Who was advising mr. Trump. Tonight we look at how investigators continue to bore down on donald trump even as he poses with the pope and goes to impressive meetings in europe. Look, we know this is a serious business. This russian deal of trumps, the fbi is on the case, the former cia director just said he doesnt like the looks of it. And we now have a special counsel gearing up and trump himself is starting to lawyer up. Well, tonight i want to find out what we already know and how we can know what the country now needs to know about how trump and his campaign could have been in cahoots with the russians during last years election. Well, yesterday as i said, former cia director john brennan testified. He became aware of numerous Trump Associates who had made contact with russian actors that we now know includes Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, carter page, roger stone, jeff sessions, and trumps own soninlaw, Jared Kushner. Further, as trump appears to engage in a pattern of obstructive behavior, former National Security adviser Michael Flynn is refusing to cooperate with congressional investigators. The Ranking Member of the house Intelligence Committee, u. S. Congressman adam schiff of california, told nbc this morning that his committee is now issuing subpoenas since flynn has declined to comply with their request voluntarily. We are in discussions about issuing the requisite subpoenas now. It will be necessary, i think, to subpoena not only his person but his businesses and, of course, explore what other remedies may be necessary if he refuses to comply. Well, this comes after flynn refused to deliver subpoenaed documents to the Senate Intelligence committee by claiming his fifth amendment right against selfincrimination. Chairman richard burr challenged that claim yesterday, threatening to hold flynn in contempt of congress. We have sent a letter to general flynns lawyer today questioning, one, whether you can take the fifth as it relates to document production. If, in fact, theres not a response, well seek additional counsel advice on how to proceed forward. At the end of that option is a contempt charge. Additionally, former Trump Campaign adviser carter page says he expected to testify before the house Intelligence Committee during the week of june 6th. Thats coming on. Were going to discuss with senator feinstein in a minute, but first im joined by nick confessore. Nick, this is fascinating. The russians now, according to your newspaper, were sitting around the political people, the intel people, the spies, trying to figure out how, well, our spies were trying to figure out what they were up to in terms of getting to trump through manafort, through flynn. What do we know . This important story shows how deep the relationships were between people in President Trumps orbit at the time of the Campaign Last year, and it sheds some light on why the american intelligence agencies were actually getting so worried about the prospect of russian interference in the election. Basically, Russian Politicians and spies were bragging about their ability to get to President Trump through their relationships with people like Paul Manafort, who had long done business in Eastern Europe and had some ties to russian industrialists. Who set up these guys with trump . I understand the connection. General flynn was working for the russians. He got 34,000 from their propaganda arm, rt. He was over there sitting with putin. Weve got that established. We know that manafort worked for what came first . The chicken or the egg . Did those russians know they had those people working for them and how do they connect them with trump . How did they get them jobs with trump . I think were not really sure yet if the russians had a role in of staing tffing the campaig. I think the facts in this story show that the russians realized that they already had these builtin relationships with people in trumps inner circle and could use them possibly to try to steer the campaign. And recall back during the campaign, we saw President Trump speaking favorably about russia, favorably about putin. We saw a change in the platform at the Republican National convention favoring russia in the crimea. So obviously there was some movement in the campaign toward russia, and the question we havent answered yet is if these russian spies or agents were able to connect with their allies or friends or contacts in mr. Trumps orbit and get those things to happen or not. What about the meetings that weve watched and tracked all along involving Jared Kushner, involving flynn, involving, you know, every one of these people . Theres so many people who work for trump who seem to be bumping into, Holding Meetings with russians. Yeah, its kind of amazing the overlap and the intricate kind of web of relationships and contacts. Look, a lot of it was business. We know that President Trump, after his bankruptcy, had some problems getting financing from most american banks, and his kids have said that they got a lot of investment for their deals from russia. So obviously President Trump in his Business Life had relationships with wealthy people in russia and, of course, as you know, people who are wealthy in russia often have relationships in turn with the russian government, with putin. So there is almost an excess. Its almost overdetermined how connected the trump orbit was to different players in russia. But to be fair, its important to point out, chris, we havent yet found that smoking gun or that evidence that shows manipulation or direct collusion as they say. Okay. It seems like Online Dating or something. This weird connection between trump and the russians. Somebody keeps bringing them together, these meetings after meetings, the money changing hands. Thank you so much, nick confessore. Late today i spoke with senator Dianne Feinstein of california, ranking democrat on the Senate Judiciary committee and a long time member and former chair of the Intelligence Committee. Senator feinstein, what tools do you have to get to the bottom of this case . Well, thats a good question. Its really the subpoena, and i guess as chairman burr said, if that doesnt work, its holding the individual in contempt. Now, i agree with what our chairman said, and i think thats a proper action to take. Also on the judiciary committee, as you know, the subcommittee has held hearings, and sally yates came before it. At that point, i think i really realized the impact of getting witnesses directly before the congress. And i think thats really important. So i think we ought to proceed with all deliberate speed. I listened to your network yesterday, last evening, and i heard Jackie Speier from the house of representatives say on that committee, which is intelligence, we want to follow the money. People are interested and involved but we need those Financial Experts to give us the capability to do so correctly. And that raises a good point, and that is that all investigating committees need those staffers that have the abilities that the kind of investigation needs. And that would mean former prosecutors, perhaps former u. S. Attorneys. You know, i take you back to the 9 11 committee, chris. They had a big staff, almost 100 people, and they had professionals. So we have people that are professional in the intelligence world on intelligence, but thats not, in my judgment, going to do it. I do think and i agree senator harris, i believe, believes the same thing, that we do need people who have investigative skills. Are the republicans who rule these committees because they have the senate this their control, are they cooperating and gearing up with the right staff people, the accountants, the other people that can do this kind of investigation . Are they doing the job of staffing up . Well, i dont think so, not to the extent that we should. I mean if i were in the house Intelligence Committee, i wouldnt be shy about saying, lets go and get our financial people that we need to help with this. So i support representative speier in what she said yesterday. On the Senate Intelligence committee, i look forward to individuals coming before our committee as a whole. I think you get a very different thing from somebody when theyre asked questions by a member of the United StatesSenate Rather than staff of the senate. Im sorry to say that, but ive seen it happen chapter and verse all the time. Well, Michael Flynn seems to know a lot, and he also seems very vulnerable to indictment for his own misdeeds, failing to fill out the forms properly, admitting that he got the money from the rt, the Propaganda Network of the soviet union, that 34 million saying it came from domestic sources. He seems to have a lot of exposure as they say in the law. Obviously he wants immunity. Obviously hes going to take every fifth right he can imagine. Even over documentation. Can he use the fifth amendment to protect Company Records . Well, thats an interesting point, and i think i dont mean to parse it, and im not a lawyer. But i think it depends on what type of Company Record it is. I have no certainty in this area, but if its a personal business, it would seem to me that he should. If its a corporation, its a different thing perhaps. But i dont know this for sure, and i think thats one thing that Legal Counsel has to give strong advice about. Well, the president seems worried enough to get a lawyer, which makes certainly good sense. Mark cass oh wits has been his attorney for years. He knows this guy is someone he can trust to keep his matters secret. The average voter out there, and i dont think just progressives or people on the Democratic Left are interested. I think practically everybody would like to know if our elections were meddled in by the russians, which they believe the answer there is yes, theyd like to know more importantly, did any americans get involved in helping them, in helping them mess with our election, meddle with it, shift its results perhaps in the way they did. Do you have confidence the United States congress and the fbi and the special counsel will, in a reasonable amount of time, tell us whether it happened or not . Well, let me speak to that. I hope im trying to find bob muellers phone number because i would like to talk to him. He was fbi director when i was here. He was also a United States attorney when i was mayor of san francisco. I have Great Respect for him. I think hes one of the best things thats happened. Yeah. And i think as special counsel, his role is extraordinarily important because it protects an honest total fbi investigation, and that investigation should proceed as quickly and firmly as it can so that a prosecution can be worked out where it is deserved. And i think as independent counsel, bob mueller is going to be very valuable. Both senator grassley and i would like to be able to talk with him and see what he has in mind. Were really the oversight body on judiciary for the fbi, and the fbi is the investigative body here. So its important that the Congress Stay away from the fbi investigation. Its important to know what theyre doing that we have to stay away from, but i think its also important that we continue our investigations and that the people have an opportunity to hear witness testimony when appropriate. Dianne feinstein, senator from california, thank you so much for coming on the program. Im joined by u. S. Congressman jim hine serks. You just heard the senator talk about the need for specialization. You need people that can check paperwork, can checkbook keeping, and find out whether theres any kind of hokey something that was not really right going on here. Ha han ki pan ki if you will regarding the business dealings of the trump people with regard to russia. Do you have adequate staff to perform that function . I think on the house side we do right now. But as we review dumocuments, a we interview people, you get a whole new trove of information, possibly the implication of other people. Well reserve the right to ask for more resources. Do you think your committee is willing to put people in jail for not testify something are we really going to see contempt carried all the way to the point where somebody is either going to talk or theyre going to jail until they talk . Theres a couple of mechanisms that the congress can use to get the documents Michael Flynn has said he will not provide. The house and the senate certainly the senate since thats what were talking about right now, they can ask their counsel to go and in civil court, demand the enforcement of those subpoenas. And of course an individual can be held in contempt of congress. We hone pe it doesnt come to t, but getting to the bottom of this investigation and understanding whether there was wrongdoing, whether there was any sort of collusion or link with russians, what people did about it afterwards, remember, sometimes its the coverup that tills you, not what underlies the coverup. You say you hope it doesnt come to that. Whats wrong with coming to that . Lets get to it. Why dont you issue the subpoenas now, get this ring ro thing rolling. Michael flynn has said hes not going to comply with the subpoena. Make him. Yeah, weve got that option. Sadly, when people dont comply with subpoenas or when they plead the fifth, which as you know is their legal right, that adds time to the investigation. What do you think is the chance of getting to the bottom of this case, the house, the senate, the fbi, the special counsel . Will we find out within a reasonable amount of time, say within six months, know what role the trump people played if they did in helping the russians screw our election system . Will we get an answer . I cant guarantee you six months, but we absolutely will. Look, this is of national importance. Theres just not an american who isnt affected by the russians messing around in our election and we need to know what all the contacts were. This investigation is under way. I want to add today there is no conclusion there was collusion. Theres justify questions that need to be answers. So, yes, we will get to the bottom of this. Remember, theres three investigations. Do you smell anything . Do you smell trouble here . Do you smell something about trumps behavior . Certainly the fbi director, certainly brennan yesterday, the former cia director thinks theres something there. And the fact that trumps out there lawyering up makes me think hes worried, not just about obstruction problems but about the heart of this matter. Was he or were his people through perhaps Michael Flynn involved with encouraging the russians to do what they did to help them in the election . Well, chris what do you smell . One of the things that i American People are owed by people like me who are doing the investigation is that they are owed a fair shot. In other words, i guy like me cannot be coming out right now and saying, heres what i think. Heres what it looks like. That would be is there a reason to investigate is what im asking . You dont investigate everybody for getting playing footsie with the russians. You obviously believe theres a reason to investigate these guys for playing footsie with the russians. Of course theres a reason. Look, youve got three investigations under way. You wouldnt have three investigations under way if there werent very severe problems. Look, i agree with what brennan said yesterday. I think he got it right, which is theres enough there to cause concern, in his case to go to the fbi with certain documents. In ourcati case to actually undertake an investigation. The other thing i dont get, youve got the white house, and if they wanted what we all want, which is to get to the truth and put this behind us, they wouldnt be obfuscating. They wouldnt be saying Something Like there is no evidence out hethere. I really wish they could get on board and because constructive parts of getting this investigation across the finish line. Thank you, congressman jim himes. Were going to have more on the breaking news story tonight, that the russians were looking to use trumps aides to influence him months before the election. Also coming up, republicans looking to kill obamacare have another bad headline tonight to deal with. The Congressional Budget Office said their plan, trumpcare, means 23 million more people would be without coverage, Health Coverage, by 2026. Virtually the same number as the original republican plan. Thats ahead. Plus trumps euro trip continues with with an awkward meeting with his holiness pope francis today. And tonights edition of trump watch, as the cloud over the Trump White House continues to darken. Finally well be joined by that great actor laura lynny, taeamig up for red nose day. This is hardball, where the action is. Th the customer service. We have switched back over and we feel like were back home now. The process through usaa is so effortless, that you feel like youre a part of the family. I love that i ca