And outoftherunning. More people are pulling their names out of consideration for replacing james comey as the fbi director. Why are they running in the other direction . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. President trump is brushing off the extraordinary concern over his sharing of what sources say is highly classified intelligence during his Oval Office Meeting with russian diplomats. The president tweeted today that he has an absolute right to share information and lawmakers and former top intelligence officials are criticizing the president for revealing what sources say is information on how isis plans to use Laptop Computers as bombings aboard airliners. Were now learning that israel was the source of intelligence on that aviation threat and if the United States is seen as unreliable by its close allies the damage to to intelligence cooperation for the u. S. Could can be severe. National security adviser general h. R. Mcmaster insists the informationsharing was wholly appropriate suggesting harm was appropriate because the president was never briefed on the source of the intelligence and another top security adviser raised alarm feeling the Intelligence Community needed to know what specifically was divulged to the russians. With an increasingly dysfunctional White House Communications team unable to contain the damage, Senior Administration officials are now trying to calm lawmakers, and the cia directors briefing the house intelligence commit they hour. Republicans are now joining the chorus of outrage. One top gop lawmaker says the Trump White House is in a, quote, downward spiral. Ill talk to republican senator james risch of the senate and Intelligence Foreign Relations Committee and our specialists, a lifts and guests are standing by with full coverage of the days top stories. The president is dismissing the alarm and anger over his sharing of intelligence with a u. S. Adversary. Lets begin with our White House Correspondent sara murray. Sara, whats the latest in the. Reporter well, wolf, for the white house it was another day plagued by controversy as Senior Administration officials faced questions about whether the white house and the president can be trusted with sensitive information. President trump ignoring questions today about what exactly he told the russians. Did you share classified intelligence information with the russians . Mr. President , did you share classified intelligence with the russians . Pausing only to reveal he believes his recent meeting with russian officials went swimmingly. We had a very, very successful meeting with the foreign minister of russia. Our fight is against isis as general mcmaster said. I thought he said and i know he feels that we had actually a great meeting with the foreign minister, so well have a lot of Great Success over the next coming years, and we want to get as many to help fight terrorism as possible. Reporter after monday nights terse denial. The story that came out tonight as reported is false. Reporter this morning the president defiantly fired off on twitter saying he has the, quote, absolute right to share intelligence and arguing he did so to convince the russians, quote, to greatly step up their fight against isis and terrorism. Those comments quickly putting Senior Administration officials back on cleanup duty, but even they refuse to deny that trump shared classified information. We dont say whats classified and whats not classified. What i will tell you again is what the president shared was wholly appropriate. Reporter adding that the president didnt know the source of the information he disclosed, some of which Officials Say came from u. S. Ally israel. The president wasnt even aware, you know, of where this information came from. He wasnt briefed on the source or method of the information either. Reporter as Trumps National security advisers insisted the president didnt compromise u. S. National security. The premise of that article was false that it resulted in a lapse in National Security. Reporter he found himself at a loss to explain why another National Security official alerted the u. S. Intelligence committee after the meet nothing mitigate any fallout. If there was nothing that the president shared that he shouldnt have shared, why did his counterterrorism adviser contact the nsa and cia about what he had shade . I would say maybe from an overabundance of caution, but im not sure. Ive not talked to to m mr. Bossert about that, about why he reached out. Reporter today Administration Officials also aim to shift the blame from the president to those who leaked the information. I think National Security is put at risk by this leak and by leaks like this, and as you know theres a number of instances where this has occurred, and and i think thats important to investigate these sorts of things. Reporter tuesdays meeting with the turkish Prime Minister mr. President , no comment on whether you shared classified intelligence with the russians. The latest indications that the intelligence uproar is sure to cast a shadow over the president s debut on the world stage as he departs friday for a fivenation foreign trip. Now the white house found themselves in a tight spot over an entirely separate issue today just ahead of President Trumps visit to israel. A number of Senior Administration officials were questioned about the western wall and whether this white house believes that it is in israel. H. R. Mcmaster, Trumps National security adviser, declined to say whether it was in israel twice. As for sean spicer, White House Press secretary, he said its clearly in jerusalem, declining to say whether its in israel. Back to you, wolf. Very interesting, indeed. Our thanks, sara murray reporting. More on that part of the story coming. Theres also a chorus of concern on capitol hill over the president s sharing of intelligence from russia and its coming from both sides of the aisle. The cia director mike pompeos briefing the House Intelligence Committee right now. And lets go to our senior congressional reporter manu raju. The Senate Intelligence committee leaders, they are also, i understand, demanding answers. Yeah, thats right. Moments ago both mark warner and richard burr, the top democrat and republican respectively on the Senate Intelligence committee emerged from a classified meeting saying they want answers, specifically meetings with white house officials who were in that private meeting with donald trump and top russian officials and that discussion of classified information apparently took place. I asked the two senators at this press conference whether or not the white house got permission from israel, who is apparently the source of this information that went to the russians, whether they got permission from israel. They would not say, saying they want more answers. Wolf this, comes as the cia director mike pompeo at this hour is sitting down behind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee trying to get more answers to these questions that are lingering on capitol hill. Even from some republicans who are worried that they are distracting from the president s agenda. I asked a question of this to Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell. Has confidence been shaken in the president amongst Senate Republicans . This is what he said. I think it would be helpful to have less drama emanating from the white house. We want to know what took place in that meeting and my understanding is that maybe a recordings or transcripts. Obviously wed like to see that with the appropriate redactions. Reporter would that be part of the intelligence committees investigation going forward, this discussion with the russians . I will sit with chairman burr and discuss that. This is just one more of these these dots that seem to be connected. apparentlyit wasthe Israeli Intelligence thats now been, quote, unmasked and that would obviously give them pause as to what Additional Information they might provide us with. Thats not good. Reporter wolf, youre hearing concerns across the board from democrats and republicans alike, but im told that a closed door lunch earlier today where Senate Republicans discussed their strategy, this tissue about russia and these discussions actually did not come up as the party tries to shift focus towards health care and their agenda, but they are continually frustrated that controversy after controversy continues to distract. The question is how do they get ahead of this and whether or not the white house can help them in any way. Wolf . That frustration continuing to grow. Manu raju, thanks very much. While the Trump Administration downplays any damage from the Security Breach there is grave concern within the intelligence and diplomatic communities and a close u. S. Ally may be directly impacted. Lets gets to our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto. What are you learning . Reporter the white house making an unusual argument today that the president could not reveal the secret source of this intelligence because he did not know the secret course of the intelligence, but the fact is intelligence officials, former intelligence officials that weve spoken to expressed a concern that the details of that intelligence that he shared with the russians could be enough for the russians with a very capable Intelligence Service to determine whereby this intelligence originated. Tonight cnn has learned that israel, a key u. S. Ally provided some of the classified information that President Donald Trump revealed during his meeting with highlevel russian officials last week. Today the disclosure causing continuing concern among both democrats and republicans that the president unduly risked some of the nations most guarded secrets. The white house maintained there is no issue. It was our impression of all of us that is were in the meetings that ive mentioned already that what was shared was wholly appropriate given the purpose of that conversation and the purpose of what the president was trying to achieve through that meeting. However, after reading a summary of the meeting Homeland Security adviser tom bossert enough to contact the cia and nsa about the tactic of disguising bombs in computer laptops to take down airlines. Its worried that russia could figure out the source used to gather the intelligence you dont get intelligence out of thin air, because we deploy spies and people who are willing to put their lives on the line and because we work with other intelligence agencies around the world that help provide that kind of information, but its done on the basis of confidence and trust. Reporter now both democratic and republican lawmakers worry that israel might withhold crucial information in the future. If the source is a sister Intelligence Agency of a friendly country, that country could decide it cant trust the United States with information or worse that it cant trust the president of the United States with information, that obviously has very serious repercussions and particularly if were talking about information about a threat to americans posed by isis. Reporter as part of its evolving defense, the president s National Security adviser said today that the president did not even know the origin of the intelligence. The president wasnt even aware, you know, of where this information came from. He wasnt briefed on the source or method of the information either. Reporter today former cia director leon panetta slammed trump for disclosure. The president of the United States cannot just do or say or speak whatever the hell he wants. Thats just irresponsible. Reporter i reached out to the israeli ambassador to the u. S. Ron durmer and said israel has full confidence in our intelligencesharing relationship with the United States and looks forward to deepening that relationship in the years ahead with President Trump. Myself and my colleagues have spoken to foreign diplomats, allies of the u. S. , who are concerned about how this intelligence, the most secret intelligence is talked about by the president , an ongoing worry that weve heard about before and those concerns deeper now. Wolf . Indeed. All right. Thanks very much. Jim sciutto reporting. Joining us now a key member of both the intelligence and Foreign Relations committee senator james risch of idaho. Thanks for joining us. Spoil alert. I take a little different view than the interviews youve done so far. Well, lets get to those different perspectives. Let me ask you a few questions, and youll share the latest information that you have. Legality aside, senator, what is it appropriate for the president to share highly classified information with the Russian Foreign minister, the Russian Ambassador to the United States, information apparently so sensitive that it wasnt even broadly shared within the u. S. Government or with key u. S. Allies . Wolf, you cant put legality aside. First of all, it was absolutely legal. The president of the United States has a Legal Authority to declassify and discuss classified information at any time for any reason to anyone. It was definitely legal. Let me finish, let me finish the answer. It was definitely legal, but was it the right thing to do . Yes, and now if youll let me finish the answer. Go on. The president of the United States has the obligation to meet with heads of state of all kinds of countries, whether they are our adversaries or whether they are are our allies and discuss it well threats to our country and their country and how we can Work Together to deconflict those things. These news reports youve been putting out acts as if this was a oneoff, a unique thing. President s have done this regularly. Indeed, president obama less than a year ago took in his pocket the thousands and thousands of classified facts he had, just like all of us have in the Intelligence Community, met with the russians and disclosed classified information to the russians and that was that russians, we know youre attempting to interfere with u. S. Elections. That was a classified fact. He declassified it and talked to the russians about it and that was the declassification, the very fact that he talked to them about it. He disclose it had to them and there heegs n theres no criticism of that and there shouldnt be. The obligation to disclose those facts when its in the best interest of the United States. Theres one difference in doing that. In a lengthy series of meetings with the top security officials, the top members of the Intelligence Community going through what if the u. S. Were to disclose this kind of information for the russians. Its another thing for the president off the top to go ahead and decide to release this kind of information, not even knowing the source of the information and the potential complications as we heard from his National Security adviser today. Wolf, i can tell you, picking up the thousands of pieces of classified information that i do, the sources and methods are almost never disclosed unless they are particularly relevant to a danger in the future. So whether the president knew the sources and methods i dont know, but also youve got to remember it was not the president of the United States that caused this. It was some traitor who is in the chain of command below the president who actually disclosed this. The focus has all been a legal act and an appropriate act that the president did and for some reason the National Media is not in any way focusing on a very illegal and compromising thing that somebody did that has put the National Security of america at risk. Who is the traitor . I dont know. Who is the traitor . I dont know who it is, but when they find that person, they ought to be treated appropriately. Do you know if the president or any of his aides notified the israelis in advance were going to share this information, information that your sources gave you at great risk, we decided were going to share this with the russians are. Was there any advanc word to theislition . Thats a great question, wolf, and can i tell you this. I dont know whether they did or whether they didnt, but i can tell you the protocol is that we do not ordinarily notify whatever the source is that were going to use it to our advantage in some particular situation. We share intelligence information with all but about two countries on the face of this planet. We get it. We give it to them. It is not protocol, and the media stories that have been coming out saying oh, they should have notified whoever it was that gave us this information, assuming it wasnt ours, and im neither going to confirm or deny that, but its not protocol to go back to it a country that has given us information and say were going to use it and this is how were going to use it. Heres the problem. Heres the problem from the israelis. The israelis get this very sensitive information, giver it to the United States. The United States then gives the information to the russians. As you know, the russians are working very closely in syria with the iranians, with hezbollah, two enemies of israel. The israelis all of a sudden get very nervous that all of a sudden the information they shared with the u. S. , iranians might get that information from the russians, hezbollah, the Lebanese Group might get that information from the russians. Does that concern you . Two points. First of all, you heard what the israeli ambassador has said. I believe it. This is not going to cause any issues between us and the israelis. The second thing is if indeed what was spoken about, and im not going to confirm or deny that, and that was airline safety, that is something that we, the russians, the israelis and every other civilized country in the world are concerned about and it is frequent that information, particularly sensitive information, particularly classified information, is shared from country to country as to how to make an airline trip safe because you dont fly just in one country. Frequently you fly from country to country and its important that every single Intelligence Agency in the world thats interested in harrell safety be fully engaged, be fully informed on whats going on. So i this thing is way blown out of proportion when it comes to who is going to be upset about this. Senator, theres much more to discuss. There is. I want you to stay with us. Much more with senator risch right after this. Hi guys. Its great to be here. In the desert. At the mall. On the mountain. At school. At the beach. 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Priority you a very defiant President Trump says he has the absolute right to share intelligence with russia and his top officials are downplaying any possible damage from his Security Breach, but were also learning that a close u. S. Ally, israel, was the source of intelligence that the president gave away to a u. S. Adversary russia. Theres growing alarm right now. Theres outrage up on capitol hill where the cia director is briefing lawmakers this hour. Were back with republican senator james risch of idaho, a member of both the intelligence and Foreign Relations committees. Senator, last july, youll remember this, you signed on to a letter requesting the state department immediately suspend the security clearance of hillary clinton. That letter said her actions were grossly negligent, damaged National Security and put lives at risk. Should President Trump be held to that same standard . Well, wolf, we started this program like this. One of those two people has the legal right, in fact, a legal obligation to disclose and to declassify information to whoever they want. The other person youre talking about, hillary clinton, had no legal right to do that and indeed it was inappropriate in the way that it was done. Youre mixing apples and oranges here. There is no question that the president has the legal right to do this, and i would argue the oral right to do it and when he believes it will save american lives, that its in the interest of the american people, that its in the interest of National Security that he discuss and disclose information that we have that will help his interest. But his aides say he didnt do it knowingly. He wasnt aware of the sensitivity of this information that he was passing along to the Russian Foreign minister, Russian Ambassador. Thats a problem, isnt it . Not at all. Whether he did it knowingly or unknowingly. It was a fact that he wanted to discuss with the russians that would improve airline safety, if indeed thats what it was all about, he made the decision to do that. He has the legal right and the obligation to do that. Heres the problem though, and u. S. Officials are making this point and im sure they have made it to you. When you disclose information that potentially could reveal how that information was obtained, sensitive information, lives are on the line and thats why news organizations like cnn and like the Washington Post in this case have declined to report certain information after the Intelligence Community says you know what, if you report that, lives could be lost. Thats a sensitive issue. You cant just willynilly go ahead and release that kind of information. Well, of course not, and if President Trump had stood up and revealed just to the public just what he did in a classified setting with those foreign leaders that he wanted to discuss those things with, we could have this argument about whether it was appropriate to disclose publicly. Thats not what he did. Look, again, i come back to here theres a weasel here, and the weasel is not the. Of the United States. Its the traitor who disclosed these facts the Washington Post. I wish youd go out and interview the Washington Post and ask them to disclose who that is. Those are confidence, sources as you well know. Senator, let me get into it very quickly into another aspect, this entire controversy comes as the president is preparing for his first foreign trip. He leaves friday for saudi arabia. Right. And then hes going to jerusalem. It will include a stop in israel, as you know. Right. So far, this is very sensitive. The white house has refused to say whether the Trump Administration believes that the wench wall, the holiest site in judaism, is part of israel. Do you, senator, do you believe the western wall in the old city of jerusalem is part of israel . Yes. Do you think the white house should acknowledge that, should make that statement, that same point . Im not going to tell the white house what to do. You heard where i am on it, wolf, and im firm on that. The white house is going to have to take that obligation, and by the way, this trip thats coming up is a huge deal. You heard mcmaster review the details, and i dont know whether anyone was paying attention where they wanted to get to the end where they could ask him about conversations with the russians. Look, hes going to meet with the heads of 50 Muslim States in saudi arabia, 50 muslim countries. This is a big deal thats coming up, this trip, not only saudi arabia but then israel, also to the vatican and to the european nations. This is this is something that really, really deserves the attention of the National Media. Senator risch, thanks as usual for joining us. Thanks very much, wolf, glad to have been with you. Always appreciate you being here in the situation room. Thank you. Coming up, the latest information about the evolving threat to Airline Security posed by a terrorists ability to plant bombs in laptops. I was thinking around 70. To and before that . Re . You mean after that . No, im talking before that. Do you have things you want to do before you retire . Id really like to run with the bulls. Wow. Hope youre fast. I am. Get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change with Investment Management services. On mattress firmness . Fortunately theres a bed where you both get what you want every night. Enter sleep number and the semiannual sale going on now. Sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. She likes the bed soft. Hes more hardcore. So your sleep goes from good to great to wow only at a sleep number store. Oh, and right now its our lowest price ever on our temperature balancing i8 bed. Save 700. Go to sleepnumber. Com for a store near you. On a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. Your Insurance Company raises your rates. 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. Theres more breaking news. Indeed another blockbuster revelation, this time from the New York Times which has just published a report saying that President Trump asked then fbi director james comey to end the investigation of Michael Flynn, the president s former National Security adviser. Lets bring in our political correspondents and our Legal Specialist but over to jeff zeleny first. Jeff, this is a bombshell right now. Jeff, tell us what the New York Times is reporting, because this is going to cause another uproar. Reporter it is indeed. Michael schmidt who covers the Justice Department for the New York Times is reporting this, that hes really laying out a series of memorandums that the director of the fbi, former director of the fbi i should say james comey wrote about the meetings that he had with the president , and one particular meeting in february when the president asked him to essentially let go the Michael Flynn investigation, the investigation into whether the first National Security adviser Michael Flynn had any interaction or what interaction he had with russian operatives. The president , you know, said that Michael Flynn is a good guy. He asked him to let it go. Now, this story is based off of a series of memorandums that the former director wrote at the time to sort of keep a record of what the president was asking him. The New York Times got ahold of these memorandums obviously from someone who had the fbi directors point of view but it paints a contemp raise picture at the time when the conversations were going on, that he was asking him to go easy on mike flynn. Again this, report was just posted just a few moments ago, wolf, but, again, something that shows that this is why the president had been, you know, perhaps thinking about this for a while and was angry at the director for ma while because clearly the director did not let this go. The investigation was widening, the scope of this investigation into Michael Flynn was widening right before he was fired, wolf. In a statement the white house is denying this version of events. Let me read to you the statement thats in the New York Times. While the president has repeatedly expressed his view that Michael Flynn is a decent man hes never asked mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving general flynn. The president has the utmost respect for our Law Enforcement agencies and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and mr. Comey. Jeffrey toobin, youre our senior legal analyst, the third sentence in this article of the New York Times says this, the existence of mr. Trumps request is the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and phebe marr investigations into links between mr. Trumps associates and russia. Youre reaction to this bombshell report and the white house denial. Three words. Obstruction of justice. Developing the fbi director to close down an investigation of your Senior Campaign adviser for his activities during your campaign for president , if thats true, that is obstruction of justice. Why do you think director comey wrote a memo to the file about it . Because he was so appalled that a president of the United States would behave in this way. Close it down is an instruction to stop investigating President Trumps campaign. Richard nixon was impeached in 1974 for telling the fbi to stop an investigation of his campaign. Thats what watergate was, and, you know, if comey was telling the truth in this memo, and obviously theres a dispute about that from the fbi from the white house, but if hes telling the truth, i dont know how anyone can see this comment in anything but obstruction of justice. David axelrod, let me get your reaction and let me read another sentence or two from the New York Times article. Mr. Comey shared the existence of the memo with senior fbi officials and slows associates. The New York Times has not viewed a copy of the memo which is unclassified, but one of mr. Comeys Associates Read parts of the memo to a times. Reporter. Quote, i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go, mr. Trump told mr. Comey, according to the memo, quote, he is a good guy. I hope you can let this go. David axelrod, your reaction. Well, look, i echo what jeffrey said in that this is you know, ive been ive not been one to sort of ration to the whole impeachment discussion. I think that has been overblown to this point, but this becomes a very serious issue. If the president called the fbi director in and essentially asked him to drop this investigation, then youre getting into a territory where i think the congress has to take this seriously, and and it also gives more coloration to the president s decision to fire comey because comey obviously did not cede to the president s wishes of dropping the investigation and he got fired f. Obstruction w fired. If the obstruction was part of the firing of comey, then it all comes down to a he said he said kind of dispute and the white house clearly understands the gravity of this and they issued that statement quickly to say this didnt happen because of the obstruction implications of it, so it may never be resolved if you have two men who are essentially taking a different account, but it adds this has just raised this controversy to a a whole other level. Wolf . Go ahead, jeffrey. I just this underlines the need to determine whether there was any sort of taping facility in the white house because here we now see a completely different versions of a conversation that took place between james comey and donald trump, whether whether the president asked comey to close it down. That could easily be determined if there is a tape, and it can easily be determined whether there is a tape, but some somebody with some authority, whether its the house committee, the senate committee, the fbi itself, has to has to take action and send a letter or a subpoena to the white house and ask was this or any other conversation taped. Heres another couple of sentences, and dana bash, i want you to react from this New York Times story. Mr. Comb he been in the oval office that date with other senior National Security officials for a terrorism briefing. When the meeting end the president told the Vice President and the attorney general Jeff Sessions to leave the rome except for mr. Comey. Alone in the oval office, mr. Trump began the meeting by condeeming the leaks saying he should consider putting reporters in prison for publishing classified information and mr. Trump then turned the discussion to mr. Flynn. Ill ruled another paragraph. After wright up a memo that outlined the meeting mr. Comey shared it with senior fbi officials. Mr. Comey and his aides perceived mr. Trumps comments as an effort to influence the investigation, but they decided that they would try to keep the conversation secret, even from are the fbi agents working on the russia investigation so the details of the conversation would not affect the investigation. Dana, this is so, so explosive. So explosive. So incredibly serious. The times report also says that james comey created similar memos after the other meetings that he had with the president so this could be just the tip of the iceberg. Maybe the most explosive, but its very clear that that james comey wanted to get out there that this happened, created this paper trail realtime, contemporaneously rather in order to protect himself from exactly what happened last week, him being fired, him being blamed and and, you know, wanting to know that he has sort of the information at his disposal if in fact this happened, and if you just take a step back, wolf, just in the past 24 hours, right or wrong, what this president has done, his first 100 plus days, even before he came into office is pick fights with the Intelligence Community and now the Law Enforcement community, particularly the way, never mind in a he fired james comey but the way in which he did it, not giving him the respesct of actually telling him in person or finding out from cable news. So we know that this is they talk about the deep state. These are communities that are that have a lot of loyalty within and know how to get back, even if youre the president of the United States and the fact is that when the Intelligence Community found out about the conversation that the president had with the russians, talking about classified information, we dont know all the details. Were told that it wasnt as as bad as it might have seen initially, thats what the white house sourceses are saying, but still the Intelligence Community leaked that out. Now we know that the fbi director was keeping notes on on many things but the fact that this is the first one that he made clear and made public and its so incredibly explosive as jeff said is the clearest most dangerous sign yet of potential obstruction of justice. Makes you think what else is going to happen, and its very hard for republicans who have in the past 24 hours been more aggressively critical of the president begging for a crisisfree day or crisisfree hour, very hard for them not to take this incredibly seriously. Very seriously. Indeed, chris cillizza, in the story in the New York Times, youve seen the denial from the white house, youve seen the artic article in the New York Times. The main point though is the president of the United States, what he was telling to comey, comey would draft memorandum which are in the file right now so theres a contemporaneous record of what comey says the president told him to end this investigation into the president s former National Security adviser. Hes a good guy, according to this article. Thats what the president said about Michael Flynn. Three things. One, comey was concerned enough, as you know, wolf, to take these notes down, concerned enough about trump, concerned enough about what he believed trump was asking him to do. Two, in order to believe the white houses argument here you have to believe james comby is lying or that the memos that were red to Michael Schmidt at the New York Times were misread in some way out of context, three, if james comey was lying and are h a vendetta against donald trump, he would have released this stuff or leaked it out shortly thereafter, he wouldnt wait in order to prereceiver the sanctity of the investigation into russia. It doesnt strich me that james comey had a vendetta against donald trump and would purposefully misinterpret. I think Jeffrey Toobin hits it and David Axelrod hits it on the head, the white house has no choice but to dispute this account he said versus he said account because anything other than that puts them in significant legal peril. This is the only option, when is its true, false or somewhere in between. They have no other choice because the other option, the alternative is the president of the United States actively meddled in an Ongoing Investigation into russias hacking of the election and what role the guy who was his National Security adviser played in that, and and, you know, thats the kind of thing that gets a presidency in deep, deep trouble. Certainly is, especially if there are all these written memoranda in the files there. Pamela brown is our justice correspondent. Pamela, youre getting more information. What will are you learning . Reporter thats right, wolf. Im learning former director comey was so appalled by this request by President Trump to owe essentially end the Michael Flynn investigation that he wanted to document it, that he wanted to have a paper trail of this request, and in it he recapped the conversation he had with President Trump where the president allegedly, according to our sources said i hope that you will let this go, and in my source i spoke to today said that he was, quote, appalled by the request but im also told that it was common for james comey to create a paper trail and put information and documents if he felt there was a legal or moral issue and in this case he certainly wanted to document, it create that paper trail and he shared it with his Close Associates as well as senior fbi officials but this is certainly, wolf, the clearest example of President Trump discussing the russia probe with james comey. We know that he has previously said that he asked james comey if he was under investigation. This is certainly a step further, actually asking him to end the investigation into his former National Security adviser who had just resigned before that due to the revelations that he discussed sanctions with the former russian with the Russian Ambassador sergey kislyak, wolf. I hope you can let this go. Thats the quote from the president , according to this memo obtained by the New York Times. Jim sciutto is our chief National Security correspondent. Give us some perspective on this latest bombshell. Reporter well, wolf, it involves so many layers of potential misbehavior by the president of the United States. First of all, of course, it involves russia. This at the core of this investigation was his first choice for National Security adviser Michael Flynn having conversations with the Russian Ambassador to the u. S. , and speaking to them about u. S. Sanctions on russia, this during the transition period in effect raising concerns that he had conversations about u. S. Policy contradictory to the policy of the president preceding President Trump and key to that that general flynn then lied to the members of the white house and the Vice President and others about the content of those conversations, so that is material. Russia is material here. Lying about those conversations which as you know, wolf, and weve reported is still the subject of an Ongoing Investigation of Michael Flynn, then the president taking whats truly an extraordinary step for the commander in chief to go to the head of the fbi, the nations top Law Enforcement official in effect who is leading this investigation and apply pressure, apply pressure to him to end that investigation. Remember, last week when the president fired james comey it was a question as to whether the president had used undue influence on him, fired james comey because he was unhappy with where with the russia investigation was going or because james comey was not ending that investigation. Now in pamelas reporting here confirming the New York Times story we have evidence that the president did use undue influence based on the wore of james comey and that james comey was so struck by it that it took a moment after this meeting to write it down and record it on paper and show it to others to create not just a paper trail but an account of this meeting, an account of a request coming from the president that really its hard, im not a lawyer, but its hard not to see how that does not get very close to obstruction of justice. Jeff zeleny, you saw the statement from the white house, they are denying this New York Times report but if there are contemporaneous memo from the former fbi director james comey outline the thrust of these conversations that he had with the president in which according to these memos the president asked him to end the Michael Flynn investigation, that could be very, very disruptive. It could indeed, wolf, and, i mean, David Axelrod was talking about its a he said he said story. Its absolutely that. The white house is denying that this evening. However, james comey at some point is almost certain to testify on capitol hill as this deepens. So imagine the spectacle and this playing out in a televised hearing of the former fbi director reading from this journal. Reading from this diary, if you will, of what was happening at the time. Even though its his version of events, wolf, he is a credible person. Not necessarily liked by all democrats, of course, but certainly liked by more republicans on capitol hill. That would be something quite extraordinary for the former fbi director, having his final word there or his say there. But wolf, if you go back in the history of james comeys time in public service, in 2007, when he was in a situation with the Justice Department, the times mentioned this in its report, and refreshes our memory, he was also keeping a journal about the bush wiretapping at the time and some officials were pushing back on him. But his journal turned out to be absolutely accurate as this played out here. So if this ever becomes a moment of testimony on capitol hill, wolf, james comb elle likely read this outloud and then of course people can make up their own minds. But it certainly is, you know, one more element that we did not see dropping in this, but certainly he is having the final say or at least today, not the final say in this extraordinary back and forth with the president , wolf. Truly explosive. Jeffrey toobin, another line in the New York Times article, i want to get your reaction, says this, fbi agents con testimony prair pranus notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversation. So if the president s denial, comey saying, take a look at my contemporaneous notes, it goes to court ever, that could be a very big problem for the president. It could be. Virtually every federal criminal trial involves whats called fbi 302s, which are the record which are the notes typed up of every interview, every act that an fbi agent participates in. But let me raise another point that i think is very important here. Its the issue of corroboration. When you have two people with contradictory conversation, you look at their demeanor, you look at their motives to lie. But you also look at corroboration. And theres a very important point in Michael Schmidts story here that can be corroborated or not. He says, Michael Schmidt, says in the times story that this is a Group Meeting including Vice President pence and attorney general sessions, which ended and then President Trump asked comey to meet him one on one. Will pence and sessions corroborate that there was this separate meeting between trump and comey. If they will corroborate there was a one on one meeting, that is a significant factor, not the only one, but a significant factor that would corroborate james comeys version of events. This is how trials work. Is that you dont just sort of throw up your hands, decide one person is telling the truth and one person is lying. You look at all the surrounding circumstances and try to find corroborated notes by either person, videos, and of course, you know, the issue that hangs out here even more important is are there white house tapes. President trump was very coy about that. He suggested there was and then wouldnt answer questions about it. But the question of whether there are tapes and a conversation, if it took place between comey and trump was tape recorded now becomes quite possibly the most important thing in determining whether donald trump completes his term in office. Yeah, that would be a huge moment if in fact there are tapes in the oval office of that private conversation between the president and the now former fbi director. Everyone stand by. Were going to stay on top of the breaking news. A source telling cnn former fbi director james comey left a memo in which he said President Trump asked him to end the investigation of his one time National Security adviser Michael Flynn. Well be back. The homeowner was outraged. Luckily the Geico Insurance agency had helped her with homeowners insurance. She got all her shingles replaced. Hansel and gretel were last seen eating their way through the candy cane forest. Call geico and see how easy it is to switch and save on homeowners insurance. Happening now, breaking news. Comeys bomb shell memo. Fbi director james comey says President Trump asked him to end the investigation into former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. The white house is pushing back against this truly stunning report even as it struggles with fall out for the president s chairing of intelligence with russia. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Breaking news tonight. Source is telling cnn that fired fbi director james comey wrote a memo that the president asked him in february to end the probe of National Security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired. Comey himself was dismissed by the president last
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