Anything that has to do with the election. He will stay out of the election probes until other cabinet members are sworn in. Here is the exchange with Jeff Sessions and al franken. If theres evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump Campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do . Senator franken, im not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two. And i didnt have my communications with the russians. My reply to the question of senator franken was honest and correct as i understood it at the time. I appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment. That is not my intent. That is not correct. I will write the Judiciary Committee soon, today and tomorrow, and to explain this testimony for the record. And the attorney general continued to defend his answer to the Judiciary Committee. In an interview with fox news, he said his recusal was planned ahead of time. A little over two weeks later the National Security adviser has to resign due to conversations he had as a nonsurrogate for the campaign with the very same ambassador. Did anyone say to you, holy smokes, perhaps we should clarify this because you can see how this could be a problem . No, i never gave that a thought, never considered it. I dont believe anyone ever menaced that to me. Mentioned that to me. Quite different circumstances to me, tucker, unrelated. We had a full meeting a week or so ago. And planned to have a meeting today. It was on our schedule to make a final decision about whether or not i should reuse myself. And the reason i believed i should reuse myself is because i was involved in the campaign. To a degree, i think it would have been perceived is that i wouldnt be objective in participating in an investigation that might involve the campaign. I do not confirm or deny any investigation. I just felt like i should clear the air and that we were moving toward that end even before this latest flap. Just hours before, attorney general sessions made his recusal, the president responded to questions about the controversy. During a tour of an aircraft in virginia. Mr. President , do you still have confidence in the attorney general . Total. Should sessions reuse himself from the campaign in russia . I dont think so. I dont think at all. When were you aware that he spoke to the Russian Ambassador . I wasnt aware at all. When did you find out . After sessions news conference, President Trump released a written statement saying, quote, Jeff Sessions is an honest man. He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately but it was clearly not intentional. The whole narrative is a way of saving face for democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. The democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election and now they have lost their grip on reality. The real story is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information. It is a total witch hunt. Now, according to two senior clinton officials, no one from the campaign of Hillary Clinton spoke with russia during the 2016 campaign. The republicans appear to be satisfied with sessions reusing himself, Many Democrats say stepping aside is the only option. Nearly 70 congestiressional democrats have called for sessions resignation. Kamala harris is calling for a vacation of his position. Senator cory booker joined other democrats in trying to apply pressure on their capitol colleagues. He did not tell the whole truth. And thats bad enough on its face, but for someone who themselves is a prosecutor, and someone who themselves was a senator really made the high bar ability making sure there was full disclosure of those testifying before congress. He withheld information from all Senate Confirmation hearing when he was under oath. And that to me is a serious, serious violation and merits him resigning from his office. The fact that the attorney general top cop in our country lied under oath to the American People is grounds for him to resign. Its grounds for him to resign. Hes proved hes unqualified and unfit to serve in that position. Now as all of this unfolded, revelations of other meetings between people in the Trump Campaign and the Russian Ambassador also emerged. Nbc news has now confirmed with the white house what the New York Times was first reporting that Michael Flynn and Jared Kushner participated in a previously undisclosed meeting with the ambassador back in december at trump tower. And then theres this, jd jordan and carter page spoke to the ambassador on the sidelines of the rnc. And while its not known what they discussed, and its not unusual for staff or adviss t meet diplomats at political conventions, if further it further contradicts meetings between the staff and the russian government. Did you have meetings with russian officials in russia, outside russia, anywhere . I had no meetings. No meetings. I might have said hello to a few people as they are walking by me at my graduation speech i gave in july, but no meetings. Did you meet kislov in cleveland . Im not going to deny that i talked to him. So you did . I will say i never met him anywhere outside of cleveland, lets just say that much. The only time you met him was in cleveland. I may have met him, possibly, might have been in cleveland. Again, im respectful to the organizers. Im respectful to confidentiality. Whether inside or outside. But you are not going to deny talking to him in cleveland . I do not deny that. Page continued his work with the Campaign Later that summer. And the controversy to a speech he gave later this summer contradicted that he met with Russian Ambassadors. Gordon reportedly helped change the republican partys platform at the convention regarding ukraine. And during the convention, the rnc eliminated specific calls to provide arms to ukraine in the fight with russia, though then the Campaign ManagerPaul Manaforte denies the campaign played a role. The fbi is reviewing a case in which a black muslim teenager was found hanging from a tree in washington state. Police say 18yearold ben kata went missing in january and was found hanging in a wooded area in the area of lake stevens. The cause of death was called strangulation and a week later changed to undetermined. Cal perry is with us. Great to have you with us. The story is, to say the least, very interesting because of all the developments. Atirst they may have dismissed the strangulation, but now we are learning more about it. What have we learned . What we are keeping our eye on is what his family and friends are saying about this 18yearold. We have the photo to put up, that he was a, quote, very happy young man. He was already in a Running Start Program that is an educational program. He was on his way to becoming a medical doctor. That certainly does not fit with the suicide. As we look at the timeline, this started just after thanksgiving. As you said, the medical examiner changing the cause of death from strangulation to, quote, undetermined is what really has sort of set the chain of events down the line. We had a statement from the lake stevens police, and this was really in response to that change from the medical examiner saying, while they have not uncovered any indication of a criminal act, they are still asking the community for any information. And that is true until now. Authorities really want the community to share any information that they get. The council on american relations, islamic american relations, put out a statement as well. And this is really forcing the fbi onto the scene. They talk about how they have reached out to the fbi office, especially in the current climate were talking about in a rise of antisemitic attacks across the country. Thats why you have this statement from the fbi as they say theyre not going to close the investigation. And thats the key here. While theres no sort of foul play, they are leaving it open. Any time the fbi gets involved in the case, that gives you the idea of how substantial that has become. Thank you for that. Well, House Republican leadership says they have an Obamacare Repeal and replace act, though it is heavily guarded that no one has seen it. Rand paul wrote in part, ive been told that the house obamacare bill is under lock and key in a secure location and not available for me or the public to view. This is unacceptable. This is the Biggest Issue before congress and the American People right now. What is the house leadership trying to hide . I demand the house release the text of the bill. Every elected official and every american deserves what they are trying to do. Later the senator went on an excursion in search of the secure location. I think theres a bill in there, but i asked for the copy of the bill and im being told i cant have a copy of the bill. Its the secret office for the secret bill. Senator paul apparently brought along his own copy machine just in case. And respective nancy pelosi offered to pitch in. And the president has two more cabinets underway this morning, ben carson has been sworn in along with rick perry. The new Energy Secretary yesterday at the swearing in ceremony talked about a team of rivals. Sharing with the people of this country, the extraordinary vision that donald trump has, that we as a team have, and senator cruz, i want to say to you, thank you for being here. Being in this room today and seeing this group of former rivals who are now on the same team, making America Great again, gives me great joy. Talk about arriving in style, the secretary of the interior ryan zinke showed up for his first day of work on a horse. He accepted the invitation from the u. S. Park police for an escort and the warm welcome at his new office. Still ahead, sweden was all over the news last week after President Trump seemed to imply an attack had taken place. Well, now the country is reinstating the draft. And president george w. Bush makes the headlines and shows jimmy kimmel his drawing of him. Those stories and more when we come back. s just a date. I can stay. Im good. I wont be late hey mom. Yeah. No kissing on the first date, alright . Life doesnt always stick to a plan, but with our investment expertise well help you handle whats next. Financial guidance while youre mastering life. From chase. So you can. Gave us the power to turn this enemy into an ally . Microsoft and its partners are using smart traps to capture mosquitoes and sequence their dna to fight disease. There are over 100 million pieces of dna in every sample. With the microsoft cloud, we can analyze the data faster than ever before. If we can detect new viruses before they spread, we may someday prevent outbreaks before they begin. And save on a lineup featuring rogue. W. With available intelligent safty shield technologies. That could stop for you. Take on the unexpected, with six 2017 iihs top safety picks. Its clear why were americas fastestgrowing auto brand. Get to nissan now for 0 financing on 11 models and no payments for 90 days. Welcome back. Sweden is reinstating the draft over growing concerns amid russia. The defense minister specifically cited the russian annexation of crimea. He is reintroducing the draft because of difficulties filling the ranks on the voluntary basis. This is the first time they have scripted women. The plan is to call up 4,000 young people each year. Elsewhere, the series is for more than 20 air strikes a year in yemen. The pentagon says the strikes were conducted by drons and aircraft near the peninsula that left navy s. E. A. L. Ryan owens dead. These are not the direct result of information gained from the raid, although the intelligence may have corroborated previous intel. The Senior Intelligence source tells nbc news the strikes are part of the new administrations more aggressive approach to fighting the aqap. And the pentagon says they will conduct this in leadership with the yemeni government. Lets get a check on the weather now with bill karins. We spoke yesterday, it was looking kind of rough, how is it looking today . Just two little storms to deal with over the weekend, nothing to cause too many problems or cancellations of your plans. You are looking at snow this morning betweenleveland and pittsburgh. We have snow showers in Northern Maryland out there. So im not expecting much accumulation, but it is just a reminder that temperatures have dropped and the cold air has returned. This is the snow forecast. This is an inch of snow in the white. The blue is two inches. Areas of northwestern pennsylvania and into the appalachians. Its more of the cold than the snow, but dont be surprised if you see a path of snow showers in the northeast through the great lakes and the midatlantic region. The current windchill is a dose of reality of winter. 9 in syracuse, but down the in the teens from hartford to boston. In the 20s from new york city to washington, d. C. The problem is, this isnt the coldest. The coldest is saturday morning. Well take you through the forecast for today. Still very cold, not as windy at least, so airport delays shouldnt be that bad. Highs today in the 20s. Thats it for cleveland, the area of buffalo and syracuse. We are getting barely above the freezing mark in new york, boston and hartford. And then look at saturday morning, this is like fireplacetype weather. 15 in new york. 9 in scranton. Theres a good bet this is the coldest air well have until next winter. So it looks like a good warm up will take place after saturday because even saturday during the day is a very cold day throughout top region. A high of only 27 in new york in march is pretty rare. The average high is in the low 40s. So for the rest of the country, well take you through the weekend forecast. Theres not a lot of bad weather out there. We could see showers today in miami. Were nice in the middle of the country. This is where its going to continue to be a gorgeous spring. 63 in denver today. St. Louis goes from 46 today. Saturday, up to 68. So theres the warmth returning. The cold air in new england gives way. Sunday will be an improvement with a good deal of sunshine in the eastern half of the country. But theres really only bad spots of weather out there. South texas has some rain this weekend. And then the west coast, especially in northern california. But compared to what we dealt with earlier this week with the tornadoes, nice and calm. Some good news for the folks out there. Bill karins, thank you for that. Well, former president george w. Bush has been making the rounds promoting his new book of paintings of soldiers, marine, sailors and airmen. In fact, last night the president turned artist and jimmy kimmel practicing their art skills drawing each other. And, of course, talked about his time in office and a certain will ferrells classic impression. Check this out. You want to hea sething terrible . Yeah. So i had dinner with lorne michaels, the writer of saturday night live, and he came up with stategery. And i said, wait, i said stategery. Did it bother you, the guys imitating you, did it bother you . No. I love humor. The best humor is when you make fun of yourself. Well, tell that to the president. Words of wisdom there. Still ahead, an nfl players protest comes to an end. A hail mary buzzer beater. And an incredible onehanded catch. You dont want to miss that. Sports is next. Let s take a trp to la plata, colombia. This is boris calvo. Thats pepe. Boris doesnt just grow good coffee, boris grows mindblowing coffee. And because we pay him a fair price, he improves his farm to grow even Better Coffee and invest in his community, which makes his neighbor, gustavo, happy. Thats blanca. Yup, pepe and blanca got together. Things happen. All this for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. Green mountain coffee. Packed with goodness. Dude. Your crunchings scaring the fish. Dude. Theyre just jealous. New kelloggs raisin bran crunch with crunchy clusters and the taste of apples and strawberries. excited i got one jokingly guess were having cereal for dinner. New kelloggs raisin bran crunch apple strawberry so with our ally cashback credit card, you get rewarded for buying stuff. Like what . 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Get 0 financing for 60 months plus find your tag and get 5500 on select Chevy Silverado pickups when you finance with gm financial. Find new roads at your local chevy dealer. [ cheers and applause ] everyone tearing up back there . He was moved to tears during the canadiens win 21 last night. This was his first game in montreal since being traded to the National Predator last year. Welcome back, time for sports. Where the new york jets continue to make news under the salary cap. The jets will receive brandon marshal. The 33yearold is the latest player to be cut by the jets. They also released durrell revis this week. And in other nfl headlines, Colin Kaepernick ended anthem