All this comes again as john mcca mccain, the president warning him, i fight back and it wont be pretty. Join us us now bill crystal the editor at large and cnn political commentator ben fifer and cnn political analyst steven moore. I think we have enough people to discuss this this evening. What are you learning about tonights meeting with special counsel investigators . This took place on monday. It follows meetings last week with Reince Priebus, the former fired chief of staff to the white house swells chief celling, the interim National Security advisor. It shows a picture that the special counsel investigation is expanding beyond the interference, the russian interference in the u. S. Election. Because of course spicer was not there during the campaign. Key issues we know that the counsel wanted to discuss with him include the fbi director james comeys firing. He was not a very central player in the administration. That was one of the issues probably that led to his departure. But we also know that he took copious thats. And for an investigator like Robert Mueller, those notes certainly material to the investigation. And it shows that this investigation is going to the senior ranks of the Trump Administration following the chief of staff priebus, the press Secretary Sean Spicer as well as his former National Security advisor as well. I want to ask you, so who is next on muellers list . Do we have an idea . We know on the list includes hope hicks. First of all, she still serves as White House Communications director and is actually where spicer was not in those meetings. She has been in many, you know, small meetings with this president , so would have been privy to conversations that others were not. Don megan, who was the white house council, this shows the investigation will continue to go into the most senior levels of the Trump Administration. I want to ask you politico is reporting spicer was fired for the questioning of the former fbi director comey and white house officials. Where does this tell you where mueller is in his investigation right now . Hes being thorough clearly. And i think spicer is a wonderful witness because we know he apparently made these notes contemporaneously, and those can be invaluable. Theyre really solid collaboration for a witness. Weve heard about these copious notes, maybe a month or two that sean spicer kept copious notes. And these notes could either vindicate the president or get him into more trouble. But you said these things can be very important. They corroborate his memory, and they will stimulate his memory. And they old evdech chaer value because they were made contemporaneously. Dana bash, i want to bring you in now. Reince priebus was also interviewed. What do you think these men are in a position to know . A lot no question about it. Theres lot of things special counsel wants to know. But theres two events or big issues that both Reince Priebus or sean spicer could shed light on. Number one most recently is the firing of james comey. Reince priebus was the white house chief of staff. And to ask him questions about the reasoning that the president gave in internally is very important for this investigation. Its a very open question, a very intensively debated question whether or not obstruction of justice is even possible when youre talking about the president of the United States. I i think i hear mr. Dean laughing. But if you go, kind of just follow the dotted line that Robert Mueller is intentionally or uninaengzally drawing with the kinds of people and kind of information hes asking for, it certainly appears hes exploring that. The other thing the other question is the air force one trip, don, back from europe when the whole the whole story about the don junior emails that unveiled the fact that he took a meeting during the campaign in 2016 with the premise being i have dirt on from a russian national, i have dirt on hillary clinton. And the air force one trip, sean spicer was on that trip. Its our understanding he wasnt in the front cabin when the president was apparently working with staff on the statement that don junior ended up putting out. But he was on the plane. So he had proximity. And im sure that mr. Mueller would want to ask him questions about that in addition to people that we would know jim sciutto mentioned, hope hicks who was there. Maybe it was a throat clear i cleared. I was respectfully silent when dana was speaking. Both priebus and spicer was pushed out. Do you think theyre going to be loyal . Whether or not youre under oath, speaking to the fbi, you could get in trouble for lying. So i assume they will tell the truth. I think the contemporaneous notes are important. Two quick points. I think ultimately mueller is going to talk to trump. Im not a lawyer on the other end of these investigations, but this strikes me as getting close to the ties. Your the former chief of staff, the White House Communications director, i suspect it might be weeks or months away or two from trump. Most people think these investigations take forever. They take a while. I dont want to be shooting for years end or Something Like that, but i think it will be a huge moment when mueller interviews trump. I always come back to the january 27th meeting, one week into the administration when trump has the fbi director over for a oneonone dinner, hes getting a acmated having a dulebatory dinner with all his friends, family and supporters and suddenly friday night weekend, dinner with comey. That is extremely unusual as people have commented. And getting priebus, spicer who would have presumably contemporaneous notes about maybe what he did raise, i think thats been under reported honestly. In the comey encounters that one strikes me as pretty amazing. Steven moore, does it concern you as bill just said the president and the Vice President , he thinks theyre next to be interviewed here. Where do you stand on this . Well, i think bill is probably right, that this might end with mueller asking both trump and pence about their activities. I dont think that they have anything to hide, so im not concerned about it in terms of, you know, what information they have. I think they acted in a way that was appropriate for the president. So i dont think theres a huge, huge scandal here. By the way, i i was just at a speech trump gave at the Area Foundation tonight. He seemed relaxed. He got a big ovation from the audience. He didnt seem out of sorts whatsoever. He seemed in a very ebullient mood. Well, well see. I understand you have some new exclusive reporting tonight on close putin allys role in the meddling of the u. S. Election. What have you learned . This draws a direct line from those troll farms, the fake news, those divisive stories right back to the inner circle of the president of russia, Vladimir Putin, focusing on jenny progoegz. He is known as the chef to the kremlin. And yes he has catered Vladimir Putin birthday parties. He catered dinners for president george w. Bush when he visited russia in 2004 and 2006. Beyond that hes a Russian Oligarch with enormous businesses. And he is u. S. Investigators believe but also documents weve reviewed have shown the primary backer of a troll factory based in st. Petersburg, russia. It was known as the Internet Research agency, known as the ira. And it is the organization full of hackers that were injecting fake news stories into the election, including stories that were targeted via social media to key districts during the 2016 prejudice election. And what were discovering looking at these documents is just how specific financial ties were between someone close to Vladimir Putin and these advertisements, fake news stories, divisive news stories, things about black lives matter, gun control, et cetera injected into the u. S. Election debate right up to election day. Looking at these documents, its really fascinating. It sounds like something stolen out of a George Orwell novel. There was literally listed in this a department of provocations in this agency, who job it was it was listed again, to inject fake news stories into the election, divisive news stories. And the budget and this is important was a Million Dollars a month. So its a significant amount of money coming from someone closely tied to the russian president with the intention of really dividing the electorate as an approach. Its fascinating stuff but also important stuff. It is when that whole fake news moniker was developed by the president , im not sure he had that in mind. No, i think fake news to trump means news he doesnt like. You can see in the conversation we just had about mueller, we know that russia interfered with the election. We know russia interfered with the election with the goal to help trump. Everyone agrees with that except possibly trump. And now were going to get to the bottom of this. I have to say their strategy is pretty significantly. Going to districts to target what sort of hot button issues, to hoy light, to whom. And were going to find out if someone in the United States or potentially someone associate would the Trump Campaign worked with the russians to help that be more effective. And i think hope that mueller is getting to his conclusion sooner rather than later. Because even in politics, this is an important National Security story. And you mentioned, steve moore, the heritage foundation. Well, tonight the president was back and it was teleprompter President Trump. Well talk about that when we come right back. You nervous . Today, the new new york is sparking innovation. You see it in the Southern Tier with companies that are developing powerful batteries that make everything from cell phones to rail cars more efficient. Which helps improve every aspect of advanced rail technology. All with support from a highlyeducated workforce and vocational job training. Across new york state, were building the new new york. To grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd. Ny. Gov. I knew at that exact moment. Im beating this. My main focus was to find a team of doctors. Its not just picking a surgeon, its picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. Visit cancercenter. Com breast i dont know how well do it. Never stop til we get there listen up, heart disease. You too, unnecessary er visits. And hey, unmanaged depression, dont get too comfortable. Were talking to you, cost inefficiencies, and data without insights. And fragmented care, stop getting in the way of patient recovery and pay attention. Every single one of you is on our list. At optum, were partnering across the Health System to tackle its biggest challenges. We have some breaking news to report to you right now. President trump finally calling the families of troops who lost their lives in the niger raid. And telling the widow of Sergeant David johnson, quote, he knew what he signed up for. She spoke to sergeant johnsons widow tonight and she joins us on the phone. Thank you, for joining us. You spoke to the widow of sergeant johnson. Her name is miaecia. How is she doing tonight . Oh, shes very distraught. And we were in the car together, in the limousine headed to meet the body at the airport. So i heard what he said because the phone was on speaker. What did he say . Well, basically he said, well, i guess he knew what he signed up for. But i guess it still hurt. Thats what he said. The president said to her he knew what he signed up for he knew what he was signing up for. But when it happens, it hurts anyway. Uhhuh. So its almost as if this is a young, young woman who has two children who is six months pregnant with a third child. She has just lost her husband. She was just told that he cannot have an open casket funeral, which give said her all kinds of nightmares how his body must look, how his face must look. And this is what the president of the United States says to her . Representative, as were speaking now, were looking at the video of her meeting the coffin. Shes expecting her third child. You can see her shaking there as she sobbed uncontrollably. She has a 2yearold son and a 6yearold daughter. But continue on. What were you saying . But he had just told her that just as she was about to do what you just saw. Theres no reason for the president to be so insensitive. Not only to the family of this soldier but the impervious rhetoric, you know, disrespectful to the family of every soldier that has paid the ultimate price for our freedom. And our community is livid. Because this was our hero. We dont have many heroes in our young men in miamidade county. But he was a hero for us. And we dont like what was said. And that is not something that you say to a grieving wife. What was your reaction, representative . I asked them to give me the phone because i wanted to speak with him. And i was going to curse him out. That was my reaction at that time. I was livid. But they would not give me the phone. What did she say . She was just crying. She couldnt say anything. The only thing she said when it was time to hang up was thank you, byebye. And were there other family members in the car with you or there with you . Yes, there were other family members in the car. What was their reaction . They were all crying. It was a solemn cry because they were still upset about the fact that this could not be an open casket. They were upset because they dont know why he was separated from the rest of the soldiers. This could turn out to be another bengazi. And i have asked for other investigation. Representative hastings and i have sent a letter. And we want to find out exactly what happened. And im expecting a classified briefing when i return to washington to answer some of those mitigating questioning that i cant answer on my own. Representative wilson, thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you so much. And please give our thoughts and condolences to the family. I want to bring in dana bash. Theres a response from the white house. Yes, don. And ill read it to you right now. The response from the white house is basically that the president here i have in front of me now, the president s conversations with the families of american heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private. So thats a very long way of saying no comment because were not talking about what the president said to this understandably very upset widow. And im not sure that he even knew that the congresswoman was there with her listening. But as you just heard from the congresswoman, she did not think that the tone that the president took was appropriate. Im sure that the white house, the president himself will have more to say after listening to the fact that a congresswoman literally just said to you that she wanted to grab the phone and curse out the president of the United States for the way he talked to the window, a gold star wife now after she found out that she was going to visit the coffin of her husband. And as she just said someone she was hoping would at least get an open casket and couldnt for whatever reason. And its incredibly emotional. Especially when you look at the video. Six months pregnant and looked like her daughter there. Shes got another baby as well. And its just a lot. Now, this is a congresswoman and a very understandably, very upset and emotional woman listening to the president of the United States. White house is not saying what his intentions were, and im sure were going to hear from the president soon about what he meant when he said those words. And i want to bring in dan, because dan is someone whos worked in communications and messaging when it comes to president s. Not sure what the president meant by those words and how they were taken, but this is a concern from people. And then the president will speak for himself whenever he does that, about whether its visiting storm victims or throwing paper towels or what have you, that some feel this president s lack an empathy gene. And this is maybe more evidence of that. Don, i think thats right. One of the more important roles of a president whether republican or democrating is, a more pastorial role. To speak to individuals, to countries, to families in times of tragedy. And theres more of speaking to the commanders of those soletures as commander in chief. Weve got to let this family grieve in peace and grieve in a way they choose, but it does speak to the president s now inability to emphasize, to show sympathy, to express that sympathy in anyway that fits with the circumstance. Whether it was in puerto rico or his first visit to houston, it just always rings like hes awkward and strange and like its missing Something Like the way in most humans would react in that situation. I dont know ifthets a personal problem or a communications problem, but its going to be something thats going to dock him throughout this presidency. Steven moore, your reaction to what we just heard. Its such a heart breaking story. He seems like such a great man, and you just hate to see someone die in the line of duty like this. So i cant really speak to what the president said. Its heart breaking. Three kids, terrible. Jim sciutto, you were inbedded with the green berets in iraq, correct . I was. These are hard conversations to have. There was a fire fight in rock in kirkuk in an early invasion where a green beret kept me from getting shot. Johnson served alongside them. Listen, this started as a question about why the president did not mention in any context via twitter, via the official white house statement, via his many camera appearances, four lost soldiers in niger. It then transitioned into a question about whether he had called those families, with the president himself making what was establisheds a false statement about previous president s not calling or contacting those families. For instance, the president saying ask general john kelly now retired john kelly what had happened. Weve since reported, my colleague jeff zeleny, that john kelly invited the pres