kushner meeting which are very, very bad for jared kushner. and which explain why he would want to hide these contacts. >> yeah, and the problem for the trump administration is that when you start to go sort of the act k act -- achem's razor, why they seem to be constantly moving in one direction, in russia's favor, then hanging off to the side are jared kushner's own business contacts. that 666 fifth average, that heavily leveraged building from which he has been actively seeking financing is hanging out there. and donald trump, his father-in-law had this obsessive interest in russia since it was a part of the soviet union, going back to the mid 1980s when he was proffering himself as a diplomat that could solve the nuclear issue. the business he did in terms of the miss universe pageant in russia there is a consistent pattern here. and for jared kushner, if these were innocent contacts, there was no reason not to disclose them. he was not a diplomat. and the administration, the incoming administration by december had at least one person who

i don't know jared kushner personally. i don't know anybody who knows jared kushner personally. but everybody who has had any interactions with him say that he is so poised, so savvy. this guy can move among rich and powerful in a way that just exudes competence. why can't this guy fill out his forms properly? we did get the news today that jared kushner has hired a big name criminal defense lawyer. it does seal like he'll need extra help. ♪ introducing the new sleep number 360 smart bed. the only bed smart enough to change sleep as we know it. it senses your every move and automatically adjusts on both sides to keep you comfortable. and snoring ? ... does your bed do that? right now save on sleep number 360 smart beds. plus, it's the lowest prices of the season with savings of $500 on our most popular p5 bed. can we at least analyze customer can we push the offer online? legacy technology can handcuff any company. but "yes" is here. you're saying the new app will go live monday? yeah. with help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. with the right mix of hybrid it,

i don't know jared kushner personally. i don't know anybody who knows jared kushner personally. but everybody who has had any interactions with him say that he is so poised, so savvy. this guy can move among rich and powerful in a way that just exudes competence. why can't this guy fill out his forms properly? we did get the news today that jared kushner has hired a big name criminal defense lawyer. to add to the team repping him in all the investigations. it seems like he'll need the extra help. a millie dresselhaus doll! happy birthday, sweetie! oh, millies. trick or treat! we're so glad to have you here. ♪ what if we treated great female scientists like they were stars? ♪ yasss queen! what if millie dresselhaus, the first woman to win the national medal of science in engineering, were as famous as any celebrity? [millie dresselhaus was seen having lunch today...] ♪ [...rumors of the new discovery...] what if we lived in a world like that? (crowd applauding) ♪ we know a place that's already working on it. ♪ trust #1 doctor recommended dulcolax. use dulcolax tablets f

jared kushner. his sister meg mentioned his name while pitching a development in new jersey. that role in the white house raises concerns when the kushners were trying to redevelop a potential real estate flop. that building at 666 fifth avenue is $1.4 billion in debt. the chinese deal fell through. the family still needs to refinance but jared is no longer involved. >> so what does this have to do with russia after all? none of jared kushner's 54 pages of financial disclosures. disclose anything about russia. cnn has been told by sources that the special counsel is focusing in on an odd meeting jared kushner had here in december at trump tower with the head of russia state bank. it wasn't just any russian state banker. it was a putin friend who attended russian spy school, a mega rich banker named sergey gorkov. gorkov heads one of the russian banks facing stiff sanctions from the united states and to add a little intrigue, mr. gorkov is not speaking. >> what did you really talk to jared kushner ab

we're talking about jared kushner. kelly o. did point out in the beginning of the show in her live shot that the white house spokesman did affirm the president's -- but the man whose byline is on the definitive story today about palace intrigue is phillip from the "washington post." i think he's joining us right now. >> hi. >> there you are. hi. i read your story three times because my first thought when i watched the paris speech was bannon's back and he was, you know, i understood not thrilled about being sort of kicked off that foreign trip after the first stop. but he certainly made the most of his time. he lined up support for bringing the president along to his side of the debate on climate change. some have suggested that that's where the president always was. but i wonder if you could give us the current state of play inside this white house's ongoing and very public power struggle. >> yeah, well, the paris is an interesting development. i think trump was always in favor of the withdraw, and it was just a long deliberat

the one thing sprating jared kushner from ivanka, just a little bit, is that jared kushner at the end of the day, he is not an ideological person. he is a very go with the flow business mindset guy. at the end of the day, he'll be able to say that whatever the president does is a win for him. he'll be able to spin and it sell it either way. >> with the caveat that we could be having this discussion, instead of about steve bannon in a couple weeks, given how much turmoil there seals to be and all the competing leaks. how much influence can we even say that jared or ivanka actually have on the president? what have we seen where he's changed his mind or moderated? have we seen thing at all? >> no. that idea that they would be the moderating influence on this president took a big hit yesterday the withdrawal from the ris accord. and you're right. we have yet to see any concrete proof ofthat. >> is that just a narrative they would like to have out there? >> that they've worked very hard to put out there at times. i think regardless of the sort of fixation on who was up, who was down, who t

he is at center of the investigation of jared kushner. tell us about the confrontation and what you heard from him. what went on there? >> reporter: yeah, look. we were just trying to get answers into what happened with that meeting with jared kushner. we didn't get many answers. you will hear a bit of that exchange a little later and more of it later in the hour. in terms of what president putin had to say here. he denied and denied again. he denied that russia had been involved in hacking the u.s. elections. he denied that russia intervened in the elections and denied any kind of a deal with the trump administration and the kremlin over lifting russian sanctions. president vladimir putin on the defensive last night telling megyn kelly that hackers elsewhere could have framed russia. >> translator: hackers can be anywhere. they can be in russia, in asia, even in america. latin america. they can be hackers, by the way, in the united states. very skillfully and professionally the shift of the blame on to russia. can you imagine something l

what's the response from jared kushner tonight? >> well, don, the lawyer for jared kushner, is responding in this way. let's take a look at this statement from jamie gorelick, his lawyer. she says this. we do not know what this report refers to. it would be standard practice for the special counsel to examine financial records to look for anything related to russia. mr. kushner previously volunteered to share with congress what he knows about the russia-related matters. he will do the same if he is contact in connection with any other inquiry. so, don, what this is all about here, the people who are close to jared kushner, who have spoken to him say that, look, this is something that is standard and routine. we knew several weeks and months ago that members of congress, these committees were interested in this. this is just simply the special counsel saying that this is going to be part of their investigation, as well. but don, again, this draws it even closer to the oval office, to the president, jared kushner, of course, you know

what is the response from jared kushner tonight? >> the lawyer for jared kushner is responding in this way. she says this. we do not know what this report refers to. it would be standard practice for the special counsel to examine financial records to look for anything related to russia. mr. kushner previously volunteered to share with congress what he knows about the russia related matters. he will do the same if he is contacted with connection with any other inquiry. what this is all about is the people who are close to jared kushner who have spoken to him say this is something that is standard and routine. we knew several weeks and months ago that members of congress were interested in this. this is just simply the special counsel saying this is part of their investigation. this drives it even closer to the oval office to the president. jared kushner, of course, the closest of close advisers here. he says he has done nothing wrong here and more than willing to share any information with the congressional committees as well as the

kushner has not been named as a target. >> does the president have confidence in jared kushner? >> absolutely. >> it was about diplomacy and kushner worked to build relationships that would help advance the president's foreign policy goals. but gorkov's bank told reuters the meeting was part of a banking road show meeting kushner in part of the role of the real estate business. >> mr. gorkov is the head of a bank. it's a russian government bank, but it's a bank. it's not the person you would set up a back channel to talk about syria or iran or china. >> tonight, many questions, few answers. >> have you been contacted by the fbi or would you be prepared to talk to them? mr. gorkov? >> we reached out to jared kushner's attorney tonight. there was no response. he tells nbc news he was acting in his capacity as a transition official, jose? >> keir simmons in st. petersburg, thank you. >>> now to the growing backlash around the world over president trump's decision to withdraw the u.s. from that landmark paris agreement on combatting climate change. this is trump administration offic

we see jared kushner in a number of meetings. nearly every meeting with a foreign leader that passes through this white house. right now jared kushner is in a trip to israel where he is trying to advance the mideast peace process where his father has entrusted him to help navigate. if they were taken out of this equation, that would be a big deal. now, my bet is the white house isn't going to all of a sudden decide that they want to get behind pulling his security clearance. i'm sure they will sort of collectively roll their eyes at this request from democrats right now all we're getting from them is silence. >> out front now a member of the house intelligence committee and good to have you back on the program. i appreciate your time. should jared kushner's security clearance be suspended immediately? >> based on everything i have seen, both from public reporting and otherwise in my work on the intelligence committee, i do think that there is great cause for concern in terms of jared kushner continuing to have a security clearanc

number two, jared kushner knew what his role was. jared kushner knew his father-in-law was about to be the president of the united states. and he feels like it's appropriate to be doing going ts connected to the kremlin and say, hey, i want some money. that's business operation idea. number two, have you a meeting between jared kushner and bank in terms of dealing with national security issues supposedly, or getting into issues of diplomacy. what is jared kushner doing getting involved in that to begin with? secondly, why are they doing this at a time when donald trump is not the president of the united states. nothing should have been doing on without it being done in coordination with the state department. that is how these things are handled. you don't start with coming administration now starts running secret meetings undermining national security and foreign policy of the united states. it just doesn't work that way. nayyera, you worked for the state department, i'm sure you would concur that's the normal way things take place.

. >>> behind the secret meeting with jared kushner. why he took off from her camera. >>> global backlash against president trump's decision to pull out of the paris climate teal and here at home we're in coal country, are those jobs really coming back? >>> resort attack mystery, dozens dead after a man with an assault rifle lights a casino on fire. isis claims responsibility but authorities insists it was not terrorism. why did he go on a rampage? >>> and words of wisdom from the class of 2017. our favorite traditions, our annual solute to the grads. "nightly news" begins >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. >> and good evening. i'm jose diaz-balart in for lester. we begin with an nbc news exclusive, a first look at the interview conducted just hours ago with president vladimir putin of russia. this is the first american television interview with putin since the u.s. presidential election, and comes as a special counsel is overseeing the investigation into alleged russia

i do want to distinguish between flynn and jared kushner. i just don't think they're in the same league. yes, there may be questions about jared kushner failing to report things. but in flynn's case, the attorney general -- the acting attorney general of the united states reported to the white house that he was a national security risk. no such warning has been issued about jared kushner and i think it's unfortunate and unfair in some ways to pair him up with flynn, at least based on what we know. >> glad you brought that up. phil mudd, you've been on the inside of these things. michael flynn, there may or may not be concerns there based on the fear of blackmail. as far as you see, any legitimate reason from an intelligence standpoint to not make jared kushner, allow him to be privy to this information? >> no, i can't see a reason for this. i see the debate in washington, d.c., from democrats, and i would ask them one question that we lose in washington, d.c. give me a four-letter word. that is a fact. we have an investigation that the fbi h

is it financial gained by jared kushner, by trump, by others? or no financial gain? is it some kind of secret arrangement to bring about the policy desires of russia, whether witting or unwitting. they have a cover-up they are trying to unravel and they're getting no help from the white house -- >> how can you say it's a cover-up, unless it's known -- >> because a cover-up does not mean an obstruction of justice. it means an attempt to hide the facts from investigators and from the people of the united states. there's no question that's going on, and the fbi investigators will tell you that, people in congress will tell you that, people in the white house will tell you that. it doesn't mean it's illegal. that remains to be seen. but if there was not a cover-up, why wouldn't the president of the united states say to his counsel, in the white house, i want a white paper issued on all of my dealings as a businessman with russian and my son-in-law's dealings with them, with my campaign's dealings with them and let's get this behind us and get on the business of the count

have i an exclusive with a woman who was editor-in-chief of jared kushner's newspaper. she says he has never had a, quote, realistic view of his own capabilities. and also we have a report on russia with the director of the fbi special agents association. now it is time for "the last word." joy reid is in for lawrence tonight. as we say around the building, rachel says hi. >> it was good to hear from her. i know a lot of people in my twitter timeline and text messages that were very relieved to hear from rachel. we'll be there for your peter principle of the point on sunday night. >> as we say we hear you in the tl. well hear you on the twitter. >> yes you do. >> have a good weekend. >> see you on sunday, ari. thank you very much. >>> surprise, surprise, everyone. vladimir putin and donald trump agree. neither one of them want to blame russia for interfering in the u.s. election. and there is breaking news about the russia investigation that is more bad news for the white house. the probe is expanding. and new tonight, democrats are warning the president do not try to o

jared kushner -- one can only stands for jared kushner, although the company would not confirm that. jared kushner had a pivotal role in buying these complexes. anwas in the process of hearing this company from his fath and this was one of his big moves to make these purchases. lucrativem as a wise, and prudent financial investment to buy all of these complexes. one of the people that i came across, especially just very upsetting story, a young woman, a single mother of three who moved out of one of the complexes because the elderly woman next door was becoming incredibly hard to deal with, banging on the door at night, waking up her baby, just acting very strange. she got permission, this young woman, to move out. she got written permission to move out and gave the proper notice and all of that. she moves out. a couple of years later, she starts getting court notices in the mail saying this company was suing her in court for several thousand dollars for having left her lease early. she did not have a copy anymore of that written permission she had received. the court ruled against h

speaking of jared kushner, he is also thinking of adding to his team as well. he is due to hear at some point on capitol hill about his official meetings with the russian officials late last year after the election. but jake, specifically, sean spicer was asked today if the president has confidence in rod rosenstein. he's the deputy attorney general who appointed the special prosecutor. sean spicer said this: the president has confidence of everyone who serves him in this administration. asked again, he would not specifically say if he agrees the same about rod rosenstein. jake? >> we'll have much more on jared kushner later in the show. jeff zelany, thank you very much. does he believe the white house is letting the investigation run its course? that story next. stay with us. >> to suggest that i participated in any collusion is an apalling and detestable lie. speak now. (coughs) so sorry. oh no... it's just that your friend daryl here is supposed to be live streaming the wedding and he's not getting any service. i missed, like, the whole thing. what? and i ju

abby lowell, obviously, was a good choice for jared kushner. marc kasowitz actually has a good reputation in some areas, in some areas of law. it's an interesting, interesting group. and of course the last thing you want is to have your client contradicting what you're saying and to do so publicly is just not good for the investigation, not good for your credibility. >> david jolly, we've seen the client, as it were, the president contradicting all of his representatives. >> of course. >> whether it be sean spicer, anybody. what was interesting about this weekend's contradiction with his lawyer is that the president had e-contradicted him. the president had said, i'm under investigation a couple of times and then apparently sent him out to the sunday show with the order of, say i'm not under investigation. >> right. and that lawyer took an oath to the bar that he apparently violated this weekend. listen, why does jared kushner have better attorneys than donald trump? because jared kushner is smarter than his father-in-law. that's the bottom lin

he was with jared kushner in that meeting. charlie: he is known to have had a relationship with the russians. pre-trump relationship. >> while i can maybe believe jared kushner was naÏve in asking to use russian security medications as the conduit, michael flynn should have known better, right? is on jared kushner because he is still in the administration, he is still in the white house and michael flynn is not. but michael flynn was there, i think he should be part of the story. the second thing that struck me desire to setthe up a channel. reported tois was be a channel for michael flynn to talk to the russians, supposedly to the russian military, supposedly about syria and other issues. that was the channel. that does not bother me. charlie: what if it was to talk about sanctions? >> that does not even bother me. charlie: what would bother you? >> what bothers me is two things. i want to know why the request for secrecy. what were they trying to hide? in order to make sure you were not seen? >> by the current administratio

was jared kushner trying to cash in on his about to be senior adviser role? that's one question democrats are going to push. or was he trying to have some conversation about sanctions is another question, because gorkov's bank at the time was under obama administration sanctions. what's the answer? when do we find out? >> look, i don't know that we're going to find out the answer at this hearing. though everybody is going to be on the edge of their seats obviously. but there's a lot of investigation to go and i think comey is going to be very careful about what he shares. i think that the real thing that underscores why it's all so important is that this is the direct connection to the crept white house. this is not paul manafort who was connected in the campaign and is no longer here. not even flynn who was in the white house and is gone. this is not only the current white house and the senior adviser to the president, but the son-in-law. that makes all of these questions all the more important. and i think, you know, not to mention all of the other question

the incoming white house said no, no, no, this was jared kushner acting as a diplomat. which seems to ring more true? do these banks meet with people in their diplomatic capacity? >> first of all, mr. gorkov is not a banker. he was educated at the security service academy of the ussr, the successor of the kgb. he then worked for ucos, a company that mr. putin crushed. and he was the only one in that network of executives that moved to london and then came back and got elevated into key government positions. and people in that bank that fled the country or the oligarch that putin crushed believe according to a story in russian "forbes" that he cooperated all the way through with the security services. he may have been a plant. so mr. gorkov is very likely not a banker. and anyone who is in a responsible position in the transition of an elected -- of the elted president-elect of the united states should be open to getting proper intelligence about who he is meeting with and to know that he is probably meeting with a russian agent of the russian state and in fact a russian

the question about jared kushner, this has to do with his failure to disclose foreign contacts initially on his security clearance forms, including four contacts with russian officials. including sergey kislyak and the head of a russian bank that was under u.s. sanctions at that time. now, in this letter that cummings sent to reince priebus white house chief of staff he cites this. it appears mr. kushner allowed his colleagues at the white house and the american people to be misled about his multiple communications with the russian officials. mr. kushner reportedly failed to disclose contacts with dozens of foreign officials on a security clearance application. in any case, it is unclear why mr. kushner continues to have access to classified information while these allegations are being investigated. now, the white house did not comment, wolf. they refer questions to the president's personal attorney who also did not comment, but previously the president -- jared kushner's son-in-law's attorney has pushed back and said the security clearance form, wolf, was submitted prematurely and that

but this is the first confirmatio that jared kushner is under investigation. sari horwitz, one of the reporters who broke that "washington post" story will join news a moment. the news that vice president pence has hired a criminal defense lawyer, and that jared kushner is under investigation comes 24 hours after "the washington post" reported last night that the president himself is now the subject of an obstruction of justice investigation by the special prosecutor. "the washington post" reporting last night was based entirely on anonymous sources. it was followed by a "new york times" report also based on anonymous source that was a bit more tentative about whether the president was the subject of an investigation. then this morning at 6:55:00 a.m., came forward to confirm that the president is under investigation. president trump tweeted, they made up a phony collusion with the russian story, found zero proof. so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. nice. with that nice tweet, the president himself confirmed that he is indeed under in

what was the subject material that jared kushner talked to ambassador kislyak about. the american people right now have a question about the compromise of their election last year. the presidential election and during the transition period what was the trump administration doing? this is just another attempt to kind of sweep it under the rug, hope the tyingi passes, that press goes away and other issues will arise but it's not going to happen, mr. president. the pressure is going to continue to mount until you give the american people the answers to these key questions and everyday that you delay is a step closer to a constitutional crisis. >> as you know, a lot of speculation that subject of those may have been u.s. sanctions against russia and lifting those sanctions. former coordinator for sanctions policy at the state department says it would be a free gift if the trump administration were to relief russia of those sanctions without receiving anything in return. do you worry that trump administration is going to take that step? >> i do worry. i think that unfortun

>> well, in jared kushner's case, that is smart. he's really trying to figure out what is in donald trump's state of mind when he asked comey to back off the flynn investigation when he fired comey and i suspect he'll put them in the grand jury and ask questions about that and everyone in that position should be getting their own attorney. jared kushner has his own legal exposure as well. it's been reported that he's under scrutiny for his own ties for the meeting he held with ambassador kislyak that he did not disclose on his security form. if you knowingly hide that kind of information, that is a federal crime. so i think he's making the wise choice. >> matt, david, nick, thank you to all of you. appreciate it. >>> in the meantime, cities all around europe are on high alert because a man deliberately drove his vehicle into a police car in champs-elysees. they found weapons and explosives in his car and that happened just hours after a driver plowed his van into a crowd outside of a london mosque just after midnight. nbc's keir sim

>>> and jared kushner with a major hire. hiring one of the united states' leading criminal defense attorneys to his team. >>> plus, trump destroying obama's policies and he's just getting started. let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, 22 million americans, that's how many more americans will be uninsured over the next ten years under trumpcare. it drew swift and much angry reaction on capitol hill. senate democrats, of course, are gearing up and right now for a protest on the senate floor that is expected to go late into the tonight this evening. some are pushing for a vote in the next couple of days. some republicans say when it comes to this bill, they are not sure about it. >> it makes me more concerned. i've been uncommitted and remain uncommitted but it certainly makes me more concerned and makes me want to explore this more. >> reporter: the republican senator susan collins and rand paul, they have both said they will vote no to move forward on this bill. so that's two. and then you a

special counsel investigating jared kushner's business dealings. it's been previously reported by the post and other news outlets that potential financial crimes by trump associates are an area of focus for the special counsel's investigations. the post was first to report jared kushner was a person of interest for the fbi investigation. now tonight the post has this. it's jared kushner's business dealings that are under fbi scrutiny. what does that mean exactly? joining us now is matt zabatosky from the washington post and one of the reporters behind tonight's scoop that special counsel is investigating jared kushner. thanks for speaking with us. i appreciate you joining us on short notice. >> thank you for having me. >> let me ask you how much further this reporting advances the story. the post previously reported that jared kushner was a person of interest. it had previously been sort of vaguely described that possible financial crimes by trump associates are an area of fbi focus. how does this advance those stories? >> so i think it advances it

and that he was going to sideline jared kushner. two days after i heard this, two days, front page "new york times" story about the links between kushner and russia. a coincidence? absolutely not. steve bannon has been leaking, i believe, based on everything that i've heard, has been leaking these stories. people very close to steve bannon were telling me before the stories were leaked that he was going to be leaking these stories. >> he has a job and wants to keep it and will do what's necessary to do that. >> we have bad forces competing with each other inside the white house one could argue. mike barnicle, reading from "the new york times" front page. it's stunning when you think about it. it does play into the potential that this is a massive distraction. we led with russia today. that's a bigger story. you're going to need a shinier penny from the white house to get us to get off that story. here is how they describe it, the president's address, a mix of dry statistics and emotive language was designed to discredit the pact poi

the business one is probably more problematic for jared kushner. the kushner company has been seeking financing, new financing for this massive sky scraper in new york city, 666 fifth avenue. a $1.8 billion project and they have been meeting with various investors and seeking financing. the problem is they had any discussion at all of that project or generally, his company's business, is that there might be a suggestion they were dangling the possibility of funding or other business advantagesn exchange for something, maybe exchange for warmer policy towards russia. that would be very problematic for jared kushner if that's what happened. of course he says it's not. >> all right. two questions. did he ever get financing for that building, number one? and number two, historically has he ever done any banking business in russia, if you know? >> so, they're still looking for that financing deal and that is a project that kushner has divested himself of as part of his restructuring his business to enter the white house. and we don't really know. the ku

that trip was largely a product, it is said, of jared kushner. it is said that he carries a -- he did a lot of conversations with the saudi's, coming into this. why do you think that was successful, and is it wise for the united states, to identify a run as the enemy, and identify with the saudi's and everybody's --and emirates and the other nations, who believe that the problem in the gulf is about the sunni-shia issue. while obama thought that it was important for the united states to be talking about both sides, here is a complete shift. and you think that it is the right thing? >> part of it. yes, i think it is appropriate to see iran as a significant and strategic challenge. to u.s. interests in the middle east. there is a long list of things that concern us. they themselves conduct terrorism as a tool of statecraft. we provides support to international terrorist groups. >> where are they doing that, for the benefit of the audience am a are they conducting terrorism? by funding people like hezbollah? >> the state of iran, through the irg for

it's one of the reasons why i think that jared kushner should be considering a possibility of taking a leave of absence. >> maeve reston is joining us now. is their influence waning in the white house? >> i think the investigation has created such a cloud around jared kushner at this point that there's no way in which he couldn't be taking a step back in terms of his role which was so vast and broad in the white house before and like david gergen said, there's a lot of concerns now as this investigation escalates about what he says, what he's advising on. but we don't know really what the conversations were between jared kushner and president trump, how much running room he gave him. he gave him a lot of running room. but it's clear that kwhil he's taking a less visible role, ivanka will be the trumped adviser to her father and she talked about in an interview with april with cbs, talked about speaking quietly to the president, speaking with total candor on a lot of these issues that she disagrees with him on, like climate change and planned parenthood. so i think it remains undimini

jared kushner back in december. sergey gorkov was not enthusiastic about answering our questions. take a listen. >> keir simmons from nbc news. you're the subject of intense scrutiny in america because of your meeting with donald trump's son-in-law jared kushner. >> any comments -- >> reporter: i know you do. there is some confusion on what exactly happened. were you talking about business or were you talking about policy? >> no comments, please. >> reporter: have you been contacted by the fbi or would you be prepared to talk to them? mr. gorkov. i'm sorry. it's just a question of understanding what happened in the meeting. >> no comments, please. please. >> reporter: can i just ask you, was it a political meeting or economic meeting? can we interview you at a later date? >> submit all comments. >> reporter: if it is an innocent meeting, why won't you talk about it. mr. gorkov, if it was an innocent meeting with jared kushner, why don't you want to talk about it, sir. i'm sorry, don't -- please don't push me out of

jared kushner has only ever worked for his family business, a private company. jamie diamond, the chairman and ceo of jpmorgan, doesn't eventually have to do the right thing. he's held accountable every day right out if front whether it's his board, his employees or shareholders. is this just jared has never had to behave like a grown-up in the real world? >> i think jason is absolutely correct and that it is a shame that we are relying on someone whogs so young and so inexperienced who doesn't have any real corporate experience or political experience and who is relying on the fact he is related to the president and being trusted by the president. this is not a good thing for america, and i think the russian bank meeting is really a telling thing. why is he meeting with them? it's a bank under sanctions so it's illegal for him to do business with them. why is he meeting with them if it was during the transition for anything else? it just doesn't make sense. it's something we need to look at. rachel maddow had a wonderful full explanation of the bev bank, which

kushner was not in the room, but they will want to know what conversations jared kushner had with the president before, and perhaps more importantly what did the president say about it afterwards. >> and why did he linger if he did in fact linger. former u.s. attorney johnwood, and frank montoya, thank you very much. >> thank you, katie. >> and sean spicer just held an off camera gaggle with reporters at the white house. kristen welker will join us next with a debrief. (baby crying) ♪ fly ♪ me to the moon (elegant music) ♪ and let me play (bell rings) for mom, the nation's largest senior living referral service. for the past five years, i've spoken with hundreds of families and visited senior care communities around the country and i've got to tell you, today's senior livingnd communities are better than tever.ou, today's senior living communities are better than ever. these days, there are amazing amenities like movie theaters, texercise rooms and swimmingg pools, public cafes, bars and, bistros. exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros. even pet care s

and later, jared kushner's war. it's now an open war with secretary of state rex tillerson. and rex tillerson, i'm not sure how much of this he can take. there's nothing more important to me than my vacation. so when i need to book a hotel, i want someone who makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. and with their price match, i know i'm getting the best price every time. c'mon, gary! your vacation is very important. that's why booking.com makes finding the right hotel for the right price easy. visit booking.com now to find out why we're booking.yeah! pain is sometimes in my hands, be a distraction. right before a performance especially. only aleve has the strength to stop minor arthritis pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. this is my pain. but i am stronger. aleve. all day strong. >>> today mitch mcconnell stopped pretending there was anything left to negotiate this week in the senate health care bill. the situation was so hopeless that he simply recessed the senate and let all the senators fly off to their home states. this came after leaked reports

i want to ask you about the meeting you had with jared kushner. please explain. we really do want to hear what happened. if it was an innocent meeting, please just explain what happened in the meeting. >> if silence can say something, it says it there. meanwhile, president trump with meg -- president putin with megyn kelly, talking about it being a deal with trump transition's team as histysteriahysteria. >> journalists in that part of the world have been jailed for less than that. we are glad you are back this morning. we appreciate your doggedness. bracing for the testimony from jim comey, scheduled for thursday, testifying before congress. any further word on whether president trump is actually going to try and block comey from testifying by invoking executive privilege, if not blocking all the testimony, perhaps at least a portion of it? >> no further word, craig. i can tell you that one of his top advisers, kellyanne conway, was pressed on that very point earlier today. she effectively said, ultimately, that's a decision that the president is going to have t

what happened between jared kushner and the russian ambassador and the other meeting with jared kushner and russian bank are pretty important. >> the russian bank is of great interest. this isn't like a russian bank like bank of america or choice. it's run by a tie to the government is really not a bank like we know it, aaron? >> that's right. this is a bank that as i understand it has loaned money to russian oligarks and got into financial trouble. it's known as putin's bank. a couple things here. there's such a tangle of interest about these individuals that investigators are sure to want to talk about it. you have russia, which is under u.s. sanctions for its annexation of crimea. this bank is subject to sanctions since 2014. they want to get rid of them. we have a president coming into office who said he wants to improve relations with russia. so it makes sense that they might talk as long as they keep in mind that president trump at that point is still president-elect. obama is the president. we have one president at the time. well and good but it's not common for a new administrat

tough questions for jared kushner as well as attorney general jeff sessions. ultimately, i anticipate a number of top officials are going to have to answer questions about all of this. in the meantime, at the back drop is a president who wants to be focused on his agenda today. he is going to be talking about infrastructure. i anticipate that that's going to continue in the coming weeks and months. remember, the other big thing they want to get done, health care reform. republicans say they want to get a vote on that by july. all of these russia-related headlines really complicating the equation. >> they've told us -- >> infrastructure week. >> we're waiting for more details around it. to stay on the russia thing for a moment and jared kushner, just yesterday, we saw angus king ask about veb bank. during the transition, jared kushner met with the head of a russian sanctioned bank. when the head of the bank happened to be in new york for his road show. i want to share james comey's response when asked about this bank. >> what do you know about the russian bank