| | | | Congress investigating another possible Sessions-Kislyak meeting | | A scoop from CNN's Jim Sciutto, Jamie Gangel, Shimon Prokupecz and Marshall Cohen: Congressional investigators are examining whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions had an additional private meeting with Russia's ambassador during the presidential campaign, according to Republican and Democratic Hill sources and intelligence officials briefed on the investigation.
Investigators on the Hill are requesting additional information, including schedules from Sessions, a source with knowledge tells CNN. They are focusing on whether such a meeting took place April 27, 2016, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, where then-candidate Donald Trump was delivering his first major foreign policy address. Prior to the speech, then-Sen. Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak attended a small VIP reception with organizers, diplomats and others.
In addition to congressional investigators, the FBI is seeking to determine the extent of interactions the Trump campaign team may have had with Russia's ambassador during the event as part of its broader counterintelligence investigation of Russian interference in the election.
The FBI is looking into whether there was an additional private meeting at the Mayflower the same day, sources said. Neither Hill nor FBI investigators have yet concluded whether a private meeting took place -- and acknowledge that it is possible any additional meeting was incidental. | | House Russia investigators subpoena Cohen, Flynn | | From CNN's Tom LoBianco, Jeremy Herb and Deirdre Walsh: The House Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas Wednesday to former national security adviser Michael Flynn and President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, as part of the probe into Russian activity during the 2016 election. The subpoenas, the first from the House panel, seek their testimony, as well as documents from their businesses.
More big Russia investigation news: Fired FBI Director James Comey plans to testify publicly in the Senate as early as next week to confirm bombshell accusations that Trump pressured him to end his investigation into a top Trump aide's ties to Russia, a source close to the issue told CNN's Eric Lichtblau. | | 2020 watch: Joe Biden is launching a PAC | | Former Vice President Joe Biden is launching a political action committee tomorrow -- a move certain to fuel speculation about whether he'd make a run for president in 2020. The PAC's name: American Possibilities. It's an implicit rebuke of President Donald Trump's style.
Biden will announce it in a Medium post. Here's part of what it will say: "America has always thought big. It's stamped into our DNA. We're the people who built the Hoover Dam and the Transcontinental Railroad, landed a man on the moon, cured polio, built the Internet and sequenced the human genome. And yes -- soon we will be the people who will find a cure for cancer. That's why the negativity, the pettiness, the small-mindedness of our politics drives me crazy. It's not who we are." More from CNN's Brianna Keilar and Eli Watkins. | | "I'm now the nominee of the Democratic Party. I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party. It was bankrupt, it was on the verge of insolvency, its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong. I had to inject money into it -- the DNC -- to keep it going."
-- Hillary Clinton, speaking today and savaging the Democratic National Committee under former chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's leadership. | | | Covfefe day: At 12:06 a.m. ET, President Donald Trump tweeted: "Despite the constant negative press covfefe." (It has since been deleted.) Clearly it was a typo -- who knows what Trump was actually trying to say, but some assume he meant "coverage" -- and folks on Twitter thought it was hilarious, turning it into a meme that has since gone viral.
The weirdest part: White House press secretary Sean Spicer bizarrely wouldn't admit it was a typo. "The President and a small group of people know exactly what he meant," Spicer said at an off-camera briefing today ... spawning even the conspiracy theory-averse to wonder just what he might be alluding to. | | Trump's disbelief in climate science looms over Paris decision | | From CNN's Dan Merica: President Donald Trump has said he will decide this week whether his administration will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, a multinational climate change accord. Sources have told CNN he plans to withdraw from the deal, a major break from the steps other countries are taking to combat global warming.
He's long been a critic of climate science, and those words now loom over his decision. Trump's long-held views on climate change and global warming include -- despite scientific evidence to the contrary -- suggesting climate change is a hoax that was perpetrated by the Chinese government. During the 2016 campaign, for example, Trump said he would "rescind all the job-destroying Obama executive actions," including the Paris agreement.
Much of Trump's opposition to fighting climate change has stemmed from conspiracy theories that argue a whole host of people -- Democrats, scientists, foreign countries -- have fabricated climate science to sell the theory to the American people. Dan traces Trump's history here. | | 3 things you might have missed today | | Melania Trump's strong words about that Kathy Griffin photo: First lady Melania Trump weighed in with her thoughts about Kathy Griffin's widely derided video and photograph depicting the bloody head of President Donald Trump. "As a mother, a wife, and a human being, that photo is very disturbing," she said in a statement. More from CNN's Kate Bennett and Allie Malloy.
White House seeks to wall off Russia questions: The White House took its first public steps to cordon off response efforts to the Russia probe from the day-to-day work of the administration, acknowledging openly that Trump had hired an outside attorney to handle the swirling controversy. Asked at an off-camera briefing for reaction to upcoming congressional testimony from fired FBI Director James Comey, press secretary Sean Spicer referred questions for the first time to the newly named outside lawyer. More from CNN's Kevin Liptak.
Musk threatens to quit as Trump's adviser: Elon Musk, the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, said he'll step down from Trump's advisory councils if he decides to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. More from CNNMoney's Julia Horowitz. | | | Leaders of five Nordic countries are rejecting claims they "trolled" President Donald Trump by posing for a photo that is drawing comparisons to the US leader's now infamous moment with a glowing orb during his trip to Saudi Arabia. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
