Narrowly congressman Keith Ellison for the top spot. But they perez appointed ellison as his deputy. Sparking words of praise from former president obama and words of caution from senator bernie sanders. Were going to have more on that in a moment. But first were learning more about communication between the white house and officials in charge of investigating President Trumps ties to russia. Cnn wars the first to reveal that the fbi and the white house reports contact between Trump Campaign staffers and senior russian officials and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said he had contact with the white house on this story and he engaged with reporters on it. I want to turn now to White House Correspondent athena jones. I want to go through the details with you on this. Before we go to that, we actually have some breaking news from President Trump. This is what he just tweeted. He said i will not be attending the White House Correspondents association din they are year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening. Break this down for us athena. I think there was a suspension this might happen. There were obviously this is an event where you have so many celebrities who go and you had a lot of them saying were not going this year. Because of President Trump and there was a, i think an open question about whether this event was going to end up being completely different than it had been in the past. Absolutely, brianna. I dont think this comes as a huge surprise, you talk about the celebrity saying they may not come. Also some of the big parties of that weekend, the host of the parties said they were not going to be hosting the parties. Were talking about a dinner taking place, scheduled to take place the end of april. Its a scholarship and awards dinner. A dinner that the preds, whatever president , has traditionally attended. The president traditionally giving a funny speech. Sometimes poking fun at himself. As well as the media. Thats generally the approach. But this is a president who said early on, i think that that speech at the c. I. A. , right after his inauguration, that he was at war with the media. We know that his chief strategist, steve bannon, has called the media the opposition party. And the president just in the last several days has been tweeting and talking about the media as the enemy of the people. So i dont think its a huge surprise that he doesnt want to be part of this celebration in some ways of the media. I actually just spoke in the commercial break with jeff mason, the president of the White House Correspondents association, he is rather busy right now as you can imagine, responding to this, but he is going to come out and be live on cnn as soon as he can. Athena i want to turn to russian now back to this topic. You have a committee official who says congress, who is saying that donald trump did nothing improper. Tell us whats going on. Thats right so weve talked about the cnn exclusive reporting from earlier this week that the white house chief of staff, reince priebus, talked with the fbi and asked the fbi to weigh in on the to try to knock down some of these reports about trump aides, Trump Campaign aides having contacts with russian officials during the campaign. The fbi refused to get involved. So the white house reached out to others, among them, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Thats chairman devin nunez. We have a statement from the Communications Adviser to the Intelligence Committee. I want to read what it says. It says chairman nunez did nothing inappropriate. He made inquiries into the allegations published by the New York Times and couldnt find evidence to support them. So he told that to multiple reporters. And then a white house aide asked if he would speak to one more. So he spoke to that reporter as well. Telling that person the same thing he told the other reporters. So devin nunez, the chairman standing by this, that there was nothing inappropriate. About him talking to reporters, of course critics disagree. Brianna . They certainly do. Well keep following this. Athena jones, lots of news breaking this weekend at the white house. Thank you. I want to turn back to the news we learned just moments ago. The president deciding he is not going to attend the White House Correspondents dinner. Joining me to talk about this is cnn political commentators, ryan lizza, the washington correspondent for the new yorke yorker. We have a former chairman of the Democratic Party in washington, d. C. Actually, no, we dont. Sorry, im looking at you guys, we have cnn political commentator, Alice Stewart as well, a republican strategist. So to you first, alice, what do you make of this . Maybe not the biggest surprise, athena jones said . Its not. Actually you look at how trump has expressed his opinions about the press over time. Its really not a surprise. You look at trumps tweet that you just referred to, i went back and looked after you reported this. The last tweet from the White House Correspondents association was yesterday. Just after the dustup with sean spicer bringing in certain Media Outlets back into his office and excluding cnn and the New York Times and politico, a handful of others. The Correspondents Association was very vocal about that. And said theyre looking into the matter and will continue to talk with the white house about that. So clearly theres some back and forth and frustration amongst the association that really represents all the press and the Trump White House. Look, im a former journalist, i have been in Political Communications for quite some time. I think its not appropriate to have an ongoing war with the press. I think the presss responsibility is critical in our critic society. Its important to have the check and balance of the press. Thats why theyre called the fourth estate. Keeping a close eye and being a watchdog for the public. On what happens in government. I think its critical and very important. But its not a mistake. Donald trump has been clear throughout the campaign and in the white house, that he does not have a lot of respect for the press. And continues to call them out and i think the comments about fake news and critical comments repeatedly is not appropriate. But this is something that he has always done from throughout the campaign. It energizes his base, every time he speaks, he did it just yesterday at cpac, it energize his base to have a war with the media. I dont see it changing. Unfortunately as were seeing, it just continues to get even hotter. Now we have the chairman of former chairman of Democratic Party washington, d. C. , a. Scott bolden with us. We appreciate you being with us. You hear this news, maybe not the biggest surprise, but do you think this is a big deal . Well, i think its sheer entertainment quite frankly. I think donald trump tries to play the media. And the media responds to it. Im not surprised its not going to the correspondents dinner. I mean the enemy of the people, the fourth estate, its covered and protected. The press is. In the constitution. This whole war against the media borders on the nonsensical and its really got to stop. What are we going to do . Were going to continue to cover him anyway. If cnn isnt goinger in. Unless you have a mediaout day and not cover him at all. Thats not going to happen. Whats going to be interesting is with the White House Correspondents dinner, what happens there. What entertainers come. What other politicians come . What they do as an alternative to the centerpiece for that event, with the absence of donald trump. Well have to closely watch and see what happens. Its going to be entertaining, no matter what. Maybe theyll have snl come and do a skit instead of donald trump being there. But sarah westwood, White House Correspondent for the washington examiner, maybe well find this out shortly. Because jeff mason from reuters, the head of the White House Correspondents association is about to come out with a statement from the association. Were going to talk to him live. I think now the question is, if the president doesnt go to this event, does it even happen . Well certainly the focus of the White House Correspondents dinner, part of it is supposed to be to celebrate the correspondents themselves and the work they do and the president s attendance was a way to put aside the adversarial part of the relationship and break bread together with administration officials, thats usually the purpose of the president s attendance at the White House Correspondents dinner. It will be interesting to see whether the Administration Sends another highprofile person in President Trumps place. Would we see Vice President pence come as a proxy for President Trump . Would we see another highlevel cabinet official make an appearance . And trump himself might stay away from the dinner . It will be trings trg to see if the administration wants to participate in it at allel or if President Trump has instructed everyone to stay away from the dinner to send an even more powerful message to show how the administration views its relationship with the media. That would be a really good point if someone else would come in his stead, and if they dont. Ryan lizza, youve gone to this event. Not we, but it has been nicknamed the nerd prom. Its this collision, even though, and sarah points this out. She says this is a chance for sort of the grudge to be set aside. Between the media and the administration. But has become this giant sort of show. Its almost this carnival where hollywood collides with washington. But the real reason for this is actually for scholarship winners, right . That is at its heart in some people would argue that that gets lost in it. So is it a possibility that maybe this just gets taken back to the real purpose for the White House Correspondents din centre. I think President Trump has done everyone a favor here by not going to the dinner. My own view of this, new yorker was not planning on going this year. Ive been a member of the White House Correspondents Association Since 2001. And been to most of the dinners since then. But that dinner, theres a moment in that dinner where everyone gets up and actually toasts the president. And i personally dont see how the White House Press corps can get up and toast a president that is calling us the enemy of the american people. Someone that in a speech at cpac this week, seemed to mock the First Amendment or reporters citing the First Amendment. This white house is at war with the press. And my own view is it wouldnt have been appropriate to have the president at the White House Correspondents association din they are year. So i frankly think trump did everyone a favor and made it a lot easier to make that decision. The White House Correspondents association, the purpose of that dinner is a fundraiser for its scholarship program. That is an extremely important. Its the, is the one event where they basically make all of the money that they need to run the White House Correspondents association. So they are in a little bit of a catch22, you can talk to jeff when he comes on. They need the dinner to fund what they do and what they do is very important work. And at the same time, the tradition is to have the president at that dinner. And yet this president does not have a healthy respect for what we do as journalists. So my own view is it would have been inappropriate to attend. And that trump has, has done everyone a favor by not going. The White House Correspondents association fights many occasions, and for access there at the white house. And theres an accountability that really ends with the White House Correspondents association speaking as this unified voice for the press there and what is such an Important Role. Im glad you pointed that out, ryan lizza. Thank you so much to all of you and we are awaiting a moment with the White House Correspondents Association President , jeff mason. Of reuters, to talk to us about this new development and what its going to mean for the association and for the dinner and the relationship between President Trump and the press corps. Plus this ahead screaming mad, supporters of congressman Keith Ellison lash out after former labor secretary tom perez wins the battle narrowly to lead the Democratic Party. Now President Trump is weighing in. And town halls gone wild. Angry protesters target more republican lawmakers in their home districts. One congressman now saying these events diminish democracy. Were live in the cnn news room. Im back get to the chopper hasta la vista, baby. Mobile strike download and play now. Free, from the app store. We cant stay here why . Terrible toilet paper ill never get clean way ahead of you. Charmin ultra strong. It cleans better. Its four times stronger. And you can use less. Enjoy the go with charmin. The Democratic Party has a brandnew elected leader. American mr. Tom perez. Former labor secretary tom perez, who got the most votes from delegates gathered this weekend in atlanta. The press immediately named the man who trailed him not far in votes, congressman Keith Ellison as his deputy chairman. Because we were always united in our values. And well always continue to be united in our values. And we are united in our love for the Democratic Party. Our love for the diversity of the Democratic Party. Our love for the robust discussions that occur in the Democratic Party. And this just a few minutes ago, a tweet from President Trump. He writes congratulations to thomas perez, who has just been named chairman of the dnc, i could not be happier for him or for the republican party. Cnns ryan noebls is in atlanta where the dnc delegates are gathered this weekend. So it sounds like not quite the most sincere congratulations there. But it actually sounded like donald trump had been rooting for Keith Ellison and to peg the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party as its leadership. Really as its face, right . I thing theres an argument to be made there, brianna. Certainly if ellison had won here, it would signal a bit more disarray, with at least the democratic establishment that they lost control of the party. And may in a position where they need to start from square one a bit more than they do with the election of someone like tom perez. But you know, perez and ellison came right out of the gate firing, you know, you remember that during this campaign for dnc chair, Keith Ellison actually called for the house to begin impeachment proceedings on donald trump. He felt there was enough evidence there to begin that process. Now perez was asked if he felt the same way. He stopped short of going that far. But he did say that hes going to be keeping a watchful eye on these investigations that are starting to pop up in the congress. Take a listen. You cant have the attorney general who was out on the stump for the president , doing that investigation. Thats disrespectful to all foxes, to call it will fox guarding the hen house. And we have to make sure that it is fair if the tables had been turned and Hillary Clinton had won the presidency, with the help of donald trump, with the help of putin i confuse putin and trump, because theyre so similar and the help of all this hacking, the republicans, how many benghazi hearings did they have . 15 . This would have been articles of impeachment filed already. I think you got a glimpse there into the type of attack that the democrats might be starting to maybe get on the same page with brianna on a number of different fronts. First invoking the treatment that Hillary Clinton got from House Republicans during the benghazi phase of her time. As secretary of state. And perhaps saying they should treat donald trump the same exact way. But that also the fact that theyre going to point out, that there needs to be an independent look into this investigations, involving the russian hacking. That its not just enough for the trumpled through