S cemetery and visited section 60, the area where Service Members who served in iraq and afghanistan are buried. Lets bring in our senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny. Hes over at the white house. Jeff, have we heard any response first of all from the president over the concerns involving the kushner controversy . Wolf, of course in the speech at arlinton national sem terry the president did not mention this. The only comments he has made about his soninlaw and Senior Adviser were in a brief statement to the New York Times this morning. He did say that he stands behind his soninlaw, that he is doing a good job and hes a good person. Wolf, just the fact that the president issued a statement in support of his soninlaw and Senior Adviser shows how serious this white house believes this is. How serious internally it is as well. The divisions internally with Jared Kushner, steve bannon, reince priebus, those twop thre advisers are now more exposed because of all of this. The fact that the president is saying he has his back is certainly interesting. All of this is hanging over this president as he gets back to washington, back to work. Something else hanging over him as well. Seeing him out in section 60 there as you showed earlier remiep remier reminds us that he has a decision on afghanistan as well thats weighing on him. He has to make the decision whether to send more troops to afghanistan and now thats one example, wolf, of the fact that the white house is internally in grave situation here because of the russian investigation. All of the other matters from the decision to send more troops to afghanistan, to other things are now competing with that. Competing with the president s time for that. Creating sort of a sense of unease here. So Going Forward as this week moves along, the white house is trying to get back on message here. But before that happens, it could be a staff shakeup. There could be a lot of things. The president , you know, was sort of, you know, refeling in the moments in duties as command in cheer. Were all bracing for major decisions by the president this week. Jeff, thank you very much. Members of the Trump Administration have come to Jared Kushners defense. Homeland security secretary john kelly says, and im quoting him, i dont see the big deal. The president S National Security adviser general h. R. Mcmaster says, quote, i would not be concerned about it. But then theres this from republican senator john mccain. My view of it is i dont like it. I just dont i know that some Administration Officials are saying well, thats standard procedure. I dont think its standard procedure prior to the inauguration of a president of the United States by someone who is not in an appointed position. Lets bring in our Congressional Correspondent phil mattingly, cnn political director david, and shannon, white house reporter. David, the impression is the fear is that during the transition you dont want to give a Foreign Government the notion that there are two administrations. Right. And we have a lot to learn about this. We dont know we know the desire to set up a back Channel Communication and we know that it wasnt set up. Thats sort of what we know. What we dont know is what the content of that communication would have been if it did get set up. If it was just setting it up for the future, maybe not very problematic. But as youre saying, wolf, if indeed it was to set up to start discussing u. S. Russia relations and policy, then that does violate the one president at a time. The other factor other than the timing of this being in the transition is of course the request that this back Channel Communication happened on russian sites. That raises a whole other question about why were they setting up this in a way they were kconcerned about it being detected from american surveillance. Those are the pieces of this, the timing and location that we need more information on to send the severity. Phil, this is from the ranking democrat on the house Intelligence Committee, congressman adam schiff. Listen to how he explained his thought. I do think there ought to be a review of his security clearance to find out whether he was truthful, whether he was candid. If not, then theres no way he can maintain that kind of a clearance. Suggesting Jared Kushners security clearance be reviewed. What are you hearing . I think what you need to know and what is guaranteed fact right now is the Intelligence Committee both in the senate and house side are now paying very close attention. Its worth thinking back. In march these committees made clear they wanted to speak with Jared Kushner likely in a closed setting. In march Jared Kushner and his lawyers made clear he was willing to do that in the wake of these reports over the last couple of days they have reiterated. He is open to doing that. He feels very confident in his ability to go up and speak to these senators. The question is the security clearance is more of a an executive branch question. When it comes to what the committees are looking at theres no question everything weve seen come out is not only inside their purview but something they plan on talking to Jared Kushner about whenever the time comes for him to come in for that closed session interview. You cover the white house. What are you hearing about kushners influence with his boss, his fatherinlaw right now and his influence within the white house in general . I think its both when you say theres a lot we dont know. One thing we do know is you have this cloud of controversy around the peresidents top most trustd adviser. Jared kushner is seen as the eyes and ears of the president within the white house. Hes seen as an honest broker. As a direct line between Foreign Governments and people outside of the white house into the oval office whch office. When he speaks, people feel he speaks for the president. Now having a cloud of uncertainty around someone with that much influence could throw President Trump off balance and it could throw the white house off balance. I think its going to be an interesting two weeks to see whether or not that derails any of his momentum and his power and clout within the white ho e house. Its interesting, a lot of times when theres a story and the white house think its wrong, they issue a flat denial. In this case there hasnt been really a flat denial about this effort to create this diplomatic back channel involving the trump transition and the russians. No. In fact, on the last night of the trip there was a press conference and we heard that mcmaster and gary cohn didnt want to taush ouch it. Theres not been a flat denial. It is kind of astonishing to see the president of the United States give a statement to the New York Times to sort of buck up his senior staffer. Its usually the reverse. Ste its not usually that a president feels the need to speak with a senior staffer soninlaw in this case to the press. They gave that statement only to the New York Times. Thats been the official reaction that the president has still great confidence in his Senior Adviser, his soninlaw Jared Kushner. Lindsey graham, its interesting, the senator from south carolina, he has his own doubts about the veracity of the entire story saying that, you know what, this could simply suggesting this could be the russians sending out some disinformation to confuse everyone. He has an interesting perspective. Im not necessarily targeting or identifying Lindsey Graham but i think its worth noting as you listen to people from capitol hill talk about the situation, while we didnt hear a lot from the white house about the Jared Kushner situation, many calls were placed to Senior Leaders on capitol hill to make a couple things clear. First and foremost they dont believe Jared Kushner did anything wrong. Second, he is more than willing to talk to anybody who wants to talk to him about what exactly happened to help clear his name. You might have seen some inkling of that. Bob c while they arent publicly saying much right now, behind the scenes there is an acknowledgement where they know this is very problematic and they want to make sure they have some allies on capitol hill to help as this moves forward. Its the calls to muellers office that i think really are going to be important here too. Jared kushner lawyer is still saying hes willing to talk, any inquiry, but i think the real concern inside the house is the Mueller Investigation as it relates. Special counsel. All these story bsies about a m shake up, a war room being created. What are you hearing . I wouldnt be surprised to see sean spicer take a lower profile, possibly bringing in somebody to take over some of those duties. I do think there will be some changes but i dont think sean spicer will be fired. I dont read much into outsiders coming into the house. I. All right, guys. Theres a lot happening right now. This could be a very, very big week. Guys, thanks very much. Coming up, fresh off the series of meetings with President Trump, Angela Merkel suggests germany cant rely on the u. S. We have details. Thats coming up. Plus north korea conducts its third missile test in less than three weeks. How the u. S. Is reacting and a lot more when we come back. Mail and packages. Out and its also a story about people and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you essential for him, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz xr. A once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Needles. Fine for some. But for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. Ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. An unjection™. Itthat can make a worldces, of difference. Expedia, everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. Lewandowski. Co observan. Translator the times where we could completely count on others, theyre over to a certain extent. Ive experienced this in the last few days and that is why i can only say that we europeans must really take our fate into our own hands. Those strong words from the german leader Angela Merkel. Theyre raising serious questions about the u. S. Relationship with germany right now. While the chancellor didnt mention President Trump by name the statement did follow the nato summits where the president made some critical remarks about the nato allies including germany. Early today merkel spokesman tried to clarify the remarks saying chancellor is deeply committed to the trans atlantic relationship. Lets discuss this and more. Our Senior International correspondent Fred Pleitgen is joining us from london. John kirby is with us near washington. Fred, the chancellor is as you know campaigning for reelection right now. Put her comments which were very strong into context for us. They certainly are very strong. They also are causing a big stir in germany as well with people openly asking what does that mean for the Transatlantic Alliance . What does this mean for the u. S. And germany. Angela merkel is on the campaign trail. However shes also a very reserved politician. She doesnt make off the cuff remarks. She will have thought very carefully about what she was saying and also the context in which she was saying it in. And it really seems as though during the past week with President Trumps visit there to europe both to brussels and to italy that certain things were said that really alienated the ge germans as far as trade is concerned. Especially some of the things that he said about some of the other nato partners which is why the germans then said look, we have to take things into our own hands. I think ma merkel means that in a european context. Theyre going to forge more ties with European Countries and saying theyre not sure whether they can rely on the United States at least for the next four years the way they have in the past. Very interesting. Very disturbing i should say as well. Germanys top diplomat took his criticism of President Trump one step further. What did he say . Hes the foreign minister of germany. S someone who has been critical of the u. S. And the Trump Administration in the past. His comments, ill read part of this. Anyone who sk allwho accelerate Climate Change and who does not want to political resolve the sort cited policy of the American Government is against the interests of the european union. Those were some very strong words. We also have to point out hes actually in the Party Running against Angela Merkel so hes actually in that Election Campaign as well. One of the things i have to say from covering germany for many, many years is that Foreign Policy is not something they take lightly. Its not something they would sort of put by the wayside. These remarks are tape verken v very seriously in that country. Admiral, how significant are these comments . Is the president S National Security adviser before the trip said it was going to be a chance to prove that America First doesnt mean america alone. Maybe in riyadh they did that. Brussels he blew that whole argument out of the water and now you have Angela Merkel saying America First probably means europe alone. This is a big deal. You have in the course of one week, wolf, youve got our closest ally, the uk, refusing to give Us Intelligence in an ongoing investigation. You have our oldest ally, the president of our oldest ally, france, saying hes not going to be bullied by President Trump and now you have arguably our strongest ally in the continent in germany saying the United States cant be relied on anymore. Thats a shame because the United States has been underwriting stability in europe since the end of world war ii. Their security is tied to ours. This is potentially a big deal. If youre putin and the russians looking at some tension within the Nato Alliance right now, these comments coming back and forth between the president and the chancellor and others in europe, youre saying to yourself thats good news. If im putin im sitting back gripping like a popossum eatinga sweet potato. You want to see europe divided from the United States. You want to see autocratic rule there because it reinforces what youre trying to get done in europe, particularly ukraine. Im drawn to what my old boss once said. He said america is not engaged in affairs of the world. Were a great nation because were engaged in the affairs of the world. Thanks to you as well. Admiral, i want you to stick around. Were going to talk about this memorial day in just a little while. Coming up, the pentagon looking to test fire to test fire an Intercontinental Missile intercept or and the new concerns over the north korean threat. Well have details when we come back. 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. We believe in food thats anaturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. So there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. We believe in real food. Whole foods market. Japans Prime Minister promises concrete action. His words. C