mr. castro. mr. castro: the dossier states that during page's visit to moscow he met with the president offering, quote, page and trump's associate the brokerage of up to 19% stake in rusnet, with page confirming that if trump were elected u.s. president sanctions on russia would be lifted and although fortunately the white house hasn't been so naive as to unilaterally lift sanctions on russia, it was widely reported that on january 27 of this year, ruznev sold a 19.5% stake in ruznev in what reuters called one of its biggest privatizations since the 1990's. furthermore, reuters reported, quote, public records showed the ownership of the state includes a cayman islands company whose beneficial owners cannot be traced. what a coincidence. is this the subject of your investigation? one of the subjects of your investigation? >> same answer. mr. castro: ok. >> meaning i'm not going to comment. mr. castro: i understand. let's move to wiki leaks for a moment who played such a prominent role in the 2016 elec

mr. castro. >> okay. christopher steele is a former british intelligence officer with a career built on following ruche sha is important. this is not someone who does not know how to run a source and not someone without contacts. the allegations it raises about president trump's campaign aides' connections to russians when overlaid with known established facts and timelines from the 2016 campaign are very revealing. so, let's begin. if general, as my colleagues have discussed before, is it true a large number of oligarchs have continued with their close cooperation with the kremlin? >> can you say that one more time? >> have wealthy folks in russia profited from their connection to the kremlin? >> yes. >> and there are no free lunches in russia, if you get wealthy under putin it's because you support putin. >> i assume it varies by the particular individual and relationship we're talking about. >> okay. but putin never just trusts, he verifies, right? as a former kgb man he wants to keep tab on his wealth

mr. castro. director, you were asked about mr. clapper's comments. >> i understood the question to be about the report itself. >> i want to make it clear to people though, the intelligence assessment, unclassified intelligence assessment doesn't discuss the issue of u.s. person coordination with the russians. aassume that's because at the time of the report in january of this year that was under an investigation that you have now disclosed; is that right? >> correct. the counter-intelligence investigation is the fbi's business. the ic report was about what the intelligence community had about what russia had done. there is nothing in the report about coordination or anything like that. it's a separate responsibility of the fbi to try and understand that, investigate it, and assess it. >> so we shouldn't read mr. clapper's comments as suggesting that he takes a different view of whether you had sufficiently credible information and evidence to initiate an fbi counter-intelligence investigation? >> i don't know exactly what he meant

mr. castro, we flee. mr. castro: one more question with regard to leaks. that has been a big topic of the eightf questioning and topic of concern to all of us regardless of political party. i want to ask you, director, is a possible some of those links could come from not the intelligence company but members of the white house staff, for example? thanks sure. it could come from lots of different places. a leak veout a lot of people knew of it or heard echoes and had stories to tell journalists. in my expense, trying to figure these things out for decades it is almost -- it is often coming from a place you did not about. >> i asked the question because the president has he have berated the intelligence community and the press because of these links, but it is worth considering it is quite possible there are folks that have a kind proxyitical one chosen by where they want to be the savior once it blows up. there are all sorts of individuals and serve on political staffs and i think we should be up into the possibility it is somebody at the white house. >> th

mr. castro, briefly. >> mr. castro. >> thank you. one more question with respect to leaks. i know that's been a big topic of the line of questioning and of course is a concern to all of us regardless of political party. but i want to ask you, director, is it possible that. sof those leaks could come from not the intelligence community but from members of the white house staff for example? >> sure. it could come from lots of different places. and it's often one of the things that's challenges as i said about a leak investigation. think it's going to be a small circle but it turns out a lot of people either knew about it or heard os about it and had stories to tell to journalists about it. in my experience it's often coming from places you didn't anticipate. >> the reason i asked the question is because the president has berated the fbi and the intelligence community on the the issue of leaks and others have berated the intelligence community and the press because of these leaks. but i think it's worth considering that it's quite possible there are folks that have a kind of p

mr. castro, briefly. >> mr. castro. >> thank you. one more question with respect to leaks. i know that's been a big topic of the line of questioning. of course, is of concern to all of us regardless of political party. but i want to ask you, director, is it possible that some of those leaks could come from not the intelligence community but from members of the white house staff, for example? >> sure. it could come from lots of different places. and it's often one of the things that's challenging about a leak investigation. you think it's going to be a small circle but turns out a lot of people either knew about it or heard echoes of it and stories to tell to journalists about it. so, in my experience, trying to figure these things out for decades, its often coming from places you didn't anticipate. >> and the reason i ask the question is because the president has berated the fbi and the intelligence community on the issue of leaks and others have berated the intelligence community and the press because of these leaks. but i think it's worth considering it's quite possible t

mr. castro. director, you were asked about director clapper's comments and i think your response indicated that they were correct as far as the unclassified intelligence assessment goes. >> that's what i understood the question to be about the report itself. >> i want to make it clear to people, though, the intelligence assessment doesn't discuss the issue of u.s. person coordination with the russians and i assume that's because at the time of the report in january of this year that was under an investigation that you have now disclosed. is that right? >> correct. the counterintelligence investigation is the fbi's business. the ic report is what the intelligence community had what russia had done. there's nothing in the report about coordination or anything like that. it's a separate responsibility of the fbi to try to understand that, investigate it and assess it. >> so we shouldn't read mr. clapper's comments as suggesting that he takes a different view of whether you had sufficiently credible

just a handful of the many women who are in prison today in castro's gulags. mr. speaker, these are a few of the many who are persecuted daily for opposing the castro regime. that is their crime. they are simply tossed in jail in castro's effort to silence the people, but the cuban people remain strong in the face of the repressive castro regime. they do not give up hope of seeing a free and democratic cuba. i see that same hope, mr. speaker, in the eyes of my constituents. cuban americans like me and my family who were given the opportunity to create a life in a country, our country, that stands for everything that castro is against. freedom of speech, assembly, petition, the rule of law and democracy. mr. speaker, we must stand with the people of cuba. we must stand against the castro regime that seeks to benefit only itself. we must give the cuban people hope and commit to help them achieve freedom and democracy. it is the duty of the new administration to review the previous administration's failed policy and start working for the people of cuba and against the

approximately 650,000 cuban refugees after castro came to power. mr. president, that may note that of the four hispanic united hades senators today, three trace their roots to this given migration to the. in their families were refugees. this it on the floor of the senate representing some of our great state. yes, with this president, he is using them and all of to ignore this history. we have accepted over 100,000 soviet jews who were escaping the persecution of their religion. looking for freedom, they came to the united states. many of these refugees were fleeing regimes hostile to our country. some argue that despise and hostile elements could be -- think of the hundreds of thousands that came from intonist controlled cuba the united states. where the subject to extreme that it -- vetting? they were people looking for freedom, we opened our doors, they have made us a better country because of it. the united states is not frightened by the fear mongers. we shouldn't be today. let's be clear, refugees coming to our country this day are the most caref

approximately 650,000 cuban refugees after castro came into power. mr. president, let me note parenthetically that of the four hispanic united states senators today, three can trace their roots to this cuban migration to the united states. , and their families fame -- were refugees. they sit on the floor of the senate representing some of our great states, and yet with this president, he is asking them and all of us to ignore this history . we have accepted more than 150,000 refugees from the former yugoslavia. over 100,000 soviet jews who are escaping the persecution of their religion, looking for freedom they came to the united states. some argued that spies who are hostile elements could be hidden amongst them. think about the hundreds of thousands who came from communist controlled cuba into the united states. were they subjected to extreme vetting? no. they were people who said that they were coming here looking for freedom and we opened our , doors and they have made us a better country because of it. the united states was not frightened by the fea

out thet really spelled end of castro's career when he had been retired. [laughter] mr. houghton: so when he died, it was a big deal a lot of places. many college aged students were like, ok. a wholey did not matter lot when it came to the relationship between the united or the broader, world. we will talk differently here. attemptsook at the cia on castro's life. the number 638 is according to castro's retired chief of counter intelligence. in interview he said, we have counted 638 different attempts by the sea at a -- cia on castro's life. we will systematically go through each -- i am just getting. on hereed this quote that was great. this is from castro. assassination attempts were an olympic event, i would win a gold medal. 600 39 is a charm. this is a spy museum exclusive. you are all hearing this first before anybody else. the name ofcquired the top-secret operation that finally, finally got fidel castro. [laughter] the name is a little on the nose, they are not as creative as they used to be. this is not in operation overlord kind of thing. we finally paid off. m

when mr mandela came out of prison he was advised to break ties with castro and with the plo. to the western leaders, when we came to you for assistance, you condemned us as terrorists. it would be ungrateful and immoral of us now to turn our backs on those who supported us. is it solely because they supported you ? you will know that alan butler, whose son was injured, and he was injured, when a bus was bombed in jerusalem. he said the media had attempted to portray marwan barghouti as a kind of nelson mandela. the truth is quite the opposite. he has shown no remorse for his activities. mandela showed no remorse for what we had done. in fact we have been proud of what we have done. we can't prescribe to another country how they should run their struggle. my own view is that i continue to support the palestinian struggle, once the leaders have decided this is the road we will take. is their use of violence justified? if so, that is not for me to say. but if they in their wisdom resort to violence as the only method, i will support them. i have been to palestine. i have seen wh

mr. houghton: assuming i still have the ability to feel shame. >> we love vince. >> there were all these plans to kill castro, was there any plan about what happened if they work? mr. houghton: no. i mean, there were contingency plan, the idea of government in exile, who would be in charge. the problem you run into is that mid-60's --the mid-1960's comes around, there were a lot of claims from the exile community, it would be a power vacuum like no other. we have seen some recently that have been pretty nasty but there would be a pretty significant power vacuum. even if castro gets killed, raul steps in che steps in. , if you cut off the head, that was the theory. gravitas is and what rallied people behind him. at that point it was unlikely. especially after bay of pigs. was to what castro did consolidate and bring power not just under him but under the government, under the system that had been created. it is a counterfactual conversation that if castro has been killed in 1965 it would have made a difference but there are people who say you are in a position that castro dies, it doesn't mean the government

castro and republican congressman will hurd, both gentlemen from texas. congressman hurd, you're in the majority. we'll begin with a quote tonight from "the new york times," the journalist glenn thrush. he writes "mr. trump's allies have begun to wonder if his need for self-expression often on social media will exceed his instinct for self-preservation with disastrous results both for the president and a party whose fate is now tightly tied to his. mr. thrush's colleague, maggie haberman, goes on to say, "this was the start of confirmation hearings for a potential new justice on the supreme court yet that's not the lead story tonight. this is." can you chock this up to an unforced error on the part of the president, the white house? >> the tweets? or, look, this is the way i look at it, as a former undercover officer in the cia who's dealt with classified information, i spent a lot of time overseas, now that is confirmed that the fbi is doing an investigation. everybody should give the fbi the time to do their investigation and conclude it however the fbi sees fit. and there shouldn't be any interference or talk about it and then once that investigation is complete, that's when the house and senat

mr. president this is stupid. everyone was convinced that the cuban people would rise up, that is a great idea. yes, these 1500 guys can start a revolution to defeat castro. that is a great idea. no one had -- i don't want to put it on their soldiers and say no one had the courage to stand up. i think it is more that people were wishful thinking. everyone began wishful thinking that this would be a successful operation. let's take a look quickly. this is huge. inspector general of the c.i.a. did a postmortem after the bay of pigs. it is a massive document. i want to pull out big key issues they identified to show why this goes bad. the first one is interesting. the c.i.a. exceeded its capabilities. this is the c.i.a. in 1961. during the 1950's, the c.i.a., it was argued, got a little too big for its britches. they had successful operations around the world overthrowing governments in guatemala, iran, fixing operations in italy, but they are not yet the c.i.a. we know and love today. they are not capable of running a massive military operation in 1961. they get really good during vietnam and the secret war in laos. by they are not there yet. 1961, this is

for not supporting this vial castro dictatorship, and speaking out against his cruelty and abuses, he was sentenced to three years. mr. speaker, we cannot stand idly by as more and more pro-democracy leaders are being beaten and arrested on the island. the president and his new administration have committed to reversing some of the damage inflicted by the previous administration on the cause of freedom and democracy in cuba. our policy in cuba should send a strong message throughout the hem atmosphere that the united states -- hemisphere that the united states will no longer remain silent on these atrocities. it is well-known that hubea has exposed -- exported -- cuba has exported its barbaric tactics in other countries in the emisphere, namely venezuela. the venezuelan people believe that there is no justice in their land. they believe that there is no respect for law in their country. and they are right. what about their economy? well, according to the international monetary fund, inflation in venezuela last year was around 800%. 800%. and the inflation projection for this year is 1,600%. this is not sustainable, m

castro valley neighborhood but no one wanted to talk. neighbors who learned about her missing report were worried. she is described to be age 32 5'03" 115 pounds blonde blue mrs soriano is pregnant and she is considered at risk at this time.asking the public throuigh the be on the look out for her. soriano was last seen wearing a black tank top, gray sweat pants and beige ugg boots. she is known to frequent ocean beach and golden gate park. live in san francisco ella sogomonian kron 4 news. (jr stone)family and friends are grieving the loss of a 24- year old pinole man who died as a result of thursday's interstate 80 shooting.kron4's lydia pantazes spoke with the victim's pastor today.lydia? (lydia)demarcus doss came to this church here in el sobrante... (take vo)his pastor, kelli's love, says he was here every sunday. this is the first time demarcus's church, greater love ministries, has service without him.doss had been in grave condition after he and the female passenger in his minivan were shot on the i80 freeway in richmond on thursday afternoon.this is video from our helicopter partnership with abc 7 news.it happened on the eastbound lanes of the freewa

castro, but it was the soviets. a cautionary note about who gets access to a president-elect and talks to him during that transition. i better stop there. mr. nau: when will told me about six months ago that he was thinking about a conference on reagan, i simply said to him how long can i stay? there aren't that many such events going on in the academic world, certainly not at our annual conventions in any case. i think this is extremely worthwhile opportunity. i am also humbled to be on this panel with these distinguished gentleman. it is probably the reason why i am not wearing a tie. but let me make a few comments about my impressions of reagan when i was in the white house. in the transition team, and then in the beginning of the reagan administration through the fall of 1983. we ran a small shop, about five people on the international, economic side of things, and dealt largely with his economic policy. the summit process at that time, g7, was extremely important for both, forcing us to think systematically about our own domestic policies and try to project to the other allies, and an effort to coordinate the policy. those did not occ

vietnamese refugees fleeing the vietnam war, approximately 650,000 cuban refugees after castro came to power. mr. president, let me note parenthetically that of the four hispanic united states senators today, three can trace their roots to this cuban migration to the united states in their families were refugees. they sit on the floor of this senate representing some of our great states. and yet, with this president, he is asking them and all of us to ignore this history. we've accepted more than 150,000 refugees from the former yugoslavia. over 100,000 soviet jews who were escaping the persecution of their religion, looking for freedom, came to the united states. many of these refugees were fleeing regimes hostile to our country. some argued that spies and other hostile elements could be hidden amongst them. think about the hundreds of thousands who came from communist-controlled cuba into the united states. were they subject to extreme vetting? no. they were people who said we've come here looking for freedom, and we opened our doors, and they have made us a better country because of it. the u