gloria borger, thank you.re following that closely as we get new totals, we'll bring it to you live right here on "cnn tonight." >>> let's turn to our other breaking news, jared kushner under fbi scrutiny in the russia investigation. i want to bring in cnn law enforcement analyst, james, a retired fbi superviserer agent, special agent. globe affairs analyst kimberly dozi dozier. justice correspondent evan per are rez is back with us. so, evan, bring us up to date on what's happening now with jared kushner. >> well, don, the importance of what we're learning today is that the fbi is essentially taking a look at all of the different tentacles of this investigation that lead all the way back to jared kushner and one of those is the data operation of the trump campaign and whether or not the russians who had, as you know, had hacked into the dnc and were helping to spread some of the fake news and some of the -- some of the stolen e-mails, whether or not they were able to either by spying or through other means we

pamela brown and gloria borger have the reporting. they join us right now. >> multiple sources say that russian officials bragged in conversations during the presidential campaign that they had cultivated such a strong relationship with michael flynn that they believed they could use him to influence donald trump and his team. those conversations deeply concerned u.s. intelligence officials and impacted what intelligence the incoming administration was privy to according to these sources we were speaking with because some obama intelligence officials acted on their own to limit how much sensitive information they shared with flynn out of concern that flynn or others within the transition would share information with russia. >> anderson, one former official told me that the way the russians were talking about flynn was regarded as what he called a five alarm fire from early on. the russians' conversations indicated they regarded flynn as their ally. officials cautioned us that the russians might have exaggerated their sway with trump's

gloria borger is here from your sources about comey's mind set. >> as are you. when comey started hearing from the president and met with him, he memorialized everything. i think what we are learning is that at that point james comey thought he was dealing with the president and administration who just didn't understand the protocols of how to deal with these legal issues. they could teach them. they could perhaps learn about doling with the investigation. >> we were told that after comey was fired, the question of the president's intent became a bit more problematic. >> the president was trying to influence him. >> exactly. >> it makes you wonder, gloria, i know in retrospect, why didn't he flag this to congress? >> first of all, he was not sure what it was. number one. this is what i was told. number two, i was also told what is he go to do when he is not sure what you can deal with. go to the poem on the hill and they will leak about it. comby is familiar with leaks as we know. >> the only answer is i didn't smell obstruction at this point. if he said he did,

joining us gloria borger and dana bash. the news about michael cohen, the president's long time personal attorney from the trump organization now being requested to do an interview to answer questions for members of congress. he polite lly declines. >> michael cohen has been with the president for more than a decade and has been his personal lawyer apparently involved in helping him figure out who should be on his legal team as he goes forward. his personal legal team. so it really is no surprise in a way that the congressional committee would be asking to talk to michael cohen. i think that it may occur that the committee decides to narrow the scope of what they are asking michael cohen and mike it a little bit more difficult to not cooperate. i wouldn't be surprised if that occurs. >> i wonder if he's going to cite attorney slaclient privile. >> a lot of it depends on what they're asking for and why he is so resistant to talking to them or giving over the information they requested. it's entirely possible that he could cl

gloria borger got off the phone with him. what did he say? >> he said he has not been surpri subpoenaed to testify as has been reported by another news organization. he made that very clear. he said, if i am subpoenaed to testify, i will comply and gladly, he said, as i have nothing to hide. there is no shred of evidence that implicates me. he is very strong here. he says the reason he didn't want to comply with the committee's request earlier as he told me it was poorly phrased, overly broad and not really capable of being answered. you have had flynn, for example, who said the request was too broad. so what they are trying to do is get these requests narrowed down. >> epstein has been contacted by congressional investigators for information. >> right. it's a voluntary request, as was michael cohen. his attorney said it was broad and it was a broad preliminary request. they said not that they wouldn't comply but they said they reached out to the committee and asked follow-up questions and are awaiting to hear the response. obviously, these t

the source tells cnn's gloria borger the russian ambassador asked kushner if the russian military could talk to michael flynn about syria. a source says kushner did not say he would arrange it and it never was arranged. >> for the time being, expect kushner and his wife, ivanka, to keep their heads down. administration officials tell cnn both are laying low and focusing on their work, unfazed by all the scrutiny. the administration claims ivanka trump is not involved with the war room currently being established, even though she was seen at the white house with the president's personal attorney, mark kassewitz. >> cnn also learning jared and ivanka have told friends they will continue to evaluate whether they plan to remain in washington, d.c., something they discussed before the news broke about kushner's request for this private back-channel communication to moscow. >> we're told they're going to re-evaluate, you know, how long they're staying in d.c., maybe every six months, maybe not exactly every six months, but you know, their future in d.c. is something they're evaluating out the

i want to bring in david chalian, gloria borger, david axelrod, evan perez and global affairs analyst david rhode. via skype, we want to talk to a person a little bit later, david ehrlich -- darryl ehrlich and he is with the billings -- in billings, montana. we'll discuss him in just a moment. david chalian, how much of an impact do you think this assault charge had on today's election? >> well, it looks like maybe not as much as the news coverage would suggest. we woecht knn't know about that necessarily. going in before the body slam incident, this was going to be a close race. it looks like this is close, but i do want to underscore something kyung said about that key county, yellowstone county, that's where billings is, don. this is probably the greatest vote-rich county, more people who vote there than in any other county, most likely, and so it tells you a lot about what's going on. let me give you an example. remember, greg gianforte was the republican candidate for governor last year. he lost to the democrat, steve bullock. so he just went through a statewide election there in

joining me gloria borger, jeffrey lord.s the president talking b about director comey saying he was unpopular, the acting fbi director said the exact opposite last week.argument? >> what you're talking about is within the fbi, certainly i have heard from other fbi -- ex-fbi members who disagree, et cetera, but i'll cede the point. however, the president is quite correct that in the larger political community, i mean, as we got into this issue, and i began looking at all the democrats that said he should either resign or had no credibility or they needed to talk to him and they just, you know, they couldn't stand him, i mean, there's a lot of them out there, all on the record. so, in fact, he was not popular with members of congress on the democratic side of the aisle. >> van, last night we saw a pretty measured response from the white house on this special counsel probe. today the president tweeting about it calls it a witch hunt. that doesn't -- doesn't that actually resonate with his base? the notion that everyone is out

gloria borger, and let me bring you in this and we can comment on the bizarre nature of the briefing here in a second, but to hear sean spicer refer any question on, you know, the next week's testimony with mr. comey and the investigation, and referring to outside counsel, and this the beginning of the new norm? >> yes. i think it is. and mark casowitz is someone who has long remitted donald trump, and he is going to have a supervisory role, and other lawyers hired, and he is going to be the one who communicates with the president most frequently. clearly, there is a comfort level there, and this is clearly a very different world, because i think that what you are going to be finding in this white house as you have found in the clin ton white house is that you have to kind of wall people off from this investigation. sean spicer doing his job, and not answering questions that the president's personal attorney ought to be answering. >> okay. and eric lishblou, and if you are just tuning in, gives your news? >> what we are hearing is that c comey the fired fbi director and bob mueller t

gloria borger is here from your sources about comey's mind set. >> as are you.when comey started hearing from the president and met with him, he memorialized everything. i think what we are learning is that at that point james comey thought he was dealing with the president and administration who just didn't understand the protocols of how to deal with these legal issues. they could teach them. they could perhaps learn about doling with the investigation. however, i was also told, as were you, pamela, that after comey was fired, t question of the president's intent became more problematic. >> the president was trying to influence him. >> exactly. >> it makes you wonder, gloria, i know in retrospect, why didn't he flag this to congress? what have people been telling you? >> first of all, he was not sure what it was. number one. this is what i was told. number two, i was also told what is he go to do when he is not sure what you can deal with. go to congress, manu, you can talk about this, go to the people on the hill and they will leak about it. comey is familiar

with me now, gloria borger, cnn's chief political analyst and patrick healey, political analyst and deputy "the new york times." gloria, look no further than his twitter feed today. the president does not seem like his foreign trip improved his mood. you have some fascinating, new reporting on his mind-set. >> reporter: thanks, kate. you know, before he left for the trip, i was told by a source close to him that he was in a pretty glum mood. that was before the trip. he came back and he felt that it was a successful trip, but he comes back to this russia investigation going at mock speed now with his son-in-law now part of a counterintelligence investigation, and i was told by more than one friend of his that he not only is glum, but he seems to be withdrawing, and that that's not a really good place for donald trump to be, that he has less and less faith in people who work for him, and his outside friends are more and more critical, i think, of the staff inside the white house. this could be expected. and one of them said to me, you know, these guys don't play chess, they play checkers. >

we have chief political analyst gloria borger along with politics reporter chris silly za. republicans who last night described a different mood among republicans in response to this as compared with the many previous controversies this administration has come through. in your view, is it different? >> no question. it is different. it is being received differently. it is being taken seriously in a way that we have seen -- not seen from the many, many other self-inflicted wounds, crisises that have been manufactured from the oval office. and there have been a lot of them. and this is not one that the likes of paul ryan can say, i'm going to shutout the noise. it's not noise. it's real. that's coming from people who are close with donald trump, people inside the white house, people outside the white house. it was an omg moment, no question. however, the big unanswered question, jim, is what this means in real terms. >> right. >> it certainly is knocking the white house off its game, knocking the republican agenda off its game to the point where it's unclear, frankly, whether

joining me, gloria borger, van joans, and jeffrey lord.resident talking about director comey saying he was unpopular, the acting fbi director said the exact opposite last week. does it serve his argument? >> anderson, there's two different situations there. what you're talking about is within the fbi, certainly i have heard from other fbi -- ex-fbi members who disagree, et cetera, but i'll cede the point. however, the president is quite correct that in the larger political community, i mean, as we got into this issue, and i began looking at all the democrats that said he should either resign or had no credibility or they needed to talk to him and they just, you know, they couldn't stand him, i mean, there's a lot of them out there, all on the record. so, in fact, he was not popular with members of congress on the democratic side of the aisle. >> van, last night we saw a pretty measured response from the white house on this special counsel probe. today the president tweeting about it calls it a witch hunt. that doesn't -- doesn't that actua

joining me now is alan dershowitz, laura coates and gloria borger. you had said i think last week that the president should lawyer up, should get an attorney, outside counsel. he's expected to hire his long tooi -time attorney to represent him on matters related to russia. how significant is that? >> well, i think every person who is possibly under investigation ought to have their own independent counsel, and he's picked a good lawyer. i know the firm. i'm actually working with the firm now on another matter, an unrelated matter. and they're an excellent, excellent law firm. there are two kinds of lawyers you need. for the individual cases you need your own personal lawyer. and then the white house counsel can provide aid and assistance on matters relating to the government and the white house. now, flynn particularly needs a lawyer because of course his documents have been subpoenaed. he pleaded the fifth amendment. but the government can get around the fifth amendment by giving him what's called production immunity. let me just explain that. let's

gloria borger, white house pushing back, saying the president never asked to end the investigation into michael flynn. calling this report not truthful. how should the white house engage in what is called damage control? >> i think that's their effort. what they are trying to say also is that comey's friends are trying to lit size this. in fact, if comey was so concerned about this, should have talked to oversight committees about this. why is this coming out at this juncture? it is a way for a pay back for for the firing of comey. but i have to say, wolf, when you take these two days and look at them and take a step back, you have to say that this is a president who maybe doesn't understand the office in which he inhabits and that there is really a question of competency. i know we were talking about that yesterday. but in the "new york times" piece and again in the piece by jake tapper and pamela brown, there is one detail that stand out to me, which is that comey had been in the oval office this day for a meeting with other national security officials for at a for a briefing. the pre

in the meantime, let's get back to gloria borger.new interview to bloomberg news, he says he would be willing to raise the u.s. gas tax to fund infrastructure development. he said the tax plan he released last week just the beginning of negotiations. it's something that i would certainly consider if we earmark the money towards the highways. i thought republicans. don't want the to raise taxes. >> this is going to be a tough sell with his own party. the last person to champion this was chris dodd from connecticut when he was in the senate. in the same interview if he's talking about his own tax reform, it sounds like he's now trying to do lowering taxes with republicans because he's not going to get democratic votes on that and infrastructure and raising the gas tax to pay for it with democrats, which there aren't enough of to pass. it just seems to me he's trying to create coalitions and go about these issues and which ever way he can piece together a deal. because it affects the poor people and the middle class people more than the

gloria borger as well. a lot to discuss. again, this is a nightbreaking . joining me jim himes. wondering what your reaction is to that reporting that russian officials were bragging about the strong relationship they had cultivated with michael flynn and they thought they could use him to influence donald trump. gloria cautioned they may have overstate third influence on him. but that's what we are learning. >> my first reaction is yet another day with yet another story originating in the media. it's remarkable to me how much talk there is that is going to the washington post, that is going to "the new york times," that's going to cnn. those of us on the intelligence committee doing the investigation are jealous about the flow of information that the media gets. obviously, there's a whole topic there. that's of some concern. let me say this about that. i guess it doesn't shock me in the sense that we know that sally yates went to the white house and told the counsel at the white house that this guy was potentially blackmailable by the russians. we know from reports that parenta

us to discuss all of it is cnn chief national correspondent john king, nia-malika henderson and gloria borger. nia, let me start with you and some tweets we saw this morning from senator lindsey graham. he tweeted you appreciate the a patient progress. i will admit i'm concerned with the progress. a bill finalized yesterday has not been scored, amendments not allowed, and three hours final debate should be viewed with caution. we should point out this isn't just lindsey graham shouting this from the sidelines. he is now going to be asked to vote on this. >> it is likely a bill dead on arrival on the senate. we heard that from different senators. bob corker said the way the bill stands now, what's happening with the medicaid expansion. there's some moderates, there's some conservatives there as well. but that is this sentiment about this rushed process is what i'm hearing from republican strategists as well. i was just texting with one. he said that he can't believe that they're rushing this. there's no scoring or anything and it's going to do real harm. the harm he is thinking about is what t

. >> david, finally to you, on some of gloria borger's amazing reporting today where she's been talkingo sources and friends of the president and the president made a quote/unquote nonoffer of the fbi job to his friend chris christie, he said, you don't want it, right? they are having two potential contenders at the white house today, right. what does that tell you about the state of play of finding a replacement for comey? >> i think it's a big struggle and i think, frankly, chris christie would be, you know, very problematic to go up to the senate and get confirmed because if you talk to democrats, they want something -- and frankly, some republicans say this, too. they want someone nonpolitical, someone not tied to trump, not necessarily loyal to trump but loyal to the institution. so i think that's what the problem with joe lieberman was, with, frankly, democrats and i think you'd have the same problem with chris christie was up there or rudy giuliani or any circle of friends from the trump land, you're going to have that opposition. so i think he would do himself better to go out o

gloria borger. nick payton wall sh as well. gloria, your reaction to what we heard. his national security adviser did earlier in the day but the president said it was a very successful meeting with the foreign minister of russia. >> right. and then the president, there were no more questions allowed. i guarantee you there are a lot more questions that reporters would like to ask the president about just what he told the foreign minister of russia. although, and i was hearing you guys before discussing this. i'm sure russia is upset with the way these things have unraveled. but actually they've had a lot more success here than anyone would have thought. having a meeting in the oval office with the foreign minister and with the ambassador, with the president the united states who apparently gave some highly classified information to them that they would not have expected that they would get otherwise, quite frankly. i think there are a lot of questions that still need to be asked about what specifically the president did tell the foreign minister in the oval office eve

. >>> adding on to all of that, quickly, gloria borger has information about the situation behind thenes, wanting a shakeup. tell me about that. >> this is a president who is extremely frustrated and the frustration and the tension kind of trickles down from the top because there is kind of a chaotic sense, every day there's something new that they are on the back of their heels about, crises that are not put upon them but created in a shape or form of events that happened at the white house and the president himself is getting more frustrated. gloria had great reporting on that. i talked to sources who -- and this is another interesting bit of color, who talked to the president because the president spent a lot of time reaching out beyond the white house walls. a lot of times. sometimes it's to vent. sometimes it's to gauge people's read on things, how they view it from the outside in instead of from the inside out. yes, he's definitely complaining. now, is this new, i don't think so. but it seems as though he's reached a boiling point. now, is it fair to them? probably not. we know

i can tell that you gloria borger has heard that there are other issues and factors as well that played into it. >> okay. dana, extraordinary reporting. thank you. i've gone eric with me now, someone who has covered the fbi and james comey for years and years. eric, my question to you is, the fact that comey was inspired to hold this news conference last july, announcing this into the probe, the clinton probe, to beat any leak of the fake russian documents, having covered comey as much as you have, does that decision surprise you? >> it was a stunner, to be honest. >> it is? >> it kind of changes the whole story line. as you say, there was the famous tarmac incident which apparently factored into his decision to go public with this nonindictment/indictment of hillary clinton that was percolating behind closed doors for the last few months was this cryptic russian information that was really the driving force and there have been reports about that the last few months. he's been asked about that in congress just recently before he was fired and he did not respond. so now the indication, t

it must not be the president himself because according to gloria borger, the president sources tellingthat the president bears no responsible for any of the current political drama. you have interviewed the president. no surprise there, right? >> no. not really. he -- he views the world and his mission as president as something that he takes command of and that -- that he feels that he is in command of. right? and that all these sort of outside interferences, all these outside dramas are created outside of anything that he has done. and a lot of times he feels as though, you know, the press reporting and, you know, staff shake-ups or potential staff shake-ups are not of his -- you know, not something he created. they were created either driven by outside forces, driven by the press and that's how he has always operated. i always suggest to people read his first book that he co-wrote with the art of the deal. this is who this guy this. he's never changed. he's 70 years old. i doubt he's ever going to change. >> there is some other reporting from cnn from ivanka and jared kushner world,

. >> gloria borger is with us. gloria, bob muler is highly respected. >> highly respected. both sides of the aisle. this takes the heat off the republicans in congress. they can say we have a well respected special counsel now investigating this and they can kind of, you know, they have use that as something to go back to their constituent with. it is very legitimate. i also would have to say a couple of things. one, the white house wasn't given much haefds-of a heads-up. it is a sign that this is special counsel that will be independent and isn't working in tandem with the white house with quite frankly wp with the congressional committee. we are also not informed. that's wait it should be. this counsel has to be independent. other thing i would say to what you were saying, pamela, is that when this story came out that the president actually asked comey about laying off of michael flynn, if you will, i think that probably today trigger something with rosenstein. what is the difference between friday where he was telling people as you report that, no, he didn't think it was

this is according to multiple sources talking to my colleague, gloria borger, and myself. this was a major factor in comey deciding to publicly declare that the clinton probe was over without consulting then attorney general loretta lynch. you may remember earlier this week "the washington post" reporting on the intelligence and doubts about its credibility. the fact that comey felt he had to act based on russian disinformation is a stark example of how russian interference impacted the decision making at the highest levels of the u.s. government during the 2016 campaign. the russian information at issue claiming to show that then attorney general lynch had been compromised in the clinton investigation because e-mails between then dnc chair and debbie wasserman schultz and political operative were saying allegedly that lynch would have made the fbi clinton probe go away. according to one government official, in classified briefings, comey told lawmakers he was afraid that information would drop. that's a word that one source used with me. and would undermine the investigat

we have senior political report nia-malika henderson and gloria borger here with me in washington ande've got the full team. gloria, i'll start with you. why this continued loyalty from the president to general flynn despite many missteps on his part? >> well, currently of course general flynn is an orphan with no parents. with people from inside the administration. now. but if you look back at the situation during the transition, i was just talking to somebody who explained it to me this way. a source familiar. was that general flynn was the first one with brass on his shoulders to come out and endorse donald trump. they had the same attitude towards isis, which was we're just going to get out there, we're going to kill it. the same disdain for the kind of intelligence that the united states was gathering on isis. and he loved traveling with flynn. remember flynn used to appear with him at rallies. >> very vocally, lock her up. >> right. so even after a lot of people inside the original transition said to donald trump, you know, you have to be a little careful about this guy, donald

let's get more with our specialists and analyst answers gloria borger, among those subpoenaed duringnvestigation, the president's fired national security adviser, michael flynn, as well as his personal long-time lawyer, michael cohen. you had the chance to speak with michael cohen. is he going to comply? >> yes, he is. i spoke to him last night before the subpoena was issued. he issued a statement saying the question from the committee was way too broad. and when i called him last night, he said to me, look, i have not been subpoenaed. now he has. but if i am subpoenaed to testify, i will comply and gladly as i have nothing to hide. he went on to say there is no shred of evidence that implicates me. that should make for some interesting testimony. we know he is the president's personal attorney from trump organization. he is not a part of the government. but he is somebody very close to donald trump and has worked for him for over a decade. >> so he isn't going to site attorney/client privilege? >> he probably will for a lot of questions that will be asked of him. but perhaps they wi

a former official tells gloria borger the way they talked about flynn was a quote, five alarm fire from early on. russian conversations indicated they regarded flynn as their ally. officials cautioned the russians may have exaggerated during the conversations. months before he was caught on intercepted call in december speaking with sergei kislyak and firing of the first national security adviser. cnn reached out to flynn's lawyer who declined to comment and the white house who said we are confident when these are kpleelt, there will be no evidence to support any collusion between the campaign and russia. top former obama intelligence officials and members of congress briefed on the matter have said the same thing. >>> this was probably the most tumultuous week in his presidency. all happening with an ambitious foreign trip. >> absolutely. cnn reports the white house hoping the tour will be an opportunity for the much needed reset, and of course a break from the controversy at home. >> reporter: donald trump leaving washington behind as he aims to use a high stakes foreign trip to escap

this is according to multiple sources talking to my colleagues, gloria borger and myself, now these concernsomey decided to publicly declare that the clinton probe was over last summer without consulting then attorney general loretta lynch. earlier this week "the washington post" reported on this intelligence and doubts about its credibility. the fact that comey felt he had to act based on russian information is a stark example of how russian interference impacted decision-making at the highest levels of the u.s. government during the 2016 campaign. the russian information at issue claimed to show that then attorney general lynch had been compromised in the clinton investigation because e-mails, reported e-mails between then dnc chair debbie wasserman schultz and a political operative saying lynch would make the fbi clinton probe go away. according to one official in classified briefings, comey told lawmakers he was afraid the information would drop and undermine the investigation but comey did not tell lawmakers that he doubted the accuracy of that information, even in a classified setting.

own to limit how much sensitive information they shared with flip, a former official tells our gloria borger the way he was talking about flynn was regarded as a five-alarm fire from early on. and the russian conversations indicated that flynn was their ally. the russians may have exaggerated during those conversations. flynn's relationship with russia developed throughout 2016 months before he was caught on that intercepted call in december. that ultimately led to flynn's firing as trump's first national security adviser. cnn has reached out to flynn' lawyer who declined to comment and the white house who said there is no evidence to support any collusion between the campaign and russia. top officials and members of congress briefed on the matter have all said the same thing. pamela brown, cnn, washington. >> pamela brown, thank you so much. >>> a short time in, right, as the u.s. president. but this is probably been one of the most tumulltuous weeks for donald trump. >> ambitious, indeed. sarah murray reports and we heard this before. the president is hoping this will be an opportunity for

this is gloria borger who joins me now along with michael dantonio and timothy o'brien, author of "trump" gloria, this is based on sources that you've been talking to. what have you learned? >> multiple sources who talk to donald trump and whom either he calls or they call him, they've all known him for years. and what they see is a president, as one said to me, he now lives within himself, which is a dangerous place for him to be. they say that he doesn't trust anybody. that's nothing knew for donald trump. he trusts his family but it's different people on different days and don't forget, they are feeding into this, anderson, because they're complaining about his staff to him and about some decisions that he has made. one person said you shouldn't have fired comey when you did, if you did it on day one, it might have been a better story for you. and they're all kind of wondering whether now that he's back and he's in the middle of this, whether somebody is going to be able to help him get control of this and say to him, here's how you've got to try and fix this and i spoke with one sour

gloria borger is with us. dana bash, and chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. this is very, very sensitive matter that sally yates is about to discuss with members of the judiciary subcommittee. >> she's in a difficult spot because she can't talk about exactly what was in these highly classified intercepts that she read and felt strongly enough to meet with the white house counsel about. what she can talk about is question why it took don mcbegan so long. to alert the president, what the president did with this information, what the white house did with this information, why it didn't send up a red flag or two. we have been told in our reporting that she told them quite strongly that flynn had been compromised, which means he would be subject to blackmail. if you're hearing that it and you're the white house counsel, i can't imagine you wouldn't take that directly to the president of the united states and say, we have a real problem here. >> what they are trying to suggest is that she was an obama administration official. she was subsequently fired by the trump

the source tells gloria borger if the russian military could talk to michael flynn about syria. the course says kushner did not say he would arrange it and it was never arranged. >> except kushner and his wife ivanka to keep their heads down. both are laying low focusing on their work unfazed by the scrutiny. the administration claims ivanka trump is not involved with this war room we're hearing about even though she was seen at the white house with the president's personal attorney. they certainly have a long personal history. >> cnn learned that jared and ivanka will continue to evaluate if they continue to real estate main in washington, d.c. >> let's talk politics with a new guest on the program, the deputy of the online standard. great to have you on the show. >> thanks. good to see you too. >> let's put a ribbon and bow on this jared kushner story. if you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, the unappointed son-in-law adviser to the president who wants a back channel communication with our greatest adversary on the planet who just interfered with our election. is i r

to talk to people to explain all of this, one of the possible explanations as reported by cnn's gloria borger, it was russia wanting to set up back channel in order for the national security adviser to talk to the russian military about syria, though that skprangs serum has explanations certainly has a lot of questions. today expected to take questions in the briefing room for the first time since this news about back channel reporting got out there on television and in the newspapers. back to you. >> that would be interesting. >> always interesting. let's bring in the panel. >> let's do that jim sciutto joins us again with his new reporting, cnn political analyst and washington "daily beast," and daily sanger. a new tweet about russia, the president just put this out. russian officials must be laughing at the u.s. and how a lame excuse for why the dems lost the election has taken over the fake news. david sanger, it sounds as though he's not paying much creed to all the new reporting on jared kushner and jim sciutto's new reporting about these intercepted communications. >> he's probably not

gloria borger, i'm going play the clip.n dickerson had this exchange with president trump on the relationship president trump has had with the former president. >> well her, was very nice to me but after that we've had some difficulties, so it doesn't matter. you know, words are less important to me than deeds, and you saw what happened with surveillance and everybody saw what happened with surveillance. >> difficulties how? >> i thought that -- well, you saw what happened with surveillance, and -- and i think that was inappropriate. >> what does that mean, sir? >> you can figure in a out yourself. >> well, the reason i ask is you called him sick and bad. >> look. you can figure it out yourself. he was very nice to me with words, but -- and when i was with him, but after that there has been no relationship. >> but you stand by that claim -- >> i don't stand by anything. you can take it the way you want. i think our side has been proven very strongly, and everybody is talking about it, and frankly it should be discussed. i t

stone telling cnn's gloria borger he provided all documents consistent with the committee's request and the president appears toss have confirmed that he shared classified intelligence with russian officials in the oval office. speaking alongside prime minister benjamin netanyahu the president denied ever naming israel as the source of the intelligence and accused the news media of getting the story wrong, but the president himself was mistaken. no reports ever said the president mentioned israel by name. we're covering all of that. much more this hour with our guests including senator chris coons, a member of the judiciary and foreign relations committee and our correspondents and specialists, they are also standing by. let's begin with the breaking news about fired national security adviser michael flynn. cnn's diane gallagher is working the story for us. the senate intelligence committee probe is just one of the investigations looking at flynn. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. there are several inquiries into michael flynn right now on capitol hill, and that could be growing as well

i want to bring in chris cillizza and gloria borger. where do we start in we'll start with health care. i'll start with chris since he's right here with me. republicans say they are going to vote tomorrow. they can repeal and replace obamacare. what turned this around for the president? >> first of all, important to understand this is sort of repeal and replace. they are not repealing the whole thing but for the most part -- >> it's similar to obamacare, isn't it? >> there's a lot in there that remains with obamacare. they are not gutting this and putting their own bill in. how did donald trump or paul ryan get the vote? you know, when you say here's $8 billion to fund these high-risk pools, which was the concern, had been the concern, $8 billion solved some problems. i think also what they thought was, we're two, three votes one way or the other on this. it's going to be close. the only way that we're going to make a decision is to say there's going to be a vote. because you put it off, put it off, you put it off. >> but, again, $8 bil

i have with me now gloria borger and dana bash, cnn's chief political correspondent., both of you have some new reporting but dana, let me ask you first. you've been talking to sources inside the white house about precisely this and what are you learning? >> well, a few things. one is the context, according to an administration source, in which the president was talking about this classified information with the russians. and the context was that he was trying to pressure the russians to be more involved with some of the world's worst actors ain soe hot spots like syria to deal more aggressively with assad. in that context, the president brought up this classified information. you know, there's been some discussion about whether he was doing it in sort of a bragadocious way, to borrow a trump term. >> but they said it was about trying to be more aggressive with russia to help with the common threats which the u.s. is trying to convince russia that it's not an easy sell to make to the russians. the president, according to the source i'm talking to, when talking about t

perspective on the president's mood in the midst of the russia investigation with one source telling cnn gloria borgerin himself, which is a dangerous place for donald trump to be. he doesn't have

gloria borger, let me start with you. reaction from capital hill is pretty intense.most of the top u.s. entors, vice senator tweeted this a little white ago. if true, this is a slap in the face to the intel community risking sources and methods is inexcusable particularly with the russianes. bob corker said if it is true, this is problematic. >> stunning report from the washington post and similar report just posted by the "new york times." >> and a blanket statement by dina powell, saying this story is false. right? dina powell and others talking it down, and you have to ask the question and this is in the washington post story, senior white house officials according to the washington post after the meeting took steps to contain the damage, placing calles to the cia and national security agency. the question has to be asked, why did they feel the need to place those calls if this discussion was pretty much pro forma a forma and a discussion of shared threats. if it was nothing more than that then there would not have been a need to place calls to give people a heads

i'm mark preston and gloria borger standing by.ize issue or responding to republicans or why has the president been so quiet and dodged all of those questions? >> right. didn't answer it at all. in many ways i don't know how he would answer it and he's been put in a difficult situation going out there and protecting the president, his boss, the leader of the free world being put in a position of indefensible on many different things. not even john mccain, as you said. and we saw paul ryan come out and say that he wants to see this investigation through, so to speak, and last night on our air, we saw the governor of ohio, john kasich, come out and say this isn't a time for republicans to hide. right now you're seeing a white house that is in absolute crisis mode because they are not only losing independence but now we're starting to see fissures with the president. >> also he dodged the question on whether president putin's offer of the transcript from the other meeting which could help or maybe entirely opposite effect. he totally

let's get right to mark preston, gloria borger and jim sciutto. there is a lot. a lot of names there. a lot of different nuances and different story lines going on there, but it all relates to russia, jim. president trump is back in washington now. the russia probe is getting bigger and bigger. cnn is learning the house intelligence committee now wants information from former white house official boris epshteyn. this comes as the former national security adviser michael flynn is going to turn over those documents to the senate intelligence committee. what else can you tell us? >> originally, retired general flynn had refused to hand over information to testify. now he's providing some of those documents. they relate to his businesses, and this relates to russia. we know as well that michael cohen, longtime lawyer for president trump, has been asked for information as well. he is refusing. we don't know yet what boris epshteyn's answer is to requests from the hill for documents, testimony, et cetera as well. >> gloria, president trump's personal attorney michael c

my colleagues gloria borger and jim hewitto are reporting former trump transition officials who are throwing cold water on this saying that this is revisionist history and that "i'm sure everybody's telling the fbi that they warned against it." that's an interesting tidbit to keep in mind. this is something that my colleague jeff zeleny was able to confirm. the obama white house was krnd about the trump transition teams handling of classified information. they say that some highly sensitive documents were copied and removed from a secure room at the trump transition headquarters in washington. as a result of that some obama officials decided that some documents, from there on out would only be allowed to be viewed at the white house. some interesting details emer emerging about this flynn-russia story. ana? >> joining me now, senior national security correspond for the daily beast, kimberly dozier and columnist for the washington post, josh rogan. if flib was warned, your communications are being recorded, why would he go ahead and discuss sanctions, anyway? does this make sense to you? >> b

gloria borger is here. jim sciutto is here as well. rl bernstein and white house correspondent athena jones. good evening to all of you. gloria, we'll start by listening to part of this interview with lester holt. he continued to insist that the democrats are using a made-up story about the russians to explain their loss. here it is. >> in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. the and reason they should have won it, the electorate college is almost impossible for a republican to win. it's very hard. because you start off at such a disadvantage. so everybody was thinking, they should have won the election. lost an election.e for having - >> are you angry with mr. comey because of his russia investigation? >> i just want somebody that's competent. i'm a big fan of the fbi. i love the fbi. i love the people of the fbi. >> but are you -- >> i think about the hill

gloria borger is here, and jim shuuto is here as well. and carl bernstein and athena jones. good evening to all of you. gloria, i'll start with you. by listening to part of this interview with president trump, he continues to insist democrats are using a made-up story about the russians to explain their loss. here it is. >> in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know? this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won of the the reason they should have won it is the electoral college is almost impossible for a republican to win. very hard. because you start off at such a disadvantage. so everybody was thinking they should have won the election. this was an excuse for having lost an election. >> are you angry with mr. comey because of his russian investigation? >> i just want something that's competent. i am a big fan of the fbi. i love the people of the fbi. i think that about the hillary clinton administration -- >> no, about the russian investigation.

. >> laura, one of the things that former official told gloria borger was the flynn/russia relationship five alarm fire early on. i assume that factors into mueller's investigation. his investigation is far reaching. that would be something he would focus on. >> absolutely, the drag net is quite large. that's the directive of the nature of his work. although it's true that the international trip may do a lot will dnothing curtail the g, it fbi investigation or mueller's overl achievements or overall goals in investigation. there's a very big reason for that. they have to have a simultaneous parallel investigation going on. for every accomplishment thl still be this cloud of suspicion. in order to alleviate that, you have to complete the investigation. it's true there may be some short gains politically speaking. you will always have the fbi never curtails its investigations. robert mueller's appointment will only betrest. it is continued now that you have the confluence of all these other factors to say there is some smoke and a five alarm fire coming from that. >> senator santorum, how

. >> gloria borger is joining us now. apparently our reporter spoke to mr.the flight and he said that the appointment was not sought after or expected and he's been enjoying private life and this notion of meeting with the president to be head of the fbi totally unexpected. gloria, your reaction? >> i think it was. i was speaking with a source familiar with the process who says when he met with the president, the president found him, quote, agreeable, end quote, and liked him and i was also told that lieberman, unlike some of the other candidates, did not go through the department of justice interviews that the other candidates went through and that he's been an attorney general of the state, i'm not sure of that experience in terms of law enforcement. but, again, with every appointment -- and i don't know if you folks have been talking about it, so my apologies if you have -- it all goes to the president and the president makes these decisions because of his chemistry with people. and so when the source said to me that the president found him agreeable and

gloria borger, our chief political analyst, pamela brown, david gregory.fuentes, cnn former law enforcement analyst, and noah bookbinder, executive director of the citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington. pamela, let's talk first of all about the latest developments that only in recent days we're now reporting and you're among our best reporters involved in covering the fbi and the justice department that comey sought additional resources, more money, to accelerate this investigation. what are you hearing? >> that is something that the department of justice is coming out and flatly denying, saying that he did not ask for additional resources, but our sara murray has heard from her sources that that did, in fact happen in a meeting with rod rosenstein, in fact, a deputy attorney general, and the person who recommended to president trump for james comey to be fired. but what we do know, wolf, is that this investigation is full-fledged. it's moving full steam ahead. and just in the last couple of weeks, the eastern district of virginia u.s. attor