my question is about cyprus and how they are dealing with it.to be known as a money laundering hub and have tried to clean up their act in that regard. are they cooperating in terms of making this stuff available to americans who may be looking for it? >> they are. the attorney general in cyprus told us his office, particularly an office set up to ipth fomoney laundering is cooperating and has handed over information about manafort to investigators at the treasury department. when we have spoken to officials they say that their systems of controls have gotten better and that they don't want this reputation anymore. we reached out to the bank of cyprus. they are trying to distance themselves in particular from mr. manafort and say that just that the fact that there was this internal investigation triggered shows that they were not asleep at the wheel, that manafort's activities there were specifically flagged and that when more questions were asked about him to provide information about why money was moving across his accounts and who it belonged

lazarus on the island of cyprus.eaning up, the authorities, the church authorities discover that there's a sarcophagus that contains bones inside. ♪ ♪ >> the marble sarcophagus is believed to date from the time of jesus. >> this is the tomb of st. lazarus. here, you can see in greek, it means a friend of jesus. >> those words, friend of jesus, that really clinched it for people here. they believe that they have the bones of lazarus. >> today the bones are preserved in a golden relic. >> it is a piece of the head of st. lazarus. >> so we've got six bones maybe arms or leg bones, and a piece of skull? >> yes. >> the story that is told today is that they only gave the emperor part of the body of lazarus. in fact, parts of the skull of lazarus is paraded on the island of cyprus every feast day on march 17th. >> unbroken continuity from that period to our time. >> they are so highly venerated that the orthodox authorities will not open to allow inspection of the bones. but the church of st. lazarus museum has a collection

some of that money went to a manafort linked company in cyprus. he hired manafort to help the putin government, calling it fake news. but eventually, even in cyprus, manafort's accounts raised suspicions. the internal auditing system flagged the accounts for possible money laundering according to the banking sources that said when he asked for more information, manafort chose to close the accounts without answering the questions. late today a spokesman for paul manafort sent a statement saying they were legitimate entities, adding he has no specific personal recollection of the shut down of the cyprus accounts which took place during a banking cries on the island. he has repeatedly denied working for the russian government. >> his former position with trump, all the attention in this season of investigations, why is all this unusual and getting so much attention specifically? >> frankly, bryan, there's been so many reports and information not just about paul manafort but so many others linked to the trump administration and allegedly tied to russi

cyprus is a notorious banking hub for criminal russian money laundering. nbc news richard engel was reporting from cyprus today on the question of whether any russian oligarchs trails lead to that campaign. the a.p. is reporting there is a serious american financial crime investigation that has followed to cyprus the financial trail of trump's russia-linked campaign chairman paul manafort. i have a few things we can report on that front tonight which have either been swamped in today's news or otherwise not previously reported. fascinating stuff. all bad news for the administration. a few points here. first, we can report tonight that the attorney general of cyprus says that that country's government has now handed over to u.s. investigators information about paul manafort's financial transactions in cyprus. again, cyprus best known in the financial world as the largest international hub for laundering dirty russian money. that government is cooperating with u.s. investigators and handed over documentation of paul manafort's financial transactions in that

cyprus is a notorious banking hub for criminal russian money laundering. nbc news richard engel was reporting from cyprus today on the question of whether any russian oligarchs trails lead to that campaign. the a.p. is reporting there is a serious american financial crime investigation that has followed to cyprus the financial trail of trump's russia-linked campaign chairman paul manafort. i have a few things we can report on that front tonight which have either been swamped in today's news or otherwise not previously reported. fascinating stuff. all bad news for the administration. a few points here. first, we can report tonight that the attorney general of cyprus says that that country's government has now handed over to u.s. investigators information about paul manafort's financial transactions in cyprus. again, cyprus best known in the financial world as the largest international hub for laundering dirty russian money. that government is cooperating with u.s. investigators and handed over documentation of paul manafort's financial transactions in that

so this web of companies and accounts starts opening in cyprus linked to manafort. -- these continue to operate from 2007 until 2012 when suddenly a bank audit is triggered under the know your customer program. and this program, bank officials sent out a request and they said can you provide more information about these multiple accounts. and as you saw in the clip you aired earlier, particularly when there's activity like a lot of money coming into one account and then a lot of money quickly leaving, it's not unusual for bank officials to ask for more information. and then suddenly the accounts were closed. so when you take all of these things together, i think that's why treasury department officials are asking questions. that's why journalists are asking questions. that's why several senators we've spoken to are asking questions and they want to know more about how these pieces link together. >> richard, can you -- >> why were the accounts opened. why were they closed. whose money was it. and tell us more about the oleg deripaska connection. >> can you hold on fo

investigators information about paul manafort's financial transactions in cyprus. again, cyprus best known in the financial world as the largest international hub for laundering dirty russian money. that government is cooperating with u.s. investigators and handed over documentation of paul manafort's financial transactions in that company. that's one. two, we can also report tonight that new jersey senator cory booker, who has taken a particular interest in the money laundering part of this investigation and this conundrum, new jersey senator cory booker has demanded an explanation from the newly confirmed trump administration commerce secretary wilbur ross about his role in the notoriously corrupt bank of cyprus where he's a major shareholder and, until recently, was vice chairman. senator booker gave wilbur ross, the commerce secretary, until today to explain his connections through that bank or otherwise to another major bank of cyprus shareholder who also happens to be the russian oligarch who did this otherwise inexplicable real estate transaction with donald

eventually, even in cyprus, manafort's accounts raised suspicions. in 2012, the internal auditing system at this bank flagged accounts for possible money laundering according to banking sources who also said when the bank asked for more information, manafort chose to close the accounts without answering the questions. late today a spokesman for paul manafort sent us a statement saying all manafort's companies were legitimate entities and established for lawful ends, adding mr. manafort has no specific personal recollection of the shutdown of his cyprus accounts which took place during a banking crisis on the island. he has repeatedly denied working for the russian government. lester. >> richard, thank you. >>> white house secretary sean spicer sought to shut down questions about russia today during a testy exchange in a white house briefing with april ryan, a correspondent with urban radio networks. >> you've got russia, you have wiretapping. >> no, we don't have that. i don't. >> on capitol hill -- >> if the president puts russian salad dressing on

his reward is to become head of the wilbur ross-run bank of cyprus.my: he was fined $600 0 million for helping wonder russian money. way to bank, as you point out, extending morek, than $300 million of loaoans to trump thatat remain outstanding. >> that's right. out to a whole lot of smoke, a few fires breaking. more and more contradictions in the administration's position. i would say if you're looking at this statistically, we are now up to maybe the odds of this being -- happening just by probability is like one in 10,000. there is something going on with this administration. way, for example, you could explain all of the positions that donald trump takes that are perfectly aligned with those of vladimir putin on nato, and the eu, on pipelines, on human rights, on immigration. i mean, it is like they are kissing cousins. amy: i want to turn to massachusetts senator elizabeth warren speaking out against wilbur ross' confirmation this past monday before he was confirmed. >> mr. ross is a wall s street bibillionaire wiwith a lonong hy of profiting fro

the attorney general in cyprus told us his office has provided u.s.ors with information about manafort-linked businesses in cyprus. >> richard engel reporting from london for us. president trump is expected to sign a controversial measure that will allow internet service providers to sell your personal information and you don't have to say okay. the house voted to overturn fcc rules from the obama era that require internet providers like verizon, at&t, come cast, cast permission before sharing their customers' data. comcast is the parent company of nbc universal. this could include details about online dating and e-mails. now advocates say this is a battle between privacy and profits. joining me now, chris lewis, vice president of public knowledge, an advocacy group and deputy director of legislative affairs at the fcc. so is this a battle between privacy and profits or that hyperbolic? >> i don't think it's hyperbolic. these companies want to use data and make profits off of it. they' they're explicit about it. so these rules say consumers have to gi

we hope to conclude on a with cyprus, greece, and italy.n pave the this mediterranean gas pipeline to take place. my vision is that three years from now we will be able to andrt natural gas to turkey we will be complete the mediterranean pipeline and supply gas from the area. shery: when it comes to the pipeline do you have a plan on where the money will come from? it will be a private sector project. it is commercially feasible. first, we have to conclude in the next few months some kind of agreement between the four governments involved. have a general understanding between the , currently israel and cyprus, and the consumers, -- and the main consumer italy. in italy, natural gas supply might also replace some of these apply coming from north africa. yousef: let's put the energy story aside. talk about the political situation in israel. benjamin netanyahu has threatened to go to election. how do you feel about that? do you support him on that front? running a very vibrant parliamentary democracy. sometimes in coalitions with many differen

jon: john hourican, bank of cyprus ceo.x: we are still seeing banks wanting to move their workers out. frank for and paris are the big winners. a can't wait. >> that is also some kind of negotiation as well. alix: so do it. robert shiller, macro markets cofounder and chief economist will be joining us later with the s&p had it 1% down for the first time since october. he was warning about this a few weeks ago. chiefrbc capital markets strategist will be joining us. two hourse markets, and four minutes away from the open, the dow down 2/10 of 1%. the s&p 500 on a four-day slide. lowsuries are big, yields on the 10 year. from new york city, you are watching bloomberg. ♪ the biggest week in tv is back. wow, watchathon has netflix? hey, drop a beat... [ beatboxing throughout ] show me orange is the new black. wait, no bloodline. how about bojack? luke cage. oh, dj tanner. maybe show me lilyhammer. mmm, show me last chance u. on second thought, maybe pompidou. narcos, fearless, cooked, the crown. marco polo, lost & found. grace

what has made it work for cyprus?first of all we have some strong promising sectors like , businessd shipping services which have performed strongly. also were very determined and focused on establishing and maintaining a pro-business economic environment. we have not been raising taxes. we have been lowering taxes and offering incentives to business. this has worked. it has delivered a strong rebound in the economy. joe: let's talk about energy. there is ongoing business for ongoing resources. what can you tell us about the latest round of bidding? >> we have concluded a third licensing round. we have managed to attract some of the biggest names of the industry. we have been able to award a block to exxon. had to call from france -- total from france. this shows the potential of the cyprus economics him. say --ral i would dare it is fast becoming an alternative source of supply for the european union. just to give you a number to put that into perspective, so far we have had about 2000 billion cubic meters of discove

in terms of the bank of cyprus, there is one american who is involved in that bank. the one american who is a major shareholder is the new commerce secretary, wilbur ross. so the deutsch bank chairman landing there and donald trump's commerce secretary that makes deutsch bank a little bit of a sensitive subject. the other reason deutsch bank is a sensitive subject is because the president himself owes more money to deutsch bank than any other single lender in the world. president trump is in mock to deutsch bank to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. deutsch bank is the largest known lender to trump's businesses. so summarily removing the prosecutor, going after deutsch bank, that has personal implications for this president. but that's not all. it's not just him. it's his family. this is the waldorf astoria. it's a big, fancy stately hotel. notice the emphasis on stately. heads of state from all over the world when they come to new york to do business at the u.n., they stay at the waldorf astoria. the president stays there when he comes to new york for the

manafort has no specific personal re aal recollection of his closing of the cyprus accounts. attorney general told us his office has handed over information to u.s. investigators about the manafort linked businesses on the island. >> richard engel, thank you very much. >>> first lady milissa rehbere making a rare appearance. and jared kushner set to testify on russia. is the investigation closing in too close to home for president trump? >>> plus, fighting words. hillary clinton swinging at republicans. was this a warmup for a political comeback? remember here at ally, nothing stops us from doing right by our customers. who's with me? we're like a basketball team here at ally. if a basketball team had over 7... i'm in. 7,000 players. our plays are a little unorthodox. but to beat the big boys, you need smarter ways to save people money. we know what you want from a financial company and we'll stop at... nothing to make sure you get it. one, two... and we mean nothing. ♪ ♪ and we mean nothing. he's a nascar champion who's she's a world-class swimmer who's stared down the best

cyprus, greece, italy.y understanding, in order to pave the way for this gas pipeline to take place, my vision is three years from now, we will be able to export natural gas to turkey. six years from now, we will be crosso complete this mediterranean pipeline. >> when it comes to the pipeline -- when it comes to the pipeline, do you have a plan on where the money will come from? probably it will be a private sector project. feasible.ercially this, we have to conclude over the next few months. g.e type of g to some sort of understanding about the regulatory system. an understanding between the exporters, mainly israel and cyprus, and the consumers, currently greece. the main consumer will be italy. such natural gas supply might also replace some of the supply coming from north africa. let's put the energy story aside. talk about the political situation. benjamin netanyahu has threatened to go to elections. do you support him? >> we are running a very vibrant parliamentary democracy. we have to have coalition

conclude frameworks, israel, cyprus, greece, italy, framework.his would be to pay as the way for the east coast mediterranean .as pipeline my vision is that three years from now, we will be able to export natural gas to turkey and six years from now we will complete this pipeline, to supply gas from the eastern mediterranean. to greece and italy. >> and comes to the pipeline, do have a plan on where the money will come from? privatebly it will be a sector project. it is commercially feasible we are to have some ideas. that we have to conclude in the next few months some kind of g-two-g. the spending between the four ,ountries, governments involved the system has some kind of general understandings between the currently -- israel and cyprus, and the consumers currently -- the main consumer would be italy. in italy, such natural gas replace somealso of the supplies coming from north africa. >>. the energy story aside for a second. talk a little bit about the political situation in israel. benjamin death knell has threatened to go to elections. do y

. >> right, we to cyprus whod millions of dollars that were traced to pau campaign chair. and some of that money traced to a russian oligarch who had very close ties s ts to president vr putin. the money between the two, one source telling us manafort to influence politics in the u.s. manafort in a reply to nbc denies that. but some of the questions were closed after that to the bank. >> when it comes to russia the white house pushing back that it actually tried to block former acting attorney general sally yates who testified in the house investigation into russia. what more do you know about that. >> in a series of letters going back and forth between the intelligence committee. the intelligence to hear from her on whether or not they're looking into mike flynn's, the national security adviser's ties to russia. apparently not wanting to testify saying that information was privileged. considered privileged, because he was a client at the time. remember, this bass during the transition. she ended up not testifying. she ended up getting fired. and now the house intelligence

vonnie: professor is staying with us from m.i.t., former ecb and bank of cyprus governor.et's talk more in a few moments , we have the ecb decision to talk about, brexit, and the impact of elections in europe among our subjects. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ from bloomberg world headquarters in new york♪ vonnie:, i am vonnie quinn. mark: i am mark barton. i want to focus on european monetary policy. the ecb consider the question of whether rates could rise the four the bond buying program comes to an end -- before the bond buying program comes to an end. we are with athanasios orphanides. bloomberg has come out with a story that the ecb policymakers considered the question of whether rates could rise before the qe program ends. ecbhe ecd entering -- entering a new phase of discussions? mr. orphanides: i do not think they are. this is a very strange year for europe. all of the elections that you mentioned earlier in the program, the netherlands, france, germany. draghi cocounsel the meetings -- council the meetings , he would have done that, the ecb does not want to be part of the

but eventually even in cyprus manafort's accounts raised suspicions.nal auditing system at laiki bank flagged some of the accounts for possible money laundering according to the banking sources who also said that when the bank asked for more information, manafort chose to close the accounts without answering the questions. a spokesman for paul manafort sent us a statement saying all manafort's companies were legitimate entities and established for lawful ends, adding mr. manafort has no specific personal recollection of the shutdown of his cyprus accounts which took place during a banking crisis on the island. he has repeatedly denied working for the russian government. >> richard engle, thank you for that. >>> coming up, even house republicans have begun to call for chairman nunes to recuse himself from the russia investigation. devin nunes spoke to cameras just moments ago and we'll have a live report coming up. we're live in washington, d.c. with e*trade's powerful trading tools, right at your fingertips, you have access to in-depth analysis, level

nbc sent a team to cyprus, the island nation in the mediterranean where paul manafort reportedly had more than a dozen accounts at a bank there before it closed, at least one of those accounts had millions of dollars, those millions of dollars came from a russia millionaire who was very closely tied to president vladimir putin, another link between someone on the trump campaign and a high ranking russian official or someone tied to the russian government. in this case the sources told nbc that money was being used to influence media and influence politics in the united states. keep in mind this happened years ago, before manafort was involved in the trump team or in the trump campaign. he's denied that. the treasury department involved, those accounts are closesed, there are still questions about whether or not manafort, before he started working for mr. trump, was a paid consultant to influence u.s. politics for russian officials. >> a crucial timeline there with that information. nbc's tracie potts in washington. thanks. >>> in response, a spokesman for paul manafort released a sta

every law enforcement agency in the world knows that cyprus, the bank of cyprus is the russian money-launderingank. don't say there is no russian connection. host: president obama's former senior adviser ben rhodes reacting to the store yesterday, tweeting this. "no president could order a wiretap. " this is reporting this morning in "the dallas morning news." they write that though trump did not offer support to his claim -- let's hear from jeff in california. good morning. go ahead. caller: yes, i am tired of republicans complaining about, how come the democrats cannot give trump a chance? when obama was elected into office, the first thing republicans said is we will make him a one term president. eight years later, obstruction from republicans up until he left office. all you republicans out there who say give trump a chance, as a democrat -- host: lost you, jeff. elliott on the republican line. caller: hello. my name is elliott. i live in south carolina. i have a message for jeff. the democratic party has always been close to russia. ever since the destruction of the communist party in the

wins for scotland and wales only cyprus cup today.icole sapstead, told a select committee that british cycling as the records were incomplete as they try to discover the contents of a mystery package delivered from the uk to doctor roger freeman and bradley wiggins iturra race six years ago in france. earlier i spoke to richard conway. doctor freeman was saying he was unwell, and unable to attend today. mps may call him in the future. they will be writing to him to get written evidence. the need for that became even clearer during the course of nicole sapstead's evidence, the head of uk anti—doping. she was very critical of british cycling and team sky. she said there was no audit trail, effectively no record—keeping of the medical substances going in and out of the manchester velodrome where both organisations have their headquarters. therefore she was unable to determine at this stage of the ongoing investigation if the substance was flumecyl or a powerful steroid, which under certain circumstances can be deemed illegal because of p

some of that money went to a manafort linked company in cyprus.enies he hired man manafort calling it fake news. in 2012, the internal auditing system at a bank flagged accounts for possible money laundering who also said when th bank asked for more information, manafort chose to close the accounts without answering the questions. >> interesting. that was chief foreign correspondent richard engel. last night a spokesperson for man no fort said all his companies were legitimate entities and established for lawful ends, adding mr. manafort has no specific personal recollection of the shutdown of his cyprus accounts which says took place during a banking crisis on the island. >>> there are interesting developments in the defamation lawsuit of trump. former "apprentice" contestant filed suit after the president called unwanted sexual contact totally false and made up nonsense. his attorneys say the president is immune while in office. they're citing the 1997 supreme court case involve paula jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against bill clinton. only o

the chairman of the bank of cyprus is the former ceo of deutsche bank to which donald trump owed all that money at the time he conveniently got this very large influx of cash from a russian guy. the vice chairman of that bank until recently was our new secretary of commerce, long time trump friend wilbur ross. couldn't the tax returns sort this out for us? if there are inexplicable dumps of foreign money into the president's coffers, that cannot be explained in normal business terms, that's potentially a huge problem for somebody serving as president of the united states, right? i mean, the interest in trump's tax returns is not a picayune thing, it's not a partisan thing. if people, if interests have inexplicably given him a lot of money in recent years, why did they do it? what do they want for that money now? is the president in a position where we need to watch to make sure he is not paying off his past benefactors with our country's resources with u.s. policy, with decisions he can make as president? that's part of why we need to see his tax returns. and i raise this issue of th

we went to cyprus to get a look at the secret finances of the former trump campaign chairman. let me talk to you about retirement. a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk asset allocation. -sure. you seem knowledgeable, professional. would you trust me as your financial advisor? -i would. -i would indeed. well, let's be clear, here. i'm actually a deejay. ♪ [ laughing ] no way! i have no financial experience at all. that really is you? if they're not a cfp pro, you just don't know. find a certified financial planner professional who's thoroughly vetted at letsmakeaplan.org. cfp. work with the highest standard. find fast relief behind the counter allergies with nasal congestion? with claritin-d. [ upbeat music ] strut past that aisle for the allergy relief that starts working in as little as 30 minutes and contains the best oral decongestant. live claritin clear, with claritin-d. experience exceptional offers on sales event is here. our most refined models ever. get up to $2,500 customer cash on select 2017 models for these terms. experience amazing at your lexus deale

he would route millions of dollars to cyprus.yprus shall companies as a $19 million transaction with a russian billionaire to purchase a ukrainian cable provider, which is tied to the cayman islands. there is also the leading focus of the investigation as to whether or not the trump campaign coordinate with russia to meddle with blasters election. we have learned -- all in import has not responded to questions this morning. autria: something new everyday. developing now, seven people are under arrest following that deadly terror attack in the heart of london. larry: police conducted raids at six locations overnight. molly hunter has the latest on the investigation in london. >> we shall now observe a minute's silence. molly: this morning, probably back in session, beginning the day with a moment of silence. flags flying at half mast. yesterday, chaos as a knife wielding terrorist with on a rampage, using his card mode down dozens of pedestrians on the city's famed westminster bridge.one woman following falling into the water. she

the home nations are putting in some women's european championship praparations in larnaca at the cyprust new zealand 3—2, wales beat hungary 2—0. england are in the us taking part in the she believes cup. england are in the us taking part in the she believes cup. first up for them is france. they kick off at nine. that will be live on the bbc sport website. andy murray is into the dubai international quarterfinals, after brushing aside spain's guillermo garcia—lopez in straight sets. the world number one needed just an hour and 12 minutes to complete the comfortable win. murray was playing for the second time at his first tournament since his fourth—round defeat at the australian open injanuary. he'll face germany's philipp kohlschreiber in the last eight. he had been dealing with shingles. but dan evans is out. the british number two lost to fourth seed gael monfils. evans fought back after losing the first set to take the second but was swept aside by the world number twelve in the decider. golf could be quicker and simpler. that is according to the rule makers. he is our sports corre

cyprus is a lovely place and a lovely part of the world. but in global finance, cypress is basically the locking black briefcase sbooch russian 'ol garks stuff their ill gotten gains before they handcuffed that briefcase to a henchman somewhere. this is where russian 'ol garks put their money. the bank chairman from deutsche bank then personally lends a bank of cypress. one of the two largest shareholders of the bank is a close personal friend and business associate of russian president vladimir putin. one of the other major investors is the king of fertilizer. i know, some of my critics call me the queen of fertilizer, but they mean it differently. for americans who are trying to make sense of our new president and the government he's putting in plates and what explains their behavior when other political norms don't seem to, because the king of fertilizer is an amazing story. he's not the richest person in russia. that would probably be vladimir putin. but he does hold the title for what is believed to be the most expensive divorce in mod

a lot of money flowed through the cyprus banks.ens of millions with one person manafort moving the money buying real estate. >> we know how much there is to be made in new york real estate these could be just good investments. >> it could very well be, just savvy investments by paul manafort who got paid this money and decided to turn it into manhattan real estate and it paid off. to your point this is a guy who was an advisor, paid consultant to russian oligarchs who then becomes donald trump's campaign manager. this is a guy donald trump who cannot say a bad word about vladimir putin probably the only person in the world who has never said a bad word about him. what's vladimir putin have on the president of the united states it's deeply troubling. is this another string to pull to see how this puzzle of russia fits together. >> question just don't know whether any legal lines were crossed based on what is publicly available. but there's quite a few flags. in addition to the manhattan property there's a townhouse in brooklyn in wh

in the cyprus cup, wales women lost 1—0 to the republic of ireland.ane ross, leanne ross and lisa evans with the goals. the fa have tabled a series of proposals to reform the organisation. they include reserving three places on the fa board forfemale members and adding eleven new members to the fa council to better reflect the diversity in english football. from wembley, here's our sports news correspondent, richard conway. change has not been an easy way for the football association and in the past few years efforts to drive through reforms in the fa board and council have almost universally failed whenever efforts have been attempted. they're trying to get through real change into the fa board and in its council because it is under pressure from sport england, who may deprive the fa £30 million of grassroots funding, through to pressure from government 01’ through to pressure from government orsay through to pressure from government or say they want to see real change implemented to make the boards more diverse. and more representative of the people

to find out more, we came here to cyprus, to the city to the of limassol, which has a reputation for its beaches and a hub for money laundering. this is where some of the money manafort got from the russian tycoon went. banking sources with direct knowledge of the transactions tell nbc news, at least 15 accounts were opened in cyprus for more than ten companies. all linked to manafort. the sources say in one case, a million dollars landed in one of these accounts and left it on the same day. >> movements of large amounts of money, very quickly in and out of account, is very similar to what money launderers do. >> reporter: there was a lot of money involved. including $18.9 million to buy a ukrainian media company for this man, who according to wikileaks, two to three oligarchs that putin turns to on a regular basis. >> paul manafort played a critical role within the trump campaign. and was involved in potentially receiving payments from russian oligarch close to putin. this raises a lot of serious questions. >> reporter: manafort said he never worked for the russian government. on tu

and now he's our commerce secretary, the vice chairman of the bank of cyprus is our commerce secretary. >> you told me not to get caught in the weeds of all of this and we're in the weeds. >> we're back to where it belongs with the russian $40 million gift to donald j. trump. not about sessions, really. not about wilbur ross, really. but how that whole laundering took place in florida where trump ended up with a $40 million windfall and then even more money for trump. this is -- it's obvious why trump has never wanted to say anything bad about the russians or putin because he's making a lot of money and he thinks people aren't going to care. he's going to think, yeah, that they thought that was kind of cool. agot away from paying taxes for 20 years. so i just want to say about sessions, yes, it's very important that we stay on him. this man should not be the top cop in this country. he lied. he committed perjury. that's a crime. he's got to go. but also there's this straj teej strategic piece. now that sessions has recused himself, the deputy will appoint hopefully the special prosecut

tracie, what more can you tell us about this >> nbc went to that small island in the mediterranean cyprus at millions of dollarspene years ago, and this was money that belonged to pde former campaign chair, paul manafort who hadn russian tied very closely to vladamir putin. dollars paid to source, influence u.s. mediainuence u.s. now, when questions started to be asked about someun of, about money, some of those accounts were cl. statement through his lawyer says there was nothing illegal that the accounts wereore closehe bank collapsed. of course all of this happens as two committees here on i citest russian ties between the trump hearing that's happening today and of course the houselo of th devin nunes, the house refusing to step away from that investigation despite hisri the raised questions. >> all us lt,e in washington. thank you. >>> now to the growing controversyver video shot by a concerned mother at an airport when she had to stand by as her son wasle aside by tsa and patted down in a personaly. after the agency enacted more thorough procedures allowing screeners to touch passen

cyprus is an example of how to get an economy back up. posted fourth-quarter profits that missed estimates. it is facing competition in the mobile gaming market. meanwhile, the company is revving up its battle with alibaba and advertising. it is adding more space to lou were brands onto its messaging service. brazil's state-controlled oil company has posted its biggest profit in almost two years. emerging from a massive corruption investigation. earnings have been hurt by the crash in oil prices are you shares are up more than 60% from a year earlier. vonnie: time now for our bloomberg quick takes where we provide context and background on issues of interest. north korea is not your regular totalitarian dictatorship. it has plenty of corruption and human rights abuses, but there are chilling characteristics that set it apart, including a nuclear weapons program. north korea's military is capable of an effective north strike, thatear question is up to debate. here is the situation, kim jong-nam defied the -- kim jong un defy the internatio

the tree pollen, the elm, juniper, cyprus. things have settled down a little bit. but i have good news for you. as we look at the allergy index. the tree pollen and the mold spores in the low category. grasses and weeds are absent. a few high clouds to the west. temperatures make a run into the mid 50s. maybe a few this evening, not bad. south-southeasterly winds. cloudy skies. 51 by 7:00. 49 by 9:00. we're not going to get much cooler than that over night. 40s in most areas opposed to the 20s. temps, 10 to 20 degrees warmer than 24 hours ago. 50 in easton. 48 in oakland. still in the mid 40s in fredericksburg. it looks nice on our weather camera. not seeing too many things blooming yet. i noticed some cherry trees. even here in northwest state. we had some damage to some of the early blossoming freeze out there. feeling like 45. southwesterly wind at 8 miles per ho after a chilly weekend, we'll see a few showers, one or two tonight, but tomorrow afternoon, and tomorrow night, not a yellow weather alert at this point. we're still monitoring that. this weekend, your

his being under investigation not only for the ukraine stuff but the bank of cyprus stuff.f he were to be faced with jail time for one of those things is he close enough to donald trump to never talk about donald trump or the campaign in exchange for giving himself an easier ride? >> let's look at the scope of the relationship. it goes back a long way. roger stone and paul manafort got to know donald trump in the late '70s and they started working for him in the early 1980s and they helped him with his gambling lobbying that he needed done, helped him with various little issues where he needed lobbying and manafort lived in trump tower and so they have a real long meaningful relationship and so that's the overall context. would he -- the question that you ask involves a lot of layers of speculation that i'm not sure i'm equipped to go there. >> but it's interesting. the connection between roger stone and paul manafort, that's interesting. we're out of time but we'll read your article. we'll follow you on twitter. thank you franklin foer, appreciate. >> it thank you. >>> sti

ap reports today the united states government is investigating paul manafort's financial ties to cyprusr money laundering by russian billionaires. the ap reports in one case a manafort-linked company received a $1 million payment on october 2009 from a mysterious firm through the bank of cyprus. the $1 million left the account the same day. to accounts with no obvious owner. at a house oversight committee hearing today, the connections between russia and the trump team were explored. here is republican ethics lawyer richard painter who worked in president george w. bush's white house counsel's office, testifying before that committee. >> while this committee was spending hours and hours fussing around with hillary clinton's e-mails, we had espionage conducted inside the united states by russia and apparently with the assistance of americans. we don't know who they were. whoever they are, those people mmitted trea i do not mean to suggest that the president of the united states was involved. >> richard painter will join us next. e and fair trade, told in the time it takes to brew your cu