if you're caught by kgb, they can force yoyou to do whatever they want. we still have kgb. we still have informants on every corpororation, political party who are working as agents. what you have seen that is the standard sovieiet style kgb tactic. they put you in front of v very totough decision. perhaps svetlana was shown a video of her husband w who has been tortured. or there -- they were told that something bad will happen to her family. perhaps she chose to step down and go to lithuania temporarily. brent: do we have any word on the condition of her husband? >> herer husband was kept in solitary confinement.. that is the harshesest punishmet in t the prison. as you know, lawyers are not always able to o talk to prisoners. we are not always ablele to get news about their conditition. therere are more than 250 prisoners and 30 o of them are political prisoners. brent: in the video that we just sasaw, svetlana tikhanovskaya calls o on people not to go against t the police. are ththey likely to listen to r russian mark i d don't -- listen to her? >>>> no, this video look

again, what history shows, who does the kgb target in the 1960 and 60 elections? richard nixon, a republican. in the 84 elections they targeted ronald reagan, a republican. it just happens that they now like a republican but they don't like any particular political party, what they like is a candidate who advances russia's interests. in the future i hope this will not happen under our current president that is clear but the next president has to do what is possible to remind americans that even if russia is helping your person is a national front and its offensive and it's undermining the notion of what it means to be a sovereign democracy we need to come together to unite against it because any response to this threat has to have the and of the people because much of what it means to manipulate an election is manipulating people because if you release emails and focus on the gossip in the emails rather than the source your gameplay. if you're on social media and not focusing on thequality of the content before you and taking in what you see , you're being played.

especially given the formative, kind of professional early life and kgb stuff that you talk about. is it realistic to talk about a putin who can abandon a kind of life long obsession with confrontation with the united states? >> some fundamental change is difficult for everybody and not something that we normally see, but you can adapt. and i did, you know, see towards the end of the book and looking back on the first versi version, putin did learn lessons and adapted behavior from them. does that mean fundamental change? perhaps not, but he's a plumber and he's got contingencies. i think also, the risk they're fresh out of new ideas. i think there's an awful lot of people writing about this right now. that there's not a kind of a sense of where they're heading. you know, we're all in this predictment now and we are going to be in a fundamentally changed environment for all of us. if this goes on for longer, we are going to have to see the fundamental change in the way that we do things. we're already doing it now. and he thought we would be doing this. and we're adapting to that,

and even though it wasn't reagan and thatcher being involved, this really -- the kgb immediately says this is it, this is it. this is the preemptive strike. this has to be it. and they basically activate code red, right? they are ready, they are on high alert. and nuclear war is coming, we have to be ready to launch. and so for the duration of able archer for i think nine days, there is this tension. and word about that gets back to reagan because the united states has a double agent in the kgb in london and he reports that this is happening. so by the end of november/early december, reagan is getting this information that the soviet union is comprised of people who actually believe that the united states is capable of preemptive strike and that their command and control procedures in the soviet union are so poor per the kl 007 incident that it might actually lead to nuclear annihilation. and so reagan begins to sort of question how hard he should actually push the soviets. reagan was also influenced by abc's the day after which was a made for tv movie which basically demonstrated wha

get to a situation that we had since 2000 where putin came out with the security services with the kgb to the back corridor they have become the stage and all these appointments of security officials from the various intelligence agencies in and around putin and the kremlin and cabinet positions but also private business you got to stay and capture that so how do you move this into a different phase? seems that putin has tried to do himself is put a more stable system and i don't think by any stretch he's thinking about putting those girly services out to pasture or turn them into domesticated animals in some way but he is trying to buy all these reasons constitutional amendments and others have been doing a great analysis of this and putting the system onto a different something for the next several years. he's moving himself into this kind of elder statement, head of state, because i constitutional monarch world and if he stops to see himself something is other than the kremlin and the elder statesman and the man who is building in power becomes of elder statement of the internationa

called the kgb.t of this country harkened back almost to the collapse of the soviet un n union. alexander lukashenko has been in power for 26 years, and people here say it is well past time that he step down and have a transition of power. in specific, they say that the elections that were held just over a week ago were not free and fair. and that there was massive voter irregul irregularity, and today, the eu is coming down on the side of the protesters, saying that they don't have confidence that the last election was accurate, and they say they will sanction belarusian officials who were involved in falsifying the election results and cracking down on demonstrators. but, chuck, there is the major wild card here, vladimir putin. not said to be personally very close with alexander lukashenko, but certainly, russia sees belarus as a part of its sphere of influence, and not a country it wants to see go. chuck. >> nbc's richard engle in minsk. thank you, and thank you all for being with us this hour. t

word about that gets back to reagan because the united states has a double agent in the kgb who is in london, and he reports to london that this is happening. so by november, by the end of november, early december, reagan is getting this information that the soviet union is comprised of people who actually believe the united states is capable of a pre-emptive strike and that their command and control procedures in the soviet union are so poor, per the kl-007 incident, that it might actually lead to nuclear annihilation. reagan begins to question how hard he should push the soviets. reagan was also influenced by abc's "the day after" which was a made for tv movie which basically demonstrated what would happen in the case of a nuclear conflict. after he gets an advanced copy from abc, and he watches it at camp david, and the president was amazinglyfluenced by film. it resonated with him in a way that all the briefing books wouldn't. and that's not a knock on reagan. just, if you gave him a film, a briefing in film, he would understand it, he would hold on to it, and he would be able to,

i mean the question is does the land of the free need a kgb? i would say the answer is no. the united states of america does not need a secret police. we do not need a police force which appears without insignia, which doesn't identify itself, and which pulls random people off the street. that's the nightmare of an authoritarian or totalitarian state. that's a line that we should not be crossing. we should also be concerned about where this comes from. history tells us that the people, the men who staff these kinds of organizations, are very often people with experience in lawless zones. that means concentration camps or places like our detention centers. it tells us that they are very often people of experience defending a border or working at a border, which again is the case here. and another thing which is concerning is that all of this is taking place not on the base of law but on the basis of a conspiracy theory. the president mouths dangerous words like anarchists and so on and terrorists. that's all a conspiracy theory. nothing like that is actually happening in the

this is kgb ml i've had hearings about this in 1982, we've looked at this. but largely with the fall of the soviet union, we thought it was all over. and i think what nina's does is it goes through starting soon after putting comes to power and how methodically the kgb tactics and methods have been practiced, refined, inc., new technologies. and basically as we sit by they have been practicing and they have been finding ways to make it more and more effective as it has crept closer and closer to the united states. literally caught us unaware. because we stopped seeing russia as a serious threat. in 2008 think obama or 2012 obama made fun of romney for saying that russia was a threat. i think what nina chose also with this kind of our blinders being on and with what she mentioned about russia not being constrained by ideology is that it actually gives russia much more flexibility in terms of putting its tentacles into american society which is something that is very constraining for it during the cold war. we had a natural prophylactic because we were in an i

and, even know it was not reagan and thatcher, this really, the kgb immediately says this is it.is is the preemptive strike. this has got to be it. they activate code red. they are ready, they are on high alert. nuclear war is coming. we got to be ready for launch. so, for the duration of able archer, for nine days, there is this tension. word about that gets back to reagan, because the united states has a double agent in london. by the end of november, early december, reagan is getting this information to the soviet union is comprised of people who believe the united states is capable of a preemptive strike and that their command-and-control procedures and the soviet union are so poor, per the kl007 incident that it might lead to nuclear annihilation. reagan begins to question how hard he should push the soviets. reagan was also influenced by abc's "the day after, " a made for tv movie which demonstrated what would happen in the case of a nuclear conflict. after he gets an advance copy from abc, and he watches at camp david. the president is amazingly influenced by film. it reso

the general, the head of the nk bd, a precursor to the kgb secret intelligence service. mike assumes the general is there to tell him stalin has arrived at the russian embassy, but mike takes one look at the general and realizes something is very wrong. the russian general tells him last night 38 nazi commanders came down out of the sky on a mission to kill the big three. and mike, his heart stops as he describes it in his memoirs. the first thing he can say he realizes he asks a silly question are you sure there were just 38, yes we caught them all and interrogated them quite thoroughly, the general explains. and mike has a vision in his mind of what it must have been like a but he's not too sorry because his whole responsibility is to protect the loss to the co- boss. then the general says there's something else. the man we interrogated, six commanders came in on a separate plane. they are loose in the city and have a mission to kill the big three can fdr, churchill and stalin. when mike heard this, his blood ran cold. for the next four days at the conference it is a c

this is the kgb mo, their hearings about this in 1982, we have looked at this. largely with the fall of the soviet union, we thought it was all over. we find that what nina's book does is it goes through starting soon after putin comes to power, and how methodically the kgb tactics and methods have been practiced, refined, inc., new technologies. and basically as we stood by they have been practicing. and they have been finding ways to make it more and more effective as it crept closer and closer to the united states. and it literally caught us unaware. because we stopped seeing russia as a serious threat. in 2008, think of -- or 2012 obama made fun of romney for saying that russia was a threat. i think what nina chose also was our blinders being on and with what she mentioned about russia not being constrained by an ideology is it gives russia much more ideology of putting its tentacles into american society which is something that is very constraining for it during the cold war. we had a natural prophylactic because we were in an ideological struggle. they're

i am sending -- standing in front of the kgb building and these are staying largely loyal to the regimeu have not felt a lot of fear. the protests have been in the main square where thousands gathered for the nightly protest ahead of sunday's bigger protest that is being called the march of millions. whether they get one million people together is questionable, but it is set to be as big as last week's protests. we heard from opposition leaders they are trying to engage, trying to convince them not to use force against protesters. we heard from the government saying they will go after ordinary protesters, that taking part in a protest will be deemed criminal. there is no clear path forward. no one can tell where this is going. there is no roadmap, but the sense is this is not the end and it is getting going. phil: we heard from the former presidential candidate who has called for more strikes. how much impact are these strikes having? >> it a different picture across this country. in minsk, some of the strikes seem to have quieted down. but on the western border, though strikes are hold

and the army and the law enforcementre buddies and kgb extremely powerful.t would beer a difficult struggle for anyone trying to go against this rule. philippa: u.n. special repertoire, thank you for speaking to us. sidetay with us on "o source."still to come, we will o detentions in the eastern mediterranean as france and greece conduct joint military drills there. ♪ philippa: here in the u.k., an investigatiois underway into at caused yesterday's train derailment which killed three people. a scottish government minister said extreme weather did have an impact. our scotland core pond and --. . correspondent has this update repoer: the head of network rail visiting the site said iegent checks are being ca out. >> we have the best safeop record in e but we were not good enough yesterday. whatever happened yesterday, we whatht was.o find out eventually it's important the rail accident innstigation project are gi time to do that properly and forensically. reporter: three people died in the derailment. awi passenger, alon the trains conductor. a family man, he w

reporter: at the kgb prison in reports say the leader was brought from this prison to another becausesome people have been gathering here for his birthday, which is today. this is the husband of the main opposition candidate, who also had a message for his birthday, but the message was directed at the government. >> this blatant injustice and lawlessness demonstrates how this decaying system works, the system where one man controls everything. one man has been holding this country in fear for six years. one man stole from belarusians his choice. my husband asked me to pass you his words. political prisoners are wasting their time in jail. he asks you not to waste your time, not to sit still, but to do everything possible to live in a country for life. reporter: well protests and strikes are ongoing, there is increasing diplomatic pressure. european leaders angela merkel and emmanuel macron have been in touch with vladimir putin in moscow. interestingly, they have been calling him and not lukashenko. increasinglyn is turning into a mediator and potentially a kingmaker in belarus. for r

but many pararallels come to mid starting with ththe poisoning of the former r kgb in lononn and then formerr russian spy i n salisbury. the poisoning of t the russian popolitical activist two years ago. eithther way, he was treated in germany and described his symptoms in an interview with dw as very similar to what is happening to navalny now. it has brought back many memories of opposition figures being poisoned or murdered. brent: today we had emmanuel macron offering alexei navalny asylum during a press conference. how is that going to go down with russian president vladimir putin? >> i think the question is whether navalny would look forward to asylum in france. he is a russian politician who lives in russia and is politically active. on the other hand i'm a it is a question of life and death, complete different arguments. i think he might even be happy if one of his harshest critics left the country. equivalent spokesperson said that president putin knows about the situation. it is said that the authorities in russia would do everything possible to allow him to be transported f

happened to me and my husband, we are lucky because we already got smuggled out of the country and the kgbut that. and we already had the meeting with hillary clinton. this woman, who said that i am not a politician, i am staying here for freedom, i am staying here for my husband in order, for me, to become a president, i will announce new presidential elections within six months, and those people who are now injail, they will run for those presidential elections. after those threats she was driven to lithuania, where she is located now. she is recognised as a national leader, by other european countries, and lukashenko is recognised as not a legitimate president and this is happening for the first time ever. and yes, nikolai, my husband, is right. in terms of it being hong kong style. because what is happening now in belarus, this is the best possible way of nonviolent resistance, and it is accumulated wisdom of all revolutions that happen, but is now happening in belarus. and people have stood up, literally. they understand that it will be time for the leader to come back to them and sta

we were lucky because we already got smuggled out of the country and kgb didn't know about that.linton and lobbied for targeted economic sanctions. this woman who said, "i'm not a politician, i'm staying here "for freedom and i'm staying here for my husband. "in order when for me to become a president, iwill announce "new presidential elections within six months "and those people who are now in jail, they will run "for those presidential elections." after those threats, she was driven to lithuania where she is located. now she is recognised as a national leader, already european countries, and lukashenko is recognised not as legitimate president. and that's happening for the first time ever. and yes, nikolai khalezin, my husband, is right in terms of hong kong style, because what is happening now in belarus, this is the best possible way of non—violent resistance. and it's accumulated wisdom of all the revolutions that happen that is now happening in belarus. and people are standing up there for themselves and they understand that now it will be time for their leader to come back

extremely autocratic and the army and the law enforcement and the army and the law enforcement and the kgb a very difficult struggle for anyone trying to go against this rule. thank you for speaking to us. stay with us on 0ustide source, still to come: we look into the middle east as french conduct military drills they are. 0ur scotland correspondent has this update. the head of net work rail visiting sites at urgent checks are now being at similar high—risk cuttings. we have the best safety record in europe. but we weren't good enough yesterday. whatever happened yesterday, we will want to find out eventually. what that was. it's important that the investigation given time to do that properly and forensically. three people died in the derailment. along with the trains conductor a family man he was said to light up the room with his cherry banter and stories. the train driver was described by his family as the most decent and loving human being we have ever known. his passing leaves a huge void in all of our lives. this is outside source live from the bbc news room. donald trump announces

police forces and kgb using deadly lethal weapons against the protesters.on killed and now we also know that some of those dead, they were not participating in the protest. so basically, most of them shooting was made arbitrarily. the soldiers that are brought to minsk streets, they are basically stopping, arresting and beating everyone they see. also particularly i like to mention a special attitude to journalists that riot police stop journalists, smash their cameras and confiscate press cards. it's very difficult to get any reports or photos or any coverage from the field. have you face any trouble yourself when you been out and about? no about my work is in front of computers. i'm basically that user content. this is how we have all videos and pictures. thousands of people are sending us pictures through telegram message. that's the only service which is not blocked in belarus. because facebook, google, youtube is not open. telegram messaging you can send the content and also government cannot access your information. and for many people that's a very h

and you ought to consider putin's background, a trained kgb officer who knows how to use his intelligence tools and does so very aggressively. and now he sees that the director of national intelligence apparently has been muzzled, at least partially, in describing his efforts. >> james clapper, we will have to leave it there. thank you so much for joining us on this pressing and urgent development. i want to go now to president trump in louisiana, just arriving at a relief distribution facility in lake charles. and he is speaking with folks there. let's take a listen. >> great politicians. your governor, your senator. >> we know the president will be traveling from lake charles to orange, texas, as well today to tour some of the other damage in the area following the massive destruction from hurricane laura and we will keep you posted on his travels later today. >>> new details in the police shooting of jacob blake. the kenosha police association has now released its own version of events that led up to blake being shot in the back seven times. >>> plus, the world is remembering an actor

mike goes downstairs, the head of the nk bb, the precursor to the kgb, the soviet intelligence serviceneral is there to tell him that stalin has arrived at the russian embassy. mike takes one look at the general's face, he realizes something is very wrong. the russian general told him that last night 38 nazi commandos came down out of the sky on a mission to kill the big3. mike, his heart stops, he describes in his memoirs but the first thing he can say he realizes it's a silly question, are you sure there were just 38?yes, we caught them all and interrogated them quite thoroughly. as the general explains. when he says, quite thoroughly, mike had a vision in his mind of what it must've been like to be interrogated quite thoroughly by the nk tv but he's not really too sorry because this is wartime and his whole responsibility is to protect the boss. then the general says, there's something else, we learned from these men that we interrogated that six commandos came in on a separate plane. these six commandos are at least in the city, they have a mission to kill the big3, fdr, churchill

wants health care with a system with the efficiency of the house post office and the compassion of the kgb? [applause] what about ourh: schools? what about our schools? my opponent and i both want to change the way our kids learn. he wants to change our schools a little bit and i want to change them a lot. take the issue of whether parents should be able to choose the best school for their kids. my opponent says that's okay, as long as the school is run by government and i say every parent and child should have a real choice of schools, public, private or religious. [applause] george h.w. bush: so we have a clear choice to fix our problem. do we turn to the tattered blanket of bureaucracy that other nations are tossing away? or do we give our people the freedom and incentives to build security for themselves? here's what i'm fighting for open markets for american products; lower government spending; tax relief; opportunities for small business, legal and health newrm, job training and schools built on competition, ready for the 21st century. why are these proposals not in effect today? onl

using documents provided to the senator by the son of a former kgb officer, there is no excuse for perpetuating russian disinformation in the u.s. senate. the fbi says it is cooperating with its investigation. your thoughts? speak up have news for them. this is mitch mcconnell who has been called a russian agent by the democrats. everybody is called the russian agents. except for them. and remember, these are the guys that paid a foreigner to go get information from russia. these are also the guys that actually sought out pictures of the president from russians. they have a long history and moving working with the russian. it's preposterous, and i would just add into that credit we have long been looking at the connections to ukraine, they have a lot of background and ukraine. a lot of operatives. they tried to impeach the president over this hoax. so the very comment the senator was making come of the house republicans on the intelligence committee haven't been investigating not just the ukrainians and the russians, but also particularly whether or not the democrats are involved in this. and s

, the belarussian regime is extremely autocratic and the army and the law enforcement bodies in the kgby difficult struggle for anyone trying to go against this rule. and in the last hour, the interior minister in belarus has apologised to those who have been injured during the protest, saying he takes full responsibility. president lukashenko has also ordered an inquiry into the mass detention of protesters. stay with us on oustide source, still to come: we'll look into tensions in the eastern mediterranean — as france and greece conductjoint military drills there. here in the uk, an investigation is under way into what caused yesterday's train derailment in aberdeenshire, which killed three people. a scottish government minister today said extreme weather did have an impact. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon has this update. the head of network rail visiting the site said urgent checks are now being carried out for similar high—risk cuttings. we have the best safety record in europe but we were good enough yesterday. whatever happened yesterday we will want to find out eventuall

you hear h this from -- i will never forget this interview, 1984 within ex- kgb agent talking about thepropaganda machine and that's what the 5% of the intelligence after and il surprised how easy it was for phase one that they call for mobilization that basically means that your countries and institutions and this isn't new what's happening. this is old marxist strategy that's beenn going on for a long time and it bubbles up kind of naturally. h again it's a very romantic ideals that we should never think we are going to escape it. wheelbase of two educate our kids on the dangers of it because it is natural to feel that way this sort of tribalistic identity politics is deeply embedded in human nature is constantly have to confrontnt it with better western enlightenment values and we did a good job of that over the last few decades. >> last question because they are running out of time, bu butt is one that you could recommend the site for the silver one that you could recommend for people in this time and on this topic, what would it be less offended by the obviously. they may have abou

you hear this, i will never forget this interview i think it was in 1984 the next kgb agent talk about the soviet propaganda machine and it's like 85% of their operation intelligence operations efforts. they were surprised at how easy phase i which is basically means hate your country hate your institution. this is not new it's happening this is old marxist strategies been going on for a long time. bubbles up kind of naturally in the human psyche. marxism is a very romantic idea. we should never think we will escape it. we always have to educate our kids on the dangers of it. it's very natural to feel that way, the tri- ballistic us versus them. it's actually deeply embedded in human nature parts we constantly have to confronted with better western enlightenment values. we did not do a good job of that of the last few decades. >> aren't last question because her running out of time. if there were one book that you could recommend. the congressman has a new book out. but if there were one book you could recommend for people in a time that's essential leading on this topic what would it

putin, who is a classic kgb thug running a fairly small country that's an economic basket case with anrmed forces that's only capable of threatening their neighbors and a giant pile of nuclear weapons, which he's threatening the world with. so i just don't understand any of this. our allies are nato, are south korea, are the japanese, are the australians, countries with similar values to ours. and he's denigrated all these democracies, never mind, by the way, canada and mexico, the two most important countries in national security border the united states, and he's been outrageous in his dealings with them. so we have a disaster going on in national security. we need to correct it. we need stable, thoughtful leadership. >> general barry mccaffrey, thank you very much for spending some of your time and having us in at the end of our broadcast tonight. we greatly appreciate it after the day we've had. and that, for us, is our broadcast for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. ♪ book two separate qualifying stays and earn a free night. the open road is open again. and whe

an american president post world war ii would have led the international outcry after ex-kgb member vladimirutin declared himself president. we got that very news about alexey navalny just hours before joe biden gave his speech last night. what we got from the current president of the united states was not much. trump's national security advisor, robert o'brien, called it concerning. trump himself said, you know, we're looking at it. that's not the way american presidents typically react to the poisoning of a leader. he's not a disinterested party. he invited putin into the oval office. he took his side in held sick can i. he broke with europe for a huge gift. no american transcript. he wants to let putin back into the g7 and reportedly to invite him to new york. for, what, to hang out? we're looking at it? last night during the pre-convention interview with my friends rachel mad ddow to reac to the news of what happened to mr. navalny. >> this is the kind of regime that donald trump supports and this is the kind of leadership from an autocrat like putin that he aspires to. to circle back to

and there was a bulgarian dissident whom the kgb targeted with an umbrella whose tip was laced with ricin. it gibbs putin a -- gives putin a little bit of deniability and it delivers a message to his own people and to those who wish to oppose him. arthel: if there's a direct link to putin in this case with navalny, how does this affect his geopolitical standing? >> well, i think that this -- if this was indeed vladimir putin, the kremlin's decision to proceed in this way, i think it reflects putin's concern for three things that are really putting him at a little bit more risk than he might like. first are protests in eastern russia where navalny was helping to organize opposition for regional elections. secondly, there's unrest in belar use after a falsified election and third is putin's approval rating which is dropping as a result of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and russia's economic recession. and i think what scares vladimir putin the most it's democracy and being held accountable and that's why i think he proceeded in this manner. arthel: i've got another 40 seconds left

there were letters that reported to show extraordinarily racist behavior from americans by the kgb but actually signed by the kkk as a lie so what we need to understand, and i really believe when people talk about how to defend our elections, one of the steps we take is to confront racial injustice for systemic racism police brutality because the more well-functioning we have, the less divided democracy we have, the less opportunity there is for russia to not only sell the division but make us believe they are not defending us because the society, a polarized society is manipulated and easily distracted. that is what russia is exploiting so in a lot of ways, racism and racial issues we see, in a sense, their domestic but in another sense, their real national security problems because they are easy to weaponize their side for generations before us so i hope we can take steps toward negating that vulnerability in our society and create more equitable society's and democracy. the issues go hand in hand and this is not unique to putin again and when the ira focus on that, is surprised a lo

i believe in coincidences, but i also believe in the kgb and asking why would putin bother helps the kremlin propaganda liars. he's been poisoned. it's a murderous mafia regime and trying to find reasons for putin is disgusting. >> and i just know every time i talk to you, unfortunately, it's after one of your friends happens to be in the cross hairs of vladimir putin. the list goes on and on. but you have been vocal for years now on the need for more western leaders to speak up and basically reassess their relationship with russia, given putin's actions time and time again. now, perhaps european leaders could do more, but at least they're speaking out about it. germany is treating navalny. i want to play for you what president trump has said about this. >> navalny, the russian opposition leader who was hospitalized and they think he was poisoned. >> we haven't seen it yet. we're looking at it and mike is going to be reporting to me soon. >> that's it, gary. three seconds. we haven't seen anything, mike is going to get back to me. >> outrageous. i mean, many republican senators, like

>> former reality tv star showing admiration for a dictator and former kgb operative, an unlikely pairave risen to the highest political offices in their perspective countries. it's real life. this international bromance has been a constant theme over the last several years. a modder d eern day version of and robin. here is trump on fox days after being sworn in as president in 2017. >> do you respect putin. >> i do respect him. >> do you? why? >> i respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean i'm going to get along with them. he's the leader of his country. i say it's better to get along with russia than not. >> he's a killer, though. putin is a killer? >> there's a lot of killers. got a lot of killers. you think our country is so innocent? >> now, that clip is particularly relevant this morning. here's why. alexei navalny, a top putin critic remains in a coma this morning, the victim of a suspected poisoning. he was flown to germany overnight for further treatment. this is not the first time putin has been convicted of poisoning or taken aim at his operation or his critics. it come

and when she says that mike flynn could have been blackmailed by the former kgb vladimir putin, that concept that an incoming national security adviser could be blackmailed by the russians to cough up classified information, that is ay counterintelligence threat and appropriate the fbi was investigating it. >> as i was watching that exchange between pat leahy and lindsey graham, obviously it's kind of the sound bite that people will play because it's this accusation that shows you the tension in the room. having said that, as somebody who worked for a long time, as we said, very very high-level folks, people who have had to go in front of congressional committees and testify, is it me or has it gotten worse? i mean, not that congressional hearings always were apolitical, it's not as though questions didn't get asked and things move on, but it does seem like it gets harder and harder and harder for witnesses to answer questions. >> it does seem that way and particularly if you look at the substance here, chris this is about getting tough on russia. and i remember a time when republica

there is a demonstration going on behind me in front of the main jail of the intelligence service, the kgba lot of political prisoners are held here and folks are coming out and demanding they be released. again, a week ago, they would have been beaten down by security forces immediately. now they are staying here and protesting, as it seems as though alexandksandr lukashenkoe longtime dictator's, power seems to be fading. protesters banning together to oust longtime dictator aleksandr lukashenko. these are industrial workers supporting state media workers on strike, saying they're fed up with untruthful reporting. >> translator: i've decided to quit because many of my friends ended up locked in prisons and tortured, and these are not just some people i read about. these are the people i know personally. >> reporter: the journalists want to finally report on the massive opposition protests that are bringing hundreds of thousands to the streets and tell the truth about a brutal crackdown and thousands of arrests and reports of torture after last sunday's election, which the opposition says

the former kgb, vladimir putin does not have the right, it is unlawful and a violation of the securitylin and the united states by getting involved and denigrating joe biden. they did it in 2016 and despite all the protests, all the bipartisan commissions. all the warnings from the intelligence professional across capitol hill, across washington. here they go again, and what does donald trump say about this? apparently nothing. if bill, who is the office of the director of national intelligence as the head of counter intelligence. if he has said this publicly, he certainly has included reporting on this in the president's daily brief in classified assessments for leaders of the national security council. the fact that president trump has not spoken out about this has not pushed back on russia, means he welcomes it, and i think he does. >> let me stay with this, i think it's worth hitting pause on everything else. vladimir putin admitted he wanted donald trump to win in 2016. robert mueller found that putin and russia sought to aid trump's election. and the trump campaign accepted it en

so when he with a coming onto the world stage, kgb agent, russia was a great nation, super power, toeto toe with america, he could look forward to a great future. everything collapsed by the late '80s, early '90s. putin's career not-- along with it it collapsed so putin himself goes to graduate school at that point and wrote a dissertation in russian, i don't read russian, but translation of it. make russia great again and use the price much oil and russia would be rich again. and that's his dissertation, and russia was rich again. 200 a barrel and it collapsed after that. putin, instead of taking the windfall profits he would have had, say, 2010, and reinvesting them into the economy, he went on another spending spree. let's do the military, social services, consolidate cell so now that the price of oil is done and i don't think it ever goes up to those levels again,'s kind of broke and so this would be a very good time to force a deal with the russians. let them have their dignity and as reagan did at the collapse of the soviet union, but we're in a strong position now. sadly, becau

germans soldiers in provoking the lord in that way and deluding himself in the most notable is that kgb goon to say looked into his eyes and thought what a great man this must be and the president must regret saying that now. much of what we knew then. and the advisers he such a step that would do the trick and reconsider the idea. >>host: have you met president bush? now. >> vice president? >> and with those interested report writers and reporters tongue-in-cheek that was a sobering event. >>host: did you leave impressed? >> he gave the executive summary which i thought was extremely well delivered. and is no attempt to make it better. >> would you consider paul wolfowitz a friend? >> yes. we been not to together and we have had some discussions and because it had to defend him that's a terrible way to become somebody's friend. i had to friend him of the campaign to him and second his conduct exemplary at the royal bank. >>. >> another call from las vegas. >>caller: good afternoon. in my on? >> not anymore. >> your politics are in a constant state of flux how you are radically shifting

there is something called the kgb poison factory they've been cooking up ways of poisoning people thates and only one explanation to what happen to navalny other than he was poisoned and at direction of vladimir putin. >> one story i read was there was a theory that his flight was delayed so the poison would disappear from his system. the use of the poison is deniability. it can't be traced? am i reading that right? >> exactly right. he fell ill on the fly from siberia and they landed where he sat for two days. the medevac plane was there since friday morning. they fought with the family who wanted to medevac him. the question is why did they defy the family's wishes. the answer that makes the most sense is that these poisons often times disintegrate and by the time they get to a german hospital, it will not be traceable. >> you put out a tweet to a story, saying the ft calls for sanctions, freezes against any russian official implication to navalny. talk about the act and the significance to holding putin accountable? >> that act is the perfect tool for something like this. to go to a

>> very simply that russian intelligence forces, the kremlin itself, led by an ex kgb officer, are still attacking the united states. this nation had not stopped being under threat since 2016. they understand -- this is what's brilliant about the russians. they actually use their academia to inform their intelligence agencies and their government in decisions in order to show that they know how americans think. unlike us, we just pretend like none of this is going on. they target very specific communities, like the african-american communities, the latino communities, even the trump supporters, in order to enhance, even if it's 1% or 2% the turn out to get their candidate elected. we know that's donald trump. vladimir putin admitted this in helsinki that he wanted trump to be president of the united states. the only thing you can do is be cognizant. pick your candidate and stay there no matter what you hear in the cyber sphere. >> that's an important point. clint, i want to go to you next. your book focuses on the on the line attack in the sense there were bots. there were people imperso

former kgb whistleblower alexander litvinenko died from poisoned tea. sergei skripal and yulia, a father and daughter, were poisoned with a nerve agent and died. -- survived. these harsh rules may be on the rise as russia and its allies struggle with covid and the economic strain from low oil prices. in neighboring belarus, when the president in power for 26 years and backed by putin was accused of stealing elections nearly two weeks ago, protests broke out. the leader unleashed police to arrest thousands of demonstrators. this protester told me this morning he was beaten and put in stress positions for five days. >> one guy was on my back, making a selfie. >> reporter: they were having fun with it? >> yeah, fun. >> reporter: a doctor confirmed navalny is in serious condition, stable in a coma. he wouldn't confirm poisoning, but he wouldn't rule it out either. >> richard engel for us, thank you so much. >>> we do have a lot more to get to, including those devastating wildfires in california. the battle growing more desperate by the hour. check out this

the only ones celebrating is the kgb operative in the kremlin vladimir putin. >> julie: schiff says itwritten briefings could be leaked. any decision to hold a hearing before the election would be up to house speaker nancy pelosi. their statement this is a shocking abdication of its lawful responsibility to keep the congress currently informed and a betrayal of the public's right to know how foreign powers are trying to subvert our democracy. this intelligence belongs to the american people, not the agencies which are its custodians. so what happens next? >> more political infighting unfortunately to the detriment of our national security which is exactly what vladimir putin is exploiting. you see him amplifying these themes on the radio. it opens up opportunities for our enemies to exploit the differences between our two parties and that is again to the detriment of our country's political process. which vladimir putin has done a good job of trying to soil. >> julie: he certainly has. dan hoffman, thank you very much. appreciate you coming on. trace. >> trace: wall street already prep

the president of the united states, the commander in chief, has still refused to criticize a former kgbtan. >> joe, it really is incredible. just as this whole morass is so incredible that we're actually in this situation where we're talking about this investigation into donald trump and collusion with russia. jeffrey, just to press you a little bit further, i have wondered so often, why did mueller choose not to subpoena donald trump and to force him to sit through an interview. did you gain any additional insight into that from your reporting just because it still seems so inexplicable. >> that is a story that plays out over many months. it's at the core of my book. and the -- it was a combination of the -- mueller's worry about being allowed to do it by rod rosenstein who was his supervisor in the justice department. robert mueller is a rule follower. robert mueller is someone who believes in the chain of command, and he was always concerned that he was pushing rosenstein too far. rosenstein never told him no, but he was always worried about it. the other point, and this is somewhat