bob baer, a lot was just said by the former cia director, leon panetta there. he says the president can't just say what he wants. but in fact, legally speaking, he can. i mean, he can share this information if he wants to, bob, and you may not buy the justification, but the white house, the president himself is justifying it saying that he wanted the russians to know this, basically to help in the fight against isis and to keep airlines safe. at the end of the day, isn't that the commander in chief's determination? >> of course. he's the commander in chief. he can declassify what he wants simply by his signature, talking to people, or putting it out on the internet, but the fact is, what would we say if the president of the united states declassifi declassified, for instance, the legacy codes, our nuclear codes, or identified our agents in moscow or all communications we intercept? he can do anything he wants, but he could do major damage when it's not coordinated with the intelligence community and there's no reason for it other than bragging to an adversary l

bob baer is here, mark preston, alan dhers wits. let me start with you so you can explain. you're going to share as much as you can but not enough to put lives at risk if that is what you're trying to do. you're not going to say the city from where this intelligence op ty was able to penetrate top level os f isis to try to protect lives. how top specific and specific was this information? >> as your other reporter summarized, this was really sensitive information about an ongoing and unfolding islamic state terror plot that's caused a great deal of concern among counterterrorism officials. and in a conversation with the russian foreign minister and ambassador, trump is going into details of what the united states knows about this unfolding plot, how the islamic state is pursuing it, trying to put it together, trying to pull it off. and at the same time trying to talk about some of the measures that the united states is taking to try to deal with it. and this is problematic mainly because this is information that the united states has mainly if not exclusively because of a f

bob baer, nick paton walsh, thank you. >>> under way right now, the white house press secretary seanth reporters. it's away from the cameras. >>> also, new reporting of drama and anger playing out behind the scenes after this latest crisis there at the white house. stay here. this is the schmidt's. and, oh schmidt, that's a lot of dirt. but there's plenty of time for scotts outdoor cleaner plus oxiclean to work it's magic. all while being safe to use around plants and grass. guaranteed. this is a scotts yard. their leadership is instinctive. they're experts in things you haven't heard of. researchers of technologies that one day you will. some call them the best of the best. some call them veterans. we call them our team. will you be ready when the moment turns romantic? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcoh

let's discuss with cnn intelligence and security analyst bob baer. b, is this at all possible, this idea that the u.s. would be plotting to overthrow north koreans' leader? is there a kernel of truth that this could be possible? >> no, ana. it's completely incredible. i mean, first of all, there's no authority. the cia would need what's called a lethal finding, which has to be approved by congress and the president. something like that would leak out immediately. and secondly, it doesn't have the capability to operate in north korea. it's a police state, complete lockdown. there are no cia agents running around. the cia is not running, you know, missionaries or whatever this fantasy is. but what disturbs me, ana, is that he may believe it, kim jong-un. and you know, i think from everything we've seen, he's a paranoid man, and will he react? i don't know. >> now, south korea has previously admitted, though, to having plans to kill kim. you think this is different? >> well, south korea, that's different. i mean, they have cross-border operations. but ag

joining me now is barbara starr, our senior pentagon correspondent and bob baer, former cia operative. first, i want to start with atika shubert. what can you tell us? >> reporter: we've been seeing different raids across the city. this is the latest one. you can see that building behind me there, what residents are telling us is that they heard at least one explosion, possibly two, and they saw heavily armed and masked policemen going in with body armor, also with specialized equipment to jam mob bi ile phones. it presents mobile phones being used as detonation devices. we don't know exactly what is going on in there and how it links to the investigation but we've been to several of these sites in the last two days. one of them is an apartment in the city center. we were just there earlier today again. we saw armed police going in and yesterday, two suburban homes where we understand one of them being the last known address of salman abedi. he's the attacker, as identified by manchester police. the investigation seems to be expanding. they don't believe this is the work of just one m

let's talk it over about bob abo baer. b, this is a huge piece of the p puzzle if we're learning now that this individual not only was in libya the weeks before this attack but had gone all the way to syria, traveled and trained with isis, would that have been more training and bomb making or brainwashing? >> well, i think what we have here is he volunteered to become a suicide bomber. there's some indications, brooke, that this is a couple of years in the making. and once they had determined in going to go through with it, s - then you need to train him to make a bomb, test him, put him on the battlefield. what disturbs me, brooke, is the fact that he got into syria. the turkish border with syria is supposed to be closed. he certainly didn't come through iraq because you'd have to go through militia lines and the rest of it and isis territory is supposed to be pretty well fenced off. it's not, though. >> apparently he flew through atatur and istanbul. >> i'm afraid there are a lot of criminal gangs that can get these peopl

. >> i want to bring in our intelligence and security analyst and former cia officer bob baer, you saw those pictures of what are believed by the "new york times" to be pieces and fragments from the device itself. what does that tell you about the sophistication or lack thereof. >> it's very sophisticated. it's very unlikely this 22-year-old made that bomb. he probably had some help, or an enormous amount of training. these bombs are fairly simple. but this one looks sophisticated and also, the fact that he positioned himself right in the crowd, you know, they knew what they were doing, the packing, the shrapnel, the rest of it. it's -- this is a sophisticated bomb, as i said, and there's also the possibility that it could have had a safety switch, with the circuit board, and possibly somebody standing away with a radio device, just in case he changed his mind to blow him up. this happens all the time in the islamic state. these people, they panic, they don't set the bomb off. and a second person will. >> bob, we have talked about this before in the past in ore incidents that bombmaker

back with me is barbara starr and bob baer, a former cia operative.bring up a great point. i saw a note from you, you've been talking to a senior defense official who is saying that essentially this decision regarding the syrian kurds may have been in the works for a while. >> well, i think it goes to the point that there's a lot of nuance here, a lot of complicated events but with the bottom line that investigators may be looking at was michael flynn's motivation for whatever he might have done. let's start at the beginning. michael flynn was getting money from sources, elements, companies, officials, whatever in turkey. turkey was objecting to how the obama administration at the time was carrying out the campaign against isis just over the border in syria and iraq. turkey, which it hired michael flynn, was objecting to two things specifically. arming the kurds that the u.s. backed in the fight against isis and the obama administration plan to retake the syrian city plan of raqqa. he comes into office as national security adviser. during this transit

so let me just go to you, bob baer, on the breaking news out of manchester. what we do know is that this is isis, we believe, claiming responsibility. whether it was isis-inspired or isis-plotted. and we know some of the names of the victims, how young they were. an 8-year-old girl dead, an 18-year-old girl dead. what is your read on this that authorities have arrest ed a 23-year-old man in addition to the apparent suicide bomber? >> well, you know, i think it's probably a bigger sail. this was a well-planned attack. the suicide bomber didn't enter the arena. he didn't have to go through security. he was placed where he would cause the maximum damage in a suicide vest like that. 22 people is probably the maximum damage you can do. these bombs, homemade bombs, have to be very carefully delivered. if it was acetone and peroxide it has to be cooled, and i could go on and on, which suggests that somebody knew what they were doing. these bombs are easy to make, but you still need supervision, and i would expect an arrest and maybe more. i think we're dealing with

. >>> i wants to bring in cnn intelligence and security analyst bob baer. not heard from james comey since his firing but here's what jay brian comey told cnn about his son's termination. he said it happened because president trump is "quote, scared to death of him," and that his son tells the truth while the president does not. your reaction to that characterization go. >> i support comey in this. his reputation is sterling. in spite of the releasing that report about the e-mails and hillary at the last moment, that was understandable to me. former prosecutor, he knows what he's doing. coming out of those meetings, i can tell you right now he not only took memos but told people around him what had occurred. he understands evidence. this is not political for him. he was genuinely worried about what the president was trying to do, trying to pressure him. think the comey testimony is not going to do the president any favors. >> as far as getting to the truth -- because, again, what we heard from comey's father, comey tells the truth, the president does not. i

i just want to add bob baer.ard ambassador woolsey saying russia is in a sense a kgb state, and there is no coincidence when you look at these different meetings. what is your take on the significance here of sergey gorkov? >> well, director woolsey is absolutely right. i mean, this bank is in essence an arm of the fsb, the kgb. gorkov was a former kgb officer. everything he does, he reports back to the kgb. he is not particularly a great back channel to putin. i just don't buy that. you get ahold of peskov if for some reason you want to send a message to putin. he is his aide. everybody knows that. i've got his e-mail. i've got his phone number and the rest of it, if you want to get to him. the real question is was kushner talking about business. and that's the question hanging over this whole investigation. was he looking for a quid pro quo? you invest in our properties, and then we'll lift the sanctions on your bank and russia as well. i don't know that that's true. but the investigators are certainly going to

i'm going to speak live with bob baer.t, to hire sally yates and what that plays into this. remember that? seems like a year and a half ago. that was just monday. >>> plus, as the president throws his communications team under the bus, sean spicer is returning to the press briefing today. if he had a hard job before, he has a harder job today. and melissa mccarthy isn't making it any easier. his impersonator returning to the streets of new york just outside cnn. see what happened. we'll be right back. per roll more "doing chores for dad" per roll more "earning something you love" per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50% longer than the leading ordinary brand. so you get more "life" per roll. bounty, the quicker picker upper start your day with the number one choice of dentists. philips sonicare removes significantly more plaque versus oral-b 7000. experience this amazing feel of clean. innovation and you. philips sonicare. save now when you buy philips sonicare. i count on my dell small philfor tech advi

let's bring back in our panel, mark preston, nia-malika henderson, bob baer, laura coates, dana bash, evan perez. and evan, to you first. as andy mccabe sits down, what questions will he be drilled with off the bat, do you believe? >> well, one of the first questions i'm sure they're going to ask him is how he found out that his boss, james comey, was fired. we know how comey found out. he was addressing agents at the los angeles field office when fox news incorrectly reported that he had resigned. and he sort of laughed it off because he knew he hadn't resigned. then he sees cnn and others start reporting that high been fired, and that's when he really found out. so, that is the big question for mccabe. and obviously, the other question is how is this firing going to affect this investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election? that's obviously one of the biggest resource-driven investigations at the fbi. we know comey had asked for more resources. we're going to see what the fbi is doing about trying to get those resources to do this investigation as quickly as possible. >>