Transcript for Karl: Sources close to president say it may be time for Kushner to take leave of absence

So, let's bring in our chief white house correspondent Jonathan Karl just back from the president's week-long trip overseas and our senior justice correspondent Pierre Thomas who covers the FBI and justice department. And good morning to you, both. And, Pierre, I want to start with you. There have been revelations after revelation for weeks, but this seems to really raise the stakes. What are your sources telling you? Martha, high stakes are on the horizon, no doubt about it. This revelation that Jared Kushner was in communication with Russian officials, the ambassador and a Russian banker is huge and the FBI wants to know some basic things. Why was it urgent to have that meeting? Why was there is a discussion of having these back channels and, again, it's the context is that this is after the intelligence community has said the Russians were meddling in the 2016 election. Lots of questions. There's no allegation yet that Kushner has committed any crime. He's not a target of the investigation. But the FBI is coming soon and they want to know what he knows. Jon, this comes after this week-long trip which the white house considered very, very successful, but now they're back to this investigation. I was struck by some comments by the CIA, director, former director Mike Hayden who made them about the contacts. He said what manner of ignorance, chaos, hubris, suspicion, contempt would you have to have to think that doing this with the Russian ambassador was a good or appropriate idea? I know of no other experience like this in our history, certainly with my within my life experience. Incredibly strong. He's been a trump critic for a long time, general Hayden but he's former head of the NSA and former head of the CIA. Few people alive today know the intelligence world better than Michael Hayden so make no mistake, when you hear those words from him, you know that those are views that are reflected by senior people currently in the intelligence community. The bigger question, though, Martha, is what about Jared Kushner's role? As you mentioned at the top of the show, there is no adviser closer to the president, his office opens right into the oval office. He has taken on a portfolio bigger than anybody in the west wing. And you see -- you hear people now very close to the president openly saying that it is too much. That he now finds himself at the center of this investigation. Even if he is ultimately completely cleared, he is at the center of this investigation right now and you hear people close to the president quietly saying, is it too much and is it time for Jared to take a step back? Maybe even take a leave of absence from the white house. And do you think that's something that president trump would agree with? Well, you know, trump is looking for -- there's a lot -- talk of major shake-up coming. We'll see if it does. There's been talk before and hasn't pulled the trigger but he has been upset with how things have gone. He has reached out, I know, to people outside of the white house for advice on what he should do, should he bring more people in, should he move anybody out? I think that there will be some form of a shake-up coming. I think that -- who knows -- who knows? Like all things are on the table with Jared Kushner but the communication shop, whether we'll see a Sean spicer briefing again are all open questions. On the investigation, where does this go now? We know former FBI director Comey is supposed to testify publicly. Do you know when that will happen? What are the next steps here? Martha, in a week of dramatic moments perhaps the most dramatic moment was when the former CIA director said he had evidence that trump associates were communicating with Russian officials. Now you have a special counsel that will get to the bottom of who those are about. I'm being told that Mueller, the former FBI director is already working long hours staffing up. He's beginning to assess the investigation. And I'm told that he is going to get to the bottom of all of this. That everyone who's in trump's orbit who had communications with the Russians are going to be interviewed, pressure and, remember, every time that you speak to an FBI investigator when you're being interviewed there's a threat of a federal crime if you lie to them so everybody involved is going to face a lot of pressure. In terms of Comey, the expectation is that he will testify before congress. We don't have a date specific yet. He wants to tell his story. From people that are close to him that I've talked to, he's heard all those accusations about him being a, quote, nutjob. People describing his actions as atrocio atrocious. He's going to want to have a say. Thanks very much to both of you, Jon and per. I'm joined now by

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.