pamela brown, cnn, washington. >> pamela brown, thank you. >>> now, let's get more live from cnn's fred pleitgen. good to have you with us. what do we know about carter page and his interactions in russia? >> somebody who was very active here in russia. visited the country. he, himself, said several times in the past 26 years especially in reference to these new allegations that have come out. he said, look, every time he came here to russia he took great care not to reveal too much and say too much because he believed that everybody he was talking to may in some, way, shape or form may be providing information to the russian intelligence or russian services. part of the policy he had not just dealing with russian business people, but also dealing with the american side, as well. so, certainly, he is someone who always said he took great care. when he was in russia, as pam just mentioned, the u.s. intelligence services believe that maybe unknowingly he might have been used by russian intelligence services and then, of course, also by russian government officials, as well. certainly some

here now is cnn justice correspondent pamela brown. >> good morning, alison and dave. u.s. authorities have prepared charges to seek the arrest of wikileaks founder julian assange. the justice department probe of assange and wikileaks dates back to at least 2010 when the site first gained attention for posting thousands of files stolen by the former u.s. intelligence army analyst known as chelsea manning. prosecutors have struggled with whether the first amendment precluded the prosecution of assange. but now they believe they have found a way to move forward. during president obama's administration, attorney general eric holder and officials at the justice department determined that it would be difficult to bring charges against assange because wikileaks wasn't alone in publishing documents stolen by manning. several newspapers, including "the new york times" did as well. but the view began to change after investigators found what they believe was proof that wikileaks played an active role in helping edward snowden, the former nsa analyst disclose a massive cache of classi

joining me is mark preston, gloria borger and pamela brown. also philip mudd, jack kingston and michael moore, the former u.s. attorney for the middle district of georgia. good evening, everyone. pamela, we'll start with you for the news on this. the latest on the state of the russian investigation. and particularly general flynn. did he break the law in his dealings with russia while he was an adviser to the trump campaign. >> members of the house oversight committee say it's likely that he did break the law after reviewing classified documents today. after reviewing those documents they have seen no proof showing flynn received permission from the pentagon or state department for the foreign government payments he received from both russia and turkey and they say he didn't fully disclose the more than half a million dollars his firm was given for lobbying activities on behalf of turkey when he applied to reinstate his security clearance before he became the national security adviser. he didn't disclose the $45,000 he received from russia for

pamela brown, cnn, washington. >> pamela brown, thank you. >>> now let's go live to russia. cnn's fred pleitgen following the story live in the russian capital with this. what can you tell us to push forward on pam's reporting just about the interaction, the dealings that carter page had in that nation? >> reporter: he's essentially an adviser here especially to the russian oil and gas industry and has been trying to facilitate deals between the united states and russia. and this is actually for a fairly long period of time, more than a quarter century, he himself about 26 years that he's been coming here to russia, he's very well known especially in the oil and gas industry here in this country. it is, of course, very, very important, if not the most important industry here to russia. and certainly he has met with some top politicians, with some top oil and gas officials. he is certainly someone who is quite positive toward russia, has always been. also reflected, of course, in the speech that pamela was talking about there in 2016 in moscow university where he ripped into

let's go to pamela brown now. pamela you have new information, more on this investigation of michael flynn. what are you learning? >> yeah, wolf, we are learning top house republican says michael flynn likely broke the law after failing to disclose payments he received from foreign governments before he became president trump's national security adviser. >> tonight, new questions about whether president trump's former national security adviser broke the law over payments he received from russia and turkey. >> do you believe that michael flynn broke the law? >> you see, no information or no data to support the notion that general flynn complied with the law. >> revelation comes after leaders of the house oversight committee reviewed classified documents in a private briefing. speaking to reporters on capitol hill today they revealed they've seen no proof showing flynn of former top intelligence official received a mission from the pentagon or the state department for the foreign government payments he received. >> h

first, cnn's justice correspondent pamela brown has that. pamela. >> well don today a top house republican said michael flynn likely broke the law after failing to disclose payments he received from foreign governments before becoming president trump's national security advisor. now the revelation comes after leaders of the house oversight committee reviewed classified documents in a private briefing. speaking of reporters on capitol hill today, they revealed they've seen no proof showing flynn, a former top military intelligence official received permission from the pentagon or the state department for the foreign government payments. he received from both russia and turkey. and they say that he didn't fully disclose the more than half a million dollars his firm was given for lobbying activities. out of turkey when he applies to reinstate his security clearance or the $45,000 he received from russia for an rttv speaking engagement, money that chaffetz said flynn might have to pay back. the ranking democrat on the committee congressman cummin

. >> pamela brown, thanks so much for that report. >> our justice correspondent. let's move on now. other person. the jim jong-un regime is perhaps looking to -- >>> >> reporter: all u.s. military intelligence assets keeping their eyes on north korea through the weekend, at least, military satellites, u2 aircraft, looking for any signs that north korea may be preparing, may be ready to do that nuclear test and may actually do one. any signs of missile launches after the big parade in pyongyang a few days ago, those missiles headed back to their bases. they could be ready for launch and there's a third element here that the u.s. aircraft nrmt carrier the "carl vinson" is going to begin flight operations in the coming days, something the north koreans will see and will have to absorb and decide if they react to. all of this is interesting president trump continuing his high-level pressure on chinese president xi. president trump with a new tweet out earlier today saying china is very much the economic lifeline to -- if nothing is easy, if they want to solve the nockian problem, they w

pamela brown, stay with us. i want to go down with the time line of volinvolvement in russi. >> exactly what level he was at that is urn dispute. people actually worked there said he was not high up in the organization and how important he was in some of these deals. several years later, he's a witness under the russian spy. he's been reported talking about page calling him "an idiot." he's part of an fbi case with three other russian spies. then in 2016 while he was a trump adviser or named trump adviser paid a trip to moscow. that prompted the fbi to monitor him. that same month, he met with the russian ambassadors at the rnc convention which brings us of his time to the campaign and the spotlig spotlight. phil, knowing everything we know about carter page and everything from the fbi from having worked from both organizations. what do you make of this? does it surprise you that the russians would be interested in somebody like carter page, exact, you know power of the trump's orbit is questionable at best? >>

first to pamela brown with the cnn exclusive. breaking news on the russia investigation. pamela, you're learning that russia tried to use people who claim to be advising donald trump to infiltrate his campaign. >> that's right, wolf. we have learned fbi gathered intelligence last summer suggesting russian operatives were using trump advisers including carter page to infiltrate the trump campaign. according to multiple u.s. officials. the there were concerned in the bureau he may have been compromised by russian intelligence. this picture is how the russians tried to influence the 2016 election. not only through e-mail hacks and propaganda sometimes referred to as fake news but also to infiltrate the trump orbit and this led to an fbi investigation and to the coordination of trump's campaign associates and russians. these officials we have spoken to made clear they don't know whether page was aware the russians may have been using him because of the way russian spy services operate page could have unknowingly talked with russian agents. wolf? >> ka what is carter page sayin

pamela brown has been following this story. she is out front from washington. what more are you learning this evening? >> we learned the fbi gathered intelligence last summer that suggested russian operatives tried to use trump advisors to infiltrate the trump campaign. this is according to multiple u.s. officials. carter page critical speech of u.s. policy against russia back in july of last year at a prominent moscow university is part of what raised concerns that he may have been compromised by russian intelligence. this new information add to the emerging picture of how the russians tried to influence the 2016 u.s. election not only through e-mail hacks and propaganda, sometimes referred to as fake news but trying to infiltrate the trump orbit. the intelligence gathered led to there broader fbi investigation. the officials we spoke to made clear, they don't know whether page was aware the russians may have been using him because of the way russian spy services operate. page could have unknowingly talked with russian agents. >> what is page saying in respons

pamela brown, cnn, washington. >>> thanks. page told cnn earlier this month how he met the russian operative. that he denies he was actually giving him any valuable information. listen to this. >> i did not know he was a spy when i first met him, although eventually it came out. he never made any indication that he was trying to recruit me. it was all a casual conversation, exactly what i told my students at new york university. and no offer was made and there was no negotiation what was is over. i met at a conference at an ahsan society and at some point later within a month or so, i believe, several years ago, we had coffee once, had a slight conversation. i gave him a couple of my information from my lectures, some public research reports and that was tends of it. >> the former kgb spy is joining us now. so listening to what he was saying. help us understand the tactics for recruitment and would he be unknowingly as it has been characterized aware that he was trying to be recruited or that they were trying to gather informa

pamela brown broke the story. she joins us with details. explain what you know. >> we know, we're learning from our sources, u.s. officials familiar with the investigation that the fbi gathered intelligence last summer that suggested russian operatives y tried to use carter page and others to infiltrate the trump campaign. carter page's critical speech of u.s. policy against russia in july of 2016 at a prominent moscow university is one factor, is part of what raised concerns that he may have been compromised by russian intelligence. this new information adds to the emerging picture of how the russians tried to influence the 2016 u.s. election. not only through the e-mail hacks and propaganda referred to commonly as fake news but trying to infiltrate the trump orbit. the intelligence led to a broader fbi investigation that we heard from james comey into the coordination of trump's campaign associates and the russians. the officials we have been speaking with made it clear that they don't know whether page and perhaps the other advisors they

. >> pamela brown is joining us right now. >> this is according to multiple u.s. officials we

cnn's pamela brown has more. >> reporter: alisyn, british and other agencies intercepted communicationsith trump associates and russian officials and other russian individuals during the campaign and passed on the communications to the u.s. counterparts. this is according to u.s. and european sources. talking to myself and my colleague jim sciutto. it was captured on routine surveillance of russians and other officials. we know they were on the u.s. radar. this happened over the course of several months. the sources said that british and european intelligence agencies. including gchb and great britain were not targeting the trump team. they picked up the communications during incidental collection of monitoring the russian officials overseas. we healearned the fbi is using s during the probe. this information could be passed on to senators on capitol hill involved in the intelligence investigation right now. this is all classified. it would not necessarily be released publicly. it can be used part of the investigation. >> pamela, thank you for that reporting. let's bring back in our pan

we're joined by pamela brown. >> we've learned that u.s. authorities have prepared charges to seek the arrest of the wikileaks founder according to several u.s. officials familiar with this matter. the justice department probe dates back to 2010 when the site gained attention for posting files stolen. prosecutors over the years have struggled with whether the first amendment precluded the prosecution, but now they believe according to these officials they have found a way to move forward with the attorney general today was asked about the focus. >> we are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks. this is a matter that's gone beyond anything i'm aware of. we have professionals at the security business of the united states for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks and some of them are serious. yes, it is a priority. we've already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail. >> what's different now? why does this administration feel t

pamela brown broke the story with details. >> we have learned that the fisher has gathered intelligence, that suggested russian operatives were trying to use trump advisors, including carter page to infiltrate the donald trump campaign and have influence within the campaign, this is according to multiple -- critical speech of u.s. policy against russia in july of 2016, at a promise -- this new information, we're learning, adds to this emerging picture, anderson, of how the russians tried to influence the 2016 electi election, not only through email hags but also through fake news. now the intelligence that was gathered last year--these officials made it clear that they don't know whether page or the other advisers were aware that the russians may have been using them because of the way russian spy services operate, page for one could have unknowingly talked with russian agents. >> so what's carter page saying about all this. >> we reached out to him today, he disputed the idea that he's ever collected intelligence for the russians, saying that he actually helped the u.s. intelligence co

. >> cnn justice correspondent pamela brown has details for us this morning. >> reporter: we've learned the fbi gathered intelligence last summer that suggests russian operatives tried to use trump advisers, including carter page to infiltrate the trump campaign. his policy against russia in july of 2016 at a prominent moscow university is one factor and part of what raised concerns in the bureau that he may have been compromised by russian intelligence. the new information adds to this emerging picture of how the russians tried to influence the 2016 election not only through e-mail hacks and propaganda sometimes referred to as fake news but also by trying to infiltrate the trump orbit. the intelligence that was gathered led to that broader fbi investigation into the coordination of trump's campaign associates and the russians as fbi director james comey has spoken to. the officials we've spoken with made clear they don't know whether the russians were using him because of the way spies operate. page could have unknowingly talked with russian agents. he disputes that he has ever collect

though communications were shared with intelligence officials here in the united states, cnn's pamela brown live in washington with this story. pamela what are you learning? >> reporter: we've learned british and other european intelligence agencies intercepted communications between trump associates, russian officials and other russians during the campaign and passed on those communications to their u.s. counter parts. this is according to u.s. and european sources talk to my colleague jim sciutto and the various communications captured during routine surveillance of these russian officials and other russians known to western intelligence over the course of several months we're told. the british and european intelligence agencies including gchq in britain were not pro actively targeting any members of the trump team, sources say but rather picked them up during what's call incidental collection. which means monitoring these russian officials, officials overseas. that is how this came to light overseas in europe and then was, of course, shared with u.s. counterparts as part of the five eyes

so pamela brown is here with more on the story.uite a turnaround for -- if not president trump, at least the trump organization. >> that's right. because today you had the cia director, mike pompeo, in his first public remarks, jake, going after wikileaks, taking direct aim at wikileaks and i think founder julian assange, saying that he wanted to call wikileaks what it is, a non-state hostile intelligence service that encourages followers to find jobs at the cia in order to obtain intelligence that will harm the u.s. >> wikileaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service. it has encouraged followers to find jobs at the cia in order to obtain intelligence. it is time to call out wikileaks for what it really is, a non-state hostile intelligence service, often abetted by state actors like russia. >> he went on to say that julian assange is a far cyst that cares more about his own celebrity and making a splash than risking u.s. lives. he even cited al qaeda, praising a means to fight the u.

. >> our justice correspondent pamela brown joins us with details.hat do we know about sort of how this happened and what information, what intelligence was actually gathered? >> we can tell you, poppy, that there were these intercepted communications picked up by british and other european intelligence agencies between trump associates and russian officials, and other russian individuals, during the campaign. then the brits along with other european countries passed on those communications to their u.s. counterparts. this is ay cording to u.s. and european sources talking to my partner jim sciutto. captured during routine surveillance between russians and other russians known to u.s. intelligence. it happened several times throughout the months of the campaign. emphasizing that gchq in great britain and other intelligence agencies in europe were not procedure actively targeting any members of the trump team or donald trump himself, but rather picked up these communications during what's known as incidental collection. that is, monitoring other offic

>> i have to see what the charges are but based on what pamela brown is reporting i think this is overdue. i'm glad that the justice department has found a way to go after assange. i think he's gotten a free ride for too long and i've been very critical of being in both parties including republicans who somehow thought assange may be an ally of ours or maybe willing to help us. to me he's caused tremendous damage to our national security, put american lives at risk and to me his motivations and i totally agree with mike pompeo. i served with him on the intelligence committee. he's an outstanding cia director and i'm really glad that he put this issue out there front and center. >> does this signal to you, that the president is taking this threat of wikileaks the threat posed in the 2016 election more seriously because during the campaign, he often would praise wikileaks? >> yeah. i think the president is seeing this now from a different perspective and realizing that, while may be one day is a sank can help you overall this is damaging to the interest of the united states and again he's p

but first i want to get some new details that cnn has justice correspondent pamela brown is joining uswe're learning more about the role of british intelligence in all of this. >> reporter: we've learned that british and all european intelligence agencies intercepted communications between trump associates and russian officials and other russian individuals during the campaign and that past on those communications to their u.s. counter parts. this is of course to u.s. and european sources that have spoken to myself and the various communications were captured during routine surveillance of russian officials, other russians known to western intelligence over the course of several months we're told the sources said that british and european intelligence agencies including the jchq were not proactively targeting members of the trump team but rather picked up these communications during what's known as incidental communications monitoring the russian officials and the fbi is using this information, wolf, that was passed along as part of its counter intel probe of possible coordination betw

cnn justice correspondent pamela brown has more details on how russia might have used trump advisers to infiltrate the trump campaign. pamela? >> we've learned the fbi gathered intelligence last summer that suggest russian operatives tried to use trump advisers including carter page to infiltrate the trump campaign. carter page's critical speech against russia in july of 2016 is one factor. it's part of what raised concerns in the bureau that he may have been compromised by russian intelligence, but the new information adds to this emerging pick titure of how russ tried to influence the 2016 election not only through e-mail hacks and propaganda referred to as fake news but also by trying to infiltrate the trump orbit. intelligence gathered led to that broader fbi investigation into the coordination of trump's campaign associates and the russians as fbi director james comey has referred to. the officials we've spoken with made clear they don't know whether page was aware russians may have been using him because of the way russian spy services operate. page could have unknowingly talked

cnn has learned that russia -- pamela brown has been following this from the very beginning. what can you tell us? >> we've learned that the fbi gathered intelligence last summer that suggested russian like carter page.to use agents one factor in this was carter page's critical speech against russia in july 2016 at a prominent moscow university that is part of what raised concerns in the bureau that he may have been compromised by russian intelligence. the new information as to this emerging picture of how the russians try to influence the 2016 election, not only through the e-mail hacks and propaganda, sometimes referred to as fake news, but also by trying to infiltrate the trump orbit. this intelligence led to the broader fbi investigation into the coordination of trump's campaign associates and the russians were told, and what we've heard from james comey, but the officials we have spoken with made clear they don't know whether page or the other advisers were aware that the russians may have been using them because of the way russian spy services operate. page, for one, co

let start with cnn's pamela brown. the white house sent a letter to the committee in which basically there was no information provided. the white house is making actual arguments. one, if flynn signed any document, they don't have them and that might be, of course, because they don't exist, and, two, the white house just refusing to proviewed any information about contacts that flynn had with foreign officials when he was in the national security agency and when he was in the transition. >> reporter: that's right. you saw this play out during the white house briefing today where white house spokesman sean spicer says the white house doesn't have these documents. the department of defense does, and he also argued that the administration should not be expected to know what flynn did before president trump assumed office on january 20thth and before he became the national security adviser. now this comes as a top house republican says michael flynn likely broke the law after failing to disclose payments he received from f

joining me is mark preston, gloria borger and pamela brown. philip mudd, jack kingston and michael moore, the former u.s. attorney for the middle district of georgia. good evening, everyone. pamela, we'll start with you for the news on this. the latest on the state of the russian investigation. and particularly general flynn. did he break the law in his dealings with russia while he was an adviser to the trump campaign. >> members of the house

our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny, money correspondent christina an lesh shi and pamela brown. jeff, fill us in on the latest judge to incur the president's wrath and the ruling the judge issued. >> wolf, there there were very strong words br from the president. he's been signing executive orders now particularly this week as he heads into his final 100 days, his first 100 days. he received a setback last evening on the sanctuary city executive order that he signs just five days after taking office. that was an executive order to essentially penalize city who's shield illegal immigrants undocumented immigrants you know from immigration laws. but the president reacted very harshly to that ruling last evening. as we've seen him do time and time again going against the judge in particular. this was a judge who's from the state of california from the u.s. district court there. but this president going aggressively after him and vowing to take this all the way to the supreme court where he said he would win. but wolf, what it is, it's another example of the limits of presidential p