jim sciutto broke the story for us. jim, excellent reporting. tell our viewers what you learned about this previously undisclosed mission. >> thank you, wolf. multiple trump administration officials with direct knowledge tell me in this previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the u.s. successfully extracted from russia one of its highest level covert sources inside the russian government. a person directly involved in the discussion said the removal of the russian was driven in part by concerns that president trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence, which could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. now, the decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a may 2017 meeting in the oval office, in which trump discussed highly classified intelligence with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov and russian ambassador to the u.s. sergey kislyak. the intelligence concerning ss isis in syria officials renewed discussions about the potential risk of exposure. this according to a source dire

jim sciutto has new reporting on a highly secretive intelligence operation by the u.s.es a top asset inside the russian government, and jim sciutto joins me now with more. jim, hello. this is fascinating. what have you learned? >> don, thanks. multiple trump administration officials with direct knowledge tell me that in the previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the u.s. successfully extracted from russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the russian government, a person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the russian was driven in part by concerns of president trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence, which could contribute to exposing the cohort source as a spy. the decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a may 2017 meeting in the oval office in which you may remember trump discussed highly classified intelligence with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov and then-russian ambassador to the u.s., sergey kislyak. that intelligence concerning isis and syria had been provid

vladimir putin who directed that interference and did so to help trump beat hillary clinton. >> jim sciutto cultivate a spy with such close access to putin? >> i don't think you would cultivate someone with that access, you have to grow them. get someone at a junior level and you need aspects or motivation or somebody who wants to give up their country. this person is considered to be a traitor. you need access to the individual. do -- do they travel overseas and trying to meet clandestine in moscow is hard to do if they are not traveling overseas and the patience over years to watch somebody grow even if they are not in significant positions before, so that they are at the place now where you could get access to putin, that is incredible in the intel world. >> phil mudd, tank you so much. >>> president trump about to face a big test and a traditionally red state. what it could mean for his chances in 2020. stay with us. ♪ you should be mad they gave this guy a promotion. you should be mad at forced camaraderie. and you should be mad at tech that makes things worse. but you're not mad, beca

this is jim sciutto's reporting on the cia spy asset the u.s. pulled out of russia. rting this morning. this time about president trump's views on foreign intelligence and the use of spies in general. that's next. ennis ball hit) (tennis ball hit) (tennis ball hit) (tennis ball hit) (crowd cheering) (tennis ball hit) (tennis ball hit) (tennis ball hit) that's ensure max protein, with high protein and 1 gram sugar. it's a sit-up, banana! bend at the waist! i'm tryin'! keep it up. you'll get there. whoa-hoa-hoa! 30 grams of protein, and one gram of sugar. ensure max protein. "have you lost weight?" of course i have- ever since i started renting from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick. i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro. >>> very good morning. i'm jim sciutto. >> i'm poppy harlow. we begin with few reporting on the president and u.s. intelligence community. after your remark

cnn's jim sciutto will join me to discuss the sourcing for his big russian spy story. and the two journalist who is uncovered harry weinstein's abuses are here with new revelations from their book. and crystal ball is here reacting to rush limbaugh's lies about her and paying attention to slut shaming in the media. >>> first of all, the "i" word. president trump is winning the messaging war about impeachment. democrats are losing. and i'm noticing that the dems are under increasing pressure, including from members of the media to explain their mixed messaging and their failure to communicate. wherever impeachment is in the air, there are stories about the process, stories about the substance. process on one hand, substance on the other. this is actually true in all sorts of political coverage. with nixon, the substance is about crimes and cover-ups. with clinton, it's about lying under oath and obstructing justice. with trump, journalists keep uncovering allegations of corruption and obstruction. the list of potentially impeachable conduct grows longer every week, but

. >> jim sciutto broke this story. it was a cnn exclusive, and he will join us again shortly with brand new reporting on this subject. we're going to gbegin with this special election in north carolina. joining me now is cnn political director david chalian. just to show how important this race is, david, both the president and the vice president have campaigned in this district in the last 24 hours, so what does that tell you? >> yeah, that doesn't happen by accident, john. one of the most valuable resources would be the president's time and the vice president's time for a republican candidate anywhere in this country and sending them both in. to me it just shows that the trump administration, the republican apparatus in terms of the party is all in on this race, a race that we have no business talking about whatsoever. as you mentioned, donald trump won this district in 2016 by 12 points, john. this should not be a competitive race and what we are looking to see this evening as the returns come in is where is the pol

i'm jim sciutto in new york. >> i'm poppy harlow. we're glad you're with us. we begin with a cnn exclusive, this is your reporting, you have learned about a highly secretive intelligence operation by the united states. >> that's right, poppy. multiple trump administration officials with direct knowledge tell me in a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the u.s. successfully extracted from russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the russian government. knowledge of the covert source's existence was restricted. there was no, quote, equal alternative inside the russian government providing insight and information on putin, a person involved said the removal was driven in part by concerns that president trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. the decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a may 2017 meeting in the oval office in which trump us discussed highly classified intelligence with sergi lavrov and s

i'm jim sciutto. >> and i'm poppy harlow.nd what are the democrats going to do about it? the president confirms he did talk to the president of ukraine and joe biden. this follows severity different talking points of the president over the past few days. first he denied it, denied bringing it up in the call at all saying on twitter, quote, another fake news story out there. it never ends. virtually any time i speak on the phone to a foreign leader, i understand that there may be many people listening from various u.s. agency, not to mention those from the other country itself. no problem. >> he later said he couldn't remember t

our jim sciutto broke this part of the story. jim, what more can you tell us? >> officials who served under this administration have said trump privately and repeatedly used intelligence from covert sources, including overseas spies who provide the government with crucial information about countries hostile to the u.s. in private the president has said that foreign spies can damage relations with their host countries and undermine his personal relationships with their leaders. the sources said the president believes, quote, we shouldn't be doing that to each other. one former trump administration official told cnn. in addition to such fear, foreign sources will downplay the relationship with the political leaders. another former senior intelligence official told cnn that trump, quote, believes there are people who are selling out their country. we should note that even in public, trump has looked down on these foreign assets, as they're known in the intelligence community. you may remember that after reports surfaced that the cia had recruited kim jong-un's bro

so let's bring in jim baker and jim sciutto. you know jim sciutto is an anchor here.aker is not a journalist, he's someone with legal acumen in the area we're dealing with. jimmy, you were on top of this early on. the significance to the audience, why does this news matter? >> well, listen, let's start with the oval office meeting here. there's no other way to describe it but as a betrayal of national security interests. you russia has just interfered in the political process and the president tells him he's fine with it, it's okay, which excuses the experience in 2016 but welcomes interference in elections to follow. so you have the behavior and the comment and then you have the coverup where officials knowing that that statement to russian officials is something that should not be known by the public so they take extraordinary measures to keep it not just from the public but from other members of trump as own administration. and as we reported tonight, chris, my colleague pamela brown and i, that it was not limited to that meeting in the oval office. it was not limi

jim sciutto joins us now.in what you've learned about this because it's fascinating. >> for sure. multiple trump administration officials with direct knowledge tell me that in a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the u.s. successfully extracted from russia one of its highest level covert sources inside the russian government. the person directly involved in the discussion said that the removal of the russian was driven in part by concerns that president trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence, which could then contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. we should note the decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a may 2017 meeting in the oval office in which trump discussed highly classified intelligence with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov and then-russian ambassador to the u.s. sergey kislyak. the intelligence concerning isis and syria had been provided by israel. the disclosure to the russians by the president, though not about the

i'm jim sciutto. >> and i'm poppy harlow. both the united states and saudi arabia say they're confident cruise missiles were used in the strikes on the saudi airfields. this comes from a source who tells cnn that the missiles approached at low altitude assisted by drones. it's a big question because it would be an act of war. both countries believe there is a high probability they were launched from an iranian base near its border with iraq. joining us live from riyadh, saudi arabia, diplomatic editor nic robertson. nic, tell us what they're saying here about responsibility and what they're not say. >> reporter: well, what they're saying officially is that iran made the weapons, saudi officially is saying they haven't figured out where those weapons were fired from. but a source with knowledge of the investigation says there's high probability that they've now figured it out that they were fired from iran, that they did fly the short distance across the border into iraq, over kuwaiti airspace, through kuwaiti airspace and int

i'm poppy harlow. >> and i'm jim sciutto. >>> hello, everyone. i'm kate baldwin, thanks for joining me. a critical moment ahead. house democrats will need this whole caucus, since the controversy erupted from the whistleblower complain. and the administration has refused to hand that report to congress. he talked about his political rival, joe biden with ukraine's leader in a phone call. just after, they pull ed

i'm jim sciutto, i'm poppy harlow. >>> the house intelligence committee is hearing from the inspector general about a disturbing whistle blower complaint made against the president of the united states. it's a complaint the inspector general appointed by the president has deemed an urgent concern. >> here's why. cnn has learned it came from a u.s. intelligence official who was troubled by something president trump said on the telephone to a foreign leader. according to the "washington post," the complaint was triggered by a promise that the president made. no word yet on exactly what that promise was, to whom it was made, also no response yet from the white house. >> so we're going to dig into this. let begin this hour with our senior national correspondent alex marker. good morning, alex. which foreign leaders do we know the president met with and talked to on the telephone around this time? >> that's the big question. because it centers around the communication by the president with a foreign leader and the alleged promise that he made to this foreign leader. in looking at the timel

. >> i'm jim sciutto. right now, behind closed doors, the intelligence community inspector general is set to brief the house intelligence committee on a disturbing whistleblower complaint. one that is raising more questions about how president trump communicates with foreign governments and perhaps what promises he makes to those governments. the inspector general who we should note was appointed by this president, called the complaint an urgent concern. and by law, urgency means it's not a policy disagreement, it's an issue of national security concern. >> cnn has learned that it came from a u.s. intelligence official who was so troubled by something the president said to a foreign leader on a phone call. this is all according to "the washington post." the complaint was triggered by a promise that the president made to that foreign leader. the big question this morning, of course, is what exactly was that promise? and to whom was the promise made? >> one thing is clear, though. a trump appointed inspector

>>> now to a cnn exclusive, jim sciutto has new reporting by the u.s.us what you're learning here. >> reporter: multiple trump officials with direct knowledge tell me that in a secret mission in 2017, the u.s. successfully extracted from russia one of its highest level covert sources inside the russian government. knowledge of this existence was highly restricted within the u.s. government. according to one source there was, quote, no equal alternative inside the russian government, learning now information on president vladimir putin. a person directly involved in the discussion said the removal of the russian was driven in part by concerns that president trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence, which could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. the decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a may 27 meeting in the oval office in which trump discussed highly classified intelligence. the information has been provided by israel. the disclosure of the russians by the president, though not about

i'm jim sciutto. a stunning admission and reversal by president trump.ke democrats now act? the president now confirming that he spoke to the president of ukraine about joe biden and his son. trump's fast evolution on ukraine reflects a familiar pattern, deny potential wrongdoing and then admit and justify it while declaring the discovery of the activity the real crime. a reminder four days ago he started with what appeared to be a total denial via twitter writing it never ends. virtually every time i speak on the phone to a f

i'm jim sciutto in washington. >> and i'm poppy harlow in newark. the nightmare of hurricane dorian continues in the bahamas. we are now learning the coast guard has four helicopters if the air as we speak. they're running search and rescue migs at this moment. authorities say they know at least five people have been killed so far from the strength of dorian. thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed and this storm spins over the island for the second straight day, splintering homes and flooding streets. >> today dorian could finally start its move northward now as a category 3 storm the forecast shows it's staying away from florida and georgia, that's a big change. but not far enough to dodge dangerous flooding and surge, the storm could do a lot of damage even if it doesn't come to shore. forecasters warn the storm could take a turn inland. with still a slight chance the coastal areas are preparing for the worst. >> making those search and rescue missions really difficult right now. you have thousands of people still trapped in their homes

>>> i'm jim sciutto in washington. >> and i'm poppy harlow in new york. we are following the devastation of hurricane dorian which has made landfall in the united states. just about an hour ago, the eye crossed over cape hatteras as a. category 1 storm. also there is a threat of tornadoes and flash flooding that persists. more than 418,000 customers still without power in the carolinas and into virginia. >> as for the hardest hit, the bahamas, cnn reporters on the ground say there is a chilling silence where neighborhoods once stood. and there is the unmistakable smell of death in the air. this is the fact on the ground. the death toll officially sits at 30, but officials say prepare for unimaginable information as that number is expected to rise significantly. they're only just getting in there. hundreds of people are still missing as the search for survivors goes on. we are covering the storm from every angle as only cnn can. let's get first to al exandra field in kill devil hills, north carolina. boy, you can still feel the power of the storm. >> repor

. >> and i'm jim sciutto here in washington. right now hurricane dorian is slamming into north carolina as a category 1 hurricane bringing powerful wind gusts, storm surges and heavy rain. officials are warning of life threatening flash floods as the storm slowly creeps along the coast, and also a threat today tornados form from dorian's outer bands. already at least two dozen tornados have been reported in the carolinas just over the last 48 hours. >> and in the bahamas prepare for unimaginable information about the death toll. that is what officials there are warning this morning saying while the number of people killed in this storm is at 30 right now, it is expected to climb much higher. hundreds of people still missing as searchers continue to look for survivors. the situation on the ground is so grim right now officials are bringing in extra body bags, morticians and coolers to store those bodies. we will bring you a live update from the bahamas in just a moment. let's begin, though, this hour with our alexandria field who

i'm jim sciutto in washington. >> i'm poppy harlow in new york. this morning for the first time, the house judiciary committee is setting the ground rules and holding a vote over the possible impeachment of the president. we learning more this morning and we're learning more from members on the committee. some of whom are already apparently looking at a list of possible counts against the president, including obstruction of justice. some echoing those filed against richard nixon. >> it's a remarkable moment. but outside that committee, democrats are divided on whether impeachment is actually what's happening here. house leaders say it is not impeachment. it's oversight. while other members say it's something in between. confused? the question this morning, is this confusion strategic to help members thread the needle in swing districts, or are democrats confused themselves? senior congressional correspondent manu raju is live on capitol hill. this is a threading of the needle politically, is it not? allow those who stipulate to go the committee pa

well, some years ago cnn hired former obama official jim sciutto and he has been delivering for themr since. on monday sciutto appeared with what sounded like a blockbuster story. here's what it was. the cia had been forced to spirit an agent out of russia because the president bungled handling of intelligence and put that agent's life in danger. >> multiple trump administration officials with direct knowledge tell me in a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017 the u.s.s. successfully extracted from rickenbacker one of its highest level covert sources inside the russia government, a person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the russian was driven, in part, by concerns that president trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence which could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. >> tucker: another bombshell from jim sciutto and the geniuses at cnn just like the last 10 bombshells that were going to bring down the president. this one turned out to be a little more complicated than it seems. chief intelligence co

jim sciutto is in for john. >> you haven't kicked me out. >> you're behaving thus far. president

. >> i'm jim sciutto. this morning we're learning the strike on a saudi arabian oil field involved cruise missiles. a source close to the investigation tells cnn they came in at low altitude, assisted by drones. a sophisticated attack. the same source says there's a high probability they were launched from an iranian base near the iraqi border. u.s. investigators in the middle east are working with the saudis to identify the missiles, the technology and hopefully find out who launched them. >> we have a team of experts, reporters around the world covering this story. our international diplomatic editor nic robertson is in riyadh, saudi arabia. our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh joins us from tehran. good morning to you both. nic, let's begin with you and the reporting you are getting this morning. many important details on where this attack was launched and with what. >> yeah, poppy, what we're learning from a source familiar with the investigation is that some of these missiles, these

. >> and i'm jim sciutto. we are learning this morning that some of the democratic members on the committee have drawn up a list of possible charges against the president, crucially including obstruction of justice. >> outside that committee, the argument is not necessarily over the charges, it's actually over what to call the process itself. is it impeachment or oversight or some combination of both. >> our national correspondent manu raju on capitol hill, nadler was clear this morning saying i'm done with talking about what this is and what it isn't. >> yeah, he said we are conducting an investigation to determine whether or not to impeach the president of the united states. call it what you want, but the ultimate outcome could be recommending impeaching this president and just moments ago, they finished voting on this resolution, setting the ground rules for this investigation. this resolution was adopted by this committee by a 24-17 party line vote after two hours of acrimonious debate, where republicans c

. >>> we're getting new details this morning in a cnn exclusive that jim sciutto broke wide open about cia spy who was extracted from russia in 2017 in a secret mission. the asset had access to vladimir putin, so much access he could photograph government documents on the russian leader's desk. the kremlin this morning is now responding to jim's reporting. jim joins us up early this morning. i have to say, jim, remarkable reporting. you broke this hours before anyone else had it, and now you're getting infrastructure informati -- new information. >> we withheld a lot of these details. we didn't want to risk any chance of identifying this person. the "new york times" last night in confirming our story gave some details. this is what we know about the le level, and this gets at the importance of how big a loss this is for the u.s. someone that served as a cia informant for more than a dec e decade, a russian national who had risen in the cekremlin, had direct access to the russian president, including the ability to take photos of presidential documents. this person was offered extractio

. >> let me get to some of jim sciutto's excellent reporting here on cnn. as you know, he first reported yesterday that the u.s. back in 2017 extracted what was seen as a soviet -- as a russian asset working in moscow and valuable and may have been potentially at risk so they brought him here to the united states. i know there is a limit to what you could say about this. but what are your thoughts? >> i can't comment on the veracity or -- or lack of veracity of those allegations. i can say there is a concern about the president, about whether foreign intelligence services could trust what they provide to us, whether they'll give us the most sensitive intelligence. i think sources themselves often who are motivated, yes, by money but by an ideological belief of what the u.s. stands for and what the president stands for with democracy and human rights, those sources tend to dry up. the continuing attacks on our intelligence professionals, this coziness with russia. i was frankly just as disturbed with the reporting about the president questioning whether huma

. >> i'm jim sciutto. any minute now, the australian prime minister will arrive at the white house for a meet with president trump and then we'll hear from the president in a press conference, this for the first time since revelations of an alarming whistleblower complaint within the intelligence commune ity. that complaint based on a promise trump reportedly made to another world leader. the details of which the white house and justice department are actively trying to keep from congress and, therefore, from you. >> and now we're learning, according to new reporting from "the new york times" and "the washington post" this morning that it had to do at least in part with ukraine. cnn has reported in the past that president trump's lawyer rudy giuliani tried to pressure the ukrainian government to investigate former vice president joe biden's family, specifically his son hunter biden's work on the board of a ukrainian gas company. >> and on that issue, notice this. the administration seems to have moved from

cnn's jim sciutto joins us from there tonight. excuse me, jim acosta. sorry, jim. you heard the reporting from pamela brown about these other transcripts that the white house apparently took efforts to conceal. we don't know exactly how. any sense of how the president and his team are dealing with this? >> reporter: well, anderson, i talked to a source who is familiar with the discussions inside the president's legal team earlier this evening who said during the mueller investigation, they were at defcon 1. tonight they are at defcon 10. so they claim they are not very worried about all these developments. i will tell you, anderson, what is going on with these calls between the president and these foreign leaders is very interesting. it's something we've been reporting on for some time. ever since those leaks starting coming out, and this goes all the way to the beginning of the administration when the president's call with enrique pena nieto, the former president of mexico, leaked out. they started to shrink the number of officials inside the white house who would

i'm poppy harlow. >> i'm jim sciutto. we now have in our hands the breaking news.mplete whistle-blower complaint that caused so much controversy and very hard questions about the future of this presidency, detailing exactly what this whistle-blower was alleging took place, particularly in conversations -- not one. conversations between the u.s. president and the president of the ukraine, activities of his personal lawyer rudy giuliani, pursuing what appears to be a political agenda over u.s. national security interests in ukraine. i'm going to quote directly from the whistle-blower's complaint describing what this whiz mass e whistle-blower says is a problem. to be clear, while the president has tried to characterize this as being the view of just one partisan in his words, the complaint makes clear that more than half a dozen u.s. officials informed this whistle-blower of various facts related to this effort. there's a host of things in here. we were discussing just moments ago about the allegations in effect of a coverup. >> everyone should read this. let me read

i'm jim sciutto in new york. >> i'm poppy harlow. we're glad you're with us.lusive, this is your reporting, you have learned about a highly secretive intelligence operation by the united states. >> that's right, poppy. multiple trump administration officials with direct knowledge tell me in a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the u.s. successfully extracted from russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the russian government. knowledge of the covert source's existence was restricted. there was no, quote, equal alternative inside

this thing jim sciutto being was a joke posing for me more than. he does the us have anything. to hide as advice. thanks for watching kick off see you next time i'm. the. farmland has been called ethiopia's green gold the country has an abundant supply and leases it to international preferred giants the government is after high export revenues for corporations high profit margins. but not everyone benefits from the best selling out of a country dead donkey nobody knows in 15 minutes w. . in good shape. bottoms up. if you ever said to yourself oh just another simple. but that one last might be one too many. what makes alcohol so dangerous and how best to avoid dependence. on w. . where is home. when your family scattered across the globe. is a. journey to the roots get minimum monthly. charge family from somalia live around the world. one of them needed urgent assistance. family starts october any on t w the. world unto itself. with its own gravitational pull. of the finest musical compositions. with some mysteries teresa. bird. don't believe that she wasn't don't don't tell me

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this report out of cnn was fronted and sourced by jim sciutto. official and frequent critic of president trump. the cnn report claims that the cia removed a top spy from russia over fear that they could be compromised by president trump. that the u.s. intelligence community didn't feel like it could fully trust the commander-in-chief to keep spies safe disturbing revelation certainly was the suggestion. but the cia's director of public affairs pushed back hard calling it misguided speculation that the president's handling of our nation's most sensitive intelligence, which he has access to each and every day, drove an alleged exfiltration operation inaccurate. you also mentioned the "new york times." they are also talking about this. former intelligence officials said there was no public evidence that mr. trump directly endangered the source and other current personal officials insisted that media scrutiny the agency sources alone was the elm at the tis for thimpetus for the e the suggestion that the president may have perhaps come pro-mighted the

. >> and i'm jim sciutto. >>> hello, everyone. i'm kate baldwin, thanks for joining me. a critical moment ahead. house democrats will need this whole caucus, since the controversy erupted from the whistleblower complain. and the administration has refused to hand that report to congress. he talked about his political rival, joe biden with ukraine's leader in a phone call. just after, they pull ed aid. >>> democrats are coming together for the falling. if these allegations are true, these actions represent an impeachable offense. this is significant. these are moderate democrats from swing districts, the very democrats that help win the majority in the house. they have resisted impeachment until now. they have needed the change. putting it this way to me, if not now, then when? what do you have to do to deserve impeachment? lauren fox is following all of this closely. she is joining me from capitol hill. what are you hearing from there right now. >> you heard from the senate democratic freshmen who are arguing in "the washington post" op-ed. this would be an impeachable o

. >>> turning now to the cnn exclusive, jim sciutto joining us on a highly secretive intelligence operationy the u.s. walk us through what you learned here. this is fascinating. >> trump officials tell me in a previously undiscan closed secret mission, the u.s. extracted from russia, one of its highest level covert sources inside the russian government. knowledge of this exist answer was highly restrictive in the u.s. government. there was no equal alternative inside the russian government. a person directly involved in the discussions said the removal of the russian was driven in part by concerns that president trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence which could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. the decision to carry out this distraction occur red. that intelligence concerning isis and syria had been provided by israel. the disclosure to the russians about the president did prompt intelligence officials about the risk of the exposure. this source was directly involved in the matter. then cia director mike pompeo said that too much informa

hour mike pompeo disputed those details but cnn is, of course, standing by the report and today jim sciutto been reporting about the president and how he views these foreign assets. jim what do you have? >> reporter: brooke, multiple officials who served under this president said trump reportedly revealed sources including overseas spies to provide the u.s. government with crucial information about hostile countries. in private the president said foreign spies can damage relations with their host countries, and undermine his personal relationships with their leaders, the sources said. the president "believes we shouldn't be doing that to each other." one former trump administration official told me. in addition to his fear such foreign intelligence sources will damage his relationship with foreign leaders, trump has expressed doubts about the credibility of the information they provide. another former senior intelligence official told cnn trump "believes there are people who are selling out their country." even in public we should note that trump looked down on these foreign assets as they

cnn anchor chief national security correspondent jim sciutto broke the story. thank you so much. lay out what your reporting is and what you have learned. >> here are the headlines. multiple trump administration officials with direct knowledge tell me in that previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017 the u.s. successfully extracted from russia one of the highest level covert sources inside the russian government. knowledge of the russian covert source's existence highly restricted even within the u.s. government, according to a source know quall alternative inside the russian government with insight and information on the russian president vladimir putin. a person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the russian was driven in part by concerns that president trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence which could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. the decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a may 2017 meeting in the oval office in which you may remember trump discussed highly classified in

. >>> topping our political radar today, some remarkable reporting by jim sciutto extracted from a top 2017. they could have exposed the source as a spy. it came after that infamous oval office meeting in which the president discussed classified matters with the former minister of afghanistan at the time. however, the president had expressed concerns about this specific form of safety as far back as the obama administration. the office of public affairs says the misguided speculation that the president's handling of our nation's most sensitive intelligence drove an alleged x exfiltration operation is inaccurate. >>> now we'll investigate whether the agency broke ethics rules when it broke the president's information about the storm over its own ethics. >>> jennifer plame takes aim at the gop in a new, action-packed video. she is fewer i didn't sayurious about blowing her cover. >> we need to turn our country around. and yes, the cia really does teach us how to drive like this. mr. president, i've got a few scores to settle. >> president trump firing back in his latest republican challe

. >> and i'm jim sciutto. and coming up kate bouldan with "this hour." >> good morning. there's a high probability the attacks on the saudi soil sites were launched from an iranian base. and right now president trump is offering up really contradictory messages on how he believes the u.s. is planning to respond. you will respond of course the locked and loaded tweet from this weekend. at this point he's declaring it's too early to say. >> reporter: have you seen evidence, proof that iran was behind the attack. >> it's looking that way. we'll have some pretty good -- we're having some very strong studies done but it's certainly looking that way at this moment. and we'll let you know. as soon as we find out definitively, we'll let you know but it does look that way. >> reporter: do you want war with iran? >> do i want war? i don't want war with anybody. >> cnn diplomatic editor nic robe robertson is joining us from the capital of riyadh. it's some of your reporting that's bringing out some of these new accusations being leveled. what more are you hearing from your sources

. >> i'm jim sciutto in washington. the center strikes back. the biggest winner in last night's democratic presidential debate may very well have been president barack obama. >> moderates no longer running from obamacare, actually embracing it, pushing back at progressives big plans for medicare for all. >> i know the center said she's for bernie, i'm for barak. i think obamacare worked. add to it, replace everything cut, add a public option, guarantee everyone will be able to have affordable insurance. >> on medicare for all, costs will go up for wealthier individuals and costs are going to go up for giant corporations. but for hardworking families across this country, costs are going to go down and that's how it should work. >> every study done shows that medicare for all is the most cost effective approach for providing medical care for every man, woman and child in this country. i, who wrote the damn bill, if i may say so -- >> while bernie wrote the bill, i read the bill. on page 8 of the bill it says we will no longer have private insuran

jim sciutto joins me. >> it was a busy weekend. >> it promises to be a busy monday. we begin with the developments in the impeachment inquiry. president trump escalated his attacks on the whistle-blower. and threatening whoever gave the w whistle-blower information. there is a tentative agreement for the whistle-blower to testify soon. >> at the same time house democrats begin their push for impeachment with several depositions and hearings this week. the president's former homeland security adviser says he repeatedly warned the president that the conspiracy theory and that's what it is about the bidens and ukraine was, quote, completely debunked. tom bossert also saying he was trying to get him to dig up dirt on the political opponent. we give with joe johns live at the white house. reading the tweets this weekend, you sense concern is a mild word there. perhaps some fear as he's lashing out. is that what you're hearing this morning from the white house? >> reporter: that's for sure, jim. we've had plenty of bluster, energy, debungt theories. >> what's going on now

. >> and i'm jim sciutto. dorian is now moving slowly up the coast of florida after leaving absolute devastation in the bahamas. still close enough to hit the state with tropical storm force winds, coastal flooding and power outages. >> as this storm continues its move northward nearly a quarter million people are in its direct path and have evacuated their homes. there are hurricane watches and warnings in four states right now. in the car carolinas, the cities of charleston, myrtle beach and wilmington are still at risk of a direct hit from hurricane dorian. >> and this is really where the focus is now. in the wake of this historic storm there's near total destruction in the bahamas, just places wiped off the map by the winds, the flooding. entire neighborhoods simply gone. so far seven people are dead. of course the worry is as you look at that devastation there, that others lost their lives. they're just beginning to search for victims. >> the storm hovered over those islands for two straight days batterin

. >> and i'm jim sciutto. "at this hour" starts right now. >>> hello, everyone. i'm kate bolduan. thanks so much for joining me. hurricane dorian makes landfall in north carolina with strong winds, rain, and storm surge to talk about. already at least two dozen tornadoes have been reported across the carolinas from this storm along with pretty extensive flooding. and the power is out on hatteras where the storm made landfall this morning. there is a new update on the next moves of this unbelievably stubborn hurricane. mo hopefully after a week of following the destructive path, it will be on the way out. even as dorian heads off, there are new images of the destruction left behind. the official death toll in the bahamas is now 30. but the health minister says this. the public needs to prepare for unimaginable information about the death toll. that's how he's putting it. that ominous warning confirming what everyone has feared. that the number of people who have perished there will be soaring once they get their arms around what they're dealing with. first let's get to the cnn weat

jim sciutto is in for john. >> you haven't kicked me out. >> you're behaving thus far. we'll see how this hour goes. president trump is escalating his attacks on the whistleblower demanding to meet his accuser face to face. the president was seemingly irked by developments in the push to impeach him. mr. trump also threatening big consequences for whoever supplied information to that whistleblower. the president also attacked the democrat leading the impeachment probe, even accusing him of treason, adam schiff confirms there's a tentative agreement for the whistleblower to testify soon. congress is technically out of session for the next two weeks, but that is not slowing down their impeachment probe. house democrats are going full steam ahead with hearings and depositions this week. >> the pace is remarkable. breaking this hour, ukraine's new president says he is, quote, unlikely to release a transcript of his conversations with president trump. the whistleblower you will remember alleges president trump repeatedly pressured president zelensky to investigate former vic

i'm jim sciutto in washington. >> and i'm poppy harlow in newark.nues in the bahamas. we are now learning the coast guard has four helicopters if the air as we speak. they're running search and rescue migs at this moment. authorities say they know at least five people have been killed so far from the strength of dorian. thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed and this storm spins over the island for the second straight day, splintering homes and flooding streets. >> today dorian could finally start its move northward now as a