The situation room. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Breaking tonight, Jared Kushners lawyer confirming today just a little while ago that his client was interviewed a second time by the special counsels team. About the firing of james comey and about the Trump Campaign contacts with russia. Lowell also confirmed hes been granted full security clearance. Our correspondents and analysts are all standing by. First to the cnn chief political analyst gloria borger. I want you to listen to what abbe lowell told me in the last hour. Your client Jared Kushner sat down with the special counsel last month, the interview lasted several hours. What was the focus . So the focus of jareds cooperation has really been dictated by what the special counsel wants. Back in the fall they were interested in understanding some of the issues about general flynn and he answered all their questions then, and in april we basically followed their lead, and the topics were the appropriate topics. You know that theyre being thorough and looking at the campaign. And by campaign the issue theyre investigating is whether there was something called collusion, whatever that means to people. Theyre looking to see whether there was some undue influence put on by outside countries, particularly russia. And theyve been looking at some of the most inauguration issues, primarily the firing of james comey. And of course jared has had roles in the campaign. He was the point of contact for foreign officials, for that and also in the transition, and he was around the circumstances that were ultimately led to the firing of comey. So you can assume they know theyre topics and exhausted all of them. Gloria, whats your reaction . Well, my reaction is that they are being very specific with Jared Kushner because he was at the nexus of all of the things theyre investigating. So i thought abbe was pretty candid about what they were asking jared about. Particularly regarding his meetings with russians, i would assume. Dont forget he was the point person who we were told wanted to establish a back channel to russia. He was involved in the campaign and had meetings and also, of course, you know dealt with cambridge analytica, which has been something thats come up time and time again. And also of course the question of obstruction and the firing of james comey. Because we know Jared Kushner was in new jersey that weekend when the president made his fateful decision to fire the fbi director. Those close to jared say, you know, he just supported but had nothing to do with the decision. People who are not close to jared portray him as driving the decision to fire comey. So im sure that the special counsel wanted to wait awhile until he could ask jared, get other peoples stories about what occurred and then ask jared, kushner himself these questions. I asked abbe lowell if kushner a target of this investigation. Listen to his response. Has Jared Kushner been told hes a witness, a subject a target of the investigation in. The answer to that is that those are words you guys in the media report and make no sense to people who are practicing lawyers because these are legal terms. They are not. They exist in the legal term manual primarily for the purpose of telling people when they should be given their rights before going into a grand jury and getting a subpoena. I have done this for a bunch and i will tell you that todays witness is tomorrows indicted person. So i dont ask that question. What i do ask is whether is the focus of the investigation or whether somebody should be expecting more questions. These are titles handy for the media to use, so i didnt ask. The kinds of questions they asked, the kinds of statements he made reflects he understands hes a witness to the events. We simply dont use those terms, i never have. He just said he was a witness. What do you make of that . Its pretty significant. First of all, i think we should not lose sight of the fact that having Jared Kushners attorney come out like this and speak out like this, its rare we ever see him do this. In fact, i think this may be the second time ive seen him on television. I think they were at a point where they feel pretty comfortable that whatever Robert Mueller has been looking into as it relates to Jared Kushner, that perhaps is somewhat open. Of course as abbe there says, anything can change. The other thing that i think is important to note here is that clearly he thinks Jared Kushner was a witness here. I dont think he would have allowed the special counsel, the fbi agents and those prosecutors to sit there and grill Jared Kushner for some nine hours if he thought that he was a target of the investigation. I mean that would just pretty much be malpractice at abbe lowells part. Its clear he thinks hes a witness here. And we should remember what the russians here were doing, what they were running, what other countries here was trying to do was influence Jared Kushner, was to try to influence the campaign and eventually the president. There was, as weve reported there was outreach by many different countrys to Jared Kushner specifically with the russians and different people that had ties to Vladimir Putin to russia that were meeting with Jared Kushner. I mean he says it there himself, abbe lowell when he talks about undue influence by other countries. And those are the kind of questions, it seems, that were posed to Jared Kushner. Because thats essential to one of the main issues that Robert Mueller is still looking at. You know, gloria, abbe also confirmed that Jared Kushner finally received his permanent security clearance. This is something that had been delayed clearly for a long time. Right. As we all recall he had interim clearance longer than anyone at that level that we knew about had ever had. But then in the wake of the rob porter scandal when they sort of redid all the security procedures at the white house, Jared Kushner lost his clearance, interim clearance along with a lot of other people. And what abbe lowell was saying was aftergoing through the regular procedure, keeping his place in line, not jumping to the head of the line that jared was finally granted his security clearance. I mean, they have always maintained that the reason he did want get it in the first place was because of his complicated business, et cetera. But we also know there was a lot of controversy over the filing of jareds sf 86 forms which he had to amend multiple times because the contacts with the russians and then in fact the special counsel was apparently asking him about in april were not listed on his security clearance forms, and his lawyers have said that initially that was an oversight. But it was really a complication for him, which they had to straighten out. And it looks now as if they have. So in november he was questioned for two hours. Mostly about the firing of michael flynn, the National Security advisor. In april, seven hours. Now he gets his permanent security clearance. Walk us through the process. The fbi and the Intelligence Community make recommendations, but in the end its up to the white house to decide specifically, i assume the president could make that decision. Certainly. And the president wanted him to have security clearance. I think this was the big issue all along, and then folks like john kelly, obviously they instituted some new policies that the white house. But in the end really, wolf, if the Intelligence Community, if the fbi was really holding this back and felt there were still some issues with Jared Kushner shouldnt have security clearance, its highly likely he would not have security clearance. But ultimately, yes, the president would be the one to decide. And if the president says you need to figure out a way how to get Jared Kushner security clearance, then that would happen. But clearly, you know, if you listen to what abbe lowell says here they went through the proper security channels to get him security clearance. Senator jeff flake is about to join us as well. Were learning more right now about the president s soninlaw, senior advisor. The president is pouring fuel on a Conspiracy Theory at the same time the fbi, quote, spied on his president ial campaign. Just days after he here by demanded a fullscale investigation the president appears to have delivered a verdict himself tweeting about the unsubstantiated claim as though it were fact. Lets go to our senior White House Correspondent pamela brown. Pamela, the president is escalating this new line of attack against the russia investigation. Reporter yeah, thats right, wolf. In fact today hes calling it a big political scandal, not backing down from his claim that there was a politically motivated spy implanted in his campaign. Tonight President Trump going farther than ervin attacking americas Law Enforcement institutions. Accusing former president Obamas Justice department of spying on his president ial campaign. I hope its not so because if it is theres never been anything like it in the history of our country. If you look at clapper he sort of admitted they had spies in the campaign inadvertently yesterday. Reporter what clapper actually said wasnt that Trumps Campaign was spied on but that the fbi was in fact watching russia. Was the fbi spying on Trumps Campaign . No, they were not. They were spying on a term i dont particularly like, but on what the russians were doing, trying to understand were the russians infiltrating, trying to understand access and influence. Reporter the president seizing on the mischaracterizati mischaracterization nonetheless. Tweeting look how things go and end up getting caught in a major spy scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before. That after ordering the doj to open classified filed for congressional review. What i want is i want total transparency. Reporter fbi director christopher ray, director of National Intelligence dan coats, will brief just two lawmakers. Leaving democrats with no seat at the table and no way of knowing what information will be shared. My hope would be that any such briefing needs to be both bipartisan, and my hope and prayer is that the fbi or the department of justice would not in any way be forced to reveal confidential information. That would go against 75 years of practice. Reporter former fbi director james comey blasting the president for the order. Tweeting the fbis use of confidential human sources, the actual term is tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country. Adding, attacks on the fbi and lying about its work will do lasting damage to our country. Trumps response . Were not undercutting. Were cleaning everything up. This was a terrible situation. What were doing is were cleaning everything up. Its so important. What im doing is a service to this country. And i did a Great Service to this country by firing james comey. Reporter the whole episode has further soured an already complicated relationship between trump and Deputy Attorney general rod rosenstein. But both greeted each other warmly today at an immigration round table in new york where trump doubled down on calling ms13 gang members animals. I called them animals the other day and i was met with rebuke. They said theyre people. Theyre not people. These are animals. Reporter this as trumps attorneys try to narrow the scope of a potential interview between the president and special counsel Robert Mueller. Multiple sources familiar with the matter tell cnn trumps legal team wants any interview with mueller to only focus on matters occurring before trump became president , which would effectively eliminate questions related to obstruction of justice. Pamela brown with that report. Joining us now republican senator jeff flake, a key member of the judiciary relations. Let me get your quick ration to these new details we just heard from Jared Kushners lawyer. What did you think, first of all, to what abbe lowell, kushners lawyer told us . I dont have any window into that. I just know mueller is a professional. Hes doing things methodically as he should and i trust him. But i dont have any window into the kushner issue there. What do you think when the president uses the phrase, criminal deep state . Well, i think that is completely unfair and not good to sully our institutions like that without proof. And having a briefing that includes only republicans is no way to have transparency. If youre going to have transparency then involve both parties. So i hope that the president reconsiders. If theres a meeting or briefing just with republicans in there, it will do nothing to shed any light if light needs to be shed on this topic. And ive seen no evidence that there is spying on the Trump Campaign. Its just simply the fbi following leads on was russia involved or fought. And i think it was appropriate from what ive seen. If theres a briefing it ought to involve both parties. Yeah, a lot of people and several of your republican colleagues agree. You just delivered a pretty scathing speech at harvards class day. Our presidency has been debased by a figure who has a seemingly bottomless appetite for destruction and division and only a passing familiarity with how the constitution works. Congress is utterly supine in the face of the vandalism that flows from the white house daily. Simply put, we may have hit bottom. All right, so tell your viewers what made you say that . Well, i think that our presidency has been reduced. When we have the president , you know, calling for the jailing of defeated political opponents, calling his opponents losers and clowns. Then the presidency has been debased or reduced. Thats what it means. And for congress we need to stand up and reclaim our constitutional prerogative. Whether its passing Immigration Reform or authorization for use of force. We shouldnt continually say well pass what the president wants. Well pass what we think we should do and ask the president to sign it. He can either sign it or veto it. But weve given far too much and i think its time for the congress to stand up. The president is also making some very serious accusations that president obama, former cia director john brennen among others were abusing their power to go directly after him. Do republicans have a responsibility to challenge the president when he makes these kind of accusations . Yes, we do. And republicans have a responsibility when the president says im just going to brief republicans to say, no, thats not how it goes. Particularly when youre talking about defense, intelligence, National Security, those kind of issues. You know, we work in a bipartisan basis. Thats the only way to do it, particularly in the senate. And so we have a responsibility as republicans to say thats not how we do it, mr. President. Thats not how you should do it either. If the president does convince his supporters, his base that the entire justice department, the fbi, the Intelligence Community, they were all out to get him and that seems to be the narrative that hes trying to get sunk in what happens when we finally see Robert Muellers findings . Well, thats what i mention in my speech is seemingly bottomless appetite for division. To play off members of congress against each other, the parties against each other and to divide. And so i hope that when bob mueller continues his investigation, which i hope he does, and produces his report that its something that brings us together. And i dont know whats hes going to come up with, but i have confidence in him. And i think we all ought to have confidence in our system. Senator flake, thanks so much for joining us. Just ahead well have more on the breaking news. What were learning from Jared Kushners lawyer about his second interview with the special counsel. 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