Administrations dont get a head start. Welcome back to a. M. Joy. Now that donald trump landed back state side after his nine country world tour, hes experiencing a bit of political turbulence. This week the russia investigation got its second wind or third or fourth. Honestly, its easy to lose count at this point. When news broke that Jared Kushner had asked Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about creating a secret channel of communication between the Trump Transition Team and russia, with kushner officially a person of interest in the investigation and the white house setting up a warroom to combat the endless russiagate news, what happens next . Joining me tnow to discuss this mindboggling week in washington, congresswoman Maxine Waters. Congresswoman, good morning, first of all. Good morning. I should say hello. This morning on meet the press john kelly who is the director of heland security was asked to respond to what people are calling a backchannel. I dont know if its a real ba
Paper. It says Jared Kushner and russias ambassador to washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure channel between trumps Transition Team and the kremlin using russian diplomatic facilities in a move to shield their preinauguration discussions from monitoring. The post quotes officials briefed on this intelligence. This means the man closest to the president allegedly wanted to talk outside of known u. S. Channels and u. S. Officials know this because they intercepted the Russian Ambassador to moscow with the surprise that the kremlin had been invited in so close to the Trump White House. As the post reports, ambassador reportedly was taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an american to use Russian Communications gear at the embassy or consulate that would have carried security risks for moscow as well as the trump team. The White House Traveling overseas did not comment on the story as of yet. There was a second report in the Washington Post that went up
The Washington Post reported that investigators had identified a Current White House official as a, quote, significant person of interest. Then on monday, the post reported that trump had asked Senior Intelligence officials back in march to push back publicly against comeys comments on the investigation. On tuesday, former cia director john brennan testified that he saw intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between russian officials and Trump Campaign associates that warranted further investigation. Then yesterday, nbc broke the news that Jared Kushner, that of course the president s soninlaw, was under fbi scrutiny according to nbc, quote, investigators believe kushner has significant information relevant to their inquiry. That does not mean they suspect him of a crime or intend to charge him. Today, nbcs Peter Alexander reporting that the white house is preparing for a new reality when it comes to dealing with this widening investigation. Officials are setting up a war
It. Back with me, my panel. Good to have all of you on. Well start of the with mark preston. Mark, i want to talk about the number of people on the president s team who have become caught up in this russian probe. Michael flynn, paul manafort, roger stone, carter page, j. K. Goran. Tonight we learned that his attorney will cooperate if subpoenaed and weve learn the House Intelligence Committee is asking for asking for information from former White House Press official boris epstein. All of this before you get to Jared Kushner, the president s soninlaw. Put this in perspective for us. Lets look at President Trumps orbit from the campaign to where we are right now. Michael flynn was a surrogate for him on the Campaign Trial a trusted ally and somebody he put into a key position in the federal government. That is as National Security adviser. However he had to resign only weeks after taking it don because of his discussions, contacts, with the russians. Then you have paul manafort, who wa
New reaction from Outgoing White House press sean spicer on what led him to resign yesterday morning when trump offered him one of the most vocal supporters the Communications Director position. Here is what spices said in an interview last night. I recommended to the president that i give anthony and sarah a clean slate to start from so that they can talk about the president s agenda and how move it forward. And he, after some back and forth, understood that the offer that i was making was something that was in the best interest of this administration. I thanked him for the opportunity and im looking forward to watching anthony and sarah do a tremendous job. Meanwhile, Reince Priebus, white house chief of staff is pushing back on reports that he opposinged sayscaramuccis hiri. Sean did a great job. Hes a dear friend, as everybody knows. It is good to start fresh. Sean gets to start fresh, anthony gets to start fresh and most importantly, the president gets to start fresh and i think t