Thats what happened today. If you look at solar and you look at the washing machine companies, thats really what happened today. You can have people getting jobs again and were going to make our own product again. Its been a long time. Thank you all very much. Were going to take it. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Couple of key pieces there with the president , speaking specifically about this story with regard to his ag, Jeff Sessions, and conversations had with regard to the fbi director and his deputy. And was anyone threatened to resign or threatened to resign or not . Cnn correspondent brown is with us now. I heard the president say that Christopher Wray, the fbi director, did not threaten to resign, which is different from some other reporting weve had. Because it was all about wray and having sessions, basically the president pressure ray to get rid of mccabe. What did you just hear . Reporter right. He also said that the attorney general, sessions, did not bring up his interview with Robert Muellers team last week. The attorney general was here at the white house yesterday, meeting with the president. You just heard the president say there that hes not concerned with what his attorney general might have told the investigators. The white house today has come out and said its being transparent, that its being cooperative with the russia probe and expects the probe to wrap up soon. But sessions is now the 13th person, brooke, close to donald trump, in his circle, thats been interviewed by Robert Muellers team and third cabinet level official in the Trump Administration to be interviewed by Robert Muellers team. Its no surprise that investigators wanted to sit down with him for the first time. This san interview that took several hours. Because Jeff Sessions did play a role in the Trump Campaign. He recused himself from the russia investigation because he did have contacts with the russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak that hadnt been zploesed and also played a role in the firing of james comey, the former fbi director. Investigators want to learn more about that in terms of the russia probe. Its a strong indication, brooke, that this russia probe is ongoing, that the white house came out a while back and said that the investigators had wrapped up interviews with witnesses at the white house, but clearly, they are still interested in talking to other people around the president , brooke. Lets underscore that last point, the fact that this did not require a subpoena. This was last thursday, muellers team interviewing the attorney general Jeff Sessions. He is key not just because, as you pointed out, him having a front row seat to any kind of russian contacts during the campaign but also during the firing of james comey during the first couple of months of this administration. Exactly right. Youll recall at the time the president brought in the attorney general as well as the deputy ag, rod rosenstein, and wanted to get their thoughts on a justification for firing james comey. Then you have this reporting out that the attorney general reportedly had pressured the fbi director, wray, to change his top leadership. I would imagine that investigators will want to look into that, to see why that is, why he was pressuring the fbi director to do so. Certainly, there are a lot of questions surrounding some of his actions and the involvement he has had with parts of this investigation. But certainly this is the first time theyve interviewed him, brooke. It may not be the last. Pamela brown at the white house, thank you so much. Lets dig deeper now. The director threatened to resign. We heard the president sayi ini wray did not threaten to resign. Here is what a source is telling cnn. The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, pressured Christopher Wray, to make staffing changes, including his Deputy DirectorAndrew Mccabe. Wray reportedly threatened to quit if that pressure continued. He has been a frequent target of the president and of the president s allies and these are just a couple of tweets President Trump has sent out since july specifically about deputy mccabe. Jessica schneider is with me now on this. And so did sessions explicitly call for mccabe to be fired . According to attorney general Jeff Sessions he did put this pressure on Christopher Wray, who then pushed back, threatening to resign. This is the narrative coming from republicans, the white house, you saw from the president s own twitter feed. Its part of their contention, and has been for many weeks now, that the fbi is politically motivated. Whats interesting to note is that when this news broke, fbi director wray felt so much pressure to make those staffing changes at the highest levels, the white house did come out with a statement where they praised fbi director wray, but then they turned part that have statement into an attack on other senior fbi officials. In fact, a spokesman referred to them as politically motivated Senior Leaders and, really, it was Deputy DirectorAndrew Mccabe in particular. He has come under a lot of pressure from the president. You saw it in those tweets there, for his handling of the clinton email server investigation. And, of course, over the past few years theres been a bit of issue or turmoil and questions because of the fact that mccabes wife accepted political contributions during a statewide run in virginia from a political pac connected to terry mcauliffe, close friend of the clintons. We know that there have been issues or questions anyway about Deputy DirectorAndrew Mccabe. All of this came to a head. Sessions told wray he wanted a fresh start when it came to leadership. We heard from senator mark warner today. Here is what he said. One more example of this administration, the president and through his agent, the attorney general, trying to interfere the fbi, follow the law and help with the investigation into the russian interference in our elections and possible collusion of the Trump Administration or Trump Campaign. Did he pressure wray on his own accord or did the president have something to say about that . That remains to be seen. Christopher wray, according to you are source, did threaten to resign over this pressure to get rid of his senior staff. Brooke . On Christopher Wray, you also have some news about staffing changes under him. What is that . The two other posts we talked about, thats not at issue here. What we have learned in the past few minutes is that Christopher Wrays chief of staff, also james comeys chief of staff, he will be leaving the fbi. His post of chief of staff in the next few weeks. Christopher wray put out a statement about it, saying that jim rubicky notified me he will be leaving the fbi to accept an attorney opportunity in the private sector. Its interesting that this announcement of this james rubicky leaving the fbi, even though Christopher Wray said he told him back in december about it, its interesting that it comes on the heels of this latest reporting that chris wray did face pressure to get rid of other top officials at the fbi. Yes, the news were learning is that the chief of staff who was there under james comey, chief of staff for Christopher Wray, he will be leaving in the coming weeks. Brooke . Jessica, thank you. Lets go to legal experts for analysis on all of the above here. I have with me asha rangatha, senior lecturer at yale and senior managing director at berkeley. First, asha, beginning with you and the ag, Jeff Sessions and the fact that we learned he was questioned by muellers team last wednesday. Put his role in context here. As a key witness to these russian contacts during the campaign and also in james comeys firing. Underscore for me the value of his role in this whole investigation. There are definitely two key areas. One is in the potential obstruction of justice investigation that mueller might have over the firing of james comey. The second is the Russian Investigation into any kind of coordination between members of the Trump Campaign and russias election interference. Its important to underscore that those are two separate things even if the russia investigation ends up not turning anything up, for example, the russia case is separate from that. I would add, brooke, i think theres a third possibility here, one that perhaps might be used as leverage but i think theres an open question whether mueller might also be questioning the attorney general over potential false statements or even perjury because of many of the conflicting statements that he has given in his congressional testimony concerning his own contacts with russian officials. So three main areas theyll really want to grill sessions on. Thats where i wanted to go next. Not only sometimes conflicting, Jeff Sessions has this history of not recalling things. Lets take a snapshot. This is one day. He was before the house in november of last year. Roll it. I dont recall such a conversation. I dont recall it. I dont recall. I dont recall. I dont recall. I dont recall it. I dont recall that. I dont recall how that exactly occurred. I do not recall. But i did not recall this event. I dont recall. I dont recall at this moment, sitting here, any such discussio discussion. You see the point were making here. Plus the attorney general had to return before the senate joushry to correct testimony. Jeff kramer, what is different about a mueller interview versus what we just saw on capitol hill testimony . The difference is that the mueller investigation, weve already seen this, is actually going somewhere. The congressional interviews are happening before mueller and theyll continue. Whatever former director mueller finds will either be the subject of a report to congress or, as weve already seen, further indictments closer to the white house, perhaps, r things that tag along other indictments weve seen. Its two different things. One is going somewhere and one, frankly, is just for sure. To stay with you on the point about going somewhere, what happens if sessions tells mueller he cant talk about certain conversations with the president , citing executive privilege that has not been invoked yet. Yeah, its interesting. Weve seen and we saw with bannon on the hill, the white house telling him not to talk. Right. When they invoke privilege, at that point the courts will become involved. Once you have that independent arbiter, thats going to be tough. Weve seen that before, going back to the nixon administrat n administration. The Nixon Administration tried to use privilege to protect the tapes. That didnt work. This will be a similar situation. I think thats a play that the white house wants to use as a last resort. Were not there yet. But for the attorney general to invoke privilege essentially on behalf of the woit house would be unique. Hasnt happened yet. Well see what happens when the president s son and soninlaw get interviewed next. Arguably the story of the day, with regard to Jeff Sessions, urging of the president , how he had been pressuring the fbi director to fire his Deputy Director, mccabe. Moments ago we saw the president denying that wray ever threatened to resign over any of this. After everything that happened with comey, the fallout from comey, how unbelievable is that . That kind of meddling with the fbi . It would be a pattern of behavior, which he has already done with the firing of james comey. Whether its direct or indirect, trying to pressure wray to fire his Deputy Director is essentially trying to force the fbi that theres levels of corruption at the highest level of the fbi and the director would be in the position of having to throw his own agency under the bus. I can see that he would take a stand against doing that. If he did not believe that firing his Deputy Director was warranted. The fact that the attorney general is trying to push this on the fbi director, first that he recused himself and that mccabe was in charge of the Hillary Clinton investigation. Andrew mccabe is likely a witness in the obstruction investigation. And so im guessing that Andrew Mccabe is a witness and, as we discussed, so is the attorney genera general. Not to mention the fact that mccabe was set to retire in march. Why would they want him out if that is the true version of events . Why would they want him out so, so badly just ahead of time . Asha and jeff, thank you so much for that conversation. Well stay on all of that. Also ahead, breaking news. Offer off the table. Senator Chuck Schumer now yanking the offer he made President Trump a week ago involving funding for the border wall. Also were Campaign Finance rules violated . New allegations involving the Trump Campaign giving this porn star hush money. A Watchdog Group is formally seeking answers from the doj. You dont want to live with mom and dad forever, do you . Im making smoothies how do i check my credit score . Credit karma. Dont worry, its free. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. When you can squeeze one in wbetween friday and monday at hilton . N theres a vacation at the end of every week. Whatever type of weekender you are, dont let another weekend pass you by. 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The New York Times is now reporting that Robert Muellers team has also interviewed fired fbi director james comey, specifically about memos he detailed on meetings with President Trump on many occasions, that he asked for his loyalty and asked for investigation into his fired National Security adviser Michael Flynn, at the time, to be dropped, times reporting that comey was interviewed by the Mueller Office last year. Jeff kramer, dana bash is standing by. No surprise that mueller would be interviewing comey. What does it tell you where the investigation is right now . Reporter exactly where youre going with that question was where i was going to go with how this looks, brook, which is Jeff Sessions the fact that theyve been talking to special counsel suggests that special Counsel Robert Mueller is getting toward the end of his investigation. That could be a month, two months. Weve seen this with the special counsel with Robert Muellers investigation, littler fish first, then bigger and bigger fish and the bigger fish are the ones that were seeing interviewed now. Also, again, james comey, as somebody who had, you know, kind of laid the groundwork on this investigation is a very different kind of witness than anybody else. But james comey, as somebody who is a potentially very important witness on the question of obstruction of justice, that is, you know, a real key thing to look at. Because if Robert Mueller is seriously exploring the notion of obstruction of justice, whether in firing james comey or maybe in the now infamous statement that trump aides rode on air force one coming back from europe to respond to reports that don junior had had this meeting with russian lawyers in 2016, whether there was any obstruction there, that is all something that james comey, obviously, can help with and because of his contemporaneous notes he had taken while still as fbi director, its a very specific kind of ball game with him. I remember when we sat in d. C. When those notes were made public, and read all the notes he wrote down. Then flash forward, jeff kramer, to jim comey being called to testify on capitol hill. What more can he reveal to muellers team that we, the public, did not hear . I think could be some items because he was in the room, some nuances that perhaps didnt come out before. What is very important, as you indicated a moment ago, are the contemporaneous notes that james comey took. Thats very powerful evidence. These investigations are linear in a sense. Weve seen it. They go from one person to the next to the next, working their way up. Its also a mosaic of sorts, if you will, different pieces that really tell the narrative. James comey has a unique perspective on what that narrative is. I agree with what you were just saying. Were now getting near the end of this investigation. Theres only a handful of relevant players left to interview and then mr. Mueller will decide what