"new york" magazine's jonathan chait joins me now. okay. it sounds insane.idea that he goes to moscow in '87, is cultivated as a russian intelligence asset, this sort of sleeper cell for decades, sounds nuts. it sounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories. why are you not insane? >> so that's a great question, chris. i get that all the time. so first of all, the piece acknowledges that that is probably not true. but it might be. and one of the reasons i wrote this is you need to take seriously some of these low probability high impact scenarios. before the election sort of everyone heard that hillary clinton had about an 80% chance of winning and we all just treat td like that meant 100% and didn't think about what would that 20% alternative really mean? that's part of what i'm doing with this -- with aspects of this piece, like this trip to mosc moscow. what would it mean if it really went that deep? now, there's a lot of ways in had which this scandal could be really bad and not go that deep. but i think you need to consider that for another reason, which

achievement and special and differential treatment for developed in memphis and to family stand up to chaitully protectionism and unilateralism. washington's main bone of contention is that under the w t o rules china continues to self identify as a developing nation president trump tweeted in april that this allowed china to get advantages especially over the u.s. the u.s. argued that if beijing's behavior went unchecked it would ruin the world trade organization the u.s. has demanded that the w.t. o. address what it called china's failure to embrace the open market policies on which the institution was founded the european ambassador to the w.t. o. admitted there needs to be reform. for the long given of the. multilateral trading system the rules need to be updated when we hope that we would also find china as a constructive partner but trump has already raised the stakes he's walking appointments to the w t o o's appeals chamber to replace judges as their terms expire unless he relents the world's trade disputes system will be unable to operate by the end of twenty nineteen or sooner. we

jonathan chait, writer for "new york magazine." thank you, gentlemen. at this point. jonathan, you wrote a piece for "new york magazine" before helsinki asking whether president trump has been compromised by russia. i'm guessing nothing about this summit or the aftermath has changed your mind. in fact, i interviewed you about this. nothing has changed your mind about this now? >> no, not at all. in fact, a lot of these episodes that happened during the summit and after have been worse than anything i would have predicted. i was pretty suspicious of what was going on behind the scenes with donald trump. the sight of him standing next to vladimir putin, endorsing putin's word over his own intelligence agencies, and even worse, endorsing putin's crazy idea that somehow the united states would allow russia to interview american ambassadors that putin doesn't like on trumped-up charges, that we would merge other legal systems together, that was really beyond anybody's worst expectations. so again, i'm not certain that russia has secret leverage over donald t

joining me now is john chait. thanks for coming on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> there is much that has been discussed about this the trump/russia relationship and intrigue. writing with that is like writing about god. a lot of writers have written about it. but what are you saying through this article and what are you hoping to engender? >> what i'm trying to address is a few problems with the way we've been thinking about this issue. someone that the story has come out bit by bit so even when a bombshell comes it drops into this hot news environment and everyone freaks out for a day, a night and then we're on to the next thing and these stories get forgotten. number two, it seems that we're suffering all along from the my truth lies one step ahead of where we are and we've taken steps so far. so maybe we should stop assuming that and try to think where might it go, not where will it go. let's stop focusing on the most likely scenario and think about what if it goes farther than we think? it's worth somet

russian spy back in nineteen eighty seven their new cover story from new york magazine writer jonathan chait lays out what could be considered the worst case scenario for trying. russia collusion the dollar trump has been a russian intelligence asset since one thousand nine hundred the peace acknowledges that is probably not true but it might be so with all the name calling and spy allegations floating around us political life it's kind of hard to see how anyone can expect the july sixteenth summit to be a productive one well first of all to be fair the republican senator from louisiana probably hasn't spent a whole lot of time outside of the united states he's only been in office for eighteen months but what's really disappointing about this is he's really undermining the president noted states i mean here it is a week out from trump and putin's meeting and you have the senator junior senator from louisiana basically insulting the russian government insulting the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and really insulting the country of russia so talking tough of course after he's left the

russian spy back in nineteen eighty seven and a new cover story from new york magazine writer jonathan chait lays out what could be considered the worst case scenario for trying. russia collusion the dollar trump has been a russian intelligence asset since one thousand nine hundred the peace acknowledges that that is probably not true but it might be so with all the name calling and spy allegations floating around us political life it's kind of hard to see how anyone can expect the july sixteenth summit to be a productive one well first of all to be fair the republican senator from louisiana probably hasn't spent a whole lot of time outside of the united states he's only been in office for eighteen months but what's really disappointing about this is he's really undermining the president ited states i mean here it is a week out from trump and putin's meeting and you have the senator junior senator from louisiana basically insulting the russian government insulting the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and really insulting the country of russia so talking tough of course after he's left

and jonathan chait. carl, if trump's words were currency, we would say it's been devalued, worth almost nothing at this point. what should journalists do after he comes out of the putin meeting and declares victory? >> there has been great reporting that's been done out of this white house. and i think we just have to keep going on with that, not with my measu -- not with hyperbole, but we have to assume what we saw with rod rosenstein on friday is very much part of the dynamic of helsinki, and that indeed the president's object has been, throughout, to make this appear as a witch hunt. it is now demonstrable to all, for all to see, this is not a witch hunt. and if he tries to use helsinki with putin to once again claim that this is a witch hunt, as we heard in that setup, the idea somehow that the press or that the investigators are responsible for the horrors of undermining our elections in a way that has been shown definitively in what rod rosenstein laid out on friday, that's part of the story. so we

russian spy back in nineteen eighty seven and a new cover story from new york magazine writer jonathan chait lays out what could be considered the worst case scenario for trump russia collusion the dollar trump has many russian intelligence asset since one thousand nine hundred the peace acknowledges that that is probably not true but it might be so with all the name calling and spy allegations floating around u.s. political life it's kind of hard to see how anyone can expect the july sixteenth summit to be a productive one well first of all you know to be fair the republican senator from louisiana probably hasn't spent a whole lot of time outside of the united states he's only been in office for eighteen months but what's really disappointing about this is he's really undermining the president of the states i mean here it is a week out from trump and putin's meeting and you have the senator junior senator from louisiana basically insulting the russian government insulting the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and really insulting the country of russia so talking tough of course after h

indigenous white british people they were people of limited academic attainment and quite high academic a chait attainment amongst the people whose interviews we read and and who we actually interviewed ourselves the only common factor that i found and i referred to it earlier is that they had a shallow association with their faith rather than being people who had had years and years of study of prayer in mosques those types of people tended not to travel. so mary will go to ices to five have sex slaves have friends comrades why do women go i says is clear they should only expect a full on veil in a marriage nothing else what so paling about that. it is hard to understand i agree somebody told me a story during the research which i found helpful i don't know if if you will. talking about the kinds of guy that young british muslim women were looking for. course in my day it was a sort of biker type you know type that your mother wouldn't like really but what i was told. from a pretty reliable source was that what a lot of young british muslim women are looking for now is the devout guy the guy w

russian spy back in nineteen eighty seven in a new cover story from new york magazine writer jonathan chait lays out what could be considered the worst case scenario for trying. russia collusion but don't trump has been a russian intelligence asset since one thousand nine hundred the peace acknowledges that that is probably not true but it might be so with all the name calling inspired floating around us political life it's kind of hard to see how anyone can expect the july sixteenth summit to be a productive one but you've got to remember is the military industrial complex in the west needs to. be in order to justify the huge amounts of money that they want to spend in order to make their profits and you know bones of terrorists in various third world countries simply don't create the enemy they need to spend the kind of money they want to spend. presents themselves from their point of view. is the necessary enemy. after years under the control of islamic state the syrian city of rocco was liberated back in twenty seventeen but freedom came at a heavy price our colleagues from r.t. arabic

achievement and special and differential treatment for developing members and two family stand up to chait fully protectionism and the unilateralists. washington's main bone of contention is that under the w t o rules china continues to self identify as a developing nation president trump tweeted in april that this allowed china to get advantages especially over the u.s. the u.s. argued that if beijing's behavior went unchecked it would ruin the world trade organization the u.s. has demanded that the w t o address what it called china's failure to embrace the open market policies on which the institution was founded the european ambassador to the w t o admitted there needs to be reform. for the long given of the. multilateral trading system the rules need to be updated in we hope that we would also find china as a constructive partner but trump has already raised the stakes and blocking appointments to the w t o o's appeals chamber to replace judges as their terms expire unless he relents the world's trade disputes system will be unable to operate by the end of twenty nineteen or sooner. t

russian spy back in nineteen eighty seven their new cover story from new york magazine writer jonathan chait lays out what could be considered the worst case scenario for crime. russia collusion but don't trump has been a russian intelligence asset so thank you he said the piece acknowledges that is probably not true but it might be so with all the name calling inspire legations floating around us political life it's kind of hard to see how anyone can expect the july sixteenth summit to be a productive one but you've got to remember is the military industrial complex in the west needs to. be in order to justify the huge amounts of money that they want to spend in order to make their profits. by means of terrorists in various third world countries simply don't create the enemy they need to spend the kind of money they want to spend. presents themselves from their point of view. is the necessary enemy. and so it is dental hygienist has been fired and now risk losing his home after revealing some of his refugee patients were pretending to be children when in fact they were adults a court finds

strengthen with you one thing is that china went to strengthen its economic ties was the european union my chait so basically china won't to your inquiries by lecture or treat flaws with the e.u. in the next couple of years and on the other hand china that why to improve its supply chain and also you know how so basically e.u. is the kind of destination for china's operates to improve its corporate governance as well as the state knowledge in the future so basically i think in this case there could be more capital flows between china and the e.u. in the coming years now the economic and trade relations between the european union and china isn't conflict free there certainly issues like price dumping or theft of intellectual property is there enough common ground for the two to strengthen economic types pops' even go as far as a free trade agreement where i think you know the free trade agreement is kind of. you know maybe in the foreseeable future and in that you know meantime you know we do see that china you try to walk out to have more calm and ground for all sides to come up with more consul

go that route they come from all over the country from sheen john chait john shanghai. beijing and even from the northeast we're in a favorable transport location which is good for business in every regard. was just ten years ago we were still in our home village but we moved to the city to make money when the economic reforms came. from the streets in living in a sign it is undergoing a radical shift particularly in the west of the country and inching jang all these cities being built in the desert are cities with skies great bows at the u.s. they are moving. and there's a lot of activity everywhere. lights and even music and color okey vos images that are war teeth of it that i look at there's the x. ray it's a message to the chinese population it is to attract people to these remote areas that there was the privileged and so offensive. to make it possible for people to move to the remote province of shame jiang or to trade their beijing has extended its high speed train along the entire new highway . the travel time for the two thousand kilometers between lunch show

russian spy back in nineteen eighty seven and a new cover story from new york magazine writer jonathan chait lays out what could be considered the worst case scenario for trying. russia collusion the dollar trump has been a russian intelligence asset since one thousand nine hundred the peace acknowledges that that is probably not true but it might be so with all the name calling and spy allegations floating around us political life it's kind of hard to see how anyone can expect the july sixteenth summit to be a productive one well first of all to be fair the republican senator from louisiana probably hasn't spent a whole lot of time outside of the united states he's only been in office for eighteen months but what's really disappointing about this is he's really undermining the president of the states i mean here it is a week out from trump and putin's meeting and you have the senator junior senator from louisiana basically insulting the russian government insulting the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and really insulting the country of russia so talking tough of course after he's lef

jill wine-banks and jonathan chait. thank you. i want to play this for you. this is what he told lester. >> did you watch and what your reactions were to vladimir putin denials. >> well i didn't watch it live. i was in a meeting actually with some of my foreign counterparts, some of our closest foreign parters in the intelligence community. but i certainly saw it afterwards. he's got his view. he's expressed his view and i can tell you what my view is. the intelligence community assessment has not changed. my view has not changed. which is that russia attempted to interfere with the last election and continues to engage in operations to this day. >> aimed at our political system? >> aimed at sewing discourse and divisiveness. certainly other efforts what i would call malign influence operations are active and we could be a moment away going to the next level. to me, it is a threat that we need to take extremely seriously. >> this suggestion has been that it is russia, but there may be others. are there others? >> well, there are certainly other countries that

writer jonathan chait argues, we have not allowed ourselves to consider the full range of possibilities the worst-case scenario. donald trump has been a russian intelligence asset since 1987. 1987 is when he went to moscow and he is vetted by the russians, tours moscow, comes back and then start talking about running for president for the first time. then he starts talking for the first time about how our allies are a bunch of freeloaders and we should kick them to the curb. so it dovetails with russian pop foreign policy then and it now. that's probably a coincidence but it may not be. >> sean: okay, a russian asset. these bizarre conspiracy theories, that even extends to trump supreme court nomination. again back to nbc news, tom brokaw. the proud reporter had to delete this tweet saying he conspired to fight judge kavanaugh. he was an asset since 1987, and now we figure it out. today he was basically telling germany don't rely on russia, which if they didn't would tank vladimir putin's economy in a year. >> i can play their game, too. so all the people that you showed come all the st

jonathan chait writes in "new york magazine," trump is training his base to hate nato and like putin. 51% of republicans now believe that the united states shouldn't defend nato allies unless they increase defense spending. even more astonishingly, trump seems to have reversed republican attitudes towards russia and vladimir putin. at a recent rally, trump said -- >> you know what, putin's fine. we're fine. we're all fine. we're people. >> republicans are now twice as likely as democrats to express a favorable opinion of putin. and 56% want to cooperate and engage more with russia. the republican party has proved remarkably malleable ideologically. the party of law and order now has deep distrust for the fbi. the party of free trade is now far more solidly behind protectionism than the democrats. the party that celebrated ronald reagan's optimism about immigrants now contains a majority that supports separating families at the border and criminally prosecuting undocumented immigrants. trump's political genius continues to be that he recognizes that the base of the republican party is

nassar are asking that he be resentenced by a different judge in the first of the major molestation chait -- faces -- charges he faces. sentenced to up to 175 years in state prison for molesting young athletes. his attorneys claim the judge decided to impose the match -- the maximum sentence before his sentencing hearing even began. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and at tic toc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. ♪ shery: live from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i'm shery ahn. i'm amanda lang kerry welcome to bloomberg markets to we are joined by bloomberg and be in and bloomberg audiences. your the stories we're following from around the world. happening now, president trump is scheduled to meet with the european commission's president after months of tension over trade. tariffs wreaking havoc on carmakers. the cfo of general motors speaks out about the threat. saving gets ready to spend. deutsche bank ceo tells us why he is considering expanding again, months after making the cuts. le