there's a guy taking notes right there next to putin. i mean, whether or not it's the russian government's notes on this meeting between putin and trump or whether they recorded those meetings as some senior foreign officials suggested that russia had a habit of doing. whether it's just notes or recordings or whatever, russia and vladimir putin know the truth about what happened in those one-on-one meetings between trump and putin. if they didn't know it before, now thanks to "the washington post," russia knows the truth of what happened in those one-on-one meetings between trump and putin, that's something that the american president, that trump has desperately been trying to keep from public view and even from the view of other officials in his own administration. so russia now knows that whatever happened in those meetings trump is desperate to keep it secret. and they undoubtedly have a record of the truth of what happened in those meetings. that's like -- that's like blackmail in a bottle, right? think about it. whatever happened be

putin secret from even his own aides. it's one thing to be a senior official in the trump administration and to be worried or upset but the prospect the president wants to give away the store, that he wants to dismember nato and give russia every item on the most fantastical international wish list, even the ones that would previously have been dismissed as unthinkable in this country under any leadership. one thing to be opposed to that or worried about the president's inclinations, right? but maybe you think that somebody like jim mattis is stopping trump from doing that and maybe you don't it's apparently another thing to realize once jim mattis is gone, he's not a governor anymore. if the president is making these decisions and taking these actions specifically because russia's president has been telling him directly face-to-face and person to person this is what he needs to do because now we've learned that there is no record of the conversations between trump and putin because trump ensured there are no records of t

with putin saying what?ca is so innocent? we don't know. it's unheard of for the president to hide this kind of information. we have a right to know what took place in order to keep our country safe, in order to make sure that the professionals who work in government have the information they need to make good decisions. this is not about the president and his relationship with putin. this is about america and our national security. >> florida democratic congressman ted deutch, always good to speak with you. thank you for joining me on this sunday. >> thank you. >>> the president claims he's tough on russia. looking at actions that raise plenty of suspicions, though. oh unpredictable crohn's symptoms following you? for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease, stelara® works differently. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospit

intelligence or vladimir putin and this is what he said. >> just now president putin denied having to do with any of the election in 2016 and every u.s. intelligence agency has concluded russia did. my first question for you, sir, is who do you believe? my second question is would you now with the whole world watching tell president putin and denounce what happened in 2016 and warn him to never do it again? >> my people came to me, dan coats came to me and some others and they said they think it's russia. i have president putin, he just said it is not russia. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be. i have great confidence in my intelligence people. but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. and what he did is incredible offer. he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. i think that is an incredible offer. okay. thank you. >> an incredible offer. an offer you might say to collude on the investigation. now, we have two new pieces of informati

it was just putin, trump, and putin's interpreter. private conversation that occurred, that was somewhere between 15 minutes and 40 minutes, depending on who you believe. could all of this just be a coincidence? this timing that there's these meetings on the day that the "new york times" affectisks for response and the next day the president has a response, which, by the way, turns out to be untrue. >> and by the way, we didn't know about the second meeting for quite some time. it wasn't as if they came out and said, oh, by the way, the president just met with vladimir putin -- >> to your point, ian bremmer is the one who found out about it. >> exactly. it wasn't anything they wanted to reveal, which is also extraordinary, when it comes to two heads of state having a secret meeting. could it all be coincidence? okay, you have to allow that, sure, it could. but don't forget, we have been involved in covering this russia story for quite some time. and is it a coincidence that 16 members of the president's campaign or associates of the p

let's not aid this one-way gift to putin. a gift that was deliberately slipped under the christmas tree at the kremlin on the eve of congressional departure so we could have as little oversight as possible. secretary mnuchin suggested he was opened to meaningful additional time to review this, but he's gone radio silent. he calculated that there were enough house enablers to rubber stamp this sordid deal. we sought a classified intelligence assessment of whether sanctionsing beauty puddy derip a aska would continue to control the world's largest company after these sanctions were lifted. leaders on both the house and senate intelligence committee have expressed their national security concerns about this deal. if only he were eager to reopen american government and businesses as he is to open this sanctioned russian company. trump provides sanction relief for a sham deal whereby this one thug transfers his shares to his personal foundation, a trump foundation-type group, his ex-wife, and sanctioned russian bank. treasury refu

that's putin's dream. putin's dream. all the advice of our military and diplomatic leaders were against it. somehow the president wants to do it. and who benefits the most? putin. who loses the most? the west. andd now with this proposedd sanctions relief, we have another example of president trump trying to lighten the burden on putin's oligarchs. should not allow it. for a very long time, the republican party predicated its foreign policy on taking a tougher line against russia and putin. in so many campaigns for president, we democrats were accused of not being tough enough on the russians. i have always felt we've got to be tough on the russians. but it seems that acquiescence to the president, a fear of breaking with the president, has held back too many of my republican colleagues from supporting this resolution. the resolution, just to repeat, is sort of -- i know treasury made an effort, although i don't have much faith in the strength. i think secretary of treasury is intelligent man, but he never stands the up

pursues putin. >> and he thinks putin is a good guy. so i swrus can't go there. and donald trump has all these weird keks with russia. zpl. >> donald trump says he admires putin. at the same time, he's called george w. bush a liar. that is a twisted example of evil trump and good. >> i do think that a trump victory is a gift to putin. it's like they're on the same page. >> and now you have putin basically pulling out the old kgb playbook on how to manipulate donald trump and it appears he's fallen right into it. >> mr. trump's continued flattery of mr. putin and the degree to which he appears to mod l many of his policies and approaches to politics on mr. putin is unprecedented in american politics. >> fast forward to what will soon be the president's third year in office and we're reading headlines like this from my next guest. max boot is a columnist for the "washington post" and a cnn global affairs analysis. 18 reasons trump could be a russian asset. how many years in journalism have you been? >> many years. >> did you ever think you'd be writing this piece?

his mysterious parroting of putin's talking points. the strange and obscure reasons for his private undisclosed meetings. what they tend to do as defenders here in the u.s. is well, basically, never mind, pay no attention to that president behind the curtain and just look at the policy of his administration, never mind the fact that trump himself is often at odds with that policy. and interestingly, you hear a version of this in moscow as well, essentially saying, well, you know, trump left to his own devices would be our best friend but he's really constrained by these evil neo con hawk advisers inside his administration and by the politics of it here in the united states, which they blame on democrats. so in a sense we still see president trump acting in concert with the putin government. you pointed out trump's latest comments about the fbi, about the investigation. i can't underscore enough how i continue to be amazed and stunned by this. the president of the united states is at war with his own government, with his executive branc

hours after that meeting with putin by his side, president trump seemed to buy putin's assurances that russia did not interfere in the 2016 election. let's watch this. >> would you now with the whole world watching tell president putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016 and warn him to never do it again? >> my people came to me, dan coats came to me, and some others. they said they think it's russia. i have president putin, he just said it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> he sounds like a defense attorney. and his client is russia. of course your defense your client always says i didn't do it. his client said i didn't do it and he believed it. >> what was striking about helsinki was he was given the opportunity to ask who he believ believed? all of whom say russia interfered in the 2016 election. >> he denied it. >> exactly right, and did so to help president trump. and he did not answer the question. in fact, he sided with vladimir putin. since then, since that meeting, the two-hour private meeting which not only the media didn't receive

experts wouldn't put it paf tst vladimir putin. >> vladimir putin would love to insert himself into thee north korea talks at a crucial moment for donald trump. russia likes nothing more than reminding the world that the united states is not the only global superpower. this seems to me a classic vladimir putin move. >> reporter: neither the white house, the state department nor the cia are commending on the report. the kim dynasty has a longstanding relationship with the kremlin, an alliance that worked against american interests. kim's father and grandfather both took long trips to moscow, on board armored trains like the one kim traveled on to china. tonight, experts warn of how a new alliance between kim and putin could work against america. they could share intelligence against the u.s. and other capabilities. >> the north koreans do have tremendous skills when it comes to cyber. they are using russian technology to develop their missile program. they could be renewed with cooperation in that area. >> reporter: analysts have their own words of caution for kim jong-un. they say if ki

the chain, trump is elected, and now she doing things in putin and russia's interest defined by putin. >> yeah, i was punted something, and i want to do that. is he treating trump as an asset? what putin is doing is testing trump. he is telling him a lie and seeing if he buys it. and apparently trump buys it. here is what i learned about talking to russians. they will never admit that they got them. they will not say yeah, you got me, they know you know. . the important thing for trump to do is say mr. trump we know that you were interfering on a solid level, but we know you did, let's move on. it changes the dynamics. that is how i aels felt about it. >> we have discussed different meetings here from a coupuouple 17. i want to play the infamous helsinki moment here. but realize that he has met with him several times. now listen to him in 2017. >> he staid is not russia. i don't sigh any reason why it would be. i have great confidence in my intelligence people, but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> it was probably alarming i

take on vladimir putin. i mean, i don't see really any -- you're talking about a few specific actions. in general, this president has never said anything negative about vladimir putin. has he, steve? >> i will concede, for example, the helsinki presser was to me -- >> no. has he said anything negative about vladimir putin to your knowledge? >> i don't know. but i know what he's done. and a thug like vladimir putin and he is a thug, he respects actions and force a lot more than he will pay attention to maybe some harsh words from president trump. believe me. he cares a lot more about the ukraine being armed and about his soldiers being killed directly in combat with america than he cares about maybe getting some disturbing comments out of president trump at a gaggle. >> just interesting. i mean, kirsten, just interesting the president who, you know, is more than happy to insult just about everybody else has never said anything. i mean, not that i can recall at all. >> it's not just that he hasn't said anythin

. >> tied to putin, but according to greg, again, five times. no recordings, no detailed record of five interactions with putin over the last couple of years. that in itself is extraordinary. not once. we're talking five times here. the president's been asked about this, certainly. you heard. we played the top of it there as to whether or not he'd ever worked on behalf of russia. he was asked by jeanine pirro. he said it's the most insulting thing i've ever been asked. how do you interpret that? >> well, of course he's insulted by that, because of course, he doesn't see himself as somehow playing to putin's agenda. you know, those of us looking from the outside wonder and ask questions and raise our concerns about why the united states seems to be aligning itself with russian objectives in places like the middle east, but of course, he doesn't see it that way. another reason why he would have put such a tight clamp on readouts of his meetings was that he, of course, felt very burned early in the administration when reports of his phone calls wit

, a put put putin puppet?the evidence certainly points that way. what makes it so compelling is not any individual data point but the fact there's so many of them because you can dismiss individual data points and say that's just a coincidence or there's a benign explanation. it's harder to have a benign explanation for these, and i list them out, starting with the fact donald trump had a long financial relationship with russia. both of his sons bragged about how much money he made from russia. we know during the 2016 campaign, he was pursuing a plan to build a trump tower in moscow. those type of financial entangles, potentially placed them at the mercy of the russian intelligence service. among other revelations are the ones in last week or so where we've seen donald trump repeating russian talking points justifying the invasion of afghanistan. we have seen donald trump pulling u.s. troops out of syria, giving a giant geopolitical gift to russia. and of course this weekend we had the blockbuster report in "t

if putin said it's a lie, how do you advise him?hat's what the problem is here, fred. >> it's not just the president's response that's very evasive. listen to what mike pompeo said when the fbi feared the president was working on behalf of russia. >> i'm not going to comment on "new york times'" stories, but i'll certainly say this, that the notion that president trump is a threat to american national security is absolutely ludicrous. >> just to clarify since you were cia director, did you have any idea that this investigation was happening? >> margaret, margaret, i've answered this question repeatedly, indeed, on your show. the idea that's contained in the "new york times" story that president trump was a threat to american national security is silly on its face and not worthy of a response. >> so, shawn, was that an ominous response to you? >> this is really interesting, because this is an opportunity for the secretary to simply say, these stories are not true. the president did not do these things. but instead he says the idea th

he has never said a bad word about putin. he has done things that are what the russians would want in terms of foreign policy. he said he was going to pull out of syria. he has aligned himself with those around the world and weakened our relationship with our laong-standing allies. russia could not have asked for a friendlier president. >> when did you first learn about this investigation into the present? >> it is something that obviously because i'm on the intelligence committee that i can't discuss but i can also say it is something in terms of our work we have not gotten a conclusion i conclusionive answer to. it was run in such a way that it was taken at their word investigation. we would bring in witnesses, ask them questions for a few hours and basically there was no follow-up. there were no subpoenas that were issued for travel records to verify anything that was told of us and to go deeper and try to get the answer to one fundamental question which is what leverage does he have over donald trump, his family and his b

putin?ill any effort be made to force him to do that, or could the translator perhaps be questioned about this? how likely is it that any of this is going to happen? >> well, i don't think it will. first of all, he took the translator's notes from the meeting, which is unusual. you have to go back to what shawn said. this is a humiliation of the intelligence community and the state department for the president to trust an adversary like putin but not his own employees, not the federal government. whose side is he on? i find this all disturbing. and frankly, if i were in the government and he weren't president, he would not have a security clearance. it's amazing that this goes on and on and on and there's no -- no one's coming up with -- you know, i can't wait until the mueller report comes out. that's really going to tell us. so far what we've seen, it's damning, his relations with russia. if he has a one on one conversation with putin and hides the notes, he's hiding something and we all h

with vladimir putin's translator.will we ever know about what donald trump said to vladimir putin and what vladimir putin said to donald trump? it could be that the american interpreters who have been present in those discussions are the only people who can tell us, and right now the only people who might be able to get answers from those interpreters are robert mueller and our next guest, the new chairman of the house foreign relations committee. joining us now is congressman eliot engel, a democrat from new york city and chairman of the house committee on foreign affairs. mr. chairman, thank you very much for joining us tonight. i really appreciate it. given this reporting in "the washington post", you have announced one of the first investigations or the first investigation you intend to do in your committee is to find out what vladimir putin and donald trump have been saying to each other. how will you try to do that? >> well, let me first say that since the time in 2016 when the russians interfered in our electio

putin. >>> also ahead, the 2020 race for president is already stirring passions on the right and the left and straight up the middle. one of the most recognizable trump critics around here joins the conversation. >>> how democrats are increasingly breaking through with their new faces while republicans circle their broken down wagons around a historically unpopular president. president. a wealth of information. a wealth of perspective. ♪ a wealth of opportunities. that's the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management. to help you grow and protect your wealth. your mornings were made for than psoriatic arthritis. as you and your rheumatologist consider treatments, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once daily pill for psoriatic arthritis. taken with methotrexate or similar medicines, it can red

troops from syria which of course also benefits putin.w that russia interfered in the election and goes on to interfere later midterm activity, but there has been very little action on that from trump's administration. >> they haven't paid a price at least sufficient to get them to change their behavior. we're taking steps but we're probably not doing enough. if we don't change the dynamic, it's going to continue, and 2016 won't be viewed as something isolated. >> trump casts himself as a street fighter. so why does an america first, self-declared america first president not fight when vladimir putin's on the other side of the street? we just put it up. the foreign adversary interfering in elections. putin accused of killing critics, and donald trump never has a tough word for him. >> if we have a good relationship with russia, believe me, that's a good thing. >> getting along with russia is a good thing. >> i think i could have a very good relationship with russia and with president putin, and if i did, that would be a great thing. >> wo

>>> why not release the conversation that you had with president putin in helsinki? >> we had a great conversation. we were talking about israel and securing israel and lots of other things. i'm not keeping anything under wraps. i couldn't care less. >> the fbi was so concerned what things the president did and said that they started looking into seriously whether or not he was working for the russians. >> i think the most insulting thing i have ever been asked. you will see there was no collusion. there was no obstruction. there was no anything. >>> how did a little girl end up getting away and escaping from her captor? >> this is like a miracle. everybody around the world, i think it's happening. >> i just wish we could do something for her right away, but, you know, it's going to take time. >> announcer: this is "new day weekend" with victor blackwell and christi paul. >>> happy new day to you. >>> the new report says the president of the united states working to conceal what happens in private meetings with russian president vladimir putin. >> according to "the w

this new report tonight is that trump was coordinating with putin on putin's defense of election hacking which helped trump and mueller's probing that. and on the same flight trump was feeding false statements to defend a trump tower meeting with a putin lawyer offering election material that would help trump, which mueller's also probing. and since then the feds have indicted people on both sides of that trump tower meeting, the russian lawyer and trump campaign manager paul manafort. if that all wasn't enough this week the trump administration is exposed for trying to give help to billionaire who worked with paul manafort. and this week mueller laid out more details of how paul manafort is allegedly coordinating his obstruction with a russian intelligence linked operative, and that shows mueller will charge americans who coordinate their defense or obstruct justice with russian operatives. okay. that's me taking it all together. so if you were a person who knows you've done any of that, it might make you nervous. and a legislator with more access that we were told just last night there

. >>> why not release the conversation that you had with president putin in helsinki? >> we had a great conversation. we were talking about israel and securing israel and lots of other things. i'm not keeping anything under wraps. i couldn't care less. >> the fbi was so concerned what the president did and said and looking into whether he was working for the russians. >> i think the no insulting thing i have ever been asked. >> how did a little girl end up getting away and escaping from her captor? >> this is like a miracle. >> i just wish we could do something for her right away, but, you know, it's going to take time. >> announcer: this is "new day weekend" with victor blackwell and christi paul. >> good morning to you. the president reportedly is trying to actually or tried to actually conceal what was said in private meetings with russian president vladimir putin, meetings he had face-to-face with that leader, even keeping that information secret from high ranking members of his own administration. >> according to "the washington post," it's happened five times in

that's putin's dream. all the advice of our military and diplomatic leaders against it, some how the president wants to do it. w who benefits the most? putin now, the proposed sanctions believe we have another example of president trump trying to write the burden on him. we should not allow it. for a very long time. the republican party predicated its foreign policy on taking a line against russia and putin. so many campaigns for president, democrats refuse of not being tough enough on the russians. i have always felt we got to be tough on the russians. but it seems that the president, fear of breaking with the president has held back to many of my republican colleagues from supporting this resolution. the resolution just to repeat, is sort of and no treasury rate and effort, although i don't have faith in that strength, secretary treasury is it an intelligent man, and he never stands up to trump. i don't have any faith in his strength in standing up this time. if trump wanted a weekend recognition, the pi

they want to hand these documents to putin's chef, the man that we know is putin's chef. this is the guy that this law firm, these attorneys are representing. they are saying, we need him to view these documents. mueller team is like, absolutely not. that's what's going on. they have a good case now. they say, look what happened to the non-sensitive documents. what happens if we give them sensitive documents? >> cnn was contacted by this mysterious twitter account and offered up this information. >> that's right. they set up this twitter account. they wanted to make it seem like they hacked the special counsel's database. a cnn reporter got a message that said from this account, we are hackers. we are like hundreds of others. we are the one and only who got mueller database. this person went on to say, you might wonder why we want to share this information with you. you are one of the few who can handle it in the right way. you are the one who can tell people the truth. cnn didn't respond to this message. they did check in with the special counsel's office as well as the

he would meet with vladimir putin. be secretive about it and parrot putin's talking points.sceptibility. you're up to no good and they're okay with it. >> it means to me that it's pretty hard to imagine that the president was just totally in the dark about what was going on around him. his son said once of his father, my father is a very hands on manager. he knows. >> everybody says that. >> he knows these things. that then has to be measured against the defies credit. he didn't know about the trump tower meeting. or writing of the false statement by don jr. after the meeting. he didn't know about the internal polling data and on and on. that puts him in a very difficult position. it was karl clifford who said under investigation, they put me in a petition of being a criminal or a fool. i think that's where donald trump find himself. giuliani isn't helping. >> ultimately what do you see as exposure? >> i'm not sold on this has to be a crime. it's in the crime of public opinion. we'll reply on polls like never before. what percentage of the people believe what's in the report

believe me. >> i don't like the way obama treats putin. >> putin said trump is brilliant. >> wouldn'tt be nice if we could get along with russia. >> i think putin is a long stronger leader for russia, yonger than our leader. >> putin said donald trump is a genius. he'll be the next leader of the united states. >> putin did call me a genius. >> i'm not disavowing anything. >> when people like me, i like them. even putin. >> today giuliani issued a statement trying walk back his comments writing his recent statements were, quite, hypothetical and not based on conversations i had with the president. my comments did not represent the actual timing or circumstances of any such discussions. for more i'm joined by congressman deny heck, democrat from the state of washington and member of the house intelligence committee. ben wittes from law fair. betsy woodruff from the daily beast and mal nom nance, author of "the plot to destroy democracy." at the same time he's shining up putin and arg wooing with joe scarborough, even though he kills people i like this guy and fighting with katy tur tryi

is he vladimir putin's pawn?ent phase day 23 of his shutdown with plenty of tweets but without any apparent plan on how to end things outside of just, give me what i want. i'll talk to history-making congresswoman, how she'd like to see things resolved. plus, secretary of state mike pompeo continuing a crucial and controversial middle east tour expected to meet with the saudi arabia crown prince 100 days after the death of jamal khashog khashoggi. a live report from nbc's andrea mitchell from the region. that is coming up within the hour. we begin with two major reports rocking donald trump's presidency this evening. first, the very latest from the "washington post." the president hid

vladimir putin. comes as we learn president trump tried to conceal details of his meeting with the russian leader, even confiscating the notes taken by an interpreter. we have a lot to talk about. we begin with lauren fox, inside the hearing room on capitol hill. it will be confirmation hearings for william barr

, praising putin. will willie, his words and deeds leave no doubt that this guy is trying to help russia any way he can. >> at the very least, he's an easy mark for vladimir putin. we're looking at the tape where he stopped on his way to new orleans, took some questions from reporters and you had kristin welker ask her in an extraordinary moment whether or not he was working for russia, whether or not the president of the united states was working for russia, a question the president had to finally address and give a straight answer on it after dancing around in his interview with jeanine pirro saturday night. >> it needed to be asked a second time because he didn't directly respond the first time he was asked by a friendly interviewer. we're coming up at the two-year mark since president trump's inauguration, and it seems to me we're back to a fundamental puzzle from that campaign, which is what accounts for the president's -- donald trump's attitude toward russia that we saw at the republican convent

putin.e just said it's not russia. i will say this i don't see any reason why it would be. >> not only do the russians continue to do it in 2018 but we've seen an indication they're continuing to adapt their model and utter countries are taking a very interested eye in that approach. >> director haskell was asked about iran's nuclear capabilities. it did not align with that of the president's. >> since our departure from the deal, they have abided by the terms. >> they're making preparations that would increase their ability to take a step back if they make that decision. so at the moment technically they're in compliance. >> president trump was particularly disturbed tweeting the intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and nieevr when it comes to the dangers of iran. they're wrong. john brennan tweeted your refuse tool accept unanimous assessment of u.s. intell zns of north korea, isis, russia and so much more shows your intellectual bankruptcy. all america needs to know the danger

putin knew that. putin knows every single thing that happens in rush, contact that happens and that is one thing you would have dangling over him. >> it is. there are so many coincidences. if you're sitting at a craps table and somebody rolls snake eyes once, but if they do it 47 times in a row, the die are loaded, right? >> it's very concerning. >> anybody here watch sherlock. >> yeah. >> there's that amazing scone where the older brother is yelling in sherlock's brain and what do we say about coincidence, sherlock, sherlock respond, the universe is rarely so lazy. these are not coincidences. you can go all the way back to donald trump on this show in december of 2015, saying vladamir putin was a stronger leader than american leaders and he didn't care he assassinated people, that u.s. troops in iraq killed people, too. go back to that. it's one after another after another example. after a while, the coincidences, there is no explanation here. again, on what vladamir putin wants the most, taking over

so he meet with putin in july.eporter and cnn national security analyst david sanger from air force one. wanting to describe his first encounter with putin. now, this is from david sanger's book. here's the book. trump had asked if he was involved in election meddling, he said. putin denied it and said if we did, we wouldn't have gotten caught because we're professionals. trump told me he believed that explanation. i thought that was a good point because they're some of the best in the world, he said. now, remember the president likely doesn't remember anything about who is good at what when it comes to espionage as he rarely pays attention to briefings and he didn't come into the job as an expert although he thinks he is. what he is doing is accepting putin's opinion. he then talks to more media and hides that putin told him these things. a few days later in july trump does an interview with reuters and says somebody -- now, by somebody he's referring to putin not saying his intel chips. somebody did say if he did

trump sided with putin in tell si helsinki, repeating putin's own denial that russia interfered in theelection. >> i have president putin. he just said it's not russia. >> reporter: but faultlines between the two governments analysts caution could become personal, over things like venezuela. backing opposing sides in syria. and over putin's military engaging in increasingly aggressive moves against american forces. like buzzing u.s. warships. analysts are now worried that u.s. national security could be damaged if serious fis jusures emerge in the two men's relationship, that trump could be distracted and weakened over recent political losses and vulnerable to putin's manipulation. >> i think what is very, very scary in all this is donald trump is a neophyte when it comes to geopolitical affairs. the kremlin is not. they're playing three-dimensional chess. by contrast, trump is like a pro wrestler. all he can do is overthrow the chess table. >> reporter: experts warn about the powder keg in venezuela and how it could pull trump and putin into a cold war-style conflict. >> if the situat

and we have putin. i said putin may be the easiest of them all.w. >> not to mention his acceptance of denial that is russiaer into feared in the election. >> i have great confidence in my intelligence people. i will tell you putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial. >> as for the rumblings that the president may pull out of data the white house says mr. trump does believe in nato but every time a question pops up it questions how much the president is committed to that his to k alliance. >> okay. thank you. >>> joining us now is john from new york. thanks for joining us. you're only one of a handful of republicans that decided to reopen parts of the federal government without funding for a border wall. did you hear a plan today from the president to end this partial government shutdown? >> the plan from the president i heard today was that he wanted to continue to engage in negotiations to find a solution he is hoeching that the other side will get engaged. let's get to the bargaining table and find a solution. >> the white house did

this is about trump and putin. we'll talk about it on the other side. >> he has done what appears to be putin's goals. he has helped putin destabilize the united states and interfere in the election no matter whether it was purposeful or not and that is part of what the draft of mueller's report, i'm told, is to be about. >> i've asked you before on this broadcast, given your experience at cia and pentagon, especially, diminishing nato, that starts the list. what a return on a minimal investment, if it's all true for putin? >> resisting sanctions. undermining nato and other international institutions as you noted. also, the president took the word of the former kgb spy mast master helsinki, vladimir putin, over our own. the pullout of syria which was, of course, what drove secretary resign. he's enacting the most obsequious, most deferential, pro-putin policy in our nation's history and the question has to be why. of course, maybe he's a genius of american foreign policy. i don't think so. maybe they have derogator

we knew about the one-on-one meeting with putin with only his own translator. this taking of the notes from the other meeting, although rex tillerson was apparently there too. it couldn't have been that wacky, whatever they were talking about there. it seems to me, i agree with you this has to be understood in the context of unprecedented leaks happening in 2017, when we were learning about private conversations in the oval office and phone conversations with foreign leaders of the sort of thing that never normally leaks. i think they were just completely freaked out by that. >> yeah, but you talk about the report with rex tillerson, charlie, and that was hamburg, yes, he was there. but nobody was there for the helsinki chat, which went on for what, two hours? i remember we were all on the air waiting for the president to get to a podium and do a debrief on his meeting and it lasted forever and ever and ever that wait. that is quite extraordinary, right? >> a lot of things about helsinki were extraordinary. kweep returning to that as a weird moment in the histo

i have president putin, he just said it's not russia. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be. >> reporter: hillary clinton, democrats say, may have been on to something after all. >> well, that's because he'd rather have a puppet president. >> no puppet. >> of the united states. >> no puppet. >> it's pretty clear -- >> you're the puppet. >> it's pretty clear you won't admit -- >> no, you're the puppet. >> reporter: the president is digging in on his heels on whether to re-open the government still insisting on his border wall though he seemed to rule out declaring a national emergency to force the military to build it. >> i'm not looking to call a national emergency. this is so simple, you shovuldnt have to. >> reporter: new polls show the public blames the president more so than the democrats for the shutdown. that's not the way the president laid it out when he spoke to a group of farmers in new orleans. >> the government remains shut down for one reason, one reason only, the democrats will not fund border security. >>

putin loves this. he loves the fact that donald trump is this corrosive force who is pairing the old russia and soviet lines and wanted to get out of nato and retreat behind an imaginary wall. putin loves this. in part what you're seeing in the brexit situation and in the election of donald trump and in the continued role that the russian intelligence services are playing in the u.s. political space is part of vladimir putin's desire to disrupt and to divide the western nations that he sees as his natural opponents. and he is doing a great job at it. and unfortunately, in the case of britain, he's got unwilling partners, and here he's got a willing partner. so putin is winning a lot of these hands right now, and no one is really there to oppose him yet. >> well, in the case of brexit, to be fair, it is believed in fact that russia was involved in advocating on behalf of the leave campaign. so he had some willing partners potentially, at least a couple of years ago. they may have changed their minds, of

. >> i have president putin. he just said, it's not russia. >> i believe the russians interfered or attempted to interfere with the election. >> donald trump and william barr don't agree on everything but they do seem to agree a sitting president cannot be indicted. members of congress not so sure about that. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, january 16th, along with joe, willie and me, we have msnbc contributor, mike barnicle, historian, author of "the soul of america" and vanderbilt, jon meacham. msnbc news and contributor. a former department spokes mann and now justice security analyst, matt miller is with us and reporter for "the daily beast," betsy woodruff. in a moment we will get to what we learned from testimony from trump's nominee to be attorney general. why the public may not get to read report mueller's report after all. we go live to london where prime minister theresa may suffered the biggest defeat for any prime minister in history. brexit may be confusing. one thing it i