that will do it for this hour of msnbc live. right now, "andrea mitchell reports." >> thank you right now on "andrea mitchell reports" who me? vladimir putin facing questions from u.s. megyn kelly. slamming u.s. reports. >> in those reports there is no specific evidence, no facts, just assumptions and allegations and con can collusions based on allegations, nothing more. >> they say it is the forensics, the digital fingerprints, the encryption keys, the specific pieces of code, that all of them point to russia. >> what fingerprints? whose prints? who are you talking about? the reports can be invented.

specialists can invent it. >> this ahead of her exclusive interview to come with vladimir putin to air on opportunity night on nbc. the artful dodger outside of that conference in st. petersburg. a top banker running away from kier simmons and his questions about jared kushner. >> i wanted to ask you about the meeting you had with jared kushner. >> we really want to hear, please just explain what happened in the meeting. >> and it's not easy being green, the president's decision to exit the paris climb deal sparking widespread outrage from ceos, foreign leaders, members of his own party, and this from the former secretary of state. >> it is one of the most self destructive moves i have ever

seen by any president in my lifetime. more of my interview with john kerry coming up. >> and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington with a lot of reaction to the breaking news out of russia. megyn kelly pressing vladimir putin in a two-hour hard hitting interview. if there was anything into his interactions with michael flynn, denials of the use of chemical weapons in syria. >> translator: i believe that we should stop this idol chat near is harmful, and i believe this is like transferring the internal bickering of the united states beyond the borders of the country. the trump team has been more efficient in the electoral

campaign. sometimes i thought that it was overkill, but it turns out he has been right. he has been able to find, approach, and reach out to those electors whom he hoped for, and they voted for him, and the other team, they made a mistake and they don't want to recognize the mistake right now. they don't want to say that they were not wise enough. >> even president trump said now that he beliefs russia did it. it's not just people that don't want president trump in the office, and the difference between the hacking -- >> oh, come on. once again. >> joining me now is kier simmons outside of that russian economic forum, kristen welker, and mon zoratti.

first to you, kristin, fascinating push back from vladimir putin. ly get more to the chemical weapons in a moment, but the white house is reaction to any of this? >> not yet, but we will hear from sean spice thr this aftern. they have started to refer all russia questions to the president's outside counsel. on this point, you heard him press on sanctions. that wasnoth big topic. was that back channeing, did they make it a priority in the early days? we know they are setting up a war room here within the white house to try to deal with a controversy that cannoontinues

envelop this administration. these questions don't go away, and that interview with president vladimir putin will only continue to fan the flames today, andrea. >> and kier simmons, that was an extraordinary running interview with sergey gorkov. the russian banker tied to the p putin regime. >> very good to see you here, kier simmons from nbc news, you're a subject of intense scrutiny. >> i don't want to answer any questions about that. >> there is confusion about what exactly happened. were you talking about business or were you talking about politics? >> have you been contacted by the fbi? are you prepared to talk to them?

kier simmons, an amazing interview. let's break it down though. the reason this is so important,

we now have flight records of him flying to newark, we know when the meeting took place, the "washington post" is raising questions about whether or not it was really to discussion real estate dealings, diplomacy, or transition business. >> that's right, she a chairman of the national economic bank here in russia. a bank that is sanctioned by the united states. it is very close and he himself is very close to president putin. you know that exchange that you saw there happened just before the events on the stage with president putin. he was there holding an event of his own, and clearly, he didn't want to answer any questions. what we really wanted to try to understand, and what we were not able to get to, there either, is the difference between what his bank said happened, that he went

to a meeting to discuss business, and what the white house suggested is that the meeting was part of jared kushner's role on the transition team. we still don't know the answer. it could be innocent, but there are ongoing questions denied again by president trump today that there was a deal between president putin, a deal between the trump transition team and the kremlin. there was a negotiation taking place and the meeting was part of that and they didn't get answers to those questions. >> an extraordinary bit of work there. vladimir putin meanwhile inside, megyn kelly pressed him on a number of things including the syrian chemical weapons attack, here is part of that exchange. her question and his denies. >> they concluded that the victims were attacked with

sarian gas. are we to believe that everyone was in on it, all of the people, the prohibition of chemical weapons -- >> the answer is very simple and you know it. yes, it would have been used by someone, but not by assad. it could have been used by someone in order to accuse president assad. so we have to understand who is to blame and otherwise if there is no true investigation, it is only going to play into the hands of those who orchestrated it. >> here you had russians using that same air base from which that gas attack was launched, and vladimir putin just in the face of all of the evidence, as

megan was s megyn was saying, the autopsies, everyone and they are completely denying it. >> yes, what you saw in that segment and the question about interference, using cyber tools, it is a classic russian play book. first so sow confusion about what happened. to demand proof to ask questioned about evidence and details that vladimir putin knows can't be provided openly, things like sensitive intelligence information, and finally to lay claim to legitimacy and argue around the legitimacy of actions and who is to blame, et cetera. this is classic and in some ways predictable. kudos to her for pressing him on the issues. you saw discomfort there in trying to defend something that he knows is indefensible.

you have seen it in the past, you stay with the little green men that he denied existing in crimea, he later pinned medals on them. he denied cyber activity in the baltics, and that has not been the case. this is classic, make confusion, try to provide alternator e er n alternate theories, and lay claim to legitimate information. how he was doing that on son teenage in some ways in classic pew t putin form. >> just to make that point, here is another question. his response about russian in r interference in the election. >> what is it that russia has suddenly done that would merritt that. have they implemented an agreement? have they helped solve the

problem of syria by dealing with assad? what is it that suddenly prompts a reward to russia. >> with apologies, of course, that is not vladimir putin, that is john kerry talking about reports that the compounds will be returned. just briefly, kristin welker, we don't know yet from the white house, but we have information from dan freed and other veteran diplomats from the early part of the administration that the obama sanctions and the seizure of those compounds would be reversed by the trump white house. >> that's right, this is one of the things that congressional investigators are going to be looking into. it is one of the things that the special council will undoubtedly be looking into as well. and your reporting, andrea, we're still working on getting absolute confirmation from the

state department about what they can say on that matter. but andrea, they're looking into a whole host of new revelations on the sanctions and on what other meetings may have taken place. as you reported earlier today, congressional investigators, the fbi, looking sboog a potential meeting last spring at a campaign event here at the mayflower that they say may have taken place between donald trump, jeff sessions, jared kushner, and the russian diplomat envoy to russia. so there is a host of other points their looking into as this investigation unfolds, andrea. >> the quito that is whether or not jeff sessions misled congress. that is what the leading senators have asked the fbi to look into. we'll play the rest of that putin exchange later in the show, thank you so much to all

of you. and coming up, team flynn, vladimir putin defending ousted security advisor. up, not down. it's being in motion. in body, in spirit, in the now. boost® high protein it's intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for when you need a little extra. boost® the number one high protein complete nutritional drink. be up for it parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what?

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♪ ♪ (vo) you can pass down a subaru forester. (dad) she's all yours. (vo) but you get to keep the memories. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. in his q and a today, vladimir putin denied meetings with ousted security advisor

michael flynn. >> the case was diskused. he was accused of agreeing with someone or something. those people that disagree with me will never believe what i say right now, i never knew about anyone using any. we never did anything. we simply said that we have to think about how we should build our relations, shouldn't we think about that. >> greg craig joins me now, watching vladimir putin today, denying reality and defending michael flynn, and those meetings with the russian ambassador, you have been around here for a long time. what is your take away? >> i have never seen anything

like this you can't make it up, you can't predict it. it is like he is going down the list of constituencies that he is ticking off. they are going through institutions and actors in washington. >> well, the environmental movement is now fighting back, but he is playing, you could argue, very smart politics. he is playing the sort of native ist politics that he feels appeals to the rust belt. it is difficult to gofer that way, clearly at the end of the

day he will be measured, evaluated, and judged. and he reduces the base, people working with him and form him and have a vested interest in him succeeding. as long as he creates this chaos and the polarization, it makes it more difficult for him to vote on how successful he has been at governing this country and protecting the american people. >> what can he say and not say when he testifies next week. >> director comey, what can he say? >> yes, and is there an kp executive privilege right that the white house can try to assert? he has been cleared to testify, certainly. >> i think he wisely coordinated

with the head of the investigation of the russian problems so there is a clear understanding of what he will before testifying about. >> not about the russia probe, but he can talk about questions of whether or not the president was pressuring him to back off. >> i think he coordinated with robert mueller so he is not concerned that anything he said will disrupt or distract from his investigation. >> now with respect, i would say that would be covered by clib a rative privilege and it is intended to protect conversations he has with the director of the federal bureau investigation, but i think that the president has talked so much about that conversation already on nrkts bc news at some great length, that the door is open

and he is not -- it has to be considered a waiver if he challenged him from testifying about it. he is not entitled to give his true and invoke executive privilege. so i think certainly the president of the united states would not be el advised to invoke executive privilege. >> there has been a lot of talk about was there obstruction of justice, and a lot of other legal issues, but that is a very hard thing to prove in these conversations where the affect or the words used can be scribed as just conversations? >> yes, and we're far away from having any clear idea as to exactly how close he came to the

line. . there are a lot to things to be determined, and i think so many people are interested in seeing what comey has to say about this. >> great to see you again. >> good to see you. >> and john kerry's skacathing accessment. got it. rumor confirmed. they're playing. -what? -we gotta go. -where? -san francisco. -when? -friday. we gotta go. [ tires screech ] any airline. any hotel. any time. go where you want, when you want with no blackout dates. [ muffled music coming from club. "blue monday" by new order. cheers. ] [ music and cheers get louder ]

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today secretary of state rex tillerson who opposed the president's decision to withdrawal from the paris agreement said it was a policy decision that should g kept in perspective. he did not attend the rose garden speech. his predecessor, john kerry, with granddaughter in tow, signed on last year. >> my immediate reaction is that it is an extraordinary about i did gags of leadership. shameful moment for the united states to have unilaterally walked away from an agreement that did not have one other

country requires us to do something. it was a voluntary program that we decided the program. he was not truthful with the american people today, and the president that talked about putting america first has now put america last. together with syria, which is in the midst of a civil war, and nicaragua that thought it didn't go far enough. this is an extraordinary moment of fake news. the economy he describ is not the economy of america. solar has gained 17 times the rate of our economy. there are 2.6 million jobs in our country in clean energy. he is not helping the forgotten american, he is hurting them, their kids will are worse asthma in the summer. they will have a hard time with

economic growth, and i think it is one of the most self destructive things i have seen in my lifetime. >> how do you get the environment environmental movement to get the kind of. >> he said he was elected to represent the people of pittsburgh, not paris and that appeals to american voters. >> but only in the most fair row of ways because most understand that we have to deal with climate change, we spent billions of dollars cleaning up after more intense storms. everyone in america that works in america was hurt by the storms, the impact of climate, the increased cost because of disease that comes from bad air,

you can wrong a long list of things. >> is it practical or possible? >> i come back to -- this is where the president misled the american people today in a grba way. he allowed in this agreement to come up with what he is willing to do for america. not just walk away from the entire agreement, but to go out there and pretend you're going to get china, india, or other people to pony up this money when there are only 20 countries that make up the major proportion, like 85% of the emotions on the planet. of course some countries in the

world that have not contributed anything to climate change hardly will say we're going to pay for the largest emissions in the world. that is not going to happen. what president trump did today is walk away from american leadership over decades that even president george h.w. bush, a republican, signed up for in rio in 1992 to try to work on the issue of climate change and voluntarily come up with a program. the beauty of what happened in paris is that it allowed each country to diesign it's program. what was important is that president obama and president xi wanted to lead the world going into paris saying this is what we want to do. he could have changed that but he gave a huge fake news moment.

ef the fasst growing jobs in america, wind turbine technicians. america is doing incredibly well economically now. some americans are not doing well, that is true, and the president has appealed to them, but that will not help americans, it will hurt them. the president is not making america great again in this, she weakening america, he is losing jobs, he is exposing americans. for the next generations, for my children. other people and their children, they pay a higher price for the decision that the president made today. >> your successor was opposed to this.

he was not in the rose garden for that, what does this mean for the secretary of state? >> i can't again to guess at that. that is inside politics and that is not what is at stake today. the lip of the united states of america and an effort to try to make the world safer and what the president has done is make a decision that is going to weaken america's agreement. it will lose us jobs, but what people heard today from the president was a political speech. what they heard was an appeal to the lowest common denominator of politics. not an appeal to a visionhatfi with where the wor is going and needs to go. i think americans want to live by paris, i think the decisions, those are strong relationship decisions to keep us on track.

america has 28 states that have passed laws for renewable portfolio standard. those states, all 28, have law that's will don't to move in the direction of paris. they move people to the world of common sense. it is costing us billions already. the mayor of miami beach is raising roads to avoid flooding on a sunny day. sea level rise is happening. that is a scientific fact, not fake news. the studies that the president cited today are fake studies done by special interests that have always been opposed to

dealing with climate change. he walked away from science today, from facts, and he gave markets that are not facts at all. countess other major fortune 500 companies made critical investments based on paris, and i believe that we will see the vast majority of stas and businesses continue to try to move to implement paris. >> let me finally ask you about your trip to antarctica that brought this home for you? >> the scientists, without a political label said to me what is happening in antarctica with

the destabilization of ice is a threat to the whole planet. there is ice three miles thick. there is instability, a huge section broke off a couple years ago and floated out into the sea to melt. if it melts in the course of the next century, what is happening is horrific. we had a 36 degree fairn height day in the north pole a few months ago. every year is hotter than the year proceeding it for the last 30 years. if you can't read something on that, you have not read something in grade school, middle school, or high school about fundamental facts we cannot have ideology robbing our future on this planet.

>> going green from mexico city to paris,uildings and kmumts across the globe lit up in a show of solidarity and france's new president took a jab at president trump with a campaign slogan remix. >> we all share the same responsibility make our planet great again.

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♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. i was elected to represent the citizens of pittsburgh, not paris. >> president trump's remark about pittsburgh got him applause in the rose garden, but the city's mayor was not that amused. >> for the president to choose pittsburgh to say that he is representing us is a far fresh at best. we have an opportunity and we're going to take it in pittsburgh. i will sign my own executive order and it will say we'll follow our agreements with

paris. joining me now is michael steel. the politics of this, because climate change, as the president cast it, is the enmy of all things economic, but the facts are not backing it up. >> it is very interesting point to make, because it is not about the facts and all about the politics. the president understands at a gut level after listening to the coal miners, the workers in wisconsin and elsewhere, that this is a sweet shot, but the argument is not about protecting the climate, it's about i have to get you a job today, tomorrow, and next week. >> so when it is about jobs, dropping the temperature of the

planet a tenth of a degree in ten years, and that is a powerful argument that resonates -- >> but the numbers don't add up. >> there is half a million jobs now being created in the renewal energy. >> no one is making the case or putting into place the program that will transition those coal miners into those jobs. i'm sitting here and you're telling me i will be unemployed and out of business. when you're talking about coal miners, you're talking generational stuff. someone just starting in the solar industry, there is no generational relationship there. >> now, i just wanted to point out that big business industry is overwhelmingly on the side of continuing with paris. take a look at some of the people, some of the big names that are leaving the president's

advisory councils. we had elon musk, robert iger. but general electric, major corporations, exxonmobile and shell. >> these companies are betting on the future of renewable energy and seeing the bits of it. some of it is political for them, some of it is pc, i get that, but what they should be about, not just standing their ground on the paris accord, but helping the country me the transition in a way that you are seeminglyupportive of helping coal miners and others transition. >> there is also the issue of america's standing in the world, a very graphic illustration of the way that germany now is

looking at donald trump, on the golf course. >> he loves that cover, his base love that's cover. his speech was designed not for the folks behind that. >> you know who also does? germany. the premier who was in berlin, stepping back from the world with tpp that would have been canceled by hillary clinton, both parties blinding their eyes to our place in asia, and china is filling that vacuum, and china, not russia. >> i don't think that i'm buying the whole china is the big kahuna on the block. >> look at the numbers. >> they're doing a lot in the area and all of that, but people are still walking around with face masks and gas masks on. china under this accord will be able to increase their carbon emissio emissions, not cut, so when

people in the u.s. are looking at this -- >> but there is decreasing by 60%. >> but there are those that did not support this. the president didn't have the political capital two present this accord to the congress as a treaty like it should have been. so there was a lot at stake here that is not really fully addressed. the president agree or disagree, rightly sa look, we're going to take a new loo at this, germany and france saying we're not. we're not going to renegotiate this. my sbet that in time, they will. at the end of the day, it is better to have america in the sand box rather than outside of the sand box. >> i will take your bet, because the point is he is renegotiating with himself. voluntary is voluntary. all he has to do is change the limits. >> we're all going to grew to do whatever we want when we want. >> you're making assumptions

that may not plan out. those goals set may not have been achieved given the other things that occur in these given natures. so the u.s. will be held accountable. if that is how you open the argument, if you open the argument like that with us, you're going to have a problem. and this is not just about trump. this is from when barack obama first proposed this. on the politics of capitol hill, they raised a hand and aid really? this is the best deal we can get. >> fair point. >> michael steel, to be continued. a rose garden reunion and a family feud, the inside school next on andrea mitchell resports. reports. mmmm.

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garden? and i don't mean yesterday during the climate change speech. >> right, exactly. a lot of the palace intrigue you hear coming from this white house has a back stabbing factor. it's a lot of knifeiness. but this ended with some warmer feelings and renewed relationships. a recent meeting, corey lewandowski, donald trump's original campaign manager, at a recent meeting met with donald trump in the oval office and he had someone waiting for him, that was jared kushner. they took a stroll together through the rose garden and mended fences. there had been tension between those two. i'm sure you remember, jared kushner was pushing for corey to be fired back in june of 2016, replaced with paul manafort. so there had been some tension between the two. so after this meeting, it sounds like the message was, listen, there is no longer an obstacle between you and me and this

white house. we have shaken hands, and hugged each other and moved on with our friendship. >> and the white house now is refusing to answer any questions at all on russia. vladamir putin answered a question today from megyn kelly about russia and its interference in the campaign. this was his denial. >> translator: it's not our fault, it's the russians, they intervened, they interfered. it's like anti-semitism. the jews are to blame. it's the russians. would the russians, dealing with all that, trying to rush one of the candidates of the democratic party, in prejudice of someone else, it was just stop that, please. >> susan page, quite a performance. >> amazing. we're hearing vladamir putin talk about this. we heard him earlier say that it

was some russian patriotic hackers, not the russian government, something that -- >> and bashar al assad had nothing to do with the chemical weapons attack. >> so putin is stepping out on stage, and there were almost no foreign leaders praising president trump for pulling out of the paris accords. but vladamir putin had some positive words for him on that. >> at this stage, to both of you, are we going to see this vaunted white house shakeup now in the coming week? is there going to be a change at chief of staff, are we going to see the return of lewandowski, jennifer? >> i think there will be a few changes. the biggest change is sean spicer, the press secretary, is likely not to brief every single day. is that a shakeup? that's one change they're making. we're not sure yet if lewandowski will come into the white house or increase his role as a vocal supporter of the president from outside the white house. there might be some other minor

changes. i'm not hearing anything major. in fact, i've been reassured several times over the last weeks and months, nothing major, but some lower tier shifts possible. >> we've covered some white houses. this is my sixth, i guess. and we've had shakeups before. that's not different. but the level of dysfunction in this white house is extraordinary. the fact that we have stories every day who hates each other, who is leaking against each other, who is hugging each other, is quite remarkable. and not something that a press in modern american politics as ever seen. >> thank you both. more ahead. we'll be right back. eyes. but what they didn't know was that i had dry, itchy eyes. i used artificial tears from the moment i woke up... ...to the moment i went to bed. so i finally decided to show my eyes some love,... ...some eyelove. eyelove means having a chat with your eye doctor about your dry eyes because if you're using artificial tears often

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and a reminder to watch megyn kelly's exclusive interview with president vladamir putin this sunday during the premiere of her new show on nbc "sunday night with megyn kelly." that's sunday at 7:00 eastern on nbc. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online. craig melvin is up next right here on msnbc. >> that was a fantastic conversation with secretary kerry, andrea. thank you so much. craig melvin here from msnbc headquarters in new york city. russia, russia, russia. reports the trump administration tried to lift sanctions on russia shortly after the inauguration.

and putin on the defense. vladamir putin again denying claims his country interfered in the u.s. elections when pressed by nbc's megyn kelly. and the heat is on. president trump under fire for backing out of the paris climate agreement. we'll talk to one lawmaker who says he's going to uphold the accord, despite the president's announcement yesterday. also, epa chief scott pruitt, press secretary sean spicer set to brief reporters roughly 30 minutes from now. we will bring that to you live here. but we start in st. petersburg, russia, where a short time ago nbc's megyn kelly moderated a discussion at the world economic forum there, on that panel vladamir putin. once again, denying russia's involvement in the u.s. election. he also addressed the new report confirmed by nbc news that the trump administration sought to lift sanctions on russia.