demands that this information be released about this so-called spy, which is not backed up with evidence. the interesting thin, too s thinking about how we are in a midterm election year and maybe this is not something that is driving voters to the polls but it gives them yet another reason to distrust democrats across the board and across the country. let s take a look laura at republican senator marco rubo had to say about this informant story. as far as what i have seen to date it appears that there was an investigation not of the campaign, but of certain individuals who have a history that we should be suspicious of that predate the presidential campaign of 2015-2016. when individuals like that are in the orbit of a major political campaign in america, the fbi who in court and jury of counter-intelligence investigations should look at people like that. rubio is clearly saying there that the trump campaign was not the target of the investigation. he is a republican. how signif
is essentially there was no contract. so unless there was a contract that was issued between the president s son and the foreign entity, they don t really feel that this is going to stick around. regardless, this does open up a new line of questions for robert mueller and his team to dig into. i spoke with one of the reporters on that story for the new york times yesterday. he said to me on air that while he was reporting it, he was struck by how close he felt to where bob mueller has been as he was talking to sources for that piece. back to informant story on the pressure being exerted on the department of justice at this point. kevin and i talked about the role the house intelligence committee, republican chairman of that committee, exerting pressure on the department of justice. buried in your piece was something you think was so crucial. john kelly, the white house chief of staff, trying to expert pressure on rod rosenstein. give us more detail on that, if you could.
mueller s investigation. back in february, the republicans released an information. which conveniently echoed administration claim at the time. and they released overgrave concerns about its accuracy. every one of them and there are more, raise questions that we will talk about tonight. joining us tonight is one of the two new york times correspondents on the russia lawyer/informant story. to admitting she is a russian informant? well i think what happened is that she was a little bit taken by surprise because we and nbc news obtained a series of e-mail
department officials of abusing their powers to spy on a former trump campaign adviser suspected of being an agent for russia, which convenient ly echoing administration claims at the time released over the republican trump-appointed fbi director s grave concerns about its accuracy. any one of those items would raise concern. every one of them, and there are more, raise questions that we will talk about tonight. first, joining us is sharon la freniere, one of the the washington post new york times co so correspondents on the russia lawyer now informant story. how has natalia veselnitskaya gone from saying she operates independently of any government bodies to admitting she as russian informant? i think what happened was that she was a little taken by surprise because we and nbc news obtained a series of e-mails,