4 00 a. M. On the u. S. East coast. Welcome. It is cnns punishment for moscow for meddling in the 20126 election. Congress promising new rounds of sanctions. Senate and house negotiators settled on a deal even though President Trump hasnt admitted it. The kremlin said it would view a move like this as, quote, quite negatively. Its been a busy, hectic week in washington regarding russia. Jeff Sessions Discussed Campaign issues with Sergey Kislyak on two occasions in 2016. That contradictions what mr. Sessions has said in the past. U. S. Intelligence intercepted his comments to the kremlin. In a statement from the u. S. State department, Jeff Sessions stands by the denials of russian officials in the campaign. Congress is set, poised on the fast track with these sanctions, getting it ready for the president to sign. We have the latest. Reporter house and Senate Negotiators announced they came to an agreement on a bill to place sanctions on russia, north korea and iran. The sanctions are in response to russian meddling in the 2016 president ial election and the aggression in u crane and syria. According to Kevin Mccarthys schedule, it could come to a soet as soon as tuesday. It would go to the senate, then the president in august. A congressional mandate if donald trump decided to end or ease these sanctions against russia. This is a key part of the bill the white house pushed back on as its been crafted. If he decided to veto, he would face backlash from democrats and republicans alike who think the president should take a tougher stance against russia. Meanwhile, donald trump is very active on twitter, blasting Hillary Clinton, james comey and the special council. The most notable saturday was about pardons. While all agree, the u. S. President has the power to pardon. Why think about that when the only thing is leaks against us. Fake news. This comes after a Washington Post report saying the president and his legal team were exploring the pardoning ability and seeing how far his authority goes. A source familiar with the discussion said a curious donald trump was asking questions in a way. John dowd pushed back on the report calling it nonsense, saying his team is cooperating fully with the special councils investigation. Back to you. Thank you. The reaction from the kremlin toward more u. S. Sanctions is negative. Claire sebastian is following it. What is the word so far . Any word, given whats happening here . Just that economical text message we got from the kremlin spokesman. I asked what he thought about the agreement in congress that could pave the way for sanctions on russia. He said he viewed it quite negatively, which is perhaps understated. Russia has always been quick on sanctions saying it serves no other purpose than relations in the country that is impose them. They have the right to retaliation, not just the new sanctions, but exiting sanctions. When the Obama Administration brought in sanctions for alleged meddling, russia did not retaliate. Now they are holding talks with the u. S. Trying to get the diplomatic compoundses they have stepped up the rhetoric. The Foreign Ministry said a package of retaliatory measure has been prepared. We dont know whats in that yet. The kremlin says they are losing patience. Quite negatively is pretty understated, but does represent how they feel about sanctions. The question, obviously, is how will russia respond if, as this goes through, looking back at history as a guide, what could be expected . Reporter its an interesting one, george. The traditional way of these things working is the tit for tat response. I think from russias point of view and the understanding that banning may not be a deterrence that they are looking for. In the past, they have used asymmetrical measures. In 2014 the then president threatened to stop european allies from flying over russian air space. Another notable example thats come up is, russia in 2012, just a month after the u. S. And the m magnitsky act, russia banned American Families from adopting russian children. It never said outright it was in retaliation, but the timing would suggest that. I want to read a tweet from a Prominent Russian senator, if the u. S. Brings in new sanctions, we should review areas that are important to him. The price for the u. S. Will be zero. Its not clear what he means by areas that are important to them. It is clear russia is not in the mood to take this laying down. George . Thanks for the reporting. Lets get context now by bringing in a professor of International Politics at City University of london, live with us this hour. Good to have you with us. Lets start with this issue of sanctions. This is a big deal. The u. S. Congress focussed on making this happen for the russian government with bipartisan support, despite the president who is seeking warmer relations with russia. In this case, have you seen Something Like this before . Congress creating provisions to make sure the president cant weaken these sanctions when faced with this bill . Does he have any other choice but to sign it . Specifically on sanctions, im not entirely sure. In the past, president s have been checked on various policies they wanted to carry out. For example, in the 1980s, president reagans administration was stopped from aide on the regime in nicaragua. I think there are checks and balances built in. It will be President Trumps administration go into a deeper crisis. It suggests the mistrust of the administration and the way it is run by a small country of individual who is are unorthodox in their origin, if you like, the suspicion of that has expanded across the political system as well as within, if you like, the federal executive as a whole. I think that does suggest a slight ramping up of already existing tendencies. This, after we reported on meetings with the u. S. President and russian president , vladimir putin. Meetings that went longer than expected in some cases and initially a meeting that was exposed to the press until he found out about the meeting. Also, at a time the president was looking to have interaction with Cyber Security on russia. Faced with this bill, if he were to veto the bill, would congress have the ability to override the veto to make it happen . Well, i think the president ial veto is significant and important. I suspect whatever way this goes, the issue will not go away. We have seen it come up over and over again over the last several months. I think thats going to continue. I think there are different layers, if i may, through which we need to analyze what is going on and to some extent, these are very significant questions. The character of the Trump Administration and a small group of people at the center of it and business dealings are implicated in these kind of sanctions being carried out. There is a relationship between them. The other thing, of course, how does this play in the broader American Public and the american electorate . When you look at the numbers for President Trump, the congress, part of the media and elsewhere as well, the democrats and Hillary Clinton and so on, nobody is doing well out of this. The crisis which brought President Trump to power, i think is continuing to deepen, rather than go away. We could have, you know, serious shift in america, which could see the Trump Administration deeply destabilized, if not completely. But we may not escape the character of the crisis, which brought him to power in the first place. You talk about optics here. Lets talk about the president s most recent tweet where he mentioned his new interest in president ial pardoning power. This coming as an interesting statement from mr. Trump, considering the many investigation that is are swirling around him. What do you make of this . Well, i suppose when one seeks ill advice on any question, whether you are an individual or the president , it suggests you are assessing your options. It doesnt, in itself i have to interject. Pardon me for doing so but to assess your, you know, options publicly on twitter, what is the reasoning behind that . Do you think . I think President Trump always plays a hard game. That is, he never backs down. He takes on anybody who criticizes him and throws back what he believes is 100 times more dirt in their direction. He will try to deflect attention. He will try to say thats in my power, my right. He has a fairly autocratic imperial presidency view of his office. As a billionaire, head of a major corporation, he basically is able to call the shots. He believes, i think, sometimes the presidency is like that as well. Unfortunately, i think hes learning in a very hard way that conducting president ial business is much, much more difficult than running a private government of a corporation. I think he does a lot of thinking out in public. What this does, effectively, he caught crises. He brings on further attention to the kind of things going on rather than necessarily focusing on the big issues. Where are the jobs he promised the people that voted for him . What happened to the jobs he announced in january, february and so on . A lot are disappearing to mexico, et cetera. Instead of doing something which is positive, he is seeing an erosion of his base. I think this is the first time im in a position to say that. The people that strongly approve of President Trump, those numbers have gone down. Those who strongly disapprove of him, among supporters, has gone up. We are seeing an erosion of his own base. This suggests the crisis is very deep for the administration. As i said early on, the crisis is so deep, even the democrats are hovering 38 approval, Hillary Clinton, 40 . Congress a mere 20 . That is to say the orthodox Political Forces with donald trump has joined, all in a bit of crisis. I dont think anybody comes out of this well. What an interesting snapshot. Thank you so much for the insight. Well stay in touch with you. Thank you. Thank you. Its been a roller coaster six month that is many say they have experienced during the Trump Administration. Sean spicer, though, hes been in the middle of this. He handed over his resignation as White House Press secretary on friday. This came after anthony scaramucci, a trump fundraiser, accepted the job. Sean spicer opposed scaramuccis hiring. That is on state of the union here on cnn. We have breaking news to share with you this hour. Eight people have been found dead in the back of a semitruck in san antonio, texas. Some include people in their 20s and 30s. Police are treating the case as a Human Trafficking case. The u. S. Department of Homeland Security is presently investigating. It was parked in a walmart parking lot. The people were discovered when a person from the truck asked a store employee for water. Well continue to get information on this and bring it to you. Again, the breaking news story coming out of san antonio, texas. The u. N. Security council is set to meet on monday on the latest wave of violence after another palestinian was killed on saturday in clashes with Israeli Forces. Officials say three other palestinians were killed in clashes the day before as were three israelis in a west Bank Stabbing attack. We have been following the story live in jerusalem. What more can you tell us this hour . Reporter today is a critical day. Over the weekend, the International Community focused in on what is happening and is trying to intervene or help out to make sure the tensions go down, rather than up. As for exactly what happens and how the tensions play out we will see over the next couple days, but they are soaring around the city of iz leal. He says there was a round of arrests in the area in the friday attack where three israelis were killed. 25 members arrested as being members of hamas or carrying out an attack soon. That is part of the tension here. On top of that, palestinian factions called for a day of rage. Even if thats largely symbolic, it is an indication of where the mood is right now. All sides here, not just the israelis palestinians. This is far beyond that. Its the holiest side of jerusalem. They are trying to ease the tension before things get worse before we see a repeat of what happened in late 2015 and early 2016. George . Give our viewers context as we have seen days and days and days of this. Help viewers understand exactly when the tensions started to flare up. Reporter the noble sanctuary to muslims. Its the holiest and most disputed site in the city, important to so many people. There was an attack there, two Israeli Police officers killed. That began the latest round. In response, israel put in metal detectors and that has continued the tension, caused it to rise. Why . Why are metal detectors such a big deal . It seems it is israel trying to impose sovereignty and take over the holy site. Thats why its so sensitive and why is source of the tensions come from. Its not about metal detectors, its the holiest site in the world. What does israel do . They could remove the metal detectors and that would go a long way to helping ease things here. What comes instead . Metal waving hand wands by security or something more intrusive that could send things in the wrong direction . When you think about the conflict and tension, its about the holy sight. With the reporting in c context, thank you for that. Headed to the gulf region. A demand by gulf countries to lift the diplomatic. Several sal jers arrived in qatar since this happened in june. This is cnn news room. For days, thousands of protesters rallies against efforts to overhaul polands system. Now, they are demanding action from their president. Later this hour, cnn finds evidence groups continuing to use white house adviser, Jared Kushners name to attract investors. Plus, possible dishonesty from Law Enforcement. The Police Department facing tough ethical questions. Thats ahod as news room rolls on. You wont see these folks they have businesses to run. They have passions to pursue. How do they avoid trips to the post office . Stamps. Com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. Get a 4 week trial, plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. Go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. Pcountries thatk mewe traveled,t what is your nationality and i would always answer hispanic. So when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. Im everything. Im from all nations. I would look at forms now and wonder what do i mark . Because im everything. And i marked other. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com. Welcome back to news room. What you are seeing there is some of the outrage in the streets in poland. People chanting, we want a veto after the upper house of parliament passed a con tro verseial bill. The president has 21 days to sign that bill or veto it. Critics view it as a power grab, even an attempt to undermine polands democracy. Protests have been steady throughout the country. More demonstrations are planned in the coming days to try to influence the president to veto that bill. We have this from the polish capital. Reporter thousands of ordinary people in poland continue to flood the streets to protest a move from the democratic party. If you look around, many People Holding candles. They are a symbol of hope. They are chanting slogans, slogans like, free court system, or, we want a veto. Its the legislation thats been proposed by the ruling party. If that legislation is approved by the countrys president , it gives them unprecedented power to appoint and remove the Supreme Court judges. If you think back to democracy 101, a hallmark of a democracy a independent judiciary. They are protesting saying if the bill becomes law, this country will effectively no longer have independent judiciary. Whoever is ruling the country, in this case, the justice party, will be able to support judge that is support that countrys mandate. For its part, the ruling party says this is part of the democratic process and the ruling party should be allowed to havethatcontrol overthe Supreme Court system. If the flood not just in warsaw, but across the country is any indication there are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people across the country that are demanding that the president veto this legislation. Thats really what it comes down to. The last effort or the last hope, really, of the protesters protesting is that the president will exercise his veto power. All eyes now are going to be on a meeting that takes place on monday between the president and the head of the countrys Supreme Court system. We know the legislation will come up. The president , himself, has 21 days to decide if hes going to approve it or if he will listen to the demands of the protesters and veto the legislation. Certainly, thats something the opposition parties are hoping for. Cnn, warsaw. Thank you for the report. The former president of poland is against this bill. He says the changes could weaken polish democracy. Listen. Translator our generation led poland to freedom in an incredibly difficult situation and based it on the separation of powers. This is the most important thing that we manage to do. If anyone wants to disturb this most important victory, you, the young people, cannot let that happen. So that there is no doubt, i will always be with you, despite my condition, even if they arrest all of you here. One resident of wa