Be the clock ticking for Jeff Sessions. Lets get right to cnns senior political analyst mark preston. Chief National Security correspondent, and National Security correspondent jim sciutto. Senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny. Legal analyst laura coats. Lots to get to next couple hours on cnn. Jeff, you first, Washington Post reporting tonight President Trump and his advisers to discussing the possibility of replacing attorney general Jeff Sessions. That does match much of what cnn has also been reporting and follows President Trumps swipe earlier where he tweeted this. So why arent the committees and investigators and, of course, our beleaguered a. G. , looking into crooked hillarys crimes and russia relations . What are you learning tonight from the white house, jeff . Reporter don, when you call your attorney general someone what was once a loyal supporter and indeed a trusted ally and friend, when you call him beleaguered, you know, it stands to reason that, yes, theyre looking at contingency plans. I am told that these talks and discussions are in the very early stages in terms of who might potentially replace the attorney general. If he should happen to resign or if the president should fire hi him. Im also told this is a contingency plan. This is nothing that is immediately in the works. In fact, the president , if he would have wanted to fire him, im told by one adviser he would have, in fact, fired him. Instead, it seems like hes trying to publicly either humiliate or punish him, but it definitely stands to reason there would be these conversations, but, don, so interesting, today the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was in the west wing of the white house. He was here, he was having routine meetings when the white house counsels office. President trump was in the building at the same time. They did not speak. They did not meet. That wouldnt necessarily be unusual, you know, they have a busy schedule, but the fact of the matter is President Trump has been talking about his attorney general. He hasnt been talking to him. We learned earlier today that the two have not spoken since well before that New York Times article last week when the president expressed his displeasure and threw him under the bus i guess the first time, if you will. So theyve not spoken. Anthony scaramucci, the new communications director, told our sara murray this afternoon, th thatti that, look, they need to have a facetoface conversation, they need to essentially work this out and have a discussion going forward, but the president would, of course, have to call that meeting and hes not yet done so, don. Laura, i want to read a bit more from the post reporting, saying replacing sessions is seen by some trimp trump soert s associates being a part of firing robert s. Mueller iii and end his investigation into what the Trump Campaign coordinated with the kremlin influence of the 2016 election, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. So, laura, replacing sessions is a strategy to fire special counsel mueller, could that be could it be seen as obstruction of justice and is that why President Trump would rather have sessions quit . Absolutely. First of all, remember, the only reason that you have Rod Rosenstein overseeing special Counsel Robert Mueller is because that duty is normally reserved for the attorney general because the current a. G. , sessions, has recused himself, thats why Rod Rosenstein is the one to oversee it. If Jeff Sessions is no longer the a. G. And has no now basis for recusal, he would usurp the rule of Rod Rosenstein. The reason the president of the United States, in my opinion, is trying to bully him from the pulpit he has right now as opposed to outright firing somebody who is an appointee in his administration is he knows Jeff Sessions has leverage over him because the obstruction of justice cloud would loom very large over his head. Remember, he fired james comey and there was a nebulous reason for why he did so. Was it because of his usurpation of Loretta Lynch last year . You have a ft. Wipresident withw york times article who was very, very clear, why he was dismayed, to say the least, about Jeff Sessions and the russia investigation. So he knows Jeff Sessions, if he fires him, that obstruction of justice charge looks a whole lot more relevant now than it would even before. Yeah. So, jim, listen, sort of piggyback off of what laura just said and jeff, contingency plan for what . What is the why would he need a con ttingency plan . Well, listen, don, its difficult to figure out where to begin here, right . I mean, there are so many layers to this. Whats common throughout is an investigation into ties between Trump Campaign associates, et cetera, and russia. One of them is Jeff Sessions. I mean, hes a central character in this. He had to recuse himself because he didnt disclose conversations with the russian ambassador. In fact, since then, weve discovered through reports of the Washington Post but also cnn that there was yet another meeting with russians that he didnt disclose after his first failure to disclose. Thats just sessions involvement in this. Beyond flynn, donald trump jr. , the revelation, seems like 100 years ago, just last week of an email that he accepted a meeting with a russian lawyer on the expectation that he was going to get damaging information on hillary clinton. I mean, there are so many levels to this but the common theme is russia and an investigation that the president is very unhappy with. He is saying now that it was the recusal that Jeff Sessions took upon himself in march because of his involvement in the russia investigation that has upset him, but lets be frank, thats nearly five months ago. What seems to be the pressure here, or the driving force, rather, is the president s discomfort with an investigation he doesnt like and hes looking for ways, perhaps, to end or curtail that investigation and it seems testing the limits to see how far he can go with president ial power and how much opposition there is to it. The fact is, he fired his fbi director, he later admitted, despite the manufactured reasons for it early on that it was because of the russia investigation. And that sort of faded into the Rearview Mirror at this point. So, maybe he will take the sten step of firing mueller or others or a. G. Or deputy a. G. We dont know. The common theme is russia and a conversation the president doesnt like. I want to ask you, this is what the president said about sessions today. Heres how it went down. Mr. President , should Jeff Sessions resign . [ laughter ] what do you make of that moment, mark . A couple things. Lets talk about the practicality of politics right now. The difference between firing the fbi director and firing his National Security adviser is those two gentlemen were never member of the United States senate. If you look on capitol hill, not everybody likes Jeff Sessions. We know only one democrat voted for him. He has a lot of friends who are republicans on capitol hill and if he were to be fired by donald trump, for any of these reasons that are not necessarily legitimate reasons, say, there was another connection with russia that was discovered and donald trump said it was for the good of the country for him to then fire the attorney general, then donald trump is going to lose an incredible amount of political leverage on capitol hill. A. And b, not only on the senate side but also the house side as welt, then well then who will be his next attorney general . Some people floated Rudy Giulianis name out of there as a possibility. Whos to say Rudy Giuliani or anybody donald trump sends to capitol hill to be confirmed by the United States would be confirmed by the United States senate . Because now donald trump has made so many enemies. So hes got to be very careful and what he did with that eye roll right there really should be viewed in two bays. One, as immature because hes talking about his attorney general. And two, he might have come to a realization, however, that he should have never done it, but i think im going to go with the wlat latser, rather the former rather than the latter and he was being immature, don. He was speaking to a group of boy scouts there, by the way, just to mention that. Interns, i should say. Interns. Jim, lets talk about Jared Kushner now. Jared kushner denying any collusion with russia and maintains he did nothing improper. Here this is him earlier today. After his closeddoor meeting with the Senate Intelligence committee. Watch this. Let me be very clear. I did not collude with russia, nor do i know of anyone else in the campaign who did so. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on russian funds for my businesses. And i have been fully transparent in providing all requested information. Donald trump had a better message and ran a smarter campaign and that is why he won. Suggesting otherwise ridicules those who voted for him. Jim, its really the second time weve heard Jared Kushner speak publicly and this time its about russia. What do you think about what he said there . Listen, i think what you heard him there do is articulate what is the trump world view, not only of the election but of the russia investigation. Those two things in trumps mind, it appears, but in his closest advisers, are entwined that the russia investigation, they see, it seems, as really an excuse by democrats, deep state, whoever they want to blame, disloyal republicans, for an election win by trump that no one expected. They cant seem to separate those two things. So, its something youve heard before. A different way of expressing that the point the same point that the president often makes in speeches and tweets, et cetera. One thing i would note there is keep in mind that Jared Kushners statement there is different from what he and others in the Trump Campaign had been saying for months was that there were no russia contacts. Right . When, in fact, many russia contacts between kushner, himself, and others had been revealed through the months. Sometimes with consequences including, for instance, the recusal of the attorney general. Influid cloocluding the firing first National Security adviser michael flynn. Keep in mind, his statement there while a defense already includes a change from what had been the trump world position consistently for months was there were no contacts. In fact, there were contacts and theyve had to admit that as theyve been revealed by others including by members of the media. Thank you, panel, i appreciate it. Our time is short. I have to get to breaking news now. This is about senator john mccain. He announced just last week hed been diagnosed with brain cancer. Making a dramatic return to the senate tomorrow to cast a crucial vote on health care. Most members of his own party expected him to return much later than tomorrow, but with the gop scrambling for every last vote, the senators return could make the difference in all of this. Senator mccain tweeting this. Look forward to returning to senate tomorrow to continue work on health care reform, defense bill and russia sanctions. Well keep you updated on that. When we come back, much more on Jared Kushners statement about his contacts with russians. What is he and isnt he saying about those meetings . Buried just under the surface, the answer to it all. We want to need each other. Peobut theyre different. Ind its nice to remove artificial ingredients. Kind never had to. We choose real ingredients like almonds, peanuts and a drizzle of dark chocolate. Give kind a try. The lincoln summer invitation is on. Its time for a getaway. Now get our best offers of the season. On the agile mkc. On the versatile midsize lincoln mkx. Or go where summer takes you in the exhilarating mkz. The lincoln summer invitation sales event. Ask about complimentary pick up delivery servicing. Right now get zero percent apr plus 1,000 dollars Summer Savings on the lincoln mkx, mkc and mkz ykeep you sidelined. Ng thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy to get back to doing. What you love. Ensure. Always be you. Jared kushner declaring today he did not collude with russia but confirming he met with russians four times during the campaign and transition and saying that all of his actions were proper. Lets discuss now, robert ray is here, a former whitewatter independent counsel. John dean. Michael zelldinzelldin. Its so good to have all of you on. Lets go through what Jared Kushner did today. Released an 11page statement, detailing his four contacts with russians during the campaign and transition and denying he read the email chain from donald trump jr. Leading up to that meeting with the russian lawyer de. Denying any collusion with the russians and denying he relied on russians to finance his businesses. Do you think that statement detailed everything or is Jared Kushner leaving out relative information . Its never going to be everything, right . Ultimately i think the first that happened today was behind closed doors session with senate you know, the Committee Member staff. Youre going to see the same thing in the house tomorrow then ultimately the lawyers and the committee are going to work out when he will appear in public. The statement lays down a marker. Its not an insignificant thing because its submitted to the congress under penalty of prosecution for false statements. So its not to be, you know, considered lightly, but obviously its not a comprehensive record and i think the testimony ultimately will be that record when it happens. Michael, do you think that the administration can learn something . Because, you know, he didnt he didnt testify publicly, but he did come out afterwards and he spoke and do you think that the administration can learn from maybe the way jared whether you believe what he said is true or not or if he, you know, gave all the right information or correct information, but the way he handled it, he just came out, gave a statement, very matter of fact, didnt call anybody names, didnt say it was fake news and just kept pushing. What do you think . Well, i thought this was the most coherent presentation of the facts by a witness, if you will, in the trump russia investigation since the outset. It had a beginning. The 11page document had a beginning, a middle and an end. It followed a logical timeline. Then Jared Kushner came out and gave the highlights of that and went back to work. And i think that if the administration would follow that advice, if the communications operation, the white house, would follow that advice, i think theyd be in a much better position than they are right now because they have all undermined their correredibility with all various tweets and misstatements whereas kushner has kept quiet, kept his head down, came forward with a wellprepared document, testified presumably consistent with that document and well see whether the supporting documentation supports that and then he went back to his job and thats the way it should be. And there is a tremendous lesson to be learned there. Yeah. John, do you think theres more thats not being said here by Jared Kushner . Well, i think that will get tested. I agree with michael, he did handle himself very nicely. He was under a lot of pressure. Its not a familiar world for him. Capitol hill or doing these kinds of press briefings. So, he didnt get questioned by the press so they didnt get to probe it but im sure that happened behind closed doors and will happen even greater tomorrow. Before the house. But what else is left . You know, its hard to say. I think he was probably careful in his qualifications of things he didnt remember. He probably went over it with his attorneys pretty closely before he did it. So i dont think there are any huge gaps like the missing material in his fs8 f6 which he had a pretty good explanation for. Heres what jared curb any wrote about the email donald trump jr. Sent him. He said i quickly reviewed on my iphone the relevant messages that the meeting would a cur at 4 00 p. M. At his office. Documents confirm my memory that this was calendared as meeting donald trump jr. , Jared Kushner. No one else was mentioned. I did not read or recall this email exchange before it was shown to me by my lawyers and reviewi ining documents for submission to the committees. No part of the meeting i attended included anything about the campaign. There was no followup to the meeting that i am aware of. So, were supposed to believe that kushner did not read the email subject line which read russia clinton, private and confidential and didnt ask don jr. Was the meeting was about . Does this add up to you . Well, it could be. The point was that what unfolded during the meeting seems to be crosscorroborated with what donald jr. s recollection was which is that they thought the meeting was one thing, it turned tout be Something Else on