shimon perez said israel welcomes the wind of change. and sees a window of opportunity.democratic and science-based economics by a nation, desires peace.israel does not want to be of affluence and an ocean of poverty. improvements in the neighbors lives means improvement in our neighborhoods in which we live. shimon perez understood that israel's future is linked to the palestinians living in peace and prosperity. [applause] we can make that happen. we must Ãwe must make that happen. [applause] so, that vision for tomorrow includes the us/israel special relationship remaining one of the most important friendships in the world. anchored by shared values, common goals and appreciation for history and learning from history towards a brighter future. i think j street, i think each one of you for devoting your energies to accomplishing that cause. thank you. [applause] [music] >> ladies and gentlemen please welcome j street chicago student, rikki baker keusch. [applause] >> hello everyone! my name is rikki baker keusch and i am 1/5 year at the university of chicago. [applause

shim o sh shimon perez said democratic and science based economics by a nation desires peace. israel doesn't want to be an island of affluence in an ocean of poverty. improvements in our neighbors' lives means improvement in our neighborhoods in which we live. shimon perez understood that israel's future is inextricably linked to the palestinians living in peace and prosperity. we can make that happen. we must, we must make that happen. [ applause ] so that vision for tomorrow includes the u.s./israel special relationship remaining one of our most important friendships in the world, anchored by shared values, common goals, an appreciation for history and learning from history towards a brighter future. i thank j street and i thank each one of you for devoting your energies to accomplishing that cause. thank you. [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome j street u. chicago student ricky baker koish. >> hello, everyone. i'm a fifth year at the university of chicago. where i am completing a masters in middle east studies. i have been involved with j street u. since my

cnn crime and justice reporter shimon perez is standing by. first of all, what are you learning? >> that's right. we've learned that mueller and his team have really intensified their focus into the potential flow of money from russia into the 2016 presidential election and whether the trump campaign colluded with russia. now, we know that investigators have recently targeted at least three oligarchs. sources tell us that the fbi stopped one of they will as he landed in his private jet at an airport in new york. they questioned him and even used search warrants to search his electronic devices. and then investigators, we've learned, stopped a second oligarch who also recently was traveling to the u.s. and questioned him as well. and mueller has also asked a third russian oligarch to voluntarily hand over some documents. and some of these people who have voluntarily handed over documents, we're told, have basically had no choice. some of them doing business in the u.s. they've been forced to cooperate with the special counsel. >> very interesting. we know it is illegal for foreign

shimon prokupecz with us here now to break all of this down. i want to begin with evan pereztside of the u.s. district court. tell us what's happening there in court right now. >> reporter: the court hearing is still ongoing in the third floor here at the federal courthouse behind me. but alexander van der zwaan's attorneys have been begging for him to serve no jail time in -- no jail time as a result of lying to prosecutors. he has pleaded guilty to lying and conspiracy charges. in court, just a little while ago, the federal prosecutors said that alexander van der zwaan should serve as an example for what the consequences are for lying to investigators. now, a few moments ago, he also read a few sentences, he apologized to the court, he also said what i did was wrong. now, what he did do according to prosecutors was he hid documents and he lied when he talked to the fbi about his interactions with paul manafort and with rick gates. in particular, rick gates has apparently said that he was in touch with a russian spy during the campaign, the middle of the 2016 presidential ca

evan perez and our crime and justice reporter shimon prokupecz is working thetory. evan, tell us what we've learned. >> that among the 60 russian diplomats, that the trump administration expelled from the united states were a group of spies that u.s. intelligence officials and law enforcement officials believed were responsible for tracking russians who might have been -- who re-settled in the united states and their families here in the united states. and at least one instance that the fbi counter intelligence officials were aware of, they were believed to be casing people here in the united states who were part of a cia program who were given a new identity and in order to re-settle in the united states. these are defectors, people who vladimir putin believes are enemies of the russian government, wolf. we know that this raised concerns among the fbi that the kremlin was perhaps looking to target these people, perhaps even families inside of the united states. and that is why some of the people ended up being on the list of the 60 or so diplomats who were kicked o

shimon prokupecz, shammoimon thank you. what does all this legal wrangling mean? let's bring in evan perez. what's the bottom line? >> i think it's important that this judge has told the prosecutors and the fbi they'll have to share the materials at least initially she's telling them they'll have to share some of the materials that they seized in that raid a week ago and that's a big deal because even though they're not getting the temporary restraining order that they had requested, it does indicate that she's considering apiping a third party, a special master and so the bottom line for the president, there appears to be a window here in which his legal team might be able to figure out what exactly the fbi has in this and maybe, maybe they'll be able to tell where this is going and i think that's one reason why they're in there fighting so hard. >> and, you know, the fact that stormy daniels and her attorney michael avenatti showed up in this courtroom, you just heard her statement, i'm anxious to get your thoughts on the purpose. >> this was a very, very new york moment. tabloid atmosphere, look, they were ther

shimon, thank you. to that point, now to the sentencing hearing about to get under way for alex van der zwaan, a dutch lawyer with ties to both manafort and rick gates. cnn's evan perez live outside the courthouse in washington. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, erica. as you mentioned, in the next hour we expect alexander van der zwaan to walk into the federal courthouse behind me and expected to be sentenced, facing zero to six months in prison. we expect closer to zero, no time in prison despite the fact he is now admitting to lying and to conspiracy charges in the special counsel investigation. now, this is a big milestone in robert mueller's investigation. this is the first person to be sentenced in this almost year-long investigation. just to bring it back, as shimon was talking about with this memo from rod rosenstein which authorized the special counsel to look into specifically collusion, the first time we've haefrd that. we saw a little bit of that in a memo that the prosecutors wrote in the sentencing of alex van der zwaan. they said in particular that he was aware and he lied to prosecutors about rick gates who is paul manafort's deputy, and the fa