thought that i could do more. >> you see how officer maddox gets people caught in the cross fire and while you're there, nominate someone you think should be a 2017 cnn bureau and don't miss unseen enemy. the story of how a deadly disease could turn into the next pandemic. that's it for us tonight. thanks for watching. be right back here tomorrow. good evening. tonight after weeks of seeing one puzzle piece after another, something new happened. the puzzle itself just got bigger. it now stretches to the indian ocean a string of islands where a meeting took place making headlines. the brother of a trump cabinet member and black water met with

a confident of putin. we don't know whether it involved any wrong doing at all, we do know it's another in a parade of russia items and led someone to say some people will end up in jail before all is said and done. and a poll showing a record low 35% job approval rating for president trump. no surprise they continue to try to divert attention from the fbi investigatio investigations investigating ties between trump and russia. what's the reaction on the hill that a donor and head of black water was trying to establish a black channel during the transition? >> well, the congressional investigators want to learn more about this, particularly about the timing of this meeting that

occurred in january around the same time the obama administration issued new sanctions for its alleged roele in trying to suede the election in favor of donald trump. now this meeting occurred right around that time when there's a push to looseen the sanctions, the question is did that come up in any of those sanctions? batting down reports saying thateric prince had no role in the trump transition team. and prince's team saying there's nothing there. and this as the hill investigation is trying to look largely into the russian contacts with trump officials and this is going to be one they dig into deemply. >> on the house side things starting to look a little bit up. there's of course had been stymied over the last couple of

days over chairman nunes role to run the committee and whether he can do that given the actions he took to show he's too cozy to the white house when they were looking at any of the alleged contacts during the campaign season. democrats say they're going to participate and they have quite a deal with republicans over the exact witnesses that they want to bring forward inhadclucludinp associates. hear how key members are talking about the investigation as it stands. >> it's going forward, this basic agreement on the witness list. >> on flynn, carter page, manafort. >> i don't want to be jumping the gun but yowl rr see there is general agreement on the witness list. from what i know every individual will be called to witness. >> we don't have dates yet on

our witnesses. but we certainly made lot of progress. the chairman and i have exchanged witness lists. i think we're in agreement on bringing in the witnesses he wants, we want. >> chairman nunes didn't want to answer any questions about his role given the controversy he has faced over the last several days. but the senate intelligence committee really moving forward on interviews happening behind closed doors, including with intelligence community officials. they said the one thing they're trying to learn is what was left out of the january report that said from the intelligence community's perspective that russian officials that highest levels tried to sway the election to help donald trump. they're trying to figure out what was in that report and the chairman telling me they have learned quote a lot so far. but the question is when do they bring forward the big witnesses like paul manafort and maybe

even flynn. something both committees are looking at. >> appreciate the it update. one other item. late today one democrat on the house committee dropped a bomb shell. >> i guess i would say this. that my impression is i wouldn't be surprised if after all is said and done that some people end up in jail. >> really? and how high does that go to in your suspicion? that's all we can call it right now. >> that's yet to be determined. >> you think some people are going to find up in jail? >> that's my impression, yes. obviously a very intriguing statement. >> if i was betting, i would say yes. >> pretty strong stuff.

i asked a fellow congressman. i want to get your reaction to something joaquin castro said earlier, that he believes people will go to jail at the end of the russian investigation. do you agree with that? >> right now we're seeing the deep personal, political and financial ties of trump's campaign team were converging at the same time. >> i don't want to prejudge the result. is it -- i hope that we also have a public hearing. sally yates and director clapper tell congress and the world just exactly what russia is doing and

whether u.s. persons were involved. >> the second briefing with comey and with roger. has that been scheduled? >> no. and neither has the public hearing. one should not happen in lieu of the other. >> this morning you and your fellow democrats on the intelligence committee were briefed on intelligence reports. i know you can't talk about specific information. did it confirm what chairman nunes has been claiming? >> so far there still is zero evidence that the president was wire tapped or that president obama ordered him be surveilled and i'll just say the president, president trump, he holds these records. he can declassify them and i think it's telling that he hasn't and i don't believe he will. >> when will you see the actual documents? >> we're told we will see them

before we go home to our districts at the end of this week. so sooner rather than later. we're going to continue this investigation. there's witnesses and other evidence to review. whether they put up hurdles or not, we're going to make it to the finish line. >> why do you think the president would not declassify the documents you were briefed on? >> they will show that information and right now this is nothing more than a distraction. i think it's a foolish one because we're dougoing to get b on track and learn more about donald trump and his team's ties converging with russia's interference. we're not relenting and this isn't going to stop us. >> do you have confidence -- >> i think it's a compromised investigation with him still leading it. that's why i'm calling for an independent commission.

every democrat and one republican has supported that. i have been having private conversations telling them this is the most comprehensive way to get to that. >> and when it comes to susan rice and the unmasking of trump aids, she said her as were quote not for any political purposes to spy or anything. she had previously denied any knowledge of any unmasking. have you seen evidence that would contradict her latest asserti assertion? >> i've seen zero evidence and donald trump can actually declassify if there is evidence and the fact that he has not shows that she did nothing wrong and also anytime someone requests an unmasking, it's for their eyes only. it's not a reply all to the entire intelligence community. we remain focussed. >> do you think susan rice needs to speak to your committee? >> it would only be a hurdle to reach the finish line but there

are much more relevant witnesses like paul manafort and others who chairman nunes has said will be available. >> appreciate your time. thanks so much. we're going to dig deeper. just who is erick prince? we'll talk to the reporter who broke this whole story. also north korea just fired another missile. the state department has said in so many words weir are out of patience. employees. micromanage them. make sure they're producing. woo! employee of the month! you really shouldn't leave their side. vita coco coconut water, hydration comes naturally. could save money on car insurance.nce you know, the kind of driver who always buckles up... comes to a complete stop... and looks both ways, no matter what. because esurance believes that's the kind of driver who deserves to save money on car insurance.

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well, the president says russia is a ruse. which ever you believe, each day seems to bring another story and more to investigate. we mentioned at the top of the broadcast the january meeting involving prince of black water notoriety. and a friend of vladimir putin. joining us is greg miller who broke the story for the

washington post. this is an incredible story and i want to take this piece by piece. can you explain how and why eriq brins was inp president trump's orbit? >> for starters he gave a ton of money, at least $250,000 to political action committees and other organizations that were supporting trump. he is tight with many people in trump's innercircle, including steve bannon. he appeared on numerous videos at breitbart website, all of them singing trump's praises, often very critical of hillary clinton. he showed up in the trump transition offices in new york at least once that we know of and he has a blood connection. his sister is the education secretary, betsy devos.

>> surcertainly his history of blackwater. they're interesting, relevant, maybe not. but how did this come about? >> so there are aspects that we still don't understand completely. what we understand is that this was arranged and brokered by the united arab emirates. uae makes this introduction. erik prince is close to the ruling family, has made a great deal of money from that ruling family. so might be logical he would be ideal to function as a go-between in this scenario. >> and the people you talk to believe that erik prince was representing or kind of standing in for people in the trump

administration. >> he presented himself in that way, as an unofficial representative, envoy and this was for a meeting with a confident of putin. and this was set up by the crown prince of abe dauby. >> the crown prince of abu dhabi, uae would like moscow to separate more from iran and be more in the orbit of uae? >> that's where the trump administration's interest appear to be aligned. there's lots of discussion among senior officials about how and weather it was possible to try to drive a wedge betweeniran, b

russia backs assad along side iranian forces and elsewhere in the middle east. a lot of people think that's a tough thing to pull off and you would never even be able to get close to getting that kind of an agreement from moscow without major u.s. concessions on issues including u.s. sanctions. >> and in terms of possible connections to team trump during the transition, you say prince was seen in trump tower prior to this meeting. >> yes. several weeks earlier and the crown prince was in trump tower. he flew in, in a very unusual way. undisclosed. >> to the u.s. government? >> to the u.s. government and in particular to the obama administration, which was still sith in office. they felt they had a commitment that he was not coming into the united states until the

president trump was sworn in. flies in unaunse announceunanno. they find out because his name is flagged by a manifest on custom and border protection. >> and the prince came with his brother who is involved in national security in the uae? >> yes. and this sl happening at a time when the russian ambassador is at trump tower. i mean, this is in the same december time frame when sergey is meeting with flynn, the jared kushner, son in law and close advisor of president trump. lots of people moving in and out, including the crown prince, in including erik prince. >> and he met with bannon and flynn? >> you add one more name and that's steve bannon.

>> is there anything to rule out or rule in the possibility that the new york meeting got things rolling? it suggested it would be out of character for him to both trump and putin, if not inleaders themselves. >> sort of hard to imagine a scenario in which the crown prince would engage in something like this without seeing it as a legitimate undertaking with the blessing of people in trump's innercircle. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. i want to bring in the panel, errol lewis, amanda carpenter and steve israel. what do you make of all of this? it's fascinating piece of the puzzle but there's still a lot unknown and the prince is denying. >> really complicated story.

one of the reasons you would use someone like prince if this was officially the green light would be exactly like this. there's a long history of presidents and incoming presidents using people one or two steps removed to test out ideas. that does seem like what this was here. it's an awful lot of trouble for someone like prince to go through unless he had some idea he was working on behalf of trump or someone around him. >> clearly trump has global business interests in a lot of countries. >> he's a controversial person. so he's a very controversial person to choose to do this with.

reportedly he needs to get out of the united states because there are civil lawsuits against executives of blackwater and i think most people know it got in a lot of trouble for opening on civilians in iraq. contractors accused of murdering people in afghanistan. so someone to move to the uae to help run the law probably isn't someone you should choose to negotiate on behalf of the united states. >> and interesting he was in the trump tower during the transition time. >> there were a number of foreign policy experts brought into the transition who were very disturbed with what they saw. that he was meeting with the president elect. some of these people left the transition effort partly because they saw a line close to what

putin was pronouncing that flynn and others were proclaiming time and time again. this is something people on the hill are investigating. there's another dimension for this on top of what you were just talking to the washington post reporter who did that terrific story about. but this is part of a largerer piece of the puzzle that may or may not be crucial. >> what is erik prince doing meeting with president trump? >> this did happen before the washington post broke the story about flynn and the russian ambassador. it was a week or so before it really became on the front burner that the meeting took place and a few days before the inauguration. as the reporter for the

washington post is pointing out. zeerd a meeting when you could have a meeting above bord through the administration. >> this is what you get with an antiestablishment administration and campaign. everything in washington was supposed to be bad. these are the people who brought us the iraq war. well, here's a different approach. sketchy characters moving in and out of what's basically the president's home, undisclosed deals, dealings, financial ties between the president elect himself and at the time and members of his family and the trump organization ando oligarcs close to putin. so it becomes almost impossible. clear statements about human rights, foreign policy, where we're going. people with actual experience, you get at best free lancers like prince rolling around.

>> we'll have a lot more ahead including susan rice's public remarks. what president obama's national security advisor is saying about unmasking the identities of americans and later breaking news. kim jong-un firing another missile, fires off a killing response. kevin, meet your father. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. kevin, how's your mom? life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you.

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former president obama's national skur al security advis rice had an interview with msnbc. she said she never made publics any of the names of americans who turned up in reports. >> the notion which some people are trying to suggest that by asking for the identity of an american person. that is the same as leaking is is completely false. there's no equivalence of so-called unmasking and leaking. >> i do want to show you of what a number of particularly

conservative news outlets have been pointing to comments she made a few weeks ago. take a look. >> in the last few hours we've been following a disclosure by the chairman of the house intelligence committee, that during the transition, after president trump had been elected that he and the people around him may have been caught up in surveillance of foreign individuals and that their identities may have been disclosed. do you know anything about this? >> i know-nothing about this. i was surprised to see reports from chairman nunes on that account. >> in fact now with the panel. i mean, jeff, what do you make of the two different statement snz. >> listening to cnn's john king today, will the real susan rice

please stand up. there is a difference between unmasking and leaking. but if in fact you unmask to the degree that you've let a secret out to however many people it is, you're doing this with -- you could be doing it -- >> but there's no evidence. unmasking is unmasked for her, there's no evidence -- >> correct. but when this gets out, somebody did this. i'm all for, at this point, an independent commissions. my liberal friends will love this. i think we should appoint dick cheney to head the commission with joe lieberman and get to the bottom of everything. have paul manafort and roger stone and all these people come up, have susan rice. do it all. >> there is a big difference between unmasking and spreading that information around or just unmasking which can in many

cases be appropriate and actually leaking that informationing to a reporter or to others. >> let's do a reality check. donald trump and his administration have proven to be masters of deflection. they want us to have the conversation we're having. instead of talk about the fundamental issue which is an act of russian espionage against the united states government and potential aiding and abetting of that by people associated with donald trump. today the story is susan rice. last week it was a former deputy assistant of defense. it's quite amazing. they pull names out of a hat to feed the news narrative to deflect from what counts. what counts is the fbi investigation into the russians, whether there was aiding and abetting of active espionage on

the american people. >> is this just distraction? one of several? >> i think there's a lessen to learn from susan rice right now. this is what happens when you lose your credibility. her credibility was shot when she misled people bute the benghazi videos. she has no credibility with about 50% of voters. it's a feeding frenzy. national security advisor and by the way his most trusted person right now, jared kushner is facing intelligence. this is a lot of distraction but susan rice does have a problem that people who are

illegitimately defending donald trump right now might face themselves if they're not careful. >> one, this is now the third kind of intelligence collection used to justify that tweet. first it was obama wire taps his phones, then it was british intelligence. and now it's susan rice and unmasking being used to justify that. but put all that aside. my understand ogof the process of unmasking i think is important to understand what this is all about. they the national security agency, if they have a conversation where an american is mentioned when they're illegally targeting a foreigner, they make a decision. is it intelligence -- is it

relevant intelligence to feed up the food chain? if it is, they write a report, if not, they purge the information. they're making the first decision that this information is useful. second, she's a national security advisor, the most important in the white house. she gets that report. she sees a masked american name. she has to decide does she need to know who that name is or not. unmasking does not mean disclosing it to the world. the nsa has to approve that unmasking based on a two criteria. whether it would help her understand the report more. there's a whole process. it gets logged in a computer. the only reason we know is because the white house aids said susan rice was making these reque requests. if this was a big abuse by the system of

unmasking, she did a terrible job covering her tracks because she literally logged her request into the computer. >> i don't think the fact that she logged it doesn't mean she didn't do anything wrong. the question for people concerned about the behavior of some of the people in our government is why did she need to do this? it was dozens of requests and -- was it politically motivated or not? we don't know that it was. >> we know devin nunes one of the several people has said two things he, one it's not related to russia and two, it's not related to anything he saw. >> we should be more concerned. >> keep our eye on the ball. i hate to go to the water gate analogy. but what we knew was there had been an attack on the free electoral process in the united

states of america. the same question is what looms over all of this. not how did the press or anyone else get the information. it's exactly what happened in watergate when nixon tried to make the conduct to the press and leaks supposedly the issue. we need to stay focussed on the real story here. if there is an incidental story about how certain pieces of information came to be, fine, down the line take a look at it. but let's remember this is about a foreign power which interfered with our free electoral system. up next. a missile launch and president trump's message to kim jong-un. reports of a deadly gas attack, one of the worst in years. white house points a finger that obama administration. the question does the trump team also bare responsibility? americans - 83% try to eat healthy.

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kim jong-un ordered his military to fire another missile. here now from the pentagon with more. what are you learned, barbara?

>> this happened a short time ago, north korea firing a ballistic missile off its eastern coast. why was this missile important? not so much about the missile but the program represents. it's hard for u.s. satellites to track a mobile launcher. it had solid fuel on board, making it tough for u.s. satellites to spy and predict where these launches are coming from because it's all fuelled up, ready to go. much less advanced warning. this is the program north korea is working on to try and launch these kinds of missiles. keep them outside the eyes of u.s. satellites. also known as the sea of japan. it didn't go very far but that's not really the point. and we had a really amazing statement from rex tillerson i want to review. mr. tillerson saying and i quote

north korea launched another intermediate ballistic missile. the united states has spoken enough about north korea. we have no further comment. no comment from the state department. it does make you wonder if they aren't the least bit worried about how kim jong-un may interpret those words. >> there's another obviously big international story, chemical air strike against civilians in syria. >> the images are horrific. they are very disturbing. if they have young children present, they may want to take them out of the room. this attack very serious in northern syria. u.s. officials believe it was the assad regime and most likely they attacked using saren. cnn will not blur out the horror. activists say dozens of civilians killed and hundreds injured, including children when

air strikes hit in northern syria. victims were choke, foaming at the mouth. people died of asphyxiation, symptoms of a chemical attack. >> translator: i saw children dead, an entire family, mother and three children all dead. >> reporter: secretary of state rex tillerson ignoring shouded questions about the attack from reporters just days after he made clear the trump doctrine is to no longer aim to push syrian president assad to be removed from power. >> i think the status and the longer term status of president ass assad will be decided by the syrian people. >> reporter: this may be the new reali reality. >> there's no plausible way to get rid of him and we're all going to have to hold our nose and come up with a strategy that

minimizes their help in the future. these heinous actions by assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution. >> an emergency meeting of the united nations security counsel now scheduled for tomorrow morning. the 8-year-old syrian girl who tweeted from aleppo had a new message from president donald trump. this is syria today. hi, do you love this? she said with a photo of the children in her country. president obama came under criticism for his so-called red line. but assad did use chemical weapons and the u.s. did little about it. rex tillerson issuing written statements condemning the

attacks but no sign the u.s. is going to do anything about it. and a tough stance on syria when he was a business mogul in 2013. in fact, mr. trump posted this tweet. the only reason president obama wants to attack syria is to save face over his red line statement. do nauot attack syria, fix u.s.. our syrian national correspo corresponden correspondents. this attack and solution to the trump administration's response. on the one hand they say this can't be ignored by the civilized world and then they blame the obama administration for setting the red line and not acting out on it. it doesn't seem like there's going to be any action on part of the u.s. this time either. >> i think there's some sort of moral compass that has been broken given so many atrocities

have been happening for so long and nothing seems to be galvanizing them to take actions to make it stop. the trump administration has an opportunity to not allow history to repeat itself. >> and yet we just heard from rex tillerson essentially change in u.s. policy where he said basically it's up to the syrian people whether or not the future of syria and assad. i want to play something john mccain said. >> boassad and his friends take note of what americans say. i'm sure they took note of what our secretary of state said that the syrian people would be determining their own future themselves. one of the more incredible statements i've heard. i'm sure they're encouraged to know the united states is

withdrawing and seeking a new arrangement with the russians and another disgraceful chapter in american history and it was predictable. >> i guess the question is and it's impossible to know. is this attack a -- >> i think it's impossible to know and i think the regime of assad bew all the help it's had from its proxies from iran, from hezbollah has been feeling emboldened to do whatever it pleases to its population for quite some time. there's no way to conclude this is a direct result of the secretary's comments. when you think about what that means, it's up to the syrian people to decide. do you think they were asking to have chemical weapons dropped on civilian populations and women

and children killed? do you think they were asking for nearly 10 million people displaced from their homes, 5 million living in other countries. the syrian people have not had any say for a very long time in what happens in their country and their own future. >> does anyone on the ground in syria have any hope that the national community will intervene in any meaningful way? early on clearly there was a lot of hope but it's been so long and there's been such slaughter. >> i was speaking not too long ago about a group of syrians about this very issue. how do you still have hope? and they were working on putting together a file on human rights violations taking place inside syria. if we don't have hope, we can't keep going. i think people cling to this notion because they have nothing else. everything has been ripped away from them. that somehow the united states

is going to do what it takes to just stop this blood shed. >> i wonder what you think the reaction to jared kushner visiting iraq is on the international stage. because on the one hand it make as lot of sense that chairman of the joint chiefs would invite him there because clearly kushner has the ear of the joint chief. but it's interesting that the secretary of state's not involved in this and does seem to be different centers of power. >> extraordinary. extraordinary to see how much responsibility is being deligated to someone who may be a very smart capable person but who has no diplomatic experience, very limited experience in the region certainly and generally speaking internationally. i think most iraqis probably -- and you might know better than i -- wouldn't even know who jared kushner is per se.

but there's an awareness of the fact that there is a small group of people around president trump that he trusts and perhaps it's a sign that iraq is important to him that he's sending his son in law on this trip. but i think to international leaders, it's a little alarming because >> thank you. well, just ahead tonight more breaking news. vice president pence back on capitol hill tonight meeting with key republican lawmakers about reviving the failed health care bill. are they serious about another try at health care or is this a way to try to change the narrative away from russia? more ahead. like @pigskinsusan15, who writes, "now my boyfriend wants to talk on sundays. just so many words." your boyfriend's got it bad. maybe think about being single until the start of the season. [ om[ sniffs ]c ] little girl: daddy! trapped by your unrelenting nasal allergies? [ meow ] [ sneezes ] try clarispray

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more breaking news tonight on capitol hill at this moment vice president mike pence is meeting with several key committee chairmen involved in health care. the latest evidence, what's being described as an attempt to revive the failed republican health care bill. it's only been 11 days since house speaker paul ryan pulled that bill after coming up short on republican votes. up until the last moment the white house was all bravado. and immediately after the blame game began, much of it directed at the conservative freedom caucus. >> there's no plan -- this is -- there's plan a and plan a. we're going to get this done. >> with no democrat support we couldn't quite get there.

we're just a very small number of votes short. >> democrats are smiling in d.c. that the freedom caucus with the help of club for growth and heritage, two conservative think tanks, had saved planned parenthood and obamacare. so he seems to be putting it right on the right wing, the hard line conservatives in your own party. >> i think the president's 100% correct. >> it's not just about making deals. it's knowing when to walk away on deals. >> i know we're going to make a deal on health care. that's such an easy one. i have no doubt that's going to happen very quickly. >> fast forward to the past 24 hours vice president pence's efforts to take a second swing at carving a path to the 260 votes needed. phil mattingly has details. >> reporter: the white house, led by vice president mike pence, engaging in a blitz to bring members back to the table. coming to capitol hill monday night to present a new proposal to the house freedom caucus. a group of conservatives that wouldn't back the first effort. >> is there going to be a vote on health care?

>> reporter: the proposal would attempt to address complaints that the original bill didn't go far enough to address obamacaretion regulatory infrastructure. to t. would provide states the options to apply for waivers to opt out of obamacare's ten essential health benefits, the minimum requirements for any insurance plan, and also provide an opt-out option for the community ratings regulations which prevent insurers from raising premiums based on age, gender, or health. but for the moment the freedom caucus members aren't committing. >> there is no deal in principle. there is a solid idea that was offered. we are certainly encouraged by the progress we seem to be making. >> reporter: and senior gop aides point to an underlying problem that remains unchanged. start with a plan that appeals to as many as possible, then move it to the right. that may bring conservatives on board. it also risks bleeding the very moderates necessary to reach the

216 votes needed for passage. >> i don't see how that would work. >> reporter: and that means leadership cautious behind the scenes sits in a very similar place with one senior gop aide telling cnn that any talk of a final deal is, quote, premature and the best way to describe the new talks would be very early discussions. with only one goal. any compromise must add net votes. >> now we're throwing around concepts to improve the bill. that's occurring right now. but that is not to say that we are ready to go. because we want to make sure that when we go we have the votes to pass this bill, we've got the consensus that we've long been looking for. >> phil mattingly joins us now. wuf been staking out an ongoing late-night meeting between the vice president, just about all of the big house republican stakeholders. what are you hearing now? >> this is essentially the been waiting for.olicy they've - this is what was promised last night when they first unveiled kind of the topline components of this new compromise proposal. and what they're doing, they've got staff in the room. the tables i've been told are set up in a rectangular fashion.

so the members of congress, the administration officials, including mike pence, reince priebus, tom price, budget director mick mulvaney are trying to hammer out a way forward. staff is in the room to brief on specifics of the policy, anderson. but there's no question about it. going into this meeting you heard what the speak yes had to say this was a conceptual stage. the white house says this was further along. but i can tell you talking to members and senior leadership aides tlouts the course of the day there's a lost skepticism that they can actually close the deal. which raises i think a really important question here. was this real or was this just trying to be an effort to act like they didn't give up on this? i'm told it's much more the former than the latter but it's worth noting. mike pence the vice president has really put himself out here on this. he has made clear he wants to try and close this deal. if the day is any indication, he's a long way away from that. they're pinning a lot of hopes on this meeting tonight, anderson. >> phil mattingly. phil, thanks. much more ahead tonight on "360." more on the breaking news bay new strand in the expanding web of connections between trump associates and russia. what we're learning about a

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