of flynn and anybody else around the president, but to the unmasking, and he subpoenas obama administration officials about that. now this raises huge questions not just about nunez and his impartiality but what it means for this investigation. all this as president trump is telling us that he's going to make a major announcement in just hours on the paris climate accord. the speculation is that he's going to pull the plug. we have it all covered. let's begin with cnn joe johns live at the white house. joe? >> reporter: good morning, chris. this has the potential to be extraordinary even explosive testimony on capitol hill, the former fbi director james comey in his own words talking about the conversations he had with the president of the united states and the memos he wrote about those conversationsing. meanwhile the white house this morning showing signs of hunkering down referring all questions about the russia investigation to the president's lawyer. fired fbi director james comey now ready to tell his side of the story. first getting a legal green light from special counsel robert mueller, his

obama administration issued statement in early october on russian meddling? he spent weeks calling the election rigged. but keep in mind another former senior obama administration officiald the washington post that he felt like his administration, the obama administration, had choked in its response to russia. james? jamie: all right, kristin fisher, live on the north lawn. thank you. arthel: president trump attacks his predecessor, the white house has also been lobbying against a bipartisan senate bill placing a new round of sanctions on russia. the senate just passed that bill even though mr. trump argues part of it steps on his power as president. allison barber has more now from washington. allison? >> reporter: congress is considering imposing sanctions on russia in response to alleged meddling in the 2016 election, and as they do that, lawmakers are talking about a report from "the washington post" claiming the obama administration knew about the meddling months before americans headed to the polls. representative eric swalwell, a democrat from california, told the publication "the hill" the obama administration's response to russian meddling was inadequate in the

believe he'll have to see the handwriting on the wall and sign it. >> a former senior obama administration officialhe washington post, i'll read it to you, it is the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend. i feel like we sort of choked. obama administration failed to take the necessary retaliatory actions last summer immediately upon hearing of putin's role in all of this against the russians. do you think that was a blunder on the part of the obama administration? >> hindsight is always 20/20, but we should never govern from the rearview mirror. they should learn from the possible mistakes. they had a tough judgment call to make because they wanted to avoid possibly influencing the election outcome by simply raising the issue. and i think what needs to be learned is much more important from this unprecedented audacious, absolutely unknown previously act of war on the united states that we need to make the russians pay a price going forward. and whether it was right or not, we need to learn from it. >> your committee, the senate judiciary committee as you know, has now requested

he stepping up the investigation into which former obama administration officials requested the unmasking of president trump campaign officials and classified reports which later got leaked to the press. they specifically name susan rice, john brennan, and susan power. none is formally accused of any wrongdoing. president trump tweeted this morning, the big story is the unmasking and surveillance of people that took place during the obama administration. while a student soon to tell where this is going, it's too soon the >> if you go further and you unmask and you show that to people who don't have clearances or don't have a need to know, for whatever reason, political or whatever, you've done a very bad and dangerous thing. >> harris: why is it dangerous? >> pete: because reporting sources at risk. we were taking classified information and broadcasting into the world. the president is absolutely right here. it feels like the unmasking and the sharing and the leaking of intelligence is the real scandal here, not at all any sort of collusion between russia and president trump. democrats ar

the quote that kristin fisher was talking about, a senior administration official who was familiar with what was going on an anonymous senior obama administration official quoted the story, offered this brutele quote, it's the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend. this person says, i feel like we sort of choked. well, no kidding! >> yeah, but we sort of choked? they choked the whole time with russia and the stupid reset from the beginning. you look at putin, it's about old school deterrents and things you cannot do. leland: and backing it up. >> and a piece in the examiner yesterday talked about specific incidents, not just about the syrian redline, but mh-17 they shot down a passenger airline with europeans and then obama went late to the outside rose garden comments he made about it and let the russian intelligence thwarted rebels and russians with them walk around drunk around. and what does that say about president putin, sets up this track record. leland: this brings up an important question, what does president trump do about rush russia. they're not stopping. we have pictures from the u.s. air force,

. >> reporter: in this washington post report, a former senior obama administration official said thateel like we sort of choked in our response to russia. and president trump clearly seems to agree. listen to what he said in an interview with our pete leg earth. >> the cia gave him information on russia a long time before they even, you know, before the election. and i hardly see it. it's an amazing thing. to me, you know -- in other words the question is, if he had the information, why didn't he do something about it? he should have done something about it. but you don't read that. it's quite sad. >> reporter: according to the post, back in august -- so three months before the election -- president obama received a highly classified cia report with evidence of russian president vladimir putin's direct involvement in these cyber attacks. over the next five months, the obama administration reportedly went back and forth about what to do, how to respond. in the end, they settled on sanctions and a covert cyber attack which the next administration would be ultimately responsible for carr

the weekend, seizing on a stunning "washington post" report that quotes a former senior obama administration official. that unnamed official telling the "post," "we short of choked on blocking russia's efforts to influence the u.s. election." >> president trump tweeting over the weekend, saying, "since the obama administration was told way before the 2016 election that the russians were meddling, why no action? focus on them, not t." "t" for trump. ryan nobles with the president's tactic for claims of russian meddling. >> reporter: good morning. president trump spent a lot of time during the campaign and after his election attempting to downplay russia's role interv e intervening in the 2016 election. after the report in the "washington post" that details the obama administration's response that the intelligence community's assessment, he seems willing to admit russia's efforts as long as he can blame president obama for not doing enough. one former administration official concedes in the report that they could have and perhaps should have done more. on "state of the union," adam schiff, a democrat a

. >> the obama administration did take actions, though, to retaliate against russia. "the washington post" says some former sr. obama officialstrated that not more was done to punish moscow. >> president trump also tweeted about that, saying that obama official administration officials said they choked when it came to acting on russian meddling of election they didn't want to hurt hillary? >> a lot of officials think that that choked sentiment accurately reflects the views of many obama administration officials. other officials we spoke to thought that that did not take into account the complexities that the top officials who had access to all the intelligence had to make these very tough decisions. these are not black and white issues. when you weigh the pros and cons, you know, you end up potentially deciding to do less rather than more. so, you know, these are very complex issues that obama was dealing with at the end. and so, you know, we were trying in this piece in this article to explain those and lay them out so people could understand what was going on behind the scenes. >> i know you talked to current and former off

the obama administration officials were saying that the simple reason behind that the damage had alreadyeen done. and that president obama was very concerned about the political ramifications. that it would look as though he was helping hillary clinton in the election. now, it's also important to point out that president trump himself were very skeptical of the reports that russia was involved in the election. he pushed back on it a number of times as a candidate. and even after he was elected, he suggested that perhaps china may be partially responsible. he even said that the hack could have been accomplished by a 400-pound man in his bedroom. so, the idea now that the white house is finally acknowledging the fact that russia is involved in this, is something to keep in mind as you kick back and look at all of the criticism president trump has for president obama at this particular point. victor. >> ryan nobles at the white house. >> and now the white house correspondent, lynn sweet. and chicago sun-times, and page pate, thank you all for being with us. page, i want to ask you first and

subpoenas from the house intel committee deal with unmasking requests made by former obama administration officials. sources tell cnn that they were issued by chairman nunes who removed himself from the russia investigation in early april. live on capitol hill with more. it looks like devin nunes is back. >> he is back and this is a committee that can't agree on what they are investigating. this comes at a time when the house intelligence committee shared devin nunes back in the spotlight in the midst of this controversy raising questions about whether or not he has even truly sidelined himself from the russia investigation. >> the new dispute stems from seven new subpoenas issued by the house intelligence committee on wednesday. president trump's private attorney, michael cohen. they were approved by both parties for their russia meddling probe. but the three others were issued yun lat rattly without democratic approval. the wall street journal says those were issued to the fbi, cia and nsa for information about alleged unmasking by former obama administration officials seeking details about what

government issued subpoenas requesting information about unmasking requests made by former obama administration officials. can you talk about, is that type of request something that congress is usually have the authority to request without subpoenas or would he have had to issued a subpoena to get that information? >> that's an interesting question. i'll take that one and then your second. i didn't see the report but based on what you said, it doesn't strike me out of the ordinary, certainly, that the chairman of the house intelligence committee would have the ability and the relationship of the intelligence committee to obtain information about unmasking requests which, for everyone's purpose, the general rule is to mask or reject the name of a us person or identifying information about us persons who are part of intelligence reporting but you can request to understand the importance that the name be unmasked or identified. it's pretty routine for that to happen. it's a protective measure but in answer to your question it strikes me as unusual for there to be a subpoena for the information that you desc

>> kristen with these new revelations, how are former obama administration officials responding? >> well, some are saying it is simply not fair to look at their actions in 2016 and judge them based on what we now know in 2017. but others, like president obama's former deputy national security advisor ben rose, are placing the blame back on president trump. he posted on twitter quote what did president trump say when the obama administration issued statements in early october on russia meddling? he spent weeks calling the election rigged. but keep in mind, another former senior obama administration official was quoted in that washington post report as saying that i feel like we sort of choked in our response to russia. kelly? pretty stunning admission. >> it is indeed. kristen fisher reporting live from the white house. kristen, thank you. you can hear more from that exclusive interview with president trump tomorrow on fox and friends. pete explores a wide range of issues with him, including his support of veterans. >> when you rode down that escalator in trump tower it was the fir

short time ago since the obama administration was told way before the 2016 election that the russians were meddling, why no action? focus on them, not t. obama administration officials said they choked when it came to acting on russian meddling of the election. why didn't they want to hurt hillary? now, the washington post reports the cia told president obama back in august that moscow was interfering in the election and that vladimir putin had directly ordered the kinder campaign specifically to hurt hillary clinton and to help trump. the public wouldn't learn about russia's role until two months later in october and it wasn't until december that we learned about russia's exact goals. now the timing does raise valid questions about whether president obama did enough to stop russian interference, but it also raises questions about what the current president has done since taking office to keep it from happening again. we want to talk to cnn global affairs analyst kim doeger. kim, you just saw the president even today continuing to defend his election victory against charges that the russians may have influenced it. does this new washington post report actually suppo

officials say russia was behind the hack. and then president trump sent out tweets this weekend that appear to acknowledge russian meddling. since the obama administration was told way before the 2016 the russians were meddling why no action? focus on them. there was this tweet, obama administration officials say they choked when it came to russian meddling during the elections. they didn't want to hurt hillary? >>> and then staying true to her reputation as more of a home body than a social butterfly. she is settling in their 11-year-old son, barron. she told fox news he loves living in d.c., and she doesn >>> talk about weather today. looks like not just today, but we are really in for a fantastic stretch. >> i mean, really through much of the week we are -- >> boring. >> i know, boring. >> boring! >> come on. >> yeah, we do have a few chances for rain showers on tuesday possibly, and then we will have to watch as we get into friday and the weekend, so if you have weekend plans next weekend, we are heating things up and it will be typical d.c. weather. 79 degrees, climbing quickly. 80s for daytime highs today with low humidity, but a nice pool day. a

obama administration officials had said near the end of the campaign in early october, this was done at the orders of the highest level of the russian government. they didn't specifically say putin personally. this is the first time there has not been released, according to "the washington post," intelligence specifically saying putin ordered it. he wanted trump elected. he wanted to damage hillary clinton whom he supposedly hated. do you want to just comment on that? >> yes. i think that this demanded the president to deliver an evening address behind the resolute desk before the election to lay out what a foreign adversary was trying to do so that americans could have gone to the polls understanding that the fake news that was being disseminated, the social media trolls and the peddling of the hacked democratic e-mails was done by a foreign adversary with a purpose in mind. to elect a preferred candidate and tear down someone they despised. >> why didn't president obama do that? why was he silent? "the washington post" is reporting that he just assumed hillary clinton, according to

issued by the house intel committee seek information about unmasking requests made by obama administration officials. those subpoenas came from chairman devon nunez who supposedly stepped aside from this russian investigation. suzanne malveaux is live on capitol hill with more. how does that work? >> reporter: that's the question, really, because the house intelligence chairman devon nunez at the center of yet another controversy and raising some serious questions about whether or not he has truly sidelined himself from this russian investigation. the new dispute stems from seven new subpoenas issued by the house intelligence committee on wednesday. four seeking testimony and documents from former national security adviser michael flynn and president trump's private attorney michael cohen. they were approved by both parties for their russia meddling probe. but the three others were issued unilateral by chairman devon nunez without democratic approval. the "wall street journal" says those subpoenas were issued to the fbi, cia and nsa for information about alleged unmasking by former obama administrat

also russian election meddling and this stunning statement from an obama administration official. i feel like we sort of choked. what we now know about what the obama white house knew. joining me are sinidated call n columnist. welcome to sunday. it's meet the press 3467. >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, celebrating its 70in'th year, this is meet the press. >>> this was a week that brought into more focus the hardening of our political cultures. one left, one blue, one right, one to the russia investigation and even to the shooting at that republican baseball practice, americans watched their favorite cable channels, and spoke and listened primarily to those that agreed with them. polls 38% gave president trump a positive rating. 38% believe the economy has approved. 38% believe obalm care is a bad idea. do you know notice a partner? that 38% largely packed. it's just another data point that illustrates these days to many voters it may be less satisfying to win than to see other the side lose. >> i'll tell you about the democrats. i am

state sponsors of terrorism, the obama administration and congress both side there need to be travel restrictions from these countries. the former obama administration officials saying we can't vet people from syria. the attorney general sessions says there are 300 refugees under suspicion from the fbi of terrorist-related activities. so, i think when you take all of that into account, it is crazy not to support the ban, or the pause, whatever you want to call it. it doesn't matter. eric: i'm going to give one more second. juan. this 90 days would have already been up if they'd let it go through by now. >> yeah, well, that's what i say. i don't get it, you've had this time. even if your point is correct, eric, you know the 9th circuit say, wait, hold on. they can go ahead with the review and not make changes. the key point here to me is stop the terrorists, but i don't see it. >> we all agree on that one, >> we all agree on that one, ♪(banjo) ♪ooooh ♪i hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow♪ ♪and each road leads you where you want to go♪ ♪and if you're faced with a choice and you have to choose♪ ♪i hope you choose the one that means the most to you

obama administration was told that the russians were meddling, why no action? focus on them, not he. he went on to say that the obama administration officials said they choked when it came to the russian meddling. they didn't want to hurt hillary? and "the post" report details what actions president obama did take and how they wrestled with various options for retaliation. michelle kosinski has the details. >> reporter: a bombshell report. starkly laying out the u.s. intelligence community's taste for russia's meddling in the 2016 election and it was directly ordered by vladimir putin. "the washington post" detailing that intelligence sources had captured putin's own instruction to disrupt and discredit the presidential race. with the goal of defeating or hurting hillary clinton and helping donald trump. the cia delivered it by courier to president obama in august. "the post" says that it revealed the frustration, now among some of them that more was not done to punish russia. quoting one it's the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend. i feel like we sort of choked. they say the administration was worried about appearin

. >> reporter: tresvina is a former obama administration official. he says the key tomorrow is to watch for lawmakers on both sides to ask the questions that are on the minds of the american people. >> both sides asking the questions that need to be asked and then the testimony will literally be surprise after surprise because nobody has been in that room with the president himself. that's what we're going to hear tomorrow. >>> one more detail in comey's statement. he noted that the president himself was not a target of the fbi investigation. the president's lawyer today said trump is pleased that that has now been publicly confirmed for the first time. in the newsroom, joe vasquez, kpix5. >>> a few bars in san francisco are going to be opening up early for viewing parties believe it or not. aces in hill and gino and carlo north beach. just a couple they will open at 6:00 a.m. clooney's in the mission will be opening at 7:00. cbs news will begin tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. sharp you can watch it right here on kpix5. >>> today north korea tested mor

he now issued subpoenas for three obama administration officials -- no, for information about three obama administration officials to the intelligence agencies about unmasking. what does that have to do with the russia investigation? >> that's a great question. and devin nunes could probably answer it more clearly than anybody else, but good luck getting that information from him, right? i mean, if -- look, the strategy has been to pivot immediately when the investigations first began or the questions began to be raised in public to say, well, the problem is not anything we might have done with or without the russians. the problem is that people in the obama administration were tracking down and exposing some of the things that we might have done. and see, to a certain extent, i read it as purely political, sort of trying to sort of throw some smoke and sort of say, well, both sides were doing sort of shady things in the closing weeks of the campaign. >> i'm really interested in your take on this. do you think there are legitimate concerns amongst republicans that there was politically mo

became clear not only was russia intervening, but it was being directed at the >> former obama administration officials reportedly said they failed to act sooner because they didn't want to be seen as interfering in the election on the side of hillary clinton. >>> new at noon, it's official. c. anthony news is running for prince george's county executive. that had seat is currently held by baker. news announced he's running for maryland governor last week. he used -- news of this announcement comes just one day from the primary. the politician lost a race for county executive in 2002. >>> how long have you been waiting for this moment? first the scene is over and that means finally safe track is done. wusa9 is on the redline with the details on what's next. >> reporter: well if you listen carefully you might be able to hear that collective sigh of relief from everybody region. because yes they are finally over. they'll be the first to tell you there is still a long road. in fact i sat down with jack evans, the chairman of the metro board who says this is just the beginning. >> i use this phrase. he say

also, russian election meddling and this stunning statement from an obama administration official. i feel like we sort of choked. what we now know about what the obama white house knew and when it knew it. joining me for insight and analysis are syndicated columnist george will, helene cooper of the "new york times," nbc news's hall jackson and mark leibowitz. welcome to sunday. it's meet the press. >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history celebrating its 70th year. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good morning. this was a week that brought into no cuss more clearly than ever the hardening of political cultures. one left, right, blue, red, liberal and conservative. from the election in georgia to debate over health care to the shooting at the republican baseball practice. americans watched their favorite cable channels, clicked on top new s sites and spoke and listened to those who agreed with them. our poll bears it out this week. 38% gave president trump a positive rating. 38% believe the economy has improved and the president dese

unmasking requests from john brennan, from susan rice, and from samantha powers, three obama administration officials. the question here right now is were any of these unmasking requests, which are essentially unredacting names in classified intelligence reports, done for political purposes? obama administration officials have said absolutely not. devin nunes clearly thinks this is still an issue. so while the russia investigation doesn't technically involve him, there's another track, the devin nunes track, and that involves unmasking. >> that certainly includes him. the devin nunes track includes devin nunes and he's making himself heard loudly and clearly. phil mattingly, thank you. rick santorum is a former republican senator from pennsylvania and cnn political commentator. brian fallon's here, cnn political commentator. and page pate, legal attorney and analyst. i want to talk about executive privilege. "the new york times" questioned whether james comey will be allowed to testify, saying the president could try to invoke executive privilege here. would that apply, especially since the president

some to obama administration officials, you know, tied to this unmasking, and others to trump campaign members about ties to russia. what does this tell you? >> you know what -- >> politics, politics, politics. >> the dynamic we've seen every time we've had one of the public hearings from the committee. when the republican members of the committee get a chance to ask question or make statements what do they talk about? they talk about the leaks, focus on the leaks. when the democratic members get a chance to talk or make statements at the hearings they ask about russia, they ask about collusion, they ask about trump and ties and things like that. there are two different partisan agendas on this thing. devin nunes who was chairing the house committee out saying, the democrats are only doing this because they're trying to make excuses for losing the election and push the russia thing as an excuse for losing the election. i think that is in the subpoenas, you are seeing what we've been seeing in our politics for months now. >> midwin -- >> i would say republicans also i think are going to

and specifically this quote from one former obama administration official saying it's the hardest thing for them to defend in their time in the administration saying i feel like we sort of choked. do you believe the obama administration choked? >> absolutely not. when you look at and read the report, it conveys that president obama took actions, whether it be economic sanctions, the closing of russian offices, sending out russian diplomats and sending them back to russia, actions were taken. also conveyed in the report, boris, that the reason why he was mindful is he didn't want to seem like he was leaning toward one side and one party in that manner and people feeling like you're trying to tilt an election in that manner. so trying to be responsible and appropriate in leadership, which is exactly what we're not seeing from donald trump. when you have donald trump conveying in a tweet that nothing happened, well, one, we know that's just a lie. that just completely is not accurate. number two, donald trump and the trump administration has been conveying, well, they haven't been followin

scott, late last year, an obama administration official said that we would never expect russia to come out with their hands up. they don't do that. >> pelley: jeff pegues in the washington newsroom. jeff, thank you. cbs news has learned this evening that russian hackers are suspected of interfering with a news site in the gulf state of qatar, and they may have put out fake information. the f.b.i. is assisting in the investigation. meanwhile, qatar is at the center of a crisis. a number of arab nations have cut diplomat and i can commercial ties, and here's margaret brennan. >> reporter: president trump appeared to take credit for spark the diplomatic crisis. in a series of tweets, the president said his recent visit to saudi arabia was "paying off," as the kingdom and nine other countries severed relations with qatar for allegedly funding radical ideology. but president made no mention of that last month when he met with the qatari emir. instead, offering to sell him weapons. >> lots of beautiful military equipment. >> reporter: during that trip, the president vowed to unify the muslim

think that that's sentiment -- the choked sentiment accurately reflects the views of many obama administration officialsother officials we spoke to thought that that did not take into account the complexities that the top officials who had access to all of the intelligence had to make these very tough decisions. these are not black and white issues and when you weigh the pros and cons, you know, you end up potentially deciding to do less rather than more. and so, you know, these are very complex issues that obama was dealing with at the end. and so, you know, we were trying in this piece and this article to explain those and lay them out so people can understand what was going on behind the scenes. >> and your article came right after we heard from former homeland security secretary jeh johnson who testified before the house intelligence committee this week he believes putin is still undeterred. listen. >> i think we have to assume for all the reasons that have been discussed here that the russians will be back and possibly other state actors and possibly other bad cyber actors. >> so we know in decembe

about it. >> jose to you, it appears the president is blaming the obama administration for not having done more. one administration official is quoted in that article as saying we choked, they dropped the ball and didn't do enough to get back at vladimir putin for orchestrating this meddling. do you think the obama administration choked? >> look, i think we have to be fair here and the former administration. they didn't have all the answers, all the information, and like you reported it was too late. i think part of this whole thing, we have to be careful. it can undermine our democracy. we have to be to get to the bottom of the investigation. it's taking over washington and the country, scandal after scandal. the president of the united states, donald trump, is on sesed with this investigation, which is why you see him tweeting day after day auking about it. my question to the president is simple. did the russians interfere? yes or no. first he blamed it on the democrats, it was a witch-hunt-now he's blaming it on the former president. which is it? i have the utmost respect for the special counsel. they have an outstandin

. >> the post quoted a former senior barack obama administration official as saying that i feel like we sort of choked in our response to russia. at the white house, christian fisher, fox news. >> democrats ready for new leadership say it is time for nancy pelosi to step down. the president says he wants her to stay right where she is crediting it. pelosi's recent remarks is the reason for a change. >> master legislature. i am a politically astute leader. i am a -- my leadership is recognized by many around the country. >> i hope she does not step down. i think that it would be a very, very sad day for republicans if she steps down. >> contenders to replace her include hoyer and clyburn. >>> lee held a forum including a leader, allison, the newly elected deputy chair. she told the crowd that it is for democrats to try to unseat republicans in california's congressional districts. [indiscernible] >> she said the rest of theination looks to california for political leadership and she predicted the road for victory starts here in california. >>> -- the nation looks to california for pol

administration officials look back on the russia period with remorse. it is the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend, said a former senior obama administrationfficial. i feel like we sort of choked. joining us, adam, one of the authors of this report. good morning. good morning. host: tell us about the options discussed before coming to the conclusion, the decision they did on a response. they weighed more extreme versions of sanctions, attacking sectors of the russian economy. they looked at doing things that would be more provocative. they look at this in the context of needing to do it after the election because they believe if they did it before the election, it would be perceived as an attempt by the white house to help hillary clinton win. they were concerned vladimir putin would decide to tamper with vote tallies, voter machines on or before election day. they looked at the sanctions after the election and decided going with sector-wide sanctions did not make sense because the consequences would reverberate on american companies. on a narrow set of sanctions that were symbolic by administration officials' own accounts. people in the a

scott, late last year, an obama administration official said that we would never expect russia to come out with their hands up-- they don't do that. >> pelley: jeff pegues in the washington newsroom. jeff, thank you. cbs news has learned this evening that russian hackers are suspected of interfering with a news site in the gulf state of qatar. and they may have put out fake information. the f.b.i. is assisting in the investigation. meanwhile, qatar is at the center of a crisis. a number of arab nations have cut diplomatic and commercial ties, and here's margaret brennan. >> reporter: president trump appeared to take credit for sparking the diplomatic crisis. in a series of tweets, the president said his recent visit to saudi arabia was "paying off," as the kingdom and nine other countries severed relations with qatar for allegedly funding radical ideology. but president made no mention of that last month when he met with the qatari emir, instead, offering to sell him weapons. >> lots of beautiful military equipment. >> reporter: during that trip, the president vowed to unify the muslim

a senior obama administration official says the obama administration choked in its response to the russian to interfere in the election. this is something that the president is seizing on. democrats are coming out and agreeing. they are agreeing that obama didn't get it right. here are just three in the past day. >> i think the obama administration should have done a lot more. >> i think they should have announced earlier that this was going on. >> by keeping quiet, i think president obama allowed the russians to pursue their goal. it's very disappointing. >> does having top democrats agree with him, strengthen the president's hand, chris? >> in this tribal world of politics, erin, probably not. and i think donald -- although it should, frankly. i think donald trump often on twitter does much more harm than good with the words he chooses. so the collusion, obviously that's a word we've heard a lot about but no proof related to russia and donald trump. >> right. >> you know, he chooses these words on purpose because i think he is at heart a prova considka. there's a legitimate criticism her

fox news confirmed there are three others for the obama administration officials, susan rice from theector john brennan and samantha pour. what do -- power. what do you think it means in terms of the unmasking? >> unmasking is letting out who you have intercepted communications from even if it was an accident. for example, the cia or nsa can't basically randomly spy on americans but sometimes if you're spying on a russian, diplomat, you'll pick up a conversation with an american and then in the document that is are put together the name of the american is masked, blacked out in some face but then if you go further and you unmask and you show it to that to people who don't have clearances or don't have a need to know, you for whatever reason, political or whatever you've done a very bad and daughters-in-law thing from the point of classified information. dagen: as a diplomat what business does she have requesting the unmasking of individuals? how often did it happen? who were the trump officials, what was the justification of it in. >> those are all great questions. i don't know. i've

the committee specifically is looking into unmasking requests from three former obama administration officials, and samantha power. president trump tweeted today... they were also subpoenaed that had to do with the russian investigation but the surprise is these four and coming from devon nunez who i thought has taken a step back. >> kimberly: i think this is a huge story. i'm not sure why it hasn't gotten more coverage. i think it's very significant and should grab the attention of all americans in terms of a privacy grab and surveillance. one of the basic things that we hold near to our hearts and deer in this country. we fought for our liberty, our freedoms, our privacy rights. i think it's important they conduct the investigation and really get to the bottom of this. it can be swept away with an inordinate amount of focus. >> juan: what you think, you have jim call me saying his testimony will come next thursday. you have this ongoing effort, it looks like this is the big story, jesse... >> jesse: i think democrats are going to regret these investigations because i think the russian thing

subpoenas have been sent out focusing on three former obama administration officials. >> bill: new reactionn hillary clinton's election loss. blame game as that continues. >> i think short of getting 5:00 shadow and wearing wing tips on the beach her transformation into full nixonian bitterness is complete. >> bill: opening bell on wall street went off a moment ago. traders keeping a close eye on a 3:00 announcement later today from president trump in the rose garden. he will announce whether or not the u.s. will remain in the paris climate accord. many world leaders, major corporations urging him to stay. others in the west wing say keep your campaign promise and get out. more on that coming up shortly here on "america's newsroom." >> shannon: big news today the house intelligence committee issuing subpoenas in the russia probe. michael flynn and president trump's lawyer michael kohn being called to testify. three major intelligence agencies also being subpoenaed. they are seeking documents from john brennan, susan rice and samantha power. those subpoenas related to allegations the obama a

"washington post" report, we know the obama administration was conflicted in how to act, and as we saw in the athena jones story, trump tweeted this, obama officials said they choked when it came to acting on russian meddling of election. they didn't want to hurt hillary? as i understand the "washington post" report, they were concerned, their administration, that it would look like they were helping hillary >> that's right. we have to remember how intensely partisan the entire climate was not only in washington but well beyond. so president obama and this is detailed very well in that "washington post" report that he was very concerned to the extent that he would make a statement, that it needed to be bipartisan. so he worked very hard to try and develop a bipartisan commitment, and he failed to get that, so he was very reluctant, i think, to speak out and make look like he was trying to influence the u.s. presidential elections. the idea that the meddling could come back on the presidency, you can understand why that would be the case. it was a toxic environment and difficult to understand how to deal with the situation. it's easy to look back n

that, definitely yes has gone rogue -- devin nunes has gone wrong on finding out which obama administration officialsere involved in the unmasking. great to talk to you. somebody on the committee to give us insight. joins us nowey from capitol hill. i'm sure you caught a little bit of what to billy house was saying, good to talk to you before you go to a vote. let me ask you about your frustration with the pace of this process. how do you and other democrats plan to accelerated? >> a lot of it is out of our control. all we could do try to use public pressure to keep the investigation going forward. i think we're back on track. i want to give kudos to mr. conway, he and mr. shiv are working well at today's hearing is one indication of that and do have a lot to do was were absolutely. are we behind, absolutely. investigations far too important because others do not want it to go forward. david: do were positive and democrats agree, at the very least, what they hope to investigate? rep. quigley: there were 4 elements agreed-upon on writing. the hacking into the election process, the authoritarian johnso

. >> the post also quoted a former senior obama administration official as saying that i feel like we sort of choked, in our response to rush a at the white house, kristin fisher, fox news. >>> coming up: use g mail? google will stop reading your emails, the details behind the major move. >> local program changing the lives of those living with autism and other challenges. how they're becomin become amazg assets to their community. >> plus, a vandal leaves graffiti all over the place, the images, though, have some people giggling, although police are not laughing. >> beginning later this year the company will no longer scan users g mail accounts for advertising purposes. >> but as fox's jennifer laymer tells us, many people didn't even know google was doing that if the first place. >> most of us know by now that pretty much anything we do on line is being watched. >> whether you have a facebook, an instagram, anything you post on there, it is not extremely prove. >> the google recently announced to it g mail users it would stop looking at their emails in an effort to target ads, led m

one thing in the article that the obama administration official says is that part of the reason thatts were stunted is because the president was worried about being perceived as having a political hand in the general election. he wanted to stay out of this. i'm not defending, but saying you can see the quandary that this puts the obama administration in. the trunk campaign for its part was also in the same exact position. no easy options here. >> leland: that's why they say it's the hardest job in the world to be president and make those decisions. the current president may not agree with you in terms of it not being a partisan issue. he tweeted out yesterday, the timing could have been coincidental, may not be. this is the president's tweet -- touche. >> but at the same time, president trump now knows that being the president, it is the hardest job in the world and there is no easy way to control what our adversaries around the world are doing. i think it took the obama administration a decent amount of time to realize the full effect of the russian operation, the russian campaign.

the committee is simply looking into unmasking requests from three former obama administration officialst tweeted today, quote, the big story is the unmasking and surveillance of people that took place during the obama administration. they were also subpoenas issued that had to do with the russian investigation, but the surprise is these four and coming from,r kimberly, devin nunez who i thought had taken a step back. it looks like he's still a player. >> i think this is a huge story. i'm not sure why it hasn't gotten more coverage to be honest because it's something i think was very significant that should be something that grabs the attention of all americans in terms of privacy grabs and surveillance which is one of the basic things that we hold near to our hearts was our liberty, freedom, privacy rights. here we've seen evidence that this suggestion actually has occurred. i think it's important they conduct the investigation and get to the bottom of this. it can't be just swept away with just an inordinate amount of focus on russian collusion. >> what do you think you have, jim comey