Axios

The Senate Intelligence Committee has approached Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored the Trump-Russia dossier, about testifying before its members, The Independent reports.

The most explosive elements of the dossier remained unconfirmed but the FBI considered Steele sufficiently credible that it once planned to pay him to continue his work. The committee now wants to discuss his findings.

Where it'd go down: Still unknown, as Steele doesn't want to travel to the US, but the committee is said to be open to meeting in the UK or on neutral ground.

Will it go down? Possibly. The Independent say's he's "willing to speak" if senators meet his preferred security measures. That'll be crucial, especially as an NBC News report describes him as living in "virtual hiding in Europe."

Ousted National Security Advisor Mike Flynn and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, met with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. in December at Trump Tower, the White House has told the NYT. The New Yorker previously reported that Kushner had met Kislyak.

Why it matters: The FBI is investigating ties between Trump's associates and Russia, and the list of those with confirmed contacts is growing. Kushner is one step closer to Trump than either Flynn or Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Sessions recused himself from a Trump-Russian investigation minutes ago after failing to disclose meetings last year with Kislyak. Flynn's conversations with Kislyak led to his resignation.

The White House on the meeting: "They generally discussed the relationship and it made sense to establish a line of communication. Jared has had meetings with many other foreign countries and representatives."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is in hot water after reports surfaced that he had meetings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential campaign — especially since he denied any such communication during his Senate confirmation hearing.

Top politicians — from both parties — find this problematic. While many have called on Sessions to recuse himself from any Russia investigations, others argue recusal isn't enough, and have stated that he should resign from his Cabinet position immediately. He just did the former, but has shown no indications of stepping down from his job. Below is an interactive list of the names:

Meanwhile, President Trump told reporters that he still has "total confidence" in his AG, and added that he "doesn't think" he needs to recuse himself.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. The presser comes as Sessions receives mounting criticism for meeting with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential campaign. He said during confirmation hearings that he had "no contact with the Russians".

Donald Trump says he still has "total" confidence in Sessions.

The White House found out about Jeff Sessions' contacts with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. from press reports, according to a CNN report citing a senior administration official. Trump has not yet commented on the matter.

This comes as the number of Congressmen and women calling for Sessions to either recuse himself from the Trump-Russia probe or resign swells.

Note: Before Mike Flynn was ousted as National Security Advisor, reports circulated that VP Mike Pence learned of Flynn's contacts with Russia from press reports.

Top White House officials were scrambling last night to grasp the significance of Jeff Sessions' contacts with Russia's ambassador and figure out what to do about it.

Sources close to the President's inner circle and to Sessions are very defensive and believe the "opposition party" media is elevating mundane interactions. Despite the growing clamor from Democrats, there's about a zero percent chance President Trump will fire Sessions or that the House will impeach him — the only ways he could leave.

This does, however, strengthen the case for an independent investigation, and the chances just got a lot higher that Sessions recuses himself from any FBI investigation of the Trump campaign's alleged contacts with Russian officials. Especially now that some prominent Republicans believe this should happen.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suggested to Morning Joe on Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself from the Russia investigation. "I think it would be easier... yes," he said.

Update, via McCarthy on Fox News: "I'm not calling on him to recuse himself. I was asked on Morning Joe, if he needs to recuse himself as going forward. As you just heard, Attorney General Sessions said he would rescue himself going forward - appropriate, and that's all my answer was. It's amazing how people spin things so quickly."

As President Trump's motorcade arrived back at the White House at 10:50 p.m. after his Capitol speech, he invited a dozen gleeful aides up to the residence for a celebration. Over Diet Cokes, they relished the reviews that were popping on their iPhones, shouting out the latest poll or pundit to go their way.

The inner circle knew that the accolades would be short-lived — Trump was in a new mode, not a new man. A top adviser said: "The question for me is: Is this a harbinger, or a one-off?"

Democratic lawmakers are calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign after reports surfaced that he had meetings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential election. Sessions denied any communication with the Russians during his confirmation hearing.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: "After lying under oath to Congress about his own communications with the Russians, the Attorney General must resign," she said in a statement released late Wednesday night. "Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Warren: The situation is "not normal," she wrote on Twitter. "We need a real, bipartisan, transparent Congressional investigation into Russia. And we need Attorney General Jeff Sessions — who should have never been confirmed in the first place — to resign. We need it now."

Rep. Elijah Cummings, a ranking member on the House Oversight Committee: "It is inconceivable that even after Michael Flynn was fired for concealing his conversations with the Russians that Attorney General Sessions would keep his own conversations secret for several more weeks... Sessions should resign immediately."

In the bipolar Trump presidency, on one side is Darth Vader Steve Bannon and on the other is Trump's Manhattanite daughter Ivanka. These two people occupy opposite sides of the president's brain and impulses. Bannon is the guy goading Trump to go scorched Earth on the media and reminding him of his hardline campaign promises. Ivanka pushes gentler tones and more liberal lines. Caught in the middle of this war for bandwith is the president.

Response from Attorney General Sessions to Washington Post story that he misled Congress about meeting with Russian officials during the campaign:

I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.

Construction on a border wall may not begin as quickly as Donald Trump would like, as the Department of Homeland Security could only find $20 million for the project.

The president planned to use DHS funds until he could get Congress on board but Reuters found that far less is available for the wall than he might have hoped.

Sean Spicer on January 25: "At this point, [Trump's] goal was to get the project started as quickly as possible using existing funds and resources that the [DHS] currently has and then to move forward and work with Congress on an appropriations schedule."

What $20 million gets Trump: Just a "handful of contracts for wall prototypes," according to Reuters. The government had previously estimated that a single mile of the proposed 1,257-mile wall would cost $17.8 million.

Why it matters: The administration is now going to have to look to Congress to fund for the wall, with an estimated price tag of around $20 billion. With other big ticket items on the Trump agenda — think: infrastructure, Obamacare — that cash might not come so easily.