Skip to main content

tv   Wolf  CNN  March 15, 2017 10:00am-11:01am PDT

10:00 am
8:00 p.m. in moscow. president trump arrives in michigan but much of the attention today is still on his unsubstantiated allegations that president obama ordered the wiretapping of trump tower. the president landed at detroit metropolitan airport within the past hour. he tours a vehicle testing facility this hour and gives a speech next hour. his trip comes as the investigation into russia's mettme mediterrane meddling into the election is heating up. a news conference held just a little while ago. republican and democrat said they see nothing to support president trump's wiretap allegations against the former president barack obama. >> i don't believe in the last week of time that people we talked to, i don't think there was an actual tap of trump tower. >> i see no evidence that
10:01 am
supports the claim that president trump made that his predecessor wiretapped he and his associates at trump tower. >> two senators, one republican and one democrat. lindsey graham and sheldon whitehouse demanding evidence of trump's wiretapping claims. senator whitehouse says he expects an answer today from james comey on whether there's a criminal investigation into possible russia ties to the trump campaign. we shall see shortly. we're also keeping a very close eye on another developing story. the republican health bill. the vice president mike pence meets with republican house leaders later today opposition to obamacare replacement plan grows. we have all of this covered with our team of correspondents and analysts. manu is on capitol hill. athena jones is traveling with
10:02 am
the president in michigan. we have our chief political analyst, gloria borger, jeffrey toobin and jim sciutto. manu, we heard from the republican chairman and ranking democrat of the house intelligence committee just a little while ago. they both are suggesting they have seen no evidence over these past 11 days to back up the president's claims against the former president. >> that's right. this is the strongest statement yet we've heard from the republican chairman of the committee, devin nunez. he does not believe that trump tower was wiretapped. when i asked him what evidence had he seen and what made him make that assertion, he said based on conversations we had because they didn't see anything from the justice department yet. if you take what the president said literally from his tips that trump tower was wiretapped, that in his view did not happen. it's part of the broader russia
10:03 am
investigation that is ongoing by the house intelligence committee. they revealed some key details including the discussion about whether there were any contacts between the trump campaign official and russian officials during the presidential election. you'll hear disagreement about whether there's any evidence from the two leading members of this committee. take a listen. >> is there anything you've seen in the evidence so far that suggest that there were any conversations between people affiliated with the trump campaign, russian officials, anyone other tied to kremlin had conversations with the trump campaign? any evidence of that? >> not that i'm aware of. >> i wouldn't answer that question as categorically as my colleague. we're not privileged to talk about the contents of the investigation. we need to be precise when we talk about this. i just don't think we can answer
10:04 am
that answer categoricalically a not this this forum. >> i asked what they thought about what was released about roger stone, a former adviser who had contact with alleged russian hackers during the election. devin nunez did not have concern. roger stone, i'm not sure who he is. adam s ad adam schiff said he wanted to learn more about what occurred during elections. they had not spoken to michael flynn who admitted to have contacts with the russian ambassador around the type that president obama's administration was imposing new sanctions on russia. at the same time they would not confirm the question that a lot of senators are asking today whether or not there's actually a criminal investigation ongoing in the fbi over russia.
10:05 am
they say this wouey would not t about private discussions. this comes as james comey is on capitol hill to talk to the judicial committee at the time where they are looking for confirmation to determine whether or not there is this active criminal investigation ongoing at the fbi. we don't know yet, wolf, if we'll get that answer. that's something that the members will be asking comey in his classified briefing later today. >> very serious questions. jim sciutto, what are you hearing about this suggestion that there may have been some contacts between trump surrogates or advisers and russian officials other than the ambassador? >> well, as you know, wolf, our reporting is that there were conversations. there were contacts between russian officials and those known to u.s. intelligence. there was repeated contact between those russians and people, some of them senior in the trump campaign, this during the campaign.
10:06 am
that's our understanding from multiple sources both in the intelligence community and in law enforcement. that moment between congressman schiff and congressman nunez is remarkable. the two chiefs in effect of this house investigation there with a fundamental disagreement on one of the key lines of investigation in this bipartisan content. one saw no evidence. one diplomatically interrupt the chairman of the committee and say, well, actually, i wouldn't say that. adam schiff is careful about commenting on classified material. he seemed to be sending a public and direct signal there that he cannot say there is no evidence of that kind of contact. that's a fundamental disagreement on one of the major lines of inquiry and raises a question it's not the first time we saw nunez and schiff differ in public. it raises question as to whether
10:07 am
this bipartisan investigation can proceed in a bipartisan way if you have one side, chairman basically ruling out a lot of investigation and the other very publicab publicly saying i've seen intelligence and we can't rule that out. it's a big deal as this investigation goes forward. >> see if they can keep a semblance of a bipartisan investigation. athena, the white house is under enormous pressure to either refute the wiretap allegations against president obama or provide evidence to back up president trump's claim. what's the latest response from the trump administration? yesterday the press secretary was pretty confident that the president would be vindicated in his assertions. >> that's right. after a week of saying nothing, officials have begun to comment on this matter. you remember earlier this week when the president secretary sean spicer argued that the president wasn't talking about
10:08 am
having his wires tapped when he tweeted he believed the former president had his wires tapped. trump was speaking broadly about surveillance and not specifically about his phones. he, of course, made that point even though the president at least a couple of these tweets specifically mentioned his phones being tapped. but spicer has said that he believes the president -- the president believes and is confident he'll be vindicated when it comes to finding evidence about broader surveillance. that's still, of course, a question mark. today is was attorney general jeff sessions' turn to answer questions about this wiretapping accusation issue. he was asked did you have a chance to brief the president on investigations related to the campaign or give him any reason to believe that he was wiretapped by the previous administration? take a listen to how the attorney general responded. >> did you ever give any reason to believe that he was wiretapped by the previous
10:09 am
administration? >> look, in answer, no. >> so you can see the attorney general stumbling a little bit there or at least hesitating and giving that answer but he answered no. so the plot thickens. we're still waiting to see what else the white house has to say. they don't seem to be prepared to offer any evidence and that is because this is something that many, many officials say simply didn't happen, the idea that president obama himself had anything to do with wiretapping anything in trump tower. we're waiting to see what else comes down. >> it's interesting, gloria, that senator lindsey graham, a republican, says if he doesn't get answers on whether there's any validity to the president's wiretap claims against the former president, he'll actually go ahead and subpoena for that information. listen to this. >> i want to get to the bottom of it. the fbi would know if a warrant was issued and if a warrant was
10:10 am
applied for. i want to answer that question. if they do not provide the answer to that letter that we wrote in a bipartisan fashion, there will be a bipartisan subpoena following the fbi. >> senator graham says congress is going to flex its muscles. what does that mean for the white house? >> well, it's not good news for the white house. i think lindsey graham stated clearly he wants to get to the bottom of this. on the judiciary committee, for example, if they're not getting the answers they want, they can hold up the nomination of the deputy attorney general. they can take to their own bully pulpit every day and demand answers and don't forget you have another big issue for the white house that is front and center right now and that is health care. and this is a white house that is trying to pass a bill that is hobbled, to get it out of the house and into the senate and they don't know if they can do that. this whole wiretap issue is
10:11 am
taking over events here because congress wants answers after the president's tweets, and they do want to get to the bottom of it. you have a white house that should be going full steam ahead on a substantive issue to try to negotiate a deal and instead they're dealing with congress on this other issue and they have to figure out a way to kind of put it to rest at a certain point and the only way to do that, wolf, the only way to do that is to get the answers that senator lindsey graham says he wants. >> you know, it's interesting, jeffrey. congressman nunez says he's concerned about what he calls incidental collection of records and unmasking of names. he was asked whether that includes the president. listen to his answer. >> do you think the president himself might be one of those people swept up in this?
10:12 am
>> it's possible. look, we think we understand how general flynn was picked up on incidental collection and perhaps there's, you know, additional incidental collection. >> all right. explain what that means to you, jeffrey. >> what that means is the fbi is doing investigations all the time. they will put a wiretap on the phone of a suspect. but that suspect talks to people who are not necessarily under suspicion as part of the criminal scheme and that can bring other people involved -- it can get their names into the records of that investigation. what the congressman appears to be suggesting is that there is a possibility that in the course of other investigations either national security or criminal investigations, someone within the trump sphere perhaps even then candidate trump himself was recorded. but these are facts that exist
10:13 am
in the world. these tapes either do or do not exist. the fbi knows it. and at some point someone is going to have to answer the question of where these investigations under way? are they still? who is on the tapes? what did they say? those are -- they're not opinions. they're facts. and someone should be getting them soon. >> it's widely assumed that the reason they recorded michael flynn was because he was having a conversation with the russian ambassador and u.s. intelligence or the fbi would routinely monitor the russian ambassador to the united states and if he's speaking to the national security adviser or someone close to the president, that's how he gets on that recording, right? >> exactly. and michael flynn was fired not because he was speaking to the russian ambassador, which is perfectly appropriate.
10:14 am
the reason he was fired is that he lied to vice president pence about what his conversations that took place. the mystery at the heart of these russian contacts is why were there so many and what were they talking about? that's what this investigation is supposed to do and it should start rather than -- everyone speculating about what might be in some investigation. >> all right. excellent points from everybody. jeffrey toobin, thank you. glory, athena, jim sciutto, manu, we'll get back to you shortly. for the first time ever, the department of justice filed criminal cyber charges against russian government officials for what they call one of the largest data breaches in u.s. history. we have details. also, the fbi director james comey will testify during monday's house intelligence committee hearing regarding the president's wiretapping allegations against former
10:15 am
president obama, democratic member of that committee met with comey this month standing by to join us live. we'll discuss. t anything keep yu sidelined. that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. the more mysterious they sound, the more... powerful you'll think they are. it's time to see what power really looks like.
10:16 am
new neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair with accelerated retinol sa. clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in just one week. wrinkles? your time is up! rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots. rapid tone repair. neutrogena® see what's possible. won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.
10:17 am
10:18 am
tech: at safelite, we know how busy your life can be. mom: oh no... tech: this mom didn't have time to worry about a cracked windshield. so she scheduled at safelite.com and with safelite's exclusive "on my way text" she knew exactly when i'd be there, so she didn't miss a single shot. i replaced her windshield giving her more time for what matters most. tech: how'd ya do? player: we won! tech: nice! that's another safelite advantage. mom: thank you so much! (team sing) safelite repair, safelite replace.
10:19 am
we're only days away from a hearing about russia's meddling hearing and we learned that james comey will testify in front of an open hearing. we expect to hear directly and publicly from the fbi director himself. joining us to talk about what to expect to learn, a member of the house intelligence committee. congresswoman, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> what's the single most important question you will have for attorney comey? >> all of america wants to know how russia influenced our elections. the number one question is definitely about trump's
10:20 am
baseless wiretapping claims. >> the white house says it believes the white house will be vindicated in those claims that trump tower was wiretapped or at least there was surveillance going on. but even the republican house intelligence committee chairman, your chairman, devin nunez, said he's not seen evidence of wiretapping and the attorney general we just heard him say he never gave the president any reason to believe that president obama wiretapped him at trump tower in new york. so why do you think the white house is saying they're confident the president will be vindicated? >> i don't know why the white house keeps doubling down on trump's baseless claims. i think that we heard directly from the committee chairman as well as our ranking member that we've not heard of any evidence that suggests that that claim is anything but baseless. >> when you hear devin nunez say there may have been incidental collection of information at trump tower in new york that picked up certain surveillance, what does that mean to you?
10:21 am
>> i think that we have to obviously as a member of the intelligence committee follow the facts wherever they lead us. but seems to me that this white house has been trying to make good on trump's claim of wireless tapping and i think that that's something that he's not been able to prove and nor has the white house been able to prove. our hope is that in the public hearing because i believe america deserves to have transparency. in the public hearing on monday, if not before, i really hope that director comey actually provides us with evidence if there's such evidence of any wiretapping or any surveillance that's been done. i think it's important that we understand what u.s. persons may have been involved in the russian hacking. it's indisputable that there was russian hacking and interference in our elections but it's more than just about hacking. it's about their influence in elections generally and more specifically the u.s. presidential election.
10:22 am
>> you were briefed by the director james comey earlier this month. did he indicate to you whether the fbi was investigating the trump campaign and its connections with the russians? >> no. director comey was really quite vague in his interview before our classified hearing. i think that's why both ranking member schiff and chairman nunez hopes he'll be much more forthcoming in our public hearing. >> the chairman of your committee says the entire committee, including you, have now had access to the so-called gang of eight source documents. that's the leadership of the house and senate democratic and republican and the chairman and vice chairman of the intelligence committees. have you already seen those documents? >> i have not. we are in the process of getting access to those documents. i look forward to having an opportunity to review them. obviously the nature of those classified documents is
10:23 am
classified, and i can't go into that. i think that it's really important for the american public to have confidence that this is truly a bipartisan investigation into the russian interference in our democracy. >> congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> coming up, the department of justice has indicted four people including two russian government officials chargiing them with planning and executing one of the largest data breaches in u.s. history. live to moscow for the kremlin's reaction. that's next. ...your only worry... ...will be that one... rogue... cloud. get help with hotels, free twenty-four-hour flight changes, and our price match guarantee. travelocity. wander wisely. the following ad for your viewing convenience. so i just switched to geico. what took you so long? i know, i saved a ton of money on car insurance. that's what i'm talking about! geico also gives you 24/7 access to licensed agents!
10:24 am
booooyah. good game, you really crushed it. no son, geico crushed it. ♪ ♪ sugar, we're letting you go. what? who's replacing me? splenda naturals? look, she's sweet, she's got natural stevia, no bitter aftertaste and she's calorie-free. so that's it? we made you a cake. with sugar? oh, no. (laughing)
10:25 am
so that's it? we made you a cake. [vo] quickbooks introduces he teaches lessons to stanley... and that's kind of it right now. but rodney knew just what to do...he got quickbooks. it organizes all his accounts, so he knows where he stands in an instant. ahhh...that's a profit. which gave him the idea to spend a little cash on some brilliant marketing! ha, clever. wow, look at all these new students! way to grow, rodney! know where you stand instantly.
10:26 am
visit quickbooks.com. but they're different.d kind it's nice to remove artificial ingredients. kind never had to. we've used real ingredients, whole nuts, and natural flavors from the very beginning. give kind a try.
10:27 am
breaking news, for the first time ever the u.s. is filing cyber charges against the russian government. officials are indicting two russian intelligence agents and two hackers they paid for a
10:28 am
massive breach in 2014. the agents worked for the russian federal security service. >> the unit that the defendants worked for, the center for information security, also known as center 18, is also the fbi's point of contact in moscow for cybercrime matters. the involvement and direction of fsb officers with law enforcement responsibilities makes this conduct that much more egregious. >> the yahoo! breech is oach is the largest in u.s. history. let's bring in frederik pleitgen joining live from moscow. one suspect is already in custody. update our viewers. what's the latest? >> reporter: remarkable things we found out over the past hour and a half or so. two agents that are being
10:29 am
indicted are two men. one is man we have actually ultimately investigated over the past couple of weeks as well. it turns out that he has been in custody here in moscow since at least december of last year and that he's in custody and being charged with treason on behalf of the united states. essentially spying for the united states. now, it's unclear what that relates to. he's apparently there on trial with several other individuals and one of the lawyers in the case that we spoke to said that the things he's being charged of date from several years ago. not something that's related to anything current. at the same time, there are still many questions as to why he was put into custody at the end of last year. he does, indeed, work at the information security center of the fsb so certainly all of this going to raise a lot of questions and we've reached out to several russian government officials tonight and asked them
10:30 am
to comment on this matter. so far we've not gotten any response from them yet. >> when you get so many, you'll let us know. we just got a statement also in from the yahoo! ceo marissa myer. she tweeted this. i'm quoting. very grateful to the fbi and doj for bringing to justice the russian officials and hackers that led the attack on yahoo!. federal judges in three states are hearing challenges to the president's new travel ban scheduled to go into effect at midnight. will they block this latest executive order? that's next.
10:31 am
and we thoroughly test all our nuts for superior craveability. hey richard, check out this fresh roasted flavor. looks delicious, huh? -yeah. -richard, try to control yourself. -i can't help it. -and how about that aroma? -love that aroma! umph! -craveability, approved! -oh, can i have some now?! -sure! help yourself. -wait, what? -irresistibly planters. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast,
10:32 am
for fast pain relief. tylenol® won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. (bin einstein since he startede eating beneful. the number one ingredient in it is beef. (einstein) the beef is fantastic! (becky) he has enough energy to believe that he can jump high enough to catch a bird.
10:33 am
(vo) try beneful originals with beef. with real beef as the number one ingredient.
10:34 am
dearthere's no other way to say this. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced. our senses awake. our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say...if you love something set it free. see you around, giulia in less than 11 hours from
10:35 am
now, president trump's revised travel ban takes effect. until then lawyers and activists are using every second they have to try to fight it. today, no fewer than three federal courts are hearing emergency arguments over whether its constitutional to block visitors from six muslim majority countries. that includes a hearing this morning in maryland and another in hawaii later this afternoon. most notably, one in seattle, washington. that one will be heard by judge james robart, the one that blocked the first travel ban nation wide. it led to mass confusion and chaos at airports across the country as travelers unaware of the order had already boarded planes bound for the united states. our justice reporter attended this morning's hearing in maryland. give us an update on how the rest of the day will play out and what you saw there. >> these federal judges are really taking rulings down to the wire here, wolf, with the travel ban set to go into effect just after midnight tomorrow.
10:36 am
that federal judge in maryland heard arguments for nearly two hours this morning. he said that he hopes to issue a ruling later today but cautioned not necessarily. the real issue in all of these cases is whether the trump administration did enough to remedy the legal problems that the courts found with the first executive order. several states and immigration advocates say that this new travel ban still discriminates against muslims and they mostly point to statements that trump made while on the campaign trail. the justice department argued in court this morning that those statements shouldn't count because trump wasn't president yet. now it's in the hands of these three federal judges to see who is right. >> we'll watch with you. thanks for that update. look at this. we're getting some pictures coming in from the senate int intelligence committee who will convene to hear more about russia's hacking in the u.s.
10:37 am
presidential election. we're going to watch that closely. update you. we know that the chairman has already gone into that hearing and the vice chairman has gone in as well. other members are going inside even as we speak. we'll stake it out and report to you once it concludes. coming up, the house speaker paul ryan says he's not considering major changes to it the health care repeal bill but my next guest admits that changes may be needed to get the bill passed. republican congressman tom cole standing by to join us live right after this. nobody does unlimited like t-mobile. while the other guys gouge for unlimited data... t-mobile one save you hundreds a year. right now get two lines of data for $100 dollars. with taxes and fees included. that's right 2 unlimited lines for just $100 bucks. all in. and right now, pair up those two lines with two free samsung galaxy s7 when you switch. yup! free.
10:38 am
so switch and save hundreds when you go all unlimited with t-mobile.
10:39 am
youthat's why you drink ensure. sidelined. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. tomorrow's the day besides video games. every day is a gift. especially for people with heart failure. but today there's entresto... a breakthrough medicine that can help make more tomorrows possible. tomorrow, i want to see teddy bait his first hook. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto was proven to help more people stay alive
10:40 am
and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. tomorrow, i'm gonna step out with my favorite girl. ask your doctor about entresto. and help make the gift of tomorrow possible.
10:41 am
10:42 am
looking at live pictures coming in from michigan right now. soon the president will deliver remarks there at the american center for mobility, a vehicle research center. we'll have live coverage of that once the president starts speaking. up on capitol hill, vice president mike pence, house speak per paul ryan are meetingo discuss the bill to replace obamacare. it comes after more republicans in house and senate came out publicly to criticize the current bill. listen to this advice senator lindsey graham gave to the president earlier today. >> right now the house bill in my view will have hard time getting through the senate. my advice to the president, if you can't find a better plan coming from republicans, don't buy it just because the republicans want to sell it to you. let obamacare collapse and it will and then try to replace it in a bipartisan fashion. >> republican congressman tom cole of oklahoma joins us now
10:43 am
from capitol hill. he serves on the house budget committee which will take up the bill tomorrow. congressman, thank you very much for joining us. >> great to be with you. >> let me get your response to what we just heard from your republican senate colleague lindsey graham that if the bill can't be improved, the president for now should abandon it. >> i have a lot of respect for lindsey graham. he's a good friend. i think in this case what the senate needs to do is use the house bill as a vehicle and make changes that it thinks is advisable and we'll go to conference or draft their own legislation. i think if this bill does not pass, the chances of reforming and replacing -- repealing and replacing obamacare diminish significantly. that's a cardinal commitment that we made to the american people, so again, there's nothing wrong with us moving a bill that the senate doesn't like. their answer should be to move one of their own and we'll negotiate the differences out. >> listen to what another
10:44 am
republican colleague of yours, rand paul, said just a few moments ago. listen to this. >> the problem is this though. the leadership in the house is weak knees and they are afraid to lead with freedom and capitalism so they give you something that's half as much as obama care but doesn't fix the problems. >> getting a lot of grief from conservative republicans who don't like this plan that the speaker paul ryan has put forward. your reaction to what we just heard from senator rand paul? >> well, i want to congratulate senator paul, first, on putting out his own plan which is something no one else in the senate has done. i have a lot of respect for that quite frankly. i think his critique is wrong. frankly, this is a conservative bill. we don't make any bones about it. both the president and the speaker have said we can change it during the course as it moves through. that's what the legislative process is for. we're anxious to have the suggestions that the senate
10:45 am
wants to make. but again, in the end, if the senate has a different approach, they should pass the bill. it could be senator paul's bill or another one of their own. i know that senator cassidy has had legislation out there as well. but they need to come to the table and actually negotiate, not just throw rocks over on our side. at the end of the day, you have to have a product that you can improve on. this is what we didn't have frankly when obamacare moved through. it did not have this rigorous legislative input. so we welcome the debate. at the end of the day, we have to move a product and i think this is a good start. it lowers the deficit over time. it lowers premiums. we have concern with the number of uninsured, but we've got some serious questions about the cbo's estimates. >> i'll point out that debate over obamacare back in 2009, the first year of the obama administration, that debate went on for months and months and months. there were an enormous amount of
10:46 am
hearings. it wasn't just a few weeks as this legislation you're attempting to pass within a few weeks. let me point out, congressman, a bunch of republicans in the house are now saying either from the right, the conservatives don't like it or moderates like a colleague from florida are saying they can't vote this. do you have -- are you sure you will have the 216 votes needed to simply get it out of the house and move it to the senate? >> i think we will. again, you know, you never know until the day of the vote quite frankly. you usually grow a vote over the course of the debate. remember, while this legislation has gone through relatively rapid process this congress, it's not as if these ideas haven't been out there for a long time and we haven't moved legislation all of the way in some cases to president obama's desk. so, again, these ideas have been kicked around. they've been in various legislative form. we're not starting in the way that frankly the obama
10:47 am
administration did with a single sheet of paper and eight bullet points. that was the beginning of oba obamaca obamacare. this has been worked on for years. we're in a better position to move than they were in 2009. >> let me get your quick reaction on a sensitive issue right now. your take on the house intelligence community chairman, republican like you are, telling reporters he sees no evidence that trump tower in new york city was wiretapped. take a listen to what a democratic congressman said about the president's claims and then we'll get your reaction. >> you can't have a president in the white house who because he has as hissy fit, mad about something or excited about something, makes an accusation like this with no foundation and then doesn't have any concern over the repercussions of what he says. >> let me get your reaction. go ahead, congressman.
10:48 am
>> i'm proud of dennis nunez. not easy to do what he did. i think he did exactly what the president asked which was investigate and see if there was any evidence and he hasn't found any. i think that's the appropriate response. >> he would be in a position -- he would be in a position to know if what the president alleged in those four tweets 11 days ago was true, right? >> i would think so. he's in a better position than most. he's an extremely responsible and thoughtful member. >> should the president retract those words and apologize to the former president? >> i leave it to the president to decide what he should do. in this case, something like that is warranted. you ought to walk it back if the evidence doesn't support the charge you made. in this case, i don't think it does. >> that's a serious charge. congressman cole, thanks, as usual, for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> a reminder later tonight daae
10:49 am
bash and i will moderate a live town hall on the future of health care tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. and paul ryan will join jake tapper on "the lead" at 4:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. coming up, live pictures coming in from michigan. president trump getting ready to deliver remarks there any moment now. we'll bring it to you live. all that coming up. st. patrick's day -o be irish on because the irish have all the fun. ancestrydna can reveal your true irish roots, even if you never knew they were there. with a simple dna test, you can discover if you're irish, or one of 25 other ethnicities. so save 10% on ancestrydna right now - and find out just how much fun you'll have. save on ancestrydna through sunday.
10:50 am
10:51 am
the more mysterious they sound, the more... powerful you'll think they are. it's time to see what power really looks like. new neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair with accelerated retinol sa. clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in just one week. wrinkles? your time is up! rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots. rapid tone repair. neutrogena® see what's possible.
10:52 am
10:53 am
. looking at live pictures coming in from michigan. the president will be thrifrideg remarks. stand by.
10:54 am
the democratic and republican leaders are announcing they have no evidence that president trump was wiretapped. the president blamed that on surveillance ordered by president obama. i want to talk more about that with our cnn analyst david gregory. the justice department missed the deadline to provide evidence of a tap. the house leaders say they see zero indication it actually happened, so what is the white house's next move? >> i don't know, wolf, this is a real credibility blow to this white house and this president. but to upping the antiand saying put up or shut-up from one president to a former president is really stunning, from the press secretary to advisors
10:55 am
circling the wagons, absent any evidence is really going to hurt america's credibility and this president's credibility. you have lindsey graham, the intention committee chairs of both parties saying there's nothing hear. if this was an overly broad charge then it contradicts, and it's a mess, i don't know where they go from here other than backing down completely. >> how do you explain press secretary sean spicer saying he is extremely confident that the president's assertions will be vindicated. how do you explain that >> they should know. he can present this evidence if he wants to. what's so damming about this is he's either not telling the truth and hasn't been or there's
10:56 am
evidence of a warrant and a reason why there was some kind of surveillance of him and his team. remember this is all about contacts with russia potentially when russia was up to no good trying to manipulate a u.s. election. so they have the ability to put the cards on the table. the justice department could put this out here, what we have heard is they haven't shown anything, and the fbi director has said it's not true and should be corrected so that's what we know sfaro far and tryi to figure out what's going on. >> james comey is scheduled to testify in open house intelligence committee. i'm sure there are going to be a lot of questions for him and a lot of us are wondering how far he will go, on a the meddling on the russian into the american
10:57 am
election and b on the wiretapping? >> well, will he come out asimpy say it's not true. james comey is on record saying hillary clinton should not have been prosecuted, should have been prosecuted, making allegations unprecedented in following the rules, we'll see if he steps back or doubles down on that. that is much more important than the president though his credibility is vitally important, more important than the president tweeting and making up claims against a former president, where is the evidence, leading investigators to know more about whether there was any collusion between the trump campaign an russia and what extent russia was interfering in the election! the house speaker paul ryan on another sensitive issue,
10:58 am
strongly defending the health care bill. >> this is something we wrote with president trump. something we wrote with the senate committees just so you know maria, this is the plan we ran on all of last year. >> the speaker clearly tying the president to this current legislation which seems to be in serious trouble right now. what do you make of this? >> i think that's significant, right? the president has said he's backed ryan and the ryan plan and does he stay there? there's a lot of different forces, there are moderates, conservatives, there are others this the president's or bit who say this is bad politics you're going to alienate parts of your base here, older voters, working class who could be under a new trumpcare plan, but now the speaker of the house making it very clear the president has been on board and hasee and
10:59 am
fighting for it. it will be interesting how he will continue to use it for political capital and whether the amendments are going to put pressure on ryan again. what's striking is this is being defined ve defined very negatively and you remember hillary clinton plan got defined early and was killed. obamacare survived but a very difficult go in terms of how it was defined and difficult to communicate in terms of effectiveness. >> and they need the votes to get it through for consideration and not sure they have the 216 votes in the house of representatives, that could be potentially a huge embarrassment for the leadership and the president himself. thank you very much david
11:00 am
gregory for helping us with all that. that's it for me. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in the situation room and 9:00 p.m. eastern dana bash and i will be moderating a town hall with secretary tom price, but first waiting for the president to come out and speak in michigan. newsroom with brooke baldwin starts right now. all right. here we go, i'm brooke baldwin you're watching cnn. full disclosure. you are about to see a wild hour of live events, am i right? i'm right. the first comments on the blistering health care bill and revelation about the wiretap claims, also republican senator lindsey graham said to push the fbi