. >> after darryl issa called for a special prosecutor to investigate this alleged connection.om cotton who sits on the intel committee this morning also dismissing this heightened call for an investigation. >> i think that it's far down the road from what our inquiry might reveal in the intelligence committee or what the fbi's inquiries might reveal. that's something that could be decided down the road, but right now there's no credible evidence of these contacts beyond anonymous sources in the media and anonymous sources can't always be trusted. >> anonymous sources is how we found out about a lot of scandal in this country. >> days before the president is set to address a joint session of congress, a new nbc news/wall street journal poll shows him with an approval rating of 48%,a i record low for a new president. 44% called the policy necessary while 45% disagree. and as president trump ramps up his attack against news outlets, 53% of americans feel the media is overstating problems with the trump administration. the poll comes a day after the president tweeted that he would

so far, darryl issa's office says, no way.e is no way, he is not going to meet with his constituents next week when he is home in his district. but i think they are going to keep asking. meanwhile, in idaho -- idaho! -- about 50 soft senator's jim wish's constituents piled into his constituent office back home in idaho this week. watch this. >> good morning. >> how are you? >> good morning. good morning. good morning. hi, there. i hope you guys all fit. good morning. >> thank you, we will. we're friendly. >> we're friendly, don't mind us. we'll fit. yeah, there's more of us. senator russ senator rich's office very friendly inviting them. they handed over the request in writing and it was signed by over a hundred people. no word on whether that idaho town hall will take place. but all over the country, red state, blue states, everywhere, people are making it known that they would like to meet with their member of congress while the lawmakers are home this week. and that is happening even in the reddest of states. >> i'm lots of

on friday republican congressman darryl issa who was narrowly reelected said he was open to a special prosecutor to investigate russia interference in an election. >> you can't have someone, a friend of mine, jeff sessions who was on the campaign and who was an appointee. you will have to use the special prosecutor statute and office. >> senator tom kontinof arkansas is a member of the select committee on intelligence and would be involved on any administration's ties to russia. he got an who called for repealing and replacing obamacare. [ crowd chants "do your job" ] >>> quite a week for you, senator contin. >> great week. >> nothing wrong to be a part of democracy in action. >> any time you can get 2200 of your constituents is a good thing. >> are you concerned with the white house contact, in particular the fbi and the chairman of the senate intelligence committee since your committee announced its investigating all of these allegations of russian int interference in the election. >> let's step back. russia is not our friend. vladimir putin is kgb, has always attempt to undermine o

darryl issa being the one who is making the call for a special prosecutor? >> think we have to think of it in a couple of ways. >> on the one hand darryl issa used to be the person in charge of investigating these kinds of things and on the other hand, he barely survived his reelection in 2016 and he is from a district that democrats will be targeting in 2018. so we have to kind of keep an eye on, you know, 20, 24 districtser so that hillary clinton won, that democrats are targeting or districts that trump barely won and democrats are targeting, too. so you will have this little bit of a divide considering lech ral politics and the next administration coming into play and i don't think he represents the broader republican party because most of those districts are pretty safe and supportive of donald trump when you look at the polling in those districts. >> take what caitlin is saying, nicholas, and look back on cpac, what is your sense of the future of the conservative movement after this apparent enthusiasm over president trump and his administration's spee

the fact that you have got a republican in the house tv darryl issa's stature calling for this, it's going to just add to the pressure, and i suspect you will have some senators -- republican senators in the next couple of days ek quoing that call. >> well, same with you on that point, actually, for just a moment. what is your impression of that strategy of trying to enlist help? clearly, the white house feels those reports on the conteacts with russia during the campaign were overblown. did they go about it the right way? >> well, the two parts to this are -- one is you have to sympathize with their position because if you have an fbi -- senior fbi official sort of -- there's real questions about whether this is appropriate -- in private saying to them that there are factual errors, that this is nonsense or whatever colorful language he used. the natural human reaction is obviously wanting to get that information out and to fight back, but there has to be sort of the overriding goal has to be independence, and it has to be not weighing in to something that is supposed to be, you kno

darryl issa called for a special prosecutor to look into this? >> and i guess my question would be a special prosecutor for what? >> to look into the whole russia connection. the whole influence on the campaign. >> we have now for six months heard story after story come out about unnamed sources saying the same thing over and over again. and nothing's come of it. >> reporter: but now a prominent house republican is calling for an independent investigation saying attorney general jeff sessions shouldn't be involved because of the prominent role he played in the trump campaign. >> you cannot have somebody, a friend of mine, jeff sessions who was on the campaign and who was an appointee. you're going to need to use the special prosecutor's statute in office. >> reporter: but the white house insisted today there's nothing left to investigate even though key questions remain unanswered. >> do you now categorically deny there were no contacts between the russians and anybody on the campaign? >> i can't deny -- i can't -- i guess my question is -- i'm n

. >> reporter: congressman darryl issa saying the attorney general should bow out and appoint a special prosecutors. >> jeff sessions who was on the campaign and was anappointee, you're going to have to use the special prosecutor's statute. house says both chairman were asked to try to tamp down the media reports. >> we're fighting the fake news. it's fake. phony, fake. >> reporter: after weeks of sparring with the news media, he took to twitter to announce, quote, i will not be attending the white house correspondents' association dinner this year. please wish everyone well and have a great evening. he has attended in the past as a guest. even the target of president obama in 2011. >> you fired gary busey. these are the kind of decision that would keep me up at night. >> reporter: the white house correspondents' association responded saying the dinner will go on. it will be a celebration of the first amendment. paula? >> certainly will. david, thank you for your worthing from the north lawn this morning. >>> a fiercely divided democratic party still reeling from losing the white house

>> he wants to get to those things, but darryl issa did not do him favors with the investigation on thewhat issa said yesterday. >> you cannot have somebody, a friend of mine, jeff sessions, who is on the campaign and appointee. you need to use the special prosecutor's statute and office to take not just to recuse. you can't just give it to deputy. another political appointee. you have to do that. >> that's the man calling for investigations under the obama administration. what does that do to the agenda for president trump? >> he was a pitbull. there is some politics here, dave. he runs in a district he barely won in california. he really has to position himself as the one to play to the middle a little bit. don't assume that chaffetz and other hawks are the same. >> we will hear from sean spicer. will there be a detaunte between the dishonest media and white house sfwh. >> i think the opposite. believe steve bannon. this will get worse. it is clearly the administration made a judgment that they need an enemy. that enemy is us. >> did you see the ad in the oscars? the tv ad from the ne

. >>> also, cracks showing among the republican alliance on russia this weekend with darryl issa sayingprosecutor is needed to investigate russia's role in the election. >> i think that's way, way getting ahead of ourselves here, chuck. there's no allegations

gop representedtive darryl issa. >> we'll ask them to investigate within special areas that they overseependent prosecutor? >> you're right that you cannot have somebody, a friend of mine, jeff sessions, who was on the campaign and who was an appointee. you'll need to use the special prosecutor's statute and office. now, we have to work with them. we don't have to trust them. we need to investigate their activities, and we need to do it because they are bad people. >> that call for a special prosecutor comes as a new report rattles washington d.c. the washington post saying officials in the west wing sauts to enlist senior members of the intelligence community in an effort to counter news stories about trump associates ties to russia. the washington post reporting the calls were orchestrated by the white house, and even included senators richard burr and congressman devin nunez, the chairman of the senate and house intelligence committees. the very same chairman charged with investigating russia's involvement in the election and what, if any, ties the trump campaign had along the way. >>

we're also hearing concerns on the republican side from representative darryl issa, who in an interviewme with bill maher" said that, yes, the house and senate intelligence committees need to investigate this matter, but more might be necessary. take a listen to what he said. >> you cannot have somebody, a friend of mine, jeff sessions, who was on the campaign and who was an appointee. you're going to need to use the special prosecutor's statute and office to take -- not just to recuse. you can't just give it to your deputy, that's another political aup appoint appointee. you do have to do that. >> very interesting to hear a republican suggesting that a special prosecutor of an independent review, separate from the house and senate intelligence committees may be necessary. brianna? >> the former chairman of the house oversight committee, as well, of note. athena jones at the white house, thank you so much. >> reporter: thanks. >>> still to come, the new odd couple, donald trump and cpac. once shunned by this conservative group, the new president turns the tide in his favor. but can this

. >>> also, cracks showing among the republican alliance on russia this weekend with darryl issa saying a special prosecutor is needed to investigate russia's role in the election. >> i think that's way, way getting ahead of ourselves here, chuck. there's no allegations of any crime occurring. there's not even indication that there's criminal investigations under way by the fbi as opposed to counterintelligence investigations, which the fbi conducts all the time as our main counter intelligence bureau. if we get down that road that's a decision that attorney general sessions can make at the time. >> we'll show you republicans on both sides of the issue. later this hour, a special interview with the reality show producer who says trump is using all the tricks of the trade in his first month of office and why good ratings could be bad for governance. >>> tackling new reports out today that sean spicer held a meeting with staff to inspect their phones for leaks. we'll discuss the story that donald trump is not focusing on. >>> the president addressing congress and the nation tuesday to lay

. >> darryl issa suggested this idea that jeff sessions isn't going to be an impartial arbiter of allybe there needs to be an independent investigation into this. i mean, they're facing pressure, and this is coming up at some of those town halls too. talking about are you guys doing your jobs in terms of looking into this, what about him releasing his taxes, all of these things i think are playing out in ways that the white house didn't expect. >> they were sad. i asked him about the independent prosecutor, special prosecutor. he said, no, there are no -- there's no evidence of any crimes being committed. no reason to do that yet. he said the only crime is the leaks that have happened, and that's the only thing that he -- >> he has had a much harder view on that. there's a tension issue. some is legitimate concerns about leaks. democrats say republicans only want to talk about the leaks, though, and not some of the other conduct. in the middle of all this, we've seen a lot of stories about white house staff internal either internal fighting or leaks coming out about the president's ag

you already had john mccain and lindsay graham and darryl issa who had a very tough election this yearaid there needs to be a special prosecutor. i think the key is do more republicans in congress say we've got to get to the bottom of this. >> and in the limited time that we have left, my headline is going to be how have donald trump's joint session speech, how much will it deviate from all of the others that came before him. will he go for laughs and will he go for substance? will he go for both? and also, just how long will it last? we're used to president obama or president clinton where they can go on for more than an hour. the inaugural address was how long? 16 minutes? so we could see a joint session speech that is shorter, less substance filled and maybe even funny. i don't know if the american people are ready for that, but we will find out tuesday night at the joint session speech. thank you to eric bowler, jennifer rubin and e.j. dion. that's it for today. joy will be back right here next week. check her out on realtime with bill mauro hbo this friday and next saturday she'll