we'll follow that for you also. >>> we want to tell you about a very deadly -- >> manu raju is with ustol hill. manu, are you there? the meeting under way. >> reporter: the meet something under way. jared kushner just walked by where i'm standing right now. we tried to ask him a question about that trump tower meeting that he acknowledged in this 11-page statement that he gave to the committee, saying in that statement that he gave to the committee that there's really nothing to that meeting at all. he didn't follow the e-mail chains going back and forth. tried to ask him if he regretted that meeting in we expect maybe four to six staffers to be in that meeting. no members will be in there. he will not be under oath. doesn't mean he cannot tell the whole truth. misleading congress in any way is something that can be prosecuted. this is the first of two meetings on capitol hill. his team telling suzanne mall zoe, maybe not more than two hours on the number of questions people have, especially in light of the disclosure of meetings he has during the transition and the campaign. he says n

our senior congressional reporter manu raju joins us from capitol hill. first of all, manu, what do we know about manafort's testimony and the subpoena? >> well, i'm told by a source familiar with the matter that when paul manafort did meet with staff in the senate intelligence committee this morning that it was actually a meeting focused exclusively on that trump tower meeting from june 2016 when donald trump jr., manafort and, of course, jared kushner met with russians after donald trump jr., of course, was promised dirt from russians. part of what he was told at the time. a russian government effort to help his father's campaign. now, investigators did want to learn more about that specific meeting, and the senate side. that is what they discussed. now, he also agreed to come back at a later date, i'm told, and talk to the full committee, senate intelligence committee, and staff, to discuss other topics related to the russia investigation. this comes, wolf, as the senate judiciary committee now demanding that paul manafort appear tomorrow in a public s

let's check in with cnn senior congressional reporter manu raju. so, manu, has the senate judiciary committee heard from trump junior and manafort and are they expected to make good on these subpoena threats? >> reporter: well, brianna, we are expecting an announcement soon from the senate judiciary committee. i am told to expect an announcement about what will happen with donald trump, jr. and paul manafort next week. what we do know is that the two men have undergone some significant discussions behind the scenes with judiciary committee staff members, staff members chuck grassley, the republican chairman of the committee, ahead of that public hearing next week in which grassley has threatened to subpoena for their appearance if they do not attend. of course, this all stems from that recently revealed meeting that those two men, along with jared kushner had with russian officials during the campaign season. now, what we also have learned is that glenn simpson who is the head of the research firm fusion gps, the same firm that hired the british spy

let's go to our senior congressional reporter manu raju up on capitol hill. what are you hearing from members on the democratic and republican side about donald trump jr.'s meeting and these newly released e-mails? >> reporter: serious concern, wolf, from both parties right now who want more information from donald trump jr. almost certainly he will be forced to come up to capitol hill. he said he would be willing to do so. expect that to happen before the senate intelligence committee. mark warn top democrat on the committee says he wants to call donald trump jr. for a, at least a classified hearing to hear exactly what happened including interviewing people who were at that meeting and helped set up that meeting and said today's revelations make it crystal clear there was an effort by the russians to try to coordinate with the trump campaign and the trump campaign seemed to, at least, donald trump jr. seemed willing to accept that help. here's what he said. >> your virginia colleague tim kaine said it could be potentially treasonist. >> i'm not going to wei

. >> he thinks it's pretty common, manu raju. obviously, i assume he didn't mean getting an e-mail with information coming from the russian government is pretty common. what has been the response on capitol hill to what i think a lot of people who are in the national security field find a shocking admission. >> from the republican side, it's really been mixed. you have republicans who are dismissing it. the senate majority leader saying this is not for him to weigh in on. i tried to ask if he had any concerns about this whatsoever and he said this is something the senate intelligence committee is going to look in. he dodged it on three occasions. lindsey graham, john mccain. it's not that common. you shouldn't be meeting with a foreign adversary during the middle of a campaign. one who promises dirt on your opponent. and then others want more information. the senate judiciary committee chairman chuck grassley sending a letter to two senior trump officialed tonight saying how did this russian lawyer get into the country wanting mo

we begin with manu raju. what are you learning? >> well, anderson, tonight the senate intelligence committee saying that they planned to ask donald trump jr. and jared kushner for more records, records about past meetings that may have occurred between russian officials and themselves over the past several years and months. now, this of course comes in the wake of donald trump jr. revealing that he had that meeting with the russian lawyer, a meeting that was told to him was to get dirt from the clinton campaign. part of an effort to help the russian government. both paul manafort and jared kushner were in attendance of that meeting. mark warner, the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee raising concerns that jared kushner left off what he said were three meetings with russian officials on his appropriate forms. that's one reason why they asked for more records from him. this come as the senate judiciary committee's chairman chuck grassley said that he wants donald trump jr. to testify before his committee. something tha

. >> bring in senior congressional reporter manu raju from capitol hill. bill browder, american businessman, the force behind the magnitsky act on human rights. what else came out of this dramatic testimony? >> reporter: it was a rather dramatic moment on capitol hill earlier today. browder saying that it was a "major ask" for natalia vifl nets veselnitskaya, a major ask for the russians to seek the repeal, that magnitsky action of sanctions enacted by the united states in 2012. he said that he believes that they probably wanted something in return. now, he did not have direct evidence of anything that they wanted, but said he was very familiar with russian efforts, russian intelligence and this is exactly the kind of thing that they tend 20 to do. he said with 100% certainty the russian intelligence nuew about this meeting at trump tower in advance of it happening. now, after this testimony i had a chance to talk with senator lindsey graham who sits on that committee and questioned bill browder. i said, do you think the trump team was naive in taking this

manu raju, pamela brown, gloria borger, jim sciutto and you at home, thanks for joining us.ch more on this breaking story after this quick break. i'll see you again at 4:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow on "the lead." thanks for watching. here i am working my canister off to clean and shine and give proven protection against fading and aging. he won't use those copycat wipes. hi...doing anything later? ooh, the quiet type. i like that. armor all original protectant. it's easy to look good. megan's smile is getting a lot because she uses act® mouthwash. act® strengthens enamel, protects teeth from harmful acids, and helps prevent cavities. go beyond brushing with act®. for the first time in the entire trump russia saga clarity with something that can't be spun as fake news. this doesn't come from unnamed sources or deep state leaks and nothing that can be described by other than what it is, simple words from a string of e-mail from donald trump jr. and a family acquaintance with something to offer. from the opening e-mail dated june 3rd of last year, some official documents and infor

first, i want to go to manu raju. >> we tried to ask him a question. he walked by reporters, we asked him specifically, i did, if he had concerns that he regretted the trump tower meeting, being there with donald trump jr. and meetings where jr. was promised dirt on the campaign. he smiled, walked by and did not answer statements, but did go into the meeting room. it is a secure meeting room with senate intelligence committee staff. we are expecting four to six staff to be there, not the entire committee. we are not expecting members of the senate intelligence committee and not expecting jared kushner to go under oath. typically, they are not under oath, but you have to be truthful in speaking to congress. jared kushner's team certainly on the offensive to make sure they believe mr. kushner did nothing wrong and he is willing to see the transcript of the interview be public should the committee decide to do that as well as saying he would be willing to go under oath as well. this comes as jared kushner's father-in-law, donald trump, has russia on his m

let's go to our senior congressional reporter manu raju. manu, the intelligence committee's vice chairman has lots of questions for the president's son. >> reporter: yeah, no question about t wolf, we are learning tonight be the senate intelligence committee does want to learn more about this meeting, including by potentially calling donald trump, jr. as a witness before this committee to learn exactly what happened. not just donald trump, jr., but also the russian lawyer who attended that meeting. also jared kushner, the president's son-in-law who is already scheduled to be a witness before the committee, and of course paul manafort, the former campaign chairman also present at that meeting. now, mark warner, the top democrat in the committee, talked to reporters earlier saying it is the first time the public has seen any information showing possible efforts between trump officials and russia officials to coordinate, actually dig up dirt on the clinton campaign. here's what mark warner said just moments ago. >> this is the first time that t

manu raju has the details. >> reporter: actually reached a deal with paul manafort to avoid a publicng. here comes jared kushner right now. will you testify in public? will you come back to the senate to testify again before the senate? >> no answer

first, let's go to our senior congressional reporter manu raju, he's up on capitol hill. manu, tonight the president says he is very proud of his son-in-law. so, what did we learn from jared kushner today? >> reporter: well, wolf, tonight jared kushner revealing four interactions that he had with russians during the campaign season and during the transition. he said he did nothing wrong, but tonight senate members of the senate intelligence committee are telling me that they have more questions and some are threatening to call back jared kushner for a second round of questioning. >> all of my actions were proper. let me be very clear. i did not collude with russia nor do i know of anyone else in the campaign who did so. >> reporter: jared kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior advisor, tried today to put to rest mounting questions about his interactions with russian officials that are now a key part of investigations into russia meddling in the elections. kushner spent more than two hours behind closed doors with staff of the senate intelligence committee and relea

manu raju, let me ask you. the russia investigation is continuing its pace. what's the latest on capitol hill? >> rear expecting a letter sent out by the senate judiciary committee as early as today asking for donald trump jr. to testify before the panel as soon as next week. the top republican on the committee, the chairman, chuck grassley, and the top democrat on the committee, dianne feinstein, both told me today they want dronald trump jr. to testify before the plan aanel at ruling out subpoenas. >> reporter: what do you want to ask him or learn about? why the committee wants to question him? >> well, very much because our oversight of the justice department, and i think it's just -- it's raised a lot of questions, but the real way that i feel comfortable inviting him is ever since i've -- ever since president trump was elected, it seems like every conversation that has come from somebody in the family where there's been some sort of issue, they've seemed always to be very, very open, and i just think that he would welcome the opportunity to say whatever

i want to bring in manu raju who just spoke with the top democrat on the house intelligence committeeporter: he said that the house intelligence and she going to investigate whether or not this russian-american lobbyist has any ties to russian intelligence. that's something that adam schiff did not know, whether or not he does, but he does believe that is going to be central to the investigation going forward. in addition, wanting to call forward him and anybody else who was at that meeting with donald trump jr. and that russian lawyer as well as this russian-american lobbyist. adam schiff making his comments clear moments ago. take a listen. >> yet another disturbing set of facts. it's alleged that this additional person has a background in russian intelligence and was involved in litigation in new york where there were allegations that he was involved in illegally hacking a rival company and publishing the results of that. i think whether this person has an intel background or not, the message was very clear from the trump campaign. they welcomed the help of the russian government.

thanks very much, manu raju on capitol hill.ant to go back to senator chris coons. >>> what do you make of this eighth person, this mystery person as he's been described, all of a sudden also showing up at that meeting? >> well, wolf, it's really sfrieking that donald trump, jr., the president's son, his son-in-law jared kushner, and his campaign manager paul manafort, had what was initially presented as just a brief meeting about russian adoption. and as the days have gone by, we hear about a fourth person, 6th person, seventh person, now eighth person. and it raises questions for me about whether any of the representations that we've gotten publicly about what went on at this meeting, igts its purpose and it's out come. >> diane feinstein said mueller, the special counsel, has given the all clear for the committee to go ahead and question donald trump, jr. and paul manafort, the campaign chairman at the time. do you know when that will take place? >> well, the schedule in the senate has been uncertain because of the challenges

. >>> coming up next, manu raju with capitol hill where the president's pick to head the fbi testified today. his name is chris wray. more than a few prominent republican lawmakers have been speaking up and speaking out, demanding answers. what have been you been learning, manu? >> reporter: frustrated. a lot of members are concerned about this constant revelation, day after day, new controversies. and the inability of the white house to put it behind them and the failure in the words of people like trey gowdy, a conservative south carolina republican who heads the house oversight committee, saying, just disclose this information right away to investigators. don't let this be a peer in the press. this is something other republicans say is constantly jr undermining what they're trying to do up here, including senator jm who told me earlier today that it's, quote, sucking the oxygen out of the room, the issue about this russia investigation and the failure of the white house to deal with it in an effective manner. this is one area. the other area, is just to learn more about what's happe

manu raju has the latest on all the day's developments. so what else did kushner say today? >> reporter: he said he had four meetings with russians during the campaign season and during the transition. he did say he met with the russian ambassador sergei kislyak at the mayflower hotel during one of then candidate trump's foreign policy speeches. of course, he acknowledged being at that now infamous meeting at trump tower in which donald trump, jr. was promised dirt on the clinton campaign as part of an effort to help with the russian government effort to help his father's campaign. jared kushner downplayed these meetings, saying he went to this meeting with donald trump, jr., really not knowing what it was. he said he got an e-mail exchange about it but he didn't read the full e-mail. he said he arrived late to that meeting and asked his assistant to call him out of the meeting because he said it was not a relevant meeting. he also acknowledged, anderson, two other meetings during the transition, both with ambassador kislyak as well as with the former national security advis

we'll talk about all this in just a moment but first we want to get to manu raju. what can you tell us? >> reporter: that's right. in fact, the senator judiciary committee, we just heard the testimony from christopher wray. in fact, now, want to hear testimony from another key person, persons involved in this investigation about possible trump ties with the russian officials. that's paul manafort, the former campaign chairman, who is now at the center of these investigations on capitol hill as well as the special counsel's investigation as well. now, chuck grassley, the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, told me just moments ago that he wants to bring in paul manafort next week to testify in a public session. take a listen. >> one thing, he was present at the meeting that we've all read about in the last week, weekend news. number two, he's going to fit in well at the hearing we have on the registration -- what do you call it? federal agent registration act. okay. >> reporter: so when is that, and has he agreed to testify in open session? >> well, i don't

cnn's manu raju on capitol hill with the latest.rs being vocal today about this latest controversy. >> reporter: no question about it. they are growing weary about controversy after controversy coming out of the white house at a time republicans realize they have precious little time to pass what they had initially viewed as a rather ambitious legislative agenda. a number of them not only concerned about the meeting, the merits of the meeting and whether or not donald trump, jr. should have taken that meeting with the russian lawyer, but also undercutting their message at a crucial time on the hill. take a listen. >> everybody knows that. i think it's very difficult when you have this overwhelming barrage of new information that unfolds every few days. >> i'm obviously concerned, fundamentally. americans are supposed to decide american elections. the american people and anybody running for office knows you don't take foreign campaign contributions, either monetary or of another sort. obviously there's lots of reasons to be concerned

. >> let's go to our senior congressional correspondent, manu raju who is on the hill as well. you talked to a ranking member of senate judiciary, senator dianne feinstein about sessions and about this russia probe. what did she have to sty you? >> reporter: well, she actually was a bit alarmed by president trump's attacks against jeff sessions. this is someone she's served with for some time in the senate, even though she is at odds with him ideologically, opposed his nomination to be attorney general. she said that he's a member of this body and, quote, it counts for something. and that actually means something. there are a number of senators, republican senators, who have come to sessions' defense today, including rob portman of ohio, lindsey graham of south carolina. last week, o rin hatch, the top republican, the longest-serving republican in this body told me that he does not understand why the president is going after jeff sessions and even dick shelby, who served as alabama senator now was jeff sessions's alabama colleague here in the senate said the -- he called sessio

when that will happen or if that will happen. >> manu are raju, thanks.arlier today i spoke with a member of the senate judiciary committee, senator chris coons. i'm wondering if the judiciary committee received responses from donald trump jr. or paul manafort to the request they come wednesday? >> i don't know specifically, anderson, whether or not the committee staff have yet heard a confirmation from donald trump jr. and paul manafort whether they will come willingly next wednesday but the chairman, senator grassley, ranking member, senator feinstein, have said publicly they're willing to subpoena them if they don't come willingly. it's my expectation we'll be seeing them next friday. excuse me, next wednesday. >> do you agree with that approach, the idea of subpoenaing them if they don't come willingly? >> well, i think it's a way that the congress has of ensuring that folks who we view as very important, very high level witnesses come and testify. obviously it's better if they keep public commitments and come willingly. the congress does have subpoen

cnn manu raju on capitol hill. we are told we can expect a public statement from jared kushner when done with this session? >> reporter: yes, that's right. in fact, he's expected to leave his meeting momentarily, what we're waiting for him here standing in a, a crowded room of reporters. he'll walk down this hallway. there are microphones set up here in case he wants to make a public statement. we are not expecting him to do that here but we do expect him to say something publicly at the white house. now, this comes, john, as kushner and his team are really going on a public relations offensive, if you will. we issued an 11-page statement to the committee earlier today. telling contacts he with sergey kislyak during the campaign season, a brief interaction at the mayflower hotel, talked about meeting with the russian ambassador during the transition time, including with the former national security adviser michael flynn, which they discussed having discussed having a line of communication discussing issues of impor

let's go to cnn's senior congressional reporter manu raju. ou spoke to the senate judiciary chairman. what did he tell you about paul manafort? this is very key. >> reporter: it is very key. chuck grassley, the chairman of the senate judiciary committee telling me earlier today he wants manafort to appear in a public session next week. now, this is significant because the house and senate intelligence committees have been trying to get paul manafort to come before their committee. they have been exchanging records and documents, but we have been expecting that to happen in a classified setting. but chuck grassley says there is a hearing next week in which manafort would be a perfect witness and he plans to call him, even threatening subpoena power. take a listen. >> has he agreed to testify in open snegs >> i don't know whether he -- we're going to invite him. and if he does an invite, under the new rules, senator feinstein and i have the power to issue a subpoena. >> before the august recess? >> well, if it works into this next hearing, that'

manu raju joins us live.we really haven't heard from hutmuch. >> reporter: launched and investigation for months in the aftermath of the james comey decision to publicly announce that hillary clinton was not under investigation, was not to be charged with a crime after the e-mail investigation. mr. horowitz announced earlier this year he would look into the circumstances of comey's handling of the clinton e-mail case as well as comey's decision to of course tell congress the day before the election they were going to look into this matter further. the in addition to that, who wh horowitz has been urged to look into other issues including the firing of comey and the recusal of jeff sessions. and whether or not he effectively recused himself or i ter feared in any way. a lot of key issues michael horowitz is going to be weighing in on. other officials testifying. as well as a finance ier who could shed now light. there could be new information this committee gleans even though paul manafort, donald trump jr. as

for all the latest developments, bring in our senior congressional reporter manu raju and pam la broelawn. manu, what did senator feinstein have to say? >> reporter: significant development. senate judiciary committee getting the green light from bob mueller's office to go ahead and interview in a public session paul manafort, former campaign chairman to donald trump as well as donald trump jr. in light of that meeting he had last year with russians after told he could get dirt on the clinton campaign. now, this is a significant development, because last week both senator dianne feinstein, and chuck grassley, reached out to bob mueller's office to make sure that they would not conflict with his own investigation into russia meddling. what they got back from bob mueller's office is that, it's not a problem. they can go forward with their own public hearings, and as long as they had really no issue there. this is according to senator dianne feinstein who i just talked to moments ago. also, wolf, another significant development. i talked to the senate intelligence committee chairman richar

let's get to the capital where manu raju is following this. ma manu, is there word on what's going on behind closed doors with jared kushner? >> reporter: we are waiting for the hearing to finish. it started around 10:00 a.m. they are members of the house intelligence committee questioning jared kushner different than yesterday when it was staff interviewing kushner. it's the first time he's facing lawmakers. it's a more combative round of questions from democrats who believe mr. kushner has not been forthcoming enough and believe the 11-page statement released about the russian contacts has a number of holes in it they plan to explore. the question for kushner going forward is, is this it for him? will he come back to congress after today? there are a number of democrats who say he should. not just on the house side, but also the senate side. when jared kushner came in for this hearing, just moments ago, i had a chance to ask him, will you appear in public? he didn't say. this is our exchange. mr. kushner, will you testify in public? will you

m.j., as someone who tracks these numbers, a senior aide closely involved in the process told manu rajuhe chance this bill passes, better than 1%, not yet in the 2% column. ouch. >> yeah, that's pretty specific, too. poppy, the theme of this week really is part two, let's try this again. mitch mcconnell tried to bring this billup for a vote before the july 4th recess. the votes were simply not there. he's going to try this again. actually in very much the same way he tried two weeks ago. i'm going to walk you through some of the timeline that we expect the next couple of days offering first this big caveat that, obviously, a lot of things are still fluid. nothing is really set in stone. this is according to sources who have been in touch with leadership. what they expect to see. obviously the lunches today, a very important. we expect leadership to perhaps shed some light into some of the revisions they expect to make to this bill. that will allow leadership to get a sense of whether, as you said, some of the folks in the no column can move to the yes. and then by thursday, is when lead

first, let's go to manu raju on capitol hill. you have been following kushner's movements all morning. what is happening behind closed doors are you hearing? >> reporter: he is meeting with staff members. the members of the committee are not here. this is not considered testimony, sworn in and under oath. still, meeting with the senate investigators, at least the first meeting we know of, before tomorrow's meeting, before the house intelligence committee with members and staff. this comes as mr. kushner released an 11-page statement you referenced, kate, which details the interactions he had with russian officials during the campaign and joined the transition season. certainly, those are going to be a key part of the questioning that is happening behind closed doors with jared kushner, along with his attorney by his side. anything else that he did not include in this statement, including what else happened at the trump tower meeting in 2016 where kushner said it was nothing. this is something he didn't know, wasn't clear why don

. >> manu raju on the hill. thank you very much for that. another big day ahead for health care. minutes from now senators kick off what could be a grueling day as they fight on the future of health care in this country, a marathon series of votes. ahead, this is the gop plan still unclear at best. >> all right, blind sided by the president's transgender ban, now the president is asking the white house how do you expect us to implement this? plus, chaos at the ohio state fair when a spinning ride breaks apart. one person has died. >> it just flew off. the whole thing flew off. her leg hit her leg -- just flew her whole leg -- and then -- took her out and he wasn't breathing. i like russo. his on/off splits are the best here. yeah, but his offensive win shares didn't even break 4. come on, check out that stop-and-pop! what do you think? my trade-off analytics indicate no one creates more space on offense. this allows him to nail a jumper from a densely populated urban area. what you're trying to say is from way downtown? i am still learning. i can see that. i am still learning. th

here to weigh in with their reporting, margaret from bloom berg politics, cnn's manu raju and amy walter of the cook political report and dan balls of the "washington post." dan, starting with you. what do you make of all this? >> well, it's a big, big, big development. this is, you know, as jeff was saying, the first time we've seen senior campaign people dealing directly with russian operatives in the middle of the campaign at a meeting in which they were told they were going to receive damages information about hillary clinton. i mean, that ties together. now, obviously, there are a lot of questions that still have to be answered. we don't know what transpired after that, other meetings, but it has taken this long for this meeting to come out. >> that right. >> we don't know what else is to come, and i think that this has ho raise the temperatures inside the white house about this investigation. i mean, this may have been a moment where prior to this where they thought they were going to, you know, have a quieter period, and it just thrusts everybody back into the russia story and pre

share their reporting and insights, "the washington post," margaret tolov of bloomberg and cnn's manu raju. thank you for being with us this morning. jeff, i'm going to start with you. in some ways the word bombshell may have been overused in terms of this russia story. in this instance, bombshell might be an appropriate word to use when you think about the meeting, the contents of the meeting and the shifting stories about the substance of the meeting and who was in there. >> i think it probably is appropriate. so many incremental developments in this entire russia story. i think let's take stock of the last week. this, indeed, is a different moment, a different set of information we've learned. we've learned for the first time if you go a week ago to what we were discussing, we didn't have the contents of the e-mails. really what you think about that's come up in the last week is extraordinary. someone from the trump campaign accepted a meeting with someone from the russian government and someone who is representing them. someone we still do not know if there was actually any information

south carolina senator lindsey graham telling cnn's manu raju -- >> i would fire somebody that i did not believe could serve me well rather than trying to humiliate them in public, which is a sign of weakness. >> reporter: alabama republican richard shelby adding -- >> he deserves better than this. he is not the president's personal lawyer. he is the attorney general of the united states. he took an oath to the constitution, not to the president. >> reporter: the message from hill republicans to trump, firing sessions would be a mistake. and could hurt the president's ability to carry out his agenda. this as the president's incoming communications director argues -- >> i would recommend to every cabinet secretary and every teammate that i have here in the west wing, have a tough skin. >> that was athena jones reporting for us there. we have new information about tensions between israel and palestinians in jerusalem. let's go to ian lee. he joins us now ufrom jerusalem. what can you tell us, ian? >> late last night and into this morning we're hearing from israeli police that all the a

manu raju has the details. >> reporter: actually reached a deal with paul manafort to avoid a public hearing. here comes jared kushner right now. will you testify in public? will you come back to the senate to testify again before the senate? >> no answer from jared kushner there, guys, as we try to see if he'll testify in public. there has been a demand he come back for the senate intelligence committee for the second session. after yesterday, a meeting with just staff of the senate intelligence committee. some members want a chance to question him. no word back from the kushner camp. of course he's meeting with the house intelligence meeting, where he's headed to now. of course not answering my questions on the way in or others. you mentioned paul manafort at the top here. a very significant development. a former campaign chairman, had been at the top of key russian issues, been looked at by numerous investigations, coming before the senate intelligence committee in a private, classified setting. that is not satisfying. the leaders of that committee wanted him to initially come bef

. >> i want to play something that lindsey graham told manu raju earlier about the president's attacks on sessions. >> i think anybody who is strong would use the power they have and be confident in their decision. so strong people say, i've decided that this man or woman can't serve me well and i'm going to -- accordingly, and take the consequence. to me, weakness is when you play around the edges and you don't use the power you have. >> it sounds like he's calling the president weak. >> mm-hmm. >> and i think what jeff sessions has been saying through his actions and public communications is, look, you can fire me if you want to, otherwise, i'm going to be at the office enacting your agenda and doing a pretty darn good job of it. i've been asking these guys to clear the air on behalf of all republicans for days now. i hope jeff sessions and the president do clear the air, because i think sessions was one of the best cabinet choices he made, conservatives love jeff sessions, they love what he's doing in office. for this to drag on and on is detrimental to enacting the president's agen

you have jeff flake yesterday talking to our manu raju saying he wouldn't attend a meeting like that. tara, to you know. another issue that nancy pelosi brought up once again is a call for kushner's -- jared kushner's security clearance to be pulled. would that be enough to satisfy democrats or is this just the beginning? >> i think, like you said, this is just the beginning. inside the white house, my sources tell me that there is basically a clock ticking for how long jared kushner will remain inside the white house. his presence is considered quite toxic at this point because he is the administration official who is closest tied to the russia investigation. they don't see it as sustainable. also with the pressure that he's putting on the comm shop and press people to defend him, his own spokesperson is inside basically spending all of his day defending him in the russia investigations. once he starts testifying i think it is going to be really difficult for him. if anything new comes out, i don't know how they can justify continuing to give him a security clearance. but if it is ju

manu raju late developments including from congressional investigators. you have been on the hill.hat its reaction from republican law makers? >> they're all over the place, andersen. some are frustrated this drip, drip, drip of information continues to undercut the, the president's own agenda. said this joifrz whole ming. what the white house is frying to do. mitch mcconnell saying this is something that he, the investigators need to look at. and then there is, others who are saying they need more information. including chuck grassley. whiting a letter to senior trump officials to get more information. then there are others raising serious concerns about this controversy. here is a mix of reactions from the hill today. any time you are in a campaign. i don't know what mr. trump's, junior's version of the facts are. definitely he has to testify. the e-mail was disturbing. >> other shoes will drop before this thing is over. said that for weeks. >> how damming does this look? >> have to see what it is all about. >> do you personally have any concerns about the fact that the president

now senator chuck grassley telling our manu raju that jeff sessions will also appear before the senatemittee. these are obviously significant developments. trey gowdy of south carolina, chairman of the house oversight committee. i appreciate your time. i want to ask you about these new developments. how important is it for your committees to hear from sessions and manafort and is donald trump jr. also on that must testify list? >> two of the three, donald trump jr. and paul manafort would be central witnesses. we're looking at four things, erin. what did russia do, with whom did they do it, the unmasking the leaks and the u.s. government response. i don't know that jeff sessions would be a relevant witnesses, but we're always happy to hear from him. >> i mean, i also want to ask you about, you know, when we talk about those two gentlemen in our meeting, about our last guest, bill browder going to be testifying tomorrow. he says the russian lawyer who met with them was acts on behalf of the russian government. he laid out exactly why he believes that. from what you know, from what you u

. >> i'm going to go to my colleague manu raju, he did speak to the highest ranking democrat on the committee, dianne feinstein. >> reporter: one, she said that she and chuck grassley, want to question paul manafort, former campaign chairman for donald trump in what's now a separate investigation on capitol hill, the senate judiciary investigation. dianne feinstein wants to find out more about this conversation that don jr. had. and if manafort does not respond to their questions, they will potentially subpoena. and that come knnominee, christ wray, she seemed positive about this nominee. are you going to vote yes or where are you on this nominee right now? >> i'll be very candid with you, i'm going to vote yes. i see him as being a good fbi director. how good, the proof is always in the pudding. it's always when you're there. it's always the nature of the job and how you handle the unexpected. but i think in this man, we have somebody who understands the process of justice, who is committed to the appropriate parts of the process. who does not look at himself as a servant of the chief execut

manu raju is live. you caught up with senator lindsey graham and he did not hold back. >> reporter: he did not, indeed, kate. several pieces of news in the hallways. one piece he's moving pretty aggressively to insulate the special counsel from president trump. he's drafting bipartisan legislation and plans to offer next week that would actually require a judicial review, if the president were to take steps to fire bob mueller, something he hopes gets significant support from both sides of the aisle. in addition to that, raising serious doubts about whether or not donald trump jr. only met with this russian -- these russian officials once in trump tower. this, of course, after donald trump jr. said the meeting they had with russian officials, which he was promised dirt on the clinton campaign. that was the only time they let. lid see graham, after hearing testimony said he's skeptical. there could be other contacts and they need to investigate that. raising concern and warnings for the white house if th

. >> manu raju on the hill. thank you. bring in shimonprokupecz, and from new york, retired fbi adversaries james aliano. and shimon a russian lawyer came from russia, actually u.s. citizenship. dual citizenship. were be subpoenaed? absolutely. nothing stopping the committee from subpoenaing him. requesting to talk to him to investigate him. which properly, at this point, will happen. the other thing interesting to see if the fbi will try to talk to him. >> not what's key about that, it's a non-trump ally who was in the meeting and can give his view of what was going on. who can be subpoenaed. of course, the russian lawyer, non-trump ally, can't be subpoenaed because she's russian. >> that's right. he's given his view. spoke to the associated press and said no big deal. this meeting kind of turned into something it wasn't supposed to be's he was expecting it to be more serious, but then it turned into something else. he's kind of already made statements about it, it's out in the public now. we'll see. >> aboby philip, foll

let's go to manu raju tonight. there is a lot of focus on don junior but also you're reporting there is now increasing scrutiny on the two other people in that meeting with that russian lawyer, paul manafort and of course jared kushner, senior advisor to the president. >> reporter: those two men already were of interest to investigators on capitol hill. they both had been in contact with the house and senate intelligence committee, with manafort's team providing records to the house and senate intelligence team and kushner saying he would be open to talking to the committees uncertain when that would happen. but of course a lot of concerns from democrats about why jared kushner appears to have security clearance still. at least an interim security clearance and why that would be the case given all of these questions and given his failure to disclose some of these meetings initially. republicans on the hill, though, erin, are not calling for jared kushner's security clearance, including the top investigator on the h

npr steve inkky, jackie collins of the "los angeles times" and cnn's manu raju. the tweet i referenced references the june 2016 meeting organized by donald trump jr. and attended by son-in-law and adviser jared kushner and the trump campaign chairman paul manafort. among those across the table at trump tower, a kremlin-linked hoyer and russian-american lobbyist. a former intelligence operator for the russians. this set up an donald trump was told they wanted to share damaging information about hillary clinton. there are many, many, many layers to this including the president's mounting frustration, and this rather basic question -- should we believe anything team trump says about these meetings since for months they denied there were any such meetings? >> did anyone involved in the trump campaign have any contact with russians trying to meddle with the election? >> absolutely not. and i discussed that with the president-elect just last night. those conversations never happened. i hear people saying it like it's a fact on television. that is just not only inaccura

>> that was manu raju talking to senator lindsey graham. graham coming out of hearings with the hedge fund operator providing insight into the way the russians do business. this american hedge fund person said the lawyer don jr. met with is the point person in lobbying for certain initiatives for vladimir putin. this person testified, the hedge fund operator testified he thought the russians were digging up dirt on donald trump. lindsey graham spoke about jeff sessions, the attorney general saying if the president fires him, quote, there will be holy hell to pay. >> he did, indeed. this morning, the west wing fighting taken to a whole new level. punches lobed from the new communications chief straight at the president's chief of staff, perhaps with the blessing of the president. this all played out live on tv here on cnn. anthony scaramucci saying reince priebus was a speaker. in light of the leak of my financial disclosure which is a felony, i will be contacting the fbi and hashtaging reince priebus. we should have the financial informatio

. >> manu raju begins our coverage "outfront" on capitol hill. you asked senator warner about his requests that he wants to speak with donald trump jr. what more did he tell you? >> reporter: he wants to hear from donald trump jr. in the classified session before the senate intelligence committee saying absolutely does he want to talk to donald trump jr. this comes when the intelligence committee is now moving into a new phase of the investigation, erin, talking to trump officials, trump campaign officials who may have knowledge about these meetings that occurred between russian officials and trump associates during the campaign season. now, one question that mark warner has for some of these trump campaign associates is why didn't they come clean earlier? this is what he said. >> for a campaign and now a president who continues to say there's no "there" there, virtually every week or two there's more stories of meetings, undisclosed meetings with russian officials that beg the question if there's no "there" there, why aren't more of these people

manu raju is on capitol hill. you have sean spicer and the president of the united states not on the same page. what's the reaction on capitol hill tonight? >> reporter: there's not support for the president's defense of this meeting and not even from republicans in the house and senate side who have been muted in their response and very critical about what the president is saying. a lot of members want to get more information about exactly what happened, including the leader of the key committees investigating this issue saying this is a matter that will be investigated further. i did speak with one republican who has take answer tougher line on russia than donald trump has. senator lindsey graham of south carolina. i started asking him about whether he believes jared kushner's security clearance is suspended but criticized the president's defense of that meeting that donald trump took with the russians and paul man north and jared kushner. here's what graham said. >> in this regard, we should not be encouraging

i want to begin with manu raju. what more did senator warner tell you. >> reporter: he's requesting records from jared kushner and donald trump jr. he made this request along with the republican chairman of the committee. he wants more information from kushner raising concerns that kushner did not disclose some key meetings in warner's words three meetings with russian officials left off some initial forms as well as information he is looking for from donald trump jr., presumably information related to this newly revealed meeting from last year with this russian lawyer. now, the question is when those two men will come before the committee. warner would not say when that would happen. either richard burr who i talked to about as well. but clearly these two men of interest to the committee as they are demanding more records. >> and i know you also had a chance to speak with the top republican in the senate judiciary committee, and he had something important to say. >> yeah, he did. he actually wants to hear from dona

. >> manu raju, thanks very much. back with the panel.er you made a point, and i think an important one, these behind-closed-doors testimony actually can be more efficient because you don't have senators or congress people playing to the cameras and you also have their staff asking questions. so it can be more direct. >> yes, and you also have the opportunity, as the senator has said, to bring them back in a public session and you can issue a subpoena, but also donald trump has been talking about a witch-hunt. it seems to me that one of the things that the investigators in the house and the senate want to do is make sure that there is nothing that even could be interpreted as a witch-hunt. >> not make it a spectacle? >> well, first find out what these people have to say. find out what evidence they have. ask them are they going to be forthcoming and go on with the procedure that is normal investigative procedure that enables them to have a hearing in which the most evidence is produced. this is a first step. it puts the onus on manafort,