seeking both documents and testimony from the people involved, according to people familiar with the matter. this as the probe widens with federal investigators exploring the possible financial ties with russia. sources tell cnn that financial links could offer a more concrete path to any potential prosecution. investigators are looking into possible financial crimes including some for the president, that's going too far. he's warned delving into his businesses is a, quote, violation. trump maintained there is no collusion and he has no financial ties to russia. >> i can tell you, speaking for myself, i own nothing in russia. i have no loans in russia. i don't have any deals in russia. >> reporter: now, one year into this complex probe, the fbi has reviewed financial records related to the trump organization. the president himself as well as his family members and campaign associates. cnn has told that they've gone

through the list and scrutinized the roster of tenants at trump tower in manhattan reaching back several years. officials familiar with the investigation tell cnn mueller's team has examined the backgrounds of russian business associates connected to trump, dating back to the 2013 miss universe pageant that trump hosted. cnn could not determine whether the review has included trump's tax returns. but even investigative leads that have nothing to do with russia, but involve trump associates are being referred to the special counsel to encourage subjects of the investigation to cooperate. trump's team seeking to limit mueller's investigation. >> the president's point is he doesn't want the special counsel to move beyond the scope and outside of its mix, and the president has been very clear, as have his accountants and team

that he has no financial dealings with russia. so i think we've been extremely clear on that. >> reporter: cnn has learned new details about how mueller is running his special counsel team. more than three dozen attorneys, fbi agents and support staff, experts in investigating fraud and financial crimes broken into groups separated on collusion and obstruction of justice. there's focus on key targets like paul manafort and general michael flynn. cnn has learned that investigators became more suspicious of manafort when they turned up intercepted communications that u.s. intelligence agencies collected among suspected russian operatives discussing their efforts to work with manafort, important information that could hurt hillary clinton's bid to the white house. in flynn's case, the focus is now on his lobbying work for the turkish government which he failed to initially disclose by

law. while both men deny any wrongdoing, the approach to the manafort and flynn probes may offer a template for how focus of investigations on financial crimes could help gain leverage and cooperation in the investigation. the president's attorney, jay sekulow, told cnn in a statement that the president's outside legal team has not received any requests for documentation or information about any of this. any inquiries from the special counsel that goes beyond the mandate specified in the appointment, we would object to, sekulow says. >> very interesting there. we'll talk about how big that scope is in a little bit. president trump tried to fire up his base against the russia investigation at a west virginia valley. the president called the russia story a total fabrication and tried to raise questions about whether the special counsel will be fair. cnn's joe johns live at the white house. >> reporter: good morning, john, the president beefing up his campaign rhetoric with a campaign-style rally in

huntington, west virginia. it was his second trip to the mountain state in about ten days. only this time, the audience was not a large group of boy scouts, it was some of the most faithful supporters in the state that he won by almost 40 percentage points. in the space of about five minutes, the president describing the russia investigation as a fabrication, also in pure, raw, political terms, asserting that this was something being done to some of the most loyal supporters, the people who put him in office by democrats. listen. >> they can't beat us at the voting booths, so they're trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. i just hope the final determination is a truly honest one, which is what the millions of people who gave us our big

win in november deserve. >> reporter: in case you think this might have signaled some new opposition to the special counsel, it doesn't appear to be the case. the president's office, the white house here putting out a statement last night through the lawyers indicating that the white house is fully supportive and will participate in and cooperate in the investigation, also indicating once again that the now fired fbi director james comey told the president three times he was not under investigation. as you said at the top, the president will set off for a two-week vacation at his golf resort in new jersey beginning this evening. >> thank you very much for that background information. let's bring in our panel. evan perez, also want to bring in former white water independent council robert ray and cnn counterterrorism analyst phil mudd. phil, what does it mean that

robert mueller is using a grand jury to issue subpoenas for the june meeting between don junior and the russian representatives. >> first of all, alisyn, it can't be just about that one meeting. we have information on one day, one session with a couple of people. i'm looking at a campaign that goes on months and months with allocations about russia involvement and inserting data into an election. i've got to believe director mueller is looking for information that relates about an expansion of contacts with russians beyond that one meeting. that's the only thing we know about. the second thing i would take from this, the guy i worked for doesn't do fishing expeditions. as evan said, this investigation is going into year two. i will lay money it won't go into year three. the fact they're going into a grand jury suggests to me they have enough information to ask the right questions. the right questions about people and the right questions about things like data, phone calls and e-mails and money. when they're asking the right

questions, it tells me the investigation is entering a fundamentally different phase. that's not a let's gather information phase, that's a let's close it out and ask key questions phase. >> bob, you've been there. what power does this give robert mueller now? >> i don't think we're quite there yet, meaning that i think we're still at the preliminary stages. they're still gathering the rudiments of an investigation, the phone records, the text messages, the e-mails, anything that would corroborate what happens immediately before meetings, during meetings, immediately after meetings. i think the rubber meets the road that we start seeing subpoenas for testimony before a grand jury. at that stage then you're really starting to talk about beginning to put tok an investigation to the point of drawing conclusions and making judgments about whether or not people should be charged. >> phil just said i guarantee

this is not a fishing expedition, robert mueller doesn't have time for those sorts of things. kellyanne conway last night told chris cuomo this does feel like a fishing expedition. how can it not feel like a fishing expedition to donald trump when word comes out now that they are looking into his finances even unrelated to russia? they're looking at whatever pops up that may seem untoward of some kind. they're going to look into his finances. here is what the 1k0e7 of the russia investigation is as out lined by rob rosenstein. any links between russian associates and the campaign of donald trump -- here is what makes it seem so booed -- any matters that arose or may arise from that investigation and then number three, any matters within the scope of this next -- that's

what leads from white water, as you know, to monica lewinsky. >> a key word you left out, though, and that's the word directly. with regard to an investigation, if there's doubt, and i think the white house is appropriately pushing back to say don't travel down the road of my finances. to the extent it's directly related, they have some latitude, and there is a sort of follow-the-money aspect to this. it would seem that bob mueller would be well advised to the point of the edges of an investigation, that it's not clear within his mandate, he may have to go back to rod rosen stein to get an expansion of jurisdiction. >> if it arises as part of the investigation -- which is to say, if you're investigating russia, for instance -- again, i'm not saying this is what happened -- you turn up a faulty bank deal, potential illegali illegalities of finances or transfers of cash that may not have to do with russia, does that arise directly from an investigation? i could see an interpretation

where the answer is yes, look, we were investigating one thing and turned up an illegality, we have to go there. >> you can say that. i think the special counsel would be well advised if it's uncovered during the course of the investigation to go back to the deputy attorney general and make it explicitly within his mandate. that puts the president in a difficult position to say that's not fairly within bob mueller's investigation. look, along the way they're going to look at a lot of things. in some sense, grand jury investigations are in part and are designed to be fishing expeditions. you're fishing to find out whether or not you have evidence that would reflect that a crime has been committed and that certain individuals have committed. that's the whole point of an investigatory grand jury. that's what he's looking at. that's all fairly within his mandate. on the edge, you start traveling down the road of a tax investigation, for example, into the finances of the trump organization, the president is

right to fairly push back and say, listen, that's not what you were put in office to do. >> but it's still within the scope. >> it could be arguably within the scope. in the political process, again, one of the things learned during the independent counsel era in the white water investigation, if there was doubt about that, you went back to the justice department for an expansion of jurisdiction for that very reason. >> it's evan's reporting that blew open this idea that the special counsel is looking behind russia into the finances. exactly what are they focused on right now, evan? >> one of the things that you do in these types of investigations, and those guys know exactly what i'm talking about. you look at the finances to see whether or not there's anything that might, for example, might have exposed the president or anybody around him to blackmail, for instance. that is directly -- even though it's about the finances, it still goes right back to the original question which is whether or not there was any

reason that somebody connected with the campaign, including perhaps the president might have illegally coordinated with the russian government with regard to the election. so even though it's the finances, i think one of the things that we're trying to say in this story and spent a lot of time trying to respine the words to make sure we're clear, you look at the finances because you have to. you start in the middle and then you go to the periphery to see what you can find that ties back to the middle of this case. again, keep in mind, not only are we talking about perhaps illegal coordination with the russian spy services with regard to the election. but we're also now talking about potential obstruction of justice issues which goes back to this meeting in trump tower last june and the fact that they tried to cover it up and not try to disclose what -- exactly how many people were in there and what they were talking about. >> phil, let's look at what we understand from evan's reporting

as well as others on the cnn team, of what mueller is actually looking at. so russia collusion, obstruction of justice, as evan just said, with particular interest with michael flynn and paul manafort. phil, in your vast experience with all this, you always hear investigators often follow the money, that that's how they get to the bottom of something. >> i agree with you. i can't understand why we're having this investigation. this isn't peripheral or an add-on investigation. you have questions that we don't know the answers to on the outside of this. for example, we're talking about one meeting. i have to believe there were other meetings with individuals arranged by russia, as this meeting with don junior was arranged by russia. why would somebody accept that meeting? one of the answers would be, that person who accepted the meeting, the trumperson, had a previous financial arrangement with the russian who arranged the meeting.

why is that pir riff ral and insignificant? who are the core people in the investigation, who did they e-mail, who did they call? what did they say and where did they get their money? >> i hear you on that. that's still connected to russia. what it sounds like they're also able to look at are the president's financial real estate deals before he was ever running. how is that connected to russia? >> of course. directly connected. what if there was a purchase arrangement between a russian buyer and a trum people years ago and that person later said i need a favor, i want you to meet someone who is a friend of mine. pretty basic. >> was there a financial relationship with this real estate family that helped set up the meeting with don junior? i can see how that would be a thing. >> evan, do you have any reporting that the special counsel has gone to rod rosenstein to ask whether or not he believed it was within the

purview of the investigation? >> no. i don't think they have had to do that. i think they believe everything they're doing -- look, they're looking outside. they have to see whether or not it ties back to the central question and i don't think they're there yet. i think that's one reason why they're doing this methodically. you can to look under every rock, because if you finish this investigation and didn't look one place, you will get criticized for not doing so. >> stick around. we have a lot more to ask. the investigation to potential ties to the trump campaign and russ russia. there is growing concern among republicans and democrats on capitol hill that the president might try to push robert mueller out, might have to try to have him fired. now republicans and democrats are trying to pass laws that would keep him from doing this. where are we?

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oh my... the current chevy silverado. it's the chevy summer drive. get a total value of $9,600 or, get 0% financing for 60 months on this silverado all star. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. the president is not thinking about firing bob mueller. this speculation that's out there is incorrect. the decision that the president were to make on bob mueller is a decision that i'm not involved in, would not be involved in, and frankly, the president has not raised with me, with our legal team. >> president trump's lawyer says the president is not thinking about firing special counsel robert mueller despite reports mueller is following the money trail on the russia investigation. that would be a red line. now there is a bipartisan senate bill, actually two, that would

bar the president from directly firing any special counsel or at least slow down the process. want to bring back our panel, robert ray, phil mudd and evan perez. one of the reasons there's speculation, bob, that the president might fire robert mueller is he hasn't ruled it out. he's been asked directly if he would ever push out robert mueller and he said, wait and see, we have to wait and see. that's why people are wondering about it, because the president hasn't ruled it out yet. as someone who has been in this type of role, do you feel this pressure as you're investigating? >> sure. ultimately you understand in the political process -- of course, prosecutors are not supposed to be making political decisions. you're talking about somebody's liberty. you're certainly aware of the political process and that public sentiment ultimately is the guide about your actions. you have a responsibility in my case under the statute to conduct a prompt, cost effective and fair investigation. that's not so easy to do in the

political process, and it's a difficult thing. obviously the president of the united states is not an ordinary subject of an investigation. it's difficult. the president is appropriately testing the limits of the outer edges of the investigation and is pushing back. i think the first trial balloon was i'm considering replacing the attorney general. one of the reasons that he might have been considering that, of course, is the if the attorney general is removed, there's no longer a conflict within the department of justice as the person who leads the department and that would essentially remove the necessity for having a special counsel in the first place. that's water under the bridge, and i think he got pushback from the united states congress on a bipartisan basis, don't think about replacing the attorney general, certainly this year, because you're not going to get a replacement through the senate judiciary committee. the standoff is, look, jeff

sessions is not leaving voluntarily and the president is not going to be able to fire him. related to that is, if bob mueller acts within his mandate, it's a political problem for the president to try to remove him. in any event it's difficult to do because he would have to direct the deputy attorney general to fire him and he said if he gets that directive, he's going to resign. >> in fairness to president trump, that was a question posed by "the new york times." they used the language. they said would it be a red line for you if you found out bob mueller's investigation started to look into financial dealings. he said yes, yes that would be. i'm saying he didn't say this is a red line for me. he also furthermore didn't go on to say, therefore, i would, blank, blank, blank. we don't know what happens now that we've reached the red line. >> this is the reason the chief of staff is so important. look at the president's

statements in public last night which i thought given this president were relatively measur measured. >> they were tame. >> they were tame. you look at the efforts of the chief of staff to tone down people like skrut scaramucci. remember, this is a special counsel appointed by a trump nominee, who initially came to into office appointed by george bush, this is a special counsel working with the department of justice led by the recused attorney general who was a trum nominee. if you want to see this is a democratic witch hunt, i've got to say then why are so many republicans involved. >> evan, i do not want to reveal your sources about how we're finding out about the facts surrounding the grand jury investigation, but i do want to talk about what the implications are of the fact that a grand jury is now involved. there will be people riding the subway in washington, d.c. who know more about robert mueller's special counsel investigation than the american people, than

perhaps people inside the white house. there will be clerks inside the courthouse seeing people come in and out. there might be witnesses at some point who testify who could then say what about the grand jury investigation? what does this open up in terms of what the public is likely to know, evan. >> i think you're right. i think we might hear a little bit more about what exactly is happening, what exactly -- maybe the questions that the lawyers have, the 16 lawyers that are now working this investigation. look, part of what we -- how we found this out is obviously, even though a grand jury is supposed to be a secret process, people who receive those subpoenas don't have to abide by that secrecy. they can come out and say what they talked about, what they were asked. there is no prohibition generally on them speaking about what they have heard. so what we're told is that the subpoenas that have gone out, and there's a number of them from what we gather, include not

only requests for documents but also a request for testimony. and that's a big deal because it means these investigators are moving beyond just as phil mentioned earlier, beyond the stage of gathering facts. they want to hear what happened in that don junior meeting. with regard to jay sekulow, he has an undisplinted client. the problem for jay is earlier he said the president was not involved in the statement issued on behalf of don junior. it turns out, the white house says he was involved. >> there have been things that have been said out loud in the last week and beyond that that are not true. now there's a grand jury involved, now there will be people that can testify and people are even more vulnerable. we don't know if this team is up to it at this point. we'll have to wait and see. >> gentlemen, thank you for all the reporting and information. >> ahead, we'll speak with ken starr, the independent counsel

who investigated president clinton. that will be having interesting. it happened again. this 84-story torch tower in dubai catching fire for the second time in two years. it's very scary looking. we'll tell you about the outcome and how this happened next. ♪ we're drowning in information. where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters? the stakes are so high, your finances, your future. how do you solve this? you don't. you partner with a firm that advises governments and the fortune 500, and, can deliver insight person to person, on what matters to you. morgan stanley.

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investigators trying to determine what caused a fire at one of the tallest buildings in the world. this is the 84-story torch tower in dubai, living up to its name. one side was engulfed in flames. it involved dozens of residences. the building was evacuated. took about two hours to put out the fire. happy to report there was no loss of life here. it also caught fire two years ago. a missile scare prompting air fans to expand a no-fly zone

out of north korea. it comes of a intercontinental ballistic missile flew within miles of the air path. that flight with more than 300 people on board passed just east of where the missile splashed down. a fugitive on the run for five years captured just days after being pro filed on hln show "the hunt with john walsh." the suspect wanted for sexual assault of a minor taken into custody without incident about 40 miles west of chicago. after the episode aired last sunday, police received two tips that were, quote, pinpoint accurate and they credit the show with his capture. to remind everybody, i worked with john walsh on "america's most wanted," putting fugitives' pictures on tv works like a charm. massive success, the power of tv. when the going gets tough, the tough play golf. president trump about to hit the links or at least be right near them, living amongst them for a

17-day vacation. so is this just a tiny wee bit hypocritical from the president of the united states? we'll discuss next. day 13. if only this were as easy as saving $600

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remember when then candidate donald trump said this about president obama's vacations? >> if i were in the white house, i don't think i'd ever see

turnberry again, i don't think i'd ever see doral in miami. i don't ever think i'd see anything. i just want to stay in the white house and work my ass off and make great deals, right? who is going to lead? who is going to lead? >> times have changed. president trump repeatedly slammed president obama for taking vacation and golfing. guess what president trump is doing today? he's going on a 17-day vacation to his new jersey golf club. let's discuss with cnn politics reporter and editor at large chris cillizza, counterterrorism analyst phil mudd and cnn analyst john murray. chris cillizza, it wasn't something candidate trump said once, wasn't something he said twice. he liked this topic, that he thought that president obama golfed too often and took too many vacations. let me remind people, by reading some of his tweets. here they are.

can you believe that, with all the problems and difficulties facing the u.s., president obama spent the day playing golf. worse than carter. number two, president obama has a major meeting on the new york city ebola outbreak with people flying in from all over the country, but decided to play golf. here is a good one. don't take vacations, he said, in 2012. what's the point? if you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job. think like a billionaire. what are we to make of the 17-day vacation that he will now be taking, chris? >> i always think like a billionaire, you guys know that. okay. broadly, i think this is -- i think the whole people criticizing the president for taking vacation is a dumb story. >> like the one we're doing? >> everyone deserves to have some vacation. broadly, it doesn't matter which party.

it's fine. every summer, it's vacation, well, it's a, woulding vacation. well, he's still going on vacation. why does it matter here? again, because donald trump brought it up so many times as indicative of what he believed to be barack obama not taking the job seriously enough, not being buckled down, being distracted, caring more about some 06 impressing people than actually doing the job of president. so when you do all that and then you say, i'm going to take 17 days off, we should talk about it. i wish we could have a pact, presidents of both parties, let's just say you can have a vacation, we're not going to criticize the other people for having that. they're the president of the united states, of course they're still going to be working. if i check my phone and write stuff on my vacation, my guess is the president of the united states is not going to go on an

island where he can't be reached by phone. >> i hope he has great vacation, plays great rounds of golf. everyone deserves a vacation. as to wlrptd it's hypocritical, i don't think there is a question. the answer is yes, abundantly hypocritical. the president criticized president obama doing this, taking vacation twice as long -- >> three times. three times more leisure time at this point in his presidency than president obama. i think those numbers matter. >> absolutely. now, taking the chris cillizza rule forward, let's move on to the president's phone calls with world leaders, "the washington post" revealed the transcripts of these calls took place the week after the inauguration. one of the most revealing was the back and forth that president trump had with mexico's president enrique pena nieto on the subject of who will pay for the wall.

my position has been that mexico will not pay for the wall. the president says but you cannot say that to the press. the is going to go with that and i cannot live with that. just stop saying it out loud that you won't pay for it. admiral kirby, this shows, i think, the difficulty with campaign promises and the difference between delivering on it with a world leader. >> it does. it also shows a man who is absolutely consumed with his own image and the way the press perceives him and his leadership. in both calls -- you talk and the one with the mexican president, but with the australian prime minister he was fixated on the image of him accepting these 1200 refugees in accordance with the deal. it was about the i78 madge and perception and how it would play to his base rather than a meaningful strategic discussion about real geopolitical and trade issues between us and

these two other countries. it was fascinating to me -- it was kind of revealing in that it was boldly classic donald trump, he spoke almost to those two guys the way he speaks at these rallies like last night. there wasn't a whole lot hidden there. it was really about his image and perception of it. >> it also exposes the promise that mexico was going to pay for it was a lie. mexico never agreed to it, of course. now he's begging in those calls, please don't mention to anybody that i made that up. >> is this a serious conversation? you're saying the president lied? the man hasn't seen the truth since the 1970s. i think the most interesting piece is what the admiral said about the lies and the image. there's a serious conversation that links both this and golf and russia. >> tie it up. >> if you look at the motivations, the president i think is concerned about the russia investigation affecting his image. his image is based on telling the people, i work hard, i don't work on golfing vacations, i'm a

businessman who will move you forward. if there's an investigation that ties his money in to dirt, it's going to affect his image. the same thing with the conversations we saw revealed in the last couple days with the mexicans and australians. it's about, please don't say this publicly, you'll affect my image. to to australian, please don't do this on immigration, i campaigned on immigration. it's about image. all this is about how he appears to hess base. >> admiral kirby, talking about the implication of these calls, you think it's a bad thing they were leaked at all. >> i think it's abhorrent. it will have a chilling effect on foreign policy. the president should have the ability to have confidential conversations with foreign leaders, absolutely terrible. >> so there is that aspect to it. we should make it clear that people within the national security realm think it's bad these things are out there. given that they are out there, however, we can talk about the

implication of some of the things he says, whether it be about mexico or the nature of the phone call with the australian leader. there's this statement he made about the state of new hampshire which is causing major waves today. he said, we have the drug lords in mexico knocking the hell out of our country, sending drugs to chicago, los angeles and new york. up in new hampshire, i won new hampshire because new hampshire is a drug-infested den, is coming from the southern border. he won the new hampshire primary, not the general election. but new hampshire's elected leaders right now, democrats and republicans are really upset with the characterization of new hampshire as a zrug-infested den. >> obviously the president made these comments with the expectation that it would not become public. that said, i don't think it's smart to run down one of the 50 states, and by the way, a swing state in elections, one or the seven or eight swing states in elections. it's the way he does business.

it's the way he talks. even if this call had never been released, we know this is who he is behind closed doors and frankly oftentimes in public. i don't know that we should be terribly surprised biit. there is not a private donald trump that is radically different from the public donald trump, and these calls show that. >> i will say these calls also show the public donald trump was being dishonest about what the private democrat said in a conversation at least with the australian leader, so that is one thing. >> but i would say the people whose children have died of opioid overdoses wouldn't mind his description that it's a drug-infested den. they agree. that's part of why they voted for him. they did want him to clean up new hampshire. republican senators susan collins and lisa murkowski defying the president and their party by voting no on repealing obamacare. how much pressure did they face? what do they feel like now? an exclusive interview with

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fomy doctor recommended ibgard. abdominal pain and bloating. now i'm in control of my ibs. nonprescription ibgard- calms the angry gut. we have a cnn exclusive. susan collins and lisa murkowski speaking out about the battle to repeal and replace obamacare. they voted no along with senator john mccain. dana bash, often referred to as the 101st senator joins us from washington. good morning. >> good morning, guys. susan collins and lisa murkowski were the only republican senators to vote on the obamacare replacement plans all

the way through the process. the two were close before this, but this high intensity experience took their bond to a new level. >> i was watching you with your desks next to each other, you could sort of sense a bit of relief that each of you had that you had one another. did i read that right? >> i will say i was very happy that lisa was literally sitting next to me as we were voting from our seats which, as you know, is unusual and issuing very important votes. >> to have that weight, that responsibility knowing that your vote really is that pivotal, it does help to know there is another kindred soul close by. >> you both are here rows to a lot of people and heretics to a lot of people. how do you see yourself? >> i see myself as someone who

has an obligation to represent the people of maine. sometimes that means casting uncomfortable votes, votes that will make my party uncomfortable and even angry at me. >> you want to vote to do the right thing. and so worrying about the consequences, are you fearful of repercussion from your par, a tweet from the president, a backlash from your leadership. i don't believe that we should be motivated or discouraged from taking the positions that are important to the people that we represent in our respective states. >> can you give me a sense of the kind of pressure you had and how you handled it? how did that bear itself out?

>> phone calls, meetings. i had a private meeting with the vice president at one point. >> is it hard at that point -- you ran on repealing obamacare. this is the time. the bell is ringing. go. >> i had an opportunity when we were at the white house -- the second time we were over there, and it was a very directed appeal, that we need to come together as republicans. i made a statement to the president with my colleagues and with his team there that i'm not voting for the republican party. i'm voting for the people of alaska. >> and i remember being so proud of you for saying directly to the president what your obligations were. and that's the way i feel, too. the people of maine don't expect me to be a rubber stamp.

>> if you were male senators, do you think it would be such a priority for you, to make sure planned parenthood is not cut? >> that's a really good question. the issue of family planning services, cancer screening, well women care probably does resonated with us more than with our male colleagues, and to me it was so unfair to single out one medicaid provider and say to women in particular you can't choose which health care provider you want to go to. >> i want to borrow a phrase from the first female secretary of state who talked about co-hone nas. a lot of people are saying that you two have more cajones than a lot of guys around here.

do you buy that? >> every senator has to make his or her own decision. i wouldn't judge my colleagues. >> i absolutely agree. >> you guys have some pretty stiff spines. >> that i'd go with. >> did senator mccain come to you before he cast the last vote against the health care bill? >> i so remember when both lisa and i were talking with john mccain on the senate floor and he pointed to both of us and he said you two are right on this iss issue. >> and to have the conversation that we had after the vote, we had one of those conversations that you'll think of years down the road where he said people might not appreciate this as a positive, maybe our colleagues

aren't viewing this as a positive right now, but the time will prove that having a pause, having a time-out for us to do better is going to be good for the country. it was a good, good strong john mccain message. >> i've seen congress and congress people when they have some political fear of their president, and he tried to intimidate you on twitter very directly specifically, maybe having his interior secretary call you. >> you can't live in fear that the direction you're going to take, that you believe is truly in your state's best interest. >> did you feel he was trying to intimidate you? >> i will just say that the president and i had a very direct call. >> do you think there's been a shift among your republican colleagues as it relates to the president? >> many of us are still very interested in the president's agenda. >> finding those areas where we are working together,

partnering, this is what we should be doing. if there's rhetoric that is out there that is not constructive to governing, i think it is important to speak up. i think you are starting to see a little bit of that. >> now, i also spoke with the senators about the russia investigation. senator collins is on the intelligence committee which is investigating. i asked her the news that cnn broke first about the expansion of the special counsel's investigation into the president's financial dealings. and susan collins said that she believes the special counsel should follow the leads wherever they may be. i said, well, the president has said that's a red line. and she laughed, and she responded, the president can't set red lines for bob mueller. >> it's so fascinating to hear them sort of behind the scenes talking about their thought process. it was really poignant to hear what went into that vote.

>> i agree. i have been sort of dying to talk to them, to get a sense of what was going on there. i was watching them from the senate floor inside the chamber and to get a sense of what those whispers were was pretty cool. >> emboldened, for sure, to say the least. >> thanks for sharing that. there was big developments in the trump-russia investigation. special counsel robert mueller is issuing grand jury subpoenas an following the money. we have the latest developments for you next. (boy) sorry. (dad) don't worry about it. (mom) honey, honey, honey, honey! (vo) at our house, we need things that are built to last. that's why we got a subaru. (avo) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. get 0% apr financing for 63 months on all new 2017 subaru legacy models. now through august 31st.

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special counsel issuing grand jury subpoenas related to donald trump jr.'s meeting with a russian lawyer. >> they're trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us. >> i'm not just going to take the president at his word. >> federal investigators explore the potential financial ties of president trump and associates to russia. >> these types of endeavors end up being fishing expeditions. >> the president saying he won new hampshire because it's a drug den. >> these words were disgusting. he should stop insulting people. >> to have people there that are leaking information, if there's even a thought that somebody is involved, get rid of them. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning everyone. welcome to your "new day." chris is off this morning. john berman joins me in studio. >> thank