the idea that the president had asked the head of the nsa, the director of national intelligence, had asked them to help quash the investigation, had asked them to pour public cold water on the investigation, these reports that the intelligence chiefs then potentially, you know, not only spoke to each other about them but that made them potentially corroborating witnesses, those were red-hot reports on their own. not incidentally, those reports made for the best nine seconds of video in this trump/russia story. this was dan coats getting asked -- director of national intelligence -- getting asked whether he and the nsa director discussed amongst themselves these requests from the president. watch. nine seconds. watch. >> have you talked about this issue with admiral rogers? >> that is something that i -- i would like to withhold that question at this particular point in time. >> not a term of art. i would like to withhold that question. that's not a thing. dan coats said he would like to withhold on that. pause. we all got pregnant watching that pause that was so long. that happened b

moments from now the director of national intelligence will testify before the senate intelligence committee. >>> all right. moments from now, lawmakers on capitol hill set to grill the intelligence chiefs on the russia probe and a whole lot more. >> it comes one day after the fired fbi director james comey, and the president announced his pick to be new fbi director. we'll get right to manu raju on capitol hill. manu, dan coats will be there to testify. the washington post reports the president pressured him to back off the michael flynn investigation. what are you expecting today? >> yeah. that's right. in fact, he's going to make an opening statement on behalf of the four intelligence officials who will be testifying at this hearing and expect those questions about what president trump asked dan coats to do and whether or not he asked him in any way to back off that michael flynn investigation. expect that to come right at the top particularly when mark warner, the top democrat begins his questioning. the question if whether or not coats will reveal anything, his spokesman put out a state

director of national intelligence dan coats reportedly did spend three hours in closed session with the senate intelligence committee last week. there is also, though, the possibility of other people. they say dan coats told several other people at the time about the president asking him to intervene with the fbi to stop the flynn investigation. we don't know who those other people are that dan coats talked to at the time but presumably the investigating committees in congress and special counsel bob mueller are in a position to ask dan coats who those people are and get the names from dan coats and those people presumably could be interviewed, as well. but in addition to that, there is also another witness who is not a mystery at all. we know who it is. at least according to the washington post report. the witness who saw this all happen is mike pompao standing in the room when the president allegedly made this ask of dan coats that coats should try to stop the fbi's investigation. so ask the question, right? director did you hear the president ask you. did the president ask you if you

at the top of the hour, director of national intelligence, dan coats, will testify before the senate igence committee amid new reports president trump asked him to enter convenience with former fbi director james comey's investigation into michael flynn. we'll bring coats' testimony live. >>> and at least 12 people were killed in tehran this morning after suicide bombers and gunmen reportedly stormed parliament as well as the tomb of the founder of iran. isis has claimed responsibility for the attack. >>> new security footage shows the moment a man with a hammer attacked a police officer outside the notre dame cathedral in paris on esday. french authorities have opened a terror investigation as the attacker reportedly yelled "this is for syria." >>> and bill cosby just arrived in court for his third day in that sexual assault trial. the woman cosby is charged with drugging and molesting in 2004 will return to the witness stand. cosby has repeatedly denied all allegations of sexual misconduct. >>> and george and amal clooney are first-time parents welcoming twins ella and alexander int

director of national intelligence set to testify. new report says the president asked coates to intervene on the russia probe. >>> growing signs of strain between the president and his attorney general. why won't the white house give jeff sessions a vote of confidence and why did sessions threaten to walk? >>> and james comey's testimony to congress. we're a day away. what he will say, what he won't say and why he asked not to be left alone with the president of the united states? they are calling his testimony the super bowl in washington, d.c. >> that's right. >> it's tomorrow. welcome back to "early start". i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. thanks for joining us. one day away from testimony of james comey, suddenly the undercard is part of the main event. at this morning's main intelligence committee hearing a lineup of intel community all-stars. dan coates, acting fbi director andrew mccabe, nsa director, admiral mike rogers and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein all set to testify. >>> overnight dan coates at the cen

director of national intelligence dan coats reportedly did spend three hours in closed session with the senate intelligence committee last week. there is also, though, the possibility of co-o other peopl. they say dan coats told several other people at the time about the president asking him to intervene with the fbi to stop the flynn investigation. we don't know who those other people are that dan coats talked to at the time but presumably the investigating committees in congress and special counsel bob mueller are in a position to ask dan coats who those people are and get the names from dan coats and those people presumably could be interviewed, as well. but in addition to that, there is also another witness who is not a mystery at all. we know who it is. at least according to the washington post report. the witness who saw this all happen is mike pompao standing in the room when the president allegedly made this ask of dan coats that coats should try to stop the fbi's investigation. so ask the question, right? director did you hear the president ask you. did the president ask you if

>> senator ron wyden of oregon doing his best to try to get an answer from the director of national intelligenceing officials from the justice department and intelligence community saying they could not or would not answer, they didn't feel it was appropriate to answer a lot of the senator's questions. tomorrow, that same committee will start in again bright and early and this time their star witness will be fbi director james comey. we know something about what james comey will testify to because his opening statement has been released. there is now, seems to me a new question as to whether or not administration officials who continue to serve in the administration will just refuse to answer congressional questions whether or not they have a legal basis to refuse. joining us now is senator ron wyden, member of the senate intelligence committee, one of the questioners during today's hearing. thank you for joining us tonight. i know this has been a very important time. >> thank you for having me. those officials made a mockery of the oversight process. we have a legal obligation to do vigorous ov

intervene or interfere in any way with shaping intelligence in a political way or in relation >> all i --. >> reporter: there was dan coats. he's director of the national security intelligence what coats said is very key. because there was a story going around last director of national intelligence was telling people during a private meeting with president trump that president trump at some point had gone to him and said, can you give me some help in interfering with this fbi investigation? coats was emphatic today. he said that did not happen. he never felt any pressure from the white house. that president trump did not ask him to do this. so when you have admiral mike rogers who is the director of the nsa, when you have dan coats the director of national intelligence making up 2/3 of the top intelligence officials in the country, saying that this never happen, this is a very good thing for the white house today. however, the white house might want to temper its rack to this. we still do in the know what james comey is going to exactly testify to tomorrow or how he's going to answer a lot of these appointed questions that will be fired at him. >> you

the director of national intelligence dan coates who overcease 17 intelligence agencies was there an effort by the president as reported by the "washington post" in march of this year to go to coates to try to enlist his help to get him to go to james comey to back off the ongoing investigation of former national security advise or mike flynn. he have put out this quote. he has put out this quote. a key issue for republicans on the panel today will be the issue of unmasking of american citizens in coded intelligence reporting and whether it was inappropriately done in the case of the trump campaign team. house intelligence committee has already issued subpoenas for records that relate to the unmasking by the former national security director susan rice and john brennan and samantha power. was the unmasking done for political reasons. >> bill: here is chris stirewalt for analysis. the hearing is about the fisa court. reverse surveillance that's a topic in washington now. democrats yesterday made it clear they'll ask about russia and comey. how or what should viewers listen to or what

in 2015 mister glawe was awarded the national intelligence superior service medal for his extraordinary contribution to the us intelligence community and our nation's security. the nominee is an iowa native as i said, still has family in iowa, he's a graduate of my all a matter of the university of northern iowa and also a graduate of harvard university, jfk school of government. he got started in law enforcement and advanced his impressive career with characteristically outstanding iowa work ethic. he's chaired with me how much these things mean to him and i appreciate his commitment to putting them to work in this new position or our nation as he has several positions in the past. mister glawe's mother nancy is someone live crosshatched with for a long time in iowa as well, i'm proud to say. i know she's glad to be here with the rest of her family and his friends today, to celebrate with him and support him through this process. thank you for holding this hearing and i urge you to support his nomination to fill this very important post. thank you. >> never grassley, thank you for that

dan coats, the director of national intelligence did say, however, he would address certain specific questions in a closed hearing. the lack of answers from all four men has been frustrating on republicans, democrats and even independents. let's listen to one of those interactions. >> i'm not satisfied with i do not believe it's appropriate or i do not feel i should answer. i want to understand the legal basis. you swore that oath to tell nothing but the truth and today you are refusing to do so. what's the legal basis for your refusal to testify to this committee? >> i'm not sure i have a legal basis but i'm more than willing to sit before this committee and during its investigative process in a closed session and answer your questions. >> and a closed hearing is scheduled for later on this afternoon but it remains unclear if these men will discuss private conversations with the president even in that closed setting. we'll have to wait and see. in the newsroom, i'm sam sweeney, abc 7 news. amber: thanks for the update, sam. overseas, terror striking again, this time twin attacks on

director of national intelligence, dan coates, nsa director, and deputy attorney general rod rose owes all set to testify today. >> overnight dan coates at the center of breaking news. "the washington post" reporting president trump asked coates if he could intervene with james comey to urge the fbi direct zwror back off of his investigation of former national security adviser michael flynn. unnamed officials pell the "post" private interaction came after a white house briefing on march 22nd, two days after comey told congress the fbi was, in fact, investigating whether the trump campaign colluded with rush. >> the officials say coates complying with the president's request to intervene would be inappropriate. cnn has already reported the president asked coates and the nsa director mike rogers to publicly deny his campaign cooperated with russia in the 2016 election. sources told cnn both coates and rogers were uncomfortable with the president's request and refused to comply. >>> the white house still can't or won't confirm that president trump has confidence in attorney general jeff s

the director of national intelligence asked that james comey brief the president alone about some unverified salacious stories that had been circulating involving donald trump and prostitutes in a moscow hotel room. the director of national television and james comey decided it would be possibly embarrassing to have more people in the room. so it was just going to be james comey doing this alone. james comey wrote during the dinner president trump returned to the salacious material i had briefed him about on january 6th. and as he had done previously expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them. he said he was considering ordering me to investigate the alleged incident to prove that it didn't happen. i replied that he should give that careful thought because it might create a narrative that we were investigating him personally, which we weren't. and because it was very difficult to prove a negative. the president came back to this subject in a march 30th phone call to fbi director comey. he described the russia investigation as a cloud that was impairing his ability to

they really wanted these national intelligence officials to say that the president pressured them. when admiral rogers got up and said never have i been pressured or asked to do anything unethical or unlawful or even inappropriate, that seems to kind of take the air out of that balloon. >> i think this is sort of a preview of what we are going to see tomorrow, trying to get out the distinction or the difference between what was asked, what was pressured by the president to these officials. from what i could gather watching the testimony earlier today, the two major officials, dan coats and admiral rogers, they did not concede or admit that the president asked them to try to intervene in some way with that investigation. they did deny any pressure from the white house or any orders or direction to do so. that's a distinction that viewers and i think citizens will have to make. was it inappropriate for the president to ask questions of comey, of rogers, dan coats, and is that different from pressuring them to do so? it's more of a great area on the former point. >> there is a report

first, the statute requires revocation from the attorney general and director of national intelligence authorizing the types of foreign intelligence information the intelligence community may acquire. second, the statute requires are called training procedures and minimization procedures. the charting procedures in the attorney general guidelines set forth the rules by which the intelligence community ensures only foreign persons abroad are targeted for collection and the minimization procedures protect us personal information that is incidentally acquired from the targeting of foreigners abroad. finally, the fisa court reviewed each certification to make sure the governance program is consistent with the statute and fourth amendment. we have the classified and publicly released redacted versions of all these documents including the most recent opinion to ensure the public good understanding of how we use this authority. and importantly, the government section 2 program object to rigorous and frequent oversight by all three branches of government. the first line of oversight and compli

the washington post is reporting tonight that the nation's top intelligence official told associates in march that president trump asked him if he could intervene with then fbi director, focused on national flight in the probe according to officials. on madge 22nd after being confirmed, daniel coats attended a briefing at the white house together with officials from several government agencies, as the briefing was wrapping up. trump asked everyone to leave the room, except for coats and cia director mike pompeo. and tomorrow, director of national intelligence, dan coats, is testifying to the senate intelligence committee. there are now three people who we know about who can testify about that president trump tried to interfere with the fbi investigation. those three people are, the director of national intelligence, cia director mike pompeo who was a witness to the president's conversation with dan coats and, of course, the man who we'll hear from on thursday, former fbi director james comey, who says that president trump used that same method on him that he used with dan coats, the p

in 2015, he was awarded the national intelligence superior service medal for his extraordinary contribution to the u.s. intelligence community and our nation's security. the nominee is an iowa native, as i said. still has family in iowa. he's a graduate of my alma mater of the university of northern iowa. and also a graduate of harvard university's jfk school of government. he got started in law enforcement and advanced his impressive career with charactertically outstanding iowa work effort. he shared with me how much the roots mean to him, and i appreciate his commitment to putting them to work in this new position for our nation as he has several positions in the past. his mother nancy is someone who i crossed paths with for a long time in iowa as well, i'm proud to say, and i know she's glad to be here with the rest of her family and his friends today to celebrate with him and to support him through this process. thank you for holding this hearing. and i urge you to support his nomination to fill this very important post. thank you. >> chairman grassley, thank you for that very thorough

witnesses included officials from the fbi, justice department , the office of the director of national intelligence, and the national security agency. this is two hours and 35 minutes. important issues that we have before us, today's public hearing will be followed by a classified briefing tomorrow afternoon. this committee last held in oversight hearing on section 702 in may of 2016. since then, the terror attacks against the united states and other countries, particularly our allies, has continued. a month after our hearing, terrorists attacked in orlando nightclub. that same month, a terrorist detonated pipe bomb in new jersey and new york, injuring about 30. london suffered its worst terror attack. bomber at a concert in manchester. many wounded and killed were children and young people. these attacks underscore the toponsibility of government ensure that those that protect us every day have the tools to keep us safe. when i said government, i should have said the united states government, under our constitution. these totals must adapt to the technological landscape and the evolving security t

the statute requires annual certifications by the attorney general and by the director of national intelligence regarding the categories of foreign intelligence that the intelligence community will acquire under this authority. second, the statute requires targeting procedures that set forth the rules by which the intelligence community ensures that only foreign persons abroad are targeted for collection. thirdly, the statute requires minimization procedures protecting u.s. persons information that may be incidentally acquired while targeting foreign persons. and finally, each year the fisa court reviews this entire package of material to make sure that the government's program is consistent with both the statute and with the fourth amendment of the constitution. we have publicly released slightly redacted versions of all of these documents, including the most recent fisk opinion to ensure the public has a good understanding of how we use this authority. the government section 702 program as we have said, is subject to rigorous and frequent oversight by all three branches of government. the fir

that official, the director of national intelligence, dan coats, happens to be testifying today. that's not everything. today in the bay's tracie potts joining us live in washington with what's going on right now, including word just in that president trump has selected the next director of the fbi? >> he selected who he would like to be the next director of the fbi. former justice department official christopher ray, who by the way, was also the attorney for new jersey's governor chris christie in the bridgegate scandal. that's the man who president trump tweeted moments ago has impeccable credentials and should head the fbi, which of course, is heading the russia investigation. those new questions that you talked about, sure to come up as the director of national intelligence goes before lawmakers for questioning today. this washington post report is fueling new questions for today's hearings. it claims president trump asked dan coats, the director of national intelligence, to lean on then fbi director james comey to back off the russia investigation. >> it's hard to avoid the

security agency and director of national intelligence only answer broadly saying they never felt pressured by the president. >> in the three plus years i have been the director of national security agency to the best of my recollection i have never been directed to do anything i believe to be illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate. and to the best of my recollection during that same period of service i do not recall ever feeling pressured to do so. >> in my time of service in interacting with the president of the united states or his administration, i have never been pressured. i have never felt pressure to intervene or interfere in any way. >> but the two intel leaders would not go further. repeatedly stonewalling the committee on questions of whether the reported conversations with the president happened or what was said. >> you realize how simple it would simply be to say, no that never happened. >> i think conversations between the president and myself are, for the most part -- >> you seem to apply that standard selectively. >>

the director of national intelligence dan coats.earlier with republican senator john barrasso. the defence chiefs in their testimony this morning i saying two senators they do not want to play effectively whether president trump suggested that they should get the fbi investigation into links with russia dropped. should they not be telling the american public that? the american public want to know, we're going to have the former fbi directorjames comey testifying tomorrow. it is a bipartisan panel asking the questions, republicans and democrats alike want the answer is that the american people want as well. we want to make sure the country is safe and secure and strong and if we cannot get answers we re strong and if we cannot get answers were not going to feel as safe and secure as we would like. are you concerned by the press report that the president tried to influence some of his intelligence chiefs including directorjames comey and put pressure on them to get investigations dropped? we're going to hear from james comey tomorrow

the statute requires annual certifications by the attorney general and by the director of national intelligence regarding the categories of foreign intelligence that the intelligence community will acquire under this authority. second, the statute requires targeting procedures that set forth the rules by which the intelligence community ensures that only foreign persons abroad are targeted for collection. thirdly, the statute requires minimization procedures protecting u.s. persons' information that may be incidentally acquired while targeting foreign persons and finally, each year the fisa court reviews this entire package of material to make sure the government's program is consistent with both the statute and with the fourth amendment of the constitution. we have publicly released lightly redacted versions of all these documents including the most recent opinion to ensure the public has a good understanding of how we use this authority. the government section 702 program as we have said, is subject to rigorous and frequent oversight by all three branches of government. the first line of over

the director of national intelligence said he would be more than willing to answer all questions in a closed session. >>> it could be weeks before the senate committee considers the fbi nominee. christopher wray was a top ranking official under george w. bush. senate republicans and even some democrats praised wray's nomination. >> overseas right now because today is a big day, election day in britain. the polls open right now. this is a live picture and voters are electing some 650 members of parliament. the election is seen as a referendum on the current prime minister, theresa may. and it's an unusual sight there at that particular polling place. nice to have elmo out there. so theresa may is promising to crack down on extremism if her conservative party wins big. the lawmakers who win today will play a role in negotiating britain's exit from the eu. i'm sure elmo will get a few votes. >> come vote. >> thumb's up. >>> now let's take a look at your weather. check out this cell phone video of a tornado from a man in north dakota. he says he was about 100 yards away from the twister.

did the president then turn to director of national intelligence, dan coats to sway him as well. n post" reported. >> i have never been pressured. never felt pressure to, to intervene or interfere in any way and shape, with shaping intelligence and in a political way or, or in relationship. on going investigation. >> law makers then pressing further. asking not whether they felt pressured, but simply did the president ask them to intervene? >> we have press reports of not once, but twice, that the president of the united states asked you to either downplay the russian investigation or to directly intervene with, director comey. can you set the record straight about what happened or didn't happen? >> confidential conversations between the president and myself, i don't believe it's appropriate for me to address that in a public session. >> other conversations. not about flynn, this time about possible collusion with the russians. did the president try to get coats and nsa director mike rogers to publicly deny there was any evidence of trump campaign officials clueding with russians.

cnn that mueller's investigators will talk to intelligence chiefs about alleged attempts by the president to quash the fbi investigation into former national security adviser, michael flynn. behind closed doors today, the senate intelligence committee heard from director of national intelligence, dan coats, who refused to say publicly last week if the president pressured him on the russia investigation. the intel panel won't look into the obstruction question, but the senate judiciary committee chairman is not ruling out an obstruction probe. the harsh comments on the investigation come just a day after the president appealed for unity, following the shooting attack on a republican congressional baseball practice that badly wounded congressman steve scalise and a lobbyist. the charity game between republicans and democrats will go ahead, as scheduled, tonight. and the white house is picking up where the president left off, calling ate chance for a great moment of unity. i'll talk to democratic senator, chris coons, of the judiciary and foreign relations committees. and our correspondents and special guests, they're all standing by with ful

sources tell the post that the current heads of national intelligence and the national security agencyre meeting with robert mueller next week. the report says investigators have been looking into possible financial crimes committed by trump associates. meanwhile lawmakers on capitol hill have voted overwhelmingly to curtail president trump's power to ease up on sanctions on russia. senators voted to take the sanctions imposed by the obama administration and write them into law. congress would have a say should president trump try intended to be a punishment for russia's attempts to interfere with the 2016 u.s. elections. >> ♪ >>> 12 members of the turkey's president's security detail are facing charges here in the u.s. they are accused of attacking protesters outside of the ambassador's residence when he visit last month. police say arrest warrants have been issued. all suspects are pleased to be in turkey and are now wanted in the utz. >> happening today in montgomery county judge is set to here arguments in overturning lee boyd malvo's life sentences. malvo was convicted of capitol

the senate intelligence committee with key leaders from the community, from the director of national intelligencelligence agencies, as well as the director of the national security agency. they're in charge of signal collection, as well as the acting fbi director mr. mccabe and all the deputy attorney general ron rosenstein. what we did not hear in 3.5 hours is that they had personally been pressured by president trump to in any way interfere with the russia case or to blunt any avenue of investigation. it got really contentious though, harris, because democrats kept pressing the director of national intelligence, as well as the nsa director to talk about whether they had conversations with president trump about this issue or whether they had been contacted by individuals in the white house about ways to influence the russia probe. this was really in response to media reports that were to that effect. and the men said we simply cannot get into that detail, but we stand by our public statements that we were not, as admiral pro-skwrers said, pressured to do anything they felt was illegal, immoral o

th i na guy who's running the national intelligence service >> yeah, it is a heavy declaration.of the combination of the comey's system and then what president trump may do and that's what jeremy, i want to ask you if you for saw -- can you foresee any wild cards that could possibly come up over the next 24 hours. this nomination of christopher wray, a smart republican operative told me it is almost as if president trump is becoming predictable. he's just distracting everyone with a pick that people don't know much about on a huge news day that otherwise, would be sucked up by talk of this upcoming testimony. can you see any potential wild cards over the next 24 hours? >> no, i cannot. tomorrow is going to play out as followed. it is a one question hearing. what did the president say to you? every other president is a branch of sequel of that. did he ask for a loyalty pledge, what else did you hear of your performance. he's going to stick to the fact. he's not going to make a legal assessment of obstruction of justice. he ev-- he need to invite other to figure out the president'

the could be some issues today with his director of national intelligence who testified before a senate committee. washington post reporting that coats told associates present help -- helped him temperature down investigations into mike flynn and possible connections russia. >> i want to know more about -- >> reporter: republicans will -- will press the issue of leaks. who in the obama administration who may have fed the media about possible links to russia. and then jeff sessions. a long time trump loyalist abc news reports he spoke of resigning. the president said to be furious that sessions refused to recuse himself from the russian probe. sean spicer says -- wouldn't say if the president still has confidence in sessions. >> does have confidence in his attorney general? >> i have not had a discussion with him on the question. i tend not to speak about it if i haven't spoken to him about it. >> reporter: it's never a good sign of your cabinet official won't say whether the president has confidence in you. it's kind of a surprising answer yesterday. back to you. >> thank you very much.

washington post report out today claimed that president trump asked director of national e national intelligence to convince then comey to back off his investigation into national security adviser general flynn, that report in post, unfortunately for dem's favorite activist newspaper was knocked down and rebutted in early minutes of the hearing by the very officials named in the post article, the dems were down cast as nation's top intelligence officials today agreed that they never felt pressured by the trump administration to intervene an investigation on possible russian collusion with the trump campaign. >> to the best of my recollection, i have never been directed to do anything i believe to be illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate. >> i never felt pressure to intervene, or interfere in anyway in shaping intelligence in a political way. lou: acting fbi director andrew mccabe stood by his testimony in may there has been no effort by the white house to impede the russia investigation. >> and you would characterize your quote, no effort to impede the russian investigation as still accur

o thank our witnesses today, director of national intelligence, dan coats, dan welcome back to your family here in the united states senate. department of justice deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. director of national security agency, admiral mike rogers. and acting director of the federal bureau of investigation, andrew mccabe. welcome to all four of you. i appreciate you coming today to discuss one of our most critical and publicly debated foreign intelligence tools. title vii of the foreign intelligence surveillance act, common known as fisa, is set to expire on december 31st, 2017. title vii includes several includes tools, including section 702. it provides the capability to target foreigners who are located outside the united states, but whose foreign communications happen to be routed to and acquired inside the united states. second 702 collection is exceptionally critical to protecting americans both alt ho -- at home and abroad. it's integral to terrorist threats, leadership plans, intentions, counterproliferation, counterintelligence and many other issues that affect us. it

two of them, the director of the nsa and dan coats, former senator, the director of national intelligence really angered democrats on the committee by refusing to answer questions on whether the president asked them to intervene in the russia investigation. this was truly interesting to watch. they were angry. burr, the chairman, kind offed a monished them in his closing statement today. what was their responsibility coming up there as someone pointed out, i think it was steve schmidt, they work for us, afterall? >> i think a lot of senators were frustrated they didn't get more extensive answers from these officials. they were somewhat cagey in the minds of both democrats and republicans. and law makers i've spoken with wonder why. if executive privilege was not invoked by the administration, why are they so reluctant? and most law makers suspect, not always based on much evidence, but they suspect there's an atmosphere of being cagey in conversations with the president annot leing it allpill out in a congressional testimony but that irks the senators. >> and i'll show you why john mccain

the understand from director of national intelligence, coats, why the intelligence community cannot produce that is because of by regulation, the intelligence community is prohibited from gathering intelligence against domestic targets like american citizens without a court order and showing of probable cause that some crime has been committed. it strikes me as not intentionally unfair, but in sense the design and structure of the intelligence oversight and regularity or a framework to then ask you to produce the names of americans incidentally collected against when the whole law is designed to liimit if not prohibit that action absence a court order. i the intelligence committee, know senator wyden has been an ardent advocate of producing a number. if it were possible, which i agree under the circumstances is not possible to come up with a reliable number, but i think it would add fuel to the flame of the conspiracy theorists nothing our intelligence community is doing -- that think our intelligence community is doing something that is prohibited of doing, observing american citizens with

the director of national intelligence dan coats, the director of the national security agency, admiral mike rogers, deputy attorney general rod rosen tine and acting fbi director andrew mccabe. the hearing was supposed to be about the foreign intelligence surveillance act but instead focused on the russia investigation extensively. the back and forth was very, very contentious at times with some of the senators bristling over the refusal of witnesses to answer direct questions pertaining to influence and pressure from the white house. here are some of the highlights from today's senate hearing starting with admiral mike rogers responding to a question about whether he had been pressured by the white house to intervene in the russia investigation. >> to the best of my recollection, i have never been directed to do anything i believe to be illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate. >> for intelligence-related matters or any other matters that have been discussed, it is my belief that it's inappropriate for me to share that with the public. have i never been pressured. i have never fel

today was president trump's national security team that appeared before the senate intelligence committee. both the directors of the national security agency and the national intelligence agency refused to confirm reports the president asked them to back off of the fbi investigation of flynn. >> what is the legal basis for your refusal to testify to this committee? >> i'm not sure i have a legal basis but i am more than willing to sit before this committee and during this investigative process, in a closed session. >> while they refused to answer yes or no to the question of did the president ask them to quell the investigation, both directors volunteered that they anything inappropriate. >>> president trump announced his pick to replace james comey this morning on twittedder. he is former justice department official christopher wray. the president called him a man of impeccable credentials and some democrats are questioning the timing of the announcement. >> clearly, this is an effort by the president to try to distract attention from our hearings today. and our hearings tomorrow. >> rep

one key moment early in the hearing the ranking democrat mark warner asking the director of national intelligence and the head of the national security agency, did the president of the united states ask you to either dismiss publicly or interfere with the fbi director james comey and get him to back off his investigation. listen. >> i have never been directed to do anything i believed to be illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate. and to the best of my recollection, during that same period of service, i do not recall ever feeling pressured to do so. >> i have never been pressured, i have never felt pressure to intervenor interfere in any way and shape with shaping intelligence in a political way or in relationship to an ongoing investigation. >> the great group on hand. we'll introduce them. jeffrey toobin, let me start with you. on the one hand, if you're the trump white house you print those answers and say see, they were never pressured by the president. they were repeatedly subsequent to that were you ever asked by the president. did the president ever ask you to do anything. they refuse

back in january while testifying before congress, the former director of national intelligence -- james clapper, he said that russian election interference did not have any impact of actual vote tallies. watch him. >> they did not change any vote tallies or anything of that sort. we have no way of gauging the impact that certainly the intelligence community can't gauge the impact it had on choices in the electorate made. >> sean: james call me and the current director of the nsa have also said the same thing. on top of that, we also have the former director of national intelligence james clapper and several prominent democrats admitting -- we played this before -- no smoking gun that they have seen. no evidence whatsoever. in spite of thousands of hours of black helicopter tinfoil hat conspiracy coverage of russian collusion. the democrats and security intelligence agencies tell you directly. >> have you seen anything that suggests any collusion between the russians and the term campaign? >> there's an awful lot of smoke there, let's put it that way. people that might have said they wer

. >> the director of national intelligence, the nsa director, and the acting fbi director testified at a senate hearing on the foreign intelligence surveillance act. that law is set to expire in december. in addition to answering questions, senators brought up news reports about the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. the hearing is two-and-a-half hours. >> i call this hearing to order. i would like to thank our witnesses today, director of national intelligence dan coats, welcome back to your family here in the united states senate. department of justice deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. director of national security rogers, andral mike acting director of the federal bureau of investigation, andrew mccabe, welcome. i appreciate you coming to discuss one of our most critical and publicly debated foreign intelligence tools. title vii of the foreign intelligence surveillance act, commonly known as fisa, is set to expire on december 31, 2017. title vii includes several crucial foreign intelligence collection tools, including one known primarily as section 7

the director of national intelligence, the acting director of the fbi, and others will be involved in this hearing. you can watch that on c-span at 3:00. we have an op-ed about the hearing and also the foreign intelligence surveillance act. it reads that the most important part of the act allows the federal government to scrutinize under specific conditions information about persons in four countries who happen to use american medication services and internet technology. congress created the authority to address an intelligence originatedgap in the years after fisa became law in 1978. the gap allowed foreign terrorists to benefit from the legal protections enjoyed by american citizens. a republican representative of arkansas proposed a bill to permanently reauthorized section 702 without modification. the trump administration supports his bill without condition. that foreign intelligence surveillance act hearing will be at 10:00 a.m. today on c-span, c-span3, and on the c-span radio app. thursday, people will be watching james comey testified in front of that hearing. a lot of network

democratic senators were pushing these intelligence officials to get them to give an answer to one very specific question, but they never got what they were looking for. the nation'sop intelligence officials today refusing to provide details of their conversations with the president. >> i do not feel it's appropriate for me to in a public session in which confidential conversations between the president and the myself, i don't believe it's appropriate for me to address that in a public session. >> not answering a barrage of questions about whether president trump tried to interfere into the investigation of russian meddling. >> if any of this is true, it would be an appalling and improper use of our intelligence professionals. an act if true that could erode the public's trust in our intelligence institutions. >> reporter: director of the national security agency only offering this broad claim. >> i have never been directed to do anything i believe to be illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate, and to the best of my recollection during that same period of service i do not recall ever feeling pressured to do so. >> but as hearing went on, frustration from both

the statute requires annual certifications by the attorney general and by the director of national intelligence regarding the categories of foreign intelligence that the intelligence community will acquire under this authority. second, the statute requires targeting procedures that set forth rules by which the intelligence community insures that only foreign persons abroad are targeted for collection. thirdly, the statute requires minimization procedures, protecting u.s. persons' information that may be incidentally acquired while targeting foreign persons. and finally, each year, the fisa court reviews this entire package of material to make sure the government's program is consistent with both the statute and with the 4th amendment of the constitution. we have publicly released slightly redacted versions of all these documents, including the most recent fisk opinion to insure the public has a good understanding of how we use this authority. the government section 702 program as we have said is subject to rigorous and frequent oversight by all three branches of government. the first line of ov