and he's been going to moskow since the '80s, donald trump has, trying to build trump tower moskow.e '80s, '90s. >> we should point out being friends with vladimir putin, during the miss universe thing he was tweeting, wow, i wonder if putin will come, he'll be my best friend. >> why? because he wanted to make money there. and the pieces fit together that way. >> to the point and let's remember that that same summer even though by this point the deal might not have been in progress anymore, when the fbi had a security briefing with the trump campaign and the clinton campaign to say, look, russia is trying to get in and infiltrate and affect this election, let us know if there's anything going on that might be relevant. they did not say a word. >> coming up, once again echoes of watergate and his agitation we've been talking about and his insistence everyone's out to get him. how does it compare overall to nixon's moment in time? we'll talk to bob woodward. we'll be right back. ♪ the greatest wish of all... is one that brings us together. the lincoln wish list event is here. sign and

this deal trump tower moskow fell apart on or around june 14th. so within days the russians have sent envoys into trump tower to try to give the trump camp information they can use to undermine hillary clinton's candidacy. and they decide then to stop pursuing this deal. why is that? i think it suggests that they decided to tradeoff the idea of doing business with president trump or at that time candidate trump in order to do politics with him. and trump today tried to say that michael cohen is a liar, but the entire fact pattern, it's documentable around this is that the trump organization has been looking at russia for years. and specifically this deal starting in 2015. so he's wound himself into a corner today by first calling michael cohen a liar and then forcing everyone to focus on this time frame. because it shows that krng ti t the russians were being very calculating about when they were going to approach the trump organization, members of the trump came and what they wanted out of that. >> you have studied trump for years, written a book

it appears that trump tower moskow wasn't even good business sense, but he had to have it.e great white whale he could not find. >> well, you're referring to the potential erotic overtones of the skyscraper, and there are these people who become obsessed with having this tallest building. i don't know where it comes from. it's not necessarily more profitable because it's taller. >> it suggests an inadequacy to me. >> that you see potentially manifesting. i want to play for your analysis donald trump in 2016 because one of the problems with this is now all of these lies even when exposed, they still played a role in getting him where he wanted to go at the time. and so now we can look back with more clarity knowing what we know tonight that he was actually pursuing this deal, that he was directly involved in it, that ivanka trump was talking about picking the architect. and here's donald trump on the campaign trail. here's him praising putin as he seeks kremlin help. >> he's running this country and at least he's a leader unlike what we have in this country. putin comes out,

cnn's matthew chance is in moskow with more on this.what you know. >> this could be a major escalation in the conflict between russia and ukraine. just off the coast of that crimmian peninsula that wassenxed by russia from ukraine back in 2014. according to the ukrainian navy and they've been posted this on they're facebook page, russia has opened fire and seized three ukrainian vessels in the stretch of water that exists between the ukrainian peninsula and the russian mainland. two of its tug boats and one of its tug were captured by special forces after a brief chase on the water by russian special forces, according to the ukrainians again, at least six ukrainian crew members, navy personnel have been injured. it's not clear what the nature of their injuries were, but obviously they were injured during those clashes. as far as the russians are concerned there's been no statement yet. it's midnight nearly here local time. we're expecting comment from them not until the morning. >> matthew chance thank you for moskow. and we'll be right

cnn's matthew chance picks it up from there from moskow. matthew?r: fred, thank you very much. it is potential a potentially major escalation of tensions that's taking place now between russia and ukraine in that small sliver of water that separates the peninsula. it seems according to the russian navy -- sorry, according to the ukrainian navy and the ukrainian authorities three ukrainian vessels have been fired on by the russians and then seized after a boarding operation carried out by russian special forces. the ukrainians say at least six ukrainian sailors, crew, personnel have been injured in the clashes. there's been no direct response yet from the russian authorities, but russian media is saying the ukrainian vessels were carrying out what they call dangerous maneuvers in the narrow strip of water. it's a very crucial bit of stretch of water because the sea is one of the places where ukraine has two major commercial ports on the coast of that sea. and russia controls the entrance to it. so it's a potentially important flash point. >> all righ

cnn's correspondent matthew chance is joining us live from moskow.learning? >> reporter: well, as you mentioned this is a major escalation potentially because you've seen russian forces according to the ukrainian navy fire upon three naval vessels and then board them with a raiding party consisting of russian special forces. the ukrainian military says at least six of its naval personnel were injured in that confrontation, and it comes after another incident which we've got video for now which happened earlier in the day of russian patrol vessels trying but failing to intercept a number of ukrainian vessels as they moved from the black sea through that very tight kerch straight into the sea of asov, and one of russian ships actually rammed a ukrainian navy tug. you can see in that video there that tug in front of you and the russian vessel approaching it and eventually collide into it. but they weren't able to intercept and board those vessels. there's been another incident that's led to an actual firing on ukrainian vessels. it's an incredibly volat

planned sit down with revelations michael cohen was working with the kremlin on potential business in moskowlater tonight, a beat special report. what happens if donald trump just defies the subpoenas from the new democratic house next year? well, there's actuall