michael zelden, thank you so much. breaking news that the president has released this controversial publicly written memo. our news will continue with dana bash right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> breaking news this hour, a white house official tells cnn that president trump has authorized the release of that highly controversial house republican memo about the russia investigation. the fbi still says it has grave concerns about the memo which cnn is told alleges agency abuse with the secret surveillance warrant process. i want to get straight to cnn's jeff zeleny at the white house. jeff, what can you tell us? >> dana, good afternoon. we do know that president trump has indeed signed the order to declassify this house republican memo that he has been studying and reading for the last several days. he just spoke about this a few moments ago in the oval office at the end of another event. we'll be hearing from that shortly, but he did talk about what he's been talking about for days now, what he beli

i want to bring in michael zelden. and he also is counsel that heads up the russia investigation. you heard reporting there, michael. no redactions. it seems like the white house has been indicating that when this was released there would be no redactions, but there was also some changes made after the house intel committee voted on this. republicans say these were not big changes. democrats say not so fast, but they say overall, as jeff pointed out, democrats, their problem is there are omissions and there are things certainly that the fbi and the doj feel make this document factually incorrect. >> that's right. and so what we have here, i think, on its broadest terms is the president of the united states making the determination that he will follow his own instincts and release something that his entire intelligence apparatus and justice department, fbi apparatus, oppose. and he has said at the same time it has been reported on cnn that he's been telling his friends on the phone that he's going to release this becaus

joining me to discuss, former analyst and federal prosecutor michael jacks michael zelden. >> the fbi these are the passages about which we have concerns. then they try to reach compromise. it may be the fbi is being overly cautious and could pull back a little from its caution, but that's the nature of it. and then hopefully they reach agreement, they determine this is a memo that now doesn't interfere with the national security interests or law enforcement interests, and then it can go to the president and the president can determine whether it's now suitable for release. >> the republican memo, which is already out and was not redacted, alleges surveillance abuses by the fbi. this memo, the democratic memo, democrats say paints the whole picture, but what you would expect is that it actually gives a little cover to the fbi, which is feeling, i think, pretty stung by that republican memo. so because of that, how much does the fbi's desire to stick up for itself play into how they're looking at redactions here? >> hopefully it doesn't play a large role. hopefully what the fbi is doin

. >> michael zelden, thank you very much. >>> coming up, hell on earth.hat's how the united nations secretary is now describing the situation in syria. we have a live report. that's coming up. puts me at greater risk for heart attack or stroke. can one medicine help treat both blood sugar and cardiovascular risk? i asked my doctor. he told me about non-insulin victoza®. victoza® is not only proven to lower a1c and blood sugar, but for people with type 2 diabetes treating their cardiovascular disease, victoza® is also approved to lower the risk of major cv events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. and while not for weight loss, victoza® may help you lose some weight. (announcer) victoza® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not take victoza® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza® or any of its ingredients. stop taking victoza® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck or symptom

and michael zelden, cnn legal analyst and robert mueller's former special assistant at the doj.o much being here. samantha, to you first. president trump obviously, he could grant any clearances to kushner. the president's advisors have determined that would be a pretty drastic step. do you think it could come to that? >> i think that it could when we looked at -- when we look at the pattern of selective hearing that president trump has had since his campaign and since he's come into office. he should definitely listen to general kelly. but he should also listen to his intelligence community. there is zero ambiguity here. the intelligence community and the senate briefing said publicly that anybody with an interim clearance should lose access to sensitive intelligence. and for whatever reason, jared kushner has gotten a hall pass on basic counter intelligence flags since the get go. so we have the biggest counter intelligence risk possible, walking into the oval office every day, reading the presidential daily briefing and also working on policy issues where he may have a seriou

zelden said president trump had to avoid the fate of his other advisers. >> probably the biggest risk, if he was talking to his own attorneys with regard to a meeting is just a trap. michaellynn didn't get in trouble for underlying activities that he was being asked about. it was the fact that, you know, when peter struck and others were asking him about it, he didn't tell the truth. same thing with pop done his pleading guilty to the fbi. >> but that's not a trap. that's just lying. >> so the house intel committee voted unanimously yesterday to release the democrats' classified memo that responds to the ones republicans released last week accusing the justice department and the fbi of misconduct in their warrant applications to spy on former trump campaign adviser carter page. the memo now heads to the white house for approval. if president trump objects to its release, it could still the be made public, but only if the full house votes to allow it, a move that would require at least two dozen republicans to side with democrats against the president. >>> coming up on "morning joe," democratic members of the house intel committee discuss the decision to release the democr