Now, all of this, what you have just heard, does not fit with the narrative that the president and his allies want americans to believe. I think its very sad what they have done with this fake dossier. It was made up. And i understand they paid a tremendous amount of money. And Hillary Clinton always denied it, the democrats always denied it. They put a lot of bs in this thing, fake news. And they tried to dress it up as an intelligence product. Everyone knows this dossier is garbage. But did they dress it up like intelligence. Fake, bs, garbage. Yet, someone may have been killed because of the dossier . At least nine high profile russians died in the nine months after the american president ial election, including a former russian intelligence official who had close ties to figures mentioned in the dossier. Could the person possibly killed because of the dossier be the man who was found dead shortly after news of the dossier broke,
312 pages, pokes major holes in the gop Talking Points calling the dossier garbage. Yeah, the cofounder of the firm, fusion gps, who hired Christopher Steele to investigate said they wanted steele to look into candidate trumps past, his business dealings, why he went to russia because there were questions they wanted to learn about exactly what happened and what mr. Steele found, according to the transcript, was so alarming he had to inform the fbi. The 312page transcript includes new revelations about the infamous Opposition Research dossier on donald trump and the russians. Glen simpson, the cofounder of the Opposition Research firm fusion gps told the Senate Judiciary committee that a former british agent who compiled the dossier was so concerned about what he found that he decided to brief the fbi in the summer of 2016. The agent, Christopher Steele, worried about a Security Issue about whether a president ial candidate was being blackmailed. According to simpsons transcript. He also testified that steele told him the fbi had similar intelligence from an internal Trump Campaign source. And that the fbi believed chris information might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing. And one of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the trump organization. A person close to simpson clarified that the reference to an internal Trump Campaign source actually refers to the australian ambassador who contacted the fbi to pass on information that he received from former Trump CampaignForeign Policy adviser george papadopoulos. Simpson testified the research did not start out as a russia focused investigation. But rather was a broader look at his business career, his finances, and they were trying to figure out whether hes really as rich as he says he is. But simpson later said he was also interested in russia. And now trump had made a number of trips to russia and talked about doing a number of business
deals,er but never did one, and that struck me as a little bit odd and calling for an explanation. Its all fake news. Its phony stuff. The president and his allies from the beginning have said the dossier is fake and full of lies. But simpson testified that steele understood that the russians used disinformation as a common tactic. What he said was disinformation is an issue in my profession. And that we are trained to spot disinformation. Im telling you that i dont believe this is disinformation. The top democrat on the committee, dianne feinstein, released the transcript despite furious opposition from the committees gop chairman, chuck grassley, whose spokesman said the unilateral move was totally confounding because it could undercut the inquiry. The move intensified the partisan acrimony on the panel. I think in some ways this is the signal the end of bipartisan cooperation in the Senate Judiciary committee. Now, during this august interview, glen simpson was
asked by the committee about mr. Steeles sources and he would not reveal his sources because according to his attorney, one of those sources may have been killed because of his cooperation with Christopher Steele in putting together the dossier. Now, tonight, a source close to that testimony, erin, tells us it wasnt in reference to any individual but to the string of deaths that occurred in russia after the elections, raising some concerns about exactly why he would reveal these sources of information because perhaps that could endanger further lives if they were to get out, erin. Thank you very much. Obviously extremely troubling. Now, former adviser to four president s including nixon and clinton, david gergen, former Assistant Secretary for there department of Homeland Security, julia chim, and richert painter. Let me start with you, obviously, the testimony here that somebodys already been killed. You heard manu saying that theres just a string of deaths that clint watts referred to his in testimony. Theyre now talking about that among other points that are being made here. That you had the call made to the fbi from Christopher Steele because he felt obligated to call. Not a bunch of bs and garbage, as trump and his allies would have people believe. Thats right. What people have to remember, who are thinking this is all partisan is steele approaches the fbi before donald trump is president , and he also assumes none of this is going to be public because its a counterintelligence investigation. So the idea hes doing this for some political gain or to support some Political Party is belied by the facts. We tend to talk about the dossier as sort of a single document, but what we now know is that there were three theories of what steele was doing. One was the russians cultivated trump over a fiveyear period. That gets to the financial dealings. The second is the sexual innuendo questions of hookers that we have heard about. And the third is whether the Trump Campaign was through
manafort, who is mentioned specifically in the dossier, and carter page, was accepting the information. Those three theories, at least two of them we know to be true now, are why steele did what he did with the fbi. Theres no Politics Around it because at this stage, he thinks this is just going to be a counterintelligence investigation. Hes not going to the hes not going to the Hillary Clinton campaign saying this. Right, and of course, richard, im going to emphasize here, we have not confirmed a lot of things in the dossier, but we do know here at cnn as an example, as i pointed out, conversations between foreign nationals reported in the dossier, some did occur as reported in the dossier. There is truth in here. This whole concept of fake and garbage doesnt add up even on the face of it. I want to read what glen simpson said in his testimony, the 312 pages we just got, about the former british spy Christopher Steele. He told lawmakers to juliets point, quote, chris said he was very concerned about whether this represented a National Security threat and said he wanted to. He said he thought we were obligated to tell someone in government. In our government, about this information. He thought from his perspective there was an issue. A Security Issue about whether a president ial candidate was being blackmailed. What does it say to you, richard, that he was so concerned that this appears to be a point of obligation and duty that he felt he needed to do this and go to the fbi on his own . Well, i think it shows he had very serious concerns. And we dont know the specifics of those concerns. And the blackmail might not be because donald trump did anything illegal. It could be that the russians have embarrassing information on donald trump that they could seek to use to blackmail him. But that is just as much a threat to our National Security as if President Trump had then done something illegal that the russians knew about. Its critically important for someone in this position who gathers information, whether
its through Opposition Research or any other avenue, who gets information about a potential threat to our National Security from russia, which has been a longstanding adversary of the United States, its critically important to contact the fbi. And let the fbi figure out what to do with that information. So he did the right thing. I think it demonstrates its very serious. David, heres the issue it comes down to, how republicans have tried to make this so political. A document that was originally in its early forms when they started to look into this issue, paid for by republicans, then paid for by democrats. Then you get this dossier. And now were finding out that he felt obligated to call the fbi. He did the right thing, i think we just heard that. I think its right. I think its important to distinguish what this does not show and what it does show. What it does not show is any further evidence of collusion, bs. Triggered the fbi investigation. What this shows is, no, in fact Chris Steeleand others went to the fbi before they got the dossier, and things were happening. And indeed, there may have been somebody inside the Trump Campaign who was wired or who was a mole in effect talking to the fbi. So look, there are a lot of questions. I mean, juliet, i guess the big thing is what we can say tonight is that its really important to find out whats true in here and what isnt. Right . And not to allow it to be dismissed as a complete pile of garbage. Although, of course, some of the things in it may well be. But the wholesale effort to dismiss it by republicans is simply a partisan exercise. Theres no question about that now, and remember, they didnt want this to be released. Mueller will figure out where theres fact and where theres fiction. Steele had a theory of the case. The theory of the case is just one piece of evidence. If the testimony could be summed up in two words, its the words
responsibility at every step. It all rests on mueller. Next, breaking news. The white house bracing for a stopping exodus. Are two Major Players on their way out . Plus, trump sounding off for the first time about oprahs possible president ial run. Oprah would be a lot of fun. I like oprah. I dont think shes going to run. Oprahs friend who has talked to her since her Golden Globes speech is my guest tonight, and singing the National Anthem. You can do it. We can do this. At fidelity, our online Planning Tools are clear and straightforward so you can plan for retirement while saving for the things you want to do today. Whoo while saving for the things coaching means making tough choices. Jim youre in but when you have high Blood Pressure and need Cold Medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. Coricidin hbp is the 1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief
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breaking news. A possible Staffing Exodus at the white house. Some top aides to the president may be leaving. Two of the most senior names on the list, hr mcmaster and white House Counsel don mcgahn. Those are very big names. An official telling cnn all white house aides have been told to make a decision. Make a decision, stay or go, before the end of january. Whether they intend to leave the administration or stay through the november midterm elections. Jeff zeleny broke the story. Hes outfront in washington. This is a big story. You have to make a decision now. Youre in or youre out. And mcmaster and mcgan are two big names. No question. Good evening. The reality is the white house, theres going to be some type of Staffing Exodus. Some type of a shift here happening in the coming days, the coming weeks. The question is who is going to be on that. Two people being discussed as
part of that, don mcgahn, the white house general counsel. Hes of course someone who has been at the president s side, giving him legal advice through the russia investigation, but that could be a reason some people watching this closely say, because hes in fact a witness in that list. He may not want to leave the cocoon of the white house, if you will, because of the russia investigation. But he still has been at odds with the president on some matters, so were told hes on the list, as is h. R. Mcmaster, the National Security adviser. He of course, is still a threestar army general. He would still be a Government Employee should he decide to leave at some point, perhaps in search of that fourth star. But of course, these two could also decide to stay, and the trump white house, its always unclear where you stand. But of the staffing changes, many have already announced their plans to leave. These two are among looming who people are watching carefully, erin. Inproblem, of course, if you were to look at vacancies like those, would be how to replace them. No question at all about this. This is not that unusual to have
staffing changes between year one and year two. The difference here in the trump white house, the challenge here is the bench for republicans on the outside is very limited. Who wants to come into this administration . Perhaps facing legal bills, perhaps facing other challenges here. So thats the question, how could anyone be replaced necessarily at high levels. There simply is not a deep bench. One person i talked to, a Senior Administration official who has decided to leave, they said has it only been a year . It seems like a decade. That is the mind set going into some of these staff changes here, as year one comes to a near close, erin. Thank you very much, jeff. Outfront now, anna palmer, senior washington correspondent for politico, and tim naftali, president ial historian. You hear the reporting. Obviously, these would be big losses. This is a time of transition. In any white house, you would see that. This white house is unlike any other. Youre talking about the general counsel and National Securityadviser. Whats i think were all looking for is if this presidency is capable of a reboot. And if theres a reboot, what direction is it going to go in . Because its clear that people like Senator Corker and senator graham believe they can somehow influence this administration to be more typically republican. But there are other people, and even though bannon is gone, there are other people who believe in the America First agenda. The America First agenda, the skepticism about trade, the meanness about immigration, that Doesnt Square with a lot of establishment republicans. So these changes in the white house will give us a sense of which direction the rebooted white house is planning to go. Which is a really important point, but also, anna, its pretty stunning here that theyre saying, okay, by the end of the month. Again, as i point out, jeff points out, you always coming into a midterm year, you would have transition, but nothing like this white house. I mean, someone was telling me their phone is ringing off the hook with people making calls to get out. Yes, i think we have seen a
couple of things that are very different in this white house. Its very typical that an administration would say you need to be on the team or be off the team because we need to go into this battle, and believe me, its going to be a battle for 2018 with the team thats going to stick around. You usually do not have these types of high level names that are being floated out there. H. R. Mcmaster has been floated out several times as almost losing his job before and hes managed to hang on. Thats the big question, are these really for real or are a lot of people saying hey, its time to go. This has been exhausting. Just to remind everyone, mcmaster, at one point, trump made him look ridiculous. The washington post, you remember that report, saying the president shared highly classified information with the Russian Ambassador and minister in the oval office. Mcmaster came out, i believe it was right before this program, came out to the microphones to speak to the world and the cameras, and this is the statement he made. The story that came out tonight as reported is false. I was in the room. It didnt happen. Only to be contradicted the next day by his own boss via tweet. Who said as president , i wanted to share with russia, which i have the absolute right to do facts pertaining, and went on. Mcmaster saying nothing was shared. The president saying, yeah, it was shared and i have the right to do it. This is the reality of what this job is. This is really important. You need a National Security adviser who both has the respect of the president and understands the process. Because what a very good National Security adviser does is presents options to a president. The best of them have done that. And basically clarified the options, made sure the bureaucracy has presented them in a way the president understands them and the president can make a decision. If the president doesnt respect the National Security advis