♪ robert: bomhell indictment. the justice department charges 12y russian milit officers with election interference. i'mobt costa. inside the laters turns in the mueller probe and president trump's confrontational diplomacy. tonight on "washington week." >> charges 12 rsian military officers by name for conspiring interfere with the 2016 presidential election. robert: the justice department has charged 12 russian military officers with hacking intoto cls 2018 campaign. they directly link the kremlin with election interference that went beyon just targeting democrats. >> in a second conspiracy, they hack the website of a state

election board and stole information from about 500,000 voters. robert: the latest on the expanding mueller probe, plus, president trumpea sparks overseas when he criticizes teresa may's brexit plan and warns it could put a trade deal in jeopardy. president trump: most lik by we'lle dealing with the european union instead of dealing with the u.k. so it will probably kill the deep. robert: may remained calm and carried on. >> from the outset president trump has been clear about how he sees the challenges we face and on many we agree. bert: and, after rattling allies at nato, presidentrump takes a victory lap on military spending. president trump: tremendous progress has been made. eryone has agreed to substantially up their commitment.

robert: but the french president debunked mr. trump's assertion, saying there was no missouri new agreement. we discuss it all, next. announcer: this is "washington week."nd g is provided by -- newman's own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good.o d patricia yuen for the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cul differences in our communities. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. e corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington, moderator robert costa. robert: good evening. special counsel robert mueller's investigation into russian interference has had lopping stretches of quiet andh then are days of sudden action. today was one of those days. based on mull ear''s work, ther

dent of justice charged 12 senior russian intelligenceh officers w hacking democratic officials during the 2016 c fpaign. theeral indictment. sheds new light on the emlin's sophisticated scheme to ma nip late the latest election. joiningw me develin barltse, who has been busy at the "washington post"ewoom. does today's indictment put doubts to rest? hi >> i it puts doubts to rest that the russians engaged in this hacking, definitely. i also think it should punishment to rest a lot of con spir si theories that have been tossed up that russia didn'tin engaghis hack. an indictmt isn't proof but there is an incredibly detailed diet now to explain not -- indictment now to explain which

ssians did and it how and that's pretty powerful. robert: youhear about digital surnssi -- currency like bitcoin. yohear about social media. what did you learn? >> thatll they were r deep, teach inside not just the computers and internal systems inside the democratic national capable committee and a lot ofe thl accounts of individual staffers, not just for hillary clinton but for those organizations but they happened control and access to dozens of computers within those exeels -- committees and it's remarkaree thehs of the thing, frankly. and that's what i think comes across in reading this indictment. today ishat this was a very sophisticated, very well executed plan to hack a lot of computers. robert: one of the people who interacted wh these russians or these russian-affiliated entities was roger stone, the

longtime trump advisors.s what dhis indictment mean for him? >> i think it may be ok for him so far. department attorney general rolled rosenstein said today we should not assume any implication of gui for any of the americans who are referenced in this indictment. bu what it does show is that the russians were reaching out, that they wein off help. that they had a real willingness t aosk, frankly, people around president trump, cane -- we help full? robert: when you think about the mueller investigation, it has t tracks. there's the russia track looking at interference in the e election and there's the obstruction of justice track. what does today, t timing of it, say about mueller's progress? >> i think i says something that we've sort of long suspected which is that the

u.s. government, the intelligence community h h a good idea for some time exactly how this hacking was done. i thinken mueller's indic lays its out in detail. we still have an unanswered diestion so, ok this is how the russians it. what, if anything, did the americans do? that is still the unanswered question. and when it comes to collusion, that is still an issue that the president's lawyers are in talks with mueller about d i thin frankly we haven't seen the final act of that play. rort: the timing of this was really interesting to watch ecause it cam a day after the f.b.i. agent is grilled on capitol hill and he had rod rosen stipe, the deputy attorney general under fire from republicans. as someone who studies and reports on the department of justice, what did you make of

that message? >> it's another instance where you've seen a day that's been tough for the f.b.i. and touch estigation is followed very closely or near a dana frankly is a powerful new investigative action.am for e, i'm thinking particularly of last year when the first information about these f.b.i. cxtse out. it was really rights essentially on the heels of the guilty plea of michael flynn, the former national security adsor. so these things can get bunched up. it's another bunching up of big news events on both sides of the arg ent. robert: when you think about what's next, these 12 russians are facing charges but will they ever actually face the charges? should we expect them to be extradited?

>> we really shouldn't expect that. russia does not have an extradition trey with the united states and is not going to turn any of these pple over. those folks would have to do something fairly dumb to get i a position where they could be arrested. ving said that, this is a strategy that has existed for the u.s. government for a o numb years called name and shame. teople argue about the effectiveness of ttrategy but obviously it has significant domestic value to our own country to cplain -- explain what the government believes happened so eve if you never see any of these people in court. a lot of intelligence officials would say there's great value in documents to saying this i what happened. robert: detch lynn, thanks fogr join us. appreciate it. while the demty araorney ge was at that elect turn, president trump was in the united kingdom having tea queen elizabeth ii after

meeting with british prime minister tresa may. mr. trump was greeted with pomp and protestut it was that explosive interview with the sun, the tabloid owned by rubte murdoch's newsrganization that made headlines. in the interview, the president criticized may's approach to becks it. -- brexit. here's what he said. president trump: i actually told theresa may how to do it but she didn't listen to >> what did she say? president trump: i told her how to do it. that will be up to her to say. she wanted too a different route. robert: in the sun interview he also pised may's political rival buries johnson, appearing to undermine may's faraj imposition in britain's negotiations with the efforts u. president t: once the brexit pros says is concluded and programs the u.k. has left the effort u. i don't know what they're going

to do but whatever you do is ok with me. robert: joining me tonight from washington, peter baker of "the new york times," kayla tausche cnbc and katty kay from bbc's world world news america. thank you so much for being here tonight. l of you gre reporters much but let's start with catty. you think of the presi there in the u.k. and he's confronting the special relationship, a long-standing relationship but also rattling the rhythm at the same time. what's been the consequence for the prime minisr? katty: he couldn't have waded into a more sensitive domestic political issue at a more sensitive time h thane did today. president trump was fiercely critical in tt sunnterview of the way that theresa may has tions d the brexit negot and also said that if she went ahead with a new plan she's just unveiled for brexit then america wouldn't be able to sign a trade deal with the united kingdom. this isn't just being ruledyo t

host when you turn up for dinner. this that itraditional imply stations for the prime minister. there have been times during this week we didn't know if theresa may was going to rvive to remain prime minister. so for the president to furment put her in a position whe her leadership, her government and brexit plan are in jeopardy was really remarkable in the complex of wading into another country's domestic politics. they then had this press conference, which can best be described as a kind of makean nice c operation but there are conservative members of theresa may's own parliament who looked at that sun interview and one in particular that i'm thinking of who before the sun interview had been in favor of the prime minister's new brexit plan and after that sun interview sd if there not going to be a trade deal with the united states, i'm not suup i canrt this plan

after all. robert: kayla, what are the economic implications facing the u.k.? kayla: it's going to be a long road for the u.k. and we knew that when citizens of the u.k. voted for brexit place a couple of years ago. one thing that donald trump might not like about the currents stance of prime ministerha smay what this allows the country to do -- not only will it maintain a free-trailed area between the u.k. and europe but it would allow the u.k. to pursue other als with countries like the u.s. but prime minister may won't have the same type of leash to pursue the type of deal that president trump could have wanted and she can insurance tulets her own tariffs just lining president trump has under the current structure of what she's pursuing. even though president trumpic cred the way prime minister may was handling brexit and criticized the way

that germany was dealing with russia when was at the nato u.s. and this pipeline with russia, these twode l are dealing with political concerns that president trump is intimately familiar with how to protect jobs in their own country. get investment, cheap energy domestically and those are things he can probably appreciate from afar. robert: peter, why did president trump take this approach in the u.k.? gthey're layut the red carpet, the queen is there, they're removing -- reviewing troops, seeing castles yet he feels compelled to rat it will whole situaon. peter: this is a disrupter, not a diplomat. he likes to make a stink, to some extent. he likes to hit even our allies with their biggest vulnerability. what's the biggestville alnerability for tre may right now? obviously this brexit at sin. what's the biggest vull

innocent for angela merkel right now? migration would be one. he obviously hit her on defense spending and her energy dependence on russia as well. this is not somebody who's trying to smooth things over. this is somebody who likes to mix i up and enjoys the sort of chaos it creates however, he tends to document li he didn britain, offstage. does it in an interview for a number then say it's fake news even though there's a tape of him saying it and later saying how much he admires andap eciates we are leadership. that's the trump sometime. one we probably won't see when he goes to helsinki. robert: the president also waded into the rise ofon naism on the continent in the u.k. but -- by talking about how immigration is changing cultures. changing the cultu of europe. what do to make of the

president in that statement is he showing solidarity with the rise of nationalism or raising foreign policy? they like now the -- the idea of promoting these more far rig nationalist populist entities in the country. he made it clear that he thinks that immigration has changed the culture of europe in bad ways. that was one area where the two leaders, prime minister may and president trump were at stark dempses in that press conference. there were people in the u.k. who thought they might have a love actually moment where theresa may is standing up to president trum evoking pickford's left wrist. it didn't happen exemption -- except on the one iss of immigration where the prime minister said overwhelm immigration has been a good thing for our country. there are a couple of things r donlt trump to be consistent.

he is consistent on not likin multi-lateral organizations, on not liking immigration and the feeling that america has had a rough time and bad deal from its allies. as european allies navigate how to deal with this president, those are things thew k they can rely on. robert: as european leaders trialo deal with this, they look at what happened in the e to summit and see president try to push up spending on military from 2% to 4%. hat did they make? kayla: you saw this one quote appearing many places from nato official. we thought it was bad goingdn ven though our expectations were low, it was worse coming out of'9". that was a startling admission, albeit not on the record. the countries were very much repared for the president to

come in and rich up the playbook at away games which h very comfortable at doing. as recently as the g-7. the president would approach these events with all of the decorum that previous administrations would have and t then he'd w to get back to the united states to criticize the people he had just net with's thot the case and there might be disagreement about leaders in theoom about exactly what they committed to and under what time frame but theone thing the president did dus set a deadline. if these -- countries by january do not meet the 2% deadline, he basically reserves the right to withdraw from nato and preparing to potentially withdraw if he still doesn't like in it a few months' te. robert: potentially withdraw. nato is an institution steeped in history sharppede ideology when it comes to approachth to

west. if you have an american president taking this approach, doest raise quesons about the future of nameo? peter: no, it wasontriking. he headline of your number in week was will nato survive trump? for 70 years in organization has been the bed rock of america's relationships with the st. european world order in effect and thedeahat it's now somehow up for question is stood their.of ourse during the campaign he said he thought nato was obsolete. he refused at first toecmit to the article five atlantic charter that says an att ik on ons an attack on all. then he twistedround and said no, i like nato. i'm all for i but the very idea that we're discussing it, the one person y haout that is vladimir putin. he's going to see president trump onn monday i helsinki. for 0 years as president and

prime minister of russia, it's been his goal toiv a wedge between america and its nato allies andere here he's seeing a great deal of discuss. robert what do we expect that meeting on monday? the president and the russian president? katty: i think the indictments today have put an extra load of pressure on the h president ase goes into that meeting. in now takes the rush i-investigation right to the statue effectively,he employees, people on the payroll of the russianme gove. people in putin's oit. president trump said that before the indictment. it's hard s to now how he cannot raise it, one would suspect with some force. but we don't know because there are only to be translators r in them and no staffers. he's just leaving the united kingdom with a british citizen

has been killed by a nerve agent that britain says was put on the u.k. soil by russia as well. a lot of concerns by european allies about what's come out of that meeting with putin and now more tension around it because of what happened in washington toda robert: with when you think about the president showerering attention on the russia energy relationship with germany this week, hewhy di do that? kayla: he really doesn't like the idea f that hels the u.s. is shouldering the majority of the burden for no at a time when the purpose of nato is to prott eastern europe and -- against russia. meanwhile germany is taking action to connectve itself more intrinsically to russia and rely en more on it energy. he sought to draw the direct se link between t issues at

that time. it's unclear exactly what vladimir putin's rhythm is with the leaders of yume at this time. it alway been contentious and is still now. what's less clear is the rhythm and en president trump vladimir putin. president trump reiterated toda c at the pressference in england that he barely noles president putin. he said that they are competitors and then on the same token, the drem lynn -- kremlin seems to be owning the imagining for today about what this meeting is the kremlin said the summit on m day wil be about strengthening u.s.-russia ties. they'll talk about russian meddling if there are any facts to even discuss ask that russia considers the u.s. to be a partner. somethg donald tru the businessman would want to hear. bert: beyond the russian meddling, what aboutnsrs on syria, ukraine when these two

meet? those issues have beenfestering for a long time. peter: you're right. a normal american-russian meeting right now could address. thddle east is up for grabs in effect. ukraine is a frozen conflict. what about the poisoning of the russian former spy in the u.k. and the death of a woman who ca apparently washt on this nerve agent by accidents? that's an important issue. just a few months ago, the west was expelling russian diplomats over there. you have the sense, though, that president trump is notg gon with any particular demnleds. he makinge demands of a allies about spending money but not on thed a ver sorry who is making it unsafe in the first place. robert: two republicans saying the president better take a monday ne on putin on

but there's not a chorus of republicans making that statement. katty: the only chore royals -- chorus from rerublicans they have stuck together in opposition against the pres hent been on the issue of free trade. they came up with a resolution on that just tees when it comes to putin, look at the wayon opi polls have shifted among americans in the buntry. led programsy president trump's example, whereas russia was seen definitely an enemy of the united states just two or three years ago butic the repu party and by the american voting public, those numbers are shifting. there's more latitude now in favorability for having a good relationship with adir putin. i think it's really this question of what is he going to ask of vladimir putin and is he going to give something critical away? are we going to see a promise, for example, to do something about u.s. sanctions because ofv

the iion and annexization of crime yafment that would be theuge coup for putin. an it's something else that no one else, i think, in europe, would be prepared to sign on to. robert: what do we know about putin's agenda here? peter: i think putin's agenda is to first of all just have the meeting.an the rus believe that there is, in fact, opposion to them inside the trump administration. they don't like people likele nikki and others who have been straightforward in criticizg the russian government. and they believe these people around trump he held him back so they wanted to get past that outer ler and get the two of them in a room together because they feel like president putin and president trump can connect on aot of these issues. i think he'd want some de facto

confirmation that crimea is always going to be a part of russia. that russia is an important player and can't bestracized and sanctioned. since the incursion io ukraine, the idea was to isolate russialdrom the w community. saying it didn't belong at the table for the g-7, for didn't belong in the union ofze civi nations as long as it was seizing the territory of neighbors. nghaving a one-on-one mee with the american president, especially one who says relatively friendly things and doesn't really hold them to account, that's aig win for vladimir putin. robert: peter, thank y very much f that and thanks so much to everyone for joining tonight. kayla, catty, peter and devlin. great conversation and we have a special editionf the "washington week" extra. i'll be answering your questions on febook live starting at 8:30 p.m. eastern

time. i hope you'll join me and i have some news to share. i'm thanks for joining us. announcer: fundi for "washington week" is provide by -- newman's own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. koo and patricia yuen for the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corpuation -- corporation forad public brocasting and contributions to your pbs contributions to your pbs station from viewersike you.

announcer: a kqed televis♪on production. ♪ ♪ narrator: this is a scopiton these are virtues. these are letters of an iconic san francisco sign that once lived high about mission and 17th. ♪ thess are films, lots and l films, and this is steven parr. he's n archivist, a curator, a c, a writer, an image maker.