douglas lute and david ignatius, thank you for joining us. stay with msnbc for complete coverage of tomorrow's trump/putin summit in helsinki. join me, david gura and andrea mitchell tomorrow at 4:00 a.m., yes, just 11 hours away or so, eastern as we kick off our special coverage. but coming up first from the weeks infamous peter strzok hearing to a reported effort to impeach rod rosenstein this week, republicans keep up the heat on the fbi and the justice department. also the champagne is flowing in paris even more than usual after a world cup victory there. we'll be right back. ♪ this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ sfx: [cell phone dialing] no. no, no, no, no, no. cancel. cancel. please. aaag

and it's in such vivid detail that david ignatius is right. they know we're on to him and they can't use the same methods again. despite having this glaring evidence blinking in front of his eyes, this weekend donald trump did not criticize vladimir putin, because he never has, instead, this is what he said about the european union, our closest allies. >> i think we have a lot of foes. i think the european union is a foe, what that do to us in trade. you wouldn't think of the european union but they're a foe. russia is a foe in certain respects. china is a foe of economically certainly they're a foe. but that doesn't mean they're bad. it doesn't mean anything. it means that they're competitors. they want to do well and we want to do well. and we're starting to do well. >> you know, mike barnacle, we've talked about it before. the european union remains our closest economic ally, our strongest economic ally. they also remain our strongest military ally with a military budget larger than china's and far larger than russia's and donald trump actu

david ignatius, what does your gut -- go for it. >> yeah. us that people with money at risk are nervous about the accelerating risk of a real trade war. we to have additional tariffs coming in to force at the end of this week. sarah in the last report made reference to a statement by the chamber of commerce president, tom donahue, as mainstream, traditional, a business republican as you can find. he warned last thursday that these tariff/counter-tariff measures could have a destructive effect on the u.s. economy, could be damaging for economic growth and jobs. that came at the same time as a statement from general motors, a huge american auto company, that it will be hurt if the tariffs continue and expand, go into the auto sector. you are seeing more and more businesspeople warning that this trade war is not easy, as president trump likes to say, is not easy to win a trade war. it is going to have real consequences, and we are beginning to see the signs of that in the financial markets. >> all right. coming up on "morning joe", our next gue

national nets which would really undercut the economic and social value of what the internet is. >> david ignatiusn. david? >> i want to ask secretary chertoff about one issue that may be on the agenda in helsinki when president trump and president putin meet, and that is the idea of global cyber regime, of global set of rules and standards administered through the united nations or some international organization. the russians, as you know, secretary chertoff have been pushing this idea for the last few years. last few years. a lot of americans resist the idea that russians and chinese would write the rules for everybody. what do you think? >> first of of all, i do think we need to have some global rules, a kind of -- what microsoft has described as a geneva convention in cyberspace. we need to reinforce the idea that the fact we're operating in cyberspace does not mean you can attack civilians or undermine civil institutions. on the other hand, the question is who administers this? the russians and the chinese often want to have it be the u.n. because they believe they can dominate that process.

like david ignatius, i spent a lot of time as a correspondent in russia in the 1980s.rbach" about the dissidents. it just wasn't about communism, it was about totalarianism. it was over and over again the individual right to freedom. that's what happened when you went to that part of moscow. you saw that welling up with america as the guiding star. now the united states government and republicans in the senate who went to moscow and donald trump is doing putin's bidding are not the guiding star, they are the ones following this authoritarian, anti-democratic time of policies that putin that's been trying typical pose and successfully imposing all over europe and helping the american system with it in the past couple of years. >> you know, bob costa, you've seen up close, you have followed the conservative movement, the history of the conservative movement. it certainly is. we certainly do find ourselves at a strange, strange time in 2018 that a party that worshipped, that worshipped freedom under ronald reagan and not only in america but across the globe, and actually

so, david ignatius and jon meacham, david, i remember you ending the show one day your final thought at risk. it was one of the many days where the president himself had manipulated the truth. do you have a question for alexander? >> i do. you know, mika, we talk about the post-truth era that we've entered. it's a frightening thought. i want to ask alexander one thing that concerns me about trump's tweets but tweets in general is that they're not in my way mediated. in some ways that's the best thing about them, direct communication person to person, but there's no curation. what do you think about that problem? do you think there's a solution that doesn't take away the inherent spontaneity and freedom of this new medium, but in some way keeps better filters on it? >> i think twitter's job here so to ensure that the american people have context because absent context we're not going to be able to preserve i think the nuance and sophistication that this republic was founded on. it was founded on ideals. the four freedoms, for instance, are in this book. it's really i think essential t

intelligence saw that and immediately had sirens going off in their heads. >> betsy woodruff, david ignatius the next book? >> i hope, i hope it can live up to real life. >> real life is too much like a novel. coming up next, more from right here at the aspen security forum. it's pretty amazing out there. the world is full of more possibilities than ever before. and american express has your back every step of the way- whether it's the comfort of knowing help is just a call away with global assist. or getting financing to fund your business. no one has your back like american express. so where ever you go. we're right there with you. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. don't live life without it. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making america's #1 shave. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. now starting at $7.99.

david ignatius, your thoughts? katty, this is just a remarkably undiplomatic diplomacy. one of the british papers, "the daily mirror" headlined, the ego has landed, when he got to britain, and to see all of this entirely in terms of his own negotiating skill. that was a part of the interview i found most amazing. well, i wouldn't have done that way. i tried to tell her but she didn't listen to me. almost as if he was going to punish her for not following his tutelage and eager to show he knows how to negotiate. other people don't. it illustrates what an isolated position the united states has these days. >> yep. >> estranged from the european union, traditionally key allies, estranged from great britain, traditionally our closest ally. the president arrives with a dagger. he stabbed theresa may not in the back, in the front on arrival, and it's just extraordinary. whether her government can survive, as katty suggested, is the real question. >> their joint news conference will be fascinating. we look forward to that

now msnbc news national security analyst jeremy bash and associate editor for "washington post" david ignatius and washington anchor for bbc world news america katie kay. richard haus summed up yesterday with two tweets. in the late afternoon richard first tweeted today is ending considerably better than it started. one, postponement of putin visit, two, possible u.s./eu trade truce, three secretary pompeo declaring u.s. -- richard tweeted this. i tweeted today ended better than it gan ignoring yogi's wisdom that it ain't over till it's over. now some congressmen claiming to be conservatives have move to impeach the deputy attorney general. we'll start right there. a group of republicans in the house have introduced articles of impeachment against rod rosenstein in connection to special counsel robert mueller's probe. the resolution introduced by house freedom caucus and nine other co-sponsors accuses rosenstein of blocking oversight. they claim he withheld documents and made misleading statements on the matter. a spokesman tells nbc news it is not considered a privileged motion whether it com

we're to be switch sides if david ignatius's reporting is correct. he says that the post, quote, the catastrophic warrer in syria is nearing what could be a diplomatic end game that will, quote, preserve power for syrian president bashar al assad. quote, trump appears ready to embrace a policy that will validate assad, an authoritarian leader who has gassed his own people. he appears ready to abandon a syrian opposition that was supplied by the united states. quote, trump's willingness to accede to russian power in syria and to give up hard won u.s. gains troubles many pentagon officials. but they seem to be losing the argument. we don't know exactly why ahead of this year's midterm elections president trump has hastily arranged this one-on-one summit that he is about to have with vladimir putin. we don't know why ahead of that summit he is rushing to tick off all of america's allies and to tick off every foreign policy box you can conceivably imagine russia might have in terms of a wish list from the u.s. government, but that's what he's doing. and

it was the iranians and david ignatius could correct me if i'm wrong. the iranians who actually helped us get a better grasp of what was going on in afghanistan. it's very complicated world out there and if donald trump declares war on all fronts, then we're going to be ineffective on all fronts. >> two possibilities here. one is it's a lot less complicated than we think. and that he's just now taking to a global stage the ways and means in which he rose to power here. nato is, this is the politics of grievance. the politics of resentment. >> nato is now playing the role of rosie o'donnell. >> he's attacking -- >> i think that's a good analysis. >> he needs a villain and we mentioned boxing, david mentioned boxing, but, really, his real sport, remember, professional wrestling. that's the most important thing to remember. you pretend to fight, but, still, somebody gets hurt. >> actually a lot of people in this case get hurt. quickly, the other possibility is this is part of an unusually elaborate, potentially unprecedented story of undo pressure being pu

david ignatius said this. he called carter smart, decent but unlucky man in the white house. i was deputy secretary of the cabin and i had a second row seat to the first half of the presidency. i left in 1978 but stayed in touch. my late husband and i met in the roosevelt room and the west wing. president carter credits himself with our over 30 years of marriage. sydney surfer a time which has played a big role in the carter post presidency. that is not covered in the book but has lasted for decades. so when you write the book about the post presidency it has to be a minimum 8000 pages. this morning, sue will give 15 minutes of opening comments followed by a panel which i will moderate we will go to your questions. our goal is to tease out the successes and disappointments of the hard-working and principled president. i want to echo what madeleine albright says. she says that she hopes this book will help reframe the carter presidency. so i. please welcome wilson center scholar. [applause] >> thank you. thank you for your long friendship and for hosting this. jimmy carter's p

for more i'm joined by david ignatius, columnist with the "washington post." you know, i get this terrible sense that the neocons are back in power. is it john bolton? this talk. i sense they're pushing regime change again. since when is the united states focused on corruption in other countries? we're looking for a cause for war it looks to be. your thoughts. >> i think we're pushing very hard. i think the president's tweet was his own personal stamp on an iran policy that's been developing over months. it's not just since bolton came in. i think this is a passion for mike pompeo. i think we have to understand, chris, that president trump thinks that the north korea summit, the diplomacy with kim jong un, showed that his fire and fury approach, these tweets threatening war, language that we never hear from presidents, works. that's what he's concluded. and i think he's going it try the same playbook now with iran with the same risks, the same rixz of conflict -- >> iran is a real country. it's not something created by churchill, the cairo conference. it's per

just let me give you one of the headlines in the washington post you know from david ignatius is strong playing good portion of victory in syria why because russia has become in any dissent indispensable regional but also immediately who can establish what relationship they're on in israel or for these needs to be prevented who is right in this centrist not what they. want is this is something that's affecting the tire west and i would like to take the french for example about. you know after the bomb. shell syrian territory. against this bombing in france the center right there right and they're trying to the center left in france what people it's not what the rest of the of the of the french of thought he was against there in the first two or on the french and the action. if you take all the process of people over to. wanting to have to get out of sanctions against russia. you know invading . the country it was seventy percent of the french people and. the left for intervening in public opinion polls as mark is meant to is that the american public are tired of these interventions ok a

just let me give you one of the headlines in the washington post you know from david ignatius is strong painted unfortunate victory in syria why because russia is becoming any just indispensable regional but also immediately who can establish what relationship they're on in israel or for these needs to be prevented who is right in this centrist what they. want is this is something that's affecting the west and i would like to take the french for example abilities of both is why you know after the bomb. shell syrian territory. against this bomb being in france the center right there right and their product to the center left in france was for people not in the. rest of the. team was against the ring the first two were on the french and they. should take all the. people are voting for wanting to have to get out of sanctions against russia. you know invading. the country it was seventy percent of the french people and. the left for intervening in public opinion polls as mark is meant to is that the american public are tired of interventions ok all right gentlemen i want to talk about one o

just let me give you one of the headlines in the washington post you know from david ignatius is strong playing good portion of victory in syria why because russia is becoming any just indispensable regional but also immediately who can establish what relationship they're on in israel or for these needs to be prevented who is right in this centrist not what they. want is this is something that's affecting the west and i would like to take the french example abilities of oh this is why you know after the bomb. shell syrian territory. against this bomb being in france the center right there right and their product to the center left in france was for people not but the rest of the of the of the french of thought he was against there in the first two are on the french and they. should take all the processes of people of voting for. wanting to have to get out of sanctions against russia. you know invading. the country it was seventy percent of the french people and. the left for intervening in public opinion polls as mark is meant to is that the american public are tired of these interventi

also columnist for "the washington post" david ignatius. and jim vanda high.re so many ways donald trump and his team try to distract, but there can be no mistake about what this week's, this month's, this year's most shocking headline really is politically, and that is that donald trump went to helsinki and he adapted, he adopted -- and don't believe your public servants on "morning joe." you can listen to commentators on russian state television, and they will say that donald trump has adopted the soviet union's position on nato and that he's -- what he did in helsinki was nothing short of disregard u.s. national intelligence and also drive a wedge between our allies in europe that, well, helped us win a cold war. >> well, helsinki was a disaster and the white house knows it. the wheel that followed helsinki was a disaster, and the white house knows it. you had the president of the united states being pushed into a corner, forced to come out and say, yes, i agree with the intelligence community's assessment that russia interfered with our election and totall

the washington post you know from david ignatius is strong playing good portion of victory in syria why because russia is becoming any just indispensable regional but also immediately who can establish what relationship you're on in israel or for these needs to be prevented who is right in this centrist what they. want is this is something that's affecting the west and i would like to take the french for example. you know after the. shell syrian territory. against this being in france the center right right and they were trying to the center left in france was for people not that the rest of the of the of the french of quality was against there in the first two on the french election. if you take all the. people of voting for a party wanting to have to get out of sanctions against russia. you know invading. the country it was seventy percent of the french people and and so said his party left for intervening in public opinion polls as mark is meant to is that the american public are tired of your vengeance ok all right gentlemen i want to talk about one other important topic in this par

vladimir putin owns donald trump, and both of the men know it and david ignatius, i -- i cannot imagine what it's like being dan coats this morning, or being somebody in america's intel agencies that have delivered the goods to the commander in chief. have proven the attacks took place and where the attacks came from, and -- how they -- how they were launched. in fact, who specifically launched them and from what buildings half way across the world they've been launched in. this should be a moment in america's intel community for celebration. they got a chance to prove that they are the best and the brightest on the planet. instead they have a president who yesterday defended vladimir putin and his spy agencies against forensic evidence that cannot be denied. what -- how do they go to work this morning? what do they do? what is their attitude? >> joe, i think this was a tipping point. i wrote yesterday, you could almost hear the fabric of trump's presidency ripping after he said those words. i made a point of talking to a number of former intelligence officers after he made those commen

david ignatius suggested that the president and putin might be working toward a deal over syria that would basically recognize the assad regime's permanence there, basically giving up our support for so-called moderate rebel groups in syria and then in which exchange the russians would try to reduce the level of iranian influence in syria. so president trump has expressed a desire to get out of syria about that and it is possible that he would find a way there to do that, but that would also be ceding significant russian influence. and russians are also looking for more influence in eastern euro europe. >> all right. guys, great to chat with you both. thank you so much. >>> happening now, rescuers racing around the clock save those 12 boys and their soccer coach from that flooded cave in thailand. they have been trapped for nearly two weeks now. the stakes are higher with expected torrential rains as early as sunday. and the dropping oxygen levels. let's go to bill neely there from thailand. bill, it is a frightening tale. lots of concern there. what is the latest? >> reporter: frigh

in: the one novelist i like half then reading lately is david ignatius. does.fan of what he and he serious reporter knows washington inside out and his books are nice sequels to norman mailer. that would be one example. i have done a project in -- on colorado writers and there are some delightful colorado writers. jim's mission or's -- james michener's novel. around america selling consciousness expansion without giving thought to the realities. peoplese pathetic thought they could buy peace and understanding for three bucks ahead. their loss and failure is ours too. illusion ofdown the a lifestyle he helped create. a generation of eminent cripples , failed seekers, who never understood the essential old mystic fallacy of the acid culture, the desperate assumption that somebody or some force is tending the light at the end of the tunnel. host: why hunter thompson? tom: i met him and i asked if he would watch monday night football in the mid-1970's. he was a character. the movie was a total flop. although johnny depp had a pretty good performance. hismovie

. >> we have cady kay and david ignatius and co-founder of axios mike allen. >> we have to start, thoughy for some people, very long weekend. but cady,

. >> and david ignatius, nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of kasie d.c.ambassador to nato and former state department spokesman nicholas burns, professor of diplomacy and international

. >>> let's go to david ignatius for "the washington post" and political analyst. we have rick stangle. he's a former managing editor at "time" magazine and an political analyst along with julie smith, a former national security adviser to vice president biden. she's also a former principal director for european nato policy at the pentagon. you guys have too many former titles. >> agreed. >> david, let's start with you. >> i'm not former anything. >> no, david, you're just current everything to us. how about that? let's talk about the president's very angrily going after nato, this is his default position. we've seen him do it. what is the risk of unraveling this alliance? it is a real risk and if that's not a risk, what's all the hubbub about it other than his bad acting? >> i think your correspondent geoff was right in saying it's unlikely that the u.s. would formally pull out of nato. the problem is, is that nato is an alliance that's absolutely predicated on the credibility of america's commitment to defend its european allies. that's really what nato's all abo

david ignatius continues to watch with us. i'd love to get you on the record of the last conversation we had here. the relative size and strength of the russian economy, especially when compared to the united states. and just matters of stature and balance and whether the u.s. in having -- in holding any of this event is punching down. >> i think that's really an important point. the russians and especially vladimir putin have a real chip on their shoulder about having lost what they thought of as superpower status. the reality is the russian economy simply hasn't modernized in the way that so many people expected. it's still largely a one-commodity export commodity. it produces oil and gas and sells then. that's the principle source of income. they aspire to have a modern i.t. sector. they have a lot of smart computer scientists. they never really have crossed that threshold. so we do have to remember as loud as putin talks on the world stage, as seriously as he's taken, that this is not a first order competitor. when people

now msnbc news national security analyst jeremy bash and associate editor for "washington post" david ignatiusr bbc world news america katie kay. richard haus summed up yesterday with two tweets. in the late aft

let's bring in tonight's panel, danielle pletka, david ignatius and carol lee, national political reporter who doesn't just contribute here, she works here full time for nbc news. carol, thank you. mr. ignatius, you wrote about this this morning, so i'll let you tee off here. i feel like there's two conversations. dani and i were talking about this in the green room. try to have a conversation about the issues with nato and subtract trump's personality, but let me start the conversation this way. why is the president doing this so publicly? >> i think this was the diplomatic version of trash talking. i think he has convinced himself that destabilizing friends, adversaries, people in our political culture works for him. i think every time we go, oh, my gosh, he didn't do that, i think he probably thinks this is going the way i want. i think he went to brussels determined to pick a fight. he sat down at breakfast and action bam, these very intemperate sharp comments to call germany captive of russia is extraordinary. but i think he did it to put people off balance. the formal agreements seem

. >> we're joined by the great "washington post" veteran, david ignatius.ay, cautiously, that we have been -- we have heard the command for members of the news media to take their seats. it won't be that long now. what a bold stroke it would be, david, for the president to raise aloft the document and say, i have taken care to have it translated to russian. here are just the latest indictments of professionals from your country and how they affected our electoral process. i don't imagine, david, you think the chances are high, that he will hand deliver that document at this event. >> it would be a bold stroke, and it is impossible for me to imagine it. in a sense, it doesn't matter whether he does that or not. robert mueller has done it. the indictment that was issued on friday is a statement by our justice department, by not the deep state, but by the united states government. holding these russians responsible for their actions and detailing exactly how they sought to manipulate our country. in a perfect world, you'd have an american president who would -

. >> and now washington post columnist david ignatius is issuing a warning ahead of the meeting. trump's concession and his inability to hold putin responsibility makes him write trump should consider the possibility that held sen can i. improving relations with russia is a worthy goal so long as it doesn't undermine security or reward bad behavior. >> i read you have a new piece up on national review saying the witches are real. the president has been calling this mueller investigation a witch hunt. you're certainly taking it seriously. we talk so much about the president's been making the case that this is my enemies, the democrats. these are the clinton die hards who don't want to respect what happened in 20 16. do you see anything in the news, in the indictment, in the coverage of it that's going to change how this is sort of percolating on the right? >> well, certainly not in the hard core trump base. immediately the response was yet again we see no collusion. even though there were the very interesting paragraphs in the indictment indicating that there was direct communicat

>>host: to other national security riders we have had david ignatius and david baldacci? you read them? >> i do. i like david ignatius a lot and not only read his fiction but also his nonfiction he is one hell of a storyteller i have never met him i said at a dinner where he spoke but have not met him in person but that david's book the director i did a blurb on that him body lives was also a fabulous movie i'm a big fabulous movie i'm a big same one -- pain. >> some of your favorite author authors. >> a lot of people don't remember sydney show. i went to school in paris my junior year i could find a fabulous bookstore called shakespeare and company and george was an amazing guy i could get my hands on sheldon books and doomsday conspiracy was one of my favorites with american military intelligence operative i was excited about his writing and that led me to the david morrell. he had some romance death as well that and actually dictated them with the stenographers in his office dictated his novels which i thought was interesting. >> pillars of the year this may all find f

david ignatius i like a lot because i not only read his fiction, i read his nonfiction. i like baldaci, never met him, i sat at a dinner where he spoke but i have not met him. i've not met ignatius, but i did a blurb on the director, and unbelievable book and fabulous movie with russell crowe and leonardo dicaprio. >> host: some of the authors are your favorites, your favorite books include ken follett, stephen king, sidney sheldon. >> guest: a lot of people don't remember sidney sheldon. i went to school in paris my junior year and found a fabulous bookstore called shakespeare and company. it is right on the sin, george was an amazing guy. i was able to get my hand on some sidney sheldon books and sheldon did doomsday conspiracy, one of my favorites, and american military intelligence operative, really excited about his writing and how he did it and sheldon led me to david morrell and he wrote some great thrillers, some romancey type things as well, actually dictated them. a stenographer in his office and he dictated his novels which is interesting. >> host: ken follett

that's why people like david ignatius and other people have been saying something that i think is fundamentallye. you could hear the fabric of the presidency ripping this week. when we look back on this moment in history, this is the week when even the people who were in the dark, who wanted to be in the dark, who were praying that it wasn't true, who have willful blindness or whatever, they couldn't imagine somehow, as many of them critics of donald trump's, couldn't imagine that he could really be in the bag for the russian president, the former kgb spymaster, no one who's sensible can deny it now because we saw it on monday and then after all this we saw it again in spades on friday. it's an embarrassment to anybody who can't acknowledge that fundamental truth. >> 30 seconds. >> i agree that it's patently enclosure that t clear that the president is under the control of vladimir putin. i think it's been clear for a long time. i think more people are being woken up to that. but the reality is, the numbers are not moving in the right direction. the reality is, again i'll say only 55% of americ

david ignatius i like a lot. i not only read his fiction but also his nonfiction. -- is a good storyteller. i never met him. i've never met him in person. i have not met ignatius. i think it was david's book about it was not believable book and a fabulous movie with russell crowe and leonardo dicaprio. >> some of the authors that you say are your favorites and your favorite books include can follow it in stephen king, sidney sheldon. >> a lot of people don't remember sidney sheldon. i went to school in paris my junior year and was able to find a fabulous bookstore called shakespeare and company. it is right on the end and george ran it with an amazing guy. i got my head on hand on some sheldon books. he had an american military intelligence operative. i was really excited about his writing and how he did it. >> sheldon led me to david marrero. he wrote some great thrillers. >> reporter: hero some romance he things as well. he had a stenographer in his office and he dictated his novels. >> colors of the this my fav

over the course of the week as i watched from vacation, david ignatius said, you could feel the fabric of the presidency ripping and could hear there are more republicans speaking ot. it's not nearly as much as you expect but more speaking out, but the rank and file of the party now, the -- the grass roots of the republican party are people who believe what donald trump believes, and not what you believe, and not what republicans believed in the post-world war ii era, they don't believe in free trade, don't believe in immigration, don't believe in standing up to russian previously soviet expansionism, they don't believe in nato they don't believe those things. it's not what the republican party is anymore. to answer your question, i don't know what happens. as you pointed out many times over the course of the last 18 months, there will be a period after donald trump. whether in fewer than couple years from now. whether donald trump makes it through, gets his -- his first term forestalled, make it through one term and beaten or a re-election, at some point there will be a life after don

i would like to hand things off to my colleague, david ignatius. [applause] david: ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to offer this last discussion in the future of democracy. i cannot think of anyone who is ,ore appropriate than my guest secretary leon panetta. he has served in so many different capacities. helping our country as a member of congress. committee chairman, director of the office of management. secretary of defense now runs a institute, which is doing good and all sorts of partisan and bipartisan ways. mr. secretary, i want to get started by talking about what is on all of our minds. us questions from the audience with a livestream audience, send them to #postlive and we will process them. mr. secretary, this morning we watched president trump arrive in brussels with smoke coming out of his ears. sat down to breakfast -- breakfast with the nato secretary and talked about how was -- withermany russia and how europeans are not paying their way. i always remember hearing, when i was growing up, one we thought about the future of demo

i would like to hand things off to my colleague, david ignatius. [applause] david: ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to offer this last session in our discussion of the future of democracy. i can't think of anyone who who is a more appropriate cleanup hitter, if you will than my guest, , secretary leon panetta. he has served in so many different capacities helping our congress, member of committee chairman, director of the office of management and budget, chief of staff, cia director, secretary of defense, now runs the panetta institute, which is doing good and all sorts of partisan and bipartisan ways. mr. secretary, i want to get started by talking about what is on all of our minds. ask us questions from the audience with a livestream audience, send them to #postlive and we will process this them -- process them and put them to secretary panetta. mr. secretary, this morning we watched president trump arrive in brussels with frankly smoke , coming out of his ears. with theto breakfast nato secretary-general and talked about how germany was a c

." >> host: two other drill national security writings can david baldacci and david ignatius.do you read them. >> guest: i do. so, david ignatius, i luke -- like a lot because i not only read his fiction, i read his nonfiction. i like baldacci, hell of a story teller. never met him. sat at a dinner where he spoke but have not met him in person immigrant i haven't not met ignatius, and body of lies was an unbelievable book and fabulous movie with russell crowe. >> someoo receive our fay fav are offers chug ken followlett, stephen king, sidney sheldon. >> guest: allot of of people don't remember sidney sheldon. i went to school in paris, my junior year and able to find a fab bows look -- fabulous book store and i was able to get my hand on sidney sheldon books, sheldon died doomsday conspiracy and an american military intelligence operative and excited about his writing and sheldon led me to reading david morell, and i just -- he wrote some great hillers. he wrote kind of some romancey type thingwell but wrote some incredible thrillers. actually dictate them. had a stenographer.