide 100 undocumented immigrants today and that number could soon be in the thousands. >> people will be moving into a place so that they can't find them so that they can stay with their families. so that they can be with their husbands so they can avoid being

detained and deported. >> the idea comes from all faiths in los angeles days after at the election pledging opposition to trump's immigration orders. >> we're not going to stop. >> people that may not agree with you look at what you're doing and say you're simply aiding and abedding the violation of federal laws. >> i'll speak for myself. i feel really convicted and answer to god at the end of the day. that's who i'm going to see when i'm going to die and i hope we can give up to who we are. >> we're trusting in god he would help and guide us to make the right decision: we'll be

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>> victims of hate crimes in seattle used to have no place his phone is ringing off the hook. cnn's sara ganim tells us how he went beyond the call of duty. >> it was a wet wrinkled up note. >> late after election day aaron walked out of his tattoo parlor and found a note on his car. >> i opened it up and thought is this a joke? then it hit me, and i got really upset by it, and it was kind of threatening and really spooky. in the 25 years i've been there, i never experienced that before. >> your days are numbered, it said. make america straight again to make it great again. you will see. it included two gay slurs. >> you've got victims from all

different kinds of minority communities that have the same thing happen to them. >> two years ago, seattle police officer jim ritter found a role more rewarding than anything else he's donathan almost four decades on the job. >> i actually feel like i'm making a positive difference in society and not just going through the motions. >> jim ritter, seattle police, community relations. >> restarted safe place which designates local businesses as a place where victims of hate crimes can shelter while waiting for the police to arrive. >> want you to train your employees to call 911 immediately regardless if the victim wants them to or not. we need the police en route to these things. >> we had a problem of people not reporting serious crimes that were happening to them. >> now, his phone is ringing off the hook. dozens of police departments across the country are looking to implement safe place.

most notably for ritter, helping the orlando police start the program on the six-month anniversary of the pulse nightclub massacre. >> in this day of communications, everybody just assumes somebody else is calling the police. >> reporter: here in seattle he says two felony assaults were reported within a safe place business within the first week. >> one of the locations the witnesses were holding the speck down when police arrived. >> reporter: ritter is working with the department of justice and it's all in the name of inclusion. >> i think any time the police can work with a community to a degree like this, everybody wins except the criminals. >> reporter: sarah gannon, seattle washington. 17-year-old gavin grim is the plaintiff in a transgender rights lawsuit set to be heard by the supreme court next month. at issue is whether transgender students should be allowed to use the bathroom that kpnds to their gender identity.

this comes as the trump administration is rescinding federal protections for transgender students. gavin grimm joins us in studio. great to see you. >> great to be here. >> what did you think when you heard this week the trump administration was rolling back the protections that the obama administration put in place for transgender students? >> it was very frustrating. i don't think anybody was necessarily surprised. they had been saying they were going to. more importantly than any of that, it emboldened us to ramp up our efforts and keep fighting as hard as we have been. >> what is your life like? let's talk about what prompted this lawsuit and prompted everything. what was life like for you in high school with bathroom use and everything else? >> for a period of seven weeks after i came out my sophomore year, i used the men's room with no issue. things were fine. it looked like i would be supported as any other student was. obviously things didn't continue

to go that way and i was barred from the men's restroom. >> as i understand it, there are a member of the community who wasn't comfortable with you using the boy's bathroom or the men's room. then what happened? what did you have to do? >> there was a school board meeting, and i had to attend -- i chose to attend and they debated whether or not i was to use the men's room there. they ultimately decided i was not able to. i got in contact with the aclu and we put things in motion. >> as i understand it, what the school came up with was a special accommodation for you. they found a unisex bathroom somewhere in the school that you could use. why wasn't that good enough for you? >> an accommodation is an exclusion. i'm a boy like any of my other peers, and i should be able to use the boy's room like any of my boy peers. >> sure, but sometimes we all make special accommodations for our own circumstances. if there was a unisex bathroom for you, why did that feel bad to you?

>> again, because it's an exclusion. it's saying i'm not fit to be in communal spaces with my peers, saying i'm different from them, not deserving of the same opportunities my peers get. i don't pose a threat or any form of harm using the correct bathroom. >> we've heard some of the surrogates for the trump administration say, oh, wait a second, this does actually possibly expose other students to harm. it can make, say, female students vulnerable if they'they're in the bathroom and a boy takes advantage and goes in. what's your response to meme who are afraid of this policy? >> i guess i would say transgender people have been using the correct restroom for years and years and we haven't seen rashes of attacks like these. no evidence to support these arguments are valid. transgender people are not innately dangerous or perverse. this is a line of dialogue that really needs to stop. >> sean spicer spoke for the white house and basically when

the white house -- the trump white house came out and changed the policy. they say for them this is just about states rights. states should have to decide this. let me play this and you can respond to sean spicer. >> children do enjoy rights from anti bullying statutes in almost every state. there's a difference between being compassionate for individuals and children struggling with something and wanting to make sure they're protected and how it's being done. i think the president has a big heart as we've talked about in a lot of other issues and there's a big difference. he also believes that's not a federal government issue. it's an issue left to the state. >> what do you say to that? >> civil rights are not state issues. they're everyone issues. if you leave civil rights up to the state, people will wait very, very extended amounts of time to get their rights. >> what about that he says there are already anti bullying

federal statutes. >> to say there's already anti bullying measures in place but then to advocate for these policies that will actively bully our transgender youth is just very counterintuitive. >> gavin, now you're going to the supreme court. what's it like for you at 17 years old to have become the face, basically, of transgender teenagers? >> it's dauntding, and i just above all am so honored and proud and humble to have the ability to carry such an important and strong voice. i'm going to have to balance that and be very careful because i need to up lift the voices of all transgender use and not speak for someone i shouldn't or speak over people. i need to do good things with this platform while i still have it. >> how has your classmates responded to you now? >> it's a mixed bag. i live in a rural virginia area. there's a lot of conservative opinions. it's a mixed bag. but i've gotten a lot of positivity. >> it's really nice to hear that. we'll be following your story

and watching what happens at the supreme court. are you feeling optimistic? >> i try to always be optimistic. >> gavin grimm, thanks for sharing your personal story. we're following a lot of news this morning. let's get right to it. >> the fbi rejected a white house request to knock down media reports about trump's associates and russians -- >> the request would appear to violate procedures. >> is that the opposition part? >> yes. >> despite the best efforts of liberal activities and town halls, the american people know better. >> the trump white house seeking an intelligence report that will demonstrate the security threat for these seven countries is substantial. >> intelligence officials are con serntd about this assignment. >> getting gang members out, getting drug lords out. it's a military operation. >> there will be no use of military forces in immigration. >> the united states will not yield its supremacy to anybody. >> if countries are going to have nukes, we're going to be at the top of the pack. >> this is "new day" with chris

cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning and welcome to your "new day." chris is off this morning. david gregory joins me. >> pleasure to be here. >> two cnn exclusives to tell you about. cnn learned that the fbi rejected an unusual request from the white house to publicly dispute media reports that the trump campaign was in constant contact with russian officials during the 2016 campaign. >> another big story, another cnn exclusive. growing concern in the intelligence community about the steps the white house is taking to build the legal case to justify the travel ban it's pursuing. is the white house politicizing intelligence. we're in day 36 of the trump presidency. we'll begin with cnn justice correspondent pamela brown, part of the team that broke these exclusive stories. >> good morning, david. cnn was told the fbi rejected this recent white house request to 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 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