we'll stay on top of this development. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >> up next, breaking news. house investigators issuing seven subpoenas tonight. and more breaking news. the former fbi director james comey set to testify publicly. and he is going to talk about his conversations with president trump. will this break open the russia investigation? and two people disappear while investigating a chinese company that makes ivanka trump's shoes. what happened? let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, the breaking news the house investigation into russia's election meddling heating up at this moment. moments ago, we have learned seven subpoenas were issued. four directly involving the russia probe three. seeking information on unmasking of identities and contacts with russians. this comes as we're also

learning that a fired fbi director james comey will testify publicly for the first time next week. comey's testimony will be high drama on capitol hill because he is expected to confirm, to give his side of the story with the memos that he wrote after his last meeting with president trump. memos in which he said trump pressured him to shut down the investigation into the former national security adviser michael flynn. now we are told in fact that comey is eager to tell his story, which of course trump has said is completely false. comey's allegation is the core of the charge that trump engaged in a potentially impeachable offense, obstruction of justice. it is a stunning development just a little more than four months into the trump presidency. phil mattingly is out tonight on n front on capitol hill. seven subpoenas, an acceleration here in the investigation in congress. what are you learning about those? negative, question an acceleration really following what the senate intelligence committee is doing. first, look at four related to

the russia investigation there are two for michael flynn and two for michael cohen. michael flynn the national security adviser, michael cohen the lawyer for president trump. the two related for business records for one of his businesses. pretty much the same story for michael cohen. personal records from michael cohen, plus records from one of michael cohen's businesses. these are designed this way in order to almost avoid the fifth amendment. this is what the senate intelligence committee did going after business records as well as personal records. an interesting twist here is the three other subpoenas that were issued. erin, as you noted, this is dealing with unmasking. this became a big issue for republicans but notably for devin nunes when he was able to look at classified intelligence reports where names of trump officials had been basically unredacted or unmasked. this is a big concern of his. but the kind of kerfuffle around this concern is the reason that devin nunes is no longer overseeing the russia investigation. i'm told, erin, democrats did

not approve these subpoenas. so basically, this is something that was done without the approval of the minority. the four russia investigations swurps bipartisan. they put out a statement announcing them. the three on the unmasking. it looks like they were driven by republicans and most likely devin nunes. >> so that does raise the question, right, if democrats weren't informed, weren't on board with those subpoenas when we're talking about the unmasking here, which is a serious issue, how much unilateral power does devin nunes have here when he is supposedly not involved with russian matters? >> in short, a lot. based on the committee rules, the chairman of the panel can issue any subpoena he wants on his own. now the committee rules also say the chairman is supposed to consult with democrats, the minority before he decides to move forward on any subpoena. and again, according to a senior aid on the panel, democrats were not informed of this move. but according to the committee rules, the chairman has unilateral power to issue subpoenas. and it looks like in this case, at least according to aides on the committee, that's exactly what happened.

i think it does raise question, erin, as devin nunes has taken himself off the head of this investigation going forward, he very clearly or republicans on the committee very clearly still think this is a very important issue. still believe they are going to pursue this issue almost on a dual track with their russia investigation. some of the concerns the democrats have raised is this would distract from the russia investigation. republicans making very clear right now they're willing to move on both of these issue right now. >> thank you very much, phil. and break agent this moment, the fired fbi director james comey will testify in public about those meetings with president trump. now a source to comey telling us at this hour that this could happen as early as next week. and here is what we know. comey wants to talk about exactly how president trump pressured him to end his investigation into the former national security adviser michael flynn. the former fbi director wants to talk about the fact that the president pressured him in his view. michelle kosinski is out front.

>> reporter: james comey, the fbi director fired earlier this month by president trump, is about to break his silence and will do so, according to a cnn source, in a very public way. before the senate intelligence committee, which is investigating contacts between trump associates and russia. this could happen as early as next week. comey is expected to detail his one-on-one meetings with trump, include anything possible pressure he felt from president trump to drop the investigation into fired national security adviser michael flynn and flynn's ties to russia, which some say could amount to obstruction of justice. according to comey's own notes, sources say, trump allegedly told comey i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he is a good guy. i hope you can let this go. congressional investigators now want to speak to or want records from at least nine trump advisers and associates. >> as those accusations come up, we've got to clear them up both

for the sake of the president and the presidency. we've got to be able to resolve this issue long-term and get the fax out. >> one big question, why top trump adviser and son-in-law jared kushner according to a source discussed with russia's ambassador setting up a secret channel for communications with the trump transition team. ands a reported by the "washington post," why such a channel would be housed in russian diplomatic facilities. and former campaign adviser carter page also under scrutiny from whom trump distanced himself in february. >> i don't think i've ever spoken to him. i don't think i've ever met him. >> reporter: today was the subject of trump's supports in tweets after page reveal head might not be asked to publicly testify. so now it is reported the democrats which have excoriated carter page about russia don't want him to testify. he blows away their case against him and now wants to clear his name by showing the false or misleading testimony by james comey, john brennan. which hunt. for former fbi director comey,

this is going to be his chance to tell his story publicly. not just to the american public, but to the world about these interactions he said he had with trump while his office was investigating those around the president. for the fired national security adviser michael flynn, though, he has not wanted to testify without immunity. according to a source close to him, though, he now is planning to comply with subpoenas looking for documents from him both personal and business documents. and that is expected to happen next week, that he'll turn at least some of these documents over. and that's also to the senate intelligence committee, erin. >> thank you very much, michelle. and out front now, the top democrat on the foreigner relations committee senator ben cardin. a lot to ask you about with the breaking news at this hour. i want to start with james comey's testimony that we are reporting he is eager to tell his side of the story. he is going to confirm what we've reported was in those memos, that he felt pressured by the president to stop the

investigation into the then former national security adviser. do you know anything more about his plans to testify next week? >> erin, obviously, this is going to be a very important moment. the america people need to know what the president was doing in regards to this investigation, what conversations took place. mr. comey's actions, all that i think is going to be very, very important. so the appearance before congress will be i think an important moment for the american people to hear firsthand from the former director. >> now comey obviously as we said, clearly he wants to tell his side of the story. he has gotten approval from the special counsel robert mueller to come to testify to congress. he is doing so in public. he is going to talk about these meetings with the president, not about the russia investigation such that that would be under miller -- muller's purview. the president, as you know, senator, has said that james comey's version of what happened in those meetings is a lie. even today he referred to comey's testimony in a tweet as,

quote, false or misleading. what do you say? >> well, let's hear what mr. comey has to say when he testifies before the committee. that's a pretty serious opportunity. he must tell an accurate account, otherwise he could be held accountable for what he says in this open session. so it could be an important moment. i think mr. comey will be direct and straight forward. and we'll see where the facts go. >> less than two weeks ago, the president was asked, as you know, senator, directly about whether he did anything at all, anything at all to ask james comey to stop looking into flynn, as comey says trump did in his memos. and the president was very clear, right? he didn't mince words. he didn't leave a black and white possible nuance. here he is. >> did you at any time urge former fbi director james comey in any way, shape, or form to close or to back down the investigation into michael flynn? and also, as you look back -- >> no, no. next question.

>> as i said, no ambiguity there, senator. is this, for you, going to come down to a question of who is lie, the president or the director of the fbi? >> well, the president did take action against mr. comey. he fired him at a very unusual time. not at the beginning of his term in congress -- as president. but fired him at the moment in which there was breaking information in regards to the investigation. so the way that the president fired the fbi director very much was aimed at impeding the investigation. there are questions that i think need to be answered. >> so when you say very much aimed at impeding the investigation, obviously we don't know at this point whether there was an underlying crime committed there is no evidence of anything of that sort yet. but if there was an effort to impede an active investigation, in your view, would that be obstruction of justice in the impeachable sense of the term? >> well, first, we're going to let mr. moore do that investigation. that's the criminal investigation.

and he will look at those fax. >> right. >> i'm certain about that. in fact, it's already indicated that's part of his investigation. what mr. comey is doing before congress is a different matter. not really going to look at the criminal involvements, either involving anyone from the trump administration or anyone else that will be done by mr. mueller. and i think we have to let him take a look at the fax and draw some conclusions. >> right. all i'm saying is in terms of the congressional investigation, you obviously would have something that could be impeachable in terms of whether someone could be president of the united states, even if it is not impeachble in the criminal sense. so do you feel that it is going down that road when you say that there is no question that the president's goal was to impede the investigation? >> there is no question by firing mr. comey at that particular moment it would end up affecting the investigation. there is no question about that. whether congress will perceive -- let's see how these investigations that are taking place in congress with facts are

unveiled. it's way too early to make any predictions in regards to other actions taken by congress. i've been one who wants to have an independent commission look at all the ties between russia and the united states and all the people involved so we can get a more objective review. i think that would be helpful for congress the take the necessary steps, including how we deal with our different agencies and contacts in the future and campaigns as it relates to russia. as to the president's accountability, we'll seattle. >> in terms of what we've been report hearing about the subpoenas, we know some are related to the russian investigation, others to unmasking, which obviously as we've reported could come down to conversations between russian nationals and americans, right? ie the russian investigation. but we understand that the subpoenas related to that unmasking came from chairman nunes of the house intelligence committee. obviously, he has recused himself from the committee's russia investigation. so it may be a surprise to some that he would have sent subpoenas related to the unmasking which obviously could be related to the russia

investigation. do you think he is in his purview or should he be off that committee permanently? >> well, it raises major questions. he had the power to issue a subpoena. it should never have been done without working with the democrats. it should have been nonpartisan or bipartisan. it just spells out another reason why any congressional committee is going to have challenges if they cannot work both democrats and republicans together. and quite frankly, within the political environment of washington, we need an independent commission taking a look at the facts between russia and the united states. >> senator, thank you very much. i appreciate talking to you tonight. >> thank you. and "outfront" next, cnn cameras today caught the russian banker whose meeting with jared kushner under scrutiny by the fbi tonight. we're going to show you exactly what happened when we tracked him down. plus, what is hillary clinton calling a, quote, nothing burger tonight? and sean spicer's explanation for trump's late night gibberish tweet. >> the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant.

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>> do you think people should be concerned that the president posted somewhat of an incoherent tweet last night and it then stayed up for hours? >> no. >> why did it stay up for so long? is no one watching this? >> the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant. blake? >> what do you mean? was what does the president mean? >> blake? >> what is covfefe? >> blake? >> jim acosta is out front at the white house. jim, i think people need to understand, this is not just a silly typo, or perhaps it may have been if they had had an explanation. but for the president to come out with a nonsensical tweet and no one to take it down for hours and hours and hours, that is no insignificant thing. does the white house really think this explanation of oh, a small group of people knew exactly what he meant. and believe me, there was an intention. that going to fly? >> i don't think so, erin. i think it defies credulity.

you saw the president try to make light of it about five or six hours after the original tweet. who can figure out the true meaning of covfefe? the 39 went on to tweet enjoy. but i think it is an indication that the white house is still not doing much to review the president's tweets. you'll recall there was that published report that team of lawyers was going to be getting together to start reviewing the president's tweets. that is obviously not happened. that is obviously not going to be the case. i talked the a senior white house official who said that they're not planning to do that, and that the president's tweets speak for themselves. but erin, getting back to that press briefing with white house press secretary sean spicer, they called it a gaggle. they said it was on the record. but off camera. and right before the gaggle today, they said that we could not use the audio. and then sean spicer came into the gaggle and said well, you can use the audio after the briefing for gaggle is over. so we're getting all kinds of confusing signals from the white house today on these questions.

and it sort of left everybody with the sense that if covfefe is a drink, we'll take a double. >> thank you very much, jim acosta. i want to go to the former adviser david axelrod, dana bash and our legal analyst paul callan. you've been in a white house, right? there are ways to make light of this. but this also is something that is very serious, right? this is a person that the world is looking to as a lead other telephone free world, okay. and when he does something like that, what if something had happened? what if something is wrong with him? what goes through your head when you see this tweet? >> well, jim said that the white house said that his tweets speak for themselves. but they speak in a language no one has ever seen before. and it's really concerning. you know, you said you were up at 1:28 and saw this tweet. i'm not going to ask you why. >> insomnia, sorry. >> but you would think someone in the white house where people

don't go to sleep also saw that when it went up. and the fact that it was up there for six hours speaks to a real systemic failure on the part of the white house. i mean, the tweet itself was nonsensical. my thought was that it sounded like the sound that an engine makes when it's rung out of gas. but whatever your interpretation, the fact that the system in the white house broke down and nobody said get that tweet down and find out what's going on with the president is really disturbing. >> dana, it raises several questions, right? first of all, is anyone reviewing his tweets? is anyone watching his twitter account? because obviously people around the world were watching. it might have been in the middle of the night here. >> was not in the rest of the world. does nobody but him have access to that account? were they even able to change it? or perhaps they're so afraid of him that nobody knew what he meant and they were too desired take it down. none of these two alternatives are very confidence inspiring no. look, we've seen this since the day that the president

got into the white house. the next morning, remember, he started tweeting about crowd size when he was in the residence watching cable television. and you know what? that has not stopped. the trip that he took abroad, it didn't happen. maybe he was too tired. maybe because it was of the time difference. maybe somebody actually got his phone whom. knows. but at the end of the day, the policy since the campaign has been he is a grown man. who are we to take his twitter account away from him. and certainly at the end of the campaign, the aides were successful, were really successful in getting him to ratchet it back and say on message. because you saw the finish line ahead of him. and you know what? it worked. but since then, no way. you know when he has gone to the residence when he starts to do these tweets and before he goes to the oval office when he continues to do it in the morning. and it's hard to see that stopping, even and especially

given the fact that it's mind-boggling especially given the fact that he's now got a very serious legal issue in front of him that he's got to be careful about. >> paul, there are a lot of concerns here. well understand he is using an iphone. it only has twitter on it. one would assume this was a tweet he sent himself as opposed to dictating it, for example, as he often does. what are the concerns here, that no one would have access to the account or fear of taking it down or security? >> the chief concern is here you have the most powerful man in the world, the leader of the most powerful man on earth, and he chooses, and he can do this, to go around the press and tweet messages to the world. and people look to those messages to mean something. now, is this a typo? is this some strange word that we'll find out the meaning of later? it's absurd that he is communicating with the world this way. someone who is in the presidency. personally, i think the only reason he is not correcting it sooner is because he wants to ridicule the press.

everybody is going to be speculating, what does it mean? it's this, it's that. and then tomorrow or the next day we'll be laughing at the press about it. but as president, he's got an obligation to communicate clearly. because if you don't understand what he is saying, you start to worry about who is occupying the oval office. >> as i say, did something just happen to you? that is isn't an insignificant thing. it probably was a typo for press coverage. it's easy to make that. but what i found interesting about this is a president who is so proud for never apologizing about anything won't even admit that he made a typo. now it's a few people on the inner circle knew exactly what he was talking about. >> yeah. well, i mean, the other element of this, it's the further emasculation of poor sean spicer who guess out there and says things that are clearly ridiculous because clearly he is under orders to say it. what he said was laughable, and of course people laughed.

but i've said before, being the spokesman for donald trump is like being in a big game of twister. and eventually you end up on your keister, because it's impossible to keep your balance. and we saw it again today. >> all right. thank you all very much. i appreciate it. and next, cnn found and confronted the russian banker whose meetings with jared kushner are now under fbi scrutiny. this is the moment. we're going to show exactly what happened, and we have a special report. and with controversy swirling around kushner, what has become of his relationship with the president of the united states? a long-time kushner friend is going to come "outfront." he is my guest. ees. 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.

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new tonight, a putin ally at the center of the trump russia investigation confronted by cnn. our cameras caught sergey gorkov, the controversial and powerful banker with close ties to president putin at a private meeting today. gorkov's meetings with jared kushner are under fbi scrutiny. matthew chance is "outfront" live in moscow. and matthew, you confronted gorkov. he wasn't returning your calls. you went. you found him yourself. what happened? >> yeah, we've been trying to track this guy down for weeks. he simply hasn't been returning our calls. he has been totally unwilling to speak us to. so we eventually tracked him down at this university in st. petersburg after he had been giving a lecture to economic students. he is key to this controversy, erin, because sergey gorkov is the head of one of the biggest banks in russia. he was piloted by vladimir putin, the russian president. and back in december in trump four, he met with jared kushner, the son-in-law of course of president trump. what they discussed isn't clear.

they say, the bank says they discussed business. the white house said it was diplomacy, part of his transitional duties. so i spoke to sergey gorkov to try to get some answers. >> mr. gorkov, quick question. what did you really speak to jared kushner about in new york when you met him in december? >> no comment. >> agreed speak about sanctions? >> excuse me. >> no comment. >> what was discussed? the white house says it was diplomatic meeting, that kushner met you as part of the transition team. your bank says it was a business meeting. >> thank you so much. sorry. >> were you a conduit, were you a conduit to the kremlin, mr. gorkov? >> well, gorkov not particularly happy there clearly about being confronted in that way with his contacts with the trump team and the trump administration. well did contact his office to give us a fuller response given to the controversy this is embroiled in in the united states. but we got a categorical no,

unfortunately, to any further comment. erin? >> all right. going to say nothing at all with no explanation. as you said, calling and calling and calling trying to get a formal response. and that is how it end upped. gorkov, of course, is not just a russian oligarch close to putin. he was trained at russia's top spy school that could be the tip of the iceberg of his importance. drew griffin is "outfront." >> reporter: he is sergey gorkov, handpicked by russian president vladimir putin to run russia's state bank nicknamed the veb. this russian banker was trained by russia's spy agency, the fsb. gorky k06's bank veb was embroiled in an fbi spying investigation, one of its employees accused of illegally gathering intelligence for the russian government. and the bank paid for that person's defense. it is the same bank that has build a out russian oligarchs and has been under u.s.

sanctions for nearly three years, punishment for russia's invasion of ukraine. this is the bank and the banker jared kushner met with in december and then errantly forgot to mention when disclosing his personal contacts with foreign officials. kushner's secret russian meeting may be more fuel for the russian trump conspiracy theorists or just a mistake of a person with little international diplomatic experience. >> he has been given assignments and position. and he is required to be absolutely forthcoming about this. this opens up another whole set of problems and vulnerabilities for the president. >> reporter: jared kushner has according to his attorney agreed to answer any and all questions any federal investigators may have about his alleged ties with russia, russian banks and back channel communications.

but he is not answering to anyone else right now, and neither is the white house. just what kushner and gorkov discussed when they met soon after the election isn't clear. the russian bank says it was real estate business. with kushner representing his private real estate company. the white house says no, it was actually government business wither kushner representing the new american administration. and gorkov representing russia's state bank. and while all of this is getting sorted out, there is another connection to sergey gorkov. another russian sponsored bank, and another actor in this ever increasingly complicated play. in 2013, donald trump co-hosted the miss universe pageant in moscow. it was a huge success, partly due to the pageant's biggest sponsors. one of which was the russian controlled bank spur bank. and guess who was the deputy

chairman of spur bank? sergey gorkov, the very russian banker meeting with jared kushner just three years later in a meeting with conflicting stories what the meeting was all about and in the midst of a russian-trump u.s. election story that may have no there there yet but is getting harder to ignore. >> drew, thank you very much. ambassador woolsey with me. ambassador, you just heard drew reporting, right? miss universe pageant. trump's of course was sponsored by a bank that gorkov was the deputy chairman of at the time. trump was in moscow for that pageant. now the same banker is meeting with jared kushner. coincidence? >> probably not a coincidence, no. there are not many coincidences in russia. this is an illustration i think of if you're in russia and get in a conversation with someone at a big reception and he says he is a very prominent banker and he would like to talk to you about an oil gas deal, he may be

what he said he is. he may be a russian organized crime boss. he may be a senior kgb officer, fsb. or he may be all three. and none of those three institutions has any problem with that at all. russia in a sense is a kgb state. it is not a state that is elevated individual corporations to prominence and control. there are prominent corporations. but there are instrumentalities of the same kgb. >> so the meeting happened in december when trump was the president-elect of the united states. kushner, of course, this wasn't disclosed, leaked to the press. and that's how we all found out about it. at this time you remember of the transition team. did you know about it or if you knew about it, would you have recommended that he take that meeting or cancel it? >> no, i didn't know about it. and i would not recommend any of the americans involved in this to take meeting, unless they

were asked by let's say the president-elect and they had been through some serious discussions with the senior cia or fbi people explaining how to deal with the situation. >> and that clearly did not happen. >> it's not a crime in and of itself to talk to a russian intelligence officer. but it's certainly not wise to do it without being part of a system that is helping you make your inquiries and so forth. >> and as we point out, that did not happen in this case. this was not disclosed. i just want to add bob baer. you heard ambassador woolsey saying russia is in a sense a kgb state, and there is no coincidence when you look at these different meetings. what is your take on the significance here of sergey gorkov? >> well, director woolsey is absolutely right. i mean, this bank is in essence an arm of the fsb, the kgb.

gorkov was a former kgb officer. everything he does, he reports back to the kgb. he is not particularly a great back channel to putin. i just don't buy that. you get ahold of peskov if for some reason you want to send a message to putin. he is his aide. everybody knows that. i've got his e-mail. i've got his phone number and the rest of it, if you want to get to him. the real question is was kushner talking about business. and that's the question hanging over this whole investigation. was he looking for a quid pro quo? you invest in our properties, and then we'll lift the sanctions on your bank and russia as well. i don't know that that's true. but the investigators are certainly going to be looking at that, whether there is any financial transactions related to these meetings. >> and ambassador, the big question here is one of good judgment. given what we know about gorkov and his relationship with putin and his possible or at least reported role with the fsb,

former kgb, what business reason would jared kushner, who was then working with the president-elect of the united states have had to meet with him? >> there are potential innocuous explanations here. mr. kushner was trying to find out what he could find out and had been asked by someone senior, national security adviser, anything, to find out all you can from this guy and come report to me. that is not. >> yes. >> it's getting involved in something a bit that you may not be well prepared for. but it's not crazy, and it's not illegal. it's just probably not all that wise because you're in a pit of snakes and you got to make sure you don't get bit. >> right. and of course the question was it unwise or was it something much more than that. thank you both very much. next, hear jared kushner's side of the story. his long-time friend who just spoke to him joins me. and a company that manufacturers ivanka trump shoes.

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the tonight, jared kushner back with the president and publicly so today. the president's son-in-law and senior adviser sitting just a few seats down from president trump during this afternoon's meeting with the vietnamese prime minister. so you can see very visible in

his spot by the president's side. kushner of course under scrutiny for his attempts to set up a secret communications channel with the kremlin during the transition. "outfront" now kim kersin who has known kushner for 15 years. also editor of the new york observer which is owned by kushner. so you know him extremely well. you had a chance to speak with him in just the past few days. we saw him today where we've been accustomed to seeing him, the president. but with all this controversy right now we haven't seen him in a few days. you have just spoken to him behalf. is his mind-set right now? >> jared is doing what he always does. he is working hard for the american people. he is trying to advance the president's agenda. and, yeah, he is dealing with a lot of smoke. but as ambassador woolsey just said on your last segment, there seems to be no fire there. >> the issue, of course, is when it comes to some of these things that happened, the russian back channel or meeting with the russian ambassador, why he did

these things when they were not subsequently disclosed, right? until they leaked. and yesterday i had a chance to talk to the former cia director michael hayden. he has come out and spoken about this. and here is what he has been saying about these latest developments and kushner's motives specifically. here is michael hayden. >> i'm going with naivete. and that is not particularly very comforting for me. i mean, what manner of ignorance, chaos, hubris, suspicion, contempt would you have to have to think that doing this with the russian ambassador was a good or an appropriate idea? >> so you hear the former director of the fbi, right? naive, ignorant, hubris, contempt, chaos, suspicion. are any of these words you would use to describe jared kushner? >> no, not at all. and i think that's an outrageous characterization. and i think that's what you get from guys who have been in the government forever. the american people elected a

president whose chief asset was that he was going to do things differently. he wasn't a lifetime politician. and he has appointed to his cabinet other people around him who are not sullied in the long-term ways of washington. and as you saw from the very personal, angry tone the former cia director just used in the clip you played, it breaks some china as you do it. >> it does. although another former cia director james woolsly si was just here on said and he also said he would have told him not to take the meeting with the russian banker, that it was not a good idea. knowing jared kushner, when you talk about the motive, if you accept that people don't think that meeting was good idea, which i know you may not. but if you do accept that works you go with naive as opposed to something nefarious. >> i definitely don't think jared is nefarious. if my only choice is the two n words, i think that's an outrageous choice. i think jared is doing his best to do the bidding of the

president who was elected by the american people. he is taking all kinds of meetings. my understanding that that form that supposedly omitted this critical meeting is like a thousand pages long. probably admitted a bunch of meetings. it was fixed immediately. i think that they nonstop. you know, my office where we work, there is cnn among others on all day. and they're on mute. and all i see are these headlines, you know, about the misspelled tweets and donald trump gave his personal cell phone to leaders. i just think that cnn and the rest of the mainstream media doesn't get it. this guy is going to do things differently from other washington politicians. and the people who elected him like that about him. they like that he is a normal person who gives out his cell phone number and makes misspellings, god forbid in his tweets. and if this meeting was ill-advised, then that's a mistake. but now have somebody like donald baer who was on a couple of minutes ago say we have to find fought the russians were

getting quid pro quo, that's crazy. >> but don't we have to find out? two former cia agents categorically said he shouldn't have taken. don't we all deserve an answer as to why? >> what i heard woolsey it might have been advised because the media is going to jump all over it. >> that's not why he said it was ill-advised. >> without any evidence you're going to come to a conclusion that he is determining sanctions on a hostile country on personal gain? that's an incredible accusation. why not accuse him of murders and all kinds of other things. >> to be fair, though, i think what people are asking is just a question. what did he do. look, i know this is in a sense, but you as his friend, do you feel that he wants to give his side of the story? he is not coming out to the media. do you feel he wants to? let's just be honest. the guy said i'll testify, right? he said i'll come and do that. do you think he wants to give his full side of the story? >> i think nobody on earth would love to be grilled and

interrogated. but he has said over and over he is willing to testify. i know jared to be an incredibly honest and direct guy. he is going to give honest testimony when it eventually comes to that but would he rather be doing the business of the american people or sitting before congress or some other panel, what do you think? >> and quickly before we go, we understand that they told friends they're going to keep evaluating whether they're going to stay in washington, d.c., in washington. that's a significant thing to say you're evaluating you. just talked to him a couple of days ago. is he committed to staying there in washington? >> as far as i can tell he is 100% to doing what he went there to do. >> thank you very much, ken. i appreciate your time. >> thanks, erin, i appreciate it. next, ivanka trump's brand under fire tonight. activists looking into alleged abuses that a company that makes her shoe line that suddenly, they're gone, vanished. what happened? and the president's bizarre twitter moment that had everybody asking what? >> i thought it was a hidden message to the russians. >> oh, you do? [ laughter ]

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tonight two activists missing, one arrested in china. they were investigating a company that manufacturing shoes

for vaunga trump's clothing brand. matt rivers is out front with more. >> reporter: ivanka trump's brand facing scrut nate tonight. they're prompting calls for trump's label to sever ties with the chinese supplier. this is cnn's exclusive video of the factory owned by the same company the activists were investigating. cnn was not permitted to film in the actual factory that makes ivanka trump's shoes. the activists were working with a new york labor organization. the group says the company was paying employees less than minimum wage. they were set to release a report on the subject next month based on the work of those three chinese undercover activists

until all three disappeared. the wife of one of the messing activists spoke to cnn over the phone, saying police told her her husband had been detained for conducting illegal surveillance. they wouldn't say where he's being held. she hasn't spoken to him since sunday. >> translator: i can't even sleep. i wish somebody would tell me what happened to my husband. >> reporter: cnn has been unable to figure out where the other two activists are located. today amnesty international called for the release of all three. they called on the brand to quote, immediately, crease its work and confront china on its human rights abuses. china labor watch routinely conducts investigations into unfair labor practices. he said none of his employees

had been detained like this. the only difference i can see between this case and all previous cases is the ivanka trump name. to be clear there is no evidence that ivanka herself has any connection. she still owns part on the business. a representative from ivanka trump's brand declined to comment on the story as did the owner of the factory. and china's focus remains on the missingch we know that these activists got undercover in the first place by getting jobs otthese factories. to that end, the director of china labor watch believes all three men remain in chinese custody. he directly appealed to president trump and ivanka trum herself, asking them to do what

they can do, as much as they can do to secure the release of these three activists. >> all right, matt, thank you very much. and that does leave a question as to whether this white house or ivanka trump will say something on this. gave me pain . in my knees. so i stepped on this machine and got my number, which matched my dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic inserts. so i get immediate relief from my foot pain. my knee pain. find a machine at drscholls.com. ♪ pressure. i feel it everyday. but at night, it's the last thing on my mind.

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♪ tonight's number more than 108,000, that is how many retweets president trump's

infamous covfefe tweet has at 4:00 a.m. this morning. that is most than any of his tweets this month. that a pretty scary. here's genie moss. >> reporter: it wasn't even a complete sentence tweeted out by president trump just after midnight. despite the constant negative press, what's that word? >> covfefe. >> reporter: professionals could only guess at how to pronounce it, and the public -- >> that is hilarious. >> i've been saying it covfefe. >> we're pretty sure the president meant to type negative press-curvage, but the covfefe tweet stayed up six hour. and then the president tweeted who can figure out the true meaning of covfefe, enjoy. which the internet did.

a make america covfefe again t-shirt. and the white house press secretary only confused things more. >> the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant. >> reporter: hillary clinton wasn't a part of that group. >> i thought it was a hidden message to the russians. >> reporter: ask your doctor if covfefe is right for you. >> it sound french. >> reporter: covfefe was turned into an ivanka fragrance. >> what is covfefe? >> a yiddish term for i've got to go to bed now. >> reporter: many assume president trump just fell

asleep. midtweet. >> i know words, the best words. >> reporter: the best nonwords, too. >> covfefe. >> reporter: you say that with such assurance. genie moss, cnn, new york. >> did he just drop his iphone as he fell asleep. thanks for joining us. anderson is next. >> and good evening fired fbi director james comey is just days away from saying the fired fbi director tried to make him drop the fbi probe. if it's true, it's yet another incidence in which contact went undisclosed. jim sciutto joins us now. so what are we learning on this? >> well, anderson, republican and intelligence officials brief said on the investigation tell myself and my