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FBI Director Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers to testify on Monday; Congress to vote on Obamacare replacement; Secretary Rex Tillerson visit to Asia; North Korean carries out rocket engine tests; Doctors in Syria; Rust Belt, bring jobs back. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 19, 2017 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[17:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST, CNN NEWS: In less than 20 hours, we will finally hear from the Director of the FBI on Russia's election meddling, President Trump's wiretapping claim and any significant conversations between Moscow and then candidate Trump's associates. Is the FBI director James Comey investigating the White House or not? Is there any evidence to back up President Trump's allegations that his predecessor tapped his phones during the campaign? The Republican lawmaker leading tomorrow's hearing says no, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DAVID NUNES (R), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Was there a physical wiretap of Trump Tower? No, but there never was. And the information we had on Friday continues to lead us in that direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Tomorrow, FBI Director Comey will raise his right hand and tell you what we knows. It's all public and on live television. No filters. The proceedings start at 10:00 a.m. eastern right here on CNN. And if that's not dramatic enough, the political dogfight over Supreme Court vacancy goes public tomorrow as well with the first confirmation hearing of nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch.

Plus, we are days away from a major House vote on the Republican health care plan that President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan have hitched themselves too politically for better or worse. Let's get started.

We have teams of reporters and analysts ready to examine every moment of tomorrow's hearing, and joining me now, Ryan Nobles, CNN's Washington correspondent and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN's Crime and Justice producer. Ryan, to you first, walk us through what to watch for when that hearing starts tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well Ana, you laid it out very well. I mean, Monday, likely the biggest day in the Trump presidency up until this point with so much happening. But all eyes will be on this House Intelligence Committee hearing tomorrow morning mainly because you're going to have two men testifying who perhaps know more about this alleged Russian hacking than anyone, and that's the FBI Director James Comey and the National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers.

These are two men that bridge the administrations, the Obama and Trump administrations. They've been intimately involved in the comings and goings of this controversy. I think the big question though is just how much will we learn from these men because this investigation is currently ongoing and they may not be that prepared to be that forthcoming.

CABRERA: That's right. Shimon, if Comey says an FBI investigation is ongoing or because this is not a classified hearing, is it limited what we may hear?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE PRODUCER: Well, that's exactly right, Ana, it's extremely limited. You know, this is still an ongoing investigation and we do expect and to say that, we don't expect them to be able to give a lot of detail to get into some of the questions and some of the information that the House members want and certainly the public wants because this is still an ongoing investigation. I will say one thing, though, that we do believe he will come out and say, is that there was no wiretapping at the White House.

It's backed up by as we know people over at the Department of Justice and some other folks on the Hill and in the Senate. So, if he is asked about that, he's expected do come out and say, there was no wiretapping. But specifics of this investigation are still ongoing, and I just don't think he's in a place where he can answer a lot of these questions that the House members will have for him.

CABRERA: We're hearing pieces of information though leading up to this hearing about what was turned over in those DOJ documents on Friday night in which we apparently have understood to know that there is no evidence, was something that was among those documents said that there was no evidence of the wiretapping claim that Trump has made, accusing president Obama. So Ryan, I know today, the most powerful Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Chairman Devon Nunes also spoke, what is he saying about tomorrow's hearing?

NOBLES: Well, he's been pretty clear at least for the past week that he's not seeing any evidence to back up Donald Trump's claim that President Obama ordered a wiretap on him and Trump Tower. That's one area where it seems both Republicans and Democrats in this committee are united. It's really only the Trump White House that's holding on to this belief that this actually took place and even they are walking back the most bold claims that the president made in that series of tweets from a couple of Saturdays ago.

But you know, I think as important and as big as the questions that have been raised by Trump's accusations about the wiretap, what I think is really going to be the thing that this House committee is most interested in is that direct connection between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Were they colluding? Was Trump and his team involved in that? Nunes has pushed back and said that he hasn't seen evidence to that

fact when Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat, has said something different. And I wonder if this could be the beginning of the cracks of this kind of unified front by the Republicans and Democrats on this committee and could it turn into a situation where the critics just toss this entire investigation away and chalk it up as being political.

[17:05:00] CABRERA: Shimon, Russia's election meddling we know does go beyond hacking so, remind us what we have learned about Russia's influence on the campaign?

PROKUPECZ: Well, that's right. It goes way beyond that. We can talk about fake news and some of the propaganda that they use to try and influence the election and the voters -- tons of fake news stories coming out and they had a pretty sophisticated operation, kind of on how they disseminated this fake news -- ways they did it, times they did it. Keep in mind, all of that is part of the investigation but may may not be a crime.

Disseminating fake news is not a crime and really not something for the FBI to take on. Certainly they've looked at it, they know how it was done, they've listened to probably conversations or at least they've received some information that there are conversations the Russians were having about disseminating the fake news. But for them, that does not sort of approach the level of any criminal activity.

So, it was a huge part of what the Russians did here and it is something that we in the United States and really people all across the world and other countries want to know about, want to know how they did it and what they can do to prevent from something like this from happening again.

CABRERA: All right, Shimon and Ryan, thanks to both of you. Let's bring in two analyst who would be carefully watching tomorrow's hearing. Joining me now is Robert Jones, CEO and founder of Public Religion Research Institute and Lynn Sweet, Washington bureau chief for the "Chicago Sun Times." Lynn, in your view, what do you want to learn from tomorrow's hearing?

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTIN BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN TIMES: I want to learn facts, not speeches, not pontificating. I want to know were there any warrants made to the secret court called FISA Court before an intelligence court. There should be a paper trail if there was actually any spying by the White House which everyone says there was not, or even if it's a subsidiary -- tributary of this revered (ph) inquiry.

So I want to see a paper trail. I want to see places and times and time stamps. I don't want opinions and I don't want speeches, which is why I hope the Democratic and the Republican members ask good, sharp questions on what will be the main areas of inquiry, you know, whether or not it's election collusion and meddling , the wiretaps or is there more to learn about former NSA director Michael Flynn.

CABRERA: The questions are important, but the answers are really what we're curious to learn. Robert, I know you spent your studying, white working class voters, Trump's base, how do you expect them to react if Comey says no wiretapping evidence?

ROBERT JONES, CEO, PUBLIC RELIGION RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Well, it's going to be really interesting to watch. I've been looking into the polls going into this and the basic pattern that we see is, you know, among Trump's base, among Republicans overall, we basically see them standing by Trump when you ask the questions like whether they believe his wiretapping claims. About six in 10 Republicans say they believe that even though about only three in 10 Americans believe that. When you ask about improper actions with Russian agents, most Republicans say they don't sort of believe that that's happening.

But here's the catch, is that in both cases, I think perhaps because Republicans believe him, they are overwhelmingly in support of saying that Trump should provide some evidence of these claims to back it up and to kind of clear himself on these accusations. And about half of them, nearly half, say that they support actually a special prosecutor rather than Congress itself or a Republican-led Congress to investigate these claims to come to clarity.

So Trump may be a little bit caught here, in a way that in fact Republicans, the white working class voters, also place a great deal of confidence in the FBI. So, he may be pitting himself against an institution that his base actually has quite a bit of confidence in.

CABRERA: And Robert, what about those evangelical voters because I think there's a moral question here when it comes to the president's honesty and trustworthiness. I mean how could there be fallout depending on what Director Comey says?

JONES: Yes. You know, it's a little complicated on the evangelical front. For example, w asked about kind of moral character in this election, and it turns out that evangelicals largely abandoned that as a trait that they were actually (ph) looking for in a candidate. They were actually looking for a candidate who would deliver on particular things even if he had to break some ethical rules and maybe even lie a little bit to get there.

So, we're actually seeing something quite different from evangelicals as a whole in this election. They have kind of made their bed with Trump on different terms than they really have any other president. So I think it's a little bit unclear here, but again, evangelicals also have placed -- you know, they're older, they're white, they're older. These are Americans who'd place a great deal of confidence in the FBI and the CIA and have great, great concerns about Russia and we're kind of, you know, a Cold War generation, so these are not things that they take lightly.

[17:10:00] CABRERA: Lynn, everyone wants answers but Democrat and Republicans are heading into tomorrow's hearing with different agendas. What's the impact of that?

SWEET: Well the impact is that the Democrats have their challenges to find any facts that might lead to a fact-based finding that there was Russia collusion in the election of Donald Trump. Now, the Republicans, of course, I am guessing, will want to deflect and since so far, there is nothing -- will want to deflect, maybe change the subject. Maybe focus more on Mike Flynn since he's already been oused.

But the stakes are high for everybody. This is the first public hearing that we have had on this. This is the first time in public under oath we're going to be able to have a discussion of what evidence there is. And I just want to stress this so much, evidence, facts, names, faces, people, paper trail, because unless some of that is produced in this and it's not enough to I think just have Comey or NSA Director Mike Rogers give crude answers saying, well, we can't talk about this because it's classified, we might not get anywhere.

I think it's in the public interest to see what body of facts we have. There may never be agreement on what they mean but this is the type of hearing, plus one that the Senate Intelligence Committee may be holding or we could just follow things (ph) out, what is there so far on the wiretap front. There is no evidence to back up those four tweets that now two weeks ago President Trump sent out.

There are many questions on Russia meddling with the campaign, that's most sensitive for Republicans, because you know that President Trump is going to be on the defensive on this and they may want to protect him. It is most important to Democrats. So I would look for the most aggressive questioning on the central question to the committee to be on that front on the Russia meddling with the campaign rather than some of the other related topics.

CABRERA: All right, Lynn Sweet, Robert Jones, thank you both for being here. You can catch a preview of what you should expect from tomorrow's hearing tonight in a special CNN special with John Berman. That's at 11:00 p.m. eastern tight here on CNN.

We are just getting started. Still to come, fight over health care. The battle to ditch President Obama's signature legislation taking center stage on Thursday. And the House vote could determine the future of health care in America. Can Republicans get it passed.

Plus, elephant in the room. Rocket tests of North Korea, making Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's first trip to Asia even more important and a bit more complicated. Details from Beijing straight ahead.

And later, voices from the Rust Belt. They helped Trump win the White House but can the president deliver on his promise to bring back jobs? We'll take you there. We're live in the CNN Newsroom.

[17:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: This week will mark exactly seven years since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law and House Republicans leaders hope to make some history of their own this Thursday by voting to repeal Obamacare on the anniversary of its signing. But as support from the White House and today on Fox News, Speaker Paul Ryan said he believes he has the votes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Yes, I feel very good about it actually. I feel like it's exactly where we want to be. And the reason I feel so good about this is because the president has become a great closer. He is the one who has helped negotiate changes to this bill with members from all over our caucus. I call it getting to the sweet spot.

You've got to get 218 Republicans who come from all different walks of life to come together to agree on the best possible plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. And the reason I feel very good where we are, we all, all of us, all Republicans in the House, Senate and the president made a promise to the American people that we would repeal and replace this faulty collapsing law and we're going to make good on that promise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN White House correspondent Athena Jones is traveling with the president and joins me now from West Palm Beach, Florida. Athena, Speaker Ryan sure sound confident that this health care bill is going to pass on Thursday -- gives President Trump's a lot of credit and I know now that the group of conservatives met with White House officials just yesterday there in Mar-a-Lago. Who were they and what can you tell us about that meeting?

ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi Ana. Well, that's right. We've been talking a lot about how this bill faces a tough road ahead despite the speaker's confidence. And that's because conservatives have issues with this saying it doesn't go far enough to undo the Affordable Care Act. And moderate Republicans are concerned that at least too many people behind unable to afford coverage and at risk of losing it.

Well, three of the conservative members of Congress who have been vocal about their opposition to the bill as originally presented by House Speaker Ryan, Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and also Congressman Mike Meadows came down to Mar-a-Lago yesterday for a three-hour meeting with White House staffers including chief strategist Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus.

We're told that meeting lasted like I said, for three hours. It was intense and productive. We're told they express their concerns with the law and offered some proposals of their own. They talked about wanting to see a sooner end to the Medicaid expansion. They also talk about wanting to repeal that provision that allows children to stay on their parents plans until the age of 26. That provision in particular is one of the most popular provisions of Obamacare and one the president supports.

And as of right now, the Medicaid expansion ends in 2020, not sooner. So it's unclear whether they are concerned or going to be part of this package of amendments that are being discussed to try to win over more votes. The challenge here, Anan, of course is that if you make changes to win over conservatives, you risk alienating moderates.

And as of right now, CNN's own whip count shows that there are 26 House Republicans who are either leaning towards voting no

[17:20:00] who have already said flat out that they're going to vote no on the bill.

We'll have to see if that whip counts changes or how much that whip count changes in the next couple of days as more of these amendments are discussed and finalized.

CABRERA: And what's so important about that is if that's five over, what the Republicans need or can lose in order to get this bill passed? Twenty-one is the line, so 26 does not sound good for Republicans, but there is still time to sway some of those no's into the yes column.

Now, the Congressional Budget Office has predicted that 14 million fewer Americans would be covered by Medicaid in 2026 under this Republican American Health Care Act. Our own Jake Tapper asked Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price about that today on "State Of The Union." Let's listen to the secretary's answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM PRICE, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESL: Remember, what the Congressional Budget Office looked at was simply this first piece of legislation, which is not the plan in its entirety. Imagine if you will a system that actually drives down costs of health coverage for individuals. That's the one that we envision.

Imagine if you will a system that actually provides patients with an array of options, something that works for them, not that the government dictates to them that they must purchase but something that works for them so they can see the doctor that they want see. They can see the healthcare provider that they want to see. They can go to the hospital that they want to go to. Those are the kinds of new things in a plan that we envision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Secretary Price went on to say that this CBO estimate didn't account for the whole plan. So does that respond to answer the concerns of both Republicans in the House and Senate who aren't on board yet?

JONES: In a word, no. Several Republicans have expressed concerns that you can't asked to imagine some future plan. This has been part of the White House's argument that you just heard from the Health and Human Services Secretary. It's also the argument that the budget director has been making, that the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office in scoring this plan didn't take into consideration steps two and three.

But if you talk to some Republicans who have expressed concerns with this bill, they said those steps, we have no idea if those future plans would ever be passed. There's a step that involves a regulatory and administrative changes that Secretary Price could make, but it's all very unclear what all those changes will be. And again, if another bill will later on pass. CABRERA: Right.

JONES: And so, I don't think that that is delaying (ph) the concerns there and they're not buying that argument of imagine what we're envisioning later. They want to be able to see exactly what's being proposed.

CABRERA: Right. The additional steps down the road are no guarantees at this point. Athena Jones reporting from Mar-a-Lago. Thank you.

And we have this just in to CNN, President Trump gave a few brief comments to the press on Air Force One moments ago as he's heading back to Washington, let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had meetings over at the clubs in the southern White House. It's been a great weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How is it going for you on health care bill?

TRUMP: It's going well. We had a lot of meetings on that. We had meetings on North Korea. He's acting very, very badly. I will tell you he's acting very badly. Thank you folks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, tell me it's going to be in the Hill tomorrow?

TRUMP: We had meetings over at the clubs in the southern --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So, as we just heard, he walked away when he was questioned about tomorrow's hearing before the House Intelligence Committee with Director Comey from the FBI going before them to talk about those wiretapping claims Trump has made as well as discuss the broader investigation into Russia's meddling in the U.S. election.

Still to come here in the CNN Newsroom tonight, pure coincidence or timed intentionally as the U.S. Secretary of State have key meetings on North Korea. The reclusive regime claimed a big advance in its rocket technology. A live report from Beijing is next. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is now on his way back to the U.S. after a key meeting with the Chinese president this morning, and topping their agenda, the looming threat of North Korea, which made more provocative moves this weekend during Tillerson's visit to the region. Hours before his big meeting, North Korea boasted of a great leap forward on its rocket program. CNN's Will Ripley has more from Beijing.

WILL RIPLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ending his first official trip to Asia with a friendly meeting on Sunday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. That comes after meetings on Saturday with China's few top diplomats, very cordial, friendly, public statements but behind closed doors, we have been told that the conversations were very frank and very candid, as the U.S. and China try to feel each other out especially with the new Trump administration and Beijing's uncertainty about just how far President Trump is willing to go when it comes to the North Korean nuclear threat.

Secretary Tillerson said several times over his trip to China, South Korea and Japan that all options are now on the table. The days of strategic patience are over and even a military response is possible if the United States is provoked. That makes Beijing nervous because they price more than anything, stability on the Korean Peninsula. They do not want to see a military conflict and so they are urging for all sides to have cooler heads.

But North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is making that difficult. On Sunday, state media in Pyongyang announces a new test of a new kind of rocket engine that takes the North Korean government one step closer to their ultimate goal of developing an ICBM, with a nuclear tipped warhead capable of reaching the main land United States. It's why Secretary Tillerson has said that right now, the danger from North Korea is more urgent than ever.

[17:30:01] The U.S. thinks that China needs to do more to reign in North Korea. They feel that Beijing has a lot of leverage because it's North Korea's only meaningful trading partner. Beijing thinks that the United States is responsible to diffuse tensions. They want the U.S. to stop ongoing military exercises with South Korea. So you can see both sides pretty far apart. Details still being finalized for what we expect will be a meeting between President Trump and President Xi sometime next month in the United States. They have a lot to talk about. Will Ripley, CNN, Beijing.

CABRERA: Thanks to Will. We'll be talking with him throughout the hours. We also just heard President Trump aboard Air Force One saying the North Koreans are acting very, very badly. He also met we know with McMaster, his National Security advisor about the North Korean threat and this new provocative actions that they took in the last 24 hours and that was while he was Mar-a-Lago. So certainly something that's been top of mind over the weekend.

Now, in less than 24 hours from now, FBI Director James Comey takes a hot seat on Capitol Hill. What will we finally learn about Russia's ties to the U.S. elections? We'll discuss next. Stay with us. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

[17:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: You're in the CNN Newsroom. Thanks for staying with us. In just a few hours, tomorrow morning, the much anticipated public hearings on Russia's involvement in the 2016 presidential election. It is the House Intelligence Committee and their star witness tomorrow is the director of the FBI, James Comey.

He's going to take the stand to answer questions under oath about e- mail hacking, wiretapping, election tampering -- how he answers those question will help the committee decide if the relationship between the Trump White House and Russia should get a deeper investigation. I want to bring on Jeffrey Lord, he is a CNN political commentator and former White House staffer during the Reagan administration and James Jeffrey, he's the former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Iraq and is currently with the Washington Institute.

All right, Jeffrey lord, if the FBI director testifies tomorrow that President Trumps allegations of wiretapping are completely baseless, which we expect him to say, how much damage will that do to the president's credibility on the world stage?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: With respect Ana, I think the question is wrong. I mean, I think the "New York Times" as we've said flat out --

CABRERA: Can you please answer the question?

LORD: -- the FBI was leading an investigation into President Trump's associates. Now, that's the "New York Times." I want to know yes or no. If not, then the "New York Times" will have to retract its story. But I suspect that they're correct. So I want to know did the FBI under any circumstances surveil any of President Trump's associates. That's the question and that's what we'll find out.

CABRERA: Jeffrey, we do have an answer. We do have an answer from that "New York Times" reporter. In fact, he was asked about what he wrote in that report you are referencing. Listen to what he told our Anderson Cooper when asked about whether in his reporting was indicating that there was any kind of surveillance of Trump Tower. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW ROSENBERG, JOURNALIST, NEW YORK TIMES: Nothing. I mean, if we knew that, that is a fantastic story. He would be rushing and I would not be sitting here with you. I'd be home writing it or out reporting it. We said that there were intercepted communications into (INAUDIBLE) reporting we've said that these communications from Russians talking to each other about contacts with Trump associates. We know that there were intercepts with the Russian ambassador, who was on the phone with Michael Flynn, the former National Security Advisor.

And so Flynn was picked up as he was talking to the Russian ambassador who is under surveillance. But this is all routine work by intelligence agencies and the FBI. This isn't, you know, they especially put the Trump people under surveillance. We have no evidence that that happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And CNN has no evidence that happened -- can we just put that "New York Times" report to rest, Jeffrey?

LORD: Ana, look, I'm listening to the reporter. He confirmed exactly what his story said and what I'm saying, that the FBI was leading this investigation, and they came across Trump associates and they were investigating them. I didn't say Trump Tower, I said Trump associates. That just confirmed exactly what I said and confirmed his story. That is true apparently.

CABRERA: But we're talking about what the president said. The president said that --

LORD: The president purely believes that he was -- his associates --

CABRERA: -- or president Obama wiretapped Trump Tower.

LORD: President clearly believes that he and his associates or some combination thereof were surveilled. That appears to be true. I want to know. That's all I'm saying. There are stories out there that the Trump Tower --

CABRERA: That does not appear to be true. I'm sorry, I have to point out the facts here and I will get to you ambassador, but Jeffrey --

LORD: That's not the fact Ana.

CABRERA: The facts are -- the facts are, there is no evidence that President Trump's associates were surveilled. At this point, we can tell you, categorically there was no FISA warrant to investigate his associates. There has been no FISA warrant according to our sources in the intelligence. And in fact, Paul Ryan came out on camera and said we have not seen any evidence that there was a wiretap or a FISA court order on somebody in Trump Tower.

Furthermore, sources say there is not FISA on Trump, anyone that was part of the Trump campaign, Trump Tower or the Alfa Bank server we report on. There is no evidence that there was surveillance specifically of anybody attached to Trump. But -- but -- but we will learn more categorically tomorrow, we hope, when there's this hearing.

LORD: Yes, that's specifically right.

CABRERA: Ambassador, let's talk about that, what are you looking for? What do you want to have answered when that hearing happens tomorrow?

JAMES JEFFREY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ & TURKEY: Absolutely. Let me support Jeffrey a bit before I then challenge him.

(LAUGHTER)

LORD: Let me have it.

JEFFREY: We know that there was surveillance. We know have various ways -- we can assume it's factual -- that there was surveillance of Russians [17:40:00]that at one point picked up this conversation of General Flynn's involving discussions of sanctions and possibly there may have been other surveillance have picked up other people. That is a fact.

LORD: Yes. JEFFREY: But what we need to know tomorrow is on what basis was the

surveillance done? This is probably, but I'm not certain, we'll have to wait, incidental collection, that General Hayden said on CNN yesterday --incidental collection of U.S. individuals. I worked with Hayden in 2008 in the White House when we put that change to -- amendment to the FISA law together.

Secondly, however, there could have been a warrant to go after American targets, perhaps Flynn, perhaps others, but there's no evidence of that. So that's the first thing we have to find out, is on what basis did that information come into the U.S. intelligence system and then it leaked.

The second thing -- because basically what President Trump in a somewhat obfuscating way said, is that this was illegal or improper or politically motivated -- McCarthyism or like Watergate. The second thing he asserted was that President Obama had some role in this. That's the other thing we have to find out tomorrow.

In this investigation, was President Obama briefed? Did President Obama know about this in any way and did he make any suggestion? It would be somewhere between almost unprecedented to illegal if he did, but we need to know that.

CABRERA: So there are a lot of questions to answer them all and unfortunately, gentlemen, we're out of time for this segment. I'm against the clock here but we'll have you back to discuss this further.

LORD: Thanks Ana.

CABRERA: Thank you very much for coming on. Really appreciate it. Still to come, they helped hand Trump the presidency and now voters in the Rust Belt are looking to President Trump to deliver on his promises. Our Poppy Harlow takes us to Michigan, next.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to the United Nations, about 400,000 people have died so far in Syria's civil war.

AHMAD TARAKJI, PRESIDENT, SYRIAN AMERICAN MEDICAL SOCIETY: It's like really waking up from death. You cannot see a lot because the dust is all over the place. You see blood on your clothing and you don't know if it's yours or somebody else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Ahmad Tarakji heads Syrian American Medical Society, a medical relief organization providing care on the ground.

TARAKJI: Our goal is to heal Syria and relieve the suffering of the people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The organization has a network of 110 medical facilities with a team of 1,700 doctors. The charity says hospitals are prime targets during air strikes.

TARAKJI: To respond to that, we created more world clinics where people have been treated outside the hospitals. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The medical team also provides psychiatric care

especially to children.

TARAKJI: Children inside Syria has seen a lot of suffering. What did they do to suffer this? Our hope is that if we are able to heal those children, then the future will be better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The long-term goal is to rebuild hospitals and communities and rebuild the lives of the Syrians.

TARAKJI: We want to stand for our humanitarian values that we all share and believe in.

[17:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The Rust Belt gave Trump his victory and now these voters want jobs. Donald Trump made some big promises to Michigan, bring back jobs and restructure trade deals. Will he deliver? In part of our yearlong series, CNN's Poppy Harlow talks with voters about which promises matter most to them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very hopeful --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopeful --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopeful President Trump will --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- bring jobs back --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- bring jobs back --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bringing jobs back home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Create new jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Focus on the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't want to fall back anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make this nation strong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to go forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to see American made.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST, CNN NEWS (voice-over): American made, something these Michigan voters want to see a whole lot more of. It's a promise that helped tip Michigan in Donald Trump's favor.

TRUMP: My economic agenda could be summed up with three very beautiful words, jobs, jobs, jobs. We're bringing our jobs back.

HARLOW: It wasn't just Trump's promise of more jobs. It's his promise for what he calls fair trade. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a manufacturing state and all of the

states in the Rust Belt, these people are hurting.

HARLOW: Michigan's unemployment rate just hit 5 percent, the lowest in 15 years, but that's a rosier picture than the reality some here told us they're living. Michigan has lost nearly 300,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of like this quiet depression that's going on, you know, publicly where people are, they're OK. They're getting by.

HARLOW: Many here blame free trade deals. Since NAFTA was signed in the early '90s, Michigan has lost 26 percent of its manufacturing jobs. But it's important to note many good paying jobs haven't just been lost to trade, they're being lost to automation -- robots doing the work of humans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: NAFTA was one of the worst, worst contracts ever negotiated for the American worker.

HARLOW: Frank (INAUDIBLE) and Salvatore Moceri have been union auto workers for decades. Both say they voted for President Obama twice, but despite having pretty good paying jobs, when they heard

[17:50:00] Trump's talk on trade, there were sold.

SAL MOCERI, UNION AUTO WORKER: It was very, very difficult for me because as UAW member, I have been a long Democrat and people needed a change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The UAW brought us into the middle class. Now, when I hear Trump talk about solidarity, it sounds like he's a union guy right there and I was happy to have somebody stick up for us.

HARLOW: Their fellow auto worker Dennis Washington didn't vote for President Trump, but he's encouraged.

DENNIS WASHINGTON, UNION AUTO WORKER: Just the fact that he's bringing or trying to stop jobs going out of the country, I feel that's a big opportunity for Americans. I'm very curious to see what else might happen.

HARLOW: Manufacturing output in the U.S. is near an all-time high. But workers say the jobs that have come back since the depths of the recession aren't what they used to be.

RICK QUINN, UNION AUTO WORKER: With the auto company, I was making about $40 an hour.

HARLOW: Rick Quinn worked at one of the big three auto makers for more than two decades until he was laid off at 55. He's been looking for work for the past year.

QUINN: I put out resumes every day for all kinds of jobs. I'm not just looking for an engineering job now. I'm looking for pretty much anything I can find.

HARLOW: Donald Trump wasn't Rick Quinn's first choice but he voted for him in November and he's got a lot on the line facing almost $60,000 in debt.

QUINN: I'd like to be able to get a job and work another 10 years, you know, and get that paid off and then, you know, build up some retirement money so that my wife and I can enjoy a decent retirement.

PEGGY STEWART, SECURITY GUARD: I wanted a change, but I wanted somebody with a spine.

HARLOW: At 62 Peggy Stewart is no stranger to hard work. After struggling to find work, she's now a security guard earning $9 an hour, barely above Michigan's minimum wage. The hours are tough she says, making it hard to find time with her husband Jim. But she feels lucky just to have a job.

STEWART: I wouldn't trade my job for nothing right now and I don't care what they pay or what they don't pay. I am working and I feel like somebody again.

HARLOW: She also voted for President Obama twice. This year Trump got her vote.

STEWART: I'm not wearing a banner saying I'm voting for Trump. I'm in a holding mode. I'm in a wait and see mode. But I don't even know if he would have any inkling of what it takes to be a little person like us.

HARLOW: But President Trump did not get her husband's vote.

JIM STEWART, MANUFACTURING WORKER: He's going to follow big business -- kind of lying, and that's what scares me.

HARLOW: He's worried the president will push to dismantle unions.

P. STEWART: You know, I just say go ahead President Trump. Show us what we need to see from you. But be careful, man.

ANGELICA WEST, STUDENT: There are not too many jobs out here that are paying very good and I would like to get my diploma so I can go to college and get a better job for not only me but for my family.

HARLOW: At 28, Angelica West has a lot to juggle. She's a single of three boys. She's in school and wants to become a nurse. The jobs that Angelica could find in manufacturing she says didn't pay nearly enough to support her family.

WEST: I ran oil machines and I was a line leader and, you know, assigned people jobs where they were supposed to go. I was making $8.15 at the time so I knew I wasn't going to make a life working those kinds of jobs.

HARLOW: She notes she's not very political and it's the president's lack of political experience that has her hopeful. WEST: He's not a career politician so I think he thinks of, you know,

people like me that are struggling just trying to get by and I think he's going to be very good.

HARLOW: About an hour outside of Detroit is Adrian, Michigan, home of what used to be one of the country's largest cabinet manufacturers. When this factory shut down in 2008, it took near 900 jobs with it.

BIL DECKER, OWNER, LILY ANN CABINTES: When the factory shut down, it devastated the Adrian. It was the largest employer.

HARLOW: Now, Bill Decker has re-opened the once thriving plant as Lily Ann Cabinets. He employed some 30 people and his daughter is the manager there. Business has been booming over the past year. But despite strong growth for his company under President Obama, Decker has what he calls a love/hate relationship with President Trump.

DECKER: All the cabinets that we have here are directly imported from China. The tariff as he puts on the Chinese import would increase the cost dramatically and be at least a 40 percent increase in cost due to the regulations and all the cost of operating in the states.

HARLOW: So why did he vote for President Trump if it could cost him? He says three reasons. Obamacare, taxes and the Supreme Court.

DECKER: I believe that Trump and the administration is going to do good things for America,

[17:55:01] not necessarily good things for Lily Ann Cabinets but I think it's best for the country, and if we are to sacrifice, we're willing to take that.

HARLOW: But he has a request for the president.

DECKER: I would ask that he would focus not on his tweet, not on his comments and just on the country itself.

HARLOW: So will shuttered factories open again and jobs abound? These are the promises Michigan's Trump supporters are clinging to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of doors shut behind me over the years and those opportunities were no longer there. I hope that they will come back home.

MOCERI: If these people who are trying to live the American dream, they want to have a house, a car, an education and I want that opportunity for my kids.

QUINN: It's been very difficult for me to see myself not working. That's where I want to be again and I'm, you know, hoping and praying that I will be there again.

STEWART: Mr. Trump, please a take care of us. We're looking to you.

[18:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)