brennan: yes. i also recognize this was an exceptionally sensitive issue. trying to stop and uncover what the russian committees were in the midst of a hotly debated presidential campaign. that included information that may have involved u.s. persons contact with russia. pieces is to come department that effort -- compartment that effort. i made sure they were able to send over their experts so that they could share information among them. sure that theye were not going to be any stovepipes. sharing i still information. >> thank you mr. chairman. we were aack to where couple minutes ago. he testified that you had a conversation with your russian counterpart. you testified that he briefed at least eight members of congress throughout your investigation. when you learned of russia efforts, we will get to that in a minute. my understanding is that russia has historically attempted to interfere with our elect world process -- electoral process. they have a history of doing it. learned of russia's effor

brennan: mr. putin's political standing in russia is certainly well supported by key oligarchs who control billion-dollar industries and parts of the russian economy. he is, i think relied on them for support and they are reliant on him. they obviously have a lot of international connections, business connections that they will use to the event that there is interest. russiansee that intelligence agencies did not hesitate at all to use private companies and russian persons who are unaffiliated with the russian government to support the objectives. >> we talk about americans in russian now and these couple of minutes. who are suborned in such a way, and russian whoarchs that are recruited are suborned, do they necessarily need to know that they are doing russia's bidding? times they: no, many do not. many times they do not know that the person they are interacting with his russian. many times they know the individuals may be russian officials, but they do not know that there is an intelligence conn

this was the most explicit testimony we've heard so far from director brennan. what prompted this i think it's fair to say unprecedented level of disclosure? >> it seems as though it's as basic as he was asked. he was invited to come as a now private citizen to congress to testify, and he was asked the question that we have heard others who were working in -- in the government, in levels akin to his. for example, we've heard from james clapper on a couple of occasions ask the same question. was -- did you have concern and the details of what those concerns were. the fact is that the answer was yes and he had the information, the realtime information since he was cia director during the 2016 campaign about the fact that the intelligence community was deeply worried about the fact that russians wanted to influence the election and wanted to get to trump campaign officials or at least people in donald trump's orbit. there's no question, i totally agree with you, that this was the most explosive and serious charge and maybe -- maybe charge is not the right word but

and to be very careful about what brennan said, brennan didn't give him quite the answer he wanted.e said, look, i saw some contacts that raised some concerns. and as we do because we're not a law enforcement agency, we referred those to the fbi. i think what that tells you, and i was listening closely to the previous panel, there's a lot of possible outcomes of the investigation that the fbi is doing and of course of the investigations that the congress is doing. and one of those outcomes may be -- i mean, it could be that there was criminal behavior. it could be that there wasn't. it could be there was inappropriate but not criminal behavior. but one of those outcomes may be, and this could be featured in a report that we write, not necessarily the fbi but that we write, could be hey, when you've got a transition and you've got a foreign power like russia that will dedicate a lot of resources and a lot of people to trying to make those contacts, to trying to cultivate people, here's how you should react. here's how it works. we could all learn from how the russians seek as john br

>> well, i think what struck me most about director brennan, former director brennan's testimony, was as you were describing, what he said about his impression of these links between not just u.s. citizens but americans associated with the trump campaign and unidentified russians. thinkt was interesting especially that it was a republic, trey gowdy, of south carolina, who was really goading him on this question. i think it is pretty clear that congressman gowdy was trying to set a trap. he was trying to get director brennan to either say there was no evidence of collusion, no information pointing to collusion whatsoever, or to breach his solemn obligation not to introduce classified information in front of public testimony. and it was interesting to note that director brennan, time and again, reminded congressman gowdy that his own committee had this classified information. so congressman gowdy was actually asking for things that his staff had in an effort to lay this trap that i think director brennan avoided very effectively. >> naveed, how does this affect the investigation going f

brennan didn't name who they were, but u.s. persons involved in the trump campaign had contacts and interaction with russian officials. i mean, you can't get any innuendo or hence any stronger than that that where there is smoke there is perhaps fire. and republicans certainly have a cause to be concerned top. >> rick stengel, so the president now has a personal lawyer because the white house counsel really represents the institution of the white house. and you if i have had this discussion before, the kind of government worker ethos, the career public official ethos that if all these reports are true the president has bumped up against miscalculating the kinds of people perhaps that he was going to run into. >> in his dealings with comey, in his dealings with the other people that he has perhaps tried to subon to obstruct justice these are career officials who are just deeply offended by being asked about that. i mean we have seen those stories in the paper n the "washington post" story today. i think he doesn't come prehelped

it is important to note that brennan was not privy to any intelligence after january 20th, brennan did say it was his job prior to that to press the fbi to investigate further. wolfe. >> jessica snyder thank you very much. to get answers from the fire national security adviser michael flynn, our congressional correspondent is standing by. s sun we heard from the vice president a while ago, update our viewers. >> wolfe, it is made clear it's game on with michael flynn.they're willing to bring the fight on to challenge him. the committee behind the doors a short moment ago and try to force his hands on all of this the new headlines they'll be issuing two new subpoenas to michael flynn's businesses. the chairman making it clear, he said look flynn can't be protected here noting that businesses can't plead the 5th. they'll also be sending a letter to flynn's lawyer, asking if a person can plead the 5th when it's about a document release, which of course is what flynn did just this monday. and the committee keeping a big threat of potentially holding mine flynn in contempt of congress is st

brennan not mincing words. he said russian members interacted with members of the trump campaign warranting the investigation. this comes as the president is still on the overseas trip. there was tension with the pontiff and trump during the campaign. how did the visit go? we have it all covered starting with senior international correspondent clarissa ward live in manchester. claris clarissa, what is the latest? >> reporter: good morning, chris. the government wrapped up another meeting of emergency services with the threat level now elevated to critical. the first time in nearly a decade that the threat level has been that high. that means an attack could possibly be imminent. we know there have been three arrests in conjunction with the terrorist attack at the manchester arena. that makes the total number of arrests four. interior services saying they do not believe it is likely the bomber acted alone. take a look. new details emerging about suspected manchester bomber salman abedi. british officials telling

brennan is sort of there, sort of just tells the truth.vestigation they're doing, counterintelligence was worrisome enough that he wanted the fbi to look at it is unique. that's not happening all the time. in fact, the cia generally wants to keep these investigations to themselves because they don't want to give up sources and methods. i thought even though he said i didn't see collusion, he was clear to say that collusion was a legal standard to be set and determined by the fbi and a court and he was not -- that wasn't his job. >> and we did, mark preston, today for the first time have the cia director say not only that there were interactions between trump campaign and the russians but that the russians were trying to recruit trump associates from the campaign. >> no doubt about that. what's interested is i don't think we can look at recruitment tactics meaning what they might have done to try to get carter paige on might be more than them trying to get somebody else in the campaign to come into the fold. if you look at the cast of chara

brennan said he's not sure if those reports are true. he says if they are, he thinks president trump may have violated two protocols, not laws. one is a protocol that discourages u.s. officials from sharing intel with visiting dignitaries as opposed to going through intel channels and then separate protocol that encourages any u.s. officials that want to share information with a foreign dignitary and ask where the first came from and ask first. but two important points. brennan said he shared a fair amount of intel with the russians during his time as director of the cia. he says he thinks the leaks are appalling and whoever is putting this information out and keeps dinging the white house should be rounded up and punished. >> shepard: thanks, peter. the latest blockbuster report from the washing report is if true very serious. the paper reports president trump asked the heads of the national intelligence agency and the national security agency to say that there was no collusion between members of team trump and the russians. minutes fro

clapper, gates, brennan.an add their opinion into it. normally if you're going in to testify in government, have you to write out scripts, talking points have to be crisp. that's what we saw with dni coats. he was trying to be careful about his language when he was talking about these things. >> brennan, except for the weird camera angle and napoleon in the corner you look at him over there was incredibly effective. it was like a graduate seminar in here is common sense. here is my experience. what it also got to, which i think is fascinating. for all the arguments we've had the last three weeks, they have been about process. they have been about covering up. we still don't know what the hell we're covering up. that's what mueller is getting at. >> head to the uk. england under elevated terror alert as new details emerge about the man british authorities say carried out the attack in manchester killing 22 people. officials say that 22-year-old salman abdi british born citizen of libyan defense was the man beh

i thought that's what brennan was getting at. sometimes you go down a path and don't realize you are on it. when you have a president with extensive business dealings throughout the world and with conflicts of interest, you are vulnerable to the potential for being compromised and the fact they don't allow for that or don't want to get to the bottom of it -- >> let's play some of the sound. they'll they they interfered or were successful. >> frequently individuals who go along a treasonous path do not realize they're along that path until it gets to be a bit too late. that's why my radar goes up when i see certain things that i know what the russians are trying to do and i don't know whether the targets of their areas are as mindful of the russian intentions as they need to be. >> another term for that is useful idiot. you have a canny foreign power that had contact with a campaign and now an administration that it may find it easy to spin or move into their spear of influence. don't forget the larger context. ultimately what put

john brennan testifying for several hours. note worthy testimony about intelligence, about possible collusion between trump associates. he was worried enough about that to pass it on the fbi saying it's the fbi's job to track the evidence to see if there's actual collusion. we're waiting on a number of breaking developments. the president of the united states landing in rome. nieves isreal this morning. we'll watch the president land in rome. you see air force one right there. big meeting with the pope tomorrow. two men have differences on immigration, climate change and other issues, but the president continues his international trip. we're also waiting for an update in manchester england. concert hall attack by a suicide bomber. police briefing any minute. we'll take you live when that happens. discuss what we just heard. with us jackie kucinich, natalie, david, and laura meckler. listening to director brennan, i want to playoff the top of the republicans were trying to get him to say there was no evidence of collusion, that

former cia director john brennan testified before the house intelligence committee today. democratic castro asked him how the intelligence community came to the unanimous feel that russia was interfering in the election. >> how and why did all three agencies come to such a high degree of confidence about their assessment? >> i think that they rigorously interrogating the data very careful and deep discussions about what the data told them about their assessments and so, therefore, there was a unanimous consensus among the three agencies odni about the judgments. >> joining us now representative, democratic congressman from texas and member of the select committee on intelligence. and also with us, a former house intelligence committee staff member. she's now a director of national security program at the third way. ned price, former spokesperson for national security counsel and former cia analyst. he's an msnbc national security analyst. i wanted to get your take away from the hearing with former director brennan today. >> well, i think one of the most important things th

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much more ahead from john brennan. he said he was so concerned russia was trying to recruit members of the trump campaign team that he formed a group of intelligence officials to focus exclusively on russian interfierce in the u.s. elections. we'll speak about that and more with a reporter from politico. she points out brennan also testified that all the leaks about the trump administration are hurting intelligence gathering. all coming up top of the hour on shepard smith reporting. see you then. >> sandra: president trump wrapping up his three day stay in israel, arriving just hours ago in rome for the european leg of his first overseas trip. in israel, the president saying now is the time to make what he calls the ultimate deal to achieve the middle east peace that has eluded previous presidents. >> the palestinians are ready to reach for peace. i know you have heard i before. i am telling you, that's what i do. they are ready to reach for peace. and my meeting with my very good friend benjamin, i can tell you also t

here we are, brennan was talking about intelligence he had from last summer. here we are eight, nine months later and we still cannot say with any certainty who exactly he's talking about, who was talking to who. we've had multiple reports. we know of at least one person. there's been a foreign intelligence warrant on. i mean, that shows how slowly, in some respects, this is moving even though this has been such a hysteria in washington about it. well deserved, by the way. >> robert mueller taking over james comey, that investigation, a criminal one, he says there's some investigation, is that might be moving at a faster pace but maybe more secret. michael schmidt, what did you learn today? >> well, the thing that struck me is that if you're trump, you can see why you're still frustrated with this story, because as you point out, they still can't say, here's the collusion. this is the way that we -- brennan can't sit there and say, i did see evidence of collusion. so here we are, several months after he's come into office, all of these accusations have been th

but in fact, that is not what brennan said. he said the question of collusion remains "unresolved." >> and i was worried by a number of the contacts that the russians had with u.s. persons, and so therefore, by the time i left office on january 20th, i had unresolved questions in my mind as to whether or not the russians had been successful in getting u.s. persons involved in the campaign or not to work on their behalf, again, easter in a witting or unwitting fashion. >> we're joined now by cnn's team of reporters. we've been follow thing story for a number of weeks. gloria, you look at these moments. the white house denied and even called out its cia director and others to challenge that there were repeated contacts of this when "the new york times" reported it. but on this question of collusion again today, as the president repeated saying they've said there's no evidence of collusion. that's not what the cia director said. >> no, it's not what he said. he said that there was a five alarm fire going on, and he didn't know how

the former cia chief, john brennan, testified. the trump campaign had contacts with russian officials. he said he was worried about them. joining me now, phil mattingly. how problematic is this testimony? >> it certainly wasn't a positive development. you have the former director of the cia saying explicitly while he was at the cia, he saw intelligence and information that made clear there were contacts between u.s. persons involved in the trump campaign and russian officials. we have reported that in the past but not directly attributed in a public forum to somebody at the level of john brennan. he made clear this is something he and his agency became aware of last summer. in august, he placed a call to the head of the fsb, the russians lead intelligence service and warned him about the meddling and told him to back off. it was clear this was something that riled the agency and the c.i.a. director had a big problem with. now, it is being played out in a public forum really only adding to the questions, brianna, and problems that

thank you, director brennan, for your service. i would like to spend sometime talking about the outsized role that the russian oligarchy plays in terms of supporting the russian government. it's been said that there -- when the russians want to cultivate a u.s. person, they'll do it over a long period of time. is that your experience? >> yeah, i guess a lot depends on the u.s. person and their willingness to work with the russians. >> were you aware that they were attempting to cultivate then real estate developer donald trump for almost eight years? >> i'm not going to talk about any individuals, no. >> are russian ol garks encouraged to invest in the united states? >> by whom? >> by putin? >> there are some tremendous investment opportunities here in the united states, and certainly, i think that mr. putin would like to see more russian involvement and investment here in the united states so yes. >> and with that, russian investment, is there an expectation that they're going to provide information to president putin about what'

brennan. thank you, mr. brennan for agreeing to visit with us this morning. we appreciate that. as you're aware of the horrific attack last night in manchester arena in the uk. we offer up our prayers and sympathy to the deceased j injuries. last night's tragedy reminds us the crucial roles we play in protecting our homeland. i'd like to remind our members and witnesses this morning's portion is an open hearing. there will be a closed session immediately following today's open hearing to allow member and the witness to discuss classified information. to our guests, welcome, we appreciate the public and the media's interest in the committee's important work. we expect proper decorum will be observed at all times. and disruptions will not be tolerated. i would like our witness to stand and raise your right hand, please. i do solemnly swear the testimony you will give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god. appreciate it. i now recognize myself for five minu

brennan for being here. because of your long history with the agency, i think that you're the perfect expert to give us some historical p perspective on how long russia has been at this, this active measure campaign. how long would you say that russia and the soviet union sought to undermine the process of our democratic framework here in the west? >> for many, many decades. >> for decades. and did russia attempt to collect intelligence on specific u.s. presidential candidates or target political parties or organizations in the u.s. before 2016, or was it more of a general campaign? >> i would defer to the bureau, which would have the investigative lead in terms of what might be happening here on u.s. soil. but i know that, again, the russians try to cultivate relationships with individuals. again, i would defer to the bureau. >> thank you. can you provide any examples of past russian or soviet active measures, as they're called? >> well, it runs the gamut from targeted assassinations of dissidents, of membe

we'll pick it up next time. >> welcome, director brennan. building on theuestions that my colleague, mr. him, talked with you about, i'd like to ask you some more specifics about russia attacking us and how their attacks specifically caused us to doubt our own credibility as americans. i'd like to talk about truth and what it means to be trufthful t your country if you are in a position of power. director brennan, was putin first within russia, and then against us, working to undermine truth, and how exactly has he done that? >> mr. putin and russian intelligence services are determined to do what they can to influence in a very inappropriate and illegal way activities within western democracies, to undermine the western-led liberal democratic order. they do that on a regular basis. they see that as western dempsey as democracy as a threat to them. that's why the cyber domain right now is a growing playground for russian activities. and they will use that and exploit it whatever way they can. so they've been involved in elections for many ye

brennan, before i yield to mr. gowdy, i have one question to ask you, and i realize we're in open session, so i'm going to word it a certain way, but i think you'll understand what i'm saying. in the preparation of the report on the 2016 election, which concluded that russia favored the election of donald trump, who would have made the decision to include or exclude any evidence or indications of russian intentions that were contrary to that conclusion? >> myself, jim comey, mike rogers, and jim clapper relied on the experts who pulled this draft together in the intelligence community assessment, and it was a process where the representatives from those entities wrestled with the language to make sure that they had as much accuracy and precision and consensus as possible. so, any adjustments that were made were made during the process. i met with some of my officers who were involved in it. i asked them questions. i wanted to make sure that they were comfortable with sort of the language that was being used, but it

brennan said was happening gets at the very core of our democracy. the free and fair elections of our representatives. americans of all political stripes should be outraged by what putin and the russians did during the 2016 elections. as former director brennan said, in america, quote, we cherish the ability to elect our own leaders, without outside interference or disruption, end of quote. so again, i expect the senate intelligence committee will continue its bipartisan investigation into these events. i expect that special counsel mueller will help us all get to the bottom of this. we must make sure he is not interfered with. and finally, i expect this body will hold up a high standard for the next f.b.i. director. he or she should be someone who is nonpartisan and independent, a director's director, a prosecutor's prosecutor, not a politician of either party. amidst all the furor, we cannot lose sight of the most serious part of this investigation, the scope of russian interference in our elections and if they colluded with representatives of an a

john brennan / former cia director: "i told mr.bornokov that if russia had such a campaign underway, it would be certain to backfire. i said that all americans, regardless of political affiliation or whom they might support in the election, cherish their ability to elect their own leaders without outside interference or disruption." that interference has led to an f-b-i investigation.and questions about whether president trump has sought to discredit, undermine or obstruct that investigation. multiple current and former us officials tell c-n-n that president trump asked two of the government's top intelligence chiefs -- director of national intelligence dan coats and national security agency director admiral michael rogers -- to publicly deny evidence of cooperation between his campaign and russia during the 2016 election.both men refused the request. (pam) president trump is expected to retain a private attorney surrounding the inquiry into his campaign's alleged ties to russia. a senior administration official tells c-n-n... the

clapper, gates, brennan. every time one of these officials come out they can add their opinion into it. normally if you're going in to testify in government, have you to write out scripts, talking points have to be crisp. that's what we saw with dni coats. he was trying to be careful about his language when he was talking about these things. >> brennan, except for the weird camera angle and napoleon in the corner you look at him over there was incredibly effective. it was like a graduate seminar in here is common sense.

director brennan has said.said that he was looking at things that made him question whether the russians were able to use u.s. persons connected to the trump campaign willingly or wittingly. he said those questions weren't resolved for him by the time he left office. what do you make of what he has had to say? >> i think the question of russian influence is very important. but i'm very disappointed in the one-sidedness of these questions. bill clinton got $500,000 from a russian bank while his wife was secretary of state. the clinton foundation got millions from russians indirectly through a foundation in canada while the secretary of state approved 20% of our uranium supply going to russia. the chairman of the clinton campaign has a brother who is a registered agent for a russian bank in moscow. if we'll talk about contacts, then let's talk about all contacts. we americans have to understand. we're the most powerful country in the world. many countries do it in a wide variety of ways. and i wish the congress w

john brennan giving the most detailed account of the trump campaign. we have joe johns in washington. joe. >> reporter: chris, this is the latest that has been made public so far of the russian interference in the last sectiosectio election. the former cia chief with no knowledge of collusion. it appears the cia raised the red flag. >> i am aware of intelligence that revealed contacts between russian officials and u.s. persons involved in the trump campaign. >> reporter: the former head of the cia john brennan, testifying for the first time he saw concerning evidence of russian operatives attempting to recruit trump aides during the campaign. >> it raised questions in my mind whether or not the russians were able to gain cooperation. >> reporter: brendnan did not se proof of collusion before he left office while stressing there was enough evidence for an investigation. >> i know what the russians try to do. they try to get individuals including u.s. persons to act on their behalf wittingly or unwittingly. people along a treasonous path do not realize i

that was when brennan was really parrying-- harrying -- that one back. that was sort of a classified -- something to be done in a classified setting. i don't think the republicans on the committee were quite satisfied with that answer. emily: brennan said also repeatedly that russia's middling in cyberspace is obvious and has been out in the open. did we get any more color on how it can be handled or prevented? reporter: voter information between brennan and the committee members. what is interesting is brennan said today this is a pattern going back many decades, that was the exact phrase he used. so i think another turn of phrase he used occasionally was insidious. he said sometimes people were being cultivated as an intelligence asset don't even realize it, and may unwittingly be an intelligence asset. emily: last question, any line of site online former fbi director james comey will be testifying? reporter: there really is no line of sight. i know in the senate they said they were trying to get something together after memorial day. in the house righ

the former cia director john brennan wrapping up his testimony on capitol hill.ll be back live when we come back on "andrea mitchell reports." for mom" 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" p roll. bounty, the quicker picker upper and now try bounty with new despicable me 3 prints. in theaters june 30. before fibromyalgia, i was a doer. i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. woman: for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling,

brennan tonight also detailing how he personally warned the head of russia's intelligence agency lastear about how its, quote, brazen interference would backfire. >> i said american voters would be outraged by any russian attempt to interfere in the election. >> reporter: separately dan coates refusing to confirm or deny whether president trump pressured him or the head of the national security agency to publicly push back on suggestions mr. trump's campaign colluded with russia. >> i don't feel it's appropriate to characterize discussions and conversations with the president. >> reporter: also tonight the senate intelligence committee zeroing in on ousted national security adviser michael flynn, ruling out immunity and threatening to hold him in contempt of congress if he refuses to turn over subpoenaed documents. >> i've said that everything is on the table. that's not our preference today. we would like to hear from general flynn. we'd like to see his documents. >> reporter: as for the former cia chief's assertion that u.s. individuals may not have known they were interacting with

. >>> a stunner from the former head of the cia, john brennan goes public. says the russians did, in fact, make contact with the trump campaign. >>> manchester. remembering the 22 victims who lost their lives at a concert bombing. also learning more about the attacker and what police are looking for now. >>> some concerns that there could be a risk of another attack potentially. >> raising the terror threat level there in the uk. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start". i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it's wednesday, may 24th, 2017. president trump and pope francis face to face shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries. the two leaders meeting in private seeming to put their differences aside after disagreeing on several important issues during the campaign. >> the latest stop for the president on his foreign trip that will take him to brussels later today. sara murray is live in rome with more on trump's visit and the rest of today's agenda. good morning to you, sara. >> reporter: the pope is behind me delivering his weekly address. that'

former cia director john brennan telling a house panel russia quote brazenly interfered in u.s. elections going so far as took negatively contact members of the trump campaign. brennan stopped short of calling that collusion saying it only raised questions the fbi should pursue. >>> president trump is expected to hire private attorney handle matters related to the russian probe. mark kasowitz has represented trump for 15 years. also represents russian billionaire well-known to russian president vladimir putin. >>> this comes as house investigators vow to keep pushing for critical documents from former national security adviser michael flynn. the committee even issuing two new subpoenas, documents from flynn's businesses which investigators say does not have the ability to plead the fifth as flynn says he'll do. >> let's bring in zach wolf live in washington for us. good morning. a big day for the president on his overseas trip but the russia investigation just continues. >> front page. the "times," the "journal" and the "post." >> i was worried by a number of the contacts that t

among them former cia director john brennan who revealed mounting concerns over possible ties between russia and the trump campaign. nbc news national correspondent peter alexander has more. >> reporter: with multiple investigations ramping up, former cia director john brennan testifying before a congressional committee. >> i felt as though the fbi investigation was certainly well founded. >> reporter: for the first time publicly acknowledging his concerns that the trump campaign associates wittingly or unwittingly were cooperating with russian operatives. >> i encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between russian officials and u.s. persons involved in the trump campaign. >> reporter: strill, brennan, who left the cia in january, says he never saw proof of collusion. the white house pouncing in a statement arguing despite a year of investigation there's still no evidence of any collusion. brennan tonight also detailing how he personally warned the head of russia's intelligence agency last year about how it's quote, brazen, int

brennan, for being here. because of your long history with the agency, i think you're the perfect expert to give us some historical perspective on how long russia has been at this, this active measure campaign. how long would you say that russia and the soviet union sought to undermine the process of our democratic framework here in the west? >> for many, many decades. >> for decades. and did russia attempt to collect intelligence on specific u.s. presidential candidates or target political parties or organizations in the u.s. before 2016, or was it more of a general campaign? >> well, i would defer to the bureau, which would have the investigative lead in terms of what might be happening here on u.s. soil. but i know that, again, the russians try to cultivate relationships with individuals. but again, i would defer to the bureau. >> thank you. can you provide any examples of past russian or soviet active measures, as they're called? >> well, it runs the gamete from targeted assassinations of dissidents, of m

election, according to john brennan. contacts and interactions, under pressure from trey gowdy and other republicans between russian officials and quote/unquote u.s. persons he refused to name in an open hearing in the trump administration. he says, the intel was worthy of investigation and on that question of collusion, you heard him say that when he left office on inauguration day on january 20th he was unsure whether that collusion had actually taken place. again there was intel worthy of investigation by the fbi. now, on the question of leaks, one area where republicans, democrats and john brennan were all in agreement, that the leaks that are coming from the white house, about the most intimate and private conversations president trump is having with both officials within the white house and foreign officials like sergey lavrov are incredibly damaging to national security. >> mike, thank you. greg, let's talk about what the white house would call those leaks. news that the president tried to talk to a couple of his

so what brennan said rang true. it's a slow dance. >> so what i'm hearing from you, there's a possibility that there is this two collaborators exchanging information, it could be the case that russians are pulling off this operation while attempting to essentially compromise or infiltrate in a unilateral way agents around the trump campaign. >> that's right. so if you -- going back to that timeline with flynn. we talk about 2014 when he was essentially fired by president obama. this -- a bitter general would be a perfect target for the russians. they would make an approach. this is how i would do it. they would make an approach, and that may not be illegal or even raise the concerns of mr. flynn, who is a 30 plus year veteran of the intelligence community. so that is -- it is exactly right. they might build a network of people and then what's curious, chris, that all these people ended up in the trump campaign. but you're right. >> it just seems like this space has to be reckoned with in terms of -- there's a sort o

which brennan brought up today.itting or unwittingly, these people were doing the kremlin's work and putin got what he was seeking. >> congressman, i know people with patriotic feelings, i was so taken with what brennan said today. there's a straight arrow guy, a public servant, talking about we have to do something to make sure nobody ever again helps the russians meddle with our elections, that is a patriotic cause here. i think that's the kind of things the democrats and republicanks free on, we don't want anyone messing with our democracy. we sort of invented it. here he is testifying today about the nature of this russian effort to undermine our american democracy. here he is. >> it should be clear to everyone that russia brazenly interfered in our 2016 presidential election process, in that they undertook these activities despite our strong protests and explicit warning that they not do so. >> brennan testified he personally warned the head of russia's head of intelligence service last year about interference

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brennan. where this goes from here, i lost track of different number of investigations that are ongoing, nothing has resulted from this. >> nothing, and total objective of this is to undermine president trump, simply for the political gain on the democrats' part. none of us have found collusion. you have senator feinstein like you mentioned who sits on senate judiciary committee, twice, saying, no i have not found any evidence of collusion. have you people like maxine waters who loves to talk. but yet she is on record as saying, no, i have not seen any evidence of collusion. this is like the president said, a witch-hunt. this is unfortunate with so many other things we should focus on right now, the president is doing an amazing job initially -- internationally trying to get everyone onboard fighting terrorism, yet we're looking at this nonstory story. charles: to you, byron. a lot of people need to remember that martha stewart did not to jail for insider trading, she want to jail are in obstr

brennan told the house committee about what he knew. the house intelligence committee. listen to this with me. >> i encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and inter actions between russian officials and u.s. persons involved in the trump campaign. >> all right. that may be, adam, as explicit as we've heard from someone who would actually know. you've been reporting this sort of thing through your sources but a lot of people were surprised it's finally come out, that not only did brennan and the cia know this, but they knew it well before the election. >> right. basically what brennan is doing is basically saying for the first time publicly, from his mouth, you know, what he had been saying privately to senior members of congress and to administration officials when he was the cia director, which is that basically, they were seeing these contacts. when he says that, what he, in part, means, is that the united states government, the national security agency, the fbi, the cia, they were spying on the russians. as they were spying on

. >> also today we're watching john brennan testify on capitol hill as part of the russian intelligence committee's investigation and russian interference in the 2016 election. possible collusion with the trump campaign. >> i encounter the and am aware of information intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between russian officials and u.s. persons involved in the trump campaign. that i was concerned about because of known russian efforts to suborn such individuals and it raised questions in my mind again whether or not the russians were able to gain the cooperation of those individuals. >> let's get some more now on the terror attack in the united kingdom. i want to bring in diplomatic editor nic robertson. he's joining us from number 10 downing street in london. also peter bergen is standing by. police reveal the name of the man they believe carried out this terror attack. what can you tell bus salman abedi? >> 22 years old, wolf. according to the police chief, the coroner hasn't formally identified him yet, but we know according to the prime minister this morning after s