russia and outside russia. sputnik andand things like that. russian television broadcasts all over europe because people are watching russian speaking people. they are not watching archie, rt is -- rt, rt is shit. it is too late to create another channel. you are not ready to spend that kind of money that putin put into russian television. competitive journalism or do i'm sayingcause about television, because it was a big idea in europe that -- somes have to create tv channel which is based somewhere in europe to make good independent or western, liberal use and broadcast to russia. you will not do this. you do not have enough money. you do not have enough celebrities or professionals. it is just impossible. speaking about impact to russian television. ast week, i saw , but theyment program now, only 56% of named television as the main source of news. three years ago, it was 83%. it has declined. it seems to me that i've been missed one great -- ivan missed one great point. aredays, youtube channels extremely p

you know that target audience of russia today is outside russia not up inside russia. nobody knows for sure what they are all about. because nobody cannot see inside russia. so inside russia their most popular. >> years ago other journalists with a country with a crackdown that was happening turkey had flexibility. >> i could call you like you guys. >> and they started attacking his own media, livable media democrats but we did not take it because of media reality this not our fight but then what happened is to governments came up against the journalists. so we hope the journalists coming back. so when you see this increasing and attacks in the western capitals against western media, is there room for -- to have any concern? >> it's a really good question. when i'm thinking about i want to cry. i really understand the situation. and unfortunately what people here have some interest in was happening in russia, how many people here interested in what's happening what about your question. >> i could share our own experience. we just decided not to think about it and when

audience for russia these days is outside russia. not inside russia. nobody knows for sure but they are all about because we have no one to see today's russia. >> whitner was a crackdown, i [indiscernible] -- attacking his own liberal media, democrats, we did not take it as a fight because we thought it was -- media, reality. that top in a situation governments teamed up. increase insee this attacks in western capitals against liberal media. room for this?e do you have a problem when you look at this picture? good it is a really question. and when i think about that i what to cry because really i do understand the situation. and, unfortunately, some people here have interest in what happens in russia. how many people here are interested, right? question -- own could share our experience. think ivan decided not to about it at all. we said to each other, we want of ourk every minute -- we want to do something. now, frankly, we are we tending vladimir putin, the administration, all those things, they do not exist at all. to make the one reason [indiscerni

their main target audience of russia today is outside russia, not inside russia. nobody knows for sure what they are all about, because nobody -- we have no habit to see russia today inside russia. so inside russia, she is most popular product. >> if possible, i'm originally from azerbaijan, and years ago, when azerbaijanis left the country because of a crackdown, they want to turkey because of linguistic -- >> i couldn't call you lucky guy. >> but turkey was a democratic country back then. he's attacking his own media, liberal media, democrat. we didn't take it as our fight because it is about turkish media, reality, so this is not our fight. but what happened, we end up in a situation that two governments teamed up against the dissident journalists. so we had journalists turned back to azerbaijan. so you see this increasing i'll say attacks in western capitals against liberal media. where do you see the room for dissidents? do you have any concern when you look at this picture? >> it's a really good question. what i'm thinking about azerbaijan, i want to cry. i

but russia has a much stronger military. russia can hurt us and hurt u.s.nterest all over the world. we have to worry about both. >> tucker: we don't have the graphic, i'm just going here with the facts as they are. we have on the one side, isis islamic terror, al qaeda over the past 15 years, thousands of americans have lost their lives, many thousands to those forces. russia has killed zero americans. so it's really not even in the same universe actually, the threat we face from islamic terror and the threat we face in russia. one is theoretical, the one is real and present, so why are we not seeing that? >> first of all, you can't evaluate the threat just based on how many american lives have been lost. russia is a threat to democracy. it's a threat to our way of life. look at what russia has done in ukraine, annexing crime area. mr. new canaan, could a lot of people in ukraine. ukraine wanted to be part of the west pretty want to be a democracy, wanted to join europe, it wanted to be our ally. russia has been threatening democracy for a long time. look

for russia. been delivered for russia. in fact, there i5a delivered for russia. in fact, there is a hardening of the position on syria. and criticism, as well. ru55ia'5 full—back syria. and criticism, as well. ru55ia'5 full— back will syria. and criticism, as well. ru55ia'5 full—back will be, we like addict ability. —— fallback will be, we like predictability. a striking image on the moscow times front page. frozen conflict, russia's arctic expansion. it is a fascinating story. my take is that it is all about ru55ia'5 military buildup in the arctic were eating neighbours. i think this comes back to economics. a5 climate change group5 to economics. a5 climate change groups the arctic, a5 to economics. a5 climate change groups the arctic, as new pa55age5 open up as the ice melt5, ru55ia groups the arctic, as new pa55age5 open up as the ice melt5, russia is looking forward to what it sees as the potential economic commerce of the potential economic commerce of the arctic. —— economic promise. shippi

yeah, we fired him for the russia thing. we fired him to stop the russia thing. to bring the russia thing to an end. what are you going to do about it? so a lot of people are talking about obstruction of justice today. if the president did do what he said he did, if he removed the director of the fbi because he wanted to affect the fbi investigation into his campaign and its twice russia, that would be -- that is -- that's the kind of example you might make up if you were teaching a low level class on obstruction of justice, and you wanted to give your young students a crystal clear example of what that might look like, right? in a banana republic where things like that might happen. as far as that goes though, the remedy for obstruction of justice is committed by a president, there's only one remedy which is impeachment. i mean, obstruction of justice was the first article of impeachment against richard nixon. it was the third article of impeachment against bill clinton. each though the inspector jeb has been asked by the house oversight committee to investigate

that's russia. so, to president trump, it is not business as usual with russia. there's a reason why we need an independent investigation to investigate what russia was doing in the united states. russia is trying to expand their influence, and expanding their influence are to values that are just the opposite of ours, a corrupt government, no respect for human rights, no respect for democratic institutions or opposition or free press. that's what russia is trying to expand. and we know that in their involvement in the united states they are trying to get a way to expand that opportunity. so it's for all those reasons it cannot be business as usual. when the president of the united states interferes with a criminal investigation that was precipitated by russia's engagement in the united states, every american should be alarmed. every american should be asking, what can we do to make sure we have an independent review so we can take steps to protect our national security. it's not acceptable for the senate to say business as usual. we need to come together and fac

yeah, we fired him for the russia thing, to stop the russia thing, to bring the russia thing to an end. what are you going to do about it? a lot of people are talking about obstruction of justice today if the president did do what he said he did because he wanted to effect the fbi's investigation into his campaign and its ties with russia, that would be -- that is -- that's the kind of example you might make up if you were teaching a low level class on op obstruction of justice and you wanted to give your students a crystal clear example of what that might look like in a banana republic where things like that happen. as far as that goes though, the remedy for obstruction of justice is committed by a president, there's only one remedy which is impeachment. it was the third article of impeachment against bill clinton. any such investigation by the inspector general. justice department would only cover the actions of justice department personnel. it would not cover the actions of the president of the united states. if the president obstructed justice deliberately with this firing, if he f

system to be used for crimes anywhere, here or in russia. the southern district of new york has announced a $6 million settlement of civil moneylaundering and forfeiture claims connected to russian tax fraud. but, again, a late night announcement from the southern district of new york, as "vanity fair" reports today, that at least according to one fbi insider source, preet bharara was investigating trump moneylaundering concerns with regard to russia at the time he was fired by the trump administration. msnbc live is next. >>> good morning, everybody. i'm dara brown. it's 7:00 in the east and 4:00 a.m. out west. president trump is heading out soon to deliver a commencement address as he and his aides negotiate through a hectic week, including -- >> what about the idea that in a tweet you said there might be tape recording? >> that i can't talk about. all i want is for comey to be honest and i hope he will be. i'm sure he will be, i hope. >> new questions this morning over whether president trump records conversations in the oval office. is i

>> when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, this russia thing with trump and russia, is a made up story. >> an exclusive new reporting that may contradict the president's story about his dinner with james comey. >> we had a very nice dinner and at that time he told me you are not under investigation. >> okay. it is those apparent contradictions that may have set president trump off this morning. check out his twitter. the president taking this dispute to a new level. this tweet just came out, james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. i got a great panel to break it down, but before we get to them i want to share part of lester holt's exclusive interview with the president in which he describes interactions with james comey which are now being questioned by people close to the director. >> let me ask you about your termination letter to mr. comey. you write, i greatly appreciate you informing me on three separate occasions that i am not under investigation. why did you put that in there? >> because he told me that. i m

but i think we give him much too much credit for stabilizing things this russia. in russia. and i think we give him much too much credit for being popular in russia. he's, you know, if you looked at public opinion polls these days, he probably is up there around, with around 70% favorable, probably manager like 20% -- something like 20% unfavorable. that's down ten percentage points or so in the past year from his high point. but that popularity is a mile wide and an inch deep. and a lot of it simply has to do with the fact that the public at this point can't conceive of anybody else as leader. he's been in so long, he's been such a fixture, things have been good under him. we talk in the book about resigned acceptance, that russians had developed a resigned acceptance to the current regime. and to its leaders. they don't much like them, but there's not enough bad about them to make them truly angry. there really is nothing they can do about it, so they might as well simply make peace and go along and hope that they'll go away sooner or later and something better will be on

he's a hawk on russia.d you look at the senior leadership of the national security team, secretary mattis, mike pompeo, these are not hawks. >> so why is donald trump sharing our -- >> well, here's the -- every president before donald trump has tried to create areas of cooperation with the russians. >> true. >> on counterterrorism, on counterproliferation, on drug trafficking, on a whole range of issues like north korea, where you try to build cooperation. jeremy knows this. and so you try to find windows in. now, the other problem here is, you usually reveal this kind of information in a strategic choreographed way. what usually happens in the oval office is the president would say, look, we want to begin coordination. our people will share some information with your folks. then you would have a professional go and reveal the information in a professional way. you would check with the sources. this is much more spontaneous, less choreographed. and so i think the two fundamental issues are less about what w

for its russia investigation.monday, the day before he fired comey, president trump tweeted, "the russia-trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?" the president met today with russian foreign minister sergei lavrov at the white house, joined by the same russian ambassador whose friendliness with the trump team led to flynn's firing and sessions' recusal. afterward, lavrov brushed off questions of russian active measures in last year's election. >> ( translated ): well there is not a single fact, there is no compelling evidence given to anyone regarding russia's intervention and that's it. >> brangham: how the probe unfolds, in part, will be up to comey's successor: attorney general sessions and his deputy began interviewing candidates for interim f.b.i. chief today. >> woodruff: we turn now for the latest at the white house and on capitol hill with our own john yang and lisa desjardins. john, let me start with you. it's been about 24 hours exactly since this decision came

because of russia's support for assad.e will see what progress is meant to make on the issues today. >> thank you very much for that. that meeting will take place in under an hour's time. the fighting continues in eastern ukraine. russian backed separatists controlled part of the region now locked in a standoff with ukrainian forces. there is little sign up process towards fees. 2017irst few months of have been bloodier than the same time last year. opposing sides in eastern ukraine exchange artillery fire nearly every night. on sunday morning, they shall get this school in this frontline town. fortunately no one was inside. the people have been living in fear and poverty for more than three years now. anyone get used to that nhl and? it is terrifying. >> you can get plywood from the damaged building. my pension is 1250. i carry these at all times. everyone i talk to hear is looking for tranquilizers and antidepressants. reporter: this block of flats was also hit on sunday. no one was hurt as they worst affected apartment

and russia must bear responsibility to ensure regime compliance. russia joined the unanimous u.n. security council resolution [applause] [applause] 2254, which demands all parties immediately cease any attacks against civilians. russia has either aided in or passively looked away as the regime has conducted an airstrike against the u.n. convoy, destroyed east aleppo, and used chemical weapons against civilians on april 4. during his visit here last week, foreign minister lavrov acknowledged there is no military solution to the syrian conflict. russia must now with great urgency exercise its influence over the syrian regime to guarantee that horrific violations stop now. with that, i will take your questions. thank you very >> thank very much. are you suggesting russia and/or iran have anything to do with this crematorium? mr. jones: no. >> secondly, due have any idea how many, you said thousands, how many of the bodies are being disposed of in mass graves and how many are being burned? mr. jones: no. so you are familiar with the amnesty international report which projected that as

this essay bipartisan concern that russia has clearly escalated. am worried that donald trump is appeasing russia and historic way, turning a blind eye. my hope is that what comes out of this investigation in this conversation is a far more aggressive policy towards russia then we've had in the first few months of the trump administration. that is one good thing i could come from this discussion right now. i want to say one less thing. there is no dispute that russia meddled the election, the question is whether or not the trump campaign included on it. we have to be clear about that. 17 intelligence agencies made clear that there was meddling. we know things did happen, we know they done this in other countries. we want to separate those two things. we want to know if there was collusion. >> let's be clear. what's extraordinary about this by progressives and democrats over russia -- the obama administration, they come into office, they did a reset, they do everything possible to bend over backwards to appease the putin regime and now all of a sudd

, i've been to russia. but at the same time, it's totally bone-headed to do this. >> katherine, for anybody out there who has believed that where there's smoke, there's fire, and this is going to lead to some sort of grand collusion that will be revealed, certainly this will be a piece of evidence. this will be a data point that they would point to. but as i was saying earlier, and as nick is sort of getting at there, as seems always the case with trump, there are a number of possible interpretations available here. >> there are lots of possible innocent interpretations, but they have to have known that the optics of something like this, if it were to come out -- i mean clearly they did not intend for it to come out. >> it is all about optics. >> the optics of this are just terrible, particularly since throughout the campaign, the transition, and now the presidency, you know, there are lots of questions being raised about the relationship that trump and the people in his orbit had the russians. so why would

/russia. let's turn now to what we learned on the intelligence front from today's testimony from the director joining our conversation here tonight, jeremy bash is back with us. former chief of staff to both the director of the cia and secretary of defense during the obama years. and mike crowley is back with us. senior correspondent for politico. let's hear the particular piece of sound at the top. >> there are americans, well meaning thoughtful people who think wikileaks might just be a journalistic outfit. can you. >> to me it cross as line. it's about intelligence porn, pushing out information without regard to interest without regard to the first amendment values that normally underlie press reporting and simply become as conduit just to push out information to damage the united states. >> and with that intelligence porn was born as an expression entering our language. our goal here in this segment is to get to intelligence generally as well as russia. on the first, the director of the fb

he said it, zeke, if russia hacked, if russia did anything regarding our election. there's a lot of "ifs" that frankly are not ifs according to the uniform view of the u.s. intelligence community. that is russia hacked and did something regarding our election. there's no "if" about it anymore. what's the significance to the fact that he is still saying that? >> he is trying -- >> go ahead. >> this is the same donald trump of all of last year during the campaign when he was talking about maybe there's the 400-pound hacker sitting in his bedroom in new jersey hacking into e-mails. it only took to that press conference a couple of weeks before he took office where he admitted very, very briefly in a fleeting answer during a press conference at trump tower that he believed the intelligence community's assessment that russia had been involved in hacking e-mails. here he is months later qualifying that. it's a sign he doesn't want to give his critics an inch. he believes any questions about russia are questions about his legitimacy. if he'd come out six months ago and say

and russia's hacking last summer, it was in some way to help ensure that they weren't helping russia undermine public confidence in our elections. host: howard is calling from fort lauderdale, republican caller for garrett graff. caller: good morning. guest: good morning. caller: this is where things get kind of crazy, because you got james comey, that defended hillary clinton -- what's her name on the tarmac? the whole point in trying to make is if the fbi was in scrutiny with hillary clinton through all of this with the dnc and russia's hacking our elections, russia didn't hack our elections, our own stupid government did all of that just put all of this in front of trump to discredit trump. and i am not the most intelligent person in the world, but you know what i got common , sense and i can tell the difference between right and wrong. trump has god in his heart. there is no denying that whatsoever. with trump having god in his heart, he is walking the right path. anybody that against trump on this is against god. plain and simple. i do notand -- understand anything mueller is go

with the fbi and pentagon's inspector general. >> always want to talk about russia, russia, russia. >ing about collusion closed despite continued investigations. >> the fbi is doing a lot more than the russian investigation that's probably one of the smallest things they've got going on their plate. >> whether tone deaf or just ironic, donald trump met would two senior russian officials giving a warmp reception to sergey lavrov and ambassador. he has a growing number of law makers demanding special prosecutors to lead the probe. >> were thez investigations getting it autin too close to hr the president. if there was ever a time circumstances warranted a special prosecutor it is right now. >> days before being fired, comey asked rod rosenstien for more resources. an account the justice department denies. senate investigators are looking for financial information regarding president trump top officials and campaign aides and associates to michael flynn. >> the decision to fire comey raises questions about the appropriateness and timing of firing the person in charge of an investigation

i have no investments in russia, none whatsoever. i don't have property in russia. a lot of people thought i owned office buildings in moscow. i don't have property in russia, and i am in very -- i'm in total compliance in every way. i have to tell you, i file documents, hundreds of pages worth of documents with the federal elections bureau. everyone's seen them. i built a great company. but i'm not involved with russia. i have had dealings over the years where i sold a house to a very wealthy russian many years ago. i had the miss universe pageant, which i owned for quite a while. i had it in moscow a long time ago, but other than that, i have nothing to do with russia. >> one last question on this matter -- >> and i have a certified letter, just so you understand. i'm not just saying that. i've given the letter. i've given the letter to senator lindsey graham. he has the letter and i think frankly, i assume he's going to give the letter out but it says i am not involved in russia. no loans, no nothing. >> did you worry at all when you made the decision to fire com

you've got russia. you've got wiretapping. >> no, we don't have that. you -- >> on capitol hill -- >> no. i get it. i've said it from the day that i got here until whatever that there is no connection. you've got russia. if the president puts russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that's a russian connection. >> as they say in the television business, meanwhile, president trump and vladimir putin spoke by phone today. already their third phone call in 103 days. on their agenda, the conflict in syria and terrorism in the middle east. plus tensions with north korea. at least that is the white house version of the phone call. but the kremlin's readout of the same call added one more detail. quote, vladimir putin and donald trump spoke in favor of arranging a personal meeting during the g20 summit in ham burg on july 7-8. afterwards a spokesman for the national security council confirmed that detail to nbc news. the white house later stressed that details about such a meeting are not yet solid

and russia since president trump took office. should note we have not seen the president in recent days. no public events in five days. this will be day six. this lavrov meeting was previously planned. the timing here strange to say the least. >> sean spicer yesterday said the president has been preparing for his big international trip. he's been hunkered down with his aides and national security adviser. >> if he doesn't speak publicly about this firing, you wonder how that foreign trip goes. saudi arabia. the vatican. >> tweets at 10:00 last night, crying chuck schumer. >> american people deserve and investigation. >>> the special adviser carl icahn. we'll tell you about it next. >>> let's get a check on money. futures in global be markets lower. turning lower after wall street once again barely moved. still yesterday the nasdaq hit another close. dow and s&p closed lower. energy stocks dragging them down. more earnings on deck today. strong earning season. companies have been making a lot of money. however disney shares down 2

lavrov laughs and this is the view of russia on the investigation.rrible image and who was staffing him when he makes this announcement last night and the very next day he's meeting with the russian more infinster? >> what about that, kimberly dozier, on the other hand, if sergey lavrov is in town he has to meet with rex tillerson and there was this outrage when he was in moscow and should the president be meeting with lavrov albeit under this awful timing? >> he's here and there are things to be discussed like this plan that the russians have agreed with turkey and iran for de-escalation zones which would stop some of the fighting and violence in syria, so it is an opportunity to discuss that face to face, but let's be honest, until these investigations are over, every single interaction between this administration and russia is going to be problematic. timing from yesterday to today? yeah, awkward and i don't see how you get around that. >> so steve hall, overnight you wrote, interesting that potus first goes after cia. now fbi. is nsa next? intel

no comment on the larger russia implications. a brief statement but it allows us to see the president on camera responding to that. the tape will be sent to all networks simultaneously in a short while. >> i'll add one thing to your reporting, which is that it is a controlled situation for them. when you go in as the pool, they tell you when you have to leave. so the president can say just as much, as little as he wants, and then they can get the members of the press out of there. kelly, i know you'll be standing by for us there in the briefing room. thank you for that. >>> in the meantime, busy day as a result of this on capitol hill. let's go back to kristen welker. i understand you just spoke with several senators. >> i did, chris. let me give you the bottom line. the calls for the a special counsel are growing louder on capitol hill. let's start with senator blumenthal of connecticut, saying he'll hold his vote for a new fbi director, make the vote contingent upon appointing a special counsel. we also asked that question of s

this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election, that they should have won. >> reporter: mr. trump said he pressed comey in a private dinner on january 27th to tell him if he was under investigation. the dinner was held three days after the fbi interviewed former security adviser mike flynn. and one day after sally yates briefed the white house, warning them that flynn could be blackmailed by russian contacts. >> i think he asked for the dinner. he wanted the stay on as the fbi head. and i said, you know, i'll consider it. see what happens. but we had a very nice dinner. at that time, he told me, you are not under investigation. >> reporter: in fact, sources close to comey says the president invited him to the white house in a last-minute request, on the day of or day before and asked comey if he would be loyal. comey refused to pledge loyalty but promised to be honest. >> did you ask that question? >> no, i didn't. but i don't think it would be a bad question to ask. >> r

that russia. that's taken off. i'm not under investigation. >> what do you think this says about two russian diplomat. >> this is other thing that donald trump has done that is totally shocking but not totally surprising. we have seen him admit on television that he fired james comey because of the russia investigation. now when he brings the russians into the oval office, laughing with them, smiling with them, chuckling with them, he tells them that the fbi director is a nut job and he was fired because of the pressure he was under. and he felt the pressure would be easing off. this is utterly and completely unacceptable for him to do no anyone, let alone to the russians. it is brazen. but at the end of the day, we have seen pattern of behavior from donald trump which suggest we sort of should have expected this. >> some say it is moving closer to obstruction of justice. >> i think it is certainly in the neighborhood of obstruction of justice. i'm not someone who can reach that legal conclusion. what i will say is

russia misinformation. cnn has learned this a controversial move by former fbi director james comey during the presidential campaign was based on russian intelligence comey knew was fake and now sources say the fbi russia probe is increasingly touching on the role trump's is only jahri kushner played. allies at the g7 summit, clashes over trade and climate and his economic adviser reverses course after saying the white house doesn't have a position on sanctions against russia. nixon comparison. hillary clinton compares president trump to president nixon in a fiery commencement speech at her alma mater and takes thinly veiled swipes as the man whose upset victory ended her white house hopes. here's clinton re-emerging to take on a new role as the president's leading critic and new information about three technocrats always by the side of north korean leader kim jong-un and more news on a missile that could strike the united states with a nuclear weapon and rubbing elbows with the dictator, could they be targ

russia slammed the u.s.'s strikes on a syrian airfield saying that was an act of aggression and a violation of international law. then they had this tense press conference. huge difference of opinion over syria's role in that chemical attack, as well as russia's role in the meddling in the u.s. presidential election. here they are again to again try to find some common ground. we expect syria to dominate this discussion. there is a russian backed plan to establish safe zones. but the state department says tillerson will bring up the fact that russia is still in ukraine and this was never not going to be a difficult conversation. chris? >> all right, michelle. they had enough on the table already before the whole comey situation. it will be interesting to see how it's dealt with and how the press deals with the aftermath of this meeting as well. the white house defending the president, of course, saying that this is a decisive action, that it was done with deliberation and it is proper. so is it? let's get som

giving russia classified information and firing comey because he thinks they're hurting russia because he's trying to help them. >> you're nodding. >> i'm just thinking, nicolle, what it's like as a new administration, working in the white house, under the best of circumstances then place somebody in the white house who's never been in political office before with an investigation clouding your head. i remember paul begala said to me, web i when i was considering into the white house, he said if you do, get yourself a lawyer -- >> third piece of advise, don't keep a diary, don't take notes. now that i got mom brain, i wish i remembered mrd. >> beyond the specifics of what's breaking, imagine for the country the direction of this white house. how do you work there? how do you -- >> how do you work there knowing one of your colleagues is a significant person of interest in an investigation -- >> imagine -- >> they have no idea who that person is. >> actually, how do you work there when if it's true, we haven't -- i mean, i have not confirmed this reporting in terms of what was said about

-russia relations? >> this is captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: in a previous career, president trump was a master at explaining why he fired someone, but critics are in the buying his explanation for the firing of james comey. the president told reporters today that comey wasn't doing a good job as director of the f.b.i. mr. trump is the first president since richard nixon to fire a law enforcement official investigating the white house. the timing raises questions. comey had just asked for more resources for his investigation of russian interference in the u.s. election, including possible collusion by team trump. we'll start at the white house tonight with major garrett. >> reporter: as comparisons to watergate office with president

as well as outside of russia. to getting people on their payroll in foreign governments and to carry out their actions, to their efforts in ukraine as not just the military takeover of crimea but their basic intervention in to eastern ukraine with the intelligence and paramilitary services, to the active propagation of propaganda and disinformation as they try to besmear much individuals and blake mail, kaprimat, that they would be able to leverage for their own purposes. so it really does run the gamut from the most heinous and violent to that which is much more subtle and insidious. >> yes. the scope is alarming. how does the kremlin's attempt to influence this previous election compare to soviet active measures during the cold war? what has changed in their stage craft? >> well, i think when we talk about u.s. presidential elections and we know that the russians were trying to influence outcomes as well as perceptions back to the 1960s, i believe. but again, the cyber environment now really provides so much mor

and russia, it's a made up story. the president inserted that in his answer. not once in his answer did he bring up hillary clinton's e-mails which was the justification they tried the first time around with rosenstein's letter. how critical is that? how does the white house get around that? >> they can't. the president weresident went o interview and spoke extensive limit. someone in the stall did not think it was good for them to do that interview. he threw them under the bus. they said this was all on the recommendation of rod rosenstein. all on comey's performance during the last year. particularly with the clinton e-mail server investigation. now trump has said that he cooked up this idea because he believes russia investigation is a fake story and just as david gregory says he has never treated -- forget the collusion which may end up being unfounded. there are new leads excaccelerig the part. trump, president trump has never acknowledged the gravity of russia interfering in our election and france and brexit vo

this is about. >> then president trump said this. >> this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> so what's the real story? joining me this morning. secretary of state rex tillerson and senator lindsey graham and democratic senate minority leader chuck schumer. and brand new numbers about what a very skeptical public is now thinking. >>> and west wing shake-up watch. a report this morning says a frustrated president trump is considering firing many of his top white house aides. we'll get the latest. joining me for inside analysis are nbc news white house correspondent, hallie jackson. "washington post" columnist, and katty kay from bbc and matthew, editor of the washington "free beacon." it's sunday "meet the press." >> this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning and happy mother's day to all the mom's out there. after the firing of the fbi director, james comey, conflicting administration explanations and open disagreement about what comey and president trump said to each other at what is now an infamous dinner, but what feels like a perfect capston

let me tell you about russia. russia interfered in our election. i want to punish russia.h russia. i'm ioo% convinced that they interviewed and to undermine the 2016 election, that it was russia intelligence services that hacked into the dnc and podesta, but they created discord and i want to punish russia. i have yet to see evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and the russians but we need to keep looking until we can find out one way or the other. well, what happens next? the democratic senator mark warner, who sits on the democratic intelligence committee, has invited james comey to appear before a closed—door session next week to explain a bit more about why he thinks this all happens. we don't know at the moment whether or not mr comey has accepted the invitation. let's speak to trump supporter mica mosbacher. she is a former finance chair for the republican national committee, and has held senior positions on the last five presidential campaigns. she is in washington. fairto fair to say you are a trump support. iam sure fair to say you are a trump support.

did list campaign collude with russia? what did russia do? what is russia capable of doing? did the president or his staff break the law? we have to get those answers. we cannot give in to these distractions they throw out. they want us to talk about, does donald trump care about hillary's e-mails? he does not. he does not. he never has. we can't let him get away with these lies. it's a lie. that's what it is. he is trying to put himself above the law. none of us should stand for it. democrat or republican. this is not a partisan issue. this gets to the fundamental tenets of our legal system. >> we have been reporting, sources say the white house did not expect serious fallout from this. they seem to be trying to make up for that. jeff zeleny is at the white house reporting on damage control. >> i can tell you the entire west wing is fully staffed at this hour, which is unusual. usually, everyone is long home by this hour. they were absolutely caught off guard as dana reported earlier this evening. it has been playing out here in real time outside the white house. an hour or

he's not been talking about russia.in fact, it's something that they've wanted to avoid, but i can tell you behind the scenes talking to advisors, they are following this. the president himself is following every moment of this, what has been hang when he's been away. and they know that this is waiting for him when he returns to washington on saturday evening, pam. >> all right, jeff zeleny bringing us the latest from sisley. i want to go back to my panelists now. kislyak again is at the center of this. he was at the center of the michael flynn situation that ultimately led to him being fired by the president because of the conversation he had where him about sanctions and not being unfront about that with vice president pence. now kushner and kwifl backtalking about back channel, what was that? >> i think when people look back they like to say we had a terrible relationship with russia and we never worked with them on anything. that's certainly not true. we had issues from anything but syria and the way they dealt with

system to be used for crimes anywhere, here or in russia.the southern district of new york has announced a $6 million settlement of civil moneylaundering and forfeiture claims connected to russian tax fraud. but, again, a late night announcement from the southern district of new york as "vanity fair" reports today that at least according to one fbi insider source, preet bharara was investigating trump moneylaundering concerns with regard to russia at the time he was fired by the trump administration. it's friday night. so that means the news is going to happen all night long. that does it for us tonight, though. we will see you again on monday. now it's time for "the last word." ari melber is in for lawrence this evening. >> i think the saying every action has a reaction, or this week ten reactions. >> that's exactly right. no

let me tell you about russia. russia interfered in our election. i want to punish russia.erfered to undermine the 2016 election, that it was russia intelligence services that hacked into the dnc and podesta, that they created discord, and i want to punish russia. i have yet to see evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and the russians, but we need to keep looking until we can find out one way or the other. well, what happens next? the democratic senator mark warner, who sits on the democratic intelligence committee, has invited james comey to appear before a closed—door session next week, to explain a bit more about why he thinks this all happened. we don't know, at the moment, whether or not mr comey has accepted the invitation. in syria, us backed forces have made significant gains as they prepare an assault on so—called islamic state's last major stronghold — raqqa. they've just recaptured the city of tabqa from is and retaken a nearby dam, after weeks of fighting. as the extremists lose ground, large numbers of foreign fighters are trying to get back to euro