Good afternoon. On this memorial day and welcome to the lead. Go the im jim sciuto in for jake tapper. President trump joined americans in paying respects to the military men and women who gave their lives for this country at a ceremony at the tomb of the unknowns in Arlington National cemetery. It was the president s first public event since returning from his first foreign trip but behind the scenes and naturally on twitter the president has been busing, tempting some trumpstyle damage control. Cnn correspondent jeff zeleny joins us now. Tell us whats happening inside the white house. Reporter the white house was hoping the president would return back from his trip abroad with the wind at his back and finally the chance to change the subject. That frankly has not happened. The russia investigation remains at the center of everything here in the west wing, even as the president had a commander in chief moment at Arlington National cemetery cemetery. Present. Reporter President Trump paying respects today at Arlington National cemetery. On his first memorial day as commander in chief, the president honoring heros from wars gone by. We pay tribute to those brave souls who raced into gunfire, roared into battle and ran into hell to face down evil. Reporter and fighting in conflicts still today. Today a new generation of american patriots are fighting to win the battle against terrorism. Reporter with the sound of taps echo akrog the grounds at arlgton the president and his commanders looking on, a poignant reminder of a decision hes facing, whether to accept their recommendation to send more troops to afghanistan. The president making an impromptu stop at section 60, the final resting place for americans killed in iraq and afghanistan. He visited the grave of Homeland Security secretary john kellys son killed seven years ago in Afghanistans Helmand province. The afghanistan decision and a growing lives items on the president s agenda have been overshadowed and in some cases complicatesed by the internal chaos at the white house. Jared kushner, the president s Senior Adviser and soninlaw, is under fire for trying to establish a secret channel of communications with russian officials during the transition. Hes willing to discuss the matter with the fbi and congress, officials tell cnn, but the scrutiny is threatening to upend his first among equal status in the west wing. Trying to move beyond the crisis the president is still weighing a reshuffling of his staff, although aides tell cnn nothing is imminent. The president making clear his annoyance in a storm of weekend tweets. It is my opinion that many. Leaks coming out of the white house are fabricated lies made up by the Fake News Media. He added this. The Fake News Media works hard at disparaging and demeaning my use of social media because they dont want america to hear the real story. After returning from his First International trip, the white house hoped the president s time abroad would change the subject. I think we hit a home run no matter where we are. Reporter but tonight his meetings with World Leaders also being seen in a harsher light with german chancellor Angela Merkel bluntly saying the u. S. Is no longer a reliable partner. The times where we could completely count on others, they are over to a certain extent. Ive experienced this in the last few days, and that is why i can only say that we europeans must really take our fate into our own hands. Reporter now those words from Angela Merkel there were not the only words she had for the president. Jim, she tried in meeting after meeting as did other leaders at the nato summit and then again at the g7 to urge this president to stay engaged in the paris climate agreement. Were told that decision is going to come sometime this week. All signs are here that the u. S. Is poised to pull out of that. The president has not made his final plan yet, but, jim, if that should happen, that raises more concerns among many here, including some republicans in washington, about the u. S. Position and strength in the world. Jim . That would be a truly remarkable move. Jeff zeleny, thanks very much. More now on that deepening crisis here at home, a crisis which is truly hitting home now for President Trump. With the socalled secretary of everything, mr. Trumps soninlaw Jared Kushner, getting an even closer look. Tonight the president s soninlaw Jared Kushner is the subject of intense scrutiny after a source tells cnn that he requested Backchannel Communications with the kremlin this. Happened last december when kushner met with russias ambassador to the u. S. During the transition and now some democrats are challenging kushners role in the white house. I do think there ought to be a review of his security clearance to find out whether he was truthful, whether he was candid. If not, then theres no way he can maintain that kind of a clearance. Reporter according to the Washington PostRussian AmbassadorSergey Kislyak told his superiors kushner wanted to use russian diplomatic facilities for an offtherecord Communications System to evade u. S. Intelligence monitoring, a move that even kislyak thought was riskry. Sources tell cnn that kushner sought the secure channel for him and now former National Security adviser Michael Flynn to discuss military operations in syria and other matters with Russian Military officials. Former fbi director robert mueller, the man now leading the investigation into whether Trumps Campaign associates collude were russia, spoke at his granddaughters commencement today where he urged students never to sacrifice their integrity. If you are not honest, your reputation will suffer, and whats lost, a good reputation can never ever be regained. Reporter his first public speech since his appointment, but over the weekend others in the Intelligence Community raised the alarm. Former cia and nsa director Michael Hayden called kushners attempted backchannel unprecedented. This is off the map, michael. I know of no other experience like this in our history. Reporter former dni James Clapper raised similar concerns. My dashboard warning light was clearly on, and i think that was the case with all of us in the Intelligence Community. Reporter Homeland Security secretary retired general john kell, however, called such clandestine communications perfectly normal. Its both normal in my opinion and acceptable. Any way that you can communicate with people, particularly organizations that may not be particularly friendly to us is a good thing. Reporter for Jared Kushner new contacts with russia keep surfacing. In addition to the december meeting with kislyak reuters reports that kushner had several previously undisclosed communications with the Russian Ambassador, including two phone calls prior to the election last november. In response kushners lawyer tells cnn, quote, mr. Kushner participated in thousands of calls in this time period. He has no recollection of the calls as described. As you just heard, secretary kelly says that keeping open Communication Channels with russia is actually a good thing. A former cia and nsa director says the way Jared Kushner might have gone about it is, quote, off the map. General Michael Hayden joins us after the break. If you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, isnt it time to let the real you shine through . Introducing otezla, apremilast. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. Some people who took otezla saw 75 clearer skin after 4 months. 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Priority you then there are moments it become clear, together always was, and always will be, a better way. She switched to the best deal in America Total wireless. She gets the largest, most dependable 4g lte network, and 5 gigs of high speed data for 35 a month. Make it rain, beth. Welcome back to the lead. Sticking with politics, the fast moving investigation into the Trump Campaign and its contacts with the russians. Now the president s soninlaw is under fbi scrutiny. New reports say that Jared Kushner sought to set up a secret backchannel with the russians during the president ial transition of the joining me now is director Michael Hayden with the cia and nsa and now a cnn National Security analyst. Backchannel with russia, kushner a Family Member and and someone else is president , is that illegal . No. They thought Jared Kushner was a good person and has the best of intentions. I have no argument with that. I just thought that was bad idea, all right. What was he trying to accomplish by creating indebtedness to someone like the russians whom we knew at that time had intervened in our electoral process. I mean, the disregard for the routine practices, i dont want to say contempt, but it might have been for the administration that they were replacing. How about the suspicion of the Intelligence Community on which they were going to have to rely. All of that have seemed to go into this decision to count on the russians for this secret backchannel and backchannels are fine. Ive been a backchannel, all right, but you dont do it when youre not the government, and i dont think you do it when you use your adversarys communication system. Naivety. And chaos, maybe a little arrogance and hubris. We at the same time had the president with in europe his first foreign trip and goes to nato and ears perking up from european leaders and what is he going to say about nato . Were hearing disappointment. Youre a former Intelligence Office and look at Jared Kushners behavior here plus other things weve heard about Trump Campaign contacts with the russians. Youve pieced together incomplete information many times in your life. What is your best read . Do you think it was intentional, like intentional collusion or something more innocent . Im not prepared to say it was intentional collusion. Ive not seen any evidence of that. Peoples whose judgment i trust, James Clapper, john brennan, said by the time they left there was no evidence of clowe lose, but naivety, disrespect for established process eds, actually lead you into a position where you could be exploited by an adversary, and we might find that to be true. The thing is clapper and others have said when they left no evidence, but now you hear and the once fbi director as recently as march in sworn testimony and our reporting are and you hear from both republicans and democrats on relevant committees that its still an open question, the question of collusion. Look, theres enough circumstantial evidence, enough kind of difficulttoexplain contacts, jim, that this does deserve a full airing, but im not predicting it an outcome here. Frankly, you know, the most likely outcome from my judgment is a cloud with people who thought this was mal intended at the beginning, being convinced and those who thought it was innocent and naive will also be convinced. Ultimately unsatisfying conclusion so lets talk about europe a little bit. Genuine alarm that youre seeing in public comments, not just in private comments, from the leader of germany, one of americas closest allies, from the leader of france, one of americas closest allies. How important was it that President Trump would not say those simple words, that we stand with you, article 5 of the nato. We will come to your common defense. So for someone like me thats a real big deal but lets be fair to the president , all right. He campaigned in a certain way, and hes fulfilling many of his campaign promises. There was ansightful comment my saying people like me took him literally but not seriously. All the people who voted him took him seriously but not literally, but he appears to be governing literally, or at least governing literally, jim in, Foreign Affairs where the president has an awful lot more running room than they do in Domestic Affairs and i think a core of the Trump Campaign, and he said this throughout the campaign, or at least his comments reflected this, that american alliances were a burden, not a strategic advantage, so literally on day one, he rips up the Transpacific Partnership which is a Broad Strategic Alliance i think masquerading as an economic deal and then he goes to europe and doesnt say the kinds of things that you would normally expect an american president to say, and the europeans noticed. Most interestingly, a lot of his cabinet officials and his Vice President have said the things that the europeans expect americans to say, but he refused to do it, and now youve got this response. I think genuine heartfelt response from the europeans. Genuine alarm, almost palpable coming from those public comments. General hayden, thanks so much as always. Thanks, jim. Hours before the u. S. Military tests a system designed to intercept a north Korean Missile the communist nation is scaring the nation once again. Now someone at least have demanding concrete action. And then tiger woods arrested and in trouble off the links again. Details on the charges that he will face ahead. dog mmm. This new beneful grain free is so healthy. Oh farmraised chicken thats good chicken. Hm . Here come the accents. Blueberries and pumpkin. Wow. And spinach that was my favorite bite so far. avo new beneful grain free. Out with the grain, in with the farmraised chicken. Healthful. Flavorful. Beneful. 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. Oh no, looks like somebody needs a new network. 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