mr. torshin during that time. so the point here is that this guy was a major russian -- target of the spanish police in money laundering investigations, who is forging all these ties with american political figures. and my only question about the revelation from mr. grinda which i reported on, is what took the fbi so long? these wiretaps have been there since 2013. >> really quickly, michael, is there any evidence that these wiretaps that were picked up as part of the investigation, contain donald trump jr.'s voice -- >> no. no. i don't want to create any confusion about that. >> okay. >> these conversations were in 2013. >> okay. >> the meeting with donald trump jr. is not until 2016. >> so when why is -- why you write that the special counsel may be interested in this information, if it took place before donald trump was running for president? do you have any speculation or reporting on why mueller would be interested? >> this is the first hard indication that the fbi is investigating matters relating to torshin

mr. torshin and his suspected criminal activities. >> translator: well, as soon as i take the floor i thinkn answer that. aleksandr torshin was subject to investigation in spain of a court in maiorka. the civil guard was conducting the investigation along with the anti-corruption prosecutor's office and juan corell who is the anti-corruption prosecutor and in charge of the office in majorka and i worked with him, he was heading up the investigation and that's why the investigation was successful. we investigated torshin, why? because he was involved with a man named emanoff who has been convicted -- or romanoff, excuse me, and it seemed to us there was criminal activity going on to the extent that 22nd of august, i think it was, 2013 he was waiting for mr. torshin to go to the birthday of mr. romanoff in majorka and had he arrived we would have detained him at the airport. we had telephone conversations that are intercepted under that investigation that led us to believe that he was laundering money under a criminal organization. well, the fbi also has linked him to rabanovich and senocliff

torshin tors >>> mr.einstein did not invept the casting couch in hollywood and to the extent there is bad behavior in that industry, that is not what this is about. bad behavior is not on trial in this case. it's only if you intentionally committed a criminal act and mr. weinstein vigorously denies that. >> that was harvey weinstein's attorney after prosecutors charged the disgraced movie mogul with two counts of felony rape and one count of sexual act in the first-degree. charges are related to two alleged incidents involving two women. one accused him of rape. other claims he forced her to perform oral sex. weinstein maintains the sex was consensual and his lawyer says he plans to plead not guilty to all charges. weinstein became the central figure in hollywood's me too movement. rose mcgowan, one of his accusers weighed in on his first appearance in court. >> what is his punishment look like? >> shame. >> his punishment means the power of being stripped away. it's okay of having one day of this because

mr. torshin to go to the birthday in mallorca. torshin had arrived we would've actually detained at the airport. why? because we had a telephone conversation that was intercepted under that investigation that led as to believe that he was laundering money for a a criminal organization. well, the fbi also has linked him to others, and both talked about these two people. as if they knew him, as if they were friends. and currently he was convicted. he actually had a plea bargain with the prosecutor's office so we didn't investigate torshin because what we had at first, which was clear evidence against him, well, when we arrested romanoff in december 2014 if i remember correctly, well, this evidence kind of discouraged him so we never issued an indictment against him nor was there an international order issued against him either. >> the gentleman over there. >> stephen blake, american foreign-policy counsel. my question is for the panel. to what degree do you see linkages or even actual both sides wearing weren't the sameh regard to or

torshin's encount tkouncounter at the con. so why did someone linked to the kremg ly kremlin make inroads in the first place in that joining me is company author nd you co-aut. mrelcome to the show. so who is aleksandr torshin? >> aleksandr torshin is currently the deputy governor of the central bank of russia. so he is a top russian banker and he is also reputed to be very close to the president putin. and some years ago, torshin became a lifetime member of the national rifle association. >> russia has a ban on gun ownership? >> this is under -- the irony is that putin doesn't want people in russia buying guns. so this is what really i think has drawn a lot of the attention from the intelligence agencies, so why did torshin not only become a lifetime member of the nra, but he also formed a gun rights group in russia called the right to bear arms. and he put in charge of this an interesting lady which we'll come to in a minute. and he came over here to nra conventions. that stopped when this controversy hit, he wasn't -- he is not at the current convention to our knowledge. and so during the 2016 conference in kentucky, he hooks up with the president's son, don

he was concerned this guy alexander torshin who is connected with the nra and on the sanctions list, if that should concern the trump administration. grinda said mrtrump's son should be concerned. at the time we are getting information about more contacts with more trump people they are distracting the country with the spying ruse. >> yeah, joy. things got high this week because james clapper, former chief of national intelligence said but for russian interference donald trump would not be president. it got dangerous because rod rosenstein had a bad week. when rosenstein has a bad week the rule of law has a bad week. he and special counsel mueller are all we have now to protect our democratic institutions. so, yes. donald trump, jr., meets with this person who has been sanctioned for russian interf e interfering with the election. donald trump meets with this guy. also has a meeting he conveniently forgets with not russians but others. donald trump should have called the fbi. instead he took the meeting. you know, the conventional wisdom has become collusion is no longer a thing. it's about obstruction. collusion is very much in the picture. it's