Intelligence officials that say claims made or statements made on this subject from the president and his press secretary are not true. That is extraordinary. Thats just the next 12 hours. Within 48 hours we could hear if the president s First Supreme Court nominee will have a clear path to nomination, and then the Health Care Plan could have opposition in his own party, and thats some week. The House Intelligence Committee, the star witness will be the fbi director who for the first time might answer questions on whether there is an investigation into alleged connections between russia and associates of President Trump. Cnns ryan noble on how we got to this point. Wasting little time, Hillary ClintonsCampaign Manager linked the hack to President Trump. Russian state actors were feeding emails to hackers for the purpose of helping trump. And then wikileaks unloaded a trove of dnc emails and among them damaging conversations and it did not take long for donald trump to embrace the hack and russias potential involvement. Russia, if you are listening, i hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. As the Clinton Campaign worked to contain the political damage, trump refused to back down from his kind words about russia and its leader, vladimir putin. I already said he is very much of a leader. Far more than our president has been a leader. Days before the second president ial debate in october, two major bomb shells, first the department of Homeland Security blamed russian for the hack, and then another batch of stolen emails, and at that debate, once again, trump depended on take the focus off of russia. She didnt know if its the russians doing the hacking. The next night a. New president. I pledge to every citizen of our land that i will be president for all americans. As he started to build his new administration, trump still resisted blaming russia. It could be somebody sitting in a bed someplace. They have no idea. President obama ordered a full review of how russia meddled in the election which concluded it was working to help trump. Based on uniform intelligence assessments, the russians were responsible for hacking the dnc. 22 days before Trump Took Office president obama imposed new sanctions on the russian government, and Michael Flynn spoke on the phone with kislyak, and he met with him in person at trump tower, and an Administration Official told cnn. Trump associates including mike pence called the meetings introductory. They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States decision to expel diplomats or impose a sepb khur against russia. That was not true. Trump associates also held meetings with the am pastor at the republican convention, but insists they were only introductory gatherings, and Jeff Sessions was one of them and appearing before a Senate Hearing on his confirmation, he said this when asked about possible contacts between the Trump Campaign and russian officials. I did not have communications with the russians, and i am unable to comment on it. After taking office, sessions now attorney general admitted that he, too, as a senator met with kislyak twice during the campaign and he said it was in his capacity as a senator and not a member of the Trump Campaign. He decided to recuse himself, and the president himself took to twitter making this shocking claim. Quote, how low has president obama gone to tap my phones during this sacred election process. This is nixon watergate. Bad or sick guy. And no evidence was produced to back it up. At this point even republicans contend the evidence just isnt there. I dont think there was an actual tap of trump tower. Congressional leaders will attempt to unpack the layers of the controversy with the goal of making the situation clear of the people. The white house consisted there was no collusion between the u. S. And the russian government. Ryan nobles, cnn, washington. Thank you to ryan for that. We have a lot to discuss tonight. With me senior legal analyst, and cnn politics executive editor, and cnn political analyst and adviser to four president s, and National Political reporter for the new york times, and a republican strategist and jennifer gra grandhoepl, and david, i want to start with you. Fbi director comey very possibly quite likely to testify that something that the president of the United States said is not true, that he was wiretapped by former president obama. What does this moment mean for the president and the country, david . The president s credibility is correctly on the line tomorrow morning. We have not heard from the fbi director, james comey on this issue, and we heard various supports that he thinks theres nothing to it, and this is the first time he will take the stand and he will tell us one way or the other and clear the air of whether the president was correct or was lying, and when he did something that is unprecedented in our history, and a sitting president accused a former president of a high crime while he was in the office and an impeachable offense, and he did so with no apparent evidence, and tomorrow we will learn whether there was any evidence and that is going to be extremely important to the credibility of the president Going Forward. Hes in all sorts of controversies now, and this may be a good week for him and he may get his Health Care Bill through the house and may have other good news this week on gorsuch, and on his credibility, it on the line on this issue about his tweet accusing president obama of a high crime. Jeffrey toobin, james kobe has been in the news a little bit, and remind us of this man, who is james comey and how do you think he will respond to this moment tomorrow . You know, he was one of the most distinguished prosecutors of his generation. The u. S. Attorney in the Southern District of new york in has n manhattan, and fbi director named by president obama, but then in october of 2016 in violation of all Justice Department policy, he announced that the investigation of Hillary Clinton had been reopened on the eve of the election, and he announced it has closed a couple days before election day, and something that many people believe costs Hillary Clinton the election, so there is tremendous rage at him in democratic quarters, but he is still the head of the fbi, and he is conducting investigations as we speak, and one possibility is that we will not hear a dispositive answer from comey tomorrow, that he will say that this is a pending investigation, i cant comment on everything, and so the expectation or the hope that we are going to have a neat closure of the trump accusation may not be totally justified. Alex burns, you were nodding your headpossibilities, and the director could say no evidence of wiretapping because that has leaked out from the fbi over time and he could stop short of talking about any details about the investigation, if there is an investigation, and any connection between the Trump Associates and russian associates. Yeah, this assertion the president made without evidence about the wiretapping of trump tower, and it seems so far it has led others to come forward and say theres no indication this happened. If we do get a hard answer on something tomorrow from comey, thats likely to be it. Thats a big deal. Is that a big deal. Potentially the bigger deal are the longterm questions that we are unlikely to get a resolution on tomorrow, and not whether theres an investigation into ties between trump and his circle and folks on the russian side, but what any investigation might have turned up, and what the nature of the investigation is the scope of the investigation and who is involved in the investigation, and i think a lot of folks would be surprised if comey went into great detail about any of that. Governor, alex was touching on what one of the big issues is here, is there any proof of collusion between Trump Associates and the russians. Listen to what the chief of the House Intelligence Committee said about that . Have you seen any evidence of any collusion between what i will call trump world, associates, campaign officials, trump world and the russians to swing the president ial 2016 election . I will give you a simple answer, no. So the republican nunez is not the only one that says no evidence, and clapper says no, he has seen no evidence of collusion, and if there is no evidence of collusion, does that answer most of the questions . Doesnt this eventually die out . Well, the question is is there going to be a true legitimate independent investigation of this . There is so much going on around the russia question, whether you started at the rnc, them putting this pro russia language into the platform committee, and all of these people that surrounds donald trump who has ties to russia, and the lies. Maybe theres no collusion, and maybe its just all the lies that have happened since the election to coverup what they are worried about . Its just too much for a Committee Like the one in the house to do. It has to be an independent committee for the country to feel like they have gotten an answer. And one other thing about comeys testimony, and i dont know he will do this but i think it would serve the country in a great fashion if he would describe, even if its not about specifically the investigation, but what the tactics are that the russians are using to intervene in the United States glob globally and other elections, and are we at risk concerning russia and what can we do about it, and i agree with the others that i doubt he would say that, but it would be really helpful for congress to know and the people to know what the russians are doing in the u. S. And other places to intervene in elections. I think theres bipartisan support for that kind of investigation, and the democrats want to see it go further than that, and theres support at a minimum from both sides of the aisle for that. I am curious how republicans handle this tomorrow Going Forward . I want to play you how they are responding to the wiretap claims. Was there a physical wiretap of trump tower . No, never was. No evidence to support the president s claim that he was wiretapped of his predecessor. Do you know of any evidence to support that allegation . Jake, not that i have seen and not that i am aware of. We threw in democratic adam schiff there, and how much distance can republicans afford to place between themselves and the president right now . On this specific issue, i think it would be full hearty to be connecting yourself too close to this because as it appears, there doesnt seem to be evidence to support this. He truly believes this. He believes in his mind that trump tower was wiretapped and he continues to fallback on news reports that back it up. At the end of the day, there does not appear to be information that backs this up. Even across the pond, foreign leaders are saying its rubbish and ridiculous. Hopefully comey will come out and put an end to this, and lets move on. But i think the government pointed out a good point. Aside from this, and whether or not theres coordination from the Trump Campaign and russia, there is an overarching concern for our nation. Its interesting, you are suggesting in a way that the fbi director would do the republicans a favor if they say no evidence. Mark preston, its not like President Trump is entering this week in a position of enormous strength. Theres a gallup poll that just came out that said his approval rate something at 37 which is historically low, and the comparisons of past president s dont matter which is the trend line that is ugly for this president , and he dropped in the last couple of weeks, and what kind of moment is it for him politically . Its critical that we should point out 37 is tilted because he has virtually no support among democrats, and he still continues to do well with republicans, you know, with base voters. Even if he was not doing well with the voters, lets assume that the aserosion, and lets assume that we saw that drop like an elevator that had its cable cut, and i dont think donald trump would care. He has shown throughout his campaign that he is not be holden to anybody but himself, and he believes that people should take his word for fact, and then move forward. So its a critical time for his presidency as david said, his credibility is on the line. While it may not be as apparent in the next couple of days, we are seeing World Leaders who are being skeptical or showing skepticism whether or not they can trust donald trump. You need these leaders whether its germany or the uk or what have you, australia, and when you are trying to fight isis and other problems such as north korea. Will it have sean affect on other things. Crucial test for the president s agenda, and were talking about a Supreme Court nominee, neil gorsuch. He faces a hearing, and the Health Care Bill on the line. 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Its 11 21 eastern time, and you are watching cnns special coverage on the president s crucial week ahead, and hours from now fbi director james comey will testify on the russia investigation and the president s wiretap claim. The president s Supreme Court nominee in the hot seat for his confirmation hearing and all of this as House Republican leaders scramble to try and lock in the support on the Health Care Overhaul bill. And lets bring back the panel. Jeff, i want to start with you. Politics aside, and by that i mean Merrick Garland, that aside, does he face are there any question marks legally speaking with neil gorsuch . You know, in this very tumultuous ten weeks of the Trump Presidency, the smoothest rollout has been the nomination of gorsuch to the Supreme Court. He is impeccably qualified, highly respected, and very you know, there are no ethical questions about him. He has experience, and he has been a judge. The only ground on which to oppose him, and it is a ground that certainly Many Democrats will embrace, which is too conservative. Will not protect abortion rights or africanamerican brights and will embrace the Death Penalty with too much gust yo, and those are the grounds that Many Democrats will use to oppose him, but anything regarding ethics or controversy, none of that. So david, you know, Merrick Garland was nominated to the Supreme Court one year and three days ago, and theres that which democrats will not forget, but can they afford to be sour grapes on that, david . I dont listen, they bring a great deal of justifiable anger to the table after the garland experience. That was the democrats are right, and it was held out too long with too little inaction in order to produce this result, and still, jeff is right, this is one of the best moments of the Trump Presidency was nominating neil gorsuch and the rollout was well done, and i think hes a mainstream conservative and the democrats have to make a fundamental choice, do they want to oppose garland gorsuch because hes a conservative, or are they better off letting some of the democrats in red states go ahead and vote for gorsuch on the basis this is a mainstream conservative and lets save our firepower that is objectionable and goes too far, and they would have more credibility with the public if they did that.