high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death; decreased white blood cells, which can be fatal; dizziness upon standing; falls; seizures; impaired judgment; heat sensitivity; and trouble swallowing may occur. you're more than just your bipolar i. ask your doctor about vraylar. >> >> hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 7:00 a.m. in hawaii's big island. 2:00 a.m. in pong yyongyangpyon. up first, spygate, the deep state, unsubstantiated conspeary theorys coming from the president of the united states. in a barrage of tweets, president trump repeated claims that the fbi spied on his campaign, once again offering no proof. he was asked moments ago where is the proof? >> all you have to do is look at the basics and you'll see. it looks like a very serious event. but we'll find out.

when they look at the documents, i think people are going to see a lot of bad things happen. i hope it's not so, because if it is, there's never been anything like it in the history of our country. i hope -- i mean, if you look at clapper, he sort of admitted they had spies in the campaign yesterday, ined a very temperatu -- inadvertently. >> here's what james clapper actually said. >> so i ask you, was the fbi spying on trump's campaign? >> well, no, they were not. they were spying on -- a term i don't particularly like -- but on what the russians were doing. trying to understand were the russians trying to gain access and leverage and influence. >> so why doesn't he like that? he should be happy. >> he should be. >> let's go to our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. the president went off james comey.

he went after john brennan, the former cia director. tell us what else he said. >> reporter: wolf, the president wanted to flesh out a little bit of what he's been saying for several days, essentially where he has escalated what is basically a rumor into now a full-blown conspiracy that he's leading. but he was asked directly is he undercutting the investigation? are you trying to discredit everything that's going on here? and the president brought up james comey on his own. take a listen. >> this was a terrible situation. what we're doing is we're cleaning everything up. it's so important, what i'm doing is a service to this country, and i did a great service to this country by firing james comey. and excuse me, a lot of people have said it, and you go into the fbi and a lot of those great people working in the fbi, they will tell you, i did a great service to our country by firing

james comey. >> reporter: we'll see how history judges that. a lot of his own supporters and advisers believe that's one of the worst things the president did, because of course, it set off the special counsel's probe in the first place a year ago this month. but the president, of course, doing what he often does in these situations, doubling down, acknowledging no mistakes here, but trying to make the case and obscure this investigation and muddy the waters by raising the prospect of spygate. one question the president did not answer, wolf, as i and other reporters tried asking him direct directly, that is the future of rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general. he'll be with the president this afternoon on long island as he's talking about ms-13 and other gangs. but what the future of rod rosenstein is, of course, he oversees the entire mueller investigation. the president asked probably a half dozen times, did not answer

that question. so wolf, what we saw is the president trying to brand this even more as spygate. he said even is calling it that. he's about the only person calling it that, with the exception of a few other friendly media hosts who are essential advisers to this white house. wolf? >> very quickly, that meeting scheduled tomorrow at the white house briefing, republicans only on all of this, i know democrats want to participate as well and some other republicans would like to come. what's the status of this highly classified briefing that's been prepared for tomorrow? >> reporter: the status of the briefing is it is going on. white house officials themselves will not be at this white house. white house chief of staff john kelly is setting it up. some democrats were saying he should not be at the meeting. we're told he's not going to be. but democrats are not going to be there either. but the president was say thing is going to get to the bottom of all of this. he was also asked if the obama

administration was responsible for this, as he's suggested. he said, i don't have any proof of that. of course, that hasn't stopped him from saying so on twitter. wolf? >> we'll monitor all of this. jeff zeleny, thank you very much. before the president took aim at james comey, the fired fbi director, took a swipe at the president. he says president trump's promotion of unproven conspiracy theorys is putting the agency and the country at risk. comey tweeted this. facts matter. the fbi's use of confidential human sources is tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country. attacks on the fbi and lying about its work will do lasting damage to our country. how will republicans explain this to their grandchildren? that's the quote from james c b com comey. let's bring in seth waxman, who is joining us, julie hershfeld, and gloeria borger.

what is your reaction to comey's tweet? >> well, we know they're not friends. the president fired him. and comey now is firing back and say thing is outrageous, ridiculous. it's an assault on the way the executive and the judicial branch should interact with each other. and, you know, donald trump is very very good at weaving conspiracy theorys. those of us that covered the campaign know he did it very well. starting with barack obama, the birther theory? remember that ted cruz's father was involved in the kennedy assassination, which came from a tabloid report. so what the president is doing here now is very transparent. i mean, he's weaving a conspiracy theory so that you can investigate the investigators. so that if he decides not to testify or a report comes out and says, you know, this is really terrible, he can say, well, you know what?

i didn't testify because these people are not credible, and if a report comes out, which hurts him, he can say, you know what? these people are out to get me, they're part of the deep state. >> that's a good point. am s i'm quoting here, the president has taken a kernel of truth and contorted it into an all-out conspiracy theory of entrenched bureaucrats out to get him. first of all, what is that kernel of truth that he's building this entire conspiracy theory on? >> there was an fbi informant, we now know, who was talking to associates of the trump campaign and the reason why is because the fbi, in the course of a counterintelligence investigation, found that these campaign aides had some contacts with the russians. and what the informant had been sent in to do, as far as we understand it right now, is to snuff out what that was about and what was going on with the russians were up to. he's taken that now and sort of

conflated it with what he had been saying was a politically motivated effort to tarnish him and republicans, particularly him. and the important point is, this is the sort of thing he did when you were in the campaign. when you're the president, it has impact, and that's what comey's tweet was referring to, when you say this about the fbi and an ongoing federal investigation, it has consequences, and it has implications. the president doesn't seem as focused on that, as he does on protecting himself and his own reputation. you heard him say this was about doing a service to the country. this is a self-interested action that he's taken in consultation with his private attorney to try to undercut the investigation that's going on. >> the top democrat on the intelligence -- house intelligence committee he said what the president is doing, the president's spy theory, in adam schiff's words, is making a major threat to the rule of law

in the united states. >> sure. all of these counternarratives are designed to undermine the integrity of our law enforcement institutions. but this goes to the broader strategy that mr. president trump and his team may be employing. they have convinced themselves, maybe rightly so, that the sitting president will never be indicted, so they're looking to impeachment proceedings. if articles of impeachments are issued, there will be a trial in the senate. that means the president needs 34 republican senators to stand by him and vote in his favor, no matter what the evidence is. we see him polling at 30% to 40% right now. those numbers translate into those 34 republicans, that's the end game for him. and if he wins that, i don't know that he cares about the impact on the institution of the presidency or how this affects law enforcement long-term. he wants to win. >> if the president wants to know what happened, he's the president of the united states. he can call in the head of the cia, the head of the fbi, the department of justice, top

officials, he can bring them all in and say, tell me exactly what happened. i want to know. >> there's nothing stopping him, and by the way, we don't know what he's done actually. there is nothing stopping him from doing exactly what you say, and getting to the bottom of it. but what is stopping him is he's already established a narrative that he doesn't want to get rid of, because it's working for him. it's working for him among republicans. bob mueller has been discredited now among his republican base. we see that in the polling. you're absolutely right. these are the republicans he's going to need in case of impeachment. so while his lawyers are going along, doing their work, rudy giuliani is his kind of partner this crime here, and throwing out all these things about spies and informants and misinterpreting what james clapper said on "the view," purposefully, purposefully to kind of rally the base.

and i wouldn't be surprised if he tried to use it in the campaign. >> it's interesting, julie, because the president keeps talking about this deep state, spygate. mike pompeo, the new secretary of state, the former cia director, he was a member of congress for a while, he was on the intelligence committee, he was asked about all these deep state rumors. listen to this. >> do you believe there's a criminal deep state at the state department? >> i haven't seen the comments of the president. i don't believe there's a deep state at the state department. >> that's your experience when you interacted with colleagues at the fbi and department of justice, as well? >> uh, yes. there are always exceptions to every rule. i they have led an organization that didn't have bad actors. >> but in general, you're confident that the members of the various agencies are honoring their oaths to the united states constitution?

>> yeah, in general, yes, sir. >> how is the president going to react to what mike pompeo just said? >> well, i think pompeo worded it very carefully, and probably by design, because the president does not like to be contradicted by his advisers in public or private. we heard the homeland security secretary doing a little tap dancing yesterday about another issue related to this, about the evidence that the intelligence community, the assessment, the intelligence community arrived that, that russia did help trump in the elections. she said i'm not aware of that, and had a parsed answer, because nobody wants to say in public that they agree with these theorys, because they -- if they have the information that clearly that's not the case. but they don't want to differ too much with the president because he gets angry about that. you can see that there's a lot of careful work being done to not seem to be undercutting the president. >> in is what he tweeted earlier

today, the president of the united states about a deep state. look how things turned around on the criminal deep state. they go after phony collusion with russia, and get caught in a major spy scandal, the likes of which this country may have never seen before. what goes around comes around. >> that's consistent with the narrative we've been hearing. the gloves will come off more in the weeks and months to come. the closer this comes to a report by bob mueller, you'll hear the rhetoric become more innam toii inflammato inflammatory. that's why rudy giuliani was brought in, speaking to those 34 republican senators they'll need to stand by the president. >> the latest on whether the president will answer questions from -- you and our team have been doing excellent reporting on this. >> what my colleagues and i have learned is that the president's legal team is really trying to

narrow the scope of any potential interview with the president to russia, and what happened prepresidency with russia. and what they're saying is, prepresidency is fine. there are no issues there. there's no constitutional issues there. there's no privilege issues there. but they are saying to mueller, and our sources are telling us that unlikely mueller will accept this, but if you want to deal with the issue of obstruction, we would hike likeo it in written answers. so they have proposed this. again, nobody expects mueller to accept this. but it's part of a narrative also that says, we're trying. we're not just going to dismiss testifying, and trump can then go out and say, if it all falls apart or this goes to the supreme court, they can say look, we were dealing in good faith, and we made these proposals. and bob mueller didn't think it

was good enough. and we believe we have the constitution on our side here in fighting this over presidential testimony. so, again, it's part of making their case. >> i'm not holding my prabreath waiting for that to happen. thank you very much. why isn't the white house inviting democrats to this classified meeting scheduled for tomorrow? i'll ask a key member of the house intelligence committee, there you see him. congressman mike quigley. also, fears of another sonic attack, this time in china. after a u.s. worker suffers a brain injury after a mystery sound sensations. we're going there live. breaking news in a cultural war the president relishes. the nfl imposing a new rule involving players who kneel during the national anthem. we'll be right back.

at t-mobile, we don't just see uniforms. we see the people behind them. so we're committed to helping veterans through job training when their service ends... and to hiring 10,000 veterans and military spouses to be part of our workforce in the next 5 years. because no matter where you serve... or when you serve... t-mobile stands ready to serve you. so we provide half-off on all family lines for military.

and we got to know the friends of our friends.r the friends. and we found others just like us. and just like that we felt a little less alone. but then something happened. we had to deal with spam, fake news, and data misuse. that's going to change. from now on, facebook will do more to keep you safe and protect your privacy. because when this place does what it was built for, then we all get a little closer.

prepare for your demise, do your worst, doctor. i will. but first, a little presentation. hijacking earth's geothermal energy supply. phase 1. choosing the right drill bit. as long as evil villains reveal their plans, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. president trump unveiled a new nickname today, he says

spygate would be one of the biggest political scandals in history, that's what the president tweeted. he's referring to reports that the justice department got information from a confidential source who had contacts with members of the 2016 trump presidential campaign. tomorrow, officials from the justice department will brief two members of congress on the source. republican congressman devin nunes and trey gowdy. white house press secretary sarah sanders smexplained why n democrats were invited. >> to my knowledge, democrats have not requested that information. so i would refer you why they would consider themselves randomly invited they never asked to. >> joining us now is mike quigley, a democrat, member of the intelligence committee. she was right as of yesterday, no democrats asked to participate in the meeting. today, there was a statement

released from chuck schumer and nancy pelosi, asking for a formal briefing of what's called the gang of eight, four top republicans in the house, and four top democrats in the senate to be briefed, instead of having this separate meeting with only republicans tomorrow at the white house. what's your reaction? >> yeah, this is a part of a pattern. ever since the investigation began, my republican colleagues in the house intel committee have had rogue, unilateral investigations. they have never consulted with us. they have met with others. never talked to us at all. this is a real threat to the process. first of all, the justice department should not release information that they believe hurts their ability to protect our country, our national security, revealing sources and methods. under any pressure from the white house or from congress. but if they're going to do this, there is a mechanism that we describe here, a revealing this

to the gang of eight, not just one party or a couple of members. >> have you heard anything about that latest request from schumer and pelosi, have they received any reply yet from the administration? >> to my understanding, no. we're hearing that they're briefing on a few minor matters, republicans, here, there, everywhere. it makes absolutely no sense. to a larger extent, i thought that the russian attack on our democratic process was the most important thing that happened in our lifetime, the greatest threat to our democracy. i now believe the greatest threat to our rule of law, how our intel community works to protect us is the president's reaction to that attack. >> just to be precise on this, congressman, you think the president and how he's behaving right now represents a bigger threat to american democracy than what the russians were

doing and apparently are still doing here in the united states, interfering in the election process? >> the russians came at us, director comey said they'll be back. we just appropriated some money to protect our election infrastructure. we now know, because facebook releasing some of these ads, we now know what we're confronted with. what's happening here is far more insidious. it's an attack on how the intelligence community collects its information. if they can't assure our sources and our methods will be secured, we will be less safe as a country. if the independence of the justice department is threatened for all time, if this establishes a pattern of behavior where the justice department doesn't have that independence, the rule of law is greatly threatened. at this point in time, i see that as a greater threat.

>> the president today said he just wants transparency, his word, transparency in this matter, and he also insisted that's what the democrats want, as well. do you believe this is all about transparency? >> i think it's about helping the president politically and legally. i think mr. giuliani said this is exculpatory information, it should be passed on to the trump legal team. he has to be kidding. the justice department can't be forced to reveal information in an ongoing investigation to the trump legal team. if he thinks this is what, exculpatory information? that happens after one has been indicted. i'm not sure he's anticipated that or not. but it's way out of bounds here and frankly very dangerous. >> if the president decides to provide this information to what's called the gang of eight, democrats and republicans, would that's your concerns?

>> i think it's a better way to do it, but it doesn't get past the point that it shouldn't be allowed to happen. the justice department feel thing kind of pressure from the house, feeling this kind of pressure from the white house? this will have a profound impact on how they operate for generations to come. >> congressman quigley, thank you for joining us. >> any time. thank you. we're getting some more breaking news. a judge ruling whether president trump can legally block twitter users from following him. it's a big first amendment case. stand by. we have new details. the sun comes up. the sun goes down. you did a million things for your family today. but speaking to pnc to help handle all your investments

was a very important million and one. pnc. make today the day. >> vo: they're getting by starting with miracle-gro potting mix and plant food. together, guaranteed to produce three times the harvest. more to enjoy... to share. three times the harvest. one powerful guarantee. miracle-gro. one picky customer shouldn't take all your time. need something printed? the business advisors at office depot can assist with exactly what your business needs to grow. get your coupon for 20% off services,

technology and more at office depot and officedepot.com. technology and more ♪ better than all the rest ♪ applebee's new bigger bolder grill combos. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

mother...nature! sure smells amazing... even in accounts receivable. gain botanicals laundry detergent. bring the smell of nature wherever you are.

if you'd have told me three years ago... that we'd be downloading in seconds, what used to take... minutes. that guests would compliment our wifi. that we could video conference... and do it like that. (snaps) if you'd have told me that i could afford... a gig-speed. a gig-speed network. it's like 20 times faster than what most people have. i'd of said... i'd of said you're dreaming. dreaming! definitely dreaming. then again, dreaming is how i got this far. now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. we now turn to breaking news on a first amendment case, involving president trump and his twitter feed. a judge, a federal judge has now ruled that the president of the united states can't block people out of his twitter feed for

expressing their political views. joining us now, cnn's money and politics, media and business reporter. you have a long title there. take us through this ruling. it's pretty significant. the president, he has about 15 million followers on twitter. >> reporter: exactly. this is a significant ruling, and surprising. the judge in this case from the southern district of new york, a federal judge, ruled the president cannot block people on his twitter feed. he would block people that maybe he disagreed with, and some of these people who were blocked, sued. and a judge has agreed with them and said that the president cannot block them because twitter is what she said a public forum. let me read from the decision. s she said this violates the first amendment. as the defendants tried to argue that president trump had his own first amendment issues here and he should be allowed to block these people. but the judge said because it's

a public forum, they cannot do that. she says that no government official, including the president, is above the law. we reached out to the white house, we have not heard back whether he will unblock all of these people on twitter. the first amendment group is celebrating this judgment. this is a big deal for the internet and how the internet is treated when it comes to the first amendment law, declaring that twitter and other places are public forums. >> everybody else who is on twitter can block anybody they want. but the president of the united states in a different category according to this federal judge. >> that's right, wolf. >> thank you very much for that. right now, there are other developments unfolding, including some deep concerns that a possible sonic attack targeted a u.s. government employee stationed in china. let's go there. our international correspondent matt rivers is joining us from beijing. the state department issued a

health alert to all u.s. citizens in china. tell the viewers what it said. >> reporter: yeah, this e-mail alert came out to lots of different u.s. citizens in china. it warned citizens about experiencing symptoms that one of their government employees in southern china says that person experienced. this employee apparently reported abnormal sensations of sound and pressure from late 2017 through april 2018. wenthe united states, wolf, and diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury. that according to secretary of state mike pompeo who just talked to a congressional panel, is very similar to what we saw happen last year in cuba. there were about two dozen diplomats and families that experienced similar symptoms and they did not -- the state department still to this point does not know exactly what happened there. they say they're going to investigate. the chinese are helping them

apparently. but it's a serious concern at the state department, and something they don't have an answer to at this point. >> very quickly, matt. there seems to be a deterioration in u.s.-china relations. all of a sudden the u.s. has disinvited china to allow them to participate in a military exercise with the u.s. in the south china sea. tell our viewers what happened. >> reporter: yeah, this is an exercise called rim pac. it's led by the u.s. they invited china in 2014, 2016, but thanks to china's militarization, a u.s. official tells cnn they deployed missiles on islands they built up, they landed a bomber on one of the airstrips. that made the u.s. very unhappy. so according to a u.s. official, james mattis in conjunction with the white house, decided china cannot come to those exercises this year. wolf? >> it comes at a time when the

president keeps referring to china, maybe blaming china if there's not going to be a meeting between the president and kim jong-un, he said something happened as far as the north koreans are concerned, following the second kim meeting with president xi of china. matt rivers, thank you. coming up, look at this, the volcano threat in hawaii. lava bombs and toxic gas, as officials worry about a nearby power plant. we're going live to the big island. s. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. don't sweat your booking. tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices. almost $800 when we switched our auto and home insurance.

with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual, you could save $782 on auto and home insurance. and still get great coverage for you and your family. call for a free quote today. you could save $782 when liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance. these are the specialists we're

proud to call our own. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com fthere's flonase sensimist.f up around pets. it relieves all your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist.

president trump on the attack today, against the justice department. look at this, the tweet from the president. "look how things have turned around on the criminal deep state.

they go after phony collusion with russia, a made-up scam, and end up getting caught in a major spy scandal, the likes of which this country may never have seen before. what goes around comes around." that ends the quote from the president. joining us from capitol hill, congressman chris stewart, a republican, key member of the house intelligence committee. thanks so much for joining us. let me get your reaction to what the president just tweeted, saying that there is now a criminal deep state that exists in the u.s. federal government, that is out to get him. do you believe that? >> i don't know that we know the answer to that yet, wolf. look, there's some things we're concerned about. i've never used the word "criminal" with the exception sometimes we haven't had honest testimony before our committee, or at least some of these senior people have told the committee one thing and said publicly something very different. so i don't know if i would use the word criminal, but i guess

we'll see, like with the mueller investigation, where it will end up. >> mike pompeo, former cia director and secretary of state, a colleague of yours in the house of representatives, he didn't think there was a deep state at the state department or at the justice department or the cia i should say, and he used to run the cia. yet the president keeps talking not just about a deep state, but a criminal deep state. sure, there are disgruntled employees, there are employees that go wrong. but to suggest that there's a criminal state, that takes it a whole further step. do you agree? >> well, you know, a couple things here. one is deep state, which no one has never heard about, at least i never did until the last year. i'm not sure there's a solid definition. mike pompeo is a good friend, there's no one i respect more. but i think he and i do agree that there are some individuals that have demonstrated over the last year, and they work in the u.s. government, that they were opposed to this president and

using in some cases their official positions to oppose him and his policies. and if that's the definition of a deep state, i would agree that's the case. now once again, coming to your question about criminal, i don't know that we know the answer to that. i don't know that we know whether any of this activity is criminal. but the department of justice, ig, and others, mr. rosenstein have said that they will look into it. i encourage them to, and once again, we'll see what they come up with. >> there's an inspector general report to see if any of the actions oh of this confidential source, you know, led to any improper activities on the part of the u.s. government. but this is among the most sensitive issues, as you know, a member of the intelligence committee, sources and methods. that's supposed to be a briefing tomorrow over at the white house for two of our republican colleagues, trey gowdy and devin nunes. but the democrats want in now, and they say if this is so sensitive, there's a formula to

do it, the gang of eight, four top republicans, four top democrats. they get the same briefing. is that a good idea or should republicans only be briefed? >> no, no. i don't know that anyone has said this should only be available to republican leadership. how can we say we want transparency and then say we only want republicans to see the information? i don't know of anyone that suggested that. absolutely they should be invited. the thing is, they haven't requested to see this information. there's been other information at the justice department that we've gone down and looked at that was available to them, but many of them, and to my knowledge none of them wanted to go down and look at. but if they want to come see this, of course they should be -- >> there is a letter just released -- sorry for interrupting -- from nancy pelosi and chuck schumer saying they want the full gang of eight to be briefed, not just these two republicans scheduled to

meet with top officials tomorrow at the white house. but you say it would be better to have the gang of eight get this briefing rather than two republicans, the chairman of the intelligence committee and the chairman of the oversight committee? >> absolutely. and if there's information as trous troubling as we think it might be, mr. schumer and ms. pelosi should be apart of that. one other thing, particularly highlighted in the last week, that was on a wednesday we were told by the department of justice and fbi, this is so sensitive, we can't show it to you. this will endanger human lives and national security. two important thoughts on that. number one, we are the select committee on intelligence. we are designed and created just for this exact purpose. of course we can protect that. and the second thing is, they told us that they couldn't show it, it was too sensitive on a wednesday. and yet before we had seen the information, because we have not

seen it yet, and yet that information was leaked out on thursday and friday. it must have come from someone in the department of justice, and it's very insincere to claim it's too sensitive to show congress or congressional leaders, but it's not too sensitive to leak? i don't know how you reconcile those two things. >> it's always very sensitive when we talk about confidential u.s. sources, whether they work for the cia or the fbi. here's what the former fbi director james comey tweeted today. facts matter. the fbi's use of confidential human sources, the actual term, is tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country. attacks on the fbi and lying about its work will do lasting damage to our country. how will republicans explain this to their grand children? you're a republican. explain this to your grandchildren. >> mr. comey has come across has incredibly partisan and protective of his own actions at the fbi. we're not attacking the fbi.

i love these agents, these brave men and women and many reached out to me and said thank you for what we're doing. we're only trying to hold certain members of leadership of the fbi and the department of justice accountable. look, wolf, you can't give the department of justice unfettered power and the sffbi. you can't say go ahead and surveil people. you ha to have all that authority but don't ever tell us what you're doing? i think that's a nutty proposition that some people are saying we'll give people that kind of power but we won't hold them accountable, even to select members of congress. that's why we're here is to provide that oversight. if you take us out of this picture and give them that authority, how long before we're living in what is essentially a russian state. and american people don't want that. >> very quickly, because we're out of time, but mike quigley,

democrat, a member of the house intelligence committee, he was on this program just little while ago, he said, and he was very blunt, he thinks what the president is doing now, talking about a criminal deep state, represents potentially a greater threat to the u.s. democracy than what the russians did and are still doing. your reaction? >> once again, why is holding the department of justice and fbi senior leadership accountable, why is that counter to democracy? it makes no sense why transparency and asking them to tell us what they did and why they did it, why that is anti-democratic. it's exactly the opposite of what we're trying to do. >> we want transparency just like you do. and you make a good point. if it's just about transparency, let the republican leadership know, let the democratic leadership know. there's a formula for sharing the most sensitive national security secrets, and that's called the gang of eight. congressman, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, sir.

more breaking news just coming into cnn. a major development in the robert mueller investigation involving the former trump campaign adviser who pleaded guilty and who officials dismissed as "a coffee boy." stand by.

it's just a burst pipe, i could fix it. (laugh) no. with claim rateguard your rates won't go up just beacuase of a claim. i totally could've... (wife) nope! switching to allstate is worth it.

sometimes a day at the ballpark is more than just a day at the ballpark. [park announcer] all military members stand and be recognized. sometimes fans cheer for those who wear a different uniform. no matter where or when you served, t-mobile stands ready to serve you. that's why we're providing half off family lines to all military.

in is cnn breaking news. >> we're following breaking news in the russia investigation. word that the special counsel's team is now ready for former trump adviser george papadopoulos to be sentenced. let's go to our crime and justice reporter, shimon prokupecz. what are you learning?

>> it clearly indicates that prosecutors and special counsel seem to be kind of done with george papadopoulos. they just filed this within the last hour saying they are ready for him to be sentenced. they're asking the court to order an investigative report. this is standard practice in these kind of cases where they complete a report that then goes to the judge and the judge will ultimately decide what his sentencing will be. keep in mind he's been cooperating for some time with the special counsel. but the fact that now these prosecutors are telling the court that we are now ready for him to be sentenced indicates that his cooperation is pretty much complete. it doesn't mean they're completely done with him but it seems to indicate that the information he has been providing has now probably no longer needed and he is essentially done with his cooperation. >> let's bring in dana bash. this is a significant development, if in fact they're ready to sentence him. we have no idea what sentence

he'll get. >> not at all. as shimon was saying, in the past mueller's team came to court saying they wanted to delay, which was an indication they were still working papadopoulos for information. now that is over. the rules are once they're sentenced, that's not going to happen anymore. that is not the case yet with rick gates, for example, who worked for paul manafort and worked on the trump campaign, the transition and so on and so forth. so we're still waiting for that. but i think even bigger picture, with every big moment like this, it is a reminder that robert mueller is closer, certainly not there yet, but closer. and a reminder that we still have many other big things out there. the biggest of which is whether the president himself is going to sit down for an interview voluntarily, whether they can come to an agreement, the president's lawyers and mueller's team or whether it's going to end up as a court fight. >> and we're still waiting for michael flynn, the president's national security adviser, who

was only national security advisor for about a month but he had been during the transition and during the campaign he was very close to the president. he's pleaded guilty already as well. >> he as well is awaiting sentencing. that is not ready yet. we have no indication when that will be ready. >> he's been cooperating. >> he has been cooperating. >> rick gates cooperating if. >> rick gates has been cooperating. this is the first person, george papadopoulos, that's been cooperating that is ready to be sentenced. it certainly signals that bob mueller is moving quickly, is getting ready to make some decisions. whatever information george papadopoulos has been providing, this would seem to indicate that they're ready to part ways with him so to speak. that is is the special counsel. it doesn't mean his cooperation is over forever, but we'll see what happens in the end. so they're giving the court about 30 days. they're saying in about 30 days

we probably will be reed to go ahead and sentence him? >> do you have any idea the sentence -- >> he pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi, which is a felony. he could face jail time. given he's been cooperating, usually the judge will take that into consideration. you may see prosecutors write a letter on his behalf, detail how he's been cooperating, the level of information he's been providing. once he's sentenced, we can actually learn so much about what he's been doing these last several months in his cooperation with the letter they would ultimately file, that is the prosecutors would. >> as you mentioned, this is the first character in this who we heard about from the investigation, from the mueller team as somebody who flipped basically. he's somebody who the president called no more than a coffee boy. he said he couldn't recognize him. that might be true, but at the

end of the day he was at the table with foreign policy advisers, he was on e maim ch-m chains, he did have access to he people who were very much involved in the campaign. >> we're going to continue to follow all of this. we'll have much more on the breaking news. the president also escalating a conspiracy theory involving claims of an fbi spy inside his campaign. we'll be right back. ♪ heartburn and gas? ♪ now fight both fast new tums chewy bites with gas relief all in one relief of heartburn and gas ♪ ♪ tum tum tum tums new tums chewy bites with gas relief

the sun goes down. you run those miles, squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom and floss to set a good example. you fine tune the proposal, change the water jug so no one else has to, get home for dinner and feed the cat. you did a million things for your family today but speaking to pnc to help handle all your investments was a very important million and one. pnc. make today the day.

if you'd have told me three years ago...

that we'd be downloading in seconds, what used to take... minutes. that guests would compliment our wifi. that we could video conference... and do it like that. (snaps) if you'd have told me that i could afford... a gig-speed. a gig-speed network. it's like 20 times faster than what most people have. i'd of said... i'd of said you're dreaming. dreaming! definitely dreaming. then again, dreaming is how i got this far. now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. hi there, i'm brooke baldwin, you're watching cnn. the president of the united states has just elevated the conspiracy theory to a government plot with zero evidence, not a single witness, but a new nickname, spygate. you see it here in this tweet and here he was today.