james clapper, former director of national intelligence: "the developments of the past week are very bothersome, very disturbing to me."james clapper, the former director of national intelligence under president obama, says he feels, in many ways, u-s institutions are under attack. james clapper, former director of national intelligence: "...both externally -- and that's the big news here is the russian interference in our election system -- and i think, as well, our institutions are under assault internally."voice of jake tapper, host of cnn's 'state of the union': "internally from our president?"clapper: "exactly."clapper says he feels the government's system of checks and balances "is eroding."the criticism follows nearly a week of backlash over the firing of now-former f-b-i director james comey.u-s ambassador nikki haley defended the move on a-b-c's "this week."nikki haley, u.s. ambassador to u.n.: "the president is the ceo of the country. he can hire and fire whoever he wants. that's his right. whether you agree with it or not, it's the truth. what he's trying to do is find his

i want to talk to james clapper's comments, we didn't hear them there. he has said that president trump's p behavior is disturbing, he did say that in that part that we played there. do you agree with that, that his actions have been disturbing? >> donald trump, many of of his actions have been very disturbing. what's perhaps more disturbing is how much we're all acclimating to many of the things that donald trump says, the things he does. but undoubtedly the use of twitter to try to scare comey over the, you know, with the threat that he's taped his conversations and that perhaps there's been something said that he will leak or reveal is very dangerous. it's threatening the independence of the former fbi director. i think on a number of dimensions we're seeing donald trump continue to erode basic norms of the way that a president should conduct himself in office. it's not clear how to respond to this. when we talk about strictly speaking the law, many of the laws have not been violated as so far as we know. it's the norms that we hold deeply that are be

. >> sally 8 and james clapper leaked classified information. >> what to expect today. >> reporter: good morning. donald trump lashing out an investigation into ties between campaign russian meddling in the election, taking to twitter writing, quote, the russia trump collusion story is a total hoax. when will the taxpayer-funded charade end? that as sally yates who was fired for refusing to carry out the president's traveled and testified before the senate panel, director of national intelligence james clapper warning national security adviser michael flynn could be blackmailed by the russians for misleading the administration. >> the russians also knew that general flynn had misled the vice president and others, normally do we believe the russians knew this but likely head proof of this information. and that created a compromise situation. >> yates and clapper viewing unmask trump communications and sharing information when pressed by senator grassley. >> whatever requested the unmasking of donald trump or associates or any member of congress. could have discussed it with my deputy or g

during the campaign, directly contradicting president trump who tweeted just hours earlier when james clappertually everyone else with knowledge of the witch-hunt said there's no collusion. when does it end? in fact in an interview today with msnbc clapper says he believes >> there was no evidence that came -- that rose to that level at that time that found its way into the intelligence community assessment which we had pretty high confidence in. that's not to say there wasn't evidence, but not that met that threshold. >> during the white house press briefing sean spicer suggested it's james clapper who is changing his story. >> it is interesting how the story has changed and now suddenly he's saying i wasn't sure about it. the burden seems to be on him, not us. >> reporter: today director clapper also expressed doubts about mr. trump's version of a dinner with fired fbi director james comey in january. he says it was trump who invited comb el. >> he had been invited to the white house to have dinner with the president. >> reporter: and that the former fbi chief was uncomfortable with the inv

james clapper is saying he cannot comment on whether there are business ties to russia. just yesterday, we were talking about a 2014 interview that eric trump did with a golf reporter, not part of some liberal media attack hound troupe, who said, yeah, we get our -- our lenders are russian. we don't need american banks. we have russian lenders. don jr. snads 2008 at a real estate conference, they have a disproportionate amount of investment from russia and yesterday eric trump said lie, not real news, fake, eric trump, please, i would love for you to come on and tell us if russia wasn't your lenders in 2014, what exactly you meant, because we don't want to mislead any viewers. what's your take? >> well, it's obvious we know well, that the trumps had a lot of trouble getting anybody lending -- to lend them money. >> we do know that. >> the only bank that really decided to lend them money was deutsch bank. >> who was deeply tied to russia as it is. >> and trump ended up suing deutsch bank over the chicago tower and they ended up settling and resolving differences and as do

listen to james clapper today. s. >> so i left it to the judgment of the fbi and that was certainly the practice i followed here. but that was consistent with what i did during the whole six and a half years. so it's not surprising or out of -- or abnormal that i would not have known about the investigation or even more importantly the content of that investigation. so i don't know if there was collusion or not. i don't know if there is evidence of collusion or or not more should i have. in this particular context. >> and you were not intending to clear -- to convict or clear anyone of exclusion it just was outside of your scope. >> that's correct. >> the white house in effect is cherry picking a misunderstanding of clapper's comments. and keep in mind anderson you and i talked about this before. you have the fisher director i testified under oath that collusion is still being investigated not to mention the senate and house intelligence committees and democrats and republicaningsen oh both committees saying still

here, james clapper disputed president trump's account of his meeting with director james comey sayinged the meeting and that comey felt uneasy about going. also today a string of tweets, including one that said he might have a recording. quote, james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. during the press briefing, sean spicer refused to answer questions about that tweet. for more on all of you, i want to bring in ben cardin. a lot to get to, senator, but let me start with the fact the white house basically is saying that tweet speaks for itself. the president says he better hope, james comey better home there is no tape of that. and then we have sources telling nbc that what the former fbi director is saying, i hope there is a tape of that conversation. what do you make of all of this? >> this gets more bizarre every day. if there are tapes, let's hear what he said. quite frankly, i would be very surprised if the president has these recordings. i think this is something that he is saying to try to intimidate mr. comey. i doubt

james clapper himself today told andrea mitchell, i don't know if there was collusion or not. i don't know if there's evidence of collusion or not nor should i on march 5th on "meet the press" when he was asked a similar question he says not to my knowledge. can you describe the discrepancy and explain it? >> no. i'm -- i actually think that that's a great question that you should ask director clapper. >> between director clapper's comments and president trump, why is he leaning on clapper when he said i have no knowledge of whether those -- >> i think on several occasions director clapper has said he has no knowledge of any collusion. that's it. >> he hasn't been briefed. he wouldn't know because he hasn't been briefed. >> he was dni up until january 20th. >> he was very clear today that he said nor should i have in this particular context. he made the case that he is not briefed on an fbi investigation, that that's not his purview. >> fair enough. he's the director of national intelligence. on multiple occasions prior to today he made it very clear he was unaware of any coll

lindsey graham had said, he doesn't understand how james clapper could be unaware. how is that possible? it doesn't add up. i feel that there is a political conspiracy here. >> allen: absolutely. the fact that twos and rice to go and testify before the people, that's what these represent nurse are. they ask these tough questions. what was the business of her to be a part of this unmasking? we know that she was caught in a lie. >> harris: my big concern also has to do with how many people are on the list of who can see what's becoming unmasked. that seems like a broad list. that seems like a list that has people who might be more politicians than leadership or lawmaker. is that just might take? >> allen: no, you should be very concerned about that. the thing about the national security advisor, that's a person who is appointed by the president, they don't have to go through senate confirmation. in some way, that's a political position and the only person who can really give them direction as the president of the united states of america. >> sandra: >> meghan: every t

on the russian investigations this morning continuing including this tweet, when james clapper himself, and everyone else with knowledge of the witch

but that is not true, that's not what james clapper said? >> reporter: it's not what james clapper said, not only in an interview today, but in testimony before and i have spoken with him directly about this morning once. he has chbts said there's no evidence of collusion, he's said there's no conclusive evidence and he made it clear he would not see the whole range of evidences, because he was head of the intelligence agencies, because he left law enforcement, criminal matters to the fbi, particularly when it involves u.s. citizens, because that's the way the law works, listen to james clapper today. >> so i left it to the judgment of the fbi and that was certainly the practice i followed here, but that was consistent to what i did the whole 6 1/2 years. so it's not surprising or abnormal that i would not have known about the investigation or even more importantly, the content of that investigation. so i don't know if there was collusion or not. i don't know if there's evidence of collusion or not, nor should i have, in this particular cont

even james clapper said the russian collusion talking point was not based on facts at all. it's all predicated on one big lie. on innuendo. on bizarre conspiracies. to james comey, good riddance. he deserves everything he got tonight. he has earned this. although the media, which loves hillary, didn't want trump to win, didn't think trump would win, they would never say this. speaking of the mainstream media, they are losing their minds tonight over this. they have gone completely insane. they are not giving you the truth or the facts that we just gave you. they are trying to turn this into a scandal, that it is not -- they are trying to destroy this president and delegitimize him from day one. here's some evidence. remember wikileaks? the alt left propaganda

senator lindsey graham who chaired this panel today asked former director of national intelligence james clapper about president trump's business dealings involving russia. listen. >> general clapper, during your investigation of all things russia, did you ever find a situation where a trump business interest in russia gave you concern? >> not in the course of the preparation of the intelligence community assessment. >> since? >> i'm sorry? >> at all? any time? >> senator graham, i can't comment on that because that impacts an investigation. >> it wasn't enough to put into the report. >> that's correct. >> senator coons, what does that tell you? >> that tells me that there are some concerning ties between president trump and his global real estate empire and russian interests. or it points in an intriguing direction. i would have to review that more closely. clapper was very careful today. what i heard in that tape strongly sulgts the ongoing counter intelligence investigation ran into some ways this which real estate holdings by trump and his family and investments in those holdings by russians

james clapper: no, i can't. sen grassley: ms. yates, have you? yates: yes, i have and, no, i can't give you details. sharyl: intel officials say their activities aren't political. republican senator rand paul and former congressman dennis kucinich, a democrat, are among those who say they believe they were caught up in government surveillance. coming up next week on "full measure." for all the concern about russian influence over u.s. elections, what's rarely talked about is that many foreign interests try to shape u.s. policy every day through paid lobbying. next week, the incredible story of some u.s. military veterans who claim they were duped into lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. >> i said, so by the way, who is paying for all this? he said, the kingdom. i said, the kingdom of saudi arabia? he said, yeah, man. so, this was unraveling into something i wanted no part of. sharyl: foreign lobbying in america, next sunday on "full measure." that's all for this week. thanks for watching. and thanks to our departing interns, mabel and cou

the former director of national intelligence james clapper. you know, he had at one point come out and said he had seen in evidence of collusion, but he's now coming out and saying let me be clear. that i didn't say i didn't see it, doesn't mean i haven't seen everything. the president is saying -- jim clapper is saying there's no cliegs, there's no "there" there. >> clapper is careful in what he says. i don't know why he's doing interviews to begin with. i think he's trying to stay noncommittal. he's seen what happened to his friend james comey. we have to ask, it's been eight months of an intense investigation fueled by very, very strong anti-trump sentiments and there hasn't been one shred of evidence yet. so far this is a hearsay and a lot of talk. but i think at this point, the critics owe it to the investigation and to the public to say here's what we know happened. they don't have a single thick. they haven't produced one piece of product yet. >> is that fair, jeffrey, at this point? >> we're talking about a bunch of different things he

the fact that the president said james clapper -- i'm sorry, that james comey asked for the dinner when, in fact, based on our reporting, it was the white house who invited james comey here to have dinner. that notion that he asked for a loyalty pledge, sean was asked about that. he denied that that was the case. then you have a whole host of current and former fbi officials effectively saying they just can't see james comey telling him whether or not the president was under investigation. so all of those details being questioned and spicer not doing a whole lot to clarify. given the timing, it is incredibly suspicious. as we know, the president looked into what he was told by his white house counsel don mcgann, the fact he says michael flynn misled the vice president. that, of course, continues to be a controversy that hangs over this white house and it is lost on no one that that dinner happened just one day after the revelations here at the white house, katy. >> and pete williams and ken delaney are reporting that acting director comey did tell president trump at that dinner, look, i

james clapper exonerated us. that's okay for his supporters. but in terms of trying to get to the bottom of what actually happened here, that is not instructive or helpful in any meaningful way. they have to shine a light here. sally yates has had her say. what is the white house's explanation of those 18 days? and you have to be open to listening to it. >> the problem is not just michael flynn. the problem is there were lots of people connected to the trump campaign who had contacts with russia. it was carter page. it was paul manafort, jeff sessions. all of them had contacts with the russians. none of it has been fully explained at this point. so it is not like there is going to be one simple explanation. >> spicer has one. it's obama did it. flynn is obama's problem. he should have done it. and if he knew so much about these other investigations, they should have done something. they didn't. it can't be that big of a job. and they gave the guy clearance in the first place. >> excuse me. i wish the president of the united states knew how the

on question after question, both james clapper and sally yates hid behind classification. one would hope if this matter continues and we are certain it will, somebody somewhere will say we need to see this stuff. the american public needs to see it. whether you are talking about transcripts of what mike flynn said in his conversation with sergey kislyak, whether you're talking about requests for unmasking, all of these things are being debated without the benefit of the public seeing what is the substantive claim. >> bret: "new york times" had a piece saying mr. obama, who had fired general flynn as head of the defense intelligence agency, told president trump he would have profound concerns about mr. flynn becoming a top national security aide. it goes on to say that flynn's name came up about personnel. the concerns were largely about his mismanagement. he goes on about warning trump about flynn. here is sean spicer today. >> it's true that the president, president obama made it known he wasn't exactly a fan of general flynn. it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, gi

that is where james clapper fits in. >> stand by. coming up another trump cabinet nominee withdraws his name under a cloud of controversy raising questions about who's doing the vetting. plus, after narrowly passing the house, the health care bill passes an uphill bill in the senate. a look at major changes that could be in store. you're live in the cnn newsroom. . when a critical patient is far from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. stay with me, mr. parker. the at&t network is helping first responders connect with medical teams in near real time... stay with me, mr. parker. ...saving time when it matters most. stay with me, mrs. parker. that's the power of and. mone hundredts thousand times a day, sending oxygen to my muscles. again! so i can lift even the most demanding weight. take care of all your most important parts with centrum. now verified non gmo and gluten free. you're not taking these. hey, hey, hey! you're not taking those. whoa, whoa! you're not taking that. come with me. you're not taking that. you'

intelligence james clapper's testimony backs him up, but is he mischaracterizing the chief?from now. dinner for two. >> the dinner arranged, he want today stay on as the fbi head, and i said i will consider, we'll see what happens, but we had a very nice dinner and he told me you're not under investigati investigation, which i new. >> and standing by your man, president trump continues to defend former advisor mike flynn. s he is a very good person. and i don't think you hear from someonyou d't even know and immediately run out and fire a general. >> why is thpr

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what intrigued lindsey graham was an exchange he had with james clapper about possible business connections between trump interests and russian interests and clapper's refusal to respond. listen to his exchange from yesterday. >> general clapper, during your investigation of all things russia, did you ever find a situation where a trump business interest in russia gave you concern? >> not in the course of the preparation of the intelligence community assessment. >> since? >> i'm sorry? >> at all? anytime? >> senator graham, i can't comment on that, because that impacts the investigation. >> so when i talked to lindsey graham about the next steps for his sub kmcommittee, he referend that specific exchange and says he wants to learn more about those business dealings. >> i want to know about what clapper said. i want to know more about trump's business dealings. >> what's the business interest of yours? >> i don't know. the fbi, according to clapper, i think they're actually looking at that, so maybe that's something we need to steer clear of. what i'm trying to do is find out what happened s

i've ben focusing on james clapper. said he never saw anything about collusion but he admitted he was essentially out of the loop. he didn't know about it. >> it would be interesting if he did. >> that was one argument. so he's taekeb away a huge argument by the republicans. >> thank you all. when we come back. jared kushner's sister courting. wll here's to the wildcats 'til we die... this i gotta try bendy... spendy weekenders. whatever kind of weekender you are, there's a hilton for you. book your weekend break direct at hilton.com and join the weekenders. e*trade's powerful trading tools, give you access to in-depth analysis, and a team of experienced traders ready to help if you need it. it's like having the power of a trading floor, wherever you are. it's your trade. e*trade wise man, i'm nervous about affecting my good credit score. i see you've planted an uncertainty tree. chop that thing down. the clarity you seek... lies within the creditwise app from capital one. creditwise helps you protect your credit. and i

so former national intelligence director james clapper testified there was no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russian officials. president trump tweeted, director clapper reiterated what everybody including the fake media already knows. there is no evidence of collusion with russia and trump. but clapper also said he was unaware while serving as director of national intelligence that the fbi was conducting a counterintelligence investigation. yates on the other hand testified that the reason she contacted white house about former national security advisor michael flynn had to do with flynn's conversations with russian officials and his misleading statements if you want to call it lies, about those meetings to the white house, vice president, the and fbi. nothing else. >> not only did we believe the russians knew this, they likely had proof of this information. and, that created a compromise situation, a situation where the national security advisor essentially could be blackmailed by the russians. reporter: president trump tweeted, sally yates made the fake media extrem

joining me is the former director of national intelligence, james clapper. mr. er, welcome back to the show. >> thanks, chuck. >> before i get to the rest of the story, you just heard secretary kelly talk about the leaks that took place. we know the u.k. complained about the manchester bombing and they responded to some of these leaks as they sort of walk up to the line of treason. some might say, hey, they're just leaking out something that they think the public should know. where do you draw that line? >> well, i think, first of all, i have to say that leaks are damaging. they're corrosive. they risk compromising sources, methods and trade craft. as we've seen recently, they damage relationships with crucial partners. u.k. and israel come to mind. and this is particularly serious now, because in my experience, 50-plus years in intelligence, i don't know of a time when we depended more on friends and allies for sharing information in intelligence, particularly with respect to terrorism. so, i know secretary kelly takes this quite seriously, and he should. the le

the former director of intelligence james clapper said he had not seen evidence. yates, however, was less definitive. they tried to derail communications between russians and advisers because of possible collusion. they only leaked on the democrats. they expect yates to continue to attack the elections and both parties going forward. thank you, dave. >>> trump's travel ban now hanging in the balance after a critical federal appeals court hearing. both sides under intense questioning from judges in the fourth circuit. administration lawyers were repeatedly pressed on statements the president made during the campaign about a muslim ban. cnn's lauren jared was at the hearing. she joins us today. good morning, laura. what did we hear yesterday in the hearing? >> those judges pressed for nearly two hours, but they highlight a tension between the courts trying to defer to the president's national security judgment on the one hand and safeguarding constitutional rights on the other. the judges challenged the plaintiff's lawyer specifically to explain how exactly the pres

james clapper never said there was no evidence. that's something that has to be made clear. there is no conclusion on them yet. there are strands and clues. but the fbi, the house and senate intel communities are still investigating these questions. >> it is unsatisfying for people. i get it. clapper is very careful in how he speaks. all these intel guys seem to be. and it sets up a very interesting struggle, alex, because what the president is banking on is you can't prove a crime. that's clearly where he is putting all his eggs, okay? that's the bar that's being set. is it the right bar? and is that likely to pay off politically for the president? >> chris, it is certainly not the bar that is typically set for investigations of a white house and the conduct of a president and his team. what the president is trying to do, in addition to what you just described, is he is trying to keep this on a very, very narrow question. is there explicit evidence of criminal collusion between president trump and his associates and russians or agents of the russian government? that is not

advisers colluded with russia in that interference, the former director of national intelligence, james clapperot seen evidence. yates, however, was less definitive. cnn's own reporting is that the fbi continues to investigate both communications between trump advisers and russian officials as well as possible collusion. clapper confirmed that russia actually collected on both democratic and gop targets but only leaked on the democrats. he and yates both expect russia to continue to attack u.s. elections and both parties in u.s. elections going forward. christine and dave? >> jim, thanks. white house reaction to the senate testimony was swift and it was fierce. president trump tweeted, "the russia trump collusion story's a total hoax. when will this taxpayer funded charade end?" he added, "director clapper reiterated what everybody, including the fake media, already knows -- there is no evidence of collusion with russia and trump." >> all right, let's take a look at those comments in particular. fbi director james comey has publicly confirmed the bureau is investigating alleged collusion betwee

listen to former director of national intelligence james clapper. he is fearful of a total breakdown of the federal government because of the actions of this president. >> i think in many ways our institutions are under assault, both externally, and that's the big news here is the russian interference in our election system. and i think as well our institutions are under assault internally. >> internally from the president? >> exactly. >> because he's firing the checks and balances? >> well, i think the founding fathers in their genius created a system of three co-equal branches of government and a built-in system of checks and balances. and i feel as though that's under assault and is eroding. >> boy, is that an ominous warning. democrats, though, threatening to block the nomination of a new fbi director unless a special prosecutor is named for the russia investigation. all this chaos taking the focus off of the president's first foreign trip since taking office. he departs friday for saudi arabia, israel, and the vatican. he also meets today with

committee just wrapping up its hearing and featured former acting attorney general sally yates, james clapper, the witnesses were pressed about a slew of hot-button issues swirling around former national security adviser michael flynn and the alleged russian election meddling. more on that. i want to start with this point, what the obama appointees had to say about the unprecedented flood of leaked classified information. >> how did the conversation between the russian ambassador and mr. flynn make it to the "washington post"? >> i don't know the answer to that. >> nor do i know the answer to that. >> as far as you know, has any classified information relating to mr. trump or his associates been declassified and shared with the media? >> not to my knowledge. >> ms. yates. >> not to my knowledge either. >> have you ever given information to a reporter that you didn't want to have your name connected with but wanted to see it in the paper? >> i have not. charles: here to discuss, nan hayward, carl higbie and michael maltby. you have been the hearing, obviously they pressed hard, we know there w

what you said is absolutely correct is that you had james clapper this weekend alleging that the presidents interfering with institutions inside the united states because he fired that then fbi director james comey. but james clapper, with respect to the office, i think he is way off base here. the idea that the executive, the president can fire an executive member -- the fbi member -- is in some constitutional mischief, that's exactly what the constitution allows. i think the left and the media are getting into this entire trump attacking the institution government. it is the left that are saying we will not put in place and fbi director no matter who it is until a special prosecutor, independent prosecutor is put in place. that is the violation of the institution that is the fbi response and reports of the department of justice.el sean, unfortunately for jim comey, he brought this upon himself. he's confirmed it and made it worse and not testifying before the senate. he would only do what he said in an open hearing. he wouldn't do it in a private hearing.g. in a private hearing, he would

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. >> former intelligence chief james clapper suggest president trump is undermining america's democratic system. >> the founding fathers in their genius created a system of three coequal branches of government, and a built in system of checks and balances and i feel as though that's under assault and is eroding. >> reporter: clapper rejecting the president's repeated use of his senate testimony to dismiss the russia investigation. >> the bottom line is, i don't know if there was political collusion, and i don't know of any evidence to it, so i can't refute it and i can't confirm it. >> reporter: united nations am bassor nikki haley coming to the president's defense while white house aide as voided the sunday shows. >> the president is the ceo of the country. can he hire and fire whoever he wants. >> reporter: lawmakers from both parties condemning the president's action, and demanding an explanation of the president's threatening tweet, suggesting that recordings may exist of his conversations with comey. the white house denies the tweet was a threat. >> it was inappropriate. i'd advise

clapper also expressed doubts about mr. trump's version after dinner with fired fbi director james comey in january. >> he wanted to have dinner because he wanted to stay on. a dinner was arranged. i think he asked for the dinner. >> clapper says it was trump who invited comey. >> he had been invited to the white house to have dinner with the president. >> and the former fbi chief was uncomfortable with the invitation. >> you're in a difficult position to refuse to go but i do know he was uneasy with it. for just for the appearance of compromising the independence of the fbi. >> the dinner came just one day after then acting attorney general sally yates warned the white house that then national security adviser michael flynn could be compromised by russia. that timing raising concerns about white house interference in the fbi's ongoing investigation. to whether trump campaign associates colluded with the russian government. cnn has learned that comey was quote taken aback when trump asked him to pledge his loyalty during the dinner. a source close to comey told cnn the fbi chief refused and instead promised to always be honest

. >> former director of national intelligence james clapper will be here live. and one man show. the president says no one at the white house speaks for him. >> there is nothing further to add on that. >> as he contradicts his staff's explanations and publicly burns his own press secretary. >> he's doing a good job but he gets beat up. >> is there anyone in the west wing who can be trusted to tell the truth? the best political minds will be here on washington's wild week. hello i'm jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is reeling. first, president trump surprise firing of fbi director james comey, the man heading the investigation into possible collusion by russia by the trump team, then a series of hard to believe explanations from the white house staff that trump himself revealed to be, well, not believable. and then a stunning admission by the president and what seemed like a threat to the fbi director about secret tapes of their conversations, answers about what really happened are in short supply, director comey splind declined an invitation to testify befor

we don't know the answers to collusion but both sally yates and james clapper made clear there's a reason to have an investigation into that question. clapper said the president keeps saying this almost didn't happen, it wasn't a big deal. listen to james clapper and the current director mike rogers, the united states passed a heads up to france about the hack that we learned about in the final stages of their election and mike rogers saying. listen to him talk about the russian activity in our election. >> they must be congratulating themselves for having exceeded their wildest expectations with a minimal expenditure of resource. and i believe they you now emboldened to continue such activities both here and around the world and to do so more intensely intensely if there has ever been a call for vigilance and action against a threat to the very fo foundation of our democratic political system, this episode is it. >> when you listen to that, and again, his successor just said the russians are still doing it in france and then you look in the tweets or the words of the president of the uni

. >> meanwhile, james clapper said he was not aware of any evidence demonstrating collision between the trump campaign in russia. >> fairways a -- the evidence if there was any team read the evident cherry bar in terms of the level of confidence we were striving for in that assessment. nicole: blake burman at the white house with more. reporter: president obama made it known he was not a fan of the retired general michael flynn. the former president's morning to then-president electron. just days after the november election in an oval office meeting, then press into bottom of warrant or trample at the time is at appetizer. more than a week later, trump later, trump are flynn's national security adviser. flynn was later fired by the president for misleading president. at the white house press briefing monday, press secretary sean spicer tried to return responsibility involving flynn on to mr. obama. >> the question you have to ask yourself is this president upon as concerned about general flynn, why didn't he suspend a security clearance just reapproved a month earlier. what did they do

i'll ask the former director of intelligence, james clapper. but first, through the the show as we go to break on this memorial day weekend we pause to honor our fallen men and women in uniform since last memorial day. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ to take advantage of this offer on a volvo s90, visit your local dealer. to takand it's also a story this mail aabout people90, and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you the uncertainties of hep c. wondering, what if? i let go of althose feelings. because i am cured with harvoni. harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. it's been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. and is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if you've ever had hepatitis b, which may flare

we -- >> it is more potent coming from james clapper. they will say who is he to talk about institutions and preserving the credibility of government. someone like senator ben sasse talking about this. once you see republicans stepping up more saying this is really about preserving the credibility of our checks and balances and tampered within a dangerous way, that will start moving people. in terms of the independent commissioner special prosecutor, i don't see that coming from republicans. this discussion with senator graham saying we cannot move forward until we pressure russia. this has to come on republicans not to rush to take some legal action or join with calls for prosecutors or impeachment, which i think democrats are overdoing. they need to start talking to the president and public about what this is doing to our democracy. what russia did and why it is important that the president never seems to talk about that and what this kind of back and forth about is appropriate. it would have been fine if i asked for loyalty. these are

james clapper responded to that on andrea mitchell earlier today. let's take a listen to that. >> the president actually taped your testimony from earlier this week. played it back for some "time" magazine reporters, played back your segment about collusion, lack of collusion. saying you were choking on your testimony. do you want to respond to that? >> well, i we heard about that tweet. i don't know what he meant by that. i certainly knew what i wanted to say and i attempted to certainly clear up this understanding about what i meant. >> so how does he control what he hears and he sees. obviously, he is control tag dvr and watching back certain mentions of him that aren't so positive. >> yeah. i mean, the president records a large amount of cable news during the day and watches his back in a private dining room. he wants to be able to see it. he wants to bring aides if for commentary. it's almost leak watching a play-by-play of a football game on sunday afternoon. the president saying, oh, chuck grassley, great question, see how he does that almost

here's former national director of intelligence james clapper this morning and he held the position at the time kushner is alleged to have these conversations during the presidential transition period. >> without specific -- specifically affirming or confirming these conversations, since even though they are in the public realm, they are still classified, but just from the theoretical standpoint, i will tell you that my dashboard warning light was clearly on, and i think that was the case with all of us in the intelligence community. very concerned about the nature of these approaches to the russians. >> so we do have president trump back safely at home at the white house after his overseas trip, and firing off a series of new tweets today, including this one. british prime minister may was very angry that the info the uk gave to u.s. about manchester was leaked. gave me full details. so here's what homeland security secretary kelly had to say about those leaks this morning. >> if it came from the united states, it's totally unacceptable. and i don't know why people do these kind of th

then, i sit down with the former director of national intelligence, james clapper, to talk north korea, the terrorist threat, and those recent revelations linking jared kushner to russia. >> if it's true that the objective here was to use russian secure communications as the mode of this dialogue or this communication, that is, i'll say "curious." >> woodruff: and, bringing poetry to chicago's schools. how the nation's first mexican american poet laureate is urging students to find their voice through verse. >> the poetry is there, rumbling in what they see day to day. we want to bring all that out. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the trump white house has spent this day fending off questions about ties to russia, relations with germany, and staff shakeups. all of th

sally eight and james clapper testified about the russians. -- sally yates and james clapper testifiedssians. have convenes talks to implement the 2015 paris agreements to cut carbon emissions. north korea has arrested a second and struck her -- second instructor at pyongyang university. it is not clear if this is part of kim