I think it will be very good. Why did it take so long, 11 years forks get to this historic moment . Were not going to be played. Well hopefully make a deal. If we dont, thats fine. Good morning to you. Good to be with you. Lets try to copy what christi talked about, merkel, ma macron, a dictator, a rapper, russian lawyer nice. Thank you very much. A truly astounding week for President Trump. There is still much to come today. People wondering is that the opening act to whats happening this weekend. Today the president is returning to one of his favorite settings, the campaign trail, with a reelection rally. Hes previewing his speech on twitter with attacks on the russia investigation, Robert Mueller, the democrats. Abby phillip live from washington. We know how much the president loves his campaign rallies. Theyre friendly territory for him, particular ly in michigan s has been in the past. There are theres a lot following him. Reporter thats right. The president leaving town during a weekend in which a lot of people in washington will be at the white house correspondents dinner. Heading to the campaign trail to be in a place where hes likely to be surrounded by some of his most ardent supporters. The president , this is the second year in a row that hes chosen to do that. The incentive following the president like previous president whos attended the dinner president s who attended the dinner and told jokes, that sort of thing. Hes deciding to go out and hold counter program, a rally in which he essential question put out whatever message he wants. Often those rallies end up with a freewheeling atmosphere, talking about all sorts of things. And we can expect that given what hes been talking about on social media the last couple of days that russia will play prominently in that. Now the president last night sent out a tweet talking about the house intelligence committees report on russian interference in the russian in the election. Some saying the report was incomplete but President Trump writes, House Committee rules there was no collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia as ive been saying all along. It is a big hoax by democrats based on payments and lies. There should never have been a special counsel appointed. Witch hunt. The second day in a prothat President Trump has been on the in a row that President Trump has been on the subject that hes often talking about. This past week he also gave an extended interview in which he attacked former fbi director james comey. He suggested that the special counsel probe should be ended on social media. All of this is happening as there are continuing developments on the russia front. In the last 24 hours, we learned that the russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who was in the meeting with don jr. In june of 2016 at trump tower has said to reporters that she she is an informant of the russian government. This information really changes the perception that she has tried to put out that she was there to talk about russian adoptions. And remember, the don jr. Issued a statement suggesting that he agreed to meet with her because she wanted to talk about the u. S. Policy with regard to adoptions. It later became clear that they had promised dirt on hillary clinton, and now this lawyer is saying that her ties to the kremlin are much closer than she previously let on. Theres lay lot happening, but the president will be talking about what he social securiays hunt against him and his associates. Weve seen the president create new headlines out of the yae rallies. Well see what happens. Important question about the russian lawyer who previously denied any connections to the kremlin, why is she coming forward with this information . Fred pleitgen is following the developments from moscow. So what do we know about Natalia Veselnitskaya and why potentially she is revealing this now . Reporter why is she revealing it now and what does it mean when she says shes an informant . We had bill browarder tell erin burnett on our program that he believes she was an agent and nothing more or less, that she was trying to undermine u. S. Policies. In the meeting at trump tower, apparently she was trying to undermine whats called the magnitsky act, that sanctions russians accused of human rights abuse. She clearly was pushing the agendas. She does not call herself an agent but an informant. Listen to an interview that was published yesterday. Listen in reporter to translate, she says she is a lawyer, and she is an informant. All of this is about her relationship with the russian prosecutor general. Shes said that yes, shes had contact with him, but she doesnt have professional relations or doing his bidding. It seems like from emails, and this goes to the question of why shes saying it now, because emails have been hacked and leaked of hers between her and yuri chika that indicate she had a much closer relationship with chika, and the two seemed to be working the in a 2014 case where she was representing a russian businessman accused by the department of justice together with russian officials trying to thwart the case of the justice department. She was confronted and admitted that, yes, she is an informant. Does that mean she has an official role with the russian government . Thats not clear. They didnt elaborate on what that means. However, we also have to keep in minds that in the meeting in 2016 in trump tower, she was introduced as a russian government lawyer. This is from an email that said, emin asked that i schedule a meeting with you and the russian government attorney flying over from moscow for this thursday. Clearly a lot closer relations with the kremlin. Didnt elaborate on what it means that she is an informant. This doesnt seem to mesh with things she sold u. S. Authorities and the u. S. Public, guys. All right. Fred pleitgen, thank you very much. Cnn has learned the National Rifle association could be getting ready for a possible investigation over its ties to a kremlinlinked banker. Cnn Political Correspondent sara murray with the details here. Reporter the National Rifle association is setting aside years of documents related to interactions with kremlinlinked banker Alexander Torshin and his protege maria batina as it braces for a possible investigation, sources say. The Gun Rights Group facing scrutiny over finances and ties to torshin. A lifetime member of the nra and one of the Prominent Russian government officials the u. S. Recently slapped with sanctions. The nra is also battling allegations that torshin may have illegally funneled money through the nra to bolster the Trump Campaign. There have been allegations that the russians were going to funnel money through the nra. And we sought to investigate that. There were witnesses with direct knowledge of the association, but theyve refused. Reporter the nra has denied contact with the fbi or to accepting illegal donations. Sources say they are anxiously preparing, collecting documents is Due Diligence and dealing with congressional scrutiny. The renewed attention highlights the Uneasy Alliance between top nra officials and torshin. A relationship that eventually ensnared members of Trumps Campaign team. Inviting congressional scrutiny into advisers including donald trump jr. , jared kushner, and Jeff Sessions. The nra went all in for trump in 2016. Ive been a member for a long time, and my boys are members. To get the endorsement, believe me, is a fantastic honor. Reporter it spent 30 million backing trumps candidacy, more than it shelled out for 2008 and 2012 races combined. Behind the scene, torshin was trying to use nra ties to arrange a meeting with trump in louisville. In an email to the Trump Campaign, a torshin associate says he is cultivating a back channel to president putins kremlin, adding, putin is deadly serious about building a Good Relationship with mr. Trump. Here you have in black and white evidence that there was an effort by the russians to use the nra as their channel, one of their channels to the Trump Campaign. Reporter torshin didnt meet trump at the nra meeting but had an impromptu meeting with donald trump jr. Some nra wondered if it was set a setup by the russians. Trump jr. Says he doesnt recall discussing the upcoming election with torshin. Torshins relationship with the nra against years ago through david keene, now an nra board member. In 2015, keene took nra backers to moscow hosted by maria batina. She had attracted attention for starting a Gun Rights Group in russia. The nra group went sightseeing and toured a gun manufacturer. By 2016 sources say torshin and batina had become fixtures at the nras highdollar events. The nra said torshin hasnt made any donations aside from membership dues and said it hasnt found any foreign donations related to the u. S. Election. Russian experts say torshins close ties to putin and division around guns in america mean his coziness with the nra looks like a classic russian influence operation. Vladimir putin is using these issues to divide us, to split and make weaker the United States. Thats something that i believe all of americans ought to be concerned about. Reporter the white house, the donald Trump Campaign, and the nra did not comment for the story. When i spoke with david keene he said he did not want to talk about his 2015 trip to moscow, but he did say he was not aware of any donations from Alexander Torshin. Sara murray, cnn, washington. Well talk more about that exclusive throughout the morning. Now to politics reporter rebecca burgh. Good morning to you. Thanks. I want to start with the conversation from Natalia Veselnitskaya that she is an informant for the russian government. What substantively considering many people assume that when we got the reporting in july of last year about the meeting having happened in 2016, what does that substantively change . Right, it doesnt change anything because so many people assumed that she was working with or for the russian government. Its significant in the admission itself. You have to wonder why did these decide to disclose this now. Is russia going to create further controversy, refocus attention on the controversy or the potential russian interference in our election. And then of course this brings us back to the question of this meeting at trump tower between veselnitskaya and some of the top Trump Campaign officials including Paul Manafort and his son, donald trump jr. This raises, again, questions about why they took this meeting, what other contacts they had with veselnitskaya and others prior to the election and afterwa afterward, and what did they know about her intentions . Did they know that potentially she was trying to infiltrate the campaign and gain access and information for the kremlin. You mentioned communications after the election. Ranking democrat on house intelligence, congressman adam schiff, tells cnn that veselnitskaya reached out to the trump family after the election. I want you to watch here. This is don jr. In july of 2017 in this interview on fox news in which he talks about followup with veselnitskaya. Its quick. Well have to watch and listen closely. Do you ever have any contact with this woman again . No. No contact again. Its not clear if that attempt to reach the family actually got through. Don jr. Says he effectively shut down the line of communication with veselnitskaya after the meeting turned out not to be what he expected it would be. There would seemingly be no reason to follow up in late november after the election. Right. You would think so. Theres so many holes in this story m story. It could look like a piece of swiss cheese. So many questions, inconsistencies with what donald trump jr. Has said, others relating to the Trump Campaign have said, and what the russians are saying about this, as well. And information that we have gleaned from documents relating to this meeting. And so this is part of what Robert Mueller is looking at in his investigation, trying to get answers about what happened and who knew what when. Potentially we will have answers at some point. But youre absolutely right to point out the inconsistencies here. There have been so many from donald trump jr. , from others in the trump orbit. The president himself. And we are, you know, looking for answers to that right now. Lets turn to iran. A major topic of this week. Macron came from france to try to, among other things, convince the president to certify the iran deal. And it runs compliance when it comes up on may 12th. And then Angela Merkel of germany was here just yesterday. I want you to listen to the new secretary of state, mike pompeo. No decision made. So the team is working, and im sure well have lots of conversations to deliver what the president has made clear. Absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the shortcomings, the flaws of the deal. He is unlikely to stay in that deal past this may. Rebecca, republicans unanimously opposed the deal in 2015 when it was proposed. At this point, are they likely to impose snapback sanctions if iran doesnt comply . Where are we, is there a significant pert percentage of republicans on the hill in agreement with the president . Politically this has remained pretty consistent with republicans. Some will feel the president should remain in the deal or at least be working toward some other solution as macron suggested during his trip to washington this past week. By and large politically, this is a good issue for republicans and the president to say that they want to pull out of this deal because it was a deal that president obama crafted. Its become this sort of political liability or very unpopular among republicans who feel that he entered into the deal, giving iran too much and not getting enough in return. And we heard during the president ial campaign what a popular rallying cry it was for President Trump and his supporters. And most republicans, polling shots, still support polling shows, still support the president , most republican voters. Youll see Congressional Republicans by and large supporting the president s decision. The president will be some of those supporters tonight in michigan. Well see if that is one of the topics. Could be. That he talks about. Reberga, good to have you. Thanks. Epa administrator scott pruitt could now be facing new ethics reviews in addition to the ones already underway. In a letter to democratic members of congress, the epa Inspector General detailed a list of possible reviews. They include a look at pruitts travel expenses, security team, and raises for Staff Members now. After years of legal fights, a victory for texas on its voter i. D. Law. Next, what this means for the upcoming elections. Also, the Stormy Daniels lawsuit was trying to force the president to sit down for a deposition as it went after the president s attorney, Michael Cohen. Now a california judge has put the suit on hold, not permanently, though. Well talk about that next. Ah, my poor mouth breather. Allergies . Stuffy nose . Cant sleep . Enough. Take that. A breathe right nasal strip of course. 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The answer put the case on hold for 90 days while the criminal case against cohen continues in new york. Cohen told the court that because of the Ongoing Investigation there, he would plead the fifth in the lawsuit to avoid incriminating himself. All right. Lets talk about this with page pate, cnn analyst and criminal defense attorney. We have a couple of other things to discuss besides Michael Cohen. First and foremost, this day is just essentially hitting the pause button. With that said, how vulnerable is the president still to a deposition in this case which is what Michael Avenatti wants to do . Right. I think eventually the president is likely to be deposed in this case. What the judge has done is said, look, im going to stop the significant cause because you may the civil case because you may be facing criminal charges. I dont think its a delay tactic, i think you have serious exposure. I want you to be able to raise questions raised in the civil case, but you cant do that while you may be under criminal investigation in new york. Lets stop everything for 90 days, see what happens in the new york situation, then well revisit the issue. Youre saying President Trump most likely will have to si