but queens is home now. ♪ > . for the trump white house -- and in the united kingdom, pressure builds on the u.s. prime minister after her top advisors resign following a disasters election. and one of the biggest risks in the gulf shows little signs of letting up. >> it is 4:00 a.m. on the east coast. this is cnn newsroom, i'm george

how howell. >> and i'm natalie alan. u.s. attorney general jeff sessions will testify. on his meetings with russian officials during the presidential campaign. >> all of this as the relationship with donald trump appears to be on shaky ground. more from cnn's jessica snider. >> reporter: the embattled attorney general is about to be grilled about his interactions with russians. james comey revealed in a closed door briefing that jeff sessions they have had a third closed door meeting with kislyak. >> we also were aware of facts i

can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a russia related investigation problematic. >> reporter: the first at the may flower hotel. investigators caution the encounter, learned about through russian-to-russian intercepts may have been exaggerated. the meeting never happened and if it did it could put sessions in serious legal jeopardy. >> possibly in violation of the law. that denial as former -- >> so it could be perjury? >> could be perjury. >> reporter: a source close to sessions says they have beened a odds in reeceants wecent weeks. >> i have recused myself in the matters that deal with the trump

campaign. >> reporter: that came after the attorney general admitted he failed to disclose two meetings with ambassador ciskislyak. but they maintain it was solely because of the recusal for the trump campaign. at one point sessions offered to resign. but a source knows that would ignite another fire storm. >> are you going to resign? >> meantime the countdown is on for president trump. house investigators are giving him two weeks to hand over any memos or audio recordings of his conversations with james comey. >> so he said those things under oath. would you be willing to speak -- >> 100%.

>> tlilet's talk more about thi live in london. a pleasure to have you with us this hour. first, let's talk about the tapes that may or may not exist. but now investigators want them, if they do. so if the tapes are real, could they either help or hurt this president? >> well, i think even if they're fabricat fabricated, the tweet prompted james comey to deliver memos to reporters that would corroborate those events. anyone fair minded saw somebody who came off as extremely diligent and honest and detail oriented, which is the mirror image of president trump's public persona and that's why you don't want to get into a my

word verses my word against comey. he said i home the tapes exist because he's so confident. >> if the president says he's willing to testify to put his own credibility on the line, what's the calculation here for mr. trump? he's willing to boil this town to a he said he said under oath. >> i think first off, what he said was that he provided details of unclassified memos to a reporter via a friend. that's not a leak. there's nothing illegal that says you cannot as a private citizen thereby disclose it. he did not admit to any leaking. in terms of lying, james comey has built up a reputation of a person widely respected in the

intelligence community and outside of it monopoly he's had more than 600 misleading and false statements, lied repeatedly about things like president obama being born in kenya. he was not. so everyone who's fair minded in the world knows trump is going to lose that battle. so its an unwise decision going against somebody who deserves credibility. >> let's talk about the attorney general, jeff sessions. james comey last week revealed there may have been a third encounter with jeff sessions. this is something he did not mention in his initial testimony. so the idea has been floated this could be perjury. >> i think thoolts at's going t some of the questioning.

reports suggest this is going to be a closed hearing. i don't see any rational why that needs be the case because we saw with comey you can have both. an open hearing that does not involve with classifies materials and i think jeff sessions owes it to the american people to answer those questions. did he lie? and if he dead, we need to understand why. you can easily file something that says i misspoke. let me correct the record. >> the last question two different lines of investigations hang. one into collusion between rushz officials and members of the trump administration or transition team. and also the investigation simply into the president himself. did he ubstruct justice?

first of all, when which is the bigger danger griven there are quite possibly two investigations going on. >> there's dangers for trump political survival and there's dangers for for the united states. the obstruction of justice is the most pressing one because before nixon resigned, the artsicals involved abuse of power. and there's a strong abuse of power case sifrmply because he admitted firing comey because of the russia investigation and i demanaged loyalty and urging to end a probe into national security advisorer, mr. flynn. of the nine tooims, he never

raised the issue of how do we stop this cyber attack in russia and i think that's wung thfr big lob lms is he seems more concerned about this own survival. >> thank you so much for your insight. >> we're going to talk about political survival now and 10 downing street from the white house we go. deal or no deal. that's the question today. days after a snap election backfir backfired. this after it indicated a preliminary deal was reached. >> ms. may hopes an ally with the northern ireland party after

they stripped the conservatives of a muyort. sgrrs two of her top aids anoungss their reservations. >> let's take you live now to 10 downing street where it always looks so quiet and peaceful when reporters are going to live. this is definitely a prime minister that appears more isolated, more fragile almost with every passing hour. what's so interesting is after so spectac ylkerly arresting to go win strength, it takes some time for everything to sneak in and for the various scenarios to be lookt aality teresa may is

looking inkrooes credibly gradual, not only because the usual deal that might allow her to form a government will be the subject of more genegotiate torpg and it's going to be a powerful back bench committee at which she's going to have to provide some sense of contrition if she's going to be allowed to continue. what is allowing her to remain prime minister for now? is the timing of all this. it's in the interest of all, even those who oppose her to allow her to stay in and form this minority government because it is then the turn of jeremy corbt to form one on his side,

eve nl though opposed to her, even those who haven't kwielt forgiven her. >> so as you talk about how she may rally to stay there. how long could this go on? how much time does she have? >> probably very little. she has to get over the initial hurdle nex etweek. andmal as long as -- a week. that's when it announced the legislative program for the coming session. you can expect if it is reached will be a much looser arrangement. it meenlz they will voted forth

since late aervg every single voerktsish ow will be a natter of debate. fwit will they agree with them enough so that a program can chem tol melissa bell for us. thank you so much. a reporter with politico europe. what do you make of these developments today? no one too surprised that her aids are out. but the question is is the dup in or out? >> that'ser the question. and it seems like teresa may is scrambling to maintain power.

they put out the statement saying the agreement had had been reached. that is the latest embarrassment and 10 flrn for street. are the confov mv mvfs. the brexit negeeotiations with brussels and are they going to be able to form this minority sghumpt so complicated situation here. >> absolutely. how are the people react to this? al grown weary of elections and now they're held to a snap election. is everyone mom focus to just epi.

enjoying london this weekend are extremely tires. they didn't want to go for the fourth time in less than two queers, i'm sorry. time 49% of all voters want her to staep down right away. more than tom they have a successful leaderl and we toent know what it would be like the have a left wing socialist power to rule a country like great britain. >> days away at this point. and there's that wild. bouncing around.

probably doesn't flown foep pout boipm end up in dung street but it's a question of timing here and he doesn't want to be the third conservative leader that takes a gamble and fails. >> i hate to say it's fascinating but it's fascinating in a bad way. >> still ahead on newsroom this hour. coming up in claims of responsibility. and the diplomatic show down isolating qatar. what russia is suggest esen and why the british prime

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welcome back to cnn newsroom. a u.s. official says american troops came under fire near the pakistani border. >> here on what was apparently an insider attack. >> reporter: the afghan taliban is claiming response lkt for this attack. it is important to know this is an isis strong hold. the pentagon says three u.s. soldiers were killed. a one u.s. official says a member of a afghan security forces opened fire during a joint operation. mike pence asked people to pray for the families of the soldiers that were killed. >> on my way here i was informed that u.s. service members were killed and wounded in an attack in afghanistan. the details of this attack will

be forthcoming. but suffice it to say when heroes fall, americans greave and our thoughts and prayers are are with the families of these american heroes. >> it's where the u.s. and afghan troops have been carrying out a month's long offensive against isis k and where they drop what is the mother of all bombs in april. through u.s. soldiers were killed in separate incidents there and earlier that month an army special forces soldier was killed. they believe they have somewhere between 6 and 800 fighters there. >> well, the son of the late libyan leader is now free after

six years in captivity. a militia has been holding safe since 2011. >> they said he was released under a general amnesty law. gudaufy is still wanted for alleged crimes against humanity. they're urging to open dialogue with qatar. >> nine countries have accused them of supporting terrorism. they deny the allegations and thanked the russians for support and friendship and bilateral cooperation and asked for open communication to end the conflict. the latest following the story in qatar.

so russia effectively showing its influence in the middle east as well. >> this has been one of the concerns. really raise concern that you will see other countries like russia, iran stepping in and trying to lure qatar over to their side because of the move by the u.s. to isolate qatar. but it would seem as we've heard from the foreign minister, they want to find a resolution for this crisis. they say dialogue is the only way and they would like the do that from within the gcc countries. and we have seen ckuwait takinga

leading role. moving around, different phone calls, trying to find a resolution but it's really difficult to see how this crisis is going to end. qatar say it's just a pretext used to settle regional scores and there's that theory that what we're seeing is these countries that have had their issues with the foreign policy, really trying to back this tiny country with so much influence into a corner to get concessions from qatar. there's lots of theories right now but we've heard from the foreign minister over and over again saying that they're open for a dialogue but they will not

have other countries dictate on what its foreign policy should be and it's not going to change its foreign policy just because its t contradicts that of others in the reej. >> they're certainly a major ally in the united states and the region and there are economic ties between qatar and russia. with russia stepping in, it's not completely out of the blue. >> it's not but qatar has had these ties with different countries. this is one of the reasons it has been criticized. while you have others in the region taking a hostile stance. qatar has always kept a friendly relationship with almost

everyone in this region and beyond. and this is one of the reasons it feels it's being criticized and backed into a corner. >> thank you for the report. >> british prime minister, teresa may is trying recover from a political disaster. next here why a northern ireland party could be the new power broker in parliament. president trump has yet to say whether he has or doesn't have tapes of his meetings in the white house. but he wouldn't be the first president to have an open mike in the oval office. and intense testimony against bill cosby. what a star witness told the court. ♪

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welcome back to viewers here in the united states and around the world. >> thank you for being with us. i'm natalie allen. u.s. attorney general jeff sessions plans to testify before the senate intelligence community tuesday. it's not clear if it's public or private. seg he decided to testify after james comey's testimony earlier this week. top official says the terrorist fled the country and ice has claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed at least 17. french voters are casting their ballots in the first round of parliamentary elections.

it's important for macron to win. they have not yet reached a deal with the democratic unionest party after a snap election. she wants them to back her consivatives in parliament. let's get the very latest from our senior international diplomatic editor live in belfast northern ireland. good to have you with us. we know that a deal has not yet been reached. are you hearing anything more about what might be the stick points? >> reporter: yeah, neither side's really giving out details of what they're talk about. what is different is that downing street really did have to roll back what they said last night. they were very quick to send a

representative over to meet with the leaders here saturday. downing street originally saying they'd reached agreement on the principals of an outline agreement. but they had to roll that back saying teresa may called a leader and they were going to finalize talks in the coming week and that's a position the dup has taken saying the talks so far have been good but that they will be having more talks next week. no surprise here. the dup, assall l parties here in northern ireland, if i can make a comparison with president trump, you can say they would be very skilled in the art of the negotiation. they're quite ready to let this play out a little bit. they don't want to give in too

quickly. there's a sense as well for them that they went through this. they were ready for this. thought this might have happened in 2015. so they have a game book on a this already. i think we exk expect them to get into the talks. they don't generally do business on a sunday and of course teresa may would like the get this concluded quickly. make sure that they sell this right to their base supporters, they get what they want. but i think for both part aides here they do want to get this done. so the indications are that talks continue probably it will happen. >> and an alignment between the dup and the tories. it would be quite significant in northern ireland. explain the delicatacy.

>> i think perhaps the surprises here are going to come for the british population when they get a better sense because for the most part people there don't have a deeper understanding of the politics and princefuls and policies of some of the parties, particularly the dup who are an out layer compared to teresa may's conservatives. the picture from here will surprise the british and other electorates. elections barely over, the democratic unionest party, northern ireland's most powerful protestant party is already in talks with teresa may's conservatives. the writing on the wall sums up the thinking. the northern ireland conflict --

they're proud to be british. fiercely loyal to the crown and they're ready to fight for it. not all unionests are as strident as the paint. ref right-hand is a muderate unione unionest. sees the may alliance as good for his community. >> i think it's simple both parties are committed to the united kingdom. >> reporter: across town in the catholic or nationalist community that aspires for irish yunt, the expectation the dup are a political out liar that will cause may problemsed. >> they're against marriage equality for lesbian couples. >> reporter: in this city miles

offal peaceful and catholic nationalists. three decades of conflict ended 20 years ago. still, distrust runs deep and where that's bridged, suspended earlier this year, the impact of teresa may's dup agreement could hit hardest. the power sharing government collapsed. hundreds of millions of dollars committed to an energy scheme and claims of inequality in here. negauche yaeoesauche yag negaucheiations to restart need the mutual. >> we have never seen the british government as being impartial or a referee. sometimes they present themselves as carrying the white

man's burden. they are players. they're committed to seeing the assembly back up and running. they want to play politics. >> reporter: far from securing a strong future, prime minister may's reliance on the dup could be saddling her with more problems. northern ireland's uneasy piece. and that stumble we saw from downing street would bow indicative of some of those problems that have some teresa may's way. it's not as easies a having a simple majority. nick suggesting this could be aunwillinger play of the art of the deal. taking their time as these negotiations play out. live for us in belfast. thank you so much. the london police are releasing photos of the fake suicide belt the london bridge

attackers wore. they wore leather belts with disposable waterer bottles. >> they say this highlights the curage they showed when they tackles the terrorists. listen. >> reporter: a stream of people came running out of the mark president trump they were in a state of panic. lots of screaming. so literally just grabbed as many as we could and directed them into the basement of the bar. so i felt that was as reasonably safe a place as we had at the moment. when i got in there, there were lots of people huddled down low and they looked councern and we

had officers outside with guns. that's the safest plates to be. the police inspector also said it was good to see them helping one another and that's of course because noes people like love, not hate. >> and such bravery. still ahead on newsroom, the prosecution has ended. what's next in the sexual assault case. can you actually love wearing powerful sunscreen? yes! neutrogena® ultra sheer. no other sunscreen works better or feels so good. clinically proven helioplex® provides unbeatable uva/uvb protection to help prevent early skin aging and skin cancer all with a clean light feel. for unbeatable protection. it's the one. the best for your skin. ultra sheer®. neutrogena®.

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a true icon of early american television. abdomen west in 1966, saving the

world from the joker, the ridler, the penguin over and over again and just in the nick of time. >>. >> he found success on the animated tv show the family guy. mayor west as you'll recall. he died friday in his home in los angeles after a battle with leukemia. adam west was 88 years old. after a week of intense testimony, the prosecution has rested and bill cosby's sexual assault trial. >> they called twelve witnesses to the stand trying to prove he sexually assaulted anldria constan. >> reporter: it was a very intense week last week, the common wealth putting on twelve witnesses in their case and chief. this is the criminal case, the one hawaii could go to prison to if found guilty. one was a prior bad act witness

a woman that said she too was drugged and assaulted by bill cosby in 1986. what she testified to was strikingly similar to what andrea constan says happened to her. they said back in 1996 she said in a deposition everything happened in 1990. it wads when she took the stand though. this is the star witness for the prosecution. she alleges she was assaulted they watched her, they listened to her. as she described exactly what she says happened to her. this is a case of credibility and the defense tries to undermine her credibility by trying to say her statements had

inconsistencies. now this next week on to the defense case. they will be putting on witnesses, special witnesses and bill cosby has publicly said he will not take the stand. >> we'll follow what happened this coming week. there's been a lot of talk about whether there are or aren't recording of comey. how people have been caught doing everything from ordering a pair of pants to world war iii. >> believe me, believe me. that's what he says, believe me. but does president trump say believing me, believe me mean you should or should nlt? ould ae in different countries that we traveled, what is your nationality and i would always answer hispanic. so when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. i'm from all nations.

it puts a hunger in your heart to want to know more.

existence of tapes. do they or do they not exist is the question? they're asking the white house to turn over any recordings, including these possible tapes the president has been coy bouts having to do with president

trump's meetings with now fired fbi director, james comey. >> and mr. trump gave a cryptic answer, only promising more information in the near fumper. there is a history of white house recordings going back decades. here's brian todd for that. >> reporter: white house taping systems have throughout the decades known to exist. quietly recording the color and at times the most explosive points of the executive branch from president john f kennedy seen here talking about the cuban missile crisis. to president linden b. johnson ordering pants. >> is your father the one who makes the clothes? >> yes, sir. >> he made me some real light weight slacks. >> but the most infamous and dammic iteration was during the presidency of richard m. nixon. nixon began secretly taping

conversations and teleephone calls in multiple locations of the white house in 1971 including the oval office. time and time again the president's words were clear. the president was acting like he had absolute power. even the president's own family was taped. >> hello. >> but it was among nixon's record gds one night, one week after the watergate break in that proved to be the smoking gun. nixon did everything he could to fend off the investigation. >> people have got to know

whether or not their president's a crook. well, i am not a crook. >> but the taping system became public when alexander butter field confirmed its existence. >> are you aware of any listening devices in the oval office of the president? >> i was aware of listening devices. yes, sir. >> the tapes ultimately led to richard's resignation to avoid a full impeachment. when asked by barbara walters why he didn't destroy the tapes, nixon had this to say. >> are you sorry you didn't destroy the tape snz. >> yes, i think so because they were private tapes subject to interpretation. >> mr. trump has yet to swla he

has tapes with james comey. >> these two words, believe me jenny most delves into the nuances of the president's phraseology. >> reporter: who says president trump isn't a man of deep believes? >> believe me. >> he was deep in believe mes. >> believe me we've just begun. >> dropping five of them as he announced the u.s. would drop out of the paris climate accord. >> believe me this is not what we need. >> but what's five in one speech when he's been a believer at the rate of two in under 10 seconds. >> my total priority, believe me is the united states of americas. >> yeah, trump's use nl is off the charts. >> he's made charts of trump's

usage. the linguist tallied trump at 580 occurrences verses a measly six for hillary clinton. it seems to me it's a time killer or filler to collect your thoughts. >> you're emphasizing something and it lets you play for time. >> nobody says believe me unless they are alive. >> the addiction to saying. >> believe me. >> is iron frk someone offden scribed as. >> thousands and thousands of people. >> as having his pants on fire. >> the clktive misstatements of donald trump. >> i had friends tell me that this doesn't seem to be the case. >> nobody builds walls better

than me, believe me. >> we're going to knock the hell out of isis, believe me. >> he's really at his most trumpian when he uses it. >> you better believe it. cnn, new york. >> creative editing there. >> believe me. thank you for being with us for this hour of cnn newsroom. >> we're right back with another hour of news. believe us.

the attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions, may soon testify before the senate intelligence committee. we'll explain the impact. pressure builds on the british prime minister after her top advisers resign following a disastrous snap election. we'll take you live for the latest to 10 downing street. and one of the biggest rifts in the gulf shows little signs of letting up. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george