and sergey lavrov actually touched upon another issue as well how r.t. as an or as a news organization is being sees seen in western european countries as well as the united states as you know in the us r t america has filed under a foreign agency and as well and france the government is considering making a blacklist for media organizations it considers fake news are unreliable let's see what sergey lavrov had to say about that with larry king. a concern. which is not foreign to you is being labeled. for example the french government as agents of influence. and the same french government introduced the draft law to be a problem which isn't going to comply with blix least of media outlets which are suspected of spreading speak and use and they would most seriously. blick least would be a company that by combining. the government level at the legislature level at least of media resources which would be recommended to national regulators of cyberspace is reliable sources if it does not censorship then i don't understand much in this life concerning this pr

so sergey lavrov just departed and we're going to follow him right now. we just left the airport and we're trying to catch up with sergey lavrov but we seem to be a bit far behind or on the way to the capital pyongyang. this is a truly incredible opportunity for us to film inside the place where most high profile meetings and north korea happen just as the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov is talking to his north korean counterpart behind closed doors right there. the moment wendy walsh and top diplomat is and is absolutely unique on the one hand the resolution of the korean peninsula crisis might be just a few steps away with a massive concessions the north and the south have both been making and even donald trump to however we understand that any move can make everything collapse. so the question is why exactly sergey lavrov and it up in the north korean capital russian diplomatic sources suggest that it was after several invitations in a row by mr elaborate off status. part during his visit to moscow. we were also told that the north korean side w

lavrov's readout of the talks is that they went "better than super." is it your assessment that the russians gamed president trump? >> well, let me say this first, i agree with john brennan that trump was outmatched in this meeting. but with regard to outgaming trump, trump just outgamed himself. he's allowed himself to be put in a compromised position. you can see how easily compromised this president is. he's now gone on public record saying i misspoke, i didn't mean to say that. but yet we know that putin has to have a tape of what went on in their private meeting. if indeed it contradicts this correction today, then putin's got him once again. he's fallen into this trap. so we don't need putin to trap the president. the president has compromised himself today. >> let me just press you on that. there's a lot of speculation that at the root of this trump-putin relationship lies some compromising information. you just gave us another example that that effort could be ongoing on vladamir putin's part. he recorded the meeting. he today i'm sure knows th

now seems to be enough for some western governments to down russia in a multitude of cases so ok lavrov made those comments while speaking exclusively to larry king on r.t. he also touched on this channel's difficulties abroad more quarter has the details . well the interview covered a number of hot button issues regarding russia's relation to the rest of the world and one of which was trump's recent comment at a nato summit where he said that germany was a captive of russia because of merkel's gas dealings with putin now this came after germany and a number of other european countries approved the construction of the nord stream two gas pipeline this is a pipeline that would run directly from russia into the european union now while merkel denied the allegations that germany is a captive of anybody lavrov had this to say about it how did you react when the when president trump said that germany is totally controlled by russia and the quote what the president said when he was president putin this he is in the middle of his friend who said he is compared to a strong competitor but speaki

lavrov: mr. president, colleagues, i would like to -- ♪ min. lavrov: mr.resident, colleagues, i would like to express my sincere gratitude to the president of the russian federation, vladimir putin, for paying so much attention to the diplomatic service in terms of the content of what we do, his assessment of our actions and also social support for our diplomats. in answering whatever questions may arise in relation to that. we understand that given the current situation in the international arena, the responsibility that lies on all the diplomatic workers and diplomatic missions in implementing the policy defined by the president is immense. we will do, we will always do our best to prove up to the task. we would also thank the government of the russian federation, members present here working together. we will be able to create necessary conditions in international arena for our country to development. i give the floor to the president of the russian federation, mr. vladimir putin. pres. putin: thank you. colleagues, i am happy to see you at our traditio

russia had meddled in the twenty six thousand presidential elections now citing lack of evidence lavrov had this to say about it the anonymous conclusion by the entire american intelligence community is that your government and influenced. the american elections in two thousand and sixteen it's a report signed go only by three agencies so for dozens of intelligence agencies who normally would participate in anything called the union of the entire intelligence community of the united states then i saw the report of the senate intelligence committee which asserted that you know that russia has been interfering with the elections and then no single factor was produced no the investigation of these souls very poisoning is also going on without any transparent information highly likely thing and the assertion that there is no other credible explanation is becoming a rule on which would be west and friends the right to brace the borders sort of russian lover also went on to speak about artie's image internationally now r.t. america has already been registered as a foreign agency in the united

lavrov: mr. president. this is the ninth meeting of russia's ambassadors and representatives. ♪ mr. lavrov: mr. president, colleagues, i'd like to express my sincere gratitude to the president of the russian federation, vladimir putin, for paying so much attention to the diplomatic service in terms of the context of what we do, his assessment of our actions and also social support for our diplomats and answering whatever questions may arise. we understand given the current situation in the international arena, the responsibility that lies on our diplomatic work in implementing the policy defined by the president is immense. and we will do -- we will always do our best to prove up to the task. we would also thank the government of the russian federation's, members of the cabinet, the president here working together. we will be able to create necessary conditions in the international arena for our country. i give the floor now to the president of the russian federation, mr. vladimir putin. presiden

russia had meddled in the twenty six thousand presidential elections now citing lack of evidence lavrov had this to say about it the and then his conclusion by the entire american intelligence community is that your government influenced. the american elections in two thousand and sixteen it's a report signed only by three agencies out of the dozens of intelligence agencies who normally would participate in anything called the union of the entire intelligence community of the united states then i saw the report of the senate intelligence committee. assert that you know that russia has been interfering with the elections and then no single factor was produced now the investigation of these souls very poisoning is also going on without any transparent information highly unlikely thing and the assertion that there is no of a credible explanation is becoming a rule on which b. western friends try to base their policy on the russian lover also went on to speak about r.t.s. image internationally now r.t. america has already been registered as a foreign agency in the united states and the fren

one on one with russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov on this special edition of politics. welcome to politicking i'm larry king and historic summit looms which we in the united states president donald trump and russian's leader vladimir putin at a time of increased tensions between their two nations mr trump a signal that syria's sanctions military exercises election meddling may be on the agenda but what does moscow want from this high stakes face to face to find out we now talk with russia's long time prime minister sergey lavrov who joins us from moscow thank you for the invitation larry. ok let's get right into it a wrap up of the nato summit the fifth. trump and other members agreed to a joint statement which among other things condemned your country's elite they called it illegal and illegitimate an exaggeration of crimea also reaffirmed support for ukraine's aspirations to become a member of nato what mr foreign minister is your reaction to this. you know there is nothing new in these statements we have been hearing them for quite a number of years so we take it as

russia had meddled in the twenty six thousand presidential elections now citing lack of evidence lavrov had this to say about it the anonymous conclusion by the entire american intelligence community is that your government influenced. the american elections in two thousand and sixteen it's a report signed only by three agencies out of the dozens of intelligence agencies who normally would participate in anything called the union of the entire intelligence community of the united states then i saw the report of the senate intelligence committee which assert that you know that russia has been interfering with the elections and then no single fact was produced no the investigation of these souls very poisoning is also going on without any transparent information highly likely thing and the assertion that there is no other credible explanation is becoming a rule on which the western friends try to base their policy on the russian lover also went on to speak about artie's image internationally now r.t. america has already been registered as a foreign agency in the united states and the fren

russia had meddled in the twenty six thousand presidential elections now citing lack of evidence lavrov had this to say about it the anonymous conclusion by the entire american intelligence community is that your government influenced the american elections in twenty sick. steen it's a report signed only by three agencies out of the dozens of intelligence agencies who normally would participate in anything called the union of the entire intelligence community of the united states then i saw the report of the senate intelligence committee which asserted that you know that russia has been interfering with the elections and then no single factor was produced no the investigation of these souls are very poisoning is also going on without any transparent information highly unlikely thing and the assertion that there is no other credible explanation is becoming a rule on which be worse than friends try to base the port of sort of russian lover also went on to speak about r.t.s. image internationally now r.t. america has already been registered as a foreign agency in the united states and the

mr lavrov minister lavrov stay right there we'll be right back with more politicking right after this quick break. join me every thursday on the elec simon show and i'll be speaking to guest on the world of politics sport that's less i'm show business i'll see you then. i'll get back to this special edition of politicking on larry king and we're talking with the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov. it's a great pleasure to have him with us on the eve of this is stark summit because the foreign minister what does your country think of. him since. sort of agreement with north korea. well i think it's good for the world we strongly support the efforts undertaken by president rump also by by the president of south korea to build up that must fear that must fear which would be conducive to resolving the nuclear issue of the korean peninsula and to bring all of us to again the clear is ation and to from the very beginning we suggest that the get of his china that it first step wise because it is building. and the second step should be some confidence building measures like freezing lunch

lavrov said the u.s. requested the meeting be one-on-one. the interpretation of that, why would the president want it that way? >> i's a good question. we'll see if trump responds to that and says what his expectations of the terms of the meeting going in. what this does is creates uncertainty coming out of the meeting. vladimir putin can, afterward, present the meeting in a different light from trump, if he wants to. there's nobody else in the room from the u.s. side, at least, in terms of a diplomatic aide or top white house aide. it's difficult for the president to rebut what he's saying. there are different accounts of what they did agree to or didn't agree to, what was discussed. you can understand why there are some concerns from lawmakers about why this type of setting is potentially dangerous when dealing with somebody as unpredictable as vladimir putin. >> kate, i'm going to a letter from a group of senators that sent the president a note and they urged him to not meet alone with putin. what about the other things in that letter? wh

mr lavrov minister lavrov stay right there we'll be right back with more politicking right after this quick break. p.r.a. gainst any kind of presidents of the united states you know region if they want to continue their human will you know any policy we against of they don't even know region in the region if you're in a region does quote. understand there were a new goal the president's lawyer in the united states is going to be no region you ought to get any kind of expansionism of any kind of a deal anyway you know this is a any other country. welcome back to this special edition of politicking on larry king and we're talking with the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov. it's a great pleasure to have him with us on the eve of this historic summit because the foreign minister what does your country think of. him since. sort of agreement with north korea well i think it's good for the world and we strongly support the efforts undertaken by president thrum also by by the president of south korea to build up the atmosphere that most fear which would be conducive to resolving the nucl

if we have sergei lavrov, let's take a listen to what he said again. this was on r.t. >> president putin actually understands english, but for the sake of better expressing his views, he prefers to use the interpret interpreter. >> there will be no other aids in the room? you won't be in the room? >> as things say now, that's what the american side propose and we're polite people so we agree. >> ready to report right now, kelly oc kelly oc'donnell in scotland an bill neely is in helsinki where the president is heading. we'll head to helsinki where protests are underway. some are underway ahead of the president's arrival. let's go to bill neely. bill, what are you hearing from the protesters there? >> reporter: well, good morning, alex. i would call this a damp square except it's blistering hot. the organizers had been hoping for about 10,000 people to attend the protest here in the main square. the police are putting the numbers at between two and three and dindwindled to a hand full, several hundred. it's a human rights protest, as much against vladim

he said that he did not know in advance that foreign minister lavrov from russia and ambassador kislyak were going to the white house that day. so you have, he said, a president who came from the private sector, had never been in government before. there were a lot of things that this intelligence community has had to deal with. he certainly welcomed the clarifications post helsinki. he said that he stood up and made the statement that he made after that news conference because he felt he owed it to the intelligence community, that that is his job. that's the job he signed up for, to explain honestly what the assessments are from the intelligence community. he made it very clear, katy, that nothing happens in russia without vladimir putin, as he described it, the former kgb chief, knowing about it, directing it, being in charge. and while he did not say that, that contradicts what another cabinet secretary, kirstjen nielsen said to peter alexander where she was expressing ambivalence about whether it was putin and russia. he stuck to the intelligence assessment of 2017, said it has been

mr lavrov us minister lavrov stay right there we'll be right back with more politicking right after this quick break. we'll get back to this special edition of politicking on larry king and we're talking with the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov it's a great pleasure to have him with us on the eve of this is sturrock summit because the foreign minister what does your country think of. the state. sort of agreement with north korea. well i think it's good for the world we strongly support the efforts undertaken by president thrum also by by the president of south korea to build up that must fear that must fear which would be conducive to resolving the nuclear issue of the korean peninsula and to bring all of us to dinner clear ization and the from the very beginning we suggest that the get of his china that first step must become for this building and the second step should be some confidence building measures like freezing lunches and tests like freezing the military gains and i believe that what is going on is going in the right direction i know that the outcome of the meeting can

mr lavrov us minister lavrov stay right there we'll be right back with more politicking right after this quick break.

one on one with russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov on this special edition of politic. welcome to politicking i'm larry king and historic summit looms which we in the united states president donald trump and russian's leader vladimir putin at a time of increased tensions between their two nations mr trump a signal that syria's sanctions military exercises election meddling may be on the agenda but what is moscow wants from this high stakes face to face to find out we now talk with russia's long time foreign minister sergei lavrov who joins us from moscow thank you for the invitation larry ok let's get right into it a wrap up of the nato summit with. trump and other members agreed to a joint statement which among other things condemned your country's they call it legal and illegitimate an exaggeration of crimea also reaffirmed support for ukraine's aspirations to become a member of nato what mr foreign minister is your reaction to this. you know there is nothing new in these statements we have been hearing them for quite a number of years so we take it as inertia invited

the foreign minister sergei lavrov was quite bouncy yesterday at the conclusion of the day saying that everything had gone better. in the media today though things are perhaps a little bit more muted and everyone has been pointing to the fact that this was not an event that actually delivered much in the way of concrete results more of a star a way forward that actually will have to wait for the follow up diplomacy to work out whether there should be proper deliverables to come out of this. so the view here in the media state run t.v. channels etc is that this was the beginning of a better phase of russia u.s. relations. certainly the presidents of the united states donald trump and flattery putin were working together in a spirit of partnership there is much that's being made of the fact that donald trump faces significant opposition back at home and that all these how the process that you're hearing you just heard the kimberley's reports are a sign viewed from russia that the american deep state is trying to sabotage what donald trump is trying to achieve and some channels here of po

we just been hearing there from the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov moscow updating journalists. latest attempts to which. yes the current situation in syria the fighting in southern syria around the province. there's a jordanian foreign minister a minister fadi there as well this is after the talks between the two of them jordan has been involved in brokering those talks. one of the major issues as well there is the displacement of hundreds of thousands of syrian refugees in that region in the last count around two hundred seventy thousand of them moved to fled their homes in southwestern syria since the military launched the syrian military launched this assault on the rebel held areas two weeks ago those numbers according to the u.n. let's bring in at this point challenge our correspondent in moscow who's been listening to this with me so rory of we've been hearing anything there of substance at this point on where things stand on the diplomatic side on the issue of addressing the plight of those refugees. i'm afraid the audio translation from that feed was so poor that i cou

now citing a lack of evidence amongst other things lavrov had this to say about it. the anonymous conclusion by the entire american intelligence community is that your government influenced the american elections in twenty sixteen it's report. and go only by three agencies so for dozens of intelligence agencies who normally would participate in anything called the union of the intelligence community of the united states then i saw the report of the senate intelligence committee. assert that you know that russia has been interfering with the elections and then no single fact was produced no the investigation of the souls of the reporters and is also going on without any transparent information highly likely thing and be a source of that there is no of a credible explanation becoming rule on which would be worse than friends. now the interview also went to r t's image internationally as r.t. america recently was listed under the jurisdiction of a foreign agency and the french government is actually considering putting together a list of news agencies it considers to pu

interference or reaction to the summit in moscow those glowing foreign secretary foreign minister sergei lavrov described it as better than super russian media have praised a meeting. with putin against opposition from what it calls the u.s. and the. u.k. based investigative agency has obtained documents revealing an expensive lobbying effort by the u.a.e. and version and the u.s. the campaign tried to influence media coverage of the arab spring and discredit the muslim brotherhood and. israel is tightening its siege on almost two million people living in gaza by further restricting the flow of goods into the territory it's planning to ban all fuel imports through the obvious l.-m. crossing while food and medicine will need permission to go through. as the sole commercial crossing into gaza it is vital for the flow of fuel necessary for people who only get up to six hours of electricity a day but it's get more phone calls on and stephanie decker she is following this from west jerusalem so why is stephanie israel imposing even more restrictions on gaza which is already under siege and what impa

syria instead now the deal was discussed during a surprise trip by russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov fund israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu on monday. while those diplomatic talks continue syrian russian jets continue to pound targets of i still affiliated armed groups in the southwest syria's president bashar assad has been recapturing key rebel strongholds there in the military offensive which started last month has displaced. hundreds of thousands of people caught between ass strikes on a closed israeli border fence. let's join stephanie decker who's live in israeli occupied the goal of heights let's just begin before we talk about israel and the russian meat stuff and let's talk about where you walk there's a lot of activity on the ground in the over the past week so what's the situation like there on choose day yes from what we've seen in the last half an hour is a lot of air strikes again on this area behind us which is really the last pocket that's held by the opposition in southwestern syria is held by a group which is affiliated with eisel and this is why at the mom

foreign minister lavrov calling the summit magnificent and better than super. trump started the day cooling the heels. after putin's plane landed nearly an hour later than scheduled. a diplomatic delay perhaps making clear the summit was on putin time and answered a lingering question. >> did you want president trump to win the election and did you direct any officials to help him do that? >> translator: yes, i did. yes, i did. >> reporter: that, of course, is at odds of what president trump is saying for more than two years even back during the presidential campaign. he was always saying that a russia doesn't want him to win the election because he'll be harder on them. today here in helsinki in the presidential palace behind us, that's where that myth was dispelled. president putin saying with his own words, yes, i did, wanting donald trump to be the 45th u.s. president. jake? >> all right. jeff zeleny, thank you so much. let's talk about this with my panel of experts. david gergen, president trump saying in twitter, doing revisionism, i said i have great fai

>>> but new details from a phone call secretary of state mike pompeo had with surgy lavrov just this morning. the russian foreign ministry saying the arrest of maria butina was among the topics of discussion and love rov saying that the charges against the 29-year-old were fabricated and demanding her now this coming from moscow and reflecting russia's version of the call. new reaction from the president about the secret recording michael cohen made of his conversation with then candidate trump over a payment to former playboy model karen mcdougal. for more, i'm joined by kelly o'donnell and reverend al sharpton and attorney caroline policy and then legal analyst and former federal prosecutor paul butler. with a welcome to all four of you. kel, i'll reach out to you first. i know you're in new jersey and the president is spending the day at his bedminster esta-- es. and what about the conversations. hit them both. >> when we look at the tweet about michael cohen, this is the president trying to do a couple of different things in one tweet. no public event to -- so using twitter to be

lavrov said the charges are fabricated and that she should be released. >> as far the u.s. president on twitter, most of his anger was aimed at a very familiar topic. >> and a former opponent also voiced her opinion, i think you know who that is. ryan nobles is traveling with the president. >> reporter: president is spending the weekend at his golf course in bedminster, new jersey, and his twitter feed was busy on saturday. he specifically took the opportunity to suggest that the investigation into his campaign's potential ties to the russian government during the 2016 election could end up having an effect in the election in 2018. the president tweeting, quote, no collusion, no obstruction, but that doesn't matter because the 13 angry democrats were only after republicans in totally protecting democrats want this witch-hunt to drag out to the november election. republicans better get smart fast and expose what they're doing. now, the president's tweet storm comes against the backdrop of increasing criticism for his decision to have this summit with president vladimir putin

lavrov said they had anything to do with the trouble in the ukraine. like they had nothing to do with the plane going down. they are such liars. in the case of putin, accomplices in murder. to take their word for it, nevertheless, you have to deal with them. it's a nuclear nation. you have to deal with it somehow. you have to start with the premise that practically everything coming out of their mouth is a lie. >> so adrienne, as a democrat, i'm curious what you think about no democrat senators being on the trip. to the larger point, should president trump be meeting with president putin? >> there should have been a bipartisan trip especially with russia. what i'm seeing here, the republican senators that are interviewed that went on the trip did what president trump will not do, which is saying we're going into this meeting say nothing more interference. it's a shame that our president hasn't done this. you're seeing republican senators -- >> so they're focused on words. it's about what is he standing up and saying versus what is the outcome and what

let's talk more about the conversation between sergey lavrov and mike pompeo. do we know anything more about what they're looking for and whether they talked about a potentially -- potential follow-up meeting between mr. putin and mr. trump in washington? >> reporter: that telephone conversation between the u.s. secretary of state and the russian foreign minister taking place last night here local time. we understand it was initiated by the u.s. side. they called the russians, in other words. and unusually there's been, as far as i'm aware, no redoubt from the state department on what was discussed but the russian foreign ministry has spoken with it. they said that they're talking about improving bilateral relations. but the key issue that was discussed was this issue of mariia butina who's a young russian woman who was arrested in the united states the day after the helsinki summit on allegations of acting as an agent of russia. basically she's been accuse dollars of being a spy although she's not formally charged with espionage. infiltrating right ring conser

one on one with russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov on this special edition of politic. welcome to politicking i'm larry king and his star excelled that looms which when the united states president donald trump and russians leader vladimir putin at a time of increased tensions between their two nations mr trump has signaled that serious sanctions military exercises election meddling may be on the agenda but what is moscow wants from this high stakes face to face to find out we now talk with russia's long time foreign minister sergei lavrov who joins us from moscow thank you for the invitation larry ok let's get right into it a wrap up of the nato summit the fifteen thousand trump and other members agreed to a joint statement which among other things condemned your country's they call it legal and illegitimate an exemption of crimea also reaffirms support for ukraine's aspirations to become a member of nato what mr foreign minister is your reaction to this. you know there is nothing new in these statements we have been hearing been for quite a number of years so we take i

the arrest of maria booin unacceptable. >> lavrov called the charges fibula r fabricated.ll of the details on the call is coming from the russia government. we are not hearing about the details from the white house itself. live with us now from moscow, cnn correspondent matthew chance. russia is even dictating this conversation and we are not not getting any response from the white house. >> reporter: it's an unusual position to be in as moscow based reporter. normally, the information flow comes in the other direction. the white house is usually quite open. the u.s. officials usually quite open on what fs discussed. and the russians usually quite guarded putting out their version of events. we are seeing the complete reverse now and it's confusing. the fact there was a phone call last night local time between the u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo and lavrov. they discussed the whole range of bilateral issues. the foreign minister in his statement said they also talked about maria booin who is a 29-year-old activist accused and arrested in the u.s. for being undeclared f

russian foreign minister sergey lavrov told russia today that that's the way the americans wanted it. with no published agenda and no stated objectives, the president told cbs news he is going in with an open mind. >> nothing bad is going to come out of it and maybe some good will come out, but i go in with low expectations. >> reporter: on his way to helsinki, he tempered expectations tweeting from air force one, no matter how well i do at the summit, i would return to criticism that it wasn't good enough. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: after the department of justice indicted 12 russian agents last week, democrats called on trump to scrap the meeting saying they didn't trust trump to confront putin about russia's role in the 2016 election. president trump told reporters last week he'd ask putin if he meddled in the election. his national security adviser john bolton told abc news' jon karl that the indictments actually give trump some leverage. >> i think the president can put this on the table and say this is a serious matter. we need to talk about it. >> reporter: and also on the

sergei lavrov who joins us from moscow thank you for the invitation larry. ok let's get right into it i will wrap up of the nato summit the fifth. trump and other members agreed to a joint statement which among other things condemned your country's elite they called it illegal and illegitimate an exaggeration of crimea also reaffirmed support for ukraine's aspirations to become a member of nato what mr foreign minister is your reaction to this. you know there is nothing new in these statements we have been hearing them for quite a number of years so we take it as inertia and by the caldwell thinking not nothing more than that i thought the cold war was over. well that's why you nurser of the cold war unfortunately still good with nato and it's high time for nato leave it behind. at his news conference thursday president trump said that the nato allies have stepped up like never before on defense spending he also be called the alliance of fine tuned machine how to what mr foreign minister said what are your thoughts about nato. well nato is the reality. it's

one on one with russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov on this special edition of . welcome to politicking i'm larry king and historic summit looms which we in the united states president donald trump and russian's leader vladimir putin at a time of increased tensions between their two nations mr trump a signal that syria's sanctions military exercises election meddling may be on the agenda but what does moscow want from this high stakes face to face to find out we now talk with russia's long time prime minister sergey lavrov who joins us from moscow thank you for the invitation larry. ok let's get right into it a wrap up of the nato summit the fifth. trump and other members agreed to a joint statement which among other things condemned your country's elite they called it illegal and illegitimate an exaggeration of crimea also reaffirmed support for ukraine's aspirations to become a member of nato what mr foreign minister is your reaction to this. you know there is nothing new in these statements we have been hearing them for quite a number of years so we take it as

relations and see how sanctions of russia only have they met with russian foreign minister sergei lavrov but in a culture of it was their force. the largest delegation of u.s. congressman has flown single moscow with the largest delegation and so while it's to have an official meeting with the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and of course this whole set the stage the official first of one on one summit between the u.s. and russia presidents which is scheduled for july the sixteenth now right after this meeting was over we managed to ask the heart of the delegation of the u.s. senator from alabama richard shelby a few questions we had a good meeting we discussed a lot of serious issues and mainly focused on the upcoming meeting with president roh for president who do you think that the talks in helsinki could be productive considering the de mastic pressure on the u.s. president not to be kind of friendly with russia on peace think it could be productive the last three years. we have to look at brochures of. the superpower very competitive and not an adversary and we'll see what ha

also today, secretary of state mike pompeo spoke to lavrov by phone, according to the readout by the russian ministry. that conversation was another effort to make sure it all goes smoothly during the summit in finland. trump has been seeking a formal meeting with putin for months now and has made it clear he believes it will benefit the united states. >> if we can get along with russia, that's a good thing, not a bad thing. a few years ago putin was in what was called the g-8. i think it's better to have russia in than to have russia out. getting along with russia and china and with everything is a very good thing. it's good for the world, it's good for us, it's good for everybody. >> now, trump and putin have met before at previous gatherings involving other world leaders. but the helsinki meeting will be their first summit. >> putin is very much driving this. the president is an intelligence recruiter's dream. he's totally transparent with his tweets and public comments. his frustrations, his desires, his weaknesses, this vulnerabilities are all hanging out there. putin of course

lavrov, the russian foreign minister, in which they say mr. pompeo, the u.s. secretary of state himself initiated that call. that's what they mean by the american initiative. in it they repeated some detail of what they claim was agreed, or under negotiation raised by the two presidents when they met in secret accompanies by only one official translator on each side. now, the lack of noting -- notes taken by mr. trump unmatched by mr. putin, who's a kgb agent, trained to recall a verbatim conversation over many years and this is playing directly into his hands. they're eking out isn't some of information, indicating maybe a summit, also maybe an agreement over cyber issues. quite an ironic suggestion, and equally that syria may come in for, there may be a peace deal agreed that would somehow allow 1.7 million syrians to return to government controlled areas that are currently also supported by russia. that under the president's only policy could be inconceivable what they're really trying to do, drive the narrative, own the story. >> one thing we've learned ab

it was the russians who told us that lavrov and kislyak were in the oval office last year. the fact that the u.s. did not announce that, that there was, in fact, russian media in the room, not americans. at every single stage, including the putin/trump phone call when they discussed having this summit, that was all announced by moscow before the u.s., the white house press corps, anyone else. we would expect vladimir putin will put his own cast on this through his media. we see the president here now in helsinki this morning. he had breakfast with the finnish president. he went out of the way, the president did today, to reaffirm support for nato, to say that nato emerged stronger than ever from brussels. of course, that is revisionist to say the least, given the fact he opened the nato meeting with the nato secretary-general with a blast at germany, the strongest european union member and the strongest nato member militarily and economically. so there was so much disruption in brussels, and the president now coming from that to this meeting with vladimir putin. in fact, al

every bit of information he got either became from vladimir putin and the former minister sergey lavrovad outlines coming from the president. you know, donald trump is famous for not telling the truth in these meetings, to the point when he would have lawsuits they would have two lawyers in the room at any given time. this is the national security of the united states. the president should not be conducting one-on-one meetings with foreign powers where it appears he was cutting deals or setting up the outlines of the deals and we the american public don't know anything about it. >> i'm curious what you think of inviting vladimir putin to moscow and sending the president to moscow to further their conversations? >> well, the president is just an easily manipulatable person. i'm saying that as an intelligence professional. many people who have been in this community know what i'm talking about. he is just so happy to be around vladimir putin that vladimir putin on day one, after the united states gave an invitation through secretary bolton, or, i'm sorry, national security adviser bolton

the west sanctions and the script poisoning have also soured ties russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov touched on these issues in an interview with britain's channel four news. hasn't he to give any assurances that the upcoming midterm elections if he wants time will not be meddled with my version of the press or something because we can look intelligent to discuss something which is based on highly unlikely might be. the best a geisha in the united states has been going for her on the euro because no we'll probably regard to the internet research the russian troll factory now that there isn't any judgement in that is something which requires a trial and then they submitted their old case and they chipped quite a number of things which were used for the day so let's not jump the gun. was loose carol but i don't think that the logic of the who said sentence forced the tick later i don't think this logic is going to prevail this whole russia election meddling hysteria according to sergei lavrov is a prime example of a new and trendy mentality kind of act for us to accuse stand figure out

out of concern that the white house or the president, what would run to sergey lavrov or putin himself. think about that. this is the guy who headed up the cia. the same one i believe who's signed off on the unmasking without a warrant. he is essentially urging current intel officers, or giving basically tacit approval to their concealing key national security information from the country's current commander-in-chief. shame on you, sir. that is tantamount to a slow rolling to. we've gone from charges of treason within minutes of rankly of what president trump said in helsinki, two calls for resignations, to now former intel chiefs encouraging traitorous acts, acts against the current duly elected president of the united states. it is stunning. the next time you pundits and hosts want to see it is graceful an end treasonous moment, just pull up some of your tv appearances on the dvr and hit play. that is "the angle." joining me now for reaction is dan bongino, former secret service agent and host of the dan bongino podcast and juan williams, cohost of "the five." great to have both of y

here is what russian foreign minister sergey lavrov told the kremlin-backed network rt about the thinking behind that decision. >> there will be no other aids in the room. you will not be in the room? >> well, as things stand now, that is what the american side proposed and we are polite people so we agreed. >> because they are polite. they agree. why do you think the president requested time alone with vladimir putin? david? or andrew, pad on me. >> no worries. biggest risk is the fact that has seemed prone in the past to adopt the rhetoric of people he meets with. you saw the last time he met with vladimir putin. he said, well, the president of russia said he didn't do it so what else can i say about that. when it comes to meddling. and then when he met with kim jong-un in singapore at his press conference he mentioned that the joint military exercises with in his words provocative. that is something that the pentagon has said is north korean propaganda and then you saw the president adopting that same rhetoric in the podium in singapore afterward. so the big risk is the president might

indeed, sergei lavrov said it was unrealistic to expect iran to drop its interests in syria. so, again, that kind of grand bargain, in one respect, is unrealistic to expect, but this is the kind of thing that, you know, we are not absolutely sure what will be discussed in that one-hour meeting when president trump meets president putin alone. >> all right. bill, we will continue to check in with you through the afternoon. jeff bennett is there as well. we benefit from the insights of ambassador michael mcfaul. he is an international affairs analyst for msnbc. he has met with president putin many times. first one of those meetings back in 1991 in the mayor's office in st. petersburg. he has written about president trump, what that meeting might be like with the russian president for "the washington post." ambassador mcfaul is in helsinki for us this afternoon. let me ask you, first of all, about one element of your piece. you say putin is extremely confident. some might say arrogant in his views about international affairs. before we get into what the interperson interpersonal

he's introduced i russian foreign minister sergey lavrov. >> mr. president, colleagues, we start the ninth meeting of russia's ambassadors and plant injury representatives. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [speaking russian] >> translator: mr. president, colleagues, i would like to express my sincere gratitude to the president of the russian federation vladimir putin, for paying so much attention to the diplomatic -- democratic service in terms of the condition of what we do, and assessment of our actions and also social support for our diplomats. and address any questions that may arise relation to that. we understood given the current situation in the international arena the responsibility lies on all the diplomatic workers and diplomatic missions in implementing the policy defined by the president is immense, and we will always do our best to prove up to the task. we would also thank the government of the russian federation members of the committee present here working together. we will be able to create the necessary conditions in the international arena for a coun