mr. browder. mr. browder: thank you. grassley: sometime, if you ask me, senator whitehurst, if you ask me i will tell you why i call you that. there is a famous whistleblower that was an fbi agent that exposed a lot of wrong going on at the fbi, i protected him and he got fired as every whistleblower does. he sued the fbi and got a million dollars for his work. we got a new $40,000 lab down at the marine station to do the right work that the fbi was supposed to do. >> i offer to represent senator whitehouse. >> i am glad to hear it is a positive association. >> i wanted to say a couple quick things before i ask my questions. first, i believe corruption is a world plague, not a local phenomenon. you may have done more to fight corruption worldwide than any other individual and i appreciate it. senator grassley and i have a piece of legislation that would require corporation transparency so that the united states does not become the sanctuary for international criminals and kleptocrats. we welcome the support of any other

mr. browder. it is my understanding that in july 2016 he filed a complaint alleging that a number of individuals failed to register their russian backed lobbying efforts against the magnitski act. among those named in mr. browder's campaign is the russian lawyer. as we all know she met with the trump campaign on june 9, 2016 with the understanding that she would offer incriminating information on hillary clinton, the campaign's opponent in the president's election. it is my understanding mr. browder is very familiar with her and another person -- while he does not have firsthand knowledge of what happened on june 9 his experience with these specific individuals and his broader understanding of how the russian government operates may well advance the committee's understanding of what motivated that meeting. with that i yield back . >> thank you. in 2007 russian government officials an members of organized crime engage until corporate identity theft, stole the corporate identity of three hermitage a

mr. browder: sen. durbin: correct. with mr. trumpng jr. and paul manafort and others really raises extraordinary questions about what the russians were trying to achieve with the that meeting. you have any other indications of meetings that took place, similar meetings involving the trump campaign or family? mr. browder: i know nothing about any other meetings with the trump campaign or family. i do know the russians were all over the capitol hill and hearing congress trying to get meetings with members of congress to try to make the same type of pitch. unsuccessfully, in the end. that they were here, en masse. sen. durbin: i will cut my questions at this point. ink you for coming here. i deeply regret what has whoened to mr. magnitsky, was trying his best to resolve the challenge they put in your path. i joined with my colleagues in the creation of these sanctions. about my own stories russian and mr. putin to tell, >> i do believe the case is solid and i think you for coming before us today. round. ends our first now the second round, i

mr. browder's lawyer and friend. in 2016, mr. browder filed a complaint with the justice department's fara enforcement unit. he alleged that a group of unregistered agents were working on behalf of the russian government to get rid of the law named after his late friend. he said these unregistered agents lobbied congress. he said they organized a screening of a propaganda video with hill staffers and state department officials. the propaganda video smeared mr. magnitsky and mr. browder. what this video represents is a pretty cute operation, the foreign agents also published propaganda to news outlets trying to get bogus stories published by respectable organizations, as we learned after this hearing was scheduled, they apparently lobbied the trump campaign and the trump family. yet the justice department didn't require any of them to register as foreign agents. one individual identified as mr. browder's complaint is glen simpson, founder of fusion gps. since march 2017 i've been asking about the russians who were working with fusi

mr. browder and undermine the magnitsky act. mr. simpson's company, fusion gps, is the same firm that oversaw the creation of the unverified trump dossier. around the same time, fusion also helped orchestrate a campaign to repeal the magnitsky act for the benefit of russian governments. there are public reports that the fbi used the dossier to kick start its russian investigation. did the fbi know that fusion pitched propaganda for the russians even as it pushed the dossier? what would they say about its reliability if the dossier was represented to any court should this fact have been disclosed? two other individuals identified in mr. browder's complaint have been in the news a lot lately. the first is the russian lawyer who represents holdings. her name, natalia vesnit skia, as you know. we'll just refer to her as russian agent xyz or something. pr er prevazon is a russian company connected to millions of dollars. the other person is a russian american lobbyist with reported ties to russian intelligence. "the new york times" recen

mr. browder, an investment firm based in london. members of organized crime stalled corporate identity of somebody and use them fraudulently. they filed a criminal complaint with russian law enforcement. in response russian government assigned the case to the very russian officials involved in the crime. >> >> with of vladimir putin campaign i'm the founder and ceo of permitted capital management my firm was once the largest foreign investment adviser of russia and in the capacity we discovered massive corruption and companies that we invested in and to fight that corruption we started to research how the oligarchs went about doing the stealing and then share their research with the international media. the naming and shaming campaign had some positive effect on the share price of the company's and made russia a better place as you can exposing millions of dollars of malfeasance upset those who are benefiting from that and they had very close connections with the putin regime. november 2005 i was expelled from the country and declar

mr. browder. it is my understanding that in july 2016 he filed a complaint alleging that a number of individuals failed to register their russian backed lobbying efforts against the magnitski act. among those named in mr. browder's campaign is the russian lawyer. as we all know she met with the trump campaign on june 9, 2016 with the understanding that she would offer incriminating information on hillary clinton, the campaign's opponent in the president's election. it is my understanding mr. browder is very familiar with her and another person -- while he does not have firsthand knowledge of what happened on june 9 his experience with these specific individuals and his broader understanding of how the russian government operates may well advance the committee's understanding of what motivated that meeting. with that i yield back glchlt thank you. . >> thank you. in 2007 russian government officials an members of organized crime engage until corporate identity theft, stole the corporate identity of

the case was finally settled in may this year with no admission of guilt by a preface on you war mr browder and his team have been gathering information about my family to try to find out whether i'm married or not whether i have children or not they found photos of my house and sent them to col parker he's a famous man in the house of representatives they shared all these details with people from the state department i don't know why he's doing this i can only make assumptions here i see today's situation has been heating up for ten days or so as a very well orchestrated story concocted by one particular manipulator and that is mr browder. and i want is best known for is his role in the magnitsky act this is an x. named asta a russian lawyer who was once employed by brown as company in russia he was later arrested in connection with a tux fraud case and he died was being held in detention browder later played a major role in law being for a set of sanctions to be imposed by the us on the number of russian individuals over magnitsky death brought it claims he knew magnitsky personally but a

safety first and foremost about the safety of my family my four children it's been revealed that mr browder has been gathering information about me so who is william browder maybe not a familiar name for most but for thirty years in russia he's a wanted man quite literally he's wanted for tax fraud on top of this leaked us state department e-mails reveal that brown i was actively gathering information about the vessel and its guy ahead of when this scandal broke and that included personal details such as where she lives so given this information in beslan it's seems quite convinced that browder has harbored a personal vendetta against her perhaps something to do with the facts that he once lost a case in court to her now this was a two thousand and thirteen case in which a vessel in its guard represented the cyberspace company previn's on holding which is owned by a russian businessmen wrote a had accused the company of money laundering. the case was finally settled in may this year with no admission of guilt by a preface on you or mr browder and his team have been gathering information abo

safety first and foremost about the safety of my family my four children it's been revealed that mr browder has been gathering information about me so who is william browder maybe not a familiar name for most but for thirty's in russia he's a wanted man quite literally he's wanted for tax fraud on top of this leaked us state department e-mails reveal that brown i was actively gathering information about the vessel and its guy ahead of when this scandal broke and that included personal details such as where she lives so given this information in beslan it's seems quite convinced that browder has harbored a personal vendetta against her perhaps something to do with the facts that he once lost a case in court to her now this was a two thousand and thirteen case in which a vessel in its guard represented the cyberspace company previn's on holding which is owned by a russian businessman wrote a had accused the company of money laundering. the case was finally settled in may this year with no admission of guilt by a preface on you or mr browder and his team have been gathering information about m

the case was finally settled in may this year with no admission of guilt by a preface on you war mr browder and his team have been gathering information about my family to try to find out whether i'm married or not whether i have children or not found photos of my house and sent them to col parker he's a famous man in the house of representatives they shared all these details with people from the state department i don't know why he's doing this i can only make assumptions here i see today's situation has been heating up for ten days or so as a very well orchestrated story concocted by one particular manipulator and that is mr browder. and i what is best known for is his role in the magnitsky act this is an ox named after a russian lawyer who was once employed by brown as company in russia he was later arrested in connection with a tux fraud case and he died was being held in detention browder later played a major role in law being for a set of sanctions to be imposed by the u.s. on the number of russian individuals over magnitsky death and brought it claims he knew magnitsky personally but

days or so as a very well orchestrated story concocted by one particular manipulator and that is mr browder. and i what is best known for is his role in the magnitsky act this is an x. named asta a russian lawyer who was once employed by a ground us company in russia he was later arrested in connection with the tuxford case and he died was being held in detention browder later played a major role in law being for a set of sanctions to be imposed by the u.s. on the number of russian individuals over magnitsky death and brought it claims he knew magnitsky personally but according to vessel nick schuyler this couldn't be further from the truth and this is where i don't try and do enters the picture and the big question for many is why is us the next guy was so keen to inform the trunk team about the millionaire or say well brought his reputation will slip the story of this was the story that i brought to donald trump jr i wanted him to know that browder a person who gave up his us citizenship is trying to manipulate people in congress and now we even know their names the media have disclosed t

the face of evil i don't think there's any other way to characterize black mirror putin so who is mr browder and why is his testimony before the u.s. senate related to russia being considered and being listened to well first of all he was doing big business in russia in the beginning of the two thousand he now is a wanted man in russia for tax fraud. and thirdly he was key in pushing for sanctions against russia and eventually helping to pass the magnitsky act which was introduced in. now furthermore at this point there was some talk in the testimony about russian lawyer an italian vassal need skya now she comes down she met with trump's team last year to discuss these anti russian sanctions the magnitsky act she was a central figure in today's hearing. the russian lawyers name tell you a vessel and it's going and i'm just going to tell you this so. that will this guy . natalia nataly lynette's guy i tried it over lindsey graham's pronunciation there. now what did she say in response to these allegations well we didn't get to hear from her or she was not at the hearing she did want to give h

committee and give her side of the story she's perfectly willing to speak to the same committee that mr browder spoke to today she would be willing to give them her side of the story she's pointed out that she is not working for the russian government she's in no way connected to the russian government or security services she is simply a russian lawyer and this is what she had to say. the person who he talks about in his statements i'm also ready to testify and prove to anyone in the united states or any other country that mr browder is telling a lie so i'm ready to defend my good name in any court with knowing the negative attitude towards russia which is prevalent among americans today knowing their hatred towards their own president i'm not sure the u.s. is ready to give me that chance if we follow the democratic process that they love so much we will need to have a public hearing and give every side a chance to present their case since the americans decided to be the judge in this situation and surely every participant must be guaranteed safety. based on bill browder is history and reputat

were working directly for president vladimir putin himself now what did she say in response to mr browder while she never had a chance to respond she hasn't gotten to testify now speaking to r t she says she is perfect. really willing to go before the committee and present her side of the story she says she has no connection to russian authorities or the russian government security services or anything like that she is simply a lawyer doing her job this is what she had to say when speaking directly to us here at r.t. . as a person who talks about in his statements i'm also ready to testify and prove to anyone in the united states or any other country that mr browder is telling lies i'm ready to defend my good name in any court but knowing the negative attitude towards russia and is prevalent among americans today knowing their hatred towards their own president i'm not sure the u.s. is ready to give me that chance if we follow the democratic process that they love so much we will need to have a public hearing and give every side a chance to present their case and actually every participan

mr. browder and his company. this covert negative publicity campaign would principally benefit the russian government. so without reference to that particular case, if a company engages in a publicity campaign on behalf of a foreign government to influence u.s. law, does that generally create an obligation to register under fara? >> i'll get the hang of it. thank you, senator, for the question and thank you for acknowledging my inability to comment on particular investigations or potential investigations today. let me describe our practice. where we see credible investigation to believe someone is acting as an agent of a foreign principal, we face a choice at that moment. in most cases we don't have indications of willfulness, meaning we don't have indications that the individual is deliberately choosing not to register but aware of their on ligation and in that case we would send a letter of inquiry and solicit more information, however if we had indications that the agent was acting willfully it may be more app

think we're in a place a dangerous place i like to see them all investigation particularly now that mr browder testified to believe yesterday that he's claiming that this crazy dossier which i think most people believe is false. it may actually have been paid for by one element of the russian government so it's sort of her posture is to believe you know based on what we know today that russia was trying to influence even the two thousand and sixteen election against trump because i mean it's just yet where we are right. it is in a place where the most response to this charles of course moscow is saying that this type of pressure is not working and indicated that it could use more kuntar measures so we're we're again left with less diplomacy more hostility what kind of reaction did washington expect in your opinion well you know i would like you know i'm very proud to be an american and there are many good things about our country but we think about american foreign policy from like one nine hundred forty five forward. it's tough to find many great examples of what we've accomplished so what th

statements i'm also ready to testify and prove to anyone in the united states or any other country that mr browder is telling lies i'm ready to defend my good name in any court with knowing the negative attitude towards russia which is prevalent among americans today knowing their hatred towards their own president i'm not sure the u.s. is ready to give me that chance if we follow the democratic process that they love so much we will need to have a public hearing and give every side a chance to present their case since the americans decided to be the judge in this situation and surely every participant must be guaranteed safety. now based on bill browder is history and reputation it's likely that many who watched these hearings today and heard his testimony met many of his claims and statements with a dose of skepticism. thanks for breaking it down for us. and i.t. consultant and aide to some of the most high profile congressional democrats in the u.s. has been arrested on bank fraud charges while trying to leave the country in work for house democrats for more than a decade and with dozens of off

safety first and foremost about the safety of my family my four children it's been revealed that mr browder has been gathering information about me to try to find out where there are married or not whether i have children or not found photos of my house and sent them to copartner he's a famous man in the house of representatives so they shared all these details with people from the state department i don't know why he's doing this i can only make assumptions here and see today situation has been heating up for ten days or so as a very well orchestrated story concocted by one particular manipulator and that is mr brown so who is this william browder that this is spying on her and concocting what she calls smear campaign is the businessman who are on one of the biggest investment companies in russia in the nine hundred ninety s. before being blacklisted by the russian government for allegedly running tax evasion schemes and convicted for that. since he never returned to moscow after two thousand and six he was also the boss of lawyers to the game of needs who died in russian jail in two thous

statements and also ready to testify and prove to anyone in the united states or any other country that mr browder is telling myself i'm ready to defend my good name in any court but knowing the negative attitude towards russia and is prevalent among american city knowing their hatred towards their own president i'm not sure the u.s. is ready to give me that chance if we follow the democratic process that they love so much we will need to have a public. hewing and if every side a chance to present their case naturally every participant must be guaranteed safety now as you just heard she doesn't think she'll be given an opportunity to present her views to congress one looks at the recent hearings on russia they all seem to be presenting a specific narrative and her version of events doesn't exactly fit with what congress is trying to present to the public. another nation the u.s. just announced sanctions against is venice away a lot as washington has called on the government of the south american nation to cancel this weekend's constitutional reform process which they claim deters the democratic or

statements i'm also ready to testify and prove to anyone in the united states or any other country that mr browder is telling lies i'm ready to defend my good name in any court but knowing the negative attitude towards russia that is prevalent among americans today knowing their hatred towards their own president i am not sure the us is ready to give me that chance if we follow the democratic process that they love so much we will need to have a public hearing and give every side a chance to present their case and surely every participant must be guaranteed safety so the attorney at the center of the don jr trump tower meeting firestorm is itching to tell her side of the story it's unclear if the senate committee will allow her to speak and if she could even offer any new information and add as you mentioned senate wanted to hear from out of fort dodge jr and simpson who runs that research firm with the now debunked dossier on president trump today as well but those gentlemen chose not to do so in a public setting and will provide their stories americans to the committee separately and is there an

mr. browder, we'll leave it there appreciate it. >>> here's what is coming up on "power lunch."ig interviews first, the men taking elon musk's hyperloop dream into a reality. >>> plus, the owners of the new england patriots and new york mets buying e-sports robert kraft and jeff wilpon will be here next on "power lunch. the future isn't silver suits and houses on mars, it's right now. think about it. we can push buttons and make cars appear out of thin air. find love anywhere. he's cute. and buy things from, well, everywhere. how? because our phones have evolved. so isn't it time our networks did too? introducing america's largest, most reliable 4g lte combined with the most wifi hotspots. it's a new kind of network. xfinity mobile. >>> hyperloop completed the first full-scale test in a vacuum environment this is becoming a true reality. joining us now is the co-founder of hyperloop and our own phil lebeau joins us as well. pleasure to have you here. explain what got accomplished here, in plain english. >> today we announced that hyperloop one has successfully done our first kit

mr. browder said should have been registered as a russian agent. the russian female lawyer. the likelihood that that was the last contact needs to be looked into. because the trump campaign expressed a desire to be helped. >> and now there were also rather strong moments from, sound from lindsey graham who warned president trump rather starkly not to fire jeff sessions and not to take steps to fire bob mueller saying there would be "holy hell" to pay if that happened. even saying that "democracy would be turned upside-down" if the president took steps to fire bob mueller. clearly this hearing raising questions for senator graham and others to look into that meeting. >> yes indeed. and what did the senate chairman tell you. >> reporter: i talked to jeff sessions and the attorney general and about concerns on capitol hill trudhat trump may e jeff sessions. in charge of any nomination hearing for attorney general said he agenda is "full" for the year. meaning he is not ready to move forward at any successor to jeff sessions. a very stark warning to the white house that if presi

mr. browder accused them of working with the russians and, at the end of the day, if that's true, the democratic party is working with somebody who was working with the russians, whether they knew it or not. >> message from congressional republicans -- >> i think it's not a message to the president as much as it is to the country. you know, the president has the right to fire anybody in his cabinet. as a human being, i think he should show respect for jeff sessions as a person. jeff sessions was the most loyal supporter of donald trump, a rock solid conservative. the reason i like him so much is i often disagree with him, but i'd never believe he was a man who lacks integrity or fair play. this effort to, basically, marginalize and humiliate the attorney general is not going over well in the senate. i don't think it's going over well in the conservative world. if you believe jeff sessions should be fired, use the power you have and accept the consequences. i hope it stopped. i'm 100% behind jeff sessions. the chairman of the judiciary committee sent a chilling plead yesterday. there will be no c

mr. browder said should have been registered as russian agent.ussian female lawyer, the likelihood that contact needs to be looked into. >> reporter: now he also had some serious concerns about the possibility that trump may get rid of jeff sessions and bob mueller as a special council. and as a result, lindsey graham is drafting legislation, bipartisan tloegs try to insulate the special council from political pressure to say that if the special council were to be -- try to be fired by the president of the united states and there to be judicial review looked at first by judges to make sure that it is consistent with the law, expect that bill to be introduced next week, jake. >> real concern on capitol hill by republicans and democrats alike that president trump is going to try to fire bob mueller. manu, the russian sanctions bill, new sanctions, as punishment for the election interference, passed by the senate, passed by the house, what's the latest on the status? >> reporter: overwhelmingly by both chamber, unanimously, something you rarely see.