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Woodruff President Trumps cabinetinthe making is reeling tonight from another body blow. Andrew puzder withdrew today as the nominee for labor secretary, two days after National Security adviser Michael Flynn resigned under fire. Our Lisa Desjardins is at the capitol, where shes covering this story. Well, it was republicans. They did not have enough republican votes to pass this to have this confirmation happen and it was fastmoving today, judy. Just this morning, john cornyn who was in charge of the vote counting for republicans here, told reporters he would be confirmed. Just hours later, they didnt have the votes. Why . I spoke to one of the senators, jeff flairk who was not yet a yes vote, and he said the main problem was puzders revelation that he had hired an undocumented worker and had failed to pay backtaxes until he was nominated. Flake told me, judy, for a labor secretary you just cant ignore that. Woodruff so, lisa, with puzder now out of the picture, were hearing from republicans, from the white house, that they think democrats are slow rolling all its rest of the president s cabinet nominees. Where does all that stand . Thats right. This is the slowest confirmation process in history but democrats point out that, in fact, many of trumps nom dmeez not get their paperwork in as quickly as in in the past. Lets look at where we are right now in the general. So far, senate has confirmed 12 of President Trumps cabinet nominees. One has been withdrawn, as we mentioned, mr. Pruz dertonight. Jude they leaves eight more cabinet nominees waiting to go through the senate. A hickup on Mick Mulvaney just today as senator john mccain of arizona said he, a republican, will oppose him. Looks like hell have the votes, but thats not something they want all the republicans on board. His nomination, they dont have them. Woodruff so, lisa, we know thats not the only set of issues thats roiling congress right now. The aftermath of the departure of general flynn at the white house is certainly, still, drawing reaction. What are you hearing about that . Another wild day. Until just three hours ago, the main iewsh dominating the news up here on capitol hill about the Trump White House was russia. After a tumultuous 24 hours, President Trump focused on two ignored reported contacts between Campaign Advisers and russian intelligence. Instead, at a News Conference with israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, he went after the media and those giving the media information. Intelligence papers are being leaked. Its criminal action, a criminal act, and its been going on for a long time before me. But now its really going on. And people are trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the democrats had under hillary clinton. Reporter meanwhile, mr. Trump also defended ousted National Security advisor Michael Flynn. The initial concern surrounded flynns phone calls with russias ambassador last year, but after revelations that he misled the white house about those calls, flynn was forced out this week. Hes been treated very, very unfairly by the media as i call it, the fake media, in many cases and i think its really a sad thing that he was treated so badly. Reporter the president got no direct questions during the News Conference about the new turn in the story, and ignored shouted questions afterward. Mr. President can you guarantee that nobody on your campaign had any contacts with the russians . Mr. President any questions on russia . Reporter that followed a report in the New York Times that aides working in the Trump Campaign had, repeated contacts with senior russian intelligence officials in the year before the election. Pth its really the volume of those calls that really caught u. S. Intelligence by surprise, because they didnt see anything like that in other countries. And of course its the timing thats the issue. Is there collusion between the Trump Campaign and the russia hacking efforts . They dont have evidence to back up, you know, any charges of collusion. Reporter while the white house said relatively little, capitol hill was abuzz. Democratic senators cancelled their schedules to hold a quicklyconvened meeting. Their leaders emerged calling for an independent counsel at the justice department. And the reports of Constant Contact between the top officials in the Trump Campaign and russian intelligence are chilling. Ive been in congress for a long time, ive never seen anything like this. Reporter democratic leader Chuck Schumer is pushing for three things preservation of all white house emails and records dealing with russia; public testimony by Trump Officials like Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn; and for attorney general jeff sessions, a top trump supporter in the campaign, to recuse himself from any russiarelated probe. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi it just points to the need for us to have an outside, independent commission, nonpartisan commission with subpoena power to find the truth and what this means to our National Security. The president is flirting with danger. Reporter meanwhile, republican lawmakers are watching closely. Senator Lindsey Graham told fox news today that, if there were inappropriate contacts, congress should launch a bipartisan investigation. For now, Republican Leaders are signaling they dont want any new investigations. On msnbc, House Speaker paul ryan endorsed the Intelligence Committee investigations already underway. Russia has been trying to meddle with our country in our last elections. Thats established. We know that. No one has made evidence, no one has made the claim that evidence exists that donald trump or his people were in on it, were involved in that. Reporter the issue is made more difficult for republicans by the large number of unknowns and Unanswered Questions about relationships between russia and the trump world. Again, matt apuzzo of the New York Times. Was anybody in trumps world aware of or colluding with russian efforts to hack hillarys advisors, or the d. N. C. And influence the election . I think thats the big question. What were these people talking to senior russian intelligence authorities about . There are business interests that are at play here, so were these conversations strictly business . World . One of them, Paul Manafort, who was Trumps Campaign chairman, told us he never knowingly spoke to anybody in russian intelligence, and said, you know, its not like these guys are wearing badges. Reporter as for the krelmin, russian Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today lets not believe anonymous information. They seemed to agree that they want to have Michael Flynn come to the capitol to testify in public. When could that happen . I asked intelligence chairman richard burr, and he said he hasnt been invited yet because we dont even know what we would ask him yet. Judy. Woodruff all right, Lisa Desjardins at the capitol. Meanwhile, our own john yang is at the white house. Now, john, it was noted, and lisa just reported this, the president today when asked about Michael Flynn, went out of his way to praise this man who essentially he just fired yesterday, and we were told hed lost faith in him. Reporter thats right, judy. He made it sound as if the press had fired him and sean spicer, the press secretary, said theres no contradiction between admiring a man who served his country in the military but losing trust in him. He also went after the media, calling it fake news. We asked sean spicer if it hadnt been for the stories, would Michael Flynn still be in the job . He said no, because he had misled the Vice President , never mind that the Vice President only learned about that from reading it in the newspapers. Asked what was fake about the stories . Sean spicer responded, ill have to get back to you on that. Woodruff now, john, we know separately that now im trying to remember what you and i were going to talk about, separately oh, i know. About the successor to general flynn. What you have learned about that . Reporter indications are the leading contender is former vice admiral bob harwick. Hes a former navy seal. He was a deputy to the current defense secretary, james mattis, when thengeneral mattis ran Central Command for president obama. Im told that an announcement could come as soon as the end of this week. Woodruff john yang reporting for us from the white house. Thank you. In the days other news, the russians rejected any notion of returning crimea to ukraine. Just yesterday, white house Spokesman Sean Spicer said President Trump expects exactly that. The russians annexed crimea in march of 2014, and today, the Foreign Ministry in moscow said, we never give back our territory. U. S. Defense secretary jim mattis issued a pointed warning today to nato allies on defense spending. He said they will have to do more, or run the risk that the u. S. Will, moderate its commitment to the alliance. Mattis attended his first nato defense ministers meeting in brussels and argued President Trumps case that the allies share more of the burden. Its a fair demand that all who benefit from the best defense in the world carry their proportionate share of the necessary costs to defend freedom. And we should never forget, ultimately, it is freedom that we defend here at nato. Woodruff the Trump Administration wants nato members to meet an established target of spending 2 of their economic output, on defense. The u. S. Spends more than 3. 5 . In malaysia, Police Arrested a woman in the apparent assassination of kim jong nam, the estranged half brother to north koreas supreme leader. Malaysian news accounts say two women splashed a chemical on him at the kuala lumpur airport on monday. U. S. And south korean Officials Say they were north korea agents. Meanwhile, an autopsy on kims body began today at this medical institute in malaysia. Thats despite north korean objections. The European Unions parliament approved a landmark trade deal with canada today, after years of negotiations. Supporters at the parliament, in strasbourg, france, argued the deal will counter rising protectionism, while outside, hundreds of protesters warned it will do more harm than good. We made now a very historic trade deal between the best partners in the world, actually, which we can find. Because i really believe that apart from canada, there are very few that match the standards of common values outside the european union. Its a threat to democracy, a threat to human rights, its a threat to the environment. I suppose that what we can do now from here is to put pressure on our governments, put pressure on our m. E. P. S to do their job. Its not over. Its not over til its over. Woodruff to be fully implemented, the trade deal will also need approval from various regional and National Parliaments across europe. China formally announced today that it has granted President Trump a tenyear trademark. He now has the exclusive right to use his name for Building Construction services there through 2027. Mr. Trump already has 77 trademarks in china. He has been trying to gain this one for the last decade. Back in this country, nearly 3,000 workers at boeing voted on whether to unionize their plant in north charleston, south carolina. It is a key test for unions trying to organize in factories across the south, where most workers are nonunion. The vote at boeing involved the International Association of machinists and aerospace workers. And on wall street, stocks rallied again on upbeat news about Consumer Prices and retail sales. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 107 points to close at 20,611. The nasdaq rose nearly 37 points, and the s p 500 added 11. Still to come on the newshour i talk to a former trump adviser accused of having ties to russia; the president s evolving approach to israel, and much more. Woodruff the swirl of questions surrounding general flynns resignation as National Security advisor, and the new reports of regular contacts between the Trump Campaign and russia, has democrats on capitol hill calling for an independent investigation. One of them is senator Amy Klobachar of minnesota. I spoke to her a short time ago, and started by asking what questions she has. Well, i believe this is much more than the resignation of one National Security adviser. You already had the Trump Campaign chairman step aside because of contacts with russia. And now this new report that there were multiple contacts between people in the campaign and russian intelligence people. So thats why i think we have to get to the bottom of it. This is about a fundamental concept, and that is a free democracy that should be free from foreign influences. And we already have had our 17 intelligence agencies tell us that theres been an attempt to influence our election. And now were finding out that these contacts were ongoing. So we need to know who did flynn work with . Who did he talk to . What did he talk about to the Russian Ambassador . And, also, why was this happening . I think thats the biggest, overriding question for National Security. Why was the Trump Administration so eager to placate the russians and make friends with them when they have done so many horrific things, including invading countries that are our allies. Woodruff do you have information beyond whats been reported in the press about that . Well, i will say, when i was out with senator mccain and graham in the baltics and ukraine and georgia and spent a significant amount of time with president poroshenko in ukraine, i dont have the classified information for you to share, but i do have just my experience of learning that 10,000 people were killed there, of seeing that these cyberattacks have been happening for years, where its really the modus operandi of russia where they have infiltrated estonias system, this is what they do they try to bring down these democracies with cyber attack s. Woodruff how do you think it should be investigated . We know the bipartisan Intelligence Committee is looking into this. Are you prepared to leave it at that, because some democrats have said it should be an outside, independent commission. I think we can do both at the same time. The Intelligence Committee is important because theyre going to be able to get underneath the surface with classified information. Nope hopefully, they can will declassify some of it. And couldly, the independent commission, i was one of the early sponsors of this bill and announced it with the leaders of the bill, because i think you need a 9 11type commission to really look at what happened so you can really also make recommendations so it doesnt happen in the future. I think we can do both things at once. Woodruff why do you need an outside commission . I mean, i talked yesterday with senator mark warner, who, of course, is vice chairman of that Intelligence Committee. He said at this point, he thinks that the intelligence commit itself can handle it. Well, senator warner and i are very good friends and i