So williams was a stockbroker in the state of california who concocted somewhat elaborate scheme to. Listen to Corporate Communications and, make insider trades based on the intelligence that hed gathered. He turns out to be the First American ever for tapping a wire. And this was in the year 1864. And he was imprisoned or convicted a statute written in the state of california, 1862, which means that the practice of wiretap being and laws against it, prohibitions against it, date back all the way to the age of the telegraph. The age of the civil war. When i discovered this. Eight years ago, i was stunned. I didnt know wiretapping went back that far and the book that ive written traces that history all the way back to the age of the telegraph up until our own digital age today, dc williams was literally tapping a telegraph wire. What does the term wire tapping as we use it today . What does it mean in Todays Society . So americans tend to use the term wiretapping somewhat promiscuously.
Testify about Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador kislayak. At todays briefing, sean spicer pushed back hard on the allegation and at one point the briefing kind of went off the rails when russia came up. Listen. Reporter how does this Administration Try to revamp its image, 2 1 2 months in, youve got this yates story today, youve got other things going on, youve got russia, youve got wiretapping. No, we dont have that. Regarding the allegations of capitol hill. I have said it from the day that i got here until whenever, that there is no connection. Youve got russia. If the president puts russian Salad Dressing on his salad tonight, somehow thats a russian connection. But every Single Person no, sean i appreciate your agenda here, but the reality is, no, hold on, at some point, report the facts. Lets talk about the facts tonight, the facts about this
white house and those close to it and ties to russia. We want to show you a flowchart just so that everybody can follow along because it
Point, Michael Cohen had a light bulb go off, and in recent times, tried to behave a little bit better and maybe thats whats reflected in the kinder document thats been filed by the Special Counsel. All right. Thanks so much. Our cnn coverage continues right now. This is cnn breaking news. Im wolf blitzer. We welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Were following breaking news. We have just received two major filings involving the former trump lawyer, Michael Cohen. One from the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, and another from federal prosecutors in new york. And were awaiting another mueller filing pertaining to former Trump Campaign chairman, paul manafort. Theres lots of news thats breaking right now, significant
developments. I quickly want to go to our senior justice correspondent, evan perez. Evan, like all of us, youve been going through these filings. Give our viewers the headlines. What are you findin out . Well, wolf, this is a tale of two documents of
Cnn newsroom starts right now. Our top story, senior white house officials are pushing back against cnns exclusive reporting denying any wrongdoing and asking the foobi to speak o against reports of contacts good the Trump Campaign and russians. The Administration Confirms it spoke to the fooibl about those communications, but in an unprecedented move, press Secretary Sean Spicer blo er bl cnn and other news organizations from an informal press briefing. For more, jim sciutto reports. Reporter the white house vehemently defending asking the fbi to deny reports of communications between Trump Campaign associates and russians known to u. S. Intelligence. The administrations intense push back follows cnns exclusive reporting of the white house request. Senior Administration Officials insisting it only asked for the denial after a top fbi official himself volunteered that the New York Times story on those communications was inaccurate. White house officials who asked not to be named outlin
Now democrats are demanding answers. Plus, it kills in minutes. Authorities say a highly toxic chemical weapon was used to murder kim jonguns half brother. How did the alleged assassins get it and what might that mean . Good afternoon and welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. The white house appearing today to take punitive action against News Organizations. Press Secretary Sean Spicer in the peoples house just briefed reporters on the days news. He was at the white house, of course. He did not allow news outlets including cnn and the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times and politico and others to attend that offcamera briefing which is known as a gaggle. This is a wild deviation from basic white house protocol which normally allows any credentialed News Organization to participate. For more lets go right to cnns sara murray live in the briefing room. I have to say even the darkest days of the obama white houses war against fox news, the white house never banned fox from attending a