i understand the point but it's not putin's russia. its russians russia. vladimir putin happens to have control of thegovernment today but rush is not a vladimir putin. russia is an ancient, proud culture and tradition embedded in its people. vladimir putin just happens to be a tyrant that today controls its government. but i thank you for inviting me to participate in this event. i also course and proud to be with vladimir kara-murza you all know well adequate of a chance and honor to introduce them shortly. when we talk about evil around the world who risk their lives in the event of freedom, vladimir is an example of how true this is. his brave fight for democracy and freedom in his country is truly an inspiration. we have an award in america called "profiles in courage" and it's hardly given to someone who took political risk. might've lost an election took on some nasty critters and in the press for doing something. and i understand, relatively speaking that is, courage in the american political system. real courage is knowing that your position on po

would it embolden russia? >> there should be clear way how to react on russian interference otherwise russians are always good in exploiting weaknesses. >> mr. ambassador to poland, do you agree with that? for. >> it is difficult for me to make comments on what americans should do or should not or what would happen if americans didn't do something. but i think that in our investigations in such cases are essentially all countries and it cannot be covered. just should be investigated, every case. >> to continue what my colleague from poland just said, as i mention in our remarks as we think that international response on invasion and occupation of georgia was insufficient, that ma might have led to the further migration of russian confederation of ukraine et cetera, i think that international response is generally necessary in violation of international laws. >> thank you. you will have a chance to tell subcommittee specifically what we could do to help you regarding russia on the soft power side. senator l sen

i promise you you won't say russia, if you know anything about russia. there isn't a nation on earth we wouldn't trade places with, and there is no process of government that i would trade for ours. it is not perfect, and one of the strengths of our system is our ability to stand up here in places like this in the senate and discuss our differences and our problems and make continuous progress forward, even if sometimes the pace is slower and more frustrating than we wish, and that is what's at stake here in this process. that is what's at stake here in this debate. that's what none of us can allow to see erode because of interference by foreign government, especially one whose leader is a thug and a war criminal in every sense of the word. and so, again, our quarrel, as my colleague said, is not with the russian people, it is not with russia. i have extraordinary admiration for the russian people. i have extraordinary admiration for the sacrifices and the contributions that they have made throughout history to our culture and to the world, but unfortuna

russia. always kept saying, why do you need me? morning joe's this talking about the ambassador who i used to work with, but i don't work with him anymore. so rather than talk about what's in the newspapers today, which i'm sure david and i will do during the questions and answers, and if you have russians about that, i have opinions about that very i thought i would come here with my more academic had. first and foremost i am a so rather thanprofessor, i had r titles in the past but i was professor before, i'm professor now, i will be a professor to the end of my days. i will be buried at stanford university. that is my home and that's what i'm going to do. i want to spend about 30 or 40 minutes asking some big questions before we hone into what is served for lunch. i want to start with reminding -- i want to start by see theg you of where i basic story of u.s.-russian relations today. i think it's one of the most confrontational moments we've periods during the cold war. people say, is it a

putin might say he has made russia great again.gain. like putin, trump has used nationalism to boost his support. many believe that donald trump is no vladimir putin. >> putin is a much more practiced, subtle, cunning player. he's playing in poker terms a couple deuces at the highest level. >> reasserted russia on the world stage from a position of relative weakness like nobody i can think of. that's an amazing feat of geopolitics. energy is amazing. how we use it is only limited by our imagination. and at southern company we're building the future of energy, for you. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me. to take advantage of this offer on a volvo s90, visit your local dealer. kevin, meet yourkeviner. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. kevin, how's your mom? life well planned. see what a raymond

>> not even close to as bad as russia. i don't know enough about russia.russia did something terrible to the united states? >> do you think that rond reagan suffered from russia phobia? >> i don't know. that's a totally different time. you had communism. that was a totally different time in the world. i don't think comparing the russia of reagan to the russia of today -- >> does anybody here think that russia meddled in the election? >> i think we have to be very careful with russia. i feel there should be a mutual respect between the united states and russia. but i think that i am concerned, but i think that we should just listen to history in regards to russia as far as walk softly and carry a big stick. >> what does that look like? >> it is building up our own military, being in a negotiating place of strength and power. >> when everyone is looking for trouble in the middle east with weapons of mass destruction, looked what happened. when we start crossing other people's borders, meddling in their sovereign any expense, the instability is grave. >> the

it supports dissidence in russia and critical media in russia. the u.s. state department calls out russian elections as hillary clinton did in 2011 as neither free nor fair when there's evidence that it's neither free nor fair. vladimir putin fears in his own country after 17 years in power it walked down one excess tential fear he has is a revolution of his own people, an arab spring uprising of russians against him. there have been big protest movements in russia that have rised to that level, he raged against the state department for orchestrating those protesters. if russia did run a massive intelligence operation to effect the outcome of the u.s. presidential election, do we think they'd see that as its own reward? now we're done? then is it time to reap the benefits of that? donald trump never met rex tillerson, the ceo of exxon before the presidential election. he received the order of friendship from vladimir putin personally, the highest civilian award russia gives to nonrussian citizens. somehow he ended up the u.s. secretary of state under dona

today, because russia today is, programs of russia today are being broadcasted in english, while russiaas all the opportunities to broker in russian, major tv channels. rush is doing all. democratic country is not putting any barriers to free speech, to free broadcasting. well, at the same time we are aware about the content of these programs, and what is essential is to give an alternative, alternative to different sources, to reliable sources and give alternative broadcasting in russian to be understandable but to be objective, reliable and different from those major tv channels broadcast from russia. >> one last question, if i might, mr. chairman, to the ambassador from georgia. i understand that opec has helped make possible significant programs in georgia over the last 20 years in modernizing industries and in agriculture. can you comment at all on the value of opec in making possible mutually beneficial programs in georgia? >> there are several programs that, that are implemented in georgia, which is really productive, not only for developing georgia, modernizing its economy poten

>> to give show times we are learned concerned about russia today because russia today is about programs of russia today are being broadcasted in english. their major tv channels, the democratic country is putting barriers to free speech, to spree broadcasting, at the same time we are aware of the content of these programs and what is to give an alternative to different sources to reliable sources and give alternative of broadcasting in russia to be understandable but to be objective, reliable and different from those major tv channels broadcasted from russia. >> one last question, ambassador from georgia. i understand that opec helped make possible significant programs in georgia in modernizing industries and agriculture. can you comment on value of opec helping make that possible? >> there are several programs that have implemented in georgia which is really productive not only for developing georgia modernizing potential, but beneficial for both decides, i can provide in more detailed way, written way, more information. >> thank you. senator. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ambassador bak

is good for russia. in their eyes. i think what we've seen change over the years is there's now the technological means to intrude and interfere in internal elections processes, in ways they couldn't before. because the development of the internet. so we now have an ability to do what maybe they didn't have the ability to do back in the cold war. you also have an area of opportunity now. they see possible daylight between us and some of our partners. so i think they're methodically looking at that daylight and trying to expand it so they can bring countries back into their sphere of influence and divide our allies. mr. whitehouse: thank you. your testimony focuses really effectively and kind of captures the kremlin handbook report. with respect to russia's efforts to infiltrate, corrupt, degrade and discredit democracies. with the last election, we know we've been added to that list. you described that there are two key channels for that operation. one is a political influence channel, which might include things like f

russia. russia has been very aggressive in trying to dominate beyond its own geographical borders. it has occurred in other countries and it's attacked the united states of america. so i want to take you back to 1975 when the helsinki final act was passed, through the leadership of the united states and the ussr. i have had the opportunity through several congresses to either be the chair or the cochair or the ranking member of the u.s. helsinki commission, so i've spent a lot of time working on the helsinki work. and what was remarkable about that document that was entered into in 1975, it recognized that security is beyond just military, that for a country to be secure, it must pay attention to its borders, yes, to its military, but also must have economic security and must respect human rights, which was also very unique in the helsinki final act was the commitment that these -- these standards that we agreed to would not only be of internal interest to the member country, but that any cou

is, so to speak, the and e between russia europe. if the united states gives up russia, it wouldn't make america great. would contrary, it strengthen and embolden putin, ho is challenging american global leadership. has strong strategic interests in keeping ukraine as western world. host: okay. form eformer nato ecretary general anders rasmussen. and as we talk about the u.s. relations, we have a line of 202-748-8003. if you're outside the united we encourage you to join the conversation as well. want to ask about a tweet you sent yesterday. you said the world hasn't become a more peaceful place after u.s. hesitation to act over eight years. we need a policeman and only play that role. what did you mean by that, and what was the reaction? guest: there was a lot of that tweet, i can you. because it is important to state that the united states shouldn't policeman. s but you can see that the world is on fire. wherever you look, there are problems, middle east, iraq, erbia, africa, even europe is sinking from the burden from refugees. n

today because russia today, programs of russia today are are being broadcast in english. they have opportunities to broadcast in russia their major channels. the country is not putting any barriers to free speech or free broadcasting. at the same time we are aware of the content of these programs and what is essential is to give an alternative to different sources, to reliable sources, and give alternative of broadcasting in russian to understand and be objective, reliable and different from those major tv channels broadcasting from russia. >> one last question to the ambassador from georgia, i understand opec has helped make possible programs in georgia over the past 20 years in modernizing industries and in agriculture. can you comment on the value of opec helping make possible mutual beneficial programs in georgia. >> there are several programs that were implemented in georgia which is really productive, not only for developing and modernizing the economy potential, but also beneficial for both sides and therefore in that regard i can provide a more detailed way, more

sanctions against russia.ussia hates those sanctions so you need your toughest and most experienced guy running those sanctions. or you did. he's gone now. like every other person who had as much seniority at the state department, all gone. he will be on set in his personal capacity as a former ambassador. we are very, very lucky to have him. the new administration may not want the benefit of his expertise in terms of figuring out what russia is up to with us right now but i do. we can all benefit from it as a country as we figure out what's going on with this presidency and with russia in particular. russia and putin's antipathy toward hillary clinton from her time as sake, russia's antipathy and loathing and fear of the u.s. state department in general, those things that we know about russia they put a worrying cast over how successfully the new administration here has hollowed out and emptied out the u.s. state department in just the few weeks since then been in charge. given how we know how russia feels ab

, russia, russia, russia, every day.s not going to help. in we would always laugh-in congress, if you're having a town meeting and everybody's getting rowdy, bring up china, instantly everybody comes together. now russia is the new whipping post. >> near are several things which the democratic party could go in and talk about. they could talk about things that are factual, obamacare, jobs, unemployment, they could talk about energy. they're not doing that. so they're going to hang their hat on something that's highly speculative, and there's no proof, no facts coming out. >> and on rebuilding the party. i was just at the dnc meeting, and all they talked about is russians. >> the problem for democrats is that they, the artery is being squeezed from both sides, essentially. they don't really have a base that is in the mood for compromise with trump. so the only option is to go in and say here's an infrastructure bill, this is what we would like to do and try to essentially not necessarily call his bluff but get him to come

relationship with russia right now?ll i think we have to look at possibility there was collusion between the trump campaign and russians, at least at some level. fact that these elections may have been influenced by russians, it's a question of sovereignty. under cyberattack. mccain said this, lot of people said it and lot of people wonder what the president's relation is with russia. look at property holdings and see russian connections and see the advisers talking to russians and alpha bank communications between the campaign and so on. classic counterintelligence investigation and you have to wonder about the president's loyalties, you have to until they come clean on this, including tax returns and business contacts in russia. until it's cleared up, go on for another four years. and it does concern me as former cia officer, who has watched russians try to get into the elections. back in the '90s, trying to put money into the dnc, i was in middle of that. classic covert action attack on the united states and until we

russia? >> multiple trademarks? >> yeah, registering trademarks in a foreign adversary's country. >> i don'ten what to make of that. >> were you aware donald trump had six trademarks in ruche? russia? >> i'm not going to comment on that. >> were you aware trump tried to market his trump vodka brand in russia? >> same answer. >> were you aware donald trump ran miss universe 2013 out of moscow? >> same answer. >> are you aware donald trump jr. said on a number of occasions that russian money is pouring into the trump organization and there's a disproportionate cross-section of the company's revenue coming from the same organization? >> same answer. >> hypothetically speaking would a foreign adversary and it's oligarchs having a disportionate coming from -- >> i'm trying to be helpful but i'm not going to answer a hypo. >> thank you. are you aware of a 2004 home purchase by president trump in palm beach county for about $40 million? >> not going to comment on that. >> are you afamiliar with a 20

state department does support dissidents in russia and critical media in russia. the u.s.tate department calls out russian elections as hillary clinton did in 2011, calls out russian elections as neither free nor fair when there's evidence that russian elections are neither free nor fair. the one existential threat vladimir putin fears in his own country after 17 years in power, the one existential threat he fears is a revolution by his own people. an arab spring type uprising by russians against him and when there have been big protest movements in russia that have threatened to rise to that level putin has raged against the u.s. state department for supporting, no, for orchestrating those protesters. if russia did run a massive intelligence operation to affect the outcome of the u.s. presidential election, do we think they'd see that as it its own reward? that's enough? okay, now we're done? or once you've done that is it time the reap the benefits of that? donald trump never met rex tillerson, the ceo of exxon, before the psidential election. rex tillerson absolutely ha

russia without putin, russia will be free. the large protest in moscow, russia's most visible opposition figure, he was arrested in moscow. that man is alexey in a very wellny, the man who's group put together the drones. he's tallahassee guy who was dyed green recently, campaigning in siberia when someone the law chemical all over him that literally dyed him bright green. this week he was arrested at these protests that he helped organize. it's interesting. a lot of people reported haegtd slap on the wrist. he got charged with a $350 fine and 15 days in prison. one of the things they do opposition figures in putin's russia and they bring all sorts of criminal charges against people in the opposition. he right now is serving a suspended sentence over an embezzlement charge related to timb futures. the trial is shotgun that is very wildly believed to be nonsense charges designed to harass him and give him a criminal conviction that would keep him from kwfrg to be on the ball ballot to run against putin next week year. he's on a

-russia tensions.t going to help building any kind of relationship. >> we would always laugh when i was in congress, if you're having a town meeting and everybody's raising cane, bring up chooun. that seems to be now russia is the new whipping post. >> there are several things the democrat party could talk about which they're distracted. they could talk about things that are factual and obamacare and why it's important. they could talk about jobs. they can talk about unemployment and energy. they're not doing that. so they're going to hang their hat on something like you said that's highly speculative. there's no facts coming out. very dangerous. >> and on rebuilding the party. i was at the dnc meeting. all they talked about was russians. vladimir putin did not destroy the democratic party. >> the artery is being squeezed from both sides essentially. they don't really have a base in the mood for compromise with trump. their only option would be to go into the president and say here's an infrastructure

petersburg, russia will be hosting something called the national russia conservative forum. they say they want to promote the establishment of a common constant acting russian european conservative elite group uniting the political and economic call elites in europe. one of these russian conservative forums russia has hosted in 2015 sponsored by a branch of his political party and in st. petersburg. that one attracted american far right racist fringe right characters like jared taylor a prolific pseudo academic white supremacist. you might remember him from the alt-right gathering in washington, d.c. where everybody did the nazi salute and shouted heil trump. you know, they said it was hail trump. but with the stuff arm it was hard to read their lips and get that subtleties. regardless whether or not russia likes that whether or not that is the attraction russia likes maureen lepen. they like is if she gets france she will do her damndest to pry france outside as well. russia supports anything pulling apart institutions of the west. russia's overall global strategy is to kno

maybe not attributed to russia. but we have a problem writ large right now with our information sources. >> senator rubio -- >> no. >> i think you hit the nail on the head. i don't really have a lot to add to it. we are faced with a strategic attack. it's not a kinetic attack usually. it's a political attack. and then the question comes, what sort of strategic response are we going to be able to develop to that? we could elaborate on that. >> senator warner. >> again, thank all the witnesses for their testimony. dr. rumer, i'm going to start with you. we have heard a lot recently about the role of the head of russia's largest aluminum company and the role he may have played in helping to support the goals of president putin. can you characterize the role in this area, and then more broadly, are there any of the oligarchs in russia, at least those not in exile, that aren't somehow caught up in the kremlin's foreign policy activities? or are there any truly independent? >> thank you, senator warner. i can't add anythi

they were part of russia.nd then just a few days later putin invades crimea. ,so if the messaging was to be, we will confront the west, the folks that planted the olympics did not get that memo. something else had to happen. like i said, power is part of it, but not the whole part. second theory or second explanation, it is all america's fault. this one is also popular in moscow and berkeley. [laughter] mr. mcfaul: but this comes in two varieties. very contradictory varieties. let me walk you through them and tell you why i think they are not a sufficient explanation. were too is that, we demanding of russia and finally vladimir putin had to strike back. we lectured him about markets. we mentioned markets in the 1990's, lecturing them, democracy as you pointed out. then we expanded nato. then we bombed serbia and went into iraq. and he just had to say enough is , enough with this american imperialism. we had to push back on america and that explains why we are in this situation. so it is a reaction to what we

is, was this an attempt to get russia, you know, to ingratiate ourselves with russia related to russia's attempt to defeat hillary clinton. i don't know. but certainly it seems worthy of investigation. >> carl, i want to talk to you about -- gloria borger has this new reporting out about jared kushner. he's planning to tell the senate intel committees about his meeting with sergey kislyak. kushner and the transition team are looking for ways to establish a back channel with putin. so kushner suggested they meet with the head of this bank. this seems different from what the white house originally said, saying nothing of substance was discussed, saying that the meeting with kushner -- the businessman. that's who they were meeting with. >> they've changed their story. it goes to bigger question. donald trump was going to drain the swamp. instead, what we are seeing is a sewer overflowing in terms of business conflicts of interests between members of the trump family, the trump organization, trump properties. the president of the united states who has refused to put his properties into a pro

and senator burr said there was no doubt russia after interfering in our election was interfeing in russia and france. >> and this fascist candidate in france, it is possible the reason russia likes her so much because of her domestic politics and so right wing and forgive me racist. vladamir putin, i don't know how he thinks. he might see that as a feature not a bug. in st. petersburg, russia will be hosting something called the rush shall international conservative forum and want to promote the establishment of a common constant acting russian european conservative elite group uniing the political and economic call elites in europe. one of these russian conservative forums russia has hosted in 2015 sponsored by a branch of his political party and in st. petersburg. that one attracted american far right raist fringe right characters like jared taylor a prolific su do economic white supremacist. you might remember him from the alt-right gathering in washington, d.c. where everybody did the nazi salute and shouted heil trump. you know, they said it was hail trump. but with the stuff arm it

just a few weeks later, rebellion arrived in russia.of moscow. the biggest protest there since the fall of the soviet union. >> people were hanging off lampposts. people were in the streets. it was really shocking. >> reporter: putin was now living the same nightmare he had endured as a kgb officer in east germany in 1989. this time in his own backyard. and he wasn't even president at the time. he was prime minister. having handed the presidency over to his associate, dimitri medvedev. >> as the winter went longer and longer and got colder and colder, the protests got bigger and bigger. >> reporter: as putin saw people turning against him, hillary clinton weighed in. >> the russian people, like people everywhere, deserve the right to have their voices heard and their votes counted. >> when putin hears something like that, i imagine he hears bush talking about saddam hussein. he hears that as, they're coming for me. they're trying to drive me from power. what the hell do you know about my people and whether they deserve to have their voi

had tough rhetoric for russia. it has not been what president putin thought it would be. >> rose: we conclude this evening with larry summers, president emeritus of harvard and former secretary of the treasury. >> i don't think the tax cut schemes, tax credit schemes for infrastructure that the administration has talked about are likely to be particularly availing. and i'm not sure they will be able to conform consensus on it. i think the right deal is a deal where the administration and the republicans in congress agree to commit substantial money for infrastructure, and the democrats accept regulation changes that will permit some stream lining of doing major projects more quickly and more efficiently. >> rose: mark werner, carol lee and larry summers when we continue. >> funding for charlie rose is provided by the following. >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >>

communism fell hard in russia.nd since it did, business here has been profitable, glamorous, and at times deadly. bill browder from chicago knows that well. he made and lost a lot of money in russia and is openly accusing the russian government of crimes ranging from robbery to murder. >> they have the resource of a mafia organization with the resources of one of the most powerful countries in the world. >> reporter: to understand how and why what he calls the mafia state was born, he says you have to go back to the dying days of the soviet union when everything in russia was suddenly for sale and at a bargain. he moved to moscow and started buying. >> eventually i went from nothing to running the largest investment fund in the country with $4.5 billion invested in their stock market. >> reporter: but the age of grab all you can and carry couldn't last forever. it ended when a former secret agent, vladimir putin was appointed president. browder thought he was the reformer who would save russia from corruption. but

president sanctions on russia would be lifted. although fortunately the white house hasn't been naive as to unilaterally lift sanctions on russia it was reported on july 27th of this year they sold a stake in its company in what reuter's calls one of its biggest privatizations since the 1990s. furthermore, public records show the ownership structure of the stake ultimately includes a cayman islands land's companies who beneficial owners cannot be prais traced. what a coincidence. is this the subject of your investigation, one of the subjects of your investigation? >> same answer. >> okay. >> meaning i'm not going to comment. >> i understand. so let's move to wikileaks for a moment, who played such a prominent role in the 2016 election. as has been established before and re-established at this hearing wikileaks was an unwitting pawn or coconspirator. due agree this was done in order to offer moscow some measure of separation as to mask its happened at having hacked and stole ten data in the first place but so it could still have it

russia is a ruse. i have nothing to do with russia. to the best of my knowledge, no person i deal with does. >> we know three advisers had contact with him, then senator jeff sessions, j.d. gor dan and carter paige. since then, michael flynn and his son-in-law jared kushner met with him. flynn had trouble getting the story straight about the content. "the washington post" said flynn denied he discussed sanctions with the ambassador. asked in an interview, he said no. cut to a day later. thursday, flynn backed away from the denial. they said flynn indicated while he has no recollection, he couldn't be certain the topic never came up. here is sean spicer on january 23rd. >> a total of two calls with the ambassador and general flynn. the second call came, i think three days ago to say once he gets into office can we set up that call. it hasn't, to my knowledge, occurred yet. >> any conversations between general flynn and russian members of the government? >> not that i'm aware of. now we know, thanks to "the new york times" flynn met with

ambassador to russia, mike mcfaul. also joining us evelyn ficus, serving as deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia. she also happens to be an msnbc national security analyst. evelyn, welcome first of all. >> hello. >> second, we have these two concurring and breaking stories. "the washington post" account of these alleged conversations, now attorney general sessions have with the ambassador. the first is largely been the waning days of the obama administration and an effort to squirrel away -- forgive the complex technical term -- intel they knew about and they feared would either be ignored or fall into the wrong hands. you speak to that latter issue. >> yeah. there was a lot going on in the administration. first of all, they had watched hillary clinton lose. and they being the high officials, mainly in the white house, they were told you can't do anything political. but while they watched something, we don't know all the details of what they were watching. and they couldn't talk about i

p isolate russia. in 2021, i don't want to be sitting here with you talking about another country that attacked. >> tucker: when trump declares war against russia, i'm going to bring youu on. president trump had a lot to say tonight during a rally innk louisville.pr we go to kristin fisher who is d in louisville. nice to see you. >> hey, this was quite a rally. president trump said multiple times tonight this place is packed. and it was. r he started out with greatest hits, promises made and promises kept. the issue that started it all, the biggest applause line, building a border wall. >> to be a rich nation, we must also be a safe nation. that's why i'm following through on my promise to secure, protect, and defend the borders of the united states. >> that is what supporters here wanted to hear about, but republicans on capitol hill wanted to hear about another campaign promise. repealing and replacing obamacare.utol >> as we move toward the crucial house vote on thursday, the seventh anniversary of

again, the headline is russia-trump, russia-trump, russia-trump. >> i want to hone in on the kushner thing because there's in discrepancy, as evan reported, as to what the russian bank says the meeting was about and what the trump administration is saying, or at least what spicer is saying this meeting was about. and by the way, today when the reporter asked that question, he got very defensive. like he went from zero to 100 very quickly, spicer did. >> i'll tell you, a white house official, when the first meeting was disclosed, i believe that was last month, the white house official told me that spicer did not know about the meetings at the time, and this speaks to a broader problem within the administration. and the explanation for why spicer didn't know was that jared kushner did not think that this was anything out of the ordinary. the official said to me that he was meeting with 100 people throughout the time of the transition. the russian ambassador was one of them. i think the banking official was another. and to him it didn't stick out in his mind. the problem is he is a seni

nato is focused on the russia threats. we kicked russia out of the g8.ew sanctions after the elections. in our country it depends on , which poll you look at but certainly the majority of americans think that russia is an enemy again. and if you are a republican, the data shows those republicans are less worried about the russians than they were two years ago. i think we know what the causality there is. generally we are back to this confrontation, right? all of this happened, most of this happened when i was in the u.s. government. putin did not invade ukraine when i was a u.s. ambassador. i kept him out. he invaded the day after i left. [laughter] causation correlation. remember? but this trajectory was part of when i was in the government. and i got home in february 2014. and if you have experienced this, you have experienced this david, you have been in this intense period living in russia as you did in the .in the 90's. 1990's you get back home and your neighbors didn't really notice you were gone. in fact, i was gone for five years. [laughter] mike

that russia was a poor investment climate. a 500 -- $500osed -- second most powerful man in russia and probably a former kgb agent. gives axon access to the black sea and siberia for oil development. rex tillerson calls him a good friend. in 2012 mr. tillerson and mr. show togo on a road talk about this great deal. also, there is a video of president clinton toasting champagne. in 2013, mr. tillerson received the russian order of rent ship. to president next putin at the event. it a dietn to you, is to mr. putin, knowing what you know of him and his interest in doing hard to us, is it of asefit to have rex tillerson secretary of state for a >> i can't answer that question. >> admiral rogers? >> i'm not in a position to answer. could you give me an understanding of what are some of the reasons we impose -- tions >> from my general knowledge it is to punish activities criminal in nature that involved were crimes, violations of you and resolutions or united states law. it is to communicate and enforce foreign-policy interests and

russia, russia is the enemy of the american people. putin is the enemy of the american people. don't cast are journalists, our intelligence, our as our enemies. our real enemy is vladimir putin . it is about time we take this seriously. i have been here 42 years and i have never seen such a threat on our democracy as what we are seeing from vladimir putin. and the administration doesn't call it for what it is. we deserve to know the fat and a full investigation. jeff sessions should recuse himself. that he wouldr recuse himself on anything he should recuse himself on. he said he would recuse himself whenever it is appropriate. response ludicrous from the attorney general. recusal is not optional here, it is required. in order to maintain a semblance of integrity in this investigation. the attorney general have to recuse himself. it is a rule in the republican and my craddick administration. the investigation have to be led by someone who is impartial and removed from politics. not somebody in the trenches of a political campaign and the subject of investigation. it doesn't desc

or speaking to russia?oday when sean spicer was asked if he could assure the american people that there was no one in the white house working in the interests of a foreign nation, all he could say is everyone had filled out their forms and he couldn't vouch for them beyond that. >> can you say with certainty right now there is nobody working for this white house presently working in the interest of a foreign government? >> i can tell you every form has been filled out. >> so you trust -- >> absolutely. you got -- people filling out forms. to sit here and ask me whether i can vouch for whatever it is, a few hundred people that have filled out everything, that would be ridiculous for me to stand here and suggest that i possibly could. under the penalty of law every single person filled out form vetted by whatever level of classification they need to get by the appropriate law enforcement agencies or hr entities. but i can't prevent somebody from fully disclosing everything on their taxes or filling out a form

and then on the democrat side, questions about russia, russia's involvement, any collusion about the trump campaign and officials. this is the beginning of a number of public and private hearings. we are expecting at least five trump associates to be interviewed by russian officials. by the senate intelligence committee in the coming weeks. those five officials, including jared kushner, paul manafort, michael flynn, presumably coming before the committee. now this comes also at the same time as the house intelligence committee trying to restart this investigation after it's been stalled from that controversy about devin nunes all related back to that private briefing he had last week with president trump where we talked about surveillance information he privately obtained from a secret source that the committee has not seen yet. i spoke with mr. nunes last night about that surveillance information and asked him will the committee eventually see the information. here's how he responded. >> his surveillance information you did see, did you talk to anyone at the white house before talki

that is not a position russia likes. on, the ambassador to the u.n. had tough frederick for russia.s has not been what president putin thought it would be. charlie: i am asking this as a question. iesident trump has said recognized the russians made an effort to interfere in our election but other countries did as well, or something to that extent. what is the most clear example of where president trump has reflected his understanding of what the russians did or attempted to do? >> in terms of the cyber attack? charlie: yes. privately, when i was talking to people writing this story, there is a recognition internally that russia did have involvement in the election but also that they continue to do things that are obviously classified. the public does not see it but the president sees them. that has given the president's as well. charlie: what was his hope during the campaign when he refused to criticize russia for the relationship? clearly, he thought the russians might cooperate in antiterrorist measures. >> yes. and the white house would still like to find ways to cooperate on co

communism fell hard in russia.and since it did, business here has been profitable, glamorous, and at times deadly. bill brouter from chicago knows that well. he made and lost a lot of money in russia and is openly accusing the russian government of crimes ranging from robbery to murder. >> they have the resource of a mafia organization with the resources of one of the most powerful countries in the world. >> reporter: to understand how and why what he calls the mafia state was born, he says you have to go back to the dying days of the soviet union when everything in russia was suddenly for sale and at a bargain. he moved to moscow and started buying. >> eventually i went from nothing to running the largest investment fund in the country with $4.5 billion invested in their stock market. >> reporter: but the age of grab all you can and carry couldn't last forever. it ended when a former secret agent, vladimir putin was appointed president. brouder thought he was the reformer who would save russia from corruption. but