Cooperating. Now, according to the New York Times, papadopoulos was apparently drinking with a top australian diplomat back in may of 2016 and he told that diplomat that russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton. Two months later when the dnc emails were leaked, australian officials told u. S. Officials about that conversation with papadopoulos. Now this news indicates that additional intelligence separate from that dossier raised concerns among security officials. This hour, the white house is responding. The president s lawyer telling cnn quote, out of respect for the president ial counsel as his process we are not commendeding on matters such as this. We are continuing to fully cooperate with the special counsel in order to help complete the inquiry expeditiously. Joining us editor for the New York Times. He is one of the journalists behind this breaking news, thank you for joining us. I know some republicans youve been reporting as well as the president claimed the dossier is the basis for the fbis probe into russias election med ling and the question of collusion with the Trump Campaign. But atowarding to this explosive report from your and your colleagues today, thats not true. Right. The dossiers been with us pub public for almost a year now. Its been this sort political dine knit where republicans dismissed it and discreted it. What we report today is that actually, it wasnt the basis for the fbi investigation. There were several things that were involved but primarily it was information from george papadopoulos, as you said, drinking at a bar with the top australian diplomat in london in may 2016 and two months later, the australian tells the fbi what papadopoulos had told him, that russia has dirt on Hillary Clinton. Its interesting because this sort of helps fit a big piece into the puzzle of the narrative of 2016. Why did the fbi get so concerned about trump and potential russian contacts that caused them to launch this investigation. This was a key piece. So, do we know why australians waited two whole months to tell the american counterparts about this conversation . We dont. And thats one question that will continue to report out. It is possible that they the australian whos name is Alexander Downer who is the top diplomat in the uk, heard the information, it was not considered urgent until two months later when we saw emails spilling out publicly that were damaging to Hillary Clintons campaign, spask campaign, specifically the emails. Urgently went to the United States. Thats speculation but it is possible. So what did the fbi do then after they got that information from australia . So what has been publicly reported, and spoken of by senior officials is in late july of 2016 the fbi opened the Counter Intelligence investigation which is a basically looking at what is behind this intelligence about contacts between the Trump Campaign and russians. What are they to make of it . They started the investigation, but it did not really go fulltilt for some time. It wasnt really until the fall that they started really looking at these issues, particularly seriously. At the same time, this is a month before the election and there was concern in the fbi about a fullblown investigation coloring the political sort of climate at the time, a month before the election. Recall, it was a time when there was concern that trump might lose and not accept the result of the election. So there was a real debate inside the fbi. Did you get the sense that they didnt really know how to best approach their investigation . That they were sort of wondering how aggressive to go in following up on these tips . Yes. I think there was such a debate. Again, what has been reported before is that christopher seal, the former british spy who put the dossier together had gone to a contact of his who works at the fbi in rome. As reported in our story today, it wasnt until october when fbi agents went over to europe to interview steel. So there was a lag time, and there did seem to be some period when the fbi was not you know, was doing an open investigation but not you know, doing everything they could to sort of chase every lead. Because the timing really is crucial, i just want to make sure we understand the order of all of this. Did the fbi start their investigation before they knew about the steele dossier, or do you know . We we do not believe that as we reported it was not at all the predicate for the investigation. We do think that at least one fbi agent knew about information that steele had provided. We believe he provided that in early july to the agent in rome. But we have multiple sources that say it was the papadopoulos information together with the hacked emails together with possibly other sources that launched the fbi investigation. It was not the steele information. Did they tell you that pointblank that the dossier had nothing to do with them opening the investigate . Yes, they did. I want you to listen to the former Trump Campaign officials as they dismissed papadopoulos back when he first struck that plea deal and his documents from that deal were disclosed. The guy was he was the coffee boy. I mean you might have called him a Foreign Policy analyst, but in fact, if he was going to wear a wire, all we would know now is whether he prefers a caramel or a regular american coffee. He had nothing to do with the campaign. Old coffee boy sound byte. But your reporting indicates he was no the a coffee boy. Tell us more about how involved he was. So papadopoulos was named as an adviser during a time when the Trump Campaign was struggling to find anyone of import or substance who could serve on the Foreign Policy team. He didnt have that much experience. However, during the summer and fall of 2016, as we report today, he did actually remain in contact with Senior Campaign officials. Le he even helped broker some significant meetings. Most notably, papadopoulos played a significant role in working with steve bannon, then the campaign chairman, to set up a meeting between donald trump and the president of egypt. Does your reporting show there is any evidence papadopoulos discussed what he knew about russias dirt on clinton with senior Trump Campaign officials . That remains one of the most important questions we still have not gotten to the bottom of. We dont know again, whether he told anyone inside the campaign, which would be a very significant develop. The documents that Robert Muellers team produced in october shed no light on that. All they say is that papadopoulos was told about the dirt, but it says nothing about who he told inside the trump orbit. Which could be crucial into the investigation into collusion. Thank you again for joining us, and we appreciate your reporting this narch. For reaction to the developments i want to bring in cnn analyst juli julian zelizer. And jennifer. Jennifer, the president s personal legal team says they will comment on the story out of respect for the special counsel. Do you expect the president s personal allies to toe that line . Its unclear. The this is sort of a change of pace for them. And maybe someone has finally got the idea that its not such a good idea for them to be commenting all the time and in general those comments probably have not helped the president at all. I suspect at this point that they really dont know what papadopoulos has and dont know what the fbi has. And frankly, the smartest thing they can do at this point is shut up because whatever they have, whatever robert politicaler has politicamuller s is going to come out. It does underscore the dossier has been a red herring all along. The fbi doesnt investigate on a dossier they havent confirmed. There may be information they have then gone back to source themselves but theyre not going to launch a Counter Intelligence investigation based on hearsay which is what the dossier is. Thats not really what were talking about. What were talking about is what other facts were out there that both Christopher Steele was able to find and the fbi was able to find independently. This from papadopoulos is one strain. Another strain is going to be conversations that were apparently intercepted between the Russian Ambassador to the United States and that trump officials, and another of course was the reaction of the trump team to the wikileaks and of course we have the social Media Connection between a firm that was engaged buy jared kushner. Theres lots of stairains here. The compelling information is not the dossier but what the fbi has independently confirmed and been able to obtain. We cant forget the don junior email exchange and the person from russia trying to set up the lawyer meeting at trump tower last june. I want to turn to you, julia. The president said there was no collusion over and over. Called the Russian Investigation a hoax. He has said its based on this bogus dossier. Based on this new report, does it change the ball game . It wont for him. I think you see a battle between two troops. One has come from the preseiden, his allies blaming the investigation. Then you have another troop which is coming from the Mueller Investigation from other parts of the media saying thats actually not even the origin of the investigation. It was based on many threads that connected different people in the trump or bit to russian officials, to the leaked emails. I think this is a powerful account that comes at a critical moment when the intensity has been building to discredit the entire investigation, and to make that dossier the center piece. This article says thats actually not what happened. Thats not why this all was launched. So, jennifer, some republicans have called for an end to the special counsel probe. Can they still do so credibly . I dont think they were doing it credibly before. The good news for the American People is Robert Mueller doesnt care what people are saying, president s lawyers, they are meticulously and really ir reversibly marching through the evidence and theyre going to compile whatever they find and put it together. And barring some really unforeseen calamity like an attempt to fire the special prosecutor which i dont think is going to happen, hes going to do his work and well find out what he has found out. I lot of this noise i think is for the president s base, attempt to precondition the public for when this comes out. But in the end it matters very little. What matters is what Robert Mueller will find out. Just today, the Washington Examiner was told he wants a special counsel to investigate this trump dossier. It can still happen. I dont think this is necessarily going to push the Republican Congress in a different direction. I would add theyre the focus of both of these different story lines. And the Republican Congress has been pretty loyal to the president. In reese ejnt weeks some member have joined this campaign to discredit the investigation. I dont think this story meeran senator graham will necessarily move away from trying to launch investigation. I suppose that could be part of the investigation as part of the congressional probes that are happening. Sure. It might turn out Something Different than he anticipates, what republicans anticipate. Is might actually lend support to what we read in this article many it wasnt actually as central as the president has been claiming it is, but the Republican Congress is as important as Robert Mueller, and i think thats part of what the battle is right now for the heart and sole of the gop that will ultimately control where this goes politically. I also think its important to note that as mark pointed out also, that Robert Mueller aers team has interviewed Christopher Steele about the dossier and his finding. It is part of their investigation and clearly they would be vetting that dossier as well as continuing to plow forward in the probe. Jennifer and julian thank you tore the insight and analysis. A lot of other news. Voters in the heart of Trump Country will reveal what they think of the russia investigation. Doesnt it bother you that russia interfered . Our election . I got the vote i wanted so it didnt bother me. Really . Well, they didnt need to be doing that. And, the world is watching. The Trump Administration sends a warning to iran as antigovernment protests flare up in that country. Plus a popular prank known as swatting leads to the dhet eath an innocent man. The how it unfolded. They were given the story that there were hostages being held here and people were in here dead. To design the leesa mattress we asked, if sleep is essential to happiness, whats essential to sleep . The answer, three premium layers. A high density core for amazing support. Memory foam for pressure relief. And a top layer with air flow cooling and just the right amount of bounce. All wrapped in a soft distinctive cover. Introducing the leesa mattress. A better place to sleep. Order online. Well build your leesa mattress and ship it free right to your door. So you can experience leesas universal feel designed to adapt to your body. Sleep on your leesa mattress for up to one hundred nights and love it or get a full refund. Returns are free and easy. Read our reviews. Then try the leesa mattress in your own home. Order now and get one hundred dollars off. Go to buyleesa. Com today. Were following a developing story overseas. President trump warning iran this weekend in a series of tweets that the world is watching. How the iranian government responds to antigovernment protesters. Iranians across the country take to the streets. These demonstrations are the largest in nearly a decade. They come as the country faces rising food and gas prices. Cnns International Diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joining us now. Is iran acknowledging president trumps warning . Not at all. Le theyre pushing back. Just to go back to what the first Vice President said as well, he has said we need to the government does need to address the economic issues, unemployment is running about 12 . The inflation up and running about 8 . Food prices going up. That he said there was economic concerns do need to be addressed, but he had a second part which is quite chilling which is anyone who used these protests to undermine the government, whoever is behind that, they need to be named immediately. That needs to be made clear. Theres a hirchnt in the way th speak. Theres an outside hand, foreign hand perhaps is the implication involved. Weve had a pushback directly against president trumps tweets coming from the Foreign Ministry saying he lacked the credibility to make statements of this kind essentially that the iranian people can see through the theyre valueless. Strong pushback on president trump. But they have a right to be worried. Unlike those big protests in 2009, these protesters are not only calling for a change in the economy, but calling for a change in the Supreme Leader of iran. This is something that didnt happen in 2009. This is a huge thing to happen in iran. People dont say that publicly on the street. Sh this is a change in tone compared to previous protests and i think were going to hear a very strong lines coming from the government on this. Meantime, nic, im wondering what the rest of the world is thinking, how theyre reacting, given this is some what a historic protest were seeing. The is there concern about what is to come . 100 . When you look at what happened in 2009, months of protests, then you had social media videos emerging which gave you the real insight into what was actually happening in the protest because of court media in iran is controlled by the government. Access is very hard to get. Independent verification, facts are hard to come by. Back then the piece of video that showed the world what was really happening, a sniper shot and killed a young protester on the streets. That had a chilling impact on the protests in h iran and had a chilling impact around the world. People are watching now. The social media videos that are emerging today are showing injured pe injured people being carried away and one young man on a hospital gurney which appears to be a bullet wound clean through his abdomen. We cant say these actually took place but this was the same process with which information came out in 2009. So the world, yes, is going to be looking closely at what happens. Coming up, our own poppy harlow goes to the heart of Trump Country to get their take on the russia probe. I just dont give a rats. [ beep ] about this. Its done. Theres nothing we can do to change that. You can investigate. Its done. Lets just move on with the real problems. You might take something for your heart. Or joints. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Booking a flight doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. Apparently the way to really under score a point is to repeat it 16 times in 30 minutes, during an interview the president insisted over and over again there was no collusion between his campaign and russians. And that h