and this is sergey kislyak, a person everyone knows is a russian spy, that's monitored.ost likely kislyak knows this is going to be intercepted or picked up. is it a setup maybe? >> it certainly could be. we don't know the answer to that question, and all these stories are very qic to point out that that is a possibility. they know the u.s. is monitoring it, so will they plant a piece of false information to throw u.s. intelligence agencies off the trail? yes, that's a possibility. we don't know the answer to the question just yet. important to note, as with every story regarding it over the past weeks and months, it raises more questions than it answers almost. we know the who, the what, the where, but we don't know the why. that's really the question at the root of all this, the motivation. like a line out of an oliver stone film or something. the transition team would be meeting with foreign dignitaries, that's part of their job. there would be tons of foreign officials going through and meeting with all of trump's team. the question is why in this particular case wou

happened at meeting between former national security adviser michael flynn and russian ambassador sergei kislyak. (adam entous/staff writer, the washington post): "during that discussion according to kislyak's account you basically have jared kushner proposing the idea of having a secure, private communications channel and jared actually proposing doing so at a russian facility, specifically the russian embassy in washington." according to the new york time, the channel was intended to discuss strategy in syria and other policy issues. the white house is not commenting. tonight a mississippi man is in custody after a shooting spree that left eight people dead... including a sheriff's deputy. it happened yesterday at three different homes in lincoln county. it began with a domestic call. suspect cory godbolt fled from police before being caught. after his arrest, godbolt spoke too a nearby reporter... confessing to at least part of the rampage. a sheriff's deputy is among the dead. authorities have not yet released the names of the other seven victims. 7 police: calls about shots fired came it at

is sergey kislyak that unforgettable they need to go to reuters for the specific days and times and use way to punt on answering did kushner contact kislyak and not disclose it? >> i don't think he's forgettable and i think that from the standpoint of kushner's lawyer, a smart way to buy time to figure out what to do. obviously this story is huge. i mean it's -- it's dominating the media right now and everybody will want to know what happened and when did it happen and the extent of what was discussed. this is part of the challenge, by the way, when you are in the white house with the president of the united states and one of his most trusted advisors, everything is scrutinized about your life, especially if you had contact with foreign powers, foreign ambassadors especially russian ambassadors. this is a way to buy time to figure out how best to deal with this challenge. it's going to continue to dominate the news. everybody wants to know. and it's not going away any time soon. >> if the shoe were on the other foot and we were dealing with a different white house and instead of talking

president trump welcomed the foreign minister into the oval office along with the russian ambassador, sergey kislyak. it was conversations with

the post reported kushner made a proposal to sergey kislyak during an early december meeting at trump tower. cnn previously reported the two men met as part of an effort to create a back channel to russian president vladimir putin. the white house did not comment on the report. these revelations of the russian interference probe includes look at kushner. the fbi is drilling down on kushner's multiple roles in the trump campaign and post-election transition. key among them the trump's campaign data analytics operation. >> i heard and it's been reported that matter of the misinformation, disinformation campaign that was launched was launched in three key states, wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania and launched interestingly enough not to enforce trump supporters to go out but to target clinton voters with misinformation. >> reporter: federal investigators are examining whether russian operatives used trump campaign associates wittingly or unwittingly to aid their own efforts to push information about hillary clinton online. >> jared will do a great job. >> reporter: as trump's top fore

posing for pictures, tweeted by the russians, with ambassador sergey kislyak. there he is. whose conversations with michael flynn got the former national security adviser fired.

reuters news agency is saying he also had several telephone conversations with sergey kislyak.the fbi as part of their inquiry but this does not necessarily mean he is suspected of a crime. with me is journalist and broadcaster michael goldfarb. people might be forgiven for losing track of the various allegations here. you are right. there are are a lot out there and the narrative line, we do not know it yet. there are investigations going on, fbi is investigating, the senate intelligence committee has requested that all donald trump campaign documents going back to the day he announced in 2015 be turned over to that investigating committee. what has happened here is that the russian post —— the washington post reported this morning that jared kushner requested from the russian ambassador in the us, sergey kislyak, that he have an open line of communication with the kremlin on the kremlin communications equipment backin the kremlin communications equipment back in the first week of december. is that a crime? nobody knows. it is ata time is that a crime? nobody knows. it is at a

during the transition, turns out kushner met with russian ambassador sergey kislyak at trump tower. lso at kislyak's suggestion, kushner met with a russian banker, who owns a bank that had been sanctioned by the obama administration. kushner has offered to testify before congress about both of these meetings. >> the fact that he met with the banker, i think he needs to explain himself. >> reporter: his dealings with saudi arabia may also need tom explaining. just two weeks before the president's visit to saudi arabia, kushner personally called the ceo of lockheed martin to cut a deal for a sophisticated missile detection system. kushner asked the ceo to cut the price so they could finalize the arms deal, a weapons passage that in the end cost about $110 billion for tanks, fighter jets, combat ships, and more. for a trump white house built on unconventional choices, it goes without saying, jared kushner is just that. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> joining me now is lizzie whitcombe, who's written extensively about jared kushner for the new yorker. it's interesting to me by not saying a

jared kushner contacts with russian ambassador sergei kislyak.e washington post" is reporting kushner wanted to establish a secret means of communication with the kremlin. >> cnn clare sebastian is live from moscow this hour. what are you hearing from russian leaders there? >> reporter: well, christi, reemphasize that political chaos in washington. the russian foreign ministry spoke this morning, calling the report by "the washington post" mccarthyism or simply internal political squabbles. we followed up with a question on whether the foreign minister was aware jared kushner had made this request for secret communication channel, secure communication channel as reported by the post. we have seen that the ministry was since the original report came from an intercept of communications between the russian ambassador and superiors in moscow, she would not be drown on that. we're seeing increasing rhetoric in moscow as stream of russian related news comes out of washington. the same foreign ministry spokesperson warning that the u.s. media should sto

sergey kislyak. senate investigators have also sought documents from trump's former campaign chairman paul manafort, former campaign foreign policy adviser carter page, and former adviser roger stone. these developments all occurred on the same day that president trump hosted russian foreign minister sergey lavrov and russia's ambassador sergey kislyak at the white house to talk about syria and other issues. politico reports trump invited lavrov after a request from russia president vladimir putin. a white house spokesman said -- "he chose to receive him because putin asked him to. putin did specifically ask on the call when they last talked." the white house faced some criticism for allowing the russian state media agency tass inside the white house to take photographs while barring all u.s. media. trump also spent part of the day on wednesday morning with henry kissinger, who served as president richard nixon's secretary of state. education secretary betsy devos was repeatedly booed and heckled wed

sergei kislyak is center to the russian investigation. urveillance picked up communications between flynn and kislyak. discussing president obama's just-announc russia. investigators believe flynn may have been acting on orders from someone else. james clapper was the director of national intelligence at the time. >> were you concerned that the obama administration policy and this nation's national security was being undermined by somebody internally? >> i will simply say that we've had a long-standing principle in our country of one president at a time. >> reporter: was that adhered to in this case? >> well, you can draw your own conclusions about that. >> reporter: it is now up to robert mueller to come to those conclusions. he will have the power to prosecute any crimes he discovers. >>> president trump is back in washington after delivering an address to a graduating class. he returns to a white house in chaos over an avalanche of controves by the day. >> no politician in history, and i say this with great surety, has been treated wors

it reportedly took place at a meet with russia's ambassador, sergey kislyak, back in december at trump tower in new york city. our justice correspondent pamela brown has late word on all of this. so what are you learning? >> well, we've learned, wolf, through "the washington post," that jared kushner asked russia's ambassador sergey kislyak about creating a secret backchannel communication to russia by using russian diplomatic facilities to shield their preinauguration discussions from monitoring from intelligence agencies. as we know, we've reported that the fbi is scrutinizing this meeting along with at least one other one that kushner had with a russian banker as to the larger probe into the investigation. the probe in question was also attended by a man who was fired after a conversation with kislyak. during the december mightin ime kislyak was caught off guard. the meeting was relayed back to russia by kislyak. it's important to note that russians will sometimes feed false information into communication because they are well aware that u.s. intel is listening in. according to the

sergei kislyak is the russian ambassador to the united states. but sergei lavrov, second to the left, now on the left of the screen. he is sort of a dean of the international diplomatic community. this is a guy who never says a word that hasn't been considered. so one wonders what this picture looks like with donald trump saying things like fbi director james comey was a nut job and now we're clear of pressure because he's gone. what do you make of this? >> it is extraordinary. one of the craziest things i've ever heard. it shows the inexperience of this president to have scheduled th meeting, to have not had the american press in the meeting. but to have photographers shooting it for the russians. vladimir putin already in sochi two days ago was making fun of it and laughing and lavrov was in the front row and saying that he had a transcript. he probably didn't have a transcript but they had a note taker. and lavrov was sitting in the front row laughing and putin was saying, you held out on me. you didn't tell me all those classified, those secre

sergei kislyak, the specific guy who got michael flynn fired and made jeff sessions have to recuse himselfm the russian investigation. if there's one person you don't want any more ties to, it's this guy. he is the kiss of death. as we all know, no one tells donald trump who he can kiss. >> the president welcomed russian officials into the oval office today. >> less than 24 hours after the firing of james comey, the man leading the investigation into russian meddling, president trump welcomed russia's ambassador and foreign minister to the white house. >> the president meeting with the russian foreign minister and smiling in the office with russian ambassador sergei kislyak. >> you brought russians into the oval office? although trump is so oblivious,s is shady. >> the meeting with with the russian diplomats had been arranged at the request of vladimir putin. >> you know what? it's starting to feel less like putin is black mailing trump. you must only speak in bing bing bong. ( laughter ) donald trump may be crazy but turns out he's not stupid. he knew this would look bad so he didn't allo

"the washington post" that was reportedly intercepted from this ball, the russian ambassador, sergey kislyak, made to russia. before i get to a question, i want to play more from national security advisor h.r. mcmaster in that briefing saying he's not concerned about the kushner report. let's listen to that. >> we have back channel communications with a number of countries, so generally speaking, about back channel communications, what that allows you to do is to communicate in a discrete manner so it doesn't predispose you toward any sort of content of that conversation or anything. so no, i would not be concerned about it. >> he says this is about discrete communication. what do you make of mcmaster's response there and what type of red flags does this report in particular raise in the intelligence community? >> yeah, jacob, i think many people are going to find that to be a remarkably incautious statement by a reputable national security expert. people i talked to cannot find any precedent for a transition team trying to not only open a back channel but allegedly attempting to use russian

it was on the 1st or 2nd that jared kushner and mike flynn met with russian ambassador sergey kislyaker in december, kushner meets with sergei korsof. calls take place between flynn and kislyak. joining me is the former director of national intelligence, james clapper. mr. clapper, welcome back to the show. >> thanks, chuck. >> before i get to the rest of the story, you just heard secretary kelly talk about the leaks that took place. we know the u.k. complained about the manchester bombing and they responded to some of these leaks as they sort of walk up to the line of treason. some might say, hey, they're just leaking out something that they think the public should know. where do you draw that line? >> well, i think, first of all, i have to say that leaks are damaging. they're corrosive. they risk compromising sources, methods and trade craft. as we've seen recently, they damage relationships with crucial partners. u.k. and israel come to mind. and this is particularly serious now, because in my experience, 50-plus years in intelligence, i don't know of a time when we depended more o

concern that flynn didn't appreciate or fully understand the motivation of russia's ambassador, sergey kislyak. so the head of trump's transition national security team asked obama white house officials to provide a classified cia profile of kislyak to give to lieutenant general flynn so that he could read about kislyak before having these conversations with him. the head of trump's transition national security team, marshall billingsley is someone who is known to have had a more skeptical view of russia than flynn did. the key point is that while that was provided to michael flynn it's not clear whether or not he read it before having those conversations with kislyak that later led to his downfall because he discussed the issue of sanctions that had been imposed on russia. interesting details to emerge. one more point that i should make here, a former u.s. official told cnn that the obama white house was troubled regarding the handling, the trump team's handling of classified information. the official said that some highly sensitive documents were copied and removed from a secure room at the

the russia investigation after revelations t hit his own contacts with the russian ambassador, sergey kislyak, but he did play a role in comey's firing. isbassador kislyak, who met with the president last week, is central to the f.b.i.'s investigation. in december, u.s. intelligence picked up intercepts of flynn and kislyak discussing president obama's just-announced sanctions on russia. cbs news has learned that investigators believe flynn may have been acting on orders from someone else. james clapper was the director of national intelligence at the time. were you concerned that obama administration policy and this nation's national security was being undermined by somebody internally? >> i will simply say that we've had a long standing principle in our country of one president at a time. >> reporter: was that adhered to in this case? >> well, that-- you can draw your own conclusions about that. >> reporter: it is now up to robert mueller to come to those conclusions, scott. he will have the power to to the best of my ability. >> pelley: jeff pegues, thanks. margaret brennan has the late re

reuters news agency is saying he also had several telephone conversations with sergey kislyak.stigated by the fbi as part of their inquiry but this does not necessarily mean he is suspected of a crime. an elderly couple found stabbed to death at their home in county armagh have been named. a relative found the bodies of michael and marjorie cawdery, who were both 83, in portadown yesterday afternoon. a ao—year—old man has been arrested and is still being questioned. the headlines on bbc news... and evacuation is underway in moss side is part of an ongoing search in the inquiry into the manchester arena bombing. armed police will be on duty at high profile events around the uk over the bank holiday following the manchester arena concert attack. british airways apologises to passengers facing delays at heathrow following computer problems. leaders of the world's leading industrial nations, the g7, have failed to reach agreement on climate change at a summit in italy. members had hoped donald trump would join the rest of the world in combating climate change but differences remain

this president thus far in photos i hate to say was in the oval office with the two sergeys, sergey kislyak and sergey lavrov thanks of course to the russian photographers who were allowed in. there was one thing that our allies in europe wanted to hear from this president. that's obviously embracing article five. that did not happen. p that did not happen. vladimir putin. but the problem is is that in the case plaintiff kushner, he is a person who -- about whom tonight? >> well, they had quite a week, a banner week, right? i mean look at the president and his interactions with nato colleagues there. ice cold. i really do think the most at home and at ease we've seen this president thus far in photos i hate to say was in the oval office with the two sergeys, sergey kislyak and sergey lavrov thanks of course to the russian photographers who were allowed in. there was one thing that our allies in europe wanted to hear from this president. that's obviously embracing article five. that did not happen. so a good start to the week for vladimir putin. and obviously, this news coming out, we are he

flynn had lied to the vice president about his contacts with russian ambassador sergey kislyak. those contacts are now under investigation by the f.b.i. comey wrote up a memo about the meeting with the president. m it he said that mr. trump had asked him to drop the flynn investigation. "i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go," he wrote. "he is a good guy." a senior white house official sanied that account and said the president never asked mr. comey di anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving general flynn. just last week acting f.b.i. director andrew mccabe told cengress there has been no interference in the russia bevestigation. >> so there has been no effort to impede our investigation to date. >> reporter: but a law enforcement source told cbs news lere is a whole lot of interfering happening. comey was fired last week, and the president said it was because of his handling of the russia investigation. in a 2014 "60 minutes" interview, comey said it was e.perative that the f.b.i. resist any political pressure. >> that's why th

you may also remember that name, sergey kislyak. he was in that meeting at the white house with the president, who was also, scott, a central figure in the f.b.i. investigation into whether trump campaign representatives were coordinating with the russians. >> pelley: jeff pegues for us. jeff, with more on this we're going to turn to michael morell, a cbs news national security figure and a former number two at the c.i.a. michael, how serious is this? how could it happen? >> scott, i think this is highly damaging for two reasons. first, the russians will undoubtedly try to figure out the source or the method of this is not also collecting on their activities in syria, and in trying to do that, they could well disrupt the source. i think the second damage is that third countries who provide the united states with intelligence information will now have pause to do so. if the united states is sharing such information with the russians without their permission. so highly damaging. how could it happen, scott? i think this is a president

the meeting on may 10, between president donald trump and russian officials sergei lavrov and sergey kislyak....but notes from the meeting, apparently distributed to a number of white house and other government officials, were leaked to the new york times. according to their report, trump told the russians, quote, "i just fired the head of the f-b-i. he was crazy; a real nut job."the other statement from trump in that meeting, according to the new york times, -- quote -- "i faced great pressure because of russia. that's taken off." the times' assessment of that statement: that the firing of comey eased the pressure from the investigation into ties between russia and trump's presidential campaign. democratic senator patrick leahy shared a link to the report on twitter, saying in his own words, "this is what obstruction looks like." republican congressman scott taylor isn't so sure.rep. scott taylor, (r-va): "of course, there is context with text, and we don't know the context of the meeting itself and what he was trying to do. we don't know that, of course." white house press secretary sean s

the other issue with jared kushner, the fact that he omitted meetings and conversations with sergei kislyak on the security clearance form. so his credibility is demeaned, and meanwhile we're supposed to believe kislyak and the fact that we intercepted this russian communique? >> right, exactly. >> who's the honest broker? >> and remember too, he did not disclose his meetings with the russian state bank during the transition too. to put this kind of in context here, this was as we knew that russia was meddling in the 2016 election, so knowing their intentions and their, you know, bad intentions for the government also this came during the transition as the president was really pointing fingers at the intelligence community, really criticizing them in that regard. so to jane's point which i agree with, it raises a lot of alarm bells about why they were doing this in secret or why they were talking about forming this in secret. another thing about kushner too, remember he is the closest person to the president and he is not a confirmed appointee, right? so he wasn't under the same kind of pub

, jeff sessions not disclosing the fact that he had conversations with sergei kislyak. what was is going on with carter paige which is always dicey. paul manafort, jared kushner, multiple meetings, aside from this reporting on a back-channel, multiple meetings with russian officials not disclosed so it's not a one-off which is what the trump allies are saying. why is it bad to have a back-channel with someone we need to have a better relationship with? okay, but in the broader context, there's so much smoke here, right? there's so many things you're like hmm, that's change, it can't be dismissed as a one-off. that's not how the world works. widen the aperture slightly, why are there so many communications. if donald trump says it's fake news, a witch hunt why is he not the first guy saying bob mueller i am thrilled this is happening. this is exactly what we need. instead he runs down the investigation, which you think would be the opposite of what he would want to do. >> karoun we've seen fortunes rise and fall the last few months. what does that mean for jared kushner

trump invited him and sergey kislyak, the ambassador.e flynn reportedly spoke to about sanctions before trump's inauguration. both of those guys into the oval office. again, we have only these images of the meeting, because the russian government released them from the news agency tass. u.s. reporters and photographers not allowed in. and about how the meeting came together? political plit coolitico said t about his decision to meet with lavrov. he chose to meet him because putin asked him to. he asked specifically on the call when they last talked. let's bring in former u.s. ambassador to russia during the obama militia. i don't mean to might. mike mcfaul. and from the atlantic, russian born journalist. doubting the wisdom of allowing russian photographers into the oval office on top of the face of it. no american journalists allowed in for the russian meeting for what they might have brought with them. perhaps this is a good opportunity, as i always ask you, to repeat to the american people. we have been attacked and are under attack b

ambassador, sergey kislyak, considered a top spy.tigation comey was leadinging had nothing to do with his dismissal despite the president invoking that in his letter to comey. while i greatly appreciate you informing me hon three separate occasions i'm not under investigation, i condewer with the department of justice, that you're not able to effectively lead with the bureau and it was that memoçó that ended comey's tenure at the fbi. >> why did he have one of his longtime security advisers and deliver a letter to the fbi when had the fbi was in fact in los angeles? didn't he deserve a phone call or a face-to-face -- >> he followed the power protocol in that instance which is handwritten note face and at the same time in a matter how you fire someone it's never an easy process so he felt like following protocol was the best thing to do. >> reporter: wolf, we're learning a short time ago the president finished meeting with the acting director of the fbi, andrew mccabe. he came to the white house and did not see him enter or leave. he

and one major concern was the conversation between sergey kislyak. now sources tell my colleague jim sciutto that flynn told kislyak to hold off on retaliating with its own sanctions and then the next day putin said he wouldn't retaliate. sources say the -- trump angrily denied any collusion with russia this week. as you know he called the special investigation a witch-hunt. >> despite all this, gloria, president trump has obviously remained steadfast in his support. >> yes, he's a loyal guy as you know. and the most obvious example came out in this memole in which we learned of james comey in which the president reportedly asked the director of the fbi to let the flynn investigation go. >> appreciate the story tonight. and thortly before that story broke, this one. namely would this mean that fired fbi director james comey would no longer testify before congressional committees. tonight we know he will and it's going to be open session. so what have you learned the. >> well, anderson, james comey will appear before the senate intelligence commity. th

the same sergey kislyak, ambassador and russian spy, with whom general michael flynn had discussionsabout it. >> seth: in fact, that guy sergey kislyak is the same guy attorney general jeff sessions had a meeting with during campaign, that he failed to disclose, during his confirmation hearing. how could you forget meeting this man? [ laughter ] he looks like they fished the stay puft marshmallow man out of the east river. [ laughter and applause ] so the white house -- the white house has been engulfed in chaos. in fact, just to give you an idea of how crazy things have been, when this news first broke on tuesday night, white house press secretary sean spicer was outside the white house near the tv sets where the correspondents do their on camera reports. but spicer did not want to be on camera himself, which led to this bizarre anecdote in the "washington post." and this is really what they wrote. "spicer disappeared into the shadows, huddling with his staff near a clump of bushes and then behind a tall hedge. [ laughter ] he spent several minutes hidden in the bushes." [ laughter

reuters news agency is saying he had several telephone conversations with sergey kislyak.s does not necessarily mean he is suspected of a crime. leaders of the world's leading industrial nations, the g7, have failed to reach agreement on climate change at a summit in italy. members had hoped donald trump would join the rest of the world in combating climate change, but differences remain between the us president and other countries. james landale has more. music. at this summit in an ancient town on the coast of sicily, there has been some harmony between the g7 leaders about the need to do more to tackle global terrorism. but there have been dramatic and discordant notes on trade and climate change. donald trump has voiced his anger at the impact he believes free trade is having on the us car markets. and he has also expressed doubts about global warming, and threatened to pull the us out of a deal agreed in paris in 2015, to limit carbon emissions. g7 leaders are using this summit to try to stay the president's hand. they are not alone. in an interview with the bbc, the

during his sit-down meeting with russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and russian ambassador sergey kislyak at the white house last week, only one day after he fired fbi director james comey over his investigation into whether the trump campaign colluded with russia to influence the 2016 election. citing unnamed u.s. officials, "the post" reports trump began bragging to the two russian officials about his intelligence briefings, saying -- "i get great intel. i have people brief me on great intel every day." trump went on to disclose highly classified information provided by a third-party about the possible threat of isis launching an attack on an airplane using a computer bomb. this is the "washington post's" greg miller, one of the co-authors of the report. >> at sosome point, , trump stas tatalking abouout the great intelligence he getsts. he is telliling his visitors, i get the e best intntelligence, d preedsds to talk a about thiss threat that is underway that has been publicly talked about for some time. bubut he goes intoto details abt the spspecifics s of thiss plotd how it is coming

was on the 1st or 2nd that we now know jared kushner and mike flynn met with russian ambassador sergei kislyako set up system of back channel communications between the trump administration and the kremlin. later he meets with sergei korsof. the head of a sanctioned russian owned stay run bank. on september 29th, calls take place between flynn and kislyak allegedly to discuss the new sanctions the obama administration had issued against russia day in response to russian interference in the election. joining me is the former director of national intelligence, james clapper. mr. chapter, welcome back to the show. >> thanks, chuck. >> before i get to the rest of the story, you just heard secretary kelly talk about the leaks that took place. we know the u.k. complained about the manchester bombing and he referred to some of these leaks that they sort of walk up to the line of treason. some might say hey, they're just leaking out something that they think the public should know. where do you draw that line? >> well, i think, first of all, i have to say that leaks are damaging. they're corrosive. th

the "washington post" reports ambassador sergey kislyak reported to his superiors in moscow that kushner, then president-elect trump's son-in-law and confidante made the proposal during a meeting on december 1st or 2nd at trump tower, according to intercepts of russian communications that were reviewed by u.s. officials. kislyak said kushner suggested using russian diplomatic facilities in the united states for the communications. the meeting also was attended by michael flynn, trump's first national security adviser. and so tonight we have just moved a little closer to an explanation of why president trump seemed so protective of michael flynn, why president trump appointed michael flynn national security adviser even though he knew michael flynn was under fbi investigation, and why after firing michael flynn, president trump continues to say that michael flynn is a good man, and why some reports indicate that president trump hopes that michael flynn will be able to return to the white house service some day. why? why? is president trump so protective of michael flynn? one answer may be

briefed on intelligence reports reporting that jared kushner and russia's ambassador to washington, sergey kislyak, discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between trump's transition team and the kremlin using russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring. according to the post, ambassador kislyak said kushner suggested using russian diplomatic facilities in the united states for the communications and reportedly kislyak was taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an american to use russian communications gear at its embassy or consulate. a proposal that would have carried security risks for moscow as well as the trump team. so it appears that jared kushner met with the russian ambassador in secret, reportedly to set up a back channel possibly in russian diplomatic facilities. kushner then omitted this meeting on his sf-86 security clrance form. and when he was called on it months later in april of this year, his lawyers called it an error. but if kislyak's account is accurate, how likely

learned that there were at least three calls between jared kushner and the russian ambassador sergey kislyak. two of them before the election and there were contacts after the election, not only between mr. kushner and mr. kislyak, but also president trump's former national security adviser, general michael flynn. we learned -- and we reported this last week about mr. flynn and his conversations after the election which were centered on setting up a back channel that -- between president trump and president putin that would have circumvented u.s. national security agencies because neither side trusted them. we learned that mr. kushner was also part of those discussions. that was reported by "the washington post" first this evening. and as you pointed out, we've learned that mr. kushner is being looked at. those contacts between mr. kushner and mr. kislyak are being looked at by the fbi as part of their counterintelligence investigation. >> and jonathan, one of the issues facing jared kushner is why did you not disclose all of these contacts? and if the defense is, i didn't disclose them beca

about his contacts with russian ambassador sergei kislyak. today new jersey governor chris christie who originally ran the trump transition said that he warned the president to steer clear of flynn. >> if i were president of the united states i wouldn't let flynn in the white house. let alone give him a job. >> reporter: roger stone is also under scrutiny by the fbi and congress for their ties to russia. manafort and stone today said they have complied with congressional requests for documents. flynn is the only one so far to say that he will take the fifth. attacked since the president once denounced on the campaign trail. >> you see the mob takes the fifth. if you're innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment? >> reporter: tomorrow former cia director john brennan testifies. james comey will appear before the senate intelligence committee sometime after memorial day, but today, he declined an invitation from house oversight chairman jason chaffetz. >> jeff pegues, thank you. and with the president overseas, the vice president is runni

. >>> shortly after jared kushner met with russian ambassador sergey kislyak, reportedly about settingsecret direct line for some reason to moscow he met with another shadowy figure. his name is sergey gorkov, a bachker, putin confidant, graduate of a russian spy school. he said it was about meeting, the bank's meeting and that of jared kushner and other entrepreneurs. yesterdays and for a second time the white house said kushner was acting in his capacity as a transition official. there's a third possibility related to the meeting earlier in december on the so-called back channel. randi kaye tonight has more. >> reporter: this is the man jared kushner met with in december 2016, just a month after kushner's father-in-law donald trump was elected president. his name is sergey gorkov. he's a russian banker. the chairman of veb bank. he also has tied to russian president vladimir putin, who appointed him to head the bank. what exactly was discussed between kushner and the banker last year remains a mystery. though keep in mind, as an ally of putin, gorkov reportedly may have been using th

flynn had lied to the vice president about his contacts with sergei kislyak.contacts are now under investigation by the fbi. comey wrote up a memo about the meeting with the president. in it, he said that mr. trump had asked him to drop the flynn investigation. i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, he wrote. he is a good guy. a senior white house official denied that account and said the president never asked mr. comey or anyone else to end any investigation. including any investigation involving general flynn. just last week, acting fbi director, andrew mccabe told congress there has been no interference in the russia investigation. >> so there has been no effort to impede our investigation to date. >> reporter: but a law enforcement source told cbs news, there is a whole lot of interfering happening. comey was fired last week, and the president said it was because of his handling of the russia investigation. in a 2014 "60 minutes" interview, comey said it was imperative that the fbi resist any political pressure. >> that's why the director is

the fbi turned its attention directly to kushner and meetings with russian's ambassador sergei kislyak and sergei gorkov. fox news has told separately by a source it was about syria and connecting president trump's former national security adviser michael flynn with russian military leaders. michael flynn didn't last a month on the job. he was fired for lying to vice president pence over conversations flynn reportedly had with the russian ambassador. as for the meeting with the russian banker, sergei gorkov, current and former officials say that kushner might have been trying to establish a line with vladimir putin outside of established diplomatic channels. the times points out that gorkov is a close associate of putin and a graduate of the russian spy academy. trump told "the new york times" that he has total confidence in his son-in-law. the president tweeted again that democrats have drummed up the entire russia controversy, which is not true. quoting russian officials might be laughing at the united states and how a lame excuse for why the dems lost the election has taken over the

jeff sessions met twice with the sim russian ambassador, sergey kislyak, who keeps popping up, last year. sessions didn't disclose those meetings and had to recuse himself from the russia investigation after they became public. michael flynn had repeated and largely undisclosed contacts with the same russian ambassador last year. he was eventually fired for lying about the content of their conversations. and jared kushner met with both the russian ambassador and a russian banker named sergei gorkov, a graduate of russia's spy school, whose bank is controlled by members of vladimir putin's government. kushner also did not initially disclose those meetings. even put ago side the disclosure issue, it's just really weird for a campaign to have so many contacts with officials of the russian government. last week, paul begala, who worked on bill clinton's 1992 campaign at a very different time of u.s.-russia relations, just asked how many campaign veterans had in their campaign. romney 2012 stuart stephens responded simply, nyet. joining me now, a former ambassador to nato, and malcolm nance,

sergey kislyak involved to be a russian recruiter and spy.is one of the people with whom the president of the united states shared this information with. >> every piece of the story shows such carelessness for the hard work of the people trying to protect the american public. it's jaw dropping at this stage. bob and john will agree with this. when you get your security clearance. when you go through the process, you're in government, the biggest concern of those who are telling you, you know, to keep secrets as pillow talk, saying you cannot tell your spouse. whatever you're doing, you cannot tell your spouse because loose lips and you don't want to tell your spouse because there's a certain it's not a perfect analogy, but there is a sense that trump does not view the russians as the enemy, but as a partner. that's the best of naivete. >> i should say tonight, the spokesman for the embassy are not denying it, they're just saying no comment. the president has the ability to declassify anything he wants, hence this is more criminal. you say it'