captioning sponsored by cbs >> dickerson: today on "face the nation", battling continuing revelations about his campaign team's contacts with the russians, president trump lashes out at his predecessor. it didn't take long for the glow of the president's address to congress to turn cold after reports surfaced that attorney general jeff sessions had not been accurate about his contact with the russians during the 2016 campaign. president trump found himself once again on the defensive against damaging leaks and intense tied the focus on the russia story. launching an unsubstantiated claim on twitter the president wiretapped his campaign headquarters to investigate his russian ties. we will explore all of this with the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee mark warner and fellow republican committee member susan collins, former cia and defense chief leon panetta will also be here.

and we will go in-depth into a blockbuster new york times report that the u.s. has been involvedin cyber warfare against north korean miss still launches that is president and republican leaders begin a coordinated push to replace obamacare we will get a progress report from health & human services head dr. tom price and have plenty of political analysis. all straight ahead on "face the nation". >> dickerson: good morning and welcome to "face the nation", i am john dickerson. the senate intelligence committee was already investigating russian efforts to med until the 2016 election but yesterday the president opened a whole new set of questions by accusing his predecessor, president obama of wiretapping trump's campaign headquarters and this morning, the president has asked congressional committees to investigate. we are going to try to sort through all of this today and we begin with the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee mark warner, senator, let's start with the claims by the president he tweeted that he

on saturday that he had just found out obama had quote unquote my wires tapped in trump tower just before the victory, nothing found. he called it mccarthyism. what do you make of this? >> well, john, let's step back for a moment and look at what we do know. we know that we have seen an unprecedented attack by a foreign adversary, russia, in terms of meddling in our election. we saw before the election thousand internet trolls trying to use and place classified information, we saw manipulation of certain algorithms so that if you googled certain items you got russian news, rt news, other false news, we saw the selective hacking into dnc and individuals that then tried to leak that information to benefit mr. trump. we also saw before the election an unusual change in the republican platform in favor of russia. we saw mr. trump himself

encourage the russians to hack into hillary clinton and we saw this just unusual affection that the president seems to have, or once seemed to have with vladimir putin and since the inaugural, we have seen the resignation of the national security advisor and recusal of the attorney general because of contacts with russia. now we have this unsubstantiated claim made by the president which shows in a certain way that the president doesn't understand how you obtain a wiretap. you have to go before a judge and show either probable cause or if it is in terms of foreign intelligence a guy is a court and show that there is evidence of some type of contact with a foreign adversary. .. so what i find so strange and i thought the president's comments could no longer surprise me, but, boy, this one yesterday surprised me to make that type of claim without any evidence is, i think, very

reckless. >> dickerson: do you think there, is let's stick to the president's claim first and go back to the other list. do you think there is any fisa court order this morning on "meet the press" former director of national intelligence james clapper said there was no fisa court order. >> i am not aware of any fisa court order regarding the trump tower. >> dickerson: and other kinds of court orders. >> ongoing investigation it is fbi might be taking, i am not aware, but it doesn't take a sherlock holmes to realize what this litany of events and this drip, drip, drip of activities, the investigation, i will have to tell you i have been in public life a long time, there is nothing i have done in any life in public tha that is as important as trying to get this investigation done right and bipartisan and get the facts out to the american people. >> dickerson: the president's claim, could he just be going off on something on a breitbart report or had access -- he has access to the best possible intelligence. >> he has access to the best intelligence. i think time will tell but i am

not aware as general clapper has said of any kind of fisa order that was somehow, you know, in effect bugging trump tower, but i feel like this, again, feels like an attempt where the president is trying to distract us by filling out -- he is distracting with unsubstantiated information, again if the president is correct and he says there is nothing here, then he should welcome this investigation into -- >> dickerson: have you seen any investigations between the trump campaign and russia? >> we are early into this investigation. we have our staff out looking at information. i will go out this week. we are going to have unprecedented access to all of the intelligence. >> dickerson: meaning fbi intelligence as well? because -- breitbart says the fbi is holding back. >> all the intelligence that is appropriate we will get to all of that. i know my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will look at this and one of the things that gives me pride this is happening, i have seen

colleagues on the committee, republican colleagues like susan collins and roy blunt, marco rubio all make public statements saying they are committed to not having this being interfered by politics and us getting to the bottom of it and getting the facts. >> dickerson: quickly on the fbi, though, house intelligence adam schiff is a says the fbi is holding the significant issues from members of congress smp that true? >> i believe i have a good working relationship with director comey. you know, we are at the beginnings of this and we will get the information we need to get 0 the bottom of this. who are you going to call? is michael flynn going to testify? >> listen, i think we are looking at when to hold public hearings and also starting to prepare lists of individuals that i think need to come testify. i believe considering general flynn's series of contacts and the fact he had to resign, i want to hear from general flynn. >> dickerson: are you working hand in hand with senator burn, the chairman of the committee. >> we have the ability to have frank conversations, we had conversations like that. i can tell you as recently as

thursday chairman burr and i, and he was very strong with the intel community we need to get all of the facts and get access, unprecedented access and we got that access. >> dickerson: you say you have frank conversations. senator burr was one the white house called an asset, to act as a character witness against these reports there was contact between trump and the russia. do you have confidence -- >> i have confidence we are going to get to the bottom of this. he is going to do his job. chairman burr and i are going to get this done. and if at any point, and i made this very clear from the outset if at any point i feel like we are not getting access to all of the information or if there are barriers to getting this done, then i will say so, and look for a different venue, but what gives me faith is that this is a committee, the intelligence committee for a lot of reasons works in a more bipartisan way than virtually any committee and the fact we have so many republican members on the

committee that are equal he committed to getting to the bottom of this. this is as serious as anything i have ever been involved in. >> dickerson: final question theres it is serious and there is an attempt by some people in the bureaucracy to put forward leaks that hurt the real estate. do those leaks, which some, would, which some in your party cheer like crazy undermine what you are doing and betting to the bottom? >> look any leaks of intelligence is serious and needs to be investigated. because, you know, put people's fliefs jeopardy potentially. i have great trust and respect for the intelligence community. i wish the president would show that same level of trust and respect for the scrns committee, because they do a good job for us, and they need to have -- we need to have their back. >> dickerson: all right, senator warner thanks so much for being with us and we now turn to a republican colleague of senator warner's on the intelligence committee, senator susan collins. senator, what do you make of what president trump has said about these wiretaps. shouldn't we talking about, should he be talking about this on twitter? is this helpful? >> it would be more helpful if

he turned it over to the intelligence committee any evidence that he has, what we need to deal with is evidence, not just statements. at this point, i would say no, i see no evidence of what he has alleged, but i also have not seen collaboration as director clapper also said today that he had not seen evidence of collaboration. we are at the very early stages of our investigation, and this is why it is so important that we do an in-depth, exhaustive bipartisan, independent investigation, because the american people deserves answers to all of these allegations and counter allegations, so that we can get on with the business of this country. >> dickerson: the president has said and the white house has said they are not going to talk

anymore about his accusations over the weekend, but now that he has put that out there, he is the president of the yiewrks he had access to this information even if he may have been going off a news report, he has access to all of this information. do you think it is important for him now to put forward this evidence in some form to back up his claims because it is now out there and people might think because he is the president he has some special understanding? in other words, not wait until the committee is done with its work but does he have an obligation to present some kind of evidence now that he has put this charge out there about president obama? >> the president has called for congressionallations into the allegations that he made starting yesterday morning, so i would expect that he is going to want to provide our committee with any evidence that he has. my own theory is that the russians are determined to sew the seeds of discontent and doubt about the legitimacy of

our democracy and other we were democracies, and that they were going to do that regardless of who was elected president. so it is really important that we know what happened, what the facts are, that we bet to the bottom of this. >> dickerson: when you say he will provide the committee with information, but do you think he owes something to the public now that he has kind of thrown this out there and now superintendent going to say anything more about it but it is out there and live does he owe the public more than what he owes the committee, just as a matter of public trust? do you agree with that? >> it would probably be helpful if he gave more information, but it also might be helpful if he just department comment further and allowed us to do our work. the committee's work is underway. i am convinced we are going to do the kind of exhaustive, in-depth and prompt investigation that will help put these allegations to rest.

one way or the other. >> dickerson: you mentioned going through everything, and i am going to ask you about president trump's tax returns, because some people believe and we are going to need to figure out whether there was any influence on the president you have to know whether there were any ties to russia. you said that the committee will perhaps subpoena the tax returns if necessary. do you think a committee investigation that ends without looking at the tabs returns has fulfilled its duty that the committee fulfilled its duty? it is premature for me to reach that conclusion right now. what i am convinced of, because i know this committee well and i know how seriously we take this charge is that we will go wherever the evidence leads us and that we will get all of the information that we need. if that includes president trump's tax returns, then i have confidence that we will ask for them. if we don't need them in order to reach our conclusions, then

we won't. but it is too soon to tell. >> dickerson: but will you come up with sort of a hunting list in terms of all the places cow would want inquiry and wouldn't the tax returns be a pretty high up on the list on that? >> let's see where the evidence leads us. we are just now beginning to have facts as senator warner mentioned to the information that the intelligence community has, like senator warner, i will be going over to review that information. it is many binders thick, so let's see where the evidence leads us. >> dickerson: let me ask you a question quickly on the affordable care act. you put forward an alternative or a bill. where do things stand in the republican ranks in terms of a replacement for the affordable care act? >> there is not a consensus. this is very difficult to achieve the president's goals and the goals that many of us have of wanting to expand access to coverage and have a damper on

the prices we have seen a lot of problems with the individual markets, in a death spiral in many states under the acat so the irony here is regardless of who is elected president, we were going to have to do major repairs on the aca. i put forth a plan with senator cassidy, who is a physician, that is a comprehensive plan that gives states the options of doing what is best for their citizens, and we believe would actually expand the access to health insurance. that is our goal. but there is not a consensus at this point. >> dickerson: very quickly, how long do you think it will take to get to consensus? there are a few minor details or still talking about the big complicate business of something that takes a, up 15 percent of the economy? >> it is very complicated and we shouldn't rush it. we need to get this right. >> dickerson: all right, senator collins, thanks so much for being with us and we will be back in one minute to talk to the form never head o of the ci,

former secretary of defense and former chief of staff, it is all one person, that is leon panetta comincoming up when we come bacn one minute. >> and contains the best oral decongestant. live claritin clear, with claritin-d. ♪ ♪ ♪ sfx: engine revving ♪ (silence)

♪ joining us now is former secretary of defense and cia director leon panetta. both secretary, panetta let's start with the new revelation organization claims by the president. who do americans look to be the adult 0 to say who is, this is what is happening? >> well, you know, what i see here is this president is making the same mistake past presidents made when they faced scammeds that he is trying to divert attention. they are trying to obfuscate and trying to cover up. they are trying to somehow raise other issues and in the end, it is going to be the truth that will determine what is involved here, and not tweets but the truth. >> dickerson: we had an instance where this week the attorney general had to recuse himself from investigation into campaign events.

we have got, now you have got investigative intelligence commit examine tease investigating. i mean, do you think people just need to wait for the intelligence committees in the house and senate to do their work or is there some better way you think to get at what are now several sets of issues. there is the russian melding and now the claims the president made, quite extraordinary claims, a, and maybe, and maybe you can given your experience to give some context to claim that his predecessor was wiretapping and comparing him to nixon and mccarthy. >> the best advice i can give the president and this administration is to get ahead of this, don't get behind it. get ahead of it. present the facts as they know it and commit themselves to cooperating with the investigations that are going on. this issue is not going away. it is not going away. there is too much here. we found the russians to have tried to interfere in our election process. we have a situation now where

the administration has denied contacts with the russians and we are finding out that that is not true, that there have been contacts with the russians. and lastly, the president himself has raised this issue this whole national security team has condemned the russians and putin and he still winds up defending putin. so you put all of that together, it may not lead you to some kind of collaboration or collusion, but it raises issues that have to be investigated. that is why you need a bipartisan and i want, a thorough and a credible investigation. >> dickerson: when you say i want, but that can still be within the congress? >> yes. no. i think as you have seen, these are responsible members of congress who want to look into this issue, i think they deserve the opportunity to do that. i would hope they don't run into robs, because if they do run into political problems in the course of this investigation them we may very well have to turn to a special prosecutor. >> dickerson: what do you think foreign, other countries think about when they look at this? does this have, we have got the

president accusing his predecessor and accuses against the president, how does this affect our standing as other countries look to america. >> it is sending a terrible message out there. i can tell you based on my own conversations with people abroad that they are very concerned about the administration, about the president, they are concerned about whether he truly is going to be committed to the kind of world leadership that we have seen the united states provide, but wherever time these things happen, every time he tweets, every time these issues come up that indicate that, you know, there is obviously something to this russian issue and the administration is not cooperating, when that happens, when you, he accuse as past president of wiretapping without any evidence of that being the case, it makes us vulnerable. it weakens the united states and it makes us vulnerable to our enemies. that is the danger.

>> dickerson: speaking of enemies of the united states, north korea and "the new york times" has a piece today about u.s. efforts using cyber warfare to basically hurt the north korean missile system. should americans be in fear of the cyber retaliation by the north koreaians? >> i have always felt that cyber is .. here to stay. it is one of the weapons that we have to deal with and we have to be smart enough to use it not only defensively but offensively as well. and i think, you know, the stories you are seeing indicate that the united states is on the cutting edge of that kind of technology. >> president trump is most concerned about north korea. does he have it right in terms of all of the global threats he seems to be most concerned about north korea. do you share that concern? >> well, there are a number of threats that are out there that we are dealing with a very dangerous world. i think the pentagon feels that russia is at the top of the list because of the nuclear threat,

and i understand that. but we also have to worry about north korea and the unpredictability of that leader. we have to worry about the middle east and the chaos there. there are a number of crisis points that the united states has to consider and the problem is, when we are diverted, when the president is diverted from paying attention to those crises, we pay a price. >> dickerson: all right. stay right there, secretary, we will be right back, we are going to take a short break, but we will be back in a moment. >> consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any of these types of plans, it could help you with out-of-pocket medical costs. call now and request your free decision guide and explore the range of aarp medicare supplement plans. start gathering the information you need... to roll into sixty-five with confidence.

>> dickerson: and we are back with leon panetta. president trump has suggested that he wants 54 billion in defense spending next year. what does the defense department need? is that a good idea and what would they spend it on? >> you know,, the worst thing they could do is to go through a roller coaster ride on defense spending where we are down, increase it dramatically, the next year take it back down. we have gone through the sequester process which is literally impacted on our

readiness. so, yes, we need an increase to try to deal with the readiness issue, but what we really need is a gradual increase and certainty in the budget and if you are not providing certainty as to where the defense budget is going, you can talk about increasing it all you want, you are going to create chaos in terms of the defense department. >> dickerson: and how do you get, you mentioned the sequester, that was a draconian budget cuts as a result of not reaching budget agreements how do you get that certainty in budgeting for defense department or anywhere else, for that matter? >> well, john, what has to happen in this town and it hasn't happened for a long time, is that the president and the congress have to come to a budget agreement that really deals with this $20 trillion debt that we face. and the problem now is that they are all trying to do this by going after discretionary spending which only constitutes a small part of the overall

budget, what you have to do is put everything on the table. you have to put entitlements, you have to put taxes and discretionary. that's what we did in the past. that's how we got a balanced budget. we are not going to be able to deal with the budget unless there is that kind of agreement and that is essential, not only for purposes of the budget but for the american people to understand what our priorities are for the future. >> dickerson: the president said he won't touch medicare. >> well, i think it is dangerous. any time you put something off,, you know, off the table, you are just asking for trouble, entitlements make two-thirds of the federal budget for goodness sakes. you are not going to look at how you can develop cost controls on those programs? you will never be able to deal with a budget crisis if you just eliminate that whole area. >> dickerson: you were brought into the white house as chief of staff during a rocky period in the clinton years. what do you make of the current white house operation as you viewed it? >> well, i worry about it, because when the president goes off and does what he did within the last few days of just going ahead and tweeting without

checking on things, there is something wrong. there is something wrong in terms of the discipline, within the white house and how you operate. you cannot have this kind of situation where the president is not properly briefed, that you think out what the president is going to say, and that you have somebody in charge of the white house staff that i think still hasn't taken place and i think the white house is paying a price for that failure. >> dickerson: all right, secretary panetta, thanks so much and we will be right back. stay with us. >> this portion of "face the nation" is sponsored by charles schwab, own your tomorrow. >> oh no. schwab, again? index investing for that low? that's three times less than fidelity... ...and four times less than vanguard. what's next, no minimums? ...no minimums. schwab has lowered the cost of investing again.

introducing the lowest cost index funds in the industry with no minimums. i bet they're calling about the schwab news. schwab. a modern approach to wealth management. a heart attack doesn't or how healthy you look. no matter who you are, a heart attack can happen without warning. a bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another heart attack. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. bayer aspirin. various: (shouting) heigh! ho! ( ♪ )

it's off to work we go! woman: on the gulf coast, new exxonmobil projects are expected to create over 45,000 jobs. and each job created by the energy industry supports two others in the community. altogether, the industry supports over 9 million jobs nationwide. these are jobs that natural gas is helping make happen, all while reducing america's emissions. energy lives here. >> dickerson: and we will be right back with a lot more "face the nation". stay with us. >> ,, my name is jamir dixon and i'm a locate and mark fieldman

,, for pg&e. most people in the community recognize the blue trucks as pg&e. my truck is something new... it's an 811 truck. when you call 811, i come out to your house and i mark out our gas lines and our electric lines to make sure that you don't hit them when you're digging. 811 is a free service. i'm passionate about it because every time i go on the street i think about my own kids. they're the reason that i want to protect our community and our environment, and if me driving a that truck means that somebody gets to go home safer, then i'll drive it every day of the week. together, we're building a better california.

closed captioning provided by cbs sports division >> for three uconn seniors, a sendoff from storrs. looking to salvage their season and relive huskies championship glory. ♪ ♪ >> yes. >> michael jordan. >> they won it. >> wow. >> o