joining me cnn national security correspondent kylie atwood and lisa monaco. e, so here's a team disbanded by trump two years ago. now coming back in a different form, but several months into a pandemic. >> yeah, that's right, jim. so similar motivation, different building, if you will. so the obama administration stood up a directorate at the national security council at the white house and that office as you said was disbanded in 2018. and now retrospective to the coronavirus pandemic and the inability of the trump administration to really handle it well, they are having conversations -- follow-up conversations today at the white house about standing up an office focused on pandemic response at the state department. now, a senior administration official who i spoke to about this said that there's a reason they're putting it out -- the state department. they want to focus not only on public health but also on diplomacy because as we saw during the pandemic in the early stages, one of the key issues was where are the materials, where is the health materials tha

kylie atwood is part of the team of reportings uncovering the story.hat the stories are tell us you about ambassador woody johnson. >> i want to take you through some of the specifics that we have reported in this story. with regard to the racist allegations, ambassador woody johnson is said to have questioned why the black community would want a particular month to celebrate black history month in conversations with embassy staff and when they were planning an event to take place two commemorate that month, he asked if the audience would be filled with black people. he also said that the serious real challenge for the african-american community is that fathers aren't part of the family. and one source told us that those comments stunned them. that is a source who overheard those comments being made. with regard to the sexist allegations, ambassador johnson is said to have hosted official gatherings at a men's only club in london. he was told by another diplomat that he would no longer do that. if he hosted events there, women from the embassy could no

cnn kylie atwood is at the state department for us.nd you asked mike pompeo about this intelligence today. what did he have to say. >> reporter: well, throughout his remarks at the state department, secretary pompeo repeatedly defended how the white house, this administration has responded and handled this intelligence. saying that they took it seriously and they responded in precisely the correct way. but whether i asked the secretary if he thought in his opinion as the former cia director as a former soldier, if the president should have been made aware of this intelligence even if it wasn't fully verifiable, he didn't answer the question. he took issue with the premise of the question saying it was based on some assumptions. but as you said, jake, just earlier today the national security adviser acknowledged that this intelligence has been received by the national security council and they were working on interagency responses if the intelligence proved to be true. and what pompeo did in responding to the question is talk about broa

kylie atwood explains how the current dispute began. >> reporter: the u.s.ced china to close down its consulate in houston. now, china did retaliate and told the u.s. they have to close one of their consulates . essentially it's not one straw that broke the camel's back here, but, rather, the widespread espionage that china has carried out here in the united states. i want to read a quote from an official from the department of justice on that houston conflict saying last week, quote, it's a microcosm. we believe the broader network of individuals in more than 25 cities. consulates have been giving individuals in that network guidance on how to evade and obstruct our investigation. and you can infer from that the ability to cast that network of associates nationwide. so this follows an increasing focus on china and their efforts toward economic espionage. and intellectual property theft here in the united states. both from the department of justice, but also, from the state department. and just last week, secretary of state mike pompeo said that taking on ch

let's bring in cnn national security correspondent kylie atwood.emarkable to hear that the commander in chief as most of the people who briefed him has told me does not want to hear negative things, negative intelligence about russia. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, jim. your reporting is extremely relevant in the conversation that we are having now. i mean, you've report according to multiple senior officials in the administration that when the president was briefed and it had to do with russia's maligned activity he would often blow up at the intel tense officers who were briefing them and ask them why they were so focused on russia and even question the tense that they were providing him and what that led them to do is not include russia as much in the oral briefings and included it in the written briefings provided to the president in the daily brief as needed so it was still there, but they weren't discussing it with him, and that's really key because as we know the president doesn't traditionally read the presidential daily brief, even thoug

cnn's kylie atwood joins me to discuss this.arly things are getting even tenser between the u.s. and china. what sparked this move? >> reporter: let's just flick through what has happened just this week, jake. so on tuesday doj prosecutors charge alleged chinese hackers who they said were backed by the chinese government of trying to steal vaccine research here in the united states. on that same day, the state department told china that it had to vacate its consulate in houston, essentially kicking it out for what it says was alleged involvement in chinese efforts here to steal trade secrets and the like. and then fast forward to thursday. we had secretary pompeo sort of describing why they had done that, why had they kicked the chinese out of the houston consulate saying that it was a hub for spying and intellectual property theft. and then just this morning we are learning that a chinese scientist who prosecutors allege had committed visa fraud and had also lied to the fbi about her relations, connections to fashions of the ch

cnn national security correspondent kylie atwood, she's behind this hort reporting and joins us now from department. kylie, what have you learned? >> yeah, that's right, guys. so we have learned that over the past year the president's personal properties here in the u.s., of course, owned by his family, have imported more than eight tons of goods from china while the president has railed on china on a number of friends, so about two months ago there were two tons of shipments that came. they were glass and wooden cabinets to shanghai shipped to trump golf course l.a. and around the same time the president was treating about the incompetence of china when it comes to the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and he has said similar things earlier last year. in september of last year there were six tons of tables that were delivered to the trump international hotel in new york city, and on that same day i want to read you what the president was tweeting about. he said we are doing very well in our negotiations referencing the u.s./china trade negotiations, and he said that he thinks that w

cnn's kylie atwood joins us now. she's been investigating the matter for us. the trump organization been in accordance with the president's rhetoric and the white house's advance to americans when it comes to buying american and not buying from china? >> reporter: no, jake. our review demonstrates that they have not been in accordance with what the president has said and what the stated goals of the trump administration are. so, since september of last year, the property ises owned by the trump organization have imported more than eight tons of goods from china. and that comes as the president has increasingly cast himself as tough on china, particularly in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, slamming them for how they have handled that pandemic. and of course as he has cast himself as someone whose trade negotiations with china are going to benefit everyday americans, american manufacturers. so, i want to point out the instances of these imports from china. just two months ago there was an import of two tons of goods that came to trump golf course in l.a. f

kylie atwood, cnn, the state department. >> let's talk to kristie lu stout. give us a sense of the impact of what we're seeing. the tilt for for at the over the closings. >> reporter: diplomatic tension continues to liz, as rise, as w the missions in houston and in san francisco. in regards to houston, the consulate in houston has been closed. on friday, u.s. law enforcement, u.s. agents, black smiths, were seen entering the compound. it was on wednesday, that the u.s. state department ordered the closure of the consulate there, saying they wanted to protect american intellectual properties. beijing responded calling that, quote, talking nonsense. and earlier today, an open letter was posted from the chinese consul general. it writes, the friendship between the chinese and the american people will not be interrupted. no one can undermine the bright prospect of sino-u.s. friendly relations. u.s. officials have accused a woman of visa fraud, saying she lied about the links to the chinese military. it's unclear is circumstances, but she's not been charged with e

cnn's kylie atwood is at the department. what is the latest reporting about this assessment and when it appeared in the president's briefing materials and what was done about it? >> well, kate, this actually dates back to 2019. we have reported that in early 2019 the white house was provided with intelligence that russian actors were providing the taliban with bounties to kill u.s. soldiers. that was over a year ago. it came back to the fore earlier this year when this was in the president's presidential daily brief. that's the intelligence that he receives from the intelligence community on a daily basis. we also know that there was an interagency process that was run out of the national security council at the white house under the leadership of national security adviser robert o'brien to develop options to respond if this was indeed true and robert o'brien spoke about that this morning, but still doubled down on what the white house has been saying that the president wasn't made aware of this because it wasn't verifiable.

kylie atwood is at the state department and has been following this.s the details and what is happening now. >> reporter: yeah. this is a chinese scientist said to be focus on biology, and she's said to have lied in other visa application to come here to the u.s. so there were investigators that found photos of her in the chinese military, the pla uniform, and they approached her about that. the fbi interviewed her about that, and she essentially denied that there was any real legitimate connection that she had to the chinese military. that interview happened in june and prosecutors say she fled to the chinese consulate in san francisco, and when she did that, the fbi did further investigation and they found more evidence that she had connections to it the chinese media and because she is hiding out in the consulate they aren't able to get to her and investigators say this is part of a larger chinese program. this is just not a single incident here where the chinese military scientists are lying on visa applications to get here to the u.s. of course, a

our kylie atwood joins us. what is your reporting at this hour?ere is a lot that we have learned over the course of a long time here in reporting this story out. first of all, yes, as you said, ambassador woody johnson was investigated by the watchdog of the state department, the state department inspector general due to allegations that he made sexist and racist remarks to staff in the u.s. embassy at the uk and also that he sought to use his government position to benefit the president economically, to drive business to the president's personal businesses in the uk. so let's go through what some of our reporting is. on these racist comments we are told that ambassador johnson questioned why the black community would want a separate month to celebrate black history? we are told that he questioned when they were organizing an event if it would be filled with all black people? and specifically with regard with the black community, he said that the real problem is that there are not fathers who stay inside the families. now that really stunned one o