Overseas group that promote abortion. Later today we expect to see votes on two of President Trumps cabinet picks. Mike pompeo for cia director and former exxon ceo, Rex Tillerson for secretary of state. Jeff zeleny is standing by. What do we expect to hear from the new White House Press secretary, sean spicer, at his first full scale news briefing . He made a statement on saturday. Didnt take reporters questions. We understand he will take reporters questions today. Reporter that is our understanding, wolf. We expect sean spicer to try and get back to the business of what this president wants to do in his first 100 days talking about his agenda and three executive orders he signed this morning. But, wolf, theres no question that so many questions still linger about sean spicers last appearance in a Briefing Room on saturday evening when the president asked them to talk about crowd size in the festivities on friday and then at the march on saturday. So sean spicer certainly has some questions to keep answering about that. There is no doubt, wolf, this white house wants to pivot forward and talk about the agenda, talk about what the president intends to do here, but its a bit of all eyes are on sean spicer, a longtime Republican Hand here in washington, but hes a fairly new member of the trump family, if you will, the professional family here. This is certainly a big opportunity for him to change the conversation and answer some questions, which they have not been so forthcoming in doing. Whats the significance, jeff, of the tpp action, the Transpacific Partnership action taken by the president today . Reporter its not surprising at all. This is something the president campaigned on throughout his campaign and throughout the rustbelt states of ohio and michigan and beyond. It is a significant decision and its one that splits this Republican Party. Senator john mccain, the arizona republican, he said it was a bad idea. A bad move to withdraw from the Transpacific Partnership agreement with 12 countries here. It really resets the trade discussion here in the u. S. And it creates a division inside this Republican Party here so its likely one of the topics that will come up when the leaders of congress of both sides come here to the white house this evening for their first oneonone meeting inside the white house of President Trump. Jeff zeleny reporting. Well have live coverage of sean spicer, the White House Press secretarys first real briefing, q and a with reporters. Thats scheduled to start later this hour. Youre looking at live pictures coming in from the Briefing Room right now. Thats coming up. Well have live coverage. New reporting coming in from cnns jim sciutto and evan perez regarding the investigation into russian efforts to try to influence the u. S. Government and scrutiny of calls between top trump official and the Russian Ambassador here in washington. Our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto and justice correspondent evan perez are both joining us right now. Jim, bring us up to speed on what you have learned. Wolf, this is what we know. U. S. Investigators are scrutinizing late december phone calls between mike flynn, president Donald TrumpsNational Security adviser and russias ambassador to the u. S. This is part of a broader counterintelligence investigation of russian activities here in the u. S. Law enforcement and intelligence officials are telling cnn. The calls were captured by routine u. S. Eavesdropping targeting the Russian Diplomats according to the intelligence and Law Enforcement officials but Officials Say that some of the content of the conversation drew enough potential concerns that investigators are still looking into the discussions. This amid a broader concern about russian intelligence gathering activities here in the United States. The officials all stressed that so far there has been no determination of wrongdoing and, wolf, we should note that it was the wall street journal that was first to report that these calls were being investigated. Jim, standby for a second. Evan, why was the u. S. Monitoring these phone calls to begin with . Wolf, the calls were heard in the course of Monitoring Communications of Russian Diplomats according to the u. S. Officials weve talked to. The u. S. Intelligence agency routinely captured conversations of foreign officials including those based in the United States. We know the fbi and the intelligence agencies briefed members of the Obama White House team before president Obama Left Office about the flynn phone calls with the Russian Ambassador according to sources weve talked to. In a statement sunday night, a spokesman for President Trump said the white house has absolutely no knowledge of any investigation or even a basis for such an investigation. Wolf . Jim, do we know anything about the actual calls and why theyre now getting this attention . Among the communications that are now being scrutinized, were calls between russians ambassador to the u. S. And flynn on december 29th. Calls coming on the very same day the u. S. Announced further sanctions against russia and also the expulsion of a group of 35 Russian Diplomats that the u. S. At the time accused of spying for russia. Evan, does the donald trump white house, the team there, have anything to say about these reports as you noted first through the wall street journal and now this new report from cnn . Wolf, these calls first came to light several weeks ago in a Washington Post column by dav david ignasius. The call focused on the logistics of connecting trump and russian president Vladimir Putin after the inauguration for a phone conversation. We also know that according to Trump Officials, the two have communicated before that including in the wake of the shooting of the Russian Ambassador in turkey in which flynn expressed condolences. The men also exchanged holiday pleasantriies via text message. This is according to Trump Officials themselves trying to explain the reason for these communications. Thanks for that reporting. Meanwhile, President Trump has come under some fire for an event over the weekend. It was a visit and speech over at cia headquarters across the potomac river. The president said he thought it went very well tweeting had a great meeting at cia headquarters yesterday. Packed house. Paid Great Respect to wall. Long standing ovations. Amazing people. Win. Here with us is robert wright, contributing writer for the new yorker. Thank you for joining us. You wrote a piece about the visit that he had in the new yorker magazine in which the president said he paid Great Respect but your piece was critical of how this all unfolded. Tell us why . The president made passing mention of the Memorial Wall where they have stars engraved in a white marble wall that shows where all of the american intelligence agents have died but he never went into specifics. He spent far more time talking about the size of the inaugural crowd and how many Time Magazine covers he had and how smart he was and how the genius of his uncle who taught at m. I. T. And the Intelligence Community was frankly astonished and angry that there was no reverence to the work that american intelligence has provided in preventing plots carried out by al qaeda or isis. That the personal sacrifices so many of the people there have made and so there was a sense that this was really a blown opportunity to repair a relationship that had disintegrated terribly during the campaign when the president had charged the Intelligence Community with leaking information about russian met e meddling in the u. S. Election and suggesting behavior, improper behavior by the president. Robin, this is very personal for you because you were in beirut in 1983 when the u. S. Embassy was blown up and there were several cia officials who were killed in the process. Officials that you knew including american diplomats as well. The 1983 bombing was largest loss of u. S. Intelligence life in its history still to this day. The bombing was the first suicide bombing against an American Target and this changed the nature of warfare. This is the first suicide bombing ever witnessed. It was devastating blow and the president not to have mentioned any of the cases, its a little bit like going to the tomb of unknown soldier and not mentioning those who died during world war ii. It was a very, very sad moment indeed. There is 117 stars on that Memorial Wall when you walk in to the cia. So many of them since 9 11, earlier there were relatively few. Onethird since 9 11. Theyve been so critical in preventing some of the attacks. Theres a book on a ledge underneath the stars that has the years people died, but many of these agents are not known. Theyre still unanimous. You find a new ledger but many have not received acknowledgement. He didnt acknowledge the overwhelming commitment and hard work and those that died. He was applauded when he was there. He got a standing ovation. You have spoken to cia officials since the event. Whats been the reaction youve been getting . Well, senior former officials have called it devastating, horrible, a missed opportunity to repair relations to establish, you know, to move forward and understanding that the president is going to rely heavily on the 16 u. S. Intelligence agencies to be the eyes and ears of the United States government around the world to try to prevent the attacks and find out whats going on the ground and what are threats and how are they evolving . Many of the people who attended were selfselected volunteers who were asked at the last minute a lot of applause was generated by a contingent he brought with him. There was a general discontent among those who knew some of the agents who have died and who have worked at the highest levels of the Intelligence Community and went on record in saying very critical things about this tragedy the former cia director, john brennan, who just retired on friday called it despicable. Robin wright, thank you for joining us. Thank you for your great reporting over all of these years as well. Up next, members of the u. S. Senate take up two of Donald Trumps cabinet nominees today. Well talk to one democrat who is voting against Rex Tillerson, Donald Trumps nominee to become the next secretary of state and later this hour, the first full White House Press briefing looking at live pictures coming in from the west wing of the white house. The press Secretary Sean Spicer will make a statement presumably and then answer reporters questions. Well bring it to you live as soon as it starts. Stay with us. Rers, the search for relief often leads here. Today theres drugfree aleve direct therapy. A high intensity tens device that uses technology once only in doctors offices. For deep penetrating relief at the source. Aleve direct therapy. And my life is basketball. West, but that doesnt stop my afib from leaving me at a higher risk of stroke. Thatd be devastating. I took warfarin for over 15 years. 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And if you have more than one Liberty Mutual policy, you qualify for a multipolicy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Take a look at this. Live pictures coming in from the White House PressBriefing Room in the west wing. Sean spicer will take reporters questions for the first time. Open with a statement or two and then start answering reporters questions. Well have live coverage. That starts later this hour. Meanwhile, the Senate ForeignRelations Committee votes on the secretary of state nominee and its unlikely democrats will have the votes to block Rex Tillersons nomination. Democratic senator Jeff Berkeley of oregon is joining us. Hes a member of the Foreign Relations committee. How are you going to vote . Im going to vote against him. Why . Because he came in and testified as an oil executive. He made no apologies for exxon circumventing u. S. Sanctions on iran and russia. And that was very, very disturbing. He proceeded to show no moral compass in returning oil reve e revenues to the people of that country. And even things like killings in the philippines. He said i had no knowledge or no concerns or dont have an opinion and really to come into the leadership of the Foreign Policy of the United States of america, you need to have a moral compass. There was concern expressed by senators Lindsey Graham and john mccain, but both of them yesterday came out in favor of the confirmation. Listen to this. I will be voting in favor of his nomination. This wasnt an easy call. I also believe that when theres doubt, the president , the incoming president gets the benefit of the doubt. This is why im voting for him. He said that we have to have a Foreign Policy that engages the world. We need to lead from the front. Senator marco rubio is also concerned. He posted a statement on facebook giving the uncertainty that exists both at home and abroad about the direction of our Foreign Policy, it would be against our National Interest to have this confirmation unnecessarily delayed or embroiled in controversy. Therefore, despite my reservations, ill support mr. Tillersons nomination. Hes going to be confirmed, right . The fact that all three individuals had substantial concerns tells you a lot. Lindsey graham and john mccain have been very tough on russia. Theyve been very tough on iran and involved in sanctions on both ends and the fact that tillerson comes from a direction where they were involved on the opposite side of that argument as a company and really didnt make an explanation of that in committee, thats why these individuals are so concerned. They much prefer to have someone else but in the end theyre not going to tell the president to withdraw his nomination. They have 52 republicans in the senate. 48 democrats. They have the votes. Maybe some democrats will vote with the republicans on this one as well. Well see. So hes going to be confirmed. Lets talk a little bit about the president s decision, the executive order today, to withdraw from negotiations from the Transpacific Partnership. Whats your reaction on that . Its way past time to drive a stake through the heart of the tpp. I applaud him on that. Everything else hes doing is not for