To russias president. But, of course, all of this was something that the fbi wanted to learn more about. Its not clear if the fbi plans to talk to kushner. That is the expectation. It hasnt happened yet. But investigators believe that he would be able to provide helpful information to assist in this ongoing probe. Now, we did contact a spokesperson on tuesday for this story that weve been working on, and a spokesperson said that he was unaware of any investigative interests on him and hasnt been contacted, anderson. Pam, what does it mean that hes not and i want to emphasize this, that hes not the target of the investigation, but hes being scrutinized. What does that mean . Well, its a very important point to make. Because if youre a target of the investigation, that indicates that investigators have criminal information on you, enough criminal information that you will likely be charged. At this point in the investigation, that is not the case. Either youre a witness, youre a subject, or youre a target. So at the very least in this investigation, Jared Kushner is a witness, because of his various roles and how they touch on all these different parts of the russia probe, including the Data Analytics operation that evan touched on, including his role with Michael Flynn, who was also under investigation, and including his meetings, of course, with russians, that are of interest in this investigation. So it is very important to emphasize that at this stage in the investigation, and its still actually considered very early on, even though its been going on since july, at this stage, investigators do not have enough criminal information that they would actually be charging him. Anderson . And evan, just the significance of this, what has been stated before, that this is somebody, obviously, whos currently in the white house, not like Michael Flynn or carter page or, you know, or Paul Manafort . Right, exactly, anderson. Heretofore, the white house has been able to say, those guys that the fbi is interested in, theyre not in the white house. Paul manafort was barely in the campaign. And even recently, the president has had a curious change as the way hes referring to this, saying, personally, i dont know of any collusion. Now were talking about his soninlaw, someone whos very close to him. Hes one of the people who have the right to walk into the oval Office Without any appointment. This is a person thats very close to the president. And now so were talking about bringing this investigation not only to the doorstep of the white house, inside his own family. And that makes a big difference, as far as how theyre going to treat this. Evan perez, pamela brown, appreciate the update. Kushners attorney has weighed in. Cnn senior white house correspondent, jim acosta, is traveling with the president and joins us now from sicily. So what is Jared Kushners attorney saying . Well, anderson, its just a brief stapleJamie Gorelick, the attorney for kushner. It says, mr. Kushner previously veered to share with congress what he knows about these meetings. He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry. So thats an indication they may no longer just be talking about congressional investigations, but the special counsel investigation being conducted by Robert Mueller, fbi and Justice Department inquiries, as well. We should point out that Jared Kushner and ivanka were on this foreign trip, were here in sicily right now, the president will be attending the g7 summit over the next couple of days. They jumped off of this trip yesterday. They went back after they met with the propoope there in rome. And the white house told us yesterday, you know, that was just part of the schedule. They were scheduled to go back and leave yesterday. Bu but, obviously, anderson, this news breaking tonight is going to raise questions about that explanation. We should also point out, when we asked for a response from the white house, anderson, i received this respondent from Jamie Gorelick sustaiinstantane that is because they are boosting their Rapid Response war room operations inside the west wing because theyre trying to get ute out in front of this story as fast as they can. I talked to a White House Reporter earlier today who said, this is the reality of the world we live in. We know these questions are going to be coming in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. One person, anderson, youre not likely to hear from about all of this over the next several days is the president himself. Anderson, this is the first time ive been on a foreign trip of this length for some time where the president of the United States has not taken questions in a formal setting from the news media. There is no News Conference scheduled for tomorrow, according to the white house schedule, we do not expect one to happen on saturday, unless the white house decides to surprise us at the last minute. We are not likely to hear from the president during this trip in any kind of formal setting, in a News Conference, particularly to answer these very important questions right now about his own soninlaw in his own family. Hes still got twitter. Reporter he still has that. Thats true. Thats true. Okay. Reporter so perhaps well hear a response that way, but not the same thing as a News Conference. And its something that weve asked the white house time and again. We were asking about this earlier today, and they said, well, nothing is final. You know, perhaps something might happen. But anderson, i think at this point, we probably can bet on that this is not going to happen. Were going to be nine days on the road, overseas with the president of the United States. Hes not taking questions in a formal setting from reporters. Jim acosta, thanks for that. Back with the panel, matt lewis, april ryan, scott jennings, ryan lizza, pam brown and evan are staying with us. So how significant is this . Its significant for the reasons that pam and evan were talking at the end of their appearance there. He is the most powerful person in the white house, except for the president himself, right . Jared kushner, and of course, hes a member of trumps family. So the investigation is now inside the white house, in a way that previous to this it wasnt. That is extremely significant. You know, when i would Ask White House officials about manfort and carter page and roger stone, the word a senior white house official used earlier this year, you know, we had a lot of marginalia associated with the early part of the Trump Campaign. And that was their way of sort of separating themselves from those folks. Well, Jared Kushner is not marginal to this white house. And he was not marginal to the campaign. He essentially ran the campaign. And he, in a lot of ways, is running the Trump White House. And he cant be fired. Most aides, senior aides who are in senior positions and get mired in a scandal, well, the president can just discard them. You cant do that when hes your soninlaw. So we obviously need to know a lot more. The Washington Post was very careful to say that hes not the target of the investigation, but this is a blockbuster development. Marginalia. I havent heard that word. An interesting word. Evan perez is reporting that the government has collected information on computer bots allegedly linked to russia that helped push negative information to Hillary Clinton and positive information to donald trump. Theyre looking at the Trump Campaigns Data Analytics operation which was supervised by Jared Kushner to see if anyone knowingly or unwittingly tried to help russia. You work for the Trump Campaign. What do you make of that . Look, i think its all going to come out in due course, anderson. I think that the post article is obtuse, at best. I think that, as you heard described earlier by pam is that jared is at best a witness in this. There is this is all going to come out. I think director mueller is going to do a great job. Theres not going to be this leaking. I think we had breaking news last hour when Carl Bernstein of by the way, i didnt say he was of watergate fame agreed with me that there was a problem with the fbi leaking. I think that that was kind of glossed over, that there is a problem with leaks at the fbi, and that should be investigated. I dont think theres a whole lot of there there. I think its a slow news day. I think were back to its actually not just as someone who works in the newsroom, its not a slow newsroom. Theres actually a lot of stuff, but this is pretty big. Anderson, ive been around here, so let me say this with this quick piece here. Feelings arent facts. Just because a lot of people in america arent happy that Donald Trumps the president doesnt mean that something nefarious happened. And contacts dont equal collusion. So lets not lose sight of those two facts. I dont know that were reporting feelings, though. These seem to be actual facts that this is actually happening. Im not so sure. That this is actually happening. Yeah, that meetings happened. Yeah. But criminal acts happened, we dont know. We have no evidence but were sitting around talking about it like they are. Whats happening is an investigation. You would not deny that there is an investigation. And a criminal investigation. There is an investigation. David gergen, you were saying . Well, i just dont think you can sweep this away as objectionable as the leaks may be. The fact is, we have rarely in the last 40 years had criminal investigations that go right into the heart of the white house. And, you know, Jared Kushner is not a target at the moment. We all know that. But if youre the investigators on the other side, you know, hes the man who has most of the answers. All roads lead through Jared Kushner. I think and he said and david, he said he will cooperate is very interesting. Because i have always been skeptical that there was any sort of collusion. Part of the reason was, i was saying, why does russia need anything from us or from trump to meddle in this election . They obviously can get things from wikileaks, they can play the media, they can so, i was always wondering, like, what would they need from trump . What would they need from us . And that would explain it, right . This is still a hypothetical possibility, but it has plausible that the Trump Campaign had targeting informs that russia, even with all their spies, wouldnt have. So, for example, if you are a working class guy in wisconsin and you were getting on facebook the day before election, you could be served a negative hillary ad. Maybe they know that targeting, this make targicrotargeting, it that youre thinking about voting for hillary. Lets not get down the road of speculation well, why couldnt the russians anderson, if the russians have such a complex operation, if they wanted that information, why couldnt they have simply hacked in and taken that information . They could have. I im just asking the question. Paul . If theyre so complex, why couldnt they have simply hacked in and taken it again, were getting down the road of hypotheticals, which doesnt help anybody. Lets stick to what we know, theres an Investigation Underway and now Jared Kushner is being his name is being thrown into it. Heres what the post says. That in addition to possible financial crimes, which is a whole different kettle of fish, which would really scare me if i were Jared Kushners lawyer, the meetings that jared had, which could have been, maybe were, perfectly legitimate in the transition, to meet with the rupgs ambassad russian ambassador, i get that. Why meet with sergey gorkov, the head of a controversial state hoec stateowned russian back that is under american sanctions. I havent heard a good explanation. The explanation we get from white house officials is, well, they were looking for other routes to putin. First off, they had the ambassador. I dont know any ambassador that says, dont go through me, go through this Controversial Bank and we know that Jared Kushner was doing business at the same time as this transition. He was meeting with the chinese for his family business. This is my advice for jared. Im not being obtuse and this is not marginalia. Two words, dont lie. Wheres the camera . Jared, dont lie. Dont lie. Theyll catch you. Bob mueller is the most thorough investigator in america. He will know everything about this. He has the entire apparatus of National Security and the fbi at his disposal. He will catch you. And whats the chances that when you met with that russian banker, he taped the meeting . So if you lie about what happened in the meeting, he could hold a perjury rap over your head. Dont lie, jared, dont lie. Which is exactly what happened with Michael Flynn, paul. Michael flynn, when he met with sergey kislyak, the ambassador, and then lied about the apparently lied the to his superiors at the white house. Well, both the United States government and the russian government had a transcript of that call, and is what sort of busted him and led to him eventually being dismissed. Scott, just in terms of moving forward, for this white house, i mean, a white house that obviously wants to get its legislative agenda through, wants to make great accomplishments and help the country, how much does this bog things down . And how do they get around that . Pauls talked in the past about bill clintons ability to kind of segregate things to, you know, to compartmentalize parts of the white house. David, i think, had talked about or john talked about the Richard Nixon white house has being very compartmentalized. Is this white house as compartmentalized . It may not be yet, but it needs to be. And the one thing politically that the Trump White House has going for it is out where i live in the middle of the country, people voted in the november election as a rejection of incrementalism. For the last six years of the obama administration, we had policy incrementalism in this country. The election was a major rejection of that. That still exists. And now were bogged down in the middle of investigations and all this stuff. And guess what . nobody out there in the country whos getting up and going to work every day, paying a mortgage, worrying about their kids school. This doesnt impact their daily life. They want to see washington working on things that do impact their daily life. So if i were the Trump White House let him finish. If i were the Trump White House, part of compartmentalizing this means marshaling those people that put him in the white house to demand that washington compartmentalize this. Sure, lets have an investigation. Lets get the facts. But lets not let it get in the way of the message that was sent in november, which is, we dont want to have policy incrementalism. We have to have change april, you know this white house well. Are they able to compartmentalize, at this point . No, not at all. They there is a big learning curve. We talk about that all the time. Theyre trying to deflect on a lot of issues. Theyre also trying to put things forward. Theyre trying to deal with aca, theyre trying to deal with the wall. But this is an albatross around their neck. And paul and i were at the white house together at the time of the ken starr investigation. And paul, as a reporter, i remember that this president , at the time, bill clinton, could not really push a lot of the initiatives through, because that was really hanging over the head of the administration. But also, at the same time, they tried to move things through, but what was the overshadowing piece, that ken starr investigation. David gergen, youve worked in white houses under investigation. Absolutely. And listen, the republicans still control the house and the senate, right . And if things are bogged down, you cant blame mueller and the investigation, nor even the leaks, frankly. You know, theyve got very controversial legislation up there and the president needs to take a leave when he gets back. But i keep wondering, and paul, i would be curious about your view on this. Should Jared Kushner think about taking a leave of absence while he clears this up . Because its going to be such a distraction inside the white house. And he is radioactive. I hadnt thought of that, he might have to. He seems able, and theres a dearth of able people in that building, if you ask me. And perhaps so. I hadnt thought about it. But i do know he cant talk he oughtnt talk to the president about this investigation. And no one on the staff should talk to him about it, either. Because they could be called. And you dont want to be accused of trying to i agree with that. Its so different from a campaign. On the campaign, youre trying to get everybody on the same message. If youre in a criminal investigation and you get everybody on the same mental, thats obstruction of justice and thats witness tampering. What would be your advice . You serve at the pleasure of the president and when youre a commissioned officer, you take an oath and take an oath to serve the constitution. But when youre in those jobs, youre there because the president has trust in you and confidence in you. And the minute you dont have trust and confidence and you lose the pleasure, youre out. So i think as long as Jared Kushner has the trust and confidence of the president , he ought to stay in his job. But i think he ought to talk to the president about things that if he feels like hes being impeded from doing the tasks that the president has given him, then they do need to deal with that, because as was pointed out, he has been given a lot of important things to work on. I mean, its a major part of every piece of the trump agenda that kushner is involved in. I am very uncomfortable with the concept, though, of someone being forced to take a leave of absence based on an anonymously sourced deal. Hes a witness, he may have information. It strikes me that weve got carts way out in front of horses on this deal. And the concept of people being run out of their jobs, who have very important positions hes not being run out of a job. I think were well premature on that. I do think this is different in this sense. I dont know if he should take a leave of absence. David first raised it and i didnt even think about it. When karl rove was under investigation and he was cleared, people should know that, he was cleared of wrongdoing. I had confidence that george w. Bush was a disciplined enough man not to talk to karl about what he was being investigated for. I wasnt there, but i actually believed that. I believe neither karl nor the president crossed that line. I dont have enough confidence in donald trump to keep his stupid mouth shut and not obstruct justice or tamper with the witness when his witness is the soninlaw. That is the point. Everyone at the table is talking about it like its a nice package with a pretty bow. This president does not know boundaries, still. And we are finding out day after day. And the question is, really, is it about Jared Kushner possibly taking a leave of absence because his fatherinlaw is not able to handle the magnitude and the gravity of what really is at stake. Thats the problem with the compartmental thats not my opinion, thats what im reporting and i see every day. I hear you, but guess what and republicans are also concerned. You have donors who are concerned at this moment. And you so people are very its not a partisan issue. I hear you, but heres the deal. He won the election and hes going to be president its not about the election. Its about whats happening right now. It is. Because when you get an election, you get four years to enact an agenda. And to sit here and say, well, we dont trust that he gets the boundaries so he cant do this, that, and the other but there is proof what happened with the russians in the oval office . What happened there . What happened with james comey . Please, help me. Help me understand. I wasnt there and you werent there but i reported on it. The president the president tweeted a about it. Did the president tweet its his prerogative to have a conversation the president said, we hope this is not recorded, on twitter he did that to himself he told the world. So do you believe that he understands boundaries . There are examples that the president has given us himself. Heres what i think. Donald trump ran a campaign and the central message was, this is i hate lets stay on the issue this is not about the campaign. This is about now. I think you have a valid point. But heres where im going. His whole memg assage and the rn hes in the white house is, im going to turn around washington, d. C. Im going to turn it upsidedown. And i think most of his supporters think, if youre going to turn upsidedown washington, d. C. Lets not relitigate the campaign. But i think its important to understand the reason that he is there Still Matters today, because as he tries to hold theres a learning curve for this president. Longer and deeper than others. Dont you think he deserves some of the responsibility for getting all of this mess going . Dont you think he has some responsibility i mean, this isnt a virgin birth of an investigation. I mean, this came, you know, from a lot of the things it happened with people around him. People who are reporting to him. We dont know but when you have a criminal investigation that involves a lot of people right now and had been going on for, what, ten months or so, and they still dont seem to be anywhere close to the end, he bears some responsibility as president for making this happen. Weve got to take a break. We have very much ahead. Ryan lizza and paul begala spoke on marginalia. Well talk about how unmarginal Jared Kushner is. Well be right back. A meticulously crafted interior. 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Well handle the legal stuff that comes up along the way. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. In saying that Jared Kushner is now a focus in the fbis russia probe, we should underscore that a focus is not the same as saying the focus or the target. All the same, he is certainly now under greater scrutiny. And even before tonight, he was the focus of enormous attention, seemingly because of his evaluated position and how he got there. Joining us now to talk about is new york magazines andrew rice. Hard to understate the importance of kushner to the trump family and the Trump White House. Your cover story on him was called president inlaw. Yeah, in fact during the time period i was reporting this story was really when all of these meetings had now become the subject of federal investigation, reportedly were taking place. So i can give a little context as to sort of what Jared Kushner was doing during that time period. You know, he really was running everything in the transition and micromanaging it, i think, to a degree that professional political people probably wouldnt have done, but he was coming from a completely different kind of background and thought that, you know, he was going to disrupt the political transition process in the same way that he disrupted the campaign, in his opinion. About kushner, you wrote, quote, above all, he and trump share a clannish outlook on life, business, and politics. Which its interesting, this whole clannish nature of sort of the way the white house is being operated, the way both of their businesses were being operated. How do you think this news, this scrutiny by the fbi, how does that factor into this . Well, i think that for both jared and donald trump, this whole ethic of sort of family first and the people within the family being really the people that you trust with the post important decisions, even if theyre not necessarily within their realm of previous expertise, is a theme that weve really seen throughout this administration. I think that one thing thats important to mention with jared and when you talk about sort of that family, you know, clannish ethic, part of it is about that family loyalty ethic, ironically, has to do with his experience of going through a federal investigation with his own father, who ended up going to prison. So there is so, really, one thing that i think, when you hear these reports about jared being under federal investigation, hes seen this before. Hes seen what being under investigation by the fbi can do to a person and can do to a female. And so, therefore, i think that its just an important thing to keep in mind, as that he had this experience and he felt, perhaps hes one of the few people who felt this way, but he felt that his father was a victim of persecution by the fbi. Is it clear i mean, he few people have probably even heard him speak. Its not known really what his positions are on things, which is rare for someone whos so close to the president and such an adviser. I mean, how smart has he been in the world of business and i guess in the world of politics . Is it known . Well, i mean, hes 36 years old, i mean, which is, you know, not an enormous a lot of time to amass a track record. Hes been fairly successful in the realm of commercial real estate. Hes had some missteps, too. His largest investment within the realm of commercial raelt was in this building called 666 fifth, which i think, you know, has come back to haunt him a little bit in the more recent times, because, basically, in the effort to find Equity Partners to kind of help them out on that investment, which has not been very successful, he went to this Chinese Insurance Company with links to the government and caused sort of things that would have been beyond question, you know, things that you could do if you were just a private business person, suddenly became sort of verboten for Jared Kushner in government. And i think hes had trouble, at least initially, of figuring out what that line between public and private interest is. Andrew rice, appreciate you joining us. Thank you. Joining us now is Fareed Zakaria, host of Fareed Zakaria gps and also Carl Bernstein and the New York Times matthew rosenberg. So, fareed, now that the russia investigation really is inside the white house, you cant overstate how close kushner is to the president. No, kushner is really the deputy president. I mean, its absolutely clear that the president relies on him, trusts him, as we saw, in the most important and interesting power struggle that took place in the white house in the early weeks. Steve bannon, who had seemed the ideologyist in chief, the strategist in chief, given these lofty titles, was instantly sidelined when he crossed Jared Kushner. And trump did something i dont recall any president ever doing, publicly humiliating an aide of his, while still keeping him on, by letting the New York Post know just what he thought of him, which was to say, compared with Jared Kushner, this guy is a johnnycomelately, i dont have that many bonds with him. So kushner is absolutely central. And he continues in a pattern that remains a little mystifying. I think its important to say, as you have, you know, we know nothing about anything any actual wrongdoing, but what is striking is the pattern of a number of highlylevel meetings that took place with this one country, russia. I dont know of perhaps there were, but there certainly do not seem to be in the public realm or knowledge, similar meetings with the chinese ambassador, the british ambassador, the french ambassador, the french ambassador is a very powerful, wellcollected figure in washington. Theres all these meetings with the russians. And almost all of them, the person involved in the Trump Campaign somehow forgot to report it in the security clees clearances, to the public, and sort of fudged it with somebody else mike sessions, Jared Kushner. So, theres just and then you add to it, as ive always said, the central puzzle of the trump Foreign Policy, which is, why is he so nice to russia. Why was throughout the campaign, a guy who kept berating every country for swindling the United States, who goes to nato today, to our closest allies, and basically reads them the riot act, but somehow has always had this soft spot for russia. Matthew rosenberg, the fact that Jared Kushner didnt disclose meetings with russia on his security clearance application is not helpful for the optics of that. They did then go back and say that it was sent in too early or something. There are real questions here and they have yet to be answered. And one thing is, we focus on the meetings with kislyak, the ambassador, and thaur importaey important, but he also in december met with a russian banker who runs veb, aback sanctioned by the u. S. , close to the kremlin. The banker he met with attended the russian intelligence committe academy. There are real questions. Why are you meeting with this guy . What did you hope to gain . This bank was under sanction . Was there sympathetic elomethin . And you didnt need private investigators to figure out who the banker was . Its the first page of google results if you put in his name, comes up with all of this information. And i just like fareed said, there are real questions. And that they were constantly kind of wouldnt even acknowledge it. Like this would dribble out, oh, yeah, we did meet with that guy. Oh, yeah, no, that thing we said we didnt do, we did do. It becomes, you know, it raises more questions and i think theyre going to keep getting them. Carl, i mean, Jared Kushners attorney points out that hes already volunteered to talk to congress about this. They say hell do the same with any other inquiries. Should he be cut some slack in the meantime or not . I think we have to look at kushner as someone whos entitled to a presumption of legal innocence until we know otherwise. But we also know that he is the key to understanding both the Trump Organization and the campaigns finances. That the trump administration, that donald trump, the Kushner Family all were in search of loans for a lock time. And the fbi, for a while, as have reporters, have been trying to find out what loans from russian oligarchs, from russian entities, from russians went to the trumps, to the kushners, to the Trump Organizations. Theres the old thing about follow the money, but we also have in this investigation, by the press, particularly, follow the lies. Follow the money, follow the lies. Because there has been so much lying. And earlier, david urban, a trump surrogate, talked about the notion that the press is doing this because theyre getting all these leaks. In fact, what the president has been doing is following the les. And following the money, because there are investigators who are convinced that a coverup is going on. Doesnt mean theres an obstruction of justice. What is being covered up . We dont know. But thats one of the things that Robert Mueller is going to try to find out. What is being covered up. And matthew, Jared Kushner is and kushner is key to answering. Matthew, during the transition, Jared Kushner was still doing business for his fathers company, for his familys company. I mean, they were he was meeting with if memory serves me correct, with chinese potential chinese investors in one of his buildings, and it was a Chinese Company that had links to the government, and i think it was a Chinese Company that when they bought a hotel in new york, it was a hotel that president obama would no longer stay in. I think it was the waldorf astoria, because they were afraid that maybe that company had put bugging devices in at the behest of the chinese government, if memory serves. Absolutely. And you know, his this actually raises the question of, what are the qualifications that kushner brings to the white house. And i think that is something that we dont spend a lot of time talking about, that we do have to address. And i think it was always going to be a problem or a challenge when trump was running for president. Is that, this is somebody who surrounds himself with family members. But this isnt something that is usual. You may not have agreed with people in the Obama White House or people in the bush white house, but everybody who was in senior positions had spent a lifetime working in the government, thinking about the world, maybe working in private business, but they were engaged with the world. They werent running small i guess theyre big real estate empires in one city. And i think that that inexperience shows, because if you knew more about the world, if you knew more about how the government worked and how, you know, diplomatic relations worked, you wouldnt have stumbled into meetings with russian bankers and fareed, i think matthew makeses an interesting point. Not only is there no political experience here, but these people who were working for their fathers company. This is someone who inherited the position, and i assume hes very competent and continued doing fine, but its not as though he created his own company on his own. And you know, the point that matthew is making, i think, is very important to think about the three countries in the way that weve been talking about recently. Russia, china, saudi arabia. These are all three countries that have in their foreign policies around the world routinely bribed the family members of the leaders of the countries they deal with. If you watch Russian Foreign policy in central augusta and eastern europe, that is what they do. If you watch chinese Foreign Policy in asia and africa, that is what they do. And if you watch saudi Foreign Policy almost everywhere, thats what they do. Theyre used to this idea that you find a business associate of the leader, a relative, perhaps, you make an investment, you make a donation, so this is a Standard Operating Procedure for russia, for china, for saudi arabia. But its never been something that happened in the United States. And you would think that for somebody like Jared Kushner, who would have more experience, you would be very conscious of that reality and be very conscious to draw very sharp lines, build very clear boundaries, not have any insinuation. Because this is Standard Operating Procedure for the chinese government. This is Standard Operating Procedure for the saudis. Thats fascinating. Fareed zakaria, Carl Bernstein, matthew, thank you all very much. Up ahead, when this means in a legal sense for Jared Kushner. Our legal panel weighs in. F che. Its fast, powerful relief with no chalky taste. [ sings high note ] ultra strength, new from alkaseltzer. Enjoy the relief. We, the device loving people want more than just unlimited data. We want unlimited entertainment. So we can stream unlimited action. Watch unlimited robots. Watch unlimited romance. If you are into that. But we also want more like. Unlimited hbo. Can i stop dying now mark . No cant do mi amigo. Its unlimited. Besides you are really good at it james. Dont settle for any unlimited data plan. Only the at t unlimited plus plan comes with hbo included at no extra charge. Mattress firmness . Enter sleep number. She likes the bed soft. Hes more hardcore. You can both adjust the bed for the best sleep of your life. Save 700 on the temperature balancing i8 bed. Go to sleepnumber. Com for a store near you. Well, the breaking news tonight. The fbis russia investigation has moved inside the white house and into the trump family. Jared kushner, the president s close adviser and soninlaw is now a focus in the fbis collusion probe. We say a focus, not the focus, not a target, not a suspect. Theyre focusing on mr. Kushners multiple roles in the campaign and the transition. His lawyer says hes willing to speak with investigators and share information with them if contacted. This new twist comes as the white house is ramping up its war office to respond to information coming out of the multiple russia investigations that are underway. Joining me now is jeffrey toobin, alan dershowitz, and joining me us on the phone is michael mukasey, whos also served a as a federal judge. Attorney general mukasey, lets start with you. So we should, again, Jared Kushner is not a suspect here, hes not a person of interest, he is just, were told, a focus. They want to speak to him, because he basically, it seems like, a witness. What do you make of this . What i make of it is, if you read back what you just said, you used two terms that are unknown to any federal investigator. Person of interest is not a term that any federal investigator ever uses. And its not a term thats appropriate to this investigation. This is a National Security reque investigation. Its not a criminal investigation. In criminal investigations, there are three kinds of folks that the authorities talk to. Witnesses who may have some fact that theyre interested in investigating. Subjects, who may be looked at, because its possible that they committed crimes. And targets, who people who theyve already got enough evidence to indict, but as to whom they are still conducting an investigation. None of those terms is appropriate here, because this is a National Security investigation. Its not a criminal investigation. And so, pretty much everybody is a witness. Now, what are they a witness to . Theyre probably a witness to the fact that the russians were trying to get close to influence people of influence. Thats what they do. That is not, in itself, surprising. So what is perfectly appropriate, obviously, is for the fbi to investigate and find out the extent to which they might have actually influenced somebody. I think the attorney general makes an excellent point about this term, person of interest, which is this sort of media term that is not familiar to those of us who have practiced in the federal courts. However, i think the attorney general mukasey is very much wrong that this is just a National Security investigation, and not a grand jury investigation for criminality. There have already been subpoenas sent out from the Eastern District of virginia, connected to the flynn matter. So this is very much a criminal investigation. The flynn matter is something separate. Well from this. Well, so say you. I mean, how do you know thats the case . I mean, this is all going to come under muellers under muellers jurisdiction. No doubt it will. He is going to have to sort it out. But to say that this is not related to a criminal investigation, i just think, thats youre assuming a conclusion that, you know, may or may not turn out to be the case. I think absent evidence, its the only thing you can conclude about what theyre actually doing. Didnt Lindsey Graham say he believes this is now a criminal investigation . Professor dershowitz, what do you think . Well, i think that attorney general moukasey is absolutely right. This is being done backwards. And it raises great concerns about Civil Liberties. Usually, you can point to a statute and say, were investigating crime under this statute. What mueller seems to be doing is saying, we dont like what happened. Maybe there was some collaboration. But i cant figure out what statute was being violated. You know, when Hillary Clinton was being investigated, at least we knew what the statute was but, alan hes been working whats the statute . I dont get it hes been working for a week, how do you expect him to have decided what investigation he shouldnt be working for five minutes one at a time dont you agree that theres a great danger dont you agree that theres a great danger to Civil Liberties when you say, lets investigate and maybe well find something that we can find a statute to fit. Thats not the way it ought to happen and if i were Jared Kushners lawyer and his lawyer is a terrific lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, who was amy student, i would sa, first to the investigators, before you talk to my client, i want to know what your authority is. What your jurisdiction is. What statute you want a statute . What statute are you looking at. Aiding and abetting hacking. Its a crime. Oh, come on you have to show evidence. Youre just making that up im not making you have to show evidence that not only they knew about the hacking but that they worked hand in glove with them. Alan youre just making that up. Let me talk. Every National Security apparatus in the American Government has said the russian government initiated this campaign to defeat Hillary Clinton, part of which was, hacking into the dnc, hacking into John Podestas emails. Thats proved by the russians. We also have an extraordinary number of contacts between Trump Campaign officials, Jared Kushner, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, with russian government and russianaffiliated people. Was there a nexus between who they were talking to and the hacking . I dont know yet. Thats why we have investigations. Jeff, i take umbrage i take umbrage of the notion that extraordinary define extraordinary, jeffrey. There were contacts. What is extraordinary in your mind . What was extraordinary . Sure. Why was Jared Kushner meeting with but you said it was extraordinary. You said there were an extraordinary number, so tell me i think the comparison is to say, meeting with chinese officials or french officials, how many times did they meet with the french ambassador or french banker. I think thats the issue and why went asked about it, every one of them seems to either lie or forget or not disclose and they all have complicated splap ed explanatioy they didnt disclose it. As every prosecutor knows, when you dont disclose something, one explanation is consciousness o of guilt. This is why you have an investigation. Go ahead. Jeffrey, do you really believe that anybody in the Trump Campaign worked with the russians and told them to target the dnc, to tell them how to do it. That they facilitated that . I think the worstcase scenario is that they were like wikileaks or the Washington Post i dont know you dont know, but thats not the basis for having a criminal investigation. I dont know. For example, you had the candidate trump saying, go, wikileaks saying, i think wikileaks is doing a great job. Is that enough evidence for you. Does that sound like a crime to you . I dont know. Of course not thats just talk youre here to explain all of this stuff away for it to be a crime, you have to jeffrey, i want how about facts . Thats a fact. I dont like criminal investigations to start on hoping that you have the target, maybe well find the crime, maybe well find the statute, and if we cant find the statute, well stretch the statute to fit the person. That sounds like joseph stalin. Show me the man and ill find you the crime. I dont want to ever see that come to america. Neither do i. And jeffrey, i dont want to beat this horse, but we all remember late senator ted stevens and what happened in this town was an aberration and should never be forgotten, by anyone. I i covered that case extensively and it was a terrible performance by the Justice Department. But but, but but to say that Robert Mueller, who is perhaps the most honored im not impugning Robert Mueller. Im not impugning Robert Mueller prosecutor in the country let me bring in attorney general mukasey. Attorney general, now that kushner i mean, can Jared Kushner talk about any aspect of this with the president or with anyone in the white house for that matter . It is, as they say, a free country. He can talk to whomever he likes. The fact is that Foreign Countries try to influence people of influence. They do it. The russians do it. The israelis do it. The chinese do it. As a matter of fact, i can recall a group of americans who went over to israel to try to influence the outcome of the israeli elections. It happens. That is a perfectly proper subject for a National Security investigation. On the other hand, when somebody misrepresents on his fs86 who hes had contact with and conceals things from people who have a right to know them, thats a violation of a specific title and a specific section, section 1001 of title 18. Its a false statement to a federal officer. That is a crime. But simply being influenced or being approached by somebody who wants to influence you, is not a crime. And so far as benefiting from somebody elses crime, as the republicans may very well have benefited from the russians crime, is not in itself a crime. I think the attorney general is exactly right. I mean, you know, these are i mean, 1001, making false statements on the security clearance application is is a crime, if its done intentionally and with bad intent. But, but this is why we have an investigation. We dont go on cable tv the week after Robert Mueller has been appointed and say, well, theres nothing here. Weve got to leave it there. I appreciate the discussion. Coming up, the president lecturing nato allies. Also, an interesting moment where he seemed to push aside a foreign leader. The latest on his trip to brussels, next. Ou have allergie it can seem like triggers pop up everywhere. Luckily theres powerful, 24hour, nondrowsy claritin. It provides relief of symptoms that can be triggered by over 200 different allergens. Live claritin clear. When heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. That the essence of integrity is a promise kept. If youve got the time welcome to the high life. Weve got the beer miller beer yet up 90 fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. Lets do more. Add one a day womens complete with key nutrients we may need. Plus it supports bone health with calcium and vitamin d. One a day womens in gummies and tablets. I decided to see if there was a way for design to play a. 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Again, the breaking news from the top of the hour, cnn learned the ps close adviser and soninlaw, Jared Kushner, is a focus in the fbis russian collusion probe, not the focus. Investigators we are told are looking at kushners multiple roles in the campaign swelas wes the transsis. Comes as President Trump is headed to the final stretch of his first overseas trip as commander in chief. He hit some turbulence, for starters mr. Trump got an earful from british Prime Minister treess is a may about intelligence that was leaked after britain shared it with the u. S. In regards to the bombing in manchester. Mr. Trump also did scolding of his own in brussels. Jeff zeleny has details. Reporter President Trump facing tough questions tonight over whether the u. S. Can be trusted with sensitive intelligence. British officials outraged, blaming the u. S. For leaking Operational Intelligence of the Manchester Bombing to the press. Arriving at nato headquarters in brussels, british Prime Minister theresa may made clear the incident was a test of a special relationship with the u. S. I will be making clear to President Trump today that intelligence that is shared between Law Enforcement agencies must remain secure. Reporter the president did not take questions from reporters today. Mr. President , can the British Trust america with intelligence . Reporter later issued a statement calling the leaks deeply troubling. He said the leaks of Sensitive Information pose a grave threat to our National Security. He asked the Justice Department to investigate the leak and offered an apology saying theres no relationship we cherish more than the special relationship between the United States and the united kingdom. It was an embarrassing moment for the president s debut on the world stage. Mr. Trump sizing up some leaders for the first time. Including new french president emmanuel macron. This labored handshake before the two went off for a private lunch. Thank you very much. The president then proceeded to lecture his counterparts about their contributions to to the alliance. The awkward tension was clear. 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what theyre supposed to be paying for their defense. This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. Reporter the president s tongue lashing hardly out of the blue. Given his Campaign Rhetoric about natos mission. I never studied nato big, but i said two things, its obsolete, and the United States is paying too much. Many of these nations reporter but today his scolding tone seemed to fall flat with in of his fellow leaders as he condemned many countries for not paying their full share. We have to make up for the many years lost. 2 is the bare minimum for confronting todays very real and very vicious threats. Reporter after his remarks, the president making a brash first impression, as leaders strolled through natos new headquarters. At one point, President Trump elbowing his way to the front of the pack. That was jeff zeleny reporting. We should point out late tonight uk authorities agreed to resume intelligence sharing with the u. S. Lots to discuss. Fareed zakaria is back. You know, the president had talked about nato funding on the campaign trail a lot, interesting to see him talking about it in front of the leaders there. Something thats kind of a big misperception that hes propagating which is its not as if if heez kthese countries their 2 marks its not as if the u. S. Would have to pay less. The United States pays what it wants because we want to have the worlds most powerful military. We want to dominate in asia, we want to dominate in the seven seas and the arctic and the antarctic. If belgium were to build more border, you know, have more border troops, were not going to spend less. In fact, you know, we can almost pose this question to donald trump, if they were to do it, would he cut the American Defense budget . No, of course not. So, yes, the europeans should do more, but the United States spends what it wants to spend because it wants to be the Global Military power. It also sounds like the president is not only looking for them to pay 2 , that he also wants backpay. Yeah, he keeps saying that seems to be a new in his private meetings with merkel, he kept making this point. The whole thing is, first, loony in the sense that its never going to happen, nobody it going to pay back arrears. This is not a country club. It also misses i think something very profound about nato. I think trump almost thinks hes in a bizarre if he makes outlandish claims, hell get a better deal. Nato is also a very powerful deterrent to russia and its aggression, to china, to terrorists everywhere, to its been fighting for 15 years in afghanistan. Hes undermining that function of nato because Foreign Policy doesnt operate simply at one level. Youre operating at several levels and instead, trump almost thinks hes just in a bizarre trying to haggle for the best price and if he just shames these people publicly, it will work. A, it wont work, b, youre undermining the core institution. Interesting because thats exactly what russia has wanted to do for decades to undermine nato. If you were to construct a russian plan to say what would you like the american president to do to destroy nato, it would be to go to nato headquarters and publicly, you know, highlight divisions, berate the countries and refuse to affirm article 5 which says we will come to your defense. Trump did all of that. The white house has pushed back on the fact that he didnt mention article 5, the nato trea treaty, which is obviously the bedrock section of the nato alliance. They said, you know, that he was speaking at the september 11th memorial and he did mention the article 5 at that september 11 isth memorial. How hard would it be for him to do it again . The whole world was waiting to hear him say it. All European Countries were waiting to hear him say it. Communicated this to the United States that this is what they wanted to hear from trump, instead they get a lecture about dollars and cents and whos paying 2 and whos not. By the way, a point that president obama made, his defense secretary robert gates made, and is a legitimate point, but i would guarantee the United States would not spend one penny less. The United States is not going to build any fewer aircraft carriers because belgium starts paying more for its what do you bamake of the moment where he seemed to push past or aside the leader of montenegro, the Prime Minister . You know, it was to me kind of a symbol for what i thought was awkward about the whole trip which was here youre the president of the United States, the worlds oldest democracy, leader of the free world, he goes to the arab world, he goes to saudi arabia which is really a medieval monarchy that, you know, is not really out he was critical of on the campaign trail. And talks about how wonderful these countries are, how great its all going to be, how the United States is firmly behind you. Subcontract american Foreign Policy almost to saudi arabia and its very sectarian. Somebody whos attacking radical islam, the saudis are high up there. This is the great funder, financier, id yoldealoidealogi. The whole symbolism, you almost felt like you kind of got it backwards, affirm the europeans and be a little stern with the arab au arab autocrats. Fareed zakaria, thank you. Time to hand things over to don lemon and cnn tonight. This is cnn breaking news. We have breaking news for you, two major stories. The polls, while theyre just closing in a race that everybody is watching right now, the race that got a reporter body slammed and a candidate charged with assault. And theres a Major New Development in the russia investigation to tell you about as well. This is cnn tonight. Im don almostlemon. All eyes on montana and the special election in the state to fill its open seat in the u. S. House of representatives. Democrat rob quist runni ning against Republican Greg Gianforte charged with misdemeanor assault allegedly body slamming a guardian