And theyre going, oh, you want us to fight . Well get on that. Thank you, rachel. I am joy reid in for lawrence odonnell. Breaking news tonight that Trump Campaign official had repeated contact with russian officials. One of the reporters that broke that story joins me. Donald trump had two weeks warning about Michael Flynn and the fact that he could have been compromised by russia. But donald trump was also warned by Michael Flynn last years, warned that he was not suited for the job and it was donald trump who ignored those warnings. So who should take the blame for the crisis in the white house . General flynns resignation is not the end of the story. This is a fight for the soul of our democracy. The president was warned that flynn might be run valuable to blackmail by the russians. How can you not tell the Vice President for two weeks . It looks like he was deliberately kept in the dark. I have a hundred more questions. Id like to know did he just do this as a rogue general flynn . Was trump in cahoots with flynn . The whole environment is one of dysfunction in the Trump Administration. General flynn continued in that position and was in the president ial daily briefings. That makes no sense. Trump spent the whole campaign freaking out that hillary used a private email server. Damn right. Now hes Holding National security meetings over shrimp cocktails surrounded by camera phones. Breaking news tonight the New York Times is reporting that, quote, phone records and intercepted calls show that members of donald j. Trumps 2016 president ial campaign and other Trump Associates had repeated contact with senior russian officials in the year before the election according to four american officials. Its already been reported that some Trump Campaign aides had contact with russian officials during the election. Whats new about the report is they are saying trump aides had contact with russian intelligence officials during the election. The american officials quoted said one of the advisers picked up on intercepted calls was paul mann manafort. This comes nearly 24 hours after trumps National Security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned. But this morning donald trump didnt seem too concerned about the chaos and confusion surrounding Michael Flynns resignation tweeted this complaintinstead. The real story here is why are there so many leaks coming out of washington in will these leaks be happening as i deal on north korea . Before damaging news is leaked, damaging events have to actually occur, and even a cursory examination about the leaks which trump is complaining reveals the real problem is the leaking, it donald trump. It should have been obvious long before trump won the presidency that general flynn was not the choice for National Security adviser. Perhaps more troubling given recent developments, general flynn has repeatedly taken a sympathetic line toward russia. In december of 2015, he spoke at a gala in moscow for russias statesponsored propaganda arm russia today. He was photographed sitting at putins table and participated in giving him a standing ovation. And he became a leading activist and conspiracy theorist on the campaign. Lock her up. Lock her up. You guys are good. Youre damn right theres nothing wrong with that nearly all of this information was public at the time of his nomination and none that dissuade him from hiring him as National Security adviser. But the president was right in one sense, the real story isnt general flynn, but it isnt government leaks either. The real story is the attempted coverup by the Trump White House about general flynn and how complicit donald trump was in the underlying act. Now, the white house would have you believe that when flynn discussed easing u. S. Sanctions against russia with the Russian Ambassador, he was just a rogue operator who went freelance and then lied to the Vice President. There are likely only two options here, one, donald trump either authorized trump to make those calls to the Russian Ambassador or, two, donald trump let a rogue, potentially compromised russian asset into the National Security inner sai sanctum of the United States. Mark, thank you for being here. What was remarkable to me in reading the story was just recalling the fact you have the former Campaign Chairman of the Trump AdministrationTrump Campaign, paul manafort, you have carter page, who is believed to have changed actual rnc policy concerning russia and crimea during the campaign and Michael Flynn, National Security all under fbi investigation. Remarkable. Tell us what else is remarkable anw in your story . Well, what weve focused on in the story was these contacts that went on apparently during the past year between Trump Campaign aides and associates of donald trump and russian intelligence officials, american intelligence, Law Enforcement officials have identified people in russian intelligence. Now, we have to be careful about what we know and we dont know, and we say that these contacts happened, there were phone logs and intercepted communications between the aides and people that the americans have identified as russian intelligence. But it does just show that the fbi investigation is still ongoing. They are still trying to get information about exactly what these ties are all about and whether this was business, whether this was campaign business. That we still dont know. But i think that the connections, at least the contacts with russian intelligence is significant. Well, one of the things that was pretty stored in a pretty extraordinary story is that Paul Manaforts reaction to your reporting was to say it absurd, he has no idea what youre referring to, hes never knowingly spoken to russian intelligence officers. And then he said it not like these people wear badges that say im a russian intelligence officer. This is a guy who has done business in ukraine and russian aficionados in ukraine for years. It is hard to know. Hes a person who knows the region very well. At the same time, as we say in our story, that the Intelligence Services in those countries are deeply embedded in the society. Sometimes you may or may not know whos in fact russian intelligence. Some, he is right, dont actually wear badges or uniforms. However, i think the amount of the contacts that was going on during this period of time was enough to raise some alarms to think this did bear more investigation. So manafort is the only person in the story who we name as having been on these intercepted communications, but as you pointed out, this is part of a broader investigation going on that has included other individuals, page, stone, flynn, that is ongoing. Thank you all for being here. We are 25 days into a new white house and the Trump Administration is under fbi investigation. Just stop and think about that for a second. It is astonishing. 25 days in. And this began over the summer, of course. And now potentially it can implicate the now former nsa with being in contact with the russian intelligence or, you know, possibly other members of trumps team in contact with russian intelligence. Thats amazing. And, david korn, because ive been talking to you about the Trump Campaigns affinity for russia for months and as the campaign was ongoing, from your view, explain to people who feel theyve been inundated what is different today . The key thing is gets to i think what the big issue is. We can talk about Michael Flynns conversations with the Russian Ambassador during the transition period and whether they were improper, whether he lied to them. Its a big deal, it is a legitimate scandal, but to me the bigger possible scandal is the notion that Trump Associates were talking to the putin regime at the same time the putin regime was trying to subvert the u. S. Election in order to help trump. Now, we learned just a few days ago in the Washington Post piece that the conversations that flynn was having with the Russian Ambassador, Sergei Kislyak during the campaign. Now, what were they talking about . Were they sending signals . Tonights story with the New York Times shows there were a greater range of contacts between pop eople in trumps ca and the us russians. I have to say, and i hate to blow my own horn, that i reported them first in october. The main point was not the salacious stuff. It was that the trump team was communicating with russian officials during the campaign and there was an exchange of information, some degree of collusion. Tonight we see more evidence of that. The trump people work putin is undermining american democracy. And in the New York Times story, as part of the inquiry, the fbi is ting to assess the credibility. So that is still be run down. Elistoples, meanwhile, tried to turn the story into one of a rogue operator than general flynn who went off on his own. This is sean spicer trying to sort of make the white house account align with reality today at the press briefing. Immediately after the department of justice notified the white House Counsel of situation, the white House Counsel briefed the president and a small group of senior advisers. The white House Counsel reviewed and determined that there is not a legal issue but rather a trust issue. Eli, theyre trying to make it sound as if even though they were warned by the then acting attorney general, by intelligence officials week ago about flynn, that somehow a breakdown in trust happened in what, the last 24 hours . It doesnt really make a lot of sense. It only makes sense when you figure out what else happened in the last 24 hours and that was extensive reporting laying bare what they knew and that they knew it. If not for the reporting and the leaks the Trump Administration is maligning, the general would sill be in this position in the nsa. They can turn this around and complain about the leaks, say this is some sort of conspiracy from people left over from the obama administrations running these agencies, but you can just look at Donald Trumps poll numbers and all of the things coming out now and know that is not going to pass muster with the public. And you had roger stone come out and defend and launch another story line, which is this is simply palace intrigue between the priebus pen swing a and the base of the trump world. He tweeted reinces purge of Flynn A Pearl harbor for trump. Althouthough flynn and banno seemed on the same page, at the end it was all hands against flynn. It was not exactly a conspiracy of the establishment. One hand that was not against flynn were the lawmakers who were out defending Michael Flynn today. Russian lawmakers rushed to his defense saying he was pushed out no because of his mistake but because of the unfolding campaign of aggression, one of the newspapers saying paranoia and a witch hunt. What do you have make of that . I dont think we can take any of that seriously. We have a long record now of trump talking positively about putin and russia. You have the expect call of sean spicer coming out at the press briefing saying no ones been tougher than donald trump. Thats like a hallucinogenic of alternative facts. Russia has not played straight except after the election, the deputy Prime Minister said of course we had contacts, of corse we had contacts with the Trump Campaign. Trump spokeswoman said no true, trump has said no true, pence said no true. Theyve all been proven false. The fbi has been much maligned. You had democrats screaming bloody murder that they came out and dropped that bomb on the election 11 days before and Hillary Clinton. And robbie mook the Campaign Manager for Hillary Clinton coming out today saying they would like them to explain why they isnt a letter about Hillary Clinton but not about this. There was explosive information that wasnt coming out. Is it possible it was this . And the fbi director will have to answer for this. Thats a matter for history. Right now we have a new administration and the administration is losing credibility faster than we can even keep up with. Theyve lied about everything from crowd sizes, you name it down the list. When theyre changing their story on an hourly basis, its hard to take anything at face values. And the republican who tried to look the other way at controversies coming out of the white house, there is going to be mounting pressure to perhaps have an independent investigation of the white house and their ties to russia. You already hear republican joining democrats in congress saying they may need to pursue an investigation. More conflicting statements from the white house is just going to guarantee its going to go that route. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Coming up, how long can republicans slow down investigations of donald trump . vo this is not a video game. This is not a screensaver. This is the destruction of a cancer cell by the bodys own immune system, thanks to medicine that didnt exist until now. And today can save your life. I cant wait for her to have that College Experience that i had. The classes, the friends, the independence. And since we planned for it, that student debt is the one experience, im glad shell miss when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. Ameriprise zplrch in response to the breaking news from the New York Times tonight, former Clinton Campaign spokesman stated everything we suspected during the campaign is proving true. This a colossal scandal. Rated pg13. Why pause a spontaneous moment . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, ordempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis. I will tell you this, russia, if youre listening, i hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Lets see if that happens. That will be next. We are continuing to follow the breaking news tonight from the New York Times that members of Donald Trumps president ial campaign had repeated contact with russian intelligence officials in the year before the election. Despite all of this interaction, u. S. Officials tell the times that so far theres no evidence that the trump team worked with russia to influence the election. Joining me now is maryland democrat congressman elijah cummings, Ranking Member on the House Committee on oversight and government reform. I want to start by getting your reaction to the breaking news about these apparent contacts between the Trump Campaign at the time and russian intelligence officials. I must tell you, joy, i wasnt completely surprised. Ive been pushing very hard for more information about what may have been going on with Campaign Officials in the Trump Campaign and the russians literally for months. And have not been able to get our chairman, mr. Chaffetz, to co c cooperate with me. It doesnt surprise me but it does concern me. Should there be an independent investigation into the administrations ties to russia . I think that has taken care of itself. Reporter is your Committee Going to take any action on this . It really is the purview of the intel committee. They are the only ones that can look at that type of information. Particularly when youre talking about interactions with a nation state like that. This is the same Jason Chaffetz who seemed ready to hound Hillary Clinton to impeachment even about her email server and he doesnt want to touch donald trump. One thing he is failing to say, joy, is something i have asked him to do and that is to join congressman swalwell with regard to a bill that we have that would create an independent commission, no senators, no members of the house, but an independent 9 11type commission to have findings to research this issue with regard to russia and our elections, to come up with findings and t