Adviser, basically saying, from my experience with him at the Defense Intelligence agency, you could probably find somebody better to be your National Security adviser. But the narrative that the white house is going with today is the fact that the leak should be the story, as to who it was that leaked flynns name after he was caught up in surveillance. President trump asking in a tweet last night, quote, ask sally yates if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after schecks plained to it the white House Counsel. Then tweeting biggest story is on surveillance. Why doesnt the media report on this, hash tag fake news. Well get a chance to ask sean spicer about all of that when he comes out. He is half hour late. We expect we will be coming out in the next few minutes. Maria well circle back when that occurs. Right now the Senate Intel Committee is meeting about what its docket lists as quote intelligence matters. This after a morning of testimony from nsa director michael rodgers. The first weve heard from him since the unmasking of names caught up in Foreign Surveillance aled of the election last year. Katherine herridge joins us live from washington. Good to see you. Has there been any change in russian behavior since the election . Reporter the nsa director testified this morning, because there hadnt been a strong 3ub lick rebuke by the United States against russia, hasnt really cost the russians anything financially. They had taken the lessons they learned through the interference last fall in the election here in the United States and theyre now applying those lessons to other democracies. Weve seen another russian attempt to affect the outcome of the election in france. Do you see any slackening reduction in russian chinese efforts to commit Cyber Attacks and even affect elections . No, i do not. Have you seen any reduction in russian behave kwhror . No, i have not. Reporter the nsa director also testified this morning that he predicts there will be a change in the way that we view cyber activity traditionally. These cyber actors have tried to infiltrate u. S. Systems and steal information so they can have an advantage economically or even militarily. But the nsa director predicted that there are more probably damaging changes ahead. We see data manipulation on a massive scale. Most cyber activity data has been penetration and extraction. Like changing voting rules. Yes. What happens if we change data . Thats a very different kind of challenge for us. Reporter want to underscore that point. Going into a system and manipulating data so the owner of that information no longer has confidence in their computer system, this would be the equivalent of dropping a bomb on u. S. Computer networks. And that is what they think the next iteration of this threat is gonna look like. Maria we all learned why the nsa director was a dissenting voice on the russia report, right . Reporter thats right. So, the Intelligence Community put together their final report on russian interference, and it was issued in january. And there were major findings. They called them in the ic key judgments. What was unusual is that almost all of them were in a high level of confidence. That came from the cia director at the time, john brennan, the fbi director james comey and then also the nsa director. Except for one of the judgments. And that had to do with russias intentions and whether their intention was to help then candidate trump win. And this was really the first time publicly the nsa director has explained why he was that dissenting voice. When i looked at all the data, i was struck by, for every other key judgment in the report, i had multiple sources, multiple disciplines. And i was able to remove almost every other alternative rational i could come up with in my mind for, well, could there be another reason to explain this . In a case of that one particular point, it didnt have the same level of sourcing. Reporter nsa director said at the end of the day, it was not really a discrepancy but he characterized it as an honest difference of opinion on an issue of tremendous gravity. Goes without saying, maria. Maria wow. New information there. Thank you. Lot to talk about here. Joining me is is the editor and chief of daily wire. Com. A syndicated column lift and marjorie clifton, principle of clifton consulting. Ben shapiro, you first. I feel like i know less now than i did 48 hours ago. The more you see these hearings the more you realize that everything thats of importance theyre still maintaining is classified. All the conclusions theyre drawing, theyre not providing any evidence. On the right theyre saying the real story is the leaks and unmasking. And then you have clapper and yates saying unmasking is normal, we dont know about the leaks. On the left theyre saying we now have new evidence of trump russia collusion and we dont have any evidence of trump russia collusion. I feel like we dont know anything about anything. Maria would they do that, marjorie . At this point, a lot of things people wanted to know she answered yesterday with, yes i have the answer but i cant tell you. I mean, does it benefit them to reveal . I dont know. The big question is why theyre deflecting, especially things related to flynn. Why they took 18 days to fire him once they had the information from yates . And i think those are sort of the big questions. The response so far has been odd. Thats why this press briefing will be really important. If we didnt have all of these question, what would we talk about in the media, right . This will keep us going, im sure, for weeks to come. Definitely a lot of interesting things. In the Cyber Security front, this has been an on going bill. The question of what defines warfare, what defines collusion and i think thats where a lot of these gray areas have to be newly defined. Maria well, we know what sean spicer is likely going to say as far as the response from the president. There are Unanswered Questions here. Lets get to this briefing. It is starting right now. Thank you so much ben, marjorie. We will listen in right now. Sean spicer. These are another important part of this american resurgence. While on the trip, the president will further our objectives in the region, creating new opportunities that will strengthen the United States and our allies while weakening our enemies. I know many of you are interested in the logistical aspect of the trip and well be trying to have further briefings on those aspects of the trip as soon as we can, so stay tuned. Also on the subject of foreign visits, id like to understand the president invited the crown prince of the united arab emeritz to visit on may 15th and the crown prince accepted. We look forward to welcoming the crown prince and see this as an opportunity to deepen cooperation with a key partner in the middle east. Domestic matters, the Vice President spent his morning today on cap. He met privately with majority leader mcconnell and also had individual meetings with other senators. The discussions focus on the path forward for the American Health care act in the senate and how the administration can work with congress to craft a tax reform bill that follows the president s priorities simplification, providing tax relief to American Families and individuals and stimulating the economy. The Vice President also attended the weekly Senate Republican policy lunch. Later this afternoon the Vice President will be joined by second lady karen pence and ivanka trump to welcome 150 military families for a reception at the white house. The event recognizes National MilitaryAppreciation Month and National Military spouse Appreciation Day which takes place this friday. The president s cabinet is busy inside and out of the beltway speaking on the administrations agenda with local officials and key stake holder. Secretary of health and Human Services dr. Tom price is in michigan and West Virginia today where he will hear from those on the front lines of the fight against the opioid epidemic. The attorney general will be speaking at a Drug Enforcement administration 360 heroin and opioid response summit in charleston, south carolina. The deas 360 strategy is designed to help cities and surrounding regions deal with the heroin and Prescription Drug abuse epidemic and the Violent Crime associated with it. This day long vent sponsored by the dea, antidrug coalitions of america and the Charleston School of pharmacy will bring together stake holders working in law enforcement, treatment, recovery, healthcare and emergency response. In washington, secretary of commerce ross is speaking this afternoon at the 47th conference of the americas which is taking place at the state department. The event brings together administration officials, distinguished leaders from across the region to focus on major policy issues affecting the hemisphere. At the state department, secretary tillerson participated in a signing ceremony for the georgia general Security Agreement with the Prime Minister of georgia, a major milestone in Security Cooperation between our two countries. The president was also pleased to see several Top Administration officials recently move through the senate. Last night Heather Wilson was confirmed to be secretary of the air force and governor brandstet was ambassador to china and is moving on for a vote on the floor of the senate. President also looks forward to seeing doctor Scott Gottlieb to serve as commissioner of the fda. As far as the paris climate agreement the president has been meeting with his team for quite awhile on this matter and he will not be making an announcement regarding that agreement until after he returns from the g7. With that, id be glad to take your questions. Caitlin. Thank you, sean. We have two questions for you today. First one is, why did the president wait 18 days to fire mike flynn after the white house was informed of his conduct and warned that he was a potential target for russian blackmail . Because you realize the timing of this makes a logical thing that he would have been not been fired if the story had not come out in the media. Lets look at the timeline. Sally yates came here on the 26th of january. Then she informed the counsels office that there were materials that were relevant to the situation. It wasnt until about seven days later that they had access to those documents. After that time, they did what you should do, frankly, as an element of due process, reviewing the situation. They informed the president after they were informed of her giving us a heads up. Ultimately the president made the right decision. I guess the question, or the point that i would put back on you, somebody came over, gave us a heads up on a situation, told us there were materials. We were provided those materials seven days later. Reviewed those laters. Under went a process of reviewing the situation. Ultimately the president made a decision and it was the right one. The process worked, frankly, when you think of the time in which we had the information to make the decision that the president made. Youre saying the president stands by that decision, he made the right decision, but why does he continue to defend mike flynn . Its not a question of defending mike flynn or not. Hold on. I think mike flynn is somebody who hopb raably served our country in uniform for over 30 years. I think as hes noted, Lieutenant General flynn was asked for his resignation because he misled the Vice President. But beyond that, i think he did have an honorable career. Shefrbed with distinction in uniform for over 30 years and the president does not want to smear a good man. What happened with the white house in those 18 days . Was he still fulfilling his National Security adviser dutys . I will not get back into it. Do you think its worrisome that he was doing that if he was the potential target of russian blackmail . The important thing to know, lets look at how this came down. Someone who is not exactly a supporter of the president s agenda, who a couple days after this first conversation took place, refused to uphold a lawful order of the president , who is not exactly someone that was excited about President Trump taking office or his agenda. Hold on. Caitlin. Caitlin. Let me answer the question. She had come here, given a heads up, told us there were materials. At the same time, we did what we should do. Just because someone gives you a heads up about something and says, i want to share some information, doesnt mean you immediately take an action. If you flip the scenario and say what if we just dismissed somebody because a political opponent of the president made an utterance, you would argue it was irrational. We did what we were supposed to do. President made, ultimately, the right decision. I think he was proven that how is he a political opponent of the president . Appointed by the Obama Administration and a strong supporter of clinton. Thats i think now number four. Jim . Thank you, sean. Are the cancelled meetings a sign president is undecided whether to remain in the agreement or withdraw from the agreement . I think its simply a sign that the president wants to continue to meet with his team, develop a meet with not just the national, the economic piece, but his Environmental Team and come to a decision on whats the best interest of United States using the expertise that surrounds him. Sean [ inaudible ]. What would winning mean to him . I think reducing the threat, especially when it comes to isis and the taliban. Reducing the threat. Minimizing, eliminating. Obviously in the best Case Scenario major, im gonna answer maras question. The answer is we want to eliminate the threats that are against our National Security that are both a threat to our citizens, our allies. We need to fully eliminate any threat around the globe, frankly, not just in afghanistan, that pose a threat to our people. I have a question. Have you considered what to do next and if he wants to commit more troops. At one point we had 100,000 troops there and we didnt eliminate the threat. Why would 15,000 do the trick if 100,000 didnt . I think thats a very washington question. Meaning just because you spend more, throw more people doesnt mean youre doing it in the most effective way. One of the things he has asked his National Security team to do is to actually think, rethink the strategy. What are we doing to achieve the goals that you are asking about . How do we win . How do we eliminate the threat . I think doing that isnt just a question of throwing money or people, but looking at the mission and the strategy. Thats what the team has been doing, not just in afghanistan, but the total beyond afghanistan is also the way he asked them to look at the threat that isis poses. Will he explain this to the American People . I dont want to get in front of i dont know how hes going to do that. Well wait and see and go from there. John . Question about the president s policy concerning syria. This morning we learned from the pentagon that the president plans to directly arm syrian kurds against isis. Has the president discussed this plan with the leader of turkey . And what was the reaction from turkey . I dont know if hes addressed this to the president yet. I do know that yesterday the president authorized the department of defense to equip kurdish elements of the Syrian Democratic forces as necessary to ensure a clear victory over isis in raqa syria. The fdf partnered with enabling forces are the only force on the ground that successfully seized raqa in the near future. Were keenly aware of the security concerns of our partners in turkey. We want to reassure the people and government of turkey that the u. S. Is committed to preventing additional Security Risk and protecting our nato ally. All territories should return to the governance of local syrian government. The fight will be long but another defeat for isis and another step towards eliminating the isis threat that threatens peace in that region of the world. Secretary of state is meeting today with his counter part and the foreign minister of russia. Are you expecting any deliverables from that particular meeting . I think well have a readout when thats done. Thanks, sean. I have two brief. First, do you expect the afghan review to be done by the time the president heads to saudi arabia . Thats a question that im gonna leave up to the National Security team. Im not gonna the president s not putting a deadline on that. Were making sure this is obviously what we announced is part of that. It is not entirely it. We will have more as we go forward. I dont want to pin down a timeline. One more. In his briefing you talked about president s desire to quote fully eliminate any threat around the globe. U. S. Interests. You talked about reengaging and being a leader once again and reasserting its leadership on the world stage. Some of the president s supporters are going to hear in those comments