that is it for "the lead" today. i'm jake tapper. i now turn you over to wolf blitzer who is right next door in "the situation room." thanks for watching. happening now, breaking news. comey to testify. fired fbi director james combingy is ready to testify publicly to a senate commit de, and sources say that testimony could come next week. will comey confirm the reports that president trump asked him to end his probe into michael flynn's investigation? outside ties, the white house is now referring all questions to the probe to his lawyer. climate changed. his white house and cabinet are divided on the issue, but senior officials say president trump is expected to withdraw from the nearly 200-nation paris climate agreement. the president says he'll make a decision very soon. and all thumbs. after trading private cell phone

numbers with at least one foreign leader and worrying intelligence veterans in the process, president trump sends out a garbled incomprehensive midnight tweet and leaves it up all night. is it time to turn in his phone? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." this is known breaking news. >> fire fbi director james comey plans to testify as early as next week. comey is prepared to go before a senate committee to address the stunning accusations that president trump urged him to end his investigation into michael flynn ice ties to russia. comby is already said to have work out the legal guidelines for his testimony with a new special counsel, robert mueller. comey's testimony would almost certainly throw an already beleaguered white house into further turmoil. president trump today once again called the investigation into russia's election meddling and

contacts with his associates a witch-hunt, and press secretary zane spicer now tells reporters all future questions on the russia investigation will need to be referred to the president's newly hired outside counsel. and in a move that would put the united states at odds with almost every other nation on earth. two senior u.s. officials tell cnn that president trump is expected to withdraw from the paris climate agreement. nearly 200 countries are parties to the deal to curb global warming. the only exceptions are syria and nicaragua. the white house is deeply divided on the issue. president trump says he's hearing from a lot of people both ways, and says he'll be making a decision very soon. i'll talk to the former cia director leon panetta and our correspondents, specialists and guests, they are standing by with full coverage of the day's top stories. as if the white house isn't facing enough turmoil, fired fbi director james comey may be just days away from going public with

revelations about his encounters with president trump. let's begin with our senior diplomatic correspondent michelle kosinski. what are you learning? >> reporter: this means that the american public will hear from fired fbi director james comey. this is something he wants to get his story out there about his interactions with president trump while his office was investigating those around the president, so sources tell cnn this could be as early as next week before the senate intelligence committee. james comey, the fbi director fired earlier this month by president trump is about to break his silence and will do so, according to a cnn source, in a very public way, before the senate intelligence committee which is investigating contacts between trump associates and russia. this could happen as early as next week. comey is expected to detail his one-on-one meetings with trump, including any possible pressure he felt from president trump to

drop the investigation into fired national security adviser michael flynn and flynn's ties to russia which some say could amount to obstruction of justice. according to comey's own notes, sources say, trump allegedly told comey i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. he is a good guy. i hope you can let this go. congressional investigators now want to speak to or want records from at least nine trump advisers and associates. trump's lawyer michael cohen now says in a statement i have not been subpoenaed to testify. if number subpoenaed to testify, i will comply and gladly as i have nothing to hide. there's no shred of evidence that implicates me and former white house official boris epstein who grew up in moscow has been asked to testify before the house intelligence committee which his lawyer says he's considering. >> as accusations come out, clear them out, both for the sake of the president and the

presidency. we've got to be able to resolve this issue long term and get the facts out. >> reporter: one big question, why top trump adviser and son-in-law jared kushner discussed with russia's ambassador setting up a secret channel for communications with the trump tran its team, and as reported by "the washington post" why such a channel would be housed in a russian diplomatic facility? as the russian banker and former spy who kushner allegedly met with. >> reporter: did you talk about sanctions? >> no comment. >> reporter: and former campaign adviser carter page also under scrutiny from whom trump distanced himself back in february. >> i don't think i've ever spoken to him. i don't think i've ever met him. >> reporter: today was the subject of trump's support in tweets after page revealed he might not be asked to publicly testify, so now it is reported that the democrats, who have excoriated carter page about russia, don't want him to testify. he blows aware their case against him and now wants to clear his name by showing the

false or misleading testimony by james comey, john brennan. witch-hunt. also next week michael flynn, the former national security adviser who hasn't wanted to testify, at least not without immunity, is now agleeg to turn over documents, both business and personal documents, again to the senate intelligence committee. >> major developments unfolding. michelle, thanks very much. michelle kosinski in the "the situation room." president trump is also likely to make a stunning move that would leave the united states almost alone in the world by pulling out of the paris climate deal aimed at curbing global warming. let's go to our white house correspondent sara murray. what's the latest. >> reporter: this would be a hugely significant decision and sources are telling us that president trump is prepared to withdraw from the paris climate agreement, but it was interesting. sean spicer today at the podium off cameras, the white house press secretary would not go so far as to say whether the president has made a decision on pair its. he was asked repeatedly and just said over and over again that

president trump is is the ultimate decider. >> very soon. >> reporter: president is expecteded to withdraw from the landmark paris climate agreement, sources tell cnn, as trump teases a formal announcement coming soon. >> i'm hearing from a lot of people, both ways. >> reporter: the monumental move would fulfill one of trump's core campaign promises. >> we're going to cancel the paris climate agreement and stop -- unbelievable. and stop all payments of the united states tax dollars to u.n. global warming programs. >> reporter: but it would also isolate america from nearly every other nation on the globe after 195 nations pledged in 2015 to take action to curb global warming. every nation signed on but two, war-torn syria and nicaragua which insists the deal isn't tough enough. preet size mechanism for withdrawal and how far the u.s.

will go are still being determined and white house officials caution the plan could change before trump makes his announcement publicly. the expected decision drew swift backlash from democrats. house minority leader nancy pelosi slammed the move saying prufrm's decision to pull the united states out of the paris climate accord is a stunning abdication of american leadership and a grave threat to our planet's future, but some republicans welcome the news. >> i would hate to see us harm our own economy to agreeing to something that other people who we're agreeing with aren't going to follow. >> reporter: trump's decision exposes a growing rift between the nationalist and globalist views inside the west wing. steve bannon and environmental protect agency director says it harms job creation and ivanka trump and secretary of state rex tillerson have pressed the president to remain in the

accord, warning that withdrawing could damage america's credibility and international negotiating power. with major policy decisions looming and the president still irritated about his staffing situation in the west wing, trump has been turning to his usual outlet for stress relief. overnight trump appeared ready to aim at the media and instead fired off this perplexing missive. despite the constant negative press covfefe. a moment of levity that delighted the internet even if it was eventually deleted. today white house press secretary sean spicer shed little light. >> what is going on still remains a mystery. sean spicer did not elaborate on his comments and didn't say who the small group of people who might have known exactly what was going on with the president at that moment. wolf? >> that sean spicer briefing today was strictly audio. they did not allow cameras

inside the briefing room for that briefing. sara murray at the white house, thanks very much. joining us now is leon panetta. he's worn just about every hat in washington including cia director, defense secretary, clinton white house chief of staff, u.s. congressman, office of budget and management. mr. secretary, thanks so much for joining us. >> nice to be with you, wolf. >> nice resume, i must say. let's begin with your reaction to the news that the former fbi director james comey has agreed to testify before the senate intelligence committee as early as next week, the first time since he was fired by president trump. how significant is this upcoming testimony from director comey? >> well, i think it's very significant and very important to the entire administration. he played a key role as fbi director in conducting certainly a preliminary investigation into this whole issue, and he

certainly has i think the possibility in his testimony of opening the door to an obstruction of justice charge. we're still a long way from proving that, but if he in fact testifies that the president tried to inhibit and restrain the investigation that he was conducting, certainly it opens that question for consideration. >> because if he publicly confirms all the reporting that the president allegedly urged him to end that investigation into the fired national security adviser michael flynn, you're suggesting that that alone could strengthen the argument that the president was engaging in an on trucks of justice? >> i think -- i think it certainly opens the door if the president urged him not to continue his investigation. then what nodes to be done at

that point is to fully look at al of the other factors. obviously to hear from the president as to what his testimony would be, but clearly when the president urges the fbi director not to continue an investigation, there's no question that it smacks of obstruction. >> would you anticipate that he would bring his contemporaneous notes from those meetings with the president and read from those notes during the course of that public testimony? >> i think that depends on what kind of arrangement he's worked out with bob mueller. i think bob mueller had hesitated in providing those notes to the hill. whether he's changed that position, we'll have to wait and see, but obviously if --ful director, former director s going to testify, i would assume he would also testify with regards to whatever notes he made following that conversation. >> i know that comey, he's spoken with the new special

counsel robert mueller himself, a former fbi director, to outline parameters of what he can or should reveal during the course of that public hearing. are you at all concerned, mr. secretary, that comey's public testimony might interfere with the ongoing counterintelligence criminal probes? >> well, i have a lot of confidence in bob mueller's judgment, and i know that he is first and foremost probably one of the toughest prosecutors i've known, and he he's not going to allow anything that would inhibit the investigation. they will make sure that this didn't inhibit the investigation into these issues. >> as we know the president was busy on twit they are morning. he also tweeted this, and i'll put it up on the screen, mr. secretary. so now it is reported that the democrats, who have excoriated

carter page about russia, don't want him to testify. he blows away their case against him, and now wants to clear his name by showing, quote, the false or misleading testimony by james comey, john brennan, close quote. rich hunt! so he has basically in that tweet just accused both comey and john bren', the former cia director, men you know well, of a crime, falsely testifying, misleading or falsely testifying before congress. is there any indication that their testimony was either false or misleading? well, you know, again, i just think that a president tweeting his inner thoughts on these issues is very dangerous when it comes to the legal case that is involved in this investigation. i mean, if he's going to establish lawyers who are going to be the ones to talk about in

issue, he ought to let the lawyers do the talking and not him doing the tweet beiing, bec the more he tweets the more implications he raises with regards to the potential that there was in fact some kind of possible collusion here. i just think that the president at this point, if he's going to get lawyers to deal with this investigation, let the lawyers handle any kind of discussion with regards to the issues. >> yeah. he tweet that had just a few hours before the white house press secretary sean spicer said they are not going to take any questions on the whole russia investigation. they are going to refer all the questions to the outside counsel that has just been retained by the president, but the president presumably is going to go ahead and tweet. you know john brennan. you know former director comey. do you believe they would lie to congress during sworn testimony?

>> not at all. i've certainly worked with john brennan at the time that he was in the white house and obviously talked with him when he was cia director, and i have tremendous trust in his testimony and in what he says. he's a guy who doesn't pull any punches and tells the truth, and i suspect that comey is pretty much the same kind of individual, that when it comes to testimony he's going to tell the truth. >> we'll see what he says next week. secretary, we've go the a lot more to discuss. i've got to take a quick break. we'll resume our conversation right after this.

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breaking news. the house intelligence committee issued subpoenas today for michael flynn and trump personal lower michael cohen. we're back with former cia director leon panetta. mr. secretary, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser jared curb next as you well know, is under scrutiny for his attempts to set up some sort of secret communications channel with the kremlin during the transition. in your experience as a cia director, how unusual would that request be? >> well, it's very unusual for a president-elect and someone associated with a president-elect to start setting up back channels to moscow because i think it's long been recognized that we only have one president at a time, and for him

to have implied that they would set up some kind of secret channel for discussions before the president is even inaugurated president is highly unusual. >> if that channel had been established and by all accounts it was not established, it was only discussed, it would have presumably been done to evade detection by u.s. intelligence services, the argument being that they didn't want the obama administration to know about it. is there any other explanation, any other reason that's plausible to prevent obama administration officials from learning about it? >> well, at that stage of the game in the transition, if you're setting up a secret channel, i think only one reason, to set up that secret channel and it's to prevent our intelligence agencies from being able to track that conversation.

>> and that would be from your perspective, what, totally inappropriate? >> well, if you as president-elect or as president start by distrusting your intelligence agencies and those that are responsible for providing vital intelligence to the president and to the leadership in order to be able to determine what our enemies are up and somehow you -- you want to cut the intelligence agencies off in being able to find out what our enemies are saying and doing, that is dangerous. it's dangerous to our national security, and it's dangerous to the ability of a new president to be able to protect our country. >> let me shift gears while i have you, mr. secretary. president trump, he's now weighing options in afghanistan, including the possibility of sending thousands more u.s. troops to shore up what is clearly a deteriorating security

situation there. if you were advising the president, what would you suggest he do? >> well, i think the most important thing, wolf, is to understand that we cannot just allow afghanistan to collapse and become another safe haven for al qaeda or the taliban or isis. we can't afford to let that happen. at the same time, obviously the situation there, is increasingly dangerous with the taliban, with this explosion that just took place in kabul. it's pretty clear that, you know, that terrorists are beginning to really take control of afghanistan, and if we are to deploy additional force there, then i think it would have to be tied to what kind of strategy are we going to put in place in order to ensure that the afghans are able to secure themselves?

that's not happening right now, and that has to change before we add additional troops. >> leon panetta, the former secretary of defense. thanks so much for joining us. >> nice to be with you, wolf. coming up, president trump causes an international sensation by tweeting a bizarre word fragment overnight. his spokesman says, quote, a small group of people know what it means, but it's only one instance of the president's cell phone use raising are new and rather alarming security concerns. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis like me, and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a medication... ...this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain... ...and protect my joints from further damage. humira has been clinically studied for over 18 years. humira works by targeting and helping to... ...block a specific source... ...of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain and... ...stop further joint damage in many adults. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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we're following breaking news. a source telling cnn the former fbi director james comey will

testify publicly before a senate committee as early as next woke and will testify about the conversations he had with president trump. supposedly urging him to drop the investigation of the former national security adviser michael flynn. let's bring in our correspondents and specialists. brian falah keilar, how potentially damaging to the white house could the comey testimony be? >> pretty damaging. obviously he can't talk about what's going on in an ongoing investigation so there's that. we know he's expected to stay in bounds there. he can't talk about classified information, but it's not classified for jim comey to talk about conversations that he may have had with president trump, and we've seen the reporting, that he wrote memos or wrote a memo on this, where he has hey alleged that donald trump asked him to lay off investigating michael flynn. there are already critics of donald trump's even in his own party, and for many critics this is just going to allow them, if we do hear this from jim comey to say, look, that's a brick in the wall of a case for

obstruction of justice. >> at his off-camera briefing, sean spicer, as you know, dana, met with reporters. he said all future questions to the white house about the russia investigation should be referred to the president's new outside private counsel. the white house is not going to take any more reporters' questions. is that a sign -- is that a sign that the white house is getting more nervous about all of this? >> no. i think this is the silver link, if there is one, for white house staff to a special counsel being appointed and that is, you remember from your bill clinton days, from trying to ask the people at the podium questions, and the answer tended to be, you know what, go ask lanny davis, who was the president's personal attorney, and this gives white house staff a bit of breathing room and a buffer between themselves and this investigation. when i say this, i mean not just the special counsel but obviously the fact that the president has hired an attorney to specifically deal with that. >> but if the president keeps

tweeting, and he tweeted about it earlier this morning just before the white house announcement to refer all questions to the outside counsel, don't white house reporters have the right to ask the white house staff, the press secretary about, those tweets, about what the president is saying? >> yeah. no question about that, and, you know, the easy answer is that people think that jim comey would actually be vindictive because of the attacks that are on him h.everything that we know about jim comey in his work life he's not that way. phil knows him, you know, and a whole highly different level. the answers that he'll be vindictive. what it shows us though is that president trump seems to be hide willing something. i'm not saying he's hiding something but he's going on the offensive so much on the front end that he's trying to stop something from coming out, and i think that is problematic for him. >> he leveled a very serious charge against comey and john brennan, the former cia director in an early morning tweet today. let me read it to you, phil. so now it is reported that the

democrats who have excoriated carter page about russia don't want him to testify. he blows away their case against him, and now wants to clear his name by showing, quote, the false or misleading testimony by james comey, john brennan, close quote. witch-hunt. he's basically in that quote suggesting there was false or misleading testimony before congress by the former fbi director and the former cia director. if there were lies under oath, that's a felony. you go to jail for that potentially. >> you tell me who wins this argument, a president who has consistently come out and alleged things like the former president. united states bugging trump tower. the former fbi director is the one that came out and said it's false or people who have decades of service. i know john bren' well. grew up with him at cia. know jim comey some and know his reputation. the president is consistently when he sees something he doesn't like trying to double down against people who have greater credibility than he does

this. might last for 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, as the fbi investigation continues and as congress continues, these folks are going to come out in public hearings, and i think jim comey's public hearings is going to be fireworks and they will direct lip contradict the president. i don't think he can win this. >> must-watch tv is what it's gearing up to be. >> hillary clinton, brianna, she spoke out once again about the russian election meddling. listen to what she said this afternoon. >> so the russians in my opinion and based on the intel and counterintim peop counter counterintel people, could not have known how best to weaponize that information unless they had been guided. >> guided by americans? >> guided by americans and guided by people who had, you know, polling and data. >> who is florida? >> we're getting more information about all of the contacts between trump campaign officials and trump associates with russians before, during and after the election. so i hope that we'll get enough

information to be able to answer that question. >> but you're leaning trump? >> yes. >> yes. >> yes, i'm leaning trump. i think it's pretty hard not to. >> all right. that's pretty -- pretty strong charge against the president of the united states. she's suggesting she's getting very close to concluding that the president himself colluded with the russians to interfere in the presidential election. >> what -- i found what she said today pretty stunning, and what i took away from it was here is hillary clinton basically saying, not basically. she was saying that there was collusion between either trump associates or the trump campaign and russians, info wars. she mentioned as well, so this was very strong language from her. now, at this point in time we do not have evidence that there was collusion but she's saying it's very hard when she looks at the timing, "access hollywood" tape

comes out and then she's saying that doesn't just happen. time and again you look and there was something that came out just in time for donald trump, and she's saying that there really is fire where there's smoke. >> she said it's pretty hard not to conclude that there was some sort of conclusion, very, very strong statement. tough statement by the former presidential candidate. everyone stand by. there's a lot more going on. we'll resume all of this right after a quick break. [customer] yeah, hi. i don't have my debit card and these kids are having a bake sale for their soccer team so i need some cash. can i give you my mother's maiden name or my first concert or - [team member] oh, well, now you can just use your phone. [customer] my phone? [team member] yeah, just open the wells fargo mobile app and request a one-time access code. [customer] that's way better. all set. thanks. they have snickerdoodles! [team member whispers] i love snickerdoodles. [customer] thanks!

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we're back with our correspondents and specialists. mark preston, so far president trump hasn't been all that successful in getting a new legislative agenda through the house and the senate, but he has been successful with his executive orders trying to dismantle much of president obama's agenda. now if he gets the u.s. to withdraw from the paris climate accords, that's another setback to what the former president tried to achieve. >> right. another major setback in many ways, and we've all been talking here at this table about how president trump would see successes using executive orders business basically bypassing congress and being able to do legislating by fiat. now at the end of his rope, so to speak, so he can't do that. the paris climate accord though, a different situation right now. you've got to wonder though, when you have rex tillerson, his secretary of state, when you have a very conservative energy secretary bolt saying that they don't want him to leave, you have just about every country in the globe saying that they should stay in, you would think

that his ability to listen to steve bannon and the nationalist agenda doesn't seem to be a very smart political play. >> you can see who wants the u.s. to stay and who wants the u.s. to leave, who is neutral. jared kushner there, ivanka trump wants the u.s. to stay. what does all this say about the power play inside the west wing of the white house? >> i'm not so sure how much it is about power play and how much it goes back to the fact that since the president has been in office, i've been told multiple times by multiple people, that he returns when he makes decisions to the people who brought him to the dance, his voters, his base. what do they want him to do? he wants to be true to them, which is not the kind of republican that even his fellow republicans on capitol hill thought he was going to be. they thought that he was going to be somebody who because he's not sort of an ideologue at heart, that he would be a little bit more malleable, and he would be -- and he would change. in some ways he has change. he changed on the issue of strikes in syria, but on this

particular issue, i was talking to a republican on capitol hill today who said that he is shocked hat how base-driven this president is. of course, you showed the pictures of people who are for and against and i'm sure that those arguments were heard loud and clear, but my -- if he does in fact decide that he's pulling out, my gut tells me at the end of the day it's because it goes back to that one thing, the people that voted for him and the people who showed up at those rallies. >> he always said during those rallies, we're going to leave the paris climate accord. >> exactly. >> and now perhaps he'll do exactly that. is there had a national security element involved here, because some generals, some national security folks, are saying this would be a blunder? >> well, people who say there isn't a national security implication are too quick to differentiation things like planes and tanks and weather patterns. the two have very closely interlinked for one reason. people fight over scarce resources. if you look at climate change, one of the issues you'll have to look at is water.

that's middle and central usomewhat, food, familiar in, that's africa and china. if you think climate doesn't impact national security explain to me why fights, wars over water and famine won't result when weather patterns change, they will and i think it's a direct connection. >> the paris climate accords, if the u.s. decides to leave, it would join syria and nicaragua as the only countries in the world who don't support it. >> there's wide agreement that this is the u.s. ceding influence, right. you have mitt romney tweeted tate, this isn't only about climate but u.s. remaining a world leader and exxon is against them leaving the accord. where china is trying to be ascendant on the world stage, it's like, hey, can they boost. >> it's a big issue, the president says within the next few days he'll make his announcement. >> that's right. he tweeted that he was going to

do it this week, and certainly from our reporting it sounds like he is at least right now has an inclination to leave. i won't be surprised at the last minute if he would change. >> we're not going to go back to coal, perhaps in a very small amount. we makes the promises to the rustbelt we're going heavy on coal. guess what, outmation and technology is pulling us away from coal and that's why you have the exxons of the world looking at natural gas and what have you, so the idea that like more jobs are going to be created here in the united states seems so silly. >> i'm not so sure it's science-based that you're talking about or energy-based and more about maybe the nationalistic point of view, that he promised, not just this treaty that he would retreat from but just more broadly that the united states would stop getting entangled in these

multi-lateral deals. i mean, this is the multi-lateral deal. >> and he always got a big round of applause when he said it at all of those rallies. all of us remember that. guys, don't go too far away. even though white house press secretary sean spicer says a small group knows the meaning of the president's rather bizarre overnight tweet, there are other more serious security concerns about the president's cell phone use. we have details. that's coming up. look closely. hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. the microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. the microsoft cloud turns information into insight.

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. we're following multiple breaking stories, including press secretary sean spicer is

announcing that all future questions on the russian investigation will be referred to the president's outside lawyer. all of this comes in a new security concerns over the president's use of the cell phone, not just his tweeting, but his phone calls, as well. cnn's brie aan todd has been looking into this for us. >> tonight we have information that president trump exchanged personal cell phone numbers with other world leaders. former u.s. officials say it is a careless breech of protocol. veterans say a reckless compromise of security. but his defenders say this is mr. trump's most effective way it communicate. president trump earned many of his political and business chops by being a free wheeler. scoring deals on a quick handshake, back slap or phone call. he once infamously told a crowd to call lindsey graham's cell phone number. 202 -- [ bleep ]. i don't know, maybe you know, it is three, four years ago, maybe

it's an old number. >> tonight, security and intelligence veterans say he is being too reckless with that style. french president and president trump recently exchanged personal cell phone numbers at trump's request. officials report the president also gave his cell phone number to the leaders of mexico and canada. a former cia operative says those leaders very likely took the number and handed it right to their intelligence agencies and says enemies can exploit it too. >> cell phones can be hacked. the communications can be monitored or eavesdropped upon at very least. you can determine who the person is calling or who they are in communication with. and cell phones can also be used to locate a person. >> president trump hasn't had the best of luck with secure calls. in just four months his conversation with the president of the philippines, australian prime minister, and mexican president have all been leaked to the press. >> it's concerning that he is

more concerned about leaks than he is about potential vulnerabilities to foreign adversaries. >> donald trump made fun of his use of cell phones. >> i think donald trump very much believes in the power of his own personality. and he wants to be one on one with people whom he considers to be his equals. so in this case, handing out his telephone number to presidents and prime ministers makes perfect sense. >> but former u.s. officials say as president, trump's freelancing on his cell phone is breach of protocol. they say prep work by his staff before any call is crucial. and it is essential to have a record which likely wouldn't be generated on an informal cell phone call. >> you want that preserved. you want note takers. staffers that can listen in on the call so that there's great

visibility about what was said, what was not said, so if there was a dispute afterward, can you go to the record and prove your point. >> a trump administration official we spoke to said the president is being held to an unfair standard here. the official says if president trump wants it call one of these other leaders on the cell phone, his staff will take the appropriate measures to make sure that call is secured if it needs to be. but the official says it is possible that every call doesn't need secure like a quick call of congratulations. >> can the personal cell phone be completely secured, brian? >> that is up for debate. some experts telling us mobile phones are secure when a new leader takes office with old phones equipped with new sim cards. but even those phones can be vulnerable it hacking or eavesdroppi eavesdropping. those phones are secure until they are not secure. >> thank you. coming up, breaking news. fired fbi director james comey is ready to testify publicly to

a senate committee. he is ready to address accusations that president trump urged him to end his probe into michael flynn. the president put a different spin on it. >> in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. and with a book now, pay later feature, i don't have to pay for anything when i book. visit booking.com. booking.yeah. i decided to see if there was a way for design to play a... ...positive role in what was going on in the world. there's a jacket that's reflective for visibility... ...a sleeping bag jacket, jackets that turn into tents. i usually do my fashion sketches on the computer. i love drawing on the screen. there's no lag time at all. it feels just like my markers. with fashion, you can dress people and help people. it's really cool to see your work come to life.

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happening now, breaking news. speaking up. cnn learned that fired fbi director james comey is ready to testify in public about whether president trump ipt feared with the russia investigation.

questions of possible obstruction of justice. the president's lawyer, white house says it's now referring all questions about the russia probe to mr. trump's outside attorney. how far will the administration go to dodge reporters and avoid giving answers? deal or denial? president trump says he will make a decision very soon about the paris climate agreement as sources say he is expected to withdraw from the accord. tonight, mr. trump is already facing backlash accused of undermining the fight against global warming. new reign of terror. u.s. citizens are among casualties after huge new suicide bomb attack in afghanistan as president trump decides whether to commit more u.s. troops to america's longest war. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the situation room.