the kremlin did not answer that question when we put it to them either. t russia is being used as a tool by trump's opponents to hurt the administration and i think that's why you see here and they're keeping it fair lilo profile on these issues and not wanting to say too much. just enough to defend russia and create a sense that's political chaos in washington. frankly, they are already are and watching that has to be said. part of the statements coming out of trump during part of his visit of his policy is going to develop and as jim acosta was headquart reporting, very little on that trim. >> brian nobles and clare sebastian. thank you. >> ahead, two new arrests in connection with the uk bombing probe. stay with us. advanced intelligence... or breathtaking style... there's a c-class just for you. decisions, decisions, decisions. lease the c300 sedan for $399 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. be the you who doesn't cover your moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. be the you who shows up in that dress. who hug

he wanted to talk directly to the kremlin. >> lawrence, it's unfathomable. i don't think i'm supposed to tear my hair out on tv. first of all, they were about to take office anyway. i don't understand the need for secrecy and they are hiding from their own government, their own government officials, the united states of america. this whole thing is unbelievable to me, frankly speaking. to say tha you would go into the russian embassy, y are becoming part of their inlligence operation in a sense. i'm not surprised the russian ambassador would be taken aback. we set up secret -- not secret. the content was secret, but we set up communications channel, the public knew we did it with the russian military, military channels. that requires the communication teams from each side to cooperate together. they do it very carefully so there is nothing revealed from either side. the fact that the -- that jared kushner and whoever else was involved in this could have such a flagrant disrespect for the united states people, the united states intelligence community, the uni

he wanted to talk directly to the kremlin. >> lawrence, it's unfathomable. i don't think i'm supposed to care my hair out on tv, but i don't understand this. first of all, they were about to take office anyway. so i don't understand why the need for secrecy. and they're hiding from their own government, from their own government officials. from the united states of america. i mean, this whole thing is unbelievable to me, frankly speaking. and to say that you would go into the russian embassy, you're then becoming part of their intelligence operation in the sense. and i'm not surprised that the russian ambassador would be taken aback. we set up secret -- not secret. the content was secret, but we set up communications channels. the public knew we did it with the russian military, military to military channels. and that requires the communications teams from each side to cooperate together. but they do it very carefully so that there is nothing that is revealed from either side. and the fact that jared kushner and whoever else was involved in this could just h

he wanted to talk directly to the kremlin. >> lawrence, it's unfathomable. i don't think i'm supposed to tear my hair out on tv, but i don't understand this. first of all, they were about to take office anyway. so i don't understand why the need for secrecy. and they're hiding from their own government, from their own government officials. from the united states of america. i mean, this whole thing is unbelievable to me, frankly speaking. and to say that you would go into the russian embassy, you're then becoming part of their intelligence operation in the sense. and i'm not surprised that the russian ambassador would be taken aback. we set up secret -- not secret. the content was secret, but we set up communications channels. the public knew we did it with the russian military, military to military channels. and that requires the communications teams from each side to cooperate together. but they do it very carefully so that there is nothing that is revealed from either side. and the fact that jared kushner and whoever else was involved in this could just h

what's the reaction, if any from the kremlin?> reporter: well, from the kremlin we've had no response as yet, but we've heard from the russian foreign minister. i reached out to the spokeswoman for the foreign ministry for her response. she called it quote, mccarthyism or internal political squabble. i followed it up if she would confirm that moscow was aware that kushner had made that reque request since this was an intercept of communication between kislyak and his superiors. she said she already answered my question, but said if we wanted to know more about kushner's political or business connections it would be worth looking to the middle east. we assume she's referring to a recent deal for saudi arabia to invest $20 billion in u.s. infrastructure, funneling that through the blackstone group an investment firm that has had ties to kushner's companies, which kushner ran before moving to the white house. this is very much in keeping over what we've heard from the kremlin painting this as, you know, internal chaos in washington,

jared kushner making that very unusual proposal to the kremlin during the transition. are the kind of late-evening scoops that are giving newspaper reporters a pretty good name lately. both overtime reports we should note coming into "washington post" two minutes apart. the first landing at 7:01 p.m. russian ambassador told moscow kushner wanted secret communications channel with kremlin. the headline may sound like a chance to privately work a presidential aide without the expertise of u.s. intelligence officials. and has noted it was though reportedly kushner's idea, ambassador kislyak reporting to his superiors kushner made the proposal at a meeting at trump tower according to intercepts of russian communications reviewed by u.s. officials. kislyak said kushner suggested using russian diplomatic facilities in the u.s. for the communications. to the second scoop which landed at 7:03 p.m.. the senate intelligence committee has asked president trump's political organization to gather and produce all russia-related documents, e-mails and phone records going back to his

jared kushner making that very unusual proposal to the kremlin during the transition.hese are the kind of late-evening scoops that are giving newspaper reporters a pretty good name lately. both overtime reports we should note coming in "the washington post" two minutes apart. the first landing at 7:01 p.m. russian ambassador told moscow kushner wanted secret communications channel with kremlin. the headline may sound like a foreign government's dream, a chance to privately work a presidential aide without the expertise of u.s. intelligence officials. and has noted it was though reportedly kushner's idea. ambassador kislyak reporting to his superiors, kushner made the proposal at a meeting at trump tower according to intercepts of russian communications reviewed by u.s. officials. kislyak said kushner suggested using russian diplomatic facilities in the u.s. for the communications. now to the second scoop which landed at 7:03 p.m.. the senate intelligence committee has asked president trump's political organization to gather and produce all russia-related documents, e-m

the photos released by the kremlin in moscow. second photo is of mr. trump and the russian ambassador to the united states. his name is sir kiss playoff -- this picture was also released by moscow by the kremlin. ambassador kislyak is now familiar to me because michael flynn resigned because ofri only ambassador kislyak they try to keep secret and misrepresent not th only to the american people that the vice president of the united states. the warm smiles and hearty handshakes president trump gave these russian officials stands in stark contrast to the way the white house is treated the american department of justice officials. preet bharara. he asked some anti-sadness u.s. indi district of new york and indicated mr. comey could stand director of the fbi. it appears that each of these three justice departmentar officials were in charge of domestic investigations started to become a concern president translate us. we heard on monday from sally yates how she informed the white house office on january 26 of this year that michael flynn, the national secur

on the kremlin communications equipment backin the kremlin communications equipment back in the first is ata time is that a crime? nobody knows. it is at a time when the us and russia are disagreeing on policy in syria, in the transition period if by custom if not by law the incoming president defers to the foreign policy of the sitting president. after he had won but before he took office. russia and the united states are not at war but they are in a bitter rivalry and in great dispute on policy in syria, in ukraine and in a variety of areas around the globe and here comes this young man, no previous experience of government, he bypasses the state department and the security services to go directly to the russian ambassador and say i need private communication, and he was taking general flynn with them who was at that point the incoming national security adviser, and we want to have tried it communications. it does not look good. it comes on top ofa does not look good. it comes on top of a series of other stories in the last two weeks in this mushrooming situation. the fbi directorja

post, jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, proposed setting up a secret communication with kremlin, not a figurative back channel. according to the washington post, this was a nuts and bolts setup, using russian diplomatic facilities and equipment. "the washington post" reporter by lining the story for us. ellen thanks very much for joining us, the secret communications channel, your sources are telling you it was kushner who originally raised this idea, is that right? >> yes, that's right. according to sources who have reviewed intelligence collecting by use of intelligence agencies. jared kushner, proposed this secret secure channel at a meeting at trump power in december, with the russian ambassador. >> talk a little bit about this secret channel, this communications channel, it was going to, what, be based at the russian embassy in washington? >> that's what it sounds like, now, we caution that this is based on reporting by kislayak, up to the superiors in moscow. that reporting was captured on intercepts. and, you know, this could be russian intelligence agencies are known som

to create a secret communications channel between the trump transition and the kremlin, "the washington post" reported citing u.s. officials briefed on intelligence reports. the post reported kushner made the proposal to russian ambassador sergey kislyak during an early december meeting at trump tower to use russian diplomatic facilities to shield their pre-inauguration discussions according to u.s. officials. cnn previously reported the two men met as part of an effort to create a back channel to russian president vladimir putin. the white house did not comment on the report. these revelations come as the fbi probe of russian interference in the 2016 presidential election includes looking at kushner. the fbi is drilling down on kushner's multiple roles in the trump campaign and post-election transition. key among them the trump campaign's data and analytics operation. >> i've heard and it's been reported that part of the misinformation, disinformation campaign that was launched was launched in three key states, wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania and it was launched interestingly enou

the kremlin is hoping both leaders get to know each other. and defiant of international pressure and the threat of more sanctions, pyongyang fires a short range listed missile. of screens, the cancer festival draws to an end. sofia coppola becomes a second home to take him the prize for best director. also coming up in the hour in business, more on the cancellation of -- in business we will have more on the financial repressions of british airways canceling a flight. ♪ it is likely to shape franco russian ties for years to come. vladimir putin touching down in france to me president emmanuel macron. they will get to it exhibition at versailles to celebrate the 300 anniversary of peter the great's trip to paris. international issues will not be a salt that salt without the russians. -- will not be solved without the russians. reporter: it is here, part of the palace of versailles that emmanuel macron will receive vladimir putin. it is a symbolic menu. it was here in 1717 when peter the great forged a detente with france. this comes seven month

jared kushner the president's son-in-law proposed setting up a secret means of communicating with the kremlin. not a figure ative back channel a literal system. again, according to the washington post this was a nuts and bolts set up using russian diplomatic facilities and equipment. we have one of three reporters joining us right now, ellen thanks very much for joining us. the secret communications channel your sources are telling you it was kushner originally. >> yes that's right according to sources collected, jared kushner proposed this secret secure channel at a meeting at trump tower in december with the russian ambassador. >> it was going to be based at the russian embassy in washington? >> that's what it sounds like. we caution this is based on reporting by kiss lee ok up to the superiors in moscow that reporting was captured on intercep intercepts. intelligence agencies are known sometimes known to put disinformation into their feeds to sow confusion, sometimes senior officials in reporting can exaggerate a little bit, but if this report is true than it means kushner was seeking a se

requested a covert, back channel line of communication between the trump transition team and the kremlinnbc has not yet confirmed "the washington post" report. joining me is nbc's ken dilanian. what's most striking about this intel report and the origin of it? how trusted can kislyak be that this was an actual request? >> reporter: thomas, current and former intelligence officials are describing this as opening a disturbing new chapter in this whole trump-russia saga. nbc news was the first to report that jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, is under fbi scrutiny in the fbi investigation. this report gives suggestions as to why. you have to consider the context. the u.s. intelligence community in october issued a statement unanimous and with high confidence that russia interfered in the election. the obama administration was regularlyriefing the trump team on intelligence including that tter. the trump team had former intelligence officers advising them. here you have jared kushner seeking to set up a back channel communication in what my sources tell me can only be an effort to ev

. >>> jared kushner, proposed setting up a secret means of communicating with the kremlin. >> white house declined comment. >> that sounds like colluding with an adversary. >> doesn't make sense for me. talk to anybody in the russian embassy, get back to moscow very securely. >> this is jared kushner going rogue. >> you have a pattern of senior trump officials concealing conversations with russian spies. >> why are all these guys doing this, are they doing it to protect themselves or to protect trump? >> i have a feeling that jared is going to do a great job. he is going to do a great job. >>> well, up and at them on saturday morning. i am christi paul. >> victor blackwell. new reporting in "the washington post," that jared kushner proposed setting up a secret means of communicating with the kremlin. >> post reports requests came from intercepts of conversations between the russian ambassador to the united states and moscow. but three people with knowledge of the discussion tell "new york times" that the line was meant to be used to discuss strategy in syria and on policy issues. >> the p

officials briefed on intelligence reports of intercepts twoen the kremlin and russian ambassador. that's the very same ambassador at the heart of the fire iing o national security adviser michael flynn. the post reports flynn was at the meeting when kushner reportedly made this offer. but the president is pushing back and so are several of his top aids. namely national security adviser mcmaster. listen to this briefing with reporters. >> we have back channel communications with them in a number of countries. so generally speaking about back channel communications, what that allows you to do is kmoout communicate in a discreet manner. it doesn't predispose you to content. so we would not be concerned about it. >> let's begin with jeff zeleny. how is the president responding to all of this? >> the president is defending his son-in-law. he's concerned by just a gravity and the deepening nature of this russia investigation. but the president is defending his son-in-law. it sounds like he's doing that for internal divisions inside the west wing here as much as anything else. let's take

what is the kremlin saying? >> as of yet, what we got was a text message of the foreign ministry today saying essentially calling that story by the washington post was intern internally political squabbles. she would not be drawn on that. we assume that they were aware of this from an intercept of kislyak. she would not comment on that, we have no comment as we say from the kremlin. in recent weeks there are various stories coming out of this from the trump administration. >> they paint them as a sign of political chaos in washington and this was no different. the spokesperson warning to not spread lies. >> thank you to both of you. take a listen to high michael hayden reacting to jared kushner of this secret line to mouscow. >> general hayden. >> well, right now i am goi going -- that's not particularly comforting for me. what manner of ignorance and chaos and contempt would you have to have to think that doing this with the russian ambassador was as good or appropriate idea. again, it does not make me feel goo

the cameras showed him bursting out laughing and now we see this kremlin theme, that russia is a victim of anti-russian hysteria in washington. that russia unfairly gets blamed for everything that happens. mr. putin said of the washington establishment, either they don't understand the damage they're doing to their own country, in which case they're simply stupid, or they understand and everything they're dangerous is that corrupt. some very strong words there. whether this was a gambit to w. the optics don't look good, especial ahead of mr. trump's first trip abroad as public. there are a lot of questions about what went ons behind closed doors. snth vladimir putin certainly no friend offering a helping hand. i want to you break down for us how significant putin offering up a transcript and i want to put into perspective, lavrov who was there last week. john mccain said that guy is a thug kgb guy who has been hanging around putin for 30 years who never should have been in the oval office to begin with. >> i think it is very important to point out that vladimir putin is not making a goo

that he attempted to set up a back channel of communication between the trump transition and the kremlin. the white house is not confirming or denying the report, but they did find an unlikely ally this weekend in south carolina republican lindsey graham who said that he's not sure he buys this report. listen to what he had to say on state of the yun. >> i don't know who leaked this supposed conversation, but you have the ambassador to russia reporting back to moscow on an open channel. hey, jared kushner's going to move into the embassy. i don't trust this story as far as i can throw it. i think it makes no sense that the russian ambassador would report back to moscow on a channel that he most likely knows we're monitoring. the whole story line is suspicio suspicious. >> grant oig's defen >> reporter: as we've said, the white house has not confirmed or denied the report, instead saying if it were true, it really wouldn't be that big of a deal. among them h.r. mcmaster the national security adviser and john kelly homeland security sect. meanwhile the president has a busy sunday meeting w

president donald trump reportedly tried to set up secret communications with the kremlin. the russian investigation getting closer and closer to the demand commander in chief, we are live in moscow with the story. >>> the president wrapping up his first foreign trip. a live report from cicely. >>> and british authorities make two more arrests connected to the terror attack in manchester and the link between isis and the attacker is confirmed. >> 5:00 a.m. on the east coast from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i am george howell. >> i am natalie allen. newsroom starts right now. >>> this story dates back to the trump transition. jared kushner reportedly tried to set up a back channel with moscow so conversations couldn't be monitored by u.s. intelligence agencies. >> "the washington post" reports that kushner, top adviser to president trump and his son-in-law brought up the possibility of secret communications last december with the russian ambassador. cnn's jessica schneider fills us in. >> repor

the statement from the white house and from the kremlin, broadly speaking similar.y talked about counterterrorism in the context of syria, which is about resolving the syria crisis. they talked a little bit about north korea. and the discrepancy is in the kreml kremlin's statement talking about the importance of them continuing to talk on the phone and perhaps meeting in person in july. the american statement doesn't say that. i was in moscow last week. i heard it clearly from russians. they want contact restored at all levels from the top down and the urgency is felt les strongly on the american side. >> you wrote putin's disappointing phone call with trump. what kpabl lexactly disappoint >> i was in moscow last week. funny we didn't see each other. all the talk in the official moscow or close to official moscow is how quick can we get them to meet because hopefully the same thing will happen. trump will feel some kind of warm personal connection and flip 180 degrees his previous policy stance. he'll decide he doesn't want to label him a kurns ea manipulator and ma

kushner discussed setting up a secret communications channel between the trump transition and the kremlin. we'll ask our panel where this takes the expanding probe into russian interest force. president trump returns from his first trip overseas to a domestic agenda in trouble. some on capitol hill wonder whether quong will pass anything. >> this is a step backwards. you won't make america great again with this budget. chris: we'll break down the prospect with the number two democrat in the senate dick durbin and republican senator bill cassidy. our power player of the week. flying high with the blue angels. all right now on "fox news sunday." hello again on this memorial day weekend from fox news in washington. president trump is back at the white house, arriving late last night after a largely successful nine-day trip to the middle east and europe. but he returns to a spreading scandal about links between the kremlin and some of his current and former visors and to a domestic agenda that stalled in congress. we'll get to all of that this hour, but we begin with terror. that suicide bomb

back channel to the kremlin during transition.ld also not confirm whether the president knew about kushner doing so but he did endorse a recent comment by top administration officials that supported the notion of back channels. >> secretary kelly and mcmaster discussed in general terms back channels are appropriate part of diplomacy. >>> former national security adviser michael flynn says he will provide documents. they were subpoenaed by the intelligence committee. a source says he'll deliver the first batch by june 6th. flynn had refused to comply with an earlier broad are subpoena that included more of his personal documents. more on that and what's hide for the president today. we want to bring in sara murray. >> reporter: good morning. well another relatively light day at least on president trump's public schedule. he'll be meeting with his secretary of state rex tillerson and then he's slated to hold a bilateral meeting with the prime minister of vietnam. so far that bilateral meeting will not come with a press conference. s

was there contact in any way between trump and his associates and the kremlin or cutouts they had?i joined this campaign in the summer and i can tell you that all the contact by the trump campaign and associates was with the american people. >> sir, i'm just trying to get an answer. >> of course not. >> did any desires or anody in the trump campaign have any contact with the russians who were trying to meddle in the election? >> of course not. >> of course not. that was scoldy faced soon to be vice president mike pence speaking on january 15th denying of course not of course not that there had been any contact whatsoever between the trump campaign and the russians while the russians were attacking the presidential election to benefit the trump campaign. mike pence was blunt in his response to those questions. he looked very earnest, even scolding, disgusted by the question with those answers. but those answers were not true. when he said there was no contact, there were multiple contacts between trump campaign and russian officials why russians were attacking the u.s. presidential

it is pro-kremlin. --is well-known as the guy he was working in the same -- he worked there with the person responsible for relations with the government, the gr guy. authorities were disappointed about our articles. -- that kind of guy is going to run the biggest and most respectable and most important internet media in russia. he invited people from the editorial team, the editorial staff. i would never want to be in his place. >> what happened? did you walk out? >> screaming at him. yelling at him. we've been humiliating him. of course, it was a pleasure to humiliate him. >> what is medusa? where did you get the idea? after my firing, i decided i should take a breath and she to the capital of hungry. hungary.l of i returned and my mom called me i'm at the airport -- we will be here. airport -- we will be here. there were five of us. i asked one question -- what should we do? we can lead our own lives or we can try to do something. handy cams to make the anda with the right staff no owner at all. let'

of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between the trump transition team and the kremlin using russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their discussions from monitoring according to u.s. officials briefed on intelligence reports. that's from this report. again, "the washington post" just breaking this. ruth marcus, you're with "the washington post." i'm just trying to get up to speed. i've been handed this. tell our viewers what you know about this. >> well, from what i understand of the story, it's exactly as you said it, and it answers the question that has been out there since the reporting from yesterday or the day before. if jared kushner is a subject of investigation, what exactly is being investigated? it appears there is this unusual-sounding request for some kind of back-channel communication with the russians during the transition. we don't know what happened. we don't know what the reasons were for that, but it certainly looks like something very unusual. and it kind of underscores the issue of how badly really the white house does need some

jared kushner the president's son-in-law proposed setting up a secret means of communicating with the kremlin. not a figure ative back channel a literal system. again, according to the washington post this was a nuts and bolts set up using russian diplomatic facilities and equipment. we have one of three reporters joining us right now, ellen thanks very much for joining us. the secret communications channel your sources are telling you it was kushner originally. >> yes that's right according to sources collected, jared kushner proposed this secret secure channel at a meeting at trump tower in december with the

seriously believes that if russia would provide a transcript on kremlin had no paper that that would i think it is another attempt to have a dig at america while the scandals swirling around the white house. also making news today — the newly elected french president has unveiled his cabinet. and he's living up to his promise to represent the entire political spectrum. emmanuel macron has appointed sylvie goulard, a liberal member of the european parliament, to defence, making her the highest—ranked woman. he's also put both former socialists and conservatives into key positions. chelsea manning, the us soldier who leaked thousands of diplomatic and military documents to wikileaks, has been released from a military prison in kansas. she posted this picture of her feet on instagram, saying "first steps of freedom". she was expected to remain in jail for decades, but president 0bama commuted her sentence. this is the king of the netherlands, villem—alexander. looking regal here during his inauguration but he's revealed that he's been secretly flying commercial passenger aircraft. appar

she has gone to the kremlin to visit him and also been funded by moscow banks. they see she believes -- she wants out of europe. she wants to scale back some of the sanctions against russia when it comes to annexation of cri crimea and closer ties with moscow. hence why some people are worried and some are pointing the fingers directly at moscow. >> thank you so much. >>> straight ahead, as the u.s. justice department investigates rupert murdoch at fox news, the network's cozy relationship with president donald trump. that's in the focus. will those close ties become a liability? details next. i'm proud to make dog chow in davenport, iowa. dog chow's been a part of my family's life for over 40 years. my grandfather made it and now i'm making it. as a micro-biologist i ensure that dog chow leads with high quality ingredients. what would help is simply being able to recognize a fair price. truecar has pricing data on every make and model, so all you have to do is search for the car you want, there it is. now you're an expert in less than a minute. this is truecar.

so a categorical rejection there by the kremlin that it is involved in any way.ut obviously instant comparisons are being drawn between this massive data dump and the allegations in the united states, of course, that kremlin-backed or russian-backed hackers interfered with the u.s. presidential campaign and election there and dumped huge as of data to damage hillary clinton, the democratic candidate, and support donald trump, her presidential republican rival of course. again, the russian authorities say they had nothing to do with that. >> matthew chance for us there in moscow. matthew, thanks so much. >>> a former kgb spy joining us now. jack, thank you so much for coming back. we appreciate it. >> good morning. >> i want to get your take to what we're hearing this morning. how likely is it, do you think through your pursed lip there, that russia could be behind this hack? >> likely, very likely. i mean who else would do that, right? we talked about in the past, about the -- i believe the major goal by the russians is to create confusion. now, if they were real

i think that was developed strategically with people from the kremlin, with putin, and i think it's more than bank records. i think that you can see visits you know, to moscow were made during the campaign by manafort

of setting up a secret and secure communications challenge between trump's transition team and the kremlin reuters also coming out with a report with russia's ambassador during and after the 2016 campaign. kushner's lawyer releasing that statement on that report. "mr. kushner participated in thousands of calls in this time period. he has no recollection of those calls as described. but "the washington post" was not done. it says the senate intel committee now wants all russia-related documents, e-mails and phone records from trump's campaign, not just some of them. nbc's kristen welker has been traveling with the president. she joins me live from italy. two members of the president's team are facing questions about kushner on the record but off camera, at their insistence, we should note. what did they say? >> gary cohn and h.r. mcmaster holding that briefing. it was striking that we didn't hear from the president today during the press conference. typically, presidents hold press conferences when on a major foreign trip like this one. what did we hear from his top advisers? not a lot. the

this administration were receiving back channel communications with the russian embassy and with the kremlin got generally concerned not to address this specifically but in general terms? >> no. we have back channel communications in a number of -- with a number of the countries. so generally speaking, about back channel communications, what that allows you to do is to communicate in a discrete manner. so it doesn't predispose you to any sort of content of that conversation. so i would not be concerned about it >> during his first trip abroad, the president met with east where terrorism topped the agenda, particularly after the bombing in manchester, which killed 22 people. >>> turning us to talk about the russian investigation, terrorism security issues, all those things james the former secretary assistant of homeland security, hr mcmaster seems to be saying this is normal, we have back channels all the time. this is not normal. this is jared kushner supposedly and allegedly setting up preinauguration, a separate out of the white house channel to russia. in your mind as a security professi

he was the guy, he worked in kremlin administration. and he is responsible for ruining, for destroying the civil society infrastructure and russia, because he was the architecture of the new putinism. the law about undesirable organizations appeared when this guy was the internal -- >> foreign agents. >> foreign agents. a lot of media including lenteru, they lost their independent, truly independent editors in chief. anti-islamist law, which lets you block any website without a trial, you know, in two hours. >> who is blocking it? is it the regulator who blocks it? >> it is the regulator. there is a number of organizations who can actually become the trigger, why the website is blocked. >> it's just enough to write a letter to the prosecutor's office, to block the site. >> and it may happen immediately. >> did that happen to you guys at lente.ru? >> no. only galina was fired. >> no big deal. >> no big deal. and then this law about, you know, the foreign owners of media, because foreigners can't own russian media right now, not more than

it is now all by some stupid extremely well to the kremlin. so their publishing the least of millionaires in russia. publisher it is very important. their publishing ratings of billionaires of russia. and i know three, four, i can't recall. it was just empty. they have it up just before the readings. it is worse. >> okay it was my order because it's my friend and i do not want you to see how much access he has. >> anyway let's get back to the question. so they cleaned up the media, they destroyed the civil society. and then the guy was fired. on the other guy became responsible for internal politics. of the new guy, he is very famous in russia because in the '90s when poor sales and was the president he was the prime minister in 1998. 1998 is the year of economical crisis for russia. remember 2008 is a big cyber here in the usa. we remember 1998. so he was head of the government of the fall of the economy happened. that is why everybody understood and the guy decided, that's why he also have this nickname. he came from almost nowhere. and then

one is what connection do these people have to the kremlin and to people in power.information? do they -- one is looking at the victim or the person who died and what their connection is to the kremlin. a lot of these people, all of these people have information that people in the kremlin would not want out. they're diplomats. they're military leaders in eastern ukraine. they're people who either were involved in corruption as participants and got caught, or they're people who were trying to expose corruption either as government officials so s or as reporters or activists. others are people who were somehow -- had information, some other information, you know, a couple of them are involved in this -- were alleged to be involved in -- connected to this trump dossier which, obviously, is another type of information that people don't want out. another aspect of this was, you know, really looking at the history of russia. there's a long history of people being killed who are either enemies of vladimir putin or enemies of the russian state and soviet state before that.

let's communicate with the kremlin directly. let's finder contact there.finally, the president's desire to do the biggest deal in history which would be improving relations with russia. so all of those factors, i think, you know, at least give some type of, to me, a little bit of a framework where you could make sense of this, even though it is astounding and pretty incredible. but not totally implausible. >> interesting. professor dershowitz, let me ask you about a u.s law called the logan act. it's never been used successfully to prosecute someone but it essentially prohibits private citizens having unauthorized dealings with foreign governments. i assume you'll be skeptical of this, but it could come into play if -- and it's a big if -- if jared kushner or michael flynn or anyone else was discussing making promises about sanctions against russia to russian government officials. >> no, absolutely not. there's a concept called deslitude in the law. it disappears from the books if it's never been used or hasn't been used for a long period of time. it f it

let's see what we have a spokesman at the kremlin. this is an internal affair of the united states, a sovereign decision by the us president, which has nothing to do, or should have nothing to do, with the russian federation. all this is happening as the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov is in washington. he said talks with the us secretary of state rex tillerson and president trump himself. here is mr lava off‘s tongue in cheek reply when asked about the fbi director's sacking. but he fired? you are kidding, you are kidding! yes, he was fired. joking and distractions aside, donald trump and sergey lavrov have had deadly serious things to discuss, like syria, where moscow has set out its plans to establish safe zones, four. you can see the plans to de—escalates fighting. mr lover is looking for us support for that proposal. here is sergey lavrov speaking after his meeting with president trump. translation: we discussed syria in great detail in the context of the ideas that have been put forward regarding the setting up of the esc

rush investigation, into russian meddling, and whether donald trump and his aides conspired with kremlin agents to try to influence the election by hacking and dumping documents. as a result, i think his credibility has been undermined, and he is really in the spotlight now. he is having conversations with folks on capitol hill and the senate intelligence committee. there are many on capitol hill calling for him to testify. whether he will do so is an open question. many others are calling for him to appoint a special prosecutor, special counsel, to handle this investigation that he now oversees. host: we have your article here, "the mystery man behind the comey firing." he now faces intense political criticism from congressional democrats calling for that independent investigator. transcripter read a of his confirmation hearing on the senate floor last week. i believe we have some sound of that. we don't have it. what do you think of the odds that mr. rosenstein will appoint a special prosecutor? guest: i think it's possible. it is something that is difficult to predict at this stage. i

. >> that fits a broader pattern where the kremlin basically denies many of the embarrassing reportsnd leaks that have come out in the u.s. media about not only more recent meetings with president trump but also reports of connections between and allegation of connections between the trump campaign and the kremlin in a runoff to the november 2016 election. there is also another interesting trend is that the flowing coverage of president trump in the first weeks after the election and the inauguration, that has lagely disappeared from the heavily kremlin influenced front pages of russian newspapers from the top of the news bulletins on russia television. it's largely disappeared. however, despite continuing friction over u.s. and russian policy in syria and in eastern europe and allegations of russian hacking of previous u.s. election and the french election and harsh words from top officials in the u.s. government towards russia, the kremlin continues to basically refer to trump with a bit of respect and that respect is recipro indicated from the u.s. president as well. they are avoi

thank you. >>> kremlin clan.t seems that the president -- >> that's what the democrats cause it. >>> moving on, personal computers are just too hard to use, and it's not your fault. that's the first line of walt mossberg's first technology column ever. tomorrow he will pen his last. he's retiring. walt mossberg is executive editor of the verge. i have told i myself what an fluent you've had on my career thus far, so i thank you for that. tell us, is there a moment or a product that stands out for you in this long career? you know, jon, thank you so much, thanks. there's a number of them. obviously in this last decade it's probably the iphone, but overall, you know, i think you have to give it to the personal computer itself and then the internet. nots are the things that have changed the world. >> you've been along for the entire evolution of the pc into the smartphone. i want to show you this, of you talking to steve jobs about mobile devices. let's watch that. >> we believe that for everyone -- all the universi

of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between trump's transition team and the kremlin using russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring. according to the post, ambassador kislyak said kushner suggested using russian diplomatic facilities in the united states for the communications and reportedly kislyak was taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an american to use russian communications gear at its embassy or consulate. a proposal that would have carried security risks for moscow as well as the trump team. so it appears that jared kushner met with the russian ambassador in secret, reportedly to set up a back channel possibly in russian diplomatic facilities. kushner then omitted this meeting on his sf-86 security clrance form. and when he was called on it months later in april of this year, his lawyers called it an error. but if kislyak's account is accurate, how likely is it that jared kushner just forgot about a cloak and dagger meeting with a foreign agent to set up a secret back channel? how like