[Cooper:] There's more breaking news. Tonight, Congressman Trent Franks has moved up his resignation date from January to today. Also, tonight, a
[Sunlen Serfaty, Cnn Congressional Correspondent:] Well, some of these new details for the allegations, Anderson are quite disturbing. I spoke this evening to a confidante of one of the accusers, a former aide in the congressman's office, who she says has detailed these allegations over the course of a couple years to her. She says the former aide said she was asked by the congressman to be a surrogate in exchange for money. The woman said she was asked to look over a contract to potentially carry a child for him. And it was said if she conceived his child, she would be given $5 million. Now this is according to Andrea Lafferty, she is the president of the Traditional Values Coalition. She was in the room last week when this accuser brought her story to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's office up here on Capitol Hill. And we know there was a very swift move by the speaker's office to pressure him to resign and to leave. Anderson.
[Cooper:] And why the sudden change of date for the congressman's resignation?
[Serfaty:] Yes, and this is really interesting. Yesterday he said he will resign in January 31st. Today, he says he will resign today, effective immediately. Now, officially the congressman is essentially pinning it on his family. He says that his wife was admitted to the hospital with an ongoing ailment and the best thing for his family to do right now is to be by her side. But, clearly, there was so much pressure on him. Clearly, there was just no appetite for him to stay a day longer up here on Capitol Hill. And we do know from Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, he believes the allegations. He called them yesterday very credible and very serious.
[Cooper:] All right, Sunlen, appreciate that. New information now about Russia's efforts to connect with the President team, "The New York Times" has reporting, the FBI warned President Trump's Communication Director Hope Hicks about Russian operatives who tried to make contact with her during the transition process. CNN's Justice Correspondent Jessica Schneider is here with the latest on that. So what do we know about the FBI warning?
[Jessica Schneider, Cnn Justice Correspondent:] Well, we know that senior FBI officials, they cautioned Hope Hicks about several introductory e-mails that she received after the election. They were from Russian government e-mail addresses. So FBI agents met with Hope Hicks twice at the beginning of this year inside the situation room at the White House and they told her that these e-mails were not what they seemed and that they may have been part of a Russian intelligence operation. That's all according to "The New York Times". So, Anderson, this was a very specific warning, and it shows that law enforcement was alarmed, that Russians were still trying to establish contacts with the Trump team even after the election. Reportedly, Hope Hicks disclosed the meetings with the FBI, the White House Counsel Don McGahn. And we also know that Hicks met with the special counsel's team today and yesterday as part of their ongoing Russian probe. Anderson.
[Cooper:] And when it comes to the case against Manafort and Rick Gates, what did you learn?
[Schneider:] So we have learned about a whole slew of information that prosecutors have. They have 400,000 documents in their case against Gates and Manafort. They include things like financial records and e-mails. And prosecutors have even labeled 2000 of the documents as "hot," meaning that they could be particularly relevant. So also what the government has, they have 36 electronic devices they seized from Paul Manafort's home back in July. Investigators have also issued 15 search warrants and probably the most interesting thing, Anderson, in these filings is that the government referenced that Manafort and Gates had actually given deposition testimony in another matter. Prosecutors, though, they're not saying exactly what they mean. The case moving full steam ahead and we'll see both Manafort and Gates back in court on Monday. Anderson.
[Cooper:] All right, Jessica Schneider, thanks very much. Up next, Up next, a live update from Southern California where wildfires have already forced nearly 200,000 people out of their homes, could get worse over the weekend.