now, who is putin? vladimir putin, the leader of russia, is the adolf hitler of our century. what putin has launched and sustained is the most brutal war into ukraine, to slaughter and kill hundreds of thousands of people have died. ukraine has held on. united states, many other democracies have supported that. but why is putin so concerned that he should have ukraine? he has said things, he has written things which make your head spin. ukraine doesn't exist, he says. it is ours. well, it is not.

>> let me pull up a quote. i am talking to my producers, let me pull up the putin part. we had other parts i was going to read, but we will go to putin. you say this matters, and you just spent time reporting on both what trump did visit the putin in his time in office, as well as how the biden administration prepared for that. i want to talk about one thing that already made big headlines, which was you reported, you broke the story that then president trump secretly sent putin covid test early in the pandemic when americans need them, and basically the men grasped how bad this would look at america. you write that putin told trump, quote, please don't tell anybody you sent these to me. i don't want you to tell anybody, people will get mad at you, not me. they don't care about me. this was from the foreign- policy parts of the book. and we should know, it builds on some of your past interviews from the last book. trump's efforts to minimize covid against the facts and his own experts. >> let it be known, it was a

problem. two months earlier. i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down, because i don't want to create a panic. >> trumps favor to putin is unusual. the two have also been speaking to each other since he left office. as many as seven calls. that is certainly a contrast to reagan or other republicans who treated russia more like an adversary. and these are the kinds of revelations that drive newsmaking questions. bob woodward is with us. donald trump was just asked about woodward's reporting. he said he would not comment, but argued if he talks to putin, it is smart. >> can you say yes or no, whether you have talked to vladimir putin since you stop being president? >> well, i don't comment on that. but if i did, it's a smart thing. >> yeah, that it is smart for a presidential candidate, a former president, to be engaged in this political love affair

with putin. i go back, what has putin done? is assault an attack on ukraine is the biggest war going on in the world right now. it is a threat, because ukraine is a democracy. just look at the geography of it. if ukraine goes, if russia takes ukraine, and we talked to the president of poland, and he says look at the map. if they take ukraine, that becomes part of russia, we are next. we have a 300+ mile border with them. and, as he pointed out, last war we got it from germany, the other side, now we are going to get it from this side.

>> yeah, and let's go to the biden harris response on that. because, in your books, one of the reasons they stand up to time and seemed to be sturdy is you talk to people and then you talk to people who talk to people. so you sort of surround. there's a lot of reporting where people say i've got two sources i'm going with. i've got this quote. use around the biden presidency in the book, and you report that he, president biden, told a trusted friend that the obama biden administration kind of lit with putin. that is new reporting, that is pretty striking. what does that mean? why does that matter? >> well, he literally says, biden says barack obama did not understand putin. because what happened during the barack obama presidency, the russians took crimea. they took some of the done bus. and it was just like oh, walk

right in. we are not going to get involved on this. and this is joe biden saying you know, this contract that they have of you can go do anything, he said to an associate, president biden dead, i am revoking their opportunity, their license to go in and just take other countries. this is what this is about. this is not just one side saying oh, let's have a minor war. this is we are going to take your whole country. ther. so i can learn about your family, lifestyle, goals and needs, allowing us to tailor your portfolio. (wife) what about commission- based products? (fisher investments) we don't sell those. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in your best interest. (husband) so how do your management fees work?

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>> years later and we are still being intimidated and bullied by this one man who completely controls the republican party right now.

>> we are joined now by our trump administration veterans. olivia troy, former homeland security adviser to vice president pence. sarah matthews, former press secretary in the trumpet ministration. and mark lauter, who has worked as an assistant to the president and the vice president and was strategic communications director for the trump 2020 campaign. welcomed all of you, thanks for joining me together. >> yeah, appreciate it. olivia, let's start with you. and at this point, with what we saw last night, and the contrast, why it is important to you to be advocating for harris? >> look, someone who lived the trumpet ministration all four years, firsthand. i started my tenure at dhs and then served under mike pence, and what i saw from donald trump day in and day out was chaos, instability for the country, and fundamentally, i just felt that he is truly unfit for office. so i felt it is my duty as someone who served in national

security to really take a stand for our country and make a difference here, to do everything i can to make sure he does not return. >> do you take the recent valves, which we can get into, but talking about citizens as enemies, abusing power, do you take it as campaign rhetoric lexi or should people take it as a literal warning? >> absolutely not. i think you should take it for what it is. donald trump tells us what he's going to do. he says it out loud. i think you could go back to 2016. and i think it was rhetoric then or maybe just bluster? yes. i thought was one of those people that thought maybe he would grow into the role. but after working things like the el paso shooting, the tree of life shooting, where i saw his words really impacting, having the world consequent is, and watching him, the recklessness during covid and saying he wanted to use the national guard and the military against our own americans and shoot protesters and things like that. i think what he says he's going to do things, we should absolutely pay attention. because he will. >> yeah, it was important for me to speak out and endorse kamala harris, because i was the one who obviously worked for donald trump, resigned on january 6, because i saw

firsthand his refusal to call off the mob that day and his refusal to this day to accept the results of the 2020 election. and even last night, you look at that rally that he had or town hall, and to me, that is not someone who i want being the leader of the free world and going toe to toe with people like putin. he just stood up there for 39 minutes, playing music and dj'ing, and having people clap for him. and isn't answering tough questions, like the vp is. for me, it just shows that i don't know if he is up to the task of being president again, and i think he has shown us he is unfit by his actions. and i think i am concerned about what a second trump term would look like. i've knew it was important for me to put partisanship aside and say hey, in this election i have never voted for a democrat a day in my life, i still identify as a conservative, but i am willing to put all that aside because i do think that donald trump is such a danger that i think we need to elect

kamala harris as president. >> you hear your former colleagues. what are they saying that you will see? >> i think their priorities are different than many others, and i respect their right to have a differing opinion. i think when it comes from my standpoint, i look at the records. this will be the first time since 1800s, where we can actually compare the records of two presidents and it ministration. and it is night and day, whether it is lower inflation, a secure border, a world that is not at war. it now is under the leadership of joe biden and kamala harris. donald trump is out there asking the tough questions, answering very detailed questions from the head of bloomberg and the economic club. so he does all that. and i think the reason why this race is still too close to call, or if you look at the polls, donald trump is actually leaving right now because, harris has not been able to say how she is going to do the things. and which talks about turning the page, she wrote that page.

>> i would really encourage voters at home there on the fence to actually watch the answers he was giving. they were not substantive, in my opinion. he was asked do you think google should be broken up, and he starts talking about voter rolls in virginia, and the interviewer had to be like that wasn't the question, i am talking about google. and he starts talking about how the government is rigged. i mean, he just doesn't have answers to substantive policy questions. and i often get pushed back when i it say i am willing to set policy aside in the selection, and that i'm going to prioritize character and the constitution. oh, what about policy? donald trump does not have any policy answers. i think it just shows that he is not ready to go toe to toe with these types of world leaders, because i think he has lost his fastball a bit. he just can't answer some of these basic questions, and that is concerning to me. >> and let me let olivia respond to mark, and then we will give mark time. i appreciate having a civil discussion, because this is it that we would voters are

thinking about. but i also have to be direct. as we all know, donald trump fomented the violent insurrection, which had many people who very seriously wanted to kill your boss. they wanted to murder him. they had a gallows. the secret service called, the investigation showed how seriously the secret service took that. and just as we worry about all of the protectives, including former president trump, because we have serious threats out there, what do you say, olivia, to someone who you may respect at the table, as fellow citizens, former colleagues, but who has not changed his mind, even as donald trump was open to having his boss killed. >> yeah, i guess i just don't see the successes that you are touting. i saw nothing but instability and chaos during the first trumpet ministration. i have seen even economists come forward and say that the second donald trump residency would bring more inflation, bring more tariffs, which were actually not good for manufacturing jobs, which he claims that he is going to

bring jobs back to the country. that is actually not what the experts are saying. and when you say that kamala harris is not out there talking about what she's going to do, she absolutely is. she is out there talking about what she will do for the working class, talking about the first-time homebuyer credit, out there talking about all these tangible policy things. but i will say this. the difference in the contrast between kamala harris and donald trump, is that she is a stable leader that is not driving anger, hate, and dangerous rhetoric that leads to events like january 6th, that leads to my former bosses life being put in danger. and look, the only reason jd vance as part of this ticket is because mike pence is no longer there. and that is really astounding in the history of our country, that this actually happened. and i guess, for me it is shocking that any republican, because i am a republican, that doesn't see the traditional values and how hypocritical it is for us to sit here and watch this play out in the republican party.

>> well, i mean, i think it is one thing for you to care about the rhetoric that you say that put mike pence in danger, and yet the same rhetoric now from the people and the party that you support in kamala harris has led to two assassination attempts against donald trump. we have to tone it down. >> well, i will let you finish, but there is no evidence of that. the investigations have not determined motive. so full stop. >> the first and was much more targeted than the second one. >> i'm just going to say, and i will give you time, but as the anchor here, the authorities have not determined motive. so anyone saying there was a motive determined, either direction. not working off what the feds, through fbi and secret service investigations, have yet publicized. second, the first shooter, to the extent we have public information, was a very second amendment supporting registered republican, which does not tell us motive. but it does correct what you just said.

continue. >> but we do need to do is we need to realize the rhetoric is wrong for all of this. we have political disagreements. i don't think kamala harris is a danger. i don't think she is a threat to democracy. >> so donald trump's rhetoric on january 6 was wrong? >> he said peacefully and patriotically. >> no, the other rhetoric. when he posted about pens, when he said let them in throughout, and he was a sitting president, that was wrong. >> he said peacefully and patriotic. >> i know, i'm talking about another. >> i have stated over and over. everyone was exercising their first amendment right to petition their government. >> hold on, but let's slow down. people who did not storm the capital had every first amendment right, even to say false things. that is how free speech works. but you just talked about condemning both sides where it is. the trump side, was that wrong? >> well, again, he said peacefully and patriotically. >> when he said let the men with guns. and keep going when he was told he was in danger.

>> anyone who would've crossed the police line and into the capital i believe broke the law and should face the weight of justice, as i have been very clear on. >> how do you feel about the recent news in the jack smith filing, where when donald trump was told by a white house aide that his own vp had been moved to a secure location, his response was so what? we both know that the vps family was with him that day. that breaks my heart. even knowing from the january 6 committee hearings how we know that his detail of their lives were in danger. they were making goodbye calls. it is just disqualifying to me. and obama said it best recently, that if donald trump did not even care that his own vp my in life was at risk on january 6, he does not care about you. >> back in a moment with more of the beat weekend.

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one of the rising stars in the democratic party is someone you have probably heard of. the governor of michigan,

gretchen whitmer. she has been out as an in demand surrogate for the harris campaign. they sometimes have her on stage with tim walt himself. she is doing a blue wall bus tour with wisconsin governor and the pennsylvania governor. and getting the word out online. online. >> we feed off each other's energy. i.d.s are, and she teases me, we have so much fun. >> she said that? >> am i too old to be here? >> of course not! >> did you know kamala harris is going to lower cost for working people? >> but did you know that kamala harris is going to restore roe v wade? >> i come to chicago? very demure. >> to the memes lead to votes? we will find out. governor whitmer joins us now. >> it's good to be with you.

>> good to have you. so, politics. let's start there. we can get into everything. but democrats used to think the midwest should just be theirs. they would call these blue states. we hear the term blue wall. but it is actually closer. what do democrats in the harris campaign, which you are working so closely with, what are they doing to not take these votes are granted and to campaign in the midwest? >> well, we are showing up and we are telling a story of the stark choice in this upcoming election. i am starting the blue wall bus tour with my pal, tony eberts, and wisconsin. we have pennsylvania later in the week. these are three very important states. states that are very similar, in a lot of ways, and we got to show up and earn people's votes. and that is exactly what we are doing with this bus tour, and telling the story of what is at stake in this upcoming election. >> we got a harris campaign ad on detroit. let's take a look at that. >> what donald trump doesn't understand or care to learn is that when he said --

>> our whole country will end up being like detroit if she is president -- >> that he should be so lucky. >> how is that playing? the comment and the rebuttal? >> look, donald trump comes in here and he insults the people of detroit, he insults our autoworkers, he doubled down on it when he is in chicago a few days later. that is very similar to what he did to milwaukee. he denigrated the city of milwaukee, as my buddy shapiro will tell you. he has done the same thing to philadelphia. this is a guy who does not respect americans. he does not respect the people of our states. and by god, we can't afford to have someone like him back in the white house. he's not going to do a thing to help us. >> what are the big issues that you see in the midwest that might be different than other places? >> you know, i will just say,

the resurgence of manufacturing is real. when trump was president we lost 280,000 jobs. he said we wouldn't have a single auto plant close, in fact, six did. since he is gone and we have had the biden harris administration, we have seen a resurgence in manufacturing. we've got jobs. take-home pay is up. michigan is a top 10 state. these are all great things that are happening, but it is happening because of joe biden and kamala harris. it is happening because we got grit and we know how to roll up our sleeves and do the work. the city of detroit is growing, for the first time in 70 years. there is so much good stuff happening. but it is because we have partners in the white house, not people who denigrate us or try to turn us against one another. and i think those are powerful stories to tell. these are good paying jobs. jobs that can afford to raise

the kind of life you want to live. that is exactly what kamala harris and tim walz are going to be laser focused on. our economy, and making sure everyone can participate and has a path to prosperity. >> thanks for watching the beat we can. be sure to join us weekdays at 6:00 p.m. eastern for the beat on msnbc. .

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