States ordered wiretapping of his Campaign Last year. I dont know if its true or not, but if it is true, illegally, it would be the biggest political scandal since watergate. Senator graham went on to say if the Obama Administration was able to secure a warrant to wiretap, that would be concerning because it meant there was a reason the court would allow it. Meanwhile, heres what congressman mole ton who sits on the Armed Services Committee Told thomas robertss this morning. I dont want to speculate on this one tweet from a president who is a serial liar. He gets up every day and lie to the American People. If under the Obama Administration they were simply monitoring contacts with russian officials, not trying to wiretap into the Trump Campaign, but looking at who russian officials were talking with and the Trump Campaign officials got ensnared in that net, then its a totals mischaracterization to say that president obama was wiretapping trump. No, we were just protecting our own National Security. President trump also made an attempt to tie president obama to the fallout over meetings attorney general sessions and some of his top aides had with the Russian Ambassador. He tweeted the first meeting sessions had was set up by the Obama Administration under Education Program for 100 ambassadors. And this tweet, just out, the same Russian Ambassador that met Jeff Sessions visited the Obama White House 22 times and four times last year alone. Lets go to kasie hunt in west palm beach, florida. I know youve been working all day to find out the baches sis these tweets. What more can you tell us . Reporter at this point there is no evidence that what the president has tweeted this morning, these accusations that you just walked through, have any basis in fact. There has been a Breitbart News summary of a conservative radio show circulating among officials, and that is of course we know the president occasionally reads checks in with right wing media to, as he set about his day to day business. But again, at this point we dont have any evidence that the Obama Administration wiretapped trump tower. Ben rhodes, former white house official with the Obama Administration, National Security official, tweeting this morning no president can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you. A little bit of a jab there at President Trump. Now, we do know that from nbc news reporting that the Justice Department is investigating trump contacts, Trump Campaign contacts, with russians. We have not reported what the New York Times and some other outlets have reported, that theyre investigating contacts between the Trump Campaign and russian officials. Its a key and important distinction. But what could be generated in an investigation like that are information from fisa warrants. They would be monitors of communication between foreign agents and others. So typically for example that may be how we know about mike flynn and his conversations with the Russian Ambassador because it would be relatively standard procedure to be monitoring the communications that the Russian Ambassador was having and that u. S. Persons could get swept up in Something Like this. Now, fox news also discussed this yesterday. Bret baier the host asked paul ryan what he knew about potential wiretaps. Take a listen. There is a report june 2016, a fisa request by the Obama Administration Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor communications involving donald trump and several other Campaign Officials, and then they get turned down. And then in october, they renew and they do start a wiretap at trump tower with some computer and russian banks. And it doesnt show up anything by reporting. Have you heard that . Well, again, and like i said, none of us in congress or anybody i know has been presented with evidence to the contrary of what you just said. Reporter so ryan is saying there is nothing contrary to what bret baier said, but again, not confirming it himself. And at this point again nbc news does not have confirmation that these warrants were issued or that wires were tapped. Is there any prospect at any of us finding out . Obviously that sound bite is very intriguing frankly. Reporter yeah, and actually it goes on as well, though, to say the House Speaker says ive not seen any evidence of this. So this is very diffilt to nail down. Remember, this would not be that the president himself would order a wiretap. This is something that the fobi department of justice would ask for. And like i said, weve reported this investigation is happening. The question is what is jim comey telling congress specifically the house and Senate Intelligence committees about whether that investigation does exist, is he confirming it. And then what information about it is he providing. Democrats have gone out in public in recent days to say that they dont think that the fbi director is giving them enough information about what they have learned through the course of any investigation that they may be undergoing. Senator from delaware chris coons oig not on the intelligence committee, but he still raised the issue with Andrea Mitchell in an enter true yesterd interview yesterday where he said there may be transcripts out there that show potential russians talking to campaign associate, i want to see those transcri transcripts. And andrea pressed him does that mean you believe these transcripts exhibit and he said yes. Again, a giant piz he will auzz trying to piece together. So i apologize that were getting in to these detailed nuance ways of looking at this, but when we have these broad assertions that we completely cant back up from the president , looking at all these individual puzzle pieces is really important. Youre right, the details matter. And i picture people up all night working on that puzzle. So thank you. Moments ago, Lindsey Graham addressed hundreds on the campus of clemson university. And yet another contentious town hall meeting. Im going to try to help our president , donald trump, be successful as possible because number one, i agree with him mostly. And id like to get this country moving again. I want to repeal and replace obamacare because i think its broken. Lets go to vaughn hillyard, hes there. I understand the senator was also asked about the president s tweets this morning. What did he say . Reporter this is what its gotten to. Only five republicans to date five republican senators that have actually held these town halls. Lindsey graham just yapp wrappe. And before any questions even came, he addressed the tweets right off the top. Wooel we have the sound. If the former president of the United States was able to obtainawfully to monitor Trumps Campaign for violating the law, that would be the biggest scandal since watergate. Im very worried that our president is suggesting that the former president has done something illegally. I would be very worried if in fact the Obama Administration was able to obtain a warrant lawfully about Trump Campaign activity with foreign governments. Reporter as you saw, this crowd was overwhelmingly democrat or i should say antitrump. Lindsey graham said there is a lot of liberals here in the crowd for South Carolina. But this was a done serconserva direct. It went 3 1 for donald trump. But what they did, people came in and any put their questions into a box and then they were randomly pulled out. Five different questions asked about trumps tax returns. Here is one off of those responses. We can subpoena his tax returns. I will do that when i believe there is a reason to do that. And this when you heard everybody erupt and shouts of russia. He said he will introduce legislation that would require in 2020 any president ial candidate which if donald trump is running for reelection would apply to him that they would have to at that time turnover their tax returns. But the senator from South Carolina got questions ranging from russia to health care. On the health care front, Lindsey Graham from the stage he was asked multiple times about health care and where we got from over the course of last week is the fact of what is it the replacement plan look like. House of representatives put together a draft plan. Is it the replacement plan look like. House of representatives put together a draft plan. Lindsey graham said exactly that, be he said i have not seen it. And over my dead body will i say i didnt do any bill that i have not actually read. He said that was the same thing that we gave the democrats and president barack obama about already time about eight years ago. He said its important as republicans to have a say. And there has been talk that its a take it or leave it approach, that republicans in the house are presenting to those in the senate. And Lindsey Graham said again over hisdead body. He wants to engage in that conversation. So again, a theater of 1,000. People were lined up since 6 30 this morning. And they voiced and Lindsey Graham stood his ground sflp and when they left, what is the energy like now . Does it seem like i guess you cant say satisfied if they disagree, but whow would you describe it . Reporter how do you guys feel after that . Its what they expected. Pretty much what sweefrn evewe every other place. Everybody was shouting back and forth and graham in his genuine South Carolina smile said essentially we had our on chance to have the conversation. So thats what its like here. All right. Vaughn hillyard, great recording. I want to bring in george bebe, special adviser to dick cheney. Good afternoon to you. What a busy day. Where do we start . Lets start with the president s tweets this morning. No evidence of this, but the claims appear to be based on reporting in conservative media of two fisa warrants. One in june that was denied and then another in the fall that may have targeted a server tied to a russian bank. You can talk about how fisa warrants work . Frankly, i think a lot of people its not new, but all the attention is on this this morning. So can just explain whether you think this is even plausible . Well, fisa warrants are meant to be protection of americans civil liberties. Our government has very extensive and very impressive Information Collection capabilities. And the idea behind this is to make sure that theyre not used to collect information on ordinary innocent americans. The idea that our government is somehow eavesdropping on conversations or reading peoples emails without proper presented indication, proper cause is one that can be very disturbing. So the fisa program was put in place to prevent that sort of thing from happening without due cause. So the allegation that the government was actually without justification listening in, eavesdropping on Trump Campaign personnel is extremely serious allegation. And something that deserves a serious investigation. Do you believe it . I dont have a basis for judgment one way or the other on that. Im not privy to any information regarding this. Based on what i understand about the way our Government Systems work, id be surprised if there were some sort of warrantless eavesdropping going on against Trump Campaign officials. But i think its something that is a very serious allegation and it certainly deserves a serious nonpartisan swres investigation competent experts. I thought it was interesting the comments from Lindsey Graham. If they received a fisa warrant, what was going on. Is it too early to speculate . I think it is for a early to speculate. There can be all kinds of reasons why can a fisa warrant was obtained and the object of that sort of collection could certainly be foreign officials who were in contact with Trump Campaign officials at the time and not the trump personnel themselves. I will say that contacts between transition officials and even Campaign Officials with foreign governments, plaurly foreign ambassadors, are entirely normal and natural. That happens all the time. The fact that those contacts occurred should not by themselves be alarming. Go ahead. What about President Trumps claim that nothing was found . Is he restrevealing classified information here . Because if he didnt tweet about it, we wouldnt be talking about it, not right now at least. Yes. Well, i dont know that hes restreeling any classified information and tweeting about this. I will say that the sooner we can take this discussion into a serious nonpartisan investigation, out of the world of twitter and out of the circuslike atmosphere that seems to be gripping our country right now on television and capitol hill, i think that the better off well all be because this is really obscuring some larger questions about our countrys relationship with russia and what kind of course we should chart in the world that we really need to debate in a nonpartisan way. Youre clearly an expert on russia. I want you to listen to a former ambassador on Jeff Sessions. Take a listen and then well talk. Sergey kislyak who i know very well, ive department with him for many year, he would have tried to get information to try to inform his government about a possible future Trump Administration. That is exactly what he was doing. He worked for the russian government. He worked for vladimir putin. He was doing his job in gathering information, including meeting with the opposition. Do you agree with that . What is the play here for russia, what are they after . Absolutely. That is one of the ambassadors jobs is to establish contacts with influential americans, government officials, Campaign Officials, to understand their thinking about issues that affect russia and to help them understand russias perspective on all of these things. That is what diplomats our diplomats do it. The diplomats of other countries do this. None of that is particularly surprising or alarming. So it seems like there is this line here obviously. Do u. S. Intelligence officials consider kislyak a spy . You just said this is what diplomats do. Where is the line here . It seems like huge optic problems at this point with these meetings to be going on in the middle of the controversy about the russian government meddling in the president ial campaign. This morning we named five different people in the Trump Administration who were talking with the ambassador or others before the inauguration. Well, again, when youre in a transition period, its natural to have those sorts of discussions and contacts. Obviously you need to be sensitive in the conduct of those conversations to be sure that youre not doing things that are undermining the policies of the outgoing administration. So if you handle these sorts of discussions with the proper discretion and sensitivity, i dont think there is anything inherently problematic about that. Kislyak as far as i could tell was doing exactly the job that he should have been doing. And im not aware of anybody that regards the ambassador as a spy. I think there is a situation where we have an ambassador doing his job, meeting with officials. Hes an energetic bright very capable dip low on madiplomat w diligently advances the interests of his country. Its a complicated web of the story, so on thank you your time. Still ahead, why now . The timing behind todas tweet storm. Ill ask a member of congress abouthis nex before fibromyalgia, i was active. I was energetic. Then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. My doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. He also prescribed lyrica. Fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. For some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. Or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. Common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. With less pain, i can be more active. Ask your doctor about lyrica. Today you have the march for trump ral lies being held acros the country. On the left side is new york city. And then stroeof course on the is washington. And they coincide with another one called march for education. So several calling for the protection of funding for public education. Aussaturday. Now to the latest fromhe white house. President trump is laying heavy accusations against the Obama Administration this morning claiming that it wiretapped trump tower and comparing to watergate. Nbc news has not yet been able to verify these claims. Joining me now is a mitch congressman, democrat and member of the House Financial Services committee. Good afternoon to you. I dont know if you can hear me. I think well patch things through. Can you talk about why you think the president is bringing this up now through these tweets . Well, it seems as though hes doing what he normally does and that is trying to create some sort of a distraction in fr what the main news story is and there that is that the attorney general of the United States went before a committee of the United States senate and lied about his contacts with the russian government. And so President Trump has this habit of making outrageous claims, in this case accusing a former president of a pretty serious deed without any evidence and presenting no evidence. Items irresponsible behavior on the part of the president. But i think its a distraction and we cant allow for this to work. We have to focus. Its interesting that you brought up a distraction because we deal with this every day in this business where if he tweets something, we have to decide on our side whether to talk about it, whether to bring it up. And quite often we havent if we feel like its a distraction but in this case, the allegations are so explosive and if there is any truth to it or frankly any surveillance period, frankly people want to know. So one of those thing bes where we have to talk about it. I think so. When the president makes this sort of a claim, its serious. And it needs to be investigated. I mean what is he referring to . Is he looking at some breitbart story . Where did he get this information . He is the president of the United States. Hes not some sort of blogger trying to make a name for himself. What he says matters. And for some reason he cannot get it into his head that he has to begin at some point in time to behave like an adult and be the president of the United States and not make these outrageous unfuounded claims jut in order to change the subject. It does need to be covered no question about it. But its really his irresponsibility that is most concerning. If we talk about the russian meddling, what is the best way to clear this up . We need an independent and bipartisan investigation of this connection between the russians and the 2016 campaign. We already see now that four members of the Trump Campaign met with the russians during the course of the campaign. The National Security adviser mr. Flynn has already had to resign as a result of lying about those communications. Now we have the attorney general lying under oath about communications with the russian government. We need to take this out of partisanship. Democrats and republicans are expressing concern about this. T path forward is to get it out of the partisan political debate, appoint a jointly and agreeable Bipartisan Commission like we had with the 911 commission to do a deep dive, find out the facts and report those facts back to congress and the American People. Only then will we have confidence that our government has not been compromised by an sort of an unwarranted and really worrisome connection between the Trump Campaign and Trump Administration and the russian government. I only have a few seconds left, but with Jeff Sessions you mentioned youve been calling for his resignation. Is there anything that he can can say to reset this for you . The only thing Jeff Sessions can say to reset this right now is that he resigns. Youre into the bunnot budgi. I have to leave it there. Thank you for talking with me. Coming up next, well hear from a republican member of congress about the president s tweets and whether mr. Trump should be focusing on something that puts the white house in a more positive light. Plus the new report about Border Security and whether children could be separated from their parents as a determent. This is the silverado special edition. This is one gorgeous truck. Oh, did i say theres only one special edition . Because, actually theres five. Ooohh aaaahh uh hooooly mackerel. Wow. Nice. Strength and style. Its truck month. Get 0 financing for 60 months plus find your tag and get 5500 on select Chevy Silverado pickups when you finance with gm financial. Find new roads at your local chevy dealer. Welcome back. Im Sheinelle Jones here at msnbc World Headquarters in new york. President trump tweeting serious agencies against his predecessor. One says he just found out president obama had his wires tapped bore the election. Trump called this mccarthyism. And another tweet with more allegations about phone tapping. Trump calling the whole situation nixon watergate. Pete williams adding a few minutes ago go that a senior u. S. Official says that he and others have no idea what the president is talking about. Lets fwli william herd. What you can tell us about these claims . I dont know what hes referring to. Im sure hes frustrated with the back and forth and the politicalization of the investigation into russian attempts to manipulate our election. And its a serious charge. I spent 9 1 2 years as an undercover officer in the cia. I chased russians all over the world in their attempt to try to influence or elections is something that should be reviewed and it should be reviewed in a bipartisan and thorough manner. Do you think its plausible that the fisa Court Approved a warrant . Well, if there was, and i dont have any indication to suggest one on way or the other, in order to have a tell tap on a building, you would have to have a fisa warrant. And that means 245 a judthat a would have to issue a fisa warrant that states that the judge had probable cause and believed that federal Law Enforcement had a reason to gather additional information. And usually one of these types of fisa warrants would be on a particular individual, not necessarily just any kind of communications in a building. What is the bar for a fisa warrant . Is it pretty high, pretty low . About for most of us youre certainly more plugg in than we are, thats one question. And two, is there any threat or truth to this . You seriously didnt know anything about any of this . I will say the bar for a fisa warrant is very high. The federal Law Enforcement takes this seriously. I know the fisa judges take this very seriously. When i was in the cia, had to deal with this issue of americans talking with known terrorist organizations. Its not a pro forma or easy process to go through. And you have to demonstrate a real probable cause. So i trust that federal Law Enforcement and judiciary are doing their job and looking at all the evidence. But again, i think one of the important things that august my frie all my friends on both sides of the political divide need to realize that there are things that we shouldnt be talking about. I know folks are frustrated and we want to get information every second of the day. But if there are investigations, those types of things will take time. And then that is where the house and senate come in and in a bipartisan fashion to reviewnd make sure that our federal Law Enforcement did the job the right way. Speaking of frustrated, are you frustrated with the tweets . Did you wake up to the news like the rest of us . Its the president s prerogative. Do you think its okay . That is his decision. I think both sides should stop talking about something that may or may not have happened. I wish you realize were talking about it because he tweeted about it before 7 00 in the morning. Thats the only reason were talking about itause he tweeted about it. You have to bring that question up with the president and his team about his habits on social media. Let me ask you this. Yesterday two of your fellow republicans in the house joined in an effort dead lie democrats to request copies of President Trumps tax records, the idea that it could put concerns about conflicts of interest to rest. Why arent more republicans behind this . Well, i think many republicans have spoken out and said, you know, it would make life a lot easier, why not just share the tax information. The president has done a Financial Disclosure form. I havent heard if there is any indications in that where people have suspicions. But this is not a federal requirement do to do that. The American People knew that information wasnt provided before they made the decision back in november. But i do think providing the tax returns would be a good move. Let me get your take on reuters looking at the potential implications of a new Border Security proposal. Essentially article details how children could be separated from their parents saying part of the reason is to deter mothers my grating oig to the United States with their children. Do you agree with this approach . Again, just because its a reuters report doesnt mean it will happen. There are all kinds of suspicions on what may or may not happen pun till another exec i have it order comes out or until the secretary of Homeland Security puts out more guidance, the guidance right now that i. C. E. Is operating under is that people are here illegally and they have committed criminal offenses, those are the folks that are being focused on. And that is really not too much of a deviation from president obama under his term. There was over 400,000 people deported under president obama that had this serious criminal history. And so i think its real easy in this environment to get excited about one thing or the other, but until you have a piece of legislation or an executive order, its hard to comment on 240es. I know its a proposal, but a lot of people wonder when you hear proposals like this, is it testing the waters a little bit to see how people react, to see if it would be explosive frankly . Is Something Like this even plausible . Knowing how president ial campaigns work and some of the transitions work, a lot of people have opinions, but those opinions are not reflective of the people in a aeople that are making decisions. So secretary kelly was recently at the Homeland Security committee, and many of these topics came unand he addressed them. Secretary kelly is someone who i think understands what needs to be done in order to secure or border. And i live in south texas and rhett sou represent south texas, 29 counties, 820 miles of the border. One of the things that i always remind folks is that we have benefitted from the brain drain of every country for the last couple decades. Lets continue that. And lets benefit from the hard working drain, too. If you will be a row gukt difference member of our society, lets get you here but lets do it legally. And so again this is an issue that should be debated in a bipartisan, thon panonpartisan make sure were strengthing our country. We have to leave it there. Thank you for your time. Happening now, a show of support for President Trump. The rallies under way coast to coast. Beyond is a Natural Pet Food that goes beyond assuming ingredients are safe. To knowing they are. Going beyond expectations. Because our pets deserve it. Beyond. Natural pet food. Everything your family touches sticks with them. Make sure the germs they bring home dont stick around. Use clorox disinfecting products. Because no one kills germs better than clorox. Turning now to nationwide rallies in support of President Trump today including one in new york city. Lets gee go to morgan radford. Shes there. Whats latest . Reporter im standing here in the had dose of trump tower. A couple hundred protestors say lets end the fight and unite. Diane, why did you come out here . I came to support our president. And why do you feel like he needs to be suntse supported . Because there are people consistently come out against this man. He has not even been in office that long. And they were trying to attack him before he got into office. They attacked him during the inauguration and now afterwards. And i think he needs the support all around the country from people who voted for him. We voted for him and we want our president to know that we support him and god bless him. And speaking of those attacks, i heard you yelling to a few of the other people saying dont tap me, talking about president obama. What do you think about the seri seri series of tweets . Do you think eches the was tapp . Its appropriate for President Trump to go to twitter because in this day and age, thats where he gives his constituents the information that they need because a lot of the Mainstream Media is not necessarily reporting the accurate facts. He did tweet that former president obama had wiretapped his office in trump tower while he was still a candidate. And if that is true particularly if he did not get a warrant to do it i want to interrupt you. One quick last question. You were sayings Mainstream Media dont present the facts. Do you think youre not getting the truth from us . I dont. Its n its not everyone, but a large majority of the Mainstream Media, they certainly seem to have a leftist slant. And they stick to that narrative. I think that i would like to see the media as a whole just report the facts. Report the facts as they are. And stop giving us opinion. I think part of it is 24 hour news cycle and they have to fill things up with Opinion Pieces that are posing as news. Give us the news and let us make youre own choice as to what is really going on. And i really want to give you a chance to make your point which is j cs why is why im ou. Weve seen a few antitrump ralliers in opposition to the pro trump supporters. You can see about 100 across the street here. So things getting a bit tense. All right. Interesting that that woman noted the tweets and talked about the tweets as if theyre fact. Well talk about that coming up a little later this morning or this afternoon. Still ahead, why it may not matter if the trump team had contact with russian officials. Next, a look at whether the damage had already been done just by the appearance of impropriety. Its like six degrees of kevin putin. What is with this administration . Always meet they neat with the russians more than the loik doping xhiltsity. Sxwrooirnlgs hi, im frank. I take movantik for oic, opioidinduced constipation. Had a bad back injury, my doctor prescribed opioids which helped with the chronic pain, but backed me up bigtime. Tried prunes, laxatives, still constipated. Had to talk to my doctor. She said, how long you been holding this in . laughs that was my movantik moment. My doctor told me that movantik is specifically designed for oic and can help you go more often. Dont take movantik if you have a bowel blockage or a history of them. Movantik may cause serious side effects, including symptoms of opioid withdrawal, severe stomach pain and or diarrhea, and tears in the stomach or intestine. Tell your doctor about any side effects and about medicines you take. Movantik may interact with them causing side effects. Why hold it in . Have your movantik moment. Talk to your doctor about opioidinduced constipation. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Wiretapping and mccarthyism, the content of President Trumps latest tweets. Lets bring in peter emerson. Good afternoon to you both. Thanks for having us. Where did he come up with this information and is it plausible at this point . Well, weve seen reports that senior officials are telling the washington post, robert costa, that the president was familiar with a breitbart article that had staked out the scenario that president obama had ordered wiretapping of the trump tower. So that seems to be where the news that President Trump is digesting and coming up with this claim. It also has been fairly widely reported that there were attempts by the fbi to obtain fisa warrants in over the summer and then again in october. It hasnt been confirmed, but it hasnt been denied. Talk why bother going after a president who is out of office. I say that, but i dont know if you saw the woman in morgan radford, she was talking at the rally, did you hear the woman on the street and say did you hear, president Obama Wiretapped his office. Hes created a fact for a lot of people already. But why go after obama now . That President Trump is tweeting before 7 00 a. M. On a saturday morning so frequently about these allegations of his campaigns collusion with russia shows that hes incredibly concerned about it and hes trying to deflect blame. He is in the mode of trying to push off on to other people what they have done wrong. And i think to deflect from possible wrongdoing on the part of his own campaign. Hes clearly unnerved by these allegations. Peter, what is your take on these tweets . Hes doing what hes done since he began the campaign. But these allegations are explosive. Well, hes doing as i said what has been very clear from the day he began campaigning. And that is deflecting as elyse says, but also making it very possible for us to focus on obama rather than on trump. And what is iconic to me and rather disturbing is that the chief architect of mccarthyism, roy cohen, was Donald Trumps mentor, advise, close friend. So there is an old saying if you spot it, you got it. So fhes talking from a positio of knowledge with roy cohen. Its interesting you mentioned that. I was talking with one of my producers about that. Is it so until believable though that the Obama Administration might have monitored the Trump Campaign . Is there precedent for that kind of action in previous administrations . I wanted to be very clear on what triggers a fisa request. And that is that if there is conversation with a foreign government, particularly one that is adversarial to the United States either by an american citizen or a nonamerican citizen, that is at a very low level. That is at an intelligence gathering level. It is then taken up further the chain of command and decisions are made whether or not its an actionable problematic and necessary step to the fisa court. So i would suspect that they did pick up conversations which is quite extraordinary that people like mike flynn and Paul Manafort wouldnt have known that any conversation particularly with russian, whether ambassador or Business People from russia, would in fact be picked up on our intelligence gathering and that may have triggered a fisa court request with. But again as elyse said, we dont know the details except that trumps now seemed to have leaked something that he may have either thought he heard or may in fact be true. And now everybody is digging. Lets talk about ts Jeff Sessions. He says he will officer senators amended testimony on monday regarding his contact with the Russian Ambassador, but can that really stop the bleeding if you will at this point . It. Attorney general sessions high school real has put himself in an incredible position of being biter of rule of law for our country and his testimony while perhaps not technically perjury, it is definitely seen as misleading and as less than forthright. So it really does remind of president bill clinton in the 90s when he parsed his language so carefully. And i think certainly its very problematic for attorney general sessions Going Forward to have the kind of credibility he needs to operate as one of the nations top Law Enforcement individuals. Peter, what do you think about that . Does it matter ultimately whether members of the trump team had contact with russia or is the image alone enough to do any damage . Well, to me this isnt so much a legal issue as a political issue. I think that obviously were a rule of law and we have to follow what the evidence suggests. But at the end of the day, this is a huge political issue. So one of the questions that i have, where are the democrats on all of this. They seem to be across the board calling for either investigations either by bipartisan or independent counselors, but im also concerned about the Obama Administration and why if they were so convinced that this information needed to be saved and made sure that it got spread as being reported all over the federal bureaucracy before they left office, why did they not act on it. After all, a president puts a hand on a bible of his choosing and defends s promises to defend the United States. There is nothing more central to our democracy and the sanctity of our elections. Vice president mike pence, we havent talked about this yet today, hit wisconsin yesterday, home of House Speaker paul ryan. And he made a vow in what has become one of ryans main battles. Repealing the Affordable Care act. Lets listen. Let me make you a promise. The obamacare nightmare is about to end. You heard the president say it and give direction to the congress. And its just going to start happening in a few days. We will repeal obamacare once and for all and eliminate all its mandates and taxes and intrug inin intrusion into your personal lives. It certainly hasnt happened. I think this will be a tough waltz f battle for the Trump Administration to have Congress Come to a consensus on would is an acceptable replacement for obamacare. You see a lot of division between republicans saying is it obamacarelike, does the other Freedom Caucus replacement go too far and could it risk constituent backlash when it comes to 2018. So seeing how it plays out, President Trump really needs his Political Capital to push for bomt obamacare repeal, but right now, hes really forcing himself through no fault of anyone but his own to blow up the russia talk even more than it has to be. Got to leave it there. You know i love y are a. Still ahead, facing angry voters. The demand hundreds in South Carolina have for one of the most promise republican senators. It only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. New tide pods child guard pack. Helps keep your laundry pacs safe and your child safer. Align, press and unzip. At the top of the hour, reaction from steve king of iowa about the President Trumps latest tweets. Should the president be tweeting about this kind of thing . But i keep it growing by making every dollar count. Thats why i have the spark cash card from capital one. With it, i earn unlimited 2 cash back on all of my purchasing. And that unlimited 2 cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business. Which adds fuel to my bottom line. Whats in your wallet
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