ambassador to russia during the obama administration mike mcfaul and rick stengel is here with us in ormer undersecretary for public diplomacy at the state department, former managing editor of "time" magazine as well. so, rick, we have learned from mr. comey that the president never called him in and peppered him with questions on the status of the russia investigation. and we learned today the top law enforcement in this country has never been briefed on it, in part because he's never asked to be briefed on it. what are we left to think? >> it's kind of stunning, brian. i mean the first part of your question is not exactly a harvard business school study of how to manage a subordinate. didn't talk to him about his performance. and then the fact that he didn't know anything about the russian hacking, the fact that he never asked for a briefing is really surprising. and, in fact, his reaction is a little bit like captain renault who was shocked to find there was gambling in casablanca. he obviously knew what was going on. >> michael mcfaul, talk about what a normalizing effect all of

rick stengel, and shelby holiday from the "wall street journal."charlie sykes, editor in chief of "right wisconsin." professor, stay with us. rick stengel, i go to you first. you are fairly or not part of the media establishment. you run a very successful magazine. >> we both are, ari. >> we both are. but i'm putting the spotlight on you. >> okay. >> you are what donald trump's allies say are part of the deep state, having served pass a diplomat as well. though there are many nice ways to refer to your service. i wonder what you think of professor balkin's survey and that distrust of institutions? >> i thought his essay was beautifully done. i agree we're not in a constitutional crisis but we're in a decay of the constitution. the use of misinformation and disinformation has a really deleterious effect on the body politic. i think people don't understand how government works. government has done a very bad job in explaining it. at the same time we elected a man who's probably the first candidate in history who did not actually know there were three

also with us, rick stengel, former editor of time magazine. you know it was that easy to produce counterfeit time magazine covers? >> it's very easy. there is a whole thing on line that you can do that. it's pretty easy to spot. the color was wrong, the logo was wrong, it's not professional. it would never be a kind of gushy cover. >> it has ex pclamation marks a you guys don't do that. here's a white house that was determined to come out and deliver the message that the bill does not cut medicaid. that was their defense to these indefensible -- politically indefensible cuts to medicaid. so this idea that it's all fake news out there is crucial to pushing a lie like that. >> the problem is most journalists evaluate him according to previous politicians who tried to vaguely adhere to the truth. he is the authoritarian ruler who says accept my reality. that is the way he governed. we had to cover him in a different way which you're doing by exposing those things which are absolutely untrue. >> jay, as we watched the health care issue during the

vivian salaama and rick stengel back with us here in the studio. former unseth for public diplomacy and public affairs at the state department in the obama years. also the former managing editor of "time" magazine. rick i'll begin with you. is this story tonight the first clear evidence that they always and really wanted to lift sanctions as that gentleman called it, cave on russia? >> well it's just very, very strange, brian. and i mean it all does seem to fall into line. i mean, the sanctions policy against russia, because of the annexation of crimea, the quasi invasion of ukraine was something that actually was strong and powerful and putin -- really hurt putin and the people around putin. people at the state department actually wanted to do more. there was the assistant secretary for foreign affairs felt we needed to push back against russia. dan fried, who was the sanctions czar, this is something that people felt very, very strongly about, and that russia had violated the sovereignty of another nation, one of the first times since world war ii

ask your doctor about cialis. >>> welcome back to "the 11th hour," rick stengel, and mike duhain arehim? >> i think every one of these political hacks think we should be a governor or senator and every politician i work with thinks they would be a great campaign manager. doesn't surprise me, we all think we can do the other job. >> rick, speak to the situation about a president who thinks he can do everybody's job. a white house staff structure is important to allow to president to do his job which is he is trying to be the leader of the free world. if he is trying to do everyone's job around him, he really is not allowed to do his own. >> and i mean -- for those of us who grew up reading the new york post, he was his own press secretary for 40 years. >> sometimes undercover. >> exactly, those funny pr voices but basically his who life is about putting together an image of himself which is what a communications director does. >> do you think he is too concerned with his image? >> well, he has cultivated it to some success, he won the presidency based on the image he created through "

my panel, rick stengel. former managing editor of "time" magazine. and my friend, donny deutsch, branding and markieting expert. i'm going to re-brand and market you. you just -- fan favorite. i mean, i guess let me start with you, are rick, what do you think about this sort of choice he laid out for the people of choosing between the people of pittsburgh and the people of paris? >> well, first of all, i'm going to get to that in one second. >> okay. the magazine editor edits the question. >> the paris accords are nonbinding. >> right. >> there's no -- >> why not just say i'm going to improve it, make it a better deal? >> i don't know why not. no infringement on our sovereignty, no legal liability. each country crafts its own numbers. i mean, we were going to reduce our green gas emissions 27% below the 2005 levels, something very doable. we're a model for the rest of the world. we got china, the world's largest polluter, to be in it, an this pittsburgh thing which is a canard, by the way, my family is from pittsburgh. i went to the city of mayor's w

rick stengel is wi us, former undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs at the united states state department in the obama administration. also happens to be the former managing editor of "time" magazine. matthew nussbaum is back with us, white house reporter for politico. and we welcome to the broadcast, shannon petty piece, white house correspondent for bloomberg. welcome to you all. in fact rick i'm going to start with you. in the world of politics and law, there is one thing good about having a special counsel looking into your business, saying nothing of on day 141 of your administration. that one good thing is a free pass you get as long as there's a special counsel to say, i can't take that question. any questions along these lines should be referred to the special counsel. there's an investigation going on. the president didn't use that free pass today, and seemed glad to engage on the topic. >> you know, he does it in that kind of new york law way. i mean ever since he was sued in 1973 under the fair housing act, and then roy cohn his attorney, his odious attorney, c