Transcripts For CNNW At This Hour With Kate Bolduan 20170530

Now, one source described the information as financial in nature and said the discussion centered around whether the russians had leverage within trumps inner circle. The source does say the intercepted communications suggested to u. S. Intelligence that russians believed they had the ability to influence the administration through that derogatory information. But the source is privy to the descriptions of the communications written by u. S. Intelligence did caution that the russian claims to each other could have been exaggerated or even made up. Now, the details of the communication, it sheds some new light on information u. S. Intelligence received about russian claims of influence and the contents of the conversations made clear to u. S. Officials that russia was considering ways to influence the election, even if their claims did turn out to be false. Now, as cnn first reported, the u. S. Intercepted discussions of russian officials, bragging about cultivating these relationships with Trump Campaign aides, including trumps First National security adviser, michael flynn, all to influence trump. And then following cnns report, the New York Times said that Trumps Campaign chairman, paul manafort, was also discussed. All of this coming from intelligence and congressional sources. Kate . Right, and so, do we know, jessica, who the russians were specifically talking about in terms of this derogatory information . Reporter well, you know, none of the specific details, none of the sources would actually say which specific trump aides were discussed, but one of the officials said that the Intelligence Report actually masked the american names. And despite that, though, it was clear that conversations did revolve around the Trump Campaign team in general, and another source, they wouldnt give specifics, citing the classified nature of the information. Now, as for the white house, they are giving a comment today. Theyre telling cnn this. They say, this is yet another round of false and unverified claims made by Anonymous Sources to smear the president. The reality is, a review of the president s income from the last ten years showed he had virtually no financial ties at all. There appears to be moe limit to which the president s political opponents will go to perpetuate this false narrative, including illegally leaking classified material. They continue to say, all this does is play into the hands of our adversaries and put our country at risk. The office of the director of the National Intelligence and fbi, theyre not commenting. And of course, the president himself has insisted on multiple occasions that he has no financial dealings with russia. And its clearly very tough to know, since this new investigation is kind of really just getting its feet under it, but is this part of the current investigation now . Yeah, this is all part of this. The fbi investigation is into the russian meddling in the u. S. Election. As we know, recently taken over by special counsel robert mueller, and it includes seeking answers as to whether there was any coordination with associates of trump examining those alleged financial dealings of key Trump Associates. So this is all part of it, but the fbi would not comment on whether any of the claims discussed in those intercepted have, in fact, been verified. Its important to note, by the time trump took office, questions about some of his aides financial dealings with russian entities, those were already under investigation, kate. Thats right. Thats right. Jessica, great to see you. Thank you so much for laying it out for us. A lot more to come on this. Joining me to discuss this new, very interesting information is cnn politics reporter and editor at large Chris Cillizza and former chief legal officer at the cia, john rizzo. He is also author of company man about his 34 years at the agency. Great to see you both. Thanks for being here. John, let me ask you, just a gut check, if you will. Russian government officials discussing potentially derogatory information about then president ial candidate trump and his top aides. As someone who spent a career dealing in intelligence, do you believe them . Do i believe the reports accurate . No, the russians. Do you believe the russians in what theyd be discussing . Not necessarily. I mean, as jessica reported, this could have been, you know, one of three things one it was actually true and they did have derogatory information, two, it was disinformation, they knew it was going to get to u. S. Ears, and three, frankly, based on my experience, it could be a couple russian operatives just sort of puffing to each other. You know, i mean, seeing the potential there and sort of blueskying that, gee, you know, this is during the campaign, the controversy about mr. Trumps taxes and mr. Manafort and the others. You know, that was out there in the Public Domain, so it could have just been to russian agents sort of, as i say, blueskying it. Blueskying it. Thats a good way of putting it. So, chris, the white house responds to this. Jessica laid it out. They denied it, but also, what we have seen before, attacking the leak of the information. Add to that a curious tweet that came from the president this morning. The president tweeting, russian officials must be laughing at the u. S. And how a lame excuse for why the democrats lost the election has taken over the fake news we dont know exactly what element of the russia story that the president is commenting on with this tweet, but regardless, is he helping or hurting the white house response here . They had a very clear response that they put out, and then the president has this tweet. Well, the truth of the matter, kate, is the white house response is what donald trump says the white house response is. You can put out a statement we saw this with why was comey fired . The white house came up with a narrative and donald trump went rogue and said his own thing. I would say broadly speaking, no, its not helping for a couple reasons message confusion. What is it . Whats happening specifically . How is the white house specifically reacting . Second, you know, i feel like a broken record and i just hate myself saying this over and over again, just play it, which is, you can debate the collusion aspect of it. That is clearly under investigation. But the idea that this is a democraticled effort just is not borne out. This is a federal investigation, the fbi, special prosecutor, congressional committees led by republicans who hold the majorities in congress. So, it can be fine, i guess, as a talking point, but its just not factually accurate. Its not something its something he said many times before and something he will say many times again. It doesnt make it true. There are many other tweets that happened this morning well get to later in the show. But john, on this news today, if this derogatory information is true, does that necessarily mean that the president , then president ial candidate trump was compromised . Well, not necessarily. I mean, as i say, it could have just been largely aspirational chitchat. And i say, there was already stuff in the Public Domain during the campaign that questioned his finances, his failure to make public his tax return, all of that. I tell you, what i find interesting about this, kate, is apparently, during the campaign there were, according to your report, there were apparently russian officials giving the possibility of mr. Trump becoming president a lot more credence than a lot of people were in this country at the time. Again, maybe aspirational. Maybe blueskying it there as well, then it also came true. Chris, take this in the context of much more news over the weekend about Jared Kushner. Youve got the fbi is interested in his meeting with a russian banker with close ties to vladimir putin, also reports of russian officials saying that kushner during the transition sought to create a back channel with the kremlin. What does this mean for President Trumps first week back from this big overseas trip . Nothing good, because were talking about it, right . Donald trump viewed and you can debate this, but donald trump viewed that nineday, fivecountry trip as an overwhelming success in his mind. And in terms of message discipline, it probably was. He really avoided or was kept from tweeting terribly aggressively, and he did stay largely on the message they wanted. But what was the talk of the sunday shows . What is the talk of today . Jared kushner. Typically, i would say, kate, that when a staffer makes bad news for donald trump, thats bad news for that staffer. You dont remain a staffer for all that long, but this is Jared Kushner. Yeah, different. Who is also his soninlaw. And its always the question as it relates to putting family in these positions, what do you do in circumstances where the family is doing something or saying something that they shouldnt or doesnt look good . Donald trump usually jettisons them, if his three Campaign Managers is any indication. I dont think you can jettison Jared Kushner if youre donald trump, so the question is what else does he do . Does someone else become Collateral Damage for his frustration at all the negative press that Jared Kushner has brought both on himself and on the administration more broadly . Stand by i guess for that. And john, reaction to this backchannel reporting i guess depends on who you talk to. Heres the secretary of homeland security, john kelly, and also republican senator john mccain. Listen to this. I would just say that any line of communication to a country, particularly a country like russia, is a good thing. My view of it is i dont like it. I just dont i know that some Administration Officials are saying, well, thats standard procedure. I dont think its standard procedure prior to the inauguration of a president of the United States by someone who is not in an appointed position. John, with your years of experience, which is it in your view . Well, kate, maybe its because im a lawyer, but i fall somewhere in the middle. The fact of setting up a private channel, establishing a private dialogue, a mechanism for doing that during the transition period, i dont find that offensive or alarming in and of itself. What is concerning, of course, is the assertiveness of it, apparently. Mr. Kushner, i dont know whether he bothered to check, to get Background Information from the Intel Community about the two russians he was going to be apparently talking to. It would have been useful for him to do that. I dont know if it did. But as i say, the whole, sort of the secret cloak and dagger nature, you know, is worrisome. John rizzo, Chris Cillizza, good to see you. Thank you very much. Never worrisome when you gruy on. I really appreciate it. Also new this morning, new details about where the president s head is right now since returning from the overseas trip. Why are sources saying that hes emotionally withdrawing . Plus, brandnew details just in on the arrest of tiger woods. Were now learning how police found him and what happened when he took a breathalyzer. And a republican lawmaker says he called Immigration Enforcement to round up some protesters at the statehouse in texas. Moments later, chaos breaks out in the statehouse. See what happened, next. 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Investigators are raising new questions about what exactly the motive was for Jared Kushners december meeting with russian banking executive sergei gorkov. Scott glover, he knows a couple things about this banker. He joins me now. Hes cnn investigative reporter. Scott, you have dug very deeply into his bank, bv. Youve dug deeply into gorkov himself. Who is this banker now at the center of this new line of inquiry for federal investigators . Well, mr. Gorkov is chairman of veb, and he was appointed to that post last year by putin. He has the sort of pedigree that putin would appreciate, having graduated from the Russian Academy of services, the cool that trains people to work in the intelligence and Security Services in russia, and that is the sort of thing that putin prizes. How close is he to president putin . You know, im not an expert in that area, but based on the fact that he graduated from the Security Services and that the bank has bailed out some oligarchs who are in favor with putin and funded one of putins pet projects, the 2014 olympics in sochi, i think it would be fair to surmise that the two are fairly close. And scott, this is a man who, as you said, is chairman of a bank that is still under sanction by the United States. Why did the u. S. Impose sanctions . They imposed sanctions after russia annexed crimea. They were placed on the list in 2014. And the meeting that kushner had, you know, is not a violation of those sanctions, but it is something i think that probably adds to the overall picture that investigators are curious about. And another thing is that the meeting was described differently by the white house and by the bank at the time. Oh, thats right. The white house said yes that kushner was there, you know, as an adviser to trump, and the bank said he was there as the head of kushner companies. So, there was sort of conflicting statements at that time, which im sure is something that investigators are interested in as well. Yeah. And now all of this coming back into the spotlight with news of with the reports of kushner seeking a back channel with russia. Who is involved with that, how that would go down, and now this is becoming a new spotlight and a new area of scrutiny for federal investigators. Scott, thanks so much for coming on. Appreciate it. My pleasure. Coming up for us, more on the breaking news. Cnn reporting that russian officials believe they had possible derogatory information on candidate trump and his campaign. Find out how russia wanted to leverage that intelligence, if they had it. Plus, tiger woods apologizes but says alcohol was not involved in his dui arrest. So what does this admission and what does his denial mean for the case against him . Thats next. Hes a nascar champion whos faced thousands of drivers. Shes a worldclass swimmer whos stared down the best in her sport. But for both of them, the most challenging opponent was. Pe blood clots in my lung. It was really scary. A dvt in my leg. I had to learn all i could to help protect myself. My doctor and i choose xarelto® xarelto®. To help keep me protected. Xarelto® is a latestgeneration blood thinner. Thats proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots from happening again. In clinical studies, almost 98 of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. Heres how xarelto works. Xarelto® works differently. Warfarin interferes with at least six bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective. Targeting just one critical factor, interacting with less of your bodys natural bloodclotting function. 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Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 509 on auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Brandnew details just in on the dui arrest of tiger woods, once the worlds greatest golfer. Police arrested him early monday morning, finding him here are some of the new details finding him asleep at the wheel in the middle of a lane of traffic. Were told his speech was slurred, he had trouble walking and had trouble keeping his eyes open. He did, however, pass a breathalyzer test, which backs up part of the statement that woods put out. Here it is i want the public to know that alcohol was not involved. What happened, woods says, was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications. I didnt realize the mix of medications had affected me so strongly. Joining me to discuss is cnn legal analyst and counsel at callan legal, paul callan. It looks like he wanted to make clear he wasnt drunk, did pass a breathalyzer. Does that matter, under the influence of alcohol, under the influence, versus prescription drugs . No, under florida law, youre kmiting the same crime if youre under the influence of prescription drugs or you blow more than 0. 08 on a breathalyzer test. Now, its harder for the police to prove that youre operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs because theres no breathalyzer test for drugs. Right. You have to draw a urine and you have to draw a blood, and theyre difficult cases to prove, so im a little surprised here by his public statement, because hes in essence confessed guilt to the crime, whereas if he went into court and the records werent so good, maybe he could win the case, but obviously, hes decided his public image is more important. Well, and thats what i wanted to ask you, because one would assume that tiger woods has good legal has access to good legal advice, considering what he makes every year. And hes not, you would assume, putting hes not going to be putting out a statement without the advice of counsel, so what does the fact that, well, he says he wasnt under the influence of alcohol, but this admission that youre talking about, what does that mean . Does that give you any clue of a legal strategy theyre moving with . Assuming hes spoken with legal counsel, must be theyre looking for admission of guilt. This is a firsttime arrest for him, and in that case, you usually get Community Service of some kind and a fine. Youre not looking at incarcerati incarceration. He will lose his license for 180 days. And also, i think its a recognition that probably he was taking some kind of painkilling medication, and he shouldnt have been taking that medication and driving a vehicle, and its a recognition that the police would be able to prove that. And thankfully, no one was hurt, and our reporting is that no one was in the car with him. I think that was in the police citation. How does that impact what happens to him . I think it gives the court an opportunity to be far more lenient in the sentence. And i also think the courts going to look at his immediate acceptance of responsibility for what he did wrong as something favorable. You know, a lot of times people fight this, and theyre Proven Guilty in the end, and that backfires in court. Here hes accepting responsibility immediately, and i assume hell be contrite in court and hell hope for a very light sentence. But putting out this statement so quickly like he did, would you have advised a client of yours to do that . You know, its a very close call, because i know that proving chemical or drug intoxication is very, very difficult. And he might have a legitimate claim here that he didnt even realize that mixing drug a with drug b would have caused this reaction, and that might have given him a better defense. Now, by publicly stating that he was using drugs and driving, hes really eliminated the possibility of defending the case. Ive also seen some reports that dash cam video could be released at some point today. What would you be watching . I mean, it seems like theres not a lot hidden in this, there doesnt seem to be a lot of question marks left with whats being put out with the Police Reports that are coming out. What would you be watching for in dash cam video, if it came out . Well, the field sobriety test that he would have been asked to take, thats going to demonstrate the level of his intoxication. And if, obviously, one of the most talented athletes in the world is having trouble walking a straight line, thats a solid indication that youve got a real problem in court and maybe you should be looking not to litigate this but to plead guilty and hope for the mercy of the court or a lesser sentence. Well see where that goes. He does have a court date for an appearance, so we will see. Great to see you. Thanks so much. Great to see you. Emotionally with drawn, moody, gaining weight. Thats not just a comment about ma on twitter, that is how a source close to President Trump is describing the president today. The stunning, new report, ahead. Plus, were going to show you this. These, friends, are elected officials in texas, and theyre not really doing their job. Theyre scuffling, if you want to use the word, on the statehouse floor. One of these lawmakers is even accusing a colleague of threatening to put a bullet in his head. What is going on here . Honestly. The crazy details, ahead. I count on my dell Small Business advisor for tech advice. With one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and i get back to business. Present. Youre always itthinking about it. S always what if my cancer comes back . Ive been working on this therapy for 5 years now and weve getting ready to go to the clinic. My son definitely keeps me fighting. I want to the there for him when he needs me. Thats what motivates me. I want to see patients have gray hair. I see myself growing old with my pink hair. That to me, is enough to keep going. Are made with smarttrack®igners material to precisely move your teeth to your best smile. See how invisalign® treatment can shape your smile up to 50 faster today at invisalign. Com have you wondered recently what is going on in the president s mind these days . We have new reporting on just that. Is the growing scrutiny of the russia probe taking a personal toll . With me now, Gloria Borger, cnns chief political analyst and patrick healey, political analyst and deputy culture editor for the New York Times. Gloria, look no further than his twitter feed today. The president does not seem like his foreign trip improved his mood. You have some fascinating, new reporting on his mindset. Reporter thanks, kate. You know, before he left for the trip, i was told by a source close to him that he was in a pretty glum mood. That was before the trip. He came back and he felt that it was a successful trip, but he comes back to this russia investigation going at mock speed now with his soninlaw now part of a counterintelligence investigation, and i was told by more than one friend of his that he not only is glum, but he seems to be withdrawing, and that thats not a really good place for donald trump to be, that he has less and less faith in people who work for him, and his outside friends are more and more critical, i think, of the staff inside the white house. This could be expected. And one of them said to me, you know, these guys dont play chess, they play checkers. Tell me what that means. I was fascinated by that reporting, because im a very bad chess player, i will admit. Reporter i think it means that theyre not thinking in 3d. Theyre not thinking about the moves after the next move as much as they should, as in the firing of comey. I think there are people the president talks to now who told him that that was a bad idea, that if he had done it on day one, that might have been a good idea, but you needed to play this out and not assume that the democrats would all jump up and down for glee just because they dont like comey, which is, of course, what occurred. Nobody jumped up and down for glee. Yeah. So, patrick, we also have at the same time some reporting about ivanka trump and Jared Kushner, where their heads are at this moment in light of this expanding probe into the russian meddling. They are, according to the reports, theyre unfazed by this new scrutiny, theyre keeping their heads down, and jared is not planning on giving up any of his very broad portfolio at the white house. But how is this not a distraction on their every day . Its very hard, kate, but this is sort of a classic washington, you know, insider strategy, which is sort of hunker down and assume that in, you know, todays news cycle or the next news cycle or by thursday Something Else is going to come up, someone else is going to be in the spotlight, in the crosshairs, and that from their point of view, the media will move on, that voters just hear a lot of noise and dont see anything specific. A lot of people dont even really know who Jared Kushner is, or they think ivanka is this very nice person from her speech at the Republican Convention over the summer. Theyre not making these levels of judgment, you know. But going back to glorias point in her great reporting on this, its about the family right now, you know. Its about President Trump very much is still the head of this family, someone who is going to be in a very tough position holding Jared Kushner accountable. Hes his soninlaw. He cant easily be fired or benched or given sort of the third degree, and donald trump is very much used to sort of calling the shots and getting his way and running his family and his business in a very kind of topdown way with no competing power centers. If he doesnt like the legal advice that hes getting, he sometimes didnt pay the lawyers. You know, he was used to getting his way. And now hes finding those things dont work when youre president of the United States, and glum is the word for it. And gloria, the search for, as we mentioned, as you talked about, fired fbi director james comey the search still continues for the next fbi director and youre hearing some fascinating stuff about Chris Christie and where he landed or is possibly landing in this. Well, the president did not offer Chris Christie the job. I think they are still friends, and i was told by one source that in a conversation, the president sort of politely in an offhand way made what i would call a non offer, which is you dont really want this, right . And of course, christie, im told by a source that, you know, he said of course i dont, it would be a hassle for you, it would be a hassle for me, now lets move on. And i think another interesting point here is that, really, there was no thinking, or the president thought that maybe Joe Lieberman would be well received by democrats, and of course he thought wrong. That wasnt the case. Joe lieberman was not well received by democrats, and so they got themselves into another problem, so theyre on the precipice of offering this to lieberman, and then right before the trip, they had to pull it back. And now they have to pull Something Else out of their hat to get someone to run the fbi. So, with jared now so much more in the spotlight, patrick, do you think theres any pressure for him to speak out . I mean, he is i would call him the most visible, yet most silent figure in this white house. Right. No, youre exactly right, kate. And i think there is going to be some pressure, but the idea of him coming up and taking the white house, you know, Briefing Room podium and answering questions the way that, you know, at times Hillary Clinton when she was first lady and she held press conferences to sort of get at her role as an adviser to the president , you know, president bill clinton. You know, family members who will put themselves kind of forward and take those questions. It seems very unlikely, but the pressurings going to grow, and part of that, kate, of course is democrats smell blood in the water. They know that Jared Kushner occupies this kind of unusual space in trump world, where, again, President Trump cant just sort of throw him overboard. So, the extent to which they can cause heartburn for the president , a lot of its going to be around jared. Whereas you may not want to hold a press conference, i do know that someone named Gloria Borger did a great interview with his wife, ivanka. You could also sit down with gloria. Itd be great to see you. Just an idea, just throwing it out there. Great to see you guys. Thanks so much. Thanks, kate. Thanks. Coming up, one of americas closest allies, germany, german chancellor Angela Merkel is doubling down on her criticism and tough talk towards the United States, and now President Trump is seeming to escalate their, whats becoming kind of a war of words here. Details on that ahead. Plus, what sparked these lawmakers in texas to start pretty much fighting on the house floor . One even threatened, they say, to put a bullet in the head of a colleague. Seriously . Thats coming up. Theres nothing more than my vacation. 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A source telling cnn that miley cyrus, katy perry and coldplay will also be taking the stage with her to honor the victims. Well have more on that as we get it. Lets return to our lead story of the day. Former congressional officials and a source telling cnn russian officials discussed having potentially derogatory information about donald trump and some of his top aides during the campaign. So, did they have damaging information or was this just part of a larger Disinformation Campaign in 2016 . With me now, republican consultant barry bennett, who also worked with the Trump Campaign, cnn political contributor and former democratic mayor of philadelphia, Michael Nutter is here, and cnn political commentator and former Communications Director for senator ted cruz, amanda carpenter. Hi, friends great to see you all. So, barry, on this derogatory information, it could have been financial related, it could have been otherwise. Also, the new spotlight on Jared Kushner. You see this reporting and think what, barry . Well, one, i think that the campaign was so small, it could barely collude with itself to begin with, so theres nothing there there, but these leaks from intelligence officials, they should alarm everybody. I mean, if the cia could find a man in a cave halfway around the world in the dark, but they cant seem to find whos calling the washington post, thats a little alarming. And you know, i think the investigators, bob muellers got subpoena power, he can do whatever he wants, and he should get to the bottom of all this, but these leaks are getting a little scary. Mayor, i have a feeling you see it a little differently. Yeah. Barry it was cute, now its the stupidity defense that the campaign was now incompetent and couldnt collude with itself. Thats not exactly what i said. But nowhere near true. It is what you said. I dont think i used those words, mayor, once again. Let me get at least five seconds in. Go ahead and slander, then well go on. Mayor, go ahead, please. So, now, now we have information, because the russians, of course, we surveil them. They probably surveil us as well. But nonetheless, this information is critical. I understand folks want to deflect and talk about leakers. We wouldnt know about michael flynn. Hed probably still be National Security director but for some damaging information coming out, i think that was from the washington post. So, all of this is really about the truth, starting at the top. Donald trump needs to tell the truth. Jared kushner needs to tell the truth. Manafort, flynn, carter page, the whole group, Everyone Needs to come up with the true story about all of this stuff, and then we can stop the speculation. And that is what bob mueller has the biggest job in washington and beyond right now, because its all going to land on this. Barry, Corey Lewandowski has been seen at the white house. Rumors are hes maybe put in charge of a war room at sorts that theyre working on in response to all of this. Post leelection, you started a Consulting Firm with corey. Is he the right man to go in there and right this ship . Well, i dont think youd find anybody more loyal to the president than corey. Coreys a good friend, and i know that he is immensely loyal to the president. And the president trusts him. And so, i think that would be good for the president. Do you think he doesnt have that loyalty and trust around him now . Well, i dont know that the president trusts everybody around him now, which is kind of alarming to me. So, i think, you know, those people that he doesnt trust, he needs to replace with people that he does because this is a recipe for disaster. Amanda, the president had something to say about the kushner backchannel ask this morning, retweeting a fox news report that said that kushner didnt suggest that Russian Communications channel in a meeting. Source says now, this is also the very same president , amanda, youll remember, that has said this in the past in tweets and well put them up on the stage. Whenever you see the word sources say in the Fake News Media and they dont mention names, it is very possible that these sources dont exist, but they are made up by fake news writers. Your take on this . When do we believe the sources and when do we not, i say facetiously. Heres the thing, donald trump needs more than a blunt item on foxnews. Com to support his case, especially when it comes to Jared Kushner. Heres whats going on right now. The fbi, were not having a big investigation about collusion. There are investigations going on about russian influence over the elections, and the question is were Trump Associates witting or unwitting essentially in a vulnerable position for russians to take advantage of . Thats the question we need to look at. In all of these reports, sources named, sources unnamed, get back to a question of, a, russians, b, secret meetings, and c, money. Those are the three things, russians, secret meetings, and the money that was exchanged that was previously undisclosed, whether its speaking fees, whether its talking with bankers. Thats what is swirling around right now, and the Trump Administration has offered no reasonable explanation other than this is a witch hunt, dont ask questions. Theyre going to have to do a lot better than that. They have no story. They have no narrative to explain why they had so many contacts with the russians that they did not disclose to the public that to date has now resulted in the firing of three people investigating the situation and the recusal of attorney general Jeff Sessions. Those are really big deals. Barry, on the most basic level, though, the president very clearly in just a couple days, he wants to have it both ways dont trust sources, but trust my sources. I mean, thats not thats not that doesnt work, friend. No, it doesnt, you know . But the problem is that the media is guilty of this just like both Political Parties are. We all believe the source that tends to lend to our narrative. I dont trust any of the sources. If you want to go on camera and say something, thats fine, but all of these sources from the Intelligence Community . Ive never seen anything like it. Then have the president say something. He can clear all of this up if he would stop tweeting and thats why, lets go get the details. Lets get the details. But there is nothing there. Well, how can you say you keep thinking that. Theres nothing there when people have resigned, when Jeff Sessions had to recuse himself . Jeff sessions had to recuse himself because the kbleed made a big deal of the ambassador of russia sal [ everyone talking at once ] theres a criminal statute everyone is a little bit right and a little bit talking over each other. There is no evidence at this very moment. I love you all. Theres no evidence right now of collusion. There is no hard evidence and that is of course what republicans and people loyal to the president did hang their hat on. But as what theyre pointing out, folks that do not trust the president , they see this is not a party that is acting like they are innocent and that is what i hear over and over again. Why does the president not just come out and say Jared Kushner didnt do this, i didnt instruct him to do this rather than retweet a source from fox news. Im going to change directions. Follow me now because this is also important news. The president is all about the tweets today apparently. Tweeting again this morning more criticism of germany. The tweet that he had talked about a massive trade deficit with germany saying its very bad for the United States and saying this will change. Weve heard this before from the president , but this all comes in kind of a new con tech. Youve got the german chancellor speaking out and reiterating her tough language against the United States basically saying the u. S. Cant be trusted anymore. Is this a headline that you would want as an american coming on the heels of this first foreign trip . No. Its pretty disgraceful and i have to commend the chancellor for speaking her mind. Remember t appears donald trump is intimidated by strong powerful women. He refused to shake her hand on the white house visit. She spoke her mind and now hes all flipped out today on twitter. He did not demonstrate leadership in many instances on this nine day trip. He thought he was getting away from controversy in the United States. It only increased. And the chancellor is putting it out there to europe as to what the current state of condition is as it relates to the United States of america. Its embarrassing as an american that the president goes abroad and leaves with many, Many International leaders wondering what in the world is going on in the United States and whats with this guy . Final word. I dont think too many leaders in europe didnt know where the president was. They might not have liked it. And i hardly think its embarrassing when countries like germany whor germany, who benefit greatly from our participation in nato and our bases there and they dont even cough up their 2 . The free ride is over. Also important to note when we talk about politics the chancellors also in the middle of a Political Campaign as well. Just add that all into the mix. Great to see you all. Thank you. Coming up, scuffle at the statehouse. Lawmakers trading after this screen broke out on the statehouse floor. Details if you want them coming up next. [customer] thatll come in handy when you go out for tapas and you realize you left your wallet at home, but you cant not eat tapas. 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Introducing americas largest, most reliable 4g lte combined with the most wifi hotspots. Its a new kind of network. Xfinity mobile. Chaos erupts between lawmakers in texas after one republican says he called immigration agents on protesters. They were inside the state capital to speak out against a new lan that bans swaanctuary cities. That is when one lawmaker made a call to get rid of them. Jo joining me from dallas, that does not look like a typical day in the statehouse. What happened . Quite an ending to the legislative session here in texas. This all started as you mentioned, there had been a group of protesters who were in the gallery of the texas house protesting the signing of senate bill 4 which is the antisanctuary senate bill city that was signed several weeks ago. Those protests still going on. At that point is when several democratic lawmakers say that republican representative mat rinaldi came over to the group of democratic hispanic lawmakers and said f them referring to the protesters and that he had called i. C. E. To have them deported. That didnt go over well. Thats when you see the shoving and pushing and f bombs flying rather thick through that argument. You hear from one of the representatives who said that he was actually threatened to be shot by rinaldi in the course of that conversation. You listen to him here. A little scuffle broke out and i got in there. When i realized what it was about and what it was doing and saying, i got in his face and i put my hands on the guy. I asked him, you know, these are things that shouldnt happen on the house floor. We shouldnt be doing that. So in that and another exchange i said we need to take this outside because it shouldnt get resolved here in front of all these people. I walked away from the guy and i didnt hear him but some of my colleagues heard him say he was going to put a bullet in my brain. Matt rinaldi put out a statement that he had been told by Poncho Nevarez that he would, quote, get me on my way to the car and i would shoot him in selfdefense. That and several others have called rinaldis statement a lie. All of this incredibly dramatic. As you might have heard, theres an old joke thats been around the texas legislatoe. The joke has been they meet for two days every 140 years. I guess the last day of session proving that joke might be a good idea. Look, in some strange way, democracy in action. Protesters speaking out and them trading strange words and almost fists and punches on the statehouse floor. These are elected officials. Thats the amazing thing. Maybe its good. They all need a little summer break. Great to see you, ed. I might be back in a couple weeks. The governor of texas is considering a special session so they might all be together in the same room. Stand by for more. Kumbaya it is. Inside politics with john king starts right now. Welcome to inside politics. President trump again tweets his frustrations with a russia election meddling investigation which now includes Big Questions about his soninlaw. Look, we have a special prosecutor. Were going to be looking at this. You know, this might be come ou