back to you guys. >> sara murray, thank you. you heard h.r.ter refer to the story as "as reported." now, the national security adviser essentially saying that if there is so much as a single detail in the "post" report that is wrong, well, then they can dismiss the whole thing. one of the story's authors, national security correspondent greg miller, telling cnn that the white house claim that the president did not reveal sources and methods pushes back against something the "post" never, in fact, reported. >> i think that the white house is playing word games here to that effect to try to blunt the impact of this story, nor do any of these white house officials who are denouncing this story, nor have any of them offered any explanation why this was also above board and not problematic in any way, why did the national security council coming out of this meeting feel it was necessary to contact the cia director and the director of the national security agency to give them a heads-up on what trump had just told the russians? >> so, the report tha

cnn white house correspondent sara murray traveling with the president joins us live. sara, what is he expected to say? >> reporter: well, obviously, the intelligence-sharing issue is going to be sort of a prominent story line that we're looking for here today. the president was asked twice about that and whether britain can trust the u.s. earlier today. he did not respond, but as you mentioned, he will be arriving here alternatt nato. but in addition to that issue, him calling nato obsolete on the compeigne trail, he's walked that back, but it will be interesting to see him here in person. his advisers say he will thrust other nato members to spend more on defense and along those lines, president trump is weighing whether or not to send thousands more troops to afghanistan. so, this is an opportunity to get our allies' input on that potential plan and try to gauge whether nato would be willing to throw their military might behind such an effort. of course, that could also come with pointed questions, like whether a couple thousand more troops on the ground in a 16-year

sara murray live for us in brussels. just past 10:30 there. you, sara. >>> the house gop health care bill would leave 23 million americans uninsured, according to a report by the non-partisan congressional budget office. the cbo predicts 51 million americans won't have health coverage by 2026. compare that to 28 million under obamacare with 14 million fewer enrolled in medicaid. americans losing health insurance creates a lot of ammunition for critics of the bill, and it's the main objection that's being raised by moderate republicans. but conservatives like that it lowers both the deficit and premiums for many people. average costs do go down after initial spike, but the sickest americans, they end up paying more. prices also depend on where you live. under the bill, states can waive protections for pre-existing conditions. the analysis winds up dividing the market in three. premiums fall 4% in states that don't lose protections and 20% lower in states with moderate changes, but that's because insurers cover fewer benefits, such as maternity c

our coverage of the president's trip begins with cnn's sara murray, who's live for us in jerusalem, just past 11:00 a.m. there. great to have you, sara. what are the expectations ahead of this momentous visit? >> reporter: well, it's certainly going to be a very closely watched trip and there are a number of bilateral meetings as well as ceremonial events on president trump's schedule today. he begins with this arrival ceremony at the airport in tel aviv before meeting with israeli president rivlin. after that, he has this afternoon two visits to supremely holy sites, the church of the holy sepulcher, which is the holiest site in christianity for those of that faith as well as a visit to the western wall, which is the holiest site for those of the jewish faith to pray. all of this, and then later on this evening, he's expected to meet with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and president trump and his wife, first lady melania trump, are expected to dine with the prime minister and his wife. and of course, this all comes against a backdrop of the president making clear that he wan

sara murray joins us live from brussels. good morning. what is ahead for the president today?reporter: good morning, alison. we saw plenty of style, plenty of ceremony and some other stops on this foreign trip. but today things turn to substance. president trump just wrapped up a meeting with european union officials. he'll be having lunch shortly with the newly minted french president and then heads over here for the nato summit. one of the big story lines emerging for us are questions about whether the u.s. is still a credible intelligence sharing partner. we know some allies have been eyeing the u.s. warily after president trump shared highly classified information with russian officials in that oval office meeting. that intelligence came in part from israel a u.s. ally. now, the uk is growing increasingly critical of the way the u.s. intelligence agencies have handled the investigation into the manchester attack, accusing u.s. intelligence agencies of leaking information related to that attack before the uk government is putting that information out. theresa may will be he

cnn white house correspondent sara murray in rome. good morning, again. it's 11:00 a.m. there in the rome and the president not too long ago finished up that face to face meeting, 28, 29 minutes with the pope. >> reporter: that's right. more we're hearing about what happened in this meeting, and sort of in the expanded audience with the pope the more light hearted it sounds. remember president trump and pope francis have not always exchanged the kindest of words with one another. after they met privately president trump said he would never forget what the pope told him when they had the expanded audience. the pope was making some jokes with melania trump, asking her what she feeds the president if its pizza. she responded yes pizza. more of a light hearted meeting. remember this is after president trump then candidate trump had some sharp words for the pope. the pope suggested if you're talking about building barriers and not bridges you're not christian. president trump said that was a disgraceful comment to make. so obviously a very different tone, different images com

back to you guys. >> all right, sara murray. thank you for that. >>> joining us this morning as we break down this big story "weekly standard"'s senior writer michael warren live in our washington bureau. michael, good to see you this morning. a lot to get to. let's start with the "washington post" report. greg miller, one of the two reporters responsible for the story, a national security correspondent. when he pushed back against h.r. mcmaster, who in part denied this report, here's what greg miller told cnn. >> i think that the white house is is playing word games here to that effect to try to blunt the impact of this story. nor do any of these white house officials who are denouncing this story, nor have any of them offered any explanation why if this was also above board and not problematic in any way, why did the national security council coming out of this meeting feel it was necessary to contact the cia director and the director of the national security agency to give them a heads-up on what trump had just told the russi

sara murray is live in rome with more on trump's visit and the rest of today's agenda. good morning to you, sara. >> reporter: the pope is behind me delivering his weekly address. that's after he met with president donald trump. the images were of a much warmer relationship. president trump came out of that meeting and said i won't forget what you said. the white house said that president trump offered a gift to the pope, first edition set of dr. martin luther king jr.'s writing. on the campaign trail the pope said people who talk about building barriers not bridges are not christian. at that point candidate trump called the pope's rhetoric disgraceful. obviously publicly a much warmer meeting between the two of them today and essentially what we expected. we didn't expect either side to go into this meeting to talk about their differences. we expected them to look for common ground. that's what we saw publicly at that meeting. to give you a sense how busy these days are being he began his day with pope francis. he and his wife melania trump are touring saint peter's bas

we have white house correspondent sara murray. she is in jerusalem. we have analyst david gregory and aaron david miller and a.b. stoddard. david gregory, what do you see as you watch the historic visit? >> i think as the israeli prime minister noted with pride, this is a president who is putting israel at the e center of the foreign policy. the first foreign trip where he is kochcoming to the middle eas. he is putting reconciliation between faiths and reconciliation as a candidate and how he wants to conduct himself as a president on the world stage. coming to israel says two things. the relationship with the united states and israel as an unbreakable bond he pointed out and a policy vision. the president lining up with sunni countries like saudi arabia yesterday and singling out iran as an enemy which is precisely the world view that the israeli prime minister has as well. the israeli prime minister who railed against the president obama administration emphasis nuclear deal with iran. while that is continued under president trump, here rhetorically

our coverage of the president's trip begins with cnn's sara murray. she is live in jerusalem where the president is in the air. he is on the way. good morning, sara. >> reporter: good morning, that's right. there will be a lot of pomp and circumstance today as well as some private meetings as the president tries to further his ultimate goal of striking a mideast peace agreement, but he begins by landing at the airport and will have an arrival ceremony. after that, he will meet with president rivlin. this afternoon he visits two holy sites to separate religions. he'll be visiting the church of the holy sepulcher, which is one of the holiest sites for christians. he'll also make a historic visit to the western wall. he is the first sitting american president to do that. of course, this is the holiest site for those of the jewish faith to pray. now, later this evening he'll be meeting with israeli prime minister benjaminet yahoo, and after that, president trump will be joined by his wife, melania trump. bibi netanyahu will be joined by his wife and they w

our sara murray is reporting that the director of the fbi, james comey, asked for more resources, more must be, to put toward the russia investigation. to ease concern from capitol hill, from senator richard burr and senator mark warner that this fbi investigation, this hill investigation, as well, was moving too slowly. this was earlier this week. they had the meeting on monday, of course, the firing happened yesterday. but, john, this is simply going to fuel the fire here, raise more questions that as immediately after the fbi director asks for more funding for this investigation, he's fired. >> jeff zeleny, a busy day at the white house. i want to note that the department of justice is denying that, cnn's reporting. "the new york times" also reporting that director comey had asked rod rosenstein, saying he needed more money, more resources for his russian campaign meddling investigation. the justice department is denying that. but we are told by sources on capitol hill and "the new york times" is reporting this as well. we'll continue to track that. before we get to the panel, cnn's

that's an important point as we come into the room that sara murray made. sources saying the president is going to pull out. this white house if we have learned anything, we know on this one there have been competing factions, that's being kind. there's a fierce fight within the white house. the final language will matter. but what does it tell us that by all indications the president is going to dramatically retreat if not completely withdraw from a signature obama administration achievement? >> well, yeah, one thing it tells us is that the president does feel like in its current form, the u.s. commitment under the paris climate agreements doesn't fit with what he campaigned on and run on early in his presidency and he's looking for a way to dial back the u.s. commitment. the question they're still struggling with right now is whether or not they can do that and still stay in the agreement or whether they need to get out entirely. >> it's a very republican thing to do. if you look at republican presidents who's come into office after democratic presidents,

cnn white house correspondent sara murray traveling with the president. she joins us from a beautiful backdrop of sicily. good morning to you, sara. >> reporter: good morning. well, the president's debut on the world stage ends here in sicily for the g7 summit. now, this is just a day after he was at nato where he used his platform to lecture other nato members, saying they need to increase their defense spending. now, there are a number of contentious issues on the agenda that could come up today as well. among them is the paris climate accord. president trump is receiving some pressure from european allies, even the pope, to stay a member of that treaty, but he is considering whether or not to stay in it. he has not made a decision on that yet. now, the other sort of backdrop here is the fact that many of our european allies are eyeing russia wearily right now. we have not heard that tone from president trump at all since he's been on this trip. in fact, one of his senior advisers said yesterday that the u.s. has no position right now on whether it is go

sara murray, manu raju, thanks very much. the head of the national security agency, the nsa, just testified in front of the senate armed services committee on cyber threats facing the united states right now. admiral mike rogers says there is a possibility of cyber capability of some of the u.s.'s strongest adversaries, including russia, that could exceed the united states ability to defend itself adequately. he adds the u.s. needs to be prepared for future cyber interference. >> the offensive side in general has the advantage over the defense. which is why the ideas of deterrence are so important here. how do we shape and change opponents behavior. >> in order to do that we would have to have a policy followed by a strategy, right? >> yes, sir. >> do we have that now? >> no, sir. but the new team is working on that. i want to make sure we all understand that. >> and the check's in the mail? >> after looking at the experience in 2016, which you just described, knowledge of penetration, attribution to a foreign state, going af

sara murray is traveling with the president and joins us from jerusalem. an israeli newspaper published yesterday quote president trump as saying "i think we have a very, very good chance of making a deal." the president appears very optimistic on this trip. >> reporter: that's right, he does feel very optimistic about this. he feels like the situation is ripe and that he has a good relationship, even though early in his presidency with these leaders. he's been taking a careful tone as he talks about the potential to reach a peace agreement, essentially trying to get both sides on board. the israelis and the palestinians with a common enemy which in this case is iran. now, he met earlier today with israeli president rivlin. take a listen to a little bit about what president trump had to say. >> i also look forward to discussing the peace process with palestinian president abbas. young israeli and palestinian children deserve to grow up in safety, and to follow their dreams free from the violence that has destroyed so many lives. >> reporter: now we know of

let's begin with our white house correspondent sara murray. sara, what's the latest in the. >> reporter: well, wolf, for the white house it was another day plagued by controversy as senior administration officials faced questions about whether the white house and the president can be trusted with sensitive information. president trump ignoring questions today about what exactly he told the russians. did you share classified intelligence information with the russians? mr. president, did you share classified intelligence with the russians? pausing only to reveal he believes his recent meeting with russian officials went swimmingly. >> we had a very, very successful meeting with the foreign minister of russia. our fight is against isis as general mcmaster said. i thought he said and i know he feels that we had actually a great meeting with the foreign minister, so we'll have a lot of great success over the next coming years, and we want to get as many to help fight terrorism as possible. >> reporter: after monday night's terse denial. >> the story

let's go to our white house correspondent sara murray. what's the latest. >> reporter: this would be a hugely significant decision and sources are telling us that president trump is prepared to withdraw from the paris climate agreement, but it was interesting. sean spicer today at the podium off cameras, the white house press secretary would not go so far as to say whether the president has made a decision on pair its. he was asked repeatedly and just said over and over again that president trump is is the ultimate decider. >> very soon. >> reporter: president is expecteded to withdraw from the landmark paris climate agreement, sources tell cnn, as trump teases a formal announcement coming soon. >> i'm hearing from a lot of people, both ways. >> reporter: the monumental move would fulfill one of trump's core campaign promises. >> we're going to cancel the paris climate agreement and stop -- unbelievable. and stop all payments of the united states tax dollars to u.n. global warming programs. >> reporter: but it would also isolate america f

. >> let's begin there with sara murray. she was in that briefing and had a couple of great questions. sara murray, talk to me about how sarah sanders tried to explain the shifting stories coming out of the white house on why comey was fired? >> brook, we are getting a very different explanation today from the president himself saying that he made this decision, even before he got recommendations from his attorney general and his deputy attorney general. that's not what we were hearing from basically every other white house official from the last two days. sarah huckabee sanders pretty much dismissed this and said the president ultimately makes the decision. but we know through the excellent reporting of my colleagues evan perez and pam brown that rod roserosenstein w not particularly pleased to have jim comey's firing pinned on him. i asked sarah sanders if that was a mistake. here's what she said. >> was it a mistake to try to pin the firing of james comey on rod rosenstein? >> i don't think there was an attempt to pin the

cnn's sara murray joins me now from the white house. main message had a we're hearing that off the record, on background, is one of frustration. >> reporter: well, that is certainly true, but if you look at the on-the-record message today from sean spicer he says the president's only frustration is with the news media, that the president is pleased with his staff, that the agenda is moving full speed ahead, but, of course, sources are telling us things are not quite so rosy in the west wing and now one top staffer is heading for the exit. as the trump administration struggles to find its footing amid a cloud of controversy, a senior official is stepping aside. communications director mike dubke submitted his resignation may 18th though it's unclear when he'll serve his last day in the white house. his upcoming departure comes as speculation about a broader staff shake-up reaches a fever pitch. >> thanks for having me back. >> reporter: former trump campaign hands like davidy bossi are playing coy about whether they may soon be headed to

let's go to sara murray, who's traveling with the president, also our jerusalem correspondent oren liebermann is there. sara, let me begin with you. what stood out to you most as you watched this? >> reporter: well, i think, you know it was sort of interesting the way the president navigated this. the remarks he's made leading up to this visit at the western wall, the fact that he declined to be joined by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu does tell you how much has changed from the rhetoric we heard from candidate trump on the campaign trail, who, you know, sort of talked about how it would be easy to get a peace agreement, how he would instantly move the embassy, to the realities of governing. he's not moving the embassy instantly. he was not joined by the prime minister at the western wall. and i think what you're seeing is the president sort of trying to strategically lay the groundwork to begin working toward what he still hopes will be a peace deal. listen to how he talked about this earlier today when he was meeting with israeli president rivlin. >> i also look forward to discus

cnn white house correspondent sara murray traveling with the president. ins us live from sicily. >> oh, beautiful! >> sara, there are some serious issues at hand, but we're just looking at the backdrop behind you. >> whoa! >> doesn't seem too rough at this point. bet you don't miss the white house. >> reporter: no, not exactly rough duty over here today. but look, for president trump, another high-stakes day here on the world stage. he'll be attending the g7 summit. that comes just a day after he was at nato, where he used the stage there to lecture the other members, saying that they need to increase their defense spending. so, today there are still going to be a number of contentious issues on the table, and perhaps one of the top ones is this paris climate accord and where the president stands on that. he's getting pressure from european allies to remain a part of this, but so far, the president has not made a decision about which way he's going to go on that. now, the other thing that's interesting is this comes at a time when a number of our other all

let's go to our white house correspondent sara murray who has the breaking news on the source for thisat do you know? >> reporter: we have confirmed that israel was the source for at least some of this. this was our intelligence partner. and some information that trump shared with russian officials. we just had a briefing with sean spicer in which he refused to comment on where this intelligence came from and earlier today, h.r. mcmaster, the president's national security adviser, said when the president was sharing information with the russians, he also did not know where the source of the information was coming from. the president will soon be embarking on a very ambitious for r foreign trip and one of those stops include israel. this could jeopardize our intelligence sharing agreement. israel has full confidence in our relationship with the united states and looks forward to deepening that relationship in the years ahead under president trump. neither of these nations saying publicly that information came from israel and the sources are telling cnn they were the sources for part of

>> sara murray, thanks so much. let's go to mackey haberman from the "new york times," one of the reporters who broke this story and is joining us by the phone. meg, this is a remarkable comment from the president, not only the inflammatory terms he uses to describe the fbi director but the fact that he would tell russian officials that there was great pressure from the russia investigation but now that's taken off. >> right. jake, and thanks for having me. you know, you see further down in our story that a government official defended the president, describing this essentially as a negotiating tactic. i think that there's two ways to read. this one is, you know, through a nefarious lens a president who is under investigation who fired his fbi director, then talked about it with the adversarial country, explaining to them what they had done to elivate the station and this is a president who has a speaking style and believes he can negotiate his way through everything and still does not understand the full import of

let's go to sara murray who is in the east room right now covering this press conference for us. sara, the president mincing no words. the reporter wasn't even done with his question when asked about the allegations that james comey makes in this memo that we've been told about. >> reporter: that's right. that makes it all the more interesting, right, to see if we actually finally do get to see the memos from james comey. there's been speculation there's less likely to come out now that there's a special counsel. look, i think what we saw was a very different tone from the president in person here today than we saw from the written statement the white house put out last night. we have been hearing since then that the president is awfully peeved about the fact there is a special counsel. we've been hearing from the white house for weeks that they don't think it is necessary, and you saw how quickly the president shot back when he was asked about james comey. but also when he was asked whether he felt like he had done anything wrong, that would warrant an investigation, whether he h

the white house is denying this funding reporting that sara murray and "the new york times" has.t's up to us, wolf, to try to get to the bottom of all of these issues, where we have clearly conflicting sources here and in my case, i stand by my reporting. >> it's interesting, this briefing, david gregory, we're about to see, the white houpres briefing, it's a really important day for the white house. the deputy press secretary, sarah huckabee sanders will be doing the briefing. sean spicer is doing his naval reserve duty at the pentagon, three days. he could have easily rescheduled that, but for some reason he decided he wanted to go forward with that and let sarah huckabee sanders do this briefing. >> i would do it too rather than face the questions. because the white house has an enormous credibility problem, from its top officials and from the president. there is a rationale for why comey should be fired, and i think senator paul is right it's one shared by democrats and republicans, but you have to get to the what and the why and the when. the what is, the head of the fbi at

erin. >> thank you so much, sara murray. >> "outfront" now, the top democrat on the subcommittee that held the hearing today with sally yates, senator sheldon whitehouse. thank you for your time. the president says there was nothing new. obviously, we did learn several new things today. did sally yates -- >> a lot, actually. >> did she answer your questions, and you disagree with the president, obviously? >> yes, she did answer the questions, and i think she put the spotlight where it needs to be, which is you have the acting attorney general of the united states rushing over to the white house after an fbi agent went into the white house to interview the national security adviser to the president. and she feels the matter is so urgent she doesn't wait until the agent has completed his 302, his report of the interview. she hustled right up there because of the national security implications that she and the intelligence community see of a compromised national security adviser in the white house with the white house apparently unaware of it. so she dashes up there with this sense of ur

cnn's sara murray joins me now live from sicily. look, this is as tillerson goes and pretty much apologizes in london and after the president sits next to theresa may at dinner last night. do we know anything about this ming they're about to have? >> reporter: well, we know it was slated to start just a little bit ago, so they could be in the meeting now. it could have just concluded. obviously, they're meeting on the sidelines of the g7. and while it is normal for presidents to have these meetings with other world leaders on the sidelines, this one has a pretty obvious context to it. we know that theresa may and the uk government have been very frustrated with what they have said are leaks from the united states government surrounding the investigation into this horrific attack in manchester, so that will be really the subject of at least part of their conversation there today. and it's one of a number of tricky issues that have been playing out right now at the g7. we're going to see allies pressing the president for where he stan

sara murray is traveling with the president.t is the white house expecting from their visit to brussels and nato? >> reporter: a lot of the foreign trip we've seen so far has been pomp and circumstance. we move into issues beginning today when president trump heads to this meeting with nato leaders. as you mentioned, during the campaign, trump called nato obsolete. he has since decided it's not obsolete, but he is still expected to press a number of the member countries to increase their defense spending. you can certainly bet in the wake of that who risk attahorri manchest manchester, there will be a broader discussion about terrorism and terrorist threats our european allies face. the other big issue to watch is the fact president trump is weighing whether to send additional troops to afghanistan. he'll be asking our allies touatito weigh in on that and may press them to see if other nato countries are willing to contribute to this military effort. he's sure to face tough questions about why president trump and his advisers be

let's go to our white house correspondent sara murray. what's behind this possible move? >> reporter: wolf, what the president is really pondering right now is whether a few thousand additional troops on the ground could help the white house further its goal of eliminating the terrorism threat from afghanistan. now, we know that some of the president's top national security advisers are pushing for this troop increase, but today the white house wouldn't gave any indication of which way the president is leaning. president trump behind closed doors for a fifth day as he mulls whether to send thousands more u.s. troops to afghanistan. >> one of the things that he has asked his national security team to do is to actually think the -- rethink the strategy. what are we doing to achieve the goals that you are asking about? how do we actually -- how do we win? >> reporter: trump's top national security advisers are expected to recommend sending 3,000 to 5,000 additional troops to afghanistan where 8,400 u.s. troops are currently serving. but the president hasn't signalled whether

let me go to sara murray now who is in the room waiting for the president and the president of colombia to come out. sara, president trump i'm sure will be asked about the big developments, the former fbi director claiming that the president asked him to ease up on the flynn investigation, to let it go, and then, of course, the appointment of a special counsel. >> reporter: that's right. there are a number of questions for the president about just the events that have unfolded over the last few days. of course, jake, as you know, these sort of bilateral press conferences can be a little challenging to predict. each side gets questions in, so the colombian press will have an opportunity to ask questions of the president as well as of the colombian leader. you can bet the question coming from american press will be more about how the president feels about this decision to appoint a special counsel. i think also just whether he bears any responsibility for the way these events have played out. i mean ultimately it was his decision to fire the fbi director and, you know, based on your repor

sara murray, thanks very much. more now on the story cnn's jim sciutto broke along with dana bash and pamela brown on what russians may have believed they had on the president and people close to him. it's a potentially explosive story. it comes with reasons to be cautious about what we're reporting and what we are not reporting. with that in mind, jim sciutto joins us. what have you learned, jim? >> anderson, let's be clear. two former intelligence officials and a congressional source tell cnn that russian government officials discussed having potentially "derogatory information" about then presidential candidate donald trump as well as some of his top aides. this in conversations intercepted by u.s. intelligence during the 2016 election. one source described the information as financial in nature and said the discussions centered around whether the russians had leverage within trump's inner circle. the source says the intercepted communications suggested to u.s. intelligence that russians believed, quote, "they h

>> sara murray, stay with us, as you're watching the scene unfold there in brussels. tony, i want to talk to you about this. how is the rhetoric that we're hearing there when it comes to leaks, and certainly there are concerns from theresa may and other countries as well -- can they trust the u.s. when they're sharing this important information -- but how is this something besides a continuation of what we saw under president obama, who had an unprecedented number of leak prosecutions that his administration pursued? >> you're right, this is an ongoing story. it didn't start with the trump administration. it's afflicted various administrations in different ways, but this particular leak seems particularly egregious, because it was in the midst of an active investigation and possibly an active ongoing threat. and in that situation especially, loose lips sink ships. so, i can understand why the brits are very upset about this. hopefully, we can rein this back in and get this under control, because this goes to our security as well. the intelligence that we get from our

sara murray, welcome back. miss -- mrs. -- just mrs. sara murray. congratulations. >> thank you very much. i just want to get back to olivier's point. why shouldn preside trump's supporters, if he does decide to add more troops in afghanistan, see that as running counter to what he campaigned on for so long, the notion of america first, the notion of the fact that we're too involved in foreign entanglements abroad. he campaigned on that and the way he's governed -- from what we've seen in syria and what he is considering in afghanistan, seems to accepted a very different message. >> i just want to be clear. one thing, there is a difference between afghanistan proper and our effort to defeat isis. that's one thing that he's also very clear on in the campaign, that -- and as president that he is going to do everything he can to fight radical islamic terrorism, and root out and destroy isis. they are not always the same if they go into afghanistan. goal is always going to be defeat isis which is something he's been very clear on with the american peopl

let's go to sara murray in that briefing room, waiting for sean spicer. quite a menu of options as far as topics today. what are you listening for? >> reporter: that's right, brooke. aside from the president's tweets yesterday, this will really be our first time to pose questions to the white house about what happened in that hearing on capitol hill yesterday with sally yates and the revelation that she offered some pretty stern warnings about michael flynn, about his contacts with the russians and misleading the vice president about them. one of the questions this white house still has not answered is why president trump kept michael flynn on as national security adviser for 18 days after this administration was warned that he could be compromised and blackmailed by the russians. of course, we are also expecting there could be questions about health care, where this looms next on capitol hill now that it's in the senate. in addition to that, where the president's head stands on sending additional troops into afghanistan. we are expecting his top national

. >> let's go to sara murray. sara, the headlines have been coming daily almost hourly during the president's trump. we know the president is tweeting but not about this. anything from the white house? >> reporter: we are not getting any comment from the white house about this notion that jared kushner was trying to set up a back channel sort of arrangement with the russians, back channel communications effort but there was a wave of stories, reuters report that jared kushner also had previously undisclosed contacts with the russian ambassador to that we did gelt a statement from jared kushner's attorney. mr. kushner participated in thousands of calls. he has no recollection of the calls described. they asked for dates. we have not received such information. really no answer from the white house what's going on with this. there's no indication because jared kushner communicated with the russian ambassador that's an indication of wrongdoing but does show you how this russia cloud continues to hang over the trip. now

we are covering every angle starting with sara murray. sara, what will we see? >> reporter: good morning, john. the president did just arrive to jerusalem. he is on his way to meet with president rivlin in the bilateral meeting. this is after the dose of the pomp and circumstance. he arrived at tel aviv airport and made brief remarks. take a listen to what president trump had to say upon arrival. >> on my first overseas trip as president, i have come to the sacred and ancient land to reaffirm the unbreakable bond between the united states and the state of israel. we have before us a rare opportunity to bring security and stability and peace to the region and to its people. defeating terrorism and creating a future of harmony, prosperity and peace. but we can only get there working together. there is no other way. >> reporter: now this is just the beginning of what is sure to be a very busy day for president trump. john, you mentioned, he will make historic visit to the western wall later this afternoon. that is the first time a sitting american president has eve

we want to bring in sara murray. >> reporter: good morning.er relatively light day at least on president trump's public schedule. he'll be meeting with his secretary of state rex tillerson and then he's slated to hold a bilateral meeting with the prime minister of vietnam. so far that bilateral meeting will not come with a press conference. sean spicer said he's not expected to brief reporters. this comes as the russia probe appears to be expanding. a source close to michael flynn the ousted national security adviser said flynn will provide documents to the senate intelligence committee related to their russian investigation and now the probe appears to be touching two other aides close to the president. one is his personal lawyer michael cohen and another a surrogate for the campaign. both have been contacted by investigators on capitol hill who want to know more about them. just another indication that this cloud, this controversy about russia just is not leaving this white house any time soon. back to you. >> trump attorney michael cohen sa

cnn's sara murray with the awesome assignment in rome. e visit, sara. >> reporter: well, not exactly rough duty here, alisyn. covering this landmark visit by president trump. he met earlier today with the pope and it was a warmer reception we have seen in the past with the gentlemen. the pope making jokes with melania trump. he told a pool of reporters he felt it was a fantastic meeting. he shared gift was the pope. including first edition of dr. martin luther king jr. writer g writerings. they toured the sistine chapel and melania visited with children at the pediatric hospital here in the vatican. and back to substance tonight. the president and first lady will fly to bruz ssels ahead of the nato meeting. >> thank you, sara. >>> we have to talk about it. it is out there making the rounds. are you obsessed with it. let's show the scene. one of several. >> i like you don't want to show you, but we're all obsessed. >> we are talking about it. what happened here? you see the reach back. was that a failed connection? >> no. >> was that someth

our white house correspondent sara murray is joining us live from jerusalem. sara, the president's words were once again measured during appearances in saudi arabia. has it been the same in isreal? >> we have mostly seen a choreographed visit from president trump today. i think that was certainly evident when we saw him visiting the western wall. as you know, wolf, that can be a political tight rope for politicians and he rebuffed advances from prime minister benjamin netanyahu who wanted to join president trump on his visit to the western wall. instead president trump's advisers made clear he wanted this to be a private visit without trying to send any political signals that would have potentially inflamed the palestinians or those in the arab world. but there was an indication that trump may be feeling a bit more comfortable in isreal and those were some comments he made earlier with benjamin netanyahu essentially saying he never mentioned the word isreal when he met with russian officials in this oval office meeting where he is allegedly shared highly classi

we have sara murray with more. >> reporter: good morning, john.ig issues on the agenda today as president trump attends the first g7 summit in sicily. an morning them mong them is th accord. and president trump is hearing from european allies and the pope. you will know there will be a robust discussion in the wake of the horrific attack in manchester. we know the attack has strained the u.s. and uk intelligence sharing relationship. the uk feels the u.s. is leaking information. to that end, president trump is expected to have a private pull aside meeting with prime minister theresa may. one thing we have not heard much from president trump on at all on this trip is russia. remember, the g7 used to be the g8 before russia was booted from the group. a lot of the members view russia as a volatile group. and one of president's top advisors says he will have not have position on sonanctions on russia. president trump is not afraid to offer sharp words to allies. that was clear at nato yesterday for not spending enough on defense. >> 23 of the 28 membe

we have sara murray live in rome.ment for the president and pope. >> reporter: it was a big moment. certainly from what we have seen and heard from the meeting, it wa was a warmer meeting after they met privately. president trump said i won't forget what you told me. unclear what they shared in their private meeting. they talked about the promotion of peace. president trump gave a gift to the pope. he shared with him a first edition of the writings of dr. martin luther king jr. this was a big ceremonial stop. after that, the president and first lady visited the sistine chapel and st. peter's basilica. this is against the back drop of president trump and the pope in a very sort of surreal moment exchange barbed words during the presidential campaign. it was then candidate trump who called the pope's rhetoric disgraceful after the pope appeared to take issue with the candidate trump's immigration and refugee policies at the time. saying anyone who promotes building barricades instead of building walls is not a christian

our sara murray asked the trump team about this.he president didn't come oil and do a press conference. >> general mcmaster and i have have been in the vast, vast majority, but that's not relevant. >> reporter: -- tell us how he thinking they things have been going? >> it was obviously hard to hear. this was an off-camera briefing with h.r. mcmaster, his national security adviser and gary cohn, and they were defending president trump, and i don't know if it was in that, if you could hear, but they responded saying he's been so, so, so busy there just wasn't time for him to take questions. do you buy that? >> that doesn't seem plausible. you have an administration in the middle of a major crisis here in the united states, a major scandal, a major investigation and every day we have newsbreaking about some more he has to respond to. he's go the from attacking the press to avoiding it altogether. that won't last long. a press will come after a president and they will get them to speak, meaning the president and their staff, whether the

. >> sara murray learned that house speaker paul ryan will likely address this incident when he holdsonference that comes up shortly. joining us now national political reporter for politics, matt lewis at the daily beast. paul ryan is going to go to that microphone. they will say, hey, what do you make of this republican candidate that just body slammed a reporter after requesting a question. paul ryan says? >> i think paul ryan will condemn it. i think he will do the right thing and show some moral clarity here. frankly i thought he should refuse to seat him, but i don't think that's possible. the last time the senate tried to do this with roland burr ris, they ended up having to seat him. the constitution tells congress they can determine the qualifications of members, but according to the supreme court at least, his qualifications have to do with things like age or legal requirements. so there is no moral way to say this guy doesn't have the right temperament to keep him out. they will have to seat him if he wins and you will have to say he's probably still on pace to be the favori

cnn's sara murray is live at the white house for us. sara, what is the white house's timeline for replacing the fbi director? >> reporter: ideally the administration would figure out their candidate to select someone before the week before the president leaves for his foreign trip, and they would certainly rather have everyone paying attention to that search for a new fbi director than focusing on something the president raised himself last week, the notion that he may be secretly taping conversations in the white house. but today the administration faced more questions about it and again they dodged. the trump administration's hopes of moving beyond the james comey backlash hampered by another controversy at the president's own making. press secretary sean spicer refusing to say today whether the president is secretly recording conversations in the white house. >> i think i made it clear last week that the president has nothing further on that. i said i was very clear that the president would have nothing further on that last week. >> r

sara murray, welcome back. congratulations. >> reporter: thank you very much. i just want to get back to that point. why shouldn't president trump's supporters if he does decide to add more troops to afghanistan see that as running counter to what he campaigned on for so long, the notion of america first, the notion of the fact we are too involved in foreign entanglements abroad? he campaigned on that and the way he's governed from what we have seen in syria and what he assumes to be doing in afghanistan, he had a very different message. >> i want to be clear. the one thing there is a difference between afghanistan proper and our effort to defeat isis. that's one thing that he was also very clear on in the campaign and as president, that he is going to do everything he can to fight radical islamic terrorism, to root out and destroy isis. in some cases, if isis, he has to go into afghanistan, they may be synonymous at that point but they are not always the same. the goal is always going to be defeat isis which is something he's been very clear on with the americ

we have sara murray joining us from sicily. >> reporter: good morning, john. there will be a number of contentious issues on the table as leaders head to the g7. our allies will look for indication if president trump will stay in the paris climate change accord. you can expect, of course, a robust conversation of the terrorism in the wake of the manchester attack. the intelligence sharing agreement with the u.s. and uk is strained of that in recent days. we are now learning that president trump will meet with prime minister theresa may to discuss the concerns that uk has been leaks coming from the u.s. intelligence community surrounding the attack. remember, it was not long ago that the g7 meeting was a g8 meeting that included russia. russia has been booted from the group. there will be a number of world leaders that will see where president trump has offered no words of criticism of russia on the world stage. one senior adviser said the u.s. right now has no ponsition if i will uphold the positions that was put in place under the obama administration. one th

. >> let's get to our white house correspondent sara murray. tell us what you know about the conversation then president obama had with then president-elect trump only two days after the presidential election. >> sources are saying in this meet iing that president obama expressed concern about general flynn, urged president trump not to hire him for the job of national security adviser, but e he saw sean spicer down playing that warning from their view. they dismissed it as their idea as bad blood between president trump and retired general michael flynn saying it's clear that the president didn't like this guy. that's how they took the warning. not as a concern that they might have done anything wrong but this past bad blood between the obama administration and general flynn. if they came to learn there were headaches awaiting them, it's interest ing ing to see them pi blame about general flynn's activities on the obama administration. you would do your own vetting beyond whether you have a security clearance. the trump administration said the

that's where we find sara murray. i hear they sat next to each other at dinner last night, but now they are going to actually pow wow. >> of course we heard their public statements. we heard president trump condemning leaks. we heard theresa may saying this is an important intelligence sharing relationship. both sides need to be trusted. we are being told they are slated to have this sideline meeting at the g-7 today between president trump and teresa may just to sort of hash over those issues. obviously, we don't have a lot of access to this summit. but it will be interesting to hear what comes out of that. i think one of the interesting story lines you are seeing develop around president trump abroad is we are seeing some of these frictions come to light more than we have in the past. we have seen the issues between president trump and theresa may. we obviously saw president trump publically admonish the other members of nato to spend more on defense. and in addition to that, in a private meeting with german officia

cnn's sara murray filed this report. >> reporter: president trump firing off an apparent threat to thei director. trump tweeting james comey better hope there's no tapes of our conversation before he starts leaking to fres. the warning coming as the president is facing scrutiny for his private conversation with comey before he was fired. today the president is refusing to explain what tapes he was referring to and whether he's secretly recording conversations in the white house. >> i won't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest and i hope he will be. i'm sure he will be. >> reporter: as comey was overseeing the investigation into possible collusion between the trump campaign and russia trump said he asked comey repeatedly for assurances that he wasn't under investigation. >> did you ask him? >> i asked him, yes. i said, if it's possible, will you let me know, am i under investigation. he said you are not under investigation. >> those conversations which quickly raised ethical red flags coming twice in phone calls and once over dinner. trump says comey was vying to keep h

cnn sara murray traveling with the president. the two leaders trying to set this aside. the president saying i never mentioned isreal. that's not exactly the point. >> that is not the point. this all gets back to of course the conversation he had with russians in the oval office where he shared highly classified intelligence come of which came from one of our allies isreal. to date no u.s. official has confirmed that isreal was the partner that intelligence came from. the president appeared to have just done that in front of the cameras. that's not what the story said. the story said part of this intelligence came from an ally, that that ally may not have been asked for permission and it could cause problems and the ally, the source of the information could be relatively easily identified which we then saw as a number of news outlets including cnn confirmed that intelligence did come from isreal. and this caps off what had been a pretty tightly choreographed day for president trump. he walked this political tight rope when he visited the western wall. he managed to rebuf