o way. we let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. them, not so much. we let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. the others? nope! get internet on our gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call or go on line today. good evening. in a week of surprises we begin with yet another surprise. president trump has invited vladamir putin to washington three days avermaet the cleanup of helsinki for plans for a round two. it wasn't just a surprise to the press, also a surprise to a guy whose job it is to never be surprised. dan coats the director of

national intelligence, he found out on a stage in aspen while being interviewed by nbc. >> we have breaking news. it was announced on twitter vladamir putin is coming to the white house in the fall. >> say that again. >> vladamir putin coming to the -- >> did i hear you? >> yeah. >> okay. >> that's going to be special. >> director coats was not told of the decision to invite putin to washington this fall nor does he by his own admission know what went on with helsinki in that meeting one-on-one with vladamir putin, nor do we. and we'll talk about the claim trump is making about how tough he is on the russians and these summit plans were being rolled out and whether this rewards

putin for bad behavior, the justice department issued a dire warning about bad behavior by russia and others. ongoing bad blaifr behavior a threat unfolding as we speak. word of it came at the aspen forum the same place coats learned about the invite. you were in the room when coats found out about the putin invite. talk about how this unfolded today. >> i'll tell you, it's remarkable there. clearly, as he was told there by andrea mitchell, it was clear he did not know. that was the first he was hearing about it. he also laughed it off a little bit in a way that indicated this is not the first time he's been surprised, right? normally, you would expect the nation's senior most intelligence official to not be made aware of or more importantly be consulted on by the white house sitting down with the leader of a foreign, a

hostile nation, as many revelations about russia's interference in u.s. politics have shown this week. normally, they'd be consulted as well. he was not. i think the humor there is something of a protective mode you'll see many u.s. officials in this administration wrap themselves in a bit because they've been here before. the nature of the way donald trump does business, again, something he takes very seriously. in the rest of his commentary this afternoon, he made it very clear he views russia as a very dangerous adversary and one continuing to attack u.s. democracy. >> how unusual is it that coats acknowledged, a, he acknowledged it, and, b, the facts he doesn't know what went on between president putin and president trump in that one-on-one meeting? >> that was one of the more hard to pick the most remarkable moment but yet another one.

senior intelligence official you would expect to be consulted, debriefed by the president afterwards as to what vladamir putin told him, what they agreed to. he said, point-blank, i don't know what happened in that meeting. listen to how he laid that out. >> i don't know what happened in that meeting. i think as time goes by and the president has already mentioned some things that happened in that meeting, i think we will learn more. that is the president's prerogative. if he had asked me how that ought to be conducted i would have suggested a different way. that's not my role. that's not my job. it is what it is. >> reporter: there you have it, again saying that he would have recommended to the president he not meet one-on-one with no one else present, yet in the same conversation he learns the president's going to do it again.

inviting vladamir putin here to this country to meet with him. we don't know yet if that will be a one-on-one meeting with no one else present except translators, in the face of all we've learned of russia's continuing interested interference the president tuning it out. saying he once again wants to meet with him which is a win for putin. >> he said he would continue to stay on in the job? >> reporter: he did, as were a lot of officials. chris wray were asked this question and others was there a moment they felt so insulted not being consulted by the president they would resign. dan coats asked the same. his answer very interesting. he said something along the lines of, that's not something i would share publicly, so he did not say, no, i never thought about it. he did say, listen, as long as i feel i can seek the truth and

speak the truth, that he will stay in this job. and, clearly, we were hearing him in that meeting being willing to speak the truth. he said he does so to the president and here he was doing it to the american public as well. >> thanks. more now on the genesis of summit 2.0. the white house with more on that. this invitation to putin, clearly a sign he is doubling down, not acknowledging a mistake at helsinki. no surprise there. do we have any idea when putin would come? before the midterm elections or after? this is happens fast. it was a doubling down. no doubt about it. >> we have seen president trump when he's been criticized by something, he leans in and owns it. it's a doubling down. saying this meeting went fine and wants another one. there's no sign a do-over would be any different. he spent the last three days cleaning up and clarifying statements he made.

still not making clear saying i did not speak forcefully enough to vladamir putin. it was said he asked john bolton, the security advisor, to issue that invitation to vladamir putin. that happened midday, obviously one person not told about that, one of many was the intel chief, dan coats. >> the invitation just went out today or something discussed on that one-on-one meeting, do we know? >> reporter: that's a great question. we don't know what happened on that one-on-one meeting and revealing by dan coats saying he still does not know. and officials and people do not know what they talked about for two hours in helsinki. it was clear perhaps they discussed another meeting, something they would do avermaet it was clear that was something the president wanted john bolton to invite him today. talking to variety of people.

the president has gotten a lot of blow back. they are doubling down and making it clear. he has made mistakes but wants that relationship. the timing was the fall, before the mid-terms or after the mid-terms, we don't know, but, boy. >> and also asking whether the has confidence in dan coats and dan acknowledging the president didn't consult with any questions before he met with one-on-one vladamir putin. you would think you would talk to as many people as possible you appointed running important positions. also, it was dan coats the president referenced in that press conference with vladamir putin, coats came in, told me about the meddling, i can tell you putin was very powerful, he denies it, i don't see why they would have. >> reporter: dan coats clearly said, look, i'm taking a stand.

one thing i heard from a variety of people after that interview, is he trying to get fired? or does he not care. we don't know what the president thought of the interview. as we have seen from the president. he reacts to news coverage of events. i do expect reaction of the president whether he supports him or not. the sheer reality is dan coats was doing something we have not heard from any other top administration with the exception of former secretary of state rex tillerson for speaking his mind. >> in front of an audience essentially laughing at the president. that's basically the butt of the joke was, that will be special, he didn't know about it. anyway we'll see. more now on the troubling notion that >> and the president's national security team were kept in the dark about all of this.

joining us michael hayden, author of "the assault on national intelligence" and former director of national intelligence, james clapper, author of "facts and fears." hard truths from a life in intelligence. does an invitation to putin to the white house make sense in the fall based on how the last meeting seemed to have gone? >> as a matter of policy, no. actually, there is a rationale. we have a phrase out of langley, to live the cover story. the cover story for the president is that he was strong, that he was effective, that it was a successful meeting. i may be the only one in the national capitol area who is saying that. that's his story and sticking to it. he's messaging that's his story by saying, i will do it again.

living his cover. fascinating. >> director clapper given the talk about ongoing attacks from russia, what does it say about inviting putin to the white house after that? >> this is something of a reward for bad behavior. >> i wasn't crazy about the first one. for that reason. what has putin done to help the united states? the typical pattern of the president is to double down on that. i personally don't think it's a real good idea. i agree with mike about the rationale for it. >> general clapper, when you hear what the man who has your job now, director of national intelligence, says he president didn't talk to him about meeting with putin and still doesn't know still, does that surprise you? i would have thought the president would come out of that

meeting with putin and there'd be a quick debrief with his top intelligence officials or staff and that might get disseminated to coats indirectly. >> that's certainly the conventional manner in which these things are done, first, the national security team would be a part of the decision-making process to have a summit. work out the details for the agenda and the objectives and rules and all that sort of thing. as we have come to know, with this president, who's not conventional and very unorthodox, no, it doesn't surprise me everyone on his team is in the dark. >> general hayden, in terms of the whole idea of living the cover, perhaps the president is putting it out there as a doubling down to show a brave face. perhaps they're not actually going to go through with having vladamir putin come whether it's

before or after, sometime in the fall, the midterm elections, which according to the intelligence officials, russia is trying to be involved with. >> my instincts are, no, once it's out there and once the invitation is made, walking it back carries its own second and third order effects. even i might not want the united states or have the relationship suffer. i do think this is going to go on. anderson, can i add a thought to what jim said earlier? >> sure. >> in addition to director coats not knowing what happened at meeting, there isn't a great deal of evidence the american intelligence community and director coats was much involved in the preparation for the meeting. let me tell you a question the president really need to ask. dan, what is it your folks are saying that putin will bring up to me in this meeting, so the president can be prepared for the things putin will surface in addition to the things he might

want to surface. >> what are the things putin wants to get out of this meeting which is obviously the kind of thing you want to know before you go into a meeting. >> so you're not surprised. we're already living with first and second order effects of the swap of witnesses as to the mueller investigation, ambassador mike mcfaul. perhaps the president wouldn't have said this was a fascinating idea if he had expected the president of the russian federation to bring it up to him and already prepared for himself in his own mind how to push back what is patently a very bad idea. >> now, the white house said the president doesn't think it's a good idea despite what he said on the stage and we all heard for ourselves. what do you think would be the reaction with the intelligence community about this new invitation and what do they do in anticipation of it?

if the president is going to ask for -- i don't know if the president will ask the intelligence community to do anything in anticipation of it but what would they do in a normal time? >> exactly what mike suggested. had that happened with this first summit, president trump might have reacted in a better way than he did to what he characterizes a wonderful suggestion to exchange witness, which is -- and particularly, make available a former ambassador, which is completely absurd. had there been preparation for this that might not have happened. hopefully hope springs eternal there will be a lesson learned here and this time there will be some preparation for what might be on putin's agenda. >> director clapper, we have seen the president say over and

over again it could have been russia who interfered in the election, it could have been someone else, too, there are a lot of people out there. you were one of the four people who briefed the president that it was russia. to the extent you can can you tell us what he said and how he reacted when you told him? >> i can't go into a lot of detail about that. i might as sidebar mention the "new york times" article today, which was not entirely accurate. i won't go into details about what was and wasn't accurate. that is kind of an example of that. i would cite the two indictments issued by special counsel mueller, the one in february involving the internet research agency and particularly, the more recent one, indicting the 12 gru officers. if you read those two together, particularly the last one, you get some insight into the level

of detail we had and why we had such high confidence in our findings that we included in the intelligence community assessment we agreed, with president trump on the 26th of january 2017. he took it very well. it was a professional exchange. although immediate ly he wanted to write a press release saying the russian interference had no impact on the outcome of the election which we didn't say anything about in our assessment. i can assure you we did provide substantiating evidence, some highly classified but i won't go into details about it. >> you're referencing what we now learned from the mueller

we're talking tonight about a major national policy decision and news about a national policy player. i want to show you the moment again. dan coats was taken aback at today's summit news. >> we have some breaking news, the white house has announced on twitter that vladamir putin is coming to the white house in the fall.

>> say that again. >> vladamir putin coming -- >> did i hear you -- >> yeah. yeah. >> okay. that's going to be special. >> some people laugh but when you think about it it's not really much of a laughing matter, says something about how decision are made at the white house. with us to talk about it. gloria borger and mike rogers and matthew rosenberg national correspondent for the "new york times," international security analyst. chairman rogers, you have the invitation being extended or us learning about it on the same day director coats wasn't informed of the invite and doesn't know what happened in the private meeting between president trump and vladamir putin, should that be cause for concern? >> absolutely. i think putin is getting exactly what he wants. he set up the conditions for the

meeting and got trump to meet alone by the way, trump said he didn't want leaks, but he met alone and there weren't a lot of prepared staff people around the table to deal with thorny issues and subsequent to the meeting he began his campaign for the next one. about $100 billion in u.s. debt, treasury bonds russia has dumped since may. after the meeting, he starts broadcasting how his military prowess and technology exceeds, in an implied way, the united states of america, does two things, tells folks thinking whose team they should be on. sends a clear message russia might want to be on that list and who might want to buy military hardware. all of this serves putin's interests. that's what's so frustrating to me. if you go into a meeting like this without an agenda, i guarantee you putin was prepared and everything that happens in

that meeting is prepared and trump was reacting to all of it and why he got himself in so much trouble. >> seemingly react ing the moment. he did seem surprised at putin's ridiculous offer having the mueller team go over there and russian team come over here, interrogate american citizens. >> look, trump got played, completely, 100%. i think what we're seeing today is his reaction to washington reacting to that by inviting putin, you know, to come back here, he's throwing a tantrum and saying, look, okay, guys. he's up against the wall. he got criticized, he doesn't like that. he had to admit he made a mistake and misspoke and change his opinion on that incredible offer you're just saying about.

he's saying, okay, i will throw this into chaos again, i set the agenda, nobody else in my administration. i'm going to do this and i'm going to show you who's in charge. it's such a trump tantrum we're witnessing, and unfortunately, it's dangerous. >> matthew, you're reporting two weeks before the inauguration, the president was shown national intelligence that putin was responsible for the cyber attacks. how do you connect that with the comments made by the president. >> trump knows what has convinced every other intelligence official in the u.s. government the russians tried interfere in the election, they were looking to support him. trump knows what they know. >> it seems like the homeland security secretary doesn't know that says she's not convinced it was to throw it for trump. even though putin said he wanted trump to win.

then she walked that back a little bit. this has been a walk of week backs for the half the administration. the president says what he thinks it is in the moment. sitting next to putin, maybe he didn't do it. get back to washington, i think he did it. it's hard to know what he believes on this. i do wonder what he thinks we're gaining from all of this. russia is a country with a far smaller economy. there are three u.s. states with a bigger economy than russia, their population is in decline. this is not an equal global power and we're not in a cold war. it's not like i have to have vladimir back. looks like he's dealing with an administration that doesn't think helsinki is a success and will double down on my successes.

>> what does president trump think he is getting out of all this. obviously, there are plenty of nefarious explanations people may have. on a clearly geopolitical u.s. foreign policy stance. russia is not powerful. the president focuses how powerful vladamir putin is as a leader and apparently a fan of him after the miss universe pageant tweeting out, i wonder if we will become best friends. what do you think the president thinks he is getting out of this. >> russia is not powerful economically, true, yes, they have a demographic problem and in 25 years they will have real problems. they are a very dangerous country. why? they have good technical ability in cyber warfare and cyber

warfare operations and candidly, we're right in the middle of another one i think is going russia's way and are a nuclear armed country and have services they are willing to export where they can to influence parts of the world. syria was a great example, ukraine another one, talked about sending troops to russia. i would be careful saying, yes, they're not economic -- they're just dangerous. acting the the way they are they could cause a lot of concern. if we don't check that, vladamir putin will continue to do it. he's not even talking to us anymore, anderson, us being the united states. he's talking to other adversaries he wants to be allies of russia. he's moved beyond the helsinki summit as the old his ambassadors this morning, guess what, they're in political turmoil in the united states. let them deal with that. we have friends and allies we need to recruit around the world.

that's what i worry about. i don't think trump actually sees that because he's afraid to take a staff person in the room that might leak everything they said. >> i agree. the president doesn't seem to agree with what you just said, one of the explanations why russia should be focused on is because of their cyber capabilities. it is not clear the president really believes russia was behind the attack because even in reading a prepared statement he then ad-libbed it could be russia but there's a lot of other people out there. >> you hug vladimir putin you're goipg to get a knife in the back. i think trump honestly believes if he develops this relationship he can tone down other problems with russia. the problem is that is not the way putin thinks. he is a trained kbg officer and they are trained to exploit those weakness, why you saw the

press conference out of the ambassador's sending the message to the rest of the world, the heck with the united states, thumping his chest in a very diplomatic way to try to gain advantage and influence in places we probably don't want them to have. >> maybe that's one of the reasons trump invited him back to show him, i can thump my chest, too. they're laughing at me here, i will end up being on top. i think trump regards this in many ways as a real estate negotiation. only it isn't. only putin knew what his agenda was going to be and donald trump did not have an agenda, as a result, when moscow comes out of this summit they are announcing the agenda and what they got and nobody knows what trump said or did. members of congress have to

decide are they going to trust the people in the administration who disagree with trump or are they going to list on the president. >> matt, do people you talk to have a theory why the president doesn't seem to believe the russian attack? >> it ranges from the obvious theories about what we to this day have no clear cut evidence of, to plausible theories the president still does, signalled to aides, they believe, any kind of suggestion this election was interfered with by the russians would throw his victory into question and question the legitimacy of his presidency. he can't do it. even if they're just talking about the swaying of the election, the mere fact it exists is too much. >> thank you. the question that continues to loom over all this, why is the president differential to a man,

according to u.s. agencies directed attacks against american democracy. tweeting this from a counter-intelligence perspective, something is going on behind the scenes. before helsinki, i was unsure and post helsinki, i feel sick. steve hall and his former colleague. joining me next. ♪ keep it comin' love. if you keep on eating, we'll keep it comin'. all you can eat riblets and tenders at applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel and airline sites to find the best flight for me. so i'm more than confident. how's your family? kayak. search one and done.

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it's day three of the fallout from the helsinki summit and what happened between trump and putin. one thing we do know the visit to washington. by the russian president. everything else is a mystery. let's see what chief of operation, steve hall posted on twitter. from a counter-intelligence perspective, something is going on behind the scenes. before helsinki, i was less sure. post helsinki, i feel sick. steve joins me with a former officer who spent time in moscow. you choose your words carefully. what makes you feel sick? >> before the helsinki summit i was not prepared to go to the darkest corner in the room and

say there is compromising information on donald trump. but, then, after i saw him together with vladamir putin, the murderer, person who has done the standard litany of things we're all familiar with and i saw donald trump treat him in a fashion that is inexplicable, the only conclusion i can come to -- and i would disagree with one of your former guests, i think there is information and data out there that implies that there is indeed compromising information that vladamir putin has on donald trump. look, why else would he treat him this way? donald trump has been pretty tough with the chinese. there's an impending trade war. he's been pretty tough with rocket man when they were comparing the size of their buttons. not as if donald trump has any problem being tough with people. why not be tough with a guy like vladamir putin. the only explanation i have is he is concerned the compromising information putin has on him

will get out. and everybody else he treats differently. that is what sickens me. >> do you feel this way as well? >> i agree with the symptoms but not sure i understand the cause. in other words i'm not prepared to go there saying the president is influenced directly by any compromising material the russians have. what i would add is it doesn't matter. we cannot proceed with any realistic explanation with the russians if the president is not prepared to take a hard line with vladamir putin. his entire intelligence community is in opposition to him and a struggle to watch to both support the president whom they serve as well as their conviction we need to confront the russians. as a matter of fact

if you look at the decade of history between the u.s. and russia and the cold war today i don't think there's ever been a period we could achieve progress in relations, except when we've been tough with one another. remember, when president ronald reagan confronted the russians, in the beginning it was the evil empire. that was a necessary precondition for the progress that was made with president gorbachev and after that, the hard line faded into the relationship. i think if president trump believes he can develop a friendship with putin based not on reality, as his intelligence community and law enforcement community and policy community sees it, he's not only deluding himself, president putin will not respect him for it. >> it does seem like everything about the russians, people have said, come at them from a position of strength. they respect strength. i keep wonder what is going through vladamir putin's mind

when he's standing on that stage listen to the president go through all his greatest hits of all the things vladamir putin has no doubt read transcripts of the president saying before about his election victory and no collusion and all these things. the president is not a great poker player. he things to give away everything that is in his head. >> sure. undoubtedly a very weak performance. i would agree with rolf, there's no reason not to go with the russians tough. the question is, then why isn't he doing that? to get to rolf's other question many have asked, what is this compromise and this information, the salacious tapes, all that stuff, i don't think that concerns trump or his base. go back and look at the finances. donald trump has been doing business and his organization have been doing business, by his own son's admission, if you look at the record for years. what is the most important thing for donald trump, not being a

rich man, the ego satisfaction, being a tycoon and the best deal-maker of all. to have somebody like vladamir putin, who can say, you know what, guess who was behind that. guess who bailed you out and helped you via deutsche bank and other mechanisms when you were having trouble, that is the russians and donald trump's vulnerability and why he is not tough with the russians. >> when the president says nobody has been tougher on russia than he has, his supporters point to russian mercenaries were killed in a battle in syria by forces and bombing in syria and supplying weapons to ukraine, a, do you buy nobody has been tougher on russia than donald trump and deputy attorney general rosenstein said the attacks are persistent and ongoing meant to

undermine the democracy, how serious do you take the warning? >> i have to come to the conclusion either the president is delusional about the advice he's getting from his advisors about russia is trying to do and ask convincing himself he's being tough by making statements he's the toughest president, when that is patently ridiculous, frankly. i don't want to sound disrespectful. that raises a key question. watch the summit, the contrast between president trump and putin could not have been clearer. president putin also adopted an unusual approach or demeanor in which he became very bitter. many of his comments were very bitter. he offered these two proposals he had to understand were completely unacceptable to the entire national security investigation calling for the

investigation in russia. it's a slap in the face of the mueller investigation. the only person he could appeal to was the president himself. >> he did appeal to him and the president said on the stage -- >> he said it was a great idea. >> twice he referred to that. >> thank you so much. really fascinating. >> thank you. >> new polling how president trump fared in the wake of the helsinki summit. we'll tell you the results when we continue. ♪ ♪ can world-renowned artist red hong yi use the chase mobile app® to pay practically anyone, at any bank? all while creating a masterpiece made of tea leaves? ♪ ♪ yes. but this isn't for just anyone. ♪ ♪ hong yi! it's for the strongest man in her life. ♪ ♪ life. lived red's way. chase. make more of what's yours.

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joining me now are three republicans. do these numbers surprise you at all? we've been hearing all week from both sides of the aisle condemning the president's comments to greater or lesser degrees? >> the republican support doesn't necessarily surprise me but it alarms me. the fact that the republican party and such a large majority would look at what took place on monday and think that performance by president trump basically cozying up and siding with an enemy of this country, a murderous dictator over our u.s. intelligence community is really really disturbing. what a 180. over a couple years ago the republicans were up in arms rightfully over the relations whispering to medvedev that they will have more flexibility after the elections and ronald reagan, tear down this wall and the evil

empire and russians very hawkish and president trump has softened the position on russia and obviously reflecting in polls where republicans look at this and think what he did was okay. that should alarm everyone. what he did was not okay. it was abhorrent. >> more than half republicans say they believe that the russians meddled in the u.s. election. what does that say if the belief in the institution set out to protect us. has the efforts to undercut their credibility succeeded? >> you're ascribing that to the president, they harmed themselves with james comey and others looking so partisan, they have done a huge disservice to our intelligence community and under mining their credibility. certainly the president is playing on that and helping it. they're not the only ones.

the other thing i say about this poll is, tara, outside of republicans in washington where some spoke out, you're talking about literally millions and millions of americans. one of the things that happens when something like this goes on, they see the president, republicans, talking grassroots americans across the country, they see wall to wall coverage of the president being attacked and immediately come to his defense, i don't believe this. it looks like a lot of noise. i will back him up if the pollster calls me, i agree with how the president handle this. they think he's being attacked. we lost the ability to analyze a summit like this and having a conversation without people going in their corners. this poll is reflective of tha >> i think it 's reflective of group think uninformed or not. >> group think is different in an office you have a bunch of people. >> or millions of people who follow something trump said and repeating it over and over again whether it's true or not. >> i think that's an unfortunate dismissal of americans to say

it's group think that they're stupid and their interests don't matter. millions of americans voted for president trump. >> i tried that for a long time. he took the side of a murderous dictator of this country. enemy of the country. >> that's not my point. >> mike is making the point that the pushback from people who are going into their corners, they saw the media reacting, even people on fox news reacting the way they did and saying to pollster, look, i'm supporting this guy. >> no matter what. >> they think he's being attacked. >> they weren't all glued to their television, they're at work and see the coverage, he's being attacked for this, probably did something right and they don't like it. >> i'm about as fervent a trump supporter you can find. i wrote an article on real clear politics saying i thought his press conference was disastrous, and i'm glad he corrected and clarified himself, which he did.

what you're bringing up, an important point. he didn't side with russia. i don't know when it became unpatriotic to view our intelligence services with skepticism. if george w. bush had viewed the intelligence community's analysis with skepticism, we would have thousands of -- >> american taxpayer money -- >> i don't know if you believe the would-wouldn't excuse. during that press conference he certainly did seem to take vladamir putin's side in the idea that, well, putin's so powerful in his response saying he didn't do it, i don't know why he would have done it. >> you don't crazy our intelligence agency on foreign soil. in front of an enemy. >> can i have a minute? i agree. i just said, i wrote about this publicly right afterward. i agree that was a poor performance because he seemed to give a moral equivalency. on one side we have american

intelligence and on the other side putin and kgb. and they're not equal. of course not but my point is, and this is important. the idea that we take the word of u.s. intelligence as sacrosanct is, number one, not logical. it's not historical. but also for president trump, it's not politically feasible because we have unfortunately -- listen, i love the men and women of law enforcement and our security agencies who do hard, dangerous work for our country. but the leadership of those agencies, people like mccabe and strzok and james clapper, who lied under oath to the american people, and john brennan, who hacked the senate's computers, they have proven themselves time and again to be totally unworthy of our trust. >> do you believe the russians meddled in the election, steve? do you believe the russians meddled in the election? do you believe they attacked our electoral system? >> i think the russians among many nations tried to interfere in our elections, yes. >> so you're qualifying this also.

>> and i also believe they changed a single vote. they didn't change a single vote. >> that's not what i asked you. i asked you whether -- >> mike -- when steve is talking about the leadership in the intelligence community, you referenced, well, i totally get that perspective. the president says the same thing. he's put his own people in. he now has confidence in his intelligence community. but the people who are actually the career intelligence people, the people actually doing the intercepts, the case officers in the field, who are doing the analysis, they're pretty much the same people who were there in the obama administration, probably in the george w. bush administration. they are career intelligence people, and they're the ones making these assessments. it's not -- >> right. >> that's right. >> it's not, you know, comey who is twisting it and handing it to the president. >> no, that's right. but -- >> but they also get a lot wrong. let's be honest. they do. >> of course, yes. >> they get a lot wrong. we should never have gone to war in iraq. >> you're saying it's the leadership which is anti-trump,

and i'm just saying it's actually, you know, the core workers in the intelligence community who are doing the work. >> that's right. >> who are collecting this intelligence and analyzing it. >> i'm saying you've had a leadership under president obama. you had a leadership which was incredibly corrupt and incredibly biased. in addition to that, separate from that, you also have -- >> i don't know about that corruption but -- >> trump's own people have come to the same conclusion. >> a history of them frankly just missing a lot and being wrong very, very often. so the president is elected to be in charge of the intelligence community, not the other way around. >> all right. we've got to end it here. >> they work for him. >> they also work for the american people. time to check in with chris cuomo to see what's ahead on "cuomo prime time." >> but i was enjoying that. i love to see you because you are so reasonable and civilized, and i love to see when there's a food fight. i'd love to see inside your head in those moments, but not tonight. cortes told me last night it was

the new form of birtherism. >> he mentioned that. >> did he run that tonight? >> yeah. >> i was getting made up at the time. >> i had gone to my special place in my head. >> it went over like a lead zeppelin here on "prime time." all right. tonight we're going to be talking to tom donilon, the national security adviser to president obama, perhaps one of the people trump folk are now calling corrupt and dirty. how does he see what we had to link through in helsinki and what this new word of a meeting this fall is all about? we'll talk to him. we've got anthony scaramucci on, who says he can tell us why trump is doing what he's doing right now with regards to russia. we'll see where he takes us. >> all right. thanks very much. that's in about seven minutes from now. new developments linked to russia tonight namely about that alleged spy. details ahead. ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats psoriasis differently.

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we are going to be much more skilled and prepared to mitigate that emergency for all concerned. the things we do every single day that puts ourselves in harm's way, and to have a partner that is so skilled at what they do is indispensable, and i couldn't ask for a better partner. new tonight, free maria butina. that's the hashtag campaign that's been launched by russia's foreign ministry for the alleged kremlin spy after her arrest in washington. russian diplomats have also visited her in the detention center where she's being held until trial. a federal judge agreed she is a flight risk so she has to stay in custody. randi kaye tonight tracks her path which, as you know, once crossed with the trump campaign. >> i'm visiting from russia. my question will be about foreign politics. >> reporter: that's how close this accused russian spy got to then candidate donald trump this july 2015.

at freedom fest in las vegas. her name is maria butina. >> i believe i would get along very nicely with putin, okay? >> reporter: that same woman now charged with conspiracy and acting as an agent of the russian government. the 29-year-old graduate student from american university is accused of using sex and deception to cozy up to high-level politicians and steer them toward moscow's objectives. prosecutors say she had a personal relationship with a man cnn confirms was paul erickson, a republican political operative nearly twice her age. butina reportedly describing him as her boyfriend. prosecutors say she used her own moscow-based gun group, right to bear arms, to build relationships with the national rifle association. >> i'm a representative of russian federation here, and i am a chairman of the right to bear arms.

>> reporter: butina once posed with a pistol, wearing stilettos and leather for this risque russian "gq" magazine shoot. and in 2015 at the nra convention, she managed to meet republican presidential candidate scott walker, and that's butina at the 2017 national prayer breakfast, once again in the same room as donald trump. >> this gathering is a testament to the power of faith. >> reporter: butina has pleaded not guilty, and her lawyer insists she's no spy, just someone looking to create a better relationship between the two nations. but prosecutors tell a very different story. they say butina came to this country in 2014, if not earlier, and once offered sex in exchange for a position with a special interest organization. she was issued a student visa in august of 2016. prosecutors say it was all just a cover. in fact, before she arrived in the u.s., she worked for an

unnamed high-level russian government official, who allegedly directed her efforts in the u.s. also court filings show butina and her mentor, russian banker aleksandr torshin, had once tried to establish back-channel communications between donald trump and vladimir putin. in her latest endeavor, documents show torshin allegedly praised her, writing, you have upstaged anna chapman, referring to another russian sleeper agent. butina texted him a photo of herself from donald trump's inauguration, smiling in front of the u.s. capitol, and he allegedly wrote back, daredevil girl. for now, maria butina remains behind bars. she's considered a flight risk given that agents found she had terminated her lease and packed her bags. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> it's a fascinating story. before we go, quick reminder. don't miss our daily newscast on facebook. you get to pick the stories we cover.

it's called full circle, week nights at 6:25 p.m. eastern. go to facebook.com/anderson cooper full circle, all one world. i'll see you tomorrow at 6:25, also again at 360 at 8:00 p.m. right here on cnn. the news continues. i'm going to hand it over to chris and "cuomo prime time." chris? thank you, brother cooper. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." so what do you do when your biggest adversary attacks your election? president trump is inviting him home for the holidays. yes, trump says a second sit-down is coming and soon. it sounds like a movie, like a drama that plays like a comedy until it is revealed to be a horror flick. welcome to washington, comrade vlad. let's get some perspective. tom donilon has met with putin before. he knows exactly what is at stake, and the former national security adviser will pass along his wisdom to you tonight. so you know who was stunned by the news of the invite? the head of u.s. intelligence, dan coats.