Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside louis burgdorf. We begin with fresh concerns that the u. S. May not be ready to thwart the cyber intrusion expected from russia ahead of the midterm elections. Three senior u. S. Intelligence officials tell nbc news that there is substantial evidence that russia backed operatives gained entry into the elect websites or Voter Registration systems of seven states prior to the 2016 election. Those states include alaska, arizona, california, florida, illinois, texas and wisconsin as you see on that map. All state officials agree no voters were changed and no on voters were taken off the rolls. While several states were told foreign entities were probing their systems, state Officials Say none were told russia was behind it. To this day illinois is the only state to acknowledge that its systems were compromised. The other six deny they were breached based on their own investigations. Discrepancy that Officials Say underscores how unprepared some experts believe the u. S. Is for the next wave of russian interference. Now, making what is likely to be his final appearance on capitol hill before retirement, Admiral Mike Rogers told senators that america has not used its full power to retaliate against russia for its Information Warfare in the 2016 election. Rogers stressed that he is an operational commander and he is not a policymaker. And gave a similar answer to fbi director chris wray about directives from the trump white house. Take a listen to this. As i understand you said that President Trump has never ordered cyber com to take any being a to defend or thwart russian attempts to medal dle i the elections this fall about. I said ive never been given direction to take steps outside my authority. I have taken the steps within my authority trying to be a good proactive commander. But no one from the administration has asked you to take any additional steps . I havent been granted any additional authorities, capacity, capability. No, that is certainly true. What message does it send to Vladimir Putin that the United States is not fully implemented sanctions to counter known russian cyberattacks . You know, more broadly, not just the sanctions, but more broadly, my concern is i believe that president putin has clearly come to the conclusion there is little price to pay here. Bingo. And therefore i can continue this activity. Yes. Everything both as a director of nsa and what i see in the Cyber Command side leads me to believe that if we dont change the dynamic here, it will continue and 2016 wont be viewed as something isolated, this is something that will be sustained over time. There are tools available to us and again, i think in fairness you cant say nothing has been done, but my point would be it hasnt been enough. Little price to pay here. So later at the White House Briefing room, Sarah Huckabee sanders responding to questions about rogers warning about future elections. He is the one with the power, with the means to do it. All he needs is a president ial directive, the authority to i disagree with the premise of your question. Its looking at a number of different ways. He is in charge of Cyber Command. Why not give him the authority . Nobody is denying him the authority. Were look at a number of different ways that we can put pressure. This president has i told you last week has been much tougher on russia than his predecessor. Lets not forget that this happened under obama, it didnt happen under President Trump. If you want to blame somebody on past problems, you need to look at the obama administration. But there is not about the past, this is about protecting intrusion in the next election. He is the authority and he hasnt been given it. I cant speak to that specifically. I can tell you that we are taking a number of steps to prevent this and were looking at a variety of other ways that we will continue to implement over the coming weeks and months. With that, lets take a return to security clearances. Jared kushner who had been assigned some of americas most important Foreign Relations priorities no longer has authority to access the most Sensitive National security information out there along with other officials unable to be cleared since june of last year. According to multiple sources citing a white house memo, kushner had served for more than a year without a full security clearance, a rare occurrence for someone at his level. Kushner is leading the white house Innovations Office to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and has been tasked with forging peace between the israelis and palestinians as well as conducting diplomacy with china. Now, kushner has also engaged in talks with mexico and canada on nafta, traveled has been broad and has a leading role on criminal justice reform. In a statement a spokesman said kushner, quote, has done more than what is expected of him in this process claiming it is not uncommon for these clearance reviews to take this long in a new administration and that the current backlogs are now being addressed. The statement also contends no concerns were raised about kushners application. The Washington Post has reported that earlier this month, deputy ag Rod Rosenstein personally phoned the white House Counsel to say new information had opposed and obstacle to kushners clearance. And the major stories reporting today that officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements and Financial Difficulties and lack of Foreign Policy experience. Those nations are alleged to be the uae, china, israel and mexico. According to current and former u. S. Officials familiar with intel reports on the matter, the officials said that National Security adviser hr mcmaster learned that kushner had contacts with foreign officials that he did not coordinate through the National Security council or officially report them. And that the issue of foreign officials talking about their meetings with kushner and their perceptions of his vulnerabilities was raised in mcmasters daily intelligence briefings. Now, one former u. S. Official says that bob mueller has asked people about the protocols kushner used when he set up conversations with foreign leaders. A spokesman for on kushners attorney called the report, quote, inaccurate information. And said that they wont respond further to unnamed sources pedaling hearsay. Hope hicks is reportedly refusing to answer some questions related to the are russia investigation. She spent nine hours before the House Intelligence Committee yesterday. She reportedly declined to answer questions about the Trump Campaigns transition period, but ended up providing some answers after several hours of testimony. According to the New York Times, hicks also told house investigators that her work for President Trump occasionally required her to tell white lies. Three people familiar with hicks testimony tell the paper after extensive consultation with her lawyers, hicks insisted she had not laid about matters pertaining to the investigation into russias interference in the 2016 election and possible links to trump associates. The white house did not respond to any questions about hicks testimony. Im not going to comment on any individuals interactions with the committee. But we are cooperating because as the president has said repeatedly, there is no collusion. Im also not going to comment on leaks from what is supposed to be a confidential setting. There continues to be zero evidence of collusion and we hope these investigations wrap up shortly. Lets talk about this. Joining us from washington, National Security and justice reporter Julia Ainsley for us. Thanks for joining us. Lets talk about hope hicks me. Do you think there was a slip up when she talked about the white lies comments, did she dig herself into a deeper hole . And what is the likelihood that lawmakers will seek a subpoena to get more answers out of her especially those answers that she wouldnt necessarily give and refused to address . So the slip up i think was really not a slip up but just not wanting to box herself in in a way where she could later be found to have been lying to these investigators. She needed to say that there are sometimes where she bends the truth as a Communications Director and this cute weighed of saying sometimes there are little white lies, but insist there had been nothing bigger that has to do with the russian investigation. But i think that you are hitting on the main point, that would be my takeaway, which is that there is probably little else that this committee, this House Intelligence Committee, is going to do to compel her to testify in the way of temperatures. We know democrats requested last night that they subpoena hope hicks and get more information, they are frustrated with the level of information she disclosed and republicans block that had request. It seems that they are trying to check a box here, spoke everyone they can and put out a report that says they are done. Were sxerktsing a more serious and complete investigation by the senate Intelligence Committee and then of course well have to wait and see what Robert Mueller finds in the end. Obviously. Lets talk here about Jared Kushner making the move, having this diminished security clearance shall we say. How do you reconcile this but also when the white house is saying he will continue as his role as top adviser . So i think a lot of people have said how can he be effective. You listed out all the laundry list of everything that he is involved in, whether those are trade talks, whether that is peace processes in the middle east. It is incredibly difficult, pretty much img possibpossible a heavy hand in any of those discussions when you have a limited amount of information and you are not getting the daily briefings like he was previously. But i think what we also need to watch Going Forward is how this new kind of limited access is enforced. This all gets enforced within the closed doors of the white house. So if there is an example for a time where his fatherinlaw wants to bring him in and says come look at this, take a look at this briefing and see where we go from here, there is really no one there is no fbi agent that jumps in and blocks him. And this is when the issue once again of nepotism comes up when you hire a soninlaw to work in the white house alongside of you. Julia ainsley, great points there. Well talk to you again. Still ahead, the latest in the gun debate playing out on capitol hill. Some republicans are slowly moving towards gun legislation, but Party Leaders are not promising a vote. And later, the next president ial election is more than two years away, but President Trump announces his pick for Campaign Manager as he sets his sights on 2020. Those stories and of course a check on your weather when we come back. C this is the story of Green MountainCoffee Roasters dark magic told in the time it takes to brew your cup. First, we head to vermont. And go to our coffee shop. And meet dave. Hey. Why is dark magic so spellbindingly good, he asks . Let me show you. Lets go. So we climb. Hike. See a bear. Woah. Reach the top. Dave says dark magic is a bold blend of coffee with rich flavors of uganda, sumatra, colombia and other parts of south america. Like these mountains, each amazing on their own. But together . Magical. All, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. Green mountain Coffee Roasters packed with goodness. This is a tomato you can track from farm, to pot, to jar, to table. And serve with confidence that its safe. This is the ibm blockchain, built for smarter business. Built to run on the ibm cloud. This is the ibm blockchain, built for smarter business. Want us to do about what woulthis president . Fathers im tom steyer, and when those patriots wrote the constitution here in philadelphia, they created the commander in chief to protect us from enemy attack the Justice Department just indicted 13 russians for an electronic attack on america. So what did this president do . Nothing. Hes failed his most important responsibility to protect our country. The question is why is he still president . You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. Welcome back. Republican leaders on the hill yesterday moved slowly towards legislation on gun control. Watch this. Of course we want to listen to these kids. But we also want to make sure that we protect peoples Due Process Rights and legal Constitutional Rights while making sure that people who should not get guns dont get them. This kid was clearly one of those people. Weve been down this path before. There are bipartisan differences about how to address this issue that continually snagged every effort. So what senator cornyn suggested is that we take something we all agree on, not in any way claiming it is a panacea, but at least show some progress toward dealing with one element of the problem. So all of this is happening as 19 House Republicans sent a letter urging Speaker Paul Ryan to schedule a vote next week on a bill that would strengthen the National Instant criminal background check system. Senators john cornyn and chris murphy introduced the bipartisan bill earlier this month that would require state and federal agencies to report criminal histories in exchange for financial incentives. Meanwhile Chuck Schumer said that Congress Needs to do more. Senator cornyn and senator murphys proposal is a modest step designed to address one component of gun safety. I support it. Rather than just passing one narrow bill and moving on, we democrats intend to push our republican colleagues to have a real debate on gun safety and pass meaningful measures that will address the wide range of problems that have led to an epidemic of Mass Shootings in our country. We have a new Quinnipiac University poll showing lawmakers an approval reading after the Parkland School shooting. 42 of florida voters said they approve of President Trumps job performance. 54 said they disapprove. Floridas governor rick scott approval sits at 49 , about on 40 disapproving there. 48 of voters approve of senator bill nelson with 34 disapproving. And senator marco rubios approval righting the lowest now sits at 38 , over half of florida voters said they disapprove of his job performance. Meanwhile Democrat Bill nelson holds a four point lead over governor rick scott in the senate race. 46 of votersnelson. And 42 of voters said they would be less likely to support a Senate Candidate that supports trump, only 23 said they would be more likely. Lets get a check on your weather now with bill karins. Bill, we have some wind, rain and flooding in the social part of the country. You say that will move east just in time for the weekend. Yeah, big friday into saturday storm for the northeast. But first we have to get there and get through this rainy weather. Round one going through tennessee, northern portions of alabama, georgia. Flash flood watch still from northeast texas through tennessee and even a little portion of north carolina. So this will be round two on this evening. And then when this rain falls, this will be very narrow, but they have have i where it falls. The red is two, pink is three inches of rain. Nashville, huntsville tomorrow morning at this time im sure ill be talking about flash flood warnings in whatever areas get hit the hardest in this band about 24 hours from now. It all starts this evening after dark, thunderstorms will form. Slight risk of Severe Weather in this area. Strongest storms this evening. Large hail, damaging wind will be the threat. And i dont think were too much in the way of tornadoes. So here is the rainfall forecast as we will go throughout saturday. Now, the heaviest rainfall amounts will be in the coastal areas. En around the boston area. And the winds will be a big issue. So the wind forecast, this is 6 00 on p. M. Thursday. By the time we get into the Early Morning hours on saturday, this is when the winds start to pick up to the 40mileperhour range, 41 ocean city. And throughout the day friday into friday afternoon, they pick up e