Intel Committee Leaders React To Russia Questions; Wiretap Questions; Investigating Trump Campaign Ties to Russia; Russian Agent in Custody.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: -- the wiretapping of Trump Tower. The president landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport within the past hour. He tours a vehicle testing facility this hour and gives a speech next hour. His trip comes as the investigation into Russia's meddling in the U.S. presidential election is heating up. The chairman and the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee held a news conference just a little while ago. Both of them, both of them, the Republican and the Democrat, they both said they have seen nothing to support President Trump's wiretap allegations against the former President Barack Obama.</s>REP. DEVIN NUNES (R), CALIFORNIA, CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I don't believe just in the last week of time that people we talked to, I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower.</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA, RANKING MEMBER, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I see no evidence that supports the claim that President Trump made that his predecessor had wiretapped he and his associates at Trump Tower.</s>BLITZER: Two senators, one Republican, one Democrat. Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham and Sheldon Whitehouse, they are also demanding any evidence of President Trump's wiretapping claims. Senator Whitehouse says he expects an answer today from the FBI director, James Comey, on another issue, whether there is a criminal investigation into possible Russia ties to the Trump campaign. Senator Graham disputes whether Comey promised an answer by today. We shall see shortly. We're also keeping a very close eye on another developing story, the Republican health care bill. The vice president, Mike Pence, meets with Republican House leaders later today as opposition to their Obamacare replacement plan grows. We have all of this covered with our team of correspondents and analysts. Our Senior Congressional Reporter Manu Raju is up on Capitol Hill. Our White House Correspondent Athena Jones is traveling with the president in Michigan. We also have our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger, our Senor Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin and our Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto. Manu, we heard from the Republican chairman and the ranking Democrat of the House Intelligence Committee just a little while ago. They both are suggesting they have seen no evidence over these past 11 days to back up the president's claims against the former president.</s>MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Yes, that's right. This is actually the strongest statement yet that we've heard from the Republican chairman of the committee, Devin Nunez, that he does not believe that Trump Tower was actually wiretapped. When I asked him about what evidence has he seen, what made him make that assertion. He said, well, you know, basically, based on the conversations we've made that determination because they have not actually seen anything from the Justice Department yet. And he said, if you take what the president said, literally from his tweets, that he had -- that Trump Tower was actually wiretapped, that, in his view, did not happen. Now, this comes as part of that broader Russia investigation that is ongoing by the House Intelligence Committee. They revealed some key details, including the discussion about whether there were any contacts between the Trump campaign officials and Russian officials during the presidential election. You'll hear disagreement about whether there's any evidence from the two leading members of this committee. Take a listen.</s>RAJU: Is there anything you've seen in the evidence so far that suggest that there were any conversations between people affiliated with the Trump campaign, people -- Russian officials who are not the ambassador to Russia, anyone other tied to kremlin had conversations with the Trump campaign? Do you have any evidence of that?</s>NUNES: Not that I'm -- Not that I'm aware of.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Chairman, the White House says --</s>SCHIFF: You know, I wouldn't answer that question as categorically as my colleague. And, you know, we're not privileged to talk about the contents of the investigation. But I -- you know, I think we need to be precise when we talk about this. And I just don't think we can answer that -- answer categorically and not in this forum.</s>RAJU: Now, Wolf, later in that press conference, I asked both members, what do you think about what has been revealed in the recent weeks about Roger Stone, a former Trump advisor who had contacts with Russian -- alleged Russian hackers during the election. Devin Nunes did not have any concerns. He said, well, look, Roger Stone, I'm not even sure who he is. But Adam Schiff said he was very concerned and he wanted to learn more about those specific contacts and what exactly occurred during the elections. Now, they have also revealed that they have not yet spoken to Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor who admitted to having contacts with the Russian ambassador around the time that President Obama's administration was imposing new sanctions on Russia. At the same time, they would not confirm the question that a lot of senators are asking today, whether or not there's actually a criminal investigation ongoing between -- over -- in the FBI over Russia. They said they would not talk about private discussions. Now, this comes as James Comey is on Capitol Hill later this afternoon to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time when two top senators, Sheldon Whitehouse and Lindsey Graham, are looking for that confirmation to determine whether or not there is this active criminal investigation ongoing at the FBI. We don't know yet, Wolf, if we're going to get that answer. But that's something that the members will be asking Comey in this classified briefing later today -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Yes, very serious questions. Jim Sciutto, what are you hearing about this suggestion that there may have been some contacts between Trump surrogates or advisers and Russian officials other than the ambassador?</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you know, Wolf, our reporting is that there were conversations. There were contacts between official -- Russian officials and others known to U.S. intelligence. In fact, it's our reporting there was repeated contact between those Russians and people, some of them senior in the Trump campaign, this during the campaign. That's our understanding from multiple sources both in the intelligence community and in law enforcement. That moment between Congressman Schiff and Congressman Nunes, I have to say, is pretty remarkable. I mean, you have the two chiefs, in effect, of this House investigation there with a fundamental disagreement on one of the key lines of investigation in this bipartisan Hill investigation of Russian content. One saying he's seen no evidence. And then, one, you saw him shift there somewhat diplomatically, but interrupt the chairman of the committee and say, well, actually, I wouldn't say that. And Adam Schiff is very careful about commenting on classified material. But he seemed to be sending a fairly public and direct signal there that he cannot say, categorically, there is no evidence of that kind of contact. And that's a -- that's a fundamental disagreement on one of the major lines of inquiry of this investigation. And it raises a question -- it's not the first time we've seen Nunes and Schiff differ in public on some of these questions. It raises the question as to whether this bipartisan investigation can proceed in a bipartisan way. If, at the very start, you have one side, the chairman basically ruling out a lot of investigation. The other very publicly saying, well, actually, you know, I've seen the intelligence, and we can't rule that out. That's a -- that's a big deal as this investigation goes forward.</s>BLITZER: Yes. Let's see if they can keep at least some semblance of a bipartisan investigation. That would be really important. Athena, the White House is under enormous pressure to either refute the wiretap allegations against President Obama or provide evidence to back up the president -- President Trump's claim. What's the latest response from the Trump administration? Because yesterday, they -- the press secretary there was pretty confident that the president would be vindicated in his assertions.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. That's right. After a week of saying nothing, officials have begun to comment on this matter. And you'll remember earlier this week, when the press secretary, Sean Spicer, argued that the president wasn't talking about having his wires tapped, when he tweeted that he believed the former president had his wires tapped. Sean Spicer argued that President Trump was speaking more broadly about surveillance and not specifically about his phones. He, of course, made that point even though the president, at least a couple of those tweets specifically mentioned his phones being tapped. But Spicer has said that he believes the president -- the president believes or -- and is confident that he will be vindicated when it comes to finding evidence about broader surveillance. That's still, of course, a question mark. But, today, is was Attorney General Jeff sessions' turn to answer questions about this whole wiretapping accusation issue. He was asked, did you have a chance to brief the president on investigations related to the campaign or did you ever give him a chance -- any reason to believe that he was wiretapped by the previous administration? Take a listen to how the attorney general responded.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you ever give any reason to believe that he was wiretapped by the previous administration?</s>ATTORNEY GENERAL: Look, the answer is no.</s>JONES: So, you can see the attorney general stumbling a little bit there or at least hesitating and giving that answer. But he answered no. And so, the plot thickens, Wolf. We're still waiting to see what else the White House has to say. They don't seem to be prepare to offer any evidence and that is because this is something that many, many officials say simply didn't happen, this idea that President Obama, himself, had anything to do with wiretapping anything in Trump Tower. So, we're just waiting to see what else comes down -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: It's interesting, Gloria, that Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, says if he doesn't get answers on whether there's any validity to the president's wiretap claims against the former president, he'll actually go ahead and subpoena for that information. Listen to this.</s>CHUCK SCHUMER: I want to get to the bottom of it. The FBI would know if there was a warrant, was ever issued. They would know if the warrant was applied for. I want to answer that question. And if they do not provide the answer to that letter that we wrote in a bipartisan fashion, --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.</s>SCHUMER: -- there will be a bipartisan subpoena following the FBI.</s>BLITZER: Senator Graham says Congress is going to flex its muscles. What does that mean for the White House?</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's not good news for the White House. I think Lindsey Graham stated very clearly that he wants to get to the bottom of this. On the Judiciary Committee, for example, if they're not getting the answers they want, they can hold up the nomination of the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. They can take to their own bully pulpit every day and demand answers. And don't forget, you have another -- you have another big issue for the White House that is -- that is front and center right now, and that's health care. And this is a White House that is trying to pass a bill that is hobbled, to get it out of the House and into the Senate and they don't even know if they can do that. And this whole wiretap issue is taking over events here because Congress wants answers after the president's tweets, and they do want to get to the bottom of it. So, you know, you have a White House that should be going full steam ahead on a substantive issue to try to negotiate a deal. And instead, they're dealing with Congress on this other issue and they have to figure out a way to, kind of, put it to rest, at a certain point. And the only way to do that, Wolf, the only way to do that is to get the answers that Senator Lindsey Graham says he wants.</s>BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Jeffrey. Congressman Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, he says he's concerned about what he calls incidental collection of records and the unmasking of names. He was asked whether that includes the president. Listen to his answer.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think the president himself might be one of those people that was swept up in this?</s>NUNES: It's possible. You know, look, I mean, we know -- we think we understand how General Flynn was picked up on incidental collection. And, perhaps, there's, you know, additional incidental collection.</s>BLITZER: All right, explain what that means to you, Jeffrey.</s>JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, what that means is, you know, the FBI is doing investigations all the time. They will put a wiretap on the phone of a suspect. But that suspect talks to people who are not necessarily under suspicion as part of the criminal scheme, and that can bring other people involved. It can get their names into the records of that investigation. What the Congressman appears to be suggesting is that there is a possibility that in the course of other investigations, either national security or criminal investigations, someone within the Trump sphere, perhaps even then candidate Trump himself, was recorded. But, you know, these are facts that exist in the world. You know, these tapes either do or do not exist. And the FBI knows it. And, at some point, someone's just going to have to answer the question of were these investigations underway? Are they still? Who's on the tapes? What did they say? I mean, those are -- they're not opinions. They're facts. And someone should be getting them at this -- at least now or soon.</s>BLITZER: Because the assumption is it's widely assumed that the reason they recorded Michael Flynn was because he was having a conversation with the Russian ambassador and U.S. intelligence or the FBI would routinely monitoring the Russian ambassador to the United States. And if he's speaking to the national security adviser or someone close to the president, that's how he gets on that recording, right?</s>TOOBIN: Exactly. And Michael Flynn was fired not because he was speaking to the Russian ambassador which is perfectly appropriate. The reason he was fired is that he lied to Mike Pence -- Vice President Pence about what his conversations that took place. You know, the mystery at the heart of these Russian contacts is why were there so many and what were they talking about? That's what this investigation is supposed to do and it should start rather than -- you know, all -- everyone speculating about what might be in some investigation.</s>BLITZER: All right, excellent points from everybody. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you. Gloria, Athena, Jim Sciutto, Manu Raju, guys, we'll get back to you shortly. Coming up, for the first time ever, the Department of Justice has filed criminal cyber charges against Russian government officials for what they call one of the largest data breaches in U.S. history. We have details. Also, the FBI director James Comey will testify on -- during Monday's House Intelligence Committee hearing, regarding the president's wiretapping allegations against former President Obama. A Democratic member of that committee who met with Comey this month is standing by to join us live. We'll discuss.