for alaska is job creation. linking and aligning resources to help support our businesses and community. >> the most important thing is it's tourist season and we have millions of tourists who come every year by cruiseship or drive-up or fly up and come see the nalley national park is. we'd like to see more tourists come by cruiseship. we only get a few crew ships a year. were trying to improve our port. >> i think one of the most important issues happening in alaska is the need for us to begin to convert our energy sources over to something a little more sustainable. when i think about that, i notice that our diesel

technology program has begun talking to corporations and working with people and some of the villages to try to figure out what we can do to prepare for the future. were definitely a state that the parents on oil and that will be true for a long time. making the most efficient and effective use of those resources is really important. along the way, we hope that universities can train people for those jobs of the future. >> join us july 21 and 22nd when will feature our visit to alaska. watch alaska weekend on c-span , c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> "is the director of national intelligence. last week he said there's no question russia is aggressive in organizing cyber attacks against the united states. his remarks came out a

discussion hosted by the hudson institute. >> good afternoon and welcome to the policy center here at hudson institute. i am can weinstein, president and ceo of hudson institute. we are a policy research dedicated to leadership in global engagement for a secure, free and prosperous future. i would like to welcome our audience as well as her c-span viewing audience and i'm truly honored to welcome a remarkable public servant and a good friend of hudson institute to be with us this afternoon. director of national intelligence dan coats. dan coats served with great distinction as a member of the house and senate from indiana as well as the u.s. ambassador to germany during a long career in public service, he told me he has twice failed retirement. once returning to the u.s. senate for a second time in

thee senate after his term as a master to germany, and then becoming director of national intelligence. he's a long and distinguished career in public service both in foreign policy and true leadership on defense and national securityrs issues. he's a good friend of hudson institute her before he left for germany he and his wife transferred the foundation for american renewal to hudson institute. now, in the trump administratio administration, dan coats has been entrusted with the job of deeper responsibility and immense challenges, the director of national intelligence serves as the head of the u.s. intelligence community overseeing and directing the implementation and acting as principal advisor to the president of the national security council and home and scary counsel and foreign

intelligence matters. he is in with the president when he is in town and when the president is in town to do the daily intelligence brief with senior members of the intelligence community. we are truly honored to have him with a spread he has chosen hudson as the venue to make remarks on a number of critical issues including russian cyber security in the u.s. and abroad and to do so on the eve of this historic summit in helsinki between president trump and elmer put in. the order of the business today will be that director coats will offer remarks from the podium and he will engage in a discussion with hudson institute distinguish fellow walter mead. he needs no introduction. he is a distinguished fellow and a global view columnist for the wall street journal. he is also the james chase professor of international affairs that part college.

let me welcome him to the hudson institute podium. [applause] >> thank you very much. it's nice to be here at hudson. we enjoyed hudson's presence in indiana for a time. the former omb director mitch daniels became governor of indiana. in the meantime we word hudson to come to the middle of the country to get a different perspective perhaps than what we get from a on the coast, you were there for a number of years and hador the privilege of working with people there. we understand why you came back here, moving it to more foreign policy focused stuff and a lot of that is what happens here, but we do appreciate the fact that you still value indiana, some of your employees might be

missing the cost of living in indiana not to mention the commute to work. nevertheless it's very nice to be here with you. : : : groundwork for what i the top challenge that we face in terms of threats to our country, people, and processes. before you sit down and talk about a range of political facet we face, i would like to focus my initial remarks on the glowing -- growing cyber threat to our nation security. to our nation's security and specifically like to put it in the context of the current cyber threat in terms of the threats we have had in a historical context and to find who is the most responsible and whether the it tempting to do and then

discuss intelligence community's response to that. each morning when i get up i'm given a roundtable of news of what is happen while i was asleep or what happened yesterday. almost without fail the longest section of this news roundup is on cyber issues. detailing multiple reports of cyber attacks and alerts. this issue affects all of us and is increasingly affecting numerous aspects of daily life as many of you are familiar with you don't need to go back less than two decades ago to but i think the current cyber threat into proper context. in 2001 it was heightened because of the stovepipe approach of our intelligence and law enforcement law enforcement communities that produce what they called silos of

information. at the time intelligence and law enforcement communities were identifying alarming activities suggested that an attack was coming potentially in the united states. it was in the months prior to sete timber of 2001 when according to then cia director george tenet the system was blinking red. here we are two decades, nearly two decades later and i am here to say the warning lights are blinking red again. today the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack. every day for an actors, the worst offenders being russia, china i ran and north korea, every day they are penetrating art digitalra infrastructure and conduct hang a range of cyber intrusions and attacks against targets in the united states.

the targets range from u.s. businesses to the federal government including our military state and local governments, academic and financial institutions and elements of our criticalde infrastructure just to name a few. these attacks have come in different forms. some are tailored to achieve very tactical goals while others are implemented for strategicev purpose including the possibility of a crippling cyber attack against our critical infrastructure. all of these disparate efforts share a common purpose with to exploit americans openness in order to undermine our long-term competitive advantage. in regards to state actions russia has been the most aggressive foreign at there, no question and they continue their efforts to undermine our democracy. with regard to the upcoming midterm elections, i think there may havey been some confusion

between what we are seeing now compared to what we saw in 2016 because as the department of homeland security noted we are not yet seeing the electoral interference in specific states ended voter databases that we experienced in 2016, however we fully realize that we are just one click of the keyboard away from a similar situation repeating itself. therefore and moreover we are seeing aggressive attempts to manipulate social media and spread propaganda focused on hot-button issues that are intended to exacerbate sociopolitical divisions. despite public statements by the kremlin to the contrary we continue to see individuals affiliated with the st. petersburg taste internet research entities creating new

social media accounts. masquerading as americans and using these accounts to draw attention to the divisive issues. we have learned just before the indictment of 12 military intelligence officials relative to their role in 2016. focusing on the potential impact of these actions and our midterm elections this is the more important point. these actions are persistent, they are pervasive and meant to democracy ierica's daily basis. regardless whether it's election time orr not. russian actors and others are exploring vulnerabilities to our criticalnd infrastructure as we. dhs and the fbi in court nation with international partners government actors targeting

government and energy nuclear water aviation and critical manufacturing sectors. the warning signs are there. the system is blinking and it is why i believe we are at a critical point. today and like the status of our intelligence community in 2001 we are much more integrated and better at sharing information between agencies but the evolving cyber threat's illuminating new daily challenges and how we treat information. we are dealing with information silos of a different kind including between the public and private sector. but here's the good news. i previously just mentioned but it needs to be stated again the intelligence community today is more integrated than it has ever been and we are sharing information across agencies at all levels. with regard to the midterms we are partnering with dhsth and te

fbi to provide support, information and grants to election officials in all 50 states. we will continue to look for communitiess to support this effort. regarding the larger cyber threat issue the president has signed an executive order strengthening the cybersecurity federal networks and critical infrastructure to which the president passed a whole of government risk management review resulting in a number of actions at omb taking to strengthen i.t. modernizing guidelines. the president has also authorized the use of all available tools of state power including criminal indictments, economic levers to punish malicious cyber at yours. our leaders at the national security councilcu consider this as a top priority. we are continuously pursuing actions on this issue.

as you know we are in a transition period with the nfc but i have had numerous talks with their new national security adviser and members of the nfc relative to the importance of raising this to a top issue. within the government we are working continuously to detect, worn and when necessary respond to cyber threat. we have a multiagency cyber threat intelligence integration center that builds understanding of cyber threat's two important decision-makers. the department of homeland security and the fbi are demonstrating leadership on the threat and applying a federal responsede such as was seen tod. it my former colleagues in the house and senate are paying significant attention to the threat of cyber and have expressed strong support for legislative action. having said that we have to do

better in what we deliver to our customers, how we get it to them and the speed by which they respond. today those cost-cutting cyber threat's have been eliminated. how rigidly still act when it comes to public discourse. respective self-interest by the government the private sector and created independent rather than cop complementary awareness. as a result we need to think differently about it. in many ways the nature of the cyber threat means that way the national cyber retreatco the american people as intelligent customers and that is why you will see us talking about this threat more vocally and why you will continue to us publish unclassified assessments to inform the american people. everyone if we are to succeed dealing with this threat must take ownership of the challenge.

it will take the government, the private sector and the american people all doing their part to better position our country for the future. as a government we are having a more open dialogue about this threat. in particular we at the ica need to provide the information available to us to the private sector and to the public to better inform their decision-making so we need the private sector to see the public good in developing greater protection in software, the information systems and applications on the markets. we also need the american people to verify the credibility and the sources of information upon which they base their decisions. whether those sources are social media reports, cable news or newspapers, it is essential that we all apply critical thinking to all sources of information. this evolution in the ic's

approach is part of the transformation which we are driving at the odni and throughout the iac in coming years. it brought together experts and leaders from across the intelligence community to take stock of where we are and what we must doin to reach the next level of effectiveness. the result of this effort has lebrought together the heads and deputies of all the intelligence community agencies, all 17 of the new vision for the intelligence community. they call it intelligence community 2025. where do we need to be? what capabilities do we need to have? what kinds of insights do we do have in terms of the threats that we face and we are putting together significant efforts to stay ahead of the game, ahead of the curve and be able to deliver to our customers starting with the president working through the agencies, working through

the american public and the private and government sectors. with that, what i would like to do is at this particular time thank you for the invitation. hopefully, i know wee will have with walter russell hopefully a good discussion about this so we can look at the larger threats and whatever questions might need to be addressed. i would much rather do that than continue to talk up here even though as a former senator we love to talk. so thank you very much. [applause] >> i have to say that's one of the most dramatic comparisons i've heard a senior government official makes saying that the

warning indicators now are comparable to what they were in the months leading up to 9/11. different threat but presumably we are looking at anything from majorr attacks on infrastructure to massive attacks on the electronic medications at home. >> we are and you know it's not just from the states have identified, those four. we see this in criminal organizations that for nefarious purposes are using cyber. we have seen this from nonstate actors, terrorist groups. we see this from hackersim aroud the world. we have seenro this -- they seet as a game or just for the of it to take something down. to break into defense community, break into wall street, on and

on. or if the kids in the basement sitting in a dorm. it's pervasive that the real threat this statistical threats of course come from the states which have the capabilities and the resources be able to create great damage. yet there still a significant gap between the capabilities of theap states and the various criminal terrorists and other organizations that are out there? >> in terms of having the resources to continue to develop the tools and to continue to have the ability to adapt the agility to up their game and in a sense it's a game of whack-a-mole or chess where you put -- you see a thread and you put in a prevention. the source moves over here and

you stop it there and try to get over here and you see it across-the-board. 24/7, three and 65 day effort in terms of protecting us. when you read the news and listen to what people say on television it's one story after another of one's sense of american database getting the row crown jewels of our community being taken over. a that makes me wonder how defenseless are we and the mac it also makes me wonder are we getting some of this stuff ourselves and not talking about all of our successes and is the cyber universe's story of american secrets being stolen on an massive basis? >> it's broader than that. we have capabilities to a number of our cyber operations centers. we have the resources.

we have the capabilities. i don't think anybody is better than we are. nevertheless the range of vulnerabilities is out there because the technologies have advanced so rapidly and as i said this game of chess, we make a move to protect us or to identify. they make a move to go around and we haveou to be aware of th. and never be complacent about what we have now and where we are because there are people out theree trying to jump over us. >> at those seem like a domain where that often seems to enjoy the benefits. >> exact way. it's been frustrating for me because i've had a lifetime of watching nfl football games trying to prevent defense. in a field goal you're up a

field goal and it opens up all kinds of holes and the next thing you know the other team takes the field goal to win. it's frustrating if you just rely on defense to win and so when i was in the senate and now of course my job is different nowjo but i continue to support and encourage an offensive capability.. we need approach punch back in the right way if we are going to send the right signal. there's a price to pay. if you come after us there is a price to pay. the lsu duo that do have that the more people are encouraged. i think combining offensive

measures with defensive measures is necessaryre. >> do you think the constitution does express market and reprisal >> of these four countries that you mention russia, china north korea and iran are you giving us bad in the w order of the capabilities? >> yeaht but maybe from a different perspective. china has the capabilities and the resources and perhaps russia doesn't have that they don't have the same intent. what is serious about the russians is their intent. they have capabilities but their intent to undermine our basic values, create wedges between us and our allies. the most effective indictment today shows that they are trying to do or what they have done

with military intelligence relative to the election. we see as i was mentioning in my statement ongoing efforts that it's not just the elections, it's a strategy. the attempt out of russia is different than the attempt from china. they want to build intellectual property technology. they want to seize -- they want to try to change our vision of china and its intentions but not through the same kinds of means is the russians. those in context. iran and north korea, north korea we are sort of at -- we are not at a plausible but we are at a point where let's see where these negotiations go relative to our relationship with north korea and with iran they just take all kinds of activities against us from

terrorism and on and on. but on cyber their intention is somewhat limited because their economy is not doing well. theyre may be spread too thin or whatever so probably in that order but the top two, russia and china. >> in cyber and other things speaking of north korea have you observed any difference in north korea's behavior since the singapore summit? >> i can't get into the classified parts of what we see. it's always been a hard target. they have upped their game for thisrg purpose. reagan was trust and verify that that's what i came to congress with. and right now i am the verify

guy. i see it as a verified community so we are focusing what is happening both before and now subsequent to the talks. we are at the beginning of this and will we will continue to evaluate it. obviously north korea isof probably trying to figure out okay we are at the beginning of negotiations so we are not giving up the ship right now so we will see how that plays out. i think it's too early to determine definitively that this is where they are going to end up or be there halfwayay throug. >> there has been some reporting some of it has not been great in some of it has been accurate.

there are continuing activities for some of those that have been reported but not verified. >> let's get back to the election and misinformation operations. seems toci me that social medias one of the places at least if we look at 20164 disinformation. is that still the case now? >> absolutely and i think i noted that in my remarks. the exploitation of social media is increasing and very sophisticated. who would have thought that isis and these seventh century barbarianf measures would be imposing physical harm on people would be so sophisticated and also using cyber early on and social media early on to recruit, to train and still inspire.

defeat in then desert has now resulted in the defeat of terrorists organizations like isis and al qaeda. you see it spread around the world and it's a terrorist threat to us. the social media is one of the ways in which they continue to raise money to recruit, train and inspired we have to be aware that. >> when you go to social media companies and you say you're plot or miss being targeted and used in a very specific way by these different hostile groups do youou get the cooperation tht you think you need from these companies? >> we have the obligation to learn and warn and we do. we are in the process of working with the social media companies in terms of taking responsibility for what they put out. we have had some successes. we have had some interactions

which haven't been as successful as we would like. we are going to continue to do that but there is a lot of rand protection. there is a lot of if we do that in our, competitors don't than e are at a disadvantage. we tried talking about the responsibility relative to their commitment to help us address these threats to keep people safe areas to maximize a real range of response. solid positive to well -- . >> either way was interesting to me as we only collect against foreign intelligence. so we know a lot less about the american people than her adversaries and we know a lot less in terms of social media outlets about their customers. >> google knows this better than the federal government. >> absolutely. >> in a way i filled that in a

well -- way i feel bad. i'm not sure how i feel about it. so you arekn saying they are trying to polarize us and magnify. this reminds me of bit of what economists used to do during the cold war and soviet union to keep up propaganda effects. some of ourda younger members of the audience may not know what this is all about. >> when the wall came down we thought okay this is going to be the russian so-called reset. we are -- and for period of time it was a different relationship. then the russians reached out and said i think we have gone too far. when we asked the guy who runs the kgb. savvy guy conducting everything that the kgb did and still does.

and that was a game-changer. i described it as the russians after the fall of the wall. he is out of the cave and his clawing for more territory, more influence and using the same tactics that we saw in the cold war and more results and a lot of that in cyber. >> during the cold war they had the advantage of communist party and networks of supporters around the world. they don't quite have that or you'd be trying to rebuild loyal parties and factions but it looks like on balance they can actually do a better job than the soviet unit could at this disinformationan. >> they are really good at lying and deception and seating and

not so subtly seating among average series. the president made some comments about nato and his closing comments were once but i really felt were important because if nato comes include and he's trying to seize that opportunity. i think we need to stand up against it. >> so the pattern is not so much the russians are supporting one side or another in the political battle. sometimes they may do that but trying to get both sides were divided?tr >> whether that is their method i think it was, certainly was designed as a strategy and they have had some success.

>> what can we do to counter this? >> transparency. my colleagues from different nations and certainly in europe, the more we provide our people with what we know the russians are doing, the more we can inform our public not just to believe it take for p granted wt is put out in the media is the truth. we need more critical thinking and we are brought by the media, by breaking news, by news outlets. we know the three others are going to do it in our ratings will go down in their ratings will go up. there's note filter between news and information that comes into the system. there is nobody sitting upstairs

and saying we have to take it to the boss before reprinted. we want the news now. we want to access it on her iphones right away. so we have to inform our people. don't believe everything you hearth out there. we are agencies that seek the truth. we can't politicize it. the truth is what it is. it's just the facts and i think our public needs to gain some abilityme to ask questions befoe we jump to conclusions and rest of the camera to say i just heard this on wow and then the next day on page 13, well that is not exactly it.

so if you had a chance to speak with mr. putin at this crucial period in u.s.-russian relations what is your message for president putin wax. >> my message would the we know what you are doing and we know you know what you are doing. so what, if your goal is to strengthen russia in the proper way we can cooperate with you but if you'reer old is that the cost to us a paranoid nation thinking that anytime in the next 24 hours you have this paranoia about the mock or see, we are not going to get anywhere

isn't the best for both sides basically say instead of taking down why don't we build up? >> the decision is up to you. we know you are making the decisions. he can't pass itt off, oh that the hacker. we know it's used so you make the choice. if you want to stay in this tit-for-tat we are going to beat you. >> that's ronald reagan basic way. you want to take us on, okay. we will throw everything we have got into it and then you make the decision. we have the capacity to do that. >> from thehe disinformation

thinking more about the elections coming up you hear a lot of anxiety about whether it's the voting machines or other elements of the voting process in the midterms, how confident can we be that we are defending the security of our political system? >> we have toem become it becaue if we don't have confidence in the party you want to support that becomes a question that undermines democracy. it sounds like somebody's possibly so we have to make every effort. i tried to outline some of the efforts we were making. it has to be solid. look what happened down in florida in one area of one county,a, dhs.

that threw us into a constitutional crisis. to find out the one state on old and electoral vote. >> control of the senate or the house. >> we are not looking at the presidential here but we will be. so we have to to put everything we can into it. we are providing grants and looking at those who provide the machines in trying to back it up with paper so we have redundancy. we need to throw everything added to ensure to the american people we are doing everything possible to make it a fair election. >> as you look at the progress we aress making do you feel on e whole we are on track to have a

safe and secure election? >> i think in a bipartisan way in the house and the senate received the executive branch stepping up big time. we see the states being worn now reaching out for help and we have to ensure we do everything we can to ensure public that they are being held accountable. >> i know there've been some reports of different independent groups modern readiness and there seems to be a wide gap. some states were looking pretty good in other states including the state of the hanging chads is a bit behind. we have to get them up to date before the election sure the american people that we are ready. are they doing better at this point? >> i think they are. nobody wants to be the one that takes it down because they didn't have their act together. as i said we have worked and at

the eye has worked with dhs and our intelligence community. we have worked with all 50 states and its ongoing up to the day of the election. >> what you are hearing back from congress and others is your sense of bipartisan basis people in washington think the work you guys are doing is sufficient? >> i think we are seeing that. republicans ought and democrats in the senate and the house are ensuring that everything -- everyone is up foroa it. >> the other parties said they were not doing the right thing. >> we have been witnessing this on another subject, the impact of it.

>> what really worries you themu most when you think about scenarios that might unfold based on the kind of unrivaled exposure you have two threats that the country faces? what are the things that really keep you up at night or do you everea sleep? >> a couple of things. one the possession of weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups. when you think about 9/11 to planes flying into the twin towers and one plane flying into the pentagon either one of those planes are all three of them had any kind of weapon of mass destruction we would be talking about deaths not in the 3000 but 300,000 or 50 million or more. so preventing proliferation weapons of mass destruction and

terrorist groups that are not under any state control who have the elegy or an ideology that victory is killing the opposition whether by beheading or through another device, that's one. the secondd is a cyber 9/11. think about new england in january and agreed going down. a lot of people would suffer and die. inc. about taking away a hit on the bank the wipes people's lifetime savingsd out. we don't know where it came

from. we don't know where the money is and on and on. you do toss andnd turn at night about the scenarios. >> in your view is the intelligence community has the whole getting the kinds ofth resources and supported needs to do the job? >> we aren't thanks to this administration and the congress we have up their anti-and provided the resources that we need and we have terrific capabilities. we have some young people and i'm a liberal arts major. i should not be in the operational efforts of cyber or technology but from a different respective. we have hired a lot of really capable smart people in the yacht -- a lot of young people

that have capabilities. every visit i make in my make a lot and i'm so impressed with the technical capabilities we have a beer and innovative country to democracy and freedom produces great stuff. >> well thank you direct yourself one. senator or w director. >> dam is probably the best. >> your work is important and everyone here on television appreciates what you do and wishes you every possible vests. >> i want to say something. i came across this article a couple of days ago about what navy people are thinking and president trump scholars in the ends with we should brace ourselves for wild ride. >> walter russell mead.

"the wall street journal" a couple of days ago. anyway thank you. pleasure to be with you. >> great to be with you. and i know the director has to get out quick leap that is you can imagine his schedule is packed so the audience could set all the leads quickly to get onto whatever he is doing next. i don't think he will tell us what he is doing next and thank you again for coming. really appreciate it. [applause] as he leaves i want to thank everybody for coming. it's a terrific opportunity and i'm honored for us and hope that the veaux watching this were streaming enjoyed it.

i did my best to channel what i hoped were the questions that are on most peoples minds here. thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> tonight it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. >> mr. president i'm grateful to you and i'm humbled by your confidence in me. brett kavanaugh the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit. president trump dominate for the supreme court. >> i'm pleased with the nominee the president has chosen after talking with him yesterday morning i looked toward to

supporting his nomination, doing whatever he can to ensure his bipartisan confirmation. >> if judge kevin i get confirmed his reforms to our health care system, the quality of our air and water and much more will be at risk or its. >> frankly i cannot think of anybody who is more qualified as the next associate justice for the supreme court. senate democratic leader charles schumer reacted to the u.s. summit in helsinki finland today. senator schumer said president trump took the word of the kgb

over the word of the cia. he said the president put himself over the security and well-being of the united states. senator schumer urge republican colleagues to join democrats in standing up to the actions of president trump. this is just under 15 minutes. >> good afternoon everybody. sorry i'm a bit late. now in the entire history of our country americans have never seen -- sorry. in the entire history of our country americans have never seen a president of the united states supports an adversary the way president trump has supported president putin. for the president of the united states to side with president putin against american law

enforcement, american defense officials, american intelligence agencies. he is thoughtless, dangerous and it's weak. the president is putting himself over our country. starting with the president's trip to nato, ending with a shameful performance in today's press conference president trump has strengthened our ever series while weakening or defense of those of our allies. the single ominous question, now hangs over the white house. what could possibly cause president trump to put the interests of russia over those of the united states? millions of americans will continue to wonder the only possible explanation for this dangerous behavior is the possibility that president putin holds damaging information over president trump. like an pitcher at america and i

was absolutely appalled by the press conference that capped off the president's trip to europe this morning. i didn't think it could get worse and his performance at the nato summit but it sure did. and just the last week alone the president attacked our closest allies of nato calling the european union a fraud meddling in the domestic affairs of an ally by undermining the prime minister of united the united kingdom and that was all before he held a summit and downright shameful press conference with the man who directed the interference in our 2016 elections and by all reports continues to do so today. at every step along the way, the president knee capping her allies in offering a helping hand to our adversaries. when it comes to the

interference in our 2016 elections the president has managed to point his finger at just about everybody except the culprit. it inexplicable. or maybe it's not. president trump's blame secretary clinton and the dnc, blame the fbi. he said both countries are responsible for the state of relations between the united states and russia. one person he has not blamed as the person he has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with this morning, vladimir putin. on friday rod rosenstein and bob mueller handed president trump the evidence that president putin had requested. the 29 page indictment is a document of unparalleled work and is exactly what the president needed to stand up to mr. putin for patient of march 10, put the indictment on the table, demanded justice.

rather than taking the opportunity to confront putin, rather than taking the opportunity to demand a putin handover to russian intelligence officers and died last week the president stood with vladimir putin's denial over the unanimous conclusion of the united states intelligence community. he took the word of the kgb over the men and women of the cia. rather than placing blame for what happened in 2016 on russia where it belongs the president had the gall to blame both countries for the troubled relationship to the president put what is best for him over what is best for the security and the well-being of the united states. the question now looms, what if anything will congress do in response to this awful -- where

are our republican colleagues? where are the republicans that roared approval when reagan told gorbachev to tear down the walls where are the republicans had demanded a strong response when putin annexed crimea? where are the republicans who know in their hearts the president is giving away the store to vladimir putin. now is the time for our republican colleagues to join us and stand up. if we wait much longer our global alliances will fracture. the institution that america created after world war ii will crumble. our allies will consider abandoning us possibly for china and others and putin's russia will emerge stronger for it. that's what he wants and that's what president trump and explicitly is helping them do.

our public and colleagues can take steps right now to push back against the slippery slope the president has put us on. speaker ryan today said nice things but that is not enough. we need action, bipartisan strong action. we need our republican colleagues to stand up for the good of this country. i am asking our republican colleagues to do four things. first, they can start by refusing to water down and instead decide to ratchet up sanctions against russia. in the house there is right now on effort to ratchet the sanctions down. given what mr. putin said today, given the indictments given what mr. trump said today, that cannot happen. sanctions should be ratcheted up -- you know the house

republicans have been pushing a provision in the defense bill that would create a loophole in sanctions targeted at putin's defense and intelligence sectors. they should drop that immediately. second, a republican colleagues should demand as we are that the president national security team that accompanied him to the putin meeting immediately comment testify before congress what kind of briefings did they give beforehand and what it he's a and answer? we need them to come before congress and the american people immediately because there are so many troubling questions out there. if you think the press conference was bad, imagine what happened inside when the president and mr. putin were -- we need answers and we need them now. third, our public and colleagues need to end once and for all their attacks on the department

of justice, the fbi and special counsel mueller. the special counsel needs to finish its work. the president needs to sit for an interview with the special counsel. now more than ever enough delay, enough interference, time to sit down for an interview and forth our republican colleagues must demand loudly and clearly that the president insists that the 12 russians named in the indictment last month -- last night be sent to the mated to the united states to stand trial i imagine leader mcconnell and speaker ryan both friends make sure these four things are done. in fact for the sake of our country and pleading with them to join us in making sure that these four things are done. senator mccain spoke out strongly.

he has always been the conscience of the republican party when it comes to actually taking action on issues like these. a few of our republican colleagues have spoken out and talks the talk but it's time for the republicans party to walk the walk given the tiredness of the situation. the president is doing grave harm and to the standing of these united states while kowtowing to the number one enemy we probably have on the lobe, latin america putin. he will continue to do so if he is sent checked in the best people to check them are not democrats but his fellow republicans. what the president has done is an insult to all americans, democrats, republicans, independents. we all have to stand up together and push back.

i'm ready to take your questions. >> in your view the only explanation for the presence behavior is that the russians have something on him? >> his behavior is so inexplicable and so against the interests interest of the united states, so against what all of his advisers would tell him that americans are scratching their heads saying if that's not the explanation that putin has something on him, what the heck would it be? >> your people whisper around the edges about impeachment. why not take the gavel in -- . >> we don't have the power to take the gavel. we don't have the gavel. the best thing we can do is first to speak truth to power. silence here is not acceptable. the second thing we can do is try and everywhere they can to

get the congress to act which requires a republican colleagues to act with us. >> do agree the former cia attracted john brennan the presence, that treason is? >> i will let people use the descriptions they see fit. what the president did decide with their number one enemy who is attacking the united states daily in a variety of ways and belittling any capping our allies is just appalling and demand some kind of explanation other than the self-serving of the president. >> in the wake of the press conference and the meeting was your sense of a with the president might have gotten out of this and what president putin may have gotten out of this? >> when you looked at the press conference president putin was the real victor. he got almost a. he wanted. i don't know a single thing that the united states would get that

we want. okay? thank you everybody. [inaudible conversations] .. in 1979 c-span was created as a public service