. >> mrs. yates, do you have any idea or are you aware of any evidence that would suggest in the 2016 campaign anybody in the trump campaign colluded with the russian government or intelligence services in an improper fashion? >> senator, my answer to that question would require me to reveal classify information. i can't answer that. >> well, i don't get that. he just said he issued the report. he said he doesn't know of he any. what would you know that's not in the report? >> if i may -- are you asking me -- >> no. >> director clapper said he was unaware of the fbi counter intelligence investigation. >> would it be fair to say the counter intelligence investigation was not mature enough to get in the report, mr. clapper? >> that's a possibility. >> what i don't get is how the fbi can have a counter intelligence investigation suggesting collusion and you as director of national intelligence not know about it and the fbi sign on to a report that basically said there was no collusion. >> i can only spe

[applause] mrs. yates: dean minow, i cannot let this moment pass, this moment of your last commencement here as dean. without also recognizing the inspirational leadership and vision that has marked your tenure. and to the student award recipients today that we all just heard about, and to all of the students here today that were recognized for their pro bono service, i have to tell you, i'm humbled by your unselfish dedication to justice, a dedication you make simplified even before you have graduated from law school. i have really been excited about the opportunity to be able to talk with you all today but as the day grew closer, i admit, i started to get a little anxious. this is a big moment for you, and i wanted any words i had here today to be commensurate with that occasion. and the anxiety got a little worse a few weeks ago when i was at breakfast with my family, my husband and my daughter kelly, who is here with me, and my son-in-law zach. they knew i was going to beginning the speech, so the topi

. >> mrs. yates, same question to you. >> i'm not aware of any enter 16 -- interceptions of the trump campaign. >> how about other campaigns? >> no. >> earlier when chairman graham asked you that, you declined to answer. >> i may have misunderstood. >> so you have no information of any interceptions of the bernie sanders campaign, the hillary clinton campaign or any other candidate in 2016 or campaigns? >> no. >> okay. >> let's re-visit the topic, mrs. yates that you and senator cornyn were talking about. is it correct the contusion invests the executive authority in a president? >> yes. >> if a attorney general disagrees with the policy decision of the president, a policy decision that is lawful, does the attorney general have the opportunity to direct the department of justice to defy the president's order? >> i don't know whether the attorney general has the authority to do that but i don't think it's a good idea. that's not what i did in this case. >> are you familiar with 8 usc section 11802? >>

mr. flynn calls several times. 26, sally yates tells the white house counsel that mr.lynn has not been truthful about the details of those calls and he could be vulnerable to russian blackmail. fires mrs. mr. trump yates. matt is up next in baltimore, maryland. line for independents. caller: thank you for c-span. there is a decided tone of divisiveness in her testimony. the thing about it is that if you look at the gross results, they were zero. there was no evidence that there forany tampering with votes president trump. byelieve that as time goes and he continues to be as effective as he's been to date, i think all of this will erode wnd the republicans who are no led by a larger man will either disappear or change significantly under new leadership. democrat, a lifelong a world war ii veteran, i'm 90 years old and i listen to all of this trash -- it has to disappear. it makes no sense whatsoever and america is really hurting. who are the specific leaders of the republican party you are referring to? caller: i said the democratic party -- the heads of the , the assis

as far as the hearing that has been underway regarding mrs. yatesshe has emerged as a progressive rock star so to speak, and is getting wide .raise from the left it has elevated her national stature. it will be interesting to see what her next political moves are. david: interesting moment where ied for senator ted cruz. on the hill there are at least two investigations in the judiciary, house intelligence committee. how parallel are these? how's the approach differ between each committee? i thrown this question around judicial experts, they said that you have to remember that congressional hearings are truly a show -- they have their purpose, but they are a show of political theater. in terms of influencing policy, they can shape the rhetoric. but in terms of getting something done from a legal, judicial jim -- standpoint, these fbi investigations are much more important. until we have a conclusion of any types of internal going on within the intelligence community, we won't have finalized answers. i would also mention -- this has house speaker pau

mr. clapper: no. ms. yates: no. senator grassley: as far as either of you know, have any government agencies referred any of the leaks over the past several months to the justice department for potential criminal investigation? mr. clapper: i don't know. as you know, senator. there is a process for doing that. i don't know if that's happened. . yates: i'm not at d.o.j. anymore. so i don't know what has been referred. senator grassley: neither one of you know whether an authorized investigation of the leaks. r. clapper: knows. senator grassley: have any of you been questioned by the f.b.i. about any leaks. mr. clapper: i have not been. ms. yates: no. senator grassley: i want to discuss unmasking, mr. clapper and ms.iates, did either of you request the unmasking of mr. trump or his associates by any member of congress? mr. clapper: yes. in one case, i did. i can't discuss it any further than that. senator grassley: if i ask you for details, you captain discuss that, is that what you said. mr. clapper: not here. senator

mr. chairman. ms. yates i'm not going to ask you anything that deserves a confidential or secure answer, but after your second inperson meeting with mr. mcgann you said there were four topics he wanted to discuss. would you list those four topics. >> sure. the first topic in the second meeting was essentially why does it matter to doj if one white house official lies to another. the second topic related to the applicability of criminal statutes and the likelihood that the department of justice would pursue a criminal case. the third topic was his concern that they're taking action might interfere with an investigation of mr. flynn and the fourth topic was his request to see the underlying evidence. >> were all those topics satisfied with respect to your impression after the second meeting? >> yes. the only thing that was really left open there was the logistics, for us to be able to make arrangements for them to look at the underlig evidence. >> and you did make those arrangements? >> we did, but again i don

yates. listen to this. >> one of the questions that mr. mcgahn asked me when i went back over the second day was essentially, why does it matter to doj if one white house official lies to another white house official? and so we explained to him it was a whole lot more than that and went back over the same concerns that we had raised with them the prior day, that the concern first about the underlying conduct, itself, that he had lied to the vice president and others, the american public had been misled and then importantly that every time this lie was repeated, and the misrepresentations were getting more and more specific as they were coming out, every time that happened, it increased the compromise. >> okay. so, according to her, white house cgahn, asked why would the doj be concerned if one white house official lied to another? is that the right question to be asking? >> well, it's an odd question. looks like he was searching for what the underlying crime or activity or interest of the justice department was in a poorly phrased question

mrs. yates isn't going to be able to answer that in testimony. was the information taken serious sfl seriously? and all you have to do is look at the calendarer when the washington post story popped and he resigned. they were driven by news trarth than trying to do the right thing and discern what happened. >>> just had hillary clinton getting candid about the final days of the campaign and what she believes cost her the presidency. >> i was on the way to winning until a combination of jim comey's letter and russian wikileaks raised doubts in the minds of people incluned to. . and a good source of fiber to help support regularity. mmm. these are good. nice work, phillips'! try phillips' fiber good gummies! previously treated withd platinum-based chemotherapy, including those with an abnormal alk or egfr gene who've tried an fda-approved targeted therapy... this is big. a chance to live longer with opdivo (nivolumab). opdivo demonstrated longer life and is the most prescribed immunotherapy for these patients. opdivo significantly increased the cha

mr. clapper and ms. yates, did either of you ever request the unmasking of mr. trump, his associates or any member of congress? >> yes. in one case i did. i can't discuss it any further than that. >> so if i ask you for details you said you cannot discuss that? >> not here. >> miss yates, can you answer that? did you ever request the unmasking of mr. trump, his associates or any member of congress? >> no. question two. did either of you ever review classified documents in which mr. trump, his associates or members of congress had been unmasked? >> oh, yes. >> you have? can you give us details here in this -- >> no, i can't. >> ms. yates, have you? >> yes, i have and no, i can't give you details. >> okay. did either of you ever share information about unmask trump associates or members of congress with anyone else? >> i'm thinking back over 6.5 years, a good have discussed it with either my deputy or general counsel. >> miss yates? discussions with other members of the intel committee. i'm not sure if that is in response to your question. and in both cases you ca

mr. clapper, miss yates. did either of you ever request thunmaskin of mr. trump, his associates or any members of congress? >> yes. in one case i did. i can specifically recall but i can't discuss it any further than that. >> so if i and you for details, you said you can't discuss that. is that what you said? >> not here. >> okay. miss yates, can you answer that question? did you ever request unmasking of mr. trump, his associates or any members of congress? >> no. >> question two. did either of you ever review classified documents in which mr. trump, his associates or members of congress had been unmask told? >> yes. >> you have. >> can you give us details here? >> no. i can't. >> miss yates, have you? >> yes, i have, and no, i can't give you details. >> did either of you ever share information about unmasked trump associates or members of congress with anyone else? >> well, i'm thinking back over six and a half years, i could have discussed it with either my deputy or my general counsel. >> miss yates? >> in the course of the flynn matter, i had will disc

i'm shading in the direction of mrs. yates.the attorney general, even the acting attorney general calls the white house counsel and says i've got to talk to you, that should be a tech tonic event and should have caused more dramatic response within the white house, even given the reality they were still looking for their desks and chairs, this was very early on in the administration, someone should have picked up this is a big deal just by the very fact that the attorney general wants to talk to us. >> the fact that the senate got loaded into busses and went over to cia headquarters to get a specific briefing about russia, how should we view this type of event? >> chris, i think we should view it as good news. look, i think director comey, director clapper, director coats are dpragreat officers in their positions, but they are political appointees. now you have got the members of the senate taking the bus up the george washington parkway, going to langley, looking at the documents and talking to the intelligence professionals o

i thought mrs. yates was very credible. general klapper has been a patriot for a long time.ussians today. as the russians to try to interfere in our election spread every member of the committee agrees with the russians but here's why it's important to know about the unmasking of the conversation between the ambassador and general flynn. somebody took that information and leaked it to "the washington post" and you cannot allow intelligence to be politicized. so i wanted to get to the bottom line of who did that? it's a small universe of people can ask the intelligence community to give them conversations between a foreign agent and american citizens and general klapper contradicted himself. i asked him point-blank was there any accidental collection of predental campaign candidates are the campaign team? he later said yes, there was was trump. there is an unmasking request i made involving a member of congress and trump. furthermore? i don't know. >> martha: senator also try to get a couple of the issues you're talking about right now and he asked did you ever request the un

he said when mr. yates got back and he was shining his light on him, he kicked sam and shine the isght on him and said this -- not dead. nermeen: gilbert, your response to what she said? >> this is a seminal moment in this entire story. basically, the equivalent of cell phone camera footage of a killing. sam shepard and walter irvin are handcuffed together. mccall comes around and shoots sam shepard three times. he dies instantly. walter irvin is shot twice. he cannot run because he is handcuffed to his best friend. he lays on the ground are produced to be dead. but he hears the sheriff say "get back, i got the son of a bitches. we got to make it look like an escape." the deputy sheriff comes back to the scene, shined a flashlight on walter irvin and says, this one ain't dead yet. was a gun and fires a third shot straight through his neck. is stillsly, irvin alive. when the fbi hears the story, which differs from the sheriff's version, they have an idea where the bullets might be. they go back to the crime

mr. chairman. missiate, yates, the concerns expressed concerning the executive order have been upheld by the courts. >> that's correct. >> secondly, director clapper, on the issue of possible use of the far right websites by the russians, you were asked earlier whether you have any knowledge that potential cooperation or involvement. do you have independent knowledge of the use of those far right websites? >> i don't. i don't have -- at least off the top of my head specific knowledge or insight into that connection. could have been. i -- i just don't know that directly. >> but you made reference to published reports. you said i think you knew from what you read about in the newspapers. >> that's specific reference to what occurred in france. >> correct. and the same tactics that were used most recently in france were also used or at least reportedly used in this country, correct? >> correct. >> and i would like to put in the record one public report, there are probably others, a mcclatchy report of march 20th whic

mr. chairman. ms. yates, i'm not going to ask you anything that deserves a confidential or secure answer. but after your second in-person meeting with mr. mcgahn, you said there were four topics he wanted to discuss. would you list those four topics. >> sure, the first topic in the second meeting was essentially why does it matter to doj if one white house official lies to another. the second topic related to the applicability of criminal statutes and the likelihood that the department of justice would pursue a criminal case. the third topic was his concern that they are taking action might interfere with an investigation of mr. flynn. and the fourth topic was his request to see the underlying evidence. >> were all those topics satisfied with respect to your impression after the second meeting? >> yes, the only thing that was really left open there was the logistics for us to be able to make arrange thes for us to look at the underlying evidence. >> you did make those arrangements. >> we did. but again, i do

mr. trump said he was suspicious about coming forward. >> trevor: sally yates and mr.bama warned trump but he wouldn't listen, though i'm not surprised trump doesn't listen to women or black people. no one knows how deep the russia-trump tie goes. what we do know is every single time the subject of russia comes up, trump gets nervous and you can tell he's nervous because he tweets -- a lot. that's basically his tell. like, if you're ever playing poker with trump, check his twitter. that's all you've got to do. i raise but i only have ten deuce, he's going to fold! #bluffing, so much bluffing! ( laughter ) donald trump didn't just tweet, this russia thing got to him so much he even changed his twitter banner to "his own tweets." yeah. which is the lamest thing a twitter person can do, let's be honest. that's worse than liking your own tweet, worse than retweeting your own tweet, worse than following scot scott baio, worsd all those things. so congratulations, sally yates you did to trump what north korea, syria and even james comey couldn't do, you got trump shook in hi

mr. comey's dismissal with sally yates' testimony troubling. >> what did he mean he would take it under advisement? >> i think he listened. this is an individual who listened carefully and i think he would weigh those divisions. >> mr. coates described it as a rising threat from russia. their cyber threat seems to be able to mess up elections worldwide. what is your answer to that mark -- what is your reaction to that? >> we have looked at russia's their involvement not only in our elections but what looks to be aggressively in french elections, montenegrin elections, potentially german elections. hearing in the not-too-distant future that gets into those elections outside the united states so the american russia aserstand what an heiress -- as an adversary today is attempting to do. >> one of the things i find so troubling, and this goes across all cyber threats, but i have heard one expert indicate that you add up all the costs of what theia spent to disrupt elections, the german elections, that the germans had to hang count their balance, that is less than 5% of the cost. as we look at asymmetr

yates, what did you tell the white house about mr. flynn? >> sally yates speaks out. >> we believed that general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. >> for the first time ever, former acting attorney general on what she told the white house about michael flynn. >> the underlying conduct that general flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself. >> tonight, what we now know about what michael flynn was doing with the russians and why president trump ignored all the warnings. >> president obama had told the incoming president elect that two days after the election, don't hire this guy. >> then, the kushner family caught selling real estate visas and access to the white house, why jared kushner's family is today apologizing with the reporter who broke the story, all of that and plus house republicans feel the heat at home over trump care. >> nobody dies because they don't have access to health care. "all in" starts right now. >> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes, for the first time today, the person at the cent

yates, what did you tell the white house about mr. flynn? >> we believed that general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. >> for the first time ever, former acting attorney general on what she told the white house about michael flynn. >> the underlying conduct that general flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself. >> tonight, what we now know ab

mr. chairman. ms. yates, the concerns you expressed about the constitutionality of the executive order have been upheld by the courts. >> that is correct. >> secondly, director clapper, on the issue of possible use of the far right's websites by the russians, you are asked earlier whether you have any knowledge about that potential cooperation or involvement. do you have independent knowledge of the use of those far right websites? >> i don't. i don't have off the top of my head specific knowledge or insight into that connection. could have been. i just don't know that directly. >> you made reference to published reports. you said you knew about it from what you read in the newspapers. >> that's a specific reference to what happened in france. >> the same tactics used most recently in france were also used, or a new lease reportedly used, in this country. >> correct. >> i would like to put in the record one public report, a mcclatchy report of march 20, which begins with the lead. federal investigators exami

yates, what did you tell the white house about mr. flynn? >> sally yates speaks out. >> we believed that general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. >> for the first time ever, former acting attorney general on what she told the white house about michael flynn. >> the underlying conduct that general flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself.

mr. chairman. general clapper, miss yates, good to see you again. good to have you back here. i -- miss yates, i remember so well your confirmation. i remember one senator just bearing in on you, intensely bearing in on you saying would you stand up to the president of the united states if you thought he was asking you to do something unlawful? he's demanding under oath for you to say, yes, you would stand up. and you told th-senator jeff sessions of alabama thas what you would do. and appears to me that you kept your word. apparently it's okay to keep your word depending upon who the administration is. but i'm proud of you for keeping your word when the president tried to set a religious test for entrance into this country. something most first-year law students would say was unconstitutional, you said you were not going to uphold it. i wish that mr. sessions and others had kept it as consistent in this administration as they did in the last. that's editorial judgment. now, you wrote to the justice department, "i'm responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court

yates? >> no. >> okay. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i went over. i apologize. >> senator lee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general clapper, miss yates, good to see you again, good to have you back here. miss yates, i remember so well your confirmation hearing, and i remember one senator just bearing in on you, intensely bearing in on you saying would you stand up to the president. united states if you now the he was asking you to do something unlawful. he's demanding under oath-for-you to say yes you would stand up, and you then told then senator sessions of alabama that's what you would do, and it appears to me that you kept your word. apparently that's okay to keep your word depending upon who the administration is, but i'm proud of you for keeping your word when the president tried to set a religious test for entrance in this country, something most first year law students would say is unconstitutional, you said you weren't going to uphold it. i wish that mr. sessions and others had kept as consistent in this administration as they did in the last. that's my editorial judgment. now you wrote t

mr. comey, sally yates, michael flynn, none of these can coverage with protection for themselves. >> having studied the fbi as you have, i have a feeling you are completely unsurprised by today's revelation that jim comey went back to the office and typed up what just happened to him. >> well, of course, any reporter would, any investigator would, any cop would make a memo of the conversation. what is a little surprising is that in the past week the president of the united states has not committed just one, but two. one is the obstruction of justice which is becoming painfully clear in what he calls the so-called russia case or the hopes. >> firing jim comey. could tell -- as we found out today, to call off these dogs. >> so you would put down firing jim comey as part of an obstruction of justice? >> i would. that's one. >> and abuse of power. >> the second abuse of power, was giving comfort to the russians by leaking them incredibly intelligence that had been entrusted to the united states on the basis that it not be leaked to a third party. that is an abuse of power and that is a violatio

yates' warning the white house didn't act right away. it took more than two weeks for president trump called flynn a wonderful man even after he was fired. today on twitter, mrtrump wrote, ask sally yates how clastfied information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to the white house. yates denied being the source of those leaks. >>> president trump's top advisish and son-in-law jared kushner may have stepped aside from his family's real estate business, but the rest of the family is still in business. his sister, nicole meyer was in shanghai, talking real estate to wealthy investors. the sales pitch? invest half a million and get a visa. >> reporter: nicole meyer spent saturday with wealthy chinese investors, asking them to help finance this new jersey real estate project, known as one journal square. her pitch? make a $500,000 investment in return for a possible u.s. visa. it's known at investor program and was renewed by president trump the day before the beijing meeting. >> this is just the start of a roadshow for the kushner company family many. >> reporter: new york fiems reporter xavier hernandez was at the event and said it included

mr. clapper and sally yates. what are you listening for afternoon from sean spicer?ing for sean spicer to justify why, after sally yates told the white house that michael flynn was lying and that he was going to be a problem and that their national security adviser might have been compromised by the russians that they still kept him on for something like 13 days. i think the administration needs to understand and make people understand why that decision was made because it goes to the heart of how this administration functions, whether or not they're vetting people properly, what are the decisions they're making in regards to people who to russia. that all goats to the heart of it so i would be surprised if sean doesn't get up there and start talking right away about salary yates or somebody's going to be peppering him with questions about salary yates and specifically what she told the white house. >>> . >>> let's take a quick break. we haven't gotten our two-minute heads up from the white house. they're roughly 20 minutes later. sean spicer heading to the briefing

mr. engel, do you agree with ms. yates' description of the function? mr. engel: i agree that the office must look only at the law. it is not its job to consider questions of policy. they have no operational responsibilities. they are a legal advisor to i do take issue with the description ms. yates gave of the function as being intended to review if there is some way of defending an executive order. we are not litigators in court coming up with reasonable arguments. the job of the office of legal counsel is to review executive orders as well as other proposals that come before it to ensure that they meet the requirements of the law. and that is how, if i'm fortunate enough to be confirmed, i will discharge those responsibilities. sen. grassley: also, the question of independence has come up. a lot of people before this committee, under the trump administration appointing, starting with the time you began assisting the trump transition team effort, has anyone come meaning anyone can ask you to make a commitment to reach a certain legal conclusion on behalf

mr. flynn? lana: sally yates told the sub committee how she warned the white house counsel. >> a number of pressaccounts, statements made by the high ranking officials about untrue. >> following to be fired for her opposition to the president's travel ban she had warned the administration that the national security adviser michael flynn was not being honest when he told mike pence he had no contact with russian officials that led to flynn's firing. >> the situation where the national security adviser could be blackmailed by the russians. >> but miss yates is who trump impugned on twitter writing ask sally yates under oath if she know how classified information got in the newspaper soon after she explained it to white house counsel. on monday it was revealed in the transition president obama warned then president elect trump not to hire general flynn. the suggestion that white house spokesman sean spicer brushed off. >> this is a guy who was outspoken in the criticism of president obama's policies. so the idea that president obama didn't like the guy doesn't seem shocking. the question you have t

yates' warning, thehi act right away. it took more than two weeks for flynn to be fired. president trump called flynn a wonderful man even after he was fired. today on twitter, mr. trump wrote, scott ask sally yates how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to the white house." scott, yates denied being the source of those leaks. >> pelley: jeff pegues in our washington newsroom. jeff, thank you. tonight cbs news has learned that homeland security is considering expanding its ban on laptops on commercial jetliners. at the moment the ban covers devices larger than a cell phone on non-stop flights to the u.s. from ten airports in the middle east and north africa. kris van cleve is our transportation correspondent. kris, what's new? >> reporter: sources familiar with the ongoing discussion say it is likely the department of homeland security will expand the ban on large electronics being carried on to planes. sources say airports in europe or the u.k. are among those likely to be added to the u.s. airlines are worried an expanded ban will discourage business travel and will be difficult to enforce without searching passengers i

mr. flynn. >> reporter: sally yates the former acting attorney general testified about the russian interferenceelections and what she cold the white house council. a number of press accounts and other high ranking white house officials about general flynn's comments we knew to be untrue. prior to her opposition to the travel ban, the acting attorney general warned the white house that national security michael flynn was not being honest when he said he had no contact with russian officials and led to his firing. >> it led to a situation where the security advisor could be blackmailed why the russians. donald trump tweeting askally yates under oath if she knows how classified information got into the newspaper before it was public. and president obama warned him not to hire general flynn that was brushed off. >> this is a man that was very critical of the president's policies. the idea that he didn't like the guy doesn't seem shocking. the question you have to ask yourself, if they were concerned, why didn't they take any steps? >> reporter: yates also appeared with the former director of nation

mr. comey's dismissal with sally yates' testimony on tuesday, and jim comey was supposed to be in that hearing troubling to me. it's one i expressed that to mr. rosenstein. reporter: what do you think he means take it under advisement? >> i think he listened. i felt this was an individual that listened carefully, and i think he's -- vonnie: you've been watching the chair and vice chair of the senate intelligence intel committee, talking about the meeting with the deputy a.g. there's going to be a closed meeting this would not afternoon. we're continuing here. this is bloomberg. ♪ >> 1:00 in washington and 6:00 in london. i am david gura, welcome to bloomberg markets: the trump economy. the acting head of the fbi contradicts what the white house said, that the bureau's rank-and-file have lost confidence in james comey. the deputy u.s. attorney general as a closed-door meeting with senators richard burr and mark warner, the chair and ranking member of the senate intelligence committee. airlines brace for a broader ban all laptops and other electronic devices. a meeting with the department of pla

mr. comey's dismissal, sally yates' testimony on tuesday and the fact was jim comey was supposed to be inhe hearing today. very troubling to me. i expressed that to mr. rosenstein. i think he took it under advisement. >> what do you mean he took it under advisement, special counsel taking that under special advisement? >> he listened. i think this is an individual that listened carefully and i think he will weigh those. >> joining me senator amy cloe ba char from the state of minute. >> great to be with you. >> what the president said is on three occasions that director comey said to him that he was not under investigation and the one that's now been highlighted we see in lester holt's interview on nbc, is that one of those events was a dinner in which the -- james comey was purportedly or said to be by the white house there to see if his job was secure, and that at that point the president said or at some point, i don't know which came first, the chicken or the egg, the president said am i under investigation, he said no, you're not under investigation. we don't have the sequence and tha

mr. comey's dismissal, with sally yates testimony on tuesday and jim comey was supposed to be in that hearingry troubling to me. it's one i expressed to mr. rosenstein. >> what do you mean that he took it under advisement, special counsel? i think he listened. i felt this is an individual that listened carefully and i think he's -- he -- >> on the worldwide threat report, mr. coats described a rising threat from russia, their cyber power seems to be able to mess up elections worldwide. what's your reaction to that? >> i think that's consistent with everything as a committee we've looked at. an increasing desire on russia's part gee graphically to have a presence. what looks to be aggressive in french elections, potentially german elections. we might have a hearing in the not too distant future that gets into those elections outside of the united states. so the american people understand just what russia as an adversary today is attempting to do. >> one of the things i find so troubling and this goes across all cyber threats, but i've heard one expert indicate that if you add up all of the cos

yates and mr. clapper. think that opportunity has been lost, maybe for the greater good. >> reporter: now that a special counsel has been chosen, some are concerned it could over shadow or hamper the congressional investigation. in effect, whether former fbi director james comey will testify before congress, which has been called for by numerous congressional committees. >> we happen to think that an open hearing in front tv intelligence committee is the right way for him to do it. >> reporter: the latest revelations are bringing president trump's former national security adviser michael flynn back into focus. the new york times reporting flynn told the trump transition team two weeks before inauguration before he was chosen for the job that he was under federal investigation for working as a paid lobbyist for turkey during the campaign, an issue because flynn had not registered then as a fortunate agent and was working on behalf of another country while a senior transition official. a senior white house of

the president as we learned from secretary, from the acting attorney general yates was advised that mr. flynn have misled others administration and took no action on that until it was disclosed in public. once the president was forced to fire mr. flynn, he expressed no animosity or discomfort with the fact that mr. flynn led the vice president to misled the country but rather he was angry of the press for revealing it. sometimes there after, he meets and had dinner with james comey. james comey is concerned whether he can keep his job. and the president when he's asked by the president's account whether he's going to continue during that conversation. the president asks him to drop the investigation of michael flynn. this is the course of the last couple of year ercvents just involving one person within the russian investigation. it under scores the seriousness of this investigation. why we have to ensure it is independent in terms of our over site responsibilities but also in terms of if there are laws that's violated and we have an independent maker at the justice department making t

mr. comey's dismissal with sally yates' testimony on tuesday and the fact that jim comey was supposed to be in that hearing today very troubling to me. i want to express that. >> reporter: what do you mean he took it under advisement? >> i think you listen. this is an individual who listen carefully and he will weigh those issues. >> reporter: mr. coates described a threat from russia. their cyber power seems to mess up elections. what's your reaction to that? >> that's consistent with everything that we've looked at as a committee. we looked at an increasing desire on russia's part to have a president, their involvement in only in our elections, but seems to be aggressive in their frontal actions. potentially german elections. we might have a hearing in the not-too-distant future that gets those elections outside the united states so they make people understand just what russia as an adversary today is attending to do. >> one of the things i find so troubling, i've heard one expert indicate that when you add up all of the costs that russia spent trying to mess up our elections, the fren

mr. trump, his associates or members of congress had been unmasked? >> well, yes. >> you have. can you give us details here? >> no, i can't. >> ms. yatesthe russian ambassador and mr. flynn make it to the "the washington post"? >> i don't know the answer to that. >> no. nor do i know the answer to that. steve: well, we kind of know what happened though. we know that the names were -- some names were unmasked. and then as we learned in the front pages of the "new york times," in the final days of the obama administration, the nsa rules were relaxed so that they could distribute those names, that information as widely as possible to keep it as part of the public record. you know, within the permanent government. ultimately though, was it just to destroy the opening months of the trump administration? there are many who would say obviously they were trying to sandbag the new president and so far they have done a pretty good job. ainsley: the president agrees with that. the president tweeted yesterday. latest tweet was biggest story today between clapper and yates is on surveillance. why doesn't the media report on this? #fake news. brian:

yates, and now jim comey. what should happen now, what must happen now, is that mr. rosenstein appoints a special prosecutor to oversee this investigation. deputy attorney general rosenstein sat in the judiciary committee and promised to establish a prosecutor at the appropriate time. he said, quote, i'm willing to appoint a special council when i determine it's appropriate. so my colleague, senator coons asked is it vital to the confidence in our democracy, that any investigation into these matters be fair, free, thoroughly and politically independent? mr. rosenstein answered, yes. i do. if there was ever a time when circumstances warranted a special prosecutor. it is right now. mr. rosenstein expressed concern that director comey damaged the integrity of the fbi. the attorney general has had to recuse himself for being too close to the president. if mr. rosenstein is true to his word, that he believes this investigation must be fair, free, thorough and politically independent. if he believes that the american people must be able to have faith in the impartiality of

yates, bahar, and koim. he asked ms.ates to serve as attorney general, he asked mr. bahar to stay on, and he indicated that mr. koim could stay on as director of the f.b.i. then it appears that each of the three justice department officials were in charge of investigations that started to become a concern in president trump's white house. we heard on monday from sally yates haw she had informed the white house counsel office in january of this year that michael flynn had been compromised and could be blackmailed by the russians for lies that he had said publicly. president trump kept michael flynn on as national security advisor for 18 days after that express warning by the acting attorney general to the white house counsel. he only asked for his resignation hours after "the washington post" reported on general flynn's false statements about his russian communications. the president fired sally yates, the acting attorney generals on january 30, four days after she warned the white house about this connection between general flynn and this ambassador. and then there w

yates. sen. grassley: did either of you ever review classified documents in which mr. his associates, or members of congress had been unmasked? james clapper: yes. sen. grassley: you have? can you give us details here in this? james clapper: no, i can't. sen grassley: ms. yates, have you? sally yates: yes, i have and, no, i can't give you details. sharyl: intel officials say their activities aren't political. republican senator rand paul and former congressman dennis kucinich, a democrat, are among those who say they believe they were caught up in government surveillance. coming up next week on "full measure." for all the concern about russian influence over u.s. elections, what's rarely talked about is that many foreign interests try to shape u.s. policy every day through paid lobbying. next week, the incredible story of some u.s. military veterans who claim they were duped into lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. >> i said, so by the way, who is paying for all this? he said, the kingdom. i said, the kingdom of saudi arabia? he said, yeah, man. so, this was un