president in november? i think that's still an open question. >> still an open question. done with special elections. now all main event. primaries and general election. i'll bring you back when we have more time. thank you for your patience today. thanks for joining us on "inside politics." "wolf" starts right now. have a good day. this is cnn breaking news. >> hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. in washington. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. we begin with breaking news. president trump's earlyieiest congressional supporter chris collins of new york has been arrested for insider trading. prosecutors announce the charges and showcase their evidence in exacting detail only moments ago. >> as alleged in the indictment, congressman collins cheated our markets and our justice system in two ways.

first, he tipped his son to confidential corporate information at the expense of regular investors. and then he lied about it to law enforcement to cover it up. these charges are a reminder that this is a nation of laws and that everybody stands equal before the bar of justice. >> cnn national political reporter m.j. lee has been following the story for us. walk us through the allegations in this lengthy indictment. >> yeah, wolf, these are certainly very serious charges. congressman collins has been charged with insider trading, wire fraud and lying to investigators. all of these charges actually have to do with an australian biotech company called innate immunotherapeutics. he served on the board of that company and heavily invested in the company as well. and if you actually look through the indictment itself that goes into some great detail about the

night that he found out some bad information about the company. and then proceeded to tip off his son who also invested in the company. so take a look at this timeline. this was on june 22nd of 2017, summer of last year. at 6:55 p.m., the indictment says he received an e-mail from the ceo of the company saying that a drug trial had been a failure. now 16 minutes later, at 7:11 p.m., he starts calling his son. he tries to make that call four times before he is successful. and at 7:16, he speaks to his son and informs him about this information that he had learned. and it is the next day, 7:42 a.m., in the morning, that his son starts putting in orders to sell off his shares of his stock in this company. n ultimately, the indictment says that he was able to avoid some $570,000 in losses. now a lot of congressional reporters are actually already familiar with this company innate immunotherapeutics

because some red flags were raised prior to today about congressman collins and his involvement in this company. and whether he had actually tried to recruit other colleagues in the house of representatives to invest in this company, including take a look at this graphic. congressman tom price. you know price was nominated and then confirmed to be the health and human services secretary for president trump. he recently resigned. and during the confirmation hearings, this was a question raised about whether congressman collins tried to persuade price to invest in this company. now earlier today, we did get a stallme statement from collins' attorney. he says we'll answer the charges filed against congressman collins in court and mount a vigorous defense to clear his name. even the government does not allege that congressman collins traded a single share of innate therapeutic stock. he'll be completely vindicated and exonerated.

congressman collins will have morto s more to say on this issue later today. we'll see whether he makes a direct statement about this, but, obviously, very stunning and serious news coming just three months before his re-election, wolf. >> very stunning indeed. all right, m.j., we'll have a lot more coming up on this story. a lot of legal analysis. there's other important news including this just coming in. the trump legal team has delivered their answer on the interview request from the special counsel robert mueller. one of the president's personal attorneys, rudy giuliani, says they want to get this over before the midterms in november. maybe by september 1st, around labor day. our chief political correspondent dana bash has the breaking news on all of this. what can you tell us about the response? will there be any conditions, especially about questions pertaining to possible obstruction of justice? >> well, i spoke to rudy giuliani this morning. he wouldn't give any details on the nature of the response

except to say that it is a good faith attempt to reach an agreement and then also told me that there is an area where we could agree if they agree, but wouldn't tell me what the area was or is, meaning anything about potential collusion. anything about potential obstruction. so left it very vague until the mueller team actually looks at it. so that's where that stands. the question about obstruction of justice, though, is interesting because as you've alluded to there, giuliani said earlier this week that no way. there's no questions relating to obstruction of justice that we would allow the president to answer. then yesterday seemed to open the door to it. the way he clarified it with me when i talked to him today is that they don't want to allow and they will say no to any question that robert mueller and his team want to ask the president that they consider a perjury trap. i said what does that mean? and the answer was questions

like, what did you say to comey about flynn? why did you fire comey? answers to those questions, they say, and the president's legal team said mueller already knows the answer to. so to ask that question of the president would be simply trying to catch him in a lie. that's the argument. was there anything on those topics that could potentially be okay with you? possibly but can't think of any. so that certainly seems to be, if robert mueller is still determined to ask the president questions releasing to potential obstruction of justice. we don't know. but we don't know because they're completely mum over in mueller land. that could be the deal breaker on this potential interview. it is very incremental. they are proposing, counterproposing and have been for months and months and months. but it is noteworthy. giuliani talked about the september deadline and that is the traditional window in which the justice department doesn't

do anything public because it is between labor day and election day and there have been midterm elections in november. >> he also did this radio interview with jay sekulow who has this radio show. another one of the president's personal lawyers in which they discussed this, what, september 1st deadline for resolving? yes or no in an interview? >> so that's exactly what giuliani said this morning to his fellow attorney who happens to have a radio show, jay sekulow. and my impression of that, because in the context of also speaking to giuliani, it's that they want to have it resolved by september 1st, but if it isn't resolved by september 1st, then they don't want to have to deal with it publicly until the election because of that window. and politically speaking, not legally, but politically speaking, giuliani is in the camp of other republicans who i've talked to who are in and around the president who actually think something counterintuitive which is that it won't be necessarily the end

of the world if the president is still kind of facing this potential investigation or what have you during the election because they need the base to be energized and perhaps that's a way to energize the base. we'll see, though. it's not up to them. it's up to robert mueller. >> it certainly is. he knows a lot more about any of this than any of us do. >> thanks for that excellent reporting. let's discuss all of this. eliot williams, former deputy assistant attorney general. molly ball, cnn political analyst, national political correspondent for "time," also with us former federal prosecutor glen kershner and cnn legal analyst laura coats. let's talk about this latest response from the giuliani trump legal team to robert mueller. wrap this up by september 1st. they don't want to talk about obstruction but they're willing to answer other questions. >> i'm shocked giuliani continues to believe he has so much leverage that he can

dictate the terms of a conversation with special counsel mueller. the only leverage they really do have is you have this election that's looming and this doj initiative that says you cannot have this in an election year. you want it wrapped up. donald trump's not actually on the ballot. so there's an arguable claim to make that says that wouldn't actually impact the president of the united states. he's not on the ballot. but i'm really shocked. many of us are, that the two president's personal attorneys are conversing about a legal matter with a pending federal investigation on a radio show where they're prepared to make comments about privilege i'm sure later on about executive privileges, certainly attorney/client privilege and arguing as if the only way robert mueller will talk to them is if they dictate the terms. it's not going to happen that way. ultimately, i think he'll have to sit down and answer some questions. >> i want to say to glen, how do you see it? >> so, wolf, i'm not convinced that this is actually a two-sided negotiation.

i think rudy giuliani has been negotiating against himself in his zeal to get all this information out into the public square. i don't think there's ever been an intent on the defense team's part on president trump's defense team to bring the client in, have him sit with robert mueller. i was surprised at the recent reporting that mueller was willing to put some questions in writing and submit those to the president. but the more i thought about it, it may very well be that some of the questions proposed in write, things like, mr. president, did you tell director comey to lay off mike flynn? there are only two answers to that question. if the answer is, yes, that's evidence of obstruction of justice, arguably. if the answer is no, i am betting that robert mueller's team can prove that to be a lie. so his latest terms which are basically the way it sounds to me is, we'll bring him in as long as you don't ask the president anything incriminating or relevant. i mean, that seems to be

laughable. >> elliott, go ahead. >> the other point is it's not a perjury trap if you're telling the truth. and if you aren't trying to conceal or change facts or mislead the people. and i think it's unfortunate they're using perjury, trap and trying to convince the public that somehow robert mueller is the one at fault here and rob mueller isn't the one under investigation. we should be careful when hearing perjury, trap or am i going to be trapped into incriminating myself when you might have done something wrong. >> a lot of people, molly, believe the president is never going to sit down with robert mueller and do a q&a. maybe in written form,ing? along those lines but not in a face-to-face interview with mueller and his team. that all of this is just politics right now. setting the stage, we tried our best, wanted to do it. the president certainly wanted to do it but these guys have 13 angry democrats. they are just engaged in a witch hunt and it's not going to happen. >> there's a couple of aspects to that.

giuliani may be negotiating with himself but he also seems to be negotiating with his client because trump, number one, reveals so much about this in public, insists on tweeting about it, making his case in public when any lawyer would probably prefor that he did not do that. and second, when trump has repeatedly said publicly and privately that he'd like to do this whether or not his counsel thinks it's a good idea, and he continues to say they're trying to talk me out of it, but i think i can do it and it may be partly plu partly bluster. but what he's doing is running interference between trump and mueller trying to satisfy trump's wish to do the interview while also protecting him in some way from himself. and then the third point is that he may not have a choice. part of what he may be doing is trying to run out the clock without saying no because the minute they say no, that sets up a potential subpoena fight. i think neither side wants that,

but it is something that can happen when and if they do shut off the possibility. >> stay with me. a lot more that's developing right now. there's more on the other breaking news we're following. republican congressman chris collins of new york, one of the president's first big supporters, he's now been arrested and indicted on insider trading charges. also lying to the fbi. we'll talk about his fate. plus, the president declaring victory in ohio despite the special election there still too close to call. does the cliffhanger spell trouble, though, for the gop ahead of the midterm elections? and senator rand paul delivering a letter from president trump to vladimir putin. we have details. lots of news. we'll be right back. hey allergy muddlers. are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec®. it's starts working hard at hour one. and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. ♪ it's so hard to believe

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back now to one of our top stories this hour. republican congressman chris collins of new york arrested on charges of insider trading. prosecutors say collins tipped off his son about negative information regarding a biotech firm. collins was on the board of. his son was able to then sell off shares avoiding more than half a million in losses. collins was already, by the way, under scrutiny for his role on the board, as well as recruiting several lawmakers to invest in the firm, including the former health and human services secretary tom price when he was a member of congress. price's investment, by the way, came up during his confirmation hearing last year. i asked congressman collins about it at the time. here's what he told me. this is in january of 2017. did you encourage him to buy stock in this company called innate immunotherapeutics? >> no, absolutely not. there was nothing done that was insider trading or unethical.

i've been involved with innate therapeutics for almost 15 years. i'm the largest shareholder and i talk about it all the time, just like you'd talk about your children. >> were your telling other constituents and friends of yours to go ahead. this is a great stock. go ahead to buy it. >> i talked to them about the great work this company is doing. the market for secondary progressive m.s. and there are many hundreds, 50, 100 people from western new york, friends, family and so forth who decided on their own, this was a pretty darn good investment and it certainly turned out to be so. >> you understand why to the average person out there, there is something sort of smelly in all of this. you understand why people are complaining and why it seems a little sloppy, if you will, why the democrats, a lot of democrats are going after congressman price and threatening his confirmation over this one issue. >> it's just so absurd. >> let's discuss this and more.

elliott, what do you make of what we just heard from him knowing the allegation against him is that when the stock was about to collapse, he gave advance word to his son to sell and in the process save a half a million dollars. >> he'll have plenty of time to get his story straight from behind bars at some point. and frankly, looking at the fact he was a top supporter of the president, the president is making the washington, d.c., swamp look like lake tahoe in upstate new york. or lake placid in upstate new york. what we keep hearing from him is -- and his lawyer said, i never bauought, he never bautou any stock. he was unlawfully providing information to members of his family. he broke the law. trying to make it about democrats going after representative price or whatever, it's misleading like we were talking about earlier. >> i want to be fair to the president. there's nothing in this indictment that involves him at all. collins is one of the first supporters in the house of representatives.

he endorsed him very early on. but the president, donald trump was never involved in this company biotech firm. >> that's perfectly fine but how many times are we going to hear about corruption from the president, a top supporter, a lawyer, a campaign chairman before we start to really recognize how much this corruption is running through everything the president touches. it's like king midus was -- the president turned everything that turned to gold. the president seems to touch everything that turns to corruption and everywhere it seems to be following him. >> the indictment and i've read it and you've read it. it doesn't say he did anything wrong when suggesting to other family members, friends, hey, this is a great stock, a great company. they could come up with a cure for some form of m.s. he didn't tell them to buy but clearly that was the implication. the charges that when the clinical trial was about to fail, he got advance word and then tipped off his son. who then tipped off others. they wound up saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. >> it's not about the innocent conversation and encouraging who would not want to have a cure

from m.s. and if there's a lead to it, you'd talk about it, of course. the real criminal behavior is that you were in a unique position to get information that was not disclosed to the public. nobody else had the advantage to have the information but suddenly you got it and within minutes you tried to call people while you were still on the white house grounds to tell someone to sell off their stock or coordinate some plan that not more than 12 hours later suddenly actually went by. so that's the crux of insider trading and what you saw from the graphic that m.j. lee played was that you have the documentary evidence very early on. the phone call, the e-mail that said the drug test has failed. that's why most of the time insider trading cases are very document heavy. either you have the information in advance and you acted on it or you did not. and what you're seeing here is somebody who wants to deflect, possibly, on the discussion of, i was just innocently telling you about a drug to actually that turned into insider trading and suddenly they saved hundreds of thousands of dollars. >> glenn, his lawyer, the

congressman's lawyer says there's no charge in this indictment that he personally sold when he got the advance word. he had a lot of money invested in that stock as well. his son sold. others sold. but he personally didn't call up his broker and sell off this stock. is that a strong argument he has on his behalf? >> so it's not a strong argument. here's how. and we have heard similar refrains regarding the trump tower meeting. they never got any information so it must not have ripened into a crime. let me break down the law of conspiracy. the law of conspiracy says if two or more people get together and agree to commit a crime and then take one step, what we call an overt act toward committing that crime, that in and of itself is a crime. it's the crime of conspiracy. they don't have to commit the underlying offense and i use as an example all the time a conspiracy to commit a murder. two people get together and decide to murder a third person

and they rent a car to use in the murder and buy a gun and they map out the victim's route but they never do pull the trig eso to speak, they have committed the crime of conspiracy to kill. >> the district attorney says collins placed his friends and family above the public good. what's going to be the political fall out of this? >> i think it is one more headache that republicans don't need after last night's election results also buoyed democrats and discouraged republicans, this is yet another blow. congressman collins is in a heavily republican district. it's hard to imagine him being vulnerable even in the face of something like this, but he may come under pressure to resign. he does have a democratic opponent. but the more political impact is along the lines of what elliott was saying. it contributes to a narrative that democrats have been trying to build. pointing to the trump administration, pointing to what they call a culture of corruption.

and the -- there is reason to believe that that resinates with voters much more than, say, the russia investigation. you know, a lot of people, a lot of politicians have found that the russia investigation is complicated. it's convoluted. trump has succeeded in moving the needle and making a lot of people think this is a witch hunt. this really does bother someone when they think their elected officials are not working on their behalf but self-interested, profiting from their office, helping their friends and cronies. so you can expect to hear a lot more about that from the democrats. >> in this indictment, the other very serious charges against him and his son are that they lied to the fbi when they were initially questioned about all of this perjury. that's a big deal. you go to jail if you lie to the fbi. don't do that. there's a pair of nail-biters too close to call in ohio and kansas. we're watching right now. president trump already declaring victory, but could this spell some trouble for republicans in the midterm elections coming up in november?

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also the republican primary for governor of kansas testing the president's popularity as one of the most -- one of his most controversial supporters tries to up end the republican establishment in kansas. let's bring in cnn political director david chalian. walk us through what we saw last night, first in ohio. >> first in ohio, what we saw, it's still in too close to call category but the republican troy balderson is leading. in the vote count. and what we saw you just stated. this is a district that donald trump won by 11 points. that mitt romney won by 10 points. that has been held in republican hands for 35 years. deep red district, and it was a very close race within 1 percentage point. why? because we're seeing democratic enthusiasm arrive at the polls in turnout. and republican turnout is a little depressed as the president argues all the time to his supporters. don't get complacent.

there's some complacency there. it's a very republican district. the republican able to hold on. but it should never have been this close. what does this mean? it means, look around the country. the battlefield is so large. if this republican of a district can be competitive, there are, according to the political report, 68 less republican districts than this one. so you can just see how large the battlefield is for democrats as they try to win a net gain of republican seats. >> still about 8,000 votes, absentee ballots yet to be counted. >> danny o'connor has said his campaign not going to concede at all right now. wants to make sure all those votes are counted because they want to see if it gets within half a percent and that would trigger an automatic recount. >> what about kansas? >> what about kansas. what you see in the gubernatorial primary is donald trump's poetency at play.

kris kobach, one of his most controversial supporters. one of his most controversial supporters no doubt due to his voting fraud panel participation and the comments made about that. his hardline immigration views. he took on a seated republican governor and look at that vote total there. it's 191-vote lead for kris kobach there. so this clearly is not done either. we're waiting to hear from the governor who has not yet conceded the race there at all. waiting to see if they call for a recount. only 191 votes separate them. if kris kobach emerges, the question is going to become, does that give the democrats an opportunity? is he a controversial enough figure that he can get through a republican primary, defeat the incumbent governor, have the president's backing but will it make the seat vulnerable for democrats to pick up in the fall? >> big picture what we saw last night, what does it bode for the midterm elections in three

months? >> what last night showed us, i think it solidified the trends we've seen all along. in all the special elections, the story has been democrats are significantly overperforming in these republican-held districts. where hillary clinton got there, what the previous democratic candidate got there. and that's because all the enthusiasm right now in american politics is on the democratic side. >> good point. david chalian, thank you very much. we'll be busy between now and november. we'll watch it very closely. we'll get back to the breaking news. republican congressman chris collins of new york set to be in court within the hour after being arrested and charged with insider trading this morning. we have details. plus, senator lindsey graham reveals what president trump couldn't stop talking about during their golf outing at the country club in new jersey. stand by. we have details.

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are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec®. it's starts working hard at hour one. and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. republican congressman chris collins of new york is expected to appear in a federal courtroom in the next hour. the new york republican surrnderred to authorities today after being indicted on charges related to alleged securities fraud. collins was the first sitting member of congress to support donald trump during the 2016 presidential race. joining us now from rhode island, democratic congressman david sicillini, member of the

house judiciary committee and foreign affairs committee. congressman, what do you think of this indictment of your fellow congressman chris collins? >> i think it's, obviously, very, very disappointing. serving the public in elected office is a tremendous honor and a great privilege and everyone has a responsibility to conduct themselves to the highest standard and certainly this is a gross violation of that. and i think it feeds into the narrative sadly that we're seeing so much from this administration, republicans in congress. this culture of corruption. we saw it in administrator pruitt and in secretary tom price. we see it in the self-dealing, the idea that government is not working for the people, but working for the powerful special interest and the well connected. people are sick and tired of it. here's just the most recent example of someone using his position where he's supposed to be serving the american people and instead is serving his own financial interest. it's disgraceful. it's very sad day. and i think the american people are going to say loudly and

clearly in november they're sick and tired of the swamp and culture of corruption in washington and they'll give democrats the responsibility of leadership. >> the indictment and i've gone through it and i'm sure you have as well, it doesn't allege that donald trump had any involvement in this biotech firm or any of this insider trading. >> oh, no, no, i'm not suggesting the president does. i'm saying we've seen in this administration other examples of this culture of corruption of the swamp of washington and although the president committed to draining the swamp, this is the most corrupt administration in recent history. and this is another example of folks who think that elective office is not there for the service of the people of this country but for their own personal gain or benefit. we've seen lots of examples of that in the trump administration. we now see an example with chris collins. i think people are sick and tired of it. they want washington and the government to work for them to the best interest of the people of this country. >> let's talk politics. the race in ohio's 12th

congressional district is still up in the air. too close to call right now. what's the significance of this very close race for the democrats, either way it ends up heading into november's midterms? >> i think the most important thing is to remember that a democrat has not held this congressional seat but for one time since 1938. so this is a solidly red district. and i think it's evidence that the democratic candidate and candidates like him across the country that are focused on the important issues facing the american people, driving down health care costs, creating good paying jobs, rebuilding the infrastructure of our country and draining the swamp in washington and ending this culture of corruption, those are resonating. this is a complete rejection of the trump administration and the republican narrative. and people are looking for a new direction in our country. new leadership. when democrats focus on the issues that matter to the american people, they prevail. the republicans have to spend over $5 million in this special election. they shouldn't have had to spend

a penny. it's a solidly republican district and it's a harbinger of what's to come in november. there's going to be a big blue wave because people are tired of what they're seeing. >> let's talk about the movement among democrats right now. the governor's race in michigan, for example, where a progressive democratic candidate lost the democratic primary. you are the vice chair of the congressional progressive caucus. do you think some more middle of the road or establishment democrats are actually breathing a sigh of relief that the more progressive or democratic socialist candidate support supported by bernie sanders, for example, didn't win? what does that mean for the future of your party? >> i think what it means most importantly is that there's tremendous excitement about democratic candidates. enormous enthusiasm. we're seeing that reflected in the increases in voter turnout. we'll have a lot of new candidates. a lot of new members of congress from a whole range of spectrums

from the very progressive to more moderate to blue dogs and new dems, to progressives. that's great for our caucus. it's great for the country. what will happen is we'll work together when we're in the majority to develop consensus around issues. there's a lot more in common than we have disagreement. but that's a good problem to have. they'll bring their best ideas. a lot of new energy. and they'll advocate for their positions. and out of this will come some real consensus within our caucus. it's a great sign of the energy of the enthusiasm of voters for democratic candidates. and we're a big tent. we'll have lots of people with different views all committed to driving down health care costs, draining the swamp, rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure and moving us forward. so it's a very exciting time for the party. very exciting time for our country, and i think this sort of broad appeal across the spectrum among democrats is very, very good. >> remember what ronald reagan used to say about the republican party. he wanted it to be a big tent party. have a lot of different views

and you use the words big tent right now. you want the democratic party to be a big tent party as well, right? >> absolutely. and we want people to come into the party and bring their best ideas. when ideas are generated to make suggestions and make them even better. out of that legislative process will come the best product that will serve the american people. we should be excited about that. we should embrace it, and not run away from it. >> congressman david ciciline, thanks for joining us. senator rand paul delivering a letter from president trump to vladimir putin. we have the back story. stand by for that. and new details emerging about what the president and putin may have discussed during their still mysterious one on one meeting in helsinki. ♪ 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.

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republican senator rand paul makes a diplomatic delivery. he delivered a letter to the russian leader vladimir putin from president trump while paul has been visiting russia this week. he tweeted this, quote, i was honored to deliver a letter from president trump to president vladimir putin's administration. it emphasized the importance of further egaugement in various areas. we heard from the white house a few moments ago the press secretary, assistant press secretary, describing as a letter of introduction in hopes of meeting with vladimir putin. but as far as we know, no meeting has taken place between the senator and the russian leader. let's bring in our chief international correspondent clarissa ward. what more do we know about how all of this came about and how the kremlin has responded.

>> so what we know so far is that the three specific issues that the letter pertained to were counterterrorism, improving counterterrorism between russia and the u.s., improving legislative dialogue and also resuming cultural exchanges. these are seemingly, wolf, very anna dime topics. the very thing you expect to see the president of the u.s. and the president of russia discussing as they go about trying to repair the very damaged relationship. what makes this, however, very unusual and quite striking is the method of the delivery of the letter. there are diplomatic protocols. there is a chain that one goes through. we have a thing called the state department. and traditionally a letter from the u.s. president to the russian president would go through that typical diplomatic chain or protocol. so very unusual to see president trump giving this letter to the senator to hand deliver to

russian lawmakers who then reportedly passed it on to the kremlin. we gather from a russian news agency that the kremlin has the letter but that it has not yet been reviewed by president putin himself. one can only assume, wolf, that he will be reading it soon. but again, very untraditional mechanism for delivering this letter, opening up the possibility people are saying of is this some kind of a back channel, really too early to draw any conclusions about that, wolf. but given that the topic of the letter, the specific things that are discussed seem so generic, it seems an unusual way of handing over this letter to the president of russia. >> when it comes to direct dialogue between the u.s. and russia, senator paul and president trump, they're on the same page. they want to have these kinds of exchanges. they're clearly working together in that area. as you know, clarissa, there's a leaked document now that sheds more light on that private meeting that president trump had with president putin

in helsinki. according to politico, the memo shows that putin lobbied the president on various issues, including arms control and prohibiting weapons in space. so what more are you hearing i about all of this? >> all of this is coming from a report from politico. cnn has not yet been able to independently verify the report. but from what we gather, again three main topics that president putin reportedly drilled down on with president trump during that two-hour meeting, as you have said, many times before that two-hour meeting, that private meeting has been the source of endless speculation, a lot of mystery surrounding it, a lot of questions of what was discussed. according to this document which was written in russian much of it leaves putin's agenda really focussed of issues of arms control with three specific topics, the five-year extension of the new start treaty, this essentially dealing with limiting nuclear armaments for

both sides, both the russians and the u.s., commitment to reaffirm the inf treaty, this deals with intermediate ranges which both sides have accused each other of violating that treaty and as you mentioned also a possible ban on placing weapons in space. again, what is striking about this, wolf, is that these are very typical topics to be discussed between the u.s. president, between the russian president. but we have heard the russian foreign ministry coming out with a blistering critique of politico saying it seems about once a month there is a leak from the american side. what kind of interference in the american elections from russia can there be if in the united states even the content of presidential talks cannot be kept secret. harsh words there, wolf. >> very interesting indeed. clarissa ward in london, thanks very much. other news, any minute now republican congressman chris collins will be in a new york federal courtroom just hours after being arrested and charged with insider trading. we'll go there live.

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we begin with a doubleheader today as the president's legal team tries to avoid, quote unquote, perjury traps by the special counsel. we'll get all into that in a second here. the first congressman to endorse his run for president has just been accused of not only lying to the feds but insider trading. republican, chris collins, of new york, turned himself in this morning. he's set to be arraigned this hour. federal prosecutors say collins took advantage of his seat on the board of an australian pharmaceutical company. let's go back to june, last year, the congressman was at the white house for a congressional picnic. follow the circle here in this video. there he is. that is when prosecutors say he received a phone call from the firm that a clinical trial failed involving this one particular drug. what does he do from the white house? picks up the phone and calls his son cameron. >> he then tried to reach his son, six attempts in five minutes. and then on the seventh