His car to mow down people on a times square sidewalk. Todays eye opener, your world in 90 seconds. Well i respect the move but the entire thing has been a witch hunt and there is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign. The president dismisses an expanding russia probe. I think the shock to the body is, its now considered a criminal investigation. There has not been any evidence of any criminal activity. Did you at any time urge former fbi director james comey to close or to back down the investigation into Michael Flynn . No, no. Next question. Deadly accident in new yorks times square, a speeding out of control car plowed into pedestrians. I decided to cross the street and if i hadnt i would probably be dead. Sweden will discontinue its investigation regarding rape allegations against Julian Assange. Its really starting to spin really fast. A Severe Weather outbreak is threatening the southern plains. Huge upper level storms, you can see the jet stream screaming through the plains states. At least three people including a child fell from a malfunctioning ferris wheel northwest of seattle. Violent clashes broke out in greece as thousands took to the strees to protest new austerity measures. This boston subway station a woman falls on to the tracks passengers leap into action. All that matters. Its not every day you get photo bombed by a former leader of the free world. Yeah, i talked about whats been the difference hey. Photo bombed by president bush. He and obama are having a lot of fun with this. Ill tell you. On cbs this morning. The Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein sharing new details of the Russian Investigation in a private, all senate briefing. Last week, when the administration was looking for someone to blame for the comey firing, they tried to throw rosenstein under the bus. Forgetting that as deputy a. G. , hes actually the bus driver. Okay. Next stop, indictment avenue, here we go. This mornings eye opener is presented by toyota. Lets go places. Welcome to cbs this morning. Norah odonnell is off so we are thrilled to have alex wagner join us. Welcome. Good to be with you. We begin with breaking news about wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Sweden just dropped a longstanding rape investigation against him for the past five years he has claimed sanctuary at an embassy in london to avoid extradition. Assanges lawyer calls this a total victory, but assange believes hes still wanted by the u. S. For leaking classified information. Jonathan vigliotti is outside the embassy in london where assange is holed up. Good morning. Good morning. Assange has spent the past five years living inside this embassy. His lawyers calling todays decision a total victory, saying he is set to walk free. But the truth isnt that cut and dry. The u. S. Is considering their own charges against assange and here in the uk he faces a lesser charge of failing to appear before a court in 2012. If he does step out the metropolitan police say they will move in and arrest him. Julian assange posted this smiling image to social media moments after the swedish prosecutor announced they dropped the allegations against him. It brings to an end a case that started in 2010, when assange was accused of sexual assault, but refused to go to sweden to allow himself to be questioned, fearing that he would be extradited to the u. S. To face charges related to wikileaks 2010 publication of classified american documents. September of 2011 assange shared his mission with 60 minutes. If youre a whistleblower and you have material that is important we will accept it, defend you and publish it. Reporter in 2012 to avoid extradition to sweden assange jumped bail and took refuge in londons ecuadorian embassy. Despite his apparent seclusion, assange still found voice on the world stage. In 2016 wikileaks published thousands of emails from secretary clintons campaign, something that then candidate donald trump applauded. They want to distract us from wikileaks. Its been amazing whats coming out on wikileaks. Reporter the administration of now President Trump is seeking to clamp down on organizations like wikileaks. We will seek to put some people in jail. Reporter federal prosecutors are assessing whether to file charges related to the release of stolen u. S. Information. We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks. Reporter the 2010 document dump leaked tens of thousands of classified files and sensitive diplomatic cables and led to the arrest and imprisonment of chelsea manning. Manning was released from prison wednesday. Assange took to twitter just a short while ago saying he will not forgive or forget. Meanwhile, swedish prosecutors in a press conference earlier said technically they could reopen this case in the unlikely event that assange returns to the country for questioning. Jonathan vigliotti in london, thanks. Sources tell cbs news a relationship between the russia and the trump president ial campaign developed long before the election. Federal investigators are looking at several campaign associates. And there is new information this morning about former fbi director james comeys efforts to stay independent of the president. Jeff pegues is at fbi headquarters in washington, jeff, good morning. Good morning. Cbs news has learned during a period between election day and the inauguration, u. S. Intelligence officials were concerned about information being shared illegally with russian operatives for months investigators had been tracking communications that they felt were cause for alarm. Its a rigged system. Investigators are looking into whether the Trump Campaign may have been coordinated with the russians as early as april 2016. Sources say investigators found multiple contacts, considered a cause for concern. A former u. S. Government official tells cbs news, you could see the hallmarks throughout, including conversations picked up by electronic intercepts. The fbi is scrutinizing former Trump Campaign chairman paul manafort, Foreign Policy adviser carter page and former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. He saw his role as protecting the fbi from the white house. Reporter benjamin witis, a friend of former director comey, said comey told him how the president put him on the spot two days after the inauguration. He stands in the part of the room that is as far from trump as it is physically possible to be. Oh, and theres james. Trump singles him out in a fashion that he regarded as sort of, you know, calculated. Hes become more famous than me. Comey was completely disgusted by the episode. He thought it was an intentional attempt to compromise him in public. Reporter five days later on january 27th at a white house dinner the president allegedly asked comey if he would pledge his loyalty. On february 13th, flynn was forced to resign after misleading Vice President pence about his contacts with the russian ambassador. The next day, President Trump spoke to comey alone in the oval office. Comey wrote a memo detailing how he says trump indicated he wanted him to drop the federal investigation. In recent days, the pressure has been on the former fbi director to make those memos public and to testify again on capitol hill but some members of congress indicating that since the appointment of the special counsel, that may complicate efforts to bring comey back on capitol hill to answer questions again. Charlie . Thanks, jeff. President trump is fighting back against a special counsel who is taking over the russia investigation. The president said yesterday, the appointment of former fbi director robert mueller, quote, hurts our country terribly. He claimed it shows a very divided country. President trump leaves today for his first foreign trip in office. He lands in saudi arabia tomorrow. Over the next week he will also visit israel, the vatican, brussels and sicily. Margaret brennan will be traveling with the president but right now at the white house. Margaret, good morning. Good morning. Well at a sometimes chaotic joint press conference with colombias president , President Trump described himself as a victim of a witch hunt. There was no collusion and everybody, even my enemies, have said, there is no collusion. Reporter President Trump said the appointment of special counsel robert mueller, now leading the fbi probe. Russian election meddling is divides the country. I respect the move but the entire thing has been a witch hunt and there is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign. But i can always speak for myself and the russians, zero. Reporter the president sharply dismissed democrats claims he may have interfered in the investigation. I think its totally ridiculous. Everybody thinks so. Reporter mr. Trump strongly denied ever urging former fbi director comey not to pursue an investigation into former National Security adviser Michael Flynn, who admits misled the white house about his contacts with russia. Did you urge former fbi director in any way, shape, or form to close or to back down the investigation into Michael Flynn . And also, as you look back no. No. Next question. Reporter since dismissing comey last week, the president has personally interviewed several potential replacements. He announced thursday a decision was coming. Were very close to an fbi director. When are you going to name one . Soon. Reporter on capitol hill the possible nomination of former senator joe lieberman, a democrat turned independent, is not expected to gain bipartisan support. I think its a mistake to nominate anyone who has run for office. Reporter lieberman lost favor with democrats in part because of his 2008 president ial endorsement of republican senator john mccain. One of the most wonderful man i have ever known. He has enormous prestige and affection on both sides of the aisle. Reporter a new fbi director could be selected as soon as today before President Trump departs on that Big International trip. His nineday, five stop visit begins in saudi arabia and it includes a tour of the worlds great three religions. Margaret, what are the goals for this Big International trip, his first one . Well this has been months in the making. And it was intended to really try to reassure allies that President Trumps America First policy doesnt mean abandoning allies and that the president is going to make a big speech in saudi arabia, which the white house says is meant to unite the United States with its muslim allies against extremism, but the president will also then go on to italy, and to belgium. He will face some tough questions about plans to increase troop levels in afghanistan and whether he will stick with some of the International Agreements like the Iran Nuclear Accord and the paris Climate Change agreement and so far, the president doesnt have solid answers to those questions because the policies are still being formed. Margaret, thanks. Travel safe. The Deputy Attorney general apparently knew about President Trumps plan to fire fbi director james comey before writing a memo recommending his dismissal. Senators said Rod Rosenstein indicated that during a closeddoor briefing yesterday. His memo criticized comey for how he hand ltds the investigation handled the investigation of Hillary Clintons emails. The white house said President Trump based his decision to fire comey on that memo. Rosenstein will brief members of the house later today. Cbs news chief washington correspondent and face the nation moderator John Dickerson is with us. Good morning, charlie. Where are we in all of this. Oh, charlie. Charlie. Where are we . Okay. We are the president has created a condition where something he called a witch hunt has bipartisan support. Robert mueller has been praised by republicans and democrats. That track going on. The president is trying to get the track and his team are trying to get back to what they should be talking about, his domestic agenda, and hes about to take this big foreign trip theyve spent a lot of time working on and gives him an opportunity to put himself on the world stage and put forward his agenda for the world. Are we going to see three investigations at the same time, the house, senate and special counsel . Thats right. You have house and Senate Intelligence committee and the Judiciary Committee and they want a piece of this to talk to james comey, want to see memos, more than one, and hear from him as well and then, of course, you have the special counsel which will always be out there bouncing along new possible revelations, but also reminding everyone that the president has now has this narrative or conversations he had with comey which are different and separate and a different problem than the Russian Investigation. And tapes . Well are there tapes and how detail ready these memos. Because the key question is did the president know what he was doing or an inexperienced guy saying to comey can you stop being so focused on this. If its true from the papers director comey kept telling him we shouldnt be having these conversations and he persisted that gets you into a condition where the president is knowingly doing something rather than just being an inexperienced guy who doesnt know the particularities of the way youre supposed to behave. The president seems to be at odds of Rod Rosenstein in terms of the importance that Rod Rosenstein wrote in the firing of james comey. Well the rosenstein memo, which is the one that first the white house said this is why the president made his decision and now weve learned the president was going to do this anyway and the reason thats a problem is that its not only a ragged story, why did you do this, mr. President , but puts rosenstein on the hook a little bit. His reputation was referred to several times in explaining why this really had nothing to do with politics because he is supported by republicans and democrats. But then, when the it looks like the letter might be a cover for another reason that comey was fired, thats what creates credibility problems that goes outside the president and spreads to his administration. By all accounts this has been a bad week for the Trump Administration. What are you hearing from his supporters about the job hes doing . His supports feel hes doing a great job swinging and fighting for them. No chinks in the armor there . Not really. One, they see the challenges he has as more proof that theres this swamp hes trying to fight through. They hear him when he says, look, i got this deal with china to get beef sold in china for the First Time Since 2004. They think the press is against him and the reason this is important, is that its a feedback mechanism. The president hears this and says these are the people that supported me, got me into office, if im okay with them i can continue what im doing, forget all this. On the other hand within the white house we keep hearing reports there will be a staff shakeup. Right. And then talk to other people in the white house who say all those stories are overblown. In the old days covering administrations the minute they tell you theyre overblown is when the staff shakeups happen. Its hard to say but a lot of talk about that and from our own reporting and so i suspect something is coming. I never think its good when the word embattled is used in front of your name. The clock is ticking. Always good to see you. See john on sunday op face the nation. John talks with democratic senator Dianne FeinsteinRanking Member of the senate Judiciary Committee. The man accused of driving into a large crowd in new yorks times square is charged with seconddegree murder. Richard rojas is facing five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and 20 counts of attempted murder. The bronx man smashed into the busy area before noon killing a teenager. Police say he was going south on Seventh Avenue and made a youturn and jumped a curb and drove down the sidewalk for three blocks. Jericka duncan is near where his car came to a stop. Jericka, good morning. Good morning. You can see the car has been removed. One eyewitness said this car was barreling down the sidewalk like a bolling ball striking several people in its path and only came to a stop because of the steel barricades behind me. Some of the video were about to show you is graphic. Part of the rampage was captured on surveillance video. You can see the red honda quickly make a uturn and take off down the sidewalk. After mowing down 23 people, the car then crashed into barricades, meant to stop runaway vehicles. The girl next to me is on a ground in a heap and clearly dead. It was just speeding as fast as it could. Reporter alyssa elseman, an 18yearold girl visiting in frisch began was killed. Her 13yearold sister was also injured, but survived. We have multiple people run over. Multiple m ambulances. Reporter the alleged driver Richard Rojas tried to flee the scene, bystanders helped Police Capture him. They said get him. He got away from three of them and i tackled him. Reporter so far investigators do not believe it was an act of terrorism. That being said, we are reinforcing key locations around t