so why would the republican majority on the foreign relations committee refuse to join that report? it's because in my judgment at least, for partisan reasons, republicans in congress and some in some parts of the media, the conservative parts of the media, have sought to undermine the russian investigation in countless ways. they have been hidden behind secrecy and innuendo. they have hidden behind secrecy and innuendo to cast aspersions on the investigation and erect roadblocks in its path. their goal, it seems, is to discredit the investigation so that ultimately they can discredit any findings that are detrimental to their party or their president. president trump makes this strategy manifest clear as day almost every day on his twitter feed. yesterday he tweeted that the russian investigation was, quote, the single greatest witchhunt in american history. that's sort of a little self-centered. how about salem, mr. president. those people were burnt at the stake. and that, quote, republicans should finally take control. that last line should send shivers down our spines that repu

what am proud of the senate foreign relations committee to highlight human rights bringing to the public's attention to pass legislation and i think senator corker on his leadership but we must do t more. third we should expose the dirty money to the kremlin. corruption provides motivation and the means to influence operations. these are criminal enterprises. u.s. treasury department should make public any intelligence related to the personal d corruption and then to cut him off and his inner circle from the international financial system. they want dollars. not trouble and by the way

as ranking member on the senate foreign relations committee he's worked to further our national security and protect human rights. he's fought to ensure that anti-corruption, transparency, and respect for human rights are integrated into our foreign policy, including through his championship of the mag nowitzki act and the global act. among a number of roles he's ban commissioner on the helsinki commission. senator cardin, it is my privilege to welcome you today. >> laura, thank you for that introduction. i also want to thank karen donfreed for her work here at the german marshall fund. it's been an incredible asset on the transatlantic relationships and encouraging dialogue and support for democratic institutions. and it's good to be here with mike chertoff. he's done an incredible service to our country. honor to be here with you, michael. i know you will hear from representative will hurd later, who has been one of the leading forces in the house against russia's malign influence. so i hope you will understand that our concern about russia's behavior is a bipartisan concern or a nonpa

a report out today from democratic senator ben cardin of the foreign relations committee, whose led the push for sanctions on the kremlin, says the u.s. won't be prepared to defend against possible russian meddling in the 2018 midterm elections. or in the next presidential cycle in 2020, unless it takes action immediately. >> putin directs these attacks with an asmymmetric arsenal, th weaponization of energy resources. >> cardin and his investigators say the u.s. and its allies have to coordinate their cyber defense against russia, have to target putin and his cronies and freeze their money. and they have only a few months to do it before the midterms. cyber investigators are warning that putin and his hackers are ready to strike this fall. >> what we would expect to see are similar efforts to leak compromising information that

yesterday senator ben cardin, the top democrat on the foreign relations committee, released a report on behalf of the minority of the foreign relations committee that documents vladimir putin two-year decade assault on democratic institutions, western values and the rule of law. this report complements a finding by the u.s. intelligence community issued last january that russia interfered in the 2016 election and will continue to interfere in our elections if not deterred. this was the unanimous conclusion of all 17 u.s. intelligence agencies, and yet president trump continues to be dismissive of claims that russia interfered. and this is not about partisanship. this is not about who won the election. this is it about whether russia is trying to disrupt our democracy. president trump's comments about what happened here is an extraordinary abdication of the president's duty to defend the country and safeguard our democracy. as our foreign relations committee reported concludes, and i quote, never before in american history has so clear a threat to national security been so clearly igno

adriano espaillat/-d-new york / foreign relations committee: we saw a small window of opportunity thatrhaps this could be resolved, he goes ahead and makes these racist remarks, throwing fuel to the fire and making it very difficult for anybody to be able to reach an agreement with him. in washington i'm kristen holmes (steve) happening now... stockton police are racing against time. searching for one-year-old twins... still missing after their parent's arrest. aaron weddles and princess canez- walker were reported missing last week. then on tuesday-- the couple were found living in a car with their three children... but the their 20-month-old twins were missing. weddles was arrested on previous drug charges... canez-walker for vandalism. both are now facing child endangerment charges as well. as the couple wait in jail... investigators and family members are frantically searching for the toddlers. (eric jones/stockton police chief): "this is a very frustrating case for investigators... and, i think, for our community. because you have two parents who are cooperating with law enforceme

it's from the committee on foreign relations, which means it's the kren, did you report others not workingy in 2017 i made a decision based on the democratic members of the senate foreign relations committee that the people had to understand what mr. putin is doing. it deals with an overall game plan to try to dominate democratic institutions in europe and in the united states. i did go over this with senator corker. it was our priority to get it started. we worked with the republicans on our committee throughout the year but we wanted to make sure that this report could be released in a timely wait. we believe the recommendations will be embased because of this was the priority that the cats brought in 2017. >> senator ben cardin, top democrat on the foreign relations committee. thank you for being here. i appreciate it. >> it's worth looking at the case studies and we'll post the link tonight. stay with us. >>> okay, this is from page 138 from the fusion gps transskicri that got released yesterday. this is about five hours in. question, it has been widely reported and mr. steele has ackn

we're back with democratic senator chris murphy of the foreign relations committee. the president says any deal that would allow the 700,000 or so d.r.e.a.m.ers to remain in the united states, in his words, must include a border wall with mexico. it's not going to happen unless there is the wall. what say you? >> well, listen, these are human beings. these are kids, right? they came here when they were 3 or 4 years old. they're americans in every sense of the word. the idea that the president is so enthusiastic about holing these kids hostage to a border wall that only the he wants is hard for a lot of americans to swallow. the fantastct of the matter is, knows what the president wants. sometimes he says he wants a concrete barrier from the gulf of mexico to the pacific ocean. other days he seems to want border fencing and technology. at some point he said he was fine wig a d.r.e.a.m.er bill going itself and dealing with border security later. evidence we get a different set of demands from the white house which makes it really hard for congress to write a bill. that

i'm frequently asked why is this not a report from the full senate foreign relations committee. let me try to explain that from the beginning because this is not a partisan report, and it's a report they expect will be embraced by both democrats and republicans in the united states congress. we have to make a decision early in 2017 as to devoting the staff resources and time in order to put this together because it was going to be a tremendous effort to get this comprehensive report done and we recognize the importance of presenting to the american people a comprehensive understanding of what russia's game plan is. we knew after the 2016 elections that we were vulnerable, but the 2016 elections was just a small part of russia's overall design to try to calm mr. putin's design, to try to compromise democratic institutions and we knew that we had to start. so we immediately informed the republican staff and senator corker our game plan of what we were doing and we kept them engaged and informed as we went through the process. so this is not an effort to exclude one party. in fact,

what am proud of the senate foreign relations committee to highlight human rights bringing to the public's attention to pass legislation and i think senator corker on his leadership but we must do t more. third we should expose the dirty money to the kremlin. corruption provides motivation and the means to influence operations. these are criminal enterprises. u.s. treasury department should make public any intelligence related to the personal d corruption and then to cut him off and his inner circle from the international financial system. they want dollars. not trouble and by the way they want the visa to other countries that is why the log really works to take away their corruption. the u.s. government should expose criminal activities associated with russia's state-owned energy sector. in addition it should issue yearly reports with tiered classification based on objective third-party corruption cases as well as efforts of corruption this is a bill that already passed the senate foreign relations committee patterned after the trafficking of persons report to fight modern-day slavery we

thursday on c-span # the senate foreign relations committee looks into u.s. policy in syria after the defeat of isis. they'll hear from the senate foreign relations committee. beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern. >> the c-span bus continues its 50 capitol tour this month. with stops in columbia, atlanta and montgomery. on each visit we'll speak with state officials. follow the tour and join us on wednesday at 9:30 a.m. eastern. for our stop in north carolina. on our washington journal guest is north carolina attorney general josh. >> one law that might see significant change is the temporary protected status program which allows foreign visitors from countries hit by national disasters to remain in the u.s. legally. we talked about the program with the president of the migration policy institute. >> our first guest of the morning. of the migration policy institute. serves as president here to talk about refugees protected under the temporary protected status program. >> this vs set up in 1990. the idea the president would have discretion to let certain people who

ben cardin is with us, the ranking member of the senate foreign relations committee. your reaction on this description for people who to want come to the united states from countries like haiti, el salvador, african countries to the united states, these are s-hole countries. i won't say the word. he did say why can't there be more people who come to the united states from countries like norway. he did meet with the prime minister of norway yesterday. >> well, america's strength is in our values and we stand for how we represent to the global community democratic principles, inclusion, et cetera, the president's comments damaged us greatly. now i think our responsibility to say that his comments do not represent america. we've got stand up and say that we won't tolerate that type of characterization as to who we want here in america, that's not what we stand for as a country. the president's comments are very damaging to our reputation. >> were you stunned? give us your reaction. i can only imagine what your colleagues who were in the oval office, seven lawmakers were

i am proud of the work that we've done on the senate foreign relations committee. working with senator corker, we have highlighted human rights throughout the year, but we need to do more. the senate foreign relations committee has recommended to the full senate that we pass legislation so we would start valuating every country and their ability to fight corruption. it's patterned after the trafficking and persons report on human trafficking. we need to get that bill enacted into law. third, we need to expose and freeze kremlin-lynched dirt -- kremlin-linked dirty money. we should declassify anything relighted to pu fine's corruption and cut off mr. putin from the inner circle of the international financial system. we know the elite class in russia do not want to hold their money and rubles. they want dollars. we've got to deny them that opportunity. by the way, they also like visas to visit the united states. they don't want to be stuck in russia. those sanctions have an impact and we need to make sure that they're enforced. and fourth, we need to create state hybr

minority staff report from the committee on foreign relations. means it's the democrats. you approach senator corker and others on the committee about working on this with you and not want to do it? or did you democrats set out to do it on your own? >> january, early in 2017, i made a decision on behalf of the democratic members of the foreign relations committee this story had to be told. american people had to understand what russia, what mr. putin is doing in our elections. it's not isolated, it's broader to compromise democratic institutions in europe and the united states. i went over it with senator corker. he was fully aware of what we've been doing. our priority to get it started. worked with republicans on our committee throughout the year, but we wanted to make sure report could be released in timely way. we believe it's not partisan report. we believe the recommendations we make will be embraced because of the need for national security. this is not partisan report, but this was priority that democrats brought in 2017. >> senator ben cardin, top democrat on the

he's a member of the intelligence and foreign relations committees. senator, thanks for joining us. >> happy new year. >> happy new year. let me begin and get your reaction to the president's tweet this morning. there were several but this one stood out. crooked hillary clinton's top aide huma abedin has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. she put classified passwords into the hands of foreign agents. remember sailors pictures on submarine, jail. deep state justice department must finally act, also on comey and others. as we pointed out, senator, that tweet is misleading on several levels, but i want your thoughts on the president's apparent belief that the justice department is now part of what he calls a deep state intend on trying to destroy his presidency. >> well, wolf, this suggests that 2018 is going to be every bit as unsettling as 2017 with regards to unfocused tweets by the president, trying to shake the very foundations of our democratic order. previous presidents may have been unhappy with the department of justice or ma

part of their agenda use these platforms and opportunities and i am proud of the senate foreign relations committee to bring these issues to public's attention but to pass legislation and i think senator corker for his leadership but we must do more. third u.s. allies should expose dirty money. corruption provides motivation in the means for those influence operations these are criminal enterprises u.s. treasury department should make public any intelligence related to his personal corruption to take steps within the european allies from the international financial system. they want dollars. not rubles which by the way they want to visit other countries cannot be stuck in russia. that that is why the law really works. to take away the fruits of their corruption in the government should expose corrupt chemical activities associated with the state owned energy sector to also issue yearly reports based on objective third-party corruption as well as governmental efforts this is a bill has already passed the senate foreign relations committee patterned after the trafficking in persons report with every

here's foreign relations committee ranking member ben r carden a few minutes ago. >> president trump must show leadership to minimize our government and the people. he needs to counter, deter all forms of russian cyber threats to the united states and around the world. >> by the way, that report was released without the blessing of republicans on the committee. and it comes less than 24 hours after another democrat, senator dianne feinstein, went around the gop to release herself the full transcript of key testimony from the co-founder of fusion gps. that's the firm that commissioned the so-called steele dossier full of links between donald trump and russia. but i want to start with the new warning from democrats. and with nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house. what can you tell us overall about what this means? >> reporter: we don't have a direct response, but we have one that might be obliquely a response from the president, who went to twitter with this message, which sounds reminiscent of things he's said very often. the greatest witchhunt continues there. everyone including t

the chairman republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee who said trump is treating his presidency as a reality show and he could lead the country into a wood three with his reckless behavior so this is something which is not only iffy on the democratic side of the it's also something that conservatives definitely fia here in washington our correspondent in washington post in phenomenon the story for us tonight karsten thank you here is some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world the so-called islamic state has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in kabul that left at least eleven people dead many others injured afghanistan officials say the attacker blew himself up near a crowd of police and protesters at least six policemen were among those killed the death toll in the south african train crash has risen to eighteen that's according to the head of the state owned rail service wajir engulfed several of the express passenger trains carriages after it smashed into a truck about two hundred kilometers south of johannesburg the count

least not the plan today it may change in the days to come when it's lecky member of the foreign relations committee of the duma he said that russia and the u.s. are in some sort of war i'm not sure what he means but by the word war what is even more important that the russian ruble was a little bit on the pressured late at least today in the early morning and that some shares of important russian companies like noted sneakily that they went south all right now let's talk about this other arguably the bigger russia related story a coming out of the u.s. so right now that of a cia director mike pompei are saying that he expects russia will meddle in the twenty thousand mid-term elections in the u.s. has the kremlin responded to that. well we haven't heard right now anything from the crown man and the cia director mike bumpier spoke about his expectations he expects as russia's going to meddle in the mid-term elections but at the same time he also made clear that he expects that there will be free and fair elections in the u.s. so as i said before here in russia oh no there's no officer reaction to th

and today democrats on the senate foreign relations committee released a 200-page report laying out two decades of russian meddling in governments not just here but around the world. according to report, and we quote here, president trump has been negligent in acknowledging and responding to the threat of u.s. national security posed by mr. putin's meddling and that russia, quote, will continue to develop and refinance an arsenal to use democracies around the world including against u.s. elections in 2018 and 2020. senator ben carden, democrat of maryland, spoke for the group. >> in the united states our president has not taken this seriously. he's basically said he's not even sure russia was involved in our elections, and we know for sure that they were. so we don't have the presidential leadership. we don't have a national game plan that recognizes the risk that russia presents to our national security. >> this morning on twitter president trump waded into the fray with an attack on the ranking democrat on the judiciary committee, one of three committees investigating russian meddling

we have the release of this non sanctions list which the chairman of the foreign relations committee in the duma called basically the phone book at the kremlin which didn't impose any new sanctions right and then of course we have this five day time limit to release this memo which the g.o.p. in the house actually drafted which is currently classified which he has to make the call on but i don't think that russia will get much mention in this speech because you know it will put the president himself on the defensive and if it does get a mention it'll probably get mentioned in the context of two areas one the need to build up the u.s. military which is clearly a point that he wants to make and to the need to liberalize energy exports which is another agenda item that he wants to really push so those are the two places i think you could meet you could see russia mentioned but i don't think he's going to respond defensively to allegations that he colluded during the campaign and what about north korea so if you look at the foreign policy agenda you have four issues that he's going to re

a.m.enate beats at 10:00 the senate foreign relations committee looks at syria. that is live on c-span3. in the afternoon, for energy secretary talks about proliferation at 4:00 on c-span. announcer: this week, the supreme court heard arguments over voting rights. argument in its entirety friday night at 8:00 on sees dan -- on c-span. you can follow the oral arguments schedule at c-span.org/supreme court. you will see a list of all current justices. video-on-demand, you can watch all the arguments we have aired. announcer: at the white house today, the president hosted the prime minister of norway. they took question

and what these countries have been dealing with for years formulations, democrats of the foreign relations committee did a report on this which was no surprise based on what we have heard they have seen this movie before. they get mad at estonia, rushed us, there's a big [inaudible] and the cut off their internet simply because they moved a statue of a russian soldier from a public square into a cemetery where the other statutes like that were. or in one of the countries that would be latvia or lithuania when they are having their 25th anniversary of independence they invite some of the ukrainian parliamentarians who are in exile from mia in the invite that to the celebration and then they cut off the internet in russia gets mad of the parliamentarians from the country. this kind of stuff has been going on for a long time and the fake ads and the influence of election and the best example i have was we heard it directly when we were in munich a few months later from the norwegian minister told us this directly and that the russians had been mad at norway because they been building up their military

host: let's take a look at this abc news report about how democrats on the senate foreign relations committeere responding to donald trump's attention to this issue. it says president donald trump has ignored the threat posed by vladimir putin to western democracies, including the united states, leaving a vacuum tot presents a challenge america's national security and foreign policy interests, according to a new report democrats on the senate floor and relations committee. the report released and made public is the first from on this about russian interference over the years ahead of the greatly anticipated findings from the senate intelligence and judiciary committee. let's look at what the foreign relations committee, a democrat from maryland, said about russian interference in 2016. [video clip] -- we are clear that several european countries have stuck up to the challenge. it was a wake-up call which led to political resolve an action. for others, the directive these russian tools have been present for decades and they have organized accordingly. we learned through this investigation that

your other foreign relations committee, you've been well-briefed on u.s.orth korean relationships right now. have you been told that, a, the president probably has a good relationship with kim jong-un and they've actually spoken? >> it's inconceivable that the president is saying that he has a good relationship with kim jong-un. i have no idea what basis he has for that assertion. would it be good for our country if there were ongoing negotiations, progress being made in terms of de-escalation and addressing the nuclear threat to south korea, japan and to the united states that we faced from kim jong-un, yes, that would be good. my new year's resolution was to be hopeful. there is no basis and fact for this. we had a briefing earlier today on north korea. i think it would be a huge surprise to the senate to know that the president has been speaking directly to kim jong-un and that they've somehow developed a warm and positive relationship. >> he was asked have you spoken to kim jong-un. he said, i don't want to comment on it. i'm not saying i have or haven

also at 10:00, the senate foreign relations committee looks to u.s. strategy in syria now that isis has been ousted from raqqa. that is live on c-span3. in the afternoon, former energy secretary ernest monet's toxic nuclear proliferation at 4:00 p.m. on c-span. announcer: watch c-span's profile series on administration officials. this week, energy secretary rick perry. >> today, as we market u.s. ,roduced liquefied natural gas as we sell our technology on carbon capture, being able to use coal in a responsible way to other countries, the department of energy, those national labs, 17 national labs are probably some of the best investment that the american taxpayer made over the course of the years because of the basic research that was done there and the commercialization of that research to change people's lives. perry fridayck night at 8:00 eastern on c-span, c-span.org and the free read -- c-span radio app. announcer: at the white house today, president trump hosted the prime minister of norway. they met in the oval office and took questions from re

adriano espaillat/-d-new york / foreign relations committee: we saw a small window of opportunity thatrhaps this could be resolved, he goes ahead and makes these racist remarks, throwing fuel to the fire and making it very difficult for anybody to be able to reach an agreement with him. in washington i'm kristen holmes ((pam)) tonight bay area lawmakers are sounding off on the president's comments.((fsc)) california senator kamala harris tweeted this... 'immigrants from countries across the globe - including and especially those from haiti and all parts of africa - have helped build this country. they should be welcomed and celebrated, not demeaned and insulted.'((fsc)) california senator dianne fienstein also weighed in... she tweeted'the president's reported comments about our allies in latin about our allies in latin america and africa are disgusting. they diminish america's standing in the world... and should be denounced by every member of congress.'((fsc))and house minority leader nancy pelosi tweeted'sad comment from @realdonaldtrump. all the more reason to focus on getting an a

you remember the foreign relations committee today. north korea say its weapons, nuclear weapons, conventional weapons, ballistic missiles their aimed, they say the north koreans, exclusively at the united states, not against south korea, for example. how concerning is that to you? >> well, obviously it's good that the north koreans and south koreans are talking about athletes from north korea being able to participate in the olympics. that's good. but the north korean diplomat took the opportunity to make it clear that they are still intensifying their efforts towards developing a miniaturized hydrogen bomb to be put on an icbm that can reach any city in the united states. that's a threat to us. and that's why the president, that is president trump, still has not imposed the kind of sanctions, and by that i mean cutting off the crude oil that flows from china into south korea -- into north korea, rather, in place. because that's what fuels their economy, it's what fuels their icbm and nuclear weapons program. and unless and until that

you mentioned i'm on the foreign relations committee for years. i've been concerned about russia's interference, particularly in democracies around the world and meddling in our own election. it's not new. they did it before donald trump and they'll do it after donald trump unless we make some changes. there was a report issued this week about some of the meddling in eastern european countries. it's trying to increase uncertainty and instability in these democracies and it needs to be addressed. >> are you concerned that the president thinks it's a witch hunt and now says he doesn't know if he'll sit down with bob mueller? >> i think he's focused more on the issue of his campaign and the issue of collusion. i don't think he disagrees with the fact that the russians have been meddling not just in our elections but in other elections as well. >> do you know that? he doesn't say it. that's why i asked you for clarification. >> i think the facts are pretty clear and i think they're very clear in fact, and i know that he and his team are concerned abou

ed royce, the chairman of the foreign relations committee is one of these. one of the 23 lawmakers who are republican members of the house from districts carried by hillary clinton in the 2016 election. three that you count chairman royce and three announced they are resigning. these are the most competitive races as the democrats try to take back the house. 31 republican members already, we are in january and they said they are retiring or leaving the house to run for something else. seven of them including ed royce announced yesterday for chairman. some of the most powerful members of the house. the chairman deciding i've had enough. run for something else or want to go home. those are important numbers. here's the most important. mid-term election year, a president's first is generally defined by this number. what do the american people think. do they approve or disapprove. this president remains historically unpopular. 37%. in 2010 he was at 46% right around election day. president trump has time to recover, but he is nine points below where president ob

indistinct audio ] [ indistinct audio ] >> the foreign relations committee will come to order. we thank our distinguished witness for being with us today. we regret the department was unable to

counterpart, senator tom connolly of texas, with whom vandenberg alternated chairing the foreign relations committee, he asked them both to be delegates to the post-war peace conferences where the foreign ministers were meeting in paris at the luxembourg palace to settle peace agreements with italy, with romania, all the countries that had fought on the side of germany. vandenberg spent the year, 1946, in a diplomatic role that was unprecedented and still is for a united states senator. and then he's chairman of the foreign relations committee when george marshall proposes a very ambitious campaign to help rebuild europe. becomes the marshall plan. vandenberg is the legislative engineer who puts that through the congress. and then economic security isn't enough to rebuild europe, there's also the increasing threat of the red army occupying central europe and a new society behind, a phrase vandenberg used, the iron a ne curtain. so the western european democracies come to the u.s. and say we need a security agreement. we need a military alliance. and vandenberg, wrote the vandenberg resolution that w

president trump from it and that's why we had we saw senator corker the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee and ranking member ben cardin who is the senior democratic member of the senate foreign relations committee reportedly go to the white house yesterday to have a meeting with h.r. mcmaster to discuss that so basically what they're doing is they're getting creative in order to distance the deal from president trump because that's what he wants but at the same time they want to preserve the integrity of the deal least that's what my inside sources tell me. to leave it really is. so much for joining us from washington d.c. office thank you for having me. still ahead here on the al-jazeera news the army steps up to help contain a cholera outbreak in zambia. and a brutal cold spell groups the u.s. east coast at least eighteen people killed after one of the strongest winter storms in modern history class. i'm. sorry but. that was the week. for the latest report in our series on what we think will be some of the biggest stories of the year when the refugee camp in bangladesh it's now home to

. >>> and the senate foreign relations committee hold committees to discuss the incidents that sickened cui 20 w workers and their families began to experience strange . critics says it they were targeted by a precise device like a sonic weapon. cuban officials deny any involvement. and they cast doubt that they y sonic attacks. >>> a spy satellite launched into space appears to have been lost. just yesterday we you how space x launched satellite from capeaveral airport in florida. zuma was suppose to separate after the second stage of the falcon 9 rocket. they report that the satellite did not separate and plunged back into the atmosphere. the government season space x are not commenting. >>> californians that dealt with wild fires in california are now dealing with the threat of mudslides. they are watching and waiting to see if tons of mud can be contained behind barriers. and to the south and santa barbara and ventura counties, people living near hillsides were told to evacuate. now creeks are ragings of debris and large rocks and debris. >>> and now apple is facing a fraudon for se

. >> reporter: this is a report put out by the democrats on the foreign relations committee here in the senate. they did it with just democratic members and staff and they did it with just open source information. this is not a classified document. this doesn't deal with classified intelligence. it's purely with what we in the public could and democrats have decided should know. the report goes back decades and details the buildup of russia's efforts to destabilize other democracies, to interfere in other countries' elections. it shows putin developing this asymmetrical ability to interfere in elections. it admonishes the trump administration and republicans for not doing enough and it lists some changes it thinks the united states could make. but the trump administration is saying essentially without the president agreeing this is a problem that needs to get addressed, it doesn't really go anywhere. i want to read you a segment of the report. while president trump stands practically idle, mr. putin continues to refine his asymmetric arsenal and look for future opportunities to disrupt

. >> "outfront" now with democratic senator jeff merkley, member of the senate foreign relations committeethank you for your time. first, i want you to respond to the tweet itself where the president says in part "i, too, have a nuclear button, but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his and my button works." your response? >> well, this type of dialogue, my button is bigger than yours, on such a serious topic really undermines our dialogue with the world in taking on the challenges that north korea presents. the world is already aware that the president doesn't delve deeply into topics, doesn't absorb much complexity and considers him to be something of a buffoon. but on something as serious as nuclear war or the use of nuclear weapons, to treat in such a glib fashion really undermines the foundation for cooperation with other states. >> so, the questions about mental fitness that were asked repeatedly by several reporters, where do you stand on that? is that a fair question right now? >> well, i'm very concerned about his mental state because the decision-making role of the pr

the senate foreign relations committee looks at syria. that is live on c-span3. in the afternoon, for energy secretary talks about proliferation at 4:00 on c-span. announcer: this week, the supreme court heard arguments over voting rights. here the argument in its entirety friday night at 8:00 on sees dan -- on c-span. you can follow the oral arguments schedule at c-span.org/supreme court. you will see a list of all current justices. with video-on-demand, you can watch all the arguments we have aired. announcer: at the white house today, the president hosted the prime minister of norway. they took questions in a press conference. president trump: thank you very much. i am honored to welcome the prime minister of norway to the white house. it has been a pleasure to host you today. as we strengthen the friendship between our two countries, we have so much in common. >> the president tweeted -- on the sunday news joe today, the president's remarks about haiti and african nations. begin with a senator who was in that meeting. says he didn't recall -- this morning, he

you and your colleagues on the foreign relations committee, your democrat colleagues, have gathered evidenceies about russian interference in democracies. you put out a report this week, 200 pages long, an extraordinary read. you documented evidence of russian operations in 19 european countries. that's right. a stunning moment in our history as a nation. we have such a clear and well documented assault, not just such a clear and well documented assault, notjust on america's democracy, but on the democracies and the electoral systems of so many of our allies across europe and the west in the democratic world. our president is failing to call this clearly for what it is. and organised russian campaign of aggression to undermine democracy. he is failing to step up and prepare the united states for its next election, and to come to the aid and support of vital allies in europe, as your elections continue to be threatened and undermined by this behaviour by russia, it is flabbergasting. it is a failure of leadership to protect notjust the united states and our homeland, but what makes us a democ

jane: also in davos is republican senator bob corker, chairman of the foreign relations committee. he has had some infamous spats with the white house, but my colleague katty kay asked if he -- this donald trump has done a good job on the world stage. senator corker: from the beginning i've criticized things that i thought need to be criticized but i have also applauded those things that need to be applauded. again, you and i were talking before we came on here, the economic situation around the world is different than people thought at this time. what he has done in the country is release the animal spirits. i don't think there's any question that with the dereg and tax reform, it is not only affecting us, it is affecting other countries that trade with us, which is most of them. so i think, again, support those things that you think are good for the country and the world , and sometimes some of the comments i wish were made in a different way. katty: right, but all the things you deal with from the national security point of view, whether it is north korea or the middle east or r

hodges welcome to conflict zone thanking show republican senator bob corker the head of the foreign relations committee of the u.s. senate said president donald trump threatens other nations in such a way it could lead to a third the world war do you agree. well course as a soldier my job is to make sure that our soldiers are as well prepared as they can be for whatever contingency. should arise our focus is on deterrence. working as part of the alliance most successful alliance in the world in history the world so but senator bob corker said if we want to speak more about this vote that the president of the united states is today more a danger than a help for peace i mean again i don't know trump threatens other nations in such a way it could lead to with third world war two you agree with that i think that the president has done everything that the previous administration said it was going to do the president and this administration has lived up to every commitment as far as the alliance goes and that's what i'm focused on rotational forces preposition equipment and henceforward presence that's all p

by russia's presence in the area. >> the foreign relations committee will come to order. >> we thank our distinguished witness for being with us today. we regret the department was unable to send a witness. this is the committee's second hearing of congress on the syrian conflict, but it's been raised during many of our meetings. to date, more than 400,000 people have been killed in the syrian conflict. more than 12 million people, roughly half of all syrians, are displaced and the assad regime bears overwhelming responsibility for this destruction and extremism it has spawned. however, none of this would have been possible without the support of iran and russia, both of which intervened on assad's behalf to extend influence in a region and counter the u.s. and its partners. with the support of the u.s. and coalition partners, the syrian democratic forces succeeded in sweeping isis out of raqqah in october. of course, despite losing much of its territory in syria and iraq, isis remains a major threat. and there's also the ongoing danger posed by al qaeda, syria, and affiliates which

against alleged russian interference senators have drawn up a two hundred page report for the foreign relations committee the measures include the creation of a new into agency cell modeled on the national counterterrorism center the senate has proposed spending more than two hundred fifty million dollars on building institutions in europe and eurasia to counter at leisure russian meddling the report also suggests preemptive sanctions against so-called state hybrid threat actors and finally social media companies would be required to track down propaganda and make all income from political adverts public political analyst charles will tell told us the report is based on false information. it's really shameful it's fake accounting of history it's not objective it doesn't really have a proper context and i think serious objective people when they look at this and they try to weigh up the various ways in which we could spend money this won't be won i don't think that that committee reflects. the will of the american people or even indeed the will of congress i think democrats tend to vote as a bloc and this