"This is about the most serious counterintelligence people we have in the USA government saying, 'Oh, my God, the president's words and actions lead us to conclude that somehow he has become a witting, unwitting, or half-witting pawn, certainly in some regards, to Vladimir Putin, '" Bernstein explained during his appearance on Reliable Sources.

The constraints that Trump imposed are part of a broader pattern by the president of shielding his communications with Putin from public scrutiny and preventing even high-ranking officials in his own administration from fully knowing what he has told one of the United States' main adversaries.

Mr. Trump said he is "not keeping anything under wraps, I couldn't care less", adding that "anybody could have listened to that meeting".

Trump responded to the story Saturday during a telephone interview broadcast on Fox News Channel after host Jeanine Pirro, a personal friend, asked the Russian Federation question.

The Washington Post reported over the weekend that Trump has repeatedly sought to hide his interactions with Putin, often one of the main USA adversaries in worldwide affairs.

Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was present at that Hamburg meeting, which occurred at the G-20 summit.

Former US officials told the The Washington Post that Trump's behavior is at odds with the known practice of previous presidents, who rely on senior aides to witness such meetings.

(CNN)Every week, I offer a glimpse of the kind of intelligence assessments that are likely to come across the desk of the President of the United States, modeled on the President's Daily Briefing, or PDB, which the director of national intelligence prepares for the President nearly daily.

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"I have concluded that the Treasury Department's proposal is flawed and fails to sufficiently limit Oleg Deripaska's control and influence of these companies and the Senate should move to block this misguided effort by the Trump Administration and keep these sanctions in place", Schumer said in a news release. "I think it's the most insulting article I've ever had written and if you read the [New York Times] article you see that they found absolutely nothing".

Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Post that that a subcommittee will form to gather details of Trump's interactions with Putin.

As CNN first reported, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened the Trump probe, in the hectic days after the President fired Comey, after considering various options for dealing with the firing. "He's taking steps that suggest that there are things being discussed here that he doesn't even want his staff to hear about or to understand".

Pirro brought up the topic during a wide-ranging interview, saying, "New York Times reported that the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation the day after you fired James Comey in may of '17". Trump wrote Saturday, adding in a separate tweet that he's been far tougher on Russian Federation than his predecessors.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is close to Trump and chairs the Judiciary Committee, said he intends to ask the FBI director if there was a counterintelligence investigation into the president. The Post said it wasn't clear if there were other instances when Trump took his interpreter's notes after meeting with Putin. "This is absurd", she said.

"James Comey was sacked because he's a disgraced partisan hack, and his Deputy Andrew McCabe, who was in charge at the time, is a known liar fired by the FBI", Sanders said.

But it held off on opening an investigation until the president sacked Comey, who refused to pledge allegiance to Trump and roll back the nascent Russian Federation investigation.