tv The Rachel Maddow Show MSNBC April 2, 2018 6:00pm-7:00pm PDT
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>> for an entire year. >> one of the affiliates in madison is not running it and they sort of made this big stand today. the question whether those are functioning competitive markets is questionable. thank you-all. that is "all in" for this evening. t"the rachel maddow show" start right now with joe rey reid. >> happy anniversary. great show. great job. "all in," "all in". >> thank you, we're still here. rachel has the night off. she will be back tomorrow. we start tonight in slovenia. a beautiful country, lots of great skiing, amazing lakes, lots of castles everywhere. for americans, slovenia is probably best known as the homeland of the first lady, melania trump but slovenia played a pivotal role in american history once before when it hosted the first summit between george w. bush who had
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been president of the united states for about fiver months and vladimir putin who had been president of russia for just over a year. apparently, everyone was super excited about the summit sla -- yins. that first summit between bush and putin in slovenia produced one of george w. bush's most memorable quotes not just because of the way he described the counter part is not the way american presidents talked about other world leaders. >> i looked the man in the eye. i found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. we had a very good dialogue. i was able to get a sense of his soul. >> well, not everybody at the time got the same sense of putin's sole. joe biden was the senate chair
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as "the new york times" dell quitly put it, biden questioned whether trust was the right word to use about mr. putin, a former operative of the kgb. the soviet intelligence service and former head of russia's domestic intelligence service. michael mcfaul who would become ambassador told the times quote i think there is plenty of good reason not to trust president putin. this is a man trained to lie. george w. bush continued to try to build his relationship with the russian president. a few months later, president bush hosted president putin at the white house and took him to a visit to his ranch on crawford, texas. if you're wondering how that was covered at the time, the best word is bemused. >> finally tonight, a picture to contemplate two baby boomers who not so many years ago never expected to be presidents of their country meeting in texas this weekend for pickups, barbecue and oh, yes, how to make the world safer in a
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nuclear age. that's "nightly news" for wednesday. i'm tom brokaw. >> that's nightly news for wednesday. george and vladimir riding around in a pickup truck eating barbecue but that was nothing compared to 2007 when putin got to meet the whole family. >> for vladimir putin's arrival, the bushes worked some dad diplomacy. the 83-year-old former president served as official greeter when the russian leader touched down by inviting putin to the place where the first family gets out to play, advisors suggestion this rare personal trust could encourage more trust. at the seaside compound, they will settle in for what is dubbed the lobster summit. they welcomed the seaside home turned to full throttle diplomacy. a quick trip cutting the wavers with all that security. advisors say bringing putin into the family circle is meant to
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develop a deeper trust. >> the lobster summit. in all, vladimir putin visited president bush in the united states five times. his last visit to the white house was in 2005 and bush's evaluation of putin as straightforward and trustworthy has not aged so well. even texas barbecue and a boat ride with mom and dad could not make putin into an ally. whatever your opinion of the bush administration and how it handled vladimir putin, at least we knew what they were doing. these meetings and summits were telegraphed and choreographsed with press steaked out and whitous ocwhite house officials keeping reporters apprised. with our current president, there is a strange die nal mayn have in the seen before. not just the overall dynamic, the difference trump seems to show putin which we've observed. i mean, specifically the way we
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find out about things the president does. a few days after donald trump was sworn in reports started to circulate trump would have a phone call with the russian president. the kremlin spokesman told reporters they were working with washington to nail down a date for an upcoming call. the actual call happened on january 28th but we got wind of it first from russia and then it happened again and this time it wasn't a call. in the spring after trump fired james comey, russia state news agency tweeted out this picture of donald trump and russian foreign minister sergei lavrov shaking hands and lavrov brought along sergei kisslyak. nobody knew about the meetings in advance. american journalist were kept out. the meeting was not on the
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president's official schedule and when it happened, the press pool was taken by surprise. trump decided to take the meeting because quote putin asked him to so he said yes and then we had to learn about it all from arussia. the third time was in september from the new russian ambassador that said the u.s. president received me in a warm and friendly way. it was constructive and welcoming. that's what the returnussian ambassador told the news agency. the white house announced it afterwards, once the report from russian state media started getting around and it was the russian embassy that tweeted out this from the oval office. source prfrom the kremlin how donald trump would meet him. the white house denied they would meet but then they met just like the kremlin said they
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would. that was in mid november. by the end of november, the russian news agency enter fafac reported they were set to host a call but the call happened. that was the fifth time we learned the news from russia. the sixth time was december 14th when there was a photo announcing vladimir putin had another call with tdonald trump. thanks for the heads up. the seventh time was three days later on december 17th. the state news agency reported putin and trump had another heart to heart. the eighth time came at the end of january when reuters siting russia's foreign spy chief i should note is under u.s. sanctions came to the u.s. the week before to meet with our spy chiefs. we later learned he did not come alone but we first got the news from russia. in february, it happened again. the ninth time.
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russian news agency entfacts pu out a report that was quickly followed up by a statement from the kremlin with a tweet and facebook post. they blasted it all over social media for maximum effect and last month, two days after vladimir putin secured a term as president in a sham election, it was the kremlin then announced that donald trump called to congratulate putin on his victory after being told not to congratulate and a reporter asked trump about it prompting him to deliver news of his own. >> i had a call with president putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory. the call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future. we had a good call and i suspect we'll probably be meeting in the not too distant future.
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i think we'll see president putin in the not too distant future. >> trump called putin to congratulate him on the election win, did i mention we are getting together soon. ten times where there was a meeting or call between washington and russia but we here in the united states had to learn about it from russia and today we again got the good word what the american president is up to from the russians but this time not a call or meeting with putin, it's something important he said during the last call. today the kremlin told us that donald trump invited vladimir putin to visit the white house. from "the washington post" today quote a kremlin aid disclosed the white house invitation and comments to russian journalist monday. according to the russian news agency, when our presidents spoke on the phone, it was trump who proposed holding the meeting in washington in the white house and the white house was forced
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to confirm something about the president of the united states first reported by russian state media. quote white house press secretary said a number of potential venues including the white house were discussed. apparently that's how trump and putin spent their time. i wonder if trump mentioned he knows a great hotel across the street that used to be a pose office. the united states expelled 60 diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning of a former spy and his daughter and less than a month ago the fbi and homeland security department russia had an alert did the mention the provocative missile tests? >> there is a reason vladimir putin hasn't been to the white house since 2005. someone might want to tell the white house. joining me is michael mcfaul. ambassador mcfaul, thank you for joining me tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> let's go back to george w.
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bush in sort of diplomatic speak, how big of a mistake was it for george w. bush to come out in the very first time ever meeting vladimir putin and saying he could see into his soul and got a sense of it? >> thanks for doing the research and reminding me what i said to the "new york times" then. i actually briefed the president before that meeting two weeks before he went on that trip and then after that comment in the "new york times" i was never invited back for eight years after that. but i do think he made a mistake, as i said, the strategy i understand, the strategy they were about to pull out of the abm treaty, the anti ballistic treaty and the president and advisors including my colleague here, they were trying to soften him up before they did that action because they knew it would be negative. but you don't say things like that. it makes it look foolish and he made a price for that. >> give us a sense of vladimir
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putin. when he's meeting with american presidents, what is his goal? you saw him hanging out with the bush family. now he keeps calling with donald trump. what is his goal in your view? >> well, his goals change from time to time. i participated in summits with vladimir putin as a prime minister and as a president with president obama but the key point, joy, is to have a goal, to have an objective. vladimir putin shows up to those meetings to try to achieve a concrete objective that he thinks is in russia's national security interest. what to he is so bizarre about president trump and the way he deals with vladimir putin is it doesn't seem like he focuses on any concrete goal or objective including pushing back on the long list of things and therefore to invite him to the
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white house especially by the way without some concrete objective in the government you call them deliverables is inappropriate. it means he doesn't understand how diplomacy works. >> it will be one thing ambassador mcfaul if both parties, the white house and kremlin decide we'll have this call and neither of us will talk about it or have this call and both of us will talk about it but what does it say to you they have these calls and meetings and then the white house is sile silent? we don't get readout. the american people do not hear from our white house communications team but the russian state news agency is blasted all over their media and social media. >> so if you do it the first time, you know, call it a rookie mistake like i talked about the president 18 years ago or whatever it was but the ninth or tenth time, that's just irresponsible. the read out and i wrote many readouts when i worked at the white house for the first three
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years of the obama administration, that's a chance for the trump administration to shape their message. it is shocking. s he announces president obama is coming to the white house? i can't i'm hag gmagine any othr would say they are going to the white house without such a major event in the agenda. >> it is curious the way that donald trump deals with vladimir putin in russiame. it's just weird. michael mcfaul, thank you so much. really appreciate you being here tonight. >> thanks for having me. up next, several important developments in the mueller investigation. we'll be right back. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job
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let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. turns out vladimir putin isn't the only leader to get a hardy congratulations on winning from the american president. trump congratulated the egyptian
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president on his reelection win after he was reelected with 97% of the vote. trump is forged a close bond with the strong man since the two met in new york while trump was a candidate in recently relearned how that meeting came about. it was set up by supposed coffee boy george papadopoulos. that's some coffee boy. he found himself back in the headlines, a report on a liberal site says papadopoulos was apparently discussing the russia investigation last week in the club. quote, on thursday at a chicago nightclub papadopoulos had some drinks and in a conversation with a new acquaintance made new and explosive claims about attorney general jeff sessions. jason wilson a computer engineer recognized papadopoulos and his wife at the hydrate nightclub where he sat down at their table
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and introduced himself. papadopoulos said sessions were well aware of the contact between himself and joseph mitsud with high level connections in russia who first informed papadopoulos about the democratic e-mails. wilson said papadopoulos said during the conversation that sessions encouraged me to find out anything he could about the hacked hillary clinton e-mails that he mentioned. whether that's true or not, we do not know. papadopoulos' wife denies any discussions but she did admit she spoke to wilson and the russia investigation was discussed. nbc had not independently confirmed but the allegation comes after the attorney general is under fire regarding contacts with ppapadopoulos. the attorney general's claims he shot down papadopoulos when the adviser broached the idea of
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trying to arrange a meeting between the candidate and putin. >> there are reports you shut down when he proposed this meeting with clinton. is that correct? >> push back, i pushed back against his seg suggestion i thought may have been impropers. it was reported three people since contradicted the account in interviews with robert mueller in congress. if sessions really did encourage papadopoulos to final hackd hac e-mails, that would be a major agreement. he pleaded guilty to lying at the fbi and is currently co- cooperatin cooperating. what information he may give up is yet to surface. sentencing data is pushed back to april 23rd and will likely be delayed further. another cooperating witness,
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michael flynn who pleaded guilty to the same offense has similarly seen his sentence delayed until may 1st at the earliest and likely much longer. the one person who pleaded guilty but no cooperating with the special counsel is van daler what lied about a manafort employee in ukraine whose mueller's team says has ties to a russian intelligence service and had such dies in 2016. hi his sentencing is tomorrow. tick, tick, tick. joining us now is barbara mcquaid. thanks for being here. great to have you. >> my pleasure, joy. >> let's talk about -- let's start going back to the papadopoulos part of this. where papadopoulos is in the club. he meets a brand-new acquaint
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ten and spills guts and knew about and encouraged contacts with the professor about getting hillary clinton's i mae-mails. how much jeopardy could a claim like that put jeff sessions in? >> you know, a fascinating story on so many levels. you know, first, as you mentioned, this is a story not quite confirmed from a guy in a bar but we know george papadopoulos has a habit of spilling the beans to guys in a bar. it has that factor to it. with respect to jeff sessions, if this statement is true, i think it's problematic for jeff sessions on two levels. one, as you mention, it contradicts what he told congress about his reaction. he said there was no discussion about russia with the campaign period and then once the papadopoulos information came out, he said now my memory is refreshed but when it was brought up, i bupushed back andf
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instead he encouraged preponderance dop la papadopoulos, that would be a direct contradiction of what he told congress and that's a prosecutable offense. there is that problem. i also think it opens the door for further inquiry by robert mueller about what is going on. did they pursue those further contacts to what end did they encourage the hacking or decimation to the timing and he ca location. it causes concern about george pop tapadopoulos as a cooperate tore. i'm probably calling his lawyer and telling him to keep his mouth shut at bars if i'm his lawyer. >> there is the fact he's speaking freely and out at the club talking to people, does that indicate he's cooperating so fully he has no fear of crossing the prosecutor at this point because he's given it all up? >> i don't know. you know, he's obviously free to say whatever he wants to say.
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the prosecutor and team can't tell him not to speak about these things but it certainly could diminish his value as a can operator if he is shooting his mouth off and he can be seen as a loose cannon if he contradicts his selmself. it's usually wise to keep your mouth shut. i don't know whether he's feeling liberated because he's told the truth or just sort of likes the attention. >> van der zwann's sentencing is tomorrow. what do you think? >> he's not cooperating and probably faces a modest prison sentence. his maximum exposure, i think, is in the zero to six-month range. it's likely the sentence will not be an extreme one. he did not agree to can operate but i wonder whether in the end mueller could compel him to testify about things like who is person a and some of the other
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factors about person a's involvement in the trump campaign in 2016 if he knows. it could be the end of it and i think if nothing more, it stands for the proposition that if you lie to the fbi, you will be convicted of a crime. you will have a felony conviction for the rest of your life. it could prevent him or harm him from practicing law even if he doesn't get additional prison time. >> the plot gets thicker. appreciate your time. still ahead, new reporting that could cost trump yet another cabinet secretary. that's next. [ doorbell rings ] janice, mom told me you bought a house. okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. quiet. i'm blasting my quads. janice, look. i'm in a meeting. -janice, look. -[ chuckles ] -look, look. -i'm looking. it's easy. you just answer some simple questions online, and you get coverage options to choose from. you're ruining my workout.
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2400 tlarz is h$2400 is howo repair a door after you break it down and the security detail break down his apartment door because they thought he was unconscious and needed to be rescued. it turns out scott pruit was just fine. he was groggy from the wednesday afternoon nap after we learned in the apartment where scott pruit stayed actually belonged to the wife of a lobbyist that did work relateded to t to the of liquid gas. it turns out scott pruit was interested in liquified natural gas even though that has nothing to do with official dutys.
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he traveled to a morocco. the only u.s. company that could provide that liquified natural gas to morocco was shaneer energy. he got a sweet deal $50 a night whenever he needed it. ethics officials have been scrambling to explain why they awill you allowed pruit to rent it. now "the new york times" is reporting that while scott pruit was staying in the apartment. he signed off on a pipeline expansion that benefitted another client whose wife owned the apartment. there is a lot to be learned but when it comes to the rest of the trump administration, scott is in good company. more on that next. ♪ piano music
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the wall street journlt is reporting he rented an apartment way below market rate, just $50 a night and only had to pay for the days he was actually physically there. the wall street journ"wall stre reports the white house is conducting a review of pruettest activities. the purpose is to dig deep one white house official said indicating the white house isn't satfi sat 'tisfi satisfied. while there was no sign mr. pruit's job is in jeopardy, few people are coming to mr. pruit's defense. the white house is making it known they are not pleased with the reports about his housing situation and making it clear that he has few supporters in the west wing. this news is breaking at a time when a hand full of trump
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cabinet officials are phasing ethics scandals. before he was fired hes the subject of a scathing report admonishing him for sightseeing and for making sure the v.a. paid for his wife's travel. ryan's travel expenses are right now under investigation by the inspector general interior department. the actual agency is investigating a potential violation for a speech he gave to a hockey team owned by one of his former campaign donors. the treasury secretary donation is under scrutiny for costing taxpayers $1 million for taking military planes on trips across the country. it cost $33,000 for he and his wife to travel to kentucky last year then the $31,000 dining room set that carson told housing and urban development
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officials to order for ben carson. the inspector general of hud is reviewing ben carson's family. he's not the only cabinet official whose family seems unusually involved in the work. "the washington post" said mike pompe pompeo's wife had been working as a volunteer and has her own officer space. new york magazine took on the task of putting together a timeline of official corruption from small-time graft and brazen influence peddling to full blown raids on the federal treasury but it really does start from the top. journalist and trump david k writes that quote, more than at any time in history the president of the united states is actually actively using the power and prestige of his office to land loans for businesses,
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steering wealthy buyers to condos and securing cheap foreign labor for resorts, preserving subsides, easing relations on golf courses, licensing his name to overseas projects and peddling coffee mugs and shot glasses bearing the presidential seal. for trump whose business is on his name, there is proof to be no public policy too big and no private opportunity too craft to exploit for personal profit. joining us is david k. johnson author of "the making of donald trump." david, great to have you with us. >> glad to be here. >> let's run through some of the greatest hits or low lights of the trump administration spreading the wealth around both not only donald trump's family but it seems it's translated down to his cabinet. >> well, joy, one of the things striking about the cabinet is what you went to in your intro.
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all of the wives and their involvement in the case of epa administrator scott pruit, the wife of aebastiansebastian, the alpha males are in and a defining pea tofeature, if some happens, she did it, they won't take responsiblebility. ivan ivanka trump is featured in the apprenti apprentice, she's this unpaid advisor and involved or at least it looks weird. she's traveling to china. she gets patents proved.
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how much is she doing business while doing america's business. >> nothing changed about her business. the business is now in one of these trump kushner eyes wide open blind trusts and the trustees are two of the kushners who, by the way, tell her they say about the finances and she continues to wear clothes that make her a walking billboard for her businesses. you'll recall she specifically promoted her $10,000 bracelet and 1$138 dress that sold out. there is no boundary. they don't see a difference between the personal profit and dpreshls d dutys. this illustrates a second problem. she is not an employ yeah of the federal government. she actually has no authority. the same thing applies to the other wives like mrs. pompeo, susan pompeo has been doing all sorts of things involving her
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husband and his national security position and she's not an employee. there is a reason we want people who are our employees to be making these actions on our behalf so that we know that they are also subject to ethics rules, discipline and not just to if they really do something grossly improper, the risk they might get prosecuted. >> you have now the white house making it well-known but they want to look into scott pruit's apartment but what about the idea his landlord's clients essentially are now having their products peddled in morocco by scott pruit? >> there is an element to the $40,000 trip to promote something outside of the portfolio. let's keep in mind that the qatars turned down the kushners and the u.s. government turned on the qatar government where we have our very, very important middle east base and what
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business are the qatars in? exporting lmg. this could be action on behalf of this american competitor against the qatarrys and part of the attack on the part of this administration. >> lng stands for? >> liquified natural gas. >> ah. it all comes together. >> you press gas down to one-six hundredths of its normal size and that's how parts of europe are heated up and we're about to get into that business. the white house says we're conducting a review. what do you need to know about $50 a night on the nights you're there and a free apartment for your daughter there all the time and corruption? i mean, any other president, barack obama, george w. bush, bill clinton would have said you're fired. >> yeah, makes teapot dome look like a walk in the park. david k. johnston, author of the
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making of donald trump. thank you very much. appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. i'm all-business when i travel... even when i travel... for leisure. so i go national, where i can choose any available upgrade in the aisle - without starting any conversations- -or paying any upcharges. what can i say? control suits me. go national. go like a pro.
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you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. last month we got a shocking announcement of a planned face to pace meeting between kim jong-un and north korea. the first since the consider rein war. even more bizarre was the actual announcement itself. >> president trump appreciated the briefing and said he would
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meet kim jong-un by may to achieve permanent den denuclearization. >> that was a top official delivering the bombshell news between the america condition president and north korean dictator from the steps of the white house. why were we getting this news from the south koreans? where were american diplomats? the short answer is they don't exist or at least the ambassador doesn't. the space is vacant and has to be for more than a year. someone was about to take that crea credential, he was director for asian affairs and then after months of vetting, his nomination was called off but tonight he is here speaking the us for the very first time in the interview. joining us now for the interview is victor chaw.
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welcome aboard. >> thank you. >> let's talk about how it is you came to not be up for this nomination. did you withdraw on your own or were you asked to withdraw? >> i was told my nomination was not being put forward but i should say before that that every administration has the right to choose their own people and have the right to change their mind and while the actual political appointment of am basketball to -- am ambassador is vacant, the guy there is topnotch. >> it was south koreans that did it, not the acting ambassador. >> that's unusual. i worked in the white house before and to have that was the south korean national security advisor, to have him come out and announce that the u.s. president was willing to meet with the north korean leader, i've never seen anything like
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that before. >> you wrote a piece in the washington post you talked about a policy difference that may or may not have had anything to do with your notary publmination b withdrawn this a limited strike against north korea would change the dynamic between the u.s. and north korea and help bring us closer to disarmerment. how was that received? >> i thought it was not a smart idea to carry out a limited military strike. it would achieve none of the objectives to stop the proliferation of materials or scientists or weapons or anything. the risks were huge because we have 250,000 americans that live in south korea and 100,000 in japan and all would be under threat of attack if the north koreans retaliated. these were views i put forward.
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w when i was asked as an expert, not a political person to take this job. >> who did you giver the views the and how soon after were you turfed out? >> iout? >> icon sulted widely in the u.s. government, all the different agencies, that's part of the process, as well as at the state department and white house. >> now incoming national security advisor, the third one, is going to be john bolton, there are few people more hawkish than john bolton who made it clear that he thinks first strikes are it with north korea. how concerned are you that there is somebody in there that has the opposite view of you when it comes to first strikes. >> i worked with john bolton before, and i believe he is going to go along with the idea of summit diplomacy that president trump has put forward, i think his bottom line will be with regards to the sanctions
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pressure, because he was part of the effort on sanctions with north korea ten years ago. when he sees what is put on north korea through 10 u.n. security resolutions. he'll see that as a good thing and won't want to take his food off the pedal. if the president wants a summit. he'll go with it. >> you don't think he'll change his mind and say let's go to war. >> if something goes wrong. if they show up at the summit and it turns out the north koreans are not willing to give up anything with regard to their weapons, then bolton will have a big part in plan b. >> that's scary. china has taken prominence. that region of the world, we have taken away tpp and they are levying sanctions against us. how much has president trump ceded ground to china. >> i think walking away from the
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trade agreements, particularly tpp, under taking these tariffs outside the framework, these don't help the united states. the united states has stood on three pillars in asia, security, values and free trade. we're taking away at least one of those pillars right now. it's a three legged stool, you take away one leg. meanwhile is casting their economic shadow all over the region. it's going to be difficult for the united states until we figure out a way to get back into the trade game. >> viktor cha, it's great to have you here as a resource. welcome. appreciate your time. still ahead. the potentially troubling script being read by local news anchors around the country.
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every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield. that's why we show you exactly when we'll be there. saving you time, so you can keep saving the world. >> kids: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ the sharing of bias and false news has become all too common on social media. some media out lets are publishing things that aren't true without checking facts first. they're using it to push their own bias and agenda. and this is extremely dangerous to our democracy. >> this is extremely dangerous to our democrat si. >> this is extremely dangerous to our democracy. >> that is the dead spin mash up of local broadcast anchors. anchors forced to blur the line
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between news and propaganda. force today read a script and it parents language by the president. s s sinclaire is the largest and it could be bigger. which is why it helps that sinclaire has friends in high praises who tweeted, it's better than cnn and fake news. donald trump has had a different take with cnn and its parent company as it tries to merge with at&t. there's concern that the time warner and at&t deal could be determi determined less on concerns.
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so it's no surprise that trump's pulling for sinclair. they go way back. they talked about striking a better deal during the campaign for coverage. meanwhile the anchors forced to read that script are quietly pushing back. with one of them telling cnn it sickens me they're encroaching on trusted news brands. this all comes just as research reminds us as much as we love our cable news, and we do, most americans continue to tune in to local news as a trusted force of information. how dangerous is this? joining me is now rob sherman. >> sinclair is about to get big. if approved they reach 70% of households. how dangerous is that. >> they're not marketing
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themselves as a biassed or partisan news network. when viewers tune in to a sinclair station, it will be branded abc or fox. they don't know. it would be like going to the super market and buying cheerios except the box is not filled with what you think it is, it's something that's going to change your political viewpoint potentially. so that is the misrepresentation of what sinclair is really about is troubling. >> they were forcing their anchors to run these pieces by former trump employees. i worked in local news. the local news anchor is a member of the community. can you concept liez for us how much different sit to have it
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come out of the mouth of the anchor. >> these are the people you tune in to find out what's going on with your city council, fire, police, they're not attuned to covering national politics. and to hear these people saying don't trust what you see on the other networks, especially on the scale, local market after local market and it's not -- when you watch fox news, that's a single news outlet. sinclair is spread out over dozens of stations amfulply amp their message. >> let's go to the other ways in which the trump administration has this authoritarian ting. jim acosta, a cnn reporter, brad parascale who we know was involved in the weird facebook, et cetera. tweeted today that jim acosta
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should have his credentials pulled because he shouted a question at donald trump during the easter egg roll. >> this is troubling to me that if you are somehow independent from the station you are labeled an enemy of the state. if you are on board with the administration you are probably going to have your multibillion dollar deal approved by the federal government. this is what you see in putin's russia or erdogaireerdogan's tu. that should not happen in the united states. we were talking, that's the norm around the world, we thought we were immune, it and turns out we're not. >> that's something we should pay attention to. that does it for us tomorrow night, rachel will be back tomorrow. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> good evening, joy. the boycott continues this hour d
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