| | | | Who cleared Nunes into the White House? | | CNN's Jake Tapper writes: It has been something of a mystery, the whereabouts of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes on the day before his announcement that he saw information suggesting that communications of then-President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers may have been swept up in surveillance of other foreign nationals.
The California Republican confirmed to CNN in a phone interview he was on the White House grounds that day -- but he said he was not in the White House itself. (Other buildings, including the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, are on the same grounds.) A former government intelligence official told CNN that members of Congress, like the general public, must be cleared and escorted into facilities on White House grounds.
A government official said Nunes was seen last Tuesday night at the National Security Council offices of the Eisenhower building, which, other than the White House Situation Room, is the main area on the complex to view classified information in a secure room. The official said Nunes arrived and left alone.
Nunes explains: The lawmaker told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he had to view the classified documents in an executive branch location because the intelligence community had not yet provided them to Congress. "The Congress has not been given this information, these documents, and that's the problem," Nunes said. "This is executive branch." He said his sources on the matter, which he stressed was unrelated to Russia, could not deliver the documents to his committee, so he had to go to them. "There was no way I could view that because they couldn't get it to the House Intelligence Committee," Nunes said. | | Kushner, Senate investigators set to meet | | The Russia plot thickens: One of President Donald Trump's closest advisers, son-in-law Jared Kushner, has volunteered to testify before senators investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, because of his role in arranging meetings between top campaign advisers and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.
"Throughout the campaign and transition, Jared Kushner served as the official primary point of contact with foreign governments and officials. Given this role, he has volunteered to speak with (Senate Intelligence) Chairman (Richard) Burr's committee, but has not yet received confirmation," a White House spokesperson told CNN.
In December, during the presidential transition, Kushner met with the Russian ambassador at Trump Tower. Following the meeting, Kislyak requested another sit-down. Instead of attending himself, Kushner sent his deputy, Avrahm Berkowitz, a senior administration official confirmed. Kushner had one additional meeting with a Russian official, according to a senior Trump administration official. This one took place between Kushner and Sergey N. Gorkov, the head of Russia's economic development bank, at the insistence of the Russian ambassador.
The meetings are drawing increased scrutiny as committees in the House and Senate -- as well as FBI investigators -- are looking at the extent of Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and potential ties between Trump associates and suspected Russian operatives. | | "When I look in the mirror, there's one guy that's criticizing himself for not talking to enough people, not getting to a consensus." -- Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, whose members' opposition to Trump's Obamacare repeal bill sank the GOP effort last week, to CNN's Jeremy Herb this evening. Meadows' constituents were thrilled with his role in sinking the bill, per Politico's Adam Cancryn. | | | | Gallup's tracking poll has President Donald Trump's approval rating at 36%, while 57% do not approve of the job Trump is doing. | | To read Trump's mind, lawmakers read 'The Art of the Deal' | | From CNN's MJ Lee: As members of the House Freedom Caucus plotted to seize control of Donald Trump's health care bill earlier this month, they discovered a key weakness in the President's strategy. In a memo circulated to members of the conservative group, a top adviser to Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky pointed out that Trump had made an uncharacteristic error: The President had violated his own rules in "The Art of the Deal."
Quoting from a passage of the book in which Trump urged readers never to seem too eager to cut a deal, the memo concluded Republican leaders appeared to have done just that. "The speaker needs a deal right now, more than the Freedom Caucus. So does the White House." | | Fans of the TV shows "Covert Affairs" or "Charmed" who live in Atlanta's northern suburbs are in luck: actors Christopher Gorham and Alyssa Milano are offering to drive people to vote in the special election for the seat vacated by Republican Rep. Tom Price, President Donald Trump's Health and Human Services secretary.
Democrats are hoping Jon Ossoff can pick off what used to be Newt Gingrich's seat in a marquee April special election. | | 4 things you may have missed today | | White House keeps up sanctuary cities pressure with funding threat: Attorney General Jeff Sessions outlined today how the Trump administration will use federal funds to crack down on "sanctuary cities" and states that choose not to comply with federal immigration laws, as it has threatened to do since January. More from CNN's Dan Merica and Tal Kopan.
WikiLeaks denies Roger Stone's claim of back-channel to the group: WikiLeaks is publicly distancing itself from longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone, who for months during the 2016 campaign claimed to have a back-channel communication with the group's founder, Julian Assange. More from CNN's KFile.
The Trump stock market rally is under siege: The Dow fell today for the eighth day in a row, its longest losing streak since 2011. Trump's stunning failure to repeal and replace Obamacare spooked investors, sending the Dow sinking as many as 184 points in the first few minutes of trading. More from CNNMoney's Matt Egan.
Cheney says the Russian meddling is possibly "an act of war": "There's not any argument at this stage that somehow the election of President Trump was not legitimate, but there's no question that there was a very serious effort made by Mr. Putin and his government, his organization, to interfere in major ways with our basic, fundamental democratic processes," former Vice President Dick Cheney said today. "In some quarters, that would be considered an act of war." More from Politico's Nolan D. McCaskill. | | | President Donald Trump joked about his "glamorous" tiny desk. ... In the wake of the GOP's failure on health care, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to propose a health care system funded entirely by taxpayers. ... Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren plan a joint appearance Friday night in Boston. | | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out Five Things for Your New Day, CNN's morning newsletter. Give us five minutes, and we'll brief you on all the news and buzz people will be talking about. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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