smear machine works, look no further than the case of california congressman dana rohrabacher.he u.s. may have more to gain by cooperating with russia than by fighting with them. it may sound familiar since barack obama held it's just a few years ago but things have changed dramatically in washington.yo last week "the new york times" targeted him, saying he was warned in 2012 that russian intelligence was trying to recruit him. now the left is treating him like a russian spy even though there is no evidence he did anything wrong.. congressman, thanks was coming on. >> good to be with you. >> tucker: are you now or have you ever been a spy for the russian government. >> no, nor have i ever received any financial support from the russian government or russian people, that's all baloney. >> tucker: the essence of this story is that russian agents who are not named according to officials who are not named were discussing ways to recruit you, do you think that's true? >> that's the essence of the story, i'm the chairman now of the subcommittee in congress that oversees our relations

you know, dana rohrabacher who kevin mccarthy also said was told by the fbi he was being targeted by russians as a recruit. so i don't -- i think this is the answer. i mean, there are -- it's interesting with "the new york times," with the, you know, sean spicer's reaction to "the new york times," i think they decided -- white house decides they're going -- >> lean in. ic i want to ask you a question, mike. one of the defenses i'm hearing, there's an uptick in the ignorance defense. i get it on foreign policy, on the russian collusion. the case goes like this. he can't even collude with his own press office. what are the odds he was confident enough to collude with putin? >> that's a tough defense. that's a tough defense to take. i actually thinkpolitically m l. they need to hold the trump coalition -- >> you know saying it was all streategic was never the case. >> they need to give their supporters something to hold on to, give their supporters a villain, a foe, that's comey, give them something to say, something to repeat, to hold republicans in congress back. politically that's al

. >> tucker: congressman dana rohrabacher who when it mattered was on the right side of the fight against for that. micro, champion of the working man joins us next, never missed that including tonight, be right my business was built with passion... but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line. what's in your wallet? >> tucker: two days ago, protesters demanded the company pay the company a $15 minimum wage. do the protesters really wants to get their wish? what would happen if they did? working at mcdonald's is not that complicated, what a $15 minimum wage drive further automation and lead to mass layoffs. no one really knows that's a concern we brought up with former dirty jobs host mike row rowe. thanks for joining us, protesters have gathered outside mcdonald's demanding higher wages. on the one hand, i'm sympathetic

thought you were doing a pond about kevin mccarthy saying that putin was paying both trump and dana rohrabacher. when people left, he said it's no joke. i thought that's where you are. as the maxine waters -- >> tucker: it's not my job to defend what mccarthy says or any republican leader or anybody. i'm saying as a american, this is unfair. people's lives are being hurt. >> you know what? >> tucker: on the basis of innuendo. it's wrong. it's always wrong. >> i totally agree. we should stick to facts that maxine waters is going to have to depend yourself. but the facts themselves, the undisputed facts, or so incriminating about the possibility of collusion. i don't think you need maxine waters to drum things up between the contacts between manafort, mike flynn, carter page, the fact that 17 intelligence agencies said indeed the russians did get behind wikileaks to help trump and hurt hillary. >> tucker: listen to yourself. you are incriminating as to the possibility! you can't incriminate someone to a possibility. either it's incrementing or not. >> no, no, no. >> tucker: why suggest otherwise?

. >> tucker: congressman dana rohrabacher who when it mattered was on the right side of the fight againstnk you for that. micro, champion of the working man joins us next, never missed that including tonight, be right back whoa, this thing is crazy. i just had to push one button to join. it's like i'm in the office with you, even though i'm here. it's almost like the virtual reality of business communications. no, it's reality. intuitive one touch video conferencing is a reality. and now it's included at no additional cost with vonage business. call now and see why 3,000 companies a month are switching to vonage. business grade. people friendly. eyet some cards limit where yout earn bonus cash back to a few places. and then, change those places every few months. enough with that! with quicksilver from capital one you've always earned unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. welcome to unlimited what's in your wallet? trust #1 doctor recommended dulcolax. use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. suppositories for relief in minutes. and dulcoease for comfortable rel

>> we always tease dana rohrabacher out here, he's pro-russian in what he says, he'll admit it so wearound with him about that. i know kevin mccarthy, i know his sense of humor. when i read that, i see a joke. i see him kind of chuckling trying to be funny. when you read it and you don't know his sense of humor, you can see where this comes from, but, look, i wasn't in this meeting but i can tell you, kevin mccarthy did not believe that donald trump was on putin's payroll. >> congressman, appreciate talking to you as always. thank you. >> any time, take care. >>> just ahead, more than four decades later watergate is part of the national conversation yet again. the comparisons are flying. in the wake of james comey's firing, a special prosecutor, a reminder tonight how watergate began and how it ended plus i'll talk to former white house counsel john dean. it's a fortress. and with this standard of luxury... it's an oasis. the 2017 e-class. it's everything you need it to be... and more. lease the e300 for $569 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or noth

taunted was she by republicans dana rohrabacher, bob dornin among others with that same chant, so that was clearly an echo. people here with long memories. democrats taunting those republicans. i think you reported in the last hour, steve, 14 of the 23 republicans who represent districts that were won by hillary clinton voted yes for this. that was directed at those people. democrats now, ironically, are heartened by this vote. they say a political opening come the midterm elections in 2018. now, republicans, gop aides on deep background here in congress, if you look at what they're saying, and i think this was clear over the course of the last couple of days, the real turnaround was that trip up to the white house by fred upton and billy long, those two who had jumped ship unexpectededly thoseepublicans who had previously been behind this effort. they talked to the president, walked out with the promise of $8 billion to help mitigate effects on those with pre-existing conditions who were going to be facing higher premiums. that, we are led to believe, allowed them to get this margin,

house speaker last year, quote, there is two people i think putin pays, republican congressman dana rohrabacher donald trump. now this apparently reportedly happened on june 15, 2016. and it's one thing for "the washington post" to report that you said that it's another thing for them to say they heard the tape of you saying that. the recording was listened to and verified by "the washington post." continuing from their story, quote, some of the lawmakers laughed at mccarthy's comment. but then mccarthy quickly add, quote, swear to god. house speaker paul ryan instructed his republican lieutenant to keep the conversation private saying no leaks. this is how we know we're a real family here. according to the post, it is difficult to tell from the recording the extent to which the remarks were meant to be taken literally. for context here, this is about a month before donald trump secured the republican nomination. but there was nobody else really in the running at that point. the day this conversation happened both mccarthy and paul ryan had met with the propaganda tactics the russians were usin

look, we always kind of tease da dana rohrabacher out here, he's pro-russian in what he says, he'll admitaround with him about that. i know kevin mccarthy, i know his sense of humor. when i read that, i see a joke. i see him kind of chuckling trying to be funny. when you read it and you don't know his sense of humor, you can see where this comes from, but, look, i wasn't in this meeting but i can tell you, kevin mccarthy did not believe that donald trump was on putin's payroll. >> congressman, appreciate talking to you as always. thank you. >> any time, take care. >>> just ahead, more than four decades later watergate is part of the national conversation yet again. the comparisons are flying. in the wake of james comey's firing, a special prosecutor, a reminder tonight how watergate began and how it ended plus i'll talk to former white house counsel john dean. estimony will. mr. stevens? this is your new name. this is your new house. and a perfectly inconspicuous suv. you must become invisible. [hero] i'll take my chances. so you miss the big city? i don't miss much... definitely not the

now, dana rohrabacher is a famously pro-russian congressman from california.ording to the post, some of the lawmakers laughed at mccarthy's comment. then mccarthy quickly added, swear to god. house speak he paul ryan instructed them to keep the conversation private, saying no leaks. spokespeople for ryan and mccarthy both denied the conversation ever happened until the post told them it had an aud audio recording of the whole thing. then they called it a failed attempt at humor. mccarthy tried to explain his comments to nbc news. >> if you listened to it, everybody laughed. so you know it's a bad attempt at a joke. that's all there is to it. no one believes it to be true. >> do you still have confidence in the president? >> 100%. >> joining me now, a senior reporter at business insider, and josh barrow. josh, you just wrote a column on this. >> yes. >> which basically, i think, is exactly right. >> yeah. >> which is basically you think it both is and is not a joke. >> right. it's one of those jokes that's funny because of the kernel of truth behind it. i don't

he is referring to california congressman dana rohrabacher there is some laughter at this point in the transcript. and kevin mccarthy says "swear to god." paul ryan then immediately says this is an off the record. no leaks, all right? and according to the transcript, there is nor laughter. and paul ryan says "this is how we know we're a real family here." steve scalise says "that's how you know that we're tight." then paul ryan says "what's said in the family stays in the family." paul ryan's spokesperson brendan buck first chose to lie when asked abouthis report. he said that never happened. and then when he was told that "the washington post" had audio recording of the conversation, brendan buck then changed the story. said it was an attempt at humor. this is what kevin mccarthy said about it this evening. >> did you listen to it? everybody laughs. you know it's a bad attempt at a joke. and that's all there is to it. no one believes it to be true. from any straight stretch or form. >> joining us now, the reporter who broke this story, obtained that secret audio, adam entous. he write