Organizations from a press briefing while selectively letting others in. Did President Trump order the punishment . Irony and insults, the president gives a speech slamming the news media and repeating the phrase, quote, enemy of the people. The president says no one should use unnamed sources, this on the same day that the white house held a press briefing attributed to unnamed officials. And nerve agent murder, did north korea use the deadly est of all chemical nerve agents, a substance banned around the world, to kill the half brother of the dictator kim jongun . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in tthe situation room. President trump on the offensive, lashing out at both the fbi and the news media. He used twitter to slam the fbi saying you cant stop National Security leakers who he says are giving classified information to the media. But the white house is also playing defense after cnn was the first to report that top officials asked the fbi to knock down media reports that Trump Associates were in frequent contact with russian officials during the election campaign. The white house says it wasnt trying to pressure the fbi, but House Democratic leader nancy pelosi says chief of staff Reince Priebus, and im quoting her now, committed an outrageous breach of the fbis independence and shes now asking for a formal investigation. The president is also keeping up his attacks on the media and railing against what he calls fake news and again using the phrase, quote, enemy of the people. And in a stunning break with accepted longstanding practice, the white house, without any explanation, barred cnn, the New York Times, and other major News Organizations from a briefing by the press secretary sean spicer. And a stunning new twist in the brother of the half brother, i should say, of the north korean dictator kim jongun, official in malaysia say he was killed by the deadly est of all chemical nerve agents, vx, a substance banned internationally. Ill speak with Republican Congressman jim heinz of the Intelligence Committee and our correspondents analysts and gifts are standing by with full coverage of the days top stories. Lets begin with the white house denial of any wrongdoing in its conversation with the fbi as democrats call for an investigation. Our justice correspondent pamela brown has new details on this cnn exclusive. Pamela, what are you learning . Reporter well, wolf, today the white house isnt denying cnns exclusive reporting that it requested the fbi to speak out against report about trumps associates and their contacts with russians. But it pushed back against any suggestion it put pressure on the fbi to do so, saying the contact over the report was made by the fbi first. Today the white house is saying it did nothing wrong after cnns exclusive report that the fbi refused the white houses request to knock down media reports about contacts between donald Trump Associates and russians during the campaign. A Senior Administration official says the unusual white house request came only after the fbi approached white house chief of staff Reince Priebus to say a story in the New York Times as not true. The white house explained its actions by saying the conversation happened on february 15th after a 7 30 a. M. Meeting led by priebus. Fbi Deputy Director andy mccabe asked priebus for five minutes alone after the meeting end according to officials. New york times calls it total bs, he asked, can we do anything about it to set the record straight . And followup phone calls Administration Official say both mccabe and fbi director james comey declined priebuss request but did tell him he could cite top intelligence official to say there is nothing to the story. Ive talked to the top levels of the Intelligence Community and they have assured me that that New York Times story was grossly overstated and inaccurate and totally wrong. Reporter the back and forth between the white house and the fbi raises questions about whether either side violated Longstanding Justice Department procedures. It is very, very important that you limit contacts between the white house and the department of justice for two reasons. One, you dont want actual pressure placed upon the department of justice in connection with the investigation or prosecution. And two, you dont even want the appearance of influence. Reporter according to d. O. J. Memos, communication should happen if it is for the performance of president s duties and appropriate from a Law Enforcement perspective. It precludes them from talking directly about pending investigations. Typically the contact from the department of justice side comes from the attorney general or the Deputy Attorney general. It would be unusual for the fbi director or the Deputy Director to have conversation with white house officials without the presence of the attorney general or the Deputy Attorney general because they report up to the attorney general. Reporter with the unusual communication now under scrutiny, President Trump railed against the leaks that have plagued his administration, writing on twitter, the fbi is totally unable to stop the National Security leakers. Classified information is being given to media that could have a devastating effect on u. S. Find now. And he accused the press of fabricating stories. Im against the people that makeup stories and makeup sources. They shouldnt be allowed to use sources unless they use somebodys name. Reporter now, the white house denies talking about the white house investigation specifically saying the discussion only centered on the reports and the u. S. Official says that the Deputy Director andy mccabe did not talk specifics about the case. Meantime cnn has learned or in a classified briefing on capitol hill fbi director comey did not dismiss the existence of any communications between russians and trump advisors. He did, however, take issue with the characterization of those communications as involving russian intelligence as the New York Times reported, according to a congressional source. Wolf . All right, pamela, thanks for the good reporting. Our breaking news after the president used the speech today to step up his attacks on the news media, the white house blocked cnn, the New York Times and other major News Organizations from a briefing by the press secretary sean spicer. Cnn White House Correspondent sara murray was among those excluded from that briefing. Shes joining us now from the white house. What happened, sara . You were standing outside his office when all the reporters were supposed to go in and they barred you from going to that briefing . Reporter thats right, wolf. We were waiting for an offcamera gaggle with the White House Press secretary. We were told it would be an expanded pool. We werent told what that meant. Apparently they created a list of reporters they wanted to speak with today. White House Press Secretary want today speak with. They said cnn was not on the list. Its not out of the ordinary for Administration Officials to maybe have gaggles with smaller groups of reporters, for instance, they might invite a group of columnists in for a meeting. What is unusual was the way they selected their group of reporters. They hand picked certain media out lets. For instance, every other Major Television network except for cnn was allowed in. They also allowed in a number of news outlets that are more conservative leaning and more favorable to the president including breitbart, one American News network, and the washington times. But they included major newspapers like the New York Times. They excluded, sorry, excuse me, major newspapers like the New York Times and like politico and ive asked a number of white house aides in the Communications Shop why they hand picked these news outlets. So far they have been unable or unwilling to answer that question. Its pretty shocking when you think about it. The president today once again called the media fake news, and the enemy of the American People. Update our viewers on that. Reporter well, wolf, the president was clearly speaking to his base at this conservative Conference Today and he served up exactly the red meat he wanted they wanted to hear before he ran through a number of his policy priorities. He took some shots at the media. Today the president leveraging his in front of a friendly audience to further escalate his attacks. I want you all to know we are fighting the fake news. Its fake, phony, fake. [cheering and applauding] a few days ago i called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. They are the enemy of the people. Reporter after an extended opening against the media. It doesnt represent the people, it never will represent the people, and were going to do something about it. Reporter donald trump touted his president ial achievements so far. Basically all ive done is keep my promise. Reporter and defended his administrations plans to crackdown on undocumented immigrants living in the u. S. As we speak today, immigration officers are finding the gang members, the drug dealers, and the criminal aliens and throwing them the hell out of our country. [cheering and applauding] reporter as trump ticked through his top agenda item he revived his Campaign Rallying Cry and vowed to build a wall along the southern border. Were building the wall. Were building the wall. In fact its going to start soon. Reporter today u. S. Customs and Border Protection announced it will soon ask for design proposals for prototype wall structures near the u. S. Mexico border. And after the administrations first effort to temporarily ban immigration from some muslim majority countries was blocked by the courts, today trump previewed a new executive order. We are going to keep radical islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. [cheering and applauding] we will not be deterred from this course. And in a matter of days we will be taking brandnew action to protect our people and keep america safe. Reporter all of this as trump offered clues about his first president ial budget. The president has insisted he would cut spending, but today he pointed to a dramatic increase in military spending. Were also putting in a massive budget request for our beloved military. [cheering and applauding] it will be one of the greatest military buildups in american history. Reporter and he vowed yet again to repeal and replace obamacare. Dismissing the outcry members of congress have seen back home in their districts. The people that youre watching, theyre not you. Theyre largely, many of them are the side that lost, you know, they lost the election. Its like how many elections do we have to have . They lost the election. [ laughter ] but i always say, obamacare doesnt work. Reporter for trump, the event today was something of a victory lap. While his 2011 speech at the conservative Political Action conference previewed his political convictions, he snubbed the event last year. What a difference the year makes. The Dishonest Media will say he didnt get a standing ovation. Reporter now, while the president went over a number of his priorities at cpac today, he didnt give a lot of details about the time line or, for instance, what he will do on tax reform or on Health Care Repeal and replace. Hes speaking to Congress Next week, wolf, so it will be interesting to see if he offers more meat on the bones in terms of substance when he talks to them. Back to you. That speech before Congress Tuesday night. Sara murray, thank you very much. Joining us now democratic congressman jim hiemz of connecticut, hes a member of the house Intelligence Committee. Congressman, thanks for joining us. Hello, wolf. Let me get your Quick Reaction first to this truly unprecedented move by the white house today, blocking cnn, the New York Times, the los angeles times, politico, buzz feed, other major News Organizations from a briefing. Whats your reaction to that . A well, this is all part of the larger effort President Trump is doing to try to isolate and attack all of those whose job is fundamentally to get at the truth. And lets face it, i understand that hes called the media the enemy of the people. Theres a reason that freedom of the press is the First Amendment to the constitution because its essential to a functioning democracy. Though the media doesnt get it right all of the time, their job, by the way, like the fbis job, like the cias job is fundamentally about getting to the truth. But the truth is so poisonous to this administration that they will continue to try to raise doubts and to isolate and to criticize Anyone Around them who speaks the truth. Lets turn to the other top story, the white house says that white house official didnt do anything wrong when they asked the fbi to knock down reports of contacts between trump aides during the campaign and russian officials. You sit on the house Intelligence Committee which is already investigating links between russia and President Trumps fired National Security advisor Michael Flynn. Should your committee begin digging into this as well . Yes, we should. And i mean, the idea that they didnt do anything wrong is just absurd. There is a memo from may of 2009 that makes it very clear that people in the fbi and Justice Department in general are not to have this kind of contact with the white house. People should think a little bit about what it is that the white house and the chief of staff asked the fbi to do. They said help us knock down this story. They asked for a very political thing there. And if you step back away from this, wolf, you have to ask yourself the question. If theres no there there, a the white house has repeat lid claimed and shown to be wrong, Michael Flynn was only calling the ambassador to wish him a Merry Christmas and that turns out to be false, in a long line of falsehoods, if in fact the white house is correct and that there was no contact with russians and there is just nothing to see there, they should be out in front saying, lets do this investigation, lets show everything, lets get the documents out, lets move on so we can Start Talking about infrastructure. But of course theyre acting in exactly the opposite way. Theyre doing everything they can to dee legitimatize the study to say that the truth doesnt matter and continuing to be dishonest about it. That is not the activities of a group of people who, in fact, dont have anything to hide. Should the white house chief of staff Reince Priebus face some sort of discipline for his contacts with the fbi during this pending investigation . Well, i think we need to hear reassurances from the white house that this will never happen again. And, you know, lest my friend on the other side of the aisle need a reminder how serious this is, it was way, way, way back maybe three or four months ago when they were out of their mind with outrage that bill clinton got on the plane with then attorney general lynch. This is an absolute catastrophe. Now you have the boss, the president s chief of staff not deliberately denying it, but trying to spin the fbi, no big deal, nothing to see here. It is a big deal and we need assurances from the white house that they will do what they would do if there was in fact nothing to hide, which is to say were cooperating fully with all of these investigations and we will keep our hands off of it until the investigations are done and the American People know what happened with the russians, what happened with Michael Flynn, and all of the things that these investigations need to get to the bottom of the attorney general Jeff Sessions as you know very early supporter of President Trumps election campaign, constant fixture out there on the campaign trail, given his political connections to the president , should he recuse himself from any investigation into these ties between Trump Campaign official and russian officials . You know, this is the classic situation where you would have a recusal, where you would have the appointment of a special