mr. simpson said. i don't know mr. simpson, chris. he may be credible or spinning to try and cover his rear end, and he may be a whack job. i don't know. that's why god made the fbi, and the fbi is going to sit down with this and everything else and they are going to get to the bottom of it. >> but the fbi has not had any questions for fusion or steele, that's only you guys. this is nine hours of questioning, and there's no indication of it. >> but we don't know what mr. mueller is doing. >> that's true. but we know they have not been called in terms of what has been reported and what has been revealed by these people themselves. what was clear from the transcript, nine hours of questioning, and i read every page and suggest everybody do the same, and this was intense and devoted questions by republicans trying to undermine the credibility of fusion and christopher steele, and not getting to the bottom of interference and not about the sources and what it revealed and what we can do about it. what does that tell you about what this co

mr. trump? simpson answers, i think a lot of what we found is subsequently there have been similar articles published. evidence is a strong word. we saw patterns of buying and selling that we thought were suggestive of money laundering. when pressed for a detail that might indicate money laundering, mr. simpson answers again, various criminals were buying the properties so there was a gangster, a russian gangster living in trump tower. here's how congressman schiff responded to questions about that earlier tonight on this network. >> this is a concern i've had all along. this one area of the investigation could be potentially the most compromising of the president. when we began this investigation there were allegations of secret meetings with trump campaign people which we now know in fact took place. there were allegations of what general flynn was doing which we now know and prove to be true and there have been persistent allegations of money laundering which we have not been allowed to investigate a

mr. steele and nobody else? simpson said, that's right.f that testimony is to be believed the claim that the dossier prompted fusion gps to go to the fbi is not correct. according to "the new york times" one key factor among others was a trump advisor getting drunk and boasting to an australian diplomat. quote, chris said he was very concerned about whether this represented a national security threat and said he wanted to. he said he thought we were obligated to tell someone in the government, in our government about this information. respective there was a security issue about whether a presidential candidate was being blackmailed. jim sciutto, joins us now. what are you learning about this concern that candidate trump, concern by steele, may have been blackmailed? >> anderson, as you laid out there the trump line, the gop line on the dossier has been this was a purely political document drummed up by democrats, pursued by democrats to political end. there was no real credible. but if you listen to the sworn testimony, when you're testify

mr. simpson, i'm excited to welcome you today to your home. you served our country and we are now here to serve you. it's the least we can do for people who have put their lives on the line time and time again. and i'm just really proud of san francisco for stepping up to the plate and providing the services. over 150 homes already provided for veterans in the city. we are well on our way to making sure that we end homelessness for veterans. but we can't stop there. we have to make sure that we stick to mayor lee's pledge of getting 1,000 homeless people off the street. it's cold outside. just imagine what it's like to have no place to go. just imagine what it's like to have no bathroom to use on a regular basis. the struggle that we see on our streets are struggles that so many people deal with every day. it's why we have expanded our shelter system and adding 75 new beds to our system so we can accommodate more residents. the creative ways -- we have to provide more creative ways to get more people off the streets and part of what i'm so exc

simpson responded, that's my recollection. and sawyer said, that request or idea came from mr. steele and not anyone else? mpson said, that's right. if that testimony is to be believed, the claim that the clinton campaign prompted steele or fusion gps to go to the fbi doesn't necessarily stand up. we also should point out here that despite a lot of misinformation by republican lawmakers, the dossier did not solely spark the investigation at all. according to "the new york times," one key factor, among others, was a trump adviser getting drunk. as for steele's motivation, here's what simpson said the committee. chris was concerned whether this represented a national security threat and said he wanted to. he said he thought we were obligated to tell someone in the government about this information. there was a security issue about whether a presidential candidate was being blackmailed. more on all of this by jim sciutto who joins us now. what are you learning about this concern that candidate trump -- concern by steele may have been blackmailed? >> anderson, as you laid out there, the trump line, the gop lin

mr. simpson and his attorney demanded during the interview that the transcript be kept confidential. mr. simpson refused to answer dozens of questions voluntarily and refused to provide the committee with documents and responses to the follow-up questions after interview. senator grassley, who is a, not a bomb thrower, this is nonsense they want to clear the air, they are the ones that demanded interview be closed. >> they can say whatever they want to whoever they want at whatever sometime they want. they chose to engage in the forum in the senate in the confidential setting. i think we all ought to know the answers to these questions. one thing to demand answers from foreign nationals and companies that do opposition research. another to demand from your own fbi or own attorney general. at any point in time the government could tell us whether they were colluding with a political party to disrupt the presidency of donald trump. the fact they haven't done that, that is troublesome to me. david: that is troublesome indeed. congressman gaetz thank you. melissa: possible replacement to

mr. simpson. certain basic level of fairness you have to consider in allowing a witness to defend themselves. so i think it was the right decision by senator feinstein. it certainly seems like some of the gop members of the committee can now concur with that. >> congressman, i wanted to ask you about one of the things that appeared in this transcript that i think will not be new to you, because of your role in the intelligence committee. but i think is probably new to much of the public. and so i'll only ask you to comment on this. obviously not in terms of your knowledge of classified information, but in terms of what has been publicly discussed. but there's a dramatic moment late in the transcript, page 279 to be precise when a question questioner -- an investigator is asking mr. simpson about how fusion assessed the credibility of christopher steele's source, his sources in russia for this document, these reports that he produced. without getting into naming the sources or anything like that, w

mr. simpson attorney has demanded during the interview that the transcript be confidential.response is just coming in by the way, fusion refused to answer dozens of questions voluntarily and failed to provide the committee with dozens of responses to follow-up questions after the interview. the committee's invitation for mr. simpson to testify at open hearing remains on the table. >> katie: they have been invited to testify in front of the senate judiciary committee where democrats will defend the work they are doing and get out in front of american people because every single network would cover it and they can tell exactly what happened and let everyone know why they were doing it. what was important, who was not. who they are being paid by whether that's normal practice or not. they have response ubility on their own to the american people now because they are so involved and because they did have influence in the fbi basted on the dossier. again we have people connect to the dossier also connected to the department of justice under president obama. and those are question

mr. simpson put it to the committee, quote, we threw a line in the water and moby dick came back. with me now, adam davidson, staff writer at "the new yorker," who's written extensively about donald trump's business dealings, and betsy woodruff, report for the daily beast, who has a piece up right now called "fusion gps: kremlin purged suspected spies after trump dossier released". let me start with you, betsy, with about what jumped out to you from the transcript that we got. >> the piece of this i found most fascinating right off the bat is what we wrote that article about. one thing glenn simpson told investigators was that after the dossier was publicly released, so presumably after buzzfeed published it, though simpson didn't mention buzzfeed, after that happened, there appeared to be a purge in the kremlin. simpson said he didn't think anything of his sources were part of that purge, but he did believe some folks who were sources for the united states intelligence community were actually purged, as a response the kremlin had to this dossier. and by purging, simpson meant fol

mr. simpson, was they had other intelligence about this matter from an internal trump campaign source and that they, my understanding was that they believed chris that, would be christopher steele, the man who wrote the dossier, the british intelligence officer, chris at this point, believed chris's information might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing and one of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the trump organization. shep? >> shepard: well, the substance of this transcript, though, what did we learn about the issue at hand? >> the issue at hand is fusion gps is, indeed, hired and working with mr. steele a shocking revelation that mr. simpson did not want at one point to discuss, but apparently somebody they say was killed, perhaps a russian officer or some one, but some one was killed and they didn't want to reveal too much information about sources to put people in jeopardy. >> shepard: good enough, thank you. we will have much more on special report tonight with brett baaier. if the special counsel asked to interview

mr. simpson, mr. steele was so alarmed about what he found out about contacts between russia and trump associates and all the like that he had to go to the fbi to inform the fbi about what he found back in the summer of 2016. according to this transcript, simpson says this. chris said he was very concerned about whether this represented a national security threat, and he said we were obligated to tell somebody in the government about this information. he thought from his perspective there was a security issue about whether a presidential candidate was being blackmailed. in addition to this, simpson also testified that somebody in the fbi had essentially believed what steele was saying because of an inside source, a trump campaign source, who had been giving them similar information. we have since learned that source referred to an australian diplomat passed information about the former trump campaign adviser, george papadopoulos, and discussions he had with the russians, and papadopoulos has since ple

mr. simpson and mr. steele, who are professionals, who are handling material in the appropriate way, who didn't go in with the agenda that they wanted to find this or that or they wanted to make stuff up. but they wanted to find out was out there. you know, the republicans don't want to find out what's out there. and they're completely just interested frankly in finding out the truth here. the name of the game for them toss circle the wagons around donald trump, who threw up enough dust and distraction that we all get lost in the weeds and hope they stumble through 2018. but instead they're making themselves accessories to this cover-up, they're making themselves complicit in an effort to mislead the american people and to really conceal donald trump's own wrongdoings. >> now there's a piece -- spencer ackerman is reporting in "the daily beast" even after the election, an acolyte of michael flynn and peter theil was floating the idea of withdrawing u.s. forces from parts of europe that the united states

mr. simpson's testimony? and if mr. cohn was so upset about that, it doesn't bother him until now from january of last year. so i think this is an another by a person who you would think as a possible subject of investigation. >> do you think it's coordinated? >> yes, i do. look at the timing. >> guys, there's a one-year statute of limitations. virginia has a one-year statute. >> why didn't he do it in february or march? why is it today? you know, come on. >> honestly, there are lots of people who wait until the end to see how much information they can gather before they can file a suit. >> and until today, how many people in the world were thinking about him as opposed to the president or anyone else who could be damaged by that report, because they haven't gone online to look at it, have any idea that he's in the report. >> i think the statute of limitations runs out tomorrow or this week. i'm going to ask you another question. and there's probably that big pause between my first question to you -- >> i was contemplat

mr. simpson's specific area of focus and information about any current benefactors, that information is closelywork has not stopped. fusion gps is still now secretarying trump and russia. the publication of the original memos by buzz fooed, which -- you you know what, that night was the start of a whole new odyssey for buzz feed itself. since it's been fending of lawsuits of all kinds from all ieds. >> but editor in chief says he is proud of the dossier. that's next. t i don't need luck, i have skills... i don't have my keys. (on intercom) all hands. we are looking for the captain's keys again. they are on a silver carabiner. oh, this is bad. as long as people misplace their keys, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ltry align probiotic.n your digestive system? for a non-stop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. get 24/7 digestive support, with align. the #1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. also in kids chewables. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,... ...isn't it time to let the

mr. simpson, for being here. i would like to focus on the real estate. that was purchased for $41 million and sold for $95 million. since this have been few improvements made by mr. trump, what's your opinion on the big hike in sales price? >> simpson, i never heard of that. it seems like an absurd accusation but the explanation for why he over spent is he was hiding money from his wife. the depiction is a reckless big spender, thoroughly developed in the press. this guy was spending money like a drunken sailor. people were ripping him off in art deals. that was my original take. later, i began to learn more and that changed my view. i hadn't known he was closely linked to igor sechin. he's very closely linked to vladimir putin and controls the biggest oil and gas company in the world. so simpson says i didn't know rybolovlev was accused of essentially destroying an entire city environmentally with his mining operations. he was criminally accused and managed to get out of and it walk out of russia with billions of dollars with the apparent assistance of

mr. simpson declined. that remains on the table. two arguments from grassley in same statement.aint the investigation for anyone in the public to know what you've told us. also you should have said it publicly. two very contradictory ideas. can't say that. you should have just said that. tonight the top democrat on the committee, diane feinstein, office tells us she supports releasing the ten-hour transcript of testimony. amy cloeb ucher also is on the committee and she supports releasing the testimony. question one, why isn't it being released? question two, if senator grassley is going to stick to his u-turn on this and republicans aren't going to let this out, could fusion tell us more about their testimony on their own without the transcript being released? in their op-ed for instance, i told you they broke news. part of the news is that fusion allowed all readers of the "new york times" to know one of the things they testified to was their belief that congressional investigators should look into the bank records of deutsche bank and other investigators. and look into red fl

mr. simpson was describing is a company that did business for whoever hired it, and they were trying to getquestions that were raised. they have an intelligence background in the u.k. this is what we have, this is what we saw, what struck me is that nothing really struck me. this is what companies do. >>. >> chuck grassley cried foul. let's listen to what she had to say. >> they're ability to get witnesses like kushner. >> i don't think so, that has been difficult in any event. they brought this information in to the fbi, and it is quite amazing that you get punished for providing information. >> i want to get your sense of where you think we are. you have the senate intelligence committee, the house intelligence committee, it is a smaller and smaller pool of individual that's have not testified yet. >> yeah, that's right. the investigation that matters to me as a former prosecutor and i'm showing my bias is moouelles investigation. it is the one that matters to me and here is why. it carries significant risk for some folks of convictions and imprisonment and all of the things that surround

mr. simpson can say what he wants. he can make accusations. my heavens, that is not something we have seen before the committee. and i don't think it is fair to any of these individuals to say something that just simply isn't supported by any of the evidence. >> jackie speier says there is open source documentation that shows concerns about the money that came in and out of trump transactions in previous years. >> i would invite her to bring that to committee and let us examine it. one other thing i would mention is the focus of our committee hasn't been on those types of issues. >> that is not really your purview. mr. mueller could be looking at those potential crimes. it seems suggestive he may be. that's what he is looking at with manafort. but it is outside your purview. fair point. one other thing while i have you on the record. this meme, what is the memo you are selling. >> it is meaningful. it is so important to me and others. >> why. >> not only members of congress but that we declassify as best we can this information and provide it

mr. simpson, do you have of this? to which he answered he doesn't have the proof but adam schiff's answer to that is why won't my republican colleagues let us, let me, let the committee of the house intelligence committee look into these as part of its russia investigation? and just the way that committee is set up it's got a big advantage to the republicans in terms of resources, the chairmanship, et cetera. that's a pathway that the house investigation at least will not go down. now, robert mueller's investigation of course a different story. >> what more do you -- what do we know about robert mueller? what is he looking into these allegations about? >> there are indications he's at least looking into financial entanglements involving the trump organization. for instance, we know the documents, some of the documents that trump and others have given to mueller under request have included financial documents. not going back 100 years of trump. a few years, but really just in a year or two, particularly during the time

mr. simpson's history of making false claims, it's shocking, yet not surprising the media reports on allegationsng but fiction. maybe you can chalk it up to pure fiction, though of course there is an awkward and inconvenient fact that the president's second son eric told a golf journalist in 2013 oh, yeah, all the money came from russia. a story the golf journalist japs james dotson recounted last year. >> when i first met him, i ask him how he was -- this is the journalist in me. what are you using to pay for the courses? he sort of tossed off he had access to $100 million. >> 100 million dollar. >> so when i got on the cart with eric, setting off i said eric, who is funding, i know no banks because of the recession, the great recession have touched a golf course. nobody is funding any kind of golf construction. it's dead in the water the last four or five years and this is what he said. he said, well, we don't rely on american banks. we have all the funding we need out of russia. i said really? he said, oh, yeah, we have some guys that really, really love golf and they're really invested in ou

mr. simpson told you that he diskcovered there were an amazing number of people that will purchased propertiestrump. what do you make of it? >> this is a concern i had all along. that this one area of the investigation could be potentially the most compromising of the president, and it ought to be in the exercise of due diligence investigated like the other allegations we've faced. when we began this investigation, there were allegations of secret meetings with trump campaign people which we know took place. there were allegations of what general flynn was doing, which we now know proved to be true. and there have been persistent allegations of money laundering, which we have not been allowed to investigate. steve bannon is concerned about money laundering and simpson as well. i think it would be irresponsible for us not to look into it and find out it's not true, it was just highly suggestive or no it looks like there's merits to the allegations and the president could be potentially compromised. >> there's three areas of exposure, the president may have colluded with the russians, the presid

mr. simpson if anyone gave steel approval to go to the fbi. simpson said no.went to the fbi, steel did, out of obligation. are you simply shooting the messenger because you don't like the smes. >> absolutely not true, erin. these are people who by virtue of your last question, are willing to work with and for anyone who will pay them. if conservatives will pay them, they'll work for them. if the fbi paid them, they'll work for them. >> that's opposition research is research where you find something true and used unravel something. i just pointed out there are multiple things in the dossier. >> no, you pointed out the fact that you believe cnn has been able to ver if fi this information. that doesn't mean it's true. there's no independent verification of these documents. if there was, james comey would have said so. he was it was unverified. >> first of all, yes. conversations between foreign nationals did happen. however, let me just tell you this. >> what foreign nationals, erin? >> the dossier alleged members of the trump campaign were eager to get informati

mr. simpson, his assignment was to find out what trump was doing in russia. there was no predetermined conclusions. he was not told what he was supposed to find. they did exactly what i have investigators do in the cases i handle. go out and do a public review of documents and then try to develop sources and talk to sources about what is really happening. and that is what he did here. >> you have the president clearly displaced with dianne feinstein, perhaps unsurprisingly tweeting, and maybe he's been watching the coverage of this. the fact that sneaky dianne feinstein who has on numerous occasions claimed that collusion with the russian investigation has not been found. a lot to unpack in that one, first and foremost. you have the idea that he's bringing politics into this. your reaction to this? >> there's nothing in here classified. what you have when you read through all 312 pages is somebody in a company that did a very professional investigation. they determined the reports were cell on lots of information they were unaware of. >> the other part i'm lo

mr. simpson is not able to corroborate anything in his dossier, and that came out very clearly as he wasiary committee. basically, this was his attempt to paint his motives for putting this together in a good light, to sort of buck up his credibility and that of christopher steele who was the actual author of the dossier. but we don't come out of this necessarily with any greater insight into donald trump's actions during the election year. paul: okay. in the transcript itself, did glenn simpson get the story straight about what triggered the fbi's interest in the trump/russian ties? >> no. and, look, by the way, he had to issue a correction. he came out, and he got everybody excited. the press was all over it saying when they turned in this dossier, they were simply back up information that the fbi already had from an internal source within the trump camp -- paul: that's what he said. >> if that were true, it would be huge. paul: that's what he said in the august transcript. >> yes, in the august transcript. paul: okay. >> then after that came out, the transcript came out, the media goe

mr. simpson declined. the invitation to testify at a public hearing remains on the table. are the two arguments. both from grassley in the same statement. it would taint the investigation for anybody in the public to know what you have told us. also, you should have said it publicly. those are two very contradictory ideas. you can't say that and you should have just said that. well, tonight, the top democrat on that committee, dianne feinstein, her office tells us for the first time that she does support releasing the ten-hour transcript of simpson's testimony. amy klobuchar also is on the committee and she supports releasing the testimony. so, couple questions. question one, why isn't this transcript being released? question two, if senator grassley is going to stick to his u-turn on this and republicans really aren't going to let this transcript out, could fusion tell us more about their testimony on their own without the transcript being released? in their op-ed last night, for instance, i told you they broke some news. part of the news they broke is that fusion allowed

mr. simpson urged us to do. why? because a number of republican members were trying to distract from or undermine special counsel robert mueller's investigation by misleadingly suggesting that it was because of this steel dossier, because of this fusion gps funded research that the whole investigation by the fbi into possible collusion between the trump campaign and russia began. we now know that's not the case, that there were other sources from foreign intelligence, from someone in the trump campaign that led the fbi to begin investigating this question and while the president in today's somewhat belligerent press conference incested there's no collusion, no evidence of collusion, that conclusion has not yet been reached. i think all of us, republicans and democrats in the senate, have an obligation to make sure that we respond to russia's attack on our democracy in the 2016 election and that we fully prepare for our next elections. i commend senator carden on foreign relations for releasing this strong and compreh

mr. david simpson? >> thank you, mr. speaker. the prime minister will be aware that northern ireland has not had a government now for over a year. >> decisions need to be taken to protect our house service, education and local communities. does the prime minister agree that in the absence of a government be informed it is imperative that her government takes the decision to appoint ministers as soon as possible so that a budget can be put forward to deal with this urgent problem? >> we are committed to re-establishing fully functioning, inclusive and involved administration that works for everyone in northern ireland. i don't underestimate the challenges that remain involved here and we do believe that an agreement can be reached and i would say it's imperative therefore, that the parties re-engage in intensive discussions aimed at resolving the outstanding issue so that the assembly can meet and an executive can be formeded. we do recognize, however, that we have a responsibility to ensure good governance in northern ireland and

mr. simpson did request in a "new york times" op-ed for his transcript to be released.ited for grassley to release it. he did not. she released it. grassley's argument will stop witnesses to testify in front of us. i don't think that argument is true. this witness asked for his information to be released, number one. number two, to brad's spin on this story, which is a heck of a spin, i don't quite believe that. here is the thing. i don't know what in this dossier is true and what is not. this speaks to the fact that you can -- i don't think president trump can get a fair hearing on capitol hill because there is so much political rankor. there are some democrats who want to impeach and others who want to get to the bottom of it. and you have republicans doing everything to cover for this president. i think the most upright and fair investigation we've seen over the past 11 months has been the investigation -- nine months -- is the investigation undertaken by mueller and the special counsel's office. what they are pointing out is not only have has papadopoulos pled guilt

. >> according to the transcript simpson told the senate committee steele was concerned mr. trump was being blackmailed. the release of simpson's testimony undermines steel's motives. >> he says it undercuttings that ability to bring in new witnesses. more from capitol hill. >> starting development on capitol hill when diane fine ste -- fine stein decided to release this transcript, glen simpson who's the head of that opposition research firm fusion gps, his interview that he had with the senate judiciary committee back in august. republicans on the committee did not want to do this and she did this over his own objections. now, what we've learned from this transcript is an effort by christopher steele to inform the fbi about what he learned when he went to russia dispatched by fusion gps to investigate candidate trump's business past with his dealings with russia. according to his testimony that steele was so alarmed about what he found he felt obligated to brief the fbi in the summer of 2016 about exactly what happened. now, a lot of questions, too, about whether or not chr

mr. simpson discusses his testimony publicly, the interesting thing is you go through it, there is an awfuless that will play out over the next few days. i think the important thing is if you look at an important moment about six weeks or so before the election what you find between obama administration officials and fusion gps which we know was working to for the clinton campaign, there was a full-court press to urge the allegations in the dossier which was composed by steele on the media, on congress, and there is very good reason to believe on a federal court, specifically the fisa court. brian: andy, they do say in this testimony they are asked do you push stories on members of the media? and they say yeah, we do that brian they are in the opposition research part of it when the calendar comes around. i don't think ever we would have a problem with that. what's really problematic is that former fbi director comey testified in june of last year that's 2017 that the dossier was salacious and unverified. my point is if it was unverified in the middle of june 2017, it had to be unverified i

perceptional mr browder change for the publication of simpson's testimony. i don't want to sound naive but i really hope this hysteria will end with a victory for common sense to me because i knew that i knew all this time people like simpson and browder got congress through time while the person accused of being involved in the alleged collusion scheme never got any on this forum because . i submitted a written testimony to congress where unsorted one hundred seventy four questions after studying the testimony members of congress were supposed to make a decision on whether to subpoena me to testify in person so far no such subpoena has been issued i don't know the reason but if i were to speculate i would assume that the answer is i might would not suit their interests. as r.t. international thank you for joining us so far still to come the british army is trying to appeal to a more diverse range of people to counter a decline in work so that's in your mix of your wild stories in just a mum. seems wrong. when old rules just don't hold. any. get to shape out