Robert muellers investigation. Question whether they believe or suspect President Trump committed a crime, slim margin say yes. Evan perez on the kushner story and manu raju on the story today about Campaign Contact with russia and puts new scrutiny on the highest Law Enforcement official in the last tells congress under oath about contact with russia. What did carter page say today . More than 6 1 2 hours he was behind closed doors with House Intelligence Committee and talked about a range of issues. One thing he was asked about, july 2016 trip he took to moscow. Question came, who in the campaign knew about it. He informed the committee under oath that Jeff Sessions, the senator from alabama and top campaign surrogate in fact knew about it. He said he mentioned to him at a private dinner with other people who were involved on the Trump National security team, he told him in carter pages words, in passing about this trip he planned to take to moscow. He said it was not related to the campaign, simply for him to go overseas and deliver a speech overseas in russia. Why this is significant, Jeff Sessions on a number of different occasions has been asked about connections with russia, any contacts he had,ualhad, whether he was aware of anyone working with russia in the campaign, slew of questions on capitol hill, every single time, didnt recall or no didnt happen. Asked in june before senate Intelligence Committee directly by carter page and whether he was aware he had met with russian officials. He said he did not know. Questions whether or not he should have disclosed this meeting, even if just in passing. What is the Justice Department saying about it . Tonight theyre not commenting. Mike conaway, Top Republican on the investigation didnt think it was problematic for Jeff Sessions, didnt see anything sinister here, perhaps understandable he was not aware of this. One source familiar with the meeting said they did have an interaction at that meeting, confirmed that. It occurred toward the end of the meeting when page approached sessions. And page told me that was one and other interaction they ever had in the campaign season, but he did confirm he mentioned he was planning to take this trip next month to moscow. This is on top of renewed scrutiny from members of congress about Jeff Sessions testimony about George Papadopoulos . In court documents, papadopoulos had proposed a meeting between president Vladimir Putin and thencandidate donald trump. At that meeting where papadopoulos made this suggestion, Jeff Sessions was in attendance and were told by source in the room that sessions rejected this call for meeting between putin and trump, saying we should not go there. That raised a number of lawmakers i talked to today, why didnt sessions disclose this in his testimony asked over and over again about russian contacts. Even two senior republicans, Chuck Grassley of iowa, chairs Senate Judiciary committee and john korman, number two in the Overall Senate wanted to learn more about it. Grassley said it was looking into it and courten said worthy area to explore. Democrats going more aggressively after this, saying sessions may need to verify his testimony. Thank you manu. Want to play a tape. Question from senator al franken to Jeff Sessions. You dont believe that surrogates from the Trump Campaign had communications with the russians, is that what youre saying . I did not and im not aware of anybody else that did. And i dont believe it happened. You dont believe it now. I dont believe it now. Bring in panel. Legal analyst, michael zelden, former assistant to robert mueller. Michael, start with you. How big a deal, if what carter page said is true, he told Jeff Sessions this, whether in passing or not, how big a deal that Jeff Sessions in front of three different committees seemed to not recall this or much about russia frankly . This is problematic for sessions. Earlier back and forth with franken, asking about contacts with russia, it was a bad question, wasnt wellformed and answer couldnt stand up to scrutiny as false statement or perjurious, here is specific question, do you believe there are any surrogates that met with russia . Answer was i didnt, i dont know of anyone that did. Thats direct question and answer on which i think false statement claim could arise but more importantly get called back to congress and have to figure out what his answer is, how come he cant remember these key things but anything else that impugns his integrity. Hes 70 years old, could be part of the reason hell say, lot going on, minor mention from guy, carter page, who he didnt know at all. Takes place in larger context of serial lying by Jeff Sessions, attorney general of the United States, by the president of the United States, by the children of the president of the United States, by his campaign manager, by his associates in his business enterprises. What the special prosecutor is now doing, two things, follow the money, follow the lies. Theres an intersection of the 2, were coming to a precipice in this investigation, both in terms of public hearings that were seeing on the hill, but especially in the legal terms that investigation special prosecutor is developing we only see this much but its deadly serious, were at precipice and were going to find out where we go in the coming weeks and months. I keep coming back to the point carl made, what we see is tiny fraction of what mueller and his team have already seen. And in one of the Court Pleadings he said that, papadopoulos pleas he said this is a small part of a larger matter and what were presenting to court today is only a portion of what information has been provided for us. Enough for the court to take the plea, enough facts that the court can say, i find you guilty, but not enough to reveal all of what mueller is doing. To carls point, the indictment and plea, manafort has followed the money, not necessarily money actually connected to collusion investigation but Business Operations generally. Anden in nobody is too small to be indicted for lying to a federal agent. Both ends, big and small and everybody in the middle i guess. Idea that carter page wasnt going to russia in official campaign capacity, a, does the distinction matter here, and b, does it defy credibility . Clearly the russians had interest in him because named like mauna from hefb as a foreign advisory for him, even though never met with candidate trump and hasnt met President Trump. Looking at bigger mosaic. George papadopoulos, carter page, volunteers but in name advisers on a Foreign PolicyAdvisory Board to donald trump. They get to sit in on meetings and go to policy meetings. If youre trying to infiltrate a campaign, you work from the bottomup, whether carter page was aware or papadopoulos, its up to the special counsel and all the rest. But you can look at this picture, there he is at table with donald trump. Hes suggesting, papadopoulos, hey how about a meeting with putin, which sessions shoots down, trump is noncommittal. And you get to see the larger picture here. I cant speak to whether Jeff Sessions he shook carter pages hand after dinner meeting, whether he remembers or didnt, thats issue between the congress and Jeff Sessions to work out, he might have to amend his testimony. But i do think theres another bigger story here. Exactly what the russians were doing in trying to infiltrate this campaign that im sure the special counsel is looking at and investigating. Carl. Serial lying by all the people is about russia, whats happening in terms of an investigation into the undermining of the American Election by a foreign power. Thats what the serial lying is about. Its about a coverup that is attempting to keep us from learning what these people did and what they knew in regard to this election, to their finances, and to what happened generally speaking during the campaign in terms of getting information about Hillary Clinton, about the democrats from the russians. It all comes together under one umbrella. Question is whether or not there is a real conspiracy to obstruct justice among other things in the investigation, whether it is about illegality, but we certainly know it is about a coverup and we need to know now whether the law has been broken in the coverup in a way to extend to the president of the United States and those closest to him. We have to take a quick break. Also more breaking news on the Russian Investigation, new attention on Jared Kushner tonight. All of this with president about to head overseas for talks about asian allies. How is he holding up . Some say great, others not so much. And more. Like renters insurance. More ways to save. Nice, brotato chip. Thats not all, brotein shake. Geico has motorcycle and rv insurance, too. Oh, thats a lot more. Oh yeah, im all about more, teddy brosevelt. Geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. We have a question about your brokerage fees. Fees . What did you have in mind . I dont know. 4. 95 per trade . Uhhh and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee . Guarantee . Where we can get our fees and commissions back if were not happy. So can you offer me what schwab is offering . Whats with all the questions . Ask your broker if theyre offering 4. 95 online equity trades and a satisfaction guarantee. If you dont like their answer, ask again at schwab. Ththe next energyngs toto power our dreams,re will be american energy. Whstuff happens. Old shut down cold symptoms fast with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. Quick note. Before the break played a portion of attorney general Sessions Senate testimony, mistakenly identified it as confirmation hearing. It was different context. Jared kushner, documents he turned over to special counsel mueller and questions hes answering about the firing of james comey, could be part of obstruction of justice investigation. Part of the team that broke this story, he joins us now. What are the documents . Sources tell us that kushner voluntarily turned over documents he had in his possession from the campaign and transition, relating contact with russia. Similar to what he gave to congressional investigators, came as investigators are asking witnesses about kushners role in the firing of james comey. We know before special counsel mueller was appointed in may, fbi had begun looking at kushners failure to disclose russian contacts when he made application, all documents the fbi had in its possession. Why is the special counsel interested in kushners role if any in the comey firing . Were told that investigators asked witnesses about whether kushner played any role in firing of comey. Some seize he was driver of the decision and others he didnt oppose it, something the president had made up his mind about, intent to do it. Sources closer to the white house say based on what they know, kushner is not target of the investigation. How significant is this . Muellers team asking questions about kushner is a sign that investigators are reaching into the inner circle of the president , extending well beyond the 2016 Campaign Actions taken at white house level, highest levels of the white house. White house official tells us muellers teams asking questions about kushner is not a surprise and say he could be on the a list of a lot of people who investors would be asking about. Lawyer for kushner, should be noted, did not comment for this story, and white house also declined to comment. Thanks evan. Before going further on the impact of the news, it is worth looking back at reminder of stories of what went down in the firing of james comey and scramble to justify it. In many ways the genesis of what we see now and will see in weeks ahead. Loss of confidence in the director. May 3rd, six days later President Donald Trump fired fbi director james comey. That much was clear but reason he was fired was anything but. Hours after the firing sean spicer, then communications director, locked himself in his office in the white house and when the media caught up with him, huddled with staff in the bushes on the white house ground. Then went on camera with fox saying the president s firing of comey followed a recommndation from Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein and boss attorney general Jeff Sessions. Said nothing of comeys russia investigation. President made a decision to accept their conclusions and remove director comey. Next day Sarah Sanders stuck to script. President over the next several months lost confidence in director comey and accepted the remgts of Deputy Attorney general to remove james comey from his position. Very next day, a completely different story from the president himself, boldly telling nbc he had made the decision to fire comey on his own, the reason was the russia investigation. What i did is i was going to fire comey, my decision not you had made the decision. I was going to fire comey. When i decided to just do it, i said to myself, you know this russia thing with trump and russia is a madeup story. Sanders was left to clean up the inconsistencies. I went off of the information that i had when i answered your question. Another voice adding to confusion and kont dictions, Vice President mike pence saying the firing was not related to the russia investigation. Let me be clear, that was not what this is about. Then perhaps the strangest twist of the entire saga a day after comeys firing. In the oval office of all places with a russian. It was there that President Trump told Russian Ambassador serg sergey kissly yak that comey was a job and firing him relieved pressure. Back with the panel. How significant is it special counsel is asking about kushners involvement in the firing of comey, also overview of how you see the various tracks of this, Russian Investigation and also financial. Sure. I dont think that asking kushner about his role in the firing of comey necessarily does anything to advance the obstruction of justice claim. Obstruction of justice claim is really on the president and what he did to interfere with the investigation. I think its on the margins relevant to that. Well see whether or not mueller thinks that firing of comey, asking of his National Security team to get out in front of the media on this story, also to ask comey to stand down the investigation, whether he asked flynns investigation to be stood down, all of that stuff mueller has to sort out, then deal with the constitutional question of if the president does something hes constitutionally allowed to do, can that be obstruction of justice or not, thats open question. You think its possible that Michael Flynn has already flipped. Yeah. So in answer to the question you asked, big picture, when you look at Manafort Indictment and youre Michael Flynn, you have to think this is what i did too, probably. Except with turkey. And i have a son in part of my group too. And i see too that under the sentencing guidelines, papadopoulos cooperates, takes sentence from three to five years to zero to six months. If manafort were able to fully cooperate, i dont think hes capable at this point, would take sentence down to four or five years. Powerful incentive to cooperate. Probably thats at play. Would be surprised if flynn wasnt cooperating. Which would be huge, had a pretty close relationship with candidate trump throughout the campaign. Exactly. Just as manafort for a little bit of time, gates for a longer time. Mueller looking at possible witness for collusion case to be made, gates is far more credible and important because he stayed after manafort left. Went through the transition with trump. Hes got a lot more information and more credible witness. Strands that you asked about earlier, i think theres a Financial Group of investigations that mueller is conducting, manafort the first, flynn will be the second. Kushner and his properties, maybe the eb5 visa program, properties in new jersey, reach out to russians for financing of property in new york city. 666 4th avenue. 666. They may have some road back to rome, collusion, but i think they stand as financial crimes investigations. Then you have papadopoulos, carter page, roger stone, all these people and interactions with the russians and whether or not this was designed to get Hillary Clintons emails in october surprise sort of way. Late in the campaign in order to damage her at a time when she couldnt respond to it in time. Would the third string be the obstruction of justice . Exactly. Carl . Also, some of the lawyers involved who know things say that indeed flynn is cooperating. Dont call it flipped, but say he has been cooperating with the investigators. But more, what we see with kushner, he is