is, so to speak, the and e between russia europe. if the united states gives up russia, it wouldn't make america great. would contrary, it strengthen and embolden putin, ho is challenging american global leadership. has strong strategic interests in keeping ukraine as western world. host: okay. form eformer nato ecretary general anders rasmussen. and as we talk about the u.s. relations, we have a line of 202-748-8003. if you're outside the united we encourage you to join the conversation as well. want to ask about a tweet you sent yesterday. you said the world hasn't become a more peaceful place after u.s. hesitation to act over eight years. we need a policeman and only play that role. what did you mean by that, and what was the reaction? guest: there was a lot of that tweet, i can you. because it is important to state that the united states shouldn't policeman. s but you can see that the world is on fire. wherever you look, there are problems, middle east, iraq, erbia, africa, even europe is sinking from the burden from refugees. n e

we don't want turkey close to russia. europe doesn't want to, and we don't either. agree that it is too late anyhow, but also don't make the mistake of making this all about german journalists. is about democracy. bulent: it started with the rest, and came to germany. toinda: anne renzenbrink, what degree is germany over a barrel here? first of all, the refugee deal that was mentioned earlier, germany and europe have a deal with turkey by which you are supposed to hold back the refugee flow. secondly, turkey is fighting the islamic state, and the german military uses a base in turkey. to what extent does that make it very difficult for germany to react more strongly? anne: it is something that we have been criticizing, the german rhetoric that was not strong enough or clear enough. to the it is linked massive interest germany has in turkey, but we should also stress it is not a one-sided dependency. there's also the european -- in terms of economic dependence with turkey y from germany of te european union, i think the german government could be stronger and clearer

russia is increasing capability on lithuania border. most militarized zone in europe. large scale military exercises of an offensive nature on our borders taking place regularly. russia is extremely active in the information field using pro-russian media, propaganda, disinformation, fake news, and leaks to confuse public opinion and influence decision making. russia's international media channels spread its views on this information on the insensitive topics such as migration, terrorism, ethnic relations, deployment of nato troops in eastern europe. in my written testimony you will find various examples of russia's separations against lithuania. d another threat is the nuclear plan is under exploration in belarus. it could be another chernobyl. how we fight back these threats. in 2018 lithuania will spend over 2% on gdp in defense and go beyond that benchmark in the future. we are modernizeding our military by spending 31% of the budget for new weapon systems. the terminal independence is one of the best investments into our security. as its name suggests it ensures ene

russia is increasing its military capabilities on the lithuanian border. most militarized zone in europe. large scale military exercises of an offensive nature on our borders taking place regularly. russia is extremely active in the information field using pro-russian media, propaganda, disinformation, fake news, and leaks in order to confusion public opinion and influence the decision-making. russian's international media channel spread its views on this information, on the insensitive topic such as immigration, terrorism, ethnic relations, and troops in middle eastern europe. in my written testimony you will find various examples of russia's separations against lithuania. another security threat is a nuclear plan in belarus. how we fight back these threats. in thuania will be spending over 2% of gdp. we spent 31% of the budget for new weapons systems. it ensures the independence of energy supplies. it has also opened baltic market for the potential deliveries from the united states. the senators using this opportunity allow me to thank you for your personal and united states support to

i think there's growing friction between particular russia, russia, china and the united states and others including europe i think the balance of power. nato in many ways demilitarized after the end of the cold war. russia did many things but it clearly is not demilitarized. that's the russian foreign policy. china has re-militarized or militarized in a significant way so it certain shifts in the balance of power in some ways commensurate with the changing balances of economic wealth. you've have had the rise of all sorts of nonstate actors. the al qaeda's in the isis' who have taken significant power and you have the north korea's in the iran's who could erupt after the region and above all there is globalization. you've got these enormous flows of just about everything from viruses whether they are real, two guns to drugs to greenhouse gases, the components of missiles or bombs, the hacking and the things that hackers would send around the world, you name it. essentially everyone and anything that goes across borders with tremendous speed and tremendous volume. so i think the old rules to one extent or

russia continues to engage in efforts, as my colleague said, that undermine democracy in free elections throughout europe. we have shared concerns about the upcoming elections, the dutch elections, french, german and french elections where there are overt actions and covert actions by russia to influence the outcome of those elections. but part of why they're doing that, part of why they're violating these norms around europe is because they're seeking to distract from their brutal rule at home. the reality is that many critics of putin's regime end up dead or incapacitated. a russian politician who supported the introduction of capitalism into the russian economy and frequently criticized vladimir putin was assassinated two years ago on february 27 on a bridge just near the kremlin in moscow. a russian politician and journalist was apparently poisoned last month, the second time in recent years. he had been actively promoting civil society democracy and human rights in russia. and back in september of 2012, putin threw usaid out of russia altogether claij -- claiming u.s. efforts were undermining sovere

there are thousands of troops and tanks and new units pushed to russia's bordner europe. llusion with russia he would pull that down or lower the u.s. nuclear arsenal unilaterally. there's a lot of double-talk going on. we have to wait and see what happens and judge him by his actions. i think a lot more than his words, which we keep saying a lot about president trump. >> let's bring it back to the news of the day. that is attorney general jeff sessions. what do you make of his testimony on the hill saying that he had no contact with the russians or that he didn't know of anyone in the campaign having contact with the russians when he himself and his role at the very least as a senator did have a meeting or two meetings with russian ambassador sergey kislyak? >> as others have said today, it's a routine thing for senators and elected officials to have meetings with international diplomats and ambassadors here in washington. it would not be that unusual for senators to be meeting with diplomats from -- ambassadors from russia as well. it does seem, according to "the washing

europe. let me stress that we remain open to dialogue with russia.owever, such dialogue needs to be conditional on russia changing its current policies and its stance towards international law. thank you again for the opportunity to testify today, and i look forward to taking your questions spin thank you. and to those who stuck to five minutes, your chance of assistance goes up. [laughter] thank you very much. ambassador from georgia. >> mr. chairman, ladies and gentlemen, i'm here today to remind you that before ukraine georgia was embedded in 2008 and 20% of our country remains under russian occupation, despite ongoing russian aggression with the support of the united states, georgia has made a tremendous strides in strengthening democratic institutions fostering economy development to solidify and irreversible path -- solidify and irreversible path towards integration. i'm also here to tell you that we need a stronger america in georgia and the region. the conflict which started in early '90s reached its peak in 2008 with the russian invasion of

russia is increasing capability on lithuania border. most militarized zone in europe. exercises of offensive nature on our borders taking place regularly. russia is extremely active in the information field using pro-russian media, disinformation, fake neuheisws o confuse opinion. they spread views on this information on the insensitive topics such as migration, terrorism, ethnic relations, deployment of nato troops in eastern europe. in my written testimony you will find separations of russia against lithuania. . also the nuclear plan is under exploration in belarus. how we fight back these threats. in 2018 ledge wana will spend over 2% on gdp in defense and go beyond that benchmark in the future. the terminal independence is one of the best investments into our security. as its name suggests it ensures energy supplies and uses one of its manipulation tools. the senators using this opportunity allow me to thank you for your personal and united states support to our security. we greatly appreciate the strengthening of the u.s. military presence in europe and implementat

russia scholar, fiona hill. she's joining the white house national security council as senior director for europe and russia.ior fellow of the brookings institute, former member of the national intelligence council. she was first recruited for the nfc job under michael flynn and frequent critic of president putin of russia. jillian, what do you make of this addition? >> i feel really good about it. the first sort of tip of the hat to her is that she has remained for most of her career very critical and skeptical of the putin regime. as well she should be. in the midst of all the scandal and controversy about trump's administration, potential ties to russia, it is nice to see them bringing in somebody who is very much not in that camp and will provide an alternate point of view or her own point of view to the president. i will say it's also interesting that she's going to be the senior director for russia in europe. in previous administrations bush and obama, that was not the case. those were two separate positions. i think there's a bit of an acknowledgement here that the two issues are interrelated, we'll h

-- russia in europe. t exactly the same framework you heard from candidate trump. i think it has been more constrained. sobiggest criticism of trump far and the way he talks about russia policy is he gets -- he mixes up objectives and means. he has said it at least two dozen times wouldn't it be nice if we could just get along with russia? as if that's the goal of u.s. for policy is to get along with russia. i don't think it should ever be the goal of u.s. for policy to get along with anyone. allied or not. iran,al is sanctions on the goal is building ndn. the goal is bringing russia into the wto so that leads into greater investment results for america. the goals are things that are in our security interests and then the means are things like getting along or engagement. beetimes they need to containment and courses, sometimes they need to be isolationist and sometimes in that basket of engagement. putin does not have it mixed up. if the goal from donald trump is to get along, i love my ratings in russia

europe. we have stationed troops, nato troops on the border countries of nato with russia to let them know we won't tolerate the invasion of a nato country. we've done that. that's our security initiative. we've got to have a democracy initiative to protect the democratic institutions of western europe because russia will use the democratic institutions to try to undermine the democratic institutions, the free press, the opportunities of free speech, the opportunities to try to influence through their money the election process. they tried to do that in montenegro during the parliamentary elections to affect month nay grow's accession into nato. so we have to protect the democratic institutions. and this legislation would authorize that protection. and then it sets up a resource so that we can fight this propaganda. we can find ways to counter russia's use of propaganda in order to carry out their nefarious activities. so this is a comprehensive bill. i urge all of our colleagues to take a look at it. we're looking for input. we're looking for making sure that this does exactly what we need t

it with your first question with regard to georgia's provider of energy supply for europe which is not dependent on russia. we have two pipelines. the third one is under construction and the importance of strengthening stability in georgia is one of the pathways to supplying the alternative energy sources for europe is critical and therefore one of the main attentions from the united states we expect in the energy sector. >> thank you. >> as far as the energy cooperation is concerned, we believe in poland that it should be based on mutual benefit. it should be beneficial for those countries to cooperate like the united states and central europe. this terminal and poland is a very important part of this project. there is also a project in progress of the baltic pipeline with denmark and norway and of course there is the very important issue being forced by russia and this is a project which does divides european union partners because now it's suspended for some time, but this is actually interesting as far as energy is concerned, the european union should be the energy union. this is an idea for a much ad

brent: another major challenge for europe. russia.many's new foreign minister is on his first official visit to moscow. despite ongoing disagreements on subjects like ukraine, it looks as though the two countries are preparing, at least, for a fresh start. russian president vladimir putin invited foreign minister sigma got real -- sigmar gabriel for talks in moscow. we want to go now to our correspondent, following the visit. he joins us tonight in moscow. hello to you. what more do we know about this visit? we are hearing a lot about the need for straightforward and constructive relationships. >> good evening. this was meant to be essentially a photo op. this is the kremlin advising got real -- gabriel beyond his talks with the foreign minister. after keeping him for over one hour, they spoke for nearly two hours, way more than the half-hour scheduled. we heard from putin that he wants the full normalization of relations and he invited angela merkel to moscow. brent: those things sound nice, but they do not wipe away the problem area

-- was how to deter russia in europe. not the same that you heard from candidate trump. i think it's been more constraints. sobiggest criticism of trump far in the way he talks about russia policy, and i would say that more generally, is he mixes up objectives and means. he says at least two dozen times, wouldn't it be nice if we could get along with russia? as if that is the goal of u.s. foreign-policy, to get along with russia. i don't believe it should ever be the goal of u.s. foreign policy to get along with anyone. ally or not. that is not the goal. the goal is, from when i was in government, a new start treatment. sanctions on iran. the goal is building ndn. getting russia into the wto to lead to greater trade investment results for america. that goals are things that are in our security interests and our economic interests. and the means are things like getting along, or engagement. sometimes they need to be containment. sometimes they should be isolationist things. other times it should be a basket of it casement.

i wanted to ask about russia and europe. we're talking about a range of issues in maltmalta. but what about the noise coming out of the balkans now. >> that's an added concern. the primary concern with russia is ukraine. there's virtually no movement, no russian movement there. so what we've seen is increasing russian meddling in the balkans. that is a new source of worry that's on the radar screen. the president meeting with a range of european leaders, what message will he have with russia not only to the european allies but also to the united states. >> keep up the pressure because we need a solution on donbas, and what he's saying is if you start to give in now, pressure on russia there will never be a solution. we'll be left with an open scar in the middle of europe. >> you were in washington the last few days before you came here. what is your impression of the way the trump government is dealing with its congress and also based on the last few hours we heard the travel ban, the latest version of it has been upheld in terms of the court ruling on preventing that travel b

. >> sreenivasan: british troops have deployed to estonia to bolster defenses and deter russia in eastern europe. the first 120 of 800 troops, with their tanks and armored vehicles, arrived last night at a base outside the capital of tallin. the rest are expected next month in the tiny baltic country, a former soviet republic and current nato ally that shares a border with russia. britain's defense secretary says the deployment is in response "" increased russian aggression" but is not "designed to provoke or escalate." today marks the third anniversary of russia's annexation of ukraine's crimean peninsula. thousands of american troops deployed to poland in january to shore up nato defenses there. initial designs for the trump administration's proposed border wall with mexico are due in 11 days. customs and border protection has posted its solicitation for either a solid concrete wall or one with "see-through componen"" online. it says the 2,000-mile wall must be: president trump's budget asks congress for $2.5 billion to start construction, projecting a total cost of $12 billion. but the depart

longer with trump, those guys were at conferences and saw some russians, people connected with russia and europe, it is so tenuous. you scratched the surface of it in your interview with senator coons, and he said we don't have any evidence of collusion. this is typical washington feeding frenzy based on little to no evidence. are we actually going to talk about the fact that we need to have jobs and the economy and border enforcement make >> chris: that's my point. >> i think the tweet yesterday when he said i would be careful with people think administratio administration -- >> chris: just trolling. let me bring in dana. we asked you what your questions about this whole issue of collusion with the russians. janice gibson, this gets kind to your point, said this on facebook. i honestly think the democrats are using this as a diversion. of all the issues facing america, they focus on this. it's tiresome. but john sees it a bit differently. the republicans would not let go, they did not let the email scandal go, why should the democrats let russian go? is this more of this constant cycle of polit

russia. >>> europe and the u.s. ing push toward isolationism in issues and particularly in trade. we'll talk about these big picture ideas. joining us by phone is ambassador michael mcfaul former ambassador to russia and michael porter, harvard business school professor. he's looked at the economics of the shifting landscape. first to you, ambassador mcfaul. your reaction to president putin, read my lips, watch my lips, no on the answer as to whether there would be any evidence found on russia hacking the election. >> i thought it was a bad historic analogy. number one he garbled out. as you pointed out it wasn't reagan, it was george w. bush. after he dsaid that he did rais taxes. you know, i think it's clear as day that the russians did intervene in our elections. our entire intelligence community has documented that fact. they stole data from the dny and mr. podesta and then published it through wikileaks in a way to influence our election. moreover there's other evidence that you can just read. we don't have to -

foreign advisor to trump and paul manafort, and those people were at conferences connected to russia in europeu scratched the surface of it in your interview with coons, and he said we don't have evidence of collusion. this is a typical washington feeding frenzy based on little to no evidence. people watching are thinking are we going to talk about jobs, the economy and the border? chris: it was president trump who fed that with his tweets. let me bring in dana. we asked you for questions for the panel. and we asked you what your questions about this whole issue of collusion with the russians. janice gibson said this on facebook. i honestly think the dems are using this as a diversion of all the issues facing america, they focus on this. it's tiresome. but john ferguson seize it differently. the republicans would not let benghazi and email scandal go, why should dems let russians go. hypocrisy on both sides. will it never end? chris: is this just a continuing cycle of political hardball? >> you had several issues with this reported collusion. they are going to ask congressional committees to a

dan: and russia meddling in elections in europe? >> the presence of russia on all levels.hether you are talking about cybersecurity -- dan: everything. >> exactly. the real question raised here is we are at an inflection point. i have been thinking with the marshall scholars who benefited from the special relationship between the u.k. and u.s. 70 years after the marshall plan, what is the international order today? we have had 70 years of peace and stability based on an important gesture the united states made too many countries in europe. the netherlands, germany, the u.k., many others, establishing the rule of law, democracy, encouragement of liberal trade policies, and institutions and organizations like the u.n. and nato that help with all disputes. the question is, do those still work today? you are hearing and feeling with brexit, trump, questioning around the effectiveness of the european union, it may not be a perfect fit but there are values underpinning that we still think are important. that is the question. ♪ dan: brexit specifically, talk to us about the curre

they're very active right now in western europe. russia is trying to use our democratic system of government to undermine our democratic system of government. they're anxious to discredit free and fair elections. >> does it strain credulity that ambassador kislyak came to the office of senator sessions in september in the midst of the fall election and that they didn't talk about the campaign for president? >> my own view is that the visit by the russian ambassador, he was going to use that as an opportunity to get as much information as he could to the russian government about our elections. i can't tell you what senator sessions emote investigation was. it can't tell you what the purpose of that meeting was. we need to know that. i can tell you how the russians operate. they use every opportunity to get intelligence information for their purposes. at that time they were trying to attack the integrity of the u.s. elections. >> senator cardin, thanks so much for being here. >> my pleasure. thank you. >>> what are your thoughts? tweet me. i

she wants to break a block which putin sees correctly as preventing russia achieving the dominant position in europetonight there's serious concern that putin will meddle in france's elections like he allegedly did in america. they're worried that putin's hackers will fish for damaging information. using similar tactics with how they targeted hillary clinton's campaign. putin denies trying to difficult the french elections. >> we do not want to influence events in any way. >> reporter: but marine le pen has already gotten a boost to her campaign. >> the very fact that marine la pen is in moscow this week and is there to drum up support from putin is -- has received a $10 million loan from the russians in 2014, that putin is trying to boost the far right foors forces in france, all this does suggest that she's rather beholden to putin and the kremlin of russia. >>> right now europe's leaders are gathering in the capitol. these live pictures in rome you see, leaders speaking marking the anniversary of the treaty of rome. that treaty came ten years after the second world war and led to the formation of

pa pandering to vital not, and flirting with with not lifting the sanctions on russia for their aggression in eastern europe and not looking at the treatise on nonproliferation are and the rest, what do the russians have on him? and then to turn around and say, our strategic opponent here is russia, and i'm going to undermine our intelligence collection on russia, because of what? we just don't know. we don't know a vision. we don't know a judgment about what works or any of the knowledge associated with it. and we don't know a strategic plan, and all we know is a sales job. and so we have to make sure that we make those distinctions, but we will have that time, because during the appropriations season. i'm an appropriations and intelligence person and the appropriators always try to come together in a bipartisan way to get the job dope for the american people, but, et it remains to be seen what the republicans will do to those decisions, and if the allocations of resources to certain subcommittees that deal with health, education, jobs and our justice system, and the transportation, housing, reser research

what this is about is russian interference with american political election with russia trying to destabilize europe. with russia trying to drive a wedge between the united states and its nato allies. so at its worst, this is a big story in geopolitical terms. jeff sessions, whether he told the truth or didn't tell the truth, you know, that's a political inside the beltway sort of issue, which will work its way through the process. but this is not what the democrats are most with. trish: if he did or didn't tell the truth. look, that's a pretty -- if he didn't tell the truth, if he actually did have relationships with russians that were trying to sabotage hillary clinton's campaign, that's not good. like, none of us should want that. the democrats shouldn't want that. that is bad for the country. and suggesting that -- >> we now have the obama officials getting to investigate this because of jeff sessions recusal so early on in this administration and this issue, he doesn't have his deputy attorney general confirmed yet. the acting deputy ag, this was u.s. attorney promoted by president obama who we

russia is after all the largest country on the planet. it encampuses 11 time zones and straddles europeften thought of itself as the third rome preserving christianity even as rome fell to the barbarians. putin understands russia, he also understands the world. he's not foolish enough to make a frontal assault on europe or america. he knows how to use power. with cyber tools and disinformation, he understands the vulnerabilities of free soetds. the internal divisions and discord, and the gaping openness. he understands the fridge ilty of institutions like the european union and nato, and ideas like integration and diversity. in other words, vladimir putin understands us very well. the question is, do we -- does donald trump really understand him? >>> breaking news, president trump promised everybody would have health insurance. well, maybe not everybody. this is cnn tonight, i'm don lemon. a stunning 24 million more people will be uninsured 10 years from now under the gop health care plan. what will the president say to his supporters who lose coverage. the house mesa pina the administr

you a lot of competition from your russia. europe has been a point of contention. re. >> it is a question of prize. the instant europe since the price it is the most attractive, cargoes will go there. alix: what is the price? >> a penny higher than the net back from any other country. we are flexible, as are our customers. you pointed out shell and other customers. they will move their cargoes so they don't have any destination restrictions to the market that raises its hand and says, "i want a cargo of lng." $7.52the price was about in january. 2016,as very high versus right around a record. does that impact your ability to sell? >> it does not in the sense we are able to place every cargo as they show up, so as you said, we have foundation customers who have reserve capacity at the terminal and they are served as well as our market and affiliates as we ramp up these trains to get more volume out of these trains, marketing has these additional cargoes to sell and we have been able to play some successfully, as you pointed out, very attractive prices. that is purely

europe. it's carrying out a cold war against russia and pushing russia into china's arms. at's the threat to europe. >> cooper: you don't think vladimir putin, though, is a killer? is a... is a... a threat to france, to others in this region? >> le pen ( translated ): no, i don't believe it is so. nothing vladimir putin has done would make me reach that conclusion. >> cooper: her views on russia and vladimir putin have drawn scrutiny, particularly because three years ago, a russian bank loaned her more than $11 million to fund her party. >> cooper: your critics will say that that influences you in your opinion of russia. >> le pen ( translated ): why would it influence me? when you take out a loan, what's your obligation other than paying it back? you have no other obligation. but if you know an american bank that wants to lend me money, by all means, because i'm still looking for funds-- particularly since french banks, for political reasons, have refused to give us a loan to allow us to campaign. ( cheers ) >> cooper: that russian loan, and a widening probe into her party

but especially as you look in the data science realm and machine learning, more about eastern europe and russia, but there are other places in eastern europe that have large swaths of tech talent, and we will see these jobs in the tax base go other places because somebody has to do the work. caroline: have you seen openings piling up? is the talent crunch upon us? we have a freeze going on, but argue seeing it being demonstrated? >> i believe the talent crunch has existed for years and will continue to exist for years. i have not seen something happen in the last few months that makes it worse, but i do think we will see has the effects of this policy come into play, we will see rising prices. that is the first thing we'll see, companies will pay more for jobs that they were paying less for prior. caroline: the cost base going fire. michael solomon, do stick with us, uber employs are starting to explore exits from the company. last week, two executives resigned, and the company draws scrutiny of its every move. how does being under such a microscope impact employees? michael solomon, let's brin

russia is after all the largest country on the planet. 48 times larger than germany. it encompasses 11 time zones and straddles europeerving christianity even as rome fell to the barbarians. putin understands russia, he also understands the world. he's not foolish enough to make a frontal assault on europe or america. he knows how to use power. with cyber tools and disinformation, he understands the vulnerabilities of free societies. the internal divisions and discord, and the gaping openness. he understands the fragility of institutions like the european union and nato, and ideas like integration and diversity. in other words, vladimir putin understands us very well. the question is, do we -- does donald trump really understand him? >>> the department of justice fails to supply evidence to support the president's allegations that president obama wiretapped him. more than 100 million people are facing the nastiest winter storm in decades. up to three feet of snow so n some places. and 24 more people could be without health coverage in 2026. that is not what president trump has been promising. it is what the nonpartis

but i hear, especially as you look in the data science and realm, i hearng more about eastern europe and russiaar. there are other places in eastern europe that have large swaths of tech talent. we will see these jobs in the -- these jobs and the tax base going other places because somebody has got to do the work. caroline: have you seen openings piling up? is the talent crunch upon us? at the moment, we have a freeze going on. are you seeing it being demonstrated? michael: i believe the talent crunch has existed for years and will continue to exist for years. i have not seen something happening in the last few months that makes it much worse. but i do think we will see as the effects of this policy come into play, we are going to see rising prices. that is the first thing we are going to see. companies will pay more for jobs they were paying less for prior. caroline: michael solomon, stick with us. another story we are watching, amidst falling morale, uber employees are starting to explore exits from the company. that is according to a report from "the financial times." last week, two executiv

and not pandering to vladimir putin, not flirting with lifting our sanctions on russia for their aggression and eastern europe, and not undermining our treaties on nonproliferation and the rest, what do the russians have on him? nd then to turn around and say , our strategic opponent here is russia. and i'm going to undermine our intelligence collection on russia because of what? that we just don't know. we don't know a vision. we don't know a judgment. about what works or any knowledge associated with it. we don't know a strategic plan. all we know is a sales job. so we have to make sure we make those distinctions. but we will have that time because during the appropriations season, i'm an appropriator and intelligence person. appropriators always try to come together in a bipartisan way to get the job done. for the american people. it remains to be seen what the republicans will do to those decisions. and if the allocations, resources to certain subcommittees that deal with alth, education, jobs, our justice system, our transportation, housing, research and development, energy, science. it remains to be see

russia is the largest country on the planet. 48 times larger than germany. it encompasses 11 time zones and straddles europeoften thought of itself as the third rome preserving christianity even as rome fell to the barbarians. putin understands russia. he also understands the world. he's not foolish enough to make a frontal assault on america or europe. he knows how to use power asymmetrically with cyber tools. he understands the vulnerabilities of free societies, the internal divisions and discord and gaping openness. he understand the fragility of constitutions like the european union and nato and ideas like integration and diversity. in other words, vladmir putin understands us very well. the question is do we, does donald trump really understand him? thnchts is o >>> this is our weekly look at the story behind the story. today's show is coming to you live from los angeles. we're talking about the political world that's stranger than fiction. the truth dead? i'll talk to nancy gibbs about her latest cover story and about when to say something is a lie. >>> the president trump making podcasts great again?

russia. the theories about power and the distribution of power in the international system. not just europebut the system which is to say, russia was weak after the collapse of the soviet union. probably not as weak as we thought it was but it was weak. on their knees. rush is back and this is just a natural correction. rush is not a great power, probably not i think the president, president obama really got under the skin sent a regional power or local power but they are a power in the system and are behaving like a great power in the system. what's the big deal? very popular here in moscow. very popular throughout the university of chicago. part of this is true. anybody from moldova? nobody, good. i actually love moldova. it's a great country. i traveled there once with the vice president. he got the largest crowd ever from one of his speeches, so vice president biden also loves mulled over. nobody is worried about moldova overthrowing the international system. nobody is worried about moldova threatening europe or threatening the liberal order because mulled over to my window disrespect b

he's had a very long relationship with people in eastern europe and russia. it's all at this point smoke. there's nothing that has come out that's clearly criminal about manafort. his lawyers an him have decided that it's best to put it on the table. the bigger question here is, donald trump was able to -- in his business career and as a candidate cut a lot of corners and he got away with it because he was incredibly talented in other ways. when you're president it's harder to cut corners. the take away was this guy was going to figure out what happened. the f.b.i. director made very clear that i'm going to keep working on this until i know exactly what happened and then he suggested we don't know if he'll say everything but a lot of that will be made public at some future point. it's different than in a campaign. in a campaign if you do a crazy tweet about the ex-president the f.b.i. director isn't up on the hill the following month saying it's false. but when you're president the stakes are just higher. robert: we keep wonderi if the president is going to c