Weekend, but the fallout over reported contacts with the president s Campaign Aides and russias ambassador to the u. S. Continues to grow. Democrats are demanding more specific answers from u. S. Attorney general Jeff Sessions on why he did not disclose his own meetings with the russian diplomat. Sessions says he will turn in amended testimony on monday. We get more from jeff zeleny. Reporter President Trump heading off today for a weekend in florida. But not escaping lingering questions about russia. Before leaving the white house, his closest advisers holding an animated meeting in the oval office. Steve bannon look particularliage taitzed as the weekends with more aides acknowledging meetings with the Russian Ambassador last year. A day after attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from any investigations involving the 2016 campaign after failing to disclose his meetings with the ambassador, the administration is on damage control. The president s words from last month not holding up to scrutiny. I have nothing do with russia. Fwoets of my knowledge, no person that i deal with does. Reporter the white house has yet to explain the pump of these meetings. The disclosure of which has overshadowed the president s well regarded speech to congress this week. Republicans urging team trump to be more fort coming. I think everybody who has had contact with the russians need to get in the practice of oversharing. Reporter in a statement the president defending his attorney general as an honest man blasting dmgs for what he called a total witch hunt. Those words echoed in moscow where Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov described it the same way. Translator it all looks like a witch hunt. Reporter russia clearly on the president s mind today sending this tweet, we should start an immediate investigation into senator schumer and his ties to russia and putin, a total hypocrite. Senator schumer firing back, happily talk about my contact with mr. Putin and his soergtss. Took place in 2003. In full view of press and public under oath. Would you and your team . In wisconsin, Vice President mike pence facing questions about using a personal email account to conduct business as indiana governor. It was hacked in a fishing scam as first reported by the indianapolis star. Im very confident that our email practices were in full compliance with all of indianas laws. Reporter on the campaign trail, he often criticized 4ks private email server. Classified information clou allowed to be on her own private server exposed to hacking. To be honest with you, im experiencing clintons scandal fatigue. Reporter pence rejected that comparison today. No, there is no comparison whatsoever between Hillary Clintons practice, having a private server, mishandling classified information, sgroiing emails. Reporter all this as the week drew to a close with the president still not signing a new travel ban for visitors from majority muslim countries. He once argued it was you are gebts urgently needed. A new report finds that most vie lebts extremists are notal radicalized when they come to the u. S. But only after living lear for several years. Despite the controversy over russian contacts, the former head of the cia says its in u. S. Interests to find areas ever cooperation whenever possible. David petraeus says the most important thing is to be realistic about russian motives and goals. Petraeus spoke with cnns frederik pleitgen. It is very clear what Vladimir Putins objectives are in many cases they are unacceptable to us and nato and our allies and partners around the world. Having said that, there could be some convergence of interests when it comes to the defeat of the Islamic State and the al qaeda and perhaps stopping the blood shed in syria as an overall objective, as well. Could that be a spring board toward better relations . I would go into this with my eyes very wide open, with realistic appraisal of what russia has done and what putin would like do. I think Strategic Dialogue with ones adversary is not something that should be avoided. I think you should actually pursue it. There is the possibility of some other initiatives and indeed some policy initiatives at some point. This is where you might see an initiative with russia. I dont think you see that in ukraine. I think you could possibly see this in syria. Nic robertson joins us live from moscow. And we just heard general petraeus saying its good to find cooperation with russia. But there is an investigation in how russia may have meddled in the election and now wariness over reports that several trump team members met with the ambassador after the president said to the best of his knowledge no person deals with with russia. So what is going on on that side . Reporter frustration. There is frustration because clearly russia is being implicated in nefarious activities and meddling in the u. S. Elections. That is something that they say there are not involved in that, but at the same time, they describe what is happening in washington as a political witchhunt and also internal u. S. Affairs. They feel that they are being caught up in that emotionally charged situation. But in the areas of cooperation, cnn asked peskov yesterday what about cooperation over syria. He said look, there are areas potentially over isis where we could be cooperating. And he said were not. Which is sad. But he quickly corrected himself after that and said but russia will strike out and continue to do actions on its own. And if you take a look at where the u. S. Stands diplomatically over the issue of syria, you have peace talks going on in geneva, they wrapped up yesterday, but as part of that process, you had senior Russian Diplomats, Deputy Foreign minister meeting with members ever the opposition parties. We havent seen that before. And the United States not representative at any similar level at those talks. So while there is frustration here in russia, there is a gaping hole appearing in what should be effective areas of u. S. International foreign strategy and policy appearing. I want to play a portion of the interview we did with steve hall, retired cia chief of russian operations. This is what he said about potential cooperation between the u. S. And russia. For the west there is always and specifically the United States, there is a goal for cooperation. We want to achieve a specific goal. For russia sometimes cooperation is the goal. They want a seat at the table, they want to be a great power, they want respect. We hear it constantly in their speeches. So sometimes cooperation for russia is a different thing than it is for the United States and the west in general. Exactly, that mirrors what you were saying. Theyre looking for something different. Theyre looking for respect perhaps. Reporter sure. That is part of putins goal here, to be so engaged in Big International affairs that russia is allowed on the international platform. And to a degree it has. It hosted the military cease fire talks just recently. And it is putting itself on the world stage which is where it wants to be. But the reality is it cannot resolve these issues alone. Its looking for a partner in the United States. But you might, you know, if we were more months into the Trump Administration, you might be able to say this is a tactical move on the Trump Administration not to engage in syria, to essentially not deliver what president putin wants which is the International Recognition of being an International Player and also to get out from underneath some ever the sanctions that hes under in ukraine for over his actions in ukraine, which is an nexting crimea as well as crossing the border to get involved with the separatists in the east of ukraine. But it doesnt seem to be that the United States is at that stage yet at the moment, playing that strategic role. Theyre not ready for it and thats russias frustration. All right. Nick roberts son li robertson i you. Author of an upcoming book how the west a aiding and abetting the decline of democrat is joining us. First up, lavrov says this is a witch hunt as far as the curiosities about these meetings with the Russian Ambassador. But democrats say it seems like theyre covering something up. What is your take . About. Well, i think any of these individual meetings could be explained. Jeff sessions meeting with the Russian Ambassador might be something that is normal. But at some point you have to ask how many red flags do there need to be. The real problem here is there is no alternative explanation coming from the Trump Campaign or the Trump White House as to why all these different people from diverse backgrounds have met with russian officials or russian operatives and that have had shifty denials about these r those meetings. Remember Michael Flynn said he called over christmas, a courtesy call. Then it became a series of calls. Then it was we talked about with sanctions. Then we found out this week that he also met in trump tower with him. And question is why all of these denials, why all of these claims if nothing is really there. If there is some sort of coverup here, what could they dont want us to know . They of course being the Trump Administration. Well, the allegation is that there is collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia because russia certainly meddled in americas election with hacking and it was to the benefit of Donald Trumps campaign. And the question was is there coordination. And if there was, its a serious, serious allegation that the United States president would have been involved in illegitimately affecting an election outcome. So what could the white house or the president do or say to make it Crystal Clear this is government business as usual . I think at this point the only thing that will make the story go away is a full investigation. And a full report that documents the level of contact, what was sgued, and when by various Trump Administration officials. There are too many questions to not have afternoon investigation at this point. And so it would be improper. Inv at this point. And so it would be improper. And question is will it be independent. It only took the embarrassment of sessions testimony being exposed for him to recuse himself for investigating a campaign that he was involved in. So we have to look at the integrity of the investigation going forward. And the president and his team have been saying that they will roll out a new version, a tweaked version of the travel ban, but now it hasnt happened. What could be the hold up there . Well, i think that this is an extremely complicated policy that needs to pass legal muster. They were slapped down in about court previously, the travel ban deemed to be unlawful by the court. And so as a result of itrying. But the irony is that trump tweeted that the judges were holding up National Security and that he would blame them if a terror attack happened as a result. But now they are waiting. So the narratives are somewhat blurred in terms of is this really essential for National Security and if so why the hold up. Brian class, London School of economics, thank you for joining us. And coming up here, we will hear from some Trump Supporters about some of these allegations. That is coming up here on our newscast. Plus an alleged fake jobs scandal is erupting around president ial candidate marine le pen. That is ahead as well. Getting heartburn doesnt mean i means i take rolaids®. Rolaids® goes to work instantly neutralizing 44 more acid than tums® for fast, powerful relief of your worst heartburn. I trust my rolaids®. Rolaids spells relief. New neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair wrinkles . Your time is up with the proven power of retinol. Reduces wrinkles in just one week. Neutrogena® sweet, sweet st. Thomas nice. So nice, so nice. St. Croix full of pure vibes. So nice, so nice. St. John a real paradise. So nice, so nice. Proud to be from the Virgin Islands. And the whole place nice. To experience your Virgin Islands nice, go to visitusvi. Com. You may be muddling through allergies. Oned with. Try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. And zyrtec® is different than claritin®. Because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. Try zyrtec®. Muddle no more®. Listen, sugar, were lettin you go. Its that splenda naturals gal, isnt it . Coffee look, shes sweet, shes got natural stevia, no bitter aftertaste, and zero calories. All the partners agree . Even iced tea . Especially iced tea. Goodbye, sugar. Hello, new splenda naturals. The International Red cross is sounding the alarm over iraqs battle for mosul. It says 12 civilians were treated this week for injuries from a suspected chemical attack. Meantime Iraqi Military commanders say Coalition Air strikes in mosul killed six militant leaders and took out an isis headquarters on friday. The fight for western mosul has driven more than 46,000 people from the city. 46,000. United nations fears that number could reach a quarter of a million. An al qaeda affiliate in yemen is being hammered by u. S. Air raids. The pentagon says its conducted more than 30 strikes there thursday and friday. Groens were u drones were used and at least one high member was targeted. These are the first since the controversial raid in january. Several civilians and u. S. Navy s. E. A. L. Were killed then, but u. S. Officials are defending the mission. Here is more from Cnns Barbara Starr at the pentagon. Reporter u. S. Officials are insisting to cnn that they did get valuable intelligence from that raid back in january that killed the u. S. Navy s. E. A. L. And led to the death of several civilians on the ground. None of it can be absolutely verified because the intelligence is classified. But Officials Say that they are now taking action to monitor, look for hundreds of contacts that they got on some of the data, the laptop, the cellphones that they seized. They believe they have names and Contact Information for people in the west who may be sympathizers to al qaeda in yemen, may even be working to plot and plan new attacks. So they are taking action, trying to track all of that down. At the same time, they got intelligence that is leading them to more information about al qaedas safe havens in yemen. That may lead them to more raids. They have information they say about recruiting, targeting all of the activities of al qaeda and eninformation about its explosive manufacturing. And of course it is al qaeda in yemen that has perfecting nonmetallic bombs, the kinds of bombs that can make it past airport security. This is a group that very much wants to get a bomb on board a u. S. Airliner. Barbara starr there. Now lets go to ian lee in cairo and monitoring what has been happening there in yemen. What are you learning, ian . Is it the same that we heard from Barbara Starr . Reporter the thing about the strikes is they were targeting a number of things, natalie. They were going after weapons, they were going after militants, sa safehouses, the infrastructure of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. There were more than 30 air strikes. And when you compare that to 2016, there was roughly 30 air strikes in the whole entire year. So this is a sharp increase that were seeing taking place here. And theyre targeting these militants in the southern central part of the country in several provinces where al qaeda has been known to congregate and take advantage of the lawlessness and vacuum that has been created by the war in yemen. And this war has been going on and on there and there has been criticism from people inside saying where is the world. What is the view there on how the u. S. Is stepping up this air campaign and how it might overall affect the war . Reporter interesting thing about this, when you look at yemen, there are several conflicts really taking place. You have the primary one between the Houthi Rebels and the Government Troops of president mondaysour and there a proxy war supporting the president in iran, assuming the Houthi Rebels, to the extent we really dont know. But on the other side of the country, you have al qaeda exploiting that vacuum, you have isis trying to exploit that vacuum. So these air strikes are really trying to keep al qaeda in check. But when you look at the war, the conflict overall, its unlikely to really play have much of an effect on the war between the Houthi Rebels and the Government Troops. That is taking play more in the western part of the country, although al qaeda has been taking its shots at both in the past, as well. Another war that is extremely complicated. Thank you so much, ian lee live for us in cairo. French president ial candidate Francois Fillon is hoping a rally c