liberal has been mugged. you see a conservative that's indicted. the thought is here is an upside of having people in the white house who come from families that have a lot of criminal exposure. right? and generally, this is going to make a lot of people's life better. >> i love you for finding a silver lining. it's a great point. thank you for bringing that. my thanks to you all. >> that does it for our hour. i'm nicole wallace. mt d-daily starts now. hi, chuck. >> thank you, nicole. if it's wednesday, deep debunk, downplay. [ music playing ] good evening, i am not patch, i'm chuck todd here in washington. for the five of that you caught that joke. enjoy it.

welcome to mt d-daily. >> that infamous moscow project has been debunked and you will not believe how the president's lawyer is responding to this one. we are also following the fallout from a s in the "new york times" that suggests facebook pay have lied what it was doing with data as sensitive as your private messages. which raises this question. has facebook and frankly most of the social media companies been as dishonest as the president's team has been when it comes to russia? we will get to that story as well. we will begin with another unraveling denial to the president's ties to you guessed it russia and another brazen attempt to downplay that false lood. three days ago, the president's lawyer said this about the trump tower moscow deal. which remember, mr. trump was negotiating with russia as russia and putin were executing its campaign against our democracy. there was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed

it. ah, then reporters got their hands-on that letter of intent and of course it was signed, none other than by a person's signature we have all become familiar with. done yield j. trumps. guiliani told the daily news, of course, trump signed it. how could you send it but nobody signed it, he said? but guiliani claimed the letter was bs because it didn't go anywhere. that was the end of it. it means nothing but an expression of interest that means very little unless it go es to a contract and it never did. so the president's team didn't publicly disclose the project. then when they did, they didn't mention the letter of intent. when they did, they claimed it wasn't signed. when we learned it was, they claimed it's bs anyway this pattern that gets debunked which is downplayed is a story we told so many times. it's always about the same topic.

this one, rmpblt whussia. when will it stop in maybe when enough people demand it stop. welcome all. eugene, if i stop there, we can say this is rudy guiliani being rudy guiliani, but the same defense deny, downplay when it comes to firing comey. let me put up examples here. the day it hand the investigation is not what it was about. donald trump on may 12th, when i decided to do it, i said to myself this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. a president can fire an fbi director at any time for any reason. the point is this is a pattern. >> it certainly s. it's not doing the president any favors at all. at least at the very least it's certainly bringing in rudy guiliani's legacy into question as we've seen someone who at least made headlines or praised on being tough on law, among

more conservative politicos. turn to someone who seems to dismiss criminal activities altogether when it involves someone he is personally connected to. it's very problem mat nick this situation. there can be real implications for the american people and those who rely on the president to serve citizen's best interest when it comes to national security. >> i don't understand, like i said, the trump tower meeting. the same thing happened there. the story comes out july 8th, donald trump, jr., says we primarily discussed a program about the adoption of russian children. five days later, it's called opposition research. it's very standard where they have information, you take the information. july 30th, collusion is not a crime. >> we go back further in time to some of those articles in the new york daily news and new york post and national enquirer. >> i got more, i got hush money. it's the same pattern. when does it stop? >> probably never. but here's the difference,

though, starting in january, democrats will have control of the house and they're going to be in charge of those investigating committees and they will have subpoena power. even if that doesn't reach the president, himself, it will start getting at kind of the people in the president's orbit and they will be held to a higher standard for truth and veracity than say the president has been or his lawyer in the national media. >> i got the push money payment example. i'll be darnold if i will get these examples on air. that one took almost two years. >> to unravel. >> they at least can exhibit that afloat a while. >> from the president on down the first instinct is to lie to not tell the truth present them with an inconvenient fact or

allegation and then you just start to peel the onion and the layers that you laid out until you get to the truth. and for me, the touchstone is, if we knew during the campaign what we know how about all the things you've unspoiled about the fact that the president was negotiating to build a tower in moscow when he was running, about the trump tower meeting, about the hush money payments, where would we be? would he be in the white house? i think that's a serious question and you have been asking the next serious question. when will it be enough? maybe the answer is in the next election. >> does this even happen on policy? we put together, it was a little out of order, decry, deny, when it came to child separation. then that happened.

again, i know it's instinctual. it goes to what ruth just said, but i guess the question is, you have about 55% of the country that's worn out from this. have you 40-to-45% that it doesn't bother them. >> the president has his base. these supporters. >> that's the only thing he's mindful of. >> very much so. usually we see presidents start to think about the people who weren't supportive of them. >> you want to grow. >> proprietary. >> that's crazy. >> it's the new people on the trump train. right? that's not something he's seen. one of the things that's been fascinating and disheartening how he's handled this russia investigation, he has been mindful of his base, knowing they will support him regardless. the base is not as large as if 2016. there are people who voted for trump and trump-like characters, candidates should i say, in 2016 who did not in 2018 and in part it's because of this pattern of dishonesty. >> matthew, i think he's right.

watching the trump base, you look at it. it got as high as 46. you do see it's like if you look at it maybe it's down to 34, 35, two believe he's never been dishonest. it's like a small leak out of an inflated raft. you know, it's not sinking yet, but -- >> sure, his personal approval has been very well even among the people that support him. he still retains high support among republicans, probably enough. >> higher than -- the last two republican presidents. >> i went back and i looked at the approval ratings for the party of the president in power. he is above where president obama was, above where most presidents have been in recent years. it's extraordinary. but it is a kind of condensed stock that's boiled down to its essence as the party base strengths. >> and on this issue, they're not really supportive. i read about it today in the post, only a third of

republicans are believing what he is saying about russia and the 2016 election. they still support him but they don't believe him. >> there is a rhetorical question i asked, when will it stop? when will there be enough people demand? it's elected republicans in washington. they have chosen not to. here's paul ryan today in his federal speech. >> i leave as i came here, an optimist to the core. just as remarkable what we have achieved is what we have the capacity to do still. so here's to the people. here's to the people's house. here's to possibilities. thank you for everything. god bless america. >> i lump the two here because you could make the republican party rank and file care if other republicans like him cared. >> ah, maybe. >> maybe not. >> others raise this issue are rejected by the republican base interest that's true.

>> which is totally the president's corner. so i'm not so sure. but the irony is. >> i look like anal yen. >> the republican caucus, in congress, is going to be more pro trump than the one that paul ryan led for the last two years. >> because he and a bunch of others are leaving. >> this is where we are. the people that will stop trump is not going to be republicans, they lab combination of democrats and independents. some republicans in 2020 if they stop him. >> i believe it's at the ballot box. but if you will hold him accountable before the election, then it is going to take republicans jumping on board. proprietary? >> republican elected officials will desert the president if and only if, when and only when, it is in their political interest. and that will be, if something happens or the facts develop to the point where they understand that the base is deserting the president and it will be safe for them in primaries. period. that's why i think your question has it backwards.

paul ryan isn't leaving the people. the people are leaving paul ryan. it's not just paul ryan. >> i understand politically what he did. >> i did think you understood politically. >> no, i understand why he did it politically. but if you are frustrated, my whole point is there is one whole group of people that could have an impact if they chose to. >> if they chose to, they haven't been powerful to do it. they are mindful of the base. we did see after mid-terms, some are willing to speak out at trump and looked at the numbers and realized the republican electorate was not on board as previously thought. so if that base continues to decline, i don't know what it would make for them to some changes in the economy, i think we can see the republican lawmakers stand up in the way we haven't in the past two years. >> do you see frustration on khashoggi, yemen, on syria today. so, a little. not a lot. >> no, i mean, i know it's there. >> it's something. >> and you do -- but i also get

those that have popped up. bob corker wanted to get back in the race. he couldn't have won. jeff flake he didn't retire because he wanted to retire. >> i think the bargain trump made with republican lawmakers, i will sign on and you will give me a pass on this other stuff. once he starts departing from that agenda, that from ditional republicanism, starts flirting with taxes. >> left? the judicial republicanism? >> if he nominates a harriet meyers to the court. judges, tax, oh, if he doesn't build a wall. >> but on national security. >> national security we saw an outrage from the united states senate because he's withdrawing precipitously from syria. so it's there. it's just on policy, not on the stuff that occupies washington. >> but even on policy, it's retorical and they do back off at the end of it. >> what? >> meaning like they give you the sense of the senate.

>> evolution. >> that's all they can do with a lot of these policies. >> they can do more if though chose to. they could have funding fights, some things like this. they are members of the same party. >> i understand. >> they do have to work together to some extent. >> i guess the question is, do any of them worry what this will look like in two years? >> i think certainly, that's what we got a taste of with the whole khashoggi situation. we saw people, absolutely, trump, the way you are responding to saudi arabia is not consistent with how we believe an american president or elected leadership. i think in part because they're looking at some of these farewell speeches they saw orrin hatch give, jeff flake and some of these people were getting laughed out a bit. >> that is what's funny. every one of these farewell speeches, whether republican or democrat contain these subtle shots at trump. it is sort of remarkable whether really subtle or not. >> maybe they're looking at those farewell speeches saying i don't want to say farewell like that guy had to.

a lot of them as you pointed out weren't exactly leaving on the best of terms. >> all right. we got a lot more. wait until we get to facebook. >> that will be quite the story in a bit. anyway, you guys are sticking around. up next the bipartisan plan to protect mueller. how is that working out? they're trying it one more time. i'm snow. and just like you, the further into winter we go, the heavier i get. and while your pants struggle to support the heavier you, your roof struggles to support the heavier me. [laughter] whoo. [crash] and your cut-rate insurance might not pay for this. so get allstate, you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. mayhem is everywhere. so get an allstate agent. are you in good hands?

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investigation and any like it in the future to run their course. >> there is an effective and ongoing federal investigation that must be allowed to reach its conclusion. >> those, of course, were senators jeff flake and chris kuhns trying to force a legislation to protect robert mueller's investigation, just as before, republicans blocked this third attempt. majority leader mitch mcconnell has called it a solution in search of a problem. so now in a week in which president trump tweeted again the russia probe should be shut down and in a week in which a new report claimed that russia disinformation teams targeted robert mueller, himself, will anything change? with me now are those two senators, republican jeff flake of arizona, in his last few days as a senator and democrat chris kuhns of delaware. welcome, gentleman. >> thanks, chuck. >> all right. senator flake, why was today not any different than before and will tomorrow be any different than today when it comes to this

mueller bill? >> you know, this bill passed the judiciary committee back in april, so we have been waiting nine months. it passed on a bipartisan basis 2-to-1. our chairman on the house floor, it's awaiting for action on the senate floor since that time. and since that time, notably, in november, the president fired the attorney general. so to say, you know, the solution is in search of a problem, i think the problem is that the mueller probe is in danger and we need to protect it. >> senator kuhns, obviously, mitch mcconnell's rationale has been it's unconstitutional. he's not convinced. forget whether the president would veto it or not, he argues it's unconstitutional anyway so why bother? >> i am certain that it's not unconstitutional. frankly, the fact that the republican chairman of the judiciary committee, the parties

majority 14-to-7, strongly suggest it is more important to protect the rule of law to provide a judicial review in the case of the inappropriate, without cause abrupt firing of the special counsel, than to litigate the fine points of its constitutionality of the senate. >> why do you think your colleagues will push bag on the president on saudi arabia, how they handled khashoggi, on syria today. ly get to your reactions in a second. why not this? why the fear on this, but no fear on pushing back on trade, on saudi arabia? why so much fear on pushing back on this? >> well, this is so central to what the president talks about every day and he has been on this for months and months and months, how this is a witch hunt respect i think my colleagues realize, they'll be on the wrong end of a tweet or an outrage by

the president. so i think it's far more important to protect the integrity of this investigation. it is not a witch hunt. it has led to 12 indictments of russian nationals as well as indictments of americans so this is a serious investigation that has to reach its conclusion. i just don't understand how my colleagues can be so sanguine about this. i don't. >> senator skukuhns, are you comforted by the fact that the pieces he's farmed out to the southern district of new york the u.s. attorney in d.c. the eastern district of virginia, he seems to have both been very careful about sticking to his mandate, staying very narrow on russia and every other criminal enterprise he finds, he makes sure a fixed u.s. attorney has it. does that make you feel better? >> that's right. that's right, chuck. i am reassured in the ways in

which robert mueller is diligently, carefully, with great persistence pursuing his mandate and then sending to other jurisdiction criminal matters that deserve prompt follow-up that they can handle. but that doesn't mean that the mueller investigation is not at risk. as the tempo has picked up. as the numbers of indictments, sentencing hearings and charges has picked up, i think it is at its greatest moment at risk. when we lease when congress heads into session tonight or tomorrow, i am concerned president trump will act on what he repeatedly tweets or says almost every day. he has asserted over and over again that this is a baseless witch hunt that should be shut down. why most of my republican colleagues won't take him at his word and act to stop this slow rolling constitutional crisis coming at us is beyond me. i am so thankful to senator flake for standing up, for blocking 23 republican judges in the judiciary committee and joining me and senator booker on

the floor today, forcing the majority leader to come out and reject our live uc vote. >> let me pivot the conversation to syria. senator flake, what concerns you more, the decision, itself, or how the president went about doing it and the lack of informing, it looks like state, pentagon, and congress at this point? everybody seemed to cancel their briefings today for fear of not being able to answer any questions about it. >> you know, any time the pentagon is caught flat-footed, when the president says he has agreed to withdraw troops from a country, you know are you in trouble. and so the process more than anything, but there are serious concerns about the policy implications as well, that my golly, they have the process here to not consult among agencies, particularly with the department of the state and the department of defense is just jaw dropping. it really is. >> president trump is the first

president in our nation's history with no previous experience either in the military or an elected service and i would have hoped that he chose sohumility and chose and sought professional advice from the military and the state department. frankly this abrupt and ill considered decision is going to have terrible consequences on the ground in syria. it's going to hand the keys to a whole region of syria to iran's forces, to bashar al-assad's murderous regime and reenforce putin's bad behavior, not just in syria but globally. >> there is one other group, that's the kurds, who, of course, basically have been perhaps the best ally the u.s. military has had. we know the turks are thinking, there has been a lot of speculation that erdogan and turkey is about to -- he views the kurds in northern syria as more of a threat to him than to

isis. if the u.s. military isn't in there, are they going to get slaughtered? >> you know, that concern was raised today certainly with the vice president here on capitol hill and that is a big concern that many of us have. so, yes, the policy implication of this move are legion and certainly the way that the president has gone about this just leaves us all scratching our head. >> senator kuhns, i can't tell you, i've got an lot of reaction that asks the question of, you can't help but wonder considering who the major players are in this issue, that the president's ties to russia the president's ties to saudi arabia, suddenly are popping up here? >> i'm gravely concerned by this abrupt decision. do i think it will lead to a lot of loss of life on the ground. and i think it raises the question, the kurds who have fought so bravely and so hard alongside american troops to take on isis and to drive isis out of a whole region of syria,

a fight that is not yet over and not yet won. for us to abandon them and to see this ground potentially to turkey, i think more likely to iran, a grave mistake. and it does raise concerns about on what basis the president has made this decision. not just the process but the substance, not just the process and substance, but the consequences of this decision i think are gravely concerning to all of us who heard about it today. >> let me say this points up a need again to something chris and i have worked on and tim kaine and others is to pass an authorization for use of military force that will allow at least at this point the president, if isis pops back up again, clear authority to get back in. so that desperately, it should have been done by now. but it desperately needs to be done as soon as january. >> well, the equal branch of government. we'll see if the president will abide by it within it comes to issues of war and peace. senators, thank you for coming on together.

i appreciate that. >> thank you, chuck. up ahead, we told you about deep debunk, down play. it's not just a team trump strategy for russia investigations. it's the strategy of most social media companies apparently. no threw is an entirely new uproar over what facebook may be doing with your personal data. that's ahead. life isn't a straight line. things happen. and sometimes you can find yourself heading in a new direction. but at fidelity, we help you prepare for the unexpected with retirement planning and advice for what you need today and tomorrow. because when you're with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. a partner who makes sure every step is clear, - [narrator] meet shark's newest robot vacuum. it powerfully cleans from floors to carpets, even pet hair, with ease, and now for cleaning surfaces above the floor, it comes with a built in shark handheld.

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welcome back. earlier, we talked about the don't denial, debunked reality with the russia probe. the same playbook is being used by big tech. here's chairman and ceo mark zuckerberg testifying before the house in april, telling the congresswoman that facebook users have complete control over their data.

>> one core tenant of our advertising system is we don't sell data to advertisers. advertisers don't get access to your data. >> but we're not controlling that data. >> no, have you complete control of this. >> ah. not true. according to a story out in the "new york times" today, some companies had access to users' data even if they had disabled all sharing. facebook allowed microsoft bing search engine to see all facebook users' friends without consent and gave netflix and spotify the ability to read facebook private messages. they told the "time's" most of its partner companies are quote service providers, which exempts them from data regulations. you see, deny, debunk. you see where they are going right now. joining me somebody that loves social media companies these days, kara rico. i thought of you today. i thought of our podcast a few weeks ago. >> yep. >> when you basically said i

don't know if a social media, if there is any good that comes out of a social media company anymore. i thought it was a pretty rough thing to say. then the facebook story this morning. >> well, i think the question is what control you have over it and know about it. one of the things that struck me is how little, how sloppy they were around the data. i think that's what people are worried about. what they think consent is, and the fact that there are no real rules, even though they say you have complete control. until regulators step in and make it very clear what the rules of the road, are these companies are able to make rules and stretch them. so that's what gets confusing in this whole thing. they stay, i think mark zuckerberg does believe gave consent to do the things he's allowed his part iners to do. >> that itself the problem here. >> let's be realistic. the consent, their whole goal is to not inform you how often they plan on using your data.

right? it's like, okay, we're going to get your concept as quickly and early as possible. we'll make you do it. if you want to download this app, give us it now. it's a pressure tack ticket. i don't think we realize we are basically under a privacy sharing pressure tack the egg in that moment that they tell us, download that app. >>. >> or, can you sign in with facebook. it's hard, it's meant to be convenient. they pars words. we don't sell your data. well, they don't sell your data, mark is ac rat in that. what they do is they take data and mash it with other data and pull it and target and put it on, they sell the insights to advertisers or let you target. they are kind of selling yourl data without selling your da that. you get in arguments with ad people. the fact of the smatter you don't have control over what happens. are you uploading so much data

into these systems, not just via facebook, twitter, your cell phone, your home nest machine, whatever, they're everywhere. that's the question who has control over this data and what should happen to sit a good yes for regulators. >> the other thing i have here, we talk about the trust they think has been lost by the president and particularly his legal team with how far they've gone to spin russia development. every one of them gets debunked and suddenly if you apply the same standard to social media companies. we can start with facebook, facebook aware of how bad they look? let me put up four examples. three examples here to point this out. obviously, it was mark zuckerberg's first reaction, november 2016 when he said the idea of fake news on facebook, a small content influence the election in anyway i think is a pretty crazy idea. obviously, his tune has changed. what have we learned? 260 engagements, on russian

troll platforms. that was at the senate intelligence committee. then the story about facebook emploig a research -- employing a research firm to george soros, a tactic we would have expect fareed a campaign. this is a company that claims, oh, let's go back to the way it was in the old days of facebook. whatever that was. >> i think you mistake it for a company that makes billions of dollars, mark zuckerberg is a multi-billionaire. these are very wealthy people doing growth at all cost strategies. so i think what happens, you sort of put them in hoodies and sneakers. you think they're still not sort of people that want to make as much money as possible so these companies need to be aggressive and they should be competitive. the question is how they're doing it and how they're communicating to users of what they're using your data for. it's an advertising business. it's designed to advertise and to sell toilet paper or toothpaste or whatever. you got to keep that in mind. facebook hates when i sa i this. they hate when a lot of people

say it, in many ways, you are the product they're selling in many ways. >> it's tim cook's lie. >> it's in tim cook's interest to say, he's correct when he says it. >> here's i guess the other aspect about this. do you believe that the social media companies can get their arms around this problem now? you seem to think it's too late? like as much as maybe they are genuinely would like to figure out how to keep these social media networks from being abused, as you have said, russia used it the exact way it was meant to be used? >> yeah, i said that yesterday in a column in the "time's" they're customers of facebook or twitter or google and youtube. i think the problem is the amount of stuff coming over these social networks or whatever, any of these digital platforms, it's so vast. you have to use a comboifgs ai, humans -- combination of ai and humans, it's global, it's different in india versus here

versus venezuela. it's a massive -- it has societal impact, political impact. these are massive problems as if you took a newspaper and made it a global newspaper everybody read at once. who controls that? that's the big problem. who can be in charge of figuring this snout and at facebook there is one person, that is mark zuckerberg. >> is facebook a media company? >> yes. different. >> if they were a media company, the amount of fines they would have incurred by now would have put it out of business. is it time for the federal government to essentially force facebook -- what are you describing all the ways they could stop this means they have to spend money to do a whole bunch of stuff that will cost them money, not make them money. >> that's right. >> the only way you can make tobacco companies stop selling. you have to force them. they will never do this out of the goodness of hear heart. >> the decency act grants broad immunity to these platforms.

should they have as great a platform. they have created a city with no police. it's the version of the naurnlg goes on every day. -- of the purge that goes often eve -- on every day. >> it's the arab spring, social media, now it's the authoritarian's favorite too many of choice, is it not? >> that's the problem. there is good and bad to it. i love tech. you love tech. it's not a question of that. it's a question of how do we manage this to figure out how to make it all the good that it could bring to this world. >> we all want to have control of our own privacy. that's all. not a lot to ask. probably a lot to spend money, mr. zuckerberg, anyway, kara fisher, thank you for never holding back. thank you. coming up, why democrats might have biblical proportions. 2020 vision is next. there's no excuse for what they did to you.

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ignition sequence starts. 10... 9... guidance is internal. 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ♪ [ music playing ] welcome back. today, 2020 vision. do democrats have a noah's arc situation, playoffing two by two into the fray? the field includes two californians, two ohioans, two texans, two from massachusetts and now maybe two coloradoans. >> i'm thinking about it. >> reporter: colorado senator michael bennet confirmed in an

interview with yahoo news he is considering a run for president and he is already showing how he'd offer a contrast to president trump. >> what we have is carnage of our institutions. >> reporter: believe it or not, he might find himself competing against his former boss in the 2020 primary. then it used to be a chief of staff who is now about to be outgoing governor of colorado, john hickenlooper. he sound like he wants to be president. >> how close are you? >> i'd say we're past 5050, we're probably 63, 64%. >> i love the accuracy there. it's 63%, not 62, folt 65. at this rate, though, we can get democrats of every state marching into the 2020 primary. why not? let's make it 100 candidates? we are back with more mt d-daily right after this. now that i've got you here

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time now for president trump as you heard earlier is facing withering criticism from fellow republicans for his decision to withdraw troops from syria and claiming victory over isis in doing so. take listen to some of the pushback. >> the decision to withdraw american -- an american presence in syria is a colossal in my mind mistake, a great error. >> if trump withdraws from syria and they do come back, like i think they will, he will be one of the reasons they came back. >> honestly, this makes what obama did in iraq, it's replicateing that. but in many ways it's even worse. >> the panel is back. eugene scott, matthew continetty. how he unveiled it and the substance of it, what was interesting is the near

unanimous mus apparently like the president's own cabinet is not happy with this decision. i'm referring to mattis and pompeo. >> well, they have reason not to be happy wit. that's our be happy with it. presence to kind of deter assad, russia, turkey, iran. all the bad actors from taking hostile action. we're now removing that. you remove that lid, bad things come out. >> it was interesting to watch the president's tweets by this. he said i was only there because of isis. as we know, he's a bit of a dove when it came to troops in the middle east, period. he's been at odds. >> more like obama in that sense than like -- >> i think he's less hawkish

than obama is. i think you would put him to the left on some of these issues. >> i think that's true. the thing that's so tragic to me in this decision is our apparent inabilities to learn from the mistakes of the own advisers w you withdraw physical presence you allow the same problem to recreate itself. yet we did it in afghanistan years ago. we did it in iraq. we're about to do it again. >> we had to send more troops back. >> precisely. >> i think there are two things happening. it's a reminder we have a president who has not visited any of our troops in action and is making decisions with a lack after awareness and knowledge that one would hope a commander in chief would be able to do. something else i'm thinking about is we see our president campaigning for re-election based on the slogan promises kept. this is a promise he made for

his voters about isis and has not been able to deliver on. whether or not it's the best decision or the most well informed decision, he wants to double down because he can lean in on that, just like the wall. something he campaigned on and has to push through despite being no support for or significant support from the base. >> i'm not even sure -- i understand he wants to be out of there but there's not a clamor from the base to withdraw the troops. it's a small number of troops. you don't have to go visit troops to understand that your policy makers, your republicans in the senate and the house understand, for good reason, this is really bad idea. i wonder if if it's not a base appeasing mechanism, it's a distraction mechanism. that's scary to suggest. sdp >> or it's just an impulse he has. >> it doesn't help there's a

whole bunch of countries involved that are being investigated for their ties to trump. >> saudi arabia doesn't benefit from this decision. >> they don't but russia does. >> russia does. turkey does. >> here's what this reminds me of. his decision to have the summit with kim earlier this year. if you go back to last spring, that decision came about because trump was in a conversation with the south korean national security adviser who brought up president moon's progress with kim and trump seized on that and said we're going to have a summit. >> what does he seize on? >> he seized on a conversation he had with the turkish president. >> we don't know the contents of that conversation but this decision is following rapidly on the heels of it that something has tloeled to that phone call.

>> what happens if the kurds do get sbraulaughtered there witho our presence? >> we will have abandoned them yet again. this is a tragedy in its own right. it's a mistake in its own right. it also so undercuts the ability of not just the kurds but of other allies to rely on the united states to do the job. keep its word. have a policy that is rational and predictable policy. that's not what we have here. >> it reenforces some data about how the standing of the united states has declined in the eyes of many world leaders and just citizens abroad who look to the united states to make the best and most informed decisions on things like this. >> it's case of us not being there. >> thank you, guys. much appreciate it. up ahead, something really is out there. ♪

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batina rodriguez aguilera. she was endorsed by the miami herald. why was she so unusual? she claims she was once abducted by aliens. >> my first experience was when i was 7 years old. i had a dark connection with three people who look a little bit like you. >> seriously in. >> look, i can't say for sure whether she was abduck ducducte but i know someone who would be jealous. >> beam me up. beam me up. beam me up. >> ready to beam up. >> it never did work for legendary congressman. i would tell you why but we're out of time. that's all for today.

the beat with ari melber starts right now. incredible. thank you for that. good evening to you at home. we have a lot to get to on the beat. donald trump handing two big gifts to vladmir putin after new revelation os on the moscow tow project. why was michael flynn lying about sanctions? i'll speak to a reporter about that breaking news. the prosecutor who led the investigation of bill clinton. ken starr will be here. we start with donald trump giving the kremlin to wins today. dropping sanctions on business interests. tonight donald trump's treasury department lifting sanctions that were explicitly imposed earlier this year in that area. that looks like a