devin nunes's judgment call. he knew and paul ryan knew that that would be the headline toy, thadevin nunes says it was just a judgment call, sometimes those decisions are right, sometimes they're wrong, clearly suggesting there that his decision was probably wrong. especially since he apologized for that decision to his committee behind closed doors today. what devin nunes did yesterday might have begun as an attempt to help donald trump get out of trouble. but after his press conference in the white house driveway yesterday where he let it slip that he went to paul ryan first, he had a more important mission, to get paul ryan out of trouble. he apologized to his committee today because paul ryan wanted him to. paul ryan needed him to apologize to his committee today, to calm the insurrection against chairman nunes, to quiet the demands that paul ryan fire the chairman. and he needed devin nunes to claim that what happened yesterday was just his judgment call and to imply that it could have been the wrong judgme

as devin nunes is. if devin nunes can lose his chairmanship over it then paul ryan can lose his speaker ship over it. speculation among staffers on the intelligence committee is that michael ellis is the source of the intelligence information nunes saw. this report says that he's a lawyer that works for him on the intelligence panel and who was recently hired to work on national security matters at the white house council's office and spokesman for nunes declined to comment on whether he was involved in providing information to nunes. so now we have a name to ask devin nunes about. was your source michael ellis? >> we're not going to ever talk about any of that. >> former acting director of the cia and jeremy bash, msnbc national security analyst and former chief of staff to leon when he was director and the defense department. john, your reading on where this story stands tonight, what makes sense to you in this story if anything and what doesn't make sense to you? >> well, there are more things that d

not only is the white house not denying it, neither is devin nunes as well. in fact, michael ellis that you mentioned is one of the sources in that "new york times" report who is suggested, i actually asked devin nunes earlier this week specifically was michael ellis, who is a former aide on the house intelligence committee to devin nunes, was he a source. he would not say, said i'm not going to talk about my sources and methods. i also asked him can you rule out there's anyone at the white house involved at all, in any way either to give you the information oraa lou you on the grounds to review this information. he said, i'm not going to answer that question. i have answered these questions over and over again, i am not going to go there. he has not suggested that. now, the question that adam schiff raised at his press conference is why did the white house apparently allow chairman nunes to come and review this information, apparently from white house staff, and have mr. nunes brief the president the next day, and before even talking to the committee about i

>> i think what devin has done is devin has seen the information.elieve devin has access to the information. i believe that the nsa is actually today or the next couple of days going to be delivering those materials to the committee when the information comes to the committee, the republican staff and the democrat staff will have equal access to that information. they will go through it. there will be times when they are going enthusiastic it separately. there will be times when they are going through it together. >> you don't think he had the responsibility to share it with his democratic colleagues. >> i don't think at the point in time, i don't think devin actually ever had possession of the documents that he could have shared it. he could have shared the overall outline of what was in those documents. i think he's done that with the democrats and the rest of the committee. >> congresswoman, go ahead. >> he could have said, no, i'm not taking this meeting solo. i'm going to alert my democratic counterpart. it could have been in reverse if adam we

yes. >> did devin nunes tell you how or where or in what way [ inaudible ]? and also you said that you're gravely concerned and criticize the the chairman right now. are you considering more formal [ inaudible ] of him in light of what happened? >> this is not a situation i think where you can pursue something like that. we still have a very important job to do, even apart from this investigation. but right now the country is counting on us because in the house of representatives, we're the only investigation there is. if we don't do it, no one is going to do it. now, perhaps the white house would like it that way, but the american people i think want there to be a credible investigation. and if we're not going to conduct it, then we need to have a commission do it. and if the chairman is going to continue to go to the white house rather than his own committee, there is no way we can conduct this investigation. >> and did he tell you how or where -- what led him to being able to view these documents? >> i don't have a lot of details on it. the most i think he

devin nunes moments ago tracked down in the halls of the capitol. he says the investigation will move on. listen. >> how does this investigation move forward now that democrats are calling for your recusal? >> move forward just like it was before. >> reporter: and you're not going to recuse yourself? >> the investigation continues. we've had an investigation into russia for many, many years. >> he said the investigation continues. he didn't directly answer the question of whether he will recuse himself. we don't know whether to read into that. so, democrats are calling for nunes to step aside, and this morning, really for the first time, we're starting to hear from republicans, in the senate mostly, but republicans now questioning the chairman's judgment. listen. >> i think you put his objectivity in question at the very least. >> there needs to be a lot of explaining to do. i've been around for quite a while, and i've never heard of any such thing. >> again, we are waiting right now. you're looking at a live picture from inside the capitol where ho

just like devin nunes, and just like donald trump. joining us now, democratic congressman eric swalwell is a member of the house permanent select committee on intelligence. and congressman, i just have to ask u, how long did it take for the shock to wear off? because the traditions of the way your committee operates as you know is a -- it's a very strong bipartisan history of the operations of that committee. >> lawrence, i'm still shocked. this committee for the past three years for me has been the most fulfilling thing i've done in congress. because it's a place you go to find bipartisanship, to make the most important decisions. and today our chairman betrayed the independence that our committee must show during one of the most trying times in american history. he should have shared this with the intelligence committee first. he never should have shared wit a president whose campaign is under federal criminal investigation. and now i think more than ever, the case has been made that we need an independent bipartisan commission to g

the process of how this occurred rather than the substance of what devin nunes has learned.n fact, the process is quite important here. it's very important here, because devin nunes as jeffrey was saying refused to reveal who gave him this information, made it sound like it was some kind of cloek and dagger operation and we need to know whether, in fact, all of these gyrations were to prove in the end that donald trump's tweet on march 4th was even remotely accurate, which is what they may be trying to prove. >> and wolf, if i could just add very quickly, all of this illustrates that when you have a stantive investigation as we do now of russian influence in the election, the risk of a cover-up, the risk of not telling the truth about what ultimately went on is often bigger than the risk of underlying misconduct being discovered and that's the problem here, all this -- no one can get their story straight, either the white house or the republicans who are supposedly investigating the white house. >> let me get back to that brief exchange that i had with devin nunes on monday

we'll start with devin nunes.about where was he the day before, now it turns out he was on the white house grounds the day before he made a statement about maybe the president presiden presidentses a maybe the associates were swept up in some surveillance. you worked in that building. tell us what you make of this new information. >> well, i think what representative nunes was saying is he was on the white house grounds to meet his source. he said, i didn't go into the white house itself. the white house grounds, as you know, is the white house itself and where donald trump is right now and the oval office and the cabinet room and the situation room. and then the executive office building, now called the eisenhower executive building, the eob, which is a pretty office building, a big ornate building, where our staff work. lessertaff, below the top 25 to 35 who have offices in the white house itself. and to get cleared into the white house, in terms of security, it is just like the white house. you have to go throu

nunes. >> it's been painful for devin nunes. devon, we have not talked in several months through this whole process the senate and house committee we are each running our own independent investigation. i would encourage devin to make sure he shares at least with the ranking member of the committee that they do that in the days ahead. i can tell you as a person who is a christian i believe in forgiveness and redemption. they have to find a way to be able to bury the hatchet and move on as a committee. the work of the committee is so exceptionally important. >> martha: indeed it is. senator lankford, thank you very much. good to have you here tonight, sir. >> thank you. >> martha: new reaction to a series of fierce denials coming out of kremlin starting with the russian president vladimir putin who said that alleged russian meddling in the 2016 election is purely political. watch this. >> anti-russian is play plagued political forces inside the united states to trade on that and positions inside. >> martha: same was heard from rus

there any chance that devin nunes finally steps down?here certainly seems to be pressure for him to do it and steps down as chairman of this committee? >> i'm dumbfounded by what has been going on. and i would not hazard a guess or prediction. i would not be surprised if he did a press conference tomorrow naked. this could go any number of ways. it might be good for ratings. >> no it wouldn't! >> but the thing is that right now we need an investigation of what happened at the nsc in terms of helping trump prove this bogus tweet. and you have sean spicer coming out day after day saying we don't though who let these guys in. today he said i told you i would look into it. but i didn't promise i would share the information with you. you need to investigate what the white house knew, when it knew it and what happened and what the nsc staffers were doing. the senate committee is not going to do that. their hands are busy. so how can nunes investigate himself? i am reminded of that groucho marx routine when he cross-examined himself during a co

devin nunez does not report to me. i am going to as a fellow member, i will leave it up to him to do the right thing and i'm sure he will. >> okay. what is the right thing? >> that's for him to decide. >> let me move on to the agenda. paula page said something earlier today. it was about health care. he said this on the idea of letting obamacare fail. you are telling people let it fail so the american people can get hurt more. does he have a point that the idea of leting it fail is actually -- it may be a good political idea if you believe it's going to fail, but it's harmful to the public if you think this is going to harm the public and that is not good public policy? >> i am not on the page of letting something fail to hurt the american public. and i don't believe my conference is either. unfortunately today obamacare is failing under its own weight. i'm not going to pile on in any way to suggest anything should be done to expedite the failures that we are seeing with insurance saying economically. i have so much un

the chairman devin nunes is joining us now. mr. chairman, thanks very much for joining us. >> great to be with you tonight, wolf. thank you. >> why did you meet with a source on the white house grounds the evening before you came out in that news conference? >> yeah, wolf, it's actually pretty common. probably at least once a week, if not more than that, we have to go to the executive branch in order to read classified intelligence. so that could be the white house grounds, it could be the white house tw house, it could be the pentagon, it could be cia. there's a number of places we go. and so i think jake tapper reported on this morning, i had spoken to him, this is something i had been working on for a very long time. i was concerned about americans' identities being either not masked properly or, in fact, being unmasked in intelligence reports. this actually goes back to before mr. trump's, president trump's famous tweet, as you know, that he talked about putting -- wether or not he was wiretapped at trump tower. so i had been w

right now what devin nunes has done is to compromise his own investigation.schiff has pointed that out over and over again. that when you don't cooperate with the democrats on a committee investigating the executive branch, you make it very clear that you are not interested in getting to a bipartisan solution or answer to the big questions on whether or not the russians were engaging in their own get out the vote operation and by the way trying to compromise marco rubio and ted cruz as well. and then after the election trying to compromise new white house appointees who would have a say in what our relationship was going to be with russia. and the sanctions which the united states has imposed upon the russians. so i just don't think that unfortunately devin nunes any longer can play any kind of a credible role. he has to step out of the way. and now the senate investigation steps front and center to be the only way we're going to have something which gives the answers to the american public. >> are you at all suspicious that the president himself is involved

york times" reports two senior white house officials helped house intelligence committee chairman devin nunes view information on the white house grounds. the white house invites others to do the same. they accept but voices profound concern at the trump administration's actions. widespread meddling. the senate intelligence committee gets a chilling briefing on russia's election meddling involving cyberattacks, fake news and paid internet trolls. we will hear from a national security expert. threatening his party. president trump uses twitter to attack members of his parties, the conservative freedom caucus, warning they need to get on board or face the fallout in 2018. one republican says he was threatened directly with a primary challenge. and west wing turmoil. the deputy chief of staff suddenly departs the white house as controversy grows over the gop's healthcare debacle. is this the start of a major shakeup? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." ♪ >> this is "cnn breaking news." >> breaking news. in a stunning twist, the white house invites leaders of both congressiona

devin nunes still trying to explain himself. take a look at what he had to say last night. >> there's a lot of questions that the fbi director has to answer. that was our members, the republican side who really wanted to make sure that those questions were answered before we get to the rest of our witnesses. >> so what nunes is trying to explain is why the entire schedule for the house intelligence committee got blown up this week. i think we can show you what they had planned. they had planned a meeting on monday, an open hearing on tuesday. that was postponed. they had then planned to replace that open hearing, a closed door briefing with jim comey, the fbi director, and admiral rogers, who running the nsa. that has been postponed. and then a thursday committee meeting that they usually have as they're on their way out of town also as of right now not happening. you can contrast that with what's going on on the senate side. i think going into this, everybody expected the senate intelligence committee investigation into russia

jones has called for devin nunes to step aside. he has joined us on the independent commission bill. a lot of republicans have told myong we need a commission because we have a house investigation under way. they're rethinking that now. so i hope they reconsider it. leader nancy pelosi reminds me often that the september 11th commission was not created on september 12th. that it actually was over a year later. and that's because people doggedly pursued how we could bring republicans and democrats together to have such a commission. and it was the appeals of the families who came to washington that made it happen. so now we're hoping that it's the appeals of our constituents who care about free and fair elections that also get us to that point. >> i want to look at another moment in the press conference today that the senators had talking about their working relationship with each other. >> is there any circumstance with which you wouldn't share with mr. warner one of your sources of intelligence on this investigation? >> he usually

is devin nunes capable of conducting an impartial investigation? because we must take partis partisanship out of it. i don't care whether you are republican, a democrat, a libertarian, a vegetarian or what you are. you should care enormously about this, and it should be something that outrages you and that we should all as americans be pushing for real answers and a real investigation. >> also with regard to the unmasks of u.s. citizen, that could be a concern for anyone who cares about the u.s. constitution. >> but when we had angus king on, who is on the senate intel committee, who is already doing good work in terms of trying to figure this out, he was unequivocal. he went farther than other people have and said there is no doubt russia meddled. if you take that from the people who know, the source, then don't we have to keep digging and asking these questions? >> absolutely. and, look, i think both sides should learn from this. look, the democrats need to say i'm concerned about the fourth amendment and wrongful surveillance and the republicans

so it is a problem for devin nunes. the question will be, is there another sort of development to come that would shed greater light, that would either help him or make it worse. the chairman has a lot of power, in this one in particular. so if he can keep a lid on the pressure, he may be able to stay. but he has certainly damaged his credibility with democrats and members of the committee and for a committee that is at such an apex of the topics of the day, it is certainly unfortunate for him and really questionable about how he's handling this. he may have a chance to regroup and to invite people into his confidence. but we have not seen a sign of that yet. and that could be troubling for him. >> reporter: the senate intel committee is also making news today. they're going to be holding a press conference in a little over an hour. there's also reporting out there that michael -- i'm sorry, christopher steel, the british spy who kol piled thcompiled th dossier could be called into question. >> reporter: they remain the

now, devin nunes doesn't know. so, i guess that means he now doesn't know why he ran to tell paul ryan about the reports, then ran down to the white house to tell the president. on fox news, devin nunes gave yet another reason for running to the white house. >> i felt i had a duty and obligation to tell him because he's been taking a lot of heat in the news media. >> devin nunes thought he could help the president out with the heat he's taking in the news media. there is no governmental reason to go to the white house in what you just heard devin nunes say on fox news last night. absolutely none. on fox news last night, devin nunes is admitting he did it for nothing but public relations reasons to help the sunking credibility of the pathological liar in the white house whose credibility can never be helped because he lied his way through life. devin nunes is in way over his head. he is obviously incompetent. he has no idea how to properly handle intelligence and is now trying to publicly block his own committee's p

. >> did you help provide devin nunes with information? >> i'm not talking to anything. >> i have no idea. >> current investigation going on by chairman nunes. >> nothing to say. >> the key white house players identified in the devin nunes saga offering no comment today, but as democrat adam schiff views intelligence at the white house, what will he find? >>> rounding out our agenda, democrats onboard with gorsuch, two democrats say they'll vote to send gorsuch to the supreme court but as others consider their move, how much is 2018 weighing on their minds? all that and more still ahead this hour. >>> we begin right now with our top story. president trump saying he wants his former national security adviser michael flynn to testify. flynn's lawyer -- excuse me, i think we have to go to the white house. we are seeing the president. >> during the campaign, i traveled the nation and visited the cities and towns devastated by unfair trade policies. probably one of the major reasons i'm here today. trade. nobo nobody's ever made bad trade deals

it is devin nunes's fault for the break down of bipartisanship in the house.hat is interesting is the senate is following this idea here in washington that it's always a little bit older, little more mature. >> grown up? >> little bit more grown up than the house which tend to be a little bit more rockish and rowdy an partisan and more following that pattern certainly in this investigation. >> what did you make, david, of senator warner's comments about actually obtaining a lot of the documents they want because there could be complications? >> yeah. i think the way it was phrased, he wants to push but at the same time do it in that methodical way. not get ahead of themselves. because this he have this opportunity to do a do-over here, wolf. to do it in a way that speaks confidence not the sort of amateur hour that unfolded the last several dayes with congressman nunes and i think that's the way he wanted it. >> they are saying rebecca they are open to subpoenaing documents, individuals they said internationally, that's different. you can't subpoena something

neither devin nunes will either.e will not say whether the white house had any role whatsoever when i asked him multiple occasions now. adam schiff yesterday raised concerns, i asked him specifically do you think the white house was involved the effort to under cut your committee? >> what's the best route to doing a credible investigation? if there's been a substantial question about whether we can do that we need to take whatever steps are necessary to restore credibility to the investigation. >> reporter: the question going forward is whether or not the house intelligence committee can produce a bipartisan product in a committee that's really been bogged down in part son politics, while trying to lay the ground work saying they are trying do a very deep dive on the issue of russian meddling between the trump campaign officials and russian officials. who will be the first of the trump associates to testify? we don't know. but do know jared kushner will at least have a private interview with the senate intelligence c

have we had a response from devin nunes yet? we have a growing list, right now it's all democrats of essentially saying the house intelligence investigation is essentially been corrupted. >> reporter: chuck, i think we're headed in that direction. i think congressman schiff who of course is a former prosecutor chooses his words carefully walked right up to that line. didn't quite step over it here, but i do think, especially considering the lack of clarity on where this information come from, why did chairman nunes have an opportunity to view it but not move it anywhere that could imply it he viewed it in a secure facility, but at the same time we don't know. that has left democrats unable to view the information and make a judgment for themselves. and it really does the house and senate intelligence committee is much more than the others have a tradition of bipartisanship. and they have been working in concert as oversight committees in the course of this investigation. so, i think the sense up here is really that this raised a

republican devin nunes says u.s. investigators picked up conversations potentially associated with president trump during apparently legal surveillance of foreign officials, not related to russia. tonight, the committee's ranking democratic adam schiff said he was blindsided by this information. he has grave doubts about devin nunes's handling of the investigation. and nunes agree there is no evidence to support president trump's claim that he was wiretapped by president obama. tonight mr. trump says he feels, quote, somewhat vindicate. i'll talk about all the news with senator lindsey graham. our correspondents and analysts are also standing by. first, let's go to manu raju, he's covering a stunning new cur curveball and the very angry reactions from the top democrats. manu, walk us through the breaking story. >> tonight, devin nunes, the chairman of the committee, creating an uproar by going public with what he learned from a secret source that some of trump's communications with officials were picked up incidental

there is nothing to suggest that devin nunes has done anything improper. but he has certainly acted in a very unusual way over the course of this week. and if you analyze what's happened, he simply disappeared on tuesday evening from the perspective of his staff. and they didn't understand what was happening, even until the last minute before his press conference on wednesday. these are, like i said, folks with a lot of experience. and they could provide a lot of guidance for the chairman that would have led him perhaps not to hold a press conference on wednesday morning. perhaps not to make these kinds of allegations which ultimately he had to walk back or create a lot of confusion. or to kind of destroy whatever hope there was left for bipartisan investigation on the committee. >> eli, did you get a chance to ask devin nunes about his first stop with speaker ryan before going to the white house and what ryan said to him, what he told him to do? >> i did not ask him about speaker ryan. and i have to tell you that it was one of these situations where the c

it seems that devin nunes is carving out a new lane. he indicates that there was information brought from multiple sources that were properly in the chain of command. meaning people with the appropriate security clearance. that i think would distinguish it from not some outside leak, not some wikileak kind of thing but people who have the appropriate access to this information. bringing it to him at the committee. and that he has concerns about what it suggests. there were questions about whether it personally ensnared the president. he would not answer that directly. whether there were political motivations based on what he had seen, meaning motivations for the surveillance in and of itself. he exprocessed some concern about that but didn't address it directly. he indicated that this is a situation where individuals were unmasked. now we learned about that from the flynn, russian ambassador sequence where flynn's name became unmasked and that's how we publicly then knew that he spoken to the russian ambassador in ways that he had not d

>> i would be concerned if the white house played devin.now devin thought he was helping the new president of the united states. but if you look at why our country is the greatest country in the world, our forefathers created a great system of checks and balances. and where devin went and where his problem is right now, is there's not the confidence that the checks and planses are there between the house sbleblintelli committee and the white house. >> how do you get the train back on the tracks, congressman? >> say again? >> how do you get the train back on the tracks? >> you get the train back on the tracks by devin saying, based on what has happened, it's not about me, it's about our country following the facts and finding out once and for all what's happening with respect to russia. all the facts that we immediate to know. and then if he recuses himself, then the committee comes together. the republicans and the democrats. and whoever would be assigned to take his position on this individual russian case, they would be able to move forwa

do we expect anything with devin nunes to change in a couple of minutes? >> we don't expect it will change. this has been a statement the speaker has put out for the last week or so whenever asked about the house intelligence committee chairman. it's not really something that ryan has been particularly eager to get involved in. the pressure is mounting on him to potentially do or say something. we saw senator john mccain come out this morning and essentially say he has never seen anything like what happened with devin nunes in his career, and he has been around washington a long time. that, of course, though on the senate side. and so far, on the house side, republicans are sticking by devin nunes. i talked to peter king on his way into the gop conference meeting, and he repeated a line from trey gowdy, another member of the house intelligence committee. he says, it doesn't matter if he went to waffle house or the white house, it's all the same. peter king added if it had been the house of pancakes, same deal. i am an ihop girl myself. that's the line of d

he told devin where it is and he was able to see it.o get it made available to the committee. >> bill: so adam schiff to be clear has not seen this? >> as of the other day he has not. devin is doing everything he can to make it known to adam schiff and the committee. >> bill: under the rules can adam schiff see it and go to the white house grounds just like chairman nunes did? >> you'd have to ask. the reason is because of the white house grounds is not because of the president but the material was under the control of the executive branch on their computer system not available to congress. it had to be done in the executive branch computer system. >> bill: i understand. you call this media hysteria. are we making too big of a deal of this? is this just a lot of smoke? >> as far as the attacks on devin after there was the dispute and there was legitimate dispute between chairman nunes and adam schiff we're hearing devin nunes should recuse himself. why, because of a dispute? this goes on all the time in congress. it's worked out and res

and to the white house to talk about -- actually devin because he's the one that got it.ut, look, i think when congressman himes, you know, i respect him says going to the white house and yet we're supposed to have oversight. that's the executive branch of government. the executive branch has intelligence function that congress has to get information from in order to still do that stuff so the idea of going to the executive branch does not violate the idea that we're not practicing oversight over the administration. i think -- i think you can do both, because, again, the administration is where a lot of the intelligence is collected and disseminated from. we need bipartisan answers from this. there's multiple investigations going on in both the house and senate intel committee. the thing i worry about though is the more that this is brought into the public sphere and the media has a responsibility to talk about this, but the more everybody kind of comes out and starts to make this a partisan issue, it actually takes away from the nature of the investigation. >> so congres

we're standing by to talk to chairman devin nunes who will be joining us live. >>> kushner to testify. the leaders of the senate intelligence committee now say president trump's son-in-law jared kushner, one of the president's closest advisers, will testify about newly disclosed meetings he had with a russian diplomat and a controversial russian banker. he'll answer questions as part of the senate investigation into senate meddling in the presidential election. tonight, new questions about why these meetings were not revealed until now. >>> changing the subject. still smarting from from his defeat on health care president trump gets busy with bill signings, business roundtables and promises of tax reform, but after his stinging loss, who is he willing to work with in washington and what can he really accomplish? >>> and tests and thefts. north korea tests a rocket engine once generation the possibility kim jong-un is making progress on a ballistic missile that could hit the united states. we also have new details pointing to north korea's involvement in a multi-million dollar cyber th

but what do fellow republicans want to do with devin nunes? i'll ask congressman mike turner straight ahead. to next-generation fighters... ♪ to landing an unmanned vehicle on a carrier for the first time in history. just wait till you see what's next. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman you need one of these. you wouldn't put up with an umbrella that covers you part way, so when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day? aleve, live whole not part. tell you what, i'll give it to you for half off. bit more about jared kushner, donald trump's senior advisor and son-in-law who is being called in front of the senate intelligence committee to be interviewed about his meetings with russian officials and the leader of a russian bank. back with me, robby mook, the former clinton campaign manager, and michael steele. michael, let's start with you. the white house says there's absolutely nothing wrong here. is there, at the very least, a problem of appearances? >> i think that's exactly the point of this hearing. i th

devin nunes. the white house deny it is coordinated with nunes. >> and the senate intel committee begins its first open hearing on russia tomorrow. this as the president revisits the health care battle predicting it will be easy to get a deal. he is also out touting the u.s. mission in iraq is going very well. he never mentioned the air strike that killed 100 in mosul. it is day 69. let's start with sara murray. >> reporter: good morning, alvaren alisyn. it is clear they are struggling with how to move forward with the russia investigation. the house intelligence chairman and white house are on defense. >> are you going to stay as chairman and run this investigation? >> why would i not? >> reporter: devin nunes defiant among calls for him to step aside from the panel's russia investigation. >> will you recuse yourself? >> reporter: the house russia probe put on hold as democrats accuse the chairman of stalling. >> the investigation certainly has ground to a halt. here is the odd thing. all meeting

>> i like devin nunes.ted him. >> this has put a shadow on all of this. >> is this an authentic investigation by an independent branch of government or is devin nunes in constant touch with a lot of people in the white house and adjusting the investigation accordingly? >> is it possible to have an independent investigation if you're on the transition team and going around the committee having back door conversations and you're at the white house so you can have a secret location to talk to this source if he's woodward and bernstein as opposed to an elections official. if all of of this is happening it gives the appearance of impropriety and an appearance there's no way to have an impartial investigation. >> can i ask you a big question about health care. stlt happening, is it not happening? you, of course, talk to the president directly about this. now the house republican leadership seemed to open the door that maybe they are working on something but the white house isn't sure about how much how fast. >> w

such a - —— devin support such a claim. —— devin nunez.m the fact he - had leading despite the fact he has had leading and come republicans and democrats come forward to say there is no evidence. what he has said is that when he forward to say there is no evidence. what he has said he hat when he forward to say there is no evidence. what he has said he didn't en he forward to say there is no evidence. what he has said he didn'tjust e said wiretapping, he didn'tjust mean why,tapping but wider mean why tapping hutwider ,. . 5 surveillance. within mean why tapping hutwider 5 . 5 surveillance. within the next few will be further evidence supporti will be further evidence support my ill be further evidence support my claim, irther evidence support my claim, he ier evidence support my claim, he says, dence support my claim, he says, "some to support my claim, he says, "some interesting things might come fo rwa rd ". interesting things might come forward". you have the likes of representatives nunez coming forward t saying representatives nunez c

and it comes not from devin nunes, it comes from the white house itself, through devin nunes. on paper, it does seem -- >> it also hasn't come, because the contents -- >> -- at arm's length -- >> the contents was nothing. >> the left has kept saying all along, why didn't the president just call, pick up the phone and ask the fbi or the justice department if he was being wiretapped. he could have done that. but the minute he did that, if he had done it, then he would have been accused of interfering with the investigation. >> that's not what this is about. >> jack, you should be -- jack, you're the one who should be mad here. someone who comes on tv to defend the administration. you should be mad that they've made your job so difficult over the last week. >> no, no, no. >> look what -- they could have done this so easily, jack. >> i'm outnumbered. >> let me make up with point. they could have easily just given the information to the committee. >> and by the way -- and devon -- devin nunes gave an interview to ely lake who has lied. he said something that was not true. ely lake

the administration refusing again today to say who invited the committee's chairman devin nunes to the white house grounds last week to review classified information. the white house also denying suggestions today that it tried to keep former acting attorney general sally yates from testifying before the committee investigating any ties between russia agents and trump campaign advisers. >> i hope she testifies. i look forward to it. >> reporter: white house press secretary zane spicer called a "washington post" report 100% false that said the administration tried to block yates from testifying or from playing a role in cancelling the hearing originally set for today. >> we have no problem with her testifying, plain and simple. >> reporter: she could be a critical witness. president trump fired yates, a holdover from the obama administration, ten days after taking office for refusing to enforce the trump administration's travel ban. she was expected to testify about conversations between the russian ambassador and michael flynn. the former national security advisers fired by trump. the

do we expect anything with devin nunes to change in a couple of minutes?on't expect it will change. this has been a statement the speaker has put out for the last week or so whenever asked about the house intelligence committee chairman. it's not really something that ryan has been particularly eager to get involved in. the pressure is mounting

he's been following all of this and following the whereabouts and movements of devin nunes since this kind of played out. manu, what do we know right now? >> reporter: well, we do know that at least two white house staffers were involved in helping mr. nunes get this information. now, nunes has said privately, at least to speaker paul ryan, that a "whistleblower" was the person who helped provide him this information, and speaker paul ryan's office still says that's their understanding based on what devin nunes told them, saying they are fully support yiven of mr. nunes staying as chairman, even as democrats step up their calls for him to recuse himself from this investigation because of their belief that he's grown too cozy with the white house. now, what the democrats are trying to figure out is this, what did devin nunes know and how exactly did he learn this information. those are questions that adam schiff, the top democrat on the committee, has yet to understand. he responded to the white house's request yesterday, or at least their opening for him to review the information aski

i've not gotten answers yet. >> reporter: and now new questions are being raised about chairman devin nunes' public statements. he told reporters yesterday he had invited fbi director james comey to testify again before house investigators but that director comey rescheduled. tonight though an fbi official tells cnn the fbi never received any official request for a second round of director comey's testimony. wolf? >> all right, jessica, thank you. jessica schneider reporting. let's go to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, what's the white house saying about all of this? >> reporter: well, they are still not saying how the house intel committee chairman devin nunes made his way on to the white house grounds for that mysterious visit here last week, but, wolf, there is some news over here in terms of staffing here at the white house. the president is adding a familiar face to his staff. the white house confirming just in the last few minutes that daughter ivanka trump will be an unpaid employee advisings the president. her husband, jared kushner, the president's son-i

there are a lot of ethical questions here. >> and one answer to that may be, if you ask devin nunes why he doesn't want to share, the sources of the white house and then adam schiff looks at that and thinks it's not credible. you have this circle problem here that comes to the chairman of the house intelligence committee and his own committee. that's why i think the real answers, if we can get accepted answers to this, it's going to have to come from the senate because the house process has become so politicized. >> i want to continue this conversation. let me play more sound from the briefing with sean spicer. >> i'm wondering if the white house thinks it's appropriate for national security officials to be conducting what's basically a political task which is trying to find information that then validates something the president said. >> so i've read the report and respectfully i think your question assumes that the reporting is correct. >> it does. >> and so i would just suggest to you that the letter that was submitted earlier to the ranking -- the chairman of the ranking members of