. >> reporter: director of national intelligence dan coats insisted the order is coming from the top. >> the president has specifically directed us to make the matter of the election meddling and securing our election process a top priority. >> reporter: homeland security secretary described a grave threat. >> our democracy itself is in the cross hairs. free and clear elections are the cornerstone of our democracy and it has been clear they have been to sew discord by adversaries. >> reporter: all the talk in stark contrast with past statements most notably his meeting with vladimir putin. >> i hold both countries responsible. i think we are all to blame. >> reporter: the president has often diminished the russian threat saying other unnamed countries could be interfering. >> i accept our intelligence community's conclusion that russia is meddling in the 2016 election took place. it could be other people also. >> reporter: the officials were asked about the disconnect. >> i'm not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened in helsinki. >> reporter: then there

>> dana: john, you asked director coats, i believe, about helsinki. you were there. >> i did. >> dana: you were there for the press conference and you said you wanted to know. and what was his answer? >> i wanted to know because the president said that vladimir putin made a very convincing argument that russian government had nothing to do with election meddling in 2016. so i asked director coats, who had put out a statement after that saying that, yes, they believed that russia did meddle and director coats said that he fully supports the findings of the intelligence community assessment. and that assessment was that russia and russian government interfered in the 2016 election. so, despite what the president said about putin making convincing argument, dan coats certainly isn't convinced. dana? >> dana: do you think what they did today standing up there as principles talking to the american people and to the world because, our enemies, allies, the military, serve watching you, when you are in the white house briefing room and it's live and have you

john bolton, dan coats, christopher wray, paul, and kirstjen nielsen. you're looking at the front line of defense at america's infrastructure and the democratic process itself, or on another reading, you're looking at a five-person janitorial crew carrying the mops and brooms trying to clean up the lingering toxic spill that was donald trump's disastrous news conference had helsinki with vladimir putin. no matter how you see them, the message they delivered today was important and in some ways welcome for its candor. russia still poses a threat to the american democracy and the midterm elections and they are committed to stopping it. listen to chris wray and dan coats. >> our focus here today is simply to tell the american people we acknowledge the threat. it is real. it is continuing, and we're doing everything we can to have a legitimate election, that the american people can have trust in. >> russia attempted to interfere with the last election and continues to engage and malign, influence operations to this day. >> they stepped up their game big tim

. >> national security dan coats joined sarah sanders for today's white house press briefing. they talked about russia's americanagainst elections. this is about 45 minutes. good afternoon. since the beginning of his administration, president trump has implemented a whole of government approach to safeguard our nation's election. the president has made it clear that his administration will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections from a nation, state or dangerous actor. last year, the president signed an executive order to strengthen and review the cyber security of our nation and its critical infrastructure. last week the president chaired , a meeting of his national security council to address ongoing threats. we asked officials standing next to need to break the american people on the work he's done to protect the integrity of our actions. efforts are underway to provide cyber security for authorities to investigate, prosecute and hold accountable those who legally to interview process. i want to welcome director of national intelligence, dan coats, fbi director s

by laundering it through luxury purchases, expensive cars, homes, and the infamous ostrich coat. and that's their theory of the case. that is how he was trying to avoid tax reportingre irements. so they've put on the stand vendors and asked coem, is it on for someone to pay for their ostrich coat through a wrire transfer from cyprus? of course the answer is no. then they put on h accountants who talked about how they didn't know about the offshore accounts. robert: we're learning a lot about paul manafort and his ut financess this really about getting manafort to flip andalk about president trump, talk about the trumpcampaign? andrea: i'm not so sure because he has been resilienting -- in rerefusing having been locond up and through the indignities of the trial itself. i think this has a russia i underton that what they are hoping to prove is that he was completely in debt by 2016, late 2015, after the ukrainian, russ n-backed leader had gon into exile in russia, he was out of monday ifment they were broke. he wasnuing this lavish lifestyle. he was in hock yet he volunteered his

coats: i think it is both, and i would even had to that -- even add to that. russia is using social media, bots, actors they hire through proxies, all of the above. i can't go into details on what is classified but it is pervasive, it is ongoing, with the intent to achieve their intent and that is to drive a wedge and undermine our democratic values. reporter: question for director wray. special counsel robert mueller has indicted more than 20 russian officials based on work by the fbi for meddling in the 2060 election. election.6 the president has tweeted that that investigation by the special counsel should be shut down, and that it is a hoax. why would the american people believe what you are saying, the fbi, when the president says the investigation by the special , and the pressax secretary yesterday said there was a lot of corruption within the fbi? >> i can assure the american people, the men and women of the fbi from the director are now -- director on downer are going to follow the law and do our jobs. howrter: director coats, would you characterize c

we came here once a week on this that and placed orders and picked up more bottles and more wooden coats of arms and holds a whopping. four is even the most important client. he sold about five hundred liquor bottles per year to customers from the camp plus numerous wooden coats of arms that were. on the point at which it up but there was almost always a demand for souvenirs and gifts. now arbonne and even share the same fate with the german armed forces withdrawing they're about to lose their biggest client they'll have to reorient their sails where will he find the money for his family even doesn't know yet it will. not is when the owners gave us security if we didn't have anything else then this at least keeps us busy. but what are we to do now. one of the more we want to stay in contact with people in switzerland most of all the side of the mammoth fights is. not cherry brandy for most of all one battle is for are being. compared to kosovo's villages prison is a vibrant metropolis with some two hundred thousand inhabitants. after nato intervened twenty years ago the city of prison ha

>> only ostrich coat stores, apparently. >> apparently. he's not paying taxes on this stuff, isn't it idiotic for him to get wire transfers from offshore banks into stores? doesn't the government track that? >> there is a lot of idiocy in crime generally, and it seems that paul manafort is no exception to that. it seems like he was making a lot of money. he could have paid taxes on that money. what's interesting, in some of the reporting that we've seen about the trial, is that the prosecutors are making a big deal of how he spent the money, the lavish lifestyle, the ostrich coat, talked about it at some length this evening. which can sway the jury and have the jury feel, well, this person was motivated by greed and was cheating in a way that is offensive to the jury, but you do have to be careful about that. you can overdo it and you can be not proportional about it. and jurors begin to see if you're piling on. i wasn't there at the trial. i assume it was done elegantly and proportionately. but you do have to be a little bit careful becau

dan coats the director of national intelligence michael rogers the n.s.a. had as well as kirsten nielsen who is the secretary of homeland security now one by one they spoke with they all kind of seem to repeat the same kind of message this is the security chiefs making their allegations. our democracy itself is in the crosshairs paid by russia to try to weaken and divide united states threat is not going away to prevent foreign interference in our elections to prevent of russian and other foreign influence and the russians try to hack into and steal information candidates and government officials alike cyber attacks against voting infrastructure along with computer intrusions malicious cyber actors targeting elected officials that goes beyond the elections and goes to russia's intent to undermine our democratic values. now the election is more than two months away but regardless according to what they were saying the cording to their report they say russia is already meddling in the upcoming vote now the terms that were used the allegation seem to revolve a

i'm going to go orchard produced good liquor and wife and the floss as well as these bottles with coats of arms just lots of fish eating them up and. so on and so we met. these are the nine month program after that we came here once a week on this that and placed orders and picked up more bottles and more wooden coats of arms and called. for is even the most important client. he sold about five hundred liquor bottles per year to customers from the camp plus numerous wooden coats of arms. there was almost always a demand for souvenirs and gifts. but now our ben and even share the same fate with the german armed forces withdrawing they're about to lose their biggest client they'll have to reorient their sails where will he find the money for his family even doesn't know yet that it will. not is when the owners gave us security if we didn't have anything else then this at least keeps us busy. but what are we to do now. one of the more we want to stay in contact with the people who are here with k. fall and send our products to them. through. america called the to send them to germany austr

coats stand up there, that's great. the bureaucracies are doing their job but the white house speaks for us. and the message that goes out from that white house every day just helps the russians assist in tearing us apart. i hope this won't continue. i think at some point someone in the white house has to realize that unless they really want to help russia, they might want to dial back the rhetoric because at this point they are assisting a foreign country's disinformation campaign. >> i'll let that last spot float out there. thank you so much for that conversation. >>> coming up here a new offer from robert mueller to president trump, talk to me in person and i won't ask you as many questions about obstruction of justice. and the battle over paul manafort's expensive wardrobe. why prosecutors want to show these images of expensive jackets and why the judge so far is saying no. i'm a fighter. always have been. when i found out i had age-related macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. my doctor and i came up w

we came here once a week on this that and placed orders and picked up more bottles and more wooden coats of arms called swapna. for is evens most important client. he sold about five hundred liquor bottles per year to customers from the camp plus numerous wooden coats of arms. there was almost always a demand for souvenirs and gifts. now arbonne and even share the same fate. but not as when the owners gave us security if we didn't have anything else then this at least keeps us busy. but what are we to do now. one of the more we want to stay in contact with the people who are here with k four and send our products to them. through. america could the to send them to germany austria and switzerland most of all the shine of war mammoths in the sights is. not cherry brandy for most of all one bottle is for our being. compared to kosovo's villages prison is a vibrant metropolis with some two hundred thousand inhabitants. after nato intervened twenty years ago the city of prison has developed considerably as everywhere in kosovo unemployment is high but prison is the most visited city in the co

it's about what coates' phrase was, in this fashion. and when you are simultaneously bashing the probe, saying it's unsubstantiated, shouldn't stand, there are no arguments, it's unconstitutional, and asking the special counsel to accept your terms for an interview, how do you think those things go together? peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and sardines? >> it depends whether the special counsel is caring about the court of public opinion in making determinations as to what this interview is going to look like. >> they're human beings, right, jim? >> that factors into all of it, and the court of public opinion matters to all the folks involved in this thing. >> well, to answer your question, it's peanut butter and sardines, chris. and the actual court of law has an interest in this as well because if you think about it, they are going to try to make some argument -- rudy giuliani and jay sekulow at some point, once mueller is frustrated by the absence of good faith negotiations and is forced at some point if he chooses to issue

to edress the matters furthers i want the welcome national intelligence daniel coats, christopher wray secretary of state of the homeland security kirstjen nielsen. director of the national security agency, and the national security adviser ambassador john bolton to make comments and take questions on the topic. as you know we have addressed what occurred in the 2016 election numerous times and extensively. the purpose of today's briefing is what we are doing now and the future to protect the integry till of the elections -- integrity of the elections moving forward. to help it run smoothly we ask that you direct questions to the specific person. i will turn it over to bolton to open up and make comments. >> well, thank you. what we'd like to address today is election security and the 2018 election in the future. the president has made it clear i think what his priority is. we have had obviously a number of inquiries from congress on this. including a letter to me in the past couple of days from five senators. signed by senator schumer and four others. i have responded to the letter to

we'll start off with director of national intelligence dan coats. he'll be followed by the secretary of homeland security, kirstjen nielsen. she'll be followed by christopher wray. then finally, the director of the national security agency, general paul nakasone. dan? >> as director of national intelligence, i would like the american people to know that the intelligence community and all of its agencies are postured to identify threats of all kinds against the united states. the president has specifically directed us to make the matter of election meddling and securing our election process a top priority, and we have done that and are doing that and will continue to do so. we have incorporated the lessons learned from the 2016 election and implemented a broad spectrum of actions to share more information across the federal government as well as with state and local governments and also with the public and the private sector. the intelligence community continues to be concerned about the threats of upcoming u.s. elections, both the midterms and the p

don coats clear on where he stands. how much do you think that could influence the president's thinking even if it's only behind doors? >> well, look, the evident is good enough, you don't get better intelligence than the mueller investigation and the national security establish system in full revolt against the president. there's entirely different messages and they'll just stand up for the facts, every one of them from the fbi to the cia, everybody else so i've never seen, frankly, a revolt like this inside the federal government against a president. it's never occurred. >> will it be effective? just to piggyback on that, do you believe it will be effective? will they be able to hold their jobs? can they band together and make sure this remains a top security priority in this country as we were told it would be yesterday. >> when you have to president's national security adviser, recently appointed, bolton, coming out and saying this is not a hoax, he'd have to fire everybody. is he going to put the q anonpeople in hi

note instead, coats sent a signal that whatever went down, he was out of the loop. if what went down was bad or nefarious, he is on the record. that he was out of the loop. perhaps he hoped to nudge his boss to bring him into the loop. it is hard to run the intelligence agency's quest for information around the world if you can't get basic info from down the hall. here's what's new. we are learning officially that coats still doesn't know what went down chflt makes the history even more concerning. since what we do know is that trump walked back his support for putin inhealth, in helsinki but then canceled it out. then bureaucrats got in to action. they had an actual security council meeting on election security which would be a good thing but reporters noted entire summit was less than an hour and didn't have any follow through and that match is reporting the trump administration has no central policy for election security and no one is in charge. while we're running through the facts, note that another appointee flagged that they don't have a key person minding th

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my client's $15,000os stitch coat, and now the prosecutors are attacking him for his $18,000 python coat. but i ask you, ladies and gentlemen of the newly-selected jury, aren't pythons vicious creatures that should be made into coats? ( hissing ) ( laughter ) i got to start showing up for jury selection. >> announcer: it's "the late show" with stephen colbert. tonight, man of fashion. plus stephen welcomes chloe grace moretz, bob goldthwait and comedienne katie hannigan, featuring jon batiste and "stay human." and now live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! ( cheers and applause ) ( theme song playing ) captioning sponsored by cbs >> stephen: thanks very much! hey! lovely! welcome! cnting sphen ) >> stephen: hi! nice! ( cheers and applause ) lovely! lovely! thank you very much! please! ladies and gentlemen, please, have a seat. welcome to "the late show." i'm stephen colbert. i'm feeling pretty good about myself today. ( cheers and applause ) yeah, and i tell you why, because robert robert doesn't want to ask me any questions. ( laughter ) you'll

. >> that was director of national intelligence, dan coats. the director of homeland security, kirstjen nielsen, was equally blunt. >> our democracy itself is in the crosshairs. free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy and it has become clear that they are the target of our adversaries, who seek, as the dni just said, to sew discord and undermine our way of life. i support the assessments and past efforts and those today to interfere with our election and of the current threat. >> democracy in the crosshairs, secretary nielsen said. here's the fbi director, chris wray, the one president trump himself appointed. >> this is a threat we need to take extremely seriously and tackle and respond to with fierce determination and focus. >> that sounds very clear, more than clear, trump appointees in the briefing room of the white house, with the president's blessing, speaking out in no uncertain terms about the ongoing threat from russia to american democracy. there is nothing they said today that diverges much from the census that

my client's $15,000os stitch coat, and now the prosecutors are attacking him for his $18,000 python coat but i ask you, ladies and gentlemen of the newly-selected jury, aren't pythons vicious creatures that should be made into coats?

laura coates and jim schultz, thanks for being here. laura coates, start with this.weisselberg knows every deal, every dealership, knows every sale, anything and everything that's been done. he knows every membership, anything you can think of. well, how about this, laura coates, i start with the opposite proposition, doesn't matter what he knows, they only asked him, as far as we know, about a very limited fact pattern involving cohen and any payments for these women, and you can't get trump for anything with any respect to that anyway, he's a sitting president, weisselberg, sure, he knows everything, but it won't be relevant here. >> that's not quite true. it's relevant in the context of what the sdny is actually trying to prosecute. it's not mueller in the comprehensive probe about collusion, which michael cohen was never formally a member of. it's about what they're trying to prove there. when you talk about immunity, are we talking about informal immunity, formal immunity, is it transactional where he can never be prosecuted for any crime coming out of that test

here's dan coats, three weeks removed from the trump/putin meeting. he lives in washington, the president lives in washington. he's the director of national intelligence. the number one intelligence person in the country. take a listen. >> in the run-up to the helsinki summit, u.s. officials, ambassadors to nato, ambassadors to russia said the president would raise the issue of the malign activity with president putin. he didn't discuss that at least at the press conference. you're saying today that the president has directed you to make the issue of election meddling a priority. how do you explain the disconnect between what you are saying, his advisers, and what the president has said about this issue? >> i'm not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened at helsinki. >> lahnee, that's the director of national intelligence. >> that happens to be the truth, i guess. >> kudos to director coats. he handed it off to bolton, but the director of national intelligence doesn't feel like he can speak about what happened. >> this is

i don't think coats should have resigned about not knowing what happened in helsinki. think a lot of people in my old life are saying, what are you going to do? >> why is this president lashing out so much, going after omarosa, brennan, news media, nfl -- what is he worried about? we'll discuss right after this. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999... intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. and snoring? how smart is that? smarter sleep. to help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. and now, save up to $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. plus, no interest until january 2021. ends wednesday. introducing zero account fees for brokerage accounts. and zero minimums to open an account. we have fidelity mutual funds with zero minimum investment. and now, only fidelity offers two zero expense ratio index funds directly to investors. because when you invest with fidelity, all those zeros really add up. ♪ so maybe i'll win, saved by zero ♪ all thos

and this, an $18,500 python coat. jurors have seen a few photos, not many.rosecutors want to show them things like manafort's closet, his pool house, and a flower bed in the shape of an "m" at his house in the hamptons. the judge is pushing back, saying it besmirches the defendant and would engender some against rich people. >> that's right, he had a coat made from an ostrich, which explains the state's first witness. and is the man who did this to you in the courtroom? can you point him out? >> all right, with me now, tim o'brien, executive editor of "bloomberg view" and author of trump nation. and the how manafort is acting in court. frank, let me start with you, paul manafort's demeanor and the way he's been acting prior to the trial got him into hot water, why he ended up in jail, there are some basic, simple rules you should follow if you are under federal investigation and about to be tried by the federal government, and he didn't bother with any of them. the idea this trial is off to a somewhat unusual start shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. >> no, o

director ray, secretary nielson be director coats and they work for the president who asked them to go share with everyone what he had heard unclassified the friday before. i was there. i went to repeat that and saw last night in ohio you talk it was them talking about russian meddling and when he talks about the hoax, he's talking about the fantasy that somehow the campaign that i successfully managed for your the successful part of the campaign was in co hoots. not in moscow, the president has every right to wonder why where there seems to have been the various activity, folks don't want to investigate, they don't want to investigate the loser, the number four at the department of justice's wife working with the people at gps, and they steal dossier, and against former minority leader harry reid and his potential action there, we know that christopher steal talked about the trump, president trump initially a conversation with the trump after president trump was elected. so yes, there is talking about the loser and people, and lead candidate has not been investigated. >> brennan: we'l

here was the dni head dan coats on russia. regards to russian involvement in the midterm elections, we continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by russia to try to weaken and divide the united states. reporter: the latest example believed to have occurred earlier this weeks when facebook announced it shut down 32 accounts which they say the accounts were set up purposefully to try to sow discord in the political process. i asked director of the fbi christopher wray if this is tip of the iceberg and a larger more elaborate scheme and if russia was behind it? he would not point the finger directly at russia in this specific case but he did say the social media companies that got heavily criticized in the lead-up to the 2016 election have made strides since. >> they're sharing information back with us based on what they find. there are things they can do on their platforms voluntarily in terms of use, things like that, that the government doesn't have a role in but in turn, we learn things from them and we can use that to h

come on, this is why we need it to be -- that is the ostrich coat. that is ostrich?ybe snake skin, people. >> that reminds me of a members on only jacket you could probably get for less than $15,000. some people look into the issue so whole heartedly. it's not whether or not you're a frivolous spender, many people live beyond their means, the question is did you tell uncle sam what your means are accurately. in the area he is being prosecuted is alexandria, virginia. the idea that someone may have mad expentures is not the case. it is whether or not they paid taxes the way everyone does. so they're not just raking him over the coals for being rich, the focus is you told uncle sam what you were making or not. that's why it is usually an easier case to prove. >> and rick gates who is cooperating with the government, providing government, may not take the stand. we know because the defense made it very clear they're going to go after rick gates so they may not put him on the stand because they have great documents they want to use and may not need to subject gates to th

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on the top of all of that we are looking at they made the surprise announcement during the white coat ceremony. am i to take a listen. if you look at the video you see that this is what they found out about this. this is the first year students and parent families. they were sitting there when they were told that they were given this free tuition. it is covering about 400 students.

we want to bring in legal analyst and former federal prosecutor laura coates and chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin. jeffrey, how historically significant is this to see a campaign chairman undergoing a trial like this and facing such a significant sentence if guilty? >> you have to go back to watergate in the mid-'70s for the last time very senior campaign officials were charged with crimes. john mitchell, who was the campaign chairman for richard nixon and later the attorney general went to prison as did hr haldeman, john erlichman and then white house aides. what is different is those charges related directly to their work on the campaign whereas manafort's charges relate to what he did before the trump campaign. but still he is a very senior -- he was the top official in the trump campaign. his work for the ukraine related to the russia investigation because he was working for a pro-putin candidate making all that money working for yanukovych and the russia investigation is about whether the putin government worked with the trump campaign to defeat hillary clinton. >> and that is

that is not what coats says. coats says they are pushing for everybody. >> obviously, the president is using language that makes some people uncomfortable. he is having fun with it. you have to understand from his perspective he sees himself as one of the toughest presidents on russia if you compare to president obama. he says of course they are not going to want me to continue. i'm going to have a difference of opinion on how that plays out. he feels his aggressiveness is what -- >> barack obama implemented sanctions. donald trump ended sanctions and was overwhelmed by congress. >> when did president obama step in to do something? >> on his way out the door. >> exactly. >> there was an election happening at the time. it would have been nice for both sides to come out. >> leadership would have gone forward with this. >> one point -- vladimir putin himself said in helsinki -- >> let's listen in. >> vladimir putin himself said in helsinki he wanted donald trump to win. it's not that we don't know what happened. he

the director of national intelligence, dan coats, i'm told was not consulted on this decision. i'm also told that the cia was in the words of an official with knowledge caught off guard by this decision. has this ever happened before? a president revoking a senior official's security clearance and threatening to do that to others? >> no. not that we know of and seems to be unprecedented appears. by all accounts. you have talked to people. i have talked to people, a national security lawyer who says that there's no reasoning, no cause here. you would need cause to revoke someone's security clearance and to take such a step, right, you have to show did the person leak classified information? is the person under some kind of investigation, criminal or perhaps an internal investigation. we have nothing, nothing to suggest any of this certainly by the former cia director. so it is unprecedented, for the white house to meddle in this, to go ahead and make decisions for the sponsoring agency and here probably was the cia, to circumvent the cia, to go ahead and do this on their own and

had kept, you can see they have a real desire to want to do it for not only themselves but for their coatsfor ireland, once they wipe the tears away on the page,

do you believe what you heard from coats and the folks yesterday yesterday? they are saying they are working on it, they can see patterns coming. do you think they are lying at the podium that they are not on top of it? >> i believe they are watching it. i believe they're on top of it in the sense that they are watching this unfold before their eyes. >> you don't think they have the tools to stop -- to prevent it? >> they don't have the tools to stop it, which is why it's happening right now. if coats had the tools to stop it or was stopping it, why is it that he is saying, you know, all the danger signals are blinking red? putin is taking his signals from donald trump, not from what a couple officials say in the press room. >> i think one of the things -- you alluded to it -- that might be most concerning yesterday -- i think we haven't paid enough attention to it -- is what kaitlan collins played when asked about was election meddling brought up and in what way in that one on one with putin, dan coats says -- dan coats was asked and he says, i'm not in a po

i have a question for director coats. how would you characterize the efforts to meddle in the 2018 election readtive to 2016? in general, is the pace of those operations in any way operative to 2014, 2012, or is it more intense? >> relative to what we've seen for the midterm elections, it is not the type of robust campaign we assessed in the 2014 election. we know through decades they've tried to use propaganda to sew discord in america. they stepped up their game big time in 2016. we've not seen that kind of robust effort from them so far. as i mentioned publicly, just a few weeks ago, we're only one keyboard click away from finding out something that we don't -- haven't seen up to this particular point in time. right now, we have not seen that. >> do you see it directed to any particular party? is there any particular party benefiting from 2018 russian efforts? >> what we see are the russians are looking for every opportunity, regardless of party, regardless of whether or not it applies to the election, to continue thei

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. >> he had a coat made from an ostrich. which explains the state's first witness. >> for the man with discriminating taste and incriminating clothes. >> if you're trying to not to seem evil, maybe don't dress up as a snake. >>> and good day, everyone, i'm andrea mitchell in washington where president trump is undercutting his own national security cabinet on the russia threat. the president's entire intelligence team sounding an unprecedented alarm about the threat russia continues to pose to our upcoming midterm elections. there was a conflicting account only hours later by mr. trump, whipping up a crowd in pennsylvania, calling the russian hacking a hoax. joining me now, nbc correspondent kristen welker. nbc intelligence and national security reporter ken dilanian. and a former nato supreme allied commander. welcome, all. kristen, first to you. the dissonance between the president's national security team, that threat, and i should add that only today there is another beat to this, because he was praising kim jong-un toda

you heard dan coats say that he supported more sanctions on russia. and while this administration has imposed some sanctions, the president has also sat down with the leader of russia at a summit and elevated him and raised questions about whether he even believed that russia interfered in the election, standing right next to vladimir putin. that's the opposite of making russia pay a price. you know, there are a lot of experts who will tell you it's not really reasonable to expect private companies like twitter and facebook to stand up to an onslaught by a foreign intelligence agency. the russians will always be able to put bots on twitter and facebook. you have to make them pay a price, impose a cost on them. that hasn't been done by this president. >> let's listen to marco rubio. he is calling it warfare. >> it's not influence. it's not interference. it's warfare. this is information warfare. based on the russian doctrine of warfare, information warfare is a key part of it. my view is they are using platforms like facebook and twitter as a vehicle b