Im Natalie Allen and cnn newsroom starts right now. We begin with a new report that raises new questions about the u. S. President and his russian counterpart Vladimir Putin zeroing in on the private conversations the two men have had and just how little we know about what was said. According to the Washington Post mr. Trump went to extraordinary lengths to conseal the details of his meetings with the russian president. The paper says he went so far as to confiscate the notes from his interpreter also not allowing the interpreter to discuss the meeting with anyone. The president calls those allegations rudeidiculous. He sent he hasnt kept anything under wraps. On friday the New York Times published an article alleging the fbi was so concerned about trumps actions following the firing of former fbi director james comey that it opened an investigation into whether the president was secretly working on behalf of russia. Heres mr. Trumps response to that. Have you now or ever worked for russia, mr. President . I think its the most insulting thing ive ever been asked. I think its the most insulting article ive ever had written. And if you read the article youd see that they found absolutely nothing. Lets talk about it from mus cow now cnns Fred Pleitgen. President trump says theres nothing to this story. Lets listen to what mr. Trump had to say about this meeting with mr. Putin in helsinki. I had a conversation like every president does. You sit with the president of various countries. I do it with all countries. We had a great conversation. We were talking about israel and securing israel and lots of other things. And it was a great conversation. I met with every leader, just about, individually. I met with modi, in japan i meet with abe, i meet with all of them. But with putin they make a big deal. Anybody could have listened to that meeting. That meeting is open for grabs. Is it . What more do we know, fred, about the meetings between the two president s and what was discussed . First of all, i dont think that most of them or not all of them certainly are open for grabs. And there certainly does seem to be a lot of concern in washington what was discussed in these meetings. One we were talking about the newspapers are focusing on a little as well the Foreign Ministers were present as well. Thats the one people are saying those notes were apparently confiscated afterwards from the foreign translators. And former secretary of state Rex Tillerson gave updates to the press detailing what was said. But there are some people wanting more information and apparently that information is not available. The big meeting held in helsinki, and of course President Trump is saying look, they talked about israel and other topics. Of course the main topic was the topic of election meddling. And the interesting thing that came out of that meeting is that after the two had met, and it was unclear what was being said at that meeting because it was a oneonone meeting only with the interpreters it was only after that President Trump came out and essentially sided with the russian government against his Intelligence Service and said he had no idea why Vladimir Putin would meddle in the u. S. Election. Not infer information is available on that topic. So that story came from the Washington Post and now the other one from the New York Times has there been any reaction in moskow to the report. Fbi investigated whether mr. Trump was secretly working on behalf of russia. No, there certainly hasnt been any reaction here in moskow so far. Something that came out over the weekend. We are expecting at the earliest you might get any reaction from the russian government, probably not even from the kremlin itself is when political talk shows might pick up on it. So far the russian government has been saying the whole question of Russian Election meddling, of russia meddling on behalf of President Trump is something that is absurd. Vladimir putin of course himself has said that, yes, he did want President Trump to win the election in 2016 because he heard President Trump saying things that are positive about the relationship between russia and the United States. But for President Trump to be an asset, thats certainly something i think the russian government would shoot down. If you look at russian political talk shows and other Russian Politicians they do believe some of the things the Trump Administration has been doing in the past couple of years its been in office has been beneficial to russia. In fact theres some talk making fun of the government shutdown. All right, Fred Pleitgen following it for us from moskow. Thanks, fred. Lets talk more about this now with steve moore and robert english. Steve a retired supervisory special agent for the fbi, and robert, a russia expert as the Deputy Director of the California School of international relations. Gentlemen, thank you for your time. Sure. Robert, id like to start with you, this latest reporting the u. S. President allegedly concealed details of his private meetings with Vladimir Putin, a claim without question would be out of the ordinary for senior officials not to know what was said except for the president s interpreter who he allegedly instructed not to discuss what was said. What would that mean for National Security and for everyone else who was apparently left out of the loop . Well, its not actually unpr unprecedented. Under richard nixon, the extraordinary secrecy he and Henry Kissinger went to conseal the preparation for the dramatic change in relations, the recognition of the peoples republic of china. That was all kept secret for fear that if it leaked opponents would raise a human cry and undermiep that initiative before it got off the ground. Trump is no nixon and his team is not full of kissingers. So while weve seen this kind of secrecy before, the difference here its not in the interest of any competent, well thought out and important break through in relations. Instead its this fumbling around mainly with russia but not only, right . So trump has also try today conseal the details of meetings with mexican leaders with others. Across the board hes seeking to avoid embarrassing leaks because theres so much thats embarrassing. This is a president that puts a great deal of focus on leaks. He is frustrated with the fact leaks do happen coming out of washington, d. C. And steve, this plays right into the reporting from the New York Times just the other day the fbi launched an investigation into the president because they were concerned several of his actions could be construed as a National Security risk. What about private meetings . Could that also be considered a threat . Well, i have to agree with professor english because i do believe president s have the latitude obviously to keep certain things secret. When i had interpreters i had be very careful about what i discussed in front of that interpreter. However, if you are doing what is your motive for hiding this . And if its just to hide leaks, thats what got the secretary of state in trouble, trying to hide things that could be accessed. I think its troublesome. And it could cause ths fbi to want to open an inquiry, technically a preliminary inquiry according to the times rather than a fullfledged investigation. Mr. Putin himself known as a form udable adversary who has had his wins and losses against u. S. President s. To this president to instead prefer this one to wn approach when dealing with mr. Putin, does it leave mr. Trump vulnerable to being manipulated in a meeting like that . It does. But then again aware of trumps weaknesses, suspicious of collusion and all the rest, his potential vulnerability because of financial dealings, the congress and washington have taken extraordinary steps to limit trumps powers and act on that to do anything that would limit National Security. Hence sanctions, this constant scrutiny and this push back. So if putin looked forward to a malleable american president in trump who would do his bidding, he got too much of it. He got one so malleable, so suspicious, generating so much suspicion that the rest of the establishment has pushed back. And he hasnt been able to do anything. And steve, this question to you. The simple headline that is in play in this investigation, the question whether a u. S. President could somehow be working on behalf of russia, to say that statement is profound to say the least if indeed proven to be true. But as an investigator yourself, how significant is it that thats where we were when this investigation was launched . Well, its profoundly important that the fbi would be concerned enough to want to look into the possibility. Yes, i think we have to measure this and realize what was open was a preliminary inquiry rather than a full investigation. There is a significant difference. And the other thing we have to realize is that the only people in the fbi after comey was fired who could have opened an investigation, an espionage investigation of the president of the United States would have been the acting director and the Deputy Assistant director in charge of Counter Intelligence and that would have been Andrew Mccabe and peter struck who both have asstrisks next to their name right now. One thing id want to ask as an investigator is what happened to the preliminary inquiry. Because within six months it has to be closed or open into a full investigation. Steve moore, robert english, we appreciate your time and perspective. Thank you. Thanks. Now day 23 of this partial u. S. Government shutdown. It is officially the longest shutdown in American History and with no end in sight some 800,000 federal workers have been left high and dry without regular paychecks now since before christmas. I know. A white house official confirms to cnn the administration is prepared to be shutdown through february. Thats at least six weeks from for you. Federal courts for instance running out of money to operate. 51,000 security screeners at airports are now working without pay. Some have been calling in sick and this has been having a serious affect onair travel. The Staffing Shortage is so bad at miami airport that one of its conk concourses had to close. And a union has filed a lawsuit against the federal government. Am national air controller association represents 16,000 Government Employees being told to work without pay. Their lawsuit claims that their Constitutional Rights are being violated. To talk more about whats happening we have with us dan mccabe, an airtraffic controller and also a Union Representative for the national airtraffic controllers association, and dan, you have also been affected by this shutdown, getting one of those checks, zero dollars, zero cents. I want you to first of all start by telling about this lawsuit thats been filed, the argument here that Constitutional Rights are being violated. Thanks for having me. Its really a three pronged case, a couple of fair labors act, violations. One of them as simple as were not even making minimum wage to work. The other is prompt overtime payment and the part you bring up is depriving workers of wages with zero due process, which is the worst part. Yours is among a few that have been filed on behalf of federal workers. What are the chances these lawsuits may have an impact . We hope the chances are great. We just filed this two days ago so obviously its in its infancy and were still in the excited phase. As we learn more and keep our eye on whats going on with some of the other cases well get a better feel for it. Im optimistic. Here in atlanta we have the worlds busiest airport, so what does that mean, for your job making sure that all of these planes coming in are safe not only here in atlanta but throughout the region . So our day to day is 100 of your work has to be done 100 correctly. You dont have room for error. And in markets like atlanta, chicago, new york, its busy, its unforgiving. Our job is to keep you safe from point a to point b, it doesnt matter where you go. And you balance that with efficiency. And the United States runs the safest most efficient airspace system in the world, and we take a lot of pride in that. And we take a lot of pride going into work, working in bad weather and getting airplanes in and getting them in safely. So what this is doing is its adding new stress to the controllers that are currently working. On a good day its a stressful job. Its a very stressful job. Theres a lot to think about. I cant imagine. And the people that fly appreciate all of you very, very much. Its amazing what a wonderful job they do. If, though, the shutdown goes on and on into february. Weve got the super bowl coming in, what then for airtraffic controllers . You know, at that point its not even really an airtraffic controller issue. Its a human issue. I mean these are real people with Real Mortgages and real car payments. And, you know, theres 20,000 professionals that we represent and theres 20,000 different stories as to what theyre dealing with. And being a union rep myself ive gotten a lot of phone calls, people with medical issues and medical bills and people worried about homes and children and single income families and single parents. I mean, its sad. And its scary. But now its real. You know, a couple of days ago we were fearful of what this would look like. Were here now. And everybodys trying to Stay Together and stay positive. But for the soup boerl thats an influx of airplanes and what were looking at is possibly 1,500 extra airplanes a day for the super bowl and the day after. And thats on top of what we already do in atlanta. And these extra airplanes wont just affect hartsfield, jackson but the big metropolitan airports as well. There are people, colleagues who they go home and wonder will i get evicted . My credit is taking a hit, its past 30 days or can i pay my other bills . It is obscene you know whats happening to these people who work so hard not receiving pay. We appreciate your time and i just want to thank you myself. All the best to you. Thanks. Thank you. Well, americas top diplomat will head to saudi arabia. Later he will meet facetoface with the crown prince, mohammed bin salman, who the cia says personally ordered the brutal murder of a journalist. But what will mr. Pompeo say about that . Plus a state of emergency has been declared in virginia as a dangerous winter storm moves east. The latest on the forecast ahead. Stay with us. Nced up to 48 hour. New unbelievabrow longwear brow gel by loreal paris. No smudge. Sweat resistant. Waterproof. Its unbelievable. Unbelievabrow longwear brow gel. Loreal paris. Welcome back to newsroom. The u. S. Secretary of state mike pompeo will meet with the saudsy crown prince on sunday. He says he will address the murder of saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi with mohammed bin salman. She was killed last october, youll recall in the saudi consulate in turkey by men with close ties to the saudi crown prince. Ben wedemen is covering the story for us. Hes live in cairo for us. And last time the secretary of state met the crown prince it was all smiles. Can we spect anything less this time around . Reporter yeah, that those pictures of smiles and handshakes with the crown prince happened on the 16th of october. That was just two weeks after the brutal murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi in the saudi consulate of istanbul. What we have heard from the saudi secretary he said that the United States expects saudi arabia to hold those responsible for the murder of the Washington Post columnist, but we also heard him describe saudi arabia in glowing terms as a key partner and ally of the United States and the region. And what weve heard essentially unwaveringly since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the saudi admission that it was saudi officials who did nagt kill and cut him into pieces was that the United States considers saudi arms purchases and saudis a role in assisting the u. S. In the region as more important than the brutal murder admittedly according to the saudis by rogue elements of a saudi journalist. So i dont think were going to hear much different from the secretary when he eventually gets to saudi arabia. Right now hes in the capital where hes signing an agreement for the expansion of an air base. That is the largest u. S. Air base in the middle east. And really qatar is a perfect example of the sort of confusion or complex nature of the middle east because qatar is a rather close ally of the United States, but as a result of the spat between saudi arabia and qatar which broke out in the summer of 2017 qatar has become ever closer to iran, which is really the focus of the secretarys trip in the region. He is trying to line up u. S. Arab allies in what some are describing as the middle east Strategic Alliance as some describe as an arab nato. Just down the street from where im standing is the ara