particular his meetings with russian officials and his digital strategy. we are also following montana's congressional special election. the monita that candidate will be headed to washington, charged with assault. after allegedly body slamming a reporter, he still won. joe, getting very close to the president, the russia investigation. >> good morning, john. jared kushner has been played roles. and now he is the first person currently inside the trump white house to come under scrutiny. though, he's not believed to be a target of the russia investigation. president trump's son-in-law and most trusted advisor. >> he's very good at politics. >> now a focus of the fbi's investigation into russia's meddling in the 2016 election. officials tell cnn, the burrow

is looking into a rang of topics with jared kushner. there is no indication kushner is currently a target of the probe and no allegation of wrongdoing. the trump campaign used to micro target voters in states that were critical to the president's victory. investigators are examining whether russian operatives were able to piggy bag on that effort with help from trump associates to help russia's own alleged operation, to push information online aimed at helping trump and hurting hillary clinton. kushner is also one of four trump associates and the only current white house staffer under scrutiny for having contact with sergei kiss llyak.

>> jared did a job during the transition and the campaign where he was a conduit to leaders. >> meetings kushner prematurely left off filed security clearance forms on missions he rectified a day later. >> the fact he met with a banker, he needs to explain himself. >> kushner previously volunteered to share with congress who he knows about these meetings. he will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry. kushner and his wife pushed the president to hire flynn after the election. but a source close to kushner disputes this account. >> even with all this, it is not clear if the fbi plans to talk to kushner, but investigators believe he would be able to help provide information to assist the probe. kushner was one aware of the fbi's interest in him. >> thanks so much, joe.

let's bring in our panel to discuss. we have david gregory and abbie phillip and phillip mud. phil, i want to start with you. you obviously spent some time in the fbi. the fbi and federal investigators cast a wide net. it is no surprise they would look at jared kushner, given his relationship with the president, given his own contacts with the russians. what do you see here? >> i see a complex investigation that's going to take a long time to develop. think of all the informs federal investigators are looking at. let's say they're looking at 20, 30 people around the campaign, gathering things like financial information, all those cell phone calls, text calls. then they're starting to conduct interviews. that is not only a single interview, alison, that's interviewed over months or longer because when you interview someone for the first time and you find two months later another person contradicts him, you have to go back,

reschedule and determine who is lying. what i see is investigators pulling together that massive amount of interviews and waiting further into the process to walk into someone like jared kushner because they don't want to walk into the room until they have a good enough picture to ask him tough questions. he's there for them to determine when they have the answers whether he is going to be truthful or not. >> and david gregory, jared kushner is not carter page. i mean, jared kushner is a guy who eats at his dinner table and can call him pop. he's also senior advisor in charge of everything really important inside this administration. a key figure now. >> and somebody who has got business relationships throughout the world that are the same relationships that the trump family business has as well. so that becomes important in terms of conflict of interest, which have been documented. but this is someone who knows the president's mind about russia, who knows the key personnel, what the discussions

have been and may have been key things that are serious. maybe unserious. but as phil says, are about ways that are obvious and not so obvious how russians may have tried to compromise the campaign or attack the campaign. so he's necessarily somebody who would be the focus of an investigation because he'll necessarily have so much information, which makes him so important. and his cooperation is important. there may be a point where his cooperation may not be forthcoming depending upon what investigators find and how they present it to his attorneys. >> jeff sessions was able to explain or is trying to explain some of his contacts with russians that he did not disclose as there being so many, you know, diplomats and dig tears that he would run into that he couldn't disclose them all. why didn't jared kushner disclose his contacts with russia? >> that's a really good

question. i don't think we have any good answers to. what's clear is that jared kushner and ivanka trump have a lawyer who is a democrat and someone who they brought on to help them be on the up and up on a lot of these ethics issues, including the information that they provide on their security clearance. and it is really puzzling that even despite their presenting this as an effort to go above and beyond, they have omitted some basic information from some of these forms and only disclosed them after the fact. these are some of the questions that i'm sure for investigators raise a lot of questions. and jared kushner is not like a lot of other people in the trump circle, who were partly involved in the campaign and no longer were involved in the transition. didn't come into the white house. this is not a paul manafort. this is not a carter page. this is someone who has been a constant throughout the campaign, who is abouts a close to the president as one could possibly get. and, so, the fact he is the

focus really suggests that investigators think that it is very fishy that there are all these meetings, some of which he didn't disclose and that this is the one guy who has been there from beginning to end and that has raised a lot of questions, made him a very important person in this investigation. >> phil mud, as an investigator, the initial nondisclosure on some of those forms for jared kushner, the nondisclosure for jeff sessions, which he says that he was told not to disclose by the fbi. >> and said he understood yesterday. >> how much of a red flag is that for an investigator. >> lit's not a red flag yet. but let me add context. he's going to meet thousands of people a year. i met all kinds of foreign security officers. you have to make a choice. which of those are worth disclosing because you are not going to disclose hundreds of meetings. that's forever paperwork. here is the question. close and continuing contact, was the contact substantial. if i meet somebody at a cocktail

party, when i was in the business i would not put that on a form. on the other hand, if he sat down for a business meeting with a russian banker and that business meeting involvings a partnership, transfer of money, you say that needs to be on the form. >> david, let's talk about another big piece of news, the travel ban. the president's travel ban has once again been shot down by yet another court. so where does that leave us? >> well, it's interesting. i was reading the opinion last night. this was in the fourth district which among legal eagles is considered an increasingly liberal circuit. and like the ninth circuit in california. so it wasn't completely surprising that the injunction against the ban was upheld. this has a long way to go. what was so interesting about the opinion here was a couple of

things. one, the feeling that in fact there does have to be judicial oversight, even in an area where the president has the most authority over national security. but that there is a right for the courts to take a look at this and weigh in. they found the majority of opinions that this was dripping with religious anonymous and a violation of the establishment cause of the constitution. there was a mixed -- there was disagreement about whether you can and should consider what a candidate says on the campaign trail as being influenced -- whether it influenced the actual policy. in this case they found that it did. ultimately i think the supreme court is going to look at this as an infringement on presidential power, and i think there is still a lot of thinking that the supreme court will side with president trump on this. >> it's just strange that some day months down the line the supreme court will side with the president. maybe they will get that

temporary travel ban that was urgent. all right. thanks so much for being with us. some moments after winning montana's special election, an apology from the republican candidate charged with assaulting a reporter. ryan young live in montana with the very latest. ryan. >> a lot of questions about this one, john. what exactly happened in that room? what a tough 24 hours. but so far there is now an apology that's out there. >> thank you, montana! >> just 24 hours after being charged with assaulting a reporter, the republican greg gianforte heading to washington. directly addressing the shocking incident at his victory rally. >> i'm sick and tired of you guys. the last guy that came in here did the same thing. get the hell out of here! >> apologizing both to his supporters and to the reporter that he allegedly body slam sgld

la . >> last night i made a mistake and i took an action that i can't take back and i am not proud of what happened. i should not have responded in the way that i did. and for that i'm sorry. i should not have treated that reporter that way. and for that, i'm sorry, mr. ben jacobs. >> his apology coming after fellow republicans remain largely silent on the attack. >> i'm not sure exactly what happened. >> we didn't have a course on body slamming when i went to school. i missed that course. >> some even pointing a finger at democrats. >> the left has precipitated this tense confrontational approach throughout the country in recent months. >> this despite audio evidence and eye witness accounts from

fox news of the confrontation. >> grabbed him, pulled him and slammed him to the ground. got on top of him and started punching him. >> paul ryan conceding an apology was appropriate. >> there is no time when a physical altercation should to kor. >> on the ground, some of his supporters seemingly unphased by the assault charges. >> a guy does one thing, that doesn't mean he's that way all the time. >> some even leveling hostile threats to a cnn reporter. >> that's why the first amendment is there. >> we're also learning that president trump is weighing in from sicily saying what a great win in montana. so you can already see some police cal fall-out from this as well. we do know that gianforte will have a court date before june 7th and he may have to face some reporters before then. >> you're right.

we have seen this stretch across the at lan take ocean today. thank you very much for that because the president is at his first g-7 summit and sara joins us from sicily. what is the president saying? >> good morning. just a quick talk about domestic politics there saying it was a great win in montana. here at the g-7, president trump is going to be focussed on a number of contentious issues. they will be trying to get a better stance on where he stands, whether he is considering pulling out and certainly a number of european leaders are urging him to stick in that. on from that, there will be a robust discussion on terrorism. president trump and ter rea may are slated to meet on the sidelines. this as u.s. and u.k. has been strained. the u.k. has been offended by

what they perceive as leaks coming out of the u.s. intelligence community related to this attack and their investigation into it. so that will certainly be an interesting discussion to watch for. one of the things, though, that we really haven't heard much from the president on is russia. not long ago this was not the g-7. it was the g-8 before russia got booted out. we have not heard any criticism yet from the president. and the fact one of his senior advisors said right now the u.s. has no position on whether it will maintain the sanctions put in place against russia by the obama administration. if one thing is clear, it is that trump is not afraid to offer up harsh criticism even of our allies. in a private meeting with german officials he said the germans are very bad on trade. gary cone confirmed that was the message took to the germans. he has talked before about how

there should not be such a robust german surplus and the u.s. needs to renegotiate trade deals so america is getting a better end of those trade deals. >> all right. some of the u.s. greatest allies right there. sara murray thanks for being with us. the trump probe getting more complex. how much is it affecting the white house and congressional agenda? we'll speak with a top republican next. so you miss the big city? i don't miss much... definitely not the traffic. excuse me, doctor... the genomic data came in. thank you. you can do that kind of analysis? yeah, watson. i can quickly analyze millions of clinical and scientific reports to help you tailor treatment options for the patient's genomic profile.

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reasons continue to face criticism over the cbo score that finds 23 million americans would be uninsured under the house health care plan. this over the ballooning russia investigation is overshadowing the president's legislative agenda. joining us now is republican congressman todd coal. he is the house deputy whip. good morning, congressman. >> the president's son-in-law is reportedly now being looked at by federal investigators. do you think this is getting in the way of the president's legislative agenda? >> frankly, we're moving legislatively pretty rapidly. we've actually passed more legislation in the administration than the past previous six presidents. so we're clearly doing things. on the other hand, would you like to be talking about this? no. but i applaud mr. kushner because he's been forthcoming. he's offered to testify. i'm sure he's cooperating fully.

so we hope the investigation proceeds. but at the end of the day we will find out there is not much there in terms of the collusion between the trump campaign and the russian government. >> how concerned are you this seems to have moved from the campaign to the oval office. >> of course, you are always concerned. you would prefer that this not be happening. but again the appropriate authorities are in charge. there was the deputy attorney general ral of this administration that made the decision to appoint a special counsel. that special counsel is a widely respected person, a professional, a former fbi director. so again there is three congressional investigations going on. so again would you like to have this? no. but has it stopped legislation? it has not. >> let's talk about the house health care bill. you voted for it. the cbo score is now out. they believe the 23 million fewer people will be covered over the course of the next

decade. are you concern snd. >> i look at cbo numbers as informative but not definitive. quite often they're wrong and many of their judgments are i think suspect, which is people will literally leave medicate rather than stay on. and again at the end of the day, most of these are voluntary decisions. that is not people being kicked off health care but deciding that the obamacare system is not where they want to be. so that's point one. point two frankly is i don't worry about any of this stuff too much until we see what the senate does because bill out of one chamber is not law of the land. the senate will go something different. then we go to conference. so right now it's like pulling up a plant and judging its growth by looking at the roots every day. it doesn't make a lot of sense. >> i hear you. >> but the process works and let's see what he adopt. >> constituents already seem to

be judging it. you hear their anger already. >> it is a pretty systematic effort to misinform constituents this is the final product. this is politics. it is not for the faint of heart. but it will be the ultimate legislation where public opinion is formed. you have to fight through these things and if you believe in something, this bill is better than a current system. we're down to a single provider. it is losing money. we have a rate hike. we're taking care of patients in hospitals not being compensated that 31 other states are. our bill addresses those things. so it is pretty easy for me to defend the bill that we've got. >> well, let's talk about pre-existing conditions because this seems to be what constituents focussed on because they are concerned about it. over time it would become more difficult for less healthy people in those states to purchase insurance because their premiums would continue to increase rapidly.

so it's not misinformation that constituents are hearing. >> the cbo has a point of view. it is quite often wrong. it was wrong about the bush tax cut. wrong about medicare part d. wrong about this again. the idea that we're not taking care of pre-existing conditions isn't true. it is in the legislation and photograph frankly you would need a waiver at the state level. and they have to meet very stringent conditions. so i think this is something pulled out of context and exploited for political purposes. i don't complain about it because it is a reality of politics but pre-existing conditions will continue to be covered. >> i want to show you the latest fox news poll. 53% oppose the gop bill that passed the house to replace obamacare. 53% of the country feels obamacare has been mostly a good thing for the country. so you must be hoping for some pretty big changes. >> well, changes happen.

obviously most of the country hasn't felt obamacare was very good or democrats wouldn't have lost the majority or gotten them back by now. it is a very popular and failed system. you can look at premiums and the amount of deductions that people can take. it just has not worked well. and, so, we could sit here and let it collapse on its own and then blame the democrats. that could be the politically astute thing to do and we'd be morally wrong. when you see a system that's failing, you try and fix it. that's what we're trying to do. we're mid way through the process. let's see where we end up. >> let's talk about the win in montana. despite the fact the candidate was charged with assault, greg gianforte won there last night and just moments ago president trump in sicily responded to this. let me play it for you. >> thank you. thank you. >> great win in montana. >> i don't know if you could hear that, congressman.

but apropos of nothing in front of a press gaggle, he said great win in montana. is that all we take away from this incident? >> no. i mean, obviously, he apologized fully and forthrightly last night at his own watch party. he made a bad mistake. there is no doubt about it. i was critical of the action. he's got to face legal consequences for it. but you begin to make amends by taking responsibility and making an apology. he did that last night. i accept that was a difficult thing to do. in terms of the race itself you'd rather win than lose. had we lost there would be a lot of people obviously blaming the candidate today. but others trying to draw larger conclusions about a single election about our prospect for 2018. i'm glad he apologized. that was the right thing to do. i'm sorry he engaged in the actions he did. i'm glad he's sorry as well. but i'd rather politically win

the race than loose. >> is it problematic that you will have a college facing assault charges. >> well, it is certainly something we would have to deal with and he would prefer not to. we'll just let the legal, you know, system take its course. and he's going to have to deal with that. it's an unfortunate incident. there is no excusing it. but he did win the election and i think the election was fought on his views and his opponent's views were dramatically different. we won the election on the issues not on the candidate's behavior. >> do you think the heated rhetoric about the press is taking a toll? >> well, first of all, i think we always hear heated rhetoric about the press. we have since the very beginning of the republic. politicians don't like press scrutiny. they never have and never will. but it is indispensable to an

open and free democracy. the press, i don't consider them nonbiassed or without prejudiced because they have points of view and we have multiple different entities that express it. but by and large, they do a good job. they keep the american people well-informed. sunlight is the biggest disinfectant for a problem in the system. i applaud them for what they do. and i'm glad reporter gos out there and ask tough questions. their enough. >> we appreciate that perspective. congressman, thank you for being on new day. >> and even if journalists are doing a bad job, they shouldn't be body slammed. >> that's a good point. >> we now know the role of the president's son-in-law and top advisor jared cukushner. it is being investigated in the russia probe. given their close, family ties, how concerned should the president be? people confuse nice and kind

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time now for the five things to know. greg gianforte wins montana's

election. during his speech, he apologized to that reporter. >> jared kushner under the microscope. investigators are studying his interactions with moscow during the campaign and transition. kushner's attorney says he is willing to cooperate. kushner is not a target of the probe. >> a federal appeals court holding the block on president trump's travel ban. the administration says it plans to appeal to the supreme court. >> president trump is in sicily with a two-day g-7 meeting of world leaders. then the president will head home. >> the manchester suicide bomber spoke to his brother in libya 15 minutes before the deadly attack and isis likely trained the terrorists in syria months before the bombing. >> well, the fbi's russia meddling probe appears to be knocking on the front door of the white house. investigators looking into jared

kushner. cnn's randi kaye with more on the man known as the secretary of everything. >> wherever the president goes, his trusted son-in-law, jared kushner is never far behind. >> he's very good at politics. >> and senior advisor to the president, he sits in on meetings with the oval and was in the war room when the u.s. struck syria in response to an attack. kushner, who is married to the president's daughter is helping shape u.s./china relations, trade with mexico, criminal justice reform and overhauling the government, an incredible amount of influence for the 36-year-old, who until the 2016 campaign had no political experience. he and his father, like trump, are real estate developers. but his lack of expertise hazardly stopped president trump from making kushner the point person on just about everything,

even peace in the middle east. >> he is so great. if you can't produce peace in the middle east, nobody can. okay? i have a feeling that jared is going to do a great job. >> kushner, an orthodox jew just this week met with the prime minister of israel. >> jared is going to specifically express the commitment of u.s. -- of the united states to the government iraq, meet with u.s. personnel engaged in the campaign. >> kushner has been called the secretary of everything, a title which has riled up some democrats. >> he doesn't have experience in any of these areas and he is acting as a super secretary of state. >> when asked about kushner's growing influence and role in international deal making, the white house explained it this way. >> there is a lot of relationships that jared has made over time with different leaders, mexico being one of them you mentioned, that are

going to continue to have conversations with him. >> what about kushner's relationship with russia? turns out he met with kislyak. also at kislyak's suggestion, kushner met with a russian banker who owns a bank sanctioned by the obama administration. kushner has offered to testify before congress about both of these meetings. >> the fact he met with a banker, i think he needs to explain himself. >> his dealings with saudi arabia may also need some explaining. just two weeks before the president's visit, he called the ceo to cut a deal for a sophisticated missile detention system. he asked them to cut the price, a weapons package that cost about $110 billion for tanks, fighter jets, combat ships and more. >> for a trump white house built

on unconventional choices it goes out saying jared kushner is just that. randi kaye, cnn new york. >> all right. thanks for that. let's bring in a former congresswoman, director and ceo of the wilson center. we should note they served as the chair and ranking member of the house intelligence committee after the september 11th attacks and they both say they work very well together so bipartisan ship can thrive in congress. jared kushner is now the focus of part of the fbi investigation into the russia trump campaign probe. one of the things we have been told they are looking at is whether people were whitingly or unwhitingly under the influence of russian intelligence. unwhiting influence. what does that mean? >> well, it means that russian operatives had relationships with them, which they may not have been aware of. not aware that the people

talking to them were russian operatives. we don't know the facts yet and my view is that bob mueller needs to finish his investigation in a highly professional way and then we'll know what we know. it is also important that the house and senate intelligence committees, pete and i know a lot about this, are working together on a bipartisan basis. i ran into the chair of the house yesterday who assures me that he and the ranking member, same relationship pete and i had are doing that. >> one of the thing we heard was concerns, congressman, from members that perhaps with this special counsel investigation they don't know how far it will go. they don't know where the lines are here. how important is it to draw a distinction between what is happening in congress and what the special counsel is doing? >> it's always important to draw that line. you don't want to have overlap. you don't want to have congressional investigations impede what potentially could end up being a criminal

investigation. and, so, there will -- i did this in the '90s. i led an investigation into the teamsters and it was a parallel track going on in the justice department. i think the committees on the hill are going to end up being frustrated because they're going to get pushed back from mueller, who is a great guy, but the justice department will push back and say, you know, congress, don't go there. you're stepping on some of the stuff that we're working on and hold back. >> congressman, just quickly, i want your take on the fact that jared kushner is now a focus of this investigation, someone obviously very close to the president. not just because he's his son-in-law but becaus he's basically the senior advisor on just about everything. how aren't is that this this crucial person is now under investigation? >> well, let's be careful here in terms of exactly what we say. you know, he's a focus and they're going to take a look at the meetings. he's not under investigation. he's not a target. if mueller is going to do a

thorough investigation of russian influence or attempted influence in this election, they're going to touch a lot of people in the trump campaign. they may touch some people in the clinton campaign. that's what an investigation is all about. so i think you're going to see lots of names tossed around and we shouldn't jump to conclusions these people are implicated for doing something wrong. >> we have no allegations of wrongdoing yet on the part of jared kushner. the president in europe right now. yesterday he spoke before nato. before the nato aleens there was no defense or reaffirmation of article five. this follows a trip to saudi arabia where he said we're not here to lecture you. he went before nato, some of america's greatest allies, and did lecture them. >> rich irony. he was in saudi arabia. i thought it was a pretty successful visit. but the country has been at

least accused of massive human rights violations. certainly the extreme form of islam was born there and arguably they continue to export it by funding terror activities outside of saudi arabia. not so productively, i would say. then he comes to europe, his allies and didn't say anything about article five at a time when these isis fighters are squeezing out of the middle east, coming to europe and attacking soft targets in europe, don't we want europe to have our back? and let's talk about intelligence cooperation, too. because although manchester has now revived the cooperation between our police department, i was last night at madison square garden with two of my grandkids and their friends. a soft concert for 20,000 people and wouldn't we want to know every single clue about a soft

target, just like the manchester target that the manchester police know. it just seems to me intelligence officials in europe may now edit what they tell us and that would be a tragedy. >> the president made clear yesterday that he wants to investigate whatever leaks were happening inside u.s. intelligence. >> we should. >> i think there is wide agreement those leaks should not necessarily have happened that way. congressman, one of the things in addition to not defending article five, not talking about collective security along with nato allies, the president had one line in passing about russia. members who were there also are waiting for some kind of firm statement from the president about russian aggression there. does he need to be more clear about how he feels about russian sanctions, for instance? >> well, i think he has to be clear about a number of issues. i think on this trip he has been very clear about his expectations. he went to saudi arabia, went and addressed the leaders of

many muslim countries and said what? we need to have you involved. you're a key ally. we want you to be a key ally in defeating the threat from isis and al-qaeda and these types of organizations. he has gone to europe and said we want intelligence cooperation. we need you to step up your funding and we need you involved in the fight against isis. so he is clearly signalled what he wants and needs them to do. our actions in europe right now speak very, very clearly that we support article five. there is no doubt and there shouldn't be any doubt about our position on that. and i think on russia, on sanctions, you know, yes, very concerned about their aggression in europe. but we also maybe have to work with them in the middle east, especially in a place like syria and perhaps even libya. >> i think by not emphatically saying he supports article five

he's giving vladimir putin a hall pass to continue his aggression in ukraine and threaten the baltics and i think it is a mistake in terms of u.s. interest. it was a missed opportunity. and i agree with pete that he took some opportunities in the middle east. that part was more successful than the european part. >> thanks so much for this 2003 intelligence you union. >> another big story, 39 people were shot in chicago last weekend. it is a staggering number. and this week's cnn hero is trying to keep children out of the cross fire and to give them back their childhood. meet jennifer maddux. she is the officer. she is the cnn hero to learn more about her, you can go to cnnheroes.com. while you are there, you can nominate someone you think could be a 2017 cnn hero. you can find more about her story there. >> president trump loves to win. why four words he just said to reporters at the g-7 summit matter.

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president trump may be in sicily at this hour, but he had montana's special election on his mind this morning. listen. >> great win in montana. >> now, that was apropos of nothing. as far as we know, no one asked a question about that race, and those are the president's first comments about the race. he did not speak out to condemn greg gianforte's assault of a

reporter. joining us is david axelrod. dave, great to see you, david. >> nice to see you. >> how do you interpret the president weighing in in that way, great win in montana? >> i mean, it's not terribly surprising. you know, he loves winning and i don't think he cares very much about the manhandling of a reporter. and he understood that if the gop had lost this seat, which they have held for 20 years and in a direct he had won by more than 20 points, there would have been an earthquake in washington and in the cloak room of the republican caucuses in the house and senate. so they dodged a bullet in this race. they won. they won by a much narrowier margin than a republican probably should in that district, but a win is a win and democrats have to contemplate that as well because, you know, close only is good in

horseshoes. it doesn't really work in politics. and, so, democrats keep narrowing the margins in some of these districts. but in june when there is a special in georgia, they're really hoping to win a race, which is going to be important. they're going to have to do more than they did in montana, where the democratic candidate, who wasn't a great candidate, a good guy, not a great candidate didn't get a whole lot of support from outside groups while the republican did. >> david, paul ryan congratulated greg gianforte. the president said great win. what do republicans need to say now about this? we have scott taylor who condemned the assault but said he won the race so we're going to respect him as a colleague. do they need to say more about this? >> they should separate their relief about winning the seat

from his actions, and they should speak to his actions. but i think what's going to happen, john, is they will talk to him about quickly pleading to what he did. he apologized from the platform last night. they are going to try to make this go away as quickly as possible because it is an embarrassment to them. they are also going to tell him nobody slamming when you get out here. >> good advice. let's talk about the latest in the russia investigation. excuse me. we now know from cnn reporting that jared kushner is being looked at why federal investigators, not surprising. obviously jared kushner has also had contacts with russians. but this is the closest person thus far to the president. how do you see this investigation? >> well, look, as you say, it is not surprising. not just because he had contacts with russians, but because he was such an integral part of both the campaign and the post campaign period. jared kushner was central to the

operations of that campaign. now we learn they are looking at the data operations and the russians have had access in some way to the data operations, which would be very important if you were trying to target swing voters with misinformation as has been suggested. in terms of the contacts with russians, i think the focus could be not so much the contact with kislyak, but the contact with that russian banker and what was discussed from a bank that had been sanctioned by the obama administration at a very sensitive time. that it was an odd meeting. lindsey graham spoke to that. i think there will be great interest in exactly what was said in that meeting. >> it's so interesting that you, as a former political consultant, picked up on the data operation because that was one of the new pieces from the cnn reporting here, that the fbi is looking on that. we don't know whether or not there was a connection between the russia hacking and the trump data operation, which jared

kushner took responsible for and really steered towards some ingenius decisions during the election there. but how could in theory, david, russian data help with that type of thing? >> well, understand what data analytics is. that is the process of identifying those voters who have a propensity to be on the bubble and could come your way or voters who haven't been active who you might want to activate. you know, it is a way of micro targeting voters. so if you had a list of voters who were targets in key states and you concentrated your efforts on them in terms of the information flow they were getting on social media, that would be a very valuable piece of information. and, john, one thing i would point out is i was -- it left me wondering could the russians have access to democratic analytics through their hack of

the dnc. i hadn't heard that. but that would be another thing i would look at if i were investigating this because democrats also did analytics and also identified swing voters in these key states. >> we do know they did have some of their analytics hacked. so that is a possibility. >> david, let's talk about handshake politics. there is some fascinating body language happening here between president trump. neither one of them is going to stop that handshake first. they are in a death grip. look at this one. this is a handshake turned into an arm wrestle. there is something behind this, right? what's going on here? >> you read that foreign leaders have been doing intensive study of donald trump in preparation for the meetings. you wonder if matt kroen had some handshakining exercises in advance. but everybody keeps saying we

want the president to get a grip. he got a grip here. we should all celebrate that. >> obviously, david axelrod was getting ready for that comment as well. >> thank you. have a good weekend. the good stuff is next. it's looking up, not down. it's being in motion. in body, in spirit, in the now. boost® high protein it's intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for when you need a little extra. boost® the number one high protein complete nutritional drink. be up for it it'that can make a worldces, of difference. expedia, everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company

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>> all right. time now for the good stuff. you are about to meet a father with an appetite to help the less fortunate. jeffrey lou, father of three makes a decent living. when he heard kids were being kicked out of the lunch line in school because they didn't have enough cash, he decided to do something. >> friends can think differently of a friend. he helped raise $23,000. enough money to eliminate lunch debt in 90 plus schools in washington state. >> no child should go hungry due to not having any money. >> that's right. and it is so important for these kids not so there to ask friends and whatnot. that's wonderful. >> why do their school lunches look better than i did? president trump's nato trip and the congressional race. enjoy. >> during a nato meeting,

president trump was seen pushing aside the prime minister of montenegro to move to the front of the group. look at this guy. wow! you're a world leader, a world leader at a meeting of dig tears and you act like they just called your number at kfc. he was like i learned that move from melania. the republican congressional candidate for a special election in montana yesterday reportedly body slammed a journalist after he asked a question about the republican health care plan. now, to be fair, that basically is the republican health care plan. now, that happened the night before the election. it's got to be pretty damaging. >> you have never seen donald trump quite like this. >> and look at this!

i forgot. nothing matters. >> there are almost no jokes there. it was almost just a reading of the news. >> they write themselves. >> time for cnn news room with poppy harlow. >> well said. well said this friday morning. you guys have a good early start to your weekend. we've got a lot ahead. >> you too. >> good friday morning everyone. i'm poppy harlow you just saw john berman right there. just hours after his fight with a reporter, greg gianforte wins the title of congressman-elect. edging out the democrat in a special election that many saw as an early test of president trump's popularity. donald trump won by 20 points in montana. a democrat hasn't won a seat there in two decades. moments ago president trump gave