Russian Agents Indicted in Massive Yahoo Data Breach; 2 House Intel Committee Leaders: No Evidence of Wiretapping at Trump Tower.
BLITZER: Looking at live pictures coming in from Michigan. The president will be delivering remarks shortly. We'll have large coverage of that. Stand by. This will be the first time we hear from the president since Intelligence Committee leaders, both of them, the Democratic and Republican leaders, announced today they see no evidence backing up claims that Trump Tower in New York City was wiretapped on the orders of President Obama during the election campaign. President Trump blamed surveillance on that facility, insisting there was surveillance ordered by President Obama. I want to talk more about that with our CNN political analyst, David Gregory. David, the Justice Department missed the deadline to provide evidence of a tap. The House Intelligence Committee leaders say they see zero indication it actually happened, so what is the White House's next move?</s>DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't know, Wolf. This is a real credibility blow to this White House and this president. But to upping the ante and saying, put up or shut-up, on such an incendiary charge of criminality from one president to a former president is really stunning. And all these people around, from the vice president to the press secretary to advisors, kind of circling the wagons, absent any evidence, is really going to hurt America's credibility and this president's credibility. You have Lindsey Graham, the Intelligence Committee chairs of both parties saying there's nothing here. The FBI director has already said there was no FISA warrant. So if this was an overly broad charge, then it contradicts how specific President Trump was with regard to President Obama. And it's a mess. And I don't know where they go from here --</s>BLITZER: So how -- GREGORY -- other than backing down completely.</s>BLITZER: So how do you explain the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, at the White House briefing yesterday -- and you and I are both former White House correspondents -- saying he is extremely confident that the president's assertions will be vindicated. How do you explain that?</s>GREGORY: They should know. The president can find out and he can present this evidence if he wants to. Of course, what's so damming about this is that he's either not telling the truth and hasn't been or there's evidence of a warrant and there's a reason why there was some kind of surveillance of him and his team. Remember, this is all about contacts with Russia, potentially, when Russia was up to no good trying to manipulate a U.S. election. So they have the ability to put the cards on the table. The Justice Department could put this out here. What we have heard is that they haven't shown anything. And the FBI director, who is in a position to know, has said it's not true and it should be corrected. So that's what we know so far and we're trying to figure out what's going on.</s>BLITZER: On this coming Monday, the FBI Director James Comey is scheduled to testify in open session before the House Intelligence Committee. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of questions for him. And all of us are wondering how far he will go, in open session, on, A, the issue of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election and, B, on the president's assertion that President Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower? What are you going to be listening for?</s>GREGORY: Well, that last point is really important. Will he come out and publicly say what the president said is simply not true? James Comey, as head of the FBI, has, on record, leaning into these investigations, to say whether someone, in the case of Hillary Clinton, should not have been prosecuted, should have been prosecuted, really making public elements of the investigation that is unprecedented in terms of following the rules that is set forth by the Justice Department. We'll see if he steps back or if he doubles down on that. And, of course, the issue of Russian meddling, that is the key point, much more important than the president, though his credibility is vitally important, more important than the president tweeting and making up claims against a former president. What is the evidence? What is that leading investigators to know more about whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and to what extent Russia was interfering in the election!</s>BLITZER: The House Speaker Paul Ryan, on another sensitive issue, strongly defending the Republican health care bill today. Listen to what he said this morning.</s>REP. PAUL RYAN, (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: This is something we wrote with President Trump, something we wrote with the Senate committees. Just so you know, Maria, this is the plan we ran on all of last year.</s>BLITZER: The speaker clearly tying the president to this current legislation, which seems to be in serious trouble right now. What do you make of this?</s>GREGORY: I think that's significant, right? The president has said he's backed Ryan and the Ryan plan, and does he stay there? There's a lot of different forces here. There are moderates, conservatives. There are others this the president's orbit who say this is bad politics you're going to alienate parts of your base here, elderly voters, low-income voters, working class folks who could be left out in the cold under a new Trumpcare plan, don't do it. But now you have the speaker of the House making it very clear the president has been on board. And he has been onboard and he has been fighting for it. It will be interesting to see to what extent he will continue to campaign for it and use political capital and whether the White House, which now says it's open to amendments on all of this, is going to back away or put more pressure on Ryan to give in. Again, what's striking is this is being defined very negatively very quickly. And Obamacare suffered the same thing. You recall, of course, failed Hillarycare, back in the early '90s, that got defined early and was killed. Obamacare survived, but had a very difficult go of it, in terms of how it was defined in communicating its effectiveness.</s>BLITZER: And you heard Republican leaders in the House, they need those 216 votes to get it through the House, towards the Senate, for consideration, and they're not 100 percent sure they have the 216 votes in the House of Representatives. Potentially, if it fails, it could be a huge embarrassment for the leadership and for the president himself. David, thank you very much --</s>GREGORY: You're welcome.</s>BLITZER: -- David Gregory, for helping us with all that. That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room." And then, 9:00 p.m. eastern, Dana Bash and I will be moderating a town hall with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. But first, waiting for President Trump to come and speak in Michigan. NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.