this russian advocate was that channel. one thing we need to investigate is, did this just begin a conversation? did she report that information, the receptively to getting that information back to moscow? did he reported back to the family that had approached him? they would not only love to get it, but late in the summer. it was late in the summer the stolen emails began to be published. these are the kinds of questions that need to be answered. here i think you have a quite direct evidence the russian government had damaging information, communicated that to the campaign, and all the campaign denials of whether we know it was going on or the russians had involvement, obviously now have to be viewed in a completely different context. >> has the committee been in touch with trump junior or his lawyer yet, and you plan to request documents from him? mr. schiff: we certainly want him to come before the committee. i do not want to discuss what we are saying with witnesses. we certainly want him to come in and everyone connect

million from the russian treasury. they were basically trying to take the tax rebate away from arbitrage capital. tickets, located on the financial side, but he uncovered the scheme and went to the authorities in russia. when he did that he was arrested. he was held under really trumped up charges for about a year and a russian prison where he dies. the russian human rights court investigated his death and found he suffered severe beatings and was never treated and that was the cause of his death. the mass human rights abuses. since then, many russian human rights activists and opposition leaders were involved in trying to get some consequences for his death. the act was that consequence. host: we are talking with alina polyakova of the atlantic council about u.s. sanctions imposed against russia. democrats can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. , (202) 748-8002. we have heard a lot about adoptions being a part of this meeting and about the act. tell us how adoptions work into all of this. guest: when th

the russians are liars. i am very confident about what they were asking for. i am not so confident about what was being offered. something was being offered, but i would not believe the russians they mighticements have put in front of them to get the meeting. because anything could've been offered, in reality. sen. blumenthal: is there any doubt in your mind, knowing as well as any american, how vladimir putin operates, that there, veselnitskaya was acting on behalf of vladimir putin in the russian government? mr. browder: there is no doubt. sen. blumenthal: is there any doubt in your mind that rinat her,tshin was aiding acting on behalf of vladimir putin in the russian government? mr. browder: there is no doubt. sen. blumenthal: when my senator lindsey graham asked you about reporting back to intelligence agencies, these two individuals, natalia and akhmetshin, where acting on behalf of vladimir putin in initiating a potential agreement, legally probably a conspiracy, involving the russian government and do

in the russian context for the russian special services, their intelligence services, to be the onesehind this, what you're going to look for is, okay, we need to find out whether or not the trump team, as, you know, prior to the election, is actually willing to play ball, is willing to have at least a conversation. the russians are very well versed in our sort of western business approach. oh, it's just a meeting, it's just, you know, it's just a blue sky session, we're not really talking about anything serious. and they know that that's how westerners come at this, and so it would be very normal for them to find somebody who's not a specific member of the russian government, somebody like veselnitskaya, and use her essentially as a cutout and go in and say, look, let's see if there is any interest in this. that would be very consistent with their m.o. she would not necessarily have to have any of the information, and she might go on -- go into that meeting, you know, with another pretext, but the end goal of it for the russian intelligence services and for the russian government wo

i've worked with the russians -- russian intelligence for years. they never gave us anything, never have. they're not going to help us. they only want into our systems. and trump proposing this, i'd go farther, it's sort of like after pearl harbor, the japanese proposing they provide air defense for us. it makes no sense at all. none in any galaxy. >> everybody, stand by. thank you so much for that segment. we are staying on top of the breaking news. again, "new york times" reporting that donald trump jr. met with a russian lawyer after being promised information on hillary clinton. what are the other two people in this meeting saying now? jared kushner and paul manafort? stay with us. oking for ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i was doing okay... then it hit me... ...managing was all i was doing. when i told my doctor,... ...i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease... ...even after trying other medications. in clinical studies,... the majority of people on humira... saw significant symptom r

russian government. it wasn't of my money or firm's money but of the rush than government's money, $230 million. it was the largest tax refund fraud in the history of russia. we thought that putin was a nationalist, that he wouldn't have allowed his own officials to steal from his own country. we figured if we brought it to the attention of the highest authorities then the good guys would get the buy bad guys. we wrote criminal complaints to every different branch. i went to the newspapers. it turned out in putin's russia there are no good guys. about six weeks after he testified against a bunch of corruption officials they came and arrested him and put him in pretrial detention. they put him in cells with 14 inmates, 8 beds and lights on 24 hours a day. they put him in cells with no toilet, just a hole in the floor where the sewage would bubble up. they would move him from cell to to cell and get him to sign a false confession that he stole $230 million. because he refused the pressure increased and in

last year, by using russian assets, russian resources directed by the kremlin to manipulate the american public's view of hillary clinton. by spreading damaging information about hillary clinton through the resources of the russian military intelligence service, through the gru. so that was -- that intelligence intercept about that conversation overheard between russian official in may 2016, that was initially reported in may 2017, may 27th, this year, by "time" magazine. that report about that u.s. intelligence intercept overhearing the two russian officials talksing to each other, that was re-upped today by gordon reporting at mcclatchy. quote, as donald trump was locking up the presidential nomination in may 2016, a u.s. intelligence intercept picked up russians discussing ways to spread news danging to hillary clinton. mcclatchy sending two people familiar with the matter. so that may 2016 intelligence intercept, now reported by "time" magazine and by mcclatchy, where the russians are talking about how to manipulate american news about hillary clinton, the importance of that is now w

by russian officials.n businessman bill browder was veselnitskaya's boss. >> she's been trying to repeal sanctions legislation which putin finds probably the most personally offensive of anything that's come out of the west in the last ten years. >> reporter: the kremlin was so outraged it banned adoptions of russian children by americans. it has denied any association with veselnitskaya saying we don't know who that is and we can't monitor all meetings russian lawyers have both in russia and abroad. veselnitskaya got the meeting through rob goldstone, a music agent, who has been involved with trump's pageant in moscow in 2015. it was one of goldstone's clients, russian pop star emin agalarov who requested the meeting with veselnitskaya. he once wished him a happy birthday and even appeared in one of his music videos. >> i'm really tired of you. you're fired! >> reporter: and a lawyer of veselnitskaya has responded since the news of this meeting broke. she said nothing at all about the presidential campaig

knew before he met with a russian lawyer during the campaign there was a, quote, russian government effort behind that meeting. that effort from the russian government was to help his father's campaign with dirt on hillary clinton. how did donald jr. know that? because of an e-mail from this man, a publicist. >> earlier this morning, the russian lawyer who was in that meeting spoke to nbc news. >> translator: it's quite possible maybe they were looking for such information. they wanted it so badly. >> the lawyer for donald trump jr. says this is much ado about nothing. several key officials will speak to them in the coming days. i want to begin with jason carroll at the white house. no denial this e-mail exists. >> reporter: no denial and no sign the stories are going away. senator john mccain, john, weighing in on this this morning calling the report very serious, saying it's just another shoe that's dropping in the controversy. this white house, this administration, very frustrated that once again, there's another russia story dominating the news. the administration, for its part saying

by russian officials.merican finance sheer, who was the driving force behind the law and who filed the complaint with the justice department accusing him on working on behalf of the russian government. >> all of his actions to date show that he's absolutely clearly working in the interests of the putin regime and the fsb in order to repeal the magnitski act and create a situation where russian murders can travel again. >> the lawyer initially introduced to donald junior has having incriminating information on hillary clinton from a russian prosecutor, she was also named in the complaint. the day of the meeting, she asked him to attend. >> they were working together in new york. they were working together in brussels. they had this big project together. it would have been odd if he hadn't been at the donald trump jr. meeting since this is a project that they had been sort of walking lock-step. and from what i can tell, he is the u.s. operator. he's the guide in the corridors of power. and so it completely m

the russians with whom mr.e engaged in moscow would have been reporting on their contact with an american businessman to the fsb. that's standard procedure. >> page returned to new york, opened his own firm and moved into the building next door to trump tower. at which point he was approached by a man who said he was a russian attache at the u.n. >> this is what he reportedly said in his reports about his meetings with you. he said you traveled to moscow all of the time, that you are quote hooked on gas prom and very greedy. now that sounds to me like a spy who is writing back to his handlers about your potential weaknesses he wants to exploit. >> i know a lot of the top managers of gasprom. known them for many years. if they wanted to offer me a bribe, do you think they would have a junior attache make this offer? it's so nonsensical. >> he reports back to moscow that he received some papers, documents from you. did you give him any papers? >> i may have given him, e-mail him a copy of some public research rep

mentioned they seemed to directed by the russian government. have you seen evidence this elected byyer was the kremlin to meet with of the trump campaign? secondly, have you seen any evidence that may have occurred between trump and the russians beyond? mr. schiff: i cannot go beyond the four corners of the public domain. the emails themselves, which have now been verified by the trump campaign itself, by the himselft's osn -- son make very clear that government officials within the russian government had information they thought was damaging to secretary clinton that they wanted to share with the campaign. they made arrangements to provide a channel to do that. advocate was that channel. one thing we need to investigate is, did this just begin a conversation? did she report that information, the receptively to getting that information back to moscow? did he reported back to the family that had approached him? they would not only love to get it, but late in the summer. it was late in the summer the stolen emails began to be published. these are

hands of the russian regime. i make this assumption because i agree with it. i need not go over the ground that has been covered. what then do we do? first of all, as was the case during the cold war, nothing will work if we lose political and ideological struggle. we need to have faith in our own democratic system, in ourselves, in the free world and when we do that, we have a foundation from which to proceed. i say this because now that very foundation is also under attack, both from without, from the russians but also from within, from people not necessarily at all connected with russia so this is a different kind of a struggle. it's not my purpose to go into that, but i want to mention it. secondly, a u.s. policy designed to push back against russian club autocracy needs to be -- there's nothing incompatible against pushing back on russian aggression and seeking those areas of common ground where it may be possible. i wouldn't be too hopeful about the positive agenda, but you don't rule it out. a second point

she is just a russian lawyer. your understanding of whether or not this -- this was an effort connected to the russian government's operations? >> not att all because this is how the russian government operates. they use others who have spent time in other countries. when we had former cia director brennan testify in open session, he talked about this, how the russians will use people sometimes unbe knoknownst to th american targets and he talked about being concerned with things he was seeing, that he referred these matters to director comey for counter intelligence investigation and he also said that you might see contacts with americans that rise to the level of having these counter intelligence concerns where the americans before they know it get entangled in ways they may not have been able to see coming. but what's significant here, of course, is if this e-mail, if this report about this e-mail is accurate, an e-mail said the russian government is trying to help your father, then there's no mystery about wha

if you met with this russian lawyer. might be able to help with the campaign. now that we have the element in the e-mail of -- and this will be information from the russian government, what does that mean legally? >> this is an astounding thing. we have, for sure, more evidence for mr. mueller to look at and get the details of. but it is collusion with a foreign adversary if they were working together to get the information from the russian government, and that's what this looks like. it looks like clear proof of collusion. >> bill browder, you know natalia veselnitskaya, the lawyer who was in this meeting, the russian lawyer. apparently donald trump changed his story over the weekend. first he said the meeting had nothing to do with campaign issues. it was all about adoption and, you know, repairing the rules that would allow adoption of russian babies. then the next day, his statement said, no, it was about getting actual campaign information. that's what the meeting was really about. then she turned it into a meeting

russian children. obviously i'm the first person on the campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent. went nowhere but had to listen. white house like wise insisted nothing inappropriate took place. >> i've been on several campaigns and people call offering information. as i know many of you receive similar calls of people offering information. don jr took a very short meeting from which there was absolutely no follow-up. the only thing i see inappropriate about the meeting is the people that leaked the information on the meeting after it was voluntarily disclosed. >> senate intelligence committee is already interested in speaking with donald trump jr about the meeting. he hired a new lawyer who is formally represented the mafia. i asked john podesta for his reaction. >> it is drip, drip, drip. we keep learning more information. the story keeps changing. now it is clear that they had a specific meeting to gather dirt on hillary with a russian lawyer, with close ties to the kremlin. an

she had no links whatsoever to the russian government, that she just happened to be a russian person, those denials i should mention coming from not just her but coming from the white house up to and including the president himself giving that denial. can we play that clip for a second? >> as far as my son is concerned, my son is a wonderful young man. he took a meeting with a russian lawyer, not a government lawyer but a russian lawyer. >> tonight "the wall street journal" reports that despite those denials coming from everybody up to and including the president himself, this lawyer who went to trump tower and met with trump's son and trump's son-in-law and trump's campaign chair last summer along with all those other russians that she brought with her, despite all of these denials including from the president that she had anything to do with the russian government, the lawyer herself, natalia veselnitskaya, has now conceded to the "wall street journal" that, in fact, she was working with russian prosecutor general you're yi chaca on this. according to "the wall street journal," vese

he took a meeting with a russian lawyer, not a government lawyer but a russian lawyer. >> tonight "the wall street journal" reports that despite those denials coming from everybody up to and including the president himself, this lawyer, who went to trump tower and met with trump's son and trump's son-in-law and trump's campaign chair last summer, along with all of those other russians that she brought with her, despite all of these denials including from the president that she had anything to do with the russian government, the lawyer herself, natalia veselnitskaya, has now conceded to "the wall street journal" that in fact she was working with russian prosecutor general on this. according to "the wall street journal" tonight, she said in an interview that she was meeting with russian authorities regularly and she shared information with the russian prosecutor general's office. she told the journal, quote, i personally know the general prosecutor in the course of my investigation i shared information with him. so that meeting with the upper echelons of the trump campaign in june of las

russian government effort. those three crucial words, they are new, and very important, especially given the word that is missing. denial. no one in the white house or donald trump's orbit is denying this happened. >> that e-mail reportedly came from this man, rob goldstone, a publicist who helped coordinate the meeting. earlier this morning, the russian lawyer in that meet with trump jr. told nbc news this. >> translator: it's quite possible they were looking for such information because they wanted it so badly. >> they wanted it so badly. donald trump jr. has hired a lawyer. he says this is much ado about nothing. all of this is happening at the senate intelligence committee gets ready to begin interviews with trump campaign officials. first, our team of reporters on the ground covering all of the angles. let's begin at the white house with jason carroll. >> reporter: the white house is basically saying there is no there, there. no evidence, they say, of collusion. the deputy press secretary basically saying,

because the russians are liars. i'm very confident about what they were asking for but i'm not so confident about what was being offered. something was being offered but i wouldn't believe the russians and i wouldn't believe the enticements that they would put in front of them to get the meeting. anything could have been offered. >> is there any doubt, in your mind, knowing, as well as any american, how vladimir putin operates that natalia was there acting on behalf of vladimir in russia and the government? >> there is no doubt. >> is there any doubt in your mind that. [inaudible] was aiding her in knowledge about her acting directly on the half of flatware? >> there is no doubt. >> so, when my colleague, senator graham, asked you about the reporting back to intelligence agencies these two individuals were acting on behalf of bladder in initiating a potential agreement, legally of conspiracy, involving the russian government and donald trump junior and the other participants. is that correct? >> that was the intenti

complicit in the robbery of the russian people and the sad state of russian democracy. moreover, these cronies enable the kremlin to export its brand of kleptocracy into neighboring countries, transforming corruption into a potent geostrategic weapon. we will establish who most strengthens and benefits from his rule. additionally, we'll analyze how these cronies advance putin's goals and interests. we are grateful to have such distinguished panelists with us here today. i look forward to hearing your thoughts on this important issue. first we have brian, who joins us all the way from prague. he's a senior russia analyst for rferl and also writes the power vertical blog. prior to joining rferl in 2007, he worked for eight years for the boston globe. in the globe as moscow bureau, and later as the central and eastern europe correspondent based in prague. following brian, we have elia. i understand your wife just had a baby. so thank you so very much for beings with us here today. [applause] rather than at home. we understand what a sacrifice you're making to talk about th

kpouncompounds and expeled 35 russian diplomats we hearing the russians may run out of patience and respond in kind. >> thank you so much. coming up next one who briefs many presidents form erp cia director michael haden will speak out when we continue. , we. ♪ anyone who calls it a hobby doesn't understand. we know that a person's passion is what drives them. [ clapping ] and that's why every memorial we create is a true reflection of the individual. only a dignity memorial professional can celebrate a life like no other. find out how at sanfranciscodignity.com. yogig-speed internet.me? you know what's not awesome? when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids. and these guys. him. ah. oh hello- that lady. these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh. sure. still yes! you can get it too. welcome to the party. introducing gig-speed internet from xfinity. finally, gig for your neighborhood too. >>> when donald trump, jr. released his e-mails gave the world a window a moment of political maneuvering and inte

he took with russians.t room than originally thought. >>> the president hiring a new lawyer to handle his responses in the investigation. when did he learn of this meeting? and are there more shoes to drop? >>> plus, selling trump care 3.0, the back room deals being cut to win over gop members who are on the fence.

from the russian government.rump legal team member joins us with reaction. there were as many as eight people in that room. this is significant for a number of reasons. yet again the story that donald trump jr. has publicly told continues to change. for days the president has been praising his son's transparency. let's remember on tuesday after releasing several emails shortly after he'd been told the new york times was going to publish the contents, donald trump jr. said he'd come clean. >> this is everything. this is everything. >> well, today we learned it was not. let's start back in march when the new york times asked donald trump jr. if he ever had campaign related meetings with russia and he said no. then the new york times disclosed a meeting between son, son in law, campaign lead and a russian lawyer. who has connections to the kremlin. so how did donald trump jr. describe the meeting and the it reason for it to the times? he said we primarily discussed a program about the adoption of russian children. n

adoptions of russian children. yesterday, faced with "new york times" reporting on the purpose of the meeting, he acknowledged he was told the lawyer "might have information helpful to the campaign." he said: "the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to russia were funding the democratic national committee and supporting ms. clinton. her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. it quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information." in an off-camera white house briefing, principal deputy press secretary sarah huckabee sanders dismissed the controversy. >> don jr. took a very short meeting from which there was absolutely no follow up. don jr. did not collude with anybody to influence the election. >> yang: today, donald trump junior said: "obviously i'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent... went nowhere but had to listen." he also said he'd cooperate with the senate intelligence committee's investigation of russian medd

clear russian contacts.s investigators have urgent questions for the president's son after donald trump, jr. admits he met with a russian lawyer expecting to get damaging information on hillary clinton. >>> tonight, new questions about collusion, and what the president may have known. weakening sanctions, did the trump administration secretly try to water down legislation that would slap new sanctions on russia and the putin regime? we're going to tell you what we're learning this hour. >>> widening split, as more senate republicans refuse to support the republican health care bill, the president is daring lawmakers to skip their august recess while staying largely absent from the nitty-gritty up on capitol hill. is there any real hope for progress in the days ahead? >>> and taking back mosul as iraq declares a crucial victory against isis, cnn goes inside the climatic battle with exclusive video of a war-torn city emerging from the terrorist's brutal grip. we want to we will p come our viewers in the united

the russians attacked our nation. they did it through the cyber domain. their action in my view was, in fact, an act of war. they sought to sabotage our elections. they, in fact, endeavoredo interfere with 21 states in administering the tallies and accounts of votes that are part of our lawful election system. they attacked our democracy in a way that would mean treason for anybody who aided and a betted or provided them comfort in doing so. now, we are, in fact, engaged somewhat in speculation. i want to emphasize that i know no more than what has been revealed publicly, or little more, but we need to think seriously about the consequences of these starkly illegal claims and potential charges. >> senator blumenthal, we have more to discuss, including new information we're getting on the special counsel right now. i want you to stand by. we'll resume our special coverage right after this. i realize that ah, that $100k is not exactly a fortune. well, a 103 yeah, 103. well, let me ask you guys. how long did it take you two to save that? a long time. then it

it is financed by russian. if you will look at the support to the movements in the united states you will find russian money and behind that. it's not a fun issue. >> it seems to be the theme. >> i agree that you will find russian money behind many of the anti european nationalist parties. let us say that it is not anti european because it received russian money. russians didn't cause our problem. they are mere pli feeding on it and contributing to it. >> thank you. >> if i may jump in one more time. in terms of where all of this money is coming from, i think there is one place we need to be looking. this was a very big case, very appa appalling. brought back to russia and put on show trial. what was really really telling to me, however, was what he was investigating. i think this is crucial to understanding what this money comes from. a smuggling ring by organized crime groups facilitated by the federal security service by the russian federation. at first glance it looks like some guys getting rich off of ciga

from the russian government?you know, i've been a campaign manager my whole life. maybe it was like the fourth or the fifth campaign before you figured out that everybody who came to you said they had the dope on your opponent and was completely full of it. so no, it wasn't wise. that was naivete, not criminal. so i would not have held the meetin meeting. i bet now they wish they hadn't use had the meeting either. she had nothing to offer. >> so whether she had anything to offer or not, isn't it -- doesn't it at least show -- whether it's actually illegal or not, doesn't it at least show a willingness of collusion on the part of donald trump jr.? >> i don't know what the legal definition of willingness of collusion is. i don't think there is one. you know -- >> i'm not asking for a legal definition. i'm just saying, doesn't it seem that he's open to the idea of colluding with the russian government? >> no, i don't think that at all. sounds to me if anything they were naive in trying to get information about hilla

last june they met with the russian lawyer and he is perhaps speaking on behalf of the russian government. there was a lure, a dangle, and it was, we're on the side of mr. trump winning the election. and we'll give you help. wouldn't that be something would carry all the way through election day? >> it certainly could. it is speculative but not out of the question. we need to nail down as many facts as possible as what went on. there's a late breaking story that paul manafort owes russian banks some $17 million but it could lead to even more questions about manafort's rip. i grew up with the polaroid film developing in front of you. he is willing to give on ukraine, crimea, he's willing to give on election meddling. maybe even a continuation of the assad regime. fighting easy. the better over points of of a ad. >> this president under like others refuses off the full discloesh usual of his financial dealings. the interlocking relationships leads us to ask more questions. you know in this town, it is hardly ever the crime. it is the cover-up that becomes the central issue. when you're caug

not even talking about the russian lawyer. mr. goldstone in england who has told them, if you go to this meeting you're going to get dirt on hillary. >> only one of the three you mentioned is currently in the employ of the united states government, works at the white house. his name is jared kushner. what's his legal exposure? >> besides the false statements on theform, his security clearance form, he's walking into a meeting where he's high up in the campaign trying to get dirt on hillary clinton from a foreign country, a foreign adversary, which arguably is illegal and conspiratorial. >> so if you were representing donald trump jr., if he called you to represent him, other than telling you potential client to shut up and start talking, what's your strategy? >> the first thing is to shut up and stop talking. you hit that perfectly. the second thing -- the second thing is did i waive the fifth amendment privilege by talking even though i wasn't under oath and can i take the fifth in the future when the senate intelligence committe

this latest thing with the russian lawyer, we have three instances including with the russian bank with jared kushner has seemed to met with the russians and not disclosed it. is the white house concerned about that and do you think it raises any questions about kushner's confidence or honesty? >> i believe it was disclosed on his security clearance with an updated -- >> updated paperwork. not initially. >> right. with all of his contacts during the transition and prior to that. they were all included in the update. not the original submission. >> his omission in the original of all these meeting with the russians, is there any concern about that? >> no. it was just an incomplete form. all of his foreign contacts were listed in the updated version, not in the original. steve? >> is the president willing to negotiate his position on the paris climate accord? >> i certainly think he likes to keep all things on the negotiating table. at the end of the day, the president is focused on making sure he gets the best deal for the american people. he certainly wants to do things to protect the e

and russian leaders in the past. russia is chafing at what they describe as a unilaterally led world with a u.s. superpower. they want the world divided into kind of individual more 19th century approach to the world where russia would get a sphere of influence. we don't know whether or not that fits with president trump's world view which involves america first. >> ivan watson in moscow. thanks. >>> now for perspective, political analyst josh rogan, columnist for the "washington post." good morning, josh, mr. perspective. look, a lot of pressure on these two, a lot on the plate. could be a short meeting. what do you expect out of this thing? >> there's an effort and desire on both sides to have a happy, good meeting. a meeting where they show the world's largest nuclear powers can get along and actually talk about if not solve big issues of international concern. that's what both sides want. that's what we can expect. of course the context is that things are not happy, things are not hunky-dory. the relationship is

and russian objectives are the same?neva communique that set up a framework to get to a political setup in syria. the russians, chinese, even the iranians were at the table when that framework was crafted, lajly led by the united states. if that's what he was talking about, he's not wrong. there was a common picture signed up two years ago about what the future of syria should look like. that said, and this is where the cease-fire is tricky, our objectives in syria have never been the same as the russians. the russians have always been about propping up assad, keeping a friendly regime there to keep a foothold in the middle east. our objectives have been to go after isis and try to get the opponents in this civil war back to the negotiating table. what we're not hearing, and the ambassador is right when we talks about this, what we're not hearing is let's say it works, then what? where is the plan to get the opposing sides back to the table in geneva, and we haven't heard that from this administration. >> colonel francon

if there's an e-mail between some russian figure and the trump campaign saying the russian government wants to help this lady can help you, then that's something i would definitely want to know. now, apparently nothing transpired. there was no exchange of information between the russian lawyer and the campaign. but if there's an e-mail from a russian suggesting that the russian government wants to help, that would be very problematic. >> we're now beyond obstruction of justice in terms of what's being investigated. this is moving into perjury, false statements and potentially treason. >> i've said many times in the past, there's another shoe that will drop and there will be other shoes that will drop. >> reporter: so john mccain not exactly ready to write all of this off at this point -- >> mark warner has made -- >> reporter: the accusation that this is potentially treason. >> mark warner has said there's nor to come on this thing. we've seen donald trump jr. tweeting out the e-mail in question that everybody has been talking about. and i want to point out an important line in the e-

the russian veselnitskaya and the russian rinat akmetshin aforementioned. the translator was in the meeting. someone who has done work for the state department bringing the total up to six known attendees. and it is not known if rob goldstone, the british born who help set up the meeting was there. or if there were other attendees we have yet to learn about. the lobbyist told the associated press, he recognized paul manafort, he said there were others who didn't know them so possibly still some shoes yet to drop. over the past few days, the donald trump jr. defenders, that nothing came of it. that's what the president claimed yesterday. >> in the case of don, he listened. they talked about adoption and some things. adoption wasn't even part of campaign. but nothing happened with the meeting today. zero happen. >> that's not what the lobbyist at the center of all this said. according to him, the russian lawyer brought with her a plastic fold we are printed out dpomts detail what had she believed was the flow of illicit funds to the democratic national commit

he took a meeting with a russian lawyer. not a government lawyer but a russian lawyer. it was a short meeting. it was a meeting that went very, very quickly, very fast. two other people were in the room. they -- i guess one of them left almost immediately and the other one was not really focused on the meeting. i do think this. i think from a practical standpoint most people would have taken that meeting. it's called opposition research or even research into your opponent. >> reporter: well, it's not called opposition research, anderson. manu was just saying the reaction from capitol hill, from the people who run campaigns, this is not standard practice at all. in terms of the president saying he was not a russian government lawyer, in fact, that is exactly what donald trump jr. thought the meeting was. that has been spelled out in the e-mails that he released himself, that there was a meeting with a russian government lawyer. that's why he accepted a meeting. the president also didn't say who these two people were. you may get this sense that there was some mid-level a

-russian ties? i'm jim acosta. you're in "the situation room." >>> with the trump administration rocked by a series of bombshells on russia's election meddling, a top republican describes the white house as paralyzed. various administration figures paint a picture of chaos now reaching the president's inner circle after son donald jr. released e-mail showing he embraced a proposal of russian government help in attacking hillary clinton. the president tweeted today that the white house is functioning perfectly and he's trying to defuse claims that russia acted to help get him elected. an interview with televangelist pat robertson, he said vladimir putin would have preferred hillary clinton in the white house because he's boosting less military and exports. the president hopes to get away from it all as he flies to meet the french president, president macron. and james comchristopher wray t senate today that he would resign if asked to do something illegal and immoral. wray said the president did not ask for a loyalt

these are these are not sanctions that harm ordinary russians. are sanctions that are specifically targeted against russians who are considered by the u.s. government to be guilty of grave human rights violations. ask this is something that the government cares about very much and is on record about care iin very much. >> you see a direct connection to the kremlin given that information alone? >> does that information alone then lead you to believe there's a direct connection to the kremlin? >> i can't claim there's a direct connection to the kremlin without knowing there's a direct connection. we do know that the kremlin was incensed when they were drod and has been containing against them and has been hurting because of them ever since they were introduced. >> let me ask you this. >> but it's the kremlin agenda. >> so donald trump's campaign was centered on the idea he was an outsider, not an experienced politician. is that ab experience something vladimir putin would have wanted to target. >> absolutely. that makes him a a mark. it sounds very

russian government on hillary clinton.s a member of the house intelligence committee, democratic congressman eric swalwell of california. congressman, i know the house intelligence committee is kub t conducting its own investigation. what do these e-mails prove, if anything? >> good afternoon, jake. this is what working with russians look like. it's been offered information damaging to your opponent by the russian government in a meeting at trump tower with senior donald trump's son to mess with the campaign. it fits the pattern with what we've seen with the political and financial ties that the president has had with russia. >> so we know the setup to the meeting, but donald trump jr. says that that meeting was not about damaging information for hillary clinton. do you know of any evidence that suggests that's not true? >> i don't, and the explanation that it was about russian adoptions, can you imagine you're running for the highest office in the land, time is your most precious resource, and you're taking time out of yo