i'm andrea mitchell at the aspen security forum in colorado, where i'll be speaking exclusively in a couple of hours with the director of national intelligence, dan coats, about the mixed messages that we've been hearing from president trump this week on russia. >> dan coats came to me, and some others. they said, they think it's russia. i have president putin. he just said it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. i accept our intelligence community's conclusion that russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place. could be other people also. >> reporter: is russia still targeting the u.s.? is russia still targeting the u.s., mr. president? >> thank you very much. no. >> is putin lying to you? >> i don't want to get into whether or not he's lying. i can only say i do have confidence in our intelligence agencies, as currently constituted. >> joining me now, our team is in place. nbc white house correspondent kristen welker. white house correspondent jeremy bash. and msnbc global affairs analyst john mclaughlin, acting cia director. kristen, the mixed

talk about here with me in the studio to do so tyson baka an international affairs analyst with the aspen institute here in berlin tyson let's start with the russian president vladimir putin a man trying to escape pariah status on the international stage what's he taking away from the health sinking summit well it's mitigated success for vladimir putin and russia and his regime what his goal was was to put russia on parity with the united states to say that it is a world power that it plays on that level that no only these two countries are kind of at that status and he was brought in from the cold essentially i mean he got a very warm reception from donald trump you could see the personal report donald trump took a lot of the talking points that of lattimer putin would have used so for him it was a rhetorical and optical political success ok and what about donald trump himself you know we'll talk about what he took away from the summit in a second what i want to ask you thoughts though is what was he hoping to get out of this summit well this is where you see the preparation sometimes pa

>> so a couple weeks ago, or i guess last week at the aspen security forum, a top microsoft

the fbi director? >> that is right. he was in aspennight, and he took a number of point questions about helsinki and the president's comments about russia. the fbi director was very clear that the evidence has always been solid about russia's involvement. >> he has his view and expressed his view. i can tell you what my view is. the intelligence community's assessment met changed. my view has not changed. that is that russia attempted to interfere with the last election and that it continues to engage and malign influence operations to the state. >> that phrase "malign influence" is another way of saying that they are engaged in information warfare. they are looking for issues that they believe can really divide americans. let us listen. >> they will identify a divisive issue and through a variety of means, some overt, some covert, some through fake news, some through propaganda will essentially so divisiveness, spend people up on both sides of the issue and kind of watch us go at each other. >> so it all is about sowing dissent and di

many thanks for the views that oft times and baka from butlins aspen institute. we're going to get more on the russian perspective now from a moscow correspondent emily sure would and emily the summit yielded very few concrete results what turns reaction. been like all the russians happy about homeless well christopher the reaction here in moscow has been pretty positive across the board. including among those who were actually involved in the summit so russian foreign minister sergei lover off said that the summit had gone excellently better than great so pretty successful assessment there are positive assessment there from him putin was slightly more careful himself he said that it was a good start and the beginning of a process that's what he called it and the media here in russia has been also a little bit more careful even though their assessments have generally been positive one observer i heard this morning on the radio pointing out that the whole press conference yesterday was basically about russian meddling and that it seems that the u.s. is absolutely o

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you were speaking at the aspen security forum earlier this week. the assessment of china's goals on the u.s.? >> it is realin' credible at a forum facing the range of threats against the united states. china is the most significant counter intelligence threat facing our country. a cia official at the aspen forum said china is waging a cold war against us. china is our biggest threat. and president xi is very busy the last few weeks. he was just in the uae where he signed a bunch of agreements and deals. now he's in africa. he's going to rwanda the first time a chinese president has visited. and he is really investing time and money in relationships with countries that he doesn't criticize. so the media around his visits is positive. and potentially trying to pull countries closer to beijing and away from the united states. >> sam, we packed a lot in there. good information. thank you so much. coming up, candid camera. shocking expose involving an uber and lyft driver who live stream footage after his passengers without them ever knowing. when i rec

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secretary kirstjen nielsen acknowledged russian interference in the 2016 election at the aspen security forum but the secretary would not go so far as to say it was to benefit or boss. >> i don't think there's any question in intel community or at dhs that russians attempted to infiltrate and interfere with our electoral system. they have the capability. they have the intent. >> i agree with the intel community's assessment full stop. i haven't seen any evidence that the attempts to interfere in our election infrastructure was to favor a particular political party. >> peter alexander joins me now from aspen. mr. alexander, what else did she say? again, the headline here would seem to be the fact that she acknowledged the interference but stopped far short of saying that interference, despite what we've heard from a number of intelligence agencies, that the interference actually helped her boss. >> yes, craig, this was striking to me. i gave her several opportunities to be clear about it. that, as the intelligence assessment from january of last year said that this was an effort by the r

." >> it was a remarkable evening, i was at the aspen security conference with people from national security, people were saying jeff sessions was so humiliated he would have to quit right now, and of course he did not. let's play the tape. >> it must have been a very important -- must have been a very unimportant meeting because i never heard that. it sounded like a very unimportant meeting. >> so unimportant meeting, sound like an unimportant meeting. michael, that is synced up with what don junior said when he was testifying to the congressional committees. >> correct. there's a lot of folks under oath who say he did not know, don junior saying the president didn't know about it, other folks, i believe jared kushner testifying to the same thing. the president obviously maintaining that he knew nothing about it, including after it came out. now, one of the questions mueller is looking at is how the president -- or the role the president played in crafting a statement on a flight from europe to the united states last july on air force one. we, "the times," it gone to the white house about t

the same. in that same interview today dni coats in aspen dp gave the assessment of the meeting in helsinki. >> moments after the president appeared to be siding with vladimir putin over you, you personally by name, you stood up and spoke out. >> i just felt at this point in time that what we had assessed and reassessed and reassessed and carefully gone over still stands and that it was important to take that stand on behalf of the intelligence community. obviously i wish he had made a different statement. >> in helsinki the president was alone with vladimir putin for two hours -- more than two hours -- with only translators. basically how do you know what happened? you were on the dark side of the moon. how do you have any idea what happened in that meeting? >> well, you're right. i don't know what happened in that meeting. >> is there a risk that vladimir putin could have recorded it? >> that risk is always there. >> meanwhile the white house has been in the process of trying to clarify another proposal that emerged at that helsinki news conference. on monday you'll recall the russian preside

european affairs with the aspen institute him but then tyson thanks for coming in the europeans warry trump may make very serious concessions something like recognizing russia's annexation of crimea for instance all those worries justified well to quote the president himself will have to wait and see you know he's been on record basically saying everything under the sun from the citizens of crimea want to be part of russia during the campaign to saying that it was obama was soft on russia that led to the attic sation of crimea and why did he get a pass he's going to be tougher so we have a pen a plea of different perspectives here ok so as you say we'll have to wait and see one of the things you mentioned just there i think was was a twitter quote has been on twitter this morning saying i'm of the other things that relations between the u.s. and russia have never been worse thanks quote to u.s. food and stupidity a reference to his biggest barack obama doesn't that we can though his own position going into talks with i think what we didn't see in the most is the lack of a clear strate

mounting criticism of his summit with putin and vagueness on russian attempts to attack the 2016 election. meanwhile, in aspen, the directors of national intelligence and the fbi attempted the aspen security forum. both have given very different assessments than their boss has. >> i call it a witch hunt. that's exactly what it is. it's a vicious witch hunt. you know what? it's very bad for our country. >> i've been consist septembent. i think it's a professional investigation conducted by a man that i've known to be a straight shooter in all my interactions with him. >> let me please remind the audience that was christopher wray, head of the fbi, appointed by president trump saying it is not a witch hunt. back at the white house. this is stunning. she did not rule out the president's receptive attitude toward a very odd proposal from vladimir putin. >> he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. i think that's an incredible offer. >> there was some conversation about it, but there wasn't a commitment made on behalf of the united state

intelligence dan coats one of several top officials nbc news questioned exclusively, appearing at the aspen security forum where the helsinki summit is very much top of mind. fbi director christopher wray also among those making clear nothing said at the summit changes their bottom line about russian election meddling. emt and intel officials with remarkable pushback. director of national intelligence dan coats on the president standing with vladimir putin, dismissing intel agency conclusions on russian meddling. >> obviously i had wished he had made a different statement. but i think that now that has been clarified. >> and about that one-on-one meeting between the president and putin. >> if he had asked me how that ought to be conducted, i would have suggested a different way. but that's not my role, that's not my job. so it is what it is. >> is there a risk that vladimir putin could have recorded it? >> that risk is always >>nd hours after, president trump seemed to deny russia was still trying to meddle in u.s. elections. >> reporter: is russia still targeting the u.s., mr. chairman? >>

he spoke with bloomberg's erik schatzker this week at the aspen ideas festival. n the financial system today, the risks to investors, people with capital are different than they were clearly in 2007-2008. what would you say are the principal risks? in order of importance. ray: ok. as far as the debt crisis, we calculated that we would have a debt rollover crisis. and we don't have that. but we have a situation in which the number of ious that we have, in terms of not only debt, but health care, pistons, and so on, are a lot. so, there are more ious than can be dealt with, and that is a problem. as we sell more bonds into the market, because we are and the process of a larger deficit, and running down the balance sheet, that is supply and demand. if i take three things, in terms of what i would say are the three most important issues of our time, what they will become other than how we deal with the next downturn, i would take a second on that downturn -- if you have a downturn and we are so much at odds, i think it will be a difficult time. i think you can get mor

the midterm elections coming up. lester? >> all right. andrea mitchell in aspen, thank you. >>> to the immediate fallout from presitrnt p's planned invitational to putin and another about face from the president today, a day after the was considering he putin's proposal to have russia question americans. we get all of it from our chief white house correspondent hallie jackson. f >> brushing backlash to his one on one plans now for part two between donald trump and vladimir putin. >> were you aware of that, just want to >> based on my reaction, i wasn't aware of that. >> the news surprising the president's own director of national intelligence on space a spen. >> would you recommend there be a one on e without note takers? >> i would look for a erent way of doing it. >> it would be putin's first visit to the u.s. since 2015 and the first since his country interfered in the 2016 election. president trump on defense a third straight day of muddled messaging. >> look at the sanctions i've put on. look at the diplomats i threw out. look at alhe things i've done, dy el

chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge reports tonight from the aspen security conference in colorado. >> i believe i needed to correct the record. >> speaking at the aspen security farm, the nation stopped by, director of national intelligence, responded to the helsinki controversy. >> i wished he had a different statement. but i think now that's been clarified. based on his late reactions to this, it's undeniable that the russians are taking the lead on this. basically they are the ones that are trying to undermine our basic values. >> earlier this week, dan coats rebuffed the president's claim that russia did not interfere, which he later clarified. on the president's private meeting with putin. >> i would've suggested a different way, but that's not my role. that's not my job. >> i think he is an interesting and continuing. >> that's how the homeland security secretary characterized helsinki as she confirmed that russia meddled in the 2016 election. as to whether president putin preferred candidate trump, secretary nielsen chose her words carefully. focusing on voting

correspondent andrea mitchell, breaking the news to director of national intelligence, dan coats, during the aspen security forum in colorado on thursday. >> the white house has announced on twitter that vladimir putin is coming to the white house in the fall. >> say that again? [laughter] vladimir putin bag coming to the white house. >> ok. [laughter] that is going to be special. [laughter] but not everyone in the washington dc establishment is opposed. thomas pickering told cnn today that the president we got is the president we got, the problems we have with russia are the problems we have with russia, not talking never get to anywhere. meanwhile, the white house on thursday said it was no longer considering an unprecedented proposal that would have seen russian interrogators question former u.s. ambassador to russia michael mcfaul and other u.s. citizens in exchange for allowing special counsel robert mueller's team to interview 12 russians indicted last week for allegedly hacking the emails of democrats during the 2016 election. trump was initially warm to the proposal, proposed by vladimir p

andrea mitchell broke the news to him at the aspen security forum. >> yeah, yeah. >> yeah. >> okay. that's going to be special. the announcement came as the senate unanimously rebuked the president today in a rare show of bipartisanship. senators approved a resolution from blocking russia from questioning other american diplomats. the president has said he was considering putin's proposal but backed down after condemnation from both sides of the aisle. >>> the "me too" movement prominent in san francisco, women's rights advocates huddled outside a san francisco courthouse saying that's about it basic civil rights. nbc bay area's sam brock joins us live from the courthouse thm is the first hearing on a very prominent issue. >> reporter: good evening. and for survivors of sexual assault, this is a very personal fight. ever since secretary of education betsy devos changed the guidelines last fall, this showdown sprang up, and as we heard from a woman who reported rape and is in the process of going to the title line right now, she has to workust to get justice. >> last year i experience

>> andrea mitchell sitting on stage at the aspen institute when this comes off.ion there. it is more of a cult of personality than a fully functioning executive branch of what we are accustomed to. it is just not how they get it going down there. it's not a surprise that coats isn't in the loop because this all starts top trickle down. there is no plan. there is no formative strategy. what do you see with the putin summit that will happen in d.c.? that is doubling down on dumb. you don't have this kind of situation on the heels of a mistake with the same person but you do in trump world because he believes you stick with where you are. you keep spinning it and eventually it becomes what you want. i believe this moment in helsinki that you and i witnessed together is different. i think it reverberated in different ways. i think it taps into deeper concerns than what we have seen in the past. but i'm always ready for disappointment. >> the white house also reversed course today on an offer from putin to interrogate american citizens including a u.s. ambassador to r

analysis on what's shaping up to be a stormy two day summit like to welcome now tyson barker from the aspen institute jeremy good to see you mr barker president trump seems to have a particularly in for a german he's made disparaging remarks when it comes to germany in the past so that's nothing new but what's very striking is that he singling out berlin now why well you're right to point out that he has a pretty deep antipathy to germany and i think that this isn't necessarily as you mentioned new. the thing is with president trump in his white house he sees this as as part of a larger narrative which is trade imbalances interview dependency and security. and what he believes that we can question whether us going about it the right way is an economic powerhouse with low unemployment the biggest economy in europe that is exporting more than any other country in the world seven percent of g.d.p. current account surplus and yet still can't meet these defense spending goals and he says this is fundamentally unfair to the people of the united states what he said today on energy this is a new li

the comment came today during an appearance at the aspen security board. what we are doing is to work with states to propose that election and -- i don't think there's any doubt that they did it. they think we should all be prepared given a capability that they will do it again. >> secretary added that it would be in her words for which to think the russians are not still targeting the u.s.. willontinued we have the we have to be prepared. >> suspects have been identified in the poisoning attack against russian spies. according to the news agency, officers think several russians were involved. they were identified through security camera video. earlier this month the woman died after coming into contact with the same nerve agent used in the attack. the general overseeing u.s. operations in afghanistan says he is taking a new look at the war strategy. president trump announced nearly a year ago. he says he wants to consider changes that could include prospects of afghan government peace negotiations with the telegram. global news 24 hours a day on air and a

>> this is the second aspen security forum i have attended. last year there were also a number of trump administration officials but it was still early days of the administration. their way of sort of weaseling out of the question was i swore an oath to protect not the president but the constitution. this year things are a lot more pointed and a lot more dramatic. the stakes are clearly a lot higher. so the commentary is a lot more pointed, as well. from his own officials. i have to say after that shocking watching dan coats' shock a whisper went through the room of how is he for this job? >> three of the top cyber security officials have resigned. that's the word that is being used. three of them are retiring. retiring is the word being used. what do you make of that in light of the whole conversation today? coats talking about 300,000 american lives could be at risk from cyber attack. >> right, we are talking to people from the fbi they say given the fact that there are so many cyber attacks happening that there is a great deal of private sec

that on the international stage and, so, coats was reacting, i think, to andrea in a normal way at the aspen conference, to have fun with what's going on. again, it's hard to read his mind at this point. i think there are a lot of people surprised that dan coats stayed in his job, didn't resign from the job after the public embarrassment and humiliation. at this point, he wants to remain to the extent he is influential to the president. it's not clear he is but will. >> do you believe he released this on his own or a push from the white house? >> no. look, i think it was a flippant off-the-cuff moment responding to the president. we have all been there. the president tweets something out, we are asked about it. you make light of it. look, here are the facts. the facts are the president is having seemingly tried to walk back or clarify is the more precise term clarify the comments he made in helsinki and he would have to consider sending a former u.s. ambassador to russia. that drew swift rebuke from, again, not just democrats, but mitch mcconnell who allowed for there to be a vote on this no

the top spy chief. he was told about it on stage in aspen at a security forum. before that he said he knew nothing about it. the u.s. intelligence chief saying tonight he had to correct president trump's incorrect claim russia had no role in attacking american democracy. >> it was important to take that stand on behalf of the intelligence community and the american people. >> reporter: the president's hand picked director of national intelligence said american leaders must speak forcefully about russia's ongoing threat to u.s. elections. >> it is undeniable that the russians are taking the lead on this. basically they are the ones that are trying to undermine our basic values and divide us with our allies. they are the ones that are trying to wreak havoc over our election process. we need to call them out on that. >> reporter: at a security forum in aspen coats said it was a mistake for trump to meet privately with vladimir putin. >> if he asked me if that ought to be conducted i would have suggested a different way, but that's not my role. >> reporter: the extra

we have to be prepared. >> at the aspen security conference. , former director of the national counterterrorism center also msnbc national security and intelligence analyst. nicholas, to you. how do you characterize russia? adversary? enemy? something else? how do you see it? >> good morning, alex. rather than putting any one single label, enemy or adversary, any engagement entered into with russia we have to enter into it knowing we are probably talking to somebody whose interests do not align with ours, talking to somebody likely to gain advantage over us and, of course, all of that was true even before we knew about election meddling. i think that's what's given the intelligence community and others longtime russia watchers discomfort about the president's interactions with president putin. it's that we're just not confident all the time that he understands the full range of russian motivations, and this is not to say there aren't discreet things we can cooperate with russia on. certainly in syria are at a point a couple years ago had higher

some of the biggest names in the administration showing up in aspen, famous for its gatherings of global elites. tonight, the nation's top spy and the deputy attorney general technically robert mueller's bosque of our making some big news. correspondent tricked on my kristin fisher is tracking of the news. >> there are so headlines coming out of the aspen security forum that is hard to know where to begin. let's start here. the nation's spy chief, dan coats, went rogue and said things that president trump is likely not to be happy about told the crowd tonight that he has no idea what happened in that meeting between president trump and putin. he would have suggested a different way. he also said that the reason he put out that statement defending the intelligence community's assessment of russian meddling was because he felt the need to set the record straight. listen. >> i just felt at this point in time, that what we had assessed and reassessed and reassessed and carefully gone over, it was important to take that stance on back with the intelligence community and the american people. a

eroding and finally we're very pleased to have with us tyson barker he's a foreign policy expert for the aspen institute here in berlin and he's a former state department official he says nato focused for too long on threats from the east of the south and failed to take seriously the threat from within. so let me start out by asking you cloudy in my your you grew just before the summit that europe's security is at stake thereby mirroring europeans fear that the long standing u.s. security guarantees for europe are perhaps fraying but despite trump's aggressor frederick he did sign the joint statement by the nato members so would you say the worrying here in europe was perhaps a little bit unnecessary. i think in the end this summit went oh it's better than we sold it's not yet over because i think we have to wait for the meeting with president putin and then we can probably do a kind of conclusion what really happened. but overall i think the problem goes beyond the nato summit we have a major change in the transatlantic relationship between the u.s. and the europeans and this is something tha

late yesterday after his statements on thursday at the aspen security conference had been interpreted as disagreement with president trump over the issue of whether trump should invite putin to the white house for a second summit later this fall. remember that dan coats learned from his interviewer that president trump had extended that invitation. he said in a statement, some press conference has mischaracterized my intentions in responding to breaking news to me during a live interview. my awkward response was not no way meant to be disrespectful or criticize the actions of the president. a pals of negotiations in north korea, according to a report in "the washington post," president trump has been quizzing his aides daily about the status of the negotiations as the talks stall. president trump has been publicly proclaiming the north korea talks to be a success. but as recently as earlier this month, secretary of state mike pompeo traveled to pyongyang and was stood up by kim jong-un who reviewed for meet with pompeos. americans are yet to get in contact with their north korea count

. >>> good evening from beautiful aspen, colorado, site of the , aspen security for the annual gathering of top national security and intelligence officials coming this year amie llout and backlash of this week's trump, putin summit. fbi director christopher wray among those here tonight, i'll be interviewing him at the opening session following this broadcast, but we start with president trump today mustering the tough tone against hevladimir putin tha failed to bring in helsinki on monday over russian rf inence in the 2016 election. the president tried to calm a storm of outrage after he gave putin a pass at the joint news conference, yet today as he worked to repaithe damage, the president may have ended up sewing more doubt what he lieves. hallie jackson has details. >> reporter: late tonight, the president publicly putting ir putin on notice holding him ruersonally responsible foria's attacks on the u.s. election. >> because he's in charge of the country l jue i consider myself to be responsible for ings that happen in this country. >> what diyou say to him? >> very strong on the fa

coast was at the aspen security forum and he was caught off guard by the news and joe quotes, that's going to be special. my admitly awkward response was in no way meant to be disrespectful or criticize the actions of the president. >>> the trump the trump administration has until thursday to reunite the last of the more than 2,500 children who were separated from their parents at the border. as of friday morning, 450 children age five and older had been reunited with their families. a federal judge in san diego said yesterday the process is going well. in honduras, a 15-month-old boy is finally back in his parent's arms. the boy's care triggered an international uproar when he was separated from his father at the texas border five months ago. while he was in the government's custody, the boy's parents missed his first steps, first words and first birthday. police in houston are trying to catch the gunman who shot and killed a well-known cardiologist who once treated president george h.w. bush. both the suspect and the victim were riding bicycles. kenneth craig has the latest details

he was on stage at the aspen security forum, with msnbc‘s andrea mitchell. ave seen breaking news, the white house has announced on twitter that vladimir putin is coming to the white house in the four. say that ain? —— fall. vladimir putin coming to the white house. yeah, yeah. 0k. that's going to be special. the white house is still underfire for to be special. the white house is still under fire for president trump's bizarre performance after the summit with president putin in helsinki. earlier, mr trump the summit with president putin in helsinki. earlier, mrtrump had the summit with president putin in helsinki. earlier, mr trump had said that was an interesting idea. in an interview with the american network, cnbc, mr trump rejected the idea that he has failed to stand up to president putin. look at the sanctions i've put on, look at the diplomats i threw out, look at all of the things that i've done. nobody else has done what i've done. 0bama didn't do it. 0bama was a total patsy for russia. look at the statement he made, when he thought the mics were tu

i was in the audience here yesterday in aspen when director coats gave that answer. people were stunned. this is one of the security conferences and there's a lot of talking. the atmosphere here is extraordinary. there's constant questioning about what happened in that private meeting between vladimir putin and donald trump. >> steve hall, to you. you rode this week, from a counterintelligence perspective, something is going on behind the scenes. before helsinki -- i'm sorry. i'm hearing something in my ear. my question to you is, do you think that this makes america stronger there any way to have a summit 2.0? a comment from afrngela merkel she welcomes the russian president and american president meeting together. is there anything that this america first president, as he bills himself, has that would make this good for america? >> poppy, i think we all need to be asking ourselves continuously and more importantly asking this administration specifically this president one simple question, which is why. why do this? it doesn't make any sense from an american -- i don

he was on stage at the aspen security forum with msnbc‘s andrea mitchell. e some breaking news, the white house has announced on twitter that vladimir putin is coming to the white house in the fall. say that again. laughter. vladimir putin... did i hear you? yeah, yeah. 0k... that's gonna be special. laughter. live now to the bbc‘s chris buckler in washington dc. chris, helsinki the sequel, wow. yes, it does seem bizarre and quite remarkable to some of donald trump's political opponents and some in his republican party that he is rolling out the red carpet to vladimir putin so soon out the red carpet to vladimir putin so soon after that helsinki summit that frankly had a fallout that was pretty difficult for president trump. whatever he spoke alongside vladimir putin appearing to back his suggestion that russia hadn't interfered in the election back in 2016 against a word of his own intelligence services. of course donald trump has gone back on that and says he backs his intelligence services. dan coats, who you saw, director of national intelligence, he was

the ones we saw back in 2016. nbc news justice reporter julia ainsley is there in aspen. lk us through this new plan and specifically what are these limits to releasing this information to you and me? >> so stephanie, yesterday, the deputy attorney general said it's a form of information warfare where we had these influence operations like countries from russia that we saw in the 2016 campaign. if you think back to the indictment mueller did a few months ago on the influence, that was the way that russia was able to get americans kind of to pick each other apart on certain issues like the charlottesville race issues. other things that have come up that have really sort of polarized us that russia was able to use on social media and get people further polarized or to influence them and the way they may want to vote. these are things the deputy attorney general is calling out. he wants to make sure we can alert that going forward. the same way you would be alerted if you used your credit card at a place that had identity theft. but it's unclear at this point how specific the

and you mentioned chris wray, the fbi director is here in aspen at the aspen security forum, and he himselfsed a question of witch-hunt. he said no, he gets this question a lot, and that is not a witch-hunt. is not a witch-hunt that is being led by special counsel robert mueller. keep in mind chris wray's agents are the ones that are doing this investigation, so he has his agents and his employees who he has to defend at this point. >> i mean, that's pretty incredible, right, to say that there is no witch-hunt when the president obviously says there is one every single time he gets a chance, including tonight. and evan, you're there. you're in aspen where the fbi director is speaking, and i know speaking as you and i are talking. this is going to be crucial, right? we haven't heard from him since the disastrous press conference in helsinki, you know. what are we hearing already as this discussion with him gets started where you are? >> some extraordinary words, erin. look, this is an fbi director who is a little more low-key than, say, james comey. he doesn't want to really make a big fuss

coats specifically out of the loop or see something much more just run of the mill, you have officials who have come out here to aspenent. it's tough to get out here air-wise. might be away from official calms and the president makes decisions very quickly, and doesn't always use the traditional ways of sharing that information throughout his national security team, or throughout his spokespeople. that's the other message i kept getting from officials here. we're kind of getting used to, you know, give him as much information as we can. we don't know when some of the decisions will come down. after the fact, what they do is, try to then get ahold of either him or people around him and say, hey, i'd like to discuss a couple of the second and third order of effects we have to be on the lookout for. the other possibility is that instead of calling coats, the president spoke with the head of the cia and considered that just as good. so, you know, the cia has a regular relationship briefing the president every day. >> right. >> so this might not be as much disarray as we thought and more just about where everyone was in s

the events of the last week, what we saw with the president in helsinki, and then what we saw in aspen from dan coats, his director of national intelligence who was surprised by my colleague andrea mitchell and told that vladimir putin was -- had been invited to come here to the united states. he is a former colleague. i know him as an individual of integrity and dedication to our country. >> senator blumenthal, thank you so much for your time tonight. advanced oils for those hard-working parts. fuels that go further so drivers pump less. improving efficiency is what we do best. energy lives here. >>> the fbi and federal prosecutors will soon learn the contents of the recordings secretly made by michael cohen two months before the election. in which he and the president reportedly discuss payments to a former play boy model who claims she had an affair with mr. trump. karen mcdougal said her affair with the president began in 2006 and lasted for nearly a year. the president has denied those allegations. "the new york times" reports that on the audiotape cohen and trump can be heard dis