burst into the room where there was this fsb meeting happening.w a bag over the head of a senior russian intelligence official, and they dragged him out of the meeting in front of all the other fsb guys. well, we later found out that that guy who they dragged out of the room with the bag on his head, he, a senior fsb official, another fsb official, and two other russians, including one who worked for a very controversial software company, not only were all those folks arrested in december after our election, they were all charged with treason, which is very rare and which means the russian state is saying absolutely nothing about the accusations against these guys or the trial. richard spoke with a lawyer for one of them, who was afraid to tell him very much. he wouldn't seen say which of the four men who are arrested is his client. >> i can be completely clear with you and say much about this case because it's quite dangerous. it's quite dangerous for me, for my client, and even for you. >> reporter: why would it be dangerous for me? i understand

and he became an officer of the fsb. >> he was a hacker turned spy?t. >> we managed to track down one of the lawyers in the case. he says that because of the nature of the charges treason is not even allowed to tell us which man he's respecting. >> what specifically are they accused of having done? >> it's not a clear accusation. >> but is the general accusation that they cooperated with an american intelligence group? >> they say american special service. >> was the information related to the investigation into hacking into the manipulation of the u.s. election? >> i can't say this because it's my clients that don't disclose this. >> getting a definitive answer is now almost impossible because the three men and a fourth who was reportedly a small time cyber fraudster are locked up in this notorious mos kour prison. this journalist is a member of a prison watchdog group and recently managed to get in and speak to one of the men. >> how did he seem when you were talking to him? did he seem relaxed? did he seem frightened? did he seem sick. >> he is tru

but i do know the kgb, fsb to study the targets carefully with an offer that is appealing and sizable to be consistent with what they're asking for. >> has she ever work directly for the russian government?. >> p.s. she has. the fsb the successor organization to the kgb in the moscow region but i do have the exact date. >>. >> calling me to go next next, thank you. you cannot repeal the law in the united states it is incredible that mr. putin with think that by talking to the son of a candidate running for president he could repeal the act because i assure you mr. browder there is no way that congress would agree to repeal the magnitsky act. i experienced a miter indication of president peyton's anger at congress would have is traveling with my a family going through passport control. well my wife and daughter made it through i did not. i have no doubt this is personal and he is trying to lash out that those that have passed it and i am proud that we did but it is hard to distinguish between purely commercial enterprises in a the government around the world. light gas from. and these

remember putin ran the fsb. testifies the director and a kgb agent before he became president.ng me is former ambassador to russia who always helps us sort out, separate the weak from the chaff. the issue here is that he's not wrong. there are places that world leaders meet at events like this. this is not even like davos where there's regular folks and media hanging around. the movement in place like g-20 is controlled oopd it's entirely possible that these two leaders had other occasions to encounter each other. >> that's right. i attended several g-20 meetings as a white house official and then as ambassador with president obama. they are designed to have social time. that's normal. in fact, i would say that's good that heads of state meet. what's unusual about this particular dinner just underscore is to play on sergei's metaphor, you're supposed to play with everybody. you're not supposed to just have favorites. president trump spent so much time with one guest, not the host, but one guest that other guests at that meeting, it wasn't us, it was other guests were so concern

>> she has worked for the fsb, the successor organization to the kgb in the moscow region am a i do not have the exact date. feinstein: thank you. grassley: let me say, that it would be on our side -- senator graham, and on our -- on the democrat side, it will be senator blumenthal. you mr. chairman. i want to thank the committee for allowing me to go next. >> you cannot repeal a law in the united states if the congress suggests. it is really incredible that mr. putin would think that talking to the son of the candidate of the president would be able to repeal the act. i assure you mr. browder that there was no way that congress would agree to repeal the act. i personally experienced a very minor indication of president clinton's anger in congress and those of us who passed the act. while traveling with my family, and trying to go through passport control in st. petersburg a couple of years ago. my wife and daughter made it through, and i did not. have no doubt thatpersonal to n and he is trying to lash out at those who participated in passing it. i am glad that we passed it. it is hard

i should point out there's no such thing as a former fsb officer. it's a lifetime commitment. went in the united kingdom. >> i think you said this but let me make sure about renaissance capital's connection if any with the russian government. it is connected to the russian government through fsb employees who were at the senior level of renaissance capital. >> this issue is also important to the committee. the same russian bank, renaissance capital paid 500,000 for june 2010 speech in moscow. or let you know whether they that had acted on your complaint. >> the other was an in person meeting here in washington to follow up on the complaint. it was initiated by my firm and other than providing information i have no knowledge of what happened afterwards. >> okay. senator. >> okay. indeed you're a very brave man. i respect that and i respect your loyalty to magnitski. having said that, it's hard for me to understand why the act still sticks in the krau of russia and what vet l they would have to do with that. so what is the feeling of that? >> it is a good yes. i believe there ar

. >> stephen: followed by the fsb, the new kgb is the fsb. >> all the time, you think i'm just being moid,-- paranoid, it's worse, i'm not being paranoid, i'm seeing things i think i'm seeing. >> stephen: were you followed by the americans over there. >> we found russians, they went into my room, messed with my stuvment there was a guy drilling in my ceiling at 3:00 in the morning, obviously just sitting there, this will frightening him, and i'm lying there thinking you're right, i am, i'm frightened. you have achieved your goal. my producer found someone in his hotel room, and he was near the window and he said you called downstairs to have your window you have to try harder than that. >> stephen: hold on one secretary. we have to take a little break. we'll be rate back with more john oliver, stick around. (cheers and applause) s we're back dub-- . >> stephen: we're back, everybody. mr. john oliver, joining us here on our program already in progress. i understand correct me if i'm wrong here, i don't know how much you can talk about this, but you know what i am going to ask about he

. >> stephen: followed by the fsb, the new kgb is the fsb. >> all the time, you think i'm just being . >>> from cbs "eyewitness news." >>> i'm ukee ukee washington, we're causing the late show for breaks news, we'll see the show in its entirety, matt weintraub is at the podium updating us on the four missing men. >> diligently. we have found human remains in an approximately 12 and a half foot deep common grave that we have painstakingly dug with a lot of care, so as not to damage any potential evidence. i'm very sad to say that we can now identify dean finocchiaro, 19 years old of middletown as one of the people that was found buried in that grave. he's been missing since friday. we notified his family that we have recovered his body. there are additional human remains inside that grave. this painstaking process will go on. we're not done yet. this is a homicide, make no mistake about it. we just don't know how many homicides we're yet to know the answer to that question. i want to let you know that we reiterated over and over again and it goes to say one more time to the families t

if it were an fsb operation be it obviously failed.s a government official and private citizen, over the years i talked to cia, fbi counter-intelligence people on any number of occasions when they asked me about people who contacted me. it comes in all different shapes and sizes. the meeting shouldn't have taken place. when they got the email it should have been sent to the campaign counsel. i think that would have stopped it right there. but for god's sake. at some point you have to ask what precisely is it they have done so far that we know of that they have done wrong? have they mishandled the communications strategy dealing with it? sure. but what is the underlying wrong they committed here? there is no answer to that. that's why you see democratic senators and others saying we have to get these people up here to testify under oath. eric: from your experience, how do you know what we are dealing with? john: i don't. people talk to me all the time. i guess i'm in trouble right now. i talk to all kinds of foreigners. i was just in be

. >> we have lots of reports about the connections bet we the company and the fsb, russian intelligence, and the russian government. >> reporter: senator jeanne shaheen is introducing language into a bill that would ban the products from department of defense systems. so you think the labs is a danger to the united states? >> i think they pose a threat. >> reporter: how serious? >> well, we don't know yet. >> reporter: but the leaders of the intelligence and defense agencies already seem to have made up their minds. >> would any of you be comfortable with the lab software on your computers? >> resounding no from me. >> no. >> no, senator. >> no, sir. >> no, senator. >> no, sir. >> reporter: which may be why the fbi is questioned several of the employees at the states recently. robert anderson is a former fbi assistant director. >> that's what we do. we talk to people. >> reporter: how close is the company to the kremlin? >> i don't know. i don't know that answer. but i know there's enough there that if i was still in the fbi, i'd probably be talking to them too. >> was the labs involved

this is not how the fsb or the russian gru operates. this guy looks like a clown, right. he sends this e-mail to don trump jr. saying, hey, we have access to these russian state secrets. do you want some? this is not how the russian intelligence services operate. i think there is more information to be known but this seems like an amateurish attempt by a couple clowns to curry favor with people they happen to know through donald trump's business dealings. you talk about goldstone as a former business partner of donald trump, that kind of evokes the image that this is someone with his act together. >> that's not the issue whether there was gravitas attached to the person or what we've previously talked about. this is the president's son, the president's inner circle. possibly the president, understanding the intent of the meeting was to get a contribution, not a contribution of money, but a contribution of information, damaging information, against his opponent from the russian government. that is against the law. so regardless of where it's coming from on the outside, the

oversaw the manipulation of results, sample swapping, with the active participation and assistance of the fsb reporter: but if it didn't -- but it didn't stop at sochi. we do know that every single positive first screen in the moscow lab was sent up the chain of command and sent back down. now, that has to affect every single sport across the board. reporter: the report indicates the shock allegations of the man at the center of the scandal, the whistleblower seen here in a russian documentary and now in hiding in the united states, former head of moscow's claimingng laboratory he had helped dozens of athletes to cheat. despite previous russian denials and their insistence to clean up their act, many want that to mean a total ban from the olympics, which starts in three weeks time. the country's track and field team is already barred as a punishment for state-sponsored doping. the question is whether russia will be in rio at all. katty: let's get more from the republican convention here in cleveland. i am joined right our not just joined by our north america editor jon sopel. i've never cover

led by the g20 and the fsb. yes, we talk about it a lot.think there has been fundamental fracturing of the commitments to these standards of regulation post crisis, based of course on the experience of the crisis and what we all learned from it. us should say our system of regulation is perfect, that it will never be revised. history clearly tells us that is wrong. i think it is natural there is discussion in the u.s. about the way forward. i draw a line though, between that and the commitment to global standards. francine: do you agree with that, paul? you are on the other side of that. >> sure, i think what we have seen is, initially when we do the initial review of existing regulations, there was an immediate reaction suggesting there would be a big roll back. practically what we have seen is the practical and rational effort led by the treasury to produce these white papers, which will address changes to regulations around the market. one came out in june and one comes out in september, which will be the most impactful for our customers

>> some of them are fsb trained, some of them not. but it's not just about the individuals, it's about the system. kgb from the very beginning it was -- essentially we make a mistake when we judge about the kgb as about some intelligence organization we have in the west, from very beginning it was criminal organization not only because it controlled all the criminal world in the soviet union but because you had all kinds of relationships with organized crime groups in the west and everywhere and that was -- when i look at the nowadays situation, i really don't looking back into the kgb history, i don't see major differences and major new things. only new things are some new tools like social media or something like that. we're talking, let's say, about fake news and we consider fake news a new phenomenon. let's look back to the ideas of hiv was invented by cia or nuclear winter theory and many others -- many others, these are fake news which were invented decades ago and now they're just doing the same thing using the new tools. that'

and what this report indicates is that she was a participant in the other activities that the fsb isat least to russian. we think of it as a den of spies. russians often think of it as a den of thieves. it's a big, corrupt empire with fsb agents, with the power of the state at their back exappropriating businesses, land, running extortion rackets, and it seems like she was part of this kind of world where she was helping fsb officers rest away control of a valuable piece of land in the moscow region. so this is a story more about corruption than espionage, but it kind of shows the circles she ran in in moscow. >> julia, also at the aspen security forum on friday, you asked the current director of national a question. we'll play a bit. >> i don't know if you know about an hour and a half ago "the washington post" broke a story saying that u.s. intelligence intercepts show that attorney general sessions spoke to russian -- then russian ambassador kislyak about campaign-related issues. this is some of the collection you were talking act. do you have any comment on this? >> i just learne

these court records show she represented a military unit tied to the fsb. russian security service. successor to the kgb. represented them in a property dispute. that went from 2005 to 2013. it doesn't show any formal relationship with her and the russian security services. she has said she is willing to testify in the senate if called to do so. there may be more to her side of the story still to come out. >> getting close to noon in the russian capital. clare sebastian reporting. >>> we are following the tragic shooting of the australian woman in the city of minneapolis. we know the police chief in the city is stepping down. some activist are making it clear that's not enough. at bluron, we work directly with more than a hundred family farms. so instead of spending on costly middlemen and supermarkets, we can invest in the things that matter most: making farmland healthier. cutting down on food waste. and bringing you higher quality, fresher ingredients for less than you pay at the store. because food is better when you start from scratch. get $30 off at b

they indicated as far back as 2009, kaspersky was developing software in secret for the fsb, the russiane service. on its own, that is nothing very unusual. cybersecurity companies in the u.s. do hundreds of millions of dollars in business with the u.s. intelligence agency. u.s. companies do not go out of their way to deny they work with the u.s. government. kaspersky has done exactly that. our story is showing that not only are they tied to the russian government deeper than eugene kaspersky has ever acknowledged, but also there are some unusual courses of what that relationship looks like such as a technician apparently goes on ride along's with officials as they arrest cyber criminals inside russia. they have confirmed this but they said the intent is just for technical analysis. highly unusual. carol: i'm sitting at home, listening to this story or watching this story and thinking why do i care about this company? are they doing business with the u.s. government? are they doing business with a lot of u.s. companies? that is what is interesting. jordan: two really relevant answers. ka

i mean he ran the fsb.e has studied all of the histories and he know you how to apply power at least on the political level and understanding what he can get from his agencies. his biographer today l said he does live in his own information bubble. but that bubble comes from his intelligence attentions and academics in his political supporters. that being said, he has an information domens over donald trump. donald trump does not live in an area where he even believes his intelligence agencies. he disparages that. it's the ultimate trolling for vladimir putin to say okay give us the evidence all the everyday. let us know where we failed in our collection activities and where we succeeded in our successful propaganda warfare against you. >> mike mcfall something happened today interesting. melania trump was playing an underthe radar role she sat next to vladimir putin at the dinner. here is an interesting detail. the one point the first lady came in in to see if she could put an end to the meeting. it didn't

often with the help of the fsb, which allowed them into the country in the leadup to the winter olympics in sochi. now he's saying we need to work together on cyber security after perpetrating not just a major hacking of the u.s. democratic election system, but probably the greatest espionage operation even during the cold war. the russians never did what they did in 2016. putin is taking a deep bow and trump is patting him on the back for it. i agree with the senators, it's like putting an arsonist in charge of the fire brigade. i understand this talking point. we need to work with the russians on x. we do, indeed, the russians don't want to work with us. on x, y or z. from which multiple treaties they've pulled out of, to cyber security. anybody you've talked to in intelligence work or counter terrorism work over the past two decades will tell you, we have never effectively cooperated with the russian security sources on islamic terrorism, because they don't give us what we need. they're not interested in al qaeda or isis. you can talk to bob bear about that, anyone else who comes on c

fsb trained. former kgb, excuse me, mixing up my acronym. how to read people and control things and may bring trump along for a ride. in which case, him dictating what's a good way to go forward and not necessarily our president. >> and assad is putin's guy, assad in power, you run ice osit and hand a gift to assad. what was said about the agenda. noagenda. whatever the president wants to talk about. all say democrats and republicans, say he damn well better raise election meddling. the white house said, we don't know if it will come up or not. can the president of the united states after. whatted in the 2 whatted -- what happened in the 2016 election, not bring this up? >> given the president, the answer is, yes, something in trump's wheelhouse to not -- >> there are smiles at the table, but that's not funny. if thinking about the united states brand in the rearview mirror or 20 years ahead, 2018, 2020 re-election campaign for this president it would be stunning, except nobody would be surprised by it. >> while we're smiling. the answer to

those intelligence agents were part of the fsb, which is a law enforcement agency in russia, which is supposedly trying to help us catch cyber criminals. another reason why this is not a great deal. this does show that the fbi, nsa and cia do catch the russians, so, you know, the russians aren't going to get away with it. they're not so deceptive they can beat us, we are better than them. these are all available on justice.gov, it makes for some good reading. >> the intelligence agencies did put forward and make public their findings in october, the word classified to the american public. once he has a look to take a look at the data, has a definitive answer himself, he'll make that known to the president. is he painting himself into a corner here, if he needs to contradict the president once he gets the security clearance? >> we'll give him the benefit of the doubt, he's already raising all kinds of questions which really aren't questions right now. he's opening up something that doesn't need to be opened up. he'll paint himself into a corner, but my suspicion is, he'll be loyal to t

and the fsb in order to appeal the magnitsky act and create a situation where russian torturers and murderers can now freely travel again. >> reporter: his partner to remove the sanctions is natalia veselnitskaya. she was also named in browder's complaint. the day of the meeting with "the washington post" and ap, vess veselnitskaya added him to attend. >> they were working together in new york, they had this big project together. it would have been odd if he hadn't been at the donald trump jr. meeting because this was a project they were working lockstep. as far as i could tell, he was the die in the cords of power so it completely makes sense that he would have been at that meeting. >> reporter: dana rohrbacker -- >> you're trying to make it look like only the two of them, come on. >> reporter: he tells cnn in may he's someone with an ulterior motive. involved with people who have an agenda. alex marquardt, cnn, new york. and all of this political drama in the u.s. was taking place while donald trump was actually far from home. just a week after the g20 summit in germany, the u.s. president

for all don junior knew that wa coming from the fsb.at was coming from human intelligence or signals intelligence. he had no idea where it was coming from. it's not normal. normal opo is legally obtained. >> i go back to the yukraine example. they exchanged documents from a foreign government. >> paul manafort did work in ukraine. people in the ukraine wanted the united states to know. that was from a legal and public. >> jake, he was running the campaign at the time. i mean, we're acting like this is a one off thing that never happens in campaigns. you just gave the evidence of what took place there. >> nobody from the ukraine government met with the clinton campaign. >> that's not true. there were representatives at the ukraine embassy, the political report was clear. >> again. i know you want to change the subject. let's go back to russia. this is his answer. >> i probably met with other people from russia. not in the context of a form formalized meeting because why would i. >> saying i probably met with other people from russia. wha

. >> she's worked for the fsb, the successor organization to the kgb. >> anticorruption investigatorill browder testified that she was moscow's point of contact for repealing sanctions. president putin retaliated, at the 2016 meeting. >> nobody was talking about adoption, they were tugged by the repeal sanctions so that russian torturers and murderers could travel in america. >> and american opposition research firm to smear him, the same firm commission the unverified siliceous and i trump. >> spreading false information about browder and his lawyer adding the president and his allies are trying to smear them because the firm investigated trump's ties to russia. on the unmasking allegations, they were in the context of the national security position advising president obama and she has been unambiguous about the congressional investigation. a spokeswoman for rice said unmasking was done for intelligence, not political purposes and there was no immediate response from brennan. >> bret: thank you. up next a war on gangs here at home but first as we had to break we mentioned it at the

he ran the fsb. he has studied all the histories and knows how to apply power at least on the political level. and understanding what he can get from his agencies. a biographer earlier today said he lives in his own information bubble, and i believe that. but that information bubble comes from his intelligence agencies as well as academics and his political supporters. that being said, he has an information dominance over donald trump. donald trump does not live in an area where he even believes his intelligence agencies. he disparages them. and it's the ultimate trolling for vladimir putin to say, okay, now give us the evidence. like all the evidence. let us know where we failed in our collection activities and where we succeeded in our successful propaganda warfare against you. >> mike mcfaul, something happened that was interesting. melania trump who was playing a different role sat next to him at the dinner. at one point, first lady melania trump came in to see if she could put an end to the meet

was a meeting between jared kushner, paul manafort and a very -- somebody close, very close to the fsbso trdrip, drip, drip. this is a criminal enterprise running this country now. >> susan, howard brings up that meeting between donald trump jr., kush near, then campaign chair paul manafort with this russian lawyer. what do you think about that, they say it's about adoption, do you buy it? >> it almost doesn't matter what the meeting was about. the fact it happened and it was never reported is yet another problem. i would say this is a really big drip in the drip, drip, drip the governor just mentioned. this is problematic because once again it shows this administration and the people surrounding it have a fundamental problem with being truthful. and this is yet another meeting that happened with the russians. we never find undisclosed meetings that happened with the chinese or the japanese or other folks. it keeps coming back for russia to the russians. and at this point, it looks like there's got to be a reason for that. i agree with the governor that, you know, we have chairman muel

were, it's really not that different from the cold war days of the soviet union where you have the fsbtire place wired for sound. so if you're visiting there, you're going to be -- collection will happen on you. they will get information on you. so, yeah, they'll play a long game because you never know when the information that you collect will come in handy. >> we talked a lot, and this is the focus of the investigation is how russia used fake news bots to get fake stories, particularly to vulnerable districts during the election. what is interesting, that hasn't stopped. a journalist for the ap noted today that what had been a dormant account for the last couple of months called cyberbear kut which is allegedly linked to the kremlin, it's come alive today. it's been tweeting out this story line about clintons and ukraine, which has become a republican talking point. i think it's worth noting that this kind of cyberactivity by russia has not stopped at all. >> right. actually, it's interesting. if you logistic at some of the sites that were created and sort of property, they maintain

and so, you know, i have a lot of questions about whether we're still seeing an unspooling fsb kremlin plot to continue to confuse and delegitimize what we have going on here in the united states. >> greg, i want to play some of keir simmons' interview with this russian lawyer. here's just a snippet. >> had the impression, it appears that they were going to be told some information that you had about the dnc. howdy they get that impression? >> translator: it's quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information. they wanted it so badly. >> what do you make of her statement and of those e-mails? >> it's clear how badly they wanted it. some of our other guests have alluded to this, but this sort of shatters the claims from the outset of this administration that they were not -- would not have worked with russia, that there was no connection with russia, that this is all fake news. i mean, all of those statements from the president on down have to be seen in a completely different light now. and i just feel like it's -- you know, the shifting explanations just in the past 48

for all don junior knew, that was coming from the fsb, successor to the kgb. that was coming from human intelligence. he had no idea where it was coming frchlt normal oppo is legally obtained. >> i go back to the ukrainian example. i know you don't want to discuss it because it's not being investigated, which raises a question. they exchanged documents from a foreign government. >> paul manaforte did work in ukraine. people in ukraine wanted the united states to know. >> yes. >> from a legal and public hearing. >> wait a minute. but, jake, he was running the campaign at the time. so, i mean, we're acting like this is some kind of one-off thing that never happens in campaigns. you just gave the evidence of exactly what took place there. >> no. nobody from the ukrainian government met with the clinton campaign, again, as i said. >> that's not true. representatives at the ukrainian embassy, the political report was clear. >> go ahead. i know you want to change the subject. let's go back to russia. donald trump jr. was asked if he met with anyone else from russia.

fact that we learned today that the lawyer who was involved there on the russian side represents the fsb, the russian intelligence service. so if you put all this into the context and you see all of these russian connections, there's a new one every single day, and increasingly benign explanations for what they're up to, benign explanations are just not incredible. >> right. you mentioned the disclosures on the meeting alone and how outnumbered the trump folks were with these russian officials. john mclaughlin, here was jeff sessions -- i would say the crescendo of his testimony when he clearly decided to try to lay down a gauntlet and appeal to his former colleagues in the senate with the idea that he couldn't possibly have done something wrong on russia. >> the suggestion that i participated in any collusion, that i was aware of any collusion with the russian government to hurt this country, which i have served with honor for 35 years, or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process is an appalling and detestable lie. >> john mclaughlin, as someone who has sifted evidence your

knew, that was coming from the fsb successful to the kgb. coming from human intelligence or signals intelligence. he had no idea where it was coming from. it's not norm op-o. he was asked if he met with anyone else from russia. his answer. take a listen. >> i've probably met with other people from russia -- not in the context of a formatalized meeting or anything like that. why would i? >> don jr. saying, i've probably met with other people from russia. what other meetings or communications with russians have not been disclosed yet? >> none that i know of, but i represent the president of the united states, but donald trump jr. said not in the context of formal meetings. he said he may have met with russian people. as, a lot of people meet with russian people. that's not unusual. >> also he said -- back in march he said there were no meetings at all in the auspices of the campaign. now we know that's not to be true. >> you know, i -- i thought about that, because you and i talked about that the other day on your weekday broadcast. i thought

they don't have fsb, former kgb agents walking around with a kgb uniform. they use cutouts. people near association with the government. friends of friends, et cetera to begin to test the waters, to see information. see the, whether or not they can pass information or get clues, et cetera. and it appears that this is the russian government's attempt to try to do this. i don't know what the outcome is. >> was it unethical, un-american if not illegal to not inform the fbi of that meeting and the intention of the meeting? >> i don't know the laws of it. seen law experts saying technically nothing illegal about it. i don't know. i don't know espionage law that well. i know it's improper and in a position, as an elected official or running for office or in a public, i guess, situation like that, it really is incumbent on you to do it. whether anything came out of this meeting or not, the fact is you need to expose this operation happening, because these people may go from donald trump jr. to somebody in the clinton campaign, or somebody in the sanders campaign or wherever, to try

no doubt that putin's experiences as a kgb officer, and then, of course, his responsibilities in the fsbrienced world leader who's met with a bunch of other world leaders. he kind of knows how this whole thing goes. it's really important that trump be very, very firm with putin right off the bat. people have made an argument, we're not slur how much time there's going to be. mr. putin, you all have to earn the right to deal with the rest of the civilized world, with the west and with the united states. let's just review, even if you set aside, you know, shenanigans with regards to election hacking and meddling, you've annexed a country. you've set another country very close to civil war in the ukraine. you've shot down civilian airliners. that's all before we even get to the part about the election medd meddling. before we talk about that, mr. putin, we have to resolve those issues and then we'll talk about the lifting of sanctions and things. but we've got to call you on these basically inappropriate and bad behavior that you've done in the international realm before we can go any furth

a fact that the department of justice and the fbi were looking into the possibility that rush a the fsbs shopping around dirt on both hillary clinton and hunter biden, the son of the vice president. they wanted to get into this election, but the fbi did not have the details to open up a full investigation. they were looking at it. if donald trump junior had gone to the fbi and told them about this approach with damaging information it would very much have helped their case. so the russians had wanted to get in our elections since the mid-'90s. cide seen it and it's something that we should have been more attentive about and certainly the trump campaign would have been aware of this and they tried this with bill clinton and bill clinton refused the money in the '90s. come o this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. >> so if donald trump junior reportedly met with this russian national who claimed to have the damaging information on clinton, is it possible he could have met with another? does the kremlin give up? >> no. they don't give up. i mean, was there a full-on program with the kgb t

not showy, he's got a poker face and suddenly he takes over the organization that was the kgb, the fsb, then takes over all of russia. he's very skilled. activists we spoke to, russian officials we spoke to say that president trump is going to face a very serious adversary and that president putin feels very comfortable with trump. they say that's why the russians were so happy that trump was elected president. there are multiple investigations now suggesting that the russians may have helped get president trump elected. so there's a lot at stake. this is not just a normal meeting between two world leaders. it's a meeting between two world leaders while one, the former head of the intelligence agency, is coming in feeling very confident, and the other, the u.s. president, is facing multiple investigations for having been manipulated by the other leader. >> richard, here's a man who has enjoyed a reputation as being a master of mind games. there's that story that surfaced a few days ago of when president putin met angela merkel some years ago, he knew that she was afraid of dogs and wha

actions to date show that he's absolutely clearly working in the interests of the putin regime and the fsbeal the magnitski act and create a situation where russian murders can travel again. >> the lawyer initially introduced to donald junior has having incriminating information on hillary clinton from a russian prosecutor, she was also named in the complaint. the day of the meeting, she asked him to attend. >> they were working together in new york. they were working together in brussels. they had this big project together. it would have been odd if he hadn't been at the donald trump jr. meeting since this is a project that they had been sort of walking lock-step. and from what i can tell, he is the u.s. operator. he's the guide in the corridors of power. and so it completely makes sense that he would have been at that meeting. >> california congressman has been critical of the focus on the trump administration's russian ties. >> you can trying to make it look sinister. come on! but the congressman has also been lobbied by him and told cnn in may that he is someone with an all tier your m

we are now learning thanks to reuters she represented a military unit founded by the fsb, the successorsian agency to the kgb for a number of years. here's the question from an intelligence perspective, general. how risky was it for these three trump associates to meet with this woman during the campaign? >> well, understanding -- i guess i'm old school cold war warrior and all that. so, i have this truth in advertising, great suspicions about the russians and what they do. and a lot of this to me had kind of the standard textbook trade craft long employed by the russians or the soechl yviets a into the russians. so, i don't find it surprising that these connections are trying to -- are coming out. it would have been a really good idea maybe to have vetted whoever they were meeting with. i think the russian objective here was, one, to explore to see if there was interest in having such a discussion on offering up, of course, dirt on hillary clinton. and somehow, you know, at least create the optic or the image of at least ostensibly plausible deniability. this is traditional trade craft

who has been the leader of russia for 17 years and before that one of the most experienced senior kgb/fsb intelligence officials. >> exactly. i mean, you mention a series of different sanctions that the united states has put on russia and russians and companies over the last several years. if i were briefing the president for that meeting, i would have listed out a number of talking points for each of those, magnetski, versus ukraine, versus what the obama administration did with respect to our elections. and explained in those talking points to the president why we had the position. when you're just flying solo in an impromptu way, putin, of course, knows the details of all of those much better than president trump does and he's going to say, hey, you know, you took my -- you took my properties. that's illegal, donald. you got to give them back. and without the proper context, without the talking points in front of them, i worry about what kind of commitment the president might have made and once he makes that commitment, this is important, once he says that to putin, putin reads that ou

the service, known as the fsb, is the successor to the kgb, and was once headed by none other than russiann. the reports say there is no suggestion that natalia works for the russian government or its intelligence services. separately, though, former director of national security james clapper says that trump jr.'s meeting with natalia was a textbook move used by the russians. >> i have truth in advertising, great suspicions about the russians and what they do. a lot of this to me had kind of a standard textbook trade craft long employed by the russians or the soviets and now into the russians. i don't find it surprising that these connections are trying to come out. >> all right. joining us now from washington politico's daniel lipman co-author of "the political playbook." we've been talking about what's taking place in week in terms of meetings behind closed doors, but one of the bigger issues is health care. topic that is going to be on the agenda for republicans. they're expected to move ahead with a vote as early as tomorrow, but on friday the senate's parliamentarian found there are