jessica schneider. >> reporter: chris, that is the question. why did it take 18 days for michael flynn to resign? former acting attorney general sally yates tried to lay it all out for lawmakers disclosing she warned the white house three times about michael flynn's misstatements and filled in the chain of events that led to general palestinian's ouster as national security adviser. >> we felt it was critical we get this information to the

jessica schneider, thank you so much. page, you're still on the phone with me and you say you haven't read the opinion. you heard jessica say it's some 200 pages but she quoted the bit about irreparable harm stood out to me. what now? >> that's the heart of the opinion. that was the ultimate issue. as we were discussing before, it's obvious that the court was very concerned about the intent of trump and his associates, both during the campaign and once the executive order was signed. now, most people consider this court to be significantly more conservative than the ninth circuit. so i would be surprised if they found this reasoning that we get a very different result in the ninth circuit and while this opinion won't be binding, they are certain to at least address it and can rely on it for persuasive value. what happens now is, if the administration wants to appeal this decision, they have the option of seeking reconsidering from this panel or taking it up to the full fourth circuit court of appeals for consideration. if

our coverage begins this morning with jessica schneider here in new york. let's start with the trump letter on james comey. let's read it. while i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that i am not under investigation, i nerve the less encourage the judgment of thedom doj that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau. the president himself mentions the russian investigation. >> that's the interesting thing. he disconnect in the explanations in these three separate letters. we have that memo from rod rosenstein. two and a half page letter. it really goes into the details of how fbi director comey in the justice department's view mishandled this investigation into hillary clinton's e-mail server. then, of course, there's the additional letter from attorney general jeff sessions to president trump talking about his recommendation that yes, in fact, fbi director comey should be terminated and then the president's letter, the president's letter is very short. directly to director comey and it does, in fact, merely reference the

want to bring in cnn's jessica schneider. she is in washington for us. and jessica, this has to do with conflicting stories about what james comey told the president about russia investigations and whether or not the president asked for a pledge of loyalty. >> right. so, the president now coming out on the attack. and really, john, the twitter tirade seems to be coming out at the exact wrong time. a few of the fbi agents i've spoken with are upset that director comey was fired. we've seen some of them take to instagram and facebook to change their profile pictures as well. all of these people that we've spoken with respected james comey, and now this tweet from the president, it kind of threatens to further erode trump's velsion happy with the rank and file and even the leadership at the fbi. we know from acting director andrew mccabe's testimony on capitol hill yesterday that james comey had broad support at the fbi and that contrary to white house account, morale was strong at the bureau. and the president's tweets, interestingly, come on the same day

cnn's jessica schneider is working this story for us. jessica, so far no memos. >> reporter: not at all, wolf. we've been checking in wegerle with the committees awaiting the documents from the fbi, but they still have not been delivered. now senate judiciary chuck grassley may call on special counsel robert muler to meet with him and senator dianne feinstein if the fbi doesn't turn over the documents to find out exactly what documents and details might be withheld by mueller's investigators. tonight lawmakers are waiting for the fbi to turn over memos that fired director james comey wrote documenting his meetings with president trump, including one where the president allegedly told comey i hope you can let this go, referring to the investigation into former national security adviser michael flynn. the house oversight and judiciary committees demanded acting fbi director andrew mccabe submit any memos or tapes, but neither committee has received them. this week house intelligence chairman jason chaffetz announced public testimony from c

>> jessica schneider, thanks you so much. the white house breaking their silence on the reported comey memo for the first time. what did sean spitzer have to say about what comey claims in that memo? that's next. i'm worried i can't find a safe used car. you could start your search at the all-new carfax.com that might help. show me the carfax? now the car you want and the history you need are easy to find. show me used minivans with no reported accidents. boom. love it. [struggles] show me the carfax. start your used car search and get free carfax reports at the all-new carfax.com. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, isn't it time to

jessica schneider, cnn, washington. >> thank you for that reporting. let's get more reporting from claire sebastian live from the capital. this is a big story in the united states, but again, what is it playing there, is it a big story there as well or is this kind of swept under the rug? >> reporter: it is getting some attention, some wires kind of retold "the washington post" story. official reaction when we reached out to the foreign ministry spokeswoman on the story reported by "the washington post" about whether jared kushner had asked the russian ambassador to set up a secure channel of communication, she replied with the phrase mccarthyism or just political squabbles, that was the original response, whether or not the ministry was aware of the request to the ambassador back during the transition and would not be drawn on that. said if we want to know more about jared kushner's business or political dealings, turning our attention to the middle east, a reference to recent deal with saudi arabia to invest in u.s. infrastructure through the black s

our jessica schneider is tracking that for us. good morning, jessica. what are you hearing? are there any leaders on this list so far? >> reporter: well, at least eight people interviewed this weekend, poppy and john. and you mentioned cornyn and rogers. both of them republicans and very political, but the push for a non-partisan pick is coming from both sides of the aisle. you can see here john cornyn, republican from texas, senate majority whip, the second most powerful republican in the senate. and then, of course, there's mike rogers. mike rogers was formerly at the fbi as a special agent, a former republican congressman from michigan. he has actually been endorsed by the fbi agents association. they're pushing for president trump to make him their pick. so, also on that list of eight, you have current acting director andrew mccabe, also former assistant attorney general under president bush alice fisher, in addition to new york judge michael garcia, fbi special agent in charge adam lee, as well as judge henry hudson from virginia, and also frances townsend, the former h

our jessica schneider picks this story up from new york. >> reporter: the trump administration has repeatedly been criticized for its vetting process. well, now the latest nominee for army secretary has been forced out, once again raising the question, is the trump team getting this vetting process right? mark green is a victim of his own words. >> if you poll the psychiatrists, they're going to tell you that transgender is a disease. >> reporter: green has also made critical comments about muslims and is a self-identified creationist who once delivered a lecture arguing against the theory of evolution. now the west point grad, who was president trump's second choice for army secretary, is taking his name out of consideration. the first pick withdrew, citing financial entanglements. green is just the latest problematic pick for president trump, drawing doubts about the administration's vetting process. questions are also being raised about 28-year-old steven munoz. he was hired for a top job in the office of protocol at the state department on january 25th, but police records obtained by cnn

here's jessica schneider. >> reporter: mark green is a victim of his own words. >> you poll the psychiatrists, they're going to tell you that transgender is a disease. >> reporter: green has also made critical comments about muslims and is a self-identified creationist who once delivered a lecture arguing against the theory of evolution. now the west point grad, who was president trump's second choice for army secretary, is taking his name out of consideration. the first pick withdrew citing financial entanglements. green is just the latest problematic pick for president trump, drawing doubts about the administration's vetting process. questions are also now being raised about 28-year-old stephen munoz. he was hired for a top job in the office of protocol at the state department on january 25th, but police records obtained by cnn show multiple people accused munoz of sexual assault while he was a student at the citadel military college. the alleged victims came forward to college officials and police between 2010 and 2012. munoz was never charged with a crime but an investigation by the citad

cnn correspondent jessica schneider joins me now with the latest on the russia investigation. sources are telling cnn about intercepts in which according to sources russian officials talked about the trump campaign during the election. what did they allegedly say? >> reporter: in those intercepts, jake, russian officials claim to have derogatory information about then candidate donald trump and some of his associates. that's according to two former intelligence officials as well as a congressional source. now, these conversations with picked up in the midst of the 2016 election and a source tells cnn that the supposed derogatory details were financial in nature. now the conversations were picked up by u.s. intelligence, and they showed that the russians believe they, quote, had the ability to influence the administration through the derogatory information, but the sources do warn that the russian claims could have been exaggerated or even made up as part of that disinformation campaign that they carried out throughout the entire election. now all this as the white house friend

cnn's jessica schneider's joining me now with much more on all of this. jessica, lay it out for us. >> reporter: well, kate, you know those congressional and intelligence sources are telling cnn that the russian officials discussed having that "derogatory information" about then presidential candidate donald trump and some of his top aides. those were in conversations intercepted by u.s. intelligence during the 2016 election.

wolf. >> jessica schneider, thank you. we're learning that a couldn't version move by former fbi director james comey during the campaign was prompted by russian intelligence that comey knew at the time was fake. our chief political correspondent dana bash is working the story fours. you're getting new information from your sources. >> reporter: that's right. cnn has learned that the then fbi director james comey knew that ait call piece of russian information related to the hillary clinton e-mail investigation was fake, but he felt he needed to take action anyway because he was concerned that if the information became public it would undermine the investigation and the justice department itself this, according to multiple sources talking to my colleagues. now, these concerns were a major factor in comey deciding to publicly declear that the clinton probe was over last summer without consulting then attorney general loretta lynch. you may remember earlier this week "the washington post" reported on this intelligence and do

. >> cnn's jessica schneider is here with the latest. and look, the question is, 18 days, because perhaps, the "washington post" published the story. i mean, would he even have been fired without that? >> it's those 18 days, the questions about the 18 days that the white house at this point aren't answering. in fact, they're deflecting those questions. and instead, president trump launched into a tweetstorm in the hours after sally yates unveiled her testimony yesterday. the president attempted to distract from her disclosures by saying yates unveiled old news and there was still no evidence pointing to trump or his associates colluding with the russians, but here's what former acting attorney general sally yates did reveal. she says she spoke with white house counsel, don mcgann, on three separation occasions gang january 26th. the important information she felt compelled to share, that michael flynn had lied to vice president pence about his communications with the russian ambassador. sally yates talked about why she believed it was ur

y jessica schneider, cnn, washington. >> it's just the latest in a rash of high profile leaks that threaten to undermine usa relations with its allies. cnn brian todd has that story. >> reporter: an extraordinary conversation where trump again seems to heap praise on a strong man. on the phone with duterte president trump says, quote, i just wanted to congratilate you. human rights condem the president for praising duterte. a senior u.s. official who was briefed on the april 29th call, verified. now intelligence experts are concerned that another confidential important conversation between trump and a foreign leader was leaked. >> the ramifications of it have been very negative. the president doesn't know he can trust. it erodes the team, i believe, from the inside. >> reporter: it's not cheer whether the leak came from the u.s. side or the philippines side. the cover sheet marked confidential, bears the philippine government logo. on the call trump said kim jung-un, quote, we can't let a man with nuclear weapons on the loose like that. >> american presidents say things off to the blunt and

jessica schneider is on capitol hill with more. john brennan / former cia director: "i was worried by the number of the contacts that the russians had with u-s persons..."tonight the former cia director revealing he was concerned by the communication he saw between trump campaign associates and russian officials at the height of the 2016 campaign.john brennan relayed the communications to the f-b-i... but stopped short of calling it collusion.john brennan / former cia director: "i don't know whether or not such collusion existed. i don't know. but i know there was a sufficient basis of information and intelligence that required further investigation by the bureau to determine whether or not u-s persons were actively conspiring, colluding with russian officials."brennan led the c-i-a until the final day of the obama administration. today he told congress he received information that the russians were working to recruit americans associated with the trump campaign.john brennan / former cia director: "by the time i left office on jan

let's bring in our cnn correspondent jessica schneider. jessica, what is the fbi saying now? >> reporter: wolf, no apology but instead a clarification. the fbi is now saying that instead of hundreds and thousands of eve mails that james comey said huma abedin manually forwarded, instead it was actually just two e-mail chains. a shocking claim from the director of the fbi describing how the e-mails from huma abedin ended up on anthony weiner's corrupted. >> she forwarded hundreds and thousands of e-mails, some of which contained classified information. >> reporter: the disclosure was made last week at the senate judiciary committee's oversight hearing, but officials say it wasn't true. abadin did not personally forward the majority of e-mails found on her husband's laptop. instead, the e-mails were automatically sent by a backup system on abadin's phone, according to what u.s. officials told cnn last fall, but comey seemed to confuse the issue when testifying last wednesday. >> huma abedin appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding e-mails to him, and i think to prin

so let's begin with jessica schneider with details on that ruling and opinion. you said it was some 200 pages. tell me more about that. why did they go this way? >> we've all been sifting through it. definitely a lengthy and sometimes a skacathing ruling. it's halted all over the country. today, the latest ruling from the fourth circuit court has upheld the preliminary injunction against president trump's second executive order. as we've been talking about, the biggest issue for this as well as the district court and ninth court, it's the president's own statements. when he was a candidate, he called for a total and complete shutdown for muslims entering the country back in december 2015 and that statement was left up on his website until just recently. so the fourth circuit, i want to read you something from their opinion, they put it this way. the fourth circuit saying, these statements taken together provide direct, specific evidence of what motivated both executive order one and executive order number two. president trump's order intended means of effectuati

first to cnn's jessica schneider with more on james comey's plans to testify. jessica, we're told the fired fbi director is eager to talk publicly about his confrontations with the president. >> yeah, wolf. we know james comey wants to get his story out there publicly. looks like it could happen as soon as next week. details of this testimony are still being determined but sources say that fired fbi director comey will publicly recount his run-ins with the president. all this while the house intelligence committee just announced it has issued new subpoenas to two key trump confidants. james comey is expected to testify as soon as next week before the senate intelligence committee about any possible pressure he felt from president trump to drop the investigation into former national security adviser michael flynn and flynn's ties to russia. sources tell cnn comey documented his february 14th meeting with president trump detailing the president's plea this way -- i hope can you see your way clear to letting this go, letting flynn go. he is a good guy, i hope can

cnn's jessica schneider joins me now. brennan stopped short of saying that there was direct evidence of collusion. >> reporter: that's right, he did, jake. republican congressman trey gowdy repeatedly pointed out direct evidence has not been presented and brennan stressed while he couldn't make the leap to conclusion there was clear contact by rushes and -- >> reporter: the cia director concerned about the contact he saw between the trump campaign officials at the height of the 2016 campaign. he stopped short of calling it collusion. >> i don't know whether or not such collusion, and that's your term, such collusion existed. i don't know, but i know that there was a sufficient basis of information and intelligence that required further investigation by the bureau to determine whether or not u.s. persons were actively conspiring, colluding with russian officials. >> reporter: brennan led the cia until the final day of the obama administration. today he told congress he received information that the russians were working to

first, let's go to cnn's jessica schneider. with all of the breaking news, what's the latest, jessica? >> we know that russian officials claim to have the derogatory information about then candidate donald trump all in the midst of the 2016 election. that's all according to two former intelligence officials and congressional source. now one source tells cnn the potential derogatory details were in fact financial in nature. the conversations were picked up by u.s. intelligence and showed that russians believed they had the ability to inflew enthe administration through the derogatory information. but the sources warn the russian claims could have been exaggerated or even made up as part of the disinformation campaign they carry out throughout the election. former director of national intelligence james clapper says intelligence agencies were monitoring russian officials. >> i would say there were a series of communications and dialogues that we grew, i say we, members of the intelligence community that were aware of this, were v

. >> no, jessica schneider is "outfront." >> reporter: president trump signaling he is sticking by his wiretapping claims. >> i think our side has been proven very strongly and everybody is talking about it. >> reporter: he sent these tweets two months ago, terrible, just found out president obama had my wires tapped in trump tower, this is nixon watergate, bad or sick guy, and now in an interview with cbs, the president is not backing down. >> words are more important to me than deeds, you saw what happened, everybody saw what happened with surveillance. and i think that was inappropriate. >> what does that mean? >> you can figure it out yourself. >> the reason i asked, is you called him sick and bad. >> look, you can figure out yourself what it means. he was very nice to me with words, after that there was no relationship. >> you stand by that claim? >> i don't stand by anything, you can take it the way you want to. >> when pressed to clarify, the president simply shut the interview down. >> you're the president of the united states, you said sick and bad. >> you can take it any way

cnn's jessica schneider's joining me now with much more on all of this. jessica, lay it out for us. >> reporter: well, kate, you know those congressional and intelligence sources are telling cnn that the russian officials discussed having that "derogatory information" about then presidential candidate donald trump and some of his top aides. those were in conversations intercepted by u.s. intelligence during the 2016 election. now, one source described the information as financial in nature and said the discussion centered around whether the russians had leverage within trump's inner circle. the source does say the intercepted communications suggested to u.s. intelligence that russians believed "they had the ability to influence the administration" through that derogatory information. but the source is privy to the descriptions of the communications written by u.s. intelligence did caution that the russian claims to each other could have been exaggerated or even made up. now, the details of the communication, it sheds some new light on information u.s. int

jessica schneider. >> reporter: chris, that is the question. why did it take 18 days for michael flynn to resign? former acting attorney general sally yates tried to lay it all out for lawmakers disclosing she warned the white house three times about michael flynn's misstatements and filled in the chain of events that led to general palestinian's ouster as national security adviser. >> we felt it was critical we get this information to the white house. we believed general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. >> reporter: sally yates testifying she urgently warned the white house on three separate occasions that michael flynn misled vice president pence about his conversations with the russian ambassador. >> likely the russians had proof of this information and that created a compromise situation. a situation where the national security adviser could be blackmailed by the russians. >> reporter: her testimony contradicting the white house's muted account in mid-february. >> the acting attorney general informed the white house couns

let's get to jessica schneider, who's following all of these twists and turns. so, jessica, what the president said this morning, does that contradict what h.r. mcmaster, his national security adviser, said just last night? >> it seems to, kate. you know, this has become sort of a common refrain within the white house. the story goes something like this. a crisis situation breaks, white house staff and administration officials scramble to address and explain it, and then the president comes out with his own version of events, seeming to contradict the previous explanation, and that really is how it went down after the "washington post" broke that story that president trump revealed classified information to the russian foreign minister. when it happened, the white house first issued several statements, one from secretary of state rex tillerson, where he said that threats in counterterrorism were the only things discussed and not sources. then deputy national security adviser dina powell said flatly that the story was false and that president trump only discussed

>> all right, jessica schneider for us in washington. thank you so much. we have more breaking news this morning. >>> truth is too much to ask. that's according to the president of the united states. he's justifying the changing stories from the white house on the firing of james comey, stories that turned out to be wrong. he says, as a very active president with lots of things happening, it's not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy. maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all press briefings and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy? and joe johns, the thing that the white house was saying, things that the press secretary, the deputy press secretary, the senior counsel or kellyanne conway, things they were saying about the firing of james comey, initially, they were not true. >> reporter: right, and the truth of it is -- to use that word -- that whenever you have the president of the united states and his staff saying completely different things on the same issue, it creates questions on the outside of c

jessica schneider is following all the late breaking developments. there's new urgency now that the fbi has refused to turn over documents related to former director james comey and president trump. >> that's right. so much urgency that the senate intelligence committee like you said is giving chairman richard burr blanket authority to issue subpoenas in its russian investigation meaning the full committee does not have to approve it. congressional leaders are growing frustrated at the lack of information they're getting from the justice department, the fbi and special counsel robert mueller and now they're starting to pushback. tonight the fbi is declining to provide lawmakers any of the memos are documents from fired fbi director james comey detailing his interactions with president trump until it consults with special counsel robert mueller. house oversight committee jason chaffetz firing back with a seven page demand stating his committee has a quote, constitutionally based prerogative to conduct investigations and in no way wants to impede or in

cnn's jessica schneider joining us with more. >> yeah, tensions have been mounting between the white house and the fbi in recent week. the trump administration and attorney general jeff sessions pushed the fbi to be aggressively pursue its investigation urging that that be the priority. and while the fbi did tighten its media policy and pursue those leaks, the white house still wasn't satisfied that a large focus of the bureau was still on russia. amid this backdrop, the timing of the termination is in question. word of the firing came just minutes after the fbi issued a clarification of comey's remarks at a senate hearing last week where he mischaracterized the numbering of e-mails huma abedine had manually forwarded to her husband's computer. and in fact direct toy compaor overall handling ever the server investigation and including his own on decision to hold a news conference instead of leaving to loretta lynch at the time, that was the focus of deputy attorney general rod rosen tinesteinrose recommending his removal, but of course the president himself only referencing the russi