But back in washington, the russia investigation gets even closer to home with new questions about why the president s soninlaw still has his security clearance. Lets get right to cnns jeff zeleny at the president s rally in cedar rapids, iowa. Good evening, jeff. President trump escaped the growing russia cloud to take a victory lap in iowa after a republican win in georgia. What do you know . Reporter good evening, don. It was part victory lap, part sentimental journey. You get the sense the president missed these campaign rallies. This is a happy place for him to talk about his proposals. He really ran through a litany of campaign favorites that sparked the interest from this conservative group of some 6,000 or so Iowa Republicans here. But the president also was talking about the cynicism thats out there. He was beginning to plant the seeds for democratic obstructionists as a reason hes not getting as much done as he would like. You just have to take a look at whats happening here. Right . If we set aside the cynics and the critics, we have a chance, and its a great chance. It lies before us, to do extraordinary things for our country in the years ahead. History is written by the dreamers, not the doubters. They have phoney witch hunts going against me. They have everything going. And you know what . All we do is win, win, win. We won last night. They cant believe it. Theyre saying, what is going on . What is going on . Reporter so you heard something about the president tweets a lot, phoney witch hunts. A reality check on that. Republicans who are controlling the senate and the house are leading some of these investigations into russian interference in the election. Thats something that was not mentioned here tonight, of course. Any concern or acknowledgment of russian interference in the election, simply calling it witch hunts. It was a feelgood moment for this president. No doubt its something his aides said certainly is going to energize him. Right now hes flying to washington, where all those challenges are still waiting. More reality will set in. Hes also proposing a new immigration rule tonight. Whats he saying, jeff . Reporter he did talk about a new immigration rule. Its unclear how brand new this is, but he was talking about the idea that people who are coming here, immigrants who are coming here could not be eligible for welfare funds. He said they have to be selfsufficient. Well, some of the 1996 welfare reform laws already on the books already call for that, but a Senior Administration official also explained to us afterward that they said any immigrant coming here would have to be financially selfsufficient. Not exactly sure what that means. He didnt put any meat on the bones. He made this comment as he was talking about immigration. The crowd, of course, chanting build the wall, build the wall. The president talked about tonight about building a solar wall, about putting solar panels on top of the wall on the mexican border. Hes talked about that privately, never publicly before. He also said that mexico wouldnt have to pay as much for it because they would have money from solar energy. So that was a bit of a tangent he went on. Don, no doubt this campaignstyle rally was something that got him fired up. Let me show you one thing. The cedar rapids gazette, a conservative newspaper, had this front page editorial for the president. It says, dear mr. President , now is not the time for campaign rallies. It says, now is the time to govern. It urged him to get back to washington and to govern and to listen to peoples ideas and to stop the campaign ral lies. Im not sure if hell listen to that. More tomen come, of course. Certainly more to come. I wonder what the supporters in coal country have to say about those solar panels. Thank you very much. New to cnn now to cnns manu raju on the russia investigation. Democrats are demanding documents be turned over regarding Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn. What are you learning . Reporter well, don, what theyre pointing to are regulations that actually govern how people with access classified intelligence, specifically when there are concerns, credible concerns raised about someones fitness to obtain classified intelligence that says they should actually have their security clearances suspended while those credible allegations are investigated. Now, as we do know, Michael Flynn, the former National Security adviser, was there were warnings from sally yates, a former acting attorney general to white House Counsel on multiple occasions that Michael Flynn may have been susceptible to russian blackmail and appears to have misled the president of the United States about his relationship with sergei kislyak. Theyre saying Jared Kushner had multiple conversations with russian officials that he left off to get his security clearance. We know his contacts had become of interest to investigators on capitol hill and in bob muellers special counsel investigation. The letter goes on to say, in general, when there are credible allegations that may be unfit to continue accessing classified information, security clearances are supposed to be suspended while the allegations are investigated. That has not happened yet. The white house has not commented on these demands. They can also ignore them. Right now republicans are supporting this democratic request. I also want to ask you about the multiple hearings today on russias meddling in the election. Heres former Homeland Security secretary jeh johnson testifying before the house intelligence committee. In 2016, the russian government at the direction of the Vladimir Putin himself orchestrated Cyber Attacks on our nation for the purpose of influencing our election. That is a fact, plain and simple. So manu, that was on the house side. On the senate side, a current dhs official said theres evidence that electionrelated systems in 21 states were targeted, but theres no sign that the hacks affected any votes. What more can you tell us about these investigations . Reporter well, theyre starting to take shape, particularly after bob mueller, the special counsel, spent the last couple days on capitol hill meeting with the three committees now moving forward on their own separate investigations. Theyre trying to make sure these investigations can actually happen and not step on the toes of bob muellers investigation. What were learning is the house intelligence committee, a republican whos influential in that committee, trey gowdy, does not want to move forward investigating some witnesses that bob mueller is investigating, saying some on the committee do not agree with that approach. On the senate side, theyre probably not going to explore obstruction of justice. They want to look at russian meddling, any collusion between the russian officials and trump officials. But the Senate Judiciary committee now, don, met the leaders met with mueller today. Theyre signaling that obstruction of justice is on the table potentially for their own investigation. So those are all starting to take shape here on capitol hill. Manu, in an empty capitol tonight. I can hear the echo. I appreciate you staying up late. Here to discuss, nia malika henderson. Mi hello to both of you. Nia, i didnt call you nina this time. Right. Thank goodness. Were seeing two sides of this presidency. On the one hand, President Trump struggling to get major legislation passed with so much attention on the russia investigation. On the other, hes coming off another election win for republicans. He has a spring in his step tonight. Yeah, and he should, right . They have been able to go for these special elections. In georgia, millions of dollars dumped on the republican candidate who in some ways ran away from donald trump. She ends up winning pretty landly land handily. He goes out to iowa. This rally was planned kbfribef and smartly for him to go out there to get reenergized. Weve been hearing from this white house. This is something they want to see from this president. They want to put him out there on the road. He habit realsnt really been o on the road much. I think this will be good for this president to kind of undercore wheunde underscore where he is, he proved the haters wrong. Everybody thought the 36 Approval Rating he has would be a drag on candidates in these races. So far, it hasnt been. Its obviously still early. 2018 isnt here yet. And special elections always arent always harbingers of whats to come. Obama did very well early on in special elections. I think they went 50 as well in special elections on the house side, but then when you fast forward to actual midterms, it was difficult for president obama. And it could be that way for this president as well. See where that got him. President trump is hoping to get a legislative victory to match his electoral victory. He talked about the Health Care Battle tonight. Watch this. So we have a very slim 5248. That means we basically cant lose anybody. And i think, and i hope, cant guarantee anything, but i hope were going to surprise you with a really good plan. You know, ive been talking about a plan with heart. I said add some money to it. A plan with heart. But obamacare is dead. So he wants a plan with heart. He went on to talk about wanting a tax deal, an infrastructure deal. Whats your reaction . You know, when he talks about this plan with heart and adding money to it, he sounds like a big spending liberal. And it looks like well see this bill tomorrow. Thats what is being promised out of the senate. Its been hatched in secret so far. So well see. I think essentially youll look for what are they doing with the medicaid expansion. Is it sunsetting . At what point is it sunsetting . Are they putting more money in there so that premiums arent hiked. You have to look at are people going to be kicked off of health care. All those cbo scores from the house bill, millions and millions of people would go without coverage, according to the cbo. So well see what happens with that. The president eventually calling that Health Care Bill a mean. He was ticking off a wish list of what this presidency was supposed to look like before it got stalled by all of these russia investigations and stalled, in part, by the president s own way of being distracted by russia and not being so invested in some of the legislation. And being his own worst enemy. You sat by, youve been very patient as weve hogged up the air. Sorry, michael. Will republicans be more likely to link themselves to President Trump following all these wins, or is there still a hesitation not knowing where all this russia investigation stuff is going to lead . Well, look, it is hard to say. This obviously ought to be a sort of note of caution for democrats that have been pushing the russia investigation, if only given the fact theres precious little evidence it had any impact at all on the election in georgia. Ossoff didnt talk about it barely, and there was no indication that voters were penetrating. That doesnt mean there arent serious issues that need to be investigated, but you know, there may be an argument to be made it doesnt need to quite dominate the political discussion in washington to the degree that it currently does. Can i ask you something about, you know, winning despite the haters. Nia mentioned it earlier. So many people, michael, said that donald trump was out or done after he criticized senator mccain or when he made fun of a disabled reporter, when he criticized a goldstar family, or when that lewd audiotape came out. Or went after the federal judge. Right. He keeps winning. The president s party keeps winning in these special elections. So why would the president believe hes right and, you know, everybody else is wrong . Im sure he does. I mean what would stop him from believing that . Thats the question. Its hard to see a scenario at this point that would. But could i just say, like todays hearings in the senate and house actually were substantive hearings where we learned information about the core issue here about what the russians were doing in the election. We didnt know until today that as many as 21 states were targeted. We didnt know until today that there are pending informativests by the fbi into those hacks, which suggest its either counterintelligence or if theyre going criminal that russian officials are in the krot crosshairs for indictments. We didnt know until we heard jeh johnson spell it out today that he had trouble formulating a response. He went to the dnc, tried to offer dhs assistance to the russian hack, got rebuffed, and then when he had this remarkable phone conference with state Election Officials, offering assistance, offering to designate state election systems as critical infrastructure, he gets this blowback from state Election Officials saying, no, you know, we dont want a federal takeover of our elections, so as a result, he put it all on the back burner. Why would they target those specific states . Was it something about their election systems . We dont know for sure. The two we know were penetrated were arizona, which is a purple state, leans red, and illinois, which is a blue state. And there are 21 states and we dont know who they were. The general theory is that the russians with russian were probing, exploring possible manipulations they could do, that there may not have been a fixed idea to switch the vote in any particular state. They just wanted to see where the vulnerabilities are and what they might conceivably do. During the sound bite, i just realized something. That the president and i looked an awful lot alike today. Bright red tie on. In this edition of who wore it best. You, don. You have worn it best. Thank you, both. I appreciate it. When we come back, the democratic congressman who challenged nancy pelosi. He says his own partys brand is toxic. What he thinks it will take to start winning again. Somewhere along the great journey of selfdiscovery a breakthrough. Its in our nature to need each other. Finding the best hotel price is now a safe bet. Because tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites so you save up to 30 on the hotel you want. Lock it in. Tripadvisor. Fotheres a seriousy boomers virus out there thats been almost forgotten. Its hepatitis c. One in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most dont even know it. 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Lease the 2017 es 350 for 329 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Democrats have a pounding political hangover tonight after their loss in georgias special house election, an election they hoped would be a referendum on President Trump. Now some are blaming House Minority leader nancy pelosi. My next guest has some harsh words for his own party. Joining me now is congressman tim ryan of ohio. Congressman, im so glad youre here. So lets be honest. You have tough love for your party. Democrats have won, what, zero of four special elections for house seats. I want to show what you say and then get your response here. You said, i dont believe in moral victories. The only measure of success in political campaigns is victory. I dont believe everyone should get a trophy. Heres the truth. The Democratic Party has a toxic brand, one that is worse than Donald Trumps and many parts of the country. Explain, sir. Well, it happens to be true. We all have a lot of anger towards what donald trump is doing, but weve had four special elections, and donald trump, 4, democrats, 0. I hate to admit that. It hurts. Its painful, but weve got to get our act together because theres a lot of people relying on us. I worry sometimes that we get so obsessed and angered by donald trump, which is okay, but you cant hold on to it because it takes your eye off the ball. Were not focusing on the economic messages. People in ohio, don, arent really talking about russia or Michael Flynn or putin or anything else. Theyre worried about paying the bills, whats happening with our pension, how much does it cost to send a kid to school, whats our energy bill like. Real bread and butter stuff. When were talking about trump so much, you know, were not talking about them. So how do you then reconcile the 36 Approval Rating and still winning the special elections . Well, you know, everythings in contrast to who youre running against. Thats why i say i dont think people in the beltway are realizing just how toxic the Democratic Party brand is in so much of the country. This is a party many of us grew up hearing. This is the party for the working class. And weve gotten away from that economic message about how do we help working class people. White, black, brown, gay, straight. People who work for a living. People who take a shower after work. That used to be the backbone of the Democratic Party. Were losing those people in droves. When you see us losing them in these special elections how did you lose them . Well, the brands just bad. Look at a guy like ossoff. I thought he was a terrific candidate. The energy on the ground in our party is amazing. The resist movement, the indie visible groups, the swing left. All of these other groups, theyre doing a terrific job. Theyre not only fighting the republican candidates, theyre also fighting the democratic brand.