u.s. and a preview of today's meeting between israel's prime minister netanyahu and the president. ♪ even though several house -- mitchns expressed mcconnell told reporters on tuesday that it was highly likely that the senate intelligence committee would look into the matter. this as the new archives and other media sources reporting this morning that the trump had regularicials contact with russian intelligence officials during the campaign. are of this will come up in moment. but first, we want to get your reaction to this new news that has come out.

1 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. independents.or you can post on her twitter page -- our twitter page or facebook page. the lead story for "the new york times" this morning, trump eight had contact with russian intelligence. u.s. officials tell of a flurry of phone calls with russian officials before the election. michael schmidt is joining us on the phone. good morning. guest: thank you for having me. i'm sorry about the noise in the background. contextn you give us on how this story developed for you? been a lot of tension around the russia investigation and with the u.s. government knows about russian efforts to hack organizations in the u.s. leading up to the

election. we've learned that there has been expensive contact -- extensive contact between trump officials and russian intelligence officials. as a very alarming thing for american law enforcement. why is this going on from especially at a time that trump is saying the russians should release it clinton's emails? -- hillary clinton's emails? these were people that work for the campaign and associates of trump as well. some of the communications , someonepaul manafort helping him before with

republican delegate counting for the convention. ,e also know that michael flynn the national security adviser ,ho resigned just two days ago was one of these people who had extensive contact with russians and was talking to them. as the fbi tries to piece this together, they look at this and say we cannot find the same level of medication between the trump folks and other officials in other countries. what was really going on here? seen we talk to have not any conclusive evidence that there was collusion between the trump campaign and the russians. we are going to do business in that part of the world, you will likely run up against russian intelligence officials who are embedded in this society. host: we know anything about the

nature of the conversations back and forth between these two parties? guest: we don't know about the content of the conversations and i think the u.s. government there ise of that, but simply call logs they have that show the communications between the two. host: as far as reaction from the white house to the story, have you heard any response from the white house today? guest: sean spicer stood by his statement that there had been no contact between trump folks and russians in the lead up to the election. he stood by that statement. that is not what i reporting has shown. mr. spicer had been provided misleading information about general flynn and general flynn's contact with the russians. what he is saying does not add up with our understanding of things. oft: will there be a release

a list of those who had communications with the russians? guest: we will publish what information we believe to be accurate and that we feel confident his right. right. we are staying on this story like others are and we are trying to understand what went on here and what the connections were. this and the intelligence committee is looking at this. .he fbi is looking at this -- the house intelligence committee is looking at this. host: is there anything you want to add to the story? guest: it is still early. presidency were a baseball game, there would be one out in the top of the first inning. there's a lot more to play out here. it is very early, but an

enormous amount has happened in a very short time. from "theael schmidt new york times" joining us to talk about his story. thank you for your time this morning. with that in place and some other elements of the story concerning michael flynn in place as well come of this morning, your thoughts on these conversations and allegations that have been put out there between the trump campaign and russian officials. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8002 for independents. the story we are focusing on is the conversation that michael smith had with us just moment , you can add various elements of the story going on surrounding that. let's start with harold in ohio. republican line. go ahead.

first, i would like to say this is just utter nonsense and hysteria. this is fake news. what michael flynn did, he talks to a russian ambassador. it's not against the law. he talked to him in december. talknot against the law to about sanctions. he should not have lied to mike pence. to act like this is a huge conspiracy and that there's all these people in the donald trump campaign that was talking to russians is just the bed. -- is just stupid. the worst part about this is the leaks. after peoplego out in the obama administration paid these are the highest classified documents in the government.

when the government records ambassadors from another country, they are talking to american citizens, the american citizen's identity is masked. highly classified information that only five or six people are supposed to know about get into the hands of the washington post or the new york times? host: paul in wisconsin. democrats line. caller: that last caller was uninformed. these calls go back almost a whole year during the trump campaign. they were in contact with russian intelligence officials. it's more than just the one meeting that flynn had. they need to set up an independent counsel to get a

trump tax returns and find out why he so cozy with vladimir putin and what is going on there. might have just elected our first th russians by president. that's russian spy president. god help us. host: this is the cnn headline this morning. in the cnnnell headline. highly likelytion -- flynn investigation highly likely in senate committee. missouri. pairepublican line. caller: i don't find any of this out of the ordinary. it's more of a distraction from

the problems that we need to -- host: why is it just a distraction and not out of the ordinary for you? caller: mr. trump has been carrying on like this for all -- wempaign and whatnot just need to deal with it and go on. host: how do you think the white house is handling this situation? caller: i don't think they are handling it. as far as the general goes come i think he probably should be military and the given a court-martial. host: let's hear from dan in new york. democrats line. caller: good morning. i hope that the trump administration is listening to me. what you need to do is find out

everybody who had access to that information must sit them down and strap a polygraph test of them. these democrats will do anything they can to try to stop the trump administration from doing what he told the people he would do. double-edged sword. i happen to appreciate the fact that edward snowden angelina sanchez -- and julian we paid the price for the actions of these politicians. when you take a look at what these politicians do liess-the-board mother is a -- across-the-board, there is a line. they are taking apart the administration piece by piece to

destroy his presidency and nothing will get accomplished in this country. they come out with new stories every day and tell the people what's going on. and yet, nobody seems to really care. we care more about some general having a conversation with some or whator to russia hillary is wearing -- it's just ridiculous. mr. trump, use the power of the law to find out who did this to you and prosecute them. host: more from "the new york times story. trump campaign aides that had contact with russian intelligence officials. the capture the calls between mr. trump's associates and the russians as part of routine surveillance.

independent line. we will hear from joe from sarasota, florida. was clinton or mr. obama, they would be crucified. up.eed to lock them president knew all along. clinton wasn mrs. grilled by congress -- how many millions of taxpayers money was spent?

if she did the same thing mr. flynn did, she would be indicted. we need to do that to mr. flynn . he needs to be in guantanamo bay for treason. i thought republicans called mr. snowden a traitor. if you did that back in the day when the founding fathers were still alive, the founding fathers would hang them in a heartbeat. host: new jersey. democrats line. go ahead. about them calling leaks.

the main leaks have come out of the white house because some of his own staff cannot get close enough to speak with him. some of his own staff cannot get enough to speak to him and everybody is jockeying for position. if you really want the truth, follow the money. donald trump president for the power and the money -- ran for president for the power and the money. when they finally get his tax returns, you will see why he speak so highly of russia. a lot of people are complaining about the democrats trying to bring trump down. he will bring his own invitation. because he's in over his head. -- he will bring his own administration down. host: the president tweeting sayingrning about this

the russian connection nonsense is merely an attempt to cover up the many mistakes made in hillary clinton's losing campaign. from california, we will hear next from ruth on our independent line. caller: good morning. thinking of what your reporter said at the beginning of the show, this is the first out in the first inning. i think this is going to go a lot wider and deeper. what comes to mind is watergate and iran. i do think an independent investigation with subpoena power does need to be done. thank you. host: that is ruth from

california. in the pages of "washington times" this morning, this is charles hurt who writes the column this morning with the --dline you can find his writing at the washington times website this

morning. surely from arkansas. republican line. irley from arkansas. republican line. caller: i been watching c-span --r since i got to be older i spend a lot of time watching c-span and fox news. i had something terrible when onein russia -- of my nephews was a correspondent fresh out of college. i don't know how long he was over there, but he came back in a body bag with his head cut off. that's a true thing. when i was into everybody come i think, what are they trying to do? start a war here? everybody gets on the air and says "russia, russia, russia."

it's ridiculous. they need to stop that. morning.ie, good they should have an independent counsel to investigate this. i find it very interesting or hypocritical of republican trump supporters -- i cannot put them all together because not all republicans support him -- i becauseinteresting that of the possibility that clinton's emails were had, they chant locker up but because of the evidence -- this "the washington post" morning talks about the vice

president's role in these stories that have come out in the last few days. aides to both the president and the vice president said the two men speak on the phone or in-person multiple times a day. the president never told his number two that he had been misled by flynn. it goes on to say --

jose is up next in virginia. the public in line. -- republican line. iller: i just have to say think general flynn does have to be held accountable. to try for trump something new. i really thought he could make a difference. i haven't seen anything yet. hearing from my fellow --ublicans kind of upset me it's not about these leaks. these leaks have happened for years. it's not about that. this is the president being held accountable.

he said he was going to be held accountable and would take responsibility. we have not seen that yet. he points fingers at people constantly. buck stopssay the here and take responsibility for his people's actions? i don't know where he got his information of how government runs or how to be a leader, but he is not only accountable for him but also for the actions of his subordinates. thank you for having me on your show today. host: andre in georgia on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: good morning. how are you doing? i believe the swamp just got dirtier. to clean was elected the swamp mud drain the swamp.

in my case, it just got a little dirtier. mr. flynn should be called to congress and he should testify about what he knows. hillary clinton over and nows for her emails that we have conversations between general flynn and the russian ambassador, it needs to be looked into. host: what do you think about the story in the last 24 hours about campaign aides from the trump administration discussing with russian intelligence officials? caller: exactly. this needs to be looked into. we had a representative chris collins on yesterday from new york saying we need to move on. no, this needs to be looked into. i hope congress will be doing their job. i will be contacting my senators

to let them know that this cannot be swept under the rug. ,ll through the election president trump has called out every other country, china, cuba, iran -- he's had this romance with putin. i'm waiting for them to take a picture with both of their shirts off. you have to look into this and i hope congress does their job and looks into this. unitedcott out of the kingdom reporting on reaction from the kremlin -- the kremlin says that report claiming members of donald trump's campaign had contact with russian intelligence officials is not based on any facts.

that is on the sky news website. you can comment on that. other people commenting on the michael flynn situation this morning. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for the macbeth. independents.or democrats.000 for "washington journal i believe i believe general flynn is being pursued as a

witch. i believe our republican leaders the honest situation that occurred with general flynn communicating with the russian ambassador. i believe there's nothing to be said. we have people on the democratic side already saying the traitort is probably a and planted. that is the way liberals always do it. they want to make up some crazy to disavow the presidency of donald trump. andlieve this is unfair yes, we should investigate, there should be an honest investigation.

the hysteria democrats present, accusing him of being a traitor or whatever, a russian spy is what one of the democrats said, is ridiculous. host: this is off of twitter this morning -- jaclyn in arizona. democrats line. caller: good morning. i'm glad to be on your show. i've been praying about the situation but i do think there is something, there is a conspiracy going on. i think donald trump is guilty. it should be investigated. i don't think it is a conspiracy from the democrats. this needs to be investigated. is very much guilty. host: we showed you the story

from "the new york times" concerning aids from the campaign communicated with russian intelligence officials. if they hadas asked communication with officials during the campaign. [video clip] in january, the president said nobody in his campaign had been in touch with the russians. now, today, can you still say definitively that nobody on the trump campaign would not even general flynn, had contact with questions before the election? >> with general flynn has now expressed as during the speaktion period, he did with the investor -- ambassador -- >> i'm talking about during the campaign. the tweet from

president trump this morning saying information is being illegally given to the failing "new york times" and "washington post." susan inr from pennsylvania. independent line. caller: thank you for your excellent program. say america like to is the epitome of democracy. countries thatr possibly we need to monitor somebody needs to monitor our elections because it is supposed to be free and fair. there needs to be an investigation. conjecture, but i

don't see anything based on facts. it's conjecture and american public doesn't know what's going on. i also realize that much of foreign policy takes place in secrecy such as the iran contract -- i remember henry kissinger's first trip to china. china.aid go over to that was after the administration was ongoing. this is about the election, about our democracy. democracy isur floundering. host: bruce lives in florida. calling on our democrats line. go ahead. caller: how are you are you all doing this morning? everybody knew all through the election that they were in contact.

now, we know they were in constant contact. donald trump is a fraud, he is a con man. and now, we know he is a traitor. -- republicans don't care all the republicans care about is putting another right wing radical justice on the supreme court to attack voting rights, civil rights, women's rights. that is all the republicans care about. they don't care about resentment donald trump or anything else. president donald trump or anything else. --t: this is on twitter that is anthony. another tweet from president trump this morning thinking a reporter-- thinking a

-- thanking a reporter. the front page of "the wall street journal" looks at the michael flynn situation. it was the fbi interview which raises the legal stakes for mr. flynn and adds political pressure on the white house. the story adding it is unclear what mr. flynn told the fbi agent or whether his account during the interview was contradicted by intelligence intercepts. carol in richmond, indiana.

republican line. caller: thank you for having me on. i wanted to make a couple of statements. -- iush administration voted republican this time -- i voted for obama for one of his terms. i was not happy with either one of them. it seems to me the mail investigations are basically patented and it is a paperclip type issue. trump did not know that flynn did this. neither did governor pence -- vice president pence. he did not know. honest, whats not happened was he was lying because they asked him to step down. he needs to be given a chance because at least he is consistent and not liking how moving.ntry is

he's been saying that since the 1980's. he has been saying it for a long time. president trump has been saying this for a long time. i don't understand why everybody is so against him and calling him a traitor. flynn is the one that lied. host: that is carol. "the washington post" provides a timeline. on january 26, sing it was the justice department that tells the white house counsel of mr. flynn's misleading statements. on tuesday said president trump was immediately informed of the situation at that time. -- sean spicer on tuesday. it was on february 9 that a spokesman amends mr.

flynn's denial. robert in pennsylvania. public in line. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. confusionelf in total , mr.here is a candidate trump elected to his cabinet. he is supposed to be thoroughly investigated by the senate. , here's thehe fact mediahe fbi and the news and they want to crucify president trump win if they , theyhave done their job would have found this out before and even worse, hillary clinton

and33,000 emails disappear nobody could find them. man does something wrong and it seems to me that the news media who had president nixon resign from office for trying to and makeme thing president trump resign. i hope that all this nonsense stops and we can make america great again. host: thank you. host:"usa today" this morning takes a look at another member of trump's team, ms. kellyanne conway. chaub -- it wash

shaub who called on the white house to launch an investigation. robert is up next in pennsylvania.

caller: thank you for taking my call. let's go to james and tennessee. -- in tennessee. you are who you vote for. ais situation to me is like rubiks cube. sides will be trump, pence, tillerson, conway, flynn. and the blocks will be spicer, paul ryan and mitch mcconnell. these people know all about what happened before and after the situation arised.

once you find some way to get them started, get the congress started to investigate, get the president and his aides to start telling the truth, then this will be never solved. thathe republican caller's you have come if they cannot speak to the subject at hand and talk about trump and the trump aids, don't compare donald trump with president obama because he would never be president obama. flynncompare a michael with susan rice. and don't even compare the situation because the situations are different also. one of them would be considered an act of treason. was a message given

that turned out to be false. not so much as an intentional -- it was not an intentional lie by susan rice. then come it got corrected. this situation, until we start to try to solve this rubiks cube, it will not get salt. -- not get solved. host: on twitter -- we will go next to david who lives in west virginia. independent line. caller: you've got so much hate calling in from the left and the right. false information and false news. you had nancy pelosi and the

leaders yesterday saying flynn --led in and said scapegoat they put that out on the national news. you have callers calling in, congress people who visit your show and put out fake information. anybody has to correct these people, hopefully c-span will bring out these facts. they talk about the birther issue -- president obama played that for four years. focus on the situation at hand. what do you make about what's going on with the michael flynn situation and how it is being handled by the white house? caller: i think they are trying to do the best they can with it. flynn should have been more upfront.

everybody says sources say this or that -- if they say "sources, that is fake news. "sources tom cole that is fake news. "sources," that is fake news. you have the judicial system against do, the intelligent system against you, the hard left and hard right and congress -- think about a third-party. you can bring them together but you cannot bring the left and the right. "the washington times" whong it was nancy pelosi aned a tweet sent out by account posing as michael flynn

-- from texas, let's hear from gloria independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. flynn lieddo believe to pence. he was following orders from president trump. campaign, there were rumors about the elections

and everything. -- also, weas that all know that trump during the was saying he'd met putin before and all that. becausell on a thorn the president asked him. one thing that is very important [indiscernible] why are we not worrying about that right this moment? the missile broke the policy

with the united states yesterday. my last thing -- host: i want to get to another caller. francis in maine. thank you for taking my call and thank you for c-span. i would like to say that i think everybody is complacent in this whole thing. the whole trump administration was aware of everything that was going on. hence knew what was happening. in hisnot innocent admonishment of flynn when flynn said he did not call. they are a team. they all work together. they all know what everybody else is doing.

they have all been working together and they are all in this mix. i don't believe that trump didn't know. i don't believe that flynn didn't know. i don't believe that and b didn't know and -- annon didn't know. this is a smokescreen for the next big smokescreen they will throw up. there will be another issue that will try to erase this whole thing. host: from twitter this morning, this is one global community who says -- the president also tweeting not only about the situation concerning the last couple of days but also the current status of the affordable care act. this is his tweet --

the new york times picking up the story about humana pulling out of the exchanges. they struggled to make money in the market. the company has steadily scaled back its presence. from las vegas, we hear from frank who is calling on our line

for democrats. i think this all started during the campaign. had to notify russia when he made the mistake of talking with russia. he said the hillary email stuff they had was working. they had to let russia know that everybodthing is working fine. keep it up. trump knew the whole time. when trump went into office, i told myself i will give trump a chance. but come of country is going to but, thisess -- country is going to be a big mess. the small guys will get thrown out.

if you really look at it, trump was a corrupt man with his business and it will continue on. it will be a corrupt government until trump gets impeached or they find more and more stuff -- he won't even release his taxes. jesus. doesn't want to show how corrupt the us. host: the president releasing another tweet this morning. this one about russia's hang crimea was taken by russia during the obama administration. russia, sayingut crimea was taken by russia during the obama administration. we're getting your thoughts. 202-748-8001 for republicans.

for democrats, 202-748-8000. .or independents, 202-748-8002 jane and virginia. independent line. caller: i'm an 83-year-old woman and i been listening to these democrats and republicans and i been watching. -- i've been watching. what a corrupt government we have. i just know hillary has been in -- nobody's giving him a chance. they know how corrupt he is and they don't want to be found out. community -- there's lots of people left over from the obama administration. after all, obama is no love lost

between obama and our president. generale actions of flynn command is that concern you at all -- general flynn, does that concern you at all? guest: general flynn gave 30 years of his life to this country. why don't we get to the bottom and not listen to the likes of nancy pelosi and elijah cummings who never gave respect to our president? i am an american first. the matter who i vote for come i will always respect my president. who i vote for, i will always respect my president. callerhost: "the wall street jo" this morning with a chart of national security advisers.

highlighting the longest term was henry kissinger. during the term of george h.w. bush about one of national security adviser. under the clinton administration -- george w. bush, condoleezza rice . under president obama must is an rise served the longest -- under president obama, susan rice served the longest. linda in texas. you are on. caller: thank you for taking my call. i've been watching the selection very closely. i think the democrats are very short memory on this one. we went through all the mess openedllary clinton, she

her private email to the russians to walk right in and nobody's making any comments on that. and how she committed treason with her secret information. they want to gloss over that. they even sabotage their own candidate and nothing was ever done about it. if michael flynn did something wrong, he should pay for what he did. stop actingould like a bunch of rabid dogs because they lost the election. they are not being fair. trump has not been treated fair. he's been under attacks and he took office. -- since he took office. they should look at their own overems which they glossed and absolutely refused to let anyone investigate. they are being hypocritical. host: stephen green off twitter

saying this -- anna lives in connecticut. line for democrats. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm praying for the president and his cabinet. i don't like to pass judgment until all the facts come in. that during the two weeks they all knew what was going on, they were strategizing in caserotect pence something happens to trump. they will have someone to carry on the prettiest president. -- carry on as the president.

thank you. have a nice day. you: we appreciate all of who can get through this money. this off twitter -- we also hear from james who says -- here is fred in edgewater, florida. independent line. go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you. as an independent provided not vote for either candidate. independent, i did not vote for either candidate. this is splitting right down party lines. the republicans are backing their republican presidential candidate and the democrats are siding with what they believe

might be going on with some of the contract with russia and everything. it is breaking down right by could elijah cummings is right when he calls for an independent investigation. politics is taken out of it and we can get to the truth without favoring one side or the other. that. wanted to say representative cummings has proposed this in th independent investigation. that is the way to go. --t: brian on twitter georgia. republican line. caller: one thing that has concerned me, it seems to me that trump is not getting a fair shake.

we gave president obama a fair chance to start. i heard maxine waters make a statement the other day that it is time to go ahead and try trump. then she makes the comment that putin and the russians are attacking korea. me thatt of concerns the democratic leaders in the house don't know what's going on . i'm not sure what flynn has done. we need to investigate it. that doesn't mean there's a reason not to give trump a chance.

all the infighting needs to stop. let's see if we can get together and do something here. host: do you think this , an independent investigation would stop the infighting of congress were to launch one? caller: i don't think you can trust the democratic party to go into it not being prejudiced. like you are just wasting a lot of the president's time. let him go forward and get some things done that he's promised us. host: one more call. this will be glad is from chicago, illinois. democrats line. .- gladys caller: i don't understand what these people are talking about. give him a chance? man has been calling

russia ever since he's been running. flynn said he might have did that. i don't understand why they are so hard on the democrats. they don't have nothing to do with it. russia, russia, russia. it. need to investigate to find out what's going on. called the democrats rabid dogs. these people have been -- these have --ans host: apologies. .ou broke up there we appreciate anyone who called in in this first hour of the program. we will be joined by two memos of congress in short time.